origins of agriculture: Southwest Asia: The Abū Hureyra site in Syria is the largest known site from the era when plants and animals were initially being domesticated. Two periods of occupation bracketing the transition to agriculture have been unearthed there. The people of the earlier, Epipaleolithic occupation lived in much the…

Aghlabid dynasty: …hands for two centuries); and Abū Ibrāhim Aḥmad (856–863), who commissioned many public works. During the 9th century the brilliant Kairouan civilization evolved under their rule. The Aghlabid emirs maintained a splendid court, though at the cost of oppressive taxes; their public works for the conservation and distribution of water,…

Chishtīyah: …the founder of the order, Abū Isḥāq of Syria, settled.

Timbuktu: The Granada architect Abū Isḥāq al-Sāḥili was then commissioned to design the Sankore mosque, around which Sankore University was established. The mosque still stands today, probably because of al-Sāḥili’s directive to incorporate a wooden framework into the mud walls of the building, thus facilitating annual repairs after the…

Ibrāhīm al-Naẓẓām was a brilliant Muslim theologian, a man of letters, and a poet, historian, and jurist. Naẓẓām spent his youth in Basra, moving to Baghdad as a young man. There he studied speculative theology (kalām) under the great Muʿtazilite theologian Abū al-Hudhayl al-ʿAllāf but soon broke

Abū al-ʿAtāhiyah was the first Arab poet of note to break with the conventions established by the pre-Islamic poets of the desert and to adopt a simpler and freer language of the village. Abū al-ʿAtāhiyah (“Father of Craziness”) came from a family of mawlās, poor non-Arabs who were clients of the

Suleja: Abu Ja (Jatau), his brother and successor as sarkin Zazzau, founded Abuja town in 1828, began construction of its wall a year later, and proclaimed himself the first emir of Abuja. Withstanding Zaria attacks, the Abuja emirate remained an independent Hausa refuge. Trade with the…

Murcia: …led to a rising under Abu Jaʿfar ibn Hud in 1144 and the reestablishment of Murcian independence. The kingdom was then united with Valencia.

Ibn Bābawayh was an Islamic theologian, author of one of the "Four Books" that are the basic authorities for the doctrine of Twelver (Ithnā ʿAshāri) Shīʿah. Little is known about Ibn Bābawayh’s life. According to legend he was born as the result of special prayers to the mahdī (the expected one).

al-Ṭabarī was a Muslim scholar, author of enormous compendiums of early Islamic history and Qurʾānic exegesis, who made a distinct contribution to the consolidation of Sunni thought during the 9th century. He condensed the vast wealth of exegetical and historical erudition of the preceding

al-Manṣūr was the second caliph of the ʿAbbāsid dynasty (754–775), generally regarded as the real founder of the ʿAbbāsid caliphate. He established the capital city at Baghdad (762–763). Al-Manṣūr was born at Al-Ḥumaymah, the home of the ʿAbbāsid family after their emigration from the Hejaz in

Khalīl Ibrāhīm al-Wazīr was a Palestinian leader who became the military strategist and second in command of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Wazīr fled from Ramla with his family during the 1948 war that followed the creation of the State of Israel. He grew up in the Gaza Strip, where

Abū Jirāb, ancient Egyptian site, about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Abū Ṣīr, between Ṣaqqārah and Al-Jīzah; it is known as the location of two 5th-dynasty (c. 2465–c. 2325 bce) sun temples. The first part of the 5th dynasty is recognized as a period of unusually strong emphasis on the worship of the

Abū Kālījār al-Marzubān was a ruler of the Buyid dynasty from 1024, who for a brief spell reunited the Buyid territories in Iraq and Iran. When his father, Sulṭān al-Dawlah, died in December 1023/January 1024, Abū Kālījār’s succession to the sultan’s Iranian possessions of Fārs and Khuzistan was

Abū Kālījār al-Marzubān was a ruler of the Buyid dynasty from 1024, who for a brief spell reunited the Buyid territories in Iraq and Iran. When his father, Sulṭān al-Dawlah, died in December 1023/January 1024, Abū Kālījār’s succession to the sultan’s Iranian possessions of Fārs and Khuzistan was

