A Dictionary of Islam / Being a cyclopedia of the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and customs, together with the technical and theological terms, of the Muhammadan religion.

by Thomas Patrick Hughes

A.

AARON. Arabic Hārūn (هارون‎). The account given of Aaron in the Qurʾān will be found in the article on Moses. In [Sūrah xix. 29], the Virgin Mary is addressed as “the Sister of Aaron.” [[MARY], [MOSES].]

ABAD (ابد‎). Eternity; without end, as distinguished from Azal (ازل‎), without beginning.

ʿABASA (عبس‎). “He frowned.” The title of the LXXXth chapter of the Qurʾān. It is said that a blind man, named ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Umm Maktūm, once interrupted Muḥammad in conversation with certain chiefs of Quraish. The Prophet, however, took no notice of him, but frowned and turned away; and in the first verse of this Sūrah, he is represented as reproved by God for having done so:—“He frowned and turned his back, for that the blind man came unto him.”

ʿABBĀS (عباس‎). The son of ʿAbdu ʾl-Mut̤t̤alib, and consequently the paternal uncle of Muḥammad. The most celebrated of the “Companions,” and the founder of the Abbaside dynasty, which held the Khalifate for a period of 509 years, namely, from A.D. 749 to A.D. 1258. He died in A.H. 32. His son Ibn-ʿAbbās was also a celebrated authority on Islamic traditions and law. [[IBN ʿABBAS], [ABBASIDES].]

ABBASIDES. Arabic al-ʿAbbāsīyah (العباسية‎). The name of a dynasty of K͟halīfahs descended from al-ʿAbbās, the son of ʿAbdu ʾl-Mut̤t̤alib, and a paternal uncle of Muḥammad. On account of their descent from so near a relation of the Prophet, the Abbasides had, ever since the introduction of Islām, been very high in esteem amongst the Arabs, and had at an early period begun to excite the jealousy of the Umaiyade K͟halīfahs, who after the defeat of ʿAlī occupied the throne of the Arabian Empire. The Abbasides had for some time asserted their claims to the Khalifate, and in A.D. 746 they commenced open hostilities. In 749 the Abbaside K͟halīfah Abū ʾl-ʿAbbās, surnamed as-Saffāḥ, “the blood-shedder,” was recognized as K͟halīfah at al-Kūfah, and Marwān II., the last of the Umaiyade K͟halīfahs, was defeated and slain.

Thirty-seven K͟halīfahs of the Abbaside dynasty reigned over the Muḥammadan empire, extending over the period from A.H. 132 (A.D. 749–50) to A.H. 656 (A.D. 1258).

The names of the Abbaside K͟halīfahs are:—Abū ʾl-ʿAbbās as-Saffāḥ (A.D. 749), al-Manṣūr (A.D. 754), al-Mahdī (A.D. 775), al-Hādī (A.D. 785), Hārūn ar-Rashīd (A.D. 786), al-Amīn (A.D. 809), al-Maʾmūn (A.D. 813), al-Muʿtaṣim (A.D. 833), al-Wās̤iq (A.D. 842), al-Mutawakkil (A.D. 847), al-Muntaṣir (A.D. 861), al-Mustaʿīn (A.D. 862), al-Muʿtazz (A.D. 866), al-Muhtadī (A.D. 869), al-Muʿtamid (A.D. 870), al-Muʿtaẓid (A.D. 892), al-Muktafī (A.D. 902), al-Muqtadir (A.D. 908), al-Qāhir (A.D. 932), ar-Rāẓī (A.D. 934), al-Muttaqī (A.D. 940), al-Mustaqfī (A.D. 944), al-Mut̤īʿ (A.D. 945), at̤-T̤āiʿ (A.D. 974), al-Qādir (A.D. 994), al-Qāim (A.D. 1031), al-Muqtadī (A.D. 1075), al-Mustaz̤hir (A.D. 1094), al-Mustarshid (A.D. 1118), ar-Rāshid (A.D. 1135), al-Muqtafī (A.D. 1136), al-Mustanjid (A.D. 1160), al-Mustaẓī (A.D. 1170), an-Nāṣir (A.D. 1180), az̤-Z̤āhir (A.D. 1225), al-Mustanṣir (A.D. 1226), al-Mustaʿṣim (A.D. 1242 to A.D. 1258).

In the reign of al-Mustaʿṣim Hūlākū, grandson of Jingīz K͟hān, entered Persia and became Sultan A.D. 1256. In 1258 he took Bag͟hdād and put the K͟halīfah al-Mustaʿṣim to death. [[KHALIFAH].]

ABDĀL (ابدال‎). “Substitutes,” pl. of Badal. Certain persons by whom, it is said, God continues the world in existence. Their number is seventy, of whom forty reside in Syria, and thirty elsewhere. When one dies another takes his place, being so appointed by God. It is one of the signs of the last day that the Abdāl will come from Syria. (Mishkāt, xxiii. c. 3.) No one pretends to be able to identify these eminent persons in the world. God alone knows who they are, and where they are.

ʿABDU ʾLLĀH (عبدالله‎). The father of Muḥammad. He was the youngest son of ʿAbdu ʾl-Mut̤t̤alib. During the pregnancy of his wife Āminah, he set out on a mercantile expedition to Gaza in the south of Palestine, and on his way back he sickened and died at al-Madīnah, before the birth of his son Muḥammad. (Kātibu ʾl-Wāqidī, p. 18; Muir’s Life of Mahomet, vol. i. p. 11.)

ʿABDU ʾLLĀH IBN SAʿD (عبدالله بن سعد‎). One of Muḥammad’s secretaries. It is related that, when Muḥammad instructed ʿAbdu ʾllāh to write down the words ([Sūrah xxiii. 12–14]), “We (God) have created man from an extract of clay … then we produced it another creation,” ʿAbdu ʾllāh exclaimed, “And blessed be God, the best of creators”; and Muḥammad told him to write that down also. Whereupon ʿAbdu ʾllāh boasted that he had been inspired with a sentence which the Prophet had acknowledged to be part of the Qurʾān. It is of him that it is written in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah vi. 93], “Who is more unjust than he who devises against God a lie, or says, ‘I am inspired,’ when he is not inspired at all.”

ʿABDU ʾL-MUT̤T̤ALIB (عبدالمطلب‎). Muḥammad’s grandfather and his guardian for two years. He died, aged 82, A.D. 578. His sons were ʿAbdu ʾllāh (Muḥammad’s father), al-Ḥāris̤, az-Zuhair, Abū T̤ālib, Abū Lahab, al-ʿAbbās, and Ḥamza.

ʿABDU ʾL-QĀDIR AL-JĪLĀNĪ (عبدالقادر الجيلانى‎). The celebrated founder of the Qādirīyah order of darweshes, surnamed Pīr-Dastagīr. He died and was buried at Bag͟hdād, A.H. 561.

ʿABDU ʾR-RAḤMĀN IBN ʿAUF (عبدالرحمن بن عوف‎). One of the Companions who embraced Islām at a very early period, and was one of those who fled to Ethiopia. He also accompanied Muḥammad in all his battles, and received twenty wounds at Uḥud. He died A.H. 32, aged 72 or 75, and was buried at Baqīʿu ʾl-Gharqad, the graveyard of al-Madīnah.

ABEL. Arabic Hābīl (هابيل‎), Heb. ‏הֶבֶל‎ Hebel. In the Qurʾān “the two sons of Adam” are called Hābīl wa Qābīl, and the following is the account given of them in that book ([Sūrah v. 30–35]), together with the remarks of the commentators in italics (as rendered in Mr. Lane’s Selections, 2nd ed., p. 53), “Recite unto them the history of the two sons of Adam, namely, Abel and Cain, with truth. When they offered [their] offering to God (Abel’s being a ram, and Cain’s being produce of the earth), and it was accepted from one of them (that is, from Abel; for fire descended from heaven, and devoured his offering), and it was not accepted from the other, Cain was enraged; but he concealed his envy until Adam performed a pilgrimage, when he said unto his brother, I will assuredly slay thee. Abel said, Wherefore? Cain answered, Because of the acceptance of thine offering to the exclusion of mine. Abel replied, God only accepteth from the pious. If thou stretch forth to me thy hand to slay me, I will not stretch forth to thee my hand to slay thee; for I fear God, the Lord of the worlds. I desire that thou shouldst bear the sin [which thou intendest to commit] against me, by slaying me, and thy sin which thou hast committed before, and thou wilt be of the companions of the fire.—And that is the recompense of the offenders.—But his soul suffered him to slay his brother: so he slew him; and he became of [the number of] those who suffer loss. And he knew not what to do with him; for he was the first dead person upon the face of the earth of the sons of Adam. So he carried him upon his back. And God sent a raven, which scratched up the earth with its bill and its talons and raised it over a dead raven that was with it until it hid it, to show him how he should hide the corpse of his brother. He said, O my disgrace! Am I unable to be like this raven, and to hide the corpse of my brother?—And he became of [the number of] the repentant. And he digged for him and hid him.—On account of this which Cain did We commanded the children of Israel that he who should slay a soul (not for the latter’s having slain a soul or committed wickedness in the earth, such as infidelity, or adultery, or intercepting the way, and the like) [should be regarded] as though he had slain all mankind; and he who saveth it alive, by abstaining from slaying it, as though he had saved alive all mankind.”

“The occasion of their making this offering is thus related, according to the common tradition in the East. Each of them being born with a twin-sister, when they were grown up, Adam, by God’s direction, ordered Cain to marry Abel’s twin-sister, and Abel to marry Cain’s; (for it being the common opinion that marriages ought not to be had in the nearest degrees of consanguinity, since they must necessarily marry their sisters, it seemed reasonable to suppose they ought to take those of the remoter degree;) but this Cain refusing to agree to, because his own sister was the handsomest, Adam ordered them to make their offerings to God, thereby referring the dispute to His determination. The commentators say Cain’s offering was a sheaf of the very worst of his corn, but Abel’s a fat lamb of the best of his flock.”—Sale’s Koran, I., p. 122.

ʿĀBID (عابد‎). “A worshipper [of God].” A term generally used for a devout person. The word frequently occurs in the Qurʾān; e.g. [Sūrah ii. 132]: “The baptism (ṣibg͟hah) of God! And who is better than God at baptizing? We are the worshippers (ʿābidūn) of God.” The word ṣibg͟hah is translated by Professor Palmer “dye” and “dyeing,” but Sale, following the Muslim commentators, al-Baiẓāwī, Jalālu ʾd-dīn, and Ḥusainī, who say it refers to the Christian rite, translates it “baptism.” Others say that it means fit̤rah or dīn, the religion of God, with an adaptation to which mankind are created. See Lane’s Lexicon. [[BAPTISM].]

ĀBIQ (آبق‎). A runaway slave. [[ABSCONDING OF SLAVES].]

ABJAD (ابجد‎). The name of an arithmetical arrangement of the alphabet, the letters of which have different powers from one to one thousand. It is in the order of the alphabet as used by the Jews as far as 400, the six remaining letters being added by the Arabians. The letters spell the words—

abjad	hawwaz	ḥut̤t̤i	kalaman
saʿfaṣ	qarashat	s̤ak͟haẕ	ẓaz̤ig͟h

The author of the Arabic Lexicon, al-Qāmūs, says that the first six words are the names of celebrated kings of Madyan (Midian), and that the last two words were added by the Arabians. Some say they are the names of the eight sons of the inventor of the Arabic character, Murāmir ibn Murra.

The following is a list of the letters with their English equivalents, and the power of each in numbers:—

1	a (i, u)	ا‎		60	s	س‎
2	b	ب‎		70	ʿ	ع‎
3	j	ج‎		80	f	ف‎
4	d	د‎		90	ṣ	ص‎
5	h	هـ‎		100	q	ق‎
6	w	و‎		200	r	ر‎
7	z	ز‎		300	sh	ش‎
8	ḥ	ح‎		400	t	ت‎
9	t̤	ط‎		500	s̤	ث‎
10	y	ى‎		600	k͟h	خ‎
20	k	ك‎		700	ẕ	ذ‎
30	l	ل‎		800	ẓ	ض‎
40	m	م‎		900	z̤	ظ‎
50	n	ن‎		1000	g͟h	غ‎

[[EXORCISM].]

ABLUTION. Arabic, waẓūʾ, wuẓūʾ (وضوء‎), Persian, ābdast (آبدست‎). Ablution is described by Muḥammad as “the half of faith and the key of prayer” (Mishkāt, iii. 3c), and is founded on the authority of the Qurʾān, [Sūrah v. 8], “O Believers! when ye prepare yourselves for prayer, wash your faces and hands up to the elbows, and wipe your heads and your feet to the ankles.”

These ablutions are absolutely necessary as a preparation for the recital of the liturgical form of prayer, and are performed as follows: The worshipper, having tucked up his sleeves a little higher than his elbows, washes his hands three times; then he rinses his mouth three times, throwing the water into it with his right hand. After this, he, with his right hand, throws water up his nostrils, snuffing it up at the same time, and then blows it out, compressing his nostrils with the thumb and finger of the left hand—this being also performed three times. He then washes his face three times, throwing up the water with both hands. He next washes his right hand and arm, as high as the elbow, as many times, causing the water to run along his arm from the palm of the hand to the elbow, and in the same manner he washes the left. Then he draws his wetted right hand over the upper part of his head, raising his turban or cap with his left. If he has a beard, he then combs it with the wetted fingers of his right hand, holding his hand with the palm forwards, and passing the fingers through his beard from the throat upwards. He then puts the tips of his fore-fingers into his ears and twists them round, passing his thumbs at the same time round the back of the ears from the bottom upwards. Next, he wipes his neck with the back of the fingers of both hands, making the ends of his fingers meet behind his neck, and then drawing them forward. Lastly, he washes his feet, as high as the ankles, and passes his fingers between the toes. During this ceremony, which is generally performed in less than three minutes, the intending worshipper usually recites some pious ejaculations or prayers. For example:—

Before commencing the waẓūʾ:—“I am going to purify myself from all bodily uncleanness, preparatory to commencing prayer, that holy act of duty, which will draw my soul near to the throne of the Most High. In the name of God, the Great and Mighty. Praise be to God who has given us grace to be Muslims. Islām is a truth and infidelity a falsehood.”

When washing the nostrils:—“O my God, if I am pleasing in Thy sight, perfume me with the odours of Paradise.”

When washing the right hand:—“O my God, on the day of judgment, place the book of my actions in my right hand, and examine my account with favour.”

When washing the left hand:—“O my God, place not at the resurrection the book of my actions in my left hand.”

The Shiyaʿīs, acting more in accordance with the text of the Qurʾān quoted above, only wipe, or rub (masaḥ) the feet, instead of washing them, as do the Sunnīs.

The ablution need not be performed before each of the five stated periods of prayer, when the person is conscious of having avoided every kind of impurity since the last performance of the ablution. The private parts of the body must also be purified when necessary. When water cannot be procured, or would be injurious to health, the ablution may be performed with dust or sand. This ceremony is called Tayammum (q.v.). The washing of the whole body is necessary after certain periods of impurity. [[GHUSL].] The brushing of the teeth is also a religious duty. [[MISWAK].] The benefits of ablution are highly extolled in the sayings of Muḥammad, e.g., “He who performs the waẓūʾ thoroughly will extract all sin from his body, even though it may be lurking under his finger nails.” “In the day of resurrection people shall come with bright faces, hands and feet, and there will be jewels in every place where the waters of the waẓūʾ have reached.” (Mishkāt, iii. 1.)

VESSELS FOR ABLUTIONS USED IN AFGHANISTAN AND INDIA

VESSELS FOR ABLUTIONS USED IN EGYPT.

(LANE’S “EGYPTIANS.”)

In all the principal mosques there are tanks, or wells, which supply water for the purposes of legal purification. [[PURIFICATION].]

ABORTION. Arabic Isqāt̤. There is no mention of the subject in the Qurʾān, but according to the Fatāwā-i-ʿĀlamgīrī (vol. iv. p. 238), it is forbidden after the child is formed in the womb. Muḥammad is related to have ordered prayers to be said over an abortion, when supplication should be made for the father and mother, for forgiveness and mercy. (Mishkāt, v. c. 2.)

ABRAHAM. Arabic Ibrāhīm (ابراهيم‎). One of the six great prophets to whom God delivered special laws. The “Friend of God,” K͟halīlu ʾllāh, to whom were revealed twenty portions (ṣaḥīfah) of Scripture.

Abraham is very frequently mentioned in the Qurʾān, together with Ishmael and Isaac. The following are Mr. Lane’s selections (giving in italics the remarks of Muslim commentators):—

“Remember when Abraham said to his father Āzar (this was the surname of Terah), Dost thou take images as deities? Verily I see thee and thy people to be in a manifest error.—(And thus, as We showed him the error of his father and his people, did We show Abraham the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and [We did so] that he might be of [the number of] those who firmly believe.) And when the night overshadowed him, he saw a star (it is said that it was Venus), [and] he said unto his people, who were astrologers, This is my Lord, according to your assertion.—But when it set, he said, I like not those that set, to take them as Lords, since it is not meet for a Lord to experience alteration and change of place, as they are of the nature of accidents. Yet this had no effect upon them. And when he saw the moon rising, he said unto them, This is my Lord.—But when it set, he said, Verily if my Lord direct me not (if He confirm me not in the right way), I shall assuredly be of the erring people.—This was a hint to his people that they were in error; but it had no effect upon them. And when he saw the sun rising, he said, This is my Lord. This is greater than the star and the moon.—But when it set, and the proof had been rendered more strong to them, yet they desisted not, he said, O my people, verily I am clear of the [things] which ye associate with God; namely, the images and the heavenly bodies. So they said unto him, What dost thou worship? He answered, Verily I direct my face unto Him who hath created the heavens and the earth, following the right religion, and I am not of the polytheists.—And his people argued with him; [but] he said, Do ye argue with me respecting God, when He hath directed me, and I fear not what ye associate with Him unless my Lord will that aught displeasing should befall me? My Lord comprehendeth everything by His knowledge. Will ye not therefore consider? And wherefore should I fear what ye have associated with God, when ye fear not for your having associated with God that of which He hath not sent down unto you a proof? Then which of the two parties is the more worthy of safety? Are we, or you? If ye know who is the more worthy of it, follow him.—God saith, They who have believed, and not mixed their belief with injustice (that is, polytheism), for these shall be safety from punishment, and they are rightly directed.” ([Sūrah vi. 74–82].)

