Islamic Ethics and Moral Philosophy
Voiced Dictionary of Key Terms and Concepts
Practice quizzes
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A
�Adl
:
Justice.
�Adl (al-)
:
the Just. It is one of the 99th attributes of God.
Can also mean a person of
probity.
Aḥkām
al-khamsah- (al)
:
the five judgments or normative categories. The way in which Islamic law and ethics have traditionally divided
human behavior. The five categories classifies behavior as
obligatory (wājib,
farḍ), recommended (mandūb,
mustaḥabb), indifferent, morally neutral or permissible
(mubāḥ),
reprehensible (makrūh)
and forbidden (ḥarām).
Aḥkām al-sulṭaniyyah (al-)
:
Political Ordinances. It is the title of a book written by
al-Māwardī in which the author lists seven conditions or
prerequisites the caliph should meet to qualify for the caliphal
office. The prerequisites are: justice, knowledge, soundness of
the organs of sense, soundness of body, soundness of judgment,
courage and finally the Quraysh pedigree.
Ahl al-ḥaqq
:
the adherents of the truth (literally: �the people of the
truth�. It could also mean �the people of the true one� i.e.
�the people of God�).
Ahl al-kalām (also
mutakallimūn)
:
Muslim theologians (see
kalām). According to
al-Fārābī, the methods used by theologians essentially
recourse to persuasive (iqnā�ī)
or dialectical (jadalī)
arguments, in which imaginative representations tend to replace
demonstrative proofs.
Al-Fārābī believed that these arguments are inferior to
dialectical ones.
Ajsām al-basīṭah
(al-)
:
simple bodies, primary elements. According to
Ibn Rushd they are four:
1) al- nār
:
the fire
2) al-hawā�
:
the air
3) al-mā�
:
the water
4) al-arḍ
:
the soil.
Akhlāq (sing. khuluq)
:
character, manners; relating to individual mannerism, nature,
see [Q68:V4]. According to
Ikhwān al-Ṣafā, it is a natural disposition that
prepares each and every member part of the body to enable the
soul to act.
Akhlāṭ (sing. khalīṭ)
:
mixtures.
Alfāẓ (sing. lafẓ)
:
(pronounced) terms.
�Ālim (al-)
:
the One who knows. It is one of the 99th attributes
of God. Also, one of the attributes of the First, according to
al-Fārābī. (see
al-awwal)
Allāh
:
the God.
�Amal
:
action, practice, behavior.
�Aqīdah
:
articles of faith.
1. Belief in God (Allāh).
2. Belief that
Muḥammad is the Messenger of God.
3. Belief in the Books (Torah, Zabūr
(Psalms), Injīl (Gospels),
Qur�ān).
4. Belief in the existence of angels and
jinn.
5. Belief in the Last Day, Paradise,
Hell�
6. Belief in divine qaḍā' and
qadar.
�Aql
:
reason, mind, intellect (see
al-Fārābī). In his treatise On the Meanings of the
Intellect (fī ma�āni al-�aql),
al-Fārābī gives a list of the meanings of the intellect
or reason as used by the general public, the
mutakallimūn, and Aristotle.
1) prudence or sound judgment in determining what is right and
what is wrong.
2) the
mutakallimūn use it when referring to certain actions
enjoined or repudiated by reason (generally received by the
public as a whole or for the most part).
3) for Aristotle, it is a �faculty of the soul whereby man is
able to attain certainty by recourse to universal, true and
necessary premises, known neither by deduction nor reflection,
but rather naturally and instinctively�.
4) a part of the soul which is able to gain, through habituation
and prolonged experience, a certain apprehension of premises
pertaining to volitional matters, which are susceptible of being
sought or shunned. This reason grows with age.
5) potential, actual, acquired and active reason.
�aql,�āqil wa ma�qūl
:
Plato believed that it is the Active Intellect or the unmoved
Mover. Clearly distinguishable from the First Principle (al-awwal)
upon Whom it depends, it is the ultimate principle of motion, in
substance and actuality.
Arkān
:
pillars. They are the ritual practices (�ibādāt).
1. Declaration of faith. (see
Shahādah).
2. Performance of obligatory prayers (see
Ṣalāh).
3. Mandatory alms tax (see
Zakāh).
4. Fasting all days of
Ramaḍān (see
Ṣawm).
5. Undertaking the journey of pilgrimage (see
Ḥajj).
