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Jane Dammen McAuliffe

Encyclopaedia of

Index Volume

B R I

EQ.

General Editor

Jane Dammen McAuliffe,

Georgetown University, Washington DC

Associate Editors

Claude Gilliot, University of Aix-en-Provence

William A. Graham, Harvard University

Wadad Kadi, University of Chicago

Andrew Rippin, University of Victoria

Assistant Editors

Monique Bernards, Vlijmen, The Netherlands

John Nawas, Catholic University Leuven

Advisory Board

Nasr Hamid Abu-Zayd, University of Leiden

Mohammed Arkoun, Sorbonne University

Gerhard Bowering, Yale University

Gerald R. Hawting, University of London

Frederik Leemhuis, University of Groningen

Angelika Neuwirth, Free University of Berlin

Uri Rubin, Tel-Aviv University

E<1

Encyclopaedia of
the Qur^an

VOLUME ONE

Jane Dammen McAuliffe, General Editor

Brill, Leiden — Boston — Koln

2001

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PREFACE

For more than a billion Muslims around the globe, the Qur'an reproduces God's very own
words. To hear its verses chanted, to see its words written large on mosque walls, to touch the
pages of its inscribed text creates a sense of sacred presence in Muslim minds and hearts. For
countless generations, Muslim families have greeted a newborn baby by whispering words
from the Qur'an in the infant's ear. For centuries, small children have begun their formal
education with the Qur'an. Seated around the teacher, they have learned to form the letters of
the Arabic alphabet and to repeat the words and phrases from which their own recitation of
the Qur'an will develop. In a religious culture that extols learning, those individuals who
acquire an advanced knowledge of the Qur'an are accorded profound respect. People who
commit all of the text to memory are treated with reverence. In fact, reverence marks most
Muslim interaction with the Qur'an, whether that be in silent prayer, public proclamation or
serious study.

A description of the Qur'an
For those with little previous exposure to the Qur'an it may be helpful simply to describe this
book. In the library of world scriptures, the Qur'an stands as one of the shorter entries. When
a textual tradition like the Buddhist canon of Pali, Sanskrit and Chinese scriptures is com-
pared to the Qur'an, the size differences are significant. Even the Hebrew Bible or the Chris-
tian canon of Old and New Testaments comprise much larger collections. In contrast, the
Qur'an is a fairly compact text of 114 sections. These sections or chapters, virtually all of
which begin with the introductory formula "In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compas-
sionate," are called suras. The suras, in turn, are composed of verses or, in Arabic, ayat (sing.
aya). Individual suras can contain just a few verses or a few hundred. This variation in length is
noteworthy because the Qur'an uses length as an organizing principle. The canonical text is
arranged by roughly descending order of sura length. In other words, the longer suras appear
earlier in the text, the very shortest ones toward the end.

The contents of the Qur'an are varied and not easily categorized. Nor are they ordered in a
manner that systematic modern minds might prefer. You will not, for example, find separate
suras devoted to theological pronouncements, to rules for social and personal behavior, to
prayers and liturgical specifications, to narratives about past prophets, to warnings about the
last judgment and descriptions of heaven and hell or to polemical challenges directed toward

PREFACE [[

those with other beliefs. You will, however, find all of these themes, as well as others, woven
through the various suras of the qur'anic text. In fact, the thematic complexity of the Qur'an
has spawned a genre of Islamic literature that seeks to extract and to categorize. Some of these
works attempt a comprehensive classification of qur'anic material under numerous headings
and subheadings while others concentrate upon a particular topic. In Muslim bookstores,
therefore, one finds books such as "What the Qur'an says about women" or "What the Qur'an
says about a just society."

Just as there is thematic variation within the Qur'an, there is also stylistic diversity. While the
Qur'an contains relatively little sustained narrative of the sort to which readers of the Hebrew
Bible or Christian New Testament would be accustomed — the twelfth sura being the prin-
cipal exception — the language of the Qur'an is frequently strong and dramatic. Vivid imag-
ery and evocative similes abound. Oaths and dialogues combine with divine direct address,
whether to the prophet Muhammad, to those who believe his message or to those who reject
it. Terse, elliptical language alternates with more prolonged, prosaic passages. Prayers and
prophecy intermix with the proscriptions and prescriptions that must guide human action.

The full force of this rhetorical diversity, however, may not be available to those who read the
Qur'an in translation. It is an article of Muslim faith and belief that the Qur'an is the Qur'an
only in Arabic. When translated it ceases to be "God's very own words" and becomes simply
an interpretation of the Arabic original. For this reason, whenever Muslims recite the Qur'an
in ritual prayer or other liturgical formats, they always recite it in Arabic. Nevertheless, there
are numerous translations of the Qur'an in most of the major languages of the world, includ-
ing English.

The study of the Qur'an
The long tradition of scholarship that the Qur'an has generated provides another indication of
the reverence that surrounds this text. Although the history of the text's pronouncement and
transmission, as well as the relation of this history to that of its earliest phases of interpre-
tation, remain matters of scholarly controversy, there is no doubt that questions about the text
itself and reflections upon its meaning were a part of the qur'anic environment from its incep-
tion. Not unexpectedly, matters of language took precedence, and the first efforts at interpreta-
tion or exegesis involved providing synonyms and explanations for unfamiliar words. As would
be the case with a recited text, variant vocalizations appeared and the increasing number and
variety of these eventually prompted steps toward regularization. Not all earlier listeners were
equally prepared to understand the sometimes elliptical nature of qur'anic discourse. Indi-
vidual phrases required exegetical interpolation as did narrative passages of a more allusive
nature.

Other questions quickly arose: When, and in what circumstances, were certain verses re-
vealed? Who or what is intended by an ambiguous term or phrase? To whom or to what does a
particular pronoun refer? Who is being addressed by a specific passage and to whom should it
apply: to all believers, present and future, or to a restricted set of individuals? Is the intended
sense metaphorical or should the verse be understood literally? Are all parts of the Qur'an
equally comprehensible or are some parts more inherently obscure or problematic? Are there
connections between verses, either within a sura or across various parts of the Qur'an? Can a
passage elsewhere in the text help to explain the one under present examination? Are there
levels or layers of meaning in the text and are these accessible only to individuals with special
intellectual or spiritual training?

[[[ PREFACE

Clearly what motivated this multiplicity of interpretive inquiries was more than a scholarly
interest in the scripture. Those with a thorough or intimate knowledge of the text were pressed
to provide answers to crucial questions about individual and group behavior. The words of the
Qur'an, understood as coming directly from God, guided social and religious practices within
the nascent Muslim community, so an adequate comprehension of the text was seen as essen-
tial to its correct application. But even the outlines of this early history remain a matter of
scholarly controversy. The question of "Islamic origins," understood to include the first two
centuries of this new religious movement, is the most contentious topic within the field of
Islamic studies. Scholars, both Muslim and non-Muslim, debate over matters of chronology,
geography and source reliability. Assertions and counter-assertions about the Qur'an stand at
the center of these contentions.

A brief sketch of the earliest stages of both the promulgation and interpretation of the
Qur'an can only allude to these debates, rather than engage them directly. Many scholars feel
that the initial stages of both promulgation and interpretation of the Qur'an were oral. And
they were connected. In the midst of reciting a portion of the text, the reciter might stop to
provide synonyms for terms unfamiliar to his audience. He might also make associations be-
tween one part of the Qur'an and another or offer short explanatory glosses for passages that
seemed allusive and elliptical. Storytelling was another activity of the first generations and
apparently qur'anic recitation was frequently supplemented with associated narratives that
drew upon a common store of biblical, hagiographical and legendary material.

Seeking the connection between this oral-performative period and its written conveyance,
asking whether it was simultaneous or subsequent, raises all of the historiographical concerns
just mentioned. Much of the traditional scholarship about this era is drawn from sources that
postdate it by several generations. The paucity of extant textual and epigraphic material that
can be incontestably ascribed to much of the first Islamic century exacerbates the situation.
What some scholars see as an exciting era of rapid rcligio-political change that has been ade-
quately and reliably described by later Muslim historians, other scholars view as a period of
intense sectarian strife whose chronological and geographical specifics can only be dimly
glimpsed. And there are a range of scholarly perspectives that lie between these two extremes.

By the late ninth century, however, Muslim understanding of the Qur'an had reached a stage
of doctrinal and exegetical stabilization and the tendency in academic study of the Qur'an has
been to view this as a pivotal moment. Theological debates about the nature of the Qur'an,
about whether it was "created" or "uncreated," had been sustained and surmounted. Gener-
ations of qur'anic interpretation, both oral and written, had produced a massive accumulation
of exegetical data, an accumulation captured in the key work that defines this moment. "The
compendium of explanations for the interpretation of the verses of the Qur'an" (Jami' al-
bayan 'an ta'wil ay al-Qur'an) was composed by the Baghdad! scholar Abu Ja'far b. Jarir al-
Tabarl (d. 310/923) and its most widely-available edition — it is still being reprinted — runs to
thirty volumes. Al-Tabari's commentary on the Qur'an represents itself as the summation of
all previous exegetical activity. From the vantage point of this commentary and similar works
that followed it, later Muslim scholarship on the Qur'an looks back to the first centuries of its
history and tracks this history in a generational schema.

Within this schema, the prophet Muhammad himself assumes pride of place as the Qur'an's
first interpreter. After his death, this primacy is passed to his closest followers, whom Islamic
history calls his Companions. Among the most prominent names of this exegetical generation
are: Ibn Abbas, Ibn Mas'ud, Ubayy b. Ka'b and the fourth caliph, All b. Abi Talib. Qur'anic

PREFACE | v

interpretation attributed to this period is also associated with the Prophet's youngest widow,
'A'isha. The next generation, that of the Followers according to traditional Muslim terminol-
ogy, includes names like Mujahid b. Jabr, 'Ikrima, Sa'ld b. Jubayr, al-Dahhak, Qatada b.
Diama and 'All b. Abl Talha. Later sources list all of these figures as students of Ibn 'Abbas, a
Companion whom the tradition has honored as being "the Ocean" of exegetical knowledge.

Between these very early names and the compendium work of al-Tabarl other important
figures entered the landscape of qur'anic interpretation: al-Hasan al-Basrl (d. 110/728), Muqa-
til b. Sulayman (d. 150/767), Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 161/778), Sufyan b. 'Uyayna (d. 196/811),
'Abd al-Razzaq (d. 211/827), Sahl al-Tustari (d. 238/896) and Hud b. Muhakkim (d. ca. 290/
903). During the last several decades printed editions have appeared whose attribution to these,
and other, early scholars raises all the questions of redaction history and authorial retrojec-
tion that continue to preoccupy the study of Islamic origins. Nevertheless, continuing source-
critical work on this period should provide both greater security in the accuracy of attribution
and a more refined understanding of the lines of exegetical influence.

While al-Tabarl's commentary remains a fundamental source, the library of qur'anic inter-
pretation grew steadily in the centuries following its early tenth-century appearance. Both
Muslim and non-Muslim surveys of exegetical history tend to classify these works by doctrinal
or ideological orientation. Without attempting to be exhaustive I will group some of the major
names in this fashion to help orient readers of this encyclopaedia who are less familiar with the
field of qur'anic studies. Most closely associated with the approach of al-Tabarl are: Abu
1-Layth al-Samarqand! (d. 375/985), Abu Ishaq al-Tha'labi (d. 427/1035), al-Baghawi (d. 516/
1122), Ibn 'Atiyya (d. 541/1147), Ibn al-jawzl (d. 597/1200), Ibn Kathir (d. 774/1373) and al-
Suyuti(d. 911/1505).

A more fluid categorization is that which identifies certain forms of interpretation as being
less concerned with conveying the exegetical dicta of the earliest Islamic centuries and more
interested in expressing particular theological or philosophical orientations. Muslim exegetical
history records a more mixed reception to this kind of interpretation. While the works of inter-
preters such as al-Qadi 'Abd al-Jabbar (d. 415/1025), al-Zamakhsharl (d. 538/1144) and Fakhr
al-Din al-RazI (d. 606/1210) have been questioned or condemned, those of Ibn Habib al-
Nisaburl (d. 406/1015), al-BaydawI (d. ca. 700/1301), al-Nasafl (d. 710/1310) and al-Khazin
al-Baghdadi (d. 742/1341) have received a generally favorable response.

Lists of the most famous Shi'i commentators usually include al-'Ayyashi (d. ca. 320/932),
al-Qumm! (11. mid 4th/ioth), al-Tusi (d. 460/1067) and al-TabarsI (d. 548/1153). While these
works do not represent an exegetical tradition that is completely divorced from that of Sunnl
commentary, they do mark their distinctiveness through reference to certain early authorities,
such asja'far al-Sadiq (d. 148/765) and other Shi'i imams, and through attention to particular
topics and modes of interpretation. Shi'i Islam is, of course, no more monolithic than its Sunn!
counterpart and there are important groups within Shl'ism, such as the Isma'llls and the
Zaydis, who cherish a lineage of commentators within their own intellectual communities.

A far more diverse form of qur'anic commentary is that associated with "mystical" Islam or
Sufism. A very early figure in this tradition, Sahl al-Tustari, has already been mentioned.
Other important Sufi commentaries are those of al-Sulaml (d. 412/1021), al-Qushayri (d. 465/
1072) and Ruzbihan al-Baqli (d. 606/1209), as well as that published under the name of Ibn
al-'Arabl (d. 638/1240) but actually the work of a successor. Sufi commentary is less likely
to attempt comprehensive exegetical coverage of the qur'anic text than the other works that
have been mentioned. Often it records the spiritual insights and mystical illuminations that a

j PREFACE

particular word or phrase of the Qur'an has generated, either in the author's mind or in the
minds of those whose thoughts he seeks to convey.

The selective nature of Sufi commentary finds its counterpart in another exegetical genre
that also focuses chiefly upon only certain parts of the qur'anic text. Legal commentaries on
the Qur'an concern themselves primarily with those verses that have behavioral implications,
that mandate or prohibit various kinds of human activity. The principal works in this category
are those of al-Jassas (d. 370/981), Ilkiya al-HarrasI (d. 504/1110), Muhammad b. Abdallah b.
al-'Arabi (d. 543/1148) and al-Qurtubl (d. 671/1272). Mention of the two last-named scholars
on this list allows me to note the geographic and linguistic spread of qur'anic exegesis.

Both Ibn al-'Arabi and al-Qurtubl are from Andalusia, an area of the medieval Muslim
world that produced a rich intellectual heritage. They wrote in Arabic, as did all of the com-
mentators whose names have been mentioned thus far. But important exegetical work on
the Quran has certainly not been limited to Arabic. Persian and Turkish contributions are
complemented by those in the languages of south and southeast Asia and of sub-Saharan
Africa. Especially in more recent centuries the linguistic spread of this interpretive tradition
has become more pronounced. While the twentieth century witnessed the publication of major
commentaries in Arabic, such as those of Muhammad 'Abduh and Rashld Rida, of Sayyid
Qutb, of al-Tabataba'i — a Persian who wrote in Arabic — of Bint al-Shatl' and of Muham-
mad Mutawalll al-Sha'rawi, it also welcomed Urdu contributions by Abu 1-A'la al-Mawdudi
and Amin Ahsan Islahl, as well as a thirty-volume work by Hamka (Haji Abdul Malik Karim
Amrullah) in Bahasa Indonesian.

Southeast Asia, which is home to about one quarter of the world's Muslim population, has
witnessed a contemporary resurgence of all forms of qur'anic studies. Recitation of the
Quran, for instance, takes the form of local, regional and national competitions for both men
and women, with qur'anic quiz shows as a popular part of these events. While quiz shows may
be a decidedly modern way to display expertise in qur'anic studies, the desire for comprehen-
sive attention to all aspects of the text and its conveyance has a very long history within Islamic
intellectual life. Although sequential commentary on the Qiir'an constitutes an important part
of that history and is a major element of what Muslims like to call the "qur'anic sciences," it is
by no means the only element.

Recitation itself has evolved into an elaborate set of disciplines that must be mastered in or-
der to insure the accurate and euphonious reproduction of the text. Students wishing to de-
velop this skill, whether native speakers of Arabic or not, spend years learning how to pro-
nounce every phonological element perfectly, how to pace the recitation properly and to pause
where required or suggested, how to render particular combinations of letters and to elongate,
with some syllables, the sound production for a precise duration. Along with assimilating the
rules of recitation, students also begin to memorize the Qiir'an and many eventually can recite
all 114 suras from memory, as have generations of their predecessors.

At advanced levels, recitation of the Qiir'an includes the acquisition of a thorough knowl-
edge of the various "readings" of the Qur'an. These represent yet another realm of the qur-
'anic sciences and one with very ancient roots. According to traditional accounts of the Quran's
textual canonization, an acceptable range of variability eventually emerged and was ratified by
the scholarly community. While most printed texts of the Qur'an that are in circulation today
draw upon only one of these textual traditions, others remain alive and are sustained by vary-
ing numbers of adherents.

As the qur'anic text continued to attract scrutiny from successive generations of scholars,

PREFACE V J

other categories within the broad range of the qur'anic sciences became more standardized
and generated their own subgenres of scholarly literature. Attempts to provide historical con-
textualization for specific qur'anic passages created the "occasions of revelation" literature,
exemplified in a noted work by al-Wahidi (d. 468/1076). The belief that the Qur'an contained
elements of its own abrogation, that some verses nullified the prescriptive force of others, gave
rise to an extensive interpretive and cataloguing effort that found expression in the works of
scholars like al-Zuhri (d. 124/742), al-Nahhas (d. 338/949), Hibat Allah b. Salama (d. 410/1020)
and Ibn al-'Ata'iql (d. ca. 790/1020).

Lexical examination led to yet further forms of categorization: qur'anic vocabulary deemed
"difficult" or "unusual" by virtue of its derivation or dialectical connection was collected in
works by Ibn Qutayba (d. 276/889), al-Sijistanl (d. 330/942) and al-Raghib al-Isbaham (d. 502/
1 108). Words with multiple meanings and words that function as synonyms are also treated by
Ibn Qutayba as well as by al-Damaghanl (d. 478/1085) and Ibn al-Jawzi. The more vexing
problem of semantic ambiguity prompted additional works of classification and textual cross-
referencing. Taken as a whole this exacting lexical scrutiny demonstrates a profound and reve-
rential engagement with the text, a reverence that is also evident in the rhetorical engrossment
that characterizes the developed qur'anic sciences.

From a very early period it has been a point of Muslim doctrine that the religious and rheto-
rical power of the Qur'an could never be replicated: the Qur'an, in the belief of Muslims, is
inimitable. Traditional literary criticism of the text concentrates upon elaborating the grounds
for this doctrinal declaration. As developed by classical scholars such as al-Rummanl (d. 386/
996), al-Khattabi (d. 388/998), al-Baqillanl (d. 403/1013) and al-Jurjani (d. 470/1078), these
grounds are both substantive and stylistic. Muslims hold the Qur'an to be the ratifying miracle
of Muhammad's prophethood because it contains information about the past and the future
and about God's relations with the world that no human being could attain unaided. The
Muslim belief that Muhammad was illiterate adds additional force to this sense of supra-
human origin and content. But beyond such matters of content lies the emphasis upon the
aesthetic effectiveness of the Qur'an. Careful and painstaking analysis of the text isolated
relevant examples of genre forms and literary figures; it scrutinized patterns of rhyme and
assonance; it catalogued specific instances of word choice and arrangement. This scrutiny and
analysis intermingled with praise of the Qur'an's overpowering eloquence. In fact, much of
the intricate dissection of the qur'anic text to be found in works on the "sciences of the Qur-
'an" could be viewed as an effort to explain the effect of qur'anic recitation upon the believer.
The rhetorical experience finds written manifestation in the extraordinarily detailed classifi-
cations produced by scholars such as al-Zarkashi (d. 794/1392) and al-Suyutl. Surveying the
eighty chapters of al-Suyiitl's monumental synthesis of the qur'anic sciences gives one a good
sense of textual scholarship as an act of abiding reverential attention.

Scholarship on the Qur'an was also produced by non-Muslims. Just as Muslim authors have
attended to the scriptural heritage of other religions, particularly Judaism and Christianity,
non-Muslim scholars have interested themselves in the Qur'an. Of course, much of this inter-
est was fostered by polemical concerns, a "know the enemy" mentality that became particu-
larly acute during periods of military hostility and intense economic competition. Even from a
very early period, verses or passages from the Qur'an were used by non-Muslims, in the time-
honored tradition of religious polemic, in an attempt to discredit its status as divine revelation
and to demonstrate internal inconsistencies. Even without direct quotation, polemical argu-
ments against the Qur'an became a commonplace of medieval Jewish and Christian religious

,;; PREFACE

discourse. Such noted figures as John of Damascus (d. 749) al-Qirqisanl (mid 10th cent.), Mai-
monides (d. 1204) and Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) may be mentioned in this regard.

The later medieval period, however, brought a new approach, one associated with the re-
nowned Abbot of Cluny, Peter the Venerable (d. 1156). While certainly not divorced from pole-
mical motives, Peter's initiative broadened the active translation movement that was producing
Latin versions of important Arabic scientific and medical works to include the Qur'an and
other works of a religious nature. To do this, Peter assembled a team of translators including
the Englishman Robert of Ketton (fl. 1136-57) who is credited with creating the first full trans-
lation of the Qur'an into any Western language. Despite criticisms of its accuracy and ar-
rangement, Robert's rendering remained the standard Latin version of the Qur'an for several
centuries.

It was soon joined, however, by that of Mark of Toledo (fl. 1193-1216) and recent scholarship
has demonstrated that both of these translators did not restrict themselves to the qur'anic text
alone but clearly had access to a number of major commentaries, either directly or through a
scholarly Muslim informant, and made skillful use of them. Much later translation also fol-
lowed this procedure, including that of the eighteenth-century English Orientalist George Sale
and his compatriot, the twentieth-century convert, Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall.

Robert of Ketton's translation, via its Italian rendering by Andrea Arrivabene published in
1547, influenced the first German and then Dutch translations. Extant manuscripts of Hebrew
translations of the Qur'an, such as that of Ya'aqov b. Israel ha-Levi which too appeared in
Venice in 1547, apparently draw upon this same lineage. During this same period French ver-
sions were also being produced and in 1698 Ludovico Marraci published another Latin trans-
lation that soon saw replication in various European languages. George Sale's 1734 combined
publication of both a translation of the Qur'an and a "Preliminary Discourse" that drew upon
earlier prolegomena served as the principle English-language primer on Islam for more than a
century.

Translation is, of course, not the only form of non-Muslim qur'anic studies that the medie-
val and early modern Europe generated. Access to the Qur'an via such translations provoked
responses from Jewish and Christian authors. The interests of both polemic and apologetic
were served by a closer knowledge of the qur'anic text, prompting scholars such as Ricoldo
da Montecroce (d. 1320) and Nicholas of Cusa (d. 1464) to pen refutations. Reference to the
Qur'an and the citation of specific passages can be found in many works of Jewish and Chris-
tian scholarship from these periods. Fragments of transcriptions of the Qur'an into Hebrew
characters, including some from the Genizah materials, provide additional indication of non-
Muslim study of the text. Then, of course, there has been the post-Enlightenment emergence
of "oriental" studies as a distinct academic discipline. Much of what is to be found in the Ency-
clopaedia of the Qiir'an builds upon the work begun in those academic centers that undertook the
"scientific" study of non-Western cultures and religions.

Even before this, faculties devoted to such studies had been founded in places like Leiden
(1593), Rome (1627) and Oxford (1638). Later they opened at other major European universities
and, eventually, at certain North American ones, as well. Arabic and other Islamic languages,
such as Persian and Turkish, were a primary focus of instruction because language compe-
tency was the indispensable prerequisite to the study of texts and other historical sources. In
this regard the emerging discipline of Islamic studies modeled itself upon classical studies as
these had developed during the Renaissance and after. Philology, understood as the study of a
culture through the lens of the texts that it produced, became the dominant methodology.

PREFACE viii

Because the Qur'an was recognized as central to the identity and historical development of
Islam, close attention was given to it, and qur'anic studies emerged as a major subfield within
the study of Islam.

In its development, non-Muslim (or "Western") qur'anic studies was profoundly influenced
by its sibling discipline of biblical studies. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century biblical critic-
ism, at least that part of it which had migrated from a rabbinic or monastic setting to a uni-
versity one, bracketed belief in the divine character of the Jewish and Christian scriptures.
The Renaissance willingness to apply principles of literary and historical criticism to ancient
Greek and Latin texts was adopted for another ancient text, the Bible. Taking a rationalist
perspective, some scholars sought to reconcile biblical teaching with the mandates of reason
while others concentrated upon the contradictions between the Bible and the canons of sci-
entific orthodoxy. Contextual investigations multiplied as scholars probed the cultural and
historical background of the biblical texts and pursued the literary heritage out of which these
grew, as well as the redactional process which created their final form.

As scholars schooled in Semitic philology and conversant with the historical-critical study of
the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament turned their attention to another ancient text, the
Qur'an, they brought with them this same disregard of dogmatic assumptions as irrelevant to
the tasks of scholarship. The Qur'an, like the Bible, was subjected to textual and philological
analysis and in the second half of the nineteenth century some of the seminal works that still
guide the field today were written. The names of Gustav Weil, Theodor Noldeke, Abraham
Geiger and Hartwig Hirschfeld were soon joined by their twentieth-century counterparts, such
as Ignaz Goldziher, Gotthelf Bergstrasse, Otto Pretzl, Richard Bell, Arthur Jeffery and Rudi
Paret. From a related perspective, some of these scholars and others approached the Qur'an as
the most reliable source for reconstruction of the life of Muhammad and the history of the
early Muslim community.

New factors in the study of the Qiir 'an
As this very brief sketch indicates, the history of Muslim and non-Muslim study of the Qur'an
could be characterized as two parallel conversations. Ordinarily these conversations proceeded
in relative isolation from each other except for those times when polemical salvos were
exchanged. The long trajectory of Muslim study and interpretation of the Qur'an has been a
largely self-contained exercise. Similarly, the more recently established field of qur'anic studies
within European and American institutes of higher education has certainly drawn upon the
centuries-long results of Muslim scholarship but has rarely established sustained, collaborative
conversation with contemporary scholars of the qur'anic sciences.

But the "two solitudes" of Muslim and non-Muslim qur'anic studies are beginning to break
open, at least on some occasions and within some contexts. Increasingly, international con-
ferences devoted to the academic study of the Qur'an attract scholars from both groups.
Journals that were formally quite segregated now show a greater diversity of authors' names
and institutional identifications. Opportunities to lecture at universities in the Muslim world
are being offered to non-Muslim scholars and the reverse of such invitations bring scholars
from these universities to European and North American institutions.

Perhaps the most significant point of confluence, however, is graduate training and the pro-
duction of new generations of doctoral degrees in the field of qur'anic studies. Increasingly,
students pursuing graduate work in qur'anic studies, as well as other subfields of Islamic
studies, in major universities in Europe, the United States, Canada and elsewhere are coming

x PREFACE

from immigrant Muslim families. Many of these are second or third generation products of
post-colonial patterns of Muslim migration to Great Britain, France, Germany and North
America. Consequently, most of these students enter graduate programs with an educational
background and a set of academic assumptions that are indistinguishable from those of their
non-Muslim peers. The present mix of academic publication in the field already reflects this
dynamic and future productivity will surely manifest its amplification.

The vastly increased rate of scholarly exchange facilitated by electronic communication, in-
cluding the Internet, further accelerates the opportunities for scholarly interaction within the
field of qur'anic studies. And it enhances another form of availability that will surely affect the
future of the field. It is worth noting that, until quite recently, the Qur'an as a written text was
available to a relatively small proportion of Muslims worldwide. Most Muslims for most of
Islam's long history have experienced the Qur'an orally. Literacy rates in pre-modern popu-
lations generally were far lower than they are today. In the last century, particularly with the
withdrawal of colonial domination in the Muslim world and the subsequent development of
systems of public education, there has been great change in mass literacy. The nineteenth- and
twentieth-century growth in book production has created the concomitant phenomenon of
textual accessibility.

Vast print runs, often subsidized by governmental agencies of religious affairs, have made the
Qur'an available to large segments of the Muslim population worldwide. Multiple translations
into virtually all of the world's languages have brought qur'anic teaching directly to the indi-
vidual without the necessary mediation of a religious scholar. Although translations do not
have the same status as the Arabic text, they have allowed many more Muslims to become
students of qur'anic meaning than was ever possible before. One area where such changes in
literacy and textual accessibility are proving transformative is that of Muslim women. Cur-
rently Muslim women are achieving secondary and post-secondary degrees in far greater
numbers than in any previous generation. And these educated women are reading the Qur'an.
Within its pages they are finding resources for religious and social renewal and they are forging
forms of leadership with which to effect these changes.

Easily-available printed versions are but one aspect of the contemporary textual accessibility
of the Qur'an. Television and radio broadcasts of qur'anic recitation are frequent. Audio
cassette or CD ROM recordings of the most famous reciters can be purchased in any town
with a substantial Muslim population, whether in the Middle East, Asia or North America.
And, of course, the Qur'an is on the Internet. Thousands of web sites offer the Arabic text,
translations into European, Asian and African languages, synchronized recitation of all or part
of the text and countless pages of introduction, explanation and commentary. Some versions
are searchable, whether by keyword, word segment or chapter and verse number. In fact, some
of the editorial accuracy checking for the qur'anic citations in this encyclopaedia was done
with a searchable, web-based text.

the eo

Planning for the Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an (eq) began in 1993 when I met in Leiden with a
senior Brill editor, Peri Bearman, to explore the possibility of initiating such a project. Very
quickly, four superb scholars, Wadad Kadi, Claude Gilliot, William Graham and Andrew
Rippin, agreed to join the editorial team. Both the desire to take stock of the field of qur'anic
studies at the turn of the century and an interest in seeing this field flourish in the new mil-
lennium prompted our initial conversations. From its inception, then, the EQ has gazed both

PREFACE x

backwards and forwards and this dual visioning has shaped the structuring of this encyclopae-
dia. As the associate editors and I proceeded with the planning, we were determined to create
a reference work that would capture this century's best achievements in qur'anic studies. But
we also wanted the EQ to stimulate even more extensive scholarship on the Qur'an in the
decades to come. In the service of this dual ambition, it was decided to expand the expected
alphabetical format of an encyclopaedia to include a series of longer, more comprehensive
articles. The associate editors and I envisioned these as synoptic statements of the present state
of reflection and research on major topics within the purview of qur'anic studies. The com-
bination of encyclopaedia entries, of varying length, and of essay-length overviews of major
research areas within the field of qur'anic studies seemed to us the best way both to honor the
accomplishments of the last century and to foster the achievements of this one.

But as important as this retrospective and prospective vision was to the creation of the EQ,
yet more important was the desire to make the world of qur'anic studies accessible to a very
broad range of academic scholars and educated readers. The various fields of literary studies
have produced countless dictionaries, encyclopaedias, commentaries and concordances dedi-
cated to the study of particular periods, areas, authors and works. Similarly, religious literature,
especially the Bible, has been the subject of hundreds of such works, with new ones being
produced at an ever-increasing rate. This scholarly abundance stands in stark contrast to the
situation in qur'anic studies. The number of reference works for the Qur'an that are accessible
in European languages remains quite small; much of the available information is partial and
incomplete or hidden in difficult-to-secure sources.

Of course, scholars who can command classical Arabic can avail themselves of thousands of
works on the Qur'an, including concordances, dictionaries and commentaries, but those with-
out this linguistic access have very little. For example, the last English dictionary of qur'anic
Arabic was published in 1873 and the only widely-available English concordance is keyed to a
translation of the Qur'an that used a nineteenth-century numbering system for the verses
now rarely encountered in printed versions. English-speaking scholars from fields other than
Islamic studies, therefore, are poorly served when they attempt to learn anything about the
Qur'an, either for their own research purposes or to introduce it to their students. It is with this
need in mind that the associate editors and I made the decision to use English-language entry-
words for this encyclopaedia. Our colleagues in the field of Islamic studies will appreciate that
this was neither an easy nor an uncontroversial decision. The Encyclopaedia of Islam (ei), which
has long been the most widely-used general reference work in the field, employs transliterated
Arabic entry-words or lemmata and this has come to be regarded as the scholarly norm. Such
a system allows a precision that is lost with the move to English-language lemmata. To take
but one example: There is no exact Arabic equivalent for the word "prayer." Salat refers to the
ritual worship that observant Muslims perform five times a day, while du'a' connotes less for-
malized, intercessory prayer. Dhikr is the term used for a very broad range of Sufi practices
and both classical and contemporary Arabic contain other relevant vocabulary items, as well.
The EI has articles on each of these three but nothing under the single entry-word, "Prayer."
Consequently the non-Arabist scholar or student who wants to know something about this
more general topic has a difficult time using the Elhut will not encounter such hurdles with
the EQ.

Yet another, much-debated decision was that concerning the scope of this encyclopaedia.
The Qur'an, as a major piece of world literature, and as the primary scripture of a world-wide
religious tradition, has generated a huge exegetical corpus. As I have already noted, multi-

x j PREFACE

volume commentaries on the Qur'an have been produced by virtually every generation of
Muslim scholars and, while most of these are written in Arabic, the languages of other Islamic
populations are well represented. The continuing popularity of this genre, in both its classical
and its contemporary productions, is manifest through sustained publication and sales. The
works of major classical commentators like al-Tabarl, al-Zamakhsharl, Ibn Kathir and al-
Suyutl can be found on the shelves of any good-sized bookstore in the Muslim world, along-
side such contemporary standards as the commentaries of al-Mawdudi, Sayyid Qutb and al-
Tabataba'i.

Consequently, the question had to be considered: Should this be an encyclopaedia of the
Qur'an or should it be an encyclopaedia of the Qur'an and its interpretation? There is, of
course, no clear division between these two categories. Virtually every article in this ency-
clopaedia draws, directly or indirectly, upon the corpus of qur'anic exegesis. Nevertheless,
project containment demanded that the focus of concentration remain the Qur'an itself.
Therefore, readers of the EQ will not find a separate article on al-Tabarl or Fakhr al-Dln al-
RazI, but they will find frequent reference to the works of these commentators and the -Eg's
cumulative index will allow users to track these references through all of its volumes. This, too,
was a tough editorial choice and one that I hope can be reconsidered if this encyclopaedia
eventually generates a second, expanded edition.

Along with the desire to create a reference work that would be accessible to scholars and
students from a broad range of humanistic and social scientific disciplines, the associate editors
and I shared a desire to include rigorous, academic scholarship on the Qur'an, scholarship that
grows from a plurality of perspectives and presuppositions. The key words in the preceding
sentence are "rigorous" and "academic." There is, as I have just recounted, no single academic
tradition of qur'anic scholarship. Centuries of Muslim scholarship on the Qur'an constitutes a
time line that overlaps with that of generations of Western scholarship on the text. And nei-
ther of these categories, inexact as they are, represents a single, monolithic approach or a
unique, overriding methodology. Both between and within the worlds of Muslim and Western
qur'anic scholarship one finds vigorous and contentious debate. Increasingly these worlds
overlap, both geographically and intellectually. With the rapid growth of Muslim populations
in Europe, North America and other parts of the world, the rough polarity of "Muslim" and
"Western" becomes ever more blurred. The internationalization of scholarship and of aca-
demic life accelerates this trend. As mentioned above, Muslim and non-Muslim scholars
interact freely at conferences on the Qur'an, whether these be in Leiden or Lahore. Academic
journals are much less self-segregated than they were a generation ago and the number of
Muslim scholars who have taken advanced degrees in Euro-American institutions in some field
of Islamic studies has increased exponentially. Scholarly perspective can no longer be neatly
pinned to religious identification and good scholarship is flourishing in this richly plural envi-
ronment. The editors of the EQ have striven to capture that plurality within the pages of this
encyclopaedia, wanting this work to represent the widest possible range of rigorous, academic
scholarship on the Qur'an.

Using the eq
Entries in the Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an appear in the customary alphabetical order but are of
two kinds. By far the majority are articles of varying lengths that treat important figures, con-
cepts, places, values, actions and events to be found within the text of the Qur'an or which
have an important relationship with the text. For example, the entry on "Abraham" deals with

PREFACE x |i

a figure found in the text while that on "African Literature" discusses a literary relationship.
The second category of articles that have been commissioned for the EQ are essay-length treat-
ments of important topics within the field of qur'anic studies. Again to take examples from the
first volume, I would point to the entries "Art and Architecture" and "Chronology and the
Qur'an." Here scholars were asked to let their writing reflect the past and present "state of
the question" on these significant topics.

As noted above, the decision to use English-language lemmata in the EQ has both advantages
and disadvantages. While it makes the work much more widely accessible to scholars in cog-
nate fields, it does not afford Arabists and Islamicists the familiar starting point of translite-
rated terminology. To solve this, a very thorough indexing of both English words and trans-
literated Arabic terminology is planned for the -Eg's final volume. Within the body of the
encyclopaedia, however, readers will find extensive use of transliteration, both in identification
of the lemmata and in the articles themselves, so that specialists in this field can have the pre-
cision that is important to them.

Of course, in planning the list of entries the decision about what constitutes an English word
could never be entirely straightforward. In general, our editorial policy has been guided by
current English usage as reflected in contemporary dictionaries and works of general refer-
ence. Where an Arabic proper name has a clear English cognate, that has been used. Where it
does not, the Arabic form has been retained. Relevant examples would be "Adam and Eve" as
opposed to "Dhu 1-Kifl."

Because the EQ has been created both to present scholarly understanding of the Qur'an and
to promote it, all authors have been urged to provide relevant and representative bibliography
for their articles. Readers will find these a helpful entry into further study of a particular topic.
In addition, in-text citation of both primary and secondary literature should assist scholars in
the field of Islamic studies as they develop more detailed studies of the topics treated in this
work. Citations of the Qur'an are given by chapter (sura) number, followed by verse (aya)
number, e.g. Q 30:46. This represents a departure from the more common Muslim practice of
identifying suras by name rather than number — the previous example would thus be Surat al-
Rum, 46 — but it makes it much easier for those unfamiliar with sura titles to find a passage in
a translated text of the Qur'an. The verse numbering itself follows the now-standard 1924
Cairo edition. Most of the English versions of the Qur'an that are commonly available follow
this numbering. The one significant exception is the translation of A.J. Arberry which follows
the verse numbering of Gustav Flugel's edition (1834), a numbering that can have a negative or
positive variance of several verses from the Cairo edition.

Although every effort has been made to assure accuracy of qur'anic citation in the articles of
the EQ, no particular translation was mandated by the project's style sheet. Authors were free
to use available translations or to make their own translations of the passages quoted in their
entries. Similarly, there was no way to insure absolute standardization of reference to primary
sources in classical Arabic, such as hadlth collections or commentaries on the Qur'an. While
the EQ style sheet, its "Instructions for Authors," listed preferred editions of many such works,
these were not always the ones available in the university or private libraries of individual
authors. Although I wish it had been possible to standardize all such references, the editorial
time required would have postponed the publication of the EQ considerably.

At the risk of repeating myself, I would like to underscore that the Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an is
an inaugural effort. It is a first attempt to create a substantial work of reference in a field that
has relatively few such resources. From its inception as a scholarly project, the editors of the EQ

x [[[ PREFACE

knew that they could never claim consummate thoroughness for this first edition. Many read-
ers and reviewers will have additional subjects and themes to suggest and both the editors and
the publisher welcome these proposals. If the EQ serves the purpose intended by those who
have shepherded it to publication, there will eventually be another, expanded edition enhanced
by the suggestions.

A concluding comment on controversy
As a concluding remark, I will broach a topic that may seem odd coming from the pen of a
general editor. (But perhaps it is but another form of the "situated scholarship" that has be-
come so prevalent in the last two decades.) That topic is this project's potential for controversy.
Many times since undertaking the responsibility of the EQ I have been asked by journalists,
colleagues and acquaintances whether I feel uneasy or at risk with such an involvement.
My answer is always "no" and it is usually accompanied by some expression of regret that the
frequent misrepresentation of Muslim sensibilities could even prompt such a question. Yet the
study of a text that millions of people hold sacred is a sensitive task. Some Muslims feel
strongly that no non-Muslim should even touch the Qur'an, to say nothing of reading and
commenting upon it. Yet most Muslims do not feel this way. While there are those who choose
to ignore non-Muslim scholarship on the Qur'an as irrelevant or inherently flawed and misin-
formed, others welcome the contributions that non-Muslim scholars have made to this field.

Conversely, there are non-Muslim scholars who have attempted to write about the Qur'an in
a manner that is not immediately offensive to the theological sensibilities of Muslims. Others
have operated with the assumption that such considerations have no place in the realm of
academic discourse. Personalities differ, ideological orientations differ and scholarly practices
differ on both sides of the dividing line. I have deliberately embraced a plurality of method
and perspective within the pages of the EQ, but I have done so conscious of the fact that not all
scholars, whether non-Muslim or Muslim, agree with this approach. There are Muslim col-
leagues who have preferred not to participate out of fear that association with the EQ would
compromise their scholarly integrity. There are non-Muslim colleagues who have demurred for
exactly the same reason. Nevertheless, these are very much the exceptions. Most scholars who
were invited to contribute accepted with enthusiasm and alacrity, pleased to see the appear-
ance of a reference work that would foster continued development within the field of qur-
'anic studies. It is my sincere hope, and that of the associate editors, that the EQ will do pre-
cisely that.

Jane Dammen McAuliffe
Georgetown University

ABBREVIATIONS

AI = Annates islamologiqv.es

AIUOM = Annali dell' Isti.tu.to Universitario

Orientate di Mapoli
AO = Acta orientalia
AO-H = Acta orientalia (Academiae Scientiarum

Hungaricae)
Arahica = Arabica. Revue d'etudes arabes
ARW — Archivfur Religionswissenschaft
AUU — Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis
BASOR = Bulletin of the American Schools of

Oriental Research
BEO = Bulletin d'etudes orientates de I'Institut

Francais de Damns
BGA = Bibliotheca geographorum arabicorum
BIFAO = Bulletin de I'Institut Francais d'Archeo-

logie Orientate du Caire
BO = Bibliotheca orientalis
BSA = Budapest studies in Arabic
BSOAS = Bulletin of the School of Oriental and

African Studies
Der Islam = Der Islam. Zjzitschriftfiir Geschichte

und Kultur des islamischen Orients
EI' = Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1st ed.,

Leiden 1913-38
EF = Encyclopaedia of Islam, new ed.,

Leiden 1954-
ER = Encyclopedia of religion, ed. M. Eliade,

New York 1986
ERE = Encyclopaedia of religions and ethics
GMS = Gibb memorial series
HO = Handbuch der Orientalistik

IA = Islam ansiklopedisi

IBLA = Revue de I'Institut des Belles Lettres

Arabes, Tunis
IC = Islamic culture
IJMES = International journal of Middle East

studies
IOS = Israel oriental studies
IQ_ = The Islamic quarterly
Iran = Iran. Journal of the British Institute of

Persian Studies
JA = Journal asiatique
JAF = Journal of Arabic literature
JAOS = Journal of the American Oriental Society
JE = Jewish encyclopaedia
JESHO = Journal of the economic and social

history of the Orient
JIS = Journal of Islamic studies
JNES = Journal of Near Eastern studies
JRAS = Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
JSAI = Jerusalem studies in Arabic and Islam
JSS = Journal of Semitic studies
MFOB = Melanges de la Faculte Orientate de

I'Universite St. Joseph de Beyrouth
MIDEO = Melanges de I'Institut Dominicain

d'etudes orientates du Caire
MO = Fe monde oriental
MSOS = Mitteilungen des Seminars fur

orientalische Sprachen, westasiatische Studien
Museon = Fe Museon. Revue des etudes orientates
MW = Fhe Muslim world
OC = Oriens christianus

ABBREVIATIONS

0L£ = Orientalistische Literaturzeitung
Orientalia — Orientalia. Commentarii periodici

Pontifuii Instituti Biblici
Qantara = al-Qantara. Revista de estudios arabes
QSA = Quaderni de studi arabi
RCEA = Repertoire chronologique d'epigraphie

arabe
REI = Revue des etudes islamiques
REJ = Revue des etudes juives
REA4MM = Revue du monde musulman et de la

Mediterranee
RHR = Revue de I'histoire des religions
RIMA — Revue du I'Institut des Manuscrits

Arabes
RMM = Revue du monde musulman
RO = Rocznik Orientalistyczny

ROC = Revue de I'orient chretien

RSO = Rivista degli studi orientali

Sir = Studia iranica

SI = Studia islamica

Wl = Die Welt des Islams

WKAS = Worterbueh der klassischen arabischen

Sprache
WO = Welt des Orients
W%KM = Wiener Zjitschrift fur die Kunde des

Morgenlandes
2AL — ^eitschrift fir arabische Linguistik
ZT)MG = ^eitschrift der Deutschen

Mo rgen Ian dischen Gesellschaf
%GAIW = ^eitschrift fur Geschichte der

arabisch-islamischen Wissenschaften
^S — ^eitsehrift fir Semitistik

AUTHORS OF ARTICLES

VOLUME I

Nadia Abu-Zahra, Oxford University
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, University of

Leiden
Camilla P. Adang, Tel-Aviv University
Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, Ecole

Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris
Mohammed Arkoun, Sorbonne University,

Paris
Ali S.A. Asani, Harvard University
Ahmad M. al-Baghdadi, Kuwait

University
Julian Baldick, University of London
Shahzad Bashir, College of the Holy

Cross, Worcester, MA
Doris Behrens-Abouseif, University of

London
Herbert Berg, University of North

Carolina at Wilmington
Khalid Y. Blankinship, Temple

University, Philadelphia
Michael Bonner, University of Michigan,

Ann Arbor
Maurice Borrmans, Pontificio Istituto di

Studi Arabi e d'Islamistica, Rome
Donna Lee Bowen, Brigham Young

University
Gerhard Bowering, Yale University
William M. Brinner, University of

California, Berkeley

Jonathan E. Brockopp, Bard College,

Annandale, NY
Christopher George Buck, Michigan

State University, East Lansing
John Burton, University of St. Andrews

(retired)
Heribert Busse, Muhlheim/Main
Juan Eduardo Campo, University of

California, Santa Barbara
Ahmad Salim Dallal, Stanford

University
Frederick Mathewson Denny,

University of Colorado, Boulder
Eerik Dickinson, Washington, DC
Abul Fadl Mohsin Ebrahim, University

of Durban Westville
Herbert Eisenstein, University of

Vienna
Nadia Maria El Cheikh, American

University of Beirut
Mohammad Fadel, Augusta, GA
Toufic Fahd, University of Strasbourg
Reuven Firestone, Hebrew Union

College, Los Angeles
Kais M. Firro, University of Haifa
Yohanan Friedmann, Hebrew University,

Jerusalem
Dmitry V. Frolov, Moscow University
Avner Giladi, University of Haifa
Hugh Philip Goddard, University of

Nottingham

AUTHORS OF ARTICLES

Oleg Grabar, Princeton University,

Institute for Advanced Studies
William A. Graham, Harvard University
Sidney H. Griffith, Catholic University

of America, Washington, DC
Beatrice Gruendler, Yale University
Sebastian Gunther, University of

Toronto
Rosalind W. Gwynne, University of

Tennessee, Knoxville
Wael B. HallaQj McGill University,

Montreal
Isaac Hasson, Hebrew University,

Jerusalem
Gerald R. Hawting, University of

London
Thomas Emil Homerin, University of

Rochester
Qamar-ul Huda, Boston College
John O. Hunwick, Northwestern

University, Evanston, IL
Sherman A.Jackson, University of

Michigan, Ann Arbor
Herbjorn Jenssen, University of Oslo
Anthony Hearle Johns, Australian

National University, Canberra
Nola J. Johnson, University of Toronto
Wadad Kadi (al-Qadi), University of

Chicago
Ahmet T Karamustafa, Washington

University, St. Louis
Marion H. Katz, Mount Holyoke College,

South Hadley, MA
Linda L. Kern, St. John's College,

Annapolis, MD
Tarif Khalidi, Cambridge University
Raif Georges Khoury, University of

Heidelberg
Richard Kimber, University of St. Andrews
Leah Kinberg, Tel-Aviv University
Alexander D. Knysh, University of

Michigan, Ann Arbor
Jacob Lassner, Northwestern University,

Evanston, IL
Frederik Leemhuis, University of

Groningen

Keith Lewinstein, Smith College,

Northampton, MA
Daniel A. Madigan, Pontifical Gregorian

University, Rome
Fedwa Malti-Douglas, Indiana

University, Bloomington
Richard C. Martin, Emory University
Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown

University, Washington DC
Sheila McDonough, Concordia

University, Montreal
Barbara D. Metcalf, University of

California, Davis
Mustansir Mir, Youngstown State

University
Roy P. Mottahedeh, Harvard University
Harald Motzki, University of Nijmegen
Azim Nanji, The Institute of Ismaili

Studies, London
John A. Nawas, Universite Catholique de

Louvain, Belgium
Angelika Neuwirth, Free University of

Berlin
Gordon Darnell Newby, Emory

University
Kathleen M. O'Connor, University of

California, Davis
Solange Ory, University of Aix-Marseille
Rudolph Peters, University of

Amsterdam
Daniel C. Peterson, Brigham Young

University
Ute Pietruschka, Philipps University,

Marburg
Nasser O. Rabbat, Massachusetts Institute

of Technology
A. Kevin Reinhart, Dartmouth College,

Hanover, NH
G.John Renard, St. Louis University
Andrew Rippin, University of Victoria, BC
Chase F Robinson, University of Oxford
Neal S. Robinson, University of Wales
Uri Rubin, Tel-Aviv University
Abdulaziz Sachedina, University of

Virginia
Usha Sanyal, Charlotte, NC

AUTHORS OF ARTICLES

Robert Schick, Henry Martyn Institute of

Islamic Studies, Hyderabad
Sabine Schmidtke, Free University of

Berlin
Cornelia Schock, University of Kiel
Hannelore Schonig, Martin Luther

University, Halle-Wittenberg
Michael A. Sells, Haverford College
William E. Shepard, University of

Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Denise A. Spellberg, University of Texas,

Austin
DevinJ. Stewart, Emory University
Rafael Talmon, University of Haifa
David Thomas, Selly Oak Colleges,

Birmingham
Shawkat M. Toorawa, Cornell

University

James A. Toronto, Brigham Young

University
Roberto Tottoli, University of Turin
Jacques DJ. Waardenburg, University of

Lausanne
David Waines, Lancaster University
Earle H. Waugh, University of Alberta
Gisela Webb, Seton Hall University
Alford T. Welch, Michigan State

University, East Lansing
Brannon M. Wheeler, University of

Washington
A.H. Mathias Zahniser, Asbury

Theological Seminary, Wilmore, KY
Mohsen Zakeri, University of Frankfurt

am Main
Mona M. Zaki, Princeton University

SHORT TITLES

Abbott, Studies II
N. Abbott, Studies in Arabic literary papyri.
II. Qur'anic commentary and tradition,
Chicago 1967

Abd al-Baqi
Muhammad Fu'ad Abd al-Baqi, al-Mujam
al-mufahras li-alfdz al-Qur'dn al-karim,
Cairo 1945

Abd al-Jabbar, Mutashdbih
Abd al-Jabbar b. Ahmad al-Asadabadi
al-Qadi al-Hamadhanl, Mutashdbih al-
Qur'dn, ed. Adrian M. Zarziir, 2 vols.,
Cairo 1969

Abd al-Jabbar, Tanzih
Abd al-Jabbar b. Ahmad al-Asadabadi al-
Qadi al-Hamadhanl, Tanzih al-Qur'dn 'an
al-matd'in, Beirut 1966

Abd al-Rahman, Tafsir
A'isha Abd al-Rahman, al-Tafsir al-baydni
lil-Qur'dn al-karim, 3rd ed., Cairo 1968

Abd al-Rahman, 'Asri
A'isha Abd al-Rahman, al-Qur'dn wa-l-tafsir
al-'asn, Cairo 1970

Abd al-Razzaq, Musannaf
Abd al-Razzaq b. Hammam al-San'ani,
al-Musannaf, ed. Hablb al-Rahman al-
A'zaml, 11 vols., Beirut 1390/1970;
2nd ed. Johannesburg 1983; ed.
Muhammad Salim Samara, 4 vols, (with
indices of hadlth), Beirut 1408/1988

Abd al-Razzaq, Tafsir
'Abd al-Razzaq b. Hammam al-San'ani,
al-Tafsir, ed. Mustafa Muslim Muhammad,
3 vols, in 4, Riyadh 1410/1989; ed. 'Abd
al-Mu'tl Amln Qal'ajl, 2 vols.,
Beirut 1411/1991; ed. Mahmud
Muhammad Abduh, 3 vols.,
Beirut 1419/1999.

Abu Dawud
Abu Dawud Sulayman b. al-Ash'ath al-
Sijistam, Sunan, ed. Muhammad Muhyl
1-Dln Abd al-Hamid, 4 vols., Cairo 1339/
1920; ed. Kamal Yusuf al-Hut, 2 vols.,
Beirut 1988

Abu 1-Futuh Razi, Rawh
Abu 1-Futuh Husayn b. All Razi, Rawh
al-jindn wa-ruh al-jandn, 12 vols.,
Tehran 1282-7/ : 962-5; 5 vols., Qiimm n.d.

