Dhū an-Nūnid Dynasty: …the Spanish Umayyad state (1008–31), ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn Dhū an-Nūn, who had been invited by the Toledans to rule their city, and his son Ismāʿīl aẓ-Ẓāfir were the first local rulers to refuse to recognize the central authority of the Umayyad caliph of Córdoba. Aẓ-Ẓāfīr established himself as an independent…

Battle of Al-Mulaydah: …Arabia, who defeated allies of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, the head of the Wahhābī (fundamentalist Islamic) state in Najd. The battle marked the end of the second Wahhābī empire.

Ibn al-Ashʿath was an Umayyad general who became celebrated as the leader of a revolt (ad 699–701) against the governor of Iraq, al-Ḥajjāj. A member of the noble tribe of Kindah of the old aristocracy, Ibn al-Ashʿath was at first friendly toward the Umayyad authorities but then began to smart under

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III was the first caliph and greatest ruler of the Umayyad Arab Muslim dynasty of Spain. He reigned as hereditary emir (“prince”) of Córdoba from October 912 and took the title of caliph in 929. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān succeeded his grandfather ʿAbd Allāh as emir of Córdoba in October 912 at

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III was the first caliph and greatest ruler of the Umayyad Arab Muslim dynasty of Spain. He reigned as hereditary emir (“prince”) of Córdoba from October 912 and took the title of caliph in 929. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān succeeded his grandfather ʿAbd Allāh as emir of Córdoba in October 912 at

Rustamid kingdom: …governed by imams descended from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Rustam, the austere Persian who founded the state. These imams were themselves under the supervision of the religious leaders and the chief judge. The kingdom was renowned for its religious toleration and secular learning. The state was very active in the trans-Saharan…

Murcia: The kingdom’s first ruler, ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn Ṭāhir, declared himself independent in 1063, though to preserve the fiction of the unity of the Umayyad caliphate he took the title not of king (malik) but of minister (ḥājib).

Ibn al-Jawzī was a jurist, theologian, historian, preacher, and teacher who became an important figure in the Baghdad establishment and a leading spokesman of traditionalist Islam. Ibn al-Jawzī received a traditional religious education, and, upon the completion of his studies, he chose a teaching

astronomical map: Relationship of the bright stars and their constellations: …a 1009–10 ce copy of al-Ṣūfī’s book on the fixed stars, shows individual constellations, including stars.

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān II, fourth Umayyad ruler of Muslim Spain who enjoyed a reign (822–852) of brilliance and prosperity, the importance of which has been underestimated by some historians. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān II was the grandson of his namesake, founder of the Umayyad dynasty in Spain. His reign was an

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III was the first caliph and greatest ruler of the Umayyad Arab Muslim dynasty of Spain. He reigned as hereditary emir (“prince”) of Córdoba from October 912 and took the title of caliph in 929. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān succeeded his grandfather ʿAbd Allāh as emir of Córdoba in October 912 at

Abdur Rahman Khan was the emir of Afghanistan (1880–1901) who played a prominent role in the fierce and long-drawn struggle for power waged by his father and his uncle, Aʿẓam Khān, against his cousin Shīr ʿAlī, the successor of Dōst Moḥammad Khān. Abdur Rahman was the son of Afẕal Khān, whose

Spain: The caliphate of Córdoba: …Al-Muẓaffar’s premature death, his brother ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Sanchuelo took the reins of power, but he lacked the fortitude to maintain the structure built by his father. An uprising that sought to vindicate the political rights of Hishām II resulted in Sanchuelo’s death and brought about the beginning of the end…

Islamic world: Reform and revival in the colonial period: …these thinkers, the Egyptian reformer ʿAlī ʿAbd al-Rāziq (1888–1966) claimed that Islam could not be the basis of a society’s political system. After direct revelation from God ended with Muhammad, al-Rāziq maintained, Islam could have only a spiritual function; the use of the religion for political aims could not be…

Islamic world: Indian Ocean Islam: …taking place here; for example, ʿAbd al-Raʾūf of Singkel, after studying in Arabia from about 1640 to 1661, returned home, where he made the first “translation” of the Qurʾān into Malay, a language that was much enriched during this period by Arabic script and vocabulary. This phenomenon extended even to…

