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, name of one of the three most venerated deities of the pre-Islamic pantheon, the two others being Manāt and al-ʿUzzā [ q.vv.]. The deep attachment felt by the T̲h̲aḳīf towards al-Lāt, the Aws and the K̲h̲azrad̲j̲ towards Manāt and the Ḳurays̲h̲ towards al-ʿUzzā, constituted the greatest obstacle in the path of the peaceful implantation of Islam in the regions of the Ḥid̲j̲āz. This obstacle was so difficult to overcome that the Prophet seems, for a brief period, to have consented to the continuation of the cult of these three deities, called al-g̲h̲arānīḳ al-ʿulā (see T. Fahd, Panthéon …

(a.). 1. In pre- and early Islamic usage. The root ṭ -g̲h̲-w yields several forms with the general meaning of "to go beyond the measure, be very lofty, overflow, be tyrannical, rebellious, oppressive, proud, etc.", from which two may be noted here: ṭag̲h̲w , designating a height or mountain summit, and ṭag̲h̲ūt , pl. ṭawāg̲h̲īt , meaning the great pre-Islamic Arabian deities like al-Lāt at Ṭāʾif and al-ʿUzzā at Mecca. The term was then applied to Satan, sorcerer and rebel, and to any power opposed to that of Islam. One may also cite ṭag̲h̲wa "excess of injustice, impiety", as opposed to the s̲h̲…

(a.), image, form, shape, e.g. ṣūrat al-arḍ , “the image of the earth”, ṣūrat ḥimār , “the form of an ass” (Muslim, Ṣalāt , trad. 115), or face, countenance (see below). Taṣāwīr are rather pictures; see for these, taṣwīr . Ṣūra and taṣwīra are therefore in the same relation to one another as the Hebrew demūt and ṣelem . 1. In theological and legal doctrine. The Biblical idea according to which man was created in God’s ṣelem (Gen. i. 27) has most probably passed into Ḥadīt̲h̲. It occurs in three passages in classical Ḥadīt̲h̲; the exegesis is uncertain and in general unwilling to adopt i…

, Abū Ṭāhir Ibrāhīm b. Yaḥyā b. G̲h̲annām al-Ḥarrānī al-Numayrī al-Ḥanbalī al-Maḳdisī (d. 693/1294), is the author of a treatise on oneiromancy that was widely circulated, on account of its alphabetical arrangement which makes it rapid and simple to consult. He was thus the innovator of a system which, after his time, became widely adopted. His treatise, entitled al-Muʿallam ʿalā ḥurūf al-muʿd̲j̲am , led oneiromancy away from the traditional paths by renouncing the plan inspired by that of the Book of Dreams of Artemidorus of Ephesus (ed. T. Fahd, Damascus 1964, PIFD) and sanctioned b…

(a.), literally “that which rises”. 1. Astronomical aspects. Al-ṭāliʿ is that point of the ecliptic which is rising over the horizon at a given moment, called the ascendent or horoscopus (and sometimes, incorrectly, the horoscope); see the diagram in maṭāliʿ . The determination of the ascendent is necessary in mathematical astrology [see nud̲j̲ūm , aḥkām al- ] before one can calculate the instantaneous positions of the 12 astrological houses ( al-buyūt ); with these determined, one can then investigate in which houses the sun, moon and five na…

, name of a deity ofancient Arabia. This IVth form maṣdar from the root n-w-f is connected with the Qatabanite nwfn “the exalted”, an epithet describing ʿAt̲h̲ar-Venus at its zenith, as opposed to s̲h̲rḳn “the eastern” and g̲h̲rbn “the western”. From the same root is derived tanūf “that which climbs high in the firmament”, an epithet of the sun, as opposed to ms̲h̲rḳtym “that which rises”, and tadūn “that which sets” (cf. A. Jamme, Le panthéon sud-arabe préislamique’d’après les sources épigraphiques , in Le Muséon , lx [1947], 88 and n. 225, 102, 106; on th…

