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

M.

MAʿĀQIL (معاقل‎). The fines for murder, manslaughter, &c. (Hidāyah, vol. iv. p. 448.) [[DIYAH].]

AL-MAʿĀRIJ (المعارج‎). Lit. “The Ascents.” The title of the LXXth chapter of the Qurʾān, in the second verse of which occurs the sentence, “God, the possessor of the Ascents (or Steps) by which the angels ascend unto Him, and the Spirit (i.e. Gabriel), in a day whose space is fifty thousand years.”

Sale, translating from al-Baiẓāwī and Zamak͟hsharī, says: “This is supposed to be the space which would be required for their ascent from the lowest part of the creation to the throne of God, if it were to be measured, or the time which it would take a man to perform a journey; and this is not contradictory to what is said elsewhere (if it be to be interpreted of the ascent of the angels), that the length of the day whereon they ascend is 1,000 years, because that is meant only of their ascent from earth to the lower heaven, including also the time of their descent.

“But the commentators, generally taking the day spoken of in both these passages to be the Day of Judgment, have recourse to several expedients to reconcile them, and as both passages seem to contradict what Muḥammadan doctors teach, that God will judge all creatures in the space of half-a-day, they suppose those large numbers of years are designed to express the time of the previous attendance of those who are to be judged, or else to the space wherein God will judge the unbelieving nations, of which, they say, there will be fifty, the trial of each nation taking up 1,000 years, though that of the true believers will be over in the short space above mentioned.”

MABNĀ ʾT-TAṢAWWUF (مبنى التصوف‎). Lit. “The Foundation of Ṣūfīism.” A term used by the Ṣūfīs to embrace the three principles of their system. (1) The choice of the ascetic life; (2) The intention to bestow freely upon others; (3) The giving up of one’s own will and desires, and desiring only the will of God. (See ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)

AL-MADĪNAH (المدينة‎). Lit. “The city.” The city celebrated as the burial place of Muḥammad. It was called Yas̤rib (see Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxxiii. 13]), but was distinguished as al-Madīnah, “the city,” and Madīnatu ʾn-Nabī, “the city of the Prophet,” after it had become famous by giving shelter to Muḥammad. It is esteemed only second to Makkah in point of sanctity. Muḥammad is related to have said, “There are angels guarding the roads to al-Madīnah, on account of which neither plague, or the Dajjāl (Antichrist) can enter it.” “I was ordered,” he said, “to flee to a city which shall eat up (conquer) all other cities, and its name is now al-Madīnah (the city); verily she puts away evil from man, like as the forge purifies iron.” “God has made the name of al-Madīnah both t̤ābah and t̤aiyibah,” i.e. both good and odoriferous.

Al-Madīnah is built on the elevated plain of Arabia, not far from the eastern base of the ridge of mountains which divide the table-land from the lower country between it and the Red Sea. The town stands on the lowest part, on the plain where the watercourses unite, which produce in the rainy season numerous pools of stagnant water, and render the climate unhealthy. Gardens and date-plantations, interspersed with fields, inclose the town on three sides; on the side towards Makkah the rocky nature of the soil renders cultivation impossible. The city forms an oval about 2,800 paces in circuit, ending in a point. The castle is built at the point on a small rocky elevation. The whole is inclosed by a thick wall of stone, between 35 and 40 feet high, flanked by about 30 towers and surrounded by a ditch. Three well-built gates lead into the town. The houses are well built of stone, and generally two stories high. As this stone is of a dark colour, the streets have a gloomy aspect, and are for the most part very narrow, often only two or three paces across; a few of the principal streets are paved with stone. There are only two large streets which contain shops. The principal buildings within the city are the great mosque containing the tomb of Muḥammad, two fine colleges, and the castle, standing at the western extremity of the city, which is surrounded by strong walls and several high and solid towers, and contains a deep well of good water.

The town is well supplied with sweet water by a subterraneous canal which runs from the village of Qubāʾ, about three-quarters of a mile distant in a southern direction. In several parts of the town steps are made down to the canal, where the inhabitants supply themselves with water which, however, contains nitre, and produces indigestion in persons not accustomed to it. There are also many wells scattered over the town; every garden has one by which it is irrigated; and when the ground is bored to the depth of twenty-five or thirty feet, water is found in plenty. During the rainy season, many torrents descend from the higher grounds to the lower depression in which al-Madīnah is built, and part of the city is inundated. This plentiful supply of water made this site a considerable settlement of Arabs long before it became sacred among the Muḥammadans, by the flight, residence, and death of the Prophet, to which it owes its name of Madīnatu ʾn-Nabī, or the City of the Prophet (See Burckhardt’s Travels in Arabia.)

An account of the Prophet’s mosque is given under [MASJIDU ʾN-NABI], and of the burial chamber of Muḥammad under [HUJRAH].

MADRASAH (مدرسة‎). A school. [[EDUCATION].]

MADYAN (مدين‎). Midian. The descendants of Midian, the son of Abraham and Keturah, and a city and district bearing his name, situated on the Red Sea, south-east of Mount Sinai.

Mentioned in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah vii. 83]: “We sent to Madyan their brother Shuʿaib.” [[SHUʿAIB].]

MAFQŪD (مفقود‎). A legal term for a person who is lost, and of whom no information can be obtained. He is not considered legally dead until the period expires when he would be ninety years old.

MAGIANS. [[MAJUS].]

MAGIC. Arabic siḥr (سحر‎). A belief in the magical art is entertained by almost all Muḥammadans, and there is a large number of persons who study it.

Although magic (as-siḥr) is condemned in the Qurʾān ([Sūrah ii. 96]) and in the Traditions (Mishkāt, book xxi. ch. iii. pt. 1), there are still many superstitious practices resembling this occult science, which are clearly permitted according to the sayings of Muḥammad.

Anas says, “The Prophet permitted a spell (ruqyah) being used to counteract the ill effects of the evil eye; and on those bitten by snakes or scorpions.” (Ṣaḥīḥu Muslim, p. 233.)

Umm Salmah relates “that the Prophet allowed a spell to be used for the removal of yellowness in the eye, which, he said, proceeded from the malignant eye.” (Ṣaḥīḥu ʾl-Buk͟hārī, p. 854.)

ʿAuf ibn Mālik says “the Prophet said there is nothing wrong in using spells, provided the use of them does not associate anything with God.” (Mishkāt, book xxi. ch. i.)

The terms used to express the magical arts are, daʿwah, lit. “an invitation of the spirits,” exorcism; ʿazīmah, an incantation; kihānah, divination, or fortune-telling; ruqyah, a spell; and siḥr, magic.

The term daʿwah is held to imply a lawful incantation, in which only the assistance of God is invited by the use of either the Ismu ʾl-Aʿz̤am, or great and unknown name of God, or the recital of the ninety-nine names or attributes of the Almighty. As-Siḥr, or the magical use of evil spirits: and kihānah, fortune-telling, are held to be strictly unlawful.

Incantation and exorcism as practised by Muḥammadans is treated of in the article on [DAʿWAH].

Mr. Lane, in his annotated edition of the Arabian Nights, says:—

There are two descriptions of magic, one is spiritual, regarded by all but freethinkers as true; the other, natural, and denounced by the more religious and enlightened as deceptive.

I. Spiritual magic, which is termed “er Roohanee” (ar-rūḥānī), chiefly depends upon the virtues of certain names of God, and passages from the Kurán, and the agency of angels, and jinn, or genii. It is of two kinds, Divine and Satanic (“Rahmanee,” i.e. relating to “the Compassionate” [who is God], and “Sheytanee,” relating to the Devil.)

1. Divine magic is regarded as a sublime science, and is studied only by good men, and practised only for good purposes. Perfection in this branch of magic consists in the knowledge of the most great name of God [[ISMU ʾL-AZAM]]; but this knowledge is imparted to none but the peculiar favourites of heaven. By virtue of this name, which was engraved on his seal ring, Solomon subjected to his dominion the jinn and the birds and the winds. By pronouncing it, his minister Asaf (Āṣaf), also, transported in an instant, to the presence of his sovereign, in Jerusalem, the throne of the Queen of Sheba. But this was a small miracle to effect by such means, for, by uttering this name, a man may even raise the dead. Other names of the Deity, commonly known, are believed to have particular efficacies when uttered or written; as also are the names of the Prophet, and angels and good jinn are said to be rendered subservient to the purposes of divine magic by means of certain invocations. Of such names and invocations, together with words unintelligible to the uninitiated in this science, passages from the Kurán, mysterious combinations of numbers, and peculiar diagrams and figures, are chiefly composed written charms employed for good purposes. Enchantment, when used for benevolent purposes, is regarded by the vulgar as a branch of lawful or divine magic; but not so by the learned, and the same remark applies to the science of divination.

2. Satanic magic, as its name implies, is a science depending on the agency of the Devil and the inferior evil jinn, whose services are obtained by means similar to those which propitiate, or render subservient, the good jinn. It is condemned by the Prophet and all good Muslims, and only practised for bad purposes. Es sehr (as-Siḥr), or enchantment, is almost universally acknowledged to be a branch of Satanic magic, but some few persons assert (agreeably with several tales in the Arabian Nights), that it may be, and by some has been, studied with good intentions, and practised by the aid of good jinn; consequently, that there is such a science as good enchantment, which is to be regarded as a branch of divine or lawful magic. The metamorphoses are said to be generally effected by means of spells, or invocations to jinn, accompanied by the sprinkling of water or dust, &c., on the object to be transformed. Persons are said to be enchanted in various ways; some paralyzed, or even deprived of life, others, affected with irresistible passion for certain objects, others, again, rendered demoniacs, and some, transformed into brutes, birds, &c. The evil eye is believed to enchant in a very powerful and distressing manner. This was acknowledged even by the Prophet. Diseases and death are often attributed to its influence. Amulets are worn by many Muslims with the view of counteracting or preserving from enchantment; and for the same purpose many ridiculous ceremonies are practised. Divination, which is termed El-Kihaneh (al-Kihānah), is pronounced on the highest authority to be a branch of Satanic magic; though not believed to be so by all Muslims. According to an assertion of the Prophet, what a fortune-teller says may sometimes be true; because one of the jinn steals away the truth, and carries it to the magician’s ear; for the angels come down to the region next the earth (the lowest heaven), and mention the works that have been pre-ordained in heaven; and the devils (or evil jinn) listen to what the angels say, and hear the orders predestined in heaven, and carry them to the fortune-tellers. It is on such occasions that shooting stars are hurled at the devils. It is said that, “the diviner obtains the services of the Sheytan (Shait̤ān) by magic arts, and by names invoked, and by the burning of perfumes, and he informs him of secret things; for the devils, before the mission of the Apostle of God, it is added, used to ascend to heaven, and hear words by stealth. That the evil jinn are believed still to ascend sufficiently near to the lowest heaven to hear the conversation of the angels, and so to assist magicians, appears from the former quotation, and is asserted by all Muslims. The discovery of hidden treasures is one of the objects for which divination is most studied. The mode of divination called “Darb-el-Mendel” (Ẓarbu ʾl-Mandal), is by some supposed to be effected by the aid of evil jinn; but the more enlightened of the Muslims regard it as a branch of natural magic. Some curious performances of this kind, by means of a fluid mirror of ink, have been described in the Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, and in No. 117 of the Quarterly Review.

There are certain modes of divination which cannot properly be classed under the head of spiritual magic, but require a place between the account of this science and that of natural magic. The most important of these branches of Kihaneh is Astrology, which is called Ilm en Nujoom (ʿIlmu ʾn-Nujūm). This is studied by many Muslims in the present day, and its professors are often employed by the Arabs to determine a fortunate period for laying the foundation of a building, commencing a journey, &c.; but more frequently by the Persians and Turks. The Prophet pronounced Astrology to be a branch of magic. Another branch of Kihaneh is Geomancy, called “Darb er Ramal” (Ẓarbu Raml); a mode of divination from certain marks made on sand (whence its appellation), or on paper; and said to be chiefly founded on astrology. The science called “ez Zijr,” or “el Eyafeh” (al-ʿIyāfah), is a third branch of Kihaneh, being divination or auguration, chiefly from the motions and positions, or postures, of birds, or of gazelles and other beasts of the chase. Thus what was termed a “Saneh” (Sāniḥ), that is, such an animal standing or passing with its right side towards the spectator, was esteemed among the Arabs as of good omen; and a “Bareh” (Bāriḥ), or an animal of this kind, with its left side towards the spectator, was held as inauspicious. “El Kiyafeh” (al-Qiyāfah), under which term are included Chiromancy and its kindred sciences, is a fourth branch of Kihaneh, “El Tefaul” (at-Tafawwul), or the taking an omen, particularly a good one, from a name or words accidentally heard or seen, or chosen from a book belonging to the same science. The taking a “fál,” or omen, from the Kurán, is generally held to be lawful. Various trifling events are considered as ominous. For instance, a Sultan quitting his palace with his troops, a standard happened to strike a “thureiya” (s̤urayyā, a cluster of lamps so called from resembling the Pleiades), and broke them: he drew from this an evil omen, and would have relinquished the expedition; but one of his chief officers said to him, “O our Lord, thy standard has reached the Pleiades,” and being relieved by this remark, he proceeded, and returned victorious.

(See The Thousand and One Nights, a new translation, with copious notes, by Edward W. Lane; new ed. by E. S. Poole, vol. i. p. 60.)

MAGISTRATES. [[QAZI].]

MAGPIE. Arabic ʿaqʿaq (عقعق‎). According to Abū Ḥanīfah, the flesh of the magpie is mubāḥ, or indifferent; but the Imām Yūsuf held it to be makrūh, or reprobated, because it frequently feeds on dead bodies. (Hidāyah, vol. iv. p. 74.)

AL-MAHDĪ (المهدى‎). Lit. “The Directed One,” hence, “who is fit to direct others, Guide, Leader.” A ruler who shall in the last days appear upon the earth. According to the Shīʿahs, he has already appeared in the person of Muḥammad Abū ʾl-Qāsim, the twelfth Imām, who is believed to be concealed in some secret place until the day of his manifestation before the end of the world. But the Sunnīs say he has not yet appeared. In the history of Muḥammadanism, there are numerous instances of impostors having assumed the character of this mysterious personage, amongst others, Saiyid Aḥmad, who fought against the Sikhs on the North-West frontier of the Panjāb, A.D. 1826, and still more recently, the Muḥammadan who has claimed to be al-Mahdī in the Sudān in Egypt.

The sayings of the Prophet on the subject, according to al-Buk͟hārī and other traditionists, are as follows:—

“The world will not come to an end until a man of my tribe and of my name shall be master of Arabia.”

“When you see black ensigns coming from the direction of K͟horasān, then join them, for the Imām of God will be with the standards, whose name is al-Mahdī.”

“The Mahdī will be descended from me, he will be a man with an open countenance and with a high nose. He will fill the earth with equity and justice, even as it has been filled with tyranny and oppression, and he will reign over the earth seven years.”

“Quarrelling and disputation shall exist amongst men, and then shall a man of the people of al-Madīnah come forth, and shall go from al-Madīnah to Makkah, and the people of Makkah shall make him Imām. Then shall the ruler of Syria send an army against the Mahdī, but the Syrian army shall perish by an earthquake near Badāʾ, between al-Madīnah and Makkah. And when the people shall see this, the Abdāl [[ABDAL]] will come from Syria, and also a multitude from al-ʿIrāq. After this an enemy to the Mahdī shall arise from the Quraish tribe, whose uncles shall be of the tribe of Kalb, and this man shall send an army against the Mahdī. The Mahdī shall rule according to the example of your Prophet, and shall give strength and stability to Islām. He shall reign for seven years, and then die.”

“There shall be much rain in the days of the Mahdī and the inhabitants both of heaven and earth shall be pleased with him. Men’s lives shall pass so pleasantly, that they will wish even the dead were alive again.” (Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābiḥ, book xxiii. ch. 3.)

According to Shīʿah traditions, Muḥammad is related to have said: “O ye people! I am the Prophet and ʿAlī is my heir, and from us will descend al-Mahdī, the seal (i.e. the last) of the Imāms, who will conquer all religions and take vengeance on the wicked. He will take fortresses and will destroy them, and slay every tribe of idolaters, and he will avenge the deaths of the martyrs of God. He will be the champion of the Faith, and a drawer of water at the fountain of divine knowledge. He will reward merit and requite every fool according to his folly. He will be the approved and chosen of God, and the heir of all knowledge. He will be the valiant in doing right, and one to whom the Most High has entrusted Islām.… O ye people, I have explained to you, and ʿAlī also will make you understand it.” (Ḥayātu ʾl-Qulūb, Merrick’s ed., p. 342.)

It is probable that it is from these traditions that the opinion became current amongst the Christians that the Muḥammadans expected their Prophet would rise again.

MAḤJŪR (محجور‎). A slave inhibited by the ruler from exercising any office or agency. (Hidāyah, vol. iii. 5.)

MAḤMAL, MAḤMIL (محمل‎). A covered litter borne on a camel, both from Cairo and from Damascus, to Makkah, as an emblem of royalty at the time of the pilgrimage.

It is said that Sult̤ān Az̤-Z̤āhir Beybars, King of Egypt, was the first who sent a maḥmal with the caravan of pilgrims to Makkah in A.D. 1272, but that it had its origin a few years before his accession to the throne, under the following circumstances:—

THE MAHMAL. (From an Original Picture.)

Shag͟hru ʾd-Durr, a beautiful Turkish female slave, who became the favourite wife of Sult̤ān aṣ-Ṣālih Najmu ʾd-dīn, and who on the death of his son (with whom terminated the dynasty of Aiyūb) caused herself to be acknowledged Queen of Egypt, performed the ḥajj in a magnificent litter borne by a camel. And for successive years her empty litter was sent yearly to Makkah, as an emblem of state. After her death, a similar litter was sent each year with the caravan of pilgrims from Cairo and Damascus, and is called maḥmal or maḥmil, a word signifying that by which anything is supported.

Mr. Lane, in his Modern Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 162, thus describes the maḥmal:—

“It is a square skeleton frame of wood with a pyramidal top, and has a covering of black brocade richly worked with inscriptions and ornamental embroidery in gold, in some parts upon a ground of green or red silk, and bordered with a fringe of silk, with tassels, surmounted by silver balls. Its covering is not always made after the same pattern with regard to the decorations; but in every cover that I have seen, I have remarked on the upper part of the front a view of the Temple of Makkah, worked in gold, and over it the Sultan’s cipher. It contains nothing; but has two copies of the Kurán, one on a small scroll, and the other in the usual form of a book, also small, each inclosed in a case of gilt silver, attached externally at the top. The five balls with crescents, which ornament the maḥmal, are of gilt silver. The maḥmal is borne by a fine tall camel, which is generally indulged with exemption from every kind of labour during the remainder of its life.”

THE MAHMAL. (Lane.)

Eastern travellers often confuse the maḥmal with the kiswah, or covering for the Kaʿbah, which is a totally distinct thing, although it is made in Cairo and sent at the same time as the maḥmal. [[KISWAH].]

The Wahhābīs prohibited the maḥmal as an object of vain pomp, and on one occasion intercepted the caravan which escorted it.

Captain Burton saw both the Egyptian and the Damascus maḥmals on the plain below ʿArafah at the time of the pilgrimage.

MAḤMŪDĪYAH (محمودية‎). A Shīʿah sect founded by Mīr Sharīf, who in the reign of Akbar held a military appointment in Bengal. He was a disciple of Maḥmūd of Busak͟hwān, the founder of the Nuqtawīyah sect. Maḥmūd lived in the reign of Timur, and professed to be al-Mahdī. He also called himself the Shak͟hs-i-Waḥīd—the Individual one. He used to quote the verse, “It may be that thy Lord will raise thee up to a glorious (maḥmūd) station” ([Sūrah xvii. 81]). From this he argued that the body of man had been advancing in purity since the creation, and that on its reaching to a certain degree, one Maḥmūd (glorious) would arise, and that then the dispensation of Muḥammad would come to an end. He claimed to be the Maḥmūd. He also taught the doctrine of transmigration, and that the beginning of everything was the earth atom (nuqt̤ah). It is on this account that they are called in Persian the Nuqtawīyah sect. They are also known by the names Maḥmūdīyah and Waḥīdīyah. Shah ʿAbbās, King of Persia, expelled them from his dominions, but Akbar received the fugitives kindly, and promoted some amongst them to high offices of State.

MAHR (مهر‎). Heb. ‏מֹהַר‎. The dower or settlement of money or property on the wife, without which a marriage is not legal, for an explanation of which see the article on [DOWER].

The Hebrew word occurs three times in the old Testament, viz. [Gen. xxxiv. 12]; [Ex. xxii. 17]; [1 Sam. xviii. 25]. [[DOWER] and [MARRIAGE].]

MAḤRAM (محرم‎). Lit. “Unlawful.” A near relative with whom it is unlawful to marry. Muḥammad enjoined that every woman performing pilgrimage should have a maḥram with her night and day, to prevent scandal. (Mishkāt, book xi. ch. i.)

AL-MĀʾIDAH (المائدة‎). Lit. “The table.” The title of the Vth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in the 114th verse of which the word occurs: “O Jesus, son of Mary! is thy Lord able to send down to us a table?”

“This miracle is thus related by the commentators. Jesus having at the request of his followers asked it of God, a red table immediately descended, in their sight, between two clouds, and was set before them; whereupon he rose up, and, having made the ablution, prayed, and then took off the cloth which covered the table, saying, ‘In the name of God, the best provider of food!’ What the provisions were with which this table was furnished, is a matter wherein the expositors are not agreed. One will have them to be nine cakes of bread and nine fishes; another, bread and flesh; another, all sorts of food except flesh; another, all sorts of food except bread and flesh; another, all except bread and fish; another, one fish which had the taste of all manner of food; and another, fruits of paradise; but the most received tradition is that when the table was uncovered, there appeared a fish ready dressed, without scales or prickly fins, dropping with fat, having salt placed at its head and vinegar at its tail, and round it all sorts of herbs except leeks, and fine loaves of bread, on one of which there were olives, on the second honey, on the third butter, on the fourth cheese, and on the fifth dried flesh. They add that Jesus, at the request of the Apostles, showed them another miracle, by restoring the fish to life, and causing its scales and fins to return to it, at which the standers-by being affrighted, he caused it to become as it was before; that one thousand three hundred men and women, all afflicted with bodily infirmities or poverty, ate of these provisions, and were satisfied, the fish remaining whole as it was at first; that then the table flew up to heaven in the sight of all; and every one who had partaken of this food were delivered from their infirmities and misfortunes; and that it continued to descend for forty days together, at dinner-time, and stood on the ground till the sun declined, and was then taken up into the clouds. Some of the Muḥammadan writers are of opinion that this table did not really descend, but that it was only a parable; but most think the words of the Qurʾān are plain to the contrary. A further tradition is that several men were changed into swine for disbelieving this miracle, and attributing it to magic art; or, as others pretend, for stealing some of the victuals from off it. Several other fabulous circumstances are also told, which are scarce worth transcribing. Some say the table descended on a Sunday, which was the reason of the Christians observing that day as sacred. Others pretend that this day is still kept among them as a very great festival, and it seems as if the story had its rise from an imperfect notion of Christ’s last supper and the institution of the Eucharist.” (Sale’s Qurʾān.)

MAIMŪNAH (ميمونة‎). The last of Muḥammad’s wives. A sister to Ummu ʾl-Faẓl, the wife of al-ʿAbbās, and consequently related to the Prophet. She was a widow, 51 years of age, when Muḥammad married her. She survived him, and died at the age of 81, being buried on the very spot on which she had celebrated her marriage. (Muir’s Life of Mahomet, new ed. p. 403.)

MAINTENANCE. Arabic nafaqah (نفقة‎), which, in the language of the law, signifies all those things which are necessary to the support of life, such as food, clothes, and lodging, although many confine it solely to food. (Durru ʾl-Muk͟htār, p. 283.)

There are three causes of maintenance established by law. (1) Marriage; (2) Relationship; (3) Property (i.e. in case of a slave).

A husband is bound to give proper maintenance to his wife or wives, provided she or they have not become refractory or rebellious, but have surrendered herself or themselves to the custody of their husband.

Maintenance may be decreed out of the property of an absent husband, whether it be held in trust, or deposit, or muẓārabah for him.

If the husband become poor to such a degree as to be unable to provide his wife her maintenance, still they are not to be separated on this account, but the Qāẓī shall direct the woman to procure necessaries for herself upon her husband’s credit, the amount remaining a debt upon him.

A divorced wife is entitled to food, clothing, and lodging during the period of her ʿiddah, and until her delivery, if she be pregnant. No maintenance is, however, due to a woman, whether pregnant or not, for the ʿiddah observed upon the death of her husband. No maintenance is due to a woman upon separation caused by her own fault.

A father is bound to support his infant children; and no one shares the obligation with him.

A mother, who is a married wife, cannot be compelled to suckle her infant, except where a nurse cannot be procured, or the child refuses to take the milk of any other than of the mother, who in that case is bound to suckle it, unless incapacitated for want of health, or other sufficient cause.

If neither the father nor the child has any property, the mother may be compelled to suckle it.

The maintenance of an infant child is incumbent upon the father, although he be of a different religion; and, in the same manner, the maintenance of a wife is incumbent upon her husband, notwithstanding this circumstance.

Maintenance of children becomes, however, incumbent upon the father only where they possess no independent property.

When the father is poor and the child’s paternal grandfather is rich, and the child’s own property is unavailable, the grandfather may be directed to maintain him, and the amount will be a debt due to him from the father, for which the grandfather may have recourse against him; after which the father may reimburse himself by having recourse against the child’s property, if there is any.

When the father is infirm and the child has no property of his own, the paternal grandfather may be ordered to maintain him, without right of recourse against anyone; and, in like manner, if the child’s mother be rich, or the grandmother rich, while its father is poor, she may be ordered to maintain the child, and the maintenance will be a debt against the child if he be not infirm, but if he be so, he is not liable.

If the father is poor and the mother is rich, and the young child has also a rich grandfather, the mother should be ordered to maintain the child out of her own property, with a right of recourse against the father and the grandfather is not to be called upon to do so. When the father is poor, and has a rich brother, he may be ordered to maintain the child, with right of recourse against the father.

When male children have strength enough to work for their livelihood, though not actually adult, the father may set them to work for their own maintenance, or hire them out, and maintain them out of their wages; but he has no power to hire females out for work or service.

A father must maintain his female children absolutely until they are married, when they have no property of their own. But he is not obliged to maintain his adult male children unless they are disabled by infirmity or disease.

It is also incumbent on a father to maintain his son’s wife, when the son is young, poor, or infirm.

The maintenance to an adult daughter, or to an adult son who is disabled, rests upon the parents in three equal parts, two-thirds being furnished by the father, and one-third by the mother.

A child in easy circumstances may be compelled to maintain his poor parents, whether they be Muslim or not, or whether by their own industry they be able to earn anything for subsistence or not.

Where there are male and female children, or children only of the male sex, or only of the female sex, the maintenance of both parents is alike incumbent upon them.

Where there is a mixture of male and female children, the maintenance of both parents is incumbent on them alike.

When a mother is poor, her son is bound to maintain her, though he be in straitened circumstances himself, and she not infirm. When a son is able to maintain only one of his parents, the mother has the better right; and if he have both parents and a minor son, and is able to maintain only one of them, the son has the preferable right. When he has both parents, and cannot afford maintenance to either of them, he should take them to live with him, that they may participate in what food he has for himself. When the son, though poor, is earning something, and his father is infirm, the son should allow the father to share his food with him.

As of a father and mother, so the maintenance of grandfathers and grandmothers, if they be indigent, is incumbent upon their grandchildren, though the former be of different religion.

It is a man’s duty to provide maintenance for all his infant male relations within prohibited degrees who are in poverty; and also to all female relations within the same degrees, whether infants or adults, where they are in necessity; and also to all adult male relations within the same degrees who are poor, disabled, or blind; but the obligation does not extend beyond those relations.

No adult male, if in health, is entitled to maintenance, though he is poor; but a person is obliged to maintain his adult female relatives, though in health of body, if they require it. The maintenance of a mere relative is not incumbent on any poor person; contrary to the maintenance of a wife and child, for whom poor and rich are equally liable.

When a poor person has a father and a son’s son, both in easy circumstances, the father is liable for his maintenance; and when there is a daughter and a son’s son, the daughter only is liable, though they both divide the inheritance between them. So also, when there is a daughter’s daughter, or daughter’s son, and a full brother, the child of the daughter, whether male or female, is liable, though the brother is entitled to the inheritance. When a person has a parent and a child, both in easy circumstances, the latter is liable, though both are equally near to him. But if he have a grandfather and a son’s son, they are liable for his maintenance in proportion to their shares in the inheritance, that is, the grandfather for a sixth, and the son’s son for the remainder. If a poor person has a Christian son and a Muslim brother, both in easy circumstances, the son is liable for the maintenance, though the brother would take the inheritance. If he has a mother and grandfather, they are both liable in proportion to their shares as heirs, that is, the mother in one-third, and the grandfather in two-thirds. So, also, when with the mother there is a full brother, or the son of a full brother, or a full paternal uncle, or any other of the ʿaṣabah or residuaries, the maintenance is on them, by thirds according to the rules of inheritance. When there is a maternal uncle, and the son of a full paternal uncle, the liability for maintenance is on the former, though the latter would have the inheritance; because the condition of liability is wanting on the latter, who is not within the forbidden degrees.

If a man have a paternal uncle and aunt, and a maternal aunt, his maintenance is on the uncle; and if the uncle be in straitened circumstances, it is on both the others. The principle in this case is, that when a person who takes the whole of the inheritance is in straitened circumstances, his inability is the same as death, and being as it were dead, the maintenance is cast on the remaining relatives in the same proportions as they would be entitled to in the inheritance of the person to be maintained, if the other were not in existence; and that when one who takes only a part of the inheritance is in straitened circumstances, he is to be treated as if he were dead, and the maintenance is cast on the others, according to the shares of the inheritance to which they would be entitled if they should succeed together with him. (See Durru ʾl-Muk͟htār, Bābu ʾn-Nafaqah.)

AL-MAISIR (الميسر‎). A game of chance forbidden in the Qurʾān. [Sūrahs ii. 216]; [v. 92, 93]. It signifies a game performed with arrows, and much in use with pagan Arabs. But the term al-maisir is now understood to include all games of chance or hazard.

MAJBŪB (مجبوب‎). A complete eunuch, as distinguished from k͟haṣī, or one who is simply castrated. (Hidāyah, vol. i. p. 356.)

AL-MAJĪD (المجيد‎). “The Glorious One.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xi. 76]: “Verily He is to be praised and glorified.”

MAJORITY. [[PUBERTY].]

MĀJŪJ (ماجوج‎). [[YAJUJ].]

AL-MAJŪS (المجوس‎), pl. of Majūsī. The Magians. Mentioned in the Qurʾān only once, [Sūrah xxii. 17]: “As to those who believe, and the Jews, and the Sabeites, and the Christians, and the Magians, and those who join other gods with God, of a truth, God shall decide between them on the Day of Resurrection: for God is witness of all things.”

Most Muḥammadan writers (especially amongst the Shīʿahs) believe them to have formerly possessed a revelation from God which they have since lost.

The Magians were a sect of ancient philosophers which arose in the East at a very early period, devoting much of their time to the study of the heavenly bodies. They were the learned men of their time, and we find Daniel the Prophet promoted to the head of this sect in Chaldea. (Dan. v. 11.) They are supposed to have worshipped the Deity under the emblem of fire; whilst the Sabians, to whom they were opposed, worshipped the heavenly bodies. They held in the greatest abhorrence the worship of images, and considered fire the purest symbol of the Divine Being. This religious sect was reformed by Zoroaster in the sixth century before Christ, and it was the national religion of Persia until it was supplanted by Muḥammadanism. The Magians are now known in Persia as Gabrs, and in India as Pārsīs. Their sacred book is the Zend Avesta, an English translation of which has been published by Mr. A. H. Bleeck (Hertford, 1864), from Professor Spiegel’s German translation. There is an able refutation of the Pārsī religion by the late Rev. John Wilson, D.D. (Bombay, 1843).

MAJẔŪB (مجذوب‎). Lit. “Attracted.” A term used by the Ṣūfīs for a person whom God has chosen for Himself, for a manifestation of His love, and who is thus enabled to attain to all the stages of Ṣūfīism without any effort or trouble. (See ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)

MAKKAH (مكة‎). The capital of Arabia, and the most sacred city of the Muslims. It is celebrated as the birth-place of Muḥammad, and as the site of the Kaʿbah, or Sacred Cube, building. Muḥammad is related to have said of Makkah, “What a splendid city thou art! If I had not been driven out of thee by my tribe, I would dwell in no other place but in thee.” “It is not man but God who has made Makkah sacred.” “My people will be always safe in this world and the next as long as they respect Makkah.” (Mishkāt, book xl. ch. xv.)

Makkah (the ancient name of which was Bakkah) is situated in about 21° 30′ N. lat., 40° 20′ E. long., and 70 miles from the Red Sea, in a sandy valley running north and south, and from 100 to 70 paces broad. The chief part of the city is placed where the valley is widest. In the narrower part there are single rows of houses only, or detached shops. The town itself covers a space of about 1,500 paces in length, but the whole extent of ground comprehended under the denomination of Makkah, amounts to 3,500 paces in length. The surrounding rocky hills are from 200 to 500 feet in height, barren, and destitute of trees. Most of the town is situated in the valley itself, but there are some parts built on the sides of the hills. The streets are in general broader than those of Eastern cities, for the purpose of accommodating the vast number of pilgrims who resort to it. The houses are lofty and of stone, and the numerous windows that face the streets give to these quite a European aspect. Many of the houses are three stories high.

The only public place in the body of the town is the large square of the great mosque, which is enlivened during the Ḥajj (Pilgrimage) by a great number of well-stored shops. The streets are all unpaved, and in summer the sand and dust are as great a nuisance as the mud is in the rainy season, during which they are scarcely passable after a storm.

Makkah is badly provided with water. There are a few cisterns for receiving rain, and the well-water is brackish. The famous well of Zamzam, in the great mosque, is indeed copious enough to supply the whole town, but the water is not well tasted. The best water is brought by an aqueduct from the vicinity of ʿArafah, six or seven miles distant. There are two places in the interior of the city, where the aqueduct runs above ground, and in these parts it is let off into small channels or fountains, at which some slaves of the Sharīf (the ruler of the city) are stationed to exact a toll from persons who fill their water-skins.

All the houses in Makkah except those of the principal and richest inhabitants, are constructed for the accommodation of lodgers, and divided into numerous separate apartments, each consisting of a sitting-room and a small kitchen. Except four or five houses belonging to the Sharīf, two colleges, and the sacred mosque, Makkah has no public edifices of any importance.

The inhabitants of Makkah, with few exceptions, are Arabians. They have two kinds of employment, trade and the service of the temple. During the Ḥajj, Makkah becomes one of the largest fairs in the East, and certainly the most interesting, from the variety of nations which frequent it. The merchants of the place make large profits during this time by their merchandise. They have also a considerable trade with the Beduins and with other parts of Arabia. The greatest profit, however, is derived from supplying food for 60,000 pilgrims and 20,000 camels. The only articles of manufacture are some pottery and beads; there are a few dyeing-houses in the city.

Makkah is governed by a Sharīf, who is chosen from the Saiyids (or descendants of the Prophet) settled in the Ḥijāz, who were once numerous, but are now reduced to a few families in Makkah. Although he obtains his office by the choice of his people, or by force, he holds his authority from the Turkish Sult̤ān.

Makkah was the seat of government during the reigns of the first five K͟halīfahs.

(For an account of the sacred temple, see the article on [MASJIDU ʾL-HARAM].)

MAKKAH. (From Stanley Lane-Poole’s edition of Lane’s “Selections.”)

MAKRŪH (مكروه‎). Lit. “That which is hateful and unbecoming.” A term used in the religious, civil, and ceremonial law of Islām, for an act the unlawfulness of which is not absolutely certain, but which is considered improper and unbecoming.

The author of the Hidāyah remarks that the doctors of the Ḥanafī sect have disagreed as to the extent to which the term can be received.

The Imām Muḥammad is of opinion that makrūh is unlawful, but as he could not draw any convincing argument in favour of his opinion from either the Qurʾān or Traditions, he renounced the general application of “unlawfulness” with respect to such things or acts, and classed them under those which are merely improper.

The Imāms Abū Ḥanīfah and Abū Yūsuf hold that the term applies to that which in its qualities nearly approaches to unlawful, without it being actually so. (Hidāyah, vol. iv. p. 86.)

In the Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrifāt, that which is makrūh is divided into makrūh taḥrīmī, “that which is nearly unlawful”; and makrūh tanzīhī, “that which approaches the lawful.”

In all works on Muḥammadan law, a section is devoted to the consideration of things which are held to be makrūh.

AL-MALĀʾIKAH (الملائكه‎). Lit. “The Angels.” The title of the XXXVth Chapter of the Qurʾān in the first verse of which the word occurs:—“Who employeth the angels as envoys.” It is also called Sūratu ʾl-Fāt̤ir, the “Chapter of the Originator.”

MALAK (ملك‎). [[ANGEL].]

MALAKU ʾL-MAUT (ملك الموت‎). “The Angel of Death.” See Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxxii. 11]: “The angel of death who is charged with you shall cause you to die: then ye shall be returned to your Lord.” He is also called ʿIzrāʾīl.

MALANG (مـلـنـگ‎). An order of Muḥammadan faqīrs or darveshes, who are the descendants and followers of Jaman Juti, a follower of Zindu Shah Madār. They usually wear the hair of the head very full and matted and formed into a knot behind. The order is a very common one in India. (Herklots’ Musalmans, p. 290.)

AL-MĀLIK (المالك‎). “The Possessor, lord, ruler.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It frequently occurs in the Qurʾān, e.g. in the first Sūrah, “Ruler of the Day of Judgment.”

MĀLIK (مالك‎). Lit. “One in authority, a possessor.” The angel who is said to preside over hell, and superintend the torments of the damned. He is mentioned in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xliii. 77]: “And they shall cry out, O Mālik! let thy Lord make an end of us; he shall say, Verily, tarry here.” Perhaps the same as ‏מֹלֶך‎ Molech, the fire-god and tutelary deity of the children of Ammon.

MĀLIK (مالك‎). The founder of a sect of Sunnī Muslims.

The Imām Abū ʿAbdi ʾllāh Mālik ibn Anas, the founder of one of the four orthodox sects of Sunnīs, was born at al-Madīnah, A.H. 94 (A.D. 716). He lived in the same place and received his earliest impressions of Islām from Sahl ibn Saʿd, the almost sole survivor of the Companions of the Prophet. He was considered to be the most learned man of his time, and his self-denial and abstinence were such that he usually fasted four days in the week. He enjoyed the advantages of a personal acquaintance and familiar intercourse with the Imām Abū Ḥanīfah, although differing from him on many important questions regarding the authority of the Traditions. His pride, however, was at least equal to his literary endowments. In proof of this, it is related of him that when the great K͟halīfah Hārūnu ʾr-Rashīd came to al-Madīnah to visit the tomb of the Prophet, Mālik having gone forth to meet him, the K͟halīfah addressed him, “O Mālik! I entreat as a favour that you will come every day to me and my two sons, Amīn and Maʾmūn, and instruct us in traditional knowledge.” To which the sage haughtily replied, “O K͟halīfah, science is of a dignified nature, and instead of going to any person, requires that all should come to it.” The story further says that the sovereign, with much humility, asked his pardon, acknowledged the truth of his remark, and sent both his sons to Mālik, who seated them among his other scholars without any distinction.

With regard to the Traditions, his authority is generally quoted as decisive; in fact, he considered them as altogether superseding the judgment of a man, and on his death-bed severely condemned himself for the many decisions he had presumed to give on the mere suggestion of his own reason. The Qurʾān and the Sunnah excepted, the only study to which he applied himself in his latter days, was the contemplation of the Deity; and his mind was at length so much absorbed in the immensity of the Divine attributes and perfections, as to lose sight of all more insignificant objects! Hence he gradually withdrew himself from the world, became indifferent to its concerns, and after some years of complete retirement, died at al-Madīnah, A.H. 179 (A.D. 795). His authority is at present chiefly received in Barbary and the other northern states of Africa. Of his works, the only one upon record is one of tradition, known as the Muwat̤t̤aʾ. His principal pupil was ash-Shāfiʿī, who afterwards himself gave the name to a sect.

MĀLIKU ʾL-MULK (مالك الملك‎). “The Lord of the Kingdom.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It occurs once in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah iii. 25]: “Say, O God, Lord of the Kingdom, Thou givest the kingdom to whomsoever Thou pleasest, and strippest the kingdom from whomsoever Thou pleasest.”

MĀL ẒĀMINĪ (مال ضامنى‎). Bail for property. A legal term. (Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 568). Bail for the person is ḥāẓir ẓāminī.

MAMĀT (ممات‎). “Death”; e.g. [Sūrah vi. 163]: “My prayers, my sacrifice, my life, and my death, belong to God.” [[MAUT].]

MAMLŪK (مملوك‎), pl. mamālīk. “A slave.” A term used in Muslim law for a bond-slave, the word ʿabd signifying both “a slave” and “a servant of God.” It occurs only once in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xvi. 77]: “God propounds a comparison between a slave (mamlūk) and the property of his master.”

This word has become historic in the Mamlukes, or that military body of slaves who for a long time ruled Egypt. These military slaves were first organized by Mālik aṣ-Ṣālih, who purchased many thousands of slaves in the markets of Asia, and brought them to Egypt in the 13th century. They were by him embodied into a corps of 12,000 men, but in A.D. 1254, they revolted, and killed Turan Shah, the last prince of the Aiyūb dynasty. They then raised to the throne of Egypt al-Muʿizz, who was himself a Turkoman slave. The Mamlukes continued the ruling power in Egypt till A.D. 1517, when Salīm I. defeated them and put to death Tumaun Bey, the last of the Mamluke dynasty. They were, however, maintained in Egypt as a military aristocracy, and were a powerful body at the time of the French invasion. Muḥammad ʿAlī Pasha of Egypt destroyed their power and influence by murdering many of them in A.D. 1811.

MAʿMŪDĪYAH (معمودية‎). A word used by the commentator al-Baiẓāwī for Christian Baptism. In remarking on [Sūrah ii. 132], “the baptism of God” (Ṣibg͟hatu ʾllāh), he says, “The Nazarenes used to dip their children in yellow water, and they called it Maʿmūdīyah; and they said, whoever was dipped in Maʿmūdīyah was purified, and that it was a sign of his becoming a Nazarene.” (See Tafsīru ʾl-Baiẓāwī, in loco.)

MANĀRAH (منارة‎). Anglice minaret. From manār, “a place were a fire is lit, lighthouse, pillar.” The lofty turret of a mosque, from which the Muʾaẕẕin, or “caller to prayer,” invites the people to prayer. In the early days of Islām there were no minarets to the mosques, those at Qūbāʾ and al-Madīnah being erected by ʿUmar ibn ʿAbdi ʾl-ʿAzīz, A.H. 86. [[MOSQUE].]

MANĀSIK (مناسك‎). From mansik, “a place of sacrifice.” The sacred rites and ceremonies attending the pilgrimage. [[HAJJ].]

MANĀT (منات‎). An idol mentioned in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah liii. 19, 20]: “What think ye, then, of al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā, and Manāt, the third idol besides.”

According to Ḥusain, it was an idol of the tribes of Huẕail and K͟hazāʿah. For a discussion of the subject, see the article on [LAT].

AL-MĀNIʿ (المانع‎). “The Withholder.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It does not occur in the Qurʾān, but is given in the Ḥadīs̤.

MANĪḤAH (منيحة‎). A legal term for a camel lent, with permission to use its milk, its hair, and its young, but on condition of returning the camel itself. Such an animal cannot be sacrificed. (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. 50.)

MANLĀ (منلا‎). A learned man. A Muḥammadan priest. The Egyptian form of Maulavī or Mulla.

MAN-LĀ-YASTAḤẒIRAHU ʾL-FAQĪH (من لا يستحضره الفقيه‎). A book of Shīʿah traditions compiled by Saiyid Rāzī, A.H. 406.

MANNA. Arabic mann (من‎); Heb. ‏מָן‎ mān; Greek μάννα. The giving of manna to the children of Israel is mentioned three times in the Qurʾān.

[Sūrah ii. 54]: “And we overshadowed them with the cloud, and sent down manna and the quails.”

[Sūrah xx. 82]: “We caused the manna and the quails to descend upon you.”

[Sūrah vii. 160]: “We caused clouds to overshadow them, and sent down upon them the manna and the quails.”

ʿAbdu ʾl-ʿAzīz, in his commentary, says it was like white sugar.

MANSLAUGHTER. [[MURDER].]

MANUMISSION. Arabic ʿItq (عتق‎). [[SLAVERY].]

MAQĀM MAḤMŪD (مـقـام محمود‎). “A glorious station,” or place in heaven, said to be reserved for Muḥammad. It is mentioned in the XVIIth chapter of the Qurʾān, verse 81: “It may be that thy Lord will raise thee to a glorious station.”

Religious Muslims always pray that God will grant the Maḥmūd to their Prophet, when they hear the Aẕān recited. [[AZAN].]

MAQĀMU IBRAHĪM (مقام ابرهيم‎). “The place or station of Abraham.” Mentioned twice in the Qurʾān.

[Sūrah iii. 91]: “In it (Makkah) are evident signs, even the place of Abraham.”

[Sūrah ii. 119]: “Take ye the station of Abraham for a place of prayer.”

It is a place at Makkah within the Masjid boundary, supposed to have the impression of the foot-marks of Abraham. Burckhardt says this is a small building, supported by six pillars about eight feet high, four of which are surrounded from the top to bottom by a fine iron railing, while they leave the space behind the two hind pillars open. Within the railing is a frame about five feet square, terminating in a pyramidal top, and said to contain the sacred stone upon which Abraham stood when he built the Kaʿbah.

MAQSŪRAH (مقصورة‎). A closet or place of retirement. A place set apart in mosques, enclosed with curtains, where devout men recite their supererogatory prayers, and perform ẕikr. [[ZIKR].]

MĀRIYATU ʾL-QIBT̤ĪYAH (مارية القبطية‎). [[MARY THE COPT].]

MARRIAGE. The celebration of the marriage contract is called nikāḥ (نكاح‎). The festive rejoicings ʿurs (عرس‎); Persian shādī. Marriage is enjoined upon every Muslim, and celibacy is frequently condemned by Muḥammad. It is related in the Traditions that Muḥammad said: “When the servant of God marries, he perfects half of his religion;” and that “on one occasion Muḥammad asked a man if he was married, and being answered in the negative, he said, ‘Art thou sound and healthy?’ Upon the man replying that he was, Muḥammad said, ‘Then thou art one of the brothers of the devil.’ ” (Mishkāt, book xiii. ch. i.) Consequently in Islām, even the ascetic orders are rather married than single.

It is related that one of the Companions, named ʿUs̤mān ibn Maz̤ʿūn, wished to lead a life of celibacy, but Muḥammad forbade him.

The following are some of the sayings of Muḥammad on the subject of marriage (see Mishkātu ʾl-Masābīḥ, book xiii.):—

“The best wedding is that upon which the least trouble and expense is bestowed.”

“The worst of feasts are marriage feasts, to which the rich are invited and the poor left out, and he who abandons the acceptation of an invitation, then verily disobeys God and His Prophet.”

“Matrimonial alliances (between two families or tribes) increase friendship more than anything else.”

“Marry women who will love their husbands and be very prolific, for I wish you to be more numerous than any other people.”

“When anyone demands your daughter in marriage, and you are pleased with his disposition and his faith, then give her to him; for if you do not so, then there will be strife and contention in the world.”

“A woman may be married either for her money, her reputation, her beauty, or her religion; then look out for a religious woman, for if you do marry other than a religious woman, may your hands be rubbed with dirt.”

“All young men who have arrived at the age of puberty should marry, for marriage prevents sins. He who cannot marry should fast.”

“When a Muslim marries he perfects half his religion, and he should practise abstinence for the remaining half.”

“Beware! make not large settlements upon women; because, if great settlements were a cause of greatness in the world and of righteousness before God, surely it would be most proper for the Prophet of God to make them.”

“When any of you wishes to demand a woman in marriage, if he can arrange it, let him see her first.”

“A woman ripe in years shall have her consent asked in marriage, and if she remain silent her silence is her consent, and if she refuse she shall not be married by force.”

“A widow shall not be married until she be consulted, nor shall a virgin be married until her consent be asked.” The Companions said, “In what manner is the permission of a virgin?” He replied, “Her consent is by her silence.”

“If a woman marries without the consent of her guardian, her marriage is null and void, is null and void, is null and void; then, if her marriage hath been consummated, the woman shall take her dower; if her guardians dispute about her marriage, then the king is her guardian.”

The subject of Muslim marriages will now be treated in the present article under the headings—I. The Validity of Marriage; II. The Legal Disabilities to Marriage; III. The Religious Ceremony; IV. The Marriage Festivities.

I.—The Validity of Marriage.

Muslims are permitted to marry four free women, and to have as many slaves for concubines as they may have acquired. See Qurʾān, [Sūrah iv. 3]: “Of women who seem good in your eyes, marry two, or three, or four; and if ye still fear that ye shall not act equitably, then one only; or the slaves whom ye have acquired.” [[WIVES].]

Usufructory or temporary marriages were sanctioned by the Prophet, but this law is said by the Sunnīs to have been abrogated, although it is allowed by the Shīʿahs, and is practised in Persia in the present day. [[MUTʿAH].] These temporary marriages are undoubtedly the greatest blot in Muḥammad’s moral legislation, and admit of no satisfactory apology.

Marriage, according to Muḥammadan law, is simply a civil contract, and its validity does not depend upon any religious ceremony. Though the civil contract is not positively prescribed to be reduced to writing, its validity depends upon the consent of the parties, which is called ījāb and qabūl, “declaration” and “acceptance”; the presence of two male witnesses (or one male and two female witnesses); and a dower of not less than ten dirhams, to be settled upon the woman. The omission of the settlement does not, however, invalidate the contract, for under any circumstances, the woman becomes entitled to her dower of ten dirhams or more. (A dower suitable to the position of the woman is called Mahru ʾl-mis̤l.)

Liberty is allowed a woman who has reached the age of puberty, to marry or refuse to marry a particular man, independent of her guardian, who has no power to dispose of her in marriage without her consent or against her will; while the objection is reserved for the girl, married by her guardian during her infancy, to ratify or dissolve the contract immediately on reaching her majority. When a woman, adult and sane, elects to be married through an agent (wakīl), she empowers him, in the presence of competent witnesses, to convey her consent to the bridegroom. The agent, if a stranger, need not see her, and it is sufficient that the witnesses, who see her, satisfy him that she, expressly or impliedly, consents to the proposition of which he is the bearer. The law respects the modesty of the sex, and allows the expression of consent on the part of the lady by indirect ways, even without words. With a virgin, silence is taken as consent, and so is a smile or laugh.

Mr. Syed Ameer Ali says:—

“The validity of a marriage under the Muhammadan law depends on two conditions: first, on the capacity of the parties to marry each other; secondly, on the celebration of the marriage according to the forms prescribed in the place where the marriage is celebrated, or which are recognised as legal by the customary law of the Mussulmans. It is a recognised principle that the capacity of each of the parties to a marriage is to be judged of by their respective lex domicilii. ‘If they are each, whether belonging to the same country or to different countries, capable according to their lex domicilii of marriage with the other, they have the capacity required by the rule under consideration. In short, as in other contracts, so in that of marriage, personal capacity must depend on the law of domicil.’

“The capacity of a Mussalman domiciled in England will be regulated by the English law, but the capacity of one who is domiciled in the Belâd-ul-Islâm (i.e. a Muhammadan country), by the provisions of the Mussalman law. It is, therefore, important to consider what the requisite conditions are to vest in an individual the capacity to enter into a valid contract of marriage. As a general rule, it may be remarked, that under the Islâmic law, the capacity to contract a valid marriage rests on the same basis as the capacity to enter into any other contract. ‘Among the conditions which are requisite for the validity of a contract of marriage (says the Fatâwa-i-Alamgîrî, p. 377), are understanding, puberty, and freedom, in the contracting parties, with this difference, that whilst the first requisite is essentially necessary for the validity of the marriage, as a marriage cannot be contracted by a majnûn (non compos mentis), or a boy without understanding, the other two conditions are required only to give operation to the contract, as the marriage contracted by a (minor) boy (possessed) of understanding is dependent for its operation on the consent of his guardian.’ Puberty and discretion constitute, accordingly, the essential conditions of the capacity to enter into a valid contract of marriage. A person who is an infant in the eye of the law is disqualified from entering into any legal transactions (tassarufât-i-shariyeh—taṣarrufāt-i-sharīʿah), and is consequently incompetent to contract a marriage. Like the English common law, however, the Muhammadan law makes a distinction between a contract made by a minor possessed of discretion or understanding and one made by a child who does not possess understanding. A marriage contracted by a minor who has not arrived at the age of discretion, or who does not possess understanding, or who cannot comprehend the consequences of the act, is a mere nullity.

“The Muhammadan law fixes no particular age when discretion should be presumed. Under the English law, however, the age of seven marks the difference between want of understanding in children and capacity to comprehend the legal effects of particular acts. The Indian Penal Code also has fixed the age of seven as the period when the liability for offences should commence. It may be assumed, perhaps not without some reason, that the same principle ought to govern cases under the Muhammadan law, that is, when a contract of marriage is entered into by a child under the age of seven, it will be regarded as a nullity. It is otherwise, however, in the case of a marriage contracted by a person of understanding. ‘It is valid,’ says the Fatâwa, ‘though dependent for its operation on the consent of the guardian.’

“A contract entered into by a person who is insane is null and void, unless it is made during a lucid interval. A slave cannot enter into a contract of marriage without the consent of his master. The Mussalman lawyers, therefore, add freedom (hurriyet) as one of the conditions to the capacity for marriage.

“Majority is presumed, among the Hanafis and the Shiahs, on the completion of the fifteenth year, in the case of both males and females, unless there is any evidence to show that puberty was attained earlier.

“Besides puberty and discretion, the capacity to marry requires that there should be no legal disability or bar to the union of the parties; that in fact they should not be within the prohibited degrees, or so related to or connected with each other as to make their union unlawful.” (See Syed Ameer Ali’s Personal Law of the Muhammadans, p. 216.)

With regard to the consent of the woman, Mr. Syed Ameer Ali remarks:—

“No contract can be said to be complete unless the contracting parties understand its nature and mutually consent to it. A contract of marriage also implies mutual consent, and when the parties see one another, and of their own accord agree to bind themselves, both having the capacity to do so, there is no doubt as to the validity of the marriage. Owing, however, to the privacy in which Eastern women generally live, and the difficulties under which they labour in the exercise of their own choice in matrimonial matters, the Mohammadan law, with somewhat wearying particularity, lays down the principle by which they may not only protect themselves from the cupidity of their natural guardians, but may also have a certain scope in the selection of their husbands.

“For example, when a marriage is contracted on behalf of an adult person of either sex, it is an essential condition to its validity that such person should consent thereto, or, in other words, marriage contracted without his or her authority or consent is null, by whomsoever it may have been entered into.

“Among the Hanafis and the Shiahs, the capacity of a woman, who is adult and sane, to contract herself in marriage is absolute. The Shiah law is most explicit on this point. It expressly declares that, in the marriage of a discreet female (rashîdah) who is adult, no guardian is required. The Hidâya holds the same opinion. A woman (it says) who is adult and of sound mind, may be married by virtue of her own consent, although the contract may not have been made or acceded to by her guardians, and this whether she be a virgin or saibbah. Among the Shafais and the Malikis, although the consent of the adult virgin is an essential to the validity of a contract of marriage entered into on her behalf, as among the Hanafis and the Shiahs, she cannot contract herself in marriage without the intervention of a walî. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. i. p. 95.)

“Among the Shafais, a woman cannot personally consent to the marriage. The presence of the walî, or guardian, is essentially necessary to give validity to the contract. The walî’s intervention is required by the Shafais and the Malikis to supplement the presumed incapacity of the woman to understand the nature of the contract, to settle the terms and other matters of a similar import, and to guard the girl from being victimised by an unscrupulous adventurer, or from marrying a person morally or socially unfitted for her. It is owing to the importance and multifariousness of the duties with which a walî is charged, that the Sunni law is particular in ascertaining the order in which the right of guardianship is possessed by the different individuals who may be entitled to it. The schools are not in accord with reference to the order. The Hanafis entrust the office first to the agnates in the order of succession; then to the mother, the sister, the relatives on the mother’s side, and lastly to the Kazi. The Shafais adopt the following order: The father, the father’s father, the son (by a previous marriage), the full brother, the consanguineous brother, the nephew, the uncle, the cousin, the tutor, and lastly the Kazi; thus entirely excluding the female relations from the wilayet. The Malikis agree with the Shafais in confiding the office of guardian only to men, but they adopt an order slightly different. They assign the first rank to the sons of the woman (by a former marriage), the second to the father; and then successively to the full brother, nephew, paternal grandfather, paternal uncle, cousin, manumittor, and lastly to the Kazi. Among the Malikis and the Shafais, where the presence of the guardian at a marriage is always necessary, the question has given birth to two different systems. The first of these considers the guardian to derive his powers entirely from the law. It consequently insists not only on his presence at the marriage, but on his actual participation in giving the consent. According to this view, not only is a marriage contracted through a more distant guardian invalid, whilst one more nearly connected is present, but the latter cannot validate a marriage contracted at the time without his consent, by according his consent subsequently. This harsh doctrine, however, does not appear to be forced in any community following the Maliki or Shafai tenets. The second system is diametrically opposed to the first, and seems to have been enunciated by Shaikh Ziâd as the doctrine taught by Malik. According to this system the right of the guardian, though no doubt a creation of the law, is exercised only in virtue of the power or special authorisation granted by the woman; for the woman once emancipated from the patria potestas is mistress of her own actions. She is not only entitled to consult her own interests in matrimony, but can appoint whomsoever she chooses to represent her and protect her legitimate interests. If she think the nearer guardian inimically inclined towards her, she may appoint one more remote to act for her during her marriage. Under this view of the law, the guardian acts as an attorney on behalf of the woman, deriving all his powers from her and acting solely for her benefit. This doctrine has been adopted by Al-Karkhi, Ibn al-Kâsim, and Ibn-i-Salamun, and has been formally enunciated by the Algerian Kazis in several consecutive judgments. When the walî preferentially entitled to act is absent, and his whereabouts unknown, when he is a prisoner or has been reduced to slavery, or is absent more than ten days’ journey from the place where the woman is residing, or is insane or an infant, then the wilayet passes to the person next in order to him. The Hanafis hold that the woman is always entitled to give her consent without the intervention of a guardian. When a guardian is employed and found acting on her behalf, he is presumed to derive his power solely from her, so that he cannot act in any circumstances in contravention of his authority or instructions. When the woman has authorised her guardian to marry her to a particular individual, or has consented to a marriage proposed to her by a specific person, the guardian has no power to marry her to another. Under the Shiah law, a woman who is ‘adult and discreet,’ is herself competent to enter into a contract of marriage. She requires no representative or intermediary, through whom to give her consent. ‘If her guardians,’ says the Sharâya, ‘refuse to marry her to an equal when desired by her to do so, there is no doubt that she is entitled to contract herself, even against their wish.’ The Shiahs agree with the Hanafis in giving to females the power of representing others in matrimonial contracts. In a contract of marriage, full regard is to be paid to the words of a female who is adult and sane, that is, possessed of sound understanding; she is, accordingly, not only qualified to contract herself, but also to act as the agent of another in giving expression either to the declaration or to the consent. The Mafâtih and the Jama-ush-Shattât, also declare ‘that it is not requisite that the parties through whom a contract is entered into should both be males, since with us (the Shiahs) a contract made through (the agency or intermediation of) a female is valid.’ To recapitulate. Under the Maliki and Shafai law, the marriage of an adult girl is not valid unless her consent is obtained to it, but such consent must be given through a legally authorised walî, who would act as her representative. Under the Hanafi and Shiah law, the woman can consent to her own marriage, either with or without a guardian or agent.” (Personal Law of the Muhammadans, p. 233.)

II.—The Legal Disabilities to Marriage.

There are nine prohibitions to marriage, namely:—

1. Consanguinity, which includes mother, grandmother, sister, niece, aunt, &c.

2. Affinity, which includes mother-in-law, step-grandmother, daughter-in-law, step-granddaughter, &c.

3. Fosterage. A man cannot marry his foster mother, nor foster sister, unless the foster brother and sister were nursed by the same mother at intervals widely separated. But a man may marry the mother of his foster sister, or the foster mother of his sister.

4. A man may not marry his wife’s sister during his wife’s lifetime, unless she be divorced.

5. A man married to a free woman cannot marry a slave.

6. It is not lawful for a man to marry the wife or muʿtaddah of another, whether the ʿiddah be on account of repudiation or death. That is, he cannot marry until the expiration of the woman’s ʿiddah, or period of probation.

7. A Muslim cannot marry a polytheist, or Majūsīyah. But he may marry a Jewess, or a Christian, or a Sabean.

8. A woman is prohibited by reason of property. For example, it is not lawful for a man to marry his own slave, or a woman her bondsman.

9. A woman is prohibited by repudiation or divorce. If a man pronounces three divorces upon a wife who is free, or two upon a slave, she is not lawful to him until she shall have been regularly espoused by another man, who having duly consummated the marriage, afterwards divorces her, or dies, and her ʿiddah from him be accomplished.

Mr. Syed Ameer Ali says:—

“The prohibitions may be divided into four heads, viz. relative or absolute, prohibitive or directory. They arise in the first place from legitimate and illegitimate relationship of blood (consanguinity); secondly, from alliance or affinity (al-muṣāḥarat); thirdly, from fosterage (ar-riẓāʿ); and, fourthly, from completion of number (i.e. four). The ancient Arabs permitted the union of step-mothers and mothers-in-law on one side, and step-sons and sons-in-law on the other. The Kurân expressly forbids this custom: ‘Marry not women whom your fathers have had to wife (except what is already past), for this is an uncleanliness and abomination, and an evil way.’ ([Sūrah iv. 26].) Then come the more definite prohibitions in the next verse: ‘Ye are forbidden to marry your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, and your aunts, both on the father’s and on the mother’s side; your brothers’ daughters and your sister’s daughters; your mothers who have given you suck and your foster-sisters; your wives’ mothers, your daughters-in-law, born of your wives with whom ye have cohabited. Ye are also prohibited to take to wife two sisters (except what is already past), nor to marry women who are already married.’ ([Sūrah iv. 27].)

“The prohibitions founded on consanguinity (taḥrīmu ʾn-nasab) are the same among the Sunnis as among the Shiahs. No marriage can be contracted with the ascendants, with the descendants, with relations of the second rank, such as brothers and sisters or their descendants, with paternal and maternal uncles and aunts. Nor can a marriage be contracted with a natural offspring or his or her descendants. Among the Shiahs, marriage is forbidden for fosterage in the same order as in the case of nasab. The Sunnis, however, permit marriage in spite of fosterage in the following cases: The marriage of the father of the child with the mother of his child’s foster-mother, or with her daughter; the marriage of the foster-mother with the brother of the child whom she has fostered; the marriage with the foster-mother of an uncle or aunt. The relationship by fosterage arises among the Shiahs when the child has been really nourished at the breast of the foster-mother. Among the Sunnis, it is required that the child should have been suckled at least fifteen times, or at least a day and night. Among the Hanafis, it is enough if it have been suckled only once. Among the Shafais it is necessary that it should have been suckled four times. There is no difference among the Sunnis and the Shiahs regarding the prohibitions arising from alliance. Under the Shiah law, a woman against whom a proceeding by laân (liʿān) has taken place on the ground of her adultery, and who is thereby divorced from her husband, cannot under any circumstance re-marry him. The Shafais and Malikis agree in this opinion with the Shiahs. The Hanafis, however, allow a remarriage with a woman divorced by laân. The Shiahs as well as the Shafais, Malikis, and Hanbalis, hold that a marriage with a woman who is already pregnant (by another) is absolutely illegal. According to the Hidâya, however, it would appear that Abu Hanifah and his disciple Muhammad were of opinion that such a marriage was allowable. The practice among the Indian Hanifis is variable. But generally speaking, such marriages are regarded with extreme disapprobation. Among the Shafais, Malikis and Hanbalis, marriages are prohibited during the state of ihrâm (pilgrimage to Makkah), so that when a marriage is contracted by two persons, either of whom is a follower of the doctrines of the above-mentioned schools whilst on the pilgrimage, it is illegal. The Hanafis regard such marriages to be legal. With the Shiahs, though a marriage in a state of ihrâm is, in any case, illegal, the woman is not prohibited to the man always, unless he was aware of the illegality of the union. All the schools prohibit contemporaneous marriages with two women so related to each other that, supposing either of them to be a male a marriage between them would be illegal. Illicit intercourse between a man and a woman, according to the Hanafis and Shiahs, prohibits the man from marrying the woman’s mother as well as her daughter. The observant student of the law of the two principal sects which divide the world of Islâm, cannot fail to notice the distinctive peculiarity existing between them in respect to their attitude to outside people. The nations who adopted the Shiah doctrines never seem to have come into contact with the Christian races of the West to any marked extent; whilst their relations with the Mago-Zoroastrians of the East were both intimate and lasting. The Sunnis, on the other hand, seem always to have been more or less influenced by the Western nations. In consequence of the different positions which the followers of the sects occupied towards non-Muslims, a wide divergence exists between the Shiah and Sunni schools of law regarding intermarriages between Muslims and non-Muslims. It has already been pointed out that the Kurân, for political reasons, forbade all unions between Mussalmans and idolaters. It said in explicit terms, ‘Marry not a woman of the Polytheists (Mushrikin) until she embraces Islâm.’ But it also declared that ‘such women as are muhsinas (of chaste reputation) belonging to the scriptural sects,’ or believing in a revealed or moral religion, ‘are lawful to Muslims.’

“From these and similar directions, two somewhat divergent conclusions have been drawn by the lawyers of the two schools. The Sunnis recognise as legal and valid a marriage contracted between a Muslim on one side, and a Hebrew or a Christian woman on the other. They hold, however, that a marriage between a Mussalman and a Magian or a Hindu woman is invalid. The Akhbari Shiahs and the Mutazalas agree with the Sunni doctors. The Usuli Shiahs do not recognise as legal a permanent contract of marriage between Muslims and the followers of any other creed. They allow, however, temporary contracts extending over a term of years, or a certain specified period, with a Christian, Jew, or a Magian female. Abu Hanifah permits a Mussalman to marry a Sabean woman, but Abu Yusuf and Muhammad and the other Sunni Imâms, hold such unions illegal.

“A female Muslim cannot under any circumstances marry a non-Muslim. Both schools prohibit a Muhammadan from marrying an idolatrous female, or one who worships the stars or any kind of fetish whatsoever.

“These prohibitions are relative in their nature and in their effect. They do not imply the absolute nullity of the marriage. For example, when a Muhammadan marries a Hindu woman in a place where the laws of Islâm are in force, the marriage only is invalid, and does not affect the status of legitimacy of the offspring.” (See Personal Law of the Muhammadans, p. 220.)

III.—The Religious Ceremony.

The Muḥammadan law appoints no specific religious ceremony, nor are any religious rites necessary for the contraction of a valid marriage. Legally, a marriage contracted between two persons possessing the capacity to enter into the contract, is valid and binding, if entered into by mutual consent in the presence of witnesses. And the Shīʿah law even dispenses with witnesses.

In India there is little difference between the rites that are practised at the marriage ceremonies of the Shīʿahs and Sunnīs.

In all cases the religious ceremony is left entirely to the discretion of the Qāẓī or person who performs the ceremony, and consequently there is no uniformity of ritual. Some Qāẓīs merely recite the Fātiḥah (the first chapter of the Qurʾān), and the durūd, or blessing. The following is the more common order of performing the service. The Qāẓī, the bridegroom, and the bride’s attorney, with the witnesses, having assembled in some convenient place (but not in a mosque), arrangements are made as to the amount of dower or mahr. The bridegroom then repeats after the Qāẓī the following:—

1. The Istig͟hfār. “I desire forgiveness from God.”

2. The four Quls. The four chapters of the Qurʾān commencing with the word “Qul” (cix., cxii., cxiii., cxiv.). These chapters have nothing in them connected with the subject of marriage, and appear to be selected on account of their brevity.

3. The Kalimah, or Creed. “There is no Deity but God, and Muḥammad is the Prophet of God.”

4. The Ṣifwatu ʾl-Īmān. A profession of belief in God, the Angels, the Scriptures, the Prophets, the Resurrection, and the Absolute Decree of good and evil.

The Qāẓī then requests the bride’s attorney to take the hand of the bridegroom, and to say, “Such an one’s daughter, by the agency of her attorney and by the testimony of two witnesses, has, in your marriage with her, had such a dower settled upon her; do you consent to it?” To which the bridegroom replies, “With my whole heart and soul, to my marriage with this woman, as well as to the dower already settled upon her, I consent, I consent, I consent.”

After this the Qāẓī raises his hands and offers the following prayer: “O great God! grant that mutual love may reign between this couple, as it existed between Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Joseph and Zalīk͟hā, Moses and Zipporah, his highness Muḥammad and ʿĀyishah, and his highness ʿAlī al-Murtaẓā and Fāt̤imatu ʾz-Zahrā.”

The ceremony being over, the bridegroom embraces his friends and receives their congratulations.

According to the Durru ʾl-Muk͟htār, p. 196, and all schools of Muslim law, the bridegroom is entitled to see his wife before the marriage, but Eastern customs very rarely allow the exercise of this right, and the husband, generally speaking, sees his wife for the first time when leading her to the nuptial chamber.

IV.—The Marriage Festivities.

Nikāḥ is preceded and followed by festive rejoicings which have been variously described by Oriental travellers, but they are not parts of either the civil or religious ceremonies.

The following account of a shādī or wedding in Hindustan is abridged (with some correction) from Mrs. Meer Hasan Alī’s Musalmāns of India.

The marriage ceremony usually occupies three days and three nights. The day being fixed, the mother of the bride actively employs the intervening time in finishing her preparations for the young lady’s departure from the paternal roof with suitable articles, which might prove the bride was not sent forth to her new family without proper provision: A silver-gilt bedstead with the necessary furniture; a silver pawn-dān, shaped very like an English spice-box; a chillumchi or wash-hand basin; a lota or water-jug, resembling an old-fashioned coffee-pot; a silver luggun, or spittoon; a surai, or water-bottle; silver basins for water; several dozens of copper pots, plates, and spoons for cooking; dishes, plates and platters in endless variety; and numerous other articles needful for housekeeping, including a looking-glass for the bride’s toilette, masnads, cushions, and carpets.

