-ʿayn-   maʿāsh    maʿīsha    Food and Drink   maʿṣūm    istaʿṣama    Abstinence    iʿtaṣama    Covenant    ʿiṣma    Adam and Eve    Calf of Gold    Exegesis of the Qurʾān: Classical and Medieval    Impeccability    Mary    Satanic Verses    Scripture and the Qurʾān    Shīʿism and the Qurʾān   ʾ-ṣ-w    ʿaṣā, pl. ʿiṣiyy    Instruments    Literature and the Qurʾān    Rod   ʿ-b-d    ʿabada    Epigraphy    Ethics and the Qurʾān    Everyday Life, Qurʾān In    Grammar and the Qurʾān    Literary Structures of the Qurʾān    Prophets and Prophethood    Rhymed Prose    Servants    Worsh…

  ʿ-r-f    maʿrifa    Bahāʾīs    Exegesis of the Qurʾān: Classical and Medieval    Gratitude and Ingratitude    Literacy    Responsibility    Scholar    Social Sciences and the Qurʾān    maʿrifa qalbiyya    maʿrifat al-qirāʾa wa-l-kitāba    Ṣūfism and the Qurʾān    maʿrūf    Ethics and the Qurʾān    Gender    Hospitality and Courtesy    Ignorance    Medicine and the Qurʾān    Philosophy and the Qurʾān    Psalms    Virtue    al-amr bi-l-maʿrūf wa-l-nahy ʿan al-munkar    taʿārafa    ʿArafāt    ʿarafa    Ignorance    Knowledge and Learning    People of the Heights    …

-rāʾ-   r--ʿ-w    irʿawā    Grammar and the Qurʾān   r-b-b    (al-)rabba    God and his Attributes    Jinn    marbūb    Lord    rabb, pl. arbāb    Authority    Chronology and the Qurʾān    Cosmology    Day, Times of    Druzes    Everyday Life, Qurʾān In    Fear    God and his Attributes    Grammar and the Qurʾān    Gratitude and Ingratitude    Jinn    Justice and Injustice    Kaʿba    Lord    Mecca    Morning    Myths and Legends in the Qurʾān    Oaths    Pairs and Pairing    Parents    Pharaoh    Pilgrimage    Place of Abraham    Possession and Possessions    Praise    Pr…

The front part of the head, including the eyes (q.v.), cheeks, nose, mouth, forehead and chin. The Arabic term for face (wajh, pl. wujūh) in the Qurʾān is generally applied to the face of human beings, seventy-two times across all chronological periods (see chronology and the qurʾān ), but is also used less frequently to refer to the face of God (q.v.), eleven times in such constructions as “the face of God” (wajh Allāh), “his face” (wajhuhu) and “the face of your lord” (wajh rabbika). Depending on context and purpose, the term may also be rendered as countenance, essence, bein…

Sūrat al-Aḥzāb  Sūrat al-Aḥzāb   The Collection of the Qurʾān   Community and Society in the Qurʾān   Exegesis of the Qurʾān: Classical and Medieval   Expeditions and Battles   Family of the Prophet   Form and Structure of the Qurʾān   Ḥadīth and the Qurʾān   Heart   Love and Affection   Shīʿism and the Qurʾān   Sūra(s)  1   Hypocrites and Hypocrisy   Obedience   Scholar  1-2   Muḥammad   Trust and Patience  2   Prophets and Prophethood  3   Trust and Patience  4   Anatomy   Gender   Heart   Kinship   Love and Affection   Oaths   Turkish literature and the Qurʾān   Wives of …

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…

Peoples who make and remake their settlements in a variety of places, often depending upon climactic conditions. Nomads ¶ (aʿrāb) are the non-urban population of the Arabian peninsula, attested ten times in the Qurʾān. Oasis-town and countryside By the time of the Prophet, the Near Eastern social trichotomy of peasants, townspeople and nomads had developed into the dichotomy of nomads and urbanites in northern and central Arabia (see city; pre-islamic arabia and the qurʾān). This was the result of the “bedouinization of Arabia,” a social process which had set in with…

