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Ahmadiyya

(Encyclopedia)Ahmadiyya äh mə dēˈ yə [key], a contemporary messianic movement founded (1899) by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1839–1908), b. Qadiyan, the Punjab. His Barahin-i Ahmadiyya, which he began to publish in 1...

Jami

(Encyclopedia)Jami jäˈmē [key], 1414–92, Persian poet, b. Jam, near Herat. His full name was Nur ad-Din Abd ar-Rahman Jami. His poetic influence was widespread. Nearly 100 works are attributed to him, of which...

Bakr, Ahmad Hasan al-

(Encyclopedia)Bakr, Ahmad Hasan al- äkhmädˈ häsänˈ äl-bäkˈər [key], 1914–82, president of Iraq (1968–79). He served as an officer in the Iraqi army but was forced to retire (1958) because of his parti...

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...

Abed, Sir Fazle Hasan

(Encyclopedia)Abed, Sir Fazle Hasan, 1936–2019, Bangladeshi humanitarian. After studying accounting in Britain, he returned (1968) to what was then East Pakistan and began working for Shell Pakistan. In 1970, dur...

Persian literature

(Encyclopedia)Persian literature, literary writings in the Persian language, nearly all of it written in the area traditionally known as Persia, now Iran. The 15th cent. period of the second Turko-Tartar invasi...

Shafak, Elif

(Encyclopedia)Shafak, Elif, 1971–, Turkish novelist who writes in Turkish and English, b. Strasbourg, France. The most widely read woman novelist in Turkey, she has written nearly 20 books, most of them novels. H...

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...

Konya

(Encyclopedia)Konya kōnˈyä [key], city (1990 pop. 509,208), capital of Konya prov., S central Turkey. It is the trade center of a rich agricultural and livestock-raising region. Manufactures include cement, carp...

mysticism

(Encyclopedia)mysticism mĭsˈtĭsĭzəm [key] [Gr.,=the practice of those who are initiated into the mysteries], the practice of putting oneself into, and remaining in, direct relation with God, the Absolute, or a...

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