The Light of Truth — Page 514
514 THE LIGHT OF TRUTH-PART I & II Şahīh Authentic. A hadith grade and ti- tle of the two most authentic Books of Hadith: al-Bukhārī and Muslim. Salaf Predecessors. Often refers to the early Muslims of the first three gen- erations: Şahābā, Tabiin, and Ta- ba'ut-Tabiin. Sanad The chain of narrators of a report that was verbally transmitted from person to person; typically, from the compiler of the report reaching back to up to the person to whom the re- ported statement is attributed. Shadīdul-Quwa Mighty powers. Re- fers to the Angel Gabriel (Jibril). Shariah Religious law of Islam. The term is also used in the general sense of any revealed law. Shirk Associating partners with Allah. Tafsir Commentary. Typically used in reference to exegetical explanations of the Holy Quran. Takfir The practice of adjudging Mus- lims as non-Muslims, used chiefly by Muslims. see Mukaffirin. Takwir Wrapping up; a variant of which-kuwwirat-is used in the Holy Quran to describe a solar eclipse prophesied to occur in the Latter Days. see the Holy Quran, 81:2. Tanzīh Short for Tanzihullāh, or de- claring God to be far removed or free from the having anything like unto Him by participation of his essence or otherwise. Taqlid The strictly following of a spe- cific tradition, often without exer- cising any critical judgement. see also Muqallidīn. Tauhid The Oneness of God. The fun- damental Islamic belief that there is no god besides Allah and there none worthy of worship except Allah. Tawaffi 'To die'; derivatives of which- mutawaffika and tawaffaitani-are used in the Holy Quran to explicitly denote the death of Prophet Jesusas. see Holy Quran 3:56 and 5:118, respec- tively. Tawatur The transmission of a report by such a large number of independ- ent narrators that it is impossible they could have all agreed upon a lie. Ta'wil Interpretation. A practice used to reconcile a piece of information that might otherwise be perceived as conflicting with core Islamic beliefs. Ta'wilat Intepretations. see Ta'wil. Ulama Scholars. Refers to Muslims learned in Islamic knowledge. (Sing. 'Alim) Ummah The community or followers of the Holy Prophet Muhammadsas. Wahy Divine revelation. Wali Literally, 'friend. In the terminol- ogy of Islamic mysticism, it refers to a very pious person or a friend of Al- lah. The singular form is walī [friend] or Waliyyullah [Friend of Allah], the plural form is Auliyā'ullāh which is sometimes abbreviated as Auliyā.