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Mīkāl

(989 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
, 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…

Muṭlaḳ

(386 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A .J.
(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…

Zaid b. T̲h̲ābit

(429 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
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…

al-Masd̲j̲id al-Aḳṣā

(475 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
, 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…

ʿIzrāʾīl

(1,116 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
(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…

Sad̲j̲d̲j̲āda

(1,785 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
(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.)…

Firʿawn

(1,457 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
(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 …

al-Awzāʿī

(254 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
, 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…

Aʿs̲h̲ā Hamdān

(194 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
, 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…

Kānūn

(172 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
, 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…

al-Nasafī

(411 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
, nisba [cf. nasaf] of several eminent persons of whom the following may be mentioned: I. Abu ’l-Muʿīn Maimūn b. Muḥammad b. Muḥammad ... b. Makḥūl ... al-Ḥanafī al-Makḥūlī (d. 508 = 1114), one of the mutakallimūn [q. v.] whose scholastic position is between that of the early period as represented by ʿAbd al-Ḳāhir al-Bag̲h̲dādī [q. v.], who is still endeavouring to find a convenient arrangement and an adequate formulation of the contents of kalām, and the younger mutakallims who have at hand the necessary formulas for ready use. Of his works the following are known to me: 1. Tamhīd li-Ḳawāʿid…

K̲h̲uṭba

(2,038 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A.J.
(a.), sermon, address by the k̲h̲aṭīb [ q.v.]. The k̲h̲uṭba has a fixed place in Islamic 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. On the Friday 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 ( Tanbīh , ed. Juynboll, 40), one of the early S̲h̲āfiʿī doctors [ q.v.], may be given here. (a.) One of the conditions for the validity of the Friday service is that it must be…

Ṣabr

(2,521 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A.J.
(a.), usually rendered "patience, endurance". The significance of this conception can hardly be conveyed in a West European language by a single word, as may be seen from the following. According to the Arabic lexicographers, the root ṣ-b-r , of which ṣabr is the nomen actionis, means to restrain or bind; thence ḳatalahu ṣabr an “to bind and then slay someone”. The slayer and the slain in this case are called ṣābir and maṣbūr respectively. The expression is applied, for example, to martyrs and prisoners of war put to death; in the Ḥadīt̲h̲ often to animals that— c…

Tasnīm

(319 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A.J.
(a.). 1. The name of a fountain in Paradise, occurring in the Ḳurʾān, LXXXIII, 27, where it is said that its water will be drunk by the muḳarrabūn “those who are admitted to the divine presence” and that it will be mixed with the drink of the mass of the inhabitants of Paradise. The commentaries are uncertain whether tasnīm is a proper name— which, according to the Lisān al-ʿArab , is inconsistent with its being a diptote—or a derivative from the root s-n-m, a root conveying the meaning of “being high” (cf. sanām “camel’s hump”). In the latte…

Muṭlaḳ

(484 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A.J.
(a.), passive participle of form IV verb ṭ-l-ḳ , “to loose the bond ( ḳayd ) of an animal, so as to let it free” (e.g. Muslim, D̲j̲ihād , trad. 46; Abū Dāwūd, D̲j̲ihād, bāb 100). The term is also applied to the loosening of the bowstring (al-Buk̲h̲ārī, D̲j̲ihād, bāb 170), of the garments, the hair, etc. Thence the common meaning absolute, as opposed to restricted ( muḳayyad ), and further the accusative muṭlaḳ an “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 (…

Mawḳif

(236 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A.J.
(a.), nomen loci from w-ḳ-f “to stand” hence “place of standing”. Of the technical meanings of the term, three may be mentioned here: (a) The place where the wuḳūf [ q.v.] is held during the pilgrimage, viz. ʿArafāt [ q.v.] and Muzdalifa [ q.v.] or D̲j̲amʿ. In well-known traditions, Muḥammad declares that all ʿ Arafāt and all Muzdalifa is mawḳif (Muslim, Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ , trad. 149; Abū Dāwūd, Manāsik , bāb 56, 64, etc.; cf. Wensinck, Handbook of early Muhammadan tradition, s.v. ʿArafa). Snouck Hurgronje ( Het mekkaansche feest , 150 = Verspreide Geschriften , i, 99) ha…

