ʿUBŪDĪYAH (عبودية). [[SLAVERY].]
AL-UFUQU ʾL-AʿLĀ (الافق الاعلى). Lit. “The Loftiest Tract.” (1) The place in which it is said Gabriel was when he taught Muḥammad, see [Sūrah liii. 7]: “One mighty in power (Shadīdu ʾl-Quwā) taught him, endowed with sound understanding, and appeared, he being in the loftiest tract.”
(2) According to the Ṣūfīs, it is the highest spiritual state a man can attain in the mystic life.
UḤNŪK͟H (احنوخ). The Enoch of the Old Testament, supposed to be the Idrīs of the Qurʾān. A full account of this personage will be found in the article on [IDRIS].
UḤUD (احد). Ohod. A hill about three miles distant from al-Madīnah, and described by Burckhardt as a rugged and almost insulated offshoot of the great mountain range. Celebrated for the battle fought by Muḥammad and the victory gained over the Muslims by the Quraish, A.H. 3. (Muir’s Life of Mahomet, new ed. p. 266 seqq.) [[MUHAMMAD].]
ʿŪJ (عوج). The son of ʿŪq. A giant who is said to have been born in the days of Adam, and lived through the Deluge, as the water only came up to his waist, and to have died in the days of Moses, the great lawgiver having smitten him on the foot with his rod. He lived 3,500 years. (G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hāt, in loco.) The Og of the Bible, concerning whom as-Suyūt̤ī wrote a long book taken chiefly from Rabbinic traditions. (Ewald, Gesch. i. 306.) An apocryphal book of Og was condemned by Pope Gelasius. (Dec. vi. 13.)
UKAIDAR (اكيدر). The Christian chief of Dūmah, who was taken prisoner by K͟hālid, A.H. 9. (Muir’s Life of Mahomet, new ed. p. 458.)
In the Traditions it is said: “K͟hālid took Ukaidar prisoner because the Prophet forbade killing him. And the Prophet did not kill him, but made peace with him, when he paid the poll-tax.” (Mishkāt, book xvii. ch. ix.)
Sir W. Muir says he became a Muslim, but revolted after the death of Muḥammad.
ʿUKĀZ̤ (عكاظ). An annual fair of twenty-one days, which was held between at̤-T̤āʾif and Nak͟hlah, and which was opened on the first day of the month of Ẕū ʾl-Qaʿdah, at the commencement of the three sacred months. It was abolished by Muḥammad.