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

3 5 8Islam i n World Cult u r e sTo ’ y ( 5 )The feasts traditionally connected with the observance of life-cycle rituals, especiallycircumcisions and weddings, in parts of Central Asia. During the periodof Soviet rule in the region, the to’y served both to mark Central AsianMuslims as different from others living in their midst and to affirm statuswithin their own national community. To’y is a Turkic term.Tw e l v e r s (1, 3, 10)See Ithna’ashariU l a m a (1, 2, 4, 5, 7)Muslim religious scholars who, through their studies of Islamic law and otherfields of religious learning, have attained authority as spokesmen for the tradition.In medieval Islam, the u l a m a held a virtual monopoly over the interpretationof the tradition. In the modern period, however, they have faced unprecedentedchallenges to their authority as guardians of Islamic tradition from anumber of fronts as innovations in education and communications technologyhave allowed Muslims from a wide range of occupations to take part in publicdiscourses over religion and its place in contemporary society. U l a m a is theplural form of the Arabic term a l i m , l i t e r a l l y, “one who knows.”U m m a ( 1 – 1 0 )A term referring to various configurations of “community” in different Muslimsocieties, but perhaps most often invoked to refer to the worldwide communityof Muslims.U r s ( 4 )An Arabic term, literally meaning “wedding,” used by some Sufis to expressthe marriage of the soul with the Divine. In such contexts, it has thus come torefer to the ritual commemorations of the death anniversaries of importantSufi masters in their spiritual lineage. On these occasions, murids travel fromall over Pakistan and beyond, gathering together for several days of communalworship at key Sufi tomb complexes (dargahs).Usul al-fiqh ( 4 )The field of Islamic legal studies that deals not with concrete decisions onparticular cases but, rather, with the methodology used to reach those decisions.For most Sunni Muslims, the methodology includes studies of how tointerpret the sources of the Qur’an, sunna, scholarly consensus, and reasoningby analogy in order to arrive at legal rulings.U y g h u r ( 6 )The Muslim ethnic group settled on the northwest frontier of China. They