sacred clown, ritual or ceremonial figure, in various preliterate and ancient cultures throughout the world, who represents a reversal of the normal order, an opening to the chaos that preceded creation, especially during New Year festivals. The reversal of normality that is the distinguishing mark

Sacred College of Cardinals, the group of bishops and archbishops in the Roman Catholic Church who have been created cardinals by the pope. Its members serve as the pope’s key advisers and assistants in his administration of the church. According to the Code of Canon Law, the two most important

vocal-instrumental concerto, musical composition of the early Baroque era (late 16th and early 17th centuries) in which choirs, solo voices, and instruments are contrasted with one another. Although sometimes employing secular texts, the genre is particularly associated with sacred music and is

church year: Roman Catholic Church: …saints are controlled by the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship (formerly the Congregation of Rites). Certain feasts, in addition to all Sundays, are designated “holy days of obligation,” when all the faithful must attend mass. In the United States these are: Christmas Day (December 25), the Feast of St. Mary…

inquisition: History: …Paul VI and renamed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.) In 1547 the government of Venice established a tribunal of laymen, which was converted into a tribunal of clergy by 1551 but closely monitored by the Venetian government. The Venetian inquisition lasted until 1797. Another institutional inquisition, that…

canon law: Law for the missions: The Sacred Congregation for Propagation of the Faith (the Propaganda) was established for this purpose in 1622. Missionaries received their mandate from Rome; the administration was given over to apostolic vicars (bishops of territories having no ordinary hierarchy) and prefects (having episcopal powers, but not necessarily…

Baltic religion: Temples and other holy places: …as to whether the so-called holy corner (heilige Hinterecke)—i.e., the dark corner of a peasant’s house in which a deity or patron lives—belongs to pre-Christian concepts or not. On the other hand, various places in the house proper, such as the hearth and the doorstep, were considered to be abodes…

Rose Tremain: Sacred Country (1992) relates the picaresque adventures of Mary Ward, who is convinced from the age of six that she is meant to be a boy and spends three decades trying to achieve this goal. Tremain’s subsequent novels included The Way I Found Her (1997);…

Air Force One: The first presidential planes: …irreverent journalists as the “Sacred Cow,” it featured a conference room, a stateroom with a lavatory and a bullet-proof picture window, and an elevator for raising and lowering the wheelchair-bound president between the plane and the ground. It transported Roosevelt only once—to the Yalta Conference in Soviet Crimea in…

Nikki Giovanni: …presented autobiographical reminiscences, and in Sacred Cows…and Other Edibles (1988) she proffered a collection of her essays.

West African crocodile, (Crocodylus suchus), large species of crocodile inhabiting forested swamps, marshes, freshwater rivers and streams, and even some arid regions of western and central Africa. The West African crocodile is found from Senegal and The Gambia eastward to Somalia and from Chad,

Order of the Rising Sun: …a women’s counterpart called the Order of the Sacred Crown, was originally the Order of Merit. It consists of eight classes, and the badge awarded depends on the class level attained.

Native American dance: Religious expression in dance: …the human interactions of the dance. Men often symbolize phallic, aggressive supernatural beings and rain-bringing deities, whereas women symbolize actual fertility. In Iroquois ceremonies, women represent the Three Life-Giving Sisters—i.e., the spirits of corn (maize), beans, and squash, with no mimetic representation. Similarly, Pueblo women promote plant and human fertility…

Plant Chemicals: Healing, Hallucinogenic, and Harmful: Plant Chemicals: Healing, Hallucinogenic, and Harmful transcript: Datura wrightii, or sacred datura, was, as its name suggests, sacred to a number of native peoples throughout its range from northern Mexico through the southwestern United States. It is closely related to and sometimes confused with jimsonweed (Datura stramonium). And the two plants have similar properties: both…

Pythagoreanism: General features of Pythagoreanism: …sometimes mystical, such as the tetraktys, the golden section, and the harmony of the spheres; (5) the Pythagorean theorem; and (6) the demand that members of the order shall observe a strict loyalty and secrecy.

dramatic literature: Drama and communal belief: The religious drama of ancient Greece, the temple drama of early India and Japan, the mystery cycles of medieval Europe, all have in common more than their religious content: when the theatre is a place of worship, its drama goes to the roots of belief in…

Ficus: Major species: The Bo tree, or pipal (F. religiosa), is sacred in India because of its association with the Buddha. Another notable Ficus species is the sycamore fig (F. sycomorus), which has mulberry-like leaves, hard wood, and edible fruit.

