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Ben Ali, Zine el-Abidine

(Encyclopedia)Ben Ali, Zine el-Abidine zēˈnĕl abĭdēn bĕn älēˈ [key], 1936–2019, president of Tunisia (1987–2011). Educated in France and the United States, he entered the army and became ambassador to ...

Yunus, Muhammad

(Encyclopedia)Yunus, Muhammad, 1940–, Bangladeshi economist and banker, b. Chittagong (then in British India), grad. Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, Tenn. (Ph.D. 1971). Yunus, who taught economics in the United Stat...

Hallaj, Hussein ibn Mansur al-

(Encyclopedia)Hallaj, Hussein ibn Mansur al- ho͞osānˈ ĭbn mänso͝orˈ [key], 857–922, Arabic-speaking Persian Muslim mystic and poet popularly known among Muslims as “the martyr of mystical love.” Born a...

Muhammad VI, king of Morocco

(Encyclopedia)Muhammad VI, 1963–, king of Morocco (1999–), formerly Muhammad ben Al-Hassan, crown prince Sidi Muhammad. He studied at Muhammad V Univ., Rabat, where he received bachelor's (1985) and master's (1...

Abu Said ibn Abi al-Khair

(Encyclopedia)Abu Said ibn Abi al-Khair äˈbo͞o säˈĭd ĭˈbən äbēˈ äl-khīrˈ [key], 967–1049, Persian poet, a Sufi and a dervish. He was the first to write rubaiyat (quatrains) in the Sufistic strain t...

Zardari, Asif Ali

(Encyclopedia)Zardari, Asif Ali äˈsĭf äˈlē zärdäˈrē [key], 1955–, Pakistani politician, president of Pakistan (2008–13), b. Nawabshah. From a wealthy, prominent family, he studied at St. Patrick's Col...

Abiy Ahmed Ali

(Encyclopedia)Abiy Ahmed Ali, 1976–, Ethiopian political leader. Joining the Ethiopian army in 1993, he served in the intelligence service, the UN peacekeeping mission in Rwanda, and the border ...

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...

Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi

(Encyclopedia)Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi mo͞ohämˈmäd rĭzä shä păˈləvē [key], 1919–80, shah of Iran (1941–79). Educated in Switzerland, he returned (1935) to Iran to attend the military academy in Teh...

Muhammad IV, Ottoman sultan

(Encyclopedia)Muhammad IV or Mehmet IV, 1641–92, Ottoman sultan (1648–87). He was proclaimed sultan of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) by the corps of Janissaries after the deposition and murder of his father, Sult...