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ĀQĀ MĪRAK, Sayyed JALĀL-AL-DĪN ḤOSAYNĪ (or Ḥasanī) EṢFAHĀNĪ, prominent painter of the 10th/16th century in the workshop of the Safavid Shah Ṭahmāsp (r. 930-84/1524-76). Little is known about his personal background other than he was a sayyed of Eṣfahānī origin, was a pupil of Behzād, became a confidant and boon…

ĀQĀ NAJAFĪ, ḤAJJĪ SHAIKH MOḤAMMAD-TAQĪ EṢFAHĀNĪ (1262-1332/1846-1914), prominent religious leader involved with a number of important political events of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Opinions differ concerning his role. One of his disciples, Ḥāǰǰī Mīrzā Ḥasan Khan Shaikh Jāberī Anṣārī, states that Āqā Naǰafī elevated wisdom and religion…

ĀQĀ NAJAFĪ QŪČĀNĪ, SAYYED MOḤAMMAD ḤASAN B. MOḤAMMAD (1295-1362/1878-1943), religious authority and constitutionalist. He was born into a peasant family in the village of Ḵarva near Qūčān and received his early education there. His father urged him to continue his studies, and despite the son’s reluctance, took him in 1890…

ĀQĀ REŻĀ HERAVĪ, a painter closely associated with Prince Salīm, the later Emperor Jahāngīr, during the latter’s residence in Allahabad (1008-13/1599-1605). In his earliest known work Āqā Reżā’s son Abu’l-Ḥasan, also a court painter, describes himself as “ḵāna-zād,” which has been interpreted to mean that Abu’l-Ḥasan was born at the…

ĀQĀ TABRĪZĪ, MĪRZĀ, 19th-century civil servant and writer, whose chief claim to notice is the authorship of four comedies for long erroneously attributed to Mīrzā Malkom Khan. Little is known of his life. In a letter written in 1288/1871 to Mīrzā Fatḥ-ʿAlī Āḵūndzāda—the source of his dramaturgical inspiration—he says that…

ĀQĀ ZANJĀNĪ, MĪRZĀ, also known as Ḵamsaʾī, a calligrapher active between 1286/1869-70 and 1307/1890. He belonged to the retinue of the grand vizier Āqā Ebrāhīm Amīn-al-solṭān and his son ʿAlī-Aṣḡar Khan Amīn-al-solṭān Atābak-e Aʿẓam. He is said to have instructed ʿAlī-Aṣḡar Khan and his brother Esmāʿīl Khan Amīn-al-molk in calligraphy….

ĀQĀSĪ, ḤĀJJĪ MĪRZĀ ABBĀS ĪRAVĀNĪ (ca. 1198-1265/1783-1848), grand vizier of Moḥammad Shah Qāǰār (r. 1250-64/1834-48) between 1251-64/1835-48. Son of Moslem b. ʿAbbās, a petty Mulla-landowner of Īravān (Yerevan) from the Bayāt clan; when still a youth he accompanied his father to the Shiʿite holy cities of Iraq where he studied…

ĀQČA (or AQČA), a small market town in north Afghanistan, situated on the western edge of the great piedmont oasis of the Balḵāb river. It is the center of an administrative district (woloswālī) of 62,000 inhabitants (1358 Š./1979) in the province of Jowzǰān. Āqča is first mentioned in the 11th/17th…

ʿAQD, marriage contract, marriage contract ceremony. Iranian wedding ceremonies are divided into several distinct phases. Betrothal, the marriage contract ceremony (ʿaqd) and the secular wedding celebration (ʿarūsī) which includes or directly precedes consummation of the marriage. ʿAqd marks the formal legal and religious recognition of the marriage; it is the…

AQDAS, more fully al-Ketāb al-aqdas (Pers. Ketāb-e aqdas), “The Most Holy Book,” written in Arabic by Bahāʾallāh, the founder of the Bahāʾī religion. Bahāʾallāh wrote it soon after he was released from imprisonment in the barracks of Acre (Palestine) and transferred to the house of ʿŪdī Ḵammār (ca. 1873). Among…

ĀQEVLI, FARAJ-ALLĀH (b. Isfahan, 1266 Š./1887; d. Tehran, 13th Ābān, 1353 Š./1974), director of Anjoman-e Āṯār-e Melli (The National Monuments Council of Iran) who also held important posts in the gendarmerie and in civilian life (FIGURE 1). His father, Dr. Amān-Allāh, practiced medicine in Isfahan. His elder brother, Lieutenant-Colonel Fażl-Allāh…

Āqor haley title Āqor haley genre/topic Dance language   performer Ganj ‘Ali Salmānizādeh, karnā; Peymān Salmānizādeh, naqqāre instrument Kornā; Naqqāre composer   author/poet   first line of poem   recorded by   place of recording   date of recording   duration 4:00  source Qašqā’i Dances. Mahoor Institute of Culture and…

ĀQSŪ, town in eastern Turkestan, modern Chinese Sin-kiang, about six km to the north of the river Āqsū. It lies on the caravan roue between Maralbāšī and Kučā at 41° 14.7’ north latitude and 80° east longitude. The name is Turkish and is first used of this town in the…

ĀQSŪ, a river in the Āmū Daryā system. The upper course, called the Morḡāb in the Soviet Union, finds its source in the Little Pamir, the eastern part of Afghanistan’s Waḵān-Pāmīr mountains; the lower course, the Bārtang, flows into the Āmū Daryā at Rōšān. The following description refers only to…

ARA THE BEAUTIFUL (Arm. gełecʿik), son of Aram, mythical king of Armenia. According to Movsēs Xorenacʿi (5th-8th century A.D.), Šamiram (Semiramis), the queen of Assyria and widow of the king Ninos, desired Ara and invaded Armenia in order to kidnap him. He was killed in a battle, and Šamiram ordered…