Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies A key terms

God making himself or his will known through a particular person, event or experience, rather than through the natural world generally.

Equal worth before Allah, with men and women accountable for their faith and actions and able to receive forgiveness and reward.

An ability understood by Christians to be given by the Holy Spirit to help build up the Christian community.

A series of representations of Jesus’s journey to crucifixion, used to guide prayer and reflection on his suffering.

A sculpture representing a person or figure.

A procedure intended to prevent someone permanently from having children, such as a vasectomy.

The responsibility to care for the world on God’s behalf rather than treating it as something humans may exploit without limits.

The way of faith and right conduct guided by Allah, which Muslims ask to follow in Surah al-Fatiha.

Features of the way society and the economy are organised that create or maintain poverty, such as unfair wages or unequal access to resources and opportunities.

Based on an individual’s personal feelings, awareness or interpretation rather than something independently observable by everyone.

Evidence based on an individual’s personal experience or interpretation, which others cannot directly experience in the same way.

A vision experienced inwardly, such as a mental image or an inner message believed to come from God.

Accepting Allah’s authority and seeking to live according to his guidance.

Physical pain or mental and emotional distress experienced by a living being.

Suffering associated with pleasant experiences changing or ending, particularly when someone clings to them.

The underlying unsatisfactoriness of experiences that are formed through conditions and cannot provide a completely secure, lasting basis for happiness.

Obvious physical or mental suffering, such as illness, injury, grief or distress.

The figure in Isaiah 53 who is rejected and suffers innocently, bearing the sins of others. Christians interpret this passage as pointing to Jesus’ saving suffering and death.

A person regarded as especially close to Allah through holiness and devotion; often described as a friend of Allah.

The inner, spiritual dimension of Islam, concerned with purifying the self and developing a close relationship with Allah.

The meal eaten before dawn, before the daily Ramadan fast begins.

Amitabha's Pure Land, the 'Land of Bliss', understood by many Pure Land Buddhists as a realm offering ideal conditions for enlightenment.

A temporary booth with a roof of plant material, used during Sukkot to recall the Israelites' shelters in the wilderness.

A church group in which children learn about Christianity through age-appropriate teaching and activities.

The example and practice of Muhammad, which guides Muslim belief and conduct.

Emptiness: the absence of a separate, independent essence. The Sanskrit spelling is sunyata; Mahayana Buddhism emphasises that all phenomena are empty of independent existence.

The branch of Islam in which a local imam’s authority rests on religious knowledge and leadership, rather than the divine appointment and infallibility attributed to the Imams in Shi’a belief.

Prayer asking God for help, guidance or something needed.