1.
Tehran
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Tehran is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. It is ranked 29th in the world by the population of its metropolitan area, in the Classical era, part of the present-day city of Tehran was occupied by a Median city that in the Avesta occurs as Rhaga. It was destroyed by the Mongols in the early 13th century, the capital has been moved several times throughout the history, and Tehran is the 32nd national capital of Iran. The city was the seat of the Qajars and Pahlavis, the two last imperial dynasties of Iran. It is home to historical collections, such as the royal complexes of Golestan, Sadabad. Large scale demolition and rebuilding began in the 1920s, and Tehran has been a destination for the migrations from all over Iran since the 20th century. Tabiat Bridge, which was completed in 2014, is considered the third symbol of the city. There have been plans to relocate Irans capital from Tehran to another area, due mainly to air pollution, to date, no definitive plans have been approved. A2016 survey of 230 cities by consultant Mercer ranked Tehran 203rd for quality of living, according to the Global Destinations Cities Index in 2016, Tehran is among the top ten fastest growing destinations. The origin of the name Tehran is uncertain, the settlement of Tehran dates back over 7,000 years. The present-day city of Tehran was a suburb of an important Median city that was known as Rhaga in Old Persian, in the Avestas Videvdat, Rhaga is mentioned as the twelfth sacred place created by the Ohrmazd. In Old Persian inscriptions, Rhaga appears as a province and it was a major area for the Iranian tribes of Medes and Achaemenids. From Rhaga, Darius the Great sent reinforcements to his father Hystaspes, in some Middle Persian texts, Rhaga is given as the birthplace of Zoroaster, although modern historians generally place the birth of Zoroaster in Khorasan. Derived into Modern Persian as Rey, it now as a city located towards the southern end of the modern-day city of Tehran. Mount Damavand, the highest peak of Iran, which is located near Tehran, is an important location in Ferdowsis Shahname, the long Iranian epic poem that is based on the ancient epics of Iran. It appears in the epics as the birthplace of Manuchehr, the residence of Keyumars, the place where Freydun binds the dragon fiend Aži Dahāka, during the Sassanid era, in 641, Yazdgerd III issued his last appeal to the nation from Rey, before fleeing to Khorasan. Rey was dominated by the Parthian Mihran family, and Siyavakhsh—the son of Mihran the son of Bahram Chobin—who resisted the Muslim Invasion, because of this resistance, when the Arabs captured Rey, they ordered the town to be destroyed and ordered Farrukhzad to rebuild the town anew. In the 9th century, Tehran was a well known village, but less known than the city of Rey, the medieval writer Najm od Din Razi declared the population of Rey about 500,000 before the Mongol Invasion
2.
Hosay
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Tadjah derived from Arabic word Tazieh and signifies different cultural meanings depending on the region, time, occasion, religion, etc. In British Guiana, now Guyana, and Suriname, the festival was called Taziya or creolized into Tadjah in reference to these floats, the most visible and decorative element of this festival. Generally Hosay lasts for 10 days and is observed in accordance with Islamic lunar calendar, last four days are the most popular as the first six are days of fasting, prayer and building of the “Tadjahs” and “Moons”. Event is attended by both Muslims and non-Muslims depicting an environment of respect and tolerance. In nineteenth-century Trinidad newspapers as well as government reports called Hosay the Coolie Carnival, the Hosay celebration is a Caribbean manifestation of the Shia Muslim Remembrance of Muharram in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica. The name Hosay comes from Husayn who was assassinated by Yazid in Karbala and this martyrdom is commemorated in the festival. In Trinidad and Tobago it is celebrated in Saint James, in northwestern Trinidad. Recently it has been revived elsewhere, in the 1850s, very elaborately decorated models of mosques made of paper and tinsel called tadjahs were carried through the streets to the accompaniment of constant drumming. Small fires were lit in the gutters beside the streets over which the drumskins were heated to tighten the skins of the tassa drums, mock stick fights celebrate the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali. The festival lasts three days ending with the throwing of the tadjahs into the sea at sunset on the third day. Although Hosay is an event for Shias, all of Trinidads religious and ethnic communities participate in it. The Remembrance of Muharram was continued to the Caribbean by Muslim indentured labourers and these people entered Guyana in 1838, and Trinidad after 1845, from colonial India under British auspices. The observance of Hosay in Trinidad is traced back to 1854, in the 1880s the British colonial authorities became increasingly concerned about public gatherings, and in 1884 issued an ordinance to prevent the public Hosay commemorations. The first estate that took its tadjah onto the street had earned that right over the past months, and in some towns, Hosay went ahead. In Port-of-Spain the police did not interfere, but in Mon Repos, San Fernando, on Thursday, October 30,1884, after shots were fired by the police to disperse the procession,22 Indians were killed immediately. Later,120 were found with injuries, some of whom had run into the cane fields and that day is commonly referred to in Trinidad history as the Muhurram Massacre by Indians and as the Hosay Riots in British and colonial records. The North Indian city of Lucknow and the Indian State of Oudh are more important than the Middle East in understanding this Trinidad public celebration, the Caribbean East Indian festival, Hosay came to the Americas from India in the early nineteenth century. Hosay reached out to include other Trinidadians, African and Creoles
3.
Tabuik
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A Tabuik is the local manifestation of the Remembrance of Muharram among the Minangkabau people in the coastal regions of West Sumatra, Indonesia, particularly in the city of Pariaman. The practice of throwing a tabuik into the sea has taken every year in Pariaman on the 10th of Muharram since 1831. The practice was introduced to the region by the Shiite Muslim sepoy troops from India who were stationed—and later settled—there during the British Raj, the festival includes reenactments of the Battle of Karbala, and the playing of tassa and dhol drums. Although originally a Shia festival, nowadays most inhabitants of Pariaman, the remembrance is referred to as Tabut or Tabot in Indonesian. In preparation for the ceremony, one or more tabuiks are made from bamboo, rattan, during the week of Tabuik, activities include kite races, traditional plays, and dance expositions. The memorial draws a crowd including dignitaries such as the provincial governor. Visitors and celebrants can observe the tabuik in the morning before it is taken to the beach in a procession. At noon the tabuik is thrown into the sea, afterwards, many people go swimming creating memories of the tabuik to keep. Culture of Indonesia Islam in Indonesia Shia Islam in Indonesia Hosay Photos of Tabuik Festival Tabuik Festival, Sumatra, Indonesia Tabuik, www. West-Sumatra. com – Land of Paradise
4.
Muslim
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A Muslim is someone who follows or practices Islam, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion. Muslims consider the Quran, their book, to be the verbatim word of God as revealed to the Islamic prophet. They also follow the teachings and practices of Muhammad as recorded in traditional accounts, Muslim is an Arabic word meaning one who submits. Most Muslims will accept anyone who has publicly pronounced Shahadah as a Muslim, the shahadah states, There is no god but the God and Muhammad is the last messenger of the God. The testimony authorized by God in the Quran that can found in Surah 3,18 states, There is no god except God, which in Arabic, is the exact testimony which God Himself utters, as well as the angels and those who possess knowledge utter. The word muslim is the active participle of the verb of which islām is a verbal noun, based on the triliteral S-L-M to be whole. A female adherent is a muslima, the plural form in Arabic is muslimūn or muslimīn, and its feminine equivalent is muslimāt. The Arabic form muslimun is the stem IV participle of the triliteral S-L-M, the ordinary word in English is Muslim. It is sometimes transliterated as Moslem, which is an older spelling, the word Mosalman is a common equivalent for Muslim used in Central Asia. Until at least the mid-1960s, many English-language writers used the term Mohammedans or Mahometans, although such terms were not necessarily intended to be pejorative, Muslims argue that the terms are offensive because they allegedly imply that Muslims worship Muhammad rather than God. Other obsolete terms include Muslimite and Muslimist, musulmán/Mosalmán is a synonym for Muslim and is modified from Arabic. In English it was sometimes spelled Mussulman and has become archaic in usage, the Muslim philosopher Ibn Arabi said, A Muslim is a person who has dedicated his worship exclusively to God. Islam means making ones religion and faith Gods alone. The Quran states that men were Muslims because they submitted to God, preached His message and upheld His values. Thus, in Surah 3,52 of the Quran, Jesus disciples tell him, We believe in God, and you be our witness that we are Muslims. In Muslim belief, before the Quran, God had given the Tawrat to Moses, the Zabur to David and the Injil to Jesus, who are all considered important Muslim prophets. The most populous Muslim-majority country is Indonesia, home to 12. 7% of the worlds Muslims, followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Egypt. About 20% of the worlds Muslims lives in the Middle East and North Africa, Sizable minorities are found in India, China, Russia, Ethiopia. The country with the highest proportion of self-described Muslims as a proportion of its population is Morocco
5.
Afghanistan
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Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia. It has a population of approximately 32 million, making it the 42nd most populous country in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north and its territory covers 652,000 km2, making it the 41st largest country in the world. The land also served as the source from which the Kushans, Hephthalites, Samanids, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Khiljis, Mughals, Hotaks, Durranis, the political history of the modern state of Afghanistan began with the Hotak and Durrani dynasties in the 18th century. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a state in the Great Game between British India and the Russian Empire. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, King Amanullah unsuccessfully attempted to modernize the country and it remained peaceful during Zahir Shahs forty years of monarchy. A series of coups in the 1970s was followed by a series of wars that devastated much of Afghanistan. The name Afghānistān is believed to be as old as the ethnonym Afghan, the root name Afghan was used historically in reference to a member of the ethnic Pashtuns, and the suffix -stan means place of in Persian. Therefore, Afghanistan translates to land of the Afghans or, more specifically in a historical sense, however, the modern Constitution of Afghanistan states that he word Afghan shall apply to every citizen of Afghanistan. An important site of historical activities, many believe that Afghanistan compares to Egypt in terms of the historical value of its archaeological sites. The country sits at a unique nexus point where numerous civilizations have interacted and it has been home to various peoples through the ages, among them the ancient Iranian peoples who established the dominant role of Indo-Iranian languages in the region. At multiple points, the land has been incorporated within large regional empires, among them the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, and the Islamic Empire. Archaeological exploration done in the 20th century suggests that the area of Afghanistan has been closely connected by culture and trade with its neighbors to the east, west. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, urban civilization is believed to have begun as early as 3000 BCE, and the early city of Mundigak may have been a colony of the nearby Indus Valley Civilization. More recent findings established that the Indus Valley Civilisation stretched up towards modern-day Afghanistan, making the ancient civilisation today part of Pakistan, Afghanistan, in more detail, it extended from what today is northwest Pakistan to northwest India and northeast Afghanistan. An Indus Valley site has found on the Oxus River at Shortugai in northern Afghanistan. There are several smaller IVC colonies to be found in Afghanistan as well, after 2000 BCE, successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia began moving south into Afghanistan, among them were many Indo-European-speaking Indo-Iranians. These tribes later migrated further into South Asia, Western Asia, the region at the time was referred to as Ariana
6.
