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

R.

AR-RABB (الرب‎). “The Lord,” “The Sustainer,” “The Supporter.” A title frequently used in the Qurʾān for the Divine Being, e.g.:—

[Sūrah iii. 44]: “God (Allāh) is my Lord (Rabb) and your Lord (Rabb).”

[Sūrah xviii. 13]: “Our Lord (Rabb) is the Lord (Rabb) of the heavens and the earth.”

From its frequent occurrence in the Qurʾān, it would seem to occupy the place of the Hebrew ‏יְהֹוָה‎ Jehovah, the Κύριος of the LXX., the Dominus of the Vulgate, and the Lord of the English Bible; but all Muslim writers say that whilst Allāh is the Ismu ʾẕ-Ẕāt, or “Essential name of God,” ar-Rabb, “the Lord,” is but an Ismu Ṣifah, or attribute, of the Almighty.

Al-Baiẓāwī, the commentator (p. 6, line 10, of Flügel’s edition), says, “rabb, in its literal meaning, is ‘to bring up,’ that is, to bring or educate anything up to its perfect standard, by slow degrees, and inasmuch as the Almighty is He who can bring everything to perfection, the word الرب‎ ar-Rabb, is especially applied to God.”

It is the Hebrew ‏רַב‎ Rab, which enters into the composition of many names of dignity and office in the Bible.

In Muslim works of theology, the word occurs with the following combination:—

Rabbu ʾl-ʿIzzah	Lord of Glory.
Rabbu ʾl-ʿĀlamīn	Lord of the Universe.
Rabbu ʾl-Arbāb	Lord of Lords.
Rabbu ʾl-ʿĪbād	Lord of (His) Servants.

The word is also used for a master or owner, e.g.:—

Rabbu ʾd-Dār	The Master of the house.
Rabbu ʾl-Arẓ	A landowner.
Rabbu ʾl-Māl	A possessor of property.
Rabbu ʾs-Salaf	A person who pays in advance for an article.

RABBU ʾN-NAUʿ (رب النوع‎). The “Lord of the Species.” An angel who is said to preside over the animate and inanimate creation, viz.: nabātāt, “vegetable”; ḥaiwānāt, “animal”; jamādāt, “inanimate” (stones, earth, &c.), called al-ʿālamu ʾs-suflī, “the lower creation,” as distinguished from al-ʿālamu ʾl-ʿulwī, “the heavenly world.” (See G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah.)

RABĪʿU ʾL-ĀK͟HIR (ربيع الاخر‎). “The last spring month.” The fourth month of the Muḥammadan year. [[MONTHS].]

RABĪʿU ʾL-AWWAL (ربيع الاول‎). “The first spring month.” The third month of the Muḥammadan year. [[MONTHS].]

In India, the word rabīʿ is used for spring harvest, or crop sown after the rains.

RACHEL. Arabic Rāḥīl (راحيل‎). Heb. ‏רָחֵל‎, Rahel. The wife of Jacob and the mother of Joseph. Not mentioned in the Qurʾān, but the name occurs in commentaries.

The English form Rachel is a strange error on the part of our translators, who almost invariably represent the Hebrew ‏ח‎ by the letter h. The correct form, Rahel, which is the form familiar to Muslim writers, occurs once in the English Bible, [Jer. xxxi. 15].

AR-RAʿD (الرعد‎). “Thunder.” The title of the XIIIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in the 14th verse of which the word occurs. “The thunder celebrates his praise.”

AR-RADD (الرد‎). Rejection, repulsion, refutation, reply; repeal, abrogation, making null and void; sometimes, erasure. In Muḥammadan law it applies especially to the return or surplus of an inheritance which remains after the legal portions have been distributed among the sharers, and which, in default of a residuary heir, returns, or is to be divided amongst the original sharers.

RADDU ʾS-SALĀM (رد السلام‎). The returning of a salutation which is an incumbent duty upon one Muslim to another. [[SALUTATION].]

AR-RĀFIʿ (الرافع‎). “The Exalter.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. The word occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah iii. 48]: “When God said, O Jesus! I will make thee die and will take thee up again to myself” (رافعك الى‎).

RĀFIʿ IBN K͟HADĪJ (رافع بن خديج‎). One of the Ṣaḥābah. He was too young to be present at Badr, but he accompanied Muḥammad at Uḥud and was wounded with an arrow, on which occasion the Prophet said to him, “I will answer for you in the Day of Judgment.” He died at al-Madīnah, A.H. 73, aged 86.

RĀFIẒĪ (رافضى‎). Lit. “A forsaker.” Synonymous with Rāfiẓah (pl. Rawāfiẓ). A term used for a body of soldiers who have deserted their commander and turned back again, applied to a sect of Shīʿahs who joined Zaid the son of ʿAlī, the son of al-Ḥusain, the second son of the K͟halīfah ʿAlī, who, when they had submitted to Zaid, demanded that he should abuse Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, the first two K͟halīfahs of the Sunnīs; but Zaid refused to do so, for he said, “They were both Wazīrs of my forefather Muḥammad.” Upon this they forsook the party of Zaid, and were called Rāfiẓah. Zaid had then only fourteen faithful companions left, and he was soon surrounded by al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf, the general of the Imām Jaʿfar’s army, and fell at the head of his brave companions, not one of them surviving him.

(2) The term Rāfiẓī is used by Sunnī Muslims for any sect of Shīʿahs.

RAHBĀNĪYAH (رهبانية‎). [[MONASTICISM].]

RĀHIB (راهب‎), pl. Ruhbān. A Christian monk. Mentioned in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah v. 85]: “Thou wilt find the nearest in love to those who believe to be those who say, ‘We are Christians’; that is, because there are amongst them priests (qissīsūn) and monks (ruhbān), and because they are not proud.” [[MONASTICISM].]

RAḤĪL (رحيل‎). Lit. “That which is fit for travelling.” A small book-stand made so as to fold up for convenience in travelling, but now generally used as a book-stand in mosques and Muslim schools to support the Qurʾān and other books as the student reads his lesson from them. They are also used in private dwellings.

AR-RAḤĪM (الرحيم‎). “The Compassionate.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It generally occurs in conjunction with the attribute ar-Raḥmān, e.g. Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 158]: “The Merciful, The Compassionate.” [[RAHMAN].]

RAḤMAH (رحمة‎), Heb. ‏רִחַם‎ riham. “Mercy, compassion.” The attribute of mercy is frequently dwelt upon in the Qurʾān, e.g.:—

[Sūrah vii. 54]: “The mercy of God is nigh unto those who do well.”

[Sūrah x. 58]: “A guidance and a mercy to believers.”

[Sūrah vi. 133]: “Thy Lord is the rich one, full of compassion.”

Ar-Raḥmān, “The Merciful,” is one of the chief attributes of the Almighty.

AR-RAḤMĀN (الرحمان‎), Heb. ‏רַחוּם‎ rahūm. “The Merciful.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It generally occurs in conjunction with the attribute ar-Raḥīm, e.g. Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 159]: “Your God is one God. There is no god but He, the Merciful, the Compassionate.” It also occurs in the initial formula, placed at the commencement of each Sūrah, with the exception of the IXth, “In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.”

Al-Baiẓāwī says that ar-Raḥmān is a more exalted attribute than ar-Raḥīm, because it not only contains five letters whilst Raḥīm only has four, but it expresses that universal attribute of mercy which the Almighty extends to all mankind, the wicked and the good, believers and unbelievers.

RAHN (رهن‎). Pledging or pawning. A legal term which signifies the detention of a thing on account of a claim which may be answered by means of that thing; as in the case of debt. This practice of pawning and pledging is lawful in Islām, for it is related that the Prophet, in a bargain with a Jew for grain, gave his coat of mail in pledge for the payment. It is also said in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 283]: “Let pledges be taken.” The word is used in the Qurʾān in its plural form, rihān. (For further information on the subject of Pawning, see Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. iv. p. 188.)

RAIḤĀNAH (ريحانة‎). A Jewess whose husband had been cruelly murdered in the massacre of the Banū Quraiz̤ah. Muḥammad offered to marry her if she would embrace Islām; but she refused to forsake the faith of her forefathers, and consented to become his concubine instead of his wife.

RAIN. Arabic mat̤ar (مطر‎), Heb. ‏מָטָר‎ mātor. Mentioned in the Qurʾān as one of God’s special mercies. [Sūrah vii. 55]: “He it is who sends forth the winds as heralds before His mercy; until when they left the heavy cloud which We drive to a dead land, and send down thereon water, and bring forth therewith every kind of fruit.”

Prayers for rain are called Ṣalātu ʾl-Istisqāʾ, and consist of two rakʿah prayers. Anas says that on one occasion they were caught in the rain, and the Prophet took off his garment until he got wet, and they said, “O Prophet, why have you done this?” He replied, “This is fresh rain from our Lord.” (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. liii.)

RĀʿINĀ (راعنا‎). A word the use of which is forbidden in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 98]: “O ye who believe! say not to the Apostle ‘Rāʿinā’ (i.e. ‘Look at us’), but say, ‘Unz̤urnā’ (i.e. ‘Regard us’).” These two words have both the same signification; but Muḥammad had a great aversion to the use of the word rāʿinā, because it had also a bad meaning in Hebrew (see al-Baiẓāwī, in loco), alluding, perhaps, to the Hebrew verb ‏רוּעַ‎ rūaʿ, which signifies “to be mischievous or bad.”

RAINBOW. Arabic qausu quzaḥ (قوس قزح‎), Heb. ‏קֶשֶׁת‎ kesheth. Lit. “The bow of many colours.” Not mentioned in the Qurʾān, but in the Traditions. In the book entitled an-Nihāyah, it is said that Muḥammad forbade his people calling the rainbow qausu quzaḥ, because quzaḥ is one of the names of Satan (one who can assume many characters in order to tempt the sons of men). He enjoined them to call it Qausu ʾllāh, “God’s bow,” because by it God has promised to protect the world from a second deluge. (Majmaʿu ʾl-Biḥār, vol. ii. p. 142.)

The Persians call it Kamān-i-Rustum, “the bow of Rustum.” (See Muntaha ʾl-ʿArab, in loco.)

RAIYĀN (ريان‎). Lit. “One whose thirst is quenched.” The gate of Paradise through which, it is said, the observers of the month of Ramaẓān will enter. It is mentioned in the Traditions (Mishkāt, book vi. ch. vii. pt. 1), but not in the Qurʾān.

RAIYĀN IBN AL-WALĪD (ريان بن الوليد‎). The King of Egypt in the time of Joseph. (See al-Baiẓāwī on Sūratu Yūsuf in the Qurʾān.)

RAJAB (رجب‎). Lit. “The honoured month.” The seventh month of the Muḥammadan year. So called because of the honour in which it was held in the “Time of Ignorance,” i.e. before Islām. It is called Rajabu Muẓar, because the Muẓar tribe honoured it more than any other month. [[MONTHS].]

RAJʿAH (رجعة‎). “Restitution.” Receiving back a wife who has been divorced, before the time has fully elapsed when the divorce must of necessity take place. In other words, the continuance of the marriage bond. (Hidāyah, vol. i. p. 289.)

