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 Talk Talk - Communication terms
Category: General technical and industrial
Date & country: 28/05/2010, UK
Words: 18630


fever
Condition of raised body temperature, usually due to infection

Ferdinand, Franz
Archduke of Austria. He became heir to Emperor Franz Joseph, his uncle, in 1884 but while visiting Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, he and his wife were assassinated by a Serbian nationalist. Austria used the episode to make unreasonable demands on Serbia that ultimately precipitated World War I

fetishism
(anthropology) In anthropology, belief in the supernormal power of some inanimate object that is known as a fetish. Fetishism in some form is common to most cultures, and often has religious or magical significance

fertility drug
Any of a range of drugs taken to increase a female's fertility, developed in Sweden in the mid-1950s. They increase the chances of a multiple birth. The most familiar is gonadotrophin, which is made from hormone extracts taken from the human pituitary gland: follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone. It stimulates ovulati...

Fermi, Enrico
Italian-born US physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1938 for his proof of the existence of new radioactive elements produced by bombardment with neutrons, and his discovery of nuclear reactions produced by low-energy neutrons. This research was the basis for studies leading to the atomic bomb and nuclear energy. Fermi b...

Fergana
(city) City in eastern Uzbekistan, and capital, cultural, and administrative centre of Fergana wiloyat (region), situated 250 km/155 mi southeast of Tashkent and 65 km/40 mi east of Kokand; population (1999) 182,800. It is an important centre of petroleum and oil extraction and ref...

Ferdinand
(of Romania) King of Romania from 1914, when he succeeded his uncle Charles I. In 1916 he declared war on Austria. After the Allied victory in World War I, Ferdinand acquired Transylvania and Bukovina from Austria-Hungary, and Bessarabia from Russia. In 1922 he became king of this Greater ...

Fens, the
Level, low-lying tracts of reclaimed marsh in eastern England, west and south of the Wash, covering an area of around 40,000 sq km/15,500 sq mi, about 115 km/70 mi north–south and 55 km/34 mi east–west. They fall within the counties of Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, and Norfolk. Formerly a bay of the North Sea, they are now...

federalism
System of government in which two or more separate states unite into a federation under a common central government. A federation should be distinguished from a confederation, a looser union of states for mutual assistance. The USA is an example of federal government

Fez
Alternative spelling of Fès, a city in Morocco

feedback
(general) Influence of the outputs of a process on the inputs. It is the principle used in self-regulating control systems, from a simple thermostat and steam-engine governor to automatic computer-controlled machine tools. A fully computerized control system, in which there is no o...

felt
Matted fabric of wool fibres, formed when the scales on the surface of wool fibres `lock` together when subjected to heat, pressure, friction, and moisture. Small amounts of other fibres can be combined with the wool fibres

fertilizer
Substance containing some or all of a range of about 20 chemical elements necessary for healthy plant growth, used to compensate for the deficiencies of poor or depleted soil. Fertilizers may be organic, for example farmyard manure, composts, bonemeal, blood, and fishmeal; or inorganic (synthetic or artificial), in the form of simple compounds,...

Ferdinand
(I) King of Castile from 1035. He began the reconquest of Spain from the Moors and united all northwestern Spain under his and his brothers' rule

Ferdinand II
(Holy Roman Emperor) Holy Roman Emperor from 1619, when he succeeded his uncle Matthias; king of Bohemia from 1617 and of Hungary from 1618. A zealous Catholic, he provoked the Bohemian revolt that led to the Thirty Years' War. He was a grandson of Ferdinand I

Ferdinand II
King-consort of Castile from 1474 (as Ferdinand V), King of Aragon from 1479, and Ferdinand III of Naples from 1504. In 1469 he married his cousin Isabella I, who succeeded to the throne of Castile in 1474; they were known as the Catholic Monarchs because they completed the reconquista (reconquest) of the Spanish peninsul...

Ferdinand I
(Holy Roman Emperor) Holy Roman Emperor who succeeded his brother Charles V in 1556; King of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526, King of the Germans from 1531. He reformed the German monetary system and reorganized the judicial Aulic council (Reichshofrat). He was the son of ...

