The Alawis, also known as Alawites, Nusayris and Ansaris (‘Alawīyyah (Arabic: علوية‎), Nuṣayrī (Arabic: نصيريون‎), and al-Anṣāriyyah) are a prominent mystical religious group centred in Syria who follow a branch of the Twelver school of Shia Islam.

The Alawis take their name from Ali ibn Abi Talib, cousin and son-in-law of Muḥammad, who was the first Shi'a Imam and the fourth and last "Rightly Guided Caliph" of Sunni Islam.

Until fairly recently, Alawis were referred to as "Nusairis", after Abu Shu'ayb Muhammad ibn Nusayr (d. ca 270 h, 863 AD) who is reported to have attended the circles of the last three Imams of the prophet Muhammad's line. This name is considered derogatory, and they refer to themselves as Alawis.^{[page needed]} They have allegedly "generally preferred" to be called Alawis, because of the association of the name with Ali ibn Abi Talib, rather than commemorating Abu Shu'ayb Muhammad Ibn Nusayr. In September 1920 French occupational forces instituted the policy of referring to them by the term "Alawi".

Mohammad Salman (born 7 August 1981, Karachi) is an international cricketer from Pakistan. He is a right handed batsman and a wicketkeeper.

Salman made his international debut (in all formats) verses West Indies in the only T20 played at Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia on 21 April 2011. His first dismissal in international cricket was the stumping of Marlon Samuels of the bowling of Saeed Ajmal.

In his debut match on 21 April 2011 verses the West Indies, he took one catch (Darren Sammy) and initiated one stumping (Marlon Samuels).

Salman the Persian or Salmān al-Fārsī (Arabic: سلمان الفارسي‎ Salman al-Farsi; in Persian: روزبه‎ Rouzbeh) was one of Muhammad's companions.

During some of his later meetings with the other Sahabah, he was referred to as Abu Abdullah ("Father of Abdullah").

Salman the Persian was born either in the city of Kazerun in Fars Province, or Isfahan in Isfahan Province, Iran.

It was Salman who came up with the idea of digging a great trench around the city of Medina to defend the city and its people from the army of 10,000 non-Muslims of Arabia. Muhammad and his companions agreed and accepted Salman's plan because it was safer and there would be a better chance that the non-Muslim army of Arabia would have a larger number of casualties. Salman came up with the idea from remembering the same thing happening in Persia; when the Persians learned that their enemies planned to invade their territory, they dug a trench around them to be safe. The attack that the Muslims had expected, is known as the Battle of the Trench.

The Persian Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991), codenamed Operation Desert Storm (17 January 1991 – 28 February 1991) commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a UN-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.

The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf War, Gulf War I, or the Iraq War, before the term "Iraq War" became identified instead with the 2003 Iraq War (also referred to in the U.S. as "Operation Iraqi Freedom").

The invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi troops that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the UN Security Council. U.S. President George H. W. Bush deployed American forces into Saudi Arabia, and urged other countries to send their own forces to the scene. An array of nations joined the coalition. The great majority of the military forces in the coalition were from the United States, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Egypt as leading contributors, in that order. Around US$36 billion of the US$60 billion cost was paid by Saudi Arabia.