On the first day the ladies’ apartments of both houses are completely filled with visitors of all grades, from the wives and mothers of noblemen, down to the humblest acquaintance of the family, and to do honour to the hostess, the guests appear in their best attire and most valuable ornaments. The poor bride is kept in strict confinement in a dark closet or room during the whole three days’ merriment, whilst the happy bridegroom is the most prominent person in the assembly of the males, where amusements are contrived to please and divert him, the whole party vying in personal attentions to him. The ladies are occupied in conversations and merriment, and amused with native songs and music of the domnis, smoking the ḥuqqah, eating pawn, dinner, &c. Company is their delight and time passes pleasantly with them in such an assembly.

The second day is one of bustle and preparation in the bride’s home; it is spent in arranging the various articles that are to accompany the bride’s mayndī or ḥinnāʾ (the Lawsonia inermis), which is forwarded in the evening to the bridegroom’s house with great parade. The herb mayndī or ḥinnāʾ is in general request amongst the natives of India, for the purpose of dyeing the hands and feet; and is considered by them an indispensable article to their comfort, keeping those members cool, and a great ornament to the person. Long established custom obliges the bride to send mayndī on the second night of the nuptials to the bridegroom; and to make the event more conspicuous, presents proportioned to the means of the party accompany the trays of prepared mayndī.

The female friends of the bride’s family attend the procession in covered conveyances, and the male guests on horses, elephants, and in palkies; trains of servants and bands of music swell the procession (amongst persons of distinction) to a magnitude inconceivable to those who have not visited the large native cities of India.

Amongst the bride’s presents with mayndī may be noticed everything requisite for a full-dress suit for the bridegroom, and the etceteras of his toilette; confectionery, dried fruits, preserves, the prepared pawns, and a multitude of trifles too tedious to enumerate, but which are nevertheless esteemed luxuries with the native young people, and are considered essential to the occasion. One thing I must not omit, the sugar-candy, which forms the source of amusement when the bridegroom is under the dominion of the females in his mother’s zanānah. The fireworks sent with the presents are concealed in flowers formed of the transparent uberuck; these flowers are set out in frames, and represent beds of flowers in their varied forms and colours; these in their number and gay appearance have a pretty effect in the procession, interspersed with the trays containing the dresses, &c. All the trays are first covered with basketwork raised in domes, and over these are thrown draperies of broad-cloth, gold cloth, and brocade, neatly fringed in bright colours.

The mayndī procession having reached the bridegroom’s house, bustle and excitement pervade through every department of the mansion. The gentlemen are introduced to the father’s hall; the ladies to the youth’s mother, who in all possible state is prepared to receive the bride’s friends.

The ladies crowd into the centre hall to witness, through the blinds of bamboo, the important process of dressing the bridegroom in his bride’s presents. The centre purdah is let down, in which are openings to admit the hands and feet; and close to this purdah a low stool is placed. When all these preliminary preparations are made, and the ladies securely under cover, notice is sent to the male assembly that “the bridegroom is wanted”; and he then enters the zanānah courtyard, amidst the deafening sounds of trumpets and drums from without, and a serenade from the female singers within. He seats himself on the stool placed for him close to the purdah, and obeys the several commands he receives from the hidden females, with childlike docility. The moist mayndī is then tied on with bandages by hands he cannot see, and, if time admits, one hour is requisite to fix the dye bright and permanent on the hands and feet. During this delay, the hour is passed in lively dialogues with the several purdahed dames, who have all the advantages of seeing though themselves unseen; the singers occasionally lauding his praise in extempore strains, after describing the loveliness of his bride (whom they know nothing about), and foretelling the happiness which awaits him in his marriage, but which, in the lottery, may perhaps prove a blank. The sugar-candy, broken into small lumps, is presented by the ladies whilst his hands and feet are fast bound in the bandages of mayndī; but as he cannot help himself, and it is an omen of good to eat the bride’s sweets at this ceremony, they are sure he will try to catch the morsels which they present to his mouth and then draw back, teasing the youth with their banterings, until at last he may successfully snap at the candy, and seize the fingers also with the dainty, to the general amusement of the whole party and the youth’s entire satisfaction.

The mayndī supposed to have done its duty the bandages are removed, the old nurse of his infancy (always retained for life), assists him with water to wash off the leaves, dries his feet and hands, rubs him with perfumes, and robes him in his bride’s presents. Thus attired, he takes leave of his tormentors, sends respectful messages to his bride’s family, and bows his way from their guardianship to the male apartment, where he is greeted by a flourish of trumpets and the congratulations of the guests, many of whom make him presents and embrace him cordially.

The dinner is introduced at twelve, amongst the bridegroom’s guests, and the night passed in good-humoured conviviality, although the strongest beverage at the feast consists of sugar and water sherbet. The dancing-women’s performances, the displays of fireworks, the dinner, pawn, and ḥuqqah, form the chief amusements of the night, and they break up only when the dawn of morning approaches.

The bride’s female friends take sherbet and pawn after the bridegroom’s departure from the zanānah, after which they hasten away to the bride’s assembly, to detail the whole business of their mission.

BRINGING HOME THE BRIDE IN AFGHANISTAN. (A. F. Hole.)

The third day, the eventful barāt, arrives to awaken in the heart of a tender mother all the good feelings of fond affection; she is, perhaps, about to part with the great solace of her life under many domestic trials; at any rate, she transfers her beloved child to another protection. All marriages are not equally happy in their termination; it is a lottery, a fate, in the good mother’s calculation. Her darling child may be the favoured of Heaven, for which she prays; she may be however, the miserable first wife of a licentious pluralist; nothing is certain, but she will strive to trust in God’s mercy, that the event prove a happy one to her dearly-loved girl.

The young bride is in close confinement during the days of celebrating her nuptials; on the third, she is tormented with the preparations for her departure. The mayndī must be applied to her hands and feet, the formidable operations of bathing, drying her hair, oiling and dressing her head, dyeing her lips, gums, and teeth with antimony, fixing on her the wedding ornaments, the nose-ring presented by her husband’s family; the many rings to be placed on her fingers and toes, the rings fixed in her ears, are all so many new trials to her, which though a complication of inconvenience, she cannot venture to murmur at, and therefore submits to with the passive weakness of a lamb.

Towards the close of the evening, all these preparations being fulfilled, the marriage portion is set in order to accompany the bride. The guests make their own amusements for the day; the mother is too much occupied with her daughter’s affairs to give much of her time or attention to them; nor do they expect it, for they all know by experience the nature of a mother’s duties at such an interesting period.

The bridegroom’s house is nearly in the same state of bustle as the bride’s, though of a very different description, as the preparing for the reception of a bride is an event of vast importance in the opinion of a Musalman. The gentlemen assemble in the evening, and are regaled with sherbet and the ḥuqqah, and entertained with the nauch-singing and fireworks, until the appointed hour for setting out in the procession to fetch the bride to her new home.

The procession is on a grand scale; every friend or acquaintance, together with their elephants, are pressed into the service of the bridegroom on this night of Barāt. The young man himself is mounted on a handsome charger, the legs, tail, and mane of which are dyed with mayndī, whilst the ornamental furniture of the horse is splendid with spangles and embroidery. The dress of the bridegroom is of gold cloth, richly trimmed, with a turban to correspond, to the top of which is fastened an immense bunch of silver trimming, that falls over his face to his waist, and answers the purpose of a veil (this is in strict keeping with the Hindu custom at their marriage processions). A select few of the females from the bridegroom’s house attend in his train to bring home the bride, accompanied by innumerable torches, with bands of music, soldiers, and servants, to give effect to the procession. On their arrival at the gate of the bride’s residence, the gentlemen are introduced to the father’s apartments, where fire-works, music, and singing, occupy their time and attention until the hour for departure arrives.

The marriage ceremony is performed in the presence of witnesses, although the bride is not seen by any of the males at the time, not even by her husband, until they have been lawfully united according to the common form.

The Maulawī commences by calling on the young maiden by name, to answer to his demand, “Is it by your own consent this marriage takes place with ——?” naming the person who is the bridegroom; the bride answers, “It is by my consent.” The Maulawī then explains the law of Muḥammad, and reads a certain chapter from that portion of the Qurʾān which binds the parties in holy wedlock. He then turns to the young man, and asks him to name the sum he proposes as his wife’s dowry. The bridegroom thus called upon, names ten, twenty, or, perhaps, a hundred lacs of rupees; the Maulawī repeats to all present the amount proposed, and then prays that the young couple thus united may be blessed in this world and in eternity. All the gentleman then retire except the bridegroom, who is delayed entering the hall until the bride’s guests have retreated into the side rooms; as soon as this is accomplished he is introduced into the presence of his mother-in-law and her daughter by the women servants. He studiously avoids looking up as he enters the hall, because, according to the custom of this people, he must first see his wife’s face in a looking-glass, which is placed before the young couple, when he is seated on the masnad by his bride. Happy for him if he then beholds a face that bespeaks the gentle being he hopes Fate has destined to make him happy. If otherwise, he must submit; there is no untying the sacred contract.

Many absurd customs follow this first introduction of the bride and bridegroom. When the procession is all formed, the goods and chattels of the bride are loaded on the heads of the carriers; the bridegroom conveys his young wife in his arms to the covered palankeen, which is in readiness within the court, and the procession moves off in grand style, with a perpetual din of noisy music, until they arrive at the bridegroom’s mansion.

The poor mother has, perhaps, had many struggles with her own heart to save her daughter’s feelings during the preparation for departure; but when the separation takes place, the scene is affecting beyond description. I never witnessed anything equal to it in other societies; indeed, so powerfully are the feelings of the mother excited, that she rarely acquires her usual composure until her daughter is allowed to revisit her, which is generally within a week after her marriage. (See Mrs. Meer Hasan Alī’s Indian Musalmāns, vol. i. p. 46.)

The above description of a wedding in India has been selected as representative of such ceremonies; but there is no uniform custom of celebrating Muslim nuptials, the nuptial ceremonies in Afghanistan being much more simple in their character, as will be seen by the illustration given on the preceding page.

Mr. Lane, in his Modern Egyptians, gives the following interesting account of a wedding in Egypt:—

“Marriages in Cairo are generally conducted, in the case of a virgin, in the following manner; but in that of a widow, or a divorced woman, with little ceremony. Most commonly, the mother, or some other near female relation, of the youth or man who is desirous of obtaining a wife, describes to him the personal and other qualifications of the young women with whom she is acquainted, and directs his choice; or he employs a ‘khatʾbeh,’ or ‘khatibeh’ (k͟hāt̤ibah), a woman whose regular business it is to assist men in such cases. Sometimes two or more women of this profession are employed. A khatʾbeh gives her report confidentially, describing one girl as being like a gazelle, pretty and elegant and young; and another as not pretty, but rich, and so forth. If the man have a mother and other near female relations, two or three of these usually go with a khatʾbeh to pay visits to several hareems, to which she has access in her professional character of a match-maker; for she is employed as much by the women as the men. She sometimes, also, exercises the trade of a ‘dellaleh’ (or broker), for the sale of ornaments, clothing, &c., which procures her admission into almost every hareem. The women who accompany her in search of a wife for their relation, are introduced to the different hareems merely as ordinary visitors; and as such, if disappointed, they soon take their leave, though the object of their visit is, of course, well understood by the other party; but if they find among the females of a family (and they are sure to see all who are marriageable) a girl or young woman having the necessary personal qualifications, they state the motives of their visit, and ask, if the proposed match be not at once disapproved of, what property, ornaments, &c., the objects of their wishes may possess. If the father of the intended bride be dead, she may perhaps possess one or more houses, shops, &c.; and in almost every case, a marriageable girl of the middle or higher ranks has a set of ornaments of gold and jewels. The women visitors, having asked these and other questions, bring their report to the expectant youth or man. If satisfied with their report, he gives a present to the khatʾbeh, and sends her again to the family of his intended wife, to make known to them his wishes. She generally gives an exaggerated description of his personal attractions, wealth, &c. For instance, she will say of a very ordinary young man, of scarcely any property, and of whose disposition she knows nothing, ‘My daughter, the youth who wishes to marry you is young, graceful, elegant, beardless, has plenty of money, dresses handsomely, is fond of delicacies, but cannot enjoy his luxuries alone; he wants you as his companion; he will give you everything that money can procure; he is a stayer at home, and will spend his whole time with you, caressing and fondling you.’

“The parents may betroth their daughter to whom they please, and marry her to him without her consent, if she be not arrived at the age of puberty; but after she has attained that age, she may choose a husband for herself, and appoint any man to arrange and effect her marriage. In the former case, however, the khatʾbeh and the relations of a girl sought in marriage usually endeavour to obtain her consent to the proposed union. Very often a father objects to giving a daughter in marriage to a man who is not of the same profession or trade as himself; and to marrying a younger daughter before an elder! The bridegroom can scarcely ever obtain even a surreptitious glance at the features of his bride, until he finds her in his absolute possession, unless she belong to the lower classes of society; in which case it is easy enough for him to see her face.

“When a female is about to marry, she should have a ‘wekeel’ (wakīl, or deputy), to settle the compact and conclude the contract, for her, with her proposed husband. If she be under the age of puberty, this is absolutely necessary; and in this case, her father, if living, or (if he be dead) her nearest adult male relation, or a guardian appointed by will, or by the Kadee, performs the office of wekeel; but if she be of age, she appoints her own wekeel, or may even make the contract herself; though this is seldom done.

“After a youth or man has made choice of a female to demand in marriage, on the report of his female relations, or that of the khatʾbeh, and, by proxy, made the preliminary arrangements before described with her and her relations in the hareem, he repairs with two or three of his friends to her wekeel. Having obtained the wekeel’s consent to the union, if the intended bride be under age, he asks what is the amount of the required mahr (or dowry).

“The giving of a dowry is indispensable. The usual amount of the dowry, if the parties be in possession of a moderately good income, is about a thousand riyals (or twenty-two pounds ten shillings); or, sometimes, not more than half that sum. The wealthy calculate the dowry in purses, of five hundred piasters (about five pounds sterling) each; and fix its amount at ten purses or more.

“It must be borne in mind that we are considering the case of a virgin bride; the dowry of a widow or divorced woman is much less. In settling the amount of the dowry, as in other pecuniary transactions, a little haggling frequently takes place; if a thousand riyals be demanded through the wekeel, the party of the intended bridegroom will probably make an offer of six hundred; the former party then gradually lowering the demand, and the other increasing the offer, they at length agree to fix it at eight hundred. It is generally stipulated that two-thirds of the dowry shall be paid immediately before the marriage-contract is made; and the remaining third held in reserve, to be paid to the wife in case of divorcing her against her own consent, or in case of the husband’s death.

“This affair being settled, and confirmed by all persons present reciting the opening chapter of the Kuran (the Fatʾhah), an early day (perhaps the day next following) is appointed for paying the money, and performing the ceremony of the marriage-contract, which is properly called ‘akd en-nikah’ (ʿaqdu ʾn-nikāḥ). The making this contract is commonly called ‘ketb el-kitáb’ (katbu ʾl-kitāb, or the writing of the writ); but it is very seldom the case that any document is written to confirm the marriage, unless the bridegroom is about to travel to another place, and fears that he may have occasion to prove his marriage where witnesses of the contract cannot be procured. Sometimes the marriage-contract is concluded immediately after the arrangement respecting the dowry, but more generally a day or two after.

“On the day appointed for this ceremony, the bridegroom, again accompanied by two or three of his friends, goes to the house of his bride, usually about noon, taking with him that portion of the dowry which he has promised to pay on this occasion. He and his companions are received by the bride’s wekeel, and two or more friends of the latter are usually present. It is necessary that there be two witnesses (and those must be Muslims) to the marriage-contract, unless in a situation where witnesses cannot be procured. All persons present recite the Fatʾhah; and the bridegroom then pays the money. After this, the marriage-contract is performed. It is very simple. The bridegroom and the bride’s wekeel sit upon the ground, face to face, with one knee upon the ground, and grasp each other’s right hand, raising the thumbs, and pressing them against each other. A ‘fekeeh’ (faqīh) is generally employed to instruct them what they are to say. Having placed a handkerchief over their joined hands, he usually prefaces the words of the contract with a khutbeh (k͟hut̤bah), consisting of a few words of exhortation and prayer, with quotations from the Kuran and Traditions, on the excellence and advantages of marriage. He then desires the bride’s wekeel to say, ‘I betroth (or marry) to thee my daughter (or the female who has appointed me her wekeel), such a one (naming the bride), the virgin [or the adult], for a dowry of such an amount.’ (The words ‘for a dowry,’ &c., are sometimes omitted.) The bride’s wekeel having said this, the bridegroom says, ‘I accept from thee her betrothal [or marriage] to myself, and take her under my care, and myself to afford her my protection; and ye who are present bear witness of this.’ The wekeel addresses the bridegroom in the same manner a second and a third time; and each time, the latter replies as before. Both then generally add, ‘And blessing be on the Apostles: and praise be to God, the Lord of the beings of the whole world. Amen.’ After which all present again repeat the Fatʾhah. It is not always the same form of khutbeh that is recited on these occasions; any form may be used, and it may be repeated by any person; it is not even necessary, and is often altogether omitted.

“The contract concluded, the bridegroom sometimes (but seldom, unless he be a person of the lower orders) kisses the hands of his friends and others there present; and they are presented with sharbat, and generally remain to dinner. Each of them receives an embroidered handkerchief, provided by the family of the bride; except the fekeeh, who receives a similar handkerchief, with a small gold coin tied up in it, from the bridegroom. Before the persons assembled on this occasion disperse, they settle when the ‘leylet ed-dakhleh’ is to be. This is the night when the bride is brought to the house of the bridegroom, and the latter, for the first time, visits her.

“The bridegroom should receive his bride on the eve of Friday, or that of Monday; but the former is generally esteemed the more fortunate period. Let us say, for instance, that the bride is to be conducted to him on the eve of Friday.

“During two or three or more preceding nights, the street or quarter in which the bridegroom lives is illuminated with chandeliers and lanterns, or with lanterns and small lamps, some suspended from cords drawn across from the bridegroom’s and several other houses on each side to the houses opposite; and several small silk flags, each of two colours, generally red and green, are attached to these or other cords.

“An entertainment is also given on each of these nights, particularly on the last night before that on which the wedding is concluded, at the bridegroom’s house. On these occasions, it is customary for the persons invited, and for all intimate friends, to send presents to his house, a day or two before the feast which they purpose or expect to attend. They generally send sugar, coffee, rice, wax candles, or a lamb. The former articles are usually placed upon a tray of copper or wood, and covered with a silk or embroidered kerchief. The guests are entertained on these occasions by musicians and male or female singers, by dancing girls, or by the performance of a ‘khatmeh’ (k͟hatmah), or a ‘zikr’ (ẕikr).

“The customs which I am now about to describe are observed by those classes that compose the main bulk of the population of Cairo.

“On the preceding Wednesday (or on the Saturday if the wedding be to conclude on the eve of Monday), at about the hour of noon, or a little later, the bride goes in state to the bath. The procession to the bath is called ‘Zeffet el-Hammām.’ It is headed by a party of musicians, with a hautboy or two, and drums of different kinds. Sometimes at the head of the bride’s party, are two men, who carry the utensils and linen used in the bath, upon two round trays, each of which is covered with an embroidered or a plain silk kerchief; also a sakka (saqqā) who gives water to any of the passengers, if asked; and two other persons, one of whom bears a ‘kamkam,’ or bottle, of plain or gilt silver, or of china, containing rose-water, or orange-flower water, which he occasionally sprinkles on the passengers; and the other, a ‘mibkharah’ (or perfuming vessel) of silver, with aloes-wood, or some other odoriferous substance, burning in it; but it is seldom that the procession is thus attended. In general, the first persons among the bride’s party are several of her married female relations and friends, walking in pairs; and next, a number of young virgins. The former are dressed in the usual manner, covered with the black silk ḥabarah; the latter have white silk ḥabarahs, or shawls. Then follows the bride, walking under a canopy of silk, of some gay colour, as pink, rose-colour, or yellow; or of two colours, composing wide stripes, often rose-colour and yellow. It is carried by four men, by means of a pole at each corner, and is open only in front; and at the top of each of the four poles is attached an embroidered handkerchief.

A BRIDAL PROCESSION IN CAIRO. (From Lane’s “Egyptians.”)

“The dress of the bride, during this procession, entirely conceals her person. She is generally covered from head to foot with a red kashmere shawl; or with a white or yellow shawl, though rarely. Upon her head is placed a small pasteboard cap, or crown. The shawl is placed over this, and conceals from the view of the public the richer articles of her dress, her face, and her jewels, &c., except one or two ‘kussahs’ (and sometimes other ornaments), generally of diamonds and emeralds, attached to that part of the shawl which covers her forehead.

“She is accompanied by two or three of her female relations within the canopy; and often, when in hot weather, a woman, walking backwards before her, is constantly employed in fanning her, with a large fan of black ostrich-feathers, the lower part of the front of which is usually ornamented with a piece of looking-glass. Sometimes one zeffeh, with a single canopy, serves for two brides, who walk side by side. The procession moves very slowly, and generally pursues a circuitous route, for the sake of greater display. On leaving the house, it turns to the right. It is closed by a second party of musicians, similar to the first, or by two or three drummers.

“In the bridal processions of the lower orders, which are often conducted in the same manner as that above described, the women of the party frequently utter, at intervals, those shrill cries of joy called ‘zaghareet’; and females of the poorer classes, when merely spectators of a zeffeh, often do the same. The whole bath is sometimes hired for the bride and her party exclusively.

“They pass several hours, or seldom less than two, occupied in washing, sporting, and feasting; and frequently ‘ʾalʾmehs,’ or female singers, are hired to amuse them in the bath; they then return in the same order in which they came.

“The expense of the zeffeh falls on the relations of the bride, but the feast that follows it is supplied by the bridegroom.

“Having returned from the bath to the house of her family, the bride and her companions sup together. If ʾalʾmehs have contributed to the festivity in the bath, they, also, return with the bride, to renew their concert. Their songs are always on the subject of love, and of the joyous event which occasions their presence. After the company have been thus entertained, a large quantity of henná having been prepared, mixed into a paste, the bride takes a lump of it in her hand, and receives contributions (called ‘nukoot’) from her guests; each of them sticks a coin (usually of gold) in the henná which she holds upon her hand; and when the lump is closely stuck with these coins, she scrapes it off her hand upon the edge of a basin of water. Having collected in this manner from all her guests, some more henná is applied to her hands and feet, which are then bound with pieces of linen; and in this state they remain until the next morning, when they are found to be sufficiently dyed with its deep orange red tint. Her guests make use of the remainder of the dye for their own hands. This night is called ‘Leylet el-Henná,’ or, ‘the Night of the Henná.’

“It is on this night, and sometimes also during the latter half of the preceding day, that the bridegroom gives his chief entertainment.

“ ‘Mohabbazeen’ (or low farce-players) often perform on this occasion before the house, or, if it be large enough, in the court. The other and more common performances by which the guests are amused, have been before mentioned.

“On the following day, the bride goes in procession to the house of the bridegroom. The procession before described is called ‘the zeffeh of the bath,’ to distinguish it from this, which is the more important, and which is therefore particularly called ‘Zeffet el-ʾArooseh,’ or ‘the Zeffeh of the Bride.’ In some cases, to diminish the expenses of the marriage ceremonies, the bride is conducted privately to the bath, and only honoured with a zeffeh to the bridegroom’s house. This procession is exactly similar to the former. The bride and her party, after breakfasting together, generally set out a little after midday.

“They proceed in the same order, and at the same slow pace, as in the zeffeh of the bath; and, if the house of the bridegroom is near, they follow a circuitous route, through several principal streets, for the sake of display. The ceremony usually occupies three or more hours.

“Sometimes, before bridal processions of this kind, two swordsmen, clad in nothing but their drawers, engage each other in a mock combat; or two peasants cudgel each other with nebboots or long staves. In the procession of a bride of a wealthy family, any person who has the art of performing some extraordinary feat to amuse the spectators is almost sure of being a welcome assistant, and of receiving a handsome present. When the Seyyid Omar, the Nakeel el-Ashraf (or chief of the descendants of the Prophet), who was the main instrument of advancing Mohammad ʾAlee to the dignity of Basha of Egypt, married a daughter, about forty-five years since, there walked before the procession a young man who had made an incision in his abdomen, and drawn out a large portion of his intestines, which he carried before him on a silver tray. After the procession he restored them to their proper place, and remained in bed many days before he recovered from the effects of this foolish and disgusting act. Another man, on the same occasion, ran a sword through his arm, before the crowding spectators, and then bound over the wound, without withdrawing the sword, several handkerchiefs, which were soaked with the blood. These facts were described to me by an eye-witness. A spectacle of a more singular and more disgusting nature used to be not uncommon on similar occasions, but is now very seldom witnessed. Sometimes, also, ‘hawees’ (or conjurors and sleight-of-hand performers) exhibit a variety of tricks on these occasions. But the most common of all the performances here mentioned are the mock fights. Similar exhibitions are also sometimes witnessed on the occasion of a circumcision. Grand zeffehs are sometimes accompanied by a numbers of cars, each bearing a group of persons of some manufacture or trade, performing the usual work of their craft; even such as builders, whitewashers, &c., including members of all, or almost all, the arts and manufactures practised in the metropolis. In one car there are generally some men making coffee, which they occasionally present to spectators; in another, instrumental musicians, and in another, ʾalʾmehs (or female singers).

“The bride, in zeffehs of this kind, is sometimes conveyed in a close European carriage, but more frequently, she and her female relations and friends are mounted on high-saddled asses, and, with musicians and female singers, before and behind them, close the procession.

“The bride and her party, having arrived at the bridegroom’s house, sit down to a repast. Her friends shortly after take their departure, leaving with her only her mother and sister, or other near female relations, and one or two other women; usually the belláneh. The ensuing night is called ‘Leylet ed-Dakhleh,’ or ‘the Night of the Entrance.’

“The bridegroom sits below. Before sunset he goes to the bath, and there changes his clothes, or he merely does the latter at home; and, after having supped with a party of his friends, waits till a little before the night prayer, or until the third or fourth hour of the night, when, according to general custom, he should repair to some celebrated mosque, and there say his prayers. If young, he is generally honoured with a zeffeh on this occasion. In this case he goes to the mosque preceded by musicians with drums and a hautboy or two, and accompanied by a number of friends, and by several men bearing ‘mashals’ (mashʿals). The mashals are a kind of cresset, that is, a staff with a cylindrical frame of iron at the top, filled with flaming wood, or having two, three, four, or five of these receptacles for fire. The party usually proceeds to the mosque with a quick pace, and without much order. A second group of musicians, with the same instruments, or with drums only, closes the procession.

“The bridegroom is generally dressed in a kuftán with red stripes, and a red gibbeh, with a kashmere shawl of the same colour for his turban, and walks between two friends similarly dressed. The prayers are commonly performed merely as a matter of ceremony, and it is frequently the case that the bridegroom does not pray at all, or prays without having previously performed the wudoo, like memlooks, who say their prayers only because they fear their master. The procession returns from the mosque with more order and display, and very slowly; perhaps because it would be considered unbecoming in the bridegroom to hasten home to take possession of his bride. It is headed, as before, by musicians, and two or more bearers of mashals. These are generally followed by two men, bearing, by means of a pole resting horizontally upon their shoulders, a hanging frame, to which are attached about sixty or more small lamps, in four circles, one above another, the uppermost of which circles is made to revolve, being turned round occasionally by one of the two bearers. These numerous lamps, and several mashals besides those before mentioned, brilliantly illumine the streets through which the procession passes, and produce a remarkably picturesque effect. The bridegroom and his friends and other attendants follow, advancing in the form of an oblong ring, all facing the interior of the ring, and each bearing in his hand one or more wax candles, and sometimes a sprig of henná or some other flower, except the bridegroom and the friend on either side of him. These three form the latter part of the ring, which generally consists of twenty or more persons.

“At frequent intervals, the party stops for a few minutes, and during each of the pauses, a boy or a man, one of the persons who compose the ring, sings a few words of an epithalamium. The sounds of the drums, and the shrill notes of the hautboy (which the bride hears half an hour or more before the procession arrives at the house), cease during these songs. The train is closed, as in the former case (when on the way to the mosque) by a second group of musicians.

“In the manner above described, the bridegroom’s zeffeh is most commonly conducted; but there is another mode that is more respectable, called ‘zeffeh sádátee,’ which signifies the ‘gentlemen’s zeffeh.’ In this, the bridegroom is accompanied by his friends in the manner described above, and attended and preceded by men bearing mashals, but not by musicians; in the place of these are about six or eight men, who, from their being employed as singers on occasions of this kind, are called ‘wilad el-layalee,’ or ‘sons of the nights.’ Thus attended, he goes to the mosque; and while he returns slowly thence to his house, the singers above mentioned chant, or rather sing, ‘muweshshahs’ (lyric odes) in praise of the Prophet. Having returned to the house, these same persons chant portions of the Kuran, one after another, for the amusement of the guests; then, all together, recite the opening chapter (the Fatʾhah); after which, one of them sings a ‘kaseedeh’ (or short poem), in praise of the Prophet; lastly, all of them again sing muweshshahs. After having thus performed, they receive ‘nukoot’ (or contributions of money) from the bridegroom and his friends.

“Soon after his return from the mosque, the bridegroom leaves his friends in a lower apartment, enjoying their pipes and coffee and sharbat. The bride’s mother and sister, or whatever other female relations were left with her, are above, and the bride herself and the belláneh, in a separate apartment. If the bridegroom is a youth or young man, it is considered proper that he as well as the bride should exhibit some degree of bashfulness; one of his friends, therefore, carries him a part of the way up to the hareem. Sometimes, when the parties are persons of wealth, the bride is displayed before the bridegroom in different dresses, to the number of seven; but generally he finds her with the belláneh alone, and on entering the apartment he gives a present to this attendant, and she at once retires.

“The bride has a shawl thrown over her head, and the bridegroom must give her a present of money, which is called ‘the price of the uncovering’ of the face, before he attempts to remove this, which she does not allow him to do without some apparent reluctance, if not violent resistance, in order to show her maiden modesty. On removing the covering, he says, ‘In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,’ and then greets her with this compliment: ‘The night be blessed,’ or ‘—— is blessed,’ to which she replies, if timidity do not choke her utterance, ‘God bless thee.’ The bridegroom now, in most cases, sees the face of his bride for the first time, and generally finds her nearly what he has been led to expect. Often, but not always, a curious ceremony is then performed.

“The bridegroom takes off every article of the bride’s clothing except her shirt, seats her upon a mattress or bed, the head of which is turned towards the direction of Makkah, placing her so that her back is also turned in that direction, and draws forward and spreads upon the bed, the lower part of the front of her shirt; having done this, he stands at the distance of rather less than three feet before her, and performs the prayers of two rakʾahs; laying his head and hands in prostration upon the part of her shirt that is extended before her lap. He remains with her but a few minutes longer. Having satisfied his curiosity respecting her personal charms, he calls to the women (who generally collect at the door, where they wait in anxious suspense) to raise their cries of joy, or zaghareet, and the shrill sounds make known to the persons below and in the neighbourhood, and often, responded to by other women, spread still further the news that he has acknowledged himself satisfied with his bride. He soon after descends to rejoin his friends, and remains with them an hour, before he returns to his wife. It very seldom happens that the husband, if disappointed in his bride, immediately disgraces and divorces her; in general, he retains her in this case a week or more.

“Marriages, among the Egyptians, are sometimes conducted without any pomp or ceremony, even in the case of virgins, by mutual consent of the bridegroom and the bride’s family, or the bride herself; and widows and divorced women are never honoured with a zeffeh on marrying again. The mere sentence, ‘I give myself up to thee,’ uttered by a female to a man who proposes to become her husband (even without the presence of witnesses, if none can easily be procured), renders her his legal wife, if arrived at puberty; and marriages with widows and divorced women, among the Muslims of Egypt, and other Arabs, are sometimes concluded in this simple manner. The dowry of widows and divorced women is generally one quarter or third or half the amount of that of a virgin.

“In Cairo, among persons not of the lowest order, though in very humble life, the marriage ceremonies are conducted in the same manner as among the middle orders. But when the expenses of such zeffehs as I have described cannot by any means be paid, the bride is paraded in a very simple manner, covered with a shawl (generally red), and surrounded by a group of her female relations and friends, dressed in their best, or in borrowed clothes, and enlivened by no other sounds of joy than their zaghareet, which they repeat at frequent intervals.” (Lane’s Modern Egyptians.)

(For the law of marriage in Ḥanafī law, see Fatāwā-i-ʿĀlamgīrī, p. 377; Fatāwā-i-Qāẓī K͟hān, p. 380; Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. i. p. 89; Durru ʾl-Muk͟htār, p. 196. In Shīʿah law, Jāmiʿu ʾsh-Shattāt; Sharāʾiʿu ʾl-Islām, p. 260. For marriage ceremonies, Lane’s Egyptians; Herklots’ Musalmans; Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali’s Musalmans; M. C. de Perceval, Hist. des Arabes.)

MARS̤ĪYAH (مرثية‎). A funeral elegy. Especially applied to those sung during the Muḥarram in commemoration of al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusain.

MARTYR. The Arabic word for “martyr” in the Qurʾān, and in Muslim theology, is shāhid (شاهد‎), pl. shuhūd, or shahīd (شهيد‎), pl. shuhadāʾ, the literal meaning of which is “present as a witness.” It implies all that is understood by the Greek μάρτυς, and the English martyr; but it is also a much more comprehensive term, for, according to Muḥammadan law, not only those who die in witness of, or in defence of the faith, are martyrs, but all those who die such deaths as are calculated to excite the compassion and pity of their fellow men.

The word occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah iv. 71]: “Whoso obeys God and the Apostle, these are with those with whom God has been well pleased—with prophets (nabīyīn), and confessors (ṣiddīqīn), and martyrs (shuhadāʾ), and the righteous (ṣāliḥīn): a fair company are they.”

A perfect martyr, or ash-shahīdu ʾl-kāmil, is one who has either been slain in a religious war, or who has been killed unjustly. But the schools of divinity are not agreed as to whether it is necessary, or not, that such persons should be in a state of ceremonial purity at the time of their death, to entitle them to such a high rank.

A special blessing is promised to those who die in a jihād, or religious war, see Qurʾān, [Sūrah iii. 163]: “Count not those who are killed in the way of God as dead, but living with their Lord.” And according to Muslim law, all persons who have died in defence of the faith, or have been slain unjustly, are entitled to Muslim burial without the usual ablution or any change of clothes, such as are necessary in the case of ordinary persons, the rank of martyrdom being such as to render the corpse legally pure.

But in addition to these two classes of persons, namely those who are slain in religious war, and those who have been killed unjustly, the rank of shahīd is given, in a figurative sense, to any who die in such a manner as to excite the sympathy and pity of mankind, such as by sudden death, or from some malignant disease, or in childbirth, or in the acquirement of knowledge, or a stranger in a foreign country, or dying on Thursday night. Those persons are entitled to the rank of martyr, but not to the honour of being buried without legal washing and purification. (See Raddu ʾl-Muḥtār, vol. i. p. 952; Kashshāf Iṣt̤ilāḥātu ʾl-Funūn, vol. i. p. 747; G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah, in loco.)

MĀRŪT (ماروت‎). [[HARUT].]

MARWAH (مروة‎). A hill near Makkah, connected with the rites of the pilgrimage. According to Burton, it means “hard, white flints, full of fire.” [[HAJJ].]

MARYAM (مريم‎). [[MARY].]

MARY THE VIRGIN. Arabic Maryam (مريم‎). Heb. ‏מִרְיָם‎. The mother of Jesus. According to Muḥammadan tradition, and the Qurʾān, she was the daughter of ʿImrān and his wife Ḥannah, and the sister of Aaron.

The account of her birth as given in the Qurʾān is in [Sūrah iii. 31]:—

“Remember when the wife of ʿImrān said, ‘O my Lord! I vow to Thee what is in my womb, for thy special service. Accept it from me, for Thou Hearest, Knowest!’ And when she had given birth to it, she said, ‘O my Lord! Verily I have brought forth a female,’—God knew what she had brought forth: a male is not as a female—‘and I have named her Mary, and I take refuge with Thee for her and for her offspring, from Satan the stoned.’ So with goodly acceptance did her Lord accept her, and with goodly growth did he make her grow. Zacharias reared her. So oft as Zacharias went in to Mary at the sanctuary, he found her supplied with food. ‘Oh Mary!’ said he, ‘whence hast thou this?’ She said, ‘It is from God; for God supplieth whom He will, without reckoning!’ ”

In [Sūrah xix. 28], is the story of her giving birth to Jesus. [[JESUS CHRIST].] And when she brought the child to the people, they exclaimed, “O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a bad man, nor was thy mother a harlot.”

Christian critics have assumed, and not without much reason, that Muḥammad has confused the Mary of the New Testament with the Miriam of the Old, by representing her as the daughter of ʿImrān and the sister of Aaron. It is certainly a cause of some perplexity to the commentators. Al-Baiẓāwī says she was called “sister of Aaron” because she was of the Levitical race; but Ḥusain says that the Aaron mentioned in the verse is not the same person as the brother of Moses.

Muḥammad is related to have said that “no child is born but the devil hath touched it, except Mary and her son Jesus.”

MARY THE COPT. Arabic Māriyatu ʾl-Qibt̤īyah (مارية القبطية‎). A concubine of Muḥammad’s, and the mother of his son Ibrāhīm, who died in infancy. She was a Christian slave girl presented to Muḥammad by the Roman governor of Egypt. [[MUHAMMAD].]

MASAḤ (مسح‎). The act of touching the boots or the turban for purification, by drawing the three central fingers over the boot or turban at once, whereby they become ceremonially clean. (Mishkāt, book ii. ch. vii.; book iii. ch. x.)

AL-MAS̤ĀNĪ (المثانى‎). From Mas̤na, “two-and-two.” A title given to the Qurʾān on account of its numerous repetitions.

AL-MASĪḤ (المسيح‎). An evident corruption of the Heb. ‏מָשִׁיחַ‎, which answers to the Χριστὸς of the New Testament, and our English Christ. It occurs seven times in the Qurʾān as the surname of Jesus. Al-Baiẓāwī the commentator says, “It is originally a Hebrew word, signifying ‘the blessed one,’ although some have (erroneously, as he thinks) held it to come from Masaḥ, ‘to anoint,’ either because Jesus healed people with his touch, or because he had been anointed by Gabriel as a prophet.” [[JESUS].]

AL-MASĪḤU ʾD-DAJJĀL (المسيح الدجال‎). “The lying Christ.” The Antichrist which Muḥammad said would appear before the Day of Resurrection. He is generally called ad-Dajjāl, but in the Traditions he is called al-Masīḥu ʾd-Dajjāl, and very many have been the speculations as to why he is called al-Masīḥ. The compiler of the Qāmūs says there have been at least fifty reasons assigned for his being called al-Masīḥ. Some say it is because he will have his eyes touched (masaḥ) and be rendered blind; others, that the word was originally masīk͟h, a “monster.” (See Ḥujaju ʾl-Kalimah, p. 401.) Sale, in the preface to his translation of the Qurʾān, says Muslim writers state that the Jews will give him the name of al-Masīḥ, because they will mistake him for the true Messiah, who has come to restore the kingdom of Israel to them.

Regarding this personage, Abū Hurairah relates that Muḥammad said:—

“The Resurrection will not be until the Grecians shall attack ʾAmāq and Dābiq. Then an army will come out from al-Madīnah against them, the best of men on that day; and when the lines of battle shall be drawn up, the Grecians will say, ‘Vacate a place between us and those who made captives a tribe of ours’ (and their design will be to separate the Musalmāns). And the Musalmāns will say, ‘By God! we will not clear a place between you and our brother Musalmāns.’ And the Musalmāns will fight the Grecians and a third of the Musalmāns will be defeated; and God will not accept their repentance. And a third of the Musalmāns will be slain, and they will be the best of martyrs before God. And a third of them will conquer the countries of Greece; after which they will be thrown into commotions, and Constantinople will be taken. And whilst the Musalmāns shall be dividing the plunder, having hung up their swords upon the olive tree, all on a sudden the Devil will call out, ‘Verily, Dajjāl has attacked your wives and children in your absence.’ Then, on hearing this, the Musalmāns will come out of the city; and this information of devils will be false, but when they enter Syria, Dajjāl will come out, and whilst the Musalmāns shall be preparing their implements of war, and dressing their ranks, all on a sudden prayers will begin, and Jesus Son of Mary will come down, and act as Imām to them. And when Dajjāl, this enemy of God, shall see Jesus, he will fear to be near, dissolving away like salt in water. And if Jesus lets him alone, verily he will melt and perish, and God will kill him by the hand of Jesus, who will show to the people the blood of Dajjāl upon his lance.” (Mishkāt, book xxiii. ch. ii.)

In other traditions, Muḥammad is related to have said that ad-Dajjāl will be a young man with long hair and blind in the one eye, and on his forehead will be the three letters K F R, signifying kāfir or infidel. He will first appear midway between Syria and ʿIrāq, and will do many wonders and perform many miracles, and will eventually be slain by Jesus.

MASJID (مسجد‎). Lit. “The place of prostration.” The mosque, or place of public prayer. Mosques are generally built of stone or brick, in the form of a square, in the centre of which is an open court-yard, surrounded with cloisters for students. In the centre of the wall facing Makkah is the miḥrāb or niche, which marks the direction of the Kaʿbah at Makkah, and to the right of this niche is the mimbar or pulpit, from which the k͟hut̤bah, or Friday oration, is recited. In the centre of the open court-yard there is usually a large tank, in which the worshippers perform their ablutions (waẓuʾ), and adjoining the mosque are latrines, in which the legal washings (g͟husl) can be performed. Along the front within the doorway is a low barrier, a few inches high, which denotes the sacred part of the mosque.

The mosques in India and Central Asia are generally constructed on the following plan:—

The mosques in Turkey, Syria, and Egypt are often covered buildings, not unlike Christian churches.

The first mosque erected by Muḥammad was at Qubāʾ, near al-Madīnah. It was without cupola, niche, or minaret, these being added by al-Walīd about eighty years afterwards, nor were there arches supported by pillars, nor cloisters. An ordinary mosque in an Afghan village is still of this description.

The Muslim as he enters the mosque stops at the barrier and takes off his shoes, carries them in his left hand, sole to sole, and puts his right foot first as he passes into the square devoted to prayer. If he have not previously performed the ablution, he repairs at once to the tank or well to perform the necessary duty, and before he commences his prayers he places his shoes and his sword and pistol, if he be thus armed, a little before the spot where his head will touch the ground as he prostrates; his shoes must be put one upon the other, sole to sole.

INTERIOR OF A MOSQUE IN CAIRO.

(Lane.)

The chief officer of a mosque is the Imām, or leader of prayers, but there are generally Maulawīs, or learned men, attached to mosques for the instruction of the students. Sometimes the Imām and Maulawī are combined in one, and sometimes a learned Maulawī will possess the mosque, but pay an Imām as his curate to say the stated prayers. There is also a Muʾaẕẕin, or “caller to prayer,” whose duty it is to give the Azān. The trustee or superintendent of a mosque is called mutawallī.

Although mosques are esteemed sacred buildings, they are also places of general resort, and persons may be seen in them lounging and chattering together on secular topics, and eating and sleeping, although such things were forbidden by Muḥammad. They are, in all parts of Islām, used as rest-houses for strangers and travellers.

The Imām, or priest, of the mosque, is supported by endowments, or offerings, the Maulawīs, or professors of divinity by fees, or offerings, and the students of a mosque are supported either by endowments, or the benefactions of the people. In towns and villages there is a parish allotted to each mosque, and the people within the section of the parish claim the services of the Imām at their marriages and funerals, and they pay to him the usual offerings made on the two festivals.

In a large mosque, known as the Masjidu ʾl-Jāmīʿ, where the k͟hut̤bah, or Friday oration is delivered, a person known as the k͟hāt̤ib (also k͟hat̤īb), or preacher, is appointed, whose duty it is to lead the Friday prayer and to preach the sermon.

Muḥammad did not forbid women to attend public prayers in a mosque, but it is pronounced better for them to pray in private.

The following injunctions are given in the Qurʾān regarding mosques:—

[Sūrah vii. 29]: “O children of Adam! wear your goodly apparel when ye repair to any mosque.”

[Sūrah ix. 18]: “He only should visit the Masjids of God who believeth in God and the last day, and observeth prayer, and payeth the legal alms, and dreadeth none but God.”

THE JAMAʿ MASJID AT DELHI. (A. F. Hole.)

Muḥammad’s injunctions regarding mosques, as handed down in the Traditions, are as follows:—

“When you enter a Masjid, you must say, ‘O Creator! open on us the doors of Thy compassion’; and when you leave the Masjid, say, ‘O Lord! we supplicate thy munificence.’ ”

“It is a sin to spit in a Masjid, and the removal of the sin is to cover it over.”

“Whoever shall enter a Masjid, let him enter it for a good object, namely, to learn something himself or to teach others. For he ranks as an equal with him who fights in the cause of God, who thus enters a Masjid; but he who enters a Masjid on any other account, is like unto a man who covets the property of another. Verily, a time will come when men will attend to worldly matters in a Masjid. But sit ye not with such.”

“Do not prevent your women from coming to the Masjids, but their homes are better for them.”

“Do not read poetry in a Masjid, and do not buy and sell there, nor sit in a circle talking before prayers on a Friday.”

“The prayers of a man in his own house are equal to the reward of one prayer, but prayers in a Masjid near his home are equal to twenty-five prayers, and in a Jāmiʿ (or central mosque), they are equal to five hundred prayers, and in Jerusalem to fifty thousand, and in my Masjid (at al-Madīnah) fifty thousand, and at the Kaʿbah, one hundred thousand.”

The Muslim law regarding the erection and endowment (waqf) of Masjids, as contained in Sunnī and Shīʿah works, is as follows. According to the Sunnīs:—

When a person has erected a Masjid, his right therein does not cease until he has separated both the area occupied by the Masjid and also the road and entrance thereunto from his own private property.

If a person build a Masjid, his right of property in it does not cease so long as he does not separate it from his private property, and give general permission to the people to come and worship in it. But as soon as he separates it from his property and allows even a single person to say his prayers in it, his right to the property devoted to God as a mosque ceases.

When a trustee or superintendent (mutawallī) has been appointed for a Masjid, and delivery of the property has been made to him, the Masjid ceases to be private property. So, also, when delivery of it is made to the Qāẓī, or his deputy.

If a person appropriate ground for the purpose of erecting a Masjid, he cannot afterwards resume or sell it, neither can it be claimed by his heirs and inherited, because this ground is altogether alienated from the right of the individual, and appertains solely to God.

When a man has an unoccupied space of ground fit for building upon, and has directed a body of persons to assemble on it for prayers, the space becomes a Masjid, if the permission were given expressly to pray on it forever; or, in absolute terms, intending that it should be for ever; and the property does not go to his heirs at his death. But if the permission were given for a day, or a month, or a year, the space would not become a Masjid, and on his death it would be the property of his heirs.

A MOSQUE IN AFGHANISTAN. (A. F. Hole.)

If a man during his sickness has made his own house a Masjid, and died, and it neither falls within a third of his property nor is allowed by his heirs, the whole of it is heritage, and the act of making it a Masjid is void, because, the heirs having a right in it, there has been no separation from the rights of mankind, and an undefined portion has been made a Masjid, which is void. In the same way as if he should make his land a Masjid, and another person should establish an undefined right, in which case the remainder would revert to the property of the appropriator; contrary to the case of a person making a bequest that a third of his residence shall be made a Masjid, which would be valid; for in such a case there is a separation, as the house may be divided and a third of it converted into a Masjid. (A third of a man’s property being the extent to which he can bequeath to other than his heirs.)

When a man has made his land a Masjid, and stipulated for something out of it for himself, it is not valid, according to all the jurists.

It is also generally agreed that if a man make a Masjid on condition that he shall have an option, the waqf is lawful and the condition is void.

When a man has built a Masjid and called persons to witness that he shall have the power to cancel and sell it, the condition is void, and the Masjid is as if he had erected a Masjid for the people of the street, saying, “It is for this street especially,” when it would, notwithstanding, be for others as well as for them to worship in.

When a Masjid has fallen into decay and is no longer used for prayers, nor required by the people, it does not revert to the appropriator or his heirs, and cannot be sold according to the most correct opinions.

When of two Masjids one is old and gone to decay, the people cannot use its materials to repair the more recent one, according to either the Imām Muḥammad or Imām Abū Yūsuf. Because though the former thought that the materials may be so applied, he held that it is the original appropriator or his heirs, to whom the property reverts, that can so apply them, and because Abū Yūsuf was of opinion that the property in a Masjid never reverts to the original appropriator, though it should fall to ruin and be no longer used by the people.

INTERIOR OF A MOSQUE AT CAIRO. (Dr. Ebers.)

If a man appropriate his land for the benefit of a Masjid, and to provide for its repairs and necessaries, such as oil, &c., and when nothing more is required for the Masjid, to apply what remains to poor Muslims the appropriation is lawful.

If a man has appropriated his land for the benefit of a Masjid, without any ultimate destination for the poor, the appropriation is lawful, according to all opinions.

If a man gives money for the repairs of a Masjid, also for its maintenance and for its benefit, it is valid. For if it cannot operate as a waqf, it operates as a transfer by way of gift to the Masjid, and the establishing of property in this manner to a Masjid is valid, being completed by taking possession.

If a person should say, “I have bequeathed a third of my property to the Masjid,” it would not be lawful, unless he say “to expend on the Masjid.” So if he were to say, “I have bequeathed a third of my property to the lamps of the Masjid,” it would not be lawful unless he say, “to give light with it in the Masjid.” If he say, “I have given my house for a Masjid,” it is valid as a transfer, requiring delivery. (Fatāwā-i-ʿĀlamgīrī, vol. ii. p. 545; Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 356; Baillie’s Digest, pp. 504–605.)

The Shīʿah law regarding the endowment of Masjids, or land for the benefit of Masjids, does not differ in any important particular from that of the Sunnīs. But there is a provision in the Shīʿah law regarding the sale of an endowment which is important.

If dissensions arise among the persons in whose favour the waqf is made, and there is apprehension of the property being destroyed, while on the other hand the sale thereof is productive of benefit, then, in that case, its sale is lawful.

If a house belonging to a waqf should fall into ruins, the space would not cease to be waqf, nor would its sale be lawful. If, however, dissensions should arise among the persons for whom it was appropriated, insomuch as to give room for apprehension that it will be destroyed, its sale would be lawful.

And even if there should be no such difference, nor any room for such apprehensions, but the sale would be more for the advantage of the parties interested, some are of opinion that the sale would be lawful; but the approved doctrine is to forbid it. (Mafātiḥ; Sharāʾiʿu ʾl-Islām, p. 239.)

AL-MASJIDU ʾL-AQṢĀ (المسجد الاقصى‎). Lit. “The Most Distant Mosque.” The temple at Jerusalem erected by Solomon, called also al-Baitu ʾl-Muqaddas, or “the Holy House.” Known also in Muḥammadan literature as aṣ-Ṣak͟hraḥ, “the Rock,” from which it is believed Muḥammad ascended to heaven on the occasion of his celestial journey. (See Qurʾān, [Sūrah xvii].)

Jalālu ʾd-dīn as-Suyūt̤ī has devoted a whole volume to the consideration of the superabundant merits existing in the Masjidu ʾl-Aqṣā, which work has been translated into English by the Rev. James Reynolds (Oriental Translation Fund, 1836). He says it is called al-Aqṣā, because it is the most distant mosque to which pilgrimage is directed. [[JERUSALEM], [AS-SAKHRAH].]

MASJIDU ʾL-ḤARĀM (مسجد الحرام‎). “The Sacred Mosque.” The temple at Makkah which contains the Kaʿbah, or Cube-house, in which is placed the Ḥajaru ʾl-Aswad, or “Black Stone.” The term Baitu ʾllāh, or “House of God,” is applied to the whole enclosure, although it more specially denotes the Kaʿbah itself.

The following graphic account of this celebrated building is given by the traveller Burckhardt, who visited it in A.D. 1814. Captain R. Burton, who visited the temple thirty-eight years later, testifies to the great accuracy of Burckhardt’s description, and quotes his description in extenso. The account by Burckhardt is given in the present article, with some slight corrections.

The Kaʿbah stands in an oblong square, two hundred and fifty paces long, and two hundred broad, none of the sides of which runs quite in a straight line, though at first sight the whole appears to be of a regular shape. This open square is enclosed on the eastern side by a colonnade; the pillars stand in a quadruple row; they are three deep on the other sides, and united by pointed arches, every four of which support a small dome, plastered and whitened on the outside. These domes, according to Qut̤bu ʾd-dīn, are one hundred and fifty-two in number. Along the whole colonnade, on the four sides, lamps are suspended from the arches. Some are lighted every night, and all during the nights of Ramaẓān. The pillars are above twenty feet in height, and generally from one foot and a half to one foot and three quarters in diameter; but little regularity has been observed in regard to them. Some are of white marble, granite, or porphyry, but the greater number are of common stone of the Makkah mountains. Fasy states the whole at five hundred and eighty-nine, and says they are all of marble excepting one hundred and twenty-six, which are of common stone, and three of composition. Qut̤bu ʾd-dīn reckons five hundred and fifty-five, of which, according to him, three hundred and eleven are of marble, and the rest of stone taken from the neighbouring mountains; but neither of these authors lived to see the latest repairs of the mosque, after the destruction occasioned by a torrent, in A.D. 1626. Between every three or four columns stands an octagonal one, about four feet in thickness. On the east side are two shafts of reddish gray granite, in one piece, and one fine gray porphyry column with slabs of white feldspath. On the north side is one red granite column, and one of fine-grained red porphyry; these are probably the columns which Qut̤bu ʾd-dīn states to have been brought from Egypt, and principally from Akhinim (Panopolis), when the chief Mahdī enlarged the mosque, in A.H. 163. Among the four hundred and fifty or five hundred columns, which form the enclosure, I found not any two capitals or bases exactly alike. The capitals are of coarse Saracenic workmanship; some of them, which had served for former buildings, by the ignorance of the workmen have been placed upside down upon the shafts. I observed about half-a-dozen marble bases of good Grecian workmanship. A few of the marble columns bear Arabic or Cufic inscriptions, in which I read the dates A.H. 863 and A.H. 762. A column on the east side exhibits a very ancient Cufic inscription, somewhat defaced, which I could neither read nor copy. Those shafts, formed of the Makkan stone, cut principally from the side of the mountain near the Shubaikah quarter, are mostly in three pieces; but the marble shafts are in one piece.

THE SACRED MOSQUE, THE MASJIDU ʾL-ḤARĀM AT MAKKAH.

THE MASJIDU ʾL-ḤARĀM.

REFERENCES TO THE PLAN AND VIEW.

1	The Kaʿbah.		k	The Kiswah, or silk covering with the golden band.		13	Qubbatu ʾs-Saʿb.
a	The Black Stone.		2	Pillars suspending lamps.		14	Qubbatu ʾl-ʿAbbās.
b	Ruknu ʾl-Yamānī.		3 & 4	Outer and Inner steps.		l l	Paved causeways, &c.
c	Ruknu ʾsh-Shāmī.		5	Building over the Well Zamzam.		m m	Gravelled spaces.
d	Tombs of Ismāʿīl and his mother.		6	Praying station, or Maqāmu ʾl-Ibrāhīm of the Shāfiʿīs.		15	Minaret of Bābu ʾs-Salām.
e	The Miʾzāb.		7	Maqāmu ʾl-Ḥanafī.		16	Minaret,, of,, Bābu ʿAlī.
f	The Wall of Ḥat̤īm.		8	Maqāmu ʾl-Malakī.		17	Minaret,, of,, Bābu ʾl-Wadāʿ.
g	Ruknu ʾl-ʿIrāq.		9	Maqāmu ʾl-Ḥanbalī.		18	Minaret,, of,, Bābu ʾl-ʿUmrah.
h	Spot called Miʿjan.		10	Mimbar or Pulpit.		19	Minaret,, of,, Bābu ʾz-Ziyādah.
i	Door.		11	Bābu ʾs-Salām or Shaibar.		20	Minaret,, of,, Madrasah Kail Beg.
j	Staircase to Roof.		12	Ad-Daraj or Staircase for the Kaʿbah.

GATES.

21	Bābu ʾs-Salām.		28	Bābu,, ʾr-Raḥmah.		35	Bābu,, ʾl-Atik.
22	Bābu,, ʾn-Nabī.		29	Bābu,, ʾl-Jiyād.		36	Bābu,, ʾl-Ajlah or Bābu ʾl-Basitiyah.
23	Bābu,, ʾl-ʿAbbās.		30	Bābu,, ʾl-Ujlān or Bābu ʾsh-Sharīf.		37	Bābu,, Kutubi.
24	Bābu,, ʿAlī or Binī Hashim.		31	Bābu,, ʾl-Umm Hani.		38	Bābu,, ʾz-Ziyādah or Bābu ʾl-Nadwah.
25	Bābu,, ʾz-Zait or Bābu ʾl-ʿAshrah.		32	Bābu,, ʾl-Wadāʿ.		39	Bābu,, Paraibah.
26	Bābu,, ʾl-Bag͟hlah.		33	Bābu,, Ibrāhīm or the Tailors.
27	Bābu,, ʾṣ-Ṣafā.		34	Bābu,, Binī Saham, or Bābu ʾl-ʿUmrah.

Some of the columns are strengthened with broad iron rings or bands, as in many other Saracen buildings of the East; they were first employed here by Ibn Dhaher Berkouk, King of Egypt, in rebuilding the mosque, which had been destroyed by fire in A.H. 802.

This temple has been so often ruined and repaired, that no traces of remote antiquity are to be found about it. On the inside of the great wall which encloses the colonnades, a single Arabic inscription is seen, in large characters, but containing merely the names of Muḥammad and his immediate successors, Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUs̤mān, and ʿAlī. The name of Allāh, in large characters, occurs also in several places. On the outside, over the gates, are long inscriptions, in the S̤ulus̤ī character, commemorating the names of those by whom the gates were built, long and minute details of which are given by the historians of Makkah.

The inscription on the south side, over Bābu Ibrahīm, is most conspicuous; all that side was rebuilt by the Egyptian Sultān al-G͟haurī, A.H. 906. Over the Bābu ʿAlī and Bābu ʾl-ʿAbbās is a long inscription, also in the S̤ulus̤ī character, placed there by Sultān Murād ibn Sulaimān, A.H. 984, after he had repaired the whole building. Qut̤bu ʾd-dīn has given this inscription at length; it occupies several pages in his history, and is a monument of the Sultān’s vanity. This side of the mosque having escaped destruction in A.D. 1626, the inscription remains uninjured.

Some parts of the walls and arches are gaudily painted, in stripes of yellow, red, and blue, as are also the minarets. Paintings of flowers, in the usual Muslim style, are nowhere seen; the floors of the colonnades are paved with large stones badly cemented together.

Seven paved causeways lead from the colonnades towards the Kaʿbah, or holy house, in the centre. They are of sufficient breadth to admit four or five persons to walk abreast, and they are elevated about nine inches above the ground. Between these causeways, which are covered with fine gravel or sand, grass appears growing in several places, produced by the zamzam water oozing out of the jars, which are placed in the ground in long rows during the day. The whole area of the mosque is upon a lower level than any of the streets surrounding it. There is a descent of eight or ten steps from the gates on the north side into the platform of the colonnade, and of three or four steps from the gates, on the south side.

Towards the middle of this area stands the Kaʿbah; it is one hundred and fifteen paces from the north colonnade, and eighty-eight from the south.

For this want of symmetry we may readily account, the Kaʿbah having existed prior to the mosque, which was built around it, and enlarged at different periods.

The Kaʿbah is an oblong massive structure, eighteen paces in length, fourteen in breadth, and from thirty-five to forty feet in height. I took the bearing of one of its longest sides, and found it to be N.N.W. ½ W. It is constructed of the grey Makkan stone, in large blocks of different sizes, joined together in a very rough manner, and with bad cement. It was entirely rebuilt as it now stands in A.D. 1627: the torrent, in the preceding year, had thrown down three of its sides; and, preparatory to its re-erection, the fourth side was, according to Assamī, pulled down, after the ʿUlamāʾ, or learned divines, had been consulted on the question, whether mortals might be permitted to destroy any part of the holy edifice without incurring the charge of sacrilege and infidelity.

The Kaʿbah stands upon a base two feet in height, which presents a sharp inclined plane; its roof being flat, it has at a distance the appearance of a perfect cube. The only door which affords entrance, and which is opened but two or three times in the year, is on the north side, and about seven feet above the ground. In entering it, therefore, wooden steps are used; of them I shall speak hereafter. In the first periods of Islām, however, when it was rebuilt in A.H. 64, by Ibn Zubair, Chief of Makkah, the nephew of ʿĀyishah, it had two doors even with the ground-floor of the mosque. The present door (which, according to Azraqī, was brought hither from Constantinople in A.D. 1633), is wholly coated with silver, and has several gilt ornaments. Upon its threshold are placed every night various small lighted wax candles, and perfuming pans, filled with musk, aloe-wood, &c.

At the north-east corner of the Kaʿbah, near the door, is the famous “Black Stone”; it forms a part of the sharp angle of the building, at four or five feet above the ground. It is an irregular oval, about seven inches in diameter, with an undulated surface, composed of about a dozen smaller stones of different sizes and shapes, well joined together with a small quantity of cement, and perfectly smoothed; it looks as if the whole had been broken into many pieces by a violent blow, and then united again. It is very difficult to determine accurately the quality of this stone, which has been worn to its present surface by the millions of touches and kisses it has received. It appeared to me like a lava, containing several small extraneous particles, of a whitish and of a yellowish substance. Its colour is now a deep reddish brown, approaching to black; it is surrounded on all sides by a border, composed of a substance which I took to be a close cement of pitch and gravel, of a similar, but not quite the same brownish colour. This border serves to support its detached pieces; it is two or three inches in breadth, and rises a little above the surface of the stone. Both the border and the stone itself are encircled by a silver band, broader below than above and on the two sides, with a considerable swelling below, as if a part of the stone were hidden under it. The lower part of the border is studded with silver nails.

In the south-east corner of the Kaʿbah, or, as the Arabs call it, Ruknu ʾl-Yamānī, there is another stone, about five feet from the ground; it is one foot and a half in length, and two inches in breadth, placed upright and of the common Makkah stone. This the people walking round the Kaʿbah touch only with the right hand; they do not kiss it.

On the north side of the Kaʿbah just by its door, and close to the wall, is a slight hollow in the ground, lined with marble, and sufficiently large to admit of three persons sitting. Here it is thought meritorious to pray. The spot is called Miʿjan, and supposed to be that where Abraham and his son Ishmael kneaded the chalk and mud which they used in building the Kaʿbah; and near this Miʿjan the former is said to have placed the large stone upon which he stood while working at the masonry. On the basis of the Kaʿbah, just over the Miʿjan, is an ancient Cufic inscription, but this I was unable to decipher, and had no opportunity of copying it. I do not find it mentioned by any of the historians.

On the west side of the Kaʿbah, about two feet below its summit, is the famous Miʾzāb, or water-spout, through which the rain-water collected on the roof of the building is discharged so as to fall upon the ground. It is about four feet in length, and six inches in breadth, as well as I could judge from below, with borders equal in height to its breadth. At the mouth hangs what is called the beard of the Miʾzāb, a gilt board, over which the water falls. This spout was sent hither from Constantinople in A.H. 981, and is reported to be of pure gold. The pavement round the Kaʿbah, below the Miʾzāb, was laid down in A.H. 826, and consists of various coloured stones, forming a very handsome specimen of mosaic. There are two large slabs of fine verde-antico in the centre, which, according to Makrīzī, were sent thither as presents from Cairo in A.H. 241. This is the spot where, according to Muḥammadan tradition, Ishmael, the son of Abraham, and his mother Hagar, are buried; and here it is meritorious for the pilgrim to recite a prayer of two rakʿahs.

On this west side is a semi-circular wall, the two extremities of which are in a line with the sides of the Kaʿbah, and distant from it three or four feet, leaving an opening which leads to the burying-place of Ishmael. The wall bears the name of Ḥat̤īm, and the area which it encloses is called Ḥijr, or Ḥijru Ismāʿīl, on account of its being “separated” from the Kaʿbah; the wall itself, also, is sometimes so called; and the name Ḥat̤īm is given by the historians to the space of ground between the Kaʿbah and the wall on one side, and the Biʾru ʾz-Zamzam and Maqāmu Ibrāhīm on the other. The present Makkans, however, apply the name Ḥat̤īm to the wall only.

Tradition says that the Kaʿbah once extended as far as the Ḥat̤īm, and that this side having fallen down just at the time of the Ḥajj, the expenses of repairing it were demanded from the pilgrims, under a pretence that the revenues of government were not acquired in a manner sufficiently pure to admit of their application towards a purpose so sacred, whilst the money of the pilgrims would possess the requisite sanctity. The sum, however, obtained from them, proved very inadequate: all that could be done, therefore, was to raise a wall, which marked the space formerly occupied by the Kaʿbah. This tradition, although current among the Makkans, is at variance with history, which declares that the Ḥijr was built by the Banū Quraish, who contracted the dimensions of the Kaʿbah, that it was united to the building by Ḥajjāj, and again separated from it by Ibn Zubair.

It is asserted by Fasy, that a part of the Ḥijr, as it now stands, was never comprehended within the Kaʿbah. The law regards it as a portion of the Kaʿbah, inasmuch as it is esteemed equally meritorious to pray in the Ḥijr as in the Kaʿbah itself; and the pilgrims who have not an opportunity of entering the latter, are permitted to affirm upon oath that they have prayed in the Kaʿbah, although they may have only prostrated themselves within the enclosure of the Ḥat̤īm. The wall is built of solid stone, about five feet in height, and four in thickness, cased all over with white marble, and inscribed with prayers and invocations, neatly sculptured upon the stone in modern characters. These and the casing are the work of al-G͟haurī, the Egyptian Sultān, in A.H. 917, as we learn from Qut̤bu ʾd-dīn.

The walk round the Kaʿbah is performed on the outside of the wall—the nearer to it the better. The four sides of the Kaʿbah are covered with a black silk stuff, hanging down, and leaving the roof bare. This curtain, or veil, is called kiswah, and renewed annually at the time of the Ḥajj, being brought from Cairo, where it is manufactured at the Sultān’s expense. On it are various prayers, interwoven in the same colour as the stuff, and it is, therefore, extremely difficult to read them. A little above the middle, and running round the whole building, is a line of similar inscriptions, worked in gold thread. That part of the kiswah which covers the door is richly embroidered with silver. Openings are left for the black stone, and the other in the south-east corner, which thus remain uncovered.

The kiswah is always of the same form and pattern; that which I saw on my first visit to the mosque was in a decayed state, and full of holes. On the 25th of the month Ẕū ʾl-Qadah, the old one is taken away, and the Kaʿbah continues without a cover for fifteen days. It is then said that “The Kaʿbah has assumed the iḥrām,” which lasts until the tenth of Ẕū ʾl-Ḥijjah, the day of the return of the pilgrims from ʿArafah to Wādī Minā, when the new kiswah is put on. During the first days, the new covering is tucked up by cords fastened on the roof, so as to leave the lower part of the building exposed; having remained thus for many days, it is let down, and covers the whole structure, being then tied to strong brass wings in the basis of the Kaʿbah. The removal of the old kiswah was performed in a very indecorous manner; and a contest ensued among the pilgrims and the people of Makkah, both young and old, about a few rags of it. The pilgrims even collect the dust which sticks to the walls of the Kaʿbah, under the kiswah, and sell it, on their return, as a sacred relic. [[KISWAH].]

At the moment the building is uncovered and completely bare (ʿuryān), a crowd of women assemble round it, rejoicing with cries called walwalah.

The black colour of the kiswah, covering a large cube in the midst of a vast square, gives to the Kaʿbah, at first sight, a very singular and imposing appearance; as it is not fastened down tightly, the slightest breeze causes it to move in slow undulations, which are hailed with prayers by the congregation assembled round the building, as a sign of the presence of its guardian angels, whose wings, by their motion, are supposed to be the cause of the waving of the covering. Seventy thousand angels have the Kaʿbah in their holy care, and are ordered to transport it to Paradise, when the trumpet of the Last Judgment shall be sounded.

The clothing of the Kaʿbah was an ancient custom of the Pagan Arabs. The first kiswah, says Azraqī, was put on by Asad Tubbaʿ, one of the Ḥimyarite kings of Yaman; before Islām, it had two coverings, one for winter and the other for summer. In the early ages of Islām, it was sometimes white and sometimes red, and consisted of the richest brocade. In subsequent times it was furnished by the different Sultāns of Bagẖdad, Egypt, or Yaman, according to their respective influence over Makkah prevailed; for the clothing of the Kaʿbah appears to have always been considered as a proof of sovereignty over the Ḥijāz. Kalaun, Sultān of Egypt, assumed to himself and successors the exclusive right, and from them the Sultāns at Constantinople have inherited it. Kalaun appropriated the revenue of the two large villages, Bisaus and Sandabair, in Lower Egypt, to the expense of the kiswah, and Sultān Sulaiman ibn Salīm subsequently added several others; but the Kaʿbah has long been deprived of this resource.

Round the Kaʿbah is a good pavement of marble, about eight inches below the level of the great square; it was laid in A.H. 981, by order of the Sultān, and describes an irregular oval; it is surrounded by thirty-two slender gilt pillars, or rather poles, between every two of which are suspended seven glass lamps, always lighted after sunset. Beyond the poles is a second pavement, about eight paces broad, somewhat elevated above the first, but of coarser work; then another, six inches higher, and eighteen paces broad, upon which stand several small buildings; beyond this is the gravelled ground, so that two broad steps may be said to lead from the square down to the Kaʿbah. The small buildings just mentioned, which surround the Kaʿbah, are the five Maqāms, with the wall of Zamzam, the arch called Bābu ʾs-Salām (the Gate of Peace), and the mimbar (pulpit).

Opposite the four sides of the Kaʿbah stand four other small buildings, where the Imāms of the four orthodox Muḥammadan sects, the Ḥanafī, Shāfiʿī, Ḥanbalī, and Malakī, take their station, and guide the congregation in their prayers. The Maqāmu ʾl-Malakī, on the south, and that of Ḥanbalī, opposite the Black Stone, are small pavilions, open on all sides, and supported by four slender pillars, with a light sloping roof, terminating in a point, exactly in the style of Indian pagodas.

The Maqāmu ʾl-Ḥanafī, which is the largest, being fifteen paces by eight, is open on all sides, and supported by twelve small pillars; it has an upper storey, also open, where the Muʾaẕẕin, who calls to prayers, takes his stand. This was first built in A.H. 923, by Sultān Salīm I.; it was afterwards rebuilt by K͟hushgildī, Governor of Jiddah, in A.H. 947; but all the four Maqāms, as they now stand, were built in A.H. 1074. The Maqāmu ʾsh-Shāfiʿī is over the well Zamzam, to which it serves as an upper chamber.

