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This encyclopedia describes empirical Christianity—those facts about the world Christian movement that are measurable. It does this by setting out summaries of the survey data produced every year by a vast decentralized investigation quietly undertaken by churches and religious workers across the world. In fact, for over 150 years now, most of the Christian world’s denominations and agencies have been conducting an annual census which is probably the world’s largest single detailed enumeration. …

In 1968, a group of church demographers met and decided that the time was ripe to undertake, for possibly the first time in Christian history, a comprehensive survey of all branches of global Christianity. It was expected that the task of compiling this resulting encyclopedia would take about three years; in the event, it has taken twelve years. The reason for this lengthy period was that all those originally involved, including the editor, seriously underestimated the immense size and complexit…

Following the completion of his Ph.D. degree, Dupree taught at the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base and Pennsylvania State University. Between 1959 and 1983 he was affiliated with the American Universities Field Staff (A.U.F.S.) as its expert on Afghanistan and Pakistan. A version of this article is available in print Volume VII, Fascicle 6, pp. 588-589 DUPREE, LOUIS (b. Greenville, N.C., 23 August 1925; d. Durham, N.C., 21 March 1989; Plate LIV), American anthropologist who specialized in Afghan studies (Plate XLIV. During World War II Dupree,…

The word fitna (pl. fitan), which occurs thirty-four times in the Qurʾān—where it means approximately “trial, temptation” (or perhaps “distraction [from the faith]”)—was found across religious and political boundaries in early Islam. Its pre-Islamic usage appears to include the idea of “a melting (of metals) in order to separate or distinguish the good from the bad” (Lane, s.v. fitna; as perhaps in Q 21:35, 54:27), but in the Qurʾānic text it is often contrasted with some absolute, such as “killing” or “death” (Q 2:191, 217), which are said to be preferable to the fitna, with its associ…

The donkey appears in Muslim eschatology as the principal method of locomotion for the Dajjāl (Antichrist) during the brief period of his rule at the end of the world. Use of the donkey for the Antichrist figure is in opposition to the use of the donkey in the biblical tradition, where it is generally held to be one of the signs of the messianic figure (cf. Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Matt. 21:5). The most probable reason for this difference has to do with the difference in attitude towards the donkey: in the Qurʾānic tradition the donkey (ḥimār) is considered to be emblematic of…

The Dajjāl is a malevolent creature in human form, who appears at the end of the world as the apocalyptic opponent of Jesus. The Arabic word dajjāl (lit., “cheat, impostor”) is probably cognate with the Syriac dagalo (deceiver), which is used frequently for the Antichrist. The Dajjāl is not mentioned or alluded to in the Qurʾān but appears in apocalyptic works and canonical ḥadīth collections. The Dajjāl is usually said to be Jewish and to come from the eastern part of the Muslim world, either Isfahan or various other cities in Iraq, Fars, or Khurāsān. He i…

Gog and Magog (Yājūj wa-Mājūj) are two subhuman peoples, mentioned in the Qurʾān (Q 18:94, 21:96), located usually in the region of Central Asia or northern Asia, who, as part of the apocalyptic events prior to the end of the world, will invade and destroy large sections of the Muslim world. Yājūj and Mājūj are based upon the biblical peoples of Gog and Magog, first mentioned in Ezekiel 38–9, and amplified in Revelation 20:7–9 and in Christian early-Islamic-era apocalypses (Pseudo-Methodius, 133–4…

Ghazw means “to raid,” with the understanding of gaining spoils thereby (the English “razzia” is a derivative). The term is used extensively in pre-Islamic poetry as the standard term for raiding, especially of camels and other domestic animals, a favourite Bedouin activity. The root is mentioned only once in the Qurʾān (3:156), where the implication is of an activity associated with unbelievers (alladhīna kafarū) rather than believers. The term soon gained an Islamic connotation and was used, in the first centuries of Islam, for the battles and raids of the pr…

The “new” ( gsar ma) tantric ritual literature was the product of the translation activity of the “latter transmission” ( phyi dar) of Buddhist teachings to Tibet, which began in the late 10th century and concluded circa the 14th century, when the flow of texts and practices between Tibet and India was reduced to a trickle. It includes translations of Indian Buddhist works as well as Tibetan ritual literature composed by scholars in the “new” schools of Tibetan Buddhism that were established on the basis of the new …

Bibliographic entry in Chapter 13: The U…

Bibliographic entry in Chapter 25: The U…

Bibliographic entry in Chapter 2: The Se…

Bibliographic entry in Chapter 2: The Se…

Bibliographic entry in Chapter 13: The U…

Bibliographic entry in Chapter 3: From t…

Bibliographic entry in Chapter 2: The Se…

Bibliographic entry in Chapter 11: The U…

al-Aʿrāf (pl. of ʿurf, “elevated place”, “crest”), appears in an eschatological judgement scene in Qurʾān 7:46, where a dividing wall is spoken of, which separates the dwellers of Paradise from the dwellers of Hell, and men “who are on the al-aʿrāf and recognise each by his marks” (Q 7:48, “those of the al-aʿrāf”). The interpretation of this passage is disputed. Richard Bell makes a doubtful conjecture that the word is al-iʿrāf and translates: “(Presiding) over the recognition are men, who recognise… .” According to Tor Andrae the “men on the elevated places” are …

Bibliographic entry in Chapter 1: Refere…

Bibliographic entry in Chapter 8: Expans…

Bibliographic entry in Chapter 2: The Se…