ii. GOVERNMENT OFFICE The origins of the dīvān lie in the earliest years of the Arab caliphate in Medina, when…

i. In the Early Centuries of the Islamic Period In early Islam, begging must have arisen in the first place…

i. General and the Early Period The region of Bāḏḡīs is bisected in an east-west direction by the Paropamisus mountains,…

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…

ʿALĀʾ-AL-DĪN ABU’L-FATḤ MOḤAMMAD B. TEKIŠ B. IL-ARSLAN, Ḵᵛārazmšāh who reigned in Transoxania and central and eastern Iran as well as in…

ʿALĀʾ-AL-DĪN ḤOSAYN B. ʿEZZ-AL-DĪN ḤOSAYN, called JAHĀNSŪZ, Ghurid sultan and the first ruler of the Šansabānī family to make the…

ʿALĪʾ-AL-DĪN ATSÏZ B. ʿALĀʾ-AL-DĪN ḤOSAYN, a late and short-reigned sultan of the Ghurid dynasty in Afghanistan (607-11/1210-14). He was still…

ʿALĀʾ-AL-DĪN (or ŻĪĀʾ-AL-DĪN) ʿALĪ B. ŠOJĀʿ-AL-DĪN ʿALĪ, Ghurid malek and later sultan, reigned in Ḡūr from Fīrūzkūh as the last…

ʿALĀʾ-AL-DAWLA ABŪ JAʿFAR MOḤAMMAD B. ROSTAM DOŠMANZĪĀR B. MARZOBĀN (d. 433/1041), Daylamī military leader and founder of the shortlived but…

ʿALĀʾ-AL-DAWLA ʿALĪ B. ḤOSĀM-AL-DAWLA ŠAHRĪĀR B. QĀREN (511-34/1117-40), ruler of the Espahbadīya line of the local dynasty of the Bavandids…

ĀL-E MOḤTĀJ, a local dynasty, most probably of Iranian origin but conceivably of Iranized Arab stock, who ruled in the…

ĀL-E MAʾMŪN (or Maʾmunids), a short-lived dynasty of independent Iranian rulers in Ḵᵛārazm, 385-408/995-1017; they replaced the ancient line of…

ĀL-E FARĪḠŪN, a minor Iranian dynasty of Gūzgān (Gūzgānān, Jūzǰān; in what is now northern Afghanistan) which flourished from some…

ĀL-E ELYĀS, a short-lived Iranian dynasty which ruled in the eastern Persian province of Kermān during the 4th/10th century. The…

ĀL-E BORHĀN, the name of a family of spiritual and civic leaders in Bokhara during the 6th/12th and early 7th/13th…

ĀL-E AFRĪḠ (Afrighid dynasty), the name given by the Khwarazmian scholar Abū Rayḥān Bīrūnī to the dynasty of rulers in…

ĀL-E AFRĀSĪĀB, a minor Iranian Shiʿite dynasty of Māzandarān in the Caspian coastlands that flourished in the late mediaeval, pre-Safavid…

AḴSĪKAṮ (AḴSĪKANT, later medieval form AḴSĪ), in early medieval times the capital of the then still Iranian province of Farḡāna;…

AḴLĀṬ (or Greek Khliat, Khleat, Armenian Khlaṭʿ), a town and medieval Islamic fortress in eastern Anatolia, in the former Armenian…

AḴBĀR AL-ṬEWĀL, KETĀB AL- (“The book of the long historical narratives”), title of a historical work by the Persian writer…

AḴBĀR AL-DAWLAT AL-SALJŪQĪYA, an Arabic chronicle on the history of the Great Saljuq dynasty in Iran and Iraq, conventionally ascribed…

ʿAJAM, the name given in medieval Arabic literature to the non-Arabs of the Islamic empire, but applied especially to the…

ʿAJĀʾEB AL-MAḴLŪQĀT (“The marvels of created things”), the name of a genre of classical Islamic literature and, in particular, of…

Ahvāz was apparently a flourishing town in pre-Islamic times, to be identified either with the Aginis of the Greek geographers…

AḤSAN AL-TAQĀSĪM FĪ MAʿREFAT AL-AQĀLĪM, a celebrated geographical work in Arabic written towards the end of the 4th/10th century by…

AḤRĀR (BANU’L-AḤRĀR), in Arabic literally “the free ones,” a name applied by the Arabs at the time of the Islamic…

AḤMAD B. MOḤAMMAD B. ʿABD-AL-ṢAMAD ŠĪRĀZĪ, ḴᵛĀJA ABŪ NAṢR (usually “Aḥmad-e ʿAbd-al-Ṣamad” in Bayhaqī, Ghaznavid official and vizier, d. ca….

AḤMAD B. ʿABDALLĀH ḴOJESTĀNĪ, military commander in 3rd/9th century Khorasan, one of several contenders for authority in the region after…

AḤMAD INALTIGIN (in the sources, usually spelt Yenāltegīn or, erroneously, Nīaltegīn), Turkish commander and rebel under the early Ghaznavid sultan…

AḤMAD B. SAHL B. HĀŠEM, governor in Khorasan during the confused struggles for supremacy there between the Saffarids, Samanids, and…

AḤMAD B. QODĀM, a military adventurer who temporarily held power in Sīstān during the confused years following the collapse of…

AḤMAD B. NEẒĀM-AL-MOLK, ABŪ NAṢR (d. 544/1149-50), son of the well-known Saljuq vizier (d. 485/1092) and himself vizier for the…

AḤMAD B. MOḤAMMAD B. ṬĀHER, governor in Ḵᵛārazm and son of the last Tahirid governor in Khorasan. Although Vasmer has…

AḤMAD B. MOḤAMMAD B. ḴALAF B. Layṯǰ, ABŪ JAʿFAR (r. 311-52/923-63), amir in Sīstān of the Saffarid dynasty (that part…

AḤMAD B. FAŻLĀN B. AL-ʿABBĀS B. RAŠĪD, author of an extremely important travel narrative written after he had been a…

AḤMAD B. ASAD B. SĀMĀN ḴODĀ (d. 250/864), early member of the Samanid family and governor of Farḡāna under the…

AFŠĪN, princely title of the rulers of Ošrūsana at the time of the Muslim conquest, the most famous of whom…

ADAB AL-KĀTEB (“Manual for secretaries”), a work composed by the celebrated Baghdad scholar probably of Khorasanian mawlā origin, Ebn Qotayba…

ĀDĀB AL-ḤARB WA’L-ŠAJĀʿA (“The correct usages of war and bravery”), a treatise in a straightforward Persian prose style in the…

ABŪ ṢĀLEḤ MANṢŪR (I) B. NŪḤ B. NAṢR, called AL-AMĪR AL-SADĪD and AL-MALEK AL-MOẒAFFAR (350-66/961-76), Samanid ruler in Transoxania and…

ABŪ ṢĀLEḤ MANṢŪR B. ESḤĀQ B. AḤMAD B. ASAD SĀMĀNĪ, Samanid prince, the cousin of the amir Aḥmad b. Esmāʿīl…

