Core Glossary
Core Glossary — Mark (English → Arabic)
Purpose
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing theological term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, across the entire Gospel of Mark (chapters 1–16), into a single per-term reference table for Phase 2 translation operations. It extends — and never contradicts — the baseline Romans translation_memory.json / bible_term_registry.json. Terms already established in the baseline are marked [Baseline — reuse exactly] and cited with their existing Arabic rendering; no alternative is proposed. New terms specific to Mark are marked [New — Mark] and are proposed for addition to translation memory, pending the same theologian/native-speaker review routing used for Romans.
Risk tiers (identical framework to baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json): Critical / High / Medium / Low. Critical and High require human theologian review; Medium requires native speaker review; Low requires automated review only.
Table 1 — Baseline Terms Reused in Mark (No New Rendering; Contextual Notes Only)
| Term (Eng.) | Arabic (exact, from baseline) | Risk | Mark chapters | Contextual note for Mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | الله | Critical | 1–16 (throughout) | Same Critical risk as baseline; see esp. ch. 12 Shema note — must not read as endorsing Islamic-style strict unitarianism against Trinity. |
| Jesus | يسوع | Critical | 1–16 (throughout) | Never عيسى; identity-marker consistency vital given how much of Mark is built around correcting the Qur’anic Jesus-narrative (non-crucified, non-divine). |
| Son of God | ابن الله | Critical | 1:1, 1:11, 3:11, 5:7, 9:7, 14:61, 15:39 | Structural bookend of the whole book (1:1 ↔ 15:39); see ch. 9 (Transfiguration), ch. 14 (trial), ch. 15 (centurion) notes. |
| Lord | الرب | Critical | 1:3, 2:28, 5:19, 11:9, 12:29, 12:36-37 | Applied to Jesus over the Sabbath (2:28) and quoted in the Shema (12:29); see ch. 2 and ch. 12 notes on preserving full force. |
| Holy Spirit | الروح القدس | Critical | 1:8, 1:10, 1:12, 3:29, 12:36, 13:11 | Distinguish from the created angel Jibrīl per baseline note; critical also at “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” (3:28-29). |
| Father | الآب | Critical | 8:38, 11:25, 13:32, 14:36 | Paired with “Abba” at Gethsemane (14:36); canonical link to Romans 8:15 adoption. |
| Abba | أبّا | High | 14:36 | Jesus’s own use of the term Paul later applies to believers’ adoption; strong cross-curriculum teaching link. |
| Messiah / Christ | المسيح | Critical | 1:1, 8:29, 9:41, 12:35, 13:21-22, 14:61-62, 15:32 | Peter’s confession (8:29) is the book’s literary hinge; every occurrence must actively correct the Qur’anic al-Masīh narrative. |
| Resurrection | القيامة | Critical | 6:14, 9:9-10, 9:31, 12:18-27, 14:28, 16:6 | Requires the crucifixion (ch. 14-15) to be established as historical first; see ch. 12 (Sadducee debate) and ch. 16 notes. |
| Kingdom of God | ملكوت الله | Medium | 1:15, 4:11, 4:26-32, 9:1, 9:47, 10:14-15, 12:34, 14:25, 15:43 | Preserve the “already/not yet” tension introduced at 1:15; do not collapse to purely future or purely present. |
| Gospel | الإنجيل | High | 1:1, 1:14-15, 8:35, 10:29, 13:10, 14:9 | Note the 1:1 textual variant re: “Son of God”; teach as the record itself, not a corrupted successor text. |
| Faith | الإيمان | High | 2:5, 4:40, 5:34, 5:36, 6:6, 9:23-24, 10:52, 11:22-24 | Central to the “Faith and Discipleship amid Fear” doctrine; paired repeatedly with φόβος (fear) as its narrative foil. |
| Sin | الخطية | High | 1:4-5, 2:5-10, 3:28-29 | Ties to forgiveness-of-sins (ch. 2) and blasphemy-against-the-Spirit (ch. 3) discussions. |
| Apostle | الرسول | High | 3:14, 6:30 | Founding of the Twelve; distinguish from Muhammad’s Rasūl Allāh per baseline note. |
| Gentiles / nations | الأمم | Medium | 7:24-30 (Syrophoenician), 10:33, 10:42, 11:17, 13:10 | ”House of prayer for all nations” (11:17) ties directly to universal-scope-of-gospel doctrine. |
| Glory | المجد | High | 8:38, 10:37, 13:26 | James/John’s request (10:37) and the Son of Man’s coming glory (8:38, 13:26) are linked claims. |
| Prophet | نبي | High | 6:4, 6:15, 8:28, 9:11-13, 13:22 | Recurs at Jesus’s Nazareth rejection and Elijah/John typology; must not let “prophet” exhaust Jesus’s identity. |
| Election | اختيار الله | High | 13:20, 13:22, 13:27 | Plural “the elect” (المختارون) needed for Olivet discourse; guard against folk-qadar fatalism. |
| David | داود | Medium | 2:25-26, 10:47-48, 11:10, 12:35-37 | Bartimaeus’s “Son of David” cry (10:47) and the Davidic-messiah debate (12:35-37) both require covenant-typology background. |
| Seed of David / Son of David | نسل داود / ابن داود | High | 10:47-48, 12:35-37 | See David note above; distinct phrase for the direct messianic-title usage. |
