Islam

Is·lam

I0247700 (ĭs-läm′, -lăm′, ĭz-, ĭs′läm′, ĭz′-)n.1. A monotheistic religion characterized by the doctrine of absolute submission to God and by reverence for Muhammad as the chief and last prophet of God.2. a. The people or nations that practice Islam; the Muslim world.b. The civilization developed by the Muslim world.

[Arabic 'islām, submission, from 'aslama, to surrender, resign oneself, from Syriac 'ašlem, to make peace, surrender, derived stem of šlem, to be complete; see šlm in Semitic roots.]

Islam

(ˈɪzlɑːm) n1. (Islam) the religion of Muslims, having the Koran as its sacred scripture and teaching that there is only one God and that Mohammed is his prophet; Mohammedanism2. (Islam) a. Muslims collectively and their civilizationb. the countries where the Muslim religion is predominant[C19: from Arabic: surrender (to God), from aslama to surrender] Isˈlamic adj

Is•lam

(ɪsˈlɑm, -ˈlæm, ɪz-, ˈɪs ləm, ˈɪz-)

n. 1. the religion of the Muslims, as set forth in the Koran, that teaches that there is only one God, Allah, and that Muhammad is His prophet. 2. the whole body of Muslim believers, their civilization, and the countries in which theirs is the dominant religion. [1605–15; < Arabic islām literally, submission (to God)] Is•lam′ic, Is`lam•it′ic (-ləˈmɪt ɪk) adj.