ABŪ SAHL ḴOJANDĪ, vizier of the Ghaznavids in the 5th/11th century. He served Sultan Ebrāhīm b. Masʿūd (451-92/1059-99) as that…

ABU’L-QĀSEM ʿALĪ B. ḤASAN B. MOḤAMMAD B. ABĪ ḤANĪFA, vizier to the atabeg of Lorestān Šams-al-dawla Ḡāzī Beg Aydoḡmuš. It…

ABŪ ʿOBAYDA MAʿMAR B. AL-MOṮANNĀ, Arabic philologist and grammarian (probably 110-209/728-824, but the sources have other, slightly different dates). His…

ABŪ NAṢR HEBATALLĀH FĀRSĪ, QEWĀM-AL-MOLK NEẒĀM-AL-DĪN, official, soldier and poet of the Ghaznavid empire, flourished in the second half of…

ABŪ NAṢR FĀMĪ, ṮEQAT-AL-DĪN ʿABD-AL-RAḤMĀN B. ʿABD-AL-JABBĀR B. ʿOṮMĀN, 472-546/1079-1151, local historian of Herat in the Saljuq period. The scanty…

ABŪ NAṢR AḤMAD B. ESMĀʿĪL SĀMĀNĪ, called AMĪR-E ŠAHĪD (“the martyred amir”) because of his violent death, Samanid amir in…

ABŪ MANṢŪR FARĀMARZ, ẒAHĪR-AL-DĪN ŠAMS-AL-MOLK, eldest son of the Kakuyid amir of Jebāl, ʿAlāʾ-al-dawla Moḥammad b. Došmanzīār. He reigned in…

ABŪ KĀLĪJĀR GARŠĀSP (II), ʿALĀʾ-AL-DAWLA ʿAŻOD-AL-DĪN B. ʿALĪ B. ABĪ MANṢŪR FARĀMARZ B. ʿALĀʾ-AL-DAWLA MOḤAMMAD, member of the Dailamite dynasty…

ABŪ KĀLĪJĀR GARŠĀSP (I), ʿALĀʾ-AL-DAWLA, second son of the Kakuyid amir of Jebāl, ʿAlāʾ-al-dawla Moḥammad b. Došmanzīār, ruled in Hamadān…

ABU’L-ḤOSAYN AḤMAD B. SAʿD KĀTEB, official of the Buyids and writer in Arabic of the 4th/10th century. Little is known…

ABU’L-ḤASAN ʿALĪ B. FAŻL B. AḤMAD ESFARĀʾĪNĪ, first vizier for the Ghaznavid sultan Maḥmūd (r. 388-421/998-1030). He began his career…

ABU’L-FAŻL (in Jūzǰānī ABU’L-FATḤ) TĀJ-AL-DĪN NAṢR B. ṬĀHER, amir of the line of later Saffarids, sometimes called the third dynasty…

ABU’L-FATḤ YŪSOF B. YAʿQŪB, ŠAMS-AL-WOZARĀʾ QOṬB-AL-DĪN NEẒĀM-AL-MOLK, Ghaznavid vizier of the early 6th/12th century. The dates of his birth and…

ABŪ ESḤĀQ EBRĀHĪM B. ALPTIGIN (named in some sources, e.g., Ebn Bābā, as Esḥāq b. Alptigin), governor of Ḡazna in…

ABŪ BAKR B. ABĪ ṢĀLEḤ, vizier of the Ghaznavids in the 5th/11th century. He is first heard of as the…

ABŪ ʿALĪ MOḤAMMAD B. ʿĪSĀ DĀMḠĀNĪ, vizier of the Samanids in the last years of their power. The reign of…

ABŪ ʿALĪ AḤMAD B. ŠĀḎĀN, governor (ʿamīd) of Balḵ and northern Afghanistan under the Saljuq ruler of Khorasan, Čaḡrī Beg…

ABU’L-ʿALĀʾ ʿAṬĀʾ, called NĀKŪK, secretary and poet of the Ghaznavid period, d. 491/1098. Little is known of his life, but…

ABŪ AḤMAD B. ABĪ BAKR B. ḤĀMED AL-KĀTEB, poet and official of the Samanids, fl. first half of the 4th/10th…

ABNĀʾ “sons” in Arabic, used as a term for the offspring of Persian soldiers and officials in the Yemen and…

ABĪVARD, a town in medieval Iran situated in northern Khorasan, in the northern foothills of the Hazār Masǰed range where…

ABHARĪ, ḴᵛĀJA KAMĀL-AL-DĪN ABŪ ʿAmr, vizier of the last two Great Saljuq sultans in western Persia, Arslan b. Ṭoḡ rı…

ABHAR (or Awhar in local pronunciation, see Ḥodūd al-ʿālam, tr. Minorsky, pp. 132, 383), a small town in the Qazvīn…

ʿĀBEDĪ, ABU’L-RAJĀʾ AḤMAD B. ʿABD-AL-ṢAMAD, a landowner (dehqān) of Transoxania. At Samarqand in 504/1110-11 (during the reign of the Qarakhanid…

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…

ʿABD-AL-RAZZĀQ ABU’L-FATḤ B. AḤMAD B. ḤASAN MAYMANDĪ, Ghaznavid vizier of the middle years of the 5th/11th century. He was the…

ʿABD-AL-RAŠĪD, ABŪ MANṢŪR ʿEZZ-AL-DAWLA B. MAḤMŪD B. SEBÜKTIGĪN, Ghaznavid sultan, r. 441-44/1050-53. He succeeded to the amirate after the death…

ʿABD-AL-MALEK B. NŪḤ B. NAṢR, ABU’L-FAVĀRES, ruler of the Samanid dynasty in Transoxania and Khorasan, 343-350/954-61. The historian of Bokhara,…

ʿABD-AL-MALEK B. NŪḤ B. MANṢŪR, ABU’L-FAVĀRES, the penultimate ruler of the Samanid dynasty in Khorasan and Transoxania, r. 389/999. In…

ʿABD-AL-ḤAMĪD B. AḤMAD B. MOḤAMMAD B. ʿABD-AL-SAMAD ŠĪRĀZĪ, vizier of the Ghaznavids in the late 5th/11th to early 6th/12th century….

