IV.—The Marriage Festivities (part 1)

Nikāḥ is preceded and followed by festive rejoicings which have been variously described by Oriental travellers, but they are not parts of either the civil or religious ceremonies.

The following account of a shādī or wedding in Hindustan is abridged (with some correction) from Mrs. Meer Hasan Alī’s Musalmāns of India.

The marriage ceremony usually occupies three days and three nights. The day being fixed, the mother of the bride actively employs the intervening time in finishing her preparations for the young lady’s departure from the paternal roof with suitable articles, which might prove the bride was not sent forth to her new family without proper provision: A silver-gilt bedstead with the necessary furniture; a silver pawn-dān, shaped very like an English spice-box; a chillumchi or wash-hand basin; a lota or water-jug, resembling an old-fashioned coffee-pot; a silver luggun, or spittoon; a surai, or water-bottle; silver basins for water; several dozens of copper pots, plates, and spoons for cooking; dishes, plates and platters in endless variety; and numerous other articles needful for housekeeping, including a looking-glass for the bride’s toilette, masnads, cushions, and carpets.

On the first day the ladies’ apartments of both houses are completely filled with visitors of all grades, from the wives and mothers of noblemen, down to the humblest acquaintance of the family, and to do honour to the hostess, the guests appear in their best attire and most valuable ornaments. The poor bride is kept in strict confinement in a dark closet or room during the whole three days’ merriment, whilst the happy bridegroom is the most prominent person in the assembly of the males, where amusements are contrived to please and divert him, the whole party vying in personal attentions to him. The ladies are occupied in conversations and merriment, and amused with native songs and music of the domnis, smoking the ḥuqqah, eating pawn, dinner, &c. Company is their delight and time passes pleasantly with them in such an assembly.

The second day is one of bustle and preparation in the bride’s home; it is spent in arranging the various articles that are to accompany the bride’s mayndī or ḥinnāʾ (the Lawsonia inermis), which is forwarded in the evening to the bridegroom’s house with great parade. The herb mayndī or ḥinnāʾ is in general request amongst the natives of India, for the purpose of dyeing the hands and feet; and is considered by them an indispensable article to their comfort, keeping those members cool, and a great ornament to the person. Long established custom obliges the bride to send mayndī on the second night of the nuptials to the bridegroom; and to make the event more conspicuous, presents proportioned to the means of the party accompany the trays of prepared mayndī.

The female friends of the bride’s family attend the procession in covered conveyances, and the male guests on horses, elephants, and in palkies; trains of servants and bands of music swell the procession (amongst persons of distinction) to a magnitude inconceivable to those who have not visited the large native cities of India.

Amongst the bride’s presents with mayndī may be noticed everything requisite for a full-dress suit for the bridegroom, and the etceteras of his toilette; confectionery, dried fruits, preserves, the prepared pawns, and a multitude of trifles too tedious to enumerate, but which are nevertheless esteemed luxuries with the native young people, and are considered essential to the occasion. One thing I must not omit, the sugar-candy, which forms the source of amusement when the bridegroom is under the dominion of the females in his mother’s zanānah. The fireworks sent with the presents are concealed in flowers formed of the transparent uberuck; these flowers are set out in frames, and represent beds of flowers in their varied forms and colours; these in their number and gay appearance have a pretty effect in the procession, interspersed with the trays containing the dresses, &c. All the trays are first covered with basketwork raised in domes, and over these are thrown draperies of broad-cloth, gold cloth, and brocade, neatly fringed in bright colours.

The mayndī procession having reached the bridegroom’s house, bustle and excitement pervade through every department of the mansion. The gentlemen are introduced to the father’s hall; the ladies to the youth’s mother, who in all possible state is prepared to receive the bride’s friends.

The ladies crowd into the centre hall to witness, through the blinds of bamboo, the important process of dressing the bridegroom in his bride’s presents. The centre purdah is let down, in which are openings to admit the hands and feet; and close to this purdah a low stool is placed. When all these preliminary preparations are made, and the ladies securely under cover, notice is sent to the male assembly that “the bridegroom is wanted”; and he then enters the zanānah courtyard, amidst the deafening sounds of trumpets and drums from without, and a serenade from the female singers within. He seats himself on the stool placed for him close to the purdah, and obeys the several commands he receives from the hidden females, with childlike docility. The moist mayndī is then tied on with bandages by hands he cannot see, and, if time admits, one hour is requisite to fix the dye bright and permanent on the hands and feet. During this delay, the hour is passed in lively dialogues with the several purdahed dames, who have all the advantages of seeing though themselves unseen; the singers occasionally lauding his praise in extempore strains, after describing the loveliness of his bride (whom they know nothing about), and foretelling the happiness which awaits him in his marriage, but which, in the lottery, may perhaps prove a blank. The sugar-candy, broken into small lumps, is presented by the ladies whilst his hands and feet are fast bound in the bandages of mayndī; but as he cannot help himself, and it is an omen of good to eat the bride’s sweets at this ceremony, they are sure he will try to catch the morsels which they present to his mouth and then draw back, teasing the youth with their banterings, until at last he may successfully snap at the candy, and seize the fingers also with the dainty, to the general amusement of the whole party and the youth’s entire satisfaction.

The mayndī supposed to have done its duty the bandages are removed, the old nurse of his infancy (always retained for life), assists him with water to wash off the leaves, dries his feet and hands, rubs him with perfumes, and robes him in his bride’s presents. Thus attired, he takes leave of his tormentors, sends respectful messages to his bride’s family, and bows his way from their guardianship to the male apartment, where he is greeted by a flourish of trumpets and the congratulations of the guests, many of whom make him presents and embrace him cordially.

The dinner is introduced at twelve, amongst the bridegroom’s guests, and the night passed in good-humoured conviviality, although the strongest beverage at the feast consists of sugar and water sherbet. The dancing-women’s performances, the displays of fireworks, the dinner, pawn, and ḥuqqah, form the chief amusements of the night, and they break up only when the dawn of morning approaches.

The bride’s female friends take sherbet and pawn after the bridegroom’s departure from the zanānah, after which they hasten away to the bride’s assembly, to detail the whole business of their mission.

The third day, the eventful barāt, arrives to awaken in the heart of a tender mother all the good feelings of fond affection; she is, perhaps, about to part with the great solace of her life under many domestic trials; at any rate, she transfers her beloved child to another protection. All marriages are not equally happy in their termination; it is a lottery, a fate, in the good mother’s calculation. Her darling child may be the favoured of Heaven, for which she prays; she may be however, the miserable first wife of a licentious pluralist; nothing is certain, but she will strive to trust in God’s mercy, that the event prove a happy one to her dearly-loved girl.

The young bride is in close confinement during the days of celebrating her nuptials; on the third, she is tormented with the preparations for her departure. The mayndī must be applied to her hands and feet, the formidable operations of bathing, drying her hair, oiling and dressing her head, dyeing her lips, gums, and teeth with antimony, fixing on her the wedding ornaments, the nose-ring presented by her husband’s family; the many rings to be placed on her fingers and toes, the rings fixed in her ears, are all so many new trials to her, which though a complication of inconvenience, she cannot venture to murmur at, and therefore submits to with the passive weakness of a lamb.

Towards the close of the evening, all these preparations being fulfilled, the marriage portion is set in order to accompany the bride. The guests make their own amusements for the day; the mother is too much occupied with her daughter’s affairs to give much of her time or attention to them; nor do they expect it, for they all know by experience the nature of a mother’s duties at such an interesting period.

The bridegroom’s house is nearly in the same state of bustle as the bride’s, though of a very different description, as the preparing for the reception of a bride is an event of vast importance in the opinion of a Musalman. The gentlemen assemble in the evening, and are regaled with sherbet and the ḥuqqah, and entertained with the nauch-singing and fireworks, until the appointed hour for setting out in the procession to fetch the bride to her new home.

The procession is on a grand scale; every friend or acquaintance, together with their elephants, are pressed into the service of the bridegroom on this night of Barāt. The young man himself is mounted on a handsome charger, the legs, tail, and mane of which are dyed with mayndī, whilst the ornamental furniture of the horse is splendid with spangles and embroidery. The dress of the bridegroom is of gold cloth, richly trimmed, with a turban to correspond, to the top of which is fastened an immense bunch of silver trimming, that falls over his face to his waist, and answers the purpose of a veil (this is in strict keeping with the Hindu custom at their marriage processions). A select few of the females from the bridegroom’s house attend in his train to bring home the bride, accompanied by innumerable torches, with bands of music, soldiers, and servants, to give effect to the procession. On their arrival at the gate of the bride’s residence, the gentlemen are introduced to the father’s apartments, where fire-works, music, and singing, occupy their time and attention until the hour for departure arrives.

The marriage ceremony is performed in the presence of witnesses, although the bride is not seen by any of the males at the time, not even by her husband, until they have been lawfully united according to the common form.

The Maulawī commences by calling on the young maiden by name, to answer to his demand, “Is it by your own consent this marriage takes place with ——?” naming the person who is the bridegroom; the bride answers, “It is by my consent.” The Maulawī then explains the law of Muḥammad, and reads a certain chapter from that portion of the Qurʾān which binds the parties in holy wedlock. He then turns to the young man, and asks him to name the sum he proposes as his wife’s dowry. The bridegroom thus called upon, names ten, twenty, or, perhaps, a hundred lacs of rupees; the Maulawī repeats to all present the amount proposed, and then prays that the young couple thus united may be blessed in this world and in eternity. All the gentleman then retire except the bridegroom, who is delayed entering the hall until the bride’s guests have retreated into the side rooms; as soon as this is accomplished he is introduced into the presence of his mother-in-law and her daughter by the women servants. He studiously avoids looking up as he enters the hall, because, according to the custom of this people, he must first see his wife’s face in a looking-glass, which is placed before the young couple, when he is seated on the masnad by his bride. Happy for him if he then beholds a face that bespeaks the gentle being he hopes Fate has destined to make him happy. If otherwise, he must submit; there is no untying the sacred contract.

Many absurd customs follow this first introduction of the bride and bridegroom. When the procession is all formed, the goods and chattels of the bride are loaded on the heads of the carriers; the bridegroom conveys his young wife in his arms to the covered palankeen, which is in readiness within the court, and the procession moves off in grand style, with a perpetual din of noisy music, until they arrive at the bridegroom’s mansion.

The poor mother has, perhaps, had many struggles with her own heart to save her daughter’s feelings during the preparation for departure; but when the separation takes place, the scene is affecting beyond description. I never witnessed anything equal to it in other societies; indeed, so powerfully are the feelings of the mother excited, that she rarely acquires her usual composure until her daughter is allowed to revisit her, which is generally within a week after her marriage. (See Mrs. Meer Hasan Alī’s Indian Musalmāns, vol. i. p. 46.)

The above description of a wedding in India has been selected as representative of such ceremonies; but there is no uniform custom of celebrating Muslim nuptials, the nuptial ceremonies in Afghanistan being much more simple in their character, as will be seen by the illustration given on the preceding page.

Mr. Lane, in his Modern Egyptians, gives the following interesting account of a wedding in Egypt:—

“Marriages in Cairo are generally conducted, in the case of a virgin, in the following manner; but in that of a widow, or a divorced woman, with little ceremony. Most commonly, the mother, or some other near female relation, of the youth or man who is desirous of obtaining a wife, describes to him the personal and other qualifications of the young women with whom she is acquainted, and directs his choice; or he employs a ‘khatʾbeh,’ or ‘khatibeh’ (k͟hāt̤ibah), a woman whose regular business it is to assist men in such cases. Sometimes two or more women of this profession are employed. A khatʾbeh gives her report confidentially, describing one girl as being like a gazelle, pretty and elegant and young; and another as not pretty, but rich, and so forth. If the man have a mother and other near female relations, two or three of these usually go with a khatʾbeh to pay visits to several hareems, to which she has access in her professional character of a match-maker; for she is employed as much by the women as the men. She sometimes, also, exercises the trade of a ‘dellaleh’ (or broker), for the sale of ornaments, clothing, &c., which procures her admission into almost every hareem. The women who accompany her in search of a wife for their relation, are introduced to the different hareems merely as ordinary visitors; and as such, if disappointed, they soon take their leave, though the object of their visit is, of course, well understood by the other party; but if they find among the females of a family (and they are sure to see all who are marriageable) a girl or young woman having the necessary personal qualifications, they state the motives of their visit, and ask, if the proposed match be not at once disapproved of, what property, ornaments, &c., the objects of their wishes may possess. If the father of the intended bride be dead, she may perhaps possess one or more houses, shops, &c.; and in almost every case, a marriageable girl of the middle or higher ranks has a set of ornaments of gold and jewels. The women visitors, having asked these and other questions, bring their report to the expectant youth or man. If satisfied with their report, he gives a present to the khatʾbeh, and sends her again to the family of his intended wife, to make known to them his wishes. She generally gives an exaggerated description of his personal attractions, wealth, &c. For instance, she will say of a very ordinary young man, of scarcely any property, and of whose disposition she knows nothing, ‘My daughter, the youth who wishes to marry you is young, graceful, elegant, beardless, has plenty of money, dresses handsomely, is fond of delicacies, but cannot enjoy his luxuries alone; he wants you as his companion; he will give you everything that money can procure; he is a stayer at home, and will spend his whole time with you, caressing and fondling you.’

“The parents may betroth their daughter to whom they please, and marry her to him without her consent, if she be not arrived at the age of puberty; but after she has attained that age, she may choose a husband for herself, and appoint any man to arrange and effect her marriage. In the former case, however, the khatʾbeh and the relations of a girl sought in marriage usually endeavour to obtain her consent to the proposed union. Very often a father objects to giving a daughter in marriage to a man who is not of the same profession or trade as himself; and to marrying a younger daughter before an elder! The bridegroom can scarcely ever obtain even a surreptitious glance at the features of his bride, until he finds her in his absolute possession, unless she belong to the lower classes of society; in which case it is easy enough for him to see her face.

“When a female is about to marry, she should have a ‘wekeel’ (wakīl, or deputy), to settle the compact and conclude the contract, for her, with her proposed husband. If she be under the age of puberty, this is absolutely necessary; and in this case, her father, if living, or (if he be dead) her nearest adult male relation, or a guardian appointed by will, or by the Kadee, performs the office of wekeel; but if she be of age, she appoints her own wekeel, or may even make the contract herself; though this is seldom done.

“After a youth or man has made choice of a female to demand in marriage, on the report of his female relations, or that of the khatʾbeh, and, by proxy, made the preliminary arrangements before described with her and her relations in the hareem, he repairs with two or three of his friends to her wekeel. Having obtained the wekeel’s consent to the union, if the intended bride be under age, he asks what is the amount of the required mahr (or dowry).

“The giving of a dowry is indispensable. The usual amount of the dowry, if the parties be in possession of a moderately good income, is about a thousand riyals (or twenty-two pounds ten shillings); or, sometimes, not more than half that sum. The wealthy calculate the dowry in purses, of five hundred piasters (about five pounds sterling) each; and fix its amount at ten purses or more.

“It must be borne in mind that we are considering the case of a virgin bride; the dowry of a widow or divorced woman is much less. In settling the amount of the dowry, as in other pecuniary transactions, a little haggling frequently takes place; if a thousand riyals be demanded through the wekeel, the party of the intended bridegroom will probably make an offer of six hundred; the former party then gradually lowering the demand, and the other increasing the offer, they at length agree to fix it at eight hundred. It is generally stipulated that two-thirds of the dowry shall be paid immediately before the marriage-contract is made; and the remaining third held in reserve, to be paid to the wife in case of divorcing her against her own consent, or in case of the husband’s death.

“This affair being settled, and confirmed by all persons present reciting the opening chapter of the Kuran (the Fatʾhah), an early day (perhaps the day next following) is appointed for paying the money, and performing the ceremony of the marriage-contract, which is properly called ‘akd en-nikah’ (ʿaqdu ʾn-nikāḥ). The making this contract is commonly called ‘ketb el-kitáb’ (katbu ʾl-kitāb, or the writing of the writ); but it is very seldom the case that any document is written to confirm the marriage, unless the bridegroom is about to travel to another place, and fears that he may have occasion to prove his marriage where witnesses of the contract cannot be procured. Sometimes the marriage-contract is concluded immediately after the arrangement respecting the dowry, but more generally a day or two after.

“On the day appointed for this ceremony, the bridegroom, again accompanied by two or three of his friends, goes to the house of his bride, usually about noon, taking with him that portion of the dowry which he has promised to pay on this occasion. He and his companions are received by the bride’s wekeel, and two or more friends of the latter are usually present. It is necessary that there be two witnesses (and those must be Muslims) to the marriage-contract, unless in a situation where witnesses cannot be procured. All persons present recite the Fatʾhah; and the bridegroom then pays the money. After this, the marriage-contract is performed. It is very simple. The bridegroom and the bride’s wekeel sit upon the ground, face to face, with one knee upon the ground, and grasp each other’s right hand, raising the thumbs, and pressing them against each other. A ‘fekeeh’ (faqīh) is generally employed to instruct them what they are to say. Having placed a handkerchief over their joined hands, he usually prefaces the words of the contract with a khutbeh (k͟hut̤bah), consisting of a few words of exhortation and prayer, with quotations from the Kuran and Traditions, on the excellence and advantages of marriage. He then desires the bride’s wekeel to say, ‘I betroth (or marry) to thee my daughter (or the female who has appointed me her wekeel), such a one (naming the bride), the virgin [or the adult], for a dowry of such an amount.’ (The words ‘for a dowry,’ &c., are sometimes omitted.) The bride’s wekeel having said this, the bridegroom says, ‘I accept from thee her betrothal [or marriage] to myself, and take her under my care, and myself to afford her my protection; and ye who are present bear witness of this.’ The wekeel addresses the bridegroom in the same manner a second and a third time; and each time, the latter replies as before. Both then generally add, ‘And blessing be on the Apostles: and praise be to God, the Lord of the beings of the whole world. Amen.’ After which all present again repeat the Fatʾhah. It is not always the same form of khutbeh that is recited on these occasions; any form may be used, and it may be repeated by any person; it is not even necessary, and is often altogether omitted.

“The contract concluded, the bridegroom sometimes (but seldom, unless he be a person of the lower orders) kisses the hands of his friends and others there present; and they are presented with sharbat, and generally remain to dinner. Each of them receives an embroidered handkerchief, provided by the family of the bride; except the fekeeh, who receives a similar handkerchief, with a small gold coin tied up in it, from the bridegroom. Before the persons assembled on this occasion disperse, they settle when the ‘leylet ed-dakhleh’ is to be. This is the night when the bride is brought to the house of the bridegroom, and the latter, for the first time, visits her.

“The bridegroom should receive his bride on the eve of Friday, or that of Monday; but the former is generally esteemed the more fortunate period. Let us say, for instance, that the bride is to be conducted to him on the eve of Friday.

“During two or three or more preceding nights, the street or quarter in which the bridegroom lives is illuminated with chandeliers and lanterns, or with lanterns and small lamps, some suspended from cords drawn across from the bridegroom’s and several other houses on each side to the houses opposite; and several small silk flags, each of two colours, generally red and green, are attached to these or other cords.

“An entertainment is also given on each of these nights, particularly on the last night before that on which the wedding is concluded, at the bridegroom’s house. On these occasions, it is customary for the persons invited, and for all intimate friends, to send presents to his house, a day or two before the feast which they purpose or expect to attend. They generally send sugar, coffee, rice, wax candles, or a lamb. The former articles are usually placed upon a tray of copper or wood, and covered with a silk or embroidered kerchief. The guests are entertained on these occasions by musicians and male or female singers, by dancing girls, or by the performance of a ‘khatmeh’ (k͟hatmah), or a ‘zikr’ (ẕikr).

“The customs which I am now about to describe are observed by those classes that compose the main bulk of the population of Cairo.

“On the preceding Wednesday (or on the Saturday if the wedding be to conclude on the eve of Monday), at about the hour of noon, or a little later, the bride goes in state to the bath. The procession to the bath is called ‘Zeffet el-Hammām.’ It is headed by a party of musicians, with a hautboy or two, and drums of different kinds. Sometimes at the head of the bride’s party, are two men, who carry the utensils and linen used in the bath, upon two round trays, each of which is covered with an embroidered or a plain silk kerchief; also a sakka (saqqā) who gives water to any of the passengers, if asked; and two other persons, one of whom bears a ‘kamkam,’ or bottle, of plain or gilt silver, or of china, containing rose-water, or orange-flower water, which he occasionally sprinkles on the passengers; and the other, a ‘mibkharah’ (or perfuming vessel) of silver, with aloes-wood, or some other odoriferous substance, burning in it; but it is seldom that the procession is thus attended. In general, the first persons among the bride’s party are several of her married female relations and friends, walking in pairs; and next, a number of young virgins. The former are dressed in the usual manner, covered with the black silk ḥabarah; the latter have white silk ḥabarahs, or shawls. Then follows the bride, walking under a canopy of silk, of some gay colour, as pink, rose-colour, or yellow; or of two colours, composing wide stripes, often rose-colour and yellow. It is carried by four men, by means of a pole at each corner, and is open only in front; and at the top of each of the four poles is attached an embroidered handkerchief.

“The dress of the bride, during this procession, entirely conceals her person. She is generally covered from head to foot with a red kashmere shawl; or with a white or yellow shawl, though rarely. Upon her head is placed a small pasteboard cap, or crown. The shawl is placed over this, and conceals from the view of the public the richer articles of her dress, her face, and her jewels, &c., except one or two ‘kussahs’ (and sometimes other ornaments), generally of diamonds and emeralds, attached to that part of the shawl which covers her forehead.

“She is accompanied by two or three of her female relations within the canopy; and often, when in hot weather, a woman, walking backwards before her, is constantly employed in fanning her, with a large fan of black ostrich-feathers, the lower part of the front of which is usually ornamented with a piece of looking-glass. Sometimes one zeffeh, with a single canopy, serves for two brides, who walk side by side. The procession moves very slowly, and generally pursues a circuitous route, for the sake of greater display. On leaving the house, it turns to the right. It is closed by a second party of musicians, similar to the first, or by two or three drummers.

“In the bridal processions of the lower orders, which are often conducted in the same manner as that above described, the women of the party frequently utter, at intervals, those shrill cries of joy called ‘zaghareet’; and females of the poorer classes, when merely spectators of a zeffeh, often do the same. The whole bath is sometimes hired for the bride and her party exclusively.

“They pass several hours, or seldom less than two, occupied in washing, sporting, and feasting; and frequently ‘ʾalʾmehs,’ or female singers, are hired to amuse them in the bath; they then return in the same order in which they came.

“The expense of the zeffeh falls on the relations of the bride, but the feast that follows it is supplied by the bridegroom.

“Having returned from the bath to the house of her family, the bride and her companions sup together. If ʾalʾmehs have contributed to the festivity in the bath, they, also, return with the bride, to renew their concert. Their songs are always on the subject of love, and of the joyous event which occasions their presence. After the company have been thus entertained, a large quantity of henná having been prepared, mixed into a paste, the bride takes a lump of it in her hand, and receives contributions (called ‘nukoot’) from her guests; each of them sticks a coin (usually of gold) in the henná which she holds upon her hand; and when the lump is closely stuck with these coins, she scrapes it off her hand upon the edge of a basin of water. Having collected in this manner from all her guests, some more henná is applied to her hands and feet, which are then bound with pieces of linen; and in this state they remain until the next morning, when they are found to be sufficiently dyed with its deep orange red tint. Her guests make use of the remainder of the dye for their own hands. This night is called ‘Leylet el-Henná,’ or, ‘the Night of the Henná.’

“It is on this night, and sometimes also during the latter half of the preceding day, that the bridegroom gives his chief entertainment.

“ ‘Mohabbazeen’ (or low farce-players) often perform on this occasion before the house, or, if it be large enough, in the court. The other and more common performances by which the guests are amused, have been before mentioned.

“On the following day, the bride goes in procession to the house of the bridegroom. The procession before described is called ‘the zeffeh of the bath,’ to distinguish it from this, which is the more important, and which is therefore particularly called ‘Zeffet el-ʾArooseh,’ or ‘the Zeffeh of the Bride.’ In some cases, to diminish the expenses of the marriage ceremonies, the bride is conducted privately to the bath, and only honoured with a zeffeh to the bridegroom’s house. This procession is exactly similar to the former. The bride and her party, after breakfasting together, generally set out a little after midday.

“They proceed in the same order, and at the same slow pace, as in the zeffeh of the bath; and, if the house of the bridegroom is near, they follow a circuitous route, through several principal streets, for the sake of display. The ceremony usually occupies three or more hours.

“Sometimes, before bridal processions of this kind, two swordsmen, clad in nothing but their drawers, engage each other in a mock combat; or two peasants cudgel each other with nebboots or long staves. In the procession of a bride of a wealthy family, any person who has the art of performing some extraordinary feat to amuse the spectators is almost sure of being a welcome assistant, and of receiving a handsome present. When the Seyyid Omar, the Nakeel el-Ashraf (or chief of the descendants of the Prophet), who was the main instrument of advancing Mohammad ʾAlee to the dignity of Basha of Egypt, married a daughter, about forty-five years since, there walked before the procession a young man who had made an incision in his abdomen, and drawn out a large portion of his intestines, which he carried before him on a silver tray. After the procession he restored them to their proper place, and remained in bed many days before he recovered from the effects of this foolish and disgusting act. Another man, on the same occasion, ran a sword through his arm, before the crowding spectators, and then bound over the wound, without withdrawing the sword, several handkerchiefs, which were soaked with the blood. These facts were described to me by an eye-witness. A spectacle of a more singular and more disgusting nature used to be not uncommon on similar occasions, but is now very seldom witnessed. Sometimes, also, ‘hawees’ (or conjurors and sleight-of-hand performers) exhibit a variety of tricks on these occasions. But the most common of all the performances here mentioned are the mock fights. Similar exhibitions are also sometimes witnessed on the occasion of a circumcision. Grand zeffehs are sometimes accompanied by a numbers of cars, each bearing a group of persons of some manufacture or trade, performing the usual work of their craft; even such as builders, whitewashers, &c., including members of all, or almost all, the arts and manufactures practised in the metropolis. In one car there are generally some men making coffee, which they occasionally present to spectators; in another, instrumental musicians, and in another, ʾalʾmehs (or female singers).

“The bride, in zeffehs of this kind, is sometimes conveyed in a close European carriage, but more frequently, she and her female relations and friends are mounted on high-saddled asses, and, with musicians and female singers, before and behind them, close the procession.

“The bride and her party, having arrived at the bridegroom’s house, sit down to a repast. Her friends shortly after take their departure, leaving with her only her mother and sister, or other near female relations, and one or two other women; usually the belláneh. The ensuing night is called ‘Leylet ed-Dakhleh,’ or ‘the Night of the Entrance.’

“The bridegroom sits below. Before sunset he goes to the bath, and there changes his clothes, or he merely does the latter at home; and, after having supped with a party of his friends, waits till a little before the night prayer, or until the third or fourth hour of the night, when, according to general custom, he should repair to some celebrated mosque, and there say his prayers. If young, he is generally honoured with a zeffeh on this occasion. In this case he goes to the mosque preceded by musicians with drums and a hautboy or two, and accompanied by a number of friends, and by several men bearing ‘mashals’ (mashʿals). The mashals are a kind of cresset, that is, a staff with a cylindrical frame of iron at the top, filled with flaming wood, or having two, three, four, or five of these receptacles for fire. The party usually proceeds to the mosque with a quick pace, and without much order. A second group of musicians, with the same instruments, or with drums only, closes the procession.

“The bridegroom is generally dressed in a kuftán with red stripes, and a red gibbeh, with a kashmere shawl of the same colour for his turban, and walks between two friends similarly dressed. The prayers are commonly performed merely as a matter of ceremony, and it is frequently the case that the bridegroom does not pray at all, or prays without having previously performed the wudoo, like memlooks, who say their prayers only because they fear their master. The procession returns from the mosque with more order and display, and very slowly; perhaps because it would be considered unbecoming in the bridegroom to hasten home to take possession of his bride. It is headed, as before, by musicians, and two or more bearers of mashals. These are generally followed by two men, bearing, by means of a pole resting horizontally upon their shoulders, a hanging frame, to which are attached about sixty or more small lamps, in four circles, one above another, the uppermost of which circles is made to revolve, being turned round occasionally by one of the two bearers. These numerous lamps, and several mashals besides those before mentioned, brilliantly illumine the streets through which the procession passes, and produce a remarkably picturesque effect. The bridegroom and his friends and other attendants follow, advancing in the form of an oblong ring, all facing the interior of the ring, and each bearing in his hand one or more wax candles, and sometimes a sprig of henná or some other flower, except the bridegroom and the friend on either side of him. These three form the latter part of the ring, which generally consists of twenty or more persons.

“At frequent intervals, the party stops for a few minutes, and during each of the pauses, a boy or a man, one of the persons who compose the ring, sings a few words of an epithalamium. The sounds of the drums, and the shrill notes of the hautboy (which the bride hears half an hour or more before the procession arrives at the house), cease during these songs. The train is closed, as in the former case (when on the way to the mosque) by a second group of musicians.

“In the manner above described, the bridegroom’s zeffeh is most commonly conducted; but there is another mode that is more respectable, called ‘zeffeh sádátee,’ which signifies the ‘gentlemen’s zeffeh.’ In this, the bridegroom is accompanied by his friends in the manner described above, and attended and preceded by men bearing mashals, but not by musicians; in the place of these are about six or eight men, who, from their being employed as singers on occasions of this kind, are called ‘wilad el-layalee,’ or ‘sons of the nights.’ Thus attended, he goes to the mosque; and while he returns slowly thence to his house, the singers above mentioned chant, or rather sing, ‘muweshshahs’ (lyric odes) in praise of the Prophet. Having returned to the house, these same persons chant portions of the Kuran, one after another, for the amusement of the guests; then, all together, recite the opening chapter (the Fatʾhah); after which, one of them sings a ‘kaseedeh’ (or short poem), in praise of the Prophet; lastly, all of them again sing muweshshahs. After having thus performed, they receive ‘nukoot’ (or contributions of money) from the bridegroom and his friends.

“Soon after his return from the mosque, the bridegroom leaves his friends in a lower apartment, enjoying their pipes and coffee and sharbat. The bride’s mother and sister, or whatever other female relations were left with her, are above, and the bride herself and the belláneh, in a separate apartment. If the bridegroom is a youth or young man, it is considered proper that he as well as the bride should exhibit some degree of bashfulness; one of his friends, therefore, carries him a part of the way up to the hareem. Sometimes, when the parties are persons of wealth, the bride is displayed before the bridegroom in different dresses, to the number of seven; but generally he finds her with the belláneh alone, and on entering the apartment he gives a present to this attendant, and she at once retires.