, G̲h̲ars al-Dīn K̲h̲alīl , born in Cairo (or Jerusalem) in 813/1410, son of a mamlūk of the Burd̲j̲ī sultan Sayf al-Dīn Tatar, studied in Cairo and achieved a brilliant administrative career under Barsbay and Čaḳmaḳ (cf. Ziriklī, Aʿlām 2, iii, 367). In about 857/1453 he composed a major work, Kas̲h̲f al-mamālik wa-bayān al-uruḳ , wa ’l-masālik , of which only an abridged version, Zubdat Kas̲h̲f al-mamālik ... has survived. This vivid and exact picture of Egypt under the Mamlūks, the interest of which was first emphasized by Volney in the appendix to the Voyage en Egypte et en Syrie 3, ed. Dug…

(a.), “prophecy”, Hebrew nəb̲ūʾa , substantive derived from nabī “prophet”, Hebrew nābī (ʾ), term denoting in the first instance the precognition given by the divinity (Yahweh, the Baʿl, Allāh) to the prophet and the prediction made by the latter of future contingencies. In the second instance, nubuwwa is identified with waḥy , “revelation”, which simultaneously comprises dogmas, cultic regulations, moral education, precepts of social and political order. In fact, for the early Muslims, prophecy was regarded as being the so…

, name of a person to whom are attributed a number of works and whose full name is said to have been Abū Bakr Aḥmad b. ʿAlī b. Ḳays (omitted in Fihrist , 311, which adds: b. al-Muk̲h̲tār b. ʿAbd al-Karīm b. Ḏj̲art̲h̲iya b. Badniyā b. Barṭāniyā b. ʿĀlāṭiyā) al-Kasdānī (omitted in MS Istanbul, Beyazit 4064 [see below]) al-Ṣūfī (added in Fihrist and some manuscripts) al-Ḳussaynī (added in MSS Beyazit 4064 and Leiden, vocalized thus in Beyazit, read al-Ḳasītī or al Ḳusaytī by M. Plessner; cf. Fihrist: min ahl Ḳussīn ), known as Ibn Waḥs̲h̲iyya, but of whose existenc…

(a.) “vulture”, one of the five deities said to date from the time of Noah and to have been adored by the people then (Ḳurʾān, LXXI, 23). Ibn al-Kalbī, Aṣnām , our sole source regarding this, makes it the idol of the Ḥimyarites, who worshipped it at Balk̲h̲aʿ in the land of Sabaʾ ( TA, iii, 572, at the end, cites al-D̲j̲awharī, who says that Nasr was the idol of D̲h̲u ’l-Kilāʿ of the Ḥimyarite country). It was Maʿdī-Karib, of the sub-group of D̲h̲ū Ruʿayn, who received it from ʿAmr b. Luḥayy, the first known reformer of the cult in Arabia; he disco…

1. S̲h̲iḳḳ is the name of two diviners or kāhins who allegedly lived shortly before the rise of Islam. According to the Abrégé des merveilles , S̲h̲iḳḳ the Elder was the first diviner among the ʿArab al-ʿĀriba. He is a completely fabulous personage. Like the Cyclops, he had only one eye in the middle of his forehead or a fire which split his forehead into two ( s̲h̲aḳḳa “to split”). He is also confused with al-Dad̲j̲d̲j̲āl [ q.v.], Antichrist, or at least Dad̲j̲d̲j̲āl is of his family. He is said to have lived chained to a rock on an island where volcanic phenomena occur…

(a.), magic. This term is applied (1) to that which entrances the eye and acts on the psyche of the individual, making him believe that what he sees is real when it is not so. This is called al-uk̲h̲d̲h̲a , “charm, incantation” [see ruḳya ], “artifice, stratagem” [see nīrand̲j̲ , sīmiyā ]; in short, everything that is known as “white” or “natural magic”. It also refers (2) to things, the apprehension ( maʾk̲h̲ad̲h̲ ) of which is fine and subtle; this applies, for example, to certain poetry and certain eloquence, that of the Ḳurʾān in particular. The Prophet was allegedly told, inna min al-bayāni …