Near their respective Maqāms, the adherents of the four different sects seat themselves for prayers. During my stay at Makkah, the Ḥanafīs always began their prayer first; but, according to Muslim custom, the Shāfiʿīs should pray first in the mosque, then the Ḥanafīs, Malakīs, and Ḥanbalīs. The evening prayer is an exception, which they are all enjoined to utter together. The Maqāmu ʾl-Ḥanbalī is the place where the officers of government and other great people are seated during prayers; here the Pasha and the Sharīf are placed, and, in their absence the eunuchs of the temple. These fill the space under this Maqām in front, and behind it the female pilgrims who visit the temple have their places assigned, to which they repair principally for the two evening prayers, few of them being seen in the mosque at the three other daily prayers. They also perform the t̤awāf, or walk round the Kaʿbah, but generally at night, though it is not uncommon to see them walking in the daytime among the men.

The present building which encloses Zamzam, stands close by the Maqāmu ʾl-Ḥanbalī, and was erected in A.H. 1072; it is of a square shape, and of massive construction, with an entrance to the north, opening into the room which contains the well. This room is beautifully ornamented with marbles of various colours; and adjoining to it, but having a separate door, is a small room with a stone reservoir, which is always full of Zamzam water; this the pilgrims get to drink by passing their hand with a cup through an iron grated opening, which serves as a window, into the reservoir, without entering the room.

The mouth of the well is surrounded by a wall five feet in height, and about ten feet in diameter. Upon this the people stand who draw up the water, in leathern buckets, an iron railing being so placed as to prevent their falling in. In Fasy’s time, there were eight marble basins in this room for the purpose of ablution.

From before dawn to near midnight, the well-room is constantly crowded with visitors. Everyone is at liberty to draw up the water for himself, but the labour is generally performed by persons placed there on purpose, and paid by the mosque; they expect also a trifle from those who come to drink, though they dare not demand it. I have been more than once in the room a quarter of an hour before I could get a draught of water, so great was the crowd. Devout pilgrims sometimes mount the wall and draw the bucket for several hours, in the hope of thus expiating their evil deeds.

Before the Wahhābī invasion, the well Zamzam belonged to the Sharīf, and the water becoming thus a monopoly, was only to be purchased at a high price; but one of Saʿūd’s first orders, on his arrival at Makkah, was to abolish this traffic, and the holy water is now dispensed gratis. The Turks consider it a miracle that the water of this well never diminishes, notwithstanding the continual draught from it. There is certainly no diminution in its depth, for, by an accurate inspection of the rope by which the buckets are drawn up, I found that the same length was required both at morning and evening, to reach the surface of the water. Upon inquiry, I learned from one of the persons who had descended in the time of the Wahhābīs to repair the masonry, that the water was flowing at the bottom, and that the well is therefore supplied by a subterraneous rivulet. The water is heavy to the taste, and sometimes in its colour resembles milk; but it is perfectly sweet, and differs very much from that of the brackish wells dispersed over the town. When first drawn up, it is slightly tepid, resembling, in this respect, many other fountains of the Ḥijāz.

Zamzam supplies the whole town, and there is scarcely one family that does not daily fill a jar with the water. This only serves, however, for drinking or for ablution, as it is thought impious to employ water so sacred for culinary purposes or on common occasions. Almost every pilgrim when he repairs to the mosque for evening prayer, has a jar of the water placed before him by those who earn their livelihood by performing this service.

The water is distributed in the mosque to all who are thirsty for a trifling fee, by water-carriers, with large jars upon their backs; these men are also paid by charitable pilgrims for supplying the poorer ones with this holy beverage immediately before or after prayers.

The water is regarded as an infallible cure for all diseases; and the devotees believe that the more they drink of it, the better their health will be, and their prayers the more acceptable to the Deity. I have seen some of them at the well swallowing such a quantity of it, as I should hardly have thought possible. A man who lived in the same house with me, and was ill of an intermittent fever, repaired every evening to Zamzam, and drank of the water till he was almost fainting; after which he lay for several hours extended upon his back, on the pavement near the Kaʿbah, and then returned to renew his draught. When by this practice he was brought to the verge of death, he declared himself fully convinced that the increase of his illness proceeded wholly from his being unable to swallow a sufficient quantity of the water. Many pilgrims, not content with drinking it merely, strip themselves in the room, and have buckets of it thrown over them, by which they believe that the heart is purified as well as the outer body.

Few pilgrims quit Makkah without carrying away some of this water in copper or tin bottles, either for the purpose of making presents, or for their own use in case of illness, when they drink it, or for ablution after death. I carried away four small bottles, with the intention of offering them as presents to the Muḥammadan kings in the black countries. I have seen it sold at Suez by pilgrims returning from Makkah, at the rate of one piastre for the quantity that filled a coffee-cup.

The chief of Zamzam is one of the principal ʿUlamāʾ of Makkah. I need not remind the reader that Zamzam is supposed to be the spring found in the wilderness by Hagar, at the moment when her infant son Ishmael was dying of thirst. It seems probable that the town of Makkah owes its origin to this well. For many miles round, no sweet water is found, nor is there found in any part of the adjacent country so copious a supply.

On the north-east side of Zamzam stand two small buildings, one behind the other, called al-Qubbatain; they are covered by domes painted in the same manner as the mosque, and in them are kept water-jars, lamps, carpets, mats, brooms, and other articles used in the very mosque. These two ugly buildings are injurious to the interior appearance of the building, their heavy forms and structure being very disadvantageously contrasted with the light and airy shape of the Maqāms. I heard some pilgrims from Greece, men of better taste than the Arabs, express their regret that the Qubbatain should be allowed to disfigure the mosque. Their contents might be deposited in some of the buildings adjoining the mosque, of which they form no essential part, no religious importance being attached to them. They were built by K͟hushgildī, Governor of Jiddah, A.H. 947; one is called Qubbatu ʾl-ʿAbbās, from having been placed on the site of a small tank, said to have been formed by al-ʿAbbās, the uncle of Muḥammad.

A few paces west of Zamzam, and directly opposite to the door of the Kaʿbah, stands a ladder or staircase, which is moved up to the wall of the Kaʿbah, on the days when that building is opened, and by which the visitors ascend to the door; it is of wood, with some carved ornaments, moves on low wheels, and is sufficiently broad to admit of four persons ascending abreast. The first ladder was sent hither from Cairo in A.H. 818, by Muʾyad Abū ʾn-Nāṣir, King of Egypt; for in the Ḥijāz, it seems, there has always been so great a want of artizans, that whenever the mosque required any work, it was necessary to have mechanics brought from Cairo, and even sometimes from Constantinople.

In the same line with the ladder, and close by it stands a lightly-built, insulated, and circular arch, about fifteen feet wide and eighteen feet high, called Bābu ʾs-Salām, which must not be confounded with the great gate of the mosque bearing the same name. Those who enter the Baitu ʾllāh for the first time, are enjoined to do so by the outer and inner Bābu ʾs-Salām; in passing under the latter, they are to exclaim, “O God, may it be a happy entrance!” I do not know by whom this arch was built, but it appears to be modern.

Nearly in front of the Bābu ʾs-Salām, and nearer to the Kaʿbah than any of the other surrounding buildings, stands the Maqāmu Ibrāhīm. This is a small building, supported by six pillars about eight feet high, four of which are surrounded from top to bottom by a fine iron railing, which thus leaves the space beyond the two hind pillars open; within the railing is a frame about five feet square, terminating in a pyramidal top, and said to contain the sacred stone upon which Abraham stood when he built the Kaʿbah, and which, with the help of his son Ishmael, he had removed from hence to the place called Miʿjan, already mentioned. The stone is said to have yielded under the weight of the Patriarch, and to preserve the impression of his foot still visible upon it; but no pilgrim has ever seen it, as the frame is always entirely covered with a brocade of red silk richly embroidered. Persons are constantly seen before the railing, invoking the good offices of Abraham, and a short prayer must be uttered by the side of the Maqām, after the walk round the Kaʿbah is completed. It is said that many of the Companions, or first adherents of Muḥammad, were interred in the open space between this Maqām and Zamzam, from which circumstance it is one of the most favourite places of prayer in the mosque. In this part of the area, the K͟halīfah Sulaimān ibn ʿAbdi ʾl-Malik, brother of al-Walīd, built a fine reservoir in A.H. 97, which was filled from a spring east of ʿArafāt; but the Makkans destroyed it after his death, on the pretence that the water of Zamzam was preferable.

On the side of Maqāmu Ibrāhīm, facing the middle part of the front of the Kaʿbah, stands the Mimbar, or pulpit, of the mosque; it is elegantly formed of fine white marble, with many sculptured ornaments, and was sent as a present to the mosque in A.H. 969, by Sultān Sulaimān ibn Salīm. A straight narrow staircase leads up to the post of the k͟hat̤īb, or preacher, which is surmounted by a gilt polygonal pointed steeple, resembling an obelisk. Here a sermon is preached on Fridays, and on certain festivals; these, like the Friday sermons of all mosques in the Muḥammadan countries, are usually of the same tenour, with some slight alterations upon extraordinary occasions. Before the Wahhābīs invaded Makkah, prayers were added for the Sultān and the Sharīf; but these were forbidden by Saʿūd. Since the Turkish conquest, however, the ancient custom has been restored. The right of preaching in the Mimbar is vested in several of the first ʿUlamāʾ in Makkah; they are always elderly persons, and officiate in rotation. In ancient times Muḥammad himself, his successors, and the K͟halīfahs, whenever they came to Makkah, mounted the pulpit, and preached to the people.

The k͟hat̤īb, or preacher, appears in the Mimbar wrapped in a white cloak, which covers his head and body, and with a stick in hand; a practice observed also in Egypt and Syria, in memory of the first age of Islām, when the preachers found it necessary to be armed, from fear of being surprised. As in other mosques, two green flags are placed on each side of him.

About the Mimbar, the visitors of the Kaʿbah deposit their shoes; as it is neither permitted to walk round the Kaʿbah with covered feet, nor thought decent to carry the shoes in the hand, as is done in other mosques. Several persons keep watch over the shoes, for which they expect a small present; but the vicinity of the holy temple does not intimidate the dishonest, for I lost successively from this spot three new pairs of shoes; and the same thing happens to many pilgrims.

I have now described all the buildings within the enclosure of the temple.

The gravel-ground, and part of the adjoining outer pavement of the Kaʿbah is covered, at the time of evening prayers, with carpets of from sixty to eighty feet in length, and four feet in breadth, of Egyptian manufacture, which are rolled up after prayers. The greater part of the pilgrims bring their own carpets with them. The more distant parts of the area, and the floor under the colonnade, are spread with mats brought from Souakin; the latter situation being the usual place for the performance of the mid-day and afternoon prayers. Many of these mats are presented to the mosque by the pilgrims, for which they have in return the satisfaction of seeing their names inscribed on them in large characters.

At sunset, great numbers assemble for the first evening prayer; they form themselves into several wide circles, sometimes as many as twenty, around the Kaʿbah, as a common centre before which every person makes his prostration; and thus, as the Muḥammadan doctors observe, Makkah is the only spot throughout the world in which the true believer can, with propriety, turn during his prayers towards any point of the compass. The Imām takes his post near the gate of the Kaʿbah, and his genuflexions are imitated by the whole assembled multitude. The effect of the joint prostrations of six or eight thousand persons, added to the recollection of the distance and various quarters from whence they come, or for what purpose, cannot fail to impress the most cool-minded spectator with some degree of awe. At night, when the lamps are lighted, and numbers of devotees are performing the T̤awāf round the Kaʿbah, the sight of the busy crowds, the voices of the Mut̤awwifs, intent upon making themselves heard by those to whom they recite their prayers, the loud conversation of many idle persons, the running, playing, and laughing of boys, give to the whole a very different appearance, and one more resembling that of a place of public amusement. The crowd, however, leaves the mosque about nine o’clock, when it again becomes the place of silent meditation and prayer to the few visitors who are led to the spot by sincere piety, and not worldly motives or fashion.

There is an opinion prevalent at Makkah, founded on holy tradition, that the mosque will contain any number of the faithful; and that if even the whole Muḥammadan community were to enter at once, they would all find room in it to pray. The guardian angels, it is said, would invisibly extend the dimensions of the building, and diminish the size of each individual. The fact is, that during the most numerous pilgrimages, the mosque, which can contain, I believe, about thirty-five thousand persons in the act of prayer, is never half-filled. Even on Fridays, the greater part of the Makkans, contrary to the injunctions of the law, pray at home, if at all, and many pilgrims follow their example. I could never count more than ten thousand individuals in the mosque at one time, even after the return from ʿArafāt, when the whole body of pilgrims was collected for a few days in and about the city.

At every hour of the day persons may be seen under the colonnade, occupied in reading the Qurʾān and other religious books; and here many poor Indians, or negroes, spread their mats, and pass the whole period of their residence at Makkah. Here they both eat and sleep; but cooking is not allowed. During the hours of noon, many persons come to repose beneath the cool shade of the vaulted roof of the colonnade; a custom which not only accounts for the mode of construction observed in the old Muḥammadan temples of Egypt and Arabia, but for that also of the ancient Egyptian temples, the immense porticoes of which were probably left open to the idolatrous natives, whose mud-built houses could afford them but an imperfect refuge against the mid-day heats.

It is only during the hours of prayer that the great mosques of these countries partake of the sanctity of prayer, or in any degree seem to be regarded as consecrated places. In al-Azhar, the first mosque at Cairo, I have seen boys crying pancakes for sale, barbers shaving their customers, and many of the lower orders eating their dinners, where, during prayer, not the slightest motion, nor even whisper, diverts the attention of the congregation. Not a sound but the voice of the Imām, is heard during prayers in the great mosque at Makkah, which at other times is the place of meeting for men of business to converse on their affairs, and is sometimes so full of poor pilgrims, or of diseased persons lying about under the colonnade, in midst of their miserable baggage, as to have the appearance of a hospital rather than a temple. Boys play in the great square, and servants carry luggage across it, to pass by the nearest route from one part of the town to the other. In these respects, the temple of Makkah resembles the other great mosques of the East. But the holy Kaʿbah is rendered the scene of such indecencies and criminal acts, as cannot with propriety be more particularly noticed. They are not only practised here with impunity, but, it may be said, almost publicly; and my indignation has often been excited, on witnessing abominations which called forth from other passing spectators nothing more than a laugh or a slight reprimand.

In several parts of the colonnade, public schools are held, where young children are taught to spell and read; they are most noisy groups, and the schoolmaster’s stick is in constant action. Some learned men of Makkah deliver lectures on religious subjects every afternoon under the colonnade, but the auditors are seldom numerous. On Fridays, after prayer, some Turkish ʿUlamāʾ explain to their countrymen assembled around them a few chapters of the Qurʾān, after which each of the audience kisses the hand of the expositor, and drops money into his cap. I particularly admired the fluency of speech of one of these ʿUlamāʾ, although I did not understand him, the lecture being delivered in the Turkish language. His gesticulations, and the inflexions of his voice, were most expressive; but, like an actor on the stage, he would laugh and cry in the same minute, and adapt his features to his purpose in the most skilful manner. He was a native of Brusa, and amassed a considerable sum of money.

Near the gate of the mosque called Bābu ʾs-Salām, a few Arab shaik͟hs daily take their seat, with their inkstand and paper, ready to write, for any applicant, letters, accounts, contracts, or any similar document.

They also deal in written charms, like those current in the Black countries, such as amulets, love-receipts, &c. They are principally employed by Bedouins, and demand an exorbitant remuneration.

Winding sheets (kafan) and other linen washed in the waters of Zamzam, are constantly seen hanging to dry between the columns. Many pilgrims purchase at Makkah the shroud in which they wish to be buried, and wash it themselves at the well of Zamzam, supposing that, if the corpse be wrapped in linen which has been wetted with this holy water, the peace of the soul after death will be more effectually secured. Some pilgrims make this linen an article of traffic.

Makkah generally, but the mosque in particular, abounds in flocks of wild pigeons, which are considered to be the inviolable property of the temple, and are called the pigeons of the Baitu ʾllāh. Nobody dares to kill any of them, even when they enter the private houses. In the square of the mosque, several small stone basins are regularly filled with water for their use; here, also, Arab women expose for sale, upon small straw mats, corn and durrah, which the pilgrims purchase, and throw to the pigeons. I have seen some of the public women take this mode of exhibiting themselves, and of bargaining with the pilgrims, under pretence of selling them corn for the sacred pigeons.

The gates of the mosque are nineteen in number, and are distributed about it, without any order or symmetry. The principal of these gates are: on the north side, Bābu ʾs-Salām, by which every pilgrim enters the mosque; Bābu ʾl-ʿAbbās; Bābu ʾn-Nabī, by which Muḥammad is said to have always entered the mosque; Bābu ʿAlī. On the east side: Bābu Zai, or Bābu ʾl-ʿAshrah, through which the ten first adherents of Muḥammad used to enter; Bābu ʾṣ-Ṣafā; two gates called Bībānu ʾsh-Sharīf, opposite the palaces of the Sharīf. On the south side: Bābu Ibrāhīm, where the colonnade projects beyond the straight line of the columns, and forms a small square; Bābu ʾl-ʿUmrah, through which it is necessary to pass, on visiting the ʿUmrah. On the west side: Bābu ʾz-Ziyādah, forming a projecting square similar to that at Bābu Ibrāhīm, but larger.

Most of these gates have high-pointed arches, but a few round arches are seen among them, which, like all the arches of this kind in the Ḥijāz, are nearly semicircular. They are without any ornament, except the inscription on the exterior, which commemorates the name of the builder; and they are all posterior in date to the fourteenth century. As each gate consists of two or three arches, or divisions, separated by narrow walls, these divisions are counted in the enumeration of the gates leading into the Kaʿbah, and thus make up the number thirty-nine.

There being no doors to the gates, the mosque is consequently open at all times. I have crossed at every hour of the night, and always found people there, either at prayers or walking about.

The outside walls of the mosque are those of the houses which surround it on all sides. These houses belonged originally to the mosque; the greater part are now the property of individuals, who have purchased them. They are let out to the richest pilgrims, at very high prices, as much as five hundred piastres being given, during the pilgrimage, for a good apartment, with windows opening into the mosque. Windows have, in consequence, been opened in many parts of the walls, on a level with the street, and above that of the floor of the colonnades. Pilgrims living in these apartments are allowed to perform the Friday’s prayers at home, because, having the Kaʿbah in view from the windows, they are supposed to be in the mosque itself, and to join in prayer those assembled within the temple. Upon a level with the ground-floor of the colonnades, and opening into them, are small apartments formed in the walls, having the appearance of dungeons; these have remained the property of the mosque, while the houses above them belong to private individuals. They are let out to watermen, who deposit in them the Zamzam jars, or to less opulent pilgrims who wish to live in the mosque. Some of the surrounding houses still belong to the mosque, and were originally intended for public schools, as their name of Madrasah implies; they are now all let out to pilgrims. In one of the largest of them, Muḥammad ʿAlī Pasha lived; in another Ḥasan Pasha.

Close to Bābu Ibrāhīm is a large madrasah, now the property of Saiyid Ageyl, one of the principal merchants of the town, whose warehouse opens into the mosque. This person, who is aged, has the reputation of great sanctity; and it is said that the hand of the Sharīf G͟hālib, when once in the act of collaring him for refusing to advance some money, was momentarily struck with palsy. He has evening assemblies in his house, where theological books are read, and religious topics discussed.

Among other buildings forming the enclosure of the mosque, is the Miḥkam, or house of justice, close by the Bābu ʾz-Ziyādah; it is a fine, firmly-built structure, with lofty arches in the interior, and has a row of high windows looking into the mosque. It is inhabited by the Qāẓī. Adjoining to it stands a large Madrasah, enclosing a square, known by the name of Madrasah Sulaimān, built by Sultān Sulaimān and his son Salīm II., in A.H. 973. It is always well filled with Turkish pilgrims, the friends of the Qāẓī, who disposes of the lodgings.

The exterior of the mosque is adorned with seven minarets, irregularly distributed: 1. Minaret of Bābu ʾl-ʿUmrah; 2. of Bābu ʾs-Salām; 3. of Bābu ʿAlī; 4. of Bābu ʾl-Wadāʿ; 5. of Madrasah Kail Beg; 6. of Bābu ʾz-Ziyādah; 7. of Madrasah Sultān Sulaimān. They are quadrangular or round steeples, in no way differing from other minarets. The entrance to them is from the different buildings round the mosque, which they adjoin. A beautiful view of the busy crowd below is obtained by ascending the most northern one. (Taken, with slight alterations, chiefly in the spelling of Arabic words and names, from Burckhardt’s Travels in Arabia, vol. i. p. 243.)

Mr. Sale says: “The temple of Mecca was a place of worship, and in singular veneration with the Arabs from great antiquity, and many centuries before Muhammad. Though it was most probably dedicated at first to an idolatrous use, yet the Muhammadans are generally persuaded that the Kaʿbah is almost coeval with the world; for they say that Adam, after his expulsion from Paradise, begged of God that he might erect a building like that he had seen there, called Baitu ʾl-Maʿmūr, or the frequented house, and al Durah, towards which he might direct his prayers, and which he might compass, as the angels do the celestial one. Whereupon God let down a representation of that house in curtains of light, and set it in Mecca, perpendicularly under its original, ordering the patriarch to turn towards it when he prayed, and to compass it by way of devotion. After Adam’s death, his son Seth built a house in the same form, of stone and clay, which being destroyed by the Deluge, was rebuilt by Abraham and Ishmael at God’s command, in the place where the former had stood, and after the same model, they being directed therein by revelation.

“After this edifice had undergone several reparations, it was, a few years after the birth of Muhammad, rebuilt by the Quraish on the old foundation, and afterwards repaired by Abdullah Ibn Zubair, the Khalif of Mecca; and at length again rebuilt by Yusuf, surnamed al Hijaj Ibn Yusuf, in the seventy-fourth year of the Hijrah, with some alterations, in the form wherein it now remains. Some years after, however, the Khalif Harun al Rashid (or, as others write, his father al Mahdi, or his grandfather al Mansur) intended again to change what had been altered by al Hijaj, and to reduce the Kaʿbah to the old form in which it was left by Abdullah, but was dissuaded from meddling with it, lest so holy a place should become the sport of princes, and being new-modelled after everyone’s fancy, should lose that reverence which was justly paid it. But notwithstanding the antiquity and holiness of this building, they have a prophecy by tradition from Muhammad, that in the last times the Ethiopians shall come and utterly demolish it, after which it will not be rebuilt again for ever.” (Prel. Dis., p. 83).

The following are the references to the Sacred Mosque in the Qurʾān:—

[Sūrah ii. 144, 145]: “From whatever place thou comest forth, then turn your face towards the Sacred Mosque; for this is a duty enjoined by thy Lord; and God is not inattentive to your doings. And from whatever place thou comest forth, then turn thy face toward the Sacred Mosque: and wherever ye be, to that part turn your faces, that men have no cause of dispute against you.”

[Sūrah v. 2]: “O Believers! violate neither the rites of God, nor the sacred month, nor the offering, nor its ornaments, nor those who press on to the Sacred Mosque, seeking favour from their Lord and His good pleasure in them.”

[Sūrah viii. 33–35]: “But God chose not to chastise them while thou wast with them, nor would God chastise them when they sued for pardon. But because they debarred the faithful from the Sacred Mosque, albeit they are not its guardians, nothing is there on their part why God should not chastise them. The God-fearing only are its guardians; but most of them know it not. And their prayer at the house is no other than whistling through the fingers and clapping of the hands—‘Taste then the torment, for that ye have been unbelievers.’ ”

[Sūrah ix. 7]: “How shall they who add gods to God be in league with God and with His Apostle, save those with whom ye made a league at the Sacred Mosque? So long as they are true to you, be ye true to them; for God loveth those who fear Him.”

[Sūrah ix. 28]: “O Believers! only they who join gods with God are unclean! Let them not, therefore, after this their year, come near the Sacred Mosque. And if ye fear want, God, if He please, will enrich you of His abundance: for God is Knowing, Wise.”

[Sūrah xvii. 1]: “Glory be to Him who carried his servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the temple that is more remote (i.e. Jerusalem), whose precinct we have blessed, that we might show him of our signs! for He is the Hearer, the Seer.”

[Sūrah xxii. 25]: “From the Sacred Mosque which we have appointed to all men, alike for those who abide therein, and for the stranger.”

[Sūrah xlviii. 25]: “These are they who believed not, and kept you away from the Sacred Mosque, as well as the offering which was prevented from reaching the place of sacrifice.”

[Sūrah xlviii. 27]: “Now hath God in truth made good to His Apostle the dream in which he said, ‘Ye shall surely enter the Sacred Mosque, if God will, in full security, having your heads shaved and your hair cut: ye shall not fear; for He knoweth what ye know not; and He hath ordained you, beside this, a speedy victory.’”

AL-MASJIDU ʾL-JĀMIʿ (المسجد الجامع‎). Lit. “The collecting mosque.” A title given to the chief mosque of any city in which people assemble for the Friday prayer and k͟hut̤bah. [[KHUTBAH].]

MASJIDU ʾL-K͟HAIF (مسـجـد الخيف‎). A mosque at Minā, three miles from Makkah. Here, according to the Arabs, Adam is buried, “his head being at one end of a long wall, and his feet at another, whilst the dome covers his omphalic region.” (Burton’s Pilgrimage, vol. ii. p. 203.)

MASJIDU ʾN-NABĪ (مسجد النبى‎). “The Prophet’s Mosque” at al-Madīnah. It is held to be the second mosque in Islām in point of seniority, and the same, or, according to others the first, in dignity, ranking with the Sacred Mosque at Makkah.

The following is Captain R. F. Burton’s account of its history:—

“Muḥammad ordered to erect a place of worship there, sent for the youths to whom it belonged and certain Anṣār, or auxiliaries, their guardians; the ground was offered to him in free gift, but he insisted upon purchasing it, paying more than its value. Having caused the soil to be levelled and the trees to be felled, he laid the foundation of the first mosque.

“In those times of primitive simplicity its walls were made of rough stone and unbaked bricks, and trunks of date-trees supported a palm-stick roof, concerning which the Archangel Gabriel delivered an order that it should not be higher than seven cubits, the elevation of Solomon’s temple. All ornament was strictly forbidden. The Anṣār, or men of Medinah, and the Muhājirīn, or fugitives from Mecca, carried the building materials in their arms from the cemetery Bakīʿ, near the well of Aiyūb, north of the spot where Ibrahīm’s mosque now stands, and the Prophet was to be seen aiding them in their labours, and reciting for their encouragement:

‘O Allah! there is no good but the good of futurity;

Then have mercy upon my Anṣār and Muhājirīn.’

“The length of this mosque was fifty-four cubits from north to south, and sixty-three in breadth, and it was hemmed in by houses on all sides save the western. Till the seventeenth month of the new era, the congregation faced towards the northern wall. After that time a fresh ‘revelation’ turned them in the direction of Makkah—southwards; on which occasion the Archangel Gabriel descended and miraculously opened through the hills and wilds a view of the Kaʿbah, that there might be no difficulty in ascertaining its true position.

MASJIDU ʾN-NABI AT AL-MADINAH. (Captain R. Burton.)

“After the capture of K͟haibar in A.H. 7, the Prophet and his first three successors restored the mosque, but Muslim historians do not consider this a second foundation. Muḥammad laid the first brick, and Abu-Hurayrah declares that he saw him carry heaps of building material piled up to his breast. The K͟halīfahs, each in the turn of his succession, placed a brick close to that laid by the Prophet, and aided him in raising the walls. Tabrāni relates that one of the Anṣār had a house adjacent, which Muḥammad wished to make part of the place of prayer; the proprietor was offered in exchange for it a home in Paradise, which he gently rejected, pleading poverty. His excuse was admitted, and ʿUs̤mān, after purchasing the place for 10,000 dirhams, gave it to the Prophet on the long credit originally offered. The mosque was a square of 100 cubits. Like the former building, it had three doors: one on the south side, where the Miḥrābu ʾn-Nabawī, or the ‘Prophet’s niche,’ now is, another in the place of the present Bābu ʾr-Raḥmah, and the third at the Bābu ʿUs̤mān, now called the ‘Gate of Gabriel.’ Instead of a miḥrāb or prayer niche, a large block of stone, directed the congregation. At first it was placed against the northern wall of the mosque, and it was removed to the southern when Makkah became the Qiblah. In the beginning the Prophet, whilst preaching the k͟hut̤bah or Friday sermon, leaned, when fatigued, against a post. The mimbar, or pulpit, was the invention of a Madīnah man of the Banū Najjār. It was a wooden frame, two cubits long by one broad, with three steps, each one span high; on the topmost of these the Prophet sat when he required rest. The pulpit assumed its present form about A.H. 90, during the artistic reign of Walīd.

“In this mosque Muḥammad spent the greater part of the day with his companions, conversing, instructing, and comforting the poor. Hard by were the abodes of his wives, his family, and his principal friends. Here he prayed, hearkening to the Aẕān, or devotion call, from the roof. Here he received worldly envoys and embassies, and the heavenly messages conveyed by the Archangel Gabriel. And within a few yards of the hallowed spot, he died, and found, it is supposed, a grave.

“The theatre of events so important to Islām, could not be allowed—especially as no divine decree forbade the change—to remain in its pristine lowliness. The first K͟halīfah contented himself with merely restoring some of the palm pillars, which had fallen to the ground. ʿUmar, the second successor, surrounded the Ḥujrah, or ʿĀyishah’s chamber, in which the Prophet was buried, with a mud wall, and in A.H. 17, he enlarged the mosque to 140 cubits by 120, taking in ground on all sides except the eastern, where stood the abodes of the ‘Mothers of the Moslems’ (Ummu ʾl-Muʾminīn). Outside the northern wall he erected a ṣuffah, called Batha—a raised bench of wood, earth, or stone, upon which the people might recreate themselves with conversation and quoting poetry, for the mosque was now becoming a place of peculiar reverence to men.

“The second Masjid was erected A.H. 29 by the third K͟halīfah, ʿUs̤mān, who, regardless of the clamours of the people, overthrew the old one, and extended the building greatly towards the north, and a little towards the west; but he did not remove the eastern limit on account of the private houses. He made the roof of Indian teak, and erected walls of hewn and carved stone. These innovations caused some excitement, which he allayed by quoting a tradition of the Prophet, with one of which he appears perpetually to have been prepared. The saying in question was, according to some, ‘Were this my mosque extended to Ṣafā, it verily would still be my mosque’; according to others, ‘Were the Prophet’s mosque extended to Ẕū ʾl-Ḥulafāʾ, it would still be his.’ But ʿUs̤mān’s skill in the quotation of tradition did not prevent the new building being in part a cause of his death. It was finished on the 1st Muḥarram, A.H. 30.

“At length, Islām, grown splendid and powerful, determined to surpass other nations in the magnificence of its public buildings. In A.H. 88, al-Walid the First, twelfth K͟halīfah of the Banī Umayah race, after building the noble Jāmiʿ-Masjid of the Ommiades at Damascus, determined to display his liberality at al-Madīnah. The governor of the place, ʿUmar ibn ʿAbdu ʾl-ʿAzīz, was directed to buy for 7,000 dinars all the hovels of raw brick that hedged in the eastern side of the old mosque. They were inhabited by descendants of the Prophet and of the early K͟halīfahs, and in more than one case, the ejection of the holy tenantry was effected with considerable difficulty. Some of the women (ever the most obstinate on such occasions) refused to take money, and ʿUmar was forced to the objectionable measure of turning them out of doors with exposed faces in full day. The Greek Emperor, applied to by the magnificent K͟halīfah, sent immense presents, silver lamp chains, valuable curiosities, forty loads of small cut stones for pietra-dura, and a sum of 80,000 dinars, or, as others say, 40,000 mishkals of gold. He also despatched forty Coptic and forty Greek artists to carve the marble pillars and the casings of the walls, and to superintend the gilding and the mosaic work.

“One of these Christians was beheaded for sculpturing a hog on the Qiblah wall, and another, in an attempt to defile the roof, fell to the ground, and his brains were dashed out. The remainder apostatized, but this did not prevent the older Arabs murmuring that their mosque had been turned into a kanīsah (or Church). The Ḥujrah, or chamber, where, by Muḥammad’s permission, ʿIzrāʾīl, the Angel of Death, separated his soul from his body, whilst his head was lying in the lap of ʿĀyishah, his favourite wife, was now for the first time taken into the mosque. The raw brick enceinte which surrounded the three graves was exchanged for one of carved stone, enclosed by an outer precinct with a narrow passage between. These double walls were either without a door, or had only a small blocked-up wicket on the northern side, and from that day (A.H. 90), no one has been able to approach the sepulchre. A minaret was erected at each corner of the mosque. The building was enlarged to 200 cubits by 167, and was finished in A.H. 91. When Walīd, the K͟halīfah, visited it in state, he inquired of his lieutenant why greater magnificence had not been displayed in the erection; upon which ʿUmar informed him, to his astonishment, that the walls alone had cost 45,000 dinars.

“The fourth mosque was erected in A.H. 191, by al-Mahdī, third prince of the Banū ʿAbbās or Baghdad K͟halīfahs—celebrated in history only for spending enormous sums upon a pilgrimage. He enlarged the building by adding ten handsome pillars of carved marble, with gilt capitals, on the northern side. In A.H. 202, al-Maʾmūn made further additions to this mosque.

“It was from al-Mahdī’s Masjid that Ḥakīm ibn Amri ʾllāh, the third Fāt̤imite K͟halīfah of Egypt, and the deity of the Druse sect, determined to steal the bodies of the Prophet and his two companions. About A.H. 412, he sent emissaries to al-Madīnah; the attempt, however, failed, and the would be violators of the tomb lost their lives. It is generally supposed that Ḥakīm’s object was to transfer the visitation to his own capital; but in one so manifestly insane it is difficult to discover the spring of action. Two Christians, habited like Maghrabī pilgrims, in A.H. 550, dug a mine from a neighbouring house into the temple. They were discovered, beheaded, and burned to ashes. In relating these events, the Muslim historians mix up many foolish preternaturalisms with credible matter. At last, to prevent a recurrence of such sacrilegious attempts, Māliku ʾl-ʿĀdil Nūru ʾd-dīn, of the Baharite Mamluk Sultans, or, according to others, Sultan Nūru ʾd-dīn Shāhid Maḥmūd bin Zengi, who, warned by a vision of the Prophet, had started for al-Madīnah only in time to discover the two Christians, surrounded the holy place with a deep trench, filled with molten lead. By this means Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, who had run considerable risks of their own, have ever since been enabled to occupy their last home undisturbed.

“In A.H. 654, the fifth mosque was erected in consequence of a fire, which some authors attribute to a volcano that broke out close to the town in terrible eruption; others, with more fanaticism and less probability, to the schismatic Banū Ḥusain, then the guardians of the tomb. On this occasion the Ḥujrah was saved, together with the old and venerable copies of the Qurʾān there deposited, especially the Cufic MSS., written by Us̤mān, the third K͟halīfah. The piety of three sovereigns, Mustaʿṣim (last K͟halīfah of Bag͟hdad) Muz̤affir Shems-ud-dīn-Yūsuf, chief of Yaman, and Z̤āhir Beybars, Baharite Sultan of Egypt, completed the work in A.H. 688. This building was enlarged and beautified by the princes of Egypt, and lasted upwards of 200 years.

“The sixth mosque was built, almost as it now stands, by Kaid Bey, nineteenth Sultan of the Circassian Mamluk kings of Egypt, in A.H. 888. Mustaʿṣim’s mosque had been struck by lightning during a storm; thirteen men were killed at prayers, and the destroying element spared nothing but the interior of the Ḥujrah. The railing and dome were restored; niches and a pulpit were sent from Cairo, and the gates and minarets were distributed as they are now. Not content with this, Kaid Bey established ‘waqf’ (bequests) and pensions, and introduced order among the attendants on the tomb. In the tenth century, Sultan Sulaiman the Magnificent paved with fine white marble the Rauẓah or garden, which Kaid Bey, not daring to alter, had left of earth, and erected the fine minaret that bears his name. During the dominion of the later Sultans and of Mohammad Ali, a few trifling presents of lamps, carpets, wax candles, and chandeliers, and a few immaterial alterations have been made.” (See Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Meccah, by Richard F. Burton, 2nd edition, vol. i. p. 345.)

MASJIDU ʾT-TAQWĀ (مسجد التقوى‎). Lit. “The Mosque of Piety.” The mosque at Qubāʾ, a place about three miles south-east of al-Madīnah. It was here that it is said that the Prophet’s camel, al-Qaṣwā rested on its way from Makkah to al-Madīnah, on the occasion of the Flight. And when Muḥammad desired the Companions to mount the camel, Abū Bakr and ʿUmar did so, but she still remained on the ground; but when ʿAlī obeyed the order, she arose. Here the Prophet decided to erect a place for prayer. It was the first mosque erected in Islām. Muḥammad laid the first brick, and with an iron javelin marked out the direction for prayer. The Prophet, during his residence at al-Madīnah, used to visit it once a week on foot, and he always made a point of praying there the morning prayer on the 17th of Ramaẓān. A prayer in the mosque of Qubāʾ is said to be equal in merit to a Lesser Pilgrimage to Makkah, and the place itself bears rank after the mosques of Makkah and al-Madīnah and before that of Jerusalem. It was originally a square building of very small size, but the K͟halīfah ʿUs̤mān enlarged it. Sultān ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥamīd rebuilt the place, but it has no pretensions to grandeur. (See Burton’s Pilgrimage, vol. i. p. 390.)

MASNŪN (مسنون‎). That which is founded upon the precept or practice of Muḥammad. [[SUNNAH].]

AL-MATĪN (المتين‎). “The Strong” (as a fortification is strong). One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah li. 58]: “God is the provider, endowed with power, the Strong.”

MATN (متن‎). The text of a book. The notes, or commentary upon the text are called the sharḥ. A word frequently used by Muḥammadans in theological books.

MAʾŪDAH (موءودة‎). From waʾad, “to bury alive.” A damsel buried alive. A custom which existed before the time of Muḥammad in ancient Arabia, but which was forbidden by him. [Sūrah xvii. 33]: “Kill not your children from fear of want.” See also [Sūrahs xvi. 61]; [lxxxi. 8].

MAULĀ (مولى‎), pl. mawālī. A term used in Muslim law for a slave, but in the Qurʾān for “a protector or helper,” i.e. God Almighty.

[Sūrah viii. 41]: “Know ye that God is your protector.”

[Sūrah ii. 386]: “Thou (God) art our protector.”

[Sūrah xlvii. 12]: “God is the protector of those who believe.”

The plural form occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah iv. 37], where it is translated by Palmer thus: “To everyone have we appointed kinsfolk” (mawālī).

MAULAWĪ (مولوى‎). From maulā, “a lord or master.” A term generally used for a learned man.

MAULID (مولد‎). The birthday, especially of a prophet or saint. The birthday of Muḥammad, which is known as Maulidu ʾn-Nabī, is celebrated on the 12th of Rabīʿu ʾl-Awwal. It is a day observed in Turkey and Egypt and in some parts of Hindustān, but not in Central Asia, by the recital of numerous ẕikrs, and by distribution of alms.

Mr. Lane, in his Modern Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 171, gives the following specimen of a ẕikr recited in the Maulidu ʾn-Nabī: “O God bless our lord Muḥammad among the latter generations; and bless our lord Muḥammad in every time and period, and bless our lord Muḥammad among the most exalted princes, unto the Day of Judgment; and bless all the prophets and apostles among the inhabitants of the heavens, and of the earth, and may God (whose name be blessed and exalted) be well pleased with our lords and our masters, those persons of illustrious estimation, Abū Bakr, and ʿUmar, and ʿUs̤mān, and ʿAlī, and with all the other favourites of God. God is our sufficiency, excellent is the Guardian. And there is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great. O God, O our Lord, O Thou liberal of pardon, O Thou most bountiful of the most bountiful, O God. Amīn.”

MĀʾU ʾL-QUDS (ماء القدس‎). Lit. “Water of Holiness.” A term used by the Ṣūfīs for such holy influences on the soul of man as enable him to overcome the lusts of the flesh, and to become holy. (See ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)

AL-MĀʿŪN (الماعون‎). Lit. “Necessaries.” The title of the CVIIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in the last verse of which the word occurs.

MAUT (موت‎). “Death.” Heb. ‏מָוֶת‎. The word is always used in the Qurʾān in its literal sense, meaning the departure of the spirit from the body, e.g. [Sūrah ii. 182]: “Every soul must taste of death.” But amongst the Ṣūfīs it is employed in a figurative sense, e.g. al-mautu ʾl-abyaẓ, or “the white death,” is held to mean abstinence from food, or that feeling of hunger which purifies the soul. A person who frequently abstains from food is said to have entered this state of death. Al-mautu ʾl-ak͟hẓar, “the green death,” the wearing of old clothes in a state of voluntary poverty. When a person has given up wearing purple and fine linen, and has chosen the garments of poverty, he is said to have entered this state of death. Al-mautu ʾl-aswad, “the black death,” the voluntary taking up of trouble, and submitting to be evil spoken of for the truth’s sake. When a Muslim has learnt to submit to such troubles and persecutions, he is said to have entered into this state of death. (See ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.) [[MAMAT].]

MAʾẔŪN (ماذون‎). A licensed or privileged slave. A slave who has received a remission of all the inhibitions attending his state of bondage.

MEAT. [[FOOD].]

MECCA. [[MAKKAH].]

MEDICINE. Arabic dawāʾ (دوا‎). The only medicine recommended in the Qurʾān is honey. See [Sūrah xvi. 71]: “From its (the bee’s) belly cometh forth a fluid of varying hues, which yieldeth medicine to man.”

MEDINA. [[AL-MADINAH].]

MEDITATION. [[MURAQABAH].]

MENSTRUATION. Arabic maḥīẓ (محيض‎). The catamenia, or menses, is termed ḥayẓ. The woman in this condition is called ḥāʾiẓ or ḥāʾiẓah. All books of Muḥammadan theology contain a chapter devoted to the treatment of women in this condition. During the period of menstruation, women are not permitted to say their prayers, or to touch or read the Qurʾān, or enter a mosque, and are forbidden to their husbands. But it is related in the traditions that Muḥammad abrogated the law of Moses which set a menstruous woman entirely apart for seven days. ([Leviticus xv. 19]). And Anas says that when the Jews heard this they said, “This man opposes our customs in everything.”

(See Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 222]; Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābiḥ, Hamilton’s ed. vol. i. p. 121; Arabic ed. Bābu ʾl-Ḥaiẓ.)

When the period of menses ceases, bathing must be performed and prayer said.

MERCY. Arabic Raḥmah (رحمة‎). Heb. ‏רַחַם‎. The attribute of mercy is specially mentioned in the Qurʾān as one which characterizes the Divine Being; each chapter of that book (with the exception of the IXth), beginning with the superscription, Bismillāhi ʾr-Raḥmāni ʾr-Raḥīm, “In the name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate.” In the Tafsīr-i-Raufī it is said that ar-Raḥmān is only applicable to God, whilst ar-Raḥīm may be applied to the creature as well as to God; but the Jalālān say the two terms are synonymous, and on this account they are used together. Al-Baiẓāwī remarks that the attribute of mercy expresses “softness of heart” (riqqatu ʾl-qalb), and “a turning with kindness and favour towards a person,” and in this way it expresses God’s sympathy with mankind, although the terms are not strictly applicable to an unchangeable Being. In the Qurʾān, Job is described as speaking of God as “the most merciful of merciful ones.” ([Sūrah xxi. 83]). And the angels who bear the throne, and those around it who celebrate God’s praises, cry out: “Our Lord! thou dost embrace all things in mercy and knowledge!” ([Sūrah xl. 7].) The “Treasuries of the mercies of the Lord,” are often referred to in the Qurʾān (e.g. [Sūrahs xvii. 102]; [xviii. 81]). The word Raḥmah, “a mercy,” is a term used for a divine book; it is frequently applied to the Qurʾān, which is called “a mercy and a guidance” ([Sūrahs x. 58]; [xvii. 84]), and also to the books of Moses ([Sūrahs xi. 20]; [xii. 111]). In one place it is used for Paradise, “They are in God’s mercy” ([Sūrah iii. 103]). The bounty of God’s mercy is the constant theme both of the Qurʾān and the Traditions; e.g. [Sūrah vii. 155]: “My mercy embraceth everything.” To despair of God’s mercy is a cardinal sin. [Sūrah xxxix. 54]: “Be not in despair of the mercy of God; verily, God forgives sins, all of them.” [Sūrah xv. 56]: “Only those who err despair of the mercy of their Lord.”

In the Traditions, Muḥammad is related to have said: “When God created the world He wrote a book, which is with Him on the exalted throne, and therein is written, ‘Verily my mercy overcomes my anger.’ ” And, again, “Verily, God has one hundred mercies; one mercy hath he sent down to men and genii, but He hath reserved ninety-nine mercies, by which He will be gracious to His people.” (Mishkāt, book x. ch. 4.)

The LVth Sūrah of the Qurʾān is entitled the Sūratu ʾr-Raḥmān, or the “Chapter of the Merciful,” in which are set forth the “bounties of the Lord.” It is a chapter which is sadly marred by its concluding description of the sensual enjoyments of Muḥammad’s paradise.

The Christians are spoken of in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah lvii. 27], as those in whose hearts God “placed mercy (raḥmah) and compassion (raʾfah).”

MICHAEL. In Muḥammadan works generally, the Archangel Michael is called Mīkāʾīl (ميكائيل‎), Heb. ‏מִיכָאֵל‎; but in the Qurʾān, in which his name once occurs, he is called Mīkāl (ميكال‎). Al-Baiẓāwī says that a Jew named ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Ṣūrīyāʾ, objected to Muḥammad’s assertion that the Archangel Gabriel revealed the Qurʾān to him, because he was an avenging angel, and said that if it had been sent by Michael, their own guardian angel ([Daniel xii. 1]), they might have believed. This assertion called forth the following verses from Muḥammad in [Sūrah ii. 92]:—

“Whoso is the enemy of Gabriel—For he it is who by God’s leave hath caused the Qurʾān to descend on thy heart, the confirmation of previous revelations, and guidance, and good tidings to the faithful—Whoso is an enemy to God or his angels, or to Gabriel, or to Michael, shall have God as his enemy: for verily God is an enemy to the infidels. Moreover, clear signs have we sent down to thee, and none will disbelieve them but the perverse.”

MIDIAN. [[MADYAN].]

MIFTĀḤU ʾL-JANNAH (مـفـتاح الجنة‎). “The Key of Paradise.” A term used by Muḥammad for prayer. (Mishkāt, book iii. ch. i.)

MIḤJAN (محجن‎). A hook-headed stick about four feet long, which, it is said, the Prophet always carried; now carried by men of religious pretensions.

MIḤRĀB (محراب‎). A niche in the centre of a wall of a mosque, which marks the direction of Makkah, and before which the Imām takes his position when he leads the congregation in prayer. In the Masjidu ʾn-Nabī, or Prophet’s mosque, at al-Madīnah, a large black stone, placed against the northern wall, facing Jerusalem, directed the congregation, but it was removed to the southern side when the Qiblah was changed to Makkah.

The Miḥrāb, as it now exists, dates from the days of al-Walīd (A.H. 90), and it seems probable that the K͟halīfah borrowed the idea from the Hindus, such a niche being a peculiarly Hindu feature in sacred buildings.

A MIHRAB.

A MIHRAB. (W. S. Chadwick.)

The word occurs four times in the Qurʾān, where it is used for a chamber ([Sūrahs iii. 32, 33]; [xix. 12]; [xxxviii. 20]), and its plural, maḥārīb, once ([Sūrah xxxiv. 12]).

MĪKĀʾĪL (ميكائيل‎). [[MICHAEL].]

MILLAH (ملة‎). A word which occurs in the Qurʾān fifteen times. Eight times for the religion of Abraham ([Sūrahs ii. 124, 129]; [iii. 89]; [iv. 124]; [vi. 162]; [xii. 38]; [xvi. 124]; [xxii. 77]); twice for the religion of former prophets ([Sūrahs xiv. 16]; [xxxviii. 6]); once for the religion of the seven children of the cave ([Sūrah xviii. 19]); three times for idolatrous religions ([Sūrahs xii. 37]; [vii. 86, 87]); and once for the religion of Jews and Christians ([Sūrah ii. 114]). The word is used in the Traditions for the religion of Abraham (Mishkāt, book x. ch. v.).

According to the Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, it is expressive of religion as it stands in relation to the prophets, as distinguished from Dīn (دين‎), which signifies religion as it stands in relation to God, or from Maẕhab (مذهب‎), which signifies religion with reference to the learned doctors. [[RELIGION].] Sprenger and Deutsch have invested the origin and meaning of this word with a certain amount of mystery, which is interesting.

Dr. Sprenger says (Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad, vol. ii. p. 276 n):—“When Mohammad speaks of the religion of Abraham, he generally uses the word Milla (Millah) and not Dīn. Arabian philologists have tried to trace the meaning of the word from their mother tongue, thus, Malla (Mallah) signifies fire or hot ashes in Arabic and Zaggag says (Thālaby, vol. ii. p. 114), that religion is called Milla because of the impression which it makes, and which may be compared to that which fire makes upon the bread baked in ashes. Since the Arabs are unable to give a better explanation, we must presume that milla is a foreign word, imported by the teachers of the “Milla of Abraham” in the Hijāz. Philo considered Abraham the chief promoter of the doctrine of the Unity of God, and doubtless, even before Philo, Jewish thought, in tracing the doctrine of the true religion, not only as far back as Moses, but even to the father of their nation, emancipated the indispensability of the form of the law, and so prepared the road to Essaism and Christianity.”

Mr. Emanuel Deutsch, in his article on Islām (Literary Remains, p. 130), says: “The word used in the Qurān for the religion of Abraham is generally Milla. Sprenger, after ridiculing the indeed absurd attempts made to derive it from an Arabic root, concludes that it must be a foreign word introduced by the teachers of the ‘Milla of Abraham’ into the Hijāz. He is perfectly right. Milla = Memra = Logos, are identical; being the Hebrew, Chaldee (Targum, Peshito in slightly varied spelling), and Greek terms respectively for the ‘Word,’ that surrogate for the Divine name used by the Targum, by Philo, by St. John. This Milla or ‘Word,’ which Abraham proclaimed, he, ‘who was not an astrologer but a prophet,’ teaches according to the Haggadah, first of all, the existence of one God, the Creator of the Universe, who rules this universe with mercy and loving kindness.”

MILK. Arabic laban (لبن‎). The sale of milk in the udder is unlawful (Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 433). In the Qurʾān it is mentioned as one of God’s special gifts. “Verily, ye have in cattle a lesson: we give you to drink from that which is in their bellies betwixt chyme and blood—pure milk—easy to swallow for those who drink.” ([Sūrah xvi. 68].)

MINĀ منى‎. Lit. “A wish.” A sacred valley near Makkah, in which part of the Pilgrimage ceremonies take place. According to ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq, it was so called because Adam wished for paradise in this valley.

MINARET. [[MANARAH].]

MINBAR. Generally pronounced mimbar (منبر‎). The pulpit in a mosque from which the k͟hut̤bah (or sermon) is recited. It consists of three steps, and is sometimes a moveable wooden structure, and sometimes a fixture of brick or stone built against the wall. Muḥammad, in addressing the congregation, stood on the uppermost step, Abū Bakr on the second, and ʿUmar on the third or lowest. ʿUs̤mān fixed upon the middle step, and since then it has been the custom to preach from that step. The Shīʿahs have four steps to their mimbars.

A MIMBAR IN AN INDIAN MOSQUE.

(W. S. Chadwick.)

A MIMBAR IN AN EGYPTIAN MOSQUE.

(W. S. Chadwick.)

The mimbars in the mosques of Cairo are elevated structures, but in Asia they are of a more primitive character.

Burton says: “In the beginning the Prophet leaned, when fatigued, against a post, whilst preaching the k͟hut̤bah or Friday sermon. The mimbar, or pulpit, was an invention of a Madīnah man of the Banū Najjār. It was a wooden frame, two cubits long by one broad, with three steps, each one span high; on the topmost of these the Prophet sat when he required rest. The pulpit assumed its present form about A.H. 90, during the artistic reign of El Walid.”

A MIMBAR IN MOSQUES AT PESHAWAR.

MINES. Arabic maʿdin (معدن‎), pl. maʿādin. In Zakāt, mines are subject to a payment of one fifth. (Hidāyah, vol. i. 39.)

MINḤAH (منحة‎). A legal term for a portion of camel’s or sheep’s milk which another is allowed to draw, but afterwards to restore the animal to its original owner.

MINORITY. [[PUBERTY].]

MĪQĀT (ميقات‎). Lit. “A stated time, or place.” The stations at which Makkan pilgrims assume the iḥrām or “pilgrim’s garment.” Five of these stations were established by Muḥammad (Mishkāt, book xi. ch. i. pt. 1), and the sixth has been added since to suit the convenience of travellers from the East. They are as follows: (1) Ẕū ʾl-Ḥulafāʾ, for the pilgrims from al-Madīnah; (2) Juḥfah, for Syria; (3) Qarnu ʾl-Manāzil, for Najd; (4) Yaulamlam, for Yaman; (5) Ẕāt-i-ʿIrāq, for ʿIrāq; (6) Ibrahīm Mursīa, for those who arrive by sea from India and the east.

The putting on of the iḥrām at Jerusalem is highly meritorious, according to a tradition, which says, “The Prophet said, Whoever wears the iḥrām for ḥajj or ʿumrah, from the Masjidu ʾl-Aqṣā (i.e. the Temple at Jerusalem) to the Masjidu ʾl-Ḥarām, shall be forgiven for all his past and future sins.” (Mishkāt, book xi. ch. i. pt. 2.)

MĪR (مير‎). A title of respect used for the descendants of celebrated Muḥammadan saints. More generally used for Saiyids, or descendants of Fāt̤imah, the Prophet’s daughter.

MIRACLES. Supernatural powers given to men are spoken of by Muslim lexicographers as k͟hāriqu ʾl-ʿādat (خارق العادة‎), or “things contrary to custom.” In Muslim theology, they are expressed by eight terms: (1) Āyah (اية‎), pl. āyāt, “a sign”; the only word used in the Qurʾān for a miracle (see [Sūrahs xiii. 27]; [xxix. 49]; [liv. 2]). (2) Muʿjizah (معجزة‎), pl. muʿjizāt, “making weak or feeble,” or that which renders the adversaries to the truth weak and feeble; a term used only for miracles performed by prophets. (3) Irhāṣ (ارهاص‎), pl. irhāṣāt, lit. “laying a foundation”; used for any miracle performed by a prophet before his assumption of the prophetical office. (4) ʿAlāmah (علامة‎), pl. ʿalāmāt, “a sign,” the same as āyah, and used for the signs of the coming Resurrection. (5) Karāmah (كرامة‎), pl. karāmāt, lit. “beneficence”; wonders wrought by saints for the good of the people as well as in proof of their own saintship. (6) Maʿūnah (معونة‎), pl. maʿwanāt, lit. “help or assistance;” used also for the wonders wrought by saints. (7) Istidrāj (استدراج‎), lit. “promoting by degrees”; a term employed to express the miracles wrought by the assistance of the Devil with the permission of God. (8) Ihānah (اهانة‎), pl. ihānāt, lit. “contempt”; miracles wrought by the assistance of the Devil, but when they turn out to the disdain and contempt of the worker.

It does not appear from the Qurʾān that Muḥammad ever claimed the power of working miracles, but, on the contrary, he asserted that it was not his mission to work signs and wonders in proof of his apostleship. This seems to be evident from the following verses in the Qurʾān:—

[Sūrah xxix. 49]: “They say, Why are not signs (āyāt) sent down to him from his Lord? Say: Signs are in the power of God alone, and I am only an open warner.”

[Sūrah xiii. 27–30]: “And they who believe not say, Why is not a sign (āyah) sent down to him from his Lord? Say: God truly misleadeth whom He will, and guideth to Himself him who turneth to Him.… If there were a Qurʾān by which the mountains would be set in motion, or the earth cleft by it, or the dead be addressed by it, they would not believe.”

[Sūrah xvii. 92–97]: “And they say, By no means will we believe in thee till thou cause a fountain to gush forth for us from the earth, or till thou have a garden of palm trees and grapes, and thou cause gushing rivers to gush forth in its midst, or till thou make heaven to fall upon us, as thou hast given out in pieces; or thou bring God and the angels to vouch for thee; or thou have a house of God, or thou mount up into heaven; nor will we believe in thy mounting up until thou send us down a book which we may read. Say: Praise be to my Lord! Am I more than a man, and an apostle? And what hindereth men from believing, when the guidance hath come to them, but that they say, Hath God sent a mere man as an apostle? Say: Did angels walk the earth as its familiars, we had surely sent them an angel-apostle out of heaven.”

But notwithstanding these positive assertions on the part of their Prophet against his ability to work miracles, there are at least four places in the Qurʾān where the Muḥammadans believe that miracles are referred to.

1. The clefting of the moon ([Sūrah liv. 1, 2]): “The hour hath approached, and the moon hath been cleft. But if the unbelievers see a sign (āyah), they turn aside and say, Magic! that shall pass away!”

Al-Baiẓāwī says, in his commentary on this verse, “Some say that the unbelievers demanded this sign of the Prophet, and the moon was cleft in two; but others say it refers to a sign of the coming Resurrection, the words ‘will be cleft’ being expressed in the prophetic preterite.”

Rodwell renders it “hath been cleft,” as he thinks Muḥammad may possibly allude to some meteor or comet which he fancied to be part of the moon.

2. The assistance given to the Muslims at the battle of Badr. [Sūrah iii. 120, 121]: “When thou didst say to the faithful: ‘Is it not enough for you that your Lord aideth you with three thousand angels sent down from on high?’ Nay; but if ye be steadfast, and fear God, and the foe come upon you in hot haste, your Lord will help you with five thousand angels with their distinguishing marks.”

These “distinguishing marks,” say the commentators, were when the angels rode on black and white horses, and had on their heads white and yellow turbans, the ends of which hung down between their shoulders.

3. The celebrated night journey. [Sūrah xvii. 1]: “We declare the glory of Him who transports his servant by night from the Masjidu ʾl-Ḥarām to the Masjidu ʾl-Aqṣā (i.e. from Makkah to Jerusalem).”

4. The Qurʾān itself, which the Muḥammadans say is the great miracle of Islām, the like of which has not been created, nor ever will be, by the power of man. In proof of this they quote [Sūrah xxix. 48]: “It is a clear sign (āyah) in the hearts of whom the knowledge hath reached.”

Although these very doubtful assertions in the Qurʾān fail to establish the miraculous powers of the Prophet, the Traditions record numerous occasions when he worked miracles in the presence of his people.

The following are recorded in the traditions of al-Buk͟hārī and Muslim:—

(1) On the flight from Makkah, Surāqah being cursed by the Prophet, his horse sank up to its belly in the hard ground.

(2) The Prophet marked out at Badr the exact spot on which each of the idolaters should be slain, and Anas says not one of them passed alive beyond the spot marked by the Prophet.

(3) He cured the broken leg of ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Atiq by a touch.

(4) He converted hard ground into a heap of sand by one stroke of an axe.

(5) He fed a thousand people upon one kid and a ṣāʿ of barley.

(6) He gave a miraculous supply of water at the battle of al-Ḥudaibiyah.

(7) Two trees miraculously moved to form a shade for the Prophet.

(8) He made Jābir a good horseman by his prayers.

(9) A wooden pillar wept to such an extent that it nearly rent in two parts, because the Prophet desisted from leaning against it.

(10) A sluggish horse became swift from being ridden by the Prophet.

(11) Seventy or eighty people miraculously fed on a few barley loaves and a little butter.

(12) Three hundred men fed from a single cake.

The following are recorded by various writers:—

(1) The Prophet was saluted by the hills and trees near Makkah, with the salutation, “Peace be to thee, O Messenger of God!”

(2) A tree moved from its place to the shade when the Prophet slept under it.

(3) The Prophet cured a maniacal boy by saying, “Come out of him.”

(4) A wolf was made to speak by the Prophet.

(For further information, see Kitābu ʾl-Muʿjizāt, Ṣaḥīḥu ʾl-Buk͟hārī, Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābiḥ, Ṣaḥīḥu Muslim.)

MIʿRĀJ (معراج‎). Lit. “An ascent.” Muḥammad’s supposed journey to heaven; called also Isrā (اسرى‎), “the nocturnal journey.” It is said to have taken place in the twelfth year of the Prophet’s mission, in the month of Rabīʿu ʾl-Awwal.

According to ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq, there are some divines who have regarded this miraculous event as a mere vision, but, he adds, the majority hold it to be a literal journey.

The only mention of the vision in the Qurʾān is contained in [Sūrah xvii. 1]: “Praise be to Him who carried His servant by night from the Masjidu ʾl-Ḥarām (i.e. the Makkan temple) to the Masjidu ʾl-Aqṣā (i.e. the Temple of Jerusalem).”

The following is the description of the supposed journey given in the Mishkātu ʾl-Masābiḥ. Muḥammad is related to have said:—

“Whilst I was sleeping upon my side, he (Gabriel) came to me, and cut me open from my breast to below my navel, and took out my heart, and washed the cavity with Zamzam water, and then filled my heart with Faith and Science. After this, a white animal was brought for me to ride upon. Its size was between that of a mule and an ass, and it stretched as far as the eye could see. The name of the animal was Burāq. Then I mounted the animal, and ascended until we arrived at the lowest heaven, and Gabriel demanded that the door should be opened. And it was asked, ‘Who is it?’ and he said, ‘I am Gabriel.’ And they then said, ‘Who is with you?’ and he answered, ‘It is Muḥammad.’ They said, ‘Has Muḥammad been called to the office of a prophet?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘Welcome Muḥammad; his coming is well.’ Then the door was opened; and when I arrived in the first heaven, behold, I saw Adam. And Gabriel said to me, ‘This is your father Adam, salute him.’ Then I saluted Adam, and he answered it, and said, ‘You are welcome, O good son, and good Prophet!’ After that Gabriel took me above, and we reached the second heaven; and he asked the door to be opened, and it was said, ‘Who is it?’ He said, ‘I am Gabriel.’ It was said, ‘Who is with you?’ He said, ‘Muḥammad.’ It was said, ‘Was he called?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ It was said, “Welcome Muḥammad; his coming is well.’ Then the door was opened; and when I arrived in the second region, behold, I saw John and Jesus (sisters’ sons). And Gabriel said, ‘This is John, and this is Jesus; salute both of them.’ Then I saluted them, and they returned it. After that they said, ‘Welcome good brother and Prophet.’ After that we went up to the third heaven, and asked the door to be opened; and it was said, ‘Who is it?’ Gabriel said, ‘I am Gabriel.’ They said, ‘Who is with you?’ He said, ‘Muḥammad.’ They said, ‘Was he called?’ Gabriel said, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘Welcome Muḥammad; his coming is well.’ Then the door was opened; and when I entered the third heaven, behold, I saw Joseph. And Gabriel said, ‘This is Joseph, salute him.’ Then I did so, and he answered it, and said, ‘Welcome, good brother and good Prophet.’ After that Gabriel took me to the fourth heaven, and asked the door to be opened; it was said, ‘Who is that?’ He said, ‘I am Gabriel.’ It was said, ‘Who is with you?’ He said, ‘Muḥammad.’ It was said, ‘Was he called?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘Welcome Muḥammad; his coming is well.’ And the door was opened; and when I entered the fourth heaven, behold, I saw Enoch. And Gabriel said, ‘This is Enoch, salute him.’ And I did so, and he answered it, and said, ‘Welcome, good brother and Prophet.’ After that Gabriel took me to the fifth heaven, and asked the door to be opened; and it was said, ‘Who is there?’ He said, ‘I am Gabriel.’ It was said, ‘Who is with you?’ He said, ‘Muḥammad.’ They said, ‘Was he called?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘Welcome Muḥammad; his coming is well.’ Then the door was opened; and when I arrived in the fifth region, behold, I saw Aaron. And Gabriel said, ‘This is Aaron, salute him.’ And I did so, and he returned it, and said, ‘Welcome, good brother and Prophet.’ After that Gabriel took me to the sixth heaven, and asked the door to be opened; and they said, ‘Who is there?’ He said, ‘I am Gabriel.’ They said, ‘And who is with you?’ He said, ‘Muḥammad.’ They said, ‘Is he called?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘Welcome Muḥammad; his coming is well.’ Then the door was opened; and when I entered the sixth heaven, behold, I saw Moses. And Gabriel said, ‘This is Moses, salute him.’ And I did so; and he returned it, and said, ‘Welcome, good brother and Prophet.’ And when I passed him, he wept. And I said to him, ‘What makes you weep?’ He said, ‘Because one is sent after me, of whose people more will enter Paradise than of mine.’ After that Gabriel took me up to the seventh heaven, and asked the door to be opened; and it was said, ‘Who is it?’ He said, ‘I am Gabriel.’ And it was said, ‘Who is with you?’ He said, ‘Muḥammad.’ They said, ‘Was he called?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘Welcome Muḥammad; his coming is well.’ Then I entered the seventh heaven, and behold, I saw Abraham. And Gabriel said, ‘This is Abraham, your father, salute him’; which I did, and he returned it, and said, ‘Welcome good son and good Prophet.’ After that I was taken up to the tree called Sidratu ʾl-Muntahā; and behold its fruits were like water-pots, and its leaves like elephant’s ears. And Gabriel said, ‘This is Sidratu ʾl-Muntahā.’ And I saw four rivers there; two of them hidden, and two manifest. I said to Gabriel, ‘What are these?’ He said, ‘These two concealed rivers are in Paradise; and the two manifest are the Nile and the Euphrates.’ After that, I was shown the Baitu ʾl-Maʿmūr. After that, a vessel full of wine, another full of milk, and another of honey, were brought to me; and I took the milk and drank it. And Gabriel said, ‘Milk is religion; you and your people will be of it.’ After that the divine orders for prayers were fifty every day. Then I returned, and passed by Moses; and he said, ‘What have you been ordered?’ I said, ‘Fifty prayers every day.’ Then Moses said, ‘Verily, your people will not be able to perform fifty prayers every day; and verily, I swear by God, I tried men before you; I applied a remedy to the sons of Israel, but it had not the desired effect. Then return to your Lord, and ask your people to be released from that.’ And I returned; and ten prayers were taken off. Then I went to Moses, and he said as before; and I returned to God’s court, and ten prayers more were curtailed. Then I returned to Moses, and he said as before; then I returned to God’s court, and ten more were taken off. And I went to Moses, and he said as before; then I returned to God, and ten more were lessened. Then I went to Moses, and he said as before; then I went to God’s court, and was ordered five prayers every day. Then I went to Moses, and he said, ‘How many have you been ordered?’ I said, ‘Five prayers every day.’ He said, ‘Verily, your people will not be able to perform five prayers every day; for, verily, I tried men before you, and applied the severest remedy to the sons of Israel. Then return to your Lord, and ask them to be lightened.’ I said, ‘I have asked Him till I am quite ashamed; I cannot return to Him again. But I am satisfied, and resign the work of my people to God.’ Then, when I passed from that place, a crier called out, ‘I have established My divine commandments, and have made them easy to My servants.’”

Sūratu ʾl-Miʿrāj is a title of the XVIIth chapter of the Qurʾān, in the first verse of which there is a reference to the night journey of Muḥammad. It is called also the Sūratu Banī Isrāʾīl, or the Chapter of the Children of Israel.

MĪRĀS̤ (ميراث‎). [[INHERITANCE].]

MĪRZĀ (ميرزا‎). A title of respect given to persons of good family.

MIRZABAH, MIRZABBAH (مرزبة‎). “A clod-crusher.” The iron hammer with which the dead are beaten who cannot reply satisfactorily to the questions put to them by Munkar and Nakīr. Called also Mit̤raqah (مطرقة‎). [[PUNISHMENTS OF THE GRAVE].]

MĪS̤ĀQ (ميثاق‎). “A covenant.” A word used in the Qurʾān for God’s covenant with his people. [[COVENANT].]

MISHKĀTU ʾL-MAṢĀBĪḤ (مشكاة المصابيح‎). A well-known book of Sunnī tradition, much used by Sunnī Muslims in India, and frequently quoted in the present work. It was originally compiled by the Imām Ḥusain al-Bag͟hawī, the celebrated commentator, who died A.H. 510 or 516, and called the Maṣābīḥu ʾs-Sunnah, or the “Lamps of the Traditions.” In the year A.H. 737, Shaik͟h Walīyu ʾd-dīn revised the work of al-Bag͟hawī, adding an additional chapter to each section, and called it the Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābīḥ, or the “Niche for lamps.” In the time of the Emperor Akbar, Shaik͟h ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq translated the work into Persian, and added a commentary. (See Kashfu ʾz̤-Z̤unūn, in loco.)

MISKĪN (مسكين‎). “A poor person.” Heb. [Eccles. ix. 15], ‏מִסְכֵּן‎. According to Muslim law, a person who has no property whatever, as distinguished from a faqīr (فقير‎), or a person who possesses a little property, but is poor. (Hidāyah, vol. i. p. 54.)

MIS̤QĀL (مثقال‎). An Arabic weight, which frequently occurs in Muḥammadan law books. Richardson gives it at a dram and three-sevenths. It is also used for a gold coin of that weight. [[MONEY].]

MIṢR (مصر‎). [[EGYPT].]

MISWĀK (مسواك‎). (1) A tooth-cleaner made of wood, about a span long. It is preferred when made of a wood which has a bitter flavour. The Salvadora Indica is the tree, the wood of which is used in India.

(2) The act of cleaning the teeth, which is a religious ceremony founded upon the example of Muḥammad, and forms the first part of the waẓūʾ, or “ablution before prayer.”

The Prophet was particularly careful in the observance of miswāk (see Mishkāt, book iii. ch. 4). It is amongst those things which are called fit̤rah (q.v.).

MIT̤RAQAH (مطرقة‎). The iron hammer or mace with which the infidels will be smitten in their graves by the angels Munkar and Nakīr. Persian gurz. [[PUNISHMENTS OF THE GRAVE].]

MIYĀN (ميان‎). A Persian word, used as a title of respect for the descendants of celebrated Muḥammadan saints.

MĪZĀN (مـيـزان‎), pl. mawāzīn. Heb. pl. ‏מֹאזְנַיִם‎. Lit. “A balance.” (1) The law contained in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xlii. 16]: “God is He who hath sent down the Book with truth and the balance.” (2) The scales in which the actions of all men shall be weighed. [Sūrah xxi. 47]: “Just balances will be set up for the Day of the Resurrection, neither shall any soul be wronged in aught; though, were a work but the weight of a grain of mustard seed, we would bring it forth to be weighed: and our reckoning will suffice.”

Muḥammad is related by ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn ʿAmr to have said: “Verily, God will bring a Muslim into the presence of all men on the Day of Judgment, and will show him ninety-nine large books, and each book as long as the eye can reach. Then God will say to him, ‘Do you deny anything in these books? Have my writers injured you?’ And the Muslim will say, ‘O my Lord, I deny nothing that is in them.’ Then God will say, ‘Have you any excuse?’ And he will say, ‘No.’ Then God will say, ‘I have good news for you, for there is no oppression in this day.’ Then God will bring forth a piece of paper, on which is written: ‘I bear witness that there is no deity but God, and I bear witness that Muḥammad is His servant and apostle.’ And God will say, ‘Go and weigh your actions.’ And the Muslim will say, ‘What is this bit of paper compared with those large books?’ And God will say, ‘This bit of paper is heavy, weigh it.’ Then the books will be put in the scale, and the bit of paper in the other, and the books containing the actions will be light, and the bit of paper, whereon is written the creed of the Muslim, will be heavy.” (See Collection of Ḥadīs̤ by at-Tirmiẕī.)