English literature: The Edwardians: …as he made clear in The Sacred Fount (1901), the questionable consequence of artistic will.

lud: …the Votyaks and Zyryans, a sacred grove where sacrifices were performed. The lud, surrounded by a high board or log fence, generally consisted of a grove of fir trees, a place for a fire, and tables for the sacrificial meal. People were forbidden to break even a branch from the…

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: Legacy of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: …de Chavannes’s serious Symbolist work The Sacred Grove by turning it into a boisterous scene filled with rowdy friends (1884). Yet he also could push himself in pursuits like swimming and boating, and toward the end of his life he installed a rowing machine in his studio. In his enthusiasm…

shape-note singing: History: The Sacred Harp (1844) in particular, supported by county and regional conventions in a number of Southern states, kept its four-shape fasola notation and a large corpus of New England psalmody, fuging tunes, spiritual songs, and revival choruses in several 20th-century editions. Other early tunebook…

Sacred Heart, in Roman Catholicism, the mystical-physical heart of Jesus as an object of devotion. In addition to a feast, now celebrated on the Friday of the third week after Pentecost, devotion includes acts of consecration and honour given to the image of the Sacred Heart. Such images are often

Paris: The Buttes: …built only in 1919: the Sacred Heart Basilica (Basilique du Sacré-Coeur), paid for by national subscription after the French defeat by the Prussians in 1870, during the Franco-German War. The work began in 1876 but was delayed by the death of the architect, Paul Abadie, who took inspiration from the…

Jules Chevalier: …Heart of Jesus), commonly called Sacred Heart Missionaries. This is a Roman Catholic congregation of men originally dedicated to teaching and restoring the faith in the rural sections of France and later expanded to world missions.

Sacred Heart, in Roman Catholicism, the mystical-physical heart of Jesus as an object of devotion. In addition to a feast, now celebrated on the Friday of the third week after Pentecost, devotion includes acts of consecration and honour given to the image of the Sacred Heart. Such images are often

Mother Marie Joseph Butler: …became a novice in the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Mary in Béziers, France. She took the name Marie Joseph. In 1879 she was sent as a teacher to the order’s convent school in Oporto, Portugal, where in 1880 she entered into full membership in the order. In 1881…

Fairfield: Fairfield (1942) and Sacred Heart (1963) universities are located there. The Fairfield Historical Society displays decorative objects of local significance. Area 30 square miles (78 square km). Pop. (2000) 57,340; (2010) 59,404.

Milan: Cultural life: …of several universities, including the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore; 1920), one of the best Roman Catholic schools in Italy; Bocconi University (Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi; 1902), offering degrees in business, economics, and law; Milan Polytechnic (Politecnico di Milano; 1863), with programs in engineering,…

stained glass: 20th century: …Fernand Léger’s windows for the Sacré-Coeur (1950–52) in Audincourt. Both are by artists whose manner was rather directly translatable into stained glass. It was but a comparatively short step from Matisse’s large coloured-paper collages to the disarmingly simple decorative windows in Vence, but the way Matisse used them to create…

Society of the Sacred Heart, Roman Catholic religious congregation of women devoted to the education of girls. The Society of the Sacred Heart was founded in France in 1800 by St. Madeleine Sophie Barat. In the late 1700s Joseph Varin, a leader in the religious renewal in France following the

Maurice Barrès: La Colline inspirée (1913; The Sacred Hill) is a mystical novel that urges a return to Christianity for social and political reasons.

Paula Gunn Allen: In The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions (1986), she argued that feminist and Native American perspectives on life are compatible, claiming that traditional tribal lifestyles were never patriarchal and were generally based on “spirit-centered, woman-focused worldviews.”

