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[German Version] (c. 600-660), the cousin and son-in-law of Muḥammad, belonged - like Muḥammad himself - to the banū hāšim clan of the Quraysh tribe. During the prophet's lifetime, he did not play a major role; the later tradition that depicts him as one of the first to accept Islam is almost certainly wrong. After Muḥammad's death, he became the leader of heterogeneous forces opposed to the regime of th…

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. Islam I. Old Testament Through recourse to the name of a northern Arabian tribal confederation in the 7th century bce (* Šamaʿʾil; attested in Neo-Assyrian sources and reflected in ¶ Gen 25:13–15 [P]), which was transformed in analogy to “Isaac",” the figure of Ishmael served the parties in the course of the edition of the Pentateuch in defining the proximity or distance between the two sons of Abraham", Ishmael and Isaac, that is, Jews and Arabs (including Idumeans), who shared the land in…

[German Version] I. Pre-Islamic Period – II. Islamic Period I. Pre-Islamic Period Mecca, Arabic Makka, is a city in the western part of the central Arabia lying about 72 km from the Red Sea and situated in an arid and bar…

[German Version] I. Christianity – II. Islam I. Christianity 1. Southern Arabia. It is impossible to tell when the gospel was first preached in southern Arabia; probably Arabs from the region came into contact with Christianity in the course of their commercial travels or else Christians arrived in southern Arabia. Jewish and Christian missionaries probably paved the way for Southern Arabian monotheism, attested in inscriptions dating from 378 ce onward, which replaced the cult of astral deities with a single God. Around 342, the emperor Constantius II sent an embassy under Theophilus the Indian to the Homerites (Himyarites); its success is shown by the building of churches in the capital Ẓafār, in the trade center ʿAdan, and in a market town further east. In the history of Chris…

[German Version] I. Archaeology – II. Early Church – III. Arab Period – IV. Christianity in Damascus I. Archaeology…

[English Version] I. Begriffsgeschichtlich Der klassischen Antike fehlt ein Begriff für W. Dieser wird erst durch die Christen in der Spätantike popularisiert. Aristoteles diskutiert die Problematik unter der Leitfrage, in welchem Sinn Handlungen »bei uns« (ε᾿ϕ᾿ η῾μι˜n̆/eph' hēmín) liegen (Arist.e.N. III 1 1110 a 1–3). Die Stoa nennt den Begriff το` αυ᾿τεξου´σιοn̆/to autexoúsion (»Selbstverfügung«; vgl. Chrysipp [SVF 2, 975/990]), lat. mit »liberum arbitrium« übers. Noch Augustin verknüpft das Problem mit dem Begriff …

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. Judaism – III. New Testament – IV. Dogmatic/Ethics – V. Islam I. Old Testament Th…

[German Version] I. Terminology – II. Law – III. Church History – IV. Philosophy of Religion – V. Dogmatics – VI. Ethics – VII. Judaism – VIII. Islam I. Terminology Classical Antiquity lacked a term for free will, a concept first popularized by Christians in Late Antiquity. Aristotle discussed the problem in the context of asking in what sense actions lie “within us” (ἐϕ᾿ ἡμῖν/ ephʾ hēmín; Arist. Eth. Nic. III 1, 1110a, 1–3). The Stoics called the concept τὸ αὐτεξούσιον/ to autexoúsion (“self-control”; ¶ cf. Chrysippus [ SVF II, 975–990]), translated into Latin as liberum arbitriu…

[German Version] I. General – II. Jewish Calendar – III. Christian Calendar – IV. Islamic Calendar – V. Liturgical Calendar I. General 1. The term calendar derives from the Roman “calendae,” the day on which a new month was proclaimed. It designates the structuring and hence the consequent mediation of time, i.e. records in pictorial and literary media to communicate structures of time. Calendars are concrete translations of chronologies. The performance of activities to be collectively coordinated must be regulated in the various arenas of human life: for example, in everyday lif…

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. New Testament – III.  Christianity – IV.  Judaism – V. Islam I. Old Testament In the OT, fear of God occurs in various reactions to the encounter with God. Fear of God encompasses both the immediate reaction of a person gripped by horror before the holy God (the numinous) and the behavior of the pious person toward God in the form of obedience and praise. Consequently, fear of God can also designate veneration of God and piety (religion). The sc…

