Islam · Glossary

Glossary of Islam's history

The ideas, texts, schools, places, figures and pieces of evidence that recur across the series, each defined in a few sentences. The definitions summarise what the chapters argue; the dates and the evidence behind them are cited in the chapter each entry links to. Arabic, Persian and Turkish terms are given in a simple transliteration, with common spellings alongside.

A

Abbasids also Abbasid Caliphate Movement: The dynasty of caliphs descended from Muhammad's uncle al-ʿAbbās, who took power in 749–750, founded Baghdad in 762 and became figureheads from 945; their line in Baghdad ended in 1258. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
ʿAbd al-Malik also Abd al-Malik Person: Umayyad caliph (685–705) who won the second civil war and gave the state an Islamic face: the Dome of the Rock (691–692), coins proclaiming Muhammad, then coins with no images at all, and Arabic as the language of government. More in The Umayyads
ʿAbd al-Malik's coin reform also aniconic dinar, reform dinar Evidence: The gold coins of 696–697 that replaced images with Arabic inscriptions only, the creed and verses of the Qur'an, a design that lasted for centuries. More in The Umayyads
Abraha Person: The Christian ruler of Yemen in the mid-sixth century, whose inscriptions of the 540s and 550s invoke "Raḥmānān and his Messiah" and record raids deep into Arabia. Muslim tradition links his failed march on Mecca to the Year of the Elephant. More in Late Antique Arabia
Abrogation also naskh Idea: Naskh: the jurists' theory that a later ruling of the Qur'an can cancel an earlier one, built on verse 2:106. Scholars disagreed about how many verses were affected, from hundreds to five. More in The Qur'an
Abū Bakr also Abu Bakr Person: An early companion of Muhammad and father of ʿĀʾisha, chosen as the first caliph (632–634). Tradition credits him with the wars against the Arab tribes that broke away and with the first collection of the Qur'an. More in The Conquests and the First Caliphs
Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal also Ibn Hanbal, Ahmad ibn Hanbal Person: Traditionist of Baghdad (d. 855) who refused to affirm that the Qur'an was created during the miḥna, was imprisoned and flogged, and became a hero of Sunni orthodoxy. The Ḥanbalī school is named after him. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
Ahmadiyya also Ahmadis, Qadiani, Ahmadi Movement: The movement founded in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Ahmadis regard themselves as Muslims; most Muslims reject their founder's claims as contrary to Muhammad being the last prophet, and Pakistan declared them non-Muslim in 1974. More in Reform, Revival and Empire
ʿĀʾisha also Aisha, Ayesha, Aishah Person: Daughter of Abū Bakr and wife of Muhammad, in whose room he died. Hadith in the two great Sunni collections give her age as six or seven at the marriage contract and nine when she joined his household; how far back those reports reach is debated. More in Muhammad
Akbar Person: Mughal emperor (r. 1556–1605) who abolished the jizya in 1564 and promoted ṣulḥ-i kull, "universal peace" among religions. His Dīn-i Ilāhī of 1582 had about nineteen known adherents. More in The Great Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals
al-Afghānī also Jamal al-Din al-Afghani Person: Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī (1838/9–1897), who travelled from India to Egypt, Istanbul and Paris calling for Muslim unity against European empires. Most historians think he was born in Iran, not Afghanistan. More in Reform, Revival and Empire
al-Andalus also Andalusia, Muslim Spain Place: Muslim-ruled Iberia, from the conquest of 711 to the fall of Granada in 1492: an Umayyad emirate from 756 and caliphate from 929, then the taifa kingdoms, the Almoravids and the Almohads. More in Turks, Crusaders and Mongols
al-Ashʿarī also Ashari, al-Ash'ari Person: Theologian (874–935/6) who broke with his Muʿtazilī teacher and used rational argument to defend traditionist positions, such as an uncreated Qur'an. The Ashʿarī and Māturīdī schools became the two main forms of Sunni theology. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
al-Bukhārī also Bukhari, Imam Bukhari Person: Compiler (d. 870) of the Ṣaḥīḥ, the hadith collection that Sunni Muslims came to regard, with Muslim's, as the most authoritative book after the Qur'an. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
