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ABDADĀNA, region in western Media, mentioned in Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptions and annals (for references see S. Parpola, Neo-Assyrian Toponyms, Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1970, p. 2). The Assyrians received horses and other tribute from it. In the inscription of Shalmaneser III, it is placed southeast of Parsua and northeast of Bīt-Hamban (see D….

ABDAGASES (Pkt. Avadagaṣa), “great king” of the Pahlava dynasty in Drangiana, Arachosia, Gandhāra, and perhaps loosely over the Indus region. He was a “nephew of Gondophares” (Pkt. gadaphara-bhrataputra), whom he succeeded, ruling ca. 50-60 A.D. Abdagases’ existence is attested solely by his coinage in copper and billon; it imitates Gondophares’…

ABDĀL (sing. badal/badīl, pl. abdāl/bodalāʾ), an Arabic technical term designating one of the categories of awlīāʾ (“friends of God,” Muslim saints). According to classical Sufi theory, as formulated in the 4th/10th century, a fixed number of abdāl/awlīāʾ are chosen by God and, by their presence, preserve universal equilibrium, especially during…

ABDĀL BEG DEDE ḎU’L-QADAR or ṬĀLEŠ (other forms of his name in Safavid sources are DEDE BEG QŪRČĪBĀŠĪ, ABDĀL ʿALĪ BEG, ʿABDĀL BEG), one of the seven trusted Qezelbāš amirs (ahl-e eḵteṣāṣ) who, after the death of Solṭān ʿAlī (898/1493), accompanied the latter’s young brother and designated master of the…

ABDĀL ČEŠTĪ, ḴᵛĀJA ABŪ AḤMAD, described by Jāmī as the foremost among the shaikhs of Češt. He was born in 260/874 (on 3 Jomādā II, according to Sawāṭeʿ al-anwār and Merʾāt al-asrār, but on 6 Ramażān, according to Ḵazīnat al-aṣfīāʾ). His father, Solṭān Farasnāfa, belonged to the local nobility. Abū…

ABDĀL, QARA ŠEMSĪ (1244-1303/1828-86), a Turkish poet who also wrote poetry in Persian. He was born in Konya. As his family was poor, he did not receive a systematic education. He entered the convent of Mawlānā Jalāl-al-dīn Rūmī and became the disciple of Emir Şah Kaygusuz, the keeper of the…

ABDĀLĪ, ancient name of a large tribe, or more particularly of a group of Afghan tribes, better known by the name of Dorrānī since the reign of Aḥmad Šāh Dorrānī (1747-72). This tribal confederation groups the Pashtun clans of the west, which are to be distinguished from the Ḡilzī (sing….

ABDĪH UD SAHĪGĪH Ī SAGASTĀN (“The wonder and remarkability of Sagastān”), a short (about 300 words) Pahlavi treatise. Its authorship and period of composition are unknown, but it seems to be one of the few Pahlavi works written outside Fārs. The author, presumably a native of Sīstān, briefly mentions various…

ĀBEŠ ḴĀTŪN, Salghurid ruler of Fārs (663-85/1263-84), daughter of Atābeg Saʿd II. While still a child (in Rabīʿ I, 663/December, 1264), she succeeded her cousin Salǰuqšāh b. Salḡūr, whom the Mongols had driven away. Ca. 671/1272 she married the Mongol prince Möngke Temūr (Mangū Tīmūr; d. Moḥarram, 681/April, 1282), fourth…

ABGAR dynasty of Edessa, 2nd century B.C. to 3rd century A.D. i. General. ii. Historical survey. iii. Administration. iv. Social and cultural life; religion. i. General When the Seleucids withdrew from Mesopotamia in 130-29 B.C., Parthian hegemony there was virtually unchallenged. It was, however, exercised loosely; and a small number…

ABHAR (or Awhar in local pronunciation, see Ḥodūd al-ʿālam, tr. Minorsky, pp. 132, 383), a small town in the Qazvīn district, on the highway connecting Ray and later Tehran with Tabrīz and Azerbaijan. The geographers state that it lay 12 farsaḵs west of Qazvīn and that Zanǰān (the town with…

ABHARĪ, ABŪ BAKR ʿABDALLĀH B. ṬĀHER B. ḤĀTEM, Sufi of Persian ʿErāq (Solamī, Ṭabaqāt, p. 391.3) where he lived and apparently had received his Sufi training. He was born in Abhar and died in 330/941-42 (ibid., p. 391.9; Qošayrī, Resāla, p. 29.6). He is reckoned a disciple of Yūsof b….

ABHARĪ, AMĪN-AL-DĪN, mathematician, said to have died in 733/1332-33. He is the author of an extant text, Foṣūl kāfīa fī ḥesāb al-taḵt wa’l-mīl (“Sufficient chapters concerning computation with a pegboard”).

ABHARĪ SAMARQANDĪ, AṮĪR-AL-DĪN AL-MOFAŻŻAL B. ʿOMAR B. AL-MOFAŻŻAL (d. 663/1264), logician, mathematician, and astronomer. The only facts known about his life are that he was born and educated in Mosul but moved to Erbel (Arbela) in 625/1228. He was the disciple of Kamāl-al-dīn b. Yūnos and the teacher of Ebn…

ABHARĪ, ḴᵛĀJA KAMĀL-AL-DĪN ABŪ ʿAmr, vizier of the last two Great Saljuq sultans in western Persia, Arslan b. Ṭoḡ rı l II (556-71/1161-76) and his son Ṭoḡrıl III (579-90/1176-94). After a secretarial career, he first became minister to Arslan. When Ṭoḡrıl III became restive under the tutelage of the Eldiguzid…