Cape Bojador, extension of the West African coast into the Atlantic Ocean, now part of Western Sahara. Located on a dangerous reef-lined stretch of the coast, its Arabic name, Abū Khaṭar, means “the father of danger.” Early European navigators called it “the point of no return” until it was first

Muhammad: Biography according to the Islamic tradition: …Ṭālib die, and another uncle, Abū Lahab, succeeds to the leadership of the clan of Hāshim. Abū Lahab withdraws the clan’s protection from Muhammad, meaning that the latter can now be attacked without fear of retribution and is therefore no longer safe at Mecca. After failing to win protection in…

Iliya Abu Madi was an Arab poet and journalist whose poetry achieved popularity through his expressive use of language, his mastery of the traditional patterns of Arabic poetry, and the relevance of his ideas to contemporary Arab readers. When he was 11 years old, Abu Madi moved with his family

Ibn ʿAqīl: …death of his influential patron, Abū Manṣūr ibn Yūsuf, in 1067 or 1068, he was forced to retire from his teaching position. Until 1072 he lived in partial retirement under the protection of Abū Manṣūr’s son-in-law, a wealthy Ḥanbalī merchant. The controversy over his ideas came to an end in…

Daqīqī was a poet, one of the most important figures in early Persian poetry. Very little is known about Daqīqī’s life. A panegyrist, he wrote poems praising various Sāmānid and other princes and much lyrical poetry. He is remembered chiefly for an uncompleted verse chronicle dealing with

Abū Manṣūr Muḥammad al-Māturīdī was the eponymous figurehead of the Māturīdiyyah school of theology that arose in Transoxania, which came to be one of the most important foundations of Islamic doctrine. Except for the place and time of Māturīdī’s death, almost nothing is known about the details of

Sebüktigin was the founder of the Ghaznavid dynasty, which ruled much of the area of present-day Afghanistan for more than 150 years. Once a Turkish slave, Sebüktigin married the daughter of the governor of the town of Ghazna (modern Ghaznī), which was under the control of the Sāmānid dynasty. He

Ibn Zuhr was one of medieval Islam’s foremost thinkers and the greatest medical clinician of the western caliphate. An intensely practical man, Ibn Zuhr disliked medical speculation; for that reason, he opposed the teachings of the Persian master physician Avicenna. In his Taysīr fī al-mudāwāt wa

Mahmoud Abbas Palestinian politician who served briefly as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in 2003 and was elected its president in 2005 following the death of Yasser Arafat. He was an early member of the Fatah movement and was instrumental in building networks and contacts that

Albumazar was a leading astrologer of the Muslim world, who is known primarily for his theory that the world, created when the seven planets were in conjunction in the first degree of Aries, will come to an end at a like conjunction in the last degree of Pisces. Albumazar’s reputation as an

al-Hamdānī was an Arab geographer, poet, grammarian, historian, and astronomer whose chief fame derives from his authoritative writings on South Arabian history and geography. From his literary production, al-Hamdānī was known as the “tongue of South Arabia.” Most of al-Hamdānī’s life was spent in

al-Ḥarīrī was a scholar of Arabic language and literature and government official who is primarily known for the refined style and wit of his collection of tales, the Maqāmāt, published in English as The Assemblies of al-Harîrî (1867, 1898). His works include a long poem on grammar (Mulḥat al-iʿrāb

Ibn Qutaybah was a writer of adab literature—that is, of literature exhibiting wide secular erudition—and also of theology, philology, and literary criticism. He introduced an Arabic prose style outstanding for its simplicity and ease, or “modern” flavour. Little is known of Ibn Qutaybah’s life. Of

Ibn Ḥazm was a Muslim litterateur, historian, jurist, and theologian of Islamic Spain, famed for his literary productivity, breadth of learning, and mastery of the Arabic language. One of the leading exponents of the Ẓāhirī (Literalist) school of jurisprudence, he produced some 400 works, covering

Sharjah: …to the Sharjah island of Abū Mūsā, in the open gulf northwest of Sharjah town, and landed troops there. A subsequent agreement between Iran and Sharjah promised that both flags would fly over the island, settled the question of possible future oil discoveries in the area (where Sharjah had granted…

