The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (350 page)

(Heb., ‘Blessed be his name’). The beginning of an ancient Jewish doxology probably based on Nehemiah 9. 5, ‘Bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name which is exalted above …’. It is regularly used after the first verse of the
Shema
‘, and in the
Orthodox
tradition, it is pronounced in a whisper.

 
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(Arab., ‘an obstacle’, ‘separation’, ‘hindrance’, or ‘barrier’. The word is found three times in the Qur'
n (23. 100, 25. 53, 55. 20), and is understood differently by commentators, with moral, physical, and metaphysical interpretations.

 
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(
c.
1106–67/8).
A Hindu religious reformer, associated with the founding of the
Li
g
yata
, also known as V
ra
aivism. He was a devotee of
iva
from an early age, but he soon found
caste
and ritual impeding progress. He became a devotee of the Lord of the Meeting Rivers, K
alasa
gamad
va, to whom reference is made in almost all his poems. After study of the
Vedas
under a
guru
, he began to worship with his own chosen
li
ga
,
i
tali
ga
, later to become characteristic of the Li
g