RAJĪM (رجيم‎). Lit. “One who is stoned.” A name given to Satan in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah iii. 31]: “I have called her Mary, and I seek refuge in Thee for her and for her seed from Satan, the pelted one” (Min ash-Shait̤āni ʾr-Rajīmi).

Muḥammad taught that the devil and his angels listen at the gates of heaven for scraps of information regarding the things of futurity, and when detected by the angels of heaven they are pelted with shooting stars. Abraham is also said to have driven the devil away by pelting him with stones, which legend is expressed in the throwing stones at the pillars at Minā. [[PILGRIMAGE].]

RAJM (رجم‎). “Lapidation.” [[STONING TO DEATH].]

RAKʿAH (ركعة‎). From Rukūʿ, “to bow, to prostrate one’s self.” A section of the Muḥammadan daily prayers. [[PRAYERS].]

RAMAẒĀN (رمضان‎). The ninth month of the Muḥammadan year, which is observed as a strict fast from dawn to sunset of each day in the month. The word Ramaẓān is derived from ramẓ, “to burn.” The month is said to have been so called either because it used (before the change of the calendar) to occur in the hot season, or because the month’s fast is supposed to burn away the sins of men. (G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah, in loco.)

The observance of this month is one of the five pillars of practice in the Muslim religion, and its excellence is much extolled by Muḥammad, who said that during Ramaẓān “the gates of Paradise are open, and the gates of hell are shut, and the devils are chained by the leg, and only those who observe it will be permitted to enter at the gate of heaven called Raiyān.” Those who keep the fast “will be pardoned all their past venial sins.” (Mishkāt, book vii. ch. i. pt. 1.)

The express injunctions regarding the observance of this month are given in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 179–184]:—

“O believers! a Fast is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may fear God, for certain days. But he among you who shall be sick, or on a journey, shall fast that same number of other days: and as for those who are able to keep it and yet break it, the expiation of this shall be the maintenance of a poor man. And he who of his own accord performeth a good work, shall derive good from it: and good shall it be for you to fast—if ye knew it. As to the month Ramaẓān in which the Qurʾān was sent down to be man’s guidance, and an explanation of that guidance, and of that illumination, as soon as any one of you observeth the moon, let him set about the fast; but he who is sick, or upon a journey, shall fast a like number of other days. God wisheth you ease, but wisheth not your discomfort, and that you fulfil the number of days, and that you glorify God for his guidance, and that you be thankful. And when my servants ask thee concerning me, then will I be nigh unto them. I will answer the cry of him that crieth, when he crieth unto me: but let them hearken unto me, and believe in me, that they may proceed aright. You are allowed on the night of the fast to approach your wives: they are your garment and ye are their garment. God knoweth that ye defraud yourselves therein, so He turneth unto you and forgiveth you! Now, therefore, go in unto them with full desire for that which God hath ordained for you; and eat and drink until ye can discern a white thread from a black thread by the daybreak: then fast strictly till night, and go not in unto them, but rather pass the time in the Mosques. These are the bounds set up by God: therefore come not near them. Thus God maketh His signs clear to men that they may fear Him.”

From the preceding verses it will be seen that fast does not commence until some Muslim is able to state that he has seen the new moon. If the sky be over-clouded and the moon cannot be seen, the fast begins upon the completion of thirty days from beginning of the previous month.

It must be kept by every Muslim, except the sick, the infirm, and pregnant women, or women who are nursing their children. Young children, who have not reached the age of puberty, are exempt, and also travellers on a journey of more than three days. In the case of a sick person or traveller, the month’s fast must be kept as soon as they are able to perform it. This act is called Qaẓāʾ, or expiation.

The fast is extremely rigorous and mortifying, and when the Ramaẓān happens to fall in the summer and the days are long, the prohibition even to drink a drop of water to slake the thirst is a very great hardship. Muḥammad speaks of this religious exercise as “easy” (Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 181]), as most probably it was when compared with the ascetic spirit of the times. Sir William Muir (Life of Mahomet, vol. iii. 49) thinks Muḥammad did not foresee that, when he changed the Jewish intercalary year for the lunar year, the fast would become a grievous burden instead of an easy one; but Muḥammadan lexicographers say the fast was established when the month occurred in the hot season (see G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah).

During the month of Ramaẓān twenty additional rakʿahs, or forms of prayer, are repeated after the night-prayer. These are called Tarāwīḥ.

Devout Muslims seclude themselves for some time in the Mosque during this month, and abstain from all worldly conversation, engaging themselves in the reading of the Qurʾān. This seclusion is called Iʿtikāf. Muḥammad is said to have usually observed this custom in the last ten days of Ramaẓān. The Lailatu ʾl-Qadr, or the “night of power,” is said by Muḥammad to be either on the twenty-first, twenty-third, or twenty-fifth, or twenty-seventh, or twenty-ninth of the month of Ramaẓān. The exact date of this solemn night has not been discovered by any but the Prophet himself, and some of the Companions, although the learned doctors believe it to be on the twenty-seventh of this night. Muḥammad says in the Qurʾān (Sūratu ʾl-Qadr):—

“Verily we have caused it (the Qurʾān) to descend on the night of power.

And who shall teach thee what the night of power is?

The night of power excelleth a thousand months;

Therein descend the angels and the spirit by permission

Of their Lord in every matter;

And all is peace till the breaking of the morn.”

By these verses the commentator Ḥusain understands that on this night the Qurʾān came down entire in one volume to the lowest heaven, from whence it was revealed by Gabriel in portions, as the occasion required. The excellences of this night are said to be innumerable, and it is believed that during it the whole animal and vegetable kingdom bow in humble adoration to the Almighty, and the waters of the sea become sweet in a moment of time! This night is frequently confounded with the Shab-i-Barāt, but even the Qurʾān itself is not quite clear on the subject, for in [Sūrah xliv. 1] it reads, “By this clear book. See on a blessed night have we sent it down, for we would warn mankind, on the night wherein all things are disposed in wisdom.” From which it appears that “the blessed night,” or the Lailatu ʾl-mubārakah, is both the night of record and the night upon which the Qurʾān came down from heaven, although the one is the twenty-seventh day of Ramaẓān and the other the fifteenth of Shaʿbān.

M. Geiger identifies the Ramaẓān with the fast of the tenth ([Leviticus xxiii. 27]); but it is probable that the fast of the Tenth is identical with the ʿĀshurāʾ, not only because the Hebrew Asūr, “ten,” is retained in the title of that Muḥammadan fast, but also because there is a Jewish tradition that creation began upon the Jewish fast of the Tenth, which coincides with the Muḥammadan day, ʿĀshurāʾ being regarded as the day of creation. Moreover, the Jewish Asūr and the Muslim ʿĀshurāʾ are both fasts and days of affliction. It is more probable that Muḥammad got his idea of a thirty days’ fast from the Christian Lent. The observance of Lent in the Eastern Church was exceedingly strict, both with regard to the nights as well as the days of that season of abstinence; but Muḥammad entirely relaxed the rules with regard to the night, and from sunset till the dawn of day the Muslim is permitted to indulge in any lawful pleasures, and to feast with his friends; consequently large evening dinner-parties are usual in the nights of the Ramaẓān amongst the better classes. This would be what Muḥammad meant when he said, “God would make the fast an ease and not a difficulty,” for, notwithstanding its rigour in the day-time, it must be an easier observance than the strict fast observed during Lent by the Eastern Christians of Muḥammad’s day.

The following sayings of Muḥammad regarding the fast of Ramaẓān are found in the Traditions (see Mishkāt, Arabic Ed., Kitābu ʾṣ-Ṣaum).

“The difference between our fast and that of the people of the book (i.e. Jews and Christians) is eating only before the first dawn of day (and not afterwards).”

“Keep not the fast till you see the new moon, and if the moon be hidden from you by clouds, count the days.” And in one tradition it is thus:—“A month is twenty-nine nights, then keep not the fast till you see the new moon, which, if she be hid from you by clouds, then complete thirty days.”

“When the darkness of the night advances from the west and the day departs from the east, and the sun sets, then the keeper of the fast may begin to eat.”

“There are eight doors in Paradise, and one is called Raiyān, by which only the keepers of the fast shall enter.”

“When the month Ramaẓān arrives the doors of Heaven are opened” (in another tradition it is said, the doors of Paradise are opened), “and the doors of hell are shut, and the devils are chained” (in one tradition it is said, the doors of God’s mercy are opened).

“The person who fasts in the month of Ramaẓān on account of belief in God and in obedience to His command, shall be pardoned of all his past sins, and the person who says the night prayers of the Ramaẓān shall be pardoned all his past sins, and the person who says the prayers on the Lailatu ʾl-Qadr with faith and the hope of reward shall be pardoned of all his past sins.”

“If a keeper of fast does not abandon lying, God cares not about his leaving off eating and drinking.”

“There are many keepers of fast who gain nothing by fasting but thirst, and there are many risers up at night and performers of prayers who gain nothing by their rising but wakefulness.”

RAMYU ʾL-JIMĀR (رمى الجمار‎). The throwing of pebbles at the pillars, or Jumrah, at Makkah. A religious ceremony during the Pilgrimage. [[PILGRIMAGE].]

RAQABAH (رقبة‎). Lit. “The Neck”; pl. riqāb. A term used in the Qurʾān for a captive slave. [Sūrah iv. 94]: “Whosoever kills a believer by mistake, then let him free a believing neck.”

The word is used in India for an enclosed area of land. (See Wilson’s Glossary of Indian Terms.)

AR-RAQĪB (الــرقـيـب‎). “The Watcher over.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of the Almighty. The word occurs in the Qurʾān, e.g. [Sūrah iv. 1]: “Verily God doth watch over you.”

AR-RAQĪM (الرقيم‎). A word which occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xviii. 8]: “Hast thou reckoned that the Fellows of the cave and the Raqīm were a wonder amongst our signs?” The commentators are not agreed as to the meaning of this word. The Jalālān say, it was a brass plate or stone-table, on which the names of the Fellows of the Cave were written. The Kamālān say it was either the name of the dog which belonged to the young men, or of the valley in which the cave was situated.

AR-RASHĪD (الرشـيـد‎). “The Rightly Directing.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. The word occurs once in the Qurʾān, but it is not there used for the Almighty. See [Sūrah xi. 80]: “Is there not among you one who can rightly direct?”

RASM (رسم‎), pl. Rusūm. Lit. “That which is stamped or sealed.” According to the Qāmūs, it is a very ancient word used in Arabia before the days of the Prophet for custom and law, the ancient records of the people being entitled Rawāsīm (رواسيم‎). It is a word which is very common in Hindustan for the customs and usages of the people.

AR-RASS (الرس‎). A word which occurs twice in the Qurʾān, the meaning of which is uncertain.

[Sūrah xxv. 40]: “The people of ʿĀd, and S̤amūd, the people of the Rass.”

[Sūrah l. 12]: “Before them the people of Noah and the fellows of the Rass and S̤amūd and ʿĀd and Pharaoh, called the Apostles liars.”

