Terms for the Mid-term Flashcards
Islam
A monotheistic and Abrahamic religion articulated by the Qur’an, a book considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God and by the teachings and normative example of Muhammad (c. 570 CE – c. 8 June 632 CE), considered by them to be the last prophet of God. An adherent is called a Muslim.
Zionism
Zionism is the national movement of Jews and Jewish culture that supports the creation of a Jewish homeland in the territory defined as the Land of Israel. A religious variety of Zionism supports Jews upholding their Jewish identity, opposes the assimilation of Jews into other societies and has advocated the return of Jews to Israel as a means for Jews to be a majority in their own nation, and to be liberated from antisemitic discrimination, exclusion, and persecution that had historically occurred in the diaspora. Zionism emerged in the late 19th century in central and eastern Europe as a national revival movement, and soon after this most leaders of the movement associated the main goal with creating the desired state in Palestine, then an area controlled by the Ottoman Empire. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state and address threats to its continued existence and security. In a less common usage, the term may also refer to non-political, cultural Zionism, founded and represented most prominently by Ahad Ha’am; and political support for the State of Israel by non-Jews, as in Christian Zionism. Defenders of Zionism say it is a national liberation movement for the repatriation of a dispersed socio-religious group to what they see as an abandoned homeland millennia before. Critics of Zionism see it as a colonialist or racist ideology that led to the denial of rights, dispossession and expulsion of the “indigenous population of Palestine”.
Shia Islam
The Shia (Shīʿah) represent the second largest denomination of Islam and adherents of Shia Islam are called Shias or the Shi’a as a collective or Shi’i individually. Shi’a is the short form of the historic phrase Shīʻatu ʻAlī meaning “followers”, “faction” or “party” of Muhammad’s son-in-law and cousin Ali, whom the Shia believe to be Muhammad’s successor in the Caliphate. Twelver Shia (Ithnā’ashariyyah) is the largest branch of Shia Islam and the term Shia Muslim is often taken to refer to Twelvers by default. Shia Muslims constitute 10-20% of the world’s Muslim population and 38% of the Middle East’s entire population. Shi’i Islam is based on the Quran and the message of the Islamic prophet Muhammad attested in hadith recorded by the Shia, and certain books deemed sacred to the Shia (Nahj al-Balagha). In contrast to other Muslims, the Shia believe that only God has the right to choose a representative to safeguard Islam, the Quran and sharia. Thus the Shia look to Ali, Muhammad’s son-in-law, whom they revere and consider divinely appointed, as the rightful successor to Muhammad, and the first Imam. In the centuries after the death of Muhammad, the Shia extended this “Imami” doctrine to Muhammad’s family, the Ahl al-Bayt (“the People of the House”), and certain individuals among his descendants, known as Imams, who they believe possess special spiritual and political authority over the community, infallibility, and other quasi-divine traits. Although there are myriad Shi’i subsects, modern Shi’i Islam has been divided into three main groupings: Twelvers, Ismailis and Zaidis.
Persians
The Persian people are an Iranian people who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. Their origins are traced to the ancient Iranian peoples, themselves part of the Indo-Iranian branch of the greater Indo-European peoples. Persians have generally been a pan-national group often comprising regional people who often refer to themselves as “Persians” and have also often used the term “Iranian” (in the ethnic-cultural sense). Some scholars, mechanically identifying the speakers of Persian as a distinct ethnic unit (the ‘Persians’), exclude those Iranians who speak dialects of Persian. However, this approach can be misleading, as historically all ethnic groups in Iran, were always referred to, collectively, as Iranians (Irani).
