DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY. With a long tradition in the customary practices of nations, diplomatic immunity, originally justified on the basis of theories of sovereign representation and exterritoriality, is now accepted as a functional necessity. Customary rules of diplomatic immunity have been codified authoritatively by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) and the Vienna Convention on
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DIETARY RULES. Islamic prescriptions concerning food and drink keep Muslims mindful in their everyday lives of God’s will and of their membership in a global community of shared values and obligations, regardless of their social rank. As set forth in the seventh century in the Qur’an and the hadiths the rules are based on the
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DHIMMI. In Islamic law one who is in the covenant of protection (dhimmah) with the Muslim power is considered dhimmi. In principle, the covenant could be made between Islam and any population of a non-Muslim country conquered by Muslim forces. But in the usual meaning and practice the covenant was made only with scriptuaries, ahl
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DHIKR. Most commonly associated with Sufism, dhikr (“remembrance, reminder, evocation”) is both a concept and a meditative practice. It is also a unifying theme across the diversity of cultural forms in Islam, appearing in each form in a distinctive expression. Its specific appearance in Sufism can best be understood against its wider background as a
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DEVOTIONAL POETRY. The creation of religious verse seems to be a latecomer in the Islamic world. An aversion to poetry, especially religious poetry, is palpable in the first centuries of Islam, when it was feared that poetry-criticized in the Qur’an, (surah 26.226 ff.) and often negatively described in hadith might conflict with the divinely inspired
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DEVOTIONAL MUSIC. The most characteristic sounds of devotional expression in Muslim communities may be the call to prayer (adhan) and the recitation of the Qur’an (qira’ah al-Qur’an). Neither of these is considered by Muslims to be music; rather, they are texts that are delivered and sometimes amplified or enhanced using selected musical devices, which are
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