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Circumambulation (Ar. ṭawāf, verbal noun of ṭāfa, walk, run, circumambulate) is the ritual act of walking or running around a sacred object, such as a stone or altar. The rite is known in many pre-Islamic cultures, Judaism, and Christianity and among Persians, Indians, Buddhists, Romans, and others. In Islam the circumambulation is performed around the Kaʿba, seven times in succession, the first three at a fast pace, beginning and ending at the Black Stone (al-ḥajar al-aswad). The Kaʿba must be kept to one’s left, so that one mo…

ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib b. Hāshim was father of ʿAbdallāh and grandfather of the prophet Muḥammad. He is said to have died at the age of 82 or 110 or 120, when Muḥammad was eight years old. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib was born in Yathrib (Medina) to Salmā bt. ʿAmr of the Khazraj, who was married to Hāshim b. ʿAbd Manāf of the Quraysh. Reportedly she had married him on the condition that she give birth to his children only among her own relatives. After the birth of his son, Hāshim left him with his mother until he w…

Āmina, the mother of the prophet Muḥammad, was the daughter of Wahb b. ʿAbd Manāf of the clan of Zuhra of the Quraysh and Barra bt. ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā of the clan of ʿAbd al-Dār (Ibn Saʿd, 1:59). Her husband was ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, to whom she was married while she was staying with her uncle Wuhayb b. ʿAbd Manāf, who was her guardian (Ibn Saʿd, 1:94–5). Muslim tradition regards the marriage as part of a divine scheme: An old Yemeni scholar, well versed in the holy scriptures, reportedly re…

Abū Jahl (d. 2/624), the “Father of Ignorance,” was the Qurashī leader of Muḥammad’s pagan opponents in Mecca. His actual name was ʿAmr b. Hishām b. al-Mughīra of the Makhzūm of the Quraysh. This derogatory nickname was reportedly given to him by the Prophet, and was designed to replace his actual kunya, Abū l-Ḥakam. The Prophet declared that he who calls Abū Jahl Abū l-Ḥakam commits a grave sin (al-Balādhurī, 1:141; 10:173–4). A verse by Ḥassān b. Thābit, Muḥammad’s poet, states that “his kinsmen named him Abū Ḥakam, but God named him Abū Jahl” (Ḥassā…

Abū Qubays is the sacred mountain (jabal), 460 metres high, overlooking the Great Mosque at Mecca, situated a few hundred metres to the east of the Mosque (Illustration 1). Its foothill is al-Ṣafā. The Mosque itself (including the Kaʿba) lies in the valley between Abū Qubays and the mountain Quʿayqiʿān, to the northwest of the Mosque. Abū Qubays is one of two mountains called al-Akhshabān (“the two rough ones”), the other one being variously named as Quʿayqiʿān, or al-Jabal al-Aḥmar, which overlooks Quʿayqiʿān on its northern side, or Jabal al-Khuṭṭ.…

The term “ Children of Israel” (Banū Isrāʾīl) is generally used in the Qurʾān—as it was earlier in the Bible, in its Hebrew form, Benei Yisraʾel—for the Israelites of the time of Moses. 1. The Qurʾānic evidence The Children of Israel are also referred to as Moses’s “people” ( qawm, e.g., Q 2:54, 60, 67; 7:128, 142, 155). As in the Bible (Genesis 32:29), Jacob is called “Israel” (Ar., Isrāʾīl) in the Qurʾān (3:93). And, as in the Bible (e.g., Genesis 36:31), the Qurʾānic term “Children of Israel” is not confined to Moses’s own time but encompas…

Abū Ṭālib (d. c. 619 C.E.) was the son of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib b. Hāshim and Fāṭima bt. ʿAmr of the Makhzūm of Quraysh, and a full brother of ʿAbdallāh, the father of the prophet Muḥammad. He was reportedly born thirty-five years before Muḥammad. His proper name was ʿAbd Manāf. His sons Ṭālib, ʿAqīl, Jaʿfar, and ʿAlī, were born to him by his wife Fāṭima bt. Asad of the Banū Hāshim. After the death of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, Abū Ṭālib inherited from him the offices of …

Mount ʿ Arafāt (ʿArafa) is a venerated site in Islam, approximately 70 metres high, located about 21 kilometres east of Mecca, on the road to al-Ṭāʾif. The small mountain and the plain on which it is situated serve as one of the main stations of the pilgrimage (ḥajj) to Mecca. The plain is some 6 kilometres from east to west and approximately 12 kilometres from north to south; it is surrounded by several mountains to the east, north, and south. Mount ʿArafāt is isolated from the other mountains and located at the northeast end of the plain. …

ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib (fl. sixth century C.E.) of the Banū Hāshim clan of the Quraysh was the father of the prophet Muḥammad, who was his only child. ʿAbdallāh's mother was Fāṭima bt. ʿAmr of the Banū Makhzūm clan of the Quraysh. According to some reports ʿAbdallāh was born in the twenty-fourth year of the reign of Kis…

