“O ye who believe! enter not into other houses than your own, until ye have asked leave, and have saluted its inmates. This will be best for you: haply ye will bear this in mind. And if ye find no one therein, then enter it not till leave be given you; and if it be said to you, ‘Go ye back,’ then go ye back. This will be more blameless in you, and God knoweth what ye do. There shall be no harm in your entering houses in which no one dwelleth, for the supply of your needs: and God knoweth what ye do openly and what ye hide.”
ʿAtāʾ ibn Yasār relates that “A man once asked the Prophet, ‘Must I ask leave to go into the room of my mother?’ The Prophet said, ‘Yes.’ Then the man said, ‘But I live in the same home.’ The Prophet said, ‘Yes, even if you live in the same home.’ The man said, ‘But I wait upon her!’ The Prophet, ‘But you must ask permission; for, what! would you like to see your mother naked?’ ”
It is further related that Muḥammad always went first to the right and then to the left of a door which had no curtain, and salamed several times before he entered. (Mishkāt, book xxii. ch. ii.)
This has become an established rule in the East, and it is considered very rude to enter any dwelling without first giving notice.
PROHIBITED DEGREES OF MARRIAGE. According to the Qurʾān they are seven: 1, mother; 2, daughter; 3, sister; 4, paternal aunt; 5, maternal aunt; 6, sister’s daughter; 7, brother’s daughter. And the same with regard to the other sex. It is also unlawful for a Muslim to marry his wife’s sister (see [Lev. xviii. 18]) or his wife’s aunt during the lifetime of his wife. Fosterage in Muslim law establishes relationship, and therefore a foster-sister or a foster-brother is unlawful in marriage. [[MARRIAGE].]
PROPHET. The Arabic words used to express the prophetic office are nabī (نبى), pl. ambīyāʾ; rasūl (رسول), pl. rusul; and mursal (مرسل), pl. mursalūn. In Persian, the three titles are invariably translated by the word paig͟hambar (پيغمبر) (i.e. a messenger).
Nabī is the Hebrew nābī נָבִיא, which Gesenius says means “one who bubbles forth” as a fountain. The Arabic lexicon, the Qāmūs, derives the word from nubūʾ, “to be exalted.”
According to Muḥammadan writers a nabī is anyone directly inspired by God, and rasūl and mursal, one to whom a special mission has been entrusted.
Muḥammad is related to have said (Mishkāt, book xxiv. ch. i. pt. 3) that there were 124,000 ambiyāʾ, or prophets, and 315 apostles or messengers. Nine of these special messengers are entitled Ūlū ʾl-ʿAzm, or “possessors of constancy,” namely, Noah, Abraham, David, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Moses, Jesus, and Muḥammad. Six are dignified with special titles: Adam, Ṣafīyu ʾllāh, the Chosen of God; Noah, Nabīyu ʾllāh, the Preacher of God; Abraham, K͟halīlu ʾllāh, the Friend of God; Moses, Kalīmu ʾllāh, the Converser with God; Jesus, Rūḥu ʾllāh, the Spirit of God; Muḥammad, Rasūlu ʾllāh, the Messenger of God.
The number of sacred books delivered to mankind is said to have been 104 (see Majālisu ʾl-Abrār, p. 55); of these, ten were given to Adam, fifty to Seth (a name not mentioned in the Qurʾān), thirty to Enoch, ten to Abraham, the Taurāt to Moses, the Zabūr to David, the Injīl to Jesus, and the Qurʾān to Muḥammad.