GLOSSARY
af’âl al-mukallafîn: fard, harâm or mubâh acts; fiqh.
ahâdîth: pl. of hadîth.
ahl: people. Ahl al-Bait, immediate relatives of the Prophet. Ahl ad-dirâya = mujtahidi fi ’l-madhhab. Ahl as-Sunna(t wa ’l-Jamâ’a).
ahwâl: conditions or customs of people when a hadîth was said; excellent qualities.
a’imma (t al-madhâhib): pl. of imâm al-madhhab
’âlim: (pl. ’ulamâ’) Muslim scholar.
Allâhu ta’âlâ: Allah to whom all kinds of superiority belong.
’allâma: an ’âlim of high degree.
a’mâl: acts; living up to ’ilm
âmin: (to Allâhu ta’âlâ) ‘accept my prayer’.
ammâra: headstrong nafs as defined.
arbâb at-tarjîh: = as’hâb at-tarjîh.
’ârif: an ’âlim who knows what is possible to know of ma’rifa.
’Asr as-Sa’âda: the ‘Era of Prosperity’, time of the Prophet and the Four Caliphs.
Awliyâ’: (pl. of Walî)
âyat (kerîma): a Qur’ânic verse.
bâtin: interior, hidden knowledge pertaining to the heart and soul; bâtinî, of bâtin. Bâtinî, a follower of the Batiniyya heresy or Bâtinism.
bid’a: (pl. bida’)
da’îf: (that considered to be) reported not as genuinely as sahîh,
Dâr al-Islâm: Islamic country.
faid: ma’rifa.
faqîh: (pl. fuqahâ’) ’âlim of fiqh.
fard: (an act) that commanded by Allâhu ta’âlâ in the Qur’ân al-kerîm; fard ’ain; fard kifâya.
fâsid: wrong, invalid, non-sahîh.
fatwâ: ijtihâd (of a mujtahid); conclusion (of a muftî) from books of fiqh whether something not shown in them is permitted or not.
fiqh: knowledge dealing with what Muslims should do and should not do; a’mâl,’ibâdât.
fitna: disunion among Muslims.
fitra: alms (2 kg of wheat or silver of equal value) given after every Ramadân, the ninth month of Muslim calendar.
fuqahâ’: pl. of faqîh.
Hadd: A form of chastisement used in the Islamic penal code. It comprises forms of flogging that vary in vehemence as well as in number, depending on the kind of offence as well as on the social status of delinquent, 128.
hadîth: (science or books of) the saying(s) of the Prophet. -Hadîth ash-sherîf, all the hadîths as a whole. (See Endless Bliss, II, for its kinds.)
hadrat: title of respect used before the names of Islamic scholars.
hajj: fard pilgrimage to Mecca.
halâl: (act, thing) permitted in Islam.
harâm: (act, thing) forbidden in Islam.
-Haramain: Mecca and Medina.
-Hijâz: the region around the Haramain on the Arabian Peninsula.
hikma: wisdom; right, useful sayings.
Hujjat al-Islâm: title of al-Imâm at-Ghazâlî meaning the ‘Document of Islam’ and depicting that a reasonable person who reads his Ihyâ’ sees that Islam is a heavenly religion and becomes a Muslim, past and present examples of which are many.
’ibâda: (pl. -ât) Islamic rite(s)
’Îd al-ad’hâ: festival of sacrifices and hajj.
ijtihâd: (meaning or conclusion drawn by a mujtahid by) endeavouring to understand the hidden meaning in an âyat or a hadîth.
ilhâd: (of mulhid)
’illa: ‘reason’, question or event upon which a hadîth was said.
’ilm: (branch of) knowledge, science; ’ilm al-hâl; ’ilm al-usûl (al-fiqh), science of methodology (of e.g. fiqh).
imâm: i) profound ’âlim; imâm al-madhhab; al-Imâm al-a’zam ii) leader in jamâ’a; iii) Caliph.
îmân: belief.
iqâma: certain words recited just before a fard salât.
islâm: six fundamentals of Islam.
i’tiqâd: = îmân.
jamâ’a: community, body of Muslims in a mosque.
jihâd: war against non-Muslims (or the nafs) to convert them (it) to Islam.
