acute, self-limited, systemic disease caused by the rickettsia Coxiella burnetii. Q fever spreads rapidly in cows, sheep, and goats, and in humans it tends to occur in ...
ancient Babylonian liquid measure equal to the volume of a cube whose dimensions are each one handbreadth (3.9 to 4 inches, or 9.9 to 10.2 cm) in length. The cube ...
Syrian diplomat and poet whose subject matter, at first strictly erotic and romantic, grew to embrace political issues as well. Written in simple but eloquent language, his verses, some of ...
town, southeastern Tunisia. The town is located at the mouth of the Qabis River, which has its source 6 miles (10 km) upstream at the Ras al-Oued (springs), the town's ...
in Islam, adherents of the doctrine of free will (from qadar, "power"). The name was also applied to the Mu'tazilah, the Muslim theological school that believed that man, through his ...
a Muslim judge who renders decisions according to the Shari'ah, the canon law of Islam. The qadi hears only religious cases such as those involving inheritance, pious bequests (waqf), marriage, ...
probably the oldest of the Muslim mystic (Sufi) orders, founded by the Hanbali theologian 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (1078-1166) in Baghdad. Al-Jilani may have intended the few rituals he prescribed to ...
town and oasis, Al-Sharqiyah (Eastern) region, northeastern Saudi Arabia. It lies along the Persian Gulf, over Al-Qatif petroleum field. Since the development of the oil fields in the late 1940s, ...
town, west-central Tunisia. The ancient name of the locality is applied to the Mesolithic Capsian industry (here dated about 6250 BC) of the earliest inhabitants. The original Numidian town was ...
paleoanthropological site south of Nazareth, Israel, where some of the oldest remains of modern humans in Asia have been found. More than 25 fossil skeletons dating to about 90,000 years ...
building complex, including a mausoleum, a madrasah, and a hospital, built in 1283-85 on the site of present-day Cairo by the fifth Mamluk sultan, Qala'un. The hospital, now in ruins, ...
ancient reed pen still used in Arabic calligraphy and formerly used for all writing. The qalam was cut from between two nodes of the stem of a reed chosen for ...
painted textile of a type produced during the 17th century at various centres in India, notably at Golconda. The material was called qalamkari ("brushwork") because of the technique employed in ...
loosely organized group of wandering Muslim dervishes who form an "irregular" (bi-shar') or antinomian Sufi mystical order. The Qalandariyah seem to have arisen from the earlier Malamatiyah in Central Asia ...
town at the apex of the Nile River delta, in Al-Qalyubiyah muhafazah (governorate), Lower Egypt. It lies just north of Cairo, near the right bank of the Nile and Barrage ...
small muhafazah (governorate), just north of Cairo at the apex of the Nile River delta, Lower Egypt. It is bounded on the northeast by Ash-Sharqiyah muhafazah and on the northwest ...
town in northeastern Syria. It lies along the Turkish border. The border divides the Syrian town of Al-Qamishli from the Turkish town of Nusaybin. The town was founded in 1926 ...
ancient type of water-supply system developed and still used in arid regions of the world. A qanat taps underground mountain water sources trapped in and beneath the upper reaches of ...
Australian airline, the oldest in the English-speaking world, founded in 1920 as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd. (from which the name Qantas was derived). Its first operations were ...
town, east-central Sudan. It is situated about 120 miles (200 km) southwest of Kassala town. Located at an elevation of 1,975 feet (608 metres), it is a commercial centre for ...
a member of the Shi'ite Muslim sect known as the Isma'ilites. The Qarmatians flourished in Iraq, Yemen, and especially Bahrain during the 9th to 11th centuries, taking their name from ...
floor covering handwoven by the Qashqa'i people, who have the reputation of making the best rugs from the Shiraz district of Iran. They are the brightest in colouring, with rich ...
poetic form developed in pre-Islamic Arabia and perpetuated throughout Islamic literary history into the present. It is a laudatory, elegiac, or satiric poem that is found in Arabic, Persian, and ...
town, west-central Tunisia. The town is an important market, road, and rail junction and is the centre of an irrigated agricultural area. Its economic activities include the cultivation of olives ...
independent emirate on the west coast of the Persian Gulf. It occupies a small desert peninsula that extends from the larger Arabian Peninsula north of eastern Saudi Arabia and the ...
arid Libyan Desert (Eastern Saharan) basin in northwestern Egypt. Covering about 7,000 square miles (18,100 square km) and containing salt lakes and marshes, it descends to 435 feet (133 m) ...
town, northeastern Iran. Qayen is a place of great antiquity and complex history. The present town, which lies in a broad valley, was founded in the 15th century to replace ...
town, north-central Tunisia. The town, one of the holy cities of Islam, lies on the Low Steppes, a semiarid alluvial plain southeast of the Central Tell. Founded in 670 on ...
one of a class of sacred prostitutes found throughout the ancient Middle East, especially in the worship of the fertility goddess Astarte (Ashtoreth). Prostitutes, who often played an important part ...
