Derived from the Greek term, Aithiopes, designating mythical or actual peoples defined as having dark skin and living south of Egypt (q.v.), and applied to roughly the area of ancient Axum or Abyssinia (q.v.) in northeast Africa, directly across the Red Sea from Arabia. As the opposition to Muḥammad (q.v.) increased, a group of his followers left Mecca (q.v.; see emigration ), seeking the protection of the Christian king (see christians and christianity ) of the region. See geography . Reuven Firestone Bibliography

Two low hills near the Kaʿba (q.v.) in Mecca (q.v.) between which the pilgrim engages in a brisk walk or trot called “the running” (al-saʿy) during the pilgrimage (q.v.; ḥajj and ʿumra). This running is an obligatory station ( mansik, pl. manāsik) among the various ritual activities during the ten days of the ḥajj pilgrimage ritual at Mecca (see ritual and the qurʾān ). The root meaning of ṣafā is to be clear or pure, from which comes the familiar name muṣṭafā, meaning “elected” or “chosen” (see names of the prophet; election), but may also designate smooth stones. Lexicographers define marwa …

Abyssinia (al-Ḥabash or al-Ḥabasha) does not appear in the Qurʾān, although the ¶ Christian Abyssinian state of Axum exerted a powerful influence on Arabia in the sixth century. Separated from the Yemen by only the narrow Bab al-Mandab Strait, Abyssinia controlled southern Arabia for some time and Christianity spread in the region. One sūra is ordinarily interpreted to allude to an Abyssinian military incursion that reached Mecca and it is said that some of the early Meccan converts to Islam took refuge in Abyssinia. Ethiopic languages influenced the dialects …

The earthly manifestation of God's presence, a concept common to the Bible and the Qurʾān. Occurring in six verses, al-sakīna derives from God and is usually “sent down” to Muḥammad and/or his fellow believers. The Arabic root, s-k-n, denotes “stillness, quiet, calm, being motionless,” as in q 6:96: “[God] has made the night [for] stillness/quiet” (see also q 10:67; 27:86; 28:72; 40:61, etc.), with a secondary meaning (sometimes expressed in the causative fourth form) of “to settle down, to dwell in a habitation” (q 2:35; 14:37; 17:104, etc.). This parallels the Hebrew/Aramaic/Sy…

Some two hundred and forty-five verses in twenty-five sūras of the Qurʾān make reference to Abraham (Ibrāhīm), the progenitor of the nation of Israel (q.v.). Among biblical figures, only Moses (q.v.) receives more attention and in the Qurʾān Abraham and Moses are the sole prophets explicitly identified as bearers of scriptures (q 53:36-7; 87:18-9; see book; scripture and the qurʾān). Although the Islamic Abraham shares many characteristics with the figure in the Bible and later Jewish exegetical literature, the Qurʾān especially emphasizes his role as a…

One of the sons of Abraham (q.v.). Isaac (Isḥāq), specifically named a prophet (q 19:49; 37:112; see prophets and prophethood ), is mentioned by name seventeen times in sixteen qurʾānic verses. In half of these, he is included in what appears to be a litany of remembrances of ancient prophets. Such remembrances are a common qurʾānic motif in which the prophethood and message of Muḥammad are set within a context of ancient and familiar prophets and divine messages, usually but not always paralleling the scriptural traditions of Judaism and Christianity (see scripture and the qurʾān ). The …

“The people of Tubbaʿ” (qawm tubbaʿ), an extinct community mentioned twice in the Qurʾān. Among other pre-Islamic groups, they were punished because they refused to believe God or obey God's prophets (see belief and unbelief; obedience; prophets and prophethood). q 44:37 compares Muḥammad's detractors (see provocation; opposition to muḥammad), who challenged him to prove resurrection (q.v.) by himself reviving the dead (see death and the dead ), with the people of Tubbaʿ, who were destroyed for their sins (see sin, major and minor; punishment stories): “Are they better, or the …