“The bride has a shawl thrown over her head, and the bridegroom must give her a present of money, which is called ‘the price of the uncovering’ of the face, before he attempts to remove this, which she does not allow him to do without some apparent reluctance, if not violent resistance, in order to show her maiden modesty. On removing the covering, he says, ‘In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,’ and then greets her with this compliment: ‘The night be blessed,’ or ‘—— is blessed,’ to which she replies, if timidity do not choke her utterance, ‘God bless thee.’ The bridegroom now, in most cases, sees the face of his bride for the first time, and generally finds her nearly what he has been led to expect. Often, but not always, a curious ceremony is then performed.

“The bridegroom takes off every article of the bride’s clothing except her shirt, seats her upon a mattress or bed, the head of which is turned towards the direction of Makkah, placing her so that her back is also turned in that direction, and draws forward and spreads upon the bed, the lower part of the front of her shirt; having done this, he stands at the distance of rather less than three feet before her, and performs the prayers of two rakʾahs; laying his head and hands in prostration upon the part of her shirt that is extended before her lap. He remains with her but a few minutes longer. Having satisfied his curiosity respecting her personal charms, he calls to the women (who generally collect at the door, where they wait in anxious suspense) to raise their cries of joy, or zaghareet, and the shrill sounds make known to the persons below and in the neighbourhood, and often, responded to by other women, spread still further the news that he has acknowledged himself satisfied with his bride. He soon after descends to rejoin his friends, and remains with them an hour, before he returns to his wife. It very seldom happens that the husband, if disappointed in his bride, immediately disgraces and divorces her; in general, he retains her in this case a week or more.

“Marriages, among the Egyptians, are sometimes conducted without any pomp or ceremony, even in the case of virgins, by mutual consent of the bridegroom and the bride’s family, or the bride herself; and widows and divorced women are never honoured with a zeffeh on marrying again. The mere sentence, ‘I give myself up to thee,’ uttered by a female to a man who proposes to become her husband (even without the presence of witnesses, if none can easily be procured), renders her his legal wife, if arrived at puberty; and marriages with widows and divorced women, among the Muslims of Egypt, and other Arabs, are sometimes concluded in this simple manner. The dowry of widows and divorced women is generally one quarter or third or half the amount of that of a virgin.

“In Cairo, among persons not of the lowest order, though in very humble life, the marriage ceremonies are conducted in the same manner as among the middle orders. But when the expenses of such zeffehs as I have described cannot by any means be paid, the bride is paraded in a very simple manner, covered with a shawl (generally red), and surrounded by a group of her female relations and friends, dressed in their best, or in borrowed clothes, and enlivened by no other sounds of joy than their zaghareet, which they repeat at frequent intervals.” (Lane’s Modern Egyptians.)

(For the law of marriage in Ḥanafī law, see Fatāwā-i-ʿĀlamgīrī, p. 377; Fatāwā-i-Qāẓī K͟hān, p. 380; Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. i. p. 89; Durru ʾl-Muk͟htār, p. 196. In Shīʿah law, Jāmiʿu ʾsh-Shattāt; Sharāʾiʿu ʾl-Islām, p. 260. For marriage ceremonies, Lane’s Egyptians; Herklots’ Musalmans; Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali’s Musalmans; M. C. de Perceval, Hist. des Arabes.)

MARS̤ĪYAH (مرثية‎). A funeral elegy. Especially applied to those sung during the Muḥarram in commemoration of al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusain.

MARTYR. The Arabic word for “martyr” in the Qurʾān, and in Muslim theology, is shāhid (شاهد‎), pl. shuhūd, or shahīd (شهيد‎), pl. shuhadāʾ, the literal meaning of which is “present as a witness.” It implies all that is understood by the Greek μάρτυς, and the English martyr; but it is also a much more comprehensive term, for, according to Muḥammadan law, not only those who die in witness of, or in defence of the faith, are martyrs, but all those who die such deaths as are calculated to excite the compassion and pity of their fellow men.

The word occurs in the Qurʾān, Sūrah iv. 71: “Whoso obeys God and the Apostle, these are with those with whom God has been well pleased—with prophets (nabīyīn), and confessors (ṣiddīqīn), and martyrs (shuhadāʾ), and the righteous (ṣāliḥīn): a fair company are they.”

A perfect martyr, or ash-shahīdu ʾl-kāmil, is one who has either been slain in a religious war, or who has been killed unjustly. But the schools of divinity are not agreed as to whether it is necessary, or not, that such persons should be in a state of ceremonial purity at the time of their death, to entitle them to such a high rank.

A special blessing is promised to those who die in a jihād, or religious war, see Qurʾān, Sūrah iii. 163: “Count not those who are killed in the way of God as dead, but living with their Lord.” And according to Muslim law, all persons who have died in defence of the faith, or have been slain unjustly, are entitled to Muslim burial without the usual ablution or any change of clothes, such as are necessary in the case of ordinary persons, the rank of martyrdom being such as to render the corpse legally pure.

But in addition to these two classes of persons, namely those who are slain in religious war, and those who have been killed unjustly, the rank of shahīd is given, in a figurative sense, to any who die in such a manner as to excite the sympathy and pity of mankind, such as by sudden death, or from some malignant disease, or in childbirth, or in the acquirement of knowledge, or a stranger in a foreign country, or dying on Thursday night. Those persons are entitled to the rank of martyr, but not to the honour of being buried without legal washing and purification. (See Raddu ʾl-Muḥtār, vol. i. p. 952; Kashshāf Iṣt̤ilāḥātu ʾl-Funūn, vol. i. p. 747; G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah, in loco.)

MĀRŪT (ماروت‎). [HARUT.]

MARWAH (مروة‎). A hill near Makkah, connected with the rites of the pilgrimage. According to Burton, it means “hard, white flints, full of fire.” [HAJJ.]

MARYAM (مريم‎). [MARY.]

MARY THE VIRGIN. Arabic Maryam (مريم‎). Heb. ‏מִרְיָם‎. The mother of Jesus. According to Muḥammadan tradition, and the Qurʾān, she was the daughter of ʿImrān and his wife Ḥannah, and the sister of Aaron.

The account of her birth as given in the Qurʾān is in Sūrah iii. 31:—

“Remember when the wife of ʿImrān said, ‘O my Lord! I vow to Thee what is in my womb, for thy special service. Accept it from me, for Thou Hearest, Knowest!’ And when she had given birth to it, she said, ‘O my Lord! Verily I have brought forth a female,’—God knew what she had brought forth: a male is not as a female—‘and I have named her Mary, and I take refuge with Thee for her and for her offspring, from Satan the stoned.’ So with goodly acceptance did her Lord accept her, and with goodly growth did he make her grow. Zacharias reared her. So oft as Zacharias went in to Mary at the sanctuary, he found her supplied with food. ‘Oh Mary!’ said he, ‘whence hast thou this?’ She said, ‘It is from God; for God supplieth whom He will, without reckoning!’ ”

In Sūrah xix. 28, is the story of her giving birth to Jesus. [JESUS CHRIST.] And when she brought the child to the people, they exclaimed, “O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a bad man, nor was thy mother a harlot.”

Christian critics have assumed, and not without much reason, that Muḥammad has confused the Mary of the New Testament with the Miriam of the Old, by representing her as the daughter of ʿImrān and the sister of Aaron. It is certainly a cause of some perplexity to the commentators. Al-Baiẓāwī says she was called “sister of Aaron” because she was of the Levitical race; but Ḥusain says that the Aaron mentioned in the verse is not the same person as the brother of Moses.

Muḥammad is related to have said that “no child is born but the devil hath touched it, except Mary and her son Jesus.”

MARY THE COPT. Arabic Māriyatu ʾl-Qibt̤īyah (مارية القبطية‎). A concubine of Muḥammad’s, and the mother of his son Ibrāhīm, who died in infancy. She was a Christian slave girl presented to Muḥammad by the Roman governor of Egypt. [MUHAMMAD.]

MASAḤ (مسح‎). The act of touching the boots or the turban for purification, by drawing the three central fingers over the boot or turban at once, whereby they become ceremonially clean. (Mishkāt, book ii. ch. vii.; book iii. ch. x.)

AL-MAS̤ĀNĪ (المثانى‎). From Mas̤na, “two-and-two.” A title given to the Qurʾān on account of its numerous repetitions.

AL-MASĪḤ (المسيح‎). An evident corruption of the Heb. ‏מָשִׁיחַ‎, which answers to the Χριστὸς of the New Testament, and our English Christ. It occurs seven times in the Qurʾān as the surname of Jesus. Al-Baiẓāwī the commentator says, “It is originally a Hebrew word, signifying ‘the blessed one,’ although some have (erroneously, as he thinks) held it to come from Masaḥ, ‘to anoint,’ either because Jesus healed people with his touch, or because he had been anointed by Gabriel as a prophet.” [JESUS.]

AL-MASĪḤU ʾD-DAJJĀL (المسيح الدجال‎). “The lying Christ.” The Antichrist which Muḥammad said would appear before the Day of Resurrection. He is generally called ad-Dajjāl, but in the Traditions he is called al-Masīḥu ʾd-Dajjāl, and very many have been the speculations as to why he is called al-Masīḥ. The compiler of the Qāmūs says there have been at least fifty reasons assigned for his being called al-Masīḥ. Some say it is because he will have his eyes touched (masaḥ) and be rendered blind; others, that the word was originally masīk͟h, a “monster.” (See Ḥujaju ʾl-Kalimah, p. 401.) Sale, in the preface to his translation of the Qurʾān, says Muslim writers state that the Jews will give him the name of al-Masīḥ, because they will mistake him for the true Messiah, who has come to restore the kingdom of Israel to them.

Regarding this personage, Abū Hurairah relates that Muḥammad said:—

“The Resurrection will not be until the Grecians shall attack ʾAmāq and Dābiq. Then an army will come out from al-Madīnah against them, the best of men on that day; and when the lines of battle shall be drawn up, the Grecians will say, ‘Vacate a place between us and those who made captives a tribe of ours’ (and their design will be to separate the Musalmāns). And the Musalmāns will say, ‘By God! we will not clear a place between you and our brother Musalmāns.’ And the Musalmāns will fight the Grecians and a third of the Musalmāns will be defeated; and God will not accept their repentance. And a third of the Musalmāns will be slain, and they will be the best of martyrs before God. And a third of them will conquer the countries of Greece; after which they will be thrown into commotions, and Constantinople will be taken. And whilst the Musalmāns shall be dividing the plunder, having hung up their swords upon the olive tree, all on a sudden the Devil will call out, ‘Verily, Dajjāl has attacked your wives and children in your absence.’ Then, on hearing this, the Musalmāns will come out of the city; and this information of devils will be false, but when they enter Syria, Dajjāl will come out, and whilst the Musalmāns shall be preparing their implements of war, and dressing their ranks, all on a sudden prayers will begin, and Jesus Son of Mary will come down, and act as Imām to them. And when Dajjāl, this enemy of God, shall see Jesus, he will fear to be near, dissolving away like salt in water. And if Jesus lets him alone, verily he will melt and perish, and God will kill him by the hand of Jesus, who will show to the people the blood of Dajjāl upon his lance.” (Mishkāt, book xxiii. ch. ii.)

In other traditions, Muḥammad is related to have said that ad-Dajjāl will be a young man with long hair and blind in the one eye, and on his forehead will be the three letters K F R, signifying kāfir or infidel. He will first appear midway between Syria and ʿIrāq, and will do many wonders and perform many miracles, and will eventually be slain by Jesus.

MASJID (مسجد‎). Lit. “The place of prostration.” The mosque, or place of public prayer. Mosques are generally built of stone or brick, in the form of a square, in the centre of which is an open court-yard, surrounded with cloisters for students. In the centre of the wall facing Makkah is the miḥrāb or niche, which marks the direction of the Kaʿbah at Makkah, and to the right of this niche is the mimbar or pulpit, from which the k͟hut̤bah, or Friday oration, is recited. In the centre of the open court-yard there is usually a large tank, in which the worshippers perform their ablutions (waẓuʾ), and adjoining the mosque are latrines, in which the legal washings (g͟husl) can be performed. Along the front within the doorway is a low barrier, a few inches high, which denotes the sacred part of the mosque.

The mosques in India and Central Asia are generally constructed on the following plan:—

The mosques in Turkey, Syria, and Egypt are often covered buildings, not unlike Christian churches.

The first mosque erected by Muḥammad was at Qubāʾ, near al-Madīnah. It was without cupola, niche, or minaret, these being added by al-Walīd about eighty years afterwards, nor were there arches supported by pillars, nor cloisters. An ordinary mosque in an Afghan village is still of this description.

The Muslim as he enters the mosque stops at the barrier and takes off his shoes, carries them in his left hand, sole to sole, and puts his right foot first as he passes into the square devoted to prayer. If he have not previously performed the ablution, he repairs at once to the tank or well to perform the necessary duty, and before he commences his prayers he places his shoes and his sword and pistol, if he be thus armed, a little before the spot where his head will touch the ground as he prostrates; his shoes must be put one upon the other, sole to sole.

The chief officer of a mosque is the Imām, or leader of prayers, but there are generally Maulawīs, or learned men, attached to mosques for the instruction of the students. Sometimes the Imām and Maulawī are combined in one, and sometimes a learned Maulawī will possess the mosque, but pay an Imām as his curate to say the stated prayers. There is also a Muʾaẕẕin, or “caller to prayer,” whose duty it is to give the Azān. The trustee or superintendent of a mosque is called mutawallī.

Although mosques are esteemed sacred buildings, they are also places of general resort, and persons may be seen in them lounging and chattering together on secular topics, and eating and sleeping, although such things were forbidden by Muḥammad. They are, in all parts of Islām, used as rest-houses for strangers and travellers.

The Imām, or priest, of the mosque, is supported by endowments, or offerings, the Maulawīs, or professors of divinity by fees, or offerings, and the students of a mosque are supported either by endowments, or the benefactions of the people. In towns and villages there is a parish allotted to each mosque, and the people within the section of the parish claim the services of the Imām at their marriages and funerals, and they pay to him the usual offerings made on the two festivals.

In a large mosque, known as the Masjidu ʾl-Jāmīʿ, where the k͟hut̤bah, or Friday oration is delivered, a person known as the k͟hāt̤ib (also k͟hat̤īb), or preacher, is appointed, whose duty it is to lead the Friday prayer and to preach the sermon.

Muḥammad did not forbid women to attend public prayers in a mosque, but it is pronounced better for them to pray in private.

The following injunctions are given in the Qurʾān regarding mosques:—

Sūrah vii. 29: “O children of Adam! wear your goodly apparel when ye repair to any mosque.”

Sūrah ix. 18: “He only should visit the Masjids of God who believeth in God and the last day, and observeth prayer, and payeth the legal alms, and dreadeth none but God.”

Muḥammad’s injunctions regarding mosques, as handed down in the Traditions, are as follows:—

“When you enter a Masjid, you must say, ‘O Creator! open on us the doors of Thy compassion’; and when you leave the Masjid, say, ‘O Lord! we supplicate thy munificence.’ ”

“It is a sin to spit in a Masjid, and the removal of the sin is to cover it over.”

“Whoever shall enter a Masjid, let him enter it for a good object, namely, to learn something himself or to teach others. For he ranks as an equal with him who fights in the cause of God, who thus enters a Masjid; but he who enters a Masjid on any other account, is like unto a man who covets the property of another. Verily, a time will come when men will attend to worldly matters in a Masjid. But sit ye not with such.”

“Do not prevent your women from coming to the Masjids, but their homes are better for them.”

“Do not read poetry in a Masjid, and do not buy and sell there, nor sit in a circle talking before prayers on a Friday.”

“The prayers of a man in his own house are equal to the reward of one prayer, but prayers in a Masjid near his home are equal to twenty-five prayers, and in a Jāmiʿ (or central mosque), they are equal to five hundred prayers, and in Jerusalem to fifty thousand, and in my Masjid (at al-Madīnah) fifty thousand, and at the Kaʿbah, one hundred thousand.”

The Muslim law regarding the erection and endowment (waqf) of Masjids, as contained in Sunnī and Shīʿah works, is as follows. According to the Sunnīs:—

When a person has erected a Masjid, his right therein does not cease until he has separated both the area occupied by the Masjid and also the road and entrance thereunto from his own private property.

If a person build a Masjid, his right of property in it does not cease so long as he does not separate it from his private property, and give general permission to the people to come and worship in it. But as soon as he separates it from his property and allows even a single person to say his prayers in it, his right to the property devoted to God as a mosque ceases.

When a trustee or superintendent (mutawallī) has been appointed for a Masjid, and delivery of the property has been made to him, the Masjid ceases to be private property. So, also, when delivery of it is made to the Qāẓī, or his deputy.

If a person appropriate ground for the purpose of erecting a Masjid, he cannot afterwards resume or sell it, neither can it be claimed by his heirs and inherited, because this ground is altogether alienated from the right of the individual, and appertains solely to God.

When a man has an unoccupied space of ground fit for building upon, and has directed a body of persons to assemble on it for prayers, the space becomes a Masjid, if the permission were given expressly to pray on it forever; or, in absolute terms, intending that it should be for ever; and the property does not go to his heirs at his death. But if the permission were given for a day, or a month, or a year, the space would not become a Masjid, and on his death it would be the property of his heirs.

If a man during his sickness has made his own house a Masjid, and died, and it neither falls within a third of his property nor is allowed by his heirs, the whole of it is heritage, and the act of making it a Masjid is void, because, the heirs having a right in it, there has been no separation from the rights of mankind, and an undefined portion has been made a Masjid, which is void. In the same way as if he should make his land a Masjid, and another person should establish an undefined right, in which case the remainder would revert to the property of the appropriator; contrary to the case of a person making a bequest that a third of his residence shall be made a Masjid, which would be valid; for in such a case there is a separation, as the house may be divided and a third of it converted into a Masjid. (A third of a man’s property being the extent to which he can bequeath to other than his heirs.)

When a man has made his land a Masjid, and stipulated for something out of it for himself, it is not valid, according to all the jurists.

It is also generally agreed that if a man make a Masjid on condition that he shall have an option, the waqf is lawful and the condition is void.

When a man has built a Masjid and called persons to witness that he shall have the power to cancel and sell it, the condition is void, and the Masjid is as if he had erected a Masjid for the people of the street, saying, “It is for this street especially,” when it would, notwithstanding, be for others as well as for them to worship in.

When a Masjid has fallen into decay and is no longer used for prayers, nor required by the people, it does not revert to the appropriator or his heirs, and cannot be sold according to the most correct opinions.

When of two Masjids one is old and gone to decay, the people cannot use its materials to repair the more recent one, according to either the Imām Muḥammad or Imām Abū Yūsuf. Because though the former thought that the materials may be so applied, he held that it is the original appropriator or his heirs, to whom the property reverts, that can so apply them, and because Abū Yūsuf was of opinion that the property in a Masjid never reverts to the original appropriator, though it should fall to ruin and be no longer used by the people.

If a man appropriate his land for the benefit of a Masjid, and to provide for its repairs and necessaries, such as oil, &c., and when nothing more is required for the Masjid, to apply what remains to poor Muslims the appropriation is lawful.

If a man has appropriated his land for the benefit of a Masjid, without any ultimate destination for the poor, the appropriation is lawful, according to all opinions.

If a man gives money for the repairs of a Masjid, also for its maintenance and for its benefit, it is valid. For if it cannot operate as a waqf, it operates as a transfer by way of gift to the Masjid, and the establishing of property in this manner to a Masjid is valid, being completed by taking possession.

If a person should say, “I have bequeathed a third of my property to the Masjid,” it would not be lawful, unless he say “to expend on the Masjid.” So if he were to say, “I have bequeathed a third of my property to the lamps of the Masjid,” it would not be lawful unless he say, “to give light with it in the Masjid.” If he say, “I have given my house for a Masjid,” it is valid as a transfer, requiring delivery. (Fatāwā-i-ʿĀlamgīrī, vol. ii. p. 545; Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 356; Baillie’s Digest, pp. 504–605.)

The Shīʿah law regarding the endowment of Masjids, or land for the benefit of Masjids, does not differ in any important particular from that of the Sunnīs. But there is a provision in the Shīʿah law regarding the sale of an endowment which is important.

If dissensions arise among the persons in whose favour the waqf is made, and there is apprehension of the property being destroyed, while on the other hand the sale thereof is productive of benefit, then, in that case, its sale is lawful.

If a house belonging to a waqf should fall into ruins, the space would not cease to be waqf, nor would its sale be lawful. If, however, dissensions should arise among the persons for whom it was appropriated, insomuch as to give room for apprehension that it will be destroyed, its sale would be lawful.

And even if there should be no such difference, nor any room for such apprehensions, but the sale would be more for the advantage of the parties interested, some are of opinion that the sale would be lawful; but the approved doctrine is to forbid it. (Mafātiḥ; Sharāʾiʿu ʾl-Islām, p. 239.)

AL-MASJIDU ʾL-AQṢĀ (المسجد الاقصى‎). Lit. “The Most Distant Mosque.” The temple at Jerusalem erected by Solomon, called also al-Baitu ʾl-Muqaddas, or “the Holy House.” Known also in Muḥammadan literature as aṣ-Ṣak͟hraḥ, “the Rock,” from which it is believed Muḥammad ascended to heaven on the occasion of his celestial journey. (See Qurʾān, Sūrah xvii.)

Jalālu ʾd-dīn as-Suyūt̤ī has devoted a whole volume to the consideration of the superabundant merits existing in the Masjidu ʾl-Aqṣā, which work has been translated into English by the Rev. James Reynolds (Oriental Translation Fund, 1836). He says it is called al-Aqṣā, because it is the most distant mosque to which pilgrimage is directed. [JERUSALEM, AS-SAKHRAH.]

MASJIDU ʾL-ḤARĀM (مسجد الحرام‎). “The Sacred Mosque.” The temple at Makkah which contains the Kaʿbah, or Cube-house, in which is placed the Ḥajaru ʾl-Aswad, or “Black Stone.” The term Baitu ʾllāh, or “House of God,” is applied to the whole enclosure, although it more specially denotes the Kaʿbah itself.

The following graphic account of this celebrated building is given by the traveller Burckhardt, who visited it in A.D. 1814. Captain R. Burton, who visited the temple thirty-eight years later, testifies to the great accuracy of Burckhardt’s description, and quotes his description in extenso. The account by Burckhardt is given in the present article, with some slight corrections.

The Kaʿbah stands in an oblong square, two hundred and fifty paces long, and two hundred broad, none of the sides of which runs quite in a straight line, though at first sight the whole appears to be of a regular shape. This open square is enclosed on the eastern side by a colonnade; the pillars stand in a quadruple row; they are three deep on the other sides, and united by pointed arches, every four of which support a small dome, plastered and whitened on the outside. These domes, according to Qut̤bu ʾd-dīn, are one hundred and fifty-two in number. Along the whole colonnade, on the four sides, lamps are suspended from the arches. Some are lighted every night, and all during the nights of Ramaẓān. The pillars are above twenty feet in height, and generally from one foot and a half to one foot and three quarters in diameter; but little regularity has been observed in regard to them. Some are of white marble, granite, or porphyry, but the greater number are of common stone of the Makkah mountains. Fasy states the whole at five hundred and eighty-nine, and says they are all of marble excepting one hundred and twenty-six, which are of common stone, and three of composition. Qut̤bu ʾd-dīn reckons five hundred and fifty-five, of which, according to him, three hundred and eleven are of marble, and the rest of stone taken from the neighbouring mountains; but neither of these authors lived to see the latest repairs of the mosque, after the destruction occasioned by a torrent, in A.D. 1626. Between every three or four columns stands an octagonal one, about four feet in thickness. On the east side are two shafts of reddish gray granite, in one piece, and one fine gray porphyry column with slabs of white feldspath. On the north side is one red granite column, and one of fine-grained red porphyry; these are probably the columns which Qut̤bu ʾd-dīn states to have been brought from Egypt, and principally from Akhinim (Panopolis), when the chief Mahdī enlarged the mosque, in A.H. 163. Among the four hundred and fifty or five hundred columns, which form the enclosure, I found not any two capitals or bases exactly alike. The capitals are of coarse Saracenic workmanship; some of them, which had served for former buildings, by the ignorance of the workmen have been placed upside down upon the shafts. I observed about half-a-dozen marble bases of good Grecian workmanship. A few of the marble columns bear Arabic or Cufic inscriptions, in which I read the dates A.H. 863 and A.H. 762. A column on the east side exhibits a very ancient Cufic inscription, somewhat defaced, which I could neither read nor copy. Those shafts, formed of the Makkan stone, cut principally from the side of the mountain near the Shubaikah quarter, are mostly in three pieces; but the marble shafts are in one piece.

Some of the columns are strengthened with broad iron rings or bands, as in many other Saracen buildings of the East; they were first employed here by Ibn Dhaher Berkouk, King of Egypt, in rebuilding the mosque, which had been destroyed by fire in A.H. 802.

This temple has been so often ruined and repaired, that no traces of remote antiquity are to be found about it. On the inside of the great wall which encloses the colonnades, a single Arabic inscription is seen, in large characters, but containing merely the names of Muḥammad and his immediate successors, Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUs̤mān, and ʿAlī. The name of Allāh, in large characters, occurs also in several places. On the outside, over the gates, are long inscriptions, in the S̤ulus̤ī character, commemorating the names of those by whom the gates were built, long and minute details of which are given by the historians of Makkah.

The inscription on the south side, over Bābu Ibrahīm, is most conspicuous; all that side was rebuilt by the Egyptian Sultān al-G͟haurī, A.H. 906. Over the Bābu ʿAlī and Bābu ʾl-ʿAbbās is a long inscription, also in the S̤ulus̤ī character, placed there by Sultān Murād ibn Sulaimān, A.H. 984, after he had repaired the whole building. Qut̤bu ʾd-dīn has given this inscription at length; it occupies several pages in his history, and is a monument of the Sultān’s vanity. This side of the mosque having escaped destruction in A.D. 1626, the inscription remains uninjured.

Some parts of the walls and arches are gaudily painted, in stripes of yellow, red, and blue, as are also the minarets. Paintings of flowers, in the usual Muslim style, are nowhere seen; the floors of the colonnades are paved with large stones badly cemented together.

Seven paved causeways lead from the colonnades towards the Kaʿbah, or holy house, in the centre. They are of sufficient breadth to admit four or five persons to walk abreast, and they are elevated about nine inches above the ground. Between these causeways, which are covered with fine gravel or sand, grass appears growing in several places, produced by the zamzam water oozing out of the jars, which are placed in the ground in long rows during the day. The whole area of the mosque is upon a lower level than any of the streets surrounding it. There is a descent of eight or ten steps from the gates on the north side into the platform of the colonnade, and of three or four steps from the gates, on the south side.

Towards the middle of this area stands the Kaʿbah; it is one hundred and fifteen paces from the north colonnade, and eighty-eight from the south.

For this want of symmetry we may readily account, the Kaʿbah having existed prior to the mosque, which was built around it, and enlarged at different periods.

The Kaʿbah is an oblong massive structure, eighteen paces in length, fourteen in breadth, and from thirty-five to forty feet in height. I took the bearing of one of its longest sides, and found it to be N.N.W. ½ W. It is constructed of the grey Makkan stone, in large blocks of different sizes, joined together in a very rough manner, and with bad cement. It was entirely rebuilt as it now stands in A.D. 1627: the torrent, in the preceding year, had thrown down three of its sides; and, preparatory to its re-erection, the fourth side was, according to Assamī, pulled down, after the ʿUlamāʾ, or learned divines, had been consulted on the question, whether mortals might be permitted to destroy any part of the holy edifice without incurring the charge of sacrilege and infidelity.

The Kaʿbah stands upon a base two feet in height, which presents a sharp inclined plane; its roof being flat, it has at a distance the appearance of a perfect cube. The only door which affords entrance, and which is opened but two or three times in the year, is on the north side, and about seven feet above the ground. In entering it, therefore, wooden steps are used; of them I shall speak hereafter. In the first periods of Islām, however, when it was rebuilt in A.H. 64, by Ibn Zubair, Chief of Makkah, the nephew of ʿĀyishah, it had two doors even with the ground-floor of the mosque. The present door (which, according to Azraqī, was brought hither from Constantinople in A.D. 1633), is wholly coated with silver, and has several gilt ornaments. Upon its threshold are placed every night various small lighted wax candles, and perfuming pans, filled with musk, aloe-wood, &c.

At the north-east corner of the Kaʿbah, near the door, is the famous “Black Stone”; it forms a part of the sharp angle of the building, at four or five feet above the ground. It is an irregular oval, about seven inches in diameter, with an undulated surface, composed of about a dozen smaller stones of different sizes and shapes, well joined together with a small quantity of cement, and perfectly smoothed; it looks as if the whole had been broken into many pieces by a violent blow, and then united again. It is very difficult to determine accurately the quality of this stone, which has been worn to its present surface by the millions of touches and kisses it has received. It appeared to me like a lava, containing several small extraneous particles, of a whitish and of a yellowish substance. Its colour is now a deep reddish brown, approaching to black; it is surrounded on all sides by a border, composed of a substance which I took to be a close cement of pitch and gravel, of a similar, but not quite the same brownish colour. This border serves to support its detached pieces; it is two or three inches in breadth, and rises a little above the surface of the stone. Both the border and the stone itself are encircled by a silver band, broader below than above and on the two sides, with a considerable swelling below, as if a part of the stone were hidden under it. The lower part of the border is studded with silver nails.

In the south-east corner of the Kaʿbah, or, as the Arabs call it, Ruknu ʾl-Yamānī, there is another stone, about five feet from the ground; it is one foot and a half in length, and two inches in breadth, placed upright and of the common Makkah stone. This the people walking round the Kaʿbah touch only with the right hand; they do not kiss it.

On the north side of the Kaʿbah just by its door, and close to the wall, is a slight hollow in the ground, lined with marble, and sufficiently large to admit of three persons sitting. Here it is thought meritorious to pray. The spot is called Miʿjan, and supposed to be that where Abraham and his son Ishmael kneaded the chalk and mud which they used in building the Kaʿbah; and near this Miʿjan the former is said to have placed the large stone upon which he stood while working at the masonry. On the basis of the Kaʿbah, just over the Miʿjan, is an ancient Cufic inscription, but this I was unable to decipher, and had no opportunity of copying it. I do not find it mentioned by any of the historians.

