History and Democracy of the Modern Middle East - HIST 235 Resource Guide: Faith & Beliefs

Divinity of the three great monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as many other world religions.

The book composed of sacred writings accepted by Muslims as revelations made to Muhammad by Allah.

A religious leader and spokesperson, particularly used in the Bible. The prophets emitted messages from the divine through inspired speech, the interpretation of omens and dreams, and the casting of lots and divination.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
In Christian, Jewish, and Muslim belief, the rising from the dead that all souls will experience at the Last Judgement.

In theology, doctrine that asserts that God predestines from eternity the salvation of certain souls. So-called double predestination, as in Calvinism, is the added assertion that God also foreordains certain souls to damnation.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Muslim worship can be private or public. In Islam there are five ways in which a Muslim is expected to worship Allah. Islam can be compared to a house with a sound structure. It has a firm foundation and five supporting pillars.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
The first duty of the Five Pillars of Islam. It is a statement of faith - ‘I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah’.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
The prayers that are the second of the Five Pillars of Islam, said five times a day.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
In Islam, the obligatory duty to pay annually a percentage of income as alms; it is the third of the Five Pillars of Islam. The payment ‘cleanses’ the income of possessiveness, and reminds Muslims that everything is owned by God.

From The Huchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Fasting undertaken during the month of Ramadan; it is the fourth of the Five Pillars of Islam.

The pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, one of the five basic requirements (arkan or "pillars") of Islam.

The two main branches of Islam have taken opposing stances on the possibility of seeing Allah in the dreaming state. While the dominant Sunni position has been open to the possibility, the dominant Twelver Shi'a position has not. The difference between these two approaches has not always been recognised. In this study, therefore, both traditions are examined, particularly with reference to the Qur'an and Hadith. Mulla Sadra's views are also discussed as the views of a key detractor from Shi'a orthodoxy.