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KHANSARI Dehkordi, MOHAMMAD (Moḥammad Ḵˇānsāri Dehkordi, b. 1922, Isfahan; d. 4 March 2010, Tehran; FIGURE 1), logician, scholar and a permanent member of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature (Farhangestān-e zabān va adab-e fārsi; see FARHANGESTĀN). Khansari began his education at a maktab in Isfahan and was subsequently enrolled…

KHARG ISLAND (Pers. Ḵārag, shortened to Ḵārg, contemporary Pers. Ḵārk, Ar. Ḵārak), an island and a district of Bušehr Province in the Persian Gulf.  It is referred to as Ḵārag and Ḵārak in medieval Persian and Arabic sources (Ḥodud al-ʿālam, p. 20; Ebn Ḥawqal, p. 47; Eṣṭaḵri, p. 107; Ebn…

KHARG ISLAND i. Geography Kharg Island is situated at about 30 miles northwest of the port of Bušehr and 20 miles west of the port of Ganāva. The island stretches about 5 miles longitudinally and half of that at its widest point; it has a total area of 8.1 square…

KHARG ISLAND ii. History and archeology Archaeological evidence of occupation on Kharg was first noted by A. W. Stiffe (Stiffe, pp. 179-180) and later discussed in more detail by Ernst Herzfeld and Friedrich Sarre (Sarre and Herzfeld, 63-66; Herzfeld, 1935, pp. 103-105, Pls. 18-19; Herzfeld, 1941, p. 276, Pl. 93)….

KHARG ISLAND iii. Developments since the 1950s In the years following World War II, Kharg was sparsely populated and Ḵārgu was uninhabited, though the latter had served as a quarantine station (Seltzer, p. 937). In mid-1950s the island housed 120 political prisoners along with a population of common criminals, who…

KHARGA OASIS (Ar. Ḵārja), the largest oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt, approximately 200 km west of the Nile Valley (Figure 1, Figure 2). Together with the neighboring Dakhla Oasis it was known in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic as wḥ3.t rsy.t, the ‘southern oasis’ (Giddy, pp. 39-40). Although there is…

KHARIJITES IN PERSIA The Kharijite sect of early Islam arose out of the conflict between ʿAli b. Abi Ṭāleb (r. 656-61) and Moʿāwiya b. Abi Sufyān (r. 661-80), the fourth and the fifth caliph respectively, when their opposing armies met at Ṣeffin in 657. An intransigent element in ʿAli’s forces…

KHATLON (Ḵatlān), one of the three provinces of Tajikistan, located in the southwestern part of the country.  Khatlon Province was created in 1988, and, after a short period of suspension, was reestablished in 1992.  Khatlon consolidates the former provinces of Kulāb and Kurgan Tepe, which remain topographically separated by a…

KHAYYAM, OMAR (ʿOMAR ḴAYYĀM, 1048-1131), celebrated polymath and poet, author of the Rubaiyat (Robāʿiāt). i.  Introduction. ii. The “Rubaiyat.” iii. Manuscripts and Editions of the “Rubaiyat.” iv. Impact of the “Rubaiyat.” v. English Translations of the “Rubaiyat.” vi. Illustrations of English Translations of the “Rubaiyat.” vii. French Translations of the “Rubaiyat.”…

KHAYYAM, OMAR ix. Translations into Italian No other Persian poet has enjoyed such enduring fame in Italy as Omar Khayyam (ʿOmar Ḵayyām) has.  Italian libraries hold only four manuscripts (15th-17th centuries) that together contain eighteen quatrains ascribed to Khayyam, one of which is thought to be unattested elsewhere (Piemontese, 1989,…

KHAYYAM, OMAR vi. Illustrations Of English Translations Of The Rubaiyat The Rubaiyat (Robāʾiyāt, quatrains) of Omar Khayyam (ʿOmar Ḵayyām) contain some of the best-known verses in the world. The book is also one of the most frequently and widely illustrated of all literary works, a remarkable feat for a work that…

KHAYYAM, OMAR xiii. Musical Works Based On The Rubaiyat The enduring popularity of the verses that make up the Rubaiyat (robāʾiyāt) of Omar Khayyam (ʿOmar Ḵayyām), both in the original Persian and in translation, is reflected in the substantial number of musical works that have been inspired by this work. Many…

KHAYYAM, OMAR xiv. Impact On Literature And Society In The West The first scholar outside Persia to study Omar Khayyam was the English orientalist, Thomas Hyde (1636-1703). In his Historia religionis veterum Persarum eorumque magorum (1700), he not only devoted some space to the life and works of Khayyam, but also…

KHAYYAM, OMAR xv. As Mathematician Three mathematical treatises of Omar Khayyam have come down to us: (1) a commentary on Euclid’s Elements; (2) an essay on the division of the quadrant of a circle; (3) a treatise on algebra; he also wrote (4) the treatise on the extraction of the…

KHORASAN i. ETHNIC GROUPS Ethnically speaking, the population of Khorasan is extremely varied. It consists principally of Persians, Arabs, Turks, Kurds, Mongols, Baluch, and smaller groups of Jews, Gypsies, and Lors. Persians. The Persians appear to have been the first ethnic group to populate the province, but, in time, they…