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Muslim

(Encyclopedia)Muslim mŭzˈlĭm [key] [Arab.,=one who surrenders (himself to God), an agent form of the verb of which Islam is a verbal noun], one who has embraced Islam, a follower of Muhammad. The form Moslem is ...

Marabouts

(Encyclopedia)Marabouts mârˈəbo͞ots [key] [Arab.,=devotee hermit], members of a Muslim religious and military community, precursors of the Almoravids. They spread from NW Africa into Spain in the 11th and 12th ...

Berbera

(Encyclopedia)Berbera bûrˈbərə [key], city, Somaliland region, N Somalia, a port on the Gulf of Aden. The ...

Abano, Pietro d'

(Encyclopedia)Abano, Pietro d' pyāˈtrō däˈbänō [key], 1250?–1316?, Italian physician and philosopher, a professor of medicine in Padua. His famous work Conciliator differentiarum was an attempt to reconcil...

Tombalbaye, Ngarta

(Encyclopedia)Tombalbaye, Ngarta ən-gärˈtä tŏmbəlbäˈyā [key], 1918—75, president of Chad (1960–75). Born François Tombalbaye, he Africanized his given name in 1973. A businessman and school official, ...

Ruiz, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Ruiz, Juan hwän ro͞oēthˈ [key], 1283?–1350?, Spanish poet, musician, and archpriest of Hita. Ruiz suffered 13 years in prison, during which time he revised his masterpiece, El Libro de buen amor...

Said, Sayyid

(Encyclopedia)Said, Sayyid säēdˈ säēdˈ [key] or Said ibn Sultan, 1791?–1856, ruler of Oman and Zanzibar. He became ruler of Oman in 1806, when he was about 15. After defeating opposition in Oman, with Briti...

Intifada

(Encyclopedia)Intifada ĭntēfăˈdĕ [key] [Arab.,=uprising, shaking off], the Palestinian uprising during the late 1980s and early 90s in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, areas that had been occupied by Israel since...

Aqaba, Gulf of

(Encyclopedia)Aqaba, Gulf of, northeastern arm of the Red Sea, 118 mi (190 km) long and 10 to 15 mi (16.1 to 24.1 km) wide, between the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas; a part of the Great Rift Valley. The gulf, which...

Nablus

(Encyclopedia)Nablus năˈbləs, näˈ– [key], Heb. Shechem, city (2003 est. pop. 127,000), the West Bank. It is the market center for a region where wheat and olives are grown and sheep and goats are grazed. Man...