Reza Shah Pahlavi
Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, born Rezā Khan (15 March 1878 – 26 July 1944), was the Shah of the Imperial State of Iran from 15 December 1925 until he was forced to abdicate by the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran on 16 September 1941. In 1925, Reza Shah deposed Ahmad Shah Qajar, the last Shah of the Qajar dynasty, and founded the Pahlavi dynasty. He established a constitutional monarchy that lasted until overthrown in 1979 during the Iranian Revolution. Reza Shah introduced many social, economic, and political reforms during his reign, ultimately laying the foundation of the modern Iranian state. His legacy remains controversial to this day: his defenders assert that he was an essential modernizing force for Iran (whose international prominence had sharply declined during Qajar rule), while his detractors assert that his reign was often despotic, with his failure to modernize Iran’s large peasant population eventually sowing the seeds for the Iranian Revolution. Moreover, his insistence on ethnic nationalism and cultural unitarism along with forced detribalization and sedentarization resulted in suppression of several ethnic and social groups.
Turks
Turkish people (Turkish: Türkler) are a Turkic ethno-linguistic group primarily living in Turkey, and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities have been established. The area now called Turkey has been inhabited since the paleolithic, and housed various Ancient Anatolian civilizations and peoples of Thrace during Antiquity. Modern Turkish people largely descend from these ancient indigenous Anatolian groups, but their ancestry includes neighboring peoples (e.g., Balkans and Caucasus) and Turkic peoples, albeit to a small degree. They speak a Turkic language (the Turkish language), which was adopted by the local populations who predominantly had spoken Indo-European languages prior to a cultural transformation that took place after the invasion of a Turkic-speaking minority from Central Asia.
The Great Game
A term for the strategic rivalry and conflict between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia.The classic Great Game period is generally regarded as running approximately from the Russo-Persian Treaty of 1813 to the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. A less intensive phase followed the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. In the post-Second World War post-colonial period, the term has continued in use to describe the geopolitical machinations of the Great Powers and regional powers as they vie for geopolitical power and influence in the area.
Ataturk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (19 May 1881 (conventional) – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish army officer in the Ottoman military, revolutionary statesman, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey. His surname, Atatürk (meaning “Father of the Turks”), was granted to him in 1934 and forbidden to any other person by the Turkish parliament.
Anglo-Persian Oil Co.
The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) was an English company founded in 1908 following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjed Soleiman, Iran. It was the first company to extract petroleum from Iran. In 1935 APOC was renamed the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) and in 1954 it became the British Petroleum Company (BP), one of the antecedents of the modern BP plc.
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez Canal Crisis, Suez War, or Second Arab-Israeli War, was a diplomatic and military confrontation in late 1956 between Egypt on one side, and Britain, France and Israel on the other, with the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Nations playing major roles in forcing Britain, France and Israel to withdraw. The attack followed the President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser’s decision of 26 July 1956 to nationalize the Suez Canal, after the withdrawal of an offer by Britain and the United States to fund the building of the Aswan Dam, which was in response to Egypt’s new ties with the Soviet Union and recognizing the People’s Republic of China during the height of tensions between China and Taiwan. The aims of the attack were primarily to regain Western control of the canal and to remove Nasser from power, and the crisis highlighted the danger that Arab nationalism posed to Western access to Middle East oil. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel, and then began to bomb Cairo. Despite the denials of the Israeli, British, and French governments, allegations began to emerge that the invasion of Egypt had been planned beforehand by the three powers. Anglo-French forces withdrew before the end of the year, but Israeli forces remained until March 1957, prolonging the crisis. In April, the canal was fully reopened to shipping, but other repercussions followed. The three allies, especially Israel, were mainly successful in attaining their immediate military objectives, but pressure from the United States and the USSR at the United Nations and elsewhere forced them to withdraw. As a result of the outside pressure Britain and France failed in their political and strategic aims of controlling the canal and removing Nasser from power. Israel fulfilled some of its objectives, such as attaining freedom of navigation through the Straits of Tiran. As a result of the conflict, the UNEF would police the Egyptian–Israeli border to prevent both sides from recommencing hostilities.
