The terms,
defined.

Tawḥīd

Affirming the absolute oneness of Allah in His Lordship, in worship, and in His names and attributes.

Shirk

Associating partners with Allah in any form — the one sin He will not forgive if a person dies upon it without repentance.

Īmān

Faith — affirmation in the heart, declaration on the tongue, action by the limbs. It rises with obedience and falls with sin.

Islām

Submission to Allah through the five pillars — shahādah, ṣalāh, zakāh, ṣawm, and ḥajj.

Iḥsān

Excellence in worship — to worship Allah as though you see Him, and if you do not see Him, to know He sees you.

Shahādah

Testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muḥammad is His Messenger — the key to Islam.

Rubūbiyyah

Tawḥīd of Lordship — that Allah alone creates, sustains, owns and controls everything.

Ulūhiyyah

Tawḥīd of worship — that Allah alone is to be worshipped, loved, feared, hoped in and obeyed.

Qadar

Divine decree — Allah's knowledge, writing, will and creation of all that was, is and will be.

Kufr

Disbelief — rejecting Allah, His messengers, or any necessary tenet of Islam.

Nifāq

Hypocrisy — professing Islam outwardly while hiding disbelief, or the signs of hypocrisy even in a Muslim.

Bidʿah

Innovation in religion — introducing an act of worship not established by the Prophet ﷺ or his Companions.

Qiyāmah

The Day of Resurrection — when all will be raised, judged, and sent to Paradise or Hellfire.

Barzakh

The intermediate realm between death and the Day of Resurrection, where the soul awaits.

Jannah

Paradise — the everlasting abode Allah has prepared for the believers.

Jahannam

Hellfire — the punishment prepared for those who die upon kufr or unrepented grave sin.

Wuḍūʾ

Ritual ablution required before ṣalāh, ṭawāf and reciting the Qur'an from the muṣḥaf.

Ghusl

Full-body ritual bath required after ḥadath akbar (major impurity).

Tayammum

Symbolic purification with clean earth when water is unavailable or harmful.

Najāsah

Ritual impurity attached to substances like urine, blood, or pig — must be removed from body, clothing and prayer spot before ṣalāh.

Ḥadath

Ritual impurity of the body. Minor (removed by wuḍūʾ) or major (removed by ghusl).

Janābah

State of major ritual impurity after intimacy or seminal emission — lifted by ghusl.

Ḥayḍ

Menstruation — a state during which ṣalāh and ṣawm are suspended and intimacy is forbidden.

Istinjāʾ

Cleaning the private parts with water after urination or defecation.

Farḍ

Obligatory — its performance is rewarded and its abandonment is sinful.

Wājib

Obligatory — in most schools synonymous with farḍ; in the Ḥanafī school a slightly weaker obligation.

Sunnah (as ruling)

A ruling: the legal grade for deeds the Prophet ﷺ did regularly — rewarded if done, not sinful if omitted.

Mustaḥabb

Recommended — rewarded if performed, no sin if left. Weaker than sunnah.

Makrūh

Disliked — rewarded if avoided, not sinful if done. Makrūh taḥrīmī (Ḥanafī) is close to ḥarām.

Ḥarām

Forbidden — its abandonment is rewarded and its commission is sinful.

Mubāḥ

Permissible — neither rewarded nor punished by default. Most daily acts fall here.

Rakʿah

One unit of prayer — standing, bowing, two prostrations, and a short sitting.

Qiyām

Standing in ṣalāh — the opening posture in which al-Fātiḥah is recited.

Rukūʿ

The bow in ṣalāh — back flat, hands on the knees, saying Subḥāna Rabbiya-l-ʿAẓīm.

Sujūd

Prostration — touching forehead, nose, palms, knees and toes to the ground, saying Subḥāna Rabbiya-l-Aʿlā.

Tashahhud

The sitting in which at-taḥiyyātu is recited — affirming Allah's greatness and the shahādah.

