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

I.

IBĀḤĪYAH (اباحية‎). A sect of libertines who consider all things lawful.

IBĀQ (اباق‎). The absconding of slaves. The fugitive slave being termed ābiq, or, if he be an infant, zāll, or the strayed one. The restorer of a fugitive slave is entitled to a reward of forty dirhams, but no reward is given for the restoration of a strayed infant slave. [[SLAVERY].]

IBĀẒĪYAH (اباضية‎). A sect of Muslims founded by ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Ibāẓ, who said that if a man commit a kabīrah or great sin, he is an infidel, and not a believer. (Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, in loco.)

IBLĪS (ابليس‎). [[DEVIL].]

IBN ʿABBĀS (ابن عباس‎). ʿAbdu ʾllāh, the eldest son of ʿAbbās, and a cousin of Muḥammad. One of the most celebrated of the Companions, and the relator of numerous traditions. It is said that the angel Gabriel appeared to him, when he was only ten years old, and revealed to him the meaning of the Qurʾān, which accounted for his intimate acquaintance with the letter and meaning of the book. He was called Tarjumānu ʾl-Qurʾān, or “the interpreter of the Qurʾān.” He was appointed Governor of al-Baṣrah by the K͟halīfah ʿAlī, which office he held for some time. He returned to the Ḥijāz and died at at̤-T̤āʾif A.H. 68 (A.D. 687), aged 72 years.

IBN ḤANBAL (ابن حنبل‎). The Imām Abū ʿAbdi ʾllāh Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, the founder of the fourth orthodox sect of the Sunnīs, was born at Bag͟hdād A.H. 164, A.D. 780, where he received his education under Yazīd ibn Hārūn and Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd. On ash-Shāfiʿī coming to Bag͟hdād (A.H. 195), Ibn Ḥanbal attended the lectures delivered there by that doctor, and was instructed by him in the traditions. In process of time he acquired a high reputation from his profound knowledge of both the civil and spiritual law, and particularly for the extent of his erudition with respect to the precepts of the Prophet, of which it is said that he could repeat above a million. His fame began to spread just at the time when the disputes ran highest concerning the nature of the Qurʾān, which some held to have existed from eternity, whilst others maintained it to be created. Unfortunately for Ibn Ḥanbal, the K͟halīfah al-Muʿtaṣim was of the latter opinion, to which this doctor refusing to subscribe, he was imprisoned and severely scourged by the K͟halīfah’s order.

For this hard usage, indeed, he afterwards received some satisfaction from al-Mutawakkil, the son of al-Muʿtaṣim, who, upon succeeding to the throne, issued a decree of general toleration, leaving every person at liberty to judge for himself upon this point. This tolerant K͟halīfah set the persecuted doctor at liberty, receiving him at his Court with the most honourable marks of distinction, and offering him a compensatory present of 1,000 pieces of gold, which, however, he refused to accept. After having attained the rank of Imām, he retired from the world, and led a recluse life for several years. He died A.H. 241 (A.D. 855), aged 75. He obtained so high a reputation for sanctity, that his funeral was attended by a train of 800,000 men and 60,000 women; and it is asserted as a kind of miracle, that on the day of his decease no fewer than 20,000 Jews and Christians embraced the faith. For about a century after his death, the sect of Ibn Ḥanbal were numerous and even powerful; and uniting to their zeal a large proportion of fanaticism, became at length so turbulent and troublesome as to require the strong arm of Government to keep them in order. Like most other fanatical sects, they dwindled away in process of time, and are now to be met with only in a few parts of Arabia. Although orthodox in their other tenets, there was one point on which they differed from the rest of the Muslims; for they asserted that God had actually set Muḥammad upon his throne, and constituted him his substitute in the government of the universe; an assertion which was regarded with horror, as an impious blasphemy, and which brought them into great disrepute. This, however, did not happen until many years after Ibn Ḥanbal’s decease, and is in no degree attributed to him. He published only two works of note: one entitled the Musnad, which is said to contain above 30,000 traditions selected from 750,000; and another, a collection of apothegms, or proverbs, containing many admirable precepts upon the government of the passions. He had several eminent pupils, particularly Ismāʿīl al-Buk͟hārī and Muslim Ibn Dāʾūd. His authority is but seldom quoted by any of the modern commentators on jurisprudence.

The modern Wahhābīs are supposed to follow (to some extent) the teachings of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.

IBN K͟HALLIKĀN (ابن خلكان‎). The well-known Muḥammadan biographer. He drew his descent from a family of Balk͟h. He was born at Arbelah, but resided at Damascus, where he filled the office of chief Qāẓī, and died A.H. 681 (A.D. 1282). His biographical dictionary has been translated into English by Baron de Slane. (Paris 1843.) The biographical notes in the present work are chiefly from Ibn K͟hallikān’s work.

IBN MĀJAH (ابن ماجة‎). Abū ʿAbdi ʾllāh Muḥammad Ibn Yazīd Ibn Mājah al-Qazwīnī was maulawī of the tribe of Rabīʿah, and a celebrated Ḥāfiz̤ of the Qurʾān, and is known as the compiler of the Kitābu ʾs-Sunan, or “Book of Traditions.” This work is counted one of the six Ṣaḥīḥs, or authentic collections of Ḥadīs̤. Born A.H. 209 (A.D. 824). Died A.H. 273 (A.D. 886).

IBN MASʿŪD (ابن مسعود‎). ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Masʿūd, “a companion” of considerable note. One of the illustrious “ten” (ʿAsharah Mubashsharah) to whom Muḥammad gave an assurance of Paradise. He was present at the battle of Badr and subsequent engagements. Died at al-Madīnah A.H. 32, aged 60.

IBN MULJAM (ابن ملجم‎). The Muslim who slew the K͟halīfah ʿAlī. The author of the Ḥayātu ʾl-Qulūb (Merrick’s Translation, p. 204) says when ʿAlī was martyred by Ibn Muljam his celestial likeness (i.e. in the ʿĀlamu ʾl-Mis̤āl) appeared wounded also; wherefore angels visit the similitude morning and evening and curse the name of Ibn Muljam.

IBN ṢAIYĀD (ابن صياد‎). A mysterious personage who lived in the time of Muḥammad, and who was mistaken by some people for ad-Dajjālu ʾl-Masīḥ, or the Antichrist. ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq says some say he was a Jew of al-Madīnah named ʿAbdu ʾllāh.

Ibn ʿUmar relates that the Prophet went to Ibn Ṣaiyād, accompanied by a party of his companions, and found him playing with boys; and at this time he had nearly reached puberty; and Ibn Ṣaiyād had no intimation of the coming of the Prophet and the companions, till the Prophet struck him upon the back, and said, “Do you bear witness that I am the Prophet of God?” Then Ibn Ṣaiyād looked at the Prophet and said, “I bear witness that you are the Prophet of the illiterate.” After that he said to the Prophet, “Do you bear witness that I am the Prophet of God?” Then the Prophet pressed him with both his hands and said, “I believe in God and His Prophets”; and then said to Ibn Ṣaiyād, “What do you look at?” He said, “Sometimes a person comes to me telling the truth; and sometimes another person telling lies; like as magicians, to whom devils bring truth and falsehood.” The Prophet said, “The Devil comes to you, and brings you news, false and true.” After that, the Prophet said, “Verily, I have concealed a revelation from you” (which was the one in which there is mention of the smoke); and Ibn Ṣaiyād said, “Is it the one with the smoke?” Then the Prophet said, “Begone! you cannot surpass your own degree!” Ibn ʿUmar said, “O Prophet of God! do you permit me to strike off Ibn Ṣaiyād’s head?” He said, “If Ibn Ṣaiyād be Dajjāl, you will not be able to kill him, because Jesus will be his slayer; and if he is not Dajjāl there can be no good in your killing him.” After this the Prophet and Ubaiy ibn Kaʿb al-Anṣārī went towards some date trees belonging to Ibn Ṣaiyād, and the Prophet hid himself behind the branches, to listen to what he would say, before Ibn Ṣaiyād discovered him. And at this time Ibn Ṣaiyād was lying upon his bed, with a sheet over his face, talking to himself; and his mother saw the Prophet standing behind the branches of the trees, and said to her son, “Muḥammad is standing.” At this he became silent; and the Prophet said, “Had not his mother informed him he would have said something to have discovered what he is.” Then the Prophet repeated, “Praised be God, by that which is worthy of him”; and then mentioned Dajjāl and said, “Verily, I fear for you from Dajjāl; there is no Prophet but he alarmed his people about him. Verily, Noah frightened his people about Dajjāl; but I will tell you a thing in the matter of Dajjāl, which no one Prophet ever told his people: know that he is blind, and that verily God is not blind.”

Abū Saʿīd al-K͟hudri says: “Ibn Ṣaiyād asked the Prophet about the earth of Paradise; and he said, ‘The earth of Paradise is in whiteness like flour twice sifted; and in smell like pure musk.’ And I accompanied Ibn Ṣaiyād from al-Madīnah to Makkah; and he said to me, ‘What trouble I have experienced from people’s supposing me Dajjāl! Have you not heard, O Ibn Ṣaiyād, the Prophet of God say, “Verily, Dajjāl will have no children”? and I have; and verily, the Prophet has said, “Dajjāl is an infidel,” and I am a Muslim; and the Prophet said, “Dajjāl will neither enter al-Madīnah nor Makkah”; and verily, I am going from al-Madīnah and intend going to Makkah.’ After that, Ibn Ṣaiyād said, in the latter part of his speech, ‘Beware; I swear by God, I know the place of Dajjāl’s birth, and where he stays; and I know his father and mother.’ Then this made me doubtful; and I said, ‘May the remainder of your days be lost to you.’ A person present said to Ibn Ṣaiyād, ‘Would you like to be Dajjāl?’ He said, ‘If I possessed what Dajjāl is described to have, such as the power of leading astray, I should not dislike it.’ ”

Ibn ʿUmar says: “I met Ibn Ṣaiyād when he had swollen eyes, and I said, ‘How long has this been?’ He said, ‘I do not know.’ I said, ‘Do not know, now that your eyes are in your head?’ He said, ‘If God pleased He could create eyes in your limbs, and they would not know anything about it; in this manner also, man is so employed as to be insensible to pains.’ Then Ibn Ṣaiyād made a noise from his nose, louder than the braying of an ass.” (Mishkāt, book xxiii. ch. v.)

IBN ʿUMAR (ابن عمر‎). Abū ʿAbdi ʾr-Raḥmān ʿAbdu ʾllāh, son of ʿUmar the celebrated K͟halīfah, was one of the most eminent of the “companions” of Muḥammad. He embraced Islām with his father when he was only eight years old. For a period of sixty years he occupied the leading position as a traditionist, and al-Buk͟hārī, the collector of traditions, says the most authentic are those given on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar. He died at Makkah A.H. 73 (A.D. 692), aged 84 years.

IBRĀHĪM (ابراهيم‎). The patriarch Abraham. [[ABRAHAM].]

IBRĀHĪM (ابراهيم‎). The infant son of Muḥammad by his slave girl, Mary the Copt. Born A.H. 8, died A.H. 10 (A.D. 631).

ʿĪD (عيد‎). [[FESTIVAL].]

ʿĪDĀN (عيدان‎). The Dual of ʿĪd, a festival. The two festivals, the ʿĪdu ʾl-Fit̤r, and the ʿĪdu ʾl-Aẓḥā.

ʿIDDAH (عدة‎). Lit. “Number.” The term of probation incumbent upon a woman in consequence of a dissolution of marriage, either by divorce or the death of her husband. After a divorce the period is three months, and after the death of her husband, four months and ten days, both periods being enjoined by the Qurʾān ([Sūrah lxv. 4]; [ii. 234].)

ʿĪDGĀH (عيدگاه‎). Lit. “A place of festival.” A Persian term for the muṣallā, or praying-place, set apart for the public prayers said on the two chief festivals, viz. ʿĪdu ʾl-Fit̤r, and ʿĪdu ʾl-Aẓḥā. [[ʿIDAN].]

IDIOTS. Arabic majnūn (مجنون‎), pl. majānīn. Mr. Lane, in his Modern Egyptians, vol. i. p. 288, says:—

“An idiot or a fool is vulgarly regarded by them as a being whose mind is in heaven, while his grosser part mingles among ordinary mortals; consequently he is considered an especial favourite of heaven. Whatever enormities a reputed saint may commit (and there are many who are constantly infringing precepts of their religion), such acts do not affect his fame for sanctity; for they are considered as the results of the abstraction of his mind from worldly things; his soul, or reasoning faculties, being wholly absorbed in devotion, so that his passions are left without control. Lunatics who are dangerous to society are kept in confinement; but those who are harmless are generally regarded as saints. Most of the reputed saints of Egypt are either lunatics, or idiots, or impostors.”

IDOLATRY. The word used in the Qurʾān for idolatry is shirk (شرك‎), and for an idolater, mushrik (مشرك‎), pl. mushrikūn. In theological works the word was̤anī (وثنى‎) is used for an idolater (was̤an, an idol); and ʿibādatu ʾl-aus̤ān (عبادة الاوثان‎), for idolatry.

In one of the earliest Sūrahs of the Qurʾān (when chronologically arranged), lii. 35–43, idolatry is condemned in the following language:—

“Were they created by nothing? or were they the creators of themselves?

“Created they the Heavens and Earth? Nay, rather, they have no faith.

“Hold they thy Lord’s treasures? Bear they the rule supreme?

“Have they a ladder for hearing the angels? Let anyone who hath heard them bring a clear proof of it.

“Hath God daughters and ye sons?

“Askest thou pay of them? They are themselves weighed down with debts.

“Have they such a knowledge of the secret things that they can write them down?

“Desire they to lay snares for thee? But the snared ones shall be they who do not believe.

“Have they any God beside God? Glory be to God above what they join with Him.”

But they are, in a later Sūrah (nearly the last), [ix. 28], declared unclean, and forbidden to enter the sacred temple at Makkah. That was after Muḥammad had destroyed the idols in his last pilgrimage to the Sacred House.

“O Believers! only they who join gods with God are unclean! Let them not, therefore, after this their year, come near the sacred temple. And if ye fear want, God, if He please, will enrich you of His abundance: for God is Knowing, Wise.”

In a Sūrah given about the same time ([iv. 51], [116]), idolatry is declared to be the unpardonable sin:—

“Verily, God will not forgive the union of other gods with Himself! But other than this will He forgive to whom He pleaseth. And he who uniteth gods with God hath devised a great wickedness.”

“God truly will not forgive the joining other gods with Himself. Other sins He will forgive to whom He will: but he who joineth gods with God, hath erred with far-gone error.”

Nor is it lawful for Muslims to pray for the souls of idolaters, as is evident from [Sūrah ix. 114]:—

“It is not for the prophet or the faithful to pray for the forgiveness of those, even though they be of kin, who associate other beings with God, after it hath been made clear to them that they are to be the inmates of Hell.

“For neither did Abraham ask forgiveness for his father, but in pursuance of a promise which he had promised to him: but when it was shewn him that he was an enemy to God, he declared himself clear of him. Yet Abraham was pitiful, kind.”

Sir William Muir says (Int. p. ccxii.) that “Mahomet is related to have said that Amr son of Lohai (the first Khozaite king, A.D. 200) was the earliest who dared to change the ‘pure religion of Ishmael,’ and set up idols brought from Syria. This, however, is a mere Muslim conceit. The practice of idolatry thickly overspread the whole peninsula from a much more remote period.”

From the chapters from the Qurʾān, already quoted, it will be seen that from the very first Muḥammad denounced idolatry. But the weakness of his position compelled him to move cautiously. The expressions contained in the al-Madīnah Sūrahs, given when Muḥammad could not enter Makkah, are much more restrained than those in the Sūrahs given after the capture of Makkah and the destruction of the idols of the Kaʿbah.

At an early period (about the fifth year) of his mission, Muḥammad seems to have contemplated a compromise and reconciliation with Makkan idolatry. Sir William Muir (quoting from at̤-T̤abarī, pp. 140–142, and Kātibu ʾl-Wāqidī, p. 40), says:—

“On a certain day, the chief men of Mecca, assembled in a group beside the Káaba, discussed, as was their wont, the affairs of the city. Mahomet appeared, and, seating himself by them in a friendly manner, began to recite in their hearing [Sura liii]. The chapter opens with a description of the first visit of Gabriel to Mahomet, and then unfolds a second vision of that angel, in which certain heavenly mysteries were revealed. It then proceeds:—

And see ye not Lât and Ozza,

And Manât the third besides?

“When he had reached this verse, the devil suggested to Mahomet an expression of thoughts which had long possessed his soul, and put into his mouth words of reconciliation and compromise, the revelation of such as he had been yearning that God might send unto his people, namely:—

These are the exalted females,

And verily their intercession is to be hoped for.

“The Coreish were astonished and delighted with this acknowledgment of their deities; and as Mahomet wound up the Sura with the closing words,—

Wherefore bow down before God, and serve Him,

the whole assembly prostrated themselves with one accord on the ground and worshipped. Walîd alone, unable from the infirmities of age to bow down, took a handful of earth and worshipped, pressing it to his forehead.

“And all the people were pleased at that which Mahomet had spoken, and they began to say, ‘Now we know that it is the Lord alone that giveth life and taketh it away, that createth and supporteth. And as for these our goddesses, make intercession with Him for us; wherefore, as thou hast conceded unto them a portion, we are content to follow thee.’

“But their words disquieted Mahomet, and he retired to his house. In the evening Gabriel visited him, and the Prophet (as was his wont) recited the Sura unto him. And Gabriel said, ‘What is this that thou hast done? thou hast repeated before the people words that I never gave unto thee.’ So Mahomet grieved sore, and feared the Lord greatly; and he said, ‘I have spoken of God that which he hath not said.’ But the Lord comforted His Prophet, and restored his confidence, and cancelled the verse, and revealed the true reading thereof (as it now stands), namely:—

And see ye not Lât and Ozza,

And Manât the third besides?

What! shall there be male progeny unto you, and female unto him?

That were indeed an unjust partition!

They are naught but names, which ye and your fathers have invented, &c.

“Now, when the Coreish heard this, they spoke among themselves, saying, ‘Mahomet hath repented his favourable mention of the rank of our goddesses with the Lord. He hath changed the same, and brought other words instead.’ So the two Satanic verses were in the mouth of every one of the unbelievers, and they increased their malice, and stirred them up to persecute the faithful with still greater severity.” (Sir W. Muir’s Life of Mahomet, new ed. p. 86 seqq.)

The Commentators do not refer to this circumstance, and pious Muḥammadans would reject the whole story, but, as Sir W. Muir says, “the authorities are too strong to be impugned.”

These narratives of at̤-T̤abarī and the secretary of al-Wāqidī are fully borne out in the facts of Muḥammad’s subsequent compromise with the idolatrous feelings of the people; for whilst he removed the images from the Kaʿbah, he at the same time retained the black stone as an object of superstitious reverence, and although he destroyed Isāf and Nāʾilah, the deities of aṣ-Ṣafā and al-Marwah, he still retained the “runnings to and fro,” and the “stonings of the pillars,” as part of the sacred rites of what was intended to be a purely theistic and iconoclastic system. The most singular feature in the fetichism of Arabia was the adoration paid to unshapen stones, and Muḥammad found it impossible to construct his religion without some compromise with the popular form of idolatry. It is a curious circumstance that so much of the zeal and bigotry of the Wahhābī puritans is directed against the shirk, or idolatry, of the popular veneration for tombs and other objects of adoration, and yet they see no objection to the adoration of the black stone, and those other strange and peculiar customs which form part of the rites of the Makkan pilgrimage.

IDOLS. Arabic was̤an (وثن‎), pl. aus̤ān, also ṣanam (صنم‎), pl. aṣnām, both words being used in the Qurʾān. Ten of the idols of ancient Arabia are mentioned by name in the Qurʾān, viz.:—

[Sūrah iv. 52]: “Hast thou not observed those to whom a part of the Scriptures hath been given? They believe in al-Jibt and at̤-T̤āg͟hūt, and say of the infidels, ‘These are guided in a better path than those who hold the faith.’ ”

[Sūrah liii. 19]: “Have ye considered al-Lāt, al-ʿUzza, and Manāt the third?”

[Sūrah lxxi. 21]: “They have plotted a great plot and said, “Ye shall surely not leave your gods: ye shall surely neither leave Wadd, nor Suwāʿ, nor Yag͟hūs̤, nor Yaʿūq, nor Nasr, and they led astray many.”

Al-Jibt and at̤-T̤āg͟hūt (the latter also mentioned in [Sūrah ii. 257, 259]) were, according to Jalālu ʾd-dīn, two idols of the Quraish whom certain renegade Jews honoured in order to please the Quraish.

Al-Lāt was the chief idol of the Banū S̤aqīf at at̤-T̤āʾif. The name appears to be the feminine of Allāh, God.

Al-ʿUzza has been identified with Venus, but it was worshipped under the form of an acacia tree, and was the deity of the Banū G͟hat̤afān.

Manāt was a large sacrificial stone worshipped by the Banū K͟huzāʿah and Banū Huẕail.

The five idols, Wadd, Suwāʿ, Yag͟hūs̤, Yāʿūq, and Nasr, the commentators say, were originally five persons of eminence in the time of Adam, who after their deaths were worshipped in the form of idols.

Wadd was worshipped by the Banū Kalb in the form of a man, and is said to have represented heaven.

Suwāʿ was a female deity of the Banū Ḥamdān.

Yag͟hūs̤ was a deity of the Banū Maẕḥij and in the form of a lion.

Yaʿūq was an idol of the Banū Murād in the shape of a horse.

Nasr was, as its name implies, an image of an eagle, and worshipped by Ḥimyar.

It is said (according to Burkhardt, p. 164) that at the time of Muḥammad’s suppression of idol worship in the Makkan temple, there were not fewer than 360 idols in existence.

The chief of the minor deities was Hubal, an image of a man, and said to have been originally brought from Syria. Other well-known idols were Isāf, an idol on Mount aṣ-Ṣāfā, and Nāʾilah, an image on Mount al-Marwah, as part of the rites of the pilgrimage, the Prophet not being able to divert entirely the regard of the people for them.

Habhah was a large sacred stone on which camels were sacrificed, and the Ḥajaru ʾl-Aswad, or Black Stone, was an object, as it still is, of idolatrous worship. In the Kaʿbah there were also images representing Abraham and Ishmael, each with divining arrows in his hand.

