1.
Flag of Saudi Arabia
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The flag of Saudi Arabia is the flag used by the government of Saudi Arabia since March 15,1973. It is a flag featuring in white an Arabic inscription. The inscription is the Islamic creed, or shahada, the green of the flag represents Islam and the sword stands for the strictness in applying justice. The flag is manufactured with identical obverse and reverse sides, to ensure the shahada reads correctly, from right to left, the sword points to the left on both sides, in the direction of the script. The flag is hoisted, meaning that it is hoisted to the left of the flagpole. The flags green is Pantone 349 C Because the shahada is considered holy, Saudi Arabia protested against its inclusion on a planned football to be issued by FIFA, bearing all the flags of the participants of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Saudi officials said that kicking the creed with the foot was completely unacceptable, the flag is never lowered to half-mast as a sign of mourning, because lowering it would be considered blasphemous. Similarly, the flags of Afghanistan, Somaliland, and Iraq are also never at half-mast The normal flag cannot be hoisted vertically according to Saudi legislation. Special vertical flags are manufactured both the inscription and the emblem are rotated, although this is rare, as most Arab countries traditionally do not hoist flags vertically. The Al Saud, the family of Saudi Arabia, has long been closely associated with the Wahhabi religious movement. The Wahhabis, since the 18th century, had used the shahada on their flags, in 1902 Abdulaziz Abdulrahman Al-Saud, leader of the Al Saud and the future founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, added a sword to this flag. The design of the flag was not standardized prior to March 15,1973, by 1938, the flag had basically assumed its present form, except the sword had a different design and it, along with the shahada above, took up more of the flags space. The precursor states to Saudi Arabia were Nejd and Hejaz, the state flag of Nejd followed todays Saudi flag pattern very closely. The state of Hijaz followed the patterns seen in countries like Palestine, from 1744 a crescent was present. From 1902 until 1921 a different Arabic inscription was used, one of the primary opponents to the Saudis was the Al Rashid family in the north of the peninsula, until their defeat in 1921. The civil ensign, for use by merchant vessels at sea, is a flag with the state flag in the canton with a white border. The royal standard is the flag with the palm tree. Saudi Arabia at Flags of the World World Flags Information, Saudi Arabian page Saudi Arabian flag and associated information
2.
Emblem of Saudi Arabia
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The Saudi Arabian national emblem was adopted in 1950. According to the Saudi Basic Law, it consists of two crossed swords with a tree in the space above and between the blades. The two swords represent the Kingdom of Hejaz and the Sultanate of Najd and its dependencies, which were united under Ibn Saud in 1926, the palm tree represents the Kingdoms assets which are defined as its people, heritage, history, and resources natural and non-natural. Thus, the palm is shown to be guarded by the two swords, which represent the force to be used in defence of the nation, the Emblem appears on government documents, diplomatic missions, as well as several Saudi Arabian flags. It is emblazoned in gold on the flag of the Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia, the latter is essentially the national flag with the added Emblem in gold, which is placed in the lower part of the hoist and not in the canton as with other royal standards. The Emblems lower position is in deference to the nature of the Shahada
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Saudi Arabia
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Saudi Arabia is bordered by Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast and Yemen to the south. It is separated from Israel and Egypt by the Gulf of Aqaba and it is the only nation with both a Red Sea coast and a Persian Gulf coast and most of its terrain consists of arid desert and mountains. The area of modern-day Saudi Arabia formerly consisted of four regions, Hejaz, Najd and parts of Eastern Arabia. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by Ibn Saud and he united the four regions into a single state through a series of conquests beginning in 1902 with the capture of Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud. Saudi Arabia has since been a monarchy, effectively a hereditary dictatorship governed along Islamic lines. The ultraconservative Wahhabi religious movement within Sunni Islam has been called the predominant feature of Saudi culture, with its global spread largely financed by the oil and gas trade. Saudi Arabia is sometimes called the Land of the Two Holy Mosques in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, the state has a total population of 28.7 million, of which 20 million are Saudi nationals and 8 million are foreigners. The states official language is Arabic, petroleum was discovered on 3 March 1938 and followed up by several other finds in the Eastern Province. Saudi Arabia has since become the worlds largest oil producer and exporter, controlling the second largest oil reserves. The kingdom is categorized as a World Bank high-income economy with a high Human Development Index and is the only Arab country to be part of the G-20 major economies. However, the economy of Saudi Arabia is the least diversified in the Gulf Cooperation Council, the state has attracted criticism for its treatment of women and use of capital punishment. Saudi Arabia is an autocracy, has the fourth highest military expenditure in the world. Saudi Arabia is considered a regional and middle power, in addition to the GCC, it is an active member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and OPEC. Following the unification of the Hejaz and Nejd kingdoms, the new state was named al-Mamlakah al-ʻArabīyah as-Suʻūdīyah by royal decree on 23 September 1932 by its founder, Abdulaziz Al Saud. Although this is translated as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in English it literally means the Saudi Arab kingdom. Its inclusion expresses the view that the country is the possession of the royal family. Al Saud is an Arabic name formed by adding the word Al, meaning family of or House of, in the case of the Al Saud, this is the father of the dynastys 18th century founder, Muhammad bin Saud. There is evidence that human habitation in the Arabian Peninsula dates back to about 125,000 years ago
5.
Provinces of Saudi Arabia
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Saudi Arabia is divided into 13 regions. Each region is divided into governorates and the capital, which has the status of municipality headed by mayors. The governorates are subdivided into subgovernorates. Around 1980, the Northern Province was created from the Western and Central
6.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
7.
Hejaz
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The Hejaz, also Al-Hijaz, is a region in the west of present-day Saudi Arabia. The region is so called as it separates the land of the Najd in the east from the land of Tihamah in the west and it is also known as the Western Province. It is bordered on the west by the Red Sea, on the north by Jordan, on the east by the Najd and its main city is Jeddah, but it is probably better known for the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina. As the site of Islams holiest places, the Hejaz has significance in the Arab, historically, the Hejaz has always seen itself as separate from the rest of Saudi Arabia. The Hejaz is the most populated region in Saudi Arabia,35 % of all Saudis live in Hejaz, hejazi Arabic is the most widely spoken dialect in the region. Saudi Hejazis are of diverse origins. The Hejaz is the most cosmopolitan region in the Arabian Peninsula, people of Hejaz have the most strongly articulated identity of any regional grouping in Saudi Arabia. Their place of origin alienates them from the Saudi state, which invokes different narratives of the history of the Arabian Peninsula, thus, Hejazis experienced tensions with people of Najd. One or possibly two megalithic dolmen have been found in Al-Hijaz, the Hejaz includes both the Mahd adh-Dhahab and a water source, now dried out, that used to flow 600 miles north east to the Persian Gulf via the Wadi Al-Rummah and Wadi Al-Batin system. Archaeological research led by of Boston University and the University of Qassim indicates that the system was active in 8000 BCE. The northern part of the Hejaz was part of the Roman province of Arabia Petraea, Saudi Arabias first World Heritage Site that was recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is that of Al-Hjir. The name Al-Hijr occurs in the Qur’an, and the site is known for having structures carved into rocks, construction of the structures is credited to the people of Thamud. Despite their rather Polytheistic nature, a member of folk was a Monotheistic preacher called Salih. After the disappearance of Thamud from Mada’in Saleh, it came under the influence of people, such as the Nabataeans. Later, it would lie in a used by Muslim Pilgrims going to Mecca. According to Islamic sources, the civilization of Mecca started after Ibrahim brought his son Isma‘il and wife Hajar here and it was during such an occasion that Muhammad met some Medinans who would allow him to migrate to Medina, to escape persecution by his opponents in Mecca. Given that he had followers and enemies here, a number of battles or expeditions were carried out in this area. They involved both Meccan companions, such as Hamzah ibn ‘Abdul-Muttalib, Ubaydah ibn al-Harith and Sad ibn Abi Waqqas, the Hijaz fell under Muhammads influence as he emerged victorious over his opponents, and was thus a part of his empire
8.
Ta'if
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Taif is a city in Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia at an elevation of 1,879 m on the slopes of Sarawat Mountains. It has a population of 1,200,000 people and is the summer capital. The city is the center of an area known for its grapes, pomegranate, figs, roses. The inhabitants of Taif are largely made up of Saudi Arabians who are Hanbali, there are also significant foreign populations, primarily from Asia, Turkey, and other Arab countries that are also present in Taif. In the 6th century the city of Tāif was dominated by the Banu Thaqif tribe and it has been suggested that Jewish tribes who were displaced by Ethiopian Christians in the Himyarite Kingdom wars settled near Taif. The town is about 100 km southeast of Mecca, the walled city was a religious centre as it housed the idol of the goddess Allāt, who was then known as the lady of Tāif. Its climate marked the city out from its dry and barren neighbours closer to the Red Sea, wheat, vines, and fruit were grown around Tāif and this is how the city earned its title the Garden of the Hejaz. During the Year of the Elephant, this city was involved in the events, both Taif and Mecca were resorts of pilgrimage. Taif was more pleasantly situated than Mecca itself and the people of Taif had close relations with the people of Mecca. The people of Taif carried on agriculture and fruit‑growing in addition to their trade activities, in AD630, the Battle of Hunayn took place at Hunayn, close to this city. Shortly after that, the unsuccessful Siege of Taif took place, the city was assaulted by catapults from Banu Daws, but it repelled the attacks. The Battle of Tabouk in 631 left Tāif completely isolated, so members of Thaqīf arrived in Mecca to negotiate the conversion of the city to Islam, the idol of Al-lāt was destroyed along with all of the other signs of the citys previously pagan existence. On 17 July 1517 the Sharif of Mecca capitulated to the Ottoman Sultan Selim I, as a sign of this, he surrendered to him the keys of the Islamic cities of Mecca and Medina. As part of the Hejaz, Taif was also given over to Ottoman control, the city remained Ottoman for a further three centuries, until in 1802, when it was retaken by rebels in alliance with the House of Saud. These forces then proceeded to take Mecca and Medina, the loss was keenly felt by the Ottoman Empire, which viewed itself as the protector of the Holy Cities. The Ottoman sultan, Mahmud II, called upon his nominal viceroy in Egypt, Muhammad Ali, in 1813, the Swiss traveller and orientalist Johann Ludwig Burckhardt visited Taif. He has left an account on the city just after its recapture by the Muhammad Ali. Burckhardt says that the wall and ditch around the city had built by Othman el Medhayfe
9.
