MĪRZĀ (ميرزا). A title of respect given to persons of good family.
MIRZABAH, MIRZABBAH (مرزبة). “A clod-crusher.” The iron hammer with which the dead are beaten who cannot reply satisfactorily to the questions put to them by Munkar and Nakīr. Called also Mit̤raqah (مطرقة). [[PUNISHMENTS OF THE GRAVE].]
MĪS̤ĀQ (ميثاق). “A covenant.” A word used in the Qurʾān for God’s covenant with his people. [[COVENANT].]
MISHKĀTU ʾL-MAṢĀBĪḤ (مشكاة المصابيح). A well-known book of Sunnī tradition, much used by Sunnī Muslims in India, and frequently quoted in the present work. It was originally compiled by the Imām Ḥusain al-Bag͟hawī, the celebrated commentator, who died A.H. 510 or 516, and called the Maṣābīḥu ʾs-Sunnah, or the “Lamps of the Traditions.” In the year A.H. 737, Shaik͟h Walīyu ʾd-dīn revised the work of al-Bag͟hawī, adding an additional chapter to each section, and called it the Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābīḥ, or the “Niche for lamps.” In the time of the Emperor Akbar, Shaik͟h ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq translated the work into Persian, and added a commentary. (See Kashfu ʾz̤-Z̤unūn, in loco.)
MISKĪN (مسكين). “A poor person.” Heb. [Eccles. ix. 15], מִסְכֵּן. According to Muslim law, a person who has no property whatever, as distinguished from a faqīr (فقير), or a person who possesses a little property, but is poor. (Hidāyah, vol. i. p. 54.)
MIS̤QĀL (مثقال). An Arabic weight, which frequently occurs in Muḥammadan law books. Richardson gives it at a dram and three-sevenths. It is also used for a gold coin of that weight. [[MONEY].]
MIṢR (مصر). [[EGYPT].]
MISWĀK (مسواك). (1) A tooth-cleaner made of wood, about a span long. It is preferred when made of a wood which has a bitter flavour. The Salvadora Indica is the tree, the wood of which is used in India.
(2) The act of cleaning the teeth, which is a religious ceremony founded upon the example of Muḥammad, and forms the first part of the waẓūʾ, or “ablution before prayer.”
The Prophet was particularly careful in the observance of miswāk (see Mishkāt, book iii. ch. 4). It is amongst those things which are called fit̤rah (q.v.).