“Relate unto them, in the book (that is, the Qurʾān), the history of Abraham. Verily, he was a person of great veracity, a prophet. When he said unto his father Āzar, who worshipped idols, O my father, wherefore dost thou worship that which heareth not, nor seeth, nor averteth from thee aught, whether of advantage or of injury? O my father, verily by obeying him in serving idols; for the devil is very rebellious unto the Compassionate. O my father, verily I fear that a punishment will betide thee from the Compassionate, if thou repent not, and that thou wilt be unto the devil an aider, and a companion in hell-fire.—He replied, Art thou a rejector of my Gods, O Abraham, and dost thou revile them? If thou abstain not, I will assuredly assail thee with stones or with ill words; therefore beware of me, and leave me for a long time.—Abraham said, Peace from me be on thee! I will ask pardon for thee of my Lord; for He is gracious unto me: and I will separate myself from you and from what ye invoke instead of God; and I will call upon my Lord: perhaps I shall not be unsuccessful in calling upon my Lord, as ye are in calling upon idols.—And when he had separated himself from them, and from what they worshipped instead of God, by going to the Holy Land, We gave him two sons, that he might cheer himself thereby, namely, Isaac and Jacob; and each [of them] We made a prophet; and We bestowed upon them (namely, the three), of our mercy, wealth and children; and We caused them to receive high commendation.” ([Sūrah xix. 42–51].)

“We gave unto Abraham his direction formerly, before he had attained to manhood; and We knew him to be worthy of it. When he said unto his father and his people, What are these images, to the worship of which ye are devoted?—they answered, We found our fathers worshipping them, and we have followed their example. He said unto them, Verily ye and your fathers have been in a manifest error. They said, Hast thou come unto us with truth in saying this, or art thou of those who jest? He answered, Nay, your Lord (the being who deserveth to be worshipped) is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, who created them, not after the similitude of anything pre-existing; and I am of those who bear witness thereof. And, by God, I will assuredly devise a plot against your idols after ye shall have retired, turning your backs.—So, after they had gone to their place of assembly, on a day when they held a festival, he break them in pieces with an axe, except the chief of them, upon whose neck he hung the axe; that they might return unto it (namely, the chief) and see what he had done with the others. They said, after they had returned and seen what he had done, Who hath done this unto our gods? Verily he is of the unjust.—And some of them said, We heard a young man mention them reproachfully: he is called Abraham. They said, Then bring him before the eyes of the people, that they may bear witness against him of his having done it. They said unto him, when he had been brought, Hast thou done this unto our gods, O Abraham? He answered, Nay, this their chief did it: and ask ye them, if they [can] speak. And they returned unto themselves, upon reflection, and said unto themselves, Verily ye are the unjust, in worshipping that which speaketh not. Then they reverted to their obstinacy, and said, Verily thou knowest that these speak not: then wherefore dost thou order us to ask them? He said, Do ye then worship, instead of God, that which doth not profit you at all, nor injure you if ye worship it not? Fie on you, and on that which ye worship instead of God! Do ye not then understand?—They said, Burn ye him, and avenge your gods, if ye will do so. So they collected abundance of firewood for him, and set fire to it; and they bound Abraham, and put him into an engine, and cast him into the fire. But, saith God, We said, O fire, be thou cold, and a security unto Abraham! So nought of him was burned save his bonds: the heat of the fire ceased, but its light remained; and by God’s saying, Security,—Abraham was saved from dying by reason of its cold. And they intended against him a plot; but he caused them to be the sufferers. And we delivered him and Lot, the son of his brother Haran, from El-ʿIrāq, [bringing them] unto the land which We blessed for the peoples, by the abundance of its rivers and trees, namely, Syria. Abraham took up his abode in Palestine, and Lot in El-Mutefikeh, between which is a day’s journey. And when Abraham had asked a son, We gave unto him Isaac, and Jacob as an additional gift, beyond what he had asked, being a son’s son; and all of them We made righteous persons and prophets. And We made them models of religion who directed men by Our command unto Our religion; and We commanded them by inspiration to do good works and to perform prayer and to give the appointed alms; and they served Us. And unto Lot We gave judgment and knowledge; and We delivered him from the city which committed filthy actions; for they were a people of evil, shameful doers; and We admitted him into our mercy; for he was [one] of the righteous.” ([Sūrah xxi. 52–75].)

“Hast thou not considered him who disputed with Abraham concerning his Lord, because God had given him the kingdom? And he was Nimrod. When Abraham said, (upon his saying unto him, Who is thy Lord, unto whom thou invitest us?), My Lord is He who giveth life and causeth to die,—he replied, I give life and cause to die.—And he summoned two men, and slew one of them, and left the other. So when he saw that he understood not, Abraham said, And verily God bringeth the sun from the east: now do thou bring it from the west.—And he who disbelieved was confounded; and God directeth not the offending people.” ([Sūrah ii. 260].)

“And Our messengers came formerly unto Abraham with good tidings of Isaac and Jacob, who should be after him. They said, Peace. He replied, Peace be on you. And he tarried not, but brought a roasted calf. And when he saw that their hands touched it not, he disliked them and conceived a fear of them. They said, Fear not: for we are sent unto the people of Lot, that we may destroy them. And his wife Sarah was standing serving them, and she laughed, rejoicing at the tidings of their destruction. And we gave her good tidings of Isaac; and after Isaac, Jacob. She said, Alas! shall I bear a child when I am an old woman of nine and ninety years, and when this my husband is an old man of a hundred or a hundred and twenty years? Verily this [would be] a wonderful thing.—They said, Dost thou wonder at the command of God? The mercy of God and His blessings be on you, O people of the house (of Abraham)! for He is praiseworthy, glorious.—And when the terror had departed from Abraham, and the good tidings had come unto him, he disputed with Us (that is, with Our messengers) respecting the people of Lot; for Abraham was gentle, compassionate, repentant. And he said unto them, Will ye destroy a city wherein are three hundred believers? They answered, No. He said, And will ye destroy a city wherein are two hundred believers? They answered, No. He said, And will ye destroy a city wherein are forty believers? They answered, No. He said, And will ye destroy a city wherein are fourteen believers? They answered, No. He said, And tell me, if there be in it one believer? They answered, No. He said, Verily in it is Lot. They replied, We know best who is in it. And when their dispute had become tedious, they said, O Abraham, abstain from this disputation; for the command of thy Lord hath come for their destruction, and a punishment not [to be] averted is coming upon them.” ([Sūrah xi. 72–78].)

“And when Our decree for the destruction of the people of Lot came [to be executed], We turned them (that is, their cities) upside-down; for Gabriel raised them to heaven, and let them fall upside-down to the earth; and We rained upon them stones of baked clay, sent one after another, marked with thy Lord, each with the name of him upon whom it should be cast: and they [are] not far distant from the offenders; that is, the stones are not, or the cities of the people of Lot were not, far distant from the people of Mekkeh.” ([Sūrah xi. 84].)

“And [Abraham] said [after his escape from Nimrod], Verily I am going unto my Lord, who will direct me unto the place whither He hath commanded me to go, namely, Syria. And when he had arrived at the Holy Land, he said, O my Lord, give me a son [who shall be one] of the righteous. Whereupon We gave him the glad tidings of a mild youth. And when he had attained to the age when he could work with him (as some say, seven years; and some, thirteen), he said, O my child, verily I have seen in a dream that I should sacrifice thee (and the dreams of prophets are true; and their actions, by the command of God); therefore consider what thou seest advisable for me to do. He replied, O my father, do what thou art commanded: thou shalt find me, if God please, [of the number] of the patient. And when they had resigned themselves, and he had laid him down on his temple, in [the valley of] Minā, and had drawn the knife across his throat (but it produced no effect, by reason of an obstacle interposed by the divine power), We called unto him, O Abraham, thou hast verified the vision. Verily thus do We reward the well-doers. Verily this was the manifest trial. And We ransomed him whom he had been commanded to sacrifice (and he was Ishmael or Isaac; for there are two opinions) with an excellent victim, a ram from Paradise, the same that Abel had offered: Gabriel (on whom be peace!) brought it, and the lord Abraham sacrificed it, saying, God is most great! And We left this salutation [to be bestowed] on him by the latter generations, Peace [be] on Abraham! Thus do We reward the well-doers: for he was of Our believing servants.” ([Sūrah xxxvii. 97–111].)

“Remember when Abraham said, O my Lord, show me how Thou will raise to life the dead.—He said, Hast thou not believed? He answered, Yea: but I have asked Thee that my heart may be at ease. He replied, Then take four birds and draw them towards thee, and cut them in pieces and mingle together their flesh and their feathers; then place upon each mountain of thy land a portion of them, then call them unto thee: they shall come unto thee quickly; and know thou that God is mighty [and] wise.—And he took a peacock and a vulture and a raven and a cock, and did with them as hath been described, and kept their heads with him, and called them; whereupon the portions flew about, one to another, until they became complete: then they came to their heads.” ([Sūrah ii. 262].)

“Remember, when his Lord had tried Abraham by [certain] words, commands and prohibitions, and he fulfilled them, God said unto him, I constitute thee a model of religion unto men. He replied, And of my offspring constitute models of religion. [God] said, My covenant doth not apply to the offenders, the unbelievers among them.—And when We appointed the house (that is, the Kaʿbah) to be a place for the resort of men, and a place of security (a man would meet the slayer of his father there and he would not provoke him [to revenge],) and [said], Take, O men, the station of Abraham (the stone upon which he stood at the time of building the House) as a place of prayer, that ye may perform behind it the prayers of the two rakʿahs [which are ordained to be performed after the ceremony] of the circuiting [of the Kaʿbah].—And We commanded Abraham and Ishmael, [saying], Purify my House (rid it of the idols) for those who shall compass [it], and those who shall abide there, and those who shall bow down and prostrate themselves.—And when Abraham said, O my Lord, make this place a secure territory (and God hath answered his prayer, and made it a sacred place, wherein the blood of man is not shed, nor is any one oppressed in it, nor is its game hunted [or shot], nor are its plants cut or pulled up), and supply its inhabitants with fruits (which hath been done by the transporting of at̤-T̤āʾif from Syria thither, when it [that is, the territory of Makkah] was desert, without sown land or water, such of them as shall believe in God and the last day.—He mentioned them peculiarly in the prayer agreeably with the saying of God, My covenant doth not apply to the offenders.—God replied, And I will supply him who disbelieveth: I will make him to enjoy a supply of food in this world, a little while: then I will force him, in the world to come, to the punishment of the fire; and evil shall be the transit.” ([Sūrah ii. 118–120].)

“And remember when Abraham was raising the foundations of the House (that is, building it), together with Ishmael, and they said, O our Lord, accept of us our building; for Thou art the Hearer of what is said, the Knower of what is done. O our Lord, also make us resigned unto Thee, and make from among our offspring a people resigned unto Thee, and show us our rites (the ordinances of our worship, or our pilgrimage), and be propitious towards us; for Thou art the Very Propitious, the Merciful. (They begged Him to be propitious to them, notwithstanding their honesty, from a motive of humility, and by way of instruction to their offspring.) O our Lord, also send unto them (that is, the people of the House) an apostle from among them (and God hath answered their prayer by sending Muḥammad), who shall recite unto them Thy signs (the Qurʾān), and shall teach them the book (the Qurʾān), and the knowledge that it containeth, and shall purify them from polytheism; for Thou art the Mighty, the Wise.—And who will be averse from the religion of Abraham but he who maketh his soul foolish, who is ignorant that it is God’s creation, and that the worship of Him is incumbent on it; or who lightly esteemeth it and applieth it to vile purposes; when We have chosen him in this world as an apostle and a friend, and he shall be in the world to come one of the righteous for whom are high ranks?—And remember when his Lord said unto him, Resign thyself:—he replied, I resign myself unto the Lord of the worlds.—And Abraham commanded his children to follow it (namely, the religion); and Jacob, his children; saying, O my children, verily God hath chosen for you the religion of al-Islām; therefore die not without your being Muslims.—It was a prohibition from abandoning Islām and a command to persevere therein unto death.” ([Sūrah ii. 121–126].)

“When the Jews said, Abraham was a Jew, and we are of his religion,—and the Christians said the like, [the following] was revealed:—O people of the Scripture, wherefore do ye argue respecting Abraham, asserting that he was of your religion, when the Pentateuch and the Gospel were not sent down but after him a long time? Do ye not then understand the falsity of your saying? So ye, O people, have argued respecting that of which ye have knowledge, concerning Moses and Jesus, and have asserted that ye are of their religion: then wherefore do ye argue respecting that of which ye have no knowledge, concerning Abraham? But God knoweth his case, and ye know it not. Abraham was not a Jew nor a Christian: but he was orthodox, a Muslim [or one resigned], a Unitarian, and he was not of the polytheists.” ([Sūrah iii. 58–60].)

ABSCONDING OF SLAVES. Arabic Ibāq (اباق‎). An absconded male or female slave is called Ābiq, but an infant slave who leaves his home is termed ẓāll, a word which is also used for an adult slave who has strayed. The apprehension of a fugitive slave is a laudable act, and the person who seizes him should bring him before the magistrate and receive a reward of forty dirhams. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 278.)

ABSTINENCE. Arabic Taqwā (تقوىٰ‎). Is very frequently enjoined in the Qurʾān. The word generally applies to abstinence from idolatry in the first instance, but it is used to express a life of piety. An excessive abstinence and a life of asceticism are condemned in the Qurʾān, and the Christians are charged with the invention of the monastic life. ([Sūrah lvii. 27].) “As for the monastic life, they invented it themselves.” [[MONASTICISM], [FASTING].]

ABŪ ʿABDI ʾLLĀH (ابو عبدالله‎). Muḥammad ibn Ismāʾīl al-Buk͟hārī, the author of the well-known collection of traditions received by the Sunnīs. [[BUKHARI].]

ABŪ ʿABDI ʾLLĀH AḤMAD IBN ḤANBAL (ابو عبدالله احمد بن حنبل‎). [[HANBAL].]

ABŪ ʿABDI ʾLLĀH MĀLIK IBN ANAS (ابو عبدالله مالك بن انس‎). [[MALIK].]

ABŪ ʿABDI ʾLLĀH MUḤAMMAD IBN AL-ḤASAN (ابو عبدالله محمد بن الحسن‎). Known as Imām Muḥammad. Born at Wāsit̤, a city in Arabian ʿIrāq, A.H. 132. He studied under the great Imām Abū Ḥanīfah, and had also studied under Imām Mālik for three years. He is celebrated as one of the disciples of the Imām Abū Ḥanīfah, from whom he occasionally differs, as is seen in the Hidāyah. He died at Rai, in K͟hurāsān, where his tomb is still to be seen, A.H. 189.

ABŪ BAKR (ابو بكر‎). Of the origin of his name, there are various explanations. Some think that it means “the father of the maiden,” and that he received this title because he was the father of ʿĀyishah, whom Muḥammad married when she was only nine years old. His original name was ʿAbdu ʾl-Kaʿbah (which the Prophet changed into ʿAbdu ʾllāh) Ibn Abī Quḥāfah. He was the first K͟halīfah, or successor of Muḥammad. [[SHIʿAH].] Muḥammadan writers praise him for the purity of his life, and call him aṣ-Ṣiddīq, the Veracious. He only reigned two years, and died August 22nd, A.D. 634.

ABŪ DĀʾŪD (ابو داود‎). Sulaimān Ibn al-Ashʾas̤ al-Sijistānī; born at al-Baṣrah A.H. 202, and died A.H. 275. The compiler of one of the six correct books of Sunnī traditions, called the Sunnan Abī Dāʾūd, which contains 4,008 traditions, said to have been carefully collated from 500,000. [[TRADITIONS].]

ABŪ ḤANĪFAH AN-NUʿMĀN (ابو حنيفة النعمان‎). Abū Ḥanīfah an-Nuʿmān is the great Sunnī Imām and jurisconsult, and the founder of the Ḥanīfī sect. His father, S̤ābit, was a silk dealer in the city of al-Kūfah, and it is said his grandfather, Zūt̤a, was a native of Kābul. He was born at al-Kūfah, A.H. 80 (A.D. 700), and died at Bag͟hdād, A.H. 150. He is regarded as the great oracle of Sunnī jurisprudence, and his doctrines, with those of his disciples, the Imām Abū Yūsuf and the Imām Muḥammad, are generally received throughout Turkey, Tartary, and Hindustan. It is related that Imām Mālik said that the Imām Abū Ḥanīfah was such a logician that, if he were to assert a wooden pillar was made of gold, he would prove it by argument.

ABŪ HURAIRAH (ابو هريرة‎). One of the most constant attendants of Muḥammad, who from his peculiar intimacy has related more traditions of the sayings and doings of the Prophet than any other individual. His real name is doubtful, but he was nicknamed Abū Hurairah on account of his fondness for a kitten. He embraced Islām in the year of the expedition to K͟haibar, A.H. 7, and died in al-Madīnah, A.H. 57 or 59, aged 78.

