SOCIALISM AND ISLAM. Two important currents of social and religious philosophy that have flowed through centuries of Middle Eastern and North African development are socialism and Islam. Although they have often reinforced each other, sometimes they have come into conflict. Both schools of thought have individually and collectively exerted major influences on the political and
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SLAVERY. A prevalent institution of the Islamic world throughout its history, slavery (`ubudiyah, riqq) had a crucial influence on societies and cultures of Islam. Slavery was common in pre-Islamic and contemporary societies in the Mediterranean basin, Asia, and Africa. Early Islamic dogma assumed its existence as part of society and set out to mitigate the
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SIRHINDI, AHMAD (26 June 1564-10 December 1624), eminent Indian Sufi whose ideas shaped the second or Mujaddidi- phase of the Naqshbandi order. Sirhindi was born in the town of Sirhind, East Punjab, the son of a Chishti-Sabiri shaykh, `Abdulahad. Educated by his father and at Sialkot, he was later invited to the Mughal court where
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SIPAH-I PASDARAN-I INQILAB-I ISLAMI. One of the most interesting aspects of the Iranian Revolution is the institutional arrangement that was negotiated over the shape and structure of the post revolutionary armed forces. Rather than completely dismantling the pre revolutionary military structure and replacing it with a militia-based organization, as has been done in many other
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SINGAPORE. The geographical position of Singapore defines the history and contemporary position of its Muslim community. Singapore is the northernmost island in the Riau archipelago, which links the east coast of Sumatra with peninsular Malaysia. This territory is the traditional home of the Malay people. Malay history is intimately linked with Islam, and the first
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Şinasi, İbrahim (5 August 1826 – 13 September 1871), Turkish journalist. Şinasi is one of the more enigmatic figures of Turkish intellectual history. Despite his role as the founding father of modern Turkish journalism and his basic contributions to the rise of a Turkish critique of society, information about his life is insufficient to paint
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SIN. In the Qur’an several words are used for sin, a breach of the laws and norms laid down by a religion, including dhanb, 1thm, khati’ah, and sayyi’ah. A sin may be one of omission or commission; technically, any violation of a religious law or ethical norm would be a sin, but the sin for
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SIBACI, MUSTAFA AL- (1915-1964), Syrian political thinker, educator, and founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria. Born in Homs, al-Siba’i came from a prominent family of `ulama’. His father’s nurturance of him in Islamic learning included a strong sense of political activism that later put him on a collision course with the authorities of the
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SHRINE. The Arabic term qubbah (a tomb surmounted by a dome) refers throughout the Muslim world to saints’ shrines and mausoleums and places of special spiritual significance. Shrines are never just buildings, however. They stand for a complex of rituals, symbols, and shifting social and spiritual ties that link believers to Islam and create a
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In Islam, shirk is the sin of practicing idolatry or polytheism, i.e. the deification or worship of anyone or anything other than the singular God, i.e. Allah. Literally, it means ascribing or the establishment of “partners” placed beside God. It is the vice that is opposed to the virtue of Tawhid (monotheism). Those who practice
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