The commentators say that the scales will be held by the angel Gabriel, and that they are of so vast a size, one hangs over Paradise, and the other over Hell, and they are capacious enough to contain both heaven and earth. Though some are willing to understand what is said in the Traditions concerning this balance allegorically, and only as a figurative representation of God’s equity, yet the more ancient and orthodox opinion is that it is to be taken literally; and since words and actions, being mere accidents, are not capable of being themselves weighed, they say that the books wherein they are written will be thrown into the scales, and according as those wherein the good or the evil actions are recorded shall preponderate, sentence will be given; those whose balances laden with their good works shall be heavy, will be saved; but those whose balances are light, will be condemned. Nor will anyone have cause to complain that God suffers any good actions to pass unrewarded, because the wicked obtain rewards for the good they do in the present life, and therefore can expect no favour in the next.

The old Jewish writers make mention of the books to be produced at the Last Day, wherein men’s actions are registered, as of the balance wherein they shall be weighed, and the Bible itself seems to have given the first notion of both. But what the Persian Magi believe of the balance comes nearest to the Muḥammadan opinion. They hold that on the Day of Judgment, two angels, named Mihr and Sorush, will stand on the bridge between heaven and hell, and examine every person as he passes; that the former, who represents the divine mercy, will hold a balance in his hand, to weigh the actions of men; that, according to the report he shall make thereof to God, sentence will be pronounced, and those whose good works are found more ponderous, if they turn the scale but by the weight of a hair, will be permitted to pass forward to Paradise; but those whose good works shall be found light, will be, by the other angel, who represents God’s justice, precipitated from the bridge into hell.

MODERATION. Arabic iqtiṣād (اقتصاد‎). According to Muḥammad’s teaching, moderation in all religious matters is better than excessive piety, and a chapter in the Traditions is devoted to the subject. He is related to have said:—

“The best act in God’s sight is that which is constantly attended to, although in a small degree.”

“Do what you are able conveniently; because God will not be tired of rewarding as long as you are not tired of doing.”

“You must continue at your prayers as long as it is agreeable to you, and when you are tired sit down.”

“Verily, religion is easy, therefore hold it firm.” (See Mishkāt, Bābu ʾl-Iqtiṣād.)

MODESTY (Arabic ḥayāʾ حياء‎) is frequently commended in the traditional sayings of Muḥammad, who is related to have said:—

“Modesty is a branch of faith.”

“Verily, modesty and faith are joined together.” (Mishkāt, book xxii. ch. xix.)

MONASTICISM Arabic rahbānīyah (رهبانية‎) was forbidden by Muḥammad. It is related in the Traditions that ʿUs̤mān ibn Maz̤ʿūn came to the Prophet with the request that he might retire from society and become a monk (rāhib). The Prophet replied, “The retirement which becomes my people is to sit in the corner of a mosque and wait for the time of prayer.” (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. 8.)

In the Qurʾān, the Christians are charged with inventing the monastic life. [Sūrah lvii. 27]: “We gave them the Gospel, and we put into the hearts of those who follow him, kindness and compassion; but as to the monastic life, they invented it themselves.”

According to the Hidāyah (vol. ii. p. 215), capitation-tax is not to be imposed upon Rāhibs, whether Christian or Pagan, but this is a matter of dispute.

MONEY. There are three coins mentioned in the Qurʾān, (1) Qint̤ār (قنطار‎), (2) Dīnār (دينار‎), (3) Dirham (درهم‎), pl. Darāhim.

(1) Qint̤ār. [Sūrah iii. 68]: “Among the people of the Book are those to one of whom, if you entrust a qint̤ār, he will restore it.”

In the Qāmūs, it is said that a qint̤ār was a gold coin of the value of 200 dīnārs, but Muḥammad T̤āhir, the author of the Majmaʿu ʾl-Biḥār (p. 173), says it implies a very considerable sum of money, as much gold as will go into the hide of a cow. It is generally translated talent.

(2) Dīnār. [Sūrah iii. 68]: “There are those to whom, if thou entrust a dīnār, they will not restore it to thee.” It was the denarius, or a small gold coin.

(3) Dirham. [Sūrah xii. 20]: “And they sold him for a mean price, dirhams counted out.” A silver drachma. [[QINTAR], [DINAR], [DIRHAM], [WEIGHTS].]

Mr. Prinsep says: “The silver rupee (rupya, silver piece), now current in Muslim countries, was introduced, according to Abulfazel, by Sher Shah, who usurped the throne of Delhi from Humayoon in the year 1542. Previous to his time, the Arabic dirhim (silver drachma), the gold dinar (denarius auri), and the copper fuloos (follis), formed the currency of the Moghul dominions. Sher Shah’s rupee had on one side the Muḥammadan creed, on the other the emperor’s name and the date in Persian, both encircled in an annular Hindee inscription. Since ‘the same coin was revived and made more pure,’ in Akber’s reign, we may assume the original weight of the rupee, from Abulfazel’s statement, to have been 11¼ máshas. Akber’s square rupee, called from its inscription the jilály, was of the same weight and value. This coin was also called the chahár-yáree, from the four friends of the Prophet, Abubekr, Omar, Osman, Ali, whose names are inscribed on the margin. This rupee is supposed by the vulgar to have talismanic power.”

MONOGAMY. Although polygamy is sanctioned in the Qurʾān, the words, “and if ye fear that ye cannot be equitable, then only one” ([Sūrah iv. 3]), would seem to imply a leaning to monogamy, as the safest and most discreet form of matrimony. The author of the Ak͟hlāq-i-Jalālī says: “Excepting, indeed, in the case of kings, who marry to multiply offspring, and towards whom the wife has no alternative but obedience, plurality of wives is not defensible. Even in their case it were better to be cautious; for husband and wife are like heart and body, and like as one heart cannot supply life to two bodies, one man can hardly provide for the management of two homes.” (Thompson’s English Translation, p. 266.)

MONOPOLY. Arabic iḥtikār (احتكار‎). A monopoly of the necessaries of life (as, for example, the hoarding up of grain with the object of raising its price) is forbidden in Muḥammadan law. For the Prophet has said:—

“Whoever monopolizeth is a sinner.”

“Whosoever keepeth back grain forty days, in order to increase its price, is both a forsaker of God, and is forsaken of God.” (Mishkāt, book xii. ch. x.; Hidāyah, vol. iv. p. 114.)

MONTH. Arabic shahr (شهر‎), pl. shuhūr. The months of the Muḥammadan year are lunar, and the first of the month is reckoned from the sunset immediately succeeding the appearance of the new moon (hilāl). The names of the months are: (1) Muḥarram محرّم‎; (2) Ṣafar صفر‎; (3) Rabīʿu ʾl-Awwal ربيع الاول‎; (4) Rabīʿu ʾl-Āk͟hir ربيع الاخر‎; (5) Jumādā ʾl-Ūlā جمادى الاولى‎; (6) Jumādā ʾl-Uk͟hrā جمادى الاخرى‎; (7) Rajab رجب‎; (8) Shaʿbān شعبان‎; (9) Ramaẓān رمضان‎; (10) Shawwāl شوّال‎; (11) Ẕū ʾl-Qaʿdah ذو القعدة‎; (12) Ẕū ʾl-Ḥijjah ذو الحجة‎.

Four of these months are held to be sacred, namely, Muḥarram, Rajab, Ẕū ʾl-Qaʿdah, Ẕū ʾl-Ḥijjah, and according to the teaching of the Qurʾān ([Sūrah ix. 36]), it is not lawful for Muslims to fight during these months, except when they attack those “who join other gods with God, even as they attack you one and all.”

The names of the months seem to have been given at a time when the intercalary year was in force, although Muslim writers assume that the names were merely given to the months as they then stood at the time when they were so named. For a discussion of the formation of the Muḥammadan year, the reader is referred to that article. [[YEAR].]

(1) Muḥarram is the first month in the Muḥammadan calendar, and is so called because, both in the pagan age and in the time of Muḥammad, it was held unlawful (ḥarām) to go to war in this month. It is considered a most auspicious month, and Muḥammad is related to have said, “Whosoever shall fast on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in this month, shall be removed from hell fire a distance of seven hundred years journey; and that he who shall keep awake the first night of this month, shall be forgiven all the sins of the past year; and he who shall fast the whole of the first day, shall be kept from sin for the next two years.” (Hanīsu ʾl-Waizīn, p. 154.) The first ten days of this month are observed in commemoration of the martyrdom of al-Ḥusain, and the tenth day is the ʿĀshūrāʾ fast.

(2) Ṣafar, the second month, is supposed to derive its name from ṣafir, “empty,” either because in it the Arabians went forth to war and left their homes empty, or, according to Rubeh, because they left whom they attacked empty. According to some writers, it was so named from ṣufār, “yellowness,” because when it was first so called, it was autumn, when the leaves bore a yellowish tint. (Vide Lane’s Arabic Dict.; G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah.) It is held to be the most unlucky and inauspicious month in the whole year, for in it, it is said, Adam was turned out of Eden. (See Hanīsu ʾl-Waizīn.) It was during this month that the Prophet was taken ill, but his partial recovery took place on the last Wednesday.

(3) Rabīʿu ʾl-Awwal, and (4) Rabīʿu ʾl-Āk͟hir, the first and second spring months, are said to have been so named when the calendar was first formed, and when these months occurred in the spring. Muḥammad died on the 12th day of the Rabīʿu ʾl-Awwal.

(5) Jumādā ʾl-Ūlā, and (6) Jumādā ʾl-Uk͟hrā, are the fifth and sixth months, about which there is some discussion as to the origin of the name. Mr. Lane, in his Dictionary, says the two months to which the name Jamādā (freezing) is applied, are said to be so called because, when they were so named, they fell in the season of freezing water; but this derivation seems to have been invented when the two months thus named had fallen back into, or beyond, the winter, for when they received this appellation, the former of them evidently commenced in March, and the latter ended in May. Therefore, I hold the opinion of M. Caussin de Perceval, that they were thus called because falling in a period when the earth had become dry and hard, by reason of paucity of rain, jamād being an epithet applied to land upon which rain has not fallen, which opinion is confirmed by the obvious derivation of the names of other months. (See Lane’s Arabic Dict. in loco.)

(7) Rajab, the “honoured” month, so called because of the honour in which the month was held in the Times of Ignorance, inasmuch as war was not permitted during this month. The Prophet is related to have said that the month Rajab was like a snowy white fountain flowing from heaven itself, and that he who fasts on this month will drink of the waters of life. It is called Rajab-i-Muẓar, because the Muẓar tribe held it in high esteem. It is usual for religious Muslims to spend the first Friday night (i.e. our Thursday night) of this month in prayer.

(8) Shaʿbān, the month of separation (called also the Shahru ʾn-Nabī, “the Prophet’s month”), is so called because the ancient Arabians used to separate, or disperse themselves, in this month in search of water (for when the months were regulated by the solar year, this month corresponded partly to June and partly to July), or, as some say, for predatory expeditions. On the fifteenth day of this month is the Shab-i-Barāt, or “Night of Record,” upon which it is said that God registers annually all the actions of mankind which they are to perform during the year, and upon which Muḥammad enjoined his followers to keep awake the whole night and to repeat one hundred rakʿah prayers. [[SHAB-I-BARAT].]

(9) Ramaẓān, the ninth month of the Muḥammadan year, is that which is observed as a strict fast. The word is derived from ramẓ, “to burn,” because it is said that, when the month was first named, it occurred in the hot season; or because the month’s fast is supposed to burn away the sins of men. (See G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah.) The excellence of this month is much extolled by Muḥammad, who said that during this month the gates of Paradise are opened, and the gates of Hell shut. (Mishkāt, book vii. chap. i. sec. 1.) [[RAMAZAN].]

(10) Shawwāl, lit. “a tail,” is the tenth month of the lunar year, and, according to Arabic lexicons (see G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah, Qāmūs, &c.), it is so called because, when first named, it coincided with the season when the she-camels, being seven or eight months gone with young, raised their tails; or, because it was the month for hunting. The Arabs used to say that it was an unlucky month in which to make marriage contracts, but the Prophet ignored their thus auguring, and married ʿĀyishah in this month. The ʿĪdu ʾl-Fit̤r, or “the Feast of Breaking the Fast,” occurs on the first of this month.

(11) Ẕū ʾl-Qaʿdah, or the month of truce, is the eleventh month, and so called by the ancient Arabs, because it was a month in which warfare was not conducted, and in which the people were engaged in peaceful occupations.

(12) Ẕū ʾl-Ḥijjah, the month of the Pilgrimage, is the last month of the Muḥammadan calendar. It is the month in which the pilgrimage to Makkah must be made, a visit to the sacred city at another time having in no way the merits of a pilgrimage. The Ḥajj, or “Pilgrimage,” is performed upon the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth of this month. The ʿĪdu ʾl-Aẓḥā, or “Feast of Sacrifice,” is held on the tenth. [[HAJJ].]

MORTGAGE. [[IJARAH].]

MOON. Arabic qamar (قمر‎). The moon is frequently mentioned in the Qurʾān. Muḥammad on three occasions swears by it ([Sūrahs lxxiv. 35]; [lxxxiv. 18]; [xci. 2]), and it is said to have been set in the heavens for a light ([Sūrahs x. 5]; [lxxi. 15]), to run to its appointed goal ([Sūrahs xxxv. 14]; [xxxi. 7]), and that it will be eclipsed at the Day of Judgment ([Sūrah lxxv. 8]). The LIVth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, which is entitled the Sūratu ʾl-Qamar, begins with a reference to the splitting of the moon, which is a matter of controversy. It reads: “The hour draws nigh and the moon is split asunder. But if they see a sign, they turn aside and say magic continues.”

Al-Baiẓāwī refers it to a miracle, and says the unbelievers having asked Muḥammad for a sign, the moon appeared to be cloven in twain. But the most natural explanation of the passage is, that the expression refers to one of the signs of the Resurrection.

At an eclipse of the moon, a devout Muslim is expected to recite a two rakʿah prayer.

MOORS. The name given to the Muḥammadan conquerors of Spain, on account of their having come from the ancient Mauri, or Mauretania, now known as the Empire of Morocco. The word Mauri is supposed to have been derived from the Alexandrian word μαυροί, “blacks.” (See Smith’s Dict. of Greek and Roman Geography: Mauretania.)

MOSES. Arabic Mūsā (موسى‎). Heb. ‏מֹשֶׁח‎. According to Muḥammadanism, he is one of the six great prophets who founded dispensations, and to whom the Taurāt was revealed. His special title, or kalimah, is Kalīmu ʾllāh, “One who conversed with God.” A lengthy account is given of his intercourse with Pharaoh and his dealings with the Children of Israel in the Qurʾān, which we take from Mr. Lane’s Selections, together with the remarks of the Jalālān, al-Baiẓāwī, and other commentators, in italics. (Stanley Lane-Poole’s new ed. of Lane’s Selections, p. 97.)

“We will rehearse unto thee of the history of Moses and Pharaoh with truth, for the sake of people who believe. Verily Pharaoh exalted himself in the land of Egypt, and divided its inhabitants into parties to serve him. He rendered weak one class of them, namely the children of Israel, slaughtering their male children, and preserving alive their females, because one of the diviners said unto him, A child will be born among the children of Israel, who will be the means of the loss of thy kingdom;—for he was one of the corrupt doers. And We desired to be gracious unto those who had been deemed weak in the land, and to make them models of religion, and to make them the heirs of the possessions of Pharaoh, and to establish them in the land of Egypt, and in Syria, and to show Pharaoh and Hāmān and their forces what they feared from them. And We said, by revelation, unto the mother of Moses, the child above-mentioned, of whose birth none knew save his sister, Suckle him; and when thou fearest for him cast him in the river Nile, and fear not his being drowned, nor mourn for his separation; for We will restore him unto thee, and will make him one of the apostles. So she suckled him three months, during which he wept not; and then she feared for him, wherefore she put him into an ark pitched within and furnished with a bed for him, and she closed it and cast it in the river Nile by night. And the family of Pharaoh lighted upon him in the ark on the morrow of that night; so they put it before him, and it was opened, and Moses was taken forth from it, sucking milk from his thumb: that he might be unto them eventually an enemy and an affliction; for Pharaoh and Hāmān (his Wezeer) and their forces were sinners; wherefore they were punished by his hand. And the wife of Pharaoh said, when he and his servants had proposed to kill him, He is delight of the eye unto me and unto thee: do not ye kill him: peradventure he may be serviceable unto us, or we may adopt him as a son. And they complied with her desire; and they knew not the consequence.

“And the heart of the mother of Moses, when she knew of his having been lighted upon, became disquieted; and she had almost made him known to be her son, had We not fortified her heart with patience, that she might be one of the believers in Our promise. And she said unto his sister Maryam (Mary), Trace him, that thou mayest know his case. And she watched him from a distance, while they knew not that she was his sister and that she was watching him. And We forbade him the breasts, preventing him from taking the breast of any nurse except his mother, before his restoration to her; so his sister said, Shall I direct you unto the people of a house who will nurse him for you, and who will be faithful unto him? And her offer was accepted; therefore she brought his mother, and he took her breast: so she returned with him to her house, as God hath said,—And We restored him to his mother, that her eye might be cheerful and that she might not grieve, and that she might know that the promise of God to restore him unto her was true: but the greater number of them (that is, of mankind) know not this. And it appeared not that this was his sister and this his mother; and he remained with her until she had weaned him; and her hire was paid her, for every day a deenár, which she took because it was the wealth of a hostile person. She then brought him unto Pharaoh, and he was brought up in his abode, as God hath related of him in the Chapter of the Poets ([Sūrah xxvi. 17]), where Pharaoh said unto Moses, Have we not brought thee up among us a child, and hast thou not dwelt among us thirty years of thy life?

“And when he had attained his age of strength (thirty years or thirty and three), and had become of full age (forty years), We bestowed on him wisdom and knowledge in religion, before he was sent as a prophet; and thus do We reward the well-doers. And he entered the city of Pharaoh, which was Munf [Memphis], after he had been absent from him a while, at a time when its inhabitants were inadvertent, at the hour of the noon-sleep, and he found therein two men fighting; this being of his party (namely an Israelite), and this of his enemies, an Egyptian, who was compelling the Israelite to carry firewood to the kitchen of Pharaoh without pay: and he who was of his party begged him to aid him against him who was of his enemies. So Moses said unto the latter, Let him go. And it is said that he replied to Moses, I have a mind to put the burden on thee. And Moses struck him with his fist, and killed him. But he intended not to kill him; and he buried him in the sand. He said, This is of the work of the devil, who hath excited my anger; for he is an enemy unto the son of Adam, a manifest misleader of him. He said, in repentance, O my Lord, verily I have acted injuriously unto mine own soul, by killing him; therefore forgive me. So He forgave him: for He is the Very Forgiving, the Merciful.—He said, O my Lord, by the favours with which Thou hast favoured me, defend me, and I will by no means be an assistant to the sinners after this.—And the next morning he was afraid in the city, watching for what might happen unto him on account of the slain man; and lo, he who had begged his assistance the day before was crying out to him for aid against another Egyptian. Moses said unto him, Verily thou art a person manifestly in error, because of that which thou hast done yesterday and to-day. But when he was about to lay violent hands upon him who was an enemy unto them both (namely unto Moses and him who begged his aid), the latter said, imagining that he would lay violent hands upon him, because of that which he had said unto him, O Moses, dost thou desire to kill me, as thou killedst a soul yesterday? Thou desirest not aught but to be an oppressor in the land, and thou desirest not to be [one] of the reconcilers.—And the Egyptian heard that: so he knew that the killer was Moses; wherefore he departed unto Pharaoh and acquainted him therewith, and Pharaoh commanded the executioners to slay Moses, and they betook themselves to seek him. But a man who was a believer, of the family of Pharaoh, came from the furthest part of the city, running by a way that was nearer than the way by which they had come: he said, O Moses, verily the chiefs of the people of Pharaoh are consulting respecting thee, to slay thee; therefore go forth from the city: verily I am unto thee one of the admonishers. So he went forth from it in fear, watching in fear of pursuer, or for the aid of God. He said, O my Lord, deliver me from the unjust people of Pharaoh!

“And when he was journeying towards Medyen, which was the city of Shoʾeyb (Shuʿaib), eight days journey from Miṣr (named after Medyen [Madyan] the son of Abraham), and he knew not the way unto it, he said, Peradventure my Lord will direct me unto the right way, or the middle way. And God sent unto him an angel, having in his hand a short spear; and he went with him thither. And when he came unto the water (or well) of Medyen, he found at it a company of men watering their animals; and he found besides them two women keeping away their sheep from the water. He said unto them (namely the two women), What is the matter with you that ye water not? They answered, We shall not water until the pastors shall have driven away their animals; and our father is a very old man, who cannot water the sheep. And he watered for them from another well near unto them, from which he lifted a stone that none could lift but ten persons. Then he retired to the shade of an Egyptian thorn-tree on account of the violence of the heat of the sun: and he was hungry, and he said, O my Lord, verily I am in need of the good provision which Thou shalt send down unto me. And the two women returned unto their father in less time than they were accustomed to do: so he asked them the reason thereof; and they informed him of the person who had watered for them; whereupon he said unto one of them, Call him unto me.

“And one of them came unto him, walking bashfully, with the sleeve of her shift over her face, by reason of her abashment at him: she said, My father calleth thee, that he may recompense thee with the reward of thy having watered for us. And he assented to her call, disliking in his mind the receiving of the reward: but it seemeth that she intended the compensation if he were of such as desired it. And she walked before him; and the wind blew her garment, and her legs were discovered: so he said unto her, Walk behind me and direct me in the way. And she did so, until she came unto her father, who was Shoʾeyb, on whom be peace! and with him was prepared a supper. He said unto him, Sit and sup. But he replied, I fear lest it be a compensation for my having watered for them, and we are a family who seek not a compensation for doing good. He said, Nay, it is my custom and hath been the custom of my fathers to entertain the guest and to give food. So he ate; and acquainted him with his case. And when he had come unto him, and had related to him the story of his having killed the Egyptian and their intention to kill him and his fear of Pharaoh, he replied, Fear not: thou hast escaped from the unjust people. (For Pharaoh had no dominion over Medyen.) One of them [namely of the women] said (and she was the one who had been sent), O my father, hire him to tend our sheep in our stead; for the best whom thou canst hire is the strong, the trustworthy. So he asked her respecting him, and she acquainted him with what hath been above related, his lifting up the stone of the well, and his saying unto her, Walk behind me;—and moreover, that when she had come unto him, and he knew of her presence, he hung down his head and raised it not. He therefore said, Verily I desire to marry thee unto one of these my two daughters, on the condition that thou shalt be a hired servant to me, to tend my sheep, eight years; and if thou fulfil ten years, it shall be of thine own will; and I desire not to lay a difficulty upon thee by imposing as a condition the ten years: thou shalt find me, if God please, one of the just, who are faithful to their covenants. He replied, This be the covenant between me and thee; whichever of the two terms I fulfil, there shall be no injustice against me by demanding an addition thereto; and God is witness of what we say. And the marriage-contract was concluded according to this; and Shoʾeyb ordered his daughter to give unto Moses a rod wherewith to drive away the wild beasts from his sheep: and the rods of the prophets were in his possession; and the rod of Adam, of the myrtle of paradise, fell into her hand; and Moses took it, with the knowledge of Shoʾeyb. ([Sūrah xxviii. 21–28].)

“Hath the history of Moses been related to thee? when he saw fire, during his journey from Medyen on his way to Egypt, and said unto his family, or his wife, Tarry ye here; for I have seen fire: perhaps I may bring you a brand from it, or find at the fire a guide to direct me in the way. For he had missed the way in consequence of the darkness of the night. And when he came unto it (and it was a bramble bush), he was called to by a voice saying, O Moses, verily I am thy Lord; therefore pull off thy shoes; for thou art in the holy valley of Tuwa. And I have chosen thee from among thy people; wherefore hearken attentively unto that which is revealed unto thee by Me. Verily I am God: there is no Deity except Me; therefore worship Me, and perform prayer in remembrance of Me. Verily the hour is coming: I will manifest it unto mankind, and its nearness shall appear unto them by its signs, that every soul may be recompensed therein for its good and evil work: therefore let not him who believeth not in it, and followeth his lust, hinder thee from believing in it, lest thou perish. And what is that in thy right hand, O Moses?—He answered, It is my rod, whereon I lean and wherewith I beat down leaves for my sheep that they may eat them; and I have other uses for it, as the carrying of provision and the water-skin, and the driving away of reptiles. He said, Cast it down, O Moses. So he cast it down; and lo, it was a serpent running along. God said, Take it, and fear it not: we will restore it to its former state. And he put his hand into its mouth; whereupon it became again a rod. And God said, And put thy right hand to thy left arm-pit, and take it forth: it shall come forth white, without evil, (that is without leprosy; shining like the rays of the sun, dazzling the sight,) as another sign, that We may show thee the greatest of our signs of thine apostleship. (And when he desired to restore his hand to its first state, he put it as before described, and drew it forth.) Go as an apostle unto Pharaoh and those who are with him; for he hath acted with exceeding impiety by arrogating to himself divinity.—Moses said, O my Lord, dilate my bosom, that it may bear the message, and make my affair easy unto me, and loose the knot of my tongue (this had arisen from his having been burned in his mouth by a live coal when he was a child), that they may understand my speech when I deliver the message. And appoint unto me a Wezeer of my family, namely Aaron [Haroon] my brother. Strengthen my back by him, and make him a colleague in my affair, that we may glorify Thee much, and remember Thee much; for Thou knowest us.

“God replied, Thou hast obtained thy petition, O Moses, and We have been gracious unto thee another time: forasmuch as We revealed unto thy mother what was revealed, when she gave birth to thee and feared that Pharaoh would kill thee among the others that were born, saying, Cast him into the ark, and then cast him, in the ark, into the river Nile, and the river shall throw him on the shore; then an enemy unto Me and an enemy unto him (namely Pharaoh) shall take him. And I bestowed on thee, after he had taken thee, love from Me, that thou mightest be loved by men, so that Pharaoh and all that saw thee loved thee; and that thou mightest be bred up in Mine eye. Also forasmuch as thy sister Maryam went that she might learn what became of thee, after they had brought nurses and thou hadst refused to take the breast of any one of them, and she said, Shall I direct you unto one who will nurse him? (whereupon her proposal was accepted, and she brought his mother): so We restored thee to thy mother, that her eye might become cheerful and that she might not grieve. And thou slewest a soul, namely the Copt in Egypt, and wast sorry for his slaughter, on account of Pharaoh, and We delivered thee from sorrow; and We tried thee with other trial, and delivered thee from it. And thou stayedst ten years among the people of Medyen, after thou hadst come thither from Egypt, at the abode of Shoʾeyb the prophet, and he married thee to his daughter. Then thou camest according to My decree, as to the time of thy mission, when thou hadst attained the age of forty years, O Moses; and I have chosen thee for Myself. Go thou and thy brother unto the people, with My nine signs, and cease ye not to remember Me. Go ye unto Pharaoh; for he hath acted with exceeding impiety, by arrogating to himself divinity, and speak unto him with gentle speech, exhorting him to relinquish that conduct: peradventure he will consider, or will fear God, and repent. (The [mere] hope with respect to the two [result is expressed] because of God’s knowledge that he would not repent.)—They replied, O our Lord, verily we fear that he may be precipitately violent against us, hastening to punish us, or that he may act with exceeding injustice towards us. He said, Fear ye not; for I am with you: I will hear and will see. Therefore go ye unto him, and say, Verily we are the apostles of thy Lord: therefore send with us the children of Israel unto Syria, and do not afflict them, but cease to employ them in thy difficult works, such as digging and building, and carrying the heavy burden. We have come unto thee with a sign from thy Lord, attesting our veracity in asserting ourselves apostles: and peace be on him who followeth the right direction:—that is, he shall be secure from punishment. Verily it hath been revealed unto us that punishment [shall be inflicted] upon him who chargeth with falsehood that wherewith we have come, and turneth away from it. ([Sūrah xx. 8–50].)

“Then We sent after them, namely the apostles before mentioned [who were Shoʾeyb and his predecessors], Moses, with Our signs unto Pharaoh and his nobles, and they acted unjustly with respect to them, disbelieving in the signs: but see what was the end of the corrupt doers. And Moses said, O Pharaoh, verily I am an apostle from the Lord of the world unto thee. But he charged him with falsehood: so he said, I am right not to say of God aught but the truth. I have come unto you with a proof from your Lord: therefore send with me to Syria the children of Israel.—Pharaoh said unto him, If thou hast come with a sign confirmatory of thy pretension, produce it, if thou be of those who speak truth. So he cast down his rod; and lo, it was a manifest serpent. And he drew forth his hand from his bosom; and lo, it was white and radiant unto the beholders. The nobles of the people of Pharaoh said, Verily this is a knowing enchanter: he desireth to expel you from your land. What then do ye command?—They answered, Put off for a time him and his brother, and send unto the cities collectors [of the inhabitants], that they may bring unto thee every knowing enchanter. And the enchanters came unto Pharaoh. They said, Shall we surely have a reward if we be the party who overcome? He answered, Yea; and verily ye shall be of those who are admitted near unto my person. They said, O Moses, either do thou cast down thy rod, or we will cast down what we have with us. He replied, Cast ye. And when they cast down their cords and their rods, they enchanted the eyes of the men, diverting them from the true perception of them; and they terrified them; for they imagined them to be serpents running; and they performed a great enchantment. And We spake by revelation unto Moses, [saying,] Cast down thy rod. And lo, it swallowed up what they had caused to appear changed. So the truth was confirmed, and that which they had wrought became vain; and they were overcome there, and were rendered contemptible. And the enchanters cast themselves down prostrate: they said, We believe in the Lord of the worlds, the Lord of Moses and Aaron. Pharaoh said, Have ye believed in Him before I have given you permission? Verily this is a plot that ye have contrived in the city, that ye may cause its inhabitants to go forth from it. But ye shall know what shall happen unto you at my hand. I will assuredly cut off your hands and your feet on the opposite sides—the right hand of each and his left foot: then I will crucify you all.—They replied, Verily unto our Lord shall we return, after our death, of whatever kind it be; and thou dost not take vengeance on us but because we believed in the signs of our Lord when they came unto us. O our Lord, pour upon us patience, and cause us to die Muslims! ([Sūrah vii. 101–123]).

“And Pharaoh said, Let me alone that I may kill Moses, (for they had diverted him from killing him,) and let him call upon his Lord to defend him from me. Verily I fear lest he change your religion, and prevent your worshipping me, or that he may cause corruption to appear in the earth (that is, slaughter, and other offences).—And Moses said unto his people, having heard this, Verily, I have recourse for defence unto my Lord and your Lord from every proud person who believeth not in the day of account. And a man who was a believer, of the family of Pharaoh (it is said that he was the son of his paternal uncle,) who concealed his faith, said, Will ye kill a man because he saith, My Lord is God,—when he hath come unto you with evident proofs from your Lord? And if he be a liar, on him [will be] the evil consequence of his lie; but if he be a speaker of truth, somewhat of that punishment with which he threatened you will befall you speedily. Verily God directeth not him who is a transgressor, or polytheist, [and] a liar. O my people, ye have the dominion to-day, being overcomers in the land of Egypt; but who will defend us from the punishment of God if ye kill his favourite servants, if it come unto us?—Pharaoh said, I will not advise you to do [aught] save what I see to be advisable, which is, to kill Moses; and I will not direct you save into the right way. And he who had believed said, O my people, verily I fear for you the like of the day of the confederates, the like of the condition of the people of Noah and ʾA′d and Thamood and those who have lived after them: and God willeth not injustice unto His servants. And, O my people, verily I fear for you the day of calling (that is, the day of resurrection, when the people of Paradise and those of Hell shall often call one to another). On the day when ye shall turn back from the place of reckoning unto hell, ye shall have no protector against God. And he whom God shall cause to err shall have no director. Moreover, Joseph (who was Joseph the son of Jacob according to one opinion, and who lived unto the time of Moses; and Joseph the son of Abraham the son of Joseph the son of Jacob, according to another opinion) came unto you before Moses, with evident miraculous proofs; but ye ceased not to be in doubt respecting that wherewith he came unto you, until, when he died, ye said without proof God will by no means send an apostle after him. Thus God causeth to err him who is a transgressor, or polytheist, [and] a sceptic. They who dispute respecting the signs of God, without any convincing proof having come unto them, their disputing is very hateful with God and with those who have believed. Thus God sealeth every heart (or the whole heart) of a proud contumacious person.

“And Pharaoh said, O Hámán, build for me a tower, that I may reach the avenues, the avenues of the heavens, and ascend unto the God of Moses; but verily I think him, namely Moses, a liar in his assertion that he hath any god but myself. And thus the wickedness of his deed was made to seem comely unto Pharaoh, and he was turned away from the path of rectitude; and the artifice of Pharaoh [ended] not save in loss. And he who had believed said, O my people, follow me: I will direct you into the right way. O my people, this present life is only a temporary enjoyment; but the world to come is the mansion of firm continuance. Whosoever doeth evil, he shall not be recompensed save with the like of it; and whosoever doeth good, whether male or female, and is a believer, these shall enter Paradise; they shall be provided for therein without reckoning. And, O my people, how is it that I invite you unto salvation, and ye invite me unto the Fire? Ye invite me to deny God, and to associate with Him that of which I have no knowledge; but I invite you unto the Mighty, the Very Forgiving. [There is] no doubt but that the false gods to the worship of which ye invite me are not to be invoked in this world, nor in the world to come, and that our return [shall be] unto God, and that the transgressors shall be the companions of the Fire. And ye shall remember, when ye see the punishment, what I say unto you; and I commit my case unto God; for God seeth His servants.—This he said when they threatened him for opposing their religion. Therefore God preserved him from the evils which they had artfully devised (namely slaughter), and a most evil punishment encompassed the people of Pharaoh, with Pharaoh himself (namely the drowning); then they shall be exposed to the Fire morning and evening; and on the day when the hour [of judgment] shall come, it shall be said unto the angels, Introduce the people of Pharaoh into the most severe punishment. ([Sūrah xl. 27–49].)

“And the nobles of the people of Pharaoh said unto him, Will thou let Moses and his people go that they may act corruptly in the earth, by inviting to disobey thee, and leave thee and thy gods? (For he had made for them little idols for them to worship, and he said, I am your Lord and their Lord;—and therefore he said, I am your Lord the Most High.) He answered, We will slaughter their male children and will suffer their females to live: and verily we shall prevail over them. And thus they did unto them; wherefore the children of Israel complained, and Moses said unto his people, Seek aid of God, and be patient; for the earth belongeth unto God: He causeth whomsoever He will of His servants to inherit it; and the prosperous end is for those who fear God. They replied, We have been afflicted before thou camest unto us and since thou hast come unto us. He said, Perhaps your Lord will destroy your enemy and cause you to succeed [him] in the earth, and He will see how ye will act therein.—And We had punished the family of Pharaoh with dearth and with scarcity of fruits, that they might be admonished and might believe. But when good betided them, they said, This is ours:—that is, we deserve it;—and they were not grateful for it; and if evil befell them, they ascribed it to the ill luck of Moses and those believers who were with him. Nay, their ill-luck was only with God, He brought it upon them: but the greater number of them know not this. And they said unto Moses, Whatsoever sign thou bring unto us, to enchant us therewith, we will not believe in thee. So he uttered an imprecation upon them, and We sent upon them the flood, which entered their houses and reached to the throats of the persons sitting, seven days, and the locusts, which ate their corn and their fruits, and the kummal, or grubs, or a kind of tick, which sought after what the locusts had left, and the frogs, which filled their houses and their food, and the blood in their waters; distinct signs: but they were proud, refusing to believe in them, and were a wicked people. And when the punishment fell upon them, they said, O Moses, supplicate for us thy Lord, according to that which He hath covenanted with thee, namely, that He will withdraw from us the punishment if we believe: verily, if thou remove from us the punishment, we will assuredly believe thee, and we will assuredly send with thee the children of Israel. But when We removed from them the punishment until a period at which they should arrive, lo, they brake their promise. Wherefore we took vengeance on them, and drowned them in the sea, because they charged our signs with falsehood and were heedless of them. And We caused the people who had been rendered weak, by being enslaved, to inherit the eastern parts of the earth and its western parts, which we blessed with water and trees, (namely Syria); and the gracious word of thy Lord was fulfilled on the children of Israel, because they had been patient; and We destroyed the structures which Pharaoh and his people had built and what they had erected.” ([Sūrah vii. 124–133].)

“We brought the children of Israel across the sea, and Pharaoh and his troops pursued them with violence and hostility, until, when drowning overtook him, he said, I believe that there is no deity but He in whom the children of Israel believe, and I am one of the Muslims. But Gabriel thrust into his mouth some of the mire of the sea, lest mercy should be granted him, and said, Now thou believest, and thou hast been rebellious hitherto, and wast [one] of the corrupters. But to-day we will raise thee with thy lifeless body from the sea, that thou mayest be a sign unto those who shall come after thee. (It is related, on the authority of Ibn-ʾAbbás, that some of the children of Israel doubted his death; wherefore he was brought forth to them that they might see him.) But verily many men are heedless of Our signs. ([Sūrah x. 90–92].)

“And We brought the children of Israel across the sea; and they came unto a people who gave themselves up to the worship of idols belonging to them; [whereupon] they said, O Moses, make for us a god (an idol for us to worship), like as they have gods. He replied, Verily ye are a people who are ignorant, since ye have requited God’s favour towards you with that which ye have said; for that [religion] in which these are [occupied shall be] destroyed, and vain is that which they do. He said, Shall I seek for you any other deity than God, when He hath preferred you above the peoples of your time. ([Sūrah vii. 134–136].)

“And We caused the thin clouds to shade you from the heat of the sun in the desert, and caused the manna and the quails to descend upon you, and said, Eat of the good things which We have given you for food, and store not up.—But they were ungrateful for the benefit, and stored up; wherefore it was cut off from them. And they injured not Us thereby; but they did injure their own souls.” ([Sūrah ii. 54].)

“Remember, O children of Israel, when ye said, O Moses, we will not bear patiently the having one kind of food, the manna and the quails; therefore supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may produce for us somewhat of that which the earth bringeth forth, of its herbs and its cucumbers and its wheat and its lentils and its onions:—he said unto them, Will ye take in exchange that which is worse for that which is better?—But they refused to recede; therefore he supplicated God, and He said, Get ye down into a great city; for ye shall have therein what ye have asked.—And the marks of abjection and poverty were stamped upon them: so these characteristics necessarily belong to them, even if they are rich, as necessarily as the stamped coin belongeth to its die; and they returned with indignation from God. This was because they did disbelieve in the signs of God, and slay the prophets (as Zechariah and John) unjustly: this was because they rebelled and did transgress.” ([Sūrah ii. 58].)

“And remember when Moses asked drink for his people, who had become thirsty in the desert, and We said, Strike with thy rod the stone. (It was the stone that fled away with his garment: it was light, square, like the head of a man, marble or kedhdhán.) Accordingly he struck it; and there gushed out from it twelve fountains, according to the number of the tribes, all men (each tribe of them) knowing their drinking-place. And We said unto them, Eat ye and drink of the supply of God, and commit not evil in the earth, acting corruptly. ([Sūrah ii. 57].)

“Remember also when We obtained your bond that ye would do according to that which is contained in the Law, and had lifted up over you the mountain, namely Mount Sinai, pulled it up by the roots and raised it over you when ye had refused to accept the Law, and We said, Receive that which We have given you, with resolution, and remember that which is contained in it, to do according thereto: peradventure ye will fear the Fire, or acts of disobedience.—Then ye turned back after that; and had it not been for the grace of God towards you and His mercy, ye had certainly been of those who perish. And ye know those of you who transgressed on the Sabbath, by catching fish, when We had forbidden them to do so, and they were the people of Eyleh, and We said unto them, Be ye apes, driven away from the society of men.—Thereupon they became such, and they perished after three days.—And We made it (namely that punishment) an example unto those who were contemporary with them and those who came after them, and a warning to the pious. ([Sūrah ii. 60–62].)

“And We appointed unto Moses thirty nights, at the expiration of which We would speak to him, on the condition of his fasting during them; and they were [the nights of the month of] Dhu-l-Kaadeh; and he fasted during them: but when they were ended, he disliked the smell of his breath; so he used a tooth-stick; whereupon God commanded him to fast ten other nights, that He might speak to Him with the odour of his breath, as He whose name be exalted hath said, and We completed them by adding ten nights of Dhu-l-Ḥijjeh: so the stated time of his Lord was completed, forty nights. And Moses said unto his brother Aaron, at his departure to the mountain for the private collocution, Be thou my deputy among my people, and act rightly, and follow not the way of the corrupt doers by agreeing with them in acts of disobedience. And when Moses came at Our appointed time, and his Lord spake unto him without an intermediary, he said, O my Lord, show me Thyself, that I may see Thee. He replied, Thou shalt not see Me: but look at the mountain, which is stronger than thou; and if it remain firm in its place, then shalt thou see Me. And when his Lord displayed Himself to the mountain (that is, when there appeared, of His light, half of the tip of His little finger, as related in a tradition which El-Ḥákim hath verified), He reduced it to powder, levelling it even with the ground around it; and Moses fell down in a swoon. And when he recovered, he said, Extolled be Thy perfection! I turn unto Thee repenting, and I am the first of the believers in my time.—God said unto him, O Moses, I have chosen thee above the people of thy time by honouring thee, by My commissions and by My speaking unto thee: therefore receive what I have given thee, and be of those who are grateful. And We wrote for him upon the tables of the Law (which were of the lote-tree of Paradise, or of chrysolite, or of emerald; in number seven, or ten) an admonition concerning every requisite matter of religion, and a distinct explanation of everything; and said, Therefore receive it with resolution, and command thy people to act according to the most excellent [precepts] thereof. ([Sūrah vii. 138–142].)

“And the people of Moses, after it (that is, after his departure for the private collocution), made of their ornaments (which they had borrowed of the people of Pharaoh), a corporeal calf which Es-Sámiree cast for them, and which lowed; for he had the faculty of doing so in consequence of their having put into its mouth some dust taken from beneath the hoof of the horse of Gabriel; and they took it as a god. Did they not see that it spake not to them, nor directed them in the way? They took it as a god, and were offenders. But when they repented, and saw that they had erred, which was after the return of Moses, they said, Verily if our Lord do not have mercy upon us and forgive us, we shall assuredly be of those who perish. ([Sūrah vii. 146–148].)

“And Moses returned unto his people enraged against them, exceedingly sorrowful. He said, O my people, did not your Lord promise you a good true promise, that He would give you the Law? But did the time of my absence seem tedious to you, or did ye desire that indignation from your Lord should befall you, and therefore did ye break your promise to me, and abstain from coming after me?—They answered, We did not break our promise to thee of our own authority; but we were made to carry loads of the ornaments of the people of Pharaoh (which the children of Israel had borrowed of them under pretence of [requiring them for] a wedding, and which remained in their possession), and we cast them into the fire, by order of Es-Sámiree. And in like manner also Es-Sámiree cast their ornaments which he had, and some of the dust which he had taken from the traces of the hoofs of the horse of Gabriel; and he produced unto them a corporeal calf, of flesh and blood, which lowed, by reason of the dust, the property of which is to give life to that into which it is put; and he had put it, after he had moulded the calf, into its mouth. And they (namely Es-Sámiree and his followers) said, This is your god, and the god of Moses; but he hath forgotten his lord here, and gone to seek him. God saith, But did they not see that it returned them not an answer, nor was able to cause them hurt or profit? And Aaron had said unto them, before the return of Moses, O my people, ye are only tried by it; and verily your Lord is the Compassionate; therefore follow me, by worshipping Him, and obey my command. They replied, We will by no means cease to be devoted to the worship of it until Moses return unto us. Moses said after his return, O Aaron, what hindered thee, when thou sawest that they had gone astray, from following me? Hast thou then been disobedient to my command by remaining among them who worshipped another than God?—He answered, O son of my mother, seize me not by my beard (for he had taken hold of his beard with his left hand), nor by [the hair of] my head (for he had taken hold of his hair with his right hand, in anger). Verily I feared lest if I followed thee (for a company of those who worshipped the calf would inevitably have followed me) thou shouldst say, Thou hast made a division among the children of Israel, and hast not waited for my sentence. Moses said, And what was thy motive for doing as thou hast, O Sámiree? He answered, I saw that which they saw not; therefore I took a handful of dust from the foot-marks of the horse of the apostle Gabriel, and cast it into the molten calf; and thus my soul allured me to take a handful of the dust above-mentioned, and to cast it upon that which had no life, that it might have life; and I saw that thy people had demanded of thee that thou wouldst make them a god; so my soul suggested to me that this calf should be their god. Moses said unto him, Then get thee gone from among us, and [the punishment] for thee during the period of thy life [shall be], that thou shalt say unto whomsoever thou shalt see, Touch me not:—(so he used to wander about the desert, and when he touched anyone, or anyone touched him, they both became affected with a burning fever:) and verily for thee is a threat which thou shalt by no means find to be false. And look at thy god, to the worship of which thou hast continued devoted. We will assuredly burn it: then we will assuredly reduce it to powder and scatter it in the sea. (And Moses, after he had slaughtered it, did this.) Your deity is God only, except whom there is no deity. He comprehendeth all things by His knowledge.—Thus, O Moḥammad, do We relate unto thee accounts of what hath happened heretofore; and We have given thee, from Us, an admonition; namely the Kur-án. ([Sūrah xx. 88–99].)

“And they were made to drink down the calf into their hearts (that is, the love of it mingled with their hearts as drink mingleth,) because of their unbelief. ([Sūrah ii. 87].)

“Remember, O children of Israel, when Moses said unto his people who worshipped the calf, O my people, verily ye have injured your own souls by your taking to yourselves the calf as a god; therefore turn with repentance unto your Creator from the worship of it, and slay one another: (that is, let the innocent among you slay the criminal:) this will be best for you in the estimation of your Creator. And he aided you to do that, sending upon you a black cloud, lest one of you should see another and have compassion on him, until there were slain of you about seventy thousand. And thereupon He became propitious towards you, accepting your repentance; for He is the Very Propitious, the Merciful. ([Sūrah ii. 51].)

“Remember, also, O children of Israel, when ye said, having gone forth with Moses to beg pardon of God for your worship of the calf, and having heard his words, O Moses, we will not believe thee until we see God manifestly:—whereupon the vehement sound assailed you, and ye died, while ye beheld what happened to you. Then We raised you to life after ye had been dead, that peradventure ye might give thanks. ([Sūrah ii. 52, 53].)

“And Moses chose from his people seventy men, of those who had not worshipped the calf, by the command of God, at the time appointed by Us for their coming to ask pardon for their companions’ worship of the calf; and he went forth with them; and when the convulsion (the violent earthquake) took them away (because, saith Ibn-ʾAbbás, they did not separate themselves from their people when the latter worshipped the calf), Moses said, O my Lord, if Thou hadst pleased, Thou hadst destroyed them before my going forth with them, that the children of Israel might have beheld it and might not suspect me; and me [also]. Wilt Thou destroy us for that which the foolish among us have done? It is naught but Thy trial: Thou wilt cause to err thereby whom Thou pleasest, and Thou wilt rightly guide whom Thou pleasest. Thou art our guardian; and do Thou forgive us and have mercy upon us; for Thou art the best of those who forgive: and appoint for us in this world what is good, and in the world to come; for unto Thee have we turned with repentance.—God replied, I will afflict with My punishment whom I please, and My mercy extendeth over everything in the world; and I will appoint it, in the world to come, for those who fear and give the legal alms, and those who believe on Our signs, who shall follow the apostle, the illiterate prophet, Moḥammad, whom they shall find written down with them in the Pentateuch and the Gospel, by his name and his description. He will command them that which is right, and forbid them that which is evil; and will allow them as lawful the good things among those forbidden in their law, and prohibit them the impure, as carrion and other things, and will take off from them their burden and the yokes that were upon them, as the slaying of a soul [for an atonement] in repentance, and the cutting off of the mark left by impurity. And those who shall believe in him and honour him and assist him and follow the light which shall be sent down with him, namely the Kur-án, these shall be the prosperous. ([Sūrah vii. 154–156].)

“And remember when Moses said unto his people, O my people, remember the favour of God towards you, since He hath appointed prophets from among you, and made you princes (masters of servants and other attendants), and given you what He hath not given any [other] of the peoples (as the manna and the quails and other things). O my people, enter the Holy Land which God hath decreed for you (namely Syria), and turn not back, lest ye turn losers.—They replied, O Moses, verily there is in it a gigantic people, of the remains of the tribe of ʾA′d, and we will not enter it until they go forth from it; but if they go forth from it, then we will enter.—Thereupon two men, of those who feared to disobey God, namely Joshua and Caleb, of the chiefs whom Moses sent to discover the circumstances of the giants, and upon whom God had conferred favour, and who had concealed what they had seen of the state of the giants, excepting from Moses, wherefore the other chiefs became cowardly, said unto them, Enter ye upon them through the gate of the city, and fear them not; for they are bodies without hearts; and when ye enter it, ye overcome; and upon God place your dependence, if ye be believers.—But they said, O Moses, we will never enter it while they remain therein. Therefore go thou and thy Lord, and fight: for we remain here.—Then Moses said, O my Lord, verily I am not master of any but myself and my brother: therefore distinguish between us and the unrighteous people.—God replied, Verily it (namely the Holy Land) shall be forbidden them forty years; they shall wander in perplexity in the land: and be not thou solicitous for the unrighteous people.—The land through which they wandered was only nine leagues in extent. They used to journey during the night with diligence; but in the morning they found themselves in the place whence they had set forth; and they journeyed during the day in like manner. Thus they did until all of them had become extinct, excepting those who had not attained the age of twenty years; and it is said that they were six hundred thousand. Aaron and Moses died in the desert; and mercy was their lot: but punishment was the lot of those. And Moses begged his Lord, when he was about to die, that He would bring him as near as a stone’s throw to the Holy Land: wherefore He did so. And Joshua was made a prophet after the forty [years], and he gave orders to fight against the giants. So he went with those who were with him, and fought against them: and it was Friday; and the sun stood still for him awhile, until he had made an end of fighting against them. ([Sūrah v. 23–29].)

“Ḳároon [or Korah] was of the people of Moses (he was the son of his paternal uncle, and the son of his maternal aunt, and he believed in him); but he behaved insolently towards them; for We had bestowed upon him such treasures that their keys were heavy burdens for a company of men endowed with strength, in number, as some say, seventy; and some, forty; and some, ten; and some, another number. Remember when his people (the believers among the children of Israel) said unto him, Rejoice not exultingly in the abundance of thy wealth; for God loveth not those who so rejoice; but seek to attain, by means of the wealth which God hath given thee, the latter abode [of Paradise], by expanding thy wealth in the service of God; and neglect not thy part in this world, to work therein for the world to come; but be beneficent unto mankind, by bestowing alms, as God hath been beneficent unto thee; and seek not to act corruptly in the earth; for God loveth not the corrupt doers. He replied, I have only been given it on account of the knowledge that I possess. For he was the most learned of the children of Israel in the Law, after Moses and Aaron. God saith, Did he not know that God had destroyed before him, of the generations, those that were mightier than he in strength, and who had amassed more abundance of wealth? And the wicked shall not be asked respecting their sins, because God knoweth them: therefore they shall be sent into the Fire without a reckoning. And Ḳároon went forth unto his people in his pomp, with his many dependants mounted, adorned with garments of gold and silk, upon decked horses and mules. Those who desired the present life said, O would that we had the like of that which hath been bestowed on Ḳároon in this world! Verily he is possessed of great good fortune!—But those unto whom knowledge of what God hath promised in the world to come had been given, said unto them, Woe to you! The reward of God in the world to come (which is Paradise) is better for him who believeth and worketh righteousness than that which hath been bestowed on Ḳároon in the present world; and none shall receive it but the patient in the service of God. And We caused the earth to cleave asunder and swallow up him and his mansion, and he had no forces to defend him, in the place of God, nor was he of the [number of the] saved. And the next morning, those who had wished for his place the day before said, Aha! God enlargeth provision unto whom He pleaseth of His servants, and is sparing of it unto whom He pleaseth! Had not God been gracious unto us, He had caused [the earth] to cleave asunder and swallow up us! Aha! the ungrateful for His benefits do not prosper! ([Sūrah xxviii. 76–82].)

“Remember, when Moses said unto his people (when one of them had been slain, whose murderer was not known, and they asked him to beg God that He would discover him to them, wherefore he supplicated Him), Verily God commandeth you to sacrifice a cow. They said, Dost thou make a jest of us? He said, I beg God to preserve me from being one of the foolish. So when they knew that he decidedly intended what he had ordered, they said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us what she is; that is, what is her age. Moses replied, He saith, She is a cow neither old nor young; but of a middle age, between those two: therefore do as ye are commanded. They said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us what is her colour. He replied, He saith, She is a red cow: her colour is very bright: she rejoiceth the beholders. They said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us what she is, whether she be a pasturing or a working cow; for cows of the description mentioned are to us like one another; and we, if God please, shall indeed be rightly directed to her. (In a tradition it is said, Had they not said, ‘If God please,’—she had not ever been manifested to them.) He replied, He saith, She is a cow not subdued by work that plougheth the ground, nor doth she water the field: [she is] free from defects and the marks of work; there is no colour in her different from the rest of her colour. They said, Now thou hast brought the truth. And they sought her, and found her in the possession of the young man who acted piously towards his mother, and they bought her for as much gold as her hide would contain. Then they sacrificed her; but they were near to leaving it undone, on account of the greatness of her price. (And in a tradition it is said, Had they sacrificed any cow whatever, He had satisfied them: but they acted hardly towards themselves; so God acted hardly towards them.) And when ye slew a soul, and contended together respecting it, (and God brought forth [to light] that which ye did conceal—this is the beginning of the story [and was the occasion of the order to sacrifice this particular cow,]) We said, Strike him (that is, the slain person) with part of her. So he was struck with her tongue, or the root of her tail, or, as some say, with her right thigh; whereupon he came to life, and said, Such-a-one and such-a-one slew me,—to the two sons of his uncle. And he died. They two [the murderers] were therefore deprived of the inheritance, and were slain. Thus God raiseth to life the dead, and showeth you His signs (the proof of His power), that peradventure ye may understand, and know that He who is able to raise to life one soul is able to raise to life many souls. Then your hearts became hard, O ye Jews, so as not to accept the truth, after that, and they [were] as stones, or more hard: for of stones there are indeed some from which rivers gush forth; and of them there are indeed some that cleave asunder and water issueth from them; and of them there are indeed some that fall down through fear of God; whereas your hearts are not impressed, nor do they grow soft, nor do they become humble. But God is not heedless of that which ye do: He only reserveth you unto your time. ([Sūrah ii. 63–69].)

“Remember when Moses said to his young man Joshua the son of Nun, who served him and acquired knowledge from him, I will not cease to go forward until I reach the place where the two seas (the Sea of Greece and the Sea of Persia) meet, or travel for a long space of time. And when they reached the place where they (the two seas) met they forgot their fish: Joshua forgot to take it up, on their departure; and Moses forgot to remind him; and it made its way in the sea by a hollow passage, God withholding the water from it. And when they had passed beyond that place, and proceeded until the time of the morning-meal on the following day, [Moses] said unto his young man, Bring us our morning-meal: we have experienced fatigue from this our journey. He replied, What thinkest thou? When we repaired to the rock to rest at that place, I forgot the fish, and none made me forget to mention it but the Devil; and it made its way in the sea in a wonderful manner.—Moses said, That (namely our loss of the fish) is what we were desiring: for it is a sign unto us of our finding him whom we seek. And they returned by the way that they had come, following the footsteps, and came to the rock. And they found one of Our servants (namely El-Khiḍr) unto whom We had granted mercy from Us (that is, the gift of prophecy in the opinion of some, and the rank of a saint according to another opinion, which most of the learned hold), and whom We had taught knowledge from Us respecting things unseen.—El-Bukháree hath related a tradition that Moses performed the office of a preacher among the children of Israel, and was asked who was the most knowing of men; to which he answered, I:—whereupon God blamed him for this, because he did not refer the knowledge thereof to Him. And God said unto him by revelation, Verily I have a servant at the place where the two seas meet, and he is more knowing than thou. Moses said, O my Lord, and how shall I meet with him? He answered, Thou shalt take with thee a fish, and put it into a measuring vessel, and where thou shalt lose the fish, there is he. So he took a fish, and put it into a vessel. Then he departed, and Joshua the son of Nun departed with him, until they came to the rock, where they laid down their heads and slept. And the fish became agitated in the vessel, and escaped from it, and fell into the sea, and it made its way in the sea by a hollow passage, God withholding the water from the fish so that it became like a vault over it: and when Moses’ companion awoke, he forgot to inform him of the fish.

“Moses said unto him [namely El-Khiḍr], Shall I follow thee, that thou mayest teach me [part] of that which thou hast been taught, for a direction unto me? He answered, Verily thou canst not have patience with me. For how canst thou be patient with respect to that whereof thou comprehendest not the knowledge?—He replied, Thou shalt find me, if God please, patient; and I will not disobey any command of thine. He said, Then if thou follow me, ask me not respecting anything: but be patient until I give thee an account thereof. And Moses assented to his condition. And they departed, walking along the shore of the sea, until, when they embarked in the ship that passed by them, he, El-Khiḍr, made a hole in it, by pulling out a plank or two planks from it on the outside by means of an axe when it reached the middle of the sea. Moses said unto him, Hast thou made a hole in it that thou mayest drown its people? Thou hast done a grievous thing.—(But it is related that the water entered not the hole.) He replied, Did I not say that thou couldst not have patience with me? [Moses] said, Chastise me not for my forgetfulness, nor impose on me a difficulty in my case.—And they departed, after they had gone forth from the vessel, walking on, until, when they found a boy who had not attained the age of knowing right and wrong, playing with other children, and he was the most beautiful of them in countenance, and he (El-Khiḍr) slew him, Moses said unto him, Hast thou slain an innocent soul, without his having slain a soul? Thou hast done an iniquitous thing.—He replied, Did I not say that thou couldst not have patience with me? [Moses] said, If I ask thee concerning anything after this time, suffer me not to accompany thee. Now hast thou received from me an excuse for thy separating thyself from me.—And they departed [and proceeded] until, when they came to the people of a city (which was Antioch), they asked food of its people; but they refused to entertain them: and they found therein a wall, the height whereof was a hundred cubits, which was about to fall down; whereupon he (El-Khiḍr) set it upright with his hand. Moses said unto him, If thou wouldst, thou mightest have obtained pay for it, since they did not entertain us, notwithstanding our want of food. El-Khiḍr said unto him, This shall be a separation between me and thee; but before my separation from thee, I will declare unto thee the interpretation of that which thou couldst not bear with patience.

“As to the vessel, it belonged to ten poor men, who pursued their business on the sea; and I desired to render it unsound; for there was behind them a king, an unbeliever, who took every sound vessel by force. And as to the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared that he would transgress against them rebelliously and impiously: for, according to a tradition related by Muslim, he was constituted by nature an unbeliever, and had he lived he had so acted; wherefore we desired that their Lord should create for them a better than he in virtue, and [one] more disposed than he to filial piety. And God created for them a daughter, who married a prophet, and gave birth to a prophet, by means of whom God directed a people to the right way. And as to the wall, it belonged to two orphan youths in the city, and beneath it was a treasure buried, of gold and silver, belonging to them; and their father was a righteous man; and thy Lord desired that they should attain their age of strength and take forth their treasure through the mercy of thy Lord. And I did it not (namely what hath been mentioned) of mine own will, but by direction of God. This is the interpretation of that which thou couldst not bear with patience.” ([Sūrah xviii. 59–81].)

The following remarks are taken from Sale’s notes of al-Baiẓāwī and other commentators:—

“There is a tradition that Moses was a very swarthy man; and that when he put his hand into his bosom, and drew it out again, it became extremely white and splendid, surpassing the brightness of the sun.

“Moses had an impediment in his speech, which was occasioned by the following accident. Pharaoh one day carrying him in his arms when a child, he suddenly laid hold of his beard and plucked it in a very rough manner, which put Pharaoh into such a passion, that he ordered him to be put to death: but A′siyeh, his wife, representing to him that he was but a child, who could not distinguish between a burning coal and a ruby, he ordered the experiment to be made; and a live coal and a ruby being set before Moses, he took the coal and put it into his mouth, and burnt his tongue; and thereupon he was pardoned.—This is a Jewish story a little altered.

“It is related that the midwife appointed to attend the Hebrew women, terrified by a light which appeared between the eyes of Moses at his birth, and touched with extraordinary affection for the child, did not discover him to the officers, so that her mother kept him in her house, and nursed him three months; after which it was impossible for her to conceal him any longer, the king then giving orders to make the searches more strictly.

“The commentators say that the mother of Moses made an ark of the papyrus, and pitched it, and put in some cotton; and having laid the child therein, committed it to the river, a branch of which went into Pharaoh’s garden: that the stream carried the ark thither into a fishpond, at the head of which Pharaoh was then sitting with his wife A′siyeh, the daughter of Muzáḥem; and that the king, having commanded it to be taken up and opened, and finding in it a beautiful child, took a fancy to it, and ordered it to be brought up. Some writers mention a miraculous preservation of Moses before he was put into the ark; and tell us, that his mother having hid him from Pharaoh’s officers in an oven, his sister, in her mother’s absence, kindled a large fire in the oven to heat it, not knowing the child was there; but that he was afterwards taken out unhurt.”

MOSQUE. The Muḥammadan place of worship, which is called in Arabic masjid (مسجد‎). The term “mosque” is found in all European languages, and must have been derived from the Arabic form of the word, e.g. Spanish, mesquita; Italian, moschea; German, Moschee; French, mosquée; English, mosque or mosk.

For an account of these buildings, see [MASJID].

MOTHER. (1) Kindness towards a mother is enjoined in the Qurʾān. [Sūrah xlvi. 14]: “We have prescribed for man kindness towards his parents. His mother bore him with trouble, and brought him forth with trouble.”

(2) Mothers cannot be compelled to nurse their children.

(3) They are not, without their husband’s permission, allowed to move them to a strange place. (Hidāyah, vol. i. pp. 386, 390.)

MOURNING. The period of mourning for the dead is restricted to three days, during which time the friends and relatives are expected to visit the bereaved family, and offer up prayers for the departed (fātiḥah), and speak words of consolation (taʿziyah). But a widow must observe the custom of mourning for a period of four months and ten days, which period is called iḥdād. During these periods of mourning, it is the duty of all concerned to abstain from the use of perfumes and ornaments, and to wear soiled garments. Lamentation, bukāʾ (Heb. bokhoh), for the dead is strictly forbidden by the Prophet (Mishkāt, book v. ch. vii.), but it is nevertheless a common custom in the East, amongst all sects of Muḥammadans. (See Arabian Nights; Lane’s Modern Egyptians; Shaw’s Travels in Barbary.)

MUʿĀHID (معاهد‎). One who enters into covenant (ʿahd) with another. An infidel who is permitted by a Muslim Government to enter its towns and carry on traffic, i.e. a ẕimmī. [[ZIMMI].]

AL-MUʾAK͟HK͟HIR (الموخر‎). “The Deferrer.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It does not occur in the Qurʾān, but is given in the Ḥadīs̤.

MUʿALLIM (معلم‎). A teacher in a school or mosque. Al-Muʿallimu ʾl-Awwal, “The first teacher,” is a term used by philosophers for Aristotle. Amongst the Ṣūfīs it is used for Adam, who is said to be the first prophet. Muʿallimu ʾl-Malāʾikah, “The teacher of angels,” is also used by the Ṣūfīs for Adam, because it is said in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 31]: “O Adam, declare unto them (the angels) their names.”

MUʿĀNAQAH (معانقة‎). Embracing, or throwing oneself on the neck of one’s friend. A custom especially enjoined by Muḥammad. (Mishkāt, book xxii. ch. iii. pt. 2.)

AL-MUʿAQQIBĀT (المعقبات‎). Lit. “The succeeding ones.” A title given to the recording angels. [[KIRAMU ʾL-KATIBIN].]

MUʿĀWIYAH (معاوية‎). The sixth K͟halīfah, and the founder of the Umaiyah dynasty (the Ommiades). He was the son of Abū Sufyān, one of the leading Companions of Muḥammad, and became K͟halīfah on the death of al-Ḥasan, and is regarded with great hatred by the Shīʿahs. He died A.H. 60. He was the first K͟halīfah who made the K͟halīfate hereditary.

AL-MUʿAWWIẔĀT (المعوذات‎). Lit. “The seekers of refuge.” The two last chapters of the Qurʾān.

Sūratu ʾl-Falaq (cxiii.), beginning with, “Say: I flee for refuge to the Lord of the Daybreak.”

Sūratu ʾn-Nās (cxiv.), beginning, “Say: I flee for refuge to the Lord of men.”

These chapters were ordered by Muḥammad to be recited after each stated prayer. (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. xix. pt. 2.)

MUʿĀẔ IBN JABAL (معاذ بن جبل‎). One of the most famous of the “Companions.” He was of the Banū K͟hazraj, and was only twenty years of age at the battle of Badr. Being well skilled in the Qurʾān, he was left at Makkah to instruct the people in the principles of Islām. He was also sent as the head of a band of collectors of taxes to south Arabia, and became Qāẓī of al-Yaman. After Muḥammad’s death, he became a leading person in the counsels of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, and was placed in charge of Syria by the latter K͟halīfah. He died at T̤āʿūn ʿAmawās.

MUʾAẔẔIN (موذن‎). The caller of the aẕān, or “summons to prayer.” In small mosques, the aẕān is given by the Imām, but in the larger ones, an official is specially appointed for the purpose. When the mosque has a minaret, he calls from the top of it, but in smaller places of worship, from the side of the mosque. The first muʾaẕẕin was Bilāl, the son of an Abyssinian slave-girl, and Muḥammad is related to have said, “The callers to prayer may expect Paradise, and whoever serves in the office for seven years shall be saved from hell fire.” (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. vi.) [[AZAN].]

MUBĀḤ (مباح‎). Lit. “Allowed.” A term used in the religious and ceremonial law of Islām for an action which a person may do or let alone, being attended with neither praise nor blame.

MUBĀRĀT (مباراة‎). “Mutual discharge.” A term used in the law of divorce when a man says to his wife, “I am discharged from the marriage between you and me,” and she consents thereto. It is the same as k͟hulʿ.

AL-MUBDĪʾ (المبدى‎). “The Producer or Beginner.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It does not occur in the Qurʾān, but the idea is expressed in [Sūrah lxxxv. 13]: “He produces and restores.”

MUBTADIʿ (مبتدع‎). Lit. “An inventor.” A heretic, or a broacher of new opinions.

MUDABBAR (مدبر‎). A slave who has received his freedom in consequence of the master’s death, in accordance with a previous promise.

MUDDAʿĪ (مدعى‎). A plaintiff in a law-suit.

MUDDAʿĪ-ʿALAIH (مدعى عليه‎). A defendant in a law-suit.

AL-MUDDAS̤S̤IR (المدثر‎). Lit. “The Enwrapped.” The title of the LXXIVth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in the first verse of which the word occurs. “O Thou, enwrapped in thy mantle, arise and preach.” This is considered by some to be the earliest Sūrah in the Qurʾān, but others think it was the XCVIth. [[MUHAMMAD].]

MUFARRIḤU ʾL-AḤZAN (مفرح الاحزان‎). Lit. “The making cheerful under affliction.” A term used by pious Muslims for a spirit of resignation in affliction, which, they say, is to be produced by possessing faith with a firm belief in the decrees of fate. (ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)

MUFSID (مفسد‎). “A pernicious person.” It occurs in the Qurʾān frequently, e.g. [Sūrah ii. 219]: “God knoweth the foul dealer (mufsid) from the fair dealer (muṣlih).”

MUFTĪ (مفتى‎). The officer who expounds the law. He assists the Qāẓī, or judge, and supplies him with fatwās, or decisions. He must be learned in the Qurʾān and Ḥadīs̤, and in the Muslim works of law.

AL-MUG͟HNĪ (المغنى‎). “The Enricher.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It is referred to in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah iv. 129]: “God can make both independent (lit. ‘enrich’) out of His abundance.”

MUḤĀDAS̤AH (محادثة‎). Lit. “Discoursing together.” A term used by the Ṣūfīs for the calling of a person by God through some outward means, as when, according to the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxviii. 30], God spoke to Moses out of a tree. (ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)

MUḤADDIS̤ (محدث‎). (1) The narrator of a Ḥadīs̤ or acts and words of Muḥammad. (2) One learned in the Traditions.

AL-MUHAIMIN (المهيمن‎). “The Protector.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah lix. 23], “He is … the Protector.”

MUHĀJIR (مهاجر‎). From hijrah, “flight.” One who performs hijrah either by (1) leaving Makkah in company with the Prophet, or (2) leaving a country ruled by an infidel power, or (3) by fleeing from what God has forbidden.

MUHĀJIRŪN (مهاجرون‎). The pl. of Muhājir. The exiles or refugees. A term used for all those converts to Islām who fled with their Prophet from Makkah. Under the title are also included all who from time to time joined Muḥammad at al-Madīnah, either from Makkah or from any other quarter, up to the taking of Makkah in A.H. 8. They rank first in order amongst the Companions of the Prophet.

MUḤALLIL (محلل‎). Lit. “One who makes lawful.” The man who marries a divorced wife in order to make her lawful for her former husband if he wish to marry her. [[DIVORCE].]

MUḤAMMAD (محمد‎). Lit. “The Praised One.” Sometimes spelt Mohammed, Mohomed, or Mahomet.

Muḥammad, the founder of the religion generally known as Muḥammadanism, but called by its own adherents Islām [[ISLAM]], was the posthumous son of ʿAbdu ʾllāh, by his wife Āminah. ʿAbdu ʾllāh belonged to the family of Hāshim, which was the noblest tribe of the Quraish section of the Arabian race, and said to be directly descended from Ishmael. The father of ʿAbdu ʾllāh and the grandfather of Muḥammad, was ʿAbdu ʾl-Mut̤t̤alib, who held the high office of custodian of the Kaʿbah. [[KAʿBAH].] The same year which saw the destruction of the Abyssinian invader, and formed an epoch in the history of Arabia, known as the Era of the Elephant, on account of the vast array of elephants the invaders brought with them, witnessed the birth of Muḥammad. Muḥammad is said to have been born about fifty-nine days after the attack of Abrahah, or on the 12th day of the month Rabīʿu ʾl-Awwal of the first year of the Era of the Elephant, which M. Caussin de Perceval believes to have been the fortieth year of the reign of Chosroes the Great (Kasra Anushirwan), and calculates the date to have been August 20th, A.D. 570 (see vol. i. pp. 282, 283). According to Sprenger, it was April 20th, A.D. 571. (Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad, vol. i. p. 138.)