ʿABBASID CALIPHATE in Iran. The aim of the present article is not to give a chronological history of Persia under…

ABASKŪN (ĀBASKŪN), a port of the medieval period on the southwest shore of the Caspian Sea in Gorgān province. Perhaps…

ABARQŪH (or ABARQŪYA), a town in northern Fārs; it was important in medieval times, but, being off the main routes,…

ABARQOBĀḎ, an ancient town of lower Iraq between Baṣra and Vāseṭ, to the east of the Tigris, in the region…

ĀBĀDA 1. The name of a small town in northern Fārs province, lying to the northeast of the chaîne magistrale…

ĀB-E ĪSTĀDA “still water,” a salt lake in the province of Ḡazna in modern Afghanistan, lying 30 km southeast of…

HĀRUN B. ALTUNTAŠ, son of a Turkish slave commander of Maḥmud of Ghazna (q.v.) who served as governor in Kᵛārazm…

ḤARRĀN, an ancient town of Upper Mesopotamia, now located in the modern Turkish province of Diyarbakir approximately 40 km/25 miles…

MINORSKY, Vladimir Fed’orovich (1877-1966), outstanding Russian scholar of Persian history, historical geography, literature and culture, who worked on a very…

OTRĀR, a medieval town of Transoxania, in a rural district (rostāq) of the middle Jaxartes River (Syr Darya), apparently known…

ḴALAF B. AḤMAD b. Moḥammad, Abu Aḥmad (d. 399/1009), Amir in Sistān of the “second line” of Saffarids, who ruled…

ʿALĪ B. MAʾMŪN, ABU’L-ḤASAN, second Ḵᵛārazmšāh of the short-lived Maʾmunid dynasty in Ḵᵛārazm (reigned 387-ca. 399/997-ca. 1008-09). He was married…

ʿALĪ B. ḤARB (or ʿAlī b. ʿOṯmān b. Ḥarb), ephemeral Saffarid amir of the so-called “third Saffarid dynasty” (described in…

ʿALĪ B. MASʿŪD I, BAHĀʾ-AL-DAWLA ABU’L-ḤASAN, Ghaznavid sultan, reigned ca. 440/1048-49. Masʿūd II b. Mawdūd and then ʿAlī b. Masʿūd…

ʿALĪ B. ʿOBAYDALLĀH ṢĀDEQ, ABU’L ḤASAN, called by Bayhaqī and Ebn Bābā Qāšānī ʿALĪ DĀYA (probably <day “maternal uncle,” bestowed…

ʿALĪ B. IL-ARSLAN QARĪB or ḴᵛĪŠĀVAND, ZAʿĪM-AL-ḤOJJĀB, Turkish military commander of the early Ghaznavids Maḥmūd, Moḥammad and Masʿūd I, and…

ʿALĪTIGIN, the usual name in the sources for ʿALĪ B. ḤASAN or HĀRŪN BOḠRA KHAN, member of the Hasanid or…

ALPTIGIN (Tk., “hero prince”), Turkish military slave commander of the Samanids and founder of Turkish power in eastern Afghanistan (d….

ALTUNTAŠ (ĀLTŪNTAŠ) ḤĀJEB, ABŪ SAʿĪD, Turkish slave commander of the Ghaznavid sultans and governor in Ḵᵛārazm (408-23/1017-32). He began his…

ʿĀMEL, the holder of an administrative office in the pre-modern Islamic world. In earliest Islam, the Arabic term ʿāmel was…

ʿAMĪD, ABŪ ʿABDALLĀH AL-ḤOSAYN B. MOḤAMMAD, known as Kolah (said to be an opprobrious term), secretary and official in northern…

AMĪR, “commander, governor, prince” in Arabic. Etymologically, the Arabic root amara “to command” corresponds to the common Hebrew root āmār…

AMĪR-E ḤARAS “commander of the guard,” the official at the court of the ʿAbbasid caliphs and at certain of its…

AMĪR-AL-OMARĀʾ, literally, “commander of commanders,” hence “supreme commander,” a military title found from the early 4th/10th century onwards, first in…

AMĪRAK BAYHAQĪ, ABU’L-ḤASAN AḤMAD B. MOḤAMMAD ʿANBARĪ (d. 448/1056), intelligence officer (ṣāḥeb-barīd) in Khorasan under the early Ghaznavids. He stemmed…

ĀMOL, a town on the Caspian shore, situated in 36° 25’ north latitude and 52° 35’ east longitude in the…

ĀMOL (ĀMŪYA), a town situated in 39°5’ north latitude and 63°41 ° east longitude, one farsaḵ or three miles from…

ʿAMR B. LAYṮ ṢAFFĀRĪ, military commander and second ruler of the Saffarid dynasty of Sīstān (r. 265-87/879-900). Though of humble…

ʿAMR B. YAʿQŪB B. MOḤAMMAD B. ʿAMR B. LAYṮ ABŪ ḤAFṢ, great-grandson of the co-founder of the Saffarid dynasty and…

ANĀRAK, a baḵš and its town on the southern fringes of the Dašt-e Kavīr (33° 20’ north latitude and 53°…

ANBĀR or ANBĪR, a town of the medieval Islamic province of Gūzgān or Jūzǰān in northern Afghanistan, probably to be…

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…

ʿANBARĪĀN, a distinguished family of officials, littérateurs, ʿolamāʾ, and traditionists from Bayhaq (modern Sabzavār). Their activities in public and scholarly…

ANDARĀB or ANDARĀBA (Lit.: ” between the rivers”), the name of a river and a town situated upon it in…

ANDEJĀN, town in the medieval Islamic province of Farḡāna, modern Russian Andizhan, in the easternmost part of the Uzbekistan SSR…

ANŪŠERVĀN B. ḴĀLED B. MOḤAMMAD KĀŠĀNĪ, ABŪ NAṢR ŠARAF-AL-DĪN, high official who served the Great Saljuq sultans and the ʿAbbasid…

ANŪŠERVĀN B. MANŪČEHR B. QĀBŪS, ruler of the Daylamī dynasty of the Ziyarids in Ṭabarestān and Gorgān during the early…

ANŪŠTIGIN ḠARČAʾĪ, Turkish slave commander of the Saljuqs; in the late 5th/11th century, under Sultans Malekšāh and Berkyaruq (Barkīāroq), he…

ʿAQDĀ, a small settlement and subdistrict (dehestān) in the district (baḵš) of Ardakān-e Yazd lying at 32° 30’ north latitude and…

ARAXES (ARAS) RIVER. i. Geography. ii. Historical perspective. i. Geography The Araxes river (Figure 5) forms the international boundary between…

ARDABĪL i. History of Ardabīl. ii. Modern Ardabīl. iii. Monuments of Ardabīl. iv. Ardabīl Collection of Chinese Porcelain. v. Population, 1956-2011….