Mecca
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Mecca or Makkah is a city in the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia that is also capital of the Makkah Region. The city is located 70 km inland from Jeddah in a valley at a height of 277 m above sea level. Its resident population in 2012 was roughly 2 million, although more than triple this number every year during the hajj period held in the twelfth Muslim lunar month of Dhu al-Hijjah. Mecca is home to the Kaaba, by majority description Islams holiest site, Mecca was long ruled by Muhammads descendants, the sharifs, acting either as independent rulers or as vassals to larger polities. It was conquered by Ibn Saud in 1925, during this expansion, Mecca has lost some historical structures and archaeological sites, such as the Ajyad Fortress. Today, more than 15 million Muslims visit Mecca annually, including several million during the few days of the Hajj, as a result, Mecca has become one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the Muslim world, despite the fact that non-Muslims are prohibited from entering the city. The Saudi government adopted Makkah as the spelling in the 1980s. The full official name is Makkah al-Mukarramah or Makkatu l-Mukarramah, which means Mecca the Honored, the ancient or early name for the site of Mecca is Bakkah. An Arabic language word, its etymology, like that of Mecca, is obscure, the form Bakkah is used for the name Mecca in the Quran in 3,96, while the form Mecca is used in 48,24. In South Arabic, the language in use in the portion of the Arabian Peninsula at the time of Muhammad. Other references to Mecca in the Quran call it Umm al-Qurā, another name of Mecca is Tihamah. Arab and Islamic tradition holds that the wilderness of Paran, broadly speaking, is the Tihamah, yaqut al-Hamawi, the 12th century Syrian geographer, wrote that Fārān was an arabized Hebrew word. One of the names of Mecca mentioned in the Torah, Mecca is governed by the Municipality of Mecca, a municipal council of fourteen locally elected members headed by a mayor appointed by the Saudi government. As of May 2015, the mayor of the city was Dr. Osama bin Fadhel Al-Bar, Mecca is the capital of the Makkah Region, which includes neighboring Jeddah. The provincial governor was prince Abdul Majeed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud from 2000 until his death in 2007, on 16 May 2007, prince Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud was appointed as the new governor. The early history of Mecca is still disputed, as there are no unambiguous references to it in ancient literature prior to the rise of Islam. The Roman Empire took control of part of the Hejaz in 106 AD, ruling cities such as Hegra, even though detailed descriptions were established of Western Arabia by Rome, such as by Procopius, there are no references of a pilgrimage and trading outpost such as Mecca. The first direct mention of Mecca in external literature occurs in 741 AD in the Byzantine-Arab Chronicle, claims have been made this could be a reference to the Kaaba in Mecca
10.
Sarawat Mountains
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The Sarawat Mountains or the Sarat is a mountain range running parallel to the western coast of the Arabian Peninsula and is among the Peninsulas most prominent geographical features. The Sarawat start from the border of Jordan in the north to the Gulf of Aden in the south, running through Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The ranges northern half, known as Sarat al-Hejaz rarely rises about 2,100 meters, while the middle and this mountain range is the largest in the Arabian Peninsula. These mountains are mainly rocky and some can contain vegetation, many of the peaks are fairly young and jagged, but some are smoother from weathering. The northern part, running from north of Taif through western Saudi Arabia until the southern tip of Saudi Arabia. Some argue that the mountains of Lebanon and Western Syria are a continuation of the chain and it is mostly a slightly higher elevated area that the rest of Saudi Arabia, with the exception of Asir, and obscure landforms can be found in this chain. Elevations average around 1200–2000 meters, although the highest points are around 2400 meters above sea level, after Medina, the mountain chain seems to disintegrate until they reappear around Taif. Farther south, below Taif, there is Asir Province in Saudi Arabia, yet even this part of the Sarawat Mountains is just like a large cliff that climbs out from the Tihamah coastal plain. This is supported by the fact that south of Taif, the Hejaz is almost entirely around 2, nearing the Yemeni border, the Sarawat begin to spread into individual peaks, and the Hejaz turns from a cliff to a gradual ascent up to the Yemeni Plateau. All of the mountains over 3,000 meters feet are located in Yemen, the highest of which is Jabal an-Nabi Shuayb, which is the highest peak in the Arabian Peninsula. It is 3,666 meters high, located near the capital Sanaa, geologically, the Sarawat are part of the Arabian Shield, and are made up mostly of volcanic rock. Hijaz mountains Library of Congress Country Study, Saudi Arabia
11.
Valley
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A valley is a low area between hills, often with a river running through it. In geology, a valley or dale is a depression that is longer than it is wide, the terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys. Most valleys belong to one of two main types or a mixture of them, with respect to the cross section of the slopes or hillsides. A valley in its broadest geographic sense is known as a dale. A valley through which a river runs may also be referred to as a vale, a small, secluded, and often wooded valley is known as a dell or in Scotland as a glen. A wide, flat valley through which a river runs is known in Scotland as a strath, a mountain cove is a small valley, closed at one or both ends, in the central or southern Appalachian Mountains which sometimes results from the erosion of a geologic window. A small valley surrounded by mountains or ridges is sometimes known as a hollow, a deep, narrow valley is known as a cwm. Similar geological structures, such as canyons, ravines, gorges, gullies, chines, a valley formed by erosion is called an erosional valley, a valley formed by geologic events such as drop faults or the rise of highlands is called a structural valley. A valley formed by flowing water, or river valley, is usually V-shaped, the exact shape will depend on the characteristics of the stream flowing through it. Rivers with steep gradients, as in mountain ranges, produce steep walls, shallower slopes may produce broader and gentler valleys. However, in the lowest stretch of a river, where it approaches its base level, it begins to deposit sediment, in prehistory, the rivers were used as a source of fresh water and food, as well as a place to wash and a sewer. The proximity of water moderated temperature extremes and provided a source for irrigation, most of the first civilizations developed from these river valley communities. In geography, a vale is a river valley, usually with a particularly wide flood plain or flat valley bottom. In Southern England, vales commonly occur between the escarpment slopes of pairs of chalk formations, where the dome has been eroded, exposing less resistant underlying rock. Rift valleys, such as the Albertine Rift, are formed by the expansion of the Earths crust due to tectonic activity beneath the Earths surface, there are various forms of valley associated with glaciation that may be referred to as glacial valleys. A valley carved by glaciers is normally U-shaped, the valley becomes visible upon the recession of the glacier that forms it. When the ice recedes or thaws, the remains, often littered with small boulders that were transported within the ice. Floor gradient does not affect the shape, it is the glaciers size that does
12.
Hejaz mountains
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The Hijaz Mountains, or Hejaz Range, is a mountain range located in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia. The range runs north—south along the eastern coast of the Red Sea, the eastern slopes are not as steep, allowing rare rainfall to help create oases around the springs and wells of the few wadis. Mining The Hijaz Mountains include the Cradle of Gold district, in the region between Mecca and Medina and it is the only known Arabian source for workable quantities of gold. The Hijaz Mountains have been conjectured as the source of the ancient Pishon River and this is a component in the research of Juris Zarins that locates the Garden of Eden at the northern tip of the Persian Gulf near Kuwait. The course of the now dried up river, the modern-day Wadi Al-Rummah and its extension Wadi Al-Batin, was identified by Farouk El-Baz of Boston University and this tracks northeast across the Saudi desert for 600 miles, following Wadi Al-Batin to the Gulf. The Pishon or Kuwait River, and the Hejaz region ecology, is estimated to have dried up 2, asir Mountains — coastal range on south. Sarawat Mountains — coastal range further south
13.
Battle of Hunayn
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This is a sub-article to Muhammad after the conquest of Mecca. The battle ended in a victory for the Muslims, who captured enormous spoils. The Battle of Hunayn is one of two battles mentioned in the Quran by name, in Sura Tawba. The conquest of Mecca astounded both the Arabs and other tribes, the Hawazins had been long-standing enemies of Meccans. They were located north-east of Mecca and their territory sat beside the route to Hira in Iraq. The Hawazins were allied with the Thaqifs of Taif which was located south-east of Mecca, the alliance had engage in several wars probably concerning trade routes between Taif and Mecca. Given this history they saw Muhammad as another powerful Quraish leader who had come to lead his people and they thought among themselves that a war with Muslims was imminent and that the once persecuted minority of Muslims had gained an upper hand against their non-Muslim Arab enemies. Some tribes favoured fighting him and the Muslims, ahead of these were the tribes of Hawazin and Thaqif. According to the Muslim scholar Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri They thought that they were too mighty to admit or surrender to such a victory, so, they met Malik bin ‘Awf An-Nasri and made up their minds to proceed fighting against the Muslims. Malik persuaded other tribes to fight and gathered them before him, the confederation of tribes consistiing of Nasr, Jusham, Sa‘d bin Bakr, Bani Hilal, Bani Amr bin Amir and Bani Awf bin Amir gathered at Autas along with the Thaqif and Hawazin. On that day Muhammad had twelve thousand armed soldiers under his standard, the command of this group rested with Abu Sufyan. In those days such an army was found anywhere and this numerical strength of theirs became the cause of their initial defeat. It was because, contrary to the past, they prided themselves on the number of their soldiers and ignored the military tactics. The confederates apparently hoped to attack the Muslim army while it besieged Mecca. Muhammad, however, uncovered their intentions through his own spies in the camp of the Hawazin, only four weeks had elapsed since quitting Medina. On Wednesday night, the tenth of Shawwal, the Muslim army arrived at Hunain. Malik bin ‘Awf, who had entered the valley by night, gave orders to his army to hide inside the valley and lurk for the Muslims on roads, entrances. His orders to his men were to hurl stones at Muslims whenever they caught sight of them, when Muslims started camping, arrows began showering intensely at them
14.
