The condition of believers in the grave is held to be one of undisturbed rest, but that of unbelievers one of torment; for Muḥammad is related to have said, “There are appointed for the grave of the unbeliever ninety-nine serpents to bite him until the Day of Resurrection.” (Mishkāt, i. c. 5, p. 12.) The word seems generally to be used in the sense of Hades, for every person who dies is said to enter al-Barzak͟h.
BAʿS̤ (بعث). Lit. “Raising.” (1) The Day of Resurrection. (2) The office of a messenger or prophet.
BASE MONEY. The sale of one pure dirham and two base ones in exchange for two pure dirhams and one base one is lawful. By two base ones (g͟halat̤ain), are to be understood such as pass amongst merchants but are rejected at the public treasury. (Hidāyah, vol. ii. 560.)
AL-BAṢĪR (البصير). One of the ninety-nine special names of God. It frequently occurs in the Qurʾān, and means “The All-seeing One.”
BAṢĪRAH (بصيرة). Lit. “Penetration.” The sight of the heart as distinguished from the sight of the eye (Baṣārah or Baṣar). A term used by theologians to express that enlightenment of the heart “whereby the spiritual man can understand spiritual things with as much certainty as the natural man can see objects with the sight of the eye.” The word occurs twice in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xii. 108], “This is my way; I cry unto God, resting on clear evidence;” [Sūrah lxxv. 14], “A man shall be evidence against himself.”
AL-BĀSIT̤ (الباسط). One of the ninety-nine special names of God. It means “He who spreads, or stretches out,” and occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xiii. 15]. As applied to God, it means, “He who dispenses riches,” &c.
BASTARD (ولد الزنا, waladu ʾz-zinā). An illegitimate child has, according to Muḥammadan law, no legal father, and consequently the law does not allow the father to interfere with his illegitimate child, even for the purposes of education. He cannot inherit the property of his father, but he is acknowledged as the rightful heir of his mother (Baillie’s Digest, p. 432). The evidence of a bastard is valid, because he is innocent with respect to the immorality of his parents; but the Imām Mālik maintains that his testimony is not to be accepted with respect to a charge of whoredom. (Hidāyah, vol. ii. 692.)
BATHING. The Arabic term for ordinary bathing is (غسل) g͟hasl, and that for the religious purification of the whole body g͟husl. In all large mosques, and in most respectable dwellings in Muḥammadan countries, there are bathing-rooms erected, both for the ordinary purposes of bathing and for the religious purification. An account of the legal purification will be found in the article [GHUSL]. Although purifications and bathing form so essential a part of the Muslim religion, cleanliness does not distinguish Muḥammadans, who are generally in this respect a striking contrast to their Hindū fellow subjects in India. According to the saying of Muḥammad, decency should be observed in bathing, and the clothes from the waist downwards should not be taken off at such times. (Mishkāt, ii. c. iv.)
BĀT̤IL (باطل). That which is false in doctrine.
AL-BĀT̤IN (الباطن). (1) One of the ninety-nine special names of God. It means “that which is hidden or concealed,” “The Hidden One,” or “He that knows hidden things.” (2) A term used in theology for that which is hidden in its meaning, in contradistinction to that which is evident.