Ash�arī
(al-), Abū al-Ḥassan �Alī Ibn Isma�īl (873-4/ 260H -935-6/
324H)
:
A famous medieval Muslim theologian. He was born in Basra and he
died in Baghdad. Originally he was a member of the
Mu�tazilah but he abandoned their doctrine in 912-3. He
is the author of The Treatises of the Islamic Sects (maqālat
al-islāmiyyīn). His followers are called the
Ash�arites (al-Ashā�iriah).
Awwal (al-)
:
the First. Following the example of Proclus of Athens,
al-Fārābī calls God al-awwal or the first being
from whom all other beings emanate.
Al-Fārābī believed that, the successive orders of
intellect (�aql),
soul (nafs)
and prime matter (hayūlah)
arised from the First Being through a process of progressive
overflowing (see
al-Fārābī).
Azraqiyyah (azraqites)
:
a
kharajite group that believes
īmān wa �amal (faith and action) are not dividable. One
cannot pretend to have the faith unless one acts according to
this faith.
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B
Bāri� (al-)
:
the Creator.
Baṣrī
(al-), Ḥasan, (born in 642, in Madīnah,
died in 728, Basra, Iraq)
:
an important religious figure in Islam, founder of the school of
rationalism. He argued that a Muslim who commits a
kabīrah is a
munāfiq
(a liar, a hypocrite); hence, he is punished by hell.
Bay�ah
:
It is an oath of allegiance to the caliph, once he has been
established as such. Traditionally this endorsement of the
caliph had to be open/public. A later development of the
bay�ah distinguished between the bay�ah khāṣah (done
only by Muslims) and the bay�ah �āmmah (secondary to
bay�ah khāṣah, and done by Non-Muslims too).
Burhāniyyah
:
(from the Arabic noun Burhān = proof) demonstrative
philosophy.
C
Consequentialism: a modern Western
moral theory that holds that known consequences dictate moral
values. In short, an act is morally right if and only if that
act maximizes the good.
D
Dalīl (pl. dalā�il or
adillah)
:
proof.
Deontologism: a modern Western moral
theory that holds that actions conform to certain laws,
prohibitions, and commandments. Hence, moral acts are acts that
conform to the values expressed in the laws, prohibitions and
positive commandments (system of obligations).
Dhāt
:
self.
E
Ethics: a. in Greek �Ethike/ Ethicos�,
relating to good and bad.
b. The corpus of rules and the system of principles
governing the practice in respect to a single class of human
actions.
Eudemonia (from Greek): a state of
being Happy. Not an instance of feeling Happy. Most influential
Ancient Greek thinkers thought that the Happy person is the
virtuous one. The virtuous person is He who has a settled
disposition to reliably do virtuous things. Human virtue (or
excellence) consists of courage, moderation, justice and wisdom�
in short, in Greek ethical theories, virtuous agents are happy.
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F
Faḍīlah �(pl. fadā�il)
:
excellence, merit, virtue.
Faḥṣ
:
inquiry, examination.
Falsafah
:
philosophy. The word derives from the Greek philosophia.
Faqīh � (pl. fuqahā�)
:
jurist, jurisprudence, one who practices
fiqh jurisprudence.
Faqr
:
poverty. It is a principal
virtue (a first-order virtue), in
Sufi teaching.
Fārābī (al-),
Abū Naṣr Muḥammad al-Fārābī (870-950)
:
one of the renowned Islamic
philosophers. He occupies a unique position in the history
of philosophy, as the link between Greek philosophy and Islamic
thought. He is also a leading advocate of the Islamic
Neoplatonism school of reasoning.
He became known as
the Second Teacher (al-mu�allim al-thānī) after
Aristotle himself.
His major contribution to Islamic metaphysics was his
development of the doctrine of essence and existence.
Following the example of Greek philosophers, al-Fārābī
believed in the concept of emanation according to which the
successive orders of intellect (�aql),
soul (nafs)
and prime matter (hayūlah)
arised from the First Being through a process of progressive
overflowing. This issue became one of the most heated
controversies between the Islamic philosophers and the
theologians (mutakallimūn).
He is the author of the Virtuous City (al-madīnah
al-fāḍilah) and the Civil Polity (al-Siyāsah al-madaniyyah).
His philosophical successor was Ibn Sīnā.
Farḍ
:
see
wājib.
Fayḍ
:
�emanation� from a purely technical philosophical point of view.
The contrast posed was between a world created ex nihilo
at a moment in time by God, and a world which emanated eternally
from God. The later was frequently opposed by
ahl al-kalām and seen as heretical (see
al-Fārābī).
