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Hud

(Encyclopedia)Hud ho͞od [key], a pre-Qur'anic prophet of Islam. Hud unsuccessfully exhorted his South Arabian people, the Ad, to worship the One God. The Qur'an mentions that their incredulity was punished by a de...

Barada

(Encyclopedia)Barada ăbˈənə [key], river, 52 mi (84 km) long, rising in the Anti-Lebanon Mts. and flowing S to marshy Lake Al Utaybah, SE Syria; forms the Ghouta oasis, site of the city of Damascus. The Barada'...

Geshur

(Encyclopedia)Geshur gĕshˈyo͞orī, gĕshyo͞oˈrī [key], in the Bible. 1 Small Aramaic kingdom that remained in the territory allotted to Manasseh. It occupied barren land NE of the Sea of Galilee. After the di...

Baybars I

(Encyclopedia)Baybars I bīˈbärs [key], 1223–77, Mamluk sultan (1260–77) of Egypt and Syria. Once a Turkish slave, Baybars became a commander of the Ayyubid and then Mamluk armies. In 1260 he led Mamluk troop...

Benhadad

(Encyclopedia)Benhadad bĕnhāˈdăd [key], in the Bible, kings of Damascus. 1 The son of Tabrimon, ally of Asa of Judah against Baasha of Israel. 2 Probably the son and successor of 1, leader of the coalition that...

Ibn Taymiyya, Taqiyy ad-Din Ahmad

(Encyclopedia)Ibn Taymiyya, Taqiyy ad-Din Ahmad ĭbn tīmēˈyə [key], 1263–1328, Muslim theologian and jurist. He lived in Damascus after the collapse of the central caliphate to the Mongol invasion from the Ea...

Judas

(Encyclopedia)Judas, in the Bible. 1 See Jude, Saint. 2 Judas Maccabeus: see Maccabees. 3 See Judas Iscariot. 4 See Judah (1) (of which Judas is the Greek form). 5 In the Acts of the Apostles, owner of a house in D...

Abd ar-Rahman I, emir of Córdoba

(Encyclopedia)Abd ar-Rahman I, d. 788, first Umayyad emir of Córdoba (756–88). The only survivor of the Abbasid massacre (750) of his family in Damascus, he fled from Syria and eventually went to Spain. There he...

Calvary

(Encyclopedia)Calvary gŏlˈgəthə [key] [Heb.,=a skull], in the Gospels, place where Jesus was crucified, outside what was then the wall of Jerusalem. Its location is not certainly known. The traditional identifi...

Hulagu Khan

(Encyclopedia)Hulagu Khan ho͞oläˈgo͞o khän [key], 1217–65, Mongol conqueror, grandson of Jenghiz Khan. His brother Mangu, grand khan of the Mongols, directed him to quell a revolt in Persia. In 1256, in the ...