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ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlī
1077–1166 (ah 470–561).Preacher, Ḥanbalite theologian, and supposed founder of the Qādirīya Sūfī order. His fame as an orator attracted students from all over the Muslim world. It is said ...
Abū ʿAbd Allāh Mālik ibn Anas
Abū ʿAbd Allāh Mālik ibn Anas (714–795ce)was one of the most highly respected and earliest scholars of fiqh, the eponym of the Mālikī madhhab school of law in Sunnī Islam. ...
Abu Daud al- Sijistani
(d. 889)Collector of one of six Sunni canonical sources of hadith, Kitab al-sunan. The collection particularly focuses on what is commanded, permitted, or forbidden by Islamic law. It also addresses ...
Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī
(817–89).Muslim compiler of one of the six ṣaḥīḥ, or canonical, collections of aḥādīth (see ḤADĪTH).
Abū Ḥanīfa
(d. 767 (ah 150).Muslim theologian and jurist, and founder of the Ḥanafites (Kufan) law school (sharīʿa). Abū Ḥanīfa's use of qiyās (analogy), istiḥsān (juristic preference), raʾy (personal ...
Abū Huraira
(d. 676–8 (ah 57 or 58).Companion of the Prophet Muḥammad, and prolific transmitter of Ḥadīth: nearly 3,500 ḥadīth have come down from him.
Abu ʿĪsā Muḥammad al-Tirmidhī
(d. c.889 (ah 275).Author of one of the six authoritative collections of ḥadīth, which is known sometimes as Ṣaḥīḥ, but more often as Jāmiʿ. He was attentive to the ...
Ahl al-Hadith
People of the traditions (of the Prophet). Also ashab al-hadith. The characterization refers to the adherents of the powerful movement of the late second and third centuries of Islam (late eighth and ...
Aisha (Aishah)
Daughter of first caliph, Abu Bakr; youngest and reputedly favorite wife of Muhammad. With Muhammad when he died. Renowned for knowledge of medicine, history, and rhetoric. Important transmitter of ...
Akhbar
Reports. In Shii Islam, rulings of the early imams in the form of hadith, which were systematically compiled and consulted as a source of law.See also Hadith
al-Ḥusain b. ʿAli
(626–80 (ah 4–61).Third Shīʿa Imām, known from his death as Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, ‘the Chief of Martyrs’. He was the son of ʿAlī and Fāṭima, and, acc. to numerous ḥadīth ...
ʿAnas b. Mālik
(d. 709/11 (ah 91/3).A prolific transmitter of ḥadīth who served the Prophet Muḥammad as his servant from an early age, and grew up in his house.
Carpet
On the carpet being severely reprimanded by someone. The expression comes from the earlier meaning of carpet in the sense of ‘table covering’, referring to the ‘carpet of the council table’ before ...
charms (verbal)
The etymology of the word ‘charm’ (from Latin carmen, ‘a chant’) shows that in medieval times it meant verbal formulas (see next entry), but in modern languages it is far more widely applied. All the ...
Companions
(Arab. Aṣḥāb or Ṣaḥāba).The men closest to Muḥammad during his time in Mecca and Madīna; foremost among these, the first four caliphs (khalīfa): Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī b. Abī Tālib. See ...
exegesis
Critical interpretation or explanation of a text, traditionally associated with religious scriptures, but now used with reference to close readings and analyses of any text.
Fiqh
Conceptually, the human attempt to understand divine law (shariah). Whereas shariah is immutable and infallible, fiqh is fallible and changeable. Fiqh is distinguished from usul al-fiqh, the methods ...
funeral rites
Members of the lower castes, children, and holy men are usually buried. Ascetics (saṃnyāsins) ‘die’ to the social and ritual world when they renounce; their ritual of renunciation is therefore ...
Hadith Quick reference
The Oxford Dictionary of Islam
Report of the words and deeds of Muhammad and other early Muslims; considered an authoritative source of revelation, second only
