Ḥamdānid Dynasty: …as a military commander and Abū al-Hayjāʾ ʿAbd Allāh initiating the Ḥamdānid dynasty by assuming the post of governor of Mosul (905–929). The dynasty struck an independent course under ʿAbd Allāh’s son Nāṣir ad-Dawlah al-Ḥasan (reigned 929–969) and expanded westward into Syria. In 979 the Ḥamdānids were driven out of…

Jahwarid dynasty: …led by a prominent aristocrat, Abū al-Ḥazm Jahwar ibn Jahwar, to abolish the institution of the caliphate and proclaim Córdoba a republic. Jahwar was elected head and, as virtually an absolute sovereign ostensibly assisted by a council, restored peace and economic prosperity in his 12-year-reign (1031–43). His son Abū al-Walīd…

Muʿtazilah: …most important Muʿtazilī theologians were Abū al-Hudhayl al-ʿAllāf (died c. 841) and al-Naẓẓām (died 846) in Basra and Bishr ibn al-Muʿtamir (died 825) in Baghdad. It was al-Ashʿarī (died 935 or 936), a student of the Muʿtazilī al-Jubbāʾī, who broke the force of the movement by refuting its teachings with…

Ibn Jubayr was a Spanish Muslim known for a book recounting his pilgrimage to Mecca. The son of a civil servant, Ibn Jubayr became secretary to the Almohad governor of Granada, but he left that post for his pilgrimage, which was begun in 1183 and ended with his return to Granada in 1185. He wrote a

Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj was a scholar who was one of the chief authorities on the Ḥadīth, accounts of the sayings and deeds of the Prophet Muḥammad. Muslim traveled widely; his great work, the Ṣaḥīḥ (“The Genuine”), is said to have been compiled from about 300,000 traditions, which he collected in

Ziyādid Dynasty: Abū al-Jaysh Isḥāq, however, restored Ziyādid power and territory in a celebrated reign (904–981).

Bahāʾ al-Dīn was an Arab writer and statesman, author of the Sirat Salāḥ ad-Dīn (“Life of Saladin”). He was first a teacher at Baghdad and then professor at Mosul. In July 1188, after making the pilgrimage to Mecca, Bahāʾ al-Dīn entered the service of Saladin, who was waging war against the

Sanāʾī was a Persian poet, author of the first great mystical poem in the Persian language, whose verse had great influence on Persian and Muslim literature. Little is known of Sanāʾī’s early life. He was a resident of Ghazna and served for a time as poet at the court of the Ghaznavid sultans,

al-Ḥallāj was a controversial writer and teacher of Islamic mysticism (Ṣūfism). Because he represented in his person and works the experiences, causes, and aspirations of many Muslims, arousing admiration in some and repression on the part of others, the drama of his life and death has been

Hishām ibn al-Kalbī was a scholar of the customs, lineage, and battles of the early Arabs. Hishām’s father was a distinguished scholar of Kūfah who endeavoured to put into writing oral traditions gathered from Bedouins and professional reciters. Hishām is said to have taught in Baghdad, perhaps

Ibn al-Jawzī: The arrest in 1194 of Ibn Yūnus, his old friend and patron, marked the end of Ibn al-Jawzī’s career and his close links with governmental circles. In that year he was arrested and exiled to the city of Wāsiṭ. He was partially rehabilitated on the eve of his death and…

Abū al-Qāsim al-Zahrāwī was a medieval surgeon of Andalusian Spain, whose comprehensive medical text, combining Middle Eastern and Greco-Roman classical teachings, shaped European surgical procedures until the Renaissance. Abū al-Qāsim was court physician to the Andalusian caliph ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III

North Africa: The Banū Midrār of Sijilmāssah: The principality was named after Abū al-Qāsim ibn Wāsūl, nicknamed Midrār, the Miknāsah chief who founded the town of Sijilmāssah there in 757. Tafilalt had played a role in trans-Saharan trade before the influx and settlement of the Miknāsah. After the establishment of Sijilmāssah, however, it became the foremost centre…

Abū al-Qāsim al-Zahrāwī was a medieval surgeon of Andalusian Spain, whose comprehensive medical text, combining Middle Eastern and Greco-Roman classical teachings, shaped European surgical procedures until the Renaissance. Abū al-Qāsim was court physician to the Andalusian caliph ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III

ʿAbbādid dynasty: …1023 the qadi (religious judge) Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn ʿAbbād declared Sevilla independent of Córdoba. His son Abu ʿAmr ʿAbbād, known as al-Muʿtaḍid (1042–69), greatly enlarged his territory by forcibly annexing the minor kingdoms of Mertola, Niebla, Huelva, Saltés, Silves, and Santa María de Algarve.

