The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (90 page)

(d. 651).
Christian
apostle
to Northumbria. He was a monk of Iona brought to
Lindisfarne
as bishop by King Oswald to evangelize his territory. His gentle commitment and personal asceticism made his many missionary journeys successful. He educated a small group of boys to be church leaders, among them St Chad. Feast day, 31 Aug.

 
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Ailred
(Cistercian monk)
:

see
AELRED
.

 
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Ainu
.

A Japanese people and religion. They were early inhabitants of Japan, driven northward from
c.
7th cent. CE. They are now mainly assimilated into mainstream Japanese culture, though some of their beliefs and practices can be traced in later religion—e.g. their animistic belief that spirits or spiritual powers (
kamuy
) are causative in natural events.

 
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(d. 678 CE (AH 59)).
Daughter of
Abu Bakr
, born in
Mecca
about 614 CE, and wife of
Mu
ammad
. She was married to him not long after the death of his first wife
Khad
ja
, and he admitted freely that she was his favourite wife of all those he subsequently married.
At Mu
ammad's death in 632, ‘
’isha was only about 18 years old, and played no part in political life until towards the end of the reign of ’Uthm
n, the third Caliph, when she joined the growing opposition party. In 656, ‘Uthm
n was assassinated; ‘
’isha, together with
al
a and al-Zubayr, took control of Ba
ra, and in Dec. 656 fought against
‘Al
b. Ab
lib