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ʿALĪ B. ṬAYFŪR BESṬĀMĪ, historian and litterateur at the courts of Sultan ʿAbdallāh Qoṭbšāh (1035-83/1626-72) and his successor Sultan Abu’l-Ḥasan (1083-98/1672-86). As a youth he migrated from Besṭām in Iran to the Deccan, where he was greatly influenced by the Shiʿite divine Shaikh Malek Moḥammad Anṣārī. He lived in Golconda…

ʿALĪ B. ʿABBĀS MAJŪSĪ ARRAJĀNĪ, physician from Fārs and author of an Arabic work on medicine (d. 384/994 [?]); probably the most important medical writer between Rāzī and Ebn Sīnā. Except for his own al-Malakī, the only sources of information are short notices in Ebn al-Qefṭī’s Eḵbār al-ʿolamāʾfī aḵbār al-ḥokamāʾ…

ʿALĪ B. ʿĪSĀ B. DĀʾŪD B. AL-JARRĀḤ (245-334/859-946), vizier during the reign of the caliph Moqtader (295-320/908-32). His family was of Persian origin resident in Iraq, and many of its members held posts in ʿAbbasid administration; ʿAlī himself entered the bureaucracy as a secretary when about twenty years old. In…

ʿALĪ B. ʿĪSĀ B. MĀHĀN (d. l96/812), officer in the service of the ʿAbbasids. He was commander of the guard under the caliph Mahdī (158-69/775-85) and entrusted by Hādī (169-70/785-86) with the functions of secretary of the army (though he does not seem to have been ḥāǰeb at the same…

ʿALĪ B. ʿOBAYDALLĀH B. ḤASAN ḤASKĀ B. ḤOSAYN B. ḤASAN B. ḤOSAYN (this last was a brother or a cousin of Shaikh Ṣadūq Moḥammad b. ʿAlī b. Ḥosayn b. Mūsā b. Bābūya Qomī), ABU’L-ḤASAN, called MONTAJAB-AL-DĪN, a Shiʿite traditionist and biographer (b. 504/1110-11, d. after 585/1189). He learned traditions in…

ʿALĪ B. ʿOBAYDALLĀH ṢĀDEQ, ABU’L ḤASAN, called by Bayhaqī and Ebn Bābā Qāšānī ʿALĪ DĀYA (probably

ʿALĪ BESṬĀMĪ, MOLLĀ, early Bābī ʿālem and member of the ḥorūf al-ḥayy or sābeqūn, the first followers of the Bāb. Born (date unknown) near Besṭām in Khorasan, he studied in Mašhad where he embraced the tenets of the Šayḵī school. Later, in Karbalā, he became a close disciple of the…

ʿALĪ EBRĀHĪM KHAN, Indian statesman and literary figure (d. 1208/1793-94). His full name, including titles, was Navvāb Amīn-al-dawla ʿAzīz-al-molk ʿAlī Ebrāhīm Khan Bahādor Naṣīr Jang; he used the taḵalloṣ Ḵalīl or Ḵalīl ʿAẓīmābādī in his Persian poetry. He was perhaps the most politically astute of the brilliant circle Persian-descended Shiʿites…

ʿALĪ B. ŠEHĀB-AL-DĪN B. MOḤAMMAD HAMADĀNĪ, MĪR SAYYED, surnamed ʿAlī-e Ṯānī, Šāh-e Hamadān, and Amīr-e Kabīr, major 8th/14th century Sufi saint. He was born at Hamadān on Raǰab 714/22 October 1314 into an influential family claiming descent from Imam Ḥosayn. He was initiated into Sufi practices by Maḥmūd Mazdaqānī (d….

ʿALĪ HERAVĪ, also known as MĪR ʿALĪ KĀTEB ḤOSAYNĪ, a calligrapher active in Herat, Mašhad, and Bukhara from the late 9/15th century to 951/1544-45. A specialist in the nastaʿlīq script, he excelled in its use for manuscripts, architectural inscriptions, and qeṭʿas (calligraphy specimens, often mounted as album pages); he also…