Ferdinand III
(Holy Roman Emperor) Holy Roman Emperor from 1637 when he succeeded his father Ferdinand II; king of Hungary from 1625. Although anxious to conclude the Thirty Years' War, he did not give religious liberty to Protestants

fencing
Sport of fighting with swords including the foil, derived from the light weapon used for practising duels; the épée, a heavier weapon derived from the duelling sword proper; and the sabre, with a curved handle and narrow V-shaped blade. In sabre fighting, cuts count as well as thrusts. Masks and protective jackets are worn, an...

Federalist
(USA) In US history, one who advocated the ratification of the US Constitution 1787–88 in place of the Articles of Confederation. The Federalists became in effect the ruling political party under the first two presidents, George Washington and John Adams, 1789–1801, legislating to st...

Fender,
(Clarence) US guitarmaker. He created the solid-body electric guitar, the Fender Broadcaster in 1948 (renamed the Telecaster in 1950), and the first electric bass guitar, the Fender Precision, in 1951. The streamlined Fender Stratocaster guitar, preferred by many rock guitarists for the ve...

felicific calculus
In ethics, a technique for establishing the rightness and wrongness of an action. Using the calculus, one can attempt to work out the likely consequences of an action in terms of the pain or pleasure of those affected by the action. The calculus is attributed to English utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham

feminism
Active belief in equal rights and opportunities for women; see women's movement. Pioneer 19th-century feminists included Mary Wollstonecraft, Millicent Fawcett, and Emmeline Pankhurst in the UK; and Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in the USA. In the 20th century, Simone de Beauvoir, Betty Friedan, Kate Millett, Gloria Ste...

Fergus mac Roigh
In Celtic mythology, a king of Ulster, a great warrior. He was the tutor of Cuchulain

Feynman, Richard P(hillips)
US physicist whose work laid the foundations of quantum electrodynamics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1965 for his work on the theory of radiation. He shared the award with Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga. He also contributed to many aspects of particle physics, including quark theory and the nature of the weak nuclear ...

feldspathoid
Any of a group of silicate minerals resembling feldspars but containing less silica. Examples are nepheline (NaAlSiO4 with a little potassium) and leucite (KAlSi2O6). Feldspathoids occur in igneous rocks that have relatively high proportions of sodium and potassium. Such rocks may...

feedback
(music) In music, a continuous tone, usually a high-pitched squeal, caused by the overloading of circuits between electric guitar and amplifier as the sound of the speakers is fed back through the guitar pickup. Deliberate feedback is used in rock music. The electric guitar innovator Les P...

Fellini, Federico
Italian film director and screenwriter. His work has been a major influence on modern cinema. Many of his films combine dream and fantasy sequences with satire and autobiographical detail. They include I vitelloni/The Young and the Passionate (1953), La strada/The Road (1954), Le notti di Cabir...

femur
The longest and strongest bone of the human body; also the upper bone in the hind limb of a four-limbed vertebrate. The thigh-bone has a rounded head which articulates with the hip bone. The neck of the bone joining the head to the main shaft is a common site for fracture in elderly people. The bone has two large condyles (knuckles) on ...

ferromagnetism
Form of magnetism that can be acquired in an external magnetic field and usually retained in its absence, so that ferromagnetic materials are used to make permanent magnets. A ferromagnetic material may therefore be said to have a high magnetic permeability and susceptibility (which depends upon temperature). Examples are iron, cobalt, nickel, and ...

female circumcision
See female genital mutilation

fermion
In physics, a subatomic particle whose spin can only take values that are half-odd-integers, such as 1/2 or 3/2. Fermions may be classified as leptons – particles that do not experience the strong nuclear force, such as the electron – and hadrons – particles that are subject to the strong nuclear force, such as the pr...

fetishism
(psychology) In psychology, the transfer of erotic interest to an object, such as an item of clothing, whose real or fantasized presence is necessary for sexual gratification. The fetish may also be a part of the body not normally considered erogenous, such as the feet

fealty
In feudalism, the loyalty and duties owed by a vassal to a lord. In the 9th century fealty obliged the vassal not to take part in any action that would endanger the lord or his property, but by the 11th century the specific duties of fealty were established and included financial obligations and military service. Following an oath of fealty, an act...

federation
Political entity made up from a number of smaller units or states where the central government has powers over national issues such as foreign policy and defence, while the individual states retain a high degree of regional and local autonomy. A federation should be distinguished from a confederation, a looser union of states for mutual assistance....