Abu Hayyan, Bahr
Abu Hayyan al-Gharnatl, Tafsir al-bahr
al-muhit, 8 vols., Cairo 1328-9/1911; repr.
Beirut 1983; ed. Adil Ahmad Abd al-
Mawjud and All Muhammad Mu'awwad,
8 vols., Beirut 1993

Abu 1-Layth al-Samarqandl, Tafsir
Abu 1-Layth Nasr b. Muhammad b.
Ahmad al-Samarqandl, Bahr al-hdum, ed.
Abd al-Rahim Ahmad al-Zac[qa, 3 vols.,
Baghdad 1985-6; ed. All Muhammad
Mu'awwad et ah, 3 vols., Beirut 1413/1993

SHORT TITLES

Abu Shama, Murshid
'Abd al-Rahman b. Isma'll Abu Shama,
Kitdb al-Murshid al-wajiz ild 'ulum lata 'allaq
bi-l-kitdb al-'aziz, ed. Tayyar Altikulac,
Istanbul 1968

Abu 'Ubayd, Fadd'il
Abu 'Ubayd al-Qasim b. Sallam, Fadd'il
al-Qur'dn, ed. Wahbl Sulayman KhawajT,
Beirut 1411/1991

Abu 'Ubayd, Ghanb
Abu 'Ubayd al-Qasim b. Sallam, Ghanb al-
hadith, ed. Muhammad 'Abd al-Mu'ld
Khan, 4 vols., Hyderabad 1384-7/1964-7;
2 vols., Beirut 1406/1986; ed. Husayn
Muhammad M. Sharaf et al., 4 vols.,
Cairo 1404-15/1984-94; ed. Mas'ud HijazI
et al., Cairo 1419/1999

Abu 'Ubayd, Mdsikh
Abu 'Ubayd al-Qasim b. Sallam, Kitdb
al-Mdsikh wa-l-mansukh, ed. J. Burton,
Cambridge 1987

Abu Ubayda, Majdz
Abu 'Ubayda Ma'mar b. al-Muthanna
al-Tayml, Majdz al-Qur'dn, ed. F. Sezgin,
2 vols., Cairo 1954-62

Akhfash, ALa'dni
Abu 1-Hasan Sa'id b. Mas'ada al-Akhfash
al-Awsat, Ma'dni l-Qur'dn, ed. Fa'iz Faris
al-Hamad, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Kuwait 1981;
ed. 'Abd al-Amir Muhammad Amln
al-Ward, Beirut 1405/1985; ed. Huda
Mahmud Qurra'a, Cairo 1990

Allard, Analyse
M. Allard, Analyse conceptuelle du Coran sur
cartes perforees, Paris 1963

Alusi, Ruh
Mahmud b. 'Abdallah al-Alusi, Ruh al-
ma 'dniji tafsir al-Qur'dn al- 'azim wa-l-sab ' al-
mathdni, 30 vols, in 15, Cairo 1345/1926;
repr. Beirut n.d.

'Amill, A'ydn
Muhsin al-Amin al-'Amill, A'ydn al-shi'a,
56 parts, Damascus 1935-63; 11 vols.,
Beirut 1986

Anbari, Baydn
Abu 1-Barakat 'Abd al-Rahman b.

Muhammad b. al-Anbarl, al-Baydnfi ghanb

i'rdb al-Qur'dn, ed. Taha 'Abd al-Hamid

and Mustafa al-Saqqa, 2 vols.,

Cairo 1969-70
Anbari, Muzha

Abu 1-Barakat 'Abd al-Rahman b.

Muhammad al-Anbarl, Nuzhat al-alibbd'
ji~ tabaqdt al-udabd', Cairo 1294;

Stockholm 1963; ed. Ibrahim al-

Samarra 1 !, Baghdad 1970
Arberry

A.J. Arberry, The Koran interpreted,

London 1955
Arkoun, Lectures

M. Arkoun, Lectures du Coran, Paris 1982
'Ayyashi, Tafsir

Muhammad b. Mas'ud al-'Ayyashi, Tafsir,

2 vols., Tehran 1380/1961
Baghawi, Ma 'dlim

al-Husayn b. Mas'ud al-Shafi'l al-Baghawi,

Tafsir al-Baghawi al-musammd bi-Ma 'dlim al-

tanzil, ed. Khalid 'Abd al-Rahman al-'Akk

and Marwan Sawar, 4 vols., Beirut 1983
Baghdad!, Farq

Abu Mansur 'Abd al-Qahir b. Tahir al-

Baghdadl, al-Farq bayna l-firdq, ed.

Muhammad Badr, Cairo 1328/1910; ed.

Muhammad Muhyi 1-Dln 'Abd al-FIamid,

Cairo n.d.
Baghdad!, Ta'rikh Baghdad

Abu Bakr Ahmad b. 'All al-Khatlb al-

Baghdadl, Ta'rikh Baghdad, 14 vols.,

Cairo 1349/1931
Bahrain, Burhdn

Hashim b. Sulayman al-Bahra.nl, Kitdb al-

Burhdnfi tafsir al-Qur'dn, ed. Mahmud b.

Ja'far al-MusawI al-Zarandi et al., 4 vols.,

Tehran 1375/1995; repr. Beirut 1403/1983
Baljon, Modern

I. M.S. Baljon, Modern Muslim. Koran

interpretation (i88o-ig6o), Leiden 1961,

1968
BaqillanI, Tjdz

al-Qadl Abu Bakr Muhammad b. al-

Tayyib al-Bacullani, L'jdz al-Qur'dn, ed. al-

Sayyid Ahmad Saqr, Cairo 1954

SHORT TITLES

Baqillanl, Intisdr

al-Qadi Abu Bakr Muhammad b. al-

Tayyib al-Baqillanl, }iukat al-intisar li-naql

al-Qur'an, ed. Muhammad Zaghlul Salam,

Alexandria 197 1
Baydawl, Anwar

Abdallah b. 'Umar al-BaydawI, Anwar

al-tanzil wa-asrdr al-ta'wil, ed. H.O.

Fleischer, 2 vols., Leipzig 1846; Beirut 1988
Beeston, CHAL

A.F.L. Beeston et al., eds., The Cambridge

history of Arabic literature, 4 vols, to date,

Cambridge 1983-
Bell, Commentary

R. Bell, A commentary on the Qiir'an, ed. C.E.

Bosworth and M.E.J. Richardson, 2 vols.,

Manchester 1991
Bell, Qur'an

R. Bell, The Qur'an. Translated, with a critical

re-arrangement of the suras, 2 vols. ,

Edinburgh 1939; repr. i960
Beltz, Mythen

W. Beltz, Die Mythen des Koran. Der Schliissel

Zum Islam, Diisseldorf 1980
Bergstrasser, Verneinungs

G. Bergstrasser, Verneinungs- und Fragepar-

tikeln und Verwandtes im Kur'an, Leipzig 1914
Biqa'l, JVagm

Burhan al-Dln Ibrahim b. 'Umar al-Biqa'T,

Nairn al-durarji tandsub al-ayat wa-l-suwar,

22 vols., Hyderabad 1969-84; repr.

Cairo 1992
Birkeland, Lord

H. Birkeland, The Lord guideth. Studies on

primitive Islam, Oslo 1956
Birkeland, Opposition

H. Birkeland, Old Muslim opposition against

interpretation of the Koran, Oslo 1955
Blachere

R. Blachere, Le Coran. Traduit de I'arabe,

Paris 1966
Blachere, Introduction

R. Blachere, Introduction au Coran, Paris 1947
Bobzin, Koran

H. Bobzin, Der Koran. Eine Einfiihrung,

Munich 1999

Bobzin, Reformation
H. Bobzin, Der Koran im ^eitalter der
Reformation. Studien z.ur
Friihgeschichte der Arabistik und Islamkunde in
Europa, Beirut/Stuttgart 1995

Bouman, Confi.it
J. Bouman, Le confi.it autour du Coran et la
solution d' al-Baqilla.nl, Amsterdam 1959

Bouman, Gott und Mensch
J. Bouman, Gott und Mensch im Koran. Eine
Strukturform religiose?' Anthropologic anhand
des Beispiels Allah und Muhammad,
Darmstadt 1977

Bowering, Mystical
G. Bowering, The mystical vision of existence
in classical Islam. The qur'dnic hermeneutics
of the Sufi Sahl at-Tustan (d. 283/ 8g6),
Berlin 1980

Brockelmann, gal
C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen
Litteratur, 2nd ed., 2 vols, and 3 vols, suppl.
Leiden 1943-9; w ith new introduction,
Leiden 1996

Buhl, Das Leben
F. Buhl, Das Leben Muhammeds, trans. H.H.
Schaeder, Leipzig 1930; 1931 (3rd ed.)

Bukharl, Sahih
Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad b. Isma'll
al-Bukharl, Kitab al-Jami' al-sa/uh, ed.
L. Krehl and T.W. Juynboll, 4 vols.,
Leiden 1862-1908; 9 vols., Cairo 1958

Burton, Collection
J. Burton, The collection of the Qur'an,
Cambridge 1977

Chabbi, Seigneur
J. Chabbi, Le seigneur des tribus. L'isla?n de
Mahomet, Paris 1997

Creswell, ema
K.A.C. Creswell, Early Aluslim architecture,
2 vols., Oxford 1932-40; 2nd ed.,
London 1969

Damaghanl, Wujuh
al-Husayn b. Muhammad al-Damaghanl,
al- Wujuh wa-l-naza'ir li-alfdz Kitab Allah
al-'aziZ} ed. Muhammad Hasan Abu
l-'Azm al-Zafltl, 3 vols., Cairo 1412-16/

SHORT TITLES

1992-5; ed. 'Abd al-'AzIz Sayyid al-Ahl
(as Qarnus al-Qiir'an), Beirut 1970

Damirl, Hay at
Muhammad b. Miisa al-Damlrl, Haydt
al-hayawdn al-kubra, 2 vols., Cairo 1956

Dam, Muqni'
Abu Amr 'Uthman b. Sa'ld al-Dani, al-
Muqni' fi rasm masahif al-amsdr ma'a Kitab al-
Naqt = Orthographic und Punktierung des Koran,
cd. O. Pretzl, Leipzig/Istanbul 1932; ed.
Muhammad al-Sadiq QamhawT,
Cairo n.d.

Dam, .Naqt
Abu Amr 'Uthman b. Sa'ld al-Dam, al-
Muhkam.fi naqt al-masdhif, ed. 'Izzat Hasan,
Damascus 1379/1960

Dam, Taysir
Abu Amr 'Uthman b. Sa'ld al-Dam, Kitab
al-Taysirfi l-qira'dt al-sab ' = Das Lehrbuch
der sieben Koranlesungen, ed. O. Pretzl,
Leipzig/Istanbul 1930

Daraqutnl, Mu'talif
Abu 1-Hasan Allb. 'Umar al-Daraqutnl,
al-Mu'talif wa-l-mukhtalif, ed. Muwaffaq b.
Abdallah b. Abd al-Qadir, 5 vols.,
Beirut 1986

Dariml, Sunan
Abdallah b. Abd al-Rahman al-Dariml,
Sunan, Cairo 1966

Darwaza, Tafsir
Muhammad 'Izzat Darwaza, al-Tafsir
al-hadith, 12 vols., Cairo 1381-3/1962-4

Dawudi, Tabaqat
Muhammad b. All al-Dawudi, Tabaqat
al-mufassinn, ed. All Muhammad 'Umar,
2 vols., Beirut 1983

Dhahabl, Mufassirun
Muhammad Husayn al-Dhahabi, al-Tafsir
wa-l-mufassirun, 2 vols., Cairo 1976

Dhahabl, Qurra'
Shams al-Dln Muhammad b. Ahmad al-
Dhahabl, Ala 'rifat al-qurra' al-kibdr 'aid
l-tabaqat wa-l-a'sar, ed. Sayyid Jad al-Haqq,
n.p. 1969

Dhahabl, Siyar
Shams al-Dln Muhammad b. Ahmad

al-Dhahabi, Siyar a'lam al-nubala', ed.
Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut et al., 25 vols.,
Beirut 1981-8

Dhahabl, Tadhkira
Shams al-Dln Muhammad b.
Ahmad al-Dhahabi, Tadhkirat al-huffa^,
4 vols., Hyderabad 1375/1955

Dhahabl, Ta'nkh
Shams al-Dln Muhammad b. Ahmad
al-Dhahabi, Ta'rikh al-hlam, ed. 'Umar
Abd al-Salam Tadmurl, 52 vols, to date,
Beirut 1989-; 4 vols, (years 601-640), ed.
Bashshar Awwad Ma'ruf et al.,
Beirut 1408/1988

van Ess, TO
J. van Ess, Theologie und Gesellschafl im 2. und
g. Jahrhundert Hidschra. Eine Geschichte des
rdigiosen Denkens imfruhen Islam, 6 vols.,
Berlin/New York 1991-7

Farisi, Hujja
Abu All al-Hasan b. All al-Farisi, al-Hujja
lil-qurrd' al-sab'a, ed. Badr al-Dln al-
Q_ahwajl et al., 4 vols., Damascus 1985-91

Farra', Ma'am
Abu Zakariyya' Yahya, b. Ziyad al-Farra',
Ma'am l-Qur'an, ed. Ahmad Yusuf NajatI
and Muhammad All al-Najjar, 3 vols.,
Cairo 1955-72

Flruzabadi, Basd'ir
Majd al-Dln Muhammad b. Ya'qub al-
Flruzabadi Basd'ir dhawT l-tamyizfi lata 'if
al-kitab al- 'aziz, ed. Muhammad All
1-Najjar, 4 vols., Cairo 1964; repr.
Beirut n.d.

GAP
W. Fischer and H. Gatje, eds., Grundriss
der arabischen Philologie, 3 vols.,
Wiesbaden 1982-92

Gardet and Anawati, Introduction
L. Gardet and M.M. Anawati, Introduction a
la theologie musulmane, Paris 1948, 3rd ed.,
1981

Gilliot, Elt
C. Gilliot, Exegese, langue, et theologie en Islam.
L'exegese coranique de Taban (m. gio/gsg),
Paris 1990

SHORT TITLES

Gimaret, Jubbelf

D. Gimaret, Une lecture mu'taiilite du Coram.

Le tafsir d'Abu All al-Djubba'T (m. 303/gif)

partiellement reconstitue a partir de ses citateurs,

Louvain/Paris 1994
Goldziher, as

I. Goldziher, Gesammelte Schriften, ed.J.

Desomogyi, 6 vols., Hildesheim 1967-73
Goldziher, Ms

I. Goldziher, Muhammedanische Studien,

2 vols., Halle 1888-90;

trans., G.R. Barber and S.M. Stern,

Muslim studies, London 1967-72
Goldziher, Richtungen

I. Goldziher, Die Richtungen der islamischen

Koranauslegung, Leiden 1920; repr. 1970
Graham, Beyond

W.A. Graham, Beyond the written word. Oral

aspects of scripture in the history of religion,

Cambridge and New York 1989
Grimme, Mohammed, III

H. Grimme, Mohammed. I, Das Leben nach

den Quellen. II, Einleitung in den Koran. System

der koranischen Theologie, Miinster 1892-5
Griinbaum, Beitrdge

M. Griinbaum, Beitrdge z.ur semitischen

Sagenkunde, Leiden 1893
Hajjl Khalifa, Kashf

Mustafa 'Abdallah Hajjl Khalifa, Kashf al-

gunun, ed. and trans. G Fliigel, 7 vols.,

Leipzig 1835-58; ed. Serefettin Yaltkaya

and Kilisli Rifat Bilge, 2 vols.,

Istanbul 1941-3; repr. Beirut 1992-3
Hawting and Shareef, Approaches

G.R. Hawting and A. A. Shareef (eds.),

Approaches to the Qur'dn, London 1993
Hawting, Idolatry

G.R. Hawting, The idea of idolatry and the

emergence of Islam. From polemic to history,

Cambridge 1999
Hawwa, Tafsir

Sa'ld H awwa > al-Asasfi l-tafsir, n vols.,

Cairo 1405/1985
Horovitz, KU

J. Horovitz, Koranische Untersuchungen,

Berlin/Leipzig 1926

Hud b. Muhakkam, Tafsir
Hud b. Muhakkam/Muhkim al-Huwwari,
Tafsir, ed. Balhajj Sa'id Sharlfi, 4 vols.,
Beirut 1990

Ibn 'Abbas, Gharlb
'Abdallah b. 'Abbas (attributed to), Gharib
al-Qur'an, ed. Muhammad 'Abd al-Rahim,
Beirut 1993

Ibn Abl 1-Isba', Badi'
Ibn Abl 1-Isba' al-Misrl, Badi' al-Qur'an, ed.
Hifixl Muhammad Sharaf, Cairo n.d.

Ibn Abl Usaybi'a, 'Uyun
Ahmad b. al-Qasim b. Abl Usaybi'a, 'Uyun
al-anba'fi tabaqdt al-atibbd', ed. A. Miiller,
2 vols., Cairo 1299/1882; 3 vols.,
Beirut 1957

Ibn al-Anbari, Idah
Abu Bakr Muhammad b. al-Qasim b. al-
Anbari, Idah al-waqf wa-l-ibtidd'fi Kitdb
Allah, ed. Muhyl I-Din 'Abd al-Rahman
Ramadan, 2 vols., Damascus 1391/1971

Ibn al-'Arabl, Ahkdm
Muhammad b. Abdallah Abu Bakr b.
al-'Arabl, Ahkdm al-Qur'an, 2nd ed.,
Cairo 1392/1972

Ibn al-'Arabl, Tafsir
Muhammad b. Abdallah Abu Bakr b. al-
Arabi, Tafsir al-Ojir'dn, 2 vols., Beirut 1968
(see Qashanl)

Ibn Asakir, Ta'nkh
All b. al-H^san b. Asakir, Ta'rlkh madinat
Dimashq, abridged ed. Abd al-Qadir
Bardan and Ahmad 'Ubayd, 7 vols.,
Damascus 1329-51/1911-31; facsimile ed.,
19 vols., Amman n.d.; 29 vols.,
Damascus 1404-8/1984-8; ed. Muhyl 1-Din
'Umar b. Gharama al-AmrawI, 70 vols,
to date, Beirut 1995-98

Ibn Ashur, Tafsir
Muhammad al-Tahir b. Ashur, al-Tafsir
al-tahnri wa-l-tanwiri, 30 vols., Tunis 1984

Ibn 'Askar, Takmil
Muhammad b. All al-Ghassani b. Askar,
al-Takmil wa-l-itmam li-Kitdb al-Ta'nf wa-l-
i'lam, ed. H asan Isma'll Marwa,
Beirut/Damascus 1418/1997 (see Suhayli)

SHORT TITLES

Ibn al-Athir, Kamil
'Izz al-Dln 'All b. al-Athir, al-Ka.mil fi
l-ta'nkh, ed. C.J. Tornberg, 14 vols.,
Leiden 1851-76; corrected repr. 13 vols.,
Beirut 1385-7/1965-7

Ibn al-Athir, JVihaya
Majd al-Dln al-Mubarak b. al-Athir, al-
Mihayafi ghanb al-hadith wa-l-athar, ed. Tahir
Ahmad al-Zawi and Mahmud al-Tanahl,

5 vols., Cairo 1963-6
Ibn 'Atiyya, Muharrar

Abu Muhammad Abd al-Haqq b. Ghalib

b. 'Atiyya al-Gharnati, al-Muharrar al-wajiz,

ed. 'Abd al-Salam Abd al-Shaft

Muhammad, 5 vols., Beirut 1413/1993
Ibn Durays, Fada'il

Muhammad b. Ayyiib b. Durays, Fada'il

al-Qur'an, ed. Ghazwa Budayr,

Damascus 1988
Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib

Ibn Hajar al-Asqalanl, Tahdhib al-tahdhib,

12 vols., Hyderabad 1325-7/1907-9;

Beirut 1968
Ibn Hanbal, Musnad

Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, ed.

Muhammad al-Zuhrl al-GhamrawI,

6 vols., Cairo 1313/1895; repr. Beirut 1978;
ed. Ahmad Muhammad Shakir et al.,

20 vols., Cairo 1416/1995

Ibn H azm ) Milal
Allb. Ahmad b. Sa'ld b. H azm , al-Fisal
Ji l-milal wa-l-ahwa' wa-l-nihal, ed.
Muhammad Ibrahim Nasr and Abd al-
Rahman 'Umayra, 5 vols., Beirut 1995

Ibn al-'Imad, Shadharat
Abd al-Hayy b. Ahmad b. al-'Imad,
Shadharat al-dhahab fi akhbar man dhahab,
8 vols., Cairo 1350-1/1931-2; repr.
Beirut n.d.

Ibn Ishaq, Sua
Muhammad b. Ishaq, Sirat rasul Allah
(recension of Abd al-Malik b. Hisham),
ed. F. Wiistenfeld, Gottingen 1858-60;
repr. Beirut n.d.; ed. Mustafa al-Saqqa
et al., 4 vols, in 2, 2nd ed., Cairo 1955

Ibn Ishaq-Guillaume
The life of Muhammad. A translation of Ibn

Ishaq 's Sirat rasul Allah, trans. A.
Guillaume, Oxford 1955; repr.
Karachi 1967

Ibn al-Jawzi, Funun
Abu 1-Faraj Abd al-Rahman b. All b.
al-Jawzi, Funun al-afnanfi 'aja'ib 'ulum al-
Qur'an, ed. Rashld Abd al-Rahman al-
'Ubaydl, Baghdad 1408/1988

Ibn al-Jawzi, Muntagam
Abu 1-Faraj Abd al-Rahman b. All b. al-
Jawzl, al-Munta^am ft ta'rikh al-muluk wa-l-
umam, ed. Muhammad and Mustafa Abd
al-Qadir Ata, ig vols., Beirut 1412/1922;
ed. Suhayl Zakkar, 11 vols, in 13,
Beirut 1995-6

Ibn al-Jawzi, Nuzha
Abu 1-Faraj Abd al-Rahman b. All b. al-
Jawzl, .Nuzhat al-ayun al-nawazir fi 'Urn al-
wujuh wa-l-naza'ir, ed. Muhammad Abd al-
Karlm Kazim al-Radl, Beirut 1404/1984

Ibn al-Jawzi, ^ad
Abu 1-Faraj Abd al-Rahman b. All b. al-

^ad al-masirfi 'Urn al-tafsir, intr.

Muhammad Zuhayr al-Shawish, g vols.,
Damascus 1384-5/1964-5; annot. Ahmad
Shams al-Dln, 8 vols., Beirut I4i4/igg4

Ibn al-Jazarl, Ghaya
Shams al-Dln Abu 1-Khayr Muhammad
b. Muhammad b. al-Jazarl, Ghayat al-
nihdyafi tabaqat al-qurra' = Das biographische
Lexikon der Koranleser, 3 vols, in 2, ed. G.
Bergstrasser and O. Pretzl, Leipzig/
Cairo ig33-5

Ibn al-Jazarl, Munjid
Shams al-Dln Abu 1-Khayr Muhammad b.
Muhammad b. al-Jazarl, Munjid al-muqriin
wa-murshid al-talibin, ed. Muhammad
Hablb Allah al-Shanqitl et al., Cairo 1350/
1931; Beirut ig8o

Ibn al-Jazarl, J\ashr
Shams al-Dln Abu 1-Khayr Muhammad b.
Muhammad b. al-Jazarl, Kitab al-Mashrfi
l-qira'at al-'ashr, ed. All Muhammad al-
Dabba', 2 vols., Cairo ig40; repr.
Beirut n.d.

Ibn Jinni, Muhtasab
Abu 1-Fath 'Uthman b. Jinni, al-Muhtasabfi

SHORT TITLES

tabyin wujuh shawddhdh al-qira'at wa-l-idah

'anhd, 2 vols., ed. 'All al-Najdl Nasif et al.,

Cairo 1386-9/1966-9; repr. 1994
Ibn Kathlr, Bidaya

'Imad al-Dln Ismail b. 'Umar b. Kathlr,

al-Biddya wa-l-nihdya, 14 vols., Beirut/

Riyadh 1966; repr. Beirut 1988
Ibn Kathir, Fadd'il

'Imad al-Dln Isma'il b. 'Umar b. Kathir,

Fadd'il al-Qur'an, Beirut 1979
Ibn Kathir, Tafsir

'Imad al-Dln Isma'il b. 'Umar b. Kathlr,

Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'azim, ed. 'Abd al-Aziz

Ghunaym et al., 8 vols., Cairo 1390/1971;

4 vols., Cairo n.d.; repr. Beirut 1980
Ibn Khalawayh, Hujja

Abu 'Abdallah al-Husayn b. Ahmad b.

Khalawayh, al-Hujjafi l-qird'dt al-sab', ed.

Abd al-'Al Salim Mukarram, Beirut 1971
Ibn Khalawayh, I'rab

Abu Abdallah al-Husayn b. Ahmad b.

Khalawayh, Trdb thaldthin sura min al-Qur'an

al-karim, Baghdad 1967
Ibn Khalawayh, I'rab al-qira'at

Abu Abdallah al-Husayn b. Ahmad b.

Khalawayh, I'rab al-qira'at al-sab ' wa-

'ilaluhd, ed. Abd al-Rahman b. Sulayman

al-Uthaymln, 2 vols., Cairo 1413/1992
Ibn Khaldun, Ibar

'Abd al-Rahman b. Khaldun, Kitdb al-'Ibar,

ed. Nasr al-Hurini, 7 vols., Bulaq 1284/

1867
Ibn KhaldCm-Rosenthal

'Abd al-Rahman b. Khaldun, The

Muqaddimah, trans. E Rosenthal, 3 vols.,

New York 1958; 2nd rev. ed.,

Princeton 1967
Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat

Shams al-Dln b. Khallikan, Wafayat al-a'ydn

wa-anba' al-zaman, ed. F. Wiistenfeld,

4 vols., Gottingen 1835-50; ed. Ihsan

'Abbas, 8 vols., Beirut 1968-72; trans.

M. De Slane, Ibn Khallikan's biographical

dictionary, 4 vols., Paris 1842-71; repr.

New York 1961
Ibn Maja

Muhammad b. Yazld b. Maja, Sunan, ed.

Muhammad Fu'ad 'Abd al-Baql, 2 vols.,
Cairo 1952-3

Ibn Mujahid, Sab'a
Abu Bakr Ahmad b. Musa b. Mujahid,
Kitdb al-Sab'aji l-qird'dt, ed. ShawqlDayf,
Cairo 1979

Ibn al-Nadim, Fihrist
Muhammad b. Ishaq b. al-Nadim, Kitdb al-
Fihrist, ed. G. Fliigel, 2 vols., Leipzig 1871-2;
ed. Rida Tajaddud, Tehran 1971; 2nd ed.,
Beirut 1988

Ibn al-Nadlm-Dodge
Muhammad b. Ishaq b. al-Nadim, The
Fihrist of al-Nadim, trans. B. Dodge, 2 vols.,
New York/London 1970

Ibn al-Naqib, Muqaddima
Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad b. Sulayman
al-Naqib, Muqaddimat al-tafsirfi 'ulum al-
bayan wa-l-ma'ani wa-l-badl' wa-i'jaz al-
Qur'an, ed. Zakariyya,' Sa'id 'All,
Cairo 1415/1995

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Tibyan
Muhammad b. Abl Bakr b. Qayyim al-
Jawziyya, al-Tibydnfi aqsdm al-Qur'an,
Beirut 1982

Ibn al-Qifti, Hukamd'
Abu 1-Hasan 'All b. Yusuf b. al-Qifti,
Ta'nkh al-hukama', ed. J. Lippert,
Leipzig 1903; repr. Baghdad 1967

Ibn Qutayba, Gharib
Abu Muhammad 'Abdallah b. Muslim al-
Dlnawarl b. Qutayba, Tafsir gharib al-
Qur'an, ed. al-Sayyid Ahmad Saqr,
Cairo 1958; Beirut 1978

Ibn Qutayba, al-Shi'r
Abu Muhammad Abdallah b. Muslim
al-Dlnawari b. Qutayba, Kitdb al-Shi'r
wa-l-shu'ara', ed. M.J. de Goeje,
Leiden 1900

Ibn Qutayba, Ta'wil
Abu Muhammad 'Abdallah b. Muslim al-
Dlnawarl b. Qutayba, Ta'wil mushkil al-
Qur'an, ed. al-Sayyid Ahmad Saqr,
Cairo 1954; Cairo 1973; Medina 1981

Ibn Qutayba-Lecomte
G. Lecomte, Le traite des divergences du hadit
d'Ibn Qutayba, Damascus 1962

SHORT TITLES

Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat
Muhammad b. Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-kubra,
ed. H. Sachau et al., 9 vols., Leiden
1905-40; ed. Ihsan 'Abbas, g vols.,
Beirut 1957-8

Ibn Taymiyya, Daqa'iq
Taqi 1-Dln Ahmad b. 'Abd al-Hallm b.
Taymiyya, Daqa'iq al-tafslr. al-Jami' li-tafsir
al-Imam Ibn Taymiyya, ed. Muhammad
al-Sayyid al-Julaynid, 6 vols, in 3, Jedda/
Beirut/Damascus 1986

Ibn Taymiyya, Muqaddima
Taqi 1-Dln Ahmad b. Abd al-Hallm b.
Taymiyya, Muqaddima fi Usui al-tafslr,
Beirut 1392/1972; Riyadh 1382/1962

Ibn Wahb, al-Jami'
'Abdallah b. Wahb, al-Gami'. Die
Koranswissenschaften, ed. M. Muranyi,
Wiesbaden 1992

Iby ari, Mawsu 'a
Ibrahim al-Ibyarl and 'Abd al-Sabur
Marzuq, al-Mawsu'a al-qur'dniyya, 6 vols.,
Cairo 1388/1969; 11 vols.,
Cairo 1405/1984

Ihsanoglu, Translations
E. Ihsanoglu, ed., World bibliography of
translations of the meanings of the holy Qiir'dn.
Printed translations 1515-1980, Istanbul 1406/
1986

Isfahan!, AghanT
Abu 1-Faraj al-Isfahanl, Kitab al-Aghdni,
21 vols, in 7, Cairo 1323/1905; 25 vols.,
Beirut 1955-62

Isfahan!, Muqaddima
Abu 1-Hasan al-'Amill al-Isfahanl,
Muqaddimat tafslr mir'dt al-anwdr wa-mishkdt
al-asrdr, ed. Mahmtid b. Ja'far al-Musawi
al-Zarandl, Tehran 1374/1954

Islahl, Tadabbur
Amln Ahsan Islahl, Tadabbur-i Qiir'dn,
8 vols., Lahore 1967-80

'Iyad b. Musa, Shifd'
al-Qadi Abu 1-Fadl 'Iyad b. Musa, al-Shifa'
bi-ta'nf huquq al-mustafd, 2 vols, in 1,
Damascus 1978; ed. Muhammad Amln
Qara et al., Amman 1407/1986

Izutsu, Concepts

Toshihiko Izutsu, Ethico-religious concepts in

the Qiir'dn, Montreal 1966
Izutsu, God

Toshihiko Izutsu, God and man in the Koran,

New York 1964; repr. 1980
Jahiz, Bay an

'Amr b. Bahr al-Jahiz, al-Bayan wa-l-

tabyin, ed. 'Abd al-Salam Muhammad

Harun, 4 vols., Cairo 1948-50; repr.

Beirut n.d.
Jalalayn

Jalal al-Din Muhammad b. Ahmad al-

Mahalll and Jalal al-Din al-Suyutl, Tafsir

al-Jalalayn, Damascus 1385/1965
Jansen, Egypt

J.J.G. Jansen, The interpretation of the Koran in

modern Egypt, Leiden 1974, 1980
Jassas, Ahkdm

Abu Bakr Ahmad b. 'Abdallah al-Jassas

al-RazI, Ahkatn al-Qur'an, 3 vols.,

Istanbul 1335-8/1916-19
Jawallqi, A4u 'arrab

Abu Mansur Mawhub b. Ahmad al-

Jawallql, al-Mu 'arrab min al-kalam al- 'ajami

'aid huruf al-mu'jam, ed. Ahmad

Muhammad Shakir, Cairo 1361/1942
Jeffery, For. vocab.

A. Jeffery, Foreign vocabulary of the Quran,

Baroda 1938
Jeffery, Materials

A. Jeffery, Materials for the history of the text of

the Qiir'dn. The Kitab al-Masdhif of Ibn Abi

Ddwud together with a collection of the variant

readings from the codices of Ibn Mas ud, etc.,

Leiden 1937
Jeffery, Muqaddimas

A. Jeffery, Two muqaddimas to the Qur'dnic

sciences. The muqaddima to the Kitab al-

Mabani and the muqaddima of Ibn Atiyya to

his Tafsir, Cairo 1954
Jurjani, Asrdr

'Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani, Asrdr al-baldgha,

ed. H. Ritter, Istanbul 1954
Jurjani, Dald'il

'Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani, Dald'il i'jdz al-

SHORT TITLES

Qur'an, Cairo 1372; ed. Mahmud

Muhammad Shakir, Cairo 1404/1984
Justi, ]Hamenbuch

F. Justi, Iranisches Namenbuch, Marburg 1895
Kahhala, Mu'jam

'Umar Rida Kahhala, Mu'jam al-mu'allifin,

15 vols, in 8, Beirut n.d.;

Damascus 1957-61
Kahhala, Nisd'

'Umar Rida Kahhala, A 'lam al-nisd'fi

'dlamay l-'arab wa-l-Isldm, 5 vols.,

Damascus 1379/1959
Kashani, Minhaj

Mulla Fath Allah Kashani, Minhaj al-

sadiqin ji ilzam al-mukhdlifin, 10 vols.,

Tehran i347[solar]/ig6g
Kashani, Soft

Mulla Muhsin Fayd Kashani, al-Sdfifi

tafsir kalam Allah al-wdfi, ed. Fiusayn al-

A'laml, 5 vols., Beirut 1399/1979
Khazin, Lubdb

'Ala' al-Dln al-Khazin, Lubdb al-ta'wilfi

ma'am l-tanzil, Cairo 1381/1961
Khwansarl, Rawddt

Muhammad Baqir al-MusawI al-

Khwansarl, Rawddt al-janndt, ed. Asad

Allah Isma'llryan, 8 vols., Tehran 1392/

1972
Kisa'l, Mutashdbih

All b. Hamza al-Kisa'l, Kitdb Mutashdbih

al-Qur'an, ed. Sablh al-Tamlml,

Tripoli 1994
Kisa'l, Qisas

Muhammad b. Abdallah al-Kisa'l, Vita

prophetarum auctore Muhammed ben 'Abdullah

al-Kisdi, ed. I. Eisenberg, 2 vols.,

Leiden 1922-3
Kulaynl, Rdjt

Abu JaTar Muhammad b. Ya'qub al-

Kulayn, Rawdat al-kdji, ed. All Akbar al-

Ghifarl, Najaf 1395/1966; repr.

Beirut n.d.
Kutubl, Fawdt

Ibn Shakir al-Kutubl, Fawdt al-wafaydt,

2 vols., Cairo 1299/1882; ed. Ihsan Abbas,

5 vols., Beirut 1973-4

Lane
E.W. Lane, An Arabic-English lexicon, 1 vol.
in 8 parts., London 1863-93;
New York 1955-6; repr. 2 vols.,
Cambridge 1984

Lecker, Muslims
M. Lecker, Muslims, Jews and pagans. Studies
on early Islamic Medina, Leiden 1995

Le Strange, Lands
G. Le Strange, The lands of the eastern
caliphate, 2nd ed., Cambridge 1930

Lisan al-'Arab
Muhammad b. al-Mukarram b. Manzur,
Lisdn al-'Arab, 15 vols., Beirut 1955-6; ed.
'All Shlrl, 18 vols., Beirut 1988

Lulling, Ur-Qur'dn
G. Liiling, Uber den Ur-Qur'dn. Ansdtze zur
Rekonstruktion der vorislamisch-christlichen
Strophenlieder im Qur'an, Erlangen 1972;
2nd ed. 1993

Makkl, lb ana
Makkl b. Abl T^lib al-QaysI, Kitdb al-Ibdna
'an ma'dnl l-qird'dt, ed. Muhyll-Dln
Ramadan, Damascus 1979

Makkl, Kashf
Makkl b. Abl Talib al-Qaysi, al-Kashf 'an
wujuh al-qird'dt al-sab' wa-'ilalihd wa-hujajihd,
ed. Muhyl 1-Dln Ramadan, 2 vols.,
Damascus 1974

Makkl, Mushkil
Makkl b. Abl Talib al-Qaysi, Mushkil i'rdb
al-Qur'an, ed. Yasln M. al-Sawwas,
Damascus 1974

Malik, Muwatta'
Malik b. Anas, al-Muwatta', ed.
Muhammad Fu'ad 'Abd al-Baql,
Cairo 1952-3; Beirut 1985; ed. 'Abd al-
Majld Turkl, Beirut 1994

Mas'udl, Aluruj
Abu 'All b. al-Fiusayn al-Mas'udl, Muruj
al-dhahab, ed. C. Barbier de Meynard and
Pavet de Courteille, 9 vols., Paris 1861-77;
ed. and trans. Ch. Pellat, Les prairies d'or,
7 vols, text and 4 vols, translation,
Paris-Beirut 1962-89; ed. Qasim al-
Shama'l al-Rifa'l, 4 vols., Beirut 1989

SHORT TITLES

Maturidl, Ta'wilat
Abu Mansur Muhammad b. Muhammad
al-Maturidl, Ta'wilat ahl al-sunna, ed.
Ibrahim and al-Sayyid 'Awadayn,
Cairo 1391/1971; ed. Jasim Muhammad
al-Juburi, Baghdad 1404/1983

Mawardi, JVukat
All b. Muhammad al-Mawardl, al-J^ukat
wa-l-'uyun fi l-tafsir, ed. al-Sayyid b. 'Abd
al-Maqsud b. 'Abd al-Rahlm, 6 vols.,
Beirut 1412/1992

McAuliffe, Quranic
J.D. McAuliffe, Qur'anic Christians. An
analysis of classical and modern exegesis,
Cambridge 1991

Mir, Dictionary
M. Mir, Dictionary of Qur'anic terms and
concepts, New York 1987

Mir, Verbal
M. Mir, Verbal idioms of the Qur'dn, Ann
Arbor, MI 1989

Mufaddaliyyat
al-Mufaddal b. Muhammad al-Dabbi, al-
Mufaddatiyydt, ed. Ahmad Muhammad
Shakir and Abd al-Salam Muhammad
Harun, Cairo 1942

Muir, Mahomet
W. Muir, The life of Mahomet. With
introductory chapters on the original sources of
the biography of Mahomet, TIV
London 1858-61

Mujahid, Tafsir
Abu 1-Hajjaj Mujahid b. Jabr, al-Tafsir, ed.
'Abd al-Rahman b. Tahir b. Muhammad
al-Suwarti, Qatar 1976; ed. Muhammad
'Abd al-Salam Abu 1-Nll, Cairo 1989

Mukarram, Aiujam al-qird'dt
Abd al-Al Salim Mukarram, Aiujam
al-qird'dt al-qur'aniyya, 8 vols, to date,
Kuwait 1982-

Muqatil, Ashbdh
Abu 1-Hasan Muqatil b. Sulayman al-
Balkhi, al-Ashbah wa-l-na^d'irfi l-Qur'dn al-
karlm, ed. 'Abdallah Mahmud Shihata,
Cairo 1975

Muqatil, Khams mi'at
Abu 1-Hasan Muqatil b. Sulayman al-

Balkhi, Tafsir al-khams mi'at dya min al-
Qur'dn, ed. I. Goldfeld, Shfaram 1980

Muqatil, Tafsir
Abu 1-Hasan Muqatil b. Sulayman al-
Balkhi, al-Tafsir, ed. 'Abdallah Mahmud
Shihata, 5 vols., Cairo 1980-7

Muslim, Sahih
Muslim b. al-Hajjaj, Sahih, ed. Muhammad
Fu'ad Abd al-Baql, 5 vols., Cairo 1955-6

Nan', Masd'il
Masd'il al-Imam 'an as'ilat JVaJi' b. al-Azraq
wa-ajwibat Abd Allah b. Abbas, ed. 'Abd al-
Rahman 'Umayra, Cairo 1413/1994

Nagel, Einschiibe
T. Nagel, Medinensische Einschiibe in
mekkanischen Suren, Gottingen 1995

Nagel, Koran
T. Nagel, Der Koran. Einfuhrung- Texte-
Erlduterungen, Munich 1983

Nahhas, Trdb
Abu Ja'far Ahmad b. Muhammad al-
Nahhas, Trdb al-Qiir'dn, ed. Zuhayr GhazI
Zahid, 2nd ed., 5 vols., Beirut 1985, 1988

Nasafl, Tafsir
Abdallah b. Ahmad b. Mahmud al-
Nasafi, Maddrik al-tanzil wa-haqd'iq al-
ta'wil, ed. Zakariyya' 'Umayrat, 2 vols.
Beirut 1415/1995

Nasa'l, Fadd'il
Ahmad b. Shu'ayb al-Nasa'l, Fadd'il al-
Qur'dn, ed. Samlr al-Khull, Beirut 1985

Nasa'l, Sunan
Ahmad b. Shu 'ayb al-Nasa'l, al-Sunan al-
kubrd, ed. Abd al-Ghaffar Sulayman al-
Bundari and al-Sayyid Kisrawi H asan >
6 vols., Beirut 1411/1991

Nawawi, Sharh
Abu Zakariyya' Yahya, b. Sharaf al-
Nawawl, Sharh Sahih Muslim, 18 vols, in g,
Cairo 1349/1929-30; ed. Khalll
Muhammad Shlha, ig vols, in 10,
Beirut igg5

Neuwirth, Studien
A. Neuwirth, Studien zur Komposition der
mekkanischen Suren, Berlin ig8i

Nlsaburi, Tafsir
Abu 1-Qasim al-Hasan b. Muhammad b.

SHORT TITLES

Hablb al-Nlsaburl, TafsTr ghard'ib al-Qur'an

wa-raghd'ib alfurqan, on the margin of

Tabari, Janu '.' al-bayan, 30 vols.,

Cairo 1323-9/1905-11; repr.

Beirut 1392/1972; ed. Ibrahim 'Atwa

'Awad, 13 vols., Cairo 1962-4

Noldeke, OQ
T. Noldeke, Geschichte des Qordns, new
edition by F. Schwally, G. Bergstrasser and
O. Pretzl, 3 vols., Leipzig 1909-38

Nwyia, Exegese
P. Nwyia, Exegese coranique et langage mystique.
Mouvel essai sur le lexique technique des mystiques
musulmans, Beirut 1970

Paret, Kommentar
R. Paret, Der Koran. Kommentar und
Konkordanz, Stuttgart 1971; 1977;
Kohlhammer 1980

Paret, Koran
R. Paret, Der Koran. Ubersetzung,
Stuttgart 1962

Paret (ed.), Koran
R. Paret (ed.) Der Koran, Darmstadt 1975

Penrice, Dictionary
J. Penrice, A dictionary and glossary of the
Koran, London 1873; repr. 1971

Pickthall, Koran
M.M. Pickthall, The meaning of the glorious
Koran, London 1930; New York 1976

Qashani, Ta'wil
'Abd al-Razzaq al-Qashanl, Ta'wil al-
Qur'an, 2 vols., Beirut 1968. See Ibn al-
Arabi

Qasimi, TafsTr
Muhammad Jamal al-Din al-Qasiml,
Mahdsin al-ta'wil, 18 vols., Cairo 1957-70

Qastallanl, Latd'if
Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Abl Bakr al-
Qastallanl, Latd'if al-ishdrdt lifunun al-
qird'dt, ed. 'Amir al-Sayyid 'Uthman and
c Abd al-Sabur Shahln, Cairo 1972

Qastallanl, Mawdhib
Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Abl Bakr al-
Qastallani, al-Mawdhib al-laduniyya bi-l-
minah al-muhammadiyya, ed. Salih Ahmad
al-Shami, 4 vols., Beirut/Damascus/
Amman 1412/1991

Qiimml, TafsTr
Abu 1-Hasan 'All b. Ibrahim al-Qumml,
TafsTr, ed. Tayyib al-MusawI al-Jaza'irl,
2 vols., Najaf 1387/1967; Beirut 1991

Qurtubl, Jdmi '
Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad b. Ahmad
al-Qurtubi, al-Jami' li-ahkdm al-Qur'an,
ed. Ahmad 'Abd al-'Alim al-Bardum et al..
20 vols., Cairo 1952-67; Beirut 1965-7

Qushayri, Latd'if
Abu 1-Qasim 'Abd al-Karlm b. Hawazin
al-Qushayrl, Latd'if al-ishdrdt, ed. Ibrahim
Basyunl, 6 vols., Cairo 1968-71

Qutb, Zildl
Sayyid Qutb Ibrahim Husayn Shadhill,
FT zildl al-Qur'an, 6 vols., Beirut 1393-4/
1973-4; rev - IItn e d., Cairo 1993

al-Raghib al-Isfahanl, Mufraddt
Abu 1-Qasim al-Husayn al-Raghib al-
Isfahanl, Mujam mufraddt alfdz al-Qur'an,
Beirut 1392/1972

Rashld Rida, Manor
Muhammad Rashld Rida and
Muhammad 'Abduh, TafsTr al-Qur'an al-
hakTm al-shalnr bi-TafsTr al-Mandr, 12 vols.,
Beirut n.d.

RazI, TafsTr
Fakhr al-Din al-RazI, al-TafsTr al-kabTr
(MafdtTh al-ghayb), ed. Muhammad Muhyl
1-Dln Abd al-Hamld, 32 vols, in 16,
Cairo 1352/1933; Tehran n.d.;
Beirut 198 1

Rippin, Approaches
Andrew Rippin (ed.), Approaches to the
history of the interpretation of the Qur'dn,
Oxford 1988

RummanI et al., RasdTl
'All b. 'Isa al-Rummanl, Hamd b.
Muhammad al-Khattabl and 'Abd al-
Qahir al-Jurjanl, Thaldth rasd'ilfiijdz al-
Qur'dn, ed. Muhammad Khalaf Allah
Ahmad and Muhammad Zaghlul Sallam,
Cairo 1976

Ruzbihan al-Baqll, Ara'is
Ruzbihan b. Abl Nasr al-Baqll, Ara'is
al-baydnf haqd'iq al-Qur'an, 2 vols.,
Cawnpore 1301/1884

SHORT TITLES

Sabuni, TafsTr
Muhammad 'All Sabuni, Safwat al-tafdsTr.
TafsTr lil-Qur'dn al-kanm, 3 vols., Beirut 1981

Safadl, WdfT
Khalll b. Aybak al-Safadl, al-Wafl bi-l-
wafaydt. Das biographische Lexikon des
SaldhaddTn HalTl ibn Aibak as-Safadi, ed.
H. Ritter et al., 24 vols, to date,
Wiesbaden-Beirut-Damascus 1962-

Sakhawl, Jamal
'Alam al-Dln All b. Muhammad al-
Sakhawi, Jamal al-qurrd' wa-kamdl al-iqrd\
ed. All Husayn al-Bawwab, 2 vols.,
Mecca 1408/1987

Salihl, Subul
Shams al-Dln Muhammad b. Yusuf al-
Salihl, Subul al-hudd wa-l-rashdd, ed. Adil
Ahmad Abd al-Mawjud and All
Muhammad Mu'awwad, 12 vols.,
Beirut 1414/1993

Sam'anl, Ansdb
Abd al-Karlm b. Muhammad al-Sam'anl,
Kitdb al-Ansdb, facsimile ed., D.S.
Margoliouth, Leiden 1912; ed. Muhammad
Abd al-Mu'ld Khan et al., 13 vols.,
Hyderabad 1382-1402/1962-82

Schawahid-Indiccs
A. Fischer and E. Braunlich, eds., Indices der
Reimworter und der Dichter der in den arabischen
Schawahid-Kommentaren und in verwandten
Werken erlduterten Belegverse, Leipzig 1934-45

Schwarzbaum, Legends
H. Schwarzbaum, Biblical and extra-biblical
legends in Islamic folk-literature, Wallford-
Hessen 1982

Sezgin, gas
F. Sezgin, Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums,
g vols., Leiden 1967-84

Shafi'i, Ahkdm
Muhammad b. Idris al-Shafi'i, Ahkdm al-
Qur'an, 2 vols, in 1, Beirut 1980

Shafi'i, Mufassirdn
Muhammad Shafi'i, Mufassirdn-i sin ah,
Shiraz 1349 [solar] /1970

ShahrastanI, Milal
Abu 1-Fath Muhammad al-Shahrastanl, al-

Milal wa-l-nihal, ed. W. Cureton, 2 vols.,
London 1846; ed. Muhammad Fath Allah
Badran, 2 vols., Cairo 1947-55; ec '' Fahml
Muhammad, Beirut 1992

ShawkanI, Tafsir
Abu Abdallah Muhammad b. All al-
Shawkanl, Fath al-qadir al-jdmi' bayna
fannay l-riwdya wa-l-dirdyafi 'ilm al-tafsi);
5 vols., Cairo 1349/1930; repr.
Beirut 1973

Sibt Ibn al-jawzl, Mir'dt
Shams al-Dln Abu 1-Muzaffar Yusuf b.
Qizoglu Sibt Ibn al-jawzl, Mir'dt al-zamdn
fita'nkh al-aydn, ed. Ihsan Abbas,
Beirut 1405/1985

Speyer, Erzdhlungen
Heinrich Speyer, Die biblischen Erzdhlungen
im Qoran, Grafenhainich 1931; repr.
Hildesheim 1961

Sprenger, Mohammad
A. Sprenger, Das Leben und die Lehre des
Mohammad, 3 vols., 2nd ed., Berlin 1869

Storey, PL
C.A. Storey, Persian literature. A bio-
bibliographical survey, 2 vols, in 5,
London 1927

Sufyan al-Thawrl, TafsTr
Abu Abdallah Sufyan al-Thawrl, al-
TafsTr, ed. Imtiyaz All Arshl,
Beirut 1403/1983

Suhayll, Ta'nf
Abu 1-Qasim Abd al-Rahman b. Abdallah
al-Suhayll, al-Ta'nf wa-l-i'ldmfTmd ubhimaf
l-Qur'dn min al-asmd' wa-l-a'ldm, ed.
Abdallah Muhammad All al-Naqrat,
Tripoli 1401/1992

Sulaml, ^iydddt
Abu Abd al-Rahman Muhammad b. al-
rlusayn al-Sulaml, Zjydddt haqd'iq al-tafsTr,
ed. G. Bowering, Beirut 1995

SuyutI, Durr
Jalal al-Dln al-Suyutl, al-Durr al-manthurfi
1-tafsTr bi-l-ma'thur, 6 vols., Beirut 1990

SuyutI, Huffdz
Jalal al-Dln al-Suyutl, Tabaqdt al-huffaz, ed.
All Muhammad 'Umar, Cairo 1973

SHORT TITLES

SuyutI, Itqdn
Jalal al-Dln al-Suyuti, al-Itqdnji 'ulum al-
Qur'an, ed. Muhammad Abu 1-Fadl
Ibrahim, 4 vols, in 2, Cairo 1967

SuyutI, Khasa'is
Jalal al-Dln al-Suyuti, al-Khasa'is al-kubra,
Hyderabad 1320/19,02; repr. Beirut n.d.

SuyutI, Mufhamdt
Jalal al-Dln al-Suyuti, al-Mujhamdt al-
aqrdnji mubhamdt al-Qiir'dn, ed. Mustafa
Dlb al-Bugha, Damascus and Beirut 1403/
1982

SuyutI, Aluhadhdhab
Jalal al-Dln al-Suyuti, al-Muhadhdhab fi ma
waqa'aji l-Qur'dn min al-mu'arrab, ed. al-
Tihaml al-Rajl al-Hashiml, Rabat n.d.; in
Rasd'ilji l-fiqh wa-l-lugha, ed. Abdallah al-
Juburl, Beirut 1982, pp. 179-235

SuyutI, Tabaqdt
Jalal al-Dln al-Suyuti, Tabaqdt al-mufassinn,
ed. 'All Muhammad 'Umar, Cairo 1976

SuyutI, Tahbir
Jalal al-Dln al-Suyuti, al-Tahblr Ji 'Urn al-
tafsir, ed. Fathl 'Abd al-Qadir Farld,
Cairo 1406/1986

SuyutI, Tanasuq

Jalal al-Dln al-Suyuti, Tanasuq al-durarji
tanasub al-suwar, ed. 'Abd al-Qadir Ahmad
Ata, Beirut 1406/1986

TabaranI, Awsat
Abu 1-Qasim Sulayman b. Ahmad al-
Tabara.nl, al-Mu'jam al-awsat, ed. Tariq b.
Awad Allah b. Muhammad and 'Abd al-
Muhsin Ibrahim al-Husaynl, 10 vols.,
Cairo 1415/1995

TabaranI, Kabir
Abu 1-Qasim Sulayman b. Ahmad al-
Tabaram, al-Mu'jam al-kabir, ed. Hamdl
'Abd al-Majld al-Salafi, vols, i-xii,
xvii-xx and xxii-xxv, Baghdad 1398-1404/
1977-83; Mosul 1401/1983

Tabarl, Tafsir
Abu Ja'far Muhammad b. Jarlr al-Tabarl,
Jdmi' al-baydn 'an ta'wil ay al-Qur'an [up to
Q_ 14:27], ed. Mahmud Muhammad Shakir
and Ahmad Muhammad Shakir, 16 vols.,

Cairo 1954-68; 2nd ed. for some vols.,
Cairo 1969; ed. Ahmad Sa'ld 'All et al.,
30 vols., Cairo 1373-77/1954-7; repr.
Beirut 1984

Tabarl, Ta'nkh
Abu Ja'far Muhammad b. Jarlr al-Tabarl,
Ta'nkh al-rusul wa-l-muluk, ed. M.J. de Goeje
et al., 15 vols., Leiden 1879-1901; ed.
Muhammad Abu 1-Fadl Ibrahim, 10 vols.,
Cairo 1960-9

TabarsI, Majma'
Abu 'All 1-Fadl b. al-Hasan al-TabarsI,
Majma ' al-baydn ji tafsir al-Qur'an, intr.
Muhsin al-Amln al-Husaynl al-'Amill,
30 vols, in 6, Beirut 1380/1961

Tabataba 1 !, Mizdn
Muhammad Husayn T a bataba'l, al-MTzdn
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1973-4; v °l- xxl > Beirut 1985

Taj al-'arus
Muhibb al-Dln al-Sayyid Muhammad
Murtada al-Zabldl, Shark al-qdmus al-
musamma Taj al-'arus minjawdhir al-Qdmus,
10 vols., Cairo 1306-7; ed. 'Abd al-Sattar
Ahmad Faraj et al., 20 vols, to date,
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Tha'alibl, Ijdz
'Abd al-Malik b. Muhammad al-Tha'alibl,
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Tha'alibl, Iqtibds
'Abd al-Malik b. Muhammad al-Tha'alibl,
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Marhfm al-Saffar and Mujahid Mustafa
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Tha'alibl, Yatima
'Abd al-Malik b. Muhammad al-Tha'alibl,
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Tha'labl, Qisas
Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Ibrahim al-
Tha'labl, Qisas al-anbiya' al-musammd bi-
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Beirut iq8o

SHORT TITLES

Tha'labl-Goldfeld

I. Goldfeld, Qur'dnic commentary in the eastern

Islamic tradition of the first four centuries of the

hijra. An annotated edition of the preface to al-

Tha'labi's "Kitab al-Kashf wa-l-baydn 'an Tafsir

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Tirmidhl, Sahih

Abu 'Isa Muhammad b. 'Isa, al-Tirmidhl,

al-Jdmi' al-sahih, ed. Ahmad Muhammad

Shakir et al., 5 vols., Cairo 1937-65
TiisI, Fihrist

Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Tusi, al-Fihrist,

Najaf 1356/1937; Beirut 1983
TusI, Tibyan

Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Tusi, al-

Tibydnf tafsir al-Qur'dn, intr. Agha Buzurk

al-Tihra.nl, 10 vols., Najaf 1376-83/1957-63
Tustarl, Tafsir

Sahl b. Abdallah al-Tustarl, Tafsir al-Qiir'dn

al-'aiim, Cairo 1329/igu
'Ukbarl, Tibyan

Abu 1-Baqa,' Abdallah b. al-Husayn al-

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Wagtendonk, Fasting

K. Wagtendonk, Fasting in the Koran,

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Wahidl, Asbdb

Abu 1-Hasan All b. Ahmad al-Nlsaburl al-

Wahidi, Asbdb al-nuzul, Cairo 1968
Wahidl, WasTt

Abu 1-Hasan All b. Ahmad al-Nlsaburl

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Adil Ahmad Abd al-Mawjud et al.,

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Wansbrough, os

J. Wansbrough, Quranic studies. Sources and

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Waqidl, Maghdzi

Muhammad b. 'Umar al-Waqidl, Kitab

al-Maghazi, ed. M.Jones, 3 vols.,

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Watt-Bell, Introduction

W.M. Watt, Bell's introduction to the Qur'an,

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Wensinck, Concordance
A.J. Wensinck et al., Concordance et indices
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Wensinck, Handbook
A.J. Wensinck, A handbook of early
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Wild, Text
S. Wild, ed., The Qur'an as text,
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Yahya, b. Sallam, Tafsir
Yahya b. Sallam al-Basri, al-Tasdnf. Tafsir
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Ya'qubi, Bulddn
Ahmad b. Abi Ya'qub b. Wadid al-Ya'qubi,
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Ya'qubl, Ta'nkh
Ahmad b. Abi Ya'qub b. Wadih al-Ya'qubi,
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Abu Ishaq Ibrahim b. Muhammad b. al-
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Zamakhsharl, Asds
Mahmud b. 'Umar al-Zamakhsharl, Asds
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Zamakhsharl, Kashshdf
Mahmud b. 'Umar al-Zamakhsharl, al-

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Badr al-Dm al-Zarkashl, al-BurhdnJi 'ulum
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Zayd b. All, Musnad
Zayd b. All Zayn al-Abidm, Musnad, ed.
Bakr b. Muhammad Ashur, 1328/1910;
Beirut 1983

SHORT TITLES

Zirikll, A 'lam
Khayr al-Din al-Zirikll, al -A 'lam. Qamus
tardjim li-ashhar al-rijdl wa-l-nisa' min
al-'Arab wa-l-musta'ribm wa-l- mustashriqin,
10 vols., Damascus 1373-8/1954-9;
8 vols., Beirut 1979

Zubaydl, Tabaqdt
Abu Bakr Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-
Zubaydl, Tabaqdt al-nahwijyin wa-l-
lughawiyym, ed. Muhammad Abu 1-Fadl
Ibrahim, Cairo 1373/1954

ZubayrI, Masab
Mus'ab al-Zubayrl, Masab Quraysh, ed.
E. Levi-Provencal, Cairo 1953

ZurqanI, Shark
Muhammad b. Abd al-Baql al-Misrl al-
Malik, Shark al-mawdhib al-laduniyya, ed.
Muhammad Abd al-AzIz al-Khalidl, 12
vols., Beirut 1417/1996

Aaron

The brother and companion of Moses
(q.v.). Aaron (Harun b. 'Imran) is men-
tioned by name twenty times in the
Qur'an. He is given prophetic status along-
side Moses, having received the criterion
(q.v.) of revelation (furqan, c) 21:48-9; cf.
19:53; 7:122; 23:45; 37:114-20; and 20:70
and 26:48, containing the phrase, "We be-
lieve in the Lord of Moses and Aaron"; see
REVELATION AND INSPIRATION), and is
listed with a number of other prophets
(q_4:i63; 6:84). Moses asked God to make
Aaron his partner (wazir) in his affairs
when he was commanded to go before
Pharaoh (q.v.; ££25:35; cf. 10:75; 20:2 9 _ 36;
26:13; 28:35). Moses also asked God to let
Aaron be his spokesman because he was so
eloquent (q_ 28:34-5). The form of the
name "Harun" is also known from early
Arabic poetry and entered Arabic from
Hebrew, likely via Syriac (see foreion
vocabulary).

