abdest

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish آبدست (modern Turkish abdest), from Classical Persian آبْدَسْت (ābdast), compound of آب (āb, “water”) and دست (dast, “hand”).

(Islam) The Islamic act of washing parts of the body using water for ritual prayers and for handling and reading the Qur'an.


ablution

en-noun

ablution (countable and uncountable, plural ablutions)

From Middle English ablucioun (“cleansing of impurities”), from Old French ablution, and its source, Late Latin ablūtiō (“a washing away”), from abluō (“wash away”), from ab- (“away”) + lavō (“wash”).

inh

(Islam) wudu, ritual washing of the limbs and head performed immediately before prayer or holding the Quran


occultation

en-noun

occultation (countable and uncountable, plural occultations)

occultations (plural)
accultation (alternative)

From Latin occultātiōnem, accusative singular of occultātiō (“concealment; insinuation”), from occultāre, present active infinitive of occultō (“to conceal, hide”); analysable as occult + -ation.

We are therefore, constantly hoping for the joy and happiness, personified in Imām al-Mahdi, the Imām who is alive at this very time, and who is himself awaiting the command of Allāh to reappear, so that he may strengthen the weak, and judge the oppressors. He will reappear "without having done Bay'ah to any oppressor". He went into occultation because he did not want [to] submit to any unjust ruler.

2002, Allamah Sayyid Saeed Akhtar Rizvi, Prophecies about Occultation of Imãm Al-Mahdi (A.S.), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: Bilal Muslim Mission of Tanzania, →ISBN, page 7:

(Shia Islam) The disappearance of the Twelfth Imam, or Mahdi, who is believed alive and present in this world, but hidden until his reappearance at the end of time.

الغَيْبَة

Mahdi's disappearance in twelver Shiite's doctrine


weekday

weekdays (plural)
week-day (alternative archaic)

Inherited from Middle English weke-day, from Old English wicdæġ. By surface analysis, compound of week + day. Compare West Frisian wikedei (“weekday”), Dutch weekdag (“weekday”), German Wochentag (“weekday”), Danish ugedag (“weekday”), Swedish veckodag (“weekday”), Norwegian ukedag (“weekday”).

surf

Any individual day of the week, except those which form the weekend or the single weekly day off; that is:

(Islam) Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, but not Friday.


mosque

From Middle French mosquée, from Italian moschea, ultimately from Arabic مَسْجِد (masjid, literally “place of prostration”). Doublet of masjid.

der

There's a mosque near where I live.

The demolition of two mosques in India within days of each other has highlighted the deep religious divide in the country, months before voters head to the polls for a nationwide election that is expected to hand Prime Minister Narendra Modi a rare third term in power.

2024 February 15, Aishwarya S Iyer and Rhea Mogul, “‘Erasing a part of history’ – What a double mosque demolition tells us about India ahead of crucial election”, in CNN:

One Terrorgram user livestreamed himself stabbing five people outside of a mosque in Turkey, she said, and a 19-year-old Slovakian man praised the group in a manifesto before killing two people at an LGBTQ bar in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia.

2024 September 9, Hannah Rabinowitz, “Alleged leaders of White supremacist group charged in effort to encourage terrorism and hate crimes”, in CNN:

(Islam) A place of worship for Muslims, often having at least one minaret; a masjid.


khutbah

khutbahs (plural)
khotbah (alternative)
khotbeh (alternative)
khutba (alternative)
khutbeh (alternative)

Save your khutbah for another time.

(Islam) A talk or sermon delivered in mosques before the Friday prayer, or at other special occasions.


hajj

hajjes (plural)
hadj (alternative)
haj (alternative)

From Arabic حَجّ (ḥajj, “pilgrimage”), from حَجَّ (ḥajja, “to go, to repair”).

The word Hajj is explained by Moslem divines to mean “Kasd,” or aspiration, and to express man’s sentiment that he is but a wayfarer on earth wending towards another and a nobler world.

1855, Richard Francis Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah, Appendix I:

The restored cottage, which has been open to tourists since 1891 (Woodrow Wilson came here on a cycling tour in 1899), is the Kaabah of a Lake District haj, a must-see for all pilgrims.

2000 June, Jamie James, “Wordsworth Slept Here”, in The Atlantic:

“He passed away due to diabetes while in prison,” the residential committee member said. “He was serving time in Tumshuq Prison for performing the hajj pilgrimage.”

2023 May 24, Shohret Hoshur, “Uyghur motorcycle repairman’s corpse released by prison in Kashgar prefecture”, in Roseanne Gerin, Malcom Foster, editors, Radio Free Asia, archived from the original on 2024-02-01, RFA Uyghur:

(Islam) The pilgrimage to Mecca made by pious Muslims; one of the five pillars of Islam.


heaven

en-noun

heaven (countable and uncountable, plural heavens)

heavens (plural)
heav'n (alternative poetic)

horror

antonym(s) of “blissful place or experience”

From a wide variety of Middle English forms including hevene, heven, hevin, and hewin (“heaven, sky”), from Old English heofon, heofone (“heaven, sky”), from Proto-West Germanic *hebn (“heaven, sky”), of uncertain origin.
Cognate with Scots heiven, hewin (“heaven, sky”), Middle Dutch heven (“sky, heaven”), Low German Heven (“heaven, sky”), Middle High German heben (“sky, heaven”), and possibly the rare Icelandic and Old Norse hifinn (“heaven, sky”), which are all probably dissimilated forms of the Germanic root which appears in Old Norse himinn (“heaven, sky”), Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌹𐌽𐍃 (himins, “heaven, sky”), Old Swedish himin, Old Danish himæn and probably also (in another variant form) Old Saxon himil, Old Dutch himil (modern Dutch hemel), and Old High German himil (German Himmel).
Accepting these as cognates, some scholars propose a further derivation from Proto-Germanic *himinaz (“cover, cloud cover, firmament, sky, heaven”).

سَمَاء

سَمَاوَات pl (samāwāt)

فَلَك

أَفْلَاك pl (ʔaflāk)

Teache the people to gett heuen with fastynge.

1544, Richard Tracy, A supplycacion to our moste soueraigne lorde Kynge henry the eyght Kynge of England of Fraunce and of Irelande, section C:

...what I speake
My body shall make good vpon this earth,
Or my diuine soule answer it in heauen.

1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene 1]:

Wee haue a great high Priest, that is passed into the heauens.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hebrews 4:14:

(religion) The afterlife of the blessed dead, traditionally conceived as opposed to an afterlife of the wicked and unjust (compare hell); specifically:

(Christianity, Islam) Paradise, the afterlife of the souls who are not sent to a place of punishment or purification such as hell, purgatory, or limbo; the state or condition of being in the presence of God after death.

سَمَاء f جَنَّة f فِرْدَوْس

سَمَاوَات pl (samāwāt)


wallah

From Arabic وَٱللّٰه (wal-lāh, literally “by God”).

der

wallahee (alternative)
wallahi (alternative)
wellah (alternative)
wullah (alternative)

may God be my witness
may God be my witness

(Islam) by God (Allah); may God be my witness. Used in making a solemn oath


baba

As one of the first utterances many babies are able to say, baba (like mama, papa, and dada) has come to be used in many languages as a term for various family members:
* father: Albanian, Arabic, Western Armenian, Chinese, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Greek, Marathi, Mingrelian, Nepali, Persian, Swahili, Turkish, Yoruba, Shona, Zulu
* grandmother: many Slavic languages (such as Bulgarian, Russian, Czech and Polish; a doublet of bubbe), Romanian, Yiddish, Japanese
* grandfather: Azerbaijani, Zulu (father, grandfather)
* baby: Afrikaans, Sinhala, Hungarian
These terms often continue to be used by English speakers whose families came from one of these cultures. In some cases, they may become more widely used in localities that have been heavily influenced by an immigrant community. Some senses were extensions of one of these family terms in the original languages ("old woman" from "grandmother", "holy man" from "father"). The "cake" sense comes through French, from Polish baba (“old woman”). The Middle Eastern word baba (as in Ali Baba) is rather a term of endearment, and is ultimately derived from Persian بابا (bābā, “father”) (from Old Persian pāpa; as opposed to the Arabic words أَبُو (ʔabū) and أَب (ʔab); see also Papak), and is linguistically related to the common European word papa and the word pope, having the same Indo-European origin. The Chinese word "baba", meaning father, comes from 爸爸.

While I was in Port Alberni, three babas came to Canada to raise money ...

1995, Hugh J.M. Johnston, Tara Singh Bains, The Four Quarters of the Night: The Life-Journey of an Emigrant Sikh:

But according to Ray, 'all the babas my uncle knew were genuine. None of them was exposed. They were fairly humble people, not show-offs like the Maharishi ...

2004, Andrew Robinson, Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye: The Biography of a Master Film-Maker:

Most babas had little contact with written culture and are not therefore named in books and treatises.

2006, Suraiya Faroqhi, Subjects Of The Sultan: Culture And Daily Life In The Ottoman Empire:

(Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism) A holy man, a spiritual leader.


Michael

en-proper noun

Michael (countable and uncountable, plural Michaels)

Michaels (plural)
Michaell (alternative)

Armenian: Մայքլ (Maykʻl)

desc

→ Chinese: 邁克爾 /迈克尔 (Màikè'ěr) (transliteration)

Greek: Μάικλ (Máikl)

From Middle English Michael, from Old French Michel, Old English Michahel, and directly from their source Latin Michaēl, from Ancient Greek Μῐχᾱήλ (Mĭkhāḗl), from Biblical Hebrew מִיכָאֵל (mîḵāʾēl, literally “who is like God?”). Doublet of Mikhail.

der

And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince that standeth for the children of thy people.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Daniel 12:1:

And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 12:7:

(Judaism, Christianity, Islam) An archangel associated with defending the faithful in the tribulation.


halal

halaal

in general, according to Muslim customs, permissible to have or do

[…] broadening the demand for halal across all product categories, not just in their consumption of meat products […]

2014, Professor Nilüfer Göle, Islam and Public Controversy in Europe, →ISBN, page 176:

(Islam) allowable, according to Muslim religious customs, to have or do.


Qur'an

the Qur'an (canonical)
Qur'ans (plural)
Quran (alternative)
Koran (alternative)
Alcoran (alternative obsolete)
Alkoran (alternative obsolete uncommon)
Coran (alternative obsolete uncommon)
Qoran (alternative uncommon)
Qor'an (alternative uncommon)
Qorân (alternative uncommon)
Qur'ân (alternative uncommon)
Qur'ān (alternative uncommon)
Qurʾān (alternative uncommon)
Ḳurʾān (alternative uncommon)
Qurʔān (alternative rare)

Borrowed from Arabic الْقُرْآن (al-qurʔān), definite form of قُرْآن (qurʔān, “act of reciting”), verbal noun of قَرَأَ (qaraʔa, “to recite; to read (aloud)”). (The obsolete alternative spellings with "al-", like the Alcoran, redundantly retained the Arabic definite article.) Compare Classical Syriac ܩܪܝܢܐ (qeryānā, “reading; scripture”).

cog

Thus it is not without wonder, how those learned Arabicks so tamely delivered up their belief unto the absurdities of the Alcoran.

1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, I.5:

‘A poor forlorn and ignorant stranger, unacquainted with the very Alcoran of the savage tribe whom you are come to reside among—Never to have heard of Markham, the most celebrated author on farriery!’

He reads largely religious books, chiefly the Gita and Upanishads. He has read the Koran and he is now re-reading the Bible.

1923 December 16, “Gandhi spends his time”, in Time:

In the summer of 2002, responding to the 9/11 atrocity, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill made a selection of verses from the Qur'an a mandatory text for new students.

2011 July 1, Malise Ruthven, The Guardian:

(Islam) The Islamic holy book, considered by Muslims to be the word of God as revealed to Muhammad.


fatwa

fatwas (plural)
fatawa (plural rare)
fetwa (alternative)
fetwah (alternative)
fatwah (alternative)
futwa (alternative)
futwah (alternative)

Ruhollah Khomeini
Salman Rushdie
The Satanic Verses

The noun is borrowed from Arabic فَتْوَى (fatwā, “formal legal opinion”), the verbal noun of أَفْتَى (ʔaftā, “to deliver a formal opinion”) (whence مُفْتٍ (muftin, “mufti”), the active participle of the same verb: see mufti).
The forms fetwa, fetwah are derived from Italian fetfà (obsolete), and directly from its etymon Ottoman Turkish فتوی (fetva) (modern Turkish fetva), from Arabic فَتْوَى (fatwā): see above.
Modern uses of noun sense 1.2 (“decree that a person should be put to death”) and the corresponding verb sense are probably influenced by the issuance of a fatwa on 14 February 1989 by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1900 or 1902 – 1989), the Supreme Leader of Iran, calling for the British-American author Salman Rushdie (born 1947) and his publishers to be put to death for alleged blasphemy in his novel The Satanic Verses (1988).
The plural form fatawa is borrowed from Arabic فَتَاوَى (fatāwā).
The verb is derived from the noun.

fatwa

formal ruling issued by an Islamic judicial authority

The website contains fatwas on points of Islamic law that arise in court cases.

