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L’avant-propos du premier tome de l’ouvrage actuel ne saurait être que provisoire: l’introduction générale, qui contiendra, entre autres, un aperçu de sa genèse et de son développement, est destinée à accompagner le tome final. Dès maintenant je tiens à souligner la part très considérable que l’Académie Royale d’Amsterdam, qui a bien voulu en agréer le patronage, a daigné prendre aux travaux préparatoires. C’est elle aussi, qui a continué se charger de l’administration financière. Dès 1932 l’Union Académique Internationale a bien voulu prendre l’entreprise sous son é…

[English edition] الخطبة هي الموعظة، أو الكلام الذي ينشئه الخطيب [انظره]. وللخطبة محلّ ثابت في الشعائر الإسلامية، أي في صلاة الجمعة، والاحتفال بالعيدين، وفي الصلوات التي تقام في مناسبات خاصة كالخسوف والاستسقاء. وفي الجمعة تُلقَى الخطبةُ بعد الصلاة، وفي الصلوات الأخرى تكون الخطبة سابقة. ويمكن أن نورد ههنا وصفا موجزا لقواعد الخطبة اعتماداً على الشيرازي [انظر ترجمته في Tanbīh, ed. Juynboll, 40] وهو أحد أوائل الخطباء الشافعية. أ. من شروط صحة صلاة الجمعة أنها ينبغي أن تُسبَق بخطبتين. وشروط صحة هاتين الخُطْبَتَيْن هي التالية: أن يكون الخطيب في حال طهارة؛ وأن يكون لبا…

, the basin at which on the day of the resurrection Muḥammad will meet his community. This idea is not found in the Ḳurʾān, but in Tradition, which supplies a great variety of details of which the following are the more important. Muḥammad is called the precursor ( faraṭ ) of his community On the day of the resurrection the latter, in the first place the poor who have not known the pleasures of life, will join him near the basin. So far as one can judge, the question is one of admittance: Muḥammad pleads with Allāh for hi…

, Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Aḥmad b. ʿAlī b. S̲h̲uʿayb b. Baḥr b. Sinān , author of one of the six canonical collections of traditions [see Ḥadīt̲h̲ ], b. 215/830, d. 303/915. Very little is known about him. He is said to have made extensive travels in order to hear traditions, to have settled in Egypt, afterwards in Damascus, and to have died in consequence of ill-treatment to which he was exposed at Damascus or, according to others, at Ramla, in consequence of his feelings in favour of ʿAlī and against t…

(a.), plural ak̲h̲bār , ak̲h̲ābir , report, piece of information. The word is not used in any special context in the Ḳurʾān. In the ḥadīt̲h̲ it occurs among other passages in the tradition which describes how the d̲j̲inn by eavesdropping obtain information from heaven ( k̲h̲abar min al-samaʾ ) and how they are pelted with fiery meteors to prevent them from doing so (al-Buk̲h̲ārī, Ad̲h̲ān , bāb 105; Muslim, Ṣalāt , tr. 149); al-Tirmid̲h̲ī, Tafsīr , Sūra Ixxii, trad. 1). In his collection al-Buk̲h̲āri has a chapter entitled Ak̲h̲bār al-āḥād , which, as the tard̲j̲ama …

, apostle. The word is borrowed from Ethiopie, in which language ḥawāryā has the same meaning (see Nöldeke, Beiträge z . sem . Sprachwissenschaft , 48). The suggested derivations from Arabic, attributing to it the meaning “one who wears white clothing” etc., are incorrect. Tradition delights to endow the earliest Islamic pioneers with foreign bynames which were familiar to the “people of the Book”. Abū Bakr is called al-Ṣiddīḳ , ʿUmar al-Fārūḳ , al-Zubayr b. al-ʿAwwām al-Ḥawārī Moreover, the collective term al-Ḥawāriyyūn occurs, denoting twelve persons …

(a.), a term denoting the toothbrush as well as the tooth-pick. The more usual word is siwāk (plural suwuk ) which denotes also the act of cleansing the teeth. Neither of the two terms occurs in the Ḳurʾān. In Ḥadīt̲h̲ , miswāk is not used, siwāk, on the other hand, frequently. In order to understand its use, it is necessary to know that the instrument consists of a piece of smooth wood, the end of which is incised so as to make it similar to a brush to some extent. The piece of wood used as a tooth-pick must have been smaller and thinner,…

