Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Yaqut al-Hamawi yäko͞otˈ äl-hämäwēˈ [key], 1179–1229, Arab geographer. Born in Byzantium, he was bought as a slave by a merchant, al-Hamawi. He was freed on the death of his master and trave...

(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...

(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 ...

(Encyclopedia) Falluja, Al äl fälo͞oˈjə [key], town, Anbar prov., central Iraq, on the Euphrates. A strategic city ...

(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 ...

(Encyclopedia) Zawahiri or Zawahri, Ayman al- both: īˈmän äl-zäwäˈrē [key], 1951–, militant Egyptian Islamist. A surgeon by education and training, he became involved with the Muslim Brotherhood and joined...

(Encyclopedia) Jaafari, Ibrahim al- ēbrähēmˈ äl-jäˈfärē [key], 1947–, Iraqi political leader, b. Karbala as Ibrahim al-Eshaiker. A Shiite, a physician, and the leader of the Dawa religious party, he fled ...

(Encyclopedia) Shatt al Arab shät äl äˈräb [key], tidal river, 120 mi (193 km) long, formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, flowing SE to the Persian Gulf, forming part of the Iraq-Iran bo...

(Encyclopedia) Abd al-Kader äbˌdäl-kädērˈ [key], c.1807–1883, Algerian military and religious leader. Although born to an anti-Turkish family, he was chosen emir of Mascara to fight the French invaders who h...

(Encyclopedia) Hafez or Hafiz, Amin al- ämēnˈ äl-häˈfəz [key], 1921?–2009, Syrian army officer and politician. He served (1963–65) as chief of state in Syria's Ba'athist government (see Ba'ath party) but ...