| Israel | إسرائيل | High | 12:29 (Shema quotation), 15:26 (“King of the Jews,” adjacent theme) | See ch. 11 (fig tree), ch. 13 (abomination of desolation), and ch. 15 (King of the Jews) notes on contemporary political sensitivity. |
| Covenant | العهد | Medium | 14:24 | ”Blood of the covenant” directly ties to the ransom theology of 10:45; see full Critical-level note under “Blood of the Covenant” below (New — Mark). |
| Mission | الإرسالية | Medium | 6:7-13 | Sending of the Twelve; avoid risālah vocabulary per baseline caution. |
| Providence | العناية الإلهية | Medium | 10:40, 13:32, 14:21 | ”Prepared” places (10:40) and “as it is written” (14:21) both invoke purposive divine plan, not fatalism. |
| Power of God | قوة الله | Medium | 5:30, 6:2, 9:1, 12:24 | Underlies miracle accounts throughout; distinct from σημεῖον (“sign,” New — Mark, High risk). |
| Saints / sanctification / church / spiritual gifts / grace / justification / righteousness / adoption / imputed righteousness | (as baseline) | (as baseline) | Not independently load-bearing in Mark’s narrative vocabulary | These baseline terms are not prominent lexical items in Mark itself (they are Pauline-epistle categories); retained here only to confirm no contradictory rendering has been introduced. No new Mark-specific note required. |
Table 2 — New Terms Introduced by Mark (Proposed Additions to Translation Memory)
| Term (Eng.) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Arabic rendering | Risk | Key passages | Risk rationale (summary) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Son of Man | ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου | ho huios tou anthrōpou | ابن الإنسان | Critical | 2:10, 2:28, 8:31, 8:38, 9:31, 10:33, 10:45, 13:26, 14:21, 14:41, 14:62 | Mark’s preferred Christological title; correct calque, but risks reductive “merely human” misreading unless taught with its Daniel 7:13-14 divine-authority background (confirmed by direct quotation at 13:26 and 14:62). |
| Ransom | λύτρον | lytron | فدية | Critical | 10:45 | Established Van Dyck term, but collides with Islamic fiqh fidyah (a legal compensatory payment for an unperformed duty, funded by the worshiper, addressed to a ritual shortfall) — not substitutionary death for another’s sin, which Qur’an 6:164 explicitly denies is possible. Requires the heaviest doctrinal scaffolding in the book. |
| Slave (of all) | δοῦλος | doulos | عبد | High | 10:44 | Correct, striking word; collides with the positive Islamic self-designation ʿabd Allāh (“slave of God”), but the direction is reversed — horizontal slave-status toward others, not vertical submission to God. Must be taught explicitly. |
| Servant / minister | διάκονος | diakonos | خادم | Medium | 9:35, 10:43 | Positive, low-collision Arabic word, but also a title of supreme worldly honor in the region (e.g., “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques”); ensure it is not read here as honorific. |
| Cup (of suffering) | ποτήριον | potērion | كأس | Medium–High | 10:38-39, 14:36 | Literal-vessel default sense in Arabic does not carry the OT “cup of wrath” background; requires explanatory framing. |
| Baptism (as suffering-metaphor) | βάπτισμα | baptisma | معمودية | High | 1:4-11, 10:38-39 | No sacramental or suffering-metaphor parallel in Islam; risk of collapsing into ritual-washing (wuḍūʼ/ghusl) framing. |
| Authority | ἐξουσία | exousia | سلطان | High | 1:22, 1:27, 2:10, 4:41(implicit), 11:28-33 | Must read as Jesus’s inherent, divine authority, not delegated prophetic authority (cf. baseline “prophet” caution); also carries the lost κύριος-wordplay note at 10:42. |
| Unclean spirit / demon | πνεῦμα ἀκάθαρτον / δαιμόνιον | pneuma akatharton / daimonion | روح نجس / شيطان | Critical | 1:23-27, 3:11, 3:22, 5:1-20, 7:24-30, 9:14-29 | Avoid جن (jinn); Islamic jinn cosmology (morally mixed, includes believing jinn) does not map onto NT demonology (uniformly hostile, opposed to God’s kingdom). |
| Repentance | μετάνοια / μετανοέω | metanoia / metanoeō | التوبة | Critical | 1:4, 1:15, 6:12 | Islamic tawbah is a self-sufficient turning to Allah’s mercy without mediator/atonement; Markan repentance is inseparable from faith in Jesus and the gospel and grounded in the ransom (10:45). Always pair with its object. |
| Parable | παραβολή | parabolē | مثل / أمثال | Medium | 3:23, 4:2-34, 12:1-12, 13:28 | Shared, positively-regarded Qur’anic vocabulary (amthāl), but functions differently — Mark’s parables reveal to insiders / conceal from outsiders (4:11-12), unlike generic illustrative Qur’anic amthāl. |
| Mystery/secret of the Kingdom | μυστήριον τῆς βασιλείας | mystērion tēs basileias | سر الملكوت | High | 4:11 | Anchor term for the Messianic Secret motif; no strong parallel to progressive/selective revelation in Islam’s completed-and-immediately-public revelatory model. |
