(Encyclopedia) MandeMandemänˈdā [key], language group, W Africa, including the Malinke, Dyula, Marka, Mende, Bambara, and Soninke subgroups. The Mande-speakers today number about 3 million and live…
(Encyclopedia) LabéLabéläbāˈ [key], town (1996 pop. 249,515), W central Guinea, in the Fouta Djallon. It is the market center for a farm region where citrus fruit, bananas, vegetables, and rice are…
(Encyclopedia) SufismSufisms&oomacr;ˈfĭzəm [key], an umbrella term for the ascetic and mystical movements within Islam. While Sufism is said to have incorporated elements of Christian monasticism…
(Encyclopedia) Faiyum, ElFaiyum, Elĕl fīy&oomacr;mˈ [key], or Al FayyumAl Fayyumäl [key]Al Fayyum– [key]Al Fayyum fīy&oomacr;mˈ [key], region, coextensive with El Faiyum governorate, N Egypt…
More than a billion Muslims around the world observe Ramadan (“month of blessing”), with prayer, fasting and charity. They celebrate the end of Ramadan with a three-day festival, called Eid al-…
(Encyclopedia) Qutb, SayyidQutb, Sayyidsīˈyĭd kŭˈtəb [key], 1906–66, Egyptian Islamist whose critique of modern civilization and Islam provides the theoretical underpinnings for many contemporary…
(Encyclopedia) Wahhabi or WahabiWahhabiwähäˈbē [key], reform movement in Islam, originating in Arabia; adherents of the movement usually refer to themselves as Muwahhidun [unitarians]. It was founded…
(Encyclopedia) AllahAllahălˈə, äˈlə [key], [Arab.,=the God]. Derived from an old Semitic root refering to the Divine and used in the Canaanite El, the Mesopotamian ilu, and the biblical Elohim, the…