The statement, made by some writers, that the image or picture of Jesus and Mary had a place in the Kaʿbah, seems to be without any authority.

Although Herodotus does not refer to the Kaʿbah, yet he mentions as one of the chief divinities of Arabia Alilat, which is strong evidence of the existence of an idol called al-Lāt at that time as an object of worship. (Herod. iii. 8.) [[IDOLATRY].]

IDRĪS (ادريس‎). A prophet mentioned twice in the Qurʾān, about whose identity there is some discussion.

[Sūrah xix. 57]: “Commemorate Idrīs in the Book; verily he was a man of truth and a Prophet, and we raised him to a lofty place.”

[Sūrah xxi. 85]: “And Ishmael, and Idrīs, and Ẕū ʾl-kifl—all steadfast in patience.”

Al-Baiẓāwī says Idrīs was of the posterity of Shīs̤ (Seth), and a forefather of Noah, and his name was Uḥnūk͟h (Enoch, Heb. ‏חֲנוֹךְ‎, Consecrated). He was called Idrīs from dars, “to instruct,” from his knowledge of divine mysteries, and thirty portions of God’s sacred scriptures were revealed to him. He was the first person who learned to write, and he was the inventor of the science of astronomy and arithmetic.

Ḥusain says, “In the Jāmiʿu ʾl-Uṣūl, it is written that Idrīs was born one hundred years after the death of Adam.”

The Jalālān say the meaning of the words in the Qurʾān, “we raised him to a lofty place,” is that he liveth either in the fourth heaven, or in the sixth or seventh heaven, or that he was raised up from the dead and taken to Paradise.

The Kāmālān say, “In the book called the Rauẓatu ʾl-Aḥbāb, Ibn Jarīr relates that Idrīs was the special friend of one of the angels of heaven, and that this angel took him up into the heavens, and when they arrived in the fourth heaven they met the Angel of Death. The angel asked the Angel of Death how many years there were remaining of the life of Idrīs; and the Angel of Death said, ‘Where is Idrīs, for I have received orders to bring death to him?’ Idrīs then remained in the fourth heaven, and he died in the wings of his angel friend who had taken him from earth.”

Some of the Commentators think Idrīs and Elijah (Ilyās) are the same persons. But the accounts given seem to identify him with Enoch.

ʿĪDU ʾL-AẒḤĀ (عيد الاضحى‎). Vulg. ʿĪd-i-Ẓuḥā, “The feast of sacrifice.” Called also Yaumu ʾn-Naḥr; Qurbān-ʿĪd; Baqarah-ʿĪd (i.e. the cow festival); and in Turkey and Egypt ʿĪdu Bairām. It is also called the ʿĪdu ʾl-kabīr, the great festival, as distinguished from the ʿĪdu ʾl-Fit̤r, which is called the minor festival, or al-ʿĪdu ʾṣ-ṣag͟hīr.

It is celebrated on the tenth day of Ẕū ʾl-Ḥijjah, and is part of the rites of the Makkan pilgrimage, although it is observed as well in all parts of Islām both as a day of sacrifice and as a great festival. It is founded on an injunction in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxii. 33–38].

“This do. And they who respect the symbols of God, perform an action which proceedeth from piety of heart.

“Ye may obtain advantages from the cattle to the set time for slaying them; then, the place for sacrificing them is at the ancient House.

“And to every people have we appointed symbols, that they may commemorate the name of God over the brute beasts which He hath provided for them. And your God is the one God. To Him, therefore, surrender yourselves: and bear thou good tidings to those who humble themselves,—

“Whose hearts, when mention is made of God, thrill with awe; and to those who remain steadfast under all that befalleth them, and observe prayer, and give alms of that with which we have supplied them.

“And the camels have we appointed you for the sacrifice to God: much good have ye in them. Make mention, therefore, of the name of God over them when ye slay them, as they stand in a row; and when they are fallen over on their sides, eat of them, and feed him who is content and asketh not, and him who asketh. Thus have We subjected them to you, to the intent ye should be thankful.

“By no means can their flesh reach unto God, neither their blood; but piety on your part reacheth Him. Thus hath He subjected them to you, that ye might magnify God for His guidance: moreover, announce glad tidings to those who do good deeds.”

The institution of the sacrifice was as follows:—A few months after the Hijrah, or flight from Makkah, Muḥammad, dwelling in al-Madīnah, observed that the Jews kept, on the tenth day of the seventh month, the great fast of the Atonement. A tradition records that the Prophet asked them why they kept this fast. He was informed that it was a memorial of the deliverance of Moses and the children of Israel from the hands of Pharaoh. “We have a greater right in Moses than they,” said Muḥammad, so he fasted with the Jews and commanded his followers to fast also. This was at the period of his mission when Muḥammad was friendly with the Jews of al-Madīnah, who occasionally came to hear him preach. The Prophet also occasionally attended the synagogue. Then came the change of the Qiblah from Jerusalem to Makkah, for the Jews were not so ready to change their creed as Muḥammad had at first hoped. In the second year of the Hijrah, Muḥammad and his followers did not participate in the Jewish fast, for the Prophet now instituted the ʿĪdu ʾl-Aẓḥā. The idolatrous Arabs had been in the habit of making an annual pilgrimage to Makkah at this season of the year. The offering of animals in sacrifice formed a part of the concluding ceremony of that pilgrimage. That portion—the sacrifice of animals—Muḥammad adopted in the feast which now, at al-Madīnah, he substituted for the Jewish fast. This was well calculated to attract the attention of the Makkans and to gain the goodwill of the Arabs. Muḥammad could not then make the pilgrimage to Makkah, for as yet there was a hostile feeling between the inhabitants of the two cities; but on the tenth day of the month Ẕū ʾl-Ḥijjah, at the very time when the Arabs at Makkah were engaged in sacrificing victims, Muḥammad went forth from his house at al-Madīnah, and assembling his followers instituted the ʿĪdu ʾl-Aẓḥā. Two young kids were brought before him. One he sacrificed and said: “O Lord! I sacrifice this for my whole people, all those who bear witness to Thy unity and to my mission. O Lord! this is for Muḥammad and for the family of Muḥammad.”

There is nothing in the Qurʾān to connect this sacrifice with the history of Ishmael, but it is generally held by Muḥammadans to have been instituted in commemoration of Abraham’s willingness to offer up his son as a sacrifice. And Muḥammadan writers generally maintain that the son was Ishmael and not Isaac, and that the scene took place on Mount Mina near Makkah, and not in the land of Moriah, as is stated in Genesis.

The following is the account given by Muḥammadan writers:—“When Ibrahīm (the peace of God be upon him) founded Makkah, the Lord desired him to prepare a feast for Him. Upon Ibrahīm’s (the friend of God) requesting to know what He would have on the occasion, the Lord replied, ‘Offer up thy son Ismāʿīl.’ Agreeably to God’s command he took Ismāʿīl to the Kaʿbah to sacrifice him, and having laid him down, he made several ineffectual strokes on his throat with a knife, on which Ismāʿīl observed, ‘Your eyes being uncovered, it is through pity and compassion for me you allow the knife to miss: it would be better if you blindfolded yourself with the end of your turban and then sacrificed me.’ Ibrahīm acted upon his son’s suggestion and having repeated the words ‘Bi-smi ʾllāhi, allāhu akbar’ (i.e. ‘In the name of God! God is great!’), he drew the knife across his son’s neck. In the meanwhile, however, Gabriel had substituted a broad-tailed sheep for the youth Ismāʿīl, and Ibrahīm unfolding his eyes observed, to his surprise, the sheep slain, and his son standing behind him.” (See Qiṣaṣu ʾl-Ambiyāʾ.)

It is a notable fact that whilst Muḥammad professed to abrogate the Jewish ritual, and also ignored entirely the doctrine of the Atonement as taught in the New Testament, denying even the very fact of our Saviour’s crucifixion, he made the “day of sacrifice” the great central festival of his religion.

There is a very remarkable Ḥadīs̤, related by ʿĀyishah, who states that Muḥammad said, “Man hath not done anything on the ʿĪdu ʾl-Aẓḥā more pleasing to God than spilling blood; for verily the animal sacrificed will come, on the day of resurrection, with its horns, its hair, and its hoofs, and will make the scale of his (good) actions heavy. Verily its blood reacheth the acceptance of God, before it falleth upon the ground, therefore be joyful in it.” (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. xlii. sec. 2.)

Muḥammad has thus become a witness to the doctrine of the Christian faith that “without shedding of blood, there is no remission.” The animal sacrificed must be without blemish, and of full age; but it may be either a goat, a sheep, a cow, or a camel.

The religious part of the festival is observed as follows:—The people assemble in the morning for prayer, in the ʿĪdgāh, or place erected outside the city for these special festival prayers. The whole congregation then standing in the usual order, the Imām takes his place in front of them and leads them in two rakʿahs of prayer. After prayers the Imām ascends the mimbar or pulpit and delivers a K͟hut̤bah, or oration, on the subject of the festival.

We are indebted to Mr. Sell for the following specimen of the K͟hut̤bah:—

“In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

“God is Great. There is no God but God. God is Great! God is Great and worthy of all praise. He is Holy. Day and night we should praise Him. He is without partner, without equal. All praise be to Him. Holy is He, Who makes the rich generous, Who provides the sacrifice for the wise. He is Great, without an equal. All praise be to Him. Listen! I testify that there is no God but God. He is alone, without partner. This testimony is as bright as the early dawn, as brilliant as the glorious feast day. Muḥammad is His servant who delivered His message. On Muḥammad, and on his family, and on his Companions may the peace of God rest. On you who are present, O congregation of Muslimīn, may the mercy of God for ever rest. O servants of God! our first duty is to fear God and to be kind. God has said, ‘I will be with those who fear Me and are kind.’

“Know, O servants of God! that to rejoice on the feast day is the sign and mark of the pure and good. Exalted will be the rank of such in Paradise, especially on the day of resurrection will they obtain dignity and honour. Do not on this day foolish acts. It is no time for amusements and negligence. This is the day on which to utter the praises of God. Read the Kalimah, the Takbīr and the Tamḥīd. This is a high festival season and the feast of sacrifice. Read now the Takbīru ʾt-Tashrīq. God is great! God is great! There is no God but God! God is great! God is great! All praise be to Him! From the morning of the ʿArafah, after every farẓ rakʿah, it is good for a person to repeat the Takbīru ʾt-Tashrīq. The woman before whom is a man as Imām, and the traveller whose Imām is a permanent resident, should also repeat this Takbīr. It should be said at each Namāz until the Ṣalātu ʾl-ʿAṣr of the Feast day (10th). Some, however, say that it should be recited every day till the afternoon of the thirteenth day, as these are the days of the Tashrīq. If the Imām forgets to recite, let not the worshipper forget. Know, O believers, that every free man who is a Ṣāḥib-i-Niṣāb should offer sacrifice on this day, provided that this sum is exclusive of his horse, his clothes, his tools, and his household goods and slaves. It is wājib for everyone to offer sacrifice for himself, but it is not a wājib order that he should do it for his children. A goat, a ram, or a cow, should be offered in sacrifice for every seven persons. The victim must not be one-eyed, blind, lame, or very thin.

“If you sacrifice a fat animal it will serve you well, and carry you across the Ṣirāt̤. O Believers, thus said the Prophet, on whom be the mercy and peace of God, ‘Sacrifice the victim with your own hands, this was the Sunnah of Ibrahīm, on whom be peace.’

“In the Kitābu Zādi ʾt-Taqwa it is said that, on the ʿĪdu ʾl-Fit̤r and the ʿĪdu ʾl-Aẓḥā, four nafl rakʿahs should be said after the farẓ Namāz of the ʿĪd. In the first rakʿah after the Sūratu ʾl-Fātiḥah recite the Sūratu ʾl-Aʿla ([Sūrah lxxvii].); in the second, the Sūratu ʾsh-Shams ([Sūrah xci].); in the third, the Sūratu ʾẓ-Ẓuḥa ([Sūrah xciii].); in the fourth, the Sūratu ʾl-Ik͟hlāṣ ([cxii].).

“O Believers, if ye do so, God will pardon the sins of fifty years which are past and of fifty years to come. The reading of these Sūrahs is equal, as an act of merit, to the reading of all the books God has sent by His prophets.

“May God include us amongst those who are accepted by Him, who act according to the Law, whose desire will be granted at the Last Day. To all such there will be no fear in the Day of Resurrection; no sorrow in the examination at the Day of Judgment. The best of all books is the Qurʾān. O believers! May God give to us and to you a blessing for ever, by the grace of the Noble Qurʾān. May its verses be our guide, and may its wise mention of God direct us aright. I desire that God may pardon all believers, male and female, the Muslimīn and the Muslimāt. O believers, also seek for pardon. Truly God is the Forgiver, the Merciful, the Eternal King, the Compassionate, the Clement. O believers, the K͟hut̤bah is over. Let all desire that on Muḥammad Muṣt̤afa the mercy and peace of God may rest.”

The K͟hut̤bah being ended, the people all return to their homes. The head of the family then takes a sheep, or a cow, or a goat, or camel, and turning its head towards Makkah says:

“In the name of the great God.

“Verily, my prayers, my sacrifice, my life, my death, belong to God, the Lord of the worlds. He has no partner: that is what I am bidden: for I am first of those who are Mūslim (i.e. resigned).”

And then he slays the animal. The flesh of the animal is then divided into three portions, one third being given to relations, one third to the poor, and the remaining third reserved for the family. Quite apart from its religious ceremonies, the festival is observed as a great time of rejoicing, and the holiday is kept for two or three days in a similar way to that of the minor festival or the ʿĪdu ʾl-Fit̤r. [[HAJJ], [ISHMAEL], [SACRIFICE].]

ʿĪDU ʾL-FIT̤R (عـيـد الـفـطر‎). Lit. “The Festival of the Breaking of the Fast.” It is called also ʿĪdu Ramaẓān, the ʿĪdu ʾṣ-Ṣadaqah (Feast of Alms), and the ʿĪdu ʾṣ-ṣag͟hīr (Minor Festival). It commences as soon as the month’s fast in Ramaẓān is over, and consequently on the first day of the month of Shawwāl. It is specially a feast of alms-giving. “Bring out your alms,” said Ibn ʿAbbās, “for the Prophet has ordained this as a divine institution, one Ṣāʿ of barley or dates, or a half Ṣāʿ of wheat: this is for every person, free or bond, man or woman, old or young, to purify thy fast (i.e. the month’s fast just concluded) of any obscene language, and to give victuals to the poor.” (Mishkāt, book vi. ch. iii.)

On this festival the people, having previously distributed the alms which are called the Ṣadaqatu ʾl-Fit̤r, assemble in the vast assembly outside the city in the ʿĪdgāh, and, being led by the Imām, recite two rakʿahs of prayer. After prayers the Imām ascends the mimbar, or pulpit, and delivers the k͟hut̤bah, or oration. We are indebted to Mr. Sell for the following specimen of one of these sermons:—

“In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

“Holy is God who has opened the door of mercy for those who fast, and in mercy and kindness has granted them the right of entrance into heaven. God is greater than all. There is no God save Him. God is great! God is great! and worthy of praise. It is of His grace and favour that He rewards those who keep the fast. He has said: ‘I will give in the future world houses and palaces, and many excellent blessings to those who fast.’ God is great! God is great! Holy is He who certainly sent the Qurʾān to our Prophet in the month of Ramaẓān, and who sends angels to grant peace to all true believers. God is great! and worthy of all praise. We praise and thank Him for the ʿĪdu ʾl-Fit̤r, that great blessing; and we testify that beside Him there is no God. He is alone. He has no partner. This witness which we give to His Unity will be a cause of our safety here, and finally gain us an entrance to Paradise. Muḥammad (on whom be the mercy and peace of God) and all famous prophets are His slaves. He is the Lord of genii and of men. From Him comes mercy and peace upon Muḥammad and his family, so long as the world shall last. God is greater than all. There is none beside Him. God is great! God is great! and worthy of all praise. O company of Believers, O congregation of Muslims, the mercy of the True One is on you. He says that this Feast day is a blessing to you, and a curse to the unbelievers. Your fasting will not be rewarded, and your prayers will be stayed in their flight to heaven until you have given the ṣadaqah. O congregation of Believers, to give alms is to you a wājib duty. Give to the poor some measures of grain or its money equivalent. Your duty in Ramaẓān was to say the Tarāwīḥ prayers, to make supplication to God, to sit and meditate (iʿtikāf) and to read the Qurʾān. The religious duties of the first ten days of Ramaẓān gain the mercy of God, those of the second ten merit His pardon; whilst those of the last ten save those who do them from the punishment of hell. God has declared that Ramaẓān is a noble month, for is not one of its nights, the Lailatu ʾl-Qadr, better than a thousand months? On that night Gabriel and the angels descended from heaven: till the morning breaks it is full of blessing. Its eloquent interpreter, and its clearest proof is the Qurʾān, the Word of God, most Gracious. Holy is God who says in the Qurʾān: ‘This is a guide for men, a distinguisher between right and wrong.’ O Believers, in such a month be present, obey the order of your God, and fast; but let the sick and the travellers substitute some other days on which to fast, so that no days be lost, and say: ‘God is great!’ and praise Him. God has made the fast easy for you. O Believers, God will bless you and us by the grace of the Holy Qurʾān. Every verse of it is a benefit to us and fills us with wisdom. God is the Bestower, the Holy King, the Munificent, the Kind, the Nourisher, the Merciful, the Clement.”

The K͟hut̤bah being ended, the whole congregation raise their hands and offer a munājāt for the remission of sins, the recovery of the sick, increase of rain, abundance of corn, preservation from misfortune, and freedom from debt. The Imām then descends to the ground, and makes further supplication for the people, the congregation saying “Amīn” at the end of each supplication. At the close of the service the members of the congregation salute and embrace each other, and offer mutual congratulations, and then return to their homes, and spend the rest of the day in feasting and merriment.

Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali, in her Observations on the Musalmans of India, says:—

“The assemblies of the ladies on this festival are marked by all the amusements and indulgences they can possibly invent or enjoy in their secluded state. Some receiving, others paying visits in covered conveyances; all doing honour to the day by wearing their best jewellery and most splendid dress. The Zanānah rings with festive songs and loud music, the cheerful meeting of friends, the distribution of presents to dependants, and remembrances to the poor; all is life and joy, cheerful bustle and amusement, on this happy day of festival, when the good lady of the mansion sits in state to receive presents from inferiors and to grant proofs of her favour to others.”

Mr. Lane, in his Modern Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 238, thus describes the ʿĪdu ʾl-Fit̤r, as kept in Egypt:—

“Soon after sunrise on the first day, the people having all dressed in new, or in their best clothes, the men assemble in the mosques, and perform the prayers of two rekʾahs, a Soonneh ordinance of the ʾeed; after which, the Khateeb delivers an exhortation. Friends, meeting in the mosque, or in the street, or in each other’s houses, congratulate and embrace and kiss each other. They generally visit each other for this purpose. Some, even of the lower classes, dress themselves entirely in a new suit of clothes, and almost everyone wears something new, if it be only a pair of shoes. The servant is presented with at least one new article of clothing by the master, and receives a few piasters from each of his master’s friends, if they visit the house; or even goes to those friends to congratulate them, and receives his present; if he have served a former master, he also visits him, and is in like manner rewarded for his trouble; and sometimes he brings a present of a dish of sweet cakes, and obtains, in return, money of twice the value, or more. On the days of this ʾeed, most of the people of Cairo eat salted fish, and thin, folded pancakes, and a kind of bun. Some families also prepare a dish consisting of stewed meat, with onions, and a quantity of treacle, vinegar, and coarse flour; and the master usually procures dried fruits, such as nuts, raisins, &c., for his family. Most of the shops in the metropolis are closed, except those at which eatables and sherbet are sold; but the streets present a gay appearance, from the crowds of passengers in their holiday clothes.

“On one or more days of this festival, some or all of the members of most families, but chiefly the women, visit the tombs of their relatives. This they also do on the occasion of the other grand festival. [[ʿIDU ʾL-AZHA].] The visitors, or their servants, carry palm branches, and sometimes sweet basil, to lay upon the tomb which they go to visit. The palm-branch is broken into several pieces, and these, or the leaves only, are placed on the tomb.

“Numerous groups of women are seen on these occasions, bearing palm-branches, on their way to the cemeteries in the neighbourhood of the metropolis. They are also provided, according to their circumstances, with cakes, bread, dates, or some other kind of food, to distribute to the poor who resort to the burial-ground on these days. Sometimes tents are pitched for them; the tents surround the tomb which is the object of the visit. The visitors recite the Fatʾhhah, or, if they can afford it, employ a person to recite first the Soorat Yaʾ-Seen, or a larger portion of the Qurān. Often a khutmeh (or recital of the whole of the Qurān) is performed at the tomb, or in the house, by several fickees. Then men generally return immediately after these rites have been performed, and the fragments or leaves of the palm-branch laid on the tomb: the women usually go to the tomb early in the morning, and do not return until the afternoon; some of them (but these are not generally esteemed women of correct conduct), if they have a tent, pass the night in it, and remain until the end of the festival, or until the afternoon of the following Friday; so, too, do the women of a family possessed of a private, enclosed burial-ground, with a house within it, for there are many such enclosures, and not a few with houses for the accommodation of the females in the midst of the public cemeteries of Cairo. Intrigues are said to be not uncommon with the females who spend the night in tents among the tombs. The great cemetery of Báb en-Nusr, in the desert tract immediately on the north of the metropolis, presents a remarkable scene on the two ʾeeds. In a part next the city-gate from which the burial-ground takes its name, many swings and whirligigs are erected, and several large tents, in some of which dancers, reciters of Aboo-Zeyd, and other performers, amuse a dense crowd of spectators; and throughout the burial-ground are seen numerous tents for the reception of the visitors of the tombs. About two or three days after the ʾeed above described, the ‘Kisweh,’ or covering of the Káabeh, which is sent annually with the great caravan of pilgrims, is conveyed in procession from the citadel of the metropolis, where it is manufactured at the Sooltán’s expense, to the mosque of the Hhasaneyn, to be sewed together and lined, preparatively to the approaching pilgrimage.” [[KISWAH].]

