B.

BABEL. Arabic بابل‎ Bābil. Mentioned once in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 96]: “Sorcery did they teach to men, and what had been revealed to the two angels Hārūt and Mārūt at Bābil.” Babel is regarded by the Muslims as the fountain-head of the science of magic. They suppose Hārūt and Mārūt to be two angels who, in consequence of their want of compassion for the frailties of mankind, were sent down to earth to be tempted. They both sinned, and, being permitted to choose whether they would be punished now or hereafter, chose the former, and are still suspended by the feet at Babel in a rocky pit, and are the great teachers of magic. (Lane’s Thousand and One Nights, ch. iii. note 14.) Vide Tafsīr-i-ʿAzīzī in loco.

BĀBU ʾL-ABWĀB (باب الابواب‎). Lit. “The door of doors.” A term used by the Ṣūfīs for repentance. (ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dictionary of Ṣūfī Terms.)

BĀBU ʾS-SALĀM (باب السلام‎). “The Gate of Peace.” The gateway in the sacred mosque at Makkah through which Muḥammad entered when he was elected by the Quraish to decide the question as to which section of the tribe should lift the Black Stone into its place. It was originally called the Bāb Banī Shaibah, “the Gate of the Banū Shaibah,” the family of Shaibah ibn ʿUs̤mān, to whom Muḥammad gave the key of the Kaʿbah. Burkhardt says that there are now two gateways called by this name. Burton says, “The Bābu ʾs-Salām resembles in its isolation a triumphal arch, and is built of cut stone.” (Burton’s Pilgrimage, vol. ii. p. 174. See Muir’s Life of Mahomet, pp. 28, 29.)

BĀBU ʾN-NISĀʾ (باب النساء‎). “The Women’s Gate.” In later years, as Muḥammad added to the number of his wives, he provided for each a room or house on the same side of the mosque at al-Madīnah. From these he had a private entrance into the mosque, used only by himself, and the eastern gate still bears in its name, Bābu ʾn-Nisāʾ, the memory of the arrangement. (Muir’s Life of Mahomet, iii. p. 20.)

BACKBITING. Anything secretly whispered of an absent person which is calculated to injure him, and which is true, is called G͟hībah, a false accusation being expressed by Buhtān. Abū Hurairah says, “The question was put to the Prophet, ‘Do you know what backbiting is?’ and he replied, ‘It is saying anything bad of a Muslim.’ It was then said, ‘But what is it if it is true?’ And he said, ‘If it is true it is G͟hībah, and if it is a false accusation, it is Buhtān (i.e. slander).’ ” (Mishkāt, xxii. c. x.)

The following are sayings of Muḥammad on the subject:—“The best of God’s servants are those who when you meet them speak of God. The worst of God’s servants are those who carry tales about, to do mischief and separate friends, and seek out the defects of good people.” “He who wears two faces in this world shall have two tongues of fire in the day of the Resurrection.” “It is unworthy of a believer to injure people’s reputations, or to curse anyone, or to abuse anyone, or to talk vainly.” “The best atonement you can make for backbiting is to say, ‘O God pardon me and him (whom I have injured).’ ” Mishkāt, xxii. c. x.

BADAWĪ (بدوى‎). A name given to the Bedouin Arabs, or the Arabs of the desert. Bedouin is only a corruption of the plural of this word, which is derived from Badw = Bādiyah, “a desert.”

AL-BADĪʿ (البديع‎) is one of the ninety-nine special names of God. It means “He who originates.” It occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 111], “He is the wonderful originator of the heavens and the earth; when He decreeth a matter, He doth but say to it, ‘Be,’ and it is.”

BADR, The battle of. Arabic, G͟hazwatu ʾl-Badr. The first battle of Badr was fought in the month of Ramaẓān, A.H. 2 (March, A.D. 624), between Muḥammad and the Quraish. Many of the principal men of the Quraish were slain, including Abū Jahl, whose head was brought to the Prophet, and when it was cast at his feet, he exclaimed, “It is more acceptable to me than the choicest camel of Arabia.” After the battle was over, some of the prisoners were cruelly murdered. Ḥusain says the losses of the Quraish at Badr were seventy killed and seventy prisoners. This victory at Badr consolidated the power of Muḥammad, and it is regarded by Muslim historians as one of the most important events of history. An account of this celebrated battle will be found in the article on Muḥammad.