al-Ghazālī also Ghazali, Al-Ghazali Person: Jurist, theologian and Sufi (d. 1111) who left his chair at the Niẓāmiyya of Baghdad after a crisis in 1095 and argued, most influentially, that the Sufi path fitted Sunni law and theology. More in The Mystics: Sufism
al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf also Hajjaj Person: ʿAbd al-Malik's governor of Iraq (d. 714). Reports describe him having the Qur'an counted, divided and supplied with diacritics and sending codices to the towns; whether he also altered the text is debated. More in The Qur'an
al-Ḥallāj also Hallaj, Mansur al-Hallaj Person: A mystic and preacher (c. 858–922) executed in Baghdad after about nine years in prison. His saying "I am the Real" became the emblem of ecstatic mysticism; historians see court politics as at least as decisive as doctrine in his fate. More in The Mystics: Sufism
al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī also Hasan al-Basri Person: A preacher of Basra (d. 728) and the best-known of the renunciants of eighth-century Iraq, from whom Sufism later traced its beginnings. More in The Mystics: Sufism
al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī also Husayn, Hussein, Imam Hussain Person: Muhammad's grandson, killed with about seventy companions by Umayyad troops at Karbalāʾ on 10 October 680. His death became the founding tragedy of Shia Islam, mourned every year on ʿĀshūrāʾ. More in The Umayyads
al-Junayd also Junayd of Baghdad Person: Sufi master of Baghdad (d. 910), later remembered as the model of "sober" Sufism; modern scholars show that the contrast between sober and drunk mystics was drawn later. More in The Mystics: Sufism
al-Lāt, al-ʿUzzā and Manāt also al-Lat, al-Uzza, Manat God or figure: Three goddesses worshipped in western Arabia, attested in inscriptions centuries before Islam and named and dismissed in the Qur'an (53:19–23). Most of what is said about their shrines near Mecca comes from Ibn al-Kalbī's Book of Idols, written about two centuries after Muhammad. More in Late Antique Arabia
al-Qaeda also al-Qaida, Al Qaeda Movement: The group founded in Peshawar in August 1988 by Osama bin Laden and others to continue jihad after the Soviet war in Afghanistan. It declared war on the United States in 1996; Muslim religious authorities overwhelmingly rejected its claims. More in Revolution and Revival
al-Shāfiʿī also Shafi'i, Imam Shafi Person: Jurist (767–820), a student of Mālik, whose Risāla argued that the reports of the Prophet's practice must govern law. The Shāfiʿī school is named after him. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
al-Ṭabarī also Tabari Person: Historian and Qur'an commentator of Baghdad (d. 923) whose history preserves extracts of Ibn Isḥāq and much of the tradition's account of the first centuries, including the reports of the "Satanic verses". More in How We Know
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib also Ali, Imam Ali Person: Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law and the fourth caliph (656–661). Shia Muslims hold that Muhammad designated him as successor; his caliphate was spent in the first civil war, and he was murdered by a Khārijite in 661. More in The Conquests and the First Caliphs
Allah God or figure: The Arabic word for God, used by Arabic-speaking Muslims, Christians and Jews alike. This series translates it as "God" and uses "Allah" only where the Arabic word itself is the subject. More in How We Know
Amman Message Text: A statement of King Abdullah II of Jordan (2004), followed in 2005 by a conference of about 200 scholars that recognised the followers of eight schools of law, Sunni, Shia, Ibāḍī and Ẓāhirī, as Muslims and forbade declaring them apostates. More in Islam Today
ʿĀshūrāʾ also Ashura Idea: The tenth day of the month of Muḥarram, on which al-Ḥusayn was killed at Karbalāʾ in 680, mourned every year by Shia Muslims. The first recorded public mourning was in Baghdad in 963. More in The Umayyads
Aurangzeb also Alamgir Person: Mughal emperor (r. 1658–1707) who commissioned a compendium of Ḥanafī law and reimposed the jizya in 1679. How to read his reign, and his destruction of temples, is among the most contested questions in South Asian history. More in The Great Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals

B

Bābīs and Bahāʾīs also Babi, Bahai, Baha'i Movement: The Bābī movement began in Iran in 1844; the Bahāʾī faith emerged from it, and most Muslims came to regard both as outside Islam. More in Reform, Revival and Empire
Baghdad Place: The Abbasid capital, founded on the Tigris in 762. The Mongols sacked it in 1258 and executed the last caliph there. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
Barelwī also Barelvi, Barelvis Movement: The Sunni, Ḥanafī movement led by Aḥmad Riḍā Khān (1856–1921) that defended devotion to the Prophet, celebration of his birthday and visits to saints' tombs, against the Deobandis. More in Reform, Revival and Empire
Birmingham Qur'an also Birmingham Quran manuscript Evidence: Two parchment leaves in the University of Birmingham, with parts of suras 18–20, radiocarbon dated in 2015 to 568–645 CE; they belong to the same manuscript as sixteen leaves in Paris. The test dates the parchment, not the writing. More in The Qur'an
Book of Idols also Kitab al-Asnam Text: Kitāb al-Aṣnām, by Hishām ibn al-Kalbī (d. c. 820): the fullest account of the gods of pre-Islamic Mecca, written about two centuries after Muhammad and used by historians with care. More in Late Antique Arabia

C

Caliph also khalifa, khalifah, caliphate Idea: From khalīfa, "successor" or "deputy". Tradition says Abū Bakr was the successor of God's messenger; the earliest documents call the ruler commander of the believers, and Umayyad coins call him God's deputy. What the title meant was part of the struggle over authority. More in The Conquests and the First Caliphs
Companions' codices also Ibn Masud's codex Text: Written Qur'ans kept by companions of Muhammad such as Ibn Masʿūd and Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, which reports say differed in wording, in the order of the suras and, in places, in their contents. More in The Qur'an
Constitution of Medina also Charter of Medina, Ṣaḥīfat al-Madīna Text: A document preserved by Ibn Isḥāq setting out the terms between Muhammad's followers, the clans of Medina and its Jews as one community. Most historians accept it as early; some read it as several documents joined together. More in Muhammad

D

Deobandi also Deobandis Movement: The Sunni, Ḥanafī movement of the seminary founded at Deoband in 1866, which stressed hadith study and the reform of customs its scholars considered innovations. More in Reform, Revival and Empire
Dhimmī also dhimmi, ahl al-dhimma Idea: A protected non-Muslim subject, one of the "people of the pact", who kept a religion and paid a poll tax. The rules defining the status are best known from the later Pact of ʿUmar. More in The Umayyads
Dhū l-Qarnayn also Dhul Qarnayn, Zulqarnain God or figure: "The two-horned one" of Qur'an 18:83–98, a God-guided ruler who builds a barrier of iron and molten metal against Gog and Magog. Most scholars identify him with Alexander the Great, and many argue the passage retells a Syriac Christian Alexander legend. More in The Qur'an
Dhū Nuwās also Yusuf Asar Yathar, Dhu Nuwas Person: The name Arabic tradition gives to Yūsuf, the last independent king of Ḥimyar, a convert to Judaism who attacked the Christians of Najrān around 523. Christian Aksum invaded around 525 and he was killed. More in Late Antique Arabia
Dīn-i Ilāhī also Din-i Ilahi Idea: A circle of disciples around Akbar, formed about 1582, pledged to him as a spiritual guide; only about nineteen members are known, and many historians read it as a discipleship rather than a new religion. More in The Great Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals
Doctrina Jacobi also Teaching of Jacob Text: A Greek Christian dialogue set in Carthage in 634, in which a Jew of Palestine reports that "a prophet has appeared, coming with the Saracens": the earliest surviving reference to a prophet among the Arab conquerors. More in How We Know
Dome of the Rock also Qubbat al-Sakhra Evidence: The domed building ʿAbd al-Malik completed in Jerusalem in 691–692. Its inscriptions proclaim the oneness of God and address Christians about Jesus; they are the earliest dated public display of long Qur'anic passages. More in The Umayyads

F

Fatimids also Fatimid Caliphate Movement: An Ismāʿīlī Shia caliphate founded in North Africa in 909–910, rival to Baghdad's, which took Egypt in 969 and founded Cairo; most of its subjects remained Sunni. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
Fiqh also Islamic jurisprudence Idea: "Understanding": the human effort to work out what God's law requires, as distinct from the law itself, and the books of law the scholars wrote. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
Franks also Ifranj, Crusades Idea: Al-Ifranj, the name medieval Arabic writers gave the crusaders; they had no word for "crusade", and the modern Arabic term was introduced later by Arabic-speaking Christians. More in Turks, Crusaders and Mongols

G

Gabriel also Jibril, Jibrīl God or figure: The angel through whom, Muhammad and his followers understood, God's speech was delivered to him. In the reports of the "Satanic verses", it is Gabriel who tells Muhammad that Satan had cast words onto his tongue. More in The Qur'an
Ghazan also Ghazan Khan Person: Mongol ruler of Iran who became Muslim in 1295, within forty years of the Mongol sack of Baghdad; his vizier Rashīd al-Dīn compiled the Compendium of Chronicles. More in Turks, Crusaders and Mongols
Guardianship of the jurist also velayat-e faqih, wilayat al-faqih Idea: Velayat-e faqih, the doctrine that during the twelfth imam's absence a qualified jurist holds authority over the community, including the state. Khomeini set it out in 1970 and Iran's 1979 constitution enacted it; most of the senior Shia jurists of the time, Olivier Roy notes, rejected it. More in Revolution and Revival