On the west side of the Kaʿbah, about two feet below its summit, is the famous Miʾzāb, or water-spout, through which the rain-water collected on the roof of the building is discharged so as to fall upon the ground. It is about four feet in length, and six inches in breadth, as well as I could judge from below, with borders equal in height to its breadth. At the mouth hangs what is called the beard of the Miʾzāb, a gilt board, over which the water falls. This spout was sent hither from Constantinople in A.H. 981, and is reported to be of pure gold. The pavement round the Kaʿbah, below the Miʾzāb, was laid down in A.H. 826, and consists of various coloured stones, forming a very handsome specimen of mosaic. There are two large slabs of fine verde-antico in the centre, which, according to Makrīzī, were sent thither as presents from Cairo in A.H. 241. This is the spot where, according to Muḥammadan tradition, Ishmael, the son of Abraham, and his mother Hagar, are buried; and here it is meritorious for the pilgrim to recite a prayer of two rakʿahs.

On this west side is a semi-circular wall, the two extremities of which are in a line with the sides of the Kaʿbah, and distant from it three or four feet, leaving an opening which leads to the burying-place of Ishmael. The wall bears the name of Ḥat̤īm, and the area which it encloses is called Ḥijr, or Ḥijru Ismāʿīl, on account of its being “separated” from the Kaʿbah; the wall itself, also, is sometimes so called; and the name Ḥat̤īm is given by the historians to the space of ground between the Kaʿbah and the wall on one side, and the Biʾru ʾz-Zamzam and Maqāmu Ibrāhīm on the other. The present Makkans, however, apply the name Ḥat̤īm to the wall only.

Tradition says that the Kaʿbah once extended as far as the Ḥat̤īm, and that this side having fallen down just at the time of the Ḥajj, the expenses of repairing it were demanded from the pilgrims, under a pretence that the revenues of government were not acquired in a manner sufficiently pure to admit of their application towards a purpose so sacred, whilst the money of the pilgrims would possess the requisite sanctity. The sum, however, obtained from them, proved very inadequate: all that could be done, therefore, was to raise a wall, which marked the space formerly occupied by the Kaʿbah. This tradition, although current among the Makkans, is at variance with history, which declares that the Ḥijr was built by the Banū Quraish, who contracted the dimensions of the Kaʿbah, that it was united to the building by Ḥajjāj, and again separated from it by Ibn Zubair.

It is asserted by Fasy, that a part of the Ḥijr, as it now stands, was never comprehended within the Kaʿbah. The law regards it as a portion of the Kaʿbah, inasmuch as it is esteemed equally meritorious to pray in the Ḥijr as in the Kaʿbah itself; and the pilgrims who have not an opportunity of entering the latter, are permitted to affirm upon oath that they have prayed in the Kaʿbah, although they may have only prostrated themselves within the enclosure of the Ḥat̤īm. The wall is built of solid stone, about five feet in height, and four in thickness, cased all over with white marble, and inscribed with prayers and invocations, neatly sculptured upon the stone in modern characters. These and the casing are the work of al-G͟haurī, the Egyptian Sultān, in A.H. 917, as we learn from Qut̤bu ʾd-dīn.

The walk round the Kaʿbah is performed on the outside of the wall—the nearer to it the better. The four sides of the Kaʿbah are covered with a black silk stuff, hanging down, and leaving the roof bare. This curtain, or veil, is called kiswah, and renewed annually at the time of the Ḥajj, being brought from Cairo, where it is manufactured at the Sultān’s expense. On it are various prayers, interwoven in the same colour as the stuff, and it is, therefore, extremely difficult to read them. A little above the middle, and running round the whole building, is a line of similar inscriptions, worked in gold thread. That part of the kiswah which covers the door is richly embroidered with silver. Openings are left for the black stone, and the other in the south-east corner, which thus remain uncovered.

The kiswah is always of the same form and pattern; that which I saw on my first visit to the mosque was in a decayed state, and full of holes. On the 25th of the month Ẕū ʾl-Qadah, the old one is taken away, and the Kaʿbah continues without a cover for fifteen days. It is then said that “The Kaʿbah has assumed the iḥrām,” which lasts until the tenth of Ẕū ʾl-Ḥijjah, the day of the return of the pilgrims from ʿArafah to Wādī Minā, when the new kiswah is put on. During the first days, the new covering is tucked up by cords fastened on the roof, so as to leave the lower part of the building exposed; having remained thus for many days, it is let down, and covers the whole structure, being then tied to strong brass wings in the basis of the Kaʿbah. The removal of the old kiswah was performed in a very indecorous manner; and a contest ensued among the pilgrims and the people of Makkah, both young and old, about a few rags of it. The pilgrims even collect the dust which sticks to the walls of the Kaʿbah, under the kiswah, and sell it, on their return, as a sacred relic. [KISWAH.]

At the moment the building is uncovered and completely bare (ʿuryān), a crowd of women assemble round it, rejoicing with cries called walwalah.

The black colour of the kiswah, covering a large cube in the midst of a vast square, gives to the Kaʿbah, at first sight, a very singular and imposing appearance; as it is not fastened down tightly, the slightest breeze causes it to move in slow undulations, which are hailed with prayers by the congregation assembled round the building, as a sign of the presence of its guardian angels, whose wings, by their motion, are supposed to be the cause of the waving of the covering. Seventy thousand angels have the Kaʿbah in their holy care, and are ordered to transport it to Paradise, when the trumpet of the Last Judgment shall be sounded.

The clothing of the Kaʿbah was an ancient custom of the Pagan Arabs. The first kiswah, says Azraqī, was put on by Asad Tubbaʿ, one of the Ḥimyarite kings of Yaman; before Islām, it had two coverings, one for winter and the other for summer. In the early ages of Islām, it was sometimes white and sometimes red, and consisted of the richest brocade. In subsequent times it was furnished by the different Sultāns of Bagẖdad, Egypt, or Yaman, according to their respective influence over Makkah prevailed; for the clothing of the Kaʿbah appears to have always been considered as a proof of sovereignty over the Ḥijāz. Kalaun, Sultān of Egypt, assumed to himself and successors the exclusive right, and from them the Sultāns at Constantinople have inherited it. Kalaun appropriated the revenue of the two large villages, Bisaus and Sandabair, in Lower Egypt, to the expense of the kiswah, and Sultān Sulaiman ibn Salīm subsequently added several others; but the Kaʿbah has long been deprived of this resource.

Round the Kaʿbah is a good pavement of marble, about eight inches below the level of the great square; it was laid in A.H. 981, by order of the Sultān, and describes an irregular oval; it is surrounded by thirty-two slender gilt pillars, or rather poles, between every two of which are suspended seven glass lamps, always lighted after sunset. Beyond the poles is a second pavement, about eight paces broad, somewhat elevated above the first, but of coarser work; then another, six inches higher, and eighteen paces broad, upon which stand several small buildings; beyond this is the gravelled ground, so that two broad steps may be said to lead from the square down to the Kaʿbah. The small buildings just mentioned, which surround the Kaʿbah, are the five Maqāms, with the wall of Zamzam, the arch called Bābu ʾs-Salām (the Gate of Peace), and the mimbar (pulpit).

Opposite the four sides of the Kaʿbah stand four other small buildings, where the Imāms of the four orthodox Muḥammadan sects, the Ḥanafī, Shāfiʿī, Ḥanbalī, and Malakī, take their station, and guide the congregation in their prayers. The Maqāmu ʾl-Malakī, on the south, and that of Ḥanbalī, opposite the Black Stone, are small pavilions, open on all sides, and supported by four slender pillars, with a light sloping roof, terminating in a point, exactly in the style of Indian pagodas.

The Maqāmu ʾl-Ḥanafī, which is the largest, being fifteen paces by eight, is open on all sides, and supported by twelve small pillars; it has an upper storey, also open, where the Muʾaẕẕin, who calls to prayers, takes his stand. This was first built in A.H. 923, by Sultān Salīm I.; it was afterwards rebuilt by K͟hushgildī, Governor of Jiddah, in A.H. 947; but all the four Maqāms, as they now stand, were built in A.H. 1074. The Maqāmu ʾsh-Shāfiʿī is over the well Zamzam, to which it serves as an upper chamber.

Near their respective Maqāms, the adherents of the four different sects seat themselves for prayers. During my stay at Makkah, the Ḥanafīs always began their prayer first; but, according to Muslim custom, the Shāfiʿīs should pray first in the mosque, then the Ḥanafīs, Malakīs, and Ḥanbalīs. The evening prayer is an exception, which they are all enjoined to utter together. The Maqāmu ʾl-Ḥanbalī is the place where the officers of government and other great people are seated during prayers; here the Pasha and the Sharīf are placed, and, in their absence the eunuchs of the temple. These fill the space under this Maqām in front, and behind it the female pilgrims who visit the temple have their places assigned, to which they repair principally for the two evening prayers, few of them being seen in the mosque at the three other daily prayers. They also perform the t̤awāf, or walk round the Kaʿbah, but generally at night, though it is not uncommon to see them walking in the daytime among the men.

The present building which encloses Zamzam, stands close by the Maqāmu ʾl-Ḥanbalī, and was erected in A.H. 1072; it is of a square shape, and of massive construction, with an entrance to the north, opening into the room which contains the well. This room is beautifully ornamented with marbles of various colours; and adjoining to it, but having a separate door, is a small room with a stone reservoir, which is always full of Zamzam water; this the pilgrims get to drink by passing their hand with a cup through an iron grated opening, which serves as a window, into the reservoir, without entering the room.

The mouth of the well is surrounded by a wall five feet in height, and about ten feet in diameter. Upon this the people stand who draw up the water, in leathern buckets, an iron railing being so placed as to prevent their falling in. In Fasy’s time, there were eight marble basins in this room for the purpose of ablution.

From before dawn to near midnight, the well-room is constantly crowded with visitors. Everyone is at liberty to draw up the water for himself, but the labour is generally performed by persons placed there on purpose, and paid by the mosque; they expect also a trifle from those who come to drink, though they dare not demand it. I have been more than once in the room a quarter of an hour before I could get a draught of water, so great was the crowd. Devout pilgrims sometimes mount the wall and draw the bucket for several hours, in the hope of thus expiating their evil deeds.

Before the Wahhābī invasion, the well Zamzam belonged to the Sharīf, and the water becoming thus a monopoly, was only to be purchased at a high price; but one of Saʿūd’s first orders, on his arrival at Makkah, was to abolish this traffic, and the holy water is now dispensed gratis. The Turks consider it a miracle that the water of this well never diminishes, notwithstanding the continual draught from it. There is certainly no diminution in its depth, for, by an accurate inspection of the rope by which the buckets are drawn up, I found that the same length was required both at morning and evening, to reach the surface of the water. Upon inquiry, I learned from one of the persons who had descended in the time of the Wahhābīs to repair the masonry, that the water was flowing at the bottom, and that the well is therefore supplied by a subterraneous rivulet. The water is heavy to the taste, and sometimes in its colour resembles milk; but it is perfectly sweet, and differs very much from that of the brackish wells dispersed over the town. When first drawn up, it is slightly tepid, resembling, in this respect, many other fountains of the Ḥijāz.

Zamzam supplies the whole town, and there is scarcely one family that does not daily fill a jar with the water. This only serves, however, for drinking or for ablution, as it is thought impious to employ water so sacred for culinary purposes or on common occasions. Almost every pilgrim when he repairs to the mosque for evening prayer, has a jar of the water placed before him by those who earn their livelihood by performing this service.

The water is distributed in the mosque to all who are thirsty for a trifling fee, by water-carriers, with large jars upon their backs; these men are also paid by charitable pilgrims for supplying the poorer ones with this holy beverage immediately before or after prayers.

The water is regarded as an infallible cure for all diseases; and the devotees believe that the more they drink of it, the better their health will be, and their prayers the more acceptable to the Deity. I have seen some of them at the well swallowing such a quantity of it, as I should hardly have thought possible. A man who lived in the same house with me, and was ill of an intermittent fever, repaired every evening to Zamzam, and drank of the water till he was almost fainting; after which he lay for several hours extended upon his back, on the pavement near the Kaʿbah, and then returned to renew his draught. When by this practice he was brought to the verge of death, he declared himself fully convinced that the increase of his illness proceeded wholly from his being unable to swallow a sufficient quantity of the water. Many pilgrims, not content with drinking it merely, strip themselves in the room, and have buckets of it thrown over them, by which they believe that the heart is purified as well as the outer body.

Few pilgrims quit Makkah without carrying away some of this water in copper or tin bottles, either for the purpose of making presents, or for their own use in case of illness, when they drink it, or for ablution after death. I carried away four small bottles, with the intention of offering them as presents to the Muḥammadan kings in the black countries. I have seen it sold at Suez by pilgrims returning from Makkah, at the rate of one piastre for the quantity that filled a coffee-cup.

The chief of Zamzam is one of the principal ʿUlamāʾ of Makkah. I need not remind the reader that Zamzam is supposed to be the spring found in the wilderness by Hagar, at the moment when her infant son Ishmael was dying of thirst. It seems probable that the town of Makkah owes its origin to this well. For many miles round, no sweet water is found, nor is there found in any part of the adjacent country so copious a supply.

On the north-east side of Zamzam stand two small buildings, one behind the other, called al-Qubbatain; they are covered by domes painted in the same manner as the mosque, and in them are kept water-jars, lamps, carpets, mats, brooms, and other articles used in the very mosque. These two ugly buildings are injurious to the interior appearance of the building, their heavy forms and structure being very disadvantageously contrasted with the light and airy shape of the Maqāms. I heard some pilgrims from Greece, men of better taste than the Arabs, express their regret that the Qubbatain should be allowed to disfigure the mosque. Their contents might be deposited in some of the buildings adjoining the mosque, of which they form no essential part, no religious importance being attached to them. They were built by K͟hushgildī, Governor of Jiddah, A.H. 947; one is called Qubbatu ʾl-ʿAbbās, from having been placed on the site of a small tank, said to have been formed by al-ʿAbbās, the uncle of Muḥammad.

A few paces west of Zamzam, and directly opposite to the door of the Kaʿbah, stands a ladder or staircase, which is moved up to the wall of the Kaʿbah, on the days when that building is opened, and by which the visitors ascend to the door; it is of wood, with some carved ornaments, moves on low wheels, and is sufficiently broad to admit of four persons ascending abreast. The first ladder was sent hither from Cairo in A.H. 818, by Muʾyad Abū ʾn-Nāṣir, King of Egypt; for in the Ḥijāz, it seems, there has always been so great a want of artizans, that whenever the mosque required any work, it was necessary to have mechanics brought from Cairo, and even sometimes from Constantinople.

In the same line with the ladder, and close by it stands a lightly-built, insulated, and circular arch, about fifteen feet wide and eighteen feet high, called Bābu ʾs-Salām, which must not be confounded with the great gate of the mosque bearing the same name. Those who enter the Baitu ʾllāh for the first time, are enjoined to do so by the outer and inner Bābu ʾs-Salām; in passing under the latter, they are to exclaim, “O God, may it be a happy entrance!” I do not know by whom this arch was built, but it appears to be modern.

Nearly in front of the Bābu ʾs-Salām, and nearer to the Kaʿbah than any of the other surrounding buildings, stands the Maqāmu Ibrāhīm. This is a small building, supported by six pillars about eight feet high, four of which are surrounded from top to bottom by a fine iron railing, which thus leaves the space beyond the two hind pillars open; within the railing is a frame about five feet square, terminating in a pyramidal top, and said to contain the sacred stone upon which Abraham stood when he built the Kaʿbah, and which, with the help of his son Ishmael, he had removed from hence to the place called Miʿjan, already mentioned. The stone is said to have yielded under the weight of the Patriarch, and to preserve the impression of his foot still visible upon it; but no pilgrim has ever seen it, as the frame is always entirely covered with a brocade of red silk richly embroidered. Persons are constantly seen before the railing, invoking the good offices of Abraham, and a short prayer must be uttered by the side of the Maqām, after the walk round the Kaʿbah is completed. It is said that many of the Companions, or first adherents of Muḥammad, were interred in the open space between this Maqām and Zamzam, from which circumstance it is one of the most favourite places of prayer in the mosque. In this part of the area, the K͟halīfah Sulaimān ibn ʿAbdi ʾl-Malik, brother of al-Walīd, built a fine reservoir in A.H. 97, which was filled from a spring east of ʿArafāt; but the Makkans destroyed it after his death, on the pretence that the water of Zamzam was preferable.

On the side of Maqāmu Ibrāhīm, facing the middle part of the front of the Kaʿbah, stands the Mimbar, or pulpit, of the mosque; it is elegantly formed of fine white marble, with many sculptured ornaments, and was sent as a present to the mosque in A.H. 969, by Sultān Sulaimān ibn Salīm. A straight narrow staircase leads up to the post of the k͟hat̤īb, or preacher, which is surmounted by a gilt polygonal pointed steeple, resembling an obelisk. Here a sermon is preached on Fridays, and on certain festivals; these, like the Friday sermons of all mosques in the Muḥammadan countries, are usually of the same tenour, with some slight alterations upon extraordinary occasions. Before the Wahhābīs invaded Makkah, prayers were added for the Sultān and the Sharīf; but these were forbidden by Saʿūd. Since the Turkish conquest, however, the ancient custom has been restored. The right of preaching in the Mimbar is vested in several of the first ʿUlamāʾ in Makkah; they are always elderly persons, and officiate in rotation. In ancient times Muḥammad himself, his successors, and the K͟halīfahs, whenever they came to Makkah, mounted the pulpit, and preached to the people.

The k͟hat̤īb, or preacher, appears in the Mimbar wrapped in a white cloak, which covers his head and body, and with a stick in hand; a practice observed also in Egypt and Syria, in memory of the first age of Islām, when the preachers found it necessary to be armed, from fear of being surprised. As in other mosques, two green flags are placed on each side of him.

About the Mimbar, the visitors of the Kaʿbah deposit their shoes; as it is neither permitted to walk round the Kaʿbah with covered feet, nor thought decent to carry the shoes in the hand, as is done in other mosques. Several persons keep watch over the shoes, for which they expect a small present; but the vicinity of the holy temple does not intimidate the dishonest, for I lost successively from this spot three new pairs of shoes; and the same thing happens to many pilgrims.

I have now described all the buildings within the enclosure of the temple.

The gravel-ground, and part of the adjoining outer pavement of the Kaʿbah is covered, at the time of evening prayers, with carpets of from sixty to eighty feet in length, and four feet in breadth, of Egyptian manufacture, which are rolled up after prayers. The greater part of the pilgrims bring their own carpets with them. The more distant parts of the area, and the floor under the colonnade, are spread with mats brought from Souakin; the latter situation being the usual place for the performance of the mid-day and afternoon prayers. Many of these mats are presented to the mosque by the pilgrims, for which they have in return the satisfaction of seeing their names inscribed on them in large characters.

At sunset, great numbers assemble for the first evening prayer; they form themselves into several wide circles, sometimes as many as twenty, around the Kaʿbah, as a common centre before which every person makes his prostration; and thus, as the Muḥammadan doctors observe, Makkah is the only spot throughout the world in which the true believer can, with propriety, turn during his prayers towards any point of the compass. The Imām takes his post near the gate of the Kaʿbah, and his genuflexions are imitated by the whole assembled multitude. The effect of the joint prostrations of six or eight thousand persons, added to the recollection of the distance and various quarters from whence they come, or for what purpose, cannot fail to impress the most cool-minded spectator with some degree of awe. At night, when the lamps are lighted, and numbers of devotees are performing the T̤awāf round the Kaʿbah, the sight of the busy crowds, the voices of the Mut̤awwifs, intent upon making themselves heard by those to whom they recite their prayers, the loud conversation of many idle persons, the running, playing, and laughing of boys, give to the whole a very different appearance, and one more resembling that of a place of public amusement. The crowd, however, leaves the mosque about nine o’clock, when it again becomes the place of silent meditation and prayer to the few visitors who are led to the spot by sincere piety, and not worldly motives or fashion.

There is an opinion prevalent at Makkah, founded on holy tradition, that the mosque will contain any number of the faithful; and that if even the whole Muḥammadan community were to enter at once, they would all find room in it to pray. The guardian angels, it is said, would invisibly extend the dimensions of the building, and diminish the size of each individual. The fact is, that during the most numerous pilgrimages, the mosque, which can contain, I believe, about thirty-five thousand persons in the act of prayer, is never half-filled. Even on Fridays, the greater part of the Makkans, contrary to the injunctions of the law, pray at home, if at all, and many pilgrims follow their example. I could never count more than ten thousand individuals in the mosque at one time, even after the return from ʿArafāt, when the whole body of pilgrims was collected for a few days in and about the city.

At every hour of the day persons may be seen under the colonnade, occupied in reading the Qurʾān and other religious books; and here many poor Indians, or negroes, spread their mats, and pass the whole period of their residence at Makkah. Here they both eat and sleep; but cooking is not allowed. During the hours of noon, many persons come to repose beneath the cool shade of the vaulted roof of the colonnade; a custom which not only accounts for the mode of construction observed in the old Muḥammadan temples of Egypt and Arabia, but for that also of the ancient Egyptian temples, the immense porticoes of which were probably left open to the idolatrous natives, whose mud-built houses could afford them but an imperfect refuge against the mid-day heats.

It is only during the hours of prayer that the great mosques of these countries partake of the sanctity of prayer, or in any degree seem to be regarded as consecrated places. In al-Azhar, the first mosque at Cairo, I have seen boys crying pancakes for sale, barbers shaving their customers, and many of the lower orders eating their dinners, where, during prayer, not the slightest motion, nor even whisper, diverts the attention of the congregation. Not a sound but the voice of the Imām, is heard during prayers in the great mosque at Makkah, which at other times is the place of meeting for men of business to converse on their affairs, and is sometimes so full of poor pilgrims, or of diseased persons lying about under the colonnade, in midst of their miserable baggage, as to have the appearance of a hospital rather than a temple. Boys play in the great square, and servants carry luggage across it, to pass by the nearest route from one part of the town to the other. In these respects, the temple of Makkah resembles the other great mosques of the East. But the holy Kaʿbah is rendered the scene of such indecencies and criminal acts, as cannot with propriety be more particularly noticed. They are not only practised here with impunity, but, it may be said, almost publicly; and my indignation has often been excited, on witnessing abominations which called forth from other passing spectators nothing more than a laugh or a slight reprimand.

In several parts of the colonnade, public schools are held, where young children are taught to spell and read; they are most noisy groups, and the schoolmaster’s stick is in constant action. Some learned men of Makkah deliver lectures on religious subjects every afternoon under the colonnade, but the auditors are seldom numerous. On Fridays, after prayer, some Turkish ʿUlamāʾ explain to their countrymen assembled around them a few chapters of the Qurʾān, after which each of the audience kisses the hand of the expositor, and drops money into his cap. I particularly admired the fluency of speech of one of these ʿUlamāʾ, although I did not understand him, the lecture being delivered in the Turkish language. His gesticulations, and the inflexions of his voice, were most expressive; but, like an actor on the stage, he would laugh and cry in the same minute, and adapt his features to his purpose in the most skilful manner. He was a native of Brusa, and amassed a considerable sum of money.

Near the gate of the mosque called Bābu ʾs-Salām, a few Arab shaik͟hs daily take their seat, with their inkstand and paper, ready to write, for any applicant, letters, accounts, contracts, or any similar document.

They also deal in written charms, like those current in the Black countries, such as amulets, love-receipts, &c. They are principally employed by Bedouins, and demand an exorbitant remuneration.

Winding sheets (kafan) and other linen washed in the waters of Zamzam, are constantly seen hanging to dry between the columns. Many pilgrims purchase at Makkah the shroud in which they wish to be buried, and wash it themselves at the well of Zamzam, supposing that, if the corpse be wrapped in linen which has been wetted with this holy water, the peace of the soul after death will be more effectually secured. Some pilgrims make this linen an article of traffic.

Makkah generally, but the mosque in particular, abounds in flocks of wild pigeons, which are considered to be the inviolable property of the temple, and are called the pigeons of the Baitu ʾllāh. Nobody dares to kill any of them, even when they enter the private houses. In the square of the mosque, several small stone basins are regularly filled with water for their use; here, also, Arab women expose for sale, upon small straw mats, corn and durrah, which the pilgrims purchase, and throw to the pigeons. I have seen some of the public women take this mode of exhibiting themselves, and of bargaining with the pilgrims, under pretence of selling them corn for the sacred pigeons.

The gates of the mosque are nineteen in number, and are distributed about it, without any order or symmetry. The principal of these gates are: on the north side, Bābu ʾs-Salām, by which every pilgrim enters the mosque; Bābu ʾl-ʿAbbās; Bābu ʾn-Nabī, by which Muḥammad is said to have always entered the mosque; Bābu ʿAlī. On the east side: Bābu Zai, or Bābu ʾl-ʿAshrah, through which the ten first adherents of Muḥammad used to enter; Bābu ʾṣ-Ṣafā; two gates called Bībānu ʾsh-Sharīf, opposite the palaces of the Sharīf. On the south side: Bābu Ibrāhīm, where the colonnade projects beyond the straight line of the columns, and forms a small square; Bābu ʾl-ʿUmrah, through which it is necessary to pass, on visiting the ʿUmrah. On the west side: Bābu ʾz-Ziyādah, forming a projecting square similar to that at Bābu Ibrāhīm, but larger.

Most of these gates have high-pointed arches, but a few round arches are seen among them, which, like all the arches of this kind in the Ḥijāz, are nearly semicircular. They are without any ornament, except the inscription on the exterior, which commemorates the name of the builder; and they are all posterior in date to the fourteenth century. As each gate consists of two or three arches, or divisions, separated by narrow walls, these divisions are counted in the enumeration of the gates leading into the Kaʿbah, and thus make up the number thirty-nine.

There being no doors to the gates, the mosque is consequently open at all times. I have crossed at every hour of the night, and always found people there, either at prayers or walking about.

The outside walls of the mosque are those of the houses which surround it on all sides. These houses belonged originally to the mosque; the greater part are now the property of individuals, who have purchased them. They are let out to the richest pilgrims, at very high prices, as much as five hundred piastres being given, during the pilgrimage, for a good apartment, with windows opening into the mosque. Windows have, in consequence, been opened in many parts of the walls, on a level with the street, and above that of the floor of the colonnades. Pilgrims living in these apartments are allowed to perform the Friday’s prayers at home, because, having the Kaʿbah in view from the windows, they are supposed to be in the mosque itself, and to join in prayer those assembled within the temple. Upon a level with the ground-floor of the colonnades, and opening into them, are small apartments formed in the walls, having the appearance of dungeons; these have remained the property of the mosque, while the houses above them belong to private individuals. They are let out to watermen, who deposit in them the Zamzam jars, or to less opulent pilgrims who wish to live in the mosque. Some of the surrounding houses still belong to the mosque, and were originally intended for public schools, as their name of Madrasah implies; they are now all let out to pilgrims. In one of the largest of them, Muḥammad ʿAlī Pasha lived; in another Ḥasan Pasha.

Close to Bābu Ibrāhīm is a large madrasah, now the property of Saiyid Ageyl, one of the principal merchants of the town, whose warehouse opens into the mosque. This person, who is aged, has the reputation of great sanctity; and it is said that the hand of the Sharīf G͟hālib, when once in the act of collaring him for refusing to advance some money, was momentarily struck with palsy. He has evening assemblies in his house, where theological books are read, and religious topics discussed.

Among other buildings forming the enclosure of the mosque, is the Miḥkam, or house of justice, close by the Bābu ʾz-Ziyādah; it is a fine, firmly-built structure, with lofty arches in the interior, and has a row of high windows looking into the mosque. It is inhabited by the Qāẓī. Adjoining to it stands a large Madrasah, enclosing a square, known by the name of Madrasah Sulaimān, built by Sultān Sulaimān and his son Salīm II., in A.H. 973. It is always well filled with Turkish pilgrims, the friends of the Qāẓī, who disposes of the lodgings.

The exterior of the mosque is adorned with seven minarets, irregularly distributed: 1. Minaret of Bābu ʾl-ʿUmrah; 2. of Bābu ʾs-Salām; 3. of Bābu ʿAlī; 4. of Bābu ʾl-Wadāʿ; 5. of Madrasah Kail Beg; 6. of Bābu ʾz-Ziyādah; 7. of Madrasah Sultān Sulaimān. They are quadrangular or round steeples, in no way differing from other minarets. The entrance to them is from the different buildings round the mosque, which they adjoin. A beautiful view of the busy crowd below is obtained by ascending the most northern one. (Taken, with slight alterations, chiefly in the spelling of Arabic words and names, from Burckhardt’s Travels in Arabia, vol. i. p. 243.)

Mr. Sale says: “The temple of Mecca was a place of worship, and in singular veneration with the Arabs from great antiquity, and many centuries before Muhammad. Though it was most probably dedicated at first to an idolatrous use, yet the Muhammadans are generally persuaded that the Kaʿbah is almost coeval with the world; for they say that Adam, after his expulsion from Paradise, begged of God that he might erect a building like that he had seen there, called Baitu ʾl-Maʿmūr, or the frequented house, and al Durah, towards which he might direct his prayers, and which he might compass, as the angels do the celestial one. Whereupon God let down a representation of that house in curtains of light, and set it in Mecca, perpendicularly under its original, ordering the patriarch to turn towards it when he prayed, and to compass it by way of devotion. After Adam’s death, his son Seth built a house in the same form, of stone and clay, which being destroyed by the Deluge, was rebuilt by Abraham and Ishmael at God’s command, in the place where the former had stood, and after the same model, they being directed therein by revelation.

“After this edifice had undergone several reparations, it was, a few years after the birth of Muhammad, rebuilt by the Quraish on the old foundation, and afterwards repaired by Abdullah Ibn Zubair, the Khalif of Mecca; and at length again rebuilt by Yusuf, surnamed al Hijaj Ibn Yusuf, in the seventy-fourth year of the Hijrah, with some alterations, in the form wherein it now remains. Some years after, however, the Khalif Harun al Rashid (or, as others write, his father al Mahdi, or his grandfather al Mansur) intended again to change what had been altered by al Hijaj, and to reduce the Kaʿbah to the old form in which it was left by Abdullah, but was dissuaded from meddling with it, lest so holy a place should become the sport of princes, and being new-modelled after everyone’s fancy, should lose that reverence which was justly paid it. But notwithstanding the antiquity and holiness of this building, they have a prophecy by tradition from Muhammad, that in the last times the Ethiopians shall come and utterly demolish it, after which it will not be rebuilt again for ever.” (Prel. Dis., p. 83).