| Cross | σταυρός | stauros | الصليب | Critical | 8:34, 10:21(implicit), 15:13-32 | Same underlying risk as baseline “resurrection”: Qur’an 4:157 denies the crucifixion occurred at all. Requires apologetic historicity-scaffolding at every occurrence; more pervasive in Mark than in Romans since chs. 8-16 are structured around this event. |
| Necessity (“must suffer”) | δεῖ (παθεῖν) | dei (pathein) | ينبغي | High | 8:31, 9:31, 10:33-34, 14:21, 14:49 | Anchor term for “Necessity of the Cross” doctrine; must convey divine necessity within God’s plan, not tragic inevitability or mere prediction. |
| Blasphemy | βλασφημία | blasphēmia | تجديف | Critical | 2:7, 3:28-29 (against the Spirit), 14:63-64 | Double-edged: the very claims Mark presents as vindicating Jesus’s deity would, from an Islamic standpoint, themselves be classified as shirk. Teach the narrative irony explicitly. |
| Forgiveness of sins | ἀφίενται αἱ ἁμαρτίαι | aphientai hai hamartiai | مغفرة الخطايا | High | 2:5-10 | Compatible vocabulary (Allah as al-Ghafūr), but Islamic forgiveness has no mediatorial/atoning-sacrifice mechanism; Jesus pronounces forgiveness directly and on his own authority. |
| Sabbath (Lord of the) | σάββατον (κύριος τοῦ σαββάτου) | sabbaton (kyrios tou sabbatou) | السبت (رب السبت) | Critical | 2:23-28, 3:1-6 | Safe shared vocabulary for the day itself; Critical because of the claim made about it — Jesus asserts authority (as “Lord”) over the Sabbath/Torah institution itself. |
| Fasting | νηστεία | nēsteia | الصوم | Medium–High | 2:18-22 | Major shared external form with Islamic ṣawm (esp. Ramadan); risk is assumed functional equivalence, since Jesus relativizes fasting to his own redemptive-historical presence. |
| Clean / unclean (ritual defilement) | καθαρός / ἀκάθαρτος (κοινός) | katharos / akathartos (koinos) | طاهر / نجس | High | 1:40-45 (leprosy), 7:1-23 | Directly engages ṭahāra/najāsa ritual-purity categories central to Islamic devotional life; ch. 7’s relocation of defilement to the heart is a deliberately provocative, load-bearing argument, not to be softened. |
| Sign | σημεῖον | sēmeion | آية | High | 8:11-12, 13:4, 13:22 | Collides with āyah, the central Qur’anic term for a verse of the Qur’an and for confirming-miracle apologetics (iʿjāz); risk of making the Pharisees’ unbelieving test read as legitimate prophetic-verification reasoning. |
| Transfiguration | μετεμορφώθη | metemorphōthē | التجلي | Critical | 9:2-8 | Established Christian usage, but Arabic tajallī has Sufi mystical/pantheistic-manifestation connotations; must be taught as a bounded, historical unveiling of a distinct divine Person’s pre-existent glory, not a mystical absorption-experience. |
| Beloved (Son) | ὁ ἀγαπητός | ho agapētos | الابن الحبيب | Critical | 1:11, 9:7, 12:6 | Intensifies, must not dilute, the Sonship claim; baseline explicitly rejects “الحبيب من الله” as a softening of “Son of God” — this qualifier must not be allowed to achieve that same softening by another route. |
| Gehenna / Hell | γέεννα | geenna | جهنم | Medium–High | 9:43-48 | Shared Qur’anic vocabulary, but Islamic mīzān-based, deeds-weighed, potentially-temporary punishment framework differs from this text’s radical-discipleship framing. |
| Son of David | υἱὲ Δαυίδ | huie Dauid | ابن داود | High | 10:47-48, 12:35-37 | Messianic title; Qur’anic Dāwūd lacks the covenant-typology background pointing to a promised royal heir — must be supplied. |
| Blood of the covenant | τὸ αἷμά μου τῆς διαθήκης | to haima mou tēs diathēkēs | دمي الذي للعهد | Critical | 14:24 | Direct narrative fulfillment of the 10:45 ransom theology; substitutionary, covenant-ratifying, atoning blood — not a legal-compensatory payment, not mere shared-meal symbolism. |
| Body (of Christ, at the Supper) | τὸ σῶμά μου | to sōma mou | جسدي | Critical | 14:22 | No sacramental parallel in Islam; risk of being heard as shockingly literal absent explicit sacrificial-memorial framing. |
| Temple veil / curtain | τὸ καταπέτασμα τοῦ ναοῦ | to katapetasma tou naou | حجاب الهيكل | High | 15:38 | Established Van Dyck rendering, but حجاب’s overwhelming contemporary association with the Islamic women’s head covering risks a jarring, theologically irrelevant modern association; retain the term but flag for mandatory explanatory footnoting. |
| King of the Jews | βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων | basileus tōn Ioudaiōn | ملك اليهود | High | 15:2-26 | Ironic-yet-true messianic-kingship title; ties to contemporary “Israel” political sensitivity per baseline note — must not be read as either mere ancient theater or present-day political commentary. |
| Shema declaration (“the Lord is one”) | Κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν Κύριος εἷς ἐστιν | Kyrios ho theos hēmōn Kyrios heis estin | الرب إلهنا رب واحد | Critical | 12:29 | Islamic tawḥīd also affirms strict divine oneness; must be explicitly taught as compatible with, not opposed to, Trinitarian doctrine revealed progressively elsewhere in Mark — a genuinely delicate passage requiring the heaviest teaching care despite its apparent surface “common ground." |
