ALAWID DYNASTY

`ALAWID DYNASTY. A family of religious notables, the `Alawis gained political dominion and the status of a royal house in Morocco during the seventeenth century […]

`ALAWI, AHMAD AL

`ALAWI, AHMAD AL-, (1869-1934), more fully Abu al `Abbas Ahmad ibn Mustafa al-`Alawl, Algerian Sfifi and poet. Characterized by the French Orientalist Emile Dermenghem as […]

AKHUND

Several meanings for akhund, a Persian word meaning “religious scholar” or “leader,” have been proposed by Iranian, Turkish, and Western writers. One states that the […]

AKHBARIYAH

An emphatically traditionalist tendency in Shi’i jurisprudence, Akhbariyah first crystallized into a distinct school in the twelfth century. Its designation comes from the word akhbar […]

AHMAD KHAN, SAYYID

AHMAD KHAN, SAYYID (1817-1898), Indian Islamic modernist writer and political activist. The family of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan claimed lineal descent from the prophet Muhammad; […]

AHMADIYAH

A messianic movement in modern Islam, the Ahmadiyah has been one of the most active and controversial movements since its inception in British Indiain 1889. […]