MUḤTASIB (محتسب). The public censor of religion and morals, who is appointed by a Muslim ruler, to punish Muslims for neglecting the rites of their religion.
Sir Alexander Burnes, in his Travels in Bokhara (vol. i. p. 313), relates that he saw persons publicly scourged because they had slept during prayer-time and smoked on Friday. [[DIRRAH].]
Burckhardt, in his account of the Wahhābīs (vol. ii. p. 146), says, the neglect of religious duty is always severely punished.… When Saʿūd took al-Madīnah, he ordered some of his people after prayers in the mosque to call over the names of all the grown up inhabitants of the town who were to answer individually. He then commanded them to attend prayers regularly; and if any one absented himself two or three times, Saʿūd sent some of his Arabs to beat the man in his own house. At Makkah, when the hour of prayer arrived, he ordered the people to patrol the streets, armed with large sticks, and to drive all the inhabitants by force into the mosque; a harsh proceeding, but justified by the notorious irreligion of the Makkans.
Dr. Bellew, in his Kashmīr and Kashgār (p. 281), gives an animated account of the way in which the Muḥtasib performed his duties in the streets of Kashgār.
AL-MUḤYĪ (المحيى). “The giver of life.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It occurs twice in the Qurʾān:—
[Sūrah xxx. 49]: “Look then to the vestiges of God’s mercy, how he quickens the earth after its death; verily He is the quickener of the dead.”
[Sūrah xli. 39]: “Verily, he who quickens (the earth) will surely quicken the dead.”
AL-MUʿĪD (المعيد). “The Restorer” (to life). One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. The word does not occur in the Qurʾān, but the idea is expressed in [Sūrah lxxxv. 13], and many other places, “Verily He produces and restores.”
AL-MUʿIZZ (المعز). “The One who giveth honour.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. The word does not occur in the Qurʾān, but the attribute is referred to in [Sūrah iii. 25]: “Thou honourest whom Thou pleasest.”
AL-MUJĀDILAH (المجادلة). Lit. “She who disputed.” The title of the LVIIIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in which the expression occurs: “Now hath God heard the speech of her who disputed with thee concerning her husband.” Which refers to K͟haulah bint S̤aʿlabah, the wife of Aus ibn Ṣāmit, who being divorced by her husband in the “time of ignorance,” came to ask whether the divorce was lawful.