Battle of Ṣiffīn: …of the Qurʾān and delegated Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī as his representative, while Muʿāwiyah sent ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ. By agreeing to arbitration, ʿAlī conceded to deal with Muʿāwiyah on equal terms, thus permitting him to challenge ʿAlī’s claim as leader of the Muslim community. This concession aroused the anger of a…

Abu Muslim was a leader of a revolutionary movement in Khorāsān who, while acting as an agent for the ʿAbbāsid family, was instrumental in the downfall of the Umayyad caliphate and in placing the ʿAbbāsids on the throne. There are numerous versions of Abu Muslim’s background, but it seems most

Abu Muslim was a leader of a revolutionary movement in Khorāsān who, while acting as an agent for the ʿAbbāsid family, was instrumental in the downfall of the Umayyad caliphate and in placing the ʿAbbāsids on the throne. There are numerous versions of Abu Muslim’s background, but it seems most

Nāṣer-e Khusraw was a poet, theologian, and religious propagandist, one of the greatest writers in Persian literature. Nāṣer-e Khusraw came of a family of government officials who belonged to the Shīʿite branch of Islam, and he attended school for only a short while. In 1045 he went on a pilgrimage

Suhrawardīyah: …discipline, founded in Baghdad by Abū Najīb as-Suhrawardī and developed by his nephew ʿUmar as-Suhrawardī. The order’s ritual prayers (dhikr) are based upon thousands of repetitions of seven names of God, identified with seven “subtle spirits” (laṭāʾif sabʿah) which in turn correspond to seven lights.

al-Fārābī was a Muslim philosopher, one of the preeminent thinkers of medieval Islam. He was regarded in the medieval Islamic world as the greatest philosophical authority after Aristotle. Very little is known of al-Fārābī’s life, and his ethnic origin is a matter of dispute. He eventually moved

Buyid dynasty: …1055 the last Buyid ruler, Abū Naṣr al-Mālik al-Raḥīm, was deposed by the Seljuq Toghrïl Beg.

al-Bīrūnī: Life: …educated by a Khwārezm-Shāh prince, Abū Naṣr Manṣūr ibn ʿIrāq, a member of the dynasty that ruled the area and possibly a patron of al-Bīrūnī. Some of the mathematical works of this prince were written especially for al-Bīrūnī and are at times easily confused with al-Bīrūnī’s own works.

al-Bīrūnī: Life: …educated by a Khwārezm-Shāh prince, Abū Naṣr Manṣūr ibn ʿIrāq, a member of the dynasty that ruled the area and possibly a patron of al-Bīrūnī. Some of the mathematical works of this prince were written especially for al-Bīrūnī and are at times easily confused with al-Bīrūnī’s own works.

Aḥmad Shah was the Mughal emperor of India from 1748 to 1754, a period when the Mughal dynasty was in decline. According to accounts of his reign, Aḥmad Shah largely ceded leadership to others, including the queen mother, Udham Bai, and the eunuch superintendent of the harem, the emperor’s vicar

Abū Niḍāl was a militant leader of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, more commonly known as the Abū Niḍāl Organization (ANO), or Abū Niḍāl Group, a Palestinian organization that engaged in numerous acts of terrorism beginning in the mid-1970s. Abū Niḍāl and his family fled Palestine after the 1948

Abū Niḍāl: …more commonly known as the Abū Niḍāl Organization (ANO), or Abū Niḍāl Group, a Palestinian organization that engaged in numerous acts of terrorism beginning in the mid-1970s.

Abū Niḍāl: …more commonly known as the Abū Niḍāl Organization (ANO), or Abū Niḍāl Group, a Palestinian organization that engaged in numerous acts of terrorism beginning in the mid-1970s.

