204. Glossary of Arabic TermsDhikr: the "remembrance" of God, especially by means of the chanting
of the Names of God as a mantra to induce alternative states of con-
sciousness. A Sufi devotion.
Dhimmi: a "protected subject" in the Islamic empire, who belonged to
the religions tolerated by the Quran, the ahl al-kitab (q.v.). they in-
cluded Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs.
Dhimmiswere allowed full religious liberty and were able to organize
their community according to their own customal law, but were re-
quired to recognize Islamic sovereignty.
Faqih: a jurist; an expert in Islamic law.
Fatwah: a formal legal opinion or decision of a religious scholar on a
matter of Islamic law.
Fiqh: Islamic jurisprudence. The study and application of the body of
sacred Muslim law.
Fitnah: temptation, trial. Specifically, the term is used to describe the
civil wars that rent the Muslim community apart during the time of
the rashidun (q.v.) and the early Umayyad period.
Futuwwah: a corporate group of young urban men, formed after the
twelfth century, with special ceremonies of initiation, rituals and
sworn support to a leader that were strongly influenced by Sufi (q.v.)
ideals and practices.
Ghazu: originally, the "raids" undertaken by Arabs in the pre-Islamic
period for booty. Later a ghazi warrior was a fighter in a holy war for
Islam; often the term was applied to organized bands of raiders on
the frontiers of the Dar al-Islam (q.v.).
Ghulat (adjective, ghuluww): The extreme speculations. adopted by
the early Shii Muslims (q-v.), which overstressed some aspects of
doctrine.
Hadith: see ahadith.
Hajj: the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Hijrah: the "migration" of the Prophet Muhammad and the first Mus-
lim community from Mecca to Medina in 622.
Ijmah: the "consensus" of the Muslim community that gives legitimacy
to a legal decision.
Ijtihad: the "independent reasoning" used by a jurist to apply the
Shariah (q.v.) to contemporary circumstances. During the four-
teenth century Sunni Muslims (q.v.) declared that the "gates of ijti-
had" were closed, and that scholars must rely on the legal decisions
of past authorities instead of upon their own reasoned insights.