ARDAKĀN-E FĀRS, a small upland town of the ostān of Fārs (hence to be distinguished from the Ardakān-e Yazd), lying…

ARDAKĀN-e YAZD, a town of central Persia on the present Yazd-Ardestān-Kāšān road along the southern edge of the Dašt-e Kavīr,…

ARDAŠĪR-ḴORRA, one of the five administrative divisions (kūra) of Fārs, in Sasanian and early Islamic times (the other four being…

ARSANJĀN, a small town in Fārs on the northeastern fringes of the Zagros mountain massif. It is situated 30 miles…

ʿĀREŻ (Arabic ʿĀriḍ, from the verb ʿaraḍa, also iʿtaraḍa, istaʿraḍa, “to lay open to view,” i.e., for inspection), the official…

ARRĀN, a region of eastern Transcaucasia. It lay essentially within the great triangle of land, lowland in the east but…

ARSLĀNŠĀH b. Masʿud (III) b. EbrĀhĪm, Abu’l-Molūk Solṭān-al-Dawla, Ghaznavid sultan (r. 509-11/1116-18). The alternative form of his name, Malek Arslān…

ʿARŻ, DĪVĀN(-E), the department of the administration which, in the successor states to the ʿAbbasid caliphate in the Islamic East,…

ARZENJĀN or ERZENJĀN (Greek Erzingan, Armenian Erēz, Erznga(n), in modern Turkish orthography Erzincan), a town of northeastern Anatolia in 39°…

ASAD B. SĀMĀNḴODĀ, (Sāmānḵodāt in Naršaḵī), ancestor of the Samanid dynasty. Sāmānḵodā seems to have been a local landowner (dehqān)…

ASADĀBĀD (Asadābāḏ and Asadāvād in medieval Islamic sources). 1. A town in the medieval Islamic province of Jebāl, now in…

AŠʿARĪ, ABU’L-ḤASAN ʿALĪ B. ESMĀʿĪL B. ESḤĀQ, scholastic theologian (motakallem) and founder of the theological school of the Ašʿarīya or Ašāʿera…

ASĀWERA, Arabic broken plural form (the variant asāwīrāt also occurs in Yaʿqūbī, p. 202) of a singular oswār(ī), eswār(ī), early…

ASFĀR B. ŠĪRŪYA (Asfār is a local Caspian form of Mid. Pers. aswār, NPers. savār “rider, cavalryman;” Justi, Namenbuch, p….

ASFEZĀR (or ASFŌZAR), designation of a district (kūra) and later its chief town in the Herat quarter of Khorasan. The…

ASFĪJĀB (or ASBĪJĀB, ESBĪJĀB) a town and district of medieval Transoxania, essentially comprising the basin of the Syr Darya’s right-bank…

ʿASKAR MOKRAM (lit. Mokram’s encampment), a town of the medieval Islamic province of Ahvāz (Ḵūzestān) and also the name of…

ASTARĀBĀD (or ESTERĀBĀD), the older Islamic name for the modern town of Gorgān in northeastern Iran, and also the name…

ĀŠTĪĀN, the name both of an administrative subdistrict (dehestān) and its chef-lieu in the First Province (ostān). It lies on…

ĀṮĀR AL-BELĀD, the title of a geographical work composed in Arabic during the 7th/13th century by the Persian scholar Abū…

ATRAK, river of northern Khorasan, flowing first northwest, and then southwest into the Caspian Sea. Its course is some 320…

ATSÏZ ḠARČAʾĪ, ʿALĀʾ-AL-DĪN WA’L-DAWLA ABU’L-MOẒAFFAR B. MOḤAMMAD B. ANŪŠTIGIN, ruler of Ḵᵛārazm with the traditional title Ḵᵛārazmšāh, 521 or 522/1127…

ĀVA, the basic modern form (and the older spoken form) of the name of two small towns of northern Persia,…

ĀZĀḎBEH B. BĀNEGĀN (MĀHĀN?) B. MEHR-BONDĀD, a dehqān (landowner) of Hamadān, marzbān (governor) in the former Lakhmid capital of Ḥīra…

BĀFQ, a small oasis town of central Iran (altitude 3,293 feet/1,004 m) on the southern fringe of the Dašt-e Kavīr,…

BABAN (or Bavan), a small town in the medieval Islamic province of Bāḏḡīs, to the north and west of Herat,…

ĀZĀDVĀR (or ĀZAḎVĀR), a small town of Khorasan in the district (kūra, rostāq) of Jovayn, which flourished in medieval Islamic…

BAHRĀMŠĀH B. MASʿŪD III B. EBRĀHĪM, ABU’L-MOẒAFFAR, Ghaznavid sultan in eastern Afghanistan and northwestern India with the favored honorific title…

BĀJARVĀN, a town in the medieval Islamic province of Mūḡān (q.v.), i.e., the area southwest of the Caspian Sea and…

BĀḴARZ or Govāḵarz, a district of the medieval Islamic province of Qūhestān/Qohestān (q.v.) in Khorasan, lying to the west of…

BALĀḎORĪ, ABU’L-ḤASAN or ABŪ BAKR AḤMAD B. YAḤYĀ B. JĀBER, leading Arab historian of the 3rd/9th century, whose Ketāb fotūḥ…

BALʿAMĪ, ABU’L-FAŻL MOḤAMMAD B. ʿOBAYD-ALLĀH B. MOḤAMMAD BALʿAMĪ TAMĪMĪ, vizier to the Samanid amir Naṣr b. Aḥmad, father of the…

BALĀSĀḠŪN, a town of Central Asia, in early Islamic times the main settlement of the region known as Yeti-su or…

BALĀSĀNĪ, MAJD-AL-MOLK ABUʾL-FAŻL ASʿAD B. MOḤAMMAD QOMĪ, mostawfī or financial intendant to the Saljuq sultan Berk-yaruq (Barkīāroq) b. Malekšāh in the…

BANĀKAṮ, BENĀKAṮ (in Jovaynī, Fanākat), the main town of the medieval Transoxanian province of Šāš or Čāč, to be distinguished…

BANŪ SĀSĀN, a name frequently applied in medieval Islam to beggars, rogues, charlatans, and tricksters of all kinds, allegedly so…

BARḎAʿA or BARDAʿA (Arm. Partav, Georgian Bardavi, Mid. Pers. Pērōzāpāt; see Marquart, Ērānšahr, pp. 117-18), the chief town until the…

BARĪD, the official postal and intelligence service of the early Islamic caliphate and its successor states. The service operated by…

BARKĪĀROQ, ROKN-AL-DĪN ABU’L-MOẒAFFAR B. MALEKŠĀH, Great Saljuq sultan (r. 485-98/1092-­1105). Barkīāroq (properly, Berk-yaruq, Tk. “firm, strong brightness,” see Clauson, An…

BARSḴĀN, or Barsḡān, a place in central Asia, on the southern shores of the Ïsïq-Göl, in the region known as…

BAYHAQ, a town of Khorasan in the Islamic period, also known as Sabzavār. Bayhaq is properly the name of a…

BAYHAQĪ, EBRĀHĪM B. MOḤAMMAD, Arabic littérateur, known solely through his one book, the Ketāb al-maḥāsen wa’l-masāwī. Nothing is known of…

BAYLAQĀN, Armenian form Pʿaytakaran (cf. Marquart, Osteuropäische und ostasiatische Streifzüge, Leipzig, 1903, p. 457), a town of the medieval Islamic…

BAYTUZ, a Turkish commander who controlled the town of Bost in southern Afghanistan during the middle years of the 4th/10th century….

