The uniquely human faculty of (primarily) verbal expression. In the Qurʾān, the concept of language is expressed by the word lisān (lit. tongue). The other common term for language, lugha, which is well-attested in classical and modern standard Arabic (see arabic language ), does not appear in the Qurʾān; one encounters only the related words laghw and lāghiya, which express exclusively the connotation of “vain utterance.” There are twenty-five occurrences of the word lisān in the Qurʾān, fifteen in the singular and ten in the plural ( alsina; the other plural, alsun, is not attested …

That which is legally authorized, and that which is not. Among its various legislative pronouncements, the Qurʾān declares certain objects and actions lawful or unlawful. The words ḥalāl, “lawful, allowed, permitted,” and ḥarām, “unlawful, forbidden, prohibited,” and cognate terms from the triliteral roots ḥ-l-l and ḥ-r-m, respectively, most often designate these two categories and are of relatively frequent occurrence. Qurʾānic declarations of lawfulness or unlawfulness are limited to a relatively few areas of the law as later elaborated …

A direction one faces in order to pray (see prayer ). q 2:142-50 is concerned with the Muslims' qibla and appears to say the following: There is about to be a change of qibla. Foolish people will make an issue of the change and they should be answered with an affirmation of God's absolute sovereignty (q.v.; see also power and impotence ). God has made the believers neither Jews nor Christians (see belief and unbelief; jews and judaism; christians and christianity) but an example to all, just as the messenger (q.v.) is an example to the believers. The former qibla was instituted only as a test…

 see idrīs Bibliography

Ibn Ḥajar al-Haytamī (d. 974/1567)  Sin, Major and Minor Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (d. 852/1449)  Foreign Vocabulary  Occasions of Revelation  Satanic Verses  Sin, Major and Minor  Traditional Disciplines of Qurʾānic Studies Ibn Ḥanbal, Aḥmad (d. 241/855)  Anthropomorphism  Companions of the Prophet  Court  Createdness of the Qurʾān  Creeds  Exegesis of the Qurʾān: Classical and Medieval  Hell and Hellfire  Honey  Inimitability  Intercession  Manual Labor  Muʿtazila  Names of the Prophet  Noah  Philosophy and the Qurʾān  Preserved Tablet  Raqīm  Recitation of the Qurʾān  Scr…

Qurʾānic language and text Modern students of Arabic linguistics have been studying several fundamental questions about qurʾānic language and text ever since the earliest formulations of these investigations some hundred years ago (see language of the qurʾān; literary structures of the qurʾān). The qurʾānic text constitutes one of the three early language corpora that reflect language varieties of Arabic speakers in pre-Islamic Arabia (see arabic language ). The other two corpora are poetry (usually inclusive of almost all the pre-ʿAbbāsid Islamic inventory; see poetr…

The semantic field of “language” includes several triliteral Arabic roots: l-s-n (Dāmaghānī, Wujūh, ii, 200-1; see H. Jenssen, Arabic language, 132; see also language, concept of), k-l-m (Yaḥyā b. Sallām, Taṣārīf, 303-5; Dāmaghānī, Wujūh, ii, 186-7), q-w-l, l-ḥ-n (Khan, Die exegetischen Teile, 276, on q 47:30: “the burden of their talk,” laḥn al-qawl; Fück, ʿArabīya, 133; Fr. trans. 202; Ullmann, Wa-h̲airu, 21-2). It should be noted that lugha in the sense of manner of speaking (Fr. parler, Ger. Redeweise) is totally absent from the Qurʾān — although the root l-gh-w is attested, but…

Ancestor of the people of Israel (Isrāʾīl), whose name appears most frequently in the Qurʾān within the title “Children of Israel” (q.v.; Banū Isrāʾīl). Only in two places does it occur separately (q 3:93; 19:58). The commentators identify Israel with Jacob (q.v.; Yaʿqūb), the son of Isaac (q.v.; Isḥāq). q 3:93, which deals with Jewish dietary restrictions (see jews and judaism ), makes allusion to a specific event in Israel's life. It ¶ is stated here that all food was lawful (see lawful and unlawful ) to the Children of Israel save what Israel forbade for himself before the Torah (q.v.) was…

Thailand  Teaching and Preaching the Qurʾān al-Thaʿlabī, Abū Isḥāq Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm (d. 427/1035)  Alexander  Commandments  Exegesis of the Qurʾān: Classical and Medieval  Hārūt and Mārūt  Hūd  Insolence and Obstinacy  Khaḍir/Khiḍr  Literature and the Qurʾān  Persian Literature and the Qurʾān  Prophets and Prophethood  Raqīm  Religion  Satanic Verses  Traditional Disciplines of Qurʾānic Studies  Tubbaʿ  Ṣūfism and the Qurʾān Thamudeni  Archaeology and the Qurʾān Thamānīn  Ararat Thamūd  Animal Life  Archaeology and the Qurʾān  Arrogance  Brother and Brothe…

