Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives - Islamic Books ...

Key Te r m s 3 3 9rule in South Africa until the early 1990s. The term is originally from theAfrikaans language.Asbab al-nuzul (1)Arabic term meaning “the occasions of revelation.” It refers to the traditionalmethod of textual analysis used to interpret the particular circumstances inwhich various Qur’anic verses are believed to have been revealed to Muhammad.Muslim scholars in both the medieval and modern periods have lookedto the asbab al-nuzul in formulating various models for contextualized interpretationsof the Q u r ’ a n .Ashura (3)The tenth day of the month of Muharram in the Islamic lunar calendar. ForS u n n i s it is a holy day, observed by an optional fast and other ritual practicesthat vary according to the cultural contexts of different Muslim societies. ForS h i ’ i t e s , Ashura commemorates the martyrdom of the third I m a m , Husayn, atKarbala in 680 C.E. In modern Iran, this day is observed with ritualized streetprocessions and t a z i y e h , or ritual passion plays reenacting the events of hismartyrdom. The name is from the Arabic term for “the tenth.”Awliya Allah (4)Arabic for “friends of God.” This term is used in a number of Muslim countriesto refer to revered S u f i masters, both living and dead. In the modern ChishtiSabiri order, discussed in Chapter 4, the a w l i y a are invested with a charismaticauthority forged through self-discipline and experiential knowledge.Ayatollah (3)A title for high-ranking S h i ’ i t e clerics in Iran. During the twentieth century,the term came to be used to distinguish rank among the growing populationof Shi’ite m u j t a h i ds , or authorities on Islamic law. In earlier times, this titlewas accorded to various individuals through informal consensus among bothclerics and their followers. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, however,the government now reserves the sole right to officially determine those allowedto bear this title. The Arabic term literally translates as “sign of God.”Al-Azhar University (2, 6)The Muslim educational institution founded at Cairo by the Isma’ili Fatimiddynasty in the tenth century. Often considered the world’s oldest college, al-Azhar has since the thirteenth century come to be recognized as one of theleading centers of Sunni Islamic learning. In the modern period, it has alsobeen the center of a number of influential developments, including the Islamicmodernism promoted by Muhammad Abduh (d. 1905).