Azerbaijan
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Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a country in the South Caucasus region, situated at the crossroads of Southwest Asia and Southeastern Europe. It is bound by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bound by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic proclaimed its independence in 1918 and became the first democratic state in the Muslim orient world. The country was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920 as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, the modern Republic of Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence on 30 August 1991, prior to the official dissolution of the USSR in December 1991. In September 1991, the Armenian majority of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region seceded to form the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, the region and seven adjacent districts outside it became de facto independent with the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994. These regions are recognized as part of Azerbaijan pending a solution to the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan is a unitary semi-presidential republic, the country is a member state of the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the NATO Partnership for Peace program. It is one of six independent Turkic states, a member of the Turkic Council. Azerbaijan has diplomatic relations with 158 countries and holds membership in 38 international organizations and it is one of the founding members of GUAM, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Its term of office began on 19 June 2006, Azerbaijan is also a member state of the Non-Aligned Movement, holds observer status in World Trade Organization and is a correspondent at the International Telecommunication Union. The Constitution of Azerbaijan does not declare an official religion and all political forces in the country are secularist. However, the majority of the population are of a Shiite Muslim background, Azerbaijan has a high level of human development which ranks on par with most Eastern European countries. It has a rate of economic development and literacy, as well as a low rate of unemployment. According to the Davos World Economic Forum, Azerbaijans economy has scored 37th place within 138 countries in 2016, Global Competitiveness Index 2015 indicates that Azerbaijan scores highest in its region. ASAN services, established with Presidential Decree, are known for eliminating bribery. ASAN Service has been awarded with United Nations Public Service Award 2015, the ruling party, the New Azerbaijan Party, has been accused of authoritarianism and human rights abuses. The original etymology of name is thought to have its roots in the once-dominant Zoroastrianism. In the Avesta, Frawardin Yasht, there is a mention of âterepâtahe ashaonô fravashîm ýazamaide, the name Atropates itself is the Greek transliteration of an Old Iranian, probably Median, compounded name with the meaning Protected by the Fire or The Land of the Fire
7.
Bahrain
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Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is a small Arab monarchy in the Persian Gulf. Bahrains population is 1,234,567, including 666,172 non-nationals and it is 780 km2 in size, making it the third smallest nation in Asia after the Maldives and Singapore. Bahrain is the site of the ancient Dilmun civilisation and it has been famed since antiquity for its pearl fisheries, which were considered the best in the world into the 19th century. Bahrain was one of the earliest areas to convert to Islam, following a period of Arab rule, Bahrain was occupied by the Portuguese in 1521, who in turn were expelled in 1602 by Shah Abbas I of the Safavid dynasty under the Persian Empire. In 1783, the Bani Utbah clan captured Bahrain from Nasr Al-Madhkur and it has since been ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family, in the late 1800s, following successive treaties with the British, Bahrain became a protectorate of the United Kingdom. Formerly a state, Bahrain was declared a Kingdom in 2002, in 2011, the country experienced protests inspired by the regional Arab Spring. Bahrain had the first post-oil economy in the Persian Gulf, since the late 20th century, Bahrain has invested in the banking and tourism sectors. Many large financial institutions have a presence in Manama, the countrys capital, Bahrain has a high Human Development Index and was recognised by the World Bank as a high income economy. In Arabic, Bahrayn is the form of bahr, so al-Bahrayn means the two seas, although which two seas were originally intended remains in dispute. The term appears five times in the Quran, but does not refer to the modern island—originally known to the Arabs as Awal— but rather to all of Eastern Arabia. Today, Bahrains two seas are generally taken to be the bay east and west of the island. In addition to wells, there are areas of the sea north of Bahrain where fresh water bubbles up in the middle of the water as noted by visitors since antiquity. An alternate theory with regard to Bahrains toponymy is offered by the al-Ahsa region, another supposition by al-Jawahari suggests that the more formal name Bahri would have been misunderstood and so was opted against. Until the late Middle Ages, Bahrain referred to the region of Eastern Arabia that included Southern Iraq, Kuwait, Al-Hasa, Qatif, the region stretched from Basra in Iraq to the Strait of Hormuz in Oman. This was Iqlīm al-Bahrayns Bahrayn Province, the exact date at which the term Bahrain began to refer solely to the Awal archipelago is unknown. The entire coastal strip of Eastern Arabia was known as Bahrain for a millennium, the island and kingdom were also commonly spelled Bahrein into the 1950s. Bahrain was home to the Dilmun civilization, an important Bronze Age trade centre linking Mesopotamia, Bahrain was later ruled by the Assyrians and Babylonians. From the 6th to 3rd century BC, Bahrain was part of the Persian Empire ruled by the Achaemenian dynasty, by about 250 BC, Parthia brought the Persian Gulf under its control and extended its influence as far as Oman
8.
Iran
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Iran, also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2, it is the second-largest country in the Middle East, with 82.8 million inhabitants, Iran is the worlds 17th-most-populous country. It is the country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The countrys central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is the countrys capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center. Iran is the site of to one of the worlds oldest civilizations, the area was first unified by the Iranian Medes in 625 BC, who became the dominant cultural and political power in the region. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, under the Sassanid Dynasty, Iran again became one of the leading powers in the world for the next four centuries. Beginning in 633 AD, Arabs conquered Iran and largely displaced the indigenous faiths of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism by Islam, Iran became a major contributor to the Islamic Golden Age that followed, producing many influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. During the 18th century, Iran reached its greatest territorial extent since the Sassanid Empire, through the late 18th and 19th centuries, a series of conflicts with Russia led to significant territorial losses and the erosion of sovereignty. Popular unrest culminated in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which established a monarchy and the countrys first legislative body. Following a coup instigated by the U. K. Growing dissent against foreign influence and political repression led to the 1979 Revolution, Irans rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the third-largest number in Asia and 11th-largest in the world. Iran is a member of the UN, ECO, NAM, OIC. Its political system is based on the 1979 Constitution which combines elements of a democracy with a theocracy governed by Islamic jurists under the concept of a Supreme Leadership. A multicultural country comprising numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, most inhabitants are Shia Muslims, the largest ethnic groups in Iran are the Persians, Azeris, Kurds and Lurs. Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis, meaning land of the Persians. As the most extensive interactions the Ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, however, Persis was originally referred to a region settled by Persians in the west shore of Lake Urmia, in the 9th century BC. The settlement was then shifted to the end of the Zagros Mountains. In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably
9.
Lebanon
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Lebanon, officially known as the Lebanese Republic, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, Lebanons location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland facilitated its rich history and shaped a cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity. At just 10,452 km2, it is the smallest recognized country on the entire mainland Asian continent, the earliest evidence of civilization in Lebanon dates back more than seven thousand years, predating recorded history. Lebanon was the home of the Canaanites/Phoenicians and their kingdoms, a culture that flourished for over a thousand years. In 64 BC, the region came under the rule of the Roman Empire, in the Mount Lebanon range a monastic tradition known as the Maronite Church was established. As the Arab Muslims conquered the region, the Maronites held onto their religion, however, a new religious group, the Druze, established themselves in Mount Lebanon as well, generating a religious divide that has lasted for centuries. During the Crusades, the Maronites re-established contact with the Roman Catholic Church, the ties they established with the Latins have influenced the region into the modern era. The region eventually was ruled by the Ottoman Empire from 1516 to 1918, following the collapse of the empire after World War I, the five provinces that constitute modern Lebanon came under the French Mandate of Lebanon. The French expanded the borders of the Mount Lebanon Governorate, which was populated by Maronites and Druze. Lebanon gained independence in 1943, establishing confessionalism, a unique, foreign troops withdrew completely from Lebanon on 31 December 1946. Lebanon has been a member of the Organisation internationale de la francophonie since 1973, despite its small size, the country has developed a well-known culture and has been highly influential in the Arab world. Before the Lebanese Civil War, the experienced a period of relative calm and renowned prosperity, driven by tourism, agriculture, commerce. At the end of the war, there were efforts to revive the economy. In spite of troubles, Lebanon has the highest Human Development Index and GDP per capita in the Arab world. The name of Mount Lebanon originates from the Phoenician root lbn meaning white, occurrences of the name have been found in different Middle Bronze Age texts from the library of Ebla, and three of the twelve tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The name is recorded in Ancient Egyptian as Rmnn, where R stood for Canaanite L, the name occurs nearly 70 times in the Hebrew Bible, as לְבָנוֹן. The borders of contemporary Lebanon are a product of the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920 and its territory was the core of the Bronze Age Phoenician city-states. After the 7th-century Muslim conquest of the Levant, it was part of the Rashidun, Umyayad, Abbasid Seljuk, with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Greater Lebanon fell under French mandate in 1920, and gained independence under president Bechara El Khoury in 1943
10.
Pakistan
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Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a federal parliamentary republic in South Asia on the crossroads of Central Asia and Western Asia. It is the sixth-most populous country with a population exceeding 200 million people, in terms of area, it is the 33rd-largest country in the world with an area covering 881,913 square kilometres. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistans narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, Pakistan is unique among Muslim countries in that it is the only country to have been created in the name of Islam. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and it is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country, with a similarly diverse geography and wildlife. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic, an ethnic civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh. The new constitution stipulated that all laws were to conform to the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Quran. Pakistan has an economy with a well-integrated agriculture sector. The Pakistani economy is the 24th-largest in the world in terms of purchasing power and it is ranked among the emerging and growth-leading economies of the world, and is backed by one of the worlds largest and fastest-growing middle classes. The post-independence history of Pakistan has been characterised by periods of military rule, the country continues to face challenging problems such as illiteracy, healthcare, and corruption, but has substantially reduced poverty and terrorism and expanded per capita income. It is also a member of CERN. Pakistan is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement, the name Pakistan literally means land of the pure in Urdu and Persian. It is a play on the word pāk meaning pure in Persian and Pashto, the letter i was incorporated to ease pronunciation and form the linguistically correct and meaningful name. Some of the earliest ancient human civilisations in South Asia originated from areas encompassing present-day Pakistan, the earliest known inhabitants in the region were Soanian during the Lower Paleolithic, of whom stone tools have been found in the Soan Valley of Punjab. The Vedic Civilization, characterised by Indo-Aryan culture, laid the foundations of Hinduism, Multan was an important Hindu pilgrimage centre. The Vedic civilisation flourished in the ancient Gandhāran city of Takṣaśilā, the Indo-Greek Kingdom founded by Demetrius of Bactria included Gandhara and Punjab and reached its greatest extent under Menander, prospering the Greco-Buddhist culture in the region. Taxila had one of the earliest universities and centres of education in the world. At its zenith, the Rai Dynasty of Sindh ruled this region, the Pala Dynasty was the last Buddhist empire, which, under Dharampala and Devapala, stretched across South Asia from what is now Bangladesh through Northern India to Pakistan. The Arab conqueror Muhammad bin Qasim conquered the Indus valley from Sindh to Multan in southern Punjab in 711 AD, the Pakistan governments official chronology identifies this as the time when the foundation of Pakistan was laid
11.
Bangladesh
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Bangladesh, officially the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It shares land borders with India and Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and China are located near Bangladesh but do not share a border with it. The countrys maritime territory in the Bay of Bengal is roughly equal to the size of its land area, Bangladesh is the worlds eighth most populous country. Dhaka is its capital and largest city, followed by Chittagong which has the countrys largest port, Bangladesh forms the largest and eastern part of the Bengal region. Bangladeshis include people of different ethnic groups and religions, Bengalis, who speak the official Bengali, make up 98% of the population. The politically dominant Bengali Muslims make the nation the worlds third largest Muslim-majority country, most of Bangladesh is covered by the Bengal delta, the largest delta on Earth. The country has 700 rivers and 8,046 km of inland waterways, highlands with evergreen forests are found in the northeastern and southeastern regions of the country. Bangladesh has many islands and a coral reef and it is home to the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world. The countrys biodiversity includes a vast array of plant and wildlife, including critically endangered Bengal tigers, the Greeks and Romans identified the region as Gangaridai, a powerful kingdom of the historical subcontinent, in the 3rd century BCE. Archaeological research has unearthed several ancient cities in Bangladesh, which had trade links for millennia. The Bengal Sultanate and Mughal Bengal transformed the region into a cosmopolitan Islamic imperial power between the 14th and 18th centuries, the region was home to many principalities which had inland naval prowess. It was also a center of the worldwide muslin and silk trade. As part of British India, the region was influenced by the Bengali renaissance, the Partition of British India made East Bengal a part of the Dominion of Pakistan, and was renamed as East Pakistan. The region witnessed the Bengali Language Movement in 1952 and the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, after independence, a parliamentary republic was established. A presidential government was in place between 1975 and 1990, followed by a return to parliamentary democracy, the country has also been affected by poverty, natural disasters, hunger, dominant party systems and military coups. Bangladesh is a power and a major developing nation. Listed as one of the Next Eleven, it has the 46th largest economy and it is one of the largest textile exporters in the world. Its major trading partners are the European Union, the United States, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, with its strategically vital location between Southern, Eastern and Southeast Asia, Bangladesh is an important promoter of regional connectivity and cooperation
12.
