SHADOW OF GOD. The ancient Iranians developed an elaborate concept of sacral kingship. Both Achaemenid (559-33 BCE) and Sassanian (224-651 CE) kings were believed to […]
Category: Encyclopedia
SHADHILIYAH
SHADHILIYAH. Together with the Rifa’iyah, Qadiriyah, and Ahmadiyah, the Shadhiliyah is one of the four oldest tariqahs (Sufi orders) in the Muslim world. It takes […]
SEXUALITY
SEXUALITY. In the Muslim world, sexuality is simultaneously more open and more conservative than in other geographic regions. These contradictory aspects result from a confluence […]
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 […]