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Glubb, Sir John Bagot

(Encyclopedia)Glubb, Sir John Bagot băgˈət [key], 1897–1986, British soldier. He served in France during World War I and in 1920 was posted to Iraq, where he lived among Arab Bedouins and studied their languag...

Salman bin Abdul Aziz

(Encyclopedia)Salman bin Abdul Aziz, 1935–, king of Saudi Arabia (2015–), b. Riyadh. Like his predecessor, King Abdullah, he is a son—by a different wife—of Saudi Arabia's founder, Ibn Saud. Salman served a...

Hussein I

(Encyclopedia)Hussein I ho͝osānˈ, –īnˈ [key], 1935–99, king of Jordan; educated in England at Harrow and Sandhurst. He ascended the throne (1953) after his grandfather Abdullah I had been killed (1951) by ...

Husayn ibn Ali

(Encyclopedia)Husayn ibn Ali ĭˈbən äˈlē [key], 1856–1931, Arab political and religious leader. In 1908 he succeeded as grand sherif of Mecca and thus became ruler of the Hejaz under the Ottoman Empire. In W...

Shafi'i, al-

(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 groundwork for the...

Solih, Ibrahim Mohamed

(Encyclopedia)Solih, Ibrahim Mohamed, 1964–, Maldivian political leader, president of the Maldives (2018–). Popularly known as “Ibu,” he had a successful career as a journalist before he was first elected t...

Philby, Harry St. John Bridger

(Encyclopedia)Philby, Harry St. John Bridger, 1885–1960, British explorer, official, and author. He joined (1917) the British foreign service, was sent on a special mission to Arabia, and became the first Europea...

Amman

(Encyclopedia)Amman ämänˈ [key], city (1997 est. pop. 1,415,000), capital of Jordan, N central Jordan, on the Jabbok (Wadi Zerka) River. Jordan's largest city and industrial and commercial heart, it is also a tr...

Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani

(Encyclopedia)Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani, 1932–2016, emir of Qatar (1972–95). Khalifa was the son of Hamad bin Abdullah al-Thani, the second emir's heir apparent, but Hamad died (1948) before the emir. During t...

Najib Razak

(Encyclopedia)Najib Razak or Najib Tun Razak näjēbˈ to͞on räˈzäk [key], 1958–, Malaysian politician. A Malay, he is a member of a prominent political family, the son of Malaysia's second prime minister, Ab...

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