Fermat's principle
In physics, the principle that a ray of light, or other radiation, moves between two points along the path that takes the minimum time. The principle is named after French mathematician Pierre de Fermat, who used it to deduce the laws of reflection and refraction

Feydeau, Georges Léon Jules Marie
French comic dramatist. He is the author of over 60 farces and light comedies, which have been repeatedly revived in France at the Comédie Française and abroad. These include La Dame de chez Maxim/The Girl from Maxim's (1899), Une Puce à l'oreille/A Flea in her Ear (1907),
Ferdinand III
(of Naples) King of Naples from 1504, also known as Ferdinand II

felsic rock
A plutonic rock composed chiefly of light-coloured minerals, such as quartz, feldspar, and mica. It is derived from feldspar, lenad (meaning feldspathoid), and silica. The term felsic also applies to light-coloured minerals as a group, especially quartz, feldspar, and feldspathoids

Ferguson, Alex(ander)
Scottish football manager. One of British football's most successful managers, he has won more than 20 domestic and European trophies with Manchester United since 1986. In 1999 Manchester United became the first club to achieve the league championship and FA Cup double three times. The club also won the European Cup the same year, thus achievin...

female genital mutilation
The partial or total removal of female external genitalia for cultural, religious, or other non-medical reasons. There are three types: Sunna, which involves cutting off the hood, and sometimes the tip, of the clitoris; clitoridectomy, the excision of the clitoris and removal of parts of the inner and outer labia; infibulation (most...

Federer, Roger
Swiss tennis player. In 2004 he became the first man since Mats Wilander in 1988 to win three of the four Grand Slam tournaments, winning the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. He repeated the feat in 2006. In 2007 he won his fifth straight Wimbledon title. Career highlights Wimbledon 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 US Open 2004, 2005, 2006 ...

ff
(literature) Abbreviation for folios; and the following, used in reference citation and bibliography

Finland, Gulf of
Eastern arm of the Baltic Sea, separating Finland from Estonia. It is c. 460 km/285 mi long and c. 16–130 km/10–80 mi wide. Helsinki, Tallinn (Estonia), and St Petersburg are the main ports. The gulf is an important corridor for Russian and Estonian shipping. Fresh water from Finnish lakes, an...

First World War
Another name for World War I, 1914–18

fingerprint
Ridge pattern of the skin on a person's fingertips; this is constant through life and no two are exactly alike. Fingerprinting was first used as a means of identifying crime suspects in India, and was adopted by the English police in 1901; it is now widely employed in police and security work

Fingal's Cave
Cave on the island of Staffa, Inner Hebrides, Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is lined with volcanic basalt columns, and is 70 m/230 ft long and 20 m/65 ft high. Visited by the German Romantic composer Felix Mendelssohn in 1829, the cave was the inspiration of his Hebridean overture, otherwise known as Fingal's...

Fine Gael
Republic of Ireland political party founded in 1933 by William Cosgrave and led by Enda Kelly from 2002. It has been socially liberal in recent years but fiscally conservative. Although it formed several post-war coalition governments with the Labour and Democratic Left parties, most recently 1994–97, it has since been the main party of op...

fission
In physics, the splitting of a heavy atomic nucleus into two or more major fragments. It is accompanied by the emission of two or three neutrons and the release of large amounts of nuclear energy. Fission occurs spontaneously in nuclei of uranium-235, the main fuel used in nuclear reactors. However, the process can also be induced by bombarding...

fibre optics
Branch of physics dealing with the transmission of light and images through glass or plastic fibres known as optical fibres. Such fibres are now commonly used in both communications technology and medicine

firedamp
Gas that occurs in coal mines and is explosive when mixed with air in certain proportions. It consists chiefly of methane (CH4, natural gas or marsh gas) but always contains small quantities of other gases, such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen, and sometimes ethane and carbon monoxide