Muhammad was the founder of Islam and the proclaimer of the Qurʾān. He is traditionally said to have been born in 570 in Mecca and to have died in 632 in Medina, where he had been forced to emigrate to with his adherents in 622. The Qurʾān yields little concrete biographical information about the

al-Bīrūnī was a Muslim astronomer, mathematician, ethnographist, anthropologist, historian, and geographer. Al-Bīrūnī lived during a period of unusual political turmoil in the eastern Islamic world. He served more than six different princes, all of whom were known for their bellicose activities and

ʿAnnazid dynasty: …was succeeded by his son, Ḥusām al-Dawlah Abū al-Shawk Fāris (died 1046), although two other sons independently ruled the urban centres of Shahrazūr and Bandanījīn. Abū al-Shawk’s 36-year rule spanned a period of internal and external conflict, yet it was under Abū al-Shawk that the dynasty reached its peak—in large…

al-Mutanabbī was a poet regarded by many as the greatest of the Arabic language. He primarily wrote panegyrics in a flowery, bombastic, and highly influential style marked by improbable metaphors. Al-Mutanabbī was the son of a water carrier who claimed noble and ancient southern Arabian descent.

Abū al-Wafāʾ was a distinguished Muslim astronomer and mathematician, who made important contributions to the development of trigonometry. Abū al-Wafāʾ worked in a private observatory in Baghdad, where he made observations to determine, among other astronomical parameters, the obliquity of the

Abū al-Wafāʾ was a distinguished Muslim astronomer and mathematician, who made important contributions to the development of trigonometry. Abū al-Wafāʾ worked in a private observatory in Baghdad, where he made observations to determine, among other astronomical parameters, the obliquity of the

Ibn ʿAqīl was an Islamic theologian and scholar of the Ḥanbalī school, the most traditionalist of the schools of Islamic law. His thoughts and teachings represent an attempt to give a somewhat more liberal direction to Ḥanbalism. In 1055–66 Ibn ʿAqīl received instruction in Islamic law according to

Ibn Janāḥ was perhaps the most important medieval Hebrew grammarian and lexicographer. Known as the founder of the study of Hebrew syntax, he established the rules of biblical exegesis and clarified many difficult passages. Trained as a physician, Ibn Janāh practiced medicine, but, out of profound

Jahwarid dynasty: His son Abū al-Walīd Muḥammad al-Rashīd (reigned 1043–58) managed through political chicanery to keep the ʿAbbādids of Sevilla (Seville) out of Córdoba but eventually resigned his authority to his own vizier, Ibn al-Raqā. When ʿAbd al-Malik, al-Rashīd’s jealous son, assassinated the vizier in 1058, his father rewarded…

Averroës was an influential Islamic religious philosopher who integrated Islamic traditions with ancient Greek thought. At the request of the Almohad caliph Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf, he produced a series of summaries and commentaries on most of Aristotle’s works (1169–95) and on Plato’s Republic, which

North Africa: Political fragmentation and the triumph of Islamic culture (c. 1250–c. 1500): …reunified in 1370 by Sultan Abū al-ʿAbbās, the Ḥafṣid state enjoyed periods of relative stability interspersed with strife. Political instability did not, however, prevent learning from developing in the towns. The greatest intellectual figure of the Maghrib before the modern period, the historian and sociologist Ibn Khaldūn, was born and…

Aḥmad Bābā was a jurist, writer, and a cultural leader of the western Sudan. A descendant of a line of jurists, Aḥmad Bābā was educated in Islāmic culture, including jurisprudence. When Timbuktu was conquered by the Sultan of Morocco in 1591, he was accused of refusing to recognize the Sultan’s

Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah was an Islamic caliph (reigned 749–54), the first of the ʿAbbāsid dynasty, which was to rule over the eastern Islamic world for approximately the next 500 years. The ʿAbbāsids were descended from an uncle of Muhammad and were cousins to the ruling Umayyad dynasty. The

al-Walīd ibn Yazīd was a caliph of the Umayyad dynasty who reigned from 743–744. As a young man he was of artistic temperament and acquired a good education. He was, however, totally unfit to rule and went off to live in the desert, where he could be free from the burdens of public affairs and the

al-Walīd was the sixth caliph (reigned 705–715) of the Arab Umayyad dynasty, who is best known for the mosques constructed during his reign. Al-Walīd, the eldest son of the caliph ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān, was fervently orthodox in his religious views, and he had a great interest in architecture.

al-Mubarrad was an Arab grammarian and literary scholar whose Al-Kāmil (“The Perfect One”) is a storehouse of linguistic knowledge. After studying grammar in Basra, al-Mubarrad was called to the court of the ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Mutawakkil at Sāmarrāʾ in 860. When the caliph was killed in 861,

al-Maʾmūn was the seventh ʿAbbāsid caliph (813–833), known for his attempts to end sectarian rivalry in Islām and to impose upon his subjects a rationalist Muslim creed. The son of the celebrated caliph Hārūn ar-Rashīd and an Iranian concubine, al-Maʾmūn was born in 786, six months before his

al-Maʿarrī was a great Arab poet, known for his virtuosity and for the originality and pessimism of his vision. Al-Maʿarrī was a descendant of the Tanūkh tribe. A childhood disease left him virtually blind. He studied literature and Islam in Aleppo, and he may have also traveled to study in Antioch

Abū al-ʿAtāhiyah was the first Arab poet of note to break with the conventions established by the pre-Islamic poets of the desert and to adopt a simpler and freer language of the village. Abū al-ʿAtāhiyah (“Father of Craziness”) came from a family of mawlās, poor non-Arabs who were clients of the

Abū al-ʿAtāhiyah was the first Arab poet of note to break with the conventions established by the pre-Islamic poets of the desert and to adopt a simpler and freer language of the village. Abū al-ʿAtāhiyah (“Father of Craziness”) came from a family of mawlās, poor non-Arabs who were clients of the

Ibn Gabirol was one of the outstanding figures of the Hebrew school of religious and secular poetry during the Jewish Golden Age in Moorish Spain. He was also an important Neoplatonic philosopher. Born in Málaga about 1022, Ibn Gabirol received his higher education in Saragossa, where he joined the

Arabian Desert: Physiography: …gravel plains of Raydāʾ and Abū Baḥr, and adjacent areas covered by sand, formed the delta of the Dawāsir-Jawb system. The remnants of several of the deltas formed by those ancient rivers are as large in area as the delta of the Nile River. The northern Al-Ṣummān Plateau is smooth…

Abu Bakar was the sultan of the Malay state of Johore (now part of Malaysia) from 1885 to 1895. He maintained independence from Britain and stimulated economic development in Johore at a time when most Southeast Asian states were being incorporated into European colonial empires. Under an 1824

Abū Bakr was Muhammad’s closest companion and adviser, who succeeded to the Prophet’s political and administrative functions, thereby initiating the office of the caliph. Of a minor clan of the ruling merchant tribe of Quraysh at Mecca, Abū Bakr purportedly was the first male convert to Islam, but

al-Hamadhānī: …through a public debate with Abū Bakr al-Khwarizmī, a leading savant, in Nīshāpūr. He subsequently traveled throughout the area occupied today by Iran and Afghanistan before settling in Herāt and marrying. Al-Hamadhānī is credited with the composition of 400 maqāmahs (Arabic plural maqāmāt), of which some 52 are extant (Eng.…

Yūsuf ibn Tāshufīn: In 1061 Abū Bakr, who was then the leader of the Almoravids, went south into the desert to put down a tribal rebellion. He gave the command of his troops in the Maghrib to Ibn Tāshufīn, his cousin. Ibn Tāshufīn proved so popular that when Abū Bakr…

Abū Bakr was Muhammad’s closest companion and adviser, who succeeded to the Prophet’s political and administrative functions, thereby initiating the office of the caliph. Of a minor clan of the ruling merchant tribe of Quraysh at Mecca, Abū Bakr purportedly was the first male convert to Islam, but

Iran: The Khwārezm-Shahs: …Shīrāz of the Salghurid atabeg Abū Bakr ibn Saʿd ibn Zangī (reigned 1231–60), whom he mentions by name in his Būstān (“The Orchard”), a book of ethics in verse. Abū Bakr’s father, Saʿd, for whom Saʿdī took his pen name, conferred great prosperity on Shīrāz.