Sutra

(797 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A.J.
(a.), covering, protection, shelter, especially at the ṣalāt , where sutra means the object which the worshipper places in front of himself or lays in the direction of the ḳibla , whereby he shuts himself off in an imaginary area within which he is not disturbed by human or demoniacal influences. “The fictitious fencing off of an open place of prayer, the sutra, seems to have had among other objectives that of warding off demons” (Wellhausen, Reste 2, 158). In one tradition, the man who deliberately penetrates into this imaginary area is actually called a s̲h̲ayṭān (al-Buk̲h̲ārī, Ṣalāt , bāb

Witr

(882 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
In the treatment of ceremonial law in ḥadīt̲h̲ and fiḳh this term is applied to the odd number of rakʿa’s which are performed at night. For details see below. ¶ I. a. Witr ( watr is also admitted) does not occur in this sense in the Ḳurʾān, but frequently in ḥadīt̲h̲, which in this case also discloses to us a piece of the history of the institution, which is probably a continuation of the history of the fixation of the daily ṣalāt’s, as the traditions on witr presuppose the five daily ṣalāt’s. Some traditions even go so far as to call witr an additional ṣalāt of an obligatory nature (see also belo…

Muṣallā

(730 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
(a.), part. pass. II of ṣ-l-w, place where the ṣalāt is performed on certain occasions. When Muḥammad had fixed his abode in Madīna, he performed the ordinary ṣalāt’s in his dār, which was also his masd̲j̲id (not in the sense of temple). The extraordinary ṣalāt’s, however, were performed on a place situated southwest of the city in the territory of the Banū Salima, outside the wall, northeast of the bridge on the wādī, where at present the street from the suburb al-ʿAnbarīya reaches the market-place Barr al-Munāk̲h̲a (cf. Burton, Personal Narrative, plan opp. i. 256; picture of the m…

Ismāʿīl

(710 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
, the son of the patriarch Ibrāhīm, is mentioned several times in the Ḳurʾān. In Sūra ii. 130 (= iii. 78) and iv. 161 it is said of him that he received revelations. In xix. 55 he is called a messenger and prophet, who summoned his people to ṣalāt and zakāt. These references fit in very well with Muḥammad’s account of the religion of Ibrāhīm. In Sūra ii. 127, he is called one of the fathers of Jacob, along with Ibrāhīm and Isḥāḳ; and in ii. 119, he, along with Ibrāhīm, is commanded to purify the Holy House at Mecca. Tradition knows nothing of Ismāʿīl as a messenger nor of his revelations nor h…

Sunna

(1,876 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
(a.), custom, use and wont, statute. The word is used in many connections. Here only the following will be dealt with. In the Ḳurʾān sunna usually occurs in two connections: sunnat al-awwalīn, “the sunna of those of old” (viii. 39; xv. 13; xviii. 53; xxxv. 41) and sunnat Allāh, “the sunna of Allāh” (xvii. 79; xxxiii. 62; xxxv. 42; xlviii. 23). The two expressions are synonymous in so far as they refer to Allāh’s punishment of earlier generations, who met the preaching of prophets sent to them with unbelief or scorn. The expressions are theref…

al-Masīḥ

(380 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
, the Messiah; in Arabic (where the root m-s-ḥ has the meanings of “to measure” and “stroke”) it is a loanword from the Aramaic where was used as a name of the Redeemer. Horovitz ( Koranische Untersuchungen, p. 129) considers the possibility that it was taken over from the Ethiopie ( niasīḥ). Muḥammad of course got the word from the Christian Arabs. In Arab writers we find the view mentioned that the word is a loanword from Hebrew or Syriac. Ṭabarī ( Tafsīr on Sūra iii. 40: vol. in., p. 169) gives only purely Arabic etymologies, either with the meaning “purified” (from sins) …

