GLOSSARY
BELIEVER:- one who accepts the
Revelation of the Koran, a Muslim.
COMPANIONS:-The immediate disciples
of Muhammad.
DAR-AL-ISLAM:-The Home of Islam
.
FIRE:-Hell.
FRIENDS:-The `companions'.
GARDEN -Heaven.
HURAH.-Lit. `migration'.(1) Departure
of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina.
(2) The Muslim era. (3)
A Muslim's leaving a country under non-Muslim rule. (4) Fleeing from sin
-The Hijra took place on the 4th of Rabi `1, 2nd July, 622; but the Caliph
Omar, who instituted the official Muslim era, naming it after this event,
dated it from the first day of the first lunar month of that year, Moharrum,
equivalent to 28th April, 622.
IGNORANCE.-The `Dark Age' of Arabian
history, the period preceding the advent of Muhammad.
IMAN:-Faith.
MU'MIN.-Faithful,
a Muslim.
MUSLIM.-A believer in Islam.
PEOPLE OF THE BOOK.-Believers
in a revealed moral religion, Jews, Christians, Sibians, etc.
RASUL.-Apostle, Messenger of
God, a Man sent of God, a prophet.
1-SUNNAH OR
HADITH.-The recorded traditions of the every day actions and of the words
which fell from the lips of the Prophet during the twenty three years of
his ministry. These are classed as 'authentic' only if an unbroken chain
of absolutely reliable narrators can be established going back to one of
the chief companions of the Prophet. The task of collecting these traditions
was undertaken within eleven years of the death of the Prophet. They must
not be confused with the Kur'an, which is the revealed Word of God (see
below).
SURAH.-'A row or series.' A term used for the `chapters' of the Kur'an,
of which there are 114.
2-WORD
OF GOD.-al-Kur'an, the Koran. Revealed through the Prophet
Muhammad. A physical change came over the Prophet, like one in a trance,
each time he received a revelation. These utterances were Written down
immediately by the Companions on any available writing material. The written
pieces were distributed among the Muslims and many committed them to memory.
Under the directions of the Prophet himself, the
chapters and verses were arranged by the scribes according to significance
and not in chronological order. Each Sura (chapter) was given a distinctive
heading and contains a varying number of Ayats (verses), and they are thus
of very unequal size. Muhammad used to make reference to chapter and verse
whenever he quoted the Kur'an or asked a reciter to do so. Soon after the
death of the Prophet, many of the recites of the Kur'an were killed during
the battle of Yemama, and in order to safeguard against any possibility
of the Kur'an being lost, Abu Bakr, the first Caliph (successor of Muhammad),
ordered the written pieces to be collected together and kept in a chest.
This was done in less than two years after the death of the Prophet, under
the supervision of Zaid-bin-Sabit, Muhammad's amanuenis, and a person of
high integrity. Under the orders of Othman. the third Caliph, all the copies
of the Kur'an dispersed throughout the Islamic world were recalled and
burnt. From the authoritative collection of Abu Bakr, copies of the Kur'an
were transcribed and Othman employed the same Zaid son of Sabit and other
reliable scribes to do this work. Othman, with the help of twelve persons,
with Ali at their head, all of whom knew the whole of the transcriptions
as the work was proceeding. These authentic volumes, with the seal and
signature of Othman, were distributed within eleven years of the death
of the Prophet, to such distant lands as Iraq, Persia, Syria, Palestine
and Egypt. Thanks to the care of the early Muslims, every copy of the Kur'an
to-day is exactly word forword as it was uttered by the Prophet.