Rethinking Nationalism in the Arab Middle East, by Israel Gershoni and James Jankowski, editors

Glossary of Arabic Words

A

abu:  father
ahl:  people
'alim:  a Muslim religious scholar
amir:  leader, prince, commander
'ammiyya:  a colloquial dialect of Arabic
'arab / 'arabi:  Arab (n.) / Arab (adj.)
al-ard al-muqaddasa:  holy land; a traditional term for Palestine
awqaf (pl.; sing., waqf):  Muslim pious endowments
a'yan (pl.; sing., 'ayn):  local notables in Arab-Ottoman society (mainly eighteenth and nineteenth centuries)

B

bid'a:  innovation
bilad:  town, land, country
butula:  bravery, heroism

D

Dar al-Islam:  the house of Islam; historically, the entire Muslim world
dars:  class (in school), lesson
dawla:  state, state power, power
dhimmi:  protected person; historically, a non-Muslim living under Muslim rule
dhulm:  oppression, tyranny
din:  faith, religion

E

effendi / effendiyya:  educated person / the modern educated urban middle class

F

fallah / fallaha / fallahin:  peasant (m.) / peasant (f.) / peasant (pl.)
farhud:  an outbreak of anti-Jewish violence in Baghdad in June 1941
fatwa:  legal opinion in Muslim religious law delivered by a mufti
fida'i:  one who sacrifices oneself
Filastin / filastiniyya:  Palestine / Palestinian
fitna:  discord; civil strife or civil war
fusha:  formal literary Arabic (in contrast to the colloquial dialects)
futuwwa:  youth, adolescence; by extension, youth organizations

H

hadara:  civilization, culture
haram:  forbidden, prohibited; alternatively, holy, sacred
hijab:  cover, veil; historically, the modest dress worn by Muslim women

I

ibn:  son
ibn al-balad:  son of the country; in Egypt, a person of the popular classes
iflas:  bankruptcy
ikhwan (pl.; sing., akh):  brothers; historically, the religiously motivated warriors in Saudi Arabia
imam:  leader, prayer leader
iqlim / iqlimiyya:  region / regionalism
iqta'iyyin (pl.; sing., iqta'i):  feudalist, feudal lord
iqtisad:  economy
'isamiyyun (pl.; sing. 'isami):  self-made men
istiqlal:  independence
ittihad:  league, union

J

jadid:  new, modern
jahili / jahiliyya:  ignorant / ignorance, by extension paganism; historically, the period of Arab history prior to the adoption of Islam
jami'a:  association, community, collectivity; in the modern era, university
jihad:  religiously sanctioned effort or struggle; holy war

K

Ka'ba:  cube; historically, the central shrine of Islam in Mecca
kha'in / khiyana:  traitor / treason
khatib / khatiba:  preacher (m.) / preacher (f.)
al-khilafa:  the Caliphate
khitat (pl.):  projects, plans, lines of action, precepts
kufiyya:  kerchief worn as a head covering, particularly in Arabia and the Fertile Crescent

M

Maghrib:  west; the western Arab countries in northwestern Africa
mankubun (pl.; sing., mankub):  unhappy, wretched, victim
Mashriq:  east; the eastern Arab countries (Egypt and the Arab lands in southwestern Asia)
Misr / Misri:  Egypt / Egyptian
mufti:  Muslim legal official who delivers an expert legal opinion or fatwa
muhafazat (pl.; sing., muhafaza):  Ottoman governorate
mujahidin (pl.; sing., mujahid):  fighters in a righteous, generally a religiously sanctioned, cause
mujtahid (sing.) / mujtahidin (pl.):  qualified Muslim interpreter(s) of Muslim religious law
mukhabarat (pl.):  notices, notifications; historically, the Egyptian security services
mushtaghibun (pl.; sing., mushtaghib):  troublemakers, agitators
mu'tamar:  congress, conference, assembly
mutanawwirun (pl.; sing., mutanawwir):  men of culture
mutasarrifiyya:  Ottoman administrative unit

N

nahda:  awakening, revival renaissance; historically, the Arab cultural revival of the modern era
niqaba:  guild, labor union
nukta:  joke, pun

Q

qabadayat (pl.; sing., qabaday):  local strongmen or bosses in urban quarters
qadim:  old, ancient
qawm / qawmiyya:  ethnic group, nation / nationalism

R

rukud:  stagnation

S

sabr:  patience, forbearance
sada (pl.; sing., sayyid):  tribal chiefs; alternatively, descendants of the Prophet Muhammad
sanjaq:  Ottoman administrative district; subunit of a wilaya or province
sha'b:  people
shabab:  youth
shahid:  martyr
shakhsiyya:  personality
al-Sham:  greater Syria; the lands of the western Fertile Crescent
shari'a:  Islamic religious law
shaykh:  elder, local leader or tribal chief, religious dignitary
Shi'i, Shi'ism:  party, faction; historically, one of the two main denominations of Islam
shuhada (pl.; sing., shahid):  martyrs
shu'ubiyya:  an anti-Arab cultural movement in early Islam; by extension, any local nationalist orientation or tendency
sidara:  cap worn by the Iraqi military in the interwar period
Sunni, Sunnism:  custom, tradition; historically, one of the two main denominations of Islam
Suriyya:  Syria

T

tajhiz:  preparatory school or college
ta'ifiyya:  sectarianism
tamsir:  to make something Egyptian
tarbiyya:  education
tarbush:  conical headgear worn by the educated classes in the early twentieth century
ta'rikh:  history
thaqafa:  higher culture, literate culture, civilization
thawra:  revolution
thuwwar (pl.; sing., tha'ir):  revolutionaries
tilmidh:  student, pupil

U

'ulama (pl.; sing., 'alim):  Muslim religious specialists
al-'ulum al-'aqliyya:  the rational sciences
umm:  mother
umma:  historically, the community of Muslims; in the modern era, also used for nation
'ummal (pl.; sing., 'amil):  workers
'uruba:  Arabness, Arabism
'usba:  league, association
ustadh:  teacher, master

V

vilayet (Turkish):  province of the Ottoman Empire (Ar. wilaya)

W

wahda:  unity
waqf:  Muslim pious endowment
watan / wataniyya:  homeland / patriotism or nationalism
wilaya:  sovereign power, rule; historically, an Ottoman province

Z

za'im:  leader, commander
zajal:  rhymed prose

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Rethinking Nationalism in the Arab Middle East