Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

The word majalis is derived from the verb jalasa, meaning to sit down or to hold a session, and majalis therefore means meeting or assembly. (Koran: 68:11-12)

In pre-Islamic period, the majalis designated an assembly or council of the tribe's notables. In various states of the Middle Ages, an elaborate governmental structure contained a series of majalis, such as majalis al-baladiyya (municipal council), majalis al-wuzura (council of ministers), etc.

The chiragh-i rawshan is also solemnized for the longevity, prosperity and blessing of a person who is alive, known as dawat-i baqa. It also corresponds with the Indian tradition of the hayati majalis. It also exhorts that the Imam is an Everlasting Guide and Epiphany (mazhar) of God on earth. The believers must kindle the lamp of Divine Light in their hearts. Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah also said, "The lamp of the Divine Light exists in you and your hands. This is spoken metaphorically. This lamp always exists in you all" (Zanzibar, 13/9/1899).

It almost resembles the practice of the ruhani majalis prevalent in the Indian tradition. When one dies, his family members and relatives assemble in his house for three days, known as the dawat-i fana. His family does not cook food for three days, but only a lamp is kindled. Major J. Biddulph writes in Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh (Karachi, 1977, p. 123) that, "On the evening of the appointed day, a caliph comes to the house, and food is cooked and offered to him.

"The Arabic word for angel is malak (pl. mala'ika), which is derived from alk or alaka, meaning the bearing of messages. Another view traces its root from malk or milk, meaning power. It is also stated that it is derived from uluqatun, means messenger. In Arabic the person whom the message is assigned to convey is also called uluqat. The word malak and mala'ika occur 68 times in the Koran.

A'FAQ Horizon

A'MIR Civilized

A'QIB Following

A'ZAM Greatest

ABBAS Gloomy

ABDULLAH Servant of God

ABID Devoted

ABUZAR Father of Particle

ADIB Scholar

ADIL Just

ADNAN N.Arabian

AFROZ Dazzling

AFTAB Sun

AFZAL Best

AHMAD Praiseworthy

AKBAR Great

King Mansudh - symbolizes the spirit. see ginaan. Prem Paatan. He helpedQueen Radeh.* to attained salvation.

"He was born in 302/914 in Kairwan, the first Fatimid Imam to be born in Maghrib. His name was Ismail and kunya was Abu Tahir, surnamed al-Mansur bi-Amrillah (Victorious by the command of God). He acceded the throne on 334/945 during the time when Abu Yazid had laid a siege over Susa.

It simply means stage. The division of the Koranic suras on the basis of manzil is made to facilitate the reading of the entire Koran within a week. The manzil are seven in number as follows:-

1. Sura Fatiha (1) to Sura Nisa (4)

2. Sura Maida (5) to Sura Tauba (9)

3. Sura Yunus (10) to Sura Nahl (16)

4. Sura Bani Israel (17) to Sura Furqan (25)

5. Sura Shora (26) to Sura Yasin (36)

6. Sura Safaat (37) to Sura Hujurat (49), and

7. Sura Ka'af (50) to Sura Naas (114).

MARRIAGE [ see NIKAH ]

It means what God does, is well done. It is usually uttered at the end of an act and reminds us that, ultimately, whatever comes from God, and that whatever is realized is not by human effort alone but through His Will.

Masiyaf is a town of central Syria on the eastern side of the Jabal al-Nusairia, situated at 33 miles to the east of Baniyas and 28 miles to the east of Hammah. The word masiyaf is derived from the second form verb sayyafa means to pass the summer. The pronunciation and orthography of the name varies between the form, Masyad, Masyaf, Mayat, Masyath, Masyab, Masyah and Messiat. The stronghold of Masiyaf lies to the northeast of the settlement, at the foot of the Jabal al-Bahra. It was an Arab citadel, perched on a rocky limestone block.

The word masjid is derived from sajd (prostration), thus it means the place of prostration. The English word mosque derives via French mosquee, the old French mousquaie, the old Italian moschea and moscheta, while moschee in German and mescit in Turkish - all came from the Arabic via Spanish mezquita. In East Africa, the mosque is commonly spoken of in Swahili as msikiti (pl. misikiti). In Indonesia, it is pronounced as mesigit, masigit and maseghit.

The status of women in Islam, especially with regards to such issues as marriage, inheritance, veiling and seclusion has received a great deal of scholarly attention. For women, the mosque meant access to almost every aspect of public life. Debarring or limiting their access means restricting their participation in public life. Gender segregation, as seen in most mosques today, is such a limitation, for it limits women's full access. This both hampers their participation and can even shut them out completely.

The temple of Jerusalem is honoured in the Koran (17:1) as al-majid al-Aqsa (lit. the remote mosque). The sacredness of Jerusalem is emphasized on numerous places. Abraham migrated to the land of Canaanite around 1805 BC. The Koran states: "And We made them the greater losers. But We delivered him and (his nephew) Lot (and directed them) to the land which We have blessed for the nations" (21: 69-71). The Koran reports Moses telling his people: "O my people!

