FACTFILE: AFRICAFIND OUT MOREAfrica is the second-largest continent in the world after Asia. About 831 million people live there—more than one-tenth of the world’s population. The majority of…
(Encyclopedia) MuallaqatMuallaqatm&oomacr;älˌäkätˈ [key], Pre-Islamic Arabic anthology compiled by the scholar Hammad al Rawiya (d. c.775). comprised of poems that were written in gold letters…
(Encyclopedia) WolofWolofwōlˈəf [key], black African ethnic group numbering over 3 million, along the Atlantic coast of W Africa; most live in Senegal, but there is a significant minority in Gambia.…
(Encyclopedia) Bolkiah Mu'izzadin Waddaulah, Sir Hassanal, 1946–, sultan of Brunei (1967–). He succeeded to the throne after the abdication of his father, Sultan Sir Omar Ali Saifuddin. Known as a…
(Encyclopedia) Shafi'i, al- (Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i), 767–820, Islamic jurist. Raised and educated in Mecca and Medina, he taught in Egypt and Baghdad. His teachings laid the…
(Encyclopedia) AurangzebAurangzebôrˈəngzĕbˌ [key] or AurangzibAurangzib–zĭbˌ [key], 1618–1707, Mughal emperor of India (1658–1707), son and successor of Shah Jahan. He served (1636–44, 1653–58) as…
(Encyclopedia) madrasa or madrassah, in Islamic countries, a school, historically usually one devoted to higher education in religious studies, but the term may refer to any school. Privately endowed…
U.S. Department of State Background Note Index: People History Government and Political Conditions Economy Foreign Relations U.S.-Saudi Arabian Relations PEOPLESaudi Arabia's 2007 population…
Caliph of the Abbasid Empire Born: c.764 Harun al-Rashid became the fifth Caliph of the Abbasid dynasty in 786, and went on to become its most famous and celebrated leader. A number of the stories…