Muḥammad was born at Makkah. And immediately upon his birth, his mother, Āminah, sent a special messenger to inform ʿAbdu ʾl-Mut̤t̤alib of the news. The messenger reached the chief as he sat within the sacred enclosure of the Kaʿbah, in the midst of his sons and principal men, and he arose with joy and went to the house of Āminah. He then took the child in his arms, and went to the Kaʿbah, and gave thanks to God. The Quraish tribe begged the grandfather to name the child after some member of the family, but ʿAbdu ʾl-Mut̤t̤alib said, “I desire that the God who has created the child on earth may be glorified in heaven,” and he called him Muḥammad, “the praised one.”

Al-Ḥāfiz̤, on the authority of Mak͟hzūm (quoted by Abū ʾl-Fidāʾ, p. 59), says that on the night that Muḥammad was born, the palace of Chosroes was shaken, and fourteen of its turrets fell; the fires of the Persians were extinguished, which had not been extinguished before for a thousand years; and the lake Sāwah sank.

It was not the custom of the better class of women amongst the Arabians to nurse their children, and consequently the infant, soon after his birth, was made over to S̤uwaibah, a slave-girl of his uncle Abū Lahab. S̤uwaibah had a son, whose name was Masrūḥ, whom she nursed at the same time, and she had also nursed Ḥamzāh, Muḥammad’s uncle, and Abū Salimah; so that these three men were his foster-brothers. S̤uwaibah only suckled Muḥammad for a few days, when the child was made over to Ḥalīmah, a woman of the tribe of the Banū Saʿd. Ḥalīmah was the daughter of ʿAbdu ʾllāh Abū Zuʾaib, the son of al-Ḥāris̤, and she took Muḥammad to her desert home, amongst the Banū Saʿd, where he remained for a period of two years. The foster-brother suckled by Ḥalīmah was ʿAbdu ʾllāh, and his foster-sisters Anīsah and Ḥarāmah.

The following story connected with Muḥammad’s stay with Ḥalīmah is related by Abū ʾl-Fidāʾ (p. 64). When some time passed, Muḥammad and his foster-brother went out to a distance from the house, when Ḥalīmah’s son came to his mother and said, “Two men clothed in white raiments have taken hold of the Quraish boy, and have thrown him down and have ripped open his belly.” So Ḥalīmah and her husband went to the place where the child was, but found him standing on his feet. And they said, “What has happened to thee child?” And he answered and said, “Two men came to me, and threw me down and ripped up my belly.” Then Ḥalīmah’s husband said to her, “I greatly fear that this boy has got the epilepsy.” So they took him to his mother Āminah. And Ḥalīmah said to Āminah, “I am afraid he is possessed of a devil.” But Āminah said, “What in the world can Satan have to do with my son that he should be his enemy?”

This circumstance has been regarded as the miracle when Gabriel came and took out the heart of the child and washed it from the stains of original sin. And some commentators say the first verse of the XCIVth Sūrah of the Qurʾān alludes to it: “Have we not opened thy breast?”

Muḥammad ever retained a most grateful recollection of the kindness he had received from the Banū Saʿd, and, in after years, he used to say, “Verily I am the most perfect Arab amongst you. My descent is from the Quraish, and my speech is the tongue of the Banū Saʿd.”

In his sixth year, Muḥammad was taken by his mother to al-Madīnah, but on the return journey she fell sick, and died at a place called al-Abwāʾ, where her body was buried. In subsequent years, Muḥammad visited his mother’s tomb at al-Abwāʾ, and wept over it, saying, “This is the grave of my mother; the Lord hath permitted me to visit it, and I sought leave to pray for her salvation, but it was not granted. So I called my mother to remembrance, and the tender memory of her overcame me, and I wept.”

The little orphan was then carried on to Makkah by Umm Aiman, who, although young in years, became his faithful nurse and companion. The charge of Muḥammad was now undertaken by ʿAbdu ʾl-Mut̤t̤alib, but the old chief died two years afterwards, and the child was committed to the care of his paternal uncle, Abū T̤ālib. When Muḥammad was twelve years old, he was taken by his uncle on a mercantile journey to Syria, and proceeded as far as Buṣrā. The expedition lasted for some months. According to the Muslim historian, Abū ʾl-Fidāʾ, it was at Buṣrā that Muḥammad met the Christian monk Buḥairaʾ, who is related to have said to Abū T̤ālib, “Return with this youth, and guard him from the hatred of the Jews; for great dignity awaits this your brother’s son.” It was on this journey that Muḥammad was brought in contact with the profession of Christianity in Syria, and had an opportunity of obtaining some information as to the national and social customs of Christians. He must have also passed through many Jewish settlements. It is, therefore, highly probable that it was on the occasion of this journey that Muḥammad’s mind became first impressed with the absolute necessity of reforming, not only the gross idolatry of Makkah, but the degrading social habits of the Arabian people.

After this journey, the youth of Muḥammad seems to have been passed uneventfully, but all authorities agree in ascribing to him a correctness of manner, and a purity of morals, which were at that time rare amongst the people of Makkah. The fair character and honourable bearing of the unobtrusive youth won the approbation of the citizens of Makkah, and by common consent he received the title of al-Amīn, “The Faithful.”

Between the years A.D. 580–590, the sacrilegious war broke out between the Quraish and the Banū Hawāzin, which lasted for nearly ten years. In two of the contests, Muḥammad, though only a lad, accompanied his uncles in their local wars. They were called “sacrilegious” because they were carried on during the sacred months, when fighting was forbidden.

The youth of Muḥammad passed away without any other incidents of interest. At this period he was employed, like other lads, in tending the sheep and goats of Makkah upon the neighbouring hills and valleys. He used afterwards to allude to his shepherd life, and say it comported with his prophetic office, even as it did with that of Moses and David: “Verily there hath been no prophet who hath not performed the work of a shepherd.”

When Muḥammad had reached his twenty-fifth year, on the recommendation of his uncle, Abū T̤ālib, he entered the service of K͟hadījah, a rich widow of Makkah. She was of the Quraish tribe, the daughter of K͟huwailid ibn Asad. With Maisarah, her servant, Muḥammad was placed in charge of the widow’s merchandise, and he again travelled the same route which he had traversed thirteen years before with his uncle. His journey again extended as far as Buṣrā, a city about sixty miles to the east of the river Jordan. He visited Aleppo and Damascus, and was doubtless brought in frequent contact with both Jews and Christians, and had another opportunity of obtaining that superficial acquaintance with the Jewish and Christian faiths, which enabled him in after years to embody so much of the teaching of the Bible in the verses of the Qurʾān. “The mutual animosity of Jew towards Christian,” says Mr. Stobart, “though they professed to worship the true God, though they appealed to the old Testament, and both equally revered the name of Abraham, and professed to abhor that idolatry in which he had been bred, may have led Muḥammad to think that possibly more divine truth lay hid in both these systems of belief, though covered and concealed by human inventions, and may have suggested to him the possibility of forming out of these conflicting elements one single simple catholic creed, and of thus uniting mankind in the worship and love of the great Father of all.” (Stobart’s Islām, p. 56.)

Muḥammad having proved himself faithful in the commercial interests of his mistress, was soon rewarded with her hand in marriage. When Muḥammad married her she was a widow of forty years of age, and had been already twice married, and had borne to her former husbands, two sons and a daughter. The house of Muḥammad and K͟hadījah was a bright and happy one, and their marriage fortunate and fruitful. Two sons and four daughters were its issue. Their eldest son was al-Qāsim, who died at the age of two years, whence Muḥammad was sometimes called Abū ʾl-Qāsim, or the father of al-Qāsim. The other son, ʿAbdu ʾllāh, surnamed at̤-T̤āhir and at̤-T̤aiyib, died in infancy. The four daughters were Zainab, Ruqaiyah, Umm Quls̤ūm, and Fāt̤imah. [[FATIMAH].]

During her lifetime, K͟hadījah was Muḥammad’s only wife, and he always looked back to this period of his life with fond remembrance. When the world called him an impostor and a cheat, K͟hadījah was the first to acknowledge him to be the “Apostle of God.” Indeed, so much did he dwell upon the mutual love of K͟hadījah and himself, that the envious ʿĀyishah declared herself more jealous of this rival, who was dead, than of all the living rivals who contested with her the affection of the Prophet.

As yet Muḥammad was almost a stranger to the outside world, but he now obtained some reputation among his fellow men, by taking a prominent part in the resuscitation of an old league, called the Federation of the Fuẓūl [[HILFU ʾL-FUZUL]], formed in ancient times for the repression of acts of lawlessness within the walls of Makkah. A new compact was formed between four or five of the chief families of Makkah for the protection of the weak and oppressed, and Muḥammad was one of the most prominent movers in this federation, the revival of which resulted mainly from his efforts.

In his thirty-fifth year, he settled by his decision a grave difficulty, which had sprung up during the reconstruction of the Kaʿbah, regarding the placing of the sacred stone, and which almost threatened to plunge the whole of Arabia into another of their oft-recurring wars.

The Kaʿbah was too low in the building, and the Quraish wished to raise it higher, and so they demolished it. When it was rebuilt as far as the position of the Black Stone, the question arose, who should be the honoured instrument of raising the sacred relic into its place, for each tribe claimed the honour. Then the oldest citizen arose and said, “My advice is that the man who first entereth by the gate of the Banū Shaibah, shall be selected umpire in this difficult question, or shall himself place the stone.” The proposal was agreed upon, and the first man who entered the gate was he who was known as al-Amīn, “The Faithful,” Muḥammad, the son of ʿAbdu ʾllāh. Muḥammad decided upon an expedient, which served to satisfy the contending parties. The stone was placed on a cloth, and each tribe shared in the honour of raising it, by taking hold of the cloth. The stone being thus deposited in its proper place, the Quraish built on without interruption, and the great idol Hubal was placed in the centre of the sacred edifice, and around were ranged the various other idols of the Arabian people. “This circumstance,” says Sir William Muir, “strikingly illustrates the absence of any paramount authority at Mecca at this time. A curious story is related of an attempt made about this period to gain the rule of Mecca. The aspirant was Othmân, first cousin of Khadîja’s father. He was dissatisfied, as the legend goes, with the idolatrous system of Mecca, and travelled to the court of the Roman Emperor, where he was honourably entertained, and admitted to Christian baptism. He returned to Mecca, and on the strength of an imperial grant, real or pretended, laid claim to the government of the city. But his claim was rejected, and he fled to Syria, where he found a refuge with the Ghassânide prince. But emissaries from Mecca, by the aid of gifts, counteracted his authority with the prince, and at last procured his death.”—Muir’s Life of Mahomet, new ed. p. 31.

Shortly after the rebuilding of the Kaʿbah, Muḥammad adopted ʿAlī, the son of his friend and former guardian, Abū T̤ālib. ʿAlī was at this time only six years old. About this period he admitted to his closest intimacy another person, unconnected with him by family ties, but of more equal age. This was Zaid, a slave-boy belonging to K͟hadījah, who, to gratify her husband, made him a present of the slave. Zaid was the son of Ḥāris̤ah, of the Banū ʿUẕrah, a tribe which occupied the region of South Syria, and had been taken captive and sold to K͟hadījah’s grandfather as a slave. When Ḥāris̤ah heard that Muḥammad possessed Zaid, he came to Makkah and offered a large payment for his release. Muḥammad summoned Zaid, and gave him the option to go or stay. Zaid elected to stay, and Muḥammad, delighted with his faithfulness, gave him his liberty, and adopted him as his son. The freed man was henceforth known as Zaid ibn Muḥammad.

“Muḥammad was now approaching his fortieth year, and increased contemplation and reflection engaged his mind. The idolatry and moral debasement of his people pressed heavily upon him, and the dim and imperfect shadows of Judaism and Christianity excited doubts without satisfying them; and his mind was perplexed with uncertainty as to what was the true religion.” (Muir’s Life of Mahomet, new ed. p. 35.)

It is probable that it was at this time Muḥammad composed those Sūrahs of the Qurʾān which express the anxious yearning of an inquirer rather than the more positive teaching of an Apostle, and we would assign to this period the following verses of the Qurʾān, which, according to Muḥammadan commentators, are admitted to be of a very early date. (See Jalālu ʾd-dīn’s Itqān.)

Sūratu ʾl-ʿAṣr (ciii.):—

“I swear by the declining day!

“Verily, man’s lot is cast amid destruction,

“Save those who believe and do the things which be right, and enjoin truth and enjoin each other to be patient.”

Sūratu ʾl-ʿĀdiyāt (c.):—

“By the snorting chargers!

“And those that dash off sparks of fire!

“And those that scour to the attack at morn!

“And stir therein the dust aloft;

“And cleave therein their midway through a host!

“Truly, man is to his Lord ungrateful,

“And of this he is himself a witness;

“And truly, he is vehement in the love of this world’s good.

“Ah! knoweth he not, that when that which is in the graves shall be laid bare,

“And that which is in men’s breasts shall be brought forth,

“Verily their Lord shall on that day be informed concerning them?”

Sūratu ʾl-Fātiḥah (i.):—

“Praise be to God, Lord of all the worlds,

“The compassionate, the merciful!

“King of the day of reckoning!

“Thee only do we worship, and to Thee do we cry for help.

“Guide Thou us on the straight path,

“The path of those to whom Thou hast been gracious;—with whom thou art not angry, and who go not astray.”

The latter Sūrah is the Fātiḥah, or initial prayer, &c., often recited in public worship, and it appears to contain, if not the very words, at all events the gist of the daily prayer of an anxious and inquiring soul.

These Sūrahs were most probably followed by others of a similar character, being poetical effusions rather than express enunciations of any definite teaching. For example, [Sūrahs ci]., [xcv]., [civ]., [xcii]., [xci]., [cvi].

Muḥammad seems to have employed himself in such meditations as find expression in these Sūrahs, some years before he assumed the office of a divine teacher, for it was but slowly and by degrees that he was led on to believe that he was really called of God, to preach a reformation both to his own people and to all mankind.

Bewildered by his own speculations amidst uncertain flickerings of spiritual light, Muḥammad spent some time in retirement, and in the agonies of distress repeatedly meditated suicide. Perplexed with the mysterious destiny of man and the failure of repeated revelations, he would fall into ecstatic reveries, and it was during one of these seasons of retirement, in the cave of Ḥirāʾ, that he believed an angel appeared to him in a dream, and that the first revelation came. According to the traditions collected by al-Buk͟hārī and Muslim (see Arabic edition, as Matthew’s translation in the Mishkāt is defective in several very important particulars), the first communication was made to Muḥammad in a dream.

ʿĀyishah relates: “The first revelations which the Prophet of God received were in true dreams. He never dreamed but it came to pass as regularly as the dawn of day. After this the Prophet went into retirement, and he used to seclude himself in a cave in Mount Ḥirāʾ, and worship there day and night. He would, whenever he wished, return to his family at Makkah, and then go back again, taking with him the necessaries of life. Thus he continued to return to K͟hadījah from time to time, until one day the revelation came down to him, and the angel (Malak) came to him and said, ‘Read’ (iqraʾ); but the Prophet said, ‘I am not a reader.’ And the Prophet related that the angel took hold of him, and squeezed him as much as he could bear, and then said again, ‘Read’; and the Prophet said, ‘I am not a reader.’ Then the angel took hold of him a second time, and squeezed him as much as he could bear, and then let him go, and said, ‘Read’; then the Prophet said, ‘I am not a reader.’ Then the angel again seized the Prophet, and squeezed him, and said:—

‘Read thou, in the name of thy Lord who created;—

‘Created man out of clots of blood:—

‘Read thou! For thy Lord is the most Beneficent,

‘Who hath taught the use of the pen;—

‘Hath taught man that which he knoweth not.’

(See Qurʾān, Sūratu ʾl-ʿAlaq [(xcvi.), the first five verses].)

“Then the Prophet repeated the words with a trembling heart. And he returned (i.e. from Ḥirāʾ to Makkah) to K͟hadījah, and said, ‘Wrap me up, wrap me up.’ And they wrapped him up in a garment until his fear was dispelled; and he told K͟hadījah what had occurred, and he said to K͟hadījah, ‘I was afraid I should die.’ Then K͟hadījah said, ‘No, it will not be so, I swear by God. He will never make thee melancholy or sad. For you are kind to your relatives, you speak the truth, you are faithful in trust, you bear the afflictions of the people, you spend in good works what you gain in trade, you are hospitable, and you assist your fellow men.’ After this K͟hadījah took the Prophet to Waraqah, who was the son of her uncle, and said to him, ‘O son of my uncle, hear what your brother’s son says to you.’ Then Waraqah said to the Prophet, ‘O son of my uncle, what do you see?’ Then the Prophet told Waraqah what he had seen; and Waraqah said, ‘This is the Nāmūs [[NAMUS]] which God sent to Moses. O would to God I were young in this time! and would to God I were living at the time of your people turning you out!’ The Prophet said, ‘Will my people turn me out?’ And Waraqah said, ‘Yes. No man has ever come as you have come, and not been held in enmity; but if I should live to that day, I will give you great help.’ Waraqah soon died, and after that the revelation ceased (i.e. for a time).”

The first vision was followed by a considerable period, during which no further revelation was given, and during which Muḥammad suffered much mental depression. [[FITRAH].]

“During this period,” al-Buk͟hārī says, “the Prophet was very sorrowful, so much so that he wished to throw himself from the top of a hill to destroy himself.”

But after a lapse of time, as he was wrapped up in his garments and lay stretched upon his carpet, the angel is said to have again addressed him, in the chapter which begins ([Sūrah lxxiv].):—

“O thou enwrapped in thy mantle,

Arise and preach!”

Muḥammad then believed himself to be a commissioned Apostle, the messenger and the prophet of God, sent to reclaim a fallen people to the knowledge and service of their God. His revelations were God’s Book, and his sayings the utterances of inspiration.

The first convert to Islām was his faithful wife K͟hadījah, the two next, ʿAlī and Zaid, his adopted children, and afterwards his old trusted friend, Abū Bakr, “the True.” Then followed ʿUs̤mān, who was a grandson of ʿAbdu ʾl-Mut̤t̤alib; T̤alḥah, the renowned warrior of after days; and ʿAbdu ʾr-Raḥmān, a merchant of some consequence. The new converts soon numbered some fifty souls, either members of the Prophet’s family or his dearest friends.

An important change now occurred in the relations of Muḥammad with the citizens of Makkah. Their hostility was aroused, and the Muslims were subjected to some persecution and indignity. It was not, however, until some three years of his ministration had elapsed that any general opposition was organized. Hostility once excited soon showed itself in acts of violence. Saʿīd, a youthful convert, was attacked whilst leading a party of Muslims in prayer. He defended himself, and struck one of his opponents with a camel goad. It was, says Sir William Muir, “the first blood spilt in the cause of Islām.”

In the fourth year of his mission, Muḥammad took possession of the house of Arqam (a recent convert), and there held meetings for those who wished to know the teaching of the Prophet more perfectly.

The house of Arqam was in front of the Kaʿbah, and was therefore in a convenient position. So famous did it become as the birth-place of believers, that it was afterwards styled the “House of Islām.”

As the number of believers increased, so did the enmity of the persecutor, and in order to escape the danger of perversion, Muḥammad recommended such of his followers who were without protection to seek an asylum in a foreign land. Eleven men, accompanied by their families, set out for the port of Shueiba, where, finding two vessels about to sail, they embarked in haste, and were conveyed to Abyssinia.

Here they met with a kind reception from the Negus, or king, and their period of exile was passed in peace and comfort. This is termed the first hijrah, or “flight,” to Abyssinia, as distinguished from the later and more extensive emigration to the same land. In three months the refugees returned to Makkah.

About this time a strange episode occurred, in which Muḥammad sought a compromise with his people, by admitting their gods into his system as intercessors with the Supreme Being. While the Quraish sat beneath the Kaʿbah, he recited the following Sūrah as an inspired message (liii.):—

“And see ye not Lāt and ʿUzzā,

And Manāt the third besides?

These are exalted females,

And verily their intercession is to be hoped for.”

The idolaters were reconciled, and bowed before the God of Muḥammad. But his heart smote him, and not long after the obnoxious lines (those in italics) were said to be recalled by Gabriel, as suggested by the Evil One, and there was substituted the uncompromising denunciation of idolatry, from which he never after swerved:—

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

“That indeed were an unjust partition.

“They are naught but names which ye and your fathers have invented.”

In the sixth year of his mission, the cause of Muḥammad was strengthened by the accession of two powerful citizens, Ḥamzah and ʿUmar. Ḥamzah was the uncle and also the foster-brother of the Prophet, a man of distinguished bravery, whose heroism earned for him the title of the “Lion of God.” ʿUmar was a bold impulsive spirit, the very man needed to give strength to a cause, one who in a remarkable manner left the impress of his character upon the religious system he embraced. He succeeded Abū Bakr in the K͟halīfate, and left the stamp of his fierce warlike spirit upon Islām. [[UMAR].]

Alarmed at the bold part which Muḥammad and his followers were now able to assume, the Quraish formed a hostile confederacy, by which all intercourse with the Muslims and their supporters was suspended. The severity of the ban at last overreached its object, for the sympathies of the people were enlisted by their privation in favour of Muḥammad and his followers. The interdict was cancelled and the Hāshimites restored to freedom.

In the beginning of the tenth year of his mission, and in the fiftieth of his life, Muḥammad lost his faithful and devoted wife K͟hadījah. For twenty-five years she had been his counsellor and support, and his grief at her death at first was inconsolable. She was sixty-five years old when she died. Abū T̤ālib, the Prophet’s uncle and guardian, died a few weeks afterwards. His conversion to Islām is a matter of uncertainty. Within two months of the death of K͟hadījah (who was his only wife during her lifetime), the Prophet married Saudah, the widow of one of the Abyssinian emigrants, and also betrothed himself to ʿĀyishah, the daughter of his friend Abū Bakr, then but a girl of seven years.

Abū T̤ālib had hardly been buried a fortnight when Muḥammad, followed only by his faithful attendants, set out on an adventurous mission to at̤-T̤āʾif, a place sixty miles to the east of Makkah, and the nearest city of importance. He went first to the three principal men of the city, and explained the object of his mission, and invited them to the honour of supporting him in sustaining the new faith. But he failed in producing conviction. Muḥammad remained at at̤-T̤āʾif ten days, but with no success. The mob, stirred up to hasten the departure of the unwelcome visitor, hooted at him in the streets, and pelted him with stones, and at last compelled him to flee out of the city. They chased him fully two miles across the sandy plain, until wearied and mortified, he took refuge for the night in a neighbouring garden, where he spent some time in earnest prayer. (Muir, 2nd ed., p. 114.)

Reinvigorated by the rest, he set forth on the return journey to Makkah.

Repulsed from at̤-T̤āʾif, and utterly hopeless at home, the fortunes of Muḥammad seemed dark, but hope dawned at last from an unexpected quarter. At the yearly pilgrimage, a little group of worshippers from al-Madīnah was attracted and won over at Minā by the preaching of Islām, joined his mission, and the following year they met Muḥammad and took the oath of allegiance which is known as the first Pledge of ʿAqabah. This little party consisted of twelve men, ten were of the K͟hazraj and two of the Aus tribe. They plighted their faith to Muḥammad as follows:—“We will not worship any but one God, we will not steal, neither will we commit adultery, nor will we kill our children; we will not slander in anywise; and we will obey the Prophet in everything that is just.”

At al-Madīnah the claims of the new Prophet found a ready response. A teacher was deputed from Makkah to al-Madīnah, and the new faith spread with marvellous rapidity.

The hopes of Muḥammad were now fixed on al-Madīnah, visions of his journey northwards doubtless flitted before his imagination and the musing of the day, reappeared in his midnight slumbers.

He dreamed that he was swiftly carried by Gabriel on a winged steed past al-Madīnah to the Temple of Jerusalem, where he was welcomed by the former Prophets all assembled in solemn conclave. From Jerusalem he seemed to mount upwards, and to ascend from one heaven to another, until he found himself in the awful presence of his Maker, who dismissed him with the order that he should command his followers to pray five times a day. [[MIʿRAJ], [BURAQ].]

When the time of pilgrimage again arrived, Muḥammad found himself surrounded by an enthusiastic band of seventy disciples from al-Madīnah, who in a secret defile at Minā plighted their faith, the second Pledge of ʿAqabah, whereby they promised to receive and defend the Faith at the risk of their own lives. After this Muḥammad determined to quit Makkah, and the command was given, “Depart unto al-Madīnah, for the Lord hath verily given you brethren in that city, and a house in which ye may find refuge.” And so, abandoning house and home, the Muslims set out secretly in little parties for al-Madīnah, where the numbers soon reached to about one hundred and fifty, counting women and children. Muḥammad, with Abū Bakr and ʿAlī, with their families, were left almost alone in Makkah. The Quraish held a council, and determined to slay Muḥammad; but being warned of their designs, he escaped to Mount S̤aur, near Makkah, where he hid himself three days in a cave, and after three more days he reached al-Madīnah.

The day of his flight, or hijrah, marks the Muḥammadan era, or Hegira. The date of the flight was the 4th of Rabīʿu ʾl-Awwal, and by the calculations of M. Caussin de Perceval, the 20th of June, A.D. 622. [[HIJRAH].]

The flight to al-Madīnah changes the scene, and with it the character of the portions of the Qurʾān revealed there. He who at Makkah is the admonisher and persuader, at al-Madīnah is the legislator and the warrior, and the verses of the Qurʾān assume a more didactic tone. Poetry makes way for prose, and he openly assumes the office of a public warner and prophet.

The idolaters of Makkah disappear and their place is taken by the hypocrites [[MUNAFIQUN]] of al-Madīnah. Here at al-Madīnah there was no opposition to Muḥammad and his doctrines; but, nevertheless, an undercurrent of disaffection prevailed. The head of the party was ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Ubaiy, who, but for the new turn in the fortunes of the city was on the point of being its chief. These disaffected citizens, the munāfiqūn, or “hypocrites,” as they are called, continued to be the objects of bitter denunciation in the Qurʾān till near the close of the Prophet’s career. But before the success of Islām they too vanish from the scene.

The first year of Muḥammad’s residence at al-Madīnah was chiefly occupied in building the great mosque [[MASJIDU ʾN-NABI]], and in providing houses for himself and his followers. In a short time he became the recognised chief of the city. The mosque and the houses were finished within seven months of Muḥammad’s arrival. About the middle of the winter he left the house of Abū Aiyūb, with whom he had been staying, and installed Saudah in her new residence. Shortly afterwards he celebrated his nuptials with ʿĀyishah, who, though she had been three years affianced, was but a girl of ten years.

Thus, at the age of fifty-three, a new phase commenced in the life of Muḥammad. Hitherto limiting himself to a single wife, he had shunned the indulgence, but he now surrounds himself with the cares and discord of polygamy. The unity of his family was now broken, never again to be restored. Thenceforward his love was to be claimed, his attentions shared by a plurality of wives, and his days spent between their houses, for Muḥammad had no separate apartments of his own.

Those Muslims who had left Makkah with the Prophet and settled in al-Madīnah, were now known as the Refugees [[MUHAJIRUN]] whilst those who embraced the faith at al-Madīnah, were designated the Assistants or Allies [[ANSAR]]. Both these names in time became titles of distinguished honour.

In the second year of the Ḥijrah, Muḥammad commenced hostilities against the Quraish, and the first pitched battle took place at Badr. With an army of 305 followers, of whom two-thirds were citizens of al-Madīnah, Muḥammad routed a force three times the number. The following graphic description of the battle of Badr is given by Sir William Muir. (New ed. p. 230.)

“The valley of Badr consists of a plain, with steep hills to the north and east; on the south is a low rocky range; and on the west rise a succession of sandy hillocks. A rivulet, rising in the inland mountains, runs through the valley, producing along its course numerous springs, which here and there were dug into cisterns for the accommodation of travellers. At the nearest of these springs, the army of Mahomet halted. Habâl, a citizen of Medîna, advised him to proceed onwards. ‘Let us go,’ he said, ‘to the farthest spring, on the side of the enemy. I know a never-failing fountain of sweet water there; let us make that our reservoir, and destroy the other wells.’ The advice was good. It was at once adopted, and the command of the water thus secured.

“The night was drawing on. So they hastily constructed near the well a hut of palm branches, in which Mahomet and Abu Bakr slept. Sâd ibn Muâdz (Saʿd ibn Muʿāẕ) kept watch by the entrance with his drawn sword. It rained during the night, but more heavily towards the camp of the Coreish. The Moslim army, wearied with its long march, enjoyed sound and refreshing sleep. The dreams of Mahomet turned upon his enemies, and they were pictured to his imagination as a weak and contemptible force.

“In the morning he drew up his little army, and, pointing with an arrow which he held in his hand, arranged the ranks. The previous day he had placed the chief banner, that of the Refugees, in the hands of Musâl, who nobly proved his right to the distinction. The Khazrajite ensign was committed to Hobâb; that of the Bani Aus, to Sâd ibn Muâdz.

“Meanwhile, dissension again broke out in the camp of the Coreish, on the policy of fighting against their kinsmen. Shaiba and Otba (ʿUtbah), two chiefs of rank, influenced, it is said, by their slave Addâs (the same who comforted the Prophet on his flight from Tâyif), strongly urged that the attack should be abandoned. Just then, Omeir, a diviner by arrows, having ridden hastily round the valley, returned to report the result of his reconnaissance. ‘Ye Coreish,’ he said, after telling them his estimate of the enemy’s number, ‘calamities approach you, fraught with destruction. Inevitable death rideth upon the camels of Yathreb (Yas̤rib). It is a people that hath neither defence nor refuge but in their swords. They are dumb as the grave; their tongues they put forth with the serpent’s deadly aim. Not a man of them shall we kill, but in his stead one of ourselves also will be slain; and when there shall have been slaughtered amongst us a number equal unto them, of what avail will life be to us after that?’ These words began to produce a pacific effect, when Abu Jahl, as before, loudly opposed the proposals for peace. Turning to Amir the Hadhramite, he bade him call to mind the blood of his brother slain at Nakhla. The flame was rekindled. Amir threw off his clothes, cast dust upon his body, and began frantically to cry aloud his brother’s name. The deceased had been a confederate of the family of Shaiba and Otba (ʿUtbah). Their pride and honour were affected. They saw that thoughts of peace must now be scattered to the winds; and they resolved signally to vindicate themselves from the imputation of cowardice cast on them by Abu Jahl. The army was drawn up in line. The three standards for the centre and wings were borne, according to ancient privilege, by members of the house of Abd al Dar. They moved forward but slowly over the intervening sand-hills, which the rain had made heavy and fatiguing. The same cause, acting with less intensity, had rendered the ground in front of Mahomet lighter and more firm to walk upon. The Coreish laboured under another disadvantage; they had the rising sun before them, while the army of Medîna faced the west.

“Mahomet had barely arrayed his line of battle, when the advanced column of the enemy was discerned over the rising sands in front. Their greatly superior numbers were concealed by the fall of the ground behind, and this imparted confidence to the Moslems. But Mahomet was fully alive to the critical position. The fate of Islam hung upon the issue of the approaching battle. Followed by Abu Bakr, he hastened for a moment into the little hut, and raising his hands, poured forth these earnest petitions, ‘O Lord, I beseech Thee, forget not Thy promise of assistance and of victory. O Lord! if this little band be vanquished, idolatry will prevail, and the pure worship of thee cease from off the earth!’ ‘The Lord,’ said Abu Bakr, comforting him, ‘will surely come to thine aid, and will lighten thy countenance with the joy of victory.’

“The time for action had arrived. Mahomet again came forth. The enemy was already close; but the army of Medîna remained still. Mahomet had no cavalry to cover an advance, and before superior numbers he must keep close his ranks. Accordingly the Prophet had strictly forbidden his followers to stir till he should give the order for advance; only they were to check any flank movement of the Coreish by the discharge of arrows. The cistern was guarded as their palladium. Certain desperate warriors of the Coreish swore that they would drink water from it, destroy it, or perish in the attempt. Scarcely one returned from the rash enterprise. With signal gallantry, Aswad advanced close to the brink, when a blow from Hamza’s sword fell upon his leg, and nearly severed it from his body. Still defending himself, he crawled inwards and made good his vow; for he drank of the water, and with his remaining leg demolished part of the cistern before the sword of Hamza put an end to his life.

“Already, after the fashion of Arabian warfare, single combats had been fought at various points, when the two brothers Shaiba and Otba, and Walîd the son of Otba, still smarting from the words of Abu Jahl, advanced into the space between the armies, and defied three champions from the army of Mahomet to meet them singly. Three citizens of Medîna stepped forward; but Mahomet, unwilling either that the glory or the burden of the opening conflict should rest with his allies, called them back; and, turning to his kinsmen said: ‘Ye sons of Hâshim! arise and fight, according to your right.’ Then Obeida (ʿUbaidah), Hamza, and Ali, the uncle and cousins of the Prophet, went forth. Hamza wore an ostrich feather in his breast, and a white plume distinguished the helmet of Ali. But their features were hid by their armour. Otba, therefore, not knowing who his opponents might be, cried aloud, ‘Speak, that we may recognise you! If ye be equals, we shall fight with you.’ Hamza answered, ‘I am the son of Abd al Muttalib—Hamza, the Lion of God, and the Lion of His Prophet.’ ‘A worthy foe,’ exclaimed Otba; ‘but who are these others with thee?’ Hamza repeated their names. Otba replied, ‘Meet foes, every one!’

“Then Otba called to his son Walîd, ‘Arise and fight.’ So Walîd stepped forth and Ali came out against him. They were the youngest of the six. The combat was short; Walîd fell mortally wounded by the sword of Ali. Eager to avenge his son’s death, Otba hastened forward, and Hamza advanced to meet him. The swords gleamed quick, and again the Coreishite warrior was slain by the Moslim lion. Shaiba alone remained of the three champions of Mecca; and Obeida, the veteran of the Moslems, threescore years and five, now drew near to fight with him. Both being well advanced in years, the conflict was less decisive than before. At last, Shaiba dealt a sword-cut on the leg of Obeida with such force as to sever the tendon, and bring him to the ground. Seeing this, Hamza and Ali both rushed on Shaiba and despatched him. Obeida survived but for a few days, and was buried on the march back at Safra.

“The fate of their champions was ominous for the Coreish, and their spirits sank. The ranks began to close, with the battle-cry on the Moslem side of, ‘Ye conquerors, strike!’ and the fighting became general. But there were still many of those scenes of individual bravery which characterise the irregular warfare of Asiatic armies, and often impart to them a Homeric interest. Prodigies of valour were exhibited on both sides; but the army of the Faithful was borne forward by an enthusiasm which the half-hearted Coreish were unable to withstand.

“What part Mahomet himself took in the battle is not clear. Some traditions represent him moving along the ranks with a drawn sword. It is more likely (according to others) that he contented himself with inciting his followers by the promise of divine assistance, and by holding out the prospect of Paradise to those who fell. The spirit of Omeir, a lad of but sixteen years, was kindled within him as he listened to the Prophet’s words. Tradition delights to tell of the ardour with which the stripling threw away a handful of dates which he was eating. ‘Is it these,’ he exclaimed, ‘that hold me back from Paradise? Verily I will taste no more of them until I meet my Lord!’ With such words, he drew his sword, and, casting himself upon the enemy, soon obtained the fate he coveted.

“It was a stormy wintry day. A piercing blast swept across the valley. ‘That,’ said Mahomet, ‘is Gabriel with a thousand angels flying as a whirlwind at our foe.’ Another, and yet another blast:—it was Michael, and after him, Seraphîl, each with a like angelic troop. The battle raged. The Prophet stooped, and lifting a handful of gravel, cast it towards the Coreish, and cried, ‘Confusion seize their faces!’ The action was well timed. The line of the Coreish began to waver. Their movements were impeded by the heavy sands on which they stood; and, when the ranks gave way, their numbers added but confusion. The Moslems followed eagerly on their retreating steps, slaying or taking captive all that fell within their reach. Retreat soon turned into ignominious flight. The Coreish, in their haste to escape, cast away their armour and abandoned their beasts of burden with the camp and equipage. Forty-nine were killed, and about the same number taken prisoners. Mahomet lost only fourteen, of whom eight were citizens of Medîna, and six Refugees.

“Many of the principal men of the Coreish, and some of Mahomet’s bitterest opponents, were slain. Chief amongst these was Abu Jahl. Muâdz brought him to the ground by a blow which cut his leg in two. Muâdz, in his turn, was attacked by Ikrima (ʿIkrimah), the son of Abu Jahl, and his arm nearly severed from his shoulder. As the mutilated limb hanging by the skin impeded his action, Muâdz put his foot upon it, pulled it off, and went on his way fighting. Such were the heroes of Bedr. Abu Jahl was yet breathing when Abdallah, Mahomet’s servant, ran up, and cutting off his head, carried it to his master. ‘The head of the enemy of God!’ exclaimed Mahomet. ‘God! There is none other God but He!’ ‘There is no other!’ responded Abdallah, as he cast the bloody head at the Prophet’s feet. ‘It is more acceptable to me,’ cried Mahomet, ‘than the choicest camel in all Arabia.’

“But there were others whose death caused no gratification to Mahomet. Abdul Bokhtari had shown him special kindness at the time when he was shut up in the quarter of Abu Tâlib; Mahomet, mindful of this favour, had commanded that he should not be harmed. Abdul Bokhtari had a companion seated on his camel behind him. A warrior, riding up, told him of the quarter given by Mahomet; but added, ‘I cannot spare the man behind thee.’ ‘The women of Mecca,’ Abdul Bokhtari exclaimed, ‘shall never say that I abandoned my comrade through love of life. Do thy work upon us.’ So they were killed, both he and his companion.

“After the battle was over, some of the prisoners were cruelly put to death. The following incident illustrates the savage spirit already characteristic of the faith. Omeya ibn Khalf and his son were unable to escape with the fugitive Coreish, and, seeing Abdal Rahmân pass, implored that he would make them his prisoners. Abdal Rahmân, mindful of an ancient friendship, cast away the plunder he was carrying, and, making both his prisoners, was proceeding with them to the Moslim camp. As the party passed, Bilâl espied his old enemy—for Omeya had used to persecute him—and he screamed aloud, ‘Slay him. This man is the head of the unbelievers. I am lost, I am lost, if he lives!’ From all sides the infuriated soldiers, hearing Bilâl’s appeal, poured in upon the wretched captives; and Abdal Rahmân, finding resistance impossible, bade them save their lives as best they could. Defence was vain; and the two prisoners were immediately cut in pieces.

“When the enemy had disappeared, the army of Medîna was for some time engaged in gathering the spoil. Every man was allowed to retain the plunder of anyone whom he himself had slain. The rest was thrown into a common stock. The booty consisted of one hundred and fifteen camels, fourteen horses, carpets and other articles of fine leather, vestments, and much equipage and armour. A diversity of opinion arose about the distribution. Those who had hotly pursued the enemy and exposed their lives in securing the spoil, claimed the whole, or at the least a superior portion; while such as had remained behind upon the field of battle for the safety of the Prophet and of the camp, urged that they had equally with the others fulfilled the part assigned to them, and that, having been restrained by duty from the pursuit, they were entitled to a full share of the prey. The contention was so sharp, that Mahomet interposed with a message from heaven, and assumed possession of the whole booty. It was God who had given the victory, and to God the spoil belonged: ‘They will ask thee concerning the prey. Say, the prey is God’s and his Prophet’s. Wherefore fear God, and dispose of the matter rightly among yourselves; and be obedient unto God and His Prophet, if ye be true Believers’—and so on in the same strain. Shortly afterwards, the following ordinance, which the Mussulman law of prize recognises to the present day, was given forth: ‘And know that whatsoever thing ye plunder, verily one fifth thereof is for God and for the Prophet, and for him that is of kin (unto the Prophet), and for the orphans, and the poor, and the wayfarer—if ye be they that believe in God, and in that which We sent down to our Servant on the Day of Discrimination, the day on which the two armies met; and God is over all things powerful.’ (See Qurʾān, [Sūrah viii].)

“In accordance with the divine command, the booty was gathered together on the field, and placed under a special officer, a citizen of Medîna. The next day it was divided, near Safra, in equal allotments, among the whole army, after the Prophet’s fifth had been set apart. All shared alike, excepting that the horsemen received each two extra portions for their horses. To the lot of every man fell a camel, with its gear; or two camels unaccoutred; or a leathern couch, or some such equivalent. Mahomet obtained the famous camel of Abu Jahl, and a sword known by the name of Dzul Ficâr (Ẕū ʾl-Fiqār). The sword was selected by him beyond his share, according to a custom which allowed him, in virtue of the prophetic dignity, to choose from the booty, before division, whatever thing might please him most.

“The sun was now declining, so they hastily dug a pit on the battle-field, and cast the enemy’s dead into it. Mahomet looked on, as the bodies were brought up and cast in. Abu Bakr, too, stood by, and, examining their features, called aloud their names. ‘Otba! Shaiba! Omeyya! Abu Jahl!’ exclaimed Mahomet, as one by one the corpses were, without ceremony, thrown into the common grave. ‘Have ye now found that which your Lord promised you true? What my Lord promised me, that verily have I found to be true. Woe unto this people! Ye have rejected me, your Prophet! Ye cast me forth, and others gave me refuge; ye fought against me, and others came to my help!’ ‘O Prophet!’ said the bystanders, ‘dost thou speak unto the dead?’ ‘Yea, verily,’ replied Mahomet, ‘for they well know that the promise of their Lord unto them hath fully come to pass.’

“At the moment when the corpse of Otba was tossed into a pit, a look of distress overcast the countenance of his son, Abu Hodzeifa (Abū Ḥuẕaifah). Mahomet turned kindly to him, and said, ‘Perhaps thou art distressed for thy father’s fate?’ ‘Not so, O Prophet of the Lord! I do not doubt the justice of my father’s fate; but I knew well his wise and generous heart, and I had trusted that the Lord would have led him to the faith. But now that I see him slain, and my hope destroyed, it is for that I grieve.’ So the Prophet comforted Abu Hodzeifa, and blessed him, and said, ‘It is well.’

“The army of Medîna, carrying their dead and wounded, retired in the evening to the valley of Otheil, several miles from Bedr; and there Mahomet passed the night. On the morrow the prisoners were brought up before him. As he scrutinised each, his eye fell fiercely on Nadhr, son of Hârish (al-Naẓr ibn al-Ḥāris̤). ‘There was death in that glance,’ whispered Nadhr, trembling, to a bystander. ‘Not so,’ replied the other, ‘it is but thine own imagination.’ The unfortunate prisoner thought otherwise, and besought Musâb to intercede for him. Musâb reminded him that he had denied the faith and persecuted Believers. ‘Ah!’ said Nadhr, ‘had the Coreish made thee a prisoner, they would never have put thee to death!’ ‘Even were it so,’ Musâb scornfully replied, ‘I am not as thou art; Islâm hath rent all bonds asunder.’ Micdâd, the captor, fearing lest the prisoner, and with him the chance of a rich ransom, was about to slip from his hands, cried out, ‘The prisoner is mine!’ But at this moment the command to ‘Strike off his head!’ was interposed by Mahomet, who had been watching what passed. ‘And, O Lord!’ he added, ‘do thou of thy bounty grant unto Micdâd a better prey than this.’ Nadhr was forthwith beheaded by Ali.

“Two days afterwards, about half-way to Medîna, Ocba, another prisoner, was ordered out for execution. He ventured to expostulate and demand why he should be treated more rigorously than the other captives. ‘Because of thy enmity to God and to His Prophet,’ replied Mahomet. ‘And my little girl!’ cried Ocba, in the bitterness of his soul, ‘who will take care of her?’ ‘Hell-fire!’ exclaimed the heartless conqueror, and on the instant his victim was hewn to the ground. ‘Wretch that thou wast!’ continued Mahomet, ‘and persecutor! unbeliever in God, in His Prophet, and in His Book! I give thanks unto the Lord that hath slain thee, and comforted mine eyes thereby.’ ”

Such was the battle of Badr. Insignificant in numbers, but most memorable in the annals of Islām on account of its important results. It was at Badr that “the Prophet” first drew the sword in the assertion of his claim as a commissioned apostle of the Most High God, and the victory is attributed in the Qurʾān to the direct intervention of the Almighty. See [Sūrah iii. 11]:—

“Ye have already had a sign in the meeting of the two hosts. The one host fought in the cause of God, and the other was infidel. To their own eye-sight, the infidels saw you twice as many as themselves: And God aided with His succour whom He would: And in this truly was a lesson for men endued with discernment.”

Al-Baiẓāwī, the commentator, says 3,000 angels fought for the Muslims on the battle-field of Badr.

Muḥammad was received in triumph at al-Madīnah, but his joy was interrupted by the death of his daughter Ruqaiyah, the divorced wife of ʿUtbah ibn Lahab, but who had been afterwards married to Us̤mān ibn ʿAffān. On his return to al-Madīnah (A.H. 3), Muḥammad found his position much strengthened, and from this time the Qurʾān assumes a rude dictatorial tone. He who at one time only spoke as a searcher after truth, now demands unhesitating obedience from the whole country of Arabia.

The Jews, however, were still unimpressed and were slow to acknowledge Muḥammad, although he claimed to be but the teacher of the creed of Abraham. Muḥammad sought but a plausible excuse for a rupture with the sons of Israel, and an opportunity soon presented itself. A Muslim girl was insulted by a youth of a Jewish tribe, and, taking advantage of the circumstance, the whole tribe was attacked, proscribed, and banished. Their houses and lands were confiscated and divided amongst the Faithful. In the course of the same year, Kaʿb ibn al-Ashraf, a Jew, was assassinated because he annoyed the Muslims with his verses. About this time, Muḥammad married his fourth wife, Ḥafṣah, the daughter of ʿUmar the celebrated K͟halīfah. In the early part of the year, al-Ḥasan, the son of Fāt̤imah and ʿAlī, was born.

The tidings of the defeat at Badr aroused the bitterest feelings of the Quraish. They advanced upon al-Madīnah 3,000 strong. In ten days the Makkan army reached Ẕū ʾl-ḥalfah, four miles south of al-Madīnah, and then moving northwards, they encamped at Uḥud, an isolated mountain three miles north-east of the city. Muḥammad, clad in armour, led out his army of 1,000 men, and halted for the night; and at early dawn advanced on Uḥud. He was soon abandoned by ʿAbdu ʾllāh, the chief of the Hypocrites [[MUNAFIQUN]] with 300 of his followers.

K͟hālid ibn al-Walīd, a name afterwards famous in Muslim history, commanding the right wing of the Quraish, attacked the Muslims, and raised the cry, “Muḥammad is slain!” The confusion of the Faithful was great, and defied all the efforts of Muḥammad to rally them. The Prophet himself was wounded in the face by two arrows. The Muslims were completely defeated, but the retreat was ably conducted by Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, and ʿUs̤mān, and the victorious Quraish did not attempt a pursuit.

Abū ʾl-Fidāʾ gives the following quaint account of the battle:—

“When the two armies engaged and approached each other, Hind, daughter of ʿUtbāh, the wife of Abū Sufyān, arose with the women that were with her, and they beat upon the tabors as they followed the men to battle. And Hind said, ‘Well done, ye sons of ʿAbdu ʾd-Dār, well done! Strike ye with every weapon ye possess.’ And Ḥamzah, the Prophet’s uncle, fought most valiantly that day; and he slew Artah, the standard-bearer of the unbelievers.”

“And Abū Kamiyah, the Lais̤ite slew Muṣʿab, the standard-bearer of the Muslims, and when Muṣʿab was slain, the Prophet gave the standard of Islām to ʿAlī, the son of Abū T̤ālib. Now, the archers were too eager for the spoil, and they left the position in which Muḥammad had posted them. And K͟hālid, the leader of the unbelievers, came with the cavalry to the rear of the Muslims, and raised a cry that Muḥammad was slain. So the Muslims were overcome by the unbelievers, and the Quraish gained the victory. The number of martyrs in the cause of Islām who fell at Uḥud was seventy. The number of the slain amongst the unbelievers was twenty-two. The enemy even struck Muḥammad. Their stones hit him and he fell. His foreteeth were struck out, and he was wounded in the face. Two nails of the helmet entered the face of Muḥammad. And Abū ʿUbaidah pulled one of the nails out of his face and one tooth dropped out; and he pulled out another nail and another tooth dropped out. And when Abū ʿUbaidah was taking out the teeth, Sunān Abū Saʿīd sucked the blood from Muḥammad’s face and swallowed it. Upon which the Prophet said, ‘Whosoever toucheth my blood, him shall the fire of hell never touch.’

“Then Hind and her companions fell on the Muslims who were slain, and cut off their noses and their ears. And Hind cut a slice from Ḥamzah’s liver and ate it. Then Abū Sufyān, the husband of Hind, stuck his spear into Ḥamzah’s body, and cried with a loud voice, ‘The fortunes of war are uncertain! The day of Uḥud for the day of Badr! Let the idol of Hubal be exalted!’ Then Muḥammad sought for the body of his uncle, and he found it lying on the ground with the belly ripped open and the ears and nose cut off. And the Prophet said, ‘God hath revealed to me concerning the Quraish. Verily, retaliation shall be made on thirty of them for the death of Ḥamzah, and verily Ḥamzah is now in the seventh heaven.’ Then Muḥammad prayed for Ḥamzah, and went to each of the bodies of the slain and prayed for them. Some of the Muslims wanted to carry their dead to al-Madīnah, but the Prophet said, ‘Bury them where they fell.’ ”

There is an allusion to the defeat at Uḥud in the third Sūrah of the Qurʾān: “What befell you when the two armies met by God’s permission. Count not those who are killed in the way of God as dead. They are living with their Lord.”

The fourth year of the Hijrah (A.D. 625) opened with the despatch of 500 Muslims against the tribe of Asd, who were making preparations to invade al-Madīnah. The enemy fled at the appearance of the Muslim troops, and the place was sacked.

During this year there were several expeditions. Amongst others, one against the Jewish tribe Banū Naẓīr, whose homes were spoiled, and the people banished, because they would not accept the mission of the “Apostle of God.” There is an allusion to this event in the second Sūrah of the Qurʾān. A second expedition was also made to Badr, but there was no fighting, although the event is known as the second battle of Badr; for after waiting eight days for an engagement with the Quraish, the Muslims returned in triumph to al-Madīnah.

It was about this time that Muḥammad made two additions to his ḥaram, by marrying Zainab, the widow of ʿUbaidah, who fell at Badr, as his fifth wife, and Ummu Salimah, the widow of Abū Salimah, who fell at the battle of Uḥud, for his sixth; thus exceeding the legal number of four wives, to which he restricted his followers.

Muḥammad being threatened by combined contingents of the Quraish, the Banū G͟hat̤fān and the Jewish tribes of Naẓīr and Quraiz̤ah, who advanced upon al-Madīnah with an army of 12,000 men, he, at the advice of a Persian named Salmān, caused a trench to be dug round the city, and then issued forth to defend it at the head of 3,000 Muslims. Both sides remained inactive for nearly a month, when, at last, the Quraish and their allies broke up the siege. This engagement is known in Muslim history as G͟hazwatu ʾl-K͟handaq, or the “Battle of the Ditch.” Special reference is made to this event in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxxiii. 9], where the success of the Muslims is attributed to the intervention of God, “who sent a blast and a host that were not seen.”

The next expedition was against the Jewish tribe, the Banū Quraiz̤ah, when Muḥammad led an army of three thousand men with thirty-six horse. The Jews sustained a siege of some twenty-five days, but were at last compelled to capitulate. Their fate was left to the decision of the Prophet’s companion, Saʿd, whose sentence was that the male captives should be slain, the female captives and children sold into slavery, and the spoils divided amongst the army. The Prophet commended the cruel judgment of Saʿd, as a decision according to the judgment of God, given on high from the seven heavens; and about 700 captives were deliberately beheaded, in parties in the presence of Muḥammad. One of the female captives, Rīḥānah, whose husband and male relatives had perished in the massacre, the Prophet reserved for himself. This cruel massacre of the Banū Quraiz̤ah is commended in the XXXIIIrd Sūrah of the Qurʾān, verse 25.

Before the close of this year, Muḥammad married his cousin Zainab. The Prophet had previously given her in marriage to Zaid ibn Ḥāris̤ah, his freed man and adopted son. But upon visiting the house of Zaid, and not finding him at home, the Prophet accidentally cast his eyes on Zainab, and was so smitten with her beauty, that he exclaimed, “Praise belongeth unto God, who turneth the hearts of men even as He will.” Zainab saw that she had made an impression on the Prophet’s heart, and when her husband returned, recounted the circumstances to him. Zaid determined to part with her in favour of his friend and benefactor, and offered to divorce her. But the relations of the Arabs to their adopted children were so strict, that nothing but a revelation from heaven could settle the difficulty. It was to meet this domestic emergency that the Prophet produced the following verses of the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxxiii. 36–38], to sanction his own heart’s desire:—

“And it is not for a believer, man or woman, to have any choice in their affairs, when God and His Apostle have decreed a matter: and whoever disobeyeth God and His Apostle, erreth with palpable error. And, remember, when thou saidst to him unto whom God had shown favour, and to whom thou also hadst shown favour, ‘Keep thy wife to thyself, and fear God;’ and thou didst hide in thy mind what God would bring to light, and thou didst fear man; but more right had it been to fear God. And when Zaid had settled concerning her to divorce her, we married her to thee, that it might not be a crime in the faithful to marry the wives of their adopted sons, when they have settled the affair concerning them. And the behest of God is to be performed. No blame attacheth to the Prophet where God hath given him a permission. Such was the way of God with those prophets who flourished before thee.”

The scandal of the marriage was removed by the pretended revelation, and according to the Traditions, Zainab used to vaunt herself as the one wife of the Prophet’s ḥarīm who had been given in marriage by God Himself. At all events, she exchanged a husband who had a pug nose and was short and ill-favoured for one who was the leading chief of Arabia!

Muḥammad’s numerous marriages (four being the legal number—[Sūrah iv. 3]) were likely to excite the jealousy and opposition of less favoured Muslims, but an additional chapter of the Qurʾān avoided complications, and allowed the “Prophet of God” greater liberty in this respect! See [Sūrah xxxiii. 49]: “O Prophet, we have allowed thee thy wives whom thou hast dowered, and the slaves whom thy right hand possesseth … and any believing woman who has given herself up to the Prophet, if the Prophet desireth to wed her; a privilege for thee above the rest of the Faithful.”

About this time certain injunctions were issued for the seclusion of women, and for the regulation of social and domestic intercourse ([Sūrah xxv].). These rules were made more stringent in the case of the Prophet’s own wives, who, in the case of incontinence, are threatened with double punishment ([Sūrah xxxiii].). The jealousy of the Prophet, who was now getting old, was allayed by the Divine command, that his wives should, in the event of his death, never marry again. The obligation devolving on believers, to consort equally with their several wives, was also relaxed specially in the Prophet’s favour ([Sūrah xlviii].).

In the sixth year of the Hijrah several military expeditions were made. Amongst others, to the Banū Quraiz̤ah and the Banū Laḥyān. On his return from the last expedition Muḥammad stopped for a few moments to visit the grave of his mother, and desired to pray for her soul. But a verse from the Qurʾān, alleged to have been revealed on this occasion, forbade his praying for the forgiveness of one who died an infidel. [Sūrah ix. 114, 115]:—

“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 shown him that he was an enemy to God, he declared himself clear of him. Yet Abraham was pitiful, kind.”

Muḥammad marched in person against the Banū ʾl-Muṣt̤aliq, and completely surprised and routed them. One thousand camels, five thousand sheep, and a great many women and children, became the spoil of the Muslims. One of the female captives, named Juwairīyah, fell to the lot of S̤ābit ibn Qais, who, as a meritorious act, offered to release her and give her her liberty, for a certain sum. On applying to Muḥammad to help her with the money to pay the ransom, he readily agreed to do so, and when she was freed he married her. Thereupon, the Muslims recognised the Banū ʾl-Muṣt̤aliq as allies. Juwairīyah survived Muḥammad forty-five years.

At the last stage, returning from the campaign against the Banū ʾl-Muṣt̤aliq, ʿĀyishah’s tent and litter were by inadvertence carried away, while she was for a moment absent, and on her return she found herself in the dark alone. Expecting the mistake to be discovered, she sat down to await the issue, when, after some delay, one of the followers came up, and finding her in this plight, bade her mount his camel, and so conducted her to al-Madīnah. The citizens drew sinister conclusions from the circumstance, and Muḥammad himself became estranged from ʿĀyishah, and she retired to her father’s home. Several weeks elapsed, when, at length, the Prophet was supernaturally informed of her innocence ([Sūrah xxiv].). The law was then promulgated which requires four eye-witnesses to establish the charge of adultery, in default of which the imputation is to be punished as a slander, with eighty lashes. [[QAZF].] ʿĀyishah was taken back to her home, and her accusers were beaten.

It was during the year A.H. 6, that Muḥammad conceived the idea of addressing foreign sovereigns and princes, and of inviting them to embrace Islām. His letter to the Emperor Heraclius has been handed down by Ibn ʿAbbās (Mishkāt, book xvii. ch. civ.), and is as follows:—

“In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful, Muḥammad, who is the servant of God, and His Apostle, to Hiraql, the Qaiṣar of Rūm. Peace be on whoever has gone on the straight road. After this I say, Verily, I call you to Islām. Embrace Islām, and God will reward you twofold. If you turn away from the offer of Islām, then on you be the sins of your people. O people of the Book (i.e. Christians), come towards a creed which is fit both for us and for you. It is this, to worship none but God, and not to associate anything with God, and not to call others God. Therefore, O ye people of the Book, if ye refuse, beware! We are Muslims, and our religion is Islām.

(Seal.)

“Muhammad, the Apostle of God.”

The letter was sent to the Governor of Buṣrā that he might convey it to Cæsar, but we have no record of a reply having been received.

He also wrote to Kasra-Parwiz, King of Persia, but Kasra tore the letter in pieces. On hearing the fate of his letter, Muḥammad said, “Even so shall his kingdom be shattered to pieces.” His third embassy was to Najāshī, the King of Abyssinia, who received the message with honour. The fourth was to Jarīḥ ibn Matta, the Muqauqis, or Governor, of Egypt. Jarīḥ sent a polite reply, and begged the Prophet’s acceptance of two beautiful Coptic slave girls. One of these, Shirīn, the Prophet gave to Ḥassān the poet, but he reserved the other, Māriyah, for himself. In due time, Māriyah presented the Prophet with a son, who was named Ibrāhīm, the birth of which made the mother a free woman, and placed her in the honourable position of the wife. But the Prophet’s extreme fondness for the recent addition to his already extensive ḥarīm was resented by his numerous wives. ʿĀyishah and Ḥafṣah were especially enraged, for the Prophet was in the habit of visiting Māriyah on the day due to one of these ladies. Ḥafṣah, who, being the daughter of ʿUmar, was a person of great political importance, took up the matter, and in order to pacify her the Prophet swore solemnly that he would never visit Māriyah again, and enjoined Ḥafṣah to keep the secret from the rest of his wives. She, however, revealed it in confidence to ʿĀyishah! Muḥammad was annoyed at finding his confidence betrayed, and separated himself for a whole month from his wives, and spent his time in Māriyah’s apartment. The situation was a difficult one, not merely on account of the complications caused in his own domestic circle, but because ʿUmar, the father of Ḥafṣah, was a most important political personage in those days. The only way out of the difficulty was to produce a third direct revelation from heaven, which appeared in the Sūratu ʾt-Taḥrīm, or the “Chapter of Prohibition” (lxvi.), of the Qurʾān, and reads as follows:—

“Why, O Prophet! dost thou hold that to be forbidden which God hath made lawful to thee, from a desire to please thy wives, since God is Lenient, Merciful? God hath allowed you release from your oaths; and God is your master; and He is the Knowing, Wise. When the Prophet told a recent occurrence as a secret to one of his wives (i.e. Ḥafṣah), and when she divulged it and God informed him of this, he acquainted her with part and withheld part. And when he had told her of it, she said, ‘Who told thee this?’ He said, ‘The Knowing, the Sage hath told it me. If ye both be turned to God in penitence, for now have your hearts gone astray … but if ye conspire against the Prophet, then know that God is his Protector, and Gabriel, and every just man among the faithful; and the angels are his helpers besides. Haply if he put you both (i.e. Ḥafṣah and ʿĀyishah) away, his Lord will give him in exchange other wives better than you, Muslims, believers, devout, penitent, obedient, observant of fasting, both known of men and virgins.’ ”

In the Muḥarram of A.H. 7, Muḥammad assembled a force of 1,600 men, and marched against K͟haibar, a fertile district inhabited by the Jews, and situated about six days’ march to the north-east of al-Madīnah. The attack on K͟haibar taxed both the energy and skill of the Warrior Prophet, for it was defended by several fortresses. The fort Qamuṣ was defended by Kinānah, a powerful Jewish chief, who claimed for himself the title of “King of the Jews.” Several assaults were made and vigorously repulsed by the besieged. Both Abū Bakr and ʿUmar were equally unsuccessful in their attempts to take the position, when the Prophet selected ʿAlī to lead a detachment of picked men. A famous Jewish warrior named Marhab, now presented himself, and challenged ʿAlī to single combat. The challenge was accepted, and ʿAlī, armed with his famous sword “Ẕū ʾl-Fiqār,” given to him by the Prophet, cleft the head of his adversary in twain, and secured a victory. In a few days all the fortresses of the district were taken, and K͟haibar was subjugated to Islām.

Amongst the female captives was Ṣafīyah, the widow of the chief Kinānah, who had fallen at Qamuṣ. One of Muḥammad’s followers begged her for himself, but the Prophet, struck with her beauty, threw his mantle over her, and took her to his ḥarīm.

The booty taken at K͟haibar was very considerable, and in order to secure the district to Muslim rule, the Jews of the district were exiled to the banks of the Jordan.

It was during the K͟haibar expedition that Muḥammad instituted Mutʿah, an abominable temporary marriage, to meet the demands of his army. This is an institution still observed by the Shīʿahs, but said by the Sunnīs to have been abolished by Muḥammad. [[MUTʿAH].] It was at K͟haibar that an attempt was made, by a Jewess named Zainab, to poison Muḥammad. She dressed a kid, and having steeped it in deadly poison, placed it before the Prophet, who ate but a mouthful of the poisoned kid when the deed was discovered. Zainab was immediately put to death.

The subjugation of the Jewish districts of Fadak, Wādī ʾl-Qurā and Tannah, on the confines of Syria, followed that of K͟haibar. This year, in the sacred month of Ẕū ʾl-Qaʿdah, Muḥammad decided to perform the ʿUmrah, or religious visitation of Makkah [[ʿUMRAH]], and for this purpose he left al-Madīnah with a following of some 4,400 men. When they were within two days’ march of Makkah, their advance was checked by the hostile Quraish, and Muḥammad, turning to the west from ʿUsfān, encamped at al-Ḥudaibiyah, within seven miles of the sacred city. At this spot a truce was made, which is known as the treaty of al-Ḥudaibiyah, in which it was stipulated that all hostilities should cease for ten years, and that for the future the Muslims should have the privilege, unmolested, of paying a yearly visit of three days to the Kaʿbah.

After sacrificing the victims at al-Ḥudaibiyah, Muḥammad and his followers returned to al-Madīnah.

The advent of the holy month Ẕū ʾl-Qaʿdah, of the next year (A.H. 8), was eagerly expected by Muḥammad and his followers, for then, according to the terms of the truce of al-Ḥudaibiyah, they might, without molestation, visit the holy city, and spend three days in the performance of the accustomed rites. The number of the faithful swelled on the approach to nearly 2,000 men, and the Quraish thought it best to retire with their forces to the heights overlooking the valley. Seated on his camel al-Qaṣwā, which eight years before had borne him in his flight from the cave of S̤aur a hunted fugitive, the Prophet, now surrounded by joyous crowds of disciples, the companions of his exile, approached and saluted the holy shrine. Eagerly did he press forward to the Kaʿbah, touched with his staff the Black Stone, seven times made the circuit of the holy house, seven times journeyed between aṣ-Ṣafā and al-Marwah, sacrificed the victims, and fulfilled all the ceremonies of the lesser pilgrimage.

While at Makkah he negotiated an alliance with Maimūnah, his eleventh and last wife. His marriage gained him two most important converts—K͟hālid, the “Sword of God,” who before this had turned the tide of battle at Uḥud; and ʿAmr, destined afterwards to carry to foreign lands the victorious standards of Islām.

The services of these two important converts were quickly utilised. An envoy from Muḥammad to the Christian Prince of Bostra, in Syria, having been slain by the chief of Mūtah—a village to the south-east of the Dead Sea—a force of 3,000 men, under his adopted son Zaid, was sent to exact retribution, and to call the offending tribe to the faith. On the northward march, though they learnt that an overwhelming force of Arabs and Romans—the latter of whom met the Muslims for the first time—was assembling to oppose them, they resolved resolutely to push forward. The result was their disastrous defeat and repulse. Zaid and Jaʿfar, a brother of ʿAlī, fell defending the white banner of the Prophet. K͟hālid, by a series of manœuvres, succeeded in drawing off the army, and conducting it without further loss to al-Madīnah. A month later, however, ʿAmr marched unopposed through the lands of the hostile tribes, received their submission, and restored the prestige of Islām on the Syrian frontier. Muḥammad deeply felt the loss of Zaid and Jaʿfar, and exhibited the tenderest sympathy for their widows and orphans.

The defeat at Mūtah was followed, in the south, by events of the greatest moment to Muḥammad. Certain smouldering hostilities between tribes inhabiting the neighbourhood of Makkah broke forth about the end of the year. These were judged to be infractions of the treaty (some of these tribes being in league with the Quraish), and were eagerly seized upon by Muḥammad, as justifying those designs upon Makkah which the success of his arms, and the dominion he possessed over numberless tribes in the north, in the Ḥijāz, and Najd, now made it easy for him to carry out.

Having, therefore, determined to attack his native city, he announced his intention to his followers, and directed his allies among the Bedouin tribe, to join him on the march to Makkah. Although he took every precaution to prevent his preparations becoming known, the news reached the ears of the Quraish, who sent Abū Sufyān to deprecate his anger and to ask him to abandon his purpose. Humiliation and failure were the only result of this mission.

On the 1st January, A.D. 630, Muḥammad’s march commenced, and after eight days, through unfrequented roads and defiles, the army, swelled to the number of 10,000 men, halted and lighted their camp fires on the heights of Marru ʾz̤-Z̤ahrān, a day’s march from the sacred city. The Prophet had been joined on his march by his uncle al-ʿAbbās, and on the night of his arrival Abū Sufyān again presented himself, and besought an interview. On the morrow it was granted. “Has the time not yet come, O Abū Sufyān,” cried Muḥammad, “for thee to acknowledge that there is but one God, and that I am his Apostle.” He answered that his heart still felt some hesitancy; but seeing the threatening sword of al-ʿAbbās, and knowing that Makkah was at the mercy of the Prophet, he repeated the prescribed formula of belief, and was sent to prepare the city for his approach.

The Prophet made his public entry into Makkah on his favourite camel, having Abū Bakr on his right hand, Usaid on his left, and Usāmah walking behind him. On his way he recited the XLVIIIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, known as the “Chapter of Victory.” He then entered the Sacred Mosque and circuited the Kaʿbah seven times, touching the Black Stone as he passed with his stick. Observing several pictures of angels inside the Kaʿbah, he ordered them to be removed, at the same time crying out with a loud voice, “God is great! God is great!” He then fixed the Qiblah [[QIBLAH]] at Makkah, and ordered the destruction of the 360 idols which the Makkan temple contained, himself destroying a wooden pigeon suspended from the roof, and regarded as one of the deities of the Quraish.

On the 11th day of the month of Ramaẓān, he repaired to Mount aṣ-Ṣafā, where all the people of Makkah had been assembled in order to take the oath of allegiance to him. ʿUmar, acting as his deputy, administered the oath, whereby the people bound themselves to obey Muḥammad, to abstain from theft, adultery, infanticide, lying, and backbiting.

During his stay at Makkah, Muḥammad sent small detachments of troops into the district, who destroyed the temples of al-ʿUzza, Suwaʿ, and Manāt, the three famous idol-temples of the neighbouring tribes. The Prophet had given strict orders that these expeditions should be carried out in a peaceable manner, and that only in cases of necessity should force of arms be used. K͟hālid ibn al-Walīd, however, who commanded 350 men, found himself opposed by the Jazimah tribe, for instead of saying as they were commanded, “We are Muslims,” they said, “We are Sabians”; and the impetuous general, whose name afterwards became so celebrated in history, ordered the whole tribe to be slain. Muḥammad, when he heard of this barbarity, exclaimed, “Oh! my God, I am innocent of this”; and he despatched a large sum of money for the widows and orphans of the slain, and severely rebuked K͟hālid.

The Prophet left Makkah after a fortnight’s residence, and at the head of 12,000 men attacked the Banī S̤aqīf and the Banī Hawāzin. Mālik ibn Ans, the chief of the S̤aqīf, made a bold stand, and the Prophet rallied his forces with the utmost difficulty, but having thrown a handful of dust in the direction of the enemy as a signal of victory, the Muslims renewed the charge, and 700 of the tribe were left dead on the field. This victory was followed immediately by one over the Banī Hawāzin, in the valley of Aut̤ās. (See [Sūrah ix. 25, 26].)

The ninth year of the Hijrah is known as the year of deputations, as being the year in which the various tribes of Arabia submitted to the claim of the Prophet, and sent embassies of peace to him. It is also remarkable for numerous minor expeditions.

Hearing that the Romans were assembling in large force on their frontier, Muḥammad determined to attack them at Tabūk (a city between al-Madīnah and Damascus). The army sent to Tabūk was the largest employed in the time of the Prophet, for it is said to have numbered 20,000, and 10,000 cavalry. By the time the army had arrived at Tabūk, the rumoured invasion had been proved unfounded. Muḥammad, however, utilised a portion of the force by sending it, under the command of K͟hālid, to Dūmah, where he received the submission of the Jewish and Christian tribes. A treaty with John, the Christian Prince of Ailah, was made, and Ukaidar, the Christian chief of Dūmah was converted to Islām.

The gradual submission of Arabia, and the acknowledgment of the spiritual and temporal supremacy of the Prophet throughout the entire peninsula, followed. Indeed, in the complex system which he had established, the spiritual and secular functions were intimately blended, and involved in each other, and whilst in his humble home at al-Madīnah he retained still the simple manners of his earlier years, which, at his time of life, he had probably no inclination to alter, he exercised all those regal and sacerdotal powers which the victorious arms of his lieutenants, or the voluntary submission of the most distant provinces of Arabia, had caused to be universally acknowledged. Tax-collectors were appointed to receive the prescribed offerings or tithes, which generally amounted to “a tenth part of the increase.”

The city of at̤-T̤āʾif, trusting to its natural strength, constituted itself a centre of disaffection; but at last, driven to extremities, and seeing that all the neighbouring tribes had one by one submitted, its chief, after a vain attempt to obtain some relaxation in the rules of Islām, consented to the destruction of the adored idol al-Lāt, and adopted the new faith.

