Greater Sins - Volume 1
Glossary of Islamic Terms
Āq al-Walidayn: One who disobeys or angers his/her parents
Ahl ul-Bayt: “People of the House”. They are the Holy Prophet (S)’s family: Janabe Fatima Zahra (s.a.), ‘Ali (a.s.) and eleven of their descendants who are successors to the Prophet (S) after Imam ‘Ali (a.s.).
Ahsan: Goodness
Amanat: Trust
Amrbil Ma’rūf: Enjoining others to do good
Ayat: Verse of the Holy Qur’an
Barakat: Divine blessings and bounties
Barzakh: Purgatory. The intermediary stage between death and the Day of the Judgement
Bismillah: Literally “In the Name of Allah”. Said before commencing any task.
Dhuhrain: The two ritual prayers of Dhuhr (noon) and Asr (afternoon)
Dhuhoor: Reappearance (of Imam Mahdi [a.t.f.s.]).
Dirham: Unit of currency
Diyah: Blood money
Du’a: Invocation or Supplication
Fajr: Dawn
Faqih: Jurisprudent, Islamic Jurist
Fir’aun: Pharaoh (In this context Ramases II)
Furū ad-Dīn: Branches of Religion or the practical laws of Islam
Hadd: Islamic legal punishment (plural: Hudūd)
Hadith: A statement of the Holy Prophet (S) or of the Holy Imams (a.s.)
Hajj: Annual pilgrimage to Makkah during the month of Dhul Hijja
Halāl: Permissible, legal
Harām: Prohibited, illegal
Hasana: A good deed deserving heavenly rewards
Hijab: Statutory Islamic dress for women, veil, curtain
Iblīs: Satan
Iddah: A prescribed period a woman has to pass after divorce or her husband’s demise before she can remarry.
I’tikāf: A recommended ritual consisting of a continuous stay of at least three days in the mosque during the last ten days of the month of Ramadhan.
Imān: Faith
Imla: Respite given by Allah to the sinners in which they become more heedless of their sins
Insha Allah: Common expression that literally means “If Allah wills” or “God Willing”
‘Isha: Late evening
Jamaat: Congregation
Janabat: A state of ritual impurity that can be removed by performing ghusl (bath)
Jihād: Struggle in the way of Allah (S.w.T.), religious war
Kāba: The Holy House of Allah in Makkah, the directions that Muslims face during prayers.
Kaffara: Religious fine, penalty
Kāfir: One who denies God
Kalima: To say: “I witness that there is no god except Allah and that Muhammad (S) is the Messenger of Allah”. Also called the Shahadayn. This testimony makes one a Muslim.
Kuffār: Plural of Kāfir
Kunniyat: Patronym
Laylat ’l-Qadr: The Night of Power. Believed to be one of the odd numbered nights in the last ten nights of the month of Ramadan
Maghribain: The two prayers of Maghrib (early evening) and ‘Isha (late evening)
Makrūh: Detestable, in the Islamic terminology it denotes an action performing which does not incur sin but refraining from which earns divine rewards
Ma’rifat: Recognition, Realization
Masjidul-Haram: The Holy Mosque in Makkah
Ma’sūmīn: Infallible, Inerrant (Singular: Mas’um)
Mahram: Relatives between whom marriage is prohibited
Mahshar: The field where people will be collected on the Day of the Judgement for their final Accounting
Mi’rāj: Ascension (to heaven)
Mithqāl: A measure of weight of about 4.6 gms.
Muhib: Admirer
Mu’min: Believer
Mubāh: Permitted. It denotes an action performing of which earns no rewards and refraining from it is not punishable
Mujtahids: Doctors of Islamic law
Munāfiq: Hypocrite
Mushrik: Polytheist
Mustahab: Recommended. It is an action performing which earns rewards and refraining from it is not punishable
Mutawātir: A frequently related tradition
Nahy ‘Anil Munkar: Forbidding evil
Najis: Unclean
Nāma-e-Amal: Scroll of deeds (Farsi). Arabic: Kitāb al-Amāl
Non-mahram: Persons between whom marriage is possible
Nawāfil: Recommended prayers (singular: Nāfila)
Nikah: Marriage ceremony
Qasr: Shortening of the ritual prayers during a journey
Qat’a ar-Rahm: Breaking off relations with relatives
Qadha: An unfulfilled obligatory act
Qādhi: Judge, jurist
Qunut: Despondence
Rakat: A unit of ritual prayer
Riwayah: A narration
Riyaa: An act of showing off
Rizq: Sustenance
Sādāt: Descendants of the Holy Prophet (S) through Imam Husain (a.s.)
Sadaqah: Voluntary charity, alm
Salām: Salute, Islamic greeting
Salāt: Ritual prayers
Shābān: A month of the Muslim calender
Shahadatain: See Kalima
Shari’a: Islamic law
Shirāz: A city of Iran
Silat ar-Rahm: An act of goodness towards ones relatives. The opposite of Qat’a ar-Rahm
Sirāt: Path
Siyām: Fast
Taqwa: Piety
Taslim: Acceptance
Tawakkul: Reliance
Tawfīq: Divine inspiration
Tawhid: Belief in the absolute Oneness of Allah
Thawāb: Divine or spiritual reward
Toman: Currency of Iran
Ulil-Amr: One who holds an authoritative position
Umma: Followers (of Prophets)
Uqūq: (Plural of Āq): See Āq al-Walidayn
Wājib: Obligatory
Wājib al-A’ini: An obligation that is to be carried out by every person
Wājib al-Kifai: An obligatory act which if performed by one ceases to be obligatory on the others
Wilāyat: Love and obedience
Yās: Despair
Zakāt: Obligatory Islamic wealth tax
Ziyarat: Visitation or the recitation of salutation while facing the tomb of religious personalities
Zimmi: A non-muslim who lives under the protection of an Islamic government