AshuraAshura (عَاشُورَاء, ʿĀshūrāʾ, ʕaːʃuːˈraːʔ) is a day of commemoration in Islam. It occurs annually on the 10th of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. Among Shia Muslims, Ashura is observed through large demonstrations of high-scale mourning as it marks the death of Husayn ibn Ali (a grandson of Muhammad), who was beheaded during the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE.
IncarnationIncarnation literally means embodied in flesh or taking on flesh. It refers to the conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or the appearance of a god as a human. If capitalized, it is the union of divinity with humanity in Jesus Christ. In its religious context the word is used to mean a god, deity, or divine being in human or animal form on Earth. God in Abrahamic religions Incarnation (Christianity) and The incarnation of Christ is the central Christian doctrine that God became flesh, assumed a human nature, and became a man in the form of Jesus, the Son of God and the second person of the Trinity.
QarmatiansThe Qarmatians (Qarāmiṭa; قرمطیان) were a militant Isma'ili Shia movement centred in al-Hasa in Eastern Arabia, where they established a religious- and as some scholars claimed proto-socialist or utopian socialist state in 899 CE. Its members were part of a movement that adhered to a syncretic branch of Sevener Ismaili Shia Islam, and were ruled by a dynasty founded by Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi, a Persian from Jannaba in coastal Fars.
Nizari Isma'ilismThe Nizaris (al-Nizāriyyūn) are the largest segment of the Ismaili Muslims, who are the second-largest branch of Shia Islam after the Twelvers. Nizari teachings emphasize independent reasoning or ijtihad; pluralism—the acceptance of racial, ethnic, cultural and inter-religious differences; and social justice. Nizaris, along with Twelvers, adhere to the Jaʽfari school of jurisprudence. The Aga Khan, currently Aga Khan IV, is the spiritual leader and Imam of the Nizaris. The global seat of the Ismaili Imamate is in Lisbon, Portugal.
Zayd ibn AliZayd ibn ʿAlī (زيد بن علي; 695–740), also spelled Zaid, was the son of Ali ibn al-Husayn Zayn al-Abidin, and great-grandson of Ali ibn Abi Talib. He led an unsuccessful revolt against the Umayyad Caliphate, in which he died. The event gave rise to the Zaydiyya sect of Shia Islam, which holds him as the next Imam after his father Ali ibn al-Husayn Zayn al-Abidin. Zayd ibn Ali is also seen as a major religious figure by many Sunnis and was supported by the prominent Sunni jurist, Abu Hanifa, who issued a fatwa in support of Zayd against the Umayyads.
AlidsThe Alids are those who claim descent from Ali ibn Abi Talib (عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600–661 CE), the fourth Rashidun caliph (656-661) and the first imam in Shia Islam. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The main branches are the Hasanids and Husaynids, named after Hasan and Husayn, the eldest sons of Ali from his marriage to Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad. As the progeny of Muhammad, they are revered by all Muslims.
DawahALA (دعوة, ˈdæʕwæh, "invitation", also spelt dâvah, daawa, dawah, daawah or dakwah) is the act of converting people to Islam. The plural is daʿwāt (دَعْوات) or daʿawāt (دَعَوات). For certain groups within Islam like the Salafis and Jamaat-e-Islami, daʿwah is also considered a political activity. For these groups, the aim of daʿwah outreach is also to engineer a reversal of what they perceive as the decline of Islam in the modern era, through the systematic propagation of Islamist ideology and ultimately enable the establishment of an Islamic state.
Black StoneThe Black Stone (ٱلْحَجَرُ ٱلْأَسْوَد, , 'Black Stone') is a rock set into the eastern corner of the Kaaba, the ancient building in the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is revered by Muslims as an Islamic relic which, according to Muslim tradition, dates back to the time of Adam and Eve. The stone was venerated at the Kaaba in pre-Islamic pagan times. According to Islamic tradition, it was set intact into the Kaaba's wall by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 605 CE, five years before his first revelation.
Ja'fari schoolThe Jaʿfarī school, also Jafarite school, Jaʿfarī fiqh (الفقه الجعفري) or Ja'fari jurisprudence, is the school of jurisprudence (fiqh) in Twelver and Ismaili (including Nizari) Shia Islam, named after the sixth Imam, Ja'far al-Sadiq. In Iran, Jaʽfari jurisprudence is enshrined in the constitution. It differs from the predominant madhhabs of Sunni jurisprudence in its reliance on ijtihad, as well as on matters of inheritance, religious taxes, commerce, personal status, and the allowing of temporary marriage or mutʿa.
MuharramMuḥarram (ٱلْمُحَرَّم) is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year when warfare is forbidden. It is held to be the second holiest month after Ramadan. The tenth day of Muharram, known as the Day of Ashura, bears special significance for Muslims both of Shia and Sunni jurisprudence On this solemn occasion, Shia Muslims grieve the tragedy of Ḥusayn ibn Alī and his family.
