Middle East

2. a hot, dry, suffocating wind that blows from time to time in the Arabian Peninsula.
3. Material - material contaminated by residue from the generation of nuclear energy or the testing of nuclear weapons.
6. a northwesterly wind in the Persian Gulf.
9. excessively dry.
10. the removal of salt from seawater to make it usable for drinking and farming.
13. any grain like barley, oats, or wheat, grown for food.
15. a strategic, narrow waterway between two larger bodies of water.
16. in Islam, the yearly pilgrimage to Makkah that Muslims must make at least once in a lifetime.
18. government policy as it is influenced by physical, human, and economic geography.
19. a mound or ridge of sand formed by the wind.
21. from Arabic for “seeker” or “student”; name of a fundamentalist Sunni Muslim group, active in Afghanistan, which controlled the Afghan government from 1996 to 2001

1. Islamic law derived from the Quran and the teachings of Muhammad.
2. a branch of Islam that regards Muhammad’s son-in-law Ali and the imams as his rightful successors.
4. a conservative form of Islam distinct from Sunni and Shia sects.
5. Islamic guerrilla fighters.
7. a branch of Islam that regards the first four successors of Muhammad as his rightful successors.
8. a distinct territorial or cultural area that is within a foreign territory.
11. a territory that belongs to a particular political unit but is separated from it and surrounded by another political unit.
12. wide, grassy plains of Eurasia; also, similar semi arid grassy areas elsewhere.
14. a portion of land nearly surrounded by water.
17. a seasonal wind that brings warm, moist air from the oceans in summer and cooler, dry air from inland in winter.
20. territory ruled by an Arab tribal leader.