Islam

See also faith; god and gods; religion; theology.
Alcoranista strict follower of the Koran.Babism, Babiismthe doctrines and practices of a 19th-century Persian sect that formed the basis for the current Baha’i organization, regarded as heretical by orthodox Muslims because its leader proclaimed himself to be the Imam Mahdi, the expected twelfth Imam of the Shiite sect, who would establish justice on earth. — Babist, n.Ghazismthe activities of the Ghazis, fanatics sworn to destroy all infidels.Imamitea member of the Shi’a sect of Muslims, who believe in a succession of twelve divinely inspired imams, from Ali to Muhamad al Muntazar.Islam, Islamismthe religion of Islam; Muhammadanism. — Islamist, n. — Islamitic, adj.Kaabismthe tradition in Islam of venerating a shrine in Mecca through pilgrimage and prayers made after turning in its direction. — Kaaba, n., adj.Karmathianan adherent of a heretical 9th-century Muslim sect that considers the Koran as mere allegory and is opposed to prayer, fasting, and revelation.Mahdismthe belief in Mahdi, the Muslim spiritual guide who, on Judgment Day, will lead the faithful to salvation. — Mahdist, n.Muhammadanism, Mohammedanismthe doctrines and practices of the religion founded by the prophet Muhammad and set forth in the Koran. Also called Islam, Islamism. — Muhammadan, Mohammedan, n.Pan-Islamismthe doctrines of Sultan Abdul-Hamid’s 19th-century political movement that was against the westernization and unification of Islam. — Pan-Islamist, n. — Pan-Islamic, adj.Senusism, Sanusisma 19th-century Islamic brotherhood observing a strict and ascetic religious orthodoxy and practicing militant political activity. Also Senusiya, Sanusiya. — Senusi, Sanusi, n.Shiismthe doctrines and practices of Shi’a, one of the two major branches of Islam, regarding Ali, the son-in-law of Muhammad, as the Prophet’s legitimate successor. See also Sunnism. — Shiite, n., adj.Suflism, Sufismthe beliefs and practices of an ascetic, retiring, and mystical sect in Islam. — Sufi, n., adj.Sunnismthe doctrines and practices of the larger of the two major branches of Islam, regarding as legitimate the first four caliphs after Muhammad’s death and stressing the importance of the traditional portion of Muslim law (the Sunna). See also Shiism. — Sunnite, n., adj.talismanistObsolete, a Muslim holy man.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	Islam - the civilization of Muslims collectively which is governed by the Muslim religion; "Islam is predominant in northern Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan, and Indonesia"Muslimismfatwah - (Islam) a legal opinion or ruling issued by an Islamic scholar; "bin Laden issued three fatwahs calling upon Muslims to take up arms against the United States"Shia, Shiah, Shiah Islam - one of the two main branches of orthodox Islam; mainly in IranSunni Islam, Sunni - one of the two main branches of orthodox Islamcivilization, civilisation - a society in an advanced state of social development (e.g., with complex legal and political and religious organizations); "the people slowly progressed from barbarism to civilization"Moslem, Muslim - a believer in or follower of IslamIslamist - an orthodox Muslimsigeh - a Shiite tradition of temporary marriage permitted in Iran that allows a couple to specify the terms of their relationship; can last from a few minutes to 99 years; "sigeh legally wraps premarital sex in an Islamic cloak"
	2.	Islam - the monotheistic religious system of Muslims founded in Arabia in the 7th century and based on the teachings of Muhammad as laid down in the Koran; "Islam is a complete way of life, not a Sunday religion"; "the term Muhammadanism is offensive to Muslims who believe that Allah, not Muhammad, founded their religion"Mohammedanism, Muhammadanism, Muslimism, IslamismSunna, Sunnah, hadith - (Islam) the way of life prescribed as normative for Muslims on the basis of the teachings and practices of Muhammad and interpretations of the KoranHad crime - (Islam) serious crimes committed by Muslims and punishable by punishments established in the Koran; "Had crimes include apostasy from Islam and murder and theft and adultery"Tazir crime - (Islam) minor crimes committed by Muslims; crimes that are not mentioned in the Koran so judges are free to punish the offender in any appropriate way; "in some Islamic nations Tazir crimes are set by legislation"Ramadan - (Islam) a fast (held from sunrise to sunset) that is carried out during the Islamic month of RamadanCaaba, Kaaba - (Islam) a black stone building in Mecca that is shaped like a cube and that is the most sacred Muslim pilgrim shrine; believed to have been given by Gabriel to Abraham; Muslims turn in its direction when prayingmasjid, musjid - (Islam) a Muslim place of worshipmihrab - (Islam) a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the direction of Meccamihrab - (Islam) a design in the shape of niche in a Muslim prayer rug; during worship the niche must be pointed toward Meccamosque - (Islam) a Muslim place of worship that usually has a minaretHadith - (Islam) a tradition based on reports of the sayings and activities of Muhammad and his companionspillar of Islam - (Islam) one of the five religious obligations accepted by all Muslimsmonotheism - belief in a single GodMahdism - belief in the appearance of the Mahdi; devotion to a MahdiSalafi movement, Salafism - a militant group of extremist Sunnis who believe themselves the only correct interpreters of the Koran and consider moderate Muslims to be infidels; seek to convert all Muslims and to insure that its own fundamentalist version of Islam will dominate the worldShiism - the branch of Islam that regards Ali as the legitimate successor to Mohammed and rejects the first three caliphsWahabism, Wahhabism - a conservative and intolerant form of Islam that is practiced in Saudi Arabia; "Osama bin Laden and his followers practice Wahhabism"Ta'ziyeh - (Islam) a form of Iranian musical pageant that is the theatrical expression of religious passion; based on the Battle of Kerbala and performed annually (in Farsi)kismat, kismet - (Islam) the will of Allahhalal - (Islam) meat from animals that have been slaughtered in the prescribed way according to the shariahIslam Nation, Islamic Ummah, Muslim Ummah, Umma, Ummah - the Muslim community or people, considered to extend from Mauritania to Pakistan; "moderate Muslims urge the Ummah to reject the terrorism of radical Muslims"Beelzebub, Devil, Lucifer, Old Nick, Prince of Darkness, Satan, the Tempter - (Judeo-Christian and Islamic religions) chief spirit of evil and adversary of God; tempter of mankind; master of Helldjinn, djinni, djinny, genie, jinnee, jinni - (Islam) an invisible spirit mentioned in the Koran and believed by Muslims to inhabit the earth and influence mankind by appearing in the form of humans or animalsshaitan, shaytan - (Islam) a rebellious jinni who leads men astrayeblis - (Islam) the principal evil jinni in Islamic mythologyhouri - (Islam) one of the dark-eyed virgins of perfect beauty believed to live with the blessed in Paradisepaynim - a heathen; a person who is not a Christian (especially a Muslim)imam, imaum - (Islam) the man who leads prayers in a mosque; for Shiites an imam is a recognized authority on Islamic theology and law and a spiritual guideMahdi - (Islam) a messianic leader who (according to popular Muslim belief) will appear before the end of the world and restore justice and religion

Islam

Moslem denominations and sects

Alaouites or Alawites, Druse or Druze, Imami, Ismaili or Isma'ili, Nizari, Shiah, Shia or Shiite, Sufism, Sunni, Wahhabism or Wahabism, Zaidi

Translations

伊斯兰教回教

Islam

(ˈizlaːm) noun the Muslim religion. 伊斯兰教Isˈlamic (-ˈlӕ-) adjective of Islam. Islamic festivals.伊斯兰教的

Islam

→ 伊斯兰教zhCN

Islam

(ĭsläm`, ĭs`läm), [Arab.,=submission to God], world religion founded by the Prophet Muhammad. Founded in the 7th cent., Islam is the youngest of the three monotheistic world religions (with Judaism and Christianity). An adherent to Islam is a Muslim [Arab.,=one who submits].

