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The definitions given in this glossary are presented in the context of this volume. Many of the terms may have wider meanings. Only those terms cited in this volume are included.

akhlasu. Genuine in religious beliefs.

al-hawa. Personal temptations.

Allah. The Arabic word for the One True God, in which Muslims believe, who created and sustains all life. The word Allah is unique in that it has no plural nor any gender connotation.

anfal. Property of the Imam, the just and legitimate ruler.

baghi. Rebel, oppressor, or transgressor.

baitulmal. Public treasury.

bid'ah sayyi'ah. Inquiry prohibited in Islam.

djahilyya. Period of ignorance that Muslims believe preceded the arrival of Islam in Arabia.

dhimmis. Non-Muslims who live in an Islamic state.

fahesha. Despoiling; committing a bad, shameful deed, including despoiling of natural resources (plural fawhish).

faqih. One who has a deep understanding of Islam, its laws, and jurisprudence; a jurist (plural fuqaha).

fassad. Corruption, chaos, mischief, or spoiling of anything including water resources.

fatahna. Literally "opened up" (or "poured") blessings such as rizq, which includes natural resources such as water.

fatwa. Legal ruling on an issue of religious importance (plural fataawaa).

fenjan. Local unit of water in some parts of Iran; Arabic for "cup."

fiqh. Literally "comprehension" or "knowing." The branch of learning concerned with the injunctions of the sharia relating to human actions, derived from the detailed evidence pertaining to them. See faqih.

ghusl. Purifying bath that Muslims must take after conjugal relations or prior to offering prayer.

hadith. A narration describing what the Prophet (pbuh) said, did, or tacitly approved.

hadith qudsi. A special category of hadith, which contains the word of Allah, related by the Prophet (pbuh). Hadith qudsi differs from the Quran in that the latter comprises the exact words of God.

haez. Literally "one who has or owns" anything, including water. See hiazat.

Hanbali. One of the main schools of thought in Islam, founded by Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (d. 855 A.C.), a famous scholar of fiqh.

Hanifi. One of the main schools of thought in Islam, founded by Abu Hanifah (d. 767 a.c.), a famous scholar of fiqh.

haq al shafa (shirb). Literally "the law of thirst" or "the right to quench thirst"; shafa also means "to heal," or "the restoration of health."

haraam. Forbidden in Islam.

haram. Sacred or inviolable. A protected area in which bad behaviour is forbidden and other good behaviours are essential. The area around the Ka'ba in Mecca, and the area around the Prophet's mosque in Medina, are haram.

harim. Protected (from haram): land surrounding canals, wells, and other water sources on which digging a new well is forbidden so as to protect the quality and quantity of the water source.

hiazat. Spending time and effort to take something into possession. In the context of water, it refers to the effort of supplying, storing, treating, and distributing water (singular hiyazah). See haez.

hisba. Office of accounting or public inspection. See muhtasib.

huda. Guidance or direction given by God to His creation.

hudud. Consensus of the jurists since the death of the Prophet (pbuh) on any issue of fiqh.

ijma. Unanimous agreement of Muslim jurists.

ijtihad. Literally "striving and self-exertion: independent reasoning; analytical thought": ijtihad is the interpretation of the source materials, inference of rules from them, or giving a legal verdict or decision on any issue on which there is no specific guidance in the Quran and the sunnah.

Islam. An Arabic word derived from the root words silm and salaam, which mean "peace." The meanings of "Islam" include: peace, greet­ing, salutation, obedience, loyalty, allegiance, and submission to the will of God.

istihsan. Literally "preference": juristic preference where no ruling exists.

istishab. The presumption that fiqh laws applicable to certain conditions remain valid until proven otherwise.

istislah. Improving or rehabilitating something: literally "seeking the welfare." The principle of istihsan applied in a more restricted form, which means seeking that which is more suitable to human welfare than some existing condition – for instance, the improvement of land from being idle and waste to being productive.

itaqu. The faithful who fear God.

jizya. Literally "tribute": the tax paid by dhimmis in an Islamic state in exchange for the protection provided to them and for their exemption from military service and payment of zakaat.

joraeh. Unit of volume used for water in Iran.