Persons physically detained by judicial authority in an institution for that purpose. The Qurʾān explicitly mentions prisoners (al-masjūnūn) only once, in q 26:29, referring to Moses (q.v.). The noun “prison” (al-sijn) and its verbal forms are, however, found in the story of Joseph (q.v.) at q 12:25 and in eight other places. Both of these narratives (q.v.) refer to the Pharaoh's (q.v.) prison in Egypt (q.v.), which some commentators described as “an underground place where a person was held without seeing or hearing anyone” ( Jalālayn, 482, ad q 26:29). ¶ It seems unlikely that Mecca (q.…

A messenger (q.v.) sent to the people of Thamūd (q.v.), named nine times in the Qurʾān. His story is dealt with in a number of passages (q 7:73-9; 11:61-8; 26:141-59; 27:45-53; 54:23-31; 91:11-5), and in other verses mention is made of the people of Thamūd and their fate. The Qurʾān does not contain a complete narrative of the story of this messenger and the events that led his people to punishment and destruction, but it does mention (and occasionally repeats some details of) his mission among his people. Particular attention is given to the…

Care and management of the person and/or property of a person deemed incapable of managing his or her own affairs. Although the Qurʾān has no specific term for guardian and nowhere says what kind of relationship (kinship of a certain degree or otherwise) should exist between a guardian and ward, guardianship is nonetheless referred to in several verses. It is understood that (a) minors and (b) women are those who ought to be protected by male, adult guardians (see also children; women and the qurʾān). The Qurʾān, probably against a background of injustice and violence to which o…

Sūrat al-Anfāl  Sūrat al-Anfāl   Basmala   Chronology and the Qurʾān   Conquest   Days of God   Fasting   Form and Structure of the Qurʾān   Jesus   Politics and the Qurʾān   Punishment Stories   Sīra and the Qurʾān   Sūra(s)   Taxation  1   Booty   Creeds   Ethics and the Qurʾān   Everyday Life, Qurʾān In   Jihād   Muḥammad   Taxation  1-13   Material Culture and the Qurʾān  1-19   Muḥammad   Quraysh  2   Belief and Unbelief   Faith   Fear   Literacy   Memory   Recitation of the Qurʾān  2-4   Belief and Unbelief   Mercy   Paradise  4   Forgiveness   Life   Sustenance  6  …

The unlawful taking of another's property (q.v.) entailing, in some cases, a punishment stipulated by the Qurʾān (see also chastisement and punishment; law and the qurʾān; lawful and unlawful; sin, major and minor). One of the better-known legislative passages in the Qurʾān provides: “As for the thief, whether male or female, for each, cut off the hands in punishment for what they did, as an exemplary punishment (nakālan) from God” (q 5:38). The Arabic wa-l-sāriq wa-l-sāriqa fa-qṭaʿū aydiyahumā closely parallels the syntax of another qurʾānic legislative pronouncement co…

Definitions The Qurʾān itself does not contain any concept equivalent to those designated in ancient and modern times by the term Arabia. That name is generally given today to a region understood to be the ancestral home of the Arabic speaking peoples (see arabs ). In the past the term has been applied to different geographical areas at different times, reflecting changing political and administrative divisions as well as changes of climate and settlement patterns. Currently it tends to be used predominantly with reference to the Arabian peninsula (jazīrat al-ʿarab), which, geograph…

The sons of Adam and Eve (q.v.). The qurʾānic account of Cain and Abel (q 5:27-32) closely follows the narrative in the Bible ( Gen 4:1-16; see scripture and the qurʾān ). Each of the two sons of Adam and Eve — whose names are not mentioned in the Qurʾān — offers a sacrifice (q.v.): Only Abel's was accepted while Cain's was rejected because he was not God-fearing. Upon Cain's threat to murder Abel, the latter remained passive, wishing only that Cain be held responsible for the sins of both ( innī urīdu an tabūʾa bi-ithmī wa-ithmika,q 5:29) and punished accordingly (see chastisement and punishment )…

