Al
Al
Among Arab groups, a term denoting a tribe, clan, family, or other patrilineal filiation. It often refers to a ruling line or dynasty and generally precedes a substantive name (e.g., Al Sa'ud) but is not connected by a hyphen; it is unrelated to the Arabic definite article, al-. In Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, entries for Arab tribal and dynastic groups are alphabetized under the substantive (e.g., for Al Sa'ud, see Sa'ud dynasty).
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