A focus of attention regarding Aaron in
the Qur'an is the worship of the calf of
gold (q.v.). The incident is mentioned
twice. In the first account (0:7:148-57), the
story is told as in Exodus 32, with the
anger of Moses toward Aaron quite ap-
parent even though his role was just that

of an onlooker. In the second version,
(o 20:83-98) a Samaritan (see Samaritans)
is presented as the tempter of Israel (q.v.).
He urged the people to throw their orna-
ments in the fire and he made the calf that
was worshipped by the people, despite Aar-
on's advising them not to do so. Again,
Moses' anger toward Aaron is apparent.
Thus, it may be said that the Qur'an
agrees with the Jewish biblical commentary
(tnidrash) in reducing the blame upon
Aaron, although that innocence is not con-
nected, as it is in Jewish commentary, to
Aaron's status as high priest, an idea not
mentioned in the Qur'an (see idolatry
AND IDOLATERS).

Later Islamic tradition has paid a good
deal of attention to the death of Aaron.
When Aaron died, the people accused Mo-
ses of having murdered him, but angels
(q.v.) appeared — or other divine interven-
tions took place — in order to alleviate
their suspicions. According to Muslim leg-
end, a similar accusation was lodged
against Joshua in the death of Moses.

An issue related to Aaron which has prov-
en to be subject to dispute since the early
days of Islam is o 19:28, in which Mary
(q.v), the mother of Jesus (q.v.), is called
"the sister of Aaron" (see also £3:35, "a
woman of 'Imran (q.v.)" and 66:12, "Mary,

ABORTION

the daughter of 'Imran, who guarded her
chastity"). In Muslim's Sahih, K. al-Adab,
for example, there is a hadlth from al-
MughTra b. Shu'ba (d. 50/670) which indi-
cates that the polemical nature of the
charge of "errors" in the Quran existed
from the earliest period of Muslim-Chris-
tian relations.

Al-Mughira said, "When I came to Najran
(q.v.), the Christians asked me, 'You read,
"O sister of Aaron," in the Quran, where-
as Moses was born much before Jesus.'
When I came back to the messenger of
God, I asked him about that, whereupon
he said, 'People used to give [to their chil-
dren] the names of the messengers and
[other] pious persons who had gone before
them.' "

According to the biblical story, Aaron did
have a sister called Miriam (who watched
over the baby Moses in the bulrushes ac-
cording to Exodus 2:4-7; see Exodus 15:20-1
for her name), but she was not, of course,
the same as Mary, the mother of Jesus, and
the Muslim tradition has never taken that
to be the case. Al-Tabarl (d. 310/923), for
example, in speaking of Mary, says that
people reacted to her presentation of the
baby Jesus by saying, "Sister of Aaron,
your father was not a wicked man and your
mother was not unchaste. So what is your
case, sister of Aaron?" This al-Tabari ex-
plains as follows: "[Mary] was descended
from Aaron, the brother of Moses, so that
this expression is the equivalent of saying,
'O brother of such-and-such tribe'; i.e. it
indicates a familial relationship [but not
necessarily the exact one indicated]"
(Ta'rikh, i, 734; M. Perlmann (trans.), His-
tory, iv, 120). Other exegetes suggest that
the Aaron referred to here is an otherwise
unknown brother of Mary, the mother of
Jesus, and of Elizabeth, the mother of
John the Baptist (q.v.), who were related

through their father 'Imran b. Matthan
(see Baydawl, Anwar, ad Q_3:30-i). See also

PROPHETS AND PROPHETHOOD.

Andr

Rippi

Bibliography
Primary: Kisa'i, Qisas, 222-3, 2 3^i T a barl,
Ta'rikh, i, 471-81 (Aaron in Egypt), 489-98 (Aaron
and the calf), 502-5 (Aaron's death), trans. W.M.
Brinner, History of al-Taban, Hi. The children of
Israel, Albany 1991, 55-65, 72-80, 85-8; and M.
Perlmann, History of al-Taban, iv. The ancient
kingdoms, Albany 1987; Tha'labl, Qisas, Cairo
n.d., 163-5, 184-8, 218.

Secondary: A. Geiger, Was hat Mohammed aus dem
Judenthumc aufgenommen? Baden 1833, trans.
Judaism and Islam, Madras 1898, 130-2; B. Heller,
SamirT, in Ef, viii, 1046; Horovitz, KU, 128
(Imran), 138-40 (Mary), 148-9 (Aaron); Jeffery,
For. vocab, 283-4; H. Schwarzbanm, Biblical and
extra- biblical legends in Islamic folk-literature,
Walldorf-Hessen 1982, 13-5; id., Jewish,
Christian, Muslim and Falasha legends of the
death of Aaron, the high priest, in Fabula 5
(1962), 185-227; H. Speyer, Erzdhlungen, 242-3,
260-2, 323-33; A.J. Wensinck, Maryam, in El",
vi, 628-32.

'Abd

see servant; slaves and slavery

Ablution see cleanliness and

ABLUTION

Abortion

The premature expulsion of a fetus. Classi-
cal Muslim jurists applied a number of
terms to abortion, including ijhiid, isqat,
tarh, ilq a' and imlas. The Qur'an makes no
reference to abortion as the term is com-
monly understood, although it upholds the
sanctity of human life in general (e.g.
c) 5:32) and forbids the killing of children
(p_ 17:31) and female infants (o 81:8-9) in
particular (see children; infanticide;
murder). The restrictive view of abortion
commonly held by jurists was based on the

ABORTION

general qur'anic interdiction of unlawfully
taking human life.

The qur'anic descriptions of the develop-
ment of the human embryo (see biology
AS THE CREATION AND STAGES OF LIFE) led
scholars to differentiate between an initial
soulless and unformed biological entity
and the human being into which it devel-
oped: "We created man from an extraction
of clay (q.v.), then we set him as a drop
(nutfa) [of sperm] in a safe lodging. Then
we created from the drop a clot of blood
{'alaqa, see blood and blood clot); then
we created from the clot a small piece of
tissue (mudgha), subsequently creating from
the tissue bones and covering the bones in
flesh; and then we produced it as another
creature" (q_ 23:12-14). With the exception
of the reference to creation from "an ex-
traction of clay," which was believed to ap-
ply only to the special case of the first man,
Adam, this passage was held to represent
the normal development of the human fe-
tus. Some scholars interpreted "and then
we produced it as another creature" as in-
dicating that the infant was given a soul
some time after conception (Qurtubi,
Jami', xii, 5-14; RazI, Tafsir, xxiii, 84-7;
Tabarsi, Majma', vii, 101; T arj ataba'l,
MTzan, xv, 20-4). Well-known hadlth, re-
corded in both Sunn! and Shl'l collections,
provided further justification for this view.
Some of these set the duration of the first
three stages of the fetus, namely drop, clot
and tissue, at forty days each. After the
completion of this cycle, God dispatched
an angel to breathe the soul (nth) into the
fetus at which point its fate on earth and in
the hereafter was ordained (Bukharl, Sahih,
K. al-Qadar; Muslim, SahTh, R. al-Qadar;
al-Hurr al-Amill, Wasa'il, K. al-Diyat,

no- 35652)-

For this reason, all Muslim jurists forbade
abortion after the fetus had been in the
womb for 120 days, although the legal
schools and individual scholars differed

over the permissibility of abortion before
this point (Qurtubi, Jami '■', xii, 8; Nawawl,
Shark, xvi, 191). The majority of the mem-
bers of the Malik! law school prohibited
abortion at any time on the basis that once
conception took place the fetus was des-
tined for animation. Some individual
Malikls and the majority of the adherents
of the other legal schools did allow abor-
tions, but they disagreed over whether the
period of permissibility extended forty,
eighty or 120 days after conception. These
thresholds determined whether a person
who caused a woman to miscarry or a
woman who caused herself to abort, either
deliberately or through negligence, was
liable for the full compensation stipulated
for the killing of a human being (diya
kamila, see blood money) or a lesser
penalty. In practice, the status of the ex-
pelled fetus was determined by examining
its apparent state of development, i.e.
whether it was "formed" or "unformed,"
a distinction having its roots in the other
qur'anic account of fetal development
(0.22:5).

The justification for an abortion most
commonly cited in the classical legal litera-
ture was the threat posed to a nursing in-
fant by the cessation of the flow of its
mother's milk due to another pregnancy. In
the case of a pregnancy which threatened
the mother's life, a majority of jurists gave
priority to preserving the life of the fetus, if
it was believed that it had already acquired
a soul (Ibn Abidin, Hdshiya, i, 602; vi, 591;
al-Ghazall, Ihyd', ii, 53; Ibn Rajab, Jami' al-
'ulum, 46). More recently, some thinkers
have come to advocate saving the mother's
life in such cases. Rape and incest have
also been recognized as suitable justifica-
tions for abortion. See also BIRTH
CONTROL.

Abdulaziz Sachedina

ABRAHA

Bibliography
Primary: Bukharl, Sahih; al-Ghazall, Abu Hamid
Muhammad, Ihya' 'ulum al-din, 4 vols., Cairo
1312/1894; al-Hurr al- c Amill, IVasd'il al-Shi'a, ed.
Muhammad al-Razi, 20 vols., Beirut 1389/1969;
Ibn ( Abidln, Hdshiya; Ibu Qudama, al-Mughni,
ed. T.M. al-Zaynl et al., 10 vols., Cairo 1968-70;
Ibn Rajah, Jfami' al-'ulum wa-l-hikam, Cairo 1970;
Muslim, Sahih; Nawawl, Sharh; Qurtubl, Jami';
RazI, Tafsir; TabarsT, Alajma'; Tabataba 1 !,
Miz.au.

Secondary: MA. Anees, Islam and biological
futures, London 1989, 164-87; M.A. al-Barr, Khalq
al-insdn bayna l-tibb wa-l-Qur'dn, Jeddah 1995'°;
A. EM. Ebrahim, Abortion, birth control and surrogate
parenting. An Islamic perspective, Indianapolis 1991;
M.S. Makdur, Sterilization and abortion from
the point of view of Islam, in I.R. Nazer et al.
(eds.), Islam and family planning, 2 vols., Beirut
1972, ii, 263-85 (extensive references); B.E
Musallam, Sex and society in Islam. Birth control
before the nineteenth century, Cambridge 1983,
53-9-

Abraha

The Christian ruler of a south Arabian
kingdom founded by the Abyssinians (see
abyssinia), whose name is traditionally as-
sociated with the interpretation of 0105,
where there is a description of God smit-
ing the People of the Elephant (q.v.). Al-
though he is not mentioned in the qur'anic
text, his name is regularly given in the
commentary literature. Epigraphic evi-
dence, the writings of the Byzantine mili-
tary historian Procopius as well as ecclesi-
astical sources provide independent
historical attestation for this figure, but his
association with the sura is limited to Mus-
lim sources, especially historical and exe-
getical texts.

The standard account of the Islamic
Abraha may be found in the early pages of
Ibn Ishaq's Sira, the most commonly cited
biography of the Prophet. It is repeated or
summarized in many subsequent commen-
taries (cf. T aDar ij Tafsir, xxx, 299-303; TusT,
Tibyan, x, 409-11; RazI, Tafsir, xxxii, 96).

Read as an extended commentary on
o_ 105, the story forms part of a larger ac-
count of Yemeni history in the generations
immediately preceding the birth of
Muhammad (see sira AND THE qur'an).
Its earliest segment is clearly framed as the
annunciation of "an apostle who will bring
truth and justice among men of religion
and virtue" (Ibn Ishaq-Guillaume, 6). As
his portion of the story unfolds, Abraha
is presented as seizing power of the
Abyssinian-controlled territory in the Ye-
men (q.v.) by a coup and then cleverly de-
fusing the sworn revenge of the Abyssinian
ruler, the Negus (aTNajashi). To mollify him
further, Abraha builds a magnificent
church in San'a' and then pledges to divert
Arab pilgrimages to this new sanctuary.
Angered by a Meccan of the tribe of the
Banu Kinana who defiles the church — by
defecating in it, according to some exegetes
(cf. RazI, Tafsir, xxxii, 96; Qurtubl, Jami',
xx, 188) — to prevent its use as a pilgrim-
age site, Abraha, in turn, vows revenge on
the Meccan sanctuary and marches toward
the Ka'ba (q.v.) at the head of a vast army.
Abraha's defeat involves miraculous ani-
mals, including an Abyssinian battle ele-
phant that kneels before the Ka'ba and re-
fuses to fight and flocks of birds who rain
stones down upon his assembled troops.
Variants of this narrative abound, some
offering as an additional explanation for
Abraha's advance upon Mecca the de-
struction of a Christian church in Abys-
sinia by a cooking fire carelessly aban-
doned by some Arab traders (Muqatil,
Tafsir, iv, 847; Qumml, Tafsir, ii, 442-3; Ibn
al-Jawzi, ^ad, ix, 232; Qurtubl, Jami', xx,

!92-5)-

Abraha's advance upon Mecca acquired
additional importance in the Muslim
sources as a point of chronological calcula-
tion for the birth of Muhammad. Dates in
pre-Islamic Meccan history were reckoned
from the Year of the Elephant ('am al-frl)

AB RAH AM

and the key dates in the life of the Prophet
were coordinated with this year. Although
Abraha's invasion and Muhammad's birth
are often dated to a year equivalent to 570
c.E., the commentators record no unanim-
ity on this matter. Qurtubl (Jami\ xx, 194)
is representative in presenting sources that
equate the Year of the Elephant with
that of Muhammad's birth as well as those
that place Abraha's attack 23 or 40 years
earlier. Western scholars have also long
questioned the accuracy and historical reli-
ability of these chronologies. Those of pre-
vious generations, such as T. Noldeke, H.
Lammens and R. Blachere, pointed out
the inconsistencies within the early Arabic
sources and the contradictions between
them and evidence from extra-Islamic tra-
ditions. More recent work, such as that of
L. Conrad and U. Rubin, has investigated
the symbolic and topological significance
of the dates and periodization of Muham-
mad's career in traditional biographies.
See also pre-islamic Arabia and the
q_ur'an.

Jane Dammen McAuliffe

Bibliography
Primary: Ibn Ishaq, Sira, ed. M. al-Saqqa, i,
43-62, Ibn Ishaq-Guillaume, 20-30; Ibn al-JawzI,
%ad, ix, 231-37; Muqatil, Tafsir, iv, 847-54;
QummT, Tafsir, ii, 442-4; QurtubT, Jdmi c , xx,
187-200; RazT, 'Tafsir, xxxii, 96-102; Tabarl, Tafsir,
xxx, 296-304; TusT, Tibydn, x, 409-11.
Secondary: M.J. Kister, The campaign of
Huluban. New light on the expedition of
Abraha, in Le Museon 78 (1965), 425-36; G.
Newby, Abraha and Sennacherib. A talmudic
parallel to the tafsir on Swat aTFil, in JAOS 94
(1974), 431-7; L. Conrad, Abraha and
Muhammad. Some observations apropos of
chronology and literary topoi in the early Arabic
historical tradition, in BSOAS 50 (1987), 225-40;
U. Rubin, The eye of the beholder. The life of
Muhammad as viewed by the early Muslims, Princeton
1995, 199-203; I. Shahid, Two qur'anic suras:
al-Fil and Qurays, in W. al-Qadl (ed.), Studia
Arabica et Islamica. Festschrift for Ihsan 'Abbas,
Beirut 1981, 429-36.

Abraham

Some two hundred and forty-five verses in
twenty-five suras of the Qur'an make refer-
ence to Abraham (Ibrahim), the progenitor
of the nation of Israel (q.v.). Among bibli-
cal figures, only Moses (q.v.) receives more
attention and in the Qur'an Abraham and
Moses are the sole prophets explicitly iden-
tified as bearers of scriptures (0,53:36-7;
87:18-9; see book; scripture and the
qjltr'an). Although the Islamic Abraham
shares many characteristics with the figure
in the Bible and later Jewish exegetical lit-
erature, the Qur'an especially emphasizes
his role as a precursor of Muhammad and
the establisher of the pilgrimage rites in
Mecca (see pilgrimage).

Abraham in the Qur'an
The references to Abraham in the Qur'an
take a number of different forms and ap-
pear in a wide variety of contexts. Several
descriptive appellations are applied to him.
He is deemed "very truthful" (siddiq,
Q_ 19:41) and "kind and gracious" (halim,
Q_g:ii4; 11:75). He is one who "paid his
debt in full" (alladhT wajfa, 053:37). His
qur'anic appellation as [God's] friend
(khalil) in 5)4:125 formed the basis of his
honorific title "Friend of God" (khalil Allah)
in the Islamic tradition. (The city of He-
bron, traditionally regarded as the site of
his grave, takes its Arabic name "al-Khalil"
from this honorific). Abraham is also called
"hanif" (q.v.), usually translated as "up-
right" or "pure of faith," in eight places
(02:135; 3:67, 95; 4:125; 6:79, 161; 16:120,
123). The term appears elsewhere only
twice, in both cases referring to Muham-
mad (o_ 10:105; 30:30), and in the first of
these he is called "hamf and not a polythe-
ist," a phrase also several times applied to
Abraham. It is to be assumed that Muham-
mad's connection to this respected figure
served to enhance his religious authority

ABRAHAM

and prestige among those Arabs familiar
with the Bible. The depiction of Abraham
as hamf, frequently in association with the
phrase "religion of Abraham" (millat
Ibrahim, 02:130, 135; 3:95; 4:125; 6:161;
12:38; 16:123; 22:78), has suggested to Mus-
lim believers and Western scholars alike
that an indigenous Abrahamic monothe-
ism may have existed in Arabia prior to
Muhammad's mission.

Many Abrahamic references in the
Qur'an parallel biblical material. Abraham
leaves his father and people and encoun-
ters God in a new land where he will raise
his family (o_ 19:48-9; 21:71; 29:26;
37:83-101; cf. Gen 12:1-5). He establishes a
sacred shrine, the House of God (o 2:125-7;
cf. Gen 12:6-8, 13:18). He mildly challenges
God and is then told to cut open or divide
birds (02:260; cf. Gen 15:1-10). He is associ-
ated with a covenant (q.v.) with God
(o_2:i24-5; 33:7; cf. Gen 17:1-14). He is vis-
ited by divine messengers who announce
the forthcoming birth of a son to him and
his wife, and who then proceed to destroy
the people of Lot (q.v; 011:69-76; 15:51-9;
29:31; 51:24-30; cf. Gen 18:1-20). He argues
with God over the fate of the people of
Lot (o_ 11:74-6; cf. Gen 18:20-33). He takes
his son and attempts to offer him as a sacri-
fice, but is released from the task by God
(037:99-111; cf. Gen 22:1-19). He is God's
friend (04:126; cf. Is 41:8; 2 Ch 20:7).

Two of these parallels find expression in
sustained narrative form. The visit of the
divine messengers is mentioned in four
qur'anic loci, a repetition which attests to
its importance. The messengers — or a
guest — come to Abraham and he hospita-
bly offers them a calf to eat. Yet Abraham
fears these strangers because, according to
Q_ 11:70, they eat nothing. In some earlier
Jewish interpretive literature, the messen-
gers also do not eat — despite the state-
ment in Gen 18:8 that they did — because
angels (q.v.) were believed neither to eat

nor to have any other human bodily func-
tions (TB Hagigah 16a; Targum Yerushalmi,
Gen 18:8; Genesis Rabba 48:14). The post-
biblical Jewish motif of these guests not
eating Abraham's food was retained in the
qur'anic version, but the Jewish explana-
tion for this was not. The qur'anic Abra-
ham therefore interprets their refusal to eat
as a sign of hostility, causing him to fear for
his safety until he is assured by them that
they have come to announce the happy
news of a future son (Tabari, Tafsir, xiv,
70-1). His unnamed wife laughs (dahikat,
0,11:71) or strikes her head in unbelief
(5551:29), but since the Hebrew play on
words between laugh (sahoq) and Isaac
(Yishaq, see Isaac) is not retained in Ara-
bic, Muslim commentators offer a series of
alternative explanations for her behavior
(Firestone, Journeys, 52-9).

Many motifs in the qur'anic account
((337:99-111) and Islamic exegesis of Abra-
ham's attempted sacrifice of his son
(dhabih) find parallels in Jewish tradition
(Firestone, Journeys, 105-34), although in the
Qur'an the son knows beforehand of his
father's intention and actually encourages
him to perform the deed. Of greatest inter-
est to the Muslim commentators was the
identity of the son, who is not named in
the Qur'an. Some identified him, as the Bi-
ble does, as Isaac, Abraham's son by his
wife Sarah; although others wished to cast
the progenitor of the Arabs, Ishmael (q.v.),
his son by Sarah's handmaiden Hagar, in
this central role. Muslim interpreters read
the explicit reference to Isaac in 037:112 in
ways that support Ishmael as well as Isaac
as the intended sacrifice.

The most oft-repeated Abrahamic narra-
tive in the Qur'an, the story of his smash-
ing the pagan idols (06:74-84; 19:41-50;
21:51-73; 26:69-86; 29:16-27; 37:83-98;
43:26-7; 60:4), has no biblical parallel, but
is well known in Jewish exegetical literature
(e.g. Genesis Rabba 38:13; TB Pesahim 118a,

AB RAH AM

'Eruvin 53a; pre 26). The various qur'anic
versions tend to emphasize different issues
for which parallels can be found in Jewish
sources. In o 6:74, Abraham calls his father
by the name Azar (q.v.). o 6:75-9 describes
Abraham's discovery of monotheism
through logical reflection and the empirical
observation of nature, a story of great an-
tiquity (Ginzberg, Legends, v, 210, n. 16). De-
spite his father's hostility towards him
(0 19:46), Abraham prays that he be for-
given for his sin of worshipping idols
(0.9:113-4; 14:41; 19:47; 26:86; 60:4). This
aspect of the legend may have held partic-
ular poignancy for Muhammad, who, ac-
cording to tradition, wished to do the same
for his idolatrous ancestors (Tabari, Tafsir,
xiii, 40-53). Abraham destroys his father's
idols and those of his compatriots
(02i:57-8; 37:93; see IDOLATRY AND IDOL-
ATERS). For this he is sentenced to be burnt
alive, but God rescues him (021:68-9;
29:24; 37:97-8). He also endures further
trials in which he prevails (02:124; 37:106;
cf. Avot 5:3, with details provided in the
midrash and elsewhere).

One series of Abrahamic references in
the Quran finds no parallel in either the
Bible or later Jewish traditions. These asso-
ciate Abraham, and often Ishmael, with
the building of the Ka'ba (q.v.), with Ara-
bian cultic practice and with terminology
of Islamic religious conceptions. Abraham
and Ishmael raise up the foundations of
the House and entreat God to keep them
and their descendants forever a "nation
in submission to You" and to show them
the proper pilgrimage rituals (mandsik,
02:127-8). Elsewhere, Abraham prays
for the safety of the territory around the
Ka'ba and prays for those of his descend-
ants whom he settled in Mecca to engage
in regular prayers and remain secure
(014:35-7). God settles Abraham at the
House or makes the area habitable and en-
joins him (or, perhaps, Muhammad) to an-

nounce officially the pilgrimage to Mecca
(022:26-7). Abraham and Ishmael are or-
dered to render the Ka'ba pure for the
proper monotheistic pilgrimage ritual of
circumambulation and for kneeling and
prostration there in prayer (02:125). The
famous place of prayer, the Place of Abra-
ham (q.v.; 02:125; 3:96-7), is situated near
the Ka'ba.

For Jews Abraham's special covenantal
relationship with God established him as
the authenticator and founder of Judaism.
It was natural that when Christianity es-
tablished itself as related to but independ-
ent of Judaism, Christians appropriated
the figure of Abraham as a means of legiti-
mating their religion (Rom 4:9-25; 9:7-9; Ga
4:21-31). Similarly, Abraham's role in the
Qur'an includes a related but more polem-
ical aspect as he appears as neither a Jew
nor a Christian but as a hanlfmuslim
(03:65-70; cf. 2:140). Like the New Testa-
ment citations, the Qur'an stipulates that
the divine covenant established with Abra-
ham does not automatically include all of
his progeny (02:124; 4:54-5; ?,T- ll % 57:26).
Inasmuch as the religion of Muhammad is
the religion of Abraham (022:78), those
Jews who reject Muhammad and the reli-
gion he brings are, in fact, rejecting their
own religion. The Jews further deny the re-
ligious sanctity of Mecca, despite Abra-
ham's intimate association with it

fe3:95-8)-

It is worth noting that the inconsistent
qur'anic references to Abraham's descen-
dants have been an issue of some interest
to Western scholars. Abraham is told by
God's messengers that he will be the father
of an unnamed son in : 5 : 53; 37 :I Oi;
51:28. In 037:112 the son is named Isaac. A
number of verses list Isaac and Isaac's son
Jacob (q.v.) together as if they were both
sons of Abraham (06:84; 11:71; 19:49;
21:72; 29:27). In a series of quite different
passages, Ishmael is listed as if he had no

AB RAH AM

:-;

familial connection to Abraham (q_6:86;
19:54-5; 21:85; 38:48). The idiomatic
phrase, "Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," is
employed in two passages (o 12:38; 38:45;
cf. £2:132), while in yet another idiom,
"Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the
tribes," is used (q_ 2:136, 140; 3:84; 4:163).
Already in the nineteenth century C.S.
Hurgronje (Het Mekkaansche Feest) theorized
that this material reflects some confusion
over the exact relationship between Abra-
ham and his descendants, claiming that
these verses date from the Meccan period
of revelations, i.e. before Muhammad
came into regular contact with Jews or
Christians. The verses that reproduce the
biblical genealogy were held to date from
Muhammad's days in Medina, when he
apparently had ongoing contact with the
local Jewish community.

The narrative Abraham cycle
Reports from the genres of hadlth, pro-
phetic biography, qur'anic exegesis and
universal histories expand the spare
qur'anic material on Abraham. Linked to-
gether, this interpretive literature forms a
full narrative cycle in three parts. The first
takes place in Mesopotamia, the land of
Abraham's birth; the second in the vicinity
of Jerusalem (q.v.) and the third in Mecca
(q.v.) and its environs. These three lands
represent a hierarchy of sanctity culminat-
ing with the most sacred place and its holy
sites. All of this material can properly be
considered scriptural exegesis, although
some of it indirectly interprets biblical
scripture in addition to the Qur'an by sup-
plementing the qur'anic revelation with
material deriving from a biblicist milieu
("biblicist" referring to Jewish or Christian,
whether "orthodox" or syncretistic in prac-
tice and belief). Given the great variety in
the literature, only a representative ac-
count can be given here.
Part one begins with the astrological por-

tents of Abraham's impending birth in
Mesopotamia, often associated with Kutha
in southern Iraq. Nimrod (q.v.) is the king
and he attempts to prevent the birth of his
nemesis through a variety of stratagems,
all of which fail. Abraham's infancy and
youth are marked by miraculous signs (q.v.)
and events. While still a boy, he determines
through his natural intelligence and perspi-
cacity that neither idols nor even the sun or
moon could possibly be divine (0.6:75-9).
Soon after, he argues against the idolatry of
his father and his people and a variety of
traditions weave together one or more of
the qur'anic renderings of Abraham de-
stroying his father's idols. In some versions
of the story, Abraham destroys the idols of
king Nimrod as well. Consequently, he is to
be burned alive but instead is miraculously
saved from the flames. The extra-qur'anic
sources add many details. Nimrod, for in-
stance, dies when God causes a gnat to fly
through his nose into his head and torture
him to death. Meanwhile, Abraham mar-
ries Sarah who is sometimes described as
the daughter of the king of Haran (thus
explaining the Hebrew meaning of sarah,
"princess").

While traveling, Abraham encounters a
tyrant, king or pharaoh who becomes en-
amored of Sarah's stunning beauty. Asked
about her, Abraham informs him that she
is his sister and she is taken from him. The
tyrant reaches for her when they are in his
chambers, but his hand, or entire body, is
miraculously stricken, sometimes repeat-
edly as he continually attempts to touch
her. He returns her to Abraham, along
with Hagar, who according to some ac-
counts had been given to him as compen-
sation. Hagar later gives birth to Ishmael,
but the references to Ishmael's birth are in-
consistent and do not seem to reflect a co-
herent narrative tradition. Abraham settles
in Saba' near Jerusalem where he digs a
well (see WELL AND springs) and estab-

ABRAHAM

lishes a place of prayer. The people in the
area wrong him, so he moves away and
the well immediately dries up. After this
the people pursue him to beg forgiveness.
Abraham gives them seven goats and tells
them that when they are brought to the
well it will provide water, thus providing a
narrative explanation for the etiology of
the name of the place Beer-Sheba (bi'r
sab a' ox "well of the seven [goats]").

After these events, the scene is transferred
to Mecca. Sarah's jealousy toward Hagar
after the birth of Ishmael forces Abraham
to separate the two women. He personally
brings Hagar and Ishmael to Mecca,
where he places them in the shade of a
thorn tree and entrusts them to God's
mercy. Afterwards he returns to his family
in Syria/Palestine. With no water in
Mecca, Hagar cannot provide for her in-
fant son, who begins to show signs of dis-
tress. She leaves him and desperately
searches for water by running between the
nearby hills of al-Safa (q.v.) and al-Marwa
(q.v.), an action that sets the precedent for
the "running ritual" (sa'y) of the pilgrim-
age. When all hope seems lost, they are res-
cued by an angel, sometimes identified as
Gabriel, who scratches the ground to bring
forth water from what would become the
famous Zamzam spring in Mecca. Abra-
ham does not neglect his son in Mecca, but
comes to see him three times, although Ish-
mael is away during the first two visits. On
his first attempt to see his son, Abraham
encounters Ishmael's inhospitable and un-
friendly wife. He gives her a coded message
to pass on to his son to the effect that she is
not acceptable. Ishmael dutifully divorces
her and remarries. On Abraham's second
visit he finds a hospitable and respectful
wife. With another coded message, he lets
his son know he approves of her. During
this visit, according to some accounts,
Abraham stands on a rock which would
become known as the Place of Abraham,

leaving his footprint. On his third visit,
Abraham finds Ishmael at home and to-
gether, in response to God's command,
they build the Ka'ba. Abraham then calls
all humanity to perform the pilgrimage to
God's House.

In a distinctly different version of the
Meccan sequence attributed to the Proph-
et's son-in-law and the eventual caliph 'All
b. Abl Talib (q.v.; d. 40/661), Abraham
travels to Mecca with Hagar and Ishmael
in response to God's command to establish
the Ka'ba. They are guided by a supernat-
ural being called the "sechina" (q.v.) or by
a magic cloud that leads them to the exact
location for the structure. In some ac-
counts, Abraham and Ishmael discover
the ancient foundations of a Ka'ba origi-
nally established for Adam which God
had removed so as to prevent its desecra-
tion by the great Noachian flood. In a
series of traditions without any consistent
attribution or sequence of events, Abra-
ham makes the first paradigmatic pil-
grimage.

The qur'anic rendering of Abraham's at-
tempted sacrifice of his son is embellished
considerably in the exegetical literature. Its
relative placement within the full Abraham
cycle varies in the different versions, as
does the scene of the action, in some ac-
counts occurring in Syria and in others in
Arabia. In some renderings of the legend,
Abraham and his family are confronted by
Satan or a devil (q.v.), occasionally in the
form of an old man. He attempts to con-
vince them through appeals to logic and
mercy to refrain from carrying out God's
command. In some versions, Satan ap-
pears to Abraham at the location of
various ritual stops of the Meccan pil-
grimage and Abraham finally drives him
away by casting stones at him near the
three stone pillars (sing.jamra) where to
this day stones are thrown as part of the
pilgrimage.

AB RAH AM

Abraham's son — whose identity is con-
tested by the qur'anic commentators — is
informed that he will be sacrificed. In a
touching response, he asks his father to tie
him tightly so that he will not squirm, to
draw back his clothes so they will not be
soiled by his blood and to return his shirt
to his mother so as to offer her comfort.
Abraham kisses his son and they soak the
ground with their tears. Abraham actually
draws the knife across his son's throat, but
discovers that it will not cut because it has
miraculously reversed in his hand to its
dull side. Or he finds that an impenetrable
sheet of copper has suddenly formed
around his son's neck. In some versions,
Abraham tries repeatedly to fulfill the di-
vine command, but is thwarted each time
by these miracles. He finally redeems his
son by sacrificing a ram, sometimes identi-
fied as the very one that was successfully
offered to God in sacrifice by Abel (see
CAIN AND abel) and kept in heaven for this
purpose.

The Muslim exegetes of the first two Is-
lamic centuries differed about which of his
sons Abraham was commanded to sacri-
fice. They approached the question in dif-
ferent ways and no consensus prevailed.
The historian al-Mas'udi (d. 345/956) suc-
cinctly stated the geographical argument:
"If the sacrifice occurred in the Hejaz, it
was Ishmael, because Isaac never entered
the Hejaz. If the sacrifice took place in
Syria [i.e. Jerusalem], then it was Isaac be-
cause Ishmael did not enter Syria after he
was taken from there" (Aiuruj, i, 58). Never-
theless, some Shfl commentators claimed
that Abraham attempted to sacrifice Isaac
in Mecca while on the pilgrimage. Muslim
thinkers, like their Jewish and Christian
counterparts, came to believe that Abra-
ham's willingness and that of his son to un-
dergo the sacrifice brought blessings on
them and their descendants. If Isaac were
the intended victim, the merit would natu-

rally accrue to his progeny, the Jews or
Christians; if Ishmael, then to the Arabs.
Those arguing in favor of Ishmael suggest
that Isaac is an interpolation of the Jews
and Christians: "[The People of the Book
(q.v.)] forced this understanding because
Isaac is their father while Ishmael is the fa-
ther of the Arabs" (Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, ad
o_ 37:101). A quantitative study of the early
exegetical literature suggests that most
qur'anic exegetes until about the middle of
the second/ninth century, regarded Isaac
as the intended victim, but later the choice
of Ishmael gained favor and this has pre-
vailed until the present day (R. Firestone,
Abraham's son). See also prophets and
PROPHETHOOD.

Reuven Firestone

Bibliography
Primary: Babylonian Talmud (TB); Genesis Rabba,
traditional ed., chaps. 39-56, trans. H.
Freedman, Genesis Rabba, London 1983, i,
313-503; L. Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, 7 vols.,
Philadelphia 1968, i, 185-286; v, 207-55; Ibn
Kathir, Tafsir; Ibn GHitayba, Ala'arif 19-20;
Kisa'l, Qisas, 124-47, trans. W. Thackston, The
tales of the prophets of al-R'isa'i, Boston 1978,
131-57; Mas ( udl, Aiuruj, 4 vols., Beirut 1385/
1965-1385/1966; Pirqey Rabbi Eli'ezer (PRE),
traditional ed., chaps. 24-31, trans. G.
Friedlander, Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, New York 1916,
174-230; Tabari, Tafsir, ed. A.S. c All et al.; id.,
Ta'rikh, i, 253-325, trans. W. Brinner, History of
al-Taban, ii. Prophets and patriarchs, Albany 1987,
ii, 49-111; Targum Terushalmi.
Secondary: R. Dagorn, La gestc d'Ismael, Paris
1981; R. Dozy, Die Lsraeliten zu Mekka, Leipzig
1864; R. Firestone, Abraham's association with
the Meccan sanctuary and the pilgrimage in the
pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods, in Aluseon
104 (1991), 365-93; id., Abraham's son as the
intended sacrifice, in JSS 89 (1989), 95-131; id.,
Journeys in holy lands. The evolution oj the Abraham-
Lshmael legends, Albany 1990; GR. Hawting, The
origins of the Muslim sanctuary at Mecca, in
G.H.A. Juynboll (ed.), Studies on the first century of
Lslamic society, Carbondale 1982, 23-47; C.S.
Hurgronje, Het Alekkaansche feest, Leiden 1880;
M.J. Kister, A bag of meat, in bsoas 33 (1970),
267-75; td., Gall yourselves by graceful names, in
M.J. Kister, Lectures in memory of Professor Martin

ABROGATION

Al. Plessner, Jerusalem 1975, 3-25; id., al-Hlra, in
Arabica 15 (1968), 143-69; Y. Moubarac, Abraham
dans le Coran, Paris 1958; R. Paret, Ibrahim, in
Ef, iii, 980-1; A. Rippin, Rahman and the
Hanlfs, in W.B. Hallaq and D.R Little (eds.),
Islamic studies presented to Charles J. Adams, Leiden
1991; U. Rubin, Hamtiyya and Ka'ba, in JSAI 13
(1990), 85-112; id., The Ka'ba, in JSAI 8 (1986),
97-131; J. Wansbrough, qs.

Abrogation

A prominent concept in the fields of
qur'anic commentary and Islamic law
which allowed the harmonization of ap-
parent contradictions in legal rulings. De-
spite the voluminous literature Muslims
have produced on this topic over the centu-
ries, Western scholars have historically
evinced little interest in analyzing the de-
tails of "abrogation." Although aware of
these details, T. Noldeke and F. Schwally
for example, failed to probe adequately the
significant distinction made in applying
theories of abrogation to the Qur'an. To
understand this application, it is important
to distinguish the difference between the
Qur'an as a source and the Qur'an as a
text, the difference being the verses re-
moved from the text, the substance of
which remains a probative source for doc-
trine (J. Burton, Collection, 233). On the
question of the relation between the
Qur'an and sunna (q.v.) — the customary
practice of the Prophet Muhammad as
documented in the hadith — inadequate
information betrayed I. Goldziher (Mu-
hammedanische Studien, ii, 20) into inadver-
tently misrepresenting the importance of
the stance adopted by the classical jurist
al-Shafi'l (d. 204/820). More recently,
J. Schacht's concentration on "contradic-
tion" (ikhtildf) as an acknowledged categ-
ory in the hadith and sunna as well as his
speculation on the origin and nature of
hadith led him to minimize the role of the

Qur'an, its interpretation and its perceived
relation to the sunna as factors important
to the evolution of jurisprudence [Origins,

95-7)-

Classical Islamic jurisprudence recog-
nizes two primary sources of legal rulings:
the Qur'an and the sunna. In addition, two
secondary post-prophetic sources were ac-
knowledged: analogy (qiyas) derived from
one or other of the primary sources, and
the consensus of qualified legal experts
ftjma'). Abrogation is applicable to neither
of the subsidiary sources, but only to the
documents on which they are based. Since
abrogation is solely the prerogative of the
lawgiver, it may be argued that it must be
indicated before the death of the Prophet
who mediated the laws supplied in the
Qur'an and sunna.

"The cancellation of a legal enactment"
is an inadequate translation of the Arabic
term naskh which includes, when applied to
the Qur'an, reference to "omission," al-
though it more commonly signifies "substi-
tution." Abrogation may be external to
Islam or internal. On its appearance,
Christianity deemed itself to have replaced
Judaism, while with its revelation, Islam
saw itself as dislodging both of its prede-
cessors as an expression of the divine will
(al-Ghazali, al-Mustasja, i, in). For each of
the historical revelations, there was a pre-
ordained duration (q 13:38), although Is-
lam, intended to be the last of the series,
will endure until judgment day (0,33:40).
Like Christ, Muhammad came to confirm
the Torah (q.v.) and also to declare lawful
some of what had been previously de-
clared unlawful (02:286; 3:50). For exam-
ple, the Prophet was instructed to declare
the food of Muslims lawful to the Jews
(o_5 : 5)- Indeed, some elements of Jewish
law had been intended as punishment, im-
posed on account of their wrongdoing
(0.4:160; 6:146).

To Muslim scholars, the abrogation of

ABROGATION

Judaism and Christianity by Islam was
obvious, although internal abrogation
remained less so. The latter had to be vig-
orously defended by appeal to the analogy
of external abrogation, to verses in the
Qur'an and by reference to alleged in-
stances of abrogation. For example, the
Companion Salama b. al-Akwa' (d.
74/693) is reported to have said, "When
'and those who can shall feed one of the
poor (q_2:i84)' was revealed, those who
chose to break their fast [during the month
of Ramadan, q.v.] fed the poor until the
verse was abrogated by 'Whoever is pres-
ent during the month shall fast (q_2:i85)' "
(Muslim, Sahih, K. al-Siyam). In another in-
stance, when a man inquired about the
night prayer, the Prophet's widow 'A'isha
(q.v.) asked him, "Do you not recite C373?
The Prophet and his Companions (see
companions OF THE prophets) observed
the night prayer for a whole year during
which God retained in Heaven the closing
of the sura, revealing the alleviation only
twelve months later, whereupon the night
prayer became optional from being obliga-
tory" (Muslim, Sahih). In these two in-
stances of alleged abrogation, it is claimed
that one regulation was withdrawn and
replaced with a later one, although the
replaced verses remained in the text.

2:180 requires Muslims to make testa-
mentary provision for their parents and
other close kin, while another passage
(04:11-12) stipulates the shares in an estate
which must pass automatically to a Mus-
lim's heirs (see inheritance). In deference
to the legal principle that no one may ben-
efit twice from a single estate, parents and
other close family members now lost the
right to the benefit stipulated in o 2:180.
Widows, being named in 0^4:12, lost the
maintenance and accommodation for
twelve months granted in Q_2:240 (see
maintenance and upkeep). For some clas-
sical jurists, one verse of the Qur'an here

abrogated another. Others argue that the
provisions of q_2:i8o and 04:11-12 were by
no means irreconcilable, but that the ex-
clusion of parents and widows from their
dual entitlement had been settled by the
Prophet's announcement, "There shall be
no testament in favor of an heir." Here the
Prophet's practice was seen as abrogating
the Qur'an.

The words and actions of the Prophet
came to be regarded by many as a second
source of Islamic regulation which, like the
Qur'an, was subject to the same process of
change (al-HazimT, Vtibar, 23). For exam-
ple, Muhammad announced, "I prohibited
the visiting of graves, but now you may vis-
it them. I had prohibited storing the meat
of your sacrifices for more than three
nights, but now you may store it as long as
you see fit. I had prohibited the keeping of
liquor in anything but skin containers, but
now you may use any type of container, so
long as you drink no intoxicant" (Muslim,
Sahih, K. al-Jana'iz).

The qur'anic passages concerning the
change of the direction of prayer (qibla,
q.v.) leave unclear which type of abroga-
tion has taken place (o_2:i42-50). Some
scholars argued that the change of direc-
tion indicated was a case of external abro-
gation. They held that the Prophet was
bound by God's command to the Jews to
face Jerusalem when praying, until this was
abrogated by the qur'anic verse. Others,
interpreting the words "We appointed the
direction of prayer which you formerly
faced" ((32:143) as a reference to turning to
Jerusalem, saw the change as internal ab-
rogation, with one qur'anic ruling abrogat-
ing the other (al-Nahhas, al-Nasikh, 15).
Noting the silence of the Qur'an on the
earlier direction of prayer, some other
scholars presumed that praying toward
Jerusalem had been introduced by the
Prophet and later changed by the
Qur'an.

l 3

ABROGATION

Al-Shafi'i's theory of abrogation
The Prophet's mission extended over
twenty years. There was therefore nothing
surprising in the idea that his instructions
to his community should show signs of de-
velopment. Little resistance was expressed
to the notion that one of the Prophet's
practices could abrogate another. Indeed,
for scholars who undertook the derivation
of the law from its sources in the Qur'an
and sunna, the simplest means of disposing
of an opponent's view was the blunt asser-
tion that, although it had been correct at
one time, it has since been abrogated. It
was the need to regularize appeals to the
sources and especially to the principle of
abrogation that led the scholar al-Shafi'i
(d. 204/820) to compose his Contradictory
hadlth (Ikhtilaf al-hadith) and Treatise [on Ju-
risprudence] (al-Risdla), the earliest surviving
statements on jurisprudential method.

A key feature of al-Shafi'l's work is the
emphasis on redefining the term "sunna"
to restrict it to the words and actions re-
ported from the Prophet alone. Others had
interpreted the term in the older, broader
sense to include the practice of other au-
thorities, in addition to the Prophet.
Al-Shafi'i sought to convince them that
God had singled out the Prophet as alone
qualified to pronounce on the law. He
amassed from the Qur'an evidence that
God insisted on unquestioning obedience
to his Prophet (e.g. Q_4:i3, 65). Appealing
to a series of verses linking Muhammad's
commands and prohibitions to the divine
will, and culminating in a verse which
identified Muhammad's will with the di-
vine will (q_4:8o), al-Shafi'i succeeded in re-
covering the unique prophet-figure central
to and partner in the processes of divine
revelation.

Those who denied the sunna any role in
the construction of the law did so on the
basis that the Qur'an contains everything
that is needed and that many reports about

the Prophet's behavior were forged. Al-
Shafi'i sought to convince these scholars
that it was the Qur'an itself that enjoined
appeal to the prophetic sunna [at-Risala,
79-105). The result was not merely his as-
sertion that the Qur'an required adherence
to the sunna of the Prophet, but also the
elevation of the sunna to the status of an-
other form of revelation iJJmm, vii, 271),
elucidating, supplementing and never con-
tradicting the Qur'an. Only a verse of the
Qur'an could abrogate another verse of
the Qur'an and these verses could only ab-
rogate other qur'anic verses. By the same
token, a prescriptive practice of the
Prophet could only be abrogated by his
adoption of another practice. Contrary to
the practice of earlier generations of schol-
ars who were willing to believe that their
doctrines abrogated those of their foes
without any evidence to support the claim,
al-Shafi'i asserted that the hadlth docu-
menting every actual instance of abroga-
tion have survived. Therefore, one had to
show that one sunna followed the other
chronologically in order to determine
which was abrogated. Although al-Shafi'i
defined "abrogation" as "to abandon"
[taraka, al-Risdla, 122), he added that no rul-
ing is abrogated without a replacement rul-
ing being promulgated in its stead, as had
occurred in the case of the change of the
direction of prayer {al-Risdla, 106-13).
Thus, for him, "abrogation" actually
meant "substitution."

Abrogation and divine knowledge
To some minds, the idea that one verse
from the Qur'an abrogated another sug-
gested that divine will changes and divine
knowledge develops and this was held to
contravene basic theological tenets. Those
who allowed that some verses of the
Qur'an abrogated others, responded that
no Muslim ever objected to the notion that
Islam had abrogated Christianity and

ABROGATION

Judaism. External abrogation of this type
was an acknowledged reality, one to which
the Quran referred and consequently one
that could be accepted. If God adapts his
regulations to the different circumstances
prevailing in different ages, as is apparent
in the alteration of laws revealed to the dif-
ferent prophets, he may equally adapt reg-
ulations appropriate to the initial stages of
one revelation to meet the changes
wrought in the course of the revelation
(al-Ghazall, al-Mustasja, i, in). Moreover,
there was historical evidence of this having
happened. For example, the Muslims at
Mecca were bidden to be patient under
the verbal and physical assaults of their
enemies. When the Muslim community
emigrated to Medina, they were ordered to
answer violence with violence. The weak-
ness of Meccan Islam was replaced by the
numerical and economic strength of Medi-
nan Islam. Given these changed condi-
tions, patient forbearance could be re-
placed by defiant retaliation (q_ 2:191, 216;
20:130; 30:60; 73:10).

Muslim theologians maintained that di-
vine will is sovereign and limited by no
power in the universe. God may command
or forbid whatever he wants. In the same
way, divine knowledge is infinite and in-
stantaneous. From all eternity, God has
known what he proposed to command,
when he would command it, the precise
duration intended for each command and
the exact moment when he proposed to
countermand it. There is perfect harmony
between divine will and divine knowledge.
Perfect will does not alter and perfect
knowledge does not develop. In the case of
fasting during the month of Ramadan, the
earlier option of fasting was subsequently
made obligatory. In the case of the night
prayer, an obligation was reduced to an op-
tion. In the case of the change in the direc-
tion of prayer, the Muslims were required
to face Mecca after having been required

to turn to Jerusalem. In each instance, the
earlier ruling was viewed to be proper for
its time and the later abrogation was also
viewed to be proper in its time (al-Shafi'l,
al-Risala, 117-37).

Human circumstances, however, do
change and human knowledge does deve-
lop. When humans command one another
and subsequently become aware of unfore-
seen consequences, they are obliged to with-
draw a command. Their lack of perfect
foresight often obliges them to have second
thoughts [bada\ Qurtubl, Jami', ii, 64), which
according to classical Sunnl theology, may
never by posited of the divine being.

When abrogation occurs people may per-
ceive a change, but this is only a change
from the human perspective. God sends his
prophets with his commands and the true
believer is the one who obeys (q_ 4:65). Mus-
lims should emulate the ideal attitude
adopted by Abraham and his son, when
both of them with full knowledge — in the
Islamic tradition — were willing to pro-
ceed with the sacrifice.

The qur'anic evidence
The claim that abrogation, understood as
the cancellation of a legal ordinance, was
solidly rooted in the revelation was con-
nected with the appropriation of the qur-
'anic root n-s-kh as a technical term. The
root occurs in no fewer than four verses
which the classical exegetes treated as
circumstantially unrelated contexts to be
interpreted independently. That prevented
scholars from agreeing on an unequivocal
etymology and definition of "naskh" and
led to the consequent emergence of a host
of irreconcilable theories of abrogation.
Q.7 :I 54 (nuskha) and Q_ 45:29 (nastansikhu) ,
the first referring to tablets (alwah) and the
second to a book (kitab), united with the
everyday usage, "nasakha l-kitah" (copied a
book), to produce the concept of "duplica-
tion." The essence of this understanding is

r 5

ABROGATION

a plurality of texts. This secular usage was
said to be a synonym for "naqala l-kitab"
(transcribed the book) which, however,
bears the added sense of "removal" hence
"transfer" or "replace," as in the phrase na-
sakhat al-sham.s al-^ill, "the sunlight replaced
the shadow" (an etymology that is rejected
by some, see Qurtubi, Java '.', ii, 61). "God
abrogates (yansakhu) whatever Satan brings
forth" (o_22:52) could yield only the sense
of "suppression." This paralleled the secu-
lar usage "nasakhat al-rlh al-athar" (The
wind obliterated the traces [of an encamp-
ment, etc.]; cf. Qurtuhi, J ami', ii, 61; al-
Ghazali, al-Mustasja, i, 107). In this usage,
abrogation as "removal" carries the con-
notation of "withdrawal."