The following are the references to the Sacred Mosque in the Qurʾān:—

Sūrah ii. 144, 145: “From whatever place thou comest forth, then turn your face towards the Sacred Mosque; for this is a duty enjoined by thy Lord; and God is not inattentive to your doings. And from whatever place thou comest forth, then turn thy face toward the Sacred Mosque: and wherever ye be, to that part turn your faces, that men have no cause of dispute against you.”

Sūrah v. 2: “O Believers! violate neither the rites of God, nor the sacred month, nor the offering, nor its ornaments, nor those who press on to the Sacred Mosque, seeking favour from their Lord and His good pleasure in them.”

Sūrah viii. 33–35: “But God chose not to chastise them while thou wast with them, nor would God chastise them when they sued for pardon. But because they debarred the faithful from the Sacred Mosque, albeit they are not its guardians, nothing is there on their part why God should not chastise them. The God-fearing only are its guardians; but most of them know it not. And their prayer at the house is no other than whistling through the fingers and clapping of the hands—‘Taste then the torment, for that ye have been unbelievers.’ ”

Sūrah ix. 7: “How shall they who add gods to God be in league with God and with His Apostle, save those with whom ye made a league at the Sacred Mosque? So long as they are true to you, be ye true to them; for God loveth those who fear Him.”

Sūrah ix. 28: “O Believers! only they who join gods with God are unclean! Let them not, therefore, after this their year, come near the Sacred Mosque. And if ye fear want, God, if He please, will enrich you of His abundance: for God is Knowing, Wise.”

Sūrah xvii. 1: “Glory be to Him who carried his servant by night from the Sacred Mosque to the temple that is more remote (i.e. Jerusalem), whose precinct we have blessed, that we might show him of our signs! for He is the Hearer, the Seer.”

Sūrah xxii. 25: “From the Sacred Mosque which we have appointed to all men, alike for those who abide therein, and for the stranger.”

Sūrah xlviii. 25: “These are they who believed not, and kept you away from the Sacred Mosque, as well as the offering which was prevented from reaching the place of sacrifice.”

Sūrah xlviii. 27: “Now hath God in truth made good to His Apostle the dream in which he said, ‘Ye shall surely enter the Sacred Mosque, if God will, in full security, having your heads shaved and your hair cut: ye shall not fear; for He knoweth what ye know not; and He hath ordained you, beside this, a speedy victory.’”

AL-MASJIDU ʾL-JĀMIʿ (المسجد الجامع‎). Lit. “The collecting mosque.” A title given to the chief mosque of any city in which people assemble for the Friday prayer and k͟hut̤bah. [KHUTBAH.]

MASJIDU ʾL-K͟HAIF (مسـجـد الخيف‎). A mosque at Minā, three miles from Makkah. Here, according to the Arabs, Adam is buried, “his head being at one end of a long wall, and his feet at another, whilst the dome covers his omphalic region.” (Burton’s Pilgrimage, vol. ii. p. 203.)

MASJIDU ʾN-NABĪ (مسجد النبى‎). “The Prophet’s Mosque” at al-Madīnah. It is held to be the second mosque in Islām in point of seniority, and the same, or, according to others the first, in dignity, ranking with the Sacred Mosque at Makkah.

The following is Captain R. F. Burton’s account of its history:—

“Muḥammad ordered to erect a place of worship there, sent for the youths to whom it belonged and certain Anṣār, or auxiliaries, their guardians; the ground was offered to him in free gift, but he insisted upon purchasing it, paying more than its value. Having caused the soil to be levelled and the trees to be felled, he laid the foundation of the first mosque.

“In those times of primitive simplicity its walls were made of rough stone and unbaked bricks, and trunks of date-trees supported a palm-stick roof, concerning which the Archangel Gabriel delivered an order that it should not be higher than seven cubits, the elevation of Solomon’s temple. All ornament was strictly forbidden. The Anṣār, or men of Medinah, and the Muhājirīn, or fugitives from Mecca, carried the building materials in their arms from the cemetery Bakīʿ, near the well of Aiyūb, north of the spot where Ibrahīm’s mosque now stands, and the Prophet was to be seen aiding them in their labours, and reciting for their encouragement:

‘O Allah! there is no good but the good of futurity;
Then have mercy upon my Anṣār and Muhājirīn.’

“The length of this mosque was fifty-four cubits from north to south, and sixty-three in breadth, and it was hemmed in by houses on all sides save the western. Till the seventeenth month of the new era, the congregation faced towards the northern wall. After that time a fresh ‘revelation’ turned them in the direction of Makkah—southwards; on which occasion the Archangel Gabriel descended and miraculously opened through the hills and wilds a view of the Kaʿbah, that there might be no difficulty in ascertaining its true position.

“After the capture of K͟haibar in A.H. 7, the Prophet and his first three successors restored the mosque, but Muslim historians do not consider this a second foundation. Muḥammad laid the first brick, and Abu-Hurayrah declares that he saw him carry heaps of building material piled up to his breast. The K͟halīfahs, each in the turn of his succession, placed a brick close to that laid by the Prophet, and aided him in raising the walls. Tabrāni relates that one of the Anṣār had a house adjacent, which Muḥammad wished to make part of the place of prayer; the proprietor was offered in exchange for it a home in Paradise, which he gently rejected, pleading poverty. His excuse was admitted, and ʿUs̤mān, after purchasing the place for 10,000 dirhams, gave it to the Prophet on the long credit originally offered. The mosque was a square of 100 cubits. Like the former building, it had three doors: one on the south side, where the Miḥrābu ʾn-Nabawī, or the ‘Prophet’s niche,’ now is, another in the place of the present Bābu ʾr-Raḥmah, and the third at the Bābu ʿUs̤mān, now called the ‘Gate of Gabriel.’ Instead of a miḥrāb or prayer niche, a large block of stone, directed the congregation. At first it was placed against the northern wall of the mosque, and it was removed to the southern when Makkah became the Qiblah. In the beginning the Prophet, whilst preaching the k͟hut̤bah or Friday sermon, leaned, when fatigued, against a post. The mimbar, or pulpit, was the invention of a Madīnah man of the Banū Najjār. It was a wooden frame, two cubits long by one broad, with three steps, each one span high; on the topmost of these the Prophet sat when he required rest. The pulpit assumed its present form about A.H. 90, during the artistic reign of Walīd.

“In this mosque Muḥammad spent the greater part of the day with his companions, conversing, instructing, and comforting the poor. Hard by were the abodes of his wives, his family, and his principal friends. Here he prayed, hearkening to the Aẕān, or devotion call, from the roof. Here he received worldly envoys and embassies, and the heavenly messages conveyed by the Archangel Gabriel. And within a few yards of the hallowed spot, he died, and found, it is supposed, a grave.

“The theatre of events so important to Islām, could not be allowed—especially as no divine decree forbade the change—to remain in its pristine lowliness. The first K͟halīfah contented himself with merely restoring some of the palm pillars, which had fallen to the ground. ʿUmar, the second successor, surrounded the Ḥujrah, or ʿĀyishah’s chamber, in which the Prophet was buried, with a mud wall, and in A.H. 17, he enlarged the mosque to 140 cubits by 120, taking in ground on all sides except the eastern, where stood the abodes of the ‘Mothers of the Moslems’ (Ummu ʾl-Muʾminīn). Outside the northern wall he erected a ṣuffah, called Batha—a raised bench of wood, earth, or stone, upon which the people might recreate themselves with conversation and quoting poetry, for the mosque was now becoming a place of peculiar reverence to men.

“The second Masjid was erected A.H. 29 by the third K͟halīfah, ʿUs̤mān, who, regardless of the clamours of the people, overthrew the old one, and extended the building greatly towards the north, and a little towards the west; but he did not remove the eastern limit on account of the private houses. He made the roof of Indian teak, and erected walls of hewn and carved stone. These innovations caused some excitement, which he allayed by quoting a tradition of the Prophet, with one of which he appears perpetually to have been prepared. The saying in question was, according to some, ‘Were this my mosque extended to Ṣafā, it verily would still be my mosque’; according to others, ‘Were the Prophet’s mosque extended to Ẕū ʾl-Ḥulafāʾ, it would still be his.’ But ʿUs̤mān’s skill in the quotation of tradition did not prevent the new building being in part a cause of his death. It was finished on the 1st Muḥarram, A.H. 30.

“At length, Islām, grown splendid and powerful, determined to surpass other nations in the magnificence of its public buildings. In A.H. 88, al-Walid the First, twelfth K͟halīfah of the Banī Umayah race, after building the noble Jāmiʿ-Masjid of the Ommiades at Damascus, determined to display his liberality at al-Madīnah. The governor of the place, ʿUmar ibn ʿAbdu ʾl-ʿAzīz, was directed to buy for 7,000 dinars all the hovels of raw brick that hedged in the eastern side of the old mosque. They were inhabited by descendants of the Prophet and of the early K͟halīfahs, and in more than one case, the ejection of the holy tenantry was effected with considerable difficulty. Some of the women (ever the most obstinate on such occasions) refused to take money, and ʿUmar was forced to the objectionable measure of turning them out of doors with exposed faces in full day. The Greek Emperor, applied to by the magnificent K͟halīfah, sent immense presents, silver lamp chains, valuable curiosities, forty loads of small cut stones for pietra-dura, and a sum of 80,000 dinars, or, as others say, 40,000 mishkals of gold. He also despatched forty Coptic and forty Greek artists to carve the marble pillars and the casings of the walls, and to superintend the gilding and the mosaic work.

“One of these Christians was beheaded for sculpturing a hog on the Qiblah wall, and another, in an attempt to defile the roof, fell to the ground, and his brains were dashed out. The remainder apostatized, but this did not prevent the older Arabs murmuring that their mosque had been turned into a kanīsah (or Church). The Ḥujrah, or chamber, where, by Muḥammad’s permission, ʿIzrāʾīl, the Angel of Death, separated his soul from his body, whilst his head was lying in the lap of ʿĀyishah, his favourite wife, was now for the first time taken into the mosque. The raw brick enceinte which surrounded the three graves was exchanged for one of carved stone, enclosed by an outer precinct with a narrow passage between. These double walls were either without a door, or had only a small blocked-up wicket on the northern side, and from that day (A.H. 90), no one has been able to approach the sepulchre. A minaret was erected at each corner of the mosque. The building was enlarged to 200 cubits by 167, and was finished in A.H. 91. When Walīd, the K͟halīfah, visited it in state, he inquired of his lieutenant why greater magnificence had not been displayed in the erection; upon which ʿUmar informed him, to his astonishment, that the walls alone had cost 45,000 dinars.

“The fourth mosque was erected in A.H. 191, by al-Mahdī, third prince of the Banū ʿAbbās or Baghdad K͟halīfahs—celebrated in history only for spending enormous sums upon a pilgrimage. He enlarged the building by adding ten handsome pillars of carved marble, with gilt capitals, on the northern side. In A.H. 202, al-Maʾmūn made further additions to this mosque.

“It was from al-Mahdī’s Masjid that Ḥakīm ibn Amri ʾllāh, the third Fāt̤imite K͟halīfah of Egypt, and the deity of the Druse sect, determined to steal the bodies of the Prophet and his two companions. About A.H. 412, he sent emissaries to al-Madīnah; the attempt, however, failed, and the would be violators of the tomb lost their lives. It is generally supposed that Ḥakīm’s object was to transfer the visitation to his own capital; but in one so manifestly insane it is difficult to discover the spring of action. Two Christians, habited like Maghrabī pilgrims, in A.H. 550, dug a mine from a neighbouring house into the temple. They were discovered, beheaded, and burned to ashes. In relating these events, the Muslim historians mix up many foolish preternaturalisms with credible matter. At last, to prevent a recurrence of such sacrilegious attempts, Māliku ʾl-ʿĀdil Nūru ʾd-dīn, of the Baharite Mamluk Sultans, or, according to others, Sultan Nūru ʾd-dīn Shāhid Maḥmūd bin Zengi, who, warned by a vision of the Prophet, had started for al-Madīnah only in time to discover the two Christians, surrounded the holy place with a deep trench, filled with molten lead. By this means Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, who had run considerable risks of their own, have ever since been enabled to occupy their last home undisturbed.

“In A.H. 654, the fifth mosque was erected in consequence of a fire, which some authors attribute to a volcano that broke out close to the town in terrible eruption; others, with more fanaticism and less probability, to the schismatic Banū Ḥusain, then the guardians of the tomb. On this occasion the Ḥujrah was saved, together with the old and venerable copies of the Qurʾān there deposited, especially the Cufic MSS., written by Us̤mān, the third K͟halīfah. The piety of three sovereigns, Mustaʿṣim (last K͟halīfah of Bag͟hdad) Muz̤affir Shems-ud-dīn-Yūsuf, chief of Yaman, and Z̤āhir Beybars, Baharite Sultan of Egypt, completed the work in A.H. 688. This building was enlarged and beautified by the princes of Egypt, and lasted upwards of 200 years.

“The sixth mosque was built, almost as it now stands, by Kaid Bey, nineteenth Sultan of the Circassian Mamluk kings of Egypt, in A.H. 888. Mustaʿṣim’s mosque had been struck by lightning during a storm; thirteen men were killed at prayers, and the destroying element spared nothing but the interior of the Ḥujrah. The railing and dome were restored; niches and a pulpit were sent from Cairo, and the gates and minarets were distributed as they are now. Not content with this, Kaid Bey established ‘waqf’ (bequests) and pensions, and introduced order among the attendants on the tomb. In the tenth century, Sultan Sulaiman the Magnificent paved with fine white marble the Rauẓah or garden, which Kaid Bey, not daring to alter, had left of earth, and erected the fine minaret that bears his name. During the dominion of the later Sultans and of Mohammad Ali, a few trifling presents of lamps, carpets, wax candles, and chandeliers, and a few immaterial alterations have been made.” (See Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Meccah, by Richard F. Burton, 2nd edition, vol. i. p. 345.)

MASJIDU ʾT-TAQWĀ (مسجد التقوى‎). Lit. “The Mosque of Piety.” The mosque at Qubāʾ, a place about three miles south-east of al-Madīnah. It was here that it is said that the Prophet’s camel, al-Qaṣwā rested on its way from Makkah to al-Madīnah, on the occasion of the Flight. And when Muḥammad desired the Companions to mount the camel, Abū Bakr and ʿUmar did so, but she still remained on the ground; but when ʿAlī obeyed the order, she arose. Here the Prophet decided to erect a place for prayer. It was the first mosque erected in Islām. Muḥammad laid the first brick, and with an iron javelin marked out the direction for prayer. The Prophet, during his residence at al-Madīnah, used to visit it once a week on foot, and he always made a point of praying there the morning prayer on the 17th of Ramaẓān. A prayer in the mosque of Qubāʾ is said to be equal in merit to a Lesser Pilgrimage to Makkah, and the place itself bears rank after the mosques of Makkah and al-Madīnah and before that of Jerusalem. It was originally a square building of very small size, but the K͟halīfah ʿUs̤mān enlarged it. Sultān ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥamīd rebuilt the place, but it has no pretensions to grandeur. (See Burton’s Pilgrimage, vol. i. p. 390.)

MASNŪN (مسنون‎). That which is founded upon the precept or practice of Muḥammad. [SUNNAH.]

AL-MATĪN (المتين‎). “The Strong” (as a fortification is strong). One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It occurs in the Qurʾān, Sūrah li. 58: “God is the provider, endowed with power, the Strong.”

MATN (متن‎). The text of a book. The notes, or commentary upon the text are called the sharḥ. A word frequently used by Muḥammadans in theological books.

MAʾŪDAH (موءودة‎). From waʾad, “to bury alive.” A damsel buried alive. A custom which existed before the time of Muḥammad in ancient Arabia, but which was forbidden by him. Sūrah xvii. 33: “Kill not your children from fear of want.” See also Sūrahs xvi. 61; lxxxi. 8.

MAULĀ (مولى‎), pl. mawālī. A term used in Muslim law for a slave, but in the Qurʾān for “a protector or helper,” i.e. God Almighty.

Sūrah viii. 41: “Know ye that God is your protector.”

Sūrah ii. 386: “Thou (God) art our protector.”

Sūrah xlvii. 12: “God is the protector of those who believe.”

The plural form occurs in the Qurʾān, Sūrah iv. 37, where it is translated by Palmer thus: “To everyone have we appointed kinsfolk” (mawālī).

MAULAWĪ (مولوى‎). From maulā, “a lord or master.” A term generally used for a learned man.

MAULID (مولد‎). The birthday, especially of a prophet or saint. The birthday of Muḥammad, which is known as Maulidu ʾn-Nabī, is celebrated on the 12th of Rabīʿu ʾl-Awwal. It is a day observed in Turkey and Egypt and in some parts of Hindustān, but not in Central Asia, by the recital of numerous ẕikrs, and by distribution of alms.

Mr. Lane, in his Modern Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 171, gives the following specimen of a ẕikr recited in the Maulidu ʾn-Nabī: “O God bless our lord Muḥammad among the latter generations; and bless our lord Muḥammad in every time and period, and bless our lord Muḥammad among the most exalted princes, unto the Day of Judgment; and bless all the prophets and apostles among the inhabitants of the heavens, and of the earth, and may God (whose name be blessed and exalted) be well pleased with our lords and our masters, those persons of illustrious estimation, Abū Bakr, and ʿUmar, and ʿUs̤mān, and ʿAlī, and with all the other favourites of God. God is our sufficiency, excellent is the Guardian. And there is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great. O God, O our Lord, O Thou liberal of pardon, O Thou most bountiful of the most bountiful, O God. Amīn.”

MĀʾU ʾL-QUDS (ماء القدس‎). Lit. “Water of Holiness.” A term used by the Ṣūfīs for such holy influences on the soul of man as enable him to overcome the lusts of the flesh, and to become holy. (See ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)

AL-MĀʿŪN (الماعون‎). Lit. “Necessaries.” The title of the CVIIth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in the last verse of which the word occurs.

MAUT (موت‎). “Death.” Heb. ‏מָוֶת‎. The word is always used in the Qurʾān in its literal sense, meaning the departure of the spirit from the body, e.g. Sūrah ii. 182: “Every soul must taste of death.” But amongst the Ṣūfīs it is employed in a figurative sense, e.g. al-mautu ʾl-abyaẓ, or “the white death,” is held to mean abstinence from food, or that feeling of hunger which purifies the soul. A person who frequently abstains from food is said to have entered this state of death. Al-mautu ʾl-ak͟hẓar, “the green death,” the wearing of old clothes in a state of voluntary poverty. When a person has given up wearing purple and fine linen, and has chosen the garments of poverty, he is said to have entered this state of death. Al-mautu ʾl-aswad, “the black death,” the voluntary taking up of trouble, and submitting to be evil spoken of for the truth’s sake. When a Muslim has learnt to submit to such troubles and persecutions, he is said to have entered into this state of death. (See ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.) [MAMAT.]

MAʾẔŪN (ماذون‎). A licensed or privileged slave. A slave who has received a remission of all the inhibitions attending his state of bondage.

MEAT. [FOOD.]

MECCA. [MAKKAH.]

MEDICINE. Arabic dawāʾ (دوا‎). The only medicine recommended in the Qurʾān is honey. See Sūrah xvi. 71: “From its (the bee’s) belly cometh forth a fluid of varying hues, which yieldeth medicine to man.”

MEDINA. [AL-MADINAH.]

MEDITATION. [MURAQABAH.]

MENSTRUATION. Arabic maḥīẓ (محيض‎). The catamenia, or menses, is termed ḥayẓ. The woman in this condition is called ḥāʾiẓ or ḥāʾiẓah. All books of Muḥammadan theology contain a chapter devoted to the treatment of women in this condition. During the period of menstruation, women are not permitted to say their prayers, or to touch or read the Qurʾān, or enter a mosque, and are forbidden to their husbands. But it is related in the traditions that Muḥammad abrogated the law of Moses which set a menstruous woman entirely apart for seven days. (Leviticus xv. 19). And Anas says that when the Jews heard this they said, “This man opposes our customs in everything.”

(See Qurʾān, Sūrah ii. 222; Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābiḥ, Hamilton’s ed. vol. i. p. 121; Arabic ed. Bābu ʾl-Ḥaiẓ.)

When the period of menses ceases, bathing must be performed and prayer said.

MERCY. Arabic Raḥmah (رحمة‎). Heb. ‏רַחַם‎. The attribute of mercy is specially mentioned in the Qurʾān as one which characterizes the Divine Being; each chapter of that book (with the exception of the IXth), beginning with the superscription, Bismillāhi ʾr-Raḥmāni ʾr-Raḥīm, “In the name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate.” In the Tafsīr-i-Raufī it is said that ar-Raḥmān is only applicable to God, whilst ar-Raḥīm may be applied to the creature as well as to God; but the Jalālān say the two terms are synonymous, and on this account they are used together. Al-Baiẓāwī remarks that the attribute of mercy expresses “softness of heart” (riqqatu ʾl-qalb), and “a turning with kindness and favour towards a person,” and in this way it expresses God’s sympathy with mankind, although the terms are not strictly applicable to an unchangeable Being. In the Qurʾān, Job is described as speaking of God as “the most merciful of merciful ones.” (Sūrah xxi. 83). And the angels who bear the throne, and those around it who celebrate God’s praises, cry out: “Our Lord! thou dost embrace all things in mercy and knowledge!” (Sūrah xl. 7.) The “Treasuries of the mercies of the Lord,” are often referred to in the Qurʾān (e.g. Sūrahs xvii. 102; xviii. 81). The word Raḥmah, “a mercy,” is a term used for a divine book; it is frequently applied to the Qurʾān, which is called “a mercy and a guidance” (Sūrahs x. 58; xvii. 84), and also to the books of Moses (Sūrahs xi. 20; xii. 111). In one place it is used for Paradise, “They are in God’s mercy” (Sūrah iii. 103). The bounty of God’s mercy is the constant theme both of the Qurʾān and the Traditions; e.g. Sūrah vii. 155: “My mercy embraceth everything.” To despair of God’s mercy is a cardinal sin. Sūrah xxxix. 54: “Be not in despair of the mercy of God; verily, God forgives sins, all of them.” Sūrah xv. 56: “Only those who err despair of the mercy of their Lord.”

In the Traditions, Muḥammad is related to have said: “When God created the world He wrote a book, which is with Him on the exalted throne, and therein is written, ‘Verily my mercy overcomes my anger.’ ” And, again, “Verily, God has one hundred mercies; one mercy hath he sent down to men and genii, but He hath reserved ninety-nine mercies, by which He will be gracious to His people.” (Mishkāt, book x. ch. 4.)

The LVth Sūrah of the Qurʾān is entitled the Sūratu ʾr-Raḥmān, or the “Chapter of the Merciful,” in which are set forth the “bounties of the Lord.” It is a chapter which is sadly marred by its concluding description of the sensual enjoyments of Muḥammad’s paradise.

The Christians are spoken of in the Qurʾān, Sūrah lvii. 27, as those in whose hearts God “placed mercy (raḥmah) and compassion (raʾfah).”

MICHAEL. In Muḥammadan works generally, the Archangel Michael is called Mīkāʾīl (ميكائيل‎), Heb. ‏מִיכָאֵל‎; but in the Qurʾān, in which his name once occurs, he is called Mīkāl (ميكال‎). Al-Baiẓāwī says that a Jew named ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Ṣūrīyāʾ, objected to Muḥammad’s assertion that the Archangel Gabriel revealed the Qurʾān to him, because he was an avenging angel, and said that if it had been sent by Michael, their own guardian angel (Daniel xii. 1), they might have believed. This assertion called forth the following verses from Muḥammad in Sūrah ii. 92:—

“Whoso is the enemy of Gabriel—For he it is who by God’s leave hath caused the Qurʾān to descend on thy heart, the confirmation of previous revelations, and guidance, and good tidings to the faithful—Whoso is an enemy to God or his angels, or to Gabriel, or to Michael, shall have God as his enemy: for verily God is an enemy to the infidels. Moreover, clear signs have we sent down to thee, and none will disbelieve them but the perverse.”

MIDIAN. [MADYAN.]

MIFTĀḤU ʾL-JANNAH (مـفـتاح الجنة‎). “The Key of Paradise.” A term used by Muḥammad for prayer. (Mishkāt, book iii. ch. i.)

MIḤJAN (محجن‎). A hook-headed stick about four feet long, which, it is said, the Prophet always carried; now carried by men of religious pretensions.

MIḤRĀB (محراب‎). A niche in the centre of a wall of a mosque, which marks the direction of Makkah, and before which the Imām takes his position when he leads the congregation in prayer. In the Masjidu ʾn-Nabī, or Prophet’s mosque, at al-Madīnah, a large black stone, placed against the northern wall, facing Jerusalem, directed the congregation, but it was removed to the southern side when the Qiblah was changed to Makkah.

The Miḥrāb, as it now exists, dates from the days of al-Walīd (A.H. 90), and it seems probable that the K͟halīfah borrowed the idea from the Hindus, such a niche being a peculiarly Hindu feature in sacred buildings.

The word occurs four times in the Qurʾān, where it is used for a chamber (Sūrahs iii. 32, 33; xix. 12; xxxviii. 20), and its plural, maḥārīb, once (Sūrah xxxiv. 12).

MĪKĀʾĪL (ميكائيل‎). [MICHAEL.]

MILLAH (ملة‎). A word which occurs in the Qurʾān fifteen times. Eight times for the religion of Abraham (Sūrahs ii. 124, 129; iii. 89; iv. 124; vi. 162; xii. 38; xvi. 124; xxii. 77); twice for the religion of former prophets (Sūrahs xiv. 16; xxxviii. 6); once for the religion of the seven children of the cave (Sūrah xviii. 19); three times for idolatrous religions (Sūrahs xii. 37; vii. 86, 87); and once for the religion of Jews and Christians (Sūrah ii. 114). The word is used in the Traditions for the religion of Abraham (Mishkāt, book x. ch. v.).

According to the Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, it is expressive of religion as it stands in relation to the prophets, as distinguished from Dīn (دين‎), which signifies religion as it stands in relation to God, or from Maẕhab (مذهب‎), which signifies religion with reference to the learned doctors. [RELIGION.] Sprenger and Deutsch have invested the origin and meaning of this word with a certain amount of mystery, which is interesting.

Dr. Sprenger says (Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad, vol. ii. p. 276 n):—“When Mohammad speaks of the religion of Abraham, he generally uses the word Milla (Millah) and not Dīn. Arabian philologists have tried to trace the meaning of the word from their mother tongue, thus, Malla (Mallah) signifies fire or hot ashes in Arabic and Zaggag says (Thālaby, vol. ii. p. 114), that religion is called Milla because of the impression which it makes, and which may be compared to that which fire makes upon the bread baked in ashes. Since the Arabs are unable to give a better explanation, we must presume that milla is a foreign word, imported by the teachers of the “Milla of Abraham” in the Hijāz. Philo considered Abraham the chief promoter of the doctrine of the Unity of God, and doubtless, even before Philo, Jewish thought, in tracing the doctrine of the true religion, not only as far back as Moses, but even to the father of their nation, emancipated the indispensability of the form of the law, and so prepared the road to Essaism and Christianity.”

Mr. Emanuel Deutsch, in his article on Islām (Literary Remains, p. 130), says: “The word used in the Qurān for the religion of Abraham is generally Milla. Sprenger, after ridiculing the indeed absurd attempts made to derive it from an Arabic root, concludes that it must be a foreign word introduced by the teachers of the ‘Milla of Abraham’ into the Hijāz. He is perfectly right. Milla = Memra = Logos, are identical; being the Hebrew, Chaldee (Targum, Peshito in slightly varied spelling), and Greek terms respectively for the ‘Word,’ that surrogate for the Divine name used by the Targum, by Philo, by St. John. This Milla or ‘Word,’ which Abraham proclaimed, he, ‘who was not an astrologer but a prophet,’ teaches according to the Haggadah, first of all, the existence of one God, the Creator of the Universe, who rules this universe with mercy and loving kindness.”

MILK. Arabic laban (لبن‎). The sale of milk in the udder is unlawful (Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 433). In the Qurʾān it is mentioned as one of God’s special gifts. “Verily, ye have in cattle a lesson: we give you to drink from that which is in their bellies betwixt chyme and blood—pure milk—easy to swallow for those who drink.” (Sūrah xvi. 68.)

MINĀ منى‎. Lit. “A wish.” A sacred valley near Makkah, in which part of the Pilgrimage ceremonies take place. According to ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq, it was so called because Adam wished for paradise in this valley.

MINARET. [MANARAH.]

MINBAR. Generally pronounced mimbar (منبر‎). The pulpit in a mosque from which the k͟hut̤bah (or sermon) is recited. It consists of three steps, and is sometimes a moveable wooden structure, and sometimes a fixture of brick or stone built against the wall. Muḥammad, in addressing the congregation, stood on the uppermost step, Abū Bakr on the second, and ʿUmar on the third or lowest. ʿUs̤mān fixed upon the middle step, and since then it has been the custom to preach from that step. The Shīʿahs have four steps to their mimbars.

The mimbars in the mosques of Cairo are elevated structures, but in Asia they are of a more primitive character.

Burton says: “In the beginning the Prophet leaned, when fatigued, against a post, whilst preaching the k͟hut̤bah or Friday sermon. The mimbar, or pulpit, was an invention of a Madīnah man of the Banū Najjār. It was a wooden frame, two cubits long by one broad, with three steps, each one span high; on the topmost of these the Prophet sat when he required rest. The pulpit assumed its present form about A.H. 90, during the artistic reign of El Walid.”

MINES. Arabic maʿdin (معدن‎), pl. maʿādin. In Zakāt, mines are subject to a payment of one fifth. (Hidāyah, vol. i. 39.)

MINḤAH (منحة‎). A legal term for a portion of camel’s or sheep’s milk which another is allowed to draw, but afterwards to restore the animal to its original owner.

MINORITY. [PUBERTY.]

MĪQĀT (ميقات‎). Lit. “A stated time, or place.” The stations at which Makkan pilgrims assume the iḥrām or “pilgrim’s garment.” Five of these stations were established by Muḥammad (Mishkāt, book xi. ch. i. pt. 1), and the sixth has been added since to suit the convenience of travellers from the East. They are as follows: (1) Ẕū ʾl-Ḥulafāʾ, for the pilgrims from al-Madīnah; (2) Juḥfah, for Syria; (3) Qarnu ʾl-Manāzil, for Najd; (4) Yaulamlam, for Yaman; (5) Ẕāt-i-ʿIrāq, for ʿIrāq; (6) Ibrahīm Mursīa, for those who arrive by sea from India and the east.