In 2015, one person was killed in Copenhagen at a meeting meant to mark the 25th anniversary of an Iranian fatwa against British writer Salman Rushdie, which Vilks attended.

2021 October 4, Reuters, “Lars Vilks, Swedish cartoonist who depicted Mohammed, killed in car crash”, in CNN:

A formal legal decree, opinion, or ruling issued by a mufti or other Islamic judicial authority.

(by extension, loosely, proscribed) A decree issued by a mufti or other Islamic judicial authority that a person should be put to death, usually as punishment for committing apostasy or blasphemy.


Allah

From Arabic اللّٰه (allāh), contraction of اَل (al-, “the”) + إِلَه (ʔilah, “deity”); cognate with the Aramaic אלה (aláh) and אלהא (aláhâ), and Hebrew אֵל (él), אֱלוֹהַּ / אֱלֹהַּ (elóah) and אֱלוֹהִים \ אֱלֹהִים (elohím); ultimately from Proto-Semitic *ʾil-.-.

What is the Shia Islamic view on the attributes of Allah?

We are too much men and women; we are yet formed in the image of the Creator, and what can we say of Him with any certainty except that He, whoever He may be—Christ, Yahweh, Allah—He made us, did He not, because even He in His Infinite Perfection could not bear to be alone.

1998, Anne Rice, The Vampire Armand, New York: Knopf, →ISBN, →OL, page 273:

(Islam) God, in Islamic or Arabic contexts


AS

From Arabic عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ (ʕalayhi s-salāmu, “peace be upon him”), placed after the name of holy persons in Islamic texts.

der

عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ

alayhi as-salaam
alayhi as-salaam#English


Wahhabite

Wahhabites (plural)
Wahabit (alternative)
Wahabite (alternative)

(Islam) A follower of Wahhabism, a fundamentalist movement of Islam.


Holy Spirit

A calque of Arabic رُوح الْقُدُس (rūḥ al-qudus, “Spirit of Holiness”), a calque of the Ancient Greek and Hebrew senses above.

cal

رُوح الْقُدُس

(Islam) The spirit of God, especially in its inspiration of prophets and quickening of fetuses.


niche

Unadapted borrowing from French niche, from Middle French niche, from Old French niche, from nicher (“to make a nest”) (modern French nicher), from Vulgar Latin *nīdicāre, from Latin nīdus (“nest”). Doublet of nidus and nide via Latin and nest via Proto-Indo-European; also related to nyas.

(Islam) An arrow woven into a prayer rug pointing in the direction of qibla.


crescent

crescents (plural)
cres. (alternative abbreviation)

From Middle English cressaunt, from Anglo-Norman cressaunt and Old French creissant (“crescent of the moon”) (French croissant), from Latin crēscēns, present active participle of crēscō (“arise, thrive”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱreh₁- (“to grow”). See Old Armenian սերիմ (serim, “be born”) and սերեմ (serem, “bring forth”), Ancient Greek κόρη (kórē, “girl”) and κούρος (koúros, “boy”), Latin creāre (“produce, create, bring forth”) and Ceres (“goddess of agriculture”). Doublet of croissant.
The pronunciation with /z/ is a comparatively recent innovation due to the influence of words such as pheasant and present.

der

The Turkish flag features a white star and crescent on red base.

Something shaped like a crescent, especially:

(Islam) A representation of a crescent, used as a symbol of Islam.


resurrection

en-noun

resurrection (countable and uncountable, plural resurrections)

/ɹɛzəˈɹɛkʃən/

/ɹɛzəˈɹɛkʃn̩/

From Anglo-Norman resurrectiun, from Old French resurrection (French: résurrection), from Late Latin resurrectionem (accusative of resurrectiō) from Latin resurgō (“I rise again”), from re- (“again”), + surgō (“I rise”). Displaced native Old English ǣrist.

But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 20:5–6:

(Christianity, Islam, Judaism) The general resurrection.


Jesus Christ

From Middle English Jesu Crist, Jesus Crist, from Latin Iēsūs Chrīstus, equivalent to Jesus + Christ.

Almighty God, give us the grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life (in which thy son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility;)

1681, Church of England, The book of common prayer:

Baháʼí Baháʼí

(Christianity, Islam, Baháʼí) Jesus of Nazareth, a first-century Jewish religious preacher and craftsman (commonly understood to have been a carpenter, see Ancient Greek τέκτων (téktōn, “builder”)) from Galilee, held to be a prophet, teacher and the Messiah, or Christ, in Christianity. Also held to be a prophet in Islam and the Baháʼí Faith.

ܝܶܫܽܘܥ ܡܫܺܝܚܳܐ

Yešūʿ M'šīḥāʿ

ܝܼܫܘܿܥ ܡܫܝܼܚܵܐ

Īšōʿ M'šīḥāʿ

ܝܶܫܽܘܥ ܡܫܺܝܚܳܐ

Yešūʿ M'šīḥōʿ

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints


muezzin

muezzins (plural)
mouezzin (alternative)
muadhin (alternative)
muazzin (alternative)
muedhdhin (alternative)
muezin (alternative archaic)

From Turkish müezzin or Ottoman Turkish مؤذن (müezzin), from Arabic مُؤَذِّن (muʔaḏḏin, “one who calls (to prayer), crier”).

der

approaching the mosque, at the call of the muezzin (III, xvi)

1820, Charles Maturin, Melmoth the Wanderer:

I was awoken by the voice of a distant muezzin calling the faithful to prayer.

2015, Chigozie Obioma, The Fishermen, ONE, page 266:

(Islam) The person who issues the call to prayer from one of the minarets of a mosque.


din

(Islam) Alternative spelling of deen (“religion, faith, religiosity”).


ayatollah

ayatollahs (plural)
ayatolla (alternative)

Borrowed from Iranian Persian آیَتُاللّٰه (âyato-l-lâh), from Classical Persian آیَةُاللّٰه (āyatu-l-lāh), from Arabic آيَةُ ٱللَّٰهِ (ʔāyatu llāhi, “sign of God”, from آيَة (ʔāya, “sign”) + اللّٰه (allāh, “God”)).

der

آيَةُ ٱللَّٰهِ

(Islam) A religious leader in Twelver Shi'ism.


Mary

Marys (plural)
Maries (plural)
Marie (alternative)

→ Cantonese: Mary

→ Cebuano: Mary, Marie

→ Danish: Mary

→ Faroese: Marý

→ Hawaiian: Mele, Mere

→ Japanese: マリー (Marī)

desc

→ Mandarin: 瑪麗 /玛丽 (Mǎlì), 瑪莉 /玛莉 (Mǎlì), 瑪利 /玛利 (Mǎlì)

→ Manx: Mayree

→ Maori: Mere, Meri

→ Norwegian: Mary

→ Scottish Gaelic: Màiri

→ Swedish: Mary

→ Tahitian: Mere

→ Tok Pisin: meri

→ Thai: แมรี (mɛɛ-rii)

From Middle English Marie, from Old French Marie, from Latin Maria, from Ancient Greek Μαρία (María), Μαριάμ (Mariám), from Aramaic מַרְיָם (maryām) or Biblical Hebrew מִרְיָם (miryām), of uncertain meaning (see the Hebrew entry for more). Doublet of Miriam, Marie, Maria, and Mariah.

doublet

(Islam) The 19th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an, recounting the events leading up to the birth of Jesus.


hajji

hajjis (plural)
hadji (alternative)
haji (alternative)

Borrowed from Middle French hagi, from Ottoman Turkish حاجی (hacı), from Classical Persian حَاجِی (hājī).

(Islam) a Muslim who has participated in a hajj.


ark

→ Maori: āka

From Middle English arke, from Old English earc, ærc, from Latin arca (“chest, box, coffer”), from arceō (“I enclose”).

In the midrash about Noah it says that Noah had a stone which, when held up in the darkness of the ark, would change color when the sun was shining outside.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 201:

(Judaism, Christianity, Islam) Noah's ark: the ship built by Noah to save his family and a collection of animals from the deluge.


imam

imams (plural)
imaum (alternative archaic)
iman (alternative archaic)

Borrowed from Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām, “leader”).

Now it chanced that in one of the mosques was an Imam. (footnote: The person specially appointed to lead the prayers of the congregation and paid out of the endowed revenues of the mosque to which he is attached)

1901, John Payne, Alaeddin and the Enchanted Lamp:

But then there's a Christian cleric and an imam on each of the country's three regional censorship boards, in Kaduna, Lagos and Onitsha, although more than one producer told me that the brown envelope worked the same magic here as in any other Nigerian Government department.

In the 1980s, roughly six hundred young Algerian men, many of them protégés of Muslim Brothers from Egypt and Wahhabi imams from Saudi Arabia, went to Afghanistan to join the anti-Soviet jihad.

2004 October 7, London Review of Books, page 3:

The critically low level of rainfall in the second half of 2020 – approaching 50% year on year for November – led the religious affairs directorate to instruct imams and their congregations to pray for rain last month.

2021 January 13, Bethan McKernan, “Turkey drought: Istanbul could run out of water in 45 days”, in The Guardian:

(Islam) One who leads the salat prayers in a mosque.


fard

Borrowed from Arabic فَرْض (farḍ, “religious duty”), from فَرَضَ (faraḍa, “to ordain, make obligatory, specify”).

It is suggested that the child pray only the fardrak'ats at this stage. He can keep adding the sunnah rak'ats from the time he has all the fards completed—that is, from his seventh birthday—so that by age ten he has the entire salat, fards and sunnahs, complete.

1995, Norma Tarazi, Zeba Siddiqui, “Islamic Practices, Manners, and Values”, in The Child in Islam: A Muslim Parent’s Handbook, Plainfield, Ind.: American Trust Publications, →ISBN, page 132:

(Islam) A commandment from Allah that a Muslim has to fulfill; a religious duty or obligation.


fard

The second fundamental of Islam is "to perform the ritual prayer (namâz, salât) [five times a day in accordance with its conditions and fards] when the time for prayer comes." It is fard for every Muslim to perform salât five times every day after each time of salât starts and to know that he or she performs it in due time.

1993, Mawlânâ Diyâ’ Ad-dîn Khâlid, “Introduction”, in Belief and Islam (Hakîkat Kitâbevi Publications; no. 8), Istanbul: Hakîkat Kitâbevi, →OCLC:

(Islam) Required as a matter of religious duty or obligation.

fard

(Islam) required as a matter of religious duty or obligation


mullah

Derived from Classical Persian مُلَّا (mullā), from Arabic مَوْلًى (mawlan, “vicar, guardian”).

der

Leading Republicans do not sympathize with the mullahs, do not repeat their talking points, and do not seek to appease them when they make outrageous claims about other countries.

2024 April 15, Anne Applebaum, “Why Did U.S. Planes Defend Israel but Not Ukraine?”, in The Atlantic:

(Islam) A religious scholar and teacher of sharia law.


crusader

1998, Osama Bin Ladenhttps://irp.fas.org/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm
Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those killed, which has exceeded 1 million... despite all this, the Americans are once against trying to repeat the horrific massacres, as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation.

(Islam, politics, derogatory, Islamism) An American, especially a soldier or leader who wages war against Islamist militants.

(Islam, politics, derogatory, Islamism, religious slur) A Westerner; a Christian, especially of European descent or a missionary.

(Islam, politics, derogatory, Islamism) (either attributively or in the plural) The United States and its Western allies.


revert

From Old French revertir, from Vulgar Latin *revertiō, variant of Latin revertō.

Zeba Siddiqui, herself a revert and editor of the Parent's Manual: A Guide for Muslim Parents Living in North America, contributed to this book as a consultant.

1997, Islamic Society of North America, Islamic horizons, page 27:

Parents should not reject a proposal without good reason — and being a revert with a past is not an acceptable one.

2001, Islamic Society of North America, Islamic horizons:

(Islam, due to the belief that all people are born Muslim) A convert to Islam.


revert

en-verb

revert (third-person singular simple present reverts, present participle reverting, simple past and past participle reverted)

reverts (present singular third-person)
reverting (participle present)
reverted (participle past)
reverted (past)

връщам

to cause to return to the previous owner

He added that Islam is the religion of justice which rejects injustice, referring to the case of Mike Tyson and how he has become a real problem to the West since he reverted to Islam.