"We will make you recite so you will not
forget except what God wills" (5)87:6-7)
and "We do not abrogate (nansakh) a verse
or cause it to be forgotten without bringing
a better one or one like it" (q_ 2:106) intro-
duced the idea that God might cause his
Prophet to forget materials not intended to
appear in the final form of the text (J. Bur-
ton, Collection, 64). This interpretation
could be reinforced by reference to "We
substitute (baddalna) one verse in the place
of another" (q_i6:ioi). The concept of
"omission" was added to the growing list of
meanings assigned to abrogation (Qurtubi,
Ja?ni', ii, 62). According to one report, one
night two men wished to incorporate into
their prayer a verse which they had learned
and had already used, but they found that
they could not recall a syllable. The next
day they reported this to the Prophet, who
replied that the passage had been with-
drawn overnight and they should put it out
of their minds (Qurtubi, Jami', ii, 63). In
another report, the Companion Ibn
Mas'ud decided to recite in his prayers one
night a verse he had been taught, had
memorized and had written into his own
copy of the revelations. Failing to recall a
syllable of it, he checked his notes only to

find the page blank. He reported this to the
Prophet who told him that that passage
had been withdrawn overnight (Noldeke,
GQ, i, 47, ii, 44).

Irrecoverable forgetting was thus formal-
ized as "withdrawal," a more satisfactory
explanation for the disappearance of re-
vealed material. Although the majority of
scholars viewed forgetting as one of the
mechanisms of abrogation affecting the
Qur'an, there were those who strove to
keep it separate from abrogation. Accord-
ing to one report, the Prophet omitted a
verse in a prayer and asked one of his
Companions why he had failed to prompt
him. The Companion replied that he
thought the verse had been withdrawn. "It
was not withdrawn," declared the Prophet,
"I merely forgot it" (Sahnun, al-Mudaw-
wana al-kubra, i, 107).

Theological objections to the interpretation
Still some scholars had difficulty in accept-
ing the mechanism of abrogation as wor-
thy of God. Some went so far as to provide
variant readings for the references to abro-
gation in the holy text (Tabari, Tafsir, ii,
478). One particular difficulty was "We do
not abrogate a verse or cause it to be for-
gotten without bringing a better one or
one like it" (q_2:io6). Some objected that
no part of the holy text could be said to be
superior to another so "without bringing a
better one" could not be a reference to the
Qur'an. The same consideration applies to
the Prophet's sunna abrogating the Qur'an
since no hadlth could be thought superior
or even similar to a divine verse. The pro-
ponents of abrogation claimed that God
was not referring to the text of the Qur'an,
but to the rulings conveyed by the text
(al-Ghazali, al-Mustasfd, i, 125; cf. Tabari,
Tafsir, ii, 471-2). While in terms of beauty,
no qur'anic verse can be considered supe-
rior to another and certainly no hadlth is
more beautiful than a verse from the

ABROGATION

I(i

Qur'an, the legal content of one verse —
or even of a hadith — could be considered
superior to the ruling contained in another
verse. Less easy to explain was the reason
that in these cases God did not suppress
the abrogated texts to avoid confusion
(Tabari, Tafsir, ii, 472).

Variant readings
That the notion of portions of the holy
text being forgotten was repugnant to some
is shown in two procedures adopted to
avoid that interpretation. As an exegetical
alternative, a number of different readings
(see readings OF THE qur'an) were pro-
posed for the troublesome passages. In the
passage "We do not abrogate a verse or
cause it to be forgotten (nunsihd) without
supplying a similar or better one" (q_2:io6)
attention focused on the word which the
majority of scholars read as nunsi (cause to
forget). This reading was supported by
"You will not forget (tansd), except what
God wills" (cj 87:6-7). Also suggested were
"You are caused to forget" (tunsa) which is
to be preferred to "You forget" (tansa,
Tabari, Tafsir, ii, 474-5). Both of the prob-
lems, Muhammad forgetting on his own
and God making him forget, could be cir-
cumvented by reading nansa', "We defer"
(Tabari, Tafsir, ii, 476-8). Q_2:io6 would
then be mentioning two revelatory pro-
cesses, naskh and deferment. The defer-
ment of naskh, in the sense of "copying,"
could mean "the deferring of revelation
from the heavenly original (see preserved
tablet) to its earthly representation in the
Qur'an," said to have occurred in the case
of the night prayer which the revelation of
Q_ 73:6 changed from obligatory to optional
(al-Shafi 1, al-Risala, 108). Or it could mean
deferring the removal of a passage from
the Qur'an, by leaving the passage in the
text despite suppression of the ruling it
contained (Tabari, Tafsir, ii, 478). Gener-
ally, the sense of the verb nasa'a (to defer) is

held to be temporal, although it has also
been said to have a physical connotation,
"driving away," as men drive strange ani-
mals away from the cistern intended for
their own beasts (Zamakhsharl, Kashshaf
ad Q_2:io6; cf. T us i> Tibyan, i, 395). Trans-
ferred to the qur'anic context, verses might
be driven away from a text, even from hu-
man memory. Men may be caused to for-
get. In support of this interpretation, re-
ports were cited which claimed that certain
suras were originally longer than they are
in the present-day text of the Qur'an. Even
verses which had allegedly been revealed
and failed to find a place in the final
text — such as the Ibn Adam and Bi'r
Ma'una verses (see J. Burton, Sources,
49-53) — were cited, supposedly from the
few Companions who had not quite forgot-
ten them (Tabari, Tafsir, ii, 479-80).
Through another approach it is not even
necessary to resort to variant readings be-
cause the Arabic word for "to forget"
(nasiya) could be construed to mean "to re-
move something" or its opposite, "to leave
something where it is" (Tabari, Tafsir, ii,
476). This could mean that the verses were
in the heavenly original, but not revealed,
or the verses were left in the text of the
Qur'an and were neither repealed nor re-
moved. Once replacement is ascertained to
have occurred, it is immaterial whether the
wording of an abandoned ruling is ex-
punged or whether it is left to stand in the
Qur'an. The passages whose rulings have
been replaced become inoperative or effec-
tively removed (Tabari, Tafsir, ii, 472).

Abrogation and the law
Legal scholars appealed to the principle of
abrogation continually to resolve the ap-
parent contradictions between the legal
practice of the various regions of the Is-
lamic world and between all of these and
their putative sources in the revelation.
"Forgetting" and "omission" were of no

ABROGATION

interest to the legal scholars who concen-
trated on "substitution" derived from "We
substitute one verse in the place of an-
other" (016:101) and imposed by them on
"We do not abrogate a verse or cause it to
be forgotten without bringing a better one
or one like it" (q_2:io6). The difficulties
which beset the exegetes and theologians
were of little concern to legal scholars,
who declared that "abrogation" (naskh) was
a technical term with a meaning now clear
to all (al-Jassas, Ahkam, ad Q_2:io6). Most
cited "We substitute one verse in the place
of another" (q_i6:ioi) as evidence that ab-
rogation in the form of "substitution" had
occurred, an interpretation already men-
tioned by the oldest exegetes (e.g. al-Farra',
Ma'am, i, 64-5). In fact, abrogation as sub-
stitution became the theater of the liveliest
development of the theories of abrogation.

The third type of abrogation
To the jurisprudent's interpretation of ab-
rogation as "the replacement of the ruling
but not of the text in which it appears"
and to the exegete's "the withdrawal of
both the ruling and its wording," a third
type was added, o 5:89 mentions "a fast of
three days" as one way to atone for break-
ing an oath. The Companion Ibn Mas'ud
(d. ca. 33/653) was said to have preserved
in his personal notes the original reading of
"a fast of three consecutive days." His anom-
alous reading was still referred to in the
time of the legal expert Abu Hanlfa (d. ca.
150/767). Although the word "consecu-
tive" was not found in the text of the
Qur'an that was in general use, the ruling
was adopted into Hanafi doctrine (al-
Sarakhsl, Usui, ii, 81). This exemplifies the
third type of abrogation in which the text,
but not the ruling, of a qur'anic revelation
was cancelled.

0^4:15-16 introduces a penalty for illicit
sexual behavior (see adultery and forni-
cation). Both partners are to be punished

with unspecified violence and the female
held under house arrest for life or "until
God makes a way for them." The pro-
mised way was thought to have been pro-
vided in Q_24:2, which imposed a penalty
of one hundred lashes for male and female
fornicators. Nevertheless, a Companion re-
ported that the Prophet had announced,
"Take it from me! Take it from me! God
has now made the way for women. Virgin
with virgin, one hundred lashes and ban-
ishment for twelve months. Non-virgin
with non-virgin, one hundred lashes and
death by stoning" (al-Shafi ( I, al-Risala, 129).
Reports from other Companions show the
Prophet extending the dual penalties to
males while a number state that he stoned
some offenders without flogging them
(Malik, al-Muwatta', Hudud, Hadd al-zina).
On the basis of this material, some con-
cluded that this was a case of the Prophet's
practice abrogating the Qur'an.

The vast majority of scholars, however,
regarded the imposition of stoning as the
penalty for adultery as an instance of a
verse from the holy text being eliminated,
although the ruling it contained remained
in effect. The Medinan scholar Malik b.
Anas (d. 179/795), f° r instance, had heard
that the penalty of stoning had originated
in "the book of God," which in this case he
understood to be the Torah. He reported
that the Prophet had consulted the rabbis
and the stoning ruling was indeed found in
the Torah. With explicit reference to "the
book of God," Muhammad imposed the
ruling. Other scholars interpreted the term
"the book of God" as a reference to the
Qur'an and were puzzled that they could
not find such a ruling within its pages. The
Prophet's second successor 'Umar (r. 12/
634-22/644) gravely urged the Muslims not
to overlook "the stoning verse" which, he
maintained, had been revealed to Muham-
mad, taught by him to his Companions
and recited in his company in the ritual

ABROGATION

prayers: "The mature male and female,
stone them outright." 'Umar insisted that
the Prophet, his immediate successor Abu
Bakr (r. 11/632-13/634) and he himself had
put this ruling into practice and claimed
that fear of being accused of adding to the
holy text was the only reason that he did
not actually write the "verse" in the
Qur'an. Countless scholars in succeeding
centuries have stated with assurance that
a verse with the same or similar wording
had once stood in the qur'anic text. From
this, they concluded that a verse could be
removed from the Qur'an without this viti-
ating the validity of the ruling it contained
(al-Ghazali, al-Mustasja, ii, 124).

Al-Shafi'l did not analyze these materials
from the standpoint of those who saw here
the abrogation of the Qur'an by the sunna,
a claim which he at all times studiously
avoided. Rather he preferred to review the
case on the basis of his theory of exclusion
(takhsis). By imposing on slave women half
the penalty of the free, 04 ; 25 excluded
slaves from the full brunt of 024:2 —
which ordered a flogging of one hundred
lashes for male and female adulterers —
and from the stoning penalty, since death
has no definable half. Therefore certain
classes of free Muslims may also be exempt
from some of the penalties. The Prophet's
practice indicated that married offenders
were not covered by 024:2 or, if they had
originally been covered by that provision,
they were subsequently excluded. Their
penalty was to be stoning. The sunna of
stoning had replaced the earlier sunna of
flogging and stoning. In his analysis, al-
Shafi'l maintained that the Prophet's
words, "God has now made a way for
women," showed that the qur'anic ruling
"confine [the women] in their home until
they die or until God makes a way for
them" (0,4:15) had been abrogated (J. Bur-
ton, Sources, 143-56). He asserted that the
Prophet had dispensed with flogging those

who were to be stoned, although earlier he
had applied both penalties. Because Hog-
ging was undeniably a qur'anic ruling,
some have mistakenly assumed that al-
Shafi'i believed that stoning was a qur'anic
ruling as well.

Al-Shafi'l did acknowledge a third type of
abrogation in his discussion of a different
question, that of the withdrawal of a
qur'anic verse while the ruling it contained
remained in effect. 0,4:23 lists the women
whom a Muslim male is forbidden to
marry, including his wet-nurse and any fe-
male to whom she has given suck. Scholars
disputed the number of times a child had
to be suckled by a woman to establish this
ban to marriage. For Malik, a single suck-
ling in infancy sufficed to create a barrier
to marriage (Malik, al-Muwatta', al-Rada'a,
Rada'at al-saghir). For others even a single
drop of breast-milk initiated the ban. Al-
Shafi'l fastened on one report in which the
Prophet's widow A'isha was said to have
claimed that a verse imposing ten suckling
sessions had been revealed to the Prophet
and it was replaced by a second verse re-
ducing the number of sessions to five,
which was also subsequently lost. Earlier
Malik had curtly dismissed this report (al-
Muwatta', al-Rada', al-Rada'a ba'd al-kibar),
but al-Shafi'l made it central to his con-
clusions. He accepted this as the one un-
doubted instance of the withdrawal of a
qur'anic verse while the ruling it expressed
remained valid (Ikhtilaf al-hadith, vii, 208
margin; see also J. Burton, Sources, 156-8).

Conclusion
It is clear that the theory of abrogation de-
veloped its own internal dynamic. Al-
Shafi'T's theory that the abrogating verses
of the Qur'an had once existed was not ac-
cepted by all of his contemporaries, but it
later gained widespread support. Malikls
and H ana fi s na d no general need of this
principle while Shafi'ls had no need what-

ABSTINENCE

ever to posit that the surma abrogated the
Qur'an or vice-versa. One nevertheless
finds Malik! and Hanafi scholars claiming
that three forms of abrogation are docu-
mented (al-SarakhsI, Usui, ii, 81; Qurtubl,
Jami] ii, 66), just as one also finds Shafi'is
adducing occurrences of the sunna abro-
gating the Qur'an and the reverse which,
they claimed, their eponym had over-
looked (al-Ghazali, al-Mustasfi, i, 124).
See also traditional disciplines of

QUR ANIC STUDY.

John Burton

Bibliography
Primary: Farra', Ma'am; al-Ghazali, Abu Hamid
Muhammad, al-AIustasja min 'Urn al-usul, 2 vols.,
Cairo 1322/1904; al-Haziml, Muhammad b.
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Hibat Allah Ibn Salama, Kitab al-Nasikh wa-l-
mansukh, Cairo 1379/1960; Jassas, Ahkdm; Malik,
Muwatta\ 3 vols., Cairo 1303/1885; Muslim,
SafiTh; Nahhas, Kitab al-Nasikh wa-l-mansukhfi
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mansukhihi, ed. A.H. Farhat, Riyadh 1976;
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Mudawwana l-kubrd, 16 vols., Baghdad 1970;
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interpretation of o_87:6-7, in Der Islam 62 (1985),
5-19; id., The sources of Islamic law, Edinburgh
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Origins of Muhammadam jurisprudence, Oxford
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vols., Cairo 1383/1963.

Abstinence

In the Qur'an abstinence in the sense of
"restraint in or refraining from the indul-
gence of human appetites and impulses" is
connected with words deriving from four

different Arabic roots, namely '-l-w, '-s-m,

W and h -r r -

The paradigmatic event for the qur'anic
notion of abstinence is (574:2-5, which re-
counts one of the early examples of Mu-
hammad's experience of coming close to
God as the revelation descends on him. God
commands, "Arise and warn, your Lord
magnify, your robes purify, and defilement
flee (fa-hjur)." Drawing close to God re-
quires abandoning or fleeing from all that
might inhibit the human response to the
divine initiative. This interpretation of an
experience in the life of Muhammad is sup-
ported by a later qur'anic reference — fol-
lowing the chronology of T. Noldeke (see

CHRONOLOGY AND THE Q_Ur'an) to an

event in the story of Joseph (q.v). Potiphar's
wife admits that she tried to seduce Joseph,
saying, "Yes, I attempted to seduce him,
but he abstained (fa-sta'sama)" (q_ 12:32).

Humans are continually in need of re-
jecting or fleeing from anything that inter-
feres with the on-going movement of the
spirit in response to God. For instance,
Q_4:6 states, "If any man be rich, let him be
abstinent (fal-yasta'Jif)," in reference to the
use of the property of orphans (q.v.) by
their guardians, who are enjoined to ab-
stain from misusing their power to exploit
their vulnerable charges.

Abstinence also means refraining from il-
licit sexual activity, as in o_ 24:33: "And let
those who find not the means to marry be
abstinent (wal-yasta'fif) till God enriches
them of his bounty." On the other hand,
marriage entails responsibilities. Q_ 2:226
forbids a man to carry out an oath of sex-
ual abstinence (lid') from his wife for longer
than four months: "For those who swear
to abstain (yu 'luna) from their women, a
wait of four months." After that, he must
break his oath or she is divorced. See also
FASTING.

Sheila McDonough

ABYSSINIA

_•<>

Bibliography
Bell, Commentary; Izutsu, Concepts; Mir, Dictionary;
Paret, Kommentar.

Abu Bakr

A prosperous merchant in Mecca who was
an early convert to Islam (see Tabari,
Ta'rikh, ed. M.J. de Goeje et al., i, 1165-6)
and the first caliph of the community. Abu
Bakr (d. 13/634) is often thought to be re-
ferred to in the Qur'an, for example, in
Q_3g:33, where he is considered to be the
one who "confirms the truth" of Muham-
mad's message.
See also companions of the prophet.

Andrew Rippin

Abu Lahab

An individual named once in the Quran at
o 11 1 : 1. The name literally means "father of
the flame," that is of hell. "Abu Lahab"
was the nickname of an uncle of Muham-
mad by the name of Abd al-'Uzza b. 'Abd
al-Muttalib who was a major opponent of
the Prophet. See also opposition to

MUHAMMAD.

Andr

Rippi

Bibliography
Ibn Ishaq, Sira, i, 231; U. Rubin, Abu Lahab and
sura CXI, in bsoas 42 (1979), 13-28.

Abu Talib see family of the

PROPHET

Abyssinia

Abyssinia (al-Habash or al-Habasha) does
not appear in the Qur'an, although the

Christian Abyssinian state of Axum ex-
erted a powerful influence on Arabia in the
sixth century. Separated from the Yemen
by only the narrow Bab al-Mandab Strait,
Abyssinia controlled southern Arabia for
some time and Christianity spread in the
region. One sura is ordinarily interpreted
to allude to an Abyssinian military incur-
sion that reached Mecca and it is said that
some of the early Meccan converts to Is-
lam took refuge in Abyssinia. Ethiopic lan-
guages influenced the dialects of southern
Arabia and words of Ethiopian-derivation
are found in the Qur'an (see foreign
vocabulary). According to the exegete
and historian al-Tabari (d. 310/923), the
Meccan tribe of Quraysh (q.v.) traded in
Abyssinia.

Sura 105 (Surat al-Fil) mentions God's
destruction of the People of the Ele-
phant (q.v.). According to the classical
commentators, this is a reference to an
Abyssinian incursion from the Yemen to
Mecca in 570 C.E., which, some reports
claim, was the year Muhammad was born.
Islamic references to this military cam-
paign are largely folkloristic and find no
corroboration from south Arabian inscrip-
tions or other sources. The expedition
made an impression on the local popula-
tion because of the use of one or more ele-
phants in the campaign. Abraha (q.v.), who
was said to have been the leader of the ex-
pedition, was known to the Byzantine his-
torian Procopius as a former slave who had
seized control of the Abyssinian forces in
the Yemen.

According to some Islamic sources, a
group of Muhammad's followers left
Mecca for Abyssinia around the year 615.
The authority on the life of the Prophet,
Ibn Ishaq (ca. 85/704-150/767), names
eighty-three adult male participants and
claims that this first emigration (hijra, see
emigration) in Islam occurred as a result
of pagan Meccan persecution, although
other possible reasons have also been sug-

121

gested (Watt, Muhammad at Mecca, 1 13-6).
The ruler of Abyssinia, the Negus (al-
JVajashT), is said to have granted them ref-
uge, despite the fact that the pagan Mec-
cans sent representatives who tried to
convince him to deny them protection. In
recognition of this, Muhammad mourned
the Negus at his death and led public
prayers in his honor.

In the Arabic genealogical tradition, the
Abyssinians — along with the Egyptians,
Sudanese and most other black African
peoples — descended from Ham, the son
of Noah (q.v). The scholar Ibn Hisham
(d. 218/834) in his Kitab al-Tijan (p. 55), an
early work on south Arabian history,
claims that the south Arabian descendant
of Shem, Hadramawt b. Qahtan, inherited
Abyssinia, creating by this claim a connec-
tion which draws attention to the close
geographical and cultural ties between
southern Arabia and Abyssinia. According
to one tradition, the biblical Esau married
the daughter of an Abyssinian king and
eventually came to rule his kingdom
(Kisa'l, Qisas, 154). In light of the Jewish as-
sociation of Esau with Christianity, this ex-
plained the Christian presence in Abys-
sinia. See also pre-islamic Arabia and
the qur'an.

Reuven Firestone

Bibliography
Primary: BukharT, Sahih, A. Manaqib at-ansar; Ibn
Hisham, 'Abd al-Malik, Kitab at-TTjan fi mutuk
Himyar, San ( a n.d., 55; Ibn Ishaq, Sua, ed. M.
al-Saqqa et al., i, 41-56, 322-38; Ibn Ishaq-
Gnillaume, 20-7, 146-53; Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat, ed.
H. Sachau, i, 136-7.

Secondary: A.F.L. Beeston, Abraha, in Ef, i,
102-3; id., al-Fll, in Ef, ii, 895; Jeffery, For. vocab.,
305-7; W.M. Watt, Muhammad at Mecca, Oxford
! 953-

Accident see god and his attributes;

EXEGESIS OF THE QJJR'aN: GLASSICAL AND
MEDIEVAL

'Ad

An ancient tribe to whom the prophet Hud
(q.v.; 0.7:65; 11:50; cf. 46:21) was sent. They
are mentioned twenty-four times in the
Qur'an.

The Ad are described as a powerful tribe
which existed after the people of Noah
(q.v; o 7:69). They were mighty and proud
of their strength (q_4i:i5; cf. 26:128-9) as
well as very tall of stature (q_7:69). The
prophet Hud was sent to the Ad, but his
preaching was largely unsuccessful
(q_7:70-i; 11:53-4; 46:22). Other messengers
were also sent to the Ad, but they too were
rejected (g_ 26:123). Hud tried to convince
his people to invoke God's intervention af-
ter a period of drought (q_ 11:52) and God
punished them. The Ad were devastated
by a violent wind (q_4i:i6; 46:24; 51:41;
54:19; 69:6; see AIR and wind), "the chas-
tisement of a dreadful day" ((326:135),
which blasted for a week (g_6g:7) and left
only their dwelling-places standing
((346:25). Only those who believed Hud
were saved (537:72; 11:58; 26:139). Some
other references are unclear. It is said that
God caused the death of the "first c Ad"
(o_ 53:50). The Ad were summoned to faith
in a place called al-Ahqaf (046:21). An-
other verse connects the Ad with the mys-
terious Irani Dhat al-'Imad (o 89:6-7; see
iram). In other verses the Ad are briefly
mentioned with Noah (q.v), the Thamud
(q.v.) and others (09:70; 14:9; 22:42; 29:38;
38:12; 40:31; 50:13).

Frequent references in pre-islamic poetry
show that legends about the tribe of Ad
were well known among Arabs before the
time of the Prophet (Horovitz, ku, 126-7)
and the qur'anic versions of these stories
apparently belong to this cycle of gen-
uinely Arabian traditions. Qur'anic exe-
gesis and works on the early prophets cre-
ated a complete and coherent narrative of
the vicissitudes of the Ad, adding many
remarkable details (see punishment

ADAM AND EVE

■1-1

stories). According to differing interpreta-
tions, Iram was either the name of a place
associated with the Ad or the name of the
most representative subtribe of the 'Ad.
The 'Ad were originally a nation of ten or
thirteen subtribes and one of the first Arab
tribes. Al-Ahqaf, which literally means "the
sand dunes," was identified as a place
called al-Shihr, located between Oman
and Hadramawt. An utterance attributed
to Muhammad specifies that the wind
which killed the Adites was a western one.
The Ad were giants between ten and five
hundred cubits in height and on one occa-
sion they sent a delegation to Mecca to ask
for rain. Stories are told about the tribe's
legendary eponym Ad and his powerful
sons Shaddad and Shadld. According to
some reports, the sage Luqman (q.v.) be-
longed to the Ad. The surviving Adites
sought refuge in Mecca according to some
stories while others place them in the
mythical towns of Jabalqa and Jabarsa.

Roberto Tottoli

Bibliography
Primary: 'Abd al-Malik b. Hablb, Kitab al-Tankh,
ed. J. Aguade, Madrid 1991, 40-3; Abd al-
Razzaq, Tafsir, ii, 217, 370; Bukhara, SahTh,
Beirut 1992, ii, 384; Ishaq b. Bishr, Mubtada' al-
dunyd wa-qisas al-anbiya\ Bodleian Library, MS
Huntingdon 388, Il6a-I39b; Kisa'l, Qisas, 103-10;
al-MajlisI, M. Baqir, Bihar al-anwdr, 105 vols.,
Beirut 1983, xi, 343-70; Mawardl, Nukat, v, 282;
Muhammad b. Hablb, Kitab al-muhabbar, ed. I.
Lichtenstadter, Hyderabad 1942; Muqatil, Tafsir,
iv, 23-6, 687-8; Mutahhar b. Tahir al-MaqdisT,
al-Bad' wa-l-tarTkh, ed. C. Huart, 6 vols., Paris
1899-1919, iii, 31-7; Sibt Ibn al-JawzT, Mir'dt, i,
253-62; TabarT, TafsTr, Cairo 1968, viii, 216-22;
xxvi, 22-4; xxvii, 78; xxx, 175-7; id., Ta'rTkh,
Leiden, i (1), 68, 231-44; Tha'labl, Qisas, 53-7;
Tirmidhl, SahTh, v, 391-2.

Secondary: J.E. Bencheikh, Irani ou le clameur
de Dieu, in remmm 58 (1990), 70-81; F. Buhl, Ad,
in Efi, i, 169; Horovitz, ku, 125-7; G.D. Newby,
The making of the last prophet, Columbia, SC 1989,
50-7; Speyer, Erzahlungen, 118-9.

Adam and Eve

Adam is the first human being (bashar) and
the father of humankind in the Pentateuch
and the Qur'an. "Adam" (Adam) as an in-
dividual person occurs eighteen times in
the Qur'an. In addition, the phrase "the
sons of Adam" (band Adam) in the sense of
"humankind" is attested seven times. The
qur'anic commentators derive the name
"Adam" from adim al-ard (Abd al-Razzaq,
Tafsir, i, 43; ii, 20; Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqdt, i, 26;
Tabarl, Tafsir, i, 214-5) or from adamat al-
ard (Tabarl, Tafsir, i, 208), because he was
created from "the surface of the earth."
The name of Adam's wife Eve, in the Is-
lamic tradition "Hawwa'," is not qur'anic,
although she figures in the Qur'an as
Adam's counterpart and complement.
"Hawwa' " is said to be derived from hayy,
because she is the mother of everything
"living" (Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqdt, i, 39-40) or be-
cause she was created from something "liv-
ing" (Tabarl, Tafsir, i, 229). The qur'anic
material on Adam and Eve addresses a
number of basic topics.

The announcement of the creation of man
p_2:30 reports the announcement of the
creation of man: "And when your lord said
to the angels (q.v.), 'I am about to place a
vice-regent [khalifa, see caliph) on earth,'
they said, 'Will you place thereon one who
will work corruption (q.v.) there and shed
blood, while we proclaim your praise and
call you holy?' He said, 'I know what you
do not know.' " Like the Talmudic explana-
tion of Genesis 1:26 (Speyer, Erzahlungen,
52-3; C. Schbck, Adam, <jf, cf. T a barl,
Tafsir, xiv, 31; RazI, Tafsir, ii, 154), God's
announcement (innijd'il, q 2:30; inni khdliq,
o_ 15:28; 38:71) is given before the council of
angels [al-mala' al-a'la, p_38:6g), who argue
against the creation of man (Tabarl, Tafsir,
xxiii, 183-4). The commentaries on the

^'3

ADAM AND EVE

Qur'an discuss the meaning of "khalifa, "
his identity and the identity of "the one
who will work corruption there and shed
blood." The term "khalifa" denotes a per-
son who takes the place of someone else
and most commentators agree that it refers
to Adam. This raised the question of whom
Adam replaced on earth. Early commen-
tary assumes that Adam was the successor
of the angels or jinn (q.v.) who dwelled on
earth before him and who were replaced
because they became corrupt and shed
blood. The famous early religious scholar
al-Hasan al-Basri (d. 110/728) identified
the "khalifa" as the offspring of Adam who
succeed their father, generation after gen-
eration. Others take Adam for the khalifa of
God on earth in exercising judgment with
justice (al-hukm bi-l-'adl, cf. (338:26). The
commentators attribute the corruption and
bloodshed (q.v.) to those descendants of
Adam who do not follow the law of God
(Tabari, Tafsir, i, 199-201). There is general
agreement that Adam was not the one
causing corruption and shedding blood.
This interpretation reflects the understand-
ing of Adam as the first prophet and mes-
senger, because these actions were deemed
to be a great sin (kabira) and thus inappro-
priate for a prophet (see impeccability
and infallibility). Modern commenta-
tors tend not to accept the early hadlth re-
porting that a rational species (al-sinfal-
'aqil) resided on the earth before mankind
(e.g. Rashld Rida, Manar, i, 258). Some
combine this view with their refutation of
Darwin's theory of the evolution of man
(A.W. al-Najjar, Qcisas, 31; see also M.J.
Kister, Legends, 84-100; id., Adam, 115-32;
C. Schock, Adam, 97-102).

Learning all of the names
The announcement of the creation of man
((32:30) is followed by the verses "And
[God] taught Adam the names, all of them

(al-asma' kullaha) . Then he presented them
to the angels, and said, 'Tell me the names
of these, if you speak the truth!' They said,
'Glory be to you! We know only what you

have taught us ' He said, Adam, tell

them their names!' When he had told them
their names, [God] said, 'Did I not tell you
that I know the hidden things of the heav-
ens and the earth?'" (q_2:3i-2). The Qur'an
does not mention how God taught Adam
all the names nor does it refer explicitly to
what God presented to the angels. Early
commentaries on these verses presuppose
that God showed Adam all the things while
teaching him their names. In this case, "the
names, all of them" means "the name of
everything" (kullu shay') for which the com-
mentators give examples such as "man, an-
imal, earth, plain, sea, mountain, donkey."
Already al-Hasan al-Basri and his pupil
Qatada (d. ca. 116/734) understand God's
teaching as a demonstration of the connec-
tion between names and things, the signi-
fier and signified (cf. Rashld Rida, Manar, i,
262). They add the deictic "this is" (hadhd/
hddhihi), explaining that God said, "This is
a sea. This is a mountain," etc. ('Abd al-
Razzaq, Tafsir, i, 42-3; T a bari, Tafsir, i,
216). Adam's knowledge of "all the names"
was later interpreted as a general knowl-
edge of all languages and through man's
gift of language it was understood as a
knowledge of the entire animate and in-
animate world, o 2:31 provided the starting
point for the traditional Muslim discussion
of the origin of language (cf. Speyer, Er-
zahlungen, 51-4; Kister, in Rippen, Ap-
proaches, 107-9; id., in 10s (1993, i4of.;
Schock, Adam, 79E, 87).

The prostration of the angels before Adam
God's teaching of "the names" is followed
by the qur'anic verse: "And when We said
to the angels, 'Bow down before Adam!'
they bowed down, except Iblis (q.v.). He

ADAM AND EVE

refused and behaved proudly. He was one
of tire unbelievers" (5^2:34; cf. 7:11-2;
!5:29-33; 17:61; 18:50; 20:116; 38:72-6).
The early commentators discussed the rea-
son Iblls refused, reasoning that the bow-
ing was primarily intended as an act
of obedience to God and secondarily as a
display of respect for Adam (see bowing
and prostration). In other words, the
angels bowed down before Adam out of
deference to Adam and obedience to God,
not in worship of Adam (Tabari, Tafsir, i,
227; see adoration). Later scholars exam-
ined the question of whether Adam's
knowledge ('Urn) was cause for the prostra-
tion of the angels and whether it was the
reason for Adam's superiority to the angels
(Razi, Tafsir, ii, 212-4). They also debate
whether Adam's knowledge, when demon-
strated to the angels, might be understood
as a miracle (mu'jiza, e.g. Razi, Tafsir, ii,
i63-5> 169).

The creation of Adam
The Quran mentions several materials
from which Adam was created, i.e. earth or
dust (turdb, (^3:59), clay (tin, 07:12; see
clay), and sticky clay or mud (tin lazib).
More specifically, it is described as "clay
from fetid foul mud" (salsal min hama'
masnun) and "clay like earthenware," i.e.
baked or dry clay (salsal ka-lfakhkhdr) .
These terms are commonly interpreted as
describing the different states of a single
material. Commentators insist that Adam's
clay (salsal) was not baked, but was dried
(tin ydbis / turdb ydbis) without the use of fire,
for Q_ 15:26-7 and Q_55:i4"5 report that the
jinn, unlike man, were created from fire.
Narrative commentary and prophetic
hadlth specify the places from which the
earth was taken and provide various etio-
logical explanations. According to some
commentators, different kinds of dust were
taken from the four corners of the earth so
that the offspring of Adam would vary in

color and quality. Others held that the dust
was taken from different regions of the
world, so that every part of Adam's body
corresponded to an area. Others specu-
lated that Adam's clay was taken from the
seven earths (cf. Q_ 65:12) or the four ele-
ments so that his body combines the four
temperaments. One view held that the ma-
terial for creating his body was taken from
the entire universe so that he became the
microcosm (al- 'dlam al-asghar) correspond-
ing to the macrocosm.

God himself formed the material of
which Adam is made and breathed his
spirit (q.v.; see also AIR AND wind) into
him (o_ 15:29; 38:72). God says, "I created
[Adam] with my own hands" (o_38:75). In
some commentaries God acts as a potter.
He left the clay until it became good
(khammara) and then kneaded ('ajana) it.
The question of the proper interpretation
of God's "hand" or "hands" held a central
place in the debates over corporealism
(tajsim) and anthropomorphism (tashbih,
Speyer, Erzdhlungen, 43-6; M.J. Kister, Leg-
ends, 100-5; id., Adam, 135-7; £■■ Schock,
Adam, 67-8, 74-8, 82-6; J. van Ess, tg, iv,
399-400; Gimaret, Dieu a l'image de
l'homme, 190-8).

The creation of Eve
The Qur'an speaks of the creation of the
second human being with the words:
"People! . . . Your lord who created you
from a single person and created from him
his wife (zawjahd)" (0,4:1). This "single per-
son" (nafs wahida) is interpreted as Adam
and "his wife" as Eve (Tabarl, Tafsir, iv,
224). The early commentators report that
she was created from the lowest of Adam's
ribs (qusayrd) — which is sometimes also
understood as the shortest rib (al-dil' al-
aqsar) — or from a rib on his left side. This
was done while he was sleeping with the
aim "that he might dwell with her"
(0,7:189). The Qur'an does not report

ADAM AND EVE

when she was created, although some
hadlth recount that she was created while
Adam was dwelling in the garden of para-
dise (q.v.), where he had roamed alone (Ibn
Sa'd, Tabaqat, i, 39; Tabarl, Tafsir, iv,
224-5). According to other reports, she was
created before Adam entered the garden
(q.v.; Tabari, Tafsir, i, 229-30). After de-
scribing the creation of Eve, o 7:189 con-
tinues: "Then, when he covered her, she
became pregnant with a light burden."
The Quran is not clear about where this
happened, but most of the commentators
situate Eve's pregnancy after their fall from
paradise (Tabari, Tafsir, ix, 145).

The sojourn in paradise, the offense against God's

command and the descent to earth
God commanded Adam and Eve to enjoy
paradise with only a single restriction:
"Adam, dwell you and your wife in the
garden (al-janna) and eat freely of it wher-
ever you desire, but do not go near this
tree, lest you become wrong-doers!"
(cj 2:35; cf. 7:19). This was a contract God
made with Adam ( 'ahidnd ila Adam,
Q_ 20:115). Most commentators interpret the
forbidden tree as an ear of grain (sunbulaj,
wheat (burr, hinta), a vine (karma, shajarat al-
'inab, shajarat al-khamr) or a fig tree (tina,
Tabari, Tafsir, i, 231-3). Other explanations
mention trees with delicious and fragrant
fruits. It is also called the "tree of knowl-
edge film)" or "tree of eternity (khuld)"
(o_20:i2o). The angels eat its fruit because
they are immortal ('Abd al-Razzaq, Tafsir,
ii, 226; cf. £7:20).

Upon Satan's prompting, Adam and Eve
ate from the forbidden tree (p_7:20-2;
20:121) and descended from the garden to
the earth (p_2:36; 7:24-5; 20:123). The early
commentators do not question that Adam
sinned, although his sin was viewed as pre-
determined (J. van Ess, ^wischen Hadit und
Theologie, 161-8). The later commentaries,
influenced by the dogma of the prophetic

impeccability ('isma), emphasize that Adam
and Eve were made to "slip" by Satan
(azallahuma, 0^2:36) and Adam forgot (na-
siya, p_20:ii5); or they characterize the dis-
obedience (q.v.) as an error in judgment
(khata'fi l-ijtihdd) since Adam had assumed
a single tree (shakhs) to be forbidden rather
than the species (nam'). He did not eat
from the particular tree God showed him,
but from another one of the same species.
Tradition reports that from paradise Adam
was made to descend to India and Eve to
Jeddah. They re-united in 'Arafat (q.v.) near
Mecca (q.v; Speyer, Erzdhlungen, 61-73; M.J.
Kister, Adam, 146-55; C. Schock, Adam,

89-96, IO6-32, 185). See FALL OF MAN.

God's forgiveness and guidance
After his "slip," "Adam received words
(kalimdt) from his Lord and He forgave him

(taba 'alayhi) We [viz. God] said, 'Get

down from [the garden of paradise] , all to-
gether! If guidance comes to you from me,
whoever follows my guidance will experi-
ence no fear and will suffer no sorrow.' "
(o 2:37-8). Most commentators explain the
"words" which "Adam received" as his
speech: "Our Lord, we have wronged our-
selves. If you do not forgive us and have
mercy on us, we shall surely be among the
lost" (537:23). The key element of these
verses is God's forgiveness of man and
man's repentance. Together with God's
"guidance" [huda, cf. Q_20:i22) and repen-
tance (tauba), they will lead to man's return
to paradise (Tabari, Tafsir, i, 242-5). For
Muslim orthodoxy, repentance became the
first step toward a religious life (al-Ghazali,
Ihyti', iv, 2-4).

The election of Adam
Muslims consider Adam a prophet, al-
though this is not explicitely stated in the
Qur'an. God elected (istafd) Adam as he
did the prophets and prophetic families,
e.g. Noah (q.v.); Abraham (q.v.) and his

ADO RATI O N

family; the family of the father of Moses
(q.v.), 'Imran (q.v.); Isaac (q. v.); Jacob (q.v.);
and Moses. The earliest testimony for
Adam's status as a prophet is a hadith nar-
rated by Abu Dharr al-Ghifarl (d. 32/653),
in which he asks Muhammad who was the
first prophet and he replies Adam. g_ 20:122
reports that God "chose" (ijtaba) Adam,
when he forgave him and guided him after
his disobedience. Sunni theology recon-
ciled Adam's sin with the dogma of pro-
phetic impeccability by arguing that his
vocation began after his sin and his descent
from paradise and thus he did not sin as a
prophet.

The covenant
Prior to creation, "Your lord took from the
backs of the children of Adam their off-
spring and made them testify against them-
selves. [God said,] Am I not your lord?'
They said, 'Yes, we bear witness [to this]
(0,7:172). Early commentators interpreted
this verse as a covenant (mithaq, see cove-
nant) between God and humankind,
which committed men to monotheism. Al-
though the Qur'an states that the offspring
were taken from "the children of Adam,"
most early scholars interpreted this to
mean that God took from Adam's loins all
of his progeny until the day of resurrection
(e.g. 'Abd al-Razzaq, Tafsir, ii, 242). Al-
though not all of the religious schools with-
in Islam accepted this interpretation, the
idea of the innate monotheistic nature of
man ijitra, Q_30:3o) was derived from this
verse (cf. Tabari, Tafsir, xix, 40-1; Rashld
Rida, Mandr, ix, 386-8; R. Gramlich, Der
Urvertrag, 205-30).

The two sons of Adam
The Qur'an reports the story of the two
sons of Adam, one of whom murders the
other because his sacrifice was not ac-
cepted while his brother's was (o_5:27"32;
see CAIN and abel). In commentary the

brothers are identified as Cain (Qabil) and
Abel (Habll). In the Islamic tradition, Cain
is the prototypical murderer and the two
brothers are seen as exemplars of good
and evil (M.J. Kister, Adam, 145-6;
W. Bork-Qaysieh, Rain und Abel, 19-21).
See also prophets and prophethood.

Cornelia Schock

Bibliography
Primary: ! Abd al-Razzaq, Tafsir; al-Ghazall, Abu
Hamid Muhammad, Ihya' 'uliim al-din, 4 vols, in
2, Cairo 1927; Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat; Rashld Rida,
Mandr; RazI, Tafsir; Tabarl, Tafsir.
Secondary: H.M.-D. al-AlousT, The problem oj
creation in Islamic thought, Ph.D. diss., Cambridge
1965; W. Bork-Qaysieh, Die Geschichte von Kain und
Abel (Habit wa-Qabfl) in der sunnitisch-islamischen
Uberlieferung, Berlin 1993; J- van Ess, TO; id.,
^wischen Hadit und Theologie. Studien zum Entstehen
prcidestinatianischer Uberlieferung, Berlin 1975;
D. Gimaret, Dieu a l'image de l'homme, Paris
1997; R. Gramlich, Der Urvertrag in der
Koranauslegung (zu Sure 7, 172-173), in Der Islam
60 (1983), 205-30; M.J. Kister, Legends in tafsir
and hadith literature. The creation of Adam and
related stories, in A. Rippin, Approaches, 82-114;
id., Adam. A study of some legends in tafsir and
hadit literature, in 705(1993), TI 3 _I 745 'A.W. al-
Najjar, Qjisas [sic] al-anbiyd, Beirut 1405/1985; W.
al-Qadl, The term "Khalifa" in early exegetical
literature, in tv/28 (1988), 392-411; C. Schock,
Adam im Islam. Ein Beitrag zur Ideengeschichte der
Sunna, Berlin 1993; Speyer, Erziililungen.

Adoption see children; family

Adoration

The acts and attitudes of praise and honor
accorded to God. The standard English
renderings of the Qur'an typically use "ad-
oration" and its cognates to translate sajada
(to prostrate oneself; see bowing and
prostration), the quintessential Islamic
ritual of adoration (see prayer). There is,
however, a great deal more to adoration

ADORATION

than a physical gesture. A variety of
qur'anic terms vividly communicate the
sense of "adoration" as a response to the
divine being, including various forms of
the roots h-m-d (praise), s-b-h (glorify), m-j-d
(exalt) and '-g-m (magnify). Certain verses
combine two or more of these terms (espe-
cially the first two, e.g. 5)2:30; 20:130;
39:75) to intensify the meaning, sometimes
explicitly associating praise and glorifica-
tion of God with prostration (o_ 15:98;
32:15; 50:39-40). One widely-used Arabic-
language concordance glosses the word
hamd in p_ 15:98 with all of the above-
mentioned roots, adding thana' (lauding),
which is not used in the Qur'an, but found
in the hadith, "I cannot adore you ade-
quately" (Haykal, Mujam, i, 309).

More attitude than action, adoration en-
compasses various aspects of the orienta-
tion of creation toward the creator. All cre-
ated things naturally adore God (o_ 13:13:
"the thunder adores by praising him"), but
human beings need constant reminders.
Adoration is thus an integral part of islam
(surrender, see islam), representing its
more spiritually advanced and active
aspect.

The exclamation subhdna llah (Praise be to
God!) is a widely-used expression of admi-
ration. Subhdna and its cognate tasbih are
from a root associated with "swimming" or
"floating," which is applied metaphorically
to the heavenly bodies (e.g. Q_2i:33; 79:3). It
is often linked in the Qur'an with hamd
(DamaghanI, Wujuh, i, 446-7; Mir, Diction-
ary, 84), which is in turn related to one of
the divine names (see GOD and his at-
tributes), al-Hamid (Worthy of Adora-
tion), and typically paired with other
names such as al- 'Aziz (Mighty) and al-
Ghanl (AU-Sufficient). Many commentators
(e.g. Tabarl, Commentary, i, 61-3; A. Rippin,
Tafsir Ibn Abbas, 79, 81) gloss the word
"adoration" (hamd) in the phrase with
which the first sura begins, al-hamdu li-lldh

"Adoration belongs to God," as "thanks"
(DamaghanI, Wujuh, i, 263-4; Mir, Diction-
ary, 86), underscoring an understanding of
adoration as the natural response of all
creation to the source of all blessings.

Mystical exegesis often draws out more
personal implications of adoration, em-
phasizing, for example, that bridging the
infinite gap between the adorer and the
one being adored implies annihilation of
the one adoring (Nwyia, Exegese, 284-5).
Shi'i commentators (see shi'ism and the
qur'an), many of whom also have been
mystically inclined, sometimes attached a
significance to each of the letters of a
word. For example, the imam JaTar al-
Sadiq (ca. 80/699-148/765) identified the
root letters of hamd (h-m-d) with divine
unity (wahdaniyya), kingdom (mulk) and di-
vine immutability (daymumiyya) , respec-
tively (Nwyia, Exegese, 166). Ayatollah Kho-
meini (1902-1989), commenting on the
meaning of hamd, emphasizes the impossi-
bility of directing adoration to any other
than God, for all that is not God lacks truly
adorable qualities. Picking up a theme im-
portant in some medieval mystical exegesis
such as that of al-Qunawi (d. 673/1274,
I'jaz, 271-5), Khomeini explores the meta-
physical intricacies of adoration.

John Renard

Bibliography
Primary: DamaghanI, Wujuh, ed. M.H.A.
al-Zafltl, 2 vols., Cairo 1992; R. Khomeini,
Lectures on slirat al-fatiha, in Islam and revolution.
Writings and declarations of Imam Khomeini, trans.
H. Algar, Berkeley 1981, 365-434; Sadr al-Dln
al-Qunawi, Tjaz al-bayanfi ta'wil umm al-Qitrdn,
ed. A.Q.A. 'Ata, Cairo 1969; Tabarl, The
commentary on the Qur'an, ed. and trans. J. Cooper
et al., Oxford 1989.

Secondary: M. Ayoub, Thanksgiving and
praise in the Qur'an and in Muslim piety, in
Islamochristiana 15 (1989), 1-10; M.H. Haykal
et al., Mujam al-alfaz al-Qur'an al-karim, 2 vols.,
Cairo 1970 2 ; Mir, Dictionary; Nwyia, Exegese; A.
Rippin, Tafsir Ibn 'Abbas and criteria for dating

ADULTERY AND FORNICATION

_>8

early tafsir texts, in JSAI 18 (1994), 38-83, esp.
79-83-

Adultery and Fornicadon

The qur'anic word zina. (elsewhere more
commonly zina') means sexual intercourse
outside the institutions of marriage and
concubinage. Q_ 17:32 characterizes this be-
havior as ajahisha, i.e. an obscene act of
transgression against God from which a
Muslim should refrain (cf. Q_ 25:68). These
transgressions together with their specified
punishment are called hudud (sing, hadd, lit.
limit, boundary; see boundaries and pre-
cepts) and also include associating others
with God and homicide. The Hanafite
jurist al-Jassas (d. 370/981) explains that
adultery and fornication are transgressions
because of the social chaos they create.
The patrilineal descent of the offspring of
such unions is unidentified. Thus, his right
to inherit from the father is denied and he
cannot know his patrilineal maharim, i.e. the
relatives with whom sexual intercourse is
considered incest {Ahkam, hi, 200; see
family; inheritance). It is God who guides
people to avoid this sin, as in the story of
Joseph (q.v), where God's intervention
saved him from giving in to Potiphar's wife
(o 12:24). Prayers also help people to re-
frain from committing such acts (q_ 29:45).
0^4:15 commands that women who com-
mit an obscene act of transgression —
understood here to be either adultery or
fornication — witnessed by four witnesses,
be confined in their home until death or
until "God makes a way for them." Q_4:i6
orders that both participants be lightly
punished, but if they repent and reform,
they are to be left alone. Most interpreters
maintain that these two verses were later
abrogated (see abrogation) by Q_ 24:2 (e.g.
Jassas, Ahkam ii, 105-6), which stipulates
that the punishment for adultery and forni-

cation, if witnessed by four competent men
(q_ 24:4), is one hundred lashes. (On the
other hand, some who did not acknowl-
edge the existence of abrogation in the
Qur'an believed that Q_ 4:15-16 refer to
homosexuality.) The flogging is to be ad-
ministered in public and the spectators are
warned against misplaced compassion.
Q_ 34:3 stipulates that these individuals will
be allowed to marry only those who have
committed similar wrongs and polytheists.
The punishment of an adulterous or forni-
cating slave is half of that of a free woman
(q_ 4:25). A divorced wife guilty of proven
adultery may be turned out of her home
during the three months during which she
would otherwise be entitled to remain
there {'idda, o 65:1; see maintenance and
upkeep; waiting period). The Qur'an does
not specify the marital status of the culprits
eligible for flogging, but the jurists and in-
terpreters (e.g. T a barl, Tafsir, xviii, 46-8)
understood it to refer exclusively to non-
muhsan individuals — essentially adults
who have never experienced sexual inter-
course within a legitimate relationship.
The practice of stoning (q.v.) muhsan adul-
terers and fornicators is stipulated in the
prophetic hadith, but not in the Qur'an.
Schacht (Zina', 1227-8) doubted that the
Prophet ever ordered this punishment.

The qur'anic teachings and the prophetic
hadith make it practically impossible to
prove adultery. In the first place, in prac-
tice it would be difficult to procure the tes-
timony of four men who witnessed the act
of penetration. Furthermore, inquiry into
the matter and questioning the culprits is
forbidden because prying into people's
concealed actions is unlawful. The word of
a husband who accuses his spouse of adul-
tery, but lacks the corroborating witnesses,
is acceptable, provided that he swears four
times that he is telling the truth. In the fifth
oath (q.v.) he invokes God's curse on him-
self if he is lying (see curse). The wife

-'<>

ADULTERY AND FORNICATION

averts the punishment if she swears to her
innocence four times, followed by a solemn
oath that her husband is telling a lie and
invokes God's wrath (see anger) on her-
self if her husband is telling the truth
(q_ 24:6-10). This procedure is called Wan,
related to la'na, "to curse." The person
who voluntarily confesses adultery must re-
peat his confession four times and even
then it may later be withdrawn. Persistent
admission of sin and demand for punish-
ment indicate a desire for atonement for
the sin committed. Repentance exonerates
the culprit from punishment. Inasmuch as
adultery and fornication constitute serious
offences, Q_ 24:4 prescribes eighty lashes for
those who accuse women of adultery with-
out the necessary proof and forbids that
their testimony ever again be accepted.
Some commentators believed that this rev-
elation was occasioned by a false accusa-
tion lodged against 'A'isha (q.v.), one of
the Prophet's wives (see wives of the
prophet).

It should be noted that qur'anic teaching
emphasizes that Muslims should refrain
from abominable thoughts and desires
(o 6:151). However, if major sins are
avoided, an adulterous thought (lamam) is
not punishable (p_ 53:32). The Prophet ex-
plained that these are the look in the eye,
the desire within the heart and the verbal
expressions which constitute the prelimi-
naries for sexual intercourse. These are
forgiven if they remain unacted upon
(Bukharl, book on social etiquette, see
adultery of the senses: 5865).

The social development of Islamic teaching
It is a tradition of the Prophet that if adul-
tery is discovered, the punishment is atone-
ment for the sin committed. If it is divinely
concealed, it is then left for God to punish
the culprit or forgive him. This, together
with the qur'anic verses Q_ 24:10-18 (Qiitb,
Zjlal, iv, 2494-505), which forbid slander

are adapted to the social conditions and
values of Muslim societies in various areas.
In the coastal area of Tunisia, for instance,
the concept of concealment is interwoven
with the values of the power and wealth of
a woman's agnates (father, sons, father's
brothers and their sons). The wealth of the
rich enables them to seclude their women
and control their behavior. Furthermore,
their influence and material power intimi-
date other men and deter them from ap-
proaching their women and also enable
them to conceal any offences committed by
their women. Such privileges are denied
poorer men, who, together with their err-
ing women, suffer social degradation
which they consider "destined by God"
(maktub). However, the punishment or-
dained by Islamic law is not inflicted (Abu-
Zahra, Social structure).

In Egypt sexual offences committed by
women also disgrace their agnates for it
makes them appear unable to defend
their honor or control their women. In
the countryside adulterous women are
drowned in the Nile. In Cairo people say,
"If you disgrace yourselves, hide it" (idha
bulitum fa-statirii) . They may also say, "God
commanded concealment." Both sayings
are based on hadlth and the interpretation
of Q_ 24:19. The principle that repentance
exonerates one from punishment is also
followed by authorities in the local
mosques (Abu-Zahra, Pure and powerful,
197-9). The Azhar Fatawa Committee
(Lajnat al-fatawd) also follows this Islamic
teaching. In the case of a girl who con-
tracted gonorrhea through adultery, the
Committee was asked whether it would be
lawful for her to conceal the illness from
her fiance. A judgment was issued that it
would be a crime to do so (al-Ahram,
Taqrir, 53).

In 1995, the Mufti of Egypt declared that
it is necessary to integrate the qur'anic
hudud, including those for adultery, in the

AFRICAN AMERICANS

state penal code, on condition that they are
carried out with meticulous observance of
the traditional Islamic safeguards (al-
Ahram, Taqnr, 78). This recommendation,
however, has not been implemented. See
also LAW AND THE OJJR'aN; SIN, MAJOR AND
MINOR.

Nadia Abu-Zahra

Bibliography
Primary: Bukhari, Sahih, Kitab al-Hudud, Kitab al-
Muhdribm; Jassas, Ahkam; Qiitb, £ilal; RazT, Tafsir,
xii, 131-81 .

