Glossary

amīr: see emir

amīr al-mu’minīn: Commander of the Faithful, title usually held by caliphs

ansār: literally ‘helpers’; the inhabitants of Medina who supported Muhammad

ashrāf: see sharīf

bay‘a: oath of allegiance to caliph or other rule

dāī: missionary, usually of clandestine religio-political movements

dawa: missionary movement (cf. dāī)

dawla: dynasty or state, e.g. the Abbasid dawla or the Fatimid dawla

dīnār: standard gold coin

dirham: standard silver coin

dīwān: originally list of those entitled to state salaries. Also office or department of government

emir: army commander, provincial governor or ruler of small independent state

fitna: civil war or dispute within the Muslim community

ghāzī: Muslim volunteer who fights in the jihād

hadīth: Tradition recording the words of Muhammad

hajj: annual pilgrimage to Mecca

hijra: the emigration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622, which marks the beginning of the Muslim era

imam: spiritual leader of the Muslim community, often synonymous with caliph

Jāhiliyya: period of ignorance or savagery in Arabia before the coming of Islam

jāriya: female slave. Often singer or poet

jihād: holy war

jizya: poll tax levied on non-Muslims

jund: army; one of the administrative districts of Syria Palestine

kāfir, pl. kuffār: unbeliever, non-Muslim

kharāj: land tax

khutba: address in mosque at Friday prayer which included mention of the ruler’s name, a sign of sovereignty

kufr: unbelief

mamlūk: slave soldier. This term, occasionally used in early Islamic history, came to replace the term ghulām from the fifth/eleventh century onwards

mawlā, pl. mawālī: originally ‘client’, often non-Arab client of an Arab tribe, hence the use of mawālī to describe non-Arab Muslims in the first century of Islam. Later more commonly ‘freedmen’ in the Abbasid period, the term passes out of general use in the fourth/tenth century

minbar: pulpit in a mosque

muhājir, pl. muhājirūn: who participated in the Hijra, that is one Meccan who accompanied Muhammad to settle in Medina

murtadd: apostate: used of those who rejected the authority of the Muslims after the death of Muhammad

nass: designation of ruler by his predecessor

qādī: Muslim judge

qalansuwa: tall, conical headgear worn as part of Abbasid court dress

ridda: apostasy from Islam; hence the wars in Arabia which followed Muhammad’s death are known as the ridda wars

sābiqa: precedence, especially precedence in conversion to Islam, i.e. the earlier a person was converted, the greater his sābiqa

sahāba: Companions of the Prophet

sadaqa: the payment of alms enjoined by Muslim law

sharīa: Muslim religious law

sharīf, pl. ashrāf: in Umayyad times, tribal leader, chief. By the fourth/tenth century the title is usually confined to descendants of Alī

shawkat: political and military power

shirk: polytheism

shūra: council formed to choose a caliph

sikka: the right to mint coins, usually the prerogative of the ruler

sunna: the sayings and actions of Muhammad used as legal precedents

sūq: market

ulama: learned men, especially experts in the Traditions of the Prophet and Islamic law

umma: the Muslim community