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Atatürk, Kemal

(Encyclopedia)Atatürk, Kemal kĕmälˈ ätätürkˈ [key], 1881–1938, Turkish leader, founder of modern Turkey. He took the name in 1934 in place of his earlier name, Mustafa Kemal, when he ordered all Turks to ...

Shiites

(Encyclopedia)Shiites shēˈītz [key] [Arab., shiat Ali,=the party of Ali], the second largest branch of Islam, Shiites currently account for 10%–15% of all Muslims. Shiite Islam originated as a political moveme...

Ismailis

(Encyclopedia)Ismailis ĭsmäēlˈēz [key], Muslim Shiite sect that holds Ismail, the son of Jafar as-Sadiq, as its imam. On the death of the sixth imam of the Shiites, Jafar as-Sadiq (d. 765), the majority of Shi...

Tabriz

(Encyclopedia)Tabriz täbrēzˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 1,088,985), capital of East Azerbaijan prov., NW Iran, on the Aji Chai (Talkheh) River, in the foothills of Mt. Sahand, at an elevation of c.4,600 ft (1,400 m)...

Balkh

(Encyclopedia)Balkh bälkh [key], town, N Afghanistan, on a dried-up tributary of the Amu Darya River. One of the world's oldest cities, it is the legendary birthplace of the prophet Zoroaster. Because it was locat...

Shankar, Ravi

(Encyclopedia)Shankar, Ravi (Robindra Shankar Chowdhury), 1920–2012, Indian sitarist and composer, b. Varanasi. He was the first Indian instrumentalist to attain an international reputation and is credited with i...

Akko

(Encyclopedia)Akko āˈkər, äˈ– [key], Fr. Saint-Jean d'Acre, Arab. Acca, city, NW Israel, a port on the Bay of Haifa (an arm of the Mediterranean Sea). Its manufactures include ir...

fakir

(Encyclopedia)fakir fäkērˈ, fāˈkər [key], [Arab.,=poverty], in Islam, usually an initiate in a Sufi order. The title fakir is borne with the understanding that poverty is the need to be in relation to God. Th...

hajj

(Encyclopedia)hajj häj [key], the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, one of the five basic requirements (arkan or “pillars”) of Islam. Its annual observance corresponds to the major holy day id al-adha, itself...

era

(Encyclopedia)era, period of historic time. In geology, it is the name applied to large divisions of geological process, e.g., Paleozoic era (see geology). In chronology an era is a period reckoned from a fixed poi...