According to the commentators al-Jalālān, it is the name of a well near Midian. Some take it to be the name of a town in Yamāmah.

RASŪL (رسول‎), pl. Rusul. “An Apostle.” A title specially applied to Muḥammad, but used also for all Prophets who brought inspired books. [[PROPHET].]

RAT̤L, RIT̤L (رطل‎). (1) A certain thing which one weighs. A weight or measure. (See The Mug͟hrib of al-Mut̤arrizī, in loco.) (2) That which is chaste. (See the Tāju ʾl-ʿArūs, in loco).

(1) According to the standard of Bag͟hdād, a weight of 12 ounces, and as a measure of capacity, a pint. (Lane’s Arabic Dictionary.) Muḥammad used to give a rat̤l of silver as a marriage present, which has given rise to the expression, As-sunnatu fī ʾn-nikāḥi rit̤lun (السنة فى النكاح رطل‎). Professor Wilson says that at Bombay the ratal is equal to 36 Surat rupees, and in the Red Sea the rottolo, as it is corruptly called, varies from 10 to 20 ounces avoirdupois.

(2) A boy not having arrived at puberty.

(3) An aged man.

AR-RAʾUF (الروف‎). “The Kind.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It occurs frequently in the Qurʾān, e.g. [Sūrah ii. 138]: “God is kind and merciful with mankind.”

AR-RAUẒAH (الروضة‎). Lit. “The Garden.” The garden in which is situated the tomb of Muḥammad at al-Madīnah. The name is also given to the tomb itself by some writers.

RAVEN. Arabic g͟hurāb (غراب‎). Heb. ‏עֹרֵב‎ ʿoreb. Mentioned once in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah v. 34]: “Am I too helpless to become like this raven and hide my brother’s shame.” The raven is not lawful food according to the Muslim law. (Durru ʾl-Muk͟htār, vol. iv. p. 523.)

RAWĀ (روا‎). A Persian word for that which is lawful. [[LAW].]

AR-RAZZĀQ (الرزاق‎). “The Provider with Food.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It occurs in the Qurʾān once. [Sūrah li. 58]: “Verily God; He is the Provider.”

REBEL. Arabic bāg͟hī (باغى‎), pl. bug͟hāt. A legal term for a person, or a body of people, who withdraw themselves from obedience to the rightful Imām. In case of rebellion, the Imām must first call the rebels to his allegiance and show them what is right, and if they refuse to obey, he must use force of arms. (Hidāyah, vol. ii. 248.)

RECORDING ANGELS, The. [[KIRAMU ʾL-KATIBIN].]

RED SEA. Arabic al-Baḥru ʾl-Aḥmar (البحر الاحمر‎). Mentioned in the Qurʾān as al-Baḥr, “the Sea.”

[Sūrah i. 47]: “When we divided for you the sea, and saved you and drowned Pharaoh’s people.”

[Sūrah x. 90]: “And We brought the Children of Israel across the sea.”

In Muḥammadan works it is known as the Baḥru ʾl-Qulzum, or Qalzam. Jalālu ʾd-Dīn, the commentator, says the town of Qulzum is the same as Ailah (the Elath of the Bible, [Deut. ii. 8]), a town at the head of the Arabian Gulf. The Αἴλανα of Strabo (xvi. p. 768). It is referred to in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah vii. 163]: “Ask them about the city which stood by the sea.” Elath was at one time a place of importance, but it has now become quite insignificant.

RELIGION. The religion of Muḥammadans is called Islām (اسلام‎), and the laws of God Sharīʿah (شريعة‎). There are three words used by Muslim writers for the word religion, namely, Dīn, Millah, and Maẕhab. In the Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, the difference between these words is as follows:—

Dīn (دين‎) is used for religion as it stands in relation to God, e.g. Dīnu ʾllāh, “the religion of God.”

Millah (ملة‎), as it stands in relation to the Prophet or lawgiver, e.g. Millatu Ibrāhīm, “the religion of Abraham,” or Millatu ʾr-Rasūl, “the Prophet’s religion.”

Maẕhab (مذهب‎), as it stands in relation to the decisions of the Mujtahidūn, e.g. Muẕhabu Abī Ḥanīfah.

The expression Dīn, however, is of general application, whilst Millah and Maẕhab are restricted in their use. [[ISLAM].]

RELIGIOUS DUTIES, The performance of. Strictly according to Muḥammadan law, it is not lawful to accept any remuneration for the performance of religious duties. But these injunctions are now totally disregarded, and fees are taken for almost every religious duty performed by an Imām. The teaching of the Hidāyah on the subject is as follows:—

“It is not lawful to accept a recompense for summoning the people to prayers, or for the performance of a pilgrimage, or of the duties of an Imam, or for teaching the Koran, or the law; for it is a general rule, with our doctors, that no recompense can be received for the performance of any duty purely of a religious nature. According to Shafei, it is allowed to receive pay for the performance of any religious duty which is not required of the hireling in virtue of a divine ordinance, as this is only accepting a recompense for a certain service; and as the acts above described are not ordained upon the hireling, it is consequently lawful to receive a recompense for them. The arguments of our doctors upon this point are twofold. First, the prophet has said, ‘Read the Koran, but do not receive any recompense for so doing’; and he also directed Othman-bin-Abeeyas, that if he were appointed a Mawzin

“It is not lawful to receive wages for singing or lamentation, or for any other species of public exhibition, as this is taking a recompense for an act which is of a criminal nature, and acts of that nature do not entitle to a recompense in virtue of a contract.”

RE-MARRIAGE. Re-marriage may take place with the divorcer before or after the completion of the ʿiddah, provided only the first or second sentence of divorce has been pronounced, but it cannot take place after a three-fold divorce until the divorced wife is married to another man and is divorced by him after the second marriage has been consummated. This is both Sunnī and Shīʿah law. (Tagore Law Lectures.)

A widow can marry again at the expiration of four months and ten days after the death of her former husband. There is no restriction as to the period for a widower.

RENTAL. Arabic ijārah (اجارة‎). [[HIRE].]

REPENTANCE. Arabic taubah (توبة‎). Lit. “The turning of the heart from sin.” (An-Nawawī’s Commentary on Muslim, vol. ii. p. 354.) It is frequently enjoined in the Qurʾān, e.g.:—

[Sūrah iv. 20]: “If they repent and amend let them be. Verily God is he who relenteth. He is merciful.”

[Sūrah xxiv. 32]: “Be ye wholly turned to God, O ye believers, and it shall be well with you.”

[Sūrah xxv. 71]: “Whoso hath repented and hath done what is right, he verily it is who turneth to God with a true conversion.” [[PARDON].]

RESIDUARIES. Arabic ʿaṣabah (عصبة‎), pl. ʿaṣabāt. According to Muḥammadan law, residuaries in their own right are divided into four classes:—

(1) The offspring of the deceased.

(2) The ascendants (such as father, grandfather, &c.).

(3) The offspring of his father, viz. the brothers and their descendants.

(4) The offspring of his grandfather. (Syed Ameer Ali’s Personal Law, p. 49.) [[INHERITANCE].]

RESIGNATION. The literal meaning of Islām is a state or condition in which a believer becomes “resigned” to the will of God, a “Muslim” being one who is “resigned.” But in the Qurʾān, the grace of resignation is more frequently expressed by the word ṣabr, “patience,” e.g. [Sūrah ii. 150]: “Give good tidings to the patient, who when there falls on them a calamity, say, ‘Verily we are God’s and verily to Him do we return.’ ”

The word Taslīm, which the compiler of the Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt says means to place one’s neck under the commands of God, seems to express the English word “resignation.”

It occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah iv. 68]: “They submit with submission.”

The author of the Ak͟hlāq-i-Jalālī says Taslīm is to “acquiesce in and receive with satisfaction (although, perhaps, repugnant to the inclination) the commands of God,” as exemplified in the verse above quoted.

Riẓāʾ, is also a word which expresses resignation, and is defined as being pleased with the inevitable decrees of God, whatever they may be.

RESURRECTION. Belief in al-yaumu ʾl-āk͟hir (اليوم الاخر‎), “the Last Day,” is an article of the Muḥammadan Faith. The terms used in the Qurʾān are:—

Yaumu ʾ-Qiyāmah, “Day of Standing up” ([Sūrah ii. 79]).

Yaumu ʾl-Faṣl, “Day of Separation” ([Sūrah lxxvii. 14]).

Yaumu ʾl-Ḥisāb, “Day of Reckoning” ([Sūrah xl. 28]).

Yaumu ʾl-Baʿs̤, “Day of Awakening” ([Sūrah xxx. 56]).

Yaumu ʾd-Dīn, “Day of Judgment” ([Sūrah i. 3]).

Al-Yaumu ʾl-Muḥīt̤, “The Encompassing Day” ([Sūrah xi. 85]).

As-Sāʿah, “The Hour” ([Sūrah viii. 186]).

There are very graphic descriptions of the Last Day in the poetical Sūrahs of the Qurʾān. The five following belong to an early period in Muḥammad’s mission:—

[Sūrah lxxv].:—

“It needeth not that I swear by the day of the Resurrection,

Or that I swear by the self-accusing soul.

Thinketh man that we shall not re-unite his bones?

Aye! his very finger tips are we able evenly to replace.

But man chooseth to deny what is before him:

He asketh, ‘When this day of Resurrection?’

But when the eye shall be dazzled,

And when the moon shall be darkened,

And the sun and the moon shall be together,

On that day man shall cry, ‘Where is there a place to flee to?’

But in vain—there is no refuge—

With thy Lord on that day shall be the sole asylum.

On that day shall man be told of all that he hath done first and last;

Yea, a man shall be the eye-witness against himself:

And even if he put forth his plea …

(Move not thy tongue in haste to follow and master this revelation:

For we will see to the collecting and the recital of it;

But when we have recited it, then follow thou the recital,

And, verily, afterwards it shall be ours to make it clear to thee.)

Aye, but ye love the transitory,

And ye neglect the life to come.

On that day shall faces beam with light,

Outlooking towards their Lord;

And faces on that day shall be dismal,

As if they thought that some great calamity would befall them.

Aye, when the soul shall come up into the throat,

And there shall be a cry, ‘Who hath a charm that can restore him?’

And the man feeleth that the time of his departure is come,

And when one leg shall be laid over the other,

To thy Lord on that day shall he be driven on;

For he believed not, and he did not pray,

But he called the truth a lie and turned his back,

Then, walking with haughty mien, rejoined his people.

That Hour is nearer to thee and nearer,

It is ever nearer to thee and nearer still.

Thinketh man that he shall be left supreme?

Was he not a mere embryo?

Then he became thick blood of which God

formed him and fashioned him;

And made him twain, male and female.

Is not He powerful enough to quicken the dead?”

[Sūrah lxxxi. 1–19]:—

“When the sun shall be folded up,

And when the stars shall fall,

And when the mountains shall be set in motion,

And when the she-camels shall be abandoned,

And when the wild beasts shall be gathered together,

And when the seas shall boil,

And when souls shall be paired with their bodies,

And when the female child that had been buried alive shall be asked

For what crime she was put to death,

And when the leaves of the Book shall be unrolled,

And when the Heaven shall be stripped away,

And when Hell shall be made to blaze,

And when Paradise shall be brought near,

Every soul shall know what it hath produced.

