W - Islamic Glossary

Wa 'alaikumus salam (WALAY KUMUS SALAM)
This is an expression that a Muslim is to say as an answer for the greeting. When a person greets another with a salutation of peace, the answer for the greeting is an answer of peace. The meaning of this statement is:And upon you is the peace.The other expressions are:Wa Alaikums Salam Wa Rahmatullah.andWa 'Alaikums Salam Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh.
(Source:MSA-USC)

Wa'd ()
Promise, particularly the promise of the garden.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wa'id ()
Threat, particularly the threat of the fire.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wadi-ah ()
Deposit.(Source:IslamIQ)
 
Wadia ()
A deposit, something deposited for safekeeping.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wafa' ()
Faithfulness, fidelity, discharging obligations and living up to promises.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wafa' bi'l-`uhud ()
Fulfilling contracts or undertakings as in "honour my contract and i will honour your contract. " (qur' an 2:40).(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wahabi / Salafi (wahaby salafy wahabee salafee)
Wahabi/Salafi is an interchangeable term used to describe a certain practice of Islam. The term Wahabi is used to describe an approach to Islam that takes its name from Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, an eighteen-century religious leader who started a movement for the reform of Muslim society. Abd al-Wahhab formed an alliance with a tribal chief Muhammad ibn Saud that led to the formation of Saudi Arabia. The Wahabi religious outlook is an exclusive, strict, puritanical and literal interpretation of the Quran. Salafi Islam has become a popular term for this type of Islamic interpretation. Salafi claim to return to pristine Islam as practiced by the early Muslims (salaf, or pious ancestors.)(Source:IslamiCity)  

Wahdaniya ()
Divine oneness.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wahdanlya ()
Oneness, the unity of the divine names.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wahdat ash-shuhud ()
Unity of consciousness, unity of direct witnessing. wahdat al-wujnd: unity of being. there is only one self which is manifested in multiplicity. Allah is one in his dhat, his sifat and his afal. there is only one entity in existence and multiplicity appears through relations between non-essential entities.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wahidiya ()
The unity of multiplicity.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wahm ()
Opinion, conjecture, illusion, fantasies arising in the mind which are substituted for reality.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wahsha ()
Loneliness, estrangement from created things.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wahy ()
Revelation.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wajd ()
Rapture, trance, the first degree of ecstasy.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wajh ()
(Plural wujuh) aspect.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wajhu'llah ()
"The face of Allah", meaning for the sake of Allah, irrespective of any reward in this life, purely for Allah.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wajib ()
Compulsory.(Source:IslamIQ)  

Wajib ()
A necessary part of the shari `a but not obligatory, although it is sometimes used as a synonym for fard.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wakala ()
Agency; power of attorney.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wakil (WAKEEL)
a person who is an authorized repesentative or proxy. Also can mean lawyer in Urdu.
(Source:MSA-USC)     

Wakil ()
Person who is an authorized representative, agent or proxy.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wakil ()
Agent.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wala' ()
The tie of clientage established between a freed slave and the person who frees him, whereby the freed slave becomes integrated into the family of that person.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wala' ()
The tie of clientage established between a freed slave and the person who frees him, whereby the freed slave becomes integrated into the family of that person. (see mawla.)(Source:Taha Publication)  

Walad ()
Lit. "child", a beginner on the path.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Walah ()
Unbounded ecstasy, utter distraction.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wali (WALEE)
legal guardian. A friend or protector. Someone who is supposed to look out for your interest.
(Source:MSA-USC)      

Walima ()
A feast accompanying a wedding.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Walimah ()
a feast after the wedding. The reception.
(Source:MSA-USC)  

Walimah (wa-lee-mah)
A traditional dinner feast provided to wedding guests by the groom's family after a marriage ceremony. Providing a walimah was highly recommended by the Prophet, whether it be a grand or humble affair. (Source:CIE)  

Wall ()
A guardian who is responsible for another person.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wall ()
(Plural awliya') someone who is "friend" of Allah, thus possessing the quality of wilaya.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Waqf (wuk-uf)
Term designating the giving of material property by will or by gift for pious works or for the public good. Properties with waqf status, such as schools or hospitals, remain so perpetually, providing endless benefit to the community and endless Heavenly blessings to the donor. (Source:CIE)  

Waqf ()
Endowment. A charitable trust in the name of Allah, usually in perpetuity, and usually for the purposes of establishing the Deen of Islam, teaching useful knowledge, feeding the poor or treating the sick.(Source:IslamIQ)  