The putting on of the iḥrām at Jerusalem is highly meritorious, according to a tradition, which says, “The Prophet said, Whoever wears the iḥrām for ḥajj or ʿumrah, from the Masjidu ʾl-Aqṣā (i.e. the Temple at Jerusalem) to the Masjidu ʾl-Ḥarām, shall be forgiven for all his past and future sins.” (Mishkāt, book xi. ch. i. pt. 2.)

MĪR (مير‎). A title of respect used for the descendants of celebrated Muḥammadan saints. More generally used for Saiyids, or descendants of Fāt̤imah, the Prophet’s daughter.

MIRACLES. Supernatural powers given to men are spoken of by Muslim lexicographers as k͟hāriqu ʾl-ʿādat (خارق العادة‎), or “things contrary to custom.” In Muslim theology, they are expressed by eight terms: (1) Āyah (اية‎), pl. āyāt, “a sign”; the only word used in the Qurʾān for a miracle (see Sūrahs xiii. 27; xxix. 49; liv. 2). (2) Muʿjizah (معجزة‎), pl. muʿjizāt, “making weak or feeble,” or that which renders the adversaries to the truth weak and feeble; a term used only for miracles performed by prophets. (3) Irhāṣ (ارهاص‎), pl. irhāṣāt, lit. “laying a foundation”; used for any miracle performed by a prophet before his assumption of the prophetical office. (4) ʿAlāmah (علامة‎), pl. ʿalāmāt, “a sign,” the same as āyah, and used for the signs of the coming Resurrection. (5) Karāmah (كرامة‎), pl. karāmāt, lit. “beneficence”; wonders wrought by saints for the good of the people as well as in proof of their own saintship. (6) Maʿūnah (معونة‎), pl. maʿwanāt, lit. “help or assistance;” used also for the wonders wrought by saints. (7) Istidrāj (استدراج‎), lit. “promoting by degrees”; a term employed to express the miracles wrought by the assistance of the Devil with the permission of God. (8) Ihānah (اهانة‎), pl. ihānāt, lit. “contempt”; miracles wrought by the assistance of the Devil, but when they turn out to the disdain and contempt of the worker.

It does not appear from the Qurʾān that Muḥammad ever claimed the power of working miracles, but, on the contrary, he asserted that it was not his mission to work signs and wonders in proof of his apostleship. This seems to be evident from the following verses in the Qurʾān:—

Sūrah xxix. 49: “They say, Why are not signs (āyāt) sent down to him from his Lord? Say: Signs are in the power of God alone, and I am only an open warner.”

Sūrah xiii. 27–30: “And they who believe not say, Why is not a sign (āyah) sent down to him from his Lord? Say: God truly misleadeth whom He will, and guideth to Himself him who turneth to Him.… If there were a Qurʾān by which the mountains would be set in motion, or the earth cleft by it, or the dead be addressed by it, they would not believe.”

Sūrah xvii. 92–97: “And they say, By no means will we believe in thee till thou cause a fountain to gush forth for us from the earth, or till thou have a garden of palm trees and grapes, and thou cause gushing rivers to gush forth in its midst, or till thou make heaven to fall upon us, as thou hast given out in pieces; or thou bring God and the angels to vouch for thee; or thou have a house of God, or thou mount up into heaven; nor will we believe in thy mounting up until thou send us down a book which we may read. Say: Praise be to my Lord! Am I more than a man, and an apostle? And what hindereth men from believing, when the guidance hath come to them, but that they say, Hath God sent a mere man as an apostle? Say: Did angels walk the earth as its familiars, we had surely sent them an angel-apostle out of heaven.”

But notwithstanding these positive assertions on the part of their Prophet against his ability to work miracles, there are at least four places in the Qurʾān where the Muḥammadans believe that miracles are referred to.

1. The clefting of the moon (Sūrah liv. 1, 2): “The hour hath approached, and the moon hath been cleft. But if the unbelievers see a sign (āyah), they turn aside and say, Magic! that shall pass away!”

Al-Baiẓāwī says, in his commentary on this verse, “Some say that the unbelievers demanded this sign of the Prophet, and the moon was cleft in two; but others say it refers to a sign of the coming Resurrection, the words ‘will be cleft’ being expressed in the prophetic preterite.”

Rodwell renders it “hath been cleft,” as he thinks Muḥammad may possibly allude to some meteor or comet which he fancied to be part of the moon.

2. The assistance given to the Muslims at the battle of Badr. Sūrah iii. 120, 121: “When thou didst say to the faithful: ‘Is it not enough for you that your Lord aideth you with three thousand angels sent down from on high?’ Nay; but if ye be steadfast, and fear God, and the foe come upon you in hot haste, your Lord will help you with five thousand angels with their distinguishing marks.”

These “distinguishing marks,” say the commentators, were when the angels rode on black and white horses, and had on their heads white and yellow turbans, the ends of which hung down between their shoulders.

3. The celebrated night journey. Sūrah xvii. 1: “We declare the glory of Him who transports his servant by night from the Masjidu ʾl-Ḥarām to the Masjidu ʾl-Aqṣā (i.e. from Makkah to Jerusalem).”

4. The Qurʾān itself, which the Muḥammadans say is the great miracle of Islām, the like of which has not been created, nor ever will be, by the power of man. In proof of this they quote Sūrah xxix. 48: “It is a clear sign (āyah) in the hearts of whom the knowledge hath reached.”

Although these very doubtful assertions in the Qurʾān fail to establish the miraculous powers of the Prophet, the Traditions record numerous occasions when he worked miracles in the presence of his people.

The following are recorded in the traditions of al-Buk͟hārī and Muslim:—

(1) On the flight from Makkah, Surāqah being cursed by the Prophet, his horse sank up to its belly in the hard ground.

(2) The Prophet marked out at Badr the exact spot on which each of the idolaters should be slain, and Anas says not one of them passed alive beyond the spot marked by the Prophet.

(3) He cured the broken leg of ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Atiq by a touch.

(4) He converted hard ground into a heap of sand by one stroke of an axe.

(5) He fed a thousand people upon one kid and a ṣāʿ of barley.

(6) He gave a miraculous supply of water at the battle of al-Ḥudaibiyah.

(7) Two trees miraculously moved to form a shade for the Prophet.

(8) He made Jābir a good horseman by his prayers.

(9) A wooden pillar wept to such an extent that it nearly rent in two parts, because the Prophet desisted from leaning against it.

(10) A sluggish horse became swift from being ridden by the Prophet.

(11) Seventy or eighty people miraculously fed on a few barley loaves and a little butter.

(12) Three hundred men fed from a single cake.

The following are recorded by various writers:—

(1) The Prophet was saluted by the hills and trees near Makkah, with the salutation, “Peace be to thee, O Messenger of God!”

(2) A tree moved from its place to the shade when the Prophet slept under it.

(3) The Prophet cured a maniacal boy by saying, “Come out of him.”

(4) A wolf was made to speak by the Prophet.

(For further information, see Kitābu ʾl-Muʿjizāt, Ṣaḥīḥu ʾl-Buk͟hārī, Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābiḥ, Ṣaḥīḥu Muslim.)

MIʿRĀJ (معراج‎). Lit. “An ascent.” Muḥammad’s supposed journey to heaven; called also Isrā (اسرى‎), “the nocturnal journey.” It is said to have taken place in the twelfth year of the Prophet’s mission, in the month of Rabīʿu ʾl-Awwal.

According to ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq, there are some divines who have regarded this miraculous event as a mere vision, but, he adds, the majority hold it to be a literal journey.

The only mention of the vision in the Qurʾān is contained in Sūrah xvii. 1: “Praise be to Him who carried His servant by night from the Masjidu ʾl-Ḥarām (i.e. the Makkan temple) to the Masjidu ʾl-Aqṣā (i.e. the Temple of Jerusalem).”

The following is the description of the supposed journey given in the Mishkātu ʾl-Masābiḥ. Muḥammad is related to have said:—

“Whilst I was sleeping upon my side, he (Gabriel) came to me, and cut me open from my breast to below my navel, and took out my heart, and washed the cavity with Zamzam water, and then filled my heart with Faith and Science. After this, a white animal was brought for me to ride upon. Its size was between that of a mule and an ass, and it stretched as far as the eye could see. The name of the animal was Burāq. Then I mounted the animal, and ascended until we arrived at the lowest heaven, and Gabriel demanded that the door should be opened. And it was asked, ‘Who is it?’ and he said, ‘I am Gabriel.’ And they then said, ‘Who is with you?’ and he answered, ‘It is Muḥammad.’ They said, ‘Has Muḥammad been called to the office of a prophet?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘Welcome Muḥammad; his coming is well.’ Then the door was opened; and when I arrived in the first heaven, behold, I saw Adam. And Gabriel said to me, ‘This is your father Adam, salute him.’ Then I saluted Adam, and he answered it, and said, ‘You are welcome, O good son, and good Prophet!’ After that Gabriel took me above, and we reached the second heaven; and he asked the door to be opened, and it was said, ‘Who is it?’ He said, ‘I am Gabriel.’ It was said, ‘Who is with you?’ He said, ‘Muḥammad.’ It was said, ‘Was he called?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ It was said, “Welcome Muḥammad; his coming is well.’ Then the door was opened; and when I arrived in the second region, behold, I saw John and Jesus (sisters’ sons). And Gabriel said, ‘This is John, and this is Jesus; salute both of them.’ Then I saluted them, and they returned it. After that they said, ‘Welcome good brother and Prophet.’ After that we went up to the third heaven, and asked the door to be opened; and it was said, ‘Who is it?’ Gabriel said, ‘I am Gabriel.’ They said, ‘Who is with you?’ He said, ‘Muḥammad.’ They said, ‘Was he called?’ Gabriel said, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘Welcome Muḥammad; his coming is well.’ Then the door was opened; and when I entered the third heaven, behold, I saw Joseph. And Gabriel said, ‘This is Joseph, salute him.’ Then I did so, and he answered it, and said, ‘Welcome, good brother and good Prophet.’ After that Gabriel took me to the fourth heaven, and asked the door to be opened; it was said, ‘Who is that?’ He said, ‘I am Gabriel.’ It was said, ‘Who is with you?’ He said, ‘Muḥammad.’ It was said, ‘Was he called?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘Welcome Muḥammad; his coming is well.’ And the door was opened; and when I entered the fourth heaven, behold, I saw Enoch. And Gabriel said, ‘This is Enoch, salute him.’ And I did so, and he answered it, and said, ‘Welcome, good brother and Prophet.’ After that Gabriel took me to the fifth heaven, and asked the door to be opened; and it was said, ‘Who is there?’ He said, ‘I am Gabriel.’ It was said, ‘Who is with you?’ He said, ‘Muḥammad.’ They said, ‘Was he called?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘Welcome Muḥammad; his coming is well.’ Then the door was opened; and when I arrived in the fifth region, behold, I saw Aaron. And Gabriel said, ‘This is Aaron, salute him.’ And I did so, and he returned it, and said, ‘Welcome, good brother and Prophet.’ After that Gabriel took me to the sixth heaven, and asked the door to be opened; and they said, ‘Who is there?’ He said, ‘I am Gabriel.’ They said, ‘And who is with you?’ He said, ‘Muḥammad.’ They said, ‘Is he called?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘Welcome Muḥammad; his coming is well.’ Then the door was opened; and when I entered the sixth heaven, behold, I saw Moses. And Gabriel said, ‘This is Moses, salute him.’ And I did so; and he returned it, and said, ‘Welcome, good brother and Prophet.’ And when I passed him, he wept. And I said to him, ‘What makes you weep?’ He said, ‘Because one is sent after me, of whose people more will enter Paradise than of mine.’ After that Gabriel took me up to the seventh heaven, and asked the door to be opened; and it was said, ‘Who is it?’ He said, ‘I am Gabriel.’ And it was said, ‘Who is with you?’ He said, ‘Muḥammad.’ They said, ‘Was he called?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘Welcome Muḥammad; his coming is well.’ Then I entered the seventh heaven, and behold, I saw Abraham. And Gabriel said, ‘This is Abraham, your father, salute him’; which I did, and he returned it, and said, ‘Welcome good son and good Prophet.’ After that I was taken up to the tree called Sidratu ʾl-Muntahā; and behold its fruits were like water-pots, and its leaves like elephant’s ears. And Gabriel said, ‘This is Sidratu ʾl-Muntahā.’ And I saw four rivers there; two of them hidden, and two manifest. I said to Gabriel, ‘What are these?’ He said, ‘These two concealed rivers are in Paradise; and the two manifest are the Nile and the Euphrates.’ After that, I was shown the Baitu ʾl-Maʿmūr. After that, a vessel full of wine, another full of milk, and another of honey, were brought to me; and I took the milk and drank it. And Gabriel said, ‘Milk is religion; you and your people will be of it.’ After that the divine orders for prayers were fifty every day. Then I returned, and passed by Moses; and he said, ‘What have you been ordered?’ I said, ‘Fifty prayers every day.’ Then Moses said, ‘Verily, your people will not be able to perform fifty prayers every day; and verily, I swear by God, I tried men before you; I applied a remedy to the sons of Israel, but it had not the desired effect. Then return to your Lord, and ask your people to be released from that.’ And I returned; and ten prayers were taken off. Then I went to Moses, and he said as before; and I returned to God’s court, and ten prayers more were curtailed. Then I returned to Moses, and he said as before; then I returned to God’s court, and ten more were taken off. And I went to Moses, and he said as before; then I returned to God, and ten more were lessened. Then I went to Moses, and he said as before; then I went to God’s court, and was ordered five prayers every day. Then I went to Moses, and he said, ‘How many have you been ordered?’ I said, ‘Five prayers every day.’ He said, ‘Verily, your people will not be able to perform five prayers every day; for, verily, I tried men before you, and applied the severest remedy to the sons of Israel. Then return to your Lord, and ask them to be lightened.’ I said, ‘I have asked Him till I am quite ashamed; I cannot return to Him again. But I am satisfied, and resign the work of my people to God.’ Then, when I passed from that place, a crier called out, ‘I have established My divine commandments, and have made them easy to My servants.’”

Sūratu ʾl-Miʿrāj is a title of the XVIIth chapter of the Qurʾān, in the first verse of which there is a reference to the night journey of Muḥammad. It is called also the Sūratu Banī Isrāʾīl, or the Chapter of the Children of Israel.

MĪRĀS̤ (ميراث‎). [INHERITANCE.]

MĪRZĀ (ميرزا‎). A title of respect given to persons of good family.

MIRZABAH, MIRZABBAH (مرزبة‎). “A clod-crusher.” The iron hammer with which the dead are beaten who cannot reply satisfactorily to the questions put to them by Munkar and Nakīr. Called also Mit̤raqah (مطرقة‎). [PUNISHMENTS OF THE GRAVE.]

MĪS̤ĀQ (ميثاق‎). “A covenant.” A word used in the Qurʾān for God’s covenant with his people. [COVENANT.]

MISHKĀTU ʾL-MAṢĀBĪḤ (مشكاة المصابيح‎). A well-known book of Sunnī tradition, much used by Sunnī Muslims in India, and frequently quoted in the present work. It was originally compiled by the Imām Ḥusain al-Bag͟hawī, the celebrated commentator, who died A.H. 510 or 516, and called the Maṣābīḥu ʾs-Sunnah, or the “Lamps of the Traditions.” In the year A.H. 737, Shaik͟h Walīyu ʾd-dīn revised the work of al-Bag͟hawī, adding an additional chapter to each section, and called it the Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābīḥ, or the “Niche for lamps.” In the time of the Emperor Akbar, Shaik͟h ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq translated the work into Persian, and added a commentary. (See Kashfu ʾz̤-Z̤unūn, in loco.)

MISKĪN (مسكين‎). “A poor person.” Heb. Eccles. ix. 15, ‏מִסְכֵּן‎. According to Muslim law, a person who has no property whatever, as distinguished from a faqīr (فقير‎), or a person who possesses a little property, but is poor. (Hidāyah, vol. i. p. 54.)

MIS̤QĀL (مثقال‎). An Arabic weight, which frequently occurs in Muḥammadan law books. Richardson gives it at a dram and three-sevenths. It is also used for a gold coin of that weight. [MONEY.]

MIṢR (مصر‎). [EGYPT.]

MISWĀK (مسواك‎). (1) A tooth-cleaner made of wood, about a span long. It is preferred when made of a wood which has a bitter flavour. The Salvadora Indica is the tree, the wood of which is used in India.

(2) The act of cleaning the teeth, which is a religious ceremony founded upon the example of Muḥammad, and forms the first part of the waẓūʾ, or “ablution before prayer.”

The Prophet was particularly careful in the observance of miswāk (see Mishkāt, book iii. ch. 4). It is amongst those things which are called fit̤rah (q.v.).

MIT̤RAQAH (مطرقة‎). The iron hammer or mace with which the infidels will be smitten in their graves by the angels Munkar and Nakīr. Persian gurz. [PUNISHMENTS OF THE GRAVE.]

MIYĀN (ميان‎). A Persian word, used as a title of respect for the descendants of celebrated Muḥammadan saints.

MĪZĀN (مـيـزان‎), pl. mawāzīn. Heb. pl. ‏מֹאזְנַיִם‎. Lit. “A balance.” (1) The law contained in the Qurʾān, Sūrah xlii. 16: “God is He who hath sent down the Book with truth and the balance.” (2) The scales in which the actions of all men shall be weighed. Sūrah xxi. 47: “Just balances will be set up for the Day of the Resurrection, neither shall any soul be wronged in aught; though, were a work but the weight of a grain of mustard seed, we would bring it forth to be weighed: and our reckoning will suffice.”

Muḥammad is related by ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn ʿAmr to have said: “Verily, God will bring a Muslim into the presence of all men on the Day of Judgment, and will show him ninety-nine large books, and each book as long as the eye can reach. Then God will say to him, ‘Do you deny anything in these books? Have my writers injured you?’ And the Muslim will say, ‘O my Lord, I deny nothing that is in them.’ Then God will say, ‘Have you any excuse?’ And he will say, ‘No.’ Then God will say, ‘I have good news for you, for there is no oppression in this day.’ Then God will bring forth a piece of paper, on which is written: ‘I bear witness that there is no deity but God, and I bear witness that Muḥammad is His servant and apostle.’ And God will say, ‘Go and weigh your actions.’ And the Muslim will say, ‘What is this bit of paper compared with those large books?’ And God will say, ‘This bit of paper is heavy, weigh it.’ Then the books will be put in the scale, and the bit of paper in the other, and the books containing the actions will be light, and the bit of paper, whereon is written the creed of the Muslim, will be heavy.” (See Collection of Ḥadīs̤ by at-Tirmiẕī.)

The commentators say that the scales will be held by the angel Gabriel, and that they are of so vast a size, one hangs over Paradise, and the other over Hell, and they are capacious enough to contain both heaven and earth. Though some are willing to understand what is said in the Traditions concerning this balance allegorically, and only as a figurative representation of God’s equity, yet the more ancient and orthodox opinion is that it is to be taken literally; and since words and actions, being mere accidents, are not capable of being themselves weighed, they say that the books wherein they are written will be thrown into the scales, and according as those wherein the good or the evil actions are recorded shall preponderate, sentence will be given; those whose balances laden with their good works shall be heavy, will be saved; but those whose balances are light, will be condemned. Nor will anyone have cause to complain that God suffers any good actions to pass unrewarded, because the wicked obtain rewards for the good they do in the present life, and therefore can expect no favour in the next.

The old Jewish writers make mention of the books to be produced at the Last Day, wherein men’s actions are registered, as of the balance wherein they shall be weighed, and the Bible itself seems to have given the first notion of both. But what the Persian Magi believe of the balance comes nearest to the Muḥammadan opinion. They hold that on the Day of Judgment, two angels, named Mihr and Sorush, will stand on the bridge between heaven and hell, and examine every person as he passes; that the former, who represents the divine mercy, will hold a balance in his hand, to weigh the actions of men; that, according to the report he shall make thereof to God, sentence will be pronounced, and those whose good works are found more ponderous, if they turn the scale but by the weight of a hair, will be permitted to pass forward to Paradise; but those whose good works shall be found light, will be, by the other angel, who represents God’s justice, precipitated from the bridge into hell.

MODERATION. Arabic iqtiṣād (اقتصاد‎). According to Muḥammad’s teaching, moderation in all religious matters is better than excessive piety, and a chapter in the Traditions is devoted to the subject. He is related to have said:—

“The best act in God’s sight is that which is constantly attended to, although in a small degree.”

“Do what you are able conveniently; because God will not be tired of rewarding as long as you are not tired of doing.”

“You must continue at your prayers as long as it is agreeable to you, and when you are tired sit down.”

“Verily, religion is easy, therefore hold it firm.” (See Mishkāt, Bābu ʾl-Iqtiṣād.)

MODESTY (Arabic ḥayāʾ حياء‎) is frequently commended in the traditional sayings of Muḥammad, who is related to have said:—

“Modesty is a branch of faith.”

“Verily, modesty and faith are joined together.” (Mishkāt, book xxii. ch. xix.)

MONASTICISM Arabic rahbānīyah (رهبانية‎) was forbidden by Muḥammad. It is related in the Traditions that ʿUs̤mān ibn Maz̤ʿūn came to the Prophet with the request that he might retire from society and become a monk (rāhib). The Prophet replied, “The retirement which becomes my people is to sit in the corner of a mosque and wait for the time of prayer.” (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. 8.)

In the Qurʾān, the Christians are charged with inventing the monastic life. Sūrah lvii. 27: “We gave them the Gospel, and we put into the hearts of those who follow him, kindness and compassion; but as to the monastic life, they invented it themselves.”

According to the Hidāyah (vol. ii. p. 215), capitation-tax is not to be imposed upon Rāhibs, whether Christian or Pagan, but this is a matter of dispute.

MONEY. There are three coins mentioned in the Qurʾān, (1) Qint̤ār (قنطار‎), (2) Dīnār (دينار‎), (3) Dirham (درهم‎), pl. Darāhim.

(1) Qint̤ār. Sūrah iii. 68: “Among the people of the Book are those to one of whom, if you entrust a qint̤ār, he will restore it.”

In the Qāmūs, it is said that a qint̤ār was a gold coin of the value of 200 dīnārs, but Muḥammad T̤āhir, the author of the Majmaʿu ʾl-Biḥār (p. 173), says it implies a very considerable sum of money, as much gold as will go into the hide of a cow. It is generally translated talent.

(2) Dīnār. Sūrah iii. 68: “There are those to whom, if thou entrust a dīnār, they will not restore it to thee.” It was the denarius, or a small gold coin.

(3) Dirham. Sūrah xii. 20: “And they sold him for a mean price, dirhams counted out.” A silver drachma. [QINTAR, DINAR, DIRHAM, WEIGHTS.]

Mr. Prinsep says: “The silver rupee (rupya, silver piece), now current in Muslim countries, was introduced, according to Abulfazel, by Sher Shah, who usurped the throne of Delhi from Humayoon in the year 1542. Previous to his time, the Arabic dirhim (silver drachma), the gold dinar (denarius auri), and the copper fuloos (follis), formed the currency of the Moghul dominions. Sher Shah’s rupee had on one side the Muḥammadan creed, on the other the emperor’s name and the date in Persian, both encircled in an annular Hindee inscription. Since ‘the same coin was revived and made more pure,’ in Akber’s reign, we may assume the original weight of the rupee, from Abulfazel’s statement, to have been 11¼ máshas. Akber’s square rupee, called from its inscription the jilály, was of the same weight and value. This coin was also called the chahár-yáree, from the four friends of the Prophet, Abubekr, Omar, Osman, Ali, whose names are inscribed on the margin. This rupee is supposed by the vulgar to have talismanic power.”

MONOGAMY. Although polygamy is sanctioned in the Qurʾān, the words, “and if ye fear that ye cannot be equitable, then only one” (Sūrah iv. 3), would seem to imply a leaning to monogamy, as the safest and most discreet form of matrimony. The author of the Ak͟hlāq-i-Jalālī says: “Excepting, indeed, in the case of kings, who marry to multiply offspring, and towards whom the wife has no alternative but obedience, plurality of wives is not defensible. Even in their case it were better to be cautious; for husband and wife are like heart and body, and like as one heart cannot supply life to two bodies, one man can hardly provide for the management of two homes.” (Thompson’s English Translation, p. 266.)

MONOPOLY. Arabic iḥtikār (احتكار‎). A monopoly of the necessaries of life (as, for example, the hoarding up of grain with the object of raising its price) is forbidden in Muḥammadan law. For the Prophet has said:—

“Whoever monopolizeth is a sinner.”

“Whosoever keepeth back grain forty days, in order to increase its price, is both a forsaker of God, and is forsaken of God.” (Mishkāt, book xii. ch. x.; Hidāyah, vol. iv. p. 114.)

MONTH. Arabic shahr (شهر‎), pl. shuhūr. The months of the Muḥammadan year are lunar, and the first of the month is reckoned from the sunset immediately succeeding the appearance of the new moon (hilāl). The names of the months are: (1) Muḥarram محرّم‎; (2) Ṣafar صفر‎; (3) Rabīʿu ʾl-Awwal ربيع الاول‎; (4) Rabīʿu ʾl-Āk͟hir ربيع الاخر‎; (5) Jumādā ʾl-Ūlā جمادى الاولى‎; (6) Jumādā ʾl-Uk͟hrā جمادى الاخرى‎; (7) Rajab رجب‎; (8) Shaʿbān شعبان‎; (9) Ramaẓān رمضان‎; (10) Shawwāl شوّال‎; (11) Ẕū ʾl-Qaʿdah ذو القعدة‎; (12) Ẕū ʾl-Ḥijjah ذو الحجة‎.

Four of these months are held to be sacred, namely, Muḥarram, Rajab, Ẕū ʾl-Qaʿdah, Ẕū ʾl-Ḥijjah, and according to the teaching of the Qurʾān (Sūrah ix. 36), it is not lawful for Muslims to fight during these months, except when they attack those “who join other gods with God, even as they attack you one and all.”

The names of the months seem to have been given at a time when the intercalary year was in force, although Muslim writers assume that the names were merely given to the months as they then stood at the time when they were so named. For a discussion of the formation of the Muḥammadan year, the reader is referred to that article. [YEAR.]

(1) Muḥarram is the first month in the Muḥammadan calendar, and is so called because, both in the pagan age and in the time of Muḥammad, it was held unlawful (ḥarām) to go to war in this month. It is considered a most auspicious month, and Muḥammad is related to have said, “Whosoever shall fast on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in this month, shall be removed from hell fire a distance of seven hundred years journey; and that he who shall keep awake the first night of this month, shall be forgiven all the sins of the past year; and he who shall fast the whole of the first day, shall be kept from sin for the next two years.” (Hanīsu ʾl-Waizīn, p. 154.) The first ten days of this month are observed in commemoration of the martyrdom of al-Ḥusain, and the tenth day is the ʿĀshūrāʾ fast.

(2) Ṣafar, the second month, is supposed to derive its name from ṣafir, “empty,” either because in it the Arabians went forth to war and left their homes empty, or, according to Rubeh, because they left whom they attacked empty. According to some writers, it was so named from ṣufār, “yellowness,” because when it was first so called, it was autumn, when the leaves bore a yellowish tint. (Vide Lane’s Arabic Dict.; G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah.) It is held to be the most unlucky and inauspicious month in the whole year, for in it, it is said, Adam was turned out of Eden. (See Hanīsu ʾl-Waizīn.) It was during this month that the Prophet was taken ill, but his partial recovery took place on the last Wednesday.

(3) Rabīʿu ʾl-Awwal, and (4) Rabīʿu ʾl-Āk͟hir, the first and second spring months, are said to have been so named when the calendar was first formed, and when these months occurred in the spring. Muḥammad died on the 12th day of the Rabīʿu ʾl-Awwal.

(5) Jumādā ʾl-Ūlā, and (6) Jumādā ʾl-Uk͟hrā, are the fifth and sixth months, about which there is some discussion as to the origin of the name. Mr. Lane, in his Dictionary, says the two months to which the name Jamādā (freezing) is applied, are said to be so called because, when they were so named, they fell in the season of freezing water; but this derivation seems to have been invented when the two months thus named had fallen back into, or beyond, the winter, for when they received this appellation, the former of them evidently commenced in March, and the latter ended in May. Therefore, I hold the opinion of M. Caussin de Perceval, that they were thus called because falling in a period when the earth had become dry and hard, by reason of paucity of rain, jamād being an epithet applied to land upon which rain has not fallen, which opinion is confirmed by the obvious derivation of the names of other months. (See Lane’s Arabic Dict. in loco.)

(7) Rajab, the “honoured” month, so called because of the honour in which the month was held in the Times of Ignorance, inasmuch as war was not permitted during this month. The Prophet is related to have said that the month Rajab was like a snowy white fountain flowing from heaven itself, and that he who fasts on this month will drink of the waters of life. It is called Rajab-i-Muẓar, because the Muẓar tribe held it in high esteem. It is usual for religious Muslims to spend the first Friday night (i.e. our Thursday night) of this month in prayer.

(8) Shaʿbān, the month of separation (called also the Shahru ʾn-Nabī, “the Prophet’s month”), is so called because the ancient Arabians used to separate, or disperse themselves, in this month in search of water (for when the months were regulated by the solar year, this month corresponded partly to June and partly to July), or, as some say, for predatory expeditions. On the fifteenth day of this month is the Shab-i-Barāt, or “Night of Record,” upon which it is said that God registers annually all the actions of mankind which they are to perform during the year, and upon which Muḥammad enjoined his followers to keep awake the whole night and to repeat one hundred rakʿah prayers. [SHAB-I-BARAT.]

(9) Ramaẓān, the ninth month of the Muḥammadan year, is that which is observed as a strict fast. The word is derived from ramẓ, “to burn,” because it is said that, when the month was first named, it occurred in the hot season; or because the month’s fast is supposed to burn away the sins of men. (See G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah.) The excellence of this month is much extolled by Muḥammad, who said that during this month the gates of Paradise are opened, and the gates of Hell shut. (Mishkāt, book vii. chap. i. sec. 1.) [RAMAZAN.]

(10) Shawwāl, lit. “a tail,” is the tenth month of the lunar year, and, according to Arabic lexicons (see G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah, Qāmūs, &c.), it is so called because, when first named, it coincided with the season when the she-camels, being seven or eight months gone with young, raised their tails; or, because it was the month for hunting. The Arabs used to say that it was an unlucky month in which to make marriage contracts, but the Prophet ignored their thus auguring, and married ʿĀyishah in this month. The ʿĪdu ʾl-Fit̤r, or “the Feast of Breaking the Fast,” occurs on the first of this month.

