The word ihtida means the embracing of Islam by people who belong to other religions. Literally, conversion is derived from the word huda (the right way), which means "finding the right way; guiding", and it is a term that encapsulates "reaching the truth, finding the right way."

Ihtida defines the embracing of Islam by people who belong to other religions. A person who embraces Islam is called a muhtadi.

Ali Yardim, PhD

The Arabic word shamail is the plural form of shimal, a word that acts as a root for words of many different meanings, some which are even antonymous. Some of these meanings are temper, nature, character, mood and action, behavior and attitude. Plural forms of the words that are used with these meanings are used in the form of shamail.

Islamic scholars have used the term in a more narrow sense than its broad lexical meaning, deriving a term that means the life story of a person, that is, their biography. Over time the word has become more specified and it has become a term meaning “the human aspect, life style and personal life of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)”.