Explore Iranica

JONES, Sir WILLIAM (b. London, 28 September, 1746; d. Calcutta, 27 April, 1794; Figure 1), orientalist and judge, son of William Jones FRS, and Mary Nix, the gifted daughter of a cabinet-maker. His father, a distinguished Welsh mathematician and collector of early Welsh manuscripts, was a friend of Sir Isaac…

JONG (known also as safina), literary miscellany of Persian prose and poetry, and album of pictures and illustrations. i. Persian jongs. See SAFINA. ii. Illustrations of Persian jongs.   ii. ILLUSTRATIONS OF PERSIAN JONGS The earliest, and possibly clearest, application of the term jong to a manuscript appears in a…

JONG-E ESFAHĀN (Isfahan anthology), an independent, avant-garde literary periodical, established in Isfahan in 1965 by a circle of literary men, irregularly producing 11 issues from 1965 to 1973. After a break of approximately 8 years, the 11th and final issue of the periodical was published in 1981 (see Figure 1…

JORDAN, SAMUEL MARTIN (known in Iran as Dr. Jordan; b. near Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, 6 January 1871; d. Los Angeles, CA, 21 June 1952; Figure 1), teacher, Presbyterian minister, missionary, founder and president of the American College of Tehran (later Alborz College; q.v). The son of James Cowden Jordan and Mary…

JORJĀNI, ZAYN-AL-DIN ABU’L-ḤASAN ʿALI B. MOḤAMMAD B. ʿALI AL-ḤOSAYNI (b. in the village of Ṭāḡu near Astarābād in Gorgān, whence “Jorjāni,” on 22 Šaʿbān 740/22 February 1340; d. Shiraz, 6 Rabiʿ II 816/6 July 1413), prolific author and scholar of the early Timurid period. Jorjāni was allegedly a distant descendant…

JORJĀNI, ZAYN-AL-DIN ESMĀʿIL b. Ḥasan, better known as Sayyed Esmāʿil Jorjāni (b. Gorgān, 1043-44?; d. Marv, 1136-37), physician who served two Khwarazmshahs (Ḵᵛārazmšāhs), Qoṭb-al-Din Moḥammad (r. 1097-1127) and his son and successor ʿAlāʾ-al-Din (or ʿAlāʾ-al-Dawla) Atsiz (r. 1127-56). For the former he composed his Ḏaḵira-ye ḵᵛārazamšāhi (q.v.), the largest encyclopedia…

JOSEPH (Yusof). The story of Joseph is described in the Qurʾān (12.3) as the most beautiful of stories (aḥsan al-qeṣaṣ). As a graphic romance of love and adversity, of an innocent boy of incomparable beauty sold into slavery by his own brothers, his rise as a young righteous young man…

JOSEPH i. IN PERSIAN LITERATURE As a love story with religious overtones, the romance of Yusof and Zolayḵā has always been among the very favorite themes of Persian poets who, with direct or oblique references to its various episodes, created a desired imagery, expanded on a particular point in the…

JOSEPH ii. IN QURʾĀNIC EXEGESIS In the Qurʾān, the story of the prophet Joseph is unique in being related as one continuous narrative, making up almost the entirety of chapter (sura) 12, which is named after him Surat Yusof. By contrast, the stories of other prophets, such as Abraham (Ebrāhim),…

JOSEPH iii. IN PERSIAN ART The popularity of Joseph as a subject in the visual arts is by and large a reflection of the popularity of the story of Joseph in Islamic literatures. Several Persian poets composed versified versions of the story (see, e.g., Monzawi, IV, pp. 3331-46), the earliest…

JOSTANIDS, also referred to as Āl-e Jostān and Āl-e Vahsudān (Eṣṭaḵri, p. 204; Moḥelli, p. 225), a local dynasty that ruled from Rudbār in Deylam, the mountainous district of Gilān (q.v.) during the late 8th and early 9th centuries. They are known mainly for their resistance against the incursions of…

JOURNALISM IN IRAN, the collection and editing of news for presentation through the public press during the following periods: i. Qajar period. ii. Pahlavi period. iii. Post-Revolution period.