Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies A key terms

Spiritual liberation from separation from God and the cycle of rebirth, attained through God’s grace and God-centred living.

A seeker or disciple undertaking spiritual training, often under the guidance of a Sufi teacher.

A sacred image or representation of a deity used as a focus for Hindu worship.

The main prayer space or prayer hall in a mosque.

A Catholic instruction on sacred music issued in 1967, addressing music’s place in worship, congregational participation and the preservation of the Church’s musical heritage.

An action recommended under Islamic law: performing it brings reward, but omitting it does not bring punishment.

Serving one another and putting one another's needs before one's own. Egalitarian Christians understand this as a reciprocal responsibility of husbands and wives.

An event in the lives of Jesus or Mary on which Catholics meditate while praying the Rosary.

A truth about God which is known through God’s revelation but cannot be fully understood by human reason.

A religious play presenting biblical stories, especially associated with medieval cycles covering events from creation to the Last Judgement.

An experience of deep spiritual insight or closeness to God, sometimes described as union with God.

The Sikh ceremony in which a child is named with guidance from the Guru Granth Sahib.

The self or soul, whose selfish desires must be disciplined in Sufi spiritual practice.

A public procession involving the singing of sacred hymns and honouring the Guru Granth Sahib.

The duty to discourage others from doing what is wrong according to Islamic teaching.

Remembering, repeating and meditating on God’s Name so that awareness of God shapes a person’s life.

A chant expressing dedication to the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, used in Nichiren Buddhism.

A Buddhist expression meaning ‘Homage to the Buddha’, used in Theravada devotional recitation.

Remembering and meditating on God's name.

The doctrine that each Imam nominates his successor by divine designation, rather than merely choosing a leader through personal preference.

Suffering arising from natural processes rather than deliberate human wrongdoing, such as disease or earthquakes.

Identifying fertile times in the menstrual cycle and avoiding sexual intercourse during those times to avoid pregnancy.

An explanation using natural causes rather than supernatural action.

An approach to morality which holds that right action should follow the purposes built into human nature by God; it influences Catholic teaching about procreation.

The process in which organisms with advantageous inherited characteristics are more likely to survive and reproduce, making those characteristics more common over generations.

Suffering caused by natural processes rather than human wrongdoing, such as an earthquake.

An extraordinary event involving the natural world which believers understand as an act of God, such as Jesus calming a storm.