Dhimmi [Back to Top]
A dhimmi is a non-Muslim subject of a state governed in accordance with Sharia law. The term connotes an obligation of the state to protect the individual, including the individual's life, property, and freedom of religion and worship, in exchange for "subservience and loyalty to the Muslim order" and a poll tax known as the jizya. This status was originally only made available to non-Muslims who were People of the Book (i.e. Jews and Christians), but was later extended to include Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Mandeans, and, in some areas, Hindus and Buddhists. Dhimmi had fewer legal and social rights than Muslims, but more rights than other non-Muslim religious subjects. This status applied to millions of people living from the Atlantic Ocean to India from the 7th century until modern times. Over time, many dhimmis converted to Islam. Most conversions were voluntary. Forced conversion played a role in some later periods of Islamic history, mostly in the 12th century under the Almohad dynasty of North Africa and al-Andalus.
Sources: Wikipedia, DhimmiWatch, Answers.com

Intifada [Back to Top]
TA Palestinian uprising which erupted in December 1987 in the Gaza Strip and quickly spread to the West Bank. The uprising reflected frustrations with two decades of Israeli military occupation, the expansion of Israeli settlement in the Occupied Territories of Gaza and the West Bank, and the failure of the PLO and the Arab states to change the status quo. The tactic of rock-throwing mass demonstrations provoked an armed response from Israeli forces which claimed nearly 1000 Palestinian lives. However, the Intifada is credited with breaking the political deadlock. The peace talks initiated by the 1991 Madrid Conference are seen as one consequence of the uprising, as are the signing of the 1993 accord by the PLO leader Yasser Arafat and the Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres, and the formation in 1994 of a limited self-governing Palestinian presence in Gaza and Jericho. A new Palestinian intifada was launched in October 2000 in response to the controversial visit by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, then leader of the opposition in Israel, to the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The term intifada has since been used to refer to the 1991 Shiite uprisings in S Iraq against Saddam Hussein's rule, and is now used to mean any mass uprising against oppressive rule. Sources:
Sources: Reference.com

Jihad [Back to Top]
The word jihad is associated with the term struggle, and always refers in some way to the struggle of a Muslim to create a world in better keeping with Islamic precepts. It appears in the Quran, Islam's holy book, and in other authoritative materials to which Muslims refer. There is no consensus among all Muslims about the exact definition of jihad. However, there is wide agreement that there are two kinds of jihad: internal, of the self, and external. Jihad can refer to the internal struggle to live one's life in ethical accordance with God's will. It can also refer to the external struggle to defend Islam against unbelievers.
Sources: About.com, Wikipedia

Articles
Jihad: How Academics Have Camouflaged Its Real Meaning Daniel Pipes, History News Network

Jizya [Back to Top]
Under Islamic law, jizya or jizyah  is a per capita tax levied on the state's non-Muslim citizens. The tax was levied on able bodied men of military age. From the point of view of the Muslim rulers, jizya was a material proof of the non-Muslims' subjection, "just as for the inhabitants it was a concrete continuation of the taxes paid to earlier regimes." In return, non-Muslim citizens were permitted to practice their faith, to enjoy a measure of communal autonomy, to be entitled to Muslim protection from outside aggression, to be exempted from military service and taxes levied upon Muslim citizens. The Arabic term jizya appears in verse Qur'an 9:29, but the Qur'an does not specify jizya as a tax per head. The jizya taxation seems to be a developed form of the Sassanian practice of taxation. In many instances, the amount of the jizya is extreme.
Sources: Wikipedia, Debate.org.uk, Answers.com
 

Salafism [Back to Top]
Salafi is a term often used to describe fundamentalist islamic thought. The teachings of the reformer Abd Al-Wahhab are more often referred to by adherents as Salafi, that is, "following the forefathers of Islam." This branch of Islam is often referred to as "Wahhabi," a term that many adherents to this tradition do not use. Members of this form of Islam call themselves Muwahhidun ("Unitarians", or "unifiers of Islamic practice"). They use the Salafi Da'wa or Ahlul Sunna wal Jama'a. Wahhabism is a particular orientation within Salafism. Most puritanical groups in the Muslim world are Salafi in orientation, but not necessarily Wahhabi. The Salafiyyah are a movement, and like the Sufis, can come from the Maliki, the Shafi, the Hanbali, or the Hanafi. But, that said, the Salafiyyah movement, is primarily confirmed to the Hanbali, and in particular the Wahhabiyyah, and their theological equivalents. The Salafiyyah movement to return Islam to it's purest roots (like the Islamic Amish!) has taken as reference points the teachings of Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal , Al Barbahaaree, or Al Laalikaa'ee, or Ash-Shaatibee, or Adh-Dhahabee, or Al Layth ibn Sa'd, or Abu Haneefah, and other scholars who adhered to the methodology of the salaf.
Sources: GlobalSecurity.org. Wikipedia

