Question to someone who may know:
We see in Arabic many words which are prefixed with an
"al", Moammar Al-Qaddafi, for example. Others like Al-Akbar,
and I believe it was Anwar Al-Sadat of Egypt. To what
does the "al" refer? Or is it like a "the", "of", "from"?
Is it like Fitz in Fitzsimmons, Da in DaVinci, D' in D'Onofrio, Mac in MacKay, De in DeMaupassant? I notice it
is in names of places as well as people, hence my question.

----please, draw me a sheep----