encyclopedia

TERRORISM is the deliberate, unjustifiable, and random use of violence for political ends against protected persons. Obviously, there is no…

TECHNOLOGY AND APPLIED SCIENCES. Between 100 and 1300 CE, the “golden age of science,” the Arab and greater Islamic world…

TA’ZIYAH. The Shi`i passion play called ta’ziyah is the only serious drama ever developed in the Islamic world, except for…

Tazir  refers to punishment for offenses at the discretion of the judge (Qadi) or ruler of the state. It is…

TAXATION. Islam makes specific provision for taxation, the payment of which is viewed as a religious duty. The most important…

TAWHID. An Arabic term meaning literally “making one” or “unifying,” is considered by many twentieth century Islamic activists to be…

TAQWA. A crucial Islamic concept, taqwa essentially signifies “god-consciousness” and “godfearing” and, by extension, “piety,” with which it seems to…

TAQLID. Discussions of reform movements in modern Islam frequently depict these movements as aimed primarily at the eradication of a…

TAQIYAH is the precautionary dissimulation of religious belief and practice in the face of persecution. All Muslims recognize the personal…

TANZIMAT. The Turkish term Tanzimat (“regulation”) denotes a period of social and political reform that transformed the Ottoman Empire by…

TANZANIA. Although Islam was practiced in East African coastal enclaves and off-shore islands such as Zanzibar (that are now part…

TALEQANI, MAHMUD (1910-1979), Iranian cleric and political activist, a key ideologue of the Islamic Revolution Of 1978-1979. Talegani (or Taliqani)…

TAKFIR WA AL-HIJRAH, JAMA`AT AL-. After a group of radical Muslims in Cairo abducted and assassinated Shaykh Muhammad Husayn al-Dhahabi,…

TAJIKISTAN. An independent state in Central Asia as of December 1991, Tajikistan was formerly a constituent republic of the Soviet…

TAGHUT. The term taghut, from the root tghy (“to rebel, transgress, or overstep the mark”), occurs eight times in the…