Abū Nuwās was an important poet of the early ʿAbbāsid period (750–835). Abū Nuwās, of mixed Arab and Persian heritage, studied in Basra and al-Kūfah, first under the poet Wālibah ibn al-Ḥubāb, later under Khalaf al-Aḥmar. He also studied the Qurʾān (Islāmic sacred scripture), Ḥadīth (traditions

Abū Nuwās was an important poet of the early ʿAbbāsid period (750–835). Abū Nuwās, of mixed Arab and Persian heritage, studied in Basra and al-Kūfah, first under the poet Wālibah ibn al-Ḥubāb, later under Khalaf al-Aḥmar. He also studied the Qurʾān (Islāmic sacred scripture), Ḥadīth (traditions

Baghdad: Districts: Parallel to Saʿdūn, Abū Nuwās Street on the riverfront was once the city’s showpiece and—as befits a thoroughfare named for a poet known for his libidinous verse—its entertainment centre. During the 1990s the street lost much of its old glamour, and its cafes, restaurants, and luxury hotels either…

Abū Nuwās was an important poet of the early ʿAbbāsid period (750–835). Abū Nuwās, of mixed Arab and Persian heritage, studied in Basra and al-Kūfah, first under the poet Wālibah ibn al-Ḥubāb, later under Khalaf al-Aḥmar. He also studied the Qurʾān (Islāmic sacred scripture), Ḥadīth (traditions

Omar Khayyam was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet, renowned in his own country and time for his scientific achievements but chiefly known to English-speaking readers through the translation of a collection of his robāʿīyāt (“quatrains”) in The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859), by the

Iran: The Ghaznavids: He and Abū al-Ḥasan Sīmjūrī, as Samanid generals, competed with each other for the governorship of Khorāsān and control of the Samanid empire by placing on the throne emirs they could dominate. Abū al-Ḥasan died in 961, but a court party instigated by men of the scribal…

Abū Qīr Bay, semicircular inlet of the Mediterranean Sea, lying between Abū Qīr Point (southwest) and the mouth of the Rosetta Branch (northeast) of the Nile River delta, in Lower Egypt. The bay was the scene of the Battle of the Nile (1798), in which an English fleet under Rear Admiral Sir Horatio

Mecca: City site: …rises to 1,332 feet, and Mount Abū Qubays, which attains 1,220 feet, to the east and Mount Quʿayqʿān, which reaches 1,401 feet, to the west. Mount Hirāʾ rises to 2,080 feet on the northeast and contains a cave in which Muhammad sought isolation and visions before he became a prophet.…

ʿUmar Abū Rīshah was a Syrian poet and diplomat, noted for his early poetry, which broke with the traditions of Arab classicism. Abū Rīshah attended the University of Damascus in Syria, the American University in Beirut, Lebanon, and the University of Manchester, England. He was an early

Abū Ruwaysh, ancient Egyptian site of a 4th-dynasty (c. 2575–c. 2465 bce) pyramid built by Redjedef, usually considered the third of the seven kings of that dynasty. The site is about 5 miles (8 km) northwest of the Pyramids of Giza (Al-Jīzah) on the west bank of the Nile River. It is part of a

Syria: Relief: …the extreme south, and the Abū Rujmayn and Bishrī Mountains, which stretch northeastward across the central part of the country.

Abū Ruwaysh, ancient Egyptian site of a 4th-dynasty (c. 2575–c. 2465 bce) pyramid built by Redjedef, usually considered the third of the seven kings of that dynasty. The site is about 5 miles (8 km) northwest of the Pyramids of Giza (Al-Jīzah) on the west bank of the Nile River. It is part of a

Dunash Ben Tamim was a Jewish physician and one of the first scholars to make a comparative study of the Hebrew and Arabic languages. He practiced medicine at the Fāṭimid court of al-Qayrawān, (now in Tunisia) and, like other educated Jews of his time, was versed in Hebrew. The work for which he is

mathematics: Mathematics in the 10th century: …grandson Ibrāhīm ibn Sinān (909–946), Abū Sahl al-Kūhī (died c. 995), and Ibn al-Haytham solved problems involving the pure geometry of conic sections, including the areas and volumes of plane and solid figures formed from them, and also investigated the optical properties of mirrors made from conic sections. Ibrāhīm ibn…

history of Mesopotamia: Sumer and Akkad from 2350 to 2000 bce: …found in the archives of Tall Abū Ṣalābīkh, near Nippur in central Babylonia, synchronous with those of Shuruppak (shortly after 2600). The Sumerian king list places the 1st dynasty of Kish, together with a series of kings bearing Akkadian names, immediately after the Flood. In Mari the Akkadian language was…

