(Encyclopedia) Druze or DruseDruzedr&oomacr;z [key], religious community of Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, with important overseas branches in the Americas and Australia. The religious…
(Encyclopedia) IsmailisIsmailisĭsmäēlˈēz [key], Muslim Shiite sect that holds Ismail, the son of Jafar as-Sadiq, as its imam. On the death of the sixth imam of the Shiites, Jafar as-Sadiq (d. 765),…
(Encyclopedia) Ibn Saud (Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud)Ibn Saudĭˈbən sä&oomacr;dˈ [key], c.1880–1953, founder of Saudi Arabia and its first king. His family, with its regular seat at Riyadh in the Nejd,…
(Encyclopedia) HarijansHarijanshârˈĭjănzˌ [key] [children of God], in India, individuals who are at the bottom of or outside the Hindu caste system. They were traditionally sweepers, washers of…
(Encyclopedia) Melaka or MalaccaMalaccaboth: məlăkˈə [key], state (1991 pop. 504,502), 640 sq mi (1,658 sq km), Malaysia, S Malay Peninsula, on the Strait of Malacca. Formerly one of the Straits…
(Encyclopedia) TurkicTurkictûrˈkĭk [key], group of languages forming a subdivision of the Altaic subfamily of the Ural-Altaic family of languages (see Uralic and Altaic languages). The Turkic group…
(Encyclopedia) Aga KhanAga Khanäˈgä khän [key], the title of the religious leader and imam of the Ismaili Nizari sect of Islam, originally bestowed by the Persian shah Fath Ali on Hasan Ali Shah,…
(Encyclopedia) Silk Road, ancient overland trade route linking Asia and Europe, consisting of a network of caravan routes running from China across central Asia to the shores of the Mediterranean.…
(Encyclopedia) philanthropy, the spirit of active goodwill toward others as demonstrated in efforts to promote their welfare. The term is often used interchangeably with charity. Every year vast sums…
(Encyclopedia) predestination, in theology, doctrine that asserts that God predestines from eternity the salvation of certain souls. So-called double predestination, as in Calvinism, is the added…
