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Abortion (Ar. usually ijhāḍ, saqṭ, or isqāṭ al-ḥaml) is frowned on by Islamic law, although many jurists accept that it may be permitted in certain cases. The different schools of law agree that abortion is permitted if continuing the pregnancy would put the mother’s life in real danger, but they hold different views on whether any other reasons for abortion are permitted, and, if so, at what stage of pregnancy. Neither the Qurʾān nor the Sunna deals explicitly with abortion. Muslim jurists hold life to be one of the five basic legal values, but the exact Islamic …

[German Version] Šarīʿa (Arab.; pl. šarāʾiʿ) is the imagined totality of the message given by God to Muḥ̣ammad, his last prophet. Comprising both legal procedures and statements of faith, it is contained not only in the Qurʾān but also in the exemplary Sunna of the Prophet. In an extended sense, the messages of Judaism and Christianity are earlier examples of Šarīʿa. Literally Šarīʿa means “the path to the waterhole” (cf. Qurʾān sura 45:18) – the path the devout believer must follow to secure salva-¶ tion in this world and the next. The complementary term to Šarīʿa or šarʿ is fiqh, “jurispru…

[German Version] I. Concept – II. Legal Aspects – III. Economics – IV. Non-Christian Antiquity – V. Bible – VI. Christianity – VII. Judaism – VIII. Islam I. Concept Interest is payment in exchange for a right of use or exploitation, typically on a temporary basis and always agreed for a fixed period of time. Money later gained increasing importance as an object of lending and now occupies a dominant position, although other items or rights remain possible as objects of lending, as for example rent. In economics (see III below), this mutual commitment between the conferral…

[German Version] I. Comparative Religion In differentiated religious systems or cultures, the categories of clean and unclean, or purity and impurity, represent a key classificatory-communicative distinction which determines the course of inner boundaries (e.g. those between clergy and laity or women and men) and outer boundaries (e.g. between believers and “pagans,” in-group/out-group). It enjoys particular plausibility in the context of dualistic models such as Zoroastrianism, for example (Zarathustra; Williams). Its normative, somet…

[German Version] I. Origin and Spread – II. Doctrine – III. Islamic Philosophy – IV. Islamic Art (Architecture and Book Art) – V. Islamic Studies – VI. Christianity and Islam – VII. Judaism and Islam – VIII. Islam in Europe – IX. Islam in North America – X. Political Islamism I. Origin and Spread 1. Muḥammad and his message In 569 ce, Muḥammad was born in Mecca, a city with the shrine of the Kaʿba at its center. Mecca enjoyed good relations with the Sasanian Empire and its Arab vassal princes in Ḥīra, but considered itself politically independent. It was ruled by the Quraysh tribe, among whom the ʿAbdmanāf clans of ʿAbdsham and Hāshim were dominant. Muḥammad belonged to the latter. He also had ties of kinship with Medina. Muḥammad was orphaned at an early age and grew up under the protection of his uncle Abū Ṭālib. From the…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Christianity – V. Judaism – VI. Islam – VII. Buddhism – VIII. Indian Religions I. Religious Studies A human society's dietary laws and prohibitions give us an excellent insight into its symbolic and ritual practices. The choice of nourishment (preferences and prohibitions) is closely tied to the overall …

[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. Church History – III. Practical Theology – IV. Liturgics – V. Law – VI. Orthodox Church – VII. Judaism – VIII. Islam I. History of Religion In Christendom marriage was considered a secular act until well into the Middle Ages, before it was declared a sacrament in 1184. Many religions view marriage as a religious duty, and nuptial rites (Rites of passage; see III below) often have sacral character, but civil marriages are also obligatory in certain countries. Regulations gover…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. Primitive Christianity – IV. Church History – V. Judaism – VI. Islam – VII. Asia, Africa, and Latin America – VIII. Social Sciences – IX. Psychology – X. Philosophy of Religion – XI. Practical Theology I. Religious Studies To date there have been hardly any works devoted to men from the perspective of religious studies. Given the androcentrism of traditional scholarship, the category of homo religiosus has usually yielded knowledge of the religious male, but this work must …

[German Version] I. History of Religions – II. Old Testament – III. Christianity – IV. Ethics – V. Judaism – VI. Islam I. History of Religions “Fasting” is a universally attested cultural technique to produce an expansion of mental and social control, power, or awareness (Asceticism) by restricting the intake of food. Many different types of and reasons for fasting can be found in the history of religions, and they are combined in various ways. Several studies have been produced with regard to individual religions …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Judaism – III. Christianity – IV. Islam I. Religious Studies Casuistry (from Lat. casus, “case”) is a method of practical and dialectical reasoning and argumentation in which the formulation of a specific case that is perceived to be problematic is followed by the application of general moral principles, norms, and guidelines to the specific case at hand. The purpose of this method is to arrive, under changed and changing circumstan…