( Aḥkām al- ), “decrees of the stars”, expression denoting astrology [see also munad̲j̲d̲j̲im ]. Astrology comprises two branches: natural astrology, consisting in the observation of the influences of the stars on the natural elements, and judicial astrology, consisting in the observation of the influences of the stars on human destiny. The scientific term which describes them is Ptolemaism (derived from the astrological work of Ptolemy, entitled Κλαυδίου Πτολεμαίου τῶν πρὸς Σύρον ἀποτελεσματικῶν, ed. F. Boll and Ae. Boer, in Bibliotheca Teubneriana , Le…

(a.) “lamentation”, the noun of action from nāḥa “to weep with great cries, lamentations, sighings and affliction”. The term is used to designate the activity of professional mourners who play a great role in funeral ceremonies all around the Mediterranean. If it is mentioned here, it is because this practice, considered to be a legacy of paganism, was condemned by the Prophet. Indeed, he is made to say “Three pre-Islamic customs ( ak̲h̲lāḳ ; Usd al-g̲h̲āba , fiʿl ) are not to be retained by the Muslims. They are: invoking the planets in order to receive rain ( istisḳāʾ bi ’l-kawākib …

(a.), “The interpretation of dreams”. As well as this expression, tafsīr al-aḥlām is employed, with taʿbīr , basically “the passage of one thing to another, one sense to another”, hence “explanation” and tafsīr , lit. “commenting, explaining”, from roots occurring in other Semitic languages and with the two Arabic verbal nouns found, once each, in the Ḳurʾān, at XII, 43, and XXV, 33, with taʾwīl [ q.v.] also at XII, 44-5. In current usage, taʿbīr is confined to the sense of “interpretation of dreams”, whilst tafsīr [ q.v.] is used for commentaries on e.g. the Bible and the Ḳurʾān. For the ter…

(a.), pl. anṣāb , Hebrew maṣṣeb̲ōt . The plural, more often used, denotes the blocks ofstone on which the blood of the victims sacrificed for idols ( awt̲h̲ān , aṣnām ) was poured, as well as sepulchral stones and those marking out the sacred enclosure ( ḥimā ) of the sanctuary (cf. J. Wellhausen, Reste2 , 101-2; W. Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites , 201 ff.). In nomadic circles, the nuṣub has been regarded in a few rare instances as the symbol of the divinity (cf. Ibn Saʿd, Ṭabaḳāt , iv/1, 159-60; R. Dozy, Essai sur l’histoire de l’Islamisme , translated from the…

, invisible being whose cry rends the night, transmitting a message; a prophetic voice which announces in an oracular style a future happening. Already in the Bible this voice is confused with that of the prophet (Ezekiel, XXI, 2, 7; Amos, VII, 16). On the eve of Muḥammad’s call, mysterious voices were proclaiming his coming. These were the voices of “one who was calling” ( munādī ) or “who was shouting” ( ṣāʾiḥ : Ag̲h̲ānī 1, xv, 76; in the legend of Mad̲j̲nūn, hātif is the equivalent of munādī and of ṣāʾiḥ: ibid., i, 169; ii, 4; i, 174; a third equivalent, tālī , is found in al-Ṭabarī, iii4, 2337). I…

(a.) means divination in general. Lā kihāna baʿd al-nubuwwa “there is no divination after the prophetic mission”; if it were necessary to be content with this dictum, frequently repeated in the Tradition, such an article as this would be out of place in an Encyclopaedia of Islam . But once the precise sense of this term has been established and the range of concepts which it covers outlined, the reader will agree that it is, on the contrary, far from superfluous. The word itself, both in terms of the conceptual aspect ( kihāna ) and the pragmatic aspect ( hahāna ) is a le…

(a.) “shoulder”; ʿilm al-katif or al-aktāf denotes scapulomancy or omoplatoscopy, i.e. divination by the use of the shoulder-bones. This art forms a part of the practices of physiognomy. It is universal in scope, inasmuch as it provides for the foretelling of what will happen in the different regions of the earth towards which the four sides of the scapula are pointed according to the signs revealed by it. From this point of view the ʿilm al-aktāf is to be linked with the practice of cleromancy of the d̲j̲afr [ q.v.] and the malāḥim (cf. T. Fahd, La divination arabe, 219 ff.). How was this skil…