ʿ Aqīl b. Abī Ṭālib (d. 50/670 or 63/683) was the elder full brother of ʿAlī (d. 40/661). Their mother was Fāṭima bt. Asad of the Banū Hāshim. Ten years before ʿAqīl was born she had given birth to Ṭālib, Abū Ṭālib's (d. c.619 C.E.) first son. Ten years after ʿAqīl was born she gave birth to Jaʿfar (d. 8/629), and a further ten years later to ʿAlī. After Abū Ṭālib's death, his sons Ṭālib and ʿAqīl are said to have inherited his possessions and wealth. ʿAqīl had several sons and daughters—his kunya (patronymic) being Abū Yazīd—among whom the most prominent was Muslim b. ʿAqīl. Five, six…

Aḥmad, a name of the prophet Muḥammad, is the noun form that denotes pre-eminence (afʿalu l-tafḍīl), and it may be understood in the passive sense of “one deserving to be praised more than others,” or in the active sense of “one who praises (God) more than others do” (e.g., Ibn al-Qayyim, 129–30). According to Q 61:6, the name was used by Jesus when announcing to the Children of Israel the future emergence of the Prophet. Early Muslim exegetes such as Muqātil b. Sulaymān (d. 150/767) noticed the relationship b…

Abraha was a Christian king of South Arabia in the middle of the sixth century C.E. According to Muslim sources, he attacked Mecca with the “People of the Elephant” in about 570 C.E. The name “Abraha” is said in Muslim sources to be of Abyssinian origin, meaning “bright face” ( wajh abyaḍ; see Ibn Hishām, al-Tījān, 136; Ibn Saʿīd, 1:119). Islamic reports of…

ʿAmr b. Luḥayy, also known as Abū Khuzāʿa, is the legendary pre-Islamic figure said to have introduced idolatry into Arabia. He was the ancestor of the tribe of Khuzāʿa, who lived in the vicinity of Mecca. The clans of Kuzāʿa that are considered his direct descendants are Kaʿb, Mulayḥ, ʿAwf, ʿAdiyy, and Saʿd.…

Budayl b. Warqāʾ al-Khuzāʿī, an early convert to Islam, belonged to the clan of ʿAdī b. ʿAmr of the Khuzāʿa. He lived in Mecca, and his dār was situated in the quarters of the confederates of the Qurashī clan of Sahm (al-Azraqī, 475). In one…

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Persons or animals or plants connected by common descent. This concept emerges in the Qurʾān mainly in relationship with the glory (q.v.) of God who in his might was able to create a multitude of species upon earth (see creation; power and impotence). Thus in q 36:36: “Glory be to him who created pairs of all things, of what the earth grows, and of their own kind and of what they do not know” (see glorification of god ). The phrase “of what they do not know” is taken to refer to species unknown to humans. Similarly, in q 20:53 God is praised (see praise ) for producing from the earth many species of various plants (see agricultu…

One of the qurʾānic designations of Israelites as well as Jews ( yahūd, see jews and judaism ) and Christians ( naṣārā, see christians and christianity ), in reference mainly to past generations (q.v.). The majority of the passages mentioning the Children of Israel (Bānū Isrāʾīl) are dedicated to the Israelites of the time of Moses (q.v.), while references do exist to later stages of their history, such as the story of Saul (Ṭālūṭ; q 2:246-52; see saul ), the destruction of the Temple (q 17:2-8) and the emergence of Jesus (q.v.) among them (q 61:6). Sometimes, the label “Children of Isra…

Contrition or regret and self-mortification, with the intention of obtaining God's pardon (see forgiveness ). Repentance is generally designated in the Qurʾān as tawba which basically means “return” (from sin; see sin, major and minor ). For example, in q 66:8 God demands of the believers a “sincere return” (tawbatan naṣūḥan) and he in turn will make them enter paradise (q.v.). God himself is described as “the accepter of tawba” (q 9:104; 42:25; also q 40:3: accepter of tawb), and …

Areas considered holy, often associated with places of worship or religious rituals. Sacred precincts are treated in the Qurʾān on two levels: Israelite and Arabian (see children of israel; pre-islamic arabia and the qurʾān; south arabia, religion in pre-islamic). On the Israelite level, a sacred precinct is mentioned, to begin with, in the story of Moses' (q.v.) vocation. In q 20:12, Moses stands before the burnin…

Those individuals who receive divine revelation and their collective vocation. In Arabic (as in Hebrew), the word for “prophet” is nabī, plural nabiyyūn and anbiyāʾ. These forms occur seventy-five ¶ times, apart from the term nubuwwa, “prophethood,” which occurs five times. Much more prevalent, however, is the term rasūl (pl. rusul) which denotes a “messenger” (q.v.) or “apostle” (of God). Messengers are mentioned more than 300 times. A messenger is also referred to as mursal, which, together with its plural form (mursalūn), occurs more than thirty times. The form risāla (pl. risālāt)…