Arabic literature: Ascetic poetry: The modern Egyptian poet Ṣalāḥ ʿAbd al-Ṣabūr, for instance, depicts a rural preacher in his “Al-Nās fī bilādī” (1957; “The People in My Country”):

ʿAbd al-Wādid Dynasty, dynasty of Zanātah Berbers (1236–1550), successors to the Almohad empire in northwestern Algeria. In 1236 the Zanātahs, loyal vassals to the Almohads, gained the support of other Berber tribes and nomadic Arabs and set up a kingdom at Tilimsān (Tlemcen), headed by the Zanātah

ash-Shaʿrānī was an Egyptian scholar and mystic who founded an Islamic order of Ṣūfism. Throughout his life Shaʿrānī was influenced by the pattern of his education. His introduction and exposure to Islāmic learning were limited; his formal education was concerned with the ʿulūm al-wahb (“gifted

Sanaa: History: During the reign of ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Ṭāhir of the Ṭāhirid dynasty in the early 16th century the city was embellished with many fine mosques and madrassas (Islamic theological schools).

Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Wahhāb was an Egyptian actor, singer, and composer, largely responsible for changing the course of Arab music by incorporating Western musical instruments, melodies, rhythms, and performance practices into his work. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb was drawn to musical theatre in Cairo as a young

Aḥmadiyyah: …the Aḥmadiyyah was headed by ʿAbd al-ʿĀl, a close disciple who kept the order under strict rule until his death in 1332. ʿAbd al-ʿĀl inherited the order’s symbols: a red cowl, a veil, and a red banner that belonged to al-Badawī. Before his death, ʿAbd al-ʿĀl ordered a chapel built…

ʿUmar II: His father, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, was a governor of Egypt, and through his mother he was a descendant of ʿUmar I (second caliph, 634–644). He received a traditional education in Medina and won fame for his piety and learning. In February or March 706, ʿUmar was appointed governor…

Nicephorus II Phocas: Early life.: …then returned to Constantinople with ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, the last amīr of Crete, as his captive. This exploit, sung by the poet Theodosius the Deacon, realized the Byzantine dream (after dozens had failed to liberate Crete) of imperial mastery of the eastern Mediterranean. Later, as emperor, Nicephorus could state proudly that…

Young Tunisians: …including Ali Bash Hamba and ʿAbd al-ʿAziz al-Thaʿālibī (1912), and driving the Young Tunisians underground. At the end of World War I they emerged again as activists in the Tunisian nationalist movement and, led by al-Thaʿālibī, reorganized themselves (1920) into the Destour Party, which remained active until 1957.

Saudi Arabia: Origins and early expansion: …ibn Saud’s son and successor, Abdulaziz I (reigned 1765–1803), who had been largely responsible for this extension of his father’s realm through his exploits as commander in chief of the Wahhābī forces, continued to work in complete harmony with Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb. It was the latter who virtually controlled…

Abd al-Aziz was the sultan of Morocco from 1894 to 1908, whose reign was marked by an unsuccessful attempt to introduce European administrative methods in an atmosphere of increasing foreign influence. Abd al-Aziz was proclaimed sultan upon the death of his father, Hassan I, but did not begin

Saudi Arabia: Ibn Saud and the third Saudi state: …while the new Rashīdī prince, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd Mitʿab, alienated the population of Najd. In 1901 the young Ibn Saud (he was about 22 to 26 years old) sallied out of Kuwait with a force of 40 followers on what must have seemed a forlorn adventure. On January 15,…

Ikhwān: …August at the hands of Abd al-Aziz ibn Musaʿid: their leader, Uzayyiz, al-Dawish’s son, and hundreds of his soldiers were either killed in battle on the edge of Al-Nafūd desert or died of thirst in the desert. Shortly afterward an important Ikhwān faction defected, and Ibn Saud was able to…

Ibn Saud founded the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932 after unifying Najd and the Hejaz, following decades of military campaigns during his rule in Riyadh (1902–53). He later initiated the exploration for oil in his kingdom, although the rapid wealth and development of his country had only just