island in Davis Strait off western Greenland, northwest of Qeqertarsuup (Disko) Bay and southwest of Vaigat Strait. It is 80 miles (130 km) long, 20-75 miles (32-120 km) wide, and ...
largest island in the Persian Gulf, belonging to Iran. The Arabic name means "long island." It lies parallel to the Iranian coast, from which it is separated by Clarence Strait. ...
island in the Persian Gulf, lying about 10 miles (16 km) off mainland Iran. It rises 120 feet (37 m) above sea level to a plateau and is almost without ...
the direction of the sacred shrine of the Ka'bah in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, toward which Muslims turn five times each day when performing the salat (daily ritual ...
agricultural town, Qina muhafazah (governorate), Upper Egypt. It is situated at the large bend of the Nile below Luxor (al-Uqsur) and lies along the east bank of the river. Known ...
muhafazah (governorate) in Upper Egypt, extending 3-4 miles (5-6 km) on each side of the Nile River between the Arabian and Libyan deserts. Occupying the great bend in the Nile ...
town and capital of Qina muhafazah (governorate), Upper Egypt, on a canal 1 mile (1.6 km) east of the Nile River at its great bend, opposite Dandarah. The town was ...
city, western Heilongjiang sheng (province), northeastern China. It is situated in the middle of the fertile Nen River plain, a part of the Northeast (Manchurian) Plain.
town, at the northwest of the 'Emeq Hula (Hula Valley), extreme northern Israel. The name Qiryat Shemona ("Town of the Eight") commemorates the eight martyrs of nearby Tel Hay (q.v.). ...
stream, northern Israel, one of the country's few perennial rivers. It is formed by small streams and seasonal watercourses (wadis), which rise chiefly in the Hare (Mountains of) Gilboa' to ...
Chinese painter noted for his gongbi brush technique, used to produce highly detailed figure and architectural paintings and flower studies. Qiu did not pursue the other characteristic ...
in Islamic law, analogical reasoning as applied to the deduction of juridical principles from the Qur'an and the Sunnah (the normative practice of the community). With the Qur'an, the Sunnah, ...
(Hebrew: "Holy Things"), the fifth of the six major divisions, or orders (sedarim), of the Mishna (codification of Jewish oral laws), which was given its final form early in the ...
city, northern Kazakhstan, on the Tobyl River. Founded by Russian settlers from the Volga region in 1879, it became a centre of trade in the steppe, particularly in grain, a ...
prominent leader and, on occasions in the 1920s and early 1930s, head of the Chinese Communist Party. In addition to being a political activist, he is considered one of the ...
one of the greatest poets of ancient China and the earliest known by name. His highly original and imaginative verse had an enormous influence over early Chinese poetry.
former semi-independent state in the southern Arabian Peninsula, in what is now Yemen. It was one of the largest sultanates in the British-ruled Aden Protectorate, the forerunner of independent southern ...
tributary of the Assiniboine River, in southern Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba, Canada. From its source near The Elbow (a bend in the South Saskatchewan River) and Diefenbaker Lake, northwest of ...
rapidly spreading grass of the family Poaceae. It has flat, somewhat hairy leaves and erect flower spikes; the plant may grow from 30 to 100 cm (about 12 to 40 ...
unit of energy equal to 1 quadrillion (1015) British thermal units (BTU). The quad is a convenient unit for describing national and world energy resources. One quad is also equal ...
complex of cities at the Iowa-Illinois border, on the Mississippi River, U.S. Despite its name, the region includes five main cities: Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline, Illinois, and Davenport ...
in architecture, rectangular open space completely or partially enclosed by buildings of an academic or civic character. The grounds of a quadrangle are often grassy or landscaped. Such a quadrangular ...
in mathematics, an algebraic equation of the second degree (having one or more variables raised to the second power). Old Babylonian cuneiform texts, dating from the time of Hammurabi, show ...
in mathematics, process of determining the area of a plane geometric figure by dividing it into a collection of shapes of known area (usually rectangles) and then finding the sum ...
in astronomy, that aspect of a heavenly body in which its direction as seen from the Earth makes a right angle with the direction of the Sun. The Moon at ...
large fleshy muscle group covering the front and sides of the thigh. It has four parts: rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, and vastus intermedius. They originate at the ilium ...
famous combination of four fortresses mutually supporting one another, during the Austrian rule of northern Italy. The four fortified towns were Mantua, Peschiera, Verona, and Legnago, lying between Lombardy and ...
fashionable late 18th- and 19th-century dance for four couples in square formation. Imported by English aristocrats in 1815 from elite Parisian ballrooms, it consisted of four, or sometimes five, contredanses; ...
Brazilian politician who unexpectedly resigned the presidency after serving only seven months (Jan. 31-Aug. 25, 1961). A colourful and sometimes eccentric populist, he campaigned with a broom as a symbol ...
