The one hundred scriptures given to Adam, Seth, Enoch, and Abraham are termed Ṣaḥīfah (a pamphlet), and the other four Kitāb (a book); but all that is necessary for the Muslim to know of these inspired records is supposed to have been retained in the Qurʾān.
Muḥammad’s enumeration of the Old and New Testament prophets, both as to name and chronological order, is exceedingly confused, and it is acknowledged to be a matter of doubt amongst Muslim commentators whether or not Alexander the Great and Æsop were inspired prophets.
The names of twenty-eight prophets are said to occur in the Qurʾān:—
Adam, Adam; Idrīs, Enoch; Nūḥ, Noah; Hūd, Heber?; Ṣāliḥ, Methusaleh; Ibrāhīm, Abraham; Ismāʿīl, Ishmael; Isḥāq, Isaac; Yaʿqūb, Jacob; Yūsuf, Joseph; Lūt̤, Lot; Mūsā, Moses; Hārūn, Aaron; Shuʿaib, Jethro?; Zakarīyā, Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist; Yaḥyā, John Baptist; ʿĪsā, Jesus; Dāʾūd, David; Sulaimān, Solomon; Ilyās, Elias; Alyasaʿ, Elisha; Aiyūb, Job; Yūnus, Jonah; ʿUzair, Ezra; Luqmān, Æsop? more likely Balaam; Ẕū ʾl-Kifl, Isaiah or Obadiah?; Ẕū ʾl-Qarnain, Alexander the Great.
An account of these prophets will be found under their respective names.
A Persian book, entitled the Qiṣaṣu ʾl-Ambiyāʾ, the “Tales of the Prophets,” professes to give an account of the prophets mentioned in the Qurʾān, but the utter recklessness of the writer passes all description; for example, it is a matter of uncertainty whether Ẕū ʾl-Qarnain is Alexander the Great or some celebrity who lived in the days of Abraham!
PROPHETESSES. It is said that only three women have been prophetesses: Sarah, the mother of Moses, and Mary, the daughter of ʿImrān; for Sarah received by revelation the news of Isaac’s birth, the birth of Moses was divinely communicated to his mother, and Mary received from an angel the happy tidings of the birth of Jesus. (See Hist. of Temple of Jerusalem, translated from the Arabic.)
PSALMS OF DAVID, The. [[ZABUR].]
PUBERTY. Arabic bulūg͟h (بلوغ) bulug͟hīyat (بلوغية). The puberty of a boy is established as soon as the usual signs of manhood are known to exist; but if none of these signs exist, his puberty is not clearly established until he have completed his eighteenth year. The puberty of a girl is established in the same way; but if the usual signs of womanhood are known not to exist, her puberty is not established until her seventeenth year has been completed. This is according to the teaching of the Imām Abū Ḥanīfah. But his two disciples maintain that upon either a boy or girl completing the fifteenth year, they are to be declared adult. The Imām ash-Shāfiʿī concurs in this opinion, and it is said there is also a report of Abū Ḥanīfah to the same effect. The earliest period of puberty with respect to a boy is twelve years, and with respect to a girl nine years.
When a boy or girl approaches the age of puberty and they declare themselves adult, their declaration must be credited, and they then become subject to all the laws affecting adults, and must observe all the ordinances of the Muslim faith. (Hidāyah, Hamilton’s Translation, vol. iii. p. 483; Jāmiʿu ʾr-Rumūz, Durru ʾl-Muk͟htār.)