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MESSALI AL-HAJJ

MESSALI AL-HAJJ (1898 in Tlemcen, French Algeria – June 3, 1974 in Paris, France), more fully Ahmed Messali al-Hajj and often spelled Messali Hadj, the first Algerian nationalist leader in […]

MERNISSI, FATIMA

FATIMA MERNISSI (b. 1940), Moroccan sociologist and writer. Born in Fez to a middle-class family, Mernissi studied at the Mohammed V University in Rabat and later […]

MEDINA

MEDINA. In pre-Islamic times called Yathrib, Medina (Madinah) became Muhammad’s home after the Hijrah. An oasis 275 miles north of Mecca, it was originally an […]

MEDICINE

MEDICINE. [This entry comprises two articles. The first considers the roots and development of traditional Islamic medicine and its historic interaction with methods of healing […]

MECELLE

MECELLE. The Arabic term majallah originally meant a book containing wisdom or, by extension, any kind of writing; its Turkish derivative mecelle refers more specifically […]

MECCA

MECCA. A holy site since the beginning of Arab memory of the place, Mecca (Makkah) is the goal of the annual pilgrimage that the Qur’an […]

MAWLID

MAWLID. Derived from the triliteral Arabic root w-l-d, mawlid means “birth.” Al-Mawlid al-Nabawi alSharif, for example, refers to the twelfth day of Rabi’ al-Awwal of […]

MAWLAY

MAWLAY. The Arabic word mawlay (also transliterated moulay and mulay) means “my lord” or “my master”; in North Africa it is frequently used in this […]

MAWLAWIYAH

MAWLAWIYAH. The Turkish Sufi order of the Mawlawlyah (Tk., Mevlevi) is known to Europe as the “Whirling Dervishes” in recognition of its distinctive meditation ritual. […]

MAWLA

MAWLA. Derived from wala (“to be close to, be friends with, have power over”), the term mawla (pl., mawali) has entered other languages as a […]