It needs not that I swear by the stars of retrograde motion,

Which move swiftly and hide themselves away,

And by the night when it cometh darkening on,

And by the dawn when it brighteneth,

That this is the word of an illustrious Messenger.”

[Sūrah lxxxii].:—

“When the Heaven shall cleave asunder,

And when the stars shall disperse,

And when the seas shall be commingled,

And when the graves shall be turned upside down,

Each soul shall recognize its earliest and its latest actions.

O man! what hath misled thee against thy generous Lord,

Who hath created thee and moulded thee and shaped thee aright?

In the form which pleased Him hath He fashioned thee.

Even so; but ye treat the Judgment as a lie.

Yet truly there are guardians over you—

Illustrious recorders—

Cognizant of your actions.

Surely amid delights shall the righteous dwell,

But verily the impure in Hell-fire:

They shall be burned at it on the day of doom,

And they shall not be able to hide themselves from it.

Who shall teach thee what the day of doom is?

Once more Who shall teach thee what the day of doom is?

It is a day when one soul shall be powerless for another soul: all sovereignty on that day shall be with God.”

[Sūrah lxxxiii. 4–20]:—

“What! have they no thought that they shall be raised again

For the great day?

The day when mankind shall stand before the Lord of the worlds.

Yes! the register of the wicked is in Sijjīn.

And who shall make thee understand what Sijjīn is?

It is a book distinctly written.

Woe, on that day, to those who treated our signs as lies,

Who treated the day of judgment as a lie!

None treat it as a lie, save the transgressor, the criminal,

Who, when our signs are rehearsed to him, saith, ‘Tales of the Ancients!’

Yes; but their own works have got the mastery over their hearts.

Yes; they shall be shut out as by a veil from their Lord on that day;

Then shall they be burned in Hell-fire:

Then shall it be said to them, ‘This is what ye deemed a lie.’

Even so. But the register of the righteous is in ʿIllīyūn.

And who shall make thee understand what ʿIllīyūn is?

A book distinctly written.”

[Sūrah lxxxiv. 1–19]:—

“When the Heaven shall have split asunder

And duteously obeyed its Lord;

And when Earth shall have been stretched out as a plain,

And shall have cast forth what was in her and become empty,

And duteously obeyed its Lord;

Then verily, O man, who desirest to reach thy Lord, shalt thou meet him.

And he into whose right hand his Book shall be given,

Shall be reckoned with in an easy reckoning,

And shall turn, rejoicing, to his kindred.

But he whose Book shall be given him behind his back

Shall invoke destruction:

But in the fire shall he burn,

For that he lived joyously among his kindred,

Without a thought that he should return to God.

Yea, but his Lord beheld him.

It needs not therefore that I swear by the sunset redness,

And by the night and its gatherings,

And by the moon when at her full,

That from state to state shall ye be surely carried onward.”

The following description belongs to a much later period than the former Sūrahs already quoted, and occurs in [Sūrah xxii. 1–7], which was given at Al-Madīnah not long before Muḥammad’s death:—

“O men (of Makkah) fear your Lord. Verily the Earthquake of the Hour will be a tremendous thing!

“On the day when ye shall behold it, every suckling woman shall forsake her sucking babe; and every woman that hath a burden in her womb shall cast her burden; and thou shalt see men drunken, yet are they not drunken: but it is the mighty chastisement of God!

“There is a man who, without knowledge, wrangleth about God, and followeth every rebellious Satan;

“Concerning whom it is decreed, that he shall surely beguile and guide into the torment of the Flame, whoever shall take him for his lord.

“O men! if ye doubt as to the resurrection, yet, of a truth, have We created you of dust, then of the moist germs of life, then of clots of blood, then of pieces of flesh shapen and unshapen, that We might give you proofs of our power! And We cause one sex or the other, at our pleasure, to abide in the womb until the appointed time; then We bring you forth infants; then permit you to reach your age of strength; and one of you dieth, and another of you liveth on to an age so abject that all his former knowledge is clean forgotten! And thou hast seen the earth dried up and barren: but when We send down the rain upon it, it stirreth and swelleth, and groweth every kind of luxuriant herb.

“This, for that God is the Truth, and that it is He who quickeneth the dead, and that He hath power over everything:

“And that ‘the Hour’ will indeed come—there is no doubt of it—and that God will wake up to life those who are in the tombs.”

Very lengthy accounts of the Day of Resurrection, and of the signs preceding it, are given in all books of tradition, and works on dogmatic theology. (See Ṣaḥīḥu ʾl-Buk͟hārī, Arabic Ed. Kitābu ʾl-Fitan, p. 1045; Ṣaḥīḥu ʾl-Muslim, Arabic Ed. vol. ii. p. 388; Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābiḥ, Arabic Ed. Kitābu ʾl-Fitan; Sharḥu ʾl-Muwāqif, p. 579.)

The following, collected by Mr. Sale from various writers, is given, with some alterations, additions, and references.

It is the received opinion amongst Muslims of all sects that at the Resurrection the body will be raised and united to its soul, and that one part of the body, namely, the lower part of the spine, the os sacrum, in Arabic called ʿAjbu ʾẕ-Ẕanab, “the root of the tail,” will be preserved as a basis of the future edifice. (Mishkāt, book xxiii. ch. ix.)

This bone, it is said, will remain uncorrupted till the last day, as a germ from whence the whole is to be renewed. This will be effected by a forty days’ rain which God will send, and which will cover the earth to the height of twelve cubits, and cause the bodies to sprout forth like plants. For this doctrine Muḥammad is beholden to the Jews, who say the same things of the bone Lūz, excepting that what he attributes to a great rain will be effected, according to them, by a dew, impregnating the dust of the earth. (Bereshit rabbah.)

The time of the Resurrection the Muḥammadans allow to be a perfect secret to all but God alone; the Angel Gabriel himself acknowledged his ignorance on this point when Muḥammad asked him about it. (Mishkāt, book i. ch. i.) However, they say the approach of that day may be known from certain signs which are to precede it. These signs are distinguished into “the lesser” and “the greater.”

The lesser signs (Ishārātu ʾs-Sāʿah) are as follows:—

(1.) The decay of faith among men.

(2.) The advancing of the meanest persons to eminent dignity.

(3.) A maid-servant shall become the mother of her mistress (or master); by which is meant either that towards the end of the world men shall be much given to sensuality, or that the Muḥammadans shall then take many captives.

(4.) Tumults and seditions.

(5.) A war with the Greeks or Romans.

(6.) Great distress in the world, so that a man, when he passeth by another’s grave, shall say, “Would to God I were in his place!”

(7.) The provinces of al-ʿIrāq and Syria shall refuse to pay their tribute.

(8.) The buildings of al-Madīnah or Yas̤rib shall reach to Makkah. (Mishkāt, book xxiii. ch. iii.)

The greater signs (ʿAlāmātu ʾṣ-Ṣāʿah) are as follows:—

(1.) The sun’s rising in the west, which some have imagined it originally did.

(2.) The appearance of the Dābbatu ʾl-Arẓ, or “beast,” which shall rise out of the earth, in the temple of Makkah, or on Mount aṣ-Ṣafā. This beast will be sixty cubits high, and will be a compound of various species, having the head of a bull, the eyes of a hog, the ears of an elephant, the horns of a stag, the neck of an ostrich, the breast of a lion, the colour of a tiger, the back of a cat, the tail of a ram, the legs of a camel, and the voice of an ass. She will appear three times in several places, and will bring with her the rod of Moses and the seal of Solomon; and, being so swift that none can overtake her or escape her, will with the first strike all the believers on the face, and mark them with the word Muʾmin, “believer,” and with the latter will mark the unbelievers on the face likewise with the word kāfir, “infidel,” that every person may be known for what he really is. The same beast is to demonstrate the vanity of all religions except Islām, and to speak Arabic. [[DABBATU ʾL-ARZ].]

(3.) War with the Romans or Greeks, and the taking of Constantinople by seventy thousand of the posterity of Isaac, who shall not win that city by force of arms, but the walls shall fall down while they cry out, “There is no deity but God! God is most great!” As they are dividing the spoil, news will come to them of the appearance of Antichrist, whereupon they shall leave all and return back.

(4.) The coming of Antichrist, whom the Muḥammadans call al-Masīḥu ʾd-Dajjāl, “the false or lying Christ.” He is to be one-eyed, and marked on the forehead with the letters ك ف ر‎ K F R, signifying kāfir, “infidel.” He will appear first between al-ʿIrāq and Syria, or, according to others, in the province of K͟horasān. He is to ride on a white ass, be followed by seventy thousand Jews of Ispahān, and continue on earth forty days, of which one will be equal in length to a year, another to a month, another to a week, and the rest will be common days. He will lay waste all places, but will not enter Makkah or al-Madīnah, which are to be guarded by angels; and at length he will be slain by Jesus, who is to encounter him at the gate of Lud. [[MASIHU ʾD-DAJJAL].]

(5.) The descent of Jesus on earth. He is to descend near the white tower to the east of Damascus, when the people have returned from the taking of Constantinople. He is to embrace the Muḥammadan religion, marry a wife, get children, kill Antichrist, and at length die, after forty years’—or, according to others, twenty-four years’—continuance on earth, and be buried at Al-Madīnah. Under him there will be great security and plenty in the world, all hatred and malice being laid aside; when lions and camels, bears and sheep, shall live in peace, and a child shall play with serpents unhurt. (See Ṣaḥīḥu ʾl-Buk͟hārī.)

(6.) War with the Jews, of whom the Muḥammadans are to make a prodigious slaughter, the very trees and stones discovering such of them as hide themselves, except only the tree called G͟harqad, which is the tree of the Jews.

(7.) The appearance of Gog and Magog, or, as they are called, Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj. These barbarians, having passed the lake of Tiberias, which the vanguard of their vast army will drink dry, will come to Jerusalem, and there greatly distress Jesus and His companions, till, at His request, God will destroy them, and fill the earth with their carcasses, which after some time God will send birds to carry away, at the prayers of Jesus and His followers. Their bows, arrows and quivers the Muslims will burn seven years together; and at last God will send a rain to cleanse the earth, and to make it fertile. [[GOG AND MAGOG].]

(8.) A smoke which shall fill the whole earth.

(9.) An eclipse of the moon. Muḥammad is reported to have said, that there would be three eclipses before the last hour, one to be seen in the east, another in the west, and the third in Arabia.

(10.) The returning of the Arabs to the worship of al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā, and the rest of their ancient idols, after the decease of every one in whose heart there was faith equal to a grain of mustard-seed, none but the very worst of men being left alive. For God, they say, will send a cold odoriferous wind, blowing from Syria, which shall sweep away the souls of the faithful, and the Qurʾān itself, so that men will remain in the grossest ignorance for a hundred years.

(11.) The discovery of a vast heap of gold and silver by the retreating of the Euphrates, which will be the destruction of many.

