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ABŪ NAṢR MANṢŪR B. MOŠKĀN, head of the Ghaznavid chancery under Maḥmūd and Masʿūd from 401/1011-12 till his death in 431/1039-40. The name Manṣūr appears only in Ṯaʿālebī’s Tatemmat al-yatīma (ed. ʿA. Eqbāl, Tehran, 1353/1934-35, vol. 2, p. 62) and his Ḵāṣṣ al-ḵāṣṣ (Beirut, 1966, p. 222). Both place and…

ABŪ NAṢR MOSTAWFĪ EṢFAHĀNĪ ʿAZĪZ-AL-DĪN (or AL-ʿAZĪZ) AḤMAD B. AḤMAD B. MOḤAMMAD B. ʿABDALLĀH, 472-527/1079-80 to 1133, well-known official of the Saljuqs of Iraq. He began service in the central dīvāns late in the reign of Sultan Moḥammad (498-511/1105-18) as assistant to Kamāl-al-molk Somayramī who was mošref-e mamālek (chief financial…

ABŪ NOʿAYM AL-EṢFAHĀNĪ AL-ḤĀFEẒ, AḤMAD B. ʿABDALLĀH B. AḤMAD B. ESḤĀQ B. MŪSĀ B. MEHRĀN AL-AḤWAL, famous traditionist and author of the collection of Sufi biographies Ḥelyat al-awlīāʾ. He was born in Isfahan in Raǰab, 336/January-February, 948 (the variant dates 334 or 330 given in some sources appear less reliable)…

ABŪ RAŠĪD NĪSĀBŪRĪ, SAʿĪD B. MOḤAMMAD B. SAʿĪD B. ḤASAN B. ḤĀTEM, Muʿtazilite scholar. He is first mentioned as a theologian (motakallem) present at a literary disputation between Badīʿ-al-zamān Hamadānī and Abū Bakr Ḵᵛārazmī in Molqābād near Nīšāpūr in 383/993 (Yāqūt, Odabāʾ I, p. 105; Ebrāhīm Efendī Aḥdab, Kašf al-maʿānī…

ABŪ SAHL ḤAMDOWĪ (or Ḥamdūʾī), AḤMAD B. ḤASAN, Ghaznavid official of the 4th-5th/11th century. His laqab is sometimes cited as Ḥamdūnī (e.g., Bayhaqī) but the more frequent form is established as correct by the rhyme words matched with it in Arabic and Persian poems; Ṯaʿālebī gives the full name, the…

ABŪ SAHL ḴOJANDĪ, vizier of the Ghaznavids in the 5th/11th century. He served Sultan Ebrāhīm b. Masʿūd (451-92/1059-99) as that ruler’s second vizier, succeeding Abū Bakr b. Abī Ṣāleḥ, probably in the early part of the reign. All that is known of his background is that he had been secretary…

ABŪ SAHL VĪJAN B. ROSTAM KŪHĪ (also QŪHĪ), mathematician and astronomer. He was born ca. 330/940 at Kūh, which, according to Ebn al-Nadīm (Fehrest, pp. 283-84), was in the mountains of Māzandarān. He was well enough known as an astronomer and expert on observational instruments to be chosen, along with…

ABŪ SAHL LAKŠAN, full name ḴᵛĀJA ABŪ SAHL DABĪR ʿABDALLĀH B. AḤMAD B. LAKŠAN, official under the Ghaznavid amirs Maḥmūd (388-421/998-1030) and Masʿūd (421-32/1031-41). The name Lakšan occurs with several variants in Bayhaqī, but the meter of Farroḵī’s panegyrics establishes the vocalization (Dīvān-e Farroḵī Sīstānī, ed. M. Dabīrsīāqī, 2nd ed.,…

ABŪ SAHL B. NAWBAḴT, 2nd/8th century astrologer and author. The family of Nawbaḵt is said to have claimed descent from the Kayanid hero Gēv, the son of Gōdarz, but it is not known from what part of Iran Nawbaḵt himself came. Nawbaḵt first appears as an astrologer in the entourage…

ABŪ SAHL ESMĀʿĪL B. ʿALĪ B. ESḤĀQ B. ABĪ SAHL NAWBAḴTĪ, also called EBN NAWBAḴT (b. 237/851-52 in Baghdad, d. 311/924), a prominent member of the Nawbaḵtī family and noted Imamite leader and scholar. Nothing is known about his father or about his own upbringing and early career. His philosophical…

ABŪ SAHL MOḤAMMAD B. ḤOSAYN (or ḤASAN) ZŪZANĪ, courtier and official under the Ghaznavid amirs Maḥmūd (388-421/998-1030) and Masʿūd (421-32/1031-41), d. ca. 440-50/1050-59 (see Reżāʾī, “Abū Sahl,” pp. 221-22). He is known chiefly from references by his contemporary, the historian Bayhaqī. His father was a religious scholar (Bayhaqī, 2nd ed.,…

ABŪ ŠAKŪR BALḴĪ, poet of the Samanid period. Nothing is known of his life. Allusions in his poetry indicate that he was a professional poet and had suffered reverses; in one distich (Āfarīn-nāma, line 36; in Lazard, Premiers poètes) he presents himself as a stranger imploring the protection of the…

ABŪ SALAMA ḤAFṢ B. SOLAYMĀN ḴALLĀL HĀMDĀNĪ, head of the Hashemite propaganda organization (daʿwa) that sparkled the ʿAbbasid revolution and first vizier of the new dynasty. Abū Salama was a Kufan mawlā of an Arab tribe variously reported to have been al-Sabīʿ or al-Ḥāreṯ b. Kaʿb. His nesba Ḵallāl is…