SEVENERS

Seveners (Arabic: سبعية‎‎) are a branch of Ismā’īlī Shīʻa. They became known as “Seveners” because they believe that Isma’il ibn Jafar was the seventh and […]

SELJUK DYNASTY

SELJUK DYNASTY. A Turkish family of Central Asian origin which ruled much of the eastern Islamic world beginning in the mid-eleventh century, the Seljuks (or […]

SECULARISM

SECULARISM. The term secularism signifies that which is not religious. It is rooted in the Latin world saeculum, which initially meant “age” or “generations” in […]

SECLUSION

SECLUSION. The practice of confining women to the exclusive company of other women in their own home or in separate female living quarters is one […]

SCIENCE

SCIENCE. Between the ninth and thirteenth centuries Islamic civilization made major original contributions to the development of premodern science and transmitted Greek learning to Europe […]

SALAFIYAH

SALAFIYAH. A reform movement founded by Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Muhammad `Abduh at the turn of the twentieth century, the Salafiyah has religious, cultural, social, […]

SAINTHOOD

SAINTHOOD. The words “saint” and “sainthood” are used cross-culturally to describe persons of exceptional spiritual merit and the status attained by such persons. These terms […]

SAFAVID DYNASTY

SAFAVID DYNASTY. The Safavid dynasty ruled Iran from 1501 to 1722, its end occasioned by the Afghan invasion. After 1722 a few members of the […]

SADR, MUHAMMAD BAQIR AL

SADR, MUHAMMAD BAQIR AL- (March 1, 1935 – April 9, 1980), innovative and influential Iraqi Islamic thinker and political leader. “An important figure not only […]

SADR

SADR. Originally an Arabic honorific, sadr has been used informally since at least the tenth century to denote a prominent member of the `ulama’ (community […]