Following a brief discussion of ritual in modern academic discourse which proposes a functional typology of rituals both within and involving the Qurʾān, and taking into account the context in which certain rituals occur and are performed, this article will then explore the treatment of qurʾānic rituals in works of Islamic jurisprudence (see law and the qurʾān ). Those rituals which employ verses of the Qurʾān — written or spoken, individually or collectively — in various ceremonial, talismanic and therapeutic contexts will also be examined. This arti…

Concise and authoritative formulae that provide a summation of the essentials of faith (q.v.). Professions of faith or creeds (ʿaqāʾid, sing. ʿaqīda) were formulated by individual scholars and by groups of scholars, yet there exists no standard or universally accepted Muslim creed. Rather, there are a variety of Islamic creeds, which ¶ vary substantially in length, contents and arrangement. Although the Qurʾān does not proclaim any formal creed or compendium of faith, it does contain elements that form the basis for most creeds. First among these is the nature of God (see god …

Sīra is a branch of Arabic literature that is devoted to the earliest salvation history of Islam and focuses on God's actions towards his prophet Muḥammad and through him, i.e. the revelation of the Qurʾān and the foundation of an Islamic community. The term sīra can also connote a work belonging to that literature. Sīra is the noun of kind (fiʿla) of the Arabic verb sāra, “to go,” “to travel,” etc., indicating the manner of doing what is expressed by the verb (see arabic language; grammar and the qurʾān). Hence it originally means “way of going,” but the most frequent meaning is “…

A messenger (q.v.) and prophet who is mentioned three times in the Qurʾān. In the first instance the name of Elijah (Ilyās) is cited along with those of Zechariah (q.v.), John (see john the baptist ) and Jesus (q.v.) with the statement that “all were of the righteous” (q 6:85). The name of Elijah is next mentioned at the beginning of a passage (q 37:123-32) that recounts his vicissitudes in the manner of ¶ other qurʾānic punishment stories (q.v.) involving the prophets and their peoples (see prophets and prophethood ). There Elijah is identified as one of the messengers, the one who c…

Pre-Islamic prophet, named in the Bible as the son of Abraham (q.v.) and Hagar and the eponymous father of the Ishmaelites (a confederacy of Arab tribes; see tribes and clans ). Ishmael (Ismāʿīl) is mentioned twelve times in as many verses of the Qurʾān. In most of these, he is listed among other prophets as part of a litany of remembrances in which the pre-Islamic prophets are praised for their resolute steadfastness (see trust and patience ) and obedience (q.v.) to God, often in the face of adversity (see trial ). The subtext of these litanies is Muḥammad's position as authentic prophet (nabī)…

Islamic tradition identifies as al-Khaḍir (or Khiḍr), an otherwise unnamed “servant (q.v.) of God” who appears in Sūrat al-Kahf (“The Cave”; q 18:60-82), in connection with Moses' (q.v.) quest for the “confluence of the two seas” (see barrier; nature as signs). Interpretations run a wide gamut. Al-Zamakhsharī (d. 538/1144; Kashshāf, ii, 703) asserts that Khiḍr lived from the time of Dhū l-Qarnayn (see alexander ) to that of Moses; Sayyid Quṭb (d. 1966; Ẓilāl, iv, 2276-82) sets that tradition aside, calling him only “the ¶ righteous servant.” Moses and an unnamed companion (traditi…

Muʿādh b. Jabl  Apostasy  Occasions of Revelation Muʿāwiya  Foretelling in the Qurʾān Muʿāwiya b. Abī Sufyān (first Umayyad caliph; r. 41/661-60/680)  Aqṣā Mosque  Arabic Script  Archaeology and the Qurʾān  Dissension  Foretelling in the Qurʾān  Iram  Iraq  Khārijīs  Last Judgment  Left Hand and Right Hand  Mosque  Orthography  Politics and the Qurʾān  Ritual and the Qurʾān  Syria  Ḥadīth and the Qurʾān  Ḥafṣa  Ṣiffīn, Battle of Muʿāwiya b. Rabīʿa (pre-Islamic king)  Archaeology and the Qurʾān Muʿāwiya b. Yazīd (r. 64/683-84)  Epigraphy al-Muʾayyad Dāwūd (Rasūlid ruler)  Agri…