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Ḥanīf

(1,754 words)

Author(s): Watt, W. Montgomery
(a.) (pl. ḥunafāʾ ), means in Islamic writing one who follows the original and true (monotheistic) religion. 1. The Ḳurʾān. The word ḥanīf is used especially of Abraham as the type of this pure worship of God; II, 135/129; III, 67/60, 95/89; IV, 125/124; VI, 79, 161/162; XVI, 120/121, 123/124; XXII, 31/32. In most of these verses the ḥanīf is contrasted with the idolaters ( mus̲h̲rikūn ). Il is also asserted that Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian (III, 67/60; cf. II, 135/129), and that the people of the book were originally commanded to worship God as ḥunafāʾ (XCVIII, 5/4). In the rem…

Saʿd b. Muʿād̲h̲

(401 words)

Author(s): Watt, W. Montgomery
, chief of the clan of ʿAbd al-As̲h̲hal in Medina in succession to his father. At the time of the Hid̲j̲ra he seems to have been the strongest man in the tribe of al-Aws, of which his clan was a part. He had taken part in the fighting prior to the battle of Buʿāt̲h̲ [ q.v.] and been wounded. The leader of al-Aws at Buʿāt̲h̲, Ḥuḍayr b. Simāk, is reckoned to another clan, but his son, Usayd b. Ḥuḍayr, seems to have been second-in-command to Saʿd in ʿAbd al-As̲h̲hal. Saʿd and Usayd were both for a time opposed to Islam and wanted to stop its spread, bu…

al-Anṣār

(906 words)

Author(s): Watt, W. Montgomery
, ‘the helpers’, the usual designation of those men of Medina who supported Muḥammad, in distinction from the Muhād̲j̲irūn or ‘emigrants’ i.e. his Meccan followers. After the general conversion of the Arabs to Islam the old name of al-Aws and al-Ḵh̲azrad̲j̲ jointly, Banū Ḳayla, fell out of use and was replaced by Anṣār, the individual being known as an Anṣārī (cf. Ḳurʾān, ix, 100/101, 117/118). In this way the early services of the men of Medina to the cause of Islam were honourably commemorated. Anṣār is presumably the plural of naṣīr , but the latter is never used as a technical term. The verb n…

Abū Ḏj̲ahl

(449 words)

Author(s): Watt, W. Montgomery
, properly Abu ’l-Ḥakam ʿAmr b. His̲h̲ām b. al-Mug̲h̲īra of the Banū Mak̲h̲zūm of Ḳurays̲h̲, also named Ibn al-Ḥanẓaliyya after his ¶ mother, Asmāʾ bint Muk̲h̲arriba. He was born about 570 or a little after; he and Muḥammad were youths together at a feast in the house of ʿAbd Allāh b. Ḏj̲udʿān, while his mother became a Muslim and lived until after 13/635. A few years before the Hid̲j̲ra Abū Ḏj̲ahl seems to have succeeded al-Walīd b. al-Mug̲h̲īra as leader of Mak̲h̲zūm and also of the group of clans associated with …

Kaʿb b. Mālik

(484 words)

Author(s): Watt, W. Montgomery
, Abū ʿAbd Allāh or Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān , one of the poets supporting Muḥammad, was an Anṣārī of the clan of Salima of the tribe of al-K̲h̲azrad̲j̲ [see al-anṣār ]. He must have been born before 600 A.D., since he is said to have taken part in the internal fighting in Medina before the Hid̲j̲ra, and to have been present at the second ʿAḳaba [ q.v.], when allegiance was sworn to Muḥammad. He was not present at Badr, but took part in most of the subsequent expeditions led by Muḥammad. At Uḥud he received several wounds and was the first to recognize Muḥammad after the rumour ¶ that he had been killed. S…

Ḳurayẓa

(832 words)

Author(s): Watt, W. Montgomery
, Banū , one of the three main Jewish tribes of Yat̲h̲rib (Medina), with lands towards the south-east of the oasis. As in the case of the other Jewish groups, it is not known whether they were descended from refugees of Hebrew stock or from Arabs who had adopted Judaism. They adhered firmly to the Jewish religion, but at the same time had adopted many Arab practices and had intermarried with Arabs. According to a genealogy given by al-Samhūdī, Ḳurayẓa, Hadl and ʿAmr were sons…

ʿAbbād b. Sulaymān

(312 words)

Author(s): Watt, W. Montgomery
al-Ṣaymarī (or al-Ḍaymarī ), one of the Muʿtazila of Baṣra, died c. 250/864. He was a pupil of His̲h̲ām b. ʿAmr al-Fuwaṭī ( fl.c. 210/825), like his father criticizing the main tendency of the school of Baṣra (that of Abu ’l-Hud̲h̲ayl), and being in his turn criticized by Abu ’l-Hud̲h̲ayl’s successors, al-Ḏj̲ubbāʾī and Abū Hās̲h̲im. Our knowledge of his distinctive views comes mainly from al-As̲h̲ʿarī’s Maḳālāt . He emphasized the difference between God and man, admitting that God might be called a "thing" in the sense that He was "other" ( l.c., 519). In particular he insisted that G…