Believers Worldwide

There are more than 1 billion Muslims worldwide, fewer than one fifth of whom are Arab. Islam is the principal religion of much of Asia, including Indonesia (which has the world's largest Muslim population), Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, the Arabian Peninsula states, and Turkey. India also has one of the world's largest Muslim populations, although Islam is not the principal religion there. In Africa, Islam is the principal religion in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Djibouti, Gambia, Guinea, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Somalia, and Sudan, with sizable populations also in Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Tanzania (where the island of Zanzibar is predominantly Muslim), and Nigeria.

In Europe, Albania is predominantly Muslim, and, historically, Bulgaria, Bosnia, North Macedonia, and Georgia have had Muslim populations. Elsewhere in Europe, significant immigrant communities of Muslims from N Africa, Turkey, and Asia exist in France, Germany, Great Britain, and other nations. In the Americas the Islamic population has substantially increased in recent years, both from conversions and the immigration of adherents from other parts of the world. In the United States, the number of Muslims has been variably estimated at 2–6 million; 20% of the population of Suriname is Muslim.

Islamic Beliefs

At the core of Islam is the Qur'anQur'an
or Koran
[Arab.,=reading, recitation], the sacred book of Islam. Revealed by God to the Prophet Muhammad in separate revelations over the major portion of the Prophet's life at Mecca and at Medina, the Qur'an was intended as a recited text, and was not compiled
..... Click the link for more information. , believed to be the final revelation by a transcendent AllahAllah
, [Arab.,=the God]. Derived from an old Semitic root refering to the Divine and used in the Canaanite El, the Mesopotamian ilu, and the biblical Elohim, the word Allah is used by all Arabic-speaking Muslims, Christians, Jews, and others.
..... Click the link for more information. [Arab.,=the God] to MuhammadMuhammad
[Arab.,=praised], 570?–632, the name of the Prophet of Islam, one of the great figures of history, b. Mecca. Early Life

Muhammad was the son of Abdallah ibn Abd al-Muttalib and his wife Amina, both of the Hashim clan of the dominant Kuraish (Quraysh)
..... Click the link for more information. , the Prophet of Islam; since the Divine Word was revealed in Arabic, this language is used in Islamic religious practice worldwide. Muslims believe in final reward and punishment, and the unity of the umma, the "nation" of Islam. Muslims submit to Allah through arkan ad-din, the five basic requirements or "pillars": shahadah, the affirmation that "there is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God"; salah, the five daily ritual prayers (see liturgy, Islamicliturgy, Islamic,
mandatory ritual prayer in Islam (salat) is performed five times a day at dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset, and night. It requires ritual cleanliness, and is preceded by ablutions. The salat is also preceded by a call to prayer announced by a muezzin.
..... Click the link for more information. ); zakatzakat
[Arab.,=purification], Islamic religious tax, one of the five basic requirements (arkan or "pillars") of Islam. All adult Muslims of sound mind and body with a set level of income and assets are expected to pay zakat.
..... Click the link for more information. , the giving of alms, also known as a religious tax; Sawm, the dawn-to-sunset fast during the lunar month of Ramadan; and hajjhajj
, the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, one of the five basic requirements (arkan or "pillars") of Islam. Its annual observance corresponds to the major holy day id al-adha, itself a commemoration of Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son on Divine orders.
..... Click the link for more information. , the pilgrimage to Mecca. The importance of the hajj can hardly be overestimated: this great annual pilgrimage unites Islam and its believers from around the world.

