This article reframes the traditional view of Persian rhetoric as merely a derivative of Arabic tradition by examining its development through four key manuals: Muhammad ibn ʿUmar Rādūyānī’s Tarjumān al-Balāgha, Rashīd al-Dīn Vatvāt’s Hadāʾiq al-Sihr, Shams-i Qays-i Rāzī’s al-Muʿjam, and Sayf-i Jām-i Hiravī’s Jāmiʿ al-Sanāyiʿ. It is an exploration of the historical and cultural contexts in which these works were composed, highlighting how Persian rhetoricians adapted and reshaped Arabic models as part of a broader movement toward literary autonomy. By foregrounding these dynamics, the article offers a fresh perspective on the reciprocal relationship between Arabic and Persian rhetorical traditions. Particular attention is given to Tarjumān al-Balāgha as a seminal effort to Persianize rhetorical tradition, in which Rādūyānī adapts and reconfigures Arabic concepts to lay the groundwork for a distinct Persian literary identity, and to Jāmiʿ al-Sanāyiʿ, which subsequently consolidates this project into a coherent and comprehensive Persian framework. Together, these works mark pivotal moments in the trajectory of Persian rhetorical thought and reflect broader cultural and intellectual currents in the medieval Islamicate world.

This article offers a counter-reading of the Ghaznavid panegyric that resists reducing its idiom of praise to an effect of political legitimation, as dominant accounts of the genre have done. By highlighting how two panegyrics, one by ʿUnṣurī and the other by Farrukhī, subvert the aesthetic-didactic expectations surrounding praise born from Islamicate rhetorical and poetic theory, it contends that Persian panegyric poetry does not transparently deploy praise. To this end, the article first proposes four structures of praise that render praise both legible and susceptible to ironizing: evidentiary agreement, intradistich agreement, interdistich agreement, and metapoetic balance. A subsequent analysis of ʿUnṣurī and Farrukhī’s panegyrics reveals how ostensibly laudatory claims can ironize these structures to produce effects of delegitimation, rather than legitimation, while maintaining a posture of praise.

The Young Avestan text Wīdēwdād 8.81–96 deals with the contamination of fire as a result of its use in daily activities, arguing that the pristine purity of this sacred element be restored by bringing each of the polluted fires to an appropriate place. While listing non-ritual uses of fire, this text also gives precious details about the material culture of the speakers of Young Avestan in southern Central Asia during the first millennium BCE. This information is relevant for not only better understanding the history of the region in that period but also tracing the composition of these passages back to the Achaemenid period.

The following article presents a hitherto unknown kābı̄n (marriage contract) text in the New Persian language from a manuscript originally kept in Beijing, now held in Taipei. The text is both an important monument of the Christian Early New Persian linguistic community and a testimony of the social life of such communities along the Silk Road in the pre-Mongol period. Arabic borrowings could be a clue that dates the text to the tenth or eleventh centuries. The text represents an important witness to the permanence of the Iranian custom of the dowry payment combined with the Syriac Christian wedding ritual of the Church of the East. The New Persian in the fragment points to the history of early language forms functioning in pre-Mongol non-Muslim communities.

This article investigates the vocabulary of astral sciences preserved in the Huihui Guan Zazi (回回館雜字), a Persian–Chinese glossary commissioned by the Ming imperial court in the early fifteenth century. Situating the text within the broader context of Mongol and post-Mongol Eurasian intellectual exchange, this article analyzes the glossary’s technical astronomy and astrology terms with attention to their precision, methods of translation, and the direction of knowledge transmission. The findings suggest a high level of conceptual translation and a bidirectional flow of knowledge, pointing to a multilingual environment sustained by close engagement with scientific texts under Mongol rule and retained in the early Ming. By contrast, supplementary materials within the glossary produced in the late sixteenth century reveal the erosion of this intellectual vitality, signaling the decline of Persianate influence within the Ming imperial bureaucracy.

This article presents an examination of the utilization of a conceptual metaphor that maps the art of poetry onto the craft of lapidary in the works of Niẓāmī Ganjavī (1141–1209), a prominent Persian poet known for his innovative use of poetic imageries and literary devices. This conceptual metaphor, as defined in cognitive linguistics, originates from the Persian cultural context and serves as a tangible way for Niẓāmī to express his abstract ideas regarding poetry’s beauty, elegance, and worth. This study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the efficacy of this prevalent metaphorical framework in explicating the art of poetry and its related subjects through close reading and textual analysis of excerpts from Niẓāmī’s works, in which this metaphor operates as an underlying element. Additionally, this examination illuminates some aspects of Niẓāmī’s distinctive literary style. More broadly, relying on Niẓāmī’s poetry, this article delivers a perspective on the literary conventions of medieval Iranian courts, particularly with regard to the perception of poetry and the societal status of those who engaged in poetic production.