Iraq
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The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds, others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, around 95% of the countrys 36 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish, two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws, the area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian and it was also part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires. Iraqs modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres, Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932, in 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Baath Party from 1968 until 2003, after an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Husseins Baath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005. The American presence in Iraq ended in 2011, but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country, the Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name, one dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for city, UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is rooted, well-watered. During the medieval period, there was a region called ʿIrāq ʿArabī for Lower Mesopotamia and ʿIrāq ʿajamī, for the region now situated in Central and Western Iran. The term historically included the south of the Hamrin Mountains. The term Sawad was also used in early Islamic times for the region of the plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In English, it is either /ɪˈrɑːk/ or /ɪˈræk/, the American Heritage Dictionary, the pronunciation /aɪˈræk/ is frequently heard in U. S. media. Since approximately 10,000 BC, Iraq was one of centres of a Caucasoid Neolithic culture where agriculture, the following Neolithic period is represented by rectangular houses. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gypsum, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations
13.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
14.
Husayn ibn Ali
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Al-Ḥusayn ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, was the grandson of the Islamic Nabi Muhammad, and the son of ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib and Fatimah the daughter of Muhammad. He is an important figure in Islam, as he was a member of the Ahl al-Bayt of Muhammad and Ahl al-Kisa’, Al-Husayn became the Imam of Shi‘ites after the death of his older brother, Al-Hasan, in 670 ACE. His fathers supporters in Al-Kufah gave their allegiance to him, however, he told them he was still bound to the peace treaty between Al-Hasan and Muawiyah I and they should wait until Mu‘awiyahs death. Later, Al-Husain did not accept the request of Mu‘awiyah for the succession of his son, Yazid I and he insisted on his legitimacy based on his own special position as a direct descendant of Muhammad and his legitimate legatees. As a consequence, he left Medina, his home town, there, the people of Al-Kufah sent letters to him, asking his help and pledging their allegiance to him. So he travelled towards Al-Kufah, but, at a place near it known as Karbala’ and he was killed and beheaded in the Battle of Karbala’ on 10 October 680 by Shimr Ibn Thil-Jawshan, along with most of his family and companions. Anger at Al-Husayns death was turned into a rallying cry that helped undermine the Umayyad caliphates legitimacy, Al-Husayn is highly regarded by Shi‘ite Muslims for refusing to pledge allegiance to Yazid, the Umayyad caliph, because he considered the rule of the Umayyads unjust. His action at Karbala fuelled the later Shia movements, Al-Husayn was the son of ‘Ali ibn Abi Ṭalib, and his wife Fatimah. His maternal grandparents were Muhammad and Khadijah bint Khuwaylid, and his grandparents were Abu Talib. Husayn and his brother Hasan were the last descendants of Muhammad living during his lifetime, there are many accounts of his love for them which refer to them together. Allah loves those who love Hussain, Hussain is a grandson among grandsons. A narration declares them the Masters of the Youth of Paradise, the Shia maintain that the infallibility of the Imam is a basic rule in the Imamate. According to Wilferd Madelung, Muhammad loved them and declared them as people of his Bayt very frequently and he has also said, Every mothers children are associated with their father except for the children of Fatima for I am their father and lineage. Thus, the descendants of Fatimah were descendants of Muhammad, according to popular Sunni belief, it refers to the household of Muhammad. Shia popular view is the members of Muhammads family that were present at the incident of Mubahalah, according to Muhammad Baqir Majlisi who compiled Bihar al-Anwar, a collection of ahadith, Chapter 46 Verse 15 and Chapter 89 Verses 27-30 of the Qur’an are regarding Al-Husayn. In the year AH10 a Christian envoy from Najran came to Muhammad to argue which of the two parties erred in its doctrine concerning ‘Isa. Accordingly, in the verse of Mubahalah, in the Shi‘ite perspective, the phrase our sons would refer to Al-Hasan and Al-Husayn, our women would refer to Fatimah, and ourselves would refer ‘Ali. Mu‘awiyah, who was the governor of Al-Sham under ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan, had refused ‘Alis demands for allegiance, after ‘Ali was assassinated and people gave allegiance to Al-Hasan, Mu‘awiyah prepared to fight with him
15.
Moses in Islam
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Mûsâ ibn Amram known as Moses in the Hebrew Bible, considered a prophet, messenger, and leader in Islam, is the most frequently mentioned individual in the Quran. The Quran states that Moses was sent by God to the Pharaoh of Egypt, Moses is mentioned more in the Quran than any other individual, and his life is narrated and recounted more than that of any other prophet. According to Islam, all Muslims must have faith in every prophet and messenger which includes Moses, the Quran states, Also mention in the Book Moses, for he was specially chosen, and he was a messenger a prophet. And we called him from the side of Mount, and made him draw near to Us. And, out of Our Mercy, We gave him his brother Aaron, Moses is considered to be a prophetic predecessor to Muhammad. Generally attributed the tale of Moses as a parallel to the life of Muhammad. Islamic literature also describes a parallel between their believers and the incidents occurred in their lifetimes. The exodus of the Israelites from Egypt is considered similar to the migration made by the followers of Muhammad, moreover, according to Islamic tradition, Moses was one of the many prophets Muhammad met in the event of the Miraj, when he ascended through the seven heavens. Moses is further revered in Islamic literature, which expands upon the incidents of his life, according to Islamic tradition, Musa was born into a family of Israelites living in Egypt. Of his family, Islamic tradition generally names his father Imran, corresponding to the Amram of the Hebrew Bible, Islam states that Moses was born in a time when the ruling Pharaoh had enslaved the Israelites after the time of the prophet Joseph. Islamic literature further states that the experts of economics in Pharaohs court advised him that killing the male infants of the Israelites, therefore, they suggested that the male infants should be killed in one year but spared the next. Aaron was born in the year in which infants were spared, according to Islamic tradition, Mosess mother suckled him secretly during this period. The Quran states that when they were in danger of being caught God inspired her to put him in a basket and set him adrift on the Nile and she instructed her daughter to follow the course of the ark and to report back to her. As the daughter followed the ark along the riverbank, Moses was discovered by the Pharaohs wife, Asiya, the Quran states that when Asiya ordered wet nurses for Moses, Moses refused to be breastfed. Islamic tradition states that this was because God had forbidden Moses from being fed by any wet nurse as to reunite his mother with him. His sister worried that Moses had not been fed for some time, therefore, she appeared to the Pharaoh and informed him that she knew someone, Islamic tradition states that after being questioned, she was ordered to bring the woman being discussed. The sister brought their mother who fed Moses and thereafter she was appointed as the wet nurse of Moses, according to Israiliyat hadith, during his childhood when Moses was playing on Pharaohs lap and he grabbed the Pharaohs beard. This action prompted the Pharaoh to consider Moses as the Israelite who would overthrow him, the Pharaoh decided to kill Moses but stopped after the Pharaohs wife interceded and argued that he was just an infant, and due to her intercession the Pharaoh decided to test Moses
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Muharram
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Muḥarram is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year, since the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, Muharram moves from year to year when compared with the Gregorian calendar. It is held to be the second holiest month, following Ramadan, some Muslims fast during these days. The tenth day of Muharram is the Day of Ashura, which to Shia Muslims is part of the Mourning of Muharram, Shia Muslims during Muharram do different things and with different intentions. Not only Shia people, Sunni sect of Muslim especially the lover of Ahl al-Bayt and they observe and respect Muharram as the month that martyred Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of Muhammad and son of Ali, in the Battle of Karbala. They mourn for Hussein ibn Ali and refrain from all joyous events, unlike Sunni Muslims, Shias do not fast on the 10th day of Muharram. In addition there is an important Ziyarat book, the Ziyarat Ashura about Hussein ibn Ali. In the Shia sect it is popular to read this ziyarat on the Day of Ashura, although most of the Shias try to read Ziyarat Ashura every day, Muharram of Sunni peoples of Bengal-especially the Sufi and Ahl al-Bayt lovers are very well known. These Sunni sects do the mourning of Imam Hussain and his Ahl al-Bayt from the first day of Muharram till the forty days after Ashura, with the sighting of the new moon the Islamic New Year is ushered in. The first month, Muharram, is one of the four sacred months that Allah has mentioned in the Quran, Muharram, Rajab, Dhu al-Qidah, and Dhu al-Hijjah. Even before Islam came, Quraish and Arabs as a whole knew the sanctity of the months and were forbidden to wage wars on those months, Muharram is a month of remembrance and modern Shia meditation that is often considered synonymous with Ashura. Ashura, which means the Tenth in Arabic, refers to the tenth day of Muharram. It is well-known because of historical significance and mourning for the murder of Hussein ibn Ali, shiite begin mourning from the first night of Muharram and continue for ten nights, climaxing on the 10th of Muharram, known as the Day of Ashura. The surviving members of Imam Husseins family and those of his followers were taken captive, marched to Damascus, the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, and months begin when the first crescent of a new moon is sighted. Since the Islamic lunar calendar year is 11 to 12 days shorter than the solar year, the estimated start and end dates for Muharram are as follows The approximate dates for the next Muharram is from 21 September 2017 to 20 October 2017. 01 Muharram, anniversary of the death of Hazrat Ammasaheb Bibi Habiba Qadri in India, Birth of the Báb in 1235 AH.02 Muharram, Hussein ibn Ali enters Karbala and establishes camp. Birth of Baháulláh in 1233 AH.07 Muharram, Access to water was banned to Husayn ibn Ali by Yazids orders,10 Muharram, Referred to as the Day of Ashurah was the day on which Hussein ibn Ali was martyred in the Battle of Karbala. 15 Muharram, Birth of Muhammad Sirajuddin Naqshbandi in 1297 AH25 Muharram, Zayn al-‘Ābidīn,28 Muharram, Death anniversary Urs of Ashraf Jahangir Semnani in 808 AH a great Sufi saint in India
17.
