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, also Zakariyyā, the father of John the Baptist, reckoned in the Ḳurʾān (VI, 85) along with John, Jesus, and Elias as among the righteous. The name most likely entered Arabic via its Syriac rendering. The Ḳurʾān gives the substance of Luke i. 5-25, as follows: Zakariyyāʾ guards the Virgin Mary [see maryam , at Vol. VI, 630] in the niche ( miḥrāb ) and always finds fresh fruits there. He prays to God; angels announce to him that a son will be born to him, Yaḥyā, a name not previously given to anyone, a pious man, a prophet, Jacob’s hei…

(a.) "bowing down", the name of two Ḳurʾānic sūras (XXXII, also called tanzīl al-sad̲j̲da , and XLI, more commonly called fuṣṣilat or ḥā-mīm ) and within the technical phrase sad̲j̲dat (or sid̲j̲dat , or plural sud̲j̲ūd ) al-tilāwa , in reference to the 14 Ḳurʾānic passages (variant traditions suggest 16, 15, 11, 10, or 4 passages) which require a ritual of bowing to be performed at the end of their recitation. The passages are marked in the margin of the Ḳurʾān text, usually with the word al-sad̲j̲da . The practice is generally considered wād̲j̲ib "required", in the Ḥanafī mad̲h̲hab …

(a.), the name of a fountain in paradise. It is mentioned only once in the Ḳurʾān, in LXXVI, 18: the righteous who are in paradise in the hereafter “will be given there a cup to drink in which has been mixed ginger ( zand̲j̲abīl ), (from) a fountain therein named Salsabīl”. Exegetes approached the word from two directions: etymology linked to meaning, and grammar. The word was postulated to have been derived from salla , salisa , or salsala and all these roots were connected with the idea of being "easy to swallow” or “delightful in taste", attribute…

(also As̲h̲aʿyāʾ), Isaiah, son of Amos, a prophet sent to Israel, unmentioned by name in the Ḳurʾān (although tafsīr works mention him in connection with Ḳurʾān, XVII, 4), but well known in ḳiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ literature, notably for his predictions of the coming of Jesus (ʿĪsā [ q.v.]) and Muḥammad. The story of Isaiah falls into three periods of prophecy. The account provided by al-Ṭabarī is typical. First, Isaiah is named as a prophet during the reign of Zedekiah (or Hezekiah, as in the Bible) and prophesies the king’s death. The second per…

, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Badr al-Dīn Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Bahādur (or Muḥammad b. Bahādur b. ʿAbd Allāh, according to some), prolific writer who lived in Mamlūk Cairo at a time of flourishing intellectual activity. Born in Cairo in 745/1344, he studied ḥadīt̲h̲ in Damascus with ʿImād al-Dīn Ibn Kat̲h̲īr (d. 774/1373 [ q.v.]), fiḳh and uṣūl in Aleppo with S̲h̲ihāb al-Dīn al-Ad̲h̲raʿī (d. 783/1381; see Brockelmann, S II, 108), and Ḳurʾān and fiḳh in Cairo with the head of the S̲h̲āfiʿī school in Cairo at the time, Ḏj̲amāl al-Dīn al-Asnawī (d. 772/1370, see Gilliot, Textes arabes anciens édités en Ég…

"the Samaritan", is the name in Ḳurʾān, XX, 85, 87 and 95 of the man who tempted the Israelites to the sin of the Golden Calf. The sin itself is mentioned twice in the Ḳurʾān. In the first narrative, VII, 148-57, the story is told of the sin of Israel and Aaron as in Exodus, xxxii, but with the elaboration that the calf cast out of metal was "lowing" ( khuwār ). The second version, XX, 83-98, presents al-Sāmirī as the tempter of Israel in the same situation. At al-Sāmirī’s bidding, the Israelites cast their ornaments into the fire and he made …

(a.), verbal noun of form V of s̲h̲-h-d , the recitation of the s̲h̲ahāda [ q.v.], especially in the ṣalāt [ q.v.]. It must, however, be kept in mind that in this case s̲h̲ahāda comprises not only the kalimatān i, but (1) the following formula: “To God belong the blessed salutations and the good prayers”; (2) the formula “Hail upon thee, O Prophet, and God’s mercy and His blessing; hail upon us and upon God’s pious servants”; and (3) the s̲h̲ahāda proper, consisting of the kalimatān i. The above form of the tas̲h̲ahhud is in keeping with a tradition on the authori…

