The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (139 page)

Allen, Richard
(first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church)
:

see
AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
.

 
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All Saints' Day
.

The feast which celebrates
all
the Christian
saints
, whether known by name or not. The date in the W. is 1 Nov., and in the E. the first Sunday after
Pentecost
. The W. ‘All Souls’ Day' is a commemoration of the faithful departed on the following day (or on 3 Nov. if 2 Nov. is a Sunday).

 
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(Lat. form of Arab.,
al-majisti
, which in turn is the Arab. form of Gk.
megal
syntaxis
). Ptolemy's work on astronomy, which became the basis of the extensive Muslim work in that field.

 
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(Arab., ‘the guided one’). In
Sunni
Islam, one who receives guidance from God (God is al-H
d
, the Guide, Qur’
n 22. 54; 25. 31). The term may apply to figures in the past (e.g. the first four caliphs; see
KHAL
FA
; cf.
ARR
SHID
N
), or to those who revive Islam, but more often it refers to a future,
eschatological
figure, who will come to herald in the end of all things.
In Sh
‘a Islam, even stronger beliefs surrounding al-Mahd
as the hidden Im
m, who will emerge at the end of time, developed among the Twelvers (
Ithna ‘Ashariy(y)a
). The twelfth Im
m, ‘Ali ibn Mu
ammad Simmar
, was born in Samarra’ in 869 (AH 255). On the death of his father in AH 260, he became Im
m but was kept in seclusion (the first so-called occultation,
ghaiba
,
ghaibat-i-sughra
), being seen (if at all) on rare occasions only by senior figures. He answered questions through a succession of deputies (
wak
l