Glossary • 471al-Barudi, Mahmud Sami (el-ba-ROO-dee, mah-MOOD SA-mee): Egyptian na¬
tionalist prime minister (1882)
Basra (BOSS-ra): Town in southern Iraq, founded by Umar to garrison troops
bast (BAWST): Individual or group act of taking refuge in a mosque or other
public place to evade arrest, a Persian custom
Ba'th (BAHTH): Arab nationalist and socialist party ruling Syria since the 1960s
and Iraq (1968-2003)
Baybars (BYE-barce): Mamluk general and sultan (1260-1277)
Bayezid I (BYE-yeh-zeet): Ottoman sultan (1389-1402), who spread control in
Balkans and Anatolia
Bayezid II: Ottoman sultan (1481-1512)
Bayt al-Hikma (BAYT el-HIK-ma): Muslim center of learning under Abbasids
bazaar (ba-ZAWR): (1) Large trading and manufacturing center; (2) urban mer¬
chants as a corporate body, especially in Iranian cities
Bazargan, Mehdi (ba-zar-GAWN, meh-DEE): Iran's first prime minister after the
Islamic revolution
bedouin (BED-a-win): Arab camel nomad(s)
Begin, Menachem (BAY-gin, me-NAH-khem): Leader of Israel's right-wing Likud
coalition and prime minister (1977-1983)
Beirut (bay-ROOT): Port city, commercial center, and Lebanon's capital
Bektashi (bek-TAH-shee): Sufi order, popular among Ottoman janissaries
Ben-Gurion, David: Zionist pioneer, writer, politician, and Israel's defense and
prime minister (1948-1953 and 1955-1963)
Berber: Native inhabitant of parts of North Africa
Berlin, Treaty of: Definitive peace settlement of the Russo-Turkish War, signed in
August 1878 and replacing the San Stefano Treaty
Berlin-to-Baghdad Railway: Proposed rail line that, if completed, would have en¬
hanced Germany's power in the Ottoman Empire before World War I
Bernadotte, Folke: Swedish UN mediator, murdered during the 1948 Palestine war
Bilal (bee-LAL): Muhammad's first muezzin, a Black Ethiopian
Biltmore Program: American Zionist resolution in 1942 openly demanding a
Jewish state in Palestine
BILU (BEE-loo): Early Zionist movement in Russia
Bin Laden, Osama (bin LAH-den, oh-SAH-ma): Leader of al-Qa'ida, originally
from Saudi Arabia, operating in Afghanistan until 2001
Biqa' (be-KAH): Predominantly Shi'i valley in eastern Lebanon
Black Sheep Turcomans: Shi'i Turkish dynasty ruling in Persia (1378-1469)
Bosporus: Straits connecting the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara
Bridging Document: President Clinton's draft compromise, presented to Israel
and Palestinians during Taba peace talks in 2001
British Agency: Offices and residence of Britain's chief political and diplomatic of¬
ficer in Cairo to 1914; later called the Residency and now the British Embassy