Abaya: A black, thick, cloak-like garment that women in Saudi Arabia are required to wear in public. The abaya is opaque and its comfort level in extreme heat depends on whether it is from a couture house or is a nylon/polyester “made in China” garment. It has several moving parts, including a full-face veil called the niqab, which covers everything but the eyes, and the hijab or headscarf. Some women also choose to wear black gloves and socks with it. Its use outside Saudi Arabia is varied.‡
Ahl al-Bayt: Literally, “Family of the House.” In this case, the family of the Prophet Muhammad. This family is very central to the sectarian split in Islam between Shia and Sunni. For the Shia, the family comprises the Prophet’s daughter, Hazrat Fatima; her husband and the prophet’s cousin, Ali (also their first caliph); and their sons, Hassan and Husayn. For Shia Muslims this is the rightful line of succession, with Imam Ali being the first leader. For Sunni Muslims, the family’s composition has been contentious. For them, Abu Bakr, the Prophet’s father-in-law, is the rightful successor to the Prophet, and they take a completely different lineage. Some Shia believe that after Muhammad’s death, in a coup d’état against the Prophet’s rightful successor, Ali, Abu Bakr usurped power.
Ahl e-Hadith: Also Jamiat Ahle Hadith. Literally, “People of the Hadith.” Founded as a religious movement, it is considered by many (including an EU report cited in this book) to be a charitable/educational/political front for terrorism. The movement’s beliefs, like the Wahhabi/Salafi doctrines, are puritanical. Notable beliefs include denouncing taqlid (blind following) and promoting ijtihad (independent reasoning).
Al-Fatiha: Literally, the “Opening” or “Beginning,” referring to its being the first chapter of the Quran. It is used often, including during every prayer.
Alawite: A sect of Shia Muslims. The Syrian dictator in the middle of a catastrophic civil war, Bashar al-Assad, and his family are prominent examples. The Wahhabi thought behind Daesh would not even consider the Alawites to be legitimate Muslims.
Allah: The Arabic word for God.
• Inshallah: “If God wills.”
• Alhamdulillah: “Praise be to God.”
• Astaghfirulla(h): “I ask forgiveness from Allah.”
• Mashallah: “What Allah wanted has happened.” Often used when hearing good news.
• Subhanallah: “Glory be to God.”
Arafat: Arafat is a plain about twenty miles from Mecca surrounding Mount Arafat, which is where the Prophet Muhammad is said to have given his farewell sermon. This is why the mount (hill) is also called Jabal ar-Rahmah (Mount of Mercy). Muhammad said, “Hajj is Arafat,” and millions of pilgrims climb the mount and stay in the plain to deliver supplications before sunset. The day spent at Arafat is the most important ritual of Hajj. Pilgrims then head to another plain called Muzdalifah for a short rest (sleeping bags on very rocky ground) and to collect pebbles.
Ashura: The first month of the Islamic calendar is Muharram, and its tenth day, called Ashura, is of enormous ritualistic significance for Shia Muslims. Ashura marks the anniversary of the death of Imam Husayn in battle at Karbala in modern Iraq, an act they call his martyrdom which they mourn centuries later. One Ashura ritual involves public flagellation with rope-like metal chains on bleeding bare male torsos, carried out in a procession called Tazia. Women are not encouraged to go out publicly. In India and Iran the day is a national holiday. Shia consider it as the ultimate symbol of the resistance their religion commands and place it centrally in the spiritual morality of the Shia universe. In modern times the day has been used for political resistance. Imam Sadiq allegedly said, “Every day is Ashura, every land is Karbala.”
Ayatollah: Literally, “Sign of Allah/the divine.” It is the highest possible ranking given to an Islamic scholar, master of sharia and all divine matters in “twelver” Shia exegesis. This is a very exclusive club. Only the most exclusive list of ayatollahs appears in the Marja-e’Taqlid (source of emulation) category. These are the grand ayatollahs—in Iran, Ayotallah Khomeini and his putative successor, Ayatollah Khameini, and in Iraq, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. For Shias these ayatollahs are comparable to a pope. In Iran, which is a theocracy, the Ayatollah is the ultimate arbiter for all matters.
Bismillah: The word extends to Bismillah ar Rahman ir Rahim (literally, “In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious and Most Merciful”). Arguably the most-used phrase in Islam, Bismillah begins all prayer and every chapter of the Quran (but the ninth). It is uttered a great deal in daily Muslim life, for example, at mealtime.
Burqa: Widely worn in Central and South Asia, this garment has a purpose similar to that of the abaya—to ensure the shapelessness and invisibility of women. It is said to be uncomfortably heavy and difficult to maneuver in. Instead of the niqab, it usually has a rectangular piece of semi-transparent cloth with its top edge attached to a portion of the headscarf so that the veil hangs down covering the face and can be turned up if the woman wants. Around Kabul, light-blue burqas came into prominence when the Taliban were in power. Many Afghan women still use them, calling them chadri. It has semantic roots with its cousin in Iran called the chador, which many women say is less claustrophobic and only requires the wearer to clutch fabric. In the Indian subcontinent, burqas are mostly black.
Burqini: Islamically acceptable swimwear for Muslim women. The copyright for the terms Burqini and Burkini is held by an Australian firm that claims it came up with the concept and says 40 percent of its customers are not Muslim but include Hindus and conservative Jews. Wearing a burqini is like wearing a whole-body wetsuit with a hood attached. Interestingly, many municipalities in France (as they have done with the hijab since 2009) banned the garment in 2016.
