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Glossary of Islamic Terms

Ibrahim Ozdemir, Ph.D. iozdemir@yahoo.com

[I used this glossary of terms, when I was teaching at Hartford Seminary. I will appreciate any suggestions to improve and enrich it].

Allah: the Supreme Being, the one and only God. Allah in Arabic implies the one and only true God, the beginning and the end of everything, neither born nor giving birth. He is merciful, the Beneficent, the Knowledgeable, the Protector, the Mighty, the God, the Provider, the Exalted, the Lord, the All-Knowing, the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing, the Magnificent, the Wise, the Loving, the First, the Last, and the Eternal. The Qur'an mentions 99 beautiful names for Allah through which Muslim do recognize Him, and His responsibilities for the whole Universe. Many people ask why the term "Allah" is used instead of "God" and assume it's use implies that Muslims worship a separate God. Allah is exactly the same word that the Jews, in Hebrew, use for God (eloh), the word that Jesus Christ used in Aramaic when he prayed to God. Allahu-Akbar: God is the Most Great. Adhan: The call to prayer pronounced loudly to indicate that the time of praying is due. Amn: O Allah, accept our invocation. Caliph: The Imm or the Muslim ruler. Successor of Muhammad as leader of the Muslim or community Caliphate: political institution led by or reign of a caliph 'Eid-al-Adh: The Festival of Sacrifice is celebrated throughout the Muslim world as a commemoration of Prophet Ibrahim's (PBUH) willingness to sacrifice his son for God. Eid-ulAdha is celebrated on the tenth day of the month of Zul-Hijja. 'Eid-al-Fitr: The three-day festival of Muslims starting from the first day of Shawwl, the month that follows Ramadn immediately. Fitr Iiterally means 'breaking the fast.' Muslims fast the whole of Ramadn, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and when Shawwl comes, they break their fast. Fasting: Fasting from dawn to sunset during the month of Ramadan, the ninth month in the Islamic lunar calendar, is required of those whose health permits. It is a complete fast, requiring that nothing be taken into the body but needed medication. During Ramadan there is an emphasis on piety and religious observances. Those who are ill or traveling do not have to fast during Ramadan but must compensate by fasting and by contributing to the Zakat. Fatwa: a religious opinion issued by a mufti

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Fiqh: Study of Islamic law or jurisprudence Five Pillars of Islam: five basic principles meant to guide each Muslim onto the path of right behavior. They are the frameworks of the Muslim life: faith, prayer, concern for the needy, selfpurification, and the pilgrimage to Makkah for those who are able. Hadith: A saying of the Prophet transmitted outside the Qur'an through a chain of known intermediaries. There are two kinds of hadith: hadith qudsi (sacred sentence), a direct revelation, in which God speaks in the first person by the mouth of the Prophet, and hadith nabawi (prophetic sentence), an indirect revelation in which the Prophet speaks as himself. Hajj: The pilgrimage to Mecca once in one's lifetime is required of all those who have the physical and financial ability to make the journey. The rituals of the hajj were established by the Prophet. They emphasize repentance, resulting in forgiveness by God. The practice also strengthens the bond among the faithful from all walks of life and regions of the world. It is performed during the Islamic lunar month of Dhu al-hijja. Halal and Haram: These are two Arabic words to mean lawful an unlawful respectively. The standards are based on the Qur'an and the Hadith; and Muslims are to abide in their daily life activities by the teachings of their standards. These two concepts are very important when one talks about moral, physical, spiritual, medical, biological, and dietetic aspects of Islam. Muslims talk regularly about Halal and Haram for anything they do. Hegira/hijrah: the movement of Muslims and the prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in the year 622 C.E.. On the Muslim religious calendar A.H. 1 began on July 16, 622 C.E. and all historical events that occurred after that date are designated as A.H. Ihsn: The highest level of deeds and worship, (perfection i.e. when you worship Allah or do deeds, consider yourself as if you see Him and if you cannot achieve this feeling or attitude, then you must bear in mind that He sees you). Imam: 1) Muslim religious or political leader; 2)one of the succession of leaders, beginning with Ali, viewed by the Shia as legitimate; 3)leader in prayer; 4) may also refer to the tomb or shrine of a religious leader Imn: Faith, Belief. Islam: Islam means submission, that is, submission to the will of God, the characteristic attitude of members of our faith. Muslim (also spelled Moslem) is based on the same Arabic root as Islam `(s-l-m) and means one who submits to God, that is, a believer in Islam. Kaba (kabah): The Ka`aba is a building located within the court of the Great Mosque at Mecca. Muslims all over the world face in the direction of the Ka`aba while praying. Pilgrims at Mecca are supposed to circumambulate the Ka`aba. The Ka`aba contains a sacred black stone. Khutbah: sermon La Ilaha ill Allh: There is none worthy of worship except Allah (God). Lunar Calendar: In their religious duties, Muslims depend on solar and lunar calendars. The latter is shorter than the solar by twelve days. Fasting the month of Ramadhan, celebrating the