Reflecting the ongoing migrations of Iranians and the truly global reach of the Iranian diaspora, social scientific research on the lives of Iranians in diverse global locations has been published in many languages beyond English and Persian. Despite the unprecedented accessibility of scholarship in the digital age, research in these languages nevertheless remains unevenly visible. This special issue of Iranian Studies focuses on Iranian migration and diaspora and presents six research articles originally authored in languages other than English or Persian from an array of (inter)disciplinary perspectives and geographic locations. The issue seeks to not only make these studies accessible to a wide readership, but also to bring them into meaningful conversation with ongoing discussions in Iranian studies, encouraging an expansive view of the Iranian diaspora that requires geographic breadth, a range of methodologies, and a broad temporal scope. If Iranian migration has long been a global phenomenon, then Iranian diaspora studies—and indeed, Iranian studies more broadly—must also become more intentionally global in its questions, conversations, and sources.

The first decade after the end of revolutionary events in Gilan (1920–21) was a period of active attempts by the Bolsheviks, Communist International, and Communist Party of Iran to gain a solid social foothold in Iran. This article, based mainly on Russian archival sources, focuses on the dynamics of the Communist International and Communist Party of Iran guidelines, attempts and features of their implementation, and the relationship between Iranian communists and the Bolshevik and Communist International leadership. This study demonstrates that the main Red efforts between 1922–25 aimed at building an inter-class coalition, in which cooperation with Reza Khan became only a part of these broader efforts. Their failure led the Reds to return to a previously tested course of fomenting agrarian revolution in Iran and repeated fiascos. Throughout this period, the Communist Party of Iran’s leadership did not simply execute directives but instead took an active role in the decision-making process, involved the Bolsheviks in internal party struggle, and challenged high-ranking functionaries of the Communist International.

This article explores rhythm and the īqāʿ rhythmic system as outlined in Persian music-theoretical treatises written during the fifteenth century, a period referred to in this study as the late Systematist period. The study seeks to enhance our understanding of the evolution of this rhythmic system over time, thereby contributing to the broader study of the entire Systematist period (circa 1235–1500). To achieve this aim, six Persian treatises from the fifteenth century have been meticulously selected and analysed. These include treatises by ʿAbd al-Qādir b. Ghaybī al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Marāghī, an anonymous author, ʿAlīshāh ibn Ḥājī Būka Awbahī, and ʿAlī b. Muḥammad Miʿmār. Comparisons and analyses serve as essential methodological tools for achieving the study’s purposes.

This article explores the interplay between the individual and the collective in The Blind Owl and illustrates how a distinctive historical perspective emerges from its complex allegorical form. A close reading of the novel reveals how the text superimposes biographical and cultural pasts through the juxtaposition of sexual fetishism and nostalgia, presenting both as symptoms of a fraught relationship with one’s infantile and cultural histories. The article reads The Blind Owl as a satirical critique of a figure whose conflicting desires to commemorate and forget the past drive a series of fetishistic behaviors, culminating in failure. Ultimately, the novel offers a cynical reflection on the nationalist nostalgia cultivated by traditionalist intelligentsia within the peripheral modernity of early twentieth-century Iran.

This study examines how Goli Taraghi’s short stories, “The Grandma’s Home” and “The Flowers of Shiraz,” portray young female protagonists navigating mid-20th-century Tehran as flâneuses (female urban flâneurs). Applying Western theories of flânerie, spectatorship, and gendered space to Persian literature, this article argues that Taraghi’s characters leverage consumer culture, cinema outings, and sensory exploration to negotiate opportunities offered by a modernity structured by traditional gender norms. By repurposing socially sanctioned activities (shopping and ballet classes) for unsanctioned roaming, observation, and desire, these girls transform streets, shops, and cinemas into sites of negotiated feminine subjectivity. Their embodied flânerie—marked by defiant gazes, political engagement, and public self-fashioning—subtly challenges the Pahlavi state’s “modern woman” ideal, offering a nuanced perspective on theoretical understandings of the Iranian flâneuse. The article thus repositions Taraghi’s heroines as agents of everyday resistance to norms, definitions and expectations, recalibrating urban modernity through small, defiant acts in contested public spaces.

The present article aims to assess the relationship between the mass exodus of Iranian Christians and the Hispanic world, widening the analytical lens on early 20th-century Iranian migrations. Specifically, the study draws parallels between the humanitarian efforts of the Spanish diplomats during the Turkish occupation of northwestern Persia in 1918 and the subsequent arrival and settlement of Assyrians and Armenians in Argentina in the early decades of the twentieth century. Although numerous publications address the early Iranian diaspora and Iran during the World War I, little scholarly work examines Spain’s humanitarian role in this context or the history of the Iranian diaspora in Latin America. This finding underscores the notion that, in addition to the prominent international actors that have historically been the focus of scholarly inquiry—namely, the United States, France, Great Britain, Germany, and Russia—smaller countries also played a significant role in the events that transpired in Iran during those years. Furthermore, this study highlights the Iranian diaspora’s expansion to distant regions, such as Argentina, which has not been extensively researched in the context of Iranian studies. This comprehensive approach serves to broaden our understanding of the global history of Iran in the early twentieth century.