Wadi Hunayn
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Wadi Hunayn was a Palestinian Arab village in the Ramle Subdistrict, located 9 km west of Ramla. According to a tradition, it was named after the Yemeni home of the Qadaa tribe who settled here in the early Islamic period. In 1881, it was noted as being named Wady Hanein, meaning The valley of Hanein, the word means the cry of a she-camel to her colt. At the time of the 1922 census of Palestine, Wadi Hunayn had a population of 195 inhabitants, all Muslims, in 1945, there were 1,620 Muslims and 1,760 Jews estimated to live in Wadi Hunayn and Ness Ziona together. Its main export was citrus, grown in orchards that were irrigated by water wells dug around the village. The residents worked in the orchards and sold their yield at the cities and they grew bananas and grains as well. During the 1940s, the became a main source of basic supplies and meat for the nearby Jewish. The village was depopulated during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine, the majority of the inhabitants fled the village during January 1948, with the remaining population being transported into Jordan by the Haganah who entered the village on 19 April 1948. Only a few of the houses of the village remained, while the mosque was converted into a synagogue by the neighboring Jewish population of Ness Ziona. Welcome To Wadi Hunayn Wadi Hunayn, on Zochrot Survey of Western Palestine, Map 13, IAA, Wikimedia commons Wadi Hunayn, from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
15.
Syria (region)
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The historic region of Syria is an area located east of the Mediterranean sea. The oldest attestation of the name Syria is from the 8th century BC in an inscription in Hieroglyphic Luwian and Phoenician. In this inscription the Luwian word Sura/i was translated to Phoenician ʔšr Assyria, for Herodotus in the 5th century BC, Syria extended as far north as the Halys river and as far south as Arabia and Egypt. For Pliny the Elder and Pomponius Mela, Syria covered the entire Fertile Crescent and this late definition is equivalent to the region known in Classical Arabic by the name ash-Shām الشام /ʔaʃ-ʃaːm/, which means the north. After World War I, the name Syria was applied to the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon, the area was passed to French and British Mandates following World War I and divided into Greater Lebanon, various Syrian-mandate states, Mandatory Palestine and Transjordan. The Syrian-mandate states were unified as the State of Syria. Throughout this period, pan-Syrian nationalists advocated for the creation of a Greater Syria, the name Syria derives from the ancient Greek name for Syrians, Σύριοι Syrioi, which the Greeks applied without distinction to various Near Eastern peoples living under the rule of Assyria. Modern scholarship confirms the Greek word traces back to the cognate Ἀσσυρία, Assyria, the classical Arabic pronunciation of Syria is Sūriyya. This name was not widely used among Muslims before about 1870, according to the Syrian Orthodox Church, Syrian used to mean Christian in early Christianity. In English, Syrian historically meant a Syrian Christian, following the declaration of Syria in 1936, the term Syrian became to designate citizens of that state regardless of ethnicity. The adjective Syriac has come into use since as a demonym to avoid the ambiguity of Syrian. To some opinions, the origin of the Hellenistic term Syria is bound in the etymology of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Syria in this wider sense could correspond to Greater Assyria and include all of the Levant and Mesopotamia. Currently, the Arabic term Suriyya refers to the state of Syria. The term etymologically means land of the hand, referring to the fact that for someone in the Hejaz facing east. Sham comes from the Arabic consonantal root shin-hamza-mim ش ء م, as seen in alternative Arabic spellings such as شأم, there is no connection with the name of Shem son of Noah, as is sometimes assumed. Herodotus uses Συρία to refer to the stretch of land from the Halys river, including Cappadocia in todays Turkey to the Mount Casius, which Herodotus says is located just south of Lake Serbonis. According to Herodotus various remarks in different locations, he describes Syria to include the stretch of Phoenician coastal line as well as cities such Cadytis. In Greek usage, Syria and Assyria were used almost interchangeably, various writers used the term to describe the entire Levant region during this period, the New Testament used the name in this sense on numerous occasions
16.
Quran
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The Quran is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God. It is widely regarded as the finest work in classical Arabic literature, the Quran is divided into chapters, which are then divided into verses. The word Quran occurs some 70 times in the text of the Quran, although different names, according to the traditional narrative, several companions of Muhammad served as scribes and were responsible for writing down the revelations. Shortly after Muhammads death, the Quran was compiled by his companions who wrote down and these codices had differences that motivated the Caliph Uthman to establish a standard version now known as Uthmans codex, which is generally considered the archetype of the Quran known today. There are, however, variant readings, with minor differences in meaning. The Quran assumes familiarity with major narratives recounted in the Biblical scriptures and it summarizes some, dwells at length on others and, in some cases, presents alternative accounts and interpretations of events. The Quran describes itself as a book of guidance and it sometimes offers detailed accounts of specific historical events, and it often emphasizes the moral significance of an event over its narrative sequence. The Quran is used along with the hadith to interpret sharia law, during prayers, the Quran is recited only in Arabic. Someone who has memorized the entire Quran is called a hafiz, some Muslims read Quranic ayah with elocution, which is often called tajwid. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims typically complete the recitation of the whole Quran during tarawih prayers, in order to extrapolate the meaning of a particular Quranic verse, most Muslims rely on the tafsir. The word qurʼān appears about 70 times in the Quran itself and it is a verbal noun of the Arabic verb qaraʼa, meaning he read or he recited. The Syriac equivalent is qeryānā, which refers to reading or lesson. While some Western scholars consider the word to be derived from the Syriac, regardless, it had become an Arabic term by Muhammads lifetime. An important meaning of the word is the act of reciting, as reflected in an early Quranic passage, It is for Us to collect it, in other verses, the word refers to an individual passage recited. Its liturgical context is seen in a number of passages, for example, So when al-qurʼān is recited, listen to it, the word may also assume the meaning of a codified scripture when mentioned with other scriptures such as the Torah and Gospel. The term also has closely related synonyms that are employed throughout the Quran, each synonym possesses its own distinct meaning, but its use may converge with that of qurʼān in certain contexts. Such terms include kitāb, āyah, and sūrah, the latter two terms also denote units of revelation. In the large majority of contexts, usually with an article, the word is referred to as the revelation
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God in Islam
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In Islamic theology, God is the all-powerful and all-knowing creator, sustainer, ordainer and judge of everything in existence. Islam emphasizes that God is strictly singular, unique, inherently One, also all-merciful, the Surat 112 Al-Ikhlāş says, He is God, One. He neither begets nor is born, Nor is there to Him any equivalent, in Islam, there are 99 known names of God, each of which evoke a distinct attribute of God. All these names refer to Allah, the supreme and all-comprehensive god, among the 99 names of God, the most familiar and frequent of these names are the Compassionate and the Merciful. Creation and ordering of the universe is seen as an act of mercy for which all creatures sing Gods attributes. Allah is the Arabic word referring to God in Abrahamic religions and it is distinguished from ilāh, the Arabic word meaning deity, which could refer to any of the gods worshipped in pre-Islamic Arabia. God is described and referred to in the Quran and hadith by certain names or attributes, the Quran refers to the attributes of God as most beautiful names. According to Gerhard Böwering, They are traditionally enumerated as 99 in number to which is added as the highest Name, there are numerous conventional phrases and expressions invoking God. Islams most fundamental concept is a strict monotheism called tawhid, affirming that God is one, the basic creed of Islam, the Shahada, involves لا إله إلا الله, or, I testify there is no god other than God. Muslims reject the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and divinity of Jesus, according to Vincent J. Tawhid constitutes the foremost article of the Muslim profession. The deification or worship of anyone or anything other than God is the biggest sin in Islam, the entirety of the Islamic teaching rests on the principle of Tawhid. God is the creator of the universe and all the creatures in it, praise is to Allah, Creator of the heavens and the earth, made the angels messengers having wings, two or three or four. He increases in creation what He wills, indeed, Allah is over all things competent. And it is We Who have constructed the heavens with might and verily and we created man from an extract of clay. Then We made him as a drop in a place of settlement, so blessed be Allah, the Best of creators. Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a person and from Him He created his wife. And verily Allah is my Lord and your Lord, the most commonly used names in the primary sources are Al-Rahman, meaning Most Compassionate and Al-Rahim, meaning Most Merciful. God is said to love forgiving, with a hadith stating God would replace a sinless people with one who sinned but still asked repentance
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God
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In monotheism, God is conceived of as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith. The concept of God as described by most theologians includes the attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, divine simplicity, many theologians also describe God as being omnibenevolent and all loving. Furthermore, some religions attribute only a purely grammatical gender to God, incorporeity and corporeity of God are related to conceptions of transcendence and immanence of God, with positions of synthesis such as the immanent transcendence of Chinese theology. God has been conceived as personal or impersonal. In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe, while in deism, God is the creator, in pantheism, God is the universe itself. In atheism, God is not believed to exist, while God is deemed unknown or unknowable within the context of agnosticism, God has also been conceived as the source of all moral obligation, and the greatest conceivable existent. Many notable philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God, there are many names for God, and different names are attached to different cultural ideas about Gods identity and attributes. In the ancient Egyptian era of Atenism, possibly the earliest recorded monotheistic religion, this deity was called Aten, premised on being the one true Supreme Being and creator of the universe. In the Hebrew Bible and Judaism, He Who Is, I Am that I Am, in the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, God, consubstantial in three persons, is called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Judaism, it is common to refer to God by the titular names Elohim or Adonai, in Islam, the name Allah is used, while Muslims also have a multitude of titular names for God. In Hinduism, Brahman is often considered a concept of God. In Chinese religion, God is conceived as the progenitor of the universe, intrinsic to it, other religions have names for God, for instance, Baha in the Baháí Faith, Waheguru in Sikhism, and Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism. The earliest written form of the Germanic word God comes from the 6th-century Christian Codex Argenteus, the English word itself is derived from the Proto-Germanic * ǥuđan. The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form * ǵhu-tó-m was likely based on the root * ǵhau-, in the English language, the capitalized form of God continues to represent a distinction between monotheistic God and gods in polytheism. The same holds for Hebrew El, but in Judaism, God is also given a proper name, in many translations of the Bible, when the word LORD is in all capitals, it signifies that the word represents the tetragrammaton. Allāh is the Arabic term with no plural used by Muslims and Arabic speaking Christians and Jews meaning The God, Ahura Mazda is the name for God used in Zoroastrianism. Mazda, or rather the Avestan stem-form Mazdā-, nominative Mazdå and it is generally taken to be the proper name of the spirit, and like its Sanskrit cognate medhā, means intelligence or wisdom. Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdhā-, from Proto-Indo-European mn̩sdʰeh1, literally meaning placing ones mind, Waheguru is a term most often used in Sikhism to refer to God
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Names of God in Islam
