Chapter1to4

Question 1

bedouins

Answer 1

part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arabian ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes, or clans

Question 2

Suq

Answer 2

an open-air marketplace or commercial quarter in Middle Eastern and North African cities

Question 3

Shia

Answer 3

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

Question 4

wajh

Answer 4

collective responsibility, group honor, or “face”

Question 5

mosque

Answer 5

a place of worship for followers of Islam

Question 6

shahada

Answer 6

an Islamic creed which declares belief in the oneness of God and the acceptance of Muhammad as God’s prophet

Question 7

Kaaba

Answer 7

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

Question 8

imam

Answer 8

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.

Question 9

zakat

Answer 9

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.

Question 10

sadaqa

Answer 10

An Islamic term that means “voluntary charity”. This concept encompasses any act of giving out of compassion, love, friendship (fraternity), religious duty or generosity.

Question 11

Ramadan

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

hajj

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

hajji

Answer 13

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.

Question 14

Koran

Answer 14

the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God

Question 15

suras

Answer 15

A chapter of the Qur’an. There are 114 chapters of the Qur’an, each divided into verses.

Question 16

hadith

Answer 16

in religious use is often translated as ‘tradition’, meaning a report of the deeds and sayings of Muhammad

Question 17

Sharia

Answer 17

means the moral code and religious law of a prophetic religion

Question 18

Sunni

Answer 18

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

Question 19

ulema

Answer 19

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.

Question 20

Quraish

Answer 20

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.

Question 21

Hijaz

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

Hijira

Answer 22

The year of the migration, the first year of the Muslim holy calendar, and the city of Yathrib became Medina.

Question 23

Umma

Answer 23

A central concept in the Koran, refers to the belivers in Islam as a community in themselves.

Question 24

jihad

Answer 24

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).

Question 25

djimmi

Answer 25

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.

Question 26

caliphs

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Riddah Wars

Answer 27

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

Question 28

diwan

Answer 28

Under capable administrative leadership, the Arab conquerors instituted an orderly process for collecting revenue and for distribution by means of the army register.

Question 29

Umayyads

Answer 29

Caliph Uthman’s kinsmen

Question 30

Kharijites

Answer 30

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

Question 31

Abbasid

Answer 31

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).

Question 32

Ottoman Empire

Answer 32

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.

Question 33

ghazis

Answer 33

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

Question 34

Janissaries

Answer 34

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.

Question 35

millets

Answer 35

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.

Question 36

Mameluks

Answer 36

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

Question 37

Sufism

Answer 37

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

Question 38

madrasah

Answer 38

the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious (of any religion), where the ulema were trained

Question 39

fiqh

Answer 39

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.

Question 40

waqf

Answer 40

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

Question 41

Mahdi

Answer 41

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.

Question 42

Ismailis

Answer 42

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.

Question 43

Muharram

Answer 43

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.

Question 44

tariqah

Answer 44

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”

Question 45

pirs

Answer 45

a title for a Sufi master equally used in the nath tradition

Question 46

Qarmatians

Answer 46

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.

Question 47

Muwahhidun

Answer 47

A name the Druze use for themselves. Literally, “The People of Unity” or “The Unitarians”, from tawḥid, unity (of God).

Question 48

Wahhabi

Answer 48

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.

Question 49

Tanzimat

Answer 49

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.

Question 50

Muhammad Ali (Mehemet Ali)

Answer 50

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.

Question 51

fellahin

Answer 51

A peasant, farmer or agricultural laborer in the Middle East and North Africa. The word derives from the Arabic word for ploughman or tiller.

Question 52

Maronites

Answer 52

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.

Question 53

Druze

Answer 53

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”.

Question 54

Sanussi

Answer 54

a Muslim political-religious Sufi order and tribe in Libya and the Sudan region founded in Mecca in 1837

Question 55

Najd

Answer 55

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.

Question 56

mujtahids

Answer 56

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).

Question 57

Al-Afghani

Answer 57

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.”

Question 58

Khadija

Answer 58

At the age of 25, Mohammed married this wealthy widow 15 years his senior, for whom he had been managing business accounts.