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AMĪNA(-YE) AQDAS or AMĪN-E AQDAS (d. 1311/1893), one of Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah’s most powerful wives. Named Zobayda at birth, she was the daughter of an impoverished shepherd in a village near Garrūs in Kurdistan. She was brought to the capital, Tehran, in 1276/1859 by Anīs-al-dawla, the shah’s favorite wife, who had…

AMĪNĀ-YE QAZVĪNĪ, MĪRZĀ MOḤAMMAD AMĪN B. ABI’L-ḤOSAYN (ḤASAN), also known as MĪRZĀ AMĪNA or AMĪNA-YE MONŠĪ, Mughal historian and poet of Shah Jahān’s reign. A native of Iran, Amīnā moved to India some time before 1040/1630. In 1042/1632 he entered Shah Jahān’s service as a monšī and was patronized by…

AMĪNĪ, SHAIKH ʿABD-AL-ḤOSAYN, also known as ʿAllāma-ye Amīnī (1320-90/1902-70), Shiʿite scholar and author of the encyclopedic al-Ḡadīr fi’l-ketāb wa’l-sonna wa’l-adab. He was born in Tabrīz to a family celebrated for religious learning; his grand-father, Mollā Naǰaf-ʿAlī, had borne the title Amin-al-šaṛʿ (“guardian of the law”), and his father, Ḥoǰǰat-al-Eslām Mīrzā…

AMĪNJĪ B. JALĀL, AMĪN-AL-DĪN, eminent Ṭayyebī Ismaʿili jurist from Ahmadabad in India, son of the twenty-fifth dāʿī moṭlaq, Šams-al-dīn Jalāl b. Ḥasan (d. 975/1567). He was fourth in rank in the daʿwa hierarchy in the time of the twenty-sixth dāʿī moṭlaq, Dāʾūd b. ʿAǰabšāh (d. 997/1589 or 999/1591), and third…

AMĪR, “commander, governor, prince” in Arabic. Etymologically, the Arabic root amara “to command” corresponds to the common Hebrew root āmār “to say;” the amir, as well as being the person entitled to give orders and command, thus might also be considered as the spokesman and orator of his group, with…

AMĪR ARSALĀN, a prose romance of the genre dāstānhā-ye ʿammīāna, “popular tales.” The story was composed by Mīrzā Moḥammad ʿAlī Naqīb-al-mamālek, the naqqāl-bāšī or chief storyteller of Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah (r. 1264-1313/1848-96). According to D. ʿA. K. Moʿayyer-al-mamālek (Yaḡmā 8, 1334 Š./1955, pp. 554-56), Tūrān Āḡā Faḵr-al-dawla, daughter of Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah,…

AMĪR-E ḤARAS “commander of the guard,” the official at the court of the ʿAbbasid caliphs and at certain of its provincial successor states who was directly responsible for policing the palace and for carrying out the caliph’s wishes, including, for instance, executions and the bastinadoing of offenders. To assist him,…

AMIR KABIR PUBLISHERS, a major Persian publishing house active from 1949 to 1979. It was founded by ʿAbd-al-Raḥim Jaʿfari (b. 1298 Š. /1919) in a small office on Nāṣer Ḵosrow Avenue in Tehran, the location for most major publishers at the time. It opened its first bookstore nearby and later…

AMĪR(-E) KABĪR, MĪRZĀ TAQĪ KHAN (1222-68/1807-52), also known by the titles of Atābak and Amīr-e Neẓām; chief minister to Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah for the first four years of his reign and one of the most capable and innovative figures to appear in the whole Qajar period. He was born into a…

AMĪR ḴORD, SAYYED MOḤAMMAD B. MOBĀRAK KERMĀNĪ, 8th/14th century Indo-Muslim author of the Sīar al-awlīāʾ, a detailed account of Shaikh Neẓām-al-dīn Awlīāʾ (d. 725/1325) and his immediate predecessors, disciples, and successors, with brief lives of other saints of the Češtī order. Amīr Ḵord, or Mīr Ḵord, belonged to a sayyed…

AMĪR ḴOSROW DEHLAVĪ, NĀṢER-AL-DĪN ABU’L-ḤASAN (651-725/1253-1325), the “Parrot of India,” the greatest Persian-writing poet of medieval India. Son of Amir Sayf-al-dīn Maḥmūd, a Turkish officer, and an Indian mother, he was born in Patiali and early displayed his poetical talent, encouraged by his maternal grandfather, ʿEmād-al-molk. His master in poetry…

AMĪR(-E) LAŠKAR (pl. omarā-ye laškar), military rank equivalent to general granted during Reżā Khan’s rise to power. The titles amīr-e laškar and amīr-e tūmān coexisted till the latter term was abolished with other Qajar titles in 1304 Š./1925 (ʿA. Mostawfī, Šarḥ-e zendagānī-e man yā tārīḵ-e eǰtemāʿī o edārī-e dawra-ye Qāǰārīya, Tehran,…