Alessandro Manzoni: …religious poems, Inni sacri (1815; The Sacred Hymns), on the church feasts of Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter, and a hymn to Mary. The last, and perhaps the finest, of the series, “La pentecoste,” was published in 1822.

ibis: The sacred ibis (Threskiornis aethiopica), of southern Arabia and Africa south of the Sahara and formerly of Egypt, was sacred to the ancient Egyptians. It is about 75 cm (30 inches) long, white with black in its wings, and has dark plumes on the lower back…

sacred kingship, religious and political concept by which a ruler is seen as an incarnation, manifestation, mediator, or agent of the sacred or holy (the transcendent or supernatural realm). The concept originated in prehistoric times, but it continues to exert a recognizable influence in the

scripture, the revered texts, or Holy Writ, of the world’s religions. Scriptures comprise a large part of the literature of the world. They vary greatly in form, volume, age, and degree of sacredness, but their common attribute is that their words are regarded by the devout as sacred. Sacred words

sacred lotus, (Nelumbo nucifera), attractive edible aquatic plant of the lotus-lily family (Nelumbonaceae) found in tropical and subtropical Asia. Representing the rise to and spread of spiritual enlightenment, the large elevated and spreading flower, flourishing above the muddy waters of its

Kenya: Cultural institutions: In 2008 the Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests—several forests containing the remains of villages (kaya) once inhabited by the Mijikenda (Nyika) people and now considered sacred—were collectively designated a World Heritage site.

measurement system: The Babylonians: The sacred mina was equal to 60 shekels and the sacred talent to 3,000 shekels, or 50 sacred minas. The Talmudic mina equaled 25 shekels; the Talmudic talent equaled 1,500 shekels, or 60 Talmudic minas.

graphic design: Manuscript design in antiquity and the Middle Ages: …1:18 is called the “Chi-Rho page.” The design presents the monogram XPI—which was used to signify Christ in many manuscripts—as an intricately designed pattern of shimmering colour and spiraling forms blossoming over a whole page. The Book of Kells’s Chi-Rho page is a paradigm of how graphical form can…

choral music: Sacred music:

Tahar Ben Jelloun: …sequel, La Nuit sacrée (1987; The Sacred Night), won France’s prestigious Prix Goncourt, a first for an African-born writer, and inspired a film adaptation (1993). The two books were eventually translated into more than 40 languages.

ceremonial object, any object used in a ritual or a religious ceremony. Throughout the history of religions and cultures, objects used in cults, rituals, and sacred ceremonies have almost always been of both utilitarian and symbolic natures. Ceremonial and ritualistic objects have been utilized as

Eastern Orthodoxy: The episcopate: …theology also emphasizes that the office of bishop is the highest among the sacramental ministries and that there is therefore no divinely established authority over that of the bishop in his own community, or diocese. Neither the local churches nor the bishops, however, can or should live in isolation. The…

Eastern Orthodoxy: The episcopate: …theology also emphasizes that the office of bishop is the highest among the sacramental ministries and that there is therefore no divinely established authority over that of the bishop in his own community, or diocese. Neither the local churches nor the bishops, however, can or should live in isolation. The…

Sacred Pipe, one of the central ceremonial objects of the Northeast Indians and Plains Indians of North America, it was an object of profound veneration that was smoked on ceremonial occasions. Many Native Americans continued to venerate the Sacred Pipe in the early 21st century. The Sacred Pipe

Germanic religion and mythology: Worship: …Tacitus, took place in a sacred grove; other examples of sacred groves include the one in which Nerthus usually resides. Tacitus does, however, mention temples in Germany, though they were probably few. Old English laws mention fenced places around a stone, tree, or other object of worship. In Scandinavia, men…

biblical literature: The modern period: …Lowth’s (1710–87) Oxford lectures on The Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews, published in Latin in 1753, greatly promoted the understanding of the poetry of the Old Testament by expounding the laws of its parallelistic structure. The German philologist Karl Lachmann (1793–1851) applied his expertise in classical criticism to editing the…

Machu Picchu: …of the ruin is the Sacred Rock, also known as the Temple of the Sun (it was called the Mausoleum by Bingham). It centres on an inclined rock mass with a small grotto; walls of cut stone fill in some of its irregular features. Rising above the rock is the…

Germanic religion and mythology: Worship: …Tacitus, took place in a sacred grove; other examples of sacred groves include the one in which Nerthus usually resides. Tacitus does, however, mention temples in Germany, though they were probably few. Old English laws mention fenced places around a stone, tree, or other object of worship. In Scandinavia, men…

religious symbolism and iconography, respectively, the basic and often complex artistic forms and gestures used as a kind of key to convey religious concepts and the visual, auditory, and kinetic representations of religious ideas and events. Symbolism and iconography have been utilized by all the

concerto: The Baroque vocal-instrumental concerto (c. 1585–1650): …the three sets of Schütz’s Symphoniae sacrae, or Sacred Symphonies (1629, 1647, and 1650), works that reveal all the variety of treatment to be found in Schein’s sacred concerti, except for Schein’s interest in the chorale. The first two of Schütz’s sets consisted of few-voice settings, mostly one to three…

measurement system: The Babylonians: …to 60 shekels and the sacred talent to 3,000 shekels, or 50 sacred minas. The Talmudic mina equaled 25 shekels; the Talmudic talent equaled 1,500 shekels, or 60 Talmudic minas.

