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ʿABDALLĀH, author of Tārīḵ-e Dāʾūdī, fl. early 17th century. Little is known of him personally. His history covers the Afghan rulers of the Delhi sultanate from the childhood of Sultan Bahlūl Lōdī (1451-89) to the fall of Sultan Moḥammad ʿĀdel Šāh Sūr (killed in 1555-56); the work is named after…

ʿABDALLĀH AL-ANṢĀRĪ AL-HERAVĪ, ABŪ ESMĀʿĪL, in Persian commonly called ḴᵛĀJA ʿABDALLĀH ANṢĀRĪ, one of the outstanding figures in Khorasan in the 5th/11th century: commentator of the Koran, traditionist, polemicist, and spiritual master, known for his oratory and poetic talents in Arabic and Persian. Descending from a Companion of the Prophet,…

ʿABDALLĀH B. EBRĀHĪM, called Mīrzā Solṭān ʿAbdallāh Šīrāzī, grandson of Tīmūr’s son Šāhroḵ, born 27 Raǰab 836/19 March 1433 in Shiraz of Mehr Solṭān Ḵātūn, daughter of Alūčehra. By Šāhroḵ’s command he succeeded his father in the government of Fārs at the latter’s death (4 Šavvāl 838/3 May 1435) under…

ʿABDALLĀH B. ḴĀZEM B. ẒABYĀN B. AL-ṢALT AL-SOLAMĪ, ABŪ ṢĀLEḤ, Arab military leader, governor of Khorasan, partisan of ʿAbdallāh b. al-Zobayr, d. 72/691-92. His adventurous life illustrates the possibilities open during the Arab conquests to men with the requisite qualities, irrespective of birth. Ebn Ḵāzem was apparently the son of…

ʿABDALLĀH B. MAYMŪN AL-QADDĀḤ, legendary founder of the Qarmatian-Ismaʿili doctrine and alleged forefather of the Fatimid dynasty. He is featured in an account dating back to an early 4th/10th century author, Ebn Rezām, which was disseminated by opponents of the Ismaʿilis. This account was the source upon which Aḵū Moḥsen,…

ʿABDALLĀH B. MOBĀRAK, ABŪ ʿABD-AL-RAḤMĀN, 118-81/736-97, traditionist. The earliest notices of him date from the 4th/10th century, and their vivid depiction of his personality indicate how alive his memory remained in the Muslim community. ʿAbdallāh was born at Marv of a Khwarazmian mother and a Turk father. Of forceful disposition,…

ʿABDALLĀH B. MOʿĀVĪA B. ʿABDALLĀH B. JAʿFAR AL-ṬAYYĀR B. ABŪ ṬĀLEB, a Talebid rebel in western Iran in 127-29/744-47. Of his birth and early life the sources tell us only that he was of noble H āšemī descent on both sides. His grandfather, ʿAbdallāh b. Jaʿfar, a courtier of Moʿāvīa…

ʿABDALLĀH B. NAJĀŠĪ, ABŪ BOḤAYR B. ḠANIM B. SAMʿĀN ASADĪ NAṢRĪ, Shiʿite governor of Ahvāz under the caliph Manṣūr (136-58/754-75), remembered as the transmitter of a short text, Resāla Ahwāzīya, addressed to him by Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq. According to a story related by ʿAmmār Seǰestānī, ʿAbdallāh was a Zaydī Shiʿite…

ʿABDALLĀH B. ŠĀKER B. ABU’L-MOṬAHHAR AL-MAʿADĀNĪ, ŠAMS-AL-DĪN, an expert in geometry and the science of the stars, d. at Isfahan in late 570/1174-75. He apparently wrote works in both Persian and Arabic; none survives, and even the titles are unknown. 

ʿABDALLĀH B. ṬĀHER ḎU’L-YAMĪNAYN, governor of Khorasan for the ʿAbbasid caliphs (213-30/828-45) and most outstanding of the line of Taherid governors there. His tenure of power lasted for seventeen years, compared with the short ones of his father (less than two years) and of his brother and predecessor Ṭalḥa (six…

ʿABDALLĀH B. ʿĀMER B. KORAYZ, ABŪ ʿABD-AL-RAḤMĀN, Arab general and governor active in Iran, b. in Mecca in 4/626. He belonged to the clan of ʿAbd Šams and was related to the future caliph ʿOṯmān b. ʿAffān. The latter, upon assuming the caliphate as a compromise candidate, found himself increasingly…

ʿABDALLĀH B. ʿĪSĀ B. BAḴTAVAYH, ABU’L-ḤOSAYN, medical author of the early 5th/11th century, of Vāseṭī background. His own name as well as his father’s name suggest that he may have been a convert to Islam, for ʿAbdallāh is a name typical of a neophyte. His father and grandfather, to judge…

ʿABDALLĀH B. ʿOMAR B. DĀVŪD VĀʿEẒ BALḴĪ, ABŪ BAKR, also known as ṢAFĪ AL-DĪN VĀʿEẒ, the author of an Arabic monograph on the city of Balḵ (d. after 610/1213). Little is known of his life except for a few references found in his work. He flourished in the 6th-7th/12th-13th century….