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Husseini, Amin al-

(Encyclopedia)Husseini, Amin al- ämēnˈ äl ho͝osāˈnē [key], 1896?–1974, Arab political and religious leader. He was inveterately opposed to the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine, and, suspected of co...

Brahmo Samaj

(Encyclopedia)Brahmo Samaj bräˈmō səmäjˈ [key] [Hindi,=society of God], Indian religious movement, founded in Kolkata (Calcutta) in 1828 by Rammohun Roy. It promoted a monotheistic, reformed Hinduism with str...

Dagestan Republic

(Encyclopedia)Dagestan Republic or Daghestan Republic dägəstänˈ [key], constituent republic, c.19,4...

Taliban

(Encyclopedia)Taliban or Taleban tälēbänˈ, –lə– [key], Islamic fundamentalist militia of Afghanistan and later Pakistan, originally consisting mainly of Sunni Pashtun religious students from Afghanistan wh...

Merv

(Encyclopedia)Merv myĕrf [key], ancient city, in Turkmenistan, in a large oasis of the Kara Kum desert, on the Murgab River. The city, known in antiquity as Margiana, or Antiochia Margiana, was founded in the 3d c...

Middle East

(Encyclopedia)Middle East, term traditionally applied by western Europeans to the countries of SW Asia and NE Africa lying W of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. Thus defined it includes Cyprus, the Asian part of T...

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

(Encyclopedia)Abdullah Ahmad Badawi äbˈdo͞ollä äˈmäd bädäˈwē [key], 1939–, Malaysian government official and politician. A graduate of the Univ. of Malaya (B.A. 1964) and the son of a prominent politic...

fatwa

(Encyclopedia)fatwa, in Islamic law, an opinion made by a judicial/religious scholar (a mufti) on a legal, civil, or religious matter. The fatwa is usually a valuable source of information on any subject for privat...

Sinan

(Encyclopedia)Sinan sēnän [key], Muslim architect, 1490?–1588?. He is regarded as the greatest of Islamic builders, and his finest achievements lie in his solutions to spatial problems posed by dome-topped stru...

Bukhara

(Encyclopedia)Bukhara bəkäˈrə [key], city, capital of Bukhara region, Uzbekistan, in the Zeravshan River ...