Adab as-Salat: The Disciplines of the Prayer Second Revised Edition
Glossary
A
adhān: announcement or the call announcing the arrival of the time for
the salāt.
Ahl al-Bayt: the offspring of the Messenger of Allah (s).
Ahl al-Jabarūt: the owner of Power, the owners of power.
Ahl al-Allah: the people of Allah.
'aynul jam': the very union, the essence of union (collectively).
al-amr bil-ma'rūf wan-nahy'anil-munkar: bidding unto honor and
forbidding dishonor.
al-Baytul-Ma'mūr: Allah's Populous House.
'ālim (pl. 'ulamā'): scholar, scientist, learned.
'amā': a sufist term meaning “the truth of the truths;” heavy clouds,
high.
amr: affair; order; sovereignty, rule, authority, power, ordinance
decree.
('a): 'alayhis-salām = Peace be upon him;
'alayhas-salām = Peace be upon her;
'alayhimus-salām = Peace be upon them.
asrār: (pl. of sirr): secret.
āyah (pl. āyāt): a Qur'anic term use for one of the smaller portions
of a chapter of the Qur'an usually called “verse;” a divine sign or
communication.
B
barzakh: isthmus; the interval between death and the Day of
Resurrection.
barzakhian (adj. of barzakh): intermediate.
basmalah: uttering ”bismillāhir-rahmānir-rahim,” i.e. In the Name of
Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
bātil: false, invalid, void, null, wrong.
bātin: the inside, the inward, interior, hidden meaning.
bismillāh: In the Name of Allah.
butūn: interior.
D
dār-i tahaqquq: the House of Realization.
dār al-ghurūr: the house of conceit, i.e. this world.
dār as-surūr: the house of pleasure, i.e. the Hereafter world.
dīn (pl. adyān): religion, judgment.
du'a' (pl. ad'iyah): invocation, benediction, prayer.
F
faqīh: (pl. fuqahā): jurisprudent, expert of fiqh.
fitrat: disposition, nature.
G
ghayb (pl. ghuyūb): the unseen, the invisible.
ghusl (pl. aghsāl): ritual bathing; the major ritual ablution.
H
hadath: a ritual impurity which requires either a wudū' or a ghusl
before performing salāt.
hadīth (pl. ahādīth): the saying of the Prophet (s), the tradition
of the Prophet (s); narrative relating deeds and utterances of the
Prophet, the Ahl al-Bayt, the infallible Imāms and the Companions.
hajj: the pilgrimage of the Muslims to Makkah (Mecca) during certain
months.
halāl: religiously lawful or allowed.
harām: religiously unlawful.
I
Iblīs: Satan, the devil.
ihrām: the state of being in the pilgrimage period; the special dress
worn during pilgrimage.
ihtijāj: argumentation.
ins: the human beings as against the jinn.
inshā'Allāh: an Islamic expression meaning: if Allah wills, Allah
willing.
isti'ādhah: saying a'ūdhu billāh, i.e. I take refuge in Allah.
istikhārah: consulting the Qur'an or the rosary beads to do, or not to
do, something.
ikhlās: sincerity.
iqāmah: preliminary wordings said before entering the salāt.
J
jabarūt: of omnipotence; the possession of power.
janābah: the state of being ritually impure owing to seminal
ejaculation or to a sexual penetration, though without ejaculation—a
state requiring a ritual ghusl.
jawāmi'al-kalim: comprehending many significations; the Qur'an;
collective words.
jihād: struggle or exertion of effort for the sake of Islam.
K
ka'bah: a structure in the middle of the Holy Mosque in Makkah, to
which the Muslims of the world direct their faces during the performance
of salāt.
khilāfah: succession, successorship, vicegerency.
khums: a fifth of one's net profit to be paid to a religious
authority.
L
latīfah: grace; subtlety, delicacy.
lawh (pl. alwāh): a tablet, a slab, a Qur'anic term denoting “The
Tablet” with Allah, the Exalted, in which everything is registered.
M
ma'ād: resurrection.
mahdar: presence, company.
mahw: (self-)effacement, (self-)extinction, annihilation.
majdhūb-i sālik: the attracted one who is traveling to Allah.
malakūt: heavenly kingdom.
ma'sūm: infallible.
minbar: a pulpit of several ascending steps in a mosque from which the
speaker delivers his speech.
mi'rāj: ascension to Allah.
mu'adhdhin: one who speaks out the adhān.
mufassir: one who writes exegesis on the Qur'an, an exegetist.
mukāshafah: revelation, disclosure, apocalypse.
mulk: this transitory world.
muqārināt: affinities.
musallī (pl. musallīn): a Muslim when performing the salāt.
musta'ādhun bihi: one with whom refuge is sought.
musta'ādhun lahū: that for which refuge is sought; one for whom refuge
is sought.
musta'ādhun minhu: that from which refuge is sought; one from whom
refuge is sought.
musta'īdh: one who seeks refuge; refuge-seeker.
muttaqī (pl. muttaqqīn): one who guards against Allah's wrath by
obeying His commandments; God-fearing, pious.
