Teaching about Arabic
The following are key terms in Arabic relating to Islam.
The five pillars of islam = "peaceful submission to God"
- faith: Repeating "There is no God but God, and Mohammed is His prophet"; shahada: la illah illala, wa Mohammed rasoul Allah (Afghan version)
- prayer: Five times per day, beginning with Allah o-akbar = "God is great"; each prayer has a separate name, to which may be added personal repetition dhikr
- fasting: All healthy adults fast from dawn to dusk during the month of Ramadan and eschew sex throughout the month
- alms: it is "good" to donate to the poor or to the mosque, it brings rewards in heaven. zaqat is compulsory 2.5% of income; voluntary alms-giving brings added virtue.
- pilgrimage: Everyone should travel once to Mecca if (s)he can afford it. This is called haj or hajj, giving the title haji (man) or (woman) hajaratou (title forms vary).
The Holy Koran qu'ran = "recitation"
- surat, a verse of the Holy Koran and therefore the Word of God
- hadith, a Tradition concerning the "perfect practice" of the Prophet Mohamed (pboh)
- sunna, the collection of these hadith, with the qu'ran, provide guidance to Moslems
- allah, is the Arabic word for "God." It has (by definition) no plural, no feminine, etc.
- tauhid, The Unity of God (unlike the Holy Trinity of Christian dogma), worship only God
- shirk, is the opposite of tauhid = materialism when "money becomes divine."
- sharia, the Law, derived from the Holy Koran and therefore Word of God.
- hegira or hijra is the Prophet's journey from Mecca to Medina, and the start of Islam.
- jihad, Greater Jihad = Man's struggle against his inner self, Lesser Jihad = just war against oppressive rule, whether Moslem or not
Islamic officials
- sufi, a member of an Islamic contemplative brotherhood, especially in Central Asia.
- Caliph is the Supreme Leader of the Sunni faithful.
- Ayatollah is one of various Persian titles or grades for super-mullahs, just below.
- Imam with a capital "I," the Supreme Leader of the Shia faithful.
- imam, leader of the prayer (invariably the eldest person present, or the holiest).
- muezzin, person who calls the Faithful to prayer.
- mullah, in Afghanistan this is the title of the ÔpriestÕ in charge of the mosque masjid.
- damullah is an Afghan mullah with more education.
- maulawi is a mullah with university-level education.
- maulana is the Urdu version of the word maulawi.
That is enough to be going on with!