(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.,…
(Encyclopedia) Abd al-AzizAbd al-Azizäbˌdäl-äzēzˈ [key] or AbdülazizAbdülazizTurk. äbdülˈäzēzˈ [key], 1830–76, Ottoman sultan (1861–76), brother and successor of Abd al-Majid. The economic and…
Caliph of the Abbasid Empire Born: c.764 Harun al-Rashid became the fifth Caliph of the Abbasid dynasty in 786, and went on to become its most famous and celebrated leader. A number of the stories…
(Encyclopedia) Sadr, Moktada or Moqtada al-Sadr, Moktada or Moqtada al-m&oobreve;khˈtädä ä-säˈdər [key], 1973?–, Iraqi Shiite cleric. The son of Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, who was…
The month of fasting by Holly Hartman For more on Islamic history and culture, see the Islam Primer. For more than a billion Muslims, Ramadan is a time of prayer,…
(Encyclopedia) Neuharth, Al (Allen Harold Neuharth), 1924–2013, American media executive, b. Eureka, S.Dak., grad. Univ. of South Dakota (1950). In 1954 he began working as a reporter for The Miami…
(Encyclopedia) Arbour, Al (Alger Joseph Arbour), 1932–2015, Canadian ice hockey player and coach. A defenseman, he joined the Detroit Red Wings in 1953, then moved to the Chicago Black Hawks in 1958…
(Encyclopedia) Mahdi, Sadiq al-, 1936–2020, Sudanese political and religious leader. A descendent of Muhammad Ahmad (see Mahdi), Mahdi succeeded (1964) to the leadership of the Ansar, the Sufi order…
(Encyclopedia) Masudi, Abd al-Hasan Ali ibn al-HusaynMasudi, Abd al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husaynmäs&oomacr;ˈdē [key], d. 956, Arab historian, geographer, and philosopher, b. Baghdad. He traveled in…