It was during the time of the next yearly pilgrimage (March, A.D. 631), that Muḥammad issued an important command, the crowning stone of the system he had raised, which shows at once the power he wielded, and the strong hold his doctrines had already taken throughout Arabia. Refusing to be present himself during the ceremonies of the pilgrimage, he commissioned ʿAlī to announce to the assembled multitudes in the valley of Minā, that, at the expiration of the four sacred months, the Prophet would hold himself absolved from every obligation or league with idolaters; that after that year no unbeliever would be allowed to perform the pilgrimage, or to visit the holy places; and further, he gave directions that either within or without the sacred territory, war was to be waged with them, that they were to be killed, besieged, and laid in wait for “wheresoever found.” He ordains, however, that if they repent and pay the legal alms, they are to be dismissed freely; but as regards “those unto whom the Scriptures have been delivered” (Jews and Christians, &c.), “they are to be fought against until they pay tribute by right of subjection, and are reduced low.”

“Such, then,” says Sir William Muir, “is the declared mission of Islam, arrived at by slow, though inevitable steps, and now imprinted unchangeably upon its banners. The Jews and Christians, and perhaps the Magians,—‘people of the book’—are to be tolerated, but held in subjection, and under tribute; but for the rest, the sword is not to be sheathed till they are exterminated, or submit to the faith which is to become ‘superior to every other religion.’ ”

About the middle of the year, a heavy grief fell upon Muḥammad, in the death of his little son Ibrāhīm.

On the return of the sacred month (March, A.D. 632), Muḥammad, accompanied by all his wives, selected his victims, assumed the pilgrim garb, and set out on what is called Ḥajjatu ʾl-Wadāʿ, or “The Valedictory Pilgrimage,” to the holy places, from which every trace of the old superstition had been removed, and which, in accordance with his orders of the previous year, no idolater was to visit. Approaching the Kaʿbah by the gate of the Banū Shaibah, he carefully performed all the ceremonies of the ʿUmrah, or “lesser Pilgrimage,” and then proceeded to consummate those of the greater. On the 8th of the holy month Ẕū ʾl-Ḥijjah, he rode to the Wādī Minā, some three miles east of Makkah, and rested there for the night. Next day, passing Muzdalifah, the midway station, he reached in the evening the valley in which stands the granite hill of ʿArafah. From the “summit he spoke to the pilgrims regarding its sacred precincts, announced to them the perfecting of their religion,” offered up the prescribed prayers, and hurried back to Muzdalifah for the night. On the 10th, proceeding to Minā, he cast the accustomed stones, slew the victims brought for sacrifice, had his head shaved and his nails pared, ordering the hair, &c., to be burnt; and, the ceremonies ended, laid aside the pilgrim garb. At Minā, during his three days’ stay, he preached to the pilgrims, called them to witness that he had faithfully fulfilled his mission, and urged them not to depart from the exact observances of the religion which he had appointed. Returning to Makkah, he again went through the ceremonies of the ʿUmrah, made the circuit of the temple, drank of the well Zamzam, prayed in the Kaʿbah, and thus, having rigorously performed all the ceremonies, that his example might serve as a model for all succeeding time, he turned to al-Madīnah.

The excitement and fatigue of his journey to the holy places told sensibly on his health, which for some time had shown indications of increasing infirmity. In the death of Ibrāhīm he had received a blow which weighed down his spirit; the poison of K͟haibar still rankled in his veins, afflicted him at times with excruciating pain, and bowed him to the grave. His life had been a hard and a stirring one, and now the important affairs of his spiritual and temporal kingdom, and the cares of his large domestic circle, denied him that quiet and seclusion for which he longed.

The news of the Prophet’s failing health was soon noised abroad, and tended to encourage his rivals to increased energy of action. Three different revolts, each headed by a dangerous competitor, were now on the point of breaking out. The first of these was led by Musailimah, a rival prophet, who now stated that Muḥammad had distinctly nominated him as his successor [[MUSAILIMAH]]; the second, by Aswad, a wealthy and eloquent rival, with a considerable following [[ASWAD]]; and the third, by T̤ulaiḥah, a famous warrior of Najd, who claimed the prophetic office.

In the Traditions it is related that Musailimah addressed a letter to Muḥammad, which ran:—

“Musailimah, the Prophet of God, to Muḥammad, the Prophet of God. Peace be to you. I am your associate. Let the exercise of authority be divided between us. Half the earth is mine, and half belongs to the Quraish. But the Quraish are a greedy people, and will not be satisfied with a fair division.”

To this presumptuous epistle Muḥammad replied:—

“Muḥammad, the Prophet of God, to Musailimah, the Liar. Peace be on those who follow the straight road. The earth is God’s, and He giveth it to whom He will. Those only prosper who fear the Lord.”

The opposition of Musailimah was, however, a formidable one, and after Muḥammad’s death he was slain by K͟hālid during the reign of Abū Bakr.

The health of Muḥammad grew worse, and he now requested that he might be permitted to remain in the home of ʿĀyishah, his beloved wife, an arrangement to which his other wives assented.

The account we now give of the closing scenes of Muḥammad’s life, is from the graphic pen of Sir William Muir (Life of Mahomet, new ed., p. 501 et seq.), and founded on the traditional histories of al-Wāqidī’s secretary, and Ibn Hishām.

“On the night of Saturday (11 Rabīʿu ʾl-Awwal, 6th June, A.D. 632), the sickness assumed a very serious aspect. The fever rose to such a pitch that the hand could hardly be kept upon his skin from its burning heat. His body was racked with pain; restless and moaning, he tossed about upon his bed. Alarmed at a severe paroxysm of the disease, Omm Salma, one of his wives, screamed aloud. Mahomet rebuked her:—‘Quiet!’ he said. ‘No one crieth out thus but an unbeliever.’ During the night, Ayesha sought to comfort him, and suggested that he should seek for consolation in the same lessons he had so often taught to others when in sickness: ‘O Prophet!’ she said, ‘if one of us had moaned thus, thou would’st surely have found fault with it.’ ‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘but I burn with the fever-heat of any two of you together.’ ‘Then,’ exclaimed one, ‘thou shalt surely have a double reward.’ ‘Yes,’ he answered, ‘I swear by Him in whose hands is my life, that there is not upon the earth a believer afflicted with any calamity or disease, but the Lord thereby causeth his sins to fall from him, even as leaves are shed in autumn from a tree.’ At another time he said, ‘Suffering is an expiation for sin. Verily, if the believer suffer but the scratch of a thorn, the Lord raiseth his rank thereby, and wipeth away from him a sin.’ ‘Believers,’ he would affirm, ‘are tried according to their faith. If a man’s faith be strong, so are his sufferings; if he be weak, they are proportioned thereunto. Yet in any case, the suffering shall not be remitted until he walk upon the earth without the guilt of a single transgression cleaving unto him.’

“Omar, approaching the bed, placed his hand on Mahomet’s forehead, and suddenly withdrew it, from the greatness of the heat: ‘O Prophet!’ he said, ‘how violent is the fever on thee!’ ‘Yea, verily,’ replied Mahomet, ‘but I have been during the night season repeating in praise of the Lord seventy Suras, and among them the seven long ones.’ Omar answered: ‘But the Lord hath forgiven thee all thy sins, the former and the latter; now, then, why not rest and take thine ease?’ ‘Nay,’ replied Mahomet, ‘for wherefore should I not be a faithful servant unto Him?’

“An attendant, while Mahomet lay covered up, put his hand below the sheet, and feeling the excessive heat, made a remark similar to that of Omar. Mahomet replied: ‘Even as this affliction prevaileth now against me, so shall my reward hereafter be enhanced.’ ‘And who are they,’ asked another, ‘that suffer the severest trials?’ ‘The prophets and the righteous,’ said Mahomet; and then he made mention of one prophet having been destroyed by lice, and of another who was tried with poverty, so that he had but a rag to cover his nakedness withal; ‘yet each of them rejoiced exceedingly in his affliction, even as one of you in great spoil would rejoice.’

“On the Sunday, Mahomet lay in a very weak and helpless state. Osâma, who had delayed his departure to see what the issue of the sickness might be, came in from Jorf to visit him. Removing the clothes from the Prophet’s face, he stooped down and kissed him, but there was no audible response. Mahomet only raised his hands to heaven in the attitude of blessing, and then placed them upon Osâma. So he returned to the camp.

“During some part of this day Mahomet complained of pain in his side, and the suffering became so great, that he fell into a state of unconsciousness. Omm Salma advised that physic should be given him. Asma, the sister of Meimûna, prepared a draught after an Abyssinian recipe, and they forced it into his mouth. Reviving from its effects, he felt the unpleasant taste in his mouth, and cried, ‘What is this that ye have done to me? Ye have even given me physic!’ They confessed that they had done so, and enumerated the ingredients of which Asma had compounded it. ‘Out upon you!’ he angrily exclaimed: ‘this is a remedy for the pleurisy, which she hath learned in the land of Abyssinia; but that is not a disease which the Lord will suffer to attack me. Now shall ye all partake of the same dose. Let not one remain in the house without being physicked, even as ye have physicked me, excepting only my uncle Abbâs.’ So all the women arose, and they poured the physic, in presence of the dying Prophet, into each other’s mouths.

“After this, the conversation turning upon Abyssinia, Omm Salma and Omm Habiba, who had both been exiles there, spoke of the beauty of a cathedral in that country, called the Church of Maria, and of the wonderful pictures on its walls. Mahomet listened quietly to them, and then said, ‘These, verily, are the people who, when a good man hath lived amongst them, build over his tomb a place of worship, and they adorn it with their pictures. These, in the eyes of the Lord, are the worst part of all the creation.’ He stopped, and covered himself with the bed-clothes; then casting them off in the restlessness and perhaps delirium of the fever, he said: ‘The Lord destroy the Jews and Christians! Let His anger be kindled against those that turn the tombs of their prophets into places of worship. O Lord, let not my tomb be an object of worship. Let there not remain any faith but that of Islam throughout the whole land of Arabia!’

“About this time, recognising Omar and some other chief men in the room, he called out, ‘Bring hither to me ink and paper, that I may record for you a writing which shall prevent your going astray for ever.’ Omar said, ‘He wandereth in his mind. Is not the Corân sufficient for us?’ But the women wished that the writing materials should be brought; and a discussion ensued. Thereupon one said, ‘What is his condition at this present moment? Come, let us see whether he speaketh deliriously or not.’ So they went and asked him what his wishes were regarding the writing he had spoken of; but he no longer desired to indite it. ‘Leave me thus alone,’ he said, ‘for my present state is better than that ye call me to.’

“In the course of this day, Mahomet called Ayesha to him, and said, ‘Where is that gold which I gave unto thee to keep?’ On her replying that it was by her, he desired that she should spend it at once in charity. Then he dozed off in a half-conscious state; and some time after asked if she had done as he desired her. On her saying that she had not yet done so, he called for the money (which was apparently a portion of the tithe income); she placed it in his hand, and counted six golden dinars. He directed that it should be divided among certain indigent families; and then lying down, he said, ‘Now I am at peace. Verily it would not have become me to meet my Lord, and this gold in my possession.’

“All Sunday night the illness of Mahomet continued unabated. He was overheard praying: one of the ejaculations was to this effect: ‘O my soul! Why seekest thou for refuge elsewhere than in God alone?’ The morning brought some measure of relief. The fever and the pain abated; and there was an apparent return of strength.

“The dangerous crisis of the Prophet’s sickness on the preceding night having become known throughout the city, the mosque was crowded in the morning, at the hour of prayer, by men and women, who came seeking anxiously for tidings. Abu Bakr, as usual, led the devotions; as Imâm he stood in the place of Mahomet before the congregation, his back turned towards them. He had ended the first Rakáat, or series of prostrations, and the people had stood up again for a second, when the curtain of Ayesha’s door (to the left of the audience, and a little way behind Abu Bakr) slowly moved aside, and Mahomet himself appeared. As he entered the assembly, he whispered in the ear of Fadhl (Faẓl), son of Abbas, who with a servant supported him: ‘The Lord verily hath granted unto me refreshment in prayer’; and he looked around with a gladsome smile, marked by all who at the moment caught a glimpse of his countenance. That smile no doubt was the index of deep emotion in his heart. What doubts or fears may have crossed the mind of Mahomet, as he lay on the bed of death, and felt that the time was drawing nigh when he must render an account to that God whose messenger he professed to be, tradition affords us no grounds even to conjecture. The rival claims of Aswad and Museilama had, perhaps, suggested misgivings, such as those which had long ago distracted his soul. What if he, too, were an impostor, deceiving himself and deceiving others also! If any doubts and questionings of this nature had arisen in his mind, the sight of the great congregation, in attitude devout and earnest, may have caused him comfort and reassurance. That which brings forth good fruit must itself be good. The mission which had transferred gross and debased idolaters into spiritual worshippers such as these, resigning every faculty to the service of the one great God; and which, wherever accepted and believed in, was daily producing the same wonderful change, that mission must be divine, and the voice from within which prompted him to undertake it must have been the voice of the Almighty, revealed through His ministering spirit. Perhaps it was a thought like this which passed at the moment through the mind of the Prophet, and lighted up his countenance with that smile of joy, diffusing gladness over the crowded courts of the mosque.

“Having paused thus for a moment at the door, Mahomet, supported as before, walked softly to the front, where Abu Bakr stood. The people made way for him, opening their ranks as he advanced. Abu Bakr heard the rustle (for he never when at prayer turned himself or looked to the right hand or the left), and, apprehending the cause which alone at that time could create so great sensation, stepped backwards to join the congregation and vacate the place of leader for the Prophet. But Mahomet motioned him to resume the post, and taking his hand, moved forward to the pulpit. There he sat on the ground by the side of Abu Bakr, who resumed the service, and finished it in customary form.

“When the prayers were ended, Abu Bakr entered into conversation with Mahomet. He rejoiced to find him to all appearance convalescent. ‘O Prophet,’ he said, ‘I perceive that, by the grace of God, thou art better to-day, even as we desire to see thee. Now this day is the turn of my wife, the daughter of Khârija; shall I go and visit her?’ Mahomet gave him permission. So he departed to her house at Al Sunh, a suburb of the upper city.

“Mahomet then sat himself down for a little while in the court-yard of the mosque, near the door of Ayesha’s apartment, and addressed the people, who, overjoyed to find him again in their midst, crowded round. He spoke with emotion, and with a voice still so powerful as to reach beyond the outer doors of the mosque. ‘By the Lord,’ he said, ‘as for myself, verily, no man can lay hold of me in any matter; I have not made lawful anything excepting what God hath made lawful; nor have I prohibited aught but that which God in His book hath prohibited.’ Osâma was there; when he came to bid farewell (before starting on an expedition against the Roman border), Mahomet said to him, ‘Go forward with the army; and the blessing of the Lord be with thee!’ Then turning to the women who sat close by, ‘O Fâtima!’ he exclaimed, ‘my daughter, and Safiâ, my aunt! Work ye both that which shall procure you acceptance with the Lord; for verily I have no power with him to save you in anywise.’ Having said this, he arose and re-entered the room of Ayesha.

“Mahomet, exhausted by the exertion he had undergone, lay down upon his bed; and Ayesha, seeing him to be very weak, raised his head from the pillow, and laid it tenderly upon her bosom. At that moment one of her relatives entered with a green tooth-pick in his hand. Ayesha observed that the eye of Mahomet rested on it, and, knowing it to be such as he liked, asked whether he wished to have it. He signified assent. Chewing it a little to make it soft and pliable, she placed it in his hand. This pleased him; for he took up the tooth-pick and used it, rubbing his teeth with his ordinary vigour; then he put it down.

“His strength now rapidly sank. He seemed to be aware that death was drawing near. He called for a pitcher of water, and, wetting his face, prayed thus: ‘O Lord, I beseech thee to assist me in the agonies of death!’ Then three times he ejaculated earnestly, ‘Gabriel, come close unto me!’

“At this time he began to blow upon himself, perhaps in the half-consciousness of delirium, repeating the while an ejaculatory form which he had been in the habit of praying over persons who were very sick. When he ceased, from weakness, Ayesha took up the task, and continued to blow upon him and recite the same prayer. Then, seeing that he was very low, she seized his right hand and rubbed it (another practice of the Prophet when visiting the sick), repeating all the while the earnest invocation. But Mahomet was too far gone to bear even this. He now wished to be in perfect quiet: ‘Take off thy hand from me,’ he said, ‘that cannot benefit me now.’ After a little he prayed in a whisper, ‘Lord grant me pardon; and join me to the companionship on high!’ Then at intervals: ‘Eternity in Paradise!’ ‘Pardon!’ ‘Yes; the blessed companionship on high!’ He stretched himself gently. Then all was still. His head grew heavy on the breast of Ayesha. The Prophet of Arabia was dead.

“Softly removing his head from her bosom, Ayesha placed it on the pillow, and rising up joined the other women, who were beating their faces in bitter lamentation.

“The sun had but shortly passed the meridian. It was only an hour or two since Mahomet had entered the mosque cheerful, and seemingly convalescent. He now lay cold in death.”

As soon as the intelligence of the Prophet’s death was published a crowd of people assembled at the door of the house of ʿĀyishah, exclaiming, “How can our Apostle be dead; he who was to be our witness in the Day of Judgment?” “No,” said ʿUmar, “he is not dead; he has gone to visit his Lord as the Prophet Moses did, when, after an absence of forty days, he reappeared to his people. Our Prophet will be restored to us, and those are traitors to the cause of Islām who say he is dead. If they say so, let them be cut in pieces.” But Abū Bakr entered the house at this juncture, and after viewing the body of the Prophet with touching demonstrations of affection, he appeared at the door and addressed the crowd thus: “O Muslims, if ye adore Muḥammad, know that Muḥammad is dead. If ye adore God, God is alive, and cannot die. Do ye forget the verse in the Qurʾān: ‘Muḥammad is no more than an apostle. Other apostles have already passed before him’? (see [Sūrah iii. 138]), and also the other verse, ‘Thou shalt surely die, O Muḥammad, and they also shall die?’ ” (see [Sūrah xxxix. 31]). ʿUmar acknowledged his error, and the crowd was satisfied and dispersed.

Al-ʿAbbās presided at the preparations for the burial, and the body was duly washed and perfumed. There was some dispute between the Quraish and the Anṣār as to the place of burial; but Abū Bakr silenced them, affirming that he had heard Muḥammad say that a prophet should be buried on the spot where he died. A grave was accordingly dug in the ground within the house of ʿĀyishah, and under the bed on which the Prophet died. This spot is now known as the Ḥujrah, or chamber, at al-Madīnah. The last rites were performed by ʿAlī and the two sons of al-ʿAbbās. [[HUJRAH].]

The foregoing account of Muḥammad’s death is that of Sunnī traditionists. The Shīʿahs deny almost every word of it, and give the following as an authentic narrative of the Prophet’s death. The manifest object being to establish the claim of ʿAlī to be Muḥammad’s successor. It is translated from the Shīʿah book entitled the Ḥayātu ʾl-Qulūb (see Merrick’s translation, p. 368):—

“The Prophet returned to his house, and in the space of three days his sickness became severe. He then tied a bandage on his head, and leaning on the Commander of the Faithful (i.e. ʿAlī) and Fazl-ibn-Abbâs, went to the mesjed and ascended the mimber (or pulpit), and, sitting down, addressed the people thus: ‘The time is near when I shall be concealed from you. Whoever has any claim on me, let him now declare it. Verily, none can claim favour at the hand of God but by obeying Him, and none can expect to be safe without good works, or to enjoy the favour of God without obedience. Nothing but good works will deliver from divine wrath, and verily, if I should sin, I should go to hell. O Lord, I have delivered thy message.’ He then came down from the mimber and performed short prayers with the people, and returned to the house of Ummsalmah, where he remained one or two days. That cursed woman Auyeshah, having satisfied his other wives on the subject, came to the Prophet, and induced him by entreaties to go to her house, where his sickness became very oppressive. At the hour for morning prayers Bilâl shouted the aẕân, but the Prophet, near his departure to the holy world, heard it not. Auyeshah then sent to her father, Abubekr, to go to the mesjed, and lead the devotions of the people, and Hafsah sent the same message to Omar. As these two women were conversing about the matter before the Prophet, not seeming to suppose that he understood them, he interrupted them, saying, ‘Quit such talk; you are like the women that tried to lead Yusuf astray.’ Finding that, contrary to his orders, Abubekr and Omar were in the city with seditious designs, he was very sorrowful; and oppressed as he was with a severe disease, he rose, and leaning on Aly and Fazl-bin-Abbâs, with extreme difficulty went to the mesjed, lest Abubekr or Omar should perform prayers, and the people doubt who should be his successor. On arriving at the mesjed, he found that the cursed Abubekr had occupied the place of the leader of prayers, and already begun the devotions with the people. The Prophet, with his blessed hand, signed to Abubekr to remove, and he took his place, and from weakness sat down to perform prayers, which he began anew, regardless of Abubekr’s commencement.

“On returning to his house Muhammad summoned Abubekr, Omar, and some others, and demanded if he had not ordered them to depart with the army of Asâmah. They replied that he had. Abubekr said that he had gone and returned again; and Omar said that he did not go, for he did not wish to hear of the Prophet’s sickness from another. Muhammad then told them to go with the army of Asâmah, and three times pronounced a curse on any who should disobey. His exertions produced such exhaustion that he swooned, on which the Musalmans present and his wives and children wept and lamented aloud. At length the Prophet opened his blessed eyes, and said, ‘Bring me an inkstand and a sheep’s shoulder-blade, that I may write a direction which will prevent your going astray.’ One of the Companions of the Prophet rose to bring what he had ordered, but Omar said, ‘Come back, he speaks deliriously; disease has overcome him, and the book of God is sufficient for us.’ It is, however, a disputed matter whether Omar said this. However, they said to the Prophet, ‘Shall we bring what you ordered.’ He replied, ‘After what I have heard from you I do not need them, but I give you a dying charge to treat my family well, and not turn from them.’ [The compiler observes that this tradition about the inkstand and shoulder-blade is mentioned in several Sunnī books.]

“During the last sickness of the Prophet, while he was lying with his head in Aly’s lap, and Abbâs was standing before him and brushing away the flies with his cloak, he opened his eyes and asked Abbâs to become his executor, pay his debts, and support his family. Abbâs said he was an old man with a large family, and could not do it. Muhammad then proferred the same to Aly, who was so much affected that he could not command utterance for some time, but as soon as he could speak, promised with the greatest devotion to perform the Prophet’s request. Muhammad, after being raised into a sitting posture, in which he was supported by Aly, ordered Bilâl to bring his helmet, called Zool-jabeen (Ẕū ʾl-jabīn); his coat of mail, Zatûl-Fazool (Ẕātu ʾl-Fuẓūl); his banner, Akab; his sword, Zool-fakâr (Ẕū ʾl-fiqār); his turbans, Sahâb and Tahmeeah; his two party-coloured garments, his little staff, and his walking cane, Mamshook. In relating the story, Abbâs remarked that he had never before seen the party-coloured scarf, which was so lustrous as nearly to blind the eyes. The Prophet now addressed Aly, saying, ‘Jibraeel brought me this article and told me to put it into the rings of my mail, and bind it on me for a girdle.’ He then called for his two pairs of Arab shoes, one pair of which had been patched. Next he ordered the shirt he wore on the night of the Marâj, or ascent to heaven, and the shirt he wore at the battle of Ohod. He then called for his three caps, one of which he wore in journeying, another on festivals, and the third when sitting among his Companions. He then told Bilâl to bring his two mules, Shahba and Duldul, his two she-camels, Ghazbâ and Sahbâ, and his two horses, Jinah and Khyrdam.

“Jinah was kept at the door of the mesjed for the use of a messenger, and Khyrdam was mounted by the Prophet at the battle of Ohod, where Jibraeel cried, ‘Advance, Khyrdam.’ Last, he called for his ass Yafoor. Muḥammad now directed Abbâs to take Aly’s place, and support his back. He then said, ‘Rise, O Aly, and take these my property, while I yet live, that no one may quarrel with you about them after I am gone.’

“‘When I rose,’ said Aly, ‘my feet were so cramped that it was with the utmost difficulty that I could move. Having taken the articles and animals to my house, I returned and stood before the Prophet, who on seeing me took his ring from his right hand, pointing the way of truth, and put it on my right hand, the house being full of the Benu Hâshim and other Musulmans, and while from weakness his head nodded to the right and left, he cried aloud, “O company of Musulmans, Aly is my brother, my successor, and Khaleefah among my people and sect, he will pay my debts and cancel my engagements. O ye sons of Hâshim and Abdul-mutalib, and ye other Musulmans, be not hostile to Aly, and do not oppose him, lest ye be led astray, and do not envy him, nor incline from him to another, lest ye become infidels.” ’ He then ordered Abbâs to give his place to Aly. Abbâs replied, ‘Do you remove an old man to seat a child in his place?’ The Prophet repeated the order; and the third time Abbâs rose in anger, and Aly took his place. Muhammad, finding his uncle angry, said to him, ‘Do nothing to cause me to leave the world offended with you, and my wrath send you to hell.’ On hearing this, Abbâs went back to his place, and Muhammad directed Aly to lay him down.

“The Prophet said to Bilâl, ‘Bring my two sons Hasan and Husain.’ When they were presented he pressed them to his bosom, smelt and kissed those two flowers of the garden of prophecy. Aly, fearing they would trouble the Prophet, was about to take them away; but be said, ‘Let them be, that I may smell them, and they smell me, and we prepare to meet each other; for after I am gone great calamities will befall them, but may God curse those that cause them to fear and do them injustice. O Lord, I commit them to Thee and to the worthy of the Faithful, namely, Aly-bin-Abutalib.’ The Prophet then dismissed the people and they went away, but Abbâs and his son Fazl, and Aly-bin-Abutalib, and those belonging to the household of the Prophet, remained. Abbâs then said to the Prophet, ‘If the Khalâfat (K͟hilāfah) is established among us, the Benu Hâshim, assure us of it, that we may rejoice; but if you foresee that they will treat us unjustly and deprive us of the Khalâfat, commit us to your Companions.’ Muhammad replied, ‘After I am gone they will weaken and overcome you,’ at which declaration all the family wept, and, moreover, despaired of the Prophet’s life.

“Aly continued to attend Muhammad night and day, never leaving him except from the most imperative necessity. On one of these occasions, when Aly was absent, the Prophet said, ‘Call my friend and brother.’ Auyeshah and Hafsah sent for their fathers, Abubekr and Omar, but he turned from them and covered his face, on which they remarked, ‘He does not want us, he wants Aly,’ whom Fatimah called; and Muhammad pressed him to his bosom, and they mingled their perspiration together, and the Prophet communicated to him a thousand chapters of knowledge, each opening to a thousand more. One tradition declares that Muhammad kept Aly in his bed till his pure spirit left his body, his arm meanwhile embracing Aly.”

[In compiling this account of the life of Muḥammad, we must express our deep obligations to Sir William Muir’s Life of Mahomet (1st ed., 4 vols.; 2nd ed., 1 vol.; Smith, Elder and Co., London). In many cases we have given the ipsissima verba of his narrative, with his kind permission. The chief literature on the subject, in addition to Sir William Muir’s work, is: Das Leben und die Lehre des Moḥammad, A. Sprenger, Berlin, 1869; Specimen Historiæ Arabum, E. Pocock, Oxon. 1650; Ismael Abulfeda De Vita et Rebus gestis Mohamedis, J. Gagnier, Oxon. 1723; Life of Mahomet, Washington Irving, London, 1850; Life of Mahomed from Original Sources, A. Sprenger, Allahabad, 1851; Essays on the Life of Muhammad, Syud Ahmad Khan, C.S.I., London; A Critical Examination of the Life and Teachings of Muhammad, Syud Ameer Ali Moulla, LL.D., London, 1873; Islam and its Founder, S.P.C.K., 1878; Mahomet et le Coran, T. Barthelemy de St. Hilaire, 1865; The True Nature of the Imposture Fully Explained, H. Prideaux, London, 1718; the first three volumes of the modern part of An Universal History, London, 1770 (specially recommended by Dr. Badger); Tareek-i-Tabari, Zotenberg; Das Leben Mohammeds nach Ibn Ishāk, bearbeitet von Ibn Hischam, G. Weil, 2 vols., 1864. The earliest biographers whose works are extant in Arabic, are Ibn Isḥāq (A.H. 151), Ibn Hishām (A.H. 218), al-Wāqidī (A.H. 207), at̤-T̤abarī (A.H. 310).]

Muḥammad is referred to by name in four places in the Qurʾān:—

[Sūrah iii. 138]: “Muḥammad is but an apostle: apostles have passed away before his time; what if he die, or is killed, will ye retreat upon your heels?”

[Sūrah xxxiii. 40]: “Muḥammad is not the father of any of your men, but the Apostle of God, and the Seal of the Prophets.”

[Sūrah xlvii. 2]: “Those who believe and do right and believe in what is revealed to Muḥammad,—and it is the truth from their Lord,—He will cover for them their offences and set right their mind.”

[Sūrah xlviii. 29]: “Muḥammad is the Apostle of God.”

He is said to have been foretold by Jesus under the name of Aḥmad. [Sūrah lxi. 6]: “Giving you glad tidings of an Apostle who shall come after me whose name shall be Aḥmad.” [[AHMAD].]

According to a tradition of Ibn ʿAbbās, the Prophet said: “My name in the Qurʾān is Muḥammad, and in the Injīl Aḥmad, and in the Taurāt Aḥyad (from the root حيد‎, “to shun”), and I am called Aḥyad because I shun hell-fire more than any of my people.” (An-Nawawī, Wüstenfeld’s edition, p. 28.)

MUḤAMMAD, The Character of. (1) Sir William Muir (Life of Mahomet, new ed. p. 537 et seqq.), has carefully collated from the traditions embodied by the secretary of al-Wāqidī, an account of the person and character of Muḥammad. “This account,” as Sir William Muir remarks, “illustrates generally the style and contents of the Muslim biographies of their Prophet.”

“When Ayesha was questioned about Mahomet she used to say: ‘He was a man just such as yourselves; he laughed often and smiled much.’ ‘But how would he occupy himself at home?’ ‘Even as any of you occupy yourselves. He would mend his clothes, and cobble his shoes. He used to help me in my household duties; but what he did oftenest was to sew. If he had the choice between two matters, he would choose the easiest, so as that no sin accrued therefrom. He never took revenge excepting where the honour of God was concerned. When angry with any person, he would say, “What hath taken such a one that he should soil his forehead in the mud!” ’

“His humility was shown by his riding upon asses, by his accepting the invitation even of slaves, and when mounted, by his taking another behind him. He would say: ‘I sit at meals as a servant doeth, and I eat like a servant: for I really am a servant’; and he would sit as one that was always ready to rise. He discouraged (supererogatory) fasting, and works of mortification. When seated with his followers, he would remain long silent at a time. In the mosque at Medîna they used to repeat pieces of poetry, and tell stories regarding the incidents that occurred in the ‘days of ignorance,’ and laugh; and Mahomet listening to them, would smile at what they said.

“Mahomet hated nothing more than lying; and whenever he knew that any of his followers had erred in this respect, he would hold himself aloof from them until he was assured of their repentance.

“His Speech.

“He did not speak rapidly, running his words into one another, but enunciated each syllable distinctly, so that what he said was imprinted in the memory of every one who heard him. When at public prayers, it might be known from a distance that he was reading by the motion of his beard. He never read in a singing or chanting style; but he would draw out his voice, resting at certain places. Thus, in the prefatory words of a Sura, he would pause after bismillâhi, after al Rahmân, and again after al Rahîm.

“Gait.

“He used to walk so rapidly that the people half ran behind him, and could hardly keep up with him.

“Habits in Eating.

“He never ate reclining, for Gabriel had told him that such was the manner of kings; nor had he ever two men to walk behind him. He used to eat with his thumb and his two forefingers; and when he had done, he would lick them, beginning with the middle one. When offered by Gabriel the valley of Mecca full of gold, he preferred to forego it; saying that when he was hungry he would come before the Lord lowly, and when full, with praise.

“Moderation.

“A servant-maid being once long in returning from an errand, Mahomet was annoyed, and said: ‘If it were not for the law of retaliation, I should have punished you with this tooth-pick’ (i.e. with an inappreciably light punishment).

“Customs at Prayer.

“He used to stand for such a length of time at prayer that his legs would swell. When remonstrated with, he said: ‘What! shall I not behave as a thankful servant should?’ He never yawned at prayer. When he sneezed, he did so with a subdued voice, covering his face. At funerals he never rode: he would remain silent on such occasions, as if conversing with himself, so that the people used to think he was holding communication with the dead.

“Refusal to make Personal Use of Tithes.

“While he accepted presents he refused to use anything that had been offered as alms; neither would he allow anyone in his family to use what had been brought as alms; ‘For,’ said he, ‘alms are the impurity of mankind’ (i.e. that which cleanses their impurity). His scruples on this point were so strong that he would not eat even a date picked up on the road, lest perchance it might have dropped from a tithe load.

“Food Relished.

“Mahomet had a special liking for sweetmeats and honey. He was also fond of cucumbers and of undried dates. When a lamb or a kid was being cooked, Mahomet would go to the pot, take out the shoulder, and eat it. He used to eat moist dates and cooked food together. What he most relished was a mess of bread cooked with meat, and a dish of dates dressed with butter and milk.

“Mahomet used to have sweet (rain) water kept for his use.

“Women and Scents.

“A great array of traditions are produced to prove that the Prophet was fond of women and scents, and liked these of all things in the world the best. Ayesha used to say: ‘The Prophet loved three things—women, scents, and food; he had his heart’s desire of the two first, but not of the last.’

“Straitened means at Medîna.

“Ayesha tells us that for months together Mahomet did not get a full meal. ‘Months used to pass,’ she says again, ‘and no fire would be lighted in Mahomet’s house, either for baking bread or cooking meat.’ ‘How, then, did ye live?’ ‘By the “two black things” (dates and water), and by what the citizens used to send unto us; the Lord requite them! Such of them as had milch cattle would send us a little milk. The Prophet never enjoyed the luxury of two kinds of food the same day; if he had flesh there was nothing else; and so if he had dates; so likewise if he had bread.’

“ ‘We possessed no sieves, but used to bruise the grain and blow off the husks.’

“Appearance, Habits, &c.

“He used to wear two garments. His izâr (under-garment) hung down three or four inches below his knees. His mantle was not wrapped round him so as to cover his body, but he would draw the end of it under his shoulder.

“He used to divide his time into three parts: one was given to God, the second allotted to his family, the third to himself. When public business began to press upon him, he gave up one half of the latter portion to the service of others.

“When he pointed he did so with his whole hand; and when he was astonished he turned his hand over (with the palm upwards). In speaking with another, he brought his hand near to the person addressed; and he would strike the palm of the left in the thumb of the right hand. Angry, he would avert his face; joyful, he would look downwards. He often smiled, and, when he laughed, his teeth used to appear white as hailstones.

“In the interval allotted to others, he received all that came to him, listened to their representations, and occupied himself in disposing of their business and in hearing what they had to tell him. He would say on such occasions: ‘Let those that are here give information regarding that which passeth to them that are absent; and they that cannot themselves appear to make known their necessities, let others report them to me in their stead; the Lord will establish the feet of such in the Day of Judgment.’

“Seal of Prophecy.

“This, says one, was a protuberance on the Prophet’s back of the size and appearance of a pigeon’s egg. It is said to have been the divine seal which, according to the predictions of the Scriptures, marked Mahomet as the last of the Prophets. How far Mahomet himself encouraged this idea it is impossible to say. From the traditions it would seem to have been nothing more than a mole of unusual size; and the saying of Mahomet, that ‘God had placed it there,’ was probably the germ of supernatural associations which grew up concerning it.

“Hair.

“His hair used to be combed; it was neither curling nor smooth. He had, says one, four curled locks. His hair was ordinarily parted, but he did not care if it was not so. According to another tradition, ‘The Jews and Christians used to let their hair fall down, while the heathen parted it. Now Mahomet loved to follow the people of the Book in matters concerning which he had no express command. So he used to let down his hair without parting it. Subsequently, however, he fell into the habit of parting it.’

“Moustache.

“Mahomet used to clip his moustache. A Magian once came to him and said: ‘You ought to clip your beard and allow your moustaches to grow.’ ‘Nay,’ said the Prophet, ‘for my Lord hath commanded me to clip the moustaches and allow the beard to grow.’

“Dress.

“Various traditions are quoted on the different colours he used to wear—white chiefly, but also red, yellow, and green. He sometimes put on woollen clothes. Ayesha, it is said, exhibited a piece of woollen stuff in which she swore that Mahomet died. She adds that he once had a black woollen dress; and she still remembered, as she spoke, the contrast between the Prophet’s fair skin and the black cloth. ‘The odour of it, however, becoming unpleasant, he cast it off, for he loved sweet odours.’

“He entered Mecca on the taking of the city (some say) with a black turban. He had also a black standard. The end of his turban used to hang down between his shoulders. He once received the present of a scarf for a turban, which had a figured or spotted fringe; and this he cut off before wearing it. He was very fond of striped Yemen stuffs. He used to wrap his turban many times round his head, and ‘the lower edge of it used to appear like the soiled clothes of an oil-dealer.’

“He once prayed in a silken dress, and then cast it aside with abhorrence, saying: ‘Such stuff it doth not become the pious to wear.’ On another occasion, as he prayed in a figured or spotted mantle, the spots attracted his notice; when he had ended, he said: ‘Take away that mantle, for verily it hath distracted me in my prayers, and bring me a common one.’ His sleeve ended at the wrist. The robes in which he was in the habit of receiving embassies, and his fine Hadhramaut mantle, remained with the Caliphs; when worn or rent, these garments were mended with fresh cloth; and in after times, the Caliphs used to wear them at the festivals. When he put on new clothes (either an under-garment, a girdle, or a turban), the Prophet would offer up a prayer such as this: ‘Praise be to the Lord who hath clothed me with that which shall hide my nakedness and adorn me while I live. I pray Thee for the good that is in this, and the good that hath been made for it; and I seek refuge from the evil that is in the same, and from the evil that hath been made for it.’

“Shoes.

“His servant, Anas, had charge of his shoes and of his water-pot. After his master’s death, Anas used to show his shoes. They were after the Hadhramaut pattern, with two thongs. In the year 100 or 110 A.H., one went to buy shoes at Mecca, and tells us that the shoemaker offered to make them exactly after the model of Mahomet’s, which he said he had seen in the possession of Fâtima, granddaughter of Abbâs. His shoes used to be cobbled. He was in the habit of praying with his shoes on. On one occasion, having taken them off at prayers, all the people did likewise, but Mahomet told them there was no necessity, for he had merely taken off his own because Gabriel had apprised him that there was some dirty substance attaching to them (cleanliness being required in all the surroundings at prayer). The thongs of his shoes once broke, and they mended them for him by adding a new piece; after the service, Mahomet desired his shoes to be taken away and the thongs restored as they were; ‘For,’ said he, ‘I was distracted at prayer thereby.’

“Tooth-picks.

“Ayesha tells us that Mahomet never lay down, by night or by day, but on waking he applied the tooth-pick to his teeth before he performed ablution. He used it so much as to wear away his gums. The tooth-pick was always placed conveniently for him at night, so that, when he got up in the night to pray, he might use it before his lustrations. One says that he saw him with the tooth-pick in his mouth, and that he kept saying áâ, áâ, as if about to vomit. His tooth-picks were made of the green wood of the palm-tree. He never travelled without one.

“Articles of Toilet.

“He very frequently oiled his hair, poured water on his beard, and applied antimony to his eyes.

“Armour.

“Four sections are devoted to the description of Mahomet’s armour,—his swords, coats of mail, shields, lances, and bows.

“Miscellaneous.

“The Prophet used to snuff simsim (sesamum), and wash his hands in a decoction of the wild plum-tree. When he was afraid of forgetting anything, he would tie a thread on his finger or his ring.

“Horses.

“The first horse which Mahomet ever possessed was one he purchased of the Bani Fazâra, for ten owckeas (ounces of silver); and he called its name sakb (running water), from the easiness of its paces. Mahomet was mounted on it at the battle of Ohod, when there was but one other horse from Medîna on the field. He had also a horse called Sabáha (Shamjah?); he raced it and it won, and he was greatly rejoiced thereat. He had a third horse, named Murtajis (neigher).

“Riding Camels.

“Besides Al Caswa (al-Qaṣwā), Mahomet had a camel called Adhba (al-ʿAẓbā), which in speed outstripped all others. Yet one day an Arab passed it when at its fleetest pace. The Moslems were chagrined at this; but Mahomet reproved them, saying, ‘It is the property of the Lord, that whensoever men exalt anything, or seek to exalt it, then the Lord putteth down the same.’

“Milch Camels.

“Mahomet had twenty milch camels, the same that were plundered at Al Ghâba. Their milk was for the support of his family: every evening they gave two large skinsful. Omm Salmah relates: ‘Our chief food when we lived with Mahomet was milk. The camels used to be brought from Al Ghâba every evening. I had one called Arîs, and Ayesha one called Al Samra. The herdman fed them at Al Jûania, and brought them to our homes in the evening. There was also one for Mahomet.’

“Milch Flocks.

“Mahomet had seven goats which Omm Ayman used to tend (this probably refers to an early period of his residence at Medîna). His flocks grazed at Ohod and Himna alternately, and were brought back to the house of that wife whose turn it was for Mahomet to be in her abode. A favourite goat having died, the Prophet desired its skin to be tanned.

“Mahomet attached a peculiar blessing to the possession of goats. ‘There is no house,’ he would say, ‘possessing a goat, but a blessing abideth thereon; and there is no house possessing three goats, but the angels pass the night there praying for its inmates until the morning.’

“Servants.

“Fourteen or fifteen persons are mentioned who served the Prophet at various times. His slaves he always freed.

“Houses.

“Abdallah ibn Yazîd relates that he saw the houses in which the wives of the Prophet dwelt, at the time when Omar ibn Al Azîz, Governor of Medîna (about A.H. 100) demolished them. They were built of unburnt bricks, and had separate apartments made of palm-branches, daubed (or built-up) with mud; he counted nine houses, each having separate apartments, in the space extending from the house of Ayesha and the gate of Mahomet to the house of Asma, daughter of Hosein. Observing the dwelling-place of Omm Salma, he questioned her grandson concerning it, and he told him that when the Prophet was absent on the expedition to Dûma, Omm Salma built up an addition to her house with a wall of unburnt bricks. When Mahomet returned, he went in to her, and asked what new building this was. She replied, ‘I purposed, O Prophet, to shut out the glances of men thereby!’ Mahomet answered: ‘O Omm Salma! verily, the most unprofitable thing that eateth up the wealth of the Believer is building.’ A citizen of Medîna present at the time, confirmed this account, and added that the curtains of the door were of black hair-cloth. He was present, he said, when the despatch of the Caliph Abd al Malîk (A.H. 86–88) was read aloud, commanding that these houses should be brought within the area of the mosque, and he never witnessed sorer weeping than there was amongst the people that day. One exclaimed: ‘I wish, by the Lord! that they would leave these houses alone thus as they are; then would those that spring up hereafter in Medîna, and strangers from the ends of the earth, come and see what kind of building sufficed for the Prophet’s own abode, and the sight thereof would deter men from extravagance and pride.’

“There were four houses of unburnt bricks, the apartments being of palm-branches; and five houses made of palm-branches built up with mud and without any separate apartments. Each was three Arabian yards in length. Some say they had leather curtains for the doors. One could reach the roof with the hand.

“The house of Hâritha (Ḥāris̤ah) was next to that of Mahomet. Now whenever Mahomet took to himself a new wife, he added another house to the row, and Hâritha was obliged successively to remove his house, and to build on the space beyond. At last this was repeated so often, that the Prophet said to those about him: ‘Verily, it shameth me to turn Hâritha over and over again out of his house.’

“Properties.

“There were seven gardens which Mukheirîck the Jew left to Mahomet. Omar ibn Al Azîz, the Caliph, said that, when Governor of Medîna, he ate of the fruit of these, and never tasted sweeter dates. Others say that these gardens formed a portion of the confiscated estates of the Bani Nadhîr. They were afterwards dedicated perpetually to pious purposes.

“Mahomet had three other properties:—

“I. The confiscated lands of the Bani Nadhîr. The produce of these was appropriated to his own wants. One of the plots was called Mashruba Omm Ibrahîm, the ‘summer garden of (Mary) the mother of Ibrahîm,’ where the Prophet used to visit her.

“II. Fadak; the fruits of this were reserved as a fund for indigent travellers.

“III. The fifth share, and the lands received by capitulation, in Kheibar. This was divided into three parts. Two were devoted for the benefit of the Moslems generally (i.e. for State purposes); the proceeds of the third, Mahomet assigned for the support of his own family; and what remained over he added to the fund for the use of the Moslems.” (The Life of Mahomet, by William Muir, Esq., London, 1861, vol. iv., p. 325.)

(2) Dr. A. Sprenger, Persian translator of the Government of India, and Principal of the Calcutta Madrasah, gives the following valuable review of the character of Muḥammad, as regards his assumption of the prophetic office:—

“Up to his fortieth year, Mohammad devoutly worshipped the gods of his fathers. The predominance of his imaginative powers, and his peculiar position, gave him a turn for religious meditation. He annually spent the month of Ramazan in seclusion in a cave of Mount Hirá, where the Qorayshites used to devote themselves to ascetic exercises. In this retreat he passed a certain number of nights in prayers, fasted, fed the poor, and gave himself up to meditation; and on his return to Makkah he walked seven times round the Kaʿbah before he went to his own house.

“When he was forty years of age, the first doubts concerning idolatry arose in his mind. The true believers ascribe this crisis to a divine revelation, and therefore carefully conceal the circumstances which may have given the first impulse. It is likely that the eccentric Zaid, whom he must have met in Mount Hirá, first instilled purer notions respecting God into his mind, and induced him to read the Biblical history. To abjure the gods, from whom he had hoped for salvation, caused a great struggle to Mohammad, and he became dejected and fond of solitude. He spent the greater part of his time in Hirá, and came only occasionally to Makkah for new provisions.

“Undisturbed meditation increased his excitement, and his overstrained brains were, even in sleep, occupied with doubts and speculations. In one of his visions he saw an angel, who said to him, ‘Read.’ He answered, ‘I am not reading.’ The angel laid hold of him and squeezed him, until Mohammad succeeded in making an effort. Then he released him, and said again, ‘Read.’ Mohammad answered, ‘I am not reading.’ This was repeated three times; and at length the angel said, ‘Read in the name of thy Lord, the Creator, who has created man of congealed blood;—read, for thy Lord is most beneficent. It is He who has taught by the pen (has revealed the Scriptures); it is He who has taught man what he does not know.’ These are the initial words of a Surah of the Quran, and the first revelation which Mohammad received. If this dream was as momentous as authentic traditions make it, it must have been the crisis, which caused Mohammad to seek for truth in the books of the Jews and Christians. The words of the angel admit hardly any other sense. After much hesitation he determines to study the tenets of another faith, which was hostile to that of his fathers. His resolve is sanctioned by a vision, and he thanks the Creator, whom the Qorayshites always considered the greatest among their gods, for having sent a revelation to direct man.

“It is certain, however, that no Musalman will admit the sense which I give to these verses of the Quran; and Mohammad himself, in the progress of his career, formally denied having read any part of the Scriptures before the Quran had been revealed to him. This, however, can only be true if he meant the first verses of the Quran, that is to say, those mentioned above; for in the following revelations he introduces the names of most prophets, he holds up their history as an example to the Makkians, he borrows expressions from the Bible which he admired for their sublimity, he betrays his acquaintance with the gospels by referring to an erroneously translated verse of St. John, for a proof of his mission, and he frequently alludes to the legends of the Rabbins and Christians. Whence has the Prophet of the Gentiles obtained his knowledge of the Biblical history? He answers the question himself: It is God who has revealed it to me. This assertion satisfies the believer, and is a hint to the inquirer in tracing the sources of his information. He would hardly have hazarded it had he not obtained his instruction under considerable secrecy. The spirit of persecution at Makkah, which manifested itself against Zaid, made caution necessary for Mohammad, though originally he may have had no ulterior views, in making himself acquainted with another faith. Yet with all his precautions, the Qorayshites knew enough of his history to disprove his pretensions. He himself confesses, in a Surah revealed at Makkah ([Sūrah xxv. 5]), that they said that the Quran was a tissue of falsehood; that several people had assisted him; and that he preached nothing more than what was contained in the “Asátyr of the Ancients,” which he used to write, from the dictation of his teachers, morning and evening. Who were the men who instructed Mohammad? It is not likely that he would have dared to declare before them, that the doctrines which he had received from them had been revealed to him; nor is it likely that, had they been alive after the new religion had become triumphant, they would have allowed him to take all the credit to himself. Those who exercised an influence upon Mohammad were his disciples; but we find no instance in which he appeared to buy secrecy by submitting to the dictation of others. I am inclined to think, therefore, that his instructors died during his early career; and this supposition enables us to ascertain the names of some of them. The few specimens of the sayings of Zaid, which have been preserved, prove that Mohammad borrowed freely from him, not only his tenets, but even his expressions; and Zaid did not long survive Mohammad’s assumption of his office. It is likely that Waraqah, the cousin of Khadyjah, who, it would appear, brought about her marriage with Mohammad, who was the first to declare that the Great Law [[NAMUS]] would be revealed to him, and who expressed a wish to assist him during the persecutions to which every prophet was subject, was one of his teachers. Waraqah died shortly before the time when he publicly proclaimed his mission. The defence of the Prophet, that the man, of whom his countrymen said that he assisted him in writing the Quran, was a foreigner ([Sūrah xvi. 105]), and unable to write so pure Arabic as the language of the Quran was, leads us to suspect that one of his chief authorities for the Biblical legends was ʾAddas, a monk of Nineveh, who was settled at Makkah. (See Tafsīru ʾl-Baiẓāwī on [Sūrah xxv. 6].) And there can be no doubt that the Rabbins of the Hijaz communicated to Mohammad their legends. The commentators upon the Quran inform us further, that he used to listen to Jabr and Yasár, two sword-manufacturers at Makkah, when they read the scriptures; and Ibn Isháq says, that he had intercourse with ʾAbdal-Rahmán, a Christian of Zamámah; but we must never forget that the object of these authorities, in such matters, is not to instruct their readers, but to mislead them.

“It is certain, from the context, where the expression occurs, and from the commentators on the Quran, that ‘Asátyr of the Ancients’ is the name of a book; but we have very little information as to its origin and contents. (See the Commentaries of al-Baiẓāwī and the Jalālān on [Sūrah xxv].) That dogmas were propounded in it, besides Biblical legends, appears from several passages of the Quran, where it is said that it contained the doctrine of the Resurrection. ([Sūrahs xxvii. 70], [xlvi. 16].) It is also clear that it was known at Makkah before Mohammad; for the Qorayshites told him that they and their fathers had been acquainted with it before he taught it, and that all that he taught was contained in it. ([Sūrah lxviii. 15].) Mohammad had, in all likelihood, besides, a version of portions of the scriptures, both of the genuine and some of the apocryphal works; for he refers his audience to them without reserve. Tabary informs us that when Mohammad first entered on his office, even his wife Khadyjah had read the scriptures, and was acquainted with the history of the prophets. (See Balʾāmy’s translation of Tabary in Persian.)

“In spite of three passages of the Quran quoted above, the meaning of which they clumsily pervert, almost all modern Musalman writers, and many of the old ones, deny that Mohammad knew reading or writing. Good authors, however, particularly among the Shiahs, admit that he knew reading; but they say he was not a skilful penman. The only support of the opinion of the former is one passage of the Quran, [Sūrah vii. 156], in which Mohammad says that he was the Prophet of the Ummis, and an Ummi himself. This word, they say, means illiterate; but others say it means a man who is not skilful in writing; and others suppose it to mean a Makkian or an Arab. It is clear that they merely guess, from the context, at the meaning of the word. Ummi is derived from ummah, ‘nation’ (Latin gens, Greek ethnos), and on comparing the passages of the Quran, in which it occurs, it appears that it means gentile (Greek ethnicos). It is said in the Quran, that some Jews are honest, but others think there is no harm in wronging the Ummis. Imám Sadiq observes (Ḥayātu ʾl-Qulūb, vol. ii. chapter 6, p. 2) on this passage, that the Arabs are meant under Ummis, and that they are called so, though they knew writing, because God had revealed no book to them, and had sent them no prophet. Several instances in which Mohammad did read and write are recorded by Bokhary, Nasay, and others. It is, however, certain that he wished to appear ignorant, in order to raise the elegance of the composition of the Quran into a miracle.

* * *

“According to one record, the doubts, indecision, and preparation of the Prophet for his office lasted seven years; and so sincere and intense were his meditations on matters of religion, that they brought him to the brink of madness. In the Quran we can trace three phases in the progress of the mind of Mohammad from idolatry to the formation of a new creed. First, the religion of the Kaʿbah, in which he sincerely believed, seems to have formed the principal subject of his meditations. The contemplation of nature, probably assisted by instruction, led him to the knowledge of the unity of God; and there is hardly a verse in the Quran which does not shew how forcibly he was struck with this truth. By satisfying the faith of his fathers, he tried to reconcile it with the belief in one God; and for some time he considered the idols round the Kaʾbah daughters of God, who intercede with Him for their worshippers. But he gave up this belief, chiefly because he could not reconcile himself to the idea that God should have only daughters, which was ignominious in the eyes of an Arab; and that men should have sons, who reflect honour on a family. He also connected the idolatrous worship of the black stone, and the ceremonies of the Hajj, and almost all the other pagan usages of the Haramites, with their Abraham. This idea was not his own. The sceptics who preceded him held the same opinion; yet it was neither ancient nor general among the pagan Arabs. We find no connexion between the tenets of Moses and those of the Haramites; and though Biblical names are very frequent among the Musalmans, we do not find one instance of their occurrence among the pagans of the Hijaz before Mohammad.

“It has been mentioned that the vision in which he was ordered to read, caused him finally to renounce idolatry; we are told that after this vision an intermission of revelation, called fatrah, took place, which lasted upwards of two years. The meaning of fatrah is simply that, though this vision was a revelation, he did not assume his office for two or three years. It is certain that he composed many Surahs of the Quran during this time; and it must have been during this period that the tenets of the Jews and Christians seriously occupied his mind. Before the vision he was an idolater; and after the fatrah he possessed the acquaintance with the scriptural history which we find in the Quran. Even after he had declared himself a prophet, he shewed, during the beginning of his career, a strong leaning towards, and a sincere belief in, the scriptures and Biblical legends; but in proportion to his success he separated himself from the Bible.

“This is the second phase in the progress of the Prophet’s mind. His belief in the scriptures does not imply that he ever belonged to the Christian or Jewish Church. He never could reconcile his notions of God with the doctrine of the Trinity, and with the Divinity of Christ, and he was disgusted with the monkish institutions and sectarian disputes of the Christians. His creed was: ‘He is God alone, the Eternal God; He has not begotten, and is not begotten; and none is His equal.’ (See [Sūrah cxii].) Nothing, however, can be more erroneous than to suppose that Mohammad was, at any period of his early career, a deist. Faith, when once extinct, cannot be revived; and it was his enthusiastic faith in inspiration that made him a prophet. Disappointed with the Jewish and Christian religions, he began to form a system of faith of his own; and this is the third phase of the transition period. For some time, it seems, he had no intention to preach it publicly, but circumstances, as well as the warm conviction of the truth of his creed, at length prevailed upon him to spread it beyond the circle of his family and friends.

“The mental excitement of the Prophet was much increased during the fatrah, and like the ardent scholar in one of Schiller’s poems, who dared to lift the veil of truth, he was nearly annihilated by the light which broke in upon him. He usually wandered about in the hills near Makkah, and was so long absent, that on one occasion, his wife being afraid that he was lost, sent men in search of him. He suffered from hallucinations of his senses, and, to finish his sufferings, he several times contemplated suicide by throwing himself down from a precipice. His friends were alarmed at his state of mind. Some considered it as the eccentricities of a poetical genius; others thought that he was a kahin, or soothsayer; but the majority took a less charitable view (see [Sūrahs lxix. 40], [xx. 5]), and declared that he was insane; and, as madness and melancholy are ascribed to supernatural influence in the East, they said that he was in the power of Satan and his agents, the jinn. They called in exorcists; and he himself doubted the soundness of his mind. ‘I hear a sound,’ he said to his wife, ‘and see a light. I am afraid there are jinn in me.’ And on other occasions he said, ‘I am afraid I am a kahin.’ ‘God will never allow that such should befall thee,’ said Khadyjah; ‘for thou keepest thy engagements, and assistest thy relations.’ According to some accounts, she added, ‘Thou wilt be the prophet of thy nation.’ And, in order to remove every doubt, she took him to her cousin Waraqah; and he said to her, ‘I see thou (i.e. thy explanation) art correct; the cause of the excitement of thy husband is the coming to him of the great nomos, law, which is like the nomos of Moses. If I should be alive when he receives his mission, I would assist him; for I believe in him.’ After this Khadyjah went to the monk, ʾAddas, and he confirmed what Waraqah had said. Waraqah died soon after, before Mohammad entered on his mission.

“The words of Mohammad, ‘I am afraid I am a kahin,’ require some explanation. The Arabs, previous to the promulgation of Islam, believed in kahins, soothsayers; and even in our days they have greater faith in saints and inspired persons than other equally uncivilized nations. Such a belief is so necessary a limitation of the personal freedom of the Bedouins, which knows no other bounds, that I consider it as the offspring of liberty. Even the most refractory spirit sees no humiliation in confessing his wrong-doings to a helpless seer, and in submitting to his decisions; and by doing so, if he has embroiled himself, he can return to peace with himself and with society. We find, therefore, in the ancient history of Arabia, that litigations were frequently referred to celebrated kahins. These, it would appear, were eccentric persons, of great cunning, and not without genius. The specimens which we have of their oracles are obscure, and usually in rhymed prose and incoherent sentences; and they are frequently preceded by a heavy oath to the truth of what they say, like some of the Surahs of the Quran. It was believed that they knew what was concealed from the eyes of the common mortals; but they were looked upon with awe; for the Arabs conceived that they were possessed by, or allied with, Satan and the jinn. The evil spirits used to approach the gates of heaven by stealth, to pry into the secrets which were being transacted between God and the angels, and to convey them to the kahins. Existing prejudices left no alternative to Mohammad but to proclaim himself a prophet who was inspired by God and His angels, or to be considered a kahin possessed by Satan and his agents the jinn.

“Khadyjah and her friends advised him to adopt the former course; and, after some hesitation, he followed their advice, as it would appear, with his own conviction. His purer notions of the Deity, his moral conduct, his predilection for religious speculations, and his piety, were proofs sufficiently strong to convince an affectionate wife that the supernatural influence, under which he was, came from heaven. But, as the pagan Arabs had very imperfect notions of divine inspiration, it was necessary for him to prove to them, by the history of the prophets, that some seers were inspired by God; and to this end, he devoted more than two-thirds of the Quran to Biblical legends, most of which he has so well adapted to his own case, that if we substitute the name of Mohammad for Moses and Abraham, we have his own views, fate, and tendency. And, in order to remove every doubt as to the cause of his excitement, Mohammad subsequently maintained, that since he had assumed his office, heaven was surrounded by a strong guard of angels; and if the jinn venture to ascend to its precincts, a flaming dart, that is to say, a shooting star, is thrown at them, and they are precipitated to the lower regions; and, therefore, the kahins ceased with the commencement of his mission.

“The declaration of Waraqah, and of the monk ʾAddas, that the great nomos would descend upon him, and the faith of his wife, neither conveyed full conviction nor gave they sufficient courage to Mohammad to declare himself publicly the messenger of God; on the contrary, they increased the morbid state of his mind. A fatalist, as he was, it was a hallucination and a fit which decided him to follow their advice. One day, whilst he was wandering about in the hills near Makkah, with the intention to destroy himself, he heard a voice; and, on raising his head, he beheld Gabriel, between heaven and earth; and the angel assured him that he was the prophet of God. This hallucination is one of the few clearly stated miracles to which he appeals in the Quran. Not even an allusion is made, in that book, to his fits, during which his followers believe that he received the revelations. This bears out the account of Wáqidy, which I have followed, and proves that it was rather the exalted state of his mind, than his fits, which caused his friends to believe in his mission. Frightened by this apparition, he returned home; and, feeling unwell, he called for covering. He had a fit, and they poured cold water upon him; and when he was recovering from it, he received the revelation, ‘O thou covered, arise and preach, and magnify thy Lord, and cleanse thy garment, and fly every abomination’; and henceforth, we are told, he received revelations without intermission; that is to say, the fatrah was at an end, and he assumed his office.

“This crisis of Mohammad’s struggles bears a strange resemblance to the opening scene of Goethe’s Faust. He paints, in that admirable drama, the struggles of mind which attend the transition, in men of genius, from the ideal to the real—from youth to manhood. Both in Mohammad and in Faust the anguish of the mind, distracted by doubts, is dispelled by the song of angels, which rises from their own bosoms, and is the voice of the consciousness of their sincerity and warmth in seeking for truth; and in both, after this crisis, the enthusiasm ebbs gradually down to calm design, and they now blasphemously sacrifice their faith in God to self-aggrandisement. In this respect the resemblance of the second part of Faust to Mohammad’s career at Madinah is complete. As the period of transition in the life of the Prophet has hitherto been completely unknown in Europe, Goethe’s general picture of this period, in the life of enthusiasts, is like a prediction in reference to the individual case of Mohammad.

“Some authors consider the fits of the Prophet as the principal evidence of his mission, and it is therefore necessary to say a few words on them. They were preceded by a great depression of spirits; he was despondent, and his face was clouded; and they were ushered in by coldness of the extremities and shivering. He shook, as if he were suffering of ague, and called out for covering. His mind was in a most painfully excited state. He heard a tinkling in his ears, as if bells were ringing; or a humming, as if bees were swarming round his head; and his lips quivered; but this motion was under the control of volition. If the attack proceeded beyond this stage, his eyes became fixed and staring, and the motions of his head became convulsive and automatic. At length, perspiration broke out, which covered his face in large drops; and with this ended the attack. Sometimes, however, if he had a violent fit, he fell comatose to the ground, like a person who is intoxicated; and (at least at a latter period of his life) his face was flushed, and his respiration stertorous, and he remained in that state for some time. The bystanders sprinkled water in his face; but he himself fancied that he would derive a great benefit from being cupped on the head. This is all the information which I have been able to collect concerning the fits of Mohammad. It will be observed that we have no distinct account of a paroxysm between the one which he had in his infancy, and the one after which he assumed his office. It is likely that up to his forty-fourth year they were not habitual. The alarm of the nurse, under whose care he had been two years before he had the former of these two fits, shews that it was the first, and the age and circumstances under which he had it, render it likely that it was solitary, and caused by the heat of the sun and gastric irritation. The fit after which he assumed his office was undoubtedly brought on by long-continued and increasing mental excitement, and by his ascetic exercises. We know that he used frequently to fast, and that he sometimes devoted the greater part of the night to prayer. The bias of the Musalmans is to gloss over the aberration of mind, and the intention to commit suicide, of their prophet. Most of his biographers pass over the transition period in silence. We may, therefore, be justified in stretching the scanty information which we can glean from them to the utmost extent, and in supposing that he was for some time a complete maniac; and that the fit after which he assumed his office was a paroxysm of cataleptic insanity. This disease is sometimes accompanied by such interesting psychical phenomena, that even in modern times it has given rise to many superstitious opinions. After this paroxysm the fits became habitual, though the moral excitement cooled down, and they assumed more and more an epileptic character.” (The Life of Mohammad from Original Sources, by A. Sprenger, M.D., part i., Allahabad, 1851, p. 949.)

(3) Dr. Marcus Dodds, in his Mohammed, Buddha, and Christ, says:—

“But is Mohammed in no sense a prophet? Certainly he had two of the most important characteristics of the prophetic order. He saw truth about God which his fellow-men did not see, and he had an irresistible inward impulse to publish this truth. In respect of this latter qualification, Mohammed may stand comparison with the most courageous of the heroic prophets of Israel. For the truth’s sake he risked his life, he suffered daily persecution for years, and eventually banishment, the loss of property, of the goodwill of his fellow-citizens, and of the confidence of his friends; he suffered, in short, as much as any man can suffer short of death, which he only escaped by flight, and yet he unflinchingly proclaimed his message. No bribe, threat, or inducement, could silence him. ‘Though they array against me the sun on the right hand and the moon on the left, I cannot renounce my purpose.’ And it was this persistency, this belief in his call, to proclaim the unity of God, which was the making of Islam.

“Other men have been monotheists in the midst of idolaters, but no other man has founded a strong and enduring monotheistic religion. The distinction in his case was his resolution that other men should believe. If we ask what it was that made Mohammed aggressive and proselytizing, where other men had been content to cherish a solitary faith, we must answer that it was nothing else than the depth and force of his own conviction of the truth. To himself the difference between one God and many, between the unseen Creator and these ugly lumps of stone or wood, was simply infinite. The one creed was death and darkness to him, the other life and light. It is useless seeking for motives in such a case—for ends to serve and selfish reasons for his speaking; the impossibility with Mohammed was to keep silence. His acceptance of the office of teacher of his people was anything but the ill-advised and sudden impulse of a light-minded vanity or ambition. His own convictions had been reached only after long years of lonely mental agony, and of a doubt and distraction bordering on madness. Who can doubt the earnestness of that search after truth and the living God, that drove the affluent merchant from his comfortable home and his fond wife, to make his abode for months at a time in the dismal cave on Mount Hira? If we respect the shrinking of Isaiah or Jeremiah from the heavy task of proclaiming unwelcome truth, we must also respect the keen sensitiveness of Mohammed, who was so burdened by this same responsibility, and so persuaded of his incompetency for the task, that at times he thought his new feelings and thoughts were a snare of the Devil, and at times he would fain have rid himself of all further struggle by casting himself from a friendly precipice. His rolling his head in his mantle, the sound of the ringing of bells in his ears, his sobbing like a young camel, the sudden grey hairs which he himself ascribed to the terrific Suras—what were all these but so many physical signs of nervous organization overstrained by anxiety and thought?

“His giving himself out as a prophet of God was, in the first instance, not only sincere, but probably correct in the sense in which he himself understood it. He felt that he had thoughts of God which it deeply concerned all around him to receive, and he knew that these thoughts were given him by God, although not, as we shall see, a revelation strictly so called. His mistake by no means lay in his supposing himself to be called upon by God to speak for Him and introduce a better religion, but it lay in his gradually coming to insist quite as much on men’s accepting him as a prophet as on their accepting the great truth he preached. He was a prophet to his countrymen in so far as he proclaimed the unity of God, but this was no sufficient ground for his claiming to be their guide in all matters of religion, still less for his assuming the lordship over them in all matters civil as well. The modesty and humility apparent in him, so long as his mind was possessed with objective truth, gradually gives way to the presumptuousness and arrogance of a mind turned more to a sense of its own importance. To put the second article of the Mohammedan creed on the same level as the first, to make it as essential that men should believe in the mission of Mohammed as in the unity of God, was an ignorant, incongruous, and false combination. Had Mohammed known his own ignorance as well as his knowledge, the world would have had one religion the less, and Christianity would have had one more reformer.” (Mohammed, Buddha, and Christ, p. 17.)

(4) Thomas Carlyle, in his lecture, “The Hero as Prophet,” says:—

“Mahomet himself, after all that can be said about him, was not a sensual man. We shall err widely if we consider this man as a common voluptuary, intent mainly on base enjoyments—nay, on enjoyments of any kind. His household was of the frugalest, his common diet barley-bread and water; sometimes for months there was not a fire once lighted on his hearth. They record with just pride that he would mend his own shoes, patch his own cloak. A poor hard-toiling, ill-provided man; careless of what vulgar men toil for. Not a bad man, I should say; something better in him than hunger of any sort—or these wild Arab men fighting and jostling three and twenty years at his hand, in close contact with him always, would not have reverenced him so! These were wild men, bursting ever and anon into quarrel, into all kinds of fierce sincerity; without right, worth, and manhood, no man could have commanded them. They called him Prophet, you say? Why, he stood there face to face with them; bare, not enshrined in any mystery, visibly clouting his own cloak, cobbling his own shoes, fighting, counselling, ordering in the midst of them, they must have seen what kind of a man he was, let him be called what you like! No emperor with his tiaras was obeyed as this man in a cloak of his own clouting. During three and twenty years of rough actual trial, I find something of a veritable Hero necessary for that of itself.

“His last words are a prayer, broken ejaculations of a heart struggling-up in trembling hope towards its Maker. We cannot say his religion made him worse; it made him better; good, not bad. Generous things are recorded of him; when he lost his daughter, the thing he answers is, in his own dialect, everyway sincere, and yet equivalent to that of Christians: ‘The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’ He answered in like manner of Said, his emancipated well-beloved slave, the second of the believers. Said had fallen in the war of Tâbûc, the first of Mahomet’s fightings with the Greeks. Mahomet said it was well, Said had done his Master’s work, Said had now gone to his Master; it was all well with Said. Yet Said’s daughter found him weeping over the body; the old gray-haired man melting in tears! What do I see? said she. You see a friend weeping over his friend. He went out for the last time into the mosque two days before his death; asked, If he had injured any man? Let his own back bear the stripes. If he owed any man? A voice answered, ‘Yes, me; three drachms, borrowed on such an occasion.’ Mahomet ordered them to be paid. ‘Better be in shame now,’ said he, ‘than at the Day of Judgment.’ You remember Kadîjah, and the ‘No by Allah!’ Traits of this kind show us the genuine man, the brother of us all, brought visible through twelve centuries, the veritable son of our common Mother.” (Lectures on Heroes, p. 66.)

(5) The Rev. Dr. Badger remarks:—

“With respect to the private as distinct from the public character of Muhammad, from the time of his settlement at al-Madīnah, it does not appear to have deteriorated, except in one particular, from what it had been prior to the flight from Mecca. He was still frugal in his habits, generous and liberal, faithful to his associates, treasured up the loving memory of absent and departed friends, and awaited his last summons with fortitude and submission. That he entertained an excessive passion for women, was lustful, if you will, cannot be denied; but the fourteen wives whom from first to last he married, and his eleven (? two: see [MUHAMMAD’S WIVES]) concubines, figure favourably by the side of David’s six wives and numerous concubines ([2 Sam. v. 13]; [1 Chron. iii. 1–9]; [xiv. 3]), Solomon’s 700 wives and 300 concubines ([1 Kings xi. 3]), and Rehoboam’s eighteen wives and sixty concubines ([2 Chron. xi. 21]), a plurality expressly forbidden to the sovereign of Israel, who was commanded not to multiply wives to himself. ([Deut. xvii. 17].)