FitzGerald, Garret Michael
Irish politician, leader of the Fine Gael party 1977–87. As Taoiseach (prime minister) 1981–82 and 1982–87, he attempted to solve the Northern Ireland dispute, ultimately by participating in the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985. He tried to remove some of the overtly Catholic features of the constitution to make the Republic more at...

firefly
Any winged nocturnal beetle of the family Lampyridae. They all emit light through the process of bioluminescence

finch
Any of various songbirds of the family Fringillidae, in the order Passeriformes (perching birds). They are seed-eaters with stout conical beaks. The name may also be applied to members of the Emberizidae (buntings), and Estrildidae (weaver-finches)

fitness
In genetic theory, a measure of the success with which a genetically determined character can spread in future generations. By convention, the normal character is assigned a fitness of one and variants (determined by other alleles) are then assigned fitness values relative to this. Those with fitness greater than one will spread more rapidly and wi...

figwort
Any of a group of Old World plants belonging to the figwort family, which also includes foxgloves and snapdragons. Members of the genus have square stems, opposite leaves, and open two-lipped flowers in a cluster at the top of the stem. (Genus Scrophularia, family Scrophulariaceae.)

fish
Click images to enlargeAquatic vertebrate that uses gills to obtain oxygen from fresh or sea water. There are three main groups: the bony fishes or Osteichthyes (goldfish, cod, tuna); the cartilaginous fishes or Chondrichthyes (sharks, rays); and the jawless fishes or Agnatha (hagfishes, lampreys). Fishes of s...

fighting fish
Any of a southeast Asian genus Betta of fishes of the gourami family, especially B. splendens, about 6 cm/2 in long and a popular aquarium fish. It can breathe air, using an accessory breathing organ above the gill, and can live in poorly oxygenated water. Th...

Financial Times Index
Indicator measuring the daily movement of 30 major industrial share prices on the London Stock Exchange, issued by the UK Financial Times newspaper. Other FT indices cover government securities, fixed-interest securities, gold mine shares, and Stock Exchange activity

figure of speech
Poetic, imaginative, or ornamental expression used for comparison, emphasis, or stylistic effect. These figures include euphemism, hyperbole, metaphor, metonymy, onomatopoeia, oxymoron, personification, pun, simile, synecdoche, and zeugma. The list of such figures is usually based on one dating from discussions of literary and rhetorical style in G...

Finno-Ugric
Group or family of more than 20 languages spoken by some 22 million people in scattered communities from Norway in the west to Siberia in the east and to the Carpathian mountains in the south. Members of the family include Finnish, Lapp, and Hungarian

figurative language
Grammatical usage that departs from everyday factual, plain, or literal language and is considered poetic, imaginative, or ornamental. Figurative language, especially in literature, uses devices, such as irony, and figures of speech, such as simile, metaphor, and hyperbole. The figurative meaning of a word or phrase contrasts with its literal meani...

Finnish language
Member of the Finno-Ugric language family, the national language of Finland and closely related to neighbouring Estonian, Livonian, Karelian, and Ingrian languages. At the beginning of the 19th century Finnish had no official status, since Swedish was the language of education, government, and literature in Finland. The publication of the
firmware
Computer program held permanently in a computer's ROM (read-only memory) chips, as opposed to a program that is read in from external memory as it is needed. The BIOS (basic input/output system) in a personal computer is an example of firmware

file
In computing, a collection of data or a program stored in a computer's external memory (for example, on disk). It might include anything from information on a company's employees to a program for an adventure game. Files are usually located via a directory. A popular method for identifying th...

Fitzgerald, Ella
US jazz singer. She is recognized as one of the finest, most lyrical voices in jazz, both in solo work and with big bands. She is celebrated for her smooth interpretations of George Gershwin and Cole Porter songs. Fitzgerald excelled at scat singing and was widely imitated in the 1950s and 1960s. She is among the best-selling recording artists ...

Finn Mac Cumhaill
Legendary Irish hero, the best-known character in the hero-tales of Ireland, identified with a general who organized an Irish regular army in the 3rd century. The word `Fionn` (from Celtic Vindos) also has connotations of illumination and wisdom, and his most typical act was the gaining of knowledge through chew...