Taslīm

The closing salām of ṣalāh — turning right then left saying as-salāmu ʿalaykum wa raḥmatullāh.

Takbīr

Saying Allāhu Akbar — used to begin ṣalāh and to mark each change of posture.

Takbīrat al-Iḥrām

The opening Allāhu Akbar that consecrates one into the prayer.

Qiblah

The direction of the Kaʿbah in Makkah — faced during ṣalāh and at the time of burial.

Adhān

The call to prayer — a declaration of tawḥīd and a summons to ṣalāh at its appointed time.

Iqāmah

The second, shorter call made immediately before the congregation stands for ṣalāh.

Jamāʿah

Congregational prayer — its reward is 27 times that of an individual prayer.

Imām

The one who leads the prayer — chosen by knowledge of the Qur'an, then sunnah, then age.

Masbūq

A latecomer to jamāʿah — someone who missed one or more rakʿāt with the imām.

Khushūʿ

Humility and full presence in worship — the soul of the ṣalāh.

Qaṣr

Shortening four-rakʿah prayers to two while travelling.

Jamʿ

Combining two prayers in one time-slot — Ẓuhr with ʿAṣr, or Maghrib with ʿIshāʾ.

Musāfir

A traveller — one who has left their city for a legally recognised distance; entitled to qaṣr and jamʿ.

Qaḍāʾ

Making up a missed obligatory act — a ṣalāh missed due to sleep or forgetfulness must be prayed when remembered.

Witr

The odd-numbered prayer that seals the night — 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 or 11 rakʿāt.

Tahajjud

Voluntary night prayer offered after sleeping and before Fajr — the most beloved nafl after the farāʾiḍ.

Qiyām al-Layl

Any voluntary worship in the night — ṣalāh, Qur'an, dua, dhikr.

Tarāwīḥ

Night prayer specific to Ramadan, usually prayed in congregation after ʿIshāʾ.

Sajdat as-Sahw

Two prostrations of forgetfulness that compensate for a mistake in ṣalāh.

Zakāh

Obligatory 2.5% annual charity on wealth above the niṣāb — a pillar of Islam.

Niṣāb

The minimum threshold of wealth at which zakāh becomes due — the value of 85g gold or 595g silver.

Ḥawl

The lunar year of holding wealth above niṣāb that triggers zakāh.

Ṣadaqah

Voluntary charity — of wealth, words or a smile. Extinguishes sin and extends provision.

Zakāt al-Fiṭr

Obligatory charity of food given by every Muslim before the ʿĪd al-Fiṭr prayer.

Fidya

Ransom paid for fasts that cannot be made up — feeding one poor person for each missed day.

Kaffārah

Expiation for breaking an oath, a Ramadan fast (deliberately) or ẓihār.

Tartīb

Obligation to follow a fixed order — each option is tried only if the previous is impossible.

Takhyīr

Free choice between equally valid options — any one fulfils the obligation.

Ṣawm

Fasting — abstaining from food, drink and marital relations from Fajr to Maghrib with intention.

Ramaḍān

The ninth month of the Hijri calendar — in which the Qur'an was revealed and fasting is obligatory.

Suḥūr

The pre-dawn meal eaten before Fajr during fasting — blessed by the Prophet ﷺ.

Ifṭār

Breaking the fast at Maghrib — sunnah to hasten it, traditionally with dates and water.

Iʿtikāf

Seclusion in the mosque for worship — sunnah in the last ten days of Ramadan.

Laylat al-Qadr

The Night of Decree — worship in it is better than a thousand months (~83 years).

Ḥajj

Pilgrimage to Makkah — the fifth pillar, obligatory once upon every Muslim able by means and body.

ʿUmrah

The lesser pilgrimage — iḥrām, ṭawāf, saʿy, tahallul. May be done at any time of year.

Iḥrām

The consecrated state of a pilgrim — marked by two unstitched white cloths for men and the intention to enter ḥajj or ʿumrah.

Mīqāt

The appointed boundary at which a pilgrim enters iḥrām — five fixed places for people coming from different directions.

