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Prachanda

(Encyclopedia)Prachanda po͞oshˈpä kəmälˈ dəhäl [key], 1954–, Nepalese military and political leader, prime minister of Nepal (2008–9, 2016–17). Born into a Brahmin family, he earned a degree in agricu...

Sunni

(Encyclopedia)Sunni so͞oˈnī [key] [Arab. Sunna,=tradition], from ahl al-sunnah wa-l-jamaa [Arab.,=the people of the custom of the Prophet and community], the largest division of Islam. Sunni Islam is the heir to...

Deir al-Zour

(Encyclopedia)Deir al-Zour, Syria: see Dayr az Zawr. ...

Al-Hakam II

(Encyclopedia)Al-Hakam II: see Hakam II, al-.

Al Aswany, Alaa

(Encyclopedia)Al Aswany, Alaa, 1957–, Egyptian author, b. Cairo. The son of a novelist-lawyer, he was trained as a dentist at Cairo Univ. (grad. 1980) and the Univ. of Illinois at Chicago (M.S., 1987) and has com...

Imru al-Kais

(Encyclopedia)Imru al-Kais: see Amru al-Kais.

Ibn al-Haytham

(Encyclopedia)Ibn al-Haytham ălhəzĕnˈ [key], 965–c.1040, Arab mathematician. Ibn al-Haytham was born in Basra, but made his career in Cairo, where he supported himself copying scientific manuscripts. Among hi...

Abraj Al-Bait

(Encyclopedia)Abraj Al-Bait, complex of seven government-owned, mixed-use buildings in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The most impressive structure, the Makkah Royal Clock Tower, is the tallest building in Saudi Arabia, at 1...

Habash al-Hasib

(Encyclopedia)Habash al-Hasib häbäshˈ äl-häsēbˈ [key], d. c.870, Arab mathematician and astronomer. Habash al-Hasib was born in what is now Mary, Turkmenistan, and worked in Baghdad. He calculated tables of ...

Amru al-Kais

(Encyclopedia)Amru al-Kais ämˈro͞o äl-kīs [key], fl. 6th cent., Arabic poet. His verse, like much of the poetry of the pre-Islamic period, is intensely subjective and stylistically perfect. He was esteemed by ...