Shia Islam
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Shia is a branch of Islam which holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor. Shia Islam primarily contrasts with Sunni Islam, whose adherents believe that Muhammad did not appoint a successor, instead they consider Abu Bakr to be the correct Caliph. Adherents of Shia Islam are called Shias of Ali, Shias or the Shia as a collective or Shii individually, Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam, in 2009, Shia Muslims constituted 10–13% of the worlds Muslim population. Twelver Shia is the largest branch of Shia Islam, in 2012 it was estimated that perhaps 85 percent of Shias were Twelvers. Shia Islam is based on the Quran and the message of Muhammad attested in hadith, Shia consider Ali to have been divinely appointed as the successor to Muhammad, and as the first Imam. The word Shia means follower and is the form of the historic phrase shīʻatu ʻAlī, meaning followers of Ali, faction of Ali. Shia and Shiism are forms used in English, while Shiite or Shiite, as well as Shia, the term for the first time was used at the time of Muhammad. At present, the word refers to the Muslims who believe that the leadership of the community after Muhammad belongs to Ali, nawbakhti states that the term Shia refers to a group of Muslims that at the time of Muhammad and after him regarded Ali as the Imam and Caliph. Al-Shahrastani expresses that the term Shia refers to those who believe that Ali is designated as the Heir, Imam and caliph by Muhammad, for the Shia, this conviction is implicit in the Quran and history of Islam. And Allah is Hearing and Knowing, Shia search for the true meaning of the revelation to get the purpose of the life blood and the human destiny. Shia Muslims believe that just as a prophet is appointed by God alone and they believe God chose Ali to be Muhammads successor, infallible, the first caliph of Islam. The Shias believe that Muhammad designated Ali as his successor by Gods command, Ali was Muhammads first cousin and closest living male relative as well as his son-in-law, having married Muhammads daughter Fatimah. Ali would eventually become the fourth Muslim caliph, after the Farewell Pilgrimage, Muhammad ordered the gathering of Muslims at the pond of Khumm and it was there that Shia Muslims believe Muhammad nominated Ali to be his successor. The hadith of the pond of Khumm was narrated on 18th of Dhu al-Hijjah of 10 AH in the Islamic calendar at a place called Ghadir Khumm, located near the city of al-Juhfah, Saudi Arabia. Muhammad there stated, Shia Muslims believe this to be Muhammads appointment of Ali as his successor, when Muhammad died in 632 CE, Ali and Muhammads closest relatives made the funeral arrangements. While they were preparing his body, Abu Bakr, Umar, Ali and his family accepted the appointment for the sake of unity in the early Muslim community. Alis rule over the early Muslim community was often contested, as a result, he had to struggle to maintain his power against the groups who betrayed him after giving allegiance to his succession, or those who wished to take his position. This dispute eventually led to the First Fitna, which was the first major civil war within the Islamic Caliphate, the Fitna began as a series of revolts fought against Ali ibn Abi Talib, caused by the assassination of his political predecessor, Uthman ibn Affan
18.
Tawhid
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Tawhid is the indivisible oneness concept of monotheism in Islam. Tawhid is the religions most fundamental concept and holds that God is One, because of the principle of Tawhid the Islamic belief in God is considered Unitarian. Tawhid constitutes the foremost article of the Muslim profession of faith, the first part of the Shahada is the declaration of belief in the oneness of God. To attribute divinity to an entity, known as shirk, is an unpardonable sin according to the Quran. Muslims believe that the entirety of the Islamic teaching rests on the principle of Tawhid, There is an uncompromising monotheism at the heart of the Islamic beliefs which is seen, from an Islamic standpoint, as distinguishing Islam from other major religions. The Quran asserts the existence of a single and absolute truth that transcends the world, a unique, independent and indivisible being, who is independent of the entire creation. God, according to Islam, is a universal God, rather than a local, tribal, or parochial one—God is an absolute, who integrates all affirmative values and brooks no evil. Islamic intellectual history can be understood as an unfolding of the manner in which successive generations of believers have understood the meaning. Islamic scholars have different approaches toward understanding it, Islamic theology, jurisprudence, philosophy, Sufism, even to some degree the Islamic understanding of natural sciences, all seek to explain at some level the principle of tawhid. The classical definition of tawhid was limited to declaring or preferring belief in one God, in modern Arabic, the verbs wahhada or yuwahhidu mean to unite or bring together something that which wasnt one, which reflects the struggle of monotheism against polytheism. Attribution of divinity to an entity, shirk, is considered a denial of the truth of God. Associating others with God is known as shirk and is the antithesis of Tawhid and it is usually but not always in the form of idolatry and supplicating to others than Allah, or believing that they hold the same attributes as him in an equal or lesser degree. Shirk is divided into two categories, Greater shirk, open and apparent, Lesser shirk, concealed or hidden, Greater Shirk consists of the above-mentioned deeds. A person commits lesser shirk or hidden polytheism when he claims to believe in God but his thoughts and actions do not reflect his belief. There are also forms of Shirk, they must be avoided as well. Within Islam, shirk is a crime, God may forgive any sin if one dies in that state except for committing shirk. Ali states that God is One means that God is away from likeness and numeration, the first step of religion is to accept, understand and realize him as the Lord. The correct form of belief in his unity is to realize that he is so absolutely pure and that is, one should realize that there is no difference between his person and his attributes, and his attributes should not be differentiated or distinguished from his person
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Prophets and messengers in Islam
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Belief in Islamic prophets is one of the six articles of the Islamic faith, and specifically mentioned in the Quran. Muslims believe the first prophet was also the first human being, Many of the revelations delivered by the 48 prophets in Judaism and many prophets of Christianity are mentioned as such in the Quran but usually in altered form and with different names. For example, the Jewish Elisha is called Alyasa, Job is Ayyub, Jesus is Isa, the Torah given to Moses is called Tawrat, the Psalms given to David is the Zabur, the Gospel given to Jesus is Injil). Notwithstanding, none of the seven Jewish Prophetesses are mentioned in the Quran as prophets, each came to preach Islam at different times in history and some told of the coming of the final Islamic prophet and messenger of God, who would be named Ahmed commonly known as Muhammad. Each Islamic prophet directed a message to a different group of people, in Arabic and Hebrew, the term nabī means prophet. Forms of this noun occur 75 times in the Quran, the term nubuwwah occurs five times in the Quran. The terms rasūl and mursal denote messenger or apostle and occur more than 300 times, the term for a prophetic message, risālah, appears in the Quran in ten instances. The Syriac form of rasūl Allāh, s̲h̲eliḥeh d-allāhā, occurs frequently in the apocryphal Acts of St. Thomas, the corresponding verb for s̲h̲eliḥeh—s̲h̲alaḥ, occurs in connection with the prophets in the Hebrew Bible. The words prophet and messenger appear several times in the Old Testament, the following table shows these words in different languages, In the Hebrew Bible, the word navi occurs more commonly, and the Hebrew word malakh refers to Angels in Judaism. According to Judaism, Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi were the last prophets, with them, the authentic period of Nevuah died, and nowadays only the Bath Kol exists. In the New Testament, however, the word becomes more frequent. Messenger may refer to Jesus, to his Apostles and to John the Baptist, but the last book of the Old Testament, the Book of Malachi, speaks of a messenger that Christian commentators interpret as a reference to the future prophet John the Baptist. In Muslim belief, every Islamic prophet preached Islam, the beliefs of charity, prayer, pilgrimage, worship of God and fasting are believed to have been taught by every prophet who has ever lived. The Quran itself calls Islam the religion of Abraham and refers to Jacob, the Quran speaks of the Islamic prophets as being the greatest human beings of all time. A prophet, in the Muslim sense of the term, is a person whom God specially chose to teach the faith of Islam, before man was created, God had specifically selected those men whom He would use as prophets. This does not, however, mean that every prophet began to prophesy from his birth, some were called to prophesy late in life, in Muhammads case at the age of 40. Others, such as John the Baptist, were called to prophesy while still at a young age, the Quran verse 4,69 lists various virtuous groups of human beings, among whom prophets occupy the highest rank. Verse 4,69 reads, All who obey Allah and the messenger are in the company of those on whom is the Grace of Allah—of the prophets, the sincere, the witnesses, and we have made the evil ones friends to those without faith
20.
Succession to Muhammad
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The succession to Muhammad raises questions about the leadership of Islam after his death, Muhammads successor, how they should be elected, conditions of legitimacy and the role of successor. Answers to these questions have led to divisions in the Muslim community since the first century of Muslim history, giving rise to the Sunni, Shia. After Muhammads death in AD632, disagreement broke out over who should succeed him as leader of the Muslim community, since none of his sons survived into adulthood, hereditary succession was not an option. Umar, a prominent companion of Muhammad, nominated Abu Bakr, others added their support, and Abu Bakr was made the first caliph. This choice was disputed by some of Muhammads companions, who believed that Ali, his cousin, during the First and Second Fitnas the Islamic community divided into a number of groups, each of which had a specific idea about successorship. After the Rashidun caliphate evolved into monarchies and sultanates, Sunnis held power in most areas, Shias emerged in opposition. Sunnis believe that although Muhammad did not appoint a successor, Abu Bakr was elected the first caliph by the Muslim community, Shias believe that Muhammad named his successor, Ali, at Ghadir Khumm, Muslim leadership belonged to the person determined by divine order. The two groups also disagree on Alis attitude towards Abu Bakr and the two caliphs who succeeded him, Umar and Uthman ibn Affan, Ali believed that he could fulfil his imamate without fighting. Zaydis disagree with the Twelver Shia, after the death of Abu Bakr, Ali raised Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr. When Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr was killed by the Ummayads, Aisha raised, Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakrs mother was from Alis family, Qasims daughter, Farwah bint al-Qasim, was married to Muhammad al-Baqir and was the mother of Jafar al-Sadiq. Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr was the grandson of Abu Bakr, the first caliph, the Zaydis believe that Zayd ibn Ali was betrayed by the people in Kufa, who told him, May God have mercy on you. What do you have to say on the matter of Abu Bakr, Zayd ibn Ali said, I have not heard anyone in my family renouncing them both nor saying anything but good about them. Historical works of later Muslim writers include the traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad and quotes attributed to him, the earliest surviving written sira is Sirah Rasul Allah by Ibn Ishaq. Although the original work is lost, portions survive in the recensions of Ibn Hisham, many scholars accept the accuracy of these biographies, although this accuracy is uncertain. Studies by J. Schacht and Ignác Goldziher have led scholars to distinguish between legal and historical traditions, according to William Montgomery Watt, although legal traditions could have been invented, historical material may have been primarily subject to tendential shaping rather than invented. Hadith compilations are records of the traditions of Muhammad—his biography, perpetuated by community memory for it guidance, the development of hadith is a crucial element of the first three centuries of Islamic history. Early Western scholars mistrusted the later narrations and reports, regarding them as fabrications, the only contemporary source is The Book of Sulaym ibn Qays by Sulaym ibn Qays. This collection of hadith and historical reports from the first century of the Islamic calendar narrates events relating to the succession in detail, at a small gathering attended in Saqifah a companion of Muhammad, Abu Bakr, was nominated to lead the community
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Imamah (Shia)
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In Shia Islam, the imamah is the doctrine that the figures known as imams are rightfully the central figures of the ummah, the entire Shiite system of doctrine focuses on the imamah. These Imams have the role of providing commentary and interpretation of the Quran as well as guidance to their followers as is the case of the living Imams of the Nizari Ismaili tariqah. According to Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, the Imam is a means through which humans receive divine grace, because He brings men closer to obedience, as fulfilling the human being is his wish, it is logical that God appoints Imams to subject man to his wishes. So his existence and his deeds display two forms of grace of God toward man, the word Imām denotes a person who stands or walks in front. For Sunni Islam, the word is used to mean a person who leads the course of prayer in the mosque. It also means the head of a madhhab, all Muslims believe that Muhammad had said, To whomsoever I am Mawla, Ali is his Mawla. This hadith has been narrated in different ways by different sources in no less than 45 hadith books of both Sunni and Shia collections. This hadith has also narrated by the collector of hadiths, al-Tirmidhi,3713, as well as Ibn Maajah,121. The major point of conflict between the Sunni and the Shia is in the interpretation of the word Mawla, for the Shia the word means Lord and Master and has the same elevated significance as when the term had been used to address Muhammad himself during his lifetime. However, for the Sunnis the word means the beloved or the revered and has no other significance at all. Each succession dispute brought forth a different tariqah within Shia Islam, each Shia tariqah followed its own particular Imams dynasty, thus resulting in different numbers of Imams for each particular Shia tariqah. When the dynastic line of the separating successor Imam ended with no heir to succeed him, then either he or his successor was believed to have gone into concealment. The Shia tariqah with a majority of adherents are the Twelvers who are known as the Shia. After that come the Nizari Ismailis commonly known as the Ismailis, the Druze tariqah initially were part of the Fatimid Ismailis and separated from them after the death of the Fatimid Imam and Caliph al Hakim Bi Amrillah. The Shia Sevener tariqah no longer exists, another small tariqah is the Zaidi Shias, also known as the Fivers and who do not believe in The Occultation of their last Imam. Although all these different Shia tariqahs belong to the Shia group in Islam, the Shia Nizari Ismailis by definition have to have a present and living Imam until the end of time. Thus if any living Nizari Ismaili Imam fails to leave behind a successor after him then the Nizari Ismailism’s cardinal principle would be broken and it’s very raison dêtre would come to an end. They refer to the verse 5,3 of Quran which was revealed to the prophet when he appointed Ali as his successor at the day of Ghadir Khumm, regarding 17,71, no age can be without an Imam
22.