ABŪ JAHL (ابو جهل‎). An implacable adversary of Muḥammad. His real name was ʿAmr ibn Hishām, but he was surnamed, by the Muslims, Abū Jahl, or the “Father of Folly.” He is supposed to be alluded to in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxii. 8]:—“There is a man who disputeth concerning God without either knowledge or direction.” He was a boastful and debauched man, and was killed in the battle of Badr.

ABŪ LAHAB (ابو لهب‎). One of the sons of Abū Mut̤t̤alib, and an uncle to Muḥammad. He was a most bitter enemy to the Prophet, and opposed the establishment of Islām to the utmost of his power. His name was ʿAbdu ʾl-Uzza, but he was surnamed by Muḥammad, Abū Lahab, “The Father of the Flame.” When Muḥammad received the command to admonish his relations, he called them all together, and told them he was a warner sent unto them before a grievous chastisement. Abū Lahab rejected his mission, and cried out, “Mayest thou perish! Hast thou called us together for this?” and took up a stone to cast at him; whereupon the CXIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān was produced:—

“Let the hands of Abū Lahab perish, and let himself perish!

His wealth and his gains shall avail him naught.

Burned shall he be at a fiery flame,

And his wife laden with fire wood,

On her neck a rope of palm fibre.”

Abū Lahab is said to have died of grief and vexation at the defeat which his friends had received at the battle of Badr, surviving that misfortune only seven days. His body was left unburied for several days.

Zaid and Abū Lahab are the only relatives or friends of Muḥammad mentioned by name in the Qurʾān.

ABŪ ʾL-HUẔAIL ZUFAR IBN AL-HUẔAIL (ابو الهذيل زفر بن الهذيل‎). Celebrated as the Imām Zufar, and as a contemporary and intimate friend of the great Imām Abū Ḥanīfah. He died at al-Baṣrah, A.H. 158.

ABŪ ʾL-QĀSIM (ابو القاسم‎). “The father of Qāsim.” One of the names of Muḥammad, assumed on the birth of his son Qāsim, who died in infancy. [[MUHAMMAD].]

ABUSIVE LANGUAGE is forbidden by the Muslim law, and the offender must be punished according to the discretion of the Qāẓi. Abū Ḥanīfah says: “If a person abuse a Musalmān by calling him an ass or a hog, punishment is not incurred, because these expressions are in no respect defamatory of the person to whom they are used, it being evident that he is neither an ass nor a hog. But some allege that in our times chastisement is inflicted, since, in the modern acceptation, calling a man an ass or a hog is held to be abuse. Others, again, allege that it is esteemed only to be abuse when the person of whom it is said occupies a dignified position.” According to Abū Ḥanīfah, the greatest number of stripes that can be inflicted for abusive language is thirty-nine. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. ii. 78.)

Muḥammad is related to have said, “Abusing a Muslim is disobedience to God, and it is infidelity for anyone to join such an one in religious warfare.” (Mishkāt, xxii. 2.)

ABŪ T̤ĀLIB (ابو طالب‎). Muḥammad’s uncle and guardian; the father of ʿAlī. He is believed to have died as he had lived, an unbeliever in the Prophet’s mission; but for forty years he had been his faithful friend and guardian. He died in the third year before the Hijrah.

ABŪ ʿUBAIDAH (ابو عبيدة‎) IBN AL-JARRAḤ. One of the Companions, who was with the Prophet in all his wars, and distinguished himself at the battle of Uḥud. He was highly esteemed by Muḥammad, who made him one of the ʿAsharah al-Mubashsharah, or ten patriarchs of the Muslim faith. He died A.H. 18, aged 58.

ABŪ YŪSUF (ابو يوسف‎). Known also as Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm. Born at Bag͟hdād, A.H. 113. Studied under the Imām Abū Ḥanīfah, and is celebrated, together with the Imām Muḥammad and the Imām Zufar, as disciples of the great Imām; from whose opinions, however, the three disciples not unfrequently differ, as will be seen upon reference to the Hidāyah. He died A.H. 182.

ʿĀD (عاد‎). A tribe located to the south of Arabia, to which the prophet Hūd is said to have been sent. See Qurʾān, [vii. 63]:—

“And to ʿĀd we sent our brother Hūd, ‘O my people,’ said he, ‘worship God: ye have no other god than Him: Will ye not then fear Him?’

“Said the unbelieving chiefs among his people, ‘We certainly perceive that thou art unsound of mind; and we surely deem thee an impostor.’

“He said, ‘O my people! it is not unsoundness of mind in me, but I am an Apostle from the Lord of the Worlds.

“ ‘The messages of my Lord do I announce to you, and I am your faithful counsellor.

“ ‘Marvel ye that a warning hath come to you from your Lord through one of yourselves that He may warn you? Remember how he hath made you the successors of the people of Noah, and increased you in tallness of stature. Remember then the favours of God, that it may haply be well with you.’

“They said, ‘Art thou come to us in order that we may worship one God alone, and leave what our fathers worshipped? Then bring that upon us with which thou threatenest us, if thou be a man of truth.’

“He said, ‘Vengeance and wrath shall suddenly light on you from your Lord. Do ye dispute with me about names that you and your fathers have given your idols, and for which God hath sent you down no warranty? Wait ye then, and I too will wait with you.’

“And we delivered him, and those who were on his side, by our mercy, and we cut off, to the last man, those who had treated our signs as lies, and who were not believers.”

Also, [Sūrah lxxxix. 5]: “Hast thou not seen how thy Lord dealt with ʿĀd at Iram, adorned with pillars, whose like have not been reared in these lands.” [[HUD], [IRAM].]

ADĀʾ (اداء‎). Payment; satisfaction; completing (prayers, &c.).

ADAM. Arabic, Ādam (ادم‎). The first man. Reckoned by Muslim writers as the first prophet, to whom ten portions of scripture (ṣaḥīfah) are said to have been revealed. He is distinguished by the title of Ṣafīyu ʾllāh, or, the “chosen one of God.” He is mentioned in the Qurʾān in the following Sūrahs, which are taken from Mr. Lane’s Selections (new edition, by Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole; Trübner, 1879), with the commentary in italics:—

“Remember, O Muḥammad, when thy Lord said unto the angels, I am about to place in the earth a vicegerent to act for me in the execution of my ordinances therein, namely, Adam,—they said, Wilt Thou place in it one who will corrupt in it by disobediences, and will shed blood (as did the sons of El-Jānn, who were in it; where ore, when they acted corruptly, God sent to them the angels, who drove them away to the islands and the mountains), when we [on the contrary] celebrate the divine perfection, occupying ourselves with Thy praise, and extol Thy holiness? Therefore we are more worthy of the vicegerency.—God replied, Verily I know that which ye know not, as to the affair of appointing Adam vicegerent, and that among his posterity will be the obedient and the rebellious, and the just will be manifest among them. And he created Adam from the surface of the earth, taking a handful of every colour that it comprised, which was kneaded with various waters; and he completely formed it, and breathed into it the soul; so it became an animated sentient being. And he taught Adam the names of all things, infusing the knowledge of them into his heart. Then He showed them (namely, the things) to the angels, and said, Declare unto me the names of these things, if ye say truth in your assertion that I will not create any more knowing than ye, and that ye are more worthy of the vicegerency. They replied, [We extol] Thy perfection! We have no knowledge excepting what Thou hast taught us; for Thou art the Knowing, the Wise.—God said, O Adam, tell them their names. And when he had told them their names, God said, Did I not say unto you that I know the secrets of the heavens and the earth, and know what ye reveal of your words, saying, Wilt thou place in it, etc., and what ye did conceal of your words, saying, He will not create any more generous towards Him than we, nor any more knowing”? ([Sūrah ii. 28–31].)

“We created you; that is, your father Adam: then We formed you; we formed him, and you in him: then We said unto the angels, Prostrate yourselves unto Adam, by way of salutation; whereupon they prostrated themselves, except Iblees, the father of the jinn, who was amid the angels: he was not of those who prostrated themselves. God said, What hath hindered thee from prostrating thyself, when I commanded thee? He answered, I am better than he: Thou hast created me of fire, and Thou hast created him of earth. [God] said, Then descend thou from it; that is, from Paradise; or, as some say, from the heavens; for it is not fit for thee that thou behave thyself proudly therein: so go thou forth: verily thou shalt be of the contemptible. He replied, Grant me respite until the day when they (that is, mankind) shall be raised from the dead. He said, Thou shalt be of those [who are] respited: and, in another verse [in xv. 38, it is said], until the day of the known period; that is, until the period of the first blast [of the trumpet]. [And the devil] said, Now, as Thou hast led me into error, I will surely lay wait for them (that is, for the sons of Adam) in Thy right way, the way that leadeth to Thee: then I will surely come upon them, from before them, and from behind them, and from their right hands, and from their left, and hinder them from pursuing the way (but, saith Ibn ʿAbbās, he cannot come upon them above, lest he should intervene between the servant and God’s mercy), and Thou shalt not find the great number of them grateful, or believing. [God] said, Go forth from it, despised and driven away from mercy. Whosoever of them (that is, of mankind) shall follow thee, I will surely fill hell with you all; with thee, and thy offspring, and with men.” ([Sūrah vii. 10–17].)

“And we said, O Adam, dwell thou and thy wife (Howwā [or Eve], whom God created from a rib of his left side) in the garden, and eat ye therefrom plentifully, wherever ye will; but approach ye not this tree, to eat thereof; (and it was wheat, or the grape-vine, or some other tree;) for if ye do so, ye will be of the number of the offenders. But the devil, Iblees, caused them to slip from it, that is from the garden, by his saying unto them, Shall I show you the way to the tree of eternity? And he sware to them by God that he was one of the faithful advisers to them; so they ate of it, and He ejected them from that state of delight in which they were. And We said, Descend ye to the earth, ye two with the offspring that ye comprise [yet unborn], one of you (that is, of your offspring) an enemy to another; and there shall be for you, in the earth, a place of abode, and a provision, of its vegetable produce, for a time, until the period of the expiration of your terms of life. And Adam learned, from his Lord, words, which were these:—O Lord, we have acted unjustly to our own souls, and if Thou do not forgive us, and be merciful unto us, we shall surely be of those who suffer loss. And he prayed in these words; and He became propitious towards him, accepting his repentance; for He is the Very Propitious, the Merciful. We said, Descend ye from it (from the garden) altogether; and if there come unto you from Me a direction (a book and an apostle), those who follow my direction, there shall come no fear on them, nor shall they grieve in the world to come; for they shall enter paradise: but they who disbelieve and accuse our signs of falsehood, these shall be the companions of the fire: they shall remain therein for ever.” ([Sūrah ii. 33–37].)

The Muḥammadans say, that when they were cast down from Paradise [which is in the seventh heaven], Adam fell on the isle of Ceylon, or Sarandīb, and Eve near Jiddah (the port of Makkah) in Arabia; and that, after a separation of two hundred years, Adam was, on his repentance, conducted by the angel Gabriel to a mountain near Makkah, where he found and knew his wife, the mountain being then named ʿArafāt; and that he afterwards retired with her to Ceylon.—Sale.

ADAB (ادب‎). Discipline of the mind and manners; good education and good breeding; politeness; deportment; a mode of conduct or behaviour. A very long section of the Traditions is devoted to the sayings of Muḥammad regarding rules of conduct, and is found in the Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābīḥ under the title Bābu ʾl-Adab (book xxii. Matthew’s Mishkāt). It includes—(1) Salutations, (2) Asking permission to enter houses, (3) Shaking hands and embracing, (4) Rising up, (5) Sitting, sleeping and walking, (6) Sneezing and yawning, (7) Laughing, (8) Names, (9) Poetry and eloquence, (10) Backbiting and abuse, (11) Promises, (12) Joking, (13) Boasting and party spirit. The traditional sayings on these subjects will be found under their respective titles. ʿIlmu ʾl-Adab is the science of Philology.

ʿĀDIYĀT (عاديات‎). “Swift horses.” The title of the 100th Sūrah of the Qurʾān, the second verse of which is, “By the swift chargers and those who strike fire with their hoofs.” Professor Palmer translates it “snorting chargers.”

ADʿIYATU ʾL-MĀS̤ŪRAH (ادعية الماثورة‎). “The prayers handed down by tradition.” Those prayers which were said by Muḥammad, in addition to the regular liturgical prayers. They are found in different sections of the traditions or Aḥādīs̤.

ʿADL (عدل‎). Justice. Appointing what is just; equalising; making of the same weight. Ransom. The word occurs twelve times in the Qurʾān, e.g., [Sūrah iv. 128], “Ye are not able, it may be, to act equitably to your wives, even though ye covet it.” [Sūrah ii. 44], “Fear the day wherein no soul shall pay any ransom for another soul.” [Sūrah ii. 123], “And fear the day when no soul shall pay any ransom for a soul, nor shall an equivalent be received therefrom, nor any intercession avail; and they shall not be helped.” [Sūrah ii. 282], “Write it down faithfully … then let his agent dictate faithfully.” [Sūrah v. 105], “Let there be a testimony between you when any one of you is at the point of death—at the time he makes his will—two equitable persons from amongst you.” [Sūrah vi. 69], “And though it (soul) compensate with the fullest compensation it would not be accepted.” [Sūrah v. 115], “The words of thy Lord are fulfilled in truth and justice.” [Sūrah xvi]. 78, “Is he to be held equal with him who bids what is just, and who is on the right way?” [Sūrah xvi. 92], “Verily God bids you do justice.” [Sūrah xlix. 8], “Make peace with them with equity and be just.” [Sūrah lxxxii. 8], “Thy generous Lord, who created thee and moulded thee and disposed thee aright.”

AL-ʿADL (العدل‎). One of the ninety-nine special names of God. It signifies “the Just.” It does not occur in the Qurʾān as an attribute of the Divine Being, but it is in the list of attributes given in the Traditions. (Mishkāt, book x.)

ʿADN (عدن‎). The garden of Eden. Jannatu ʿAdn. The garden of perpetual abode. The term is used both for the garden of Eden, in which our first parents dwelt, and also for a place in celestial bliss. [[JANNATU ʿADN].]

ADOPTION. Arabic Tabannī (تبنى‎). An adopted son, or daughter, of known descent, has no right to inherit from his, or her, adoptive parents and their relatives,—the filiation of this description being neither recommended nor recognised by Muḥammadan law. Such son or daughter is, however, entitled to what may be given under a valid deed in gift or will. In this particular the Muḥammadan agrees with the English, and the Hindu with the Roman law. (Tagore Law Lectures, 1873, p. 124.)

ADORATION. The acts and postures by which the Muslims express adoration at the time of prayer are similar to those used by the ancient Jews (vide Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, in loco), and consist of Rukūʿ, or the inclination of the body, the hands being placed on the knees; and Sujūd, or prostration upon the earth, the forehead touching the ground. [[PRAYER].] The adoration of the black stone at Makkah forms an important feature in the ceremonies of the pilgrimage. [[HAJJ].]

ADULTERY. Arabic zināʾ (زناء‎). The term zināʾ includes both adultery and fornication, but there is a difference in the punishment for these offences. [[FORNICATION].]

Adultery is established before a Qāẓi, either by proof or confession. To establish it upon proof, four witnesses are required. (Qurʾān, [Sūrah iv. 1].) When witnesses come forward, it is necessary that they should be examined particularly concerning the nature of the offence. When the witnesses shall have borne testimony completely, declaring that “they have seen the parties in the very act of carnal conjunction,” the Qāẓi passes sentence.

A confession of adultery must be made by the person who has committed the sin, at four different times, although, according to the Imām ash-Shāfiʿī, one confession is sufficient. Some of the doctors hold that if a person retract his confession, his retraction must be credited, and he must be forthwith released.

At the commencement of Muḥammad’s mission, women found guilty of adultery and fornication were punished by being literally immured—Sūratu ʾn-nisā (iv.) 19, “Shut them up within their houses till death release them, or God make some way for them.” This, however, was cancelled, and lapidation was substituted as the punishment for adultery, and 100 stripes and one year’s banishment for fornication.

When an adulterer is to be stoned to death, he should be carried to some barren place, and the lapidation should be executed, first by the witnesses, then by the Qāẓi, and afterwards by the by-standers. When a woman is stoned, a hole or excavation should be dug to receive her, as deep as her waist, because Muḥammad ordered such a hole to be dug for G͟handia.

It is lawful for a husband to slay his wife and her paramour, if he shall find them in the very act. If a supreme ruler, such as a K͟halīfah, commit adultery, he is not subject to such punishment.

The state of marriage which subjects a whoremonger to lapidation, requires that he be free (i.e. not a slave), a Muslim, and one who has consummated a lawful marriage.

It will be seen that Muḥammadan law is almost identical with the divine law of the Jews with regard to adultery ([Deut. xxiii. 22], [Lev. xix. 20]); but the Mosaic penalty applied as well to the betrothed as to the married woman.

AFFINITY. Arabic Qarābah (قرابة‎). The prohibited degrees (ḥurmah) with regard to marriages are as follows:—Mother, daughter, paternal aunt, maternal aunt, brother’s or sister’s daughter, grandmother, granddaughter, mother-in-law, step-mother, daughter-in-law, granddaughter-in-law. Nor can any man marry any who stand in any of these relationships from fosterage. The marriage of two sisters at the same time is forbidden, but the marriage of a deceased wife’s sister is allowed. Marriage with a deceased brother’s wife is very common in Muslim countries, such marriages being held to be a very honourable means of providing for a brother’s widow. The marriage of cousins is also considered most desirable, as being the means of keeping families and tribes together. The passage of the Qurʾān on the subject of affinity, is as follows ([Sūrah v. 27]):—

“Marry not women whom your fathers have married: for this is a shame, and hateful, and an evil way:—though what is past (i.e. in times of ignorance) may be allowed.