Abu Sayyaf Group, militant organization based on Basilan island, one of the southern islands in the Philippine archipelago. Beginning in the mid-1990s, the group, whose origins are somewhat obscure, carried out terrorist attacks in the Philippines, including a series of high-profile kidnappings in

Il-Khanid dynasty: His son and successor, Abū Saʿīd (reigned 1317–35), reconverted to Sunni Islam and thus averted war. However, during Abū Saʿīd’s reign, factional disputes and internal disturbances continued and became rampant. Abū Saʿīd died without leaving an heir, and with his death the unity of the dynasty was fractured. Thereafter…

Jahān Shāh: …seized Herāt from the Timurid Abū Saʿīd, but the growing power of the Ak Koyunlu (“White Sheep”) under Uzun Ḥasan brought about an agreement between Abū Saʿīd and Jahān Shāh to divide Iran between them. After being defeated by the Ottoman Turks in 1461, Uzun Ḥasan fought the Kara Koyunlu…

Qarmatian: …exploits of two Bahraini leaders, Abū Saʿīd al-Jannābī and his son and successor, Abū Ṭāhir Sulaymān, who invaded Iraq several times and in 930 sacked Mecca and carried off the Black Stone of the Kaaba.

al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī was a deeply pious and ascetic Muslim who was one of the most important religious figures in early Islam. Ḥasan was born nine years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. One year after the Battle of Ṣiffīn (657), he moved to Basra, a military camp town situated 50 miles (80 km)

Persian literature: Religious poetry: …these poems is attributed to Abū Saʿīd ibn Abū al-Khayr, who died in 1049. He would be the first mystical poet in Persian literature, but one of his hagiographers asserts that he did not write any poetry himself; he instead merely used anonymous quatrains in his preaching that were circulating…

al-Aṣmaʿī was a noted scholar and anthologist, one of the three leading members of the Basra school of Arabic philology. A gifted student of Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ, the founder of the Basra school, al-Aṣmaʿī joined the court of the ʿAbbāsid caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd in Baghdad. Renowned for his piety

In the context of the Israel-Hamas War and the Gaza Strip, Yasser Abu Shabab is the leader of a Palestinian militia based in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip whose core members belong to a clan within the Tarabin Bedouin tribe, primarily known for its prominent trade network in the Sinai Peninsula

Abū Shahrayn, mound in southern Iraq, site of the ancient Sumerian city of Eridu

Abu Simbel, site of two temples built by the Egyptian king Ramses II (reigned 1279–13 bce), now located in Aswān muḥāfaẓah (governorate), southern Egypt. In ancient times the area was at the southern frontier of pharaonic Egypt, facing Nubia. The four colossal statues of Ramses in front of the main

Abū Ṣīr, ancient site between Al-Jīzah (Giza) and Ṣaqqārah, northern Egypt, where three 5th-dynasty (c. 2465–c. 2325 bce) kings (Sahure, Neferirkare, and Neuserre) built their pyramids. The pyramids were poorly constructed (in comparison with Egyptian monuments of similar types) and are now in a

Umayyad dynasty: The Umayyads, headed by Abū Sufyān, were a largely merchant family of the Quraysh tribe centred at Mecca. They had initially resisted Islam, not converting until 627, but subsequently became prominent administrators under Muhammad and his immediate successors. In the first Muslim civil war (fitnah; 656–661)—the struggle for the…

Ḥamdānid Dynasty: …Iraq to his domains, and Abū Taghlib (reigned 969–979) was forced to seek refuge and help from the Fāṭimids of Egypt, though without success. ʿAḍud ad-Dawlah later maintained two Ḥamdānids, Ibrāhīm and al-Ḥusayn, as joint rulers of Mosul (981–991), but the dynasty’s power had already shifted to Syria.

Qarmatian: … and his son and successor, Abū Ṭāhir Sulaymān, who invaded Iraq several times and in 930 sacked Mecca and carried off the Black Stone of the Kaaba.

