Diana's Guide to Shariah Terms, Islamic Law Fiqh

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Shariah Islamic Law Fiqh.
Fiqh wiki data.
Fik or Fiqh is the study of islamic law.
Ahkam is the name for the collective of moral designations;
Fard-wajib compulsory
Sunnah-mustahab-mandub are forms of the recommended (sunnah is the example of the Prophet)
Mubah means permitted, neutral
Makruh not-reccomended, dissaproved, hated.
Haraam forbidden


Urf means native custom.

The Alcoran (al' Quran) of Mahomet (Mohammed).

"Part 1 - Andre du Ryer - translation 1647

The first rendering of the Koran into a western language   was made by the English scholar Robertus Retenensis in the twelfth century, at the instance of Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny; it was completed in 1143, {Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete} and enjoyed a considerable circulation in manuscript. Exactly four centuries later this mediaeval Latin version was published at Basle, the editor being Theodor Bibliander (Buchmann) of Zurich. It abounds in inaccuracies and misunderstandings, and was inspired by hostile intention; nevertheless it served as the foundation of the earliest translations into modem European idioms.

In 1647 Andre du Ryer, a gentleman of France trading in the Levant, published a French translation which took matters little farther. Two years later an English version of this appeared, with the following curious title-page:

‘The Alcoran of Mahomet, Translated out of ArabickFrench. By the Sieur du Ryer into , Lord of Malezair, and Resident for the French King, at ALEXANDRIA. And Newly Englished, for the satisfaction of all that desire to look into the Turkish Vanities. To which is prefixed, the Life of Mahomet, the Prophet of the Turks, and Author of the Alcoran. With a Needful Caveat, or Admonition, for them who desire to know what Use may be made of, or if there be danger in Reading the ALCORAN.'

Such was the somewhat inglorious beginning of the English interpretation of the Holy Book of Islam. A quotation or two from the translator's address ‘to the Christian Reader’ will help to illustrate the spirit in which this version was offered: 

'There being so many Sects and Heresies banded together against the Truth, finding that of Mahomet wanting to the Muster, I thought good to bring it to their Colours, that so viewing thine enemies in their full body, thou maist the better prepare to encounter, and I hope overcome them. It may happily startle thee, to find him so to speak English, as if he had made some Conquest on the Nation; but thou wilt soon reject that fear, If' thou consider that this his Alcoran (the Ground‑work of the Turkish Religion ), hath been already translated into almost all Languages in Christendom (at least, the most general, as the Latin, Italian, French, &c.), yet never gained any Proselyte, where the Sword, its most forcible, and strongest argument hath riot prevailed.... Thou shalt find it of so rude, and incongruous a composure, so farced with contradictions, blasphemies, ob­scene speeches, and ridiculous fables, that some modest, and more rational Mahometans have thus excused it; that their Prophet wrote an hundred and twenty thousand sayings [hadith], whereof three thousand only are good, the residue (as the im­possibility of the Moons falling into his sleeve, the Conversion and Salvation of the Devils, and the like) are false and ridiculous. Yet is the whole esteemed so sacred, that upon the Cover thereof is inscribed – Let none touch it but he who is clean. Nor are the vulgar permitted to read it, but live and die in an implicite faith of what their Priests deliver.... Therefore (Christian Reader) though some, conscious of their own instability in Religion, and of theirs (too like Turks in this) whose prosperity and opinions they follow, were unwilling this should see the Press, yet am I confident, if thou hast been so true a votary to orthodox Reli­gion, as to keep thy self untainted of their follies, this shall not hurt thee; And as for those of that Batch, having once abandoned the Sun of the Gospel, I believe they will wander as far into utter darkness, by following strange lights, as by this Ignis Fatuus of the Alcoran. Such as it is, I present it to thee, having taken the pains only to translate it out of French, not doubting, though it hath been a poyson [poison], that hath infected a very great, but Most unsound part of the Universe, it may prove an Anti­dote, to confirm in thee the health of Christianity.'

Such being the translator's estimate of the merits of the Koran, it is hardly surprising that his version is very far from perfect."
- ye link.