Islam
From dKosopedia
Islam was established as a religion by the followers of Mohammed (570-632 CE) who is viewed, by Muslims, as a last prophet of God. His sayings are collected in the Koran (Qur'an) where they are arranged in order of length. Second-party rememberances of him are termed as Hadith. All written collections of his sayings were burned after the authoritative collection was made after his death, and only the Arabic version is considered authoritative.
The principal divisions of Islam are Sunni (commonly described as orthodox) and Shia Islam (sometimes transliterated Shi'a Islam as there is no universally accepted means of writing Arabic words with roman type). Shi'a or Shiites (adherents of the Shia branch of Islam) make up about 16% of the total. They form majorities in southern Iraq and Iran, and are one of Lebanon's several minorities. They are also minorities in Pakistan and Afghanistan (Hazzara).
Seen as heterodox by many other Muslims, the Ismailis are members of the branch of Shia who recognized the sixth imam, Jafar al-Sadiq's son Ismail, as his successor. They are led by his descendant, the Aga Khan. Ismaili theology recognizes the authority of Imam as the authoritative interpreter of the esoteric or hidden meanings of the faith.
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George W. Bush on Islam
With the exception of theocracies like the Islamic Republic of Iran, politicians rarely posture as religious scholars or offer seemignly authoritative statements about religon. Politicians presumptuous enough to pronounce on religions not their own are especially rare. That has not stopped U.S. President George W. Bush, an individual not otherwise thought to be much of a scholar of any discipline. As recently as September 7, Bush described the Salafi Sunni Muslims who joined al-Qaeda as having a "dark and distorted vision of Islam." n.a. "Bush Delivers Remarks on the War on Terror." The Washington Post. September 7, 2006. Bush, a Protestant Christian and member of the United Methodist denomination, would seem a poor choice to judge between the various religious/legal schools of Sunni Islam, not the least because he does not speak, read or write Arabic. That poses a problem when interpreting Islamic theology/law. Most of the vast majority of the crowd of Georgia Republicans who listened to him make that comment were similarly ignorant. Bush has not offered judgments about the correct and incorrect interpretations of other faiths but presumably he feels free to do so. Perhaps next he will instruct us in which vesion of Mahayana Buddhism is proper.
Good God, Bad God
Some Jews and Christians view Islam as part of the larger family of monotheisms with their origins in the Middle East. Others beleive that Islam worships a false god. Presumably they imagine that Allah is some god other than Yahweh or Jehovah. Even Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language got it slightly wrong, saying, "God, so called in the Moslem religion," when it ought to have said "in the Arabic language." The Christians among those who criticize Muslims for following the "wrong" God ought to be particularly sensitized to this critical difference since Jesus, who spoke Aramaic (a language as close to Arabic as English is to German) called God "Alahah." There is a teaching story from India that has something to say about this situation: There once was a group of blind men who encountered an elephant and fell into a bitter dispute because one said it was a tree trunk, one said he felt a hanging fan in operation, one experienced a cold shower, etc. -- and all because one had gotten squirted while the elephant was bathing itself, one bumped into a leg, etc.
One major difference between Islam and other religions such as Judaism and Christianity is that the Koran is said by many Muslims to contain the exact words of God as dictated to Mohammed, rather than being something like the story of Abraham as eventually recorded in writing by somebody who heard it from an oral tradition, or the words of Jesus that were at least carried in memory and oral tradition for decades and are given narrative contexts that are not entirely consistent across the four gospels. Islam goes beyond even inerrantist Christian belief because it asserts not only that the Koran is absolutely true and correct, but also implicitly contends that God did not make a mistake and leave out anything that needed to be conveyed to human beings. In this it is comparable to the Book of Mormon for the Church of Latter Day Saints.
Terminology
- al-hewar - dialogue
- alim - Islamic theologian
- barakh - blessing
- bidaat - unacceptable innovation
- da' wah - missionizing
- dar al-ahd - house or land of pact
- dar al-ahl al-kitab - house of land of the People of the Book
- dar al-aman - house or land of peace
- dar al-kufr - house or land of war
- dar al-sulh - house or land of unbelief
- dar al-ulum - house or land of truce
- darood - incantation of peace
- darura - doctrine of necessity (violating religious norms because of necessity)
- dawa - preaching
- Eid al-Fitr - feast marking end of Ramadan
- farman - Imam's edict
- fatwa - expert advice of a jurist mentally imprisoned in Islamist assumptions
- fiqh - technical juristic elaboration of detailed content
- Hadith - collected sayings and traditions about the Prophet Muhammad,from his trusted companions
- hakimiyat - divine sovereignty
- halal - permitted, i.e. kosher
- haram - forbidden, as in drinking alcohol and eating pork.
- haya - modesty, as in sexual repression
- hidden imam - millennial figure for the Shi'a
- hutbe - sermon
- imam - prayer leader, someone not usefully employed, see clergy
- istighathah - asking for help
- izzat - honor, an alternative to morality
- jamaat - community
- jesh - army
- jihadal Nafse" -holy struggle, with in self of good and evil urges and desires
- istislah - reasoning based on the common good
- kafirs - infidels
- khilafat - temporal sovereignty
- kiswa - cover for the Kaaba
- kufr - unbelief
- Ihtisab - moral censorship
- ijma- consensus
- illah - for God
- Intihabat - election
- maddhab or madhhab - a school of Islamic jurisprudence: Hanbali, Hanafi, Shafii and Maliki
- madrassa - religious school
- Mahdi - the Expected One
- Mahdiya - Mahdist regime
- muallam - high priest
- muallim - pilgrimage guide
- muessin - man who calls to congregational prayer
- mufti - Islamic law specialist
- mukhi - jamaat or community head
- munshi - clerical official
- murid - follower of a Sufi pir or spiritual guide
- musafirkhana - traveler's inn
- mushriks - idolaters
- mushrikun - polytheist
- mutawwifs - pilgrimage guide
- namaz - prayer
- nang - Pushtunwali conception of honor
- niyat - intention or prayer offering
- qibla - in the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca
- Quran - Islamic Holy Book
- qurbani - sacrifice
- rebat - inn
- rububiyya - sovereignty
- shafta'ah - asking for intercession
- shahadah - faith
- Sharia - Islamic law
- Shi'a - Members of the Party of Ali
- shirk - polytheism
- siyasi - politico, politician or political agent
- Sunna - the trodden path based on the example of the Prophet Muhammad
- tabligh - preaching
- Taghoot - idol worshipper
- talaq - divorce
- talib - student
- taqwa - piety
- tauwhid - unity of God
- tawassul - seeking a means
- ummati - member of the community of the faithful
- zahir - esoteric meaning
- zakat - religious finicial offering