Yūsuf ibn Tāshufīn: In 1061 Abū Bakr, who was then the leader of the Almoravids, went south into the desert to put down a tribal rebellion. He gave the command of his troops in the Maghrib to Ibn Tāshufīn, his cousin. Ibn Tāshufīn proved so popular that when Abū Bakr…

Ibn Durayd was an Arab philologist who wrote a large Arabic dictionary, Jamharat al-lughah (“Collection of Language”). Ibn Durayd traced his descent to an Arab tribe of Oman, and in 871, to avoid the Zanj (black African) slave rebellion, during which Basra was sacked, he moved to Oman. He stayed

Avempace was the earliest known representative in Spain of the Arabic Aristotelian–Neoplatonic philosophical tradition (see Arabic philosophy) and forerunner of the polymath scholar Ibn Ṭufayl and of the philosopher Averroës. Avempace’s chief philosophical tenets seem to have included belief in the

Ibn Ṭufayl was a Moorish philosopher and physician who is known for his Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān (c. 1175; Eng. trans. by L.E. Goodman, Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓan by Ibn Ṭufayl, 1972), a philosophical romance in which he describes the self-education and gradual philosophical development of a man who passes the first

Sībawayh was a celebrated grammarian of the Arabic language. After studying in Basra, Iraq, with a prominent grammarian, Sībawayh received recognition as a grammarian himself. Sībawayh is said to have left Iraq and retired to Shīrāz after losing a debate with a rival on Bedouin Arabic usage. His

Murcia: …led to a rising under Abu Jaʿfar ibn Hud in 1144 and the reestablishment of Murcian independence. The kingdom was then united with Valencia.

Munich massacre: German and Israeli responses: In 1977 Abu Daoud, the planner of the Munich attack, was arrested in France, but West Germany’s extradition request was denied on a technicality, and he was released and flown to freedom in Algeria.

ʿilm al-ḥadīth: …Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj (died 875), Abū Dāʾūd (died 888), al-Tirmidhī (died 892), Ibn Mājāh (died 886), and al-Nasāʾī (died 915)—came to be recognized as canonical in orthodox Islam, though the books of al-Bukhārī and Muslim enjoy a prestige that virtually eclipses the other four.

Abu Dhabi, city and capital of Abu Dhabi emirate, one of the United Arab Emirates (formerly Trucial States, or Trucial Oman), and the national capital of that federation. The city occupies most of a small triangular island of the same name, just off the Persian Gulf coast and connected to the

Abu Dhabi, constituent emirate of the United Arab Emirates (formerly Trucial States, or Trucial Oman). Though its international boundaries are disputed, it is unquestionably the largest of the country’s seven constituent emirates, with more than three-fourths of the area of the entire federation.

United Arab Emirates: Resources and power: …by another ADNOC company, the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations, which is likewise partially owned by American, French, Japanese, and British interests. Other concessions also are held by Japanese companies.

United Arab Emirates: Resources and power: …held by an ADNOC subsidiary, Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (ADMA-OPCO), which is partially owned by British, French, and Japanese interests. One of the main offshore fields is located in Umm al-Shāʾif. Al-Bunduq offshore field is shared with neighboring Qatar but is operated by ADMA-OPCO. A Japanese consortium operates an…

United Arab Emirates: Resources and power: …in the federation through the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). Abu Dhabi is responsible for about 95 percent of the country’s oil production, and production of petroleum and natural gas contributes about one-third of the nation’s GDP, even though the oil and gas sector employs only a tiny fraction…

Egypt: Mamluk power under the Ottomans: …of two emirs—ʿAlī Bey and Abū Dhahab—both of whom secured from the Sublime Porte (Ottoman government) de facto recognition of their autonomy in Egypt (1769–75) and even undertook military campaigns in Syria and the Hejaz. The Ottomans attempted to end the Mamluk domination by sending an army to Egypt in…

