AFSŪN (افسون). The Persian term for Daʿwah or exorcism. [[EXORCISM].]
ʿAFŪ (عفو). Lit. “erasing, cancelling.” The word is generally used in Muḥammadan books for pardon and forgiveness. It occurs eight times in the Qurʾān, e.g. [Sūrah ii. 286], “Lord, make us not to carry what we have not strength for, but forgive us and pardon us and have mercy on us.” [Sūrah iv. 46], “Verily God pardons and forgives.”
Al-ʿAfū is one of the ninety-nine special names of God. It means “one who erases or cancels;” “The Eraser (of sins).” See Qurʾān, [Sūrah iv. 51].
AGENT. Arabic wakīl (وكيل). One legally appointed to act for another. For the Muḥammadan law regarding the appointment of agents to transact business, or to negotiate marriages, see Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. iii. p. 1; Baillie’s Digest. Hanīfī Code, p. 75; Imāmīyah Code, p. 29. The author of the Hidāyah says, “It is lawful for a person to appoint another his agent for the settlement, in his behalf, of every contract which he might lawfully have concluded himself, such as sale, marriage, and so forth;” and he then proceeds to lay down rules for guidance in such matters at great length. A woman who remains in privacy and is not accustomed to go into Court, ought, according to the saying of Abū Bakr, to appoint an agent and not appear herself. A slave or a minor may be appointed agent for a free man.
AL-AḤAD (الاحد). “The One.” A title given to God. [[NAMES OF GOD].]
AḤADĪYAH (احدية). Unity, concord. Al-Aḥadīyah is a term used by Ṣūfī mystics to express a condition of the mind, completely absorbed in a meditation on the Divine Unity. (See ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dictionary of the Technical Terms of the Ṣūfīs. Sprenger’s edition.)
AḤQĀF (احقاف). The name of a tract of land in Sihr in Yaman. The title of the XLVIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān.
AHLU ʾL-BAIT (اهل البيت). “The people of the house.” A term used in the Qurʾān ([Sūrah xxxiii. 33]), and in the Ḥadīs̤ (Mishkāt, xxiv. 21), for Muḥammad’s household.
AHLU ʾL-HAWĀʾ (اهل الهواء). A visionary person; a libertine.
AHLU ʾL-KITĀB (اهل الكتاب). Lit. “The people of the book.” A term used in the Qurʾān for Jews and Christians, as believers in a revealed religion. Some sects of the Shīʿahs include the Majūsī (Magī) under this term.