Abū Lahab

(358 words)

Author(s): Watt, W. Montgomery
, son of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib and Lubnā bint Hād̲j̲ir (of Ḵh̲uzāʿa), and half-brother of Muḥammad’s father. His name was ʿAbd al-ʿUzza and his kunya Abū ʿUtba; Abū Lahab (literally "father of the flame") was a nickname given by his father on account of his beauty. At one time, doubtless before Muḥammad’s preaching had roused opposition, he was friendly with his nephew, for his sons ʿUtba and ʿUtayba were married (or perhaps only betrothed) to Muḥammad’s daughters Ruḳayya and Umm…

Hamdān

(578 words)

Author(s): Schleifer, J. | Watt, W. Montgomery
, a large Arab tribe of the Yemen group, the full genealogy being Hamdān (Awsala) b. Mālik b. Zayd b. Rabīʿa b. Awsala b. al-K̲h̲iyār b. Mālik b. Zayd b. Kahlān. Their territory lay to the north of Ṣanʿā [ q.v.], stretching eastwards to Maʾrib [ q.v.] and Nad̲j̲rān [ q.v.], northwards to Ṣaʿda [ q.v.], and westwards to the coast (Abū Arīs̲h̲). The eastern half belonged to the sub-tribe of Bakīl, the western to Ḥās̲h̲id [ q.v.], and these are still found there. In the D̲j̲āhiliyya Hamdān worshipped the idol Yaʿūḳ (but probably not Yag̲h̲ūt̲h̲ as sometimes stated; cf. Wellhausen, Reste

Ḳays ʿAylān

(1,917 words)

Author(s): Watt, W. Montgomery | Baer, G. | Hoexter, M.
, one of the two subdivisions of Muḍar, which along with Rabīʿa was reckoned as constituting the sons of ʿAdnān, the so-called Northern Arabs [see d̲j̲azīrat al-ʿarab ]. The other subdivision of Muḍar was K̲h̲indif or al-Yās. ʿAylān is sometimes said to be the father of Ḳays, but it is more likely that the double name means “Ḳays (owner) of ʿAylān” (sc. a horse, dog or slave). The following is an abbreviated genealogical table: ¶ Ḳays ʿAylān does not appear to have functioned as a unit before Islam, and in the accounts of “the days of the Arabs” o…

Abū Ṭālib

(307 words)

Author(s): Watt, W. Montgomery
, son of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib b. Hās̲h̲im and Fāṭima bint ʿAmr (of Mak̲h̲zūm), and full brother of Muḥammad’s father. His own name was ʿAbd Manāf. He is said to have inherited the offices of siḳāya and rifāda (providing water and food for pilgrims) from his father, but at the Ḥilf al-Fuḍūl and war of the Fid̲j̲ār his brother al-Zubayr seems to have been the leading man of Hās̲h̲im. He fell into debt, and to meet this surrendered the siḳāya and rifāda to al-ʿAbbās. Nevertheless he seems to have remained chief of the clan of Hās̲h̲im, and their quarter of the town was called the s̲h̲iʿb

Dahr

(381 words)

Author(s): Watt, W. Montgomery
, time, especially infinitely extended time (cf. Lane; al-Bayḍāwī on K. 76.1). The pre-Islamic Arabs, as is shown by many passages in their poetry, regarded time (also zamān , and al-ayyām , the days) as the source of what happened to a man, both good and bad; they thus give it something of the connotation ¶ of Fate, though without worshipping it (W. L. Schrameier, Über den Fatalismus der vorislamischen Araber , Bonn 1881; Th. Nöldeke, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics , i, 661 b; for possible parallels cf. A. Christensen, Iran , 149 f., 157—Zurvān as both time …

al-ʿAḳaba

(228 words)

Author(s): Watt, W. Montgomery
, a mountain-road, or a place difficult of ascent on a hill or acclivity. There are many places of this name: the best-known is that between Minā and Mecca. Here, according to traditional accounts, Muḥammad had secret meetings with men from Medina at the pilgrimages of the years 621 and 622 A. D. In 621, at “the first ʿAḳaba”, twelve were present, and they gave to Muḥammad an undertaking known as ‘the pledge of the women’ ( bayʿat al-nisāʾ ); at “the second ʿAḳaba” seventy-three men and two women promised to defend Muḥammad, if necessary, by arms, in what is known as ‘the pledge of war’ ( bayʿat al-ḥ…

Ḥums

(367 words)