Musaylima b. Thumāma b. Kabīr b. Ḥabīb b. al-Ḥārith b. ʿAbd al-Ḥārith, a leader of the Banū Ḥanīfa and rival of the Prophet. Muslim sources derisively nickname him “Musaylima the liar” ( al-kadhdhāb, see lie ). Musaylima is a diminutive form of Maslama; this can be deduced from a verse of ʿUmāra b. ʿUkayl (Mubarrad, Kāmil, iii, 26). The basis of the rivalry between Muḥammad and Musaylima was the latter's claim to prophethood (see prophets and prophethood ). Musaylima made his people believe that he was receiving revelation from God the Merciful ( al-Raḥmān, see god and his attributes ) throug…

  sh-r-r    sharr    Envy    Good and Evil    Nature as Signs   sh-r-y    ishtarā    Error    Trade and Commerce    sharā    Trade and Commerce    shirāʾ    Politics and the Qurʾān    shārin, pl. shurāt    Courage   sh-r-ʿ    sharīʿa    African Literature    Almsgiving    Community and Society in the Qurʾān    Druzes    Economics    Good Deeds    Jerusalem    Jews and Judaism    Kinship    Law and the Qurʾān    Literary Structures of the Qurʾān    Measurement    Media and the Qurʾān    Messenger    Muḥammad    Path or Way    Philosophy and the Qurʾān    Piety    Politics and…

Release of or exemption from a duty. Barāʾa, a derivative of the Arabic root b-r-ʾ, is attested twice in the Qurʾān where it denotes the idea of immunity. In q 54:43, it occurs in the sense of immunity or absolution. There, the rhetorical question arises: “Or [do you think] the sacred books ( al-zubur, see book; psalms) have given you immunity [from chastisement, see chastisement and punishment ]!” The major commentaries (see exegesis of the qurʾān: classical and medieval ) maintain that this verse admonishes the pagans of Mecca (q.v.), reminding them that they fare no better than …

  ʾ-k-l    akala    Cosmology    Food and Drink    Martyrs    akl    Cheating    ākila    Ḥamza b. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib   ʾ-kh-(w)    akh, pl. ikhwa, ikhwān    Brother and Brotherhood    Clients and Clientage    Druzes    Kinship    Lot    Myths and Legends in the Qurʾān    Sister    ikhwān al-flafāʾ    muʾākhāt    Brother and Brotherhood    Emigrants and Helpers    ukht    Sister   ʾ-kh-dh    akhadha    Beauty    Cosmology    Covenant    Literature and the Qurʾān    akhdh    Signs    ittakhadha    Covenant    Friends and Friendship    God and his Attributes    Oaths    Place …

Jeffery, A.  Barzakh  Chronology and the Qurʾān  Codices of the Qurʾān  Conquest  Contemporary Critical Practices and the Qurʾān  Cups and Vessels  Foreign Vocabulary  Instruments  Lord  Pit  Post-Enlightenment Academic Study of the Qurʾān  Raqīm  Revelation and Inspiration  Revision and Alteration  Ritual Purity  Textual Criticism of the Qurʾān  The Collection of the Qurʾān  Tools for the Scholarly Study of the Qurʾān Jehenna  World Jehoshaphat  Last Judgment Jehovahʿs Witnesses  Hypocrites and Hypocrisy Jehuda ha-Levi (d. 1141)  Torah Jenssen, H.  Arabic Language Jerba …

Visible appearance of God. In the Qurʾān, the closest one comes to a visible appearance of God is in q 7:143. Moses (q.v.) expresses his wish to see God, who replies: “You shall not see me. Look at the mountain, though; if it stays in its place, then will you see me.” The verse continues: “So, when his lord (q.v.) manifested himself (tajallā) to the mountain, he flattened it, and Moses, thunderstruck, collapsed. When he came to, he said, ‘Glory to you! I turn toward you in repentance, and I am the first of the believers’” (see repentance and penance; glorification of god). The hairsplitting disc…