"In fact, “almost all the religious terms in the Qur’an,” Mingana notes, “are derived from Syriac.” These include words that have come to be closely identified with Islam itself, including Allah; ayah (sign, in the sense of a divine manifestation, or verse of the Qur’an); kafir (unbeliever); salat (prayer); nafs (soul); jannah (Paradise); taghut (infidelity); and masih (Christ)."