The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (783 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
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Final solution
.
Nazi plan for the extermination of the Jews. The expression ‘final solution’ was first used in 1941. After the Wannsee Conference of 1942, Adolph Eichmann was authorized to implement the total destruction of European Jewry in the occupied lands. See
HOLOCAUST
.
Finkelstein, Louis
(b. 1895).
US
Conservative
rabbi
. As president (1940–51) of the
Jewish Theological Seminary
and the Rabbinical Assembly, his was the most prominent voice in the Conservative movement of his time. He was also a prolific writer. Under his leadership, Conservative Judaism became the largest organized body of American Jews.
Fiqh
(Arab., ‘intelligence, knowledge’). Jurisprudence, the science of the religious law in Islam. Fiqh covers all regulations of religious, political, civil, and social life; family, private, public, and criminal law. One who pursues the study of fiqh is a
faqih
.
Four main schools of law (
madh
hib
, sing.
madhhab
) have survived, based on the teachings of
Sh
fi‘
(d. 820 (AH 205)),
M
lik b. Anas
(d. 795 (AH 179)), A
mad b.
Hanbal
(d. 855 (AH 241)), and Ab
an
fa (d. 767 (AH 150)). M
lik's
Muwa
a
’ (The Path) is one of the earliest of all books of fiqh, and remained influential.

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