Islamic Glossary: Letter M

Letter M; Page: 3 of 3
[Back][Up][Next]   [Index][A][B][C][D][E][F][G][H][I][J][K][L][M][N][O][P][Q][R][S][T][U][V][W][X][Y][Z]

 

Muslim | pl. muslimun, muslimaat (f.)

alt. Muslimah (f.) | pl. muslimoon, muslimeen
mus-lim | mus-li-moon, mus-li-maat

A person who follows the way of life of Islam. It literally means "one who submits or surrenders" (i.e. to the will of Allah). The feminine form of the word is Muslimah.

(Note: The religious group known as the "Submitters," founded by Rashad Khalifa in the U.S.A. has nothing to do with Muslims or Islam, other than that they claim their distorted beliefs are based on the Qur'an.

 
Mu'tazilah (, al-)

Mu'-ta-zi-lah

"The Separatists." A misguided school of thought founded by Waasil ibn 'Ataa, who separated from the school of Hasan al-Basri. The chief tenets of the school were: (1) They rejected all eternal attributes of Allah, saying that eternity is the proper or formal attribute of His essence; that Allah knows by His essence and not by His knowledge; that to affirm these attributes is the same thing as to make more eternals than one, and that the Unity of Allah is inconsistent with such an opinion. (2) They believed the word of Allah (Qur'an) to have been created, and whatever was created is also an accident, and liable to perish. (3) They held that if any Musilm is guilty of grievous sin and dies without repentence, he will be eternally damned. (4) They also denied all vision of Allah in Paradise by the corporeal eye, and rejected all comparisons or similitude applied to Allah. During the reign of the Abbasid caliphs, al-Ma'moon, al-Mu'tasim, and al-Waathiq, (198-233 H.) the Mu'tazilah were in high favor.

See also: Abbasid dynasty
 

 

[Back][Up][Next]   [Index]

 

 

Last modified 01-21-2003 14:54:07 - Connecticut Council of Masajid, Inc.