BAYŻĀ, a town of medieval Islamic Fārs, the modern village of Tall-e Bayżā. The name stems from Arabic bayżā “white,”…

CENTRAL ASIA iv. In the Islamic Period up to the Mongols In early Islamic times Persians tended to identify all…

Azarbaijan iv. Islamic History to 1941 Background. Azarbaijan formed a separate province of the early Islamic caliphate, but its precise…

ʿARAB i. Arabs and Iran in the Pre-Islamic Period As two of the most prominent ethnic elements in the Middle…

ARMY ii. Islamic, to the Mongol Period The Arab armies which overran Sasanian Iraq and Iran in the middle decades…

BUKHARA ii. From the Arab Invasions to the Mongols At the time of the Arab conquests in Transoxania, Bukhara was…

COURTS AND COURTIERS iii. In the Islamic period to the Mongol conquest In Persia the organization of courts (Pers. bār,…

BARDA and BARDA-DĀRI iii. In the Islamic Period up to the Mongol Invasion Early Islamic society was essentially a slave-holding…

BARDA and BARDA-DĀRI v. Military Slavery in Islamic Iran Military slavery may have been known in the Sasanian period, but,…

CHORASMIA ii. In Islamic Times The Islamic history of Ḵᵛārazm, as the name of the region appears in the Arabic…

ʿABD-AL-ḤAMID b. AḤMAD b. ʿABD-AL-ṢAMAD ŠIRĀZI, long-serving vizier to the Ghaznavid sultans Ebrāhim b. Masʿud (r. 451-92/1059-99) and his son…

ʿABD-AL-RAZZĀQ b. AḤMAD b. ḤASAN MEYMANDI, vizier to the Ghaznavid sultans Mawdud b. Masʿud and ʿAbd-al-Rašid b. Maḥmud, remaining in…

BARḠAŠI, ABU’L MOẒAFFAR MOḤAMMAD b. EBRAHIM, vizier to two of the last Samanid Amirs of Transoxiana and Khorasan. Neither his…

EBN MAFANA, Abu Manṣur Bahrām b. Māfana (< māh-panāh “under the moon’s protection,” Justi, Namenbuch, p. 187), called in the…

EBN BAQIYA, MOḤAMMAD b. MOḤAMMAD b. BAQIYA, ABU ṬĀHER, called Naṣir-al-Dawla and Nāṣeḥ “Counselor,” vizier of the Buyids in Iraq,…

MENHĀJ-e SERĀJ, Menhāj-al-Din Abu ʿAmr ʿOṯmān b. Serāj-al-Din Moḥammad Jowzjāni, qāżi, author of a general history in Persian valuable as…

ʿOTBI, the family name of two viziers of the Samanids of Transoxiana and Khorasan. 1. Abu Jaʿfar b. Moḥammad b….

ṬABAQĀT-E NĀṢERI, an extensive general history composed in Persian by  b. Serāj-al-Din Jowzjāni, who for the first part of his…

TĀRIḴ-E SISTĀN, an anonymous local history in Persian of the eastern Iranian region of Sistān, the region that straddles the…

ṬURĀN (ṬOVARĀN), the mediaeval Islamic name for the mountainous district of east-central Baluchistan lying to the north of the mediaeval…

ŠERVĀN (ŠIRVĀN, ŠARVĀN), a region of Eastern Transcaucasia, known by this name in both early Islamic and more recent times,…

QOFṢ, the Arabised form of Kufiči, lit. “mountain dweller,” the name of a people of southeastern Iran found in the…

MAKRĀN (also Mokrān) the coastal region of Baluchistan, extending from the Somniani Bay to the northwest of Karachi in the…

ASB iv. In Afghanistan The lands in northern Afghanistan and the upper Oxus valley—Čaḡānīān, Ḵottal, and Vaḵš on the right…

ii. History from the Arab Conquest to the Mongols Information on the process of the Arab conquest of Balḵ is…

SISTĀN ii. In the Islamic period It was during the governorship in Khorasan of ʿAbdallāh b. ʿĀmer for the caliph ʿOṯmān…

BALĀSAGĀN (Ar. Balāsajān, Balāšajān; Armenian Bałasakan), an Iranian toponym in -agān (-akān) “country of the Balās),” designating a region located…

NAṢR (I) B. AḤMAD (I) B. ESMĀʿIL, Amir-e Saʿid “The Fortunate Amir,” a title he was given after his death,…

MANṢURB. NUḤ, the name of two of the later Amirs of the Samanids (q.v.), the first ruling in both Transoxiana…

MESKAWAYH, ABU ʿALI AḤMAD b. Moḥammad [Ebn], Persian chancery official and treasury clerk of the Buyid period, boon companion, litterateur…

MOḤAMMAD b. ʿABD-ALLAH b. ṬĀHER, Abu’l -ʿAbbās (b. 209/824-25, d. 253/ 867), high official in Iraq and the central lands…

OBOLLA, a port of Lower Iraq during the classical and medieval Islamic periods. It lay in the delta region of…

NUḤ (II) B. MANṢUR (I), ABU’L-QĀSEM, Samanid Amir (r. 365-87/976-97), initially in both Transoxania and Khorasan, latterly in Transoxania only,…

ONṢOR AL-MAʿĀLI, KAY KĀVUS b. Eskandar b. Qābus, penultimate prince of the Ziyarid dynasty of Tabaristan (Ṭabarestān) and Gilān, in…

ORDUBĀD, a town on the north bank of the middle course of the Araxes (Aras) river of eastern Transcaucasia, former…

OŠNUYA, OŠNU, OŠNOH (now OŠNAVIYA), a small town of southwestern Azarbaijan. It lies near the southwestern corner of Lake Urmia…

OSTOVĀ (also A/Āstovā; Ostov), a rural district (rostāq) of northern Khorasan, considered in medieval Islamic times to be an administrative…

KĀNOM (khanom, khanum), a title for highborn women in the pre-modern Turkish and Persian worlds. In early Islamic Turkish, it…

KĀKUYIDS [KAKWAYHIDS], a dynasty of Deylamite origin that ruled in western Persia, in Jebāl and Kurdistan about 1008-51 as independent princes,…

YAʿQUB b. LAYṮ b. MOʿADDAL (r. 247-65/861-79), founder of what may be distinguished as the Laythids, or the “first line”…

ḴĀṢṢ BEG ARSLĀN B. PALANG-ERI, Turkish ḡolām who became the ḥājeb “chamberlain” and court favorite of the Great Saljuq Sultan Masʿud…

ḴĀTUN, a title of high-born women in the pre-modern Turkish and Persian worlds. Although the title is first attested in…

TEKIŠ B. IL ARSLĀN, ʿAlāʾ-al-Donyā wa’l-Din Abu’l-Moẓaffar (r. 1172-1200; for his full name, see Ebn al-Aṯir XI, p. 377; for…

TERKEN (or TORKĀN) ḴĀTUN, the title of the wife of the Khwarazmshah Tekiš b. Il-Arslān (r. 1172-1200) and mother of…

ḴOJESTĀNI, Aḥmad b. ʿAbd-Allāh, Abu Šojāʿ (d. 882) commander of the Taherids in Khorasan, and after the Ṣaffarid occupation of…

KHARIJITES IN PERSIA The Kharijite sect of early Islam arose out of the conflict between ʿAli b. Abi Ṭāleb (r….