-Ka’ba: the big room in the great mosque in Mecca.
kaffâra: specified penalty that should be paid along with qadâ’.
kâfir: non-Muslim, disbeliever.
kalâm: (science of) îmân in Islam.
khalîfa: (pl. khulafâ’) caliph.
Khârijîs, Khârijites, Khawârij: those heretical Muslims hostile to Ahl al-Bait and to their posterity.
lâ-madhhâbî: of antagonism to the four madhhabs.
madhhab: (pl. madhâhib) all of what an imâm of (esp.) fiqh (usually one of the four: Hanafî, Shâfi’î, Mâlikî and Hanbalî) or îmân communicated.
madrasa: Islamic school or university.
mahram: within forbidden (harâm) degrees of relationship for marriage.
makrûh: (act, thing) improper, disliked, and abstained by the Prophet.
mansûkh: (a nass that had come or said) earlier but cancelled by a later one (nâsikh.).
ma’rifa: knowledge about Allâhu ta’âlâ, inspired to the hearts of Awliyâ’.
masah: rubbing one’s wet hands (on his mests, which are soft, soleless, waterproof shoes, worn in winter, covering the feet’s surface washed) while performing ablution.
mashhûr: ‘well-known’ among ’âlims: a kind of hadîths.
masjid: mosque.
mawdû’: lacking one of the conditions (for a hadîth to be sahîh) laid down by an’âlim of hadîth.
mawlîd: (anniversary of) the birthday, writings about the excellences, of the Prophet.
Mawqif: place of concentration of all men after the Resurrection.
minbar: high pulpit in a mosque.
-Mi’râj: the Prophet’s Ascension from Jerusalem to the skies.
-Mîzân: the Balance in the hereafter.
mu’âmalât: a division of fiqh.
mubâh: (act, thing) neither ordered nor prohibited; permitted.
mufsid: thing that nullifies [salât].
muftî: great ’âlim authorized to issue fatwâ.
Muhammadî: follower of the path of the Prophet.
muhkam: (of a nass) with explicit, clear meaning.
mujaddid: strengthener, renewer, of Islam.
mujâhada: ‘striving’ to do what the nafs does not like; see riyâda.
mulfiq: one who practises talfîq.
munâfiq: one in the disguise of a Muslim but believing in another religion; so hypocrite.
mushrik: polytheist, idolater.
mustahab: (act) deserving thawâb if done but no sin if omitted, nor disbelief if disliked.
mutashâbih: (of an âyat) with unintelligible, hidden meanings.
-Mu’tazila: one of 72 heretical groups in Islam.
mutma’inna: (of nafs) tranquil, corrected.
nafs: a force in man which wants him to harm himself religiously.
nâ-mahram: not mahram.
nâsikh: (a nass) that cancelled a mansûkh.
nass: (general term for) an âyat or hadîth; the Nass.
nikâh: Islamic act of engagement for marriage.
nisâb: minimum quantity of specified wealth making one liable to do some certain duties.
qadâ’: i) decree of a qâdî (Muslim judge); ii) performance of an ’ibâda after its due time.
qibla: direction towards the Ka’ba.
qiyâs (al-fuqahâ’): (conclusion drawn by a mujtahid by) likening or comparing an affair not clearly stated in the Nass and ijmâ’ to a similar one stated clearly; ijtihâd.
Quraish: Arab community of Quraish, an ancestor of the Prophet.
rak’a: unit of salât.
Rasûlullah: Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm), the ‘Prophet of Allâhu ta’âlâ’.
rijâl: great ’âlim reporters of a hadîth.
riyâda: (pl. -ât) not doing what the nafs likes.
Sahâbî: (pl. -Sahâbat al-kirâm) Muslim (Companions) who saw the Prophet at least once.
sahîh: i) valid, lawful; ii) (hadîth) soundly transmitted.
salâm: good wish.
salât: ritual prayer.
shafâ’a: intercession in the hereafter.
shaikh: master, guide; Shaikh al-Islâm, Head of the Islamic Affairs Office.
Shâri’: the Prophet (’alaihi ’s-salâm).
-Shî’a (Shî’ites): one of the 72 non-Sunnî groups in Islam.
