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Shatt al Arab

(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...

Rub al Khali

(Encyclopedia)Rub al Khali ro͞ob äl khäˈlē [key] [Arab.,=empty quarter], great desert of the Arabian peninsula, c.225,000 sq mi (582,750 sq km); one of the largest sand deserts in the world. The desert occupie...

Faisal bin Abd al-Aziz al-Saud

(Encyclopedia)Faisal bin Abd al-Aziz al-Saud ĭˈbən abdäl äzēzˈ ĭˈbən säo͞odˈ fīˈsäl [key], 1905–75, king of Saudi Arabia (1964–75), son of Ibn Saud, brother of Saud. Faisal led several military ...

Khalid bin Abd al-Aziz al-Saud

(Encyclopedia)Khalid bin Abd al-Aziz al-Saud khälēdˈ ĭbˌən äbd ăl-äzēzˈ ăl-säo͞odˈ [key], 1913–82, king of Saudi Arabia (1975–82). He became king after the assassination of his half-brother Faisa...

Masudi, Abd al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn

(Encyclopedia)Masudi, Abd al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn mäso͞oˈdē [key], d. 956, Arab historian, geographer, and philosopher, b. Baghdad. He traveled in Spain, Russia, India, Sri Lanka, and China and spent his las...

Abu'l Hasan al-Uqlidisi

(Encyclopedia)Abu'l Hasan al-Uqlidisi, c. a.d. 920–c. a.d. 980, Arab mathematician working in Damascus and Baghdad. He wrote (952–53) a treatise on arithmetic and Arabic numerals that is the first known work to...

Abd al-Aziz IV

(Encyclopedia)Abd al-Aziz IV, 1880–1943, sultan of Morocco (1894–1908), son of Hassan. His weak control was evident after the death (c.1900) of the regent Ba Ahmed. His submissiveness to foreign influence, his ...

Abd al-Hamid II

(Encyclopedia)Abd al-Hamid II, 1842–1918, Ottoman sultan (1876–1909). His uncle, Abd al-Aziz, was deposed from the throne of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) in 1876 by the Young Turks, a liberal reformist group. Ab...

Ahmad bin Muhammad al-Barmaki al-Irbili ash-Shafii

(Encyclopedia)Ahmad bin Muhammad al-Barmaki al-Irbili ash-Shafii: see Ibn Khalikan. ...

Arab Spring

(Encyclopedia)Arab Spring, in modern North African and Middle Eastern history, antigovernment demonstrations and uprisings that, from late 2010, swept many of the regions' Arab nations. Arising in large part in rea...