Among Shiite Muslims, a religious leader who has achieved great understanding of Islamic laws. The word became well known in the Western world after Ayatollah Khomeini succeeded in ousting the Shah of Iran and in imposing his fundamentalist government on his country. Now it stands for any highly repsressive, punitive, rigidly fundamentalist person; a theocratic despot.
jihad:
A holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty. Also, a crusade for a principle or a belief. It's the Arabic word for a crusade or a holy war against infidels (unbelievers).
Hegira:
In the year 622 Muhammed fled from Mecca, his birthplace, to Medina to escape persecution. This date marks the beginning of Islam, the religion of the Muslims. Nevertheless, it is Mecca that remains the holiest city for the Muslims. Muslims are expected to make a pilgrimage to that city at least once. When Muslims pray, it is in the direction of Mecca that they turn. Go here for my other page on The Hajj.
Today a hegira represents any flight from one place to another to escape religious or political or economic oppression.
mullah:
An educated Muslim trained in religious law and teaching and usually holding an official post. In Arabic, literally, "master".
In the United States, after the crisis in which Iranians held 52 Americans hostage in their embassy in Tehran for 444 days, the term came to connote a person who encourages religious fanaticism or extreme, intolerant political views.
Mecca:
The birthplace of Muhammad and therefore the holiest city of Islam. It is situated in what today is Saudi Arabia. Every religious Muslim tries to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in his lifetime. By extension, Mecca has come to mean the goal of any pilgrimage.