Ṭawāf

Circumambulation of the Kaʿbah — seven times, counter-clockwise, starting from the Black Stone.

Saʿy

Walking seven circuits between Ṣafā and Marwah — commemorating Hājar's search for water.

Wuqūf

The standing at ʿArafah on the 9th of Dhū al-Ḥijjah — the essential pillar of ḥajj.

ʿArafah

The plain east of Makkah on which wuqūf takes place; also the 9th of Dhū al-Ḥijjah.

Taqwā

God-consciousness — placing a guard between yourself and what displeases Allah.

Ikhlāṣ

Sincerity — doing an act purely for Allah's sake, free of all other motivations.

Riyāʾ

Showing off in worship — performing deeds so people see you, the 'hidden shirk'.

Ṣabr

Patience — in obedience, in abstaining from sin, and at the time of calamity.

Shukr

Gratitude — with the heart (recognition), the tongue (al-ḥamdulillāh), and the limbs (using the gift in obedience).

Tawakkul

Reliance on Allah — taking the means while trusting that the outcome is His alone.

Tawbah

Repentance — regretting the sin, leaving it, and resolving not to return; restoring rights if owed.

Istighfār

Seeking forgiveness from Allah — saying astaghfirullāh and related formulae.

Ghībah

Backbiting — mentioning your brother in a way he would dislike, even if true.

Namīmah

Tale-bearing — carrying words between people to sow discord.

Fiqh

Islamic jurisprudence — the understanding of practical rulings derived from the Qur'an and Sunnah.

Sharīʿah

The revealed law and way of life — both rulings and the values they protect (life, faith, intellect, lineage, wealth).

Sunnah (as source)

The second source of Islamic law — the Prophet's ﷺ words, actions, and tacit approvals.

Ijmāʿ

Consensus of the qualified scholars of the Ummah on a ruling — a binding source when proven.

Qiyās

Analogy — extending a ruling from a textual case to a new case that shares the same ʿillah (legal cause).

Ijtihād

The qualified scholar's effort to derive a ruling from the sources when no clear text is available.

Taqlīd

Following the ruling of a qualified scholar without knowing its evidence — the default state of a non-specialist.

Madhhab

A codified school of jurisprudence — the four Sunni schools are Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Shāfiʿī and Ḥanbalī.

Fatwā

A scholarly legal verdict — an answer to a specific question based on evidence.

Muftī

The scholar qualified to issue fatwās — trained in uṣūl and classical fiqh.

Niyyah

Intention — the inner determination that qualifies an action for worship.

Nikāḥ

Marriage — the covenant that permits intimacy and creates a household; a half of the religion.

Mahr

The bridal gift given by the groom to the bride — her exclusive right and property.

Walī

The bride's guardian — father, then paternal grandfather, then brother, etc. His consent is a condition of nikāḥ in most schools.

Ṭalāq

Divorce initiated by the husband — the most disliked of permissible things.

Khulʿ

Divorce initiated by the wife in exchange for returning the mahr or a sum agreed upon.

ʿIddah

The waiting period after divorce or a husband's death — during which remarriage is forbidden.

Maḥram

A person whom one may never marry — by blood, milk-kinship, or marriage — and may therefore travel with and be in private with.

Mīrāth

Islamic inheritance — a fixed distribution of the estate to legal heirs, mostly detailed in Sūrat an-Nisāʾ.

Farāʾiḍ

The Qur'anically fixed inheritance shares — 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 2/3, 1/3, 1/6.

ʿAṣabah

Residual heirs — those who inherit what remains after the fixed shares are paid, typically male agnatic relatives.

ʿAwl

Proportional reduction of shares when the total of fixed shares exceeds the estate.

Radd

Return — increasing the fixed-shareholders' shares proportionally when the total of fixed shares is less than the estate and there is no ʿaṣabah.

Waṣiyyah

A bequest — up to one-third of the estate may be willed to non-heirs or charitable causes.