ISI — Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, Pakistan’s equivalent of the CIA, which played a major role in the training and arming of the mujahedeen in the 1980s and the Taliban in the mid-1990s.
Islam — ‘submission’, thus submission to the will of God as set out in the Shahada, one of the Five Pillars of Islam.
jahiliyah — ‘state of ignorance’, thus the time before the Prophet received God’s revelations, but also used by fundamentalists to describe govern ments they regard as un-Islamic.
jamaat/jamiat — assembly, political party, thus Jamiat Ahl-i-Hadith-Party of the People of Tradition, politico-religious group, founded by Sayyid Nazir Husain in India c. 1870; Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Islamic Party, Pakistani political party with Deobandi roots; Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), Assembly of Islamic Scholars, extremist Pakistani political party with Deobandi roots linked to Al-Qaeda and Taliban; Jamaat-ul-Dawa, Party for Invitation (to Islam), political party with Wahhabi roots; Tablighi Jamaat – Preaching Society, Pakistani political party with Deobandi roots; Jamaat al-Takfir wa al-Hijra – Party of Excommunication and Emigration, Egyptian revolutionary group set up in Egypt in the 1980s that drew on both Wahhabi and Ikhwan-ul-Muslimeen politico-religious philosophy and called for the overthrow of rulers in the Muslim world it regarded as betrayers of Islam; etc.
jemadar — camel keeper, in Indian Army a junior Indian officer.
jezail — long-barrelled flintlock, the standard weapon of the Afghans and Pathans until the First World War.
jihad — ‘striving’, thus ‘striving in the path of God’, often interpreted as holy war against non-Muslims but, more accurately, a striving to the utmost in the cause of Allah; made up of two main elements: Jihad Akbar or the Great Jihad – to strive against self (an inner struggle against the forces of Satan); and Jihad Kabeer or Jihad Asghar, also known as the Lesser Jihad – to strive physically against the forces of Satan and all who oppose the spread of Islam, sometimes referred to as ‘Jihad of the Sword’; thus jihadi – one who strives, commonly referred to as a ‘holy warrior’. Many Muslims incorrectly regard jihad as the sixth Pillar of Islam.
jirga — tribal assembly or deputation among the Pathans; thus loya jirga – inter-tribal assembly.
jiziyah — poll tax paid by non-Muslims in an Islamic state.
kaffiya — Arab head-cloth. kafila caravan, usually of camels.
kafr, kufr — paganism; thus kaffir, kuffir – pagans, heathens.
khalifa — deputy, thus successor to the Prophet, ruler of the Islamic world community as caliph; thus khalifat – the caliphate or Islamic state ruled over by successors to the Prophet.
khan — lord, head of the clan or tribe among the Pathans.
khassadar — paramilitary police in tribal areas.
khatib — preacher.
Koran — see Quran.
kotal — summit of a pass.
kutcherry — district officer’s office or court house.
lashkar — Afghan/Pathan tribal army or war party.
lathi — staff, thus lathial – a stick-carrier or ‘enforcer’.
madrassah — college for the teaching of Islam and sharia, plural madaris (but here written madrassahs); in Pakistan known as deeni madaris – schools of the Faith.
Mahabun — ‘great forest’, a mountain massif in Buner.
Mahdi — ‘expected one’, the divinely-appointed saviour of Islam, the Twelfth or Hidden Imam who will reappear in the last days to establish the rule of Islam on earth, a belief popular among Shias, thus Mahdism; a title taken by Muhammad Ahmad ibn Abdullah, who declared himself al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, successor of God’s Messenger, in the Sudan in June 1881; rejected by many orthodox Sunnis because the Quran makes no mention of a Mahdi, the concept still finds popular acceptance; see also imam.
majlis — assembly, council (Arabia).
malik — king, but headman among the Pathans.
masjid — mosque, the place of Friday prayers.
maulana — Muslim teacher more learned than the mullah.
maulvi — Muslim cleric more learned than the mullah.
melmastia — code of hospitality among Pathans.
mian — saint who abstains from politics and violence.
mufti — jurist, senior judge in Arabia who issues fatwa.
muhajir — one who emigrates.
mujahedeen — those who strive or undertake militant jihad for the Faith; singular mujaheed; sometimes interpreted as a ‘holy warrior’. Those who fought the Russians in Afghanistan were deemed mujahedeen but when they turned on each other the term was felt to have become corrupted.
mujtahid — scholar competent to exercise ijtihad.
mullah, maula — ‘one who shows’, thus religious teacher, leader of prayers at a mosque; see also maulana, maulvi.
Mumineen — ‘the faithful’, thus Muslims.
munshi — scribe, translator or language teacher.
murid — follower.
mushriq — one who commits shirk, worshipper of false gods, thus polytheist.
Muslim — ‘one who submits’ (to the will of God); more correctly muslimun; thus Musulmans.
mutawihin — ‘those who obey’, thus enforcers of public morality; an order of religious commissars instituted by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab in Nejd.
nanawati — code of sanctuary among Pathans.
nang — code of honour among Pathans.
Naqshbandi — strict Sufi order originating in Bokhara that gained popularity in India among followers of Shah Waliullah.
Naqshbari — Sufi order seeking esoteric knowledge through contemplation while upholding Sunni values, tracing its heritage back to Abu Bakr, the first Caliph.
Nasrani — Nazarenes, thus Christians.
nawab — ‘deputy’, thus ruler of a province or state under Muslim law.
padshah — supreme shah or king of kings.
pagri — turban or headcloth.
Pakhtun, Pashtun — see Pathans.
Pakhtunwali — ‘the way of the Pakhtuns’, the social code of the Pathans.
Pathans — a large group of tribes predominant in the Afghanistan/Pakistan border regions with shared origins, language and culture.
pindaris — bands of marauders of mainly Pathan/Afghan origin who ravaged central India through the 18th and early 19th centuries.
pir — a saint, head of a Sufi order.
pirzada — descendant of a pir.
powinda — nomad, the name given to the Mullah Powindah.
Prophet — the respectful term used to describe Muhammad, ‘seal of the Prophets’, born in Mecca in about the year 570 of the Christian era. In Islamic terms Moses and Jesus are rassul – messengers of God – whereas Muhammad is a nabi – universal prophet. After his teachings led to his persecution he fled to Medina in the year 622, later returned to conquer Mecca and establish the first Islamic state. His dictated revelations from God were set down as the Quran, while his sayings and actions as remembered by his Companions were set down as Hadith. Muhammad died in Medina in 632.