Qur’an (Koran)

Glossary

• apostatizeth that is, apostatizes, or abandons one’s belief
• Bahira, Saiba, Wasila, Hami animals associated with idol worship
• Caaba also Ka’aba or Kaaba; a black, stone, cube-shaped building in Mecca that is the most sacred Muslim pilgrim shrine, believed to have been given by Gabriel to Abraham
• Cain … Abel two of the sons of Adam and Eve, noteworthy because Cain murdered Abel
• David the second king of the Israelites and the founder of the royal line from which Christ descended
• Koran a common (and slightly old-fashioned) variant of Qur'an
• Mecca the city in modern-day Saudi Arabia where Muhammad was born; Islam’s holiest city
• Medina the city in modern-day Saudi Arabia to which Muhammad moved in 622 after he and his followers were expelled from Mecca
• Moses the biblical patriarch who led the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt and delivered to them God’s law in the form of the Ten Commandments
• Pentateuch the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, which Jews refer to as the Torah
• Sabians a Middle Eastern religious group entitled to religious toleration by Muslims
• sacred month possibly Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar
• Taghut an idol that is worshipped (rather than Allah)