(a.), poet. ¶ 1. In the Arab world. A. Pre-Islamic and Umayyad periods. Among those endowed with knowledge and with power in ancient Arabia stands the figure of the s̲h̲āʿir , whose role is often confused with that of the ʿarrāf ( s̲h̲aʿara and ʿarafa having the same semantic value: cf. I. Goldziher, Abhandlungen , i, 3 ff.) and of the kāhin [ q.v.]. They were credited with the same source of inspiration, the d̲j̲inns (Goldziher, Die Ǧinnen der Dichter , in ZDMG, xlv [1891], 685 ff.). However, the s̲h̲āʿir was, originally, the repository of magical rather than divinatory knowledge; …

, Abū saʿīd ( Saʿd ) Naṣr b. Yaʿḳūb , is a writer chiefly remembered as author of al-Ḳādirī fi ’l-Taʿbīr (composed in 397/1006 and dedicated to al-Ḳādir Bi’llāh 381-422/991-1020), which is the oldest authentic Arabic treatise on oneirocriticism and an excellent synthesis of everything that was known on the subject at the time. Its sources were Arabic: Ibn Sīrīn [ q.v.] to whom innumerable interpretations are attributed; Greek: Artemidorus of Ephesus, whose Oneirocritica translated into Arabic by Ḥunayn b. Isḥāḳ (died 260/873; cf. Fihrist, 255, MS A 4726 in the Istanbul Universi…

(a.), a verbal noun from the root s̲h̲-r-f indicating elevation, nobility, pre-eminence in the physical and the moral senses. Hence the s̲h̲arīf [ q.v.] is a person who is placed above those who surround him on account of his prestigious and noble origin. In pre-Islamic Arabia and in early Islam, s̲h̲araf and mad̲j̲d both denote “illustriousness on account of birth”, while hasab , “individual quality, merit” (as opposed to nasab ) and karam denote “illustriousness acquired by oneself” ( LA, s.w. and see ḥasab wa-nasab ). According to the historians of Islam…

(a.), the invocation made in a loud voice and repeatedly by the pilgrim when he enters the state of ritual taboo ( iḥrām ) for the Pilgrimage at Mecca [see ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ ]. This moment begins on entering the Ḥaram or sacred area and at the points where the pilgrims gather together ( mawāḳīt ) on the boundaries of the enclosure. Amongst the practices to be followed by the pilgrims are prayers and movements (see T. Fahd, Les pratiques musulmanes , in Atlas des religions , Encylopaedia Universalis, Paris 1988, 319-23). On entering the sacred territory, the pilgr…

, an idol of the tribes of Ḳuḍāʿa, Lak̲h̲m, Ḏj̲ud̲h̲ām, ʿĀmila and G̲h̲aṭafān [ q.vv.], venerated in northern Arabia, across which these tribes ranged, as far as the Syrian borders (Ibn al-Kalbī, 24, 30). Pilgrimage was made to it by devotees with shaven heads; with each lock of hair, a handful of meal was offered, all this thrown into a large trench or a dried-up well ( ḥafr ). The Hawāzin, neighbours of the Ḳuḍāʿa, used to come and collect the meal, either at the time of the offering or after it was mixed with the hair. The deity seems to have been embodied in several betyles. The poet Zu…

(a.), as opposed to faʾl [ q.v.] which denotes human omens (cledonism), is applied in a general sense to animal omens (zoomancy) and, in the strict sense, to ornithomancy, that is to say the art of divining omens in the names of birds, their cries, their flight and their posture ( TA, vi, 207, l. 24 ff.). With certain names of birds a fatal quality is associated, though why this is so is not always known; in general, black and greenish plumage and down constitute the only justification. This is the case with the crow, the roller, the jay, and with …