Fiqh
:
Islamic law. Originally the word meant 'understanding' or
'knowledge'.
Fitnah
:
social upheaval, civil war. Fitnah is often used to refer
to the civil war between �Alī Ibn Abī Ṭālib and
Mu�āwiyah Ibn Abī Ṣufyān.
G
Ghaffār (al-)
:
the Forgiver. It is one of the 99th attributes of
God.
Ghalabah
:
literally, it means �victory, overcoming something�.
Ghalabah is a gender, ethnic, tribal and linguistic based
dominance that forces a choice.
Ghāyah
:
purpose.
Ghazālī
(al-), Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad (1058-1111)
:
Muslim theologian. He was also a scholar of Islamic philosophy
and a
Sufi. He is the author of Revival of the Religious
Sciences (iḥyā' �ulūm al-dīn).
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H
Ḥadd
:
definition.
Ḥadīth �(pl.
al-aḥādīth)
:
the Arabic word has many meanings: �sayings�, �uttering�
�conversation�, �speech�, �report�. In Islam it means
�tradition�. It is a record of the sayings or doings of the
Prophet and his Companions. The Ḥadīth is considered as
a source of Islamic law, dogma and ritual second only to the
Qur�ān.
Ḥajj
:
pilgrimage to Mecca. It is the fifth of the five
pillars (Arkān)
of
Islām.
Ḥākim (al-)
:
the Sage, the Wise. Ḥakīm related to the word
ḥikmah (wisdom).
1)
Al-Fārābī refers to Plato as al-ḥakīm. Al-ḥakīmān
(the two Sages) are Plato and Aristotle.
2) al-ḥakīm is also one of the attributes of the First,
according to
al-Fārābī (see
al-awwal).
Ḥaqq (al-)
:
the Truth. One of the 99th attributes of God.
Also, one of the attributes of the First, according to
al-Fārābī. (see
al-awwal).
Ḥarām
:
forbidden. One of the five categories in which Islamic law and
ethics have traditionally divided human behavior.
Hawā�:
air.
Ikhwān al-Ṣafā use hawā� as �climate�.
Ḥayā�
:
bashfulness, shyness.
Hayūlā
:
substance, matter, indivisible matter, primordial matter (see
al-Fārābī
Ibn Rushd).
Ḥayy (al-)
:
the Living. One of the 99th attributes of God. Also,
one of the attributes of the First, according to
al-Fārābī (see
al-awwal).
Hedonism: a moral theory that argues
that: a) morals are of consequence only if they motivate the
agent to act,
b) The agent will act only to receive pleasure and avoid pain.
Hidāyat Allāh
:
divine guidance, God�s guidance.
Ḥikmah
:
wisdom.
Ḥilm
:
forebearance, indulgence, gentleness.
Ḥusn al-dhātī (al)
: inherent
goodness. A
mu�tazilah doctrine.
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I
Iblīs
:
satan.
Ibn �Atā� al Ghazāl, Wāṣil, also
called Abū Ḥudhayfah (700� 748, Arabia)
:
After he left
al-Baṣrī
's study circle, he founded the
Mu�tazilite school of thought.
Ibn Rushd,
Abū el-Walīd Muḥammad Ibn Aḥmad (1126- 1198)
:
he is known in the West as Averroes, a Hispano-Arab
philosopher, commentator on Aristotle, who also was a
qadi and a doctor. His books were ordered to be burned and
very little has remained of his writings. Ibn Rushd
argued that all �imperfect� existing bodies consist of
hayūlā (substance) and
ṣūrah (form). He considers that any jism (body)
has to be a combination of these two components in order to be
able to exist (see
al-ajsām al-basīṭah,
hayūlā,
ṣūrah).
�Iffah
:
temperance, purity, abstinence.
Ijmā�
:
in jurisprudence this term can be translated as 'consensus'.
Along with the
Qur�ān, the
Sunnah. It is one of the main sources of law and ethics
in Islam.
Ijtihād
:
informed independent reasoning.
Ijtimā�
:
derives from the same root as ijmā� but it does not have
the same legalistic force. Ijtimā� can mean consensus or
converging on one idea or conclusion.
Ikhlāṣ
:
sincerity, faithfulness, fidelity. A supporting mystical virtue
or a second-order virtue in
Sufi teaching.
Ikhtilāṭ
:
admixture, combination.
Ikhtiyār
(al-)
:
Men�s free will to choose.