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two major feasts ('Eid Al-Fitr and 'Eid Al-Adhha), performing the pilgrimage to Makkah, and other religious activities depend upon the lunar months. The timing of the daily prayers depends on the solar system. The names of the lunar months are: Maharrem, Safar, Rabi' Al-Awwal, Rabi' Al-Akhar, Jamada Al-Akhirah, Rajab, Sha'ban, Ramadhan, Shawwal, Zul-Qi'dah, and Zul-HIjjah. Jesus (Isa): Muslims respect and revere Jesus. They consider him one of the greatest of God's messengers to mankind. A Muslim never refers to him simply as 'Jesus', but always adds the phrase 'upon him be peace'. The Quran confirms his virgin birth (a chapter of the Quran is entitled 'Mary'), and Mary is considered the purest woman in all creation. Jihad: In the linguistic sense, the Arabic word "jihad" means struggling or striving and applies to any effort exerted by anyone. This word has been in frequent use in the Western press over the past several years, explained directly or subtlety, to mean holy war. In its primary sense it is an inner thing, within self, to rid it from debased actions or inclinations, and exercise constancy and perseverance in achieving a higher moral standard. Military action is therefore a subgroup of the Jihad and not its totality. That was what prophet Mohammad emphasized to his companions when returning from a military campaign, he told them: "This day we have returned from the minor jihad (war) to the major jihad (self-control and betterment)." Makkah or Mecca: city where Muhammad first lived and where he received his revelation and where he first began to convert his family and friends to Islam; he fled from there in 622 A.D. (1 A.H.) and returned and conquered the city in 629 A.D. (8 A.H.) Medina: city, as known as Yathrib, to which Muhammad and his followers went to in 622 A.D. (1 A.H.) and in which Muhammad established both his political and religious leadership. Mosque/ Masjid: religious center and building for Muslims. Muezzin: the man who calls the faithful to prayer, generally standing in one of the mosque's minarets. Mufti: a Muslim legal consultant who issues fatwas Mullah/molla: religious teacher and leader Muslim: Muslim/Moslem is any person who believes in the creed and the teaching of Islam is called a Muslim. More than one billion Muslims are found in different parts of the world. They are not to be confused with Arabs, as the latter may include Christians, agnostics, or other nonMuslims. 30% of Muslims live in the Indian subcontinent, 20 % in Sub-Saharan Africa, 17% in Southeast Asia, 18% in the Arab world, 10% in the Soviet Union and China. Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan comprise 10% of the non-Arab Middle East. Nubuwwah, or Prophethood: The historical phenomenon that guidance for humankind, has come from God, through Prophets, who were humans themselves. The defining difference between an ordinary human and a Prophet human is that truth is cognized in the Prophet's consciousness through divine revelation, in addition to observation, intuition, and reasoning, the faculties ordinarily shared by all humans. Prophets and Messengers belong to all humanity, for their wisdom is universal and rooted in the same divine source.

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Quran: The Qur'an (literally, recitation) contains 114 chapters revealed to the Prophet during a period of 23 years from 609 to 632, the year of his death. The divine revelations were manifested in divine inspiration, which the Prophet sometimes uttered in the presence of his companions. His words were passed on in the oral tradition of his Arabic culture. Some forty years after his death they were transcribed in the written form that has been preserved to date without change. The 114 chapters were revealed to Muhammad in Mecca and Madina. They vary in length. The Qur'an is arranged not in the chronological order of its revelation but according to the length of each chapter. The longest is first, and the shortest last. No one throughout the history of Islam has challenged the accuracy of the Qur'an. Ramadan: The month of fasting. It is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. In it the Holy Qur'n started to be revealed to our Prophet saw and in it occurs the night of Qadr and in it also occurred the great decisive battle of Badr. Prayers (salat): The Qur'an does not state the number and manner of prayers; these were established by the Prophet. The required individual prayers are said five times a day: at dawn, noon (when the sun is at the center of the sky), afternoon (when the sun is halfway to sunset) sunset, and night (after sunset but before sunrise). The only required communal prayer is the Friday noon prayer. Like the Christians' Sunday or the Jews' Sabbath, Muslims consider Friday the last day of Creation. PBUH: Peace be upon him Shia (Shiite): a Muslim who believes Ali and his descendents by Fatima to be the rightful leaders of the Islamic community; opponents of the Umayyad rulers one of the two major groups within Islam Sufi: a Muslim mystic; a mystical approach to religion Sunnite: a follower of the sunnah. Sunnah: The term Sunnah comes from the root word sanna, which means to pave the way or make a path easily passable, such that it becomes a commonly followed way by everyone afterwards. Thus sunnah can be used to describe a street or road or path on which people, animals, and cars travel. Additionally, it can apply to a prophetic way, i.e. the law that they brought and taught as an explanation or further clarification of a divinely revealed book. Normally, the prophetic way includes references to his sayings, actions, physical features and character traits. From the Islamic standpoint, Sunnah refers to anything narrated or related about the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), authentically traced to him regarding his speech, actions, traits, and silent approvals, before and after the revelation. Surah: a chapter of the Quran. There are 114 chapters which were revealed to the Prophet in Mecca and Madina. See, Quran. Tawhid: affirming God as One, Absolute, Ultimate, Eternal, Transcendent. No human category is applicable to God. The human intellect can conclude from pondering creation that God exists and that He is One. It can grasp only God's attributes, but is unable to fathom God's essence. God's attributes are intrinsic, not extraneous, to Him. Ulama: plural of alim (religious scholars, etc.) ummah: the community of Muslim believers in the sense of all believers, not just a physical

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community in a specific place zakat: It is the payment of a certain percentage of one's income to support the needy and to fulfill other objectives of the community.