S̲h̲awwāl

(274 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
, name of the tenth month of the lunar year. In the Ḳurʾān (Sūra ix. 2) four months are mentioned during which, in the year 9 a. h., the Arabs could move in their country without exposing themselves to attacks (cf. “the sacred months” in verse 5). These four months were, according to the commentaries, S̲h̲awwāl, Ḏh̲u ’l-Ḳaʿda, Ḏh̲u ’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-islāmic times S̲h̲awwāl was considered ill-omened for the conclusion of marriages ( Lisān ¶…

Binyāmīn

(304 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
(the printed edition of Zamak̲h̲s̲h̲arī’s Kas̲h̲s̲h̲āf gives the form Bunyāmīn), one of the sons of Jacob. The Muḥammadan stories of Benjamin agree in their main points with the Biblical narrative; there are however some additions which are connected with Rabbinical legends. The non-Biblical elements take the following form: when Joseph’s brothers visited him, he had a feast prepared for them and made them ¶ sit at it in pairs. Binyāmīn was thus left out and began to weep and said: “If only Joseph were alive, he would take me with him”. Joseph heard this, p…

ʿAmr

(204 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
b. al-Ahtam al-Tamīmī al-Minkarī, a member of a poetically gifted family; and himself fond of using metre and rhyme. He must have been born shortly before the Hid̲j̲ra; for in the year 9 (630) when he came to Medīna with the embassy of his tribe, he is said to have been a youth. In the year 11 (632) he followed the prophetess Sad̲j̲āḥ, but was later converted to Islām and took part in the wars of conquest. He informed ʿOmar in verse of the capture of Rās̲h̲ahr. — Little of his poetry is preserved; …

Idrīs

(983 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
, the name of a man, who is twice mentioned in the Ḳurʾān. Sūra xix. 57 sq.: “Mention Idrīs in the book. Verily he was an upright man, a prophet and we raised him to a high place”. And Sūra xxi. 85, mentions him alorig with Ismāʿīl and Ḏh̲u ’l-Kifl as one of the patient ( ṣābirūn) ones. These passages are not calculated to give any explanation of this character. Even the name was for long a puzzle to orientalists till Nöldeke pointed out that it probably concealed the name Andreas ( Zeitschr. für Assyr., xvii. 84 sq.). That this Andreas who was raised to a high place, is Alexander’s cook wh…

Rabb

(163 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
(a.), lord, God, master of a slave. Pre-Islāmic Arabia probably applied this term to its gods or to some of them. In this sense the word corresponds to the terms like Baʿal, Adon in the Semitic languages of the north where rabb means “much, great”. — In one of the oldest sūras (cvi. 3) Allāh is called the “lord of the temple”. Similarly al-Lāt bore the epithet al-Rabba, especially at Ṭāʾif where she was worshipped in the image of a stone or of a rock. — In the Ḳurʾān rabb (especially with the po…

Kaʿba

(8,757 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
, the palladium of Islām, situated almost in the centre of the great mosque in Mecca. I. The Kaʿba and its immediate neighbourhood. The name, not originally a proper name, is connected with the cube-like appearance of the building. It is however only like a cube at the first impression; in reality the plan is that of an irreguiar rectangle. The wall facing northeast, in which the door is (the front of the Kaʿba) and the opposite wall (back) are 40 feet long: the two other are about 35 feet long. The height is 50 feet. The Kaʿba is built of layers of the grey stone produced by the hills sur…

Tas̲h̲ahhud

(290 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
(a.), infintive V of s̲h̲-h-d, the recitation of the s̲h̲ahāda [q.v.], especially in the ṣalāt. It must, however, be kept in mind that in this case s̲h̲ahāda comprises not only the kalimatāni, but l°. the following formula: “To Allāh belong the blessed salutations and the good prayers”; 2°. the formula: “Hail upon thee, O Prophet, and Allāh’s mercy and His blessing; hail ¶ upon us and upon Allāh’s pious servants”; 3°. the s̲h̲ahāda proper, consisting of the kalimatāni. The above form of tas̲h̲ahhud is in keeping with a tradition on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, beginning t…

al-Nasāʾī

(286 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Aḥmad b. S̲h̲uʿaib b. ʿAlī b. Baḥr b. Sinān, author of one of the six canonical collections of traditions [cf. ḥadīt̲h̲], 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 the Umaiyads. On account of this u…

Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲

(5,437 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
(a.), the pilgrimage to Mecca, ʿArafāt and Minā, the last of the five “pillars” of Islām. I. The islāmic Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲. a. The journey to Mecca. According to the law every adult Muslim, of either sex, has to perform the Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ at least once in the course of his life, provided he is able to do so (cf. Sūra iii. 91). The fulfilment of the last proviso depends on various circumstances. Lunatics and slaves are exempted from the obligation; likewise women who have not a husband or a relative ( d̲h̲ū maḥram) to accompany them. The want of the necessary means of subsistence, the inability …

Ostād̲h̲

(97 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
(P.), master, teacher, artisan. This word has passed into Arabic, with the plural ostād̲h̲ūn, asātid̲h̲a. It also means eunuch, musician, merchant’s ledger, in the modern language particularly teacher. Combined with dār the form ostādār, “master of the house”, major-domo, was applied to one of the great dignitaries of the Mamlūk sulṭāns [q. v.]. We also find the abbreviated forms ostā, osṭā, ōsṭā, plural ostawāt, osṭawāt, ōstawāt, which in Cairo is applied to coachmen. (A. J. Wensinck) Bibliography the lexicons of Vullers, Lane, Dozy C. A. Nallino, Varabo parlato in Egitto, second e…

Tayammum

(702 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
(a.), the recommendation, or permission to perform the ritual ablution with sand instead of water in certain cases, is based on two passages in the Ḳurʾān, Sūra iv. 46 and v. 9. The latter passage runs as follows: “And if ye be impure, wash yourselves. But if ye be sick, or on a journey or if ye come from the privy or ye have touched women and ye find no water, take fine clean sand and rub your faces and hands with it. Allāh will not put a difficulty upon you but He will make you pure and comple…

Mīlād

(73 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
(a.). According to some Arabie lexicographers the meaning of this term is time of birth in contra-distinction to mawlid which may denote also “place of birth”. The latter is the usual term for birthday, especially in connection with the birthday of Muḥammad and Muslim saints [cf. the art. mawlid]; mīlād denotes also Christmas. For other special meanings cf. Dozy, Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes, s. v. (A. J. Wensinck) Bibliography the Arabic lexicons.

Ḳiyās

(1,242 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
(a.), infinitive III of ḳāsa, deduction by analogy. The term is used with a multitude of meanings; cf. the lexicons, especially Dozy, Supplément, s. v. Here we shall confine ourselves to ḳiyās as one of the “roots” of the fiḳh, i. e. the deduction of legal prescriptions from the Ḳurʾān and the sunna by reasoning by analogy. — The death of Muḥammad deprived the community of the means of obtaining revelations and at the same time of its guide in matters political and religious. At first they relied on the book of Allāh and the example of the Prophet. The Ḳurʾān and the sunna naturally became the gu…

Naṣṣ

(253 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
(a.), etymologically: what is apparent to the eye, as a technical term: text. In this sense the word does not occur in the Ḳurʾān nor in the Ḥadīt̲h̲. Al-S̲h̲āfiʿī, on the other hand, appears to be acquainted with it. In his Risāla he uses it chiefly in the sense of naṣṣu kitābin (p. 7, 16, 30, 41) or naṣṣu ḥukmin (p. 5) “what has been laid down in the Ḳurʾān”. In other passages naṣṣ al-kitāb is distinguished from sunna (p. 21, 4, infra, 24, 7, paen., 30, 21, 63, 31). The combination naṣṣ sunna occurs, however, also (p. 50, 14, 66, 2). From these passages it may also appear that al-S̲h̲…

Yād̲j̲ūd̲j̲ wa-Mād̲j̲ūd̲j̲

(931 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
(the forms Yaʾd̲j̲ūd̲j̲ and Maʾd̲j̲ūd̲j̲ occur also), Gog and Magog (cf. Gen. x. 2; Ez. xxxviii., xxxix), two peoples who belong to the outstanding figures of Biblical and Muslim eschatology. Magog in Gen. x. is reckoned among the offspring of Japheth; this notion is also found in Arabic sources (e. g. Baiḍāwī on sūra xviii. 93, where also different traditions are mentioned); this much only may be said here, that the Bible as well the Arabic sources connect these peoples with the North-East of the ancient world, the dwelling-p…