This article examines “Salām Farmāndeh” as a case study of soruds (state-sponsored songs produced to advance ideological narratives and maintain cultural hegemony). The article argues that “Salām Farmāndeh” represents a significant shift in the Islamic Republic’s cultural strategy: blending religious themes, nationalist sentiment, and popular music elements to mobilize younger generations, particularly Generations A and Z. Through qualitative analysis of the song’s musical structure, lyrical content, and state-led promotional campaigns, the article demonstrates how “Salām Farmāndeh” operates as an ideological state apparatus (ISA)—a tool for reinforcing loyalty to the principles of velāyat-e faqīh (guardianship of the Islamic jurist) and the Islamic Republic’s ideological foundations. Guided by Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony and Althusser’s concept of ISAs, this study reveals how contemporary soruds such as “Salām Farmāndeh” reflect the regime’s adaptation of propaganda techniques to secure consent, not merely through coercion, but via emotional, cultural, and generational appeal. The findings contribute to broader discussions on the intersection of music, power, and ideological reproduction in modern Iran.

This article examines the surge of Iranian migration to Japan in the early 1990s. After Iran and Japan established a mutual visa waiver agreement in 1974, many overstayed, with migration increased notably from 1989. However, stricter rules and the suspension of visa exemptions in 1992 sharply reduced the number of Iranians in Japan by the mid-1990s. The influx represented a unique chapter in the history of the Iranian diaspora—rapid migration, informal social networks, and public gatherings characterized this period. While Japan’s strict immigration policies quickly ended the “coming-to-Japan” boom, Iranian migrants developed a sense of equality and mutual support during their time in Japan.

In 1958, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority established a fifteen-minute daily Persian-language program targeting Iranian listeners, restarting segments that had begun almost a decade earlier. These broadcasts were written and produced by recent Iranian Jewish immigrants to the country, who brought press and activism experience and expertise from their country of origin. The purpose of these broadcasts was to highlight Israel’s economic and technological achievements, convey its foreign policy perspectives, and strengthen elite connections with Iran. In the process, such broadcasts also became the focal point for an increasingly internationalizing Iranian population, a fact that remained true up to and beyond the country’s 1978–79 revolution. Studies of radio in Israel have noted the medium’s function in both domestic constructions of the new state’s identity and culture as well as public diplomacy facing its enemies and allies. This article shows that Persian-language radio broadcasts served both these purposes, as well as positing a further function in their use as a point of transnational connectivity, beyond relations with Israel alone. In so doing, this article points to the power of listeners in structuring their own communities, even in response to state-centric media campaigns.

The present article proposes to examine the 1985 and 1986 arrival in Brazil of Iranian Bahai forced migrants who left their homeland claiming religious persecution. The article presents original research undertaken with this group and aims to contribute to the limited body of research on migrants from the Middle East, and especially from Iran, in Brazil. The Bahai community of Brazil had been established decades earlier by pioneers from different countries, including Iran and the United States, working to bring their religion to Brazil. The arrival in 1985–86 of Iranian refugees was made possible by mobilization of the Bahai community of Brazil. Joint efforts were made with governmental and civil society groups to receive and welcome Bahai families to Brazil, facilitating their integration into Brazilian society. Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork and interviews, I analyze here the trajectory of several of these forced migrants who had been living in Brazil for almost forty years. They provide a diverse set of perspectives on notions of “success” and enable a consideration of economic prosperity and family and religious support networks, as well as the forced migrants’ perceptions regarding Brazil as a choice of host country.

Recent years have seen considerable debate about the shifting contours of international order, regarding whether or not there is a “Western liberal world order” and the power and influence of its illiberal challengers. Indeed, the old certainties of the bipolar international system created by the Cold War are an increasingly distant memory, and the unipolar moment of unchecked US dominance is now seen as an interregnum in the seemingly inevitable move toward a multipolar future for global politics. As a country of major geostrategic importance, Iran often has been a key player in the shifts that have occurred in both regional and global geopolitics over the last hundred years. This includes being an arena for Russian tsarist, Ottoman, and British imperial competition during World War I and later being a founding member of the League of Nations. As an important oil producer and a state that saw itself as a leading postcolonial actor, Iran was also one of the founding members of OPEC and the G77. From its experience of imperial penetration by European powers in the early twentieth century to its emergence as a key Western ally and “regional policeman” in the Cold War era, Iran has had to engage with the shifting interests of global powers and associated notions of international order. These have had a critical influence on the development of modern Iran, shaping its politics, society, and international relations and helping to lay the foundations for opposition to the prevailing norms that governed Iran’s relations with the world up until 1979.