Explore Iranica

AHARĪ, ABŪ BAKR QOṬBĪ (8th/14th cent.), author of Tārīḵ-e Šāh Oways, dedicated to the Jalayerid ruler Oways (757-76/1356-74). As may be deduced from both his work and his nesba, Aharī was from the town of Ahar in Azerbaijan and spent a good part of his life in that region. His…

AHASUREUS, name of a Persian king in pre-Christian Jewish tradition; it appears in the biblical books of Esther (1.1 et passim), Ezra (4.6), and Daniel (9.1) and in the apocryphal book of Tobit (14.15). In the Greek text of Esther, the Persian king’s name is Artaxerxes (presumably Artaxerxes I, 465-424…

AḤDĀṮ, WOJŪH-E, fines collected in Safavid times by the officers of the night watch (aḥdāṯ), who were under the supervision of the dārūḡa (see Taḏkerat al-molūk, ed. and tr. V. Minorsky, London, 1943, pp. 82, 149). The duty of the aḥdāṯ was to patrol the city at night, stop brawls…

ĀHĪ JOḠATĀʾĪ, SOLṬĀN-QOLĪ BEG TORŠĪZĪ, Chaghatay amir, poet, and companion of Ḡarīb Mīrzā, a son of the Timurid sultan, Ḥosayn Bāyqarā. His taḵalloṣ prior to Āhī was Nargesī. He wrote in both Persian and Turkish; according to ʿAlī-Šīr Navāʾī, he wrote a Ḵamsa in imitation of Neẓāmī’s, but it failed…

ĀHI, MAJID (b. Tehran, 1265 Š./1886; d. 22 Šahrivar 1325 Š./12 September 1946), judge, governor of Fārs, minister of justice, and ambassador to the Soviet Union (FIGURE 1). He was the son of Mirzā Abu’l-Qāsem Āhi, a translator at the Russian embassy in Tehran. In 1286 he left for Russia,…

AHL-E BAYT (Ahl al-Bayt), the “family of the house” or “household,” i.e., of the Prophet. In pre-Islamic Arabia bayt included the meaning of a noble family within a tribe (Ebn Manẓūr, Lesān al-ʿarab al-moḥīṭ, ed. Y. Ḵayyāṭ, I, Beirut, n.d., p. 292). Thus the term Ahl al-Bayt in its most…

AHL-E ḠARQ (The drowned, 1990), best-known novel of Moniru Ravanipur (Moniru Ravānipur, b. Bušehr, 1954), noted Persian novelist and short story writer of the second half of the 20th century. Ahl-e ḡarq, like many of Ravanipur’s works of fiction, is set in Jofra, a remote village in the Persian Gulf…

AHL-E ḤAQQ “People of (the absolute) Truth,” a sect found in western Persia and some regions of northeastern Iraq; the name has also been adopted by other Islamic sects (Noṣayrīs, Ḥorūfīs) and appears to be rooted in the tradition of the extremist Shiʿites (ḡolāt). ʿAlī-Elāhī or ʿAlī-Allāhī “adherents to the…

AHL-E ḤAQQ ii. INITIATION RITUAL AMONG THE AHL-E ḤAQQ OR YĀRESĀN The initiation ritual is one of the most important institutions in the tradition of Ahl-e Ḥaqq. It is performed by all its eleven branches, or ḵāndans, and is supported by a religious legend, according to which even God himself…

AHLAW (Ahlav; written ʾhlwb), a middle Persian term which plays a fundamental role in Mazdean soteriology and which is usually translated as “just.” It is not exclusively Zoroastrian, since it is found both in Avestan (ašāvan-) and in Old Persian (artāvan-). The former term is derived from Avestan aša- (OIr….

AHLĪ ŠĪRĀZĪ, MAWLĀNĀ MOḤAMMAD, poet (858/1454?-942/1535). He apparently lived all his life in his native Shiraz. Of his parentage there is no record, and his life style was retiring and contemplative and probably, to judge from several complaints in his works, attended by poverty. His works include ḡazals, qaṣīdas, robāʿīs…

AHLOMŌG, Middle Persian form of Younger Avestan ašəmaoγa- “one who produces confusion of Truth,” a term applied to Iranian priests who deviated from Zoroastrian doctrine. Its use may have developed with the spread of Zoroastrian belief and practice through Iran, since there continued to exist ancient daiva-worshipping rites incompatible with…

AḤMAD B. ASAD B. SĀMĀN ḴODĀ (d. 250/864), early member of the Samanid family and governor of Farḡāna under the ʿAbbasids and Taherids. Ca. 204/819-20 Aḥmad and his three brothers (Nūḥ, Yaḥyā, and Elyās) were made subordinate governors of various cities of the east by Ḡassān b. ʿAbbād, the caliph…

AḤMAD B. AYYŪB ḤĀFEẒ, 7th-8th/13th-14th Azerbaijani architect, one of the best representatives of the architectural school of Naḵǰavān. He constructed in Barda (Barḏaʿa) a mausoleum, completed in 722/1322 according to the building inscription. Externally the mausoleum is cylindrical (height 14 m, diameter 10 m), while its interior is decagonal; the tomb is cruciform….

AḤMAD B. AYYŪB ḤĀFEẒ, 7th-8th/13th-14th Azerbaijani architect, one of the best representatives of the architectural school of Naḵǰavān. He constructed in Barda (Barḏaʿa) a mausoleum, completed in 722/1322 according to the building inscription. Externally the mausoleum is cylindrical (height 14 m, diameter 10 m), while its interior is decagonal; the…