Eduqas GCSE Religious Studies key terms

The ritual washing and purification of a deceased person's body in preparation for Jewish burial.

An ecumenical Christian monastic community in France, founded in 1940 by Roger Schutz, where visitors share in prayer, reflection and community life.

A prayer shawl with fringes which remind the wearer of God’s commandments; also spelt tallit.

A collection of rabbinic teachings and discussions that explains and applies Jewish law, comprising the Mishnah and Gemara.

The quality of ignorance, associated with delusion, inertia and destruction.

Craving or ‘thirst’: attachment to pleasures, experiences or ways of being that a person wants to hold on to.

Mindfulness of Allah, shown through devotion and conduct that seeks to obey him.

Additional night prayers offered during Ramadan, often involving extended recitation of the Qur’an.

A ritual of symbolically casting off sins beside water, often performed at Rosh Hashanah.

Buddha-nature: the belief, mainly associated with Mahayana Buddhism, that all beings have the potential to achieve enlightenment.

Walking seven times around the Ka’ba as an act of worship of Allah.

The duty to love the friends of Allah, particularly the Prophet Muhammad, his family and righteous people.

The Islamic belief in the absolute oneness of Allah: there is only one God, who has no partners or equals.

A Christian charity founded in 1968 that works through churches and partner organisations to tackle poverty, respond to emergencies and support long-term development.

Small leather boxes containing passages from the Torah, worn on the arm and head during weekday morning prayer, traditionally by Jewish men.

A Buddhist place where people gather for worship, meditation, study and community activities.

The Jewish scriptures, also called the Hebrew Bible, comprising the Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim.

The central commandments given by God to Moses at Mount Sinai, guiding worship and relationships with other people.

Jewish repentance: recognising wrongdoing, feeling genuine remorse, seeking forgiveness, making amends and resolving not to repeat the offence. The word means ‘return’.

Repentance: turning away from wrongdoing and returning to a right relationship with God and other people.

The belief that God created life through the process of evolution.

An explanation intended to justify why a good God allows or causes suffering.

A Buddhist tradition whose name means ‘Teaching of the Elders’, which places particular importance on early Buddhist teachings and monastic discipline.

The commitment to refrain from sexual misconduct, understood as sexual behaviour that is harmful or unethical.

The grouping of the Eightfold Path into ethics, meditation and wisdom.

The Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha: the three sources of guidance and support in which Buddhists take refuge. Also called the Triratna or Three Refuges.

The Buddhist characteristics of existence: dukkha, suffering or unsatisfactoriness; anicca, impermanence; and anatta, the absence of a permanent, unchanging self.