Word origins

• takwinThe creation of synthetic life, a goal of certain Muslim alchemists.
• Tal al-Rabi'A settlement in Palestine, which Palestinians claim was forcefully renamed and converted into the city of Tel Aviv by Israeli settlers.
• talqinThe recitation of the shahada and other creedal information or instructions to someone who is about to die, or who has recently died and been buried.
• TalukderAn Asian and Pacific Islander surname.
• TanezrouftAn arid natural region located along the borders of Algeria and Mali, west of the Hoggar Mountains.
• Tangier-Tetouan-Al HoceimaAn administrative region of Morocco. Capital: Tangier.
• tannourA primitive clay oven used in the Arab World.
• tanwinIn Arabic, nunation.
• taqiyahA short, rounded skullcap worn by Muslims during prayer.
• taqlidConformity to traditional legal decisions in Shari'a jurisprudence.
• taqsimAn improvisation or a solo recital based on a maqam.
• tarawihAn extra prayer performed by Sunni Muslims at night in the month of Ramadan.
• tarbooshA red felt or cloth cap with a tassel, worn in the Arab world; a fez.
• tariqaA religious order of Sufism, formed around a murshid.
• TartusA city on the Mediterranean coast of Syria.
• TasbehaA worship service in the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, consisting of praises glorifying God taken from the Psalms and other Biblical sources and often chanted with a simple musical accompaniment of cymbals and triangle.
• tasbihA form of dhikr that involves the repetitive utterances of short sentences in glorification of Allah in Islam by saying "Subḥānallāh" (glorified is Allah).
• tashdidProvision of a shadda symbol for Arabic words (sometimes also for Persian, Urdu, etc.), which shows gemination of consonants.
• tashkilvowelization, vocalization or diacritization—the various diacritics, taken collectively, that are attached to Arabic letters in certain styles of writing and that indicate such features as vowels and gemination (consonant doubling) and absence of any vowels.
• tassawufSufism
• TatreezTraditional Palestinian embroidery.
• tawriyaA double entendre in the Arabic language.
• tayammumThe wiping of one's face and hands against dust, sand or a clean physical object in place of wudhu for the bereft or bedridden.
• TaymaA large oasis located in northwestern Saudi Arabia.
• taziaA representation of the tombs of Hasan and Husayn (the grandsons of Muhammad), carried in the South Asian and Indo-Caribbean Shiite processions of Muharram.
• tazirPunishment for offenses at the discretion of the judge or ruler of the state; one of three major types of punishments or sanctions under sharia law.
• TebbouneA surname from Arabic
• Tell JadidA village in Barri Sharqi, Salamiyah district, Hama governorate, Syria.
• ThamudA member of a people of ancient Arabia, known from the first millennium B.C.E. to near the time of Muhammad, and according to the Qur'an punished and destroyed by an earthquake.
• tharidA traditional Arab dish of pieces of bread in a vegetable or meat broth, consumed especially during Ramadan, said to have been the favourite food of the prophet Muhammad.
• thawabdivine reward (for good deeds)
• thobeAn ankle-length robe with long sleeves, worn by some Arab men and traditionally by Palestinian women.
• thuluthA style of Arabic calligraphy.
• tilawathe ritual recitation of the Qur'an
• TimgadAn ancient Roman city in the Aurès Mountains of Algeria.
• tincalcrude native borax, formerly imported from Tibet, and once the chief source of boric compounds
• ToobaA transliteration of the Urdu female given name طوبیٰ (tobā).
• touizaA form of voluntary collective labor in North Africa.
• toumA garlic condiment common in the Levant, similar to aioli, made with garlic, salt, olive or vegetable oil, lemon juice, and sometimes mint.
• turbahA small piece of soil or clay, often in the form of a tablet, used in Islamic prayer to symbolize earth.
• UmariA member of the al-Omari, a family claiming descent from Umar, the second caliph of the Islamic empire.
• Umm al-QuwainAn emirate of the United Arab Emirates.
• United Arab EmiratesA country in West Asia in the Middle East. Capital: Abu Dhabi. Largest city: Dubai.
• UsainA male given name
• UwaisA male given name.
• Vizier AzemA grand vizier.
• waazAn Islamic sermon
• Wad MadaniThe capital of the Al Jazirah state in east-central Sudan.
