Ahmed Ibn Abu al-Hassan al-Nuri (Persian: ابو الحسین النوری‎) (died 907 AD), known also as Nuri, was a famous early Sufi saint. He was born in Bagdad (in 840) where spent most of his life. He is the author of Maqamat al-qulub (Stations of the Hearts). He is famous for saying, "I love God and God loves me". He is one of the earliest sufis who was clearly mystical as illustrated by his saying "Joining with the Truth is parting from everything else, as parting with everything else is joining with it"

Nuri and several of his friends were accused of heresey and charged in 878 C.E. Nuri offered to be tried before his companions. The regent at the time was impressed by such magnaminity and investigated the case and found these Sufis to be good Muslims. Thus he set the accused free. Nuri, however, was exiled to Ar-Raqqah in Syria, whence he returned some years later, much deteriorated physically.

Poetry and statements from Nuri are narrated in popular Sufism. According to popular accounts, he gained the title "Nuri" because he "radiated light when talking". He was acquainted with Junayd Baghdadi.

Nuri is a place in modern Sudan on the south (east) side of the Nile. Close to it, there are pyramids belonging to Nubian kings. Nuri is situated about 15 km north of Sanam, and 10 km from Jebel Barkal. All these remains belonged to the ancient city Napata, the first capital of the Nubian kingdom of Kush.

The earliest pyramid (Nu. 1) at Nuri belongs to king Taharqa which measures 51.75 metres square by 40 or by 50 metres high.^{[citation needed]} His successor Tantamani was buried somewhere else, but all following Nubian kings and many of their wives till Nastasen (Nu. 15) (about 330 BC) were buried here. The pyramids at Nuri are in general smaller than the Egyptian ones and are today often heavily destroyed, but they often still contained substantial parts of the funerary equipment of the Kushite rulers who were buried here. During the Christian era, a church was erected here. The church was built of many old stones, including several stelae originally coming from the pyramids.

The pyramids were systematically excavated by George Reisner.

Saint Sebastian (died c. 288) was a Christian saint and martyr, who is said to have been killed during the Roman emperor Diocletian's persecution of Christians. He is commonly depicted in art and literature tied to a post or tree and shot with arrows. This is the most common artistic depiction of Sebastian; however, he was rescued and healed by Irene of Rome before criticising the emperor and being clubbed to death. He is venerated in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

The details of Saint Sebastian's martyrdom were first spoken of by 4th century bishop Ambrose of Milan, in his sermon (number 22) on Psalm 118. Ambrose stated that Sebastian came from Milan and that he was already venerated there in the 4th century.

According to Sebastian's 5th-century Acta Sanctorum, still attributed to Ambrose by the 17th-century hagiographer Jean Bolland, and the briefer account in Legenda Aurea, he was a man of Gallia Narbonensis who was taught in Milan and appointed as a captain of the Praetorian Guard under Diocletian and Maximian, who were unaware that he was a Christian.

Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈnuːri ˈbilɡe ˈdʒejlan]; born 26 January 1959 in Istanbul) is a Turkish photographer and film director. He is married to the filmmaker, photographer, and actress Ebru Ceylan, his co-star in İklimler (Climates).

Ceylan learned photography at age 15, and developed an interest in film at 22. While Ceylan study at Bogazici University, he participated cinema and photography clubs and he took passport-style photos to make pocket money. After graduating from university with a BSC degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, he went to London and Kathmandu to decide what he should do in life. Then he went to Ankara back to do military service. When he was in the army, he found out how to give shape to the rest of his life 'cinema'. Ceylan's first short film Koza (Cocoon) was screened in the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. He received many awards with his debut feature Kasaba (Small Town). His third feature Uzak (Distant) received many awards including the Grand Jury Prize and the Best Actor Prize at Cannes, and was praised internationally. His 2006 film Iklimler (Climates) won the FIPRESCI Movie Critics' Award at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and received international praise by critics and experts. The film won 5 awards at the 2006 Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, bringing him the "Best Director" title. During the preparation of this movie, Ceylan turned his attentions to photography again. From this point on, he began devoting his time to both cinema and photography. "Turkey Cinemascope" is a book of Panoramic Photographs of Turkey by Nuri Bilge Ceylan between the years 2003 and 2009. He won the best director award in the 2008 Cannes Film Festival for Üç Maymun (Three Monkeys). At the end of his speech, Ceylan stated, "I dedicate this award to my beautiful and lonely country, which I love passionately."

Yaşar Nuri Öztürk (June 22, 1951 in Sürmene, Trabzon) is a Turkish theologian, lawyer, columnist and a former member of Turkish parliament.

He was born on June 22, 1951 in Sürmene, Trabzon and raised in Turkey’s Black Sea region.

He has served as both faculty member and dean at the Istanbul University for over 26 years. He taught Islamic thought at the Theological Seminary of Barrytown in New York for one year as a guest professor, during which time he also made major contributions to the Islamic section of the anthology, “The World Scripture.”

He has given many conferences on Islamic thought, humanity and human rights in Turkey, the USA, Europe, the Middle East and the Balkans. Yasar Nuri Ozturk represents an interpretation of Islam which is secular and social democratic.

He also has a Turkish translation of the Qur'an. This translation, which went into 126 printings between 1993 and 2003, is recognized as the most printed book in the history of the Turkish Republic.

His lengthy articles, such as “Islam and Europe,” (Die Zeit, February 20, 2003); “Islam and Democracy,” [“Desperately Seeking Europe,” London (Archetype Publications), 2003, pp. 198–210; Europa Leidenschaftlich Gesucht, München-Zürich, (Piper Verlag) 2003, pp. 210–224], “İslam-Batı İlişkileri ve Bunun KEİ Ülkelerindeki Yansımaları” (Chelovecheskiy Faktor: Obschestvo i Vlast, 2004-4), along with the extensive interviews he has given on the subjects of Islam, the West and secularism [for example, see “al-Ahram” (weekly), February 1–7, 2001] have had a deep impact in both the West and the Islamic world.