“Forbidden to you are your mothers, and your daughters, and your sisters, and your aunts, both on the father and mother’s side, and your nieces on the brother and sister’s side, and your foster-mothers, and your foster-sisters, and the mothers of your wives, and your step-daughters who are your wards, born of your wives to whom ye have gone in: (but if ye have not gone in unto them, it shall be no sin in you to marry them;) and the wives of your sons who proceed out of your loins; and ye may not have two sisters; except where it is already done. Verily, God is Indulgent, Merciful!

“Forbidden to you also are married women, except those who are in your hands as slaves: This is the law of God for you. And it is allowed you, beside this, to seek out wives by means of your wealth, with modest conduct, and without fornication. And give those with whom ye have cohabited their dowry. This is the law. But it shall be no crime in you to make agreements over and above the law. Verily, God is Knowing, Wise!”

AFFLICTION. Arabic ḥuzn (حزن‎), g͟hamm (غم‎). The benefits of affliction are frequently expressed in both the Qurʾān and Traditions. For example: [Sūrah ii. 150], “We will try you with something of fear, and hunger, and loss of wealth, and souls and fruit; but give good tidings to the patient who, when there falls on them a calamity, say, ‘Verily we are God’s and verily to Him we return.’ ” This formula is always used by Muḥammadans in any danger or sudden calamity, especially in the presence of death.

In the traditions (see Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābīḥ), Muḥammad is related to have said, “A Muslim is like unto standing green corn, which sometimes stands erect, but is sometimes cast down by the wind.” “No affliction befals a servant of God but on account of the sins which he commits.”

AFSŪN (افسون‎). The Persian term for Daʿwah or exorcism. [[EXORCISM].]

ʿAFŪ (عفو‎). Lit. “erasing, cancelling.” The word is generally used in Muḥammadan books for pardon and forgiveness. It occurs eight times in the Qurʾān, e.g. [Sūrah ii. 286], “Lord, make us not to carry what we have not strength for, but forgive us and pardon us and have mercy on us.” [Sūrah iv. 46], “Verily God pardons and forgives.”

Al-ʿAfū is one of the ninety-nine special names of God. It means “one who erases or cancels;” “The Eraser (of sins).” See Qurʾān, [Sūrah iv. 51].

AGENT. Arabic wakīl (وكيل‎). One legally appointed to act for another. For the Muḥammadan law regarding the appointment of agents to transact business, or to negotiate marriages, see Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. iii. p. 1; Baillie’s Digest. Hanīfī Code, p. 75; Imāmīyah Code, p. 29. The author of the Hidāyah says, “It is lawful for a person to appoint another his agent for the settlement, in his behalf, of every contract which he might lawfully have concluded himself, such as sale, marriage, and so forth;” and he then proceeds to lay down rules for guidance in such matters at great length. A woman who remains in privacy and is not accustomed to go into Court, ought, according to the saying of Abū Bakr, to appoint an agent and not appear herself. A slave or a minor may be appointed agent for a free man.

AL-AḤAD (الاحد‎). “The One.” A title given to God. [[NAMES OF GOD].]

AḤADĪYAH (احدية‎). Unity, concord. Al-Aḥadīyah is a term used by Ṣūfī mystics to express a condition of the mind, completely absorbed in a meditation on the Divine Unity. (See ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dictionary of the Technical Terms of the Ṣūfīs. Sprenger’s edition.)

AḤQĀF (احقاف‎). The name of a tract of land in Sihr in Yaman. The title of the XLVIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān.

AHLU ʾL-BAIT (اهل البيت‎). “The people of the house.” A term used in the Qurʾān ([Sūrah xxxiii. 33]), and in the Ḥadīs̤ (Mishkāt, xxiv. 21), for Muḥammad’s household.

AHLU ʾL-HAWĀʾ (اهل الهواء‎). A visionary person; a libertine.

AHLU ʾL-KITĀB (اهل الكتاب‎). Lit. “The people of the book.” A term used in the Qurʾān for Jews and Christians, as believers in a revealed religion. Some sects of the Shīʿahs include the Majūsī (Magī) under this term.

AḤMAD (احمد‎). The name under which Muḥammad professes that Jesus Christ foretold his coming. Vide Qurʾān, [Sūrah lxi. 6], “And remember when Jesus the son of Mary said, ‘O children of Israel! of a truth I am God’s Apostle to you to confirm the law which was given before me, and to announce an apostle that shall come after me, whose name shall be Aḥmad.’ ” Muḥammad had, no doubt, heard that Our Lord had promised a Paracletos (παρακλητος), [John xvi. 7]. This title, understood by him, probably from the similarity of sound, as equivalent to Periclytos (περικλυτος), he applied to himself with reference to his own name Muḥammad, the praised or glorified one. Muir thinks that in some imperfect Arabic translation of the Gospel of St. John, the word παρακλητος may have been translated Aḥmad, or praised. (Life of Mahomet, vol. i. 17.)

AḤZĀB (احزاب‎). “Confederates.” The title of the XXXIIIrd Sūrah of the Qurʾān, which is said to have been written when al-Madīnah was besieged by a confederation of the Jewish tribes with the Arabs of Makkah. A.H. 5.

AIYŪB (ايوب‎). [[JOB].]

AJAL (اجل‎). The appointed time of death, said to be ordained by God from the first. Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxxv. 44], “He respites them until the appointed time. When their appointed time comes, verily God looks upon His servants.” [[DEATH].]

AJĪR (اجير‎). A term used in Muḥammadan law for a person hired for service. [[IJARAH].]

AJNABĪ (اجنبى‎). A foreigner; any person not of Arabia.

ĀK͟HIR-I-CHAHĀR-I-SHAMBAH (آخر چهار شنبه‎). The last Wednesday of the month of Ṣafar. It is observed as a feast in commemoration of Muḥammad’s having experienced some mitigation of his last illness, and having bathed. It was the last time he performed the legal bathing, for he died on the twelfth day of the next month. In some parts of Islām it is customary, in the early morning of this day to write verses of the Qurʾān, known as the Seven Salāms (q.v.), and then wash off the ink and drink it as a charm against evil. It is not observed by the Wahhābīs, nor is its observance universal in Islām.

AK͟HLĀQ (اخلاق‎). The plural of K͟hulq. Natures, dispositions, habits, manners. The general term for books on morality, e.g. Ak͟hlāq-i-Jalālī, Ak͟hlāq-i-Muḥsinī, the name of a dissertation on Ethics by Ḥusain Wāʾiz̤ Kāshifī, A.H. 910, which has been translated into English by the Rev. H. G. Keene (W. H. Allen & Co.).

ĀK͟HŪND (آخوند‎). A maulawī; a teacher. A title of respect given to eminent religious teachers. One of the most celebrated Muḥammadan teachers of modern times was the “Āk͟hūnd of Swāt,” who died A.D. 1875. This great religious leader resided in the village of Saidū, in the district of Swāt, on the north-west frontier of India.

ĀK͟HŪNDZĀDAH (آخوندزاده‎). The son of an Āk͟hūnd. A title of respect given to the sons or descendants of celebrated religious teachers. [[AKHUND].]

ĀL (آل‎). Lit. “offspring, or posterity.” Used in Muslim works for the offspring of Muḥammad.

AL-AʿLA (الاعلى‎). “The Most High.” The title of the LXXXVIIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in the second verse of which the word occurs: “The name of thy Lord the Most High is celebrated.”

ʿALAM (علم‎). A standard or ensign. A term used for the flags and standards paraded during the Muḥarram. [[MUHARRAM], [STANDARDS].]

ʿĀLAM (عالم‎). The universe; world; condition, state of being.

ʿĀlamu ʾl-arwāḥ	The world of spirits.
ʿĀlamu ʾl-k͟halq	The world; this life.
ʿĀlamu ʾl-bāqī	The future state.
ʿĀlamu ʾl-aʿz̤amah	The highest heaven.
ʿĀlamu ʾsh-shahādah	The visible world.
ʿĀlamu ʾl-g͟haib	The invisible world.
ʿĀlamu ʾl-maʿqūl	The rational world.

The four mystic stages of the Ṣūfīs are—

ʿĀlamu ʾn-nāsūt	The present world.
ʿĀlamu ʾl-malakūt	The state of angels.
ʿĀlamu ʾl-jabarūt	The state of power.
ʿĀlamu ʾl-lāhūt	The state of absorption into the Divinity.

[[SUFIISM].]

ʿALĀMĀT (علامات‎). The greater signs of the resurrection. [[ʿALAMATU ʾS-SAʿAH], [RESURRECTION].]

ʿALĀMĀTU ʾN-NUBŪWAH (علامات النبوة‎). “The signs of Prophecy.” A term used for the supposed miracles and other proofs of the mission of Muḥammad. The title of a chapter in the Traditions. (Mishkāt, xxi. c. vi.)

ʿALĀMĀTU ʾS-SĀʿAH (علامات الساعة‎). “The signs of the hour,” i.e. the signs of the time of the Resurrection and of the Day of Judgment. The title of a section of the Traditions. (Mishkāt, xxiii. c. 3.) [[RESURRECTION].]

ʿALAQ (علق‎). “Congealed blood.” The title of the XCVIth Sūrah, the first five verses of which are generally allowed to be the earliest portion of the Qurʾān.

AL-BALDAH (البلدة‎). “The City.” A name sometimes used in the Ḥadīs̤ for Makkah.

ALCHEMY. Arabic Kīmiyāʾ (كيمياء‎). According to the Kashfu ʾz̤-z̤unūn, in loco, learned Muslims are not agreed as to the existence of this occult science, nor are they of one opinion as to its lawfulness, even if it should exist.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT. Mentioned in the Qurʾān as Ẕū ʾl-Qarnain, i.e. “He of the two horns,” with which he is represented on his coins. ([Sūrah xviii. 82].) He seems to have been regarded by Muḥammad as one invested with a divine commission:—“Verily we established his power upon earth”; but commentators are not agreed whether to assign to him the position of a Prophet. [[ZU ʾL-QARNAIN].]

AL-ḤAMD (الحمد‎). “Praise.” A title given to the first Sūrah, so called because its first word is Al-ḥamd. This chapter is also called Fātiḥah, which term is used by modern Muslims for the Sūrah when it is said for the benefit of the dead, Al-ḥamd being its more usual title. [[FATIHAH].]

AL-ḤAMDU-LIʾLLĀH (الحمد لله‎). “Praise belongs to God.” An ejaculation which is called Taḥmīd, and which occurs at the commencement of the first chapter of the Qurʾān. It is used as an ejaculation of thanksgiving—“Thank God!” It is very often recited with the addition of Rabbi ʾl-ʿālamīn, “Lord of the Universe.” [[TAHMID].]

AL-ʿALĪ (العلى‎). One of the ninety-nine special names of God. It means “The Exalted One.”

ʿALĪ (على‎). The son of Abū-T̤ālib, and a cousin-german to Muḥammad, who adopted him as his son. He married Fāt̤imah, the daughter of Muḥammad, and had by her three sons, Ḥasan, Ḥusain, and Muḥassin. He was the fourth K͟halīfah, and reigned from A.H. 35 to A.H. 40. He was struck with a poisoned sword by Ibn Muljam, at al-Kūfah, and died after three days, aged fifty-nine years. The Shīʿahs hold that, on the death of Muḥammad, ʿAlī was entitled to the Khalifate, and the respective claims of Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, and ʿUs̤mān on the one hand, and of ʿAlī on the other, gave rise to the Shīʿah schism. ʿAlī is surnamed by the Arabs Asadu ʾllāh, and by the Persians Sher-i-K͟hudā, i.e. “The Lion of God.” [[SHIʿAH].]

ALIF. The letter Alif (ا‎) is a monogram frequently placed at the head of letters, prescriptions, &c. It is the initial letter of the word Allāh (الله‎), “God.”

ALIF LĀM MĪM. The Arabic letters الم‎, corresponding to A L M, which occur at the commencement of six Sūrahs, namely Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah (II.), Sūratu Ālu ʿImrān (III.), Sūratu ʾl-ʿAnkabūt (XXIX.), Sūratu ʾr-Rūm (XXX.), Sūratu Luqmān (XXXI.), and Sūratu ʾs-Sijdah (XXXII.). Muḥammad never explained the meaning of these mysterious letters, and consequently they are a fruitful source of perplexity to learned commentators. Jalālu ʾd-dīn gives an exhaustive summary of the different views in his Itqān (p. 470). Some suppose they stand for the words Allāh, “God”; Lat̤īf, “gracious”; Majīd, “glorious.” Others say they stand for Ana ʾllāhu aʿlamu, “I am the God who knoweth.” Others maintain that they were not meant to be understood, and that they were inserted by the Divine command without explanation, in order to remind the reader that there were mysteries which his intellect would never fathom.

ĀLU ʿIMRĀN (آل عمرآن‎). “The family of ʿImrān.” The title of the third chapter of the Qurʾān.

ʿĀLIM (عالم‎), pl. ʿulamāʾ. A learned man. The term usually includes all religious teachers, such as Imāms, Muftīs, Qāẓīs, and Maulawīs; and in Turkey it denotes the political party led by the religious teachers.

AL-ʿALĪM (العليم‎). One of the ninety-nine special names of God. It frequently occurs in the Qurʾān, and means “The Wise One.”

ALLĀH (الله‎). [[GOD].]

ALLĀHU AKBAR (الله اكبر‎). “God is great,” or “God is most great.” An ejaculation which is called the Takbīr. It occurs frequently in the liturgical forms, and is used when slaying an animal for food. [[TAKBIR].]

ALMSGIVING. The word generally used for alms is Ṣadaqah, or that which manifests righteousness; the word zakāt, or purification, being specially restricted to the legal alms. [[ZAKAT].] Ṣadaqātu ʾl-Fit̤r are the offerings given on the Lesser Festival. The duty of almsgiving is very frequently enjoined in the Qurʾān, e.g. [Sūrah ii. 274–5], “What ye expend of good (i.e. of well-gotten wealth), it shall be paid to you again, and ye shall not be wronged. (Give your alms) unto the poor who are straitened in God’s way and cannot traverse the earth.… Those who expend their wealth by night and by day, secretly and openly, they shall have their hire with their Lord.”

The following are some of the sayings of Muḥammad on the subject of almsgiving, as they occur in the Traditions:—“The upper hand is better than the lower one. The upper hand is the giver of alms, and the lower hand is the poor beggar.” “The best of alms are those given by a man of small means, who gives of that which he has earned by labour, and gives as much as he is able.” “Begin by giving alms to your own relatives.” “Doing justice between two people is alms; assisting a man on his beast is alms; good words are alms.” “A camel lent out for milk is alms; a cup of milk every morning and evening is alms.” “Your smiling in your brother’s face is alms; assisting the blind is alms.” “God says, Be thou liberal, thou child of Adam, that I may be liberal to thee.” (See Mishkāt, Matthew’s edition, vol. i. p. 429.)

ALWĀḤ (الواح‎), pl. of Lauḥ. “The tables” (of the Law). Mentioned in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah vii. 142], “We wrote for him (Moses) upon the Tables (al-Alwāḥ) a monition concerning every matter.”

Muslim divines are not agreed as to the number either of the tables, or of the Commandments. The commentators Jalālain say they were either seven or ten. [[TEN COMMANDMENTS].]

ʿAMAL-NĀMAH (عمل نامه‎). The Persian word for Ṣaḥīfatu ʾl-Aʿmāl, or record of actions kept by the recording angels. [[SAHIFATU ʾL-AʿMAL], [KIRAMU ʾL-KATIBIN].]

AMĀN (امان‎). Protection given by a Muslim conqueror to those who pay Jizyah, or poll tax. [[JIHAD].]

AMBIYĀʾ (انبياء‎), pl. of Nabī. “Prophets.” The title of the XXIst Sūrah. [[PROPHETS].]

ĀMĪN (امين‎), Hebrew ‏אָמֵן‎. An expression of assent used at the conclusion of prayers, very much as in our Christian worship. It is always used at the conclusion of the Sūratu ʾl-Fātiḥah, or first chapter of the Qurʾān.

Amīn, “Faithful.” Al-Amīn is the title which it is said was given to Muḥammad when a youth, on account of his fair and honourable bearing, which won the confidence of the people.

Amīnu ʾl-Bait, one who wishes to perform the pilgrimage to Makkah.

ĀMINAH (آمنة‎). Muḥammad’s mother. She was the wife of ʿAbdu ʾllāh, and the daughter of Wahb ibn ʿAbdi Manāf. She died and was buried at al-Abwāʾ, a place midway between Makkah and al-Madīnah, before her son claimed the position of a Prophet.

AMĪR (امير‎), Anglicè, Emir. “A ruler; a commander; a chief; a nobleman.” It includes the various high offices in a Muslim state; the Imām, or K͟halīfah, being styled Amīru ʾl-Umarāʾ, the ruler of rulers; and Amīru ʾl-Muʾminīn, the commander of the believers.

AMĪRU ʾL-ḤAJJ (امير الحج‎). “The chief of the pilgrimage.” The officer in charge of the pilgrims to Makkah. [[HAJJ].]

AMĪRU ʾL-MUʾMINĪN (امير المومنين‎). “The Commander of the Believers.” A title which was first given to ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Jaḥsh after his expedition to Nak͟hlah, and which was afterwards assumed by the K͟halīfahs (first by ʿUmar) and the Sult̤āns of Turkey. [[KHALIFAH].]

ʿAMR IBN AL-ʿĀṢĪ (عمرو بن العاصى‎). One of the Companions, celebrated for his conquest of Syria, Palestine and Egypt, in the reigns of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar. He died (according to an-Nawawī) A.H. 43.

AMULETS. Arabic Ḥamāʾil (حمائل‎), “anything suspended”; Taʿwīẕ, “a refuge”; Ḥijāb, “a cover.”