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According to tradition there are 99 names of God in Islam, known as the ʾasmāʾu- llāhi l-ḥusnā Beautiful Names of God. Most names in these lists are divine epithets taken from the text of the Quran, the lists of names vary because there are more than 99 such epithets to choose from. Different sources give different lists of the 99 names, in the hadith, Muhammad is said to have invoked God by a number of names. According to Sahih Muslim,35,6475, Abu Hurairah reported Allahs Messenger as saying, There are ninety-nine names of Allah, verily, Allah is Odd and He loves odd numbers. And in the narration of Ibn Umar, He who enumerated them, the Quran refers to Gods most beautiful Names. Gerhard Böwering refers to Sura 17,110 as the locus classicus to which lists of 99 names used to be attached in Quranic commentary. A cluster of more than a dozen Divine epithets which are included in such lists is found in Sura 22, mystic philosopher Ibn Arabi surmised that the 99 names are outward signs of the universes inner mysteries. Most, though not all, of the traditionally listed 99 names are found somewhere in the Quran itself, the others are taken from the hadith. There is no agreement among Muslims as to what exactly counts as a name of Allah. Additionally, while some names are only in the Quran, and others are only in the hadith, different sources give different lists of the 99 names. Furthermore, in record, there are more than 1001 names given in one text, the following list is based on the one found in the Jamiʿ at-Tirmidhi. Other hadith, such as those of al-Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Majah, all attribute the original compilation of the list of names to Abu Hurairah. Various early Muslim exegetes, including Jaʿfar al-Sadiq, Sufyan ibn Uyaynah, Ibn Hazm, al-Qurtubi, ٱ = The waṣla denoting of ٱلْ is ʾal/ ʾul/ ʾil depending on the last vowel of the previous word/sentence structure, e. g. سُوْرَةُ ٱلْرَّحْمَـٰنُ Suratu ʾr-Raḥmaān. There is a tradition in tasawwuf to the effect the 99 names of God point to a mystical Greatest Name and this Greatest Name of Allah is said to be the one which if He is called by it, He will answer. According to a hadith narrated by Abdullah ibn Masud, some of the names of God have also been hidden from mankind, more than 1000 names are listed in the Jawshan Kabir invocations. A Muslim may not be any of the 99 names of God in exactly the same form. For example, nobody may be named al-Malik the King, and this is because of the belief that God is almighty, and no human being is the equivalent of God, and no human being will ever be the equivalent of God. Muslims are allowed to use the 99 names of God for themselves, however the names of God can be combined with the word ‘Abd-, which means slave and are commonly used as Arabic name among Muslims, such as Abd al-Rahman. g
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Allah
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Allah is the Arabic word for God in Abrahamic religions. In the English language, the word refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from al-ilāh, which means the god, and is related to El and Elohim, the word Allah has been used by Arabic people of different religions since pre-Islamic times. More specifically, it has used as a term for God by Muslims. It is now used by Muslims and Arab Christians to refer to God. It is also often, albeit not exclusively, used in this way by Bábists, Baháís, Indonesian and Maltese Christians, similar usage by Christians and Sikhs in West Malaysia has recently led to political and legal controversies. The etymology of the word Allāh has been discussed extensively by classical Arab philologists, grammarians of the Basra school regarded is as either formed spontaneously or as the definite form of lāh. The majority of modern scholars subscribe to the theory. Cognates of the name Allāh exist in other Semitic languages, including Hebrew, the corresponding Aramaic form is Elah, but its emphatic state is Elaha. It is written as ܐܠܗܐ in Biblical Aramaic and ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ in Syriac as used by the Assyrian Church, Biblical Hebrew mostly uses the plural form Elohim, but more rarely it also uses the singular form Eloah. Regional variants of the word Allah occur in both pagan and Christian pre-Islamic inscriptions, different theories have been proposed regarding the role of Allah in pre-Islamic polytheistic cults. Some authors have suggested that polytheistic Arabs used the name as a reference to a god or a supreme deity of their pantheon. The term may have been vague in the Meccan religion, according to one hypothesis, which goes back to Julius Wellhausen, Allah was a designation that consecrated the superiority of Hubal over the other gods. However, there is evidence that Allah and Hubal were two distinct deities. Some inscriptions seem to indicate the use of Allah as a name of a polytheist deity centuries earlier, some scholars have suggested that Allah may have represented a remote creator god who was gradually eclipsed by more particularized local deities. There is disagreement on whether Allah played a role in the Meccan religious cult. No iconic representation of Allah is known to have existed, muhammads fathers name was ʿAbd-Allāh meaning the slave of Allāh. The Aramaic word for God in the language of Assyrian Christians is ʼĔlāhā, arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews, use the word Allah to mean God
21.
Ghilman
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Ghilman were slave-soldiers and/or mercenaries in the armies of the Abbasid, Ottoman, and Persian Safavid, Afsharid and Qajar empires. Ghilman were introduced to the Abbasid Caliphate during the reign of al-Mutasim, the ghilman were slave-soldiers taken as prisoners of war from conquered regions or frontier zones, especially from among the Turkic people of Central Asia and the Caucasian peoples. They fought in bands, and demanded high pay for their services and they were opposed by the native Arab population, and riots against the ghilman in Baghdad in 836 forced Mutasim to relocate his capital to Samarra. A Ghulam was trained and educated at his masters expense and could earn his freedom through his dedicated service, ghilman were required to marry Turkic slave-women, who were chosen for them by their masters. Some ghilman seem to have lived celibate lives, the absence of family life and offspring was possibly one of the reasons why ghilman, even when attaining power, generally failed to start dynasties or proclaim their independence. The only exception to this was the Ghaznavid dynasty of Afghanistan, the Ottomans and various Iranian dynasties drew its peoples generally from the Balkans and the Caucasus. Mamluk Janissaries Ghulam Saqaliba Muslim Slave System in Medieval India, Ghilmans and Eunuchs
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Houri
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In the Quran the houris are called companions, described as being restraining in their glances, with modest gazes, wide and beautiful/lovely eyes, eyes like pearls, splendid and physically prominent. Details of the houris that have pointed out by Sunni scholars include that the houris would not urinate, defecate or menstruate. It has also said that all houris are transparent to the marrow of their bones, eternally young, hairless except the eyebrows. Islamic scholars such as Ibn Majah and Al-Suyuti have also described them as having libidinous vaginas, some also propose that the most literal translation of the noun into English would be pure companions, most beautiful of the eyes. In Hebrew the corresponding adjective חיוור hiwer has the same root h-w-r, meaning pale, the corresponding word for eye is עין Ayin. The word houri has entered several European languages with the meaning of a voluptuous, beautiful, the English word whore is thought to stem from the Proto-Indo-European verb root *keh₂- to love and is not etymologically related to the Arabic word houri. The houris are mentioned in several passages of the Quran, always in plural form, no specifics are even given, though, as to the number of houris that should be available to each believer. This in turn leads to the assumptions that houris can be male or female. Furthermore, all used in the Quran to refer to the houris can be applied to both females and males (i. e. splendid, pure, companions, modest, wide-eyed. Alternatively translated as, And there will go round boy-servants of theirs, to serve them, Quran 56,17, They will be served by immortal eternal young boys. As fair as virgin pearls alternatively translated as, Round about them will boys of perpetual freshness. Or And round about them will boys of perpetual freshness, if thou seest them, thou wouldst think them scattered pearls. or yet. Will not urinate, relieve nature, spit, or have any nasal secretions and their combs will be of gold, and their sweat will smell like musk. The aloes-wood will be used in their censers, all of them will look alike and will resemble their father Adam, sixty cubits tall. Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj Nishapuri, Muhammad reported that some stated with a sense of pride, abdullah reported, I was shown Paradise and I saw the wife of Abu Talha and I heard the noise of steps before me and, lo, it was that of Bilal. The messenger of Allah replied, O’ Mother, an old woman cannot enter Jannah and that woman started crying and began to leave. The messenger of Allah said, Say to the woman that one will not enter in a state of old age and we have created them a creation and made them virgins, lovers, equal in age. A houri is a most beautiful woman with a transparent body
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Animal
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Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia. The animal kingdom emerged as a clade within Apoikozoa as the group to the choanoflagellates. Animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and independently at some point in their lives and their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later in their lives. All animals are heterotrophs, they must ingest other organisms or their products for sustenance, most known animal phyla appeared in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, about 542 million years ago. Animals can be divided broadly into vertebrates and invertebrates, vertebrates have a backbone or spine, and amount to less than five percent of all described animal species. They include fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, the remaining animals are the invertebrates, which lack a backbone. These include molluscs, arthropods, annelids, nematodes, flatworms, cnidarians, ctenophores, the study of animals is called zoology. The word animal comes from the Latin animalis, meaning having breath, the biological definition of the word refers to all members of the kingdom Animalia, encompassing creatures as diverse as sponges, jellyfish, insects, and humans. Aristotle divided the world between animals and plants, and this was followed by Carl Linnaeus, in the first hierarchical classification. In Linnaeuss original scheme, the animals were one of three kingdoms, divided into the classes of Vermes, Insecta, Pisces, Amphibia, Aves, and Mammalia. Since then the last four have all been subsumed into a single phylum, in 1874, Ernst Haeckel divided the animal kingdom into two subkingdoms, Metazoa and Protozoa. The protozoa were later moved to the kingdom Protista, leaving only the metazoa, thus Metazoa is now considered a synonym of Animalia. Animals have several characteristics that set apart from other living things. Animals are eukaryotic and multicellular, which separates them from bacteria and they are heterotrophic, generally digesting food in an internal chamber, which separates them from plants and algae. They are also distinguished from plants, algae, and fungi by lacking cell walls. All animals are motile, if only at life stages. In most animals, embryos pass through a stage, which is a characteristic exclusive to animals. With a few exceptions, most notably the sponges and Placozoa and these include muscles, which are able to contract and control locomotion, and nerve tissues, which send and process signals
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Al-Baqara
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The Cow or Sūrat al-Baqarah is the second and longest chapter of the Quran. It is a Medinan sura, with the exception of verse 281 which Muslims believe was revealed during The Farewell Pilgrimage and it is also considered to be one of the first chapters revealed after the Hijra from Mecca to Medina. The chapter comprises 286 verses according to the division of Ali, the most widely accepted count among all Muslim denominations, the surahs name references verses 66–72 which recall the story of a heifer sacrificed by the Israelites. Surah al-Baqarah enjoins fasting on the believer during the month of Ramadan, al-Baqarah is the longest surah of the Quran, having 286 verses. According to Muslim belief, this Medinan Surah was not revealed at once to Muhammad, Verse 281 is believed by Muslims to have been revealed during The Farewell Pilgrimage in Mecca. It is also considered to be one of the first chapters revealed after the Hijra from Mecca to Medina, the surah addresses a wide variety of topics, including substantial amounts of law, and retells stories of Adam, Abraham and Moses. A major theme is guidance, urging the pagans and the Jews of Medina to embrace Islam, and warning them, the stories in this chapter are told to help the reader understand the theological conception of truth in Islam. Al-Baqarah contains several verses dealing with the subject of warfare, Verses 2, 190-194 are quoted on the nature of battle in Islam. The chapter also consists of five stories regarding God giving life to the dead, one story of God giving life to a dead animal, Verse 255 is The Throne Verse. It is the most famous verse of the Quran and is widely memorized and displayed in the Islamic world due to its description of Gods omnipotence in Islam. Verse 256 is one of the most quoted verses in the Quran and it famously notes that there is no compulsion in religion. Two other verses,285 and 286, are considered part of The Throne Verse. Verse 216 is noted for ordaining Jihad, ayatul Kursi The Cow, a manuscript, dating from the 13th-century, of the al-Baqarah via the World Digital Library Quranic Verses, a manuscript for al-Baqarah from the 13th-century
25.
