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, Zāy, 11th letter of the Arabic alphabet, with the numerical value of 7. For its palaeographical pedigree, see arabia, plate i. It belongs to the sibilants ( al-ḥurūf al-asalīya) and corresponds to the same sound in the other Semitic languages. It is pronounced like English and French z. In the spoken Arabic of to-day z may also represent other sounds of the classical language, such as d̲h̲ and ẓ. In Persia and Turkey Arabic ḍ is often pronounced z. (A. J. Wensinck) Bibliography W. Wright, Comparative Grammar of the Semitic Languages, Cambridge 1890, p. 57 sq. A. Schaade, Sibawaihī’s Lautleh…

, the name of the patriarch of Israel. only appears once in the Ḳurʾān, apart from the frequent name, Banū Isrāʾīl, for the people of Israel. In Sura iii. 87 it is said: ʿAlī foods were permitted to the Israelites except that which Israel declared forbidden for himself before the Tora was revealed”. According to the commentators, this means that the restrictions on food were only revealed as a result of the wickedness of the Israelites. Their ancestor himself only refrained from eating camel flesh or drinking camel milk; according to some, because he was afflicted with the disease called ʿirḳ …

(al-Ḵh̲iḍr), the name of a popular figure, who plays a prominent part in legend and story. Al-Ḵh̲aḍir is properly an epithet (“the green man”); this was in time forgotten and this explains the secondary form Ḵh̲iḍr (about “the green”), which in many places has displaced the primary form. Legends and stories regarding al-Ḵh̲aḍir are primarily associated with the Ḳurʾānic story in Sūra xviii. 59—81, the outline of which is as follows. Mūsā goes on a journey with his servant ( fatā), the goal of which is the Mad̲j̲maʿ al-Baḥrain. But when they reach this place, they find that as a res…

(a.), infinitive II from the root k-b-r in the denominative sense: to pronounce the formula Allāh akbar. It is already used in this sense in the Ḳurʾān (e. g. Sūra lxxiv. 3; xvii., m with Allāh as the object). On the different explanations of the elative akbar in this formula cf. Lisān, s. v. and the Ḳurʾānic elative akram also applied to Allāh (Sūra xcvi. 3) and aʿlā (Sūra xcii. 20; lxxxvii. 1). The formula, as the briefest expression of the absolute superiority of the One God, is used in Muslim life in different circumstances, in which the idea of Allāh, his greatn…

is the name of an early-Arabian idol which was venerated by Ḳurais̲h̲ and Hud̲h̲ail, as may be concluded from the fact that among these clans the name ʿAbd Manāf “servant of Manāf” occurred. It is said that one of Muḥammad’s ancestors — the pedigree being Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib b. Hās̲h̲im b. ʿAbd Manāf — received this name, because his mother consecrated him to Manāf, who was then the chief deity of Makka. Whether this last statement be true or not, it does not restore to life a deity whose individuality remains to us as dim as that of all its compa…

(a.), also pronounced sebḥa, the rosary, which at present is used by nearly all classes of Muslims, except the Wahhābīs who disapprove of it as a bidʿa. There is evidence for its having been used at first in Ṣūfī circles and among the lower classes (Goldziher, Rosaire, p. 296); opposition against it made itself heard as late as the xvth century a. d., when Suyūtī composed an apology for it (Goldziher, Vorlesungen über den Islam, 1st ed., p. 165). At present it is usually carried by the pilgrims (cf. Mez, Die Renaissance des Islâms, p. 441) and the darwīs̲h̲es. The rosary consists of three gro…

, the usual name in Arabic for the ritual prayer or divine service. The translation “prayer” simply is not accurate; the Arabic word duʿāʾ corresponds to the conception prayer (Snouck Hurgronje has several times drawn attention to this distinction; Verspreide Geschriften, i. 213 sq., ii. 90, iv/i. 56, 63 sq., etc.). The word does not seem to occur in the pre-Ḳorʾānic literature. Muḥammad took it, like the ceremony, from the Jews and Christians in Arabia. In many Kūfic copies of the Ḳorʾān and often in later literature also in connection with the sacred book it is written . It is very often …

