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'Amr ibn al-'As
573–664 - Arab
Military leader. He won the Holy Land of Palestine for Islam and also opposed Ali, the founder of the Shiite branch of the religion.
Akiba ben Joseph
50–135 - Israelite
Rabbi and Jewish teacher in Palestine. After the Romans erected a pagan temple in Jerusalem, he joined with Bar Kokhba leading a fiery revolt, but was killed.
Mohammed al-Farabi
870–950 - Islami
Philosopher, Platonist, and Neoplatonist. He valued both logic and mysticism, and also wrote a utopian political tract (The Perfect City) inspired by Plato's Republic.
al-Khwarizmi
800–850 - Arab
Mathematician. He may be considered the father of modern mathematics in addition to his many other studies. The word algebra derives from the title of one of his books.
Harun al-Raschid
766–809 - Arab
Caliph, fifth of the Abbasids. He presided over the Muslim caliphate at the peak of its powers, cultivated learning and the arts, but could also be a cruel and willful tyrant, as described in The Arabian Nights.
Ali
?–661 - Arab
Fourth caliph of Islam, cousin of Mohammed, and husband of the Prophet's daughter, Fatima. He was assassinated, but his life gave birth to the Shia branch of Islam (contrasted to the Sunni branch). The Shia branch also later gave birth to Sufism, a mystical interpretation of Islam.
Antar
fl. 550 - Arab
Legendary Arab figure. He was reputedly the son of a Bedouin chief and a black slave, who grew up to be a fierce warrior as well as an important Arab poet. The later Romance of Antar portrayed him as an exemplar of the highest Bedouin ideals of courage, hospitality, generosity, and strict adherence to "the code of the desert."
Yasser Arafat
1929–2004 - Palestinian
Leader of the Palestinian people after the separation of Palestine from Jordan following the 1968 Arab-Israeli War. Was he a freedom fighter, devoted to the independence and well-being of his people, or was he a terrorist, as many Israelis insisted? Did he seek peace, as suggested by his shared Nobel Peace Prize in 1994, or was this a tactical deception? When he eventually rejected Prime Minister Barak's and the Israeli Labor government's final peace proposal, was it because he feared assassination, as he allegedly told U.S. President Clinton, the broker of the talks, or because he truly believed the proposal inadequate?
Arius
250–336 - Libyan
Theologian. He founded Arianism, the doctrine that Christ was of similar but not identical substance to God, and therefore subordinate. Arianism was sharply and successfully opposed as a form of polytheism by St. Athanasius and others at the Council of Nicaea, but remained influential for many years, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean. It still has an echo in contemporary Unitarianism.
Hafez al Asad
1928–2000 - Syrian
General and president. He was a member of the Ba'ath Party that ruled in Syria (and in Iraq until 2003) with a combination of romantic Arab nationalism and ruthless repression. Asad seized power in 1970 and within a few years became known throughout the world for his cruelty to opponents, but also for his shrewdness, cunning, and adaptability.
Assurbanipal
fl. 650 BCE - Assyrian
King of Assyria. The kings of Assyria were noted for their ruthlessness and cruelty, and several were assassinated. Assurbanipal, however, also promoted the arts and brought together texts for the first great ancient near-eastern library that we know of.
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