Aayb: Shameful, disgraceful.
Al Hasnaa: A Lebanese magazine named Al Hasnaa, meaning, “The Beautiful Woman.”
Achrafieh: A district in east Beirut. During the Lebanese Civil War, it became the Christian militia’s major base.
Azaan: The Islamic call to a mandatory prayer (fard al-salat) heard from the neighborhood mosque through loudspeakers five times a day.
Beir al-Abed: Located in al-Dahieh, the southern suburbs of Beirut, a predominantly Shia Muslim conservative community.
Chador: A large piece of cloth that is wrapped around the head and most of the body leaving only the face and hands exposed; worn by Muslim women.
Eid Mubarak: A traditional greeting reserved for use in Muslim festivals. Eid means “celebration” and Mubarak means “blessed.”
Eve Ensler: A playwright, a feminist, and an activist. Best known for her play, “The Vagina Monologues.”
Fairouz: A Lebanese singer who is one of the most widely loved and admired artists in the Arab world.
Habibi: My beloved; my love.
Haram: Forbidden. It is used in Islam to refer to acts that are forbidden by God, e.g. having sex out of wedlock, drinking alcohol and eating pork.
Hezb: Short for Hezbollah, a Shia Islamist political party and militant group based in Lebanon.
Hijab: A head covering worn in public by some Muslim women.
Hijabi: A woman who wears a hijab.
Hishik Bishik: A slang for belly-dancing and for the pop music associated with it. In some Arab communities, mainly Lebanese, it is used to indicate that a song is poorly crafted and sounds like a carbon copy of the mainstream pop trends of the time.
Iftar: The meal eaten by Muslims after sunset during Ramadan.
Imam Ali: The fourth caliph, cousin of Muhammad, and husband of the prophet’s daughter Fatima. Ali is regarded by Shiites as Muhammad’s first true successor.
Inshallah: God willing or if God wills.
Kaaba: A square stone building in the center of the Great Mosque at Mecca, the site most holy to Muslims and toward which they must face when praying.
Kataeb Party: A predominantly Christian Lebanese right-wing party.
Kateb al-kitaab: An Islamic marriage ceremony, sometimes done before the wedding, where the couple recites their oaths and signs a marriage contract. It is usually done early so the couple can date without fear of people gossiping about them. Depending on the couple – some couples call it an engagement – unless they are ready to move in together, in that case, they call it a marriage.
Kess: Vagina in Arabic.
Khomeini: He was an Iranian politician and Shia authority. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
LouLou: Arabic female name, meaning pearls.
Mecca: The birthplace of Muhammad, and the site of Muhammad’s first revelation of the Quran. Mecca is regarded as the holiest city in the religion of Islam in the region of Hejaz, Saudi Arabia.
Mouhalabieh: Firm and milky pudding topped with pistachio.
Prophet Muhammad: He was the founder of Islam. He was a prophet and God’s messenger, sent to present and confirm the monotheistic teachings preached previously by Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets.
Quran: The sacred Islamic book; believed to be the word of God as dictated to Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel and written down in Arabic.
Quranic: Used to describe something which belongs or relates to the Quran, the sacred Islamic book.
Ramadan: The ninth month of the Muslim year, during which strict fasting is observed from sunrise to sunset.
Sheikh: A Muslim cleric.
Shia: One of the two main branches of Islam: Shia and Sunni.
Sunni: One of the two main branches of Islam: Sunni and Shia. It is the largest denomination of Islam.
Tel al-Zaatar: A Palestinian refugee camp in northeast Beirut. In 1976, it was besieged for seven months and was destroyed by heavy bombing. Thousands of people were injured or killed.
Voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir?: Would you like to sleep with me this evening? – in French.
Yallah: Get going, or come on, or hurry up.
Zawaj moutaa: literally “pleasure marriage.” It is a private – among the couple alone – and verbal temporary marriage contract that is practiced in Shia Islam, in which the duration of the marriage of at least an hour, three days, or three months (many sources differ on the duration) must be specified and agreed upon in advance.