BALAAM. There is said to be an allusion to Balaam in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah vii. 174], “Recite to them the story of him to whom we gave our signs, and he departed therefrom, and Satan followed him, and he was of those who were beguiled.”
The commentary of the Jalālain says that he was a learned man amongst the Israelites, who was requested by the Canaanites to curse Moses at the time when he was about to attack the Jabbārūn or “giants,” a tribe of the Canaanites. Balaam at first refused to do so but at last yielded, when valuable presents were made to him. (See Tafsīru ʾl-Jalālain, p. 142.)
BALAD (بلد). Lit. Any country, district, or town, regarded as an habitation. Al-Balad, the sacred territory of Makkah. A title given to the XCth Sūrah, in which the word occurs.
BĀLIGH (بالغ). “Of years of legal maturity; adult.” [[PUBERTY].]
BANISHMENT. Arabic تغريب Tag͟hrīb. Expatriation for fornication is enjoined by Muḥammadan law, according to the Imām ash-Shāfiʿī, although it is not allowed by the other doctors of the law, and it is also a punishment inflicted upon highway robbers.
BANKRUPT. There is no provision in the Muḥammadan law for declaring a person bankrupt, and so placing him beyond the reach of his creditors; but the Qāẓī can declare a debtor insolvent, and free him from the obligation of zakāt and almsgiving.
BANŪ ISRĀʾĪL (بنو اسرآئيل). “The Children of Israel.” A title of the XVIIth Sūrah or chapter of the Qurʾān, called also Sūratu ʾl-Miʿrāj.
BANŪN (بنون). The plural of ibn (Heb. בָּנִים). “Sons; posterity; tribe.” The word is more familiar to English readers in its inflected form Banī. The tribes whose names occur frequently in the early history of Islām, and are mentioned in the Traditions, are the Banū-Quraish, Banū ʾn-Najjār, Banū-Quraiẓah, Banū-Kinānah, Banū ʾn-Naẓr, Banū-K͟huzāʿah, Banū-Bakrʾ, Banū-ʿĀmir, Banū-Asad, Banū-Fazārah, Banū-Liḥyān, Banū-Tamīm, Banū-Umaiyah, Banū-Zahrah, and Banū-Isrāʾīl.
BAPTISM. The only allusion to baptism in the Qurʾān is found in [Sūrah ii. 132]: “(We have) the baptism of God, and who is better to baptise than God?” The word here translated baptism is ṣibg͟hah, lit. “dye,” which, the commentators al-Jalālain and al-Baiẓāwī say, may, by comparison, refer to Christian baptism, “for,” says al-Baiẓāwī, “the Naṣārā (Christians) were in the habit of dipping their offspring in a yellow water which they called al-Maʿmūdiyah and said it purified them and confirmed them as Christians.” (See Tafsīru ʾl-Jalālain and Tafsīru ʾl-Baiẓāwī, in loco.)
AL-BĀQĪ (الباقى). One of the ninety-nine special names of God. It means “He who remains;” “The Everlasting One.”