The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1903 page)

(Gk.). A box used for holding the
reserved sacrament
, and specifically a small silver box used for carrying the sacrament to the sick, when the pyx is wrapped in a small corporal (linen cloth) and carried in a pyx-bag around the priest's neck.

 
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(prob. an abbreviation of Germ.
Quelle
, source). A symbol denoting a (hypothetical) document used by the authors of the
gospels
of
Matthew
and
Luke
. Its existence is inferred from parallel passages in those gospels, containing substantially the same material, which do not come from
Mark
(see
SYNOPTIC GOSPELS
). Thus the Q hypothesis proposes a second written source beside the gospel of Mark for Matthew and Luke. It normally envisages that Luke did not use Matthew, and is therefore the main rival to the view that Luke knew and used Matthew (within either a Mark-Matthew-Luke or a Matthew-Luke-Mark sequence).

 
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see
KABBALAH
.

 
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(Arab. ‘contract’). In
S
f
Islam, a technical term (in contrast to
bas
) describing fear and desolation, akin to ‘spiritual dryness’

 
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(Arab.,
qadara
, ‘have strength for, gain mastery over’). The decree of
All
h
which, in Muslim belief, determines all eventualities. The
Qur’
n
reiterates constantly the power of God, who is the sole creator of all that is, and the One who knows all that is to be. Nothing can happen unless God wills it—hence the popular recognition of this in the phrase,
insh’Allah
, ‘if God wills it’. How strong is this determinism? If God determines everything that happens, how can humans be held responsible on the Day of Judgement (
yaum al-D
n
)? This was a major and divisive issue in early Islam. At one extreme (eventually excluded from orthodox Islam), the Jabriy(y)a (Jabariy(y)a) emphasized the power and authority of God to such an extent that it implied absolute predestination. At the other extreme, the Qadariy(y)a, who became identified with the
Mu‘tazilites
, held that humans, as the caliphs (
khal
fa
) of God on earth, have the delegated power to create their actions. The mediating positions of the Maturidites (
al-M
tur
d
) and the Ash‘arites (
al-Ash‘ar
) held that all possibilities are created by God, but that humans have the responsibility to ‘acquire’ (
kasb
,
iktis
b
) actions out of the possibilities, thus becoming accountable (hence ‘the doctrine of acquisition’).