KONDORI, Moḥammad b. Manṣur, ʿAmid al-Molk Abu Naṣr (b. ca. 1024; d. 29 November 1064), vizier to Ṭoḡrel Beg (r….

MAʾMUN, Abu’l-ʿAbbās ʿAbd-Allāh (b. 786; d. near Tarsus in July-August 833), the seventh Abbasid caliph (r. 813-33; see ʿABBASID CALIPHATE),…

OSRUŠANA, a district of medieval Islamic Transoxania lying to the east of Samarqand on the upper reaches of the Zarafšān river…

FŪŠANJ (arabicizedform Būšanj; Mid. Pers. Pūšang [Markwart, Provincial Capitals, p. 11], also reflected in the Būšang of the Ḥodūd al-ʿālam,…

GANJA (Ar. Janza), the Islamic name of a town in the early medieval Islamic province of Arrān (the classical Caucasian…

ḠARČESTĀN, name of a region in early Islamic times, situated to the north of the upper Harīrūd and the Paropamisus…

GARDĪZĪ, ABŪ SAʿĪD ʿABD-al-ḤAYY b. Żaḥḥāk b. Maḥmūd, Persian historian of the early 5th/11th century whose exact dates of birth…

GHAZNAVIDS, an Islamic dynasty of Turkish slave origin (366-582/977-1186), which in its heyday ruled in the eastern Iranian lands, briefly…

GHURIDS (or Āl-e Šansab), a medieval Islamic dynasty of the eastern Iranian lands. They began as local chiefs in Ḡūr…

GIBB MEMORIAL SERIES (GMS), a series of publications, which has continued for almost a century, mainly, but not exclusively, dedicated…

GORGĀN vi. History From The Rise Of Islam To The Beginning Of The Safavid Period Gorgān, OP Varkāna-, classical Hyrcania,…

GORZEVĀN (thus in the Ḥodud al-ʿālam; Yaʿqubi, Qorzomān; Ebn Ḥawqal and Yāqut, Jorzovān; Moqaddasi, Jorzovān and Korzovān), a town in…

GOWHAR ḴĀTUN, a Saljuq princess who became the second wife of the Ghaznavid Sultan Masʿud III (r. 492-508/1099-1115). Because the…

GOWHAR-ĀʾĪN, Saʿd-al-dawla, Turkish eunuch slave commander of the Great Saljuqs (d. 493/1100). In his early life he had been a…

ḠOZZ, a significant Turkic tribe in western Eurasia in the 5th century. i. Origins. ii. Tribe. i. ORIGINS Ḡozz is…

ḠUR, a region of central Afghanistan, essentially the modern administrative province (welāyat) of Ḡōrāt. Pre-modern Ḡur comprised the basins of…

ḤĀJEB, an administrative and then military office in the pre-modern Iranian world. i. In the Medieval Islamic Period. ii. In…

ḤĀJEB i. IN THE MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC PERIOD The office of ḥājeb, implying military command, appears in the Iranian world with…

ḤAMZA B. ĀḎARAK or Atrak or ʿAbd-Allāh Abu Ḵozayma, Kharijite rebel in Sistān and Khorasan during early ʿAbbasid times. He…

HĀRUN AL-RAŠID, HĀRUN B. MOḤAMMAD B. ʿABD-ALLĀH (d. Ṭus, 3 Jomādā II 193/24 March 809), the fifth caliph of the…

HAZĀRASPIDS, a local dynasty of Kurdish origin which ruled in the Zagros mountains region of southwestern Persia, essentially in Lorestān…

HELMAND RIVER iii. IN THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD The early Islamic geographers refer variously to the Helmand River as Hendmand (Eṣṭaḵri,…

HENDUŠĀH B. SANJAR B. ʿABD-ALLAH SAḤEBI KIRANI, the little-known author of a Persian history called the Tajāreb al-salaf (fl. first…

ḤIRA, a city on the desert fringes of southwestern Mesopotamia; known in pre-Islamic times as the capital of the Lakhmid…

ḤODUD AL-ʿĀLAM, a concise but very important Persian geography of the then known world, Islamic and non-Islamic, begun in 372/982-83…

IL-ARSLĀN, ABU’L-FATḤ, Chorasmian king of the line of Anuštegin Ḡarčaʾi (r. 1156-72). He was the son and successor of ʿAlāʾ-Din…

ÏNĀNČ ḴĀTUN (Inānj Ḵātun), wife of the Atābeg Noṣrat-al-Din Jahān-Pahlavān Moḥammad b. Šams-al-Din Eldigüz (r. 571-82/1175-86), the Eldigüzid or Ildegizid…

The first political and military footholds of the Muslims in the subcontinent proper were in Sind, and at Multan in…

IRAN, JOURNAL OF THE BRITISH INSTITUTE OF PERSIAN STUDIES. The British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS) was inaugurated in December…

JABḠUYA, Arabo-Persian form of the Central Asian title yabḡu. This article will be divided into two sections. i. Origin and…

JALĀL-AL-DIN ḴᵛĀRAZMŠĀH (I) MENGÜBIRNI, the last Ḵᵛārazmšāh of the line of Anuštigin Ḡarčaʾi, reigned in 1220-31 as the eldest son…

JAND, a medieval Islamic town on the right bank of the lower Jaxartes in Central Asia some 350 km from…

JEBĀL, in Arabic, the plural of jabal “mountain,” a geographical term used in early Islamic times for the western part…

JOVAYN, name of three locales. 1. Jovayn or Jovaym in Fars. A village in the district (kura) of Ardašir Ḵorra…

JOWZJĀN, the Arabicized form of the Persian Gowz-gān(ān), a district of what was in early Islamic times eastern Khorasan, now…

MĀ WARĀʾ AL-NAHR (lit. “what lies beyond the river”), the classical designation for Transoxania or Transoxiana.  It was defined by…

BĪRŪNĪ, ABŪ RAYḤĀN i. Life Bīrūnī was born in the outer suburb (bīrūn, hence his nesba) of Kāṯ, the capital…

ZIYARIDS (Āl-e Ziār), a minor Islamic dynasty of the Caspian coastlands (931-ca. 1090).  They ruled first in northern Iran, and…

BEGTUZUN, Pers. Baktūzūn (tuzun being from the Orkhon Turkish tōḏun, a title of high military rank in the Gök Turkish…

BEGTOḠDÏ (Turkish, lit. “a prince has been born, has arisen,” Persian Baktoḡdī), Turkish slave com­mander of the Ghaznavid sultans Maḥmūd…

BĪĀR (from Arabic beʾār, plur. of beʾr “well, spring”), a small settlement of medieval Islamic times on the northern fringe…

BILGETIGIN (Turkish bilge “wise man, counselor,” an element found in the onomastic of the Orkhon inscriptions, e.g., Bilge Kaḡan, plus…

BIRD, ISABELLA L., also known under her married surname of Bishop (1831-1904), British traveler in western Iran and Kurdistan during…

BĪSOTŪN, ẒAHĪR-AL-DAWLA ABŪ MANṢŪR b. Vošmgīr, the Ziyarid amir in Ṭabarestān and Gorgān (r. 357-67/967-78, not 356-66 as in Zambaur,…

BOḠRĀ KHAN, ABŪ MŪSĀ HĀRŪN or Ḥasan b. Solaymān, called Šehāb-al-Dawla and Ẓahīr-al-­Daʿwa, the first Qarakhanid khan to invade the…

BOJNŪRD, a town and district in Khorasan. i. The town and district. ii. History. iii. Basic population data, 1956-2011. i….