The Prophet Muhammad
Muhammad was a man from Mecca who unified Arabia into a single religious polity under Islam. Believed by Muslims and Bahá’ís to be a messenger and prophet of God, Muhammad, with the exception of Ahmadi Muslims, is almost universally considered by Muslims as the last prophet sent by God to mankind. While non-Muslims regard Muhammad to have been the founder of Islam, Muslims consider him to have restored the unaltered original monotheistic faith of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. Born in about 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca, Muhammad was orphaned at an early age and brought up under the care of his paternal uncle Abu Talib. He later worked mostly as a merchant, as well as a shepherd, and was first married at age 25. Being in the habit of periodically retreating to a cave in the surrounding mountains for several nights of seclusion and prayer, he later reported that it was there, at age 40, that he was visited by Gabriel and received his first revelation from God. Three years after this event Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that “God is One”, that complete “surrender” to Him is the only way acceptable to God, and that he himself was a prophet and messenger of God, in the same vein as other Islamic prophets. Muhammad gained few followers early on, and was met with hostility from some Meccan tribes. To escape persecution, Muhammad sent some of his followers to Abyssinia before he and his followers in Mecca migrated to Medina (then known as Yathrib) in the year 622. This event, the Hijra, marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar, which is also known as the Hijri Calendar. In Medina, Muhammad united the tribes under the Constitution of Medina. After eight years of fighting with the Meccan tribes, his followers, who by then had grown to 10,000, took control of Mecca in the largely peaceful Conquest of Mecca. He destroyed the pagan idols in the city and then sent his followers out to destroy all of the remaining pagan temples in Eastern Arabia. In 632, a few months after returning to Medina from The Farewell Pilgrimage, Muhammad fell ill and died. By the time of his death, most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam, and he had united Arabia into a single Muslim religious polity. The revelations which Muhammad reported receiving until his death form the verses of the Quran, regarded by Muslims as the “Word of God” and around which the religion is based. Besides the Quran, Muhammad’s teachings and practices (sunnah), found in the Hadith and sira literature, are also upheld by Muslims and used as sources of Islamic law. Muslims discuss Muhammad and other prophets of Islam with reverence, adding the phrase peace be upon him whenever their names are mentioned. While conceptions of Muhammad in medieval Christendom and other premodern contexts were largely negative, appraisals in modern history have been far less unfavorable.
General Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was the second President of Egypt, serving from 1956 until his death. He planned the 1952 overthrow of the monarchy, and was deputy prime minister in the new government. In 1953, Nasser introduced far-reaching land reforms. Following a 1954 Muslim Brotherhood-led attempt on his life, he ordered a crackdown on the organization, put President Muhammad Naguib under house arrest, and assumed executive office. A June 1956 public referendum approved both the new constitution and Nasser’s nomination for presidency. Nasser’s neutralist policies during the Cold War led to tense relations with Western powers, which withdrew funding for the planned Aswan Dam. Nasser’s retaliatory move to nationalize the Suez Canal Company in 1956 was acclaimed within Egypt and the Arab world. Consequently, Britain, France, and Israel occupied the Sinai Peninsula, but withdrew amid international pressure, boosting Nasser’s political standing significantly. From then on, Nasser’s popularity in the region grew substantially and calls for pan-Arab unity under his leadership increased, culminating with the formation of the United Arab Republic with Syria (1958–1961). In 1962, Nasser began a series of major socialist measures and modernization reforms in Egypt. Despite setbacks to his pan-Arabist cause, by 1963 Nasser’s supporters gained power in several Arab countries. He also became embroiled in the North Yemen Civil War. Nasser introduced a new constitution in 1964, the same year he became president of the international Non-Aligned Movement, which he co-founded. He began his second presidential term in March 1965 after his political opponents were legally forbidden from running. Following Egypt’s concessions to Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, Nasser resigned only to retake office after popular demonstrations called for his reinstatement. Between the 1967 defeat and 1968, Nasser appointed himself prime minister, launched a war to regain lost territory, began a process of depoliticizing the military, and issued a set of political liberalization reforms. After the conclusion of the 1970 Arab League summit, Nasser suffered a heart attack and died. His funeral in Cairo drew five million mourners and an outpouring of grief across the Arab world. Nasser remains an iconic figure and symbol of Arab dignity in the present day, particularly for his strides towards social justice and Arab unity, modernization policies, and anti-imperialist efforts. His presidency also encouraged and coincided with an Egyptian cultural boom, particularly in the arts. Nasser’s detractors criticize his authoritarianism, his government’s human rights violations, his populist relationship with the citizenry, and his failure to establish civil institutions, blaming his legacy for future dictatorial governance in Egypt. Historians describe Nasser as one of the towering political figures of the Middle East in the 20th century.