Waqf ()
Also habous, an unalienable endowment for a charitable purpose which cannot be given away or sold to anyone.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Waqf ()
A stop in recitation. there are various signs which indicate different weights of stopping when reciting the qur'an. a necessary stop is indicated in hafs by a mim, and by a sad in warsh.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Waqfa ()
Being held between two stations.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Waqi'a ()
Visionary experience, a thought which comes and settles and cannot be repelled.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Waqifiya ()
Rafidites who maintained that musa al-kazim, a son of ja'far as-sadiq, the sixth shi'ite imam, would return and put everything to rights, since they believed that the seventh imam would complete one cycle and begin a new one; also a sect of kharijites who suspended judgement. (cf. murji'ites).(Source:Taha Publication)  

Waqt ()
Lit. time, meaning being in the moment and independent of looking to the past or the future. sometimes the sufi is described as "ibn al-waqt" (the child of the moment) because of this.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wara' ()
Scrupulousness, it extends from avoidance of the unlawful and doubtful to avoiding anything that will cast a shadow on the heart. the faqir must also be scrupulous to avoid basking in his scrupulousness.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wara' ()
Scrupulousness, being cautious about one's actions.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Warehouses for merchants ()
See caravanserai for public ones. private ones are khan in the east, funduq (from gr. pandokeion - guest house) in the west. also wakala.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Warid ()
"Arriving thing"; an overflowing experience which overcomes a person's heart. it is the first oncoming of gatheredness (jam').(Source:Taha Publication)  

Warith ()
(Plural waratha) heir.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wars ()
A kind of yellow dye and perfume.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wasa'it ()
Secondary causes to which seekers of Allah attach themselves and thereby gain the object of their desire. wash union.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wasa'it ()
Secondary causes.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wasaya ()
Wills or testaments. the plural of wasiya.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wasi ()
Executor of a will.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wasil ()
One who keeps good relations with his kith and kin.(Source:Taha Publication)
 
Wasila ()
Something which makes something else take place. the high place with Allah reserved for the prophet on the last day.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wasiya ()
Will, bequest. it can be made by a muslim to a non-muslim or vice versa, but not to one of the obligatory heirs already entitled to a fixed share.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wasm ()
A marking or a stamp. in ibn al-`arabi's terminology, a quality which continues from before-time on into after-time.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wasq ()
(Plural awsaq) a measure of volume equal to sixty sa`s.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Waswas ()
The whispering of shaytan when he tries to make people deviate.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Watad ()
Singular of awtad.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wazifa ()
Specific set of prayers which are recited.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wijada ()
Passing on a text without an ijaza.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wijdan ()
The second degree of ecstasy (after wajd). ibn 'ajiba says that it is when the sweetness of witnessing lasts, usually accompanied by drunkenness and bewilderment.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wilaya ()
Friendship, in particular with Allah, referring to the wali's station of knowledge of the real by direct seeing.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wilaya ()
Guardianship of minor children of the deceased.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wird ()
(Plural awrad) a regular spiritual exercise involving recitation of alitany of dhikr.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wisal ()
Fasting for more than one day continuously. wudn': ritual washing to be pure for the prayer.(Source:Taha Publication)  
Witr ()
'Odd number'. Witr rakahs are odd number of rakahs such as 1, 3, 5, etc. - usually 1 or 3 - which are said after the last Prayer at night. (Source:Prof. Ishaq Zahid)  

Witr ()
Lit. "odd", a single rak `at prayed immediately after the shaf which makes the number of sunna prayers uneven. the hanafis consider that it consists of the three rak'ats prayed together with a single salam. it is considered wajib.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wudu (woo-doo)
The act of ritual purification performed with clean water in preparation for the formal worship, salah. Wudu serves as an act of physical cleansing as a well as a precursor to the mental and spiritual cleansing necessary when in the "presence" of God. If clean water is unavailable, a ritual purification known as Tayyamum, which involves symbolically touching clean earth, may be substituted. (Source:CIE)  

Wudu (WUZU)
a purification (abulution) that must be performed before someone does their salaah or reads the Quran.
(Source:MSA-USC)   

Wudu' ()
Ritual washing with water to be pure for the prayer of hands, mouth, nostrils, face, forearms, head, ears and feet.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wujud ()
"Existence". dhat al-wujud is "existence itself' in its absolute and unqualified purity. in relation to Allah, dhat Allah is the essence of Allah before being described in any manner whatsoever. this is unknowable and unknown (ghayb) and absolutely one. in relation to mystical stations, wujud is the third degree of ecstasy in which awareness dominates the sense of bewilderment and so the one experiencing it seeks to conceal it. ibn al-`arabi said, "wujud (finding) is experiencing the real in wajd (ecstasy)."(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wujud ()
Existence or being. wajib al-wujud, "he whose existence is necessary" applies to Allah, whereas creation is mumkin al-wujud, "that whose existence is possible".(Source:Taha Publication)
 
Wuquf ()
Suspension of judgement.(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wuquf ()
Stopping at 'arafa and muzdalifa. (cf. mawgif).(Source:Taha Publication)  

Wusul ()
Arrival, attainment.(Source:Taha Publication)