H

Hadith also ḥadīth, hadeeth Text: A report of something the Prophet said, did or approved, introduced by a chain of transmitters. After the Qur'an, hadith became the second source of Islamic law and belief; how many reach back to Muhammad is debated report by report. More in How We Know
Ḥanafī also Hanafi Movement: The school of law named after Abū Ḥanīfa of Kufa, made the official law of the Ottoman state. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
Ḥanbalī also Hanbali Movement: The school of law named after Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, whose followers long distrusted rational theology; Ibn Taymiyya was a Ḥanbalī. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
Ḥanīf also hanif, hunafa Idea: The Qur'an's word for Abraham as an upright monotheist, "neither a Jew nor a Christian". The tradition names a few Meccans before Muhammad as ḥanīfs; how the word came to mean this is debated. More in Late Antique Arabia
Ḥasan al-Bannā also Hassan al-Banna Person: Egyptian schoolteacher who founded the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928. More in The Twentieth Century
Hijab also headscarf, veil, hejab Idea: Head covering for women. Many urban women gave up the veil between the 1920s and 1950s, by choice or by force; from the 1970s a new style of headscarf spread with the Islamic revival. More in The Twentieth Century
Hijra also hegira, hijrah Idea: Muhammad's emigration from Mecca to Medina in 622. The Islamic calendar counts its years from it. More in Muhammad
Hijri calendar also Islamic calendar, AH Idea: The era beginning with the emigration to Medina in 622, which tradition says ʿUmar adopted around 638; documents show it in use by 643–644. Its years are written AH, "after the hijra". More in The Conquests and the First Caliphs
Ḥimyar also Himyar Place: The kingdom of south-western Arabia, in today's Yemen, whose kings gave up the old gods for one god around 380, in a monotheism close to Judaism. Christian Aksum conquered it around 525. More in Late Antique Arabia

I

Ibāḍīs also Ibadis, Ibadi Movement: Communities of Oman and North Africa that trace their origin to a moderate branch of the Khārijites, though they reject the name. More in The Conquests and the First Caliphs
Ibn ʿArabī also Ibn Arabi Person: Andalusian mystic (1165–1240) associated with the "unity of existence", though the phrase was given to his teaching as a name by followers and critics. More in The Mystics: Sufism
Ibn Isḥāq also Ibn Ishaq Person: Author of the first full biography of Muhammad (d. 767), written about 120 years after his death for the early Abbasid court. It survives mainly through Ibn Hishām's edited version and extracts in al-Ṭabarī. More in How We Know
Ibn Rushd also Averroes Person: Andalusian judge, philosopher and physician (1126–1198), known in Latin as Averroes, best remembered for his commentaries explaining Aristotle. More in Turks, Crusaders and Mongols
Ibn Taymiyya also Ibn Taymiyyah Person: Ḥanbalī scholar of Damascus (1263–1328) who declared the converted Mongols unbelievers and attacked journeys to visit graves and shrines. He died in prison and had little influence on mainstream Sunni Islam until the nineteenth century. More in Turks, Crusaders and Mongols
Imam also imamate Idea: In Shia Islam, the divinely designated leader of the community: a descendant of ʿAlī, designated by his predecessor, with a special knowledge of religion, to whom the community owes obedience. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
Islamic State also ISIS, ISIL, Daesh Movement: The group that declared a caliphate in Iraq and Syria on 29 June 2014 and lost its last territory in March 2019. No state recognised it, its claim to the caliphate was rejected by the vast majority of Muslims, and scholars answered it point by point. More in Islam Today
Islamism also political Islam Idea: The political project of a state and society governed by Islamic law, as distinct from Islam the religion. Its modern forms began in the 1920s and 1930s; most Islamists have worked through preaching, welfare and elections. More in The Twentieth Century
Ismāʿīlīs also Ismailis, Ismaili Movement: A Shia branch whose secret mission founded the Fatimid caliphate in North Africa in 909–910; the Fatimids took Egypt in 969 and founded Cairo. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
Isnād also isnad, chain of transmission Idea: The chain of transmitters that introduces a hadith ("A told me that B told him…"). Muslim scholars judged reports by their chains; Western scholars have used them to date reports. More in How We Know

J

Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq also Ja'far al-Sadiq Person: The sixth Shia imam (d. 765) of Medina, who stayed out of politics while a body of teaching on the imam's designation and knowledge took shape around him. Sunni scholars respected him too. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
Jizya also jizyah Idea: The poll tax paid by protected non-Muslims, which the Qur'an demands of the People of the Book (9:29). Akbar abolished it in the Mughal empire in 1564; Aurangzeb reimposed it in 1679. More in The Conquests and the First Caliphs