(12.) The demolition of the Kaʿbah in the Makkan temple by the Ethiopians.

(13.) The speaking of beasts and inanimate things.

(14.) The breaking out of fire in the province of al-Ḥijāz, or, according to others, in al-Yaman.

(15.) The appearance of a man of the descendants of Kahtan, who shall drive men before him with his staff.

(16.) The coming of al-Mahdī, “the director,” concerning whom Muḥammad prophesied that the world should not have an end till one of his own family should govern the Arabians, whose name should be the same with his own name, and whose father’s name should also be the same with his father’s name, and who shall fill the earth with righteousness. This person the Shīʿahs believe to be now alive, and concealed in some secret place, till the time of his manifestation; for they suppose him to be no other than the last of the twelve Imāms, named Muḥammad Abū ʾl-Qāsim, as their prophet was. [[SHIʿAH], [MAHDI].]

(17.) A wind which shall sweep away the souls of all who have but a grain of faith in their hearts, as has been mentioned under the tenth sign. (Mishkāt, book xxiii. ch. iv.)

These are the greater signs which, according to Muḥammadan traditions, are to precede the Resurrection, but still leave the hour of it uncertain; for the immediate sign of its being come will be the first blast of the trumpet, which they believe will be sounded three times. The first, “the blast of consternation,” at the hearing of which all creatures in heaven and earth shall be struck with terror, except those whom God shall please to exempt from it. The effects attributed to this first sound of the trumpet are very wonderful; for they say the earth will be shaken, and not only all buildings, but the very mountains, levelled; that the heavens shall melt, the sun be darkened, the stars fall on the death of the angels, who, as some imagine, hold them suspended between heaven and earth, and the sea shall be troubled and dried up, or, according to others, turned into flames, the sun, moon, and stars being thrown into it; the Qurʾān, to express the greatness of the terror of that day, adds that women who give suck shall abandon the care of their infants, and even the she-camels which have gone ten months with young (a most valuable part of the substance of that nation) shall be utterly neglected. (Qurʾān, [Sūrah lxxxi].) A further effect of this blast will be that concourse of beasts mentioned in the Qurʾān, though some doubt whether it be to precede the Resurrection or not. They who suppose it will precede, think that all kinds of animals, forgetting their respective natural fierceness and timidity, will run together into one place, being terrified by the sound of the trumpet and the sudden shock of nature.

This first blast will be followed by a second, the “blast of examination,” when all creatures, both in heaven and earth, shall die or be annihilated, except those which God shall please to exempt from the common fate; and this shall happen in the twinkling of an eye, nay, in an instant, nothing surviving except God alone, with Paradise and Hell, and the inhabitants of those two places, and the throne of Glory. The last who shall die will be the angel of death. (Malaku ʾl-Maut.) ([1 Cor. xv. 26].)

Forty years after this will be heard the “blast of resurrection,” when the trumpet shall be sounded the third time by Isrāfīl, who, together with Gabriel and Michael, will be previously restored to life, and, standing on the rock of the temple of Jerusalem (aṣ-Ṣak͟hrah), shall at God’s command call together all the dry and rotten bones, and other dispersed parts of the bodies, and the very hairs, to judgment. This angel having, by the Divine order, set the trumpet to his mouth, and called together all the souls from all parts, will throw them into his trumpet, from whence, on his giving the last sound, at the command of God, they shall fly forth like bees, and fill the whole space between heaven and earth, and then repair to their respective bodies, which the opening earth will suffer to arise; and the first who shall so arise, according to a tradition of Muḥammad, will be himself. For this the earth will be prepared by the rain above-mentioned, which is to fall continually for forty years, and will resemble the seed of a man, and be supplied from the water under the throne of God, which is called living water; by the efficacy and virtue of which the dead bodies shall spring forth from their graves, as they did in their mother’s womb, or as corn sprouts forth by common rain, till they become perfect; after which breath will be breathed into them, and they will sleep in their sepulchres till they are raised to life at the last trump.

As to the length of the Day of Judgment, the Qurʾān in one place ([Sūrah xxxii. 4]) tells us that it will last one thousand years, and in another ([Sūrah lxx. 4]) fifty thousand. To reconcile this apparent contradiction, the commentators use several shifts, some saying they know not what measure of time God intends in those passages; others, that these forms of speaking are figurative, and not to be strictly taken, and were designed only to express the terribleness of that day, it being usual for the Arabs to describe what they dislike as of long continuance, and what they like as the contrary; and others suppose them spoken only in reference to the difficulty of the business of the day, which, if God should commit to any of his creatures, they would not be able to go through it in so many thousand years.

That the resurrection will be general, and extend to all creatures, both angels, genii, men, and animals, is the received opinion, and according to the teaching of the Qurʾān. (See [Sūrah lxxxi].)

In the resurrection those who are destined to be partakers of eternal happiness will arise in honour and security, and those who are doomed to misery, in disgrace and under dismal apprehensions. As to mankind, they will be raised perfect in all their parts and members, and in the same state as they came out of their mothers’ wombs, that is, barefooted, naked, and uncircumcised; which circumstances, when Muḥammad was telling his wife ʿĀyishah, she, fearing the rules of modesty might be thereby violated, objected that it would be very indecent for men and women to look upon one another in that condition; but he answered her, that the business of the day would be too weighty and serious to allow them the making use of that liberty.

Others, however, allege the authority of their Prophet for a contrary opinion as to their nakedness, and say he asserted that the dead should arise dressed in the same clothes in which they died; although some interpret these words, not so much of the outward dress of the body as the inward clothing of the mind; and understand thereby that every person will rise again in the same state as to his faith or infidelity, knowledge or ignorance, his good or bad works.

Muḥammad taught (Mishkāt, book xxiii. ch. x) that mankind shall be assembled at the last day, and shall be distinguished into three classes. The first, those who go on foot; the second, those who ride; and the third, those who creep, grovelling with their faces on the ground. The first class is to consist of those believers whose good works have been few; the second of those who are in greater honour with God, and more acceptable to Him; whence ʿAlī affirmed that the pious, when they come forth from the sepulchres, shall find ready prepared for them white-winged camels, with saddles of gold, wherein are to be observed some footsteps of the doctrine of the ancient Arabians; and the third class will be composed of the infidels, whom God shall cause to make their appearance with their faces on the earth, blind, dumb, and deaf.

But the ungodly will not be thus only distinguished; for, according to the commentator al-Baiẓāwī (vol. ii. p. 480), there will be ten sorts of wicked men on whom God shall on that day fix certain discretory marks. The first will appear in the form of apes; these are the backbiters. The second in that of swine; these they who have been greedy of filthy lucre, and enriched themselves by public oppression. The third will be brought with their heads reversed and their feet distorted; these are the usurers. The fourth will wander about blind; these are unjust judges. The fifth will be deaf, dumb, and blind, understanding nothing; these are they who glory in their works. The sixth will gnaw their tongues, which will hang down upon their breasts, corrupted blood flowing from their mouths like spittle, so that everybody shall detest them; these are the learned men and doctors, whose actions contradict their sayings. The seventh will have their hands and feet cut off; these are they who have injured their neighbours. The eighth will be fixed to the trunks of palm-trees or stakes of wood; these are the false accusers and informers. The ninth will stink worse than a corrupted corpse; these are they who have indulged their passions and voluptuous appetites. The tenth will be clothed with garments daubed with pitch; and these are the proud, the vain-glorious, and the arrogant.

In the Traditions, Muḥammad is related to have said:—

“The first person who shall receive sentence on the Day of Resurrection will be a martyr, who will be brought into the presence of the Almighty: then God will make known the benefits which were conferred on him in the world, and the person will be sensible of them and confess them; and God will say, ‘What didst thou do in gratitude for them?’ He will reply, ‘I fought in Thy cause till I was slain.’ God will say, ‘Thou liest, for thou foughtest in order that people might extol thy courage.’ Then God will order them to drag him upon his face to hell. The second, a man who shall have obtained knowledge and instructed others, and read the Qurʾān. He will be brought into the presence of God, and will be given to understand the benefits he had received, which he will be sensible of and acknowledge; and God will say, ‘What didst thou do in gratitude thereof?’ He will reply, ‘I learned knowledge and taught others, and I read the Qurʾān to please Thee.’ Then God will say, ‘Thou liest, for thou didst study that people might call thee learned, and thou didst read the Qurʾān for the name of the thing.’ Then God will order him to be dragged upon his face and precipitated into hell. The third, a man to whom God shall have given abundant wealth; and he shall be called into the presence of God, and will be reminded of the benefits which he received, and he will acknowledge and confess them; and God will say, ‘What return didst thou in return for them?’ He will say, ‘I expended my wealth to please thee, in all those ways which Thou hast approved.’ God will say, ‘Thou liest, for thou didst it that people might extol thy liberality’; after which he will be drawn upon his face and thrown into the fire.”

As to the place where they are to be assembled to Judgment, the Qurʾān and Traditions agree that it will be on the earth, but in what part of the earth is not agreed. Some say their Prophet mentioned Syria for the place; others, a white and even tract of land, without inhabitants or any signs of buildings. Al-G͟hazzālī imagines it will be a second earth, which he supposes to be of silver; and others an earth which has nothing in common with ours, but the name; having, it is possible, heard something of the new heavens and new earth, mentioned in Scripture ([Rev. xxi. 1]); whence the Qurʾān has this expression, “on the day wherein the earth shall be changed into another earth.” ([Sūrah xiv. 49].)

The end of the Resurrection the Muḥammadans declare to be, that they who are so raised may give an account of their actions, and receive the reward thereof. And that not only mankind, but the genii and irrational animals also shall be judged on this great day; when the unhorned cattle shall take vengeance on the horned, till entire satisfaction shall be given to the injured.

As to mankind, when they are all assembled together, they will not be immediately brought to judgment, but the angels will keep them in their ranks and order while they attend for that purpose; and this attendance, some say, is to last forty years, others seventy, others three hundred; nay, some say no less than fifty thousand years, each of them vouching their Prophet’s authority. During this space they will stand looking up to heaven, but without receiving any information or orders thence, and are to suffer grievous torments, both the just and the unjust, though with manifest difference. For the limbs of the former, particularly those parts which they used to wash in making the ceremonial ablution before prayer, shall shine gloriously. And their sufferings shall be light in comparison, and shall last no longer than the time necessary to say the appointed prayers; but the latter will have their faces obscured with blackness, and disfigured with all the marks of sorrow and deformity. What will then occasion not the least of their pain, is a wonderful and incredible sweat, which will even stop their mouths, and in which they will be immersed in various degrees, according to their demerits, some to the ankles only and some to the knees, some to the middle, some so high as their mouth, and others as their ears. And this sweat will be provoked not only by that vast concourse of all sorts of creatures mutually pressing and treading on one another’s feet, but by the near and unusual approach of the sun, which will be then no farther from them than the distance of a mile, or (as some translate the word, the signification of which is ambiguous) than the length of a bodkin. So that their skulls will boil like a pot, and they will be all bathed in sweat. From this inconvenience, however, the good will be protected by the shade of God’s throne; but the wicked will be so miserably tormented with it, also with hunger and thirst, and a stifling air, that they will cry out, “Lord, deliver us from this anguish, though thou send us into hell-fire!” What they fable of the extraordinary heat of the sun on this occasion, the Muḥammadans certainly borrowed from the Jews, who say that, for the punishment of the wicked in the Last Day, that planet shall be drawn forth from its sheath, in which it is now put up, lest it should destroy all things by its excessive heat.

