Glossary: clear terms of four faiths

This glossary explains the terms used across the site. Brief definitions of terms used throughout. Arabic and Hebrew terms are given in transliteration.

The glossary: terms

Abrahamic religions: traditions that trace a spiritual or historical link to Abraham: Judaism, Mandaeism, Christianity and Islam, of which Mandaeism is by far the smallest. The phrase itself dates from the middle of the twentieth century.
Abrahamism: an informal name, used mostly online and in some languages other than English, for the Abrahamic religions taken together, or for the belief they share that God made himself known to Abraham.
Apocrypha: books found in the Greek Old Testament but outside the Hebrew Bible; Catholic and Orthodox churches call most of them deuterocanonical.
Aramaic: a Semitic language related to Hebrew, used in parts of Daniel and Ezra, the Talmud and the Targums, and, as Syriac, by several Eastern churches.
BCE and CE: Before the Common Era and Common Era, the dating labels used throughout.
Canon: the list of books a community accepts as scripture.
Covenant: a binding relationship between God and people, central to the Hebrew Bible.
Creed: a formal statement of Christian belief, such as the Nicene Creed.
Darfash: the Mandaean banner of olive wood and white silk, the emblem of the community.
Eucharist: the Christian rite of bread and wine, also called Holy Communion or the Mass.
Fiqh: Islamic jurisprudence, the human understanding of divine law.
Ganzibra: in Mandaeism, a head priest, raised from the rank of tarmida, who may consecrate new priests.
Gemara: the rabbinic commentary on the Mishnah, written largely in Aramaic; with the Mishnah it forms the Talmud.
Ginza Rabba: the principal scripture of Mandaeism, in Mandaic.
Gospel: “good news”; also each of the four accounts of Jesus’ life in the New Testament.
Ḥadīth: a report of the words or deeds of the Prophet Muhammad.
Ḥajj: the pilgrimage to Makkah, one of the Five Pillars of Islam.
Halakhah: Jewish religious law.
Ḥanīf: in the Qur’an, a pure monotheist, a title given to Abraham.
Hayyi Rabbi: ‘the Great Life’, the Mandaean name for God, source of the World of Light.
Hijrah: the Prophet’s migration from Makkah to Madinah in 622 CE.
Imam: a leader of congregational prayer.
Kaaba: the cube-shaped shrine at the centre of the Great Mosque in Makkah.
Kashrut: the Jewish dietary laws.
Makkah: the holiest city in Islam, written Mecca in most English sources. The site follows the transliteration of the Arabic.
Mandaeism: the Gnostic religion of the Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, whose greatest prophet is John the Baptist.
Mandaic: the eastern Aramaic dialect of the Mandaean scriptures and liturgy, written in its own script.
Mandi: the Mandaean sacred enclosure, holding the baptismal pool and the cult hut where the priests perform the rites.
Masbuta: Mandaean baptism in flowing water, repeated throughout life.
Messiah: “anointed one”; a figure of Jewish hope, identified by Christians and Muslims with Jesus.
Midrash: rabbinic interpretation of scripture.
Millat Ibrāhīm: ‘the path of Abraham‘, the Qur’an’s name for the monotheism of Abraham, which it calls its hearers to follow and which Muslims hold Islam restores.
Mishnah: the first written compilation of Jewish oral law, around 200 CE.
Nasoraeans: the name Mandaeans use for those initiated into the knowledge the Mandaean priesthood transmits.
Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Peshitta: the standard Syriac translation of the Bible.
Qiblah: the direction of the Kaaba in Makkah, which Muslims face in prayer.
Rabbi: a Jewish teacher and interpreter of the law.
Sabians: a community named three times in the Qur’an beside Jews and Christians; identified since the seventh century with the Mandaeans.
Ṣalāh: the five daily ritual prayers of Islam.
Septuagint: the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures.
Shabbat: the Jewish day of rest, from Friday evening to Saturday evening.
Shahādah: the Muslim declaration of faith.
Shema: the Jewish declaration of God’s oneness, recited morning and evening.
Shirk: in Islam, associating partners with God, the gravest sin.
Sunnah: the example of the Prophet Muhammad.
Sūrah: a chapter of the Qur’an.
Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke, which share much material.
Syriac: a dialect of Aramaic with its own alphabet, the classical language of several Eastern churches.
Tafsīr: exegesis of the Qur’an.
Talmud: the Mishnah together with its commentary, the Gemara.
Tanakh: the Hebrew Bible.
Targum: an Aramaic translation of a book of the Hebrew Bible.
Tarmida: a Mandaean priest; the priesthood is hereditary, and only priests may copy the scriptures and conduct the rites.
Tawḥīd: the oneness of God, the foundation of Islamic belief.
Torah: the five books of Moses; more broadly, all Jewish teaching.
Trinity: the Christian doctrine of one God in three persons.
Ummah: the worldwide community of Muslims.
Yardna: running water fit for Mandaean baptism; still water will not serve. Most scholars take the word from the river Jordan, although E. S. Drower doubted the connection.