Caliph: Khalifa in Arabic, this man controls sizeable geography called the caliphate (khilafat) that is “Islamic.” For many Islamic schools, the caliph is supposed to be a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad. This idea that Daesh has made so dreaded and fearful today is something the world coexisted with and accepted for almost fourteen centuries. A caliphate allows for many principles that would be acceptable in this century, including a Majlis al-Shura (consultative assembly), basically a parliament. Until Daesh announced itself as Islam’s new caliphate, using sadistic and un-Islamic logic, it was widely assumed that the end of the Ottoman Empire was the death of the Islamic Caliphate and of caliphs.
Da’wa: The proselytizing or preaching of Islam. A Muslim who is engaged in this is called a da’i, and, as in other religions, is basically a missionary.
Dabiq: A small town/village in northern Syria, important to a small number of Muslims whose Islamic eschatology holds it as a possible location for a war against Christians that Muslims will win. This is why the first Daesh online magazine is called Dabiq.
Darul Uloom (Deoband): Literally, “House of Knowledge.” Located in a suburb called Deoband in India’s Saharanpur district, it is the birthplace of the influential school of Deobandi Islam. It claims it follows Hanafi doctrine and Islamic sciences, but others have condemned its curriculum as heavily Wahhabi-ized, with great influence on the Taliban, among others. It regularly issues fatwas, which the elite in India treat with derision and scorn.
Eid al-Adha: Literally, “the Festival of the Sacrifice” and called “the greater Eid” by some scholars. It occurs on the tenth day of the month of Dhu al-Hijjah, the month designated for the Hajj, as well. It commemorates Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his firstborn son, Ismael, at God’s command, a sacrifice that was averted at the last moment, with Ismael replaced by a goat. The meat from the goat is traditionally split into three parts: for family, for friends and neighbors, and for the poor. It marks a moment when Hajj pilgrims are finishing their rites of Hajj by also making the sacrifice. There is difference of opinion on how this Eid is to be observed.
Eid al-Fitr: Literally “the Festival of Breaking the Fast.” It is the big festival to mark the end of the holy month of fasting called Ramadan. It is the ninth month in the Hijri calendar. Celebratory traditions vary, just as Islam does, but feasts and gift exchanges have become common. Seemingly, there is no sectarian divide on the festival, though there is often disagreement on the sighting of the new moon. The sighting of the crescent moon (hilal) heralds the beginning of Ramadan. Eid al-Fitr arrives when the new moon is sighted, marking the end of Ramadan and the beginning of the month of Shawwal. It is said that the first revelations of the Quran to the Prophet happened during the month of Ramadan. This revelation came on a night called Laylat al-Qadr (an odd numbered night during the last ten days of Ramadan).
Fatwa: Literally, “legal opinion,” with the “legal” aspect itself contested amongst scholars, some of whom have said a fatwa is no more than an “Islamic opinion.” Some argue that only outstanding scholars of Islamic sciences can issue such opinions. Others say all qualified jurists can. Some even say that anyone trained in Islamic law (sharia) can issue them. As this book proves, fatwas have been variously used, fluctuating from the treacherous and divisive to the absolutely hilarious.
Fiqh: Islamic jurisprudence. Enormous rigor and scholarship are called for in the person who interprets it, the faqih. Required abilities include the human understanding of sharia (divine law) and the discipline of scholarship that needs to precede it. For Sunni Muslims there are generally four schools (madhhab) of fiqh: Hanbali, Hanafi, Shafi, and Maliki. The first is said to be the most puritanical and lies at the foundation of Wahhabi ideology in Saudi Arabia. For Shia, the most used are Jafari and Zaydi.
Five Pillars of Islam: Also known as Arkān al-Islām, these are:
1. Shahadah: Being able to recite the Muslim profession of faith, which is brief: “There is no god but God and Muhammad is his messenger.” This relates to the very core of Islam, known as Tawhid, which is the oneness of God. In Urdu, it is called the Kalima.
2. Salah: Performing the ritual prayers in the proper way (Islam dictates pretty much every act a good Muslim is supposed to do), five times each day.
3. Zakat: A tax for alms, requisite for all Muslims. Muhammad’s intent was to not have desperately poor Muslims, and thus this principle of charity towards Muslims who live in wretched poverty was established. Clearly, this principle is not followed in present times. When it is followed, an example would be during the Festival of the Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha) when all extra meat is given to the poor.
4. Sawm: Fasting during the holy month of Ramadan. It usually lasts thirty days and it can be broken only if certain conditions are met. It is said the Quran’s revelations began in the last ten days of this month.
5. Hajj: A mandated, highly ritualized religious journey to Mecca, once in a lifetime and incumbent on all Muslims, if they are willing and able and meet certain other requirements. It is said that Muhammad only did one Hajj in his lifetime and the Quran mentions it about twenty times in different verses.
Grand mufti: Used differently in different nations. In most Sunni countries, the term is used for the highest official arbiter of Islamic law (even if there is no sharia in the country). In sharia nations like Saudi Arabia, the grand mufti assumes great stature, becoming the foremost religious and legal authority. Unlike Catholicism, Islam has no pope-like figure to unite under.
Hadith: Used to describe the actions, habits, traditions, and sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad. Compilations of hadith, with the Quran, are the primary canon of Islam. It is of note that the hadith compilations in books such as Sahih Bukhari are enormously larger than the Quran itself. Within Islamic jurisprudence, and to this very day, the veracity of scores of hadith remains contested.