Cattle
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Cattle—colloquially cows—are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, cattle are raised as livestock for meat, as dairy animals for milk and other dairy products, and as draft animals. Other products include leather and dung for manure or fuel, in some regions, such as parts of India, cattle have significant religious meaning. From as few as 80 progenitors domesticated in southeast Turkey about 10,500 years ago, according to an estimate from 2011, in 2009, cattle became one of the first livestock animals to have a fully mapped genome. Some consider cattle the oldest form of wealth, and cattle raiding consequently one of the earliest forms of theft. Cattle were originally identified as three species, Bos taurus, the European or taurine cattle, Bos indicus, the zebu, and the extinct Bos primigenius. The aurochs is ancestral to both zebu and taurine cattle and these have been reclassified as one species, Bos taurus, with three subspecies, Bos taurus primigenius, Bos taurus indicus, and Bos taurus taurus. Complicating the matter is the ability of cattle to interbreed with other related species. Hybrid individuals and even breeds exist, not only between taurine cattle and zebu, but also one or both of these and some other members of the genus Bos – yaks, banteng. Hybrids such as the breed can even occur between taurine cattle and either species of bison, leading some authors to consider them part of the genus Bos. However, cattle cannot successfully be hybridized with more distantly related bovines such as water buffalo or African buffalo, the aurochs originally ranged throughout Europe, North Africa, and much of Asia. In historical times, its range became restricted to Europe, breeders have attempted to recreate cattle of similar appearance to aurochs by crossing traditional types of domesticated cattle, creating the Heck cattle breed. Cattle did not originate as the term for bovine animals and it was borrowed from Anglo-Norman catel, itself from medieval Latin capitale principal sum of money, capital, itself derived in turn from Latin caput head. Cattle originally meant movable personal property, especially livestock of any kind, the word is a variant of chattel and closely related to capital in the economic sense. The term replaced earlier Old English feoh cattle, property, which today as fee. The word cow came via Anglo-Saxon cū, from Common Indo-European gʷōus = a bovine animal, compare Persian gâv, Sanskrit go-, Welsh buwch. The plural cȳ became ki or kie in Middle English, and a plural ending was often added, giving kine, kien. This is the origin of the now archaic English plural, kine, the Scots language singular is coo or cou, and the plural is kye
26.
Joseph in Islam
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It is one of the common names in the Middle East and among Muslim nations. Of all of Jacobs children, Joseph was the one given the gift of prophecy, although the narratives of other prophets are mentioned in various Surahs, the complete narrative of Joseph is given only in one Surah, Yusuf, making it unique. It is said to be the most detailed narrative in the Qur’an, Yusuf is believed to have been the eleventh son of Yaʿqūb, and, according to many scholars, his favorite. According to Ibn Kathir, Jacob had twelve sons who were the ancestors of the tribes of the Israelites. The noblest, the most exalted, the greatest of them was Joseph, the story begins with Joseph revealing a ru’ya to his father, which Jacob recognizes. In addition to the role of God in his life, the story of Yusuf and Zulaikha became a subject in Persian literature. The story of Joseph in the Qurʾān, a narrative, is considered one of the most beautifully written suras. The Qurʾān itself relates to the importance in the third verse. Most scholars believe this is referring to Josephs story, while others, including Ṭabari and it documents the execution of Gods rulings despite the challenge of human intervention. This is what the story of Yūsuf confirms categorically, for it ends with comfort and marvels, along with the story there is also some commentary from some leading scholars of Islam. Muhammad at-Ṭabari provides exquisite detail and commentary of this narrative in his chapter on Joseph relaying the opinions of well-known scholars. In Ṭabaris chapter, the beauty of Joseph and his mother Rachel is introduced. His father, Jacob, had him to his oldest sister to be raised. Ṭabari comments that there was no greater love than what Joseph’s aunt felt for him as she had raised him as her own, and she was very reluctant to give him back to Jacob and kept him until her death. The reason, according to Ṭabari, that she was able to do this was because of a belt that had passed to her from her father. Ṭabari notes if someone else acquired it by guile from the person who was supposed to have it and this is important because Josephs aunt puts the belt on Joseph when Jacob is absent and then accuses Joseph of stealing it and he thus stays with her until her death. Jacob was very reluctant to give up Joseph and thus favors him when they are together, the story begins with a dream and ends with its interpretation. As the sun appeared over the horizon, bathing the earth in its glory, Joseph, son of Jacob awoke from his sleep
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Gray wolf
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The gray wolf or grey wolf, also known as the timber wolf or western wolf, is a canine native to the wilderness and remote areas of Eurasia and North America. It is the largest extant member of its family, with males averaging 43–45 kg, like the red wolf, it is distinguished from other Canis species by its larger size and less pointed features, particularly on the ears and muzzle. Its winter fur is long and bushy, and predominantly a mottled gray in color, although pure white, red. As of 2005,37 subspecies of C. lupus are recognised by MSW3 and it is nonetheless closely related enough to smaller Canis species, such as the eastern wolf, coyote, and golden jackal to produce fertile hybrids. It is an animal, travelling in nuclear families consisting of a mated pair. The gray wolf is typically an apex predator throughout its range, with only humans and it feeds primarily on large ungulates, though it also eats smaller animals, livestock, carrion, and garbage. The gray wolf is one of the worlds best known and well researched animals, although the fear of wolves is pervasive in many human societies, the majority of recorded attacks on people have been attributed to animals suffering from rabies. The English wolf stems from the Old English wulf, which is thought to be derived from the Proto-Germanic *wulfaz. The Latin lupus is a Sabine loanword, both derive from the Proto-Indo-European root *wlqwos/*lukwos. The species Canis lupus was first recorded by Carl Linnaeus in his publication Systema Naturae in 1758, the thirty-seven subspecies of Canis lupus are listed under the designated common name of wolf in Mammal Species of the World third edition that was published in 2005. The nominate subspecies is the Eurasian wolf, also known as the common wolf, the subspecies includes the domestic dog, dingo, eastern wolf and red wolf, but lists C. l. italicus and C. l. communis as synonyms of C. l. lupus. However, the classification of several as either species or subspecies has recently been challenged, ecological factors including habitat type, climate, prey specialization and predatory competition will greatly influence the wolfs genetic population structure and cranio-dental plasticity. The domestic dog is the most widely abundant large carnivore and a descendant from one of those now-extinct wolf populations, in 2013, a genetic study found that the wolf population in Europe was divided along a north-south axis and formed five major clusters. Three clusters were identified occupying southern and central Europe in Italy, the Carpathians, another two clusters were identified occupying north-central Europe and the Ukrainian steppe. The Italian wolf consisted of a population with low genetic diversity. Wolves from Croatia, Bulgaria, and Greece formed the Dinaric-Balkans cluster, the wolves from the Carpathians were more similar to the wolves from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe than they were to wolves from north-central Europe. These clusters may have been the result of expansion from glacial refugia, an adaptation to environments, and landscape fragmentation. These six wolf ecotypes were named West Forest, Boreal Forest, Arctic, High Arctic, Baffin, the studies found that precipitation and mean diurnal temperature range were the most influential variables
28.
