BARMAKIDS or Barāmeka, a well-known fam­ily of secretaries and viziers during the time of the early ʿAbbasids, stemming from the…

AYYOHA’L-WALAD, a short treatise by Abū Ḥāmed Moḥammad Ḡazālī Ṭūsī (fl. 450-505/1058-1111), originally composed in Persian, but, except for one…

AʿMĀ, ABU’L-ʿABBĀS SĀʾEB B. FARRŪḴ, 1st-2nd/7th-8th century poet from Azerbaijan who wrote in Arabic. His father must have been a…

ADAB AL-ṢAḠĪR, AL-, an Arabic book of wisdom and advice, based on Middle Persian works. Recent discoveries tend to confirm…

ADAB AL-KABĪR, AL-, an Arabic work by Ebn al-Moqaffaʿ dealing largely with Persian manners and court etiquette. Although published many…

ABŪ BAKR MOḤAMMAD B. AL-YAMĀN AL-SAMARQANDĪ (d. 268/881), a Hanafite jurist about whose life the available sources furnish no information….

ABU’L-ʿAMAYṮAL ʿABDALLĀH B. ḴOLAYD (or ḴĀLED or ḴOWAYLED) B. SAʿD, Tahirid court poet. Abu’l-ʿAmayṯal boasted of being a client of…

ABŪ ʿALĪ FĀRESĪ, ḤASAN B. AḤMAD B. ʿABD-AL-ḠAFFĀR (288-377/900-87), grammarian at the court of the Buyid ʿAżod-al-dawla (d. 366/977). He…

ʿABD-AL-RAḤMĀN B. MOḤAMMAD AL-SARAḴSĪ, ABŪ BAKR, a Hanafite jurist (d. 439/1047). Though originally from Saraḵs, he grew up in Baghdad,…

ABĀN B. ʿABD-AL-ḤAMĪD B. LĀHEQ, called LĀHEQĪ, late 2nd/8th century poet. He was of a Persian family, originally from Fasā,…