Bu-Fakhra | |
---|---|
Basic People's Congress division | |
Country | ![]() |
Region | Cyrenaica |
District | Benghazi |
Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
Bu-Fakhra is a Basic People's Congress administrative division of Benghazi, Libya. [1] The area is named after a venerated saint in the area, whose tomb was once a popular visited site. As of 2012, the tomb was demolished by Salafists in the relative absence of law and order after the Libyan 2011 revolution.
Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. Libya borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad to the south, Niger to the southwest, Algeria to the west, and Tunisia to the northwest. Libya comprises three historical regions: Tripolitania, Fezzan, and Cyrenaica. With an area of almost 1.8 million km2 (700,000 sq mi), it is the fourth-largest country in Africa and the Arab world, and the 16th-largest in the world. The country's official religion is Islam, with 96.6% of the Libyan population being Sunni Muslims. The official language of Libya is Arabic, with vernacular Libyan Arabic being spoken most widely. The majority of Libya's population is Arab. The largest city and capital, Tripoli, is located in north-western Libya and contains over a million of Libya's seven million people.
Tripoli is the capital and largest city of Libya, with a population of about 3.56 million people in 2023. It is located in the northwest of Libya on the edge of the desert, on a point of rocky land projecting into the Mediterranean Sea and forming a bay. It includes the port of Tripoli and the country's largest commercial and manufacturing center. It is also the site of the University of Tripoli. The vast Bab al-Azizia barracks, which includes the former family estate of Muammar Gaddafi, is also located in the city. Colonel Gaddafi largely ruled the country from his residence in this barracks.
Cyrenaica or Kyrenaika, is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between the 16th and 25th meridians east, including the Kufra District. The coastal region, also known as Pentapolis in antiquity, was part of the Roman province of Crete and Cyrenaica, later divided into Libya Pentapolis and Libya Sicca. During the Islamic period, the area came to be known as Barqa, after the city of Barca.
Cyrene or Kyrene was an ancient Greek and later Roman city near present-day Shahhat, Libya. It was the most important of the five Greek cities in the region, known as the pentapolis. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica, which it has retained to modern times.
Benghazi is the second-most populous city in Libya as well as the largest city in Cyrenaica, with an estimated population of 1,207,250 in 2020. Located on the Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean, Benghazi is also a major seaport.
Hedjkheperre Setepenre Shoshenq I —also known as Shashank or Sheshonk or Sheshonq I—was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the founder of the Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt. Of Meshwesh ancestry, Shoshenq I was the son of Nimlot A, Great Chief of the Ma, and his wife Tentshepeh A, a daughter of a Great Chief of the Ma herself; Shoshenq was thus the nephew of Osorkon the Elder, a Meshwesh king of the 21st Dynasty. He is generally presumed to be the Shishak mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, and his exploits are carved on the Bubastite Portal at Karnak.
A zawiya or zaouia is a building and institution associated with Sufis in the Islamic world. It can serve a variety of functions such a place of worship, school, monastery and/or mausoleum. In some regions the term is interchangeable with the term khanqah, which serves a similar purpose. In the Maghreb, the term is often used for a place where the founder of a Sufi order or a local saint or holy man lived and was buried. In the Maghreb the word can also be used to refer to the wider tariqa and its membership.
The Fourth Dynasty of ancient Egypt is characterized as a "golden age" of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. Dynasty IV lasted from c. 2613 to 2494 BC. It was a time of peace and prosperity as well as one during which trade with other countries is documented.
Islam is the dominant religion in Libya, with 97% of Libyans following Sunni Islam. Article 5 of the Libyan Constitution declared that Islam was the official religion of the state. The post-revolution National Transitional Council has explicitly endeavored to reaffirm Islamic values, enhance appreciation of Islamic culture, elevate the status of Quranic law and, to a considerable degree, emphasize Quranic practice in everyday Libyan life with legal implementation in accordance to Islamic jurisprudence known as sharia. Libya has a small presence of Ahmadis and Shias, primarily consisting of Pakistani immigrants, though unrecognized by the state.