, the Japheth of the Bible. He is not mentioned by name in the Ḳurʾān (although he is alluded to in VII, 64, X, 73, XI, 40, XXIII, 27 and XXVI, 119), but the exegetes are familiar with all the sons of Noah [see nūḥ ]: Ḥām, Sām [ q.vv.] and Yāfit̲h̲ (the pronunciation Yāfit is mentioned as possible in al-Ṭabarī, i, 222). The Biblical story (Gen. ix. 20-7) of Ḥām’s sin and punishment and the blessing given to Sām and Yāfit̲h̲ is known in Muslim legend, but it is silent about Noah’s planting the vine and becoming intoxicated. Al-Kisāʾī totally tr…

, a term originally referring to the Biblical personage, in modern times used also with linguistic reference. 1. The Biblical personage. Here, Sām denotes in Arabic lore and tradition Shem, the son of Noah [see nuḥ ]. The Ḳurʾān does not mention any of the sons of Noah by name but alludes to them in VII, 64, X, 73, XI, 40, XXIII, 27 and XXVI, 119. The Islamic tradition develops many details regarding Shem. His mother was ʿAmzūrah (cf. Jubilees, iv, 33) and he was born 98 years before the flood. He and his wife Ṣalīb were saved from the Deluge by entering the a…

(a.), “the lote tree on the boundary” as described in Ḳurʾān, LIII, 14: “Indeed, he [Muḥammad] saw him [D̲j̲ibrīl] another time [other than that referred to in Ḳurʾān, LIII, 1-12] by the lote tree of the boundary nigh which is the garden of the refuge ... Indeed, he saw one of the greatest signs of his Lord.” The full exegesis of this passage arises in a prominent ḥadīt̲h̲ report (repeated, for example, in al-Buk̲h̲ārī, K. manāḳib al-anṣār and K. badʾ al-k̲h̲alḳ Muslim, K. al-īmān also see al-Ṭabarī, i, 1158-9) which speaks at length of the miʿrād̲j̲ [ q.v.]. After Muḥammad (who was accompa…

, Abu l-Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ād̲j̲ , a Successor, born 21/642, died between 100/718 and 104/722 in Mecca, mawla of al-Sāʾib (or ʿAbd Allāh or Ḳays) b. Abi ’l-Sāʾib al-Mak̲h̲zūmī. Famed as a muḳriʾ and as a source of tafsīr , he is connected to the school of ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbbās [ q.v.], but is said to have studied with many other companions as well (al-D̲h̲ahabī, Ṭabaḳāt al-mufassirīn , ii, 306). A report is found that he read the Ḳurʾān with Ibn ʿAbbās three times, stopping each time after each verse and asking about its interpretation, specificall…

, the New Testament John the Baptist, mentioned by name five times in the Ḳurʾān. The spelling of the name is evidenced from pre-Islamic times and is probably derived from Christian Arabic usage (see J. Horovitz, Koranische Untersuchungen , Berlin 1926, 151-2; A. Jeffery, Foreign vocabulary of the Quran , Baroda 1938, 290-1); Muslim exegetes frequently trace the name from a root sense of “to quicken” or “to make alive” in reference to John’s mother’s barrenness and his people’s absence of faith. In Ḳurʾān, III, 39, John i…

(a.), pl. tafāsīr "interpretation" (as a process and a literary genre), generally, but not always, of the Ḳurʾān. The word is used for commentaries on Greek scientific and philosophical works, being equivalent to s̲h̲arḥ [ q.v.]; the term is applied to the Greek and Arabic commentaries on the works of Aristotle, for example. Jews and Christians writing in Arabic also use the word in the context of translations and commentaries on the Bible, as some of the works of Saadia Gaon demonstrate. The most significant usage of the word, h…

(also As̲h̲amwīl / As̲h̲mawīl , S̲h̲amʿūn , Samʿūn ), the Samuel of Biblical history (I Sam. i-xxviii), perhaps referred to in Ḳurʾān, II, 246-7, in connection with the appointment of Saul [see ṭālūt ] as king over Israel (although some exegetes see the reference to be to Joshua (Yūs̲h̲aʿ), the “prophet after Moses”). The form of the name S̲h̲amwīl is closer than S̲h̲amʿūn to the Hebrew S̲h̲emuʾel; S̲h̲amʿūn may be the result of some confusion between the names Simeon (Hebrew S̲h̲imʿon; see Gen. xxix, 33, etc.) and Samuel, but that is unclear and confused furt…