| "I am” self-declaration | Ἐγώ εἰμι | Egō eimi | أنا هو | Critical (flag for awareness) | 6:50, 14:62 | Possible echo of the divine Name (Exodus 3:14 LXX); should not be flattened to a merely reassuring “it’s me” without a teaching footnote on the possible theophanic resonance, especially at 14:62’s trial confession. |
| Abomination of desolation | βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως | bdelygma tēs erēmōseōs | رجاسة الخراب | Medium–High | 13:14 | Requires Daniel background; sensitive given ongoing political/religious weight of the Jerusalem Temple site in contemporary discourse. |
| False messiahs / false prophets | ψευδόχριστοι / ψευδοπροφῆται | pseudochristoi / pseudoprophētai | مسحاء كذبة / أنبياء كذبة | Medium | 13:22 | Assumes true messiahship/prophecy are real, verifiable categories being counterfeited; reuse “messiah”/“prophet” cautions. |
| Divorce / adultery | ἀπολύειν / μοιχεία | apolyein / moicheia | الطلاق / الزنا | Medium–High | 10:2-12 | Differs from Islamic personal-status law (permitting divorce/conditional polygamy) still operative in many Arab family-court systems; real present-day legal/social intersection, not merely abstract doctrine. |
| Little child (Kingdom-paradigm) | παιδίον | paidion | طفل صغير | Medium | 9:36-37, 10:14-16 | Deliberate honor/shame status-inversion; preserve as continuous with the servant/slave paradox of ch. 10, not generic “be kind to children” sentiment. |
| Healing/salvation double-sense | σῴζω (πίστις σου σέσωκέν σε) | sōzō (pistis sou sesōken se) | إيمانك خلّصك / شفاك | Medium–High | 5:34, 10:52 | Greek does not lexically separate “healed” and “saved” as Arabic typically must; teach that Mark intends both senses, so healing narratives are not read as merely physical with no connection to soteriology. |
| Tradition of the elders | παράδοσις τῶν πρεσβυτέρων | paradosis tōn presbyterōn | تقليد الشيوخ | Medium | 7:1-13 | Structural (not polemical) parallel to sunnah/hadith-vs-Qur’an authority debates; handle as an illuminating analogy, with pastoral sensitivity. |
| Aramaic phrases preserved untranslated | Ταλιθὰ κούμ / Ἐφφαθά | Talitha koum / Ephphatha | طليثا قومي / إفّثا | Low–Medium | 5:41, 7:34 | Follow the baseline’s “Abba” precedent: preserve transliteration alongside the Greek’s own gloss, to retain intimacy/immediacy. |
| Hosanna | ὡσαννά | hōsanna | أوشعنا | Low | 11:9-10 | Preserve as untranslated acclamation; teach the distinction between the crowd’s partly-political messianic expectation and the actual spiritual Kingdom. |
| Legion (proper noun) | Λεγιών | Legiōn | لجيون | Low | 5:9 | Transliterate; note Roman-military/occupation resonance as historical-cultural footnote only. |
| Beelzebul (proper noun) | Βεελζεβούλ | Beelzeboul | بعل زبول | Low | 3:22 | Transliterate; identifies Satan/ruler of demons, ties to the ch. 1 demonology Critical note. |
| Sign of Jonah / false signs (Olivet) | σημεῖα | sēmeia | آيات | High | 13:4, 13:22 | Reuse the ch. 8 “sign” (آية) risk note; false signs performed by false messiahs/prophets. |
Table 3 — Doctrine-to-Term Cross Reference (Mark-Specific Doctrines)
| Curriculum doctrine | Primary anchor terms | Primary passages |
|---|---|---|
| Jesus as the Suffering Servant and Son of God | ابن الإنسان (Son of Man), ابن الله (Son of God), فدية (ransom), الابن الحبيب (beloved Son) | 1:1, 1:11, 9:7, 10:45, 14:61-62, 15:39 |
| The Kingdom of God Breaking In | ملكوت الله (Kingdom of God), سر الملكوت (mystery of the Kingdom), مثل/أمثال (parable) | 1:15, 4:11, 4:26-32, 9:1 |
| Faith and Discipleship amid Fear | الإيمان (faith), يتبع (follow), طفل صغير (child-paradigm), عبد/خادم (slave/servant) | 4:40, 5:34, 9:23-24, 9:35-37, 10:43-44, 10:52 |
| The Necessity of the Cross | الصليب (cross), ينبغي (must/necessity), الصليب + apologetic scaffolding | 8:31, 8:34, 9:31, 10:33-34, 14-15 (entire passion narrative) |
| Servanthood versus Worldly Greatness | خادم (servant), عبد (slave), يتسلّطون (lord it over/domineer), سلطان (authority) | 9:33-37, 10:42-45 |
| The Messianic Secret | سر الملكوت (mystery of the Kingdom), repeated silencing commands (no single term; see 1:34, 1:44, 3:12, 5:43, 7:36, 8:30, 9:9) | 1:34, 1:44, 3:12, 4:11-12, 5:43, 7:36, 8:30, 9:9 |
| Jesus’ Authority over Sickness, Sin, and Nature | سلطان (authority), روح نجس/شيطان (unclean spirit/demon), مغفرة الخطايا (forgiveness of sins), قوة الله (power of God) | 1:22-27, 1:40-45, 2:1-12, 4:35-41, 5:1-43 |
| The Ransom for Many | فدية (ransom), نفسه (his life/soul), دمي الذي للعهد (blood of the covenant), جسدي (body) | 10:45, 14:22-24 |
Notes for Phase 2 Loading
- Table 1 terms must be loaded from and enforced exactly as recorded in the baseline