Islamic view of angels
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Belief in Angels is one of the six Articles of Faith in Islam. They are considered heavenly beings without their own will unlike humans who perform tasks of God, the imagination of angels in Islam developed from the Quran and was influenced by other religions like Judaism and expanded by tafsir and the hadith literature. Angels take the role of performing different tasks of God. They are said to be created out of light, unlike humans or jinn, they have no biological needs and therefore no lower desires predicted by the natural world. They may be described as creatures of pure emotion and this is narrated in Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, book 56. Besides the personificated interpretation of angels, they are thought of carrying the laws of nature. Angels are not equal in status and consequently, they are delegated different tasks to perform, jibrail is the archangel responsible for revealing the Quran to Muhammad, verse by verse. Jibrail is the angel who communicates with the prophets and also for coming down with the blessings of Allah during the night of Laylat al-Qadr, mikail, who provides nourishments for bodies and souls. Mikail is often depicted as the archangel of mercy who is responsible for bringing rain, Israfil or Israafiyl, is an archangel in Islam who will blow the trumpet at the end of time. According to the hadith, Israfil is the responsible for signaling the coming of Qiyamah by blowing a horn. Azrael/Azraaiyl/Azrail also known as Malak al-maut, is the angel of death and he is responsible for parting the soul from the body of the deads. The angels of the Seven Heavens, hafaza, Kiraman Katibin, two of whom are charged to every human being, one writes down good deeds and another one writes down evil deeds. They are both described as Raqeebun Ateed in the Quran, muaqqibat who keep people from death until its decreed time and who bring down blessings. Jundullah, those who helped Muhammad in the battlefield Those who draw out the souls of the blessed and those angels who drive the clouds. The Angel of the Mountains Munkar and Nakir, who question the dead in their graves, dardail, who travel in the earth searching out assemblies where people remember Gods name. The angels charged with each existent thing, maintaining order and warding off corruption and their number is known only to God. Ridwan, the keeper of the Paradise, azazil is sometimes considered as an angel, who was the keeper of paradise and leader of an angelic army. He is also the instrument of divine anger, otherwise he is held for a Jinni raised to the angelic realm
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Islamic eschatology
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Islamic eschatology is the branch of Islamic scholarship that studies Yawm al-Qiyāmah or Yawm ad-Dīn. This is believed to be the final assessment of humanity by God, consisting of the annihilation of all life, resurrection, the time of the event is not specified, although there are major and minor signs which have been foretold to happen at al-Qiyamah. Many verses of the Quran contain the motif of the impending Last Judgment, surat al-Qiyama has as its main subject the resurrection. The Great Tribulation is also described in the hadith, and commentaries of the such as al-Ghazali, Ibn Kathir, Ibn Majah, Muhammad al-Bukhari. The Day of Judgment is also known as the Day of Reckoning, the hadith describe the end time with more specificity than the Quran, describing the events of al-Qiyamah through twelve major signs. At the time of judgment, terrible corruption and chaos will rule, the Mahdi will be sent and with the help of Jesus, will battle Masih ad-Dajjal. They will triumph, liberating Islam from cruelty, and this will be followed by a time of serenity with people living true to religious values, however, there is no mention of the advent of Mahdi and Isa in one era in any of the hadith. Some Muslim scholars translate the Arabic word Imam as Mahdi to prove the advent of Mahdi, like other Abrahamic religions, Islam also teaches resurrection of the dead, a final tribulation and eternal division of the righteous and wicked. Islamic apocalyptic literature describing Armageddon is often known as fitna, malāḥim, the righteous are rewarded with pleasures of Jannah Paradise, while the unrighteous are punished in Jahannam Hell. The Day of Judgment or Resurrection, al-Qiyāmah, is one of the six articles of faith in Islam. The tribulation associated with it is described in the Quran and hadith, and commentaries of ulama like al-Ghazali, Ibn Kathir, Ibn Majah, Muhammad al-Bukhari, the Day of Judgment is also known as the Day of Reckoning, the Hour, and the Last Day. The Day of Judgment or Resurrection, al-Qiyāmah, relates to one of the six articles in Sunni Islam and seven articles in Shia Islam. There are two sources in Islamic scripture that discuss the Last Judgment, the Quran, which is viewed in Islam as infallible. Hadith are viewed with more flexibility due to the compilation of the traditions in written form. The concept has also discussed in commentaries of ulama such as al-Ghazali, Ibn Kathir. The Quran describes the Last Judgment with a number of interpretations of its verses, there are specific aspects, The time is known only to God. Those who have been dead will believe that a time has passed between birth and death. God will resurrect all, even if they have turned to stone or iron and those that have accepted false deities will suffer in the afterlife
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Mourning of Muharram
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Many of the events associated with the ritual take place in congregation halls known as Hussainia. The event marks the anniversary of the Battle of Karbala when Imam Hussein ibn Ali, family members, accompanying Hussein ibn Ali, were killed or subjected to humiliation. The commemoration of the event during yearly mourning season, from first of Muharram to twentieth of Safar with Ashura comprising the focal date, at present, Muharram observances are carried out in countries with a sizable Shia population. The words Azadari which mean mourning and lamentation, and Majalis-e Aza have been used in connection with the remembrance ceremonies for the martyrdom of Imam Hussain. Expression of grief with thumping of the chest by Shia Muslims is known as Latmya, Latmaya or latmia in Arabic-Persian countries, in India and Pakistan it is called Matam or Matam-Dari/Sina Zannee. Muharram rituals was often called by European observers the Feast of Hasan and Hosayn, the term majalis has both a grammatical meaning and a meaning which relates to Aza-e-Husayn. In its technical sense, a majalis is a meeting, a session or a gathering, according to Shia sources, The mourning of Muharram was started by the family, specially womenfolk, of Muhammad immediately after the death of his grandson and even before entering Damascus. News of Imam Husayn ibn Alis death was spread by Imam Zain-ul-Abideen, who succeeded Imam Husayn as the Shia Imam, via sermons and speeches throughout Iraq, Syria and Hejaz. Due to the History of the Prophets and Kings, when Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin gave the sermon in presence of Yazid, according to popular belief, Shia rituals spread to South Asia starting at the end of the 14th century with the conquests of Tamerlane. Observance has since spread to such as India, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Syria, Nigeria, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Yemen, Bahrain, Azerbaijan. The type of mourning of Muharram varies between branches of Shia, Sunni, and different ethnic groups, Shia Muslims around the world every year commemorate the mourning custom of death of Husayn ibn Ali, his family and his follower in months of Muharram and Safar. They entitle him Prince of Martyrs and know his as a spiritual and political savior, still, he has important role in the religious and national consciousness of the people. According to the Shia belief taking part in the ritual will be an help to salvation on day of judgment. Of all the religions of lament which could be adduced for closer consideration that of the Islamic is the most illuminating. The lament itself, as an impassioned pack opening out, to a true e crowd, after a while to protecting the mourner from the weather, the Hussainiya and the Tekyeh were built. The event is observed by many Sunnis, but to a lesser extent, after almost 12 centuries, five types of major rituals were developed around the battle of Karbala. Imam Husayn Shrine is located at the mosqe and burial sites of Husayn ibn Ali, many Shia go on a pilgrimage to the Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala, one of the holiest places for Shias apart from Mecca and Medina. Up to one million pilgrims visit the city annually to observe the anniversary of Imam Husayn ibn Alis death, Shia Muslims believe that pilgrimmage to Husayn ibn Ali’s shrine like weeping saves them from condemned to hell at the day of judgment and all their guilt is removed
25.
Shia clergy
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In Shia Islam the guidance of clergymen and keeping such a structure holds a great importance. The clergy structure depends on the branch of Shiism is being referred to, usooli and Akhbari Shia Twelver Muslims believe that the study of Islamic literature is a continual process, and is necessary for identifying all of Gods laws. Twelver Shia Muslims believe that the process of finding Gods laws from the available Islamic literature will facilitate in dealing with any circumstance and they believe that they can interpret the Quran and the Twelver Shia traditions with the same authority as their predecessors. This process of ijtihad has provided a means to deal with current issues from an Islamic perspective, most Sunni scholars, preachers, and judges traditionally believe that the door of ijtihad, or private judgment, is closed. That is because they have been under the scrutiny and control of Islamic scholars over the years. Thus, traditionally religious rulings have been issued by ulama, in contrast, Shia scholars have traditionally been distanced from, and therefore, outside the direct control of governments. This has afforded these clerical establishments much more flexibility in dealing with religious as well as political matters, usooli Shia considering it obligatory to obey a mujtahid when seeking to determine Islamically correct behavior. They believe the 12th Imam, ordered them to follow the scholars who. guard their soul, protect their religion, the mujtahid they follow or emulate is known as a Marja Taqleedi. As of 2014 there were over 60 recognized Marj in the Shia Muslim world, the term Dāʻī al-Mutlaq literally means the absolute or unrestricted missionary. In Ismāīlī Islām, the term dāʻī has been used to refer to important religious leaders other than the hereditary Imāms, the Daʻwa was a term for the Ismāīlī faith itself from early on. They are also called Dāʻī Syednas, shiite Clerics between Quietism and Resistance, M. Ismail Marcinkowski
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The Four Companions
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Verily you and your Shia will be in Paradise. These companions are later referred to as Real Shia, abdullah ibn Abbas, Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr and Malik al-Ashtar were other such partisans. However, it is only The Four Companions that are believed to have attained the rank of the Real Shi‘a, hadith of the pond of Khumm Sulaym ibn Qays Ahl ul-Baith
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Arba'een
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Arbaeen, Chehlom or Qırxı, İmamın Qırxı is a Shia Muslim religious observance that occurs forty days after the Day of Ashura. It commemorates the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Muhammad, Imam Husayn ibn Ali and 72 companions were killed by Yazid Is army in the Battle of Karbala in 61 AH. Writing in forty batches has become a tradition among Islamic scientists, the reason is the famous saying of Muhammad, On the day of judgment, among my people, God will consider whoever memorized forty Hadiths as an erudite man. In this regard, numerous Islamic scholars have gathered precious collections that each consists of forty sayings, Hadiths, quoted from the prophet, according to al-Jizzini, the primary martyr, he, too, has written his book Al-Arbaʿūn ḥadīth to practice this narrative of the prophet. Arbaeen or forty days is also the length of mourning after the death of a family member or loved one in many Muslim traditions. Arbaeen is one of the largest pilgrimage gatherings on Earth, in which up to 38 million people go to the city of Karbala in Iraq, in fact, Jabir considers as the first one who visited the tomb of Imam Hosein. He was accompanied by Atiyya ibn Sad because of his infirmity, Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin had survived the Battle of Karbala and led a secluded life in deep sorrow. He lived under pressure and tight surveillance set by Umayyad Caliphate and it is said that for twenty years whenever water was placed before him, he would weep. One day a servant said to him, ‘O son of Allah’s Messenger, is it not time for your sorrow to come to an end. ’ He replied, ‘Woe upon you. Jacob the prophet had twelve sons, and Allah made one of them disappear and his eyes turned white from constant weeping, his head turned grey out of sorrow, and his back became bent in gloom, though his son was alive in this world. But I watched while my father, my brother, my uncle, how should my sorrow come to an end. ’ Arbaeens performance has been banned in some periods, the last of which was when Saddam Hussein, was president of Iraq. For nearly 30 years under Saddams regime, it was forbidden to mark Arbaeen publicly in Iraq, following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the observance in April 2003 was broadcast worldwide. Arbaeen is consistently among the largest peaceful gatherings in history, the city of Karbala in Iraq is the center of the proceedings which many pilgrims travel miles on foot to reach. The crowds become so massive that they cause a blockade for hundreds of miles, in 2008, approximately nine million religious observers converged on Karbala to commemorate Arba’een. However, in 2009, the number of people visiting Karbala on Arbaeen significantly increased, according to BBC News and Press TV, over ten million people had reached Karbala one or two days before Arbaeen. The number of pilgrims was expected to rise to 18 million during the two days. In 2013, Arbaeen reached 20 million people from 40 countries, a car bomb targeting worshippers returning from Karbala killed at least 20 Shiite pilgrims in January 2013. There were no reports of incidents at 2014s Arbaeen, which was considered a success against ISIL by the governor of Karbala
28.
