İsfahan

İsfahan (also referred to as İsbahan in sources), is a historical city located in the Cibal region of Iran, prominent in Islamic era sources of Kurdish history as both a center of learning and a geographical border point. Kazvinî positions the city in the central part of present-day Iran, in the southeastern part of the Cibal region, and describes it as a large, glorious, and fertile place (Vol. 2, p. 88). The city's craft products, especially clothes made of silk and cotton, were exported to Iraq, Horasan and Huzistan, and other cities in the Cibal region (Vol. 2, p. 89).

Center of Learning and History

The city is associated with scholars and historians who are sources for Kurdish history. Ibn Miskeveyh, a philosopher, moral thinker, and historian known by the title "el-muallimü's-sâlis", was one of the important figures of his era, serving as a bureaucrat and scholar for the Büveyhî viziers; he probably died in İsfahan on 9 Safer 421 (February 16, 1030) (Vol. 1, p. 123). His work, Tecâribü'l-ümem ve te‘akibü'l-himem, which narrates events from the flood up to the year of Adudüddevle's death in 372/983, is one of the most valuable sources for the Büveyhî era, with its final part based on his personal observations (Vol. 1, p. 123). İmâdüddîn el-İsfahânî, who bears the nisba of the city, became one of the fundamental authors consulted by later historians; İbnü'l-Münşî utilized historians such as İbnü'l-Esîr, Bahaüddin b. Şeddâd, İmâdüddîn el-İsfahanî, Ebû Şâme, and İbn Vâsıl in his work (Vol. 1, p. 196), and similarly, ‘Aynî relied on the works of Kâdî el-Fâzıl, İmâdüddîn el-İsfahanî, İbn Şeddâd, İbnü'l-Esîr, and Ebû Şâme concerning the Ayyubid period (Vol. 1, p. 201).

Border Point in Kurdish Settlements

İsfahan is frequently mentioned in geographical sources of Kurdish history, particularly as a reference point for locating Kurdish tribes and settlements. The Bâzencanîler, who, according to İstahrî, had many lands on the Fars border despite having migrated from Fars, are located on the border of İsfahan (Vol. 2, p. 17). Similarly, the Mazencanîler, living on the border of İsfahan, are recorded as a Kurdish tribe that moved there from a zumm (Vol. 2, p. 19). The first of the ramms, which are Kurdish settlements, the ramm of Hasan b. Cîleveyh (Ramîcan), comes after İsfahan; one of its borders is in Beyda, and another extends to İsfahan (Vol. 2, p. 25).

Lor Mountain and Kurdish Homeland

The city is also seen as a border marker for the mountainous geography associated with Kurds. İbn Şeddâd states that between the city of Şuster/Şuşter in Huzistan and İsfahan, there is Cebel-i Lûr (Lor Dağı), approximately six days' journey in length, where a group of Kurds lives, and that this place is the homeland of the Kurds (Vol. 2, p. 31; Vol. 2, p. 35). İbn Battûta also positions this mountain belonging to the Kurds between İsfahan and Huzistan (Vol. 2, p. 37). During the Mamluk period, Safiyyüddin el-Bağdâdî, in his work Merâsidü'l-İttila, described the region between İsfahan and Huzistan when speaking of the Lors, one of the famous Kurdish tribes (Vol. 2, p. 55).