Muhammad: Biography according to the Islamic tradition: …son and Muhammad’s future father, ʿAbd Allāh, an obvious adaptation of the biblical story of the binding of Isaac (Genesis 22). Muhammad himself is born in 570, the same year in which the South Arabian king Abraha attempts to conquer Mecca and is thwarted by a divine intervention later alluded…

ʿAbd Allāh was a political and religious leader who succeeded Muḥammad Aḥmad (al-Mahdī) as head of a religious movement and state within the Sudan. ʿAbd Allāh followed his family’s vocation for religion. In about 1880 he became a disciple of Muḥammad Aḥmad, who announced that he had a divine

Spain: The independent emirate: I (852–886), al-Mundhir (886–888), and ʿAbd Allāh (888–912) were confronted with a new problem, which threatened to do away with the power of the Umayyads—the muwallads. Having become more and more conscious of their power, they rose in revolt in the north of the peninsula, led by the powerful Banū…

Islamic arts: The mystical poem: Khwajah ʿAbd Allāh al-Anṣārī of Herāt (died 1088), a prolific writer on religious topics in both Arabic and Persian, first popularized the literary “prayer,” or mystical contemplation, written in Persian in rhyming prose interspersed with verses. Sanāʾī (died 1131?), at one time a court poet…

Battle of Al-Dirʿiyyah: In 1815 Saud’s successor, ʿAbd Allāh I, sued for peace, and the Egyptians withdrew from Najd. The following year, however, Ibrāhīm Pasha, one of the viceroy’s sons, took command of the Egyptian forces. Gaining the support of the volatile Arabian tribes by skillful diplomacy and lavish gifts, he advanced…

Abdullah I was a statesman who became the first ruler (1946–51) of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Abdullah, the second son of Hussein ibn Ali, the ruler of the Hejaz, was educated in Istanbul in what was then the Ottoman Empire. After the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, he represented Mecca in the

Abdullah II is the king of Jordan from 1999. He succeeded his father, Hussein, who had named Abdullah crown prince just weeks before his death. Abdullah is a member of the Hashemite dynasty, considered by pious Muslims to be direct descendants of the Prophet Muhammad (see Ahl al-Bayt). The

ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr was a leader of a rebellion against the Umayyad dynasty in the early Islamic period and the most prominent representative of the second generation of Muslim families in Mecca, who resented the Umayyad assumption of caliphal authority. As a youth, Ibn al-Zubayr went on many

ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-ʿAbbās was a Companion of the prophet Muḥammad, one of the greatest scholars of early Islām, and the first exegete of the Qurʾān. In the early struggles for the caliphate, Ibn ʿAbbās supported ʿAlī and was rewarded with the governorship of Baṣra. Subsequently he defected and

Battle of Al-Mulaydah: The Wahhābī prince ʿAbd Allāh lost many of the territories that his father, Fayṣal (reigned 1834–65), had acquired by conquest following the collapse of the first Wahhābī empire (1818). In 1885 ʿAbd Allāh was “invited” to Ḥāʾil to be the “guest” of Ibn Rashīd, the dominant figure in…

Ḥāfiẓ-i Abrū was a Persian historian, one of the most important historians of the Timurid period (1370–1506). Ḥāfiẓ-i Abrū was apparently educated in the city of Hamadān. Later he became an extensive traveler and went with the Turkic conqueror Timur on a number of campaigns, including those in the

Afṭasid dynasty: …Maslamah, who was known as Ibn al-Afṭas, seized control of the kingdom and, assuming the title Al-Manṣūr Billāh (“Victorious by God”), ruled fairly peacefully until 1045. But trouble with the neighbouring ʿAbbādids of Sevilla (Seville), which had begun at the end of al-Manṣūr’s rule, consumed the energies of his son…

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Sarḥ was the governor of Upper (southern) Egypt for the Muslim caliphate during the reign of ʿUthmān (644–656) and the cofounder, with the future caliph Muʿāwiyah I, of the first Muslim navy, which seized Cyprus (647–649), Rhodes, and Cos (Dodecanese Islands) and

