Education without Indictment

Do you enjoy the daily click on "Jihad Watch", a site run by author and speaker Robert Spencer? He has his niche and has found his audience. I seek a different audience for the long-distance learning which I will provide once a month. It will be formatted into two blogs, including a glossary of terms for ease of reading. I would like for the readership to commit to education without an agenda; education without indictment.

Post 9/11 I found very little in the way of resources within my own local military community regarding Islam as a geopolitical force, form of government, or religion. Having now studied for several years on this topic, I bring my knowledge to you. Let's learn together. Here are my definitions of terms to assist you, presented in the easiest (not necessarily most accurate) manner for you to understand as a beginner. The next two blogs will cover "Operational Tempo" and "Iraq: The Confederacy". We will move into more scholary realms in the future to study the evolution of the Qur'an, Hadith Literature, marriage and divorce, widowhood and family life, women's health issues such as abortion, and other topics. At some point we will also cover Jihad. To add one small editorial note, I will refer to "Prophet Muhammad" to give him the rank he receives among Muslims. I am not a Muslim. But I am comfortable with rank structure. smile

GLOSSARY OF TERMS:

Qur'an: "The Rope of Allah"; in common English, the Koran

ayat(or ayah) are individual verses within the Surah (or chapters) of the Qur'an.

Hadith (pl: Ahadith) the report of something that Prophet Muhammad said or did, or something of which he approved. We will study this further, with distinctions made by Shi'a and Sunni sects.

As-Sabur: The Patient; one of the 99 names of Allah which ascribe his attributes

Muhaddith: A scholar who is considered an expert in the words and actions of the Prophet.

Sunnah: While these are considered the practices or methodology of Prophet Muhammad, the term is used somewhat interchangeably with "Hadith". By example, a Sunnah of Muhammad would be one which describes how he performed the ritual cleansing prior to prayer. This would be found in various ahadith.

Sahabah: The Companions of Prophet Muhammad. His own cadre of leadership.

Shari'ah: A term which somewhat translates "the way to water", is the corpus juris of Islamic law. A Ph.D may be obtained in this field of study.

You will find the first blog posted below.