Hafiz: A hafiz (hafiza for women) is someone who has memorized the Quran. The person is treated with great respect and the word is deliberately chosen because it can mean “the guardian.” It is said they are the carriers of the holy book, should there ever come a time of Islam’s destruction. Memorizing the Quran is a hard task because it has 114 chapters containing 6,236 verses (about 80,000 Arabic words), and to do so requires Quranic study at a very early age with the rules of recitation (tajwid). Since so much of the Quran relies on recitation, a hafiz is a title so respectable that it is used as a prefix to a name. Interestingly, the deceased Saudi King Abdullah used the term to label his 2011 signature unemployment program.
Hai’a: Used for the Saudi-created “The General Presidency of the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vices,” a government agency set up to police morality (usually cruelly). This agency employs the notorious and feared religious police called the mutaween (singular, mutawa), who are the ground enforcers of sharia law. There are about 4,000 of these barely literate men who can usually be identified because they wear their ghutrah (the Arabian peninsula–style headscarf) without an egal, the black cord that is usually used to keep the ghutrah in place. They often harass women for attire transgressions, enforce gender segregation, force shopowners to down their shutters at prayer times, or arbitrate actions they deem un-Islamic. The mutaween, set up in the eighties by King Fahd, behaved like state-sanctioned bullies with fearsome powers they abused. In 2016, they were stripped of most of their powers.
Hajj: The enormously desired annual pilgrimage to Mecca, which is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. All Muslims, if financially and physically capable (and meet a few other requirements) are mandated to make this pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime. Usually it lasts five days, beginning on the eighth and ending on the twelfth of the month of Dhu al-Hijjah. It is considered the largest gathering of humanity on the planet with a singular religious objective. It is highly ritualized. Many Muslims choose to use Hajji as an honorary prefix to their names upon successful completion of the pilgrimage, which is considered a big accomplishment.
Halal: Literally, “permissible.” In Islamic theology, halal denotes deeds and objects that are permissible to engage in or use. Like its opposite, haram, this is a principle of significance and has often been disagreed upon by theologians coming from different cultures, geographies, and times. The term is so critical that it even includes food and drinks. Mubah, “Islamically OK,” is another term used for basically the same ends.
Haram: In Arabic, there can be two meanings to haram, depending on the way it is written and pronounced. One is “sacred,” as in the Masjid al-Haram (the Noble Sanctuary), a phrase that is used (amongst others) to identify the holiest mosque in Islam, in Mecca, which contains the Kaaba. In this pronunciation there is no emphasis on the second “a” (or alif, the first letter of the Arab alphabet). This pronunciation creates a sacred zone that cannot be violated. The other meaning of the word haram, with particular emphasis on the second alif, denotes the very highest level of Islamic prohibition. Muslims generally assume that sharia law includes many prohibitions against actions considered haram. Scholars also say that in addition to denoting what is divinely forbidden, the use of this word in this context is one of five commandments of Islam that are used to define what is moral and what isn’t. Different schools of Islamic thought have differed on what acts they consider to be haram enough to merit punishment.
Hijab: A veil used by many Muslim women when in male company that is outside of family and friends. In reality, it is just a hair- and neck-covering scarf-like garment worn by many women by choice for reasons that can include cultural identity, modesty, and piety. There are also instances when it is not worn by choice. In the West, the choice factor is the most prevalent. It is seen by many Muslim scholars as an extension of the Prophet’s command for both men and women to dress modestly. A hijab is not an abaya or a burqa. Its equivalent in South Asia, where the majority of the world’s Muslims live, is called a dupatta. In countries like Egypt, magazines like the bestselling Hijab Fashion have transformed this simple scarf into an object of haute couture.
Hijra: The emigration of Muhammad and his earliest followers, facing persecution, from Mecca to Medina in the year 622. This year assumes great significance because that journey marks the beginning of the lunar Islamic calendar, which is also called the Hijri calendar.
Hira: A cave that sits on the mountain called Jabal al-Nour, about two miles from Mecca. It is the cave where Muhammad received his first Quranic revelation.
Hizbullah: Literally, “the Army of God.” In the West, the group is considered a terrorist organization. But many in the Middle East and Shias everywhere view it as a freedom movement. Born as a result of Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon in 1982, Hizbullah is based in the southernmost part of Beirut, in a vast area called Dahieh. Its influential secretary general is Hassan Nasrallah. Hizbullah is also a political party that has won legitimate seats in the Lebanese Parliament in elections. Worldwide opinion swings from labeling it a terrorist group, to a legitimate resistance movement, to a political party. The EU and UK, for example, differentiate between the group’s militant part and its political-party status, with the latter being affirmed. For the Russians, Hizbullah is a legitimate social and political organization.
Hudood: Literally, “limit” or “restriction,” in both Urdu and Arabic. In 1977, Pakistani dictator Zia-ul-Haq implemented the infamous Hudood Ordinances in his attempts to make the penal code left behind by the British sharia-compliant. Offenses are either hadd (fixed) or tazir (discretionary). Until the 2006 “Protection of Women Act,” rapists could roam free in Pakistan, and sometimes the victims ended up in prison, saying it was they who were guilty of zinna (adultery). The most horrific consequences range from public lashing to amputation of hands, death by stoning, and crucifixion. In modern times, sharia states like Saudi Arabia and Iran routinely enforce these punishments, claiming sharia compliance.