(11) Ẕū ʾl-Qaʿdah, or the month of truce, is the eleventh month, and so called by the ancient Arabs, because it was a month in which warfare was not conducted, and in which the people were engaged in peaceful occupations.

(12) Ẕū ʾl-Ḥijjah, the month of the Pilgrimage, is the last month of the Muḥammadan calendar. It is the month in which the pilgrimage to Makkah must be made, a visit to the sacred city at another time having in no way the merits of a pilgrimage. The Ḥajj, or “Pilgrimage,” is performed upon the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth of this month. The ʿĪdu ʾl-Aẓḥā, or “Feast of Sacrifice,” is held on the tenth. [HAJJ.]

MORTGAGE. [IJARAH.]

MOON. Arabic qamar (قمر‎). The moon is frequently mentioned in the Qurʾān. Muḥammad on three occasions swears by it (Sūrahs lxxiv. 35; lxxxiv. 18; xci. 2), and it is said to have been set in the heavens for a light (Sūrahs x. 5; lxxi. 15), to run to its appointed goal (Sūrahs xxxv. 14; xxxi. 7), and that it will be eclipsed at the Day of Judgment (Sūrah lxxv. 8). The LIVth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, which is entitled the Sūratu ʾl-Qamar, begins with a reference to the splitting of the moon, which is a matter of controversy. It reads: “The hour draws nigh and the moon is split asunder. But if they see a sign, they turn aside and say magic continues.”

Al-Baiẓāwī refers it to a miracle, and says the unbelievers having asked Muḥammad for a sign, the moon appeared to be cloven in twain. But the most natural explanation of the passage is, that the expression refers to one of the signs of the Resurrection.

At an eclipse of the moon, a devout Muslim is expected to recite a two rakʿah prayer.

MOORS. The name given to the Muḥammadan conquerors of Spain, on account of their having come from the ancient Mauri, or Mauretania, now known as the Empire of Morocco. The word Mauri is supposed to have been derived from the Alexandrian word μαυροί, “blacks.” (See Smith’s Dict. of Greek and Roman Geography: Mauretania.)

MOSES. Arabic Mūsā (موسى‎). Heb. ‏מֹשֶׁח‎. According to Muḥammadanism, he is one of the six great prophets who founded dispensations, and to whom the Taurāt was revealed. His special title, or kalimah, is Kalīmu ʾllāh, “One who conversed with God.” A lengthy account is given of his intercourse with Pharaoh and his dealings with the Children of Israel in the Qurʾān, which we take from Mr. Lane’s Selections, together with the remarks of the Jalālān, al-Baiẓāwī, and other commentators, in italics. (Stanley Lane-Poole’s new ed. of Lane’s Selections, p. 97.)

“We will rehearse unto thee of the history of Moses and Pharaoh with truth, for the sake of people who believe. Verily Pharaoh exalted himself in the land of Egypt, and divided its inhabitants into parties to serve him. He rendered weak one class of them, namely the children of Israel, slaughtering their male children, and preserving alive their females, because one of the diviners said unto him, A child will be born among the children of Israel, who will be the means of the loss of thy kingdom;—for he was one of the corrupt doers. And We desired to be gracious unto those who had been deemed weak in the land, and to make them models of religion, and to make them the heirs of the possessions of Pharaoh, and to establish them in the land of Egypt, and in Syria, and to show Pharaoh and Hāmān and their forces what they feared from them. And We said, by revelation, unto the mother of Moses, the child above-mentioned, of whose birth none knew save his sister, Suckle him; and when thou fearest for him cast him in the river Nile, and fear not his being drowned, nor mourn for his separation; for We will restore him unto thee, and will make him one of the apostles. So she suckled him three months, during which he wept not; and then she feared for him, wherefore she put him into an ark pitched within and furnished with a bed for him, and she closed it and cast it in the river Nile by night. And the family of Pharaoh lighted upon him in the ark on the morrow of that night; so they put it before him, and it was opened, and Moses was taken forth from it, sucking milk from his thumb: that he might be unto them eventually an enemy and an affliction; for Pharaoh and Hāmān (his Wezeer) and their forces were sinners; wherefore they were punished by his hand. And the wife of Pharaoh said, when he and his servants had proposed to kill him, He is delight of the eye unto me and unto thee: do not ye kill him: peradventure he may be serviceable unto us, or we may adopt him as a son. And they complied with her desire; and they knew not the consequence.

“And the heart of the mother of Moses, when she knew of his having been lighted upon, became disquieted; and she had almost made him known to be her son, had We not fortified her heart with patience, that she might be one of the believers in Our promise. And she said unto his sister Maryam (Mary), Trace him, that thou mayest know his case. And she watched him from a distance, while they knew not that she was his sister and that she was watching him. And We forbade him the breasts, preventing him from taking the breast of any nurse except his mother, before his restoration to her; so his sister said, Shall I direct you unto the people of a house who will nurse him for you, and who will be faithful unto him? And her offer was accepted; therefore she brought his mother, and he took her breast: so she returned with him to her house, as God hath said,—And We restored him to his mother, that her eye might be cheerful and that she might not grieve, and that she might know that the promise of God to restore him unto her was true: but the greater number of them (that is, of mankind) know not this. And it appeared not that this was his sister and this his mother; and he remained with her until she had weaned him; and her hire was paid her, for every day a deenár, which she took because it was the wealth of a hostile person. She then brought him unto Pharaoh, and he was brought up in his abode, as God hath related of him in the Chapter of the Poets (Sūrah xxvi. 17), where Pharaoh said unto Moses, Have we not brought thee up among us a child, and hast thou not dwelt among us thirty years of thy life?

“And when he had attained his age of strength (thirty years or thirty and three), and had become of full age (forty years), We bestowed on him wisdom and knowledge in religion, before he was sent as a prophet; and thus do We reward the well-doers. And he entered the city of Pharaoh, which was Munf [Memphis], after he had been absent from him a while, at a time when its inhabitants were inadvertent, at the hour of the noon-sleep, and he found therein two men fighting; this being of his party (namely an Israelite), and this of his enemies, an Egyptian, who was compelling the Israelite to carry firewood to the kitchen of Pharaoh without pay: and he who was of his party begged him to aid him against him who was of his enemies. So Moses said unto the latter, Let him go. And it is said that he replied to Moses, I have a mind to put the burden on thee. And Moses struck him with his fist, and killed him. But he intended not to kill him; and he buried him in the sand. He said, This is of the work of the devil, who hath excited my anger; for he is an enemy unto the son of Adam, a manifest misleader of him. He said, in repentance, O my Lord, verily I have acted injuriously unto mine own soul, by killing him; therefore forgive me. So He forgave him: for He is the Very Forgiving, the Merciful.—He said, O my Lord, by the favours with which Thou hast favoured me, defend me, and I will by no means be an assistant to the sinners after this.—And the next morning he was afraid in the city, watching for what might happen unto him on account of the slain man; and lo, he who had begged his assistance the day before was crying out to him for aid against another Egyptian. Moses said unto him, Verily thou art a person manifestly in error, because of that which thou hast done yesterday and to-day. But when he was about to lay violent hands upon him who was an enemy unto them both (namely unto Moses and him who begged his aid), the latter said, imagining that he would lay violent hands upon him, because of that which he had said unto him, O Moses, dost thou desire to kill me, as thou killedst a soul yesterday? Thou desirest not aught but to be an oppressor in the land, and thou desirest not to be [one] of the reconcilers.—And the Egyptian heard that: so he knew that the killer was Moses; wherefore he departed unto Pharaoh and acquainted him therewith, and Pharaoh commanded the executioners to slay Moses, and they betook themselves to seek him. But a man who was a believer, of the family of Pharaoh, came from the furthest part of the city, running by a way that was nearer than the way by which they had come: he said, O Moses, verily the chiefs of the people of Pharaoh are consulting respecting thee, to slay thee; therefore go forth from the city: verily I am unto thee one of the admonishers. So he went forth from it in fear, watching in fear of pursuer, or for the aid of God. He said, O my Lord, deliver me from the unjust people of Pharaoh!

“And when he was journeying towards Medyen, which was the city of Shoʾeyb (Shuʿaib), eight days journey from Miṣr (named after Medyen [Madyan] the son of Abraham), and he knew not the way unto it, he said, Peradventure my Lord will direct me unto the right way, or the middle way. And God sent unto him an angel, having in his hand a short spear; and he went with him thither. And when he came unto the water (or well) of Medyen, he found at it a company of men watering their animals; and he found besides them two women keeping away their sheep from the water. He said unto them (namely the two women), What is the matter with you that ye water not? They answered, We shall not water until the pastors shall have driven away their animals; and our father is a very old man, who cannot water the sheep. And he watered for them from another well near unto them, from which he lifted a stone that none could lift but ten persons. Then he retired to the shade of an Egyptian thorn-tree on account of the violence of the heat of the sun: and he was hungry, and he said, O my Lord, verily I am in need of the good provision which Thou shalt send down unto me. And the two women returned unto their father in less time than they were accustomed to do: so he asked them the reason thereof; and they informed him of the person who had watered for them; whereupon he said unto one of them, Call him unto me.

“And one of them came unto him, walking bashfully, with the sleeve of her shift over her face, by reason of her abashment at him: she said, My father calleth thee, that he may recompense thee with the reward of thy having watered for us. And he assented to her call, disliking in his mind the receiving of the reward: but it seemeth that she intended the compensation if he were of such as desired it. And she walked before him; and the wind blew her garment, and her legs were discovered: so he said unto her, Walk behind me and direct me in the way. And she did so, until she came unto her father, who was Shoʾeyb, on whom be peace! and with him was prepared a supper. He said unto him, Sit and sup. But he replied, I fear lest it be a compensation for my having watered for them, and we are a family who seek not a compensation for doing good. He said, Nay, it is my custom and hath been the custom of my fathers to entertain the guest and to give food. So he ate; and acquainted him with his case. And when he had come unto him, and had related to him the story of his having killed the Egyptian and their intention to kill him and his fear of Pharaoh, he replied, Fear not: thou hast escaped from the unjust people. (For Pharaoh had no dominion over Medyen.) One of them [namely of the women] said (and she was the one who had been sent), O my father, hire him to tend our sheep in our stead; for the best whom thou canst hire is the strong, the trustworthy. So he asked her respecting him, and she acquainted him with what hath been above related, his lifting up the stone of the well, and his saying unto her, Walk behind me;—and moreover, that when she had come unto him, and he knew of her presence, he hung down his head and raised it not. He therefore said, Verily I desire to marry thee unto one of these my two daughters, on the condition that thou shalt be a hired servant to me, to tend my sheep, eight years; and if thou fulfil ten years, it shall be of thine own will; and I desire not to lay a difficulty upon thee by imposing as a condition the ten years: thou shalt find me, if God please, one of the just, who are faithful to their covenants. He replied, This be the covenant between me and thee; whichever of the two terms I fulfil, there shall be no injustice against me by demanding an addition thereto; and God is witness of what we say. And the marriage-contract was concluded according to this; and Shoʾeyb ordered his daughter to give unto Moses a rod wherewith to drive away the wild beasts from his sheep: and the rods of the prophets were in his possession; and the rod of Adam, of the myrtle of paradise, fell into her hand; and Moses took it, with the knowledge of Shoʾeyb. (Sūrah xxviii. 21–28.)

“Hath the history of Moses been related to thee? when he saw fire, during his journey from Medyen on his way to Egypt, and said unto his family, or his wife, Tarry ye here; for I have seen fire: perhaps I may bring you a brand from it, or find at the fire a guide to direct me in the way. For he had missed the way in consequence of the darkness of the night. And when he came unto it (and it was a bramble bush), he was called to by a voice saying, O Moses, verily I am thy Lord; therefore pull off thy shoes; for thou art in the holy valley of Tuwa. And I have chosen thee from among thy people; wherefore hearken attentively unto that which is revealed unto thee by Me. Verily I am God: there is no Deity except Me; therefore worship Me, and perform prayer in remembrance of Me. Verily the hour is coming: I will manifest it unto mankind, and its nearness shall appear unto them by its signs, that every soul may be recompensed therein for its good and evil work: therefore let not him who believeth not in it, and followeth his lust, hinder thee from believing in it, lest thou perish. And what is that in thy right hand, O Moses?—He answered, It is my rod, whereon I lean and wherewith I beat down leaves for my sheep that they may eat them; and I have other uses for it, as the carrying of provision and the water-skin, and the driving away of reptiles. He said, Cast it down, O Moses. So he cast it down; and lo, it was a serpent running along. God said, Take it, and fear it not: we will restore it to its former state. And he put his hand into its mouth; whereupon it became again a rod. And God said, And put thy right hand to thy left arm-pit, and take it forth: it shall come forth white, without evil, (that is without leprosy; shining like the rays of the sun, dazzling the sight,) as another sign, that We may show thee the greatest of our signs of thine apostleship. (And when he desired to restore his hand to its first state, he put it as before described, and drew it forth.) Go as an apostle unto Pharaoh and those who are with him; for he hath acted with exceeding impiety by arrogating to himself divinity.—Moses said, O my Lord, dilate my bosom, that it may bear the message, and make my affair easy unto me, and loose the knot of my tongue (this had arisen from his having been burned in his mouth by a live coal when he was a child), that they may understand my speech when I deliver the message. And appoint unto me a Wezeer of my family, namely Aaron [Haroon] my brother. Strengthen my back by him, and make him a colleague in my affair, that we may glorify Thee much, and remember Thee much; for Thou knowest us.

“God replied, Thou hast obtained thy petition, O Moses, and We have been gracious unto thee another time: forasmuch as We revealed unto thy mother what was revealed, when she gave birth to thee and feared that Pharaoh would kill thee among the others that were born, saying, Cast him into the ark, and then cast him, in the ark, into the river Nile, and the river shall throw him on the shore; then an enemy unto Me and an enemy unto him (namely Pharaoh) shall take him. And I bestowed on thee, after he had taken thee, love from Me, that thou mightest be loved by men, so that Pharaoh and all that saw thee loved thee; and that thou mightest be bred up in Mine eye. Also forasmuch as thy sister Maryam went that she might learn what became of thee, after they had brought nurses and thou hadst refused to take the breast of any one of them, and she said, Shall I direct you unto one who will nurse him? (whereupon her proposal was accepted, and she brought his mother): so We restored thee to thy mother, that her eye might become cheerful and that she might not grieve. And thou slewest a soul, namely the Copt in Egypt, and wast sorry for his slaughter, on account of Pharaoh, and We delivered thee from sorrow; and We tried thee with other trial, and delivered thee from it. And thou stayedst ten years among the people of Medyen, after thou hadst come thither from Egypt, at the abode of Shoʾeyb the prophet, and he married thee to his daughter. Then thou camest according to My decree, as to the time of thy mission, when thou hadst attained the age of forty years, O Moses; and I have chosen thee for Myself. Go thou and thy brother unto the people, with My nine signs, and cease ye not to remember Me. Go ye unto Pharaoh; for he hath acted with exceeding impiety, by arrogating to himself divinity, and speak unto him with gentle speech, exhorting him to relinquish that conduct: peradventure he will consider, or will fear God, and repent. (The [mere] hope with respect to the two [result is expressed] because of God’s knowledge that he would not repent.)—They replied, O our Lord, verily we fear that he may be precipitately violent against us, hastening to punish us, or that he may act with exceeding injustice towards us. He said, Fear ye not; for I am with you: I will hear and will see. Therefore go ye unto him, and say, Verily we are the apostles of thy Lord: therefore send with us the children of Israel unto Syria, and do not afflict them, but cease to employ them in thy difficult works, such as digging and building, and carrying the heavy burden. We have come unto thee with a sign from thy Lord, attesting our veracity in asserting ourselves apostles: and peace be on him who followeth the right direction:—that is, he shall be secure from punishment. Verily it hath been revealed unto us that punishment [shall be inflicted] upon him who chargeth with falsehood that wherewith we have come, and turneth away from it. (Sūrah xx. 8–50.)

“Then We sent after them, namely the apostles before mentioned [who were Shoʾeyb and his predecessors], Moses, with Our signs unto Pharaoh and his nobles, and they acted unjustly with respect to them, disbelieving in the signs: but see what was the end of the corrupt doers. And Moses said, O Pharaoh, verily I am an apostle from the Lord of the world unto thee. But he charged him with falsehood: so he said, I am right not to say of God aught but the truth. I have come unto you with a proof from your Lord: therefore send with me to Syria the children of Israel.—Pharaoh said unto him, If thou hast come with a sign confirmatory of thy pretension, produce it, if thou be of those who speak truth. So he cast down his rod; and lo, it was a manifest serpent. And he drew forth his hand from his bosom; and lo, it was white and radiant unto the beholders. The nobles of the people of Pharaoh said, Verily this is a knowing enchanter: he desireth to expel you from your land. What then do ye command?—They answered, Put off for a time him and his brother, and send unto the cities collectors [of the inhabitants], that they may bring unto thee every knowing enchanter. And the enchanters came unto Pharaoh. They said, Shall we surely have a reward if we be the party who overcome? He answered, Yea; and verily ye shall be of those who are admitted near unto my person. They said, O Moses, either do thou cast down thy rod, or we will cast down what we have with us. He replied, Cast ye. And when they cast down their cords and their rods, they enchanted the eyes of the men, diverting them from the true perception of them; and they terrified them; for they imagined them to be serpents running; and they performed a great enchantment. And We spake by revelation unto Moses, [saying,] Cast down thy rod. And lo, it swallowed up what they had caused to appear changed. So the truth was confirmed, and that which they had wrought became vain; and they were overcome there, and were rendered contemptible. And the enchanters cast themselves down prostrate: they said, We believe in the Lord of the worlds, the Lord of Moses and Aaron. Pharaoh said, Have ye believed in Him before I have given you permission? Verily this is a plot that ye have contrived in the city, that ye may cause its inhabitants to go forth from it. But ye shall know what shall happen unto you at my hand. I will assuredly cut off your hands and your feet on the opposite sides—the right hand of each and his left foot: then I will crucify you all.—They replied, Verily unto our Lord shall we return, after our death, of whatever kind it be; and thou dost not take vengeance on us but because we believed in the signs of our Lord when they came unto us. O our Lord, pour upon us patience, and cause us to die Muslims! (Sūrah vii. 101–123).

“And Pharaoh said, Let me alone that I may kill Moses, (for they had diverted him from killing him,) and let him call upon his Lord to defend him from me. Verily I fear lest he change your religion, and prevent your worshipping me, or that he may cause corruption to appear in the earth (that is, slaughter, and other offences).—And Moses said unto his people, having heard this, Verily, I have recourse for defence unto my Lord and your Lord from every proud person who believeth not in the day of account. And a man who was a believer, of the family of Pharaoh (it is said that he was the son of his paternal uncle,) who concealed his faith, said, Will ye kill a man because he saith, My Lord is God,—when he hath come unto you with evident proofs from your Lord? And if he be a liar, on him [will be] the evil consequence of his lie; but if he be a speaker of truth, somewhat of that punishment with which he threatened you will befall you speedily. Verily God directeth not him who is a transgressor, or polytheist, [and] a liar. O my people, ye have the dominion to-day, being overcomers in the land of Egypt; but who will defend us from the punishment of God if ye kill his favourite servants, if it come unto us?—Pharaoh said, I will not advise you to do [aught] save what I see to be advisable, which is, to kill Moses; and I will not direct you save into the right way. And he who had believed said, O my people, verily I fear for you the like of the day of the confederates, the like of the condition of the people of Noah and ʾA′d and Thamood and those who have lived after them: and God willeth not injustice unto His servants. And, O my people, verily I fear for you the day of calling (that is, the day of resurrection, when the people of Paradise and those of Hell shall often call one to another). On the day when ye shall turn back from the place of reckoning unto hell, ye shall have no protector against God. And he whom God shall cause to err shall have no director. Moreover, Joseph (who was Joseph the son of Jacob according to one opinion, and who lived unto the time of Moses; and Joseph the son of Abraham the son of Joseph the son of Jacob, according to another opinion) came unto you before Moses, with evident miraculous proofs; but ye ceased not to be in doubt respecting that wherewith he came unto you, until, when he died, ye said without proof God will by no means send an apostle after him. Thus God causeth to err him who is a transgressor, or polytheist, [and] a sceptic. They who dispute respecting the signs of God, without any convincing proof having come unto them, their disputing is very hateful with God and with those who have believed. Thus God sealeth every heart (or the whole heart) of a proud contumacious person.

“And Pharaoh said, O Hámán, build for me a tower, that I may reach the avenues, the avenues of the heavens, and ascend unto the God of Moses; but verily I think him, namely Moses, a liar in his assertion that he hath any god but myself. And thus the wickedness of his deed was made to seem comely unto Pharaoh, and he was turned away from the path of rectitude; and the artifice of Pharaoh [ended] not save in loss. And he who had believed said, O my people, follow me: I will direct you into the right way. O my people, this present life is only a temporary enjoyment; but the world to come is the mansion of firm continuance. Whosoever doeth evil, he shall not be recompensed save with the like of it; and whosoever doeth good, whether male or female, and is a believer, these shall enter Paradise; they shall be provided for therein without reckoning. And, O my people, how is it that I invite you unto salvation, and ye invite me unto the Fire? Ye invite me to deny God, and to associate with Him that of which I have no knowledge; but I invite you unto the Mighty, the Very Forgiving. [There is] no doubt but that the false gods to the worship of which ye invite me are not to be invoked in this world, nor in the world to come, and that our return [shall be] unto God, and that the transgressors shall be the companions of the Fire. And ye shall remember, when ye see the punishment, what I say unto you; and I commit my case unto God; for God seeth His servants.—This he said when they threatened him for opposing their religion. Therefore God preserved him from the evils which they had artfully devised (namely slaughter), and a most evil punishment encompassed the people of Pharaoh, with Pharaoh himself (namely the drowning); then they shall be exposed to the Fire morning and evening; and on the day when the hour [of judgment] shall come, it shall be said unto the angels, Introduce the people of Pharaoh into the most severe punishment. (Sūrah xl. 27–49.)

“And the nobles of the people of Pharaoh said unto him, Will thou let Moses and his people go that they may act corruptly in the earth, by inviting to disobey thee, and leave thee and thy gods? (For he had made for them little idols for them to worship, and he said, I am your Lord and their Lord;—and therefore he said, I am your Lord the Most High.) He answered, We will slaughter their male children and will suffer their females to live: and verily we shall prevail over them. And thus they did unto them; wherefore the children of Israel complained, and Moses said unto his people, Seek aid of God, and be patient; for the earth belongeth unto God: He causeth whomsoever He will of His servants to inherit it; and the prosperous end is for those who fear God. They replied, We have been afflicted before thou camest unto us and since thou hast come unto us. He said, Perhaps your Lord will destroy your enemy and cause you to succeed [him] in the earth, and He will see how ye will act therein.—And We had punished the family of Pharaoh with dearth and with scarcity of fruits, that they might be admonished and might believe. But when good betided them, they said, This is ours:—that is, we deserve it;—and they were not grateful for it; and if evil befell them, they ascribed it to the ill luck of Moses and those believers who were with him. Nay, their ill-luck was only with God, He brought it upon them: but the greater number of them know not this. And they said unto Moses, Whatsoever sign thou bring unto us, to enchant us therewith, we will not believe in thee. So he uttered an imprecation upon them, and We sent upon them the flood, which entered their houses and reached to the throats of the persons sitting, seven days, and the locusts, which ate their corn and their fruits, and the kummal, or grubs, or a kind of tick, which sought after what the locusts had left, and the frogs, which filled their houses and their food, and the blood in their waters; distinct signs: but they were proud, refusing to believe in them, and were a wicked people. And when the punishment fell upon them, they said, O Moses, supplicate for us thy Lord, according to that which He hath covenanted with thee, namely, that He will withdraw from us the punishment if we believe: verily, if thou remove from us the punishment, we will assuredly believe thee, and we will assuredly send with thee the children of Israel. But when We removed from them the punishment until a period at which they should arrive, lo, they brake their promise. Wherefore we took vengeance on them, and drowned them in the sea, because they charged our signs with falsehood and were heedless of them. And We caused the people who had been rendered weak, by being enslaved, to inherit the eastern parts of the earth and its western parts, which we blessed with water and trees, (namely Syria); and the gracious word of thy Lord was fulfilled on the children of Israel, because they had been patient; and We destroyed the structures which Pharaoh and his people had built and what they had erected.” (Sūrah vii. 124–133.)

“We brought the children of Israel across the sea, and Pharaoh and his troops pursued them with violence and hostility, until, when drowning overtook him, he said, I believe that there is no deity but He in whom the children of Israel believe, and I am one of the Muslims. But Gabriel thrust into his mouth some of the mire of the sea, lest mercy should be granted him, and said, Now thou believest, and thou hast been rebellious hitherto, and wast [one] of the corrupters. But to-day we will raise thee with thy lifeless body from the sea, that thou mayest be a sign unto those who shall come after thee. (It is related, on the authority of Ibn-ʾAbbás, that some of the children of Israel doubted his death; wherefore he was brought forth to them that they might see him.) But verily many men are heedless of Our signs. (Sūrah x. 90–92.)

“And We brought the children of Israel across the sea; and they came unto a people who gave themselves up to the worship of idols belonging to them; [whereupon] they said, O Moses, make for us a god (an idol for us to worship), like as they have gods. He replied, Verily ye are a people who are ignorant, since ye have requited God’s favour towards you with that which ye have said; for that [religion] in which these are [occupied shall be] destroyed, and vain is that which they do. He said, Shall I seek for you any other deity than God, when He hath preferred you above the peoples of your time. (Sūrah vii. 134–136.)

“And We caused the thin clouds to shade you from the heat of the sun in the desert, and caused the manna and the quails to descend upon you, and said, Eat of the good things which We have given you for food, and store not up.—But they were ungrateful for the benefit, and stored up; wherefore it was cut off from them. And they injured not Us thereby; but they did injure their own souls.” (Sūrah ii. 54.)

“Remember, O children of Israel, when ye said, O Moses, we will not bear patiently the having one kind of food, the manna and the quails; therefore supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may produce for us somewhat of that which the earth bringeth forth, of its herbs and its cucumbers and its wheat and its lentils and its onions:—he said unto them, Will ye take in exchange that which is worse for that which is better?—But they refused to recede; therefore he supplicated God, and He said, Get ye down into a great city; for ye shall have therein what ye have asked.—And the marks of abjection and poverty were stamped upon them: so these characteristics necessarily belong to them, even if they are rich, as necessarily as the stamped coin belongeth to its die; and they returned with indignation from God. This was because they did disbelieve in the signs of God, and slay the prophets (as Zechariah and John) unjustly: this was because they rebelled and did transgress.” (Sūrah ii. 58.)

“And remember when Moses asked drink for his people, who had become thirsty in the desert, and We said, Strike with thy rod the stone. (It was the stone that fled away with his garment: it was light, square, like the head of a man, marble or kedhdhán.) Accordingly he struck it; and there gushed out from it twelve fountains, according to the number of the tribes, all men (each tribe of them) knowing their drinking-place. And We said unto them, Eat ye and drink of the supply of God, and commit not evil in the earth, acting corruptly. (Sūrah ii. 57.)

“Remember also when We obtained your bond that ye would do according to that which is contained in the Law, and had lifted up over you the mountain, namely Mount Sinai, pulled it up by the roots and raised it over you when ye had refused to accept the Law, and We said, Receive that which We have given you, with resolution, and remember that which is contained in it, to do according thereto: peradventure ye will fear the Fire, or acts of disobedience.—Then ye turned back after that; and had it not been for the grace of God towards you and His mercy, ye had certainly been of those who perish. And ye know those of you who transgressed on the Sabbath, by catching fish, when We had forbidden them to do so, and they were the people of Eyleh, and We said unto them, Be ye apes, driven away from the society of men.—Thereupon they became such, and they perished after three days.—And We made it (namely that punishment) an example unto those who were contemporary with them and those who came after them, and a warning to the pious. (Sūrah ii. 60–62.)

“And We appointed unto Moses thirty nights, at the expiration of which We would speak to him, on the condition of his fasting during them; and they were [the nights of the month of] Dhu-l-Kaadeh; and he fasted during them: but when they were ended, he disliked the smell of his breath; so he used a tooth-stick; whereupon God commanded him to fast ten other nights, that He might speak to Him with the odour of his breath, as He whose name be exalted hath said, and We completed them by adding ten nights of Dhu-l-Ḥijjeh: so the stated time of his Lord was completed, forty nights. And Moses said unto his brother Aaron, at his departure to the mountain for the private collocution, Be thou my deputy among my people, and act rightly, and follow not the way of the corrupt doers by agreeing with them in acts of disobedience. And when Moses came at Our appointed time, and his Lord spake unto him without an intermediary, he said, O my Lord, show me Thyself, that I may see Thee. He replied, Thou shalt not see Me: but look at the mountain, which is stronger than thou; and if it remain firm in its place, then shalt thou see Me. And when his Lord displayed Himself to the mountain (that is, when there appeared, of His light, half of the tip of His little finger, as related in a tradition which El-Ḥákim hath verified), He reduced it to powder, levelling it even with the ground around it; and Moses fell down in a swoon. And when he recovered, he said, Extolled be Thy perfection! I turn unto Thee repenting, and I am the first of the believers in my time.—God said unto him, O Moses, I have chosen thee above the people of thy time by honouring thee, by My commissions and by My speaking unto thee: therefore receive what I have given thee, and be of those who are grateful. And We wrote for him upon the tables of the Law (which were of the lote-tree of Paradise, or of chrysolite, or of emerald; in number seven, or ten) an admonition concerning every requisite matter of religion, and a distinct explanation of everything; and said, Therefore receive it with resolution, and command thy people to act according to the most excellent [precepts] thereof. (Sūrah vii. 138–142.)

“And the people of Moses, after it (that is, after his departure for the private collocution), made of their ornaments (which they had borrowed of the people of Pharaoh), a corporeal calf which Es-Sámiree cast for them, and which lowed; for he had the faculty of doing so in consequence of their having put into its mouth some dust taken from beneath the hoof of the horse of Gabriel; and they took it as a god. Did they not see that it spake not to them, nor directed them in the way? They took it as a god, and were offenders. But when they repented, and saw that they had erred, which was after the return of Moses, they said, Verily if our Lord do not have mercy upon us and forgive us, we shall assuredly be of those who perish. (Sūrah vii. 146–148.)