When those who have risen shall have waited the limited time, the Muḥammadans believe God will at length appear to judge them, Muḥammad undertaking the office of intercessor, after it shall have been declined by Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, who shall beg deliverance only for their own souls. (Mishkāt, book xxiii. ch. xii.) On this solemn occasion God will come in the clouds, surrounded by angels, and will produce the books wherein the actions of every person are recorded by their guardian angels, and will command the prophets to bear witness against those to whom they have been respectively sent. Then everyone will be examined concerning all his words and actions, uttered and done by him in this life; not as if God needed any information in those respects, but to oblige the person to make public confession and acknowledgment of God’s justice. The particulars of which they shall give an account, as Muḥammad himself enumerated them, are: of their time, how they spent it; of their wealth, by what means they acquired it, and how they employed it; of their bodies, wherein they exercised them; of their knowledge, what use they made of it. It is said, however, that Muḥammad has affirmed that no less than seventy thousand of his followers should be permitted to enter Paradise without any previous examination; which seems to be contradictory to what is said above. To the questions, it is said, each person shall answer, and make his defence in the best manner he can, endeavouring to excuse himself by casting the blame of his evil deeds on others; so that a dispute shall arise even between the soul and the body, to which of them their guilt ought to be imputed: the soul saying, “O Lord, my body I received from thee; for thou createdst me without a hand to lay hold with, till I came and entered into this body; therefore punish it eternally, but deliver me.” The body on the other side will make this apology, “O Lord, thou createdst me like a stock of wood, having neither hand that I could lay hold with, nor foot that I could walk with, till this soul, like a ray of light, entered into me, and my tongue began to speak, my eye to see, and my foot to walk; therefore punish it eternally, but deliver me.”

But God will propound to them the following parable of the blind man and the lame man, which, as well as the preceding dispute, was borrowed by the Muḥammadans from the Jews. (Gemara, Sanhedr., ch. xi.)

A certain king having a pleasant garden, in which were ripe fruits, set two persons to keep it. One of them was blind, and the other lame, the former not being able to see the fruit nor the latter to gather it. The lame man, however, seeing the fruit, persuaded the blind man to take him upon his shoulders, and by that means he easily gathered the fruit, which they divided between them. The lord of the garden coming some time after, and inquiring after his fruit, each began to excuse himself: the blind man said he had no eyes to see with, and the lame man that he had no feet to approach the trees. But the king, ordering the lame man to be set on the blind, passed sentence on and punished them both. And in the same manner will God deal with the body and the soul. As these apologies will not avail on that day, so will it also be in vain for anyone to deny his evil actions, since men and angels and his own members, nay, the very earth itself, will be ready to bear witness against him.

Though the Muḥammadans assign so long a space for the attendance of the resuscitated before their trial, yet they tell us the trial itself will be over in much less time, and, according to an expression of Muḥammad, familiar enough to the Arabs, will last no longer than while one may milk an ewe, or than the space between two milkings of a she-camel. Some, explaining those words so frequently used in the Qurʾān, “God will be swift in taking an account,” say that he will judge all creatures in the space of half a day, and others that it will be done in less time than the twinkling of an eye.

At this examination they also believe that each person will have the book wherein all the actions of his life are written delivered to him, which books the righteous will receive in their right hand, and read with great pleasure and satisfaction; but the ungodly will be obliged to take them against their wills in their left, which will be bound behind their backs, their right hand being tied up to their necks.

To show the exact Justice which will be observed on this great day of trial, the next thing they describe is the mīzān or “balance,” wherein all things shall be weighed. They say it will be held by Gabriel, and that it is of so vast a size that its two scales, one of which hangs over Paradise, and the other over hell, are capacious enough to contain both heaven and earth. Though some are willing to understand what is said in the Qurʾān 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 action to pass unrewarded, because the wicked for the good they do have their reward in this life, and therefore can expect no favour in the next.

The old Jewish writers make mention as well 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 Scripture 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 Surush, will stand on the bridge aṣ-Ṣirāt̤, to 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.

This examination being past, and everyone’s works weighed in a just balance, that mutual retaliation will follow, according to which every creature will take vengeance one of another, or have satisfaction made them for the injuries which they have suffered. And since there will be no other way of returning like for like, the manner of giving this satisfaction will be by taking away a proportionable part of the good works of him who offered the injury, and adding it to those of him who suffered it. Which being done, if the angels (by whose ministry this is to be performed) say, “Lord, we have given to every one his due, and there remaineth of this person’s good works so much as equalleth the weight of an ant,” God will of his mercy cause it to be doubled unto him, that he may be admitted into Paradise. But if, on the contrary, his good works be exhausted, and there remain evil works only, and there be any who have not yet received satisfaction from him, God will order that an equal weight of their sins be added unto his, that he may be punished for them in their stead, and he will be sent to hell laden with both. This will be the method of God’s dealing with mankind.

As to brutes, after they shall have likewise taken vengeance of one another, as we have mentioned above, He will command them to be changed into dust, wicked men being reserved to more grievous punishment, so that they shall cry out, on hearing this sentence pronounced on the brutes, “Would to God that we were dust also!”

As to the genii, many Muḥammadans are of opinion that such of them as are true believers will undergo the same fate as the irrational animals, and have no other reward than the favour of being converted into dust, and for this they quote the authority of their Prophet. But this, however, is judged not so very reasonable, since the genii, being capable of putting themselves in the state of believers as well as men, must consequently deserve, as it seems, to be rewarded for their faith, as well as to be punished for their infidelity. Wherefore some entertain a more favourable opinion, and assign the believing genii a place near the confines of Paradise, where they will enjoy sufficient felicity, though they be not admitted into that delightful mansion. But the unbelieving genii, it is universally agreed, will be punished eternally, and be thrown into hell with the infidels of mortal race. It may not be improper to observe that under the denomination of unbelieving genii the Muḥammadans comprehend also the devil and his companions.

The trials being over and the assembly dissolved, the Muḥammadans hold that those who are to be admitted into Paradise will take the right-hand way, and those who are destined to hell-fire will take the left, but both of them must first pass the bridge, called in Arabic aṣ-Ṣirāt̤, which they say is laid over the midst of hell, and described to be finer than a hair and sharper than the edge of a sword; so that it seems very difficult to conceive how anyone shall be able to stand upon it, for which reason most of the sect of the Muʿtazilites reject it as a fable, though the orthodox think it a sufficient proof of the truth of this article that it was seriously affirmed by him who never asserted a falsehood, meaning their Prophet; who, to add to the difficulty of the passage, has likewise declared that this bridge is beset on each side with briars and hooked thorns, which will, however, be no impediment to the good, for they shall pass with wonderful ease and swiftness, like lightning, or the wind, Muḥammad and his Muslims leading the way, whereas the wicked, what with the slipperiness and extreme narrowness of the path, the entangling of the thorns, and the extinction of the light which directed the former to Paradise, will soon miss their footing, and fall down headlong into hell, which is gaping beneath them.

RETALIATION. [[QISAS].]

REUBEN. Heb. ‏רְאוּבֵן‎ Reubain. Jacob’s first-born son. Referred to in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xii. 10]: “A speaker from amongst them said, ‘Slay not Joseph, but throw him into the bottom of the pit: some of the travellers may pick him up.’”

Al-Baiẓāwī, the commentator, says the name of Joseph’s oldest brother was either Yahūẕā, or Rūbīl. Josephus gives the name as Roubel, and explains it as the “pity of God.” (Ant. i. 19, s. 8.)

REVELATION. [[INSPIRATION], [PROPHETS].]

REVENGE. [[QISAS].]

RIBĀ (ربا‎). “Usury.” A term in Muslim law defined as “an excess according to a legal standard of measurement or weight, in one or two homogeneous articles opposed to each other in a contract of exchange, and in which such excess is stipulated as an obligatory condition on one of the parties without any return.”

The word ribā appears to have the same meaning as the Hebrew ‏נֶשֶׁךְ‎ neshec, which included gain, whether from the loan of money, or goods, or property of any kind. In the Mosaic law, conditions of gain for the loan of money or goods were rigorously prohibited. See [Exod. xxii. 25]; [Lev. xxv. 36]. [[USURY].]

RIBĀT̤ (رباط‎). A station or fort on the frontier of an enemy’s country, erected for the accommodation of Muslim warriors (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 357.)

RICHES. Arabic daulah (دولة‎), Qurʾān lix. 7, māl (مال‎), kas̤ratu ʾl-māl (كثرة المال‎), “Great wealth.” Muḥammad is related to have said, “Whoever desires the world and its riches in a lawful manner, in order to withhold himself from begging, or to provide a livelihood for his family, or to be kind to his neighbours, will appear before God in the Last Day with his face as bright as a full moon. But whoever seeks the riches of the world for the sake of ostentation, will appear before God in his anger. (Mishkāt, book xxii. ch. xxiii.)

In the Qurʾān it is said:—

[Sūrah xviii. 44]: “Wealth (māl) and children are an adornment of this world, but enduring good works are better with thy Lord as a recompense, and better as a hope.”

[Sūrah viii. 28]: “Know that your wealth and your children are but a temptation.”

In the IIIrd Sūrah, [12, 13], the possessions of this world are contrasted with those of the world to come in the following language: “Seemly unto men is a life of lusts, of women, and children, and hoarded talents of gold and silver, and of horses well-bred, and cattle, and tilth:—that is the provision for the life of this world; but God, with Him is the best resort. Say, ‘But shall we tell you of a better thing than this?’ For those who fear are gardens with their Lord, beneath which rivers flow; they shall dwell therein for aye, and pure wives and grace from God; the Lord looks on His servants, who say, ‘Lord, we believe; pardon Thou our sins and keep us from the torment of the fire,’—upon the patient, the truthful, the devout, and those who ask for pardon at the dawn.”

RIKĀZ (ركاز‎). Treasures buried in the earth, particularly those treasures which have been buried at some remote period.

In the Hidāyah, the word rikāz includes kanz, “treasure,” or other property buried in the earth, and maʿdin, “mines.” Such treasures are subject to a zakāt of a fifth. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. i. p. 39.)

RINGS. Arabic k͟hātim (خاتم‎), pl. k͟hawātim. Silver signet-rings are lawful, but a gold ring is not allowed. (See Ṣaḥīḥu ʾl-Buk͟hārī, p. 871.)

Ibn ʿUmar says, “The Prophet took a gold ring and put it on his right hand, but he afterwards threw it away, and took a silver ring, on which was engraved Muḥammadun Rasūlu ʾllāh, i.e. ‘Muḥammad the Messenger of God,’ and he said, ‘Let none of you engrave on your ring like mine.’ And when he wore the ring he used to have the signet under his finger and close to the palm of his hand.” ʿAlī says the ring was on the little finger of the left hand, and that Muḥammad forbade a ring being worn upon the fore or middle finger.