“It is not so much his polygamy, considering all the circumstances of the case, which justly lays Muhammad open to reproach, but his having deliberately infringed one of his own alleged divine revelations, which restricted the number of wives to ‘four and no more’ ([Sura iv. 3]); also, for having in the first instance dallied with Zainab, the wife of his freedman and adopted son Zaid-ibn-Harithah, who complacently divorced her in order that she might espouse the Prophet. In this case, moreover, as has already been related, he adduced the authority of God as sanctioning on his behoof first, and thenceforth in the behoof of all Muslims, the marriage of a man with the divorced wife of his adopted son, which up to that time had been considered incestuous. Whatever apology may be adduced for Muhammad in this matter of polygamy, there is no valid plea to justify his improbity and impiety in the case of Zainab.”

(6) Sir William Muir says:—

“I would warn the reader against seeking to portray in his mind a character in all its parts consistent with itself as the character of Mahomet. The truth is, that the strangest inconsistencies blended together (according to the wont of human nature) throughout the life of the Prophet. The student of the history will trace for himself how the pure and lofty aspirations of Mahomet were first tinged, and then gradually debased by a half-unconscious self-deception, and how in this process truth merged into falsehood, sincerity into guile, these opposite principles often co-existing even as active agencies in his conduct. The reader will observe that simultaneously with the anxious desire to extinguish idolatry, and to promote religion and virtue in the world, there was nurtured by the Prophet in his own heart, a licentious self-indulgence, till in the end, assuming to be the favourite of Heaven, he justified himself by ‘revelations’ from God in the most flagrant breaches of morality. He will remark that while Mahomet cherished a kind and tender disposition, ‘weeping with them that wept,’ and binding to his person the hearts of his followers by the ready and self-denying offices of love and friendship, he could yet take pleasure in cruel and perfidious assassination, could gloat over the massacre of an entire tribe, and savagely consign the innocent babe to the fires of hell. Inconsistencies such as these continually present themselves from the period of Mahomet’s arrival at Medîna, and it is by the study of these inconsistencies that his character must be rightly comprehended. The key to many difficulties of this description may be found, I believe, in the chapter ‘on the belief of Mahomet in his own inspiration.’ When once he had dared to forge the name of the Most High God as the seal and authority of his own words and actions, the germ was laid from which the errors of his after life freely and fatally developed themselves.” (Life of Mahomet, new ed. p. 535.)

(7) Mr. Bosworth Smith, in his Mohammed and Mohammedanism, says:—

“Mohammed did not, indeed, himself conquer a world like Alexander, or Cæsar, or Napoleon. He did not himself weld together into a homogeneous whole a vast system of states like Charles the Great. He was not a philosophic king, like Marcus Aurelius, nor philosopher like Aristotle or like Bacon, ruling by pure reason the world of thought for centuries with a more than kingly power; he was not a legislator for all mankind, nor even the highest part of it, like Justinian; nor did he cheaply earn the title of the Great by being the first among rulers to turn, like Constantine, from the setting to the rising sun. He was not a universal philanthropist, like the greatest of the Stoics.

“Nor was he the apostle of the highest form of religion and civilisation combined, like Gregory or Boniface, like Leo or Alfred the Great. He was less, indeed, than most of these in one or two of the elements that go to make up human greatness, but he was also greater. Half Christian and half Pagan, half civilised and half barbarian, it was given to him in a marvellous degree to unite the peculiar excellences of the one with the peculiar excellences of the other. ‘I have seen,’ said the ambassador sent by the triumphant Quraish to the despised exile at Medina—‘I have seen the Persian Chosroes and the Greek Heraclius sitting upon their thrones; but never did I see a man ruling his equals as does Mohammed.’

“Head of the State as well as of the Church, he was Cæsar and Pope in one; but he was Pope without the Pope’s pretensions, Cæsar without the legions of Cæsar. Without a standing army, without a body-guard, without a palace, without a fixed revenue; if ever any man had the right to say that he ruled by a right divine, it was Mohammed, for he had all the power without its instruments, and without its supports.

* * *

“By a fortune absolutely unique in history, Mohammed is a three-fold founder—of a nation, of an empire, and of a religion. Illiterate himself, scarcely able to read or write, he was yet the author of a book which is a poem, a code of laws, a Book of Common Prayer, and a Bible in one, and is reverenced to this day by a sixth of the whole human race, as a miracle of purity of style, of wisdom, and of truth. It was the one miracle claimed by Mohammed—his standing miracle he called it; and a miracle indeed it is. But looking at the circumstances of the time, at the unbounded reverence of his followers, and comparing him with the Fathers of the Church or with mediæval saints, to my mind the most miraculous thing about Mohammed is, that he never claimed the power of working miracles. Whatever he had said he could do, his disciples would straightway have seen him do. They could not help attributing to him miraculous acts which he never did, and which he always denied he could do. What more crowning proof of his sincerity is needed? Mohammed to the end of his life claimed for himself that title only with which he had begun, and which the highest philosophy and the truest Christianity will one day, I venture to believe, agree in yielding to him, that of a Prophet, a very Prophet of God.” (Mohammed and Mohammedanism, p. 340.)

(8) Major Robert Durie Osborn, in his Islām under the Arabs, says:—

“He (Muḥammad) was brought face to face with the question which every spiritual reformer has to meet and consider, against which so many noble spirits have gone to ruin. Will not the end justify the means? ‘Here am I a faithful servant of God, eager only to enthrone Him in the hearts of men, and at the very goal and termination of my labours I am thwarted by this incapacity to work a miracle. It is true, as these infidels allege, that the older prophets did possess this power, and I, unless the very reason and purpose of my existence is to be made a blank, must also do something wonderful. But what kind of miracle?’ In his despair, Muḥammad declared that the Qurʾān itself was that constantly-recurring miracle they were seeking after. Had they ever heard these stories of Noah, Lot, Abraham, Joseph, Zacharias, Jesus, and others? No; neither had he. They were transcripts made from the ‘preserved Table,’ that stood before the throne of God. The archangel Gabriel had revealed them to Muḥammad, written in pure Arabic, for the spiritual edification of the Quraish. Thus in the twelfth Sūrah, where he details at great length an exceedingly ridiculous history of Joseph, he commences the narrative with these words, as spoken by God:—

‘These are signs of the clear Book.

An Arabic Qurʾān have we sent it down, that ye might understand it.’

And at the close of the Sūrah, we are told:—

‘This is one of the secret histories which we reveal unto thee. Thou wast not present with Joseph’s brethren when they conceived their design and laid their plot: but the greater part of men, though thou long for it, will not believe. Thou shalt not ask of them any recompense for this message. It is simply an instruction for all mankind.’

And, again, in the LXVIIth Sūrah, he declares respecting the Qurʾān:—

‘It is a missive from the Lord of the worlds.

But if Muḥammad had fabricated concerning us any sayings,

We had surely seized him by the right hand,

And had cut through the vein of his neck.’

“It would be easy to multiply extracts of similar purport; but the above will suffice by way of illustration. There are modern biographers of the Prophet who would have us believe that he was not conscious of falsehood when making these assertions. He was under a hallucination, of course, but he believed what he said. This to me is incredible. The legends in the Qurʾān are derived chiefly from Talmudic sources. Muḥammad must have learned them from some Jew resident in or near Mekka. To work them up into the form of rhymed Sūrahs, to put his own peculiar doctrines in the mouth of Jewish patriarchs, the Virgin Mary, and the infant Jesus (who talks like a good Moslem the moment after his birth), must have required time, thought, and labour. It is not possible that the man who had done this could have forgotten all about it, and believed that these legends had been brought to him ready prepared by an angelic visitor. Muḥammad was guilty of falsehood under circumstances where he deemed the end justified the means.” (Islām under the Arabs, p. 21.)

(9) The character of Muḥammad is a historic problem, and many have been the conjectures as to his motives and designs. Was he an impostor, a fanatic, or an honest man—“a very prophet of God”? And the problem might have for ever remained unsolved, had not the Prophet himself appealed to the Old and New Testaments in proof of his mission. This is the crucial test, established by the Prophet himself. He claims to be weighed in the balance with the divine Jesus.

Objection has often been made to the manner in which Christian divines have attacked the private character of Muḥammad. Why reject the prophetic mission of Muḥammad on account of his private vices, when you receive as inspired the sayings of a Balaam, a David, or a Solomon? Missionaries should not, as a rule, attack the character of Muḥammad in dealing with Islām; it rouses opposition, and is an offensive line of argument. Still, in forming an estimate of his prophetic claims, we maintain that the character of Muḥammad in an important consideration. We readily admit that bad men have sometimes been, like Balaam and others, the divinely appointed organs of inspiration; but in the case of Muḥammad, his professed inspiration sanctioned and encouraged his own vices. That which ought to have been the fountain of purity was, in fact, the cover of the Prophet’s depravity. But how different it is in the case of the true prophet David, where, in the words of inspiration, he lays bare to public gaze the enormity of his own crimes. The deep contrition of his inmost soul is manifest in every line—“I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me: against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight.”

The best defenders of the Arabian Prophet are obliged to admit that the matter of Zainab, the wife of Zaid, and again, of Mary, the Coptic slave, are “an indelible stain” upon his memory; that “he is once or twice untrue to the kind and forgiving disposition of his best nature; that he is once or twice unrelenting in the punishment of his personal enemies; and that he is guilty even more than once of conniving at the assassination of inveterate opponents”; but they give no satisfactory explanation or apology for all this being done under the supposed sanction of God in the Qurʾān.

In forming an estimate of Muḥammad’s prophetical pretensions, it must be remembered that he did not claim to be the founder of a new religion, but merely of a new covenant. He is the last and greatest of all God’s prophets. He is sent to convert the world to the one true religion which God had before revealed to the five great law-givers—Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus! The creed of Muḥammad, therefore, claims to supersede that of the Lord Jesus. And it is here that we take our stand. We give Muḥammad credit as a warrior, as a legislator, as a poet, as a man of uncommon genius raising himself amidst great opposition to the pinnacle of renown; we admit that he is, without doubt, one of the greatest heroes the world has ever seen; but when we consider his claims to supersede the mission of the divine Jesus, we strip him of his borrowed plumes, and reduce him to the condition of an impostor! For whilst he has adopted and avowed his belief in the sacred books of the Jew and the Christian, and has given them all the stamp and currency which his authority and influence could impart, he has attempted to rob Christianity of every distinctive truth which it possesses—its divine Saviour, its Heavenly Comforter, its two Sacraments, its pure code of social morals, its spirit of love and truth—and has written his own refutation and condemnation with his own hand, by professing to confirm the divine oracles which sap the very foundations of his religious system. We follow the Prophet in his self-asserted mission from the cave of Ḥirāʾ to the closing scene, when he dies in the midst of the lamentations of his ḥarīm, and the contentions of his friends—the visions of Gabriel, the period of mental depression, the contemplated suicide, the assumption of the prophetic office, his struggles with Makkan unbelief, his flight to al-Madīnah, his triumphant entry into Makkah—and whilst we wonder at the genius of the hero, we pause at every stage and inquire, “Is this the Apostle of God, whose mission is to claim universal dominion, to the suppression not merely of idolatry, but of Christianity itself?” Then it is that the divine and holy character of Jesus rises to our view, and the inquiring mind sickens at the thought of the beloved, the pure, the lowly Jesus giving place to that of the ambitious, the sensual, the time-serving hero of Arabia. In the study of Islām, the character of Muḥammad needs an apology or a defence at every stage; but in the contemplation of the Christian system, whilst we everywhere read of Jesus, and see the reflection of His image in everything we read, the heart revels in the contemplation, the inner pulsations of our spiritual life bound within us at the study of a character so divine, so pure.

We are not insensible to the beauties of the Qurʾān as a literary production (although they have, without doubt, been overrated); but as we admire its conceptions of the Divine nature, its deep and fervent trust in the power of God, its frequent deep moral earnestness, and its sententious wisdom, we would gladly rid ourselves of our recollections of the Prophet, his licentious ḥarīm, his sanguinary battle-fields, his ambitious schemes; whilst as we peruse the Christian Scriptures, we find the grand central charm in the divine character of its Founder. It is the divine character of Jesus which gives fragrance to His words; it is the divine form of Jesus which shines through all He says or does; it is the divine life of Jesus which is the great central point in Gospel history. How, then, we ask, can the creed of Muḥammad, the son of ʿAbdu ʾllāh, supersede and abrogate that of Jesus, the Son of God? And it is a remarkable coincidence that, whilst the founder of Islām died feeling that he had but imperfectly fulfilled his mission, the Founder of Christianity died in the full consciousness that His work was done—“It is finished.” It was in professing to produce a revelation which should supersede that of Jesus, that Muḥammad set the seal of his own refutation. (Hughes, Notes on Muhammadanism, p. 2.)

MUḤAMMAD (محمد‎). The title of the XLVIIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in the second verse of which the word occurs: “Believe in what hath been revealed to Muḥammad.”

The name Muḥammad occurs only in three more places in the Qurʾān:—

[Sūrah iii. 138]: “Muḥammad is but an apostle of God.”

[Sūrah xxxiii. 40]: “Muḥammad is not the father of any of your men, but the Apostle of God, and the Seal of the Prophets.”

[Sūrah xlviii. 29]: “Muḥammad is the Apostle of God.”

MUḤAMMAD, The Wives of. Arabic al-azwāju ʾl-mut̤ahharāt (الازواج المطهرات‎), i.e. “The pure wives.” According to the Traditions, Muḥammad took to himself eleven lawful wives, and two concubines. (See Majmaʿu ʾl-Biḥār, p. 528.)

(1) K͟hadījah (خديجة‎), a Quraish lady, the daughter of K͟huwailid ibn Asad. She was a rich widow lady, who had been twice married. She was married to Muḥammad when he was 25 years old, and she was 40 years, and remained his only wife for twenty-five years, until she died (A.D. 619), aged 65, Muḥammad being 50 years old. She bore Muḥammad two sons, al-Qāṣim and ʿAbdu ʾllāh, surnamed at̤-T̤āhir and at̤-T̤aiyib, and four daughters, Zainab, Ruqaiyah, Fāt̤imah, and Ummu Kuls̤ūm. Of these children, only Fāt̤imah (the wife of ʿAlī) survived Muḥammad.

(2) Saudah (سودة‎), daughter of Zamaʿah, the widow of as-Sakrān (a Quraish and one of the Companions). Married about two months after the death of K͟hadījah.

(3) ʿĀyishah (عائشة‎), the daughter of Abū Bakr. She was betrothed when she was only 7 years old, and was married at 10, about the ninth month after the flight to al-Madīnah.

(4) Juwairīyah (جويرية‎), a widow, the daughter of al-Ḥāris̤ ibn Abī Ẓirār, the chief of the Banū Muṣt̤aliq. Muḥammad ransomed her from a citizen who had fixed her ransom at nine ounces of gold. It is related that ʿĀyishah said, “No woman was ever a greater blessing to her people than this Juwairīyah.”

(5) Ḥafṣah (حفصة‎), the daughter of ʿUmar. She was the widow of K͟hunais, an early convert to Islām. Muḥammad married her about six months after her former husband’s death.

(6) Zainab, the daughter of K͟huzaimah (زينب بنت خزيمة‎), the widow of Muḥammad’s cousin ʿUbaidah, who was killed at the battle of Badr. She was called the “Mother of the Poor,” Ummu ʾl-Masākīn, on account of her care of destitute converts. She died before Muḥammad.

(7) Ummu Salimah (ام سلمة‎), the widow of Abū Salimah, one of the Refugees, who was wounded at the battle of Uḥud, and afterwards died of his wounds.

(8) Zainab the daughter of Jaḥsh (زينب بنت جحش‎), the wife of Muḥammad’s adopted son Zaid. Zaid divorced her to please the Prophet. She was (being the wife of an adopted son) unlawful to him, but [Sūrah xxxiii. 36] was produced to settle the difficulty.

(9) Ṣafīyah (صفية‎), daughter of Ḥayī ibn Ak͟ht̤ab, the widow of Kinānah, the K͟haibar chief, who was cruelly put to death. It was said that Muḥammad wished to divorce her, but she begged that her turn might be given to ʿĀyishah.

(10) Ummu Ḥabībah (ام حبيبة‎), the daughter of Abū Sufyān and the widow of ʿUbaidu ʾllāh, one of the “Four Enquirers,” who, after emigrating as a Muslim to Abyssinia, had embraced Christianity there, and died in the profession of that faith.

(11) Maimūnah (ميمونة‎), the daughter of al-Ḥāris̤ and widowed kinswoman of Muḥammad, and the sister-in-law of al-ʿAbbās. She is said to have been 51 years of age when she married Muḥammad.

Muḥammad’s concubines were:—

(1) Mary the Copt (مارية القبطية‎). A Christian slave-girl sent to Muḥammad by al-Muqauqis, the Roman Governor in Egypt. She became the mother of a son by Muḥammad, named Ibrāhīm, who died young.

(2) Rīḥānah (ريحانة‎), a Jewess, whose husband had perished in the massacre of the Banū Quraiz̤ah. She declined the summons to conversion, and continued a Jew; but it is said she embraced Islām before her death.

At the time of Muḥammad’s death, he had nine wives and two concubines living, (Ṣaḥīḥu ʾl-Buk͟hārī, p. 798), K͟hadījah and Zainab bint K͟huzaimah having died before him.

According to the Shīʿahs, Muḥammad had, in all, twenty-two wives. Eight of these never consummated the marriage. Their names are ʿAlīyah bint Zabyān, Fatīlah bint Qais, Fāt̤imah bint Ẓaḥḥāf, Asmāʾ bint Kanaʿān, Mulaikah bint Suwaid, Lailah bint K͟hāt̤ib, and Shabah bint Ṣīlah. Twelve were duly married. Their names are K͟hadījah, Saudah, Hind (or Ummu Salimah), ʿĀyishah, Ḥafṣah, Zainab bint Jaḥsh, Ramalah bint Abī Sufyān (or Ummu Ḥabībah), Maimūnah, Zainab bint ʿUmais, Juwairīyah bint al-Ḥāris̤ of the Banū Muṣt̤aliq, Ṣafīyah, K͟haulah bint Ḥakīm, and Ummiāni, a sister to ʿAlī. Two were bondwomen: Māriyatu ʾl-Qibt̤īyah and Rīḥānah. (See Jannātu ʾl-K͟hulūd, p. 14.)

MUḤAMMAD, The Children of. According to the Majmaʿu ʾl-Biḥār, p. 538, Muḥammad had seven children. Two sons and four daughters by K͟hadījah, and one son by Mary, his Coptic slave.

The two sons by K͟hadījah were al-Qāsim and ʿAbdu ʾllāh (called also at̤-T̤āhir and at̤-T̤aiyib); and the four daughters were Zainab, Ruqaiyah, Fāt̤imah, and Ummu Kuls̤ūm. The son by his bondwoman Mary was Ibrāhīm. All these children died before Muḥammad, with the exception of Fāt̤imah, who married ʿAlī, the fourth K͟halīfah, and from whom are descended the Saiyids. [[SAIYID].]

Zainab married Abū ʾl-ʿĀṣ bnu ʾr-Rabīʿ. Ruqaiyah married ʿUtbah ibn Abū Lahab, by whom she was divorced. She afterwards married ʿUs̤mān, the third K͟halīfah.

MUḤAMMAD’S GRAVE. [[HUJRAH].]

MUḤAMMADAN. Arabic Muḥammadī (محمدى‎). A name seldom used in Muḥammadan works for the followers of Muḥammad, who call themselves either Muʾmins, Muslims, or Musalmāns. It is, however, sometimes used in Indian papers and other popular publications, and it is not, as many European scholars suppose, an offensive term to Muslims.

MUḤAMMADANISM. The religion of Muḥammad is called by its followers al-Islām (الاسلام‎), a word which implies the entire surrender of the will of man to God. [[ISLAM].] Its adherents speak of themselves as Muslims, pl. Muslimūn, or Muʾmin, pl. Muʾminūn; a Muʾmin being a “believer.” In Persian these terms are rendered by the word Musalmān, pl. Musalmānān.

The principles of Islām were first enunciated in portions of the Qurʾān, as they were revealed piecemeal by Muḥammad, together with such verbal explanations as were given by him to his followers; but when the final recension of the Qurʾān was produced by the K͟halīfah ʿUs̤mān, about twenty-two years after Muḥammad’s death, the Muslims possessed a complete book, which they regarded as the inspired and infallible word of God. [[QURʾAN].] But as an interpretation of its precepts, and as a supplement to its teachings, there also existed, side by side with the Qurʾān, the sayings, and practice of Muḥammad, called the Aḥādīs̤ and Sunnah. These traditions of what the Prophet “did and said,” gradually laid the foundations of what is now called Islām. For whilst it is a canon in Islām that nothing can be received or taught which is contrary to the literal injunctions of the Qurʾān, it is to the Traditions rather than to the Qurʾān that we must refer for Muḥammadan law on the subject of faith, knowledge, purification, prayer, almsgiving, fasting, marriage, barter, inheritance, punishments, fate, duties of magistrates, religious warfare, lawful food, death, Day of Judgment, &c., and each collection of traditions has sections devoted to these subjects; so that it is upon these traditional sayings, quite as much as upon the Qurʾān itself, that the religious and civil law of the Muslims is based, both Shīʿah and Sunnī appealing alike to Tradition in support of their views.

When the Prophet was alive, men could go direct to him with their doubts and difficulties; and an infallible authority was always present to give “inspired” directions. But after the deaths of all those who knew Muḥammad personally, it became absolutely necessary to systematise the great mass of traditional sayings then afloat amongst Muslims, and thus various schools of jurisprudence were formed; the concurrent opinion of those learned regarding matters of dispute in Muslim law being called Ijmāʿ [[IJMAʿ]]. Upon this naturally followed the system of analogical reasoning called Qiyās [[QIYAS]]; thus constituting the four “pillars” or foundations of Islām, known as the Qurʾān, Ḥadīs̤, Ijmāʿ, and Qiyās.

Islām, whether it be Shīʿah, Sunnī, or Wahhābī, is founded upon these four authorities, and it is not true, as is so frequently asserted, that the Shīʿahs reject the Traditions. They merely accept different collections of Aḥādīs̤ to those received by the Sunnīs and Wahhābīs. Nor do the Wahhābīs reject Ijmāʿ and Qiyās, but they assert that Ijmāʿ was only possible in the earliest stages of Islām.

A study of the present work will show what an elaborate system of dogma Muḥammadanism is. This system of dogma, together with the liturgical form of worship, has been formulated from the traditional sayings of Muḥammad rather than from the Qurʾān itself. For example, the daily ritual, with its purifications, which are such a prominent feature in Islām, is entirely founded on the Traditions. [[PRAYER].] Circumcision is not once mentioned in the Qurʾān.

The Dīn, or religion of the Muslim, is divided into Imān, or “Faith,” and ʿAmal, or “Practice.”

Faith consists in the acceptance of six articles of belief:—

1. The Unity of God.

2. The Angels.

3. The Inspired Books.

4. The Inspired Prophets.

5. The Day of Judgment.

6. The Decrees of God.

Practical Religion consists in the observance of—

1. The recital of the Creed—“There is no deity but God, and Muḥammad is the Prophet of God.”

2. The five stated periods of prayer.

3. The thirty days fast in the month Ramaẓān.

4. The payment of Zakāt, or the legal alms.

5. The Ḥajj, or Pilgrimage to Makkah.

A belief in these six articles of faith, and the observance of these five practical duties, constitute Islām. He who thus believes and acts is called a Muʾmin, or “believer”; but he who rejects any article of faith or practice is a Kāfir, or “infidel.”

Muḥammadan theology, which is very extensive, is divided into—

1. The Qurʾān and its commentaries.

2. The Traditions and their commentaries.

3. Uṣūl, or expositions on the principles of exegesis.

4. ʿAqāʾid, or expositions of scholastic theology founded on the six articles of faith.

5. Fiqh, or works on both civil and religious law. [[THEOLOGY].]

Muḥammadanism is, therefore, a system which affords a large field for patient study and research, and much of its present energy and vitality is to be attributed to the fact that, in all parts of Islām, there are in the various mosques students who devote their whole lives to the study of Muslim divinity.

The two leading principles of Islām are those expressed in its well-known creed, or kalimah, namely, a belief in the absolute unity of the Divine Being, and in the mission of Muḥammad as the Messenger of the Almighty. [[KALIMAH].]

“The faith,” says Gibbon, “which he (Muḥammad) preached to his family and nation, is compounded of an eternal truth and a necessary fiction: That there is only one God, and that Muḥammad is the Apostle of God.” (Roman Empire, vol. vi. p. 222.)

“Moḥammad’s conception of God,” says Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole, “has, I think, been misunderstood, and its effect upon the people consequently under-estimated. The God of Islám is commonly represented as a pitiless tyrant, who plays with humanity as on a chessboard, and works out his game without regard to the sacrifice of the pieces; and there is a certain truth in the figure. There is more in Islám of the potter who shapes the clay than of the father pitying his children. Moḥammad conceived of God as the Semitic mind has always preferred to think of Him: his God is the All-Mighty, the All-Knowing, the All-Just. Irresistible Power is the first attribute he thinks of: the Lord of the Worlds, the Author of the Heavens and the Earth, who hath created Life and Death, in whose hand is Dominion, who maketh the Dawn to appear and causeth the Night to cover the Day, the Great, All-Powerful Lord of the Glorious Throne; the thunder proclaimeth His perfection, the whole earth is His handful, and the heavens shall be folded together in His right hand. And with the Power He conceives the Knowledge that directs it to right ends. God is the Wise, the Just, the True, the Swift in reckoning, who knoweth every ant’s weight of good and of ill that each man hath done, and who suffereth not the reward of the faithful to perish.

“ ‘God! There is no God but He, the Ever-Living, the Ever-Subsisting. Slumber seizeth Him not nor sleep. To Him belongeth whatsoever is in the Heavens and whatsoever is in the Earth. Who is he that shall intercede with Him, save by his permission? He knoweth the things that have gone before and the things that follow after, and men shall not compass aught of His knowledge, save what He willeth. His throne comprehendeth the Heavens and the Earth, and the care of them burdeneth Him not. And He is the High, the Great.’—Ḳur-án, ii. 256.

“But with this Power there is also the gentleness that belongs only to great strength. God is the Guardian over His servants, the Shelterer of the orphan, the Guider of the erring, the Deliverer from every affliction; in His hand is Good, and He is the Generous Lord, the Gracious, the Hearer, the Near-at-Hand. Every soorah of the Ḳur-án begins with the words, ‘In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,’ and Moḥammad was never tired of telling the people how God was Very-Forgiving, that His love for man was more tender than the mother-bird for her young.

“It is too often forgotten how much there is in the Ḳur-án of the loving-kindness of God, but it must be allowed that these are not the main thoughts in Moḥammad’s teaching. It is the doctrine of the Might of God that most held his imagination, and that has impressed itself most strongly upon Muslims of all ages. The fear rather than the love of God is the spur of Islám. There can be no question which is the higher incentive to good; but it is nearly certain that the love of God is an idea absolutely foreign to most of the races that have accepted Islám, and to preach such a doctrine would have been to mistake the leaning of the Semitic mind.

“The leading doctrine of Moḥammad, then, is the belief in One All-Powerful God. Islám is the self-surrender of every man to the will of God. Its danger lies in the stress laid on the power of God, which has brought about the stifling effects of fatalism. Moḥammad taught the foreknowledge of God, but he did not lay down precisely the doctrine of Predestination. He found it, as all have found it, a stumbling-block in the way of man’s progress. It perplexed him, and he spoke of it, but often contradicted himself; and he would become angry if the subject were mooted in his presence: ‘Sit not with a disputer about fate,’ he said, ‘nor begin a conversation with him.’ Moḥammad vaguely recognised that little margin of Free Will which makes life not wholly mechanical.

“This doctrine of one Supreme God, to whose will it is the duty of every man to surrender himself, is the kernel of Islám, the truth for which Moḥammad lived and suffered and triumphed. But it was no new teaching, as he himself was constantly saying. His was only the last of revelations. Many prophets—Abraham, Moses, and Christ—had taught the same faith before; but people had hearkened little to their words. So Moḥammad was sent, not different from them, only a messenger, yet the last and greatest of them, the ‘seal of prophecy,’ the ‘most excellent of the creation of God.’ This is the second dogma of Islám: Moḥammad is the Apostle of God. It is well worthy of notice that it is not said, ‘Moḥammad is the only apostle of God.’ Islám is more tolerant in this matter than other religions. Its prophet is not the sole commissioner of the Most High, nor is his teaching the only true teaching the world has ever received. Many other messengers had been sent by God to guide men to the right, and these taught the same religion that was in the mouth of the preacher of Islám. Hence Muslims reverence Moses and Christ only next to Moḥammad. All they claim for their founder is that he was the last and best of the messengers of the one God.” (Introduction to Lane’s Selections, 2nd ed., p. lxxix. et seqq.)

Islām does not profess to be a new religion, formulated by Muḥammad (nor indeed is it), but a continuation of the religious principles established by Adam, by Noah, by Abraham, by Moses, and by Jesus, as well as by other inspired teachers, for it is said that God sent not fewer than 313 apostles into the world to reclaim it from superstition and infidelity. The revelations of these great prophets are generally supposed to have been lost, but God, it is asserted, had retained all that is necessary for man’s guidance in the Qurʾān, although, as a matter of fact, a very large proportion of the ethical, devotional, and dogmatic teaching in Islām, comes from the traditional sayings of Muḥammad and not from the Qurʾān itself. [[TRADITIONS].]

In reading the different articles in the present work, the reader cannot fail to be struck with the great indebtedness of Muḥammad to the Jewish religion for the chief elements of his system. Mr. Emanuel Deutsch has truly remarked “that Muḥammadanism owes more to Judaism than either to Heathenism or to Christianity. It is not merely parallelisms, reminiscences, allusions, technical terms, and the like of Judaism, its lore and dogma and ceremony, its Halacha, and its Haggadah, its Law and Legend, which we find in the Qurʾān; but we think Islām neither more nor less than Judaism—as adapted to Arabia—plus the Apostleship of Jesus and Muḥammad. Nay, we verily believe that a great deal of such Christianity as has found its way into the Qurʾān, has found it through Jewish channels.” (Literary Remains, p. 64.)

Its conception of God, its prophets, its seven heavens and seven hells, its law of marriage and divorce, its law of oaths, its purifications and ritual, its festivals, are all of marked Jewish origin, and prove that Talmudic Judaism forms the kernel of Muḥammadanism, which even according to the words of the founder, professed to be the “religion of Abraham.” See [Sūrah iii. 60]: “Abraham was neither a Jew nor Christian, but he was a Ḥanīf, a Muslim.” Nevertheless, Muḥammad, although he professed to take his legislation from Abraham, incorporated into his system a vast amount of the law of Moses.

The sects of Islām have become numerous; indeed, the Prophet is related to have predicted that his followers would be divided into seventy-three. They have far exceeded the limits of that prophecy, for, according to ʿAbdu ʾl-Qādir al-Jīlānī, there are at least 150. The chief sect is the Sunnī, which is divided into four schools of interpretation, known after their respective founders, Ḥanafī, Shāfiʿī, Malakī, Ḥanbalī. The Shīʿahs, who separated from the so-called orthodox Sunnīs on the question of the K͟halīfate, maintaining that ʿAlī and not Abū Bakr was the rightful successor to Muḥammad, are divided also into numerous sects. [[SHIʿAH].] The Wahhābīs are a comparatively modern sect, who are the Puritans of Islām, maintaining that Islām has very far departed from the original teaching of Muḥammad, as expressed in the Traditions. They consequently reject very many of the so-called Ijtihād of the Sunnīs, and take the literal meaning of the Traditional sayings of the Prophet as the best exposition of the Qurʾān.

The Shīʿah sect is almost entirely confined to Persia, although there are a few thousand in Lucknow and other parts of India. Of the Sunnīs, the Ḥanafīs are found chiefly in Turkey, Arabia, India, and Central Asia, the Shāfiʿīs in Egypt, and the Malakīs in Morocco and Tunis. The Ḥanbalī are a small sect found in Arabia. Wahhābīism, as will be seen upon reference to the article on the subject, is a principle of reform which has extended itself to all parts of Islām. It is scarcely to be called a sect, but a school of thought in Sunnī Islām.

One hundred and seventy millions of the human race are said to profess the religion of Muḥammad; and, according to the late Mr. Keith Johnstone’s computations, they are distributed as follows:—In Europe, 5,974,000; in Africa, 50,416,000; in Asia, 112,739,000.

Mr. W. S. Blunt divides 175 millions as follows:—Turkey, Syria, and ʿIrāq, 22 millions; Egypt, 5 millions; North Africa, 18 millions; Arabia, 11½ millions; Central Africa, 11½ millions; Persia, 8 millions; India, 40 millions; Malays (Java), 30 millions; China, 15 millions; Central Asia, 11 millions; Afghanistan, 3 millions. No census having been taken of any of these countries, except India, the numbers are merely an approximation. Out of this supposed population of Islām, 93,250 pilgrims were present at Makkah in the year 1880. (Blunt’s Future of Islam, p. 10.)

In some parts of the world—in Africa for example—Muḥammadanism is spreading; and even in Borneo, and in other islands of the Indian Archipelago, we are told that it has supplanted Hinduism. In Central Asia, within the last twenty years, numerous villages of Shiaposh Kafirs have been forcibly converted to Islām, and in Santalia and other parts of India, the converts to Islām from the aboriginal tribes are not inconsiderable.

But, although Muḥammadanism has, perhaps, gained in numerical strength within the last few years, no candid Muslim will deny that it has lost, and is still losing, its vital power. Indeed, “this want of faith and decline in vitality” are regarded as the signs of the last days by many a devout Muslim.

In no Muḥammadan state is Muslim law administered in its strict integrity, and even in the Sultan’s own dominion, some of the most sacred principles of the Prophet’s religion are set at naught by the civil power; and, as far as we can ascertain (and we speak after a good deal of personal research), the prevalence of downright infidelity amongst educated Muslims is unmistakable. “No intelligent man believes in the teaching of the Muslim divines,” said a highly educated Muḥammadan Egyptian not long ago; “for our religion is not in keeping with the progress of thought.” The truth is, the Arabian Prophet over-legislated, and, as we now see in Turkey, it is impossible for civilised Muḥammadans to be tied hand and foot by laws and social customs which were intended for Arabian society as it existed 1,200 years ago; whilst, on the contrary, Christianity legislates in spirit, and can therefore be adapted to the spiritual and social necessities of mankind in the various stages of human thought and civilisation.

Mr. Palgrave, in his Central and Eastern Arabia, remarks:—

“Islam is in its essence stationary, and was framed thus to remain. Sterile like its God, lifeless like its first principle and supreme original in all that constitutes true life—for life is love, participation, and progress, and of these, the Coranic Deity has none—it justly repudiates all change, all advance, all development. To borrow the forcible words of Lord Houghton, the ‘written book’ is there, the ‘dead man’s hand,’ stiff and motionless; whatever savours of vitality is by that alone convicted of heresy and defection.

“But Christianity with its living and loving God, Begetter and Begotten, Spirit and Movement, nay more, a Creator made creature, the Maker and the made existing in One, a Divinity communicating itself by uninterrupted gradation and degree, from the most intimate union far off to the faintest irradiation, through all that it has made for love and governs in love; One who calls His creatures not slaves, not servants, but friends, nay sons, nay gods—to sum up, a religion in whose seal and secret ‘God in man is one with man in God,’ must also be necessarily a religion of vitality, of progress, of advancement. The contrast between it and Islam is that of movement with fixedness, of participation with sterility, of development with barrenness, of life with petrifaction. The first vital principle and the animating spirit of its birth must indeed abide ever the same, but the outer form must change with the changing days, and new offshoots of fresh sap and greenness be continually thrown out as witnesses to the vitality within, else were the vine withered and the branches dead.

“I have no intention here—it would be extremely out of place—of entering on the maze of controversy, or discussing whether any dogmatic attempt to reproduce the religious phase of a former age is likely to succeed. I only say that life supposes movement and growth, and both imply change; that to censure a living thing for growing and changing is absurd; and that to attempt to hinder it from so doing, by pinning it down on a written label, or nailing it to a Procrustean framework, is tantamount to killing it altogether.

“Now Christianity is living, and because living must grow, must advance, must change, and was meant to do so; onwards and forwards is a condition of its very existence; and I cannot but think that those who do not recognize this, show themselves so far ignorant of its true nature and essence. On the other hand, Islam is lifeless, and because lifeless cannot grow, cannot advance, cannot change, and was never intended so to do; ‘Stand still’ is its motto and its most essential condition.” (Central and Eastern Arabia, vol. i. p. 372.)

Mr. Stanley Lane Poole, in his Introduction to Lane’s Selections, says:—

“Islám is unfortunately a social system as well as a religion; and herein lies the great difficulty of fairly estimating its good and its bad influence on the world. It is but in the nature of things that the teacher who lays down the law of the relation of man to God should also endeavour to appoint the proper relation between man and his neighbour.

* * *

“Moḥammad not only promulgated a religion; he laid down a complete social system, containing minute regulations for a man’s conduct in all circumstances of life, with due rewards or penalties according to his fulfilment of these rules. As a religion, Islám is great: it has taught men to worship one God with a pure worship who formerly worshipped many gods impurely. As a social system, Islám is a complete failure: it has misunderstood the relations of the sexes, upon which the whole character of a nation’s life hangs, and, by degrading women, has degraded each successive generation of their children down an increasing scale of infamy and corruption, until it seems almost impossible to reach a lower level of vice.”

Mr. W. E. H. Lecky remarks:—

“In the first place, then, it must be observed that the enthusiasm by which Mahometanism conquered the world, was mainly a military enthusiasm. Men were drawn to it at once, and without conditions, by the splendour of the achievements of its disciples, and it declared an absolute war against all the religions it encountered. Its history, therefore, exhibits nothing of the process of gradual absorption, persuasion, compromise, and assimilation, that are exhibited in the dealings of Christianity with the barbarians. In the next place, one of the great characteristics of the Koran is the extreme care and skill with which it labours to assist men in realising the unseen. Descriptions, the most minutely detailed, and at the same time the most vivid, are mingled with powerful appeals to those sensual passions by which the imagination in all countries, but especially in those in which Mahometanism has taken root, is most forcibly influenced. In no other religion that prohibits idols is the strain upon the imagination so slight.” (History of the Rise and Influence of Rationalism, vol. i. p. 223.)

“This great religion, which so long rivalled the influence of Christianity, had indeed spread the deepest and most justifiable panic through Christendom. Without any of those aids to the imagination which pictures and images can furnish, without any elaborate sacerdotal organization, preaching the purest Monotheism among ignorant and barbarous men, and inculcating, on the whole, an extremely high and noble system of morals, it spread with a rapidity, and it acquired a hold over the minds of its votaries, which it is probable that no other religion has altogether equalled. It borrowed from Christianity that doctrine of salvation by belief, which is perhaps the most powerful impulse that can be applied to the characters of masses of men, and it elaborated so minutely the charms of its sensual heavens and the terrors of its material hell, as to cause the alternative to appeal with unrivalled force to the gross imaginations of the people. It possessed a book which, however inferior to that of the opposing religion, has nevertheless been the consolation and the support of millions in many ages. It taught a fatalism which, in its first age, nerved its adherents with a matchless military courage, and which, though in later days it has often paralysed their active energies, has also rarely failed to support them under the pressure of inevitable calamity. But, above all, it discovered the great though fatal secret, of uniting indissolubly the passion of the soldier with the passion of the devotee. Making the conquest of the infidel the first of duties, and proposing heaven as the certain reward of the valiant soldier, it created a blended enthusiasm that soon overpowered the divided counsels and the voluptuous governments of the East, and within a century of the death of Muḥammad, his followers had almost extirpated Christianity from its original home, founded great monarchies in Asia and Africa, planted a noble, though transient and exotic, civilisation in Spain, menaced the capital of the Eastern empire, and but for the issue of a single battle, they would probably have extended their sceptre over the energetic and progressive races of Central Europe. The wave was broken by Charles Martel, at the battle of Poictiers, and it is now useless to speculate what might have been the consequences, had Muḥammadanism unfurled its triumphant banner among those Teutonic tribes, who have so often changed their creed, and on whom the course of civilisation has so largely depended.” (Hist. of European Morals, vol. ii. p. 266.)

“The influence of Catholicism was seconded by Muḥammadanism, which on this (suicide), as on many other points, borrowed its teaching from the Christian Church, and even intensified it; for suicide, which is never expressly condemned in the Bible, is more than once forbidden in the Qurʾān, and the Christian duty of resignation was exaggerated by the Moslem into a complete fatalism. Under the empire of Catholicism and Muḥammadanism, suicide, during many centuries, almost absolutely ceased in all the civilised, active and progressive part of mankind. When we recollect how warmly it was applauded, or how faintly it was condemned in the civilisations of Greece and Rome, when we remember, too, that there was scarcely a barbarous tribe from Denmark to Spain who did not habitually practise it, we may realise the complete revolution which was effected in this sphere by the influence of Christianity.” (Hist. of European Morals, vol. ii. p. 56.)

Major Durie Osborn says:—

“When Islam penetrates to countries lower in the scale of humanity than were the Arabs of Muhammad’s day, it suffices to elevate them to that level. But it does so at a tremendous cost. It reproduces in its new converts the characteristics of its first—their impenetrable self-esteem, their unintelligent scorn, and blind hatred of all other creeds. And thus the capacity for all further advance is destroyed; the mind is obdurately shut to the entrance of any purer light. But it is a grievous error to confound that transient gleam of culture which illuminated Baghdad under the first Abbaside khalifs with the legitimate fruits of Islam. When the Arabs conquered Syria and Persia, they brought with them no new knowledge to take the place of that which had preceded them. Mere Bedouins of the desert, they found themselves all at once the masters of vast countries, with everything to learn. They were compelled to put themselves to school under the very people they had vanquished. Thus the Persians and Syrians, conquered though they were and tributary, from the ignorance of their masters, retained in their hands the control of the administrative machinery. The Abbaside khalifs were borne into power by means of a Persian revolution, headed by a Persian slave. Then began the endeavour to root the old Greek philosophy, and the deep and beautiful thoughts of Zoroaster, on the hard and barren soil of Muhammadanism. It was an impossible attempt to make a frail exotic flourish on uncongenial soil. It has imparted, indeed, a deceptive lustre to this period of Muhammadan history; but the orthodox Muhammadans knew that their faith and the wisdom of the Greeks could not amalgamate, and they fought fiercely against the innovators. Successive storms of barbarians sweeping down from the north of Asia, tore up the fragile plant by the roots, and scattered its blossoms to the winds. The new comers embraced the creed of the Koran in its primitive simplicity; they hated and repudiated the refinements which the Persians would fain have engrafted on it. And they won the day. The present condition of Central Asia is the legitimate fruit of Islam; not the glories of Baghdad, which were but the afterglow of the thought and culture which sank with the fall of the Sassanides, and the expulsion of the Byzantine emperors. So also in Moorish Spain. The blossom and the fruitage which Muhammadanism seemed to put forth there were, in fact, due to influences alien to Islam—to the intimate contact, namely, with Jewish and Christian thought; for when the Moors were driven back into northern Africa, all that blossom and fruitage withered away, and Northern Africa sank into the intellectual darkness and political anarchy in which it lies at the present time. There are to be found in Muhammadan history all the elements of greatness—faith, courage, endurance, self-sacrifice; but, closed within the narrow walls of a rude theology and barbarous polity, from which the capacity to grow and the liberty to modify have been sternly cut off, they work no deliverance upon the earth. They are strong only for destruction. When that work is over, they either prey upon each other, or beat themselves to death against the bars of their prison-house. No permanent dwelling-place can be erected on a foundation of sand; and no durable or humanising polity upon a foundation of fatalism, despotism, polygamy and slavery. When Muhammadan states cease to be racked by revolutions, they succumb to the poison diffused by a corrupt moral atmosphere. A Darwesh, ejaculating ‘Allah!’ and revolving in a series of rapid gyrations until he drops senseless, is an exact image of the course of their history.” (Islam under the Arabs, p. 93.)

Lieutenant-Colonel W. F. Butler, C.B., remarks:—

“The Goth might ravage Italy, but the Goth came forth purified from the flames which he himself had kindled. The Saxon swept Britain, but the music of the Celtic heart softened his rough nature, and wooed him into less churlish habits. Visigoth and Frank, Heruli and Vandal, blotted out their voracity in the very light of the civilisation they had striven to extinguish. Even the Hun, wildest Tartar from the Scythian waste, was touched and softened in his wicker encampment amid Pannonian plains; but the Turk—wherever his scymitar reached—degraded, defiled, and defamed; blasting into eternal decay Greek, Roman and Latin civilisation, until, when all had gone, he sat down, satiated with savagery, to doze for two hundred years into hopeless decrepitude.” (Good Words for September 1880.)

Literature on the subject of Muḥammadanism:—

Muhamedis Imposturæ. W. Bedwell. London	1615
A Lytell Treatyse of the Turkes Law called Alcoran. W. De Worde. London.	No date.
Mahomet Unmasked. W. Bedwell. London	1642
The Alcoran of Mahomet. Alex. Ross. London	1642
Religion and Manners of Mahometans. Joseph Pitts. Exon	1704
History of the Saracens. S. Ockley. London	1708
Four Treatises by Reland and others. London	1712
The True Nature of the Imposture. Dean Prideaux. London	1718
Abulfeda. Translated into Latin. J. Gagnier. London	1723
Muhammadanism Explained. Joseph Morgan. London	1723
Life of Mahomet. Count Boulainvilliers. Translated. London	1731
Translation of Koran and Preliminary Discourse. G. Sale. London	1734
Reflections on Mohammedism (sic) Anon. London	1735
The Morality of the East, extracted from the Koran. Anon. London	1766
Roman Empire. E. Gibbon. London	1776
The Koran. Translated. Savary	1782
Bampton Lectures. Rev. J. White. Oxford	1784
The Hidayah. Translated by C. Hamilton. London	1791
The Rise of Mahomet accounted for. N. Alcock. London	1796
Life of Mahomet. Anon. London	1799
The Mishkāt. Translated by Matthews. Calcutta	1809
History of Muhammedanism. C. Mills. London	1817
Christianity compared with Hinduism and Muhamadanism. London	1823
The Muhammedan System. Rev. W. H. Mills	1828
Mahometanism Unveiled. Rev. C. Forster. London	1829
An Apology for the Life of Mohammed. G. Higgins. London	1829
A Reply to Higgins. R. M. Beverley. Beverley	1829
Travels in Arabia. J. L. Burckhardt. London	1829
Controversial Tracts. Rev. H. Martyn. Edited by S. Lee.	No date or place.
Animadversions on Higgins. Rev. P. Inchbald. Doncaster	1830
Notes on Bedouins and Wahhabis. J. L. Burckhardt. London	1830
Observations on the Musulmans. Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali. London	1832
Qanoon-e-Islam. Dr. Herklots. London	1832
History of Muhammadanism. W. C. Taylor. London	1834
History of the Wahhabies. Sir H. J. Brydges. London	1834
Muhammedan Dynasties in Spain. Al Makkari. Translated. London	1840
The Hero as Prophet. Thomas Carlyle. London	1840
Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians. E. W. Lane. London	1842
Ibn Khallikan’s Biographical Dictionary. M. G. De Slane. Translated. London	1843
Selections from the Kur-án. E. W. Lane. London	1843
Life of Mohammed. Rev. George Bush. New York	1844
The Relation of Islam to the Gospel. Dr. J. A. Moehler. Translated by J. P. Menge. Calcutta	1847
Life of Mahomet. Washington Irving. London	1850
Life of Mohammed. By Abulfeda. Translated by Rev. W. Murray. Elgin.	No date.
Muhammadan Law of Sale. N. B. E. Baillie. London	1850
Life of Mohammad. A. Sprenger. Calcutta	1851
Islamism, its Rise and Progress. F. A. Neale. London	1854
Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Mecca. R. F. Burton. London	1855
Life of Mahomet. W. Muir. London	1858
Mohammedan Religion Explained. Rev. J. D. Macbride. London	1859
Ishmael. Rev. J. M. Arnold. London	1859
Arabian Nights with Notes. E. W. Lane. London	1859
Imposture instanced in the Life of Mahomet. Rev. G. Akehurst. London	1859
Testimony borne by the Koran. W. Muir. Allahabad	1860
Religions of Syria. Rev. John Wortabet. London	1860
Muhammedan Commentary on the Bible. Syed Ahmad. Ghazeepur	1862
Digest of Muhammadan Law. Hanifi Code. N. B. E. Baillie. London	1865
Food for Reflection. Rev. Dr. Koelle. London	1865
Central and Eastern Arabia. W. G. Palgrave. London	1865
The Mizān ul Haqq. Dr. Pfander. Translated. London	1867
Aīn i Akbari of Abul Fazl. Translated. H. Blochmann. Calcutta	1868
Notes on Islam. Rev. A. Brinckman. London	1868
Digest of Muhammadan Law. Imameea Code. N. B. E. Baillie. London	1869
Law of Inheritance. S. G. Grady. London	1869
Al Sirajiyyah. Translated. A. Rumsey. London	1869
Apology for Muhammad. John Davenport. London	1869
Pilgrimage to Mecca. Begum of Bhopal. London	1870
Our Indian Musulmans. W. W. Hunter. London	1871
On Dr. Hunter’s “Indian Musulmans.” Syed Ahmed Khan	1871
The Koran Translated. Rev. J. M. Rodwell. London	1871
Essays on the Life of Muhammad. Syed Ahmed Khan. London	1871
Essays on Eastern Questions. W. G. Palgrave. London	1872
Manual of Laws. J. B. S. Boyle. Lahore	1873
Life of Muhammad. Syed Ameer Ali. London	1873
Tagore Lectures. Shama Churun Sircar. Calcutta	1873
Tagore Lectures. Shama Churun Sircar. Calcutta	1874
Islām and Christianity. Rev. J. M. Arnold. London	1874
Mohammed and Mohammedanism. R. Bosworth Smith. London	1874
Essay on Islam. Emanuel Deutsch. London	1874
Islam under the Arabs. R. D. Osborn. London	1876
Notes on Muhammadanism. Rev. T. P. Hughes. London. 2nd ed.	1877
Christianity and Islam. Rev. W. R. W. Stephens. London	1877
Islam and its Founder. J. W. H. Stobart. London	1878
Mohammed, Buddha, and Christ. Marcus Dods. London	1878
Islam, its Origin, Genius, and Mission. J. J. Lake. London	1878
Islam under the Khalifs of Baghdad. R. D. Osborn. London	1878
Lane’s Selections from the Kurān. New ed. S. L. Poole. London	1879
The Miracle Play of Hasan and Husain. Sir Lewis Pelly. London	1879
The Personal Law of Muhammedans. Syed Ameer Ali. London	1880
The Faith of Islam. Rev. E. Sell. Madras	1880
The Future of Islam. W. S. Blunt. London	1880
The Quran. Translated. 2 vols. Prof. E. H. Palmer. Oxford	1880
Commentary on the Qurān. Rev. E. M. Wherry. London	1882
Reforms in Mohammadan States. Moulvie Cheragh Ali. Bombay	1883
Annals of the Early Caliphate. Sir W. Muir. London	1883

---

Religio Turcia Mahometis vita. J. Wallich. Stadae Suecorum	1659
Refutatio Al Corani. L. Marracio. Patavii	1698
Specimen Historiæ Arabum. E. Pocock. Oxon	1750
Recueil des Rites et Cérémonies du Pélerinage de la Mecque. Galland. Amsterdam	1754
Bibliothèque Orientale. D’Herbelot. Maestricht	1776
Lettres sur l’Histoire des Arabes avant l’Islamisme.	1836
Essai sur l’Histoire des Arabes avant l’Islamisme. A. P. Caussin de Perceval	1848
Die Geisterlehre der Moslimen. Von Hammer Purgstall. Wien	1852
Geschichte des Qorâns. T. Nöldeke	1860
Das Leben Mohammeds nach Ibn Ishak. Bearbeitet von Ibn Hischam, by Weil	1864
Mahomet et le Coran. T. B. de St. Hilaire. Paris	1865
Geschichte der herrschenden Ideen des Islams. A. von Kremer	1868
Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad. A. Sprenger. Berlin	1869
L’Islamisme d’après le Coran. Garcin de Tassy. Paris	1874
Essai sur l’Histoire de l’Islamisme. R. Dozy	1879

MUḤARRAM (محرم‎). Lit. “That which is forbidden.” Anything sacred. (1) The first month of the Muḥammadan year [[MONTHS].] (2) The first ten days of the month, observed in commemoration of the martyrdom of al-Ḥusain, the second son of Fāt̤imah, the Prophet’s daughter, by ʿAlī. [[AL-HUSAIN].] These days of lamentation are only observed by the Shīʿah Muslims, but the tenth day of Muḥarram is observed by the Sunnīs in commemoration of its having been the day on which Adam and Eve, heaven and hell, the pen, fate, life and death, were created. [[ʿASHURAʾ].]

The ceremonies of the Muḥarram differ much in different places and countries. The following is a graphic description of the observance of the Muḥarram at Ispahan in the year 1811, which has been taken, with some slight alterations from Morier’s Second Journey through Persia:—

The tragical termination of al-Ḥusain’s life, commencing with his flight from al-Madīnah and terminating with his death on the plain of Karbalāʾ, has been drawn up in the form of a drama, consisting of several parts, of which one is performed by actors on each successive day of the mourning. The last part, which is appointed for the Roz-i-Qatl, comprises the events of the day on which he met his death, and is acted with great pomp before the King, in the largest square of the city. The subject, which is full of affecting incidents, would of itself excite great interest in the breasts of a Christian audience; but allied as it is with all the religious and national feelings of the Persians, it awakens their strongest passions. Al-Ḥusain would be a hero in our eyes; in theirs he is a martyr. The vicissitudes of his life, his dangers in the desert, his fortitude, his invincible courage, and his devotedness at the hour of his death, are all circumstances upon which the Persians dwell with rapture, and which excite in them an enthusiasm not to be diminished by lapse of time. The celebration of this mourning keeps up in their minds the remembrance of those who destroyed him, and consequently their hatred for all Musalmāns who do not partake of their feelings. They execrate Yazīd and curse ʿUmar with such rancour, that it is necessary to have witnessed the scenes that are exhibited in their cities to judge of the degree of fanaticism which possesses them at this time. I have seen some of the most violent of them, as they vociferated, “O Ḥusain!” walk about the streets almost naked, with only their loins covered, and their bodies streaming with blood, by the voluntary cuts which they have given to themselves, either as acts of love, anguish, or mortification. Such must have been the cuttings of which we read in Holy Writ, which were forbidden to the Israelites by Moses ([Lev. xix. 28], [Deut. xiv. 1]), and these extravagances, I conjecture, must resemble the practices of the priests of Baal, who cried aloud and cut themselves after this manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. [1 Kings xviii. 28]; see also [Jeremiah xvi. 5, 6, and 7].

The preparations which were made throughout the city consisted in erecting large tents, that are there called takiyah, in the streets and open places, in fitting them up with black linen, and furnishing them with objects emblematical of the mourning. These tents are erected either at the joint expense of the district, or by men of consequence, as an act of devotion; and all ranks of people have a free access to them. The expense of a takiyah consists in the hire of a mulla, or priest, of actors and their clothes, and in the purchase of lights. Many there are who seize this opportunity of atoning for past sins, or of rendering thanks to heaven for some blessing, by adding charity to the good act of erecting a takiyah, and distribute gratuitous food to those who attend it.

Our neighbour Muḥammad K͟hān had a takiyah in his house, to which all the people of the district flocked in great numbers. During the time of this assemblage we heard a constant noise of drums, cymbals, and trumpets. We remarked that besides the takiyah in different open places and streets of the town, a wooden pulpit, without any appendage, was erected, upon which a mulla, or priest, was mounted, preaching to the people who were collected around him. A European ambassador, who is said to have intrigued with Yazīd in favour of al-Ḥusain, was brought forward to be an actor in one of the parts of the tragedy, and the populace were in consequence inclined to look favourably upon us. Notwithstanding the excitation of the public mind, we did not cease to take our usual rides, and we generally passed unmolested through the middle of congregations, during the time of their devotions. Such little scruples have they at our seeing their religious ceremonies, that on the eighth night of the Muḥarram the Grand Vizier invited the whole of the embassy to attend his takiyah. On entering the room we found a large assembly of Persians clad in dark-coloured clothes, which, accompanied with their black caps, their black beards, and their dismal faces, really looked as if they were afflicting their souls. They neither wore their daggers, nor any parts of their dress which they look upon as ornamental. A mulla of high consideration sat next to the Grand Vizier, and kept him in serious conversation, whilst the remaining part of the society communicated with each other in whispers. After we had sat some time, the windows of the room in which we were seated were thrown open, and we then discovered a priest placed on a high chair, under the covering of a tent, surrounded by a crowd of the populace; the whole of the scene being lighted up with candles. He commenced by an exordium, in which he reminded them of the great value of each tear shed for the sake of the Imām al-Ḥusain, which would be an atonement for a past life of wickedness; and also informed them with much solemnity, that whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in the same day, shall be cut off from among the people. He then began to read from a book, with a sort of nasal chaunt, that part of the tragic history of al-Ḥusain appointed for the day, which soon produced its effect upon his audience, for he scarcely had turned over three leaves, before the Grand Vizier commenced to shake his head to and fro, to utter in a most piteous voice the usual Persian exclamation of grief, “Wahi! Wahi! Wahi!” both of which acts were followed in a more or less violent manner by the rest of the audience. The chaunting of the mulla lasted nearly an hour, and some parts of his story were indeed pathetic, and well calculated to rouse the feelings of a superstitious and lively people. In one part of it, all the company stood up, and I observed that the Grand Vizier turned himself towards the wall, with his hand extended before him, and prayed. After the mulla had finished, a company of actors appeared, some dressed as women, who chaunted forth their parts from slips of paper, in a sort of recitative, that was not unpleasing even to our ears. In the very tragical parts, most of them appeared to cry very unaffectedly; and as I sat near the Grand Vizier, and to his neighbour the priest, I was witness to many real tears that fell from them. In some of these mournful assemblies, it is the custom for a mulla to go about to each person at the height of his grief, with a piece of cotton in his hand, with which he carefully collects the falling tears, and which he then squeezes into a bottle, preserving them with the greatest caution. This practically illustrates that passage in the 56th Psalm, verse 8, “Put thou my tears into thy bottle.” Some Persians believe that in the agony of death, when all medicines have failed, a drop of tears so collected, put into the mouth of a dying man, has been known to revive him; and it is for such use, that they are collected.

A MUHARRAM PROCESSION IN INDIA. (By a Native Artist.)

On the Roz-i-Qatl, or day of martyrdom, the tenth day, the Ambassador was invited by the King to be present at the termination of the ceremonies, in which the death of al-Ḥusain was to be represented. We set off after breakfast, and placed ourselves in a small tent, that was pitched for our accommodation over an arched gateway, which was situated close to the room in which His Majesty was to be seated.

We looked upon the great square which is in front of the palace, at the entrance of which we perceived a circle of Cajars, or people of the King’s own tribe, who were standing barefooted, and beating their breasts in cadence to the chaunting of one who stood in the centre, and with whom they now and then joined their voices in chorus. Smiting the breast is a universal act throughout the mourning; and the breast is made bare for that purpose, by unbuttoning the top of the shirt. The King, in order to show his humility, ordered the Cajars, among whom were many of his own relations, to walk about without either shoes or stockings, to superintend the order of the different ceremonies about to be performed, and they were to be seen stepping tenderly over the stones, with sticks in their hands, doing the duties of menials, now keeping back a crowd, then dealing out blows with their sticks, and settling the order of the processions.

Part of the square was partitioned off by an enclosure, which was to represent the town of Karbalāʾ, near which al-Ḥusain was put to death; and close to this were two small tents, which were to represent his encampment in the desert with his family. A wooden platform covered with carpets, upon which the actors were to perform, completed all the scenery used on the occasion.

A short time after we had reached our tent, the King appeared, and although we could not see him, yet we were soon apprised of his presence by all the people standing up, and by the bowing of his officers. The procession then commenced as follows:—First come a stout man, naked from the waist upwards, balancing in his girdle a long thick pole, surmounted by an ornament made of tin, curiously wrought with devices from the Qurʾān, in height altogether about thirty feet. Then another, naked like the former, balanced an ornamental pole in his girdle still more ponderous, though not so high, upon which a young darvesh resting his feet upon the bearer’s girdle had placed himself, chaunting verses with all his might in praise of the King. After him a person of more strength and more nakedness, a water carrier, walked forwards, bearing an immense leather sack filled with water slung over his back. This personage, we were told, was emblematical of the great thirst which al-Ḥusain suffered in the desert.

A litter in the shape of a sarcophagus, which was called Qabr-i-Ḥusain, or the tomb of al-Ḥusain (a Tāʿziyah) succeeded, borne on the shoulders of eight men. On its front was a large oval ornament entirely covered with precious stones, and just above it, a great diamond star. On a small projection were two tapers placed on candlesticks enriched with jewels. The top and sides were covered with Cashmere shawls, and on the summit rested a turban, intended to represent the head-dress of the K͟halīfah. On each side walked two men bearing poles, from which a variety of beautiful shawls were suspended. At the top of which were representations of al-Ḥusain’s hand studded with jewellery.

THE MUHARRAM CEREMONIES IN THE IMAMBARAH OR TAKIAH IN INDIA.

(By a Native Artist.)

After this came four led horses, caparisoned in the richest manner. The fronts of their heads were ornamented with plates, entirely covered with diamonds, that emitted a thousand beautiful rays. Their bodies were dressed with shawls and gold stuffs; and on their saddles were placed some objects emblematical of the death of al-Ḥusain. When all these had passed, they arranged themselves in a row to the right of the King’s apartment.

After a short pause, a body of fierce-looking men, with only a loose white sheet thrown over their naked bodies, marched forwards. They were all begrimed with blood; and each brandishing a sword, they sang a sort of a hymn, the tones of which were very wild. These represented the sixty-two relations, or the Martyrs, as the Persians call them, who accompanied al-Ḥusain, and were slain in defending him. Close after them was led a white horse, covered with artificial wounds, with arrows stuck all about him, and caparisoned in black, representing the horse upon which al-Ḥusain was mounted when he was killed. A band of about fifty men, striking two pieces of wood together in their hands, completed the procession. They arranged themselves in rows before the King, and marshalled by a maître de ballet, who stood in the middle to regulate their movements, they performed a dance, clapping their hands in the best possible time. The maître de ballet all this time sang in recitative, to which the dancers joined at different intervals with loud shouts and reiterated clapping of their pieces of wood.

MUHARRAM STANDARDS.

HUSAIN’S HAND AND STANDARD.

The two processions were succeeded by the tragedians. Al-Ḥusain came forward, followed by his wives, sisters, and first relatives. They performed many long and tedious acts; but as our distance from the stage was too great to hear the many affecting things which they no doubt said to each other, we will proceed at once to where the unfortunate al-Ḥusain lay extended on the ground, ready to receive the death-stroke from a ruffian dressed in armour, who acted the part of executioner. At this moment a burst of lamentation issued from the multitude, and heavy sobs and real tears came from almost every one of those who were near enough to come under our inspection. The indignation of the populace wanted some object upon which to vent itself, and it fell upon those of the actors who had performed the part of Yazīd’s soldiers. No sooner was al-Ḥusain killed, than they were driven off the ground by a volley of stones, followed by shouts of abuse. We were informed that it is so difficult to procure performers to fill these characters, that on the present occasion a party of Russian prisoners were pressed into the army of Yazīd, and they made as speedy an exit after the catastrophe as it was in their power.

The scene terminated by the burning of Karbalāʾ. Several reed huts had been constructed behind the enclosure before mentioned, which of a sudden were set on fire. The tomb of al-Ḥusain was seen covered with black cloth, and upon it sat a figure disguised in a tiger’s skin, which was intended to represent the miraculous lion, recorded to have kept watch over his remains after he had been buried. The most extraordinary part of the whole exhibition was the representation of the dead bodies of the martyrs; who having been decapitated, were all placed in a row, each body with a head close to it. To effect this, several Persians buried themselves alive, leaving the head out just above ground; whilst others put their heads under ground, leaving out the body. The heads and bodies were placed in such relative positions to each other, as to make it appear that they had been severed. This is done by way of penance; but in hot weather, the violence of the exertion has been known to produce death. The whole ceremony was terminated by a k͟hut̤bah, or oration, in praise of al-Ḥusain. (Morier’s Second Journey through Persia.)

A MUHARRAM TABUT. (A. F. Hole.)

“The martyrdom of Hasan and Husain is celebrated by the Shiahs all over India, during the first ten days of the month of Mohurrum. Attached to every Shiah’s house is an Imambarrah, a hall or inclosure built expressly for the celebration of the anniversary of the death of Husain. The enclosure is generally arcaded along its side, and in most instances it is covered in with a domed roof. Against the side of the Imambarrah, directed towards Mecca, is set the tabut—also called tazia (taʿziyah), or model of the tombs at Kerbela. In the houses of the wealthier Shiahs, these tabuts are fixtures, and are beautifully fashioned of silver and gold, or of ivory and ebony, embellished all over with inlaid work. The poorer Shiahs provide themselves with a tabut made for the occasion of lath and plaster, tricked out in mica and tinsel. A week before the new moon of the Mohurrum, they enclose a space, called the tabut khana, in which the tabut is prepared; and the very moment the new moon is seen, a spade is struck into the ground before “the enclosure of the tombs,” where a pit is afterwards dug, in which a bonfire is lighted, and kept burning through all the ten days of the Mohurrum solemnities. Those who cannot afford to erect a tabut khana, or even to put up a little tabut or taziah in their dwelling-house, always have a Mohurrum fire lighted, if it consist only of a night-light floating at the bottom of an earthen pot or basin sunk in the ground. It is doubtful whether this custom refers to the trench of fire Husain set blazing behind his camp, or is a survival from the older Ashura (ten days) festival, which is said to have been instituted in commemoration of the deliverance of the Hebrew Arabs from Pharaoh and his host at the Red Sea; or from the yet more ancient Bael fire. But, in India, these Mohurrum fires, especially among the more ignorant populace, Hindus as well as Mohammedans, are regarded with the most superstitious reverence, and have a greater hold on them even than the tabuts. All day long the passers by stop before the fires and make their vows over them, and all night long the crowds dance round them, and leap through the flames and scatter about the burning brands snatched from them. The tabut is lighted up like an altar, with innumerable green wax candles, and nothing can be more brilliant than the appearance of an Imambarrah of white stone, or polished white stucco, picked out in green, lighted up with glass chandeliers, sconces, and oil-lamps, arranged along the leading architectural lines of the building, with its tabut on one side, dazzling to blindness. Before the tabut are placed the “properties” to be used by the celebrants in the “Passion Play,” the bows and arrows, the sword and spear, and the banners of Husain, &c.; and in front of it is set a movable pulpit, also made of the richest materials, and covered with rich brocades in green and gold. Such is the theatre in which twice daily during the first ten days of the month of Mohurrum, the deaths of the first martyrs of Islam are yearly commemorated in India. Each day has its special solemnity, corresponding with the succession of events during the ten days that Husain was encamped on the fatal plain of Kerbela; but the prescribed order of the services in the daily development of the great Shiah function of the Mohurrum would appear not to be always strictly observed in Bombay.” (Pelly’s Miracle Play of Hasan and Husain, Preface, p. xvii.)

The drama, or “Miracle Play” which is recited in Persia during the Muḥarram, has been rendered into English by Colonel Sir Lewis Pelly, K.C.B. (Allen & Co., 1879), from which we take the death scene of al-Ḥusain on the battle-field of Karbalāʾ, a scene which, the historian Gibbon (Decline and Fall, vol. ix. ch. 341) says, “in a distant age and climate, will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader.”

“Husain.—I am sore distressed at the unkind treatment received at the hands of the cruel heavens. Pitiful tyranny is exercised towards me by a cruel, unbelieving army! All the sorrows and troubles of this world have overwhelmed me! I am become a butt for the arrow of affliction and trouble. I am a holy bird stript of its quills and feathers by the hand of the archer of tyranny, and am become, O friends, utterly disabled, and unable to fly to my sacred nest. They are going to kill me mercilessly, for no other crime or guilt except that I happen to be a prophet’s grandson.

“Shimar (challenging him).—O Husain, why dost thou not appear in the field? Why dost not thy majesty show thy face in battle? How long art thou going to sit still without displaying thy valour in war? Why dost thou not put on thy robe of martyrdom and come forth? If thou art indeed so magnanimous as not to fear death, if thou carest not about the whistling sounds of the arrows when let fly from the bow, mount thou, quickly, thy swift horse named Zúʾl janáh, and deliver thy soul from so many troubles. Yea, come to the field of battle, be it as it may. Enter soon among thy women, and with tears bid them a last farewell; then come forth to war, and show us thy great fortitude.

“Husain (talking to himself).—Although the accursed fellow, Shimar, will put me to death in an hour’s time, yet the reproachful language of the enemy seems to be worse than destruction itself. It is better that the foe should sever my head cruelly from the body, than make me hear these abusive words. What can I do? I have no one left to help me, no Kásim to hold my stirrup for a minute when about to mount. All are gone! Look around if thou canst find anyone to defend the descendant of Muhammad, the chosen of God—if thou canst see any ready to assist the holy family of God’s Prophet! In this land of trials there is no kind protector to have compassion on the household of the Apostle of God, and befriend them.

“Zainab.—May I be offered for the sad tones of thy voice, dear brother! Time has thrown on my head the black earth of sorrow. It has grieved me to the quick. Wait, brother, do not go till thy Kásim arrives. Have patience for a minute, my ʾAlí Akbar is coming.

“Husain (looking around).—Is there one who wishes to please God, his Maker? Is there any willing to behave faithfully towards his real friends? Is there a person ready to give up his life for our sake, to save us, to defend us in this dreadful struggle of Karbalá?

“Zainab.—O Lord, Zainab’s brother has no one to assist or support him! Occasions of his sorrows are innumerable, without anyone to sympathise with him in the least? Sad and desolate, he is leaning on his spear! He has bent his neck in a calamitous manner; he has no famous ʾAlí Akbar, no renowned ʾAbbás any more!

“Husain.—Is there anyone to pity our condition, to help us in this terrible conflict of Karbalá? Is there a kind soul to give us a hand of assistance for God’s sake?

“Zainab.—Brave cavalier of Karbalá, it is not fitting for thee to be so hurried. Go a little more slowly; troubles will come quickly enough. Didst thou ever say thou hadst a Zainab in the tent? Is not this poor creature weeping and mourning for thee?

“The Imam Husain.—Dear sister, thou rest of my disquieted, broken heart, smite on thy head and mourn, thou thousand-noted nightingale. To-day I shall be killed by the ignoble Shimar. To-day shall the rose be turned out of its delightful spot by the tyranny of the thistle. Dear sister, if any dust happen to settle on the rosy cheeks of my lovely daughter Sukainah, be pleased to wash it away most tenderly with the rose-water of thy tears? My daughter has been accustomed to sit always in the dear lap of her father whenever she wished to rest; for my sake, receive and caress her in thy bosom.