Saudi Arabia: Struggle with the Ottomans: His successor, his son Abdullah ibn Saud, was scarcely of his father’s calibre, and the capture of Al-Raʿs in Al-Qaṣīm region by the Egyptians in 1815 forced him to sue for peace. This was duly arranged, but the truce was short-lived, and in 1816 the struggle was renewed, with…

Saudi Arabia: Second Saudi state: …and in 1841 his cousin, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Thunayān, raised the standard of revolt. Riyadh was captured by a bold coup; its garrison was expelled; and Khalid, who was in Al-Hasa at the time, fled by ship to Jeddah. Abdullah resisted when Faisal reappeared in 1843, only to be overpowered…

Islamic world: The Ṣanhājah confederation: …from Nafis (in present-day Libya), ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yāsīn, who would instruct the Imazighen in Islam as teachers under ʿUmar I had instructed the Arab fighters in the first Muslim garrisons. Having met with little initial success, the two are said to have retired to a ribāṭ, a fortified place…

Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was the king of Saudi Arabia from 2005 to 2015. As crown prince (1982–2005), he had served as the country’s de facto ruler following the 1995 stroke of his half-brother King Fahd (reigned 1982–2005). Abdullah was one of dozens of sons born to King Abdulaziz ibn Saud’s. For

Kuwait: Early settlers: …of the century, one ruler, ʿAbd Allāh II (reigned 1866–92), began to move Kuwait closer to the Ottoman Empire, although he never placed his country under Ottoman rule. That trend was reversed with the accession of Mubārak the Great, who came to power by assassinating his brother ʿAbd Allāh—an act…

Saudi Arabia: Death of Faisal: His eldest son, Abdullah, succeeded first, maintaining himself against the rebellion of his brother Saud II for six years until the Battle of Jūdah (1871), in which Saud triumphed. Abdullah fled, and Saud took power. But during the next five years the throne changed hands no fewer than…

Uzbekistan: The early Uzbeks: …of the greatest Shaybānid ruler, ʿAbd Allāh Khan II (reigned 1557–98), Shaybānid authority was expanded in Balkh, Samarkand, Tashkent, and Fergana. Uzbek hegemony extended eastward as far as Badakhstān and East Turkistan and westward to Khorāsān and Khwārezm.

India: Struggle for a new power center: …accession to the Sayyid brothers, ʿAbd Allāh Khan and Ḥusayn ʿAlī Khan Bāraha. The Sayyids thus earned the offices of vizier and chief bakhshī and acquired control over the affairs of state. They promoted the policies initiated earlier by Ẓulfiqār Khan. In addition to the jizyah, other similar taxes were…

Khawr ʿAbd Allāh, estuary (khawr) separating Kuwait and Iraq, probably a drowned river mouth of the Shatt (stream) al-Arab, whose mouth is now farther north and forms the southeastern part of the border between Iraq and Iran. It extends into Iraqi territory in the form of the Khawr az-Zubayr, on

Abd ar-Rahman was the sultan of Morocco (1822–59) who was the 24th ruler of the ʿAlawī dynasty. His reign was marked by both peaceful and hostile contacts with European powers, particularly France. Having succeeded to the throne without internal conflict, Abd ar-Rahman became an able administrator

Abd ar-Rahman was the sultan of Morocco (1822–59) who was the 24th ruler of the ʿAlawī dynasty. His reign was marked by both peaceful and hostile contacts with European powers, particularly France. Having succeeded to the throne without internal conflict, Abd ar-Rahman became an able administrator

Abdelkader was the amīr of Mascara (from 1832), the military and religious leader who founded the Algerian state and led the Algerians in their 19th-century struggle against French domination (1840–46). His physical handsomeness and the qualities of his mind had made Abdelkader popular even before

Abd el-Krim was the leader of the Berber forces during the Rif War (1921–26) against Spanish and French rule in North Africa and founder of the short-lived Republic of the Rif (1923–26). A skilled tactician and a capable organizer, he led a liberation movement that made him the hero of the Maghrib

history of Arabia: Arabian and Islamic expansion: …of the Quraysh house of ʿAbd Manāf concluded pacts with Byzantium, Persia, and rulers of Yemen and Ethiopia, promoting commerce outside Arabia. The ʿAbd Manāf house could effect such agreements because of Quraysh’s superior position with the tribes. Quraysh had some sanctity as lords of the Meccan temple (the Kaʿbah)…

Islamic arts: Decentralization of Islamic literatures: …for example, by Akbar’s general, ʿAbd al-Raḥīm Khān-e Khānān (died 1626), who was a great patron of fine arts and poetry.

