Lexicon builders – Religious Que(e)ries

Pull out 3 to 4 words from this week’s reading and go to their definition, etymology, and
connotation

Jihad
 Definition:
- a struggle or fight against the enemies of Islam.
- the spiritual struggle within oneself against sin.
 Etymology
- from Arabic jihād, literally ‘effort’, expressing, in Muslim thought, struggle on
behalf of God and Islam.
 Connotation
- Jihad, particularly in the theological and ethical realms, largely refers to the
human fight to promote what is right and to avoid what is bad. It has been
erroneously translated as "holy war" in the Western.

Qoran
 Definition
- The sacred text of Islam, is considered by Muslims to contain the revelations of
God to Muhammad.
- divided into 114 chapters, or suras: revered as the word of God, dictated to
Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel and accepted as the foundation of Islamic
law, religion, culture, and politics.
 Etymology
- from Arabic qur'ān ‘recitation’, from qara'a ‘read, recite’.
 Connotation
- It is sometimes used as recitation.
Hermeneutics
 Definition
- hermeneutics plural in form but singular or plural in construction: the study of
the methodological principles of interpretation (as of the Bible).
 Etymology
- Hermeneutics was “derived from the Greek verb, hermeneueuein, “to interpret”
and from the noun, hermeneia, or “inerpretation.
 Connotation
- a method or principle of interpretation
Fahsha
 Definition
- mean “very foul” while some have defined it as “absolute evil”
 Etymology
- Fahisha or Fahash is an Arabic word, that commonly means lewdness and
indecency.
 Connotation
- It's either fornication or adultery, according to the Quran.
- The second point of view is that any bad crimes that deserve punishment, such
as stoning, killing, or chopping one's hand, should be punished.

Fitrah
 Definition
- is the state of purity and innocence Muslims believe all humans to be born with. Fitra
is an Arabic word that is usually translated as “original disposition”, “natural
constitution”, or “innate nature”.
 Etymology
- fitrah derives from—means to split (and by extension, to emerge)
 Connotation
- Another connotation of fitra is to break one's fast by opening one's mouth for
eating. Fitra refers to the unique cracks in the earth that appear when desert
truffles (and mushrooms by extension) are ready to be harvested. The
appearance or creation of something seemingly out of nowhere (such as desert
truffles emerging from cracked dirt) is likewise derived from the same root.
- In the context of the hadith, according to Abû Haytham, fitrah means to be born
either prosperous or unprosperous [about the soul]