QUBĀʾ (قباء). A place three miles from al-Madīnah, where the Prophet’s she-camel, al-Qaṣwāʾ knelt down as she brought her master on his flight from Makkah, and where Muḥammad laid the foundations of a mosque. This was the first place of public prayer in Islām. Muḥammad laid the first brick with his javelin, and marked out the direction of prayer. It is this mosque which is mentioned in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah ix. 109]:—“There is a mosque founded from its first day in piety. More worthy is it that thou enter therein: therein are men who aspire to purity, and God loveth the purified.”
It is esteemed the fourth mosque in rank, being next to that of Makkah, al-Madīnah, and Jerusalem, and tradition relates that the Prophet said one prayer in it was equal to a lesser pilgrimage to Makkah. [[UMRAH].] Captain Burton says:—
“It was originally a square building of very small size; Osman enlarged it in the direction of the minaret, making it sixty-six cubits each way. It is no longer ‘mean and decayed’ as in Burckhardt’s time. The Sultan Abdel Hamid, father of Mahmud, created a neat structure of cut stone, whose crenelles make it look more like a place of defence than of prayer. It has, however, no pretensions to grandeur. The minaret is of Turkish shape. To the south, a small and narrow Riwak (riwāq), or raised hypo-style, with unpretending columns, looks out northwards upon a little open area simply sanded over; and this is the whole building.”
AL-QUDDŪS (القدوس). “The Holy.” One of the ninety-nine names of God. It occurs in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah lix. 23]: “He is God beside whom there is no deity, the King, the Holy.”
QUDRAH (قدرة). Power. Omnipotence. One of the attributes of God. Al-Qudratu ʾl-ḥalwāʾ, The sweet cake of God, i.e. The manna of Israel. The word Qudrah does not occur in the Qurʾān.
QUNŪTU ʾL-WITR (قنوت الوتر). A special supplication said after the Witr prayers, or, according to some, after the morning prayers. It was at such times that the Prophet would pray for the liberation of his friends and for the destruction of his enemies.
For the different forms of supplication, see Mishkāt, book iv. chapters xxxvi. and xxxvii.
The following is the one usually recited: “O God! direct me amongst those to whom Thou hast shown the right road, and keep me in safety from the calamities of this world and the next, and love me amongst those Thou hast befriended. Increase Thy favours on me, and preserve me from ill; for verily Thou canst order at Thy will, and canst not be ordered. Verily none are ruined that Thou befriendest, nor are any made great with whom Thou art at enmity.”
QURAISH (قريش). The Arabian tribe from which Muḥammad was descended, and of which his grandfather, ʿAbdu ʾl-Mut̤t̤alib was chief or prince. This tribe occupies a very prominent place in the Qurʾān and in Muḥammadan history. In the Traditions, a special section is set apart for a record of the sayings of the Prophet regarding the good qualities of this tribe.
Muḥammad is related to have said: “Whosoever wishes for the destruction of the Quraish, him may God destroy.”