The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (985 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
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Hevra Kaddisha
(Aram., ‘holy brotherhood’). Jewish mutual benefit societies. By the late 17th cent. the term came to be used only for burial societies. The Hevra was celebrated annually on a specific day (often 15 Kislev) with a fast followed by a banquet.
Hexapla
(Gk., ‘sixfold’). An edn. of the Old Testament produced by
Origen
in
c.
245 CE. In it the Hebrew text, the Heb. text in Greek. letters, and four Gk. versions were arranged in six parallel columns.
Hexateuch
(Gk.,
hex
, ‘six’, +
teuchos
, ‘book’). A name given by J.
Wellhausen
to the first six books of the Hebrew Bible, supposing that
Joshua
was compiled from the same sources as the
Pentateuch
.
Hicks(ites)
(leader/followers of Quaker sect)
:
Hidden Im
m
.
A Sh
‘a Muslim belief that the last Im
m in succession from
‘Al
did not die, but disappeared, and is now in a hidden state (occultation) from which he helps believers and will return as
al-Mahd
at the end of time to return peace and justice to the earth. Different Im
ms are identified as the Hidden Im
m by different Sh
‘a groups. See
AL-MAHD
;
DRUZES
;
ITHNA ‘ASHARIYYA
;
GHAIBA
.

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