JihadJihad (dʒɪˈhɑːd; jihād dʒiˈhaːd) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with God's guidance, such as struggle against one's evil inclinations, proselytizing, or efforts toward the moral betterment of the Muslim community (Ummah), though it is most frequently associated with war.
Islamic schools and branchesIslamic schools and branches have different understandings of Islam. There are many different sects or denominations, schools of Islamic jurisprudence, and schools of Islamic theology, or ʿaqīdah (creed). Within Islamic groups themselves there may be differences, such as different orders (tariqa) within Sufism, and within Sunnī Islam different schools of theology (Atharī, Ashʿarī, Māturīdī) and jurisprudence (Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Shāfiʿī, Ḥanbalī).
Islamic StateThe Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL; ˈaɪsᵻl), Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS; ˈaɪsᵻs), and by its Arabic acronym Da'ish or Daesh (داعش, Dāʿish, ˈdaːʕɪʃ), is a transnational militant Islamist terrorist group and former unrecognized quasi-state that follows the Salafi jihadist branch of Sunni Islam. It was founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 1999 and gained global prominence in 2014, when it captured a large amount of Iraqi territory, and took advantage of the civil war in Syria to take control of chunks of territory in Eastern Syria.
JannahIn Islam, Jannah (janna, pl. جَنّٰت jannāt, lit. "paradise, garden") is the final abode of the righteous. According to one count, the word appears 147 times in the Quran. Belief in the afterlife is one of the six articles of faith in Sunni and Twelver Shi'ism, a place where "believers" (Mumin) will enjoy pleasure, while the unbelievers (Kafir) will suffer in Jahannam. Both Jannah and Jahannam are believed to have several levels, in the case of Jannah the higher the level, the more desirable and in the case of Jahannam the level of punishment given.
TakfirTakfir or takfīr (takfīr) is an Arabic and Islamic term which denotes excommunication from Islam of one Muslim by another, i.e. accusing another Muslim to be an apostate. The word is found neither in the Quran nor in the ḥadīth literature; instead, kufr ("unbelief") and kāfir ("unbeliever") and other terms employing the same triliteral root k-f-r appear. "The word takfīr was introduced in the post-Quranic period and was first done by the Khawarij", according to J. E. Campo. The act which precipitates takfīr is termed mukaffir.
Ibadi IslamThe Ibadi movement or Ibadism (al-ʾIbāḍiyya, alʔibaːˈdʕijja) is a school of Islam. It has been called by some the third branch of Islam, along with Sunni Islam and Shia Islam. The followers of Ibadism are known as the Ibadis. Ibadism emerged around 60 years after the Islamic prophet Muhammad's death in 632 AD as a moderate school of the Khawarij movement, although contemporary Ibāḍīs strongly object to being classified as Kharijites.
People of the BookPeople of the Book or Ahl al-kitāb (أهل الكتاب) is an Islamic term referring to followers of those religions which Muslims regard as having been guided by previous revelations, generally in the form of a scripture. In the Quran they are identified as the Jews, the Christians, the Sabians, and—according to some interpretations—the Zoroastrians. Starting from the 8th century, some Muslims also recognized other religious groups such as the Samaritans, and even Buddhists, Hindus, and Jains, as People of the Book.
Ahmad ibn HanbalSaahibul Hadith Imam Ul Adham Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Dhuhli (أَحْمَد بْن حَنْبَل الذهلي; November 780 – 2 August 855 CE/164–241 AH), was a Muslim jurist, theologian, ascetic, hadith traditionist, and founder of the Hanbali school of Sunni jurisprudence — one of the four major orthodox legal schools of Sunni Islam. The most highly influential and active scholar during his lifetime, Ibn Hanbal went on to become "one of the most venerated" intellectual figures in Islamic history, who has had a "profound influence affecting almost every area of" the traditionalist perspective within Sunni Islam.
MaturidismMāturīdism or Māturīdī theology (الماتريدية: al-Māturīdiyyah) is one of the main Sunnī schools of Islamic theology, developed and codified by the Persian Muslim scholar, Ḥanafī jurist, reformer (mujaddid), and scholastic theologian Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī in the 9th–10th century. Al-Māturīdī codified and systematized the theological Islamic beliefs already present among the Ḥanafite Muslim theologians of Balkh and Transoxiana under one school of systematic theology (kalām); he emphasized the use of rationality and theological rationalism regarding the interpretation of the sacred scriptures of Islam.
Mu'tazilismMu'tazilism (المعتزلة ) was/is a theological movement that appeared in early Islamic history and flourished in Basra and Baghdad and later, Al-Andalus (8th–10th century). Its adherents, the Mu'tazila or Mu'tazilites, were known for their neutrality in the dispute between Ali and his opponents after the death of the third caliph, Uthman. By the 10th century the term al-muʿtazilah had come to refer to a distinctive Islamic school of speculative theology (kalām). This school of theology was founded by Wasil ibn Ata.
