Glossary • 477hadith (ha-DEETH): A statement, documented by a chain of reliable witnesses,
concerning a saying or action of Muhammad, or an action by one of his com¬
panions that he approved; hence an authoritative source of the Shari'a
Haganah (ha-ga-NAH): Jewish Agency's army in Palestine (1920-1948)
Hagar (HAH-gar): Abraham's second wife, mother of Ishmael, ancestor of the
Arabs
Haifa: Israel's main port city
hajj (HODGE): Muslim rite of pilgrimage to Mecca, or (with a lengthened vowel)
a Muslim who has completed the pilgrimage rites
al-Hajjaj (el-haj-JAJ): Authoritarian governor of Iraq (d. 714)
al-Hakim (el-HACK-em): Fatimid caliph (996-1021), venerated by the Druze
Hamas (ha-MASS): Palestinian Islamist group
Hamdanid dynasty (ham-DAH-nid): Arab family with branches ruling in Aleppo
and Mosul during the tenth century
Hanafi (HA-na-fee): Most widespread rite of Sunni Muslim jurisprudence, origi¬
nating in Iraq, stressing communal consensus as a source of the Shari'a
Hanbali (HAM-ba-lee): Rite of Sunni Muslim jurisprudence, very strict, requir¬
ing that all rules of conduct be based on the Quran and hadith
Hanif (ha-NEEF): Arab true believer before rise of Islam
Harawi, Ilyas (HRAH-wee, il-YASS): Lebanon's president (1989-1995)
harem: The portion of a Muslim house used by women and young children, not
open to unrelated males
Har Homa: New Jewish settlement in Jerusalem's outskirts, begun by Netanyahu's
government in 1997, angering many Palestinians, who call the town Jabal Abu
Ghunaym
Harun al-Rashid (ha-ROON er-ra-SHEED): Abbasid caliph (786-809)
al-Hasa (el-HAH-sa): Oil-rich Gulf coast region of Saudi Arabia
Hasan (HAH-san): Older son of Ali and Fatima, named by Ali as his successor but
pensioned off by Mu'awiya; recognized as second Shi'i imam (d. 669)
Hashimite (HA-she-mite): (1) Member of the family descended from Hashim; (2)
supporter of an extremist mawali Shi'i sect in late Umayyad times; (3) member of
the dynasty ruling the Hijaz (1916-1925), Syria (1918-1920), Iraq (1921-1958),
and Jordan (1921-)
Haskala (hoss-ka-LAH): Era of Jewish enlightenment during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries
Hebrew: Semitic language of ancient and modern Israel
Hebron (HEB-run): Town in Judea (the West Bank), revered by Jews and Mus¬
lims, site of a massacre by a Jewish settler of Palestinians in 1994
Hellenistic: Pertaining to the society and culture of the Mediterranean area that
used Greek as its main literary and administrative language
Heraclius (he-RACK-lee-us): Byzantine emperor (610-641) who repulsed
Sasanids but later lost Syria and Egypt to the Arabs