Solomon in Islam
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Sulaiman ibn Dawud was, according to the Quran, a Malik and Nabi of ancient Israel. Islamic tradition generally holds that he was the third King of Israel, Islam views Solomon as one of the elect of Allah, who was bestowed upon with many God-given gifts, including the ability to speak to animals and control jinn. Solomon remains one of the most commemorated and popular figures in Islam. Islamic tradition further maintains that, along with Dāwūd and Dhul-Qarnayn, in the earliest narrative involving Solomon, the Qur’an says that Solomon was in the company of his father, when two men came to ask David to judge between them regarding a harth. The first of the two men said that he owned a vineyard of which he took care the whole year through. But one day, when he was absent, the other mans sheep had strayed into the vineyard and he asked to be compensated for this damage. At the same time, the owner of the vineyard would care for the sheep and benefit from their wool and milk until his land was returned to him, at which point he would return the sheep to their owner. Solomons level of judgment, which the Qur’an says in this particular incident surpassed that of David, hikmah, according to Muslim tradition, would always be associated with Solomon, who would later even be referred to as Sulaiman al-Hakim. When David died, Solomon inherited his position as the Prophetic King of the Israelites and he prayed to God to grant him a Kingdom which would be greater than that of any after him and before him. God accepted Solomons prayer and gave him what he pleased and it was at this stage that Solomon began to acquire the many gifts that God would bestow upon him throughout his life. The Qur’an narrates that the wind was made subservient to Solomon, and he could control it of his own will, and that the jinn also came under Solomons control. The jinn helped strengthen Solomons reign, and the unbelievers among them were forced building for him monuments, houses of worship, artwork, reservoirs, God also caused a miraculous ‘ayn of molten qitr to flow for Solomon, to be used by the jinn in their construction. Solomon was even taught the languages of animals, such as ants. The Qur’an recounts that, one day, Solomon and his army entered a wadin-naml, on seeing Solomon and his army, a namlah warned all the others to. Get into your habitations, lest Solomon and his hosts crush you without knowing it, immediately understanding what the ant said, Solomon, as always, prayed to God, thanking Him for bestowing upon him such gifts and further avoided trampling over the ant colonies. Solomons wisdom, however, was yet another of the gifts he received from God, and Muslims maintain that Solomon never forgot his daily prayer, another important aspect of Solomons kingship was the size of his army, which consisted of both men and jinn. Solomon would frequently assess his troops and warriors as well as the jinn, one day, when inspecting his troops, Solomon found the Hud-hud missing from the assembly. Shortly later, however, the Hud-hud arrived to Solomons court, saying I have compassed which thou hast not compassed, the Hud-hud further told Solomon that the people of Sheba’ worshiped the Sun, but that the woman who ruled the Kingdom was highly intelligent and powerful
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Hoopoe
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The hoopoe /ˈhuːpuː/ is a colourful bird found across Afro-Eurasia, notable for its distinctive crown of feathers. It is the extant species in the family Upupidae. One insular species, the Saint Helena hoopoe, is extinct, Upupa and epops are respectively the Latin and Ancient Greek names for the hoopoe, both, like the English name, are onomatopoeic forms which imitate the cry of the bird. In Ancient Egypt the species was known under two names, the earliest most probably having been *db3. w and/or *db3. t) the one who blocks up <its nesthole>. Therefore also the early Eg. word db<3>. t meaning sundried brick was often written with the hoopoe-hieroglyph, here used as a phonogram. The youngest name -dating from New Kingdom to late demotic texts- was kkp. t, this name akin to Biblical Hebrew douchiphat, the hoopoe was classified in the clade Coraciiformes, which also includes kingfishers, bee-eaters, and rollers. A close relationship between the hoopoe and the woodhoopoes is also supported by the shared and unique nature of their stapes, in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, the hoopoe is separated from the Coraciiformes as a separate order, the Upupiformes. Some authorities place the woodhoopoes in the Upupiformes as well, now the consensus is that both hoopoe and the wood hoopoes belowng with the hornbills in the Bucerotiformes. The fossil record of the hoopoes is very incomplete, with the earliest fossil coming from the Quaternary, the fossil record of their relatives is older, with fossil woodhoopoes dating back to the Miocene and those of an extinct related family, the Messelirrisoridae, dating from the Eocene. It is the only extant member of its family, although some consider some of the subspecies as separate species. Several authors have separated the Madagascan subspecies as a separate species, the morphological differences between the most commonly split subspecies, U. e. marginata, and the other subspecies are minor, and only U. e. marginata has distinctly different vocalisations. One accepted separate species, the Saint Helena hoopoe, U. antaios, lived on the island of St Helena but became extinct in the 16th century, the genus Upupa was created by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758. Nine subspecies of hoopoe are recognised by Kristin and they vary mostly in size and the depth of colour in the plumage. Two further subspecies have been proposed, U. e. minor in South Africa, the hoopoe is a medium-sized bird, 25–32 cm long, with a 44–48 cm wingspan. The species is distinctive, with a long, thin tapering bill that is black with a fawn base. The strengthened musculature of the head allows the bill to be opened when probing inside the soil, the hoopoe has broad and rounded wings capable of strong flight, these are larger in the northern migratory subspecies. The hoopoe has an undulating flight, which is like that of a giant butterfly. Adults may begin their moult after the season and continue after they have migrated for the winter
30.
Dog
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The domestic dog is a member of genus Canis that forms part of the wolf-like canids, and is the most widely abundant carnivore. The dog and the extant gray wolf are sister taxa, with modern wolves not closely related to the wolves that were first domesticated, the dog was the first domesticated species and has been selectively bred over millennia for various behaviors, sensory capabilities, and physical attributes. Their long association with humans has led dogs to be attuned to human behavior. Dogs vary widely in shape, size and colours, dogs perform many roles for people, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting police and military, companionship and, more recently, aiding handicapped individuals. This influence on society has given them the sobriquet mans best friend. The term domestic dog is used for both domesticated and feral varieties. The English word dog comes from Middle English dogge, from Old English docga, the term may possibly derive from Proto-Germanic *dukkōn, represented in Old English finger-docce. The word also shows the familiar petname diminutive -ga also seen in frogga frog, picga pig, stagga stag, wicga beetle, worm, the term dog may ultimately derive from the earliest layer of Proto-Indo-European vocabulary. In 14th-century England, hound was the word for all domestic canines, and dog referred to a subtype of hound. It is believed this dog type was so common, it became the prototype of the category hound. By the 16th century, dog had become the general word, the word hound is ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *kwon-, dog. This semantic shift may be compared with in German, where the corresponding words Dogge, a male canine is referred to as a dog, while a female is called a bitch. The father of a litter is called the sire, and the mother is called the dam, the process of birth is whelping, from the Old English word hwelp, the modern English word whelp is an alternate term for puppy. A litter refers to the offspring at one birth which are called puppies or pups from the French poupée, doll. The term dog typically is applied both to the species as a whole, and any male member of the same. An adult female is a bitch, in some countries, especially in North America, dog is used instead due to the vulgar connotation of bitch. An adult male capable of reproduction is a stud, an adult female capable of reproduction is a brood bitch, or brood mother. Immature males or females are pups or puppies, a group of pups from the same gestation period is a litter
31.
Seven Sleepers
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The earliest version of this story comes from the Syrian bishop Jacob of Sarug, which is itself derived from an earlier Greek source, now lost. An outline of this appears in Gregory of Tours. The best-known Western version of the story appears in Jacobus de Voragines Golden Legend, the Roman Martyrology mentions the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus under the date of 27 July. The Byzantine Calendar commemorates them with feasts on 4 August and 22 October, the story appears in the Quran as thus is important to Islam. The Quranic story does not state the number of sleepers Surah 18 and it also gives the number of years that they slept as 300 solar years. The Islamic version includes mention of a dog who accompanied the youths into the cave, in Islam, these youths are referred to as The People of the Cave. The story says that during the persecutions by the Roman emperor Decius, around 250 AD and they were given some time to recant their faith, but chose instead to give their worldly goods to the poor and retire to a mountain cave to pray, where they fell asleep. The emperor, seeing that their attitude towards paganism had not improved, ordered the mouth of the cave to be sealed, Decius died in 251, and many years passed during which Christianity went from being persecuted to being the state religion of the Roman Empire. At some later time—usually given as during the reign of Theodosius II —the landowner decided to open up the mouth of the cave. He opened it and found the sleepers inside and they awoke, imagining that they had slept but one day, and sent one of their number to Ephesus to buy food, with instructions to be careful lest the pagans recognize and seize him. The bishop was summoned to interview the sleepers, they told him their miracle story, the various lives of the Seven Sleepers in Greek are listed at BHG 1593-1599, and in other non-Latin languages at BHO 1013-1022. As the earliest versions of the spread from Ephesus, an early Christian catacomb came to be associated with it. On the slopes of Mount Pion near Ephesus, the grotto of the Seven Sleepers with ruins of the church built over it was excavated in 1927–28, the excavation brought to light several hundred graves dated to the 5th and 6th centuries. Inscriptions dedicated to the Seven Sleepers were found on the walls of the church and this grotto is still shown to tourists. The story appeared in several Syriac sources before Gregorys lifetime and it was retold by Symeon Metaphrastes. The Seven Sleepers form the subject of a homily in verse by the Edessan poet Jacob of Saruq, another 6th-century version, in a Syrian manuscript in the British Museum, gives eight sleepers. There are considerable variations as to their names, the story rapidly attained a wide diffusion throughout Christendom, popularized in the West by Gregory of Tours, in his late 6th-century collection of miracles, De gloria martyrum. Gregory says that he had the legend from a certain Syrian and their dress identified them as Romans, according to Paul, and none of the local barbarians dared to touch them
32.
Jonah
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Jonah or Jonas is the name given in the Hebrew Bible to a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century BCE. He is the central figure in the Book of Jonah. The biblical narrative of Jonah is repeated, with a few notable differences, Jonah is the son of Amittai, and he appears in 2 Kings as a prophet from Gath-Hepher, a few miles north of Nazareth. He is therein described as being active during the reign of the second King Jeroboam, Jonah is the central character in the Book of Jonah. A huge storm arises and the sailors, realizing that it is no storm, cast lots. Jonah admits this and states if he is thrown overboard. The sailors try to dump as much cargo as possible before giving up, the sailors then offer sacrifices to God. Jonah is miraculously saved by being swallowed by a fish in whose belly he spends three days and three nights. While in the fish, Jonah prays to God in his affliction and commits to thanksgiving. God commands the fish to spew Jonah out, God again commands Jonah to visit Nineveh and prophesy to its inhabitants. This time he goes and enters the city, crying, In forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown, after Jonah has walked across Nineveh, the people of Nineveh begin to believe his word and proclaim a fast. The king of Nineveh puts on sackcloth and sits in ashes, making a proclamation which decrees fasting, sackcloth, prayer, God sees their repentant hearts and spares the city at that time. The entire city is humbled and broken with the people in sackcloth, even the king comes off his throne to repent. Displeased by this, Jonah refers to his flight to Tarshish while asserting that, since God is merciful. He then leaves the city and makes himself a shelter, waiting to see whether or not the city will be destroyed, God causes a plant to grow over Jonahs shelter to give him some shade from the sun. Later, God causes a worm to bite the plants root, Jonah, now being exposed to the full force of the sun, becomes faint and desires that God take him out of the world. And God said to Jonah, Art thou greatly angry for the Kikayon, and he said, I am greatly angry, even unto death. In the New Testament, Jonah is mentioned in Matthew 12, 38–41 and 16,4 and in Luke 11, in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus makes a reference to Jonah when he is asked for a sign by some of the scribes and the Pharisees
33.
