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FARĀVA (Parau), a small medieval town in eastern Persia, lying east of the Caspian Sea and just beyond the northern edge of the Kopet-Dag range facing the Kara Kum desert. In the early Islamic period it was one of a string of strongly defended fortresses (rebātás), also including Abīvard, Nasā,…

FARDIN, Moḥammad-ʿAli (b. Tehran, 6 April 1930; d. Tehran, 7 April 2000), a popular Iranian actor (FIGURE 1). Born and raised in a poor neighborhood in the south of Tehran, Moḥammad-ʿAli was the eldest of three children. His father, a carriage builder who later opened his own machinery and equipment…

FĀRES (plurs. forsān, fawāres), the Arabic term for “rider on a horse, cavalryman,” connected with the verb farasa/farosa “to be knowledgeable about horses, be a skillful horseman” and the noun faras “horse.” Since in ancient Arabian society the owner of a horse was a comparatively rich man, often a tribal…

FĀRESĪ, KAMĀL-AL-DĪN ABU’L-ḤASAN MOḤAMMAD, b. Ḥasan (d. 721/1320), the most significant figure in optics after Ebn al-Hayṯam (Alhazen; 354-430/965-1040). The two names have been linked on account of Kamāl-al-Dīn’s critical revision of Ebn al-Hayṯam’s Ketāb al-manāẓer, which represents a watershed in the scientifi;c understanding of light and vision. Kamāl-al-Dīn’s work,…

FĀRESĪYĀT, a literary term used in Arabic literature to refer to poems in Arabic which contain some Persian words or even phrases in their original form, the most notable example being the Fāresīyāt of Abū Nowās (q.v.). The term has also been used in a wider sense to include all…

FARḠĀNA, valley of the Syr Darya (Jaxartes) river extending ca. 300 km between the Farḡāna mountains in the east and the first sharp bend of the river’s course to the north. It is approximately 70 km wide, flanked on the north by the Čatkal range and on the south by…

FARḠĀNĪ, AḤMAD, b. Moḥammad b. Kaṯīr, Muslim astronomer. Farḡānī flourished at Sāmarrā during the period that it served as the capital of the ʿAbbasid caliphs (836-92 C.E.), though Ṣāʿed Andalosī (p. 141) states that he was one of al-Maʾmūn’s astronomers. Nothing is known about his family nor much about his…

FARḠĀNĪ, EMĀM-AL-ḤARAMAYN SERĀJ-Al-DĪN ABU’L-MOḤAMMAD ʿALĪ, b. ʿOṯmān Ūšī or Ūsī, oṣūlī jurist (faqīh), traditionist, and author. All that is known about him is that he was Hanafite by persuasion and followed the teachings of Mātorīdī. The date of his death is given as 569/1173 (Kaḥḥāla, Moʾallefīn, VII, p. 148; Kašf…

FARḠĀNĪ, SAYF-AL-DĪN MOḤAMMAD, Persian poet and Sufi of Farḡāna (q.v.). The exact dates of his birth and death are unknown. The very little information we have about him is gleaned from his poetry. Farḡānī left Farḡāna after the Mongol invasion of Persia in 618/1221 and sojourned for a while in…

FARḠĀNĪ, SAʿĪD-AL-DĪN MOHAMMAD, b. Ahmad, Sufi author from the town of Kāsān in Farḡāna (d. Ḏu’l-ḥejja 699/August 1300; see Scattolin, 1993, p. 334). According to Farḡānī’s own account (1988, p. 184), he entered the Sufi path under Najīb-al-Dīn ʿAlī b. Bozḡoš of Shiraz (d. 678/1279), a disciple of Šehāb-al-Dīn ʿOmar…

FARHĀD, a romantic figure in Persian legend and literature, best known from the poetry of Neẓāmī Ganjavī (q.v.) as a rival with the Sasanian king Ḵosrow II Parvēz (r. 591-628) for the love of the beautiful Armenian princess Šīrīn. His story, following its masterly depiction by Neẓāmī, provided the source…

FARHĀD, name of a number of Parthian kings. See PHRAATES.

FARHĀD KHAN QARAMĀNLŪ, ROKN-AL-SALṬANA, military commander of Shah ʿAbbās I (q.v.), executed at the Shah’s orders in 1007/1598. He was a descendent of Bayram Beg Qaramānlū, one of the great amirs under Shah Esmāʿīl, and son of Ḥosām Beg b. Bahrām Beg. Originally Farhād Khan was a retainer of Ḥamza…

FARHĀD MĪRZĀ MOʿTAMAD-AL-DAWLA (b. 1233/1818, Tabrīz; d. 1305/1888, Tehran; Figure 1), Qajar prince-governor, author, and bibliophile. He was the fifteenth son of ʿAbbās Mīrzā (q.v.), younger brother of Moḥammad Shah, uncle of Nāṣer-al-Dīn Shah, and a learned and influential Qajar prince known for his firm governorship over several provinces of…