K

Kaʿba also Kaaba, Ka'bah, the House Place: The sanctuary of Mecca, "the House" whose Lord the Qur'an calls Quraysh to worship (sura 106). The Book of Idols places the god Hubal inside it before Islam. More in Muhammad
Karbalāʾ also Karbala, Kerbela Place: The place on the Euphrates where Umayyad troops killed al-Ḥusayn and his companions on 10 October 680; it became Shia Islam's central place of mourning and pilgrimage. More in The Umayyads
Khadīja also Khadija, Khadijah Person: Muhammad's first wife, a widow of Mecca. While she lived he was married to her alone; after her death, by the tradition's count, he married about a dozen women. More in Muhammad
Khārijites also Kharijites, Khawarij Movement: Followers of ʿAlī who rejected his arbitration with Muʿāwiya after Ṣiffīn in 657 with the slogan "judgment belongs to God alone"; one of them murdered ʿAlī in 661. More in The Conquests and the First Caliphs
Khomeini also Ayatollah Khomeini Person: Ruhollah Khomeini, the Shia jurist who argued in lectures at Najaf in 1970 that jurists must govern, led the Iranian revolution of 1979 and on 14 February 1989 called for the killing of Salman Rushdie. More in Revolution and Revival

M

Madrasa also madrassa, madrasah Idea: A college of law, endowed as a charitable trust, with salaried teachers and student stipends. Madrasas multiplied from the eleventh century, the Niẓāmiyya of Baghdad (opened 1067) the most famous. More in Turks, Crusaders and Mongols
Mahdī also Mahdi, Imam Mahdi God or figure: "The rightly guided one", a redeemer expected at the end of time. For Twelver Shia Muslims the hidden twelfth imam will return as the Mahdī; others claimed the title, among them the founder of the Almohads and the man proclaimed in the Grand Mosque of Mecca in 1979. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
Malcolm X also El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz Person: American leader of the Nation of Islam who left it for Sunni Islam in 1964, after his pilgrimage to Mecca. More in The Twentieth Century
Mamluks also Mamelukes Movement: A sultanate of slave soldiers, bought as boys from the Black Sea steppes, that ruled Egypt and Syria from 1250 to 1517, took the last crusader cities and kept Abbasid figurehead caliphs in Cairo. More in Turks, Crusaders and Mongols
Mansa Mūsā also Mansa Musa Person: Ruler of the empire of Mali (c. 1312–1337) whose pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324–25 made him famous; a Cairo historian reports that his spending lowered the value of gold there for years. More in Turks, Crusaders and Mongols
Mawālī also mawla, mawali Idea: Non-Arab converts, who had to attach themselves to an Arab tribe as clients. Their treatment as second-class Muslims helped bring down the Umayyads in 750. More in The Umayyads
Mawdūdī also Maududi, Abul Ala Maududi Person: Abū l-Aʿlā Mawdūdī, founder of the Jamāʿat-i Islāmī in India (1941), who argued that Islam was a complete system for life and government and made "the sovereignty of God" its key term. More in The Twentieth Century
Mecca also Makkah, Makka Place: The town of Quraysh in western Arabia, with its sanctuary, the Kaʿba, where Muhammad first preached. Mecca is named in the Qur'an but not securely in any surviving source written before Islam. More in Muhammad
Mecelle also Majalla Text: The Ottoman code of civil law (1869–1876), the first code of Islamic law issued by a state. More in Reform, Revival and Empire
Medina also Yathrib, Madinah Place: The oasis town of Yathrib, north of Mecca, to which Muhammad emigrated in 622 and where he led a community until his death in 632. More in Muhammad
Miḥna also mihna, inquisition Idea: The "test" begun by the caliph al-Maʾmūn in 833, requiring judges and scholars to affirm that the Qur'an was created. It was abandoned from about 847, which left doctrine to the scholars rather than the caliph. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
Milestones also Ma'alim fi al-Tariq Text: Maʿālim fī l-ṭarīq (1964), Sayyid Quṭb's tract declaring every existing society, including those calling themselves Muslim, to be in a state of jāhiliyya because it gave others the authority to legislate that belongs to God. More in The Twentieth Century
Millet also millet system Idea: The arrangement under which Ottoman non-Muslim communities ran their own religious and family affairs. Benjamin Braude argued that a fixed millet system is a product of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. More in The Great Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Person: Founder of the Ahmadiyya (1835–1908) of Qadian in the Punjab, who from 1890–91 claimed to be the Promised Messiah and the Mahdī. More in Reform, Revival and Empire
Muʿāwiya also Muawiya, Muawiyah Person: Governor of Syria who fought ʿAlī and became caliph in 661, ruling from Damascus. By naming his son Yazīd as heir he turned the caliphate into a dynasty, the Umayyads. More in The Umayyads
Mughals also Mughal Empire, Moghuls Movement: The dynasty founded by Bābur after his victory at Panipat in 1526, which ruled a mostly non-Muslim empire in India. More in The Great Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals
Muhammad also Mohammed, Muhammed, the Prophet Person: A Meccan of Quraysh who preached one God, emigrated to Medina in 622, led a community there, took Mecca in 630 and died in 632. A Syriac chronicle names him about 640; the first dated Muslim document to name him is a coin of 685–686. More in Muhammad
Muḥammad ʿAbduh also Muhammad Abduh Person: Egyptian reformer (1849–1905), later Grand Mufti of Egypt, who argued that Islam rightly understood agrees with reason and science and that Muslims should return to the sources. More in Reform, Revival and Empire
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb also Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, Abdul Wahhab Person: Najdi scholar (1703–1792) who taught a strict understanding of God's oneness and condemned seeking the intercession of saints at their tombs. In 1744 he allied with Muḥammad ibn Saʿūd of Dirʿiyya. More in Reform, Revival and Empire
Muslim Brotherhood also Ikhwan, al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun Movement: The movement founded in Egypt in 1928 by Ḥasan al-Bannā, which argued that Islam is a complete system for life and government: the founding organisation of Islamism. More in The Twentieth Century
Muʿtazila also Mu'tazila, Mutazilites Movement: The most influential early school of theology, which held that reason and revelation cannot conflict, that God is strictly one and just, and that the Qur'an was created. Its theology survived among Zaydī and Twelver Shia and Jewish thinkers. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology

N

Najrān also Najran Place: An oasis town of south-western Arabia with a strong Christian community, whose killing by the Jewish king of Ḥimyar around 523 Christian texts describe as a martyrdom. More in Late Antique Arabia
Nation of Islam also NOI, Black Muslims Movement: An American movement founded in Detroit in 1930 whose teachings, that its founder was God in person and Elijah Muhammad God's messenger, contradict core Islamic beliefs. In 1975 most members followed W. D. Mohammed into Sunni Islam. More in The Twentieth Century

O

Occultation also ghayba, ghaybah Idea: The Twelver Shia belief that the twelfth imam, son of al-Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī, was hidden by God in 874 and will return as the Mahdī; after 941 no agent spoke for him. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
Open Letter to al-Baghdadi Text: A letter of 19 September 2014, first signed by more than 120 Muslim scholars, setting out in 24 points why the Islamic State's caliphate, killings and revival of slavery broke Islamic law. More in Islam Today
Ottomans also Ottoman Empire Movement: The Turkish dynasty that took Constantinople in 1453 and Egypt and the holy cities in 1517, made the Ḥanafī school an arm of the state and held the caliphate until 1924. More in The Great Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals

P

Pact of ʿUmar also Covenant of Umar Text: A list of conditions on Christian subjects, framed as their letter to the caliph ʿUmar: no new churches, no crosses in public, distinct dress and no arms. Historians date it in its known form to about the ninth century; it was enforced unevenly. More in The Umayyads
PERF 558 Evidence: A Greek–Arabic receipt for sheep from Egypt, dated 643 (year 22 of the Hijri era): the oldest dated Arabic papyrus, already using dots to distinguish letters. More in How We Know

Q

Qādiriyya also Qadiriyya, Qadiri Movement: One of the first Sufi orders, named after ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (d. 1166) of Baghdad. More in The Mystics: Sufism
Qirāʾāt also seven readings, qiraat Text: The recognised ways of reciting the Qur'an's consonantal text, differing in vowels and some consonants. Ibn Mujāhid (d. 936) fixed seven as authoritative; the 1924 Cairo edition made one of them, Ḥafṣ from ʿĀṣim, the world's most printed text. More in The Qur'an
Qur'an also Koran, Quran, Qurʾān Text: The scripture of Islam, about 6,200 verses in 114 suras, which Muhammad recited over some twenty years as God's speech. Its standard consonantal text was fixed in writing within a generation of his death. More in The Qur'an

R

Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya also Rabia, Rabi'a of Basra Person: A woman ascetic and teacher of Basra (d. c. 801). Two early authors knew of her, but no writing can be tied to her, and the famous stories of her pure love of God come mostly from sources written centuries later. More in The Mystics: Sufism
Raḥmānān also Rahmanan God or figure: "The Merciful": the name South Arabian inscriptions give the one god whom the kings of Ḥimyar worshipped after abandoning the old gods around 380. Abraha's Christian inscriptions invoke "Raḥmānān and his Messiah". More in Late Antique Arabia
Rasm also consonantal skeleton Idea: The consonantal skeleton of the written Qur'an. The earliest copies record it with few dots and no vowels, so one written text allowed several recitations. More in The Qur'an
Ridda also Ridda wars, wars of apostasy Idea: "Apostasy": the tradition's name for the wars that followed Muhammad's death, when Abū Bakr fought Arab groups that broke away from Medina. More in The Conquests and the First Caliphs
Rightly Guided Caliphs also Rashidun, al-khulafāʾ al-rāshidūn Idea: Sunni Muslims' name for the first four caliphs, Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān and ʿAlī (632–661), a label that became standard later. Shia Muslims hold that ʿAlī should have succeeded Muhammad directly. More in The Conquests and the First Caliphs
Rūmī also Rumi, Mevlana Person: Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (1207–1273), Persian poet and teacher of Konya, author of the Masnavī. The Mevlevi order, the "whirling dervishes", was organised by his followers after his death. More in The Mystics: Sufism

