Glossary of Arabic Terms

• Ahl al-Kitab -- People of the Book
• abaya -- Islamic dress that covers a woman from head to toe
• 'alim, pl. ulama -- Muslim scholar
• amir -- political leader
• ashraf, sing. sharif -- one who claims direct descent from the Prophet Muhammad
• dar al-harb -- land of war
• dar al-Islam -- land of Islam
• dar al-kufr -- land of unbelief
• da'wah -- missionary work, proselytizing
• fatwa, pl. fatawa -- juridical opinion
• fiqh -- Islamic jurisprudence
• fitnah -- chaos
• hadith -- written accounts of the sayings and deeds of Islam's prophet, Muhammad
• Hajj -- Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.  One of the five pillars of Islam.

• hakim -- judge

• halal -- legal, permissible
• haram -- forbidden
• hijra -- migration
• ijma' -- legal consensus
• ijtihad -- independent reasoning in the interpretation of Islamic law
• imam -- religious leader.  In the Shii tradition, this title was given to Muhammad's direct male descendents, who were believed to have been infallible interpreters of the Quran and to have had hidden knowledge of it.
• iman -- faith
• jihad -- literally, "struggle," but often used to refer to holy war in defense of Islam and Muslims
• kafir, pl. kuffar -- unbeliever
• madrasa -- Islamic school
• mufti -- person issuing a fatwa (legal opinion)
• muhajir, pl. muhajirun -- person who emigrates
• mujahid, pl. mujahidun -- one who carries out jihad  
• mujtahid -- one who carries out ijtihad (independent interpretations of Islamic law)
• People of the Book -- people who possess a divinely revealed scripture.  Typically understood to include Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians.
• Quran -- Islam's scripture or holy book, which Muslims believe was divinely revealed to the Prophet Muhammad
• Ramadan -- month of the Islamic calendar during which Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset.  One of the five pillars of Islam.
• shahadah -- Muslim declaration of belief in the One God and in Muhammad's prophethood.  One of the five pillars of Islam.
• Sharia -- Islamic law
• Shaykh -- leader
• Shii -- person believing that leadership of the Muslim community should be hereditary.  About 10% of the world's Muslim population is Shii.
• Sufi -- Muslim mystic
• Sunni -- person who believes that leadership of the Muslim community should belong to the person most qualified to carry it out.  About 90% of the world's Muslim population is Sunni.
• tawhid -- absolute monotheism
• thobe -- robe
• ulama, sing. 'alim -- Muslim scholars
• ummah -- transnational Muslim community
• waqf, pl. awqaf -- charitable endowment
• zakat -- almsgiving, tithe.  One of the five pillars of Islam.

Source:  Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad by Natana J. DeLong-Bas

Related Link:

• Encyclopaedia of the Orient