GLOSSARY

abaya, chador, hijab Women’s head covers, intended to protect their propriety.

Al Saud The ruling dynasty in Saudi Arabia.

Amal A Lebanese Shia political party.

Arba’in Fortieth day of mourning for Imam Husayn, a descendant of the prophet Muhammad who was killed at Karbala on December 10, 680.

Ashura A day of mourning for Imam Husayn.

ayatollah A high rank awarded to Shia clerics. A grand ayatollah, a marja’al-taqlid, is the highest rank for a Shia. Worldwide, there are only about twenty grand ayatollahs, including Ali Sistani in Iraq and Ali Khamenei in Iran.

Ba’th Arab Socialist Party that ruled in Iraq under Saddam and still rules in Syria.

Basij Reserves of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Coalition Provisional Authority The U.S.-led transitional government in Iraq, which governed the country from April 21, 2003, to June 28, 2004.

Da’wa An Islamic party, founded in the 1950s, that was formed by Iraqi Shia clerics to promote Islamic values. Da’wa was ruthlessly put down by Saddam Hussein.

Expediency Council An advisory body to Iran’s Supreme Leader that resolves disputes over legislation. In October 2005, the Expediency Council was given “supervisory” authority over all branches of government, which significantly strengthened the hand of its chairman, the former Iranian president Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Fatah A Palestinian resistance organization founded by Yasser Arafat in 1955. It is the largest organization within the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Hama Syria’s third-largest city. In February 1982, the Syrian army put down a Muslim Brotherhood revolt there, killing an estimated 25,000 people in what became known as the “Hama Massacre.”

Hamas A branch of the Muslim Brotherhood located in the Palestinian Gaza strip.

Hezbollah In Arabic, literally “party of god.” Lebanese Hezbollah was officially founded in 1985 to bring together in one organization Iranian-allied militant groups and clerics. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps supervises and funds Hezbollah. Other Shia and Sunni groups going by the name Hezbollah were subsequently established by Iran in other countries.

ijtihad A process of arriving at a legal decision using independent judgment based on the Koran, the sayings of the prophet, and other sources of Islamic law. This concept is rarely used by Sunni Muslims, who instead look to tradition and precedent in issuing legal edicts.

imam In Arabic, literally “in front.” Imam refers to a cleric who leads prayer in a mosque. For Shia, an imam has a wider connotation in that a Shia imam is an intermediary between Allah and a believer, giving the Shia imam more authority and generally more respect than a Sunni imam. The divinely appointed successors to the prophet are also called imams.

Imam Husayn The grandson of the prophet Muhammad and the son of Ali, the fourth caliph. Husayn was killed at the battle of Karbala in A.D. 680.

Iran-Contra A controversial arms-for-hostages deal undertaken during the Reagan administration.

Iraqi National Congress An Iraqi umbrella group formed in 1992, headed by Ahmed Chalabi.

Islamic Amal A breakaway faction from Lebanon’s Amal Party. It is financed by Iran.

Islamic Jihad Organization The name of a front group, under the Jerusalem Force, used to claim terrorist attacks.

Islamic resistance The name used by Hezbollah for its eighteen-year war against Israel in Lebanon (1982–2000).

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Formed in May 1979, the Revolutionary Guards were originally organized to protect Khomeini’s revolution. During the Iran-Iraq War, they were integrated into Iran’s armed forces. Today, they are a force roughly equivalent to U.S. Special Forces, but in addition they maintain their own air force and navy. They also command Iran’s rocket forces.

Jerusalem Force (Quds Force) A secretive Revolutionary Guard unit responsible for overseas operations, including intelligence collection, assassinations, coups, and training of foreign guerrilla forces. In the eighties and early nineties it was involved in kidnappings, hijackings, and the murder of civilians.

Karbala The site of the battle of Karbala in A.D. 680 in which the prophet’s grandson, Imam Husayn, was killed.

Mahdi Army An Iraqi Shia paramilitary force formed by Muqtada al-Sadr in June 2003.

Majlis Iran’s parliament.

Maronite Christians Members of an Eastern Catholic sect, one of the largest religious minorities in Lebanon.

mujtahid A Shia scholar qualified to issue legal edicts using independent judgment.

Muslim Brotherhood An Islamic revival movement founded in Egypt in 1928. It later splintered into factions, some of which retained the name the Muslim Brotherhood while dozens of others took different names.

Najaf, Iraq Twelver Shia Islam’s holiest city, the site of a renowned Shia seminary and mosque.

Oslo Accords The first time Israel and the Palestinians negotiated directly. The Accords, signed on September 13, 1993, were intended to establish an independent Palestinian state in return for the Palestinians’ recognition of Israel.

platter charge An explosive device that propels a flat or curved metal plate. One variety is an “explosive-formed projectile” (EFP), now commonly found in Iraq.

Qum, Iran The largest center for Shia theological scholarship in the world.

SCIRI Supreme Council for the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, founded in 1982 under the tutelage of the Revolutionary Guards. SCIRI’s headquarters was in Tehran until April 2003, when it relocated to Baghdad. In May 2007, SCIRI changed its name to the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council.

shaped charge An explosive charge formed in the shape of a cone in order to more deeply penetrate the armor of a tank.

T-72 Iraq’s main battle tank, designed with Soviet-era technology from the sixties.

takfiri A dualistic Sunni militant who strictly divides the world into believers and nonbelievers. Nonbelievers are beyond the pale of the law, and the takfiri believes it is licit to destroy them.

taqqiyah A tenet of Shia Islam that allows a believer to lie or obfuscate in order to conceal his faith.

Twelver Shia Twelvers are the largest denomination in Shia Islam. The term derives from the Twelver Shia’s belief in twelve divinely ordained imams who followed the prophet. Twelvers are a majority in Azerbaijan, Bahrain, and Iran. They are a significant minority in Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

Umayyid Caliphate A seventh- to eighth-century Sunni ruling dynasty based in Damascus.

velayat-e faqih Literally, in Farsi, “the rule of the jurisprudent.” Ayatollah Khomeini, who introduced the concept into modern Iran, believed that the cleric with the highest level of Islamic scholarship should rule.