(in European literature one also finds ʿAzrāʾīl), the name of the an gel of death, one of the four archangels (next to D̲j̲ibrīl, Mīk̲h̲āʾīl, Isrāfīl). 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 rests; the other stands on the bridge between paradise and hell. He is however also said to have 70,000 feet. The description of his appearance a…

, the name of the Mosque of Mecca. The name is already found in the pre-Islamic period (Horovitz, Koranische Studien , 140-1) in Ḳays b. al-K̲h̲aṭīm, ed. Kowalski, v. 14: “By Allāh, the Lord of the Holy Masd̲j̲id and of that which is covered with Yemen stuffs, which are embroidered with hempen thread” (?). It would be very improbable if a Medinan poet meant by these references anything other than the Meccan sanctuary. The expression is also fairly frequent in the Ḳurʾān after the second Meccan period (Horovitz, op. cit.) and in various connections; it is a grave sin on the part ¶ of the polythei…

(a.), plural aḳwām , aḳāwim , aḳāyim , people. The word occurs also in Nabataean, Palmyrene and Ṣafaitic inscriptions in the name of the deity S̲h̲ayʿ al-Ḳawm “support of the people”, see Lidzbarski, Ephemeris für semitische Epigraphik , i, Index s.v. According to some lexicographers, the word applies in the first place to men; evidence for this opinion is afforded by passages from literature where Ḳawm is used in opposition to nisāʾ (women). The term does not primarily suggest the meaning of nation. A man’s Ḳawm are his s̲h̲ī ʿa and his ʿas̲h̲īra . In this limited…

, name of the second month of the Islamic year, also called Ṣ al-k̲h̲ayr or Ṣ al-muẓaffar because of its being considered to be unlucky (C. Snouck Hurgronje, The Atchehnese , i, 206; idem, Mekka , ii, 56). The Muslim Tigrē tribes pronounce the name S̲h̲afar, the Achehnese Thapa. According to Wellhausen, in the old Arabian year, Ṣafar comprised a period of two months in which al-Muḥarram (which name, according to this scholar is a Muslim innovation) was included. As a matter of fact, tradition reports that the early Arabians called al-Muḥarram Ṣafar and considered an ʿumra …

(a.), also watr , a term found in ḥadīt̲h̲ and fiḳh in connection with performance of the ṣalāt or worship and concerned with the odd number of rakʿa s which are performed at night. Witr does not occur in this sense in the Ḳurʾān, but frequendy in ḥadīt̲h̲, which in this case also discloses to us a part of the history of the institution in three stages, itself probably a continuation of the history of the fixing of the daily ṣalāts, as the traditions on witr presuppose the five daily ṣalāts, Some traditions even go so far as to call witr an additional ṣalāt of an obligatory nature (see also below…

(Hebrew Āsāf b. Bērek̲h̲yā), name of the alleged wazīr of King Solomon. According to the legend he was Solomon’s confidant, and always had access to him. When the royal consort Ḏj̲arāda was worshipping idols Āṣāf delivered a public address in which he praised the apoştles of God, Solomon among them, but only for the excellent qualities he had manifested in his youth. Solomon in anger at this took him to task, but was reproved for the introduction of idol-worship at the court. This was then done away with and the consort punished; the king became repentant. (A.J. Wensinck) Bibliography Ṭabarī,…

(a.), patronymic, an onomastic element composed of Abū (m.) “father” or Umm (f.) “mother” plus a name. We have here a metonymic designation corresponding to a general tendency among primitive peoples to consider an individual’s name as taboo and not to pronounce it unless exceptionally (see J. G. Frazer, The golden bough, ch. xxii). The kunya was therefore accordingly the name which should be used, but in historical times, the original intention here was forgotten, and al-Ḏj̲āḥiẓ (see JA [1967], 70, 82), far from seeing here any ¶ connection with sympathetic magic, counts the kunya …

, the name of the tenth month of the Muslim lunar year. In the Ḳurʾān (sūra X, 2), four months are mentioned during which, in the year 9/630-1, the Arabs could move in their country without exposing themselves to attacks (cf. “the sacred months” in v. 5). These four months were, according to the commentaries, S̲h̲awwāl, D̲h̲u ’l-Ḳaʿda, D̲h̲u ’l-Ḥid̲j̲d̲j̲a and Muḥarram. In Ḥadīt̲h̲ , S̲h̲awwāl is therefore among “the months of pilgrimage mentioned in Allāh’s Book” (al-Buk̲h̲ārī, Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ , bāb 33, 37). In pre-Islamic times, S̲h̲awwāl was considered ill-omened for the conclus…

al-Ḥanafī al-Ḥanẓalī, Abū Rās̲h̲id (said to be the son of a freedman of Greek origin who was a blacksmith; al-Balād̲h̲urī. Futūḥ , 56), K̲h̲arid̲j̲ite who played quite a considerable role in Islamic history as leader of an extremist fraction of that sect known after him as the Azāriḳa [ q.v.] or Azraḳīs, which lived on substantially after his death; he is furthermore said to have laid down their doctrines. The sequence of events in which he was involved is difficult to establish, since there is a certain confusion in the narratives involving him. From them one le…