Anas says the Prophet’s ring was of silver and on his right hand.

Modern Muslims usually wear a silver ring on the little finger of the right hand, with a signet of cornelian or other stone, upon which is engraved the wearer’s name, with the addition of the word ʿabdu (عبد‎), “His servant,” meaning the servant or worshipper of God. This signet-ring is used for signing documents, letters, &c. A little ink is daubed upon it with one of the fingers, and it is pressed upon the paper—the person who uses the ring having first touched the paper with his tongue and moistened the place upon which the impression is to be made. There is no restriction in Muslim law regarding rings for women. They are generally of gold, and are worn on the fingers, in the ears, and in the nose.

RIQQ (رق‎). The servitude of a slave. [[SLAVERY].]

RISĀLAH (رسالة‎). Apostleship. The office of an apostle or prophet. [[PROPHETS].]

RISING UP. Arabic qiyām (قيام‎). It is a subject of discussion amongst students of the Traditions, as to whether or not it is incumbent on a Muslim to rise up when a visitor or stranger approaches.

Abū Umāmah says: “The Prophet came out of his house leaning on a stick, and we stood up to meet him, and he said, ‘Do not stand up like the Gentiles who give honour to others.’ ”

Anas says: “There was no one more beloved by the Companions than the Prophet; but when they saw him, they used not to rise, for they knew he disliked it.”

Abū Hurairah says: “The Prophet used to sit with us in the mosque and talk, and when he rose up, we also rose, and remained standing till we saw him enter his house.”

The general practice amongst Muḥammadans is according to the last tradition, but it is held to be very overbearing for a person to require others to rise for him.

Muʿāwiyah says that “the Prophet said, ‘He who is pleased at other people rising for him, does but prepare a place for himself in the fire of hell.’” (Mishkāt, book xxii. ch. iv.) [[SALUTATION].]

RITES. Arabic mansak, mansik (منسك‎), pl. manāsik. The rites and ceremonies attending religious worship in general. Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxii. 35]: “To every nation we appointed rites (mansak) to mention the name of God over the brute beasts which he has provided for them.

The term mansik is more frequently used for a place of sacrifice, while mansak applies to religious observances, but the plural manāsik is common to both, and rendered by Professor Palmer and Mr. Rodwell in their translations of the Qurʾān, “rites.”

The principal rites of the Muslim religion are the Hajj, or Pilgrimage to Makkah, with the ceremonies at the Makkan Temple [[HAJJ]]; the daily ritual of the liturgical prayers [[PRAYER]]; the marriage and funeral ceremonies; and, with the Shīʿahs, the ceremonies of the Muḥarram. The sacrifice on the great festival, although primarily part of the Makkan Pilgrimage ceremonies, is celebrated in all parts of Islām on the ʿĪdu ʾl-Aẓḥā, or Feast of Sacrifice. [[IDU ʾL-AZHA].] The ceremony of Ẕikr can hardly be said to be one of the rites of orthodox Islām, although it is common in all parts of the Muslim world; it belongs rather to the mystic side of the Muḥammadan religion. [[SUFI], [ZIKR].]

RIVER. Arabic nahr (نهر‎), pl. anhār; Heb. ‏נָהָר‎ nahar. The word بحر‎ baḥr, “sea,” being also used for a large river. [[SEA].]

According to Muḥammadan law rivers are of three descriptions:

1. Those which are not the property of any, and of which the waters have not been divided, like the Tigris and the Euphrates. The care of these rivers, being the duty of the State, and the charge of keeping them in order must be defrayed from the public treasury, but these expenses must be disbursed from the funds of tribute and capitation-tax, and not from those of tithe and alms.

2. Rivers which are appropriated and divided, and yet at the same time public rivers on which boats sail. The clearing of such rivers must be done at the expense of the proprietors, although its waters are used for the public benefit.

3. Water-courses which are held in property and divided, and on which no boats sail. The keeping of such streams rests entirely with the proprietors.

In countries where much of the cultivation of land depends upon irrigation, the right to water, or as it is called in Arabic shirb, is a subject of much litigation, and chapters are devoted to the consideration of the subject in the Hidāyah, Fatāwā-i-ʿAlamgīrī, Durru ʾl-Muk͟htār, and other works on Muslim law.

For the Rivers of Paradise, see [EDEN].

RIWĀYAH (رواية‎). Relating the words of another. A word used for both an ordinary narrative, and also for an authoritative tradition. [[TRADITION].]

RIYĀʾ (رياء‎). “Hypocrisy; dissimulation.” Condemned in the Qurʾān.

[Sūrah ii. 266]: “O ye who believe! make not your alms void by reproaches and injury, like him who spendeth his substance to be seen of men, and believeth not in God, and in the Last Day, for the likeness of such an one is that of a rock with a thin soil upon it, on which rain falleth, but leaveth it hard.”

[Sūrah iv. 41, 42]: “We have made ready a shameful chastisement for the unbelievers, and for those who bestow their substance in alms to be seen of men, and believe not in God and in the Last Day.”

RIẒĀʿ (رضاع‎). A legal term, which means sucking milk from the breast of a woman for a certain time. The period of fosterage. [[FOSTERAGE].]

RIẒWĀN (رضوان‎). The name of the gardener or keeper of Paradise.

ROAD OF GOD. Arabic sabīlu ʾllāh (سبيل الله‎). An expression used in the Qurʾān and Traditions for any good act, but especially for engaging in a religious war. [[SABILU ʾLLAH].]

ROMAN. [[GREEKS].]

ROSARY. Arabic subḥah (سبحة‎). The rosary amongst Muḥammadans consists of 100 beads, and is used by them for counting the ninety-nine attributes of God, together with the essential name Allāh [[GOD]]; or the repetition of the Tasbīḥ (“O Holy God!”), the Taḥmīd (“Praised be God!”), and the Takbīr (“God is Great!”), or for the recital of any act of devotion. It is called in Persian and in Hindūstānī the Tasbīḥ (تسبيح‎).

The introduction of the rosary into Christendom in ascribed by Pope Pius V., in a Bull, A.D. 1596, to Dominic, the founder of the Black Friars (A.D. 1221), and it is related that Paul of Pherma, an Egyptian ascetic of the fourth century, being ordered to recite 300 prayers, collected as many pebbles which he kept in his bosom, and threw out one by one at every prayer, which shows that the rosary was probably not in use at that period.

ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq, the commentator on the Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābiḥ, says that in the early days of Islām the Muḥammadans counted God’s praises on small pebbles, or on the fingers, from which the Wahhābīs maintain that their Prophet did not use a rosary. It seems probable that the Muslims borrowed the rosary from the Buddhists, and that the Crusaders copied their Muslim opponents and introduced it into Christendom.

ROZAH (روزه‎). The Persian word for the Arabic ṣaum, or fasting. [[FASTING], [RAMAZAN].]

RUBʿ (ربع‎). A fourth. A legal term used in Muḥammadan law, e.g. “a fourth,” or the wife’s portion when her husband dies without issue.

RUḤ (روح‎), pl. arwāḥ; Heb. ‏רוּחַ‎ ruakh, “spirit; soul; life.” Ibnu ʾl-As̤īr, author of the Nihāyah, says it is the nervous fluid or animal spirit. A vaporous substance, which is the principle of vitality and of sensation, and of voluntary motion.

In the Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrifāt, it is defined as a subtle body, the source of which is the hollow of the corporeal heart, and which diffuses itself into all the other parts of the body by means of the pulsing veins and arteries. See also [Gen. ix. 4]: “Flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof.” Many of the ancients believed the soul to reside in the blood. (See Virgil’s Æn., ix. p. 349.) The breath which a man breathes and which pervades the whole body. Called in Persian jān (جان‎). The philosophers say it is the blood, by the exhausting of which life ceases. The word is generally rendered in Hindūstānī as of the feminine gender, but Arabic authors render it as often masculine as feminine. (See Lane’s Arabic Dictionary, in loco.)

In the Qurʾān the word is sometimes used for Jesus, who is known as Rūḥu ʾllāh (“the Spirit of God”), for the angel Gabriel, and also for life, grace, soul, and the Spirit of Prophecy. (A complete list of texts is given in the article [SPIRIT].)

According to the Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, p. 76, spirit is of three kinds:—

(1) Ar-Rūḥu ʾl-Insānī (الروح الانسانى‎), “the human spirit,” by which is understood the mind of man, which distinguishes him from the animal, and which is given to him, by the decree of God, from heaven, of the true essence of which we know nothing. It is this spirit which is sometimes united to the body and sometimes separated from it, as in sleep or death.

(2) Ar-Rūḥu ʾl-Ḥaiwānī (الروح الحيوانى‎), “the animal spirit,” by which is understood the life, the seat of which is in the heart, and which moves in the veins with the pulsations of the body.

(3) Ar-Rūḥu ʾl-Aʿz̤am, (الروح الاعظم‎), “the exalted spirit,” that human spirit which is connected with the existence of God, but the essence of which is unknown to all but the Almighty. The spiritual faculty in man. It is called also al-ʿAqlu ʾl-Awwal, “the first intelligence”; al-Ḥaqīqatu ʾl-Muḥammadīyah, “the essence of Muḥammad”; an-Nafsu ʾl-Wāḥidah, “the single essence”; al-Ḥaqīqatu ʾl-Samāwīyāh, “The original spirit of man first created by God.”

The following terms are also found in Muslim works:—

Ar-Rūḥu ʾn-Nabātī (الروح النباتى‎), “the vegetable spirit.”

Ar-Rūḥu ʾt̤-T̤abiʿī (الروح الطبعى‎), “the animal spirit.”

Ar-Rūḥu ʾl-Ilāhī (الروح اللهى‎), “the divine spirit.”

Ar-Rūḥu ʾs-Suflī (الروح السفلى‎), “the lower spirit,” which is said to belong merely to animal life.

Ar-Rūḥu ʾl-ʿUlwī (الروح العلوى‎), “the lofty or heavenly spirit.”

Ar-Rūḥu ʾl-Jārī (الروح الجارى‎), “the travelling spirit,” or that which leaves the body in sleep and gives rise to dreams.

Ar-Rūḥu ʾl-Muḥkam (الروح المحكم‎), “the resident spirit,” which is said never to leave the body, even after death.

Rūḥu ʾl-Ilqāʾ (روح الالقاء‎), “the spirit of casting into.” Used for Gabriel and the spirit of prophecy. [[SPIRIT].]

AR-RŪḤU ʾL-AMĪN (الروح الامين‎). “The faithful spirit.” Occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxvi. 193]: “Verily from the Lord of the Worlds hath this book come down; the faithful spirit hath come down with it upon thy heart, that thou mayest become a warner in the clear Arabic tongue.” It is supposed to refer to the Angel Gabriel. [[SPIRIT].]

RŪḤU ʾLLĀH (روح الله‎). “The Spirit of God.” According to Muḥammad, it is the special Kalimah, or title of Jesus. See the Qurʾān.