[German Version] I. Philosophy and Religious Studies – II. Christianity – III. Practical Theology – IV. Church Law – V. Judaism – VI. Islam I. Philosophy and Religious Studies The word “heresy” derives from Gk αἵρεσις/ haíresis (“act of choice,” “decision”). In the Hellenistic period, when a plurality of philosophical schools had developed, the word was used to express the need of budding philosophers to choose between these schools. Hence it came to be used to denote both a philosophical school and the school's teaching; in…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Prayer is one of the most frequent and important religious acts in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It also appears in other religions – for example the indigenous religions of America. But it does not appear to be universal. Some Buddhist traditions, for example, are atheistic, and in them there is no prayer in the strict sense; these traditions often allow their adherents to pray to gods (e.g. Hindu gods), but they value the goals of such prayer less than enl…

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. History – III. German Criminal Law Today – IV. Penal Canon Law (Roman Catholic) – V. Islam I. Old Testament Old Testament law (Law and legislation: II) emerged from three sources: (1) it reinforced mutual expectations based on norms of behavior by means of criminal ¶ laws supporting general prevention of criminal conduct; (2) it minimized violence by regulating conflicts through casuistic law (Law and jurisprudence: III) as the precursor of modern civil law, and (3) it regulated int…

[German Version] This title first came into use toward the end of the 10th century in northeastern Iran. In the Islamic world, it is given to outstanding scholars of Šarīʿa (ʿ ulamāʾ: Clergy and laity: III) like the Syrian mufti Ibn Taimīya (died 1328) or Sufi authorities (Islam: II, 5). In the course of time (and with regional variations), it was given to certain important government offices or functionaries of religious law. The most famous holder of the title was the grand mufti of the Ottoman Empire (Ottomans), with his r…

[German Version] I. Concept Talion is derived from the Roman lex talionis, in which it referred to a regulated act of retribution – in keeping with a legal norm that was meant to place limitations on self-administered justice. This stands in contradiction to the general understanding of talion as “doing as you are done by,” also in the sense of self-administered justice. In modern usage, talion is thus particularly understood in the sense of blood revenge or vendetta. The latter meaning is therefore focuse…

[German Version] I. Conception – II. Greco-Roman Antiquity – III. Ancient Near East and Israel – IV. Church History – V. Fundamental Theology – VI. Ethics – VII. Church in International Law – VIII. Islam I. Conception 1. Legal conception International law is the quintessence of the legal norms that regulate sovereign relations between the international legal subjects. International legal subjects are primarily states, traditionally also the Apostolic See, the international organizations created by the states on a contractual b…

[German Version] I. History of Religion (Ancient Near East and Antiquity) – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Church History – V. Iconography – VI. Practical Theology – VII. Judaism – VIII. Islam I. History of Religion (Ancient Near East and Antiquity) The term “demon” as used in European language groups derives from the Greek (δαίμων/ daímōn), where it initially also referred simply to gods (ϑεοί/ theoí; cf. Homer Iliad 1.122) without either positive or negative connotations. The exclusively “negative” charge associate…

Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) has always been concerned in multiple ways with the human body (jasad, jism)—not with the body per se (either as a physical entity or as an overarching concept, as opposed to the soul or the person), but rather with certain concrete aspects of the body and its parts. Three of the five basic values of religious law (maqāṣid al-sharīʿa)—reason (ʿaql), life (nafs), and progeny ( nasab)—are strongly related to the body. Relevant opinions can be found in the legal manuals in chapters on rituals of worship (ʿibādāt) and legal relations with other human beings (muʿāmal…

[English edition] الإجهاض (سَقْط أو إسقاط الحمل) مكروه في الشّريعة الإسلاميّة، رغم أنّ الكثير من الفقهاء يقبلون إباحته في بعض الحالات. وتتّفق المذاهب الفقهيّة المختلفة على أنّ الإجهاض مسموح به إذا كان من المحتمل أن يعرّض استمرارُ الحمل حياةَ الأمّ إلى خطر حقيقيّ، ولكنّ الآراء في تلك المذاهب مختلفة حول ما إذا كان الإجهاض مسموحا به لأسباب أخرى من أيّ نوع كانت، وهي مختلفة في حال السّماح به، حول أيّ مرحلة من مراحل الحمل يكون فيها ذلك. لا يتطرّق القرآن ولا السّنة بشكل صريح للإجهاض. فالفقهاء المسلمون يرون أنّ حفظ الحياة واحدة من القيم الحقوقيّة الأساسيّة (الضّرورات الخمس)، ولك…

[English Version] I. Religionsgeschichtlich Das Wort »T.« bzw. »trauen« wird im dt. Sprachraum seit dem 13.Jh. auch im Sinne von »anvertrauen«, »ehelich verbinden«, urspr. »dem Manne zur Frau geben« verwendet. Im christl. Kontext wurde die Vermählung bis ins MA als weltl. Akt betrachtet, bevor die Ehe zum Sakrament erklärt wurde (1184). In vielen Rel. wird die Ehe als rel. Pflicht angesehen, und die Hochzeitsriten (rite de passage/rite de confirmation; s.u. III.) haben häufig einen geheiligten Char…