Z.
ẔABḤ (ذبح). Heb. זֶבַח zebak͟h. Arabic lexicographers define the word to mean the act of cutting the throat. In the language of the law, it denotes the act of slaying an animal agreeably to the prescribed forms, without which its flesh is not lawful for the food of man. See Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 167, 168]:—
“Eat of the good things wherewith we have provided you, and give thanks unto God, if ye are His worshippers. He has only forbidden for you that which is dead, and blood, and flesh of swine, and whatsoever has been consecrated to other than God; but he who is forced, neither revolting nor transgressing, it is no sin for him: for verily God is forgiving and merciful.”
The injunctions in the Traditions are more explicit (Mishkāt, book xviii. ch. i.), for example: Abū T̤ufail relates that ʿAlī was once asked, “Has the Prophet ever told you anything with regard to religion which he has not told others?” And ʿAlī replied, “Nothing, unless it be that which I have in the scabbard of my sword.” Then ʿAlī brought out of his scabbard a piece of paper, and thereon was written: “May God curse those who slay without repeating the name of God, in the same manner as the polytheists did in the names of their idols; may God curse those who remove their neighbours’ landmarks; may God curse those who curse their fathers; may God curse those who harbour innovators in matters of religion.”
According to Sunnī law, ẕabḥ is of two kinds: (1) Ik͟htiyārī, of choice; and (2) Iẓt̤irārī, of necessity.
The first is effected by cutting the throat above the breast and reciting the words Allāhu akbar, “God is most great”; and the second by reciting these words upon shooting an arrow or discharging a gun.
The latter act, however, is merely a substitute for the former, and accordingly is not of any account unless the former be impracticable; for the proper ẕabḥ is held to be by the shedding of blood, and the former method is most effectual for this purpose.
It is absolutely necessary that the person who slays the animal should be a Muslim or a kitābī (i.e. a Jew or a Christian), and that he should do it in the name of God alone; it signifies not whether the person be a man or a woman, or an infant, or an idiot, or an uncircumcised person.
An animal slain by a Magian is unlawful, as also that slain by an idolater or a polytheist. Ẕabḥ performed by an apostate from the Muslim faith (who is worthy of death) is also unlawful; but, according to Abū Ḥanīfah, if a Jew or a Christian become an apostate from his own creed, his ẕabḥ is lawful, for the Muslim law still regards him, with respect to ẕabḥ, in the same light as formerly.
If the slayer wilfully omit the invocation, “In the name of the most great God,” the flesh of the animal is unlawful; but if he omit the invocation through forgetfulness, it is lawful, although there is some difference of opinion on this subject amongst the Sunnī doctors. Ash-Shāfiʿī is of opinion that the animal is lawful in either case, but the Imām Mālik maintains that it is unlawful in both.
Abū Yūsuf and all the Ḥanafī doctors have declared, that an animal slain under a wilful omission of the invocation is utterly unlawful, and that the magistrate must forbid the sale of meat so killed.
It is a condition of ẕabḥ ik͟htiyārī that the invocation be pronounced over the animal at the time of slaying it; but in the case of ẕabḥ iẓt̤irārī (i.e. when a person slays an animal in hunting), the condition is that the invocation be pronounced at the time of letting loose the hound or hawk, or of shooting the arrow or gun, or casting the spear.
It is a condition of ẕabḥ that nothing but the invocation Bismi ʾllāhi Allāhi akbar, “In the name of God, God the most great,” should be said. That is, no prayer or other matter must be mentioned.
The place for slaying is betwixt the throat and the head of the breast-bone (Arabic labbah), and the vessels it is requisite to cut are four, al-hulqūm, “the wind-pipe,” al-marīʾ, “the gullet,” and al-warīdān, or al-wadajān, “the two jugular veins.”
Ash-Shāfiʿī holds that if a man slay an animal with a nail or horn or teeth, the flesh is unlawful, but this is not the opinion of other doctors. (See Durru ʾl-Muk͟htār and Hidāyah, in loco.)
AZ-ZABĀNĪYAH (الزبانية). Lit. “Guards.” The angels in charge of hell, of whom Mālik is said to be the chief. [Sūrah xcvi. 17, 18]: “So let him call his council: we will call the guards of hell (az-Zabānīyah).”
ẔABĪḤAH (ذبيحة). Lit. “Cut or divided lengthways.” Heb. זֶבַח zebak͟h. An animal slaughtered according to the law; a sacrifice. [[LAWFUL FOOD], [SACRIFICES].]
ZABĪR (زبير). A name for Mount Sinai. Al-Baiẓāwī says it is the mountain on which the Lord conversed with Moses. [[SINAI], [TUR].]
ẒABT̤ (ضبط). “Occupation, seizure.” In Muḥammadan law it means attachment, distraint, or sequestration; taking lands under the management of Government officers.
ZABŪR (زبور), pl. zubur. Also zubūr, pl. of zibr. From the Heb. זִמְרָה zimrāh, “a psalm or chant” ([Psa. lxxxi. 2], [xcviii. 5]). The title given to the Psalms of David in the Qurʾān, where it occurs only three times.
Sūratu ʾn-Nisāʾ [(iv.) 161]: “And to David we gave Psalms (zabūran).”
Sūratu ʾl-Miʿrāj [(xvii.) 57]: “And Psalms (zabūran) we gave to David.”
Sūratu ʾl-Ambiyāʾ [(xxi.) 105]: “And now, since the exhortation (ẕikr) was given, have we written in the Psalms (fī ʾz-zabūri) that my servants the righteous shall inherit the earth.”
Both Sale and Rodwell take this last to be a quotation from [Psa. xxxvii. 29] (it appears to be the only direct quotation from either the Old or New Testament in the whole of the Qurʾān), and they have both translated the Arabic ẕikr “the law,” meaning, of course, the Taurāt. Amongst Muslim commentators, there is considerable difference of opinion as to what is meant in this verse by ẕikr and zabūr.
The commentator al-Baiẓāwī says there are three views. Said ibn Jubair and Mujaiyid explained the word zabūr to mean all inspired books, and that by ẕikr was meant the Preserved Tablet (al-Lauḥu ʾl-Maḥfūz̤). Ibn ʿAbbās and aẓ-Ẓaḥḥāk said by zabūr was meant the Taurāt, and by ẕikr those books which came after. And Shaʿbī said the zabūr was the Book of David, and the ẕikr that of Moses.
Al-Bag͟hawī and al-Jalālān decide in favour of the first interpretation, Ḥusain decides in favour of the third, whilst al-Baiẓāwī leaves it an open question.
Jalālu ʾd-dīn as-Suyūt̤ī gives the word zabūr as one of the fifty-five titles of the Qurʾān.
ZACHARIAS. Arabic Zakarīyāʾ (زكرياء). [[ZAKARIYAʾ].]
ZAFĪR (زفير). Lit. “Drawing back the breath because of distress; groaning.” In the Qurʾān, for the groans of hell. [Sūrah xi. 108]: “In the Fire, there shall they groan.”
ẔAʿFIRĀNĪYAH (ذعفرانية). A sect of Muslims, who say the Qurʾān is a created thing, the orthodox school maintaining that the Word of God is uncreated. (Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, in loco.)
ZAḤF (زحف). Lit. “A swarming multitude.” An army; a military force arrayed for battle.
Qurʾān, [Sūrah viii. 15]: “O ye who believe! when ye meet the marshalled hosts of the unbelievers, turn not your backs to them.” Hence, battle, combat.
ZĀHID (زاهد). Lit. “Abstinent; continent.” An ascetic person. Zāhid-i-k͟hushk, Persian, “a dissembler, a hypocrite.”
Z̤ĀHIR (ظاهر). “Outward, exterior, manifest.” A word much used in Muslim theology to express that which is manifest, as distinguished from bāt̤in, “interior,” or k͟hafī, “that which is hidden.”
AZ̤-Z̤ĀHIR (الظاهر). “The Evident.” One of the ninety-nine attributes of God.
Qurʾān, [Sūrah lviii. 3]: “He is the First and the Last, the Evident and the Hidden.”
Z̤ĀHIRU ʾL-MAẔHAB (ظاهر المذهب). An expression used by Ḥanafī Muslims for those theological questions which are decided in the four well-known Sunnī books: al-Mabsūt̤, al-Jāmiʿu ʾl-Kabīr, al-Jāmiʿu ʾṣ-Ṣag͟hīr, as-Sairu ʾl-Kabīr.
Z̤ĀHIRU ʾL-MUMKINĀT (ظاهر الممكنات). An expression used by theologians for the proofs of God’s existence, power, and attributes, as exhibited in nature.
ZAID IBN AL-HĀRIS̤ (زيد بن الــحــارث). Muḥammad’s freedman and adopted son. Muḥammad having seen and admired Zaid’s wife Zainab, her husband divorced her. The relations of the ancient Arabs to their adopted children were very strict, and Muḥammad’s marriage with the divorced wife of his adopted son occasioned much scandal amongst his contemporaries. A revelation was consequently produced which revoked the inconvenient restrictions.
[Sūrah xxxiii. 37]: “And when Zaid had settled the necessary matter of her divorce, we did wed her to thee, that it might not be a crime in the faithful to marry the wives of their adopted sons, when they have settled the necessary affair concerning them.”
Zaid was slain at the battle of Mūtah, as he carried the standard of Islām, A.H. 8.
ZAIDĪYAH (زيدية). A Shīʿah sect. Those who followed Zaid the son of ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusain instead of the other son Jaʿfar aṣ-Ṣādiq. [[SHIʿAH].]
ZAIG͟H (زيغ). Lit. “Turned aside” (from the Truth). It occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah iii. 5, 6]: “In whose hearts is perversity.… O Lord, pervert not our hearts.”
ZAINAB (زينب). The daughter of K͟huzaimah and the widow of ʿUbaid, Muḥammad’s cousin, who was slain at Badr. She married Muḥammad in the third year of the Hijrah. Zainab was renowned for her kindness to the poor, and was called Ummu ʾl-Masākīn, “the mother of the poor,” from her care of destitute converts. She and K͟hadījah were the only wives of the Prophet who died before him.
ZAINAB (زينب). The daughter of Jaḥsh and the divorced wife of Muḥammad’s adopted son Zaid. Being the wife of an adopted son, she was unlawful to the Prophet, but a pretended revelation (see Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxxiii. 37]) settled the difficulty, and Muḥammad married her. [[MUHAMMAD].]
ZAINAB BINT MUḤAMMAD (زينب بنت محمد). The daughter of Muḥammad by K͟hadījah. She married Abū ʾl-ʿĀṣ. The story of the conversion of Abū ʾl-ʿĀṣ, through the devotion of his wife, is told by Muir (vol. iv. p. 7). She died A.H. 61.
ZĀʾIR (زائر). A pilgrim to Muḥammad’s grave at al-Madīnah, as distinguished from a ḥājī, or pilgrim to Makkah. According to Burton, Zāʾirs are ordered to visit the tomb perfumed and in their best clothes. The person who conducts the zāʾir to the sacred spot, is called a muzawwir, who on the occasion of Captain Burton’s visit recited the following prayer:—
“In the name of Allah and in the Faith of Allah’s Prophet! O Lord, cause me to enter the entering of truth, and cause me to issue forth the issuing of Truth, and permit me to draw near to Thee and make me a King victorious!” (i.e. over the world, the flesh, and the devil). Then follow blessings on the Prophet, and afterwards: “O Allah! open to me the doors of Thy mercy, and grant me entrance into it, and protect me from the stoned devil!” (Burton’s El-Medinah and Meccah, vol. ii. p. 296.)
ZAKARĪYĀʾ (زكرياء). Zacharias. The father of John Baptist; the husband of Hannah’s sister, and the uncle of the Virgin Mary. Mentioned four times in the Qurʾan:—
[Sūrah iii. 32]: “So with goodly acceptance did her Lord accept her, with goodly growth did He make her grow, and Zakarīyāʾ reared her. So oft as Zakarīyāʾ went in to Mary at the sanctuary, he found her supplied with food. ‘Oh Mary!’ said he, ‘whence hast thou this?’ She said, ‘It is from God; verily God supplieth whom He will without reckoning!’ There did Zakarīyāʾ call upon his Lord; ‘O my Lord!’ said he, ‘vouchsafe me from Thyself good descendants; Thou verily art the hearer of prayer.’ Then did the angels call to him, as he stood praying in the sanctuary: ‘God announced John (Yaḥyā) to thee, who shall be a verifier of the Word from God, and a great one, chaste, and a prophet of the number of the just.’ He said, ‘O my Lord! how shall I have a son now that old age has come upon me and my wife is barren?’ He said: ‘Thus will God do his pleasure.’ He said, ‘Lord! give me a token.’ He said, ‘Thy token is, that not for three days shalt thou speak to man but by signs. But remember thy Lord often, and praise Him at even and at morn.’ ”
[Sūrah vi. 85]: “And Zakarīyāʾ, John, Jesus, and Elias: all were just persons.”
[Sūrah xix. 1–12]: “A recital of thy Lord’s mercy to His servant Zakarīyāʾ, when he called upon his Lord with secret calling. He said: ‘O Lord, verily my bones are weak and the hoar hairs glisten on my head, and never, Lord, have I prayed to Thee with ill success. But now I have fear for my kindred after me; and my wife is barren: Give me, then, a successor as Thy special gift and an heir of the family of Jacob: and make him, Lord, well-pleasing to Thee.’ ‘O Zakarīyāʾ, verily We announce to Thee a son,—his name Yaḥyā (John): that name We have given to none before him.’ He said: ‘O my Lord! how when my wife is barren shall I have a son, and when I have now reached old age, failing in my powers?’ He said: ‘So shall it be. Thy Lord hath said, Easy is this to Me, for I created thee aforetime when thou wast nothing.’ He said: ‘Vouchsafe me, O my Lord! a sign.’ He said: ‘Thy sign shall be that for three nights, though sound in health, thou speakest not to man.’ And he came forth from the sanctuary to his people, and made signs to them as though he would say, ‘Praise God at morn and even.’ ”
[Sūrah xxi. 89]: “And Zakarīyāʾ, when he called upon his Lord saying, ‘O my Lord leave me not childless: but there is no better heir than Thyself.’ So We heard him and gave him Yaḥyā (John), and We made his wife fit for child-bearing.”
