(Encyclopedia) Ghazali, al-Ghazali, al-ăl-găzäˈlē [key], 1058–1111, Islamic theologian, philosopher, and mystic. He was born at Tus in Khorasan, of Persian origin. He is considered the greatest…
(Encyclopedia) Abu HanifaAbu Hanifaäb&oomacr;ˈ hänēˈfä [key], 699–767, Muslim jurist. He founded the Hanafite system of Islamic jurisprudence, which gives the judge considerable discretion when…
(Encyclopedia) MahdiMahdimäˈdē [key] [Arab.,=he who is divinely guided], in Sunni Islam, the restorer of the faith. He will appear at the end of time to restore justice on earth and establish…
(Encyclopedia) fakirfakirfäkērˈ, fāˈkər [key], [Arab.,=poverty], in Islam, usually an initiate in a Sufi order. The title fakir is borne with the understanding that poverty is the need to be in…
The major federal, religious, traditional, and informal holidays celebrated in the United States
Choose a Holiday: New Year's DayEpiphanyMartin Luther King's BirthdayMawild al-NabiGroundhog…
(Encyclopedia) SunniSunnis&oomacr;ˈnī [key] [Arab. Sunna,=tradition], from ahl al-sunnah wa-l-jamaa [Arab.,=the people of the custom of the Prophet and community], the largest division of Islam.…
Who are the world's leading public intellectuals? The October 2005 cover of Prospect Foreign Policy and Britain's Prospect magazine selected their top 100, and invited readers to…
Osama bin Laden's Network of Terror
by Laura Hayes, Borgna Brunner, and Beth Rowen Al-Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden Related Links Remembering September 11 Al-Qaeda…
(Encyclopedia) Muhammad Abduh 1849–1905, Egyptian Muslim religious reformer. His encounter in 1872 with Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani, in the Cairo mosque-university of al-Azhar, led to his transition from…