Muṣḥaf

(412 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
(a.), Ethiopie loanword (cf. Nöldeke, Neue Beilräge, p. 49 sq.; the forms miṣḥaf and maṣḥaf occur also; According to some grammarians they are less correct, especially the latter), codex, or, according to the definition of Arabic lexicographers, leaves ( ṣuḥuf plural of ṣaḥifa), when they are bound together between two covers. In the tradition on the redaction of the Ḳurʾān [q. v.] by Hud̲h̲aifa b. al-Yamān during ʿUt̲h̲mān’s caliphate, it is said indeed, that the collection of leaves that had been made by Zaid b. T̲h̲ābit at ʿUmar’s instigation, was copied and arranged into maṣāḥif. The…

Amīr al-Muʾminīn

(215 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
, i. e. lord of the faithful. ʿOmar was the first to bear this title. In the East the Umaiyad and ʿAbbāsid caliphs followed his example, as did those of their opponents who thought themselves entitled to claim the Caliphate (ʿAlids, Ḳarmaṭes, Fāṭimids). It was not till the fall of Bag̲h̲dād (656 = 1258) ¶ that the smaller rulers in the East also styled themselves Amīr al-Muʾminīn. In the West the title occurs more frequently: it was borne by the Rostemids, Ag̲h̲labids, Zīrids, Ḥammādids, the Umaiyads after 316 (928) and some of the petty Spanish kings. On the o…

Tasnīm

(268 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
, 1. name of a fountain in Paradise, occurring in the Ḳurʾān, Sūra lxxxiii. 27, where it is said, that its water will be drunk by the muḳarrabūn, “those who are admitted to the divine presence”, and that it will be mixed with the drink of the mass of the inhabitants of Paradise. The commentaries are uncertain, whether tasnīm is a proper name — which, according to the Lisān is inconsistent with its being a diptote — or a derivative from the root s-n-m, a root conveying the meaning of “being high”. In the latter case the meaning of the verse would be: “and it (viz. the drink of …

K̲h̲aṭīʾa

(2,684 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
(plur. k̲h̲aṭāyā and k̲h̲aṭīʾāt), sin, synonymous with d̲h̲anb. The root k̲h̲-ṭ-ʾ has the meaning of stumbling (in Hebrew: Proverbs, xix. 2), committing an error ( ak̲h̲ṭaʾa is said e.g. of the bowman whose arrow misses the aim); see the art. k̲h̲aṭaʾ. The definition of k̲h̲aṭīʾa is “a sin committed on purpose”; that of k̲h̲iṭʾ (see Sūra xvii. 33) simply “a sin”, whereas it̲h̲m is applied to heavy sins. Probably these theological distinctions belong to the Islāmic period only; it seems doubtful whether the pagan Arabs were acquainted with the term k̲h̲aṭīʾa at all. It occurs in the dīwān of…

Iram Ḏh̲āt al-ʿImād

(866 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
occurs in the Ḳurʾān only in Sūra 89, 6: “(5) Hast thou not seen how thy Lord dealt with ʿĀd, (6) Iram d̲h̲āt al-Imād, the like whereof hath not been created in the lands”. — The connection between ʿĀd and Iram in these verses may be interpreted in various ways, as the commentaries explain at length. If Iram is taken in contrast to ʿĀd, it is intelligible why Iram also has been taken as a tribal name; Imād could then be taken in the sense of “tent-pole”. According to others, the poles are a description of the giant figure of the Iram, which is thus particularly emphasised. If Iram stands in iḍāfa to ʿĀd,…

al-Ṣalīb

(483 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
(a., plural Ṣulub, Ṣulbān), the cross. This general meaning occurs in several special applications, e. g. to the wasm branded in the skin of camels in the form of a cross etc. In the sense of the chief Christian symbol the word may have been taken over from Aramaic where it has the same form. It does not occur in the Ḳorʾān. In Ḥadīt̲h̲ it is used in eschatological descriptions. ʿĪsā (Jesus) will reappear in the last days, combat the Antichrist (al-Dad̲j̲d̲j̲āl), kill the swine and break the cross into pieces (al-Buk̲h̲ārī, Anbiyāʾ, bāb 49; Muslim, Īmān, Trad. 242, 243; Ibn Mād̲j̲a, Fitan, bāb 3…