ZAKĀT (زكوة). In its primitive sense the word zakāt means purification, whence it is also used to express a portion of property bestowed in alms, as a sanctification of the remainder to the proprietor. It is an institution of Islām and founded upon an express command in the Qurʾān (vide [Sūrah ii. 77]), being one of the five foundations of practical religion.
It is a religious duty incumbent upon any person who is free, sane, adult, and a Muslim, provided he be possessed in full property of such estate or effects as are termed in the language of the law niṣāb, and that he has been in possession of the same for the space of one complete year. The niṣāb, or fixed amount of property upon which zakāt is due, varies with reference to the different kinds of property in possession, as will be seen in the present article.
The one complete year in which the property is held in possession is termed ḥaulu ʾl-ḥaul. Zakāt is not incumbent upon a man against whom there are debts equal to or exceeding the amount of his whole property, nor is it due upon the necessaries of life, such as dwelling-houses, or articles of clothing, or household furniture, or cattle kept for immediate use, or slaves employed as actual servants, or armour and weapons designed for present use, or upon books of science and theology used by scholars, or upon tools used by craftsmen.
(1) The zakāt of camels. Zakāt is not due upon less than five camels, and upon five camels it is one goat or sheep, provided they subsist upon pasture throughout the year, because zakāt is only due upon such camels as live on pasture, and not upon those which are fed in the home with forage. One goat is due upon any number of camels from five to nine; two goats for any number of camels from ten to fourteen; three goats for any number from twenty to twenty-four. Upon any number of camels from twenty-five to thirty-five the zakāt is a bint mik͟hāẓ, or a yearling female camel; from thirty-six to forty-five, a bint labūn, or a two-year-old female camel; from forty-six to sixty, a ḥiqqah, or a three-year-old female camel; from sixty-one to seventy-five, a jaẕʿah, or four-year-old female camel; from seventy-five to ninety, two camels’ female two-year-old colts; and from ninety-one to one hundred and twenty, two camels’ female three-year-old colts. When the number of camels exceeds one hundred and twenty, the zakāt is calculated by the aforesaid rule.
(2) The zakāt of bulls, cows, and buffaloes. No zakāt is due upon fewer than thirty cattle, and upon thirty cattle which feed on pasture for the greater part of the year, there is due at the end of the year a tabīʿah, or a one-year-old calf; and upon forty is due a musim, or a calf of two years old; and where the number exceeds forty, the zakāt is to be calculated according to this rule. For example, upon sixty, the zakāt is two yearling calves; upon seventy, one tabīʿah and one musim; upon eighty, two musims; upon ninety, three tabīʿah; upon one hundred, two tabīʿahs and one musim; and thus upon every ten head of cattle a musim and a tabīʿah alternately. Thus upon one hundred and ten kine, the zakāt is two musims and one tabīʿah; and upon one hundred and twenty, four tabīʿahs. The usual method, however, of calculating the zakāt upon large herds of cattle is by dividing them into thirties and forties, imposing upon every thirty one tabīʿah, or upon every forty one musim.
(3) Zakāt upon sheep and goats. No zakāt is due upon less than forty, which have fed the greater part of the year upon pasture, upon which is due one goat, until the number reaches one hundred and twenty; for one hundred and twenty-one to two hundred, it is two goats or sheep; and above this, one for every hundred. The same rules apply to both sheep and goats, because in the Traditions the original word g͟hanam applies to both species.
(4) Zakāt upon horses. When horses and mares are kept indiscriminately together, feeding for the greater part of the year on pasture, it is the option of the proprietor to give a zakāt of one dīnār per head for the whole, or to appreciate the whole, and give five per cent. upon the total value. No zakāt whatever is due upon droves of horses consisting entirely of males, or entirely of mares. There is no zakāt due upon horses or mules, unless they are articles of merchandise, nor is it due upon war horses, or upon beasts of burden, or upon cattle kept for drawing ploughs and so forth.
(5) Zakāt upon silver. It is not due upon silver of less value than two hundred dirhams, but if one be possessed of this sum for a whole year, the zakāt due upon it is five dirhams. No zakāt is due upon an excess above the two hundred dirhams till such excess amount to forty, upon which the zakāt is one dirham, and for every succeeding forty, one dirham. Those dirhams in which silver predominates are to be accounted silver, and the laws respecting silver apply to them, although they should contain some alloy; and the same rule holds with regard to all articles falling under the denomination of plate, such as cups and goblets.
(6) Zakāt upon gold. No zakāt is due upon gold under the value of twenty mis̤qāls, and the zakāt due upon twenty mis̤qāls is half a mis̤qāl. When the quantity of gold exceeds twenty mis̤qāls, on every four mis̤qāls above twenty are due two qirāt̤s, and so on in proportion.
Zakāt is due upon gold and silver bullion, and upon all gold and silver ornaments and utensils.
(7) Zakāt upon articles of merchandise. Articles of merchandise should be appraised, and a zakāt of 2½ per cent. paid upon the value, if it exceed two hundred dirhams in value.
(8) Zakāt upon mines, or buried treasures. Mines of gold, silver, iron, lead, or copper, are subject to a zakāt of one-fifth (k͟hums); but if the mine is discovered within the precincts of a person’s own home, nothing is due. And if a person find a deposit of buried treasure, a fifth is due upon it. No zakāt is due upon precious stones.
(9) Zakāt upon the fruits of the earth. Upon everything produced from the ground there is a tenth (ʿāshir or ʿushr), whether the soil be watered by the overflow of rivers or by periodical rains, excepting the articles of wood, bamboo, and grass, which are not subject to the tithe. Land watered by means of buckets, or machinery, or watering camels, is subject to a twentieth. Honey and fruits collected in the wilderness are subject to tithe.
The zakāt is received by a collector duly appointed for the purpose, although it is lawful for the possessor to distribute his alms himself. If a person come to the collector, and make a declaration on oath as to the amount of his property upon which zakāt is due, his statement is to be credited.
There are seven descriptions of persons upon whom zakāt may be bestowed.
(1) Faqīrs, or persons possessed of property, the whole of which, however, does not amount to a niṣāb.
(2) Miskīns, or persons who have no property whatever.
(3) The collector of zakāt.
(4) Slaves.
(5) Debtors.
(6) Fī sabīli ʾllāh, i.e. in the service of God, or religious warfare.
(7) Travellers.
The above laws with reference to zakāt are those according to the Ḥanafīyah sect, but the differences amongst the Imāms of the Sunnīs on this subject are but small. They may be seen upon reference to Hamilton’s translation of the Hidāyah, vol. i. p. 1.
ẔAK͟HĀʾIRU ʾLLĀH (ذخائر الله). Lit. “Repositories of God.” A Ṣūfī term for a class of believers who, on account of their spiritual attainments, are the means of preventing troubles in a nation, in the same manner as stores (ẕak͟hāʾir) of grain keep away famines.
ẔĀKIR (ذاكر). One who remembers God by reciting His names and praises. The reciter of a ẕikr. [[ZIKR].]
ẒALĀLAH (ضلالة). “Error.” The word frequently occurs in the Qurʾān, e.g. [Sūrah ii. 15]: “These are they who have purchased error, at the price of the guidance.”
ẔAMB (ذمب), pl. ẕunūb. “A sin; a crime.” A charge of such. The word occurs frequently in the Qurʾān, e.g.:—
[Sūrah xxvi. 13]: “They have a charge against me (i.e. Aaron), and I fear lest they put me to death.”
[Sūrah xl. 2]: [From God] “the forgiver of sin.”
[Sūrah lxxxi. 9]: “For what crime she was put to death.” [[SIN].]
ZAMZAM (زمزم). The sacred well within the precincts of the mosque at Makkah. It is supposed to be the identical spring from which Hagar and Ishmael drank in the wilderness ([Genesis xvi. 4]), but which is stated in the Scriptures to have been between Kadesh and Bared.
The origin of the word zamzam is uncertain. According to Johnson’s Arabic Dictionary, it means the low buzzing sound, made by the ancient fire-worshippers, and may therefore allude to the murmuring of the water of the well. Some Muslim commentators derive it from zamm! zamm! i.e. “fill! fill!” Hagar’s words to Ishmael when she saw the water. Sale translates it: “Stay! Stay!” and adds that Hagar called out in the Egyptian language to prevent Ishmael wandering.
The building which encloses the well Zamzam stands close by the Maqām Ḥanbalī, and was erected in A.H. 1072 (A.D. 1661). According to Burckhardt, it is of a square shape, and of massive construction, with an entrance to the north, opening into the room which contains the well. This room is beautifully ornamented with marbles of various colours; and adjoining to it, but having a separate door, is a small room with a stone reservoir, which is always full of Zamzam water. This the pilgrims get to drink by passing their hand, with a cup, through an iron-grated opening which serves as a window, into the reservoir, without entering the room. The mouth of the well is surrounded by a wall five feet in height, and about ten feet in diameter. Upon this the people stand who draw up the water in leathern buckets, an iron railing being so placed as to prevent their falling in. The water is then poured into earthen jars, called dauraq, which Captain Burton describes as little amphoræ, each marked with the name of the donor and a peculiar cypher. These jars are placed in long rows on the ground, along the paved causeways which lead up to the Kaʿbah, and between which grass appears growing in several places, produced by the Zamzam water oozing out of the jars.
The Zamzam water is held in great esteem throughout the East. It is used for drinking and ablution, but for no baser purposes; and the Makkans advise pilgrims always to break their fast with it. Captain Burton says: “It is apt to cause diarrhœa and boils, and I never saw a stranger drink it without a wry face. Sale is decidedly correct in his assertion: the flavour is salt-bitter, much resembling an infusion of a teaspoonful of Epsom salts in a large tumbler of tepid water. Moreover, it is exceedingly ‘heavy’ to the taste; for this reason, Turks and other strangers prefer rain-water collected in cisterns, and sold for five farthings a guglet. The water is transmitted to distant regions in glazed earthen jars covered with basketwork, and sealed by the Zem Zemis (Zamzamīs, or dispensers of the holy water). Religious men break their lenten fast with it, apply it to their eyes to brighten vision, and imbibe a few drops at the hour of death, when Satan stands by holding a bowl of purest water, the price of the departing soul. The copious supply of the well is considered at Meccah miraculous; in distant countries it facilitates the pronunciation of Arabic to the student; and everywhere the nauseous draught is highly meritorious in a religious point of view.”
According to the same author, the name has become generic for a well situated within the walls of a mosque, and amongst these, naturally, the Zamzam of al-Madīnah stands nearest in dignity to the Makkah well, with which it is said to be connected by a subterraneous passage. Others believe that it is filled by a vein of water springing directly under the Prophet’s grave, whence it is generally called Biʾru ʾn-Nabī, or the Prophet’s well. It stands at the south-east angle of an enclosure within the court of the mosque of al-Madīnah, called the garden of Fāt̤imah, under a wooden roof supported by pillars of the same material.
ZANĀNAH (زنانة). A Persian adjective derived from the word zan, “a woman.” That which belongs to women. It denotes the household of a Muḥammadan, his wives and children, and the apartments in which they reside. For a full account of an Indian zanānah by Mrs. Meer Ali, see [HARIM].
“A zanānah mission” is a Christian mission established for the benefit of the wives and daughters of Muḥammadans.
ZANJABĪL (زنجبيل). “Ginger.” An aromatic with which the cups of Paradise are flavoured. See Qurʾān, [Sūrah lxxvi. 17]: “And they shall drink therein a cup tempered with zanjabīl.”
Z̤ANN (ظن), pl. z̤unūn. “Opinion; suspicion.” In Muḥammadan law, a presumption that a charge is well-founded, although the evidence is inconclusive. Az̤-Z̤annu ʾl-G͟halīb, expresses a strong presumption of truth in a charge, although the evidence does not amount to conviction. The “Not proven” of Scotch law. The word z̤ann, in the sense of “suspicion,” occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xlix. 12]: “O Believers! avoid frequent suspicions, for some suspicions are a crime.”
ZAQQŪM (زقوم). An infernal tree described in the Qurʾān.
[Sūrah xxxvii. 60–64]: “Is this the better repast or the tree az-Zaqqūm? Verily We have made it for a subject of discord to the wicked: Lo, it is a tree which cometh up from the bottom of hell; its fruit is as it were the heads of Satans; and, lo! the damned shall surely eat of it and fill their bellies with it.”
[Sūrah xliv. 43, 44]: “Verily the tree of az-Zaqqūm shall be the sinner’s food.”
[Sūrah lvi. 51–53]: “Then verily ye, O ye the erring, the imputers of falsehood, shall surely eat of the tree of Zaqqūm, and fill your bellies with it.”
It is a name now given to a thorny tree, whose fruit is sweet and styptic, and from the stone of which oil is extracted. (Richardson’s Dictionary.)
ZARĀMĪYAH (زرامية). A sect of Shīʿah Muḥammadans, who say that the next Imāms after ʿAlī were Muḥammad ibn Ḥanfīyah, ʿAbdullāh, ʿAlī ibn ʿAbdillāh ibn ʿAbbās, and afterwards his progeny, as far as Manṣūr, until at last the Divine power entered into Abū Muslim, who, they assert, was not really slain. (Kashfu ʾl-Iṣt̤ilāḥāt, in loco.)
ZARĀRĪYAH (زرارية). A sect of Muslims founded by one of the Companions, named Zarārah, who say the attributes of God are not eternal. (Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, in loco.)
ẒARB (ضرب). Lit. “Striking.” In arithmetic, “Multiplication.” The concluding foot of a line in poetry. A term used by Ṣūfī mystics for the ceremony of ẕikr.
AẔ-ẔĀRĪYĀT (الذاريات). “The Scatterers.” The title of the LIst Sūrah of the Qurʾān which begins with the words “By the Scatterers who scatter.” By which is understood the winds of heaven.
AẒ-ẒĀRR (الضار). “The Distresser.” One of the ninety-nine attributes of God. In the Qurʾān the word is applied to Satan.
[Sūrah lviii. 11]: “Only of Satan is this clandestine talk, that he may bring the faithful to grief; but, unless by God’s permission, not aught shall he harm them (laisa bi-ẓārrihim)! in God, then, let the faithful trust.”
