Stories from Islamic History (17 page)

Imam
: religious leader

Iqama
: the call to prayer

Jahiliyah
: pre-islamic age of ignorance. The
root word ‘jahil’ means ignorant.

Jibba
: Sudanese traditional dress

Jihad
:
jihad
literally means “struggle,”
and is mostly referred to warfare against the disbelievers

Khilafat
: The Islamic empire, synonymous with
dar-us-Islam
.
Khilafat
ur Rashidin refers to the
reign of the first five orthodox
kalifah
s – Abu Bakr, Umar,
Uthman, Ali and Hassan, may Allah be pleased with all of them.

Kalifah
: caliph, the head of the Muslim
state

Khutbah
: sermon on religion delivered before
the Friday congregational prayers.

Kufar
:non-muslims

Kufr
: disbelief

Kunoot
: supplication in prayers to be done
when Muslims are distressed about something

Madrassas: schools

Maghrib
: literally means “East” in Arabic, and
West Africa is called “
Maghrib
.”. It, however popularly
refers to sunset prayers in Islam.

Madhhabs
: difference schools of fiqh (law) in
Islam. There is difference with regards to matters like postures to
be adopted during prayers, rules regarding business dealings and
the like, and each set of viewpoint is called a maddhab. The four
famous maddhabs in vogue are the Shafi, Hanafi, Maliki and Hanbali,
named after four great scholars
Imam
Shafi,
Imam
Abu
Haneefa,
Imam
Anas ibn Malik and
Imam
Ahmed ibn
Hanbal. However neither is the legitimate number of maddhabs
restricted to these four, and nor is any Muslim obliged to follow
any particular maddhab.

Majlis
: assembly

Malik
:leader (in this context)

Muminin
: religious followers

Muzzein
: the caller to prayer

Nehr Jalut
: spring of Goliath, and Ayn Jalut
meaning Eye of Goliath

Qadi
: judge

Qasis
: equal compensation for a wrong; “an eye
for a eye”

Rakah
: a unit of prayer

Sahabah
: companions of the Prophet Mohammed,
may Allah bless him and grant him peace

Salaf
: the first generation; the Muslim ummah
during the time of
khilafat
ur Rashidin

Shariah
: Islamic religious law

Sheikh
: leader

Shirk
: associating partners with Allah, the
most serious crime in Islam

Sultan: king

Sunnah
: what Prophet Mohammed, may Allah bless
him and grant him peace did

Taqlid
: blind imitation based on authority

Tawhid
: Islamic monotheism – there is no Goad
but Allah – obeying this in

letter and spirit

Thajahhud
: voluntary prayers offering during
night, preferably done during the third (last) part of the night,
when others are sleeping

Ulema
: religious scholar

Ummah
: the people of the Muslim nation

Vizier
: Prime Minister

Wa Islamia
: For the sake of Islam

Waqf
: Religious philanthropic trust or
foundation

Wudoo
: The act of ritual purification before
prayers

Zakat
:Obligatory charity which every wealthy
Muslim is bound to give to the poor. In a broad sense it is 2.5% of
the wealth an individual posses for more than one year. There are
many finer points.

Zhukm
: a bitter tree in Hell

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About the Author

Nayab Naseer is a post graduate in Human Resource
Management with over a decade of corporate work experience in India
and the Middle East. He likes to travel, read books, and write!
Stories from Islamic History is one of his earlier books.