IḤDĀD (احداد). The period of mourning observed by a widow for her husband, namely, four months and ten days. [[MOURNING].]
IHLĀL (اهلال). Lit. “Raising the voice.” A term used for the Talbiyah. [[TALBIYAH].]
IḤRĀM (احرام). Lit. “Prohibiting.” The pilgrim’s dress, and also the state in which the pilgrim is held to be from the time he assumes this distinctive garb until he lays it aside. It consists of two new white cotton cloths, each six feet long by three and a half broad. One of these sheets, termed ridāʾ is thrown over the back, and, exposing the arm and shoulder, is knotted at the right side in the style called wīshaḥ. The other, called izār, is wrapped round the loins from the waist to the knee, and knotted or tucked in at the middle.
In the state of iḥrām, the pilgrim is forbidden the following actions: connection with or kissing women, covering the face, perfumes, hunting or slaying animals, anointing the head with oil, cutting the beard or shaving the head, colouring the clothes, washing the head or beard with marsh mallows, cutting the nails, plucking a blade of grass, cutting a green tree. But although the pilgrim is not allowed to hunt or slay animals, he may kill the following noxious creatures: a lion, a biting dog, a snake or scorpion, a crow, a kite, and a rat. For each offence against the rules of iḥrām, special sacrifices are ordained, according to the offence. [[HAJJ].]
IḤSĀN (احسان). Lit. “To confer favours, or to perform an action in a perfect manner.” A term used in the Traditions for the sincere worship of God. Muḥammad said Iḥsān was “both to worship God as if thou sawest Him, and to remember that God seest thee.” (Mishkāt, book i. ch. i. pt. 1.) The word is used in this sense by the Ṣūfī mystics. (ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)
IḤṢĀN (احصان). Lit. “Keeping a wife secluded.” A legal term for a married man. (Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 49.)
IḤṢĀRU ʾL-ḤAJJ (احصار الحج). The hindering of the Pilgrimage. For example: If a pilgrim be stopped on his way by any unforeseen circumstance, such as sickness or accident, he is required to send an animal to be sacrificed at the Sacred City. (Hidāyah, Arabic ed., vol. i. p. 184.) This injunction is founded upon the teaching of the Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 192]: “And if he be prevented, then send whatever offering shall be easiest: and shave not your heads until the offering reach the place of sacrifice. But whoever among you is sick, or hath an ailment of the head, must expiate by fasting, or alms, or a victim for sacrifice. And when ye are secure (from hindrances) then he who delights in the visitation (ʿUmrah) of the holy place until the Pilgrimage, shall bring whatever offering shall be the easiest. But he who hath nothing to offer shall fast three days in the Pilgrimage and seven days when ye return: they shall be ten days in all.”
IḤTIKĀR (احتكار). Hoarding up grain with the object of raising the price. Used for monopoly of all kinds. Abū Ḥanīfah restricts its use to a monopoly of the necessaries of life. It is strictly forbidden by Muḥammad, who is related to have said: “Whoever monopoliseth is a sinner”; “Those who bring grain to a city to sell at a cheap rate are blessed, and they who keep it back in order to sell at a high rate are cursed.” (Mishkāt, book xii. ch. viii.)
IḤTILAM (احتلام). Pollutio nocturna; after which g͟husl, or legal bathing, is absolutely necessary. [[PURIFICATION].]
IHTIMĀM (اهتمام). “Superintendence; care.” The trust or jurisdiction of a landowner over certain portions of land.