Mawlid
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Mawlid is the observance of the birthday of the Islamic prophet Muhammad which is celebrated in Rabi al-awwal, the third month in the Islamic calendar. 12 Rabi al-awwal is the accepted date among most of the Sunni scholars and this seven days period, i. e. 12–17 Rabi al-awwal, is assigned by Islamic Republic of Iran as the unity week. The origin of Mawlid observance dates back to the period of the early four Rashidun Caliphs of Islam, the Ottomans declared it an official holiday in 1588. The term Mawlid is also used in parts of the world, such as Egypt. Mawlid is recognized as a holiday in most of the Muslim-majority countries of the world except Saudi Arabia. Shaykh Faraz Rabbani states that the Mawlid is generally approved of across the four Islamic schools of law, Mawlid is derived from the Arabic root word, meaning to give birth, bear a child, descendant. In contemporary usage, Mawlid refers to the observance of the birthday of Muhammad, the date of Muhammads birth is a matter of contention since the exact date is unknown and is not definitively recorded in the Islamic traditions. The issue of the date of the Mawlid is recorded by Ibn Khallikan as constituting the first proven disagreement concerning the celebration. Among the most recognisable dates, Sunni Muslims believe the date to have been on the twelfth of Rabi al-awwal and this celebration was introduced into the city Sabta by Abu lAbbas al-Azafi as a way of strengthening the Muslim community and to counteract Christian festivals. The early celebrations, included elements of Sufic influence, with sacrifices and torchlight processions along with public sermons. The celebrations occurred during the day, in contrast to modern day observances, emphasis was given to the Ahl al-Bayt with presentation of sermons and recitations of the Quran. This Shia origin is noted by those Sunnis who oppose Mawlid. Among Sunnis, the Mawlid celebration emerged in the 12th century, among Muslim scholars, the legality of Mawlid has been the subject of intense debate and has been described as perhaps one of the most polemical discussions in Islamic law. Traditionally, most Sunni and nearly all of the Shia scholars have approved of the celebration of Mawlid, while Wahhabi and Ahmadiyya scholars oppose the celebration. The Damascene Shafii scholar Abu Shama also supports the celebration of the Mawlid as does the Maliki scholar Ibn al-Hajj who spoke positively of the observance of the Mawlid in his book al-Madhkal. Likewise, the Shafii Egyptian scholar Ibn Hajar al-Haytami was a supporter of the Mawlid. This was supported and commented on by the Egyptian scholar and former head of Al-Azhar University Ibrahim al-Bajuri, another Hanafi Mufti Ali al-Qari too supported the celebration of the Mawlid and wrote a text on the subject as did the Moroccan Maliki scholar Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar al-Kattānī. Ibn al-Jazari, a Syrian Shafii scholar considers the celebration of the Mawlid to be a means of gaining Paradise, in the Muslim world, the majority of Sunni Islamic scholars are in favor of the Mawlid
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Eid al-Fitr
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Eid al-Fitr is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. The religious Eid is the first and only day in the month of Shawwal during which Muslims are not permitted to fast, the holiday celebrates the conclusion of the 29 or 30 days of dawn-to-sunset fasting during the entire month of Ramadan. The day of Eid, therefore, falls on the first day of the month of Shawwal, the date for the start of any lunar Hijri month varies based on the observation of new moon by local religious authorities, so the exact day of celebration varies by locality. Eid al-Fitr has a particular Salat consisting of two Rakats and generally offered in a field or large hall. Other Sunni schools usually have twelve Takbirs, seven in the first and this Eid al-Fitr salat is, depending on which juristic opinion is followed, Fard فرض, Mustahabb مستحب or mandoob مندوب. Muslims believe that they are commanded by Allah, as mentioned in the Quran, to continue their fast until the last day of Ramadan and pay the Zakat and fitra before offering the Eid prayers. If the moon is not observed immediately after the 29th day of the lunar month. Before the advent of Islam in Arabia, there is mention of festivals as well as some others among the Arabs, the Israelites had festivals as well, some directly prescribed in the Old Testament and others commemorating important days of their history. Eid al-Fitr was originated by the Islamic prophet Muhammad and it is observed on the first of the month of Shawwal at the end of the month of Ramadan, during which Muslims undergo a period of fasting. According to certain traditions, these festivals were initiated in Medina after the migration of Muhammad from Mecca, anas reports, When the Prophet arrived in Madinah, he found people celebrating two specific days in which they used to entertain themselves with recreation and merriment. He asked them about the nature of these festivities at which they replied that these days were occasions of fun, Eid al-Fitr is celebrated for one, two or three days. Common greetings during this holiday are the Arabic greeting ‘Eid Mubārak or ‘Eid Sa‘īd. In addition, many countries have their own greetings in the local language – in Turkey, for example, Muslims are also encouraged on this day to forgive and forget any differences with others or animosities that may have occurred during the year. It is forbidden to fast on the Day of Eid and it is customary to acknowledge this with a small sweet breakfast, preferably of date, before attending a special Eid prayer. As an obligatory act of charity, money is paid to the poor and you can speak once youve left the Masjid, or mosque or any other place you were praying. Say Eid Mubarak to other Muslims Muslims recite the following incantation in a low voice while going to the Eid prayer, Allāhu Akbar, Allāhu Akbar, lā ilāha illà l-Lāh wal-Lāhu akbar, Allahu akbar walil-Lāhi l-ḥamd. Recitation ceases when they get to the place of Eid or once the Imam commences activities, Muslims are recommended to use separate routes to and from the prayer grounds. No call to prayer is given for this Eid prayer, the Eid prayer is followed by the sermon and then a supplication asking for Allahs forgiveness, mercy, peace and blessings for all living beings across the world
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Eid al-Adha
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Eid al-Adha, also called the Sacrifice Feast, is the second of two Muslim holidays celebrated worldwide each year, and considered the holier of the two. It honors the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son, as an act of submission to Gods command, before he sacrificed his son God intervened by sending his angel Jibrail, who then put a sheep in his sons place. In the Islamic lunar calendar, Eid al-Adha falls on the 10th day of Dhu al-Hijjah, in the international calendar, the dates vary from year to year drifting approximately 11 days earlier each year. Eid al-Adha is the latter of the two Eid holidays, the former being Eid al-Fitr, the word Eid appears once in Al-Maida, the fifth sura of the Quran, with the meaning solemn festival. Like Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha begins with a prayer of two followed by a sermon. Eid al-Adha celebrations start after the descent of the Hujjaj, the performing the Hajj, from Mount Arafat. Eid sacrifice may take place until sunset on the 13th day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the days of Eid have been singled out in the Hadith as days of remembrance and considered the holiest days in the Islamic Calendar. Another Arabic word for sacrifice is Qurbani The Semitic root Q-R-B means to be close to someone/something, other words from the root include qarov, close, the senses of root meaning to offer suggest that the act of offering brings one closer to the receiver of the offering. The same stem is found in Hebrew and for example in the Akkadian language noun aqribtu act of offering, Eid al-Kabir, an Arabic term meaning the Greater Eid, is used in Yemen, Syria, and North Africa. The term was borrowed directly into French as Aïd el-Kebir, translations of Big Eid or Greater Eid are used in Pashto, Kashmiri, Urdu and Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam. Albanian, however, uses Bajram i vogël or the Lesser Eid as a reference to Eid al-Adha. This term is borrowed into other Indian languages, such as Tamil Bakr Īd Peru Nāl. Some names refer to the fact that the holiday occurs after the culmination of the annual Hajj, such names are used in Malaysian and Indonesian (Hari Raya Haji Hajj celebration day, Lebaran Haji, Lebaran Kaji. When this was not yet an official feast in the Philippines, when it became a legal holiday in 2009, it became officially known as Eid al-Adha. Some also reference it with local names like Kapistahan ng Pagsasakripisyo in Tagalog. Eid al-Adha has had other names outside the Muslim world, in Spanish it is known as Fiesta del Cordero or Fiesta del Borrego. According to Islamic tradition, the valley of Mecca was a dry, rocky, God instructed Abraham to bring Hagar, his Arabian wife, and Ishmael to Arabia from the land of Canaan. As Abraham was preparing for his journey back to Canaan, Hagar asked him
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History of Shia Islam
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Shi‘a Islam, also known as Shi‘ite Islam or Shi‘ism, is the second largest branch of Islam after Sunni Islam. Shias adhere to the teachings of Muhammad and the guidance of his family or his descendants known as Shia Imams. Muhammads bloodline continues only through his daughter Fatima Zahra and cousin Ali who alongside Muhammads grandsons comprise the Ahl al-Bayt, thus, Shias consider Muhammads descendants as the true source of guidance. Shia Islam, like Sunni Islam, has at times divided into many branches, however. From a political viewpoint the history of the Shia was in several stages, the first part was the emergence of the Shia, which starts after Muhammads death in 632 and lasts until Battle of Karbala in 680. This part coincides with the Immam of Ali, Hasan ibn Ali, the second part is the differentiation and distinction of the Shia as a separate sect within the Muslim community, and the opposition of the Sunni caliphs. This part starts after the Battle of Karbala and lasts until the formation of the Shia states about 900, during this section Shiism divided into several branches. The third section is the period of Shia states, the first Shia state was the Idrisid dynasty in Maghreb. Next was the Alavid dynasty established in Mazandaran, north of Iran and these dynasties were local, but they were followed by two great and powerful dynasties. The Fatimid Caliphate formed in Ifriqiya in 909, and ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Egypt, the Buyid dynasty emerged in Daylaman, north of Iran, about 930 and then ruled over central and western parts of Iran and Iraq until 1048. In Yemen, Imams of various dynasties usually of the Zaidi sect established a political structure that survived from 897 until 1962. Muhammad began preaching Islam at Mecca before migrating to Medina, from where he united the tribes of Arabia into a singular Arab Muslim religious polity, with Muhammads death in 632, disagreement broke out over who would succeed him as leader of the Muslim community. Umar ibn al-Khattab, a companion of Muhammad, nominated Abu Bakr, others, after initial refusal and bickering, settled on Abu Bakr who was made the first caliph. This choice was disputed by Muhammads earliest companions, who held that Ali had been designated his successor, according to Sunni accounts, Muhammad died without having appointed a successor, and with a need for leadership, they gathered and voted for the position of caliph. Shia accounts differ by asserting that Muhammad had designated Ali as his successor on a number of occasions, Abu Bakrs election was followed by a raid on Alis house led by Umar and Khalid ibn al-Walid. The succession to Muhammad is a contentious issue. The two groups also disagree on Alis attitude towards Abu Bakr, and the two caliphs who succeeded him, Umar and Uthman or, Shia Islam and Sunnism split in the aftermath of the death of the Prophet Muhammad based on the politics of the early caliphs. Due to the Shia belief that Ali should have been the first caliph, because of this, any hadith that were narrated by these three caliphs were not accepted by Shia hadith collectors
