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Fatimid

(Encyclopedia)Fatimid –ĭmīt [key], dynasty claiming to hold the caliphate on the basis of descent from Fatima, a daughter of Muhammad the Prophet. In doctrine the Fatimids were related to other Shiite sects. Th...

Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz

(Encyclopedia)Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz äbdo͝olˈlä ĭbˈən ăbdo͝olˈ ăzēzˈ [key], 1924–2015, king of Saudi Arabia (2005–15), b. Riyadh. Like his predecessor, King Fahd, he was a son of Saudi Arabia's fo...

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...

Ibn al-Arabi, Muhyi ad-Din Muhammad bin Ali al-Hatimi at-Tai

(Encyclopedia)Ibn al-Arabi or Ibn Arabi, Muhyi ad-Din Muhammad bin Ali al-Hatimi at-Tai ĭbˌən äl äräˈbē [key], 1165–1240, a Muslim Sufi mystic b. in Murcia, Spain. As a child in Seville, Ibn al-Arabi had ...

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...

Ibn Ezra, Abraham ben Meir

(Encyclopedia)Ibn Ezra, Abraham ben Meir mâr [key], c.1089–1164, Jewish grammarian, commentator, poet, philosopher, and astronomer, b. Tudela, Spain. He traveled widely and wrote a number of ethical treatises, p...

Abbas

(Encyclopedia)Abbas äbäsˈ, ăbäsˈ, ăbˈəs [key], d. 653, uncle of Muhammad the Prophet and of Ali the caliph. A wealthy merchant of Mecca, he was at first opposed to the religious movement initiated by his n...

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...

Abu Tammam Habib ibn Aus

(Encyclopedia)Abu Tammam Habib ibn Aus täm-mämˈ häbēbˈ ĭˈbən ous [key], c.805–c.845, Arab poet, compiler of the Hamasa. His poems of valor, often describing historical events, are important as source mat...

Khalifa ibn Zaid Al Nahayan

(Encyclopedia)Khalifa ibn Zaid Al Nahayan, 1948–, Emirati ruler. The son of Sheikh Zaid ibn Sultan Al Nahayan of Abu Dhabi, he was named crown prince and chairman of Abu Dhabi's defense department in 1969 and its...