BÖRI, or Böritigin (Turkish böri “wolf” plus tigin “prince”; cf. G. Clauson, Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteenth Century Turkish, Oxford, 1972,…

BŪ ḤALĪM (or Bāhalīm) ŠAYBĀNĪ, a family of military commanders and governors in northern India under the later Ghaznavid sultans…

ČĀČ (Ar. Šāš), the name of a district and of a town in medieval Transoxania; the name of the town…

ČAḠĀNĪĀN (Middle Pers. form Čagīnīgān, Arabic rendering Ṣaḡānīān, with the common rendering of Iranian č as ṣ; Marquart’s speculation [1938,…

ČAḠĀNRŪD (Čaḡānīrūd in Farroḵī, the seventh and last right-bank tributary of the Oxus or Amu Darya, rising in what in…

ČAḠRĪ BEG DĀWŪD b. Mīḵāʾīl b. Saljūq, Abū Solaymān (b. in the 380s/990s, d. 452/1060), a member of the Saljuqs,…

CAPITAL CITIES i. In Pre-Islamic times. ii. In Islamic times.   i. In Pre-Islamic Times Iranians most probably first coalesced…

ČĀŠNĪGĪR, literally “taster” (Pers. čāšnī “taste”), the official who at the court of Turkish dynasties in Iran and elsewhere, from…

CEŠT, a small settlement on the north bank of the Harirud and to the south of the Paropamisus range in…

CODES (romūz, sg. ramz), including the use of secret writing and cryptanalysis, in Persia. The use of codes in communications…

DANDĀNQĀN, a small town of medieval Khorasan, in the Qara Qum, or sandy desert, between Marv and Saraḵs, 10 farsaḵs…

DARGAZĪNĪ, nesba (attributive name) for Dargazīn (or Darjazīn), borne by several viziers of the Great Saljuqs in the 12th century….

DAWĀ(T)DĀR (lit., “keeper, bearer of [the royal] inkwell or inkstand”), title of various officials in medieval Islamic states. At an…

DAWRAQ (or Dawraq al-Fors), name of a district (kūra; Moqaddasī, pp. 406-07), also known as Sorraq, and of a town…

DAYRAL-ʿĀQŪL (lit., “the monastery at the bend in the river”; cf. Syriac ʿaqûlā “bend”; Payne Smith, II, cols. 2963-65), a…

DAYSAM b. Ebrāhīm KORDĪ, ABŪ SĀLEM, Kurdish commander who ruled sporadically in Azarbaijan between 326/938 and 344/955 after the period of…

DEHESTĀNĪ , AʿAZZ-AL-MOLKNEẒĀM-AL-DĪN ABU’L-MAḤĀSEN ʿABD-AL-JALĪL b. ʿAlī, twice vizier to the Saljuq sultan Barkīāroq (487-98/1094-1105). In Rabīʿ I 493/January-February 1100,…

DEHESTĀN (in modern Persian administrative usage a rural district consisting of a number of villages), the name of a region…

DERHAM B. NAŻR (or Naṣr or Ḥosayn), commander of ʿayyārs or moṭawweʿa, orthodox Sunni vigilantes against the Kharijites in Sīstān…

DĪNĀR, MALEK b. Moḥammad (d. 591/1195), a leader of the Oghuz Turkmen in Khorasan and, in the latter years of…

DĪNAVAR (occasionally vocalized Daynavar), in the first centuries of Islam an important town in Jebāl, now ruined. Its site lies…

EBN ABĪ ṬĀHER ṬAYFŪR, ABU’L-FAŻL AḤMAD (204-80/819-93), littérateur (adīb) and historian of Baghdad, of a Khorasani family. His extensive adab works…

EBN BĀBĀ KĀŠĀNĪ (Qāšānī), ABU’L-ʿABBĀS (d. Marv, 510/1116-17), Persian writer and boon-companion (nadīm), whose manual for courtiers preserves otherwise lost…

EBN AL-BALḴĪ, conventional name for an otherwise unknown author of Fārs-nāma, a local history and geography of the province of…

EBN DĀROST, MAJD-AL-WOZARĀʾ MOḤAMMAD b. Manṣūr (d. Ahvā, 467/1074), vizier to the ʿAbbasid caliph al-Qāʾem from 15 Rabīʿ II 453/9…

EBN DĀROST, TĀJ-AL-MOLK ABU’L-ḠANĀʾEM MARZBĀN b. Ḵosrow-Fīrūz Šīrāzī (438-86/1046-93), last vizier of the Great Saljuq Sultan Malekšāh (r. 465-85/1072-92). Born…

EBN FŪLĀD (or Ebn Pūlād), military adventurer, probably of Daylamī origin, active in northern Persia during the Buyid period (early…

EBN ḴARMĪL, military commander of the Ghurids, and connected, according to Jūzjānī, with the district of Gorzevān on the headwaters…

EBN ḴORDĀḎBEH (or Ḵorradāḏbeh), ABU’L-QĀSEM ʿOBAYD-ALLĀH b. ʿAbd-Allāh (fl. 3rd/9th century), author of the earliest surviving Arabic book of administrative…

EBN MARDAWAYH (Mardūya), AHMAD b. Mūsā b. Mardawayh b. Fūrak Eṣfahānī, scholar of Isfahan in the Buyid period (323-410/935-1019), who…

EBN MORSAL, LAYṮ b. Fażl, a client (mawlā) and governor of Sīstān 199-204/815-19. Previously governor of Egypt in 182-87/798-803 (Kendī,…

EBN ROSTA, ABŪ ʿALĪ AḤMAD b. ʿOmar (d. after 290/903), Persian author of a geographical compendium. He was from Isfahan,…

EBRĀHĪM B. MASʿŪD (I) b. Maḥmūd b. Sebüktegīn, Abu’l-Moẓaffar, Ẓahīr-al-Dawla, Rażī-al-Dīn, etc., Ghaznavid sultan (r. 451-92/1059-99). Ebrāhīm succeeded his brother…

EBRĀHĪM ĪNĀL (or Yenāl; d. 451/1059), early Saljuq leader. The name Īnāl/Yenāl comes originally from an old Turkish title already…

ELWELL-SUTTON, LAURENCE PAUL (b. Ballylickey, Cork County, Ireland, 2 June 1912-d. Edinburgh, 2 September 1984), scholar of Islamic and modern…