khalifa. Viceregent, successor, steward, or trustee (plural khulafa). Humans are referred to as the khulafa or stewards of God on earth. The word khalifa was used after the death of the noble Prophet Muhammad to refer to his successor, Abu Bakr, as the head of the Muslim community. Later, it came to be accepted as the office of the head of the Islamic state. As trustees, the role of humans, especially leaders (khulafa) on earth is to ensure that all resources, including water, are used in a reasonable, equitable, and sustainable manner.

kharaj. A tax levied on conquered land by Khalif Umar. This land was not given as booty to the victorious army, but was left to the conquered owners in return for the payment of a tax on the land.

khazen. Finance manager.

khutba. A sermon given by an imam in a mosque before the Friday congregational prayer (salatul-Jum'ah).

ma'. Water.

madrasa. Religious school (plural madaris).

ma-li. "My money": maal signifies wealth or money.

Maliki. One of the main schools of thought in Islam, founded by Malik Ibn Anas al-Asbahi (d. 795 a.c.), a famous scholar of fiqh.

maslaha. The public interest. It is generally held that the principal objective of the sharia is to realize the genuine maslaha or benefit of the people.

maulvis. An honorific title of local Muslim leaders or Imams in India and Pakistan. The Urdu version of Arabic mawla (pl. mawali – Persian mulla): master, patron, or client. A designation of Allah as "the Protector" (8:40; 47:11). Now used as a title for religious or political authorities.

mawat, mewat. Dead, idle, or fallow lands.

Mejelle. Literally "magazine": a publication of the Ottoman Civil Code in the 1870s.

miri. Collective ownership: public lands or state-owned land.

mubah. Free of ownership or conditions which undermine the availability for all humankind of the resource so described. For example, air, light, and water in its natural state, such as in the form of precipitations, glaciers, or large lakes, are all mubah.

muhtasib. The officer in charge of the hisba, whose duty, among other things, is to ensure the proper conduct of people in their public activities.

mujtahid. Religiously learned.

mulk. Private property with full right of disposal.

munkar. An act that is despised by Allah.

mushaa. A form of collective ownership of land.

Muslim. In a general sense, anyone who submits to God, including all the prophets in whom Muslims believe. In a more specific sense, one who submits to God by following the religion of Islam.

mustalah al hadith. The science of hadith criticism.

nath'ubet. Became scarce.

qiyas. Analogy or relevance.

Quran. The Holy Book, which Muslims believe contains the exact revelations made by Allah to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) through the Angel Gabriel.

rizq. Provisions that God destines for a person, in such forms as additional income, food, clothing, or a natural resource such as water. See fatahna.

sahaba. The companions of the Prophet (pbuh).

salaah, salaat. The prayer that must be offered at least five times a day by every adult Muslim.

salam. Peace and harmony of people between themselves or with nature. It is a key word in an Islamic greeting. See Islam.

Shafi'i. One of the main schools of thought in Islam, founded by Abbas ibn Uthman ibn Shafi' (d. 820 a.c.), a famous scholar of fiqh.

shahed. Witness.

shaqa. Misery.

sharia. The Islamic way of life, Islamic law.

shura. Consultation among decision-makers and between decision-makers and the general public.

sunan. Laws. The plural of sunnah.

sunnah. The way of the Prophet (pbuh): sunnah comprises what the Prophet (pbuh) said, did, and encouraged both explicitly and implicitly.

taqua. The faithful who fear God (from the verb itaqu).

tatghou. Excess, oppression. La tatghou: to commit no excess.

usher. Literally "tenth": a tax representing a percentage of the harvest payable by a Muslim. It represents a religious obligation, like zakaat, intended for the benefit of the poor and the needy.

wajeb. A duty that is essential, but not quite compulsory, for Muslims.

waqf. An endowment of money or property: the return or yield is typically dedicated toward a certain end, for example, to the maintenance of the poor, a family, a village, or a mosque.

wudu. Ablution: the ritual cleaning of the body before beginning an act of worship.

zakaat. Literally "the purification (of wealth)": payment made by every Muslim who can afford it that is given to the poor and needy. One of the Five Pillars of Islam.

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