Sharia Law [Back to Top]
There is tremendous variance in the interpretation and implementation of Islamic law in Muslim societies today. Liberal movements within Islam have questioned the relevance and applicability of sharia from a variety of perspectives. Several of the countries with the largest Muslim populations, including Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan, have largely secular constitutions and laws, with only a few Islamic provisions in family law. Turkey has a constitution that is officially strongly secular, but where the state systematically favors Sunni Islam. India is the only country in the world which has separate Muslim civil laws, framed by Muslim Personal Law board, and wholly based on Sharia. However, the criminal laws are uniform. Some controversial sharia laws favor Muslim men, including rejection of alimony and polygamy.
Sources:Wikipedia

Articles
Can Sharia (Islamic Law) work in the 21st Century? Free Muslims Coalition
Islam: Governing Under Sharia Council of Foreign Relations
The Purpose of the Shari'ah Islaam.com

Articles
Islam: Sunnis and Shiites Congressional Research Service

Sufism [Back to Top]
Sufis are "movements", within, and in a few extreme cases outside of mainstream Islam. Sufis in general, are complex, and cover many different "stripes" of Islam. Sufism started out as a Shia movement, but over the past several hundred years, has almost disappeared from Shia Islam, and is now, mainly a Sunni movement. Hanbalis, Shafis, Malikis and Hanafis can all belong to different Sufi "tariqas" or "brotherhoods, as they are called. In fact, the Islamic brotherhood in Egypt, and Al Qaeda, are both Sufi based movements. The Traditional Sufis, are actually people like the Wahhabiyyah and Al Qaeda, who eschew that type of thing as apostasy, and instead, insist that Sufism is all an Internal (internal to an individual) movement/spiritualism, that should never adopt external/folkloric elements, like the Dervishes, etc.
Sources: Global Security.org, Wikipedia, Dr. Alan Godlas, University of Georgia

Sunni [Back to Top]
The largest division of Islam. Sunni Islam is the heir to the early central Islamic state, in its acknowledgement of the legitimacy of the order of succession of the first four caliphs (see caliphate), in contrast to the Shiite rejection of the first three as usurpers. It can also be seen as the aggregate of the adherents to the four extant schools of religious law (fiqh), the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafii, and Hanbali schools. See sharia. With no centralized clerical institution, Sunni Islam should be understood as an umbrella identity, grouping close to 90% of the approximately one billion Muslims, stretching geographically from the Indonesian islands to the African steppes, through the Indian subcontinent, central Asia, and the Arab world, and ideologically from ecstatic Sufism to the puritanical literalism of the Wahhabis and Salafias, through scholasticism and secularism. The scholastic formulation, the most constant expression of Sunni Islam throughout its history and geographic span, proposes the relation of the human being with the Divine as essentially individual, with no intermediaries. In actual practice, however, religious scholars (ulama), together with mystic shaykhs, pious persons, and popular saints (awliya), are often recognized as enjoying a religious authority of varying degrees. The Sunni theoretical characterization of the Prophet Muhammad as a mere executor of Divine will has not precluded the intensive devotional rituals directed to his person that flourish in a diversity of forms across the Sunni world. The prime center of scholastic learning in Sunni Islam is the mosque-university of al-Azhar in Cairo.
Sources: The Colombia Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, GlobalSecurity.org

Articles
Islam: Sunnis and Shiites Congressional Research Service

Takfir [Back to Top]
In Islamic law, takfir or takfeer is the practice of declaring that an individual or a group previously considered Muslims are in fact kafir(s) (non-believers in God). The act which precipitates takfir is termed the mukaffir. This declaration may be made if the alleged Muslim in question declares himself a kafir. However, more usually it applies to the judgment that an action has been taken that clearly indicates knowing abandonment of Islam. Which actions constitute sufficient justification for takfir is disputed between different schools of religious thought...The sentence for apostasy (irtidad), under Sharia law as traditionally interpreted, is execution. For this reason, orthodox Islamic law normally requires extremely stringent evidence for such accusations, in many cases, requiring an Islamic court or religious leader (see mullah, ayatollah) to pronounce a fatwa (legal judgement) of takfir on an individual or group; however, certain extremist movements have been much readier to practice takfir, for which they have been condemned by more mainstream Muslims. This practice is taken to its logical extreme by the earliest medieval Kharijites and by modern groups such as Takfir wal-Hijra and the GIA, who regard virtually all self-styled Muslims as kafirs whose blood may legitimately be shed. Some Muslims consider Takfir (declaring someone as Kafir) a prerogative only of either the Prophet -- who does that through Divine revelation -- or that State which represents the collectivity of the Ummah (whole Muslim community).
Sources: Answers.com

Zakat [Back to Top]
Zakaat (meaning 'grow', 'purify', or 'foster') is the Islamic concept of tithing and alms. It is an obligation for Muslims to pay 2.5% of their wealth to specified categories in society when their annual wealth exceeds a minimum level. Zakat is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Zakat, according to the Shiite teachings, is assigned to specific goods. There are nine types of goods from which Zakat is paid out: gold, silver, camels, cows, sheep, wheat, barley, dates, and raisins. Each type has its own "nisab," or a limit under which Zakat need not be paid. Zakat is paid to : freed slaves, those heavily indebted with paying their debts, travelers who find themselves in difficult circumstances.Zakat is obligatory on the individual but should not be forced by the governor.
Sources: Wikipedia, The Zakat Foundation of America, Answers.com, About.com, Washington State University