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. New Testament – III. Judaism – IV. Qur’ān I. Old Testament 1. Name. …

[English Version] I. Religionswissenschaftlich 1.  BegriffDas Wort O. ist die Wiedergabe des griech. α᾿ποκα´λυψις/apoka´lypsis (»Enthüllung«), das ins Lat. mit revelatio übers. und dann als Lehnwort in die meisten eur. Sprachen übernommen wurde. Allein am Wortsinn ist abzulesen, daß es sich dabei um eine Realität, um einen Inhalt, im engeren Sinn um eine Botschaft handelt, die zuvor dem Menschen verborgen war. Deren Wichtigkeit kommt dadurch zum Ausdruck, daß es ein für das Heil, die Sinnfindung, des weiter…

[English Version] I. Religionsgeschichtlich Der Mensch erlebt die Übermittlung von Botschaften durch die Gottheit, durch göttliche Wesen (Inspiration, Offenbarung) in der Form, daß diese zu ihm sprechen. Formal ist hierbei zu unterscheiden, ob es sich um W. der Gottheit selbst handelt, wie sie in sakralen Schriften nach einer Phase der mündlichen Tradierung verschriftlicht sind (Tora, Koran, Veden, Avesta), übermittelt von dazu von Gott auserwählten und berufenen Personen (das berufende W.), oder o…

[German Version] I. Terminology – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Systematic Theology – V. Practical Theology – VI. Judaism – VII. Islam I. Terminology 1. Religious Studies a. As an emic linguistic term, “faith” is found not only in the context of the Christian West (cf. fides, foi, Glaube, etc.), but also in other religious traditions. The Sanskrit term śraddhā (cf. Pāli saddhā; Avestan zrazdā-) seems to represent an Indo-European etymological pendant to Lat. credo, as demonstrated by the possible reconstruction of Indo-Germanic * k'red-dhē-, “set one's heart o…

[German Version] See also Heavenly voice, Memra, Revelation. I. Religious Studies Humans experience messages from the deity or divine beings (Inspiration/Theopneusty, Revelation) in the form of speech. Formally we must distinguish (a) the word of the deity himself, as recorded in sacred scripture after a phase of oral transmission (Torah, Qurʾān, Vedas, Avesta); (b) words communicated by individuals specially chosen and called by God (the word that calls); (c) words spoken by elect individuals having a spe…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies 1. Concept. The word revelation echoes the Greek ἀποκάλυψις/ apokálypsis (“uncovering”), which was translated into Latin as revelatio and then borrowed into most European languages. The literal meaning already indicates that revelation involves a reality, content, more specifically a message hidden from mortals. Revelation is important: it is relevant religious knowledge necessary for salvation, for finding meaning, and for dealing with everyday life. It is knowledge that peo-¶ ple do not already possess by nature, and their reli…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies We can speak of care for the poor in the sense of public and private relief of poverty only when there has been a certain degree of institutionalization. Religions have treated poor relief with varying degrees emphasis. It is important to distinguish caregivers (including families, clans, congregations, orders, foundations, societies, and associations), the kind of help given (material, personal, structural), and the recipients (different levels of poverty). The Greeks and Romans felt no obligation to help the poor, or at most a g…

[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 independen…

[German Version] I. History of Religions – II. Bible – III. Church History – IV. Systematics – V. Practical Theology – VI. Law – VII. Judaism – VIII. Islam I. History of Religions The term confession refers to various phenomena, including the confession of faith and of sin. A confession of faith can be understood as an officially sanctioned, formulaic summary of the central doctrines of a religious or a confessional community (“denomination”). Recited in cultic procedures and/or in everyday piety, i…

[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Church History – V. Dogmatics – VI. Ethics – VII. Practical Theology – VIII. Church Law – IX. Judaism – X. Islam I. History of Religion In the following comments the term community will refer exclusively to a religiously motivated association of people. From the standpoint of the history of religion, the formation of communities is more the exception than the rule. The fact that associations such as tribes, as well, howe…