translation_memory.json; this glossary adds no new rendering for these terms, only Mark-specific contextual notes for reviewers. - Table 2 terms are proposed new entries; before Phase 2 begins, each should be formally added to an updated
translation_memory.json(version increment) andbible_term_registry.json, following the same schema and field structure as the baseline, with risk-tier review routing perdoctrine_risk_registry.jsonconventions (Critical/High → human theologian; Medium → native speaker; Low → automated). - Several Mark-specific terms carry elevated risk relative to structurally similar Romans terms because Mark’s narrative form repeatedly enacts doctrines (an actual crucifixion narrated in real time, an actual demon cast out, an actual temple curtain torn) rather than expounding them argumentatively — reviewers should expect these terms to recur with high frequency across consecutive verses (esp. chs. 14-15) and should not treat repeated occurrences as lower-priority after the first flag.
- The single highest-density Critical-risk passage in the book is Mark 14:61-62 (the trial confession), where Son of Man, Christ/Messiah, and Son of God terminology converge in one exchange; this passage — together with the core passage Mark 10:35-45 — should be prioritized for the earliest and most thorough human theologian review in Phase 2 Step 17.
Critical Risk Terms
Righteousness
Approved rendering: البر
Transliteration: al-birr
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: الصلاح, العدل
Inherited from Romans package. δικαιοσύνη is not a prominent lexical item in Mark’s own narrative vocabulary (it is a Pauline-epistle category); retained here to confirm no contradictory rendering is introduced. Note Mark 2:17’s ‘I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners’ uses δίκαιος adjacent vocabulary ironically of those who wrongly consider themselves already righteous.
Justification
Approved rendering: التبرير
Transliteration: al-tabrīr
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: التزكية, الحكم بالبراءة
Inherited from Romans package. Not present as a distinct narrative category in Mark; retained only for cross-curriculum consistency. Never substitute التزكية.
Salvation
Approved rendering: الخلاص
Transliteration: al-khalāṣ
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: النجاة, الفوز بالجنة
Inherited from Romans package. σῴζω recurs throughout Mark for both physical healing and ultimate salvation (5:34, 10:52 ‘your faith has saved/healed you’; 8:35 ‘whoever loses his life…will save it’; 10:26-27 ‘who then can be saved?… with God all things are possible’; 13:13, 20). See new term ‘healing_salvation_double_sense’ below for the dual-sense handling. Must retain full weight: deliverance secured through Christ, not a probabilistic Judgment-Day-pending outcome.
Adoption
Approved rendering: التبني
Transliteration: al-tabannī
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: الاستلحاق
Inherited from Romans package. Not a distinct lexical category in Mark (a Pauline-epistle term), though the underlying filial-intimacy reality is modeled by Jesus’s own ‘Abba, Father’ cry at Gethsemane (14:36), which Paul later applies to believers’ adoption in Romans 8:15 — a valuable cross-curriculum teaching link. Retained for consistency; never substitute الاستلحاق.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: التجسد
Transliteration: al-tajassud
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: الحلول, الظهور
Inherited from Romans package. Mark does not use a distinct incarnation-vocabulary term (unlike John 1:14), but the doctrine underlies the whole book’s presentation of the divine Son entering real human history and death. Never use الحلول (Sufi pantheistic indwelling) or الظهور (mere appearance, echoing the Qur’an’s own crucifixion-denial language) at any point in Mark, especially chs. 14-15.
Law
Approved rendering: الناموس
Transliteration: al-nāmūs
Doctrine: Sabbath and Fulfillment of Torah
Rejected alternatives: الشريعة, الشرع
Inherited from Romans package. Underlies the Sabbath controversies (2:23-3:6), the divorce teaching’s appeal to Moses vs. creation order (10:2-9), and the Great Commandment discourse (12:28-34). Never substitute الشريعة; same rationale as baseline — shari’a today denotes the total Islamic religious-legal-political system, a category error in this context.
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: طاعة الإيمان
Transliteration: ṭā’at al-īmān
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith
Rejected alternatives: الطاعة الشرعية
Inherited from Romans package. Not a distinct Markan phrase, though the underlying obedience-flowing-from-faith pattern is modeled throughout Mark’s discipleship narratives (e.g., the disciples’ immediate ‘leaving their nets,’ 1:16-20). Retained for consistency; must always be taught as fruit, never ground, of right standing.