The visiting of tombs on the occasion of the two festivals is not a custom in India. It is generally done in the Muḥarram, both by the Sunnīs and the Shīʿahs.

ʿIFFAH (عفة‎). “Chastity, continence, purity.” Ahlu ʿiffah, “those who are chaste.”

ʿIFRĪT (عفريت‎). A demon, or class of demons, mentioned in the Qurʾān ([Sūrah xxvii. 39]). They are said to be giants, and very malicious. The ghosts of the wicked dead are sometimes called by this name. [[GENII].]

IFT̤ĀR (افطار‎). Lit. “Breaking.” Breaking the month’s fast on the evening of the ʿĪdu ʾl-Fit̤r, that is, at the first sight of the new moon, after sunset. It is also used for breaking the fast every evening after sunset during the month of Ramaẓān. It is, according to the example of the Prophet, to break the fast by eating either dates or salt.

IḤDĀD (احداد‎). The period of mourning observed by a widow for her husband, namely, four months and ten days. [[MOURNING].]

IHLĀL (اهلال‎). Lit. “Raising the voice.” A term used for the Talbiyah. [[TALBIYAH].]

IḤRĀM (احرام‎). Lit. “Prohibiting.” The pilgrim’s dress, and also the state in which the pilgrim is held to be from the time he assumes this distinctive garb until he lays it aside. It consists of two new white cotton cloths, each six feet long by three and a half broad. One of these sheets, termed ridāʾ is thrown over the back, and, exposing the arm and shoulder, is knotted at the right side in the style called wīshaḥ. The other, called izār, is wrapped round the loins from the waist to the knee, and knotted or tucked in at the middle.

In the state of iḥrām, the pilgrim is forbidden the following actions: connection with or kissing women, covering the face, perfumes, hunting or slaying animals, anointing the head with oil, cutting the beard or shaving the head, colouring the clothes, washing the head or beard with marsh mallows, cutting the nails, plucking a blade of grass, cutting a green tree. But although the pilgrim is not allowed to hunt or slay animals, he may kill the following noxious creatures: a lion, a biting dog, a snake or scorpion, a crow, a kite, and a rat. For each offence against the rules of iḥrām, special sacrifices are ordained, according to the offence. [[HAJJ].]

IḤSĀN (احسان‎). Lit. “To confer favours, or to perform an action in a perfect manner.” A term used in the Traditions for the sincere worship of God. Muḥammad said Iḥsān was “both to worship God as if thou sawest Him, and to remember that God seest thee.” (Mishkāt, book i. ch. i. pt. 1.) The word is used in this sense by the Ṣūfī mystics. (ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)

IḤṢĀN (احصان‎). Lit. “Keeping a wife secluded.” A legal term for a married man. (Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 49.)

IḤṢĀRU ʾL-ḤAJJ (احصار الحج‎). The hindering of the Pilgrimage. For example: If a pilgrim be stopped on his way by any unforeseen circumstance, such as sickness or accident, he is required to send an animal to be sacrificed at the Sacred City. (Hidāyah, Arabic ed., vol. i. p. 184.) This injunction is founded upon the teaching of the Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 192]: “And if he be prevented, then send whatever offering shall be easiest: and shave not your heads until the offering reach the place of sacrifice. But whoever among you is sick, or hath an ailment of the head, must expiate by fasting, or alms, or a victim for sacrifice. And when ye are secure (from hindrances) then he who delights in the visitation (ʿUmrah) of the holy place until the Pilgrimage, shall bring whatever offering shall be the easiest. But he who hath nothing to offer shall fast three days in the Pilgrimage and seven days when ye return: they shall be ten days in all.”

IḤTIKĀR (احتكار‎). Hoarding up grain with the object of raising the price. Used for monopoly of all kinds. Abū Ḥanīfah restricts its use to a monopoly of the necessaries of life. It is strictly forbidden by Muḥammad, who is related to have said: “Whoever monopoliseth is a sinner”; “Those who bring grain to a city to sell at a cheap rate are blessed, and they who keep it back in order to sell at a high rate are cursed.” (Mishkāt, book xii. ch. viii.)

IḤTILAM (احتلام‎). Pollutio nocturna; after which g͟husl, or legal bathing, is absolutely necessary. [[PURIFICATION].]

IHTIMĀM (اهتمام‎). “Superintendence; care.” The trust or jurisdiction of a landowner over certain portions of land.

IḤYĀʾU ʾL-MAWĀT (احياء الموات‎). Lit. “The revival of dead lands.” A legal term for the cultivation of wastes.

IḤẒĀR (احضار‎). A summons citing to appear before a Qāẓī or Judge.

ĪJĀB (ايجاب‎). The first proposal made by one of the parties in negociating or concluding a bargain. [[MARRIAGE].]

IJĀRAH (اجارة‎). Price, hire, wages, rent, profit, emolument, according to the subject to which it applies. [[HIRE].]

IJMĀʿ (اجماع‎). The third foundation of Islām. It literally means “collecting,” or “assembling,” and in Muslim divinity it expresses the unanimous consent of the Mujtahidūn (learned doctors); or, as we should call it, “the unanimous consent of the Fathers.” A Mujtahid is a Muslim divine of the highest degree of learning, a title usually conferred by Muslim rulers. [[MUJTAHID].] There are three foundations of Ijmāʿ: (1) Ittifāq-i-Qaulī, unanimous consent expressed in declaration of opinion; (2) Ittifāq-i-Fiʿlī expressed in unanimity of practice; (3) Ittifāq-i-Sakūtī, when the majority of the Mujtahidūn signified their tacit assent to the opinions of the minority by “silence” or non-interference.

The Mujtahidūn capable of making Ijmāʿ must be “men of learning and piety, not heretics, nor fools, but men of judgment.”

There is great diversity of opinion as to up to what period in the history of Islām Ijmāʿ can be accepted. Some doctors assert that only the Ijmāʿ of the Mujtahidūn who were Aṣḥāb (companions); others, that of those who were not only “companions” but “descendants” of the “Prophet,” can be accepted; whilst others accept the Ijmāʿ of the Anṣārs (helpers), and of the Muhājirūn (fugitives), who were dwellers in al-Madīnah with Muḥammad. The majority of learned Muslim divines, however, appear to think that Ijmāʿ may be collected in every age, although they admit that, owing to the numerous divisions which have arisen amongst Muḥammadans, it has not been possible since the days of the Tabaʿu ʾt-Tābiʿīn (i.e. the followers of the followers of the Companions).

The following is considered to be the relative value of Ijmāʿ:—

That of the Aṣḥāb (companions) is equal to Ḥadīs̤ Mutawātir. That which was decided afterwards, but in accordance with the unanimous opinion of the Aṣḥāb, is equal to Ḥadīs̤-i-K͟habar-i-Mashhūr, and that upon which there was diversity of opinion amongst the Aṣḥāb, but has since been decided by the later Mujtahidūn is equal to Ḥadīs̤-i-K͟habar-i-Wāḥid. (See Syud Ahmad Khan’s Essay.)

Some European writers confuse the term Ijmāʿ with Ijtihād. But Ijtihād is the deduction made by a single Mujtahid, whilst Ijmāʿ is the collective opinion of a council of Mujtahidūn, or enlightened doctors.

Amongst the Shīʿahs there are still Mujtahidūn whose Ijmāʿ is accepted, but the Sunnīs have four orthodox schools of interpretation, named after their respective founders—Ḥanafī, Shāfaʿī, Malakī, and Ḥanbalī. The Wahhābīs for the most part reject Ijmāʿ collected after the death of “the Companions.”

It will be easily understood what a fruitful source of religious dissension and sectarian strife this third foundation of the rule of faith is. Divided as the Christian Church is by its numerous sects, it will compare favourably with Muḥammadanism even in this respect. Muḥammad, it is related, prophesied that, as the Jewish Church had been divided into seventy-one sects! and the Christians into seventy-two! so his followers would be divided into seventy-three sects! But every Muslim historian is obliged to admit that they have far exceeded the limits of Muḥammad’s prophecy; for, according to ʿAbdu ʾl-Qādir al-Jīlānī, there are at least 150.

IJTIHĀD (اجتهاد‎). Lit. “Exertion.” The logical deduction on a legal or theological question by a Mujtahid or learned and enlightened doctor, as distinguished from Ijmāʿ, which is the collective opinion of a council of divines.

This method of attaining to a certain degree of authority in searching into the principles of jurisprudence is sanctioned by the Traditions:—

“The Prophet wished to send a man named Muʿāẕ to al-Yaman to receive some money collected for alms, which he was then to distribute to the poor. On appointing him he said: ‘O Muʿāẕ, by what rule will you act?’ He replied, ‘By the Law of the Qurʾān.’ ‘But if you find no direction therein?’ ‘Then I will act according to the Sunnah of the Prophet.’ ‘But what if that fails?’ ‘Then I will make an Ijtihād, and act on that.’ The Prophet raised his hands and said, ‘Praise be to God who guides the messenger of His Prophet in what He pleases.’ ”

The growth of this system of divinity is traced by a Sunnī writer, Mirza Qāṣim Beg, Professor in the University of St. Petersburg (extracts from which are given in Sell’s Faith of Islām), as follows:—

1. God, the only legislator, has shown the way of felicity to the people whom He has chosen, and in order to enable them to walk in that way He has shown to them the precepts which are found partly in the eternal Qurʾān, and partly in the sayings of the Prophet transmitted to posterity by the Companions and preserved in the Sunnah. That way is called the Sharīʿah (law). The rules thereof are called Aḥkām (commandments).

2. The Qurʾān and the Sunnah, which since their manifestation are the primitive sources of the orders of the Law, form two branches of study, viz. ʿIlm-i-Tafsīr, or the interpretation of the Qurʾān, and ʿIlm-i-Ḥadīs̤, or the study of Tradition.

3. All the orders of the Law have regard either to the actions (Dīn), or to the belief (Īmān) of the faithful (Mukallif).

4. As the Qurʾān and the Sunnah are the principal sources from whence the precepts of the Sharīʿah have been drawn, so the rules recognised as the principal elements of actual jurisprudence are the subject of ʿIlm-i-Fiqh, or the science of Law.

Fiqh in its root signifies “conception, comprehension.” Thus Muḥammad prayed for Ibn Masʿūd: “May God make him comprehend (Faqqaha-hu), and make him know the interpretation of the Qurʾān.” Muḥammad in his quality of Judge and chief of the Believers decided, without appeal or contradiction, all the affairs of the people. His sayings served as a guide to the Companions. After the death of the Prophet the first K͟halīfahs acted on the authority of the Traditions. Meanwhile the Qurʾān and the Sunnah, the principal elements of religion and legislation, became little by little the subject of controversy. It was then that men applied themselves vigorously to the task of learning by heart the Qurʾān and the Traditions, and then that jurisprudence became a separate science. No science had as yet been systematically taught, and the early Musalmāns did not possess books which would serve for such teaching. A change soon, however, took place. In the year in which the great jurisconsult of Syria died (A.H. 80), Nuʿmān ibn S̤ābit, surnamed Abū Ḥanīfah, was born. He is the most celebrated of the founders of the schools of jurisprudence, a science which ranks first in all Muslim seats of learning. Until that time and for thirty years later the learned doctors had all their knowledge by heart, and those who possessed good memories were highly esteemed. Many of them knew by heart the whole Qurʾān with the comments made on it by the Prophet and by the Companions; they also knew the Traditions and their explanations, and all the commands which proceed from the Qurʾān and the Sunnah. Such men enjoyed the right of Mujtahidūn. They transmitted their knowledge to their scholars orally. It was not till towards the middle of the second century of the Hijrah that treatises on the different branches of the Law were written, after which six schools (Maẕhabs) of jurisprudence were formed. The founders (all Imāms of the first class) were Abū Ḥanīfah, the Imāmu ʾl-Aʿz̤am or greatest Imām (A.H. 150), Sufyān as̤-S̤aurī (A.H. 161), Mālik (A.H. 179), ash-Shāfiʿī (A.H. 204), Ibn Ḥanbal (A.H. 241), and the Imām Dāwūd az̤-Z̤āhirī (A.H. 270). The two sects founded by as̤-S̤aurī and az̤-Z̤āhirī became extinct in the eighth century of the Hijrah. The other four still remain. These men venerated one another. The younger ones speak with great respect of the elder. Thus ash-Shāfiʿī says: “No one in the world was so well versed in jurisprudence as Abū Ḥanīfah was, and he who has read neither his works nor those of his disciples knows nothing of jurisprudence.” Ibn Ḥanbal, when sick, wore a shirt which had belonged to ash-Shāfiʿī, in order that he might be cured of his malady; but all this did not prevent them starting schools of their own, for the right of Ijtihād is granted to those who are real Mujtahidūn.

There are three degrees of Ijtihād:

1. Ijtihād fī ʾsh-Sharʿ, absolute independence in legislation.

2. Ijtihād fī ʾl-Maẕhab, authority in the judicial systems founded by the Mujtahidūn of the first class.

3. Ijtihād fī ʾl-Masāʾil, authority in cases which have not been decided by the authors of the four systems of jurisprudence.

The first is called a complete and absolute authority, the second relative, the third special.

(1) Ijtihād fī ʾsh-Sharʿ.

Absolute independence in legislation is the gift of God. He to whom it is given when seeking to discover the meaning of the Divine Law is not bound to follow any other teacher. He can use his own judgment. This gift was bestowed on the jurisconsults of the first, and to some of the second and third centuries. The Companions, however, who were closely connected with the Prophet, having transmitted immediately to their posterity the treasures of legislation, are looked upon as Mujtahidūn of much higher authority than those of the second and third centuries. Thus Abū Ḥanīfah says: “That which comes to us from the Companions is on our head and eyes (i.e. to be received with respect): as to that which comes from the Tābiʿūn, they are men and we are men.”

Since the time of the Tābiʿūn this degree of Mujtahid has only been conferred on the six great Imāms before mentioned. Theoretically any Muslim can attain to this degree, but it is one of the principles of jurisprudence that the confirmation of this rank is dependent on many conditions, and so no one now gains the honour. These conditions are:—

1. The knowledge of the Qurʾān and all that is related to it; that is to say, a complete knowledge of Arabic literature, a profound acquaintance with the orders of the Qurʾān and all their sub-divisions, their relationship to each other and their connection with the orders of the Sunnah. The candidate should know when and why each verse of the Qurʾān was written, he should have a perfect acquaintance with the literal meaning of the words, the speciality or generality of each clause, the abrogating and abrogated sentences. He should be able to make clear the meaning of the “obscure” passages (Mutashābih), to discriminate between the literal and the allegorical, the universal and the particular.

2. He must know the Qurʾān by heart with all the Traditions and explanations.

3. He must have a perfect knowledge of the Traditions, or at least of three thousand of them.

He must know their source, history, object, and their connection with the laws of the Qurʾān. He should know by heart the most important Traditions.

4. A pious and austere life.

5. A profound knowledge of all the sciences of the Law.

Should anyone now aspire to such a degree another condition would be added, viz.:—

6. A complete knowledge of the four schools of jurisprudence.

The obstacles, then, are almost insurmountable. On the one hand, there is the severity of the ʿUlamāʾ, which requires from the candidate things almost impossible; on the other, there is the attachment of the ʿUlamāʾ to their own Imāms, for should such a man arise no one is bound now to listen to him. The Imām Ibn Ḥanbal said: “Draw your knowledge from whence the Imāms drew theirs, and do not content yourself with following others, for that is certainly blindness of sight.” Thus the schools of the four Imāms remain intact after a thousand years have passed, and so the ʿUlamāʾ recognise since the time of these Imāms no Mujtahid of the first degree. Ibn Ḥanbal was the last.

The rights of the man who attained to this degree were very important. He was not bound to be a disciple of another, he was a mediator between the Law and his followers, for whom he established a system of legislation, without anyone having the right to make any objection. He had the right to explain the Qurʾān, the Sunnah, and the Ijmāʿ, according as he understood them. He used the Prophet’s words, whilst his disciples only used his. Should a disciple find some discrepancy between a decision of his own Imām and the Qurʾān or Traditions, he must abide by the decision of the Imām. The Law does not permit him to interpret after his own fashion. When once the disciple has entered the sect of one Imām he cannot leave it and join another. He loses the right of private judgment, for only a Mujtahid of the first class can dispute the decision of one of the Imāms. Theoretically, such Mujtahidūn may still arise; but, as we have already shown, practically they do not.

(2.) Ijtihād fī ʾl-Maẕhab.

This degree has been granted to the immediate disciples of the great Imāms who have elaborated the systems of their masters. They enjoyed the special consideration of the contemporary ʿUlamāʾ, and of their respective Imāms who in some cases have allowed them to retain their own opinion. The most famous of these men are the two disciples of Abū Ḥanīfah, Abū Yūsuf, and Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan. In a secondary matter their opinion carries great weight. It is laid down as a rule that a Muftī may follow the unanimous opinion of these two even when it goes against that of Abū Ḥanīfah.

(3.) Ijtihād fī ʾl-Masāʾil.

This is the degree of special independence. The candidates for it should have a perfect knowledge of all the branches of jurisprudence according to the four schools of the Arabic language and literature. They can solve cases which come before them, giving reasons for their judgment, or decide on cases which have not been settled by previous Mujtahidūn; but in either case their decisions must always be in absolute accordance with the opinions of the Mujtahidūn of the first and second classes, and with the principles which guided them. Many of these men attained great celebrity during their lifetime, but to most of them this rank is not accorded till after their death. Since their Imām Qāẓī K͟hān died (A.H. 592), no one has been recognised by the Sunnīs as a Mujtahid even of the third class.

There are three other inferior classes of jurists, called Muqallidūn, or followers of the Mujtahidūn; but all that the highest in rank amongst them can do is to explain obscure passages in the writings of the older jurisconsults. By some of the ʿUlamāʾ they are considered to be equal to the Mujtahidūn of the third class. If there are several conflicting legal opinions on any point, they can select one opinion on which to base their decision. This a mere Qāẓī cannot do. In such a case he would have to refer to these men or to their writings for guidance. They seem to have written commentaries on the legal systems without originating anything new. The author of the Hidāyah, who lived at the end of the sixth century, was a Muqallid.

IK͟HLĀṢ (اخلاص‎). Lit. “Sincerity.” (1) A theological term, implying that a Muslim performs his religious acts in the sight of God alone, and not to be seen of men. (2) Al-Ik͟hlāṣ, the title of the CXIIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān. A chapter which occurs in the daily prayer, and reads thus:—

“Say, ‘He is God alone!

“Say, God the Eternal!

“Say, He begets not, and is not begotten!

“Say, Nor is there anyone like unto him!’ ”

Professor Palmer says this chapter is generally known as al-Ik͟hlāṣ, “clearing oneself,” i.e. of belief in any but one God.

IKRĀH (اكراه‎). [[COMPULSION].]

ʿIKRIMAH (عكرمة‎). Lit. “A hen pigeon.” The son of Abū Jahl ibn Hishām. A “companion” of the Prophet. He embraced Islām after the final taking of Makkah. For some years he and his father, Abū Jahl, were determined opponents of Islām. He was one of the heroes of the Quraish at the battle of Badr, and commanded the left wing of the Quraish army at Uḥud. He opposed the Prophet’s advance on Makkah, and on defeat fled to Jiddah, intending to escape to Africa, but he was brought back by his wife to Makkah, and received pardon from Muḥammad, and embraced Islām. He became one of Abū Bakr’s generals, and died in his reign.

ʿIKRIMAH (عكرمة‎). Abū ʿAbdi ʾllāh ʿIkrimah ibn ʿAbdi ʾllāh, was a slave belonging to Ibn ʿAbbās. His master took great pains to teach him the Qurʾān and the Traditions, and consequently he is known as a traditionist of some note. His master, Ibn ʿAbbās, died without giving him his liberty, and ʿAlī the son of Ibn ʿAbbās sold him to K͟hālid ibn Yazīd for four thousand dīnārs. But ʿIkrimah went to ʿAlī and said, “You have sold your father’s learning for four thousand dīnārs!” Upon this, ʿAlī, being ashamed, obtained K͟hālid’s consent to annul the bargain, and he granted ʿIkrimah his liberty. He died A.H. 107 (A.D. 725), aged 84.

ĪLĀʾ (ايلاء‎). A form of divorce in which a man makes a vow that he will not have connection with his wife for not less than four months and observes it inviolate. The divorce is thereby effected ipso facto, without a decree of separation from the judge. See Qurʾān, Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah, ii. 226: “Those who swear off from their women, they must wait four months; but if they break their vow, God is forgiving and merciful.”

Sulaiman ibn Yasār says: “I was in company with about ten of the Prophet’s Companions, and every one said, ‘A man who swears that he will not go near his wife for four months shall be imprisoned until he return to her, or he shall divorce her.’ ” (Mishkāt, book xiii. ch. xiii.)

ILĀH (اله‎). An object of worship or adoration; i.e. a god, or deity. The term Allāh, “God,” being Ilāh with the definite article ال‎ al, i.e. al-ilāh, “the God.”

ILĀHĪ (الهى‎). From Ilāh, “God.” (1) That which is divine, e.g. ad-dīnu ʾl-Ilāhī, the divine religion. (2) Ilāhī is also used for the era instituted by the Emperor Akbar, commencing with the first year of his reign, A.H. 963, A.D. 1556. Although found on the coins of Akbar and his immediate successors, it never obtained currency, and is now obsolete.

IʿLĀN (اعلان‎). Publishing the notice of marriage by sending messengers to the houses of friends. A custom which is founded upon the express injunction of the Prophet, as reported by ʿĀyishah: “Give notice of marriages, perform them in mosques, and beat drums for them.” (Mishkāt, book xiii. ch. iv. pt. 2.)

ILHĀM (الهام‎). [[INSPIRATION].]

AL-ILHĀMU ʾR-RABBĀNĪ (الالهام الربانى‎). [[INSPIRATION].]

ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN. An illegitimate child, Arabic waladu ʾz-zināʾ (ولد الزناء‎), has legally no father, and a putative father is, therefore, excluded from the custody of such a child. The child only inherits from its mother and the mother’s relations, who in return inherit from him. (Tagore Law Lectures, 1873, pp. 123, 488.)

