Download Hijrah

Unit 3 Vocabulary – World History
1. Hijrah - The flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina; the first
year in the Muslim calendar
2. Monastery - A community of men who have taken religious vows
3. Chivalry - Code of conduct for medieval knights, based on ideals of
honor and courtesy
4. Calligraphy - The art of beautiful handwriting
5. Guild - Medieval business association of merchants or craftsworkers
6. Qur’an - The holy book of Islam
7. Sunni - The branch of Islam whose members acknowledge the first
four caliphs as the rightful successors of Muhammad
8. Clergy – Persons, such as priests, given authority to conduct
religious services.
9. Al-Andalus – A Muslim ruled region in what is now Spain,
established in the eighth century A. D.
10. Caliph - Supreme leader of Islam, chosen as the: successor” to
Muhammad
11. Shi’a - The branch of Islam whose members acknowledge Ali and
his descendants as the rightful successors of Islam
12. Sufi - A Muslim who seeks to achieve direct contact with God
through mystical means
13. Excommunication - Formal exclusion from membership or
participation in a church
14. Crusades - Military expeditions by European Christians in the
11th-13th centuries to regain the Holy Land from the Muslims
15. Pax Mongolica – The “Mongol Peace” – the period of peace and
prosperity from the mid-1200s to the mid 1300s when the Mongols
imposed stability and law and order across much of Asia
16. Vernacular - The language of everyday speech, not of scholars, in
a country or region
17. Pastoralist - A member of a nomadic group that herds
domesticated animals
18. Vassal – In feudal Europe, a person who received a grant of land
from a lord in exchange for a pledge of loyalty and services
19. Feudalism – Political system in which nobles are granted the use
of lands that legally belong to their king, in exchange for their loyalty,
military service, and protection of the people who live on the land
Unit 3 Vocabulary – World History
20. Icon - A Christian religious image or picture
21. Magna Carta - A document written in England in 1215 that
granted certain rights to nobles; later these rights came to be extended
to all classes
22. Fief – An estate of land granted to a vassal by a lord under the
feudal system in medieval Europe
23. Secular - Concerned with worldly rather than spiritual matters
24. Sacrament - One of the Christian ceremonies in which God’s
grace is transmitted to people
25. Lay investiture - The appointment of religious officials by kings
or nobles
26. Parliament - A body of representatives that makes laws for a
nation
27. Arabesque - Complex, ornate designs that usually incorporates
flowers, leaves, and geometric patterns (Islamic art does not contain the
images of living beings)
28. Gothic - Architecture of the twelfth-century Europe, featuring
stained-glass windows, flying buttresses, tall spires, and pointed arches
29. Reconquista - The effort by Christian leaders to drive the Muslims
out of Spain, lasting from the 1100s until 1492
30. Shari’ah - Islamic code of law that includes rules for all aspects of
life
31. Inquisition - A Roman Catholic tribunal for investigating and
prosecuting charges of heresy – especially the one active in Spain
during the 1400s
32. Simony - The selling of official positions in the medieval Roman
Catholic Church
33. Serf - A medieval peasant legally bound to live on a lord’s estate