Ibn Ishaq \,i-b3n-es-'hak\ in full Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar ibn Khiyar (b. c. 704, Medina, Arabia—d. 767, Baghdad) Arab biographer of Muhammad. His father and two uncles collected and trans¬ mitted information about Muhammad in Medina, and Ibn Ishaq soon became an authority on the Prophet’s military campaigns (maghazt). He studied in Alexandria and subsequently moved to Iraq, where he met many people who provided him with information for his biography, which became the most popular biography of Muhammad in the Muslim world but which survives only in the recension by Ibn Hisham.
Ibn Janah \,ib-3n-ja-'nak\ or Rabbi Jonah (b. c. 990, Cordoba—d. c. 1050, Zaragoza, Spain) Spanish scholar famed as a Hebrew grammar¬ ian and lexicographer. A practicing physician and a devout Jew, he founded the study of Hebrew syntax, establishing the rules of biblical exegesis and clarifying many difficult passages. His principal work was the two-volume Book of Exact Investigation, a Hebrew grammar and lexicon. All his writings were in Arabic, and he made extensive compari¬ sons of Hebrew and Arabic words.
Ibn Khaldun V.ib-on-kal-'dunX orig. Abu Zayd ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Khaldun (b. May 27, 1332, Tunis, Tun.—d. March 17, 1406, Cairo, Egypt) Noted Arab historian. He was employed in court posts by various rulers in Tunis, Fes, and Granada. After retiring from politics in 1375, he wrote his masterpiece, the Muqaddimah (“Introduction”), in which he examined the nature of society and social change and developed one of the earliest rational philosophies of history. He also wrote a definitive his¬ tory of Muslim North Africa, Kitab al-lbar. In 1382 he went to Cairo, where he was appointed professor of law and religious judge. In 1400 he was trapped in Damascus during that city’s siege by Timur, spending seven weeks in the Central Asian conqueror’s camp before securing his own release and that of a number of colleagues. He is regarded as the greatest premodern Arab historian.
Ibn Rushd See Averroes
Ibn Sa'ud \,ib-9n-sa-'ud\ in_full 'Abd a I- 1 Aziz ibn 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Faysal Al Sa'ud (b. c. 1880, Riyadh, Arabian Peninsula—d. Nov. 9, 1953,
Al-Ta’if, Saud.Ar.) Founder of modern-day Saudi Arabia. Though the Sa c 0d dynasty had ruled much of Arabia from 1780 to 1880, in Ibn Sa'ud’s infancy the family was forced out by its rivals, the Rashids.
At age 21 Ibn Sa'ud led a daring raid against the Rashids and recaptured the family capital, Riyadh. He was driven out two years later but recon¬ stituted his forces and fought on, using puritanical Wahhabi Islam to rally nomadic tribesmen to his cause, thereby forming the Ikhwan. In 1920-22 he defeated the Rashids and doubled his own territory. In 1924 he conquered the Hejaz (see Husayn ibn c Au). In 1932 he formally created the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which he ruled as an absolute monarch. He signed his first oil deal in 1933 but remained virtually penniless until the 1950s, when oil revenues began pouring in. His sons succeeded him.
Ibn Sa'ud
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Ibn Sind ► ice dancing I 923
Ibn Sina See Avicenna
Ibn Taymiyyah y.i-bsn-tl-'me-aV (b. 1263, Harran, Mesopotamia—d. Sept. 26, 1328, Cairo) Islamic theologian. He was educated in Damascus, where he joined the Pietist school. He sought to return Islam to a strict interpretation of its sources in the Qur’an and the sunnah, as well as to rid it of customs he considered contrary to the law, including the worship of saints. He was imprisoned repeatedly in Cairo after his outspoken criti¬ cisms offended religious authorities. He spent his last 15 years as a school¬ master in Damascus, where he gathered many disciples. He died in prison. His writings are a major source of the Wahhabiyyah, a puritanical move¬ ment founded by Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-WAHHAB.