Talbiya

(363 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
(a.), infinitive of form II of the verb labbā, which is formed from the term labbaika to mean “to pronounce the formula labbaika” etc. Labbaika is connected — and probably rightly — by the Arab lexicographers with labb un which means “offering devoted service” as labbaika does “at your service”. According to the native grammarians labbai is a „frequentative” dual. It is difficult to say what is the significance of the element ai in this and similar forms like saʿdaika. The explanation from the Hebrew proposed by Dozy ( De Isrdëliten te Mekka, Haarlem 1864, p. 120) may be said to be now…

Wāw

(144 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
, 27th or 26th (when it precedes hāʾ; this is the sequence in some dictionaries), letter of the Arabic alphabet, with the numerical value of 6. For its palaeographical pedigree, see ababia, plate i. — It belongs to the group of the labials ( al-ḥurūf al-s̲h̲afawīya) as well as to that of the soft letters ( ḥurūf al-līn). It is pronounced like English w. In the north-Semitic languages and sometimes in Ethiopie, its place at the beginning of words is taken by y. In a few cases it corresponds with m (cf. urd̲j̲uwān “purple” with Aramaic and Hebrew ). (A. J. Wensinck) Bibliography W. Wright, Comparativ…

ʿOkāẓ

(366 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
, name of an oasis situated between Ṭāʾif and Nak̲h̲la. The Arab philologists derive the name from the root meaning ‘to retain’, in the middle forms’to assemble’or from the meaning of ‘concourse’. Both interpretations are based on the fact that ʿOkāẓ was primarily celebrated for its annual fair, which was held on the 1st—20th Ḏh̲u’l-Ḳaʿda and was at the same time an official occasion of mufāk̲h̲ara, i. e. a gathering of tribes or rather of groups and individuals belonging to the same tribe where individuals competed for honours and for the honour of their tribe. These assemblies to which …

Aṣḥāb al-Kahf

(1,426 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
, “the people of the cave”. This is the term used in the Ḳorʾān to denote the youths who in the West are commonly called “the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus”. This is the story almost as Muḥammad tells it (Sūra 18, 8 et seq.): Some youths in a pagan town are loyal to the one God; they conceal themselves in a cave, whose entrance is on the north side. There God puts them and their dog to sleep. “And if you had come upon them you would have fled thence and been filled with terror.” After 309 years the sleepers awake and send one of their number…

ʿAnaza

(276 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
(a.), staff, spear (see Lisān vii. 257). In the Muslim ritual the ʿanaza first appears in the year 2 (624). When Muḥammad for the first time celebrated the festival of Breaking the Fast, Bilāl carried a spear before him on his way to the muṣallā; during the service this spear was planted in the ground and served as sutra [q. v.]. Precisely the same thing was done on the occasion of the other festival (10th Ḏh̲u ’l-Ḥid̲j̲d̲j̲a). — The custom of carrying a spear or staff was observed and expanded by Muḥammad’s successors. It has become the rule for the preacher to hold …

Āsiya

(210 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
This is the name given by the commentators to Pharaoh’s wife, who is twice (28, 8; 66, 11) mentioned in the Ḳorʾān. She plays the same part as Pharaoh’s daughter in the Bible, so that there is obviously confiusion. In the last mentioned 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 connection with this passage it is related that Āsiya endured many cruelties at the hands…

Nūn

(117 words)

Author(s): Wensinck, A. J.
, the twenty-fifth letter of the Arabic alphabet, with the numerical value of 50, belonging to the group of liquids ( al-ḥurūf al-d̲h̲alḳīya), and as such subject to numerous changes and assimilations; cf. the Bibliography, ¶ On the palaeographic history of the character, cf. arabia, plate i. (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, transl. by W. Marçais and M. Cohen, Paris 19…
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