Messiah
Approved rendering: المسيح
Transliteration: al-Masīh
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Peter’s confession (8:29, ‘You are the Christ’) is the literary hinge of the entire book, dividing public ministry from the journey to the cross; recurs at 1:1, 9:41, 12:35, 13:21-22, 14:61-62, 15:32. Every occurrence must actively correct the Qur’anic al-Masih narrative (honored prophet, not divine, not crucified, not risen).
Jesus
Approved rendering: يسوع
Transliteration: Yasū’
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: عيسى
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Never عيسى. Consistency is especially vital in Mark since the entire narrative arc (1:1 to 15:39) is structured to correct the Qur’anic Jesus-narrative that denies his deity and crucifixion.
God
Approved rendering: الله
Transliteration: Allāh
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Critical in Mark especially at the Shema quotation (12:29) and the Great Commandment, where Islamic tawhid’s strictly unitarian reading of divine oneness must be distinguished from the Trinitarian revelation Mark itself discloses (Father’s voice, 1:11/9:7; Spirit’s descent, 1:10; Son’s authority, throughout).
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: الروح القدس
Transliteration: al-Rūḥ al-Qudus
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Critical in Mark at the Trinitarian baptism scene (1:8-12) and especially at 3:28-30 (blasphemy against the Holy Spirit), where mainstream tafsir’s identification of this identical phrase with the created angel Jibril must be explicitly distinguished from the co-eternal divine Person Mark presents.
Father
Approved rendering: الآب
Transliteration: al-Āb
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Paired at Gethsemane (14:36) with ‘Abba,’ the same intimacy-term Paul later cites in Romans 8:15 for adopted believers; also present at 8:38, 11:25, 13:32. Islamic tanzih theology’s resistance to begetting-language applied to Allah applies with full force here.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: البر المحسوب
Transliteration: al-birr al-mahsūb
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: البر المكتسب
Inherited from Romans package. Not present as a distinct category in Mark’s own vocabulary; retained only for cross-curriculum consistency. Never render as ‘earned righteousness.‘
Son Of God
Approved rendering: ابن الله
Transliteration: Ibn Allāh
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: الحبيب من الله, الكلمة من الله (بدون ‘ابن’)
Original: υἱὸς θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Mark structures the entire book around this claim: 1:1 (opening, textual variant noted for reviewers only), 1:11, 3:11, 5:7, 9:7, 14:61, 15:39 (closing structural bookend, spoken by an unexpected Gentile witness at the cross). Never dilute to ‘the Beloved of God’; retain the full phrase throughout.
Lord
Approved rendering: الرب
Transliteration: al-Rabb
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: السيد, المولى
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Applied to Jesus in Mark specifically over the Sabbath (2:28, ‘the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath’) and quoted within the Shema itself (12:29), making the claim maximally confrontational to a reader holding tawhid. Never soften to السيد/المولى.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: القيامة
Transliteration: al-qiyāmah
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Original: ἀνάστασις
Category: Eschatology
Inherited from Romans package. Requires the historicity of the crucifixion (chs. 14-15) established first, per baseline note, since Qur’an 4:157 denies the crucifixion occurred. Occurs at 6:14, 9:9-10, 9:31, 12:18-27 (Sadducee debate, supplying scriptural argumentation for bodily resurrection), 14:28, 16:6.
High Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: الإنجيل
Transliteration: al-Injīl
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: البشارة, الخبر السار
Original: εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. In Mark this is the opening word of the book (1:1, textual variant re: ‘Son of God’ noted for reviewers only) and recurs at 1:14-15, 8:35, 10:29, 13:10, 14:9. Must be taught as the NT record itself, not a corrupted successor to a lost Injil per tahrif doctrine; the deity claim is independently confirmed later (1:11, 9:7, 15:39) regardless of the 1:1 textual variant.
Grace
Approved rendering: النعمة
Transliteration: al-ni’mah
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: الفضل, الرحمة
Inherited from Romans package. Not an independently load-bearing lexical item in Mark’s narrative vocabulary (Mark shows grace enacted in story rather than expounding it doctrinally, e.g. unearned healing/forgiveness). Retained for cross-curriculum consistency; no contradictory rendering introduced.
Faith
Approved rendering: الإيمان
Transliteration: al-īmān
Doctrine: Faith and Discipleship amid Fear
Rejected alternatives: الاعتقاد, الثقة
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Central anchor term for Mark’s ‘Faith and Discipleship amid Fear’ doctrine, repeatedly paired with and contrasted against fear (φόβος) as its narrative foil: 4:40, 5:34, 5:36, 6:6, 9:23-24, 10:52, 11:22-24. 9:24’s ‘I believe; help my unbelief’ must be taught as faith admitting real struggle, not untroubled certainty, against Islamic iman’s primarily creedal-assent register.
Apostle
Approved rendering: الرسول
Transliteration: al-rasūl
Doctrine: Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: المبعوث, التلميذ المرسل
Original: ἀπόστολος
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Founding of the Twelve as apostles occurs at Mark 3:14; their sending is narrated at 6:30. Distinguish the NT office (authorized eyewitness, delegated to found/teach the church) from Muhammad’s own defining title Rasūl Allāh and its finality claim (khatam an-nabiyyin), per baseline note.