Plant Chemicals: Healing, Hallucinogenic, and Harmful: Plant Chemicals: Healing, Hallucinogenic, and Harmful transcript: Datura wrightii, or sacred datura, was, as its name suggests, sacred to a number of native peoples throughout its range from northern Mexico through the southwestern United States. It is closely related to and sometimes confused with jimsonweed (Datura stramonium). And the two plants have similar properties: both…

upanayana: …and the sacred thread (upavita, or yajnopavita). The thread, consisting of a loop made of three symbolically knotted and twisted strands of cotton cord, is replaced regularly so that it is worn throughout the lifetime of the owner, normally over the left shoulder and diagonally across the chest to…

sacred: Manifestations of the sacred: …festivals are a return to sacred time, that time prior to the structured existence that most people commonly experience (profane time). Sacred calendars provide the opportunity for the profane time to be rejuvenated periodically in the festivals. These occasions symbolically repeat the primordial chaos before the beginning of the world;…

Amphissa: The city provoked the Fourth Sacred War when it was denounced (339 bce) for the impiety of cultivating the sacred wooded plain of Crisa, still drained by the stream Pleistus. The following year it was destroyed by Philip II of Macedonia, who undertook the punitive mission on behalf of…

Isocrates: Isocrates as rhetorician: …money, and then by the Sacred War, fought as a result of the refusal of the Phocians to pay a fine levied by the Amphictyons, and when Persia was again threatening, there could be no question of Greece uniting to attack. Isocrates thus had to confine himself to pleading for…

Edward Herbert Thompson: …and underwater exploration of the Sacred Well of Chichén Itzá. Actually a small lake, it had been traditionally regarded as the grave of girls and captive warriors sacrificed alive to propitiate the rain god, who was supposed to reside at the bottom of the well. Thompson traveled to Boston to…

The Sacred Wood, book of critical essays by T.S. Eliot, published in 1920. In it, Eliot discusses several of the issues of Modernist writings of the period. The best-known essay of the collection, “Tradition and the Individual Talent,” puts forth Eliot’s theory of a literary tradition that

Chen Kaige: …Chen followed Zhaoshi guer (2010; Sacrifice), which was based on a 13th-century zaju (a Chinese dramatic form), with Sousuo (2012; Caught in the Web), a commentary on the social effects of modern technology. His later films included the martial arts drama Dao shi xia shan (2015; Monk Comes Down the…

sacrifice, a religious rite in which an object is offered to a divinity in order to establish, maintain, or restore a right relationship of a human being to the sacred order. It is a complex phenomenon that has been found in the earliest known forms of worship and in all parts of the world. The

baseball: Advancing base runners and scoring: ” A sacrifice occurs when the batter bunts the ball—that is, tries to tap it lightly with the bat to make it roll slowly along the ground in fair territory between the catcher and pitcher—so that one or more runners may be able to proceed to their…

baseball: Advancing base runners and scoring: …score, it is called a sacrifice fly. Sacrifice plays and sacrifice flys can occur only with less than two outs.

Roxane Gay: Hunger, Not That Bad, and other works: …2020 include the graphic novel The Sacrifice of Darkness (written with Tracy Lynne Oliver), the short-story collection Graceful Burdens, and The Selected Works of Audre Lorde, which she edited. In 2023 Gay published Opinions: A Decade of Arguments, Criticisms, and Minding Other People’s Business, a collection of some of her…

Andrea del Sarto: His Sacrifice of Isaac, intended as a political present to Francis I, was painted in this period. After the siege of Florence by imperial and papal forces, he succumbed to a new wave of plague and died in his house. Sources differ on the exact date…

