Religion and violence

Religious “reform”, “cleansing”, “rectification” of Islam seen as a response to the challenges of European domination.

liturgical vestments (chasubel, collar etc) worn by the priest during his office.

Public renouncement of one's religious beliefs. This can be voluntary or forced.

Fifth book of the New Testament, an account of the first years of the Christian Church and the dissemination of the Christian message in the Roman Empire, most notably through the work of Paul of Tarsus.

Latin expression meaning 'the lamb of God' given in St John's gospel and representing Jesus Christ and his sacrifice of the cross.

(Pl. ulama or ulemas) -literally learned- term given to a Muslim learned in religious matters.

Armageddon: name derived from the Biblical term (her meggido) which refers to the mountain of Galilee, symbolic site of the final battle between Good and Evil.

To parade a person backwards on a donkey to ridicule them in front of the community. 'Asinade' has various forms, but has resonance in many countries in Europe in the modern era.

Literally meaning 'sign of God', it is a title given to a person who, having studied religious science, has attained a certain degree of recognition.

Merchants or shopkeepers in the Iranian bazaar. They constituted an important economic, social and political power.

Canon/ canonical law: A code of rules (the term kanon means rule) or laws which apply to the faithful of the Catholic Church. They concern moral, social and cultural behaviour. A general code applied in ancient, medieval and modern times operated in 1917, and a new code was adopted in 1983.

The concept was developed by the Russian literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtine (1895-1975), who developed the theory while studying the work of Rabelais. According to Bakhtine, the carnival of the Middle Ages and Renaissance was more than a festivity. It was a central element of the popular culture of the time, a fundamentally subversive popular culture. It was an opportunity once a year for the people to overthrow hierarchies instituted and imposed by the elite: madmen became kings, away from the normal suppression of sexual and bodily functions, the 'base instincts' were honoured by revelry and good food.

a group limited to ecclesiastical writers of the first centuries of the Christian era who contributed, through their writings and exchanges, to fixing he fundamental principles of Christian doctrine and spirituality. Their authority is not equal to that of the Bible, whose authors are considered to have been inspired by God, but their witness is profoundly respected, even more so where there is unanimity between them.

a group limited to ecclesiastical writers of the first centuries of the Christian era who contributed, through their writings and exchanges, to fixing he fundamental principles of Christian doctrine and spirituality. Their authority is not equal to that of the Bible, whose authors are considered to have been inspired by God, but their witness is profoundly respected, even more so where there is unanimity between them.

CNFL: National Commission for the Lebanese Woman. The CNFL is a governmental institution created in 1998 by Law No. 720 in applying the Beijing Platform for Action. The CNFL work to the following objectives: build capacity in woman and improve their situation at all levels in order to assure equality of opportunity with men. The general assembly of CNFL is made up of 24 members who are respected for their achievements in the field of human development and women's rights. https://sdfe.euromedwomen.foundation/pg/fr/profile/fadikaram

(Edict of) Tolerance: In January 1562, at the instigation of the Chancellor, Michel de l'Hospital, in search of peace, Catherine de Medici signed the Edict of Tolerance of St Germain in the name of her son Charles IX, who was still a minor. It permitted the practice of the reformed religion in private houses or outside the city walls. It was the first official attempt to establish coexistence between Catholics and Huguenots, but it also set off the first war of religion. The troops of the Duc de Guise who massacred the Huguenots at Wassy in March 1562 accused them of not honouring the terms of the Edict in holding a service within the town. However, the provisions of the Edict of St Germain were gradually confirmed and extended by many edicts aimed at putting an end to the wars of religion.

Faithful companions and intimate friends

Authority consisting of pastors and members of the Council, which oversaw private and public moral instruction (discipline), the development of religious practise, and which intervened as a conciliation body in disputes. It did not have the power to impose penal sanctions, but could alert the Council, which could then impose punishments including the death penalty.

The Copts are Christians living in Egypt. Their name comes from a contraction of the Arabic word “aïguptos” to signify “Egyptians”. These Christians broke with Rome and Byzantium at the time of the Council of Chalcedon (451) over disagreements relating to the human-divinity of Christ. On several occasions they came under the authority of Byzantium before the Muslim conquest. Under Muslim authority they became a demographic minority by the thirteenth century. The great majority of Copts are members of the Copt Orthodox Church, but since the nineteenth century there is also a Copt Catholic Church and a Copt Evangelical Church.