Ikhwān al-Ṣafā
:
a secret group of Muslim philosophers, theologians and
intellectuals who flourished most probably in Basra in the
4th/10th or 5th/11th centuries. They were believed to be
isma�īlī. They are the authors of fifty-two epistles (Rasā'il)
which were encyclopedic in range, covering subjects as diverse
as music, astronomy, embryology, and philosophy. According to
Ikhwān al-Ṣafā, all souls (living beings) are moved by the
desire to live (shahwat at-baqā�)
and contempt of death (karāhiyyat al-fanā�).
Ikhwān al-Ṣafā also believe that humans act only when
faced with:
a) positive and negative commands: amr wa nahy
b) promise of positive reward and promise of painful reward:
wa�d wa wa�īd
c) praise and bashing: madḥ wa dhamm
d) enticement and threat: targhīb wa tarhīb
�Ilm
:
science. Genuine knowledge.
Imām
:
a) leader of the prayers.
b) for
Shī�ah, he is the successor of the Prophet and is
believed to be infallible.
Īmān
:
faith, belief.
Īmān wa �amal
:
faith and action.
Ins
:
mankind. Ins has the same root as insān (a human
being).
�Iqāb
:
punishment.
Iqnā� (adj.
iqnā�ī/ iqnā� yyah)
:
persuasion. According to
al-Fārābī, persuasion is a form of conjecture (ẓann),
in which one believes a thing to be such and such, although it
is possible for it to be otherwise. (see
ra�y)
Irādah
:
volition, want, will.
�Ishq
:
erotic passion. According to
al-Fārābī, it is a disposition of the human soul to seek
the satisfaction of �beastly� passion and renounce divine
things.
Islām
:
literally, it means �submission�. Islām is one of the
three monotheistic religions. It was founded by
Muḥammad in the 7th century, after God
reveald the
Qur�ān to him through the archangel Jibrīl.
Isti�dād
:
preparedness.
I�tidāl
:
moderation.
Ittiṣāl
:
conjunction. According to
al-Farābī, when humans attain the highest stage of
theoretical knowledge, they attain the stage of union with the
Active Intellect.
Al-Farābī sometimes calls this stage conjunction,
sometimes proximity, of which humans� ultimate happiness
consists.
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J
Jabbār (al-)
:
the Restorer. It is one of the 99th attributes of
God.
Jabr (al-)
:
Opposite of
ikhtiyār.
Jabriyyah
:
early Muslims who believed in predetermination.
Jadal
(adj. Jadalī/ jadaliyyah)
:
dialectic.
Al-Fārābī believed that one cannot acquire genuine
knowledge without prior training in dialectic.
Jāhiliyyah
:
derives from the Arabic noun jahl (state of ignorance).
It is used to refer to the pre-Islamic period.
Jannah (al-)
:
literally: �the garden�. In the
Qur�ān it is often used to refer to �paradise�. Paradise
is also referred to with the words �Adan (Eden) and
Firdaws.
Jawhar
:
substance.
Jazā�
:
reward (positive reward).
Jiblah (pl. jibillah)
:
natural disposition, nature.
Jihād
:
comes from the Arabic verb jahada: to strive for a better
way of life. Jihād
means endeavor, strain, exertion, effort, diligence,
fighting to defend one's life, land, and religion.
Jinn
:
in the
Qur�ān, jinn are beings made from fire (or flame) who
can take different forms. There are good jinn and bad
ones.
Jubā�ī (al-), Abū �Alī Muḥammad Ibn
�Abd al-Wahhab (?-303/915-6)
:
one of the celebrated thinkers of
mu�tazilah. He was born at Jubba in Khuzistan, and he
attended the school at Baṣrā of Abū Ya�qūb Yūsuf
al-Shahhām. Abū al-Ḥassan al-Ash�arī
was one of his pupils, but in 912-913 he broke away and founded
the
Ash�arite school of thought.
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K
Kabīrah
:
grave moral or religious wrong.
Kalām
:
literally it means �speech�. In Islam however, �ilm al- kalām
is the science of theology. Therefore, kalām includes the
theological debates that took place in Islam and that dealt with
the theological subjects on which some scholars disagreed.
Karam
:
generosity, nobility.
Karīm (al-)
:
the Generous. It is one of the 99th attributes of
God.
Khalīfah (pl. khulafā�)
:
caliph. Originally the word meant �successor� (i.e. of the
Prophet). In Islam, the caliph is the head of the community of
believers. His functions are secular as well as religious. The
first four caliphs are called �al-khulafā� al-rāshidūn
(the wise caliphs). In the
Qur�ān, the title of khalīfah is given to both
Ādam and Dāwūd (David).