, (a.) from the root r-ḳ-y meaning “to ascend” (cf. Ḳurʾān, XVII, 93, XXXVIII, 10; to this, LXXV, 27, adds the idea of “enchanter”, “one who cures” and “magician” rāḳ in, a term often found in the Sīra , in Ḥadīt̲h̲ and in the Sunna), “enchantment, magical spell”. Since casting a spell was usually by means of a magical formula pronounced or written on an amulet of parchment or leather, rāḳ in is to be connected with ḳāriʾ and riḳḳ [ q.v.]. The term tarāḳī of the preceding verse, 26, from the root r-ḳ-w/y , variously understood by the commentators, means “collar bones” (see TA and Lane, s.v.; Steingass…

(a.), derived from Persian nayrang , nīrang , pl. nīrand̲j̲āt , nīrand̲j̲iyyāt (Ibn Sīnā, ms. Paris; Brockelmann, S I, 828), nārand̲j̲iyyāt (al-D̲j̲ināʿī, ms. Strasbourg 4212, fol. 102b), designates, in the two languages, the operations of white magic, comprising prestidigitation, fakery and counter-fakery, the creating of illusions and other feats of sleight-of-hand ( ḥiyal ). A certain al-Ḥasan b. Muḥammad al-Iskandarī al-Kūs̲h̲ī al-ʿAbdari described the whole set of these operations in his work Fi ’l-ḥiyal al-bābiliyya li ’l-k̲h̲izāna al-kāmiliyya …

(a.), a noun derived from y-s-r "to be easy, simple", a root from which derives, by antiphrasis, a qualificative of the left hand, al-yusrā , with which the ḥurḍa (cf. Hebrew ḥ-r-ṣ and Akkadian ḫarāšu "decide, fix, determine"), the equivalent of the sādin of the istiḳsām [ q.v.], shot arrows one by one. Hence the term maysir could be rendered by "the game of the left-handed", although its present morphological state is inexplicable. The game consisted of dividing a slaughtered beast into ten parts, for which the game was played: these being the thighs and shins of bo…

( ʿilm-i ), a divinatory process which belongs to the realm of physiognomy [see firāsa ], and designates more specifically chirognomy, or the art of deducing the character of a person according to the shape and appearance of the hands, whereas chiromancy proper is designated by ʿilm al-asārīr (lines of the hand) or k̲h̲uṭūṭ al-yad . One can also say naẓar fi ’l-yad , firāsat al-kaff , ʿalāmāt asārīr al-kaff (cf. T. Fahd, Divination arabe , 393 ff.). But the use of the term ʿilm al-kaff has become general, and this has supplanted the others. It covers both c…

(a.), the name of two rather mysterious groups in early Islamic times: 1. Ṣābiʾat al-baṭāʾiḥ . The Mesopotamian dialectal pronunciation of ṣābiʿa , where the ʿayn has been transformed into y or ī , also occurs in Mandaean (cf. Lidzbarski, Ginzā ; Nöldeke, Mandäische Grammatik ; R. Macuch, Handbook , 94, 1. 16: ṣabuia ). This substantive, which became current in Mecca during the period of Ḳurʾānic preaching, irrespective of its etymology, derives from the Semitic root ṣ-b-ʿ (Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac; Ethiopic ṣabk̲h̲a ), corresponding to ṣ-b-g̲h̲ in Arabic. Th…

(a.), literally, "the fortunate and the unfortunate". These concepts are based on the influence exerted by the planets and the signs of the Zodiac on earthly events. The astrologers describe the stars as being either . saʿd or naḥs . Thus Jupiter, Venus and the Moon are said to be saʿd, Saturn is naḥs and the Sun and Mercury are at times called one or the other. But this can vary as a function of their positions in the ecliptic and of their conjunctions (cf. Abū Maslama Muḥammad al-Mad̲j̲rīṭī, G̲h̲āyat al-ḥakīm , ed. H. Ritter, Leipzig 1933, 198 ff. = M. Plessner, Picatrix , London 1962, 209 ff.; L’ag…