1995, Wizārat al-Iʻlām wa-al-Thaqāfah, “Sudanow”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 20:

The mission of 'translating' the Qur'an had preoccupied Pickthall's mind since he reverted to Islam.

1997, Islamic Society of North America, Islamic horizons:

But once he reverted to Islam, he attended as many lectures as he could, listened to Islamic tapes and the recitations of Qur'an. Subtly and gradually his moods were stabilized, and he started to have positive outlook on life.

2003, Islamic Revival Association, Al Jumuʻah: Volume 15, Issues 7-12:

(intransitive, Islam) To convert to Islam.


Holy Land

(Judaism, Christianity, Islam) That part of the Middle East, consisting mostly of Israel and Palestine, in which most Biblical events are set.

اَلْأَرْض اَلْمُقَدَّسَة

that part of Asia in which most Biblical events are set


genie

genii (plural)
genies (plural)
jinn (alternative)
djinn (alternative)
djinni (alternative)
djinny (alternative)
jinni (alternative)
jinnie (alternative)
jinnee (alternative)

From French génie (“genius, genie”), a phono-semantic matching of Arabic جِنِّيّ (jinniyy).

psm

(Islam) A jinn, a being descended from the jann, normally invisible to the human eye, but who may also appear in animal or human form.


end times

End Times (alternative)
end-times (alternative)

Both Islam and Christianity have a strong eschatology (view of the end times) that comes from their worldview.

2004, William Wagner, How Islam Plans to Change the World, Kregel Publications, →ISBN, page 210:

The coming of the Mahdi during the end—times […]

2012, Henry Bayman, The Teachings of a Perfect Master, Page 169

(Islam) The days leading to the coming of the Mahdi, the Messiah or Judgment Day.


Eid

Eids (plural)
'Eid (alternative)
'eid (alternative)
Id (alternative)
Eed (alternative)

From Arabic عِيد (ʕīd, “feast, holiday, festival”) via Persian عید ('eyd), ultimately from Classical Syriac ܥܐܕܐ.

bor

(Islam) Any of various Muslim religious festivals.


jihad

en-noun

jihad (countable and uncountable, plural jihads)

jihad Wikiquote (canonical)
jihads (plural)
jehad (alternative)

/ˈd͡ʒiːhɑːd/

From Arabic جِهَاد (jihād, “struggle; effort”).

bor

Young Iraqis of both sects obeyed the imams' ruling last week by rushing to conscription offices in hot, dirty, dusty Bagdad to offer themselves or their money for the jihad.

Small groups of killers, the scent of blood in their nostrils, now fanned out by taxi, bicycle or even on horseback into the surrounding countryside, spreading the word that a general jihad, or ‘holy war’, had broken out.

1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 26:

The Jabhat al-Nusra media, with songs about jihad and martyrdom, is extremely influential.

2013 May 8, Mona Mahmood, Ian Black, The Guardian:

(Islam) A holy war undertaken by Muslims.

聖戰 /圣战 (sing³ zin³, literally “holy war”)

聖戰 /圣战 (shèngzhàn, literally “holy war”)

As a result, Amirull has renounced his radical beliefs in armed jihad and the use of violence. He now sees jihad as caring for his parents, improving himself, and contributing to society.

2023 May 3, “Update on Terrorism-Related Case Under Internal Security Act”, in Internal Security Department (Singapore):

(Islam, theology) A personal spiritual struggle for self-improvement and/or against evil.


mufti

en-noun

mufti (countable and uncountable, plural muftis)

muftis (plural)
muftee (alternative archaic)
mufty (alternative archaic)

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish مفتی (müfti), from Arabic مُفْتِي (muftī, “fatwa-deliverer”, literally “deliverer of formal opinion”).

der

Mujtahidd's online claims have prompted an aggressive backlash against social media from the Saudi religious establishment. The grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdul-Aziz al-Sheikh, said in January that Twitter was a platform for "promoting lies" and a "dangerous practice" that should be avoided by Muslims. Commentators have described the phenomenon as symbolic of the growing political debate about use of Twitter in Saudi Arabia.

2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in the Guardian:

(countable, Islam) A Muslim scholar and interpreter of sharia law, who can deliver a fatwa.


taqwa

It involves abstaining from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual relations from dawn to sunset, in the hopes that it will lead to greater "taqwa", or consciousness of God.

2020 April 20, Sami Rahman, “Ramadan 2020: The health benefits of fasting”, in Al Jazeera:

(Islam) The care taken by a person to obey the commands of Allah.


zij

From Middle Persian zīg (literally “cord”).

Zijes are comprised of a set of canons and a set of tables. These tables can be grouped as follows: calendar conversions; mean motions; solar, lunar, and planetary equations; trigonometry and spherical astronomy; planetary latitudes, visibilities, and retrogradations; lunar visibility; precession or trepidation; solar and lunar eclipses; astrological tables; geographical coordinates; and star lists. Some zijes may not have had all these items, and others may have had [more]. In particular, planetary velocity tables appear in only [those] that derive from the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghrib.

2003, José Chabás, Bernard R. Goldstein, “Astronomical Commentary”, in The Alfonsine Tables of Toledo:

(Islam) An Islamic book that tabulates parameters used for various astronomical events and movements.


peaceful

peacefuls (plural)
peacefull (alternative archaic)

Derived from the derogatory term religion of peace, which is used against Islam itself for its association with violent attacks by Islamic extremists, and alleged support and lack of condemnation against them by certain Muslim communities.

They only have to use a bit of code to name those people; nowadays they call them “peacefuls”. A smirking euphemism is all it takes to sail through Twitter’s filter, and keep the hate-speech flowing.

(India, Islam, Islamophobic, Internet slang, offensive) a Muslim; especially a violent member of a radical Islamist group.


alfa

(Islam) A West African cleric or religious teacher.


shirk

A person can have committed shirk in their lifetime and still find forgiveness (especially by saying the Shahada and becoming a Muslim). The concept is that if one dies in this state (as a mushrik, an idolator, one who engages in and does not repent shirk), there is no forgiveness.

2013, James R. White, What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Qur'an, Baker Books, →ISBN:

(Islam) The unforgivable sin of association (of something with God).


Antichrist

From Middle English Antecrist, from late Old English Antecrist, from Late Latin antichristus, from Ancient Greek ἀντίχριστος (antíkhristos). By surface analysis, anti- + Christ. The modern spelling of the word is due to an effort to reflect the Latin etymon.

anti-Christ (alternative)
antichrist (alternative)

(Christianity, Islam) A false messiah who, under direct control of the Devil, will usher in the abomination in the end times; a false prophet.

Antikrishti

one under the direct control of the Devil


Lord

en-proper noun

Lord (countable and uncountable, plural Lords)

See lord.
In reference to the God of the Jewish Tanakh and Christian Bible, originally a translation (attested from the late Old English form hlāford) of the Vulgate Latin Dominus (“master of a house; lord”), translating the New Testament and the Septuagint's Ancient Greek ὁ κύριος or Κύριος (ó kýrios, "the supreme one; Lord, Kyrios"), both in reference to Hebrew אֲדֹנָי (ʾdny, "my lord; my Lord, Adonai") from אדון (ʾdwn, "lord, patron; Lord") + י- (-y, "my"), cognate with Phoenician 𐤀𐤃𐤍 (ʾdn, "lord; Lord, Adon"). Adonai appears in the Tanakh both directly and as a euphemism read aloud during occurrences of the Tetragrammaton יהוה (YHWH, "I Am that I Am; Jehovah"). See the usage notes below. Displaced the earlier term Drighten.

der

en:the Abrahamic deity, either nontrinitarian or trinitarian

The Abrahamic deity of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faiths.

(Judaism, Islam) The God of Abraham and the Jewish scriptures.


M

en-noun

M (countable and uncountable, plural Ms)

Coordinate term: H (“Hindu”)

(India, Islam, Internet slang) Initialism of Muslim; mostly used by Hindutva netizens primarily towards Islamist supporters and Muslim militants.


Prohibition

(Islam) The 66th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.


Prophet

He would sit crouched up in a corner of the cave all day long, calling upon Allah and the Prophet to protect him.

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:


Q

(Islam, followed by an ayah (verse) number) Abbreviation of Quran.


Armageddon

/ˌɑː(ɹ).məˈɡɛ.dn̩/

/ˌɑɹ.məˈɡɛ.dn̩/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Armageddon.wav

From Middle English Hermagedon, from Old English Ermagedon, from Latin Hermagedon, from Ancient Greek Ἁρμαγεδών (Harmagedṓn), used in Revelation 16:16, referring to Mount Megiddo, the place of the last battle at the Last Judgment; from Hebrew הר מגידו / הַר מְגִדּוֹ (har megiddo).

he-l

הַר מְגִדּוֹ

הר מגידו / הַר מְגִדּוֹ (har megiddo)

And so, unfortunately, this great and spreading network of railways, that recently showed such promise as a major instrument in the modern development of China, must be left for the time being in the melting-pot of Armageddon.

1941 October, F. S. Bond, “The Railways of China”, in Railway Magazine, page 440:

(Christianity, Islam) Mount Megiddo, the site of a prophesied final battle between the forces of good and evil.


doomsday

en-noun

doomsday (countable and uncountable, plural doomsdays)

doomsdays (plural)
domesday (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English domes + dai, from Old English dom (“judgment”) + dæg (“day”). Equivalent to doom + -s- + day. Possibly influenced by Latin domus dei (“house of God”).

(Christianity, Islam, Judaism, sometimes capitalized) Judgement day; the day of the Final Judgment; any day of decisive judgement or final dissolution.


judgement day

judgement days (plural)
judgment day (alternative US)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-judgement day.wav

If God's a-coming, he ought to make it by then / Maybe he'll look around himself and say / “Guess it's time for the judgement day!”

1968, Zager and Evans, “In the Year 2525”:

But when I woke up this morning / I could have sworn it was judgement day

(Christianity, Islam, Judaism, sometimes capitalized) The final trial of all humankind, both the living and the dead, by God expected to take place at the end of the world, when each is rewarded or punished according to their merits.

يَوْم الْحِسَاب

final trial of all humankind at the end of the world


Muhammad

Muhammads (plural)
Mahomed (alternative)
Mahommed (alternative)
Mehemet (alternative)
Mohamad (alternative)
Muhamed (alternative)
Muhammat (alternative)
Muhamad (alternative)
Mehemed (alternative)
Mehemmed (alternative)
Mahoma (alternative)
Muhammud (alternative)
Mahemet (alternative)
Mehemmet (alternative)
Mehmed (alternative)
Mehmet (alternative)
Mohamet (alternative)
Mahamad (alternative)
Mahammad (alternative)
Mahamet (alternative)
Mahumet (alternative)
Mohammet (alternative)
Mahammed (alternative)
Mahamed (alternative)
Mahommet (alternative)
Mahomad (alternative)
Machomet (alternative)
Mahommad (alternative)
Muhammet (alternative)
Mahomat (alternative)
Muhamet (alternative)
Muhamat (alternative)
Maomet (alternative)
Mohamat (alternative)
Mahamat (alternative)
Mahamid (alternative)
Mohamud (alternative)
Mohammud (alternative)
Mahomett (alternative)
Mohamid (alternative)
Mohammid (alternative)
Muhamud (alternative)
Muhammid (alternative)
Mahammet (alternative)
Muhamid (alternative)
Magomet (alternative)
Mohemet (alternative)
Mehammed (alternative)
Mohemmed (alternative)
Mehamet (alternative)
Mohemed (alternative)
Mahemed (alternative)
Mouhammad (alternative)
Mouhamed (alternative)
Mouhamad (alternative)
Muhmmed (alternative)
Mohamod (alternative)
Mohammod (alternative)
Muhmad (alternative)
Muhmmad (alternative)
Muhimmad (alternative)
Mohmad (alternative)
Mohmmad (alternative)
Mohmmed (alternative)
Mohmed (alternative)
Machoumet (alternative)
Mahamath (alternative)
Mahamett (alternative)
Mahamit (alternative)
Mahammat (alternative)
Mahammid (alternative)
Mahemett (alternative)
Mahemmed (alternative)
Mahemmet (alternative)
Mahometh (alternative)
Mahommat (alternative)
Mahommett (alternative)
Mahoumed (alternative)
Mahoumet (alternative)
Mahumett (alternative)
Mehamid (alternative)
Mehammad (alternative)
Mehemett (alternative)
Moammed (alternative)
Moehammad (alternative)
Mohamit (alternative)
Mohammat (alternative)
Mohamut (alternative)
Mohemmet (alternative)
Mohomet (alternative)
Mouhamet (alternative)
Mouhammed (alternative)
Muammed (alternative)
Muhamut (alternative)
Muhemmad (alternative)
Mathomus (alternative)
Muħammad (alternative)
Muḥammad (alternative)
Magomed (alternative)
Magomet (alternative)
Ma, Mah, Mar, Mo ／ 馬 (alternative)

Transliteration of Arabic مُحَمَّد (muḥammad, “praised, commendable, laudable”), the passive participle of حَمَّدَ (ḥammada, “to praise, commend, laud, extol”). From the same triconsonantal root ح م د (ḥ m d) as, but distinct from, Mahmud.

ar-root

ح م د (ḥ m d)

Shias believe that Ali succeeded the prophet Muhammad as leader of the Ummah.