(a.), the sabbath, and thus ( yawm al- ) sabt , Saturday (technically, Friday evening to Saturday evening); it is also suggested to mean "a week", that is from sabt to sabt, as well as a more general sense of a long period of time. The word has been the common designator of the day which follows yawm al-djumʿa [see d̲j̲umʿa ] since early Islamic times at least [see zamān ]. Clearly related to the Aramaic word s̲h̲abbetā and ultimately Hebrew s̲h̲abbāt , the word was given an appropriately Islamic sense by the Ḳurʾān and later Muslim theological interpretation. The Ḳurʾān associates Jews, the …

, ʿUt̲h̲mān b. Saʿīd b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḳuras̲h̲ī al-Miṣrī al-Ḳayrawānī, transmitter of the Ḳurʾān reading of Nāfiʿ al-Layt̲h̲ī [ q.v.], born in 110/728 in Egypt where he also died in 197/812. A Copt in origin, Wars̲h̲ was a student of Nāfiʿ and it was from his teacher that he is said to have received his laḳab ; the name Wars̲h̲ was given to him either because of his extreme whiteness or because of his similarity to a bird called waras̲h̲ān . Wars̲h̲ taught his transmission of the Ḳurʾān to a number of his Egyptian students, and from there it spread esp…

, ʿAbd Allāh b. Sulaymān b. al-As̲h̲ʿat̲h̲, Abū Bakr Ibn Abī Dāwūd, early Islamic traditionist, born 230/844 in Sid̲j̲istān, died 316/929 in Bag̲h̲dād. He was the author of Kitāb al-Maṣāḥif , a work on uncanonical readings of the Ḳurʾān [see ḳirāʾa ] organised by “codex” and apparently the only book of its type still in existence. Famed as a mémoriser of ḥadīt̲h̲ , he wrote books mainly on Ḳurʾānic topics, including a book of tafsīr and work on nask̲h̲ (perhaps used as a source by Ibn al-D̲j̲awzī in his Nawāsik̲h̲ al-Ḳurʾān ). While he is reputed to have composed several ḥadīt̲h̲ collections (…

(a.), the invocation of God’s blessing upon the Prophet Muḥammad. The word has many applications, but commonly refers to the section of the tas̲h̲ahhud [ q.v.] in the ritual ṣalāt [ q.v.], following the taḥiyya (“greeting”) and ¶ s̲h̲ahāda [ q.v.], in which the worshipper recites the ṣalāt ʿalā ’l-nabī ( taṣliya being derived from this sense of “performing the ṣalāt ”, perhaps). One typical formulation of the taṣliya is known as al-ṣalawāt al-ibrāhīmiyya , see ṣalāt . III. B. A taṣliya is also a part of the response to the ad̲h̲ān [ q.v.], also known as the duʿāʾ al-wasīla …

, one of the seven canonical Ḳurʾān “readers” who was born in Medina and died there in 169/785 (other dates between 150/767 and 170/786 are also mentioned in biographies). He is reported to have studied with 70 of the tābiʿūn in Medina. He transmitted one of the seven Ḳurʾān readings [see Ḳirāʾa ] which were recognised by Ibn Mud̲j̲āhid [ q.v.]. Two of his pupils, Wars̲h̲ (d. 197/812) and Ḳālūn (d. 220/835), are recognised as the main transmitters of his reading. The transmission of the Ḳurʾān from Wars̲h̲ on the authority of Nāfīʿ is still used in the M…

, wife of the Biblical patriarch Abraham [see ibrāhīm ]. Sarah enters the text of the Ḳurʾān only in its rendition of the etiological narrative surrounding the name Isaac (Hebrew wayyiṣḥaḳ “and he laughed”) from Gen. xvii, 15-22, xviii, 11-15 and xxi, 5-7; thus in Ḳurʾān, XI, 71-3, and LI, 29-30, Sarah laughs at the messengers who bring the news that she will bear a son in her (and Abraham’s) old age, but she remains unnamed and is referred to simply as imraʾatuhu “his [Abraham’s] wife”. The issue of Sarah’s laughing (and thus doubt…