Ihram: Foremost a state of purity of mind and piety of spirit that a pilgrim performing the Hajj (the major pilgrimage) or the Umrah (the lesser pilgrimage) must enter. Like almost all of Islam, there are many rituals before a pilgrim dons the ihram, which for men is two unstitched pieces of white cloth. For women, the clothing is modesty ordained, and they must wear hijab on their heads, though their faces must be exposed. In Mecca, men and women should not even be separated and pray in the same lines. The geographical, cultural, and other diversities and immensity of Hajj, however, mean that both genders do not follow all the rules of attire in the absolutes of rituals Islam prefers.
Ijtihad: Literally, “effort” or “independent reasoning,” during and after Wahhab’s lifetime. The concept is not a novelty. Early Muslims learned that not all problems had a solution in the Quran, in the hadith (sayings/traditions attributed to Prophet Muhammad), or even ijmāʿ (scholarly consensus). Thus came ijtihad, a principle as old as Islam itself. Many modern American or European scholars speaking on behalf of Islam see it as a quick fix and proof that Islam has “independent reasoning.” Yet violent ideologies like the Wahhabis, and thus their ideological partners in Daesh, claim they favor and still exercise the principle. Post-revolutionary Iran has also embraced it. Ijtihad therefore remains fraught and cannot be seen as a quick bandage for Islamic exegesis. Due to Islam’s pluralism, a unanimity of commandments applicable to 1.7 billion people cannot be assigned easily, not even if it is explicitly from the Quran.
Ikhtilat: The intermixing of men and women. It is the opposite of gender segregation, which most Islamic scholars say is mandated by sharia and should apply to Muslims everywhere. What we take for granted in the West (men and women working together, living together, etc.) is an enormously charged issue in countries that impose sharia, the biggest examples being Saudi Arabia and Iran. It has always been difficult for these regimes to implement gender segregation culturally. The majority population in both countries is below age thirty. Unsurprisingly, in the age of the social web, ikhtilat is increasingly desired by them and cannot be policed on the web. It often trends on Saudi Twitter as a hashtag.
Imam: The leader of a Muslim community, most commonly a “worship leader,” a man who can lead prayer for a congregation and can even have a pastoral role in communities. For Shia Muslims the term is decidedly more sacred.
Iqama: There are not many ways to enter Saudi Arabia. This is one, and it means a work permit/residence visa valid for up to two years. In a country where corruption is endemic, employers have been known to extend iqama indefinitely because of whom they know, thus creating a kind of indentured servitude for the recipients, who cannot leave the country. Some have said it’s akin to a modern-day slavery system.
Jaish-e-Mohammed: The banned Pakistani terrorist organization, whose name literally means “Army of Mohammed.” It is most active in Indian-controlled Kashmir. It is primarily influenced by the teachings of the Deobandi school of Islam. The group also has connections to both al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Even though the United Nations has named Jaish-e-Mohammed a terrorist group, it keeps on springing up with different names and allegedly with support from Pakistan’s primary intelligence agency, ISI.
Jamaat-ud-Daawa: The front for what the Indian and US governments view as a terrorist organization, Lashkar-e-Taiba (Army of the Pure), which was blamed for the Bombay terror attacks in 2008. It is claimed that Pakistan’s ISI continues to give both Lashkar and Jamaat logistical and perhaps financial support. The Jamaat continues to work as the Lashkar’s “charitable arm.”
Jamarat: A critical ritual of the Hajj, it represents the act of the Prophet Ibrahim when he stoned three pillars representing Shaitan (Satan) and his attempts to distract him from God’s will, that Ismael be slaughtered. The stoning happens thrice, ending with the tenth day of the month of Dhul al-Hijjah. The total number of pebbles to be used, according to most Sunni scholars, is forty-nine. After many stampedes and casualties, the Saudis replaced the walls surrounding the pillars with eighty-five-foot concrete walls. Today it is possible to engage in the stoning ritual from three levels, with the topmost being the most accident-free. However, this remains the most dangerous of all Hajj rituals. It is used as both a noun and a verb.
Jannat: Urdu and Arabic word for paradise.
Jannat al-Baqi: Literally, “Garden of Paradise.” An enormous cemetery of unmarked graves in Medina that borders the second-most-important mosque in Islam, Masjid al-Nabi or the Mosque of the Prophet, where Muhammad, many of his family, and other Islamic ancestors are buried. The cemetery suffered great destruction at the hands of the violent Ikhwan (literally, “brothers,” in this case a Wahhabi religious militia) in 1806 and 1925. All Shias and many Sunnis have denounced the Wahhabi destruction of what is essentially Islamic history. Muslims who die during Hajj are sometimes buried here, which is considered a great honor for the deceased.
Jannat al-Mu’alla: Literally, “Garden of the Mu’alla (judge, follower).” A cemetery in Mecca where the Prophet’s first wife, the older businesswoman called Khadija, his grandfather, and other Islamic ancestors are buried. The graves here met the same fate as those at Medina’s Jannat al-Baqi in 1925.
Jihad: Literally, this Arabic noun means “struggling, persevering, striving.” Some scholars claim its primary motive is proselytizing, a dual religious duty for all Muslims to keep the faith intact and to convert others. Other scholars use the term jihad al-nafs, or “struggle with the self,” presumably toward a better religious self. But there is also its association with an offensive concept: struggle or battle with the “enemies” of Islam. There are scholars who try to simplify it into just two compartments: the greater jihad, which they say is the inner spiritual struggle, and the lesser jihad, which is the struggle with the enemies of Islam. The word really entered global consciousness post-9/11, so much so that now it is seen as an almost English-language word. The concept of jihad remains one of ongoing global debate.
