ḠOLĀT (lit.: exaggerators, sing. ḡāli), an Arabic term originally used by Twelver Shiʿite (eṯnā ʿašariya) heresiographers to designate those dissidents…

EBN ḤAWŠAB, ABU’L-QĀSEM ḤASAN b. Faraj (or Faraḥ) b. Ḥawšab b. Zāḏān Najjār Kūfī, known also as Manṣūr al-Yaman (d….

ZEKRAWAYH B. MEHRAWAYH (actually: Zakaroya b. Mehroya; b. unknown; d. Wādi Ḏi Qār, 294/907), one of the first Ismaʿili missionaries…

BAYHAQĪ, ẒAHĪR-AL-DĪN ABU’L-ḤASAN ʿALĪ B. ZAYD (ca. 490-565/1097-1169), also known as Ebn Fondoq, an Iranian polymath of Arab descent, author…

BAYHAQĪ, ABU’L-ḤASAN MOḤAMMAD B. ŠOʿAYB ʿEJLĪ NAYSĀBŪRĪ (d. 324/936), a jurist who helped promote the spread of the Shafeʿite school…

BĀṬENĪYA, a generic term for all groups and sects which distinguished the bāṭen and the ẓāher of the Qurʾān and…

ʿASKARĪ, ABŪ MOḤAMMAD ḤASAN B. ʿALĪ, the 11th imam of the Twelver Shiʿites, known also as al-Ṣāmet, al-Hādī, al-Zakī, etc….

ASĀS (pl. osos), “foundation, basis,” a degree of the Ismaʿili daʿwa hierarchy. It designates the man who discloses the spiritual…

AḤMAD B. ʿABDALLĀH B. MAYMŪN AL-QADDĀḤ (3rd/9th century), son of the supposed founder of Ismaʿili doctrine (see ʿAbdallāh b. Maymūn…

AHL-E ḤAQQ “People of (the absolute) Truth,” a sect found in western Persia and some regions of northeastern Iraq; the…

ABŪ ŠOJĀʿ EṢFAHĀNĪ, QĀŻĪ TAQĪ-AL-DĪN AḤMAD B. AL-ḤASAN (or B. AL-ḤOSAYN) B. AḤMAD AL-ʿABBĀDĀNĪ, 434-500/1042-43 to 1106, Shafeʿite jurist. He…

ABU’L-MOẒAFFAR ḴᵛĀFĪ, AḤMAD B. MOḤAMMAD B. AL-MOẒAFFAR, d. in Ṭūs in 500/1106, Shafeʿite jurist and traditionist. He was one of…

ABŪ ḤĀTEM RĀZĪ, AḤMAD B. ḤAMDĀN AL-VARSENĀNĪ AL-LAYṮĪ, Ismaʿili dāʿī (missionary) and author of the 4th/10th century. He was born…

ʿABDALLĀH B. MAYMŪN AL-QADDĀḤ, legendary founder of the Qarmatian-Ismaʿili doctrine and alleged forefather of the Fatimid dynasty. He is featured…