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Safavids also Safavid dynasty Movement: A Sufi order of Ardabil that became the dynasty of Iran from 1501 and made the country Twelver Shia within about a century, with scholars brought from Arab lands. More in The Great Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī also Sahih Bukhari Text: The hadith collection compiled by al-Bukhārī (d. 870), which with Muslim's Ṣaḥīḥ was recognised over the tenth and eleventh centuries as Sunni Islam's most authoritative book after the Qur'an. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
Saladin also Salah al-Din, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn Person: Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn, the Kurdish commander who took power in Egypt in 1171 and won Jerusalem back from the Franks in 1187. More in Turks, Crusaders and Mongols
Salafism also Salafi, Salafiyya Movement: A modern movement that seeks to follow "the pious predecessors" by relying directly on the Qur'an and the hadith and rejecting later practices it considers innovations. Its followers share a creed but divide over method; most avoid politics. More in Revolution and Revival
Ṣanʿāʾ palimpsest also Sanaa manuscript, Ṣanʿāʾ 1 Evidence: A Qur'an manuscript found in the Great Mosque of Ṣanʿāʾ in 1972 whose erased lower text is a different version of the Qur'an, with variant wording and sura order; a leaf is radiocarbon dated to 578–669. More in The Qur'an
Sanūsiyya also Senussi, Sanusi Movement: A Sufi order founded in 1837 by Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Sanūsī, spread through lodges along Saharan trade routes; it led resistance to Italy in Libya, and the founder's grandson became Libya's king in 1951. More in Reform, Revival and Empire
Satanic verses also gharaniq, the cranes Idea: Early reports that Muhammad once recited words praising the goddesses al-Lāt, al-ʿUzzā and Manāt, which Gabriel then told him Satan had inserted. Early scholars widely accepted the story; later orthodoxy rejected it. More in The Qur'an
Sayyid Aḥmad Khān also Sir Syed Ahmad Khan Person: Indian reformer (1817–1898) who stayed loyal to the British in 1857 and argued that Muslims had to master modern, English-language learning; in 1875 he founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh. More in Reform, Revival and Empire
Sayyid Quṭb also Sayyid Qutb Person: Egyptian literary critic (1906–1966) who joined the Muslim Brotherhood and wrote Milestones (1964) in Nasser's prisons, declaring every existing society to be in a state of jāhiliyya. He was hanged in 1966. More in The Twentieth Century
School of law also madhhab, madhab Idea: A madhhab: one of the schools of Islamic law, named after early jurists but organised, with curricula and lines of authorities, only around 900–950. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
Seal of the prophets also khatm al-nubuwwa, finality of prophethood Idea: The Qur'an's title for Muhammad (33:40), read by most Muslims as meaning he was the last prophet; the Ahmadiyya's claims about its founder are rejected on this ground. More in Islam Today
Seljuks also Seljuqs, Saljuqs Movement: A family of Oghuz Turkish chiefs, recent converts to Sunni Islam, whose leader Tughril entered Baghdad in 1055 and ruled as sultan beside the caliph. More in Turks, Crusaders and Mongols
Shah Ismāʿīl also Ismail I Person: Founder of the Safavid dynasty (r. 1501–1524), who took Tabriz in 1501 and declared Twelver Shiism the religion of his state, in a country that was then mostly Sunni. More in The Great Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals
Sharīʿa also sharia, shariah, Islamic law Idea: "Path": God's law, the right way of acting that God has set out. Historically it was not a code issued by rulers but a body of scholarly interpretation built mainly between the eighth and tenth centuries and recorded by several schools that often disagreed. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
Shia also Shiite, Shi'a, Shiism Movement: From shīʿat ʿAlī, "the party of ʿAlī": Muslims who hold that leadership belonged to ʿAlī and his descendants, the imams. About 10–13 per cent of Muslims today, majorities in Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan and Bahrain. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
Sīra also sirah, seerah, Sirat Rasul Allah Text: The biography of Muhammad. Its earliest full form, by Ibn Isḥāq, was written about 120 years after his death and survives only in later editions. More in How We Know
The six books also Kutub al-Sittah Text: The six hadith collections accepted as canonical by Sunni Muslims, al-Bukhārī's and Muslim's at their head; the group was first put together about 1100. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
Siyer-i Nebi Text: The Ottoman illustrated life of Muhammad completed in 1595, in which the Prophet's face is always veiled. More in The Great Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals
Sufi order also tariqa, tariqah Idea: A ṭarīqa, "path": an organisation passing on a master's method of devotion through initiation and a chain of teachers traced back to the Prophet. The first orders took shape in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. More in The Mystics: Sufism
Sufism also tasawwuf, Sufi Movement: Taṣawwuf, the mystical and ascetic tradition within Islam: the effort to know God directly through purifying the self, remembrance of God and a master's guidance. Most Sufis were Sunni Muslims who also followed a school of law. More in The Mystics: Sufism
Sunni also Sunnis, ahl al-sunna Movement: Followers of "the Prophet's practice and the community", who accept the first four caliphs as rightly guided and the authority of the scholars; about 87–90 per cent of Muslims today. As a separate community they took shape between the eighth and tenth centuries. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
Sura also surah Text: One of the Qur'an's 114 chapters, arranged after the opening prayer roughly from longest to shortest, not by date. Scholars class each as Meccan or Medinan. More in The Qur'an

