Religion in Credo: Islam

Arab prophet and religious leader who founded Islam. He was born in Mecca. At the age of 25 he began working as a trading agent.

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Husband of Fatima (daughter of Muhammad) and 4th caliph (656-61). The debate over his right to the caliphate caused a major split in Islam into Sunni and Shiite branches.

As the founder of Judaism, he is said to have instituted the rite of circumcision as a sign of the covenant between God and the Jews, who are descended from Isaac, son of Abraham's old age. In the Bible, progenitor of the Hebrews and the founder of Judaism. In the Qur'an, ancestor of the Arabs through his son Ishmael. Abraham is further regarded as an ancestor of Muhammad.

The rulership of Islam; caliph (kălʹĭf), the spiritual head and temporal ruler of the Islamic state. In principle, Islam is theocratic: when Muhammad died, a caliph [Arab.,=successor] was chosen to rule in his place.

In Islam, a recognized leader or a religious teacher. Among the Sunni the term refers to the leader in the Friday prayer at the mosque; any pious Muslim may function as imam.

A Muslim place of worship, usually having one or more minarets and often decorated with elaborate tracery and texts from the Koran. Muhammad's house in Medina (A.D. 622), with its surrounding courtyard and hall with columns, became the prototype for the mosque where the faithful gathered for prayer.

City in Saudi Arabia and, as birthplace of Muhammad, the holiest city of the Islamic world and a place of annual pilgrimage (the hajj).

Saudi Arabian city, about 355 km/220 mi north of Mecca. It is the second holiest city in the Islamic world after Mecca, and contains the tomb of Muhammad, a focus for Muslim pilgrims during the hajj (annual pilgrimage).

In Islam, usually an initiate in a Sufi order.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Islamic shrine in Jerusalem dating from the 7th century AD that surrounds a great rock altar (an outcrop of rock) that was part of Solomon's Temple of Jerusalem. The place from which, in Muslim tradition, Muhammad ascended to heaven on his Night Journey.

The Qur'an is the Holy Book of Islam; also spelled as Koran. Muslims treasure the text in its original Arabic as the literal word of God, the last of God's books revealed to humanity, transmitted by the Prophet Muhammad. The book is composed of sacred writings accepted by Muslims as revelations made to Muhammad by Allah.

Sharia is the religious law of Islam. As Islam makes no distinction between religion and life, Islamic law covers not only ritual but many aspects of life.

Muslim code of practice; a body of traditional law based on the sayings, actions, and guidance of the prophet Muhammad, as detailed in the Hadith and the Sirah (a biography of the prophet's life).

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
A tradition or the collection of the traditions of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, including his sayings and deeds, and his tacit approval of what was said or done in his presence.

From Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary
On the 10th of Muharram in the year 680, Muhammad’s grandson Hussein was killed in a skirmish between Sunnis and the small group of Shi’ite supporters with whom he was travelling to Iraq.

The pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, one of the five basic requirements (arkan or "pillars") of Islam. Its annual observance corresponds to the major holy day id al-adha, itself a commemoration of Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son on Divine orders.

Ramadan, a significant period of fasting, reflection, and prayer for all Muslims, is a holiday in the religious tradition of Islam, one of the world's largest religions.

Also known as the Feast of Fast-Breaking, or the Lesser Feast, Id al-Fitr marks the end of the month-long fast of Ramadan and the beginning of a three-day feast.

From Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary
This most important feast of the Muslim calendar is the concluding rite of those performing the Hajj or Pilgrimage to Mecca. It is also known as Id al-Kabir, the Great Feast.

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
The departure of the prophet Muhammad from Mecca in 622. The year of the Hegira marks the beginning of the Muslim era.

System of doctrines proclaimed in Persia in 1844 by Ali Muhammad of Shiraz. Influenced by the Shaykhi Shiite theology that viewed the Twelve Imams as incarnations of the Divine, Ali Muhammad proclaimed himself the Bab, the living door to the twelfth Imam and the knowledge of God, and sent missionaries throughout Persia.

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
The Baha'i faith holds that God can be made known to humankind through manifestations that have come at various stages of human progress; prophets include Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, the Bab, and Baha Ullah.

Muslim Shiite sect that holds Ismail, the son of Jafar as-Sadiq, as its imam.

Member of a sect of Islam that believes that Ali, a cousin of the prophet Muhammad, was his first true successor.

An umbrella term for the ascetic and mystical movements within Islam. While Sufism is said to have incorporated elements of Christian monasticism, gnosticism, and Indian mysticism, its origins are traced to forms of devotion and groups of penitents (zuhhad) in the formative period of Islam.

The largest division of Islam. Sunni Islam is the heir to the early central Islamic state, in its acknowledgement of the legitimacy of the order of succession of the first four caliphs.

From Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of Political Thought
A form of radical Islamism known after its founder, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792), from the Najd area of Arabia, ruled by local sheikhs of the house of Saud.