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 […]

MASLAHAH

MASLAHAH. Public interest (al-masalih   almursalah) is regarded in shari `ah (the divine law) as a basis of law. According to necessity and particular circumstances, […]

MASHHAD

MASHHAD. An Arabic word meaning “a place where a martyr died,” mashhad is the gravesite of an imam of Ithna `Ashari Shiism believed to have […]

MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE. [To articulate religious values and traditions reflected in marriage and divorce in modern Islamic societies, this entry comprises two articles: Legal Foundations […]

MAJLIS

MAJLIS. An Arabic term that seems to have been used in pre-Islamic Arabia to indicate either a tribal council or council of tribes, majlis, after […]