Secondary: N. Abu-Zahra, Social structure of the
village of Sidi Ameur in the Sahel of Tunisia, Ph.D.
diss., Oxford 1968; id., The pure and powerful.
Studies in contemporary Muslim society, Reading 1997;
al-Ahram, Markaz al-dirasat al-siyasiyya wa-1-
istratljiyya, Taqnr fal-hdla al-diniyyafi Misr, vol. 3,
Cairo 1996; J. Schacht, Li c an, in EI 3 , v, 730-3; id.,
Zina 1 , in El', iv, 1227-8; M. Shaltut, al-Isldm.
Aqida wa-shana, Cairo I997 17 -

African Americans

Historical information about individuals
like Job ben Solomon (ca. 1700-73), Abd al-
Rahman Ibrahima (1762-1829) and Omar
ibn Said (ca. 1770-1864) demonstrates that
some of the Africans brought to America
as slaves were not only Muslim but well-
versed in the Quran as well. For example,
the first-named, born Ayuba Suleiman
Ibrahima Diallo, came from a family of re-
ligious leaders in Futa in present-day Sene-
gal. After he was manumitted and taken to
England, he wrote several copies of the
Qiir'an from memory. These men, how-
ever, were exceptional. Enslavement even-
tually stripped nearly all Muslim Africans
of their language, culture and religion.

Only considerably later did African
Americans seek to reclaim their Islamic
heritage. The foundation of the Moorish
Science Temple in 19 13 by Noble Drew Ali
represents one of the first attempts. Ac-

cording to Drew Ali, true emancipation
would come to African Americans through
knowledge of their Moorish heritage and
the return to their religion, Islam. Each
racial group had its own religion. For Eu-
ropeans it was Christianity and for Moors
it was Islam. Although couched in Islamic
phraseology, many of the practices and in-
signia of the Temple seem to have been de-
rived from The Ancient Egyptian Arabic
Order of Nobles of the Shrine (also known
as the Black Shriners). This movement had
adopted its practices and insignia from
The Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of
the Mystic Shrine (originally a whites-only
organization in the United States) which
had acquired its "Islamic" elements
through its Scottish Rite Mason founders.
They claimed an initiation from a Grand
Shaykh of Mecca, honors from the Otto-
man Sultan Selim III, a charter from the
Bavarian Illuminati and links with the
Bektashi Sufi Order.

The pseudo-Islamic nature of the Moor-
ish Science Temple is particularly evident
in the sixty-four-page The Holy Koran of the
Moorish Science Temple of America, also known
as the Circle Seven Koran. About half of this
Koran is taken from an earlier text which
purports to provide an account of Jesus'
adolescence and early adulthood in India.
Another major section, entitled "Holy In-
structions from the Prophet," is an adapta-
tion of the Rosicrucian or Masonic Unto
Thee I Grant (or The Economy of Life and Infi-
nite Wisdom). Drew Ali's personal contribu-
tion consisted of replacing the word "God"
with "Allah" and removing the description
of Jesus as blond and blue-eyed. Nothing
in the Circle Seven Koran comes from the
Qiir'an. Muhammad, in fact, is mentioned
only twice and then only as the fulfiller of
the works of Jesus (Wilson, Sacred Drift,
19-26). Therefore the Circle Seven Koran's sig-
nificance to Islam lies mainly in the implic-
it challenge to the uniqueness and finality

AFRICAN AMERICANS

of the Qur'an that the use of the title "Ko-
ran" represents.

The Nation of Islam represents another
attempt to rediscover a Muslim heritage
for African-Americans. Its founder, Wali
Fard Muhammad (ca. 1877-1934?), is re-
ported to have taught directly from an Ara-
bic Qur'an and to have consecrated it as
the movement's primary scripture. When
Fard Muhammad disappeared in 1934, his
disciple Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975) be-
came the movement's leader for the next
four decades. Fundamental doctrines of
the Nation of Islam included the belief
that God had appeared in the person of
Fard Muhammad; that Elijah Muhammad
was his messenger; that the "devil" Chris-
tian white race was created by a renegade
black scientist six thousand years ago; and
that, although it had been prophesied that
the white race would enslave the black
race, the battle of Armageddon that would
destroy the white race was imminent. Al-
though these teachings appear to be un-
qur'anic to most Muslims, Elijah Muham-
mad found qur'anic support for them. For
example, he interpreted qur'anic passages
about God, his messenger, Satan and the
last day as references to Fard Muhammad,
himself, the white race and contemporary
America, respectively. His exegesis there-
fore consisted largely of reading the
Qur'an as a prophecy about peoples and
events in the United States. This put him
in conflict with the classical exegetical tra-
dition, which relies heavily on lexical and
grammatical explanations and particularly
on the historicization of the Qur'an
through reference to the occasions of reve-
lation (q.v.), abrogation (q.v.) and so forth.
Elijah Muhammad's framework is not that
provided by the biography of Muammad
(see sira and THE qur'an), but by the doc-
trines of Fard Muhammad. It is notewor-
thy that Elijah Muhammad relied much
more on the Christian Bible than the

Qur'an, even though he felt that the for-
mer was a "poison" book full of "slave
teachings." The Qur'an, in his mind, was
a perfectly pure book of guidance, truth
and wisdom. Therefore, he encouraged all
African Americans to buy it and read it.
Despite his heretical views, he is primarily
responsible for introducing African Ameri-
cans to the Qur'an.

After his death in 1975, Elijah Muham-
mad was succeeded by his son Wallace D.
Muhammad — now known as Warith
Deen Muhammad — who led the move-
ment in the direction of more traditional
Islamic beliefs and practices and changed
its name to "The World Community of al-
Islam in the West" and later to "The
American Muslim Mission." Louis Farra-
khan (b. 1933), unhappy with these
changes, reconstituted the Nation of Islam
in 1977 under the original teachings of
Fard Muhammad and Elijah Muhammad.
In both present-day movements, the
Qur'an is the main scripture. Although the
Moorish Science Temple, the Nation of Is-
lam and the American Muslim Mission
have been the most prominent African
American Muslim movements, there are at
least fifteen other groups of this type, each
possessing its own understanding of the
Qur'an.

Herbert Berg

Bibliography
N. Drew Ali, The holy Koran of the Moorish Science
Temple of America, Chicago 1927; Anon., Unto thee
I grant, 1925; H. Berg, Elijah Muhammad. An
African American Muslim mufassir? in Arabica 44
(1997), 1-27; E.D. Beynon, The voodoo cult
among negro migrants in Detroit, in The American
journal of sociology 43 (July 1937-May 1938),
894-907; CA. Clegg III, An original man. The life
and times of Elijah Muhammad, New York 1997;
Levi [H. Dowling], The aquarian Gospel of Jesus,
Bellville 1908; E. Muhammad, The supreme
wisdom. The solution to the so-called negroes' problem,
Chicago 1957; id., Message to the blackman in
America, Chicago 1965; R.B. Turner, Islam in the

AFRICAN LITERATURE

African-American experience, Bloomington 1997; P.L.
Wilson, Sacred drift. Essays on the margins of Islam,
San Francisco 1993.

African Literature

As is the case elsewhere in the world, the
memorization of the Qur'an, or at least a
portion of it, is the starting point for a
Muslim child's education in sub-Saharan
Africa. For those whose education contin-
ues beyond this point, the Qur'an plays a
relatively small role in their studies. Never-
theless, the language of the Qur'an re-
mains the stylistic point of reference for
everything they subsequently write in the
Arabic language, especially among the
majority for whom Arabic itself is not the
mother tongue. Thus, in the seventeenth-
century chronicle of Timbuktu, Ta'rikh al-
suddn (ed. O. Hondas, Paris 1898) of Abd
al-Rahman al-Sa'di, we find a large num-
ber of phrases which were either taken
from the Qur'an or inspired by it, e.g.Ji
daldlin mubin (q_3:i64 et passim), fataha lahu
fathan mubinan (cf. 048:1), al-fasddfi l-ard
(q,ii:ii6; cf. 2:205; 5:32), al-ta'dwun 'aid
l-birr (cf. Q_^:2),yaquluna ma layaf'aluna
(026:226), Id tasma'u Hid qilan saldman (cf.
0,56:25-6), lulman wa-'udwdnan (cf. 04:30).
Qur'anic echoes are a marked feature of
the prose writing of West African religious
scholars ('ulamd'J in particular, regardless of
the topic they are treating.

Despite its mention in the study curricula
of some scholars, qur'anic exegesis (tafsir)
does not seem to have occupied a major
place in African teaching traditions and
few scholars wrote works in this field. An
examination of the catalogs of public
manuscript collections shows that Tafsir
al-Jaldlayn of Jalal al-Dln al-Mahalll
(d. 864/1459) and Jalal al-Dln al-Suyuti
(d. gn/1505) was, as in many parts of the
Muslim world, the most popular commen-

tary in West Africa. In fact, it is found in
almost every collection. Al-Suyuti commu-
nicated with a number of West African
scholars and his writings are still greatly
admired in the region. Together with the
prominent Malikite legal work, the Mu-
watta' by Malik (d. 179/795), an d a book on
the miraculous nature of the Prophet, Kitdb
al-Shifd' 'by al-Qadl Tyad (d. 544/1149), this
commentary forms the triad of fundamen-
tal texts for aspiring scholars of the clans
of the Dyula. Other commentaries one
finds in West African libraries are Lubdb
al-ta'wil of al-Khazin (d. 741/1340), Anwar
al-tanzil of al-Baydawi (d. ca. 700/1301)
and Ma'dlim al-tanzil of al-BaghawI
(d. 516/1122). Less commonly found are
al-Tashil li-'ulum al-tanzil of Ibn Juzayy al-
Kalbl (d. 741/1340), Maddrik al-tanzil of al-
Nasafi (d. 710/1310), al-Jawahir al-hisdn of
Abd al-Rahman al-Tha'alibi (d. 875/1471)
and al-Sirdj al-munir of al-Shirblm (d. 977/

1576).

Local writing of qur'anic commentaries
is less common, except for brief treatises
on specific verses or short suras. The earli-
est complete commentary by an author
from sub-Saharan Africa is that of the
Mauritanian Muhammad b. al-Mukhtar
al-Daymanl, known as al-Wall al-Yadali
(d. 1168/1753), whose al-Dhahab al-ibriz is a
Sufi exegesis (see sufism AND THE qjur'an)
which seems to be little known outside its
land of origin. Much better known is Diyd'
al-ta'wil fi ma'dni al-tanzil (Cairo 1961) of
Abdallah b. Muhammad Fodiye (d. 1245/
1829; see J. Hunwick (ed.), Arabic literature,
ii, ch. 2, and esp. p. 93), brother of the cel-
ebrated Fulani warrior for the faith (mujd-
hid) and state founder 'Uthman b. Muham-
mad Fodiye. Copies of this commentary
have been found in libraries in the Ivory
Coast, Mali, Senegal, Mauritania and
Morocco. The original work is in two vol-
umes and its author later produced a one-
volume abridgement, appropriately enti-

AFRICAN LITERATURE

tied That which suffices for the weaklings of the
Sudan (Kifayat du'aja' al-Sudan). The same
author also wrote a versified introduction
to the traditional disciplines of qur'anic
study (see exegesis of the q_ur'an), enti-
tled al-Miftdh lil-tafsir, based on two works
by al-Suyutl, al-Nuqdya and al-ltcjdnji 'ulum
l-Qur'an. More recently from the same re-
gion, the former chief judge (qadi) of
Northern Nigeria, Abu Bakr Gumi (d.
1992) wrote a simple commentary partially
based on that of al-BaydawI, entitled Radd
al-adhhan ila ma'am l-Qur'dn (Beirut 1399/
1979). Abu Bakr Gumi also published a
Hausa translation of the Qur'an (Beirut
1399/1979; see translation of the
qur'an). A voluminous commentary
entitled Adwa' ' al-baydn Ji iddh al-Qur'an
bi-l-Qur'an by the Mauritanian scholar
Muhammad al-Amln b. Muhammad al-
Mukhtar al-Jakanl al-Shinqlti has also been
published in ten volumes (Beirut n.d.).

If formal written exegesis in Arabic has
not been such a widely practiced art, oral
and hence unrecorded commentary in
both Arabic and African languages has
been more common. Nevertheless, to date
little study of this form of exegesis has
been done. However, a project of the Re-
search Centre on Islamic History, Art and
Culture in Istanbul — an organ of the Or-
ganisation of the Islamic Conference —
aims to establish a library of recordings of
the oral exegesis in the various African lan-
guages. At a more modest level, the prac-
tice of writing glosses in African languages
seems to have some historical depth. An
example of glossing in Kanembu, a lan-
guage of Bornu, dating from ca. 1700, has
been published by A.D.H. Bivar. At least
one large written commentary exists in an
African language. The manuscript collec-
tion of the Institut Fondamental dAfrique
Noire Cheikh Anta Diop has a work in
Wolof by Mouhammadou Deme which
runs 2,161 pages (see Islam et Societes au Sud

du Sahara, vii [1994], 178, item 203). In the
1960s the Sudanese scholar, critic and poet
Abdallah al-Tayyib undertook a bold ex-
periment, offering on the radio a nightly
commentary in colloquial Sudanese Arabic
during the month of Ramadan (q.v.),
which was an immediate success.

West African and Mauritanian scholars
have also written works which deal with
the Qur'an in other ways. There is a litera-
ture on the "virtues of the Qur'an" (fadd'il
al-Qur'an) and the virtues of particular
suras (see popular and talismanic uses
of THE qjur'an). Asma' bt. 'Uthman b.
Fodiye (d. 1280/1864), for example, wrote
an Arabic treatise on the healing properties
of certain suras (see J. Hunwick [ed.], Ara-
bic literature, ii, 164) and there is a poem in
Fulfulde (also translated into Hausa) which
consists in large part of the names of the
various suras to be recited to bring blessing
(J. Hunwick [ed.], Arabic literature, ii, 168).
The acrostic was a form of verse writing
which found favor in West Africa. Al-
though acrostics have been composed, for
example, on the names of Shaykh Ahmad
al-Tijanl or Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse (and
even on the names of the astronauts who
landed on the moon in 1969), one of the
more frequent choices is the first letters of
one or more verses of the Qur'an (see, for
example, J. Hunwick (ed.), Arabic literature,
ii, 348, 398). Additionally, there are a small
number of works on the readings of the
Qur'an (q.v.) and on the orthography of
the Qur'an (q.v.). One example of the lat-
ter is Ahmad Malik H amm 5d al-Futl's
Miftdh al-amdnjirasm al-Qur'an (Dakar

I 395/ I 975)-

Africa has produced one true philosopher
of the Qur'an, who takes an approach to
the text which has been considered by most
Muslims to be errant if not heretical.
Mahmud Muhammad T^ha was, in fact,
hanged in the Sudan for apostasy in 1985.
Born in 1909 (or ign) in Rufa, he was

AFRICAN LITERATURE

graduated from Gordon Memorial College
in Khartoum with a degree in Engineering
in 1936. In 1948, after two years in jail for
leading an anti-government demonstra-
tion, he spent a further three years in reli-
gious retreat (khalwa) in his home town,
praying, fasting and meditating. This re-
treat was the breeding ground for the ideas
expressed in his book The second message of
Islam (al-Risdla al-thaniya min al-Islam, Khar-
toum 1967). While denying he had re-
ceived a revelation as such, he did claim
that human beings can receive an "en-
lightened understanding" of God's word
directly from God. The Republicans, a
political party which he had founded in
1945, was now transformed into a reli-
gious grouping known as the Republican
Brothers.

According to T^ha, society has gone
through three stages: an initial stage in
which people were Muslims in the simple
sense of professing Islam; a second stage in
which people have been believers (mu 'mi-
nun) practicing the Holy Law (slum a, see
LAW AND THE q_ur'an); and a more ad-
vanced stage in which people are Muslims
in the higher sense, submitters to God who
practice a prophetic lifestyle. The guidance
for this more advanced stage was revealed
to Muhammad in Mecca as a spiritual
message for the moral uplift of humanity.
But it was "abrogated" (see abrogation)
in the sense of being "postponed" by the
message of the Medinan period which was
necessitated by the exigencies of the time
(see chronology and THE qur'an). This
interpretation of abrogation is premised
on the adoption of an alternative reading
of Q_2:io6. The standard text reads:
"Whatever message we abrogate or cause
to be forgotten (aw nunsiha), We produce
one better than it or equal to it." T^ha
adopted the reading aw nansa'ha (see
Tabari, Tafsir, i, 477), i.e. "or postpone,"
arguing that the "one better than it" is the

Medinan message that was closer to the
understanding of the people at the time
of the Prophet. The original message
that was"postponed" would only be rein-
stated when people were sufficiently ad-
vanced materially and intellectually to
appreciate it.

During the second half of the Prophet's
mission and thereafter up till the present-
day, Muslims have continued to live in the
"believer" stage, enacting the social teach-
ings of the Medinan revelation which was
revealed in accordance with the under-
standing of the people of the Prophet's
day. But now after 1400 years, T^ha
claimed, Muslims have reached a stage of
material and intellectual advancement that
makes it possible for the third more ad-
vanced stage, that of the true Muslim, to
come into being. We are now far from
Muhammad's epoch — which in T^ha's
view was not a perfect epoch because its
manners and conceptions were very close
to those of the Age of Ignorance (q.v.), the
period prior to the qur'anic revelation —
hence we need to reinterpret the Holy
Law. This law is perfect in its ability to as-
similate and develop the capabilities of in-
dividuals and society and guide human life
up the ladder of continuous development.

This daring interpretation of a single
verse was the basis for a complete revalua-
tion of the nature of the qur'anic message.
The legislative verses of the Medinan por-
tions of the Qur'an could now be regarded
as being secondary to the original message
of Mecca and no more than concessions to
the social realities of the Prophet's day. In
Taha's view, these verses have now outlived
their usefulness and Muslims in the
fifteenth/twentieth century should look to
the Meccan verses of the Qur'an and for-
mulate new laws in accordance with the
moral and ethical precepts found in them.
Hence he could proclaim thai jihad (q.v.),
slavery (see slaves and slavery), poly-

AFTERNOON

gamy, divorce (see marriage and di-
vorce) and the seclusion of women (see
veil; women and the qur'ajm) are not the
original precepts of Islam, but have been
sanctioned simply because the early Mus-
lims did not have the tools to build a social
order based on the Meccan revelations.
In a similar vein, he held that complete
equality between men and women was an
original precept of Islam, as were democ-
racy, socialism, the eradication of social
classes and even the social equality of non-
Muslims in a Muslim state.

Taha's theory of a first and second mes-
sage was a bold way of trying to establish a
qur'anic basis for genuine social and politi-
cal reform. It must be viewed, however,
within the context of present-day Suda-
nese society, where women are largely
secluded and discriminated against, a long-
drawn-out civil war rages over the status of
the non-Muslim southerners, and there is
constant pressure to "islamize" the law, i.e.
to establish the traditional Holy Law. Ulti-
mately, it was Taha's political and social
views (especially as expressed in a 1984
pamphlet), rather than his theology, that
turned the government of General Nu-
meiri against him and his small band of
Republican Brothers. His engagement with
the Qur'an, however, is symptomatic of the
need felt by many modernist Muslims to
find a way around the impasse formed by
the doctrine of the undifferentiated eternal
validity of the entire text.

John O. Hunwick

Bibliography
A.D.H. Bivar, A dated Kuran from Bornu, in
Nigeria magazine 15 (i960), 199-205; L. Brenner
and B. Sanankoua, L'enseignement islamique au
Mali, Bamako 1991; M. Hassane, La transmission
du savoir religieux en Afrique sub-saharienne. Exemple
du commentaire coranique a Saayi (Niger), Ph.D. diss.,
Paris 1995;J.O. Hunwick and R.S. O'Fahey
(eds.), Arabic literature of Africa, ii. The writings of

central Sudanic Africa, Leiden 1995; F. Leconte, Une
exegese mystique du coran au xviii siecle dans le sud-ouest
de la Mauritanie (al-gibla). al-Dahab al-ibrizfi tafsir
kitab Allah al-Aziz de Muhammad ibn al-Muhtar al-
Yadali (1685-1753), Memoire de 3" cycle,
Universite de Provence Aix-Marseille I 1994-5;
A. An-na'im (trans.), The second message of Islam,
Syracuse 1987; R. Santerre, Pedagogie musulmane
dAfrique noire. L'ecole coranique peule du Cameroun,
Montreal 1973; M.M. Taha, al-Risala al-thdniya
min al-Islam, Khartoum 1967, 1388/1968 3 (with
new intro.), 1983 4 (with revised intro.); T.
Tamari, L' exegese coranique (tafsir) en milieu
mandingue, in Islam et societes au sud du Sahara 10
(1996), 43-80; I. Yusuf, An analysis of Swahili
exegesis of Sural al-shams in Shaykh Abdallah
Saleh Farsy's Qurani Takajitu, in Journal of religion
in Africa 22 (1992), 350-66.

Afterlife see resurrection; paradise;
hell; fire

Afternoon

The time between noon and evening. The
Qur'an refers frequently to various times of
the day, but does not explicitly mention the
afternoon. In most cases this segment of
the day appears simply in the context of
instructions for Muhammad's followers in-
volving the Islamic rituals that were being
established during his lifetime.

Several passages that address Muham-
mad's situation in Mecca before his emi-
gration to Medina command him to per-
form a ritual prayer (see prayer) twice
daily: "at the two ends of the day"
(q_ 11:114), "at evening and at dawn"
(040:55), etc. (Welch, Muhammad's under-
standing, 21-2). A third daily prayer, most
likely instituted in Medina (Watt and
Welch, Der Koran, 264-71), is mentioned in
Q_ 2:238: "Remember the prayers, and
[also] the middle prayer (al-salat al-wusta),
and stand reverently before God." This
ritual was probably performed in the
"middle" of the day, specifically in the

early afternoon, thus being a precursor to
"the noon prayer" {salat al-guhr, Paret, Kom-
mentar, 50-1). When, sometime after Mu-
hammad's death, the performance of the
prayer ritual came to be required five times
daily, Quran commentators interpreted
C3 2:238 as referring to the "middle" of the
five, the salat al- 'asr. Many hadlth in al-
Bukharl (Sahih, K. Mawaqit al-salat), Muslim
(Sa/iT/i, K. al-Salat) and the other major col-
lections show that the times when the daily
prayers were performed as well as their
names were not set during Muhammad's
lifetime.

The term 'asr occurs in the Quran only
once, in the oath wa-l- 'asr in (3 103:1 (see
oaths). This oath form wa-... ("[I swear]
by...") occurs at the beginning of eighteen
suras, half involving times of the day or
celestial bodies: "the dawn" (al-fajr, q_89:i),
"the forenoon" [al-duha, Q_g3:i), "the night"
(al-layl, 092:1), "the star" (al-najm, 0.53:1),
"the sun" (al-shams, o_gi:i), etc. The basic
meaning of 'asr is "epoch" or "era" in the
sense of passing time. The Shafi'ite com-
mentator al-BaydawT (d. ca. 700/1300) in
his commentary [Tafsir, ii, 670) and Jalal
al-Dln al-Mahalli (d. 864/1459) and
al-Suyutl (d. 911/1505) in theirs (Jalalayn,
810) summarize well the views of most
classical commentators, saying 'asr in
Q_ 103:1 could refer to time (al-dahr, see
time), the late afternoon, the salat al-'asr,
the era of the prophets or the era of
Muhammad. Variant readings of this sura
(see readings OF THE qjur'an) provided by
the Companions Ibn Mas'ud (d. 32/652)
and 'All (d. 40/660, see 'ali b. abi talib)
add verses ending with al-dahr (Jeffery, Ma-
terials, in, 192), supporting the preference
of many modern Muslim scholars for in-
terpreting 'asr'm Q_ 103:1 simply as "time"
(see Ibn al-Khatib, Aw dak, 761; Nadwi,
Qgmus, 418). The translation "afternoon"
preferred by R. Bell, A.J. Arberry, R. Paret

and other Europeans appears to derive
from the association of this verse with salat
al-'asr. M. Pickthall possibly best translates
'asr in o_ 103:1 as "the declining day" (Bell,
676; Paret, Kommentar, 521).

Unlike the Jewish Sabbath and the
Christian Sunday, the Islamic weekly con-
gregational service on Friday afternoon
was set to occur during a busy day of
commerce, as is seen in the Qur'an's only
explicit reference to it: "Believers, when
the call is given for worship on the Day of
Assembly, hasten to God's service and
stop bar-gaining.... Then when the wor-
ship is finished, disperse and seek God's
bounty" (p_62:g-io). The Islamic weekly
service appears to have been established
to coincide with the Friday market day
held by the Jewish clans in Medina before
the beginning of their Sabbath at sun-
down (Goitein, Origin, 185; Watt and
Welch, Der Islam, 296-7). See also DAY,
TIMES OF.

Alford T Welch

Bibliography
Primary: BaydawT, Anwar, 2 vols., Istanbul 1296;
Jalalayn, Beirut n.d.; Qurtubl, Tafsir, 20, 178-9;
RazT, Tafsir, 32, 84-6.

Secondary: S.D. Goitein, Origin and nature of
the Muslim Friday worship, in jI/W'49 (1959),
183-95; M. Ibn al-Khatib, Awdah al-tafsir, Cairo
n.d. (represents the views of several al-Azhar
scholars); Jeffery, Materials; ( A.A/A. Nadwi,
Qamus alfa^ al-Qur'an al-karim, Jiddah 1983; R.
Paret, Grenzen der Koranforschung, Stuttgart 1950,
31-5; id., Kommentar; W.M. Watt and A.T. Welch,
Der Islam., i. Mohammed and die Fruhzeit —
Islamisches Recht — Religioses Leben, Stuttgart
1980, 262-347; A.T. Welch, Muhammad's
understanding of himself. The Koranic data,
in R. Hovannisian and S. Vryonis (eds.), Islam's
understanding oj itself, Malibu 1983.

Age see BIOLOGY AS THE CREATION AND
STAGES OF LIFE

AGE OF IGNORANCE

Age of Ignorance

This phrase is a common translation of the
Arabic word jahiliyya used by Muslims to
refer to the historical period in west-central
Arabia covering the centuries immediately
prior to the mission of Muhammad, a pe-
riod characterized by ignorance of the di-
vine truth. To the original audience of the
Qur'an, however, it almost certainly re-
ferred primarily to the moral condition of
those individuals and their society which
led them to oppose the mission of the
Prophet (see opposition to muhammad)
and only secondarily, if at all, to a defined
historical epoch. It is also possible that the
word was a kind of collective plural of "ig-
norant person" (jdhil), as has been asserted
by F. Rosenthal (Knowledge triumphant, 33-4).
As to the nature of this moral condition,
I. Goldziher and T Izutsu have argued
that the primary meaning of the root, j-h-l,
from which jahiliyya is derived, is not "ig-
norance" but "barbarism," especially the
tendency to go to extremes of behavior.
According to this view the original anto-
nym was not 'ilm (knowledge) but hilm (mo-
ral reasonableness, self-control). I. Goldzi-
her (ms, 201-8) has adduced considerable
evidence for this from pre-Islamic Arabic
poetry, while T Izutsu (Concepts, 28-35) nas
examined key passages from the Qur'an
and the biography of the Prophet (see sira
AND THE q_ur'an). The wordjdhiliyya is of-
ten translated "pagandom" or "heathen-
dom" and it may be argued that its effec-
tive antonym is islam (q.v.), as it certainly is
for many later writers (see ignorance).

The texts of the four passages where the
vioxA jahiliyya occurs in the Qur'an tend to
bear these prints out, though not conclu-
sively. The contrast between jahiliyya and
hilm seems particularly clear in (348:26:
"When the unbelievers stirred up fierce ar-
rogance in their hearts, the fierce arro-

gance of jahiliyya (hamiyyat al-jdhiliyya),
God sent down his tranquility upon the
messenger and the believers and imposed
on them the command of self-restraint
(taqwd)." T. Izutsu (Concepts, 31) interprets
"the fierce arrogance of the jahiliyya" as
"the staunch pride so characteristic of the
old pagan Arabs, the spirit of stubborn re-
sistance against all that shows the slightest
sign of injuring their sense of honor and
destroying the traditional way of life."
Q.3 :i 54 speaks of "a band anxious for
themselves, wrongly suspicious of God
with a suspicion (^ann) of the jahiliyya."
Here ■ jahiliyya may mean ignorance, but a
lack of trust in God would seem more spe-
cific. 0,5:50 reads, "Do they seek ajdhiliyya
judgment (hukmjdhili)?" i.e. a judgment by
pagan rather than divine standards. Here
islam would seem the likely antonym. Fi-
nally, 033:33 admonishes the wives of the
Prophet: "Stay in your homes and do not
make a display of yourselves in the manner
of the first [or old] jahiliyya (al-jdhiliyya al-
ula)." Only here does it seem plausible,
though not necessary, to interpret
"jahiliyya" as an epoch.

These passages illustrate some but not all
of the contrasts between the beliefs and
values represented by jahiliyya and those of
the Qur'an. The key difference is the atti-
tude toward God. The Qur'an insists that
only God is to be obeyed and worshipped.
The pagan Arabs did recognize God as
creator of the world and as a kind of re-
mote figure to be approached in certain
crisis situations ((329:65), but they also rec-
ognized other deities closer at hand, such
as the three Meccan deities, al-Lat, al-
'Uzza and Manat, who were thought to in-
tercede with God ({353:19-20; see satanic
verses). The Qur'an calls this the associa-
tion of other beings with God (shirk), and
treats it as the worst of sins, the one thing
God will not forgive (c3 4:48; see belief

AGE OF IGNORANCE

AND unbelief). While the Quran incul-
cates an attitude of submission to God and
dependence on him, the pagan Arabs were
marked by a spirit of independence and
self-sufficiency in relation both to God and
to other deities, seeing themselves as sub-
ject only to a rather impersonal fate (q.v.).
The ways of their ancestors had more au-
thority than the commands of God. While
the Quran preaches universal values
(049:13), their highest loyalty was to the
tribe and to tribal solidarity ('asabiyya) as il-
lustrated by the words of the poet Durayd:
"I am of Ghaziyya: if she be in error, then
I will err; and if Ghaziyya be guided right,
I go right with her" (R.A. Nicholson, Liter-
ary history, 83). Whereas the key motive for
ethical action in the Qur'an is the hope of
reward and fear of punishment in the fu-
ture life (see reward and punishment),
for the pagan Arab there was no future life:
"There is nothing but our present life. We
die and we live. Nothing but time destroys
us!" (045:24). WM. Watt has called these
attitudes "tribal humanism" {Muhammad at
Mecca, 24-5).

The Qur'an, however, by no means re-
jects all the values of the pagan Arabs. At
many points the concern is rather to redi-
rect and moderate them. Nobility comes
not from having noble ancestors whose
deeds one emulates, but from deeds of pi-
ety as defined by God ((549:13). The loy-
alty, courage and fortitude that once served
the tribe in battle and elsewhere are now
meant to serve God and the Muslim com-
munity (umma). Honor is a value, but not
the sort of honor that leads to unending
vendettas. The Qur'an permits limited
retribution, but encourages forgiveness
(o_2:i78; 17:33). Generosity and hospitality
are values, but not to the extent of Hatim
of Tayy, who gained fame by giving away
all his father's camels (R.A. Nicholson, Lit-
erary history, 85-6). The Qur'an says, "Be
neither miserly nor prodigal" (q_ 17:29).

At other points, pagan values and prac-
tices are more completely rejected. The
hard-drinking and womanizing admired by
the pre-Islamic poets are rejected in favor
of bans on alcohol (05:90; see intoxi-
cants; gambling) and on adultery
(Q_ 17:32; see ADULTERY AND FORNICATION).
In place of the class stratification of the
jdhiliyya the Qur'an supports human equal-
ity and encourages concern for the poor
(5549:13; 80:1-16). In relations between the
sexes, the Qur'an seems, at least in some
cases, to have limited women's freedom,
as Q.33-33 suggests. On the other hand, it
also appears to have given women greater
security and greater recognition of their
status as humans, as suggested by the ban
on female infanticide (o 16:58-9; see
infanticide).

While the word "jdhiliyya" in the Qur'an
refers primarily to the moral condition of
the pagan Arabs, it came later to refer pri-
marily to the epoch in which they lived.
The reasons for this are not hard to imag-
ine. What was a living force when the first
Muslims confronted their pagan neighbors
became in time a matter of history, the
characteristics of a past age. Thus in the
hadith collection of al-hukhari, jdhiliyya is
almost always a past epoch. For example,
we read "The tribe of the Quraysh (q.v.)
used to fast on the day of Ashura' in the
jdhiliyya," and "The best people in the
jdhiliyya are the best in Islam, if they have
understanding" (Sahih, iii, 65; iv, 461). The
exact period of historical time covered by
the term 'jdhiliyya" was a matter of dis-
cussion among the early Muslims, as is re-
flected in the commentaries on 0.33:33.
These suggest various time spans for the
"first jdhiliyya," such as the time between
Adam (see ADAM and eve) and Noah (q.v.)
or that between Idrls (q.v.) and Noah, or
the time when Abraham (q.v.) was born,
with the implicit "later jdhiliyya" being the
time between Jesus (q.v.) and Muhammad.

:!9

AGE OF IGNORANCE

Some also suggest that the first jahiliyya was
"the jahiliyya of unbelief" (jahiliyyat al-kufr)
before Islam and the other is "the. jahiliyya
of iniquity" (jahiliyyat alfusuq) after the
coming of Islam. They illustrate this with a
hadlth in which Muhammad says to one of
his followers, "Within you is jahiliyya," and
when asked whether he meant the. jahiliyya
of unbelief or the jahiliyya of Islam (i.e. of
iniquity), he said the jahiliyya of unbelief
(Tabarl, Tafsir; Zamakhshari, Kashshdf;
BaydawT, Anwar; Qurfubi, Jami; Ibn
Kathlr, Tafsir ad 033:33.).

As these last examples illustrate, there has
always been an awareness that jahiliyya is
not simply a past epoch but that the quali-
ties that characterize jahiliyya have contin-
ued to be present even after the coming of
Islam. This also appears quite forcefully in
the Shl'l hadlth, "Whosoever of my com-
munity dies and does not have an imam
(q.v.) from among them, has died the death
of the jahiliyya" (M. Momen, Shi'i Islam,
158). Indeed, the early centuries of Islamic
history may be interpreted as a struggle be-
tween the older jahiliyya culture and the
newer Islamic culture (e.g. A. Amln, Fajr,
78-83) and some have seen jahiliyya present
in much later times. Ibn Taymiyya (d.
728/1328) wrote of "cLjahiliyya in a re-
stricted sense" in reference to the pre-
Islamic customs persisting among the Mus-
lims of his time (M. Memon, Ibn Taimiya's
struggle, 146). In recent centuries, the idea
of a contemporary jahiliyya has regained
currency in some circles. Muhammad b.
l Abd al-Wahhab, the twelfth/eighteenth-
century Arabian reformer who began the
Wahhabl movement, and his followers per-
ceived their fellow Muslims, either
throughout the world or in the Arabian
peninsula, as living in a jahiliyya (E. Peskes,
Muhammad b. 'Abdalwahhab) because of their
adoption of practices and beliefs lacking
scriptural support.

More recently reformers such as Muham-

mad 'Abduh (d. 1905) and Muhammad
Rashld Rida (d. 1935), in their qur'anic
commentary entitled al-A4anar (vi, 422),
have compared the conservatism, injustice,
superstition and secular tendencies found
in their society with comparable aspects of
the pre-Islamic jahiliyya criticized by the
Qur'an. For example, their commentary on
Q_5:50 (listed as Q_5!53 in the verse-number-
ing of al-Mandf) identifies the "jahiliyya
judgment" as the favoring of the strong
over the weak and argues that some geo-
graphical Muslims in this age are "more
corrupt in their religion and morals than
those concerning whom these verses were
revealed." The idea of jahiliyya as a con-
temporary reality has been more forcefully
asserted, however, by the twentieth-century
revivalists, Abu l-'Ala' Mawdudl (d. 1979)
in India and Pakistan and Sayyid Qutb in
Egypt. Mawdudl (Meaning of the Qur'dn, x,
106) defined "jahiliyya" as any conduct
which goes against Islamic culture, moral-
ity and the Islamic way of thinking and
behaving. He found it in both the West
and the communist world. Sayyid Qutb
took a similar position but went further.
In his best known book, Ma'dlim fi l-tanq
(Milestones on the way), he said that a jdhili
society is any society that does not serve
God by following his guidance in all areas
of its life. Such societies serve human be-
ings instead of God and thus are inevitably
unjust, inhumane and backward. Only an
Islamic society can be truly "civilized." In
his view, contemporary jahiliyya is at least as
bad as that of Muhammad's time. He fur-
ther asserted that not only Western and
communist societies were jdhili at present
but also all of the so-called Muslim socie-
ties. This idea, along with his apparent be-
lief that the nature of jdhili societies is such
that they cannot be replaced without vio-
lence, led to his execution by the Egyptian
government in 1966 and has inspired many
militants since his death.

AGRICULTURE AND VEGETATION

Although relatively few Muslims would
take things this far, the idea of jahiliyya as
a contemporary moral and social reality
seems to be quite widespread today. In this
current usage the term refers not so much
to the distinctive failings of the old pagan
Arabs as to those of modern societies, such
as materialism and secular ideologies. The
notion of jahiliyya has thus been effectively
updated. See also idolatry and idol-
aters; IDOLS AND IMAGES.

William E. Shepard

Bibliography
Primary: A. Amln, Fajr al-hldm, Cairo 1929;
Baydawl, Anwar, 2 vols., Cairo 1388/1968 2 ;
Bukharl, Sahih, trans. M.M. Khan, 9 vols.,
Chicago 1976-93 (revised); Ibn KathTr, Tafsir,
Beirut 1385/1966; A. A. Mawdudl, Tajlum
al-Qiir'an [in Urdu], A. A. Kamal (trans.), The
meaning of the Qur'an, Lahore 1974- 3 ; Qurtubl,
Jami, 18 vols., Cairo 1387/1967; S. Qutb, Ma'dlim
fi 1-tarTq, Cairo 1384/1964, trans. S. Badrul
Hasan, Milestones, Kuwait 1398/1978; M. Rashld
Rida and M. Abduh, Manar, 12 vols., Cairo
I 34 6 / I 9 2 7- I 354/ I 93 6 ; Tabarl, Tafsir;
Zamakhsharl, Kashshaf.

Secondary: Goldziher, MS; T. Izutsu, Concepts;
M.U. Memon (trans.), Ibn Taimiya's struggle
against popular religion, The Hague 1976; M.
Momen, An introduction to Shi'i Islam. The history
and doctrines of Twelver Shi'ism, New Haven 1985;
R.A. Nicholson, A literary history of the Arabs,
Cambridge 1907; E. Peskes, Muhammad b.
Abdalwahhab (iyo^-g2) im Widerstreit.
Untersuchungen zur Rekonstruktion der Fruhgeschichte
der Wahhabiya, Beirut 1993; F. Rosenthal,
Knowledge triumphant. The concept of knowledge in
medieval Islam, Leiden 1970; W.M. Watt,
Muhammad at Mecca, Oxford 1953.

Agriculture and Vegetation

The production of crops and plants in gen-
eral. Agriculture and vegetation figure
prominently in the Quran, reflecting their
significance in the environment in which
the text was revealed. The Arabic root J-l-h
carries the basic meaning of "cleaving" or

"splitting." When applied to the land, it
carries the sense of "furrowing," "tilling"
or "plowing." "Filaha, " therefore, is the art
of plowing and cultivating and is the term
used in the general sense of "agriculture"
in the titles of medieval Arabic treatises on
agronomy. The qur'anic references to this
root, however, all derive from the form
"aflaha, " carrying the meaning "to pros-
per" and "to be in a fortunate, happy
state." Other roots denoting cultivation in
the Quran are <j-r- c and h-r-th, appearing
together in 056:63-4. The verb athdra, "to
till," occurs in 030:9. The most general
term for "vegetation" is nabat, which is
found in o 18:45 and 71:17. Edward Lane
renders nabat "whatever God causes to
grow, vegetate or germinate, in the earth"
(Lane, viii, 2754).

Agriculture and vegetation in the Qur'an
There are frequent direct and indirect ref-
erences to the general concepts of agricul-
ture and vegetation in the Quran, despite
the mention in 0,14:37 of Abraham (q.v.)
having settled his son Ishmael (q.v.), the
traditional "father of the Arabs," in "an
uncultivated valley" beside the sacred
house of the Ka'ba (q.v.), and possible ref-
erences to famine (q.v.). With regard to the
latter, it is impossible to determine the de-
gree of need Mecca and the surrounding
areas experienced in seasonal or cyclical
shortages of food. Although shortages were
likely as much a part of the rhythm of
daily life there as was the case in many
other regions of the Middle East, the
Qur'an suggests less severe austerity. The
storage of grain in anticipation of lean
times, as exemplified in the story of Joseph
(q.v., Q_ 12:47), was well known. Widely-
grown hulled grains, such as emmer, spelt
and barley could be stored in the spikelet
stage, their hard outer glumes protecting
them against insects and pests. Moreover,
recent ethno-archaeological evidence sug-

AGRICULTURE AND VEGETATION

gests that storage decision-making in the
ancient Mediterranean occurred at the
level of the household or farm unit —
rather than the community — amid a
complex trade-off between environmental,
political and economic factors (Forbes and
Foxhall, Ethnoarchaeology and storage,
69-86); storage strategies, therefore, should
be considered as part of the overall eco-
nomic picture of sixth and seventh century
Arabia. Grain was produced for animal as
well as human consumption (5)32:27). One
verse ((36:136) mentions the practice of
setting aside a portion of the cattle and
seed produce (harth) for God, which may
be a reference to storage.

There were other crops as well, like date
palms (q.v.), pomegranates, olives and
grapes (0,6:99, 141; 13:4; 16:11) and one
qur'anic passage (0,18:32) depicts two gar-
dens (sing, jamia) of grape vines surrounded
by palm trees with cultivated fields be-
tween them. Nouns referring to planted
areas include janna (pi. jannat) as already
noted (also 0,6:99, 141; 17:91), not all of its
very frequent occurrences being in refer-
ence to a heavenly paradise (see paradise;
garden). In one of these, however, the
expression "gardens under which rivers
flow" (0,2:25) may conceivably be an allu-
sion to the underground irrigation systems
well-known in Arabia at the time. One of
the signs of the divine economy was the re-
vival of "dead land" with gardens of dates
and vines watered from flowing springs,
giving forth fruit (thamar) to feed human-
kind (0,36:33-5). Luxuriant gardens
(hada'iq) are also mentioned (0,27:60;
80:30). Natural meadows (rawda, pi. rawdat,
0,30:15; 42:22) are noted as rewards in the
afterlife while pastures (mar'a) were created
on earth so that flocks may feed (079:31;
87:4). One qur'anic simile compares the
self-inflicted harm in this life that is the
consequence of improper behavior to a de-
structive glacial wind laying low the crops

(harth, 0,3:117; see also 3:14; 10:24). Similar
to this is the moving parable of the owners
of a garden or orchard who on discovering
their possessions destroyed overnight (ka-
l-sanm, as though all the fruit had been sev-
ered from the trees) acknowledged their
transgression against God (0,68:17-33). The
threat to or actual loss of what is precious
yet familiar, as described in these passages,
underlines the fine balance between suffi-
ciency and want in Arabian material life. A
passage promising cultivated fields in a fu-
ture life (harth al-dkhira, 0,42:20) has a simi-
lar import. In a long description of para-
dise, there is the single occurrence of a
word, meaning "two well-watered and
intensely green gardens" (mudhammatan,
0,55:64). This term was less commonly ap-
plied to cultivated gardens in this world,
but the comparative intention of the ex-
pression would have been obvious to the
Prophet's audience.

A notable aspect of the Quran is the
number of terms related to the date palm,
possibly the single most important food
crop throughout the pre-modern Middle
East. A range of other words, often ap-
pearing only once, refers to vegetation in
the broadest sense, dry or fresh, including
leaves or stalks of corn ('asf, 0,55:12), tre-
foil or clover (qcidb, o 80:28), acacia (talh,
0,56:29), a bunch of grapes (qutuj, sing, qitf,
0,69:23), stubble (hashim, 0,18:45; 54:31),
plant stalk (sha\ 0,48:29), a handful of
green or dry grass or husks (dighth, o_ 38:44;
pi. adghath, 0,12:44; 21:5), gardens with
thickly planted trees (jannat aljaf, 0,78:16),
leaves (waraq, 0,7:22; 20:121; waraqa,
0,6:59). Ayka, the word for "woods" or
"thicket," occurring in the phrase "the
people of the thicket" (q.v.; 0,15:78;
26:176; 38:13; 50:14), is said to refer to the
people of Midian (q.v.). Two words (sidr,
'athl) designate plants growing in hell.
Dan' (0,88:6), a plant with large thorns
which no animal would approach —

AGRICULTURE AND VEGETATION

known to the people of the Hejaz in its dry
form — is described as the sole nourish-
ment of the inhabitants of the nether
world. The tree of al-Zaqqum (0,37:62;
44:43; 56:52), the fruit of which was like
the head of devils, is described as the fare
of sinners and was evidently known in
Arabia for its bitter taste.

Many of these terms and others to be
noted now are used in contexts demon-
strating the all-powerful nature of God.
For example, the word hand (q_ 10:24) is
used in the sense of "stubble" to describe
the formerly fertile fields destroyed by
God to punish the owners' presumption
that they had control. In (356:65 (also
57:20) the word hutam, "dried straw," de-
scribes what God could do to fields in a
similar instance. Plants, including fruit
(jakiha), herbage (abb) and seeds (habb), ex-
emplify the benefits of God's creation
(o 80:24-32). A person who expends his
property for the sake of God is likened to
a seed producing seven ears of corn (sana-
bil, sing, sunbul) each of which contains
one hundred seeds (o_2:26i). Another pas-
sage describes how God revives "bare
land" (al-ard al-juruz, Q_32:27) to produce
cereals (zar'J.

Several words and expressions referring
to water, a necessity of life, should be men-
tioned. For water as rain, there are the
terms ghayth ({531:34; 42:28; 57:20), wabil
((3 2:265, which also contains the word for
dew, tall), and wadq (0,24:43; 30:48). "The
impregnating winds" (al-riyah lawdqih,
Q_ 15:22) are so called because they are
cloud-bearing winds which cause rain to
fall. Underground water comes from
springs [yanbii', 017:90, pi. yandbi', 39:21;
'ayn, 88:12, dual 'aynan, 55:50, pi. 'uyun,
26:57) and appears in the phrase "water
running underground" (md'uhd ghawran,
o_ 18:41; cf. 67:30). By far the most common
word is simply "water" (ma') employed in
the frequent expression "[God] sent down

water from the sky" (anzala min al-samd'
ma). This expression occurs twenty-six
times and in another nine instances the
word "water" appears in a similar context.
The following verse may be considered the
key passage which captures both this ex-
pression and a number of the plant terms
already noted:

God is the one who sent down water from
the sky and with it we brought forth all
manner of plants (nabat) and foliage (kha-
dir) from which we bring forth clustered
seed (habb); and from the flowering date
palm (al-nakhl min tal'ihd) [come] accessible
clusters of the fruit (qinwan). [We also
brought forth] gardens (janndt) planted
with grapes (a 'nab), olives (zaytiin) and
pomegranates (rumman), in many similar
and distinct varieties. When they blossom,
look to the fruit (thamar) when they bear
fruit and ripen. These are surely signs for
people who believe (o 6:99).

Drawing upon what has been already said,
it is possible to correct an image which has
been present in Western scholarship at least
since C.C. Torrey submitted his doctoral
dissertation, The commercial-theological terms
in the Koran (published in Leiden in 1892), to
the University of Strasburg at the end of
the last century. In this brief work, Torrey
asserted that, while in the Hebrew Bible
and the New Testament commercial-theo-
logical terms are found only "as occasional
figures of speech," in the Quran they are
not used to adorn certain facts, but rather
are "terms regularly employed to state the
bare and blunt facts themselves" (p. 7).
These qur'anic "facts" then produce a the-
ology governed by the predominating
"business atmosphere" (sic, p. 3) of the
Qur'an: "The mutual relations between
God and man are of a strictly commercial
nature. Allah is the ideal merchant... Life
is a business for gain and loss. He who does

4:3

AGRICULTURE AND VEGETATION

good or evil work ("earns" good or evil),
receives his pay for it, even in this life.
Some debts are forgiven, for Allah is not a
hard creditor...." (p. 48). The commercial
background of the rise of Islam has been
treated in the established biographies of
the Prophet Muhammad by W.M. Watt
and M. Rodinson and examined closely in
the more recent rebuttal of Watt's argu-
ment by P. Crone in her Meccan trade
(Princeton 1987). Whatever the actual com-
plex of forces at work in the historical
background of the Quran, the text offers a
dominant motif quite distinct from Tor-
rey's "commercial theology." This motif,
while addressed to actual human experi-
ence is at once rich in theological meaning
and goes to the core of the qur'anic mes-
sage. The theological import of passages
like the one cited above is that the life cy-
cles of the natural world, of plants and an-
imals, are governed by the divine gift of
water which an equally dependent human-
kind should acknowledge with appropriate
expressions of gratitude (o_34:i5). On the
other hand, the secular significance of the
numerous references to agriculture, vegeta-
tion and animal husbandry in the Qur'an
will be better understood as our knowledge
of these subjects related to central Arabia
in the early centuries of the common era is
enriched. We turn now briefly to the back-
ground against which the qur'anic text
may be set.

The origins of agriculture
In the generations following the Prophet's
death, Islam became the newly-established
religion in the very lands where, as is now
almost universally accepted, the origins of
agriculture had begun several millennia
earlier. The food-producing revolution of
the post-Pleistocene era (from about 9,000
B.c.E.) occurred in the great arc of hills
stretching from Palestine and western Jor-
dan, through southeastern Turkey, north-

ern Iraq and thence down through western
Iran. The revolution was decisive for the
subsequent emergence of urban civiliza-
tion for "with the domestication of plants
and animals... vast new dimensions for
cultural evolution suddenly became possi-
ble" (Braidwood, The agricultural revolu-
tion, 71). The earlier hunting-gathering
way of life slowly yielded to the develop-
ment of settled villages, although this did
not immediately entail the adoption of ag-
riculture or the total abandonment of for-
mer ways of food collection. Sedentation,
however, did lead to an increase in popula-
tion, which caused an increased demand
for food. This could not be met through
hunting and gathering in a village and its
immediate environs. At this time, the im-
plements for reaping the grains of wild
grasses, grinding stones for their prepara-
tion for cooking and storage facilities al-
ready existed. With the use of stored grain
to raise cereal crops, the area given over to
cultivated plants gradually increased and
the time devoted to the older methods of
food gathering decreased (Reed, Origins,
54,3-67, 941-4). The rise of towns and cities
in the arid and semi-arid region of the
Middle East was accompanied — in
places, perhaps, preceded — by the emer-
gence of new techniques for marshalling
the water resources, of both river and rain,
for more intensive and extensive cultiva-
tion of food crops. Irrigation took different
forms in different areas, including the flood
and natural flow methods of irrigation; the
use of manual hydraulic devices (shaduf
sdqiya) and waterwheels (nd'ura, duldb) and
the construction of surface and under-
ground water channels of Iran (qanat, kdriz)
and the systems in Arabia (ghayl, falaj) . It is
known that all of these hydraulic machines
had long been in use before the rise of Is-
lam, although the questions of their origin
and diffusion have yet to be resolved.
Archeological knowledge of Arabia has

AGRICULTURE AND VEGETATION

grown more slowly than that of the thor-
oughly-explored regions of Iraq, Egypt
and Iran. The ancient hydrological systems
of Arabia have only recently begun to be
investigated. Nevertheless, it is now clear
that early settled life differed considerably
from the stereotype of the nomad and the
desert tent-dweller. The Yemen, long re-
garded as the center of trade, possessed an
agricultural system almost entirely depen-
dent upon irrigation. Although there is
only a single possible reference to the artifi-
cial control of water in the Quran
(o 34:16, which may refer to the Marib
Dam, the remains of which lie approxi-
mately 135 km. east of San'a; see
al-'arim), it is evident that sophisticated
systems for the catchment, storage and dis-
tribution of water existed from early times
in other areas of the peninsula, suggesting
that Arabia should also be considered a
"hydrological society," like Iraq and Egypt,
where settlement was dependent upon hy-
draulic constructions. "One of the most
characteristic settlement patterns through-
out Arabia is the concentration of the
main built-up area on a rocky outcrop
surrounded by a cultivated flood plain"
(Costa, Notes on traditional hydraulics,
264). See archaeology and the qur'an.

Commentary on selected passages
The prophetic hadlth, the qur'anic com-
mentaries and similar works assign secular
and religious significance to many of the
words and phrases noted above in the first
section. Al-Bukharl (d. 256/870), for exam-
ple, in the section of his hadlth collection
concerned with qur'anic exegesis provides
a lexicographical explanation for three
terms in Q_55:i2, 'asf, rayhan and habb. He
says 'asjis the stem of cereal plants which
have been cut before reaching full maturity
and rayhan is the residual product after the
habb (seed) has been extracted for consump-
tion. Al-Bukhari also adds other definitions

from mainly unnamed sources which do
not always prove helpful. Certain authors,
he says, claim that the 'asf is the consum-
able part of the cereal, another says it is
the leaf of the plant and yet another that it
is the straw. Further in the same sura,
o 55:68 reads, "Therein are fruit (Jakiha),
date palms (nakhl) and pomegranates (rum-
man)." Al-Bukharl comments that the odd
overlapping of "fruit" and "pomegranates"
can be explained by reference to (32:238,
which reads "observe the prayers and the
middle prayer," the repetition of "prayer"
being added for emphasis. The nearly-con-
temporary exegesis of al-Tabarl (d. 310/
923) is much more extensive than that of
al-Bukharl. In dealing with the vocabulary
of the plant kingdom, his approach is also
lexicographical, citing hadlth as evidence
in his own exposition. However, glossing
the passage cited above (o_6:99), beginning,
"God is the one who sent down water from
the sky," al-Tabarl writes, "With the water
we sent down from the heavens, we pro-
duced nourishment for cattle, beasts, birds
and wild animals and sustenance and food
for human beings" (Tafsir, vii, 292). He con-
cludes that creation contains "proofs, a
demonstration and an illustration" for
"those who affirm the unity of God and
rate him as all-powerful" {Tafsir, vii, 296).