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Taliban also Taleban Movement: A movement of students of Deobandi madrasas that took Kabul in 1996 and declared an Islamic Emirate, recognised by three states; in March 2001 it destroyed the Buddhas of Bamiyan. More in Revolution and Revival
Tanzimat Idea: The Ottoman reforms of 1839–1876, opened by the Edict of Gülhane, which promised all subjects security of life, honour and property; the 1856 edict promised non-Muslims legal equality. More in Reform, Revival and Empire
Tawḥīd also tawhid Idea: God's oneness. Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb's strict understanding of it condemned seeking the intercession of saints as associating others with God. More in Reform, Revival and Empire
Thomas the Presbyter Evidence: A Syriac chronicle written about 640 that records a battle near Gaza in February 634 against "the Arabs of Muhammad": the earliest datable text to name him. More in How We Know
Twelvers also Ithna Ashari, Twelver Shia Movement: The largest Shia branch, which follows a line of twelve imams ending with the hidden twelfth; the religion the Safavids made official in Iran from 1501. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology

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ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb also Umar, Omar Person: The second caliph (634–644), under whom Syria, Iraq and Egypt were conquered. Tradition credits him with the Hijri era and the register of fighters; he was killed by a Persian slave in 644. More in The Conquests and the First Caliphs
Umayyads also Umayyad Caliphate Movement: The dynasty of caliphs, a clan of Quraysh, that ruled from Damascus from 661 to 750; a surviving prince founded an Umayyad emirate in Córdoba in 756. More in The Umayyads
Unity of existence also wahdat al-wujud Idea: Waḥdat al-wujūd, the teaching associated with Ibn ʿArabī that God alone truly exists and everything else exists through Him. The phrase was made a doctrine's name by his followers and his critic Ibn Taymiyya. More in The Mystics: Sufism
Usman dan Fodio also Uthman dan Fodio Person: Fulani scholar and preacher whose jihad, from 1804, founded the Sokoto caliphate in what is now northern Nigeria. More in Reform, Revival and Empire
ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān also Uthman, Othman Person: The third caliph (644–656). Tradition credits him with the standard text of the Qur'an, sent to the provinces around 650 with other copies ordered destroyed. He was murdered by Muslim rebels in 656. More in The Qur'an
ʿUthmānic codex also muṣḥaf ʿuthmānī, Uthmanic Quran Text: The standard written text of the Qur'an that tradition credits to the caliph ʿUthmān, around 650. Its consonantal outline is the basis of every printed Qur'an today. More in The Qur'an

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Wahhabism also Wahhabi, Wahabi Movement: The name outsiders gave the reform movement of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, which became the religious doctrine of the Saudi state. Its followers called themselves muwaḥḥidūn, and many today prefer "Salafi". More in Reform, Revival and Empire

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Year of the Elephant Idea: The tradition's name for the year Abraha marched on Mecca with an elephant and was turned back, and in which it dates Muhammad's birth, about 570. Abraha's own inscriptions end about 560 and never mention Mecca. More in Late Antique Arabia

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Zaydīs also Zaydis, Zaidi Movement: A Shia branch following Zayd ibn ʿAlī (d. 740), which holds that any qualified descendant of ʿAlī and Fāṭima who rises against injustice may be imam. Zaydī imams ruled in northern Yemen, with interruptions, until 1962. More in The Abbasids: Law, Hadith and Theology
Zuhayr inscription Evidence: A rock inscription near al-ʿUlā in Arabia recording "the time ʿUmar died, in the year four and twenty" (644–645): the earliest dated Islamic inscription. More in How We Know