God, therefore, is called the “Distresser,” in so far as evil befalls man only by His permission.
ẔARRAH (ذرة). “An atom.” The word occurs in the Qurʾān in the following verse:—
[Sūrah xcix. 6]: “On that day shall men come up in separate bands to behold their works; and whosoever shall have wrought an atom’s weight of good shall behold it, and whosoever shall have wrought an atom’s weight of evil shall behold it.”
ẔĀT (ذات), pl. ẕawāt. From ẕū, “a possessor,” of which ẕāt is the feminine. In the Dictionary al-Mug͟hrab it is defined as the essence of a thing, meaning that by being which a thing is what it is, or that in being which a thing consists; or the ultimate and radical constituent of a thing. It is used for the nature or essence of God, Allāh being called the Ismu ʾẕ-Ẕāt, or “Essential name of God.” Ẕātu ʾllāh, the “Essence of God,” is a scholastic theological expression. In Muslim law, ẕāt signifies the body connected with the soul, in opposition to badn, which means the “material body.”
ẔAWŪ ʾL-ARḤĀM (ذوو الارحام). [[UTERINE RELATIONS].]
ẔAWŪ ʾL-FURŪẒ (ذوو الفروض). The Sharers of inheritance whose shares are specified in the Qurʾān itself. [[INHERITANCE].]
ZEALOTS. [[GHULAT].]
Z̤IHĀR (ظهار). Lit. “Likening to the back.” A form of imprecation which involves the separation of husband and wife until expiation is made. According to the Hidāyah, z̤ihār signifies the likening of a woman to a kinswoman within the prohibited degrees, which interpretation is found in the comparison being applied to any of the parts or members of the body improper to be seen. The usual formula is: Anti ʿalaiya ka-z̤ahri ummī, “Thou art unto me as my mother’s back.”
Before the establishment of Muḥammadanism, z̤ihār stood as a divorce, but Muḥammad changed it to a temporary prohibition, for which expiation must be performed, viz. either freeing a slave, or two months’ fast, or feeding sixty persons. Qurʾān, Sūratu ʾl-Mujādilah [(lviii.), 1–5]:—
“God hath heard the words of her who pleaded with thee against her husband, and made her plaint to God; and God hath heard your mutual intercourse: for God Heareth! Beholdeth.
“As to those of you who put away their wives by saying, “Be thou to me as my mother’s back”—their mothers they are not; they only are their mothers who gave them birth! they certainly say a blameworthy thing and an untruth:
“But truly, God is Forgiving, Indulgent.
“And those who thus put away their wives, and afterwards would recall their words, must free a captive before they can come together again. To this are ye warned to conform: and God is aware of what ye do.
“And he who findeth not a captive to set free, shall fast two months in succession before they two come together. And he who shall not be able to do so, shall feed sixty poor men. This, that he may believe in God and His Apostle. These are the statutes of God: and for the unbelievers is an afflictive chastisement!”
The above injunction was occasioned by K͟haulah, the daughter of S̤aʿlabah, having pleaded her case with the Prophet, because she had been divorced by her husband Aus ibn aṣ-Ṣāmit, by the formula above-mentioned, and which was understood by the Arabs to imply perpetual separation. Muḥammad had, in the first instance, decreed the divorce in accordance with ancient Arabic law, but relaxed his order in consequence of the woman’s earnest pleadings.
ẔIKR (ذكر). Lit. “Remembering.” Heb. זָכַר zākhar. The religious ceremony, or act of devotion, which is practised by the various religious orders of Faqīrs, or Darweshes. Almost every religious Muḥammadan is a member of some order of Faqīrs, and, consequently, the performance of ẕikr is very common in all Muḥammadan countries; but it does not appear that any one method of performing the religious service of ẕikr is peculiar to any order.
Ẕikrs, are of two kinds: ẕikr jalī, that which is recited aloud, and ẕikr k͟hafī, that which is performed either with a low voice or mentally.
The Naqshbandīyah order of Faqīrs usually perform the latter, whilst the Chishtīyah and Qādirīyah orders celebrate the former. There are various ways of going through the exercise, but the main features of each are similar in character. The following is a ẕikr jalī, as given in the book Qaulu ʾl-Jamīl, by Maulawī Shāh Walīyu ʾllāh, of Delhi:—
The worshipper sits in the usual sitting posture and shouts the word Allāh (God), drawing his voice from his left side and then from his throat.
Sitting as at prayers he repeats the word Allāh still louder than before, first from his right knee, and then from his left side.
Folding his legs under him he repeats the word Allāh first from his right knee and then from his left side, still louder!
Still remaining in the same position, he shouts the word Allāh, first from the left knee, then from the right knee, then from the left side, and lastly in front, still louder!
Sitting as at prayer, with his face towards Makkah, he closes his eyes, says “Lā”—drawing the sound as from his navel up to his left shoulder; then he says ilāha, drawing out the sound as from his brain; and lastly “illā ʾllāhu,” repeated from his left side with great energy.
Each of these stages is called a ẓarb. They are, of course, recited many hundreds of times over, and the changes we have described account for the variations of sound and motion of the body described by Eastern travellers who have witnessed the performance of a ẕikr.
The following is a ẕikr k͟hafī, or that which is performed in either a low voice or mentally.
Closing his eyes and lips, he says, “with the tongue of the heart,”
Allāhu Samīʿun, “God the Hearer.”
Allāhu Baṣīrun, “God the Seer.”
Allāhu ʿĀlimun, “God the Knower.”
The first being drawn, as it were, from the navel to the breast; the second, from the breast to the brain; the third, from the brain up the heavens; and then again repeated stage by stage backwards and forwards.
He says in a low voice, “Allāh,” from the right knee, and then from the left side.
With each exhalation of his breath, he says, “lā ilāha,” and with each inhalation, “illā ʾllāhu.”
This third ẓarb is a most exhausting act of devotion, performed, as it is, hundreds or even thousands of times, and is, therefore, considered the most meritorious.
It is related that Maulawī Ḥabību ʾllāh, living in the village of Gabāsanri, in the Gadūn country, on the Peshawur frontier, became such an adept in the performance of this ẓarb, that he recited the first part of the ẕikr lā ilāha with the exhalation of his breath after the mid-day prayer; and the second part, illā ʾllāhu, with the inhalation of his breath before the next time of prayer, thus sustaining his breath for the period of about three hours!
Another act of devotion, which usually accompanies the ẕikr, is that of Murāqabah, or meditation.
The worshipper first performs ẕikr of the following:—
Allāho hāzirī, “God who is present with me.”
Allāho nāz̤irī, “God who sees me.”
Allāho shāhidī, “God who witnesses me.”
Allāho maʿī, “God who is with me.”
Having recited this ẕikr, either aloud or mentally, the worshipper proceeds to meditate upon some verse or verses of the Qurʾān. Those recommended for the Qādirīyah Faqīrs by Maulavī Shāh Walīyu ʾllāh are the following, which we give as indicating the line of thought which is considered most devotional and spiritual by Muslim mystics:—
1. Sūratu ʾl-Ḥadīd [(lvii.), 3]:—
“He (God) is first. He is last. The Manifest, and the Hidden, and who knoweth all things.”
2. Sūratu ʾl-Ḥadīd [(lvii.), 4]:—
“He (God) is with you wheresoever ye be.”
3. Sūratu Qāf [(l.), 16]:—
“We (God) are closer to him (man) than his neck-vein.”
4. Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah [(ii.), 109]:—
“Whichever way ye turn, there is the face of God.”
5. Sūratu ʾn-Nisāʾ [(iv.), 125]:—
“God encompasseth all things.”
6. Sūratu ʾr-Raḥmān [(lv.), 26, 27]:—
“All on earth shall pass away, but the face of thy God shall abide resplendent with majesty and glory.”
Some teachers tell their disciples that the heart has two doors, that which is fleshly, and that which is spiritual; and that the ẕikr jalī has been established for the opening of the former, and ẕikr k͟hafī for the latter, in order that they may both be enlightened.
To the uninitiated such a ceremony appears but a meaningless rite, but to the Ṣūfī it is one calculated to convey great benefit to his inner man, as will appear from the following instructions which are given by a member of the Order respecting the ẕikr, which he says is a union of the heart and the tongue in calling upon God’s name. “In the first place, the Shaik͟h, or teacher, must with his heart recite, ‘There is no God but Allah, and Muḥammad is the Prophet of Allah,’ whilst the Murid keeps his attention fixed by placing his heart opposite that of the Shaik͟h; he must close his eyes, keep his mouth firmly shut, and his tongue pressed against the roof of his mouth; his teeth tight against each other, and hold his breath; then, with great force, accompany the Shaik͟h in the ẕikr, which he must recite with his heart, and not with his tongue. He must retain his breath patiently, so that within one respiration he shall say the ẕikr three times, and by this means allow his heart to be impressed with the meditative ẕikr.”
“The heart,” the same writer continues, “in this manner is kept constantly occupied with the idea of the Most High God; it will be filled with awe, love, and respect for Him; and, if the practiser arrives at the power of continuing to effect this when in the company of a crowd, the ẕikr is perfect. If he cannot do this, it is clear that he must continue his efforts. The heart is a subtle part of the human frame, and is apt to wander away after worldly concerns, so that the easier mode of arriving at the proceeding is to compress the breath, and keep the mouth firmly closed with the tongue forced against the lips. The heart is shaped like the cone of a fir-tree; your meditations should be forced upon it, whilst you mentally recite the ẕikr. ‘Let the “La” be upward, the “Ilaha” to the right, and the whole phrase “La ilaha illa ʾllahu” (There is no God but Allah) be formed upon the fir-cone, and through it pass to all the members of the whole frame, and they feel its warmth. By this means the world and all its attractions disappear from your vision, and you are enabled to behold the excellence of the Most High. Nothing must be allowed to distract your attention from the ẕikr, and ultimately you retain, by its medium, a proper conception of the Tauḥīd, or Unity of God.
“The cone-shaped heart rests in the left breast and contains the whole truth of man. Indeed, it signifies the ‘whole truth’; it comprises the whole of man’s existence within itself, and is a compendium of man; mankind, great and small, are but an extension of it, and it is to humanity what the seed is to the whole tree which it contains within itself: in fine, the essence of the whole of God’s book and of all His secrets is the heart of man. Whoever finds a way to the heart obtains his desire; to find a way to the heart is needed by a heartful service, and the heart accepts of the services of the heart. It is only through the fatigues of water and ashes that the Murid reaches the conversation of the heart and the soul; he will be then so drawn towards God that afterwards, without any difficulty, he may without trouble, in case of need, turn his face from all others towards Him. He will then know the real meaning of the Tark (the abandonment of the world), the Haqiqat (the truth), the Hurriyat (the freedom), and the Ẕikr (the recital of God’s names and praises).”
As a curious instance of the superstitious character of this devotional exercise, the Chishtīyah order believe that if a man sits cross-legged and seizes the vein called kaimās, which is under the leg, with his toes, that it will give peace to his heart, when accompanied by a ẕikr of the “nafī wa is̤bāt,” which is a term used for the Kalimah, namely:—
Lā ilāha illā ʾllāhu, “There is no deity but God.”
The most common form of ẕikr is a recital of the ninety-nine names of God [[NAMES OF GOD]], for Muḥammad promised those of his followers who recited them a sure entrance to Paradise (Mishkāt, book cxi.); and to facilitate the recital of these names, the ẕākir (or reciter) uses a tasbīḥ (or rosary). [[TASBIH].]
In addition to the forms of ẕikr already mentioned there are three others, which are even of more common use, and are known as Tasbīḥ, Taḥmīd, and Takbīr. They are used as exclamations of joy and surprise, as well as for the devotional exercise of ẕikr.
Tasbīḥ is the expression Subḥāna ʾllāh! “Holiness be to God!”
Taḥmīd, Alḥamdu li-ʾllāh! “Praise be to God!”
Takbīr, Allāhu akbar! “God is great!”
When the Tasbīḥ and Taḥmīd are recited together it is said thus, Ṣubḥāna ʾllāhi bi-ḥamdi-hi, i.e. “Holiness be to God with His praise.” It is related in the Ḥadīs̤ that Muḥammad said, “Whoever recites this sentence a hundred times, morning and evening, will have all his sins forgiven.”
Muḥammad said, “Repeat the Tasbīḥ a hundred times, and a thousand virtues shall be recorded by God for you, ten virtuous deeds for each repetition.”
In forming our estimation of Muḥammad and Muḥammadanism, we must take into consideration the important place the devotional exercise of ẕikr occupies in the system, not forgetting that it has had the authoritative sanction of “the Prophet” himself.
The following is a graphic description of one of these devotional performances, by Dr. Eugene Schuyler, in his work on Turkistan:—
“At about ten o’clock one Thursday evening, in company with several friends, we went to the mosque, and were at once admitted. Some thirty men, young and old, were on their knees in front of the qiblah, reciting prayers with loud cries and violent movements of the body, and around them was a circle, two or three deep, of men standing, who were going through the same motions. We took up a position in one corner and watched the proceedings. For the most part the performers or worshippers had taken off their outside gowns and their turbans, for the night was warm and the exercise was violent. They were reciting the words ‘My defence is in God! May Allah be magnified! My light, Muhammad—God bless him! There is no God but God!’ These words were chanted to various semi-musical notes in a low voice, and were accompanied by a violent movement of the head over the left shoulder towards the heart, then back, then to the right shoulder, and then down, as if directing all the movements towards the heart. These texts were repeated for hundreds and hundreds of times, and this zikr usually lasted for an hour or two. At first the movements were slow, but continually increased in rapidity, until the performers were unable to endure it any longer. If anyone failed in his duty, or was slower, or made less movement than was required, the persons who regulated the enthusiasm went up to him and struck him over the head, or pushed him back out of the circle and called another into it. Occasionally persons got so worn out with their cries, and so wet with perspiration, that it became necessary for them to retire for a few minutes rest, and their places were immediately taken by others. When their voices became entirely hoarse with one cry another was begun, and finally the cry was struck up, ‘He lives! He lives! God lives!’ at first slowly, with an inclination of the body to the ground: then the rhythm grew faster and in cadence, the body became more vertical, until at last they all stood up: the measure still increased in rapidity, and, each one placing his hand on the shoulder of his neighbour, and then forming several concentric rings, they moved in a mass from side to side of the mosque, leaping about and always crying: ‘He lives! God lives!’ Hitherto, there had been something wild and unearthly in it, but now to persons of weak nerves it became positively painful, and two of my friends were so much impressed as to be obliged to leave the mosque. Although I was sufficiently cold-blooded to see the ridiculous rather than horrible side of this, I could not help receiving an impression that the devotees were a pack of madmen, whose motions were utterly independent of any volition of their own.… The intonations of the voice were very remarkable, and were often accompanied by most singular gestures, the hands or a book being often held to the side of the mouth in order to throw the voice as far as possible. Often these recitations are merely collections of meaningless words, which always seem to produce the same effect on the hearers, and are constantly interrupted by cries of Hi, ho, och, och, ba, ba, and groans and sobs, and the hearers weep, beat their breasts with their fists, or fall upon the ground.”