The Council of Geneva (the ‘Small Council') composed of 25 members; it was the political and judicial authority of the town.

Abbreviated form of the name Armenian Revolutionary Federation, this group had an ideological basis in Socialism (Marxism, populism, Bakuninism) and was founded in 1890 in Tiflis, a Georgian region under Ottoman rule. The initial objective of this organisation, a member of the Second International from 1907, was to gain more autonomy for Armenian Ottomans through reform. They used peaceful and armed means and their most well known action was the taking of hostages at the Ottoman Imperial Bank in Istanbul in 1896.Their support for the Young Turks during the 1908 revolution was a source of disappointment, nevertheless, during the summer of 1914 the members of Dachnak met in congress to reaffirm the necessity of Armenian loyalty to the state of which they were subjects. However, from autumn 1914, groups of volunteers for the Russian army were organised. This initiative, amongst other things, gave the Ottoman authorities a justification for the genocide of Armenian populations in the Empire.

The Muslim equivalent of the Antichrist.

دار الاسلام "abode of submission to God”, describes initially the country where shari'a is applied.

دار, الكفر "abode of the infidels” or “abode of unbelief”.

The statute of Dhimmat in the “abode of Islam” historically governed the relations between a Muslim protecting power and the 'People of the Book' (Jews and Christians), guaranteeing them minimal rights (the right to life and the inviolability of people and goods) in return for a capitation tax, while formalising their inferiority in social and religious terms.

The donatist movement was active in North Africa in the fourth to sixth century; it aimed to establish alongside the Catholic Church a ‘pure' church in the sense that it recognised only those faithful who had never been tempted to publicly abjure this faith, even under persecution. Augustine, whose understanding of the Church was more pragmatic, opposed them, to the point that after a great number of debates and conferences, he recommended that they should be obliged to enter the Catholic Church. All the same, he never advocated using violence against them.

‘Dough God'. Expression used by Protestants to parody the Catholic conception of the Eucharist (transubstantiation) based on a miracle, the transformation of bread into flesh. The Calvinist concept (spiritual presence) is essentially that communion is the celebration of Christ's sacrifice.

Under the Edict of Fontainbleu (1685), Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes and simply forbade the practise of Protestantism and ended the freedom of conscience for protestants. See the contribution of Michael Grandjean and Olivier Léchot in the module ‘religious migrations'.

Exaudi: 'listen' in Latin, a formula which begins mass on the fifth Sunday after Easter.

Being forbidden to receive the sacraments of the Church, which can imply rejection not only by ecclesiastical society but also by civil society.

Judicial ruling given by a specialist in Islamic law.

As in Arabic, the term feda'i signifies a person prepared to sacrifice themselves for an ideal, a cause they consider just.

the people (Latin gentes) considered as heathens.

The gibbet (place of execution for capital crimes and the exposure of the body) demonstrated royal justice and was situated immediately north of the walls of Paris.

Hakimiyya: “the exclusive sovereignty of God.”

The emigration of the first Muslims from Mecca to Medina in 622 and, by extension, that of a Muslim from a non-Muslim country to a Muslim one.

The adjective ‘Huguenot' (its origin is unclear) was used in the sixteenth century to describe Protestants. Its pejorative connotation gradually disappeared, until it was adopted by the French Protestants themselves.

hukumat-i islami: Islamic government.

Also known under the name of Yi-King, it is a text concerning divination in the corpus of classics of the Chinese tradition since the third century of the Christian era. Its origins are much older.

The destruction of representations of God and saints was based on a literal interpretation of the second commandment (forbidding the worship of God's image). [See Module 2014-15 “Religions and representation in images”]

جْتِهاد, (attempt to reflect) relates to efforts at reflection on the interpretation of the founding texts of Islam.

