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FREE VERSE in Persian Poetry. The term šeʿr-e āzād, Persian for the French vers libre and English free verse, entered Persia in the 1940s and immediately began to be used in a variety of senses and applied to diverse subspecies of the emerging canon of šeʿr-e now (new poetry), especially…

FREE WILL. i. In Twelver Shiʿism. ii. In Ismaʿili Shiʿism. i. IN TWELVER SHIʿISM. On the question of free will, the whole view of the Imams amounts to a famous saying by Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq (d. 148/765): lā jabr wa lā tafwīż wa lāken amr bayn amrayn “neither complete constraint…

FREEMASONRY This famous fraternal order, bound by rituals and secret oaths, was introduced to Persia and adopted by Persian notables in the 19th century. It developed in the early 20th century and burgeoned in the period from 1950-78. Its practice still continues among some middle- and upper-class Persians in exile…

FREEMASONRY i. Introduction The Ancient, Free, and Accepted Masons, a body generally referred to as the Craft, is the foundation of all Masonic orders. Freemasonry’s avowed ideals include universal brotherhood, religious toleration, and political compromise. Most Masonic orders, with the exception of the Grand Orient of France, believe in the…

FREEMASONRY ii. IN THE QAJAR PERIOD Persians made their first acquaintance with Freemasonry outside Persia, in India, and more importantly in Europe, and it was not until the first decade of the 20th century that a lodge regularly affiliated to one of the recognized European obediences appeared in the country….

FREEMASONRY iii. IN THE PAHLAVI PERIOD Freemasonry in the Pahlavi era underwent three distinct phases: (1) The dormant phase from 1925-1950 under Reżā Shah and the decade following his abdication in 1941; (2) The revival of Freemasonry and the creation of the Lodge Pahlavi (Homāyūn; 1951-55); (3) The burgeoning of…

FREEMASONRY iv. THE 1979 REVOLUTION Persecution of Freemasons. From the onset of the 1978-79 revolutionary upheavals the Persian Freemasons became vulnerable to the anti-Masonic sentiments and threats of the main participants in the revolutionary coalition, including Islamic Fundamentalists, Leftist organizations, and Liberal-Nationalist forces who identified Masons as Anglo-American and Anglo-Zionist…

FREEMASONRY v. IN EXILE The Grand Lodge of Iran (in Exile). Many master Masons managed to leave the country legally or illegally and emigrated to Europe, Canada, and the United States. In November 1982 seventeen past masters of Persian lodges sent a petition to Šarīf-Emāmī seeking permission to continue their…

FREĬMAN, Aleksandr Arnol’dovich (b. Warsaw, 23 August 1879; d. St. Petersburg, 19 January 1968; Figure 1), founder and the head of the Soviet school of the comparative-historical method in Iranian linguistics. In 1903 he was graduated from St. Petersburg University, where he studied with K. G. Salemann and V. A….

FRUIT, mīva (Mid. Pers. mēwag). This article presents mainly some general points and statistics about fruits in Persia-past and present; for the more important individual fruits see the relevant articles. Due to the great latitudinal, topographic, and climatic diversity of present-day Persia (and, a fortiori, of her much larger past…