The dancing and howling darweshes at Constantinople and Cairo have become public sights, and are familiar to those Europeans who have visited those cities.
We are indebted to Mr. Brown’s account of The Dervishes (Trübner and Co., Ludgate Hill) for the following graphic description of one of these public recitals of ẕikr. [[FAQIR].]
The ceremony commences by the recital by the Shaik͟h of the seven first attributes of the Divinity, called by them the seven mysterious words. “He next chants various passages of the Koran, and at each pause the Dervishes, placed in a circle round the hall, respond in chorus by the word ‘Allah!’ (God) or ‘Hoo!’ (Huwa or Hū, He). In some of the societies they sit on their heels, the elbows close to those of each other, and all making simultaneously light movements of the head and body. In others, the movement consists in balancing themselves slowly, from the right to the left, and from the left to the right, or inclining the body methodically forward and aft. There are other societies in which these motions commence seated, in measured cadences, with a staid countenance, the eyes closed or fixed upon the ground, and are continued on foot. These singular exercises are consecrated under the name of Murâkebeh (exaltation of the Divine glory) [murāqabah, ‘meditation’], and also under that of the Tevheed (celebration of the Divine unity) [Tauḥīd], from which comes the name Tevheed khâneh given to the whole of the halls devoted to these religious exercises.
“In some of these institutions, such as the Kâdirees, the Rufâʾees, the Khalwettees, the Bairâmees, the Gulshenees, and the ʾUshâkees, the exercises are made, each holding the other by the hand, putting forward always the right foot, and increasing at every step the strength of the movement of the body. This is called the Devr (Daur), which may be translated the ‘dance’ or ‘rotation.’ The duration of these dances is arbitrary,—each one is free to leave when he pleases. Every one, however, makes it a point to remain as long as possible. The strongest and most robust of the number, and the most enthusiastic, strive to persevere longer than the others; they uncover their heads, take off their turbans, form a second circle within the other, entwine their arms within those of their brethren, lean their shoulders against each other, gradually raise the voice, and without ceasing repeat ‘Yâ Allah!’ (O God), or ‘Yâ Hoo!’ (O He), increasing each time the movement of the body, and not stopping until their entire strength is exhausted.
“Those of the order of the Rufâʾees excel in these exercises. They are, moreover, the only ones who use fire in their devotions. Their practices embrace nearly all those of the other orders; they are ordinarily divided into five different scenes, which last more than three hours, and which are preceded, accompanied, and followed by certain ceremonies peculiar to this order. The first commences with praises which all the Dervishes offer to their sheikhs, seated before the altar. Four of the more ancient come forward the first, and approach their superior, embrace each other as if to give the kiss of peace, and next place themselves two to his right, and two to his left. The remainder of the Dervishes, in a body, press forward in a procession, all having their arms crossed, and their heads inclined. Each one, at first, salutes by a profound bow the tablet on which the name of his founder is inscribed. Afterwards, putting his two hands over his face and his beard, he kneels before the Sheikh, kisses his hand respectfully, and then they all go on with a grave step to take their places on the sheep-skins, which are spread in a half-circle around the interior of the hall. So soon as a circle is formed, the Dervishes together chant the Takbeer (Takbīr, the exclamation Allāhu akbar, ‘God is exalted’) and the Fâtiha (Fātiḥah, the first chapter of the Qurʾān). Immediately afterwards the shaikh pronounces the words ‘Lâ ilâha illʾ Allâh’ (There is no deity but God), and repeats them incessantly; to which the Dervishes repeat ‘Allâh!’ balancing themselves from side to side, and putting their hands over their faces, on their breasts, and their abdomen, and on their knees.
“The second scene is opened by the Hamdee Mohammedee, a hymn in honour of the Prophet, chanted by one of the elders placed on the right of the sheikh. During this chant the Dervishes continue to repeat the word ‘Allah!’ moving, however, their bodies forward and aft. A quarter of an hour later they all rise up, approach each other, and press their elbows against each other, balancing from right to left, and afterwards in a reverse motion,—the right foot always firm, and the left in a periodical movement, the reverse of that of the body, all observing great precision of measure and cadence. In the midst of this exercise, they cry out the words ‘Yâ Allah!’ followed by that of ‘Yâ Hoo!’ Some of the performers sigh, others sob, some shed tears, others perspire great drops, and all have their eyes closed, their faces pale, and the eyes languishing.
ZIKR. (A. F. Hole.)
“A pause of some minutes is followed by a third scene. It is performed in the middle of an Ilâhee, chanted by the two elders on the right of the sheikh. The Ilâhees are spiritual cantiques, composed almost exclusively in Persian by sheikhs deceased in the odour of sanctity. The Dervishes then hasten their movements, and, to prevent any relaxation, one of the first among them puts himself in their centre, and excites them by his example. If in the assembly there be any strange Dervishes, which often happens, they give them, through politeness, this place of honour; and all fill it successively, the one after the other, shaking themselves as aforesaid. The only exception made is in favour of the Mevlevees; these never perform any other dance than that peculiar to their own order, which consists in turning round on each heel in succession.
“After a new pause commences the fourth scene. Now all the Dervishes take off their turbans, form a circle, bear their arms and shoulders against each other, and thus make the circuit of the hall at a measured pace, striking their feet at intervals against the floor, and all springing up at once. This dance continues during the Ilâhees, chanted alternately by the two elders to the left of the sheikh. In the midst of this chant the cries of ‘Yâ Allah!’ are increased doubly, as also those of ‘Ya Hoo!’ with frightful howlings, shrieked by the Dervishes together in the dance. At the moment that they would seem to stop from sheer exhaustion, the sheikh makes a point of exerting them to new efforts by walking through their midst, making also himself most violent movements. He is next replaced by the two elders, who double the quickness of the step and the agitation of the body; they even straighten themselves up from time to time, and excite the envy or emulation of the others in their astonishing efforts to continue the dance, until their strength is entirely exhausted.
“The fourth scene leads to the last, which is the most frightful of all, the wholly prostrated condition of the actors becoming converted into a species of ecstasy which they call Halet (Ḥālah). It is in the midst of this abandonment of self, or rather of religious delirium, that they make use of red hot irons. Several cutlasses and other instruments of sharp-pointed iron are suspended in the niches of the hall, and upon a part of the wall to the right of the sheikh. Near the close of the fourth scene, two Dervishes take down eight or nine of these instruments, heat them red-hot, and present them to the sheikh. He, after reciting some prayers over them, and invoking the founder of the Order, Ahmed er Rufâʾee, breathes over them, and raising them slightly to the mouth, gives them to the Dervishes, who ask for them with the greatest eagerness. Then it is that these fanatics, transported by frenzy, seize upon these irons, gloat upon them tenderly, lick them, bite them, hold them between their teeth, and end by cooling them in their mouths! Those who are unable to procure any, seize upon the cutlasses hanging on the wall with fury, and stick them into their sides, arms, and legs.
“Thanks to the fury of their frenzy, and to the amazing boldness which they deem a merit in the eyes of the Divinity, all stoically bear up against the pain which they experience with apparent gaiety. If, however, some of them fall under their sufferings, they throw themselves into the arms of their confrères, but without a complaint or the least sign of pain. Some minutes after this the sheikh walks round the hall, visits each one of the performers in turn, breathes upon their wounds, rubs them with saliva, recites prayers over them, and promises them speedy cures. It is said that twenty-four hours afterwards nothing is to be seen of their wounds.
“It is the common opinion among the Rufâʾees that the origin of these bloody practices can be traced back to the founder of the Order. They pretend that one day, during the transport of his frenzy, Ahmed Rufâʾee put his legs in a burning basin of coals, and was immediately cured by the breath and saliva and the prayers of ʾAbdul Kâdir Ghilânee; they believe that their founder received this same prerogative from heaven, and that at his death he transmitted it to all the sheikhs his successors. It is for this reason that they give to these sharp instruments, and to these red-hot irons, and other objects employed by them in their mysterious frenzy, the name of Gul, which signifies ‘rose,’ wishing to indicate thereby that the use made of them is as agreeable to the soul of the elect Dervishes as the odour of this flower may be to the voluptuary.
“These extraordinary exercises seem to have something prodigious in them, which imposes on common people, but they have not the same effect on the minds of men of good sense and reason. The latter believe less in the sanctity of these pretended thaumaturges than in the virtue of certain secrets which they adroitly use to keep up the illusion and the credulity of the spectators, even among the Dervishes themselves. It is thus, perhaps, that some assemblies of these fanatics have given, in this age of light, and in the heart of the most enlightened nation, the ridiculous spectacle of those pious and barbarous buffooneries known by the name of convulsions. At all times, and amongst every people of the earth, weakness and credulity, enthusiasm and charlatanry, have but too frequently profaned the most holy faith, and objects the most worthy of our veneration.
“After the Rufâʾees, the Sâʾdees have also the reputation of performing miracles, pretty much of the same sort as the preceding. One reads in the institutes of this Order, that Sâʾd ed Deen Jebâwee, its founder, when cutting wood in the vicinity of Damascus, found three snakes of an enormous length, and that, after having recited some prayers and blown upon them, he caught them alive, and used them as a rope with which to bind his fagot. To this occurrence they ascribe the pretended virtue of the sheikhs and the Dervishes of this society, to find out snakes, to handle them, to bite them, and even to eat them, without any harm to themselves. Their exercises consist, like those of the Rufâʾees and other Orders, at first in seating themselves, and afterwards in rising upright; but in often changing the attitude, and in redoubling their agitation even until they become overcome with fatigue, when they fall upon the floor motionless and without knowledge. Then the sheikh, aided by his vicars, employs no other means to draw them out of this state of unconsciousness than to rub their arms and legs, and to breathe into their ears the words ‘Lâ ilâha illʾ Allah.’
“The Mevlevees are distinguished by the singularity of their dance, which has nothing in common with that of the other societies. They call it Semʾa (Samāʿ) in place of Devr (Daur), and the halls consecrated to it are called Semʾa khânehs. Their construction is also different. The apartment represents a kind of pavilion, sufficiently light, and sustained by eight columns of wood. These Dervishes have also prayers and practices peculiar to themselves. Among them the public exercises are not ordinarily made by more than nine, eleven, or thirteen individuals. They commence by forming a circle, seated on sheep-skin spread upon the floor at equal distances from each other; they remain nearly a half-hour in this position, the arms folded, the eyes closed, the head inclined, and absorbed in profound meditation.
“The sheikh, placed on the edge of his seat on a small carpet, breaks silence by a hymn in honour of the Divinity; afterwards he invites the assembly to chant with him the first chapter of the Koran. ‘Let us chant the Fâtiha,’ he says, in ‘glorifying the holy name of God, in honour of the blessed religion of the prophets, but above all, of Mohammed Mustapha, the greatest, the most august, the most magnificent of all the celestial envoys, and in memory of the first four Caliphs, of the sainted Fâtimah, of the chaste Khadeeja, of the Imâms Hasan and Husain, of all the martyrs of the memorable day, of the ten evangelical disciples, the virtuous sponsors of our sainted Prophet, of all his zealous and faithful disciples, of all the Imâms, Mujtahids (sacred interpreters), of all the doctors, of all the holy men and women of Mussulmanism. Let us chant also in honour of Hazreti Mevlânâ, the founder of our Order, of Hazreti Sultan ul ʾUlema (his father), of Sayid Burhân ed Deen (his teacher), of Sheikh Shems ed Din (his consecrator), of Vâlideh Sultan (his mother), of Mohammed ʾAllay ed Deen Efendi (his son and vicar), of all the Chelebees (his successors), of all the sheikhs, of all the Dervishes, and all the protectors of our Order, to whom the Supreme Being deigns to give peace and mercy. Let us pray for the constant prosperity of our holy society, for the preservation of the very learned and venerable Chelebee Efendi (the General of the Order), our master and lord, for the preservation of the reigning Sultan, the very majestic and clement Emperor of the Mussulman faith, for the prosperity of the Grand Vizier, and of the Sheikh ul Islâm, and that of all the Mohammedan militia, of all the pilgrims of the holy city of Mekkeh. Let us pray for the repose of the souls of all the institutors, of all the sheikhs, and of all the Dervishes of all other Orders; for all good people, for all those who have been distinguished by their good works, their foundations, and their acts of beneficence. Let us pray also for all the Mussulmans of one and the other sex of the east and the west, for the maintenance of all prosperity, for preventing all adversity, for the accomplishment of all salutary vows, and for the success of all praiseworthy enterprises; finally, let us ask God to deign to preserve in us the gift of His grace, and the fire of holy love.’
“After the Fâtiha, which the assembly chant in a body, the Sheikh recites the Fâtiha and the Salawât, to which the dance of the Dervishes succeeds. Leaving their places all at once, they stand in a file to the left of the superior, and, approaching near him with slow steps, the arms folded, and the head bent to the floor, the first of the Dervishes, arrived nearly opposite the Sheikh, salutes, with a profound inclination, the tablet which is on his seat, on which is the name of Hazreti Mevlânâ, the founder of the Order. Advancing next by two springs forward, to the right side of the superior, he turns toward him, salutes him with reverence, and commences the dance, which consists in turning on the left heel, in advancing slowly, and almost insensibly making the turn of the hall, the eyes closed, and the arms open. He is followed by the second Dervish, he by the third, and so on with all the others, who end by filling up the whole of the hall, each repeating the same exercises separately, and all at a certain distance from each other.
