(a.), pl. ṣikāk , a technical term of early Islamic financial, commercial and legal usage, appearing in Persian, through a standard sound change, as čak , meaning “document, contract of sale, etc.”, which has been suggested—for want of any other etymology—as the origin of Eng. “cheque”, Fr. “chèque,” Ger. “Scheck,” see E. Littmann, Morgenländische Wörter im Deutschen , 2 Tübingen 1924. The term’s range of applications is wide, see Lane, Lexicon , 1709. In legal contexts, it has a similar meaning to sid̲j̲ill [see sid̲j̲ill. 1.], sc. a signed and sealed record of a judge’s decis…

, ʿAbd Allāh b. Salama , Arab poet of the second half of the 1st/7th century. He belonged to the tribe of Sahm, a branch of the Hud̲h̲ayl of the Ḥid̲j̲āz, and embraced the Marwānid cause; imprisoned by the anti-caliph ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Zubayr, he regained his liberty when the latter died, and, according to his own account, took part in the capture of Mecca in 72/692. He celebrated in his verse the caliph ʿAbd al-Malik, as well as his brother, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz; see Ag̲h̲anī 1, xxi, 144. Above all he praised the amīr Abū Ḵh̲ālid ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz of the Asīd clan, whose brother, Umayya, h…

(a.), lit. “amazement”, a term of rhetoric. Though sometimes given a separate place in lists of badīʿ [ q.v.], as in Rādūyānī’s [ q.v.] Tard̲j̲umān al-balāg̲h̲a or Ras̲h̲īd al-Dīn Waṭwāṭ’s [ q.v.] Ḥadāʾiḳ al-siḥr , it is far more often mentioned, in more general discussions of poetry, as one of the basic effects or aims of the poetic process, especially of imagery. It is found, together with its active counterpart taʿd̲j̲īb (“causing amazement”) in the Aristotelian tradition (Ibn Sīnā, Ḥāzim al-Ḳarṭād̲j̲annī [ q.vv.]) and, in a somewhat different sense, in the poetics of ʿAbd…

(a), a pickpocket. The word is derived from the action of swifdy cutting an object. The ṭarrār is also called k̲h̲ālis , muk̲h̲talis or nas̲h̲s̲h̲āl , each of which indicates acquisition of other people’s property in a public place. Muk̲h̲talis , however, places greater emphasis on secrecy, while the newer term, nas̲h̲s̲h̲āl, indicates swiftness in picking the object (Ibrāhīm Anīs et alii, al-Muʿd̲j̲am al-wasīṭ , Cairo 1972, i, 249, ii, 554, 923). Although, according to Ibn al-At̲h̲īr, there is a ḥadīt̲h̲ narrated by al-S̲h̲aʿbī stating that a ṭarrār is liable to amputation, Musli…

(a.), literally, “someone who makes a thing legal, legaliser, legitimator”, the figure who, in classical Islamic law acts as something like a dummy or a “man of straw”, in order to authenticate or make permissible some legal process otherwise of doubtful legality or in fact prohibited. It thus forms part of the mechanisms and procedures subsumed under ḥiyal , legal devices, often ¶ used for evading the spirit of the law whilst technically satisfying its letter [see ḥīla ]. Thus the muḥallil is found in gambling, racing for stakes, e.g. with horses or pi…

(a.), a term of Islamic law, denoting the bargaining involving both vendor and purchaser that occurs before a sale. Sawm is a classical term which, although pre-contractual, influences the formation of the contract and has a legal effect upon it. Sale is prohibited if a higher bid is offered, by a third party during the negotiation leading to the sale agreement. Al-Buk̲h̲ārī and Muslim record the prohibition of making an offer while another’s offer is being considered. What is curious is that they also record the prohibition of sale ( bayʿ ). This has lead to som…

