The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (27 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
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’ and, occasionally, for ghusl.
For ablution among Hindus, see
TARPA
A
,
ODHANA
. Since Sikhs concentrate on inner cleanliness (‘True ablution consists in the constant adoration of God’,
di Granth 358), ritual ablutions are much diminished.
Aboab, Isaac
(end of 14th cent. CE).
A Jewish
rabbinic
writer. He was a member of a prominent
Sephardic
family which produced several outstanding scholars. Isaac was the author of
Menorat ha-Ma’or
(Candlestick of Light), which was widely popular.
Abodah
(Jewish ritual)
:
see
AVODAH
.
Abomination of Desolation
.
Tr. of the Gk.
bdelugma er
m
se
s
from 1 Maccabees 1. 54 and the Heb.
shiqquz shomen
from Daniel 12. 11. It refers to something
idolatrous
which was set up on the
altar
of the
Jerusalem
Temple
in obedience to the command of Antiochus IV (Epiphanes)—possibly an image of Antiochus. It is then picked up in the New Testament (Matthew 24. 15, Mark 13. 14), where again the exact reference is uncertain.

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