The ethos of Islam is in its attitude toward Allah: to His will Muslims submit; Him they praise and glorify; and in Him alone they hope. However, in popular or folk forms of Islam, Muslims ask intercession of the saints, prophets, and angels, while preserving the distinction between Creator and creature. Islam views the Message of Muhammad as the continuation and the fulfillment of a lineage of Prophecy that includes figures from the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, notably Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus. Islamic law reserves a communal entity status for the ahl al-kitab, People of the Book, i.e., those with revealed religions, including Jews and Christians. Islam also recognizes a number of extra-biblical prophets, such as HudHud
, a pre-Qur'anic prophet of Islam. Hud unsuccessfully exhorted his South Arabian people, the Ad, to worship the One God. The Qur'an mentions that their incredulity was punished by a decimating "sterilizing wind" (ar-rih al-aqim).
..... Click the link for more information. , SalihSalih,
Qur'anic non-biblical prophet, sent to the people of Thamud in Arabia. His call for monotheism is said to have been met with scorn and rejection. Having killed a camel sent as a sign by God, the Thamud people were subjected to a devastating storm.
..... Click the link for more information. , ShuaybShuayb
, Qur'anic non-biblical prophet, appeared later than Hud and Salih among "the people of the thicket." His preaching is said to have consisted of a call to monotheism and social honesty.
..... Click the link for more information. , and others of more obscure origin. The chief angels are Gabriel and Michael; devils are the evil jinn.

Other Islamic obligations include the duty to "commend good and reprimand evil," injunctions against usury and gambling, and prohibitions of alcohol and pork. Meat is permitted if the animal was ritually slaughtered; it is then called halal. Jihad, the exertion of efforts for the cause of God, is a duty satisfied at the communal and the individual level. At the individual level, it denotes the personal struggle to be righteous and follow the path ordained by God. Communally, it involves both encouraging what is good and correcting what is not and waging war to defend Islam.

In Islam, religion and social membership are inseparable: the ruler of the community (caliph; see caliphatecaliphate
, the rulership of Islam; caliph , the spiritual head and temporal ruler of the Islamic state. In principle, Islam is theocratic: when Muhammad died, a caliph [Arab.,=successor] was chosen to rule in his place.
..... Click the link for more information. ) has both a religious and a political status. The unitary nature of Islam, as a system governing relations between a person and God, and a person and society, has contributed to the appeal and success of Islam.

The evolution of Islamic mysticism into organizational structures in the form of Sufi orders was, from the 13th cent. onwards, one of the driving forces in the spread of Islam (see SufismSufism
, an umbrella term for the ascetic and mystical movements within Islam. While Sufism is said to have incorporated elements of Christian monasticism, gnosticism, and Indian mysticism, its origins are traced to forms of devotion and groups of penitents (zuhhad
..... Click the link for more information. ; fakirfakir
, [Arab.,=poverty], in Islam, usually an initiate in a Sufi order. The title fakir is borne with the understanding that poverty is the need to be in relation to God.
..... Click the link for more information. ). Sufi orders were instrumental in expanding the realm of Islam to trans-Saharan Africa, stabilizing its commercial and cultural links with the Mediterranean and the Middle East, and to SE Asia.

Holidays and Honorifics

The original feasts of Islam are id al-fitr, corresponding to the breaking of the fast of Ramadan, and id al-adha, coinciding with the pilgrimage to Mecca. ShiiteShiites
[Arab., shiat Ali,=the party of Ali], the second largest branch of Islam, Shiites currently account for 10%–15% of all Muslims. Shiite Islam originated as a political movement supporting Ali (cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam) as the
..... Click the link for more information. Islam also celebrates id al-ghadir, the anniversary of Muhammad's declaration of Ali as his successor. Other Islamic holidays include al-mawlid al-nabawwi, Muhammad's birthday, and al-isra wa-l-miraj, the anniversary of his miraculous journey to Jerusalem and ascension to Heaven. Among the Islamic religious honorifics are shaykh, a generic term refering to a religious scholar or a mystic master; qadi, a religious judge (handling particular cases); mufti, a religious authority who issues general legal opinions; and mullah, a synonym of shaykh used in the Persian-speaking world.