, early ( e.g., Ḥudūd al-ʿālam , 113) named also Firab (Farab), in Ḳudāma (BGA vi, 203) as well as Yāḳūt (iii, 867) also called Ḳaryat ʿAlī or Ribāṭ Ṭāhir ibn ʿAlī, is a town opposite Āmul [ q.v., 2]. It lay a parasang north of the Oxus (Āmū Daryā, [ q.v.]) on the road to Buk̲h̲ārā and was the centre of a fertile region with many villages as well as the seat of an inspector for water-control ( Mīr-i rūd̲h̲ : Ḥudūd , see above). The city was protected by a fortress and possessed a Friday-mosque and an open space for public worship ( muṣallā ) with a hostel iur travellers who wer…

(a.), a noun form from the root w-l-y “to be near, adjacent, contiguous to” [someone or something] and a term with a range of meaning in the political, religious and legal spheres. For the legal meaning, see 1. below. In the political and religious spheres, wilāya denotes “the exercise of authority”, whether temporal or spiritual, or a combination of both; hence by extension, it comes to mean the government or administration of a region or province under the supreme overlordship of a caliph, sultan or amīr [see wālī ], or the spiritual authority and charisma of a particularly spiri…

ʿUmar b. al-Ḥusayn al-Bag̲h̲dādī (d. 334/946), better known under the name of Abu ’l-Ḳāsim al-K̲h̲irakī, was one of the first and most celebrated of Ḥanbalī jurisconsults. He was first guided into the mad̲h̲hab of the Imām Aḥmad by his father Abū ʿAlī al-K̲h̲iraḳī (d. 299/912), who was himself a pupil of Abū Bakr al-Marwad̲h̲ī (d. 275/899). He also knew Aḥmad’s two sons, Ṣāliḥ (d. 266/880) and the s̲h̲ayk̲h̲ ʿAbd Allāh (d. 290/903). On the eve of the arrival of the S̲h̲īʿī Būyids in Bag̲h̲dād, al-K̲h̲iraḳī left the ʿIrāḳī capital as a muhād̲j̲ir seeking refuge in…

(a.), literally “the adducing of a likeness, example; representation”. 1. In grammar. Here, it is used in various senses. As a denominative from mat̲h̲al “example”, it denotes the citing of examples and the technique of definition by exemplification (cf. Versteegh, 59, n. 8), while from mat̲h̲al in the extended meaning of “proverb”, it denotes the creation or use of such expressions; thus the phrase ʿalayhi māl un is called a tamt̲h̲īl by al-Mubarrad [ q.v.] ( al-Muḳtaḍab , i, 51) “because [the debt] has got on top of him”, a usage which clearly overlaps with tamt̲h̲īl in rhetoric. As a deno…

, a small town in ʿIrāḳ in a fertile depression on the borders of the desert between Anbār and Kūfa. It is 80 miles west of Karbalāʾ. The Arabic name means fountain of dates. It was probably called so because of an abundance of palm trees (Yāḳūt, iii, 759). According to Ibn al-Kalbī, it was part of the Ḥīrite kingdom of Ḏj̲ud̲h̲ayma al-Abras̲h̲ (al-Ṭabarī, 750; Yāḳūt, ii, 378). There S̲h̲āpūr is said to have married Naḍira, the daughter of the King of Hatra. (Al-Ṭabarī, i, 829; Yāḳūt, ii, 283; al-Hamdānī, al-Buldān , 130). It was probably also a tassūd̲j̲ of the astān of B…

s̲h̲ayk̲h̲ manṣūr b. yūnus al-bahūtī , frequently referred to by the name of al-bahūtī al-miṣrī , is usually considered as one of the most eminent doctors of Ḥanbalism in the first half of the 11th/17th century, and also as the last major representative of this school in Egypt. A native of the village of Bahūt in the Mudīriyya G̲h̲arbiyya, al-Bahūtī belonged to a family which gave several ¶ other ʿulamāʾ , who enjoyed a certain notoriety, to Ḥanbalism. The following are cited among the best known of his teachers: Muḥammad al-Mardāwī (died 1026/1617) Muk̲h̲taṣar , 96…