-Sirât: the Bridge in the hereafter.
suhba: companionship.
sunna: act (done and liked esp. by the Prophet as an ’ibâda) deserving thawâb if done but sinful if continually omitted; sunnat mu’akkada, that rarely omitted by the Prophet; the Sunna, i) all the sunnas as a whole; ii) (with the Book) the Hadîth; iii) fiqh, Islam.
Sunnî: (one) belonging to Ahl as-Sunna.
sûra(t): a Qur’ânic chapter.
tâ’a: those acts liked by Allâhu ta’âlâ but need not be known that He likes.
Tâbi’ûn: Successors of as-Sahâbat al-kirâm. Taba’ at-Tâbi’în, Successors of the Tâbi’ûn.
tafsîr: (book, science, of) interpretation of the Qur’ân al kerîm.
-Tahiyya: first prayer recited at the sitting posture in salât.
takbîr iftitâh: the phrase ‘Allâhu akbar’.
tasawwuf: Islamic mysticism or sufism as defined by Islam.
Ta’dhir: a jurisprudential term in the Islamic penal code. It includes degrees of chastisement such as warning, admonition, reprimanding, flogging (which is above Hadd in the vehemence of strokes, and below it in their number), imprisonment, and capital punishment.
tekke: (Turkish) place where a shaikh trains his disciples.
thawâb: (unit of) reward promised for the next world by Allâhu ta’âlâ as a recompense for doing or saying what He likes.
’ulamâ’: pl. of ’âlim.
umma(t): community, body of believers of a prophet.
’umra: sunna pilgrimage to Mecca.
usûl: i) methodology or fundamentals of an Islamic science, see ’ilm; ii) methodologies of basic Islamic sciences; iii) îmân, kalâm.
wahî: knowledge revealed to the Prophet from Allâhu ta’âlâ.
wâjib: (act) almost as compulsory as fard, so not to be omitted; that never omitted by the Prophet.
Walî: (pl. Awliyâ’) one loved and protected by Allâhu ta’âlâ.
zâhir: exterior, apparent knowledge (pertaining to the body);
zâhirî, of zâhir.
Zaidî: least heretical (so closer to Ahl as-Sunna) group of the Shî’a.
zakât: (fard duty of giving annually) 1/40 of a rich Muslim’s specified property (to poor Muslims).
zuhd: not setting one’s heart on worldly things.
HÜSEYN HiLMi IŞIK
'Rahmat-allahi alaih’
Hüseyn Hilmi Işık, 'Rahmat-allahi alaih’, publisher of the Waqf Ikhlas Publications, was born in Eyyub Sultan, Istanbul in 1329 (A.D. 1911).
Of the one hundred and forty-four books he published, sixty are Arabic, twenty-five Persian, fourteen Turkish, and the remaining translated books consist of French, German, English, Russian and other languages.
Hüseyn Hilmi Işık, 'Rahmat-allahi alaih' (guided by Sayyid Abdulhakim Arvasi, ‘Rahmat-allahi alaih’, a profound scholar of the religion and was perfect in virtues of tasawwuf and capable to direct disciples in a fully mature manner; possessor of glories and wisdom), was a competent, great Islamic scholar able to pave the way for attaining happiness, passed away during the night between October 25, 2001 (8 Shaban 1422) and October 26, 2001 (9 Shaban 1422). He was buried at Eyyub Sultan, where he was born.
Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ stated, “A person whom Allâhu ta’âlâlovesvery much is one who learns his religion and teaches it to others. Learn your religion from the mouths of Islamic scholars!”
A person who cannot find a true scholar must learn by reading books written by the scholars of Ahl as-sunna, and try hard to spread these books. A Muslim who has ’ilm (knowledge), ’amal (practising what one knows; obeying Islam’s commandments and prohibitions), and ikhlâs (doing everything only to please Allâhu ta’âlâ) is called an Islamic scholar. A person who represents himself as an Islamic scholar though he lacks any one of these qualifications is called an ‘evil religious scholar’, or an ‘impostor’. The Islamic scholar will guide you to causes which in turn will open the gates to happiness; he is the protector of faith. The impostor will mislead you into such causes as will make you end up in perdition; he is the Satan’s accomplice.[60] (There is a certain) prayer (called) Istighfâr (which), whenever you say, (recite or read) it, will make you attain causes which will shield you against afflictions and troubles.