Author(s): Watt, W. Montgomery
, people observing rigorous religious taboos, especially Ḳurays̲h̲ and certain neighbouring tribes. The word is the plural of aḥmas , “hard, strong (in fighting or in religion)”, but one of the Ḥums is called aḥmasī (fern, aḥmasiyya ). Ibn His̲h̲ām (126) thinks that taḥammus , the observance of the taboos in question, was an innovation of Ḳurays̲h̲ about the time of Muḥammad’s birth, and some changes may have been made to emphasize the superiority of Ḳurays̲h̲ to other tribes; but the nature of the taboos makes it li…

D̲j̲ahmiyya

(693 words)

Author(s): Watt, W. Montgomery
, an early sect, frequently mentioned but somewhat mysterious. Identity. No names are known of any members of the sect, apart from the alleged founder D̲j̲ahm [ q.v.]. The basic fact is that “after the translation of the Greek books in the second century a doctrine ( maḳāla ) known as that of the D̲j̲ahmiyya was spread by Bis̲h̲r b. G̲h̲iyāt̲h̲ al-Marīsī [ q.v.] and his generation (IbnTaymiyya, ʿAḳīda Ḥamawiyya , ap. M. Schreiner in ZDMG, liii, 72 f.; lii, 544). A pupil of Abū Yūsuf (d. 182/798), Bis̲h̲r (d. 218/833 or a little later) was questioned about his strange v…

Fazāra

(456 words)

Author(s): Watt, W. Montgomery
, a North Arabian tribe, reckoned part of D̲h̲ubyān, which was itself included in G̲h̲aṭafān [ q.v.]. Its main pasture-grounds were in Wādi ’l-Rumma in Nad̲j̲d, and the names of many localities associated with it have been preserved (cf. Yāḳūt, index, s.v. Fazāra). In the Ḏj̲āhiliyya the famous war of Dāḥis between Abs and D̲h̲ubyān arose out of a wager between Ḳays b. Zuhayr, chief of Abs, and Ḥud̲h̲ayfa b. Badr of Fazāra about their respective horses Dāḥis and G̲h̲abrā. The latter won because of underhand acts by some men of Fazāra, and this led to the killing of a brother of Ḥud̲h̲ayfa. ¶ In t…

Ḏj̲urhum or D̲j̲urham

(370 words)

Author(s): Watt, W. Montgomery
, an ancient Arab tribe reckoned to the ʿArab al-ʿĀriba (see art. ʿarab , d̲j̲azīrat al-, vi). According to later standard Arab tradition, D̲j̲urhum was descended from Yaḳtān (Ḳaḥtān). The tribe migrated from the Yaman to Mecca. After a protracted struggle with another tribe Ḳatūra (also referred to as ʿAmālīḳ), led by al-Sumaydiʿ, D̲j̲urhum under their chief (called Muḍād b. ʿAmr, al-Ḥārit̲h̲ b. Muḍāḍ, etc.) gained control of the Kaʿba. This they retained till driven out by Bakr b. ʿAbd Manāt of K̲h̲uzāʿa. Th…

K̲h̲andaḳ

(351 words)

Author(s): Watt, W. Montgomery
, ditch, trench or moat. The word seems to have come into Arabic from Persian through Syriac (cf. A. Siddiqi, Studien über die persischen Fremdwörter im klassischen Arabisch , Göttingen 1919). It is also known as a place-name (cf. Yāḳūt, ii, 476; al-Balād̲h̲urī, Futūḥ , 85). Its best-known application is to the so-called “expedition of the K̲h̲andaḳ”, in which Muḥammad foiled a Meccan attempt to storm Medina by digging a moat or trench at those parts of the oasis which were open to attack by cavalry. This was in D̲h̲…

ʿId̲j̲l

(380 words)

Author(s): Watt, W. Montgomery
, ancient Arabian tribe, reckoned part of Bakr b. Wāʾil [ q.v.]. Their common ancestor ʿId̲j̲l b. Lud̲j̲aym was proverbially noted for his stupidity (Goldziher, Muh . St., i, 48n; Eng. tr. i, 52n.). The tribe as a whole had a reputation for niggardliness (Masʿūdī, vi, 138f.; Yāḳūt, i, 183). They originally lived in al-Yamāma and in the region about the roads from Kūfa and Baṣra to Mecca. Among the settled localities belonging to them were Arāka, D̲j̲awk̲h̲āʾ and al-K̲h̲aḍārim; while their waters included Buḳayʿ, Tuḳayyid,…

al-Abwāʾ

(155 words)

Author(s): Watt, W. Montgomery
, a place on the road from Mecca to Medina, 23 miles from al-Ḏj̲uḥfa in the territory of Banū Ḍamra of Kināna. According to some authorities the name really belonged to a mountain situated there. Muḥammad’s mother, Āmina, is commonly said to have died there while returning from Medina to Mecca, and to be buried there; but she is sometimes said to be buried in Mecca (Ṭabarī, i, 980). The first expedition from Medina in which Muḥammad himself took part was to al-Abwāʾ and Waddān nearby. It is said…
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