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capital, in economics

(Encyclopedia)capital, in economics, the elements of production from which an income is derived, usually defined with the exception of land and labor. As originally used in business, capital denoted interest-bearin...

Arabian music

(Encyclopedia)Arabian music, classical musical tradition of the Islamic peoples of Arabia, the Fertile Crescent, and North Africa. Little is known of Arabian music before the Hegira (a.d. 622), but afterward unde...

geography

(Encyclopedia)geography, the science of place, i.e., the study of the surface of the earth, the location and distribution of its physical and cultural features, the areal patterns or places that they form, and the ...

Alfonso VI, Spanish king of León and Castile

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso VI, 1030–1109, Spanish king of León (1065–1109) and Castile (1072–1109). He inherited León from his father, Ferdinand I. Defeated by his brother Sancho II of Castile, he fled to the Mo...

Anwar Ibrahim

(Encyclopedia)Anwar Ibrahim änˈwär ēˈbrähēm [key], 1947–, Malaysian political leader. He first came to public attention as the founder (1971) of an Islamic youth movement and as a leader of antigovernment ...

Najib Razak

(Encyclopedia)Najib Razak or Najib Tun Razak näjēbˈ to͞on räˈzäk [key], 1958–, Malaysian politician. A Malay, he is a member of a prominent political family, the son of Malaysia's second prime minister, Ab...

Mahathir bin Mohamad

(Encyclopedia)Mahathir bin Mohamad mähäˈtĭr bĭn mōhämˈäd [key], 1925–, Malaysian political leader. A doctor by training, he first entered parliament in 1964 and rose in the United Malays National Organiz...

Mecca

(Encyclopedia)Mecca măkˈə [key], city (1993 pop. 966,381), capital of the Hejaz, W Saudi Arabia. The birthplace c.a.d. 570 of Muhammad the Prophet, it is the holiest city of Islam, and the goal of the annual Mus...

caliphate

(Encyclopedia)caliphate kălˈĭfˌ [key], the spiritual head and temporal ruler of the Islamic state. In principle, Islam is theocratic: when Muhammad died, a caliph [Arab.,=successor] was chosen to rule in his pl...

Sufism

(Encyclopedia)Sufism so͞oˈfĭzəm [key], an umbrella term for the ascetic and mystical movements within Islam. While Sufism is said to have incorporated elements of Christian monasticism, gnosticism, and Indian m...