Interpretation of the Qur'an

The revealed word of Islam, the Qur'an, in a formal Arabic which became more archaic with time, required explication. The Sunna, the spoken and acted example of the Prophet, collected as hadithhadith
, a tradition or the collection of the traditions of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, including his sayings and deeds, and his tacit approval of what was said or done in his presence.
..... Click the link for more information. , is an important traditional source that is used to supplement and explicate the Qu'ran. The Sunna is almost as important to Islam as the Qur'an, for in it lie the elaborations of Qur'anic teaching essential to the firm establishment of a world religion. There are disagreements in the hadith, and aspects of interpretations of the Qur'an and the Sunna have varied so much as to be contradictory at times. These situations are resolved by reference to one of the most important of the sayings attributed to the Prophet, "My community will never agree in an error." This leeway also allowed Islam to expand by incorporating social, tribal, and ethnic traditions. For example, with the exception of inheritance and witness laws, Islamic rights and obligations apply equally to men and women. The actual situation of women is more a function of particular social traditions predating Islam than of theoretical positions. For more information on Islamic law, see shariasharia,
the religious law of Islam. As Islam makes no distinction between religion and life, Islamic law covers not only ritual but many aspects of life. The actual codification of canonic law is the result of the concurrent evolution of jurisprudence proper and the so-called
..... Click the link for more information. ; for discussions of the major branches of Islamic theology, see ShiiteShiites
[Arab., shiat Ali,=the party of Ali], the second largest branch of Islam, Shiites currently account for 10%–15% of all Muslims. Shiite Islam originated as a political movement supporting Ali (cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam) as the
..... Click the link for more information. , SunniSunni
[Arab. Sunna,=tradition], from ahl al-sunnah wa-l-jamaa [Arab.,=the people of the custom of the Prophet and community], the largest division of Islam. Sunni Islam is the heir to the early central Islamic state, in its ackowledgement of the legitimacy of the order of
..... Click the link for more information. .

Bibliography

See F. Rahman, Islam (1966), M. Jameelah, Islam and Modernism (1968), P. K. Hitti, History of the Arabs (10th ed. 1970), M. G. S. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam (3 vol., 1974), J. L. Esposito, Islam (rev. ed. 1992), A. Schimmel, Islam (1992), D. Waines, An Introduction to Islam (1995), J. I. Smith, Islam in America (1999), M. Cook et al., ed., The New Cambridge History of Islam (6 vol., 2009), S. F. Dale, The Muslim Empires of the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals (2010), F. M. Donner, Muhammad and the Believers (2010), B. Tibi, Islamism and Islam (2012), and C. de Bellaigue, The Islamic Enlightenment (2017); C. Glassé, Concise Encyclopedia of Islam (1991), J. L. Esposito, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam (2003), and G. Bowering, ed., The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought (2012).

Islam

the second largest of the monotheistic world religions, deriving from the teachings of the prophet Mohammed in the 7th-century As the single all-powerful god, Allah is held to require from all believers absolute allegiance and worship five times a day. Other duties include pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, Mohammed's birthplace. Muslims, the believers in Islam, acknowledge Moses and Jesus as prophets, but Mohammed is Allah's final and supreme prophet.

An explanation of the origins of Islam proposed by Montgomery Watt (1961) is that Islam originated among previously nomadic tribesmen, who on moving on to an urban context acquired a more integrative and more universalistic belief system. Watt points out that Mohammed was a member of a relatively disadvantaged lineage within increasingly wealthy Meccan society. Ousted from Mecca and migrating to Medina (where he ‘ruled’, initially as an ‘outside’ arbiter – compare SEGMENTARY SOCIETY), one effect of his prophecy was to legitimize attacks (the first jihads, or holy wars) on Mecca's lucrative camel trains, at a time when political conditions were such as to force much formerly seaborne trade overland, making the rewards for attack larger than usual. On this basis, Islam came to espouse what MANN (1986) refers to as a ‘quasi-egalitarian’ doctrine.

In its Middle Eastern and North African homeland, Islam has been the basis of numerous theocratic political empires, beginning with the empire created by Mohammed, and continued to the present day in the Iranian Islamic revolution. Like Christianity, Islam has been riven by theological and political division, notably the division between Sunni, more libertarian, and Shiite, more authoritarian, forms.

In the Holy Qur’an, the angel Gabriel appears to Muhammad in a dream and reveals to him the mysteries of the universe.

Islam

(dreams)

Muslim civilization has shown considerable concern for dreams, which have influenced the spiritual life of Islam from its very beginning. Islam is fundamentally a prophetic religion based on a series of divine revelations given to the prophet Muhammad through an angel during the latter part of his life, around 610 to 632 C.E., and contained in the Qur’an.

The Islamic creed presupposes a cosmology that includes an invisible world, consisting of heaven and hell, as well as the visible one, populated by humans and other life-forms. According to Islam, a purposeful force created and now governs both worlds, and will ultimately judge them. This force is only knowable through human intermediaries, the prophets.