ʿILLĪYŪN (عليون‎). The seventh stage of celestial bliss. Also the register in which the good deeds of Muslims are said to be written. See Sūratu ʾt-Tat̤fīf, [lxxxiii. 18]: “The register of the righteous is in ʿIllīyūn.” See also Mishkāt, book v. ch. iii. pt. 3: “The angels follow it (the soul) through each heaven, and the angels of one region pass it on to the next until it reaches the seventh heaven, when God says, ‘Write the name of my servant in ʿIllīyūn, and return him to the earth, that is, to his body which is buried in the earth.’”

ʿILM (علم‎). Lit. “To know; knowledge.” In Muslim theology, the word ʿIlm is always used for religious knowledge. ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq says it is the knowledge of religion as expressed in “the Book” (Qurʾān) and the “Sunnah” (Traditions), and is of two kinds, ʿIlmu ʾl-Mabādī, elementary knowledge, or that relating to the words and sentences of the Qurʾān and Ḥadīs̤; and ʿIlmu ʾl-Maqāṣīd, perfected knowledge, or that relating to faith and works, as taught in the Qurʾān and Ḥadīs̤. There is also ʿIlmu ʾl-Mukāshafah, revealed knowledge, or that secret knowledge, or light, which shines into the heart of the pious Muslim, whereby he becomes enlightened as to the truths of religion. This spiritual knowledge is also called ʿIlmu ʾl-Ḥaqīqah, or the knowledge of the truth. It is related (Mishkāt, book ii. ch. i. Arabic ed.) that the Prophet said ʿIlm is of three kinds, viz. Āyātu ʾl-Muḥkam, Sunnatu ʾl-Qāʾim, and Farīẓatu ʾl-ʿAdil, and that whatever is beyond these three is not necessary. The learned doctors explain these terms as follows: Āyātu ʾl-Muḥkam, the established text or verses of the Qurʾān; Sunnatu ʾl-Qāʾim, the correct Aḥādīs̤ or Traditions; and Farīẓatu ʾl-ʿAdil, the lawful interpretation of the Qurʾān and the Traditions.

The acquisition and the imparting of religious knowledge is very highly commended by Muḥammad (see Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābiḥ, in loco):—

“The desire of knowledge is a divine commandment for every Muslim, and to instruct in knowledge those who are unworthy of it, is like putting pearls, jewels, and gold on the necks of swine.”

“Whoever is asked about the knowledge which he hath, and concealeth it, will be reined with a bridle of fire on the Day of Resurrection.”

“There are two avaricious persons that are never satisfied: one of them in knowledge, the more he attains the more he desires; the other of the world, with the things of which he is never satisfied.”

“That person who will pursue the road of knowledge, God will direct him to the road of Paradise; and verily the angels spread their arms to receive him that seeketh after knowledge; and everything in heaven and earth will ask grace for him. Verily the superiority of a learned man over a worshipper is like that of the full moon over all the stars.”

ʿILMU ʾL-ADAB (علم الادب‎). The science of Philology. In Ḥājjī K͟halfah, Lexicon, vol. i. p. 215, quoted by Lane, it is “the science by which one guards against error in the language of the Arabs, with respect to words and with respect to writing.”

The science of polite writing is classed under twelve heads: 1, lug͟hah, lexicology; 2, ṣarf, accidence; 3, ishtiqāq, derivation; 4, naḥw, syntax; 5, maʿānī, sense or meaning; 6, bayān, eloquence; 7, ʿarūẓ, prosody; 8, qāfīyah, rhyme; 9, rasmu ʾl-k͟hat̤t̤, calligraphy; 10, qarẓ-ush-shiʿr, versification; 11, inshāʾu ʾn-nas̤r, prose composition; 12, muḥāẓarah, dictation. These sections are regarded as distinct sciences.

ʿILMU ʾL-AK͟HLĀQ (علم الاخلاق‎). Ethics; morals. The best-known works on the subject are the Persian works—the Ak͟hlāq-i-Jalālī, by Faqīr Jānī Muḥammad, A.H. 908, which has been translated into English, with references and notes, by W. F. Thompson, Esq. (London, 1839); the Ak͟hlāq-i-Naṣīrī, by Naṣīru ʾd-dīn at̤-T̤ūsī, A.H. 672; and the Ak͟hlāq-i-Muḥsinī by the Maulawī Ḥusain al-Kāshifī (Ḥusain the commentator), A.H. 910.

ʿILMU ʾL-AKTĀF (علم الاكتاف‎). The science of divining by the shoulder-blades of sheep. It was the custom of the ancient Arabs to place the shoulder-bone of a sheep in the sun, and to examine it, and so divine by its marks future events, in the same way as by the science of palmistry. (Kashfu ʾz̤-Z̤unūn, in loco.)

ʿILMU ʾL-ʿAQĀʾID (عـلـم العقائد‎). [[ʿILMU ʾL-KALAM].]

ʿILMU ʾL-ASMĀʾ (علم الاسماء‎). The knowledge of the names, titles, or attributes of God. [[GOD], [ZIKR], [SUFIISM].]

ʿILMU ʾL-BĀT̤IN (علم الباطن‎). The mystic science; the same as Taṣawwuf. [[SUFIISM].]

ʿILMU ʾL-FALAK (علم الفلك‎). The science of Astronomy. According to the Muḥammadans the earth is the centre of the astronomical system. The seven planets, which are called the nujūmu ʾs-saiyārāt or wandering stars, as distinguished from fixed stars, are 1, Qamar, Moon; 2, ʿUt̤ārid, Mercury; 3, Zuhrah, Venus; 4, Shams, Sun; 5, Mirrīk͟h, Mars; 6, Mushtarī, Jupiter; 7, Zuḥal, Saturn.

The Arabian arrangement of the planets is that of Ptolemy, who placed the earth in the centre of the universe, and nearest to it the moon, whose synodic revolution is the shortest of all, being performed in 29½ days. Next to the moon he placed Mercury, who returns to his conjunctions in 116 days. After Mercury followed Venus, whose periodic time is 584 days. Beyond Venus he placed the sun, then Mars, next Jupiter, and lastly Saturn, beyond which are the fixed stars.

The signs of the zodiac (mint̤aqatu ʾl-burūj) are called: 1, Ḥamal, Ram; 2, S̤aur, Bull; 3, Jauzāʾ, Twins; 4, Sarat̤ān, Crab; 5, Asad, Lion; 6, Sunbalah (lit. an ear of corn), Virgin; 7, Mīzān, Scales; 8, ʿAqrab, Scorpion; 9, Qaus (bow), Archer; 10, Jady (he-goat), Capricorn; 11, Dalw (watering-pot), Aquarius; 12, Ḥūt, Fish.

ʿILMU ʾL-FARĀʾIẒ (علم الفرائض‎). The law of inheritance. [[INHERITANCE].]

ʿILMU ʾL-FIQH (علم الفقه‎). Jurisprudence; and the knowledge of all subjects connected with practical religion. In the first place, Fiqh deals with the five pillars of practical religion: 1, the recital of the creed; 2, prayer; 3, fasting; 4, zakāt or almsgiving; 5, ḥajj or pilgrimage; and in the second place with all questions of jurisprudence such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, sale, evidence, slavery, partnership, warfare, &c. &c.

The chief Sunnī works on the subject are: Of the Ḥanafī sect, the Hidāyah, the Fatāwā-i-ʿĀlamgīrī, the Durru ʾl-Muk͟htār, and Raddu ʾl-Muḥtār; of the Shāfiʿī and Malakī sects, the Kitābu ʾl-Anwār, the Muḥarrar, and the Ik͟htilāfu ʾl-Aʾimmah. The best-known Shīʿah works on jurisprudence are the Sharāʾiʿu ʾl-Islām, the Mafātīḥ, and the Jāmiʿu ʾsh-Shatāt.

ʿILMU ʾL-ḤADĪS̤ (عـلـم الحديث‎). The science of the Traditions; i.e. the various canons which have been established for ascertaining the authenticity and genuineness of the Ḥadīs̤ or Traditions. The Nuk͟hbatu ʾl-Fikar, with its commentary the Nuzhatu ʾn-Naz̤ar by Shahābu ʾd-dīn Aḥmad al-ʿAsqalānī (Lee’s ed. Calcutta, 1862), is a well-known work on the subject.

ʿILMU ʾL-HANDASAH (علم الهندسة‎). The science of Geometry.

ʿILMU ʾL-ḤIKMAH (علم الحكمه‎). Also ʿIlmu ʾl-Falsafah (علم الفلسفه‎). [[PHILOSOPHY].]

ʿILMU ʾL-ḤISĀB (عـلـم الحساب‎). Arithmetic.

ʿILMU ʾL-ILĀHĪYĀT (علم الالهيات‎). A knowledge of divinity. [[THEOLOGY].]

ʿILMU ʾL-INSHĀʾ (علم الانشاء‎). The art of literary composition. [[INSHAʾ].]

ʿILMU ʾL-JABR (عـلـم الجـبـر‎). Algebra.

ʿILMU ʾL-KAFF (علم الكف‎). The science of palmistry said to have been practised by Daniel.

ʿILMU ʾL-KALĀM (عـلـم الكلام‎). Scholastic theology. It is also known as ʿIlmu ʾl-ʿAqāʾid, the science of the articles of belief. The author of the Kashfu ʾz̤-Z̤unūn defines it as “the science whereby we are able to bring forward proofs of our religious belief,” and it includes the discussion of the nature of the existence and the attributes of God.

ʿIlmu ʾl-Kalām is the discussion of all subjects connected with the six articles of the Muslim Creed: 1, the Unity of God; 2, the Angels; 3, the Books; 4, the Prophets; 5, the Day of Judgment; 6, the Decrees of God, as distinguished from al-Fiqh, which is an exposition of the five foundations of practical religion—1, recital of the Creed; 2, prayer; 3, fasting; 4, zakāt; 5, ḥajj.

The most celebrated works on the subject of ʿAqāʾid or ʿIlmu ʾl-Kalām are: Sharḥu ʾl-ʿAqāʾid, by the Maulawī Masʿūd Saʿdu ʾd-dīn at-Taftāzānī, A.H. 792; the Sharḥu ʾl-Muwāqif, by Saiyid Sharīf Jurjāni.

ʿILMU ʾL-LUG͟HAH (عـلـم اللغة‎). Lexicography. [[ARABIC LEXICONS].]

ʿILMU ʾL-MANT̤IQ (عـلـم المنطق‎). Logical science. [[LOGIC].]

ʿILMU ʾL-MASĀḤAH (علم المساحة‎). Mensuration.

ʿILMU ʾL-MILĀḤAH (عـلـم الـمـلاحة‎). The nautical art. The science of making and navigating ships.

ʿILMU ʾL-MŪSĪQĪ (علم الموسيقى‎). The science of Music. [[MUSIC].]

ʿILMU ʾL-UṢŪL (علم الاصول‎). The science of the “roots,” or fundamentals of the religion of Muḥammad, namely, of the Qurʾān, Aḥādīs̤, Ijmāʿ, and Qiyās. The science of exegesis, or the rules of interpretation of these four roots of Islām. An explanation of the methods of this science will be found in the article on [QURʾAN], Sect. viii., the same principles applying to the other three fundamentals.

The best known works on the ʿIlmu ʾl-Uṣūl are the Manār, by ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Aḥmad an-Nasafī, A.H. 710, and its commentary, the Nūru ʾl-Anwār; also at-Tanqīḥ, by ʿUbaidu ʾllāh ibn Masʿūd, A.H. 747, with its commentary, at-Tauẓiḥ, by the same author, and a super-commentary, the Talwīḥu ʾt-Tauẓīḥ, by Saʿdu ʾd-dīn Masʿūd ibn ʿUmar at-Taftāzānī, A.H. 792.

AL-ʿILMU ʾL-YAQĪN (العلم اليقين‎). Certain knowledge; demonstration; a religious life; a knowledge of the truth.

ʿILMU ʾN-NABĀTĀT (علم النباتات‎). Botany. The knowledge of the use of herbs.

ʿILMU ʾN-NUJŪM (عـلـم النجوم‎). Astrology. “The science by which are discovered the events both of the present and of the future by means of the position of the stars.” (Kashfu ʾz̤-Z̤unūn, in loco.) [[ASTROLOGY].]

ʿILMU ʾR-RAML (عـلـم الـرمـل‎). Geomancy. A pretended divination by means of lines on the sand (raml). It is said to have been practised as a miracle by six prophets, viz. Adam, Idrīs, Luqmān, Armiyā (Jeremiah), Shaʿyāʾ (Isaiah), Daniel. (See Kashfu ʾz̤-Z̤unūn, in loco.)

ʿILMU ʾR-RIYĀẒAH (علم الرياضة‎). Mathematics. The author of the Kashfu ʾz̤-Z̤unūn says the science of Riyāẓah is divided into four sections: 1, handasah, geometry; 2, ḥiʾah, astronomy; 3, ḥisāb, arithmetic; 4, mūsīqā, music.

ʿILMU ʾSH-SHIʿR (علم الشعر‎). [[POETRY].]

ʿILMU ʾS-SIḤR (علم السحر‎). The science of magic. [[MAGIC].]

ʿILMU ʾS-SĪMIYĀʾ (علم السيمياء‎). Natural magic, chiromancy, palmistry.

AL-ʿILMU ʾT̤-T̤ABĪʿĪ (العلم الطبيعى‎). Natural philosophy.

ʿILMU ʾT-TAJWĪD (علم التجويد‎), called also ʿIlmu ʾl-Qirāʾah. The science of reading the Qurʾān correctly. The most popular work on the subject is al-Muqaddamatu ʾl-Jazarīyah, by the Shaik͟h Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Jazarī (A.H. 833).

ʿILMU ʾT-TAṢAWWUF (عـلـم التصوف‎). The mystic or contemplative science. [[SUFIISM].]

ʿILMU ʾT-TASHRĪḤ (علم التشريح‎). The science of anatomy.

ʿILMU ʾT-TAWĀRĪK͟H (عـلـم التواريخ‎), or ʿIlmu ʾt-Taʾrīk͟h. Chronology, history. For a complete list of Muḥammadan histories of an early date, see Kashfu ʾz̤-Z̤unūn in loco.

ʿILMU ʾT̤-T̤IBB (علم الطب‎). The science of Medicine. For a list of medical books of an early date, see Kashfu ʾz̤-Z̤unūn, in loco.

ILQĀʾ (القاء‎). Lit. “Injecting; infusing.” A theological term used for the teaching of the heart by the power of God. Inspiration of soul in that which is good.

IMAGES. It is unlawful for a Muḥammadan to have an image of any kind in his house. (Mishkāt, book xx. ch. v.) [[PICTURES], [IDOLS].]

IMĀM (امام‎). One whose leadership or example is to be followed. A pattern; a model; an example of evil. The term is used in the Qurʾān in these senses.

[Sūrah ii. 118]: “Verily I have set thee (Abraham) as an Imām (or a leader) for mankind.”

[Sūrah xvii. 73]: “The day when we will call all men by their Imām (or leader).”

[Sūrah xxxvi. 11]: “Everything we have set down in a clear model.”

[Sūrah xv. 79]: “They (Sodom and Midian) are an obvious example.”

[Sūrah xxv]. 74: “Make us a model to the pious.”

Muḥammadans use the term in the following senses:—

(1) The Imām, or K͟halīfah, of the Muslim people. The author of the Hidāyah says, by the rightful Imām is understood a person in whom all the qualities essential to magistracy are united, such as Islāmism, freedom, sanity of intellect, and maturity of age, and who has been elected into his office by any tribe of Muslims, with their general consent; whose view and intention is the advancement of the true religion, and the strengthening of the Muslims, and under whom the Muslims enjoy security in person and property; one who levies title and tribute according to law; who, out of the public treasury, pays what is due to learned men, preachers, qāẓīs, muftīs, philosophers, public teachers, and so forth; and who is just in all his dealings with Muslims; for whoever does not answer this description is not the right Imām, whence it is not incumbent to support such a one, but rather it is incumbent to oppose him, and make war upon him until such time as he either adopt a proper mode of conduct, or be slain; as is written in the Maʿdinu ʾl-Ḥaqāʾiq, copied from the Fawāʾid. (Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 248.)

THE IMAM LEADING PRAYERS AND RECITING THE FATIHAH OR FIRST SURAH OF THE QURʾAN.

(E. Campbell.)

For a discussion of this meaning of the title, refer to the article on [KHALIFAH], which is the term used for the Imām of the Sunnī Muslims.

(2) The Shīʿahs apply the term Imām to the twelve leaders of their sect whom they call the true Imāms [[SHIʿAH]], and not using the term K͟halīfah for this office as the Sunnīs do. The Shīʿah traditions are very wild on the subject of the Imāmate, and contrast unfavourably with those of the Sunnīs.

In the Ḥayātu ʾl-Qulūb (Merrick’s edition, p. 203), Muḥammad is said to have related: “On the night of the ascension, the Most High commanded me to inquire of the past prophets for what reason they were exalted to that rank, and they all testified, We were raised up on account of your prophetical office, and the Imāmate of ʿAlī ibn Abī T̤ālib, and of the Imāms of your posterity. A divine voice then commanded, ‘Look on the right side of the empyrean.’ I looked and saw the similitude of ʿAlī and al-Ḥasan, and al-Ḥusain, and ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusain (alias Zainu ʾl-ʿAbidīn), and Muḥammad al-Bāqir, and Jaʿfar aṣ-Ṣādiq, and Mūsā al-Kāz̤im, and ʿAlī ibn Mūsā ar-Riẓā, and Muḥammad at-Taqī, and ʿAlī an-Naqī, and al-Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī, and al-Mahdī, all performing prayers in a sea of light. These, said the Most High, are my proofs, vicegerents, and friends, and the last of them will take vengeance on my enemies.”

(3) The Imām, or leader, of any system of theology or law. Abū Ḥanīfah and the other three doctors of the Sunnīs are called Imāms, and so are other leading doctors of divinity. The term is still used for a religious leader. For example, the head of the Wahhābīs on the North-West frontier of India is called the Imām, and so is the chief of Najd.

(4) The Imām or leader of prayers in any Masjid. Mr. Sale says it answers to the Latin Antistes. Each mosque, however small, has its Imām, or priest, who is supported by endowments. The office is not in any sense a sacerdotal one, the Imām not being set apart with any ceremony, as in the case of a Christian presbyter, nor the office being hereditary, as in the case of the Hindu Brahmins. The position of Imām in this sense is not unlike the sheliach, or legatus, of the Jewish synagogue, who acted as the delegate of the congregation, and was the chief reader of prayers in their name. But quite independent of the duly appointed minister of a mosque, who is responsible for its services, and receives its revenues, no congregation of Muslim worshippers can assemble without one of the party taking the lead in the prayers by standing in front, and who is said “to act as Imām” for the assembly.

The rules laid down on this subject, as given in the Traditions, are as follows (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. xxvii., xxviii.):—

Abū Saʿīd al-K͟hudrī says the Prophet said: “When there are three persons, one of them must act as Imām and the other two follow him, and the most worthy of them to act as such is he who repeats the Qurʾān best.”

Abū Masʿūd al-Anṣārī says the Prophet said: “Let him act as Imām to a congregation who knows the Qurʾān thoroughly; and if all present should be equal in that respect, then let him perform who is best informed in the rules of prayer; and if they are equal in this respect also, let him act as Imām who has fled for the sake of Islām; and if equal in this likewise, let that person act who is oldest; but the governed must not act as Imām to the governor.”

Abū Hurairah relates that the Prophet said: “When any of you acts as Imām to others, he must be concise in his prayers, because there are decrepit, aged, and sick persons amongst them, and when any one of you says his prayers alone, he may be as prolix as he pleases. [[MASJID].]

IMĀM-BĀRAH (امام باره‎). A building in which the festival of the Muḥarram is celebrated, and service held in commemoration of the deaths of ʿAlī and his sons, al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusain. At other times, the tāzias, or shrines, are preserved in it; sometimes it is used as the mausoleum of the founder of the family. [[MUHARRAM].]

IMĀMĪYAH (امامية‎). Lit. “The followers of the Imām.” The chief sect of the Shīʿahs, namely, those who acknowledge the twelve Imāms. [[SHIʿAH].]

IMĀM MUBĪN (امام مبين‎). “The clear prototype or model.” The expression occurs twice in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxxvi. 11], “Everything we do set down in a clear prototype” (fī Imāmin Mubīnin). Here it appears to be used for the Qurʾān as an inspired record. [Sūrah xv. 79], “Verily they became both, Sodom and Midian, a clear example” (labi-Imāmin Mubīnin). Muḥammadan teachers use the word for the Laḥwu ʾl-Maḥfūz̤, or the Tablet of Decrees.

AL-IMĀMU ʾL-MAHDĪ (الامـام الـمـهـدى‎). Lit. “The well-guided Leader.” Umm Salmah relates that the Prophet said, “Strife and disputations will be created among men when a K͟halīfah shall die: and this shall be in the last days. And a man of the people of al-Madīnah will come forth and will flee from al-Madīnah to Makkah, and the men of Makkah will come and try to make him Imām by flattery, but he will not be pleased. Then men shall acknowledge him as Imām. Then an army from Syria shall advance against him, and this army shall be engulphed in an earthquake at Badāʾah, between Makkah and al-Madīnah. Then when the people shall see this the Abdāl, i.e. the Substitutes or good people [[ABDAL]], will come from Syria, and a multitude from al-ʿIrāq. And after that a man shall be born of the Quraish, of the tribe of Kalb, who will also send an army against him i.e. al-Mahdī; but he shall be victorious. Then he will rule people according to the laws of Muḥammad, and will give strength to Islām upon the earth, and he will remain on the earth seven years. Then will he die, and Muslims will say prayers in his behalf.”

The Shīʿahs believe that al-Mahdī has already come and is still concealed in some part of the earth. For they suppose him to be the last of the twelve Imāms, named Muḥammad ʿAbdu ʾl-Qāṣim [[SHIʿAHS]], who will again appear in the last days. The Shīʿahs say that Muḥammad said, “O ye people, I am the Prophet and ʿAlī is my heir, and from us will descend al-Mahdī, the seal of the Imāms, who will conquer all religions and will take vengeance on the wicked.” (Ḥarjātu ʾl-Qulūb, p. 342.)

