Search

[English edition] الأشعريّة فرقة عقائدية، ينتمي أصحابها إلى أبي الحسن الأشعري [انظره]، ويدعون أحياناً أشاعرة.(يحتاج تاريخ هذا المذهب إلى مزيد من الدّراسة، ويمكن اعتبار ما يرد في هذا المقال من آراء أوّليّا). 1. تاريخ النشأة في العقدين الأخيرين من حياته، تمكّن الأشعري من جمع الكثير من الطلبة حوله، وأدّى ذلك إلى تأسيس مذهب لقيت آراؤه في العقيدة معارضة من عدّة جهات. عارضها جماعة من المعتزلة وعارضتها فرق من أهل السنّة. فالحنابلة [انظره] اعتبروا الاحتجاج العقلي في العقائد من البدع المرفوضة. أمّا الماتريدية [انظره]، وهم من المحتجّين على السنّة بالعقل، فإنّ بعض مواقفهم من الأشعريّة …

, an Arab tribe belonging to the group of tribes called ʿĀmir b. Ṣaʿṣaʿa [ q.v.], The territories and pre-Islamic history of the tribe are described in that article. Kilāb was considered to have ten main divisions, of which the chief for a time was D̲j̲aʿfar b. Kilāb, from which came leaders of the whole of ʿĀmir. The most serious war of the Fid̲j̲ār [ q.v.] resulted from the killing of ʿUrwa al-Raḥḥāl of Kilāb by al-Barrāḍ b. Ḳays al-Kinānī. Divisions within the tribe are reflected in hostility to the Muslims and friendship with them. Two men of Kilāb joined…

, great-grand-father of the prophet Muḥammad. As a grandson of Ḳusayy, who had made the tribe of Ḳurays̲h̲ dominant in Mecca and had reorganized the pilgrimage, he held the offices or functions of rifāda and siḳāya , that is, the provision of food and water for the pilgrims. For the first he collected contributions in money or kind from the chief men of Mecca. One year when food was scarce in Mecca, he brought baked cakes or loaves from Syria, and crumbled ( has̲h̲ama ) these to make broth ( t̲h̲arīd ) for the pilgrims; after this he was known as Hās̲h̲im, though…

, the first caliph. i. Name, family, and early life.—Abū Bakr was probably born shortly after 570 as he is said to have been three years younger than Muḥammad. His father was Abū Ḳuḥāfa (ʿUt̲h̲mān) b. ʿĀmir of the clan of Taym of the tribe of Ḳurays̲h̲, and he is therefore sometimes known as Ibn Abī Ḳuḥāfa. His mother was Umm al-Ḵh̲ayr (Salmā) bint Ṣak̲h̲r of the same clan. The names ʿAbd Allāh and ʿAtīḳ (‘freed slave’) are attributed to him as well as Abū Bakr, but the relation of these names to on…

, Alexander the Great. It is generally agreed both by Muslim commentators and modéra occidental scholars that D̲h̲u ’l-Ḳarnayn, “the two-horned”, in Sūra XVIII, 83/82-98 is to be identified with Alexander the Great. The story is told in reply to questioners, often said to be Jews. D̲h̲u ’l-Ḳarnayn was given power on earth, and made his way te the furthest west and furthest east; and in response to an appeal from oppressed people built a wall or rampart of iron and brass against the incursions of Yādiūd̲j̲ and Mād̲j̲ūd̲j̲ [ q.v.]. The origin and precise significance here of the name D…

of B. Hās̲h̲im of Ḳurays̲h̲, father of the prophet Muḥammad. The earliest and most reliable sources give little information about him. His mother was Fāṭima bint ʿAmr of B. Mak̲h̲zūm. Al-Kalbī places his birth in the 24th year of the reign of Anūs̲h̲irwān (554), but he is usually said to have been twenty-five when he died (? 570). According to a well-known story, picturesque but probably with little factual basis, ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib vowed that, if he had ten sons who reached maturity, he would sac…

, banū , a clan of the Meccan tribe of Ḳurays̲h̲. The genealogists reckon Nawfal as one of the sons of ʿAbd Manāf, and brother of ʿAbd S̲h̲ams. Hās̲h̲im and al-Muṭṭalib. Nawfal himself is said to have been specially concerned to develop trade with ʿIrāḳ and the Persian empire, and is also reported to have quarrelled with ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib b. Hās̲h̲im (Muḥammad’s grandfather). Some information has been preserved about the mutual relations of the clans of Ḳurays̲h̲. At one period, all the descendants of ʿAbd Manāf together with some other clans formed a group …

, Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Malik , a scholar best known for his work on the biography of Muḥammad. His family was usually said to be of Ḥimyarite origin, and had moved from Baṣra to Egypt, where he was born and spent his life. His knowledge of genealogy and grammar was outstanding. He died in Egypt on 13 Rabīʿ II 218/8 May 833 or in 213/828. His Kitāb al-Tīd̲j̲ān on South Arabian antiquities is extant. He is chiefly famous, however, for his edition of the Sīra (Life of Muḥammad) of Ibn Isḥāḳ [ q.v.], which became the basic work on this subject. The Sīra of Ibn Isḥāḳ is not preserved as a single work…

, the name of two valleys on the way from Mecca to al-Ṭāʾif, distinguished as S̲h̲aʾmiyya (Syrian, northern) and Yamāniya (Yemenite, southern). The name is presumably due to an abundance of palms ( nak̲h̲l) in the valleys. On a height in Syrian Nak̲h̲la there was an idol of al-ʿUzzā which was specially venerated by Ḳurays̲h̲ and Banū Kināna. Some regarded the circumambulation of al-ʿUzzā as an essential for the completion of the ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ to the Kaʿba. Three Samura trees were closely associated with the deity. After the conquest of Mecca, Muḥa…

, or al-Ḥudaybiyya , a medium-sized village on the edge of the ḥaram or sacred territory of Mecca, one marḥala from Mecca itself. Both the village and the Mosque of the Tree (presumably on the site of the pledge described below) were unknown in the time of al-Fāsi (d. 832/1429). One authority says the name was derived from a dome-shaped or hump-like ( ḥadbāʾ ) tree, but this may be conjecture. The village gave its name to an important Muslim expedition from Medina, led by Muḥammad, in D̲h̲u ’l-Ḳaʿda of the year 6 (March 628). Muḥammad had a dream (cf. Ḳurʾān, XLVII…

is a collective name for the northern Arab tribes (see D̲j̲azīrat al-ʿarab (vi) = i, 544b). According to the standard genealogy, Maʿadd was a son of ʿAdnān [ q.v.]. His son Nizār [ q.v.] had three sons, Muḍar, Iyād and Rabīʿa, from the first and third of whom most of the northern Arabs claimed descent. Maʿadd and his descendants are said to have lived for a time in the neighbourhood of Mecca and to have intermarried with D̲j̲urhum [ q.v.]. The name Maʿadd is found in pre-Islamic poets, e.g. in verses of Imruʾ al-Ḳays (ed. Ahlwardt, no. 41, l. 5) and al-Nābig̲h̲a (ed. Ahlwa…

, ʿalī b. ismāʿīl , theologian, and founder of the school of orthodox theology which bears his name. He is said to have been born in 260/873-4 at Baṣra, and was ninth in descent from the Companion Abū Mūsā al-As̲h̲ʿarī. Little is known of his life. He was one of the best pupils of al-Ḏj̲ubbāʾī, head of the Muʿtazila in Baṣra, and might have succeeded him, had he not left the Muʿtazila for the party of the orthodox traditionists ( ahl al-sunna). This change or conversion is placed in 300/912-3. In later life he moved to Baghdād, and died there in 324/935-6. The story of al-As̲h̲ʿarī’s conversion …

, a group of Muḥammad’s Companions, mentioned chiefly in ascetic and mystical writings, where they have come to typify the ideal of poverty and piety. The ṣuffa or ẓulla (often rendered ‘bench’, ‘banquette’, etc.) was, according to Lane, a long, covered portico or vestibule, which formed part of the mosque at Medina. This—so the legend ran—was the sole home of these men, and they spent their time in study and worship, except when in obedience to a command from Muḥammad they went out to fight. They are sometimes said to have been as many as 400; Lane (s.v. ṣuffa) quotes al-Sayyid Murtaḍā as s…

