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© copyright ASFA, 1998

adhân: the call to prayer.

faqîh, pl. fuqahâ’: person of superior understanding; jurisprudent.

fatwa, pl. fatâwa: a qualified legal response to a specific question.

fiqh: superlative understanding; jurisprudence.

al-fiqh al-akbar = usûl

"The Four Imams": Abu Hanifa, Malik, al-Shafi`i, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal.

"The Four Rightly-Guided Successors": Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, `Umar al-Faruq, `Uthman ibn `Affan, and `Ali ibn Abi Talib.

"The Four Schools": The Hanafi School, the Maliki School, the Shafi`i School, and the Hanbali School.

"The Four Sunan": Al-Tirmidhi’s Sunan, al-Nasa’i’s Sunan, Abu Dawud’s Sunan, and Ibn Majah’s Sunan.

gharîb: strange, isolated, obscure; applied to a hadith chain, it means that it has only one narrator among the Companions and the subsequent links. Note: this is not an index of its authenticity as a gharîb hadith may be either sahîh, hasan, or da`îf. A famous authentic gharîb hadith is: "Actions are only according to intentions," which is narrated from `Umar ibn al-Khattab alone by Bukhari and Muslim. Applied to lexical terms, gharîb means difficult. There are manuals devoted to the gharîb or difficult words of Qur’an and hadith.

hasan: fair, authentic. Applied to a hadith or its chain of transmission.

istilâh = mustalah

lâ ilâha illallâh: "There is no God except Allah." Together with the affirmation that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, this phrase enters one into Islam. "The people of lâ ilâha illallâh" are the Muslims.

karâma, pl. karâmât: miraculous grant from Allah to one of his Friends.

mu’adhdhin: one who calls out adhân, the call to prayer.

mufti: qualified to issue legal opinions and responses.

mu`jiza, pl. mu`jizât: mind-boggling miracle at the hands of a Prophet.

mujtahid: qualified to issue expert legal rulings.

mustalah: methodology and terminology.

nahw: Arabic grammar and related disciplines.

"The Nine Books": Al-Bukhari’s Sahih, Muslim’s Sahih, al-Tirmidhi’s Sunan, al-Nasa’i’s Sunan, Abu Dawud’s Sunan, Ibn Majah’s Sunan, Malik’s Muwatta’, Ahmad’s Musnad, and al-Darimi’s Musnad.

"The Six Books": Al-Bukhari’s Sahih, Muslim’s Sahih, al-Tirmidhi’s Sunan, al-Nasa’i’s Sunan, Abu Dawud’s Sunan, and Ibn Majah’s Sunan.

"The Two Sahihs": Al-Bukhari’s Sahih and Muslim’s Sahih.

"The Two Shaykhs": Abu Bakr al-Siddiq and `Umar al-Faruq; in hadith terminology, al-Bukhari and Muslim.

sahîh: sound, rigorously authentic. The highest grading of a hadith or its chain of transmission. Also applied to a book of sahîh hadiths.

Salaf: The righteous Muslims of the first three centuries of Islam.

tawhîd: the affirmation of Oneness. Islamic belief and doctrine. Another name for Sura al-Ikhlas (#112).

usûl, sing. asl: the foundations of Religion; Islamic doctrine. Also known as `ilm al-tawhîd, and al-fiqh al-akbar.