• wahyThe inspirational revelation of the Qur'an to Muhammad.
• wajibA religious duty; something that Muslims are obliged to do.
• wajib sauma required fast, such as that celebrating Ramadan
• waledA male given name from Arabic, variant of Walid.
• walimaThe marriage banquet held as part of an Islamic wedding.
• wallahiI swear to God; used to add emphasis.
• WasitA city in Iraq.
• waslaA diacritic added to the Arabic letter alif ا to form ٱ, also called "hamzatu l-waṣli" - هَمْزَةُ الْوَصْلِ (hamzatu l-waṣli) or "alifu l-waṣli" - أَلِفُ الْوَصْلِ (ʔalifu l-waṣli). It denotes elision and is seldom used in practice in fully vocalised Arabic texts, only to highlight that the alif is silent هَمْزَةُ ٱلْوَصْلِ (hamzatu l-waṣli) = هَمْزَةُ الْوَصْلِ (hamzatu l-waṣli).
• waswasaWhisperings of the devil; temptation away from the correct religious path.
• West BankA Palestinian territory on the west bank of the Jordan river, claimed by and under the partial administration of the State of Palestine, and illegally occupied by Israel.
• worrala monitor lizard of Egypt, either a Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus) or a desert monitor (Varanus griseus).
• YamilethA female given name from Spanish.
• Ya-SinThe 36th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.
• Yathribthe original name of Medina before the advent of Islam
• Yawm al-DinJudgment Day
• YazidiA member of an endogamous, largely Kurmanji-speaking ethnoreligious group which practices Yazidism and is natively concentrated mostly in Syria, Iraq, and the Caucasus.
• YoukhanaA surname from Arabic.
• YounusA surname from Arabic.
• zaaloukA Moroccan eggplant salad.
• zaatarA particular herb, similar in flavor to thyme or oregano, used in Middle Eastern cuisine (Origanum syriacum).
• ZabaniyahA group of angels in Islam who are tasked to torture the sinners in hell.
• zabibaprayer bump
• zachunAn oil extracted by from the fruit of a small thorny tree (Balanites aegyptiaca), which has healing properties.
• zadakatVoluntary alms, or righteous acts.
• ZahiriA Muslim who adheres to this madhab
• ZahranA male given name from Arabic, meaning “bright or pure”.
• zaimA Turkish irregular mounted militia.
• zajalA traditional Arabic form of oral strophic poetry declaimed in a colloquial dialect.
• zamouseA West African buffalo, Syncerus caffer brachyceros, with short horns and large ears.
• ZaniahEta Virginis, a triple star system in the constellation of Virgo.
• ZanjOne of the Bantu-speaking inhabitants of this part of East Africa.
• ZaqqumA tree that grows in Jahannam (Hell), whose dwellers are compelled to eat the bitter fruit.
• zaratanIn Arabic folklore, an extremely large (sea) turtle, the shell of which resembles an island.
• ZariyaA female given name.
• ZavijavaBeta Virginis, a star in the equatorial constellation of Virgo.
• zawiyaIn North and West Africa, a Muslim religious school or community, or its mosque.
• ZaytonA major but poorly known medieval port of Fujian in China, variously intending Quanzhou and Zhangzhou in different sources.
• zelligeA form of terracotta tilework covered with enamel in the form of chips set into plaster, characteristic of Moroccan architecture.
• zerdaThe fennec (Vulpes zerda).
• zeribaA fence of the type once commonly improvised in northeastern Africa from thornbushes.
• ZeshanA male given name from Arabic, variant of Zeeshan and Zishan.
• ZghartaA city in Lebanon
• ziaraA visit to a holy place; a pilgrimage.
• ziczacThe crocodile bird.
• ziharA form of divorce among pre-Islamic Arabs, condemned in the Quran, in which a man says to his wife "you are like my mother".
• ziraleetA joyful chant uttered by a group of women in Muslim countries.
• zizA giant bird resembling a griffin in Jewish mythology.
• ZohranA unisex given name from Urdu, meaning “radiance, light”.
• ZubenelgenubiA binary star in the constellation Libra; alpha (α) Librae.
• ZubeneschamaliThe brightest star in the constellation Libra; beta (β) Librae.
• ZuhayrA male given name from Arabic.
• zulmsin, wrong-doing, injustice