N
nāfilah (pl. nawāfil): supererogatory salāts.
nutfah (pl. nutaf): sperm of human beings.
niyyah (pl. niyyāt): intention.
Q
qadr: measure; predestination.
qibāb (pl. of qubbah): domes.
qiblah: the direction to which the Muslims are to face when performing
the salāt, i.e. the ka'bah in Makkah.
qiyām: the standing position in the salāt.
qunūt: supplication recited in the salāt after the second rak'ah,
in the standing position, with the palms of the hands raised upwards.
R
rabb: the Lord, the Sustainer; One of Allah's Names.
rafraf: the name of one of the Messenger's heavenly mounts.
rak'ah (pl. raka'āt): a complete section of the salāt.
rijāl: biographical books about the narrators of the hadīths, who
sort them according to their authority, truthfulness and dependability;
sources of information.
rukn (pl. arkān): one of the pillars of the salāt.
rukū' (pl. rukū'āt ): the position of bowing in the salāt;
genuflection.
S
(s): Sallallāhu 'alayhi wa ālih = May Allah send His blessings
upon him (the Prophet) and his offspring.
sadaqah: charity, alms.
sahw: sobriety.
sajdah: prostration in prayer, prostration in worship.
salām: peace, salutation, greetings.
salāt (pl. salawāt): the Muslim's ritual prayer.
sājid (pl. sājidīn): a prostrate worshipper; one who prostrates
himself.
sālik: a Gnostic term denoting the traveler to Allah.
sālik-i majdhūb: a sālik attracted by Divine Grace.
sawm (or siyām): fasting.
shahādah (pl. shahādāt): testimony.
shar': divine law.
sharī'ah (pl. sharā'i'): divine law.
shuhūd: intuition, divine vision.
sujūd: prostration.
sulūk: a Gnostic term for the journey to Allah.
sunnah (pl. sunan): tradition; the Prophet's tradition.
sūrah: a chapter of the Qur'an.
T
ta'ālā: a divine attribute meaning the Most High.
tafsīr (pl. tafāsīr and tafsīrāt): explanation, commentary; an
exegesis of the Qur'an.
tahlīl (pl. tahlīlāt): saying lā ilāha illallāh = There is no god
but Allah.
tahmīd (pl. tahmidāt): saying al-hamdu lillāh = All praise is for
Allah; Praise belongs to Allah.
tāghūt (pl. tawāghit): an ancient idol, anything worshipped other
than Allah; a tyrant, a despot.
tajwīd: a style of reciting the Qur'an with intonation; rules of
correct recitation of the Qur'an.
takbīr (pl. takbīirāt): saying; Allāhu akbar = Allah is the
Greatest.
talqīn: giving instructions; religious instruction recited to the dead
as a funeral rite.
tanzīh: purifying Allah from all blemishes and defects.
taqdīr: measuring; Allah's decree.
ta'qīb (pl. ta'qībāt): after-the-salāt invocation.
taqwā: avoiding Allah's wrath by precaution and obeying His
commandments; fearing Allah, piety.
tartīl: a style of reciting the Qur'an without intonation.
tasbīh (pl. tasbīhāt): glorifying Allah by saying: subhānallāh =
Glory be to Allah.
tashahhud: the act of testifying the unity of Allah and that Muhammad
is the Messenger of Allah (as part of the salāt).
taslīm: the greetings with which the salāt is closed.
tasmiyah: naming; saying: In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the
Merciful.
tawhīd: believing in Allah's Oneness; monotheism.
U
ummah: people, nation.
ummul-qurā': the Mother of the towns.
'urūj: ascension.
W
walī (or walīyy) (pl. awliyā'): friend, patron, protector; holy
man, saint.
walīyy al-'amr (pl. awliyā' al-'umūr or al-'amr): plenipotentiary,
religious guardian, legal guardian, the religiously legal authority.
wasī (or wasīyy)(pl. awsiyā'): trustee, custodian; successor,
vicegerent.
was-salām: and that is the end to the matter; and now good bye; with
peace.
wilāyah: guardianship.
wudū': ritual ablution (made before performing the salāt).
Z
zakāt: purity; alms tax; prescribed portion of one's wealth which is to be given to the religious authorities or to the poor according to certain conditions.