, a large North Arabian tribe or group of tribes. The genealogy is given as: Hawāzin b. Manṣūr b. ʿIkrima b. K̲h̲aṣafa b. Ḳays b. ʿAylān (see kays ʿaylān , ʿadnān , al-ʿarab (D̲j̲azīrat), vi). Properly speaking Hawāzin includes the tribes of ʿĀmir b. Ṣaʿṣaʿa [ q.v.] and T̲h̲aḳīf [ q.v.], but the term is sometimes restricted to what is more correctly ʿUd̲j̲z Hawāzin, “the rear of Hawāzin”, comprising D̲j̲usham b. Muʿāwiya b. Bakr, Naṣr b. Muʿāwiya b. Bakr and Saʿd b. Bakr [ q.v.]. Among the places reckoned to belong to Hawāzin were: Amlaḥ, ʿAds al-Maṭāḥil, al-Dardā, al-Ḍabʿān, a…

, the most suitable or fitting, a term used by theologians in a technical sense. The "upholders of the aṣlaḥ " were a group of the Muʿtazila who held that God did what was best for mankind. It is nowhere stated who composed the group. Abu ’l-Hud̲h̲ayl held that God did what was. best for men. Al-Naẓẓām introduced the refinement that there were an infinite number of equally good. alternatives, any of which God might adopt instead of acting as He does; in this way he avoided the implication that…

, the name given to an oath exacted by the Prophet from some of his followers during the Medinan period. During the expedition to al-Ḥudaybiya [ q.v.] in D̲h̲u ’l-Ḳaʿda of the year 6 (March 628), a report reached Muḥammad that the Meccans had killed ʿUt̲h̲mān b. ʿAffān, who had gone into Mecca to negotiate a truce. Muḥammad realised that he would lose face unless ʿUt̲h̲mān’s death was avenged, and summoned the members of the expedition to take an oath of allegiance to himself. There are different versions of the content …

, the third and favourite wife of the Prophet, was born at Mecca about 614. Her mother, Umm Rūmān, came from the tribe of Kināna. Muḥammad gave ʿĀʾis̲h̲a the kunya Umm ʿAbd Allāh, after the name of her nephew ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Zubayr. The usual story of her marriage to Muḥammad is that the initiative came from Ḵh̲awla bint Ḥakīm, wife of ʿUt̲h̲mān b. Maẓʿūn, who possibly helped Muḥammad in domestic matters. Some time after the death of Ḵh̲adīd̲j̲a. Ḵh̲awla suggested to Muḥammad that he should marry either ʿĀʾis̲h̲a, the six-year old daugh…

, paternal grandfather of Muḥammad. Passing through Medina on trading journeys to Syria, Hās̲h̲im b. ʿAbd Manāf married Salmā bint ʿAmr of the clan of ʿAdī b. al-Nad̲j̲d̲j̲ār of the Ḵh̲azrad̲j̲, by whom he had two children, ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib (or S̲h̲ayba) and Ruḳayya. The mother and her son remained in her house in Medina, this apparently being the practice of her family in accordance with a matrilineal kinship system. Some time after Hās̲h̲im’s death his brother al-Muṭṭalib tried to strengthen h…

or Mud̲j̲bira , the name given by opponents to those whom they alleged to hold the doctrine of d̲j̲abr , “compulsion”, viz. that man does not really act but only God. It was also used by later heresiographers to describe a group of sects. The Muʿtazila applied it, usually in the form Mud̲j̲bira, to Traditionists, As̲h̲ʿarite theologians and others who denied their doctrine of ḳadar or “free will” (al-K̲h̲ayyāṭ, K. al-intiṣār , 18, 24, 26 f., 49 f., 67, 69, 135 f.; Ibn Ḳutayba, K. taʾwīl muk̲h̲talif al-ḥadīt̲h̲ , 96; Ibn al-Murtaḍā, K. al-munya (ed. Arnold), 45, 71 — of Fak̲h̲r al-Dīn al…

, Abū Bakr Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan b. Fūrak al-Anṣārī al-Iṣbahānī , As̲h̲ʿarite theologian and traditionist, was born about 330/941, perhaps in Ispahan. In ʿIrāḳ, both at Basra and at Baghdad, he studied As̲h̲ʿarite kalām under Abu ’l-Ḥasan al-Bāhilī along with al-Bāḳillānī [ q.v.] and al-Isfarāʾinī [ q.v.], and also traditions under ʿAbd Allāh b. Ḏj̲aʿfar al-Iṣbahānī. From ʿIrāḳ he went to Rayy, then to Nis̲h̲āpūr, where a madrasa was built for him beside the k̲h̲ānḳāh of the ṣūfī al-Būs̲h̲and̲j̲ī. He was in Nīs̲h̲āpūr before the death of the ṣūfī Abū ʿUt̲h̲mān …