Kaaba: The cube-shaped building that is Islam’s ground zero. It is Islam’s version of something as holy as the Jewish tabernacle. Technically, 1.7 billion Muslims are commanded to perform Islam’s ritualized prayer five times a day in its direction. That direction from anywhere is called the Qibla. A black silk cloth inlaid with (literally) gold verses, called the Kiswa, covers it and is changed annually.
It is said that the original Kaaba was built by the Prophet Ibrahim and his son Ismael twenty-one centuries before Christ. Clearly they would not recognize its current grandeur. Hundreds of thousands of Muslim homes, prayer beads, and prayer rugs have some sort of pictorial representation of the Kaaba, and thus it is a very emotional experience for the millions lucky enough to see it in reality.
Kafir: A nonbeliever (disbeliever, infidel, apostate).
Karbala: A city in central Iraq, which many Shia Muslims regard as their second-holiest city after Mecca. This is because of the 680 battle of Karbala that claimed the life of the revered Imam Husayn, who is buried here in a grand mausoleum. They regard it as his martyrdom and mark his death on the tenth day of the Islamic month of Muharram. This battle and martyrdom are additional proof that Shiism needs to be treated as a distinct religion, one with separate rituals and identity. Husayn was “martyred” at Sunni hands, in Karbala by the despised alleged Caliph, Yazid. Husayn’s martyrdom at Karbala is Shia Islam’s raison d’être.
Mahdi: Literally, “the Guided One.” In Islam’s eschatology, he is the redeemer of the faith to appear on the Day of Judgment. Sunni scholars vary on the duration of his rule: five, seven, ten, or nineteen years. Some schools of Islam says the second coming of Jesus will also happen simultaneously. The mainstream Sunni view holds that the Mahdi has not yet been born. The majority Shia view is that he went into occultation and will return as Muhammad al-Mahdi, their Twelfth Imam. The first Daesh magazine, Dabiq, claimed such end-of-times logic and said the time for the Mahdi to come and the place would be a small town in northern Syria, also called Dabiq. Throughout history many have claimed Mahdi-hood. The Mahdi rhetoric has dangerously been used by terrorist organizations like Daesh and al-Qaeda.
Madrassa: Urdu and Arabic word for school. Some (inaccurately) call them religious schools specific to Muslims.
Majlis al-Shura: Literally, majlis means “a place of sitting” and shura means “consultation.” Therefore, this is an advisory council. It’s a critical concept because such a majlis assumes its members as knowledgeable of the Quran and sharia. This is one of two ways of “electing” a caliph. The council exists in political terms in Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Pakistan, Bahrain, and even Iran (where it is called Majles-e Shura-ye Eslami). This concept is the closest that totalitarian Saudi Arabia comes to some form of legislature. It is said even al-Qaeda had such a majlis, and so does Daesh.
Marja, Marja-al taqlid: See Ayatollah.
Masjid al-Haram: Literally, “the Sacred Mosque.” Some also say it means “The Noble Sanctuary.” It is the holiest mosque in Islam, special because it contains the Kaaba, the heart of Islam, a structure that is said to predate Islam as we know it. The largest mosque in the world, it can allegedly accommodate 820,000 people, which is still not enough for Hajj numbers. The mosque has been in a constant state of expansion for decades. The reconstruction (destruction, say critics) is assigned to one of the world’s largest contracting firms, the Saudi bin Laden group. Osama bin Laden was one of many sons in this family tree and for a while worked for his family’s project of reconstructing the grand mosque.
There has been much criticism of the bin Laden family because the Ottoman and other historic architectural flourishes that formed a part of its history have been destroyed and replaced with faux gold and marble. It is common knowledge that in the mosque perimeters the bin Ladens, on Saud orders, destroyed the home the Prophet occupied with his first wife, Khadija, and built a row of toilets on top of it. The hills of Safa and Marwah, where the historically critical Hajjar ran to find water to save Ismael (who would lay forth Muhammad’s lineage) have now been turned into air-conditioned marble corridors. When a crane collapsed onto the mosque on September 11, 2015, 111 people died and 394 were injured. It is said that when this set of renovations started by King Abdullah will be completed by King Salman in 2020, the capacity of the mosque will increase to 2 million.
Masjid al-Nabi: Literally, “the Prophet’s Mosque.” It is the second-holiest of the trinity of mosques that lie at the highest echelons of Islamic power. Located in Medina, the mosque went through a massive “redevelopment” project just like its counterpart in Mecca by the Saudi bin Laden family. The grave of the Prophet Muhammad and a few contested figures are contained within this mosque, where the exact location of the Prophet’s grave is denoted by a green-topped dome that the Saudi monarchy and their real masters in the Wahhabi ulema have tried to demolish several times to prevent its becoming a place of veneration, which it actually has become. The Saudi king appends the title of “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques”) to his name.
Mawlid (Mawlid al-Nabi): The birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, which occurs in the third month of the Islamic calendar. Most Muslims celebrate it. In Saudi Arabia, though, it is forbidden, as is the celebration of any child’s birthday. Celebrating birthdays is considered bida (an unnecessary religious innovation).
