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RUMI, JALĀL-AL-DIN vii. Philosophy Rumi’s teachings, whether in the Maṯnawi or his other works, focus on “the roots of the roots of the roots of the religion” (oṣul oṣul oṣul al-din, Maṯnawi I intro.).  By “the religion” he means the Islamic tradition, not religion generically; he is saying that his…

RUMI, JALĀL-AL-DIN viii. Rumi’s Teachings Jalāl-al-Din Moḥammad Balḵi Rumi’s (q.v.; d. 672/1273) magnum opus is his didactic poem, the Maṯnawi (q.v.), and his main prose work is the Fihe mā fihe, which was compiled from the notes of students at his teaching circle.  These works, which represent the last two…

RUSSIA i. Russo-Iranian Relations up to the Bolshevik Revolution. ii. Iranian-Soviet Relations (1917-1991). iii. Russo-Iranian Relations in the post-Soviet Era (1991-present). iv. Travelers in Persia to 1917. v. Russians at the court of Moḥammad-ʿAli Shah.

RUSSIA i. Russo-Iranian Relations up to the Bolshevik Revolution The relationship between Iran and Russia extends back more than a millennium. Prior to the 18th century, Iran and Russia treated each other as equal in their sporadic trade and diplomatic contacts. During the reign of Peter the Great (r. 1682-1725),…

RUSSIA ii. IRANIAN-SOVIET RELATIONS (1917-1991) From the outset, the very first international resolutions of the young Soviet state had an immediate impact on relations with Iran. On October 26 1917, the second All-Russian Congress of Soviets passed the Decree on Peace declaring the abrogation of all unequal treaties. On December…

RUSSIA iii. Russo-Iranian Relations in the Post-Soviet Era (1991-present) Since the end of the 1980s, Iran and Russia have sought to increase their cooperation in the military, nuclear, oil, and gas sectors.  Both the Iranian government’s decision to shift foreign policy interests towards the East and the unilateral sanctions of…

RUSSIA iv. TRAVELERS IN PERSIA TO 1917 Russian travelers’ reports are a valuable source on the history of Persia and its relationship with Russia. The earliest known Russian account dealing with Persia is that by Afanasiĭ Nikitin from Tver’. Nikitin was one of the merchants who accompanied an embassy traveling…

RUSSIA v. RUSSIANS AT THE COURT OF MOḤAMMAD-ʿALI SHAH The presence of Russians at the court of Moḥammad-ʿAli Shah (r. 1907-09) reflected Russia’s efforts to improve her competitive position against the British by strengthening her influence over the Qajar rulers. Gathering information and promoting Russian interests at the court were…

RUSSIA vi. Persian Art Collections in Russia The collections of Iranian Art in Russia were kept in a number of different towns of the former Soviet Union.  Vladimir G. Lukonin and Anatol A. Ivanov made an attempt in the early 1980s to prepare the publication of a large album called…

RUZ-NĀMA-YE RASMI-E DAWLAT-E IRĀN (The Official Journal of the Government of Iran), a newspaper published in Tehran as the official organ of government, replacing its precedent example Irān, which had been suspended following the 1908 coup d’etat of Moḥammad-ʿAli Shah (see CONSTITUTIONAL REVOLUTION). When constitutional regime was restored, Majlis passed…

RUZBEHĀN, the proper name used in artist signatures in twelve manuscripts with illumination, which are associated with 16th-century Shiraz workshops. All are dateable between 1509 and 1560.  The craftsmanship is of exceptionally high quality, but at the current state of research on manuscript book production in Safavid Iran (see SAFAVID DYNASTY)…

RYE (čāvdār), Secale cereale L. (fam. Gramineae). The Persian name is probably of Turkish origin. Schlimmer (1874) has recorded the following vernacular names for rye (p. 505): čowdār (Azerbaijan), divak (Lārijān), kārnāvār (Ḵaraqān), dileh (Nā’in), and bārenj (Čahār Maḥāl). He adds that rye seems to be cultivated only in these…

R ENTRIES: CAPTIONS OF ILLUSTRATIONS online entry caption text RADI, AKBAR Figure 1. Photograph of Akbar Radi. RADI, AKBAR Figure 2. Program, Rowzaneh-ye ābi by Radi. RADI, AKBAR Figure 3. Program, Rowzaneh-ye ābi by Radi. RADI, AKBAR Figure 4. Monji dar Ṣobḥ-e namnāk by Radi. RADI, AKBAR Figure 5. Ru-ye…

SA’EDI, Gholam-Hosayn (غلامحسین ساعدی, Ḡolām-Ḥosayn Sāʿedi, b. Tabriz, 13 Dey 1314 Š./5 January 1936; d. Paris, 2 Āḏar 1364 Š./23 November 1985; Figure 1), psychiatrist, amateur ethnographer, editor, noted engagé dramatist (under the pen name Gowhar-e Morād), fiction writer, and influential figure in popularizing the theater as an art form,…

ṢABĀ, ABU’l-ḤASAN (b. Tehran, 1281 Š./1902; d. Tehran, 29 Āḏar 1336/19 December 1957), Persian musician and music educator (Figure 1; Figure 2). He excelled as a performer and teacher of the violin, setār, santur, and tombak (tonbak; see IRAN xi. MUSIC, DRUMS). Born into an aristocratic and relatively affluent family,…