Encyclopedia of Islam

liberty that their masters grant them. For some infractions, the penalties for slaves are actually lighter than those for free i ...

ous and efficient administrative structure and out of respect for the Shehu’s teaching and the author- ity of his family. During ...

greed and desire. For example, the Quran attributes to Joseph the declaration, “Selfishness [nafs] incites evil” (Q 12:53), and ...

elements in the universe, along with God, matter, time, and space. God allowed the soul to fulfill its desire to become embodied ...

Spain See andalusia. stoning See crime and punishment. student The acquisition of knowledge is considered a religious duty in is ...

Subud (abbreviation for the Sanskrit phrase Susila Buddhi Dharma) Subud is one of the more successful new Islamic- inspired spir ...

in northeastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea. It is bordered by egypt to the north and libya on the northwest. Other neighbors ...

in the south, the conflict in Darfur, and a lack of basic infrastructure, leaving much of the popula- tion living in poverty. Se ...

In 1926 Khan named his 11-year-old son, Vilayat, to be his successor as head of the Sufi Order. Following his father’s death in ...

developing an institute designed to promote and implement its vision of a humanity that is tolerant, just, and unified in spirit ...

being too concerned with their reputations and the letter of the law. Nevertheless, a degree of consen- sus was reached between ...

is banned in Saudi Arabia, and Sufi orders have also been banned from Shii iran, where they had flourished for centuries. Sufi t ...

means. Does it mean that Muslims should not go into battle unless they have enough provisions, or are they being instructed to k ...

by a democratic government; 2) the identity of the occupier differs significantly from that of the occupied (in terms of culture ...

the two wings of government under one Sunni umbrella. It was during the Seljuk period that the ideal government of the sultanate ...

In the early decades of Islamic history, the idea of the sunna had a broad range of meanings that became narrower with the passa ...

the Sunna (ahl al-sunna), or People of the Sunna and Community (ahl al-sunna wa’l-jamaa). They eventually became known simply as ...

as noticeably in Shiism. This has led to some prob- lems facing contemporary Sunni Islam, especially because the most vigorous i ...

and devotees prayed together in a zawiyah, or Sufi lodge. Up until the 18th century even the smallest Syrian village had its own ...

istering Syria. The disenfranchised middle class and educated professionals were blocked from advancing their own interests. Inc ...