Called
Approved rendering: المدعوون
Transliteration: al-mad’uwwūn
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: المُنتخَبون
Inherited from Romans package. Mark’s calling-vocabulary appears at the calling of the first disciples (1:16-20, καλέω implicit in the narrative act of summoning) and explicitly at 2:17 (‘I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners’). Direction runs from God/Jesus to the person, never the reverse (see ‘calling’ below).
Calling
Approved rendering: الدعوة
Transliteration: al-da’wah
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Inherited from Romans package. Da’wah is the standard Islamic term for human missionary invitation to Islam; in Mark, as in Romans, this denotes God’s/Jesus’s own sovereign summons of a person (1:16-20; 2:17), the reverse direction. Distinction must be made explicit at first use.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: التقديس
Transliteration: al-taqdīs
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: التطهير
Inherited from Romans package. Not an independently load-bearing lexical item in Mark; the Spirit’s ongoing sanctifying work is present thematically (e.g., Mark 7’s relocation of defilement to the heart) rather than named directly. Retained for consistency; distinct from ritual purification (وضوء/غسل).
Sin
Approved rendering: الخطية
Transliteration: al-khaṭīyah
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: الذنب, الإثم
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package. Ties directly to the forgiveness-of-sins controversy (2:1-12) and the blasphemy-against-the-Spirit warning (3:28-30); Mark 7’s relocation of defilement to heart-level moral corruption runs directly against Islamic fitrah doctrine and must be taught explicitly.
Glory
Approved rendering: المجد
Transliteration: al-majd
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: النور الإلهي
Original: δόξα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. James and John’s request to sit in Jesus’s glory (10:37, inside the core passage) is not doctrinally wrong but prematurely timed and wrongly mechanized; also appears at 8:38 and 13:26 (Son of Man’s future glorious coming). Avoid light-metaphor renderings evoking Sufi illumination mysticism.
Prophet
Approved rendering: نبي
Transliteration: nabī
Doctrine: Prophetic Fulfillment and the Forerunner
Original: προφήτης
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Recurs at the Nazareth rejection (6:4), popular speculation (6:15, 8:28), and Elijah/John typology (9:11-13). Must be paired with fuller Christological titles per baseline’s khatam an-nabiyyin caution, so ‘prophet’ does not exhaust Jesus’s identity.
Election
Approved rendering: اختيار الله
Transliteration: ikhtiyār Allāh
Doctrine: Eschatological Hope and the Return of the Son of Man
Rejected alternatives: القدر
Original: ἐκλεκτοί
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Plural ‘the elect’ (المختارون) needed at 13:20, 22, 27 (Olivet Discourse) — gathered by the Son of Man at his coming through a purposive redemptive-historical act. Must be distinguished from folk-qadar fatalism, per baseline note.
Intercession
Approved rendering: الشفاعة
Transliteration: al-shafā’ah
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Inherited from Romans package. Less prominent as a distinct theme in Mark than in Romans 8, but Jesus’s own prayer life (1:35; 6:46; 14:32-39 Gethsemane) and teaching on prayer (11:24-25) underlie it. Retained for cross-curriculum consistency; the exclusive, sufficient nature of Christ’s mediation established in Romans applies to the Gethsemane prayer’s Son as well.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: نسل داود / ابن داود
Transliteration: nasl Dāwūd / ibn Dāwūd
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: σπέρμα Δαυίδ / υἱὲ Δαυίδ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package (extended form). The direct vocative messianic title ‘Son of David’ (ابن داود) appears at 10:47-48 and 12:35-37; requires the Davidic covenant background to be supplied, since Bartimaeus’s cry is presented by Mark as unusually clear insight in deliberate contrast to the disciples’ confusion.
Israel
Approved rendering: إسرائيل
Transliteration: Isrā’īl
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: Ἰσραήλ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Invoked in the Shema quotation (12:29) and implicit in the ‘King of the Jews’ title (15:26). Contemporary political sensitivity intersects here with the fig-tree judgment (ch. 11), the abomination-of-desolation warning tied to the Jerusalem temple site (ch. 13), and the crucifixion title (ch. 15); teach the redemptive-historical sense deliberately apart from present-day political readings.
Abba
Approved rendering: أبّا
Transliteration: Abbā
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Original: Ἀββά
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Mark 14:36 is the source Paul later echoes in Romans 8:15; this cross-curriculum link should be surfaced explicitly. The informal register should not be softened despite Islamic tanzih’s emphasis on transcendent divine majesty over intimate address.
Medium Risk Terms
Holy
Approved rendering: مقدس
Transliteration: muqaddas
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: طاهر
Inherited from Romans package. Relevant in Mark at 1:24 (the unclean spirit’s confession, ‘I know who you are, the Holy One of God’) and 6:20 (Herod regarding John as ‘a righteous and holy man’). Retain the relational, set-apart-for-God sense; avoid طاهر’s ritual-purity connotation.
Saints
Approved rendering: القديسون
Transliteration: al-qiddīsūn
Doctrine: Sainthood
Rejected alternatives: الأولياء
Inherited from Romans package. Not an independently load-bearing narrative term in Mark (a Pauline-epistle corporate designation); retained for cross-curriculum consistency. Never substitute الأولياء (Sufi ‘friends of God’).
