SLAMIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. An organ of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Islamic Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is composed of federations, unions, and national chambers of commerce in forty-six countries, all members of the OIC. The ICC is comprised of a general assembly, an executive committee, a general secretariat, a president, and
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ISLAMIC SOCIETY OF NORTH AMERICA. Formed in 1982, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is an umbrella organization for several Muslim professional groups that have grown out of the Muslim Student Association (MSA), including the Association of Muslim Social Scientists, the Association of Muslim Scientists and Engineers, and the Islamic Medical Association. Various Muslim
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ISLAMIC SALVATION FRONT. During the 1970s Algeria pursued an ambitious oil- and natural gasbased program of national industrialization that was initially quite successful in providing the urban population with education, jobs, and income. But with the oil price decline of the mid-1980s the program ran into a structural impasse, coinciding with the ascent of a
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ISLAMIC REPUBLICAN PARTY. Founded in February 1979, shortly after the fall of the Iranian monarchy, the Islamic Republican Party (IRP) had the approval of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1902-1989), and its key founding members were among his top clerical loyalists. Foremost among them were Muhammad Bihishti, `Abd al-Karim Musavi Ardabili, `Ali Khamene’i, ‘All Akbar Hashimi Rafsanjani,
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ISLAMIC RENAISSANCE PARTY. Surfacing in the Soviet Union during the summer of 1990, the Islamic Renaissance/Revival Party (IRP, or Hizb-i Nahzat-i Islami) developed as opportunities for religious expression expanded under the policy of glasnost (openness) introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev. Just as the Soviet Tatars persuaded Stalin in 1942 to allow the formal Islamic hierarchy to
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ISLAMIC CALL SOCIETY. Founded in Libya in 1972, the Islamic Call Society is entrusted with the task of missionary activity. The Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), under the leadership of Mu’ammar alQadhdhafi (who on 1 September 1969 overthrew Libyan King Idris al-Sanusi), has from the beginning designated the revolution as an Islamic revolution. Among the concrete
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The traditional Islamic (or Hijrah) calendar consists of twelve lunar months, each of which lasts from one first sighting of the crescent moon to the next. The twelve months of the Islamic calendar in order are Muharram, $far, Rabi` al-Awwal, Rabi` al-Thani, Jumada al-Ula, Jumada al-Akhirah, Rajab, Sha`ban, Ramadan, Shawwal, Dhu al-Qa’dah, and Dhu
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Persons of Islamic background were among the explorers, traders, and settlers who visited the New World from the time of Columbus. A considerable number of Moriscos (Spanish Muslims who concealed their faith after 1492) migrated to both Portuguese and Spanish America, but their increasing numbers threatened the Christian rulers, who had them exterminated by the
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The historical antagonism between the western and eastem parts of Europe is reflected, to this very day, in their diverging social, political, and religious traditions. This division has also put its mark on the historical vicissitudes of Islam in the European world. Growth and blossoming in one part of Europe were often concomitant to downfall
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Islam in South Asia The experience of Islam in South Asia is at once vast and varied. It encompasses nearly 300 million residents of the subcontinent who either define themselves as Muslim or are so defined by others. These 300 million Muslims belong to myriad groups whose members speak different languages, live in separate spheres,
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