Imam of the Time, or Mahdi: For the twelver Shi'tes, the Mahdi is the last and twelfth imam, considered 'hidden' since 941 AD. Living in a world invisible to human eyes, he is called the 'hidden imam' and must appear at the End of Times to re-establish the reign of justice and peace and take control of the political and religious direction of the community of believers.

A dispensation granted by the Pope to a person of community permitting a deviation from church law.

Inquisition. Judicial institution created by the Papacy as an exceptional tribunal dealing with matters of the Faith at the heart of Latin Christianity. Founded in the thirteenth century (1231), it was notable for its function in identifying and judging those considered heretics (Cathars, Vaudois). The Spanish Inquisition was founded at the end of the fifteenth century (1478) and was not related to the pontifical Inquisition. The Inquisition of Rome was established in 1512.

Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC) (sepah-e Pasdaran): Paramilitary organisation, in parallel to the regular Iranian army. It depends directly on the Guide to the Iranian revolution.

Presented as a patriarch in the Bible(see above). Son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham. The episode alluded to is when Jacob deceived his father in passing himself of as Esau (Genesis 27).

Syrian Christians opposed to the Christological definition of the Council of Chalcedon (451). In the middle of the sixth century the Archbishop of Edessa, Jacob Baradaeus, helped to establish the Syrian Jacobite Church. Opposed to Byzantium, his followers were relatively favourable to the Muslim Umayyad dynasty, but they were marginalised with the coming of the Abbasids.

Jahiliya (or ignorance): Term which signifies, according to most interpretations of the Qu'ran, the pre-Islamic era characterised in the territories where Islam was to emerge by polytheism.

Jahiliyya: جاهِليّة from the word jahl جَهْل which signifies ignorance, which is the description in the Qu'ran of the pre-Islamic era.

The term Jama'at, also used in Arabic, relates to a group or association of individuals. By extension, the term can also be used for a political party.

Religious community founded in the United States in the 1870's within Protestantism. Its founder, Charles Taze Russell initially organised the “Bible Students Association.” The members claimed to be Christians and asserted that they were there to restore it to the true path. They are critics of other religions. They reject the dogma of the Trinity, ie that God is three in one (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), and state that only the Jehovah's Witnesses will be saved at the end of days. This will come about, according to their interpretation of the Biblical text, through a battle fought on the mountain of Armageddon. Their headquarters are in the Watchtower in New York.

Kafa: Lebanese organisation opposing violence – (Enough) Violence and Exploitation. It was founded in Beirut in 2005 with about 25 members http://www.kafa.org.lb/studiespublicationpdf/prpdf32.pdf. Also see the work of Angela Saraf: La violence à l'égard des femmes: ses origines, ses formes et ses conséquences graves. SOS sexisme http://www.rdl.com.lb/2000/3749/enquete.html, 2001.

Assembly of Anglican bishops which meets every ten years at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury at his residence, Lambeth Palace. The first meeting was in 1867.

the 'guide' or the 'saviour' who is to appear at the End of Days, as promised by certain hadiths.

Zawaj mut'a or 'marriage for pleasure': Alliance of short duration, which can be a few hours or several months, between a man and a woman. It is made orally and has no need of being made officially. Rejected by the Sunnis, it is mostly found amongst Shi'ites.

Biblical episode related in Matthew's gospel. Herod, King of Judea, had the young children in the Bethlehem region murdered in order to eliminate the King of the Jews, whose coming the magi had told him of.

Melkites: Christians in Syria and Egypt who accepted the definition of the Council of Chalcedon (451) on the two natures, human and divine, of Christ. Originally, they were named from the Syrian term malka (“the king”) to describe them as 'royalists' or 'servants of the Emperor' of Byzantium. Later the term referred to those faithful to the Patriarch of Alexandria (non Copt), of Jerusalem and above all of Antioch.

Non Muslim confessional community officially recognised by the Ottoman government, granted rights (of religious practice, tribunals relating to internal affairs) and duties (special taxes) which gave it recognition and protection ranking below that of Muslims (Sunnis) in the Empire. Three communities acquired this status in the fifteenth century: Jews, Armenians and Greek Orthodox. In the nineteenth century further millets were recognised, amongst which were the Orthodox in Bulgaria and the Protestants. This status provided both protection and discrimination and became increasingly unsatisfactory with the spread of ideas of individual liberty and equality.

