476 • GlossaryGhassanids: pre-Islamic tribe that converted to Christianity and was allied with
the Roman Empire between the fifth and seventh centuries
al-Ghazali, Abu-Hamid (el-gha-ZA-lee, AH-boo-ha-MEED): Major Muslim the¬
ologian (d. 1111)
ghazi (GHAH-zee): Muslim border warrior
Ghazna: Afghan city, where the Ghaznavid Empire began
Ghaznavid (GHAZ-nah-vid): Turkish empire, comprising Afghanistan and parts of
Iran and Central Asia, that conquered much of India (977-1186)
ghulam (ghoo-LAWM): Male slave, usually military or administrative, especially
in Safavid Empire
Gibraltar: (1) Mountain in southern Spain; (2) straits between the Atlantic and
the Mediterranean (originally Jebel Tariq, named after the Berber who com¬
manded the Muslim conquest of Spain)
Gidi Pass: Strategic point in western Sinai, captured by Israel in 1956 and 1967
and relinquished to a UN force in 1975
Glubb, John Bagot: British commander of Jordan Arab Legion, dismissed in 1956
Gokturk (geuk-TEWRK): Sixth-century Turkic empire in Asia
Golan Heights (go-LAHN): Mountainous area of southwestern Syria, occupied
by Israel since 1967 and scene of intense fighting in 1973
Golden Horde: Group of Islamized Mongols, having a Turkic majority, that ruled
Russia from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries
Granada: Capital of the last Muslim state in Spain
Grand National Assembly: Representative legislature of the Turkish republic
Great Khan: Title of Mongol emperor during the thirteenth century
Great Silk Route: Trade route connecting Iran with China, crossing the steppes
and mountain passes of Central Asia
Greek fire: A liquid substance, probably a naphtha derivative, that ignited upon
contact with water, used by Byzantine and later by Muslim sailors to destroy
enemy ships
Greek Orthodox: Pertaining to the branch of Christianity that accepts the spiri¬
tual authority of the Constantinople patriarch and espouses the Christological
doctrines adopted at the Nicaea (325) and Chalcedon (451) church councils
Gulf War: (1) Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988); (2) campaign of US-led coalition to
make Iraq withdraw from Kuwait (1991)
Gush Emunim (GOOSH em-oo-NEEM): Group of religiously observant Israeli
settlers on the West Bank
Habash, George (HOB-osh): Leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine, a Marxist Palestinian Arab group
Habib, Philip (ha-BEEB): US negotiator among Syria, Lebanon, and Israel
(1981-1982)
Habsburg (HOPS-burg): German family that ruled over the Holy Roman Empire
(1273-1806) and Austria (up to 1918)