, in the Ḳorʾān (vi. 74) the name of Abraham’s father. There appears to be some confusion here as the name is nowhere else given to Abraham’s father. That he was called Tāraḥ (Tārak̲h̲) is also related by Muslim commentators and historians; to reconcile these two statements the usual artifices are resorted to, but these have no value. According to Maracci ( Prodromi, iv. 90) the form Āzar is due to a false reading ’Αθαρ in Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical Chronicle. Neither Maracci, nor any of those who cite him later, has given a more exact reference to the passa…

(a.), part. act. iv. of ʿ-d̲j̲-z, lit. “the overwhelming”, has become the technical term for miracle. It does not occur in the Ḳurʾān, which denies miracles in connection with Muḥammad, whereas it emphasizes his “signs”, āyāt, i. e. verses of the Ḳurʾān; cf. the art. koran. Even in later literature Muḥammad’s chief miracle is the Ḳurʾān (cf. Abū Nuʿaim, Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwa, ¶ p. 74). Muʿd̲j̲iza and āya have become synonyms; they denote the miracles performed by Allāh in order to prove the sincerity of His apostles. The term karāma [q. v.] is used in connection with the saints; it di…

, the prophet. His name is vocalised in Arabic irmiyā, armiyā or ūrmiyā (see Tād̲j̲ al-ʿArūs, x. 157) and these forms are occasionally given with madd also ( Irmiyāʾ). Wabh b. Munabbih gives an account of him which turns upon the main points of the Old Testament story of Jeremiah: his call to be a prophet, his mission to the king of Judah, his mission to the people and his reluctance, the announcement of a foreign tyrant who is to rule over Judah. Jeremiah then rends his garments and curses the day on which he was born; he …

(a.), pluralof ḥawrāʾ, fem. of aḥwar, literally “the white ones” i. e. the maidens in Paradise, the black iris of whose eyes is in strong contrast to the clear white around it. The nomen unitatis in Persian is ḥūrī (also ḥūrī-behes̲h̲tī), Arabic ḥūrīya. The explanation of the word found in Arabic works “those at whom the spectator is astounded ( ḥāra )” is of course false and is therefore rejected even by other Arab philologists. These maidens of Paradise are described in various passages in the Ḳurʾān. In Sūra ii. 23, iii. 13, iv. 60, they are called “purified wives”;…

, the archangel Michael [cf. malāʾika], whose name occurs once in the Ḳurʾān, viz. in sūra ii. 92: “Whosoever is an enemy to Allāh, or his angels, or his apostles, or to Gabriel or to Michael, verily Allāh is an enemy to the unbelievers”. In explanation of this verse two stories are told. According to the first, the Jews, wishing to test the veracity of the mission of Muḥammad, asked him several questions, on all of which he gave the true answer. Finally they asked him who transmitted the revelations…

(a.), part. pass. IV from ṭ-l-ḳ, “to loose the bond ( ḳaid) of an animal, so as to let it free” (e.g. Muslim, Ḏj̲ihād, trad. 46; Abū Dāwūd, Ḏj̲ihād, bāb 100). The term is also applied ¶ to the loosening of the bowstring (Buk̲h̲ārī, Ḏj̲ihād, b. 170), of the garments, the hair etc. Thence the common meaning absolute, as opposed to restricted ( muḳaiyad), and further the accusative muṭlaḳan “absolutely”. The use of the term is so widely diffused, that a few examples only can be given. In grammar the term mafʿūl muṭlaḳ denotes the absolute object (cognate accusative), i. e. the objectivate…

b. al-Ḍaḥḥāk b. Zaid b. Lawd̲h̲ān b. ʿAmr b. ʿAbd Manāf (or ʿAwf) b. G̲h̲anm b. Mālik b. al-Nad̲j̲d̲j̲īr al-Anṣārī al-Ḵh̲azrad̲j̲ī, one of the Companions of Muḥammad, best known through his part in the editing of the Ḳurʾān. His father was killed in the battle of Buʿāt̲h̲ [q. v.], five years before the hid̲j̲ra, when Zaid was six years old. His ¶ mother was al-Nawār, daughter of Mālik b. Muʿāwiya b. ʿAdī, also of a Madīnd̲j̲ad̲j̲ family. It is said that the boy knew already a number of Sūras when Muḥammad settled in al-Madīna. At any rate he became his secretary, who rec…