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo: Early life: …in his first public work, The Sacrifice of Isaac (1716), for the church of Sta. Maria dei Derelitti, or Ospedaletto. Tiepolo’s name first appears on the lists of the Venetian painters’ guild as an independent painter in 1717. The fact that his studio was thriving at this time is attested…

Filippo Brunelleschi: Early years: Brunelleschi’s trial panel depicting The Sacrifice of Isaac is the high point of his career as a sculptor. His ability to arrest narrative action at the moment of its greatest dramatic impact and the vigorous gestures and animated expressions of the figures account for the merit of his panel.…

Western painting: Etruscan: …celebrated fresco known as the “Sacrifice of the Trojan Prisoners.” It is next to a historical scene showing wars between Etruscan and Roman princes during the Archaic period. This renewed interest in mythological or legendary equivalents of actual historical events is yet another hint that the Greek Hellenistic allegorical tradition…

Frank Bidart: …acclaim attended Bidart’s publication of The Sacrifice (1983), a collection of five long poems about guilt, among them “The War of Vaslav Nijinsky,” an ambitious mixture of poetry and prose about the dancer’s obsession with the tragedies of World War I, and “Confessional,” a psychiatric examination of a mother-and-son relationship.…

sacrilege, originally, the theft of something sacred; as early as the 1st century bc, however, the Latin term for sacrilege came to mean any injury, violation, or profanation of sacred things. Legal punishment for such acts was already sanctioned, in the Levitical code of ancient Israel. The

sacristan, a sexton (q.v.) or, more commonly, the officer of the church in charge of the sacristy and its contents, such as the sacred vessels and vestments. The person may be either someone in holy orders, as is common in a cathedral, or a lay

sacristy, in architecture, room in a Christian church in which vestments and sacred objects used in the services are stored and in which the clergy and sometimes the altar boys and the choir members put on their robes. In the early Christian church, two rooms beside the apse, the diaconicon and the

Milan: Cultural life: …of several universities, including the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore; 1920), one of the best Roman Catholic schools in Italy; Bocconi University (Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi; 1902), offering degrees in business, economics, and law; Milan Polytechnic (Politecnico di Milano; 1863), with programs in engineering,…

20th-century international relations: Efforts to break the stalemate: …Italy would be informed by sacro egoismo. This, he explained, was a mystical rather than cynical concept, but it set off seven months of haggling over what the Allies would offer Italy to enter the war, and what the Central Powers would offer for neutrality. Some considerations were objective: Italy’s…

Subiaco: 494) to a cave, Sacro Speco (“Holy Grotto”), above the lakes; he founded 12 monasteries in the district before departing for Cassino. The Abbey of San Benedetto on the mountain slope has 9th-century frescoes in the Grotta dei Pastori (“Grotto of the Shepherds”). St. Benedict’s cave and the lower…

teratoma: Epidemiology and pathology: Sacrococcygeal teratomas, which affect infants, develop under the coccyx (tailbone) in a region known as Hensen’s node, which houses germ cells that differentiate to form the ectoderm, endoderm, and mesoderm. The fetiform teratoma is an exceedingly rare cystlike tumor with mature cells that usually forms…

sacroiliac, weight-bearing synovial joint that articulates, or connects, the hip bone with the the sacrum at the base of the spinal column. Strong ligaments around the joint help to stabilize it in supporting the weight of the upper body; the joint’s motion is also limited by the irregular surfaces

Modernism: …of Benigni, Pius X issued Sacrorum antistitum, which prescribed that all teachers in seminaries and clerics take an oath denouncing Modernism and supporting Lamentabili and Pascendi.

Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges: It approved the decree Sacrosancta of the council, which asserted the supremacy of a council over the pope, and established the “liberties” of the Gallican Church, restricting the rights of the pope and in many cases making his jurisdiction subject to the will of the king. Revoked by Louis…

sacrum, wedge-shaped triangular bone at the base of the vertebral column, above the caudal (tail) vertebrae, or coccyx, that articulates (connects) with the pelvic girdle. In humans it is usually composed of five vertebrae, which fuse in early adulthood. The top of the first (uppermost) sacral

Holy Roman Empire, the varying complex of lands in western and central Europe ruled by the Holy Roman emperor, a title held first by Frankish and then by German kings for 10 centuries. The Holy Roman Empire existed from 800 to 1806. For histories of the territories governed at various times by the