Fifteen, the
Jacobite rebellion of 1715, led by the `Old Pretender` James Edward Stuart and the Earl of Mar, in order to place the former on the English throne. Mar was checked at Sheriffmuir, Scotland, and the revolt collapsed. Events Mar raised the standard in Scotland on 6 September 1715, and eight days later he captured Perth. The rebellion was al...

Fife
Unitary authority in eastern Scotland, which was formerly a region of three districts (1975–96) and a county until 1974. Area 1,321 sq km/510 sq mi Towns Cupar, Dunfermline, Glenrothes (administrative headquarters), Kirkcaldy, St Andrews Physical coastal area, predominantly low lying, undula...

Fielding, Henry
English novelist. His greatest work, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749), which he described as `a comic epic poem in prose`, was an early landmark in the development of the English novel, realizing for the first time in English the form's potential for memorable characterization, coherent plotting, and per...

five-year plan
Long-term strategic plan for the development of a country's economy. Five-year plans were from 1928 the basis of economic planning in the USSR, aimed particularly at developing heavy and light industry in a primarily agricultural country. They have since been adopted by many other countries

Fitzgerald, F(rancis) Scott
(rancis) US novelist and short-story writer. His early autobiographical novel This Side of Paradise (1920) made him known in the post-war society of the East Coast, and The Great Gatsby (1925) epitomizes the Jazz Age

Fisher, John, St
English cleric, created bishop of Rochester in 1504. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the revival in the study of Greek, and a friend of the humanists Thomas More and Desiderius Erasmus. In 1535 he was tried on a charge of denying the royal supremacy of Henry VIII and beheaded. He was canonized in 1935

Fischer-Dieskau,
(Albert) German baritone singer. His intelligently focused and subtly understated interpretations of opera and lieder introduced a new depth and intimacy to a wide-ranging repertoire extending in opera from Christoph Willibald von Gluck to Alban Berg, Hans Werner Henze, and Benjamin Britte...

Fischer, Hans
German chemist awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1930 for his work on haemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying, red colouring matter in blood. He determined the molecular structures of three important biological pigments: haemoglobin, chlorophyll, and bilirubin

Fischer, Emil Hermann
German chemist who produced synthetic sugars and, from these, various enzymes. His descriptions of the chemistry of the carbohydrates and peptides laid the foundations for the science of biochemistry. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1902 for his work on the synthesis of sugars and purine compounds. In about 1882, Fischer began worki...

first aid
Action taken immediately in a medical emergency in order to save a sick or injured person's life, prevent further damage, or facilitate later treatment. See also resuscitation

firework
Device that produces a display of colour, smoke, noise, or a combination of these three; examples include bangers, Catherine wheels, and Roman candles. They always generate heat. Fireworks were invented in China, and are today common in most countries. Pyrotechnics is the science and art of designing and using fireworks. Fireworks are used for ...

fire clay
A clay with refractory characteristics (resistant to high temperatures), and hence suitable for lining furnaces (firebrick). Its chemical composition consists of a high percentage of silicon and aluminium oxides, and a low percentage of the oxides of sodium, potassium, iron, and calcium

firearm
Weapon from which projectiles are discharged by the combustion of an explosive. Firearms are generally divided into two main sections: artillery (ordnance or cannon), with a bore greater than 2.54 cm/1 in, and small arms, with a bore of less than 2.54 cm/1 in. Although gunpowder was known...

fifth column
Group within a country secretly aiding an enemy attacking from without. The term originated in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War, when General Mola boasted that Franco supporters were attacking Madrid with four columns and that they had a `fifth column` inside the city

fife
Small transverse flute, originally with finger holes, without keys, and of similar range to the piccolo. Of Swiss origin, the fife is a popular military band instrument, played with the side drums and associated with historic parades. The name is now used for a military flute in B flat, with six finger holes and several keys

Fibonacci, Leonardo
Italian mathematician. He published Liber abaci/The Book of the Calculator in Pisa in 1202, which was instrumental in the introduction of Arabic notation into Europe. From 1960, interest increased in Fibonacci numbers, in their simplest form a sequence in which each number is the sum of its two predecessors (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8,...