Ouaddaï: …about 1640 a Maba chieftain, Abd-el-Kerim, conquered the country and overthrew the Tungur, a dynasty originating in Darfur to the east. For the next 200 years there were intermittent wars with the kingdoms of Bagirmi and Kanem-Bornu, many for the purpose of maintaining Ouaddaï’s supply of slaves and eunuchs for…

Khwāja ʿAbd-uṣ-Ṣamad was a Persian painter who, together with Mīr Sayyid ʿAlī, was one of the first members of the imperial atelier in India and is thus credited with playing a strong part in the foundation of the Mughal school of miniature painting (see Mughal painting). ʿAbd-uṣ-Ṣamad was born

World War II: Pearl Harbor and the Japanese expansion, to July 1942: A unified American–British–Dutch–Australian Command, ABDACOM, under Wavell, responsible for holding Malaya, Sumatra, Java, and the approaches to Australia, became operative on January 15, 1942; but the Japanese had already begun their advance on the oil-rich Dutch East Indies. They occupied Kuching (December 17), Brunei Bay (January 6),…

World War II: Pearl Harbor and the Japanese expansion, to July 1942: A unified American–British–Dutch–Australian Command, ABDACOM, under Wavell, responsible for holding Malaya, Sumatra, Java, and the approaches to Australia, became operative on January 15, 1942; but the Japanese had already begun their advance on the oil-rich Dutch East Indies. They occupied Kuching (December 17), Brunei Bay (January 6),…

ʿAbdali sultanate: The ʿAbdali tribal people then seized Aden and remained independent until 1839, when they signed the first of several treaties with the British that led to the formation of the Aden Protectorate. The sultanate was held by the Turks during World War I. The Ṣubayḥī (Subeihi)…

Durrānī, one of the two chief tribal confederations of Afghanistan, the other being the Ghilzay. In the time of Nādir Shah, the Durrānī were granted lands in the region of Kandahār, which was their homeland, and they moved there from Herāt. In the late 18th century the Durrānī took up agriculture.

ʿAbdali sultanate, former semi-independent state in the southern Arabian Peninsula, in what is now Yemen. Located just north of Aden city, it was one of the most important tribal areas of the Aden Protectorate, which was the forerunner of independent Yemen (Aden); its capital was Laḥij. The

Aḥmad Shah Durrānī was the founder of the state of Afghanistan and ruler of an empire that extended from the Amu Darya (ancient Oxus River) to the Indian Ocean and from Khorāsān into Kashmir, the Punjab, and Sindh. Head of the central government, with full control of all departments of state in

Funj Dynasty: …at the same time the ʿAbdallabi dynasty was extending its dominion southward from the region of Sūbah.

Comoros: History of Comoros: …its own status, Comorian President Ahmed Abdallah (who was deposed later that year) declared the whole archipelago independent on July 6, 1975. Comoros was subsequently admitted to the United Nations, which recognized the integrity of the entire archipelago as one nation. France, however, acknowledged the sovereignty of only the three…

Mauritania: Coups of 2005 and 2008 and the return to stability: …the March 2007 presidential election, Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi became Mauritania’s first democratically elected president.

Africa Cup of Nations: …the final to win the Abdel Aziz Abdallah Salem Trophy, named after its donor, an Egyptian who was the first CAF president. That trophy was permanently awarded to Ghana in 1978 when it became the first country to win the tournament three times. The next trophy, known as the African…

Omar Abdel Rahman was an Egyptian-born cleric who served as the spiritual leader of al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmiyyah (Arabic: “the Islamic Group”), one of Egypt’s largest and most active militant organizations in the late 20th century. In 1996 he was sentenced to life in prison in the United States for

Abdelazer, incidental music in 10 movements composed by Henry Purcell to accompany performances of a revenge tragedy of the same name (first performed 1676) by English dramatist Aphra Behn. The music dates from 1695, the last year of Purcell’s life. Although Behn’s play is no longer performed, the