Amulets, although of heathen origin, are very common in Muḥammadan countries. The following are used as amulets: (1) a small Qurʾān, encased in silk or leather, and suspended from the shoulder; (2) a chapter or verse of the Qurʾān, written on paper and folded in leather or velvet; (3) some of the names of God, or the numerical power (see [ABJAD]) of these names; (4) the names of prophets, celebrated saints, or the numerical power of the same; (5) the Muḥammadan creed, engraven on stone or silver. The chapters of the Qurʾān generally selected for Amulets are: [Sūrahs i]., [vi]., [xviii]., [xxxvi]., [xliv]., [lv]., [lxvii]., [lxxviii]. Five verses known as the Āyātu ʾl-Ḥifz̤, or “verses of protection,” are also frequently inscribed on Amulets. They are [Sūrahs ii. 256]; [xii. 64]; [xiii. 12]; [xv. 17]; [xxxvii. 7]. [[AYATU ʾL-HIFZ].]

These charms are fastened on the arm or leg, or suspended round the neck, as a protection against evil. They are also put on houses and animals, and, in fact, upon anything from which evil is to be averted. Strictly, according to the principles of Islām, only the names of God, or verses from the Qurʾān, should be used for amulets. Information regarding the formation of magic squares and amulets will be found in the article on Exorcism. [[EXORCISM], [DAʿWAH].]

AN AMULET OF THE ATTRIBUTE OF GOD—Ḥāfiz̤, “THE PROTECTOR.”

ظ‎	ف‎	ا‎	ح‎
ح‎	ظ‎	ف‎	ا‎
ا‎	ح‎	ظ‎	ف‎
ف‎	ا‎	ح‎	ظ‎

A SMALL QURAN SUSPENDED AS AN AMULET.

AL-ANʿĀM (الانعام‎). “The Cattle.” The title of the VIth Sūrah, in verse [137] of which some superstitious customs of the Meccans, as to certain cattle, are incidentally mentioned.

ANĀNĪYAH (انانية‎). From ana, “I.” “Egotism.” Al-anānīyah is a term used by the Ṣūfīs to express the existence of man.

ANAS IBN MĀLIK (انس ابن مالك‎). The last of the Companions of Muḥammad, and the founder of the sect of the Mālikīs. He died at al-Baṣrah, A.H. 93, aged 103.

AL-ANFĀL (الانفال‎). “The Spoils.” The title of the VIIIth Sūrah which was occasioned by a dispute regarding the spoils taken at the battle of Badr, between the young men who had fought and the old men who had stayed with the ensigns.

ANGEL. Arabic malʾak or malak (ملاك‎, ملك‎). Persian Firishtah (فرشته‎). “It is believed,” says Ibn Mājah, “that the angels are of a simple substance (created of light), endowed with life, and speech, and reason; and that the difference between them, the Jinn, and Shait̤āns is a difference of species. Know,” he adds, “that the angels are sanctified from carnal desire and the disturbance of anger: they disobey not God in what He hath commanded them, but do what they are commanded. Their food is the celebrating of His glory; their drink, the proclaiming of His holiness; their conversation, the commemoration of God, Whose name be exalted; their pleasure, His worship; and they are created in different forms and with different powers.” (Arabian Nights, Lane’s edition, Notes to the Introduction, p. 27.)

Four of them are archangels, or, as they are called in Arabic, Karūbīyūn (Cherubim), namely, Jabraʾīl, or Jibrīl, (Gabriel), the angel of revelations; Mīkaʾīl, or Mīkāl, (Michael), the patron of the Israelites; Isrāfīl, the angel who will sound the trumpet at the last day; and ʿIzrāʾīl, or ʿAzrāʾīl, the angel of death. Angels are said to be inferior in dignity to human prophets, because all the angels were commanded to prostrate themselves before Adam ([Sūrah ii. 32]). Every believer is attended by two recording angels, called the Kirāmu ʾl-kātibīn, one of whom records his good actions, and the other his evil actions. There are also two angels, called Munkar and Nakīr, who examine all the dead in their graves. The chief angel who has charge of hell is called Mālik, and his subordinates are named Zabāniyah, or guards. A more extended account of these angels will be found under their particular titles.

The angels intercede for man: “The angels celebrate the praise of their Lord, and ask forgiveness for the dwellers on earth.” ([Sūrah xlii. 3].) They also act as guardian angels: “Each hath a succession of angels before him and behind him, who watch over him by God’s behest.” ([Sūrah xiii. 12].) “Is it not enough for you that your Lord aideth you with three thousand angels sent down (from on high)?” ([Sūrah iii. 120].) “He is the supreme over His servants, and sendeth forth guardians who watch over you, until, when death overtaketh any one of you, our messengers receive him and fail not.” ([Sūrah vi. 61].)

There are eight angels who support the throne of God, “And the angels shall be on its sides, and over them on that day eight shall bear up the throne of thy Lord.” ([Sūrah lxix. 17].) Nineteen have charge of hell. “Over it are nineteen. None but angels have we made guardians of the fire.” ([Sūrah lxxiv. 30, 31].)

The names of the guardian angels given in the book on Exorcism (daʿwah), entitled the Jawāhiru ʾl-K͟hamsah, are Isrāfīl, Jibrāʾīl, Kalkāʾīl, Dardāʾīl, Durbāʾīl, Raftmāʾīl, Sharkāʾīl, Tankafīl, Ismāʾīl, Sarakīkāʾīl, K͟harūrāʾīl, T̤at̤āʾīl, Rūyāʾīl, Hūlāʾīl, Hamwākīl, ʿItrāʾīl, Amwākīl, ʿAmrāʾīl, ʿAzrāʾīl, Mīkāʾīl, Mahkāʾīl, Hartāʾīl, ʿAtāʾīl, Nurāʾīl, Nukhāʾīl. [[EXORCISM].]

ANIMALS. Arabic Ḥayawān (حيوان‎). According to the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxiv. 44], “God hath created every animal of water.” “An idea,” says Rodwell, “perhaps derived from [Gen. i. 20, 21].”

It is believed that at the Resurrection the irrational animals will be restored to life, that they may be brought to judgment, and then be annihilated. See Qurʾān, [Sūrah vi. 38], “No kind of beast is there on the earth, nor fowl that flieth with its wings, but is a community like you; nothing have We passed over in the book (of the Eternal decrees): then unto their Lord shall they be gathered.”

AL-ʿANKABŪT (العنكبوت‎). “The Spider.” The title of the XXIXth Sūrah, in which there is a passing reference to this insect in the 40th verse:—“The likeness for those who take to themselves guardians besides God is the likeness of the spider who buildeth her a house; but truly the frailest of all houses surely is the house of the spider.”

AL-ANṢĀR (الانصار‎). “The Helpers,” a term used for the early converts of al-Madīnah; but when all the citizens of al-Madīnah were ostensibly converted to Islām, they were all named Anṣār, while those Muslims who accompanied the Prophet from Makkah to al-Madīnah were called Muhājirūn, or exiles. (Muir’s Life of Mahomet, vol iii. p. 26.) [[MUHAMMAD].]

ANTICHRIST. [[MASIHU ʾD-DAJJAL].]

APOSTASY FROM ISLĀM. Arabic irtidād (ارتداد‎). According to Muslim law, a male apostate, or Murtadd, is liable to be put to death if he continue obstinate in his error; a female apostate is not subject to capital punishment, but she may be kept in confinement until she recant. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 227.) If either the husband or wife apostatize from the faith of Islām, a divorce takes place ipso facto; the wife is entitled to her whole dower, but no sentence of divorce is necessary. If the husband and wife both apostatize together, their marriage is generally allowed to continue, although the Imām Zufar says it is annulled. But if, after their joint apostasy, either husband or wife were singly to return to Islām, then the marriage would be dissolved. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 183.)

According to Abū Ḥanīfah, a male apostate is disabled from selling or otherwise disposing of his property. But Abū Yūsuf and Imām Muḥammad differ from their master upon this point, and consider a male apostate to be as competent to exercise every right as if he were still in the faith. (Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 235.)

If a boy under age apostatize, he is not to be put to death, but to be imprisoned until he come to full age, when, if he continue in the state of unbelief, he must be put to death. Neither lunatics nor drunkards are held to be responsible for their apostasy from Islām. (Hidāyah, vol. ii. 246.) If a person upon compulsion become an apostate, his wife is not divorced, nor are his lands forfeited. If a person become a Musalmān upon compulsion, and afterwards apostatize, he is not to be put to death. (Hidāyah, vol. iii. 467.)

The will of a male apostate is not valid, but that of a female apostate is valid. (Hidāyah, vol. iv. 637.)

ʿIkrimah relates that some apostates were brought to the K͟halīfah ʿAlī, and he burnt them alive; but Ibn ʿAbbās heard of it, and said that the K͟halīfah had not acted rightly, for the Prophet had said, “Punish not with God’s punishment (i.e. fire), but whosoever changes his religion, kill him with the sword.” (Ṣaḥīḥu ʾl-Buk͟hārī.)

APOSTLE. Arabic rasūl (رسول‎), ḥawārī (حوارى‎). The term rasūl (apostle or messenger) is applied to Muḥammad, that of ḥawārī being used in the Qurʾān ([Sūrah iii. 4, 5]; [Sūrah iv. 111, 112]; [Sūrah lxi. 14]) for the Apostles of Jesus. The word ḥawārī seems to be derived from the Æthiopic ḥōra, “to go”; ḥawāryā, “apostle”; although, according to al-Baiẓāwī, the commentator, it is derived from ḥawira, “to be white,” in Syriac, ḥewar, and was given to the disciples of Jesus, he says, on account of their purity of life and sincerity, or because they were respectable men and wore white garments. In the Traditions (Mishkāt, book i. c. vi. part 2) ḥawārī is used for the followers of all the prophets. [[PROPHETS].]

AL-ʿAQABAH (العقبة‎). A sheltered glen near Minā, celebrated as the scene of the two pledges, the first and second pledge of al-ʿAqabah. The first pledge was made by ten men of the tribe of K͟hazraj and ten of Aus, when they plighted their faith to Muḥammad thus:—“We will not worship any but one God; we will not steal; nor commit adultery; nor kill our children; nor will we slander our neighbour; and we will obey the Prophet of God.” The date assigned to this pledge by Sir W. Muir is April 21, A.D. 621. The second pledge was a few months afterwards, when seventy-three men and two women came forward, one by one, and took an oath of fealty to the Prophet. Muḥammad named twelve of the chief of these men, and said:—“Moses chose from amongst his people twelve leaders. Ye shall be sureties for the rest, even as were the Apostles of Jesus; and I am surety for my people. And the people answered, Āmīn, So be it.” (Muir’s Life of Mahomet, vol. ii. pp. 216, 232.)

ʿĀQIB (عاقب‎). “A successor or deputy.” “One who comes last.” Al-ʿāqib is a title given to Muḥammad as being styled “the last of the prophets.”

ʿĀQILAH (عاقلة‎). The relatives who pay the expiatory mulct for manslaughter, or any other legal fine. They must be relatives descended from one common father. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. iv. pages 449, 452; Baillie’s Law of Sale, p. 214.)

ʿAQĪQAH (عقيقة‎). A custom observed by the Arabs on the birth of a child; namely, leaving the hair on the infant’s head until the seventh day, when it is shaved, and animals are sacrificed, namely, two sheep for a boy and one for a girl. (Mishkāt, xviii. c. 3.) It is enjoined by Muḥammadan law, and observed in all parts of Islām.

A MAP OF THE ARABIAN PENINSULA AT MUḤAMMAD’S TIME.

ARABIA. Bilādu ʾl-ʿArab (بلاد العرب‎), Jazīratu ʾl-ʿArab (جزيرة العرب‎), ʿArabistān (عربستان‎). The peninsula bearing, amongst the Arabs, these names is the country situated on the east of the Red Sea, and extending as far as the Persian Gulf.

The word probably signifies a “barren place,” “desert” (Heb. ‏עֲרָבָה‎).

Ptolemy divides Arabia into three parts, Arabia Petræa, Arabia Felix, and Arabia Deserta; but Arabian geographers divide it into Tiḥāmah, al-Ḥijāz, an-Najd, al-ʿArūz̤, and al-Yaman.

The races which have peopled Arabia are divided into three sections, al-ʿArabu ʾl-Bāʾidah, al-ʿArabu ʾl-ʿĀribah, and al-ʿArabu ʾl-Mustaʿribah.

I. Al-ʿArabu ʾl-Bāʾidah, are the old “lost Arabs,” of whom tradition has preserved the names of several tribes, as well as some memorable particulars regarding their extinction. This may well be called the fabulous period of Arabian history; but, as it has the sanction of the Qurʾān, it would be sacrilege in a Muslim to doubt its authenticity. According to this account, the most famous of the extinct tribes were those of ʿĀd, S̤amūd, Jadīs, and T̤asm, all descended in the third or fourth generation from Shem. ʿĀd, the father of his tribe, settled, according to tradition, in the Great Desert of al-Aḥqāf soon after the confusion of tongues. Shaddād his son succeeded him in the government, and greatly extended his dominions. He performed many fabulous exploits; among others, he erected a magnificent city in the desert of ʿAdan, which had been begun by his father, and adorned it with a sumptuous palace and delightful gardens, in imitation of the celestial paradise, in order to inspire his subjects with a superstitious veneration for him as a god. This superb structure was built with bricks of gold and silver alternately disposed. The roof was of gold, inlaid with precious stones and pearls. The trees and shrubs were of the same precious materials. The fruits and flowers were rubies, and on the branches were perched birds of similar metals, the hollow parts of which were loaded with every species of the richest perfumes, so that every breeze that blew came charged with fragrance from the bills of these golden images. To this paradise he gave the name of Iram (see Qurʾān, [Sūrah lxxxix. 6]). On the completion of all this grandeur, Shaddād set out with a splendid retinue to admire its beauties. But heaven would not suffer his pride and impiety to go unpunished; for, when within a day’s journey of the place, they were all destroyed by a terrible noise from the clouds. As a monument of Divine justice, the city, we are assured, still stands in the desert, though invisible. Southey, in his Thalaba, has viewed this and many of the other fables and superstitions of the Arabs with the eye of a poet, a philosopher, and an antiquary. According to at̤-T̤abarī, this legendary palace was discovered in the time of Muʿāwiyah, the first K͟halīfah of Damascus, by a person in search of a stray camel. A fanciful tradition adds, that the Angel of death, on being asked whether, in the discharge of his duties, an instance had ever occurred in which he had felt some compassion towards his wretched victims, admitted that only twice had his sympathies been awakened—once towards a shipwrecked infant, which had been exposed on a solitary plank to struggle for existence with the winds and waves, and which he spared; and the second time in cutting off the unhappy Shaddād at the moment when almost within view of the glorious fabric which he had erected at so much expense. No sooner had the angel spoken, than a voice from heaven was heard to declare that the helpless innocent on the plank was no other than Shaddād himself; and that his punishment was a just retribution for his ingratitude to a merciful and kind Providence, which had not only saved his life, but raised him to unrivalled wealth and splendour. The whole fable seems to be a confused tradition of Belus and the ancient Babylon; or, rather, as the name would import, of Benhadad, mentioned in Scripture as one of the most famous of the Syrian kings, who, we are told, was worshipped by his subjects.

Of the ʿĀdites and their succeeding princes, nothing certain is known, except that they were dispersed or destroyed in the course of a few centuries by the sovereigns of al-Yaman.

The tribe of S̤amūd first settled in Arabia Felix, and on their expulsion they repaired to al-Ḥijr, on the confines of Syria. Like the ʿĀdites, they are reported to have been of a most gigantic stature, the tallest being a hundred cubits high and the least sixty; and such was their muscular power, that, with a stamp of the foot in the driest soil, they could plant themselves knee-deep in the earth. They dwelt, the Qurʾān informs us, “in the caves of the rocks, and cut the mountains into houses, which remain to this day.” In this tribe it is easy to discover the Thamudeni of Diodorus, Pliny, and Ptolemy.

The tribes of T̤asm and Jadīs settled between Makkah and al-Madīnah, and occupied the whole level country of al-Yaman, living promiscuously under the same government. Their history is buried in darkness; and when the Arabs wish to denote anything of dubious authority, they call it a fable of T̤asm.

The extinction of these tribes, according to the Qurʾān, was miraculous, and a signal example of Divine vengeance. The posterity of ʿĀd and S̤amūd had abandoned the worship of the true God, and lapsed into incorrigible idolatry. They had been chastised with a three years’ drought, but their hearts remained hardened. To the former was sent the Prophet Hūd, to reclaim them and preach the unity of the Godhead. “O my people!” exclaimed the prophet, “ask pardon of your Lord; then turn unto Him with penitence, (and) He will send down the heavens upon you with copious rains, and with strength in addition to your strength will He increase you.” Few believed, and the overthrow of the idolaters was effected by a hot and suffocating wind, that blew seven nights and eight days without intermission, accompanied with a terrible earthquake, by which their idols were broken to pieces, and their houses thrown to the ground. (See Qurʾān, [Sūrah vii. 63], [xi. 53].) Luqmān, who, according to some, was a famous king of the ʿĀdites, and who lived to the age of seven eagles, escaped, with about sixty others, the common calamity. These few survivors gave rise to a tribe called the Latter ʿĀd; but on account of their crimes they were transformed, as the Qurʾān states, into asses or monkeys. Hūd returned to Ḥaẓramaut, and was buried in the neighbourhood, where a small town, Qabr Hūd, still bears his name. Among the Arabs, ʿĀd expresses the same remote age that Saturn or Ogyges did among the Greeks; anything of extreme antiquity is said to be “as old as King ʿĀd.”