Baháʼí Baháʼí

(Islam, uncountable) The figure who introduced Islam, and the man to whom the Qur'an was revealed; considered a prophet by Muslims and Baháʼís.

(Islam, uncountable) The 47th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.


ulama

Borrowed from Arabic عُلَمَاء (ʕulamāʔ). Doublet of ulema and olema.

There he […] became disillusioned with much of the Islamic clerical establishment, and first expressed his contempt for what he called ‘religious secularists’, those foolish ulama who attempt to separate politics from religion.

2000, Zadie Smith, White Teeth, London: Penguin Books, published 2001, →ISBN, page 469:


bid'a

(Islam) heretical innovation in Islamic religious beliefs or worship


du'a'

en-noun

du'a' (countable and uncountable, plural du'a's)

du'a ' (canonical)
du'a's (plural)
du'a (alternative)
dua (alternative)

From Arabic دُعَاء (duʕāʔ, “supplication”), from دَعَا (daʕā, “to summon”).

Ramy murmured a quiet du'a, and they traipsed through the gate.

2022, R. F. Kuang, Babel, Harper Voyager 2023, p. 251

(Islam) A prayer; (specifically), a private prayer by an individual.

duajë

(Islam) private prayer by an individual — see also prayer


'eid

Borrowed from Arabic عِيد (ʕīd, “holiday, carnival”).


Eid al-Fitr

From Arabic عِيد اَلْفِطْر (ʕīd al-fiṭr, “Festival of Breaking the Fast”) in reference to the previous avoidance of food from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan.

derived

عِيد اَلْفِطْر

'Eid al-Fitr (alternative)
'Eid ul-Fitr (alternative)
Eid ul-Fitr (alternative)
Id ul-Fitr (alternative)
Eid'l Fitr (alternative Philippines)

Eid ul-Fitr is one of the main celebrations in the Islamic calendar. […] Prior to Eid ul-Fitr celebrations people give an extra donation of food or money that is distributed to needy people so that no one will be without the means to celebrate the event. This donation is called Zakat ul-Fitr.

1998, Barbara DuMoulin, Sylvia Sikundar, Celebrating Our Cultures: Language Arts Activities for Classroom Teachers, Markham, Ont.: Pembroke Publishers, →ISBN, page 27:

At the end of Ramadan, Muslims celebrate one of the most important Islamic holidays, Eid al-fitr. It is a one-day celebration after the last day of fasting. In the evening on the twenty-ninth day of Ramadan, we go out to see if the moon has appeared. If the moon is not seen, we fast one more day. If it is seen, the next day is Eid al-fitr. During Eid al-fitr, we visit friends and family and have people over to our houses. It is a very happy and special holiday for children.

2003, Aisha Karen Khan, What You Will See Inside a Mosque, Woodstock, Vt.: SkyLight Paths Publishing, →ISBN, page 20:

At the end of Ramadan, there is an exuberant celebration called Eid al-Fitr, the Festival of Fast-Breaking. […] Eid al-Fitr falls on the first day of Shawwal, the month that follows Ramadan in the Islamic calendar. In the morning, Muslims gather early in outdoor locations or mosques to perform the Eid prayer, which is a short congregational prayer followed by a sermon. After the sermon is finished, everyone leaves to visit family and friends. It is common to bring gifts, especially to children. The celebration can last as long as three days.

2015, Kathleen Tracy, Islamic Culture in the Middle East in Perspective (World Cultures in Perspective), Hockessin, De.: Mitchell Lane Publishers, Inc., →ISBN, page 27:

(Islam) The religious celebration at the end of Ramadan, on the first day of the tenth month of the Muslim lunar calendar.


Ibrahim

Etymology tree
Hebrew אַבְרָהָםbor.
Aramaic אברהםbor.
Arabic إِبْرَاهِيم (ʔibrāhīm)bor.
English Ibrahim
Transliteration of Arabic إِبْرَاهِيم (ʔibrāhīm). Doublet of Abraham.

etymon

ar>إِبْرَاهِيم>prophet

translit

إِبْرَاهِيم

the prophet Abraham in Islam — see also Abraham


Ismail

From Arabic إِسْمَاعِيل (ʔismāʕīl). Doublet of Ishmael.

der

Arabic إِسْمَاعِيل (ʔismāʕīl)

(Islam) Ishmael, the first son of Abraham; traditionally the ancestor of the Arabs.


Ramadan

Ramadans (plural)
Ramazan (alternative)
Ramadhan (alternative)
Ramadzan (alternative)
Rhamadan (alternative)
Ramzan (alternative South-Asia)

/ɹɑːməˈdɑːn/

/ˈɹɑːmədɑːn/

Transliteration of Arabic رَمَضَان (ramaḍān); see there for more.

translit

(Islam) The holy ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, during which Muslims fast between the break of dawn until sunset; they also refrain from drinking liquids, smoking and having sexual relations.

Ramadaan

holy ninth month of Islamic lunar calendar


faqir

faqirs (plural)
faquir (alternative obsolete)
fakir (alternative)
faquir (alternative)
faqueer (alternative dated)

(Islam) A religious mendicant who owns no personal property.


fakir

fakirs (plural)
faquir (alternative obsolete)
faqir (alternative)
faquir (alternative)
faqueer (alternative dated)

Borrowed from Arabic فَقِير (faqīr, “poor man”).

(Islam) A faqir, owning no personal property and usually living solely off alms.


Fatima

(Islam) A daughter of the prophet Muhammad, the wife of Ali.


fiqh

en-noun

fiqh (usually uncountable, plural fiqhs)

fiqhs (plural)
fiq'h (alternative)
fiqah (alternative)
fiqha (alternative)
fiqih (alternative)
fikh (alternative)
feqh (alternative)

From Arabic فِقْه (fiqh, “intelligence, knowledge”)

bor

Various fiqhs (schools of jurisprudence) of Islam have different punishment for blasphemy, […]

2021, Ahmed Sayeed, Truth is Law, Faith is Flaw, page 180:

(Islam) Jurisprudence in the Islamic law, shari'a.


shari'a

From Arabic شَرِيعَة (šarīʕa, literally “path, way”).

sharia (alternative)
shariah (alternative)
sheriat (alternative archaic)

The legislation of shari'a here is very strict.

(Islam) A body of religious law forming a part of the Islamic tradition based on the scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith.


fitra

(Islam) The original innocent state of humans after being created by Allah.


hadith

en-noun

hadith (countable and uncountable, plural hadith or hadiths or ahadith)

hadith (plural)
hadiths (plural)
ahadith (plural)

From Arabic حَدِيث (ḥadīṯ, “Prophetic tradition”), from حَدَّثَ (ḥaddaṯa, “to tell, relate, report”).

bor

In addition to the Quran, Muslims also look to the hadiths for moral and spiritual guidance in their daily lives.

There are four main Shia books of hadith and six main Sunni books of hadith.

(countable, religion, Islam) An eyewitness account of a saying or action of Muhammad or sometimes one of his companions not otherwise found in the Quran.

hadith

collected sayings and actions of Muhammad

(countable, in the plural, religion, Islam) A particular accepted collection of such accounts, as from a single source or within a particular branch of Islam or Islamic jurisprudence.


hijab

en-noun

hijab (countable and uncountable, plural hijabs)

hijabs (plural)
hejab (alternative)
hijaab (alternative)
hajib (alternative)
hijabi (alternative)

→ Portuguese: hijabe

The belief that Muslim females observe hijab because men force them to do so insults some Muslim females who have based their decision on their understanding of Islam.

2010, Jawairriya Abdallah-Shahid, Veiled Voices, →ISBN, page 13:

(uncountable, Islam) The practice, among Muslim women, of covering the body after the age of puberty in front of non-related (non-family) adult males.


muhajir

muhajir (plural muhajireen or muhajirun)

/muːˈhɑːdʒɪə(ɹ)/

Borrowed from Arabic مُهَاجِر (muhājir, literally “emigrant”). Sense 2 is from its Urdu derivative مُہَاجِر (muhājir).

bor+

Alternative forms: mohagerin, mohagerian, mohagerine, mohajer, mohadjer, mohajir, muhajar, muhajirin

(Islam) A person who accompanied Muhammad during his migration from Mecca to Medina in 622.


hanif

(Islam) Any person, from before the time of Muhammad, who followed a non-pagan monotheistic religion.


Hijri

Borrowed from Arabic هِجْرِيّ (hijriyy), nisba adjective of هِجْرَة (hijra, “Hijra”).

(Islam) the Islamic lunar calendar; begins with the migration of Muhammad, 16 July 622 AD; months begin at sunset on the day of visual sighting of the new moon


hikmah

en-noun

hikmah (countable and uncountable, plural hikmahs)

Therefore to study hikmah (theosophy) is to undertake a journey towards God; towards divinity; in other words, to al-Haklm

1996, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Oliver Leaman, History of Islamic Philosophy, →ISBN, page 947:

Furthermore, the Qur'anic concept of hikmah, or wisdom, together with the concept of kitab, constitute the content of the Divine curriculum (kitab wa hikmah) that different historical societies were initiated into.

2013, Abdullah Sahin, New Directions in Islamic Education: Pedagogy and Identity Formation, →ISBN:

As such, hikmah is the knowing of the idea and reality of the Universal Truth of Divine Creation; that is to say, hikmah is the knowing of the Truth of God -- as Ibn Sina wrote, it encompasses Divine Science.

2015, Shahab Ahmed, What Is Islam?: The Importance of Being Islamic, →ISBN, page 16:

(Islam) Wisdom and understanding about the divine.


Hira

(Islam) the grotto or cave, in Saudi Arabia, where Muhammad first received the Qur'an from Gabriel.


Husayn

Transliteration of Arabic حُسَيْن (ḥusayn), from the root ح س ن (ḥ s n).

ar-root

ح س ن (ḥ s n)

Husain (alternative)
Husein (alternative)
Hussain (alternative)
Hussein (alternative)
Husayn (alternative)
Ḥusayn (alternative)
Huseyn (alternative)
Husseyn (alternative)
Hussien (alternative)
Hussayn (alternative)
Husseyin (alternative)
Huseyin (alternative)
Hüseyin (alternative)
Hoseyn (alternative)
Hosseyn (alternative)
Hosein (alternative)
Hossein (alternative)
Hosain (alternative)
Hossain (alternative)
Hosayn (alternative)
Hossayn (alternative)
Housseine (alternative)
Houssein (alternative)
Houssain (alternative)
Houssayn (alternative)
Housseyn (alternative)

(Islam) A son of Ali and brother of Hassan; a martyr, and Shi'a Imam.


Hasan

en-proper noun

Hasan (countable and uncountable, plural Hasans)

From Arabic حَسَن (ḥasan, “fine, good, good-looking, handsome, manly; strong”).

bor

(Islam) The eldest son of Ali and brother of Husayn, both are Imams.


Ibada

From Arabic عِبَادَة (ʕibāda, “worship”).

(Islam) service to Allah; sometimes included in the five pillars


arkan

en-noun

arkan pl (normally plural, singular rukn)

(Islam) The five "pillars", requirements or devotional duties of Islam: shahada, salat, zakat, saum and hajjh.


iftar

iftar (countable and uncountable, plural iftars)

bor

Arabic إِفْطَار (ʔifṭār)

Iftars can be social events, where people congregate to eat and socialize.

On a recent afternoon in the Tunisian coastal city of Sfax, as shoppers hurried around a market buying food and drink for that evening’s iftar meal, a small group of men from sub-Saharan Africa gathered near a stall selling phone accessories.