Dr. Mossadegh
Mohammad Mosaddegh or Mosaddeq[a] (16 June 1882 – 5 March 1967), was the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 until 1953, when his government was overthrown in a coup d’état orchestrated by the British MI6 and the American CIA. An author, administrator, lawyer, prominent parliamentarian, his administration introduced a range of progressive social and political reforms such as social security, rent control, and land reforms. His government’s most notable policy, however, was the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry, which had been under British control since 1913 through the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC / AIOC) (later British Petroleum or BP). Mosaddegh was removed from power in a coup on 19 August 1953, organised and carried out by the CIA at the request of MI6, which chose Iranian General Fazlollah Zahedi to succeed Mosaddegh. While the coup is commonly referred to as Operation Ajax after its CIA cryptonym, in Iran it is referred to as the 28 Mordad 1332 coup, after its date on the Iranian calendar. Mosaddegh was imprisoned for three years, then put under house arrest until his death and was buried in his own home so as to prevent a political furor.
Ulema
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. A female Islamic scholar is an alimah. The Islamic jurisprudence includes: the hadith: reports of statements or actions of Muhammad and, the tafseer: explanation and interpretations of the Qur’an. Some Muslims use the term ulema to describe only the body of Muslim scholars who have completed several years of training and study of Islamic disciplines, such as a mufti, qadi, faqih, or muhaddith. For them, the status of ulema requires higher standards. Under this definition, ulema are Islamic scholars trained in the whole body of Islamic law. But other Muslims also include the clerics under this term, that may be the village mullahs and the imams, who have attained only the lowest rungs on the ladder of Islamic scholarship.
Muhammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Rezâ Šâh Pahlavi (26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980) was the ruler of Iran (Shah of Iran) from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979. He took the title Šâhanšâh (“Emperor” or “King of Kings”) on 26 October 1967. He was the second and last monarch of the House of Pahlavi of the Iranian monarchy. Mohammad Rezâ Pahlavi came to power during World War II after an Anglo-Soviet invasion forced the abdication of his father Reza Shah. During Mohammad Reza’s reign, the Iranian oil industry was briefly nationalized under the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh before a U.S.-backed coup d’état deposed Mosaddegh and brought back foreign oil firms,[3] and Iran marked the anniversary of 2,500 years of continuous monarchy since the founding of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great. As ruler, he introduced the White Revolution, a series of economic, social and political reforms with the proclaimed intention of transforming Iran into a global power and modernizing the nation by nationalizing certain industries and granting women suffrage. A secular Muslim, Mohammad Reza gradually lost support from the Shi’a clergy of Iran as well as the working class, particularly due to his strong policy of modernization, secularization, conflict with the traditional class of merchants known as bazaari, recognition of Israel, and corruption issues surrounding himself, his family, and the ruling elite. Various additional controversial policies were enacted, including the banning of the communist Tudeh Party, and a general suppression of political dissent by Iran’s intelligence agency, SAVAK. According to official statistics, Iran had as many as 2,200 political prisoners in 1978, a number which multiplied rapidly as a result of the revolution. Several other factors contributed to strong opposition to the Shah among certain groups within Iran, the most notable of which were United States and UK support for his regime, clashes with Islamists and increased communist activity. By 1979, political unrest had transformed into a revolution which, on 17 January, forced him to leave Iran. Soon thereafter, the Iranian monarchy was formally abolished, and Iran was declared an Islamic republic led by Ayatollah Khomeini. Facing likely execution should he return to Iran, he died in exile in Egypt, whose President, Anwar Sadat, had granted him asylum. Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi is often called “the last Shah of Iran” as well as “the Shah of Iran” or simply “the Shah”.
