Chapter1to4 Flashcards
bedouins
part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arabian ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes, or clans
Suq
an open-air marketplace or commercial quarter in Middle Eastern and North African cities
Shia
represent the second largest denomination of Islam meaning “followers”, “faction” or “party” of Muhammad’s son-in-law and cousin Ali, whom they believe to be Muhammad’s successor in the Caliphate
wajh
collective responsibility, group honor, or “face”
mosque
a place of worship for followers of Islam
shahada
an Islamic creed which declares belief in the oneness of God and the acceptance of Muhammad as God’s prophet
Kaaba
A cuboid building at the centre of Islam’s most sacred mosque, Al-Masjid al-Haram, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is the most sacred point within this most sacred mosque, making it the most sacred location in Islam
imam
An Islamic leadership position. It is most commonly in the context of a worship leader of a mosque and Muslim community by Sunni Muslims and may lead Islamic worship services, serve as community leaders, and provide religious guidance.
zakat
Alms-giving is the practice of charitable giving by Muslims based on accumulated wealth, and is obligatory for all who are able to do so. It is considered to be a personal responsibility for Muslims to ease economic hardship for other Muslims and eliminate inequality for followers of Islam. The practice is one of the Five Pillars of Islam.
sadaqa
An Islamic term that means “voluntary charity”. This concept encompasses any act of giving out of compassion, love, friendship (fraternity), religious duty or generosity.
Ramadan
The ninth month of the Islamic calendar; Muslims worldwide observe this as a month of fasting. This annual observance is regarded as one of the Five Pillars of Islam.
hajj
An Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca and the largest gathering of Muslim people in the world every year. It is one of the five pillars of Islam, and a religious duty which must be carried out by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so at least once in his or her lifetime.
hajji
An honorific title given to a Muslim person who has successfully completed the Hajj to Mecca, as well as a derogatory term used by American military personnel towards Arabs, Muslims and Middle Easterners in general.
Koran
the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God
suras
A chapter of the Qur’an. There are 114 chapters of the Qur’an, each divided into verses.
hadith
in religious use is often translated as ‘tradition’, meaning a report of the deeds and sayings of Muhammad
Sharia
means the moral code and religious law of a prophetic religion
Sunni
the largest branch of Islam - “people of the tradition of Muhammad and the consensus of the Ummah” - the world’s largest religious body and largest religious denomination for any religion in the world
ulema
Refers to the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in the several fields of Islamic studies and Polymath. They are well versed in legal fiqh (jurisprudence) and are considered the arbiters of sharia law, being Islamic lawyers and are the foundation of the law.
Quraish
A powerful merchant tribe that controlled Mecca and its Ka’aba and that according to tradition descended from Ishmael.Muhammad was born into the Banu Hashim clan of the Quraysh tribe.
Hijaz
A region in the west of present-day Saudi Arabia. It is bordered on the west by the Red Sea, on the north by Jordan, on the east by Nejd and on the south by Asir. Its main city is Jeddah, but it is probably better known for the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
Hijira
The year of the migration, the first year of the Muslim holy calendar, and the city of Yathrib became Medina.
Umma
A central concept in the Koran, refers to the belivers in Islam as a community in themselves.
jihad
Translates as a noun meaning “struggle” or holy war. Within the context of the classical Islam, particularly the Shiahs beliefs, it refers to struggle against those who do not believe in the Abrahamic God (Allah).
djimmi
Considered a protected community, expected to pay a tribute tax, and to show deference to the Muslims, but protected from harsh treatment, exploitation, and attack from outsiders and other Muslims.
caliphs
Representatives of the Prophet, the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari’ah
Riddah Wars
Wars of Apostasy, were a series of military campaigns launched by the Caliph Abu Bakr against rebel Arabian tribes during 632 and 633 AD, just after Muhammad died
diwan
Under capable administrative leadership, the Arab conquerors instituted an orderly process for collecting revenue and for distribution by means of the army register.
