Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Islamic Terms

Allah: Almighty God.

Ansar: The supporters. The people of Medina who received, welcomed, and protected the Prophet (s) and the Muhajirs.

Azan: Announcement. The Muslim call to ritual prayer.

Caliph: The chief civil and religious ruler of the Muslim community.

Eblis: The Devil.

Eid ul-Adha: Feast of sacrifice. A festival marking the culmination of the annual pilgrimage (Hajj ) to Mecca.

Eid ul-Fitr: Feast of breaking fast. A festival marking the end of Ramadan.

Esha’ Prayer: The obligatory four-rak’a prayer of evening.

Fajr Prayer: The obligatory two-rak’a prayer of dawn.

Ghaybah: The stage of invisibility of Imam Al-Mahdi (a).

Hadith: The body of traditions concerning the sayings, doings, and confirmations of the Prophet Muhammad,  peace be upon him and his family.

Hajj: The pilgrimage to the Sacred Mosque at Mecca undertaken in the twelfth month of the Muslim year and constituting one of the religious duties of Islam.

Halal: The allowable according to the Islamic Sharia.

Haram: The forbidden according to the Islamic Sharia.

Imam: 1. One of the twelve immaculate Imams namely Ali bin Abi Talib, Al-Hasan bin Ali, Al-Hussein bin Ali, Ali bin Al-Hussein (As-Sejjad), Mohammed bin Ali (Al-Baqir), Ja’far bin Mohammed (As-Sadiq), Musa bin Ja’far (Al-Kadhim), Ali bin Musa (Ar-Ridha), Mohammed bin Ali (Al-Jawad), Ali bin Mohammed (Al-Hadi), Al-Hasan bin Ali (Al-Askari), and Mohammed bin Al-Hasan (Al-Mahdi) peace be upon them all. 2. A leader generally or of a collective prayer.

Iqama: The prefatory statements of the ritual prayers.

Jihad: Religious warfare or a war for the propagation or defense of Islam.

Kaaba: The square-shaped building in the center of the Great Mosque in Mecca, in the direction of which Muslims must face in doing the obligatory prayer.

Koreish: The tribe that inhabited Mecca in the time of The Prophet Muhammad (s) and to which he belonged. (Koreishite : one who belongs to Koreish)

Maghrib Prayer: The obligatory three-rak’a prayer of sunset.

Mahdi: For Shia, the twelfth Imam Mohammed bin Al-Hasan Al-Mahdi (a); the restorer of religion and justice who will rule before the end of the world.

Masjid: Mosque.

Mihrab: A niche in a mosque directing to the kiblah.

Mimbar: The stage in a mosque from which sermons are delivered.

Mosque: A place of worship.

Muhajirs: The emigrants. The early Muslims of Mecca who had to flee their homeland to Medina.

Mujahid: The performer of jihad.

Munkar and Nakeer: The two angels whose mission is interrogating the dead in their graves.

Quran (Koran): The Divine Book that was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed (s).

Rak’a: The unit of a prayer.

Ramadan: The ninth month of the year in the Islamic calendar, during which Muslims observe strict fasting between dawn and sunset.

Shahada: The Muslim profession of faith,La ilaha illa (A)llah, Muhammadun rasul Allah (There is no God but Allah, [and] Muhammad is the messenger of Allah).

Shaitan: The Devil.

Sunna: The body of the Prophet Mohammed’s words, deeds, and confirmations.

Sharia: The Islamic code of religious law, based on the teachings of the Koran and the traditional sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family).

Sura: Any of the sections of the Koran.

Tahlil: SayingLa ilaha illa (A)llah - There is no God but Allah:

Taqiyah: (pious dissimulation). The belief of the concealment of the true beliefs in situations where harm or death will definitely be encountered if the true beliefs are declared.

Tasbih: The saying of ‘subhaanallah’-extolment of God.

Umma: The Islamic community.

Ummi: The inhabitant of Umm ul-Qura: Mecca.

Umrah: A lesser pilgrimage to Mecca made independently of or at the same time as the hajj, and consisting of a number of devotional rituals performed within the city.

Zakat: The obligatory payment made annually under Islamic law on certain kinds of property and used for charitable and religious objects.