2023 March 30, Simon Speakman Cordall, “Tunisian morgue overflows as more people attempt risky sea crossing”, in The Guardian:

(Islam) The evening meal (of dates) that breaks each day's fast during Ramadan.

iftaar

(Islam) the evening meal (of dates) that breaks each day's fast during Ramadan


ihram

en-noun

ihram (countable and uncountable, plural ihrams)

ihrams (plural)
hirrawem (alternative)
hirrawen (alternative)
ihrām (alternative)

From Arabic إِحْرَام (ʔiḥrām, “prohibition”)

(Islam) The state of ritual purity and dedication of a Muslim hajj pilgrim to Mecca.

(Islam) The clothing worn on such a pilgrimage; one length of cotton cloth around the loins and another thrown over the left shoulder.


ijma'

Borrowed from Arabic إِجْمَاع (ʔijmāʕ, “consensus”)

(Islam) the consensus of ummah (legal scholars) representing all Muslims; one of the sources of Sunni jurisprudence


ijtihad

ijtihad (countable and uncountable, plural ijtihads)

Borrowed from Arabic اِجْتِهَاد (ijtihād, “diligence”).

bor

(Islam) The process of Muslim jurists or scholars making a legal or scientific judgment by independent reasoning from the Qur'an and the Sunna; discretion.


iman

en-noun

iman (countable and uncountable, plural imans)

From Arabic إِيمَان (ʔīmān, “faith, belief”).

(Islam, uncountable) Pious adherence to the Islamic faith.

(Islam, countable) A believer in the Islamic faith.


Ismaeli

Borrowed from Arabic إِسْمَاعِيلِيّ (ʔismāʕīliyy).

bor

إِسْمَاعِيلِيّ

Arabic إِسْمَاعِيلِيّ (ʔismāʕīliyy)

(Islam) A member of branch of Shiite Islam which emphasises secrecy and certain gnostic ideas.


isnad

From Arabic إِسْنَاد (ʔisnād, “support, backing”).

(Islam) a Muslim tradition, specifying the chain of human reporters from the time of Muhammad that authenticates the legitimacy of a hadith (a report of sayings and acts of the prophet)


Jahiliyyah

Borrowed from Arabic جَاهِلِيَّة (jāhiliyya, “ignorance”).

bor+

al-Jahiliyah (alternative)
jahalia (alternative)
jahhiliya (alternative)
jahiliya (alternative)
Jahiliyya (alternative)

Some valuable chapters are occupied with the drawing of parallels between the Arabian Jāhiliyyah, or pre-Islamic period, and Greek heroic antiquity; some others with the history of Arabic poetry, and an endeavour to define the characteristics of the different periods and their chief representatives.

1834: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, page 422 (Cambridge University Press for the Royal Asiatic Society)

(Islam, historical) The condition of ignorance, barbarism and unbelief in Arabia before the coming of Islam.


kafir

en-noun

kafir (countable and uncountable, plural kuffar or kafirs)

kuffar (plural)
kafirs (plural)
kâfir (alternative)
kāfir (alternative)

Borrowed from Arabic كَافِر (kāfir, “denier, unbeliever”). Doublet of kaffir.

bor

In his sermon, Amir Hamza espoused extremist and segregationist views. He inferred that non-Muslims are “kafir” (infidels).

2024 August 21, “Investigation Into Bangladeshi Preacher Amir Hamza’s Sermon in Singapore on 9 August 2024”, in Ministry of Home Affairs (Singapore):

(Islam, countable, offensive, religious slur, politics) A disbeliever, a denier: someone who rejects or disbelieves in Allah or the tenets of Islam; or more broadly any non-Muslim.


ahl al-kitab

Transliteration of Arabic أَهْل اَلْكِتَاب (ʔahl al-kitāb, “people of the book”).

translit

أَهْل اَلْكِتَاب


kalam

Borrowed from Arabic كَلَام (kalām, “literary speech”).


kalima

Borrowed from Arabic كَلِمَة (kalima, “word”)

لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله#Arabic

(Islam) the formal content of the shahada (declaration of faith): لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ ٱللَّٰهِ (lā ʔilāha ʔillā llāhu muḥammadun rasūlu llāhi) "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah."


shahada

en-noun

shahada (usually uncountable, plural shahadas or shahadat)

Borrowed from Arabic شَهَادَة (šahāda, “witnessing”).

(Islam, especially theosophy) The Islamic declaration of belief in the unity of God, one of the five pillars, the formal content of which is the kalima (a minimal Islamic creed).


Khadija

/xəˈdiːd͡ʒə/

(Islam) the first wife of the prophet Muhammad; the mother of Fatima.


Khoja

Borrowed from Gujarati ખોજા (khojā), from Persian خواجه (xâje). Doublet of hodja and Hoxha.

(Islam) A member of a Gujarati-speaking Shiite sect who take the Aga Khan as their religious head.


Mahdi

From Arabic مَهْدِيّ (mahdiyy, “guided one”).

Ahmadis consider Mirza Ghulam Ahmed to be the Mahdi.

"Of course, my Lord. You asked what they were shouting, though. It was Mahdi! They directed the term at the young master. When they-"
"At Paul?"
"Yes, my Lord. They've a legend here, a prophecy, that a leader will come to them, a child of a Bene Gesserit, to lead them to true freedom. It follows the familiar messiah pattern."

1965, Frank Herbert, Dune (Fiction), →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, pages 100–101:

Al-Afghani was a polyglot Persian who became an international agitator, aspiring [...] to unify the Muslim masses behind the Caliph (or even the Mahdi) and to become himself the Luther of an Islamic reformation.

2012, Piers Brendon, ‘Beginning the Dissent’, Literary Review, volume 401:

(Sunni Islam) A leader who, according to Sunni eschatology, will appear and restore peace and justice before the end of the world.

اَلْمَهْدِيُّ

a leader in Islamic eschatology who will appear and restore peace and justice before the end of the world


masjid

masjids (plural)
masajid (plural)
masjeed (alternative)
masjed (alternative)
masgid (alternative)

Borrowed from Arabic مَسْجِد (masjid), from the root س ج د (s j d). Doublet of mosque.

Any masjid where the practices are devoted absolutely to The God ALONE.

If you assign a place in your home or office for prayer, then it can be considered as your own masjid.


mihrab

Certainly there are nagging undertones of regret to the greatest of the Islamic monuments of Spain, the Great Mosque of Córdoba, for now that its mihrab has been demoted to be a mere curiosity, […].

1964, Jan Morris, Spain, Faber and Faber, published 2008, →ISBN:

(Islam) A niche in a mosque that indicates the qibla (direction of Mecca), and into which the imam prays.

(Islam) A design in a Muslim prayer mat with the same function.


millah

From Arabic مِلَّة (milla, “nation, religion”).

bor

(Islam) Any variety of religion, except the religion of Islam.


adhan

adhans (plural)
aazaan (alternative)
azan (alternative)
athan (alternative)

If one were to pray alone, then no adhan is needed.

(Islam) The call to prayer, which consisted originally of simply four takbirs followed by the statement (أَشْهَدُ أَنْ) لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا ٱلله ((ʔašhadu ʔan) lā ʔilāha ʔillā llāh).


mujahid

en-noun

mujahid (plural mujahideen or mujahidin or mujahids)

mujahideen (plural)
mujahidin (plural)
mujahids (plural)

/mʊˈdʒɑːhɪd/

Borrowed from Arabic مُجَاهِد (mujāhid), derived from the active participle of جَاهَدَ (jāhada, “to strive in the cause of God”) (verbal noun: جِهَاد (jihād, “to strive in the cause of God as a religious duty”)), from the root ج ه د (j h d).

(Islam) A Muslim engaging in jihad, especially armed jihad; a jihadist.

奮戰者 /奋战者 (fènzhànzhě) (a number of other translations exist with a 聖戰 /圣战 "holy war" part)


qadar

(Islam) Divine intervention in the affairs of humans; fate, predestination.


qadi

qadis (plural)
cadee (alternative)
cadi (alternative)
kadi (alternative)
Kazi (alternative)
qazi (alternative)
Quazi (alternative)
casis (alternative)
caxis (alternative)
casiz (alternative)
cashish (alternative)
cauzy (alternative)
cazee (alternative)
cazy (alternative)
kajee (alternative)
kashish (alternative)
cadjee (alternative)
cogee (alternative)

From Arabic قَاضٍ (qāḍin, “judge”). Doublet of alcalde, casis, and cauzee.

To this the Jew agreed, and the two went together to the great hall, in which the kadi was administering justice.

legal treatises dealing with the subject usually spoke of the appointment to office of a qadi [...].

1985, Yasmin Hussain, Sharon Siddique, Ahmad Ibrahim, Readings on Islam in Southeast Asia:

The Qazi, his spiritual adviser, had recommended that the Russian be taken out into the desert and buried alive [...].

1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 74:

While sharia law for divorce in many Muslim countries has been modified by governments, in Israel reform was initiated by qadis.

2011 July 22, Jill Hamilton, The Guardian:

(Islam, law) A judge who is trained in and practices Islamic law


qiyas

Unadapted borrowing from Arabic قِيَاس (qiyās, “measurement, analogy”).

unadapted borrowing

(Islam) The use of analogy as precedent in Shari'a jurisprudence.


qibla

en-noun

qibla (countable and uncountable, plural qiblas)

qiblas (plural)
qiblah (alternative)
kiblah (alternative)

From Arabic قِبْلَة (qibla, “which is opposite”).

bor

The other mosques' qiblas are also in the 150°'s range, except for the Andalusian Mosque which has a qibla of 148° (table 7, fig. 17).

1990, Michael E. Bonine, “Sacred Direction and City Structure”, in Oleg Grabar, editor, Muqarnas: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture, volume 7, page 68:

Muslim astronomers from the 8th century onwards concerned themselves with the determination of the qibla as a problem of mathematical geography.

1999, David A. King, World Maps for Finding the Direction and Distance of Mecca, page 56:

The original portico was on the west side (i.e. at right angles to the qibla) and consisted of three bays resting on two marble columns.

2002, Andrew Petersen, Dictionary of Islamic Architecture, page 218:

(Islam) The direction in which Muslims face while praying, currently determined as the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca.


rasul

Borrowed from Arabic رَسُول (rasūl, “messenger”).

bor+

(Islam) A prophet or messenger in Islam; Muhammad, as a special messenger of God.


ra'y

(Islam) In early fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), a personal opinion in adapting Shari'a law.


sakina

Arabic سَكِينَة (sakīna, “God-inspired peace of mind”)

uder

(Islam) the divine tranquility obtained by reciting the Qur'an


salat

salats (plural)
salah (alternative)
salaah (alternative)

(Islam) The obligatory prayer that Muslims are called to perform five times a day.


saum

Borrowed from Arabic صَوْم (ṣawm, “fasting”).

(Islam) fasting; one of the five pillars of Islam


wajib saum

(Islam) a required fast, such as that celebrating Ramadan


Sayyid

Sayyids (plural)
Said (alternative)
Saiid (alternative)
Saiyid (alternative)
Sayed (alternative)
Sayeed (alternative)
Sayid (alternative)
Sayyad (alternative)
Syed (alternative)
Seyed (alternative)
Seyyed (alternative)
Seyyid (alternative)
Seyyit (alternative)
Syud (alternative)

From Arabic سَيِّد (sayyid, “Master, Lord, the nobleman”).

(Islam) An honorific title borne by male descendants of the prophet Muhammad.


sira

(Islam) A traditional Muslim biography of Muhammad.


suhur

Borrowed from Arabic سَحُور (saḥūr) or سُحُور (suḥūr), ultimately from Arabic سَحَر (saḥar, “dawn, predawn”)

sahoor (alternative)
sahur (alternative)
sehar (alternative)
sohur (alternative)
suhoor (alternative)

(Islam) A pre-dawn breakfast during the Ramadan fasting.


tafsir

en-noun

tafsir (countable and uncountable, plural tafsirs or tafsir or tafasir)

tafsirs (plural)
tafsir (plural)
tafasir (plural)

Borrowed from Arabic تَفْسِير (tafsīr, “interpretation”).

bor+

(Islam) A grammatical, historical, allegorical and/or traditional interpretation of the Qur'an.


takbir

(Islam) A proclamation of the greatness of God, "Allahu akbar".


Allahu akbar

/əˌlɑːhuː ˈakbɑː/

From Arabic اللّٰهُ أَكْبَر (allāhu ʔakbar).

bor

اللّٰهُ أَكْبَر

Allah akbar (alternative)
Ola hu Uber (alternative)

Tokbîr is repeating three times these Words, اللّٰه أكبر Allah Akbar, which is to say, GOD is Greatest, before the Kelmah abovementioned.