Fish
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A fish is any member of a group of animals that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic craniate animals that lack limbs with digits. They form a group to the tunicates, together forming the olfactores. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous, tetrapods emerged within lobe-finned fishes, so cladistically they are fish as well. However, traditionally fish are rendered obsolete or paraphyletic by excluding the tetrapods, because in this manner the term fish is defined negatively as a paraphyletic group, it is not considered a formal taxonomic grouping in systematic biology. The traditional term pisces is considered a typological, but not a phylogenetic classification, the earliest organisms that can be classified as fish were soft-bodied chordates that first appeared during the Cambrian period. Although they lacked a true spine, they possessed notochords which allowed them to be more agile than their invertebrate counterparts, fish would continue to evolve through the Paleozoic era, diversifying into a wide variety of forms. Many fish of the Paleozoic developed external armor that protected them from predators, the first fish with jaws appeared in the Silurian period, after which many became formidable marine predators rather than just the prey of arthropods. Fish are abundant in most bodies of water and they can be found in nearly all aquatic environments, from high mountain streams to the abyssal and even hadal depths of the deepest oceans. With 33,100 described species, fish exhibit greater species diversity than any group of vertebrates. Fish are an important resource for humans worldwide, especially as food, commercial and subsistence fishers hunt fish in wild fisheries or farm them in ponds or in cages in the ocean. They are also caught by fishers, kept as pets, raised by fishkeepers. Fish have had a role in culture through the ages, serving as deities, religious symbols, fish do not represent a monophyletic group, and therefore the evolution of fish is not studied as a single event. Early fish from the record are represented by a group of small, jawless. Jawless fish lineages are mostly extinct, an extant clade, the lampreys may approximate ancient pre-jawed fish. The first jaws are found in Placodermi fossils, the diversity of jawed vertebrates may indicate the evolutionary advantage of a jawed mouth. It is unclear if the advantage of a hinged jaw is greater biting force, improved respiration, fish may have evolved from a creature similar to a coral-like sea squirt, whose larvae resemble primitive fish in important ways. The first ancestors of fish may have kept the form into adulthood. Fish are a group, that is, any clade containing all fish also contains the tetrapods
34.
Whale
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Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. They are a grouping within the infraorder Cetacea, usually excluding dolphins. Whales, dolphins and porpoises belong to the order Cetartiodactyla with even-toed ungulates and their closest living relatives are the hippopotamuses, the two parvorders of whales, baleen whales and toothed whales, are thought to have split apart around 34 million years ago. The whales comprise eight extant families, Balaenopteridae, Balaenidae, Cetotheriidae, Eschrichtiidae, Monodontidae, Physeteridae, Kogiidae, Whales are creatures of the open ocean, they feed, mate, give birth, suckle and raise their young at sea. So extreme is their adaptation to life underwater that they are unable to survive on land. Whales range in size from the 2.6 metres and 135 kilograms dwarf sperm whale to the 29.9 metres and 190 metric tons blue whale, the sperm whale is the largest toothed predator on earth. Several species exhibit sexual dimorphism, in that the females are larger than males, baleen whales have no teeth, instead they have plates of baleen, a fringe-like structure used to expel water while retaining the krill and plankton which they feed on. They use their throat pleats to expand the mouth to take in huge gulps of water, balaenids have heads that can make up 40% of their body mass to take in water. Toothed whales, on the hand, have conical teeth designed for catching fish or squid. Some species, such as whales, are well adapted for diving to great depths to catch squid. Whales have evolved from land-living mammals, as such they must breathe air regularly, though they can remain submerged for long periods. They have blowholes located on top of their heads, through air is taken in. They are warm-blooded, and have a layer of fat, or blubber, under the skin, with streamlined fusiform bodies and two limbs that are modified into flippers, whales can travel at up to 20 knots, though they are not as flexible or agile as seals. Whales produce a variety of vocalizations, notably the extended songs of the humpback whale. Although whales are widespread, most species prefer the waters of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Species such as humpbacks and blue whales are capable of travelling thousands of miles without feeding, males typically mate with multiple females every year, but females only mate every two to three years. Calves are typically born in the spring and summer months and females bear all the responsibility for raising them, mothers of some species fast and nurse their young for one to two years. Once relentlessly hunted for their products, whales are now protected by international law, the North Atlantic right whales nearly became extinct in the twentieth century, with a population low of 450, and the North Pacific gray whale population is ranked Critically Endangered by the IUCN
35.
Camel
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A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. Bactrian camels take their name from the historical Bactria region of Central Asia, the term camel is derived via Latin and Greek from Hebrew or Phoenician gāmāl. Most of the camels are dromedaries while Bactrian camels and wild Bactrian camels make up only 6% of the total camel population. Camel may also be used broadly to describe any of the seven camel-like mammals in the family Camelidae. The average life expectancy of a camel is 40 to 50 years, a full-grown adult camel stands 1.85 m at the shoulder and 2.15 m at the hump. Camels can run at up to 65 km/h in short bursts, Bactrian camels weigh 300 to 1,000 kg and dromedaries 300 to 600 kg. For instance, the speed for the one humped camel is about 40 km/hour while the two humped camel has around 27.2 km/hour. The male dromedary camel has in its throat an organ called a dulla and it resembles a long, swollen, pink tongue hanging out of the side of its mouth. Camels mate by having both male and female sitting on the ground, with the male mounting from behind, the male usually ejaculates three or four times within a single mating session. Camelids are the ungulates to mate in a sitting position. Camels do not directly store water in their humps as was commonly believed. In hot and dry environments, within 8 to 10 days only the dromedary camels might consume water which during this period the third of their bodys weight may be reduced due to the dehydration. When this tissue is metabolized, it more than one gram of water for every gram of fat processed. This fat metabolization, while releasing energy, causes water to evaporate from the lungs during respiration, overall, Camels have a series of physiological adaptations that allow them to withstand long periods of time without any external source of water. Unlike other mammals, their red cells are oval rather than circular in shape. Camels are able to withstand changes in temperature and water consumption that would kill most other animals. Their temperature ranges from 34 °C at dawn and steadily increases to 40 °C by sunset, in general, to compare between camels and the other livestock, camels lose only 1. Camels rarely sweat, even when ambient temperatures reach 49 °C, any sweat that does occur evaporates at the skin level rather than at the surface of their coat, the heat of vaporization therefore comes from body heat rather than ambient heat
36.
Al-Fil
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Sūrat al-Fīl is the 105th chapter of the Quran. It is a Meccan sura consisting of 5 verses, the surah is written in the interrogative form. Asbab al-nuzul is a genre of Quranic exegesis directed at establishing the context in which specific verses of the Quran were revealed. Taking its name from the mention of the Army of the Elephant in the first verse, this surah alludes to the Abyssinian campaign against Mecca in the year 570 of the Christian era. Abrahah, the Christian viceroy of the Yemen, erected a cathedral at Sanaa, hoping thus to divert the annual Arabian pilgrimage from the Meccan sanctuary. The Arabs describe the year in which this event took place as the Year of the Elephant, the traditionists and historians almost unanimously state that the event of the people of the elephant had occurred in Muharram and Muhammad was born in Rabi al-awwal. A majority of states that he took birth 50 days after the event of the elephant. Surahs in the Quran are not arranged in the order of revelation because order of wahy or chronological order of revelation is not a part of Quran. Prophet Muhammad told his followers sahaba the placement in Quranic order of every Wahy revealed along with the text of Quran. For this reason, no attempt, apparently, was made to edit the numerous revelations, organize them into thematic units. Surat Al-Qalam is a Meccan sura and meccan suras are chronologically earlier suras that were revealed to Muhammad at Mecca before the hijrah to Medina in 622 CE and they are typically shorter, with relatively short ayat, and mostly come near the end of the Qurans 114 surahs. Most of the surahs containing muqattaat are Meccan, henceforth apart from traditions, this surah qualifies to be Meccan typically. The principal subject of the surah is a historic event. The year of Muhammads birth is identified as the Year of the Elephant, Quranic exegetes interpreted that God saved the Meccans from this force by sending a swarm of birds that pelted the invaders with clay stones and destroyed them. The army of Abraha destroyed for attacking the Kaabah is a reminder, the origin of the word sijjīl in verse 4 has the etymology proposed as Persian sang and gil, or Aramaic sgyl. In the Quran sijjīl occurs in two verses,11,82 and 15,74. There are almost 7 divisions in the entire Quran according to Themes, the final of these 7 sections starts from surah Al-Mulk to surah Al-Nas. Thats why the Arabs believed that the Kabah was protected in this invasion, not by any god or goddess, but by Allah Almighty Himself
37.
