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A beautified calligraphic rendition of the name of Ali, the fourth Rashidun Caliph (r. 656-661 CE).

Yazdegerd III (r. 632-651) was the last monarch of the Sassanian Empire (224-651), ruling – or attempting to rule – amidst the chaos of its final decline and fall to the invading Muslim Arabs. He was the son of the prince Shahriyar (d. 628...

The Ghana Empire flourished in West Africa from at least the 6th to 13th century. Not connected geographically to the modern state of Ghana, the Ghana Empire was located in the western Sudan savannah region (modern southern Mauritania and...

Mansa Musa I was the ruler of the Mali Empire in West Africa from 1312 to 1337. Controlling territories rich in gold and copper, and monopolising trade between the north and interior of the continent, Mali grew extremely wealthy. Mansa Musa...

Ibn Battuta ((Abū Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Abd Allāh Al-Lawātī, 1304–c. 1368 CE) was a traveler, jurist, and scholar from Tangier whose journeys across Afro-Eurasia remain among the most extensive recorded in the medieval world. Beginning in...

Mesopotamian religion was central to the people's lives. Humans were created as co-laborers with their gods to hold off the forces of chaos and to keep the world running smoothly. As in ancient Egypt, the gods were honored daily for providing...

The Iranian Revolution (1978-1979) was the social movement that arose from widespread and diverse discontent with the monarchic government of Iran. The revolution was fought against the regime of Mohammad Reza Shah (r. 1941-1979), and it...

The Swahili Coast on the shores of East Africa was a region where Africans and Arabs mixed to create a unique identity from the 8th century called Swahili Culture. Swahili is the name of their language and means 'people of the coast.' The...

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (also given as Jalal ad-did Muhammad Balkhi, best known as Rumi, l. 1207-1273 CE) was a Persian Islamic theologian and scholar but became famous as a mystical poet whose work focuses on the opportunity for a meaningful...

The Ten Commandments introduce the legislation received by Moses on Mt. Sinai after the Israelites escaped from Egypt (as related in the biblical book of Exodus). The "ten commandments" is often used as shorthand for the basic rules that...