caliph
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'Successor'; a religious and political leader.
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dhikr
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A devotional remembrance of Allah through the recitation of his ninety-nine names and other devotional practices.
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fana
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'Extinction'; the sense of loss of self in mystical experience.
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hadith
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A 'recollection' of a act or saying of Muhammad.
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Hajj
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Pilgrimage to Mecca.
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Hijra
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'Flight'; Muhammad's escape from Mecca to Yathrib.
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Id al-Adha
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The Day of Sacrifice during the month of the Hajj, when an animal is sacrificed to recall the submission of Abraham.
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Id-al-Fitr
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A festival at the end of the month of Ramadan, during which people feast and visit friends and often visit graves of ancestors.
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imam
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A religious leader; specifically, one of the hereditary successors of Muhammad, venerated Shiite Islam.
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Islam
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'Submission'; the Muslim religion and the community of believers who have submitted themselves to Allah.
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jihad
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'Struggle'; the ideal of spreading Islamic belief and practice.
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Kabah
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'Cube'; the square shrine at the center of the great mosque in Mecca.
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mihrab
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The decorated niche inside a mosque that indicates the direction of Mecca.
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minaret
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A tower from which a chanter calls people to prayer.
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mosque
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A Muslim place of worship.
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muezzin
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A chanter who calls people to prayer.
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Muslim
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A person who submits to Allah.
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qiblah
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The direction toward Mecca; the direction toward which Muslims pray.
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Qur'an
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'Recitation'; God's words as revealed to and recited by Muhammad; an authorized edition of written words that appeared after Muhammad's death.
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Ramadan
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The month of fasting; the ninth month of the Muslim calendar.
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Sharia
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'Path'; the whole body of Islamic law, which guides a Muslim's life.
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Shiite
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A minority branch of Islam that holds Muhammad's genuine successors descended from his son-in-law Ali.
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Sufism
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A group of devotional movements in Islam.
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Sunni
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The majority branch of Islam, which holds that the genuine succession from Muhammad did not depend on hereditary decent from his son-in-law Ali.
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sura
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A chapter of the Qur'am.
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