Peace
Approved rendering: السلام
Transliteration: al-salām
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: الأمان, الطمأنينة
Inherited from Romans package. Relevant in Mark at 4:39 (Jesus commands the storm, ‘Peace! Be still!’), 5:34 (‘go in peace’), and 9:50 (‘have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another’). Retain the relational/legal sense secured through Jesus’s authority and word, not merely subjective calm (Sufi/Quranic tuma’ninah).
Spiritual Gifts
Approved rendering: المواهب الروحية
Transliteration: al-mawāhib al-rūḥiyyah
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts
Rejected alternatives: المواهب
Inherited from Romans package. Not an independently load-bearing narrative category in Mark; retained for cross-curriculum consistency only.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: الشركة
Transliteration: al-sharikah
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: الزمالة, الجماعة
Inherited from Romans package. κοινωνία is not used in Mark’s own vocabulary; retained for cross-curriculum consistency. Avoid pairing with vocabulary suggesting the shirk-adjacent ش-ر-ك root resonance, per baseline caution.
Church
Approved rendering: الكنيسة
Transliteration: al-kanīsah
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: الجماعة, الأمة
Inherited from Romans package. ἐκκλησία does not occur in Mark (unlike Matthew 16:18); retained for cross-curriculum consistency. Never substitute الأمة (the pan-Islamic ummah term).
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: ملكوت الله
Transliteration: malakūt Allāh
Doctrine: Kingdom of God Breaking In
Rejected alternatives: مملكة الله
Original: βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Kingdom
Inherited from Romans package. Mark 1:15’s perfect tense (‘has drawn near,’ اقترب) introduces the already/not-yet tension carried throughout (4:11, 4:26-32, 9:1, 9:47, 10:14-15, 12:34, 14:25, 15:43). Preserve present in-breaking against both a purely future collapse and a khilafah-style political-state reading.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: الأمم
Transliteration: al-umam
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: الكفار
Original: ἔθνη
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Relevant at the Syrophoenician woman’s episode (7:24-30), the temple’s designation as ‘a house of prayer for all the nations’ (11:17, citing Isaiah 56:7), and 10:33, 42; 13:10. Never substitute الكفار.
Power Of God
Approved rendering: قوة الله
Transliteration: quwwat Allāh
Doctrine: Jesus’ Authority over Sickness, Sin, and Nature
Original: δύναμις
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Underlies the healing and nature-miracle accounts throughout Mark (5:30, 6:2, 9:1, 12:24). Distinct from σημεῖον (‘sign,’ see new term ‘sign’ below), which carries a higher, different collision risk (Qur’anic āyah).
Covenant
Approved rendering: العهد
Transliteration: al-‘ahd
Doctrine: Atonement and the New Covenant
Rejected alternatives: الميثاق
Original: διαθήκη
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Climactically invoked at the Last Supper’s ‘blood of the covenant’ (14:24, see new term ‘blood_of_the_covenant’ below), directly echoing Exodus 24:8 and tying to the ransom theology of 10:45.
Providence
Approved rendering: العناية الإلهية
Transliteration: al-‘ināyah al-ilāhiyyah
Doctrine: Providence and Divine Necessity
Rejected alternatives: القدر
Original: δεῖ (implicit purposive plan)
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Mark 10:40’s ‘prepared’ places of honor and 14:21, 49’s ‘as it is written’ framing of the passion both invoke a personal, purposive redemptive plan; must not collapse into impersonal folk-qadar fatalism.
Mission
Approved rendering: الإرسالية
Transliteration: al-irsāliyyah
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Rejected alternatives: الرسالة
Original: ἀποστέλλω
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Mark 6:7-13’s sending of the Twelve is the founding narrative instance. Avoid risālah-style vocabulary that would invite comparison to Muhammad’s own prophetic commission, per baseline caution.
David
Approved rendering: داود
Transliteration: Dāwūd
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: Δαυίδ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Relevant at the Sabbath controversy’s appeal to David eating the showbread (2:25-26), Bartimaeus’s cry (10:47-48), and the Davidic-messiah debate (12:35-37). The Qur’anic Dawud is positively regarded but lacks the covenant-typology background; must be supplied explicitly.
Low Risk Terms
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: الشكر
Transliteration: al-shukr
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Inherited from Romans package. Relevant in Mark at the feeding miracles (6:41, 8:6, εὐχαριστήσας/εὐλόγησεν ‘gave thanks’) and the institution of the Supper (14:23). Broadly compatible with the Islamic virtue of shukr; low risk.
Prophecy
Approved rendering: نبوءة
Transliteration: nubū’ah
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Inherited from Romans package. Relevant to Mark’s fulfillment-quotation pattern: 1:2-3 (Isaiah/Malachi), 7:6 (Isaiah), 11:17 (Isaiah 56:7), 12:36 (Psalm 110), 13:14 (Daniel allusion), 14:27 (Zechariah). Must be taught as fulfillment, not naskh-style abrogation, per baseline caution.
Exhort
Approved rendering: يشجع / يعظ
Transliteration: yushajji’ / ya’iẓ
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Inherited from Romans package. Mark’s uses of παρακαλέω are mostly in the sense of entreaty/imploring (e.g., 1:40 the leper begs Jesus; 5:10, 5:12 the demons beg) rather than the encouragement/exhortation sense more prominent in Romans. Retain context-sensitivity; do not force the Romans ‘encourage’ sense onto Mark’s begging/imploring occurrences.
Referenced passages