Abu Ghraib prison, large prison complex in Abū Ghurayb, Baghdad governorate, Iraq. During the presidency of Saddam Hussein (1979–2003), it became notorious for the detention of a massive number of political prisoners and the use of torture. It was reopened by the U.S. military in August 2003 after

Barghawāṭah: In the reign of Abū Ghufayl (885–913) the confederation became firmly established in Barghawāṭah territory and aided in the creation of a highly defensive state that also proved to be commercially prosperous.

Abū Jirāb, ancient Egyptian site, about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Abū Ṣīr, between Ṣaqqārah and Al-Jīzah; it is known as the location of two 5th-dynasty (c. 2465–c. 2325 bce) sun temples. The first part of the 5th dynasty is recognized as a period of unusually strong emphasis on the worship of the

Abū Jirāb, ancient Egyptian site, about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Abū Ṣīr, between Ṣaqqārah and Al-Jīzah; it is known as the location of two 5th-dynasty (c. 2465–c. 2325 bce) sun temples. The first part of the 5th dynasty is recognized as a period of unusually strong emphasis on the worship of the

Abū Jirāb, ancient Egyptian site, about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Abū Ṣīr, between Ṣaqqārah and Al-Jīzah; it is known as the location of two 5th-dynasty (c. 2465–c. 2325 bce) sun temples. The first part of the 5th dynasty is recognized as a period of unusually strong emphasis on the worship of the

Sippar, ancient city of Babylonia, located southwest of present Baghdad, central Iraq. Sippar was subject to the 1st dynasty of Babylon, but little is known about the city before 1174 bc, when it was sacked by the Elamite king Kutir-Nahhunte. It recovered and was later captured by the Assyrian king

Ḥafṣid dynasty: …unity being temporarily restored by Abū Ḥafṣ (1284–95), then by Abū Yaḥyā Abū Bakr (1318–46). Plagued by periodic Marīnid invasions, the Ḥafṣid kingdom regained some of the lustre of al-Mustanṣir’s era under Abū al-ʿAbbās (1370–94), who managed to pacify the country, though Ḥafṣid pirate activity continued to threaten international relations.…

North Africa: The Maghrib under the Almoravids and the Almohads: …this act ʿAbd al-Muʾmin bypassed Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar, the Maṣmūdah chief who gave protection to Ibn Tūmart in the High Atlas during his period of exile and whom the other Maṣmūdah chiefs expected to succeed ʿAbd al-Muʾmin. Maṣmūdah opposition was dealt with by putting a number of their chiefs to…

al-Ghazālī was a Muslim theologian and mystic whose great work, Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīnIḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn (“The Revival of the Religious Sciences”), made Sufism (Islamic mysticism) an acceptable part of orthodox Islam. Al-Ghazālī was born at Ṭūs (near Mashhad in eastern Iran) and was educated there,

Abū Ḥanīfah was a Muslim jurist and theologian whose systematization of Islamic legal doctrine was acknowledged as one of the four canonical schools of Islamic law (madhhabs). The Ḥanafī school of Abū Ḥanīfah acquired such prestige that its doctrines were applied by a majority of Muslim dynasties.

al-Dīnawarī was an astronomer, botanist, and historian, of Persian or Kurdish origin, whose interest in Hellenism and the Arabic humanities has been compared to that of the Iraqi scholar al-Jāḥiẓ. Al-Dīnawarī studied philology in the Iraqi cities of Basra and Kūfah. The systematic approach to

Abū Ḥanīfah was a Muslim jurist and theologian whose systematization of Islamic legal doctrine was acknowledged as one of the four canonical schools of Islamic law (madhhabs). The Ḥanafī school of Abū Ḥanīfah acquired such prestige that its doctrines were applied by a majority of Muslim dynasties.

