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Banu Musa

(Encyclopedia)Banu Musa bäno͞oˈ mo͞osäˈ [key], family of Arab mathematicians and astronomers of the 9th cent. a.d. The name means “sons of Musa” and refers to the three brothers, Muhammad, Ahmad, and al-H...

Muslim

(Encyclopedia)Muslim mŭzˈlĭm [key] [Arab.,=one who surrenders (himself to God), an agent form of the verb of which Islam is a verbal noun], one who has embraced Islam, a follower of Muhammad. The form Moslem is ...

Albumazar

(Encyclopedia)Albumazar älˌbo͞omäˈzər [key], 805?–885, Arab astronomer, more fully Abu-Mashar Jafar ibn Muhammad. In his De magnis conjunctionibus he claimed that the world had been created when the seven p...

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...

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...

Baphomet

(Encyclopedia)Baphomet băfˈəmĕt [key], idol or mystical figure that the Knights Templars were accused of worshiping in the 14th cent. Apparently the name was unknown before that time in Western demonology. Its ...

Babism

(Encyclopedia)Babism bäˈbĭzəm [key], system of doctrines proclaimed in Persia in 1844 by Ali Muhammad of Shiraz. Influenced by the Shaykhi Shiite theology that viewed the Twelve Imams as incarnations of the Div...

Ksar el Kebir

(Encyclopedia)Ksar el Kebir ksär ĕl kĕbĭrˈ [key], city (1994 pop. 107,065), N Morocco. The name also appears as Alcazarquivir and Al Qasr al Kabir. Near the city on Aug. 4, 1578, the Moroccans soundly defeated...

Gaur, ruined city, India

(Encyclopedia)Gaur gour [key], ruined city, West Bengal state, India. Known also as Lakhnauti, the city was an ancient Hindu capital of Bengal. It was captured (c.1200) by the Islamic rulers of Delhi and remained a...

Prithvi Raj

(Encyclopedia)Prithvi Raj prĭtˈvē räj [key], d. 1192, ruler of the Chauan dynasty of N India. A great warrior, he later became the subject of many romantic epics, including the Chand Raisa. He resisted the incu...