Umayyads
Caliph Uthman’s kinsmen
Kharijites
a general term describing various Muslims who, while initially supporting the authority of the final Rashidun Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib, the son-in-law and cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, then later rejected his leadership
Abbasid
Dynasty descended from the Prophet’s youngest uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE). They ruled as caliphs from their capital in Baghdad, in modern Iraq, after taking over authority of the Muslim empire from the Umayyads in 750 CE (132 AH).
Ottoman Empire
Sometimes referred to as the Turkish Empire or simply Turkey, and also the Sublime Porte was an empire founded by Oghuz Turks under Osman Bey in northwestern Anatolia in 1299. With the conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed II in 1453, the Ottoman state was transformed into an empire.
ghazis
an Arabic term originally referring to an individual who participates in Ghazw meaning military expeditions or raiding; after the emergence of Islam, it took on new connotations of religious warfare
Janissaries
Elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan’s household troops and bodyguards. Sultan Murad I created the force in 1383. It was abolished by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826 in the Auspicious Incident. They were an elite corps whose internal cohesion was cemented by strict discipline and prevalent order.
millets
A term for the confessional communities in the Ottoman Empire. It refers to the separate legal courts pertaining to “personal law” under which communities (Muslim Sharia, Christian Canon law and Jewish Halakha law abiding) were allowed to rule themselves under their own system.
Mameluks
A Turkish slave class that had ruled Egypt from 1250 until their defeat by the Ottomans and were allowed to continue in power under minimal Ottoman supervision
Sufism
A branch of Islam, defined by adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam; others contend that it is a perennial philosophy of existence that pre-dates religion, the expression of which flowered within Islam
madrasah
the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious (of any religion), where the ulema were trained
fiqh
It is an expansion of the code of conduct (Sharia) expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition (Sunnah) and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists.
waqf
is, under the context of ‘sadaqah’, an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law, typically donating a building or plot of land or even cash for Muslim religious or charitable purposes, schools supported by privately endowed religious foundations where anyone can study free of charge and get formal training in Sharia Law
Mahdi
The prophesied redeemer of Islam who will rule for seven, nine or nineteen years (according to differing interpretations)[1] before the Day of Judgment (yawm al-qiyamah / literally, the Day of Resurrection)and will rid the world of evil. According to Islamic tradition, the Mahdi’s tenure will coincide with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ (Isa), who is to assist the Mahdi against the Masih ad-Dajjal (literally, the “false Messiah” or Antichrist). Jesus, who is considered the Masih (Messiah) in Islam, will descend at the point of a white arcade, east of Damascus, dressed in yellow robes with his head anointed. He will then join the Mahdi in his war against the Dajjal, where Jesus will slay Dajjal and unite mankind.
Ismailis
A branch of Shia Islam whose adherents are also known as Seveners. The Ismāʿīlī get their name from their acceptance of Isma’il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (Imām) to Ja’far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the Twelvers, who accept Musa al-Kadhim, younger brother of Isma’il, as the true Imām.
Muharram
The first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year. Some Muslims fast during this day, because it is recorded in the hadith[2] that Musa (Moses) and his people obtained a victory over the Egyptian Pharaoh on the 10th day of Muharram; accordingly Muhammad asked Muslims to pray on this day that is Ashura and on a day before that is 9th (called Tasu`a). Fasting differs among the Muslim groupings; mainstream Shia Muslims stop eating and drinking during sunlight hours and do not eat until late afternoon. Sunni Muslims also fast during Muharram for the first ten days of Muharram, or just the tenth day, or on both the ninth and tenth days; the exact term depends on the individual. Shia Muslims do so to replicate the assasination of Hussein ibn Ali on the Day of Ashura.
tariqah
the term for a school or order of Sufism, or especially for the mystical teaching and spiritual practices of such an order with the aim of seeking ḥaqīqah “ultimate truth”
pirs
a title for a Sufi master equally used in the nath tradition
Qarmatians
A syncretic religious group that combined elements of the Ismaili Shi’i branch of Islam with Persian mysticism centered in Al-Hasa (Eastern Arabia), where they established a utopian republic in 899 CE. They are most famed for their revolt against the Abbasid Caliphate. Mecca was sacked by the sect’s leader Abū-Tāhir Al-Jannābī, outraging the Muslim world, particularly with their theft of the Black Stone and desecration of the Zamzam Well with corpses during the Hajj season of 930 CE.
