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glossary of terms and concepts 551TERMINARABICالفسوقوالفسادTRANS-LITERATIONal-fusåqwa’l-fas§dENGLISH TRANSLATIONDisobedience and corruptionDisobedience refers to the act of rejecting the ordersand injunctions of the Lord of the Heavens;corruption, however, is a structural phenomenon, e.g.,when because of bureaucracy and bribery a statecannot function properly.بر الوالدينbirr al-w§lidain Respect of parents This was the first ethical concept in the history ofmankind which separated humans from animals; itfirst appeared at the time of Noah and signalled achange from matriarchy to patriarchy, in the sensethat the son now respected both his parents, notonly his mother, and it provided the developmentfrom the small nuclear family to the extendedfamily and to the tribe; it also marked a transitionfrom the council of the elders to the social classes,the police, and then later on to the state.الأمةal-umma Community This is a group of people who share a commonbehaviour; or a group of animals whose behaviourfollows the same instincts; in social terms, it isperhaps better expressed with the modern term‘culture’ ( al-thaq§fa) and might extend to people wholived in the past, including ancient, medieval, andmodern historical epochs; Muslim-Believers formthe community of MuÈammad, and they respectother communities.القومal-qawm People This is defined by the use of a common language,e.g., the Arabs are the people of MuÈammad (ß);they trade and cooperate with other peoples. In theBook the term al-qawm is a concept that is moreadvanced than the concept of ‘community’ andwas, chronologically, revealed later.الشعبal-sha#b Nation This is a more complex term as it refers to aself-defined cultural and social body that combinesseveral languages (lis§n) and several ethnicities(qawm) with a multitude of ideological communities(umma), but is governed by a single political systemand contained in a unified territory (the nationalhomeland) that both are controlled and regulatedwithin the realm of a nation-state (waãan); today,there is one community of believers of Arabethnicity within twenty-one Arab nation-states,consisting of many nationalities and communities.The relationship between peoples is based ontolerance and cooperation, not force or hatred. Itrefers to citizenship if it is applied on the level ofindividuals.