The eighth/fourteenth century commen-
tator Ibn Kathlr (d. 774/1372) adds nothing
of substance to al-Tabarl's discussion of
this particular passage. He is, however,
more expansive than al-Tabarl in his com-
mentary on Q_2:2i-2, where the divine gift
of rain which brings forth fruits (thamarat)
as sustenance for humankind is also men-
tioned. God's unity, divine power and
blessings, both manifest and hidden, are all
expressed here and the meaning of the
phrase "[Your Lord] is the one who made
the earth a place of repose for you and the
heavens a protecting edifice" (o_2:22) is ex-
plained by reference to other qur'anic pas-

AGRICULTURE AND VEGETATION

sages (e.g. Q_2i:32; 40:64). What particu-
larly interests Ibn Kathlr in the passage is
the command, "Do not set up rivals (andad)
to God," for which he adduces a number
of references in the hadlth collections sup-
porting the prohibition. A man once said
to the Prophet, "What God has willed, and
what you have willed." The Prophet re-
proached him, saying, "Have you set me
up as a rival to God? Say, 'What God
wills,' and nothing else." Associating peers
or rivals with God is pure polytheism (shirk,
see belief and unbelief). A tradition
from Ibn Abbas describes "polytheism"
as undetectable "as an ant crawling over
a black rock in the dead of night." Ibn
Kathlr's exegesis stresses, on the one hand,
the absolute singularity of God, a point
Jews, Christians and even Muslims tended
to forget in practice, despite the common
acknowledgement in their scripture of one,
sole divine being. On the other hand, using
an earthy analogy that "droppings (in the
desert) indicate the presence of a camel,"
Ibn Kathlr stresses how the divine exist-
ence and unity are mirrored in the multi-
plicity of God's creation (q.v), that is the
"signs (q.v.)," including the heavens, the
earth and all that comes forth from them
such as the life-giving rain which supports
the plant kingdom upon which the exist-
ence of the humans and animals depends.
It should be noted that, differences in pre-
sentation aside, al-Tabarl's commentary
on o_6:C;9 and that of Ibn Kathlr on
Q_2:2i are in essential agreement in their
view of the nature of God as demon-
strated in creation.

Scriptural insistence, therefore, on ob-
serving God's signs in the natural world as
proof of his existence, unity, power and
beneficence, was seconded by the com-
mentators who further affirmed the need
to use the mind in pursuit of the truth. Al-
BaydawT (d. 685/1282), for example, com-
menting on Q_2:i64, which concerns God's

signs for people with understanding, adds
that this verse provides instruction as well
as a "stimulus for the pursuit of research
and study." Developing John Burton's
schema of the three broad sources of exe-
gesis — tradition, reason and intuition —
which illuminate the meaning of the
qur'anic text, a further indirect and prag-
matic method of exegesis was the investi-
gation of the "signs" which serve to con-
firm the truth of the text. In the early
centuries of Islam, this stimulated an im-
pulse toward the collection and dissemina-
tion of information on plants in general
and agriculture in particular. This con-
cern, traced in the following sections, is
reflected in a rich agronomic literature
and in the medieval "green revolution"
which fostered the study and diffusion of
new plants westward across the Islamic
domains.

Ibn JVahshiyya and al-Filaha al-Nabatiyya
During the vigorous translation movement
of the early Abbasid period (late eighth to
late tenth century c.E.), there was evident
interest in agronomic, and indeed botani-
cal, works. Among the ancient geoponic
works known to the Arabs was one by
Apollonius of Tyana (not Anatolius of
Berytos as once thought), which was trans-
lated under the title Kitdb al-Filaha in 179/
795. The Georgica of Cassianus Bassus was
translated first into Pahlavi and then into
Arabic in 212/827 as al-Filaha al-Rumiyya.
The most outstanding of these treatises,
however, was al-Filaha al-Nabatiyya, "Naba-
tean [i.e. Syriac] Agriculture," attributed
to Abu Bakr b. Wahshiyya. The author —
whose identity has been disputed — claims
that he translated it from the "ancient Sy-
riac," the Aramean dialect of the Kasdan
community of Iraq, in 291/903 and then
dictated the translation to a disciple in
318/930. If for no other reason, the work
is remarkable for its sheer size, the author

AGRICULTURE AND VEGETATION

4<>

saying that the original ran to around fif-
teen hundred folios. The work appears to
have been compiled in a milieu where Al-
exandrian Hellenism and gnosticism still
survived and where neither Judaism nor
Christianity had much influence, suggest-
ing an era prior to the fifth century c.E.
While the work reflects Hippocratic medi-
cal principles and certain aspects of Dios-
corides' Materia medica, it may also repre-
sent a tradition independent of the latter.
Furthermore, it seems to have no connec-
tion with the Arabic botanical writing
which had already appeared prior to Ibn
Wahshiyya's translation. Indeed, it presents
a far more varied range of plant life than
that found in Akkadian sources: more than
360 plants, with special attention given to
the olive tree, the vine and the date palm,
indicating their essential place in the agri-
cultural activities of the region. In com-
parison with known Greek geoponic works,
al-Filaha al-,Nabatiyya is more developed,
dealing with matters both practical and
theoretical. In short it represents a kind of
"philosophy" of humankind's relationship
with the soil. The text's editor Toufic Fahd
has argued that al-Filaha al-JVabatiyya pres-
ents a picture of the state of knowledge of
agriculture, botany and the rural and do-
mestic economy in Iraq at the end of the
Hellenistic era (Materiaux pour l'histoire,

276-379)-

The opening chapters of al-Filaha al-
JVabatiyya are dedicated to the olive tree, its
benefits, the places where it best grows and
the properties of its various components
such as the leaves, roots, the oil and pits of
the fruit. At one point the text says that
"concerning all these matters, some [infor-
mation] came to us by experience (tajriba)
and some by revelation (wahy) from the
gods to our forefathers... some by inspira-
tion (ilham) to us and to the idols who in
turn instructed us... all of which we put to

the test and thus were able to judge the
soundness of the best practice... for which
we are grateful to [the gods]" (i, 49). The
contrast with the monotheistic spirit of the
Quran is evident. It is similar, however, to
the response of gratitude found in the
qur'anic verse, "Vegetation comes forth
from good earth with the permission of its
Lord, while from bad land it comes forth
with difficulty; thus do we expound the
signs to a people who are grateful" (q_7:58).
Indeed, the pagan Nabatean text trans-
lated well into the monotheistic Islamic
context as it provided a rich catalog of the
gifts of the divine economy. Inserted in a
lengthy and largely theoretical discourse
on how to manage an agricultural estate —
complemented by a discussion of the prin-
ciples of procreation and generation — is
an agricultural calendar which lists the ac-
tivities occurring each month of the year
(i, 218-41). This is the earliest example of
the genre in Arabic and may be compared
with later works from al-Andalus and the
Yemen.

As stated above, detailed attention is
given to the olive tree, the vine and the
date palm, the first and last of the trio
forming the opening and closing sections
of the work. The three plants are also
grouped together in two qur'anic passages,
c) 16:11 and 80:28-9, signaling the impor-
tance of the triad. Apart from this, the
bulk of the work is devoted to a wide range
of other edible plants, the names for many
of which the translator was obliged to
leave in transliteration as he could find no
Arabic equivalents.

Following the section on the olive, ce-
reals are the next group of plants treated.
Wheat and barley are discussed at greatest
length, as both had played a major role in
the Mesopotamian diet for several millen-
nia. Rice and sorghum (dhura) are also
noted among many other grains. Various

AGRICULTURE AND VEGETATION

aspects of cereal culture are discussed: the
appropriate location for growing; the sea-
son and atmospheric conditions required
for a good crop; the procedures for har-
vesting, threshing, winnowing and storing
the grain and the means of testing whether
the grain is beginning to deteriorate.

In sum, the spirit of al-Filaha al-.Nabatiyya
may be expressed in words not so distant
from the qur'anic passages cited earlier,
save for the absence of the single divine
agent:

Agriculture is a source of plant life whose
nutritional benefits are the very founda-
tion of [human] life... Plants have also
medicinal value, dispelling pains, ailments
and illnesses... Furthermore, our clothes
which conceal our nakedness and protect
our bodies from the dangers of heat and
cold also come from [cultivated] plants
(i, 702).

Later agronomic works: Egypt, Yemen, Syria
No surviving agronomic work matches the
encyclopedic breadth and detail of al-
Filaha al-Mabatiyya. The manual of Ibn
MammatI (d. 606/1209), Kitab Qawanin al-
dawdwin, contains information on the
farming practices in his native Egypt. In
the beginning of the eighth/fourteenth
century, the Egyptian Jamal al-Dln Mu-
hammad b. Yahya al-Watwat (d. 718/1318)
produced another work on agriculture, in
which he frequently cites Ibn Wahshiyya.
Later in the same century, the Yemeni
Rasfllid sultans al-Malik al-Ashraf 'Umar
(d. 696/1296) and al-Malik al-Afdal al-
'Abbas b. 'All (d. 778/1376) wrote agricul-
tural treatises. To al-Ashraf 's brother al-
Malik al-Mu'ayyad Dawud is attributed
another book on agriculture now lost.
These almanacs provide a basis for recon-
structing the agricultural activities
throughout the year. In the almanac of al-

Malik al-Ashraf, it is clear that the domi-
nant crop in the Yemen was sorghum,
some twenty-two different varieties of
which — distinguished chiefly by color —
are listed. Indeed, the common term for
sorghum was simply "food" (ta'am). There
is evidence of Ibn Wahshiyya's influence
on this Yemeni "school," although its na-
ture and degree have yet to be determined
precisely. Although there is the eighth/
fourteenth-century Miftah al-rahd li-ahl al-
jilaha (ed. M. Salihiyya) by an unknown au-
thor, likely a Syrian, it is in the far west of
the Islamic domains, in al-Andalus, that
the tradition of agronomic writing contin-
ued with vigor and novel contributions of
its own.

The agricultural revolution and the Andalusian

"school" of agronomy
In the first half of the fourth/tenth cen-
tury, Dioscorides' Materia medica became
known in al-Andalus, stimulating an inter-
est in botany and pharmacology, which
were allied to the development of agron-
omy. The so-called Calendar of Cordoba of
Arlb b. Sa'ld (d. 370/980) contains data on
arboriculture and horticulture, reflecting
local knowledge and custom. Arlb may
have also written a treatise on agriculture
and, if this is correct, it would have been
the first of its kind in al-Andalus. From the
end of the fourth/tenth century, an agro-
nomic treatise of unknown authorship has
survived entitled Kitab fi tartib aivqdt al-
ghirdsa wa-l-maghrusat (ed. A. Lopez) with
contents similar to those of the Calendar,
complementing that work with an impor-
tant section on the cultivation of ornamen-
tal plants.

These activities were undoubtedly fos-
tered by another factor, which A. Watson
in 1983 called "the agricultural revolution"
in his important and controversial book
Agricultural innovation in the early Islamic world.

AGRICULTURE AND VEGETATION

At the heart of this revolution was the dif-
fusion of new crops westward from India
and Persia through the Arab lands to the
Iberian peninsula during the early centu-
ries of Islamic expansion and consolida-
tion. Watson examines in detail sixteen
food crops and one fiber crop as part of
this process of diffusion. In most cases, dif-
fusion meant the acclimatization of plants
native to a humid tropical environment to
a Mediterranean climate. Diffusion was
accompanied by changes in farming prac-
tices. The development of summer crops
and more intensive and extensive land ex-
ploitation were made possible by a combi-
nation of the use of more varied types of
soil, the more widespread application of a
different kind of manure, improvements in
irrigation and changes in landholding size
and fallow practices. Watson's critics have
challenged certain of his conclusions, while
confirming others. The overall impression
remains that during the first Islamic centu-
ries there was indeed a greatly renewed in-
terest in agriculture, including horticulture
and arboriculture, with a corresponding
rise in food production, which made possi-
ble the rise of new urban cultures through-
out the Middle East. In al-Andalus, a con-
comitant development was the appearance
of experimental botanical gardens, gener-
ally founded by rulers, where new plants
were grown and old varieties improved. A
more precise picture of the process and
scope of this "green revolution" will be
gained only when a thorough study of the
agronomic treatises is closely integrated
with an examination of works of the bo-
tanical, medical (especially dietetic) and
culinary traditions.

By the fifth/eleventh century, al-Filaha al-
Nabatiyya was not only known in al-Anda-
lus, but was a factor in the emergence of
what Garcia Sanchez has called the "An-
dalusian school of agronomy," which con-
tinued uninterrupted into the seventh/

thirteenth century. Andalusian agronomic
writing culminated in the works of several
individuals in different cities spanning the
fifth/eleventh century to the seventh/thir-
teenth. First are the Toledans Ibn Wafid
(d. 466/1074) and Ibn Bassal (d. 499/1105),
the latter's treatise being based upon his
personal experience. Ibn al-Hajjaj of Se-
ville wrote his work in 466/1074. The work
of the Granadan botanist al-Tighnarl (fl.
fifth/eleventh-sixth/twelfth century) has
yet to appear in a printed edition. A con-
temporary of al-Tighnarl and a personal
acquaintance of Ibn Bassal, Abu 1-Khayr
of Seville, also made a significant contribu-
tion. The great successor and synthesizer
of this "school" was the Sevillian Ibn al-
Awwam, who lived between 512/1118 and
663/1265. He left the most extensive of all
the Andalusian works, Kitab al-Filaha. Its
contents, covering agriculture and animal
husbandry, are selected from eastern and
Andalusian texts, supplemented by the au-
thor's own experimental practice. Finally,
the cycle ends with Ibn Luyun (d. 750/
1349) of Almeria, who wrote a lengthy
poem (urjuza) on agronomy. The sources
employed by these Andalusian scholars,
the relationship between the authors and
the precise nature of the influence of the
classical geoponic tradition have been sub-
ject to much recent investigation and de-
bate. Compared with certain classical
works translated into Arabic — such as the
one sometimes attributed to Anatolius of
Berytos — the Andalusian texts appear far
more developed and sophisticated. They
frequently exhibit both a theoretical and
practical outlook and project the authors'
collective conviction that agriculture was
"the basis of subsistence for men and ani-
mals... [allowing for] the preservation of
life and the sustaining of the spirit" (al-
Tighnarl) and that it was "a well-founded
science, a divine gift and a great recom-
pense" (Abu 1-Khayr).

AGRICULTURE AND VEGETATION

Conclusion
In the works of qur'anic commentary, the
significance of the plant kingdom within
the natural world is explained as an aspect
of the Creator's unique, all-powerful, be-
neficent nature. In their broadest sense, the
"signs" of creation are the keys to the com-
prehension of the divine reality. The works
dedicated to agriculture are by extension
the exploration of the signs themselves, the
types of land, plants, climatic conditions
and the like, a proper understanding of
which could maximize for human society
the benefit of the divine gifts. The relation-
ship between these two literatures is sug-
gested by the stimulus to learning of the
"green revolution" in the early Islamic cen-
turies which gave scope for the practical
examination of plants and agricultural
techniques documented in the agronomic
texts. Taken together in this way, the works
of the commentators and agronomists are
complementary and illustrate that the
proposition that God's creatures are both
determined and yet free (see freedom and
predestination) is only an apparent con-
tradiction in the thought of medieval
scholars such as al-Ghazali (d. 505/1 in).
That is, humankind is determined by the
divine nature's creative act, but free to ex-
plore and exploit the natural world for its
own greater benefit. See also food and

DRINKS.

David Waines

Bibliography
Primary: Abu 1-Khayr, Kitab al-Filaha, ed. and
trans. J.M. Carabaza, Tratado de agricultura,
Madrid 199 r ; Arib b. Sa c Td, Le calendrier de Cordoue
de Vanne 961, ed. and trans. C. Pellat, Leiden
1961; Ibn al-'Awwam, Kitab al-Filaha, L.J.A.
Banqueri (ed. and trans.), Libra de agricultura, 2
vols., Madrid 1802; Ibn Bassal, Kitab al-Qasd wa-
t-baydn, J.M. Millas Vallacrosa and M. Aziman
(eds. and trans.), Libra de Agricultura, Tetuan 1955;
Ibn al-Hajjaj, al-Muqm fi l-filaha, ed. S. Jirar and
J. Abu Safiyya, Amman 1402/1982; Ibn LuyQn,

Tratado de agricultura, ed. and trans. J. Eguaras,
Granada 1975; Ibn MammatT, Kitab Qawamn
al-dawawin, ed. ; A.S. 'Atiyya, Cairo 1943, trans.
D. Waines, Ibn Alammati's rules for the ministries.
Translation with commentary of the Qawamn
al-dawawin, Berkeley 1973; Ibn Wafid, al-Muqm
ft < Ifildha, trans. J.M. Millas Vallicrosa, La
traduccion castellana del ''Tratado de
Agricultura" de Ibn Wafid, in Andalus 8 (1943),
281-332; Ibn Wahshiyya, Al-Filaha al-Nabatiyya,
trans. T. Fahd, U agriculture nabateenne. Traduction en
arabe attribuee a Abu Bakr Ahmad b. All al-Kasdani,
Ibn Wahshiyya, 2 vols., Damascus 1993-5; A.C.
Lopez (ed. and trans.), Kitab fi tartib awqdt al-
ghirasa wa-l-maghrusdt. Un tratado agricola andalusi
anonimo, Granada 1990; M.T. Salihiyya and I.S.
al- c Amad (eds.), Miftah al-raha li-ahl alfildha,
Kuwait 1984; P. Sbat, L'ouvrage geoponic
d'Antolius de Berytos (IV 1 ' siecle), in Bulletin de.
ITnstitut d'Egypte 13 (1931) 47-54; C. Vazquez de
Benito (ed. and trans.), El manuscrito no XXX de la
Coleccion Gayangos, Madrid 1974.
Secondary: R.M. Adams, Land behind Baghdad,
Chicago 1965; L. Bolens, Agronomes andalous du
Moyen Age, Geneva 1981; R. Braidwood, The
agricultural revolution, in C.C. Lamberg-
Karlovsky (ed.), Old world archaeology, foundations
of civilization, San Francisco 1972; C. Cahen,
Le service de l'irrigation en Iraq au debout du
XI siecle, in beo 13 (1949-50); id., Notes pour
une histoire de l'agriculture dans les pays
musulmans, in JESHO 14 (1971), 63-8; R. Cooper,
Agriculture in Egypt 640-1800, in M. Ulmann,
Handbuch der Orientalistik, 6/6/1, 188-204; P.M.
Costa, Notes on traditional hydraulics and
agriculture in Oman, in World archeology 14
(1983), 273-95; F-M. Donner, Mecca's food
supplies and Muhammad's boycott, in jesho 20
(1977), 249-66; T. Fahd, Materiaux pour l'histoire
de l'agriculture en Irak. Al-Filaha n-Nabatiyya,
in M. Ulmann, Handbuch der Orientalistik 6/6/1,
276-37; id., Al-lilaha al-nabatiyya et la science
agronomique arabe, in Proceedings of the First
International Symposium for the History of Arabic
Science, Aleppo 1976; id., Retour a Ibn
Wahshiyya, in Arabic a 16 (1969), 83-8; id.,
Conduite d'une exploitation agricole d'apres
P'Agriculture nabateene," in 5/32 (1970),
109-28; id., Un traite des eaux dans al-Filaha
n-Nabatiyya, in La Persia nel Medioeve, Rome 1971 ,
277-326; id., Le calendrier des travaux agricoles
d'apres al-Filaha n-nabatiyya, in Orientalia
hispanica, Leiden 1974, i, 245-72; H. Forbes and
L. Foxhall, Ethnoarchaeology and storage in
the ancient Mediterranean. Beyond risk and
survival, in J. Wilkins et al. (eds.), Food in antiquity,
Exeter 1995; E. Garcia Gomez, Sobre
agricultura arabigoandaluza. Cuestiones

AHMADIYYA

bibliograficas, in Andalus 10 (1945), 127-46; E.
Garcia Sanchez (ed.), Ciencias de la naturaleza en
al-Andalus. Textosy estudios (cna), Granada
1990-4, i-iii; id., Agriculture in Muslim Spain, in
S.K. Jayyusi (ed.), The legacy of Muslim Spain,
Leiden 1992, 987-99; id., El tratado agricola del
granadino al-TignarT, in Quaderni di studi Arabi
5-6 (1987-8), 278-91; A.K.S. Lambton,
Reflections on the role of agriculture in
Medieval Persia, in A.L. Udovitch (ed.), The
Islamic Middle East Joo-igoo, Princeton 1981,
283-312; id., Aspects of agricultural organization
and agrarian history in Persia, in M. Ulniann,
Handbuch der Orientalistik 6/6/1, 160-87; D. Oates
and J. Oates, Early irrigation agriculture in
Mesopotamia, in G. de G. Sieveking et al. (eds.),
Problems in economic and social archaeology, London
1976, 109-35; C- Reed (ed.), Origins of agriculture,
The Hague 1977; H. Samarra'i, Agriculture in Iraq
during the 3 rd century a.m., Beirut 1972; Sezgin,
gas, iv, 301-46; M. Ulmann, Die Natur- und
Geheimwissenschaften im Islam [Handbuch der
Orientalistik, Suppl. 6/2], Leiden 1972; D.M.
Varisco, Medieval agriculture and Islamic science. The
almanac of a Yemeni sultan, Seattle 1994; id.,
Medieval agricultural texts from Rasulid Yemen,
in Manuscripts of the Middle East 4 (1989), 150-4; D.
Waines, Cereals, bread and society: an essay on
the staff of lite in medieval Iraq, in JESHO 30/3
(1987), 255-85; A. Watson, Agricultural innovation in
the early Islamic world, Cambridge 1983.

Ahl al-Bayt see family of the
prophet; people of the house

Ahmad see muhammad

Ahmadiyya

The Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam
(Urdu Jama'at-i Ahmadiyya) is a modern
messianic movement. It was founded in
1889 in the Indian province of the Punjab
by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908) and
has become exceedingly controversial
within contemporary Muslim circles.
Claiming for its founder messianic and
prophetic status of a certain kind, the
Ahmadi Movement aroused fierce oppo-
sition from the Muslim mainstream and

was accused of rejecting the dogma that
Muhammad was the last prophet. Under
British rule, the controversy was merely a
doctrinal dispute between individuals or
voluntary organizations, but when the
movement's headquarters and many
Ahmadis moved in 1947 to the professedly
Islamic state of Pakistan, the issue was
transformed into a major constitutional
problem and the Muslim mainstream
demanded the formal exclusion of the
Ahmadis from the Muslim fold. This was
attained in 1974, when the Pakistani parlia-
ment adopted a constitutional amendment
declaring the Ahmadis to be non-Muslims.

Despite the impression which may be
gained from anti-Ahmadi polemical litera-
ture, the Ahmadis passionately attest that
the Qur'an is a heavenly book of unsur-
passable beauty and unquestionable valid-
ity which will never be superseded (see
inimitability). They initiated the transla-
tion of the Quran into numerous lan-
guages and maintain that it is the only
scripture (see scripture and the qur'an)
which has suffered no interpolation or cor-
ruption (q.v.). Their profound veneration
of the Qur'an has led them to re-interpret
the idea of abrogation (q.v.). They claim
that whenever abrogation is mentioned in
the Qur'an, it denotes the abrogation of all
other religions by Islam rather than the ab-
rogation of early qur'anic verses by later
ones. This implies that all qur'anic verses
have the same validity, a position which
undermines the exegetical principle ac-
cording to which injunctions included in
later verses cancel those included in earlier
ones. Consequently, they deal in an alter-
native manner with inconsistencies in the
Qur'an. Instead of following injunctions
set forth in "abrogating" verses, they main-
tain that where there are contradictory
statements about a certain issue, one
should abide by the verses revealed in cir-
cumstances more similar to one's own.

5 1

AIR AND WIND

Ghulam Ahmad used this exegetical meth-
od in his reinterpretation of the mandated
holy struggle, jihad (q.v.). According to his
exposition, the verses commanding mili-
tary struggle were revealed when nascent
Islam was in danger of destruction by
force. In Ghulam Ahmad's times, Islam
was no longer in danger of military attack,
but suffered from defamation by Christian
missionaries. Military struggle is therefore
unnecessary and Muslims should respond
by verbal struggle: they should refute the
defamatory statements of their opponents
and propagate Islam by preaching.

Two qur'anic verses are central to Ah-
mad! theology. "Jesus, I cause you to die
and raise you to myself" (q_3:55) is taken to
mean that Jesus' ascension took place after
his death. Coupled with the qur'anic denial
of the crucifixion in Q_4:i57, the verses are
interpreted to mean that Jesus died a na-
tural death and, contrary to numerous
hadlths, there will be no second coming,
q 33:40 which describes Muhammad as
"the seal of the prophets" (khatam al-
nabiyyin, see prophets and prophethood)
is not understood as meaning that he was
the last prophet, but that he was "the
owner of the seal" without whose confir-
mation no other prophet may be accepted.
The dogma asserting the finality of Mu-
hammad's prophethood refers, according
to the Ahmadiyya, only to legislative
prophets who bring a divinely revealed
book of law. Non-legislative prophets like
Ghulam Ahmad whom God sends to re-
vive the law promulgated in the Quran
can appear in a Muslim community even
after the completion of Muhammad's mis-
sion. A similar idea can be found in the
works of the famous Sufi Ibn al-Arabl (d.
638/1240) and Ghulam Ahmad's proph-
etology may have been inspired by his
thought. See also sufism and the qur'an.

Yohanan Friedmann

Bibliography
Ghulam Ahmad, Haqiqat al-wahy, Lahore 1952;
id., Government-i angrezT awr jihad [in Urdu],
Rabwa 1965; M.D. Ahmad, Die Stellung des
Koran in der Ahmadiyya-Theologie (fully
documented), in zumg Suppl. Ill, I, Wiesbaden
1977, 319-30; Y. Friedmann, Prophecy continuous.
Aspects of Ahmadi religious thought and its medieval
background, Berkeley 1989 (extensive
bibliography).

Air and Wind

The gases which surround the earth and
the motion within these gases. Air is men-
tioned only twice in the Qur'an, once as
jaww and once as hawa'. The general word
for wind, rih and its plural riyah, occurs
more than thirty times. It is supplemented
by a number of terms with significantly
fewer attestations denoting specific types of
wind.

Of the attestations of air, one is literal,
p_ 16:79: "Have you not reflected on the
birds set in the air (jaww) of the firma-
ment, none holds them there other than
God. In that, indeed, is a sign for those
who believe," referring to the region be-
tween heaven and earth where the birds
have their place. The other is metaphori-
cal, p_i4:43: "Their hearts are air (hawa'),"
where it is used to emphasize the terror felt
by the wicked on judgment day that ren-
ders their minds insubstantial and incapa-
ble of thought.

Wind
Wind, like the other phenomena of nature,
is a sign (aya) of God (see signs). It can be
either beneficent or destructive. The
qur'anic references to wind give an ac-
count of the diverse forms in which it may
occur: in the relief it brings from drought
by bearing clouds laden with rain to the

AIR AND WIND

5-'

pastoral steppes and agricultural centers,
in blinding sandstorms, in torrential rain
and in its benefits and dangers to shipping.
Yet however varied and unpredictable it
may appear to humankind, wind in the
Qur'an is never arbitrary. It and all its
concomitants — whether for good or ill —
are in the hands of God and occur as a di-
rect act of his will, whether to reward or
punish.

The grammatical structures in which
wind occurs and the contexts in which it
has a role illustrate this. On most occasions
wind is the direct object of God's action:
he/we send(s) it (arsala, yursiluna, arsalna
[passim]). He uses it to drive (juzji, Q 17:66;
24:43) clouds and ships (q.v.) and may
grant control of it to whomever he wishes.
On three occasions it is mentioned that
God put it at the disposal of Solomon (q.v.;
0,21:81; 34:12; 38:36). It moves according to
God's direction (tasrij al-riydh, 0. 2:164; 45:5).
He may still it (yuskin, 042:33), if he wish-
es. Only on four occasions is it the subject
of a verb: it blows (tahwi, 022:31), it comes
(ja'at, 0,10:22), it blows violently (ishtaddat,
Q_ 14:18), it scatters (tadhru, Q_ 18:45). Thus its
role in qur'anic discourse, in direct speech,
narrative, parables, metaphors and oaths
alike, is clearly defined as a part of nature
under God's command.

Rih may at times express meanings be-
yond those common in everyday usage of
the word "wind" in English. On two occa-
sions it occurs with an extended meaning
as in the exclamation of Jacob (q.v.), "I
sense the fragrance (rih) of Joseph (q.v.)"
(o 12:94), and, "Do not quarrel one with
another lest you lose heart and your spirit
(rih) [i.e. zeal] depart" (08:46). Ruh, de-
rived from the same root, sometimes ex-
presses a specialized significance of breath
considered as air in motion, i.e. the breath
of life and spirit. Thus Adam (see ADAM
AND eve) is brought to life by the divine
breath God blows into him (o 15:29; 32:9;

38:72; 66:12) andjesus (q.v.) is created by
the breath or spirit God breathes into
Mary (q.v.; Q_ 19:17; 21:91). In its other attes-
tations, the meanings ruh bears are concep-
tually distinct from the English word
"wind" and do not fall within the scope of
this entry (see spirit).

In addition to rih there are a number of
words in the Quran indicating winds of
various kinds: 'asif (0,10:22) or 'dsifa
(0,2i:8i), "a violent wind"; hasib (o 54:34),
"a sandstorm"; qdsif(Qij:6c)), "a violent
gale"; and rukha' (0.38:36), "a gentle
breeze." Moreover, there are a number of
words which qualify it adjectivally: sarsar
(o_4i:i6; 54:19; 69:6), meaning "searing
cold," if the root is associated with sirr
(0.3:117), or "terrible clamor," if associated
with sarra (051:29); 'dtiya (069:6), "violent";
and 'aqim (051:41), "stifling." On one oc-
casion the verb tanajfasa (081:18), "to
breathe," is used to designate the tremu-
lous stirring of the air before dawn.

As a divine gift
Wind is a gift of God and an integral part
of the interlocking complex of blessings
(see blessing) he bestows on humankind
by which he reveals himself as Lord and
Benefactor. Above all, it is a bearer of
God's mercy. Its role is epitomized in
Q,7 : 57 : "It is he who sends the winds as
dispersers/heralds (nashran [or nushuran or
nushran\/bush [a] ran) of his mercy until
when they bear clouds heavy with rain, We
guide them to a land dead [in drought] . By
them do we send down water, and by them
do we bring forth fruits of every kind. Just
so do we bring forth the dead. On this then
should you reflect." Attention should be
drawn to the alternative readings of "dis-
persers" and "heralds" (see readings of
the (jhr'an). Modern commentators, like
Rashid Rida (1865-1935), prefer "heralds."
This is now widely regarded as canonical
thanks to the prominent status of the

AIR AND WIND

"Egyptian" edition of the Qur'an and tac-
itly accepted as such by most translators.
Al-Tabari (d. 310/923), however, states ex-
plicitly his dislike of this recitation, prefer-
ring "dispersers" (nashran or nushuran). He
says that the Bedouin use "nashr" (or its al-
leged dialectal variant nushr) for "the nice,
soft, diminishing winds which spawn
clouds." He accepts the same recitation in
0,25:48 and 27:63 (Tafsir, viii, 20g). In this
he is followed by al-Zamakhsharl (d. 538/
1144), al-RazI (d. 606/1209), al-BaydawI
(d. ca. 700/1301) and others for whom the
verse is a locus classicus for excursuses on
wind in the divine economy. For these exe-
getes, the winds are "dispersers" of God's
mercy (q.v.). They gloss "mercy" as "rain."
It is by the rain that God revives the dead
earth, just as he will raise the dead on judg-
ment day. It is not a coincidence that the
word "nashr" also refers to the raising of
the dead at the resurrection (q.v.). It must
be noted, however, that in a similar context
(030:46) the winds are described as "her-
alds" (mubashshirat), without any recorded
variant recitation.

In addressing 07:57, al-RazI (Tafsir, vii,
143-51) presents a number of excursuses
which establish a frame of reference for
discussion of wind in the Qur'an. He
quotes Ibn 'Urnar (d. 73/693) to the effect
that there are eight terms for wind in the
Qur'an, four of them designating winds
sent as punishment — qdsif, "violent gale";
'dsif, "violent wind"; sarsar, "searingly
cold"; and 'aqlm, "stifling" — and four as
tokens of mercy — ndshirdt, "restoring to
life"; mubashshirat, "heralding"; mursalat,
"sweeping in succession"; and dhariydt,
"raising dust."

The exegetical tradition highlights vari-
ous aspects of the character and function
of the wind in the Qur'an, which can be
enumerated as follows: 1. It fecundates the
clouds: "We send the fecund wind. We
send water down from the sky and give it

to you to drink. It is not you who store it"
(o 15:22). 2. God shows his power by direct-
ing it: "The alternation of night and day,
the water God sends down from the sky by
which he revives the earth after its death
and the directing of the winds are signs
for a people who understand" (045 : 5)-
3. It brings rain: "It is God who sends the
winds, stirs up the clouds and extends them
in the sky as he wills and sunders them.
You see the rain pour down from within
them. He makes it fall on whichever of his
servants he wills" (030:48). 4. It is one of
the signs of the resurrection: "It is God
who sends the winds and stirs up the
clouds. We drive [the clouds] to a dead
land, and by them we revive the earth after

its death. Like this is the resurrection "

(o 35:9). 5. It drives ships across the sea:
"We have honored mankind and carried
them on the land and sea" (017:70).

Such images occur throughout the Qur-
'an and a majestic array of God's signs is
given in 02:164. They include creation
(q.v.) itself, the alternation of night and
day, the ships moving swiftly through the
sea, the rain reviving the dead earth, the
clouds poised between heaven and earth
and the winds that bear them. Yet no mat-
ter how many blessings the wind is instru-
mental in bringing, there are many who do
not believe (see belief and unbelief).
030:51 states that, even if God were to
send a wind to turn the greenery of the
earth yellow, they still would not believe.

God's control over the wind
As stated above, God grants power over
the wind to whomever he chooses. As a re-
ward for Solomon's faithfulness, God gave
him the wind to carry him wherever he
wished: "[We disposed] the wind to
Solomon, a violent one ('asifa). It moved
swiftly at his command to the land on
which we had laid our blessing" (021:81).
In 038:36 we are told how it moved at

AIR AND WIND

Solomon's command as "a gentle breeze"
(rukha') and in o 34:12 how it could carry
him a month's journey, every morning and
evening. On the other hand, God may
withhold it to indicate his displeasure, as in
(34,2:32-3: "Among his signs are the ships
on the sea like mountains. If he wishes, he
stills the wind so the ships rest motionless
on its surface. In this are signs for all who
are steadfast and grateful."

Wind as a warning
Wind is not always a blessing. The Qur'an
warns: "Can you be sure that he who is in
the heaven will not send upon you a sand-
storm (hasib)?" (067:17). In Q_ 17:66-70 sail-
ors are threatened with punishing winds:

Meccans who besieged Medina in the Bat-
tle of Uhud (q.v.). Muhammad and the
Muslims are reminded: "When armies
came upon you, we sent against them a
wind, and armies you did not see." The
people of Lot (q.v.) were destroyed by a
sandstorm {hasib, 0,54:34) and the people of
c Ad (q.v.) were annihilated by a searing
cold wind (sarsar), when they rejected their
prophet Hud (q.v.): "We sent upon them a
searing cold wind on a doom-laden day"
(041:16; see also 54:19; 69:6). In 051:41
this wind is described as stifling ('aqim) and
in o 69:6 is a vivid account of its destruc-
tive power. It obliterated the community
utterly, leaving only the remnants of their
dwellings. See also punishment stories.

It is your Lord who [by the wind] drives
onward (yujzi) ships at sea for you, that you
may seek of his bounty. He is merciful to
you. Whenever harm threatens you at sea,
apart from [God] whomever you call upon
will be lost. Yet when [God] brings you
safely to shore, you turn away. Man is un-
grateful. Can you be sure that when you
are ashore he will not make a part of the
land swallow you up, or send upon you a
sandstorm (hasib)? Then you will find none
to protect you. Can you be sure that [while
you are still at sea] he will not put you in
peril yet again, and send upon you a vio-
lent gale (qasif) of wind and drown you be-
cause of your ingratitude. Then you will
not find for yourselves any support against
Us for it.

Similar ideas are developed in 010:22,
which tells how sailors when in peril from a
tempest pray desperately, but once safe on
land revert to their evil ways. See also
WARNING.

Wind as punishment
033:9 records that a cold wind led to the
disintegration of the army of the pagan

In parables
Wind is a component in a number of simi-
les (q.v.) and parables often introduced by
expressions such as mathal and ka-annamd,
putting to didactic effect everyday experi-
ences with wind. In 03 :iI 7 me effort the
wicked expend in the life of this world "is
like a wind (nh) which is biting cold (sirr)
which strikes the tillage of a people who
harm themselves and destroys it." In
014:18 all the efforts of those who disbe-
lieve are dismissed as nothing more than
"ash (see ashes) blown violently by the
wind on a stormy day." 0^:45 reiterates
the point: "[The life of this world] be-
comes chaff and the wind scatters it." In
022:31 the wicked are warned that some-
one who disbelieves in God is like a per-
son falling from a great height, caught
by the wind, "and blown to a remote
place."

In oaths
A striking feature of the Qur'an are the
oaths sworn by natural phenomena includ-
ing the wind to draw attention to and
heighten the impact of its message (see
oaths). Of particular beauty is 081:18 de-

A ISHA BINT ABI BAKR

daring that the qur'anic revelations are in-
deed brought to the Prophet by Gabriel
(q.v.): "I swear... by the dawn when it
draws its breath (tanqffasa) ."

The clusters of oaths opening suras 51
and 77 are of special interest. All the topics
of asseveration are suggestive of power
and inevitability, like the coming of the
judgment day, which they foreshadow.
They have particular strength because, as
al-Tabari suggests, their meaning is multi-
layered, which heightens the role of the
wind to create a breathtaking impact. Thus
in Q_5i:i dhariyat means "winds raising the
dust," but in other contexts can mean
"women giving birth." Hamilat in Q_ 51:2 has
the meaning of "winds bearing rain
clouds," but it can also mean "pregnant
women." Jdriydt in 0.51:3 may be under-
stood, perhaps simultaneously, as "swiftly-
moving winds," "ships cutting through the
sea" and "stars following their course."
Likewise in Q_ 77:1 mursalat may be "succes-
sive surges of wind," as well as "the con-
tinuing revelation of the pericopes of the
Qur'an to Muhammad." Nashirat'm 077:3
may be "winds dispersing the rain of God's
mercy" (cf. Q_7 : 57) or "spreaders of the
news of the qur'anic revelation." Wind is
inseparable from the layers of meaning
discoverable within these words. As each
cluster of oaths creates images of "well-
arranged and continuous movement" so
the wind, as a component of these images,
is associated with the coming and violence
of judgment day. The sublime pun on nashr
(dispersing/resurrection) and its derivatives
highlights the inevitability and drama of
this event.

Conclusion
Wind is part of the great array of signs
and gifts that demonstrates God's power
and benevolence. It belongs to the regener-
ative cycle of events that fills the earth with
plants that sustain life. It also enables hu-

man beings to trade and interact with each
other across the earth and is highlighted
as one of the signs of the resurrection. In
the cosmological sense, air and wind lie
between the heavens and the earth. To hu-
mankind, wind may be terrifying and un-
controllable. Like all else in nature control
over it is in God's hands. It is a symbol of
the helplessness of humankind and the
power of God. Everything said about it re-
lates directly to human experience and as
everything else in nature the Qur'an pres-
ents it in all its diversity as a teacher of
ultimate truths to humankind. See also
NATURAL WORLD AND THE OUR'aN.

Anthony H.Johns

iibliography
Primary: Baydawl, Anwar; Rashld Rida, Manar;
Razi, Tafsir; Tabarl, Tafsir, ed. A.S. All;
Zamakhsharl, Kashshaf.

Secondary: W.A. Graham, "The winds to herald
his mercy" and other "signs for those of certain
faith." Nature as token of God's sovereignty and
grace in the Qur'an, in S.H. Lee, W. Proudfoot
and A. Blackwell (eds.), Faithful imagining essays in
honor of Richard R. Niehuhr, Atlanta 1995, 19-37;
A. Neuwirth, Images and metaphors in the
introductory sections of the Makkan suras, in
Hawting and Shareef, Approaches, 3-36;
F. Rahman, Major themes of the Qur'an, Chicago
1980; Watt-Bell, Introduction, esp. chapter 8.

'A'isha bint Abi Bakr

The woman thought by the majority of
Muslims to be the Prophet Muhammad's
favorite wife. Although A'isha bint Abi
Bakr (d. 58/678) is never explicitly named
in the Qur'an, she was consistently defined
with reference to the sacred text in the for-
mation of her historical and symbolic
standing in Islamic history. Through
A'isha, Muslim scholars, who historically
were almost exclusively men, struggled
with questions central to the formation of
communal identity and gender roles. Her

A ISHA BINT ABI BAKR

persona focused debate and determined
the nuances of the Islamic identity in its
formative phase. These intertextual ex-
changes, particularly in the early and clas-
sical periods of Islamic history, allowed
scholars to establish for Muslim women the
parameters of their social behavior, politi-
cal participation and the feminine models
endorsed for them as ideals. In this process,
A'isha acted as a prism for the focus and
refraction of shared and sharply divided
Islamic interpretations. At the heart of
these significant debates — prompted by
her actions as an historically attested
figure — was the Qur'an, the verses of
which would be used both to defend and
criticize her.

Three pivotal themes invoked important
sacred precedents in A'isha's depiction:
her vindication from adultery (see adul-
tery and fornication); her participation
in the first civil war; and the attempt to
idealize her as an exemplary female in re-
lation to Mary (q.v.), the mother of Jesus
(q.v.). 'A'isha's role as the wife of the
Prophet Muhammad conferred upon her
and her co-wives an exalted status, but also
a heightened visibility in the realm of sa-
cred praxis and symbol. These additional
responsibilities were outlined in the Qur-
'an, which implicitly defined A'isha as one
of the mothers of the believers: "The
wives of [Muhammad] are the mothers of
[the believers]" (0,33:6), a unique female
elite unlike other women (0,33:32). Special
conditions applied exclusively to the wives
of the Prophet, including the injunction in
Q. 33-53 that they stay behind a screen or
curtain (min ward'i hijab; see veil). All
women, including the Prophet's wives,
were instructed to wear cloaks (0,33:59),
cover their bosoms and comport them-
selves with modesty in public (0,24:31). Yet
the Qur'an makes explicit that the wives of
the Prophet were also held to a higher
moral standard than other women since

the punishment and reward for their acts
in this life would be doubled in the here-
after (0,33:30-1; see reward and punish-
ment). In 0,33:33 the wives of the Prophet
are specifically enjoined to stay in their
houses, a restriction that was ultimately in-
terpreted by religious scholars to include
all Muslim women. This verse of the
Qur'an was applied to 'A'isha in her one
foray into politics in 11/632, the year after
the Prophet's death, and was ultimately ex-
tended to all Muslim women over time in
order to insure their seclusion from male
spheres of public activity.

The accusation of adultery
Sectarian division within the classical Is-
lamic world is nowhere more evident than
in the interpretation of the Qur'an regard-
ing the accusation of adultery made
against A'isha in 5/627. The most direct
linkage of A'isha with the Qur'an, found
in Q_ 24: 1 1-20, does not refer to her directly
by name or to the accusation of adultery
made against her, historically referred to
by Sunni Muslims as the account of the lie
or slander (ifk). Rather, the revelation ex-
plicitly concerns the dire punishments for
those who spread slander without the four
male witnesses required by 0,24:13.

The affair of the lie was celebrated as an
example of A'isha's divine vindication
from the charge of adultery. According to
the earliest written Muslim accounts,
A'isha accompanied the Prophet on a raid
against a tribe called the Banu 1-Mustaliq.
During a rest stop on the journey home,
she found that she had lost her necklace
and left the encampment to retrieve it. It
was assumed by the other members of the
party that she had remained seated in her
covered litter. So they lifted the howdah on
to the back of her camel and left with it.
Stranded and alone in the desert, she was
eventually found by a young Muslim
named Safwan b. al-Mu'attal al-Sulami

A ISHA BINT ABI BAKR

who returned her safely to the Prophet's
camp. The enemies of the Prophet claimed
that in fact 'A'isha had betrayed her hus-
band with her rescuer before they rejoined
the rest of the party, although there were
no witnesses to this (Ibn Ishaq-Guillaume,
493-9). This account — first recorded in
written form one hundred and fifty to two
hundred years after the events described —
represents the narrative frame for the ex-
plication of Q_ 24:11-20, which the majority
of Muslims regard as supporting 'A'isha's
exoneration from the charge of adultery.
The famed Sunnl exegete al-Tabarl (d.
310/923) declared in his qur'anic commen-
tary on these verses that the people of Is-
lam as a religious community were unani-
mous on 'A'isha's vindication (Tafsir, xviii,
g6). Even as he wrote these unqualified
words about this position in his exegesis, he
surely knew that Shl'l commentators, like
his fourth/tenth-century contemporary
al-Qumm! (fl. fourth/tenth century), expli-
cated the same verses quite differently.
Al-Qumml stated that they referred not to
'A'isha but to when the Prophet's Egyptian
concubine Maryam was slandered, an inci-
dent which the author dates to five years
later [Tafsir, ii, gg; cf. Majlisi, Bihar al-anwar,
xxii, 153-5; M.M. Bar-Asher, Scripture, 42-3).
These contradictory interpretations reflect
both the emergence of contested religio-
political identities and the importance of
interpretation in recreating the Islamic
past. The same revelation might, through
sectarian explication, render two quite dif-
ferent readings. The Sunnl majority sup-
ported and defended A'isha not just as the
Prophet's favorite wife but as the daughter
of Abu Bakr (q.v.; r. n/632-13/634), one of
the Prophet's closest friends and his succes-
sor as head of the Islamic community.
Conversely, Shl'l Muslims rejected and re-
viled 'A'isha as an enemy of their political
and spiritual leader, All b. Abl T^lib (q.v.;
r. 35/656-40/661), in a discourse consist-

ent with their own vision of past events.
Indeed, Shl'l interpretation of these qur-
'anic verses opened the way for their desig-
nation of 'A'isha as an adulteress, in sharp
contrast to the majority Sunnl Muslim vin-
dication and ultimate praise of her chastity.

The sectarian differences between the
Sunnls and Shi'ls emerged through con-
tested interpretations of the Qur'an and
captured contradictory visions of a shared
past as refracted through female as well as
male historical figures (see shi'ism AND THE
qur'an). The dual interpretations work, in
part, because 'A'isha is not explicitly named
in the Qur'an in the verses in question and
the name of Maryam, the Copt, is also not
present in the sacred text. In interpretation,
the commentators attempted to clarify to
whom these verses refer and in interpreta-
tion there remained latitude for contradic-
tory human readings of the divine revela-
tion and its gendered import. Historicizing
such internal debates undermined Islam's
claim, articulated by Muslim scholars, to
be a monolithic and static truth. Their di-
visive, co-existent religious interpretations
may assume an exclusive right to clarify an
eternal and timeless Islam, but these same
assertions of exclusivity are undermined
by their attachment to a time-bound, very
human struggle for definitional control
over a shared faith and its political applica-
tions. Such fissures, once found, suggest the
possibility that the history of an ostensibly
religious discourse may reveal precedents
for a multiplicity of present-day ideological
interpretations of Islam by Muslim women
as well as men.

The anthropologist Erika Friedl more re-
cently recorded the voice of one Shl'l
woman from an Iranian mountain village
who tells a story of the charge of adultery
made against one of the Prophet's wives.
Although 'A'isha is not named and the res-
cuer of the early Arabic account, Safwan
b. al-Mu'attal al-Sulaml, is replaced with

A ISHA BINT ABI BAKR

an anonymous caravansary owner, the de-
tails of this accusation reveal an alternative
sectarian reading which eliminates the very
existence of the Sunnl heroine and the
centrality of divine revelation. Instead, this
probably illiterate female Shi'l interpreter
proposes a distinctly human and logical
outcome of the tale, which emphasizes the
power of rumor and the ever-present
threat of divorce in the lives of women,
whose chastity (q.v.) is the object of com-
munal gossip.

Although E. Friedl's anthropological
work is exemplary, in this instance the
broader implications of the modern female
narrative remain subsumed within the eth-
nography. By privileging the voice of her
Shi'l source, the anthropologist did not
make the critical contextual connections
that characterize this modern interpreta-
tion as the distinctive outcome of a con-
tested, exclusively male, classical Sunnl
and Shi'l sacred commentary. The ahistori-
cal presentation suggests an implicit time-
lessness which undermines the source's
gendered distinction in the history of reli-
gion. It is not simply an Iranian folktale
told to a foreign anthropologist, but rather
a modern oral interpretation of the
Qur'an expressed by a Shi'l Muslim female
in a clearly demarcated continuum of Is-
lamic interpretation of the sacred.

The battle of the camel
The battle of the camel in 36/656 was the
first military conflict in the first Islamic
civil war (Tabarl, History, xvi, 122-3). Both
the Quran and the hadith recording the
words and actions of the Prophet were
used by authors who, hundreds of years
after the bloody conflict, were still trying
to make sense of the event. All histories,
whether Sunnl or SlrfT accounts, had to
consider the central presence of 'A'isha
bint Abi Bakr in this conflict. Her opposi-
tion to 'All b. Abi Talib and his partisans

(sln'a) was personal, political and ulti-
mately military. Her forces, led by her two
allies, were defeated by All in his success-
ful bid to defend his position as the fourth
leader of the Muslim community after
Muhammad's death.

The central presence of a woman in the
struggle for political succession did not es-
cape censure by either the Sunnl or Shi'l
Muslim community. Indeed, although both
communities would read this event differ-
ently in retrospect, both shared common
tactics in their condemnation of 'A'isha.
The Sunnl and Shi'l sources alike utilized
the same qur'anic verses and hadith to but-
tress their criticism. The verse central to
their shared arguments is found in q 33:33.
Specifically directed to the Prophet's wives
in the plural, the verse enjoins them: "Stay
in your houses." There are no extant writ-
ten sources contemporary with the first
civil war, but 'A'isha is reminded in a later
biography that had she stayed at home the
carnage of the battle of the camel might
not have occurred. Ibn Sa'd (d. 230/845),
an early Sunnl biographer, records that,
when 'A'isha recited these verses of the
Qur'an years after the event, she wept until
she soaked her veil with tears (Tabaqat, viii,
81). The Shi'l chronicler al-Mas'udl (d.
354/956) allows All, his Shi'l hero and the
victor, to reproach 'A'isha directly by re-
minding her that the Prophet had once re-
vealed that she should stay in her house, a
reference to £33:33 [Muruj, iv, 102-19, nos.
1628-57, es P- no - : 644). Actually, the
Qur'an emphasizes that all of the Proph-
et's wives should stay, using a plural verb,
in their houses, which also appears as a
plural, but al-Mas'udl is not troubled by
the grammatical exactitude of the sacred
verse. Later Shi'l sources utilize this same
verse of the Qur'an even more pointedly to
condemn 'A'isha's political motives (M.M.
Bar-Asher, Scripture, 40-1).

Her symbolic presence at the first battle

51)

A ISHA BINT ABI BAKR

of the civil war struck a negative universal
point of accord between Sunn! and Shl'i
Muslim authors. Through 'A'isha's exam-
ple, all Muslim women were warned not to
leave home or involve themselves in politi-
cal matters. Traditional lessons derived
from the first civil war and the example of
the Prophet's wife 'A'isha proved a memo-
rable warning against the future participa-
tion of any Muslim woman in politics.
Male religious authorities could not have
attached such a potent precedent to
'A'isha's actions without their shared cita-
tion of the Quran.

The definition of Islamic female ideals
Mary, the mother of the Jesus, whom Mus-
lims regard as a prophet, is the only explic-
itly named female figure in the Qur'an.
She is highly praised in 0^3:42 as chosen,
pure and preferred above all other women
of creation. In q,66:ii-2, Mary and the wife
of Pharaoh (q.v.), named Asiya in the Is-
lamic tradition, represent behavioral exem-
plars for all Muslim believers. Mary's chas-
tity and obedience (q.v.) are particularly
extolled in the Qur'an. In the hadith and
qur'anic exegesis, 'A'isha was often associ-
ated with Mary, but never with the latter's
divine selection, obedience and chastity.
Indeed, references to her tended to under-
score the particularly vexed aspects of her
historical persona especially those attached
to the accusation of adultery and the first
civil war. Although ultimately exonerated
according to the Sunnl interpretation of
the affair of the lie, 'A'isha's chastity re-
mained a point of sectarian confrontation.
In this critical controversy over female sex-
uality, 'A'isha's comparison to Mary im-
plied the accusation of sexual impropriety
also lodged in the Qur'an against the
mother of Jesus in o 19:27-8. Such a paral-
lel established a negative precedent for the
idealization of 'A'isha. Her perceived dis-
obedience in the first civil war also allowed

scholars to condemn her behavior with ref-
erence to the verse Q, 33 : 33j as they were
cited in both Sunnl and Shl'i spheres. Such
a political precedent definitively excluded
'A'isha as a potential Muslim female ideal
of the obedience extolled in the qur'anic
Mary. Finally, A'isha alone would be com-
pared to the most negative female figures
in the Qur'an, the wives of the prophets
Lot (q.v.) and Noah (q.v.), who are charac-
terized in q_66:io as examples for unbeliev-
ers. Their refusal to obey their husbands
became a Shl'i criticism directed at 'A'isha,
their disobedient equivalent in her refusal
to follow the instructions of Q.33-33-

Ultimately, examining 'A'isha's legacy,
unlike that of the women chosen as the
most exalted of the first Muslim commu-
nity, reveals that her depiction consistently
aroused conflicting responses within the
Muslim community. In Sunnl support or
Shl'i criticism, the qur'anic precedents of
both positive and negative female figures
were applied to A'isha alone. Although
praised by Sunnis, 'A'isha defied categori-
zation as absolutely positive or negative in
the Muslim search for her meaning. The
interpretation of her active, controversial
life revealed that the process of idealization
in Islamic history would never admit her
into the realm of perfection. Thus, while
Islamic tradition asserted that there were
no perfect women except Mary and the
wife of Pharaoh in (^3:42, these two in
qur'anic exegesis would ultimately be
joined by the Prophet's first wife, Khadlja
(q.v.) bint Khuwaylid (d. 619 c.E.) and their
daughter Fatima (q.v.; d. 11/632). The con-
sistently positive, unchallenged portrayals
of these women established, through direct
parallels to the qur'anic Mary, their cen-
trality as Islamic female models. Both
Khadlja and Fatima represented an ideal-
ized vision of the feminine on which both
Sunnl and Shl'i Muslims ultimately agreed.

