Explore Iranica

FĀṬEMĪ, ḤOSAYN (1296-1333 Š./1917-54; Figure 1), journalist, a leader of the National Front, and the minister of foreign affairs under Moḥammad Moṣaddeq. Ḥosayn Fāṭemī was born in Nāʾīn into a family with a tradition of religious learning. His father was Sayf-al-ʿOlamāʾ Sayyed ʿAlī-Moḥammad Nāʾīnī. Fāṭemī received his elementary education in…

FATḤ, b. ḴĀQĀN, famous bibliophile, author, courtier, and official in ʿAbbasid times ( d. 4 Šawwāl 247/11 December 861). Some modern authorities have referred to him as “al-Fāresī” or claim he was of Persian ancestry (Zereklī, Aʿlam2 V, p. 133; Dehḵodā, s.v. “Fatḥ b. Ḵāqān”; Yıldız, p. 452), but this…

FATḤ JANG, EBRĀHĪM KHAN (or Mīrzā Ebrāhīm), a Mughal official (d. 1033/1623-24). According to the Maʾāṯer al-omarā ([Calcutta] I, p. 135), he was the son of Eʿtemād-al-Dawla Ḡīāṯ-al-Dīn Beg Tehrānī (q.v.) and brother of Nūr(-e) Jahān, the influential wife of the Mughal emperor Jahāngīr (r. 1014-37/1605-27). Together with other members…

FATḤ-ALLĀH ŠĪRĀZĪ, SAYYED MĪR, a famous Sufi, an official in Mughal India, and one of the most learned men of his time. Fatḥ-Allāh was a disciple of the Sufi shaikh Mīr Šāh Mīr Takīya Šīrāzī and studied with such scholars as Ḵᵛāja Jamāl-al-Dīn Maḥmūd, Kamāl-al-Dīn Šervānī, and G¨īāṯ-al-Dīn Manṣūr Daštakī…

FATḤ-NĀMA, Arabic-Persian term used to denote proclamations and letters announcing victories in battle or the successful conclusion of military campaigns. They might be composed on the actual battle field by one of the ruler’s secretaries or put together later in the ruler’s chancery. These last tended to have a more…

FATḤ-ʿALĪ KHAN QĀJĀR, chief of the Ašāqa-bāš division of the Qajar tribes at Astarābād at the time of the demise of the Safavid dynasty. He was the son of Šāhqolī Khan and the grandfather of Āḡā Moḥammad Khan Qājār (q.v.) the founder of the Qajar dynasty. He was executed for…

FATḤ-ʿALĪ SHAH QĀJĀR, the second ruler of the Qajar dynasty (b. Moḥarram 1183/May 1769; d. 19 Jomādā II 1250/ 24 October 1834; Plate I). Early life. Fatḥ-ʿAlī was the elder of the two sons of Ḥosaynqolī Khan Qovānlū Qājār, known as Jahānsūz(world burner), by the daughter of Moḥammad Āqā ʿEzz-al-Dīnlū…

FATIMIDS, relations with Persia. A major Ismaʿili Shiʿite dynasty, the Fatimids founded their own caliphate, in rivalry with the ʿAbbasids, and ruled over different parts of the Islamic world, from North Africa and Sicily to Palestine and Syria. The Fatimid period was also the golden age of Ismaʿili thought and…

FATTĀḤĪ NĪŠĀBŪRĪ, MOḤAMMAD, b. Yaḥyā Sībak, Persian poet of the Timurid era, born in Nīšāpūr (hence his nesba Nīšābūrī) at an unknown date (d. 852/1448). There is no information on his birth date or family. Fattāḥī initially used the pen name (takalloṣ) Toffāḥī (from Ar. toffāḥ, apple), the Arabic equivalent…

FATWĀ (or in some early sources fotyā; pl. fatāwā or fatāwī), the authoritative ruling of a religious scholar on questions (masāʾel) of Islamic jurisprudence that are either dubious or obscure in nature (šobohāt) or which have newly arisen without known precedent (mostaḥdaṯāt). It is in connection with the latter category…

FAUNA, the assemblage of animal species, generally excluding domestic animals (q.v.), living within a defined geographical area or ecological zone. i. Fauna of Persia. ii. Fauna of Afghanistan. See AFGHANISTAN iii. iii. Fauna of Central Asia.   i. FAUNA OF PERSIA The Persian fauna is known in piecemeal fashion from…

FAUNA. ii. AFGHANISTAN. See AFGHANISTAN iii. iii. FAUNA OF CENTRAL ASIA The Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union (Turkmenia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, the southern Kazakhstan) form part of an arid belt stretching from northwestern Africa through southwestern Asia to Mongolia and western China. In this article attention will be…