Muslim prophecy distinguishes the prophets according to degree of visionary perception, from the sights and sounds of a dream to the suprasensible perception in the waking state. According to this classification, which is probably derived from criteria suggested in Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament), there is the simple prophet, who sees or hears an angel in a dream. Then there is the envoy—to a more or less numerous group—who sees the angel while awake. Finally, among the envoys there are the six great prophets who were charged to reveal the new law and who received the dictation of the law from an angel while in a waking state. These six prophets are Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad. Muhammad is the Seal of the Prophets, meaning that his revelation closes the cycle of the six periods of prophecy.

No distinction between the dream while asleep and the vision while awake was made at the time of Muhammad, who received spiritual instruction while in both states. Dreams played an important role in the life of Muhammad, who received his first revelation and became conscious of his vocation in a dream. His great dream of initiation into the mysteries of the cosmos, known as the “Night Journey”, began when the angel Gabriel appeared to him while he was sleeping between the hills of Safa and Meeva. Riding Elboraq, a half-human silver mare, Muhammad arrived in Jerusalem, the center of the world, where he conversed and prayed with Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Then he passed through the seven celestial spheres, each infused with its own color, to reach across the ocean of white light and, finally, to approach God. According to some versions of the “Night Journey”, Muhammad also descended to the depths of the Earth, thus encompassing all of human experience.

Muhammad experienced other dreams prior to the revelations given to him and recorded in the Qur’an. These dreams appeared in the form of isolated luminous and sonorous impressions that the prophet was unable to translate, and are placed at the beginning of many chapters of the Qur’an as isolated letters.

The Qur’an inherited several dreams from the Old Testament. For instance, although some details are different, the account of Joseph‘s dream reported in the Bible is very similar to the account in the Qur’an. It is often possible to find in the Qur’an the evidence of revelations announced in dreams, like the revelation to Moses’s mother to give her son to the pharaoh’s sister to nurse.

In Islam, it is believed that the angel Gabriel brings true dreams, whereas demons bring false ones. The validity of a dream is determined by the time it occurs, and it is believed that early morning dreams are true dreams. True dreams are generally believed to be those in which God, the prophet Muhammad, angels, or good Muslims appear, whereas dreams in which demons appear cannot be true, nor can those coming from desires and mental preoccupations, nor those resulting from the tricks of magicians.

According to Islam, it is possible for djinn (spirits inhabiting the earth) and Satan to give diabolic inspiration through dreams. Since Islam prohibits all representations of God, an image of the Deity can occur only in a false dream, as well as the image of an angel playing, or of the sky collapsing.

It is said that the ordinary person receives visions of portent only in dreams, whereas the mystic receives them in the waking state also or in an intermediate state between waking and sleep. Also, some particular dreams that occur naturally are believed to be a form of divine grace through which an individual can have a temporary taste of states above the material level.

Since it is difficult to distinguish between true and false dreams, dream interpretation is necessary in Islam, and it is often a very sophisticated process. Muslim dream codes give priority to the dreams of men, and, among women, to the dreams of married women who are considered chaste and dignified.

In late medieval Islam, dream interpretation was an accepted theological discipline. Muslim mystics of that period, who secluded themselves in gloomy cells to receive inspiration, believed there was a world situated between the material world and the world of intellect. This doctrine of a “realm of images” arose from the Muslim mystics’ attempts to establish a morphology (structure or form) for their prophetic revelations in order to establish the reality of their spiritual experiences in dreams and visions. According to this doctrine, the world of images can be approached only through a highly trained imagination. Once an individual has reached a sufficient level of spiritual development, and provided the person’s soul is pure and strong enough, he or she can visit and explore this world by means of a heightened spiritual understanding.

Islam

religion permits four wives. [Islam: WB, A:549]See: Polygamy

Islam

1. the religion of Muslims, having the Koran as its sacred scripture and teaching that there is only one God and that Mohammed is his prophet; Mohammedanism 2. a. Muslims collectively and their civilization b. the countries where the Muslim religion is predominant
http://www.islamworld.net/

Islam

Is·lam

Islam

Is•lam

Islam

Islam

Moslem denominations and sects

Islam

Islam

Islam

Islam

Believers Worldwide

Islamic Beliefs

Holidays and Honorifics

Interpretation of the Qur'an

Bibliography

Islam

Islam

Islam

Islam

ISLAM

Islam

Synonyms for Islam

noun the civilization of Muslims collectively which is governed by the Muslim religion

Synonyms

Related Words

noun the monotheistic religious system of Muslims founded in Arabia in the 7th century and based on the teachings of Muhammad as laid down in the Koran

Synonyms

Related Words