Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates

the pilgrimage to the city of Makkah (Mecca) that all Muslims are encouraged to undertake at least once in a lifetime

the expansion of an economy to include a wider array of activities

followers of Islam

especially militant Islamists

the belief system based on the idea that there is only one god

an arc of lush, fertile land formed by the uplands of the Tigris and Euphrates river systems and the Zagros Mountains, where nomadic peoples began the earliest known agricultural communities

a prolonged Palestinian uprising against Israel

a monotheistic religion based on the belief in the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, a Jew, who described God’s relationship to humans as primarily one of love and support, as exemplified by the Ten Commandments

a group of producers strong enough to control production and set prices for products

a source of energy formed from the remains of dead plants and animals

a monotheistic religion characterized by the belief in one god (Yahweh), a strong ethical code summarized in the Ten Commandments, and an enduring ethnic identity

a grassroots religious revival in Islam that seeks political power to curb what are seen as dangerous secular influences; also seeks to replace secular governments and civil laws with governments and laws guided by Islamic principles

a monotheistic religion that emerged in the seventh century C.E. when, according to tradition, the archangel Gabriel revealed the tenets of the religion to the Prophet Muhammad

the requirement that women stay out of public view

a set of ecological changes that converts arid lands into deserts

the dispersion of Jews around the globe after they were expelled from the eastern Mediterranean by the Roman Empire beginning in 73 C.E.; the term can now refer to other dispersed culture groups

the most influential Islamic empire the world has ever known; begun in the 1200s when nomadic Turkic herders from Central Asia converged in western Anatolia (Turkey)

literally, “the correct path”; Islamic religious law that guides daily life according to the interpretations of the Qur’an

the larger of two major groups of Muslims who have different interpretations of shari’a

countries that have no state religion and in which religion has no direct influence on affairs of state or civil law

a process that occurs when large quantities of water are used to irrigate areas where evaporation rates are high, leaving behind dissolved salts and other minerals

the holy book of Islam, believed by Muslims to contain the words Allah revealed to Muhammad through the archangel Gabriel

those who have worked, and continue to work, to create a Jewish homeland (Zion) in Palestine

a cartel of oil-producing countries—currently, Algeria, Angola, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Ecuador, and Venezuela—that was established to regulate the production and price of oil and natural gas

the custom of covering the body with a loose dress and/or of covering the head—and in some places the face—with a scarf

an extreme, purist Qur’an-based version of Islam that has little room for adaptation to modern times

the smaller of two major groups of Muslims who have different interpretations of shari’a; Shi’ites are found primarily in Iran and southern Iraq

relating to a social organization in which the father is supreme in the clan or family

countries that require all government leaders to subscribe to a state religion and all citizens to follow rules decreed by that religion

a 25-foot-high concrete wall in some places and a fence in others that now surrounds much of the West Bank and encompasses many of the Jewish settlements there

Palestinian lands occupied by Israel since 1967

the removal of salt from seawater—usually accomplished through the use of expensive and energy-intensive technologies—to make the water suitable for drinking or irrigating