Khalq
:
creation. According to
al-Māturīdī, God created everything including acts.
Kharajites
(in Arabic khawārij)
:
derives from the Arabic root �kharajah� (means �to go
out�, �to secede�). A revolutionary, and egalitarian group that
revolted against the Caliph �Uthmān Ibn �Affān and later
against �Alī Ibn Alī Ṭālib. In the battle of Siffīn,
opposing �Alī Ibn Alī Ṭālib and Mu�āwiyah Ibn Abī
Ṣufyā they refused any form of arbitration saying that the
judgment should be left only to God.
Khāṣṣah
:
the elite. For
al-Fārābī, the philosopher should be regarded as a
member of the elite in an absolute sense.
Khawf
:
fear. It is a principal virtue (a
first-order virtue) in
Sufi teaching.
Khayr
:
as adjective, means �charitable�, �good�. As nouns, means
�goodness�, �welfare�.
Khilāfah
:
caliphate. (see
khalīfah).
Khuluq ḥasan
:
a good character, virtuous manner.
Kitāb
:
book.
L
Ladhdhah (pl. ladhdhāt)
:
pleasure, bliss, enjoyment. According to
al-Ghazālī, the ultimate pleasure (a�ẓam
ladhdhah) is knowing God.
Luṭf
:
Divine grace. It is a
Shī�ite doctrine arguing that there should be always an
infallible
imām that exists.
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M
Madhhab al- ladhdhāt
:
hedonism.
Maḥabbah
:
platonic love. It is a principal
virtue (a first-order virtue) in
Sufi teaching.
Maḥrūrī al-ṭibā�:
hot tempered persons.
Makrūh
:
reprehensible, discouraged. One of the five normative categories
(see
al-aḥkām al-khamsah).
Mālik: Abū �Abd Allāh Mālik Ibn Anas
(716- 795)
:
One of the most important jurists of Medieval Islam. He lived
and spent most of his life in Madinah where he also died.
He is the founder of the Māliki school that considers the
�practice� (�amal)
of Madinah as the ideal and example to follow. Mālik
is the author of what is considered as the first major
Ḥadīth in Islam:
The Smoothed Path (al-muwaṭṭa�).
Nowadays, followers of the Mālikī school of law
are located mainly in North Africa as well as the West and
Center of the African continent .
Mālik (al-)
:
the Ruler or the Owner. One of the 99th
attributes of God.
Mālik al-Mulk
:
the Owner or the Ruler of the universe. One of the 99th
attributes of God.
Mandūb
:
recommended (also
mustaḥabb). One of the five normative categories (see
al-aḥkām al-khamsah).
Manṭiq
:
logic. According to
al-Fārābī, logic is a tool which, when used properly,
will yield to certainty (yaqīn)
in all theoretical and practical sciences and is absolutely
indispensable for attaining that goal. Manṭiq derives
from
nuṭq.
Ma�qūl
:
intelligible.
Al-Fārābī believed the First to be an intelligible in
act, since matter is what impedes an entity from being an
intelligible in act. (see
al-Fārābī)
Māturīdī:
Muḥammad Ibn Muḥammad Ibn Maḥmūd Abū Manṣūr al-Samarqandī
al-Māturīdī al-Ḥanafī (died in 944 in Māturīd in Samarqand)
:
he was one of the most important
imām of the mutakallimūn of
ahl al-sunnah and the founder of the Māturīdī
school of theology.
Mizāj
:
mixture. Also, temperament, mood, humor, state of mind, physical
constitution.
Morality: a. in Latin �moralis�,
meaning custom; relating to right and wrong in terms of
behavior.
b. Descriptively: a code of conduct put forward
by some group, an individual, or society.
c. Normatively: a code of conduct that, given
specified conditions, would be put forward by all
rational persons.
Mubāḥ
:
permissible, morally neutral. One of the five normative
categories (see
al-aḥkām al-khamsah).
Mughālaṭah
:
sophistry.
Muḥammad
Ibn �Abd Allāh (570-632)
:
prophet of Islam. He is reported to have received the first
revelation of the
Qur�ān in Mecca, through the angel Gabriel (Jibrīl)
when he was about 40 years old.
Muḥāsabah
:
self-examination or accounting for one's own actions. A
supporting mystical virtue or a second-order virtue in
Sufi teaching.
Muḥdath
:
created in time. Plato believed that the world is created in
time, while Aristotle is alleged to hold that it is eternal.
