MECCA

MECCA. A holy site since the beginning of Arab memory of the place, Mecca (Makkah) is the goal of the annual pilgrimage that the Qur’an […]

MAWLID

MAWLID. Derived from the triliteral Arabic root w-l-d, mawlid means “birth.” Al-Mawlid al-Nabawi alSharif, for example, refers to the twelfth day of Rabi’ al-Awwal of […]

MAWLAY

MAWLAY. The Arabic word mawlay (also transliterated moulay and mulay) means “my lord” or “my master”; in North Africa it is frequently used in this […]

MAWLAWIYAH

MAWLAWIYAH. The Turkish Sufi order of the Mawlawlyah (Tk., Mevlevi) is known to Europe as the “Whirling Dervishes” in recognition of its distinctive meditation ritual. […]

MAWLA

MAWLA. Derived from wala (“to be close to, be friends with, have power over”), the term mawla (pl., mawali) has entered other languages as a […]

MAWDUDI, SAYYID ABU AL-A’LA

MAWDUDI, SAYYID ABU AL-A’LA (also rendered from Urdu as Abu’l-A`la Maududi; 25 September 1903 – 22 September 1979) Islamic ideologue and politician. Sayyid Abu al-A’la […]

MAURITANIA

MAURITANIA. The place of Mauritania in the Islamic history of the Maghrib dates at least from the birth of the Almoravid dynasty, but it was […]

MATHEMATICS

MATHEMATICS. The mathematical sciences occupy a prominent place in Islamic intellectual history. Historically called `ulum riyadiyah or ta’limiyah (pedagogic mathematics), they comprised the four main […]

MASLAHAH

MASLAHAH. Public interest (al-masalih   almursalah) is regarded in shari `ah (the divine law) as a basis of law. According to necessity and particular circumstances, […]

MASYUMI

MASJUMI. One of Indonesia’s main political parties during the period of parliamentary democracy in the 1950s, the Masjumi (also spelled Masyumi under the new system […]