The Kaba stands in the center of a parallelogram whose dimensions are as follows: North-west side 545 feet, south-east side 553 feet, north-east side 360 feet and south-west side 364 feet. This are is known as al-Masjid al-Haram, or the Sacred Mosque, the famous mosque in Mecca. In the Koran this name occurs in revelations of the early Meccan period, as in 17:1. The area of the Sacred Mosque contains, besides the Kaba, the Maqam Ibrahim and the Zamzam buildings. The term Baitullah (House of God) is applied to the whole enclosure, although it more specially denotes the Kaba itself.

MASJID-I NABWI [ see MASJID ]

King of Ghazna. Pir Mahmood Shah was his companion and he was killed while accompanyingthe king to Lahore.

Title give by Imam Sultan Mohammed Shah to Begum* Om Habibah. Her residence was in Cannes and Aswan. [Gallery]

The word mata salamat means mother of peace. This is a unique title awarded only to three mothers of different Imams during last thirteen hundred years, such as Sarcar Bibi Marium Khatoon, Lady Aly Shah and Umm Habibeh.

Mlle Blanche Yvette Labrousse, the widow of Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah was born on February 15, 1906 in Sete, near Marseilles. Her parent moved to Cannes when she was a baby. Her father was a tram-conductor. She always remembered her parent for the moral code instilled in her. She was granted the title of Miss Lyon and became Miss France in 1930 in a nation-wide beauty contest, and in the same year she went to Rio de Janiero to represent her country at an international event. She married to Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah at the age of 39 years on October 9, 1944 in Switzerland.

M. 1248AH.After the death ofPir Mirza Mohammed Baqir*, Imam Aga Hassanali nominated his mother. He sent her to India in 1829, She was the first Pir in India after the death of Pir Tajdin in 1471

When the Prophet summoned the nations the message of Islam, one of his letters was addressed to Shurahbil bin Amr, the ruler of Ghassan, and the vassal of Caesar of Rome. The letter of the Prophet was carried by Harith bin Umayr, who was killed at a place called Mauta, a village not far from Balka in Syria. The murder of the Muslim envoy by a feudatory of the Roman empire was an outrage, which could not be passed over in silence.

"The Shi'ites from Iran were not granted equal status by their Arab co-citizens in the social system of Kufa, and thus they were called mawali (sing. mawla) means clients, a term to indicate inferior social standing, or second-class citizens. The expression mawla at the latest stage of its evolution means the people descended from foreign families whose ancestors, or even they themselves, on accepting Islam, have been adopted into an Arab tribe, either as freed slaves or freeborn aliens.

Some 127 meanings of the word mawla have been given in the lexicons, notably master, lord, or one who deserves superior authority, guardian or patron. The Koran says, "God is Guardian (mawla), and He gives life to the dead" (42:9) and "He is your Master (mawla); how excellent the Master (mawla) and how excellent the Helper!" (22:70). The word mawla occurs in different forms in the Koran, such as mawali (4:33.

The soul is the principle of life, which leaves the body at the moment of death. Human life is not the individual's property but a divine gift to be used in God's service or to be dedicated to a divine cause or to God Himself. Death is no longer the end of life, but only the end of the appointed period (ajal) in which humans are tested in the world. Death in this perspective is simply the end of a testing period and a threshold, which must necessarily passed.

Descendant of Salman Pak*. He was trained at the Dawa by the order of Imam al-Baqir and raised to Dai Al-Akbar by Imam Jafar as-Sadiq. He was also sent to Syria along with Imam Ismail.

"He was born in Ahwaz in Iran. He belonged to the Makhzumi clan and was the mawla (freed slave) of Imam Muhammad al-Bakir and Imam Jafar Sadik. His surname al-Qaddah is usually taken to mean oculist, which seems extremely doubtful. It is a word connected with al-qidah i.e., an ancient Arab play or a form of divination with the help of arrows. Tusi (d. 460/1068) in Tahdhibul Ahkam while dealing with Maymun al-Qaddah, explains the word as "a man who practises the game of qidah (yabra'ul qidah).

The word mazhar is derived from zahr meaning to manifest or become apparent. Thus, the mazhar means epiphanic form, or more accurately theophany, that is to say a manifestation of God. In Ismaili tariqah, the Imam is the mazhar, who bears Divine Light in the terrestrial world. He is the most perfect expression of the divine hypostasis because in him the theomorphosis is fully realized and the Absolute becomes manifest to mortal eyes.

The city in the Arabian peninsula that was the birthplace of the Prophet of Islam, which due to the presence of the Kaba therein, is revered as one of the holy cities in Islamic culture. Mecca was also known as Makuraba. Mecca is explicitly mentioned twice in two relatively passages of the Koran (in 48:24, makka; and in 3:96 spelt bakka). Several other passages make reference to the city or its surroundings, such as 14:37: "a valley without cultivation." Initially it was only the tribe of Qoraish, which lived in Mecca, and of which the Prophet was a member.