Bishop's headdress

Term coined by an Englishman, William Barclay, in 1600 to describe a number of political theorists (Protestant but also Catholic) who argued for the right of resistance and the overthrow of tyranny. Although the principal monarchomachs were Protestant (François Hotman, Théodore de Bèze, Philippe Duplessis-Mornay and Hubert Languet), it was the Catholics who committed tyrannicide with the regicide of Henri III by the Dominican Jacques Clément in August 1589.

literary and artistic 'renaissance' based on the new forms of communication allowed by printing and the liberalisation of the press and publication, which permitted the introduction of new reference points and new concepts in the Arabic language.

Christians who defended the thesis of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius (in post 428-431) but rejected by the Council of Ephesus (431) and exiled. Their doctrine was developed in the second half of the sixth century. The Nestorian Church became widespread under the Abbasid caliphate (750-1258) and extended as far as China. After the thirteenth century it suffered through its support of the Muslim conquerors, some of whose chiefs became Christians before converting to Islam.

Presented as a patriarch in the biblical text (Genesis 6-8), the allusion refers to a scene in which, after the Flood, Noah plants a vine, makes wine, and becomes drunk. To say ‘a biblical patriarch does not imply any specific historical position held by him.

Oxfam: an international group of 18 organisations who work with partners in more than 90 countries to eliminate injustices in the world. Oxfam has operated in Lebanon, in Beirut, since 1993. https://www.oxfam.org/fr/pays/liban

The term, borrowed from the Latin paganus, is defined, from the end of the 4th century (the period when the Roman Empire officially adopted Christianity) as “he who is not a soldier of Christ” in the sense that “he does not belong to the Christian community “

In the books of Genesis and Exodus, the pharaohs were the rulers of Egypt who oppressed the Hebrews and reduced them to slavery, before Moses led them out of Egypt.

Term used at the time to mean individuals, moderate Catholics, who through concern for public peace and the interests of the state, supported Henri III's and then Henri VI's policy of civil tolerance.

A Greek speaking Orthodox community from the mountains of the south bank of the Black Sea. In 1923 they were forced to leave the territory which their ancestors had inhabited since the Byzantine period.

Religious community founded by dissenters from the Anglican Church in the seventeenth century led by George Fox. Their official name is the Religious Society of Friends. Their membership grew in the colonies, especially North America. Their reject all proclamation of faith or credo and any kind of hierarchy. They do not reference the Bible exclusively and their services may take many forms, although they are always characterised by Bible study

Rafidi: “sectarian”, “he who refuses”. This term is applied especially by certain Sunnis to confirm that Shi'ites are not authentic Muslims (cf. infra)

In Christianity, the forgiveness of sins which allows men and women to be saved and go to Heaven.

Term relating to the remains of a saint or martyr or the instruments of their suffering. These material relics are considered sacred and objects of worship.

The companions of the Prophet Muhammed according to Muslim tradition, that is, his first disciples who spread the Faith after his death, which confers on them high moral authority in Islam.

collection of writings which constitutes one of the six largest compilations of the hadith of Sunni Islam, written by imam Muslim Ibn al-Hajjaj (821-875),

The daily Islamic prayer, one of the five pillars of Islam.

Title given persons recognised as being descended from the Prophet Muhammed.

Doctrinal, social, and cultural rules related to the 'Revelation' of the Qu'ran. The term used in Arabic "شريعة" signifies in the religious context “road to respecting the law [of God]”. Shari'a is most often translated as 'Islamic law'.

Sunni religious authority. The title holder had had the highest official status in the Ottoman Empire since1424. The Sheikh-al-Islam was nominated by the Sultan from amongst the cadis (Islamic judges). He ensured the enforcement of sharia law.

On the night of 23 to 24 August 1572, the principal Protestant leaders gathered in Paris for the wedding of Henri de Navarre and Marguerite de Valois were murdered. The following morning the Parisian populace, believing that the killing was the will of God and ordered by Charles IX, unleashed their own murderous violence on the Protestants. In the following days the King took responsibility for the massacre. Throughout the following weeks, many of the towns in the kingdom experienced explosions of violence against Protestants. The victims of the massacre of St Bartholomew, according to historians, numbered between 5000 and 10000.