, the name of a popular figure, who plays a prominent part in legend and story. Al-K̲h̲aḍir is properly an epithet (“the green man”); this was in time forgotten and this explains the secondary form K̲h̲iḍr (approximately “the green”), which in many places has displaced the primary form. (i) In the Ḳurʾān and in oriental legend Legends and stories regarding al-K̲h̲aḍir 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-baḥrayn . …

(a.), pl. of tarwīḥa , the term for ṣalāt s which are performed in the nights of the month of Ramaḍān. Tradition says that Muḥammad held these prayers in high esteem, with the precaution, however, that their performance should not become obligatory (al-Buk̲h̲ārī, Tarāwīḥ , trad. 3). ʿUmar is said to have been the first to assemble behind one ḳāriʾ those who performed their prayers in the mosque of Medina singly or in groups ( loc. cit., trad. 2); he is also said to have preferred the first part of the night for these pious exercises. The religious law recommends the performance of the tarāwīḥ …

This is the name given by the commentators to Pharaoh’s wife, who is twice (xxviii, 9 and lxvi, 11) mentioned in the Ḳurʾān. She plays the same part as Pharaoh’s daughter in the Bible, so that there is obviously confusion. In the second passage these words are put into her mouth: "My Lord, build me a house with thee in Paradise, and deliver me from Pharaoh and his doings and deliver me from the wicked". In connexion with this passage it is related that Āsiya endured many cruelties at the hands o…

a she-camel or a ewe with slit ears. The Ḳurʾān and ancient poetry (cf. Ibn His̲h̲ām, 58) show that the ancient Arabs used to carry out certain religions cérémonies with respect to their cattle, which consisted firstly in letting the animal go about loose without making any use of it whatever, and secondly in limiting to males permission to eat its flesh (after it had died). In the varions cases the animais bore special names ( Baḥīra , Sāʾiba , Waṣīla , Ḥāmī ; on these names cf. Wellhausen as cited below). The lexicographers are not quite agreed on the p…

(a.), intention. The acts prescribed by the Islamic s̲h̲arīʿa , obligatory or not, require to be preceded by a declaration by the performer, that he intends to perform such an act. This declaration, pronounced ¶ audibly or mentally, is called niyya . Without it, the act would be bāṭil [ q.v.]. The niyya is required before the performance of the ʿibādāt , such as washing, bathing, prayer, alms, fasting, retreat, pilgrimage, sacrifice. “Ceremonial acts without niyya are not valid”, says al-G̲h̲azālī ( Iḥyāʾ , Cairo 1282, iv, 316). Yet a survey of the opinions of the lawyers regarding the niyya …

, the name of an archangel, which is probably to be traced to the Hebrew Serāfīm as is ¶ indicated by the variants Sarāfīl and Sarāfīn ( Tād̲j̲ al-ʿArūs , vii, 375) The change of liquids is not unusual in such eudings. His size is astounding; while his feet are under the seventh earth, his head reaches up to the pillars of the divine throne. He has four wings: one in the west, one in the east, one with which he covers his body and one as a protection against the majesty of God. He is covered with hair,…

al-Ḥanafī al-Ḥanhẓalī, Abū Rās̲h̲id, according to some sources, the son of a freed blacksmith of Greek origin (Balād̲h̲urī, ed. de Goeje, p. 56), chief of the extreme Ḵh̲ārid̲j̲ites [q. v.], who after him are called Azraḳites [q. v.]. At first, after his secession to Ahwāz, Nāfiʿ joined ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Zubair [q. v.] in Makka. Soon, however, he and his followers turned their backs on the holy city and arrived before Baṣra, where they spread terror among the inhabitants, who left the town in mult…