The Book of Gates is an ancient Egyptian funerary text dating from the New Kingdom. The text was not named by the Egyptians. It was named by French Egyptologist Gaston Maspero who called it 'Livre de Portes'. The Book of Gates narrates the passage of a newly deceased soul into the next world, corresponding to the journey of the sun through the underworld during the hours of the night. The soul is required to pass through a series of 'gates' at different stages in the journey. Each gate is associated with a different goddess, and requires that the deceased recognize the particular character of that deity. Depictions of the judgment of the dead are shown in the last three hours and the text implies that some people will pass through unharmed, but that others will suffer torment in a lake of fire. The Book of Gates serves as a guidebook so that the deceased pharaoh with the sun god, can navigate his way to the afterworld and toward his resurrection. The Book of Gates is long and detailed and consists of one hundred scenes.
The Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt is also known as the Bubastite Dynasty, since the pharaohs originally ruled from the city of Bubastis. It was founded by Shoshenq I.
Bayda, or Elbeida ( or ; Arabic: البيضاء al-Bayḍāʾ ), is a commercial and industrial city in eastern Libya. It is located in northern Cyrenaica. With a population of 250,000 people, Bayda is the 4th-largest city in Libya. It is the capital city of the Jabal al Akhdar district.
Ptolemais was one of the five cities that formed the Pentapolis of Cyrenaica, the others being Cyrene, Euesperides, Tauchira/Teuchira, and Apollonia.
The traditional Berber religion is the ancient and native set of beliefs and deities adhered to by the Berbers. Many ancient Berber beliefs were developed locally, whereas others were influenced over time through contact with others like ancient Egyptian religion, or borrowed during antiquity from the Punic religion, Judaism, Iberian mythology, and the Hellenistic religion. Some of the ancient Berber beliefs still exist today subtly within the Berber popular culture and tradition. Syncretic influences from the traditional Berber religion can also be found in certain other faiths.
The Gurgi Mosque is a mosque in Tripoli, Libya. It lies in the heart of old Tripoli as part of a complex of historic buildings. The mosque is an important tourist attraction, as is the area as a whole; nearby is the Roman Arch of Marcus Aurelius.
The Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt is the third and last dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1189 BC to 1077 BC. The 19th and 20th Dynasties furthermore together constitute an era known as the Ramesside period. This dynasty is generally considered to be the start of the decline of Ancient Egypt.
The area of North Africa which has been known as Libya since 1911 was under Roman domination between 146 BC and 672 AD. The Latin name Libya at the time referred to the continent of Africa in general. What is now coastal Libya was known as Tripolitania and Pentapolis, divided between the Africa province in the west, and Crete and Cyrenaica in the east. In 296 AD, the Emperor Diocletian separated the administration of Crete from Cyrenaica and in the latter formed the new provinces of "Upper Libya" and "Lower Libya", using the term Libya as a political state for the first time in history.
The Martyrs' Square ; known as Green Square under the Gaddafi government; Independence Square during the monarchy; and originally known as Piazza Italia is a downtown landmark at the bay in the city of Tripoli, Libya. The main commercial center of the city surrounds the square. The Square is also a main tourist attraction in Tripoli. It has a large legendary fountain done by an Italian architect at the centre of the square. The square is the meeting point of many different avenues. Omar Mukhtar Avenue is one of the longest in North Africa, it was built by Italians in the colonial time, and Libyans during the era of King Idris I. Independence Street branches from the square too, and it leads to the Palace of King Idris I. 24 December Avenue is also an Italian built avenue. Mizran Street is the last street that branches from the Martyrs' Square.
The Atiq Mosque is a mosque in the oasis village of Awjila, in the Sahara desert of the Cyrenaica region of eastern Libya. The community dates back to classical times. Since being taken by the Arabs in the seventh century, Islam has always played a central role in the life of Awjila. The 12th-century mosque, the oldest in the region, has unusual conical domes made of mudbrick and limestone that provide light and ventilation.
The Sidi Darghut Mosque or Jama Sidi Darghut is a mosque in Tripoli, Libya. It was built in around 1560 by Dragut on the site of a Hospitaller church, parts of which were incorporated into the mosque. The mosque was damaged in World War II but it was subsequently repaired, although the reconstruction was not completely faithful to its original design.