Muwahhidun
A name the Druze use for themselves. Literally, “The People of Unity” or “The Unitarians”, from tawḥid, unity (of God).
Wahhabi
A religious movement or sect or branch of Sunni Islam variously described as “orthodox”, “ultraconservative”, “austere”, “fundamentalist”, “puritanical” (or “puritan”), an Islamic “reform movement” to restore “pure monotheistic worship”, or an “extremist pseudo-Sunni movement”. It aspires to return to the earliest fundamental Islamic sources of the Quran and Hadith, with inspiration from the teachings of Medieval theologian Ibn Taymiyyah and early jurist Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
Tanzimat
Literally meaning reorganization of the Ottoman Empire, was a period of reformation that began in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. The reform era was characterized by various attempts to modernize the Ottoman Empire and to secure its territorial integrity against nationalist movements from within and aggressive powers from outside of the state. The reforms encouraged Ottomanism among the diverse ethnic groups of the Empire, attempting to stem the tide of nationalist movements within the Ottoman Empire. The reforms attempted to integrate non-Muslims and non-Turks more thoroughly into Ottoman society by enhancing their civil liberties and granting them equality throughout the Empire.
Muhammad Ali (Mehemet Ali)
A commander in the Ottoman army, who became Wāli, and self-declared Khedive of Egypt and Sudan with the Ottoman’s temporary approval. Though not a modern nationalist, he is regarded as the founder of modern Egypt because of the dramatic reforms in the military, economic and cultural spheres that he instituted. He also ruled Levantine territories outside Egypt.
fellahin
A peasant, farmer or agricultural laborer in the Middle East and North Africa. The word derives from the Arabic word for ploughman or tiller.
Maronites
An ethnoreligious group in the Levant. They derive their name from the Syriac saint Maron whose followers moved to Mount Lebanon from northern Syria establishing the nucleus of the Maronite Church.
Druze
A monotheistic religious and social community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan. Rooted in Ismailism, beliefs incorporate elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, Pythagoreanism, and other philosophies creating a distinct theology known to highlight the role of the Mind and truthfulness. They call themselves Ahl al-Tawhid “the People of Monotheism” or “the People of Unity” or al-Muwaḥḥidūn “the Unitarians”.
Sanussi
a Muslim political-religious Sufi order and tribe in Libya and the Sudan region founded in Mecca in 1837
Najd
The central region of the Arabian Peninsula, known for its puritanical interpretation of Islam (Hanbali), and considered the birthplace of Wahhabism. It is remote and stayed outside of the reign of important Islamic empires such as the Umayyads and the Ottoman Empire which shaped its culture.
mujtahids
An Islamic legal term that means “independent reasoning” or “the utmost effort an individual can put forth in an activity.” As one of the four sources of Sunni law, it is recognized as the decision-making process in Islamic law (sharia) through personal effort (jihad) which is completely independent of any school (madhhab) of jurisprudence (fiqh).
Al-Afghani
A political activist and Islamic ideologist in the Muslim world during the late 19th century, particularly in the Middle East, South Asia and Europe. One of the founders of Islamic Modernism and an advocate of Pan-Islamic unity, he has been described as “less interested in theology than he was in organizing a Muslim response to Western pressure.”
Khadija
At the age of 25, Mohammed married this wealthy widow 15 years his senior, for whom he had been managing business accounts.