Islam Glossary Terms
Mohammed, W. Deen
Imam W. Deen Mohammed was born Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1933, son of Elijah Muhammad, charismatic leader of the Nation of Islam, and his wife Clara. He later changed his name to Warith Deen, meaning “the heir of the religion” in Arabic, and altered the...
Moses; Musa
Moses is a Biblical prophet who is credited with leading the people of Israel out of Egyptian bondage and teaching them the divine laws at Mount Sinai. The story of Moses is told in the book of Exodus in the Bible and is also told in the Qur’an, where...
muezzin
A muezzin is the one who beckons the faithful to prayer five times each day. The call is issued in a clear voice, often from atop the minaret of a masjid.
Mughal
From 1528 to 1858, the Mughals ruled northern India and parts of Afghanistan. Turko-Persian Muslims from Central Asia, they blended Persian culture with the local Indian environment and produced a sophisticated Islamic civilization in India characterized...
Muhammad
The Prophet Muhammad, known as “the Seal of the Prophets,” was born in the city of Makkah on the Arabian peninsula in 570 C.E. At 40, he began to receive a series of revelations from God through the angel Gabriel. His small group of followers met with...
Muhammad, Clara
Clara Muhammad was the wife of Elijah Muhammad (leader of the Nation of Islam) and the mother of Imam W. Deen Mohammed. For her energetic leadership, the more than 50 Islamic schools associated with either the Nation or the Ministry of W. Deen Mohammed...
Muhammad, Elijah
Elijah Muhammad (born Elijah Poole, 1897; d.1975) became leader of the Nation of Islam after the founder, Wallace Fard, disappeared in 1934. Poole and others adopted African and Islamic names as a sign of their emancipation from the domination of whites...
musalla
The prayer area or hall in a masjid (mosque) is called a musalla, although any open and clean space may serve as a musalla.
Muslim Students Association (MSA)
In 1963, the Muslim Students Association (MSA) was organized to promote religious unity, through education and mutual aid, among Muslim international students at North American colleges. The MSA laid the groundwork for numerous national organizations...
Muslim Youth of North America
The Muslim Youth of North America (MYNA) was started by Muslim high school students in 1985. It seeks to develop Muslim youth identity and to train future Muslim leaders. An affiliate of the Islamic Society of North America, MYNA holds national and...
Nation of Islam
The Lost-Found Nation of Islam in America, begun by Wallace D. Fard in Detroit in the 1930’s, was developed by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Elijah Muhammad preached some Islamic principles, but his lessons about the superiority of the Black Man were...
new Muslims
New Muslims are those who have recently embraced Islam. Some Muslims do not speak of “converts” to Islam, since the language of “conversion” carries negative and coercive connotations and because of the belief that all people are ‘born Muslim’. Thus...
Ottoman
The Ottoman Turks, based after 1453 in Istanbul (Constantinople), established a vast empire that lasted from the 14th century until World War I; at its height, it stretched from Southern Russia to the Indian Ocean, including the Balkans, Hungary and Egypt...
qiblah
The qiblah is the direction of prayer, always toward the Ka’bah in Makkah. In mosques, the qiblah is indicated by a small niche called the mihrab.
Qur’an
The word Qur’an literally means “recitation.” Revealed orally to Muhammad by the angel Gabriel, he recited it to his followers. These recitations collected in written form are arranged in 114 surahs, generally from longest to shortest. Muslims consider...
Qur’anic recitation
(also: Tajwid) Qur’an means “recitation.” It is a sacred text meant to be recited and heard. Before the written form of the Qur’an, reciters preserved the verses in memory. Today, young Muslim children learn to recite the Qur’an from memory, and...
Ramadan
Ramadan is the ninth lunar month during which the first revelation of the Qur’an came to Muhammad. Each year in this month, Muslims abstain from all food, drink, and sexual activity from dawn until sunset. They are also meant to make a conscious effort to...
salat
Salat is the ritual prayer Muslims perform five times daily: at dawn, midday, afternoon, sunset, and nightfall. While it is preferable to pray in a mosqu. with fellow believers, one may pray alone in any clean place. All Muslims pray in the direction of...
Savior’s Day
Savior’s Day is the most important annual gathering and celebration of the Nation of Islam.
sawm
Sawm means "fasting" during Ramadan, the ninth lunar month of the Islamic calendar. This fast obliges Muslims to abstain from food, water, sexual activity and evil thoughts and acts during the daylight hours. Such restraint serves to cultivate patients...
shahadah
Shahadah means “witness” and refers to the Muslim declaration of faith: “I bear witness that there is no God but God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God.” The shahadah is one of the Five Pillars of Islam.
shari’ah
Shariah, meaning “way or road,” refers to the system of law, ethics, and values based on the Qur’an and Sunnah. As such it is a way of life prescribed by God. The process of interpreting and applying this law led to the formation of four schools of...
shaykh
(also: sheik, sheikh, pir) The Arabic term “shaykh” literally means a gray-haired old man. The Persian term “pir” means “elder, master.” Both terms have become titles of respect for a leader with great authority or religious piety. In the context of Sufi...
Shi’ah
(also: shi'a, shi'i, shi'ite) The Shi’at ‘Ali (the party of ‘Ali, for which Shi’ah is an abbreviation and from which the adjective Shi’i comes) believed that the Prophet Muhammad designated his son-in-law ‘Ali and his descendants to be leader ( imam) of...
Sirah
Sirah means “biography.” Sirah literature, including the biography of the Prophet Muhammad and the biographies of his companions and of earlier prophets, is a source of inspiration and moral education for Muslims.
Sufism
Sufism is often called “the heart of Islam,” as its emphasis on the inner life enlivens and supplements the outward practices of ritual and legal obligation. It is not a sect of Islam, but rather a stream of interpretation stressing the interior path, or...
Sunnah
Sunnah, meaning “custom,” refers to the words and actions of the Prophet Muhammad, remembered by the early Muslim community and preserved in narrative accounts (hadith). Because Muhammad is considered to be the best example of how to live, his Sunnah is...
Sunni Muslim
Sunni Muslims emphasize the authoritative role of the consensus of religious scholars (‘ulama) in interpreting the Qur’an and the Sunnah (custom) of the Prophet. The community could thus choose any good Muslim as a successor (khalifah) to Muhammad, though...
surah
The text of the Qur’an is divided into 114 surahs or chapters, arranged roughly from the longest to the shortest. They include praises, warnings of judgment, exhortations, directives, and occasional short narratives. Every Muslim must learn to recite the...
Surat al-Nur
Surat al-Nur is the Chapter of Light (Surah 24) in the Qur’an. Verse 35, which begins with “Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth,” is often found inscribed on the hanging lamps in a mosque. Interpretations of this image of God as illuminating...