MAʾẔŪN (ماذون). A licensed or privileged slave. A slave who has received a remission of all the inhibitions attending his state of bondage.
MEAT. [[FOOD].]
MECCA. [[MAKKAH].]
MEDICINE. Arabic dawāʾ (دوا). The only medicine recommended in the Qurʾān is honey. See [Sūrah xvi. 71]: “From its (the bee’s) belly cometh forth a fluid of varying hues, which yieldeth medicine to man.”
MEDINA. [[AL-MADINAH].]
MEDITATION. [[MURAQABAH].]
MENSTRUATION. Arabic maḥīẓ (محيض). The catamenia, or menses, is termed ḥayẓ. The woman in this condition is called ḥāʾiẓ or ḥāʾiẓah. All books of Muḥammadan theology contain a chapter devoted to the treatment of women in this condition. During the period of menstruation, women are not permitted to say their prayers, or to touch or read the Qurʾān, or enter a mosque, and are forbidden to their husbands. But it is related in the traditions that Muḥammad abrogated the law of Moses which set a menstruous woman entirely apart for seven days. ([Leviticus xv. 19]). And Anas says that when the Jews heard this they said, “This man opposes our customs in everything.”
(See Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 222]; Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābiḥ, Hamilton’s ed. vol. i. p. 121; Arabic ed. Bābu ʾl-Ḥaiẓ.)
When the period of menses ceases, bathing must be performed and prayer said.
MERCY. Arabic Raḥmah (رحمة). Heb. רַחַם. The attribute of mercy is specially mentioned in the Qurʾān as one which characterizes the Divine Being; each chapter of that book (with the exception of the IXth), beginning with the superscription, Bismillāhi ʾr-Raḥmāni ʾr-Raḥīm, “In the name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate.” In the Tafsīr-i-Raufī it is said that ar-Raḥmān is only applicable to God, whilst ar-Raḥīm may be applied to the creature as well as to God; but the Jalālān say the two terms are synonymous, and on this account they are used together. Al-Baiẓāwī remarks that the attribute of mercy expresses “softness of heart” (riqqatu ʾl-qalb), and “a turning with kindness and favour towards a person,” and in this way it expresses God’s sympathy with mankind, although the terms are not strictly applicable to an unchangeable Being. In the Qurʾān, Job is described as speaking of God as “the most merciful of merciful ones.” ([Sūrah xxi. 83]). And the angels who bear the throne, and those around it who celebrate God’s praises, cry out: “Our Lord! thou dost embrace all things in mercy and knowledge!” ([Sūrah xl. 7].) The “Treasuries of the mercies of the Lord,” are often referred to in the Qurʾān (e.g. [Sūrahs xvii. 102]; [xviii. 81]). The word Raḥmah, “a mercy,” is a term used for a divine book; it is frequently applied to the Qurʾān, which is called “a mercy and a guidance” ([Sūrahs x. 58]; [xvii. 84]), and also to the books of Moses ([Sūrahs xi. 20]; [xii. 111]). In one place it is used for Paradise, “They are in God’s mercy” ([Sūrah iii. 103]). The bounty of God’s mercy is the constant theme both of the Qurʾān and the Traditions; e.g. [Sūrah vii. 155]: “My mercy embraceth everything.” To despair of God’s mercy is a cardinal sin. [Sūrah xxxix. 54]: “Be not in despair of the mercy of God; verily, God forgives sins, all of them.” [Sūrah xv. 56]: “Only those who err despair of the mercy of their Lord.”