Islamic Terms and Concepts - Prof. Mark A. Gstohl, Study notes of World Religions

Download Islamic Terms and Concepts - Prof. Mark A. Gstohl and more Study notes World Religions in PDF only on Docsity! Chapter Nine- Islam a) Allah – “ God”; The Muslim title for the one sovereign God b) Ash’arism – the immensely influential school of Muslim theology that emphasizes that the ways of God are beyond human understanding; human knowledge of God, it says, can only be based on revelation. c) Ayatollah – In Shi’ite Islam, a legal and religious teacher regarded as possessing very great learning and righteousness who can make independent religious judgments. A 20th century term meaning Sign of God. d) Chador – a covering of from head to toe worn by women in Islamic countries with strict practices. The practice of wearing the chador is called veiling. The burqa is a more severe version. e) Dervishes – literally the doorway. The whirling dervishes were founded by Jelaluddin Mevlana Rumi, who was a mystic and a poet. Wearing long white robes with skirts, the dervishes do a whirling dance, which is believed to bridge the material and spiritual world. f) Fana – Sufi term for mystical absorption in the divine. g) Five Pillars of Islam – The confession of faith, prayer five times a day, giving alms to the poor, fasting in the month of Ramadan, and participating in hajj. h) Friday Mosque – a mosque large enough to hold the entire population of a community, designed as the place for its Friday noon service. i) Hadith – traditions of what the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) did or said which in Islamic law and traditional scholarship are believed divinely inspired and have great authority together with the Qur’an in establishing orthodox teaching practice j) Hajj – The Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. k) Hanifs – believers in one God who predate Muhammad (PBUH) l) Hijra – Muhammad’s (PBUH) flight from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE; the date from which the Muslim calendar begins. m) Ijtihad – In Islam, the creative original interpretation of the Qur’an, as opposed to strict adherence to traditional interpretations. n) Imam – a trained Muslim teacher and preacher; in Shi’a Islam, a supernaturally endowed supreme teacher and leader of Islam who is hereditary successor of the Prophet. o) Islam – Submission in Arabic; name of the religion. p) Ismailis or Seveners – A minority w/in Shi’a who differ from the twelvers on the identity of the seventh Imam, who, they believe, is the last and hidden one. Ismailism has incorporated many esoteric elements into its belief. q) Jihad – In Islam “holy war” ; also allegorical of the spiritual struggle. r) minaret – The tower beside many mosques from which the muezzin calls out the times of prayer s) mosque - place of Muslim worship t) Mount Arafat – the hill outside of Mecca where Muhammad gave his farewell sermon, and where the faithful on pilgrimage stand throughout the afternoon. u) muezzin – one who calls the faithful to prayer at the proper times from minaret of the mosque. v) Muharram – The first month of the Islamic calendar, occasion of the Shi’ite festival which commemorates the death of Husayn, the third Shi’a Imam and the most worthy and tragic of all. w) Muslim – Those who adhere to Islam; of or relating to Islam, as in “Muslim Art” x) Mu’tazila – an early rationalist school of Islamic thought. y) Pantheist – one who holds that the universe itself is the divine being. z) Purdah – the practice of secluding women by confining them to the home, thus, isolating them from society and liming their education to domestic vocations. aa) Qur’an – The sacred text of Islam bb) Ramadan – The month of the Islamic calendar during which Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. cc) Rasul – Muhammad’s (PBUH) calling in relation to God; means prophet, envoy, apostle, ambassador, or spokesmen. dd) Sects – a term used by sociologist to denote religious groups related to mainstream religions, but those adherents believe represent a more intense commitment that the average adherent to the religion to which they are related. ee) Shari’ah – The body of Islamic Law. ff) Shaykhs – A Sufi, or a mystical Islamic, spiritual teacher guide gg) Secularization – denotes a shift from the religious orientation of a society, an institution, a person, a symbol, and so on, to worldly one; also often the shift of social institutions from religious authority to civil authority. hh) Shi’a Islam – The party of “Ali”; the minority, some 10 to 15 percent of all Muslims who traditionally believe that Islam should be headed by a divinely guided Imam who is a hereditary successor of the Prophet through Ali, Muhammad’s cousin. ii) Shirk – idolatry, putting anything else in the place of God; the ultimate and unforgivable sin in Islam jj) Sufism – the mystical tradition in Islam kk) Sunna – the body of established Islamic faith, morals, and practice, established by the consensus or jurist and the faithful. ll) Sunni - ? mm) Sunni Islam – the body of Muslims who stress the sunna and consensus. nn) Ulama – collective term for Muslim religious scholars and teacher who, by consensus, establish correct teaching. oo) Mahdi – In Islam, a teacher who will come just before the Day of Judgement to restore the true religion and righteousness. Not a required belief, but widely held. pp) Theocracy –a government established and maintained in accordance with religious authority qq) Twelvers or Ashariyah – the majority of Shi’ites, who accept the first twelve of the Imams in the line of Ali, believing the twelfth has gone into hiding to return as the Mahdi, or messianic savior who will establish a paradisaical reign on earth just before the end of the world and the judgment