The idolatrous tribe of S̤amūd had the prophet Ṣāliḥ sent to them, whom D’Herbelot makes the son of Arphaxad, while Bochart and Sale suppose him to be Peleg, the brother of Joktan. His preaching had little effect. The fate of the ʿĀdites, instead of being a warning, only set them to dig caverns in the rocks, where they hoped to escape the vengeance of winds and tempests. Others demanded a sign from the prophet in token of his mission. As a condition of their belief, they challenged him to a trial of power, similar to what took place between Elijah and the priests of Baal, and promised to follow the deity that should gain the triumph. From a certain rock a camel big with young was to come forth in their presence. The idolaters were foiled; for on Ṣāliḥ’s pointing to the spot, a she-camel was produced, with a young one ready weaned. This miracle wrought conviction in a few; but the rest, far from believing, hamstrung the mother, killed her miraculous progeny, and divided the flesh among them. This act of impiety sealed their doom. “And a violent tempest overtook the wicked, and they were found prostrate on their breasts in their abodes.” (Qurʾān, [Sūrah vii. 71], [xi. 64].)

The tribes of Jadīs and T̤asm owe their extinction to a different cause. A certain despot, a T̤asmite, but sovereign of both tribes, had rendered himself detested by a voluptuous law claiming for himself a priority of right over all the brides of the Jadīsites. This insult was not to be tolerated. A conspiracy was formed. The king and his chiefs were invited to an entertainment. The avengers had privately hidden their swords in the sand, and in the moment of mirth and festivity they fell upon the tyrant and his retinue, and finally extirpated the greater part of his subjects.

II.—The pure Arabs are those who claim to be descended from Joktan or Qaḥt̤ān, whom the present Arabs regard as their principal founder. The members of this genuine stock are styled al-ʿArabu ʾl-ʿĀribah, the genuine Arabs. According to their genealogy of this patriarch, his descendants formed two distinct branches. Yaʿrub, one of his sons, founded the kingdom of al-Yaman, and Jurhum that of al-Ḥijāz. These two are the only sons spoken of by the Arabs. Their names do not occur in Scripture; but it has been conjectured that they were the Jerah and Hadoram mentioned by Moses as among the thirteen planters of Arabia ([Gen. x. 26]).

In the division of their nation into tribes the Arabs resemble the Jews. From an early era they have retained the distinction of separate and independent families. This partition was adverse to the consolidation of power or political influence, but it furnishes our chief guide into the dark abyss of their antiquities. The posterity of Yaʿrub spread and multiplied into innumerable clans. New accessions rendered new subdivisions necessary. In the genealogical tables of Sale, Gagnier, and Saiyid Aḥmad K͟hān, are enumerated nearly three-score tribes of genuine Arabs, many of whom became celebrated long before the time of Muḥammad, and some of them retain their names even at the present day.

III.—The ʿArabu ʾl-Mustaʿribah, the mixed Arabs, claim to be descended from Ishmael and the daughter of al-Muẓāẓ, King of al-Ḥijāz, whom he took to wife, and was of the ninth generation from Jurhum, the founder of that kingdom. Of the Jurhumites, till the time of Ishmael, little is recorded, except the names of their princes or chiefs, and that they had possession of the territory of al-Ḥijāz. But as Muḥammad traces his descent to this alliance, the Arabs have been more than usually careful to preserve and adorn his genealogy. The want of a pure ancestry is, in their estimation, more than compensated by the dignity of so sacred a connexion; for they boast as much as the Jews of being reckoned the children of Abraham. This circumstance will account for the preference with which they uniformly regard this branch of their pedigree, and for the many romantic legends they have grafted upon it. It is not improbable that the old giants and idolaters suffered an imaginary extinction to make way for a more favoured race, and that Divine chastisements always overtook those who dared to invade their consecrated territories.

The Scripture account of the expulsion and destiny of this venerated progenitor of the Arabs is brief, but simple and affecting. Ishmael was the son of Abraham by Hagar, an Egyptian slave. When fourteen years of age, he was supplanted in the hopes and affections of his father by the birth of Isaac, through whom the promises were to descend. This event made it necessary to remove the unhappy female and her child, who were accordingly sent forth to seek their fortune in some of the surrounding unoccupied districts. A small supply of provisions, and a bottle of water on her shoulder, was all she carried from the tent of her master. Directing her steps towards her native country, she wandered with the lad in the wilderness of Beer-sheba, which was destitute of springs. Here her stock failed, and it seemed impossible to avoid perishing by hunger or thirst. She resigned herself to her melancholy prospects, but the feelings of the mother were more acute than the agonies of want and despair. Unable to witness her son’s death, she laid him under one of the shrubs, took an affecting leave of him, and retired to a distance. “And she went, and sat her down over against him, a good way off, as it were a bow-shot; for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lifted up her voice and wept.” ([Gen. xxi. 16].) At this moment an angel directed her to a well of water close at hand,—a discovery to which they owed the preservation of their lives. A promise formerly given was renewed, that Ishmael was to become a great nation—that he was to be a wild man—his hand against every man, and every man’s hand against him. The travellers continued their journey to the wilderness of Paran, and there took up their residence. In due time the lad grew to manhood, and greatly distinguished himself as an archer, and his mother took him a wife out of her own land. Here the sacred narrative breaks off abruptly, the main object of Moses being to follow the history of Abraham’s descendants through the line of Isaac. The Arabs, in their version of Ishmael’s history, have mixed a great deal of romance with the narrative of Scripture. They assert that al-Ḥijāz was the district where he settled, and that Makkah, then an arid wilderness, was the identical spot where his life was providentially saved, and where Hagar died and was buried. The well pointed out by the angel, they believe to be the famous Zamzam, of which all pious Muslims drink to this day. They make no allusion to his alliance with the Egyptian woman, by whom he had twelve sons ([Gen. xxv. 12–18]), the chiefs of as many nations, and the possessors of separate towns; but as polygamy was common in his age and country, it is not improbable he may have had more wives than one.

It was, say they, to commemorate the miraculous preservation of Ishmael that God commanded Abraham to build the Kaʿbah, and his son to furnish the necessary materials.

Muḥammadan writers give the following account of Ishmael and his descendants:—Ishmael was constituted the prince and first high-priest of Makkah, and, during half a century he preached to the incredulous Arabs. At his death, which happened forty-eight years after that of Abraham, and in the 137th of his age, he was buried in the tomb of his mother Hagar. Between the erection of the Kaʿbah and the birth of their Prophet, the Arabs reckon about 2,740 years. Ishmael was succeeded in the regal and sacerdotal office by his eldest son Nebat, although the pedigree of Muḥammad is traced from Kedar, a younger brother. But his family did not long enjoy this double authority; for, in progress of time, the Jurhumites seized the government and the guardianship of the temple, which they maintained about 300 years. These last, again, having corrupted the true worship, were assailed, as a punishment of their crimes, first by the scimitars of the Ishmaelites, who drove them from Makkah, and then by divers maladies, by which the whole race finally perished. Before quitting Makkah, however, they committed every kind of sacrilege and indignity. They filled up the Zamzam well, after having thrown into it the treasures and sacred utensils of the temple, the black stone, the swords and cuirasses of Qalaʿah, the two golden gazelles presented by one of the kings of Arabia, the sacred image of the ram substituted for Isaac, and all the precious movables, forming at once the object and the workmanship of a superstitious devotion. For several centuries the posterity of Ishmael kept possession of the supreme dignity.

The following is the list of chiefs who are said to have ruled the Ḥijāz, and to have been the lineal ancestors of Muḥammad, as far as ʿAdnān:—

A.D.	538	ʿAbdu ʾllāh, the father of Muḥammad.
	505	ʿAbdu ʾl-Mut̤t̤alib.
	472	Hāshim.
	439	ʿAbd Manāf.
	406	Quṣaiy.
	373	Kilāb.
	340	Murrah.
	307	Kaʿab.
	274	Luwaiy.
	241	Ghālib.
	208	Fihr or Quraish.
	175	Mālik.
	142	an-Naẓr.
	109	Kinānah.
	76	Khuzaimah.
	43	Mudrikah.
	10	al-Yaʾs.
B.C.	23	Muẓar.
	56	Nizār.
	89	Maʿadd.
	122	ʿAdnān.

The period between Ishmael and ʿAdnān is variously estimated, some reckoning forty, others only seven, generations. The authority of Abū ʾl-Fidāʾ, who makes it ten, is that generally followed by the Arabs, being founded on a tradition of one of Muḥammad’s wives. Making every allowance, however, for patriarchal longevity, even forty generations are insufficient to extend over a space of nearly 2,500 years. From ʿAdnān to Muḥammad the genealogy is considered certain, comprehending twenty-one generations, and nearly 160 different tribes, all branching off from the same parent stem.

(See Abū ʾl-Fidāʾ; Gagnier’s Vie de Mahomet; Pocock, Specim. Arab. Hist.; Saiyid Ahmad K͟hān’s Essays; Sale’s Koran, Prelim. Dis.; Crichton’s Hist. Arabia.)

ARABIC. Lisānu-ʾl-ʿArab; Lug͟hatu ʾl-ʿArab. The classical language of Arabia is held to be the language of the Qurʾān, and of the Traditions of Muḥammad, and by reason of its incomparable excellence is called اللغة‎ al-lug͟hah, or “the language.” (See Qurʾān, [Sūrah xvi. 105], “They say, Surely a person teacheth him [i.e. Muḥammad]. But the tongue of him at whom they hint is foreign, while this [i.e. the Qurʾān] is plain Arabic.”)

This classical language is often termed, by the Arabians themselves, the language of Maʿadd, and the language of Muẓar, and is a compound of many sister dialects, very often differing among themselves, which were spoken throughout the whole of the Peninsula before the religion of Muḥammad incited the nation to spread its conquering armies over foreign countries. Before that period, feuds among the tribes, throughout the whole extent of their territory, had prevented the blending of their dialects into one uniform language; but this effect of disunion was counteracted in a great measure by the institution of the sacred months, in which all acts of hostility were most strictly interdicted, and by the annual pilgrimage, and the yearly fair held at ʿUkāz̤, at which the poets of the various tribes contended for the meed of general admiration.

Qatādah says that the Quraish tribe used to cull what was most excellent in the dialects of Arabia, so that their dialect became the best of all. This assertion, however, is not altogether correct, for many of the children of the tribe of Quraish, in the time of Muḥammad, were sent into the desert to be there nursed, in order to acquire the utmost chasteness of speech. Muḥammad himself was sent to be brought up among the tribe of Saʿd ibn Bakr ibn Hawāzin, descendants of Muẓar, but not in the line of Quraish; and he is said to have urged the facts of his being a Quraish, and having also grown up among the tribe of Saʿd, as the grounds of his claim to be the most chaste in speech of the Arabs. Certain it is that the language of Maʿadd was characterised by the highest degree of perfection, copiousness, and uniformity, in the time of Muḥammad, although it afterwards declined.

The language of the Qurʾān is universally acknowledged to be the most perfect form of Arabic speech. At the same time we must not forget that the acknowledged claims of the Qurʾān to be the direct utterance of the Divinity have made it impossible for any Muslim to criticise the work, and it has become the standard by which other literary compositions have to be judged. (See Lane’s Introduction to his Arabic Dictionary, and Palmer’s Qurʾān.)

ARABIC LEXICONS. The first Arabic lexicon is that which is generally ascribed to al-K͟halīl, and entitled Kitābu ʾl ʿAin. The following are the most celebrated Arabic dictionaries composed after the ʿAin.

The Jamharah, by Ibn Duraid, died A.H. 321.

The Tahẕīb, by al-Azhari, died A.H. 370.

The Muḥīt̤, by the Ṣāḥib Ibn ʿAbbād, died A.H. 385.

The Mujmal, by Ibn Fāris, died A.H. 395.

The Ṣiḥāḥ, by al-Jauharī, died A.H. 398.

The Jāmiʿ, by al-Qazzāz, died A.H. 412.

The Mūʿab, by Abū G͟hālib, died A.H. 436.

The Muḥkam, by Ibn Sīdah, died A.H. 458.

The Asās, by az-Zamak͟hsharī, died A.H. 538.

The Mughrib, by al-Mut̤arrizī, died A.H. 610.

The ʿUbāb, by aṣ-Ṣāghānī, died A.H. 660.

The Lisānu ʾl-ʿArab, by Ibn Mukarram, died A.H. 711.

The Tahẕību ʾt-Tahẕīb, by Maḥmūd at-Tanūk͟hi, died A.H. 723.

The Miṣbāḥ, by Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Faiyūmī, compiled A.H. 734.

The Mughni ʾl-Labīb, by Ibn Hishām, died A.H. 761.

The Qāmūs, by al-Fairūzābādī, died A.H. 816.

The Ṣiḥāḥ (says Mr. Lane in his Preface to his Dictionary), is among the books of lexicology like the Ṣaḥīḥ of Al-Buk͟hārī amongst the books of traditions; for the point on which turns the title to reliance is not the copiousness of the collection, but the condition of genuineness and correctness.

Two well-known dictionaries, compiled in modern times in Hindustān, are the G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hat, by Maulawī G͟hiyās̤u ʾd-dīn of Rāmpūr, and the Muntaha ʾl-ʿArab, by ʿAbdu ʾr-Raḥīm ibn ʿAbdu ʾl-Karīm of Ṣafīpūr. These are both Arabic and Persian lexicons.

The Arabic-Latin dictionary of Jacob Golius, was printed at Leyden, A.D. 1653; that of Freytag at Halle, A.D. 1830–35.

The Arabic-English and English-Arabic dictionaries extant are—

Richardson’s Persian-Arabic-English, A.D. 1777.

Richardson’s English-Persian-Arabic, A.D. 1810.

Francis Johnson’s Persian-Arabic-English, A.D. 1852.

Catafago’s Arabic-English and English-Arabic, new edition, 1873.

Lane’s Arabic-English, A.D. 1863 to 1882, imperfect.

Dr. Badger’s English-Arabic, A.D. 1881.

Dr. Steingass’s English-Arabic, A.D. 1882.

AL-AʿRĀF (الاعراف‎). (1) The partition between heaven and hell, described in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah vii. 44], “Betwixt the two (heaven and hell) there is a partition; and on al-Aʿrāf are men who know all by their marks; and they shall cry out to the inhabitants of Paradise, ‘Peace be upon you!’ (but) they have not (yet) entered it, although they so desire. And when their sight is turned towards the dwellers in the Fire, they say, ‘O our Lord, place us not with the unjust people.’ ” According to Sale, al-Aʿrāf is derived from the verb ʿarafa, which signifies “to distinguish between things, or to part them”; though some commentators give another reason for the imposition of this name, because, say they, those who stand on this partition will know and distinguish the blessed from the damned by their respective marks or characteristics: and others say the word properly intends anything that is elevated, as such a wall of separation must be supposed to be. Some imagine it to be a sort of limbo for the patriarchs and prophets, or for the martyrs and those who have been most eminent for sanctity. Others place here those whose good and evil works are so equal that they exactly counterpoise each other, and therefore deserve neither reward nor punishment; and these, say they, will on the last day be admitted into Paradise, after they shall have performed an act of adoration, which will be imputed to them as a merit, and will make the scale of their good works to preponderate. Others suppose this intermediate space will be a receptacle for those who have gone to war, without their parents’ leave, and therein suffered martyrdom; being excluded from Paradise for their disobedience, and escaping hell because they are martyrs. (2) The title of [Sūrah vii]. (3) A term used by Ṣūfī mystics to express a condition of the mind and soul when meditating on the existence of God in all things.

ʿARAFAH (عرفة‎). The vigil of the ʿĪdu ʾl-Aẓḥā, or Feast of Sacrifice, when the pilgrims proceed to Mount ʿArafāt. [[ʿIDU ʾL-AZHA].]

ʿARAFĀT (عرفات‎), or ʿArafah. The “Mount of Recognition,” situated twelve miles from Makkah; the place where the pilgrims stay on the ninth day of the pilgrimage, and recite the mid-day and afternoon prayers, and hear the K͟hut̤bah or sermon. Hence it is a name given to the ninth day of the month Ẕū ʾl-Ḥijjah. Upon the origin of the name given to this mountain, Burton says, “The Holy Hill owes its name to the following legend:—When our first parents forfeited heaven for eating wheat, which deprived them of their primeval purity, they were cast down upon earth. The serpent descended upon Ispahān, the peacock at Cābul; Satan at Bilbays (others say Semnān or Seistān), Eve upon ʿArafāt, and Adam at Ceylon (Sarandīb). The latter, determining to seek his wife, began a journey, to which the earth owes its present mottled appearance. Wherever our first father placed his foot, which was large, a town afterwards arose; and between the strides will always be country. Wandering for many years, he came to the Mountain of Mercy, where our common mother was continually calling upon his name, and their recognition of each other gave the place the name of ʿArafah.”

ARĀẒĪ (اراضى‎). Lit. “lands”; the sale of lands. Tombs are not included in the sale of lands. A place or station for casting the harvest is not considered to be amongst the rights and advantages of land, and therefore does not enter into the sale of it. (Baillie’s Law of Sale, pages 54, 55.) [[LAND].]

ARCHITECTURE. The term Saracenic is usually applied by English writers to Muḥammadan architecture. But though the style may be traced to the Arabians, they cannot themselves be considered the inventors of it. They had, in fact, no distinctive style of their own when they made their rapid conquests, but adapted existing styles of architecture to meet the religious and national feelings of the Muslims.

Muḥammad built a mosque at al-Madīnah, but it was an exceedingly simple structure, and he left no directions in the Qurʾān or in the Traditions on the subject.

The typical varieties of the earlier Muḥammadan architecture are those which appeared in Spain and in Egypt; its later form appeared in Constantinople. The oldest specimen of Saracenic architecture in Spain is the mosque of Cordova, which now serves as the cathedral of the city. It was commenced by the K͟halīfah ʿAbdu ʾr-Raḥmān, 786 A.D., with the avowed intention that it should be the finest mosque in the world, and Byzantine architects are said to have been specially invited to superintend its construction.

