Islam Vocab.

1. Sunna - Arabic word that means habit or usual practice. The Islamic usage of this term refers to the sayings and living habits of Muhammad. Recording sunna was an Arabic tradition, and once people converted to Islam, they brought the tradition to the religion. The Sunna of Muhammad includes his specific words, habits, and practices. It is significant to Islam because it addresses ways of life dealing with friends, family, and government.
2. Sunni - the largest branch of Islam. The word "Sunni" comes from the term Sunna which refers to the words and actions or example of the Muhammad. The Sunni branch of Islam has four legal schools of thought or madh'hab, which are all accepted among one another. The Sunni branch accepts the first four caliphs as rightful successors of Muhammad.
3. Tawhid - the concept of monotheism in Islam. It holds Allah as one and unique.
4. Timothy Drew - founder of the Moorish Science Temple of America. Drew claimed it was a sect of Islam but he drew as well from other major world religions. Its primary tenet was the belief that African Americans had descended from the Moors and thus were originally Islamic.
5. 'ulama' - the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in Islamic studies. They are best known as the arbiters of shari‘a law. In a broader sense, the term ulama is used to describe the body of Muslim clergy who have completed several years of training and study of Islamic sciences.
6. ummah - Arabic word meaning "community" or "nation". It is commonly used to mean either the collective nation of states, or the whole Arab world. In the context of Islam, the word ummah is used to mean the"Community of the Believers", and thus the whole Muslim world.
7. Wahhab - means "servant of the all-giver". Al-Wahhāb is one of the names of given about God in the Qur'an, which give rise to the Muslim theophoric names.
8. zakat - one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Zakat is the giving of a small percentage of possessions to charity, generally to the poor and needy. It is often compared to the system of tithing and alms, but it serves as the welfare contribution to poor and deprived Muslims. It is the duty of an Islamic community not just to collect zakat but to distribute it fairly as well.