“Zainab.—O thou intimate friend of this assembly of poor afflicted strangers, the flaming effect of thy speech has left no rest in my mind. Tell me, what have we done that thou shouldest so reward us? Who is the criminal among us for whose sake we must suffer thus? Take us back, brother, to Madínah, to the sacred monument of our noble grandfather; let us go home, and live like queens in our own country.

“Husain.—O my afflicted, distressed, tormented sister, would to God there were a way of escape for me! Notwithstanding they have cruelly cut down the cypress-like stature of my dear son ʾAlí Akbar; notwithstanding Kásim my lovely nephew tinged himself with his own blood; still they are intent to kill me also. They do not allow me to go back from ʾIrák, nor do they let me turn elsewhere. They will neither permit me to go to India, nor the capital of China. I cannot set out for the territory of Abyssinia, or take refuge in Zanzibar.

“Zainab.—Oh, how am I vexed in my mind, dear brother, on hearing these sad things! May I die, rather than listen to such affecting words any more! What shall we, an assembly of desolate widows and orphans, do after thou art gone? Oh! how can we live?

“Husain.—O miserable creature, weep not now, nor be so very much upset; thou shalt cry plentifully hereafter, owing to the wickedness of time. When the wicked Shimar shall sever my head from the body; when thou shalt be made a captive prisoner, and forced to ride on an unsaddled camel; when my body shall be trampled under foot by the enemy’s horses, and trodden under their hoofs; when my beloved Sukainah shall be cruelly struck by Shimar, my wicked murderer; when they shall lead thee away captive from Karbalá to Shám; and when they shall make thee and others live there in a horrible, ruined place; yea, when thou shalt see all this, then thou mayest, and verily wilt, cry. But I admonish thee, sister, since this sad case has no remedy but patience, to resign the whole matter, submissively, to the Lord, the good Maker of all! Mourn not for my misfortune, but bear it patiently, without giving occasion to the enemy to rejoice triumphantly on this account, or speak reproachfully concerning us.

“Kulsúm.—Thou struttest about gaily, O Husain, thou beloved of my heart. Look a little behind thee; see how Kulsúm is sighing after thee with tearful eyes! I am strewing pearls in thy way, precious jewels from the sea of my eyes! Let me put my head on the hoof of thy winged steed, Zúʾl janáh.

“Husain.—Beloved sister, kindle not a fire in my heart by so doing. Take away thy head from under the hoof of my steed. O thousand-noted nightingale, sing not such a sad-toned melody. I am going away; be thou the kind keeper of my helpless ones.

“Kulsúm.—Behold what the heavens have at length brought on me! what they have done also to my brother! Him they have made to have parched lips through thirst, and me they have caused to melt into water, and gush out like tears from the eyes! Harsh severity is mingled with tyrannous cruelty.

“Husain.—Trials, afflictions, and pains, the thicker they fall on man, the better, dear sister, do they prepare him for his journey heavenward. We rejoice in tribulations, seeing they are but temporary, and yet they work out an eternal and blissful end. Though it is predestined that I should suffer martyrdom in this shameful manner, yet the treasury of everlasting happiness shall be at my disposal as a consequent reward. Thou must think of that, and be no longer sorry. The dust raised in the field of such battles is as highly esteemed by me, O sister, as the philosopher’s stone was, in former times, by the alchemists; and the soil of Karbalá is the sure remedy of my inward pains.

“Kulsúm.—May I be sacrificed for thee! Since this occurrence is thus inevitable, I pray thee describe to thy poor sister Kulsúm her duty after thy death. Tell me, where shall I go, or in what direction set my face? What am I to do? and which of thy orphan children am I to caress most?

“Husain.—Show thy utmost kindness, good sister, to Sukainah, my darling girl, for the pain of being fatherless is most severely felt by children too much fondled by their parents, especially girls. I have regard to all my children, to be sure, but I love Sukainah most.

“An old Female Slave of Husain’s mother.—Dignified master, I am sick and weary in heart at the bare idea of separation from thee. Have a kind regard to me, an old slave, much stricken with age! Master, by thy soul do I swear that I am altogether weary of life. I have grown old in thy service; pardon me, please, all the faults ever committed by me.

“Husain.—Yes, thou hast served us, indeed, for a very long time. Thou hast shown much affection and love toward me and my children, O handmaid of my dear mother Fátimah; thou hast verily suffered much in our house: how often didst thou grind corn with thine own hand for my mother! Thou hast also dandled Husain most caressingly in thy arms. Thou art black-faced, that is true, but thou hast, I opine, a pure white heart, and art much esteemed by us. To-day I am about to leave thee, owing thee, at the same time, innumerable thanks for the good services thou hast performed; but I beg thy pardon for all inconsiderate actions on my part.

“The Maid.—May I be a sacrifice for thee, thou royal ruler of the capital of faith! turn not my days black, like my face, thou benevolent master. Truly I have had many troubles on thy behalf. How many nights have I spent in watchfulness at thy cradle! At one moment I would caress thee in my arms, at another I would fondle thee in my bosom. I became prematurely old by my diligent service, O Husain! Is it proper now that thou shouldst put round my poor neck the heavy chain of thy intolerable absence? Is this, dear master, the reward of the services I have done thee?

“Husain.—Though thy body, O maid, is now broken down by age and infirmity, yet thou hast served us all the days of thy life with sincerity and love; thou must know, therefore, that thy diligence and vigilance will never be disregarded by us. Excuse me to-day, when I am offering my body and soul in the cause of God, and cannot help thee at all; but be sure I will fully pay the reward of thy services in the day of universal account.

“The Maid.—Dost thou remember, good sir, how many troubles I have suffered with thee for the dear sake of ʾAlí Akbar, the light of thine eyes? Though I have not suckled him with my own breasts, to be sure, yet I laboured hard for him till he reached the age of eighteen years and came here to Karbalá. But, alas! dear flourishing ʾAlí Akbar has been this day cruelly killed—what a pity! and I strove so much for his sake, yet all, as it were, in vain. Yea, what a sad loss!

“Husain.—Speak not of my ʾAlí Akbar any more, O maiden, nor set fire to the granary of my patience and make it flame. (Tuning to his sister.) Poor distressed Zainab, have the goodness to be kind always to my mother’s old maid, for she has experienced many troubles in our family; she has laboured hard in training ʾAlí Akbar my son.

“Umm Lailah (the mother of ʾAlí Akbar).—The elegant stature of my Akbar fell on the ground; like as a beautiful cypress tree it was forcibly felled! Alas for the memory of thy upright stature! Alas, O my youthful son of handsome form and appearance! Alas my troubles at night-time for thee! How often did I watch thy bed, singing lullabies for thee until the morning! How sweet is the memory of those times! yea, how pleasant the very thought of those days! Alas! where art thou now, dear child? O thou who art ever remembered by me, come and see thy mother’s wretched condition, come!

“Husain.—O Lord, why is this mournful voice so affecting? Methinks the owner of it, the bemoaning person, has a flame in her heart. It resembles the doleful tone of a lapwing whose wings are burned! like as when a miraculous lapwing, the companion of Solomon the wise, the king of God’s holy people, received intelligence suddenly about the death of its royal guardian!

“Umm Lailah.—Again I am put in mind of my dear son! O my heart, melted into blood, pour thyself forth! Dear son, whilst thou wast alive, I had some honour and respect, everybody had some regard for me; but since thou art gone, I am altogether abandoned. Woe be to me! woe be to me! I am despised and rejected. Woe unto me! woe unto me!

“Husain.—Do not set fire to the harvest of my soul any further. Husain is, before God, greatly ashamed of his shortcomings towards thee. Come out from the tent, for it is the last meeting previous to separating from one another for ever; thy distress is an additional weight to the heavy burden of my grief.

“The Mother of ʾAlí Akbar.—I humbly state it, O glory of all ages, that I did not expect from thy saintship that thou wouldest disregard thy handmaid in such a way. Thou dost show thy kind regard and favour to all except me. Dost thou not remember my sincere services done to thee? Am I not by birth a descendant of the glorious kings of Persia, brought as a captive to Arabia when the former empire fell and gave place to the new-born monarchy of the latter kingdom? The Judge, the living Creator, was pleased to grant me an offspring, whom we called ʾAlí Akbar, this day lost to us for ever. May I be offered for thee! While ʾAlí Akbar my son was alive, I had indeed a sort of esteem and credit with thee; but now that my cypress, my newly-sprung-up cedar, is unjustly felled, I have fallen from credit too, and must therefore shed tears.

“Husain.—Be it known unto thee, O thou violet of the flower-garden of modesty, that thou art altogether mistaken. I swear by the holy enlightened dust of my mother Zahrah’s grave, that thou art more honourable and dearer now than ever. I well remember the affectionate recommendations of ʾAlí Akbar. our son, concerning thee. How much he was mindful of thee at the moment of his parting! How tenderly he cared for thee, and spoke concerning thee to every one of his family!

“ʾAlí Akbar’s Mother.—O gracious Lord, I adjure thee, by the merit of my son, ʾAlí Akbar, never to lessen the shadow of Husain from over my head. May no one ever be in my miserable condition—never be a desolate, homeless woman, like me!

“Husain.—O thou unfortunate Zainab, my sister, the hour of separation is come! The day of joy is gone for ever! the night of affliction has drawn near! Drooping, withering sister, yet most blest in thy temper, I have a request from thee which I fear to make known.

“Zainab.—May I be a sacrifice for thy heart, thou moon-faced, glorious sun! there is nobody here, if thou hast a private matter to disclose to thy sister.

“Husain.—Dear unfortunate sister, who art already severely vexed in heart, if I tell thee what my request is, what will be thy condition then? Though I cannot restrain myself from speaking, still I am in doubt as to which is better, to speak, or to forbear.

“Zainab.—My breast is pierced! My heart boils within me like a cauldron, owing to this thy conversation. Thou soul of thy sister, hold not back from Zainab what thou hast in thy mind.

“Husain.—My poor sister, I am covered with shame before thee, I cannot lift up my head. Though the request is a trifle, yet I know it is grievous to thee to grant. It is this; bring me an old, dirty, ragged garment to put on. But do not ask me, I pray thee, the reason why, until I myself think it proper to tell thee.

“Zainab.—I am now going to the tent to fetch thee what thou seekest; but I am utterly astonished, brother, as to why thou dost want this loathsome thing. (Returning with a tattered shirt.) Take it, here is the ragged robe for which thou didst ask. I wonder what thou wilt do with it.

“Husain.—Do not remain here, dear sister. Go for awhile to thine own tent; for if thou see that which I am about to do, thou wilt be grievously disturbed. Turn to thy tent, poor miserable sister, listen to what I say, and leave me, I pray thee, alone.

“Zainab (going away).—I am gone, but I am sorry I cannot tell what this enigma means. It is puzzling indeed! Remain thou with thy mysterious coat, O Husain! May all of us be offered as a ransom for thee, dear brother! Thou art without any to assist or befriend thee! Thou art surrounded by the wicked enemy! Yes, thy kind helpers have all been killed by the unbelieving nation!

“Husain (putting on the garment).—The term of life has no perpetual duration in itself. Who ever saw in a flower-garden a rose without its thorn! I will put on this old robe close to my skin, and place over it my new apparel, though neither the old nor the new of this world can be depended on. I hope Zainab has not been observing what I have been doing, for, poor creature, she can scarcely bear the sight of any such like thing.

“Zainab.—Alas! I do not know what is the matter with Husain, my brother. What has an old garment to do with being a king? Dost thou desire, O Husain, that the enemy should come to know this thing and reproach thy sister about it? Put off, I pray thee, this old ragged garment, otherwise I shall pull off my head-dress, and uncover my head for shame.

“Husain.—Rend not thy dress, modest sister, nor pull off thy head-covering. There is a mystery involved in my action. Know that what Husain has done has a good meaning in it. His putting on an old garment is not without its signification.

“Zainab.—What mystery can be in this work, thou perfect high priest of faith? I will never admit any until thou shalt have fully explained the thing according to my capacity.

“The Imám.—To-day, dear sister, Shimar will behave cruelly towards me. He will sever my dear head from the body. His dagger not cutting my throat, he will be obliged to sever my head from behind. After he has killed me, when he begins to strip me of my clothes, he may perchance be ashamed to take off this ragged robe and thereby leave my body naked on the ground.

“Zainab.—O Lord, have mercy on my distracted heart! Thou alone art aware of the state of my mind. Gracious Creator, preserve the soul of Husain! Let not heaven pull down my house over me!

“Sukainah.—Dear father, by our Lord it is a painful thing to be fatherless; a misery, a great calamity to be helpless, bleeding in the heart, and an outcast! Dismount from the saddle, and make me sit by thy side. To pass over me or neglect me at such a time is very distressing. Let me put my head on thy dear lap, O father. It is sad thou shouldst not be aware of thy dear child’s condition.

“Husain.—Bend not thy neck on one side, thou my beloved child; nor weep so sadly, like an orphan. Neither moan so melodiously, like a disconsolate nightingale. Come, lay thy dear head on my knees once more, and shed not so copiously a flood of tears from thine eyes, thou spirit of my life.

“Sukainah.—Dear father, thou whose lot is but grief, have mercy on me, mercy! O thou my physician in every pain and trouble, have pity on me! have pity on me! Alas, my heart, for the mention of the word separation! Alas, my grievance, for what is unbearable!

“Husain.—Groan not, wail not, my dear Sukainah, my poor oppressed, distressed girl. Go to thy tent and sleep soundly in thy bed until thy father gets thee some water to drink.

“Zainab.—Alas! alas! woe to me! my Husain is gone from me! Alas! alas! the arrow of my heart is shot away from the hand! Woe unto me, a thousand woes! I am to remain without Husain! The worshipper of truth is gone to meet his destined fate with a blood-stained shroud!

“Husain.—My disconsolate Zainab, be not so impatient. My homeless sister, show not thyself so fretful. Have patience, sister, the reward of the patient believers is the best of all. Render God thanks, the crown of intercession is fitted for our head only.

“Zainab.—O my afflicted mother, thou best of all women, pass a minute by those in Karbalá! see thy daughters prisoners of sorrow! behold them amidst strangers and foreigners. Come out awhile from thy pavilion in Paradise, O Fátimah, and weep affectionately over the state of us, thy children!

“Husain.—I have become friendless and without any helper, in a most strange manner. I have lost my troop and army in a wonderful way. Where is Akbar my son? let him come to me and hold the bridle of my horse, that I may mount. Where is Kásim my nephew? will he not help me and get ready my stirrup to make me cheerful? Why should I not shed much blood from mine eyes, seeing I cannot behold ʾAbbás my standard-bearer? A brother is for the day of misfortune and calamity! A brother is better than a hundred diadems and thrones! A brother is the essence of life in the world! He who has a brother, though he be old, yet is young. Who is there to bring my horse for me? there is none. There is none even to weep for me in this state of misery!

“Kulsúm.—Because there is no ʾAlí Akbar, dear brother, to help thee, Zainab, thy sister, will hold the horse for thee; and seeing ʾAbbás, thy brother, is no longer to be found, I myself will bear the standard before thy winged steed instead of him.

“Zainab.—Let Zainab mourn bitterly for her brother’s desolation. Who ever saw a woman, a gentlewoman, doing the duty of a groom or servant? Who can know, O Lord, besides Thee, the sad state of Husain in Karbalá, where his people so deserted him that a woman like myself is obliged to act as a servant for him?

“Kulsúm.—I am a standard-bearer for Husain, the martyr of Karbalá, O Lord God. I am the sister of ʾAbbás; yea, the miserable sister of both. O friends, it being the tenth day of Muharram, I am therefore assisting Husain. I am bearing the ensign for him instead of ʾAbbás my brother, his standard-bearer.

“Zainab.—Uncover your breasts a minute, O ye tear-shedding people, for it is time to beat the drum, seeing the king is going to ride. O Solomon the Prophet, where is thy glory? what has become of thy pompous retinue? Where are thy brothers, nephews, and companions?

“Husain.—There are none left to help me. My sister Zainab holds the bridle of the horse, and walks before me. Who ever saw a lady acting thus?

“Zainab.—Thou art going all alone! May the souls of all be a ransom for thee! and may thy departure make souls quit their bodies! A resurrection will be produced in thy tent by the cry of orphans and widows.

“Husain.—Sister, though it grieves me to go, yet I do it; peradventure I may see the face of Ashgar and the countenance of Akbar, those cypresses, those roses of Paradise.

“Zainab.—Would to God Zainab had died this very minute before thy face, in thy sight, that she might not behold such elegant bodies, such beautiful forms, rolling in their own blood!

“Husain.—O poor sister, if thou die here in this land in that sudden way that thou desirest, then who will ride in thy stead, in the city of Kúfah, on the camel’s back?

“Zainab.—Slight not my pain, dear brother, for Zainab is somewhat alarmed as to the import of thy speech. What shall I do with thy family—with the poor widows and young children?

“Husain.—O afflicted one, it is decreed I should be killed by means of daggers and swords; henceforth, dear sister, thou shalt not see me. Behold, this is separation between me and thee!

“The nephew of Husain.—Dear uncle, thou hast resolved to journey. Thou art going once again to make me an orphan. To whom else wilt thou entrust us? Who is expected to take care of us? Thou wast, dear uncle, instead of my father Hasan, a defence to this helpless exiled creature.

“Husain.—Sorrow not, thou faithful child, thou shalt be killed too in this plain of trials. Return thou now to thy tent in peace, without grieving my soul any further, poor orphan!

“The Darwísh from Kábul.—O Lord God, wherefore is the outward appearance of a man of God usually without decoration or ornament? And why is the lap of the man of this world generally full of gold and jewels? On what account is the pillow of this great person the black dust of the road? and for what reason are the bed and the cushion of the rebellious made of velvet and stuffed with down? Either Islám, the religion of peace and charity, has no true foundation in the world, or this young man, who is so wounded and suffers from thirst, is still an infidel.

“Husain.—Why are thine eyes pouring down tears, young darwísh? Hast thou also lost an Akbar in the prime of his youth? Thou art immersed, as a water-fowl, in thy tears. Has thine ʾAbbás been slain, thirsting, on the bank of the River Euphrates, that thou cryest so piteously? But if thou art sad only on account of my misfortune, then it matters not. Let me know whence comest thou, and whither is thy face set?

“The Darwísh.—It happened, young man, that last night I arrived in this valley, and made my lodging there. When one-half of the night had passed, of a sudden a great difficulty befell me, for I heard a child bemoaning and complaining of thirst, having given up altogether the idea of living any longer in this world. Sometimes it would beat its head and cry out for water; at other times it appeared to fall on the ground, fainting and motionless. I have, therefore, brought some water in this cup for that poor child, that it may drink and be refreshed a little. So I humbly beg thee, dear sir, to direct me to the place where the young child may be found, and tell me what is its name.

“Husain.—O God, let no man be ever in my pitiful condition, nor any family in this sad and deplorable state to which I am reduced. O young man, the child mentioned by thee is the peace of my troubled mind; it is my poor, miserable little girl.

“The Darwísh.—May I be offered for thee, dear sir, and for thy tearful eyes! Why should thy daughter be so sadly mourning and complaining? My heart is overwhelmed with grief for the abundance of tears running down thy cheeks. Why should the daughter of one like thee, a generous soul, suffer from thirst?

“Husain.—Know, O young man, that we are never in need of the water of this life. Thou art quite mistaken if thou hast supposed us to be of this world. If I will, I can make the moon, or any other celestial orb, fall down on the earth; how much more can I get water for my children. Look at the hollow made in the ground with my spear; water would gush out of it if I were to like. I voluntarily die of thirst to obtain a crown of glory from God. I die parched, and offer myself a sacrifice for the sins of my people, that they should be saved from the wrath to come.

“The Darwísh.—What is thy name, sir? I perceive that thou art one of the chief saints of the most beneficent God. It is evident to me that thou art the brightness of the Lord’s image, but I cannot tell to which sacred garden thy holy rose belongs.

“Husain.—O darwísh, thou wilt soon be informed of the whole matter, for thou shalt be a martyr thyself; for thy plans and the result thereof have been revealed to me. Tell me, O darwísh, what is the end thou hast in view in this thy hazardous enterprise? When thou shalt have told me that, I will disclose to thee who I am.

“The Darwísh.—I intend, noble sir, after I have known the mystery of thy affairs, to set out, if God wills, from Karbalá to Najaf, namely, to the place where ʾAlí, the highly exalted king of religion, the sovereign lord of the empire of existence, the supreme master of all the darwíshes, is buried. Yea, I am going to visit the tomb of ʾAlí, the successor of the chosen of God, the son-in-law of the Prophet, the lion of the true Lord, the prince of believers, Haidar, the champion of faith.

“Husain.—Be it known unto thee, O darwísh, that I, who am so sad and sorrowful, am the rose of the garden of that prince. I am of the family of the believers thou hast mentioned. I am Husain, the intercessor on the Day of Resurrection, the rose of the garden of glory.

“The Darwísh.—May I be offered a sacrifice for thy blessed arrival! Pardon me my fault, and give me permission to fight the battle of faith, for I am weary of life. It is better for me to be killed, and delivered at once from so many vexations of spirit. Martyrdom is, in fact, one of the glories of my faith.

“Husain.—Go forth, O atom, which aspirest to the glory of the sun; go forth, thou hast become at last worthy to know the hidden mysteries of faith. He who is slain for the sake of Husain shall have an abundant reward from God; yea, he shall be raised to life with ʾAlí Akbar the sweet son of Husain.

“The Darwísh (addressing Husain’s antagonists).—You cruel people have no religion at all. You are fire-worshippers, ignorant of God and His law. How long will you act unjustly towards the offspring of the priesthood? Is the account of the Day of Resurrection all false?

“Ibn Saʾd (the general of Yazíd’s army).—O ye brave soldiers of Yazíd, deprive this fellow of his fund of life. Make his friends ready to mourn for him.

“Husain.—Is there anyone to help me? Is there any assistant to lend me his aid?

“Jaʾfar (the king of jinns, with his troops, coming to Husain’s assistance).—O king of men and jinns, O Husain, peace be on thee! O judge of corporeal and spiritual beings, peace be on thee!

“Husain.—On thee be peace, thou handsome youth! Who art thou, that salutest us at such a time? Though thine affairs are not hidden from me at all, still it is advisable to ask thy name.

“Jaʾfar.—O lord of men and jinns, I am the least of thy servants, and my name is Jaʾfar, the chief ruler of all the tribes of jinns. To-day, while I was sitting on the glorious throne of my majesty, easy in mind, without any sad idea or thought whatever, I suddenly heard thy voice, when thou didst sadly implore assistance; and on hearing thee I lost my patience and senses. And, behold, I have come out with troops of jinns, of various abilities and qualifications, to lend thee help if necessary.

“Husain.—In the old abbey of this perishable kingdom, none can ever, O Jaʾfar, attain to immortality. What can I do with the empire of the world, or its tempting glories, after my dear ones have all died and gone? Is it proper that I, an old man, should live, and Akbar, a blooming youth, die in the prime of age? Return thou, Jaʾfar, to thy home, and weep for me as much as thou canst.

“Jaʾfar (returning).—Alas for Husain’s exile and helplessness! Alas for his continual groans and sighs!

“Husain (coming back from the field, dismounts his horse, and making a heap of dust, lays his head on it).—O earth of Karbalá, do thou assist me, I pray! since I have no mother, be thou to me instead of one.

“Ibn Saʾd (orders the army to stone Husain).—O ye men of valour, Husain the son of ʾAlí has tumbled down from the winged horse; if I be not mistaken, heaven has fallen to earth! It is better for you to stone him most cruelly. Dispatch him soon, with stones, to his companions.

“Husain.—Ah, woe to me! my forehead is broken; blood runs down my luminous face.

“Ibn Saʾd.—Who is that brave soldier, who, in order to show his gratitude to Yazíd his sovereign lord, will step forward and, with a blow of his scymetar, slay Husain the son of ʾAlí?

“Shimar.—I am he whose dagger is famous for bloodshed. My mother has borne me for this work alone. I care not about the conflict of the Day of Judgment; I am a worshipper of Yazíd, and have no fear of God. I can make the great throne of the Lord to shake and tremble. I alone can sever from the body the head of Husain the son of ʾAlí. I am he who has no share in Islám. I will strike the chest of Husain, the ark of God’s knowledge, with my boots, without any fear of punishment.

“Husain.—Oh, how wounds caused by arrows and daggers do smart! O God, have mercy in the Day of Judgment on my people for my sake. The time of death has arrived, but I have not my Akbar with me. Would to God my grandfather the Prophet were now here to see me!

“The Prophet (appearing).—Dear Husain, thy grandfather the Prophet of God has come to see thee. I am here to behold the mortal wounds of thy delicate body. Dear child, thou hast at length suffered martyrdom by the cruel hand of my own people! This was the reward I expected from them; thanks be to God! Open thine eyes, dear son, and behold thy grandfather with dishevelled hair. If thou hast any desire in thy heart, speak it out to me.

“Husain.—Dear grandfather, I abhor life; I would rather go and visit my dear ones in the next world. I earnestly desire to see my companions and friends—above all, my dearly beloved son ʾAlí Akbar.

“The Prophet.—Be not grieved that ʾAlí Akbar thy son was killed, since it tends to the good of my sinful people on the day of universal gathering.

“Husain.—Seeing ʾAlí Akbar’s martyrdom contributes to the happiness of thy people, seeing my own sufferings give validity to thy office of mediation, and seeing thy rest consists in my being troubled in this way, I would offer my soul, not once or twice, but a thousand times, for the salvation of thy people!

“The Prophet.—Sorrow not, dear grandchild; thou shalt be a mediator, too, in that day. At present thou art thirsty, but to-morrow thou shalt be the distributor of the water of Al Kausar.

“Husain.—O Lord God, besides Husain, who has happened to be thus situated? Every one when he dies has at least a mother at his head. But my mother is not here to rend her garments for me; she is not alive, that she might close my eyes when I die.

“Fátimah, his mother (appearing).—I am come to see thee, my child, my child! May I die another time, my child, my child! How shall I see thee slain, my son, my son! Rolling in thine own blood, my child, my child!

“Husain.—Come, dear mother, I am anxiously waiting for thee. Come, come! I have partly to complain of thee. How is it that thou hast altogether forsaken thy son? How is it thou camest so late to visit me?

“Fátimah.—May I be offered for thy wounded, defaced body! Tell me, what dost thou wish thy mother to do now for thee?

“Husain.—I am now, dear mother, at the point of death. The ark of life is going to be cast on shore, mother. It is time that my soul should leave the body. Come, mother, close my eyes with thy kind hand.

“Fátimah.—O Lord, how difficult for a mother to see her dear child dying! I am Zahrah who am making this sad noise, because I have to close the eyes of my son Husain, who is on the point of death. Oh, tell me if thou hast any desire long cherished in thy heart, for I am distressed in mind owing to thy sad sighs!

“Husain.—Go, mother, my soul is come to my throat; go, I had no other desire except one, with which I must rise in the Day of Resurrection, namely, to see ʾAlí Akbar’s wedding.

“Shimar.—Make thy confession, for I want to sever thy head, and cause a perpetual separation between it and the body.

“Zainab.—O Shimar, do not go beyond thy limit; let me bind something on my brother’s eyes.

“Husain.—Go to thy tent, sister, I am already undone. Go away; Zahrah my mother has already closed my eyes. Show to Sukainah my daughter always the tenderness of a mother. Be very kind to my child after me.

“Shimar (addressing Husain).—Stretch forth thy feet toward the holy Kiblah, the sacred temple of Makkah. See how my dagger waves over thee! It is time to cut thy throat.

“Husain.—O Lord, for the merit of me, the dear child of thy Prophet; O Lord, for the sad groaning of my miserable sister; O Lord, for the sake of young ʾAbbás rolling in his blood, even that young brother of mine that was equal to my soul, I pray thee, in the Day of Judgment, forgive, O merciful Lord, the sins of my grandfather’s people, and grant me, bountifully, the key of the treasure of intercession. (Dies.)”—(Pelly’s Miracle Play, vol. ii. p. 81 seqq.)

MUḤARRAMĀT (محرمات‎), pl. of Muḥarramah. Those persons with whom it is not lawful to contract marriage. [[MARRIAGE].]

MUHĀYĀT (مهاياة‎). A legal term used for the partition of usufruct. According to the Hidāyah, vol. iv. 31:—

Partition of property is more effectual than partition of usufruct in accomplishing the enjoyment of the use; for which reason, if one partner apply for a partition of property, and another for a partition of usufruct, the Qāẓī must grant the request of the former, and if a partition of usufruct should have taken place with respect to a thing capable of a partition of property (such as a house or a piece of ground), and afterwards one of the partners apply for a partition of property, the Qāẓī must grant a partition of property and annul the partition of usufruct.

MUḤĀẒARAH (محاضرة‎). Lit. “Being present.” A term used by the Ṣūfīs for presenting of the soul to God in the service of ẕikr in order to obtain all the spiritual blessing possible from a contemplation of the ninety-nine attributes and titles of God. [[ZIKR], [GOD].]

MUḤRIM (محرم‎). The pilgrim in a state of Iḥrām, that is, after he has assumed the pilgrim’s dress. [[PILGRIMAGE].]

AL-MUḤṢĪ (المحصى‎). “The Counter.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It is referred to in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxxvi. 11]: “Verily We quicken the dead and write down what they have done before, and the traces which they leave behind, and everything do We set down (lit. reckon up) in the clear Book of our decrees.”

MUḤTAKIR (محتكر‎). Lit. “A forestaller.” One who monopolises grain and other necessaries of life, which is unlawful. [[MONOPOLY].]

MUḤTASIB (محتسب‎). The public censor of religion and morals, who is appointed by a Muslim ruler, to punish Muslims for neglecting the rites of their religion.

Sir Alexander Burnes, in his Travels in Bokhara (vol. i. p. 313), relates that he saw persons publicly scourged because they had slept during prayer-time and smoked on Friday. [[DIRRAH].]

Burckhardt, in his account of the Wahhābīs (vol. ii. p. 146), says, the neglect of religious duty is always severely punished.… When Saʿūd took al-Madīnah, he ordered some of his people after prayers in the mosque to call over the names of all the grown up inhabitants of the town who were to answer individually. He then commanded them to attend prayers regularly; and if any one absented himself two or three times, Saʿūd sent some of his Arabs to beat the man in his own house. At Makkah, when the hour of prayer arrived, he ordered the people to patrol the streets, armed with large sticks, and to drive all the inhabitants by force into the mosque; a harsh proceeding, but justified by the notorious irreligion of the Makkans.

Dr. Bellew, in his Kashmīr and Kashgār (p. 281), gives an animated account of the way in which the Muḥtasib performed his duties in the streets of Kashgār.

AL-MUḤYĪ (المحيى‎). “The giver of life.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It occurs twice in the Qurʾān:—

[Sūrah xxx. 49]: “Look then to the vestiges of God’s mercy, how he quickens the earth after its death; verily He is the quickener of the dead.”

[Sūrah xli. 39]: “Verily, he who quickens (the earth) will surely quicken the dead.”

AL-MUʿĪD (المعيد‎). “The Restorer” (to life). One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. The word does not occur in the Qurʾān, but the idea is expressed in [Sūrah lxxxv. 13], and many other places, “Verily He produces and restores.”

AL-MUʿIZZ (المعز‎). “The One who giveth honour.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. The word does not occur in the Qurʾān, but the attribute is referred to in [Sūrah iii. 25]: “Thou honourest whom Thou pleasest.”

AL-MUJĀDILAH (المجادلة‎). Lit. “She who disputed.” The title of the LVIIIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in which the expression occurs: “Now hath God heard the speech of her who disputed with thee concerning her husband.” Which refers to K͟haulah bint S̤aʿlabah, the wife of Aus ibn Ṣāmit, who being divorced by her husband in the “time of ignorance,” came to ask whether the divorce was lawful.

MUJĀHID (مجاهد‎). A warrior in the cause of religion. [[JIHAD].]

AL-MUJĪB (المجيب‎). “The One who answers to” (a prayer). One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xi. 64]: “Verily my Lord is nigh and answers” (prayer).

MUʿJIZAH (معجزة‎). [[MIRACLES].]

MUJTAHID (مجتهد‎), pl. mujtahidūn. Lit., “One who strives” to attain to a high position of scholarship and learning.

The highest degree amongst Muḥammadan divines which is conferred either by the people or the ruler of a Muslim country upon eminent persons. The four doctors of the Sunnīs and their disciples were of this degree, but there are none of these enlightened teachers amongst the Sunnīs of the present day. They still exist in Persia, and are appointed by the people, the appointment being confirmed by the king. Malcolm, in his account of Persia, says:—

“There are seldom more than three or four priests of the dignity of Mujtahid in Persia. Their conduct is expected to be exemplary, and to show no worldly bias; neither must they connect themselves with the king or the officers of Government. They seldom depart from that character to which they owe their rank. The reason is obvious; the moment they deviate, the charm is broken which constitutes their power; men no longer solicit their advice or implore their protection; nor can they hope to see the monarch of the country courting popularity by walking to their humble dwellings, and placing them on the seat of honour when they condescend to visit his court. When a Mujtahid dies, his successor is always a person of the most eminent rank in the ecclesiastical order; and, though he may be pointed out to the populace by others of the same class seeking him as an associate, it is rare to hear of any intrigues being employed to obtain this enviable dignity.

“The Mujtahids of Persia exercise a great, though undefined, power over the courts of law, the judges of which constantly submit cases to their superior knowledge; and their sentence is deemed irrevocable, unless by a Mujtahid whose learning and sanctity are of acknowledged higher repute than that of the person by whom judgment has been pronounced. But the benefits which the inhabitants of Persia derive from the influence of these high priests, is not limited to their occasional aid of the courts of justice. The law is respected on account of the character of its ministers; kings fear to attack the decrees of tribunals over which they may be said to preside, and frequently endeavour to obtain popularity by referring cases to their decision. The sovereign, when no others dare approach him, cannot refuse to listen to a revered Mujtahid when he becomes an intercessor for the guilty. The habitations of this high order of priesthood are deemed sanctuaries for the oppressed; and the hand of despotic power is sometimes taken off a city, because the monarch will not offend a Mujtahid who has chosen it for his residence, but who refuses to dwell amid violence and injustice.”

There is a common opinion that the title of Mujtahid can only be granted to those who are masters of seventy sciences. A full account of the conditions of obtaining this rank, as expressed by a modern Muslim writer, will be found in the article on Ijmāʿ. [[IJMAʿ].]

MUKĀRĪ (مكارى‎). A legal term for a person who lets horses, camels, &c., to hire. (Hidāyah, vol. iii. p. 371.)

MUKĀTAB (مكاتب‎). A slave who ransoms himself or herself, with the permission of the owner. [[SLAVERY].]

MUK͟HADDARAH (مخدرة‎). A legal term for a woman in a state of purity. It is also used for a veiled woman, the word being derived from k͟hidr, a “curtain or veil.”

MUK͟HĀLAT̤AH (مخالطة‎). Lit. “Intermingling,” or mixing together. A term used for general intercourse, but specially applied to intercourse with those who are ceremonially unclean.

MULES. Arabic bag͟hl (بغل‎), pl. big͟hāl.

Muḥammad forbade the breeding of mules, for Ibn ʿAbbās says the three special injunctions which he received were (1) to perform the ablutions thoroughly, (2) not to take alms, (3) not to breed mules. (Mishkāt, book xvii. ch. ii.)

The flesh of a mule is unlawful. (Hidāyah, vol. iv. p. 74.)

They are not liable to zakāt. (Hidāyah, vol. i. p. 16.)

MULḤAQ (ملحق‎). Lit. “Joined.” A term used by the Ṣūfīs for the condition of the human soul when “it is absorbed into the essence of God.” (ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dictionary of Ṣūfī Terms.)

MULḤID (ملحد‎). An infidel. Lit. “One who has deviated, or turned aside from the truth.”

AL-MULK (الملك‎). Lit. “The Kingdom.” The title of the LXVIIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān in the first verse of which the word occurs: “Blessed is He in whose hand is the kingdom.”

MULLĀ (ملا‎). A Persian form used for the Arabic Maulawī, “a learned man, a scholar.”

In the G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah it is said that a learned man is called a Mullā because he is “filled” with knowledge; from malaʾ, “to fill.”

MUʾMIN (مومن‎), pl. Muʾminūn; from Īmān, “faith.” One who believes.

(1) A term generally used for Muḥammadans in the Qurʾān and in all Muslim books.

(2) Al-Muʾmin. The title of the XLth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in the 29th verse of which the word occurs: “A man of the family of Pharaoh who was a believer, but hid his faith.”

(3) Al-Muʾmin, “The Faithful.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah lix. 28]: “He is … the Faithful.”

AL-MUʾMINŪN (المومنون‎). Lit. “The Believers.” The title of the XXIIIrd Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in the first verse of which the word occurs: “Prosperous are the believers.”

AL-MUMĪT (المميت‎). “The Killer.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It is referred to in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 26]: “He will kill you and then make you alive.”

MUMSIK (ممسك‎). Lit. “One who withholds, a miser.” Used for a miserly person in contradistinction to munfiq, “a liberal person.” [[MUNFIQ].]

AL-MUMTAḤINAH (الممتحنة‎). Lit. “She who is tried.” The title of the LXth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, from the expression in the 10th verse: “O believers! when believing women come over to you as refugees, then make trial of them.”

Al-Baiẓāwī says: “When such women sought an asylum at al-Madīnah, Muḥammad obliged them to swear that they were prompted only by a desire of embracing Islām, and that hatred of their husbands, or love of some Muslim, had not any influence on their conduct.”

MUNĀFIQ (منافق‎), pl. munāfiqūn. “Hypocrite.” A term especially given to those who in the time of the Prophet, whilst outwardly professing to believe in his mission, secretly denied the faith. They form the subject of the LXIIIrd Sūrah of the Qurʾān, which hence is termed the Sūratu ʾl-Munāfiqūn.

AL-MUNĀFIQŪN (المنافقون‎). “The Hypocrites.” Title of the LXIIIrd Sūrah of the Qurʾān, whose opening verses are:—

“When the Hypocrites come to thee, they say, ‘We bear witness that thou art the Sent One of God.’ God knoweth that thou art His Sent One: but God beareth witness that the hypocrites do surely lie. Their faith have they used as a cloak, and they turn aside others from the way of God! Evil are all their doings. This, for that they believed, then became unbelievers! Therefore hath a seal been set upon their hearts, and they understand not.”

MUNĀJĀT (مناجاة‎). Lit. “Whispering to, confidential talk.” Generally used for the extempore prayer offered after the usual liturgical form has been recited. [[PRAYERS].]

MUNAṢṢAF (منصف‎). Lit. “Reduced to one-half.” A species of prohibited liquor. The juice of grapes boiled until a quantity less than two-thirds evaporates. (Hidāyah, vol. iv. 158.)

MUNF, MANF (منف‎). The ancient Memphis. Mentioned in the Commentary of the Jalālān on the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxviii. 14], as the city in which Moses killed the Egyptian.

MUNFIQ (منفق‎). Lit. “One who spends.” A charitable person. Qurʾān, [Sūrah iii. 15]: “Upon the patient, the truthful, the devout, the charitable, and those who ask for pardon at the dawn.” [[MUMSIK].]

MUNKAR and NAKĪR (منكر و نكير‎). “The Unknown” and “The Repudiating.” The two angels who are said by Muḥammad to visit the dead in their graves and to interrogate them as to their belief in the Prophet and his religion.

They are described as two black angels with blue eyes. (Mishkāt, book i. ch. v.) [[PUNISHMENTS OF THE GRAVE].]

AL-MUNTAQIM (المنتقم‎). “The Avenger.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It is referred to in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxxii. 22]: “Verily We will take vengeance on the sinners.” Also [Sūrahs xliii. 40], and [xliv. 15].

AL-MUQADDIM (المقدم‎). “The Bringer-forward.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It does not occur in the Qurʾān, but is given in the Ḥadīs̤.

MUQAUQIS (مقوقس‎). The Roman Viceroy of Egypt; al-Muqauqis being his official title.

Muḥammad, in the year A.H. 7 (A.D. 628), sent an embassy to this official, inviting him to Islām. The Governor received the embassy kindly, and sent the following reply, “I am aware that a prophet is yet to arise; but I am of opinion he will appear in Syria. Thy messenger hath been received with honour. I send for thine acceptance two female slaves, who are much admired by the Copts, and also a present of raiment, and a mule for thee to ride on.”

Mary, the fairest of the Coptic damsels, Muḥammad kept for himself, and gave the other to Ḥassān the poet. [[MUHAMMAD], [MARY THE COPT].]

MUQĀYAẒAH (مقايضة‎). Exchanging, bartering, giving an equivalent in anything but money. (Hidāyah, Arabic ed., vol. iii. p. 8.)

AL-MUQĪT (المقيت‎). “The Mighty or Guardian.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. [Sūrah iv. 88]: “Verily God keepeth watch over everything.”

AL-MUQSIT̤ (المقسط‎). “The Equitable.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It does not occur in the Qurʾān, but is given in the Ḥadīs̤.

MUQTADĀ (مقتدى‎). Lit. “Followed, worthy to be followed.” An exemplary person, as being eminent for sanctity of character.

MUQTADĪ (مقتدى‎). “Follower.” The person who stands behind the Imām in the usual prayers and recites the Iqāmah. [[IQAMAH].]

AL-MUQTADIR (المقتدر‎). “The Powerful or Prevailing.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It occurs three times in the Qurʾān:—

[Sūrah xviii. 43]: “For God is powerful over all.”

[Sūrah liv. 42]: “As he only can punish, who is the Mighty, the Strong.”

[Sūrah v. 55]: “With the powerful king.”

MURĀBAḤAH (مرابحة‎). A legal term for selling a thing for a profit, when the seller distinctly states that he purchased it for so much and sells it for so much.

MURĀHAQAH (مراهقة‎). Arriving at Makkah when the ceremonies of the ḥajj are nearly finished. [[HAJJ].]

MURĀHIQ (مراهق‎). A legal term for a boy or girl who is near the age of puberty.

MURĀQABAH (مراقبة‎). Meditation; contemplation. An act of devotion performed by the Ṣūfīs. [[SUFI].]

MURDER. Arabic qatl (قتل‎). Homicide of which Muḥammadan law takes cognisance is of five kinds: (1) Qatlu ʾl-ʿAmd; (2) Qatl shibhu ʾl-ʿAmd; (3) Qatlu ʾl-K͟hat̤āʾ; (4) Qatl qāʾim maqāma ʾl-K͟hat̤āʾ; (5) Qatl bi-Sabab.

(1) Qatlu ʾl-ʿAmd (قتل العمد‎), or “wilful murder,” is where the perpetrator wilfully kills a person with a weapon, or something that serves for a weapon, such as a club, a sharp stone, or fire. If a person commit wilful murder, two points are established: first, that the murderer is a sinner deserving of hell, for it is written in the Qurʾān ([Sūrah iv. 95]), “Whosoever slayeth a believer purposely, his reward is hell”; and, secondly, that he is liable to retaliation, because it is written in the Qurʾān ([Sūrah ii. 173]), “It is incumbent on you to execute retaliation (Qiṣāṣ) for murder.” But although retaliation is the punishment for wilful murder, still the heir or next of kin can either forgive or compound the offence; as the verse already quoted continues—“Yet he who is pardoned at all by his brother must be prosecuted in reason, and made to pay with kindness.” In this respect Muḥammad departed from the Old Testament law, which made the retaliation compulsory on the next of kin.

One effect of wilful murder is that the murderer is excluded from being heir to the murdered person.

According to Abū Ḥanīfah, there is no expiation for wilful murder, but ash-Shāfiʿī maintains that expiation is incumbent as an act of piety.

(2) Qatl shibhu ʾl-ʿAmd (قتل شبه العمد‎), or “manslaughter,” or, as Hamilton more correctly renders it, “A semblance of wilful murder, is when the perpetrator strike a man with something which is neither a weapon nor serves as such.”

The argument adduced by Abū Ḥanīfah is a saying of the Prophet: “Killing with a rod or stick is not murder, but only manslaughter, and the fine for it is a hundred camels, payable within three years.”

Manslaughter is held to be sinful and to require expiation, and it excludes the manslayer from inheriting the property of the slain.

(3) Qatlu ʾl-K͟hat̤āʾ (قتل الخطاء‎), or “homicide by misadventure,” is of two kinds: error in intention, and error in the act. Error in the act is where a person intends a particular act, and another act is thereby occasioned; as where, for instance, a person shoots an arrow at a mark and it hits a man. Error in intention, on the other hand, is where the mistake occurs not in the act, but with respect to the subject; as where a person shoots an arrow at a man supposing him to be game; or at a Muslim, supposing him to be a hostile infidel. The slayer by misadventure is required to free a Muslim slave, or fast two months successively, and to pay a fine within three years. He is also excluded from inheriting the property of the slain.

(4) Qatl qāʾim maqāma ʾl-K͟hat̤āʾ (قتل قائم مقام الخطاء‎), or “homicide of a similar nature to homicide by misadventure,” is where, for example, a person walking in his sleep falls upon another, so as to kill him by the fall. It is subject to the same rules with homicide by misadventure.

(5) Qatl bi-Sabab (قتل بسبب‎), or, “homicide by intermediate cause,” is where, for instance, a man digs a well, or sets up a stone, and another falls into the well, or over the stone, and dies. In this case a fine must be paid, but it does not exclude from inheritance, nor does it require expiation.

No special mention is made in either the Qurʾān or in Muḥammadan law books, of taking the life by poison. (The same remark applies to the Mosaic law. See Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, Article “Murder.”)

With regard to retaliation, a freeman is slain for a freeman, and a slave for a slave; a freeman is also slain for the wilful murder of a slave the property of another.

According to Abū Ḥanīfah, a Muslim is put to death for killing an unbeliever, but ash-Shāfiʿī maintains otherwise, because the Prophet said, “A Muslim shall not suffer death for an unbeliever.”

A man is slain for a woman; a father is not slain for his child, but a child is slain for the murder of his father; a master is not slain for the murder of his own slave, or for the slave of his child.

If a person immerse another into water whence it is impossible for him to escape by swimming, according to Abū Ḥanīfah, retaliation is not incurred, but ash-Shāfiʿī maintains that the murderer should be drowned.

Al-Baiẓāwī the commentator, in writing on [Sūrah ii. 174], “This is an alleviation from your Lord and a mercy,” says that in the Jewish law retaliation for murder was compulsory, but in the law of Christ the Christians were enjoined to forgive the murderer, whilst in the Qurʾān the choice is given of either retaliation or forgiveness.

MURĪD (مريد‎). Lit. “One who is desirous or willing.” A disciple of some murshid, or leader, of a mystic order. Any student of divinity. [[SUFI].]

MURJĪYAH, MURJIʾAH (مرجية‎). Lit. “The Procrastinators.” A sect of Muslims who teach that the judgment of every true believer, who hath been guilty of a grievous sin, will be deferred till the Resurrection; for which reason they pass no sentence on him in this world, either of absolution or condemnation. They also hold that disobedience with faith hurteth not, and that, on the other hand, obedience with infidelity profiteth not. As to the reason of their name the learned differ, because of the different significations of its root, each of which they accommodate to some opinion of the sect. Some think them so called because they postpone works to intention, that is, esteem works to be inferior in degree to intention, and profession of the faith; others, because they allow hope, by asserting that disobedience with faith hurteth not, &c.; others take the reason of the name to be, their deferring the sentence of the heinous sinner till the Resurrection; and others, their degrading of ʿAlī, or removing him from the first degree to the fourth for the Murjīyahs in some points relating to the office of Imām, agree with the K͟hārijīyahs. This sect is divided into four classes, three of which, according as they happen to agree in particular dogmas with the K͟hārijīyahs, the Qādirīyahs, or the Jabarīyahs, are distinguished as Murjīyahs of those sects, and the fourth is that of the pure Murjīyahs, which last class is again subdivided into five others. The opinions of Mukātil and Bashar, both of a sect of the Murjīyahs called S̤aubanians, should not be omitted. The former asserted that disobedience hurts not him who professes the unity of God, and is endued with faith; and that no true believer shall be cast into hell; he also thought that God will surely forgive all crimes except infidelity; and that a disobedient believer will be punished at the Day of Resurrection, on the bridge Sirāt̤, laid over the midst of hell, where the flames of hell-fire shall catch hold on him, and torment him in proportion to his disobedience, and that he shall then be admitted into Paradise.

The latter held, that if God do cast the believers guilty of grievous sins into hell, yet they will be delivered thence after they shall have been sufficiently punished; but that it is neither possible nor consistent with justice that they should remain therein for ever.

MURSAL (مرسل‎), pl. mursalūn. A messenger or apostle. A term frequently used in the Qurʾān for the prophets. It is only applied to those who are said to be bringers of inspired books. [[PROPHET].]

AL-MURSALĀT (المرسلات‎). Lit. “Those who are sent.” The title of the LXXVIIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in the first verse of which the word occurs. “By the angels who are sent by God, following one another.”

MURSHID (مرشد‎). A guide. From rashād, “a straight road.” The title given to the spiritual director of any religious order. [[SUFI].]

MURTADD (مرتد‎). [[APOSTATE].]

AL-MUSABBIḤĀT (المسبحات‎). “The Praisers.” A title given to those Sūrahs of the Qurʾān, which begin with Subḥāna (Glory to), or Sabbaḥa (he glorified), or Yusabbiḥu (he glorifies), or Sabbiḥ (glorify thou), viz. [Sūrahs xvii]., [lvii]., [lix]., [lxi]., [lxii]., [lxiv]., [lxxxvii].

ʿIrbāẓ ibn Sāriyah relates that Muḥammad used to repeat the Musabbiḥāt before going to sleep, and that he said, “In them there is a verse which is better than a thousand.” Most writers say this verse is concealed like the Lailatu ʾl-Qadr (the night of power), or the Sāʿatu ʾl-Jumʿah (the hour on Friday), but ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq says it is most probably either the last verse of the Sūratu ʾl-Ḥashr (lix.), “He is God, the Pardoner, the Maker, the Fashioner! To him are ascribed excellent titles,” &c. Or, the first verse of the Sūratu ʾl-Ḥadīd (lvii.), “All that is in the Heavens and in the Earth praiseth God.” (See Majmaʿu ʾl-Biḥār, p. 86; Mishkāt, book viii. ch. i.)

MUṢADDIQ (مصدق‎). The collector of the zakāt and ṣadaqah, or legal alms. In Muḥammadan states he is appointed by the state. This officer does not now exist in Hindustan under British rule.

MUṢĀFAḤAH (مصافحة‎). Taking the hand. Joining or shaking hands. A custom expressly enjoined by Muḥammad, who said, “If two Muslims meet and join hands (i.e. shake hands), their sins will be forgiven before they separate.” (Mishkāt, book xxii. ch. iii. pt. 2.)

MUSAILAMAH (مسيلمة‎). An impostor who appeared in the time of Muḥammad, and claimed the Prophetic office, surnamed Musailamatu ʾl-Kaẕẕāb, or, “Musailamah the Liar.” He headed an embassy sent by his tribe to Muḥammad in the ninth year of the Hijrah, and professed himself a Muslim; but on his return home, considering that he might possibly share with Muḥammad in his power, the next year he set up for a prophet also, pretending to join with him in the commission to recall mankind from idolatry to the worship of the true God; and he published written revelations, in imitation of the Qurʾān, of which Abū ʾl-Faraj has preserved the following passage, viz. “Now hath God been gracious unto her that was with child, and hath brought forth from her the soul which runneth between the peritonœum and the bowels.”

Musailamah, having formed a considerable party, began to think himself upon equal terms with Muḥammad, and sent him a letter, offering to go halves with him, in these words: “From Musailamah, the Apostle of God, to Muḥammad, the Apostle of God. Now let the earth be half mine and half thine.” But Muḥammad, thinking himself too well established to need a partner, wrote him this answer: “From Muḥammad, the Apostle of God, to Musailamah, the Liar. The earth is God’s; He giveth the same for inheritance unto such of His servants as He pleaseth; and the happy issue shall attend those who fear Him.”

During the few months which Muḥammad lived after this revolt, Musailamah rather gained than lost ground, and grew very formidable; but Abū Bakr, in the eleventh year of the Hijrah, sent a great army against him, under the command of that consummate general K͟hālid ibn al-Walīd, who engaged Musailamah in a bloody battle, wherein the false prophet happening to be slain by Waḥshī, the negro slave who had killed Ḥamzah at Uḥud, and by the same lance, the Muslims gained an entire victory, ten thousand of the apostates being left dead on the spot, and the rest returning to Muḥammadanism.

MUṢALLĀ (مصلا‎). The small mat, cloth, or carpet on which a Muslim prays. The term sajjādah is used in Egypt. In Persia Jai-namaz.

A MUSALLA.

MUS̤ALLAS̤ (مثلث‎). Lit. “Made into three, or into a third.” An aromatic wine composed of new wine boiled to a third part and then mixed with sweet herbs. It is said by Abū Ḥanīfah to be a lawful drink. (Hidāyah, vol. iv. p. 162.)

MUSALMĀN (مسلمان‎). The Persian form of the word Muslim. A Muḥammadan. [[MUHAMMADANISM].]

MUSĀMARAH (مسامرة‎). Lit. “Holding night conversations.” A term used by the Ṣūfīs for God’s converse with the heart of man. (ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)

MUSAQĀT (مساقاة‎). A compact entered into by two persons, by which it is agreed that the one shall deliver over to the other his fruit trees, on condition that the other shall take care of them, and whatever is produced shall belong to them both, in the proportions of one half, one third, or the like, as may be stipulated. (Hidāyah, vol. iv., p. 54.)

AL-MUṢAWWIR (المصور‎). “The Fashioner.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It occurs once in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah lix. 24]: “He is God, the Creator, the Maker, the Fashioner.”

MUSHABBIHAH (مشبهة‎). Lit. “The Assimilators.” A sect of Muḥammadans who allowed a resemblance between God and His creatures, supposing Him to be a figure composed of members or parts, and capable of local motion. Some of the Shīʿahs belong to this sect.

MUSHĀHADAH (مشاهدة‎). A vision or revelation. A Sūfīistic expression for spiritual enlightenment.

MUSHRIK (مشرك‎), pl. mushrikūn. Those who give companions to God. It is used by modern Muslims for both Christians and idolaters, for those who believe in the Holy Trinity as well as for those who worship idols. The Wahhābīs also call their religious opponents Mushrikūn, because they pray to saints for assistance. In the Qurʾān the term is always used for the Makkan idolaters, and the Imām al-Bag͟hawī says, in his commentary on [Sūrah xcviii. 1], that the term Ahlu ʾl-Kitāb is always used for the Jews and Christians and Mushrikūn for those who worship idols.

MUSHROOMS. Arabic kamʾ (كمء‎), pl. akmuʾ, kamʾah. Abū Hurairah relates that Muḥammad said: “Mushrooms are a kind of manna which God sent to Moses, and its water is a cure for sore eyes.” (Mishkāt, book xxi. ch. i.)

MUSIC. Arabic mūsīqā (موسيقا‎), mūsīqī (موسيقى‎), which the author of the G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah says is a Syriac word. It is generally held by Muḥammadans to be contrary to the teachings of the Prophet; for Nāfiʿ relates that when he was walking with Ibn ʿUmar on a road, they heard the music of a pipe, and that Ibn ʿUmar put his fingers into his ears, and went on another road. Nāfiʿ then asked Ibn ʿUmar why he did so, and he said, “I was with the Prophet, and when he heard the noise of a musical pipe, he put his fingers into his ears; and this happened when I was a child.” (Mishkāt, book xxii. ch. ix., pt. 3.)

Muḥammadan doctors, however, are not agreed on the subject, for Abū Ḥanīfah says, “If a person break a lute or tabor, or pipe, or cymbal belonging to a Muslim, he is responsible, because the sale of such articles is lawful.” But his two disciples, Imāms Muḥammad and Abū Yūsuf, do not agree with him. (Hidāyah, vol. iii. p. 558.)

MUS̤LAH (مثلة‎). The mutilation of the body, which is forbidden by Muslim law, except in the case of retaliation. (Mishkāt, book xii. ch. ii.)

MUSLIM (مسلم‎), from Islām. One who has received Islām. A Muḥammadan. [[MUHAMMADANISM], [ISLAM].]

MUSLIM (مسلم‎). Abū ʾl-Ḥusain Muslim, son of al-Ḥajjāj al-Qushairī, the compiler of the collection of the Traditions known as the Ṣaḥīḥu Muslim, was born at Naishapūr, A.H. 204, and died A.H. 261. His book of traditions ranks amongst the Sunnīs as but second in authority to the Ṣaḥīḥu ʾ-Buk͟hārī. The two works being styled the Ṣaḥīḥān, or the “two authentics.” It is said to contain 3,000 authentic traditions. [[TRADITIONS].]

MUSTAḤĀẒAH (مستحاضة‎). A woman who has an issue of blood (istiḥāẓah), independent of the menses or of the cleansings after parturition. A mustaḥāẓah is not considered junub, or unclean, but may say her prayers and perform the other religious offices. Compare [Leviticus xv. 3].

MUṢT̤ALIQ (مصطلق‎). Banū Muṣt̤aliq. An Arabian tribe in the time of Muḥammad. He attacked the Banū Muṣt̤aliq in A.H. 5, and took many of them prisoners. (Muir’s Life of Mahomet, vol. iii. p. 237). They embraced Islām at an early period.

MUSTAʾMIN (مستامن‎). Lit. “One who seeks security.” One who, being a foreigner, and not a Muslim, enters Muḥammadan territory, and claims safe conduct and immunity from hostilities.

AL-MUTAʿĀLĪ (المتعالى‎). “The Exalted.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xiii. 10]: “He knows the unseen, and the visible,—the Great, the Lofty One.”

MUʿTADDAH (معتدة‎). A woman in her ʿiddah, or period of probation, after the death of her husband, or after her divorce.

MUTʿAH (متعة‎). Lit. “Usufruct, enjoyment.” A marriage contracted for a limited period, for a certain sum of money. Such marriages are still legal amongst the Shīʿahs, and exist in Persia (Malcolm’s Persia, vol. ii. p. 591) to the present day, but they are said to be unlawful by the Sunnīs. They were permitted by the Arabian Prophet at Aut̤ās, and are undoubtedly the greatest stain upon his moral legislation; but the Sunnīs say that he afterwards prohibited a mutʿah marriage at K͟haibar. (Vide Mishkāt, book xiii. ch. iv. pt. 2.)

The Shīʿahs establish the legality of mutʿah not only upon the traditions, but also upon the following verse in the Qurʾān, the meaning of which, according to the commentary Tafsīr-i-Maz̤harī, is disputed. [Sūrah iv. 28]: “Forbidden to you also are married women, except those who are in your hands as slaves. This is the law of God for you. And it is allowed you, beside this, to seek out wives by means of your wealth, with modest conduct, and without fornication. And give those with whom ye have cohabited their dowry. This is the law. But it shall be no crime in you to make agreements over and above the law. Verily, God is Knowing, Wise!”

According to the Imāmīyah Code of Jurisprudence, the following are the conditions of Mutʿah, or “temporary marriages.” There must be declaration and acceptance, as in the case of nikāḥ, and the subject of the contract must be either a Muslimah, a Christian, or a Jewess, or (according to some) a Majūsī; she should be chaste, and due inquiries should be made into her conduct, as it is abominable to enter into contract with a woman addicted to fornication, nor is it lawful to make such a contract with a virgin who has no father. Some dower must be specified, and if there is a failure in this respect, the contract is void. There must also be a fixed period, but its extent is left entirely to the parties: it may be a year, a month, or a day, only some limit must be distinctly specified, so as to guard the period from any extension or diminution. The practice of ʿazl (extrahere ante emissionem seminis) is lawful, but if, notwithstanding this the woman becomes pregnant, the child is the temporary husband’s; but if he should deny the child, the denial is sustained by the law. Mutʿah marriages do not admit of divorce or repudiation, but the parties become absolutely separated on the expiration of the period. (Baillie’s Digest.)

There is a curious account of a discussion at the Court of the Emperor Akbar with reference to the subject of Mutʿah marriages in the ʿAīn-i-Akbari (Translation by H. Blochmann, M.A., p. 173). At one of the meetings for discussion, the Emperor asked how many free-born women a man may legally marry. The lawyers answered that four was the limit fixed by the Prophet. His Majesty thereupon remarked that, from the time he had come of age he had not restricted himself to that number, and in justice to his wives, of whom he had a large number, both free-born and slaves, he now wanted to know what remedy the law provided for his case. Most of the Maulawīs present expressed their opinions, when the Emperor remarked that Shaik͟h ʿAbdu ʾn-Nabī had once told him that one of the Mujtahids had had as many as nine wives. Some of those present said that some learned men had allowed even eighteen from a too literal translation of the second verse of Sūratu ʾn-Nisāʾ in the Qurʾān. [[MARRIAGE].] After much discussion, the learned men present, having collected every tradition on the subject, decreed, first, that by mutʿah a man may marry any number of wives; and, secondly, that mutʿah marriages were sanctioned by the Imām Mālik; but a copy of the Muwat̤t̤aʾ of the Imām Mālik was brought, and a passage cited from that collection of traditions against the legality of mutʿah marriages.

The disputation was again revived at a subsequent meeting, when at the request of the Emperor, Badāʾonī gave the following summary of the discussion: “Imām Mālik, and the Shīʿahs are unanimous in looking upon mutʿah marriages as legal; Imām ash-Shāfiʿī and the great Imām Abū Ḥanīfah look upon mutʿah marriages as illegal. But should at any time a Qāẓī of the Malakī sect decide that mutʿah is legal, it is legal, according to the common belief, even for Shāfiʿīs and Ḥanafīs. Every other opinion on this subject is idle talk.” This saying pleased the Emperor, and he at once appointed a Qāẓī, who gave a decree which made mutʿah marriages legal.

In permitting these usufructuary marriages Muḥammad appears but to have given Divine (?) sanction to one of the abominable practices of ancient Arabia, for Burckhardt (vol. ii. p. 378) says, it was a custom of their forefathers to assign to a traveller who became their guest for the night, some female of the family, most commonly the host’s own wife!

AL-MUTAKABBIR (المتكبر‎). “The Great.” (When used of a human being it implies haughtiness.) One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah lix. 23]: “He is … the Great One!”

MUʿTAMIR (معتمر‎). A performer of the ʿUmrah. [[UMRAH].]

MUʿTAQ (معتق‎). An emancipated slave. [[SLAVERY].]

MUTAQĀDIM (متقادم‎). Such a distance of time as suffices to prevent punishment. It operates in a way somewhat similar to the English statutory limitations.

MUTAWALLĪ (متولى‎). Lit. “A person endowed with authority.” A legal term used for a person entrusted with the management of a religious foundation. [[MASJID].]

MUʿTAZILAH (معتزلة‎). Lit. “The Separatists.” A sect of Muḥammadans founded by Wāṣil ibn ʿAt̤āʾ, who separated from the school of Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (A.H. 110). The following are their chief tenets: (1) They entirely reject all eternal attributes of God, to avoid the distinction of persons made by the Christians; saying that eternity is the proper or formal attribute of his essence; that God knows by His essence, and not by His knowledge: and the same they affirm of His other attributes (though all the Muʿtazilahs do not understand these words in one sense). Hence this sect is also named Muʿat̤t̤ilī, from their divesting God of His attributes; for they went so far as to say, that to affirm these attributes is the same thing as to make more eternals than one, and that the unity of God is inconsistent with such an opinion. This was the true doctrine of Wāṣil, their master, who declared that whoever asserted an eternal attribute asserted there were two gods. This point of speculation concerning the divine attributes was not ripe at first, but was at length brought to maturity by Wāṣil’s followers, after they had read the books of the philosophers. (2) They believe the word of God to have been created in subjecto (as the schoolmen term it), and to consist of letters and sound; copies thereof being written in books, to express or imitate the original. (3) They also go farther, and affirm that whatever was created in subjecto is also an accident, and liable to perish. They deny absolute predestination, holding that God is not the author of evil, but of good only; and that man is a free agent; which is the opinion of the Qadarīyah sect. On account of this tenet and the first, the Muʿtazilahs look on themselves as the defenders of the unity and justice of God. (4) They hold that if a professor of the true religion be guilty of a grievous sin, and die without repentance, he will be eternally damned, though his punishment will be lighter than that of the infidels. (5) They deny all vision of God in Paradise by the corporeal eye, and reject all comparisons or similitudes applied to God.

According to Shahrastānī, the Muʿtazilah hold:—

“That God is eternal; and that eternity is the peculiar property of His essence; but they deny the existence of any eternal attributes (as distinct from His nature). For they say, He is Omniscient as to His nature; Living as to His nature; Almighty as to His nature; but not through any knowledge, power or life existing in Him as eternal attributes; for knowledge, power and life are part of His essence, otherwise, if they are to be looked upon as eternal attributes of the Deity, it will give rise to a multiplicity of eternal entities.

“They maintain that the knowledge of God is as much within the province of reason as that of any other entity: that He cannot be beheld with the corporeal sight; and, with the exception of Himself, everything else is liable to change or to suffer extinction. They also maintain that Justice is the animating principle of human actions: Justice according to them being the dictates of Reason and the concordance of the ultimate results of this conduct of man with such dictates.

“Again, they hold that there is no eternal law as regards human actions; that the divine ordinances which regulate the conduct of men are the results of growth and development; that God has commanded and forbidden, promised and threatened by a law which grew gradually. At the same time, say they, he who works righteousness merits rewards, and he who works evil deserves punishment. They also say that all knowledge is attained through reason, and must necessarily be so obtained. They hold that the cognition of good and evil is also within the province of reason; that nothing is known to be right or wrong until reason has enlightened us as to the distinction; and that thankfulness for the blessings of the Benefactor is made obligatory by reason, even before the promulgation of any law upon the subject. They also maintain that man has perfect freedom; is the author of his actions both good and evil, and deserves reward or punishment hereafter accordingly.”

During the reigns of the Abbaside K͟halīfahs al-Maʾmūn, al-Muʿtaṣim, and al-Was̤iq (A.H. 198–228) at Bag͟hdād, the Muʿtazilah were in high favour. Mr. Syed Ameer Ali Moulvi, M.A., LL.B., in the preface to his book, The Personal Law of the Mahommedans (W. H. Allen and Co.), claims to belong to “the little known, though not unimportant philosophical and legal school of the Mutazalas,” and he adds, “the young generation is tending unconsciously toward the Mutazalite doctrines.”

According to the Sharḥu ʾl-Muwāqif, the Muʿtazilah are divided into twenty sects, viz.: Waṣilīyah, ʿUmarīyah, Huẕailīyah, Naz̤āmīyah, Aswārīyah, Askāfīyah, Jāfarīyah, Basharīyah, Mazdārīyah, Hishāmīyah, Ṣālhīyah, Hābit̤īyah, Hadbīyah, Maʿmarīyah, S̤amāmīyah, K͟haiyāt̤īyah, Jāhiẓīyah, Kaʿbīyah, Jubāʾīyah, and Buhshamīyah.

AL-MUʿT̤Ī (المعطى‎). “The Giver.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It is referred to in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah cviii. verse 1]: “Verily we have given thee al-Kaus̤ar.”

MUTILATION. [[THEFT].]

MUʿTIQ (معتق‎). The master who emancipates a slave. [[SLAVERY].]

MUWAḤḤID (موحد‎), pl. muwaḥḥidūn. A believer in one God. A term often used by Muslims to express their belief as Unitarians.

MUWAT̤T̤Aʾ (موطاء‎). Lit. “That which has been compiled.” A title given to the book of traditions compiled by the Imām Mālik (died A.H. 179). It is the earliest compilation of traditions, and is placed by some amongst the Kutubu ʾs-Sittah, or the “six (correct) books.” [[TRADITIONS].]

MUZĀBANAH (مزابنة‎). Lit. “Repelling or pushing back.” Selling without measure, for example, selling green dates upon trees in exchange for dry ones in the house, and the seller saying that the loss or gain rests with him. This kind of sale is forbidden. (Mishkāt, book xii. ch. 5.)

MUZĀRAʿAH (مزارعة‎). Giving over land to the charge of another party on condition of receiving a fixed proportion of its produce.

MUẒĀRABAH (مضاربة‎). In the language of the law, Muẓārabah signifies a contract of copartnership, of which the one party (namely, the proprietor) is entitled to a profit on account of the stock, he being denominated Rabbu ʾl-Māl, or proprietor of the stock (which is termed Rāsu ʾl-Māl), and the other party is entitled to a profit on account of his labour, and this last is denominated the muẓārib (or manager), inasmuch as he derives a benefit from his own labour and endeavours. A contract of muẓārabah, therefore, cannot be established without a participation in the profit, for if the whole of the profit be stipulated to the proprietor of the stock, then it is considered as a biẓāʿah; or, if the whole be stipulated to the immediate manager, it must be considered as a loan.

AL-MUẔILL (المذل‎). “The One who abases.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God referred to in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah iii. 25]: “Thou honourest whom Thou pleasest and abasest whom Thou pleasest.”

AL-MUZZAMMIL (المزمل‎). Lit. “The Wrapped up.” The title of the LXXIVth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in the first verse of which the word occurs. “O Thou, enwrapped, arise to prayer.” It is said the chapter was revealed to Muḥammad when he was wrapped up in a blanket at night.

MYSTICISM. The word mysticism is of a vague signification, but it is generally applied to all those tendencies in religion which aspire to a direct communication between man and his God, not through the medium of the senses, but through the inward perception of the mind. Consequently the term is applied to the Pantheism of the ancient Hindu, to the Gnosticism of the ancient Greek, to the Quietism of Madame Guyon and Fénelon, to the Pietism of Molinos, to the doctrines of the Illuminati of Germany, to the visions of Swedenborg, as well as to the peculiar manifestations of mystic views amongst some modern Christian sects. It is a form of error which mistakes the operations of a merely human faculty for a divine manifestation, although it is often but a blind protest in behalf of what is highest and best in human nature.

The earliest mystics known are those of India, the best exposition of their system being the Bhāgavad-gītā (see Wilkins’ translation). Sir William Jones says:—“A figurative mode of expressing the fervour of devotion, the ardent love of created spirits, toward their Beneficent Creator, has prevailed from time immemorial in Asia; particularly among the Persian Theists, both ancient Hushangis and modern Sufis, who seem to have borrowed it from the Indian philosophers of the Vedanta School, and their doctrines are also believed to be the source of that sublime but poetical theology which glows and sparkles in the writings of the old Academics. ‘Plato travelled into Italy and Egypt,’ says Blande Fleury, ‘to learn the Theology of the Pagans at its fountain head.’ Its true fountain, however, was neither in Italy nor in Egypt though considerable streams of it had been conducted thither by Pythagoras, and by the family of Misra, but in Persia or India, which the founder of the Italic sect had visited with a similar design.”

Almost the only religion in the world in which we should have concluded, before examination, that the Pantheistic and mystic spirit of Hinduism was impossible, is the stern unbending religious system of Muḥammad and his followers. But even amongst Muslims there have ever been those who seek for divine intuition in individual souls, to the partial or entire rejection of the demands of creeds and ceremonies. These mystics are called Ṣūfīs, and have always included the philosophers, the poets, and the enthusiasts of Islām. For an account of these Muslims, see the article on [SUFIISM].