“This dance lasts sometimes for a couple of hours; it is only interrupted by two short pauses, during which the Sheikh recites different prayers. Towards the close of the exercises, he takes a part in them himself, by placing himself in the midst of the Dervishes; then returning to his seat, he recites some Persian verses expressive of good wishes for the prosperity of the religion, and the State. The General of the Order is again named, also the reigning Sultan, in the following terms: ‘The Emperor of the Mussalmans, and the most august of monarchs of the house of ʾOthman, Sultan, son of a sultan, grandson of a sultan, Sultan ——, son of Sultan ——, Khan,’ &c.
“Here the poem mentions all the princes of blood, the Grand Vizier, the Muftee, all the Pashas of the empire, the ʾUlemas, all the Sheikhs, benefactors of the Order, and of all the Mussulman peers, invoking the benediction of heaven on the success of their arms against the enemies of the empire. ‘Finally, let us pray for all the Dervishes present and absent, for all the friends of our holy society, and generally for all the faithful, dead and living, in the east and in the west.
“The ceremony terminates by chanting the Fâtiha, or first chapter of the Koran.”
(John P. Brown, The Dervishes, or Oriental Spiritualism, p. 218 seqq.)
These ceremonies of ẕikr would at first sight appear to have little in common with original Muḥammadanism, but there appears to be little doubt that the practice of reciting the word Allāh and other similar expressions, commenced in the days of Muḥammad himself, and this even the Wahhābīs admit, who at the same time condemn the extravagances of the Howling and Dancing Darveshes of Turkistan, Turkey, and Egypt.
A chapter is devoted to the Prophet’s injunctions on the subject in all large books of traditions, called Bābu ʾẕ-Ẕikr, from which the following sayings of Muḥammad have been selected:—
Whenever people sit and remember God, they are surrounded by angels which cover them with God’s favour, and peace descends upon them, and God remembers them in that assembly which is near him.
Verily there are angels who move to and fro on the roads and seek for the rememberers of God, and when they find an assembly remembering God, they say to one another, “Come ye to that which ye were seeking.” Then the angels cover them with their wings as far as the lowest heaven, called the region of the world. The Prophet said:—When the angels go to the court of God, God asks them, while knowing better than they, “What do my servants say and do?” Then the angels say, “They are reciting the Tasbīḥ, the Takbīr, the Taḥmīd, and the Tamjīd for Thee.” And God says, “Have they seen Me?” The angels say, “No, by God, they have not seen Thee.” Then God says, “What would their condition be if they had seen Me?” The angels say, “If they had seen Thee, they would be more energetic in worshipping Thee and in reciting the Tamjīd, and they would be more excessive in repeating the Tasbīḥ.” God says, “Then what do they want?” The angels say, “Paradise.” Then God says, “Have they seen Paradise?” The angels say, “We swear by God they have not.” Then God says, “What would their state have been had they seen Paradise?” The angels say, “If they had seen Paradise, they would be very ambitious for it, and would be excessive wishers of it, and very great desirers of it.” God says, “What thing is it they seek protection from?” The angels say, “From hell fire.” God says, “Have they seen the fire?” The angels say, “No, by God, if they had seen the fire——.” God says, “How would they have been had they seen the fire?” The angels say, “If they had seen the fire, they would be great runners from it, and would be great fearers of it.” Then God says, “I take ye as witnesses that verily I have pardoned them.” One of the angels said, “There is a person amongst them who is not a rememberer of Thee, and is only come on account of his own needs.”
There is a polish for everything that takes rust, and the polish for the heart is the remembrance of God, and there is no act that redeems from God’s punishments so much as the remembrance of Him. The Companions said, “Is not fighting with the infidels also like this?” He said, “No, although he fights until his sword be broken.”
“Shall I not inform you of an action which is better for you than fighting with infidels and cutting off their heads, and their cutting off yours?” The Companions said, “Yes, inform us.” The Prophet said, “These actions are remembering God.”
ʿAbdullāh ibn Aus said:—An ʿArabī came to the Prophet and asked, “Which is the best of men?” The Prophet said, “Blessed is the person whose life is long and whose actions are good.” The ʿArabī said, “O Prophet! which is the best of actions, and the most rewarded?” He said, “The best of actions is this, that you separate from the world, and die whilst your tongue is moist in repeating the name of God.”
A man said, “O Prophet of God, really the rules of Islām are many, tell me a thing by which I may lay hold of rewards.” The Prophet said, “Let your tongue be always moist in the remembrance of God.”
“Verily there are ninety-nine names of God; whosoever counts them up shall enter into Paradise.” And in another tradition it is added, “God is Witr and like Witr.”
When Ẕū ʾn-Nūn (Jonah) the prophet prayed his Lord, when he was in the fish’s belly, he said, “There is no Deity but Thee. I extol Thy holiness. Verily I am of the unjust ones.” And a Mussulman who supplicates God with this petition will have his prayer granted.
The best expressions are these four: Subhāna Allahi, al-Hamdu Lillāhi, La ilāha illā ʾllāhu, and Allāhu akbar; and it does not matter with which of them you begin.
Verily I like repeating these four expressions: O Holy God! Praise be to God! There is no deity but God! and God is Great! better than anything upon which the sun shines.
No one can bring a better deed on the Day of Resurrection (unless he shall have said the like or added to it) than he who has recited, “O Holy God! Praise be to Thee!” one hundred times every morning and evening.
There are two expressions light upon the tongue and heavy in the scale of good works, and they are, “O Holy God! Praise be to Thee!” and “O Holy God! the Mighty One!”
That person who shall say, “There is no deity but God, who has no partner, to whom is dominion and praise and power,” one hundred times, shall receive rewards equal to the emancipating of ten slaves; and one hundred good actions shall be written for him, and one hundred of his sins shall be blotted out; and those words shall be a protection to him from the devil and his wickedness, in that day in which he shall have repeated them, until the night. Nor can anyone perform a better deed for the Day of Resurrection than this, unless he has done even more.
Moses said, “O my Lord, teach me how I am to call upon Thee.” And God said, “O Moses, recite ‘There is no deity but God!’ ” Then Moses said, “O my Lord, every one of Thy people say this.” And God said, “O Moses, if the seven heavens and their inhabitants and the seven earths were put into one scale, and this expression, ‘There is no deity but God,’ into another, these words would exceed in weight.”
Reciting “O Holy God” is half the scale of good works, and reciting “God be praised,” fills the scale. The recital of “There is no deity but one,” removes the curtain between the worshipper and his God.
He who recites with an unsullied heart “There is no deity but God,” shall have the doors of heaven open for him until he reaches the throne of God, as long as he abstains from great sins.
The ejaculation, “There is no power and strength but in God,” is medicine for ninety-nine pains, the least of which is melancholy.
“There are two qualities which, being practised by anyone, shall cause him to enter Paradise; they are small and easy, and it is easy for anyone to practise them. One of them is this: saying ‘God is holy’ ten times after every prayer, ‘Praised be God’ ten times, and ‘God is great’ ten times.” And verily I saw the Prophet counting these words on his hand, and he would say, “Then these words are one hundred and fifty with the tongue in the day and night, but they are one thousand and five hundred in the scale of actions, reckoning ten for one. And the second is this: when he goes to his bed-chamber, let him say, ‘God is holy,’ and ‘God be praised,’ and ‘God is great,’ then that is one hundred on the tongue and a thousand in the scales. Then which of you is it that commits two thousand five hundred vices in the day and night, so that these words may cover them?” The Companions said, “If when we repeat these words we have so many rewards, why should we not say them?” The Prophet said, “The Devil comes to one of you when at prayers and says to him, ‘Remember so-and-so,’ till you have finished your prayers; and the Devil comes to you in your bed-chamber, and is always making you sleep.”
AZ̤-Z̤ILLU ʾL-AUWAL (الظل الاول). “The first shade.” A Ṣūfī term for al-ʿAqlu ʾl-Auwal. [[SUFI].]
Z̤ILLU ʾLLĀH (ظل الله). “The Shade of God.” A Ṣūfī term for the Insānu ʾl-Kāmil, or the “perfect man.” [[SUFI].]
AZ-ZILZĀL (الزلزال). “The Earthquake.” The title of the XCIXth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, beginning with the words “When the earth shall quake with its quaking.”
ẔIMMAH (ذمة), pl. ẕimam, from the root ẕamm, “to blame.” A compact, covenant, or contract, a league or treaty, any engagement or obligation, because the breaking thereof necessitates blame; and a right or due, for the neglect of which one is to be blamed. The word is also synonymous with amān, in the sense of security of life and property, protection or safeguard, and promise of such; hence ahlu ʾẕ-ẕimmah, or, with suppression of the noun ahlu, simply aẕ-ẕimmah, the people with whom a compact or covenant has been made, and particularly the Kitābīs, or the people of the book, i.e. Jews and Christians, and the Majūsī or Sabeans, who pay the poll-tax called jazyah. [[JAZYAH].] An individual of this class—namely, a free non-Muslim subject of a Muslim Government, who pays a poll- or capitation-tax, for which the Muslims are responsible for his security, personal freedom, and religious toleration—is called ẕimmī (see the following article).
In the Qurʾān, the word ẕimmah occurs once, in the sense of clientship, or good faith, as opposed to ties of blood. [Sūrah ix. 7–10]:—
“How can they who add gods to God be in league with God and with His Apostle, save those with whom ye made a league at the sacred temple? So long as they are true to you, be ye true to them: verily, God loveth those who fear Him.
“How can they? since if they prevail against you, they will not regard, in their dealing with you, either ties of blood or good faith: With their mouths they content you, but their hearts are averse, and most of them are perverse doers.
“They sell the signs of God for a mean price, and turn others aside from his way: of a truth, evil is it that they do!
“They respect not with a believer either ties of blood or good faith; and these are the transgressors.”
In modern language, the word ẕimmah has frequently the meaning of conscience. (Compare Lane’s Arabic Dictionary, in loco.)
ẔIMMĪ (ذمى), a member of the Ahlu ʾẕ-Ẕimmah, a non-Muslim subject of a Muslim Government, belonging to the Jewish, Christian, or Sabean creed, who, for the payment of a poll- or capitation-tax, enjoys security of his person and property in a Muḥammadan country.
One of the most urgent duties enjoined by Muḥammad upon the Muslim or true believer, was the Jihād fī Sabīli ʾllāhi, or exertion in the road of God, i.e. warfare for the spread of Islām, amongst the infidels within and without Arabia [[JIHAD]]; thus the whole world came to be regarded as divided into two great portions, the Dāru ʾl-Ḥarb and Dāru ʾl-Islām [[DARU ʾL-HARB], [DARU ʾL-ISLAM]]—the territories of War and the territories of Peace. These two divisions, one of which represented the land of infidelity and darkness, the other that of light and faith, were supposed to be in a continual state of open or latent belligerency, until the Dāru ʾl-Islām should have absorbed the Dāru ʾl-Ḥarb and faith conquered unbelief. Infidelity, however, admits of degrees. Its worst shape is idolatry, that is, the worship of idols instead of or besides the one true God; and this, again, is a crime most abominable on the part of Arabs, “since the Prophet was sent amongst them, and manifested himself in the midst of them, and the Qurʾān was delivered down in their language.” Of an equally atrocious character is the infidelity of apostates, “because they have become infidels, after having been led into the way of faith, and made acquainted with its excellence.” In the case of neither, therefore, is a compromise admissible; they must accept or re-embrace the faith, or pay with their lives the full penalty of their crime.
With regard to the idolaters of a non-Arabic or ʿAjam country, which latter expression in the times of early Islām particularly applied to the Persian Empire, ash-Shāfiʿī maintains that destruction is incurred by them also; but the other learned doctors agree that it is lawful to reduce them to slavery, thus allowing them, as it were, a respite during which it may please God to direct them into the right path, but making, at the same time, their persons and substance subservient to the cause of Islām.
The least objectionable form of infidelity in the eyes of Muḥammad and his followers, is that of the Kitābīs or people of the Book (ahlu ʾl-kitāb), i.e. the Jews, as possessors of the Old Testament, or Taurāt, and the Christians, to whom, moreover, the Injīl (Gospel) was revealed. As they are not guilty of an absolute denial, but only of a partial perversion of the truth, only part of the punishment for disbelief is their due, and it is imposed upon them in the shape of a tribute, called poll- or capitation-tax [[JAZYAH]], by means of which they secure protection for their property, personal freedom, and religious toleration from the Muslim Government. The same privilege is extended to the Majūsī or Sabeans, whose particular form of worship was more leniently judged by Muḥammad and the Traditionists than that of the idolaters of Persia.
This is the state of things if a country inhabited by such infidels be conquered by a Muslim army: theoretically, the inhabitants, together with their wives and children, are considered as plunder and property of the State, and it would be lawful to reduce them to slavery. In practice, however, the milder course prevails, and by paying the stipulated capitation-tax, the subdued people become, in the quality of Ẕimmīs, free subjects of the conquering power, whose condition is but little inferior to that of their Muslim fellow-subjects.
The relations of an alien or Ḥarbī—that is, one who belongs to the people of the Dāru ʾl-ḥarb—to a Muslim community which he visits, in time of peace, for the sake of traffic or any other legitimate purpose, are regulated by that high conception of the duties of hospitality, which was innate with the ancient Arab, and which prompted him to defend and honour even a mortal enemy, as soon as he might have crossed as a chance guest the threshold of his tent.
On entering the territory, an alien can claim a guest’s protection from the first met Muslim, be it even the lowest peasant, and having obtained this protection, he is entitled to remain in the country unmolested for the term of a whole year. The authorities, however, must within the year give him notice that, if he should remain until its completion, capitation-tax will be imposed upon him, and in such notice the permission for his stay may be limited to some months only, if for some reason or other it should appear advisable or necessary to do so. If the alien continue in the country beyond the full or limited time prescribed, he becomes ipso facto liable to the capitation-tax, and if, after thus becoming a Ẕimmī, he be desirous of returning to his own country, he may be prevented, as now being bound to the Muslim Government by a contract of fealty. In similar manner an alien becomes a Ẕimmī upon purchasing tribute land and paying the impost on it, and is then liable to capitation-tax for the ensuing year. An alien woman turns Ẕimmīyah by marrying a Ẕimmī, because thereby she undertakes to reside in the Muḥammadan state. (See Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 196.)