Mina: Three miles from Mecca, this valley is a behemoth tent city spread over twelve square miles. It is used only during the annual Hajj pilgrimage. It has been the scene of many stampedes, as recently as 2015, and even a giant fire in 1997. The Saudi government claims the 100,000 tents of this unusual city are now fireproof. But the safety of up to 3 million pilgrims in areas like Mina and the Jamarat remains an intractable issue for the Saudi monarchy.
Mufti: A person who can opine on sharia law and issue fatwas. In Islamic hierarchies, a mufti is often near the bottom of a tall ladder of scholarship.
Mughal: This dynasty founded by Babur ruled most of India from the early sixteenth to the eighteenth century. Its fifth emperor gave the world one of its greatest monuments, the Taj Mahal. This originally Turkic-Mongol dynasty ruled over hundreds of thousands of miles and tried to create a united Indian state, a task only the British colonizers that followed them were able to finally execute. The Mughals were a Persianate society and brought that language and culture with them. This is why Urdu has so much in common with Persian. Akbar, one of the great Mughal Emperors, even tried to form a new religion called Din-i-Ilahi to unite the hundreds of ethnic languages, cultures, and religions of what some of them called Hindustan (the Land of the Hindus). The syncretism that existed between Hindus and Muslims for the most part under the Mughals lead to a great flourishing of architecture and the arts—an influence that can be clearly seen in contemporary India.
Muhajir: The Islamic word for an “immigrant.” Even Prophet Muhammad and the earliest Muslims were muhajirun for a while when he had to escape Mecca and find shelter in Medina (then Yathrib). The word is connected by more than semantics to the name of Hajjar (mother of Ismael) and to Hijra. Most importantly, Muhammad, like Jesus, was a refugee.
Mujahid: One who wages jihad, plural is mujahideen, and it is contentiously used to describe terrorists who are Muslim.
Mukhabarat: The Arabic version of “intelligence agencies,” used in many Arab countries to enforce state terror. Some of the countries are Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Libya. Their tactics and victims have come under increasing scrutiny on the social web.
Mullah: A scholar who is educated and respected for his piety. It has Quranic roots in the word mawla (lord, vicar, guardian, trustee). The majority of Muslims in the world use it simply as a prefix for their local cleric. Interestingly, it is said that some Sephardic Jews have used the term to refer to a religious leader.
Mutawa, Mutaween: See Hai’a.
Niqab: See Abaya and Burqa.
Peer: Urdu word for a Sufi saint or wandering mystic, later revered with mausoleums (anathema for the Wahhabis).
The Pentad: Good Muslims are supposed to act within five commandments. This is a pentad into which all acts fall, varying sometimes slightly due to culture, geography, and the various other diversities of Islam. In Arabic, the phrase used is al-ʾaḥkām al-khamsa. Most scholars agree they can be divided into:
• farḍ or wājib - compulsory, obligatory
• mustaḥabb or sunnah - recommended, also known as fadilah, mandub
• mubāḥ - neither obligatory, recommended, disliked, nor sinful (neutral)
• makrūh - disliked, abominable (abstaining is recommended)
• ḥarām - sinful (abstaining is obligatory)
All of these terms assume particular significance under the rules of Hajj.
Qiyamah or Qiyamat: The Day of Judgment; different for different kinds of Muslims.
Raj: Literally, “ruler” in Hindi. Generally refers to the period between 1858 and 1947, when the British Crown ruled India. The British were very proud of their rule in India, calling the country the “jewel in the crown.” The Raj ended when Gandhi and other “freedom fighters” established a unified post-British India. It was a time of history’s largest and bloodiest migration and created the Muslim nations of East and West Pakistan. The former in 1971 would become Bangladesh.
Ramadan: The ninth month of the Islamic calendar, designated as the month of sawm (fasting), commemorating the first Quranic revelations to the Prophet in 622. The nature and number of restrictions during Ramadan depend on the kind of Islam being followed. Generally speaking, Muslims are commanded to fast from dawn to dusk. The predawn meal is called suhur; the post-dusk meal is called iftar and is often celebratory. Some of the prohibitions include drinking liquids, eating, and smoking, as well as refraining from any sexual relations. In some countries prohibitions also include gossiping, lying, insulting, fighting, or killing any living being. Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam.
Rasoolullah: Rasool means “Messenger,” and Allah means “God.” In South Asia Rasoolullah is used for Muhammad, as the Messenger of Allah.
Sahih Bukhari: Sunni Islam has four schools of thought: Hanbali, Hanafi, Sha’afi, and Maliki. They all developed under different circumstances. What many Sunnis agree on is the existence of an Islamic canon that comprises six Kutub al-Sittah (the Six Books). These very dense tomes are compilations of the Prophet’s sayings (hadith) and actions (sunnah). Sahih Bukhari is considered to be one of the larger tomes, with 7,275 hadith. But even larger is Sahih Muslim, with 9,200 hadith. Of all six books these two (Bukhari and Muslim) are considered the most influential.
Salah/Namaaz: Salah (Arabic) and Namaaz (Urdu) refer to the daily mandated prayers for Muslims, who are to perform them facing the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca. There are five daily prayers: Fajr (dawn), Zuhr (noon), Asr (afternoon), Maghrib (sunset), and Isha (night).
Sharia: A body of religious and moral law derived from religious prophecy, as opposed to human legislation. Given Islam’s diversity, with 1.7 billion vastly different adherents, sharia can be interpreted differently depending on history, geography, culture, the Muslim canon, and the Quran. The majority of the Muslim world does not live under any form of sharia. The implementation of religious law has been extremely contentious in Muslim communities around the world. Thus it is hard to pinpoint whose sharia is right in a sectarian faith with many schools of thought. Two major countries that are diametrically opposite and always in discord, Iran and Saudi Arabia, are the world’s two most prominent examples where sharia is the law of the land.