, in form like kibriyāʾ , belongs to old Arabic ¶ beside sīmā , sīmāʾ (Ḳurʾān, XLVIII, 29 etc.; al-Bayḍāwī, ed. Fleischer, i, 326, 14, 15), in the sense “mark, sign, badge” (Lane 1476a; Ṣaḥāḥ , s.v., ed. Būlāḳ, 1282, ii, 200; Ḥamāsa , ed. Freytag, 696; LʿA , xv, 205). But the word, as a name for certain genres of magic, had a quite different derivation; in that sense it is from σημει̂α, through the Syriac sīmya (pl), and means “signs, letters of the alphabet” (Dozy, Suppl., i, 708b, and references there; Payne Smith, Thesaurus Syriacus , ii, col. 2614). In Bocthor, Dictionnaire français-arabe …

(a.), image, representation and, especially, idol (from the Common Semitic root ṣ-l-m , cf. Akk. ṣalmu , Aram, ṣalmā , Hebr. ṣelem , etc., by a shift of l into n, see Gesenius-Buhl, 684); for Old Testament parallels, see inter alia, Num. xxxiii. 52; II Kings xi. 18; Ezek., vii. 20; Amos, v. 26). It is in this sense that it is found in the Ḳurʾān, where the pl. aṣnām is cited five times (VI, 74; VII, 138; XIV, 35; XXI, 57; XXVI, 71). Ṣanam progressively replaces nuṣub (pl. anṣāb , Hebr. maṣṣebōt̲ , Gen. xxxv. 14), a term denoting “carved stones over which the blood …

(a.), a term of the Ḳurʾān and of Islamic religion. The root s̲h̲-k-n (Akkadian, Hebrew, Aramaic) or s-k-n (Arabic) means basically “to go down, rest, be quiescent, inhabit”, and the corresponding Later Hebrew form to Arabic sakīna is s̲h̲ek̲h̲īnā and the Jewish Palestinian Aramaic one s̲h̲ e k̲h̲īnā, Syriac s̲h̲ekīntā . Cf. Hebr. ham-mis̲h̲kan , mis̲h̲kan Yhwh , Syr. mas̲h̲kan zab̲h̲nā / zab̲h̲nō , Ar. ḳubbat al-zamān (al-Ḳardāḥī, Lubāb , Beirut 1887, ii, 546-7), referring to Moses’ tent sanctuary, Exod. xxv. 22). The Hebrew usage is genera…

, a legendary diviner ( kāhin ) of pre-Islamic Arabia, whom tradition connects with the beginnings of Islam; in reality, we are dealing here with a quite mythical personage like the other kāhin in whose company he appears in most stories, S̲h̲iḳḳ al-Saʿbī, who is simply the humanisation of a demoniacal monster in appearance like a man cut in two ( s̲h̲iḳḳ al-insān : cf. van Vloten, in WZKM, vii [1893], 180-1, and s̲h̲iḳḳ ). Saṭīḥ, whose name means “flattened on the ground and unable to rise on account of the weakness of his limbs” ( Lisān al-ʿArab 1, iii, 312), is described as a monster with…

(a.), evil spirit, demon, devil. 1. In pre-Islamic Arabia. According to the lexicographers, s̲h̲ayṭān is derived from the verb s̲h̲aṭana “to detain somebody in order to divert him from his intention and his destination”, s̲h̲aṭan being “a cord” and s̲h̲āṭin “an evil man”. The verbs s̲h̲ayṭana and tas̲h̲ayṭana signify “to behave like the shayṭan ”. The s̲h̲ayṭān is an evil, rebellious spirit, inhabiting Hell-Fire; he cannot be seen, but he is imagined as a being of great ugliness (al-D̲j̲āḥiẓ, Ḥayawān , vi, 213). Proverbs underline his wickedness, his c…