War elephant
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A war elephant is an elephant that is trained and guided by humans for combat. The war elephants main use was to charge the enemy, breaking their ranks, elephantry are military units with elephant-mounted troops. They were first employed in India, the spreading out across south-east Asia. Their most famous use in the West was by the Greek King Pyrrhus of Epirus and in significant numbers by the armies of Carthage, in the Mediterranean, improved tactics reduced the value of the elephant in battle, while their availability in the wild also decreased. The first elephant species to be tamed was the Asian elephant, Elephant taming - not full domestication, as they are still captured in the wild, rather than being bred in captivity - may have begun in any of three different places. The oldest evidence comes from the Indus Valley Civilization, around roughly 4500 BC, archaeological evidence for the presence of wild elephants in the Yellow River valley during the Shang Dynasty of China may suggest that they also used elephants in warfare. There is uncertainty as to when elephant warfare first began, the later stories of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, dating from around the 4th century BC, do however mention elephant warfare, suggesting its introduction during the intervening period. The first confrontation between Europeans and the Persian war elephants occurred at Alexanders Battle of Gaugamela, where the Persians deployed fifteen elephants, by the time Alexander reached the borders of India five years later, he had a substantial number of elephants under his own command. The elephants caused many losses with their tusks fitted with spikes or by lifting the enemies with their trunks. Arrian described the subsequent fight. whenever the beasts could wheel around, they rushed forth against the ranks of infantry and demolished the phalanx of the Macedonians, dense as it was. The panicked and wounded elephants turned on the Indians themselves, the mahouts were armed with poisoned rods to kill the beasts but were slain by javelins and archers. Looking further east again, however, Alexander could see that the kings of the Nanda Empire, such a force was many times larger than the number of elephants employed by the Persians and Greeks, which probably discouraged Alexanders army and effectively halted their advance into India. On his return, Alexander established a force of elephants to guard his palace at Babylon, the successful military use of elephants spread further. Later in its history, the Seleucid Empire used elephants in its efforts to crush the Maccabean Revolt in Judea. The first use of war elephants in Europe was made in 318 BC by Polyperchon, one of Alexanders generals and he used 60 elephants brought from Asia with their mahouts. A veteran of Alexanders army, named Damis, helped the besieged Megalopolitians to defend themselves against the elephants and those elephants were subsequently taken by Cassander and transported, partly by sea, to other battle-fields in Greece. It is assumed that Cassander constructed the first elephant-transport sea-vessels, some of the elephants died of starvation in 316 BC in the besieged city of Pydna. Others of Polyperchons elephants were used in parts of Greece by Cassander
38.
Donkey
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The donkey or ass is a domesticated member of the horse family, Equidae. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African wild ass, the donkey has been used as a working animal for at least 5000 years. There are more than 40 million donkeys in the world, mostly in underdeveloped countries, working donkeys are often associated with those living at or below subsistence levels. Small numbers of donkeys are kept for breeding or as pets in developed countries, a male donkey or ass is called a jack, a female a jenny or jennet, a young donkey is a foal. Jack donkeys are used to mate with female horses to produce mules. Asses were first domesticated around 3000 BC, probably in Egypt or Mesopotamia and they continue to fill important roles in many places today. While domesticated species are increasing in numbers, the African wild ass is an endangered species, as beasts of burden and companions, asses and donkeys have worked together with humans for millennia. Traditionally, the name for the donkey is Equus asinus asinus based on the principle of priority used for scientific names of animals. This means that the scientific name for the donkey is Equus africanus asinus when it is considered a subspecies. At one time, the ass was the more common term for the donkey. The first recorded use of donkey was in either 1784 or 1785, while the word ass has cognates in most other Indo-European languages, donkey is an etymologically obscure word for which no credible cognate has been identified. From the 18th century, donkey gradually replaced ass, and jenny replaced she-ass, by the end of the 17th century, changes in pronunciation of both ass and arse had caused them to become homophones. Donkeys vary considerably in size, depending on breed and management, the height at the withers ranges from 7.3 to 15.3 hands, and the weight from 80 to 480 kg. Working donkeys in the poorest countries have an expectancy of 12 to 15 years, in more prosperous countries. Donkeys are adapted to desert lands. Unlike wild and feral horses, wild donkeys in dry areas are solitary, each adult donkey establishes a home range, breeding over a large area may be dominated by one jack. Donkeys have large ears, which may pick up more distant sounds, donkeys can defend themselves by biting, striking with the front hooves or kicking with the hind legs. A jenny is normally pregnant for about 12 months, though the period varies from 11 to 14 months
39.
Onager
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The onager, also known as hemione or Asiatic wild ass, is a species of the family Equidae native to Asia. A member of the subgenus Asinus, the onager was described, five subspecies have been recognized, one of which is extinct. The Asiatic wild ass is larger than African wild ass at about 290 kg and 2.1 m and they are reddish-brown or yellowish-brown in color and have broad dorsal stripe on the middle of the back. Unlike most horses and donkeys, onagers have never been domesticated and they are among the fastest mammals, as they can run as fast as 64 km/h to 70 km/h. The onager is closely related to the African wild ass, as both shared the same ancestor. The kiang, formerly considered a subspecies of Equus hemionus, diverged from the Asiatic wild ass and has acknowledged as a distinct species. The onager formerly had a range from southwest and central to northern Asian countries, such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Russia. During early 20th century, the species lost most of its ranges in the Middle East and Eastern Asia. Today, onagers live in deserts and other regions of Iran, Pakistan, India, and Mongolia, including in Central Asian hot and cold deserts of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan. Other than deserts, it lives in grasslands, plains, steppes, like many other large grazing animals, the onagers range has contracted greatly under the pressures of poaching and habitat loss. Previously listed as Endangered, onagers have been classified as Near Threatened by IUCN in 2015, of the five subspecies, one is extinct, two are endangered, and two are near threatened. Persian onagers are currently being reintroduced in the Middle East as replacement for the extinct Syrian wild ass in the Arabian Peninsula, Israel, the specific name is Ancient Greek ἡμίονος, from ἡμι-, half, and ὄνος, donkey, thus, half-donkey or mule. In Persian the archaic word gur preserves the second syllable of the common Indo-European term that includes ona/ono and ger/gur. The species was known as Asian wild ass, in which case the term onager was reserved for the E. h. onager subspecies. Until this day, the share the same name, onager. The onager is a member of the Subgenus Asinus, belonging to the genus Equus and is classified under the family Equidae, the species was described and given its binomial name Equus hemionus by German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas in 1775. The Asiatic wild ass, among Old World equids, existed for more than 4 million years, the oldest divergence of Equus was the onager followed by the zebras and onwards. Widely five recognized subspecies of the include, A sixth possible subspecies, the Gobi khulan has been proposed
40.
Lion
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The lion is one of the big cats in the genus Panthera and a member of the family Felidae. The commonly used term African lion collectively denotes the several subspecies in Africa, with some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger. Wild lions currently exist in sub-Saharan Africa and in India, in ancient historic times, their range was in most of Africa, including North Africa, and across Eurasia from Greece and southeastern Europe to India. Lion populations are untenable outside designated reserves and national parks, although the cause of the decline is not fully understood, habitat loss and conflicts with humans are the greatest causes of concern. Within Africa, the West African lion population is particularly endangered, in the wild, males seldom live longer than 10 to 14 years, as injuries sustained from continual fighting with rival males greatly reduce their longevity. In captivity they can more than 20 years. They typically inhabit savanna and grassland, although they may take to bush, Lions are unusually social compared to other cats. A pride of lions consists of related females and offspring and a number of adult males. Groups of female lions typically hunt together, preying mostly on large ungulates, Lions are apex and keystone predators, although they are also expert scavengers obtaining over 50 percent of their food by scavenging as opportunity allows. While lions do not typically hunt humans, some have, sleeping mainly during the day, lions are active primarily at night, although sometimes at twilight. Highly distinctive, the lion is easily recognised by its mane. It has been depicted in sculptures, in paintings, on national flags. Lions have been kept in menageries since the time of the Roman Empire, Zoos are cooperating worldwide in breeding programs for the endangered Asiatic subspecies. The lions name, similar in many Romance languages, is derived from the Latin leo, the Hebrew word לָבִיא may also be related. It was one of the originally described by Linnaeus, who gave it the name Felis leo, in his eighteenth-century work. The lions closest relatives are the species of the genus Panthera, the tiger, the snow leopard, the jaguar. P. leo evolved in Africa between 1 million and 800,000 years ago, before spreading throughout the Holarctic region and it appeared in the fossil record in Europe for the first time 700,000 years ago with the subspecies Panthera leo fossilis at Isernia in Italy. From this lion derived the later cave lion, which appeared about 300,000 years ago, Lions died out in northern Eurasia at the end of the last glaciation, about 10,000 years ago, this may have been secondary to the extinction of Pleistocene megafauna
41.
Carnivore
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Animals that depend solely on animal flesh for their nutrient requirements are called obligate carnivores while those that also consume non-animal food are called facultative carnivores. A carnivore that sits at the top of the chain is termed an apex predator. Plants that capture and digest insects are called carnivorous plants, similarly, fungi that capture microscopic animals are often called carnivorous fungi. The word carnivore sometimes refers to the mammalian order Carnivora, while many Carnivora meet the definition of being meat eaters, not all do, and even fewer are true obligate carnivores. In addition, there are plenty of species that are not members of Carnivora. Outside the animal kingdom, there are several genera containing carnivorous plants, the former are predominantly insectivores, while the latter prey mostly on microscopic invertebrates, such as nematodes, amoebae and springtails. Carnivores are sometimes characterized by the type of prey that they consume, for example, animals that eat insects and similar invertebrates primarily or exclusively are called insectivores, while those that eat fish primarily or exclusively are called piscivores. The first tetrapods, or land-dwelling vertebrates, were piscivorous amphibians known as labyrinthodonts and they gave rise to insectivorous vertebrates and, later, to predators of other tetrapods. Carnivores may alternatively be classified according to the percentage of meat in their diet, obligate carnivores or true carnivores depend on the nutrients found only in animal flesh for their survival. For instance, felids including the cat are obligate carnivores requiring a diet of primarily animal flesh. Characteristics commonly associated with carnivores include organs for capturing and disarticulating prey, in truth, these assumptions may be misleading, as some carnivores do not hunt and are scavengers. Thus they do not have the associated with hunting carnivores. Carnivores have comparatively short digestive systems, as they are not required to break down tough cellulose found in plants, many animals that hunt other animals have evolved eyes that face forward, thus making depth perception possible. This is almost universal among mammalian predators, other predators, like crocodiles, as well as most reptiles and amphibians, have sideways facing eyes and hunt by ambush rather than pursuit. The first vertebrate carnivores were fish, and then amphibians that moved on to land, early tetrapods were large amphibious piscivores. Some scientists assert that Dimetrodon was the first terrestrial vertebrate to develop the curved, serrated teeth that enable a predator to eat prey much larger than itself. While amphibians continued to feed on fish and later insects, reptiles began exploring two new types, tetrapods, and later, plants. Carnivory was a transition from insectivory for medium and large tetrapods
Saudi Arabia