As further idealized within Shl'i texts,

A L - A R I M

Fatima finally transcended the precedent
of Mary in the Qur'an and challenged the
SunnI majority to defend A'isha, not as an
ideal female figure, but as one whose repu-
tation was diminished by contrast. The im-
pact of the dichotomy depicted between
'A'isha and Fatima ultimately raises ques-
tions about the reaction of Muslim women
to male interpretations of the Qur'an. Un-
til recently, the reaction of Muslim women
to these male constructed ideal females has
been missing from the written record. Al-
though it has been argued that real Shl'l
women cannot hope to emulate Fatima's
sacred transcendence of her own sexuality
in the matters of propriety and mother-
hood, it is no more certain that the prece-
dent of 'A'isha's persona will finally yield a
more practical legacy for SunnI women.
Although 'A'isha bint Abi Bakr remains a
model for the SunnI majority especially
with regard to her intelligence and prodi-
gious memory in the transmission of the
reports about the life of her husband, her
biography remains securely attached to the
qur'anic precedent. The control of such
sacred interpretations will continue to pose
a challenge for those Muslims, whether
male or female, who attempt to define
'A'isha's persona as a positive force in the
present. See also wives of the prophet;

WOMEN AND THE Q_UR'aN.

Denise A. Spellberg

Bibliography
Primary: Bukharl, Sahih; Ibn Hanbal, Mumad;
Ibn Ishaq, Sua; Ibn Maja, Sunan; Ibn Sa'd,
Tabaqat, ed. I. Abbas; al-MajlisI, M. Baqir, Bihar
al-anwdr, Beirut 1403/1983; Mas'udi, Muruj, ed.
Pellat; Muslim, Sahih; Nasa'l, Sunan; Qiimmi,
Tafsir, Tabari, Tafsir; id., Ta'nkh, A. Brockett
(trans.), The history of al-Taban, xui. The community
divided, Albany 1985-99; Tirmidhi, Sahih.
Secondary: 'A'isha 'Abd al-Rahman, Nisd' al-
nabi, Beirut 1983; N. Abbott, 'A'isha the beloved of
Mohammed, Chicago 1942; G. Ascha, Le statut

inferieur de lafemme en Islam, Paris 1981; M.M.
Bar-Asher, Scripture and exegesis in early Imami
Shiism, Leiden 1999; E.W. Fernea and B.W.
Bezirgan (eds.) and S. Spectorsky (trans.), 'A'isha
bint Abi Bakr, wife of the Prophet Muhammad,
in E. Fernea and B. Bezirgen (eds.), The Middle
Eastern Muslim women speak, Austin 1977; J.D.
McAuliffe, Chosen of all women. Mary and
Fatima in qur'anic exegesis, in Islamochristiana 7
(ig8i), 19-28; E. Friedl, Women of Deh Koh. Lives
in an Iranian village, Washington, D.C. 1989;
al-Sadda, Hilda, Siyar al-nisa' wa-1-humiyya al-
thaqahyya. Namudhaj 'A'isha bint Abi Bakr, in
H. al-Sadda et al. (eds.), Zjlman al-nisa' wa-l-
dhdkira al-bddila. Majmu'at abhath, Cairo 1997; G.
Schoeler, Charakter and Authentic der muslimischen
Uberlieferung iiber das Leben Mohammeds, Berlin
1996, 113-63; D.A. Spellberg, Politics, gender and the
Islamic past. The legacy of A'isha bint Abi Bakr, New
York 1994; B.F. Stowasser, Women in the Qur'an,
traditions, and interpretation, New York 1994.

Akhira see resurrection; paradise;
hell; esuhatology

Al-'Abbas see family of the prophet

'Alamin see world

Al-'Arim

The most popular interpretation was that
'arim (sing, 'arima) were dam-like structures
designed to hold back flood waters. The
words occurs only once in the Qur'an:
"They turned away [from God] , so we sent
upon them the flood of the dams (sayl al-
'arim) and gave them, instead of their two
gardens, two which produced bitter fruit,
and tamarisks and a few lote trees"
(o_ 34:16). Citing other Muslim sources, al-
Tabarl (d. 310/923) describes the construc-
tion of the dams and their destruction after
the people of Sheba (Saba, see sheba),
who had enjoyed the easiest existence on
earth, rejected the thirteen prophets sent to
them. According to one account, the

(il

ALEXANDER

Queen of Sheba, identified in die Islamic
tradition as Bilqis (q.v.), originally built the
dams to ensure the fair apportioning of
water among her subjects, who had con-
stantly feuded over water rights. Ironically,
the mighty structures were brought down
by a mouse (fa'ra) or large rat (juradh).
Soothsayers had predicted that the dams
would be destroyed by a mouse, so the She-
bans stationed cats all over them. When
God decreed the destruction of this sinful
people, he sent a ferocious mouse — or a
large rat — which overpowered one of the
cats and penetrated the dam, unbeknownst
to the Shebans. When the floods came, the
weakened dam was swept away along with
the homes and property of the Shebans
(Tafsir, xxii, 78-83).

However, there were other interpreta-
tions (see, for example, Yaqut, Buldan, iv,
no). According to some, say I al-'arim
means "a violent flood," while others held
that al-'arim was the name of the valley
containing the flood waters. Still others be-
lieved that it was the name of the great rat
which gnawed through the dam. The fa-
mous hadlth-collector al-Bukharl (d.
256/870) put forth an interesting theory.
He argued that 'arim was "red water"
which was used on the gardens of the She-
bans. To punish them, God caused this wa-
ter to drain so far into the earth that the
roots of the plants could no longer reach
it. Consequently, the once fertile gardens
withered and died. See also archaeol-
ogy AND THE QJJr'an; PUNISHMENT
STORIES.

R.G. Khoury

Bibliography
A. Th. Khoury, Der Koran. Arabisch-Deutsch
Ubersetzung und wissenschaftlicher Kommentar,
Giitersloh iggif.; Tabarl, Tafsir, ed. A.S. 'All;
Yaqut, Buldan, 5 vols., Beirut 1374/1955-1376/
!957-

'AlaWlS see SHl'lSM AND THE OUr'aN

Alcohol see intoxicants

Alexander

The Macedonian conqueror who lived
from 356 until 323 b.c.e. Traditional and
modern scholars have identified the figure
the Quran refers to as the Possessor of
the Two Horns (Dhu 1-Qarnayn, q 18:83,
86, 94) as Alexander the Great (al-Iskandar
in Arabic). His "two horns" may be the
east and the west, suggesting breadth of his
dominion. Anomalously, some early schol-
ars saw the epithet as reference to a pre-
Islamic monarch of south Arabia or Per-
sia. The famous mystic Ibn al-'Arabl (d.
638/1240) interpreted the figure allegori-
cally, identifying the "Possessor of the Two
Horns" as the "heart" ruling the "earth" of
the body through the "east" and "west" of
its palpitations.

Alexander is the best known qur'anic fig-
ure not actually named in the scripture. In
the Islamic tradition, his major roles are
those of sovereign, seeker, sage, prophet
and "perfect person." By constructing an
iron wall to contain Gog and Magog (q.v. ,
p_ 18:93-9), Alexander joins the company of
both David (q.v.), who could melt iron, and
Solomon (q.v.), the only other "Muslim" to
rule the globe and who built his temple
with the help of the jinn (q.v.). In addition,
Alexander defended the world against
apocalyptic chaos (cf. (321:96-7).

Alexander shares his mysterious notoriety
with al-Khadir (see khadir/khidr), whom
tradition identifies as Moses' unnamed
guide on his search for the confluence of
the two seas (p_ 18:60-82). Firdawsi's (d. 411/
1020) Shahname names al-Khadir as Alexan-
der's guide in his quest for the fountain (or
spring) of life in the Land of Darkness. In

ALI B . AB I T ALIB

(]■>

fact, Alexander's relationship to al-Khadir
(also rendered Khidr) is strikingly similar
to that of Moses to his unnamed guide in
sura 18. Alexander did not reach the foun-
tain, because he became distracted, just as
Moses failed in his quest because he asked
too many questions. Alexander's other
guides in lore are the sage Luqman (q.v.)
and the prophet Elijah (q.v.). The legend
that Aristotle tutored Alexander in dream-
interpretation further enhanced his status
as sage, a theme fully developed in Niza-
ml's (d. early seventh/thirteenth century)
Persian romance Iskandarname.

Alexander's place in the narratives (q.v.)
on the prophets (qisas al-anbiya') is signifi-
cant. In commenting on o 18:83, al-
Tha'labi (d. 427/1035) allots more space to
the "Possessor of the Two Horns" than he
accords to at least five other prophets. He
says that most authorities identify him as
Alexander, who, it is said, descended from
Abraham (q.v.) on his father's side. Restat-
ing the views recorded by many exegetes,
al-Thalabl observes that Alexander was
called the "Possessor of the Two Horns"
either because he ruled both Greece and
Persia; or because, when the prophet sum-
moned his people to belief in one God,
they struck one side of his head and then
the other in defiance; or because he had
two attractive locks of hair that people
called horns. Citing a report in which
Muhammad does not know whether the
"Possessor of the Two Horns" was actually
a prophet, al-Tha'labi notes that scholars
disagree, some arguing that he was a
prophet (nabi, see prophets and prophet-
hood) but not a messenger (rasul, see mes-
senger). Al-Kisa'l (fl. 597/1200) mentions
the "Possessor of the Two Horns" only in
Jacob's (q.v.) prophecy of a great future
king, not identified as Alexander. Alexan-
der reaches the pinnacle of mystical and
cosmic apotheosis as the "perfect person"
(al-insan al-kamil) in his legendaryjourney

to Mount Qaf, which recalls Muhammad's
ascension (q.v.) into heaven. Confronting
his mortality, Alexander gains wisdom
enough to spread God's word and become
a model of spiritual perfection.

John Renard

Bibliography
Primary: Firdawsl, The book of kings (selections),
trans. R. Levy, London 1967, 232-50; Ibn al-
ArabT, Tafsir al-Qur'an al-kanm, 2 vols., Beirut
1978, i, 773-4; Ibn KathTr, Tafsir, iii, 163-7; Kisa'i,
Qisas, trans. W.M. Thackston, Tales of the prophets,
Boston 1978, 166; NizaniT, Kulliydt-i khamsa,
Tehran 1351/1972, 839-1338; Qurtubl, Jami\ xi,
45-54; M. Southgate (trans.), Iskandarnamah. A
Persian medieval Alexander-romance, New York
1978; Tabarl, Tafsu, xvi, 8-12; Tha'labi, Qisas,
322-32.

Secondary: A. Abel, Dhii '1-Qarnayn, prophete
de l'universalite, in Annuaire de I'institut de philologie
et d'histoire Or. et Slaves 11 (1951), 6-18; P. Grillon,
Le mythe d'Alexandre a travers le roman grec et
la tradition islamique, in Revue historique et de
civilization du Maghreb 3 (1967), 7-28; W.L.
Hanaway, Persian popular romances before the Safavid
period, Ph.D. diss, Columbia 1970; T. Nagel,
Alexander der Grosse in der fruhislamischen
Volksliteratur, Waldo rf-Hessen 1978.

'All b. Abi Talib

The cousin of the Prophet Muhammad
and husband of his daughter Fatima. 'All
b. Abi Talib (d. 40/661) was among the
first to embrace Islam and was renowned
for his loyalty to the Prophet and his cou-
rageous role in a number of the military
expeditions in the defense of the early
Muslim community. Also known for his pi-
ety, his profound knowledge of the Quran
and the sunna (the exemplary practice of
the Prophet; see sunna), he figures promi-
nently in several esoteric traditions in Is-
lam including Sufism (see sufism and the
qur'an).

Shl'i Muslims — originally "the partisans
of 'All" (sht'at 'Alt, see shi'a) — citing texts

<>:s

ALLE G ORY

from the Quran and the hadlth, maintain
that on the Prophet's death the temporal
and spiritual leadership of the Muslim
community should have devolved to "All,
but instead was usurped by other close
Companions of the Prophet (q.v.). Accord-
ing to Shi'l doctrine, 'All as the divinely-
designated imam (q.v.) also bore the re-
sponsibility for preserving the divine
message of the Qur'an after its revelation.
Upon his passing, his direct descendants
inherited the imamate, although few of
them were able to exercise the powers of
their position due to persecution by the
rival SunnI rulers as well as the Sunn! reli-
gious establishment.

Early Shit tradition claims that All had
in his possession an authentic version of
the Qur'an which was rejected by his polit-
ical opponents among the powerful Mec-
can tribe of the Quraysh (q.v.). Instead the
vulgate commissioned by his rival, the ca-
liph 'Uthman (q.v.), and purged of the
verses naming All and the other members
of the Prophet's family as the leaders of
the community became canonical (see
collection of the qur'an). According to
the lore of the Twelver (or Imam!) Shl'ites,
the succeeding imams secretly passed down
All's copy of the Qur'an, the contents of
which will be revealed to the world by the
messianic twelfth imam. Slrfi views on the
nature of All's Qur'an were gradually
modified from the fourth/tenth century
onwards, when the majority of Shi'l schol-
ars came to accept the accuracy of the offi-
cial 'Uthmanic vulgate, disputing only the
order of the chapters and verses. All's
Qur'an, they believed, while not contain-
ing any additional revealed texts, presented
the chapters and the verses in the original
order of their revelation and held as well
his personal notes. This original arrange-
ment and All's notes were what subse-
quent imams passed on.

Nevertheless, All in his capacity as the

imam, was held to possess a special knowl-
edge of the inner meaning of the Qur'an
and hence was in a position to engage in
hermeneutic interpretation (ta'wil) of the
text (see exegesis of the q_ur'an: classi-
cal and medieval). This divinely en-
dowed knowledge which All transmitted to
his descendants provided the Shi'l Imams
with insight into the esoteric aspect (batin)
of the revelation, thus enabling him to
guide the faithful to a truer and more com-
prehensive understanding of God's guid-
ance to humanity. The Shi'l imam in the
role of the supreme interpreter of God's
revelation is often referred to as the
"speaking Qur'an (al-Qur'an al-natiq), while
the text itself is called "the silent leader"
(al-imam al-samit). See also family of the
prophet; shi'ism and the q_ur'an.

Ali S. Asani

Bibliography
M. Amir-Moezzi, The divine guide in early Shi'ism,
trans. D. Streight, Albany 1994; J. Eliash, The
Sl c ite Qur'an. A reconsideration of Goldziher's
interpretation, in Arahica 16 (1969), 15-24; E.
Kohlberg, Some notes on the Imamite attitude
to the Qur'an, in S. Stern, A. Hourani and V
Brown (eds.), Islamic philosophy and the classical
traditions, Oxford 1972, 209-24.

Alif Lam Mim see letters and
mysterious letters

Alif Lam Ra see letters and

MYSTERIOUS LETTERS

Allah see god and his attributes
Al-Lat see idols and images
Allegiance see oaths; pledge

Alle

gory see language and style of

THE OUR'AN

ALMSGIVING

Alliances see contracts and alliances

Almsgiving

Charitable gifts to relieve the poor. In com-
mon with the teachings of most other
faiths and more particularly the biblical
traditions, the Qur'an repeatedly empha-
sizes the moral value of giving. While the
term "almsgiving" may suggest a some-
what simple and unfocused act of charity
directed at the poor and needy, the Qur'an
articulates through a variety of terms, es-
pecially sadaqa and zo-kdt, a very textured
and multivalent conception of giving
which draws upon the ideals of compas-
sion, social justice, sharing and strengthen-
ing the community. As this act aims at be-
ing both a social corrective and a spiritual
benefit, it reflects the ethical and spiritual
values which are associated with wealth,
property, resources and voluntary effort in
personal as well as communal contexts. It
is in this broader sense that Muslims un-
derstand almsgiving and apply it in their
daily life.

The perspective of the Qur'an on sharing
wealth and individual resources through
acts of giving is rooted in specific essential
ideals: 1. the absence of a dichotomy be-
tween spiritual and material endeavors in
human life, i.e. acts sanctioned as a part of
faith are also linked to the daily conditions
of life in this world; 2. the nature, purpose
and function of the Muslim community as
"the best of communities created to do
good and to struggle against evil" (q_3:iio);
3. the trusteeship of wealth and property
and hence accountability for the way in
which they are expended. These ethical
perspectives in the Qur'an, among others,
established the basis for what came to be
understood as an Islamic form of giving
and its moral significance. As the Muslim
philosopher Fazlur Rahman (1919-1988)

observed in addressing the key ethical con-
cepts of the Qur'an, "Islam aims necessa-
rily (and not just peripherally or indirectly)
at the creation of a world order wherein
the imperatives and principles will be em-
bodied in such a way that the "earth shall
be reformed" (Some key ethical concepts
of the Qur'an, 182-3). I n an essa y explor-
ing the use of the qur'anic term haqq,
"real" or "true," Clifford Geertz remarks
that one finds the identification of the right
with the real at all levels of Islamic practice
[Local knowledge, 189). Other Western schol-
ars of Islamic civilization, including Mar-
shall Hodgson, have made the same point.

Inasmuch as true sovereignty, according
to the Qur'an, belongs only to God, the
Prophet, his successors, the members of
the community and even the state acted as
the instruments by which these ideals were
to be translated into practice. Individuals
within that society, whom God endowed
with a capacity to acknowledge and re-
spond to him were seen as trustees through
whom the moral and spiritual vision of the
Qur'an was fulfilled in personal and com-
munal life. They were thus accountable for
the way in which they used their resources
and their wealth, and they earned religious
merit by expending them in a socially ben-
eficial way. While recognizing that individ-
uals were endowed with different abilities,
resources and property, the Qur'an empha-
sizes the ideal of social solidarity and en-
joins justice and generosity (o_ 16:90). In
particular, it holds up as truly virtuous
those who spend their resources to assist
others (o_57:i8) and condemns the hoarders
of wealth (£3:180).

The specific notions of setting aside a
portion of one's wealth for others or of
recognizing the necessity and value of giv-
ing are articulated in the Qur'an through a
number of terms that are often used inter-
changeably. The most significant of these
are sadaqa and zakdt. There are a number

<>5

ALMSGIVING

of other terms that signify "giving" in the
Qur'an. Forms of the verb najaqa (expend)
occur primarily with the sense of expend-
ing one's wealth to please God (e.g.
o 2:265). Khayr (charity) is another qur'anic
term which describes beneficent and vol-
untary acts of giving. Individuals are also
urged to offer God "a beautiful loan" (qard
hasan), the benefit of which will be multi-
plied many times over by God's bounty
(c) 2:245). Since God is deemed to be the ul-
timate giver, such offerings are interpreted
merely as acts of returning to him what is
ultimately his.

Sadaqa
While the word sadaqa and its various
forms came to be interpreted in later Mus-
lim religious and legal texts to connote the
restricted notion of voluntary — rather
than obligatory — giving, sadaqa and zakdt
are used interchangeably in a broader
sense in the Qur'an. In the Arabic lexico-
graphical literature, the root s-d-q sustains
numerous meanings associated with ideas
of righteousness and truth. Elsewhere in
the Qur'an, related words, such as al-siddiq
(truthful, q 12:46), which is used to describe
the prophet Joseph (q.v.), or sadiq (trusted
friend, C3 24:61), reflect this notion of moral
excellence. Modern critical scholarship has
suggested that the word sadaqa is linked
etymologically to the Hebrew s e ddkd (alms-
giving), leading some experts to conclude
that it is a loanword (see foreign vo-
cabulary).

The application of the term in its various
contexts in the Qur'an develops some of
the key themes of the ideal of giving.
(39:104-5 links God's acceptance of repent-
ance (see repentance AND penance) with
sadaqa, thus suggesting its value for the ex-
piation of sins. This is further emphasized
by the joining of fasting (q.v.) with sadaqa
(02:196), as ways of fulfilling the obliga-
tions of a pilgrimage (hajj, see pilgrimage)

not completed because of illness or other
reasons. Giving also benefits the givers
spiritually as part of their quest to seek the
"face of God" (q.v; 02:272). Such a quest
is pursued out of love for God (p_76:8) and
may be public or private (02:274). Accord-
ing to the Qur'an, those who give because
they seek the face of God will be truly ful-
filled (0.30:39). An interesting use of sadaqa
occurs in what has come to be called in the
exegetical literature (tafsir), the "verse of
the audience" (ayat al-najwd, 058:12),
which enjoins the offering of alms before
an audience with the Prophet. This sug-
gests that giving alms was viewed as both a
way to expiate past sins and display re-
spect, as well as a gesture of recognition of
the values embodied by the Prophet, whose
own acts of generosity were looked upon
as a model for the rest of the followers of
Islam.

According to the Qur'an, words of kind-
ness and compassion are better than sadaqa
coupled with insult (o 2:263). The donation
of alms need not be a gift of material
value. It can also consist of voluntary effort
(o 9:79) or merely a kind word (02:263). It
is better to offer alms discreetly to those in
need rather than for the purpose of public
acknowledgement (£2:271). The Qur'an
is critical of those who give in order to ap-
pear generous or who compromise the
value of the act by ostentatious public be-
havior that serves only to render a nor-
mally charitable act purely self-serving
(£2:264).

It is clear from 058:12 that the Qur'an
envisaged a broad framework both for
those who might benefit from the more for-
malized practice that was evolving in the
early Muslim community and for the fiscal
support of the community's needy. Alms-
giving served to benefit the early Muslims
who had migrated from Mecca with the
Prophet (see emigrants and helpers). It
was also used to encourage others to join

ALMSGIVING

(,()

the Muslim community and to support the
Muslims in the conflict against Mecca.
Q_g:6o specifies the types of recipients who
ought to benefit from it: those afflicted by
poverty; those in need and incapable of
assisting themselves; those who act, some-
times in a voluntary capacity, as stewards
and custodians to ensure the collection and
appropriate expenditure of funds; those
whose hearts need to become favorably in-
clined towards Islam; captives who need to
be ransomed; debtors; travelers; and finally
those active for the sake of God. All of
these categories came to be strictly defined
in later legal and exegetical literature.
(32:273 suggests that the broader uses of
sadaqa were not only to assist the poor but
also others who during this period of tran-
sition were not visibly in need and who
nonetheless either required assistance to
enhance their livelihood or needed to be
directed towards new occupations and eco-
nomic opportunities. While one aspect of
almsgiving in the Qur'an was clearly pro-
jected towards charitable acts for the poor
and the needy, the practice also encom-
passed the wider goal of applying the do-
nations to improve the general condition
and economic well-being of other recipi-
ents and constituencies in the growing
community (umma).

^akcit
The word zakdt is etymologically linked to
zakd (to be pure). The Qur'an joins explic-
itly the word zakat to other primary acts of
belief: "Piety does not consist of merely
turning your face to the east or to the west.
Rather, the pious person is someone who
believes in God, the last day, the angels,
the book and the prophets and who out of
his love gives his property to his relatives,
orphans, the needy, travelers, supplicants
and slaves; and who performs the required
prayers and pays the z^kdt" (0,2:177)-
The verb zakd suggests the idea of growth

to emphasize that the giving of one's re-
sources is simultaneously an act which en-
tails the cleansing of oneself and one's
property and, through sharing, an en-
hancement of the capacity of others. More
specifically, this kind of giving is consid-
ered in the Qur'an to be analogous to a
fertile garden whose yield is increased by
abundant rain (o 2:265). It is this multiple
connotation of zakat that is reflected in
subsequent interpretations and in the insti-
tutionalization of the principle in Muslim
thought and practice. The centrality of
Zakat is underscored by the many times it is
coupled with the commandment of ritual
worship. Right religion is summed up as
serving God, sincere obedience (q.v.), virtue
(q.v), worship (q.v.) and paying the z&kat
((398:5). Abraham (q.v.) and the other proph-
ets, including Jesus (q.v.), enjoined their fol-
lowers to pay the z"kdt (q_ 19:31; 21:73).

Since one purpose of ritual action in reli-
gion in general is to establish and display
communal solidarity, the performance of
the duty of paying the zakat acted as a visi-
ble symbol of individual commitment to
the religious and social values of the grow-
ing Muslim community. This significance
was further stressed by the incorporation of
this duty as part of the observance of the
two major Muslim holidays established by
the Prophet, the Festival of Fast Breaking
('Id al-Fitr) marking the end of Ramadan
(q.v.) and the Festival of the Sacrifice ('Id
al-Adhd), when Muslims celebrate the cul-
mination of the pilgrimage. The acts of
giving "purify" the individual's wealth just
as the fasting and the pilgrimage purify the
individual. (See festivals and commemo-
rative days.)

The institutionalization of qurdnic values
The Prophet's own behavior was perceived
as exemplary in the matter of almsgiving
and his generous and selfless behavior was
a model to be emulated. Reports about the

ALMSGIVING

Prophet's almsgiving counteracted the ex-
cessive dogmatism about religious practice
that was to emerge later. For instance,
sadaqa in some reports means every good
deed, even removing an obstacle from the
road and planting a tree. Some of the
Prophet's statements emphasize that a
poor man's small offering is more meritori-
ous than a rich person's donation of a
large sum.

The fact that the Prophet eventually or-
ganized the collection and distribution of
alms suggests that the process was being
cast into specific institutional forms even in
his day. According to the Quran, some of
the Bedouin groups which had converted
to Islam remonstrated about the paying
of the obligatory alms tax (0^9:54-9). Al-
Bukharl (d. 256/870), the compiler of the
most respected collection of SunnI pro-
phetic hadith, cites a report in which the
Prophet sends a representative to the Ye-
men to invite the local tribes to convert to
Islam and pay the alms tax. Upon Mu-
hammad's death, his close Companion
Abu Bakr (q.v; r. 11/632-13/63-4) assumed
the leadership of the nascent community
and a number of tribes refused to pay the
alms tax because they felt that the death of
the Prophet absolved them from the obli-
gations contracted with him (see apos-
tasy). Their actions were perceived as a
rebellion against the new authority in Me-
dina which suppressed the revolts and re-
imposed the payment of the alms tax. Abu
Bakr clearly regarded the payment of the
alms tax to be obligatory and its imposition
necessary in order to honor the Prophet's
practice and sustain the well-being of the
community. Slrfite sources attributed to
All and the early imams, also emphasize
the need to entrust z^kdt to the rightful au-
thorities since they held the custodial au-
thority to disburse them appropriately.

As the community expanded, through
conversion and conquest, Muslim rulers

and scholars looked to these values of
community maintenance for guidance.
Though the world of Islam was to encom-
pass in time considerable geographical and
cultural diversity, a common pattern of
thought developed and was articulated in
theological and legal forms, translating
such principles into social practice. The
Muslim community was not perceived as a
merely religious community in the strictest
sense of the word, but also a political,
moral and social order (see community
and society IN THE o_ur'an). It provided
the context in which Muslim thinkers
could develop formalized approaches to all
spheres of human life, including the insti-
tutionalization of the procedures for the
collection and distribution of what was
offered as alms.

The juristic literature produced by suc-
ceeding generations of scholars further for-
malized the collection and disbursement of
the alms tax. Writers attempted to justify
the prevailing custom by linking it retro-
spectively to the practice of the Prophet
and other early authorities. In these juristic
elaborations, the distinction of zukat as an
obligatory contribution and sadaqa as su-
pererogation finally solidifies. The obliga-
tory alms tax was to be paid to the treasury
(bayt al-mal), an institution which was de-
veloped more fully under the early caliphs.

Nevertheless, legal scholars attempted to
elaborate and codify norms and statutes
that gave concrete form to the qur'anic
prescriptions associated with almsgiving
and their distribution. The work of the
Hanafi jurist Abu Yusuf (d. 192/808) on
taxes, Kitdb al-Khardj, which was written
during the reign of the Abbasid caliph
Harun al-Rashid (r. 170/786-193/809), is
an instructive example of the collaboration
between jurists and rulers to appropriate
and extend such practices as almsgiving as
part of the fiscal working of the state. A ju-
rist such as al-Shafi'l (d. 204/820) was able

ALMSGIVING

(,H

to systematize and rationalize prevailing
practice in his work. Generally, such works
built upon the references to z&kat and
sadaqa in the Qur'an, detailing the pay-
ments based on the ownership of property,
possessions and money, including income
generated from farming. They prescribed
when an amount was to be paid and to
whom, as well as what minimum amounts
were due in each category. It is interesting
to note that the obligatory alms tax was
also extended to include underground re-
sources, such as minerals and treasure
troves. The pattern that emerges in these
juristic works illustrates clearly that the ear-
lier practices of almsgiving were now de-
veloping into a more formalized obligation
presented as a religious duty. It is impor-
tant to note that many of the sources that
exemplify the evolution of these practices
continued to emphasize the moral agency
of the act, linking its obligatory character
to religious merit and reward. Moreover,
they often identified sadaqa and z^kat as a
means of seeking God's pleasure and the
reward of the afterlife (see reward and
punishment).

In distinguishing between zakat and
sadaqa, jurists pointed out that z^kat had
specific limits and usages attached to it
while sadaqa was unlimited. The Shl'l
imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (d. 148/765) is said to
have emphasized that sadaqa spent in the
"way of God (see PATH OF WAY [of god])"
included a variety of good works and thus
provided a broader context for the charita-
ble use of collected funds. Moreover, there
were no constraints in terms of recipients,
which could include mosques, individuals
in distress or needy individuals who were
not impoverished. Jurists often cite the
qur'anic narrative of Joseph (q.v.) where
his brothers, unaware of his true identity,
ask him to help their family temporarily in
distress (g_ 12:88).

Developments in legal theory also reflect

the way different groups in Islam inter-
preted almsgiving. Shl'ite sources, citing
'All b. Abi Talib (q.v.) and the other early
imams (q.v.), also emphasize the need to
pay the alms tax to the rightful authorities.
Among the Shl'ls, alms were to be en-
trusted to the imam or those designated by
him and disbursed in accordance with
qur'anic values. Among Shf I groups such
as the Twelvers, who believe that the imam
is in a state of physical absence from the
world (ghajba), alms are to be given to
those considered his trusted worldly rep-
resentatives. Their role is to ensure that
alms reach the appropriate recipients.
The Isma'llls interpret almsgiving as both
a formal act and a significant spiritual
deed whereby individuals employ their re-
sources, talents and knowledge to assist the
imam, the legatee of the Prophet, and the
community at large.

The Sufis emphasize the mystical conno-
tation of almsgiving. In certain circles, in-
dividuals were known to distribute their
entire possessions as alms. Some groups
sanctioned the acceptance of alms as a gift
emanating directly from God. Other Sufi
groups practiced almsgiving both among
themselves and throughout the general
community. Most SunnI jurists, fearing that
an unjust ruler or authority might abuse
such dues, recommend that individuals
give the obligatory alms directly to the in-
tended recipients. In some cases they even
suggest that if individuals are constrained
to give the alms to authorities whom they
regard with suspicion, they should distrib-
ute the alms a second time directly.

This turn towards systematization and
formalization did not preclude acts of vol-
untary almsgiving outside of what was
deemed obligatory. Based again on qur-
'anic precedents and prophetic practice,
almsgiving was also translated into endow-
ments created in perpetuity. The juristic
tradition specified in most instances the

ALMSGIVING

ways such gifts were to be regulated. One
narrative recounts how the Prophet wished
to purchase land from a group for the
building of a mosque. Rather than agree-
ing to sell the land, they gave it to the
Prophet for "the sake of God." These
charitable trusts were used to endow
mosques, schools, hospitals, water foun-
tains and other useful public structures and
they have played an important role
throughout Islamic history. Notable Mus-
lims, descendants of the Prophet and many
women played noteworthy roles in generat-
ing such philanthropic works. These acts
were not restricted to benefiting Muslims
alone. The Prophet himself specified that
non-Muslims could also be beneficiaries of
charity and encouraged non-Muslims to
establish charitable foundations for the
benefit of their own coreligionists.

The qur'anic obligations were elaborated
and articulated parallel to other taxes im-
posed. Ibn Khaldun (d. 808/1406) argues
in his Muqaddima that in the early history of
Islam only those dues stipulated by the law
(shari'a), such as the alms tax, were levied
and these, though they were assessed at a
low rate, yielded large sums. In his view,
however, as dynasties grew and the state's
economy became more complex, addi-
tional burdens in the form of taxes were
imposed beyond the limits of equity. These
non-qur'anic taxes penalized enterprise
and made people lose hope, thus generat-
ing less revenue and causing the economy
to shrink. Simplistic as this may sound to
modern ears, Ibn Khaldun's account does
underscore the fact that the qur'anic taxes,
which possessed a spiritual and moral di-
mension, were eventually supplanted by
heavier, secular taxes that undermined the
spirit.

Modern almsgiving
As modern Muslim nation-states sought to
address questions of identity and develop-

ment, almsgiving afforded them the oppor-
tunity to rethink the relevance of charita-
ble practices. A majority of Muslims live in
areas of the world which are considered to
be less-developed. Hence, issues of social
justice and the equitable distribution of re-
sources figure prominently in discussions of
the present-day significance of the qur'anic
injunctions. Some Muslim theorists have
advocated the re-introduction of the oblig-
atory alms tax as one element of a general
tax policy to add the moral aspect of alms-
giving to a modern economic policy.

In recent times, some Muslim states have
adopted specific policies to incorporate the
payment of the obligatory alms tax into
their fiscal framework rather than leave it
as a private and personal, voluntary contri-
bution. Sudan and Pakistan are two exam-
ples. In Pakistan an alms tax fund was
created in 1979 and distributed through a
centralized agency for a variety of causes,
including feeding the poor and providing
scholarships for needy students. However,
various Muslim groups, including the
Shl'ls, have objected to these practices on
the basis that it is detrimental to tradi-
tional almsgiving and to the diversity of
practice among Muslims. Many of the
more wealthy Muslim countries practice a
form of almsgiving by providing assistance
to poorer Muslim countries and Islamic
causes.

It is, however, within the framework of
voluntary giving that the most innovative
and sustainable adaptations of the qur'anic
spirit of almsgiving have occurred. Many
Muslims, individually or as a community,
have developed extensive networks to
translate the Qur'aivs philanthropic values
into active vehicles of assistance to a wide
variety of constituencies. In some cases,
these efforts have taken the form of volun-
tary associations and charitable organiza-
tions to help the poor and the needy in
many parts of the world. Historical insight

AMBIGUOUS

into the way the qur'anic ideals of almsgiv-
ing strengthened communities and amelio-
rated inequities might still serve to aid
Muslims to move beyond mere rhetoric in
their search for continuity. See also GIFT
AND GIVING.

Azim Nanji

Bibliography
Primary: Abu Yusuf Ya c qub b. Ibrahim, Kitab
al-Khardj, trans. E. Fagnan, Paris 1921; Bukharl,
Sahih, trans. A. Houdas and W. Marcais, Les
traditions islamiques, 4 vols., Paris 1903-14;
al-Ghazall, Abu Hamid Muhammad, Ihya'
( ulum al-din, N.A. Faris (trans, [partial]), The
mysteries of almsgiving, Beirut 1966; al-Mawardl,
al-Ahkam al-sultdniyya, Cairo 1966; al-Nu'man,
Abu Hamfa (Qadl), Da'd'im al-Isldm, ed. A. A. A.
Fyzee, 2 vols., Cairo 1969; al-Shafi'l, at-Risdla,
ed. A.M. Shakir, Cairo 1940, trans. M.
Khadduri, al-ShdfiVs Risala 'Treatise on the
foundations of Islamic jurisprudence, Baltimore
1961; Tabarl, Ta'nkh, trans. W.M. Watt and
M.V. McDonald, The history of al-Taban,
Albany 1988-90, vi, vii.
Secondary: M. Ayoub, The Quran and its
interpreters, 2 vols., Albany 1984-92; N. Calder,
Zakat in Imam! ShrT jurisprudence from the
tenth to the sixteenth centuries A.D., in BSOAS 44
(1981), 468-80; H. Dean and Z. Khan, Muslim
perspectives on welfare, in Journal of social policy
26 (1997), ig3-20g;J. Esposito (ed.), Oxford
encyclopedia of the modern Islamic world, 4 vols.,
New York 1995; C. Geertz, Local knowledge.
Further essays in interpretive anthropology, New York
1983; M. Hodgson, The venture of Islam, 3 vols.,
Chicago 1974; A. Nanji, Ethics and taxation.
The perspective of the Islamic tradition, in
Journal of religious ethics 13 (1985), 161-78; F.E.
Peters, A reader on classical Islam, Princeton 1994;
A. Sachedina, The just ruler in Sluitc Islam, New
York 1988; F. Rahman, Some key ethical
concepts of the Cmr'an, in Journal oj religous ethics
2 (1983), 170-185; N.A. Stillman, Charity and
social service in medieval Islam, in Societas 2
(1975)) 105-15.

Alphabet see arabig sgript; letters

AND MYSTERIOUS LETTERS

Altar see IDOLS AND IMAGES

Ambiguous

A concept in qur'anic exegesis which bears
upon the controversial issue of the amount
of interpretive license which may be taken
in commenting on God's word. The root
sh-b-h is attested several times in the
Qur'an. In reference to the Qur'an or its
verses, the active participle mutashabih for
mutashdbihdt) appears twice with the sense
of "ambiguous" or "similar."

0^3:7 states that the Qur'an consists partly
of muhkam verses and partly of mutashabih:
"It is he who sent down upon you the book
(q.v.), wherein are verses clear (dydt muhka-
mdt) that are the essence of the book (umm
al-kitdb), and others ambiguous (mutasha-
bihat).'" Numerous commentators, while
examining 0^3:7, mention two other verses
which seem to contradict it. They are
ci 39:23, which states that all the verses of
the Qur'an are mutashabih: "God has sent
down the fairest discourse as a book con-
similar (kitdban mutashdbihan)" and q_ii:i in
which all the verses of the Qur'an are
characterized as clear: "A book whose
verses are set clear (uhkimat dydtuhu)." Al-
Zarkashl (d. 794/1392), on the authority of
the commentator Ibn Hablb al-Nisaburl
(d. 4,06/1015), argues that these passages
present three different statements on the
nature of the Qur'an: the Qur'an as clear
(muhkam), as ambiguous (mutashabih) and as
a combination of the two. He charac-
terizes the verse that supports the idea of
the compound nature, a Qur'an made up
of clear verses and ambiguous ones (0,3:7),
as the "correct" one (sahih, Burhan, ii, 68;
cf Suyuti, Itqdn, hi, 30).

The relation between the two compo-
nents of the Qur'an is governed by the
meaning ascribed to the word mutashabih,
for which the exegetical literature offers a
variety of definitions. The meaning of
"similar" is used to document the miracu-

AMBIGUOUS

lous nature of the Qur'an. On the other
hand, the term interpreted as "ambiguous"
has wider implications and bears upon
three central qur'anic issues: I. The juridi-
cal validity of the Qur'an, where the am-
biguous verses are contrasted with the
clear ones. 2. The question of the validity
of interpreting the Qur'an, where the am-
biguous verses are used to argue the cases
for and against interpretation. 3. The inim-
itability (q.v.) of the Qur'an (i'j&Z al-Qur'an) .

Similar verses
Similarity between verses may manifest it-
self either in the wording (lafz) or in the
meaning (ma'nd) of the verse. Accordingly,
mutashdbihdt are sometimes defined as
verses in which the same words are used to
mean different things (Ibn Qutayba, Ta'wil,
74; T a bari, Tafsir, iii, 114, 116) or else as
verses that use different words to express a
similar sense (Tabari, Tafsir, iii, 115-6; see
L. Kinberg, Muhkamat, 145). In a widely-
repeated definition, wording and meaning
appear together and the similar verses are
presented as those that "resemble one an-
other in Tightness and truth (al-haqq wa-l-
sidq), i.e. meaning, and in beauty (al-husn),
i.e. wording" (Baghawl, Ma'dlim, i, 426).
Naturally, the resemblance of verses can
occur only in cases of repetition. This ex-
plains why repetition is presented as one of
the characteristic features of the mutashabih
verses. The correlation between the repeti-
tion of the mutashabih verses and their re-
semblance is treated in one of the defini-
tions adduced by al-Tabarl (d. 310/923)
where mutashabih verses are those in which
the words resemble one another when
repeated in other qur'anic chapters [Tafsir,
iii, 116).

Similar verses and the inimitability of the Qur'an
Each of the definitions dealing with the re-
semblance and the repetition of the muta-

shabih verses touches upon the inimita-
bility of the Qur'an. The relation between
the inimitability (q.v.) of the Qur'an and
the mutashabih verses can be understood
through the dichotomy of wording and
meaning mentioned above. In his com-
mentary on "It is he who sent down upon
you the book, wherein are verses clear that
are the essence of the book, and others
ambiguous" (0,3:7), Fakhr al-Din al-RazI
(d. 606/1210) combines the verse under dis-
cussion with two verses already mentioned,
o_n:i and 039:23, as well as "If [the
Qur'an] had been from other than God,
surely they would have found in it much in-
consistency" (04:82; see difficult pas-
sages). Based on the four verses, he con-
cludes that the mutashabih verses are those
which repeat, resemble and confirm each
other, and they prove the miraculous
nature of the text. There are no contra-
dictions in the Qur'an. Rather, its verses
confirm and reinforce one another. Simul-
taneously, the Qur'an is also defined as
consisting of muhkam verses, namely, verses
written in an inimitable way. Thus these
two features, i.e. noncontradictory con-
firmed messages and an inimitable style of
language which cannot be produced by
mortals, attest to the divine source of the
Qur'an (Razi, Tafsir, vii, 180).

Ibn al-jawzl (d. 597/1200) offers a differ-
ent explanation for the correlation between
the inimitabilty of the Qur'an and the
mutashabih verses. Trying to find a reason
for the existence of the mutashabih verses in
the Qur'an, he argues that stylistically the
muhkam and the mutashabih verses represent
the two major forms of expression used in
the Arabic language, the concise (mujaz)
and the allusive (majdz)- God has included
both styles in the Qur'an to challenge mor-
tals to choose either style should they at-
tempt to produce a Qur'an similar to that
brought by Muhammad. However, no one

AMBIGUOUS

can ever meet this challenge and the
Qur'an therefore, with its two styles, the
muhkam and mutashabih, will forever remain
inimitable {2jid, i, 350-1; cf. Ibn Qutayba,
Ta'wil, 86).

Mutashabih meaning "ambiguous"
A common way to treat the terms muhkam
and mutashabih is to contrast the clarity of
the first with the ambiguity of the other. As
was mentioned, this contrast bears upon
some of the most prominent qur'anic is-
sues: the abrogating and abrogated verses
[al-nasikh wa-l-mansukh, see abrogation),
the authority to interpret the Qur'an and
the inimitability of the Qur'an.

Ambiguous verses and the abrogating and abrogated

verses
Among the definitions that contrast the
muhkam with the mutashabih, there is to be
found the presentation of the muhkam
verses as abrogating ones (nasikhat) and
the mutashabih as abrogated ones (mansu-
khdt). A widely-cited definition represents
the muhkam as the abrogating verses, the
verses that clarify what is allowed (haled),
the verses that clarify what is prohibited
(haram), the verses that define the punish-
ments (hudud, see boundaries and pre-
cepts) for various offenses, the verses that
define the duties (fara'id) and the verses
that one should believe in and put into
practice. Conversely, the mutashabih verses
are the abrogated ones, the verses that
cannot be understood without changing
their word order (muqaddamuhu wa-
mu akhkharuhu), the parables (amthal), the
oaths (q.v.; aqsdm) and the verses in which
one should believe, but not put into prac-
tice (Ibn Abbas, Tafsir, 124; Abu 'Ubayd,
Nasikh, 4; Ibn Abi Hatim, Tafsir, ii, 592-3;
Tabarl, Tafsir, iii, 115; Baghawl, Ma'alim, i,
426; Ibn Atiyya, Muharrar, i, 400; Qurtubi,
Jdmi', iv, 10; Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, i, 345;
Suyuti, Dun; ii, 5; Shawka.nl, Tafsir, i, 314).

The muhkam are presented here as the
verses that deal with essential matters
whereas the mutashabih verses are held to
deal with secondary matters. This is the
way to understand the comparison made
in the qur'anic text itself. 0^3:7 defines the
muhkam verses as "the essence of the book"
and the mutashabih as the rest.

Another way to examine the juridical
value of the terms is to consider them as
two kinds of divine commandments (q.v.).
In this case, the muhkam verses contain the
commands that are universal and never
change, whereas the mutashabih verses con-
tain the commands that are limited and do
change. The muhkam contain the basic
commandments, shared by all religions,
such as obeying God and avoiding injus-
tice. The mutashabih verses, on the other
hand, contain the practical aspects of these
commandments and may vary from one
religion to another, e.g. the number of re-
quired prayers and the regulations con-
cerning almsgiving and marriage (Razi,
Tafsir, vii, 183; cf. Mawardi, Nukat, i, 380).
In this interpretation, the distinction be-
tween abrogating and abrogated verses be-
comes meaningless because the chronolog-
ical element is replaced by a question of
universality. This means that the muhkam
verses are defined as those that are univer-
sal to all of the revealed religions and the
mutashabih verses are those that contain
what distinguishes Islam from the other re-
vealed religions.

Ambiguous verses and the authority to interpret the

Qur'an
Several commentators recognize three
kinds of mutashabih verses: those that can-
not be understood, those that can be ex-
amined and understood by everyone and
those that only "the experts" (al-rdsikhun fi
l-'ilm) can comprehend (e.g. Firuzabadi,
Basd'ir, iii, 296). The muhkam are defined as
clear verses that require nothing to be un-

AMBIGUOUS

derstood whereas the comprehension of
the mutashabih requires explanation
(Tabari, Tafsir, iii, 116-7; 'Abd al-Jabbar,
Mutashabih, i, 13; Mawardl, Mukat, i, 369;
Baghawi, Ma'alim, i, 428; Ibn Atiyya,
Muharrar, i, 401; Razi, Tafsir, vii, 184;
Qurtubl, Jami', iv, 9; SuyutI, Itqan, iii, 3;
ShawkanI, Tafsir, i, 314). A different set of
definitions represents the muhkam as verses
that contain or permit only one interpreta-
tion whereas the mutashabih are those that
may be interpreted in more than one way
(Tabari, Tafsir, iii, 115-6; al-Jassas,^4Mam,
ii, 281; Mawardl, Mukat, i, 369; Wahidl,
Wasit, i, 413-4; Baghawi, Ma'alim, i, 427;
T abarsi, Majma ', ii, 15; Qurtubl, Jami', iv,
10; SuyutI, Itqan, iii, 4; ShawkanI Tafsir, i,
314). While there is no room to doubt the
instructions supplied by the muhkamdt, the
ambiguity of the mutashabih verses may
create a situation in which the believers be-
come confused, not knowing which direc-
tion to choose. They may then tenden-
tiously interpret these verses in favor of
their own personal interests.

This raises the question as to whether any
exegetical effort should be made to elimi-
nate the vagueness of the mutashabih verses
and two contradictory attitudes developed.
Some scholars claimed that the mutashabih
verses are meant to remain ambiguous and
any attempt to interpret them might lead
the believers astray. Only God knows their
true meaning and this is the way it should
stay. Others maintained that the mutashabih
are meant to be illuminated. Not only does
God know the meaning of these verses, but
the scholars of the Quran also know it.
Their duty is to supply the interpretation
of them and this may vary among the dif-
ferent scholars since the mutashabih verses
may be interpreted in a variety of ways.
These two opposing views on the validity
of interpreting the mutashabih verses paral-
lel those on the interpretation of the
Qur'an as a whole.

Ambiguous verses as those that should not be

interpreted
The basic argument against the interpreta-
tion of the mutashabih is that knowledge of
these verses is limited to God (Tabari,
Tafsir, iii, 116; Mawardl, Mukat, i, 369; Ibn
Atiyya, M uharrar, i, 401; Qurtubl, Jami', iv,
g; Abu Hayyan, Bahr, ii, 381; AlusI, Ruh, ii,
82). As such, they concern matters about
which no mortal has clear knowledge. To
show that the essence of the mutashabihdt
cannot be grasped by human beings, sev-
eral topics defined as mutashabih are men-
tioned: resurrection day (Mawardl, Nukat, i,
369; Baghawi, Ma 'alim, i, 427; Razi, Tafsir,
vii, 184; Qurtubl, Jami', iv, 10; Abu Hay-
yan, Bahr, ii, 381; Zarkashl, Burhdn, ii, 70),
the appearance of the Antichrist (al-
Dafjal) before the end of days, the return
of Christ (Tabari, Tafsir, iii, 116) and the
prophesied day the sun will rise in the
west (Mawardl, Mukat, i, 369; Baghawi,
Ma'alim, i, 427; Abu Hayyan, Bahr, ii, 381),
among others (see antichrist, apoc-
alypse, resurrection; last judgment).

A different argument contends that the
mutashabih are those verses whose meaning
can be easily distorted (Tabari, Tafsir, iii,
116; Ibn 'Atiyya, Muharrar, i, 401; Qurtubl,
Jami', iv, 9; SuyutI, Durr, ii, 5; ShawkanI,
Tafsir, i, 314). This should be understood in
light of the second part of the key verse
"As for those in whose hearts is swerving,
they follow the ambiguous part, desiring
dissension and desiring its interpretation"
(0,3:7). The commentators who correlate
the mutashabih and dissension (q.v.) adduce
a number of qur'anic verses in support of
their position. One such example is pre-
sented by al-Suyutl (d. 911/1505) on the au-
thority of Sa'ld b. Jubayr (d. 95/714): To
justify their ideas, the early sect of the
Kharijls (q.v.) employed "Whoever fails to
judge according to what God has sent
down is a wrongdoer" (0.5:47) and "Then
the unbelievers ascribe equals to their

AMBIGUOUS

Lord" (o_6:i) to support their controversial
doctrines. When the Kharijis faced the in-
justice of a leader, they read these two
verses together and, by assuming correla-
tion between the two, they set forth the fol-
lowing argument: He who does not judge
according to the principles of justice is an
unbeliever. An unbeliever is a polytheist
(mushrik) who ascribes equals to God.
Thus a leader who acts in this manner can
be deemed a polytheist (Dun, ii, 5). The
technique used here joins two verses that
were not necessarily meant to be combined
and draws conclusions from this juxtaposi-
tion. By so doing, the Kharijis were able to
prove that their teachings — such as es-
pousing that a caliph should be deprived
of his position for acting improperly —
are anchored in the Quran and thus fully
authorized.

Another example of the correlation be-
tween the mutashabih verses and dissension
deals with the controversial issue of free
will versus predestination (see freedom
and predestination). The rivals are the
rationalist Mu'tazills (q.v.) and the conser-
vative Sunnls. Both sides refer to the same
verse, p_ 18:29 which states "Say, 'The truth
is from your Lord.' So whoever wishes, let
him believe and whoever wishes, let him
disbelieve." The Mu'tazills define the verse
as muhkam, i.e. the kind of verse that should
be followed since it favors the argument for
free will. The Sunnls, who do not accept
the idea of free will, define this verse as
mutashabih, i.e. the kind of verse that should
not be followed. {576:30 presents the oppo-
site view: "You cannot will [anything] un-
less God wills it." The Mu'tazills define this
verse as mutashabih since it contradicts their
view, but the Sunnls define it as muhkam be-
cause it favors the idea of predestination.
By shifting the terms, it became possible to
endorse or refute an idea according to
one's needs (Razi, Tafsir, vii, 182; Abu
Hayyan, Bahr, ii, 382). The same method

was applied to other verses on topics such
as the disagreements between the propo-
nents of determinism (Jabriyya) and the
proponents of indeterminism (Qadariyya),
or the issue of whether believers will see
God in the afterlife (Razi, Tafsir, vii, 185;
Abu Hayyan, Bahr, ii, 382; cf. L. Kinberg,
Muhkamat, 159).

The correlation between the mutashabih
verses and dissension was also mentioned
in the discussion of the reasons for the ex-
istence of the mutashabih in the Qur'an:
God revealed them to test the people.
Those who do not follow the mutashabih
will be rewarded as true believers, while
those who follow them will go astray (Ibn
al-jawzl, %ad, i, 353). The same idea is
mentioned along with the fact that the
mutashabih can be easily distorted. Although
established and profoundly elaborated, the
negative approach to the interpretation of
the mutashabih was not the only one ad-
duced in the exegetical literature. No less
detailed were the arguments favoring their
interpretation (see exegesis of the
qur'an; classical and medieval).

Ambiguous verses as those that may be interpreted
The perception of the mutashabih as ambig-
uous verses was used to argue, as shown
above, against their interpretation. The
same perception, however, is also used to
support and encourage their interpreta-
tion. Although contradictory, the two ap-
proaches had a common starting point:
Ambiguous verses are dangerous in the
sense that a wrong interpretation might
mislead the believer. With this idea in
mind, some scholars recommended avoid-
ing any examination of these verses
whereas others encouraged the interpreta-
tion of them, but prescribed caution with
regard to the steps that need to be taken in
this process. One precaution is to check the
mutashabih against the muhkam. This is ex-
pressed in a set of definitions which oppose

AMBIGUOUS

the muhkam and the mutashabih regarding
the dependence of the latter. The muhkam
are defined as independent verses that
need no explanation (Mawardl, Mukat, i,
369; Ibn al-JawzT, Zjid, i, 350; Abu Hayyan,
Bahr, ii, 381) nor reference to other verses
to be understood (al-Nahhas, Trab, i, 355;
Qurtubl, Jarm '■', iv, 11; ShawkanI, Tafsir, i,
314). Conversely, the mutashabih are depen-
dent verses that cannot be understood
without consulting or comparing them to
other verses (Baghawl, Ma'alim, i, 427;
Zarkashl, Burhan, ii, 68). The mutashabih'?,
dependence on the muhkam derives from
the clarity of the latter and the ambiguity
of the former. The muhkam, by interpreting
the mutashabih, clears away any misunder-
standing that might mislead the believer
(RazI, Tafsir, vii, 185). It thus can happen
that when a believer consults a muhkam to
understand an ambiguous mutashabih, he
finds his way to the true faith (RazI, Tafsir,
vii, 185; Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, i, 345). When a
mutashabih is not interpreted in accordance
with a muhkam, those who rely on it will go
astray (al-Jassas, Ahkam, ii, 281). In light of
this argument, the muhkam are regarded as
"the essence of the book" (umm al-kitab,
£3:7) or " a source to which other verses
are referred for interpretation" (SuyutI,
Itqan, iii, g).

