SHAFI’I

The Shafi’i madhhab is one of the four schools of Islamic law in Sunni Islam. It was founded by the Arab scholar Al-Shafi‘i, a pupil […]

SHADOW OF GOD

SHADOW OF GOD. The ancient Iranians developed an elaborate concept of sacral kingship. Both Achaemenid (559-33 BCE) and Sassanian (224-651 CE) kings were believed to […]

SHADHILIYAH

SHADHILIYAH. Together with the Rifa’iyah, Qadiriyah, and Ahmadiyah, the Shadhiliyah is one of the four oldest tariqahs (Sufi orders) in the Muslim world. It takes […]

SEXUALITY

SEXUALITY. In the Muslim world, sexuality is simultaneously more open and more conservative than in other geographic regions. These contradictory aspects result from a confluence […]

SEVENERS

Seveners (Arabic: سبعية‎‎) are a branch of Ismā’īlī Shīʻa. They became known as “Seveners” because they believe that Isma’il ibn Jafar was the seventh and […]

SELJUK DYNASTY

SELJUK DYNASTY. A Turkish family of Central Asian origin which ruled much of the eastern Islamic world beginning in the mid-eleventh century, the Seljuks (or […]

SECULARISM

SECULARISM. The term secularism signifies that which is not religious. It is rooted in the Latin world saeculum, which initially meant “age” or “generations” in […]

SECLUSION

SECLUSION. The practice of confining women to the exclusive company of other women in their own home or in separate female living quarters is one […]

TABATABA’I, MUHAMMAD HUSAYN

TABATABA’I, MUHAMMAD HUSAYN ( 16 March 1903 – 15 November 1981), known to his contemporaries as `Allamah Tabataba’I, one of the foremost Qur’anic commentators and traditional […]

PERVEZ HOODBHOY

Pervez Amir Ali Hoodbhoy born 11 July 1950) is a Pakistani nuclear physicist, mathematician and activist who serves as distinguished professor at the Forman Christian […]