1742, James Fraser, The History of Nadir Shah, London, page 126n:

The official said it was not immediately clear who the attackers were, but said some of them were shouting "Allahu Akbar" - a frequent cry of Chechnya's separatist rebels.

2004 June 22, Yuri Bagrov, The Guardian:

(Islam) "God is most great"; the Muslim takbir, or liturgical proclamation, used to accept sovereignty of God and as a common form of thanksgiving.


taqlid

From Arabic تَقْلِيد (taqlīd, “imitation”).

taqleed (alternative)
taklid (alternative)

Muslims must not imagine that their sole duty was taqlid, the emulation of a jurist.

2000, Karen Armstrong, The Battle for God, Harper, published 2004, page 128:

(Islam) Conformity to traditional legal decisions in Shari'a jurisprudence.


tariqa

tariqas (plural)
turuq (plural)
tarekat (alternative)
tariqah (alternative)
tariqat (alternative)

/tɑːˈɹiː.kə/

Borrowed from Arabic طَرِيقَة (ṭarīqa, literally “path”).

bor+

(Islam) A religious order of Sufism, formed around a murshid.


tawhid

Borrowed from Arabic تَوْحِيد (tawḥīd, literally “declaring [God] one”).

(Islam) the central Islamic doctrine of God's divine unity


tilawa

(Islam) the ritual recitation of the Qur'an


ummah

Borrowed from Arabic أُمَّة (ʔumma, “community”). Cognate to Hebrew אומה / אֻמָּה (ʾummā, “nation”).

he-m

אומה / אֻמָּה (ʾummā, “nation”)

That concept of a united ummah has survived all subsequent divisions in Islam, including the great and so far permanent rupture between Sunni and Shī‘a [...].

2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 258:


'umra

'umras (plural)
umra (alternative)
umrah (alternative)

(Islam) A minor hajj, a lesser pilgrimage to Mecca, other than at the time of the hajj.


Wahhabi

Borrowed from Arabic وَهَّابِيّ (wahhābiyy, “Wahhabi”), ultimately named after Islam theologian Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. Equivalent to Wahhab + -i.

named-after

(Islam) An adherent of Wahhabism (Sunni Islamic fundamentalist reform movement).


wahy

Explicit philosophical discussion of wahy is not extensive. An important issue is the relative status and possible harmonisation of knowledge gained through philosophy and wahy.

2013, Ian Richard Netton, Encyclopaedia of Islam, page 292:

(Islam) The inspirational revelation of the Qur'an to Muhammad.


dervish

dervishes (plural)
darwaysh (alternative archaic)
darwesh (alternative archaic)
dervice (alternative archaic)
dervis (alternative archaic)
dervise (alternative archaic)

From Ottoman Turkish درویش (derviş), from Persian درویش (darvêš, “poor; Sufi mystic”), from Middle Persian dlgwš (driyōš, “poor, needy”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *drigu-, cognate with Sanskrit ध्रिगु (dhrigu, “needy”) and Avestan 𐬛𐬭𐬌𐬔𐬎 (driguš).

der

(Islam) An itinerant Sufi mystic practicing voluntary poverty in devotion to God, and often engaging in ecstatic rituals.

(historical) A citizen or inhabitant of Darawiish (circa 1895–1920 C.E.), an anti-colonial polity in modern Somalia headed by Sufis.

(historical) One of the followers of Muhammad Ahmad, the Mahdi of the Sudan, in the 1880s.

The Hejaz war, meanwhile, would be one of dervishes against regular troops.

1926, T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, New York: Anchor, published 1991, page 104:

(by extension) Any irregular guerrilla fighter resembling the Sudanese Mahdi in equipment, uniform, tactics, etc.


Yawm al-Din

Arabic يَوْم اَلدِّين (yawm ad-dīn, “day of judgment”)

uder

يَوْم اَلدِّين


zadakat

From Classical Arabic صَدَقَة (ṣadaqa, “charity”)

(Islam) voluntary alms, or righteous acts


zakat

en-noun

zakat (usually uncountable, plural zakats)

zakats (plural)
zakaah (alternative)
zakah (alternative)
zikat (alternative)
Zikat (alternative)

Borrowed from:
* Persian زکات (zakât);
* Turkish zekât, from Ottoman Turkish زكات (zekat); or
* Urdu زَکَات (zakāt);
all from Arabic زَكَاة (zakāh, “almsgiving, zakat; purification”), from زَكَوٰة (zakāh) (archaic), from Aramaic זכותא/ܙܟܘܬܐ (zākūṯā, “goodness, probity, uprightness; merit; victory”), from זכי (zəḵē, “to gain; to overcome, triumph over”).

der

Zakât is an ordinance of God, incumbent upon every perſon vvho is free, ſane, adult, and a Muſſulman, provided he be poſſeſſed, in full propriety, of ſuch eſtate or effects as are termed in the language of the lavv a Niſâb, and that he has been in poſſeſſion of the ſame for the ſpace of one complete year, vvhich is denominated Havvlân-Hâvvl. The reaſon of this obligation is found in the vvord of God, vvho has ordained it in the Koran, ſaying, "Bestovv Zakât."

1791, [Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani], chapter I, in Charles Hamilton, transl., The Hedàya, or Guide; a Commentary on the Mussulman Laws: […], volume I, London: […] T[homas] Bensley, →OCLC, book I (Of Zakât), page 2:

The Mahometan law insists on the legal obligation of society to support their indigent fellow-citizens, the Hedaya or Mahometan Guide begins, "take zakat," said Mahomet, "from the rich Mussulmans, and bestow it upon the poor Mussulmans: zakat or charity," says the code, "signifies alms imposed by law, in opposition to [sadka], voluntary charity." […] The zakat was a property-tax paid on all productions and profits, on merchandise, mines, &c.

1831, James Butler Bryan, chapter XII, in A Practical View of Ireland, from the Period of the Union; with Plans for the Permanent Relief of Her Poor, and the Improvement of Her Municipal Organization: […], Dublin: W. F. Wakeman, […]; London: Simpkin and Marshall, […], →OCLC, page 327:

The Alcoran and all the subsequent teachings of the faithful enjoined a constant and liberal charity. […] The theory of the zakat, or tax, is that it is a voluntary gift. Contributing for the needs of the state followed in due course of time, and became obligatory. These taxes, or zakat, amounted by law to two and a half per cent. of the principal of certain assessed property.

1886, William A[ddison] Phillips, “The Mahometan System, and the Governments and Forms of Society Founded on It”, in Labor, Land and Law: A Search for the Missing Wealth of the Working Poor, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 140:

Amongst these stations is the well-known place called Qaṭyā, which the people pronounce Qaṭya, where zakāt is collected from the merchants, their goods are examined, and their baggage most rigorously searched.

1958, Ibn Battuta, “Syria”, in H[amilton] A[lexander] R[osskeen] Gibb, transl., The Travels of Ibn Baṭṭūṭa A.D. 1325–1354 […], volume I, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press for the Hakluyt Society, →OCLC, page 72:

Services given by the Sayyids are supposed to be free, but they should receive the Zikat, or one tenth of the fruits of the earth.

1963, Emrys L[loyd] Peters, “Aspects of Rank and Status among Muslims in a Lebanese Village”, in Julian Pitt-Rivers, editor, Mediterranean Countrymen: Essays in Social Anthropology of the Mediterranean, Paris: Mouton and Co., →OCLC, page 170; republished in Louise E. Sweet, editor, Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East: An Anthropological Reader, volumes II (Life in the Cities, Towns, and Countryside), Garden City, N.Y.: Natural History Press for the American Museum of Natural History, 1970, →ISBN, page 88:

[…] Russian goods were subject to numerous zakats as well as to taxes on buying and selling in the bazaars, on maintaining shops and stalls in the bazaars, and on the compulsory use of the official bazaar weights.

2004, Seymour Becker, “Economic Development”, in Russia’s Protectorates in Central Asia: Bukhara and Khiva, 1865–1924, London, New York, N.Y.: RoutledgeCurzon, published 2005, →ISBN, part 3 (The Russian Presence), page 136:

By tradition, zakat proceeds serve partly to deliver poor relief and partly to finance "praiseworthy activities," defined to include religious education and pilgrimage. In several countries, including Pakistan, zakat has become a legal obligation, and the government now organizes both its collection and its disbursement. In most parts of the Islamic world, however, zakat is collected and disbursed in a decentralized manner by local religious organizations[…].

2006, Timur Kuran, “Islam and Economics: Policy Prescriptions for a Free Society”, in Sohrab Behdad, Farhad Nomani, editors, Islam and the Everyday World: Public Policy Dilemmas, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 43:

Zakat is a system of alms giving which constitutes one of the five pillars of Islam, and zakat committees operate as social welfare agencies by collecting zakats from able Muslims and distributing them to the less fortunate.

2009, Atta El-Battahani, “Ideological Expansionist Movements versus Historical Indigenous Rights in the Darfur Region of Sudan: From Actual Homicide to Potential Genocide”, in Salah M. Hassan, Carina E. Ray, editors, Darfur and the Crisis of Governance in Sudan: A Critical Reader, Ithaca, N.Y., London: Cornell University Press, →ISBN, part 1, section 1 (Origins and Evolution of the Conflict), endnote 16, page 67:

In practice, the zakats seem to have varied a great deal with the context, the society, and local norms.

2020 March, Thomas Piketty, “Ternary Societies and Colonialism: Eurasian Trajectories”, in Arthur Goldhammer, transl., Capital and Ideology, Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, →ISBN, part 2 (Slave and Colonial Societies), footnote 76, page 409:

(Islam) Almsgiving, one of the five pillars of Islam, in the form of an annual tax on certain types of property which is then used for charitable purposes.

jakeuët

almsgiving in the form of an annual tax on certain types of property, which is used for charitable purposes


ghazwa

en-noun

ghazwa (plural ghazwas or ghazwat or ghazawat)

ghazwas (plural)
ghazwat (plural)
ghazawat (plural)

From Arabic غَزْوَة (ḡazwa). Doublet of razzia.

(Islam, historical) Any of the battles in which the Islamic prophet Muhammad personally participated.


SAW

صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ
صلى الله عليه وسلم#Arabic

(Islam, sometimes proscribed) صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ (ṣallā llāhu ʕalayhi wa-sallama, “peace be upon him”)


fiver

From five + -er (measurement suffix) or + -er (“supporter”).

(Islam) A Zaydi Shiite Muslim, who disagrees with the majority of Shiites on the identity of the Fifth Imam.


seventh heaven

(Judaism, Islam) The empyrean, the outermost of the heavenly spheres; a dwelling of the angels.


Abdals

From Arabic أَبْدَال (ʔabdāl, “replacements”).

der

(Islam) a group of saints responsible for the continuing existence of the world


eid mubarak

From Arabic عِيد مُبَارَك (ʕīd mubārak).

bor

عِيد مُبَارَك

Arabic عِيد مُبَارَك (ʕīd mubārak)

(Islam) A customary Muslim greeting on the days of Eid ul-Adha and Eid ul-Fitr at the end of Ramadan.


Prophets

(Islam) The 21st sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.


isha

From Arabic عِشَاء (ʕišāʔ, “evening, night”), in صَلَاةُ العِشَاء (ṣalātu l-ʕišāʔ, “night prayer”).

(Islam) The evening/night Islamic prayer.


wudu

wudu' (alternative)
wudhu (alternative)
wuzu (alternative)
woodoo (alternative)

(Islam) the state of purity that is achieved by this washing


hijra

From Arabic هِجْرَة (hijra, “departure, exodus”). Doublet of hegira.

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-hijra.wav

Hijrah means Moving from a land of Shirk to a land of Islaam.

2007, Abu Maryam Isma’eel Alarcon, transl., The Three Fundamental Principles of Imaam Muhammad bin ‘Abdil-Wahhaab, Al-Ibaanah E-Books, page 17:

(Islam) Emigration from a non-Muslim country to a Muslim one.


shaitan

shaitans (plural)
shaytan (alternative)
sheytân (alternative)
sheitan (alternative)

Borrowed from Arabic شَيْطَان (šayṭān, “satan, devil”). Doublet of Satan.

bor+

'... hence, we are always malā'ika (angels), forgetting that ashayṭān was once a malāk (angel).

2014, Zuckermann, Ghil‘ad, Burning issues in Afro-Asiatic linguistics, page 141:

'... 'A man and a jinni became friends. One day, the man asked the jinni, 'How come you look like a real human being?' [The jinni answered,]'We... shayāṭīn 'devils/demons' appear to people in whatever form we want, and we disappear whenever we want.'.

