THE ELEMENTS OF ISLAM
(Excerpts Only)

By: Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri

Glossary

The following is an expanded glossary of the key Arabic terms in this book arranged according to the English alphabet. Transliteration used throughout this book is based on the American Library of Congress system.

Allah God; the Greatest Name of God. Literally 'The God'. Allah designates the Source from which all things seen and unseen emanate and return. The name encompasses all the Divine Names (also known as the Most Beautiful Names of God) such as al-Awwal (the First), al-Akhir (the Last), al-Zahir (the Manifest), al-Batin (the Hidden).

'alim (pl. 'ulama): a learned man, particularly of Islamic legal and religious studies.

dhikr Remembrance of Allah, stimulated by the invocation of His Divine Names and other formulae from the Qur`an and sayings of the Prophet. From dhakara, to remember, think, relate; to strike a man on his private parts. Derivatives: tadhkirah, warning, admonition, recollection; dhakar, male.

Din Life-transaction. Usually translated as religion which does not transmit the fall significance of the term. Din is the transaction between the Creditor (Allah) and the indebted (man). From the root dana, to owe, be indebted to, take a loan, be inferior. Hence 'living the din' means repaying one's debt to the Creator in a manner that befits the high station of man in creation.

fiqh Understanding, comprehension, knowledge. Has come to refer specifically to Islamic jurisprudence; the discipline of elucidating the Shari`ah; also the resultant body of rules. A faqih (pl. fuqaha) is an exponent of fiqh. From faqaha, to be superior in wisdom, and faqiha to be wise, to be skilled in matters pertaining to law; tafaqqaha is to be assiduous in instructing oneself.

Hadith Tradition, saying (usually of the Blessed Prophet but sometimes related by the Holy Imams, relating his deeds and utterances); speech, account, narrative. From the verb hadatha, to happen, be new; and haddatha, to relate or report, speak about.

haqiqah Inner reality, truth, science of the inward; the realm of senses. See also tariqah to understand this triad of terms. From haqqa, to be true, right, just, authentic, valid; and haqqaqa, to realize, make something come true. Divine Name: al-Haqq, the Truth, Whose being is never changed.

iman Faith, trust, belief, acceptance. From amana, to believe; and amina, to be tranquil in heart and mind, to become safe or secure, to trust; amana to render secure, grant safety. Iman is being true to the trust with respect to which Allah has confided in one by a firm believing of the heart, not by professing it on the tongue only. Derivatives: amn, peace, security, protection (the opposite of khawf); amin, trustworthy, faithful, honest (designation of the Prophet); mu'min, a believer, he who is given certainty and trust; Divine Name: al-Amin, He Who is secure from any causality.

ijma' Agreement of the Muslim community as a ground for legal decisions; what constitutes the community for this purpose is debatable.

ijtihad Individual inquiry to establish the ruling of the Shari`ah upon a given point, by a mujtahid, a person qualified for the inquiry.

jihad Literally, striving (for the sake of Allah); fighting (so-called Holy War) for the sake of establishing truth and justice in an unbalanced situation. From the verb jahada: to endeavor, strive, do one's utmost, expend energy. Mujahid is a warrior, fighter.

madhhab (pl. madhahib), a system of fiqh, or generally the system followed by any given religious group; specifically, four madhahib were ultimately accepted as legitimate by the Sunnis, while the Shi`is and Kharijis had other madhahib. Sometimes rendered 'sect', school' or 'rite'.

ma'rifah Gnosis, realization, knowledge on which all knowledge rests. From `arafa, to know, recognize, differentiate, perceive. The `arif, the gnostic, is he who never sees anything but that he sees Allah in it, before it and after it. In Sufism, ma`rifah is part of a triad that includes makhafah, 'fear' and mahabbah 'love' of God.

mawla (pl. mawali), master or servant, also a man of religious authority. In the plural form mawali it especially refers to persons associated with Arab tribes other than by birth, particularly in Marwani times; non-Arab converts to Islam.

nafs Self, soul, mind, human being. The nafs includes man's innate nature, his genetic predisposition, and his conditioned behavior. Its manifestation may be base and animalistic, or spiritually elevated, according to the state of its purity. From the verbs nafusa, to be precious, valuable; naffasa, to comfort, relieve; and tanaffasa, to breathe, pause for a rest.

qiyas The principle of deriving new judicial decisions by way of analogy with those given in the body of Hadith or the Qur`an. One of the four roots of fiqh recognized by Sunnis. From qasa, to gauge, measure, compare, correlate.

ribat (pl. ribatat and rebut), a hospice or fort on the frontier of Islam. From the verb rabata, to bind or to post.

riddah Apostasy from Islam. An apostate is a murtadd. The word is also applied to the period of insurgency and the rise of false prophets among the desert tribes, which followed the death of the Prophet.

Shari`ah Revealed Islamic code of conduct; the outer path. From the verb shara`a, to begin, enter, unbind, introduce, prescribe, give (laws). Shari` means road; mashra` means spring. it is the complement and container of haqiqah for the waters that gush from Reality's spring cannot be contained or drunk from except by a proper vessel.

Sufi An exponent of (tasawwuf) Sufism, the commonest term for that aspect of Islam which is based on realizing the seen and unseen. The Arabic faqir and the Persian darvish, both meaning 'poor', are applied to Sufis in reference to their poor or wandering life.

Sunnah Way, habitual custom, line of conduct. Used in reference to Allah or the Prophet. From the verb sanna, to shape, form, prescribe, enact, establish.

tariqah The Path or way; manner, mode or means. The middle way between shari`ah and haqiqah. From taraqa, to knock, forge, reach. Specifically, any one of the groupings of Sufis with a common chain of transmission and a common invocation. The Prophet said 'Shari`ah is my words, tariqah my acts and haqiqah my state'.

waqf (pl. awqaf), pious endowment or 'foundation' of certain incomes (commonly rents or land revenues) for the upkeep of a mosque, a hospital, etc. Sometimes the main purpose of such endowment was to provide entailed and unconfiscatable income for one's descendants.

yaqin Certainty. From yaqina, to be certain. Yaqin has three parts: `ilm al-yaqin, the knowledge of certainty; `ayn al-yaqin, the eye of certainty; and haqq al-yaqin, the source of certainty.

zakat Purity; a portion of one's substance given in order to purify the rest, hence alms tax. From zakiya, to grow, be pure or purified.