Mukhāṭabah
:
modes of address.
Munāfiq
:
Hypocrite, liar.
Muqārabah
:
see
qurb.
Murāqabah
:
vigilance. A supporting mystical virtue or a second-order virtue
in
Sufi teaching.
Murji�ah
:
a sect of Islam. Murji�ah believe that �sinful� actions
do not adversely affect faith the same way that acts of
obedience are of no benefit if they are accompanied by
disbelief. Murji�ah withheld judgment regarding those who
start / participate in
fitnah.
Mustaḥabb:
recommended (see
mandūb). One of the five normative categories (see
al-aḥkām al-khamsah).
Mu�tazilites
(or mu�tazilah)
:
the word derives from the Arabic verb i�tazala: to
seclude oneself. In effect, the term refers to some scholars who
disagreed with theologians on a number of points among which the
doctrine of a created
Qur�ān, and man�s free will.
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N
Nafs (pl.
nufūs, anfus)
:
soul (see
al-Fārābī).
Nāmūs
:
law, natural law, moral law, possibly religious law.
Ikhwān al-Ṣafā,
organize all living beings in categories. According to them,
plants rank under animals, animals rank under humans, humans
rank under wise people, wise people rank under the people of law
(nāmūs), who in turn, rank under angels.
Nār
:
literally: the fire. It is the most common name by which �hell�
is referred to in the
Qur�ān.
Naẓar
:
literally: sight, discernment. Deliberation.
Niyyah
:
Intention. A supporting mystical virtue or a second-order virtue
in
Sufi teaching.
Nubuwwah
:
prophetic office.
Nūr
:
light. Angels are believed to be created from nūr, as
opposed to humans (ins)
from clay, and
jinn from fire.
Nūr (al-)
:
The Light. It is one of the 99th attributes of
God.
Nuṭq
:
speech. Philosophers divided nuṭq in two parts:
1) the power to conceive of intelligible in the
practical and theoretical fields.
2) the power of expression in spoken language.
P
Philosophers
: timeline of medieval philosophers, mystics and thinkers.
Al-Kindī: (805-873 CE)
Abū al-Ḥassan �Alī Ibn Isma�īl
al-Ash'arī: (873-936 CE)
Abū Naṣr Muḥammad
al-Fārābī (870-950 CE)
Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna) (980-1130 CE)
Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad
al-Ghaẓālī (1058-1111)
Ibn Tufayl (110-1185 CE)
Abū al-Walīd Muḥammad Ibn Aḥmad
Ibn Rushd (1126- 1198)
Ramba'm Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (Maimonides) (1135-1204
CE)
Ibn al-'Arābī (1165-1240)
Rabbi Abraham bin Ha-Ramba'm Abraham (son of Maimonides)
(1186-1237 CE)
Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274)
Ibn Khaldūn (1332-1395 CE)
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Q
Qadariyyah
:
early Muslims who believed in free-will.
Qaḍī
:
judge.
Qalb
:
heart. According to
al-Ghazālī, it is the same as al-rūḥ
(the
soul, the spirit). The virtues of the heart are:
a) virtues of devils: akhlāq al-shayāṭīn
b) virtues of domestic animals: akhlāq al-bahā�im
c) virtues of predatory animals: akhlāq al-sibā�
d) virtues of angels: akhlāq al-malā�ikah
Qiyās
:
'analogy' or 'analogical reasoning'. A method of extracting
(deriving) legal rulings when none exists in the
Qur�ān,
Sunnah, and
ijmā� . In his writings,
al-Fārābī is critical of this method of analogy on the
ground that it is reductible to similarity (shabah),
rather than deduction in the strict sense. According to him
there are five types of qiyās: the demonstrative, the
dialectical, the sophistical, the rhetorical and the poetical.
Qubḥ al-dhātī (al)
:
inherent badness. A
mu�tazilah doctrine.
Qudrah
:
power to perform an act.
Qur�ān
: Also
spelled in English as Koran. Literally this word means
'Recitation'. The Qur'an is Islam's holiest book.
Qurb (also
muqārabah)
:
proximity. According to
al-Farābī, when humans attain the highest stage of
theoretical knowledge, they attain the stage of union with the
Active Intellect.
Al-Farābī sometimes calls this stage conjunction (ittiṣāl).
Quwwah
:
power.
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R
Raḥīm (al-)
:
the Compassionate. It is one of the 99th attributes
of God.
Raḥmān (al-)
:
the Merciful. It is one of the 99th attributes of
God.
