Glossary
Islamic and theological terms used in the journal, with the Arabic, the transliteration, and a short definition.
A
- ʿaqīdaعقيدة
- Creed: the body of beliefs a Muslim holds about God, prophethood, revelation and the unseen, and the discipline that studies them.
D
- ḍaʿīfضعيف
- Weak: a ḥadīth that fails one or more conditions of acceptance, such as a broken chain or an unreliable narrator.
F
- fiqhفقه
- Islamic jurisprudence: the human understanding and derivation of practical rulings from the sources of the law.
H
- ḥadīthحديث
- A report of what the Prophet Muḥammad said, did or approved, transmitted with a chain of narrators.
- ḥasanحسن
- Good: a ḥadīth grade just below ṣaḥīḥ, where a narrator’s precision is slightly lesser but the report is still accepted as evidence.
- ḥāshiyaحاشية
- A marginal gloss: commentary written beside or around a text, a central genre of classical Islamic scholarship. The name of this journal.
I
- iḥsānإحسان
- Excellence in worship and conduct: to worship God as though one sees Him, knowing that He sees you.
- īmānإيمان
- Faith: affirmation in the heart, expressed on the tongue and borne out in action.
- isnādإسناد
- The chain of narrators through which a ḥadīth reached its compiler. Scholars examine each link to judge a report’s reliability.
M
- matnمتن
- The text of a report itself, as distinct from its chain of narrators; also the base text on which a commentary is written.
S
- ṣaḥīḥصحيح
- Sound: the highest grade of ḥadīth, with an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators and no hidden defect or irregularity.
- shirkشرك
- Associating partners with God, in worship or in attributes that belong to God alone. The opposite of tawḥīd.
- sunnaسنة
- The normative practice and teaching of the Prophet, known chiefly through ḥadīth; the second source of Islamic law after the Qurʾān.
T
- tafsīrتفسير
- Exegesis of the Qurʾān: explaining its meaning through language, context, other verses, prophetic reports and the views of early scholars.
- tawḥīdتوحيد
- The oneness and uniqueness of God: that God alone is Lord, alone deserves worship, and is unlike anything in creation. The foundation of Islamic belief.
W
- waḥyوحي
- Revelation: God’s communication of His word and guidance to a prophet.