“And Moses returned unto his people enraged against them, exceedingly sorrowful. He said, O my people, did not your Lord promise you a good true promise, that He would give you the Law? But did the time of my absence seem tedious to you, or did ye desire that indignation from your Lord should befall you, and therefore did ye break your promise to me, and abstain from coming after me?—They answered, We did not break our promise to thee of our own authority; but we were made to carry loads of the ornaments of the people of Pharaoh (which the children of Israel had borrowed of them under pretence of [requiring them for] a wedding, and which remained in their possession), and we cast them into the fire, by order of Es-Sámiree. And in like manner also Es-Sámiree cast their ornaments which he had, and some of the dust which he had taken from the traces of the hoofs of the horse of Gabriel; and he produced unto them a corporeal calf, of flesh and blood, which lowed, by reason of the dust, the property of which is to give life to that into which it is put; and he had put it, after he had moulded the calf, into its mouth. And they (namely Es-Sámiree and his followers) said, This is your god, and the god of Moses; but he hath forgotten his lord here, and gone to seek him. God saith, But did they not see that it returned them not an answer, nor was able to cause them hurt or profit? And Aaron had said unto them, before the return of Moses, O my people, ye are only tried by it; and verily your Lord is the Compassionate; therefore follow me, by worshipping Him, and obey my command. They replied, We will by no means cease to be devoted to the worship of it until Moses return unto us. Moses said after his return, O Aaron, what hindered thee, when thou sawest that they had gone astray, from following me? Hast thou then been disobedient to my command by remaining among them who worshipped another than God?—He answered, O son of my mother, seize me not by my beard (for he had taken hold of his beard with his left hand), nor by [the hair of] my head (for he had taken hold of his hair with his right hand, in anger). Verily I feared lest if I followed thee (for a company of those who worshipped the calf would inevitably have followed me) thou shouldst say, Thou hast made a division among the children of Israel, and hast not waited for my sentence. Moses said, And what was thy motive for doing as thou hast, O Sámiree? He answered, I saw that which they saw not; therefore I took a handful of dust from the foot-marks of the horse of the apostle Gabriel, and cast it into the molten calf; and thus my soul allured me to take a handful of the dust above-mentioned, and to cast it upon that which had no life, that it might have life; and I saw that thy people had demanded of thee that thou wouldst make them a god; so my soul suggested to me that this calf should be their god. Moses said unto him, Then get thee gone from among us, and [the punishment] for thee during the period of thy life [shall be], that thou shalt say unto whomsoever thou shalt see, Touch me not:—(so he used to wander about the desert, and when he touched anyone, or anyone touched him, they both became affected with a burning fever:) and verily for thee is a threat which thou shalt by no means find to be false. And look at thy god, to the worship of which thou hast continued devoted. We will assuredly burn it: then we will assuredly reduce it to powder and scatter it in the sea. (And Moses, after he had slaughtered it, did this.) Your deity is God only, except whom there is no deity. He comprehendeth all things by His knowledge.—Thus, O Moḥammad, do We relate unto thee accounts of what hath happened heretofore; and We have given thee, from Us, an admonition; namely the Kur-án. (Sūrah xx. 88–99.)

“And they were made to drink down the calf into their hearts (that is, the love of it mingled with their hearts as drink mingleth,) because of their unbelief. (Sūrah ii. 87.)

“Remember, O children of Israel, when Moses said unto his people who worshipped the calf, O my people, verily ye have injured your own souls by your taking to yourselves the calf as a god; therefore turn with repentance unto your Creator from the worship of it, and slay one another: (that is, let the innocent among you slay the criminal:) this will be best for you in the estimation of your Creator. And he aided you to do that, sending upon you a black cloud, lest one of you should see another and have compassion on him, until there were slain of you about seventy thousand. And thereupon He became propitious towards you, accepting your repentance; for He is the Very Propitious, the Merciful. (Sūrah ii. 51.)

“Remember, also, O children of Israel, when ye said, having gone forth with Moses to beg pardon of God for your worship of the calf, and having heard his words, O Moses, we will not believe thee until we see God manifestly:—whereupon the vehement sound assailed you, and ye died, while ye beheld what happened to you. Then We raised you to life after ye had been dead, that peradventure ye might give thanks. (Sūrah ii. 52, 53.)

“And Moses chose from his people seventy men, of those who had not worshipped the calf, by the command of God, at the time appointed by Us for their coming to ask pardon for their companions’ worship of the calf; and he went forth with them; and when the convulsion (the violent earthquake) took them away (because, saith Ibn-ʾAbbás, they did not separate themselves from their people when the latter worshipped the calf), Moses said, O my Lord, if Thou hadst pleased, Thou hadst destroyed them before my going forth with them, that the children of Israel might have beheld it and might not suspect me; and me [also]. Wilt Thou destroy us for that which the foolish among us have done? It is naught but Thy trial: Thou wilt cause to err thereby whom Thou pleasest, and Thou wilt rightly guide whom Thou pleasest. Thou art our guardian; and do Thou forgive us and have mercy upon us; for Thou art the best of those who forgive: and appoint for us in this world what is good, and in the world to come; for unto Thee have we turned with repentance.—God replied, I will afflict with My punishment whom I please, and My mercy extendeth over everything in the world; and I will appoint it, in the world to come, for those who fear and give the legal alms, and those who believe on Our signs, who shall follow the apostle, the illiterate prophet, Moḥammad, whom they shall find written down with them in the Pentateuch and the Gospel, by his name and his description. He will command them that which is right, and forbid them that which is evil; and will allow them as lawful the good things among those forbidden in their law, and prohibit them the impure, as carrion and other things, and will take off from them their burden and the yokes that were upon them, as the slaying of a soul [for an atonement] in repentance, and the cutting off of the mark left by impurity. And those who shall believe in him and honour him and assist him and follow the light which shall be sent down with him, namely the Kur-án, these shall be the prosperous. (Sūrah vii. 154–156.)

“And remember when Moses said unto his people, O my people, remember the favour of God towards you, since He hath appointed prophets from among you, and made you princes (masters of servants and other attendants), and given you what He hath not given any [other] of the peoples (as the manna and the quails and other things). O my people, enter the Holy Land which God hath decreed for you (namely Syria), and turn not back, lest ye turn losers.—They replied, O Moses, verily there is in it a gigantic people, of the remains of the tribe of ʾA′d, and we will not enter it until they go forth from it; but if they go forth from it, then we will enter.—Thereupon two men, of those who feared to disobey God, namely Joshua and Caleb, of the chiefs whom Moses sent to discover the circumstances of the giants, and upon whom God had conferred favour, and who had concealed what they had seen of the state of the giants, excepting from Moses, wherefore the other chiefs became cowardly, said unto them, Enter ye upon them through the gate of the city, and fear them not; for they are bodies without hearts; and when ye enter it, ye overcome; and upon God place your dependence, if ye be believers.—But they said, O Moses, we will never enter it while they remain therein. Therefore go thou and thy Lord, and fight: for we remain here.—Then Moses said, O my Lord, verily I am not master of any but myself and my brother: therefore distinguish between us and the unrighteous people.—God replied, Verily it (namely the Holy Land) shall be forbidden them forty years; they shall wander in perplexity in the land: and be not thou solicitous for the unrighteous people.—The land through which they wandered was only nine leagues in extent. They used to journey during the night with diligence; but in the morning they found themselves in the place whence they had set forth; and they journeyed during the day in like manner. Thus they did until all of them had become extinct, excepting those who had not attained the age of twenty years; and it is said that they were six hundred thousand. Aaron and Moses died in the desert; and mercy was their lot: but punishment was the lot of those. And Moses begged his Lord, when he was about to die, that He would bring him as near as a stone’s throw to the Holy Land: wherefore He did so. And Joshua was made a prophet after the forty [years], and he gave orders to fight against the giants. So he went with those who were with him, and fought against them: and it was Friday; and the sun stood still for him awhile, until he had made an end of fighting against them. (Sūrah v. 23–29.)

“Ḳároon [or Korah] was of the people of Moses (he was the son of his paternal uncle, and the son of his maternal aunt, and he believed in him); but he behaved insolently towards them; for We had bestowed upon him such treasures that their keys were heavy burdens for a company of men endowed with strength, in number, as some say, seventy; and some, forty; and some, ten; and some, another number. Remember when his people (the believers among the children of Israel) said unto him, Rejoice not exultingly in the abundance of thy wealth; for God loveth not those who so rejoice; but seek to attain, by means of the wealth which God hath given thee, the latter abode [of Paradise], by expanding thy wealth in the service of God; and neglect not thy part in this world, to work therein for the world to come; but be beneficent unto mankind, by bestowing alms, as God hath been beneficent unto thee; and seek not to act corruptly in the earth; for God loveth not the corrupt doers. He replied, I have only been given it on account of the knowledge that I possess. For he was the most learned of the children of Israel in the Law, after Moses and Aaron. God saith, Did he not know that God had destroyed before him, of the generations, those that were mightier than he in strength, and who had amassed more abundance of wealth? And the wicked shall not be asked respecting their sins, because God knoweth them: therefore they shall be sent into the Fire without a reckoning. And Ḳároon went forth unto his people in his pomp, with his many dependants mounted, adorned with garments of gold and silk, upon decked horses and mules. Those who desired the present life said, O would that we had the like of that which hath been bestowed on Ḳároon in this world! Verily he is possessed of great good fortune!—But those unto whom knowledge of what God hath promised in the world to come had been given, said unto them, Woe to you! The reward of God in the world to come (which is Paradise) is better for him who believeth and worketh righteousness than that which hath been bestowed on Ḳároon in the present world; and none shall receive it but the patient in the service of God. And We caused the earth to cleave asunder and swallow up him and his mansion, and he had no forces to defend him, in the place of God, nor was he of the [number of the] saved. And the next morning, those who had wished for his place the day before said, Aha! God enlargeth provision unto whom He pleaseth of His servants, and is sparing of it unto whom He pleaseth! Had not God been gracious unto us, He had caused [the earth] to cleave asunder and swallow up us! Aha! the ungrateful for His benefits do not prosper! (Sūrah xxviii. 76–82.)

“Remember, when Moses said unto his people (when one of them had been slain, whose murderer was not known, and they asked him to beg God that He would discover him to them, wherefore he supplicated Him), Verily God commandeth you to sacrifice a cow. They said, Dost thou make a jest of us? He said, I beg God to preserve me from being one of the foolish. So when they knew that he decidedly intended what he had ordered, they said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us what she is; that is, what is her age. Moses replied, He saith, She is a cow neither old nor young; but of a middle age, between those two: therefore do as ye are commanded. They said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us what is her colour. He replied, He saith, She is a red cow: her colour is very bright: she rejoiceth the beholders. They said, Supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may manifest to us what she is, whether she be a pasturing or a working cow; for cows of the description mentioned are to us like one another; and we, if God please, shall indeed be rightly directed to her. (In a tradition it is said, Had they not said, ‘If God please,’—she had not ever been manifested to them.) He replied, He saith, She is a cow not subdued by work that plougheth the ground, nor doth she water the field: [she is] free from defects and the marks of work; there is no colour in her different from the rest of her colour. They said, Now thou hast brought the truth. And they sought her, and found her in the possession of the young man who acted piously towards his mother, and they bought her for as much gold as her hide would contain. Then they sacrificed her; but they were near to leaving it undone, on account of the greatness of her price. (And in a tradition it is said, Had they sacrificed any cow whatever, He had satisfied them: but they acted hardly towards themselves; so God acted hardly towards them.) And when ye slew a soul, and contended together respecting it, (and God brought forth [to light] that which ye did conceal—this is the beginning of the story [and was the occasion of the order to sacrifice this particular cow,]) We said, Strike him (that is, the slain person) with part of her. So he was struck with her tongue, or the root of her tail, or, as some say, with her right thigh; whereupon he came to life, and said, Such-a-one and such-a-one slew me,—to the two sons of his uncle. And he died. They two [the murderers] were therefore deprived of the inheritance, and were slain. Thus God raiseth to life the dead, and showeth you His signs (the proof of His power), that peradventure ye may understand, and know that He who is able to raise to life one soul is able to raise to life many souls. Then your hearts became hard, O ye Jews, so as not to accept the truth, after that, and they [were] as stones, or more hard: for of stones there are indeed some from which rivers gush forth; and of them there are indeed some that cleave asunder and water issueth from them; and of them there are indeed some that fall down through fear of God; whereas your hearts are not impressed, nor do they grow soft, nor do they become humble. But God is not heedless of that which ye do: He only reserveth you unto your time. (Sūrah ii. 63–69.)

“Remember when Moses said to his young man Joshua the son of Nun, who served him and acquired knowledge from him, I will not cease to go forward until I reach the place where the two seas (the Sea of Greece and the Sea of Persia) meet, or travel for a long space of time. And when they reached the place where they (the two seas) met they forgot their fish: Joshua forgot to take it up, on their departure; and Moses forgot to remind him; and it made its way in the sea by a hollow passage, God withholding the water from it. And when they had passed beyond that place, and proceeded until the time of the morning-meal on the following day, [Moses] said unto his young man, Bring us our morning-meal: we have experienced fatigue from this our journey. He replied, What thinkest thou? When we repaired to the rock to rest at that place, I forgot the fish, and none made me forget to mention it but the Devil; and it made its way in the sea in a wonderful manner.—Moses said, That (namely our loss of the fish) is what we were desiring: for it is a sign unto us of our finding him whom we seek. And they returned by the way that they had come, following the footsteps, and came to the rock. And they found one of Our servants (namely El-Khiḍr) unto whom We had granted mercy from Us (that is, the gift of prophecy in the opinion of some, and the rank of a saint according to another opinion, which most of the learned hold), and whom We had taught knowledge from Us respecting things unseen.—El-Bukháree hath related a tradition that Moses performed the office of a preacher among the children of Israel, and was asked who was the most knowing of men; to which he answered, I:—whereupon God blamed him for this, because he did not refer the knowledge thereof to Him. And God said unto him by revelation, Verily I have a servant at the place where the two seas meet, and he is more knowing than thou. Moses said, O my Lord, and how shall I meet with him? He answered, Thou shalt take with thee a fish, and put it into a measuring vessel, and where thou shalt lose the fish, there is he. So he took a fish, and put it into a vessel. Then he departed, and Joshua the son of Nun departed with him, until they came to the rock, where they laid down their heads and slept. And the fish became agitated in the vessel, and escaped from it, and fell into the sea, and it made its way in the sea by a hollow passage, God withholding the water from the fish so that it became like a vault over it: and when Moses’ companion awoke, he forgot to inform him of the fish.

“Moses said unto him [namely El-Khiḍr], Shall I follow thee, that thou mayest teach me [part] of that which thou hast been taught, for a direction unto me? He answered, Verily thou canst not have patience with me. For how canst thou be patient with respect to that whereof thou comprehendest not the knowledge?—He replied, Thou shalt find me, if God please, patient; and I will not disobey any command of thine. He said, Then if thou follow me, ask me not respecting anything: but be patient until I give thee an account thereof. And Moses assented to his condition. And they departed, walking along the shore of the sea, until, when they embarked in the ship that passed by them, he, El-Khiḍr, made a hole in it, by pulling out a plank or two planks from it on the outside by means of an axe when it reached the middle of the sea. Moses said unto him, Hast thou made a hole in it that thou mayest drown its people? Thou hast done a grievous thing.—(But it is related that the water entered not the hole.) He replied, Did I not say that thou couldst not have patience with me? [Moses] said, Chastise me not for my forgetfulness, nor impose on me a difficulty in my case.—And they departed, after they had gone forth from the vessel, walking on, until, when they found a boy who had not attained the age of knowing right and wrong, playing with other children, and he was the most beautiful of them in countenance, and he (El-Khiḍr) slew him, Moses said unto him, Hast thou slain an innocent soul, without his having slain a soul? Thou hast done an iniquitous thing.—He replied, Did I not say that thou couldst not have patience with me? [Moses] said, If I ask thee concerning anything after this time, suffer me not to accompany thee. Now hast thou received from me an excuse for thy separating thyself from me.—And they departed [and proceeded] until, when they came to the people of a city (which was Antioch), they asked food of its people; but they refused to entertain them: and they found therein a wall, the height whereof was a hundred cubits, which was about to fall down; whereupon he (El-Khiḍr) set it upright with his hand. Moses said unto him, If thou wouldst, thou mightest have obtained pay for it, since they did not entertain us, notwithstanding our want of food. El-Khiḍr said unto him, This shall be a separation between me and thee; but before my separation from thee, I will declare unto thee the interpretation of that which thou couldst not bear with patience.

“As to the vessel, it belonged to ten poor men, who pursued their business on the sea; and I desired to render it unsound; for there was behind them a king, an unbeliever, who took every sound vessel by force. And as to the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared that he would transgress against them rebelliously and impiously: for, according to a tradition related by Muslim, he was constituted by nature an unbeliever, and had he lived he had so acted; wherefore we desired that their Lord should create for them a better than he in virtue, and [one] more disposed than he to filial piety. And God created for them a daughter, who married a prophet, and gave birth to a prophet, by means of whom God directed a people to the right way. And as to the wall, it belonged to two orphan youths in the city, and beneath it was a treasure buried, of gold and silver, belonging to them; and their father was a righteous man; and thy Lord desired that they should attain their age of strength and take forth their treasure through the mercy of thy Lord. And I did it not (namely what hath been mentioned) of mine own will, but by direction of God. This is the interpretation of that which thou couldst not bear with patience.” (Sūrah xviii. 59–81.)

The following remarks are taken from Sale’s notes of al-Baiẓāwī and other commentators:—

“There is a tradition that Moses was a very swarthy man; and that when he put his hand into his bosom, and drew it out again, it became extremely white and splendid, surpassing the brightness of the sun.

“Moses had an impediment in his speech, which was occasioned by the following accident. Pharaoh one day carrying him in his arms when a child, he suddenly laid hold of his beard and plucked it in a very rough manner, which put Pharaoh into such a passion, that he ordered him to be put to death: but A′siyeh, his wife, representing to him that he was but a child, who could not distinguish between a burning coal and a ruby, he ordered the experiment to be made; and a live coal and a ruby being set before Moses, he took the coal and put it into his mouth, and burnt his tongue; and thereupon he was pardoned.—This is a Jewish story a little altered.

“It is related that the midwife appointed to attend the Hebrew women, terrified by a light which appeared between the eyes of Moses at his birth, and touched with extraordinary affection for the child, did not discover him to the officers, so that her mother kept him in her house, and nursed him three months; after which it was impossible for her to conceal him any longer, the king then giving orders to make the searches more strictly.

“The commentators say that the mother of Moses made an ark of the papyrus, and pitched it, and put in some cotton; and having laid the child therein, committed it to the river, a branch of which went into Pharaoh’s garden: that the stream carried the ark thither into a fishpond, at the head of which Pharaoh was then sitting with his wife A′siyeh, the daughter of Muzáḥem; and that the king, having commanded it to be taken up and opened, and finding in it a beautiful child, took a fancy to it, and ordered it to be brought up. Some writers mention a miraculous preservation of Moses before he was put into the ark; and tell us, that his mother having hid him from Pharaoh’s officers in an oven, his sister, in her mother’s absence, kindled a large fire in the oven to heat it, not knowing the child was there; but that he was afterwards taken out unhurt.”

MOSQUE. The Muḥammadan place of worship, which is called in Arabic masjid (مسجد‎). The term “mosque” is found in all European languages, and must have been derived from the Arabic form of the word, e.g. Spanish, mesquita; Italian, moschea; German, Moschee; French, mosquée; English, mosque or mosk.

For an account of these buildings, see MASJID.

MOTHER. (1) Kindness towards a mother is enjoined in the Qurʾān. Sūrah xlvi. 14: “We have prescribed for man kindness towards his parents. His mother bore him with trouble, and brought him forth with trouble.”

(2) Mothers cannot be compelled to nurse their children.

(3) They are not, without their husband’s permission, allowed to move them to a strange place. (Hidāyah, vol. i. pp. 386, 390.)

MOURNING. The period of mourning for the dead is restricted to three days, during which time the friends and relatives are expected to visit the bereaved family, and offer up prayers for the departed (fātiḥah), and speak words of consolation (taʿziyah). But a widow must observe the custom of mourning for a period of four months and ten days, which period is called iḥdād. During these periods of mourning, it is the duty of all concerned to abstain from the use of perfumes and ornaments, and to wear soiled garments. Lamentation, bukāʾ (Heb. bokhoh), for the dead is strictly forbidden by the Prophet (Mishkāt, book v. ch. vii.), but it is nevertheless a common custom in the East, amongst all sects of Muḥammadans. (See Arabian Nights; Lane’s Modern Egyptians; Shaw’s Travels in Barbary.)

MUʿĀHID (معاهد‎). One who enters into covenant (ʿahd) with another. An infidel who is permitted by a Muslim Government to enter its towns and carry on traffic, i.e. a ẕimmī. [ZIMMI.]

AL-MUʾAK͟HK͟HIR (الموخر‎). “The Deferrer.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It does not occur in the Qurʾān, but is given in the Ḥadīs̤.

MUʿALLIM (معلم‎). A teacher in a school or mosque. Al-Muʿallimu ʾl-Awwal, “The first teacher,” is a term used by philosophers for Aristotle. Amongst the Ṣūfīs it is used for Adam, who is said to be the first prophet. Muʿallimu ʾl-Malāʾikah, “The teacher of angels,” is also used by the Ṣūfīs for Adam, because it is said in the Qurʾān, Sūrah ii. 31: “O Adam, declare unto them (the angels) their names.”

MUʿĀNAQAH (معانقة‎). Embracing, or throwing oneself on the neck of one’s friend. A custom especially enjoined by Muḥammad. (Mishkāt, book xxii. ch. iii. pt. 2.)

AL-MUʿAQQIBĀT (المعقبات‎). Lit. “The succeeding ones.” A title given to the recording angels. [KIRAMU ʾL-KATIBIN.]

MUʿĀWIYAH (معاوية‎). The sixth K͟halīfah, and the founder of the Umaiyah dynasty (the Ommiades). He was the son of Abū Sufyān, one of the leading Companions of Muḥammad, and became K͟halīfah on the death of al-Ḥasan, and is regarded with great hatred by the Shīʿahs. He died A.H. 60. He was the first K͟halīfah who made the K͟halīfate hereditary.

AL-MUʿAWWIẔĀT (المعوذات‎). Lit. “The seekers of refuge.” The two last chapters of the Qurʾān.

Sūratu ʾl-Falaq (cxiii.), beginning with, “Say: I flee for refuge to the Lord of the Daybreak.”

Sūratu ʾn-Nās (cxiv.), beginning, “Say: I flee for refuge to the Lord of men.”

These chapters were ordered by Muḥammad to be recited after each stated prayer. (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. xix. pt. 2.)

MUʿĀẔ IBN JABAL (معاذ بن جبل‎). One of the most famous of the “Companions.” He was of the Banū K͟hazraj, and was only twenty years of age at the battle of Badr. Being well skilled in the Qurʾān, he was left at Makkah to instruct the people in the principles of Islām. He was also sent as the head of a band of collectors of taxes to south Arabia, and became Qāẓī of al-Yaman. After Muḥammad’s death, he became a leading person in the counsels of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, and was placed in charge of Syria by the latter K͟halīfah. He died at T̤āʿūn ʿAmawās.

MUʾAẔẔIN (موذن‎). The caller of the aẕān, or “summons to prayer.” In small mosques, the aẕān is given by the Imām, but in the larger ones, an official is specially appointed for the purpose. When the mosque has a minaret, he calls from the top of it, but in smaller places of worship, from the side of the mosque. The first muʾaẕẕin was Bilāl, the son of an Abyssinian slave-girl, and Muḥammad is related to have said, “The callers to prayer may expect Paradise, and whoever serves in the office for seven years shall be saved from hell fire.” (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. vi.) [AZAN.]

MUBĀḤ (مباح‎). Lit. “Allowed.” A term used in the religious and ceremonial law of Islām for an action which a person may do or let alone, being attended with neither praise nor blame.

MUBĀRĀT (مباراة‎). “Mutual discharge.” A term used in the law of divorce when a man says to his wife, “I am discharged from the marriage between you and me,” and she consents thereto. It is the same as k͟hulʿ.

AL-MUBDĪʾ (المبدى‎). “The Producer or Beginner.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It does not occur in the Qurʾān, but the idea is expressed in Sūrah lxxxv. 13: “He produces and restores.”

MUBTADIʿ (مبتدع‎). Lit. “An inventor.” A heretic, or a broacher of new opinions.

MUDABBAR (مدبر‎). A slave who has received his freedom in consequence of the master’s death, in accordance with a previous promise.

MUDDAʿĪ (مدعى‎). A plaintiff in a law-suit.

MUDDAʿĪ-ʿALAIH (مدعى عليه‎). A defendant in a law-suit.

AL-MUDDAS̤S̤IR (المدثر‎). Lit. “The Enwrapped.” The title of the LXXIVth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, in the first verse of which the word occurs. “O Thou, enwrapped in thy mantle, arise and preach.” This is considered by some to be the earliest Sūrah in the Qurʾān, but others think it was the XCVIth. [MUHAMMAD.]

MUFARRIḤU ʾL-AḤZAN (مفرح الاحزان‎). Lit. “The making cheerful under affliction.” A term used by pious Muslims for a spirit of resignation in affliction, which, they say, is to be produced by possessing faith with a firm belief in the decrees of fate. (ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)

MUFSID (مفسد‎). “A pernicious person.” It occurs in the Qurʾān frequently, e.g. Sūrah ii. 219: “God knoweth the foul dealer (mufsid) from the fair dealer (muṣlih).”

MUFTĪ (مفتى‎). The officer who expounds the law. He assists the Qāẓī, or judge, and supplies him with fatwās, or decisions. He must be learned in the Qurʾān and Ḥadīs̤, and in the Muslim works of law.

AL-MUG͟HNĪ (المغنى‎). “The Enricher.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It is referred to in the Qurʾān, Sūrah iv. 129: “God can make both independent (lit. ‘enrich’) out of His abundance.”

MUḤĀDAS̤AH (محادثة‎). Lit. “Discoursing together.” A term used by the Ṣūfīs for the calling of a person by God through some outward means, as when, according to the Qurʾān, Sūrah xxviii. 30, God spoke to Moses out of a tree. (ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)

MUḤADDIS̤ (محدث‎). (1) The narrator of a Ḥadīs̤ or acts and words of Muḥammad. (2) One learned in the Traditions.

AL-MUHAIMIN (المهيمن‎). “The Protector.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It occurs in the Qurʾān, Sūrah lix. 23, “He is … the Protector.”

MUHĀJIR (مهاجر‎). From hijrah, “flight.” One who performs hijrah either by (1) leaving Makkah in company with the Prophet, or (2) leaving a country ruled by an infidel power, or (3) by fleeing from what God has forbidden.

MUHĀJIRŪN (مهاجرون‎). The pl. of Muhājir. The exiles or refugees. A term used for all those converts to Islām who fled with their Prophet from Makkah. Under the title are also included all who from time to time joined Muḥammad at al-Madīnah, either from Makkah or from any other quarter, up to the taking of Makkah in A.H. 8. They rank first in order amongst the Companions of the Prophet.

MUḤALLIL (محلل‎). Lit. “One who makes lawful.” The man who marries a divorced wife in order to make her lawful for her former husband if he wish to marry her. [DIVORCE.]

MUḤAMMAD (محمد‎). Lit. “The Praised One.” Sometimes spelt Mohammed, Mohomed, or Mahomet.

Muḥammad, the founder of the religion generally known as Muḥammadanism, but called by its own adherents Islām [ISLAM], was the posthumous son of ʿAbdu ʾllāh, by his wife Āminah. ʿAbdu ʾllāh belonged to the family of Hāshim, which was the noblest tribe of the Quraish section of the Arabian race, and said to be directly descended from Ishmael. The father of ʿAbdu ʾllāh and the grandfather of Muḥammad, was ʿAbdu ʾl-Mut̤t̤alib, who held the high office of custodian of the Kaʿbah. [KAʿBAH.] The same year which saw the destruction of the Abyssinian invader, and formed an epoch in the history of Arabia, known as the Era of the Elephant, on account of the vast array of elephants the invaders brought with them, witnessed the birth of Muḥammad. Muḥammad is said to have been born about fifty-nine days after the attack of Abrahah, or on the 12th day of the month Rabīʿu ʾl-Awwal of the first year of the Era of the Elephant, which M. Caussin de Perceval believes to have been the fortieth year of the reign of Chosroes the Great (Kasra Anushirwan), and calculates the date to have been August 20th, A.D. 570 (see vol. i. pp. 282, 283). According to Sprenger, it was April 20th, A.D. 571. (Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad, vol. i. p. 138.)

Muḥammad was born at Makkah. And immediately upon his birth, his mother, Āminah, sent a special messenger to inform ʿAbdu ʾl-Mut̤t̤alib of the news. The messenger reached the chief as he sat within the sacred enclosure of the Kaʿbah, in the midst of his sons and principal men, and he arose with joy and went to the house of Āminah. He then took the child in his arms, and went to the Kaʿbah, and gave thanks to God. The Quraish tribe begged the grandfather to name the child after some member of the family, but ʿAbdu ʾl-Mut̤t̤alib said, “I desire that the God who has created the child on earth may be glorified in heaven,” and he called him Muḥammad, “the praised one.”

Al-Ḥāfiz̤, on the authority of Mak͟hzūm (quoted by Abū ʾl-Fidāʾ, p. 59), says that on the night that Muḥammad was born, the palace of Chosroes was shaken, and fourteen of its turrets fell; the fires of the Persians were extinguished, which had not been extinguished before for a thousand years; and the lake Sāwah sank.

It was not the custom of the better class of women amongst the Arabians to nurse their children, and consequently the infant, soon after his birth, was made over to S̤uwaibah, a slave-girl of his uncle Abū Lahab. S̤uwaibah had a son, whose name was Masrūḥ, whom she nursed at the same time, and she had also nursed Ḥamzāh, Muḥammad’s uncle, and Abū Salimah; so that these three men were his foster-brothers. S̤uwaibah only suckled Muḥammad for a few days, when the child was made over to Ḥalīmah, a woman of the tribe of the Banū Saʿd. Ḥalīmah was the daughter of ʿAbdu ʾllāh Abū Zuʾaib, the son of al-Ḥāris̤, and she took Muḥammad to her desert home, amongst the Banū Saʿd, where he remained for a period of two years. The foster-brother suckled by Ḥalīmah was ʿAbdu ʾllāh, and his foster-sisters Anīsah and Ḥarāmah.

