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Kadare, Ismail

(Encyclopedia)Kadare, Ismail ēsmäēlˈ kädärĕˈ [key], 1936–, Albanian novelist and poet, widely regarded as his country's most important contemporary writer, b. Gjirokastër, studied Univ. of Tiranë, Gorky...

Husayn ibn Ali

(Encyclopedia)Husayn ibn Ali ĭˈbən äˈlē [key], 1856–1931, Arab political and religious leader. In 1908 he succeeded as grand sherif of Mecca and thus became ruler of the Hejaz under the Ottoman Empire. In W...

Tarik ibn Ziyad

(Encyclopedia)Tarik ibn Ziyad täˈrĭk [key], fl. 711, Berber leader of the Muslim invaders of Spain. When the heirs of the Visigothic king, Witiza, requested help from the Moors of N Africa against the usurper Ro...

Hasa, Al

(Encyclopedia)Hasa, Al äl häˈsä, hăˈsə [key], region, E Saudi Arabia, on the Persian Gulf. Administrated as the Eastern Province, Hofuf is the chief town. Dates, wheat, and rice are produced. It was taken fr...

Guelleh, Ismaïl Omar

(Encyclopedia)Guelleh, Ismaïl Omar hĭsˈmäĭl ōˈmär gĕlˈlä [key], 1947–, Djiboutian political leader, b. Dire Dawa, Ethiopia. He moved to Djibouti (then a French territory) in the late 1960s and joined t...

Ibn Tufayl

(Encyclopedia)Ibn Tufayl ĭˈbən to͞ofālˈ [key], d. 1185/86?, 12th-century Spanish-Arab philosopher and physician, b. near Granada. His chief work was a philosophical romance, Hayy ibn Yaqzan, describing the de...

Muhammad V, king of Morocco

(Encyclopedia)Muhammad V (Sidi Muhammad ibn Youssef), 1910–61, king of Morocco (1957–61). He succeeded his father, Moulay Youssef, as sultan in 1927. An ardent nationalist, he was deposed and exiled (1953) by t...

Saud, Ibn

(Encyclopedia)Saud, Ibn: see Ibn Saud.

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...

Mansur, al-, 914–1002, Moorish regent of Córdoba

(Encyclopedia)Mansur, al- (Muhammad ibn Abi-Amir al-Mansur billah), 914–1002, Moorish regent of Córdoba, known in Spanish as Almanzor. He became steward to Princess Subh, wife of the caliph Hakim II, and under h...