Ẕimmīs do not subject themselves to the laws of Islām, either with respect to things which are merely of a religious nature, such as fasting and prayer, or with respect to those temporal acts which, though contrary to the Muḥammadan religion, may be legal by their own, such as the sale of wine or swine’s flesh. The construction of places of worship in the Muslim territory is unlawful for them, unless within their own houses, but if churches and synagogues originally belonging to Christians and Jews be destroyed or fall to decay, they are at liberty to rebuild and repair them. This is the rule with regard to cities, because, as the tokens of Islām, such as public prayer, festivals, &c., appear there, Ẕimmīs should not be permitted to exhibit the tokens of infidelity in the face of them; in villages and hamlets, on the other hand, where the tokens of Islām do not appear, there is no occasion to prevent the construction of Christian and Jewish places of worship. (See Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 219.)
Save some slight restrictions with regard to dress and equipage, Ẕimmīs are held in all transactions of daily life pretty much on a footing of equality with Muslims. Like children, women and slaves, a Ẕimmī has no legal share in the booty, but only a discretionary allowance out of it, if he has taken part in the fight. If he has acted as a guide, and his services as such have been attended with any eminent advantage, he may, however, receive even a larger share than a Muḥammadan combatant. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 178.)
Every marriage that is lawful between two Muslims, is lawful between two Ẕimmīs. Marriages that are not lawful between two Muslims are of several kinds. Of these there is the marriage without witnesses. When a Ẕimmī marries a Ẕimmīyah without witnesses, and such marriages are sanctioned by their religion, the marriage is lawful. So that, if they should afterwards embrace the Muslim faith, the marriage would still be established. And in like manner, if they should not embrace that faith, but should both claim from the judge the application of the rules of Islām, or one of them should make such a claim, the judge is not to separate them. There is also the marriage of a woman during her ʿiddah on account of another man [[ʿIDDAH]]. When a Ẕimmī marries a woman in her ʿiddah for another man, that man being a Muslim, the marriage is invalid, and may be objected to before their adoption of the Muḥammadan religion, even though their own religion should recognise the legality of marriage in the state of ʿiddah; but if the ʿiddah were rendered incumbent on the woman on account of an infidel, and marriages in a state of ʿiddah are accounted lawful in the religion of the parties, it cannot be objected to while they remain in a state of infidelity, according to general agreement. If under these circumstances they afterwards adopt the Muslim faith, the marriage remains fixed and established, according to Abū Ḥanīfah, whose decision is considered valid in spite of the different opinions of Abū Yūsuf and Muḥammad, and the judge is not to separate them, though both of them or only one of them should adopt the faith, or both or only one of them should bring the matter before the judge. In the Mabsūt̤ it is stated that the difference between the masters was only when the reference to the judge, or the adoption of the faith, takes place during the subsistence of the ʿiddah; but where it does not take place till after the ʿiddah has expired, the parties are not to be separated, according to all their opinions. (Baillie’s Digest of Moohummudan Law, Hanifeea, p. 178.)
If a Ẕimmī marry a Ẕimmīyah, making the dower consist of wine or pork, and one or both should afterwards embrace the faith before the wife has obtained seisin, according to Abū Ḥanīfah, the woman is entitled to receive the actual article, if it has been “identically specified,” but if not, the estimated value of the wine, or her proper dower in lieu of the pork, as the case may be. Abū Yūsuf maintains that she is to have her proper dower, and Muḥammad the estimated value in all cases. If a Christian Ẕimmī marry a Christian Ẕimmīyah, without specifying any dower, or on a specified dower consisting of carrion (flesh of an animal not lawfully slain), such as may be deemed lawful by members of their profession, and have sexual intercourse with her, or divorce her without consummation, or die without consummation, according to Abū Ḥanīfah, she is not entitled to any dower, although both parties may have embraced the faith in the interim; but according to Abū Yūsuf and Muḥammad, she will take her proper dower if the husband consummate the marriage, or die without consummation, and will be entitled to a present if she be divorced without consummation. (A. Rumsey, Moohummudan Law of Inheritance, p. 373.)
When one of an infidel married couple embraces the Muḥammadan faith, Islām is to be presented to the other, and if the other adopt it, good and well; if not, they are to be separated. If the party is silent and says nothing, the judge is to present Islām to him time after time, till the completion of three, by way of caution. And there is no difference between a discerning youth and one who is adult; so that a separation is to be made equally on the refusal of the former as of the latter, according to Abū Ḥanīfah and the Imām Muḥammad. But if one of the parties be young and without sufficient discernment, it is necessary to wait till he has understanding; and when he has understanding, Islām is then to be presented to him; and if he adopt it, well; if not, a separation is to be made without waiting for his arriving at puberty. And if he be mad, Islām is to be presented to his parents; and if they, or one of them, should embrace it, good and well; if not, a separation is to be made between the married parties. If the husband should embrace the faith and the wife refuse, the separation is not accounted repudiation; but if the wife should embrace the faith and the husband decline, the separation in consequence is considered a repudiation, since the cause of separation proceeds from him. When a separation takes place between them by reason of refusal, and it is after consummation, she is entitled to the whole dower; and if it is before consummation and through his refusal, she is entitled to half the dower; but if through her own refusal, she has no dower at all. If, however, the husband of a Kitābīyah adopt the faith, their marriage remains unaffected in accordance with the general principle, that the marriage between a Muslim and a Kitābīyah is originally lawful. (Baillie, Hanifeea Code, p. 180.)
When a Ẕimmī has repudiated his Ẕimmīyah wife three times, and then behaves to her as he had done before the repudiation, without marrying her again, or saying the words of the contract over her; or when his wife has obtained a k͟hulʿ or release [[KHULʿ]], and he then acts to her as before without renewing the contact—they are to be separated, even though they should not bring the matter to the judge. But if he repudiates her three times, and then renews the contract of marriage with her without her being married to another, they are not to be separated. (Ib.)
The child follows the religion of the better of its parents. Hence, if one of them be a Muslim, the child is of the Muslim religion. The mother could not be so ab initio, but only in consequence of conversion to the Muḥammadan faith, for a Muslim woman cannot lawfully be the wife of any other than a man of her own religion. So also, if one of them should subsequently embrace Islām, having an infant child, the infant would become Muslim by virtue of the parent’s conversion, that is, when there is no difference of dār, by both of the parents being either within the Dāru ʾl-Islām or the Dāru ʾl-Ḥarb, or by the child being in the former at the time that its parent embraces the Muslim faith in the foreign country, for he then becomes constructively one of the Muslim people; but when the child is in the foreign country, and the parent within the Muslim territory, and he adopt the faith there, the child does not follow him, and is not a Muslim. A Majūsī is worse than a Kitābī; and if one of the parents be a Majūsī and the other Kitābī, the child is a Kitābī, and may be lawfully married by a Muslim, to whom also things slaughtered by the child would be lawful.
Generally, an infidel cannot inherit from a believer, nor, on the other hand, can a believer inherit from an infidel; but infidel subjects of a Muslim state can inherit from one another. And it is immaterial, for such a purpose, whether they be of the same religion or not; all unbelievers being, in this respect, considered as of one class. A Muslim may, however, make a bequest to a Ẕimmī and a Ẕimmī to a Muslim, as well as to another infidel, whether of the same or of a different religion, not being a hostile alien. The testamentary power of a Ẕimmī is subject to the same limitations as that of a Muslim, so that bequests to a person entitled by inheritance are invalid, and bequests to any other person are invalid so far as they exceed one-third of the testator’s property. This for the reason that, on entering into the compact of Ẕimmah, he has agreed to conform to the laws of Islām in all temporal concerns. (See A. Rumsey, Moohummudan Law of Inheritance, p. 222.)
The will of a Ẕimmī for secular purposes is valid, according to all opinions. Other than secular purposes are of four different kinds. First, there are purposes which are qurbah, or a means of approach to Almighty God, both with Ẕimmīs and Muslims; and bequests for these purposes are valid, whether they be to a set of particular persons or not. Thus, when a Kitābī has directed, by his will, that slaves be purchased and emancipated on his account, whether with or without a specification of individuals, or that a third of his property be bestowed in charity on beggars and the indigent, or expended in lighting a lamp in the Baitu ʾl-Muqaddas or Holy Temple of Jerusalem, or in making war against the infidel Tartars, the bequest is valid.
Second, there are purposes which are sinful, both with the Ẕimmīs and the Muslims; and bequests for these purposes are valid, if they are to a set of particular persons, and the bequest is a gift without regard to the purposes; but if the persons are not particularised, the bequest is void. If, therefore, a Ẕimmī should bequeath, for instance, a third of his property for the support of dissolute women, singers, and the like, the bequest is valid, if such persons are particularised and it is a gift to them; but if they are not particularised, it is void.
Third, there are purposes which are qurbah with the Muslims, but sinful with the Ẕimmīs. In this, as in the previous case, the bequest is a gift and valid if in favour of a set of particular persons; but it is void, if the persons are not particularised. Hence, if the third of a man’s property is to be expended in sending a set of Muslims on pilgrimage, or building a masjid, and the persons are particularised, the bequest or gift is valid, and considered to be coupled with a counsel to accomplish the stated purpose, leaving them at liberty to perform the pilgrimage, or erect the mosque, or not, as they please.
Fourth and last, there are purposes which are sinful with a Muslim, but qurbah or meritorious with a Ẕimmī; and bequests for these are valid, according to Abū Ḥanīfah, whether the persons be particularised or not; but void, according to Abū Yūsuf and the Imām Muḥammad, when they are not specified. If, for instance, a Kitābī bequeath a third of his property for the erection of a church or synagogue; or bequeath his mansion to be converted into a place of worship of his religion, the bequest, according to the two disciples, is void, as sinful in the eyes of a Muslim, unless it is for a particular class of persons, when it is a gift to them; but, according to Abū Ḥanīfah, it is valid under all circumstances. This, however, subject to the condition stated above, that the erection of such buildings takes place in villages and not in towns, the bequest in the latter case being inoperative. (See Baillie, Hanifeea Code, p. 673.)
If a Jew or a Christian, being in sound health, build a church or a synagogue, and then die, such building is an inheritance, according to all the doctors, and therefore descends to the heirs in the same manner as any other of the founder’s property. From the point of view taken by the two disciples this is evident enough. But with regard to Abū Ḥanīfah’s doctrine, the question may be raised: What is the difference between the building of a church or synagogue in the time of health, and the bequeathing it by will, that Abū Ḥanīfah should hold it inheritable in the former instance, and not in the latter. This “objection” is met in the Hidāyah with the “reply”: “that it is not the mere erecting (of the church, &c.) which extinguishes the builder’s property, but the exclusive dedication of the building to the service of God, as in the case of mosques erected by Mussulmāns; and as an infidel place of worship is not dedicated to God indisputably, it therefore still remains the property of the founder, and is consequently inheritable (in common with his other effects); whereas a bequest, on the contrary, is used for the very purpose of destroying a right of property.” (Hidāyah, Grady’s Translation, p. 696.)
ZINĀʾ (زناء). [[ADULTERY].]
ZINDĪQ (زنديق). A term now used to express a person in a hopeless state of infidelity. Some say the word is derived from the Persian Zan-dīn, i.e. a woman’s religion. Others assert that it is a term of relation to the word Zand or Zend, which means “explanation,” i.e. the explanation of the book of Zardusht or Zoroaster. (See Lane’s Arabic Dictionary, in loco.)
ZIPPORAH. [[SAFURAʾ].]
ZIYĀRAH (زيارة), from the root zaur, “to visit,” visitation, particularly of the tomb of the Prophet, and of the grave of any martyr or saint of the Muḥammadan faith. In India and Central Asia, the word, always pronounced ziyārat, is, by way of abbreviation, used for ziyārat-gāh, i.e. for the place of such visitation, or the shrine connected with it.
Although it is held by Wahhābīs and other Muslim puritans that the Prophet forbade the visitation of graves for the purposes of devotion, the custom has become so common, that it may be considered part of the Muḥammadan religion. And, indeed, it is difficult to believe that a religious teacher of Muḥammad’s cast of mind should have in principle opposed a practice which is so natural to the human heart. However much he may have objected to the clamorous wailings and lamentations over the dead, in which the pagan Arabs of the ignorance, especially the women, indulged, he was not likely to be insensible to the solemn lesson which the resting-place of the departed teaches the living, or to stifle in his followers the pious remembrance of beloved friends and kindred who have gone before. We see, therefore, no reason to doubt the genuineness of the following traditions, which we translate from a manuscript of the Mishkāt, belonging to the Library of the India Office (Arabic MSS., No. 2143, New Catalogue, 154), and which the compiler of that work has taken from such authorities as Muslim, Ibn Mājah, at-Tirmiẕī, &c.
Buraidah related, the Apostle of God said: “(Formerly) I forbade you to visit the graves, but you may visit them now.…” (Muslim.) Abū Hurairah related: the Prophet visited the grave of his mother, and he wept and caused those who were around him to weep also. Then he said: “I begged leave from my Lord to ask forgiveness for her, but it was not granted me; then I begged leave to visit her grave, and it was granted me; visit therefore the graves, for they remind you of death.” (Muslim.)
Buraidah related: The Apostle of God used to instruct them, when they issued forth to the burial-places, to pronounce the words: “Peace be upon you, O ye people of these abodes from amongst the Believers and the Resigned; and we, if God please, are surely overtaking you to ask salvation from God for us and you.” (Muslim.)
Ibn ʿAbbās related: The Prophet passed by some graves in al-Madīnah, and he turned his face towards them and said: “Peace be upon you, O ye people of the graves; may God forgive us and you; ye are the van of us and we (following) in your steps.”
ʿĀyishah related that when the turn of her night had come on the Prophet’s part, he used to step out towards the end of the night into al-Baqīʿ (the burial-ground of al-Madīnah) and to say: “Peace be with the abode of a believing people; and the time that has been promised you as your appointed term may come to you on the morrow (speedily); and we, if please God, are overtaking you. O God, grant forgiveness to the people of Baqīʿu ʾl-Garqad.” She asked: “What shall I say, O Apostle of God, to wit, on visiting the graves?” He replied: “Say, Peace be upon the people of these abodes from amongst the Believers and the Resigned, and God have compassion on those of us that go before and those that follow; and we, if please God, are overtaking you.” (Muslim.)
