All Sunnī commentators understand the fire of hell in its literal sense. (See al-Baiẓāwī on the above verse.) But Ṣūfī writers understand it to be merely figurative.
NĀRAWĀ (ناروا). “Unlawful.” A Persian word for those things which are expressly forbidden by the Qurʾān and Ḥadīs̤. It corresponds with the Arabic Ḥarām. [[LAW].]
AN-NĀS (الناس). “Mankind.” The title of the last Sūrah of the Qurʾān. The word occurs in this Sūrah, and is the last word in the Qurʾān, “from genii and men.”
NASAʾ (نساء). “To omit.” A term used in the Qurʾān for the system of intercalation of the year practised by the ancient Arabs, and which was abolished in the Qurʾān. ([Sūrah ix. 37].) [[INTERCALATION OF THE YEAR].]
NASAB (نسب). Family, race, lineage. The term, in its legal sense, is generally restricted to the descent of a child from his father, but it is sometimes applied to descent from the mother, and is generally employed in a larger sense to embrace other relationships. (Baillie’s Dig. Muh. Law, p. 389.)
AN-NASĀʾĪ (النسائى). “Sunanu ʾn-Nasāʾī,” or al-Mujtaba (the selected), a name given to the collection of traditions by Abū ʿAbdi ʾr-Raḥmān Aḥmad an-Nasāʾī. Born A.H. 215, died A.H. 303. He first compiled a large collection of traditions called the Sunanu ʾl-Kubrā, but he afterwards revised the whole and admitted only those traditions which were of authority. This collection (Sunanu ʾṣ-Ṣug͟hrā) is one of the Kutubu ʾs-Sittah, or “six (correct) books.” [[TRADITIONS].]
NAṢĀRĀ (نصارى), pl. of Naṣrān, Nazarenes. The name given to professors of the Christian faith, both in the Qurʾān and the Traditions, and also in the theological works of the Muḥammadans. Christians are never called either ʿIsawī or Masīḥī, in Muḥammadan books written before the existence of modern missions; these titles having been applied to Christians by our own missionaries. [[CHRISTIANITY].]
NĀSIK͟H (ناسخ). “One who cancels.” A term used for a verse or sentence of the Qurʾān or Ḥadīs̤, which abrogates a previous one. The one abrogated being called mansūk͟h. [[QURʾAN].]
NASR (نسر). One of the idols of ancient Arabia, mentioned in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah lxxi. 23]. It was an idol which, as its name implies, was worshipped under the form of an eagle.
AN-NAṢR (النصر). “Help.” The title of the CXth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in the first verse of which the word occurs: “When there comes God’s help and victory.”