Shaitan: Urdu and Arabic word for Satan.
Sufi: The expansive term for the mystical, present in many different forms of Islam in ways as diverse as the religion of Islam itself. In Arabic, the word is tasawwuf (“to dress in wool”), in Urdu fakir, and in Persian darvish.
Sufism: Mystical Islamic belief and practice in which Muslims seek to find the truth of divine love and knowledge through direct personal experience of God. It consists of a variety of mystical paths that are designed to ascertain the nature of humanity and of God and to facilitate the experience of the presence of divine love and wisdom in the world. It is often associated with ascetics who are worldly poor and spiritually divine. It usually conforms to diverse Islamic geographical, cultural, and spiritual practices. Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab is said to have detested anything Sufi as shirk (idol worship). The Sufis through history have, however, been proselytizers of the faith. Disobeying the canon of Islam in their own unique ways, there are thousands of these mystics buried in Muslim lands from Morocco to Malaysia. They also remained repositories of all that is divine and ineffable.
Primarily through poetry, Sufi mystics made Prophet Muhammad an emulatory figure, thus influencing Islamic piety. In Urdu, Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Pashto, and Punjabi, their poetry has withstood the tides of times; though puritanical Wahhabi strains of Islam have destroyed their graves, they have not been able to contain their poetry and music. In the West, Rumi is erroneously presented as a singular Sufi figure and Sufism as religion. Both characterizations are wrong. Even in the seventh century, mystics wandered the sands of Arabia and even Mecca—perhaps it is them whose legacy the Sufis are.
Sunnah: Every Muslim is taught to follow and emulate the sunnah—in a sense, everything known from Muhammad’s behavior and life. It takes all of Muhammad’s known hadith (traditions), his actions, his disapprovals, his approvals, whether silent or verbal, and turns them into a very specific, ritual-heavy part of Islamic theology. In a sense, it spells out (part of) the essence of Islam’s discipline, which is submission. The Quran itself is separate from this “path.”
Surah, Ayah, Quran: A Surah is a chapter from the Quran, which has a total of 114 chapters. These chapters are divided into verses called Ayah (plural, Ayat). Literally, an ayah means “sign” or “evidence,” which in a canonical context makes ayat divine revelations. Ayah can be Meccan (Makki) or Medinan (Madani), a geographical marker of where the Prophet was during revelation, since the Quran was not revealed sequentially. There is sectarian (Shia-Sunni) and scholarly dispute about the time of its compilation. Some scholars claim that what we know as the Quran today began compilation generations after the Prophet Muhammad died in 632. They claim this is partially because writing was not a common skill in seventh-century Arabia. There is, however, unanimity amongst all 1.7 billion Muslims on the planet that their illiterate Prophet Muhammad was the sole vessel of this ongoing revelation that took about twenty-three years. The holy book uses very sophisticated, classical, and poetic Arabic, and refers with great respect to its predecessors, the Old and New Testaments.
Takfir: It is Islam’s version of excommunication. The dangerous practice of one Muslim’s labeling another Muslim a disbeliever (kafir). Falsely accusing someone of kufr (disbelief in Islam) is considered a major punishable act in most schools of Sunni Islam. There is widespread disagreement amongst Islamic scholars about the concept of takfir and its usage.
Taliban: Taliban (singular, talib) in Pashto means “students.” It refers to the extreme and puritanical religious faction that emerged in Afghanistan and ruled the country from 1996–2000. In a sense they turned the clock back so successfully that most of the world did not how to react to their consistent brutalities, including the totalitarian misogyny that Afghan women suffered. They are notorious. Under the leadership of the deceased Mullah Mohammed Omar, they took Osama bin Laden in as he escaped from Sudan, and al-Qaeda was born, in a sense, on Afghan soil. Eager to destroy history, they famously obliterated two sixth-century statues known as the Buddhas of Bamiyan. There have been recent reports that Daesh has moved some of its “soldiers” to Afghanistan, which is waging war with the still-active though vastly reduced Taliban. Their version of Islam was, amongst others, much influenced by the Deobandi style from India.
Tawaf: The ritual counterclockwise circling of the Kaaba during Hajj and Umrah. During Hajj there are different kinds of tawaf, but what is universal is that seven circumambulations must be made upon entering Mecca and the same when leaving. Pilgrims often do more. This circling begins from the corner of the cuboid Kaaba that contains the Al-Ḥajaru al-Aswad (see Kaaba). The tawaf is supposed to signal that the pilgrims are all united under Islam’s central precept of tawhid (see Tawhid). Many scholars say that the ritual is older than Islam, dating to when the Prophet Ibrahim laid the foundations for the Kaaba with his son Ismael. If those scholars are correct, then Muhammad, till he was forty, must have participated in the ritual, like his fellow Quraysh tribe, around a pre-Islamic Kaaba that at the time contained idols.
Tawhid: This principle is the epicenter of this monotheism: There is only one God, and God (Allah, literally Al-Ilāh, “the God”) is One (Al-ʾAḥad) and Single (Al-Wāḥid). This is the very fulcrum around which the religion of Islam revolves. It is even commemorated in prayer, when during a part of the prayer ritual, the supplicant raises the index finger of the right hand acknowledging Tawhid. Centuries of Islamic theology and the building of its canon have rested on this wellspring. For a Muslim to break from this principle is an unpardonable sin.