Muḥammad ibn Nuʿām related, the Prophet said: “He who visits the grave of his father and mother, or of either of them, on every Friday, his sins are forgiven, and he is written down as one pious.” (Baihaqī).
Ibn Masʿūd related, the Apostle of God said: “I had forbidden you to visit the graves, but now ye may visit them, for they detach from this world and remind of the world to come.” (Ibn Mājah.)
Abū Hurairah related: “The Apostle of God cursed women visiting the graves.” To this the compiler of the Mishkāt adds: At-Tirmiẕī calls this tradition a well-supported and genuine one, and says: “Some of the learned are of opinion that this happened before the Prophet permitted the visitation of the graves, but that when he did so, both men and women were included in the permission; and some again allege, that he only disapproved of women visiting the graves, because they are but little given to patience and much to fear.”
In the face of these texts we cannot wonder that the practice of visiting the graves forms a marked feature in the religious life of the Muḥammadans, and that the tomb of the founder of Islām and the burial-places of its chief confessors have become the objects of great devotional reverence. Pilgrims to Makkah (except the Wahhābīs) always proceed to al-Madīnah to visit the Prophet’s shrine and to claim an interest in his intercessions, and in all Muḥammadan countries there are ziyārats or “shrines,” which are visited by devotees in order to obtain the intercessions of the departed saint. Such a ziyārat is the grave of K͟hwājah ʿAbdu ʾllāh Anṣārī, who flourished about the time of our King John, A.D. 1200, and who established such a reputation for sanctity that even to this day his tomb, at Gazarghaiah near Herat, is visited by pilgrims from all parts of the province. This tomb is an exceedingly fine piece of Oriental sculpture. Upon its marble slabs are inscribed, in the finest s̤ulus̤ writing, verses from the Qurʾān. But the chief historic interest in the shrine of this saint is found in the fact that Dost Muḥammad K͟hān, the great Afghān Ameer of Cabul (A.D. 1863), requested that his bones should be interred at the feet of K͟hwājah ʿAbdu ʾllāh, in order that his dark deeds of blood may obtain forgiveness through the potent intercession of this ancient saint. Such is one of the many instances of the great importance which Eastern rulers have attached to the sanctity of the very ground in which have been buried the remains of some great teacher or ascetic.
In towns and in great centres of population, the tombs which are visited as ziyārats are usually substantial structures; but in villages they are often the most simple graves, marked by a few flags, and surrounded by a low wall to keep the sacred spot free from defilement. Oftentimes the Eastern traveller will find a ziyārat on the road-side of some desert highway. Probably it is the resting-place of some pilgrim who, returning from Makkah, died of disease or was slain by highway robbers, in either case, according to the doctrines of Islām, suffering a martyr’s death. [[MARTYR].] Such a ziyārat will be taken charge of by some poor darwesh or faqīr, who will erect a shed near the sacred spot, and supply the weary traveller with a cup of cold water, as he stops and raises his hands in supplication at the shrine of the martyred saint.
The cures performed at ziyārats are diversified. Some will be celebrated as the place where rheumatism can be cured, others are suitable for small-pox patients, whilst some have even gained a reputation as places of healing for those who are bitten by mad dogs. The grave of K͟hushhal K͟hān K͟hatak the warrior poet of the Afghāns, in the Peshawar valley, is visited by thousands of childless women.
A ZIYARAT IN CENTRAL ASIA. (A. F. Hole.)
The ziyārats are always visited with the feet uncovered, and when the grave is covered with stones or pebbles, these are used to rub upon the afflicted limbs. Some more substantial monuments are supplied with brushes, which are used for the double purpose of cleaning up the court-yard and for rubbing upon the diseased body of the devotee.
These ziyārats are always lighted up with small lamps on Thursday evening, which is the beginning of the Eastern Friday. But Sunday is held to be a propitious day for visiting shrines.
Adjoining many ziyārats of eminence, there will be mosques supported by large endowments, in which will be found a large number of students. Such is the renowned ziyārat of Kaka Ṣāḥib in the K͟hatak hills on the Afghān frontier. Many ziyārats are very largely endowed by princes and nobles, who have believed that they have obtained assistance from the intercessions of the departed saint. There is, however, no proof that Muḥammad ever encouraged the belief that the prayers of departed saints were of any avail in the presence of the Almighty. Indeed, it is a distinctive teaching of Islām that even the Prophet himself cannot intercede for his own people until the Day of Judgment. [[INTERCESSION].]
A ROAD-SIDE ZIYARAT IN CENTRAL ASIA. (E. S. Jukes.)
ZODIAC, The signs of. Arabic mint̤aqatu ʾl-burūj (منطقة الــبــروج). “The girdle or zone of towers.” Greek πύργοι. Mentioned three times in the Qurʾān.
“By the heaven with its Towers!” (Burūj.)
“Blessed be He who hath placed in the Heaven the sign of the Zodiac! who hath placed in it the Lamp of the Sun, and the light-giving Moon!”
“We have set the signs of the zodiac in the Heavens, and adorned and decked them forth for the beholders.
“And We guard them from every stoned Satan,
“Save such as steal a hearing: and him doth a visible flame pursue.”
In explanation of the last verses, commentators tell us that the devils listen at the gate of heaven for scraps of the knowledge of futurity, and when detected by the angels, are pelted with shooting stars (see [Sūrah iii. 31]: “the pelted devil”; also [Sūrah xxxvii. 8]: “hurled at from every side”).
So in the Talmud, in Chagiya xvi. 1, the shadeem, or “demons,” are said to learn the secrets of the future by listening behind the pargōd or “veil.”
The names of the signs are:
1. Ḥamal, Ram.
2. S̤aur, Bull.
3. Jauzāʾ, Twins.
4. Sart̤ān, Crab.
5. Asad, Lion.
6. Sumbalah, lit. an “ear of corn,” Virgin.
7. Mīzān, Scales.
8. ʿAqrab, Scorpion.
9. Qaus, Archer.
10. Jadī, He-goat.
11. Dalw, Watering-pot.
12. Ḥūt, Fish.
ZOROASTRIANISM. The ancient religion of Persia is only referred to once in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxii. 17], as the religion of the Majūs (المجوس), the Magians. Most Muḥammadan writers, especially amongst the Shīʿahs, believe them to have formerly possessed a revelation from God which they have since lost. [[AL-MAJUS].]
ZUBAIR IBN AL-ʿAUWĀM (زبير بن العوام). Cousin german to Muḥammad, and one of the first who embraced his religion. He is one of the ten, called al-ʿAsharah al-Mubashsharah, to whom the Prophet gave certain assurances of Paradise. He was slain by ʿAmr ibn Jurmūz on the day of the battle of the Camel (waqʿatu ʾl-Jamal), A.H. 6.
ẒUḤĀ (ضحى). (1) That part of the day about half-way between sunrise and noon.
(2) A period of voluntary prayer. [[PRAYER].]
(3) Aẓ-Ẓuḥā, the title of the XCIIIrd Sūrah of the Qurʾān, which begins with the words, “By the noon-day brightness” (ẓuḥā).
ZUHD (زهد). Abstinence; a religious life. Exercising oneself in the service of God; especially being abstinent in respect of eating; subduing the passions.
AZ-ZUK͟HRUF (الزخرف). “Gilding.” The name of the XLIIIrd Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in the 34th verse of which the word occurs: “And but that men would then have been one nation, we would have made for those who misbelieve in the Merciful, one roof of silver for their houses, and steps up thereto which they might mount; and to their houses doors, and bedsteads on which they might recline; and gilding.”
ZULAIK͟HĀʾ, more correctly ZALĪK͟HĀʾ (زليخاء). The wife of Potiphar (Qit̤fīr). Al-Baiẓāwī says she was also called Rāʿīl. An account of her tempting Joseph is found in the XIIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, 23–25:—
“And she in whose house he was, conceived a passion for him, and she shut the doors and said, ‘Come hither.’ He said, ‘God keep me! Verily my lord hath given me a good home: verily the injurious shall not prosper.’
“But she longed for him; and he had longed for her had he not seen a token from his Lord (the apparition of his father, who said, ‘Hereafter shall the names of thy brethren, engraven on precious stones, shine on the breast of the High Priest. Shall thine be blotted out?’). Thus we averted evil and defilement from him; verily he was one of our sincere servants.
“And they both made for the door, and she rent his shirt from behind; and at the door they met her lord. ‘What,’ said she, ‘shall be the recompense of him who intended evil to my family, but a prison or a sore punishment?’
“He said, ‘She solicited me to evil.’ And a witness in her own family (an infant in the cradle) witnessed: ‘If his shirt be rent in front, then hath she spoken truth, and he is a liar:
“ ‘But if his shirt be rent from behind, then she hath lied and he is a man of truth.’
“And when his lord saw his shirt torn from behind, he said, ‘This verily is one of your devices! verily your devices are great!
“ ‘Joseph! turn away from this; and thou O wife, ask pardon for thy crime: verily thou hast sinned.’
“And in the city the women said, ‘The wife of the Prince hath solicited her servant: he hath fired her with love: verily we perceive her to be in a manifest error.’
“And when she heard of their cabal, she sent to them and got ready a banquet for them, and gave each one of them a knife, and said, ‘Joseph, come forth to them.’ And when they saw him they extolled him, and cut their hands (instead of their food, through surprise at his beauty), and said, ‘God keep us! This is no man! This is none other than a noble angel!’
“She said, ‘This, then, is he about whom ye blamed me. And I wished him indeed to yield to my desires, but he stood firm. But if he obey not my command, he shall surely be cast into prison, and become one of the contemptible.’
“He said, ‘O my Lord! I prefer the prison to compliance with her bidding: but unless Thou turn away their snares from me, I shall play the youth with them, and become one of the unwise’:
“So his Lord heard him and turned aside their snares from him: verily He is the Hearer, the Knower.
“Then resolved they, even after they had seen the signs of his innocence, to imprison him for a time.”
The explanations put into parentheses are notes of Mr. Rodwell’s, in whose translation the passage is given, and who quotes the corresponding Talmudic legends.
This story of Yūsuf wa Zulaik͟hāʾ has been celebrated in a well-known Persian poem by ʿAbdu ʾr-Raḥmān Jāmī, and hence Joseph has become the Adonis of the East.
ẔŪ ʾL-FIQĀR (ذو الفقار). Lit. “The Lord of the Vertebræ of the Back.” The name of the celebrated sword which Muḥammad gave to his son-in-law ʿAlī.
ẔŪ ʾL-ḤIJJAH (ذو الحجة). Lit. “The Lord of the Pilgrimage.” The twelfth month of the Muḥammadan year; so called because it is the month appointed for the Makkan pilgrimage.
ẔŪ ʾL-JALĀL (ذو الجلال). “Lord of Majesty.” One of the ninety-nine attributes of God. See Qurʾān, [Sūrah lv. 78]: “Blessed be the name of thy Lord possessed of majesty and glory.”
ẔŪ ʾL-KIFL (ذو الكفل). Lit. “Lord of a portion.” A worthy mentioned in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxi. 85]: “And Ishmael, and Idris, and Ẕū ʾl-Kifl, all of these were patient, and we made them enter into our mercy; verily they were among the righteous.” Al-Baiẓāwī says he was so called because he had a portion with God the Most High, and guaranteed his people, or because he had double the work of the prophets of his time, and their reward. According to some writers, he was either Elias, or Joshua, or Zachariah.
The root kafl, having also the meaning of “care,” “support,” other interpreters identify him with the Obadiah of [1 Kings xviii. 4], who supported one hundred prophets in the cave; or Ezekiel, who is called Kāfil by the Arabs. See Niebuhr, Travels, vol. ii. p. 265.
Z̤ULM (ظلم). Lit. “Putting a thing not in its proper place.” (Ar-Rag͟hīb, in loco.) Wrong-doing; acting tyrannically. Muḥammad ibn at̤-T̤aiyib, the author of Annotations on the Qāmūs, says z̤ulm is of three kinds: (1) between man and God, (2) between man and man, (3) between man and himself. In the Qurʾān—
[Sūrah iii. 50]: “God loves not the tyrants (az̤-z̤ālimīna).”
[Sūrah iii. 104]: “God desires not tyranny (z̤ulman) unto the worlds.”
[Sūrah xxxi. 12]: “Associating (with God) is a mighty wrong (z̤ulmun ʿaz̤īmun).”
[Sūrah ii. 54]: “It was themselves they were wronging (kānū anfusa-hum yaz̤limūna).”
Z̤ULMAH (ظلمة), pl. z̤ulamāt. “Darkness.” A term used in theology for (1) Ignorance, (2) Belief in a plurality of gods, (3) Transgressions, (4) Afflictions.
Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxiv. 40]: “Or like darkness (ka-z̤ulumātin) on a deep sea, there covers it a wave above which is a wave, above which is a cloud,—darkness one above another,—when one puts out his hand he can scarcely see it; for he to whom God has given no light, he has no light.”
ẔŪ ʾL-QAʿDAH (ذو القعدة). Lit. The “Master of Truce.” The eleventh month of the Muḥammadan year, so called because it was the month in which the ancient Arabs abstained from warfare. [[MONTHS].]
ẔŪ ʾL-QARNAIN (ذو القرنين). Lit. “He of the two horns.” A celebrated personage mentioned in the 18th chapter of the Qurʾān, who is generally considered to be Alexander the Great, although Muslim writers hold him to have been contemporary with Abraham.
Al-Qast̤alānī, the commentator on al-Buk͟hārī, says: “Ẕū ʾl-qarnain was a king named Sakandar, whose wazīr, or chancellor, was K͟hiẓr [[AL-KHIZR]], and was contemporary with Abraham, the Friend of God, with whom he visited the Kaʿbah at Makkah. There is some difference of opinion as to his being a prophet, but all learned men are agreed that he was a man of faith and piety.”
Al-Baiẓāwī says: “He was Sakandar ar-Rūmī, King of Persia and Greece.”
