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Chishti, Muin ad-Din Hasan

(Encyclopedia)Chishti, Muin ad-Din Hasan mo͞oēnˈ äd-dĭn häsänˈ chĭshˈtē [key], 1142–1236, Indian Muslim saint, b. Sistan, Persia. He founded a Sufi mystic order responsible for spreading Islamic teachi...

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...

New Year's Day

(Encyclopedia)New Year's Day, among ancient peoples the first day of the year frequently corresponded to the vernal or autumnal equinox, or to the summer or winter solstice. In the Middle Ages it was celebrated amo...

Bukhari, Muhammad ibn Ismail, al-

(Encyclopedia)Bukhari, Muhammad ibn Ismail, al- bo͞ok-härēˈ [key] (c.810–70), Arabic scholar, b. Bukhara. He traveled widely over Muslim regions and made an authoritative collection of the hadith, the traditi...

Dagestan Republic

(Encyclopedia)Dagestan Republic or Daghestan Republic dägəstänˈ [key], constituent republic, c.19,4...

Mathura

(Encyclopedia)Mathura mŭˈtrə [key], city (1991 pop. 235,922), Uttar Pradesh state, N central India, on the Yamuna River. An agricultural market town and district administrative center, it is best known as a Hind...

Mzab

(Encyclopedia)Mzab əmzäbˈ [key], stony, barren valley, Algeria, in the N Sahara. It was settled c.1000 by members of an austere Muslim sect, the Kharijites. The inhabitants, called Mozabites, dug wells, created ...

Idris I

(Encyclopedia)Idris I, 1890–1983, king of Libya (1951–69). A grandson of the founder of the Sanusi Muslim sect, he became leader of the group in 1917. He was acknowledged (1920) by the Italians as emir of Cyren...

Dahlak Archipelago

(Encyclopedia)Dahlak Archipelago däläkˈ ärkĭpĕlˈəgō [key], island group, Eritrea, in the Red Sea off Massawa. There are two large, inhabited islands and more than 200 small, largely uninhabited islands. Th...

Farid ad-Din Attar

(Encyclopedia)Farid ad-Din Attar färēdˈ äd-dēn ät-tärˈ [key], 1142?–1220?, b. Nishapur, Persia, one of the greatest Sufi mystic poets of Islam. His masterpiece is the Mantiq ut-Tair (The Conference of the...