In Judaism a mirror principle called the shema exists, and the closest equivalent in Christianity is Unitarianism, which is not the norm in that religion. To explain this sometimes complex principle, the 180th verse of the Quran’s seventh chapter (amongst others) alludes to the ninety-nine names attributed to a singular God: The most beautiful names belong to Allah. So call on him by them; but shun such men as use profanity in his names: for what they do, they will soon be requited.
Thobe or Thawb: A white robe worn by Saudi men and other Gulf Arabs. On the head they wear a piece of white cloth called the ghutrah (and sometimes the keffiyeh). The headgear is held in place by a circular cord called the agal. The robe itself is also called the dishdasha.
Ulema: Literally, the “learned ones.” Semantically the word is connected to alim (“scholar”) and ilm (“knowledge”). This is the closest Islam comes to having a concept akin to clergy, a council of learned men. Unlike Catholicism, Islam does not have a pope. Also the Quran and Muhammad agree that there is a singular relationship between the supplicant and God; no intermediaries are needed. Thus this term is particularly contested. There is the usual patriarchal dissent about whether or not women can be an alimah.
The ulema wield tremendous religious authority, which they say is earned from their scholarship. It is expected that an alim is at least a master of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and sharia (Islamic law). History has often given them huge power in different regions of Islam (since Islam is not a monolithic entity), depending on their ijma, or consensus.
Ummah: The worldwide “community” of Muslims, which is a sacred concept handed down from the Prophet himself. This growing Ummah is 1.7 billion strong today.
Umrah: The lesser pilgrimage, to Mecca only. Unlike the Hajj it can happen at any time of the year (other than the month of Hajj) and involves fewer rituals.
Vilayat e faqih: This contested principle is at the center of the Iranian theocracy as it stands today. Literally, “guardianship of the jurist.” Technically, vilayat means “rule” and faqih is a learned jurist with impeccable credentials. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the Islamic Republic, made this system a cornerstone of government, so Iran functions as a “republic” where absolute power rests with one man alone. Iran claims to possess a democracy where elections are held to a (religiously based) parliament and for the presidency. The final decision about most matters, however, comes down to one man: the faqih (supreme jurist), aka the supreme leader, aka rahbar (the supreme leader of the Islamic revolution). Many claim Iran’s young population (with a majority under thirty) has wide disagreement with the current rahbar, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his government.
Wahhabi Islam: The ultra-puritanical form of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia. In 1744 a struggling cleric in the Nejd region of Saudi Arabia named Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab made a pact with a local tribal leader, Muhammad bin Saud. Saud wanted religious backing for the monarchy he would build (Dar Al Saud) to rule what would become modern Saudi Arabia. In exchange for his political obedience, Wahhab wanted the protection and propagation of his Wahhabi movement, which would eventually lay the ideological and religious base of the country that would eventually (and brutally) form in 1932.
Many scholars see Wahhabism as a legitimate reform movement. Its followers reject being named Wahhabi (because that would be akin to being named after a person) and prefer the term Salafi, after the “Salafs,” or early ancestors like those from Muhammad’s time. Ironically, in Saudi Arabia’s case they inhabit a country named after a person.
Wahhabi Islam is austere and particularly cruel, and has spread worldwide due to a sustained Saudi monarchical effort over decades. It has unfortunately become the most influential form of Sunni Islam worldwide. Extremists like the barbaric Daesh draw a great deal of their ideology from Wahhabi Islam, often modeling themselves after the barbaric horse-riding and sword-wielding early Saud Ikhwans present during Wahhab’s time. The Wahhab-Saud pact has withstood centuries and remains the foundation of modern-day Saudi Arabia.
During and after Wahhab’s time, for a brief while, the only destination outside of the Nejd region that the Wahhabis considered legitimate was India, where a Wahhab-style “reform” began almost simultaneously. In modern times the Indian subcontinent has been a particularly fruitful region for the dangerous spread of Wahhabi ideology.
* It is important to remember that there is no universal system for transcription between English and Arabic. Arabic writers must transliterate when using computers and devices with a Latin alphabet keyboard. There are no English counterparts for several Arabic letters of the twenty-eight consonant characters that characterize the basic Arabic abjadiyah (script). Therefore, numbers are used. 7 is close to the Arabic equivalent that is ha’a (h). The numbers 3, 5, and 6 also refer to Arabic letters with no equivalent on an English keyboard. This style of transliteration is most used in text messages. A Saudi example for a basic greeting, “How are you today?” in text could be kaif al7al? wsh Btsawoon el youm? Finally, most people don’t realize there are many different kinds of colloquial Arabic. Lebanese and Egyptian Arabic are good examples.
† The Arabic words al and Al appear frequently through the book. Al with a capital “A” and without a hyphen denotes “family” or “house of,” as in Al Saud, “the House of Saud,” as the Saudi monarchy is officially called. When this changes to al-, a lowercase letter followed by a hyphen, it becomes a definite article. Two examples would be how a small minority of Islamic extremists view the world divided into two: Dar al-Islam (“the House of Islam”) and the rest of the world, Dar al-Harb (literally, “the House of War”).
‡ Many Muslim women “cover” because of choice (the majority), morality, tradition, culture or religiosity. Some are forced. Others argue that covering is not a Quranic commandment. Regardless, the idea of dressing “modestly” applies to both men and women in the Islamic canon. In recent years in the West, the hijab has been the subject of heated debate and xenophobia.