Glossary
adab: correct behaviour, courtesy coming out as right action.
adhan: the call to prayer.
Ahl al-Madinah: the people of Madinah, particularly the Companions of the Prophet, their Followers and the Followers of their Followers.
Ahl as-Suffa: the people of the bench, the poor among the Companions of the Prophet who lived on a verdanah in a court yard next to the Prophet’s house.
Ahl as-Sunna wa’l-Jama’a: People of the Sunna and Community, i.e. the body of the Muslim community.
ahwal: plural of hal, states of consciousness.
‘ajami: non-Arab.
‘alim: a scholar, particularly in the sciences of Islam.
‘amal: action, in particular the action of the people of Madinah.
‘aqida: articles of belief.
asanid: plural of isnad, chain of transmission.
asbab an-nuzul: the reasons for the revelation of particular ayats of the Quran, depending on the circumstances in which they were revealed.
ayat: a verse of the Qur’an.
baraka: blessing emanating from a particular person or place.
barzakh: an interspace between two things which both separates and joins them.
batini: inward, esoteric.
bid’a: innovation, something introduced into Islam after the formative period.
Dar al-Hijra: the Abode to which the Prophet made hijra, i.e. Madinah.
da’wa: inviting or calling people to Islam.
deen: the life-transaction, lit. the debt between two parties, hi this usage between the Creator and created.
dhikr: remembrance and hence invocation of Allah.
dirasat al-hadith: the study of hadith.
du’a: supplication to Allah.
dunya: this world as opposed to the Hereafter.
faqih: a man learned in knowledge of fiqh who by virtue of his knowledge can give a legal judgement.
fard: obligatory, an obligatory act of worship or practice of the deen.
fatwa: an authoritative legal opinion or judgement made by a faqih.
fidya: lit. ransom, compensation paid for rites missed or wrongly performed because of ignorance or ill-health.
fiqh: science of the application of Sharia.
firasa: intuitive knowledge of human nature.
fisabilillah: “in the way of Allah”.
fitna: sedition, civil strife, schism.
fuqaha’: plural of faqih (see above).
furqan: discrimination.
habous: another term for waqf (see below).
hadd, p., hudud: Allah’s boundary limits for the halal and the haram. The hadd punishments are specific fixed penalties laid down by the Shari a for the specified crimes.
hafidh: one who has memorised the whole Qur’an by heart.
halal: permitted by Sharia.
Haram: a protected area in which certain behaviour is forbidden and other behaviour necessary. The area around the Ka’ba in Makka is a Haram as is the area around the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah.
haram: forbidden by Shari’a.
Hijaz: the region along the western seaboard of Arabia in which Makka, Madina, Jeddah and Ta’if are located.
hijra: to emigrate in the way of Allah, particularly the emigration from Makka to Madinah.
hudud: plural of hadd (see above).
‘ibada: act of worship, or worship in general.
‘ilm: knowledge, particular knowledge of the sciences of Islam.
ijaza: the teacher’s licence to his disciple to pass on what he has taught.
ijma’: consensus, particularly the consensus of the Muslims on matters of fiqh.
ijtihad: lit, to struggle-to exercise personal judgement in legal matters.
iman: belief, accepting the true nature of existence.
iqamat as-salat: to establish the prayer by doing each prayer in its time.
isnad, pl. asanid: a chain of transmission of a hadith.
istihsan: application of discretion or preference in a legal decision.
jadidi: modern.
jahiliyya: the Time of Ignorance before the coming of Islam.
jama’at: the main body of the Muslim community.
Janna: the Garden, Paradise.
Jazira: Mesopotamia or northeastern Syria.
jihad: struggle, particularly fighting in the way of Allah to establish Islam.
kafir: unbeliever, one who covers up the true nature of existence.
kalam: lit. speech, particularly, science of articulating and expressing in words the knowledge of the Divine.
kuffar: plural of kafir (see above).
kufr: disbelief, to cover up, to reject Allah, to refuse to believe that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
kunya: a respectful but intimate way of addressing people as “the father of so-and-so” or “the mother of so-and-so.”
madhhab: a school of fiqh, particularly deriving from the four great scholars of Islam, eg. the Maliki, Hanafi, Shafi’i, Hanbali madhhabs.
mansukh: abrogated, particularly with regard to earlier Qur’anic ayats and hadith replaced by later ones, altering the legal judgements which had been initially expressed in the earlier ones.
maqamat: stations of spiritual knowledge.
mawali: plural of mawla; a person with whom a tie of wala’ has been established, usually by having been a slave and then set free.
mizan: balance, proper measure of things and hence justice.
mubin: clear, evident.
mudd: a measure of volume, approximately a double-handed scoop.
mufassirin: people who do tafsir (see below).
mufti: someone qualified to give fatwa (see above).
muhaddithun: people who transmit and study hadith.
mujtahid: someone qualified to do ijtihad (see above).
mumin: a believer, someone with iman (see above).
muqallid: someone who does taglid (see below).
mutakallimun: people who study kalam (see above).
muwahhidun: those who affirm the unity of Allah.
nabawiyya: the prophetic phenomenon which consists of the Book and the Sunna.
nasikh: abrogating (see mansukh above).
nidhamiyya: order under leadership, the reins of governance.
nuzul: lit. descent, refers to the descent or revelation of the Qur’an.
qadi: judge qualified to dispense hadd punishments (see above).
qari’: Qur’an reciter.
qiyas: analogy, a method of arriving at a legal judgement by using something analogous.
ra’y: opinion, legal decision based on the use of personal opinion.
rahma: mercy.
riba: usury.
rijal, ‘ilm ar-rijal: men, ‘ilm ar-rijal is the study of the men in an isnad (see above).
riwaya: a reading or transmission of the Qur’an or another text.
ruhani: spiritual.
sa’: a measure of volume equal to four mudds.
sadaqa: giving in the way of Allah in any form.
Salafì: adjective from Salaf, the early generations of the Muslims, especially the Companions.
sama’: lit. listening; direct oral transmission.
sawm: fasting.
shahada: witnessing: the affirmation that there is no divinity except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
shahid: lit. a witness-a martyr in the way of Allah.
sharia: the legal and social modality of a people based on the revelation of their Prophet.
shirk: to associate anything as a partner with Allah. The opposite of tawhid.
shuyukh: plural of shaykh.
sira: the literature about the life of the Prophet.
Sirat al-Mustaqim: the Straight Path.
sunna: lit. a form, the customary practice of a person or group of people. The Sunna is the practice of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
tafsir: commentary and explanation of the Qur’an.
takfir: to declare someone a kafir (see above).
talib: lit. a seeker, a person who looks for knowledge, student.
taqlid: the following of previous authorities and avoidance of ijtihad.
taqwa: awe of Allah, which inspires a person to be on guard against wrong action and eager for actions which please Him.
tarbiyya: education.
tarji’: repeating the shahada in the adhan in a loud voice after saying it in a low voice.
tasawwuf: Sufism.
tawhid: affirmation of the divine unity.
Tuba: a state of blessedness in the Garden.
‘ulama’: plural of alim (see above).
‘ulum: plural of ‘ilm, knowledges or sciences.
umma: the body of Muslims as one distinct and integrated community.
usul: plural of asl, the fundamental principles or sources in fiqh (see above).
wahm: illusion.
waqf: an endowment for a charitable purpose which is unalienable.
war’a: scrupulousness, to be fastidious about avoiding the haram and keeping one’s intentions pure.
zakat: wealth tax, one of the five fundamental practices of Islam.
zuhhad: the plural of zahid, someone who practises zuhd which is forgoing what you do not need and making do with little.