Al-Kamālain say: “He was Sakandar ar-Rūmī, but was contemporary with Abraham, and not the Sakandar who lived about three hundred years before Christ, who was an infidel.”
Muḥammad, in his Qurʾān, whilst professing to give an inspired account of Ẕū ʾl-qarnain, supplies us with but a confused description, as follows:—
“They will ask thee of Ẕūʾl-qarnain. Say: I will recite to you an account of him. Verily We (God) established his power upon the earth, and We gave him a means to accomplish every end; so he followed his way, until when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it to set in a miry fount; and hard by he found a people. We (God) said, ‘O Ẕūʾl-qarnain! whether thou chastise or whether thou treat them generously’—‘As for him who is impious,’ he said, ‘we will chastise him;’ then shall he be taken back to his Lord, and He will chastise him with a grievous chastisement. But as to him who believeth, and doeth that which is right, he shall have a generous recompense, and We will lay on them our easy behests. Then followed he a route, until when he reached the rising of the sun, he found it to rise on a people to whom We had given no shelter from it. Thus it was. And We had a full knowledge of the forces that were with him. Then followed he a route, until he came between the two mountains, beneath which he found a people who scarce understood a language. They said, ‘O Ẕūʾl-qarnain! Verily Gog and Magog (i.e. the barbarous people of Eastern Asia) waste this land; shall we then pay thee tribute, so thou build a rampart between us and them?’ He said, ‘Better than your tribute is the might wherewith my Lord hath strengthened me; but help me strenuously, and I will set a barrier between you and them. Bring me blocks of iron’—until when it filled the space between the mountain sides; ‘Blow,’ said he, ‘upon it’—until when he had set it on fire he said, ‘Bring me molten brass that I may pour upon it.’ And Gog and Magog were not able to scale it, neither were they able to dig through it. ‘This,’ said he, ‘is a mercy from my Lord.’ ” (Qurʾān, [Sūrah xviii. 82–96].)
There are different opinions as to the reason of the surname, “two-horned.” Some think it was given him because he was King of the East and of the West, or because he had made expeditions to both those extreme parts of the earth; or else because he had two horns on his diadem, or two curls of hair, like horns, on his forehead. Perhaps there is some allusion to the he-goat of Daniel, although he is represented with but one horn. ([Dan. viii. 5].)
AZ-ZUMAR (الزمر). “Troops.” The title of the XXXIXth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in the 73rd verse of which the word occurs: “But those who fear God shall be driven to Paradise in troops.”
ZUNNĀR (زنار). In Persia, the belt worn by Christians and Jews. In India, the Brahmanical thread. A term used amongst the Ṣūfīs for sincerity in the path of religion. (Kashfu ʾl-Iṣt̤ilāḥāt, in loco.)
ẔŪ ʾN-NŪN (ذو النون). Lit. “Man of the fish.” A title given to the Prophet Jonah, in Qurʾān, [Sūrah xxi. 87]. [[JONAH].]
ẒURĀḤ (ضراح). Lit. “That which is very distant.” A term used by al-Baiẓāwī the commentator for the Baitu ʾl-Maʿmūr, or the model of the Kaʿbah, which is said to be in the fourth heaven, and is referred to in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah lii. 4]: “By the visited home (i.e. Baitu ʾl-Maʿmūr).” (See al-Baiẓāwī, in loco.)
ẔŪ ʾR-RAḤIM (ذو الرحم), pl. ẕawū ʾl-arḥām, or ūlū ʾl-arḥām. Lit. “A possessor of the womb.” A uterine relation. The plural form ūlū ʾl-arḥām occurs twice in the Qurʾān.
[Sūrah viii. 76]: “And they who have believed and have since fled their country, and fought at your side, these also are of you. Those who are united by ties of blood (ūlū ʾl-arḥām), are the nearest of kin to each other according to the Book of God. Verily God knoweth all things.”
[Sūrah xxxiii. 6]: “Nearer of kin to the faithful is the Prophet, than they are to their own selves. His wives are their mothers. According to the Book of God, they who are related by blood (ūlū ʾl-arḥām) are nearer the one to the other than other believers, and than those who have fled their country for the cause of God: but whatever kindness ye show to your kindred, shall be noted down in the Book.”
[1] But another reading is Ẕū ʾl-K͟himār, or, “He with the veil.” [↑]
[3] Rashi on [Gen. i. 2]; and [Sūrahs xi. 9]; [xxvii. 26]; [xxiii. 117]; [lxxxv. 15]. [↑]
[4] Thaanith, x.; Pesashim, xciv.; and [Sūrah iii. 127]. [↑]
[5] Talmud Eurbin, xix. 1; Midrash on [Ps. xi].; and [Sūrah xv. 44]. [↑]
[6] Sukkah xxxvii.; and [Sūrahs xxxvii. 60]; [xliv. 43]. [↑]
[7] Othioth by Rabbi Akiba, viii. 1; and [Sūrah l. 29]. [↑]
[8] Midrash on [Eccles. vii. 14]; and [Sūrah vii. 44–47]. [↑]
[9] Mishnah Aboth, iv. 17; and [Sūrahs ix. 38]; [xiii. 26]. [↑]
[11] [Sūrahs lxxv. 23]; [lxxxix. 27]. [↑]
[12] [Sūrahs xxi. 104]; [xxxix. 67]; [xliv. 9]; [xvii. 60]; [xxi. 98]; [xxii. 2]; [xxvii. 89]. Compared with [Isa. xxxiv. 4]; [Ezek. xxxviii]., [xxxix]. [↑]
[13] Chagiga, xxvi.; Thaanith xi.; and [Sūrahs xxiv. 24]; [xxxvi. 65]; [xli. 19]; Sukkah, xxix.; and [Sūrah xxi. 98]. [↑]
[14] [Ps. xc. 4]; Sanhedrin, xcv. 2; and [Sūrahs xxii. 46]; [xxxii. 4]; [Ezek. xxxvii. 13]; and [Sūrah c. 9]. [↑]
[15] Thaanith, at the beginning; and [Sūrahs vi. 95]; [xxx. 49]; [xxxvi. 33]; [xli. 39]; [xliii. 10]. [↑]
[16] Sanhedrin, xc. 2; Kethuboth, cxi. 2. [↑]
[17] Jebhamoth, xlix.; and [Sūrah xliii. 50]. [↑]
[19] Chagiga xvi. 1; and [Sūrahs xv. 17, 34]; [xxxvii. 78]; [lxxxi. 24]; [lxvii. 5]; [xxxvii. 7]; [lxxii]. [↑]
[21] Jebhamoth, vi.; and [Sūrah xxix. 7]. [↑]
[22] Berachoth, x.; and [Sūrahs ii. 230]; [iii. 188]; [x. 13]. [↑]
[23] Mishnah Berachoth, iv. 4; and [Sūrah iv. 102]. [↑]
[24] Berachoth, xxxi. 2; and [Sūrah iv. 46]. [↑]
[25] Mishnah Berachoth, iii. 4; and [Sūrahs iv. 46]; [v. 9]. [↑]
[26] Berachoth, xlvi.; and [Sūrah v. 8]. [↑]
[27] Berachoth, xxxi. 2; and [Sūrah xvii. 110]. [↑]
[28] Mishnah Berachoth, i. 2; and [Sūrah ii. 183]. [↑]
[29] Mishnah Jebhamoth, iv. 10; and [Sūrah ii. 228]. [↑]
[30] Talmud Kethuboth, lx. 1; and [Sūrahs ii. 233]; [xxxi. 13]; [xxiv. 31]; Joseph., Antiq. ii. 9. [↑]
[31] Midrash Rabbah on Leviticus, Parashah xix.; and Genesis, Parashah viii.; and Sanhedrin, xxxviii. [↑]
[32] [Sūrahs vii. 10–26]; [xv. 28–44]; [xvi. 63–69]; [xviii. 48]; [xx. 115]; [xxxvii. 71–86]. [↑]
[33] Midrash of Rabbi Moses, examined by Zunz, p. 296. [↑]
[34] Eisenmenger, Judenthum, vol. i. p. 365. [↑]
[36] Pirke Rabbi Elieser, xxi.; and [Sūrah v. 34]. [↑]
[37] Mishnah Sanhedrin, iv. 5. [↑]
[38] Geiger’s Essay, p. 109; and [Sūrahs vii. 57]; [x. 72]; [xxii. 43]; [xxiii. 23]; [xxv. 39]; [xxvi. 105]; [xxix. 13]; [xxxvii. 73]; [liv. 9]; [lxxi. 1]. [↑]
[40] Rosh Hashanah, xvi. 2; Sanhedrin, cviii.; and [Sūrahs xi. 42]; [xxiii. 27]. [↑]
[41] Mishnah Sanhedrin, x. 3; and [Sūrah xi. 63]. [↑]
[42] Seder Olam, quoted Midrash Jalkut, lxii. [↑]
[43] The Jews ascribe to him the Sepher Jezirah. [↑]
[44] Midrash Rabbah on Genesis, Parash. xvii. [↑]
[47] [Sūrah xii. 26]; and the Commentary of al-Farrār. [↑]
[48] Midrash Jalkut, cxlvi. [↑]
[49] Midrash Rabbah on [Gen. xl. 14]; Geiger, p. 146; and [Sūrah xii. 42]. [↑]
[50] Midrash Rabbah on Genesis, Parash. xci.; and [Sūrah xii. 67]. [↑]
[51] Midrash Rabbah, xcii.; [Gen. xxxi. 19]; and [Sūrah xii. 77]. [↑]
[52] Midrash Jalkut, cxliii.; and [Sūrah xii. 86]. [↑]
[53] [Sūrahs xx. 37]; [xxviii. 2]. [↑]
[54] [Sūrahs xx. 8]; [xxvi. 9]; [xxxviii. 29]; [lxxix. 15]. [↑]
[55] [Sūrahs vii. 101]; [x. 76]; [xi. 99]; [xx. 50]. [↑]
[56] [Sūrahs ii. 46]; [vii. 127]; [x. 90]; [xx. 79]; [xxvi. 52]; [xxviii. 40]; [xliii. 55]. [↑]
[58] [Sūrahs vii. 135]; [ii. 52]; [ix. 152]. [↑]
[59] [Sūrahs ii. 48]; [vii. 147]; [xx. 82]. [↑]
[64] [Sūrahs xxviii. 38]; [xxix. 38]; [xl. 25]. [↑]
[65] Midrash on Numbers, Parash. xiv. [↑]
[67] Pirke Rabbi Elieser, xlviii. [↑]
[70] [Sūrahs vii. 105]; [xxv. 32]. [↑]
[71] Pirke Rabbi Elieser, xlviii. [↑]
[73] Midrash Rabbah, Parash. v. [↑]
[74] [Sūrahs vii. 11]; [xxvi. 40]. [↑]
[75] [Sūrahs xx. 47]; [xxvi. 48]. [↑]
[76] Midrash Jalkut, clxxxii. [↑]
[77] [Sūrahs xxviii. 38]; [xliii. 50]. [↑]
[78] Rab. Exodus, Parash. v. [↑]
[79] [Sūrahs xvii. 103]; [xxvii. 112]. [↑]
[82] See al-Baiẓāwī, Ḥusain, al-Jalālān, and others. [↑]
[83] Pirke Rabbi Elieser, xliii.; Midrash Jalkut, ccxxxviii. [↑]
[84] Rashi on [Exodus, xv. 27]. [↑]
[85] Canon Churton pointed out to Dr. J. M. Arnold that the statement of twelve streams flowing from the rock occurs in the Liturgy of St. Thomas (vide Howard’s Christ. of St. Thomas, p. 224). [↑]
[88] [Sūrahs ii. 52]; [iv. 152]. [↑]
[90] Sanhedrin, v.; and [Sūrah vii. 150]. [↑]
[91] [Sūrah xx. 87, 90], [96]. [↑]
[93] Rashi to Sanhedrin, ci. 2. [↑]
[94] Pirke Rabbi Elieser, clix.; and [Sūrahs vii. 147]; [xx. 90]. [↑]
[95] Pirke Rabbi Elieser, xlv.; and [Sūrah vii. 159]; see [Exodus xxxii. 26]. [↑]
[97] Pirke Rabbi Elieser, xlv. [↑]
[98] Al-Farrār on [Sūrah xxxiii. 69]. [↑]
[99] Pirke Rabbi Elieser, xlv. [↑]
[100] [Sūrah ii. 247]: “Dost thou not look at a crowd of the children of Israel after Moses’ time, when they said to a prophet of theirs, Raise up for us a king, and we will fight in God’s way.” [↑]
[101] Muḥammad ascribes to Saul what the Scriptures relate of Gideon. [Judges vii. 5]. [↑]
[103] [Sūrahs xxi. 81]; [xxvii. 15]; [xxxiv. 11]; [xxxviii. 35]. [↑]
[104] The second Targum on [Esther i. 2]. [↑]
[105] Dr. J. M. Arnold gives a translation of the story from the Targum. (See Islam and Christianity, p. 146.) [↑]
[106] Gittin, lxviii.; and [Sūrah xxxiv]. [↑]
[107] Sanhedrin, xx.; also Mid. Rab. on Numbers, Parash. xi. [↑]
[108] Sanhedrin, xxi.; and [Sūrah xxxviii. 29]. [↑]
[109] [Sūrahs vi. 85]; [xxxvii. 123, 130]. [↑]
[110] [Sūrahs vi. 85]; [x. 98]; [xxi. 87]; [lxviii. 48]. [↑]
[111] [Sūrahs xxi. 83]; [xxxviii. 40]. [↑]
[113] [Sūrah xxv. 47]; and [2 Kings xx. 9]. [↑]
[114] Naṣūh, is a word which occurs in the eighth verse of the Sūratu ʾt-Taḥrīm (lxvi.) in the Qurʾān; it is translated “true repentance” by Sale and Rodwell, but it is supposed to be a person’s name by several commentators. [↑]
[115] Ḥayātu ʾl-Qulūb, leaf 420: “The Ansars were ordained to oppose the claims of the family of Muḥammad, and this was the reason why the other wretches took the office of Khalifah by force. After thus treating one Khalifah of God, they then mutilated and changed the other Khalifah, which is the book of God.” [↑]