Ibn Tibbon U-bon-'ti-bonV Judah ben Saul (b. 1120, Granada, Spain—d. c. 1190, Marseille) Jewish physician and translator. Persecu¬ tions of the Jews forced him to flee Spain, and he settled in southern France in 1150 to practice medicine. His translations of philosophical works by Arabic-speaking Jews helped disseminate Arabic and Greek culture in medieval Europe. His son and grandson were also noted schol¬ ars and translators.
Ibn Tulun \,i-b3n-tu-'lun\ Mosque Huge, majestic red-brick mosque in Cairo. It was built (876-879) by Ahmad ibn Tulun (835-884), the Muslim governor of Egypt and Syria. The mosque’s crenellated walls have merlons (see battlement) that are shaped and perforated in a decora¬ tive pattern, and its three courts are lined with arcades of broad arches and heavy pillars. The arches are decorated with elaborately carved stucco. The main space is divided by pillars into five long aisles origi¬ nally ornamented with panels of carved wood. Classed as a historic monu¬ ment in 1890, the mosque has since been completely restored.
Ibo See Igbo
Ibrahim Pasha Mb-ra-'hem-'pash-aV (b. 1789, Kavalla, Rumelia—d. Nov. 10, 1848, Cairo, Egypt) Egyptian general. After helping train the new Egyptian army, he won military fame in Syria, defeating an Ottoman force, and Syria and Adana were ceded to Egypt, with Ibrahim as governor- general (1833). His administration was relatively enlightened; he created a consultative council and suppressed the feudal regime. Sultan Mahmud II (r. 1808-39) then sent an Ottoman army to invade Syria, and Ibrahim won his greatest victory in 1839 when the Ottoman fleet deserted to Egypt. However, the European powers, fearing the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, forced the Egyptians to evacuate the occupied territories. Ibrahim became viceroy of Egypt in 1848 shortly before his death.
Ibsen Vip-sonA English Vib-S9n\, Henrik (Johan) (b. March 20, 1828, Skien, Nor.—d. May 23, 1906,
Kristiania) Norwegian playwright.
At age 23 he became theatre director and resident playwright of the new National Theatre at Bergen, charged with creating a “national drama.” He directed the Norwegian Theatre in Kristiana from 1857 to 1863, when the theatre went bankrupt. He then set off on extended travels in Europe, beginning a self-imposed exile that would last until 1891. In Italy he wrote the troubling moral tragedy Brand (1866) and the buoyant Peer Gynt (1867). After the satire Pillars of Society (1877) he found his voice and an international audience with powerful studies of middle-class morality in A Doll’s House (1879),
Ghosts (1881), An Enemy of the People (1882), The Wild Duck (1884), and Rosmersholm (1886).
His more symbolic plays, most of them written after his return to Norway in 1891, include Hedda Gabler (1890), The Master Builder (1892), Little Eyolf (1894), and When We Dead Awaken (1899). Emphasizing character over plot, Ibsen addressed social problems such as political corruption and the changing role of women as well as psychological conflicts stemming from frustrated love and destructive family relationships. He greatly influenced European the¬ atre and is regarded as the founder of modern prose drama.
ibuprofen \ I I-byu-'pro-f3n\ Analgesic, one of the NSAIDs, especially effective against minor pain, fever, and inflammation. It works by inhib¬ iting prostaglandin synthesis. It may irritate the gastrointestinal tract and should not be taken by anyone who has an allergy to aspirin or takes anti¬ coagulants. Brand names include Advil, Motrin, and Nuprin. See also ACETAMINOPHEN.
1C See INTEGRATED CIRCUIT Icarus See Daedalus
ICBM in full intercontinental ballistic missile Land-based, nuclear-armed ballistic missile with a range of more than 3,500 mi (5,600 km). Only the U.S., Russia, and China field land-based missiles of this range. The first ICBMs were deployed by the Soviet Union in 1958, with the U.S. following the next year and China some 20 years later. The prin¬ cipal U.S. ICBM is the silo-launched Minuteman missile. Submarine- launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with ranges comparable to ICBMs include the Trident missile, deployed by the U.S. and Britain, and several systems deployed by Russia, China, and France.