IʾMĀN, ĪMĀN (ايمان‎). “Faith,” which, according to the Muḥammadan doctors, is the belief of the heart and the confession of the lips to the truth of the Muslim religion. Faith is of two kinds: Iʾmān Mujmal, or the simple expression of faith in the teaching of the Qurʾān and the Aḥādīs̤, or Traditions; and Iʾmān Mufaṣṣal, or a formal declaration of belief in the six articles of the Muslim Creed: 1, in God; 2, the Angels of God; 3, the Books of God; 4, the Prophets of God; 5, the Day of Judgment; 6, Predestination to good and evil. In the Traditions, Iʾmān includes practice (ʿAmal), and all that belongs to the religious life of the Muslim. It is related (Mishkāt, book i. ch. i.) that Muḥammad said, “That person has tasted the sweets of faith who is pleased with God as his Lord, with Islām as his religion, and with Muḥammad as the Prophet of God.” And again (ib.), “The most excellent faith is to love him who loves God, and to hate him who hates God, to keep the tongue employed in repeating the name of God [[ZIKR]], and to do unto men as you would wish them to do unto you, and to reject for others what you would reject for yourself.”

Salvation by faith without works is clearly taught (Mishkāt, book i. ch. i.) by Muḥammad, e.g. “When anyone of you shall have believed truly and sincerely, then whatever good action that person may do will be rewarded from ten to seven hundred fold, and every sin he may commit will be expiated one by one before he dies.” Good works, however, are the test of faith. A man asked the Prophet what was the sign whereby he might know the reality of his faith. He said, “If thou dost derive pleasure from the good that thou hast done, and art grieved for the evil which thou hast committed, then thou art a true believer” (Mishkāt, book i. ch. i.). Some of the Prophet’s friends came to him and said, “Verily, we find in our minds such wicked propensities, that we think it even a sin to speak of them.” The Prophet said, “Do you find them really bad?” They said, “Yes.” He said, “This is an evidence of faith.” By which he meant, if the man had not faith he would not have felt the wickedness of his heart.

ʿIMLĪQ (عمليق‎). The grandson of Shem, the son of Noah. The progenitor of the ʿAmāliqah, the Amalekites of Scripture. They are said to be some of the earliest inhabitants of Makkah and al-Madīnah.

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION of the Virgin Mary. This doctrine was asserted by Muḥammad (Mishkāt, book i. ch. iii. pt. 1). The Prophet said, “There is not of the sons of Adam, except Mary and her Son, one born but is touched by the Devil at the time of his birth, and the child makes a loud noise from the touch.”

When or where the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was first taught is quite unknown. Perrone says that some writers have ascribed its origin to France, and he himself is of opinion that it came from the East, and was recognized in Naples in the ninth century. (Blunt’s Dictionary of Doctrinal and Historical Theology, in loco.)

The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was finally imposed as an Article of Faith in the Romish Church, by Pius IX., Dec. 8th, 1854.

IMMODESTY. [[MODESTY].]

IMPOSTURE. The Quraish charged Muḥammad, at the early period of his preaching, with imposture. The following Sūrahs were given in answer to these charges:—

[Sūrah xxv. 5–7]: “Those who misbelieve say, ‘This is nothing but a lie which he has forged, and another people hath helped him at it’; but they have wrought an injustice and a falsehood. And they say, ‘They are old folk’s tales which he has got written down while they are dictated to him morning and evening.’ Say He sent it down who knows the secrets of heaven and earth.”

[Sūrah lxix. 40–43]: “Verily it is the speech of a noble Apostle, and it is not the speech of a poet:—little is it ye believe!

“And it is not the speech of a soothsayer,—little is it that ye mind! It is a revelation from the Lord, the Lord of all the worlds.”

IMPOTENCY. Arabic ʿAnānah (عنانة‎), ʿInnīnah (عنينة‎). Both according to Sunnī and Shīʿah law it cancels the marriage contract, but the decree of the Qāẓī is necessary before it can take effect. [[DIVORCE].]

IMPRISONMENT. Arabic Sijn (سجن‎), Ḥabs (حـبـس‎). According to the Ḥanīfī school of jurisprudence, the person upon whom punishment or retaliation is claimed, must not be imprisoned until evidence be given, either by two people of unknown character (that is, of whom it is not known whether they be just or unjust), or by one just man who is known to the Qāẓī; because the imprisonment, in this case, is founded on suspicion, and suspicion cannot be confirmed but by the evidence of two men of unknown character, or of one just man. It is otherwise in imprisonment on account of property; because the defendant, in that instance, cannot be imprisoned but upon the evidence of two just men; for imprisonment on such an account is a grievous oppression, and, therefore, requires to be grounded on complete proof. In the Mabsūt̤, under the head of duties of the Qāẓī, it is mentioned that, according to the two disciples, the defendant, in a case of punishment for slander, or of retaliation, is not to be imprisoned on the evidence of one just man, because, as the exaction of bail is in such case (in their opinion) lawful, bail is, therefore to be taken from him. When a claimant establishes his right before the Qāẓī, and demands of him the imprisonment of his debtor, the Qāẓī must not precipitately comply, but must first order the debtor to render the right; after which, if he should attempt to delay, the Qāẓī may imprison him. If a defendant, after the decree of the Qāẓī against him, delay the payment in a case where the debt due was contracted for some equivalent (as in the case of goods purchased for a price, or of money, or of goods borrowed on promise of a return), the Qāẓī must immediately imprison him, because the property he received is a proof of his being possessed of wealth. In the same manner, the Qāẓī must imprison a refractory defendant who has undertaken an obligation in virtue of some contract, such as marriage or bail, because his voluntary engagement in an obligation is an argument of his possession of wealth, since no one is supposed to undertake what he is not competent to fulfil.

A husband may be imprisoned for the maintenance of his wife, because in withholding it he is guilty of oppression; but a father cannot be imprisoned for a debt due to his son, because imprisonment is a species of severity which a son has no right to be the cause of inflicting on his father; in the same manner as in cases of retaliation or punishment. If, however, a father withhold maintenance from an infant son, who has no property of his own, he must be imprisoned; because this tends to preserve the life of the child. (Hidāyah, vol. ii.)

ʿIMRĀN (عمران‎). According to Muḥammadan writers the name of two different persons. The one the father of Moses and Aaron, and the other the father of the Virgin Mary. Christian writers imagine that the Qurʾān confounds Mary, the mother of Jesus, with Mary or Maryam, the sister of Moses and Aaron. The verses are as follows:—

[Sūrah iii. 30]: “Verily, above all human beings did God choose Adam and Noah, and the family of ʿImrān, the one the posterity of the other; and God heareth and knoweth. Remember when the wife of ʿImrān said, ‘O my Lord, I vow to Thee what is in my womb, for Thy special service.… And I have named her Mary, and I commend her and her offspring to Thy special protection.’ ”

[Sūrah lxvi. 12]: “And Mary the daughter of ʿImrān, ever virgin, and into whose womb We breathed Our spirit.”

[Sūrah xix. 29]: “ ‘O sister of Aaron! thy father was not a wicked man, nor unchaste thy mother.’ And she made a sign unto them pointing towards the babe.”

Al-Baiẓāwī the commentator, says the ʿImrān first mentioned in [Sūrah iii]. is the father of Moses, and the second the father of Mary the Virgin. He attempts to explain the anachronism in [Sūrah xix]. by stating that (1) Mary is called the sister of Aaron by way of comparison; (2) or because she was of the Levitical race; (3) or, as some have said, there was a man of the name of Aaron, renowned either for piety or wickedness, who lived at the time, and she is said, by way of derision, to be like him!

IMSĀK (امساك‎). Lit. “Keeping back.” The word occurs only once in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 228]: “Divorce (may happen) twice; then, keep them in reason or let them go in kindness.”

The word is used in theological works for being miserly in charity, and in giving in God’s service, in opposition to Infāq.

INʿĀM (انعام‎). A gift; a benefaction in general. A gift by a superior to an inferior. In India, the term is especially applied to grants of land held rent-free, and in hereditary and perpetual occupation; the tenure came in time to be qualified by the reservation of a portion of the assessable revenue, or by the exaction of all proceeds exceeding the intended value of the original assignment; the term is also vaguely applied to grants of rent-free land without reference to perpetuity or any specified conditions. The grants are also distinguishable by their origin from the ruling authorities, or from the village communities, and are again distinguishable by peculiar reservations, or by their being applicable to different objects.

Sanad-i-Inʿām is a grant emanating from the ruling power of the time of the grant, free from all Government exactions, in perpetuity, and validified by a Sanad, or official deed of grant; it usually comprises land included in the village area, but which is uncultivated, or has been abandoned; and it is subject to the village functionaries.

Nisbat-i-Inʿām (from nisbah, “a portion”), are lands granted rent-free by the village out of its own lands; the loss or deduction thence accruing to the Government, assessment being made good by the village community. (Wilson’s Glossary of Indian Terms.)

INCANTATION. [[DAʿWAH], [MAGIC].]

INCENSE. Arabic Bak͟hūr (بخور‎), Lubān (لبان‎). Heb. ‏לְבוֹנָה‎, in [Isaiah xliii. 23], &c. The use of incense forms no part of the religious customs of the Muslim, although its use as a perfume for a corpse is permitted by the Traditions. It is, however, much used as an offering at the shrines of the Muḥammadan saints, and forms an important item in the so-called science of Daʿwah. [[DAʿWAH].]

INFANTS, The Religion of. The general rule is that the religion of an infant is the same as that of its parents. But where one of the parents is a Muḥammadan, and the other of a different persuasion (as a Jew or a Christian), the infant must be accounted a Muḥammadan, on the principle that where the reasons are equally balanced, the preference is to be given to that religion. (Hidāyah, vol. i. p. 177. Sharīfīyah, Appendix No. 71. Baillie’s Inheritance, p. 28.)

INFANT SALVATION. The author of Durru ʾl-Muk͟htār, vol. i. p. 891, says: Abū Ḥanīfah gave no answer to the question whether the infants of mushrikūn (those who associate another with God) will have to answer for themselves in the Day of Judgment or not; or whether they will inherit the Fire (i.e. Hell), or go to Paradise (Jannah) or not. But Ibn al-Humām has said, the learned are not agreed upon these questions, and it is evident that Abū Ḥanīfah and others are at a loss to answer them; and, moreover, there are contradictory traditions recorded regarding them. So it is evident that in the matter of salvation, they (the infants) will be committed to God, and we are not able to say anything regarding this matter. Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan (the disciple of Abū Ḥanīfah), has said, “I am certain God will not commit anyone to the punishment (of hell) until he has committed sin.” And Ibn Abī Sharīf (a disciple of Ibn al-Ḥasan), says the Companions were silent regarding the question of the future of infants; but it is related by the Imām Nawawī (commentator on the Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim) that there are three views regarding the salvation of infants. Some say they will go to hell, some do not venture an opinion on the subject, and some say they will enter Paradise; and the last view he considers the correct one, in accordance with the tradition which says, “Every child is born according to the law of God.”

INFĀQ (انفاق‎). Lit. “Giving forth; expending.” The word occurs once in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xvii. 102]: “Did ye control the treasuries of the mercy of my Lord, then ye would hold them through fear of expending (infāq), for man is ever niggardly.”

The word is used for giving in charity and in God’s service, in opposition to imsāk.

INFIDEL. There are several words used for those in a state of infidelity: 1, kāfir (كافر‎), one who hides or denies the truth; 2, mushrik (مشرك‎), one who gives companions to God; 3, mulḥid (ملحد‎), one who has deviated from the truth; 4, zandīq (زنديق‎), an infidel or a zend-worshipper; 5, munāfiq (منافق‎), one who secretly disbelieves in the mission of Muḥammad; 6, murtadd (مرتد‎), an apostate from Islām; 7, dahrī (دهرى‎), an atheist; 8, was̤anīy (وثنى‎), a pagan or idolater.

AL-INFIT̤ĀR (الانـفـطـار‎). “The cleaving asunder.” The title of the LXXXIInd Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in which the word occurs. Zamak͟hsharī, according to Savary, says that “the Muslims who shall recite this chapter shall receive a divine favour for every drop of water that drops from the clouds, and another for each grave on the face of the earth.”

INHERITANCE. Arabic Farāʾiẓ (فرائض‎), Mīrās̤ (ميراث‎). The law of inheritance is called ʿilmu ʾl-farāʾiẓ, or ʿilm-i-mīrās̤. The verses in the Qurʾān upon which the law of inheritance is founded are called Ayātu ʾl-Mawārīs̤, the Verses of Inheritance; they begin at the 12th verse of Sūratu ʾn-Nisāʾ, or the IVth chapter of the Qurʾān, and are as follows:—

“With regard to your children, God commandeth you to give the male the portion of two females; and if they be females more than two, then they shall have two-thirds of that which their father hath left: but if she be an only daughter, she shall have the half; and the father and mother of the deceased shall each of them have a sixth part of what he hath left, if he have a child; but if he have no child, and his parents be his heirs, then his mother shall have the third; and if he have brethren, his mother shall have the sixth, after paying the bequests he shall have bequeathed, and his debts. As to your fathers, or your children, ye know not which of them is the most advantageous to you. This is the law of God. Verily, God is Knowing, Wise!

“Half of what your wives leave shall be yours, if they have no issue; but if they have issue, then a fourth of what they leave shall be yours, after paying the bequests they shall bequeath, and debts.

“And your wives shall have a fourth part of what ye leave, if ye have no issue; but if ye have issue, then they shall have an eighth part of what ye leave, after paying the bequests ye shall bequeath, and debts.

“If a man or woman make a distant relation their heir, and he or she have a brother or a sister, each of these two shall have a sixth; but if there are more than this, then shall they be sharers in a third, after payment of the bequests he shall have bequeathed, and debts,

“Without loss to any one. This is the ordinance of God, and God is Knowing, Gracious!”

The earliest authority in the Traditions on the subject of inheritance is Zaid ibn S̤ābit, and the present law is chiefly collected from his sayings, as recorded in the Ḥadīs̤. There are no very important differences between the Sunnī and Shīʿah law with reference to this question. The highest authority amongst the former is the book as-Sirājīyah, by Sirāju ʾd-dīn Muḥammad, A.H. 600, which has been published with a commentary entitled Mamzūj, by Sir W. Jones, Calcutta, 1792.

The Shīʿah law of inheritance will be found in the Mafātīḥ and the Jāmiʿu ʾsh-Shatāt.

The property of a deceased Muslim is applicable, in the first place, to the payment of his funeral expenses; secondly, to the discharge of his debts; and, thirdly, to the payment of legacies as far as one-third of the residue. The remaining two-thirds, with so much of the third as is not absorbed by legacies are the patrimony of the heirs. A Muḥammadan is therefore disabled from disposing of more than a third of his property by will. (See As-Sirājīyah.)

The clear residue of the estate after the payment of funeral expenses, debts, and legacies, descends to the heirs; and among these the first are persons for whom the law has provided certain specific shares or portions, and who are thence denominated Sharers, or ẕawū ʾl-furūẓ.

In most cases there must be a residue after the shares have been satisfied; and this passes to another class of persons who from that circumstance may be termed Residuaries, or ʿaṣabah.

It can seldom happen that the deceased should have no individual connected with him who would fall under these two classes; but to guard against this possible contingency, the law has provided another class of persons, who, though many of them may be nearly related to the deceased, by reason of their remote position with respect to the inheritance, have been denominated Distant kindred, or ẕawū ʾl-arḥām.

“As a general rule,” says Mr. Ameer Ali, “the law of succession, both among the Shiahs (Shīʿahs) and the Sunnis, proceeds on the assumption of intestacy. During his lifetime a Mussulman has absolute power over his property, whether it is ancestral or self-acquired, or whether it is real or personal. He may dispose of it in whatever way he likes. But such dispositions in order to be valid and effective, are required to have operation given to them during the lifetime of the owner. If a gift be made, the subject matter of the gift must be made over to the donee during the lifetime of the donor; he must, in fact, divest himself of all proprietary rights in it, and place the donee in possession. To make the operation of the gift dependent upon the donor’s death, would invalidate the donation. So also in the case of endowments for charitable or religious purposes. A disposition in favour of a charity, in order to be valid, should be accompanied by the complete divestment of all proprietary rights. As regards testamentary dispositions, the power is limited to one-third of the property, provided it is not in favour of one who is entitled to share in the inheritance. For example, the proprietor may devise by will one-third of his property to a stranger; should the devise, however, relate to more than one-third, or should it be in favour of an heir, it would be invalid.

“This restriction on the testamentary powers of a Mussulman, which is not without analogy in some of the Western systems, leads to the consequence that, as far as the major portion of the estate and effects of a deceased propositus is concerned, the distribution takes place as if he had died intestate.

“Intestacy is accordingly the general rule among the Mussulmans; and as almost in every case there are more heirs than one entitled to share in the inheritance of the deceased, it is important to bear in mind the points of contact as well as of divergence between the Shiah and the Sunni schools.

“As regards the points of contact, it may be stated generally that both the Sunnis and the Shiahs are agreed on the principle by which the individuals who are entitled to an inheritance in the estate of the deceased can be distinguished from those who have no right. For example, a Mussulman upon his death, may leave behind him a numerous body of relations. In the absence of certain determinate rules, it would be extremely difficult to distinguish between the inheriting and the non-inheriting relations. In order to obviate this difficulty and to render it easy to distinguish between the two classes of heirs, it is recognized by both the schools as a general rule, and one capable of universal application, that when a deceased Mussulman leaves behind him two relations, one of whom is connected with him through the other, the former shall not succeed whilst the intermediate person is alive. For example, if a person on his death leave behind him a son and that son’s son, this latter will not succeed to his grandfather’s estate while his father is alive. The other rule, which is also framed with the object of discovering the heirs of a deceased individual, is adopted with some modification by the two schools. For example, on the succession of male agnates, the Sunnis prefer the nearer in degree to the more remote, whilst the Shiahs apply the rule of nearness or propinquity to all cases, without distinction of class or sex. If a person die leaving behind him a brother’s son, and a brother’s grandson, and his own daughter’s son, among the Sunnis, the brother’s son being a male agnate and nearer to the deceased than the brother’s grandson, takes the inheritance in preference to the others; whilst among the Shiahs, the daughter’s son, being nearer in blood, would exclude the others.” (Personal Law, by Ameer Ali, p. 41.)

The law of inheritance, even according to Muslim doctors of law, is acknowledged to be an exceedingly difficult object of study; it will, therefore, be impossible to follow it out in all its intricacies, but we give a carefully-drawn table by Mr. A. Ramsey, on the Sunnī law, and a more simple one on Shīʿah inheritance by Mr. Ameer Ali.

I.—SHARERS.

* Are always entitled to some shares.

† Are liable to exclusion by others who are nearer.

R Denotes those who benefit by the return.

* 1^o Father. (α).—As mere sharer, when a son or a son’s son, how low soever, he takes ⅙. (β).—As mere residuary, when no successor but himself, he takes the whole: or with a sharer, not a child or son’s child, how low soever, he takes what is left by such sharer. (γ).—As sharer and residuary, as when there are daughters and son’s daughter, but no son or son’s son, he, as sharer, takes ⅙; daughter takes ½, or two or more daughters, ⅔; son’s daughter ⅙; and father the remainder as residuary.

† 2^o True Grandfather, i.e. father’s father, his father and so forth, into whose line of relationship to deceased no mother enters, is excluded by father, and excludes brothers and sisters; comes into father’s place when no father, but does not, like father, reduce mother’s share to ⅓ of residue, nor entirely exclude paternal grandmother.

† 3^o Half Brothers by same Mother, take, in the absence of children, or son’s descendants, and father and true grandfather, one ⅙, two or more between them ⅓. R

* 4^o Daughters; when no sons, take, one ½; two or more, ⅔ between them: with sons become residuaries and take each half a son’s share. R

† 5^o Son’s Daughters; take as daughters, when there is no child; take nothing when there is a son or more daughters than one; take ⅙ when only one daughter; are made residuaries by brother or male cousin how low soever. R

* 6^o Mother: takes ⅙, when there is a child or son’s child, how low soever, or two or more brothers or sisters of whole or half blood; takes ⅓, when none of these: when husband or wife and both parents, takes ⅓ of remainder after deducting their shares, the residue going to father: if no father, but grandfather, takes ⅓ of the whole. R

† 7^o True Grandmother, i.e. father’s or mother’s mother, how high soever; when no mother, takes ⅙: if more than one, ⅙ between them. Paternal grandmother is excluded by both father and mother; maternal grandmother by mother only. R

† 8^o Full Sisters, take as daughters when no children, son’s children, how low soever, father, true grandfather or full brother: with full brother, take half share of male: when daughters or son’s daughters, how low soever, but neither sons, nor sons’ sons, nor father, nor true grandfather, nor brothers, the full sisters take as residuaries what remains after daughter or son’s daughter have had their share. R

† 9^o Half Sisters by same Father: as full sisters, when there are none: with one full sister, take ⅙; when two full sisters, take nothing, unless they have a brother who makes them residuaries, and then they take half a male’s share. R

† 10^o Half Sisters by Mother only: when no children or son’s children how low soever, or father or true grandfather, take one ⅙; two or more ⅓ between them. R

* 11^o Husband: if no child or son’s child, how low soever, takes ½; otherwise ¼.

* 12^o Wife: if no child or son’s child, how low soever, takes ¼; if otherwise, ⅛. Several widows share equally.

Corollary.—All brothers and sisters are excluded by son, son’s son, how low soever, father or true grandfather. Half brothers and sisters, on father’s side, are excluded by these and also by full brother. Half brothers and sisters on mother’s side are excluded by any child or son’s child, by father and true grandfather.

II.—RESIDUARIES.

A.—Residuaries in their own right, being males into whose line of relationship to the deceased no female enters.

(a.) Descendants.

• 1. Son.
• 2. Son’s son.
• 3. Son’s son’s son.
• 4. Son of No. 3.
  • 4A. Son of No. 4.
  • 4B. And so on, how low soever.

(b.) Ascendants.

• 5. Father.
• 6. Father’s father.
• 7. Father of No. 6.
• 8. Father of No. 7.
  • 8A. Father of No. 8.
  • 8B. And so on, how high soever.

(c.) Collaterals.