IN THE SANCTUARY OF THE CATHEDRAL OF CORDOVA.

The earliest of the Muḥammadan buildings in Egypt, of which any portions still remain, is the Mosque of ʿAmr at old Cairo, begun about A.D. 642, but greatly altered or rebuilt about sixty years later.

On the capture of Constantinople, St. Sophia was converted by the Muslim conquerors into their chief Mosque, and made their architectural model. The older Saracenic style, as seen at Cordova and old Cairo, continued to be the basis of the new, but it was modified throughout by Byzantine influence. In Persia we may clearly trace in Muḥammadan buildings the older Persian type, and in India the Saracenic architects showed the same pliancy in adopting the styles of the various peoples amongst whom they settled. It thus happens (says Fergusson, in his History of Indian Architecture), that we have at least twelve or fifteen different styles of Muḥammadan architecture in Central Asia and in India.

IN S. SOPHIA, CONSTANTINOPLE.

IN THE TAJ MAHALL, AGRA.

IN THE MOTI MASJID, AGRA.

EARLY PATHAN STYLE IN THE QUTB BUILDINGS AT DELHI.

A striking and distinctive feature in early Muḥammadan architecture is the horse-shoe arch, which in time gives way to a cusped or scalloped arch, strictly so termed, the outline being produced by intersecting semi-arches. Another variety of Saracenic arch is the circular-headed and stilted form. The pillars are commonly of exceedingly slender proportions, almost to apparent insecurity; but owing to the style of the embellishment, this lightness of particular forms tends to heighten the general luxuriance. Some have imagined that this element of slenderness in regard to pillars indicates a tent origin of the style. This tent-like character has been further kept up by concave ceilings and cupolas, emblazoned with painting and gilding. Decorations composed of animal and human figures, being interdicted by Muḥammadan law [[PICTURES]] are not found in Saracenic architecture; but their geometrical patterns exhibit singular beauty and complexity, inexhaustible variety of combinations, and a wonderful degree of harmonious intricacy, arising out of very simple elements. Lattice or open trellis work is another fertile source of embellishment, and is similar to the tracery met with in Gothic buildings. Another characteristic of Saracenic style is that of the dome. For the most part domes occur in mosques and tombs, and are of Byzantine origin. Minarets are also a special feature in Muḥammadan mosques, and contribute much to the picturesqueness of these buildings. They are found in mosques of the later Saracenic style. (See Fergusson’s Indian and Eastern Architecture, Mr. Owen Jones’s Alhambra Palace, Hersemer’s Arabische Bauverzierungen.)

IN A HOUSE IN PESHAWAR.

ʿARĪYAH (عرية‎). A kind of sale permitted in Islām, namely, when a person computes what quantity of fruit there is on a tree and sells it before it is plucked. (Mishkāt, xii. c. v.)

ʿĀRĪYAH (عارية‎) (1) A loan for the use of anything of which Qarẓ cannot be made: e.g. the loan of a horse is ʿĀrīyah; the loan of money is Qarẓ. (2) A gift, of which the following is an example:—A person makes a gift to another of the dates of a palm-tree in his garden; but having afterwards some doubt of the propriety of that person coming daily to his garden where his family usually are, and being at the same time unwilling to depart from his promise, or to retract his gift, he gives some of the dates that have already been pulled in lieu of those upon the tree. (Baillie’s Law of Sale, p. 300.)

ARK, NOAH’S (فلك نوح‎). It is mentioned in the history of the Deluge, as recorded in the Qurʾān, in two places—[Sūrah xi. 39], “Build the ark under our eye and after our revelation,” and [Sūrah xxiii. 27]. There is also supposed to be an allusion to the ark in [Sūrah xxxvi. 41], “And a sign to them is that we bare their offspring in the laden ship.”

Al-Baiẓāwī says that Noah was two years building the ark, which was 300 cubits long, 50 wide, and 30 broad, and which was made of Indian plane-tree; that it consisted of three storeys, the lowest for beasts, the middle for men and women (who were separated from each other), and the highest for birds.

The ark is said to have rested on the mountain al-Jūdī. [[NOAH].]

ARK OF THE COVENANT. The Hebrew word for “Ark” is ‏תֵּבָה‎ (i.e. a chest, a coffer), Chald. ‏תֵּיבוּתָא‎, Arabic تابوت‎, تابوة‎. See Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 249], “The sign of his (Saul’s) kingdom is that there shall come unto you the ark (Tābūt); in it shall be security (or the Shechinah, sakīnah, Heb. ‏שְׁכִינָה‎) from your Lord, and the relics of what the family of Moses and the family of Aaron left; the angels shall bear it.” Jalālu ʾd-dīn says this ark contained the images of the prophets, and was sent down from heaven to Adam, and at length came to the Israelites, who put great confidence therein, and continually carried it in front of their army, till it was taken by the Amalekites. But on this occasion the angels brought it back in the sight of all the people, and placed it at the feet of Saul (T̤ālūt), who was thereupon unanimously received as king.

ARMS, The Sale of. The sale of armour or warlike stores to rebels, or in their camp, is forbidden, because selling arms into the hands of rebels is an assistance to defection. But it is not forbidden to sell the materials for making arms to such persons. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. ii. 225.)

ARSH (ارش‎). (1.) A legal term for compensation. (2.) A mulct; a fine; particularly that which is paid for shedding of blood. (3.) A gift for conciliating the favour of a judge; a bribe. (4.) Whatever a purchaser receives from a seller after discovering a fault in the article bought.

ʿARSH (عرش‎). The term used in the Qurʾān for the throne of God. [Sūrah ix. 131], “He is the Lord of the mighty throne.” Husainī, the commentator, says the throne has 8,000 pillars, and the distance between each pillar is 3,000,000 miles.

ʿAṢABAH (عصبة‎). A legal term for male relatives by the father’s side, agnates.

ĀṢAF (اصف‎). The wazīr or prime minister of Solomon. Alluded to in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxvii. 40], as “He with whom was knowledge of the scripture.” Muḥammadan commentators say he was the son of Bark͟hīya.

AS̤AR (اثر‎). Relating; handing down by tradition. Generally used for a Ḥadīs̤ related by one of the Companions, as distinguished from one of the Prophet’s own.

AL-AS̤ARU ʾSH-SHARĪF (الاثر الشريف‎). The sacred relic. A hair of either the beard or mustachios of Muḥammad, or a foot-print of the Prophet. One of these sacred relics (a hair of his beard) is exhibited in the great mosque at Delhi, another in a mosque in Cashmere.

AṢḤĀB (اصحاب‎), pl. of Ṣāḥib. The Companions or Associates of Muḥammad. The term used for a single companion is ṣaḥābī. Concerning the title of “Companion,” there is considerable controversy as to the persons to whom it can be applied. Saʿīd ibn al-Musaiyab reckoned none a “Companion,” but those who had been a year or more with Muḥammad, and had gone on a warlike expedition with him. Some say that everyone who had attained puberty, had embraced Islām, and had seen the Prophet, was a “Companion,” even though he had attended Muḥammad but an hour. Others, however, affirm that none could be a “Companion” unless Muḥammad chose him and he chose Muḥammad, and he adhered to the Prophet at all times. The general opinion is that every one who embraced Islām, saw the Prophet, and accompanied him, even for a short time, was a “Companion.”

It is related that the Prophet marched to Makkah with 10,000 Muslims, to Ḥunain with 12,000, and that 40,000 accompanied him on the farewell pilgrimage. The number of the “Companions” at his death is said to have been 144,000.

In point of merit, the refugees (Muhājirūn) are more worthy than the auxiliaries (Anṣār); but by way of precedence, the auxiliaries are more worthy than the later refugees.

The “Companions” have been arranged in thirteen classes, which are given by Abū ʾl-Fidāʾ as follows:—I. Those who first embraced Islām, such as K͟hadījah, ʿAlī, Zaid, and Abū Bakr, and those who did not delay till he had established his mission. II. The Companions who believed in him after his mission had been fully established, amongst whom was ʿUmar. III. Those who fled to Abyssinia. IV. The first Companions of ʿAqabah, who preceded the Auxiliaries. V. The second Companions of ʿAqabah. VI. The third Companions of ʿAqabah, who were seventy. VII. The refugees who went to the Prophet after his flight, when he was at Qubā, before the erection of the temple. VIII. The soldiers of the great battle of Badr. IX. Those who joined Islām between Badr and Hudaibiyah. X. Those who took the oath of fealty under the acacia tree at Hudaibiyah. XI. Those who joined after the treaty of Hudaibiyah, but before the conquest. XII. Those that embraced Islām on the day of conquest. XIII. Those who were children in the time of the Prophet, and had seen him.

Muḥammad frequently commended the “Companions,” and spoke of their excellences and virtues, a chapter in the Traditions being devoted to this subject. (Mishkāt, xxiv. c. xiii.) He is related to have said, “My companions are like stars by which roads are found, for which ever companion you follow you will find the right road.”

AL-AṢḤĀBU ʾL-FĪL (اصحاب الفيل‎). “The Companions of the Elephant.” A term used in the Chapter of the Elephant, or the CVth Sūrah:—“Hast thou not seen how thy Lord dealt with the companions of the elephant? Did He not cause their stratagem to miscarry? And He sent against them birds in flocks, small stones did they hurl down upon them, and he made them like stubble eaten down!”

This refers to the army of Abrahah, the Christian king of Abyssinia and Arabia Felix, said to have been lost, in the year of Muḥammad’s birth, in an expedition against Makkah for the purpose of destroying the Kaʿbah. This army was cut off by small-pox, and there is no doubt, as the Arabic word for small-pox also means “small stones,” in reference to the hard gravelly feeling of the pustules, what is the true interpretation of the fourth verse of this Sūrah, which, like many other poetical passages in the Qurʾān, has formed the starting point for the most puerile and extravagant legends.

AṢḤĀBU ʾL-KAHF (اصحاب الكهف‎). “The Companions of the Cave,” i.e. the Seven Sleepers, mentioned in the Sūratu ʾl-kahf, or Chapter xviii. of the Qurʾān. The story, as told by early Christian writers, is given by Gibbon (Rise and Fall, Chapter xxxi.). When the Emperor Decius persecuted the Christians, seven noble youths of Ephesus are said to have concealed themselves in a cave in the side of a mountain, where they were doomed to perish by the tyrant, who gave orders that the entrance should be firmly secured with a pile of huge stones. They immediately fell into a deep slumber, which was miraculously prolonged, without injuring the powers of life, during a period of 187 years. This popular tale, which Muḥammad must have heard when he drove his camels to the fairs of Syria, is introduced into the Qurʾān as a divine revelation.

AṢḤĀBU ʾṢ-ṢUFFAH (اصحاب الصفة‎). “The sitters on the bench” of the temple at Makkah. They are thus described by Abū ʾl-Fidāʾ: “They were poor strangers, without friends or place of abode, who claimed the promises of the Apostle of God and implored his protection. Thus the porch of the temple became their mansion, and thence they obtained their name. When Muḥammad went to meals, he used to call some of them to partake with him; and he selected others to eat with his companions.”

ʾASHARAH MUBASHSHARAH (عشرة مبشرة‎). “The ten who received glad tidings.” Ten of the most distinguished of Muḥammad’s followers, whose certain entrance into Paradise he is said to have foretold. They are Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, Us̤mān, ʿAlī, T̤alḥah, az-Zubair, ʿAbdu ʾr-Raḥmān, Saʿd-ibn-Abū-Waqqāṣ, Saʿīd ibn Zaid, Abū ʿUbaidah ibn al-Jarrāḥ. (Mishkāt, book xxiv. c. xx., part ii.) Muḥammad declared it presumption for anyone to count upon an entrance into heaven with absolute certainty, but he made an exception in favour of these ten distinguished persons.

AL-ASHʿARĪYAH (الاشعرية‎). A sect formed by Abū ʾl-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Ismāʿīl al-Ashʿarī, born A.H. 260 (A.D. 873–4).

They hold that the attributes of God are distinct from His essence, yet in such a way as to forbid any comparison being made between God and His creatures. They say they are not “ʿain nor g͟hair:” not of His essence, nor distinct from it: i.e. they cannot be compared with any other things. They also hold that God has one eternal will, from which proceed all things, the good and the evil, the useful and the hurtful. The destiny of man was written on the eternal table before the world was created. So far they go with the Ṣifātīs, but in order to preserve the moral responsibility of man, they say that he has power to convert will into action. But this power cannot create anything new, for then God’s sovereignty would be impaired; so they say that God in His providence so orders matters that whenever “a man desires to do a certain thing, good or bad, the action corresponding to the desire is, there and then, created by God, and, as it were, fitted on to the desire.” Thus it seems as if it came naturally from the will of the man, whereas it does not. This action is called Kasb (acquisition), because it is acquired by a special creative act of God. It is an act directed to the obtaining of profit or the removing of injury: the term is therefore inapplicable to the Deity. Abū Bakr al-Bakil­lānī, a disciple of al-Ashʿarī, says: “The essence or substance of the action is the effect of the power of God, but its being a action of obedience, such as prayer, or an action of disobedience, such as fornication, are qualities of the action, which proceed from the power of man.” The Imām Al-Ḥaramain (A.H. 419–478) held “that the actions of men were effected by the power which God has created in man.” Abū Isḥaq al-Isfarāyinī says: “That which maketh impression, or hath influence on action, is a compound of the power of God and the power of man.” They also believe that the word of God is eternal, though they acknowledge that the vocal sounds used in the Qurʾān, which are the manifestation of that word, are created. They say, in short, that the Qurʾān contains (1) the eternal word which existed in the essence of God before time was; and (2) the word which consists of sounds and combinations of letters. This last they call the created word.

Thus Al-Ashʿarī traversed the main positions of the Mutazilites, denying that man can, by the aid of his reason alone, rise to the knowledge of good and evil. He must exercise no judgment, but accept all that is revealed. He has no right to apply the moral laws which affect men to the actions of God. It cannot be asserted by the human reason that the good will be rewarded or the bad punished in a future world. Man must always approach God as a slave, in whom there is no light or knowledge to judge of the actions of the Supreme. Whether God will accept the penitent sinner or not cannot be asserted, for He is an absolute Sovereign, above all law. (Sale, from Ibn K͟haldun; Die Muʿtaziliten oder die Freidenker in Islām, von H. Steiner, 1865; Zur Geschichte Abu ʾl-Ḥasan al-ashʿarīsh, von W. Spitta, 1876; De Strijd over het Dogma in den Islām tot op El-ashʿarī, door Dr. M. Th. Houtsma, Leiden, 1875; and Exposé de la Réforme de l’Islamisme, by M. A. F. Mehren, Leiden, 1878.)

ʿĀSHŪRĀʾ (عاشوراء‎). Lit. “the tenth.” A voluntary fast day, observed on the tenth of the month of Muḥarram. It is related that Muḥammad observed it, and said it was a day respected by Jews and Christians. (Mishkāt, vii. c. vii. 1.)

It is the only day of Muḥarram observed by the Sunnī Muslims, being the day on which it is said God created Adam and Eve, heaven and hell, the tablet of decree, the pen, life, and death. It is kept by the Sunnīs as a fast. [[MUHARRAM].]

ĀSIYAH (آسية‎). The wife of Pharaoh. One of the four perfect women (the Virgin Mary, K͟hadījah, and Fāt̤imah, being the other three). See Mishkātu ʾl-Masābīḥ, xxiv. c. 22. She is mentioned in the Qurʾān ([Sūrah lxvi. 11]): “And God striketh out a parable for those who believe: the wife of Pharaoh, when she said, ‘My Lord, build for me a house with Thee in Paradise, and save me from Pharaoh and his works, and save me from the unjust people.’”

AṢL (اصل‎). Cause, first principle, foundation. Aṣl-wafarʿ, “cause and effect,” “fundamental and derivative principle.”

ASMĀʾU ʾLLĀH (آسماء الله‎). [[GOD, NAMES OF].]

ʿASR (عصر‎). The afternoon prayer. [[PRAYERS].] The title of the CIIIrd Sūrah of the Qurʾān.

ASS. According to the Imām Abū Ḥanīfah, the ass is an unclean animal, and its flesh and milk are unlawful; nor is zakāt to be given on an ass. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. i. 16, iv. 74, 86.)

ASSISTANTS. [[ANSAR].]

ASTROLOGY. Arabic ʿIlmu ʾn-nujūm. Qatādah says, referring to the Qurʾān, that God has created stars for three uses: (1) as an ornament to the heavens ([Sūrah lxvii. 5]); (2) to stone the Devil with ([Sūrah lxvii. 5]); and (3) to direct travellers through the forests and on the sea ([Sūrah xv. 16]). Muḥammad condemns those who study the stars for any other purpose (Mishkāt, xxi. c. iii. pt. iii.), and consequently the science of Astrology is not considered lawful in Islām.