The following story connected with Muḥammad’s stay with Ḥalīmah is related by Abū ʾl-Fidāʾ (p. 64). When some time passed, Muḥammad and his foster-brother went out to a distance from the house, when Ḥalīmah’s son came to his mother and said, “Two men clothed in white raiments have taken hold of the Quraish boy, and have thrown him down and have ripped open his belly.” So Ḥalīmah and her husband went to the place where the child was, but found him standing on his feet. And they said, “What has happened to thee child?” And he answered and said, “Two men came to me, and threw me down and ripped up my belly.” Then Ḥalīmah’s husband said to her, “I greatly fear that this boy has got the epilepsy.” So they took him to his mother Āminah. And Ḥalīmah said to Āminah, “I am afraid he is possessed of a devil.” But Āminah said, “What in the world can Satan have to do with my son that he should be his enemy?”

This circumstance has been regarded as the miracle when Gabriel came and took out the heart of the child and washed it from the stains of original sin. And some commentators say the first verse of the XCIVth Sūrah of the Qurʾān alludes to it: “Have we not opened thy breast?”

Muḥammad ever retained a most grateful recollection of the kindness he had received from the Banū Saʿd, and, in after years, he used to say, “Verily I am the most perfect Arab amongst you. My descent is from the Quraish, and my speech is the tongue of the Banū Saʿd.”

In his sixth year, Muḥammad was taken by his mother to al-Madīnah, but on the return journey she fell sick, and died at a place called al-Abwāʾ, where her body was buried. In subsequent years, Muḥammad visited his mother’s tomb at al-Abwāʾ, and wept over it, saying, “This is the grave of my mother; the Lord hath permitted me to visit it, and I sought leave to pray for her salvation, but it was not granted. So I called my mother to remembrance, and the tender memory of her overcame me, and I wept.”

The little orphan was then carried on to Makkah by Umm Aiman, who, although young in years, became his faithful nurse and companion. The charge of Muḥammad was now undertaken by ʿAbdu ʾl-Mut̤t̤alib, but the old chief died two years afterwards, and the child was committed to the care of his paternal uncle, Abū T̤ālib. When Muḥammad was twelve years old, he was taken by his uncle on a mercantile journey to Syria, and proceeded as far as Buṣrā. The expedition lasted for some months. According to the Muslim historian, Abū ʾl-Fidāʾ, it was at Buṣrā that Muḥammad met the Christian monk Buḥairaʾ, who is related to have said to Abū T̤ālib, “Return with this youth, and guard him from the hatred of the Jews; for great dignity awaits this your brother’s son.” It was on this journey that Muḥammad was brought in contact with the profession of Christianity in Syria, and had an opportunity of obtaining some information as to the national and social customs of Christians. He must have also passed through many Jewish settlements. It is, therefore, highly probable that it was on the occasion of this journey that Muḥammad’s mind became first impressed with the absolute necessity of reforming, not only the gross idolatry of Makkah, but the degrading social habits of the Arabian people.

After this journey, the youth of Muḥammad seems to have been passed uneventfully, but all authorities agree in ascribing to him a correctness of manner, and a purity of morals, which were at that time rare amongst the people of Makkah. The fair character and honourable bearing of the unobtrusive youth won the approbation of the citizens of Makkah, and by common consent he received the title of al-Amīn, “The Faithful.”

Between the years A.D. 580–590, the sacrilegious war broke out between the Quraish and the Banū Hawāzin, which lasted for nearly ten years. In two of the contests, Muḥammad, though only a lad, accompanied his uncles in their local wars. They were called “sacrilegious” because they were carried on during the sacred months, when fighting was forbidden.

The youth of Muḥammad passed away without any other incidents of interest. At this period he was employed, like other lads, in tending the sheep and goats of Makkah upon the neighbouring hills and valleys. He used afterwards to allude to his shepherd life, and say it comported with his prophetic office, even as it did with that of Moses and David: “Verily there hath been no prophet who hath not performed the work of a shepherd.”

When Muḥammad had reached his twenty-fifth year, on the recommendation of his uncle, Abū T̤ālib, he entered the service of K͟hadījah, a rich widow of Makkah. She was of the Quraish tribe, the daughter of K͟huwailid ibn Asad. With Maisarah, her servant, Muḥammad was placed in charge of the widow’s merchandise, and he again travelled the same route which he had traversed thirteen years before with his uncle. His journey again extended as far as Buṣrā, a city about sixty miles to the east of the river Jordan. He visited Aleppo and Damascus, and was doubtless brought in frequent contact with both Jews and Christians, and had another opportunity of obtaining that superficial acquaintance with the Jewish and Christian faiths, which enabled him in after years to embody so much of the teaching of the Bible in the verses of the Qurʾān. “The mutual animosity of Jew towards Christian,” says Mr. Stobart, “though they professed to worship the true God, though they appealed to the old Testament, and both equally revered the name of Abraham, and professed to abhor that idolatry in which he had been bred, may have led Muḥammad to think that possibly more divine truth lay hid in both these systems of belief, though covered and concealed by human inventions, and may have suggested to him the possibility of forming out of these conflicting elements one single simple catholic creed, and of thus uniting mankind in the worship and love of the great Father of all.” (Stobart’s Islām, p. 56.)

Muḥammad having proved himself faithful in the commercial interests of his mistress, was soon rewarded with her hand in marriage. When Muḥammad married her she was a widow of forty years of age, and had been already twice married, and had borne to her former husbands, two sons and a daughter. The house of Muḥammad and K͟hadījah was a bright and happy one, and their marriage fortunate and fruitful. Two sons and four daughters were its issue. Their eldest son was al-Qāsim, who died at the age of two years, whence Muḥammad was sometimes called Abū ʾl-Qāsim, or the father of al-Qāsim. The other son, ʿAbdu ʾllāh, surnamed at̤-T̤āhir and at̤-T̤aiyib, died in infancy. The four daughters were Zainab, Ruqaiyah, Umm Quls̤ūm, and Fāt̤imah. [FATIMAH.]

During her lifetime, K͟hadījah was Muḥammad’s only wife, and he always looked back to this period of his life with fond remembrance. When the world called him an impostor and a cheat, K͟hadījah was the first to acknowledge him to be the “Apostle of God.” Indeed, so much did he dwell upon the mutual love of K͟hadījah and himself, that the envious ʿĀyishah declared herself more jealous of this rival, who was dead, than of all the living rivals who contested with her the affection of the Prophet.

As yet Muḥammad was almost a stranger to the outside world, but he now obtained some reputation among his fellow men, by taking a prominent part in the resuscitation of an old league, called the Federation of the Fuẓūl [HILFU ʾL-FUZUL], formed in ancient times for the repression of acts of lawlessness within the walls of Makkah. A new compact was formed between four or five of the chief families of Makkah for the protection of the weak and oppressed, and Muḥammad was one of the most prominent movers in this federation, the revival of which resulted mainly from his efforts.

In his thirty-fifth year, he settled by his decision a grave difficulty, which had sprung up during the reconstruction of the Kaʿbah, regarding the placing of the sacred stone, and which almost threatened to plunge the whole of Arabia into another of their oft-recurring wars.

The Kaʿbah was too low in the building, and the Quraish wished to raise it higher, and so they demolished it. When it was rebuilt as far as the position of the Black Stone, the question arose, who should be the honoured instrument of raising the sacred relic into its place, for each tribe claimed the honour. Then the oldest citizen arose and said, “My advice is that the man who first entereth by the gate of the Banū Shaibah, shall be selected umpire in this difficult question, or shall himself place the stone.” The proposal was agreed upon, and the first man who entered the gate was he who was known as al-Amīn, “The Faithful,” Muḥammad, the son of ʿAbdu ʾllāh. Muḥammad decided upon an expedient, which served to satisfy the contending parties. The stone was placed on a cloth, and each tribe shared in the honour of raising it, by taking hold of the cloth. The stone being thus deposited in its proper place, the Quraish built on without interruption, and the great idol Hubal was placed in the centre of the sacred edifice, and around were ranged the various other idols of the Arabian people. “This circumstance,” says Sir William Muir, “strikingly illustrates the absence of any paramount authority at Mecca at this time. A curious story is related of an attempt made about this period to gain the rule of Mecca. The aspirant was Othmân, first cousin of Khadîja’s father. He was dissatisfied, as the legend goes, with the idolatrous system of Mecca, and travelled to the court of the Roman Emperor, where he was honourably entertained, and admitted to Christian baptism. He returned to Mecca, and on the strength of an imperial grant, real or pretended, laid claim to the government of the city. But his claim was rejected, and he fled to Syria, where he found a refuge with the Ghassânide prince. But emissaries from Mecca, by the aid of gifts, counteracted his authority with the prince, and at last procured his death.”—Muir’s Life of Mahomet, new ed. p. 31.

Shortly after the rebuilding of the Kaʿbah, Muḥammad adopted ʿAlī, the son of his friend and former guardian, Abū T̤ālib. ʿAlī was at this time only six years old. About this period he admitted to his closest intimacy another person, unconnected with him by family ties, but of more equal age. This was Zaid, a slave-boy belonging to K͟hadījah, who, to gratify her husband, made him a present of the slave. Zaid was the son of Ḥāris̤ah, of the Banū ʿUẕrah, a tribe which occupied the region of South Syria, and had been taken captive and sold to K͟hadījah’s grandfather as a slave. When Ḥāris̤ah heard that Muḥammad possessed Zaid, he came to Makkah and offered a large payment for his release. Muḥammad summoned Zaid, and gave him the option to go or stay. Zaid elected to stay, and Muḥammad, delighted with his faithfulness, gave him his liberty, and adopted him as his son. The freed man was henceforth known as Zaid ibn Muḥammad.

“Muḥammad was now approaching his fortieth year, and increased contemplation and reflection engaged his mind. The idolatry and moral debasement of his people pressed heavily upon him, and the dim and imperfect shadows of Judaism and Christianity excited doubts without satisfying them; and his mind was perplexed with uncertainty as to what was the true religion.” (Muir’s Life of Mahomet, new ed. p. 35.)

It is probable that it was at this time Muḥammad composed those Sūrahs of the Qurʾān which express the anxious yearning of an inquirer rather than the more positive teaching of an Apostle, and we would assign to this period the following verses of the Qurʾān, which, according to Muḥammadan commentators, are admitted to be of a very early date. (See Jalālu ʾd-dīn’s Itqān.)

Sūratu ʾl-ʿAṣr (ciii.):—

“I swear by the declining day!

“Verily, man’s lot is cast amid destruction,

“Save those who believe and do the things which be right, and enjoin truth and enjoin each other to be patient.”

Sūratu ʾl-ʿĀdiyāt (c.):—

“By the snorting chargers!

“And those that dash off sparks of fire!

“And those that scour to the attack at morn!

“And stir therein the dust aloft;

“And cleave therein their midway through a host!

“Truly, man is to his Lord ungrateful,

“And of this he is himself a witness;

“And truly, he is vehement in the love of this world’s good.

“Ah! knoweth he not, that when that which is in the graves shall be laid bare,

“And that which is in men’s breasts shall be brought forth,

“Verily their Lord shall on that day be informed concerning them?”

Sūratu ʾl-Fātiḥah (i.):—

“Praise be to God, Lord of all the worlds,

“The compassionate, the merciful!

“King of the day of reckoning!

“Thee only do we worship, and to Thee do we cry for help.

“Guide Thou us on the straight path,

“The path of those to whom Thou hast been gracious;—with whom thou art not angry, and who go not astray.”

The latter Sūrah is the Fātiḥah, or initial prayer, &c., often recited in public worship, and it appears to contain, if not the very words, at all events the gist of the daily prayer of an anxious and inquiring soul.

These Sūrahs were most probably followed by others of a similar character, being poetical effusions rather than express enunciations of any definite teaching. For example, Sūrahs ci., xcv., civ., xcii., xci., cvi.

Muḥammad seems to have employed himself in such meditations as find expression in these Sūrahs, some years before he assumed the office of a divine teacher, for it was but slowly and by degrees that he was led on to believe that he was really called of God, to preach a reformation both to his own people and to all mankind.

Bewildered by his own speculations amidst uncertain flickerings of spiritual light, Muḥammad spent some time in retirement, and in the agonies of distress repeatedly meditated suicide. Perplexed with the mysterious destiny of man and the failure of repeated revelations, he would fall into ecstatic reveries, and it was during one of these seasons of retirement, in the cave of Ḥirāʾ, that he believed an angel appeared to him in a dream, and that the first revelation came. According to the traditions collected by al-Buk͟hārī and Muslim (see Arabic edition, as Matthew’s translation in the Mishkāt is defective in several very important particulars), the first communication was made to Muḥammad in a dream.

ʿĀyishah relates: “The first revelations which the Prophet of God received were in true dreams. He never dreamed but it came to pass as regularly as the dawn of day. After this the Prophet went into retirement, and he used to seclude himself in a cave in Mount Ḥirāʾ, and worship there day and night. He would, whenever he wished, return to his family at Makkah, and then go back again, taking with him the necessaries of life. Thus he continued to return to K͟hadījah from time to time, until one day the revelation came down to him, and the angel (Malak) came to him and said, ‘Read’ (iqraʾ); but the Prophet said, ‘I am not a reader.’ And the Prophet related that the angel took hold of him, and squeezed him as much as he could bear, and then said again, ‘Read’; and the Prophet said, ‘I am not a reader.’ Then the angel took hold of him a second time, and squeezed him as much as he could bear, and then let him go, and said, ‘Read’; then the Prophet said, ‘I am not a reader.’ Then the angel again seized the Prophet, and squeezed him, and said:—

‘Read thou, in the name of thy Lord who created;—

‘Created man out of clots of blood:—

‘Read thou! For thy Lord is the most Beneficent,

‘Who hath taught the use of the pen;—

‘Hath taught man that which he knoweth not.’

(See Qurʾān, Sūratu ʾl-ʿAlaq (xcvi.), the first five verses.)

“Then the Prophet repeated the words with a trembling heart. And he returned (i.e. from Ḥirāʾ to Makkah) to K͟hadījah, and said, ‘Wrap me up, wrap me up.’ And they wrapped him up in a garment until his fear was dispelled; and he told K͟hadījah what had occurred, and he said to K͟hadījah, ‘I was afraid I should die.’ Then K͟hadījah said, ‘No, it will not be so, I swear by God. He will never make thee melancholy or sad. For you are kind to your relatives, you speak the truth, you are faithful in trust, you bear the afflictions of the people, you spend in good works what you gain in trade, you are hospitable, and you assist your fellow men.’ After this K͟hadījah took the Prophet to Waraqah, who was the son of her uncle, and said to him, ‘O son of my uncle, hear what your brother’s son says to you.’ Then Waraqah said to the Prophet, ‘O son of my uncle, what do you see?’ Then the Prophet told Waraqah what he had seen; and Waraqah said, ‘This is the Nāmūs [NAMUS] which God sent to Moses. O would to God I were young in this time! and would to God I were living at the time of your people turning you out!’ The Prophet said, ‘Will my people turn me out?’ And Waraqah said, ‘Yes. No man has ever come as you have come, and not been held in enmity; but if I should live to that day, I will give you great help.’ Waraqah soon died, and after that the revelation ceased (i.e. for a time).”

The first vision was followed by a considerable period, during which no further revelation was given, and during which Muḥammad suffered much mental depression. [FITRAH.]

“During this period,” al-Buk͟hārī says, “the Prophet was very sorrowful, so much so that he wished to throw himself from the top of a hill to destroy himself.”

But after a lapse of time, as he was wrapped up in his garments and lay stretched upon his carpet, the angel is said to have again addressed him, in the chapter which begins (Sūrah lxxiv.):—

“O thou enwrapped in thy mantle,
Arise and preach!”

Muḥammad then believed himself to be a commissioned Apostle, the messenger and the prophet of God, sent to reclaim a fallen people to the knowledge and service of their God. His revelations were God’s Book, and his sayings the utterances of inspiration.

The first convert to Islām was his faithful wife K͟hadījah, the two next, ʿAlī and Zaid, his adopted children, and afterwards his old trusted friend, Abū Bakr, “the True.” Then followed ʿUs̤mān, who was a grandson of ʿAbdu ʾl-Mut̤t̤alib; T̤alḥah, the renowned warrior of after days; and ʿAbdu ʾr-Raḥmān, a merchant of some consequence. The new converts soon numbered some fifty souls, either members of the Prophet’s family or his dearest friends.

An important change now occurred in the relations of Muḥammad with the citizens of Makkah. Their hostility was aroused, and the Muslims were subjected to some persecution and indignity. It was not, however, until some three years of his ministration had elapsed that any general opposition was organized. Hostility once excited soon showed itself in acts of violence. Saʿīd, a youthful convert, was attacked whilst leading a party of Muslims in prayer. He defended himself, and struck one of his opponents with a camel goad. It was, says Sir William Muir, “the first blood spilt in the cause of Islām.”

In the fourth year of his mission, Muḥammad took possession of the house of Arqam (a recent convert), and there held meetings for those who wished to know the teaching of the Prophet more perfectly.

The house of Arqam was in front of the Kaʿbah, and was therefore in a convenient position. So famous did it become as the birth-place of believers, that it was afterwards styled the “House of Islām.”

As the number of believers increased, so did the enmity of the persecutor, and in order to escape the danger of perversion, Muḥammad recommended such of his followers who were without protection to seek an asylum in a foreign land. Eleven men, accompanied by their families, set out for the port of Shueiba, where, finding two vessels about to sail, they embarked in haste, and were conveyed to Abyssinia.

Here they met with a kind reception from the Negus, or king, and their period of exile was passed in peace and comfort. This is termed the first hijrah, or “flight,” to Abyssinia, as distinguished from the later and more extensive emigration to the same land. In three months the refugees returned to Makkah.

About this time a strange episode occurred, in which Muḥammad sought a compromise with his people, by admitting their gods into his system as intercessors with the Supreme Being. While the Quraish sat beneath the Kaʿbah, he recited the following Sūrah as an inspired message (liii.):—

“And see ye not Lāt and ʿUzzā,
And Manāt the third besides?
These are exalted females,
And verily their intercession is to be hoped for.”

The idolaters were reconciled, and bowed before the God of Muḥammad. But his heart smote him, and not long after the obnoxious lines (those in italics) were said to be recalled by Gabriel, as suggested by the Evil One, and there was substituted the uncompromising denunciation of idolatry, from which he never after swerved:—

“What! shall there be male progeny unto you, and females unto him?

“That indeed were an unjust partition.

“They are naught but names which ye and your fathers have invented.”

In the sixth year of his mission, the cause of Muḥammad was strengthened by the accession of two powerful citizens, Ḥamzah and ʿUmar. Ḥamzah was the uncle and also the foster-brother of the Prophet, a man of distinguished bravery, whose heroism earned for him the title of the “Lion of God.” ʿUmar was a bold impulsive spirit, the very man needed to give strength to a cause, one who in a remarkable manner left the impress of his character upon the religious system he embraced. He succeeded Abū Bakr in the K͟halīfate, and left the stamp of his fierce warlike spirit upon Islām. [UMAR.]

Alarmed at the bold part which Muḥammad and his followers were now able to assume, the Quraish formed a hostile confederacy, by which all intercourse with the Muslims and their supporters was suspended. The severity of the ban at last overreached its object, for the sympathies of the people were enlisted by their privation in favour of Muḥammad and his followers. The interdict was cancelled and the Hāshimites restored to freedom.

In the beginning of the tenth year of his mission, and in the fiftieth of his life, Muḥammad lost his faithful and devoted wife K͟hadījah. For twenty-five years she had been his counsellor and support, and his grief at her death at first was inconsolable. She was sixty-five years old when she died. Abū T̤ālib, the Prophet’s uncle and guardian, died a few weeks afterwards. His conversion to Islām is a matter of uncertainty. Within two months of the death of K͟hadījah (who was his only wife during her lifetime), the Prophet married Saudah, the widow of one of the Abyssinian emigrants, and also betrothed himself to ʿĀyishah, the daughter of his friend Abū Bakr, then but a girl of seven years.

Abū T̤ālib had hardly been buried a fortnight when Muḥammad, followed only by his faithful attendants, set out on an adventurous mission to at̤-T̤āʾif, a place sixty miles to the east of Makkah, and the nearest city of importance. He went first to the three principal men of the city, and explained the object of his mission, and invited them to the honour of supporting him in sustaining the new faith. But he failed in producing conviction. Muḥammad remained at at̤-T̤āʾif ten days, but with no success. The mob, stirred up to hasten the departure of the unwelcome visitor, hooted at him in the streets, and pelted him with stones, and at last compelled him to flee out of the city. They chased him fully two miles across the sandy plain, until wearied and mortified, he took refuge for the night in a neighbouring garden, where he spent some time in earnest prayer. (Muir, 2nd ed., p. 114.)

Reinvigorated by the rest, he set forth on the return journey to Makkah.

Repulsed from at̤-T̤āʾif, and utterly hopeless at home, the fortunes of Muḥammad seemed dark, but hope dawned at last from an unexpected quarter. At the yearly pilgrimage, a little group of worshippers from al-Madīnah was attracted and won over at Minā by the preaching of Islām, joined his mission, and the following year they met Muḥammad and took the oath of allegiance which is known as the first Pledge of ʿAqabah. This little party consisted of twelve men, ten were of the K͟hazraj and two of the Aus tribe. They plighted their faith to Muḥammad as follows:—“We will not worship any but one God, we will not steal, neither will we commit adultery, nor will we kill our children; we will not slander in anywise; and we will obey the Prophet in everything that is just.”

At al-Madīnah the claims of the new Prophet found a ready response. A teacher was deputed from Makkah to al-Madīnah, and the new faith spread with marvellous rapidity.

The hopes of Muḥammad were now fixed on al-Madīnah, visions of his journey northwards doubtless flitted before his imagination and the musing of the day, reappeared in his midnight slumbers.

He dreamed that he was swiftly carried by Gabriel on a winged steed past al-Madīnah to the Temple of Jerusalem, where he was welcomed by the former Prophets all assembled in solemn conclave. From Jerusalem he seemed to mount upwards, and to ascend from one heaven to another, until he found himself in the awful presence of his Maker, who dismissed him with the order that he should command his followers to pray five times a day. [MIʿRAJ, BURAQ.]

When the time of pilgrimage again arrived, Muḥammad found himself surrounded by an enthusiastic band of seventy disciples from al-Madīnah, who in a secret defile at Minā plighted their faith, the second Pledge of ʿAqabah, whereby they promised to receive and defend the Faith at the risk of their own lives. After this Muḥammad determined to quit Makkah, and the command was given, “Depart unto al-Madīnah, for the Lord hath verily given you brethren in that city, and a house in which ye may find refuge.” And so, abandoning house and home, the Muslims set out secretly in little parties for al-Madīnah, where the numbers soon reached to about one hundred and fifty, counting women and children. Muḥammad, with Abū Bakr and ʿAlī, with their families, were left almost alone in Makkah. The Quraish held a council, and determined to slay Muḥammad; but being warned of their designs, he escaped to Mount S̤aur, near Makkah, where he hid himself three days in a cave, and after three more days he reached al-Madīnah.

The day of his flight, or hijrah, marks the Muḥammadan era, or Hegira. The date of the flight was the 4th of Rabīʿu ʾl-Awwal, and by the calculations of M. Caussin de Perceval, the 20th of June, A.D. 622. [HIJRAH.]

The flight to al-Madīnah changes the scene, and with it the character of the portions of the Qurʾān revealed there. He who at Makkah is the admonisher and persuader, at al-Madīnah is the legislator and the warrior, and the verses of the Qurʾān assume a more didactic tone. Poetry makes way for prose, and he openly assumes the office of a public warner and prophet.

The idolaters of Makkah disappear and their place is taken by the hypocrites [MUNAFIQUN] of al-Madīnah. Here at al-Madīnah there was no opposition to Muḥammad and his doctrines; but, nevertheless, an undercurrent of disaffection prevailed. The head of the party was ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Ubaiy, who, but for the new turn in the fortunes of the city was on the point of being its chief. These disaffected citizens, the munāfiqūn, or “hypocrites,” as they are called, continued to be the objects of bitter denunciation in the Qurʾān till near the close of the Prophet’s career. But before the success of Islām they too vanish from the scene.

The first year of Muḥammad’s residence at al-Madīnah was chiefly occupied in building the great mosque [MASJIDU ʾN-NABI], and in providing houses for himself and his followers. In a short time he became the recognised chief of the city. The mosque and the houses were finished within seven months of Muḥammad’s arrival. About the middle of the winter he left the house of Abū Aiyūb, with whom he had been staying, and installed Saudah in her new residence. Shortly afterwards he celebrated his nuptials with ʿĀyishah, who, though she had been three years affianced, was but a girl of ten years.

Thus, at the age of fifty-three, a new phase commenced in the life of Muḥammad. Hitherto limiting himself to a single wife, he had shunned the indulgence, but he now surrounds himself with the cares and discord of polygamy. The unity of his family was now broken, never again to be restored. Thenceforward his love was to be claimed, his attentions shared by a plurality of wives, and his days spent between their houses, for Muḥammad had no separate apartments of his own.

Those Muslims who had left Makkah with the Prophet and settled in al-Madīnah, were now known as the Refugees [MUHAJIRUN] whilst those who embraced the faith at al-Madīnah, were designated the Assistants or Allies [ANSAR]. Both these names in time became titles of distinguished honour.

In the second year of the Ḥijrah, Muḥammad commenced hostilities against the Quraish, and the first pitched battle took place at Badr. With an army of 305 followers, of whom two-thirds were citizens of al-Madīnah, Muḥammad routed a force three times the number. The following graphic description of the battle of Badr is given by Sir William Muir. (New ed. p. 230.)

“The valley of Badr consists of a plain, with steep hills to the north and east; on the south is a low rocky range; and on the west rise a succession of sandy hillocks. A rivulet, rising in the inland mountains, runs through the valley, producing along its course numerous springs, which here and there were dug into cisterns for the accommodation of travellers. At the nearest of these springs, the army of Mahomet halted. Habâl, a citizen of Medîna, advised him to proceed onwards. ‘Let us go,’ he said, ‘to the farthest spring, on the side of the enemy. I know a never-failing fountain of sweet water there; let us make that our reservoir, and destroy the other wells.’ The advice was good. It was at once adopted, and the command of the water thus secured.

“The night was drawing on. So they hastily constructed near the well a hut of palm branches, in which Mahomet and Abu Bakr slept. Sâd ibn Muâdz (Saʿd ibn Muʿāẕ) kept watch by the entrance with his drawn sword. It rained during the night, but more heavily towards the camp of the Coreish. The Moslim army, wearied with its long march, enjoyed sound and refreshing sleep. The dreams of Mahomet turned upon his enemies, and they were pictured to his imagination as a weak and contemptible force.

“In the morning he drew up his little army, and, pointing with an arrow which he held in his hand, arranged the ranks. The previous day he had placed the chief banner, that of the Refugees, in the hands of Musâl, who nobly proved his right to the distinction. The Khazrajite ensign was committed to Hobâb; that of the Bani Aus, to Sâd ibn Muâdz.

“Meanwhile, dissension again broke out in the camp of the Coreish, on the policy of fighting against their kinsmen. Shaiba and Otba (ʿUtbah), two chiefs of rank, influenced, it is said, by their slave Addâs (the same who comforted the Prophet on his flight from Tâyif), strongly urged that the attack should be abandoned. Just then, Omeir, a diviner by arrows, having ridden hastily round the valley, returned to report the result of his reconnaissance. ‘Ye Coreish,’ he said, after telling them his estimate of the enemy’s number, ‘calamities approach you, fraught with destruction. Inevitable death rideth upon the camels of Yathreb (Yas̤rib). It is a people that hath neither defence nor refuge but in their swords. They are dumb as the grave; their tongues they put forth with the serpent’s deadly aim. Not a man of them shall we kill, but in his stead one of ourselves also will be slain; and when there shall have been slaughtered amongst us a number equal unto them, of what avail will life be to us after that?’ These words began to produce a pacific effect, when Abu Jahl, as before, loudly opposed the proposals for peace. Turning to Amir the Hadhramite, he bade him call to mind the blood of his brother slain at Nakhla. The flame was rekindled. Amir threw off his clothes, cast dust upon his body, and began frantically to cry aloud his brother’s name. The deceased had been a confederate of the family of Shaiba and Otba (ʿUtbah). Their pride and honour were affected. They saw that thoughts of peace must now be scattered to the winds; and they resolved signally to vindicate themselves from the imputation of cowardice cast on them by Abu Jahl. The army was drawn up in line. The three standards for the centre and wings were borne, according to ancient privilege, by members of the house of Abd al Dar. They moved forward but slowly over the intervening sand-hills, which the rain had made heavy and fatiguing. The same cause, acting with less intensity, had rendered the ground in front of Mahomet lighter and more firm to walk upon. The Coreish laboured under another disadvantage; they had the rising sun before them, while the army of Medîna faced the west.

“Mahomet had barely arrayed his line of battle, when the advanced column of the enemy was discerned over the rising sands in front. Their greatly superior numbers were concealed by the fall of the ground behind, and this imparted confidence to the Moslems. But Mahomet was fully alive to the critical position. The fate of Islam hung upon the issue of the approaching battle. Followed by Abu Bakr, he hastened for a moment into the little hut, and raising his hands, poured forth these earnest petitions, ‘O Lord, I beseech Thee, forget not Thy promise of assistance and of victory. O Lord! if this little band be vanquished, idolatry will prevail, and the pure worship of thee cease from off the earth!’ ‘The Lord,’ said Abu Bakr, comforting him, ‘will surely come to thine aid, and will lighten thy countenance with the joy of victory.’

“The time for action had arrived. Mahomet again came forth. The enemy was already close; but the army of Medîna remained still. Mahomet had no cavalry to cover an advance, and before superior numbers he must keep close his ranks. Accordingly the Prophet had strictly forbidden his followers to stir till he should give the order for advance; only they were to check any flank movement of the Coreish by the discharge of arrows. The cistern was guarded as their palladium. Certain desperate warriors of the Coreish swore that they would drink water from it, destroy it, or perish in the attempt. Scarcely one returned from the rash enterprise. With signal gallantry, Aswad advanced close to the brink, when a blow from Hamza’s sword fell upon his leg, and nearly severed it from his body. Still defending himself, he crawled inwards and made good his vow; for he drank of the water, and with his remaining leg demolished part of the cistern before the sword of Hamza put an end to his life.