, in pre-Islamic times used for chattels taken as booty, like g̲h̲anīma [ q.v.], to be divided between victors, either in fifths ( e.g., Mufaḍḍaliyyāt , ed. Lyall, 599, 1) or in fourths ( Ḥamāsa , ed. Freytag, 458, 18, Cairo 1335, i, 428; G. Jacob, Altarabisches Beduinenleben , Berlin 1897, 215), the leader being entitled to one of the parts. This custom was upheld by the Prophet after the battle of Badr, and Sūra VIII, 42 mentions five employments for the Prophet’s ¶ one fifth ( k̲h̲ums ), to figure in future budgets. The old use of the word fayʾ never became completely …

, a place in Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān on the road from Marāg̲h̲a [ q.v.] to Urmiya [ q.v.] south of the Lake of Urmiya. The stages on this route are still obscure. At about 15 farsak̲h̲ s south of Marāg̲h̲a was the station of Barza where the road bifurcated; the main road continued southward to Dīnawar, while the northwestern one went from Barza to Tiflīs (2 farsak̲h̲s), thence to D̲j̲ābarwān (6 farsak̲h̲s), thence to Nirīz (4 farsak̲h̲s), thence to Urmiya (14 farsak̲h̲s); cf. Ibn K̲h̲urradād̲h̲bih. 121 (repeated by Ḳudāma with some variations); al-Muḳaddasī, 383. The distance from Urmiya indicates that Nirīz was in the vicinity of Sulduz [ q.v.], which would find confirmation ¶ in the etymology from ni-rēz …

, exchange value, compensation, that which is givén in exchange for something. In a very broad and generally accepted sense, the word is used in works of fiḳh to denote the counterpart of the obligation of each of the contracting parties in onerous contracts which are called “commutative” ( muʿāwaḍāt , from the same root as ʿiwaḍ ); that is, contracts which necessarily give rise to obligations incumbent upon both parties. Thus in a sale, the price ( …

(Syriac Arzōn, Armenian Arzn, Ałzn). The name of several towns in eastern Anatolia. The most important was the chief city of the Roman province of Arzanene, Armenian Ałd̲z̲nik̲h̲, located on the east bank of the Arzanṣū River (modern Garzansu) a tributary of the Tigris, at about 41° 41ʹ E. long. (Greenw.) and 38° N. lat. By Islamic authors Arzan is linked with the larger city to the west, Mayyāfāriḳīn. The origin of the name is uncertain but of undoubted antiquity; see the discussion in H. Hübschmann, Die altarmenischen Ortsnamen , in Indogermanische Forschungen , …

, the period of sexual abstinence imposed on an unmarried female slave whenever she changed hands or her master set her free or gave her in marriage. Literally, istibrāʾ means to make sure of the “freedom”, that is the “emptiness”, of the womb. In fact, this period of abstinence was imposed to avoid confusion over paternity since—as there is hardly need to mention—female slaves, especially young ones, were nearly always the concubines of their masters. Nevertheless, the majority of fuḳahāʾ often lost sight of the point of this institution and imposed istibrāʾ in hypothetical cases where, by the very nature of things, there was no danger of confusion over paternity. 1) When a female slave passed from the ownership of one person to another, for whatever reason—sale, gift, canc…

, literally: “strange”, “uncommon”, a technical term in philology and in the science of tradition. As a term in philology it means: “rare, unfamiliar (and consequently obscure) expressions” (in which sense the terms waḥs̲h̲ī and ḥūs̲h̲ī are also used), and frequently occurs in the titles of books, mostly such as deal with unfamiliar expressions in the Ḳurʾān and in the Tradition (books carrying the titles G̲h̲arīb al-Ḳurʿān and G̲h̲arīb al-Ḥadīt̲h̲ seem to have existed as early as the second century). The term also occurs in works on literar…

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(a.), “demand in marriage”, whence “betrothal”, i.e. the mutual promise of marriage which in certain legal systems can form the first stage of marriage proper (cf. the sponsalia of ancient Roman law). But is this promise considered as entailing an obligation in Islamic law? In other words, does betrothal give rise to legal consequences? According to Muslim authorities, the k̲h̲iṭba does not involve a contract. It is true that it involves an offer and an acceptance, but before the acceptance is made, it is merely a demand in marriage and does not form a legal act. The Mālikīs, apparently un…