MUHARRAM STANDARDS.
A modern writer, describing this flag, says: “It is made of four layers of silk, the topmost of which is green, those below being composed of cloth, embroidered with gold. Its entire length is twelve feet, and from it is suspended the figure of a human hand, which clasps a copy of the Qurʾān, transcribed by the K͟halīfah ʿUs̤mān. In times of peace, the banner of the Prophet is kept in a chamber appropriated to the purpose, along with the clothes, teeth, the venerable locks, the stirrups, and the bow of the Prophet.”
In the Muḥarram, when the martyrdom of al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusain is celebrated, numerous standards are carried about in the procession.
The origin of the horse-tail standard borne by modern Turks, appears to have been from the people bearing the horse-tail as a distinction of rank, the two ranks of pashas being distinguished respectively by two and three tails, and a further distinction of rank being marked by the elevation of one of the tails above the others.
MUHARRAM STANDARD.
According to the Traditions, the Mahdī, in the Last Days, will appear from the direction of K͟horasān with black ensigns, and there seems to be every reason to regard the black standard as the primitive ensign of Islām, although the Wahhābīs have generally carried green standards.
STATUES. [[SCULPTURE].]
STONING TO DEATH. Arabic rajm (رجم). In Muslim law, the punishment of lapidation is only inflicted for adultery. (Under the Jewish law idolaters and bearers of false witness were also stoned.) It is founded, not upon the Qurʾān, where the only punishment awarded is one hundred stripes ([Sūrah xxiv. 2]), but upon the Traditions (Mishkāt, book xv. ch. 1), where Muḥammad is related to have said, “Verily God hath ordained for a man or woman not married one hundred lashes and expulsion from their town one year, and for a man or woman having been married one hundred lashes and stoning.” ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq says the hundred lashes, in addition to the stoning, is abrogated by the express example of the Prophet, who ordered stoning only; for ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn ʿUmar relates the following tradition:—
“A Jew came to the Prophet and said, ‘A man and woman of ours have committed adultery.’ And the Prophet said, ‘What do you meet with in the Book of Moses in the matter of stoning?’ The Jew said, ‘We do not find stoning in the Bible, but we disgrace adulterers and whip them.’ Then ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Salām, who was a learned man of the Jews, and had embraced Islām, said, ‘You lie, O Jewish tribe! verily the order for stoning is in the Book of Moses.’ Then the book was brought, and opened; and a Jew put his hand upon the revelation for stoning, and read the one above and below it; and ʿAbdu ʾllāh said, ‘Lift up your hand.’ And he did so, and behold the revelation for stoning was produced in the book, and the Jews said, ‘ʿAbdu ʾllāh spoke true, O Muḥammad! the stoning revelation is in the Book of Moses.’ Then the Prophet ordered both the man and woman to be stoned.” (Mishkāt, book xv. ch. i.)