2014, Zuckermann, Ghil‘ad, Burning issues in Afro-Asiatic linguistics, page 140:


riba

(Islam, finance) interest or usury, which is haram (sinful) according to sharia law.


reversion

en-noun

reversion (countable and uncountable, plural reversions)

/ɹɪˈvɜːʒ(ə)n̩/

/ɹɪˈvɜːʃ(ə)n̩/

Borrowed into late Middle English from Old French reversion (modern réversion), from Latin reversio, from revertō. By surface analysis, revert + -sion.

(Islam, usually proscribed) The act of conversion to Islam, due to the belief that all people are born Muslim.


dhikr

When all had eaten and prayed the first night prayer, they began to recite their dhikr, then they began the musical recital.

1958-1994, Hamilton Gibb & CF Beckingham, in The Travels of Ibn Battutah, Folio Society 2012, p. 62

We prayed together and we practised dhikr, the recitation of the ninety-nine revealed names of God.

(Islam) An Islamic prayer whereby a phrase or expression of praise is repeated continually.

ذِكْر

(Islam) an Islamic prayer whereby a phrase or expression of praise is repeated continually


inshallah

Borrowed from Arabic إِنْ شَاءَ ٱللَٰه (ʔin šāʔa llāh, literally “if God has willed [it]”).

bor+

إِنْ شَاءَ ٱللَٰه

insha'Allah (alternative)
in sha Allah (alternative)

We will sign the contract tomorrow, inshallah.

(Islam) Expressing the speaker’s wish for a given future event to occur, and also generally their emphasis on its contingency upon the divine will.


Ashura

From Arabic عَاشُورَاء (ʕāšūrāʔ, “tenth, tenth day”).

bor

(Islam) A holy day falling on the 10th day of Muharram, commemorating the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali in 680 AD.

عَاشُورَاء

(Islam) a holy day falling on the 10th day of Muharram


PBUH

peace be upon him
peace be upon him#English

peace be upon her
peace be upon her#English

(Islam, sometimes proscribed) Initialism of peace be upon him or peace be upon her; an honorific phrase used by some Muslims after any mention in speech or print of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or any other prophets or chosen figures believed by the majority of Muslims to be sent by God (Allah).


namaz

From Ottoman Turkish نماز (namâz) (Turkish namaz) and Urdu نماز (namāz), and their source, Classical Persian نماز (namāz).

Dr Jaffry was prostrated on a prayer carpet, finishing his evening namaz.

1993, William Dalrymple, City of Djinns, Penguin, published 2004, page 228:

He swung at me but I ducked and said, ‘Time for the fifth namaaz of the day, Prince.’

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 157:

(Islam, South Asia) Synonym of salat (“Islamic prayer”).


fallen angel

(Christianity, Islam) An angel who rebelled against God and was exiled from heaven.


wobbler

(slang, British, Ireland, Islam, derogatory) a Salafi.


nasi

Borrowed from Arabic نَسِيء (nasīʔ, literally “postponement”).

(Islam) The intercalation of a month in the calendar of pre-Islamic Arabia, often considered heretical.


supplication

en-noun

supplication (countable and uncountable, plural supplications)

From Middle English supplicacioun, supplication, from Old French supplication, from Latin supplicatio, supplicationem, from supplicare (“to supplicate”).

An act of supplicating; a humble request.

(Islam) du'a', minor or private prayer performed individually.


kursi

Arabic كرسي (literally “chair, seat, throne”)

bor

(Islam) A stand for holding the Qur'an for readings.


mimbar

From Classical Arabic مِنْبَر (minbar), from نَبَرَ (nabara, “raise”).

Here too the pulpit was like a mimbar in a mosque [...].

1942, Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Canongate, published 2006, page 795:

There is only a pulpit for the preacher, which stands along the left side, and on the right is the mimbar, that is a flight of stairs with ten steps.

2002, John Avetaranian, Richard Schafer, The Muslim Who Became a Christian, Authors On Line 2003, p. 122:

(Islam) A pulpit in a mosque from which the leader of prayers delivers the khutbah.


evangelicalism

en-noun

evangelicalism (countable and uncountable, plural evangelicalisms)

Islamic evangelicalism helped win over Iberian notables […]

2010, Timothy Parsons, The Rule of Empires: Those Who Built Them, Those Who Endured Them, and Why They Always Fall, page 108:

(by analogy, Islam) Islamic movements which are based on preaching and proselytism (dawah).


fajr

Excuse me, brother, but would you mind regularising your fajr schedule.

2019, John Lanchester, Capital, Faber and Faber (2013), page 406:

(Islam) the first of the five daily prayers recited by practicing Muslims.


Kaaba

the Kaaba (canonical)
Ka'ba (alternative)
Kaʻba (alternative)
Ka'aba (alternative nonstandard proscribed)
Caaba (alternative archaic)
Cahaba (alternative archaic)
Qabah (alternative archaic)

(Islam) The nearly cubical stone temple in Mecca, the holiest place in Islam and site of the great hajj assembly.


ijazah

From Arabic إِجَازَة (ʔijāza, “authorization”).

bor

(Indonesia, Islam) A license authorizing its holder to transmit a certain text or subject, especially Islamic religious knowledge.


ribat

(Islam, figurative) The duty of all Muslims to defend and/or retake Islamic lands.


rak'a

rak'at (plural)
rak'ah (alternative)
raka (alternative)

(Islam) one of two to four cycles of Islamic prayer (salat).


houri

From French houri, from Persian حوری (hurî), from Arabic حُورِيّ (ḥūriyy) and Arabic حُورِيَّة (ḥūriyya), adjective and feminine singulative of حُور (ḥūr) from Classical Arabic حُورٌ عِينٌ (ḥūrun ʕīnun, “fair maidens, black-eyed ones”). See أَحْوَر m (ʔaḥwar), حَوْرَاء f (ḥawrāʔ) for the base adjective.

We cannot go into the technical details of his methodology but it allows Luxenberg, to the probable horror of all Muslim males dreaming of sexual bliss in the Muslim hereafter, to conjure away the wide-eyed houris promised to the faithful in suras XLIV.54; LII.20, LV.72, and LVI.22. Luxenberg's new analysis, leaning on the Hymns of Ephrem the Syrian, yields "white raisins" of "crystal clarity" rather than doe-eyed, and ever willing virgins - the houris.

2002 January 12, Ibn Warraq, “Virgins? What virgins?”, in The Guardian:

The repetition of material about the houri suggests that the popularization of that figure occurred as early as the ninth century and continued well into the twelfth century. By then, the houri had become a kind of metonymy for the Garden, as well as an accepted object. A new role of the houri as the superlative being of the Garden emerged through the use of traditions, and most of all the structure of the text. Al-Qadi's text provides an excellent example of the importance of the houri.

2009, Nerina Rustomji, The Garden and the Fire: Heaven and Hell in Islamic Culture, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 114:

What if in paradise there are no houris waiting? / What if but all you get are grapes, succulent grapes? / What if it's all just a mistake in the translation?

2013, “What If…?”, in Still Smiling, performed by Teho Teardo and Blixa Bargeld:

Although the beauty of houris is described in terms of cosmic pureness and sumptuary materials, the qiyan are understood through attributes and affects. Yet, the houris have one constitutive attribute. They are fair and they have big eyes. Is the houri based on any particular model of beauty or a kind of female slave? Ibn Butlan, in his Risalafi shira'al-raqiq wa-taqlib al-abid, offers a rubric for female slaves; however, the descriptions of houris do not align with other descriptions of slaves.

2017, Matthew S. Gordon, Kathryn A. Hain, Concubines and Courtesans: Women and Slavery in Islamic History, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 274:

(Islam) A beautiful virgin girl supposed to dwell in Paradise for the enjoyment of the faithful.

حَوْرَاء

(Islam) a nymph in the form of a beautiful virgin


Omar

From Arabic عُمَر (ʕumar). Doublet of Umar.


fitna

en-noun

fitna (countable and uncountable, plural fitnas)

Borrowed from Arabic فِتْنَة (fitna, “sedition, strife”).


haram

Borrowed from Arabic حَرَام (ḥarām). Doublet of herem.

In case of necessity it is permissible to change one's madhhab or to do a few things according to another madhhab. It is haram to cheat in order to omit a fard or commit a haram.

2003, M. Sıddık Gümüş, Advice For The Muslim, page 258:

In Arabic, haram is the noun derived from the verb hrm, the opposite of what it allowed.

2012, Manal Hamzeh, Pedagogies of Deveiling: Muslim Girls and the Hijab Discourse, page 82:


haram

I can’t speak about sex with my friends in Arabic. The words are too heavy and culturally loaded. It all sounds haram (sinful).

2005, Anoushiravan Ehteshami, Globalization and Geopolitics in the Middle East: Old Games, New Rules, Taylor & Francis e-Library, →ISBN, page 135:

[…] collateral assets must not be debt, cash or prohibited as haram (sinful activity) and must not be associated in any way with unethical or exploitative operations or with speculation and uncertainty (gharar) […]

2007, Andreas Jobst, The Economics of Islamic Finance and Securitization:

A year ago, the Party didn't even exist; some Salafi preachers had deemed democracy haram—forbidden under Islamic law.

2012 April 30, Wendell Steavenson, “Radicals Rising”, in The New Yorker:

(Islam, fiqh) Forbidden by Islam: unlawful, sinful.


Ark of the Covenant

¶ Then Solomon assembled the Elders of Israel, and all the heads of the Tribes, the chiefe of the fathers of the children of Israel vnto Ierusalem, to bring vp the Arke of the Couenant of the Lord, out of the citie of Dauid, which is Zion.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Chronicles 5:2:

Indiana Jones: The city of Tannis is one of the possible resting places of the lost Ark.
Eaton: The lost Ark?
Jones: Yeah, the Ark of the Covenant, the chest the Hebrews used to carry around the Ten Commandments in.
Musgrave: What do you mean the Ten Commandments? You mean the Ten Commandments?
Jones: Yes, the actual Ten Commandments, the original stone tablets that Moses brought down out of Mount Horeb and smashed if you believe in that sort of thing.

1981, 19:23 from the start, in Raiders of the Lost Ark (Action-adventure), →ISBN, →OCLC:

The story was true: In the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, a British expedition set out for Jerusalem to find the ark of the covenant, only to fail, spectacularly, in 1911, in an eruption of political turmoil and religious animosity.[…]
The expedition may have had an impact on British foreign policy in the region, Andrew said when we talked, and it helped spawn the world’s ongoing fascination with the ark of the covenant (and Indiana Jones).

2021 October 31, Olivia Parker, “What Happens When Everyone Is Writing the Same Book You Are?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-11-01, Essay:

(Judaism, Christianity, Islam) The sacred container, a gold-plated wooden chest, of the two tablets of law (the Ten Commandments) given to Moses by the Hebrew God.

𐕜𐔰𐕗𐔰𐕎𐔲𐔼 𐔳𐔰𐔲𐕒𐕡𐕘𐕒𐔺

the sacred container, a gold-plated wooden chest


madrasah

madrasahs (plural)
madaris (plural)
madrasa (alternative)
madrassa (alternative)
medrese (alternative)
medresa (alternative)

Borrowed from Arabic مَدْرَسَة f (madrasa, “school”), a noun of place from the verb دَرَسَ (darasa, “to learn, to study”).

(Islam) A school for any kind of teaching, at any grade level; usually specifically a school that teaches Islamic theology.


faqih

faqihs (plural)
fuqaha' (plural)
fqih (alternative)

Ayatollah Muntazeri, in contrast to Ayatollah Khomeini, states that the argument that the faqih or fuqaha (plural of faqih) are responsible for the establishment and running of the government at the time of occulation does not have a strong base in Islamic sources and cannot withstand a vigorous examination.⁶⁰

1997, Jamal S. Suwaidi, Iran and the Gulf: A Search for Stability, I.B.Tauris Publishers, →ISBN, page 35:


Kharijite

en-noun

Kharijite (plural Kharijites or Khawarij)

From Arabic خَارِجِي (ḵārijī, “one who split off, one who departed”), from the root خ ر ج (ḵ r j).

ar-root

خ ر ج (ḵ r j)

(Islam, historical) A member of a reactionary Islamic sect in the 7th and 8th centuries.

