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Averroës

(Encyclopedia)Averroës əvĕrˈōēz [key], Arabic Ibn Rushd, 1126–98, Spanish-Arab philosopher. He was far more important and influential in Jewish and Christian thought than in Islam. He was a lawyer and physi...

Arabian music

(Encyclopedia)Arabian music, classical musical tradition of the Islamic peoples of Arabia, the Fertile Crescent, and North Africa. Little is known of Arabian music before the Hegira (a.d. 622), but afterward unde...

Alfonso VI, Spanish king of León and Castile

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso VI, 1030–1109, Spanish king of León (1065–1109) and Castile (1072–1109). He inherited León from his father, Ferdinand I. Defeated by his brother Sancho II of Castile, he fled to the Mo...

Mecca

(Encyclopedia)Mecca măkˈə [key], city (1993 pop. 966,381), capital of the Hejaz, W Saudi Arabia. The birthplace c.a.d. 570 of Muhammad the Prophet, it is the holiest city of Islam, and the goal of the annual Mus...

Sufism

(Encyclopedia)Sufism so͞oˈfĭzəm [key], an umbrella term for the ascetic and mystical movements within Islam. While Sufism is said to have incorporated elements of Christian monasticism, gnosticism, and Indian m...

caliphate

(Encyclopedia)caliphate kălˈĭfˌ [key], the spiritual head and temporal ruler of the Islamic state. In principle, Islam is theocratic: when Muhammad died, a caliph [Arab.,=successor] was chosen to rule in his pl...

Harun ar-Rashid

(Encyclopedia)Harun ar-Rashid häro͞on är-räshēdˈ [key] [Arab.,=Aaron the Upright], c.764–809, 5th and most famous Abbasid caliph (786–809). He succeeded his brother Musa al-Hadi, fourth caliph, a year aft...

Abravanel, Judah

(Encyclopedia)Abravanel or Abarbanel, Judah, c.1460–c.1523, Jewish philosopher, physician, and poet, son of Isaac Abravanel, b. Lisbon; he is also known as Leone Ebreo. He fled (1483) from Portugal to Spain with ...

Ali

(Encyclopedia)Ali älēˈ [key] (Ali ibn Abu Talib), 598?–661, 4th caliph (656–61). The debate over his right to the caliphate caused a major split in Islam into Sunni and Shiite branches, and he is regarded by...

sharia

(Encyclopedia)sharia, the religious law of Islam. As Islam makes no distinction between religion and life, Islamic law covers not only ritual but many aspects of life. The actual codification of canonic law is the ...