ASWAD (الاسود‎). An impostor who, in the time of Muḥammad, claimed the prophetic office. His name was ʿAbhalah ibn Kaʿb, and he belonged to the tribe of ʿAus, of which he was an influential chief. He was surnamed Ẕū ʾl-Ḥimār, or “The Master of the Ass,”[1] because he used frequently to say, “The master of the ass is coming unto me,” and pretended to receive his revelations from two angels, named Suhaik and Shuraik. Being a good hand at legerdemain, and having a smooth tongue, he gained mightily on the multitude by the strange feats which he shewed them, and the eloquence of his discourse. By these means he greatly increased his power, and having made himself master of Najrān and the territory of T̤āʾif, on the death of Bādhān, the governor of Yaman for Muḥammad, he seized that province also, killing Shahr, the son of Bādhān, and taking to wife his widow Āzād, whose father he had also slain. The news being brought to Muḥammad, he sent to his friends and to the tribe of Hamdān, a party of whom conspiring with Qais ibn ʿAbd Yaghūth, who bore Aswad a grudge, and with Fīrūz and Aswad’s wife, broke by night into his house, where Fīrūz surprised him and cut off his head. While dying, it is said that he roared like a bull, at which his guards came to the chamber door, but were sent away by his wife, who told them that the prophet was only agitated by the divine inspiration. This was done the very night before Muḥammad died. The next morning the conspirators caused the following proclamation to be made, viz. “I bear witness that Muḥammad is the Apostle of God, and that ʿAbhalah is a liar”; and letters were immediately sent away to Muḥammad, with an account of what had been done; but a messenger from heaven outstripped them, and acquainted the prophet with the news, which he imparted to his Companions a little before his death, the letters themselves not arriving till Abū Bakr was chosen Khalif. It is said that Muḥammad on this occasion told those who attended him that before the Day of Judgment thirty more impostors, besides Musailimah and Aswad, should appear. The whole time from the beginning of Aswad’s rebellion to his death was four months.

ATHEIST. [[DAHRI].]

ʿATĪRAH (عتيرة‎). The sacrifice offered by the idolatrous Arabs in the month of Rajab. It was allowed by the Prophet at the commencement of his mission, but was afterwards abolished. Mishkāt, book iv. c. 50, “Let there be no Faraʿ nor ʿAtīrah.”

AT-TAḤĪYĀT (التحيات‎). Lit. “the greetings.” A part of the stated prayers, recited after the Takbīru ʾl-Quʿūd, after every two rakʿahs. It is recited whilst the worshipper kneels upon the ground. His left foot bent under him, he sits upon it, and places his hands upon his knees, and says:—“The adorations (i.e. at-taḥīyātu) of the tongue are for God, and also of the body and of alms-giving. Peace be on thee, O Prophet, with the mercy of God and His blessing. Peace be upon us, and upon God’s righteous servants.” (Mishkāt, iv., c. xvi.) [[PRAYER].]

AUGURY. [[FAʾL].]

AULĪYĀʾ (اولياء‎), pl. of walī. “Favourites of God.” The expression occurs in the Qurʾān in the following verse, “Are not the favourites of God those on whom no fear shall come, nor shall they be put to grief?” ([Sūrah x. 63]).

AUTĀD (اوتاد‎). Lit. “props or pillars.” A term used by the Ṣūfīs for the four saints, by whom the four corners of the world are said to be supported.

AʿŪẔU BILLĀH (اعوذ بالله‎). Another name for the Taʿauwuẕ, or the prayer in the daily liturgy: “I seek refuge with God from the cursed Satan.” [[PRAYER].]

AVENGER OF BLOOD. In the Muḥammadan law, as in the Jewish, the punishment for wilful murder is left to the next of kin; but in the Jewish code the avenger of blood was compelled to take the life of the murderer, whilst in the Muslim code he may accept compensation, vide Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 173], “O believers! retaliation (Qiṣāṣ) for blood-shedding is prescribed to you: the free man for the free, and the slave for the slave, and the woman for the woman; but he to whom his brother shall make any remission is to be dealt with equitably; and a payment should be made to him with liberality. This is a relaxation (i.e. of the stricter lex talionis) from your Lord, and a mercy.” [[QISAS].]

ĀYAH (آية‎). Lit. “a sign, or miracle.” The term used for one of the smaller portions of the chapters of the Qurʾān, which we call verses. The number of verses is often set down after the title of the chapter, but the verses are not marked in the text as they are in our English Bibles. The number of verses in the Qurʾān is variously estimated, but they are generally said to be about six thousand two hundred. [[QURʾAN].]

AL-AʿYĀNU ʾS̤-S̤ĀBITAH (الاعيان الثابتة‎), pl. of ʿayn, in the sense of “the essence” of a thing. The established essences. A term used by the Ṣūfī mystics to express figures emblematic of the names of God. (ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dictionary of Technical Terms of the Ṣūfīs. Sprenger’s edition.)

ĀYATU ʾL-FATḤ (اية الفتح‎). Lit. “The verse of victory.” The fifty-ninth verse of the Sūratu ʾl-Anʿām (vi.) of the Qurʾān. The powers of this verse are said to be so great, that if a person constantly recite it he will obtain his desires. It is generally recited with this object forty times after each season of prayer. It is as follows:—“And with Him are the keys of the secret things; none knoweth them but He; and He knoweth whatever is on the land and in the sea; and no leaf falleth but He knoweth it; neither is there a grain in the darknesses of the earth, nor a green thing nor a dry thing, but it is noted in a clear book.”

ĀYĀTU ʾL-ḤIFZ̤ (ايات الحفظ‎). “The verses of protection.” Certain verses of the Qurʾān which are usually inscribed on amulets. They are:—[Sūrah ii. 256], “And the preservation of both (heaven and earth) is no burden unto Him.” [Sūrah xii. 64], “God is the best protector.” [Sūrah xiii. 12], “They guard him by the command of God.” [Sūrah xv. 17], “We guard him from every devil driven away by stones.” [Sūrah xxxvii. 7], “A protection against every rebellious devil.”

ĀYATU ʾL-KURSĪ (اية الكرسى‎). “The verse of the throne.” Verse 256 of the Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah, or chap. ii. of the Qurʾān. It is related (Mishkāt, book iv., c. xix., part iii.) that ʿAlī heard Muḥammad say in the pulpit, “that person who repeats the Āyatu ʾl-Kursī after every prayer, nothing prevents him entering into Paradise but life; and whoever says it when he goes to his bed-chamber, God will keep him in safety, together with his house and the house of his neighbour. The verse is as follows:—“God! There is no God but He; the Living, the Abiding. Neither slumber seizeth Him, nor sleep. To Him belongeth whatsoever is in heaven and whatsoever is in earth. Who is he that can intercede with Him but by His own permission? He knoweth what hath been before them, and what shall be after them; yet nought of His knowledge do they comprehend, save what He willeth. His THRONE reacheth over the heavens and the earth, and the upholding of both burdeneth Him not; and He is the High, the Great.”

ĀYATUʾL-MAWĀRĪS̤ (اية المواريث‎). “The verse of inheritances.” The twelfth verse of the Sūratu ʾn-nisā, or fourth chapter of the Qurʾān. It relates to inheritance, and is the foundation of the Muslim law on the subject. It is given in the article on Inheritance. [[INHERITANCE].]

AYIMMATUʾL-ASMĀʾ (ائمة الاسماء‎). “The leading names.” The seven principal names or titles of God, namely:—

Al-Ḥayy	The Living.
Al-ʿAlīm	The Knowing.
Al-Murīd	The Purposer.
Al-Qādir	The Powerful.
As-Samīʿ	The Hearer.
Al-Baṣīr	The Seer.
Al-Mutakallim	The Speaker.

ʿĀYISHAH (عائشة‎). The daughter of Abū Bakr, and the favourite wife of Muḥammad, to whom she was married when only nine years of age. She survived her husband many years, and died at al-Madīnah, A.H. 58 (A.D. 678), aged sixty-seven, and obtained the title of Ummu ʾl-Muʾminīn, “The Mother of the Believers.”

AYMĀN (ايمان‎), pl. of Yamīn. [[OATHS].]

AYYĀMUʾL-BĪẒ (ايام البيض‎). “The days of the bright nights,” mentioned in the Mishkāt (book vii. c. 7, part 3), as days on which Muḥammad did not eat, whether halting or marching. They are the 13th, 14th, and 15th nights of the month. (See Lane’s Dict., p. 284.)

AYYĀMU ʾL-QARR (ايام القر‎). The day of rest after the day of sacrifice at the Pilgrimage. [[HAJJ].]

AYYĀMU ʾN-NAḤR (ايام النحر‎). The season of sacrifice at the Pilgrimage. [[HAJJ].]

AYYĀMU ʾT-TASHRĪQ (ايــام التشريق‎). The three days after the feast of sacrifice at Minā during the Pilgrimage. So called because the flesh of the victims is then dried, or because they are not slain until after sun-rise. [[HAJJ], [PILGRIMAGE].]

AYYIM (ايم‎). A legal term for a woman having no husband, whether she be a virgin or a widow.

ʿAẔĀBU ʾL-QABR (عذاب القبر‎). “The punishment of the grave.” That all persons, whether believers or not, undergo some punishment in their graves, is a fundamental article of the Muslim belief. These punishments are described in the following Ḥadīs̤ on the authority of Abū Hurairah:—

“The Prophet of God said, When a corpse is placed in its grave, two black angels come to it, with blue eyes. The name of the one is Munkar and of the other Nakīr, and they interrogate the dead person concerning the Prophet of God. If he be a Muslim, he will bear witness to the Unity of God and the mission of Muḥammad. The angels will then say, ‘We knew thou wouldst say so’; and the grave will then expand seventy times seventy yards in length, and seventy times seventy in breadth. A light will then be given for the grave, and it will be said, ‘Sleep.’ Then the dead person will say, ‘Shall I return to my brethren and inform them of this?’ Then the angels will say, ‘Sleep like the bridegroom, till God shall raise thee up from the grave on the Day of Resurrection.’ But if the corpse be that of an unbeliever, it will be asked, ‘What sayest thou about the Prophet?’ and he will reply, ‘I know him not.’ And then the angels will say, ‘We knew thou wouldst say so.’ Then the ground will be ordered to close in upon him, and it will break his sides, and turn his right side to his left, and he will suffer perpetual punishment till God raise him therefrom.” In another tradition, recorded by ʿAnas, it is said, “The wicked will be struck with a rod (mit̤raqah), and they will roar out, and their cries will be heard by all animals that may be near the grave excepting man and the genii.” (Mishkāt, book i., c. v.).

All Muḥammadan doctors of the orthodox schools (whether we apply the term orthodox to Sunnī or Shīʿah) believe in the literal interpretation of these punishments in the grave, which are said to take place as soon as the funeral party has left the grave-yard. A perusal of the various traditions on the subject must convince any unprejudiced mind that Muḥammad intended to teach a literal interpretation of his sayings on this subject. It is related that on one occasion, when the Prophet was riding through a grave-yard, his mule, hearing the groans of the dead, tried to throw his master. On that occasion, Muḥammad said, “If I were not afraid that you would leave off burying, I would ask God to give you the power of hearing what I hear.” Shaik͟h ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq, in his commentary on the Mishkāt, says, “The accounts which are here given of the punishment of the grave, are undoubtedly true, and they are not either imaginary or figurative.” (Mishkāt, book i., chap. v.; see Persian edition with ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq’s commentary.)

AZAL (ازل‎). Eternity with respect to the past, as distinguished from abad (ابد‎), eternity without end.

AẔĀN (اذان‎). Lit. “announcement.” The call or summons to public prayers proclaimed by the Muʾaẕẕin (or crier)—in small mosques from the side of the building or at the door, and in large mosques from the minaret.

It is in Arabic as follows:—

الله اكبر — الله اكبر — الله اكبر — الله اكبر — اشهد ان لا اله الا الله — اشهد ان لا اله الا الله — اشهد ان محمدا رسول الله — اشهد ان محمدا رسول الله — حى على الصلوة — حى على الصلوة — حى على الفلاح — حى على الفلاح — الله اكبر — الله اكبر — لا اله الا الله.‎

Allāhu akbar! Allāhu akbar! Allāhu akbar! Allāhu akbar! Ashhadu an lā ilāha illa ʾllāh! Ashhadu an lā ilāha illa ʾllāh! Ashhadu anna Muḥammadan rasūlu-llāh! Ashhadu anna Muḥammadan rasūlu-llāh! Ḥayya ʿala ʾṣ-ṣalāti! Ḥayya ʿala ʾṣ-ṣalāti! Ḥayya ʿala ʾl-falāḥ! Ḥayya ʿala ʾl-falāḥ! Allāhu akbar! Allāhu akbar! Lā ilāha illa ʾllāh!

Which is translated:—

“God is most great! God is most great! God is most great! God is most great! I testify that there is no god but God! I testify that there is no god but God! I testify that Muḥammad is the Apostle of God! I testify that Muḥammad is the Apostle of God! Come to prayer! Come to prayer! Come to salvation! Come to salvation! God is most great! God is most great! There is no god but God!”

In the Aẕān in the early morning, after the words, “Come to salvation!” is added الصلوة خير من النوم — الصلوة خير من النوم.؜‎ Aṣ-ṣalātu k͟hairun mina ʾn-naumi! Aṣ-ṣalātu k͟hairun mina ʾn-naumi! “Prayer is better than sleep! Prayer is better than sleep!”

The Shīʿahs make a slight alteration in the Aẕān, by adding the words, حى على خير العمل — حى على خير العمل‎ Ḥayya ʿalā k͟hairi ʾl-ʿamali! Ḥayya ʿalā k͟hairi ʾl-ʿamali! “Come to the best of works! Come to the best of works!” and by repeating the last sentence of the Aẕān, “There is no god but God,” twice instead of once, as in the Sunnī Aẕān.

When the Aẕān is recited, it is usual for men of piety and religious feeling to respond to each call, as, for example, when the Muʾaẕẕin cries:—

“Allāhu akbar! Allāhu akbar! Allāhu akbar! Allāhu akbar!”

Those who hear it repeat:—

“Allāhu akbar! Allāhu akbar! Allāhu akbar! Allāhu akbar!”

The Muʾaẕẕin says:—

“I testify that there is no god but God; I testify that there is no god but God.”

They reply:—

“I testify that there is no god but God; I testify that there is no god but God.”

Muʾaẕẕin.—“I testify that Muḥammad is the Apostle of God.”

Reply.—“I testify that Muḥammad is the Apostle of God.”

Muʾaẕẕin.—“Come to prayer.”

Reply.—“I have no power nor strength but from God the most High and Great.”

Muʾaẕẕin.—“Come to salvation.”

Reply.—“What God willeth will be; what He willeth not willeth not be.”

The recital of the Aẕān must be listened to with great reverence. If a person be walking at the time, he should stand still; if reclining, sit up. Mr. Lane, in his Modern Egyptians, says, “Most of the Muʾaẕẕins of Cairo have harmonious and sonorous voices, which they strain to the utmost pitch; yet there is a simple and solemn melody in their chants which is very striking, particularly in the stillness of the night.” But Vambéry remarks that “the Turkistānees most carefully avoid all tune and melody. The manner in which the Aẕān is cried in the west is here (in Bokhārā) declared sinful, and the beautiful melancholy notes which, in the silent hour of a moonlit evening, are heard from the slender minarets on the Bosphorus, fascinating every hearer, would be listened to by the Bok͟hariot with feelings only of detestation.”

The summons to prayer was at first the simple cry, “Come to public prayer.” After the Qiblah was changed, Muḥammad bethought himself of a more formal call. Some suggested the Jewish trumpet, others the Christian bell; but neither was grateful to the Prophet’s ear. The Aẕān, or call to prayer was then established. Tradition claims for it a supernatural origin, thus:—“While the matter was under discussion, ʿAbdu ʾllāh, a Khazrajite, dreamed that he met a man clad in green raiment, carrying a bell. ʿAbdu ʾllāh sought to buy it, saying that it would do well for bringing together the assembly of the faithful. ‘I will show thee a better way,’ replied the stranger; ‘let a crier cry aloud, “God is most great,” &c.’ Waking from sleep, ʿAbdu ʾllāh proceeded to Muḥammad, and told him his dream.” (Muir, from Kātibu ʾl-Wākidī.) Hishāmi recites the story as if ʿAbdu ʾllāh had actually met the man.

Bingham, in his Antiquities (vol. ii., book viii. chap. vii.), relates that, in the monastery of virgins which Paula, the famous Roman lady, set up and governed at Jerusalem, the signal for prayer was given by one going about and singing “Hallelujah!” for that was their call to church, as St. Jerome informs us.

The Aẕān is proclaimed before the stated times of prayer, either by one of the congregation, or by the Muʾaẕẕin or crier, who is paid for the purpose. He must stand with his face towards Makkah, with the points of his forefingers in his ears, and recite the formula which has been given above.

It must not be recited by an unclean person, a drunkard, a madman, or a woman.

ĀZAR (آزر‎). Terah, the father of Abraham. [Sūrah vi. 74], “And when Ābrahīm said to his father Āzar, Takest thou images as gods?”

“The Eastern authors unanimously agree that he was a statuary, or carver of idols; and he is represented as the first who made images of clay, pictures only having been in use before, and taught that they were to be adored as gods. However, we are told his employment was a very honourable one, and that he was a great lord, and in high favour with Nimrod, whose son-in-law he was, because he made his idols for him, and was excellent in his art. Some of the Rabbins say Terah was a priest and chief of the order.”—(Sale.)

AL-AZĀRIQAH (الازارقة‎). A sect of heretics founded by Nāfiʿ ibn al-Azraq, who say that ʿAlī was an infidel, and that his assassin was right in killing him. (See ash-Shahrastānī, ed. Cureton, p. ٨٩‎, Haarbruecker’s translation, I., p. 133.)

AL-ʿAẒBĀʾ (العضباء‎). The slit-eared; one of Muḥammad’s favourite camels.

AL-AẒḤĀ (الاضحى‎). [[ʿIDUʾL-AZHA].]

AL-ʿAZ̤ĪM (العظيم‎). One of the ninety-nine special names of God. “The great One.”

ʿAZĪMAH (عزيمة‎). An incantation. [[EXORCISM].]

AL-ʿAZĪZ (العزيز‎). One of the ninety-nine special names of God. It frequently occurs in the Qurʾān. It means “the powerful, or the mighty One.”

ʿAZRĀʾĪL (عزرائيل‎). The angel of Death. Mentioned in the Qurʾān under the title of Malaku ʾl-Maut, [Sūrah xxxii. 11], “The angel of death who is charged with you shall cause you to die.” [[MALAKU ʾL-MAUT].]