Читать книгу A Dictionary of Islam. Being a cyclopedia of the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and customs, together with the technical and theological terms, of the Muhammadan religion онлайн

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CONGREGATION. The Assembly of people in a mosque is called Jamʿah (جمعة‎), the term also being used in Afghanistan for the mosque itself.

There are special rewards for those Muḥammadans who assemble together for the stated prayers; for Muḥammad has said, “The prayers which are said in a congregation increase the rewards of the worshipper twenty-seven degrees.” “Say your prayers in a congregation, for a wolf does not eat the sheep except one has strayed from the flock.” (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. xxiv.)

The Sunnī style themselves Ahlu Sunnah wa Jamʿah, i.e. “the people of the traditions and of the congregation,” in contradistinction to the Shīʿahs, who do not worship in a congregation unless the Imām, or leader, be a man entirely free from sin. [IMAM.]

The word jamʿah is also used for an assembly of people collected to decide a question of law or theology, the ijmāʿ being their decision, more frequently called ijmāʿu ʾl-ummah.

CONSCIENCE. There is no word in the Qurʾān which exactly expresses the Christian conception of conscience. The word nafs (نفس‎), which, according to Arabic lexicons, expresses very much the same idea as the Hebrew ‏נֶפֶשׁ‎ nephesh, “life, animal spirit, breath” (Job xli. 21), seems to be used in the Qurʾān to convey the meaning of conscience, although English translators render it “soul.” Muslim theologians say there are four kinds of consciences spoken of in the Qurʾān: (1) Nafs lawwāmah, the “self-accusing soul or conscience” (Sūrah lxxv. 3). (2) Nafs ammārah, the “soul or conscience prone to evil” (Sūrah xii. 53). (3) Nafs mut̤maʾinnah, the “peaceful soul or conscience” (Sūrah lxxxix. 12). (4) Nafs mulhammah, the “soul or conscience in which is breathed both bad and good” (Sūrah lxxxiv. 27).