Sacsayhuamán, large Inca fortress overlooking Cuzco, Peru, from a hilltop 755 feet (230 m) above the city. It was built in the 15th century during the reign of Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui. If Cuzco was laid out by the Inca in the shape of a puma, Sacsayhuamán represents the puma’s head. Built with

Sacsayhuamán, large Inca fortress overlooking Cuzco, Peru, from a hilltop 755 feet (230 m) above the city. It was built in the 15th century during the reign of Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui. If Cuzco was laid out by the Inca in the shape of a puma, Sacsayhuamán represents the puma’s head. Built with

Botswana: Trade: …and Namibia, belongs to the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), which allows for the free exchange of goods between member countries. Botswana is also a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional organization focused on economic cooperation and integration.

seasonal affective disorder (SAD), mood disorder characterized by recurring depression in autumn and winter, separated by periods of nondepression in spring and summer. The condition was first described in 1984 by American psychiatrist Norman Rosenthal. In autumn, when the days grow progressively

separation anxiety disorder, condition characterized by intense and prolonged concern, dread, worry, or apprehension about being separated from a loved one. Separation anxiety disorder is associated with significant distress, to the degree that it interferes with the affected individual’s ability

social anxiety disorder (SAD), a type of anxiety disorder characterized by a fear of interacting with people, due to worries over the possibility of being negatively scrutinized and judged by them. Social anxiety disorder (SAD) was once referred to as social phobia; however, the label of “phobia,”

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), regional political party in Punjab state, northwestern India. It is the principal advocacy organization of the large Sikh community in the state and is centred on the philosophy of promoting the well-being of the country’s Sikh population by providing them with a

South Asian arts: Folk dance: In sada topo tsen men wear gorgeous silks, brocades, and long tunics with wide flapping sleeves. Skulls arranged as a diadem are a prominent feature of their grotesquely grinning wooden masks representing spirits of the other world. The dancers rely on powerful, rather slow, twirling movements…

Korea: Social change in later Goryeo: …force consisting of scholar-officials (sadaebu), who generally had small farms under their own management in their native districts. These men held Buddhism in disdain and were not satisfied with superficial interpretations of the five Chinese Classics (Wujing) of Confucianism. They adopted neo-Confucianism, which introduced a metaphysical approach to the…

Oh Sadaharu is a professional baseball player who played for the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants in the Japanese Central League for 22 seasons between 1959 and 1980 and who holds the record for the most home runs ever hit (868). (See also Japanese baseball leagues). He is among the most revered of Japan’s

Shirakawa was the 72nd emperor of Japan who abdicated the throne and then established a cloister government (insei) through which he could maintain his power unburdened by the exacting ceremonial and family duty required of the legitimate Japanese sovereign. He thus established a precedent that

Sadakichi Hartmann was an American art critic, novelist, poet, and man of letters. The son of a German father and Japanese mother, Hartmann went to the United States as a boy (he became a naturalized citizen in 1894). While living in Philadelphia from 1882 to 1885, he befriended the elderly Walt

Aquarius: …striking features, the brightest star, Sadalmelik (Arabic for “the lucky stars of the king”), being of magnitude 3.0.

Uda was the 59th emperor of Japan, from 887 to 897. The son of the emperor Kōkō, Uda was one of the few rulers during this period whose mother was not a member of the Fujiwara family, which, partly through intermarriage with the imperial line, dominated Japan from 859 to 1160. During the first part

zakat: …the Prophet Muhammad) also stress ṣadaqah, or voluntary almsgiving, which, like zakat, is intended for the needy. Twelver Shīʿites, moreover, require payment of an additional one-fifth tax, the khums, to the Hidden Imam and his deputies. It is intended to be spent for the benefit of the imams in addition…

Mazyadid Dynasty: …brother Muḥammad, the Mazyadid ruler Ṣadaqah I (reigned 1086–1108) gradually assumed control of most of Iraq, seizing Hīt, Wāsiṭ, Basra, and Takrīt. In 1102 he expanded and fortified his capital city of al-Jāmiʿān and renamed it al-Ḥillah. Ṣadaqah, however, proved to be too threatening to Muḥammad, and the Mazyadid ruler…

Sinéad O’Connor was an Irish singer-songwriter, who was dubbed the first superstar of the 1990s by Rolling Stone magazine. During her career she attracted publicity not only for her voice, which was alternately searing and soothing, but also for her controversial actions and statements. The