shamshīr-zanī (sword-beating), , 44

Sharīat, , 16, 76–78, 104, 111, 181

shathiyyāt (ecstatic expression), , 83

Shīī Imams (Ithnāasharī and Ismāīlī branches)

Alī Zayn al-Ābidīn (d. 714), , 31, 45

asan b. Alī b. Abī ālib (d. 669), , 6, 26, 30

usayn b. Alī b. Abī ālib (d. 680), , 5–6, 30–31, 43, 44, 51

Jafar al-ādiq (d. 765), , 24, 51, 156

Mūsā al-Kāim (d. 799), , 41

Mustanir bi Allāh (d. 1094), , 49

Shīrāzī, al-Muayyad fi’l-Dīn (d. 1078), Ismāīlī dāī, , 32, 111

shrines, 30, 33, 44–45, 188, 190

ifat (attributes), , 125, 212

sīna-zanī (beating chests), , 44

irā al-mūstaqīm (the straight path), , 137

sirr (secret), , 132, 185

spiritual desire, 81, 108, 136

spiritual quest, 9, 18, 122, 124, 135, 139, 152, 177

Surkh-afsar, Fazlalī-Bek, , 14, 23, 26

sulūk (spiritual progress), , 118, 150

Symposium, , 134

Tabrīzī, Shams (d. 1310), the beloved of Rūmī, 24, 89, 129

talīm-i dīnī (religious education), , 64

tawīl (spiritual hermeneutics), , 77, 111, 117, 134, 141

Tajik, 3, 10, 19, 30, 51, 55, 85, 162

takhallu (poet’s “pen name”), , 86, 87

tanjīm. See nujūm

arīqat (spiritual path), , 17, 119, 128, 199, 201

tarjī-band (return tie), poetry form, , 18, 86, 125

tarkīb-band (composite tie), poetry form, , 86

Taawwuf (Sufism), , 64, 113

tayīd (divine inspiration), , 137, 154, 185

Tirmizī, akīm (d. 912), Sufi author, , 188–189, 203

Transoxiana, 7, 27, 28, 31–32, 36, 55, 62, 64

urfa-Jāh (the place of enjoyment), , 192, 194

ulamā, , 28, 32

Umar-i Khayyām, Persian poet, , 3, 86, 145, 258

urf va ādat (custom), , 78

uūl al-taqiyya (prudence, dissimulation), , 7

Wakhān rulers (pre- and post-Islamic periods)

Alī Mardān, , 59

Mīr Maska, 63

Qah-Qaha, 30, 47

Sapikh-Chūpān, 30

Zamr-i Ātash-parast, 30

Zangibār, 30

walī (saint), , 37, 52, 163, 189

wadat (unity), , 38, 67, 83, 115, 119, 121, 128

wal (link), , 67, 122

way (divine revelation), , 116–117, 137, 147, 155, 164, 166, 173

wilāyat, , 34, 52, 118

wilāyat-i Alī, , 117, 163, 166, 170–174, 192, 203