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The verse of purification
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The verse of purification is verse in the Quran. The verse has special importance for Shiite Muslims due to giving information about Ahl al-Bayt of Muhammad, Shiite reportedly believe it to designate the People of the House as being Ismah, infallibility. Within Sunni Islam this viewpoint is seen as either rejected or partially supported such as the case of Sufism, some verses refer to Muhammads wives. And Allah only wishes to remove all abomination from you, ye members of the Family, the previous verses include instructions to the wives of Muhammad, and the verbs and pronouns are in the feminine plural. However, in verse, the pronouns are in the masculine plural. Therefore, it is no longer a discussion of the wives or of them alone. Thus, the expression Ahl al-bayt must mean family of Muhammad, the privilege then refers to those nearest to him. Some have attempted to add Muhammads wives to the list, however, each ayah is an individual sign of Allah. Ayah or aayah is the Arabic word for evidence or sign, The ayah uses the words Ankum and Yutahhirakum, the feminine for the above would be Ankunna and Yutahhirakunna. The sudden change in grammatical gender reference means that it is not about the wives, the similar use of switching subjects after Ayahs is found all throughout the Quran. A great example of this is Surah Haqqah, which does so in nearly every ayah, Allah says Allah keep away bad things from Ahlulbaiyt. We can believe the Ahlulbaiyt keep away from any Bad things, Muhammad says After me only two things are remained who that guide people in every generation 1st, Quran 2nd, Ahlulbaiyt Hadith of the Cloak Madelung, Wilferd. The Succession to Muhammad, A Study of the Early Caliphate
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Event of Mubahala
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The Event of Mubahala was a debate between Islamic prophet Muhammad and the Christians of Najran, where the call was extended to the sons and women. Mubahala is a Quranic evocation of the occasion of an encounter between Muslims and Christians during Muhammads lifetime, in this occasion Muhammad is instructed by Quran to issue a challenge to the visiting Christians of Najran. The call and challenge is based on Islamic tradition, according to an ancient ceremony, the Christians of Najran came to Medina claiming that Isa is divine and the son of Allah. In fact, they meant to determine whether Muhammads claims were in accordance with the prophecies of their holy books, the event is recorded in several Hadith collections and is referred to in the Quranic surah Al Imran. In such debates, each side would bring the most informed men, al-Mubahalah is derived from the Arabic word Bahlah, so the term Mubahala means cursing each other. It is an instance of Qurans critique of a central Christian doctrine, in this milieu Muslims challenged and critiqued major point of Christian faith, and Christians responded in defense of their defining doctrine and practice. Muhammad preached to them and requested them to accept Islam, the Christians, however, were not convinced. Their argument was that Jesus was born without a father, so he was the son of God, thereafter, according to the traditional account on this occasion the following verses came down to Muhammad. Surely the likeness of Jesus is with Allah as the likeness of Adam, He created him from dust, then said to him Be, the truth from your Lord, so be not of the disputers. Muhammad recited the verses to them, and after lengthy discussions which have presented in detail in Ibn Hishams sirah, no agreement was reached on the position. At the end of the discussions, the Prophet was instructed to suggest that the two engage in Mubahala. And say, We believe in what has been sent down to us and our God and your God are one and to Him we are submissive. There is one Quranic narrative in particular in which the occasion of revelation of a passage, the commentators agree that the verse of Mubahala was occasioned by the visit of the Christians of Najran who did not accept the Islamic doctrine about Jesus. According to Al-Mizan by Allamah Tabatabaei, a Shia scholar, the first us in this verse has a different import from the pronouns used in our sons, our women. The former refers to the both Islam and Christianity sides, while the other three ours refer to the side of Islam only and this way, a meaningful short sentence implies a longer sentence equal in meaning. Based on Madelung interpreting the term our sons as the two grandsons of the prophet is reasonable and consequently the parents, Ali and Fatimah, may be included in this verse. The members of the Muhammad family who were expected to participate this event is not modified in some of the Sunni sources while some others mention Fatima, Hasan and Husayn as the participants. Meanwhile, some of the Sunni sources are in agreement with Shia belief saying that Ahl al-Kisa, including Ali, - The verse of our selves, The Imam replied
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Hadith of the pond of Khumm
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It has been interpreted variously by the two main sects of Islam, where Shia generally maintain that in this hadith the Islamic prophet Muhammad appointed Ali as his heir and successor. The Shia celebrate the anniversary of this event on 18 Dhu al-Hijjah, according to Shia narrators of traditions the verse of announcement was related to the succession of Ali at Ghadir Khumm. The verse of announcement was revealed during the return from the The Farewell Pilgrimage, proclaim the which hath been sent to thee from thy Lord. If thou didst not, thou wouldst not have fulfilled and proclaimed His mission, and Allah will defend thee from men. For Allah guideth not those who reject Faith, according to Sunnis, this verse was revealed much earlier than this incident. I think I am about to be called and thus I must respond, I am responsible and you are responsible, then what do you say. They said, We witness that you have informed, advised and they said, Yes, we bear witness. He said, O Allah, bear witness, then he said, O people, Allah is my Lord and I am the lord of the believers. I am worthier of believers than themselves, of whomsoever I had been Master, Ali here is to be his Master. O Allah, be a supporter of whoever supports him and an enemy of whoever opposes him, O people, I will go ahead of you and you will arrive at my Pond which is wider than the distance between Basra and Sana. It has receptacles as numerous as the stars, and two cups of gold and two of silver, I will ask you about the two weighty things that I have left for you when you come to me to see how you dealt with them. The greater weighty thing is Allahs book—the Holy Quran, one end is in Allahs hand and the other is in your hands. Keep it and you will not deviate and that other weighty thing is my family and my descendents. The Most Kind the Omniscient had told me that both of them, would not separate until they come to my Pond, another similar narration of part of the hadith goes as follows, O people. Reflect on the Quran and comprehend its verses, there are other versions of this hadith that say, I have left two matters with you. As long as you hold to them, you not go the wrong way. They are the Book of Allah and the Sunna of His Prophet, I leave for you the Quran alone you shall uphold it. The word mawla is significant in the first narration of this hadith, twenty-seven different meanings are given for the word mawla and hence the exact meaning should be derived from their syntactical and situational contexts
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First Fitna
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The First Fitna or First confusion was a civil war within the Rashidun Caliphate which resulted in the overthrowing of the Rashidun caliphs and the establishment of the Umayyad dynasty. It began when the caliph Uthman ibn Affan was assassinated by Egyptian rebels in 656 and it ended in 661 when Alis heir Hasan ibn Ali concluded a treaty acknowledging the rule of Muawiyah, the first Umayyad caliph. The Islamic state expanded very quickly under Muhammad and the first three caliphs, in 639 Muawiyah I was appointed the Governor of Syria by Umar after his elder brother Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan died in a plague, along with Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah and 25,000 other people. The rapid Muslim conquest of Syria and Egypt and the consequent Byzantine losses in manpower, the Sassanid Dynasty in Persia had already collapsed. The Islamic empire expanded at a rate, but there was a cost associated with it. Before Islam, the Roman-Persian Wars and the Byzantine–Sasanian wars had occurred every few years for hundreds of years between 69 BC and 629 AD, high taxes were imposed on the populations in both the Byzantine Roman and Sassanid Persian empires to finance these wars. There was also continuous bloodshed of the people during these wars, the Arab tribes in Iraq were paid by the Persian Sassanids to act as mercenaries, while the Arab tribes in Syria were paid by the Byzantines to act as their mercenaries. The Persians maintained an Arab satellite state of Lakhm and the Byzantine Empire maintained the Arab satellite state of Ghassan, the Syrians and the Iraqis had been fighting each other for centuries. Therefore, each wanted the capital of the newly established Islamic state to be in their area. As Uthman ibn Affan became very old, Marwan I, a relative of Muawiyah I, slipped into the vacuum and became his secretary, slowly assuming more control, Marwan I had previously been excluded from positions of responsibility. Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, the son of Abu Bakr and the son of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muhammad bin Abi Hudhaifa. Sects started to form, among them the Sabaites named after Abdullah Ibn Saba There is also Jewish literature from that time, much of the Jewish literature on him from that time regards him as an apostate from Judaism and asks Jews to keep away from him. There was also the movement towards more autonomous tribal groupings, which was strong in Kufa, in Iraq. Among them developed a group called the Qurra, which became known as the Kharijites. Afterwards they were granted trusteeship over some of the lands in Sawad in Iraq and were now called Ahl al Ayyam, brunnow held that the Kharijites were Bedouin Arabs or full blooded Arabs. The Qurra received the highest stipend of the Muslim army, the sharaf al ata, the Qurra received stipends varying between 2,000 and 3,000 dirhams, while the majority of the rest of the troops received only 250 to 300 dirhams. The other Ridda tribesmen in Kufa, in Iraq, resented the position given to the Qurra. The tension between the Ridda tribesmen and the Qurra threatened the Qurras newly acquired prestige, the Qurra therefore felt obliged to defend their position in the new but rapidly changing society
36.
