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Islamic State

(Encyclopedia)Islamic State (IS), Sunni Islamic militant group committed to the establishment of an Islamic caliphate that would unite Muslims in a transnational, strict-fundamentalist Islamic state. IS has been ma...

Firishta

(Encyclopedia)Firishta or Ferishta both: fĭrĭshtăˈ [key], c.1560–c.1620, Indian Muslim historian. His given name was Muhammad Kasim Hindu Shah. Under the patronage of the shah of Bijapur, he wrote a history o...

Coele-Syria

(Encyclopedia)Coele-Syria: see Biqa, Al.

Beqa, El

(Encyclopedia)Beqa, El: see Biqa, Al.

Bika, El

(Encyclopedia)Bika, El: see Biqa, Al.

Litani

(Encyclopedia)Litani, river, Lebanon: see Biqa, Al. ...

Pan-Arabism

(Encyclopedia)Pan-Arabism, general term for the modern movement for political unification among the Arab nations of the Middle East. Since the Ottoman Turks rose to power in the 14th cent., there have been stirring...

Murad V

(Encyclopedia)Murad V, 1840–1904, Ottoman sultan (1876), son of Abd al-Majid. He came to the throne of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) when his uncle, Abd al-Aziz, was deposed, but he was soon declared insane and was...

Qattara Depression

(Encyclopedia)Qattara Depression mo͝ongkhäfädˈ äl-kät-täräˈ [key], desert basin, c.7,000 sq mi (18,130 sq km), NW Egypt, NE Africa, in the Libyan Desert. It was long believed to be the lowest point (436 ft...

Fatima

(Encyclopedia)Fatima fătˈĭmə, fäˈtĭmə, fətēˈmə [key], 616?–633?, daughter of Muhammad by his first wife, Khadija. Fatima was the wife of Ali, the mother of Hasan and Husein, and reputedly the ancestre...