Hāshimīyah: …one of his sons, and Abū Hāshim, a grandson. The Hāshimīyah thus did not recognize, for religious reasons, the legitimacy of Umayyad rule, and when Abū Hāshim died in 716, without heirs, a majority of the sect acknowledged Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī (died between 731 and 743) of the ʿAbbāsid family…

Wāṣil ibn ʿAṭāʾ was a Muslim theologian considered the founder of the Muʿtazilah sect. As a young man Wāṣil went to Basra, Iraq, where he studied under the celebrated ascetic Ḥasan al-Baṣrī and met other influential religious figures who lived there. In Wāṣil’s time there began the discussions that

origins of agriculture: Southwest Asia: The Abū Hureyra site in Syria is the largest known site from the era when plants and animals were initially being domesticated. Two periods of occupation bracketing the transition to agriculture have been unearthed there. The people of the earlier, Epipaleolithic occupation lived in much the…

Aghlabid dynasty: …hands for two centuries); and Abū Ibrāhim Aḥmad (856–863), who commissioned many public works. During the 9th century the brilliant Kairouan civilization evolved under their rule. The Aghlabid emirs maintained a splendid court, though at the cost of oppressive taxes; their public works for the conservation and distribution of water,…

Chishtīyah: …the founder of the order, Abū Isḥāq of Syria, settled.

Timbuktu: The Granada architect Abū Isḥāq al-Sāḥili was then commissioned to design the Sankore mosque, around which Sankore University was established. The mosque still stands today, probably because of al-Sāḥili’s directive to incorporate a wooden framework into the mud walls of the building, thus facilitating annual repairs after the…

Ibrāhīm al-Naẓẓām was a brilliant Muslim theologian, a man of letters, and a poet, historian, and jurist. Naẓẓām spent his youth in Basra, moving to Baghdad as a young man. There he studied speculative theology (kalām) under the great Muʿtazilite theologian Abū al-Hudhayl al-ʿAllāf but soon broke

Abū al-ʿAtāhiyah was the first Arab poet of note to break with the conventions established by the pre-Islamic poets of the desert and to adopt a simpler and freer language of the village. Abū al-ʿAtāhiyah (“Father of Craziness”) came from a family of mawlās, poor non-Arabs who were clients of the

Suleja: Abu Ja (Jatau), his brother and successor as sarkin Zazzau, founded Abuja town in 1828, began construction of its wall a year later, and proclaimed himself the first emir of Abuja. Withstanding Zaria attacks, the Abuja emirate remained an independent Hausa refuge. Trade with the…

Murcia: …led to a rising under Abu Jaʿfar ibn Hud in 1144 and the reestablishment of Murcian independence. The kingdom was then united with Valencia.

Ibn Bābawayh was an Islamic theologian, author of one of the "Four Books" that are the basic authorities for the doctrine of Twelver (Ithnā ʿAshāri) Shīʿah. Little is known about Ibn Bābawayh’s life. According to legend he was born as the result of special prayers to the mahdī (the expected one).

al-Ṭabarī was a Muslim scholar, author of enormous compendiums of early Islamic history and Qurʾānic exegesis, who made a distinct contribution to the consolidation of Sunni thought during the 9th century. He condensed the vast wealth of exegetical and historical erudition of the preceding

al-Manṣūr was the second caliph of the ʿAbbāsid dynasty (754–775), generally regarded as the real founder of the ʿAbbāsid caliphate. He established the capital city at Baghdad (762–763). Al-Manṣūr was born at Al-Ḥumaymah, the home of the ʿAbbāsid family after their emigration from the Hejaz in

Khalīl Ibrāhīm al-Wazīr was a Palestinian leader who became the military strategist and second in command of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Wazīr fled from Ramla with his family during the 1948 war that followed the creation of the State of Israel. He grew up in the Gaza Strip, where

Abū Jirāb, ancient Egyptian site, about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Abū Ṣīr, between Ṣaqqārah and Al-Jīzah; it is known as the location of two 5th-dynasty (c. 2465–c. 2325 bce) sun temples. The first part of the 5th dynasty is recognized as a period of unusually strong emphasis on the worship of the

Abū Kālījār al-Marzubān was a ruler of the Buyid dynasty from 1024, who for a brief spell reunited the Buyid territories in Iraq and Iran. When his father, Sulṭān al-Dawlah, died in December 1023/January 1024, Abū Kālījār’s succession to the sultan’s Iranian possessions of Fārs and Khuzistan was