Fianna Fáil
Republic of Ireland political party, founded by the Irish nationalist Éamon de Valera in 1926, and led since 2008 by Brian Cowen. A broad-based party, it is conservative socially and economically, and generally right of centre. It was the governing party in the Republic of Ireland 1932–48, 1951–54, 1957–73, 1977–81, 198...

film, photographic
Strip of transparent material (usually cellulose acetate) coated with a light-sensitive emulsion, used in cameras to take pictures. The emulsion contains a mixture of light-sensitive silver halide salts (for example, bromide or iodide) in gelatin. When the emulsion is exposed to light, the silver salts are invisibly altered, giving a latent...

film, art of
See cinema

fibreglass
Glass that has been formed into fine fibres, either as long continuous filaments or as a fluffy, short-fibred glass wool. Fibreglass is heat- and fire-resistant and a good electrical insulator. It has applications in the field of fibre optics and as a strengthener for plastics in GRP (glass-reinforced plastics). The long filament fo...

Fields, W C
US actor and screenwriter. His distinctive nasal speech and professed ill-natured attitudes such as hatred of children and dogs gained him enormous popularity in such films as David Copperfield (1935), My Little Chickadee (1940; co-written with Mae West), The Bank Dick (1940), and...

Finney, Albert
English stage and film actor. He created the title roles in Keith Waterhouse's stage play Billy Liar (1960) and John Osborne's Luther (1961), and was associate artistic director of the Royal Court Theatre 1972–75. Later roles for the National Theatre include Tamburlaine (1976) and Macbeth (1978). H...

fiction
In literature, any work in which the content is completely or largely invented. The term describes imaginative works of narrative prose (such as the novel or the short story), and is distinguished from non-fiction writing (such as history, biography, or works on practical subjects) and from poetry. Fiction need not be only prose literature;...

fig
Click images to enlargeAny of a group of trees belonging to the mulberry family, including the many cultivated varieties of F. carica, originally from western Asia. They produce two or three crops of fruit a year. Eaten fresh or dried, figs have a high sugar content and laxative properties. (Genus
fir
Any of a group of conifer trees belonging to the pine family. The true firs include the balsam fir (A. balsamea) of northern North America and the silver fir (A. alba) of Europe and Asia. Douglas firs of the genus Pseudotsuga are native to western North America and the Far East. (True fir gen...

fiord
Alternative spelling of fjord

fiscal year
A year as defined by a company or government for financial accounting purposes. A company can choose any 12-month period for its accounting year and in exceptional circumstances may determine a longer or shorter period as its fiscal year. It does not necessarily coincide with the calendar year

Fiji Islands
Country comprising 844 islands and islets in the southwest Pacific Ocean, about 100 of which are inhabited. Government The 1997 constitution provides for a parliamentary system of government with a two-chamber legislature, consisting of an elected 71-member House of Representatives, serving a five-year term, and an appointed 32-memb...

Finland
Click images to enlargeCountry in Scandinavia, bounded to the north by Norway, east by Russia, south and west by the Baltic Sea, and northwest by Sweden. Government Finland is a republic that combines a parliamentary system with a strong presidency. The single-chamber parliament, the Eduskunta, has 200 members, electe...

fishing and fisheries
Click images to enlargeThe harvesting of fish and shellfish from the sea or from freshwater; for example, cod from the North Sea and carp from the lakes of China and India. Fish are an excellent source of protein for humans, and fish products such as oils and bones are used in industry to produce livestock feed, ferti...

final solution
(To the Jewish question; German Endlosung der Judenfrage) euphemism used by the Nazis to describe the extermination of Jews (and other racial groups and opponents of the regime) before and during World War II in the Holocaust. The term came from a statement in May 1941 by SS commander Heinrich Himmler to Rudolf Hoess, command...

fistula
In medicine, an abnormal pathway developing between adjoining organs or tissues, or leading to the exterior of the body. A fistula developing between the bowel and the bladder, for instance, may give rise to urinary-tract infection by intestinal organisms

Five Pillars of Islam
The five duties required of every Muslim. Shahadah: to affirm that there is only one God, Allah, and that Muhammad was his messenger. Salat: to pray five times a day. Zakah: to give alms (money) in a `tithe` system. Sawm: to fast during the month of Ramadan. Hajj; to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca (Makkah) at least once i...