islamic

IPA/ɪzˈlæmɪk/
KK[ˌɪzlˈɑmɪk]IPA/ɪzˈlæmɪk/

islamic — adjective

  • islamicpositive
  • more islamiccomparative
  • most islamicsuperlative

1. describing anything connected with the faith of Muslims around the world, such a

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

describing anything connected with the faith of Muslims around the world, such as its teachings, history, law, art, culture, or the countries where most people are Muslim.

Example

Professor Karim teaches a course on Islamic art and architecture at the university.

collocation: Islamic art / Islamic architecture

The Alhambra palace in southern Spain is a famous example of early Islamic architecture.

collocation: Islamic architecture

Common collocations
  • Islamic art
  • Islamic law
  • Islamic culture
  • Islamic world
  • Islamic faith
  • Islamic tradition
  • Islamic architecture
  • Islamic banking
Synonyms
  • Muslim

    Muslim can describe people or communities who follow the religion, while Islamic usually describes the religion's teachings, institutions, art, or culture. They overlap in some contexts (Muslim world ≈ Islamic world) but Muslim is person-focused.

Grammar Patterns

Islamic + noun

Usage Note

Islamic is an attributive adjective — it almost always comes before a noun (Islamic art, Islamic law, Islamic culture). Unlike Muslim, which typically describes people who follow the faith, Islamic refers to the religion itself or things produced by it.

Common Mistakes

He follows Islamic.
He follows Islam.
Islamic is an adjective (describing a noun), not a noun referring to the religion itself. Use Islam as the noun.
Islamic fighters attacked the village.
Islamist fighters attacked the village.
Islamic relates to the religion itself; Islamist refers to political movements that use religion as an ideology for power.

Word family

  • Islam
    nounB1
  • Muslim
    nounA2
  • Muslim
    adjectiveB1
  • Islamist
    nounC1
  • Islamist
    adjectiveC1
  • Islamophobia
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Islamic describes anything directly connected to the faith of Islam as a religion — its teachings, art, law, history, and institutions. Muslim primarily refers to people who follow Islam (a Muslim doctor, the Muslim community), though it can overlap with Islamic in phrases like Muslim world. Islamist is narrower and political: it describes groups or movements that aim to shape government and society according to a particular interpretation of Islamic teachings. Qur'anic refers specifically to the Qur'an itself (Qur'anic verses, Qur'anic studies) and is the most restricted of the four. For example: 'The museum displays Islamic calligraphy from the 13th century' (religious art), but 'Islamist parties gained seats in the election' (political movement).

Muslim ↗IslamistQur'anic

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • Islamic Republic of Iran
  • Islamic State

Etymology

ArabicEnglish

Islamic comes from Islam (Arabic إسلام islām, meaning 'submission to God') plus the English suffix -ic, which turns nouns into adjectives meaning 'relating to'. The word entered English use in the 18th century as European scholars began studying the religion and cultures of the Muslim world.