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ʿAMR B. ʿOBAYD B. BĀB, early Muʿtazilite theologian and traditionist (d. probably 144/761, in Marrān near Mecca, on his way back from the pilgrimage). His grandfather had been captured when the Muslims conquered Kabul under ʿAbdallāh b. Samora in 43/663 and again in 45/665; probably he was among those who…

ʿAMʿAQ BOḴARĀʾĪ, AMĪR-AL-ŠOʿARĀʾ ABU’L-NAJĪB ŠEHĀB-AL-DĪN, Persian poet of the 5th-6th/11th-12th centuries. The date of his birth is unknown but he panegyrized the Qarakhanid Šams-al-molk Naṣr b. Ebrāhīm (r. 460-72/1068-80), so he was probably born before 440/1048-49. Having attained a degree of literary prowess in his home of Bokhara he went…

ʿANBAR (ambergris), a waxy, aromatic substance produced in the intestines of stomach of the sperm whale and used in perfumery. It is often mentioned in Persian literary and medical sources. In the Bundahišn (24.21), ambergris (Pahl. ambar) is considered the dung of the three-legged ass, whose urine purifies the seas….

ʿANBARĀN, a township and district (baḵš) in the Namin sub-provincial district (šahrestān) of Ardabil Province, located at lat 38°30′ N, long 48°22′ E.  This small area constitutes the only enclave of Ṭāleš (or Tāleš) population overlapping onto the interior, semi-arid side of the Ṭāleš range, just below the ridge that…

ʿANBARĪ, ABU’L-ʿABBĀS ESMĀʿĪL B. ʿALĪ B. AL-ṬAYYEB, 4th-5th/10th-11th century poet and prose stylist of Khorasan and statesman in the service of the Qarakhanids. He stemmed from an important family of Bayhaq of Arab origin, the ʿAnbarīān (q.v.), from whom had originated many scholars and traditionists (see the section on them…

ʿANDALIB, NĀṢER MOḤAMMAD, Sufi writer (b. in Delhi 1105/1693-94, d. 1172/1759). His family, sqvyedsclaiming descent from Baha’-al-dm Naq§band, had come to India from Bokhara in the lith/17th century, served as officers, and intermarried with the Mughal family. In 1132/1720 young Naser Mohammad gave up the military service to devote himself…

ʿANNAZIDS (BANŪ ʿANNĀZ), a Kurdish dynasty (r. ca. 380-510/990-1117) whose territory on the Iran-Iraq frontier included Kermānšāh, Ḥolwān, Dīnavar (now in western Iran), Šahrazūr, Daqūqā (Daqūq), Daskara, Bandanīǰīn (Mandelī), and Noʿmānīya (now in northeast Iraq). According to Ebn al-Aṯīr, the name ʿAnnāz is derived from ʿanz (she-goat) and signifies the…

ʿĀQ[Q]-E WĀLEDAYN, Ar.: “[the son] disobedient to [his] parents,” a theme in popular Shiʿite literature. ʿĀq (popular form of ʿāqq, derived from Arabic ʿāqqa) means “disobedient or rebellious,” implying “toward father or mother;” the word is used this way in Persian literature on ethics (see Dehḵodā, s.v. ʿāq). The phrase…

ʿAQD-NĀMA, contract, now specifically marriage contract; synonyms, qabāla-ye ezdewāǰ, paymān-nāma. Marriage contracts belong to the class of Islamic legal deeds or certificates such as qabāla (deed of purchase), wakālat-nāma (power of attorney), or waqf-nāma (deed of endowment) and, on a more general level, relate to firmans, and official letters (dast-ḵaṭṭ)….

ʿAQDĀ, a small settlement and subdistrict (dehestān) in the district (baḵš) of Ardakān-e Yazd lying at 32° 30’ north latitude and 53° 36’ east longitude on the road connecting Yazd with Nāʾīn and Isfahan, at a distance of 74 km from Nāʾīn and 100 km from Yazd. In medieval Islamic times,…

ʿĀQEL KHAN RĀZĪ, MĪR ʿALĪ ʿASKARĪ B. MOḤAMMAD-TAQĪ ḴᵛĀFĪ, 11th/17th-century Indo-Muslim man of letters, historian, and mystic (d. 1108/1696). He belonged to a family of sayyeds from Ḵᵛāf in Khorasan. He adopted the taḵalloṣ Rāzī from the name of his spiritual guide, the Šaṭṭārī saint Borhān-al-dīn Borhānpūrī called Rāz-e Elāhī…

ʿĀQEL, MĪRZĀ MOḤAMMAD HONARVAR KHAN, Kashmiri poet and courtier who flourished in the first half of the 12th/18th century (B. D. Ḵᵛošgū, Safīna-ye Ḵᵛošgū, Patna, 1959, p. 275; Mīr Ḡolām-ʿAlī Āzād Belgrāmī, Ḵezāna-ye ʿĀmera, Cawnpur, 1900, p. 347). A pupil of the famous poet Mīrzā ʿAbd-al-Qāder Bīdel, he spent most…

ʿĀQEL, ḴᵛĀJA (QĀŻĪ) MOḤAMMAD, entitled Korīǰa, mystic of the Panjab (d. 1229/1814). A disciple and vicegerent of Ḵᵛāǰa Nūr Moḥammad from Mihar, he set up Neẓāmī Češtī ḵānaqāhs at Cacran, Kot Mithan, Ahmadpur, Shidani, Yaranwali, Sitpur, and elsewhere (Naǰm-al-dīn Češtī, Manāqeb al-maḥbūbīn, Lahore, 1312/1894, pp. 115-21; Ḵᵛāǰa Gol Moḥammad Aḥmadpūrī,…