Muhammad: Biography according to the Islamic tradition: …clan of Hāshim, his uncle Abū Ṭālib. While accompanying his uncle on a trading journey to Syria, Muhammad is recognized as a future prophet by a Christian monk.

Islamic arts: Indian literature in Persian: …poets, the most outstanding is Abū Ṭālib Kalīm (died 1651), who came from Hamadan. Abounding in descriptive passages of great virtuosity, his poignant and often pessimistic verses have become proverbial, thanks to their compact diction and fluent style. Also of some importance is Ṣāʾib of Tabriz (died 1677), who spent…

al-Muʿizz was the most powerful of the Fāṭimid caliphs, whose armies conquered Egypt and who made the newly founded Al-Qāhirah, or Cairo, his capital in 972–973. He was about 22 years of age when he succeeded his father, al-Mansur, in 953 with the title of al-Muʿizz. His authority was acknowledged

Abū Tammām was a poet and editor of an anthology of early Arabic poems known as the Ḥamāsah. Abū Tammām changed his Christian father’s name of Thādhūs to Aws and invented for himself an Arab genealogy. In his youth he worked in Damascus as a weaver’s assistant but on going to Egypt began to study

Abū Tammām was a poet and editor of an anthology of early Arabic poems known as the Ḥamāsah. Abū Tammām changed his Christian father’s name of Thādhūs to Aws and invented for himself an Arab genealogy. In his youth he worked in Damascus as a weaver’s assistant but on going to Egypt began to study

Wilhelm Raabe: (1868; Abu Telfan, Return from the Mountains of the Moon), and Der Schüdderump, 3 vol. (1870; “The Rickety Cart”). These three novels are often viewed as a trilogy that is central to Raabe’s generally pessimistic outlook, which views the difficulties of the individual in a world…

Wilhelm Raabe: (1868; Abu Telfan, Return from the Mountains of the Moon), and Der Schüdderump, 3 vol. (1870; “The Rickety Cart”). These three novels are often viewed as a trilogy that is central to Raabe’s generally pessimistic outlook, which views the difficulties of the individual in a world…

Sudan: Muḥammad ʿAlī and his successors: His successor, Aḥmad Pasha Abū Widān, continued his policies with but few exceptions and made it his primary concern to root out official corruption. Abū Widān dealt ruthlessly with offenders or those who sought to thwart his schemes to reorganize taxation. He was particularly fond of the…

Marīnid dynasty: …when, in 1248, their ruler, Abū Yaḥyā, captured Fès (Fez) and made it the Marīnid capital. With the defeat of the last of the Almohads and the capture of Marrakech in 1269, the Marīnids, under Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb, became masters of Morocco. In order to fulfill what they viewed as…

Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī: …and married a daughter of Abū Bakr, the Ḥafṣid ruler of Tunisia, which by 1342 had become a virtual vassal state. After Abū Bakr’s death Abū al-Ḥasan invaded Tunisia and captured Tunis (Sept. 15, 1347), but in the following April he was badly defeated by a confederation of Tunisian tribes…

Isaac ben Solomon Israeli was a Jewish physician and philosopher, widely reputed in the European Middle Ages for his scientific writings and regarded as the father of medieval Jewish Neoplatonism. Although there is considerable disagreement about his birth and death dates, he is known to have lived

Almohads: …virtually intact until the caliph Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf (reigned 1163–84) forced the surrender of Sevilla (Seville) in 1172; the extension of Almohad rule over the rest of Islamic Spain followed. During the reign of Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb al-Manṣūr (1184–99) serious Arab rebellions devastated the eastern provinces of the empire, whereas…

Ḥanafī school: …as spread by his disciples Abū Yūsuf (died 798) and Muḥammad al-Shaybānī (749/750–805) and became the dominant system of Islamic administration for the ʿAbbāsids and Ottomans. Although the Ḥanafī school acknowledges the Qurʾān and the Hadith (narratives concerning the Prophet Muhammad’s life and

Marīnid dynasty: … in 1269, the Marīnids, under Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb, became masters of Morocco. In order to fulfill what they viewed as the duty of Muslim sovereignty and to acquire religious prestige, they declared a jihad (holy war) in Spain until the mid-14th century. Although the war helped the Muslim Naṣrid dynasty…

Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb al-Manṣūr was the third ruler of the Muʾminid dynasty of Spain and North Africa, who during his reign (1184–99) brought the power of his dynasty to its zenith. When his father, Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf, died on July 29, 1184, Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb succeeded to the throne with minor

Abu Dhabi, city and capital of Abu Dhabi emirate, one of the United Arab Emirates (formerly Trucial States, or Trucial Oman), and the national capital of that federation. The city occupies most of a small triangular island of the same name, just off the Persian Gulf coast and connected to the

Abu Dhabi, constituent emirate of the United Arab Emirates (formerly Trucial States, or Trucial Oman). Though its international boundaries are disputed, it is unquestionably the largest of the country’s seven constituent emirates, with more than three-fourths of the area of the entire federation.

Ḥafṣid dynasty: …founded by the Almohad governor Abū Zakariyyāʾ Yaḥyā about 1229. In the 20 years of his rule, Abū Zakariyyāʾ kept the various tribal disputes and intrigues under control, ensured Ḥafṣid economic prosperity by trade agreements with Italian, Spanish, and Provençal communities, and expanded his power into northern Morocco and Spain.…

al-Ḥarīrī: …Hammām, his repeated encounters with Abū Zayd al-Sarūjī, an unabashed confidence artist and wanderer possessing all the eloquence, grammatical knowledge, and poetic ability of al-Ḥarīrī himself. Time and again, al-Ḥārith finds Abū Zayd at the centre of a throng of people in a new city. Abū Zayd brings tears to…

Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd was an Egyptian scholar whose interpretations of the Qurʾān challenged mainstream views and sparked controversy and debate. Abū Zayd attended Cairo University and received a Ph.D. in Arab and Islamic studies. His research and writings on Qurʾānic exegesis, including his

al-Fīrūzābādī was a lexicographer who compiled an extensive dictionary of Arabic that, in its digest form, Al-Qāmūs (“The Ocean”), served as the basis of later European dictionaries of Arabic. After teaching in Jerusalem (1349–59), al-Fīrūzābādī traveled through western Asia and Egypt and settled

al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad was an Arab philologist who compiled the first Arabic dictionary and is credited with the formulation of the rules of Arabic prosody. When he moved to Basra, al-Khalīl left the Ṣufriyyah division of the Khārijites, which was popular in his native Oman. He lived simply and

al-Muḥāsibī was an eminent Muslim mystic (Ṣūfī) and theologian renowned for his psychological refinement of pietistic devotion and his role as a precursor of the doctrine of later Muslim orthodoxy. His main work was ar-Ri ʿāyah li-ḥūqūq Allah, in which he acknowledges asceticism to be valuable as

Alhambra: History: …1358, in the reigns of Ibn al-Aḥmar, founder of the Naṣrid dynasty, and his successors. The splendid decorations of the interior are ascribed to Yūsuf I (died 1354). After the expulsion of the Moors in 1492, much of the interior was effaced and the furniture was ruined or removed. Charles…

Mālik ibn Anas was a Muslim legist who played an important role in formulating early Islamic legal doctrines. Few details are known about Mālik ibn Anas’ life, most of which was spent in the city of Medina. He became learned in Islamic law and attracted a considerable number of students, his

Muḥammad XII: …was deposed by his brother al-Zaghal (Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad al-Zaghal). On Boabdil’s first military venture (1483) against the Castilians, he was captured and to obtain his release signed the Pact of Córdoba, promising to deliver to the Castilians that part of his domain that was in the control of…

Ibn ʿAbbād was an Islamic theologian who became the leading mystical thinker of North Africa in the 14th century. Attracted to Morocco by the famous madrasas (religious colleges), Ibn ʿAbbād immigrated there at an early age. He abandoned legal studies in a quest for mystical knowledge. In 1359 he

Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Shāfiʿī was a Muslim legal scholar who played an important role in the formation of Islamic legal thought and was the founder of the Shāfiʿiyyah school of law. He also made a basic contribution to religious and legal methodology with respect to the use of traditions. Little is