A MIHRAB.
A MIHRAB. (W. S. Chadwick.)
The word occurs four times in the Qurʾān, where it is used for a chamber ([Sūrahs iii. 32, 33]; [xix. 12]; [xxxviii. 20]), and its plural, maḥārīb, once ([Sūrah xxxiv. 12]).
MĪKĀʾĪL (ميكائيل). [[MICHAEL].]
MILLAH (ملة). A word which occurs in the Qurʾān fifteen times. Eight times for the religion of Abraham ([Sūrahs ii. 124, 129]; [iii. 89]; [iv. 124]; [vi. 162]; [xii. 38]; [xvi. 124]; [xxii. 77]); twice for the religion of former prophets ([Sūrahs xiv. 16]; [xxxviii. 6]); once for the religion of the seven children of the cave ([Sūrah xviii. 19]); three times for idolatrous religions ([Sūrahs xii. 37]; [vii. 86, 87]); and once for the religion of Jews and Christians ([Sūrah ii. 114]). The word is used in the Traditions for the religion of Abraham (Mishkāt, book x. ch. v.).
According to the Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, it is expressive of religion as it stands in relation to the prophets, as distinguished from Dīn (دين), which signifies religion as it stands in relation to God, or from Maẕhab (مذهب), which signifies religion with reference to the learned doctors. [[RELIGION].] Sprenger and Deutsch have invested the origin and meaning of this word with a certain amount of mystery, which is interesting.
Dr. Sprenger says (Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad, vol. ii. p. 276 n):—“When Mohammad speaks of the religion of Abraham, he generally uses the word Milla (Millah) and not Dīn. Arabian philologists have tried to trace the meaning of the word from their mother tongue, thus, Malla (Mallah) signifies fire or hot ashes in Arabic and Zaggag says (Thālaby, vol. ii. p. 114), that religion is called Milla because of the impression which it makes, and which may be compared to that which fire makes upon the bread baked in ashes. Since the Arabs are unable to give a better explanation, we must presume that milla is a foreign word, imported by the teachers of the “Milla of Abraham” in the Hijāz. Philo considered Abraham the chief promoter of the doctrine of the Unity of God, and doubtless, even before Philo, Jewish thought, in tracing the doctrine of the true religion, not only as far back as Moses, but even to the father of their nation, emancipated the indispensability of the form of the law, and so prepared the road to Essaism and Christianity.”
Mr. Emanuel Deutsch, in his article on Islām (Literary Remains, p. 130), says: “The word used in the Qurān for the religion of Abraham is generally Milla. Sprenger, after ridiculing the indeed absurd attempts made to derive it from an Arabic root, concludes that it must be a foreign word introduced by the teachers of the ‘Milla of Abraham’ into the Hijāz. He is perfectly right. Milla = Memra = Logos, are identical; being the Hebrew, Chaldee (Targum, Peshito in slightly varied spelling), and Greek terms respectively for the ‘Word,’ that surrogate for the Divine name used by the Targum, by Philo, by St. John. This Milla or ‘Word,’ which Abraham proclaimed, he, ‘who was not an astrologer but a prophet,’ teaches according to the Haggadah, first of all, the existence of one God, the Creator of the Universe, who rules this universe with mercy and loving kindness.”