, more precisely al-k̲h̲aṭṭ bi-raml , the original name for Arab geomancy. In the Islamic era, raml (or ʿilm al-raml ) was dominant, but with the growing influence of astrology on the occult sciences, the term s̲h̲akl (pl. as̲h̲kāl ), “figure” was used (see below, the expression as̲h̲kāl al-raml, as̲h̲kāl al-turāb , ḥulūl al-as̲h̲kāl ), From s̲h̲akl are derived “squill” a figure in geomancy, and “to squill”, to practise divination by sand, cf. G. Ferrand, in JA, 10th Series, vi (1905), 195. In Madagascar, the words sikili and skidy also denote geomantic figure…

(a.), a term connected with nuḳāwā , a generic noun denoting alkaline plants utilised for washing linen and whitening cloths. These are plants which grow stems without any leaves; as soon as they dry up, they become white. They give linen a dazzling white colouring. By analogy, the term denotes also a “rite of reconciliation” which was used in the Ḥid̲j̲āz and which was used for righting injuries. This was done in the following manner: The party causing the offence stops on the threshhold of the aggrieved party, holding a knife in each hand, and says: al-naḳā naḳānā wa ’l-naḳā naḳiyyu ’l-r…

( ʿIlm al- ), “The science of letters”, is a branch of d̲j̲afr [ q.v.] which was originally concerned with onomatomancy in the strict sense; but, among some esoteric sects, it became a sort of magical practice, to such an extent that Ibn K̲h̲aldūn ( Muḳaddima , iii, 137-61, Fr. tr. 188-200, Rosenthal 171-82) gave it the name of sīmiyāʾ (σημεῖα), which is usually reserved for white magic. It is based on the occult properties of the letters of the alphabet and of the divine and angelic names which they form. Three basic elements are …

, a technique of inductive divination which permits the foretelling of moral conditions and psychological behaviour from external indications and physical states: al-istidlāl bi’l-k̲h̲alḳ al-Ẓāhir ʿala’l-k̲h̲ulḳ al-bāṭin (cf. al-Rāzī, Firāsa , ed. Mourad, 4; Ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲ī K̲h̲alīfa, ii, p. VIII; iv, 388 ff.; al-Ḳazwīnī, i, 318; cf. Ps.-Diāḥiẓ. ʿIrāfa , ed. Inostrant̲s̲ev, 17 ff.). These indications are provided by colours, forms and limbs; they reveal to experts the secrets of characters and minds. “Peculiarities of charac…

, Abū Bakr Muḥammad , the first renowned Muslim interpreter of dreams, was also, according to Ibn Saʿd (vii/1, 140), a traditionist “of great trustworthiness, who inspired confidence, great and worthy, well-versed in jurisprudence. He was an imām of great scholarship and piety”. Born two years before the end of the caliphate of ʿUt̲h̲mān, i.e., in 34/654, he was the contemporary and friend of al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī [ q.v.] and died in the same year as he, in 110/728. His father, a tinker from Ḏj̲ard̲j̲arāyā. had been taken prisoner in ʿIrāḳ (at Maysān or at ʿAyn al-…

, the name given to an orator and poet of the tribe of Wāʾil, “whose seductive eloquence has passed into a proverb and who, it is said, whilst addressing an assembly for half-a-day, never used the same word twice” (Kazimirski, Dictionnaire , i, 1057; see LʿA and the other lexica). Speaking of the random effects of chance, whereby some person became a household word whereas others, equally meritorious, do not, al-D̲j̲āḥiẓ ( Ḥayawān , ii, 104), cites Saḥbān Wāʾil, who was eclipsed by his contemporary Ibn al-Ḳirriyya, murdered by al-Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ād̲j̲ in 84/703 ( loc. cit., n. 5). In his eulogy o…

(a.), originally, the formal expression of the oracular pronouncement. 1. As magical utterances in pre-Islamic Arabian usage. Here, sad̲j̲ʿ was the rhythmical style practised by the Arab kāhin s [ q.v.] and kāhina s [see al-kāhina ], a style intermediate between that of the versified oracular utterances of the Sibylls and Pythians and that of the prose utterances of Apollo (see P. Amandry, La mantique apollinienne à Delphes . Essai sur le fonctionnement de l’oracle, diss. Paris 1950, 15). These utterances are "formulated in short, rhymed phrases, with rhythmical caden…