MULLABASHI. An institution designating a high religious functionary in Shi’i Islam, which seems to have come into usage toward the very end of the Safavid […]
Year: 2014
MUHARRAM
MUHARRAM. The first month of the lunar Islamic calendar begins like the other months with the first sighting of the crescent moon. Muharram has a […]
MUFTI
MUFTI. A Muslim Jurist capable of giving, when requested, a nonbinding opinion known as a fatwa, on a point of Islamic law is termed a […]
MODESTY
MODESTY. Freedom from vanity (al-tawadu`) is a central concept in Islam, directly connected to the concept of tawhid. According to the Qur’an, Satan’s fall from […]
MI`RAJ
MI`RAJ. Muhammad’s ascent to God and return to the world is known as the mi`raj, literally, “ladder.” This specialized term is sometimes used synonymously with […]
MINORITIES
MINORITIES. [This entry comprises two articles. The first is a historical survey of the status and treatment of nonMuslim minorities (principally Jews and Christians) in […]
MILLET
MILLET. This term is most commonly used in Islamic history to mean “religious community.” It is derived from the Arabic word millah, which was employed […]
MAWLID
MAWLID. Derived from the triliteral Arabic root w-l-d, mawlid means “birth.” Al-Mawlid al-Nabawi alSharif, for example, refers to the twelfth day of Rabi’ al-Awwal of […]
MAWLAY
MAWLAY. The Arabic word mawlay (also transliterated moulay and mulay) means “my lord” or “my master”; in North Africa it is frequently used in this […]
MAWLA
MAWLA. Derived from wala (“to be close to, be friends with, have power over”), the term mawla (pl., mawali) has entered other languages as a […]