, the mosque built on the site of the Temple in Jerusalem. The name means “the remotest sanctuary” and is first found in the Ḳurʾān, Sūra xvii. 1: “Praise ʿilm who made his servant journey in the night from the holy place to the remotest sanctuary, which we have surrounded with blessings to show him of our signs”. As was explained in the article isrāʾ [q. v.], the older exegesis refers this verse to the journey to heaven [cf. miʿrād̲j̲] and sees in the name al-Masd̲j̲id al-Aḳṣā a reference to some heavenly place (cf. Sidrat al-Muntahā, Sūra liii. 14). This explanation had however in time to g…

(in European literature one also finds ʿAzrāʾīl), the name of the angel of death, one of the four archangels (next to Ḏj̲ibrīl, Mīk̲h̲āʾīl, Isrāfīl). The name is perhaps a corruption of which is given by Eisenmenger, Entdecktes Judenthum, ii. 333, as the name of the prince of Hell. Like Isrāfīl, whose office of trumpet-blower at the last judgment is sometimes given to him, he is of cosmic magnitude; if the water of all the seas and rivers were poured on his head, not a drop would reach the earth. He has a seat ( sarīr) of light in the fourth or seventh heaven, on which one of his feet re…

(a., plural sad̲j̲id̲j̲id, sad̲j̲ād̲j̲īd, sawād̲j̲id), the carpet on which the ṣalāt is performed. The word is found neither in the Ḳorʾān nor in the canonical Ḥadīt̲h̲; the article itself, however, was known at quite an early period, as may be seen from the traditions about to be mentioned. In the Ḥadīt̲h̲ we are often told how Muḥammad and his followers performed the ṣalāt on the floor of the mosque in Medīna after a heavy shower of rain with the result that their noses and heads came in contact with the mud (e. g. al-Buk̲h̲ārī, Ad̲h̲ān, bāb 135, 151; Muslim, Ṣiyām, trad. 214—216, 218 etc.)…

(Plur. Farāʿina), Pharaoh. The word is explained by the commentaries on Sūra ii. 46 of the Ḳorʾān as a laḳab or ʿalam of the Amalakite kings, like Kisrā and Ḳaiṣar of the Kings of the Persians and Romans. The verb tafarʿana means “to be arrogant and tyrannous”, hence the Ḳorʾānic Firʿawn is called al-Ḏj̲abbār “the tyrant” by al-Yaʿḳūbī (ed. Houtsma), i. 31. A number of Firʿawns are mentioned in Arabic literature; their number is very differently given. In the Ḳorʾān, however, Firʿawn is always the kfng with whom Mūsā and Hārūn had to deal; the word is here clearly understood as a proper name. The …

, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAmr Abū ʿAmr, a jurist born in Baʿalbekk 88 (757). Later he lived in Damascus and Bairūt. Nothing else is known abut his life, his good character and asceticism are emphasized; he died in his bath in the year 157 (774) and was buried in the Ḳibla of the mosque in Bairūt. — Al-Awzāʿī during his life-time was a star of the first magnitude. He is said to have been the Imām of Syria and even the Mag̲h̲rib and Spain are said to have followed his Mad̲h̲hab. His influence soon declined in favour of that of Abū Ḥanīfa and of Mālik. Hardly any data about hi…

, properly ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAbd Allāh, Arab poet, who lived in Kūfa in the second half of the i. (vii.) cent. He was married to a sister of the theologian al-S̲h̲aʿbī, and he, again, had married a sister of al-Aʿs̲h̲ā. The role which he played under ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. al-As̲h̲ʿat̲h̲ is best known. He took part in his campaign against the Turks and was taken captive but escaped with the aid of a Turkish woman whose passions were enflamed for him. When Ibn al-As̲h̲ʿat̲h̲ turned against al-Ḥad̲j̲d…