Vase or bowl containing holy water in Catholic churches.

Taghut (pl. tawaghit): Term used to mean an idol, or 'false god' and, by extension, a tyrant.

takfir, تكفي in Arabic, is the recognition of a person who has departed from Muslim tenets, thus becoming a kafir كافر (that is to say “misbeliever” or “unbeliever”, according to the context of its definition or translation)

The “qualification of unbelief and exile [to avoid this context of unbelief, on the model of Mohammed's exile from Mecca to Medina]”

Considered the fundamental dogma, the first of the pillars of the monotheistic Muslim faith, the tawhid refers to the belief in One God; as opposed to shirk, or 'associationism'.

Infant baptism. The baptism of new-born babies (paedobaptism) is a rite practised by the sprinkling of water on the head, marking their symbolic entry t the Church. It is a tradition practised since the first centuries of Christianity and became generalised in the fourth century.

'Greater Syria'

The League was the ultra Catholic party from the years 1684-85, who were hostile to Henri III. It was formed as a result of the merging of leagues for the protection of Catholicism which had been created in the 1570s, especially in the towns in the north of the kingdom, and the Catholic party led by the Guise family. It was backed by Spain and the Papacy.

Name given to the heir to the throne of the Russian Empire.

Tudeh (or 'party of the masses'): Party founded in 1941 after the forced exile of Reza Shah. It replaced the Iranian Communist Party, created in June 1920 but obliged to operate in secret because of the regime at that time.

Vassy, (today, Wassy). Locality in the east of France on the border with Lorraine, where about fifty Protestants, during a service, were massacred by the troops of the Duke of Guise on 1 March 1562. The event set in train the French ‘wars of religion', which officially concluded in 1598 with the Edict of Nantes.

The Vaudois belonged to a religious movement founded by Valdès of Lyons in the twelfth century, and were considered heretical by the Catholic Church. From the fourteenth century Vaudois communities settled in the villages of Lubéron. In the sixteenth century, the Vaudois became part of Protestantism, especially Calvinism, while preserving their distinct spiritual identity.

Voltaire (1694-1778). French writer and philosopher, so important, with his contemporary Rousseau, in the French Enlightenment, that one sometimes speaks of the eighteenth century as the ‘century of Voltaire'.

Yazidism, or the religion of the seven angels: Kurdish religion presented by its faithful (Yazidis) as a survival of ancient Iranian Mithraism: it was a heterodox movement of Sunni Islam which appeared in the twelfth century and then blended with surviving anti-Islamic practices in Kurdistan – hence Daesh's hatred of it.

Secret political movement started in 1899 by students at the school of military medicine in Istanbul. Their ideas spread rapidly, especially in the Military and Naval Academies and the civil service college. As well as the military their ideas reached some liberal ulemas, where there was disagreement with the authoritarian policies of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. The members of the organisation belonged to different linguistic groups and worked with Ottoman exiles, especially the Committee of Union and Progress (formed from the Ottoman Union in 1876) which campaigned in the press. In December 1907, after a period of disagreement on strategy, the Young Turks decided to take action, from strikes to armed insurrection. The mutiny began in Macedonia before reaching Istanbul. On 23 July, the movement achieved the reestablishment of the 1876 constitution and the organisation of free elections. A counter-revolution was defeated in the following spring and the Sultan was forced to abdicate. However, the Young Turks were confronted by significant loss of territory between 1908 and 1913 which cost them some of the people's support. In January 1913 after a coup d'état, they imposed a one party regime and leadership of the Empire by a triumvirate. This vanished with the Empire's military defeat, when it was forced into an armistice in October 1918.

(زَكَاة "alms tax” is one of the pillars of Islam according to Muslim tradition.

charity, one of the five pillars of Islam.

Catholic party founded in 1870 at the birth of the German Empire. It dissolved itself in 1933 after the signing of the Vatican Concordat with Hitler's Germany.

Term for those who profess ideas or practice what are contrary to Islam, and by extension apostates and infidels.