- Allah: god; all powerful; absolute; personal
- Five Pillars: Shahadah, Salat, Zakat, Sawm, and Hajj
- Hadith: narratives reporting actions and sayings of Muhammed written by his followers
- Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca; go at least once in lifetime; reinacting Abraham's pilgrimage; most people are dressed in white
- Hijra: when Muhammed escaped the city of Mecca and went to Medina; immigration
- Jihad: "holy war;' general effort to advance the cause of Islam; ambiguous scriptures
- Muhammed: founder of Islam; born in 570 CE
- Qur'an: the word of God; sacred scriptures; records revelations of Muhammed; 114 surahs
- Salat: worship 5 times a day facing Mecca, said in Arabic, public recognition of absolute soveirnty of Allah
- Sawm: fasting during Ramadan (9th month of Islamic calender); no food or drink during the day; recite entire Qur'an over the course of the month
- Shahadah: "there is no God but Allah, and Muhammed is his prophet"
- Shari'ah: the right path
- Shiite: recognize the authority of Ali and the descendents of Ali are the true leaders (Imams); obey pronouncements without question
- Sufism: mystical belief of Allah over the law; want to achieve a direct spiritual union with Allah
- Sunni: recognize authority of caliphs; had interpretive guides (hadith); the ultimate authority was the community; largest and most orthodox
- Zakat: legal almsgiving; tax to help those in need (charity); voluntary, collected by mosque
Islam