خَارِجِيّ

members of a reactionary Islamic sect in the 7th and 8th centuries


kufr

From Arabic كُفْر (kufr), from the root ك ف ر (k f r).


wuzu

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish [script needed] (vuzu).

bor+

1885: So they ceased to urge her; and the trader rose from amongst them and repaired to an out house to perform Wuzu ablution, and he purposed thereafter to return and to tell them his secret and to die. — Sir Richard Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, vol. 1

(Islam) Alternative form of wudu (“the minor ablution in Islam”)


sawm

From Arabic صَوْم (ṣawm, “fasting; abstaining from food, drink, and sex”), probably borrowed from Classical Syriac ܨܘܡܐ (ṣawmāʾ).

der

(Islam) fasting, abstention, abstinence; the third of the five pillars of Islam


Wahhabism

Calque of Arabic وَهَّابِيَّة (wahhābiyya). From Wahhab + -ism. Named after Islam theologian Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab.

calque

وَهَّابِيَّة

named-after

(Islam) A Sunni Islamic fundamentalist reform movement based on the teachings of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (c. 1703–1792), followed primarily in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.


tawaf

en-noun

tawaf (countable and uncountable, plural tawafs)

(Islam) The ritual of circumambulating the Kaaba seven times as part of the hajj in Mecca.


Salafi

Many Salafis are not violent; most are actually apolitical.

2016 November, David Patrikarakos, “Progression through Regression”, in Literary Review:


Salafism

(Islam) A movement comparing itself to Sunni Islam, claiming to taking the pious ancestors, the salaf of the patristic period of early Islam, as exemplary models.


ayah

ayahs (plural)
ayat (plural)
ayat (alternative)

Borrowed from Arabic آيَة (ʔāya, “sign, token”).


mutat

Borrowed from Arabic مُتْعَة (mutʕa). Doublet of mut'ah.

Relying on Qur'an, Sura II, verse 236, Nasir (1990a, p. 144; 1990b, pp. 96-98) shows that the amount of mutat is a matter of goodwill and of custom.

1998, David Pearl, Werner Menski, Muslim family law, →ISBN, page 184:

Once it has had three steers, the new owner can 'cut the linkage' (mutat) by giving back an ox and six goats or so, depending on the practice in a particular area, and the original owner will give away the ox in exchange for another calf, which will create a new cattle lineage.

2007, David J. Ndegwah, Biblical Hermeneutics as a Tool for Inculturation in Africa, page 121:

This is a ruling agreed upon by the Shi’ahs with the reservation that if the husband should die before consummation, without having specified a dower, nor set any portion for his wife in the contract, then nothing is due to her by way of dower or gift (mutat) (Ref. Al-Hilli, p. 21).

2009, Jamal J. Ahmad Nasir (editor), The Status of Women under Islamic Law and Modern Islamic Legislation (third edition), BRILL, chapter thirteen: “The Dower”, § 5: ‘Entitlement to the Dower’, page 95

This argument confirms that in traditional Muslim jurisprudence the concept of some kind of compensation for the divorced Muslim wife, in the form of mata or mutat, was not unknown.

2013, Werner Menski, Modern Indian Family Law, →ISBN, page 284:

(Islam) A compensation gift given to a woman when divorced or repudiated by her husband.


khula

(Islam) A form of divorce initiated by the wife.


ifrit

ifrits (plural)
'ifrit (alternative)
ʿifrīt (alternative)
'ifriit (alternative)
ʿefrīt (alternative)
ʿefrēt (alternative)
'afreet (alternative)
'afret (alternative)
'afreit (alternative)
'afrit (alternative)
'afriit (alternative)
'efreet (alternative)
'efret (alternative)
efreit (alternative)
'efriit (alternative)
'efrit (alternative)
'ifreet (alternative)
'ifret (alternative)
'ifreit (alternative)
afreet (alternative)
afret (alternative)
afreit (alternative)
afrit (alternative)
afriit (alternative)
efreet (alternative)
efret (alternative)
efreit (alternative)
efriet (alternative)
efrit (alternative)
efriit (alternative)
éfrit (alternative)
ifreet (alternative)
ifret (alternative)
ifreit (alternative)
ifriet (alternative)
ifrite (alternative)
ifriite (alternative)

→ Japanese: イフリート (ifurīto)

(Islam) A kind of djinn mentioned in the Qur'an.


marabout

From French marabout, from Portuguese maraboto, marabuto, from Moroccan Arabic مْرَابِط (mrabeṭ) (standard Arabic مُرَابِط (murābiṭ, “soldier stationed in fortified outpost”)).

cog

one of their principal targets was the marabouts – or holy men and leaders of mystic orders – whom they accused both of corrupting the faith by their espousal of mysticism and of being the ‘domestic animals of colonialism’.

1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 38:

(Islam) A Muslim holy man or mystic, especially in parts of North Africa.


dhimmi

dhimmis (plural)
zhimmi (alternative)
zimme (alternative)
zimmi (alternative)

From French dhimmi, from Arabic ذِمِّيّ (ḏimmiyy, “a dhimmi”), from ذِمَّة (ḏimma, “protection, custody”).

(Islam, chiefly historical) A protected and specially taxed non-Muslim subject of a state governed under dhimma, a form of social contract, in accordance with sharia law.


burqini

(Islam) A head-to-toe swimsuit, enabling women to conform to the Islamic dress code when bathing on a public beach.


Jahannam

Borrowed from Arabic جَهَنَّم (jahannam). Doublet of Gehenna and Gehinnom.

bor+

(Islam) Islamic concept of hell, where unfaithful Muslims not true to their religion will be punished, but will eventually be forgiven.


Syeda

Borrowed from Arabic سَيِّدَة (sayyida).
* (female given name): From Urdu سیدہ, from Arabic سَيِّدَة (sayyida)

(Islam) An honorific title borne by female descendants of the prophet Muhammad.


Jumu'ah

From Arabic جمعة (jumuʕa), as in الجمعة (al-jumuʕa).

Jumma (alternative)
jum'ah (alternative)
jummah (alternative)
Jumu'a (alternative)
Jumuah (alternative)

[T]here was a reasonably priced foot of land from which the raindbow could be seen at night every third jum'a in the month of Rabbi-ul-aker.

1988, Milorad Pavić, translated by Christina Pribićević-Zorić, Dictionary of the Khazars, Vintage, published 1989, page 195:

Then, […] the wind carried to his nostrils from the fires of the troops camped in the valley the desert tang of a camel-dung fire, and with it the plangent cry of a soldier-muezzin calling his saddle-weary brothers to a belated Jumuah.

2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre, published 2008, page 57:

(Islam) The main congregational prayers, held at noon on a Friday.


talaq

en-noun

talaq (countable and uncountable, plural talaqs)

From Arabic طَلَاق (ṭalāq, “divorce”), from the root ط ل ق (ṭ l q).

ar-root

ط ل ق (ṭ l q)

(Islam) An Islamic divorce, sanctioned by the Qur'an.


talaq

en-verb

talaq (third-person singular simple present talaqs, present participle talaqing, simple past and past participle talaqed)

talaqs (present singular third-person)
talaqing (participle present)
talaqed (participle past)
talaqed (past)
talak (alternative)

ar-root

ط ل ق (ṭ l q)

Muslim women can be talaqed instantly, and thrown into the streets by whimsical husbands.

1987, Srikanta Ghosh, Muslim Politics in India, page 46:

(Islam) To divorce somebody by these means.


zahir

(Islam) The external or apparent meaning of the Qur'an


batin

(Islam) The internal or hidden meaning of the Qur'an


unitarian

(Islam) Synonym of Muwahhid, a Muslim advocating God's strict unity.


qazf

It may amount to qazf to impute zina to a deceased person...

1984, Keith Hodkinson, Muslim Family Law: A Sourcebook:

Nor has one heard of anyone being flogged for qazf under this Ordinance.

1985, International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Ethnic Studies Report:

The maximum punishment for Qazf is 80 lashes and must be proven by the testimony of two pious Muslim male witnesses, except when the accused is non-Muslim.

1992, Asia Watch Committee, Double Jeopardy: Police Abuse of Women in Pakistan:

(Islam) False accusation of adultery (zina).


takfiri

“In Ghazaliya, it is forbidden to sell ice because the takfiris said, ‘The Prophet Muhammad had no ice in his time,’ ” said Khatan Kareem, a manager at the factory where the drivers worked, shaking his head at the absurdity.

2007 July 28, Stephen Farrell, “Strife and Ice, Staples of Life, Overlap in Iraq”, in New York Times:

(Islam, derogatory) A radical Muslim who excommunicates other Muslims, or accuses them of apostasy.


mallam

From Arabic مُعَلِّم (muʕallim, “teacher”).

(Islam) In Africa, a teacher of the Qur'an.


shura

From Arabic شُورَى (šūrā, “consultation”)

“The leadership, resistance and shura are all based here in Afghanistan.”

2007 January 5, Carlotta Gall, “Taliban Leader Promises More Afghan War”, in New York Times:

[…] Mullah Bradar[…] is said to reside in the Pakistan port city of Karachi, where many members of the Quetta shura have taken refuge, according to Afghan officials.

2009 March 11, Carlotta Gall, “As U.S. Weighs Taliban Negotiations, Afghans Are Already Talking”, in New York Times:

(Islam) A body that provides counsel to a leader


jizya

en-noun

jizya (usually uncountable, plural jizyas)

jizyas (plural)
jeziah (alternative)
jezya (alternative)
jezyah (alternative)
jizyah (alternative)
zajiya (alternative)

From Arabic جِزْيَة (jizya), from Middle Persian 𐭢𐭦𐭩𐭲 (gzyt /gazīd/), 𐭢𐭦𐭩𐭲𐭪𐭩 (gzytky /gazīdag/, “poll-tax”).

Ending jizya lifted a real burden on the poor, and promised, at least symbolically, a greater equality between the followers of different faiths.

2016, Sunil Khilnani, Incarnations, Penguin, published 2017, page 122:

(Islam, historical) A per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria.


astaghfirullah

/ˈæs.tæɡ.fɪ.ɹəˈlɒː/

Borrowed from Arabic أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللّٰهَ (ʔastaḡfiru llāha, literally “I ask forgiveness from Allah”).

bor+

أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللّٰهَ

(Islam, literally) In the literal sense, "I seek forgiveness from Allah"; a short prayer of redemption; God forgive me.

I should not have done that, astaghfirullah.

(Islam) An expression of guilt or shame.


manzil

Borrowing from Arabic مَنْزِل (manzil, “house, dwelling”).

bor

(Islam) Any of the seven partitions of the Qur'an, which can be read in an entire day.


mardana

Borrowed from Hindi मर्दाना (mardānā) / Urdu مردانہ (mardāna), from Persian مردانه (mardâne).

(Islam) A part of a house or palace reserved for men, especially on the Indian subcontinent.

(India, Islam) A part of a train reserved for men.


maulana

Ultimately from Arabic مَوْلَانَا (mawlānā).
The Indian slang usage of the term for any Muslim person was derived from a stereotype, especially towards Muslims who look stereotypical (beard, robes, and skullcap).

At the end of his long and cantankerous life the maulana had gone against all his high principles. He had gone to a Boston hospital to look for health; he had at the very end entrusted himself to the skill and science of the civilization he had tried to shield his followers from.

1981, V. S. Naipaul, Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey, page 168:

(Islam) A religious scholar, especially in Central and South Asia.

(India, Islam, Internet slang, religious slur) A Muslim person in general, especially an extreme conservative.


mawlid

the fair (or mulid) as it had developed over the years was half secular and half religious in inspiration.

1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 101:

(Islam) A holiday celebrating the birthday of a holy man or prophet, especially Muhammad.


alhajia

(Islam) A woman who has made a religious pilgrimage to Mecca


SWT

From Arabic سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى (subḥānahu wataʕālā, “glorious and exalted is He”), honorific placed after the name of God (Allah) in Islamic texts.

der

سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى

Subhanahu wa-ta'ala
subhanahu wa-ta'ala#English

(Islam) Initialism of Subhanahu wa-ta'ala.


Ababil

From Arabic أَبَابِيل (ʔabābīl, “tiny birds”), described in the Qur'an as dropping red clay bricks on the army of elephants, sent by the king of Yemen to attack the city of Mecca, in the year (571 AD) when the prophet Muhammad was born.


naat

en-noun

naat (countable and uncountable, plural naats)

From Classical Persian نعت, which is from Arabic نَعْت (naʕt).

(Islam) poetry in praise of the prophet Muhammad


hikmat

hikmat (countable and uncountable, plural hikmats)


jamaat

/d͡ʒəˈmɑː(ʔ)ət/

(Islam) Party; community; group; assembly.

(Islam) A group of Muslims offering prayers together.


akhirah

From Arabic الآخِرَة (al-ʔāḵira, “the hereafter”).


mahr

en-noun

mahr (countable and uncountable, plural mahrs)

(Islam) A mandatory gift from the groom to the bride upon marriage in Islamic cultures.

مَهْر

a mandatory gift from the groom to the bride upon marriage in Islamic cultures