Abū Kālījār al-Marzubān was a ruler of the Buyid dynasty from 1024, who for a brief spell reunited the Buyid territories in Iraq and Iran. When his father, Sulṭān al-Dawlah, died in December 1023/January 1024, Abū Kālījār’s succession to the sultan’s Iranian possessions of Fārs and Khuzistan was

Cape Bojador, extension of the West African coast into the Atlantic Ocean, now part of Western Sahara. Located on a dangerous reef-lined stretch of the coast, its Arabic name, Abū Khaṭar, means “the father of danger.” Early European navigators called it “the point of no return” until it was first

Muhammad: Biography according to the Islamic tradition: …Ṭālib die, and another uncle, Abū Lahab, succeeds to the leadership of the clan of Hāshim. Abū Lahab withdraws the clan’s protection from Muhammad, meaning that the latter can now be attacked without fear of retribution and is therefore no longer safe at Mecca. After failing to win protection in…

Iliya Abu Madi was an Arab poet and journalist whose poetry achieved popularity through his expressive use of language, his mastery of the traditional patterns of Arabic poetry, and the relevance of his ideas to contemporary Arab readers. When he was 11 years old, Abu Madi moved with his family

Ibn ʿAqīl: …death of his influential patron, Abū Manṣūr ibn Yūsuf, in 1067 or 1068, he was forced to retire from his teaching position. Until 1072 he lived in partial retirement under the protection of Abū Manṣūr’s son-in-law, a wealthy Ḥanbalī merchant. The controversy over his ideas came to an end in…

Daqīqī was a poet, one of the most important figures in early Persian poetry. Very little is known about Daqīqī’s life. A panegyrist, he wrote poems praising various Sāmānid and other princes and much lyrical poetry. He is remembered chiefly for an uncompleted verse chronicle dealing with

Abū Manṣūr Muḥammad al-Māturīdī was the eponymous figurehead of the Māturīdiyyah school of theology that arose in Transoxania, which came to be one of the most important foundations of Islamic doctrine. Except for the place and time of Māturīdī’s death, almost nothing is known about the details of

Sebüktigin was the founder of the Ghaznavid dynasty, which ruled much of the area of present-day Afghanistan for more than 150 years. Once a Turkish slave, Sebüktigin married the daughter of the governor of the town of Ghazna (modern Ghaznī), which was under the control of the Sāmānid dynasty. He

Ibn Zuhr was one of medieval Islam’s foremost thinkers and the greatest medical clinician of the western caliphate. An intensely practical man, Ibn Zuhr disliked medical speculation; for that reason, he opposed the teachings of the Persian master physician Avicenna. In his Taysīr fī al-mudāwāt wa

Mahmoud Abbas Palestinian politician who served briefly as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in 2003 and was elected its president in 2005 following the death of Yasser Arafat. He was an early member of the Fatah movement and was instrumental in building networks and contacts that

Albumazar was a leading astrologer of the Muslim world, who is known primarily for his theory that the world, created when the seven planets were in conjunction in the first degree of Aries, will come to an end at a like conjunction in the last degree of Pisces. Albumazar’s reputation as an

al-Hamdānī was an Arab geographer, poet, grammarian, historian, and astronomer whose chief fame derives from his authoritative writings on South Arabian history and geography. From his literary production, al-Hamdānī was known as the “tongue of South Arabia.” Most of al-Hamdānī’s life was spent in

al-Ḥarīrī was a scholar of Arabic language and literature and government official who is primarily known for the refined style and wit of his collection of tales, the Maqāmāt, published in English as The Assemblies of al-Harîrî (1867, 1898). His works include a long poem on grammar (Mulḥat al-iʿrāb

Ibn Qutaybah was a writer of adab literature—that is, of literature exhibiting wide secular erudition—and also of theology, philology, and literary criticism. He introduced an Arabic prose style outstanding for its simplicity and ease, or “modern” flavour. Little is known of Ibn Qutaybah’s life. Of

Ibn Ḥazm was a Muslim litterateur, historian, jurist, and theologian of Islamic Spain, famed for his literary productivity, breadth of learning, and mastery of the Arabic language. One of the leading exponents of the Ẓāhirī (Literalist) school of jurisprudence, he produced some 400 works, covering