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ʿALĪ AL-AʿLĀ (d. 822/1419), also known as Amīr Sayyed ʿAlī, principal successor of Fażlallāh Astarābādī, founder of the Ḥorūfī sect. Mention is to be found of him in the following Ḥorūfī texts: Bayān al-wāqeʿ by Mīr Šarīf, where he heads a list of fifteen important disciples of Fażlallāh; the Ṣalāt-nāma…

ʿALĪ AL-HĀDĪ, ABU’L-ḤASAN, B. MOḤAMMAD B. ʿALĪ B. MŪSĀ AL-ʿASKARĪ, the 10th imam of the Emāmī Shiʿites (d. 254/868). Besides Hādī, his most common epithet is Naqī; in Shiʿite sources he is often referred to as Abu’l-Ḥasan al-Ṯāleṯ. He was born, according to the best authenticated report, on 16 Ḏu’l-ḥeǰǰa…

ʿALĪ AL-REŻĀ, ABU’L-ḤASAN B. MŪSĀ B. JAʿFAR, the eighth Imam of the Emāmī Shiʿites. In Shiʿite sources he is commonly referred to as Abu’l-Ḥasan al-Ṯānī in order to distinguish him from his father, Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem, who is known as Abu’l-Ḥasan al-Awwal. He was born and grew up in Medina….

ʿALĪ AṢḠAR (ʿABDALLĀH), Imam Ḥosayn’s youngest son, killed at Karbalā (10 Moḥarram 61/10 October 680). His mother was Rabāb bent Emrāʾ al-Qays b. ʿAdī Kalbī (Ṭabarī, p. 387; Mofīd, al-Eḵteṣāṣ, Tehran, 1379/1959-60,p. 83). According to various sources, he was a new-born child (Yaʿqūbī, II, pp. 290f.), or an infant (one-year-old…

ʿALĪ AṢḠAR B. ʿALĪ AKBAR NAYYER BORŪJERDĪ, MĪRZĀ, author of several works including the ʿAqāʾed al-šīʿa, written in 1263/1874 and dedicated to Moḥammad Shah Qāǰār; though not of outstanding merit, this work has been printed several times (first lithographed, Tehran, 1285/1868-69) and was summarized by E. G. Browne (Lit. Hist….

ʿALĪ AṢḠAR ČEŠTĪ, Mughal hagiographer, chiefly known for his Jawāher-e Farīdī, compiled in 1033/1623 during the reign of Jahāngīr (1014-37/1605-27). A descendent of Shaikh Badr-al-dīn Solaymān, who was the son of Shaikh Farīd-al-dīn Ganǰ-e Šakar of Pakpattan (d. 664/1265), ʿAlī-Aṣḡar compiled Jawāher-e Farīdī to rectify errors that had crept into…

ʿALĪ B. ABĪ ṬĀLEB (b. ca. 600, d. 40/661), cousin and son-in-law of the prophet Moḥammad, first Shiʿite Imam, father of the Imams Ḥasan and Ḥosayn by Fāṭema, and fourth caliph (35-40/656-61). i. Life. ii. ʿAlī as seen by the community.   i. Life ʿAlī’s life falls into three distinct…

ʿALĪ B. AḤMAD BALḴĪ, ABU’L-QĀSEM NŪR-AL-DĪN, post-3rd/9th century astronomer. Like his more famous fellow townsman, he was known as Abū Maʿšar. He wrote a Ketāb al-madḵal fī ʿelm al-aḥkām al-falakīya (“Book of the introduction to the science of astrological judgments”) in seventy-three chapters (Krause, 450), and a Ketāb al-madḵal fī…

ʿALĪ B. ASAD B. ḤĀREṮ (second half of the 5th/11th cent.), the amir of Badaḵšān to whom Nāṣer(-e) Ḵosrow dedicated his Jāmeʿ al-ḥekmatayn; his titles, as given by Nāṣer Ḵosrow, were ʿAyn-al-dawla wa’l-dīn, Abu’l-Maʿālī Malekzāda Zayn-al-mella, and Šams-al-dīn al-Aʿlā Faḵr-al-omma, or Šams-al-aʿālī Mawlā Amīr-al-moʾmenīn. The local dynasty held sway from…

ʿALĪ B. FARĀMARZ, ʿALĀʾ-AL-DAWLA or MOʾAYYED-AL-DAWLA ʿAŻOD-AL-DĪN B. ABĪ MANṢŪR FARĀMARZ B. ʿALĀʾ-AL-DAWLA MOḤAMMAD B. DOŠMANZĪĀR, member of the Deylamī dynasty of the Kakuyids, d. 488/1095. In the middle years of the 5th/11th century, under ʿAlī’s father, Abū Manṣūr Farāmarz, the Kakuyids of Jebāl had lost their former capital of…

ʿALĪ B. ḤARB (or ʿAlī b. ʿOṯmān b. Ḥarb), ephemeral Saffarid amir of the so-called “third Saffarid dynasty” (described in the sources as the “molūk of Nīmrūz”); reigned briefly and died in 622/1225. In the early 7th/13th century, Sīstān, along with all the eastern Islamic lands, seems to have fallen…