Abdelazer, incidental music in 10 movements composed by Henry Purcell to accompany performances of a revenge tragedy of the same name (first performed 1676) by English dramatist Aphra Behn. The music dates from 1695, the last year of Purcell’s life. Although Behn’s play is no longer performed, the

Abd al-Hafid was the sultan of Morocco (1908–12), the brother of Sultan Abd al-Aziz, against whom he revolted beginning in 1907. Appointed caliph of Marrakech by Abd al-Aziz, Abd al-Hafid had no difficulty there in rousing the Muslim community against his brother’s Western ways. With Marrakech his,

Abdelkader was the amīr of Mascara (from 1832), the military and religious leader who founded the Algerian state and led the Algerians in their 19th-century struggle against French domination (1840–46). His physical handsomeness and the qualities of his mind had made Abdelkader popular even before

Abdera, in ancient Greece, town on the coast of Thrace near the mouth of the Néstos River. The people of Teos, evacuating Ionia when it was overrun by the Persians under Cyrus (c. 540 bc), succeeded in establishing a colony there that developed a brisk trade with the Thracian interior. Abdera was a

Paris attacks of 2015: The response to the Paris attacks: Another Molenbeek native, Salah Abdeslam, was sought by police for his involvement in the Paris attacks. He had rented several of the cars used by the attackers and was believed to have been the driver for the suicide bombers at the Stade de France. Abdeslam was stopped by…

Hawa Abdi was a Somali physician, lawyer, community leader, and human rights activist. Amid the dangerous landscape of the Somali Civil War, Abdi organized a safe shelter, school, and clinical camp for internally displaced people, which grew into a city-sized community. Abdi’s father was a port

Hawa Abdi was a Somali physician, lawyer, community leader, and human rights activist. Amid the dangerous landscape of the Somali Civil War, Abdi organized a safe shelter, school, and clinical camp for internally displaced people, which grew into a city-sized community. Abdi’s father was a port

Jerusalem: Ancient origins of the city: …message from the city’s ruler, Abdi-Kheba (Abdu-Ḥeba), requiring his sovereign’s help against the invading Hapiru (Habiru, ʿApiru). A biblical narrative mentions the meeting of the Canaanite Melchizedek, said to be king of Salem (Jerusalem), with the Hebrew patriarch Abraham. A later episode in the biblical text mentions another king, Adonizedek,…

Book of Obadiah, the fourth of 12 Old Testament books that bear the names of the Minor Prophets, in the Jewish canon treated as one book, The Twelve. Obadiah, with only one chapter consisting of 21 verses, is the shortest of all Old Testament books and purports to be a record of “the vision of

abdication, the renouncing of office and of power before the end of the term for which it was assumed. In ancient Roman law abdicare meant primarily “to disown,” as when a father disowned a son, who was thereby disinherited. The word was also used in Latin as meaning “to renounce,” and its modern

ciconiiform: Relations with humans: Abdim’s stork (Sphenorhynchus abdimii), for instance, will nest on native huts in a treeless area. And many of the arboreal colonies of heron and stork species in Africa are in or near villages. The cattle egret’s dependence on domestic stock to flush insects, as an…

Cairo: Development of the city: …Al-Azbakiyyah (with its large park), ʿAbdīn, and Ismāʿīliyyah—all now central zones of contemporary Cairo. By the end of the 19th century these districts were well-developed, but with the beginning of British rule of Egypt in 1882 they were transformed into a colonial enclave.

Abydos, prominent sacred city and one of the most important archaeological sites of ancient Egypt. The site, located in the low desert west of the Nile River near Al-Balyanā, was a necropolis for the earliest Egyptian royalty and later a pilgrimage centre for the worship of Osiris. The western

John Thune: Jim Abdnor, who sparked his interest in politics. After earning a bachelor’s degree (1983) at Biola University, he studied business administration (M.B.A., 1984) at the University of South Dakota. Soon after graduating, he married Kimberley Weems, and the couple later had two children.

