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RISHĀR KHAN (Rišār Khan), the Persian name of Jules Richard (b. Autrey, France, 1816; d. Tehran, 11 Šawwāl 1308/20 May 1891 [Feuvrier, p. 158; Qazvini, p. 25]), a Frenchman in the service of Persian government as a language instructor at Dār al-Fonun College, court photographer, and translator.  It has been…

RITTER, Hellmut (b. Lichtenau, Kurhessen, Germany, 27 February 1892; d. Oberursel, Hessen, 19 May 1971, FIGURES 1-2), German scholar of Islamic studies, and particularly of Persian literature and mysticism. He was one of seven children of a Protestant minister. His brother Gerhard (1888-1967) became an influential historian, who held professorships…

ROBINSON, Samuel (b. Manchester, 23 March 1794; d. Blackbrook Cottage, Wilmslow, Cheshire, 9 December 1884), British scholar of Persian, translator, cotton manufacturer, and educationalist. Robinson was educated at Manchester New College, which was then situated in the city of York. He followed his father, a cultured man, into the cotton…

ROMANIAN-IRANIAN RELATIONS.  Significant, sustained relations between Romania and Iran belong to the second half of the 20th century. They owed their development at this time primarily to the economic benefits both countries expected to derive from enhanced contacts, but the political consequences of the relationship, though of secondary importance, were…

ROSENTHAL, FRANZ WILHELM (b. Berlin, Germany, 31 August 1914; d. Branford, Connecticut, 8 April 2003, Plate 1), American scholar (of German origin) of Arabic and Semitic Studies, and particularly of Islamic intellectual history. His elder brother Karl Günther, who helped Franz and their parents (Kurt Willy, a flour merchant, and…

ROSTAM b. Farroḵ-Hormozd, Sasanian military commander and provincial ruler, a scion of the aristocratic Espahbodān family, who met his death leading the Sasanian army at the Battle of Qādesiya during the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran. In the last decades of Sasanian rule, the Espahbodān family as a whole, and Rostam…

RUDĀBA, princess of Kabul, wife of Zāl, and mother of Rostam. Her story (Šāh-nāma, ed. Khaleghi, I, pp. 186-270) is “one of the most beautiful narratives in Persian poetry” (Khaleghi, p. 39; cf. Nöldeke, p.71). Ṯaʿālebi (Ḡorar, pp. 73-106) gives so close a parallel account that a common source (undoubtedly…

RUDBĀR, town and district in southwestern Gilān. Rudbār is located on both banks of the Safidrud river at lat 36°51′ N, long 49°25′ E, at an average altitude of 300 m. The toponym “Rudbār” is common in Iran (with ten occurrences in L. Adamec’s gazetteer); the district has thus sometimes…

RUDSAR, city and sub-provincial district (šahrestān) in eastern Gilān. The city is located at lat 37°08′ N, long 50°18′ E, at the place where the Caspian coastal highway crosses the small river Rudsar or Kiārud, 14 km southwest of Langarud. Rudsar is the easternmost district of Gilān and is separated…

RUḤAFZĀ, Solaymān (also known as Simon Imorā; b. Tehran 1900, d. Israel, 1995), master of Persian classical music, who adopted his last name from a guša in the Rāst Panjgāh mode (dastgāh) of Persian music. His father, Mordeḵāy, and grandfather, Ebrāhim ʿAzariā, were both master żarb (tombak “chalice drum”) players,…

RUḤAWŻI, a comic type of traditional folk musical drama in Iran, often characterized by improvised funny remarks with social and/or cultural overtones and usually performed by professionals at ceremonies and festivities such as wedding and circumcision celebrations. It was traditionally performed on boards that were placed on the top of…

RUMI, JALĀL-AL-DIN, (d. 1273), Persian poet and Sufi philosopher. i. Introduction.ii. Biography.iii. The Maṯnawi.iv. Lyrics.v. Other works.vi. Poetics.vii. Philosophy.viii. Teachings.ix. Translations in English.x.  Translations and Commentaries in Turkish.