NICKNAME. Arabic nabaz (نبز), pl. anbāz. The calling of nicknames is forbidden in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xlix. 11]: “O Believers, let not men laugh men to scorn who haply may be better than themselves. Neither let women laugh women to scorn, who haply may be better than themselves. Neither defame one another, nor call one another by nicknames.”
This verse is said to have been given when Ṣafīyah, one of the Prophet’s wives, complained that she had been taunted by the other women with her Jewish origin. Muḥammad answered her, “Canst thou not say, ‘Aaron is my father, Moses is my uncle, and Muḥammad is my husband.’ ” (See al-Baiẓāwī, in loco.)
NIFĀQ (نفاق). Hypocrisy, or professing with the lips to believe and hiding infidelity in one’s heart. (Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, in loco.)
NIFĀS (نفاس). The condition of a woman after the birth of a child, during which period she is unclean and is not permitted to perform the usual prayers. According to the Sunnīs, it is a period of forty days, but according to the Shīʿahs, only ten.
NIGHT JOURNEY OF MUḤAMMAD. [[MIʿRAJ].]
NIGHT PRAYERS. Arabic ṣalātu ʾl-layl (صلوة الليل), or ṣalātu ʾt-tahajjud (صلوة التهجد). From eight to twelve rakʿah prayers recited during the night, in addition to the witr prayers, which consist of an odd number of rakʿahs. These prayers are Sunnah, i.e. established according to the custom of the Prophet, but they are voluntary acts of devotion. (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. xxxii.)
NIKĀḤ (نكاح). A word which, in its literal sense signifies conjunction, but which in the language of the law implies the marriage contract. [[MARRIAGE].]
NIMROD. Arabic Numrūd (نمرود). Heb. נִמְרוֹד. All Muḥammadan commentators say he was the son of Canaan (Kanʿān), and not, as stated in [Genesis x. 8], the son of Cush.
He is referred to in the Qurʾān in the following passage:—
[Sūrah ii. 260]: “Hast thou not thought on him who disputed with Abraham about his Lord, because God had given him the kingdom? When Abraham said, ‘My Lord is He who maketh alive and causeth to die:’ He said, ‘It is I who make alive and cause to die!’ Abraham said, ‘Since God bringeth the sun from the East, do thou, then bring it from the West.’ The infidel was confounded; for God guideth not the evil doers.”