Ra�īs
:
the Master Ruler.
Rajā�
:
hope. It is a principal virtue
(a first-order virtue) in
Sufi teaching.
Ramaḍān
:
it is the 9th month of the Muslim lunar calendar: it
is believed that the
Qur�ān was descended that month. It is also the month of
fasting. During the fast the believer must abstain from food,
drink and sexual intercourse during daylight hours.
Ra�y
:
opinion. According to
al-Fārābī, both conjecture and certainty are species of
opinion (ra�y) which is liable to truth or falsity.
Riḍah
:
satisfaction. It is a virtue produced by love, by pleasant acts,
feelings�
Rushd
:
morality, guidance, conscious awareness.
Ru�yah
:
vision.
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S
Sa�ādah
:
happiness. According to
al-Ghazālī, happiness is achieved through:
a) the power of anger: quwwat al-ghaḍab
b) the power of lust: quwwat al-shahwah
c) the power of knowledge: quwwat
al-�ilm
Ṣabr
:
patience. It is a principal
virtue (a first-order virtue) in
Sufi teaching.
Ṣafḥ
:
forgiveness.
Ṣalāh
:
ritual prayer. A muslim does his/her prayer five times a
day. Ṣalāh is the second of the five
Arkān (pillars) of
Islām.
Ṣāni� (al-)
:
the Demiurgus. Plato believed that a Creator whom he called the
Demiurgus created the world out of a formless matter.
Ṣawm
:
Fasting during
Ramaḍān. It is the third of the five pillars (Arkān)
of
Islām.
Shabībah
:
group among the
kharajites who argued that even a woman who is
faithful and practicing can be a
khalīfah.
Shāfi�ī (al-), Muḥammad Ibn Idrīs
(767-820)
:
Muslim jurist, founder of one of the four major schools of
Islamic jurisprudence. He provided a formal structure of Islam�s
obligation materials in law and morality. His name was given to
the Shafi�ī school of jurisprudence founded by his
disciples: the Shāfi�īs.
Shahādah
:
profession of faith that a person must recite in order to
become a Muslim. It is the first of the five pillars (Arkān)
of
Islām, and is declared once a lifetime.
Shahwah (pl. shahawāt)
:
craving, desire, passion, lust, appetite (see
Ikhwān al-Ṣafā, and
al-Ghazālī).
Shajā�ah
:
courage.
Shakk
:
doubt. According to
al-Fārābī, shakk is the suspension of judgment with
respect to two opinions equally credible.
Shar�:
�the road leading to water� (or to the source of life). It is
also coined to refer to law.
Sharī�ah
:
Commonly referred to as �Islamic law� it is a code of behavior,
a composite science of law and morality that is at the same time
more and less than a simple legal system in the Western sense of
the term. More, because it regulates private acts such as ritual
practices of the faith or social behavior. Less, because it
ignores entire parts of human activity that would be taken into
consideration in other juridical codes. Thus, Sharī�ah is
a combination of law, morality, religion and etiquette.
Sharr
:
what is bad, evil.
Shāṭibī (al-), Abū Isḥāq Ibn Mūsā
al-Shāṭibī al-Mālikī (?-1388)
:
One of the founding scholars of
uṣūl al-fiqh, he laid great emphasis on the requirement
of complete knowledge and erudition in the Arabic language, not
merely correct understanding, for those who practice
ijtihād. He is the author of muwafaqāt fī
uṣul al-Sharī�ah (The Congruences of the
Sources of the Divine Law).
Shawq
:
yearning. It is a virtue produced by
love in
Sufi teaching.
Shī�ah
:
originally, means �group�, �party�, �followers of someone�.
Shī�ah is one of the two major theological and legal school
of thought in Islam. It derives from Shī�at �Alī
(followers of �Alī Ibn Abī Ṭālib). The Shi�ites
believe that it is �Alī Ibn Abī Ṭālib (cousin and
son-in-law of the Prophet) rather than Abū Bakr who
should have succeeded
Muḥammad. In the civil war (fitnah)
between �Alī Ibn Abī Ṭālib and Mu�āwiyah Ibn Abī
Ṣufyān they supported �Alī Ibn Abī Ṭālib. They also
argue for the need for infallible
imām to head the community.
Shi�ite:
anglicized from the Arabic word Shī�i (a member of the
Shī�ah group).
Shukr
:
gratitude, thankfulness. It is a
principal virtue (a first-order virtue) in
Sufi teaching.