, tenth letter of the Arabic alphabet, with the numerical value of 200. For its palaeo-graphical evolution see the article arabia, plate i. It belongs to the group of the liquids and is frequently interchanged with l and n. It regularly corresponds to the r of other Semitic languages. It is not guttural but lingual. (A. J. Wensinck) Bibliography W. Wright, Lectures on the. comparative grammar of the Semitic languages, Cambridge 1890, p. 67 H. Zimmern, Vergl. Grammatik der sem. Sprachen, Leipzig 1898, p. 31—32 Brockelmann, Précis de linguistique sémitique, transi, by W. Marçais and M…

, i.e. lord of the Muslims, a title which the Almoravids first assumed, in contra-distinction to Amīr al-Muʾminīn [q. v.]. The latter title was born by the independant dynasties; the Almoravids, however, recognized the supremacy of the ʿAbbāsids and did not wish to arrogate to themselves this title of the Caliphs. So they established a kind of sub-caliphate with a title of their own. Afterwards the African and Spanish princes bore either the one or the other of these titles, according as they sought after the independent caliphate or recognized any supremacy. (A. J. Wensinck) Bibliography…

(a., mifʿāl-form from w-ḳ-t, plural mawāḳīt) appointed or exact time. In this sense the term occurs several times in the Ḳurʾān (sūra ii. 185; vii. 138, 139, 154; xxvi. 37; xliv. 40; lvi. 50; lxxviii. 17). In ḥadīt̲h̲ and fiḳh the term is applied to the times of prayer and to the places where those who enter the ḥaram are bound to put on the iḥrām. For the latter meaning of the term cf. iḥrām, 1. Although some general indications for the times at which some ṣalāts are to be performed occur in the Ḳurʾān (cf. sūra ii. 239; xi. 116; xvii. 80; xxiv. 29), it may be considered above doubt ¶ that during Muḥamm…

(a.), plur. nawāfil, part. art. fem. I from n-f-l, supererogatory work. 1. The word occurs in the Ḳurʾān in two places. Sūra xxi. 72 runs: “And we bestowed on him [viz. Ibrāhīm] Isaac and Jacob as additional gift” ( nāfilat an). In Sūra xvii. 81 it is used in combination with the vigils, thus: “And perform vigils during a part of the night, reciting the Ḳurʾān, as a nāfila for thee”. In ḥadīt̲h̲ it is frequently used in this sense. “Forgiveness of sins past and future was granted him [Muḥammad] and his works were to him as supererogatory works” (Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, vi. 250). —…

(a.), sermon, address by the k̲h̲aṭīb [q. v.]. The k̲h̲uṭba has a fixed place in Muḥammadan ritual, viz. in the Friday-service, in the celebration of the two festivals, in services held at particular occasions such as an eclipse or excessive drought. In the Friday-service it precedes the ṣalāt, in all the other services the ṣalāt comes first. A short description of the rules for the k̲h̲uṭba according to al-S̲h̲īrāzī (q. v., Tanbīh, ed Juynboll, ¶ p. 40), one of the early S̲h̲āfiʿī doctors, may be given here. a. One of the conditions for the validity of the Friday-service is that …

b. al-Ḥārit̲h̲ b. Ḏj̲ābir b. Wahb (or Wuhaib) b. Nusaib Abū ʿUbaid Allāh or Abū G̲h̲azwān al-Māzinī, belonged to the tribe of Ḳais ʿAilān, ḥalīf of the Nawfal or of the ʿAbd S̲h̲ams, one of the oldest Companions of the Prophet, “the seventh of the Seven”, i. e. the seventh to adopt Islām and one who had shared in the sufferings to which the first believers had been exposed in Mecca. He took part in both hid̲j̲ras, the battle of Badr, and in most of the battles and expeditions of the Prophet. — He is best known as the f…

, 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…

, the name of a month, which is found as early as in inscriptions from Palmyra (see S. A. Cook, A Glossary of the Aramaic Inscriptions, s. v.) and corresponds to Marḥes̲h̲wān. It later appears among the Syriac names of the months (see Payne Smith, Thesaurus Syrd., s.v.) as K. ḳed̲ēm or ḳad̲māyā and K. ḥrāy or ḥrāyā. Here the two K. are the ninth and tenth months respectively. Al-Bīrūnī, Kitāb al-Āt̲h̲ār al-bāḳiya, ed. Sachau, p. 60, transcribes the Syriac forms exactly as K. ḳadīm and K. ḥrāy. In Arabic terminology they are called K. al-awwal and K. al-āk̲h̲ir, In the Ḥadīt̲h̲ the former app…