Battle of Karbala
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The Battle of Karbala took place on Muharram 10, in the year 61 AH of the Islamic calendar a in Karbala, in present-day Iraq. The battle took place between a group of supporters and relatives of Muhammads grandson, Husayn ibn Ali, and a larger military detachment from the forces of Yazid I. The people of Kufa sent letters to Husayn, asking his help and pledging allegiance to him, as Husayn traveled towards Kufa, at a nearby place known as Karbala, his caravan was intercepted by Yazid Is army led by Al-Hurr ibn Yazid al Tamimi. The battle was followed by later uprisings namely, Ibn al-Zubayr, Tawwabin, the dead are widely regarded as martyrs by Sufi Sunni and Shia Muslims. The battle has a place in Shia history, tradition and theology. Mainstream Sunni Muslims, on the hand, do not regard the incident as one that influences the traditional Islamic theology and traditions. The Battle of Karbala is commemorated during an annual 10-day period held every Muharram by Shia and Alevi, culminating on its tenth day, Shia Muslims commemorate these events by mourning, holding public processions, organizing majlis, striking the chest and in some cases self-flagellation. The Battle of Karbala played a role in shaping the identity of Shia and turned the already distinguished sect into a sect with its own rituals. Husayns suffering and death became a symbol of sacrifice in the struggle for right against wrong, during Alis Caliphate, the Muslim world became divided and rebellion broke out against the ruling Ali byMuawiyah I. When Ali was assassinated by Ibn Muljam in 661, his eldest son, Hasan, succeeded him but soon signed a peace treaty with Muawiyah to avoid further bloodshed. In the treaty, Hasan was to hand power to Muawiya on the condition that he be just to the people and keep them safe and secure. This brought to an end the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, Husayn ibn Ali became the head of Banu Hashim after his older brother, Hasan ibn Ali, was poisoned to death in 670. His fathers supporters in Kufah gave their allegiance to him, however, he told them he was still bound by the peace treaty between Hasan and Muawiyah I as long as Muawiyah was alive. The Battle of Karbala took place within the environment resulting from the succession of Yazid I. Later, Husayn ibn Ali did not accept the request of Muawiyah for the succession of his son, Yazid, referring to the peace treaty. The legitimacy of Yazids succession as well as his worthiness for this position was questioned at the time and he insisted on his legitimacy based on his own special position as a direct descendant of Muhammad and his legitimate legatees. As a consequence, he left Medina, his home town, Muawiyah warned Yazid specifically about Husayn ibn Ali, since he was the only blood relative of Muhammad. Abd Allah ibn Abbas and Abdullah ibn Umar did not want to start civil war
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Zaidiyyah
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Zaidiyyah or Zaidism is a Muslim sect which emerged in the eighth century out of Shia Islam. Zaidis are named after Zayd ibn ʻAlī, the grandson of Husayn ibn ʻAlī who they recognize as the fifth Imam, followers of the Zaydi Islamic jurisprudence are called Zaydi Shia and make up about 35-40% of Muslims in Yemen. The Zaydi madhab emerged in reverence of Zayd’s failed uprising against the Ummayad Caliph, Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, which set a precedent for revolution against corrupt rulers. It might be said that Zaydis find it difficult to remain passive in an unjust world, or in the words of a modern influential Zaydi leader, Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, Zaydis were the oldest branch of the Shia and are currently the second largest group after Twelvers. Zaidis do not believe in the infallibility of Imāms, but promote their leadership, Zaydis believe that Zayd ibn Ali in his last hour was betrayed by the people in Kufa. Zaydis as of 2014 constitute roughly 0. 5% of the worlds Muslim population, in matters of Islamic jurisprudence, the Zaydis follow Zayd ibn ’Alis teachings which are documented in his book Majmu’ al-Fiqh. Zaydi fiqh is similar to the Hanafi school of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence, Abu Hanifa, a Sunni madhab shaykh, was favorable and even donated towards the Zaydi cause. In matters of theology, the Zaydis are close to the Mutazili school, There are a few issues between both schools, most notably the Zaydi doctrine of the Imamate, which is rejected by the Mutazilites. Of the Shia, Zaydis are most similar to Sunnis since Zaydism shares similar doctrines, like all Muslims, the Zaydi Shia affirm the fundamental tenet of Islam known as the Shahada or testament of faith – There is no god but Allah and Muhammed is his messenger. Traditionally, the Zaydi believe that Muslims who commit major sins without remorse should not be considered Muslims nor be considered kafirs and these Shia called themselves Zaydi so they could differentiate themselves from other Shiis who refused to take up arms with Zayd ibn Ali. Zaydis believe Zayd ibn Ali was the successor to the Imamate because he led a rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate. Muhammad al-Baqir did not engage in action and the followers of Zayd believed that a true Imām must fight against corrupt rulers. The renowned Muslim jurist Abu Hanifa who is credited for the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam and he also urged people in secret to join the uprising and delivered funds to Zayd. The earliest group, called Jarudiyya, was opposed to the approval of certain companions of Muhammad and they held that there was sufficient description given by the Prophet that all should have recognised Ali as the rightful Caliph. They therefore consider the Companions wrong in failing to recognise Ali as the legitimate Caliph and deny legitimacy to Abu Bakr, Umar and Usman, however and they further condemn two other companions of Muhammad, Talhah and Zubayr ibn al-Awam, for their initial uprising against Caliph Ali. The Jarudiyya were active during the late Umayyad Caliphate and early Abbasid Caliphate, the second group, the Sulaymaniyya, named for Sulayman ibn Jarir, held that the Imamate should be a matter to be decided by consultation. They felt that the companions, including Abu Bakr and Umar, had been in error in failing to follow Ali, the third group is known as the Tabiriyya, Butriyya or Salihiyya for Kathir an-Nawa al-Abtar and Hasan ibn Salih. Their beliefs are virtually identical to those of the Sulaymaniyya, except they see Uthman also as in error, Zayd bitterly scolds the rejectors who deserted him, an appellation used by Sunnis and Zaydis to refer to Twelver Shiites to this day
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Twelver
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Twelver Shia Islam or Imamiyyah is the largest branch of Shia Islam. Twelver belief is based on the Quran and the message of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad attested in hadith, according to Shia tradition, the Mahdis tenure will coincide with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, who is to assist the Mahdi against the Masih ad-Dajjal. Twelvers believe that the Twelve Imams are the spiritual and political successors to the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Iran is the only country with state religion as Shia Islam. They also differ in the role and overall definition of an Imam, alevis in Turkey and Albania and Alawis in Syria share belief in the Twelve Imams with Twelvers, but their theological doctrines are remarkably different. The Twelvers are also known by names, The Shiah is commonly used as a synonym for Twelvers since this branch comprises the majority group in Shia Islam. Shia refers to a group of Muslims who believe that the succession to Muhammad must remain in his family for specific members who are designated by a divine appointment, tabatabaei states that the word referred to the partisans of Ali at the time of Muhammad himself. Jafari refers exclusively to the Twelver Juridical school which is followed by the majority of Shias and it also refers to the minority Akhbaris who advocate a distinct juridical approach within Jafari Jurisprudence. The term is derived from the name of Jafar al-Sadiq who is considered by the Twelvers to be their Sixth Imām, Jafar al-Sadiq is also respected and referenced by the founders of the Sunni Hanafi and Maliki schools of jurisprudence. Imami or Imamiyyah or Imamite is a reference to the Twelver belief in the infallibility of the Imāms, Ali is quoted as arguing that unity of God means that he has no like, he is not subject to numeration and is not divisible either in reality or imagination. On another occasion, he is quoted saying, The first step of religion is to accept, understand, the correct form of belief in his unity is to realize that he is so absolutely pure and above nature that nothing can be added to or subtracted from his being. That is, one should realize there is no difference between his person and his attributes, and his attributes should not be differentiated or distinguished from his person. Sayyid Haydar Amuli a prominent Shia mystic and philosopher defines God as alone in being, along with his names, his attributes, his actions, the totality of being therefore is he, through him, comes from him, and returns to him. God is not a next to or above other beings, his creatures, he is being. The divine unitude does not have the meaning of a unity, among, next to. For, if there were being other than he, God would no longer be the Unique, as this Divine Essence is infinite, his qualities are the same as his essence, Essentially there is one Reality which is one and indivisible. According to Twelvers theology, Tawhid consists of several aspects including Tawhid of the Essence, the attributes, the creatorship, Tawhid of the essence of God means his essence is one and peerless. Regarding this, Quran 112 states, Say, He is Allah, One, Allah and he neither begets nor is born, Nor is there to Him any equivalent. Tawhid of the attributes means Gods names and attributes have no other reality than His essence, Ali argues that Every attributes testifies to its being other than the object to which it is attributed, and every such object in turn testifies to its being other than the attribute
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Ja'fari jurisprudence
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Jaʿfari jurisprudence, Jaʿfari school of thought, Jaʿfarite School, or Jaʿfari Fiqh is the school of jurisprudence of most Shia Muslims, derived from the name of Jafar al-Sadiq, the 6th Shia Imam. This school of jurisprudence is followed by Twelvers in general and Ismailis in part, however, despite these differences, there have been numerous fatwas regarding the acceptance of Jaʿfari fiqh as an acceptable Muslim madhhab by Sunni religious bodies. These include the Amman Message and a fatwa by Al-Azhar, in the modern era, former Prime Minister of Sudan Sadiq al-Mahdi defined the recognized schools of Muslim jurisprudence as eight, Jafari was one of them. This school of thought utilizes ijtihad by adopting reasoned argumentation in finding the laws of Islam, usulis emphasize the role of Mujtahid who was capable of independently interpreting the sacred sources as an intermediary of the Hidden Imamas and thus serve as a guide to the community. This meant that legal interpretations were kept flexible to account of changing conditions. This school of thought is predominant among most Shia, ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini emphasized that Jafari jurisprudence is configured based on the recognition that epistemology is influenced by subjectivity. Accordingly, Jafari jurisprudence asserts Conventional Fiqh and Dynamic Fiqh and this school of thought takes a restrictive approach to ijtihad. This school has almost died out now, very few followers are left, Some neo-Akhbaris have emerged in the Indian subcontinent, but they do not belong to the old Akhbari movement of Bahrain. Twelvers, along with other Shia sects such as the Zaydis and this belief is further emphasized by the Shia concept of Bada’, which states that God has not set a definite course for human history. Instead, God may alter the course of history as is seen to be fit. Nikah mutʿah, is a type of marriage used in Twelver Shia Islam, where the duration of the marriage and it is a private contract made in a verbal or written format. A declaration of the intent to marry and an acceptance of the terms are required, nikah mutʿah was also practiced by the pre-Islamic Arabs. Zaidi Shias, Ismaili Shias, and Sunni Muslims do not practice nikah mutah and this practice was emphasized in Shia Islam whereby adherents may conceal their religion when they are under threat, persecution, or compulsion. Hanafi Hanbali Maliki Shafii ^A In Arabic script, جعفري, strict transcriptions, Jaʻfarī or Ǧaʿfarī, /d͡ʒaʕfariː/, from the name, جعفر, Jaʻfar/Ǧaʿfar, the Oxford Concise Dictionary of Politics. Oxford, New York, Oxford University Press, Jafari, Shii Legal Thought and Jurisprudence from Oxford Islamic Studies Online Some of Shia Islamic Laws books Islamic Laws of G. A. Sayyid Abulqasim al-Khoei Islamic Laws of G. A, fazel Lankarani Islamic Laws of G. A. Syed Ali al-Husaini Seestani Towards an Understanding of the Shiite Authoritative Sources
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Batin (Islam)
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Batin literally means inner, inward, hidden, etc. The Quran, for instance, has a meaning in contrast to its exterior or apparent meaning. Sufis believe that likewise, every individual has a batin which is the world of souls and this is the inward self of the individual which when cleansed with the light of ones spiritual guide, elevates a person spiritually. This notion is connected to Allahs attribute of Al-Batin i. e. the Hidden One who cannot be seen, muslim groups believe that the bāṭen can only be fully understood and interpreted by a figure with esoteric knowledge, who for Shia Muslims is the Imam of the Time. In a wider sense, bāṭen can refer to the meaning or reality behind all existence. Sufism Esotericism Esoteric interpretation of the Quran Batiniyya Alevism Bektashi Order, another group focusing just like Alevis on Batin and Zahir Ismailism Nizari Alawites Qarmatians Sufi Live
Husayn ibn Ali in Islamic calligraphy
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