Ṣidq
:
truthfulness. A supporting mystical virtue or a second-order
virtue in
Sufi teaching.
Ṣinā�at al- kalām
:
art of theology (see
kalām).
Sīrah (pl. siyar)
:
history of way of life.
Ṣūfi
:
an adept of Sufism (ṣūfiyyah
or taṣawwuf).
Ṣūfiyyah or
Taṣawwuf
:
Sufism, the mysticism of
Islām.
Sunnah
:
literally, it can mean �trodden path�, �way�, �rule�, �manner of
acting� or �mode of life�. Originally it meant 'customary
practice', it now indicates the specific actions or doings of
the Prophet
Muḥammad himself verses the specific sayings (Ḥadīth
or reports). Since the life of the Prophet is
believed to be virtuous and exemplary, the acts of
Muḥammad provide the norms and set the model of human
life and behavior (Sunnah).
These virtuous acts are then converted into obligations of which
total constitutes the
Sharī�ah. Customarily,
Sunnah and
Ḥadīth are used interchangeably nowadays. (see
Ḥadīth).
Ṣūrah
:
according to
Ibn Rushd, the ṣūrah is the entity that does
enjoy neither power (quwwah)
nor preparedness (isti�dād).
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Ṭā�ah
:
obedience.
Ṭabī�ah (pl.
ṭabā�i�)
:
nature.
Tafakkur
:
meditation, deliberation, pondering. A supporting mystical
virtue, or a second-order virtue in
Sufi teaching.
Ṭalāq
:
Divorce. A saying attributed to the Prophet states that
among all things permitted by God, divorce is the most
blameworthy. Thus divorce is clearly permitted in Islam but not
encouraged. If the divorce is done by repudiating a marriage
three times then this repudiation cancels any opportunity for
reconciliation. Otherwise, it should be followed by a waiting
period of three menstrual cycles that is supposed to give the
spouses a chance of reconciliation and/or to determine if the
wife is pregnant.
Ta�līm
:
instruction, teaching.
Taqṣīr
:
poor judgment.
Taqiyyah
:
Dissimulation of one's religion, especially in time of
persecution or danger. The practice is permitted by the
shī�ah.
Taṣawwuf
:
see
ṣūfiyyah.
Taṣawwur
:
conception.
Tasdīd
:
leading, guiding, directing,
conducting.
Taṭahhur
:
see
Taṭayyub.
Taṭayyub
/ Taṭahhur
:
personal hygiene, ritual purity.
Tawakkul
:
trust in God, rely on God. .
It is a principal virtue (a
first-order virtue) in
Sufi teaching.
Tawbah
:
Repentance, atonement. It is a principal virtue (a first-order
virtue) in
Sufi teaching.
Tawḥīd
:
declaration of divine unity. It
is a principal virtue (a first-order virtue) in
Sufi teaching.
Ta�wīl
:
the interpretation of the words of the Lawgiver or His
ordinances.
Ta�yīd
:
Support.
Turbah or turāb
:
soil. Adam, the first man, is made of turbah or turāb.
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Ummah (pl. umam)
:
nation or community. This was a highly emotive word in early
Islamic history in the time of the Prophet, and remains so among
the Arabs today.
Uns
:
Intimacy. It is a virtue produced by love.
Uṣūl al-fiqh
:
Means �the roots� or �sources� of law: foundation of law.
Islamic jurisprudence.
Utilitarianism: modern moral
theorists who adhere to a form of Consequentialism.
W
Wa�d
:
promise of good reward for the faithful who upholds a virtuous
Islamic life.
Wadūd (al-)
:
the Loving. It is one of the 99th attributes of God.
Wa�īd
:
threat. "Promise" of painful reward for those who led a
non-virtuous life that contradicted the code of morality
established in
Qur�ān and
Sunnah.
Wājib, farḍ
:
Required, obligatory. One of the five categories in which
Islamic law and ethics have traditionally divided human
behavior.
Y
Yaqīn
:
certain knowledge, certainty (see
manṭiq).
Z
Zakāh
:
Alms tax, Almsgiving. It is the fourth of the five pillars (Arkān)
of
Islām. Zakāh is obligatory for Muslims, and is given
yearly by those who have to pay it.
Ẓann
:
conjecture.
Zindīq (pl. zanādiqah)
:
unbeliever, heretic, �free thinker�.
Zuhd
:
asceticism, soberness, by the mere necessities (shunning of
luxury). It is a principal
virtue (a first-order virtue) in
Sufi teaching.
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