Sūratu ʾn-Nisāʾ [(iv.), 169]: “The Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, is only an Apostle of God, and His Word, which He conveyed into Mary and a spirit proceeding from Himself.” (Rūḥun min-hu).

Sūratu ʾl-Ambyāʾ [(xxi.), 91]: “Into whom (Mary) we breathed of our spirit.”

Sūratu ʾt-Taḥrīm [(lxvi.), 12]: “Into whose womb we breathed of our spirit.”

It is also used in the Qurʾān for Adam, Sūratu ʾs-Sajdah [(xxxii.), 8]; Sūratu ʾl-Ḥijr [(xv.), 29]; and Sūratu Ṣād [(xxxviii.), 72]; where it is said that God breathed his spirit into Adam, but Adam is never called Rūḥu ʾllāh in any Muḥammadan book. [[SPIRIT], [JESUS].]

RŪḤU ʾL-QUDUS (روح القدس‎). “The Holy Spirit” (lit. “Spirit of Holiness”). The expression only occurs three times in the Qurʾān:—

[Sūrah ii. 81]: “We gave Jesus the Son of Mary manifest signs and aided him with the Holy Spirit.”

[Sūrah ii. 254]: “Of them is one to whom God spoke (i.e. Moses); and we have raised some of them degrees; and we have given Jesus the son of Mary manifest signs, and strengthened him by the Holy Spirit.”

[Sūrah v. 109]: “When God said, ‘O Jesus, son of Mary! remember my favours towards thee and towards thy mother, when I aided thee with the Holy Spirit, till thou didst speak to men in the cradle, and when grown up.’”

Al-Baiẓāwī says the meaning of the expression Rūḥu ʾl-Qudus is the Angel Gabriel, although some understand it to refer to the spirit of Jesus, and others to the Gospel of Jesus, whilst some think it is the Ismu ʾl-Aʿz̤am, or “the exalted name of God,” whereby Jesus raised the dead. (See Tafsīru ʾl-Baiẓāwī, p. 65.) [[SPIRIT], [HOLY SPIRIT].]

RUINOUS BUILDINGS. The owner of a ruinous wall in any building is responsible for any accident occasioned by its fall, after having received due warning and requisition to pull it down, and a person building a crooked wall is responsible for the damage occasioned by its falling. But the owner of a ruinous house is not responsible for accidents occasioned by the fall of any article from it, unless such article belong to him. (Hidāyah, Grady’s Ed., pp. 664, 665.)

RUK͟H (رخ‎). The name of a monstrous bird, which is said to have power sufficient to carry off a live elephant. (G͟hīyas̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah, in loco.)

AR-RUKNU ʾL-YAMĀNĪ (الركن اليمانى‎). The Yamānī pillar. The south corner of the Kaʿbah, said to be one of the most ancient parts of the temple. [[MASJIDU ʾL-HARAM].]

Burkhardt says: “In the south-east corner of the Kaʿbah, or as the Arabs call it, Rokn el Yamany, 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 Meccah stone. This the people walking round the Kaʿbah touch only with the right hand; they do not kiss it.” (Captain Burton says he had frequently seen it kissed by men and women.)

Burton remarks: “The Rukn el Yamani is a corner facing the south. The part alluded to (by Burkhardt) is the wall of the Kaʿbah, between the Shami and Yemani angles, distant about three feet from the latter, and near the site of the old western door, long since closed. The stone is darker and redder than the rest of the wall. It is called El Mustajab (or Mustajab min el Zunub, or Mustajab el Dua, “where prayer is granted”). Pilgrims here extend their arms, press their bodies against the building, and beg pardon for their sins.” (El Medinah and Mecca, vol. ii. p. 160.)

RUKŪʿ (ركوع‎). A posture in the daily prayers. An inclination of the head with the palms of the hands resting upon the knees. [[PRAYERS].]

THE RUKUʿ.

RULE OF FAITH. The Muḥammadan rule of faith is based upon what are called the four foundations of orthodoxy, namely, the Qurʾān, or, as it is called, Kalāmu ʾllāh, “the Word of God; the Ḥadīs̤ (pl. Aḥādīs̤), or the traditions of the sayings and practice of Muḥammad; Ijmāʿ, or the consent of the Mujtahidūn, or learned doctors; and Qiyās, or the analogical reasoning of the learned.

In studying the Muḥammadan religious system, it must be well understood that Islām is not simply the religion of the Qurʾān, but that all Muḥammadans, whether Sunnī, Shīʿah, or Wahhābī, receive the Traditions as an authority in matters of faith and practice. The Sunnī Muḥammadans arrogate to themselves the title of traditionists; but the Shīʿahs also receive the Ḥadīs̤ as binding upon them, although they do not acknowledge the same collection of traditions as those received by their opponents. [[QURʾAN], [TRADITIONS], [IJMAʿ], [QIYAS], [RELIGION], [ISLAM].]

RULERS. The ideal administration of the Muslim world, as laid down in the Traditions, is that the whole of Islām shall be under the dominion of one Imām or leader, who is the K͟halīfah (خليفة‎), or vicegerent, of the Prophet on earth. The rulers of provinces under this Imām are called Amīr (امير‎) (pl. Umarāʾ). The Eastern titles of Sult̤ān and Shāh are not established in the Muḥammadan religion. The word Malik, Heb. ‏מֶלֶךְ‎ Melekh, occurs in the Qurʾān for a “king” and is used for King Saul ([Sūrah ii. 248]). The word is still retained in Asia for the chiefs of villages.

In the Qurʾān ([Sūrah iv. 62]), believers are enjoined to “obey the Apostle and those in authority,” but the chief injunctions are found in the Traditions.

In the Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābiḥ, book xvi. ch. i., the following sayings of Muḥammad regarding rulers are recorded:—

“Whoever obeys me obeys God, and whoever disobeys me disobeys God. Whoever obeys the Amīr obeys me. An Imām is nothing but a shield to fight behind, by which calamities are avoided; and if he orders you to abstain from that which is unlawful, he will have great regard; but if he enjoins that which God has forbidden, he will bear the punishment of his own acts.”

“If God appoints as your Amīr a man who is a slave, with his ears and nose cut off, and who puts people to death according to God’s book, then you must listen and obey him in all things.”

“If a negro slave is appointed to rule over you, you must listen to him and obey him, even though his head be like a dried grape.”

“It is indispensable for every Muslim to listen to and approve the orders of the Imām, whether he likes or dislikes, so long as he is not ordered to sin and act contrary to law. When he is ordered to sin, he must neither attend to it nor obey it.”

“There is no obedience due to sinful commands, nor to any order but what is lawful.”

“He who shall see a thing in his ruler which he dislikes, let him be patient, for verily there is not one who shall separate a body of Muslims the breadth of a span, and he dies, but he dies like the people of ignorance.”

“The best Imāms are those you love, and those who love you, and those who pray for compassion on you, and you on them; and the worst of Imāms are those you hate, and those who hate you; and those whom you curse, and who curse you. Auf said, “O Prophet of God! when they are our enemies and we theirs, may we not fight against them?” He said, “No, so long as they keep on foot the prayers amongst you.” This he repeated. “Beware, he who shall be constituted your ruler, see if he does anything in disobedience to God, and if he does, hold it in displeasure, but do not withdraw yourselves from his obedience.”

“There will be Amīrs among you, some of whose actions you will find conformable to law, and some contrary thereto; then when anyone who shall say to their faces, ‘These acts are contrary to law,’ verily he shall be pure; and he who has known their actions to be bad, and has not told them so to their faces, has certainly not remained free from responsibility, and he who has seen a bad act and obeyed it, is their companion in it.” The Companions said, “May we not fight them?” The Prophet said, “No, so long as they perform prayers.”

“He who is disobedient to the Imām will come before God on the Day of Resurrection without a proof of his faith, and he who dies without having obeyed the Imām, dies as the people of ignorance.”

“Prophets were the governors of the children of Israel, and when one died, another supplied his place; and verily there is no prophet after me, and the time is near when there will be after me a great many K͟halīfahs.” The Companions said, “Then what do you order us?” The Prophet said, “Obey the K͟halīfah, and give him his due; for verily God will ask about the duty of the subject.”

“When two K͟halīfahs have been set up, put the last of them to death, and preserve the other, because the second is a rebel.”

“Whoever wishes to make divisions amongst my people, kill with a sword.”

“He who acknowledges an Imām must obey him as far as in his power, and if another pretender comes, kill him.”

“Verily the time is near that you will be ambitious of ruling; and it is at hand that this love of rule will be a cause of sorrow at the Resurrection, although the possession of it appears pleasant, and its departure unpleasant.”

“That is the best of men who dislikes power.”

“Beware! you are all guardians of the subject, and you will all be asked about your obedience. The Imām is the guardian of the subject, and he will be asked respecting this. A man is as a shepherd to his own family, and will be asked how they behaved, and about his conduct to them; and a wife is a guardian to her husband’s house and children and will be interrogated about them; and a slave is a shepherd to his master’s property, and will be asked about it, whether he took good care of it or not.”

“There is no Amīr who oppresses the subject and dies, but God forbids Paradise to him.”

“Verily the very worst of Amīrs are those who oppress the subject.”

“O God! he who shall be ruler over my people and shall throw them into misery, O God! cast him into misery; and he who shall be chief of my people and be kind to them, then be kind to him.”

“Verily, just princes will be upon splendid pulpits on the right hand of God; and both God’s hands are right.”

“God never sent any Prophet, nor ever made any K͟halīfah, but had two counsellors with him, one of them directing lawful deeds (that is, a good angel), and the other sin (that is, the devil). He is guarded from sin whom God has guarded.” [[KHALIFAH].]

AR-RŪM (الروم‎). The Arabic form of the Latin Roma, or Romanus. The ancient Byzantine, or Eastern Roman Empire. Still used in Eastern countries as a name for the Turkish Empire.

The title of the XXXth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, which opens with the word. “The Greeks are overcome in the highest parts of the land; but after being overcome they shall overcome in a few years.” [[GREEKS].]

RUQAIYAH (رقية‎). A daughter of Muḥammad by his wife K͟hadījah. She was married to ʿUtbah, the son of Abū Lahab, but being divorced by her husband, she was married to ʿUs̤mān, the third K͟halīfah.

RUQBĀ (رقبى‎). Lit. “Waiting.” Giving a thing on condition that if the donor die before the receiver it shall become the property of the receiver and his heirs; but if the receiver die first, the property given shall return to the donor. It is forbidden in Muslim law, because it exposes each of the parties to the temptation of wishing for the other’s death.

RUQYAH (رقية‎). “Enchanting.” The use of spells. The word used in the Ḥadīs̤ for exorcism and incantation. [[EXORCISM].]

RŪYĀʾ (روياء‎). “A dream; a vision. A term used in the Qurʾān for the visions of the Prophets. It occurs five times. Once for the vision of Joseph ([Sūrah xii. 5]); twice for the dream of the Egyptian king ([Sūrah v. 43]); once for the vision of Abraham ([Sūrah xxxvii. 105]); once for Muḥammad’s vision ([Sūrah xvii. 62].). [[DREAMS].]