• 9. Full brother.
• 10. Half brother by father.
• 11. Son of No. 9.
• 12. Son of No. 10.
  • 11A. Son of No. 11.
  • 12A. Son of No. 12.
  • 11B. Son of No. 11A.
  • 12B. Son of No. 12A.
  • And so on, how low soever.
• 13. Full paternal uncle by father.
• 14. Half paternal uncle by father.
• 15. Son of No. 13.
• 16. Son of No. 14.
  • 15A. Son of No. 15.
  • 16A. Son of No. 16.
  • And so on, how low soever.
• 17. Father’s full paternal uncle by father’s side.
• 18. Father’s half paternal uncle by father’s side.
• 19. Son of No. 17.
• 20. Son of No. 18.
  • 19A. Son of No. 19.
  • 20A. Son of No. 20.
  • And so on, how low soever.
• 21. Grandfather’s full paternal uncle by father’s side.
• 22. Grandfather’s half paternal uncle by father’s side.
• 23. Son of No. 21.
• 24. Son of No. 22.
  • 23A. Son of No. 23.
  • 24A. Son of No. 24.
  • And so on, how low soever.

N.B.—α. A nearer Residuary in the above Table is preferred to and excludes a more remote.

β. Where several Residuaries are in the same degree, they take per capita, not per stirpes, i.e. they share equally.

γ. The whole blood is preferred to and excludes the half blood at each stage.

B.—Residuaries in another’s right, being certain females, who are made residuaries by males parallel to them; but who, in the absence of such males, are only entitled to legal shares. These female Residuaries take each half as much as the parallel male who makes them Residuaries.

1. Daughter made Residuary by son.

2. Son’s daughter made Residuary by son’s son.

3. Full sister made Residuary by full brother.

4. Half sister by father made Residuary by her brother.

C. Residuaries with another, being certain females who become residuaries with other females.

1. Full sisters with daughters or daughters’ sons.

2. Half sisters by father.

N.B.—When there are several Residuaries of different kinds or classes, e.g. residuaries in their own right and residuaries with another, propinquity to deceased gives a preference: so that the residuary with another, when nearer to the deceased than the residuary is himself, is the first.

If there be Residuaries and no Sharers, the Residuaries take all the property.

If there be Sharers, and no Residuaries, the Sharers take all the property by the doctrine of the “Return.” Seven persons are entitled to the Return. 1st, mother; 2nd, grandmother; 3rd, daughter; 4th, son’s daughter; 5th, full sister; 6th, half sister by father; 7th, half brother or sister by mother.

A posthumous child inherits. There is no presumption as to commorients, who are supposed to die at the same time unless there be proof otherwise.

If there be neither Sharers nor Residuaries, the property will go to the following class (Distant Kindred).

III.—DISTANT KINDRED.

Comprising all relatives, who are neither Shares nor Residuaries.

Class 1.

Descendants: Children of daughters and son’s daughters.

1. Daughter’s son.

2. Daughter’s daughter.

3. Son of No. 1.

4. Daughter of No. 1.

5. Son of No. 2.

6. Daughter of No. 2, and so on, how low soever, and whether male or female.

7. Son’s daughter’s son.

8. Son’s daughter’s daughter.

9. Son of No. 7.

10. Daughter of No. 7.

11. Son of No. 8.

12. Daughter of No. 8, and so on, how low soever, and whether male or female.

N.B.—(α)—Distant kindred of the first class take according to proximity of degree; but, when equal in this respect, those who claim through an heir, i.e. sharer or residuary, have a preference over those who claim through one not an heir.

(β)—When the sexes of their ancestors differ, distribution is made having regard to such difference of sex, e.g. daughter of daughter’s son gets a portion double that of son of daughter’s daughter, and when the claimants are equal in degree, but different in sex, males take twice as much as females.

Class 2.

Ascendants: False grandfathers and false grandmothers.

13. Maternal grandfather.

14. Father of No. 13, father of No. 14, and so on, how high soever (i.e. all false grandfathers).

15. Maternal grandfather’s mother.

16. Mother of No. 15, and so on, how high soever (i.e. all false grandmothers).

N.B.—Rules (α) and (β), applicable to class 1, apply also to class 2. Further (γ) when the sides of relation differ, the claimant by the paternal side gets twice as much as the claimant by the maternal side.

Class 3.

Parents’ Descendants.

17. Full brother’s daughter and her descendants.

18. Full sister’s son.

19. Full sister’s daughters and their descendants, how low soever.

20. Daughter of half brother by father, and her descendants.

21. Son of half sister by father.

22. Daughter of half sister by father, and their descendants, how low soever.

23. Son of half brother by mother.

24. Daughter of half brother by mother and their descendants, how low soever.

25. Son of half sister by mother.

26. Daughter of half sister by mother, and their descendants, how low soever.

N.B.—Rules (α) and (β) applicable to class 1, apply also to class 3. Further (δ) when two claimants are equal in respect of proximity, one who claims through a residuary is preferred to one who cannot so claim.

Class 4.

Descendants of the two grandfathers and the two grandmothers.

27. Full paternal aunt and her descendants.*

28. Half paternal aunt and her descendants.*

29. Father’s half brother by mother and his descendants.*

30. Father’s half sister by mother and her descendants.*

31. Maternal uncle and his descendants.*

32. Maternal aunt and her descendants.*

* Male or Female, and how low soever.

N.B. (ε)—The sides of relation being equal, uncles and aunts of the whole blood are preferred to those of the half, and those connected by same father only, whether males or females, are preferred to those connected by the same mother only. (η) Where sides of relation differ, the claimant by paternal relation gets twice as much as the claimant by maternal relation. (θ) Where sides and strength of relation are equal, the male gets twice as much as the female.

General Rule.—Each of these classes excludes the next following class.

IV.—Successor by Contract or Mutual Friendship.

V.—Successor of acknowledged Kindred.

VI.—Universal Legatee.

VII.—Public Treasury.

A Synoptical Table of Shiʿah Inheritance.

	I.—Consanguinity, or Nasab
	First Class.		Second Class.		Third Class.
(1) Immediate ascendants, viz. father and mother.		(2) Lineal descendants, sons and daughters and grandchildren.		(1) Paternal uncles and aunts and their children.		(2) Maternal uncles and aunts and their children.
(1) Ascendants of second and third degrees viz. grand-parents and their parents.				(2) Brothers and sisters and their children.

	II.—Special Cause, or Sabab.
Matrimony.					Walāʾ.
Husband or Wife.		(1) Emancipation.		(2) Suretyship.		(3) Spiritual Headship.

[For the Muḥammadan law of inheritance in English, refer to Sir William Jones’ translation of the Sirājīyah (Calcutta, A.D. 1792), reprinted by Mr. Almaric Ramsey, A.D. 1869. The Muḥammadan Law of Inheritance, by Mr. N. B. E. Baillie, A.D. 1832; by Mr. S. G. Grady, A.D. 1869; also Personal Law of the Muḥammadans, by Mr. Ameer Ali, 1880. The Arabic works on the subject are: For Sunnī law, as-Sirājīyah, ash-Sharīfīyah, Hidāyah, Durru ʾl-Muk͟htār; for Shīʿah law, Jāmiʿu ʾsh-Shatāt, Mafātīḥ, Sharāʾiʿu ʾl-Islām, Irshād-i-Allāmah.]

INHIBITION. Arabic ḥijr (حجر‎), which, in its primitive sense, means “interdiction or prevention.” In the language of the law it signifies an interdiction of action with respect to a particular person; the causes of inhibition being three: infancy, insanity, and servitude.

The acts of an infant, i.e. one under puberty, are unlawful, unless sanctioned by his guardian. The acts of a lunatic who has no lucid intervals are not at all lawful; and so are those of a male or female slave. (Hidāyah, iii. p. 468.)

INITIAL LETTERS of the Qurʾān. [[QURʾAN].]

INJĪL (انجيل‎). Gr. Εὐαγγέλιον. Evangel. Injīl is used in the Qurʾān, and in the Traditions, and in all Muḥammadan theological works of an early date, for the revelations made by God to Jesus. But in recent works it is applied by Muḥammadans to the New Testament. The word occurs twelve times in the Qurʾān, as in the following Sūrahs, which we have arranged chronologically, and not as they occur in the Qurʾān. (It will be seen that the expression Injīl is not mentioned in the earlier Sūrahs. See chronological table of Sūrahs in article [QURʾAN].)

[Sūrah vii. 156]: “Who follow the Apostle—the illiterate Prophet, whom they find written down with them in the Law (Taurāt) and the Gospel (Injīl).”

[Sūrah iii. 2]: “He has sent thee a book (i.e. the Qurʾān) confirming what was before it, and has revealed the Law, and the Gospel before, for the guidance of men.”

[Sūrah iii. 43]: “He will teach him the Book and Wisdom, and the Law and the Gospel.”

[Sūrah iii. 58]: “Why do ye dispute about Abraham, when the Law and the Gospel were not revealed until after him.”

[Sūrah lvii. 27]: “We gave him (Jesus) the Gospel, and we placed in the hearts of those who followed him kindness and compassion.”

[Sūrah xlviii. 29]: “Their marks are in their faces from the effects of adoration: that is their similitude in the Law, and their similitude in the Gospel.”

[Sūrah ix. 112]: “Promised in truth in the Law, in the Gospel, and in the Qurʾān.”

[Sūrah v. 50]: “We brought him (Jesus) the Gospel.”

[Sūrah v. 51]: “Then let the people of the Gospel judge by what is revealed therein.”

[Sūrah v. 70]: “And were they steadfast in the Law and in the Gospel?”

[Sūrah v. 72]: “Ye rest on nought until ye stand fast by the Law and the Gospel and what is revealed to you from your Lord.”

[Sūrah v. 110]: “When I taught thee the Book, and Wisdom, and the Law, and the Gospel.”

There are also allusions to the Christian Scriptures in the following verses:—

[Sūrah xix. 31]. (The infant Jesus said,) “Verily, I am the servant of God: He hath given me the book, and He hath made me a prophet.”

Muḥammad was much more indebted to Judaism than Christianity for the teaching he received, which enabled him to overthrow Arabian idolatry and to establish the worship of the One True God [[CHRISTIANITY], [JUDAISM]], and consequently we find more frequent allusions to the Law of Moses than to the Gospel of Christ; and, as it has been already stated, the references to the Gospel as a revelation are in the later Sūrahs. But in all references to the Injīl as an inspired record, there is not one single statement to the effect that the Christians of Muḥammad’s day did not possess the genuine Scriptures. In [Sūrah iv. 169], (which is an al-Madīnah Sūrah), the Christians are charged with extravagance, or error in doctrine, but not with not possessing the true Gospels:—

“Ye people of the Book! commit not extravagance in your religion; and say not of God other than the truth. For verily the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, is an apostle of God, and His word which He placed in Mary, and a spirit from Him. Wherefore, believe in God, and in His apostle; and say not,—‘the Trinity’;—refrain; it will be better for you. For verily God is one God; far exalted is He above the possibility that there should be unto Him progeny! to Him belongeth whatever is in the heavens and in the earth, and He sufficeth as a guardian.”

In [Sūrah lxi. 6], there is an appeal to the Gospel in support of Muḥammad’s mission, and the appeal is made without any doubt that he was referring to a genuine saying of Christ, well known to the Christians of that day. The verse is as follows:—

“When Jesus, the son of Mary, said: ‘O children of Israel! verily, I am the apostle of God to you, verifying the law that was before me, and giving you glad tidings of an apostle who shall come after me, whose name shall be Aḥmad!’ But when he did come to them with manifest signs, they said, ‘This is manifest sorcery!’ ”

The allusion is to the promise of the Paraclete in [John xvi. 7], the Muslims declaring that the word παράκλητος has been substituted for the Greek περικλυτός, the word Aḥmad, which is equivalent to Muḥammad, meaning “Praised.” The charge which modern Muslims bring against the Christians of having either lost, or changed the original Scriptures, is treated of under the head of [CORRUPTION OF THE SCRIPTURES]; but some curious statements on the subject will be found in an article in the Kashfu ʾz̤-Z̤unūn. It is a Bibliographical Dictionary, compiled by Ḥājjī K͟halīfah about 200 years ago. The statements in its article on [INJIL] are such a strange mixture of fact and fiction that we translate the article from the Arabic in extenso:—

“The Injīl is a book which God revealed to ʿĪsā ibn Maryam. In the work entitled al-Muwāhib (by Shihābu ʾd-Dīn Aḥmad al-Qast̤alānī, died A.H. 923), it is recorded that the Injīl was first revealed in the Syriac tongue, and has since been translated into seventeen languages. But in the Ṣaḥīḥu ʾl-Buk͟hārī (A.H. 256), in the story of Waraqah ibn Naufal, it is related that the Injīl was revealed in Hebrew. According to Wahb ibn Munabbih, as quoted by Zamak͟hsharī (A.H. 538) in the Kashshāf, the Injīl was revealed to Jesus on the 13th day of the month Ramaẓān, although some say it was on the 18th day of that month, 1200 years after the revelation of the Zabūr (Psalms) to Moses.

“It is a disputed question whether or not the Injīl abrogates the Law of Moses (Taurāt). Some say that Jesus was not a Sāḥibu ʾsh-Sharīʿah (a law-giver); for it is said in the Injīl:—

قال عيسى انى ما جئت لتبديل شرع موسى عليه السلام بل لتكميله‎

‘I am not come to abrogate (tabdīl) the Law of Moses, peace be upon him, but to fulfil it (takmīl).’

“But al-Baiẓāwī (A.H. 685), in his commentary the Anwāru ʾt-Tanzīl, seems to prove that the Law of Jesus does abrogate the Law of Moses (Sharʿu Mūsā), for there are certain things revealed to Jesus which were not revealed to Moses.

“At the commencement of the Injīl is Inscribed باسم الاب و الابن الخم‎, ‘In the name of the Father and of the Son,’ &c. And the Injīl, which is now in the hands of the Christians, is merely a history of the Christ (Sīratu ʾl-Masīḥ), collected by his four companions Matta, Lūqā, Marqūṣ and Yūḥannā.

“In the book entitled the Tuḥfatu ʾl-Adīb fi Raddi ʿalā Ahli ʾṣ-Ṣalīb, or ‘A refutation of the servants of the Cross’ (written by ʿAbdu ʾllāh, a pervert from Christianity to Islām, A.H. 823), it is said that these four Companions are they who corrupted the religion of Jesus, and have added to it. And that they were not of the Ḥawārīyūn, or Apostles, mentioned in the Qurʾān. Matta did not see Jesus until the year he was taken up to heaven; and after the Ascension of Jesus he wrote in the city of Alexandria, with his own hand, his Injīl, in which he gives an account of the birth and life of Jesus, mentioning several circumstances which are not mentioned by others. Lūqā also did not see Jesus, but he was converted to Christianity by one Būlis (Paul), who was an Israelite, who himself had not seen Jesus, but was converted by Anānīyā (Ananias). Marqūṣ also did not see Jesus at all, but was converted to Christianity, after the Ascension of Jesus, by the Apostle Bītrū, and received the Injīl (Gospel) from that Apostle in the city of Rome. And his Gospel in many respects contradicts the statements of the other three. Yūḥannā was the son of the sister of Maryam, the mother of Jesus, and the Christians assert that Jesus was present at the marriage of Yūḥannā, when Jesus changed the water into wine. It was the first miracle performed by Jesus.

“When Yūḥannā saw the miracle, he was converted to Christianity, and left his wife and followed Jesus. He was the writer of the fourth Injīl (Gospel). It was written in Greek, in the city of Ephesus. These are the four persons who altered and changed the true Injīl, for there was only one Injīl revealed to Jesus, in which there was no contradiction or discrepancy. These people have invented lies concerning God and His Prophet Jesus, upon whom be peace, as it is a well known fact, although the Christians (Naṣāra) deny it. For example, Marqūṣ has written in the first chapter of his Gospel that in the book of the Prophet Isaiah it is said by God, ‘I have sent an angel before thy face, namely, before the face of Jesus,’ whereas the words are not in the book of Isaiah but in that of Malachi. [See [Mark i. 2]. In the Received Version the words are “in the Prophets”; but in the Revised Version we have “in Isaiah the prophet.”]

“Again, it is related by Matta, in the first or rather thirteenth chapter of his Gospel [sic; see, however, [Matt. xii. 40]], that Jesus said, ‘My body will remain in the belly of the earth three days and three nights after my death, just as Jonas was in the whale’s belly;’ and it is evident it was not true, for Matta agrees with the three other writers of the Gospels that Jesus died in the sixth hour on Friday, and was buried in the first hour of the night on Saturday, and rose from the dead early on Sunday morning, so that he remained in the belly of the earth one day and two nights. So there remains no doubt that the writers of the Gospels told the untruth. For neither Jesus said of himself, nor did God in his Injīl say of him, that Jesus will be killed or buried in the earth, for God has said (i.e. in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah iv. 156]), ‘They slew him not, for certain! Nay, God raised him up unto Himself.’ For this cause there were various divisions amongst the Christians. Other circumstances similar to these are mentioned in the Tuḥfatu ʾl-Adīb. Then there are the fundamental rules and doctrines (al-Qawāʾid), upon which the Christians are, with very few exceptions, universally agreed, namely: (1) At-Tag͟ht̤īs (Baptism); (2) Faith in the Tas̤līs̤, or Trinity; (3) the Incarnation of the Uqnūm (i.e. the essence) of the Son in the womb of Mary; (4) a belief in the Fit̤rah (i.e. the Holy Communion); (5) the Confession of all sins to the Priest (Qissīs). These five foundations also are full of falsehood, corruption, and ignorance.”

“In the work entitled al-Insānu ʾl-Kāmil (written by the Shaik͟h ʿAbdu ʾl-Karīm ibn Ibrahīm al-Jīlī, lived A.H. 767–811) it is said that when the Christians found that there was at the commencement of the Injīl the superscription باسم الاب و الابن‎, i.e. ‘in the name of the Father and Son,’ they took the words in their natural meaning, and [thinking it ought to be Ab, father, Umm, mother, and Ibn, son] understood by Ab, the Spirit, by Umm, Mary, and by Ibn, Jesus; and on this account they said, S̤ālis̤u S̤alās̤atin, i.e. ‘(God is) the third of three.’ ([Sūrah v. 77].) But they did not understand that by Ab is meant God Most High, by Umm, the Mahīyatu ʾl-Ḥaqāʾiq, or ‘Essence of Truth’ (Quidditas veritatum), and by Ibn, the Book of God, which is called the Wujūdu ʾl-Mut̤laq, or ‘Absolute Existence,’ being an emanation of the Essence of Truth, as it is implied in the words of the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xiii. 9]: ‘And with him is the Ummu ʾl-Kitāb, or the Mother of the Book.’ ”

AL-INSĀN (الانسان‎). “Man.” The title of the LXXVIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, called also Sūratu ʾd-Dahr, both words occurring in the first verse: “Did there not pass over man (insān) a long space of time (dahr), during which he was a thing not worthy of remembrance.”

Some take these words to be spoken of Adam, whose body, according to tradition, was first a figure of clay, and was left for forty years to dry, before God breathed into it; but others understand them of man in general and of the time he lies in the womb. (See al-Baiẓāwī, in loco.)

AL-INSĀNU ʾL-KĀMIL (الانسان الكامل‎). “The perfect man.” A term used by the Ṣūfī mystics for one in whom are combined all the attributes of divinity and of humanity. (Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, in loco). Also title of a mystic work by ʿAbdu ʾl-Karīm ibn Ibrahīm al-Jīlī (lived A.H. 767–811).

INSHĀʾ (انشاء‎). Lit. “Constructing; raising-up.” The term is particularly applied to literary compositions and forms of letter-writing.

Mr. Lane, in his Modern Egyptians, vol. i. p. 272, mentions the Shaik͟h of the great Mosque, the Azhar, as the author of a collection of Arabic letters on various subjects, which are intended as models of epistolary style, such a collection being called an Inshāʾ.

INSHĀʾA ʾLLĀHU TAʿĀLĀ (ان شاء الله تعالى‎). “If it should please God Almighty.” A very frequent ejaculation amongst Muslims. [[ISTISNAʾ].]

AL-INSHIRĀḤ (الانشراح‎). “Expanding.” The title of the xcivth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, which opens with the words “Have we not expanded thy breast.” It is supposed to allude to the opening of Muḥammad’s heart in his infancy, when it is said to have been taken out and cleansed of original sin. (See al-Baiẓāwī, in loco.)

INSOLVENCY of a debtor is established by a judicial decree; and after such a declaration a bequest by such a person is void. If, however, the creditors relinquish their claim, the bequest is then valid. (Hidāyah, iv. p. 475.)

INSPIRATION. Arabic waḥy (وحى‎). According to the Nūru ʾl-Anwār, by Shaik͟h Jīwan Aḥmad (A.H. 1130), inspiration is of two kinds. Waḥy z̤āhir, external inspiration, or Waḥy bāt̤in, internal inspiration.

I.—External Inspiration is of three kinds:—

(1) Waḥyu Qurʾān, or that which was received from the mouth of the angel Gabriel, and reached the ear of the Prophet, after he knew beyond doubt that it was the angel who spoke to him. This is the only kind of inspiration admitted to be in the Qurʾān. It is sometimes called the Waḥy matlū.

(2) Ishāratu ʾl-Malak, or that which was received from the angel but not by word of mouth, as when the Prophet said, “the Holy Ghost has breathed into my heart.”

(3) Ilhām or Waḥyu qalb, or that which was made known to the Prophet by the “light of prophecy.” This kind of inspiration is said to be possessed by Walīs or saints, in which case it may be either true or false.

II.—Internal Inspiration is that which the Prophet obtained by thought and analogical reasoning, just as the Mujtahidūn, or enlightened doctors of the law obtain it. It is the belief of all orthodox Muslims that their Prophet always spoke on matters of religion by the lower forms of inspiration (i.e. Ishāratu ʾl-Malak, Ilhām, or Waḥyu qalb); and, consequently a Ḥadīs̤ is held to be inspired in as great a degree, although not in the same manner as the Qurʾān itself. The inspiration of the Ḥadīs̤ is called the Waḥy g͟hair matlū. (See Nūru ʾl-Anwār, p. 181; Mishkāt, book i. ch. vi. pt. 2.)

Sūratu ʾn-Najm, liii. 2: “Your lord (ṣāḥib) erreth not, nor is he led astray, neither speaketh he from impulse.”