Paraguay: The presidency of Mario Abdo Benítez: …sidelined, the Colorado Party chose Mario Abdo Benítez, a 46-year-old former senator, as its candidate in the April 2018 presidential election. Abdo Benítez, whose father had been Stroessner’s private secretary, shared a pro-business socially conservative outlook with his main competitor, Alegre, who ran as the candidate of the Liberal Party…

Islamic arts: The mystical poem: Khwajah ʿAbd Allāh al-Anṣārī of Herāt (died 1088), a prolific writer on religious topics in both Arabic and Persian, first popularized the literary “prayer,” or mystical contemplation, written in Persian in rhyming prose interspersed with verses. Sanāʾī (died 1131?), at one time a court poet…

abdomen, in human anatomy, the body cavity lying between the chest or thorax above and the pelvis below and from the spine in the back to the wall of abdominal muscles in the front. The diaphragm is its upper boundary. There is no wall or clear-cut boundary between it and the pelvis. It contains

actinomycosis: …lungs and surrounding structures, and abdominal and pelvic actinomycosis. Thoracic actinomycosis may result from inhalation of the organism into the air passages and is usually associated with weight loss, night sweats, coughing, and high fever. Lesions of the abdomen and pelvis may follow surgery for appendicitis or perforation of the…

aorta: In the abdominal cavity the aorta gives off a number of branches, which form an extensive network supplying blood to the stomach, liver, pancreas, spleen, small and large intestines, kidneys, reproductive glands, and other organs. At the level of the fourth lumbar vertebra, which is about even…

abdominal cavity, largest hollow space of the body. Its upper boundary is the diaphragm, a sheet of muscle and connective tissue that separates it from the chest cavity; its lower boundary is the upper plane of the pelvic cavity. Vertically it is enclosed by the vertebral column and the abdominal

ectopic pregnancy: Abdominal ectopic pregnancy occurs when the placenta is attached to some part of the peritoneal cavity other than the uterus, ovary, or fallopian tube. Although a few of these pregnancies are a result of implantation in the abdominal lining, most are the result of expulsion…

abdominal muscle, any of the muscles of the anterolateral walls of the abdominal cavity, composed of three flat muscular sheets, from without inward: external oblique, internal oblique, and transverse abdominis, supplemented in front on each side of the midline by rectus abdominis. The first three

Berkeley George Andrew Moynihan, 1st Baron Moynihan: …exposition of his surgical doctrine, Abdominal Operations, was published in 1905 and remained a standard text for two decades. His book Duodenal Ulcer (1910) secured his reputation as a clinical scientist.

Niamey: …is the site of the University of Niamey (1971; university status 1973), the National School of Administration (1963), the national museum, and research institutes for geology and minerals, human sciences, oral tradition, tropical forestry, tropical agriculture, and veterinary studies. There is an international airport, and roads link Niamey with Atlantic…

Keffi: …was founded about 1800 by Abdu Zanga (Abdullahi), a Fulani warrior from the north who made it the seat of a vassal emirate subject to the emir of Zaria (a town 153 miles [246 km] north). Although Keffi paid tribute to Zaria throughout the 19th century, it was constantly raided…

Jerusalem: Ancient origins of the city: …message from the city’s ruler, Abdi-Kheba (Abdu-Ḥeba), requiring his sovereign’s help against the invading Hapiru (Habiru, ʿApiru). A biblical narrative mentions the meeting of the Canaanite Melchizedek, said to be king of Salem (Jerusalem), with the Hebrew patriarch Abraham. A later episode in the biblical text mentions another king, Adonizedek,…

human nervous system: Abducens nerve (CN VI or 6): From its nucleus in the caudal pons, the abducens nerve exits the brainstem at the pons-medulla junction, pierces the dura mater, passes through the cavernous sinus close to the internal carotid artery, and exits the cranial vault via the…

abduction, in law, the carrying away of any female for purposes of concubinage or prostitution. The taking of a girl under a designated age for purposes of marriage is in most jurisdictions also included in the crime of abduction. Abduction is generally regarded as a form of kidnapping

philosophy of mind: Abduction: Another sort of nondeductive rationality that is indispensable to at least much of the higher intelligence displayed by human beings is reasoning to a conclusion that essentially contains terms not included in the premises. This typically occurs when someone gets a good idea about…