Category: H

HARAM

HARAM. The root h-r-m is among the most important Arabic roots in the vocabulary of Islamic practice. The root meaning is something like “forbidden” or “taboo” and evokes constraint, and often heightened sanctity as well. In legal thought an act deemed haram is one forbidden. Usually the term is coterminous with “proscribed” (mah, zur), but

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HARAKAT AL-TAWHID AL-ISLAMI

HARAKAT AL-TAWHID AL-ISLAMI. A militant Sunni movement, the Harakat al-Tawhid al-Islam (Islamic Unification Movement) emerged out of the political turmoil of the I98os in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli. Tawhid, the term by which the movement was popularly known, was formed from a coalition of Islamic and Arab nationalist groups, which included Jund

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HAMKA

HAMKA (1908-1981), acronym of Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah, Indonesian religious scholar and the most prolific of modern Indonesian Islamic writers. Hamka was born in the small village of Sungai Batang in the Minangkabau region of West Sumatra on 1’7 February 19o8. His mother came from the adat aristocracy, and his father, Syekh Dr. Abdulkarim

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HAMDARD FOUNDATION

HAMDARD FOUNDATION. The name Hamdard or “companion in pain” was given by Hakim `Abdulmajid to the herb shop he established in Delhi in 19o6. The Greco-Arab system of treating illness with herbs was an established practice among Muslims and was used at Hamdard. When `Abdulmajid died in 1922, his work was continued by his family.

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HAMAS

HAMAS. The organization Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyah (Movement of Islamic Resistance), the most important Palestinian Islamist organization in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, is known by its acronym Hamas. A non-Qur’anic word, Hamas also means “zeal.” It was established in December 1987, at the very beginning of the Palestinian uprising (intifddah), as the organizational

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HALAL

HALAL, The Qur’anic term halal denotes that which is lawful or allowed. The word can refer generally in Muslim practice to that which is proper and therefore permitted for use; more specifically, in Muslim legal discourse it has come to be applied to rules pertaining to the consumption of food and drink, and related issues,

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