According to the strict Muḥammadan doctrine, every syllable of the Qurʾān is of a directly divine origin, although wild rhapsodical Sūrahs first composed by Muḥammad (as xci., c., cii., ciii.) do not at all bear marks of such an assumption, and were not probably intended to be clothed in the dress of a message from the Most High, which characterizes the rest of the Qurʾān. But when Muḥammad’s die was cast (the turning point in his career) of assuming that Great Name as the speaker of His revelations, then these earlier Sūrahs also came to be regarded as emanating directly from the Deity. Hence it arises that Muḥammadans rigidly include every word of the Qurʾān, at whatever stage delivered, in the category of Qāla ʾllāhu, or “Thus saith the Lord,” and it is one of their arguments against our Christian scriptures that they are not entirely cast in the same mould—not exclusively oracles from the mouth, and spoken in the person of God. (Muir’s Life of Mahomet.)

The following is a description of inspiration as given by Ibn K͟haldūn, “The sign that a man is inspired,” he says, “is, that he is at times completely absent, though in the society of others. His respiration is stentorious and he seems to be in a cataleptic fit, or in a swoon. This, however, is merely apparent; for in reality such an ecstasis is an absorption into the invisible world; and he has within his grasp what he alone is able to conceive, which is above the conception of others. Subsequently these spiritual visions descend and become perceptible to the faculties of man. They are either whispered to him in a low tone, or an angel appears to him in human shape and tells him what he brings from God. Then the ecstasis ceases, and the prophet remembers what he has heard.”

INTELLECT. Arabic ʿaql (عقل‎), fahm (فهم‎), idrāk (ادراك‎).

The Faqīr Jānī Muḥammad ibn Asʿad, in his work the Ak͟hlāq-i-Jalālī, says: “The reasonable mind has two powers, (1) the power of perceiving, and (2) the power of impelling; and each of these powers has two divisions: in the percipient power, 1st, an observative intellect, which is the source of impression from the celestial sources, by the reception of those ideas which are the materials of knowledge; 2nd, an active intellect, which, through thought and reflection, is the remote source of motion to the body in its separate actions. Combined with the appetent and vindictive powers, this division originates the occurrence of many states productive of action or impact, as shame, laughing, crying; in its operation on imagination and supposition, it leads to the accession of ideas and arts in the partial state; and in its relation with the observative sense and the connection maintained between them, it is the means of originating general ideas relating to actions, as the beauty of truth, the odiousness of falsehood, and the like. The impelling power has likewise two divisions: 1st, the vindictive power, which is the source of forcibly repelling what is disagreeable; 2nd, the appetent power, which is the source of acquiring what is agreeable.” (Thompson’s ed. p. 52.)

INTERCALATION of the Year. Arabic nasīʾ. The privilege of commuting the last of the three continuous sacred months for the one succeeding it, the month Ṣafar, in which case Muḥarram became secular, and Ṣafar sacred. M. Caussin de Perceval supposes that this innovation was introduced by Quṣaiy, an ancestor sixth in ascent from Muḥammad, who lived in the middle of the fifth century. Dr. Sprenger thinks that intercalation in the ordinary sense of the word was not practised at Makkah, and that the Arab year was a purely lunar one, performing its cycle regularly, and losing one year in every thirty-three.

The custom of nasīʾ was abolished by Muḥammad, at the farewell pilgrimage, A.H. 10, as is stated in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah ix. 36, 37]:—

“Twelve months is the number of months with God, according to God’s book, since the day when He created the heavens and the earth: of these four are sacred; this is the right usage. But wrong not yourselves therein; attack those who join gods with God in all, as they attack you in all: and know that God is with those who fear Him.

“To carry over a sacred month to another, is only a growth of infidelity. The Infidels are led into error by it. They allow it one year, and forbid it another, that they may make good the number of months which God hath hallowed, and they allow that which God hath prohibited.”

INTERCESSION. Arabic Shafāʿah (شفاعة‎). There is a general belief amongst Muḥammadans that their Prophet is a living intercessor for them at the throne of God; but the Wahhābīs state that the intercession of their Prophet will only be by the permission (Iẕn) of God at the last day, and that there is no intercession for sins until the Day of Judgment. The teaching of the Qurʾān and the Traditions seems to be in favour of this view.

[Sūrah ii. 256]: “Who is he that can intercede with Him but by His own permission?”

[Sūrah xix. 90]: “None shall meet (in the Day of Judgment) with intercession save he who hath entered into covenant with the God of mercy.”

[Sūrah xx. 108]: “No intercession shall avail on that day, save his whom the Merciful shall allow, and whose words He shall approve.”

[Sūrah xxxiv. 22]: “No intercession shall avail with him but that which He Himself alloweth.”

[Sūrah xxxix. 45]: “Intercession is wholly with God.”

[Sūrah lxxviii. 38]: “On the day whereon the spirit (Rūḥ) and the angels shall stand ranged in order they shall not utter a word, save he whom the God of mercy permits, and who shall say what is right.”

The statements of Muḥammad, as contained in the Traditions, are as follows:—

“He is most fortunate in my intercession in the Day of Judgment, who shall have said from his heart, without any mixture of hypocrisy, ‘There is no deity but God.’ ”

“I will intercede for those who shall have committed great sins.”

“Three classes will intercede on the Day of Judgment, the Prophets, the Learned, the Martyrs.” (Mishkāt, book xxxiii. ch. xii.)

The author of the Sharḥ-i-Muwāqif says (p. 588): According to the Sunnīs, the intercession of Muḥammad is specially for those who have committed great sins (ahlu ʾl-kabāʾir), for the purpose of removing punishment; for Muḥammad has said, “My intercession is for those who have committed great sins.” But the Muʿtazilahs say the intercession of Muḥammad is for the increase of merit, and not for the prevention of punishment; for it is said in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 45]: “Fear the day wherein no soul shall pay recompense for another soul. Nor shall intercession be accepted for it, nor shall compensation be taken from it, nor shall they be helped.”

INTERMEDIATE STATE. The state of the soul between the time of death and the resurrection is generally expressed by the term ʿĀlam-i-Barzak͟h, for an explanation of which refer to the article [BARZAKH]. Ṣūfī writers use the term ʿĀlam-i-Arwāḥ, “The world of spirits.”

From the Traditions it would appear that Muḥammad taught that the intermediate state is not one of unconsciousness. To the wicked it is certainly not; but inasmuch as the Muslim is encouraged to “sleep like the bridegroom,” it may be inferred that the intermediate state of the Muslim is held to be one of absolute repose. [[PUNISHMENTS OF THE GRAVE].]

INZ̤ĀR (انظار‎). Listening or lending an ear to the bankrupt’s statement or petition.

INZIʿĀJ (انزعاج‎). Lit. “Being disturbed and moved from its place.” A term used by the Ṣūfī mystics for the movement and excitement of the heart in the direction of God, through the effect either of a sermon, or of music and singing. (ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)

IQĀLAH (اقالة‎). “Cancelling.” In law, the cancelling or dissolution of sale, or any other contract.

IQĀMAH (اقامة‎). Lit. “Causing to stand.” A recitation at the commencement of the stated prayers when said in a congregation, after the worshippers have taken up their position. It is the same as the Iʾẕān, with the addition of the sentence, “Verily prayers are now ready” (Qad qāmati ʾṣ-ṣalāt). The sentences are, however, recited singly by all the sects except the Ḥanafīs who give it exactly as the Iʾẕān. It is not recited by the Imām, but by the person who stands behind him, who is called the Muqtadī, or “follower.” In large mosques it is usual for the Muʾaẕẕin, or caller to prayer, to take this office. But in his absence the person who happens to be behind the Imām recites the Iqāmah. [[IMAM].]

IQRĀR (اقرار‎). Acknowledgment; confession.

(1) A legal term used for the avowal of the right of another upon one’s self in sales, contracts, and divorce. (2) A theological term used for a confession of the Muslim faith, or a confession of sin. (3) Iqrār-nāmah, a legal deed of acknowledgment. (4) Iqrār-nāmah s̤alās̤ī, a deed of arbitration by a third party. (5) Iqrāru ʾl-as̤ām, a confession of guilt by a prisoner. (6) Iqrār ʿāmm, a public acknowledgment.

IQTIẒĀʾ (اقتضاء‎). Lit. “Demanding.” A term used in the exegesis of the Qurʾān for sentences which demand certain conditions, e.g. [Sūrah iv. 94]: “Whoso killeth a Muʾmin (a believer) by mischance shall be bound to free a slave.” Here the condition demanded is that the slave shall be the property of the person who frees him, and if he have not a slave to free, then some other expiation is required.

IRĀDAH (ارادة‎). Purpose, will, intention. (1) A word used for the intention, or will of man. (2) Irādatu ʾllāh, the will of God. (3) According to the Ṣūfī mystics, it is “a flame of love in the heart which desires God and longs to be united with Him.” (ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)

IRAM (ارم‎). A place mentioned in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah lxxxix. 6]: “Iram of the columns, the like of which has not been created in these lands.”

It is related that ash-Shaddād, the son of ʿĀd, ordered the construction of a terrestrial paradise in the desert of ʿAdan, ostensibly to rival the celestial one, and to be called Iram after his great grandfather. On going to take possession of it, he and all his people were struck dead by a noise from heaven, and the paradise disappeared.

AL-ʿIRĀQ (العراق‎). Lit. “A side, or shore.” A country frequently mentioned in the Traditions, which extends from ʿAbbadān to al-Mauṣil in length, and from al-Qādisīyah to Ḥalwān in breadth. Said to be so named because it was on the “shore” of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. Its principal cities were al-Baṣrah and al-Kūfah, and were called al-ʿIrāqān, or the Two ʿIrāqs.

ʿIRBĀN (عربان‎). Earnest-money paid in any legal transaction.

IRHAṢ (ارهاص‎). Lit. “Laying the Foundation.” A term used for any wonder wrought in behalf of a Prophet before he assumes the prophetic office; for example, the existence of a light on the forehead of Muḥammad’s ancestors is an Irhāṣ. (Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt.)

IRON. Arabic al-Ḥadīd (الحديد‎). The title of [Sūrah lvii]. in the Qurʾān, in the 25th verse of which it is said: “We (God) sent down iron, in which are both keen violence and advantages to men.” Zamak͟hsharī says that Adam brought down with him from Paradise five things made of iron, viz. an anvil, a pair of tongs, two hammers, a greater and lesser, and a needle.

IRTIDĀD (ارتداد‎). [[APOSTASY].]

ʿĪSĀ (عيسى‎). The name given to Jesus in the Qurʾān and all Muḥammadan writings. [[JESUS CHRIST].]

ISAAC. Arabic Isḥāq (اسحاق‎). The son of Abraham. He is mentioned in the Qurʾān as specially the child of promise, and a gift from God to Abraham; and also as an inspired prophet.

[Sūrah xxi. 72]: “And We (God) gave him (Abraham) Isaac and Jacob as a farther gift; and we made them all righteous.”

[Sūrah xix. 50]:

“And when he had separated himself from them and that which they worshipped beside God, we bestowed on him Isaac and Jacob; and each of them we made a prophet.

“And we bestowed gifts on them in our mercy, and gave them the lofty tongue of truth.”

The birth of Isaac as a child of promise to Abraham is related in [Sūrah xi. 72–77]:—

“And our messengers came formerly to Abraham with glad tidings. ‘Peace,’ said they. He said, ‘Peace,’ and he tarried not, but brought a roasted calf.

“And when he saw that their hands touched it not, he misliked them, and grew fearful of them. They said, ‘Fear not, for we are sent to the people of Lot.’

“His wife was standing by and laughed; and we announced Isaac to her; and after Isaac, Jacob.

“She said, ‘Ah, woe is me! shall I bear a son when I am old, and when this my husband is an old man? This truly would be a marvellous thing.’

“They said, ‘Marvellest thou at the command of God? God’s mercy and blessing be upon you, O people of this house; praise and glory are His due!’

“And when Abraham’s fear had passed away, and these glad tidings had reached him, he pleaded with us for the people of Lot. Verily, Abraham was right kind, pitiful, relenting.”

Abraham’s willingness to offer up his son is told in the Qurʾān, and from the text there would seem little doubt but Isaac was intended, although al-Baiẓāwī and many commentators declare it was Ishmael. The account runs thus ([Sūrah xxxvii. 97–113]):—

“And he said, ‘Verily, I repair to my Lord who will guide me.

“ ‘O Lord give me a son, of the righteous.’

“We announced to him a youth of meekness.

“And when he became a full-grown youth,

“His father said to him, ‘My son, I have seen in a dream that I should sacrifice thee; therefore, consider what thou seest right.’

“He said, ‘My father, do what thou art bidden; of the patient, if God please, shalt thou find me.’

“And when they had surrendered them to the will of God, he laid him down upon his forehead.

“We cried unto him, ‘O Abraham!

“ ‘Now hast thou satisfied the vision. See how we recompense the righteous.’

“This was indeed a decisive test.

“And we ransomed his son with a costly victim.

“And we left this for him among posterity,

“ ‘Peace be on Abraham!’

“Thus do we reward the well-doers,

“For he was of our believing servants.

“And we announced Isaac to him—a righteous prophet—

“And on him and on Isaac we bestowed our blessing. And among their offspring were well-doers, and others, to their own hurt undoubted sinners.”

The feast of sacrifice, the ʿĪdu ʾl-Aẓḥā, is said to have been instituted in commemoration of this event. [[ʿIDU ʾL-AZHA].]

Syud Ahmad Khan Bahadur, in his Essays on Arabia, remarks that learned Muḥammadan theologians distinctly say it was Isaac and not Ishmael who was to have been offered up; but our researches scarcely confirm the learned Syud’s statement. Ismāʿīl al-Buk͟hārī, no mean authority, says it was Ishmael, and so does al-Baiẓāwī.

The weight of traditional authority seems to be in favour of Isaac, and so does the text of the Qurʾān, which we have explained in the account of Ishmael; and yet amongst both the Sunnīs and the Shīʿahs the opinion is now almost universal that it was Ishmael. [[ISHMAEL].]

ISAIAH. Arabic Shaʿyāʾ (شعياء‎). The name is not mentioned in the Qurʾān, but al-Baiẓāwī, the commentator, in remarking on Sūratu ʾl-Miʿrāj, [xvii. 4]:—“We decreed to the children of Isrāʾīl in the Book, ‘Ye shall verily do evil in the earth twice,’ ”—says the two sins committed by the Israelites were first the murder of Shaʿyāʾ ibn Amsiyā (i.e. Isaiah, son of Amoz) or Armiyā (i.e. Jeremiah); and the second, the murder of Zakarīā and John the Baptist, and the intention of killing Jesus.

IʾS̤ĀR (ايثار‎). Honouring another above oneself. Thinking of another’s gain rather than one’s own. The highest form of human friendship.

ʿISHĀʾ (عشاء‎). The Night Prayer. The liturgical prayer recited after the night has well set in. [[PRAYER].]

ISḤĀQ (اسحاق‎). [[ISAAC].]

ISḤĀQĪYAH (اسحاقية‎). A Shīʿah sect founded by a person named Isḥāq, who held that the Spirit of God existed in the K͟halīfah ʿAlī.

ISHĀRATU ʾL-MALAK (اشارة الملك‎). [[INSPIRATION].]

ISHMAEL. Arabic Ismāʿīl (اسماعيل‎). The eldest son of Abraham, by his “wife” Hagar. [[HAJAR].]

(1) The progenitor of the Arabian race, and, according to the Qurʾān, an inspired prophet. [Sūrah xix. 55]:—

“And commemorate Ishmael in ‘the Book;’ for he was true to his promise, and was an Apostle, a prophet;

“And he enjoined prayer and almsgiving on his people, and was well-pleasing to his Lord.”

(2) Said to have assisted his father in the construction of the Kaʿbah. [Sūrah ii. 119, 121]:—

“And remember when we appointed the Holy House as man’s resort and safe retreat, and said, ‘Take ye the station of Abraham for a place of prayer.’ And we commanded Abraham and Ishmael, ‘Purify my house for those who shall go in procession round it, and those who shall abide there for devotion, and those who shall bow down and prostrate themselves.’

---

“And when Abraham, with Ishmael, raised the foundations of the House, they said, ‘O our Lord! accept it from us; for Thou art the Hearer, the Knower.’ ”

(3) Also mentioned in six other places.

[Sūrah ii. 134]: “Do ye say that Abraham and Ishmael, and Isaac and Jacob, and the Tribes were Jews, or Christians?”

[Sūrah iii. 78]: “And what was revealed to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the Tribes.”

[Sūrah iv. 161]: “And we inspired Abraham and Ishmael, and Jacob and the Tribes.”

[Sūrah vi. 86]: “And Ishmael and Elisha, and Jonah, and Lot.”

[Sūrah xxi. 85]: “And Ishmael, and Idrīs, and Ẕū ʾl-Kifl, all these were of the patient.”

[Sūrah xxxviii. 48]: “And remember Ishmael, and Elisha, and Ẕū ʾl-Kifl, for each was righteous.”

(4) According to the Old Testament, Ishmael had twelve sons, and Muḥammadan tradition also agrees with this:—

[Genesis xxv. 12]: “Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid, bare unto Abraham. And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, according to their generations: the first-born of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, and Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa, and Hadar, and Tema, and Jetur, and Naphish, and Kedemah. These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names by their castles, twelve princes according to their nations.”

The names of these sons of Ishmael can still be distinguished amongst the tribes, the names of which occur in Muḥammadan history: Nebajoth (Nabayus̤), the founder of the Nabathean nation, who succeeded the Idumeans in Arabia, and were an important people in Northern Arabia. Kedar (Qaidar) was also a famous tribe, so famous that the Badawīs of the desert applied the name to all Jews. Dumah is still preserved in the name Dūmatu ʾl-Jandal. Tema corresponds with Taimah, and Jetur with the Jadūr of modern Arabia. Muḥammad is said to have been descended from Ishmael’s second son Kedar (Qaidar), through one named ʿAdnān. The period between ʿAdnān and Ishmael is doubtful. Some reckon forty generations, others only four. Umm Salmah, one of the Prophet’s wives, said ʿAdnān was the son of ʿAdad, the son of Humaisa, son of Nabat, son of Ishmael. (See Abū ʾl-Fidāʾ, p. 62.) Muslim historians, however, admit that the pedigree of Muḥammad beyond ʿAdnān is uncertain; but they are unanimous in tracing his descent to ʿAdnān in the following line: (1) Muḥammad, (2) ʿAbdu ʾllāh, (3) Abū Mut̤t̤talib, (4) Hāshim, (5) ʿAbdu Manāf, (6) Quṣaiy, (7) Kilāb, (8) Murrah, (9) Kaʿb, (10) Luwaiy, (11) G͟hālib, (12) Fihr, (13) Mālik, (14) An-Naẓr, (15) Kinānah, (16) K͟huzaimah, (17) Mudrikah, (18) Al-Yaʾs, (19) Muẓar, (20) Nizār, (21) Maʿadd, (22) ʿAdnān.

Syud Ahmad Khan Bahadur, traces the descent of Muḥammad to Kedar, the son of Ishmael, and the view is one in accordance with that of most Muslim writers. In the time of Isaiah the two chief Arabian tribes seem to have been the descendants of Nebajoth and Kedar. (See [Isaiah lx. 7].) “All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered unto thee, the rams of Nebajoth shall minister unto thee.”

(5) The account of Hagar leaving Abraham’s home is given in numerous traditions. But there are two traditions given by Ibn ʿAbbās, and recorded in the Ṣaḥīḥ of al-Buk͟hārī, which are the foundation of Muḥammadan history on the subject. We give them as they have been translated by Syud Ahmad Khan, and afterwards append the Scripture narrative, which can be compared with the traditions of Islām:—

Tradition I.

For reasons known only to Abraham and his wife, Sarah, the former took Ishmael, his son, and the boy’s mother (Hagar), and left his country.

And they had with them a skin full of water.

Ishmael’s mother drank from out the skin, suckling her child.

Upon her arriving at the place where Mecca now stands, she placed the child under a bush.

Then Abraham returned to come back to his wife, and the mother of Ishmael followed him,

Until she reached Keda.

And she called out, “O Abraham, with whom leavest thou me?”

He answered, “With God.”

She replied, “I am satisfied with my God.”

Then she returned, and commenced drinking out of the skin, and suckled her infant until the water was consumed.

And she thought that if she went and looked around, she might, perhaps, see someone; and she went.

She ascended Mount Safā, and looked around to see whether or not there was anyone in sight; then hastily returning through the wilderness, she ascended the mountain of Marvā.

Then she said, “I must now go and see how my child is.” And she went, and saw that he was at the point of death; but not being able to compose her mind, she said, “If I go and look around, peradventure I may see someone.” And accordingly she ascended the mountain of Safā, but could descry no one.

And this she repeated seven times.

She then said, “It will be better for me to go and see my child.” But she suddenly heard a voice.

And she replied, “Kindly assist me, if you have any compassion.”

The angel was Gabriel.

The narrator of the tradition, stamping the earth with his foot, said, this was exactly what the angel did, and that water issued from the spot; and she began to widen the hole.

It is related by Ibn ʿAbbās, that the Prophet said that had she (Hagar) allowed the water to remain in its former state, the water would then have continued issuing forth for ever.

She used to drink that water and suckle her child.

Tradition II.

Abraham brought with him his wife (Hagar) and his son (Ishmael),

Whom she (Hagar) suckled.

And they both placed the child close by the spot where the Kaaba now stands under a bush.

Near the well of Zamzem, near the lofty side of the temple—and in those days Mecca was uninhabited and without water—and they deposited the child in the above place.

And Abraham placed beside them a bag full of dates,

And a skin full of water.

Then returned Abraham, and Ishmael’s mother ran after him,

And said, “Abraham, whither goest thou, and wherefore leavest thou me here?

“In this wilderness, where there is no one to pity me, neither is there anything to eat?” This she repeated several times, but Abraham hearkened not unto her. Then she asked him, “Has God commanded thee to do this?”

He answered, “Yes.”

“Then,” said she, “God will cause no harm to come unto me.”

Thereupon she returned back.

And Abraham went away, and when he reached Saneoa, he could not see those he had left behind him.

Then he turned towards Mecca, and prayed thus: “O Lord, I have caused some of my offspring to settle in an unfruitful valley, near thy holy house, O Lord, that they may be constant in prayer. Grant, therefore, that the hearts of some men may be affected with kindness towards them; and do thou bestow on them all sorts of fruits, that they may give thanks.”