EMĀD-AL-DAWLA, ABU’L-ḤASAN ʿALĪ b. Būya b. Fanā-Ḵosrow, the eldest of three brothers who came to power in western Persia as…

ʿEMĀD-AL-DĪNMARZBĀN, ABŪ KĀLĪJĀR b. Solṭān-al-Dawla Abū Šojāʿ (399-440/1009-48), amir of the Buyid dynasty in the period of that family’s decadence…

SAFFARIDS, a dynasty of medieval Islamic eastern Iran which ruled from 247/861 to 393/1003.  From a base in their home…

EQLĪD, a small town of medieval Fārs, now in the modern rural subdistrict of the same name (lat. 30° 54’…

ʿERĀQ-EʿAJAM(Ī) “Persian Iraq,” the name given in medieval times to the largely mountainous, western portion of modern Persia. The geographers…

ESFARĀYEN, ESFARĀʾĪN (Ḥodūd al-ʿālam, tr. Minorsky, pp. 64, 102, has “*Siparāyin” [Sabarāyen], possibly influenced by a popular etymology given, e.g….

EŠKĀŠ(E)M (called Sekāšem, Sekīmešt, and Eskīmešt by early geographers), a settlement in medieval Badaḵšān in northeastern Afghanistan (q.v.), now in…

ESMĀʿĪL, b. Seboktegīn, Ghaznavid prince and briefly amir in Ḡazna in 387-88/997-98. Esmāʿīl was one of Seboktegīn’s younger sons by…

ESMĀʿĪL, b. Aḥmad b. Asad SĀMĀNĪ, ABŪ EBRĀHĪM (b. 234/849, d. Ṣafar 295/November 907), the first member of the Samanid…

FĀʾEQ ḴĀṢṢA, ABU’L-ḤASAN (d. Khorasan 389/999), Turkish eunuch and slave commander of the Samanid army in Transoxania and Khorasan during…

FAḴR-AL-MOLK b. Neẓām al-Molk, ABU’L-FATḤ MOẒAFFAR (b. 434/1043; d. 500/1106-7), eldest son of the great Saljuq vizier and himself vizier…

FĀRĀB (Pārāb, Bārāb; Ḥodūd al-ʿālam, ed. Sotūda, p. 117, tr. Minorsky, p. 118; Eṣṭaḵrī, p. 346, tr. pp. 307, 360;…

FARĀVA (Parau), a small medieval town in eastern Persia, lying east of the Caspian Sea and just beyond the northern…

FĀRES (plurs. forsān, fawāres), the Arabic term for “rider on a horse, cavalryman,” connected with the verb farasa/farosa “to be…

FARROḴZĀD, ABŪ ŠOJĀʿ, b. Masʿūd b. Maḥmūd, Ghaznavid sultan of Afghanistan and northern India (443-52/1052-59). He succeeded in Ḡazna after…

FATḤ-NĀMA, Arabic-Persian term used to denote proclamations and letters announcing victories in battle or the successful conclusion of military campaigns….

FAŻL, b. SAHL b. Zādānfarrūḵ (d. 202/818), high official of the early ʿAbbasids and vizier to the caliph al-Maʾmūn (r….

Nishapur (Nišāpur) was, with Balḵ, Marv and Herat, one of the four great cities of the province of Khorasan. It…

ḴOSROWŠĀH B. BAHRĀMŠĀH, with honorifics variously recorded as Moʿezz-al-Dawla, Neẓām-al-Dawla, Moʾayyed-al-Dawla wa’l-Din, and Tāj-al-Dawla, penultimate ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty…

LAKHMIDS, an Arab dynasty that ruled in central Iraq with their capital at Ḥira for roughly three centuries, from about 300…

MAWDUD B. MASʿUD B. MAḤMUD, ABU’L-FATḤ, sultan of the Ghaznavid dynasty (r. 432-41/1041-49), recorded on his coins with the honorifics…

SEBÜKTEGIN, ABU MANṢUR NĀṢER-AL-DIN Wa’l-DAWLA, a slave commander of the Samanids (q.v.) and the founder of the Ghaznavid dynasty in eastern…

MASʿUD (III) B. EBRĀHIM, ʿALĀʾ-AL-DAWLA WA’L-DIN ABU SAʿD, Ghaznavid sultan (r. 492-508/1099-1115), recorded on his coins with various other honorifics…

MAḤMUD B. SEBÜKTEGIN, YAMIN-AL-DAWLA ABU’L-QĀSEM, the first fully independent ruler of the Turkish Ghaznavid dynasty (see GHAZNAVIDS), who reigned (388-421/998-1030)…

ḴOSROW MALEK b. Ḵosrowšāh, ABU’L-MOŻAFFAR (r. ca. 555-82/1160-86), the last sultan of the Ghaznavid dynasty, in northwestern India, essentially in…

MOSAFERIDS (also Sallarids or Kangarids; this last form is more probable than that of Langarids; see Kasravi, pp. 36-37), a…

NAḴJAVĀN, present-day Nakhchivan (lat 39°12′ N, long 45°24′ E), the administrative center of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR) with its…

ŠAKKI, a district of eastern Transcaucasia, now within the northwesternmost part of the present-day Republic of Azarbaijan, where the modern…

KERMAN v. From the Islamic Conquest to the Coming of the Mongols The Armenian geography written in the second half…

NEHĀVAND, a town in western Iran, situated in the northern Zagros region (lat 34˚11′ N, long 48˚22′ E, elev. 1,786…

LE STRANGE, GUY (b. Hunstanton, Norfolk, 24 July 1854; d. Cambridge, 24 December 1933), scholar in Persian, Arabic, and Spanish,…

LANBASAR (the form in Rašid-al-Din and Ḥamd-Allāh Mostawfi; popular pronunciation, and the form used by Jovayni, Lam(m)asar), an important fortress…

KERMAN v. HISTORY FROM THE ISLAMIC CONQUEST TO THE COMING OF THE MONGOLS The Armenian geography written in the second half…

ŠERVĀNŠAHS (Šarvānšāhs), the various lines of rulers, originally Arab in ethnos but speedily Persianized within their culturally Persian environment, who…

ii. IN THE ISLAMIC PERIOD In the early 8th century, at the time of the Arab conquest in Transoxania, Farḡāna…

i. IN PRE-MODERN ISLAMIC TIMES Early Islamic Fāryāb lay within the region of Gūzgān/Jūzjān (q.v.). The town was probably situated…

ii. IN THE ALBORZ (HISTORY) The early Islamic geographers did not mention this Fīrūzkūh as such, but they did describe…

i. THE GHURID CAPITAL The ruler from the Šansabānī family of local maleks in Ḡūr, ʿEzz-al-Dīn Ḥosayn (493-540/1100-1106), had his…

ḴOTTAL (Ḵottalan), a province of medieval Islamic times on the right bank of the upper Oxus river in modern Tajikistan….

After the Saljuq takeover in Khwarazm in the early 1040s, the Saljuq Sultans appointed various governors in the province, including…