And the mother of Ishmael began to suckle her child, and to drink water out of the skin until it was emptied.

And she and her son felt thirsty. And when she saw that her child was suffering from thirst, she could not bear to see it in such a plight, and retired, and reached the mountain of Safā, that was near, and ascending it, looked at the plain, in the hope of seeing someone; but, not perceiving anyone, she came down from the mountain.

When she reached the desert, she girded up her loins and ran as one mad, until she crossed the desert, and ascended Mount Marvā; but she could not see anyone.

She repeated the same seven times.

It is related by Ibn ʿAbbās, that the Prophet said that this was the origin of the custom of true believers running between these mountains during the Haj.

And when she ascended the Marvā mountain, she heard a voice.

She was startled thereat; and upon hearing it again, she said, “Wherefore callest thou on me? Assist me if thou canst.”

She then saw an angel near the Zamzem.

He (the angel) made a hollow place, either by his foot or with his wing, and the water issued forth; and the mother of Ishmael commenced widening it.

She filled the skin with water, which came out of it as from a fountain.

It is related by Ibn ʿAbbās that the Prophet said, “May God bless the mother of Ishmael. Had she left the Zamzem as it was, or had she not filled her skin with water, then the Zamzem would always have remained an overflowing fountain.”

Then she drank the water, and suckled her child.

---

The account as given in the Bible, [Genesis xxii. 9], is as follows:—

“And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And this thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight, because of his son. And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away; and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. And she went, and set 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. And God heard the voice of the lad, and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand, for I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.”

With reference to the above account, as given in Holy Scripture, Syud Ahmad K͟hān remarks:—

“Notwithstanding the perfect coincidence of the facts taken from the Scriptures with those from the Koran, as above shown, there are, nevertheless, three very important questions which suggest themselves respecting Ishmael’s settlement.

“First. Where did Abraham leave Ishmael and his mother after expelling them from his home?

“Secondly. Where did Ishmael and Hagar settle after their wanderings in the desert?

“Thirdly. Was it in the very spot where they had rested for the first time, or in some other place?

“The Koran mentions nothing on the subject; but there are some local traditions, and also a few Hadeeses, which treat of it, the latter, however, by reason of their not possessing sufficient authority, and from their not being traced up to the Prophet, are as little to be relied on as the former. The local traditions being deemed unworthy of credit, from their mixing up together occurrences that had happened on various and different occasions, we do not think it necessary to dwell on the first question more than has been done by the Scriptures themselves, which say that ‘He (Abraham) sent her (Hagar) away; and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.’

“As for the two remaining questions, although the language of Scripture is not very clear—since, in one place it says, ‘And he (Ishmael) grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer’ ([Gen. xxi. 20]), and in another, ‘He (Ishmael) dwelt in the wilderness of Paran’ ([Gen. xxi. 21]), passages which would certainly lead us to infer that Ishmael had changed the place of his abode; yet, as no Christian commentator represents him as having removed from one place to another, and as, moreover, neither the religious nor the local traditions of the Mohammedans in any way confirm the above, it may be safely asserted that Ishmael and his mother did not change the place where they dwelt, and that by the word ‘wilderness’ alone the sacred writer meant the wilderness of Paran. The solving of the whole question depends, therefore, upon ascertaining and fixing the position of the said wilderness of Paran, where Ishmael is said to have settled.

“Oriental geographers mention three places as known by the appellation of Paran. First, that wilderness wherein the city of Mecca now stands, and the mountains in its vicinity; secondly, those mountains and a village which are situated in Eastern Egypt, or Arabia Petræa; and thirdly, a district in the province of Samarcand.”

(6) Al-Baiẓāwī says it was Ishmael, and not Isaac, whom Abraham was willing to offer up as a sacrifice; but this view is neither supported by the text of the Qurʾān nor by the preponderance of traditional testimony. If we compare [Sūrah xi. 74]: “And We announced Isaac (as the child of promise) to her,” with [Sūrah xxxvii. 99]: “We announced (as a child of promise) to him a youth of meekness; and when he became a full-grown youth, his father said to him, ‘My son, I have seen in a dream that I should sacrifice thee’ ”—there can be no doubt in any candid mind that, as far as the Qurʾān is concerned, Isaac and not Ishmael is intended. [[ISAAC].]

The two commentators al-Kamālān quote a number of traditions on the subject. They say Ibn ʿUmar, Ibn ʿAbbās, Ḥasan, and ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Aḥmad, relate that it was Isaac; whilst Ibn Masʿūd, Mujāhid, ʿIkrimah, Qatādah, and Ibn Isḥāq say it was Ishmael. But whatever may be the real facts of the case, it is certain that popular tradition amongst both Sunnīs and Shīʿahs assigns the honour to Ishmael, and believe the great Festival of Sacrifice, the ʿĪdu ʾl-Aẓḥā, to have been established to commemorate the event. [[ʿIDU ʾL-AZHA].]

The author of the Shīʿah work, the Ḥayātu ʾl-Qulūb (Merrick’s ed. p. 28) says: “On a certain occasion when this illustrious father (Abraham) was performing the rites of the pilgrimage at Mecca, Abraham said to his beloved child, ‘I dreamed that I must sacrifice you; now consider what is to be done with reference to such an admonition.’ Ishmael replied, ‘Do as you shall be commanded of God. Verify your dream. You will find me endure patiently.’ But when Abraham was about to sacrifice Ishmael, the Most High God made a black and white sheep his substitute, a sheep which had been pasturing forty years in Paradise, and was created by the direct power of God for this event. Now every sheep offered on Mount Minā, until the Day of Judgment is a substitute, or a commemoration of the substitute for Ishmael.”

The idea is universal amongst Muḥammadans that the incident took place on Mount Minā near Makkah, and not in the “land of Moriah,” as stated in [Genesis xxii. 3]. (For a discussion on the site of Mount Moriah, see Mr. George Grove’s article in Smith’s Dict. of the Bible.)

Sir William Muir says (Life of Mahomet, new ed. p. xvii.): “By a summary adjustment, the story of Palestine became the story of the Hejâz. The precincts of the Káaba were hallowed as the scene of Hagar’s distress, and the sacred well Zamzem as the source of her relief. The pilgrims hasted to and fro between Safa and Marwa in memory of her hurried steps in search of water. It was Abraham and Ishmael who built the (Meccan) temple, placed in it the black stone, and established for all mankind the pilgrimage to Arafât. In imitation of him it was that stones were flung by pilgrims at Satan; and sacrifices were offered at Minâ in remembrance of the vicarious sacrifice by Abraham instead of his son. And thus, although the indigenous rites may have been little if at all altered, by the adoption of the Abrahamic legends, they came to be viewed in a totally different light, and to be connected in the Arab imagination with something of the sanctity of Abraham, the Friend of God. The gulf between the gross idolatry of Arabia and the pure theism of the Jews was bridged over. Upon this common ground Mahomet took his stand, and proclaimed to his people a new and a spiritual system, in accents to which all Arabia could respond. The rites of the Káaba were retained, but stripped by him of every idolatrous tendency; and they still hang, a strange unmeaning shroud, around the living theism of Islâm.”

ʿISHQ (عشق‎). “Love.” A word used by mystic writers to express a divine love. The word, however, preferred by orthodox Muslim writers for the love of God, or love to God, is ḥubb (حب‎).

ISLĀM (اسلام‎). Resignation to the will of God. The word generally used by Muḥammadans themselves for their religion. ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq says it implies submission to the divine will; and Muḥammad explained it to mean the observance of the five duties: (1) Bearing witness that there is but one God; (2) Reciting the daily prayers; (3) Giving the legal alms; (4) Observing the Ramaẓān or month’s fast; (5) Making the pilgrimage to Makkah once in a lifetime.

In the Qurʾān the word is used for doing homage to God. Islām is said to be the religion of all the prophets from the time of Abraham, as will appear from the following verses ([Sūrah iii. 78, 79]):—“Say: We believe in God and in what hath been sent down to Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the Tribes, and in what was given to Moses, and Jesus and the Prophets from their Lord. We make no difference between them, and to Him are we resigned (i.e. Muslims). Whoso desireth any other religion than Islām, that religion shall never be accepted of Him, and in the next world he shall be lost.”

There are three words used by Muḥammadan writers for religion, namely Dīn, Millah, and Maẕhab; and in the Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, the difference implied in these words is said to be as follows:—Dīn, as it stands in its relation to God, e.g. Dīnu ʾllāh, the religion of God; Millah, as it stands in relation to a prophet or lawgiver, e.g. Millatu Ibrāhīm, the religion of Abraham; and Maẕhab, as it stands in relation to the divines of Islām, e.g. Maẕhab Ḥanafī, the religion or religious teaching of Abū Ḥanīfah. The expression Dīn, however, is of general application. [[RELIGION].]

Those who profess the religion of Islām are called Musalmāns, Muslims, or Muʾmins.

Ahlu ʾl-Kitāb, “the people of the Book,” is used for Muḥammadans, Jews, and Christians.

IS̤M (اثم‎). A sin; anything forbidden by the law.

ʿIṢMAH (عصمة‎). Lit. “Keeping back from sin.” The continence and freedom from sin which Muḥammadans say was the state of each Prophet, and which is that of infant children.

ISMĀʿĪL (اسماعيل‎). [[ISHMAEL].]

ISMĀʾĪL (اسمائيل‎). The name of the angel who is said to have accompanied the angel Gabriel in his last visit to the Prophet on his death-bed. He is said to command one hundred thousand angels. (Mishkāt, book xxiv. ch. x. pt. 3.)

ISMĀʿĪLĪYAH (اسماعيلية‎). A Shīʿah sect who said that Ismāʿīl ibn Jaʿfar aṣ-Ṣādiq was the true Imām and not Mūsā al-Kāz̤im, and who held that God was neither existent nor non-existent, nor intelligent nor unintelligent, nor powerful nor helpless, &c.; for, they said, it is not possible for any thing or attribute to be associated with God, for He is the maker of all things, even of names and attributes. (Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, in loco.)

ISM-I-JALĀLĪ (اسم جلالى‎). Any of the attributes of God which express His power and greatness, e.g. al-Ḥākim, the Judge; al-Ādil, the Just; al-Kabīr, the Great. [[GOD].]

ISM-I-JAMĀLĪ (اسم جمالى‎). Any of the attributes of God which express His mercy or condescension, e.g. ar-Raḥīm, the Compassionate; as-Samīʿ, the Hearer; al-Ḥāfiz̤, the Guardian.

ISM-I-ṢIFAH (اسم صفة‎). Name of a divine attribute.

AL-ISMU ʾL-AʿZ̤AM (الاسم الاعظم‎). The exalted name of God, which is generally believed to be known only to the Prophets. Muḥammad is related to have said that it occurs in either the Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah, ii. 256: “God (Allāh) there is no God but He (Hū), the Living (al-Ḥaiy), the Self-subsistent (al-Qaiyūm)”; or in the Sūratu ʿĀli ʿImrān, [iii. 1], which contains the same words; or in the Sūratu T̤ā Hā, xx. 110: “Faces shall be humbled before the Living (al-Ḥaiy) and the Self-subsistent (al-Qaiyūm).”

It is therefore generally held to be either Allāh, or Hū, or al-Ḥaiy, or al-Qaiyūm.

It is very probable that the mysterious title of the Divine Being refers to the great name of Jehovah, the superstitious reverence for which on the part of the Jews must have been well known to Muḥammad.

ISMU ʾẔ-ẔĀT (اسم الذات‎). Name of the Divine Essence; the essential name of God, i.e. Allāh, or Hū, as distinguished from His attributes. [[ALLAH].]

IS̤NĀ-ʿASHARĪYAH (اثناعشرية‎). Lit. “The twelveans.” Those Shīʿahs who acknowledge the twelve Imāms. [[SHIʿAH].]

ISQĀT̤ (اسقاط‎). [[ABORTION].]

ISRĀ(اسراى‎). [[MIʿRAJ].]

ISRAEL. Arabic Isrāʾīl (اسرائيل‎). The surname of Yaʿqūb (Jacob). Al Baiẓāwī says the meaning of Isrāʾīl in Hebrew is Ṣufwatu ʾllāh, i.e. “the sincere friend of God”; or, as some say, ʿAbdu ʾllāh, “the servant of God.” Banū Isrāʾīl, “the children of Israel,” is a term that frequently occurs in the Qurʾān. The XVIIth chapter of the Qurʾān, known as the Sūratu ʾl-Miʿrāj, is also called the Sūratu Banī Isrāʾīl.

ISRĀF (اسراف‎). Lit. “Wasting.” Extravagance in religious duties, i.e. doing more than is required by the law.

ISRĀFĪL (اسرافيل‎). The Archangel who will sound the trumpet at the Day of Resurrection. His name, however, does not occur in either the Qurʾān, or the Traditions.

IṢRĀR (اصرار‎). A word used by the Arabs for a horse pricking up his ears, and not obeying the rein. A term in Muḥammadan theology for persisting in any sin, and being determined to commit the sin in future.

ISSUE OF BLOOD. Arabic Istiḥāẓah (استحاضة‎). [[MUSTAHAZAH].]

ISTIʿĀNAH (استعانة‎). Lit. “Seeking aid.” Imploring help from God. The word occurs in the Sūratu ʾl-Fātiḥah, or the first chapter of the Qurʾān, which is part of the liturgical prayer: واياك نستعين‎ waīyāka nastaʿīn, “Of Thee only do we seek help.”

ISTIBRAʾ (استبراء‎). The purification of the womb. The period of probation, of one menses, to be observed after the purchase of a female slave (or in the case of a virgin under age), the period of one month before she is taken to her master’s bed.

ISTIBṢĀR (استبصار‎). A Book of Muḥammadan traditions, received by the Shīʿahs, compiled by Shaik͟h Naṣīru ʾd-Dīn Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad at̤-T̤ūsī, A.H. 672.

ISTIDLĀL (استدلال‎). A term used in the science of exegesis for those sentences which require certain proofs. [[QURʾAN].]

ISTIDRĀJ (استدراج‎). Lit. “Promoting by degrees, step by step.” The word occurs in the Qurʾān for an unbeliever being brought by degrees to hell and destruction.

[Sūrah vii. 181]: “They who say our signs are lies, We (God) will bring them down step by step from whence they know not.”

[Sūrah lxviii. 44]: “We (God) will surely bring them down step by step from whence they do not know, and I (God) will let them have their way; for My device is sure.”

(In this verse the sudden transition from the first person plural to the first person singular, for the Almighty, is peculiar; it is, however, of frequent occurrence in the Qurʾān.)

ISTIG͟HFĀR (استغفار‎). Seeking forgiveness of God. It is related of Muḥammad that he said:—

“I swear by God that I ask pardon of God, and repent before Him more then seventy times daily.

“O men, repent and turn to God, for verily I repent before Him one hundred times a day.” (Mishkāt, book x. ch. iii.)

ISTIḤĀẒAH (استحاضة‎). The issue of blood of women; during which time they are ceremonially unclean. (Vide Mishkāt, book iii. ch. xvi.)

ISTIḤSĀN (استحسان‎). Lit. “Approving.” A term used in the exegesis of the Qurʾān and of the Ḥadīs̤. It implies the rejection of Qiyās [[QIYAS]], and the admission of the law of expediency.

For example, it is a law of Islām that everything that is washed must be squeezed like a cloth; but, as it is impossible to squeeze a vessel, it is evident that it must be cleansed without squeezing. (Nūru ʾl-Anwār, p. 208.)

ISTIK͟HĀRAH (استخارة‎). Lit. “Asking favours.” A prayer for special favours and blessings, consisting of the recital of two rakʿah prayers. (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. xl.)

Jābir says: “The Prophet taught the Istik͟hārah, as he also did a chapter of the Qurʾān; and he said, ‘When anyone of you intends doing a thing, he must perform two rakʿah prayers expressly for Istik͟hārah, and afterwards recite the following supplication: O God, I supplicate Thy help, in Thy great wisdom; and I pray for ability through Thy power. I ask a thing of Thy bounty. Thou knowest all, but I do not. Thou art powerful, and I am not. Thou knowest the secrets of men. O God! if the matter I am about to undertake is good for my faith, my life, and my futurity, then make it easy for me, and give me success in it. But if it is bad for my faith, my life, and my futurity, then put it away from me, and show me what is good, and satisfy me. And the person praying shall mention in his prayer the business which he has in hand.’ ”

This very simple and commendable injunction has, however, been perverted to superstitious uses.

Mr. Lane, in his Modern Egyptians, says:—

“Some persons have recourse to the Qurʾān for an answer to their doubts. This they call making an “istikhárah,” or application for the favour of Heaven, or for direction in the right course. Repeating three times the opening chapter, the 112th chapter, and the fifty-eighth verse of the sixth chapter, they let the book fall open, or open it at random, and, from the seventh line of the right-hand page, draw their answer.

“The words often will not convey a direct answer, but are taken as affirmative or negative according as their general tenour is good or bad, promising a blessing, or denouncing a threat, &c. Instead of reading the seventh line of this page, some count the number of letters kha and sheen which occur in the whole page; and if the kha’s predominate, the inference is favourable. Kha represents kheyr, or good; sheen, shur, or evil. There is another mode of istikhárah; which is, to take hold of any two points of a sebhhah (or rosary), after reciting the Fatʾhhah three times, and then to count the beads between these two points, saying, in passing the first bead through the fingers, ‘[I assert] the absolute glory of God;’ in passing the second, ‘Praise be to God;’ in passing the third, ‘There is no deity but God;’ and repeating these expressions in the same order, to the last bead. If the first expression fall to the last bead, the answer is affirmative and favourable; if the second, indifferent; if the last, negative. This is practised by many persons.

“Some, again, in similar cases, on lying down to sleep at night, beg of God to direct them by a dream; by causing them to see something white or green, or water, if the action which they contemplate be approved, or if they are to expect approaching good fortune; and if not, by causing them to see something black or red, or fire; they then recite the Fatʾhhah ten times, and continue to repeat these words: ‘O God, favour our lord Mohammad!’—until they fall asleep.” (Modern Egyptians, vol. i. 338.)

Amongst pious Muslims in Asia it is usual to recite the two rakʿah prayers before retiring to rest, in the hope that God will reveal His will in a dream during the night.

ISTĪLĀD (استيلاد‎). Claim of offspring. A legal term signifying the act of a Muslim, having a child born to him of a female slave, which he acknowledges as his own, whereby the slave becomes free. (Hidāyah, vol. i. p. 478.)

IṢT̤ILĀḤ (اصطلاح‎), pl. Iṣt̤ilāḥāt. A phrase; a term; idiom. A theological term.

The author of the Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt says it is the agreement of a tribe, or sect, or party, to give a special meaning to a word, over and above that which it has in its literal sense, but which is in accordance with it.

ISTINJĀʾ (استنجاء‎). Abstersion; concerning which there are most minute instructions in the Traditions and in other books of Muslim divinity. Such acts of cleansing must be performed with the left hand, with not less than three handfuls of water, or with three of dry earth. (Mishkāt, book ii. 1.)

ISTINSHĀQ (استنشاق‎). The act of throwing water up into the nostrils, which is part of the religious ablution or waẓū. [[ABLUTION].]

ISTIQĀMAH (استقـامـة‎). Lit. “Standing erect.” A term (1) used by the Ṣūfī mystics for rectitude of life, purity of life; (2) being constant in religion according to the rules of the Qurʾān.

ISTIQBĀL (استقبال‎). Lit. “Going forth to meet.” (1) A custom amongst Orientals of going out to meet a friend or guest on his arrival; (2) turning the face towards Makkah for prayer; (3) a coming era or period; the future.

ISTIRJĀʿ (استرجاع‎). Lit. “Returning.” A term used for the act of appealing to God for help in the time of affliction by repeating the following ejaculation from the Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 150]: Innā liʾllāhi wa innā ilaihi rajiʿūn, “Verily, we belong to God, and verily we shall return to God.” This formula is used by Muḥammadans in any danger or sudden calamity, especially in the presence of death.

ISTIṢḤĀB (استصحاب‎). A law or injunction contained in a previous revelation (e.g. the Law of Moses) and not abrogated by the succeeding law-giver.

ISTIS̤NĀʾ (استثناء‎). Lit. “Excepting or excluding.” A term used for the custom of exclaiming, “If God will.” It is in accordance with the injunctions of the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xviii. 23]: “And never say of anything, ‘Verily, I am going to do that to-morrow,’ without, ‘If God will.’ ” (Compare [James iv. 15]: “For ye ought to say, If the Lord will.”)

ISTISQĀʾ (استسقاء‎). Prayers for rain, consisting of two rakʿah prayers. (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. liii.)

IʿTĀQ (اعتاق‎). Lit. “Setting free.” The manumission of slaves. [[SLAVERY].]

IT̤FĪR (اطفير‎). [[POTIPHAR].]

IʿTIKĀF (اعتكاف‎). Seeking retirement in a mosque during the last ten days of the Fast of Ramaẓān; during which time the worshipper does not leave the place, except for necessary purposes. The time is spent in reciting the Qurʾān and in performing the ceremony of Ẕikr, or the recital of the names and praises of the Deity.

ʿITQ (عتق‎). “Being free.” In the language of the law it signifies the power given to a person by the extinction of bondage. Hence the emancipation of slaves. (Hidāyah, vol. i. p. 413.)

ITTIḤAD (اتحاد‎). Union; concord; intimate friendship. A term used by the Ṣūfī mystics for “seeing the existence of all things visible as only existing in God.” (ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)

IẔN (اذن‎). Permission. [[INTERCESSION].]

ʿIZRĀʾĪL (عزرائيل‎). The Angel of Death, or the Malaku ʾl-Maut, who comes to a man at the hour of death to carry his soul away from the body. See Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxxii. 11]: “The Angel of Death shall take you away, he who is given charge of you. Then unto your Lord shall ye return.”

Muḥammad is related to have said that when the Angel of Death approaches a believer he sits at his head and says, “O pure soul, come forth to God’s pardon and pleasure!” And then the soul comes out as gently as water from a bag. But, in the case of an infidel, the Angel of Death sits at his head and says, “O impure soul, come forth to the wrath of God!” And then the Angel of Death draws it out as a hot spit is drawn out of wet wool. (Mishkāt, book v. ch. iii.)