Thus the ambiguity of the mutashabih
verses creates the need to scrutinize them.
Had the Qur'an consisted only of muhkam
verses, there would have been no need for
the science of the interpretation of the
Quran to develop (RazI, Tafsir, vii, 185-6).
Had every verse been clear to everyone,
the difference in people's abilities would
not come to the fore. The learned ('alim.)
and the ignorant (jahil) would have been
equal and intellectual endeavor would
cease (Ibn Qutayba, Ta'wTl, 86; cf. RazI,
Tafsir, vii, 185). Behind this perception is
the notion that the mutashabih are verses
that make people think when they try to

identify them and use their own judgment
in interpreting them. Consequently, it can
be said that they are presented as verses
that stimulate people and put them on
their guard. It seems that the mutashabih are
perceived as the conscience of the believer
and indicate the level of his religious
knowledge. Due to their ambiguity, dealing
with them requires a high degree of reli-
gious discernment. The more profound the
person, the better his decisions and thus
the more pleasant his condition in the next
world. This issue is thoroughly discussed in
the commentaries with regard to the status
of "the experts in knowledge" (rasikhunf l-
'ilm) mentioned in Qy*J-

Ambiguous verses and the inimitability of the

Qur 'an
As indicated above, the features of the
mutashabih as "similar verses" are held to
supply proof of the miraculous nature of
the Qur'an. Additional evidence of this
was found in the features of the mutashabih
in the sense of "ambiguous verses." This
derives from two opposing attitudes toward
the interpretation of these verses, opposi-
tion to interpreting the mutashabih and sup-
port for their interpretation.

Almost every commentator identifies
the "mysterious letters" (fawatih — or
awa'il al-suwar, see letters and myster-
ious letters) of the Qur'an as mutashabih
(e.g. Tabarl, Tafsir, iii, 116-7). These are the
letters that occur at the beginning of cer-
tain suras and whose meaning is unclear.
The significance of the mysterious letters,
as well as the other mutashabih verses, is
considered a divine secret known only to
God himself. Both should be regarded as
parts of the book that God has prevented
his people from understanding. Their con-
cealed meaning points to the divine source
of the Qur'an and thus attests to its mira-
culous nature (Abd al-Jabbar, Mutashabih,
i. 17)-

AMBIGUOUS

7<>

The ambiguity of the mutashabih verses
enables believers to interpret them in more
than one way. This means that the Qur'an
accommodates more than one approach to
a given issue and that different trends in Is-
lam are likely to find their ideas reflected in
the Qur'an (Abd al-Jabbar, Mutashabih, i,
26, 28. See also L. Kinberg, Muhkamat,
158, 168). This allows the holy text to serve
as a source of answers and solutions to any
problem at any time and represents one of
the central aspects of the miraculous na-
ture of the Qur'an.

In examining the different attitudes to-
ward the interpretation of the Qur'an,
H. Birkeland {Opposition, 9) states that the
opposition to qur'anic exegesis was never
comprehensive and was aimed at the usage
of human reasoning (ray). The validity of
tajsir bi-l- 'ilm, i.e. exegesis based on hadith
(the records of the pronouncements and
actions of the prophet Muhammad, see
hadith and the qur'an) was, in H. Birke-
land's view, never disputed. Support for
this theory can be found in the way the
term mutashabih is treated in the exegetical
literature as well as in its relation to the
term muhkam. The prohibition of inter-
preting the mutashabih verses may be un-
derstood as a reflection of the opposition
to the use of human reason. At the same
time, allowing the interpretation of these
verses seems to be conditional upon the
usage of hadith as a means of interpreta-
tion. Indeed, Muslim scholars have tradi-
tionally not regarded the employment of
hadith to illuminate a qur'anic verse as in-
terpretation, but rather as a means of con-
firming the message included in the verse.
Consequently, a verse in harmony with a
reliable hadith may be relied upon as a
source of guidance. Such a verse would be
defined as muhkam. The mutashabih, on the
other hand, can never be regarded as au-
thoritative. Both the need of various
streams in Islam to have their distinctive

ideas anchored in the Qur'an and the in-
junction to follow only the muhkam verses
may explain the variance in the identity of
the verses which different groups view as
muhkam and mutashabih. As shown above, a
verse defined by one scholar as mutashabih
may be characterized as muhkam by an-
other. The flexible way in which the two
terms were used enabled the commenta-
tors to adapt a verse to their needs by de-
fining it as muhkam. In so doing they were
actually using their own independent rea-
soning presented as hadith. See also
traditional disciplines of chjr'anic

STUDY.

Leah Kinberg

Bibliography
Primary: ( Abd al-Jabbar, Mutashabih; Abu
Hayyan, Bahr; Abu c Ubayd, Ndsikh; AlusT, Ruh;
Baghawl, Ma'dlim; Flruzabadi, Basa'ir; Ibn
Abbas (attributed), TafsTr Ibn 'Abbas al-musamma
Saiufat AIT ibn AbT Tdlib 'an Ibn Abbas, Beirut 1991;
Ibn Abl Hatim al-RazI, TafsTr al-Quran al-'a^Tm,
10 vols., Riyadh 1997; Ibn Atiyya, Muharrar; Ibn
al-jawzl, i^ad; Ibn Kathlr, Tajsir; Ibn Qutayba,
Ta'wTl; al-Jassas, Ahkam; al-Nahhas, Trab;
QurtubT, Jami ; c ; RazT, TafsTr; Shawkam, TafsTr;
Suyuti, Durr; id., Itqan; Tabarl, TafsTr; Tabarsi,
Alajina'; WahidT, WasTt; Zarkashl, Burhdn.
Secondary: M. Ben Milad, Ambiguite et mathanl
coraniques. Pour line theorie generale de la
polarite dans la culture arabe, in J. Berque and
J.P. Gharnay (eds.), Vambivalence dans la culture
arabe, Paris 1967, 366-81; H. Birkeland, Old
Muslim opposition against the interpretation of
the Qur'an, Oslo 1955; A. von Denffer, 'Ulum al-
Qur'an. An introduction to the sciences of the Qur'an,
n.p. 1983; Y. Friedmann, Shaykh Ahmad SirhindT.
An outline of his thought and a study of his image in the
eyes of posterity, Montreal 1971 ; L. Kinberg,
Muhkamat and mutasha.bihat (Koran 3/7).
Implication of a koranic pair of terms in
medieval exegesis, in Arabica 35 (1988), 143-72;
M. Lagarde, De P ambiguite (mutashabih) dans le
Goran, in QSA 3 (1985) 45-62; J. McAuliffe, Text
and textuality. o_ 3 \~] as a point of intersection,
in I. Boullata (ed.), Literary structures of religious
meaning in the Qiir'an, London (2000, 56-76);
Z. Mustafa, DirdsatfT 1-tafsTr, Gairo 1967-8;
S. Syamsuddin, Muhkam and mutashabih.
'An analytical study of al-Tabarf's and

AMULETS

al-Zamakhsharl's interpretations of g_ 3:7," in
Journal oj Qur'anic Studies I (1999), 63-79; G. Sale,
The Koran, London 1900; S. al-Salih, Mabdhiihfi
c ulum al-Qiir'an, Beirut 1965; K. Versteegh, A
dissenting grammarian. Qutrub on declension,
in K. Koerner, H.J. Niederehe and K. Versteegh
(eds.), The history of linguistics in the Near East,
Amsterdam 1983, 403-29; id., Arabic grammar and
qur'anic exegesis in early Islam, Leiden 1993; S.
Wild, The self-referentiality of the Q^ur'an. Sura
3,7 as an exegetical challenge, in J. McAuliffe et
al. (eds.), With reverence for the word. Medieval
scriptural exegesis in Judaism, Christianity and Islam,
Oxford (forthcoming).

Amulets

Ornaments worn as charms against evil
and sickness. Muslims have used amulets
(ruqd, sing, ruqya) most often to cure spirit-
ual or psychological conditions, including
madness, spirit possession and the evil eye.

The Qur'an may be recited in the form of
a spell fdu'd') or worn in written form (ti-
lasm) on the person or placed in the home.
Among the Indonesian Gayo, spells, called
doa, include the use of qur'anic verses in
Arabic for healing and other purposes ac-
companied by supplementary words in
Gayo and visualizations (J.R. Bowen, Mus-
lims through discourse, 77-105; J. Flueckiger,
Vision, 271). Others employ a practice
known as "erasure" (mahw), whereby select
verses, or the whole Quran, are written
out and water is poured over the paper.
The water is then drunk (Ibn Qayyim
al-Jawziyya, Tibb, 124; J. Robson, Magical
uses, 40; A.O. El-Tom, Drinking the Ko-
ran, 414-8; J. Flueckiger, Vision, 258). An-
other way to tap the power of the Qur'an
has been to recite verses over water and to
apply the water as an external wash (nushra,
al-Suyuti, Tibb, 172; D. Owusu-Ansah, Tal-
ismanic tradition, 107-11). Other procedures
include reciting the mu 'awwidhatdn, the last
two suras of the Qiir'an, and other verses
and names of God, together with magical
gestures such as spitting into the hands,

blowing to the four winds and stroking the
face or other parts of the body (Ibn Qay-
yim al-Jawziyya, Tibb, n, 12 1-4, 139, 145-6;

C. Padwick, Muslim devotions, 84-91, 104-7;
J.C. Biirgel, Feather, 34-5). Hadlth mention
written uses of the Qur'an for healing, in-
cluding talismans to be attached to cloth-
ing or animals or placed in the home (Ibn
Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Tibb, 172-3; 'Abdallah
and al-FIusayn b. Bistam, Tibb, 125; J. Rob-
son, Magical uses, 42; C. Padwick, Muslim
devotions, 87; J. Campo, Other side, 104-5).
Amulets bearing qur'anic verses, numbers
and geometric symbols, such as magical
squares, were often carried or worn on the
person (E. Westermarck, Ritual and belief,
144-6; A.O. Owusu-Ansah, Talismanic tradi-
tion, 96-100 and appendix; J. Robson, Mag-
ical uses, 35-7; J. Flueckiger, Vision, 251-7;
V Hoffman, Sufism, 154-5).

The essential qur'anic justification for the
use of the Qur'an in amulets to transmit
the divine blessing (baraka) of the text is its
God-given characterization as "a healing
and a mercy" [shijd'un wa-rahmatun, o 17:82;

D. Owusu-Ansah, Talismanic tradition, 122).
The words of the Prophet Muhammad as
recorded in the hadlth have also been used
as support for the practice. In its chapter
on medicine (Kitdb al-Tibb), the famous
collection that is the Sahih of al-Bukhar!
(d. 256/870) contains a number of hadlth
on the proper use of amulets bearing
verses from the Qur'an. Those who em-
ployed amulets could cite a range of posi-
tive juristic opinions which argue that am-
ulet use cannot be an act of unbelief (kufr),
if the process brings benefit and the con-
tents of the amulet are from the Qur'an
(D. Owusu-Ansah, Talismanic tradition,
25-40). Nevertheless, the use of amulets
was surrounded by continual legal debate.

Medieval sources for the making of
qur'anic amulets drew on the books of
magical healing, such as the so-called
"books tested by experience" (mujarrabdt)

AMULETS

of Ahmad al-Dayrabl and Abu Abdallah
Muhammad b. Yusuf al-SanflsI (d. 892/
i486) and the magical texts like the Sun of
knowledge (Shams al-ma 'anf) by al-Bunl
(d. 622/1225), Strung pearls on the special prop-
erties of the Qur'an (al-Durr al-nagimfi khawdss
al-Qur'an al-'agim) by al-Yafi'l (d. 768/1367),
and The brightest lights and the secret treasures
(Shumus al-anwdr wa-kunuz al-asrdr) by Ibn
al-Hajj al-Tilimsam (d. 737/1336). These
works were complemented by the various
hadith collections and the medical corpus
devoted to "prophetic medicine" (al-tibb al-
nabawT), the medical practices ascribed to
the Prophet. Some notable works on pro-
phetic medicine include Sunn! works by
Abu Nu'aym al-Isbahanl (d. 430/1038), al-
Dhahabl (d. 748/1348), Ibn Qayyim al-
Jawziyya (d. 751/1350), and al-Suyutl
(d. gn/1505). There is as well a Shl'l text
known as the Medicine of the imams (Tibb al-
a'imma) by Abdallah b. Bistam and his
brother al-Husayn (fl. 300/913) which col-
lects the reports of the medical practices of
the Shl'l imams (see imam; shi'ism and the
q_ur'an).

This higher literature on religious healing
generated a large body of popular litera-
ture on folk religious healing in the form of
chapbooks for amulet usage, usually bear-
ing the title "a collection of cures" (majma'
al-adwiya), in manuscript form and later in
print. Among these are The gleanings of
safety in medicine (Luqat al-amdnfi 'l-tibb) by
Ibn al-jawzl (d. 597/1200) and The benefits of
medicine made easy (Kitdb Tashil al-mandfi'f
l-tibb) by Ibrahim b. Abd al-Rahman
al-Azraq (d. 815/1412). This testifies to the
widespread popularity of employing amu-
lets (F. Rahman, Health and medicine, 41-58).
Such practical manuals become the guide
for local handwritten copies used by ad-
epts, e.g. the umbatri of the Sudanese Berti
(A.O. El-Tom, Drinking the Koran, 416;
see also D. Owusu-Ansah, Talismanic tradi-

tion, 44-91). Special editions of the Qur'an
were even published with marginal nota-
tion on the methods of divination and the
apposite verses for magical spells or talis-
mans. The talismanic manuals tradition-
ally categorize the verses into various
classes, e.g. verses for protection (dydt al-
hifz), for healing (dydt al-shifd'), for victory
(futuh al-Qur'an) . These verses, the divine
names of God (al-asma' al-husnd) and
qur'anic formulae such as the basmala ("In
the name of God, the merciful and com-
passionate," see basmala) and the repeti-
tion of the formulae of taking refuge
(ista 'ddha) became the materia medica of the
makers of amulets (K. Opitz, Medizin im
Koran; J. Robson, Magical uses; B.A. Don-
aldson, Koran as magic; C. Padwick, Mus-
lim devotions; A.O. El-Tom, Drinking the
Koran).

The belief in and use of qur'anic amulets
continues as living practice within the
framework of Islamic religious healing and
is documented in anthropological studies
throughout the contemporary Muslim
world, particularly in the Middle East
(C. Padwick, Muslim devotions, pp. xi-xiv,
289-97; P- Antes, Medicine, 187-91), Africa
(A.O. El-Tom, Drinking the Koran), south
Asia (J. Flueckiger, The vision), and south-
east Asia (J.R. Bowen, Muslims through dis-
course). Men and women still have recourse
to qur'anic amulets and other forms of re-
ligious healing, often for the sake of chil-
dren. The amulets are carried on the per-
son and placed in the home, vehicle and
place of business. The male practitioner is
more likely to be able to consult the amulet
chapbooks and texts on "Prophetic medi-
cine" or to be trained by someone expert
in the use of amulets, e.g. a local Sufi adept
or a religiously learned person in the urban
neighborhood or rural village (A.O. El-
Tom, Drinking the Koran, 415-7). Women,
especially older women, can also occupy a

AN AT O M Y

visible position in public ritual as charis-
matic healers and as spirit mediums and by
employing the techniques of dream inter-
pretation, divining and other folk religious
healing techniques, such as amulets (J.
Flueckiger, The vision, 261-80). Contem-
porary religious healers operate as alterna-
tives or complements to the practitioners
of western medicine, in both Muslim
countries and among the emigrant Muslim
communities in the West (P. Antes, Medi-
cine, 18 1-9 1). The widespread production
and use of qur'anic healing images high-
light the strong creative interaction of au-
thoritative sources, the Qur'an and hadith,
and actual belief and practice in medieval
and modern Islam.

Kathleen Malone O'Connor

Bibliography
Primary: al-Husayn and Abdallah b. Bistam,
Tibb al-a'imma, Beirut 1994; Ibn Qayyim al-
Jawziyya, al-Tibb al-nabawT, Cairo 1978;
al-Suyiitl, al-Tibb al-nabawi, Beirut 1986.
Secondary: P. Antes, Medicine and the living
tradition of Islam, in L.E. Sullivan (ed.), Healing
and restoring. Healing and medicine in the world's
religious traditions, New York 1989; J.R. Bowen,
Muslims through discourse. Religion and ritual in Gayo
society, Princeton 1993; J.C. Biirgel, The feather of
Simurgh. The "licit magic" of the arts in medieval
Islam, New York 1988; J. Campo, The other side of
paradise, Columbia, SC 1991; B.A. Donaldson,
The Koran as magic, in MW 27 (1937), 258-63;
A.O. El-Tom, Drinking the Koran. The meaning
of koranic verses in Berti erasure, in J.D.Y Peel
and C. Stuart (eds.), Popular Islam south of the
Sahara, Manchester 1985; J. Flueckiger, The
vision was of written words. Negotiating
authority as a female Muslim healer in south
India, in D. Shulman (ed.), Syllables of sky. Studies
in south Indian civilization, Delhi 1995; V. Hoffman,
Sujism, mystics, and saints in modern Egypt,
Columbia, SC 1995; K. Opitz, Die Medizin im
Koran, Stuttgart 1905; D. Owusu-Ansah, Islamic
talismanic tradition in nineteenth-century Asante,
Lewiston 1991. C. Padwick, Muslim devotions. A
study oj prayer-manuals in common use, London 1961;
F. Rahman, Health and medicine in the Islamic
tradition, New York 1988; J. Robson, The magical

uses of the Koran, in Transactions 6 (1929-33),
53-60; id., Islamic cures in popular Islam, in MW
24 (1934), 34-43; E. Westermarck, Ritual and belief
in Morocco, 2 vols., New York 1926, i, ch. I.

Analogy see language and style of
the qjltr'an; exegesis of the qjjr'an:
classical and medieval

Anatomy

References to the structure of the human
body in the Qur'an. The Qur'an mentions
body parts many times, but these are
spread throughout the text and particular
terms do not always convey the same
meaning in different contexts. In some sec-
tions of the Qur'an human anatomy is
treated as a functional element, but most
qur'anic references to the human body are
employed in metaphors (see metaphor)
aimed at encouraging the pursuit of an
ethical and pious life. Anatomy and body
parts in the Qur'an are cited in conjunc-
tion with the faith of believers to ensure
that there is a complete understanding of
the harmony between the workings of the
body and the message of the Qur'an. In
the Qur'an, human anatomy can be di-
vided into two spheres. The first consists of
the various physical elements, such as the
flesh, fluids, eyes, ears, head, heart and
backside. The second includes anatomical
experience, such as speaking, weeping, eat-
ing, fasting, listening and dying, and what
the body experiences in the light of reli-
gious faith.

While the Qur'an does not have many
references to the specific Arabic word for
the human body, jism, one instance of its
occurrence is when a prophet says to the
Children of Israel (q.v.), "God chose [Saul,
q.v.] above you and increased him vastly in

ANATOMY

knowledge and body (jism)" ((32:247). The
Qur'an mentions the body to support the
validity of the Prophet Muhammad's mis-
sion as well as that of the previous proph-
ets, despite their lack of supernatural qual-
ities, o 21:8 affirms the ordinary humanity
of prophets: "We did not endow them with
a body (jasad) that could dispense with
food and they were not immortal" as a de-
fense against those who claimed that to be
a messenger of God an individual should
possess extraordinary human qualities.
Q_23:i2-I3 explains that the original com-
position of the body is from organic and
inorganic substances: "We create man out
of the essence of clay (q.v.) and then made
a drop of sperm in firm keeping."

Human flesh (lahm) is referred to both lit-
erally and metaphorically in the Qur'an.
Q_23:i4 describes the way that flesh protects
the bones in the body: "Then we clothed
the bones in flesh (lahm)." The Qur'an also
characterizes activities such as gossiping,
spreading rumors and second guessing one
another as eating the flesh of an individ-
ual. Q_4g:i2 states, "Would any of you like
to eat the flesh (lahm) of his dead brother?"
which Fakhr al-Din al-RazI (d. 606/1210)
interprets as cautioning the believers to be
conscious of their conversations with one
another. Al-RazI also felt this passage was
urging believers to preserve their dignity by
not involving themselves in rumors (Tafsi);
ad loc).

The Arabic word for backside (dubur, pi.
adbar) is commonly applied in the Qur'an
to describe the times when unbelievers
turn away from God's message, e.g. "When
you invoke your Lord — and him alone —
in the Qur'an, they turn their backs (adbar),
fleeing" (q_ 17:46) and "Those who turn
their backs (adbar) in apostasy after the way
of guidance was made clear to them are
tempted by Satan" (q.v.; Q_47:25). Here,
turning the backside symbolizes rejecting
truth and being led astray (q.v.). The ex-

pression also may refer to cowardice and a
lack of faithfulness: "If they do help them,
they will turn their backs" [adbar, £59:12).
Other examples of the word include,
"How will it be when the angels draw out
their soul, striking their face and their
backs (adbar)?" (q_ 47:27).

Additional qur'anic references to turning
the backside are not meant for unbelievers
but are specifically directed at the believers
who were preparing themselves to fight in
a battle. Q_8:i5-i6 states, "When you meet
those who disbelieve, never turn your back-
sides (adbar) to them. Whoever on that day
turns his backside (dubur) on them — ex-
cept as a battle maneuver or to join an-
other unit — will have earned the wrath of
God." The combat theme is continued in
passages such as "If the unbelievers had
fought you, they would have turned their
backsides (adbar)" (q_ 48:22) and "If you
fight them, they will turn their backsides
(adbar) to you" (q_3:iii).

The references to blood in the Qur'an
range from the blood on the shirt of Joseph
(q.v.) to the blood of useless animal sacri-
fices (see animal life; sacrifice). "They
brought his shirt with false blood (dam) on
it" (q_ 12:18) occurs in the situation where
brothers of Joseph go to their father to ex-
plain his disappearance. The Qur'an em-
phasizes that wasting blood, either in ani-
mal offerings or physical self-sacrificing, is
not acceptable and does not bring one
closer to God. In passages such as "Their
flesh (luhum) and blood (dimci) will never
reach God, but your reverence will reach
him" (q_22:37), the Qur'an wants to make
clear that blood is a precious element in
the human body and should not be wasted
out of negligence.

Blood and a blood clot (see BLOOD AND
BLOOD clot) also figure as important fea-
tures in human creation (see biology as
THE CREATION AND STAGES OF LIFE), e.g.
" [Your lord] created man from a blood-

AN AT O M Y

clot ('alaq)" (096:2), "Then we created a
clot ('alaqa) from the drop" (023:14),
"Then from a sperm-drop, then from a
blood clot ('alaqa)" (o 40:67; 22:5) and
"Then he was a blood clot ('alaqa)"
((375:38). Al-Razl's commentary stresses
both the divine origin of human life and
the inconsequential material of this genesis
[Tafsir, ad loc).

Blood as a source of impurity finds ex-
pression when the Qur'an instructs male
believers not to have intercourse when
their spouses are menstruating (ha'id) or
about to menstruate (see menstruation;
purity and impurity). For example,
02:222 states, "They will question you con-
cerning the monthly cycle (mahid). With-
draw from women during the monthly cy-
cle and do not approach them until they
become ritually clean."

References to the eye and eyesight ex-
press not only physical vision but also spiri-
tual enlightenment. "Did we not make two
eyes ('aynayn) for him" (090:8) is an affir-
mation that human beings were created
with the faculty of sight. "You will see their
eyes (a'yun) overflow with tears" (0.5:83) re-
fers to an experience of spiritual sight. In
various other verses, the Qur'an asserts
that eyes are meant both to see and under-
stand, as in p_ 16:78: "He appointed for you
hearing and sight (absar)."

Negative references to eyes and sight sus-
tain this usage as a metaphor for those who
are unable to distinguish right from wrong,
o 6:46 warns, "If God seizes your hearing
and sight (absar)." o 7:179, "They have eyes
(a'yun), but do not see with them," ex-
presses the strong disapproval of those
whose eyes have been sealed. The possibil-
ity of divine retribution occurs in (336:66:
"We would have obliterated their eyes
(a'yun)," while 03:13: "In that is a lesson for
men possessed of eyes (absar)," continues
the theme of spiritual insight. Yet the limits
of this metaphor are indicated in verses

such as "It is not the eyes (absar) that are
blind" ((322:46).

Literal and metaphoric usages also char-
acterize the qur'anic references to the
head. Prior to performing the pilgrimage
(q.v.), male pilgrims shave their head im-
mediately before they don the customary
garb. The prescriptive force of "You shall
enter the holy mosque (al-masjid al-haram),
if God wills, in security, your heads (ru'us)
shaved" (048:27) conveys this instruction.
Additional reference to the ritual treatment
of the head may be found in verses like
"Wipe your heads (ru'us) and your feet"
(05:6), which underscores the importance
of purifying the body before praying or
even entering a sacred space like a mosque.
"Do not shave your heads (ru'us) until the
offering reaches the place of sacrifice"
(02:196) gives the pilgrim permission to
shave his head at the conclusion of the pil-
grimage. Metaphorical allusions to the
head or to raising it occur in connection
with the sinner who is incapable of under-
standing the message the Prophet brought
because of his arrogance (q.v.). Al-
Zamakhshari (d. 538/1144) understood,
"We have put shackles up to their chins, so
that their heads are forced up" (036:8) as
an allegory for the deliberate refusal of the
truth (Kashshaf, ad loc). For him, the rejec-
tion of the truth results in total chaos in
the afterworld, as in " [They will be] run-
ning in confusion with their heads (ru 'us)
raised" (p_ 14:43). I n the verses that have
been interpreted both literally and meta-
phorically, the Qur'an speaks about sinners
whose heads will suffer from their punish-
ment (see REWARDS AND PUNISHMENT), as
in "Boiling water will be poured on their
heads (ru'us)" (022:19). More particularly,
the forehead is specified in "On the day
they will be heated in the fire of hell (q.v.)
and their forehead (jibdh), sides and back
will be burnt" (09 : 35) to warn those who
mispend their wealth.

ANATOMY

Reference to the heart [qalb, pi. qidiib, see
heart) functions repeatedly as a mark of
distinction between believers and unbeliev-
ers (see belief AND unbelief). "God has
not assigned to any man two hearts
(qalbayn) within his breast" (0.33:4) indi-
cates the individual's free choice to believe
or disbelieve. Heart terminology also cap-
tures images of divine immanence, as in
"God knows what is in your hearts (qulub)"
(Q.33'5 1 ) an d "Know that God stands be-
tween a man and his heart (qalb)" (0.8:24).
In passages like "There is no fault in you, if
you make mistakes, but only in what your
hearts (qulub) did purposely" (0.33:5), the
heart operates as a metaphor for the will.
In others like "Those, in whose hearts he
has inscribed faith and whom he has
strengthened with a spirit from him (hi-
rudin minhu)" (0.58:22), the heart repre-
sents the imaged reception of divine guid-
ance. For al-Zamakhshari, the phrase
"with a spirit from him" meant both illu-
mination from the divine and the ways
one becomes spiritually strengthened from
that inspiration [Kashshaf ad loc). For him,
the heart is integrally linked to being faith-
ful as well as to remembering God, as in,
"Those who believe, their hearts (qulub)
being at rest in remembrance of God"
(013:28).

As an explanation for unbelief, the
Qur'an frequently uses the metaphor of
the "sealed heart." For example one finds,
"thus God seals the hearts (quliib) of the
unbelievers" (q. 7:101), "God set a seal on
their hearts (qulub) and hearing" (0.2:7) and
many similar phrases (e.g. 556:46; 9:87, 93;
10:74; 16:108; 30:59; 40:35; 42:24; 45:43;
47:16; 63:3). Other similar images include
Q_6:25: "We laid veils upon their hearts
(qulub), but they failed to understand it,"
and {33:167: "Saying with their mouths
that which never was in their hearts
(qulub) , " both of which depict hearts that
were affected by the misguided actions per-

formed by unbelievers (Zamakhsharl,
Kashshaf, ad loc).

Mentions of the mouth often focus on its
ethical misuse. Sins of hatred and hypo-
crisy are cited in "Hatred has already
shown itself from their mouths (afwah)"
((33:118), "Such men say, 'We believe,' with
their mouths (afwah)" (0.5:41) and "Saying
with their mouths (afwah) something which
never was in their heart" ((33:167). Addi-
tional misuses of the mouth are indicated
in verses such as "You were speaking with
your mouths (afwah) regarding something
of which you have no knowledge" (0.24:15)
and "They desire to extinguish the light of
God with their mouths (afwah)" ((39:32;
61:8). Less usual than references to the
mouth are specific reference to the lips, as
in "Have we not given him two eyes, and a
tongue and two lips (shafatajn)?" (0.90:8-9).

From another angle, qur'anic injunctions
target the speaking voice, both in regard to
its potential for misuse and in regard to the
necessity for propriety and control. In de-
scribing the qualities of the unbelievers,
(3 47:30 mentions the way they are evasive
and convoluted in their speech, when it
states, "You shall certainly recognize them
by their faulty speech (lahn al-qawl)." To
counteract these unacceptable forms of
speech, the Qur'an instructs the believers
in their tone and in the times when they
should reduce their speech. Examples are
"Be modest in you gait and lower your
voice (sawt)" (0.31:19) and "Believers raise
not your voice (aswat) above the voice
(sawt) of the Prophet" (0.49:2-3). (349:3
even refers to lowering one's voice in the
presence of the Prophet "Those who lower
their voices (aswat) in the presence of
God's messenger."

References to the tongue (lisan, pi. alsina)
center on its use for speaking the truth and
following the way of God, as in the previ-
ously mentioned "Have we not given him
two eyes, a tongue (lisan) and two lips"

?>3

AN AT O M Y

(o go:8-g) and "We appointed unto them a
high tongue of truthfulness" (5519:50).
"Move not your tongue (lisan) with it to
hasten it" ((375:16) urges the believers to
recite the revelation carefully and thought-
fully. The tongue also appeals to God for
forgiveness and repents for its sins, as in
"Appoint me a tongue of truthfulness
among the others" (o 26:84).

By extension, the word "tongue" (lisan) is
used to refer to language and human
speech. Several passages proclaim that the
Qur'an was revealed in the Arabic lan-
guage, for example "In a clear Arabic
tongue (bi-lisanin 'arabiyyin mubinin)"
(o 26:195), "We have made it easy in your
tongue" (o 44:58) and "This is a book con-
firming in the Arabic tongue" (q 46:12).
Another instance of this usage is "We
never sent a messenger who did not speak
the tongue (lisan) of his people so that he
may explain to them" (0,14:4).

As with other parts of the body, the mis-
use of the tongue receives attention in the
qur'anic text. 04:46 speaks of the Jews
"twisting their tongues (alsina) and slander-
ing religion." While "Their tongues (alsina)
describe falsehood" (o 16:62) and the previ-
ously cited "They say with their tongues
(alsina) something which is not in their
hearts" (048:11) provide further reference
to this, verses like "Do not utter the lies
your tongues (alsina) make up: 'This is law-
ful and that is forbidden,' in order to attri-
bute your own lying inventions to God"
(016:116) connect with those that have an
eschatological significance, such as, "The
day when their tongues (alsina), their hands
and their feet shall testify against them"
(024:24).

Many qur'anic passages forge a particular
connection between the function of hear-
ing and the reception of revelation. The
verb "to hear" (sami'a) corresponds to the
active process of learning from what was
heard. "He appointed for you hearing

(sam), sight and a heart" (016:78) connects
hearing to seeing and feeling, and "So that
they may have hearts to understand and
ears to hear with" (022:46) confirms the
linkage with comprehension of the revela-
tion. Some verses point to the believers'
continuity with previous communities who
heard the revelation, as in "You will hear
from those who were given the book before
you" (03:186). As with eyes and eyesight,
the ears and the function of hearing are
used to convey conceptions of God's inti-
macy with his creation and the probative
signs he provides for them. Examples in-
clude, "Surely I will be with you, hearing
(asma'u) and seeing" (020:46) and "In that
are signs for a people who listen (yas-
ma'unaj" (010:67).

By the same token, the unbelievers are
chastised for their refusals to hear or to let
their ears comprehend. 02:93 states,
"They said, 'We hear (sami'na) and we dis-
obey' " and 04 i: 4 claims, "Most of them
have turned away and do not hear (layas-
ma'una)." Additional instances are, "They
have ears (adhan), but they hear not with
them (layasma'una biha)" (07:179), "If you
call them to the guidance, they do not hear
(la yasma'u)" (07:198), "But the deaf do not
hear (layasma'u) the call when they are
warned" (021:45) and "When they hear
(sami'u) the reminder and say, 'Surely he is
possessed'" (068:51). The image of "seal-
ing" and of possible divine intervention
also finds a place in the qur'anic references
to ears and hearing, as with "God set a seal
on their hearts and on their hearing" (kha-
tama 'llahu 'aid qulubihim wa-'ala sam'i-hini,
02:7) and "Had God willed, he would have
taken away their hearing and sight (la-
dhahaba bi-sam'ihim wa-absarihim)" (02:20).

Both the generative organs of the human
body and its other sexually provocative
parts are ordinarily referred to indirectly in
qur'anic allusions to modesty. The preser-
vation of modesty is mandated in "The

believers have prospered... who guard their
private parts (furuj)" (o 23:1-5). 0.33:35 an-
nounces forgiveness and rewards for "men
and women who guard their private parts
(furuj)," while 04-34 praises "women who
guard the intimacy (ghayb) which God has
guarded." References such as "Those who
guard their private parts (furuj)" (070:29)
have been understood to mean wearing
clothing that does not reveal the body and
restricting one's sexual desires to one's law-
ful mate. Similarly, mention of nudity
(q.v.) in the Quran has been understood
both figuratively and spiritually. 020:118
refers to the initial condition of Adam and
Eve (q.v.): "There you will have no hunger
and not be naked (la ta'ra)," while 020:121
"Then they ate from [the tree] and there-
upon became conscious of their private
parts (saw'at) and began to hide themselves
with leaves" records one consequence of
their fall from grace and innocence (see
fall of man). In the verses concerning so-
cial and sexual legislation, the Qur'an
speaks of the circumstances under which
the body may be partially or completely
unclothed. 024:58, for example, specifies,
"Before the prayer of the daybreak, when
you lay aside your garments from the heat
of the middle of the day and after the
prayer of nightfall: the three occasions on
which your nakedness ('awrat) is likely to
be bared.

-ul Huda

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r 995-

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ka hissah [in Urdu], Tirmizi 1978.

Ancestors see kinship and family

Angel

Heavenly messenger. Like its Hebrew
(maTak) and Greek (angelos) counterparts,
the Arabic term malak (pi. mala'ika) means
"messenger." The Qur'an uses the term
about ninety times, with some angels desig-
nated by name, Gabriel (Jibrll, see
gabriel) and Michael (Mika'll, q 2:97-8;
see michael) and others only by function,
e.g. reciters, glorifiers, dividers, guardians,
ascenders, warners, recorders. Reflection
about the role of angels — as described in
the Qur'an and elaborated in hadlth and
commentary — constitutes a fundamental
aspect of Muslim theological contempla-
tion and spirituality.

Historical sources of discussion on the role of the

Belief in angels as a tenet of Islamic faith,
as well as the theological and philosophical

discussions that emerged in the Islamic
world as to the nature and function of an-
gels, must be understood within the larger
context of three issues: i) the qur'anic
worldview which affirms many elements of
the monotheistic faiths of Judaism and
Christianity including the concepts of the
one transcendent God, revelation (q.v.),
prophets (see prophets and prophet-
hood), angels, an end time and divine jus-
tice (see apocalypse; last judgment);

2) the intellectual and cultural flowering
that began under Abbasid rule in the
second/eighth century which put Islamic
scholars in contact with past and current
intellectual traditions including those of
Greek, Iranian and Indian origin and

3) the development and reciprocal influ-
ence of emerging discourses within the Is-
lamic world particularly between philoso-
phy (falsafa) and theology [kalam, see S.H.
Nasr, al-Hikma, 139-43). Thus, for example,
the most important of Muslim philoso-
phers, Avicenna (Ibn Sfna, d. 428/1037),
integrated Aristotelian and neo-Platonic
views on knowledge and experience into a
fundamentally Islamic monotheistic revela-
tory worldview. In his treatment of angels,
Avicenna shows how the angelic hierarchy
affirmed in Muslim faith corresponds to
the gradation of intelligences discerned by
the philosophers, providing a philosophical
grounding for the canonical imagery and
function of angels and a religious ground-
ing for the ontological and cosmological
theories of the philosophers. Avicenna's
work in turn was read, critiqued and incor-
porated in the work of subsequent scholars
and popular wisdom teachers, from al-
Ghazall (d. 505/11 11) to Ibn al-'Arabl (d.
638/1240). The most striking use of angelic
imagery in Islamic philosophy and mysti-
cism was that of Shihab al-Dln al-
Suhrawardi (d. 578/1 191), founder of Illu-
minationism (ishraq), which is a form of
mysticism deriving from Neoplatonism and

the divine wisdom (al-hikma al-ilahiyya)
school of thought in Islam, which integ-
rated qur'anic, Platonic, Zoroastrian (with
its vivid angelology), and Hermetic ele-
ments into a view of the universe the real-
ity of which consists wholly of gradations
of light (q.v.) with God as pure "Light of
lights" (based on Q_ 24:35, the Light Verse),
source of all existents and all knowledge —
the inner reality of a thing being its "angel."
See G. Webb, The human-angelic relation for a
summary of the intellectual currents im-
portant in the development of commentary
and interpretation of angels in the Quran.

Qur'anic thematic sources on the angels
The role of the angel in classical Islamic
thought may be understood by looking at
three major themes of the Qur'an: cre-
ation (q.v.), revelation, and eschatology
(q.v.) — and the elaboration thereof in
hadlth — the sayings and stories attributed
to Muhammad — and commentary. The
nature and function of angels is clearly
meant to be understood in relation to the
nature and function of other orders of re-
ality, especially the divine and the human
orders. Creation stories point to the theme
of the relation between human beings and
angels in terms of their differing natures
and functions as well as to the theme of a
pre-existent covenant (q.v.) between hu-
mankind and God. Qur'anic materials on
the "descent" (tanzil) of the revelation to
the Prophet Muhammad and the "ascent"
{mi'rcij, see ascension) of the Prophet be-
come sources of reflection on the nature of
prophecy and revelatory knowledge includ-
ing the role of angels therein. Qur'anic es-
chatological materials reveal the interme-
diary function of the angels, that is, the
carrying out of the divine consequences of
human accountability, but they also be-
come sources in Islamic spirituality for psy-
cho-spiritual interpretations of the tomb
and the end time ("the hour " al-sa'a, or

ANGEL

Ml,

"the resurrection," al-qiyama, see resur-
rection).

Angels and the creation accounts
The qur'anic accounts of creation provide
models for the distinct nature of the hu-
man and angelic species, as well as for the
distinction of types of knowledge in the
human and angel. God asks the angels and
Adam to name things; the angels could not
and Adam could (02:31-3). Muslim com-
mentators interpret this qur'anic statement
as a demonstration of a human capacity
which the angels lacked, that of creative
knowledge, the knowledge of the nature of
things. By virtue of his knowledge of the
names, Adam became master over created
things. Some commentators see the story
as implying that God had taught Adam all
of the divine names reflected in creation;
therefore the human being stands in the
unique ontological position of — poten-
tially — being a mirror of the totality of
the names and qualities of God, which be-
came a prominent theme in Sufi (Islamic
mystical; see sufism and the q_ur'an)
thought (see al-Rumi, Mathnawi, i, 1234;
Ibn al-Arabl, The bezels of wisdom, ch. 1).
The story is also seen as an affirmation of
man's vicegerency. God creates Adam as
his vicegerent {khalifa, see caliph) on earth
(q_2:3o) and ordered the angels to prostrate
before him (02:34; see adoration; bow-
ing and prostration); hence the view
that the human being (insdnj is superior to
angels. The angels plead with God, "Why
will you [create one] who will create mis-
chief therein and shed blood while we cele-
brate thy praises?" to which God responds,
"I know what you do not know." A tradi-
tional reading of the narrative is human-
kind's superiority over the angels because,
whereas the angels' nature is to worship
God in perfect obedience (q.v.), human be-
ings suffer moral choice, the struggle be-
tween good and evil, the tendency toward

forgetfulness and heedlessness. Further-
more, man was burdened with the trust
(amdna, 0.33:72) which heaven and earth re-
fused to undertake — the trust being inter-
preted variously as responsibility, free will
or love. Only Satan does not prostrate him-
self before Adam; but as Satan in other ac-
counts is described as "of the jinn" (q.v.)
those who are made of fire, not clay (q.v.)
as Adam or light as the angels (see adam
and eve). Satan (Shaytan) is less identified
with the "fallen angel" and more with the
force that strengthens the tendencies to-
ward evil and forgetfulness in man which
function in tension with the human quali-
ties of goodness and knowledge of the real
(see devil; antichrist).

The primordial time envisioned in the
creation narratives, where "we were the
companion of angels" as the mystic al-
Rflml (d. 672/1273) describes it in his
KullTydt-i Shams yd Diwdn-i kabir becomes,
particularly among Sufi commentators, a
source of reflection and of longing for that
original time of unity between man and
God, when human beings "knew their
Lord." Commentators on the primordial
experience in which the souls of all future
humans are "pulled from the loins of
Adam" and testify to God's sovereignty
(0.7:172), see these verses as describing an
on-going possibility of such "intimate col-
loquy" (mundjdt) between man and God.
Al-Tustarl (d. 283/896) identifies the idea
of (spiritual) genesis with the cognizing
and re-cognizing of divine lordship. He
describes the act of remembrance in
prayer (dhikr) as the re-actualization of
God's presence in his innermost being,
comparing this state of recollection to the
constant celestial celebration of God's
commemoration (tasbih) on the part of the
angels, holding that this celebration is their
mode of being, their very sustenance (rizqj.
Just as the angel's very life (haydt) is by vir-
tue of the commemoration of God, so

prayer is the vital part of man's spiritual
life, the provision for the spiritual self (nafs
al-ruh) .

Angels and the revelatory experience
The role of angels is a prominent feature
in the qur'anic theme of the revelatory
event itself and the prophetic function,
for it is in passages dealing with the reve-
lation of the Qur'an that we see the close
relationship between the holy spirit (ruh al-
qudus) and angels (o_ 16:102). "Spirit" (q.v.)
is the agency of revelation "that came
upon the Prophet's heart," and the spirit
and the angels appear together in several
suras (5)70:4; 97:4; 16:2). As F. Rahman
points out [Major themes, 97), the figure of
Gabriel in the Qur'an, who is mentioned
as having brought down the Qur'an, is
never given the appellation of "angel" and
is always differentiated from "the angels"
as if to signify a different rank or even spe-
cies, a supra-angelic function. The qur'anic
identification of Gabriel with the "bring-
ing down" (nazzalahu) of the very word of
God (p_2:g7), along with hadlth, in which
Gabriel is spoken of as an angel, albeit
with a special function and rank, contri-
buted to the theological, philosophical and
mystical theories which identified these
concepts with each other (Holy Spirit =
Angel = Gabriel). Note, for example, the
"annunciation of Mary (q.v.)" passages in
Q_ 3:42-8 and o_ 19:17. In the former, the an-
gels are messengers announcing to Mary
that "God has chosen you and purified
you and chosen you above women of all
nations." In the latter, the messenger is sin-
gular and has the appearance of a man:
"Then we sent to her our spirit (ruhana,
though some translations, e.g. A. Yusuf
All, render the phrase "our angel") and he
appeared before her as a man." Other re-
lated passages, e.g. "We breathed into her
of our spirit" (o_2i:gi) and "Into whose
body we breathed of our spirit (p_66:i2)"

engender a close association between the
concepts of spirit, angel and Gabriel.
Rahman argues therefore that strictly
speaking the Qur'an seems to make a dis-
tinction between the angels and the agent
of revelation sent to Muhammad. Yet the
spirit and angels are not wholly different,
"the spirit" being the highest form of an-
gelic nature and closest to God (e.g.
Q_8i:ig-2i).

There is also a close connection between
the qur'anic "command" (amr), spirit and
angels. "The command" in the qur'anic
phrase, "The spirit is by the command of
my lord" (o_ 17:85), is identified with the
Preserved Tablet [al-lawh al-mahfuz, see
preserved tablet), the source of all
books — in fact, all reality — including the
Qur'an (p_ 85:22). It is from thence that the
spirit is brought by the angels to the heart
of the Prophet and, as the source of all
books, ranks "higher" than the angels.
These images and associations become
food for speculative thought on the nature
of "logos," the generation of the cosmos
and such cosmogonic metaphysical con-
ceptions as the world of archetypal realities
('alam al-mithdl). A common feature of both
early and late speculation in Islamic
thought — in consonance with numerous
qur'anic passages (e.g. 0^2:97; 97:4) — is
that the spirit exists as a power, faculty or
agency which descends from "above" (naz~
zalahu), clearly emphasizing the depend-
ency and origin of human knowledge —
particularly prophetic and visionary — in
God. This power, or faculty, of spirit/
Gabriel is described as being located in
the Prophet's heart and Islamic mystical
exegesis as early as the third/ninth century
develops the notion of the heart (qalb, see
heart) as the seat of spiritual vision and
intuitive cognition.

Related to the conception of the descent
of revelation on the Prophet's heart —
and closely related to the development of

eschatological notions, are commentaries
and literature about the qur'anic reference
to God sending Muhammad on a night
journey (asm bi-'abdihi) in o_ 17:1, in which
the Prophet travels from "the sacred
mosque to the farthest mosque," from
Mecca to Jerusalem (q.v.; see also aq_sa
mosque) in the usual interpretation and
then in a vertical journey to the divine
throne ("in order that we might show him
some of our signs"). By the third/ninth
century many of these narratives of the as-
cension (mi'raj) had come into the form of
hadith, many of which are attributed to
Ibn 'Abbas, a contemporary of Muham-
mad, but are more likely the work of the
second/eighth-century Egyptian Ibn Wahb
(d. 197/813) which in varying versions and
degrees of detail describe the awakening of
the Prophet by Gabriel followed by the
preparation of Muhammad for his ascent
by two angels' washing his breast and fill-
ing it with faith and wisdom. Gabriel — in
some versions accompanied by the angel
Michael — then leads Muhammad on a
night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem,
then through the heavens of the Ptolemaic
universe to the gates of paradise and fi-
nally to the throne of God (q.v.). Muham-
mad's journey always includes the vision
of hell and the appropriate punishment
experienced by sinners who have commit-
ted various kinds of evils as well as a vi-
sion of the paradisiacal garden (see re-
ward and punishment; paradise; hell;
garden). The paradisiacal scene contains
the traditional image of the lotus tree of
the boundary (0.53:14) beyond which no
human or angel may pass. There is a hier-
archy of angels with varying functions, an
allusion to o 25:25, which implies descend-
ing ranks of angels and o 35:1 whose dis-
cussion of the varying number of wings
possessed by angels is usually interpreted
as their functions, duties or errands. The
angels of the heavenly spheres — the asso-

ciation made explicit by Avicenna — down
through the sixth sphere are the guardians
of the throne and singers of praise. Gab-
riel ranks above the guardians of the
throne. Angels in the highest sphere under
the throne are the cherubim whose light is
so strong that no angel in the lower spheres
may raise its eyes lest it be blinded. Gab-
riel, the guide of Muhammad, acts as in-
terpreter of the visions to which the
Prophet is witness. Descriptions of the gar-
den are based on the qur'anic imagery of
the fount of abundance (kawthar, o_ 108:1)
and of peace (o_ 14:23). Angels in these tra-
ditions, which have been traced to the
second/eighth-century Persian Maysara b.
Abd Rabbihi appear sometimes in human
form, sometimes as huge and monstrous
beings, always radiating dazzling light. At
each stage of the journey, Muhammad
experiences fear of being blinded by the
brilliant spectacle and Gabriel in many
versions intercedes with God so that Mu-
hammad is granted new vision that allows
him to look at the light that had heretofore
blinded him. Gabriel furthermore acts as
advisor and comforter. Although Gabriel
acts as interpreter of the visions for the
duration of the ascent, Muhammad is left
by the angel to accomplish the last stage
alone.

The ascension (mi'raj) literature devel-
oped alongside and fused with Muslim
eschatological literature. What the angel
reveals to Muhammad in his journey be-
comes the prototype of the experience of
the soul upon physical death and the angel
functions both as part of the hierarchy of
being and as revealer and interpreter of
that hierarchy. Abu Yazid al-Bistaml (d.
261/874), who first formulated the Is-
lamic notion of annihilation of the self in
God (fund'), appears also to have been the
first to describe the inner transformative
experience of the pious Muslim in terms of
the ascension of the Prophet which there-

after becomes the prototype of the various
stages and stations of the experience of the
Sufi in his experience of attaining the pres-
ence of God. Inasmuch as the qur'anic
verses on the nocturnal ascent (9.17:1),
Muhammad's ecstatic vision of the two
bows (£53:1-18) and the descent of the
Qur'an (92:97) all became associated in
tradition with an angelic event, the specific
relation of the angel to the role of the
Prophet — and angelic knowledge to
human knowledge — becomes a source of
speculation. In L. Massignon's remarks on
the "two bows verse" he states, "In Surah
53, the culminating point of ecstasy is
clearly marked by the sentence of verses
8-9: 'Then he went out, then he returned,
near; it was a distance of two bow shots or
a little closer [thumma dana fa-tadalla; fakana
qaba qawsayni aw adna, The passion of al-
Hallaj, trans. H. Mason, iii, 295-6). He
points out that opinions have differed as to
the subject of the sentence: some commen-
taries consider Gabriel as the one who
draws near to Muhammad who in turn
sees him (e.g. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya);
some say it is God who draws near to Mu-
hammad (al-Hasan al-Basri); some sug-
gest Muhammad as subject (Ibn 'Abbas
and al-Hallaj); others suggest two succes-
sive subjects, Muhammad and Gabriel
(Fakhr al-Dln al-Razi); finally, others say it
is a simultaneous mutual coming together
of God and Muhammad. However, in all
cases Muhammad's experience is seen as
an ecstatic vision of "divine nature by
man's spiritual nature, through the instru-
mentality of an illuminated angelic na-
ture" (L. Massignon, The passion of al-
Hallaj, iii, 2g8).

Angels in eschatological literature
Parallel to the development of the litera-
ture on Muhammad's ascension are the
traditions which discuss and interpret the
process of death and the day of resurrec-

tion — eschatological themes — that is,
themes referring to the "end time." Murata
(Angels) and Smith and Haddad (Islamic
understanding) detail the qur'anic and subse-
quent interpretive traditions regarding an-
gels in Islamic eschatology. Angels function
in qur'anic end-time — the cataclysmic
end of the created order — sources in a
number of ways. They usher in the day of
resurrection: "The day when they see the
angels. No good tidings that day for the
sinners" (925:22). "The day when the
heavens and the clouds are split asunder
and the angels are sent down in a great de-
scent" (£25:25). They are gatherers of
souls: "The angel of death, who has been
charged with you, will gather you; then to
your Lord you will be returned" (o 32:11;
cf. 6:93). They guard over hell: "Believers,
guard yourselves and your families against
a fire whose fuel is men and stones, and
over which are harsh, terrible angels"
(q_66:6). They shall enter the eternal abode
with those human souls who have shown
devotion: "The angels shall enter unto
them from every gate" (q_ 13:23). The
"Malik" (9.43:77) who rules over hell is tra-
ditionally thought to be an angel. Hadlth
materials and traditional commentators
give names to other angels whose functions
are described in the Qur'an: 'Izra'll is the
angel of death that appears to the person
at the cessation of life and Israfll is the an-
gel charged with the blowing of the trum-
pet at the arrival of "the hour" [al-sd'a,
939:68; 69:13). Though not mentioned in
the Qur'an or early hadith, the angel Rid-
wan became an accepted figure in Arabic
literature from the time of al-Ma'arri on-
wards, perhaps in relation to the word
iridwdn, 99:21) indicating God's favor, or
sanction.

There are a number of manuals and
teaching stories describing end-time events
which became particularly important in
popular piety with regard to issues of

(JO

death: al-Ghazall's al-Durra al-Jakhira
(fifth/eleventh century), Ibn Qayyim al-
Jawziyya's Kitab al-Ruh (an authoritative
eighth/fourteenth century text on the life
of the spirit after death), al-Suyutl's Bushra
al-ka'ib bi-liqd' al-hablb (ninth/fifteenth cen-
tury), the anonymous Kitab Ahwal al-qiyama
(ed. M. Wolff; most likely an adaptation of
al-Qadl's work, probably fifth/eleventh
century, Daqa'iq al-akhbdrfi ' dhikr al-janna
wa-l-nar). Contemporary manuals on death
reflect these traditions, such as To die before
death by the twentieth-century Sri Lankan
Sufi Shaykh, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen. It is
clear that the theologians (mutakallimun)
and the Sufi commentators were for the
most part not interested — when it came
to death themes — in determining a given
sequence of events, but rather were con-
cerned with using these traditions to illus-
trate specific points about the nature of
God, the human being and ethics. Qur-
'anic discussions on death and resurrection
are aspects of the theme of the nature of
divine justice; the symmetry of the heavens
is a symmetry — a perfection — of justice
and accountability for one's deeds. There
is ultimately no evasion from acknowledg-
ing the shape that one's faith (din) and
piety (taqwd) has taken during one's life.
The Durra and the Kitab Ahwal develop the
theme of the death visit of the recording
angels, Naklr and Munkar, who in some
narratives allow the deceased a glimpse of
the gates of Eden; who question the de-
ceased on their recitation of the Qur'an,
prayers and right conduct; who remove the
soul from the body with ease, shock or pain
depending on the quality of faithfulness in
life, the latter, an extension of Q_ 79:1-5, "By
the angels who tear out (the souls of the
wicked)... by those who gently draw out
(the souls of the blessed) " The descrip-
tions of the fate of the soul after death
parallel the ascension imagery, the over-
arching theme being the soul's immediate

tasting of the fruits of its religious duties as
it ascends on a journey with Gabriel or the
angels, sometimes mentioned as two or
four, acting as guides through the succes-
sive heavens.

Al-Ghazall's Durra describes the cosmo-
logical stages of the journey of the faithful
soul through the seven levels of the heav-
ens, through oceans of fire, light, darkness,
water, ice and hail, the length of which is a
thousand years and, finally, through the
covering affixed to the throne of mercy.
The fate of the impious soul is described as
an attempted journey by the soul in the
company of the angel Daqya'il, but he is
thwarted in his attempt to lead the soul to
the throne. The gates of heaven do not
open up to the pair and Daqya'il flings the
soul back into the body — even as the
corpse is being washed. Thus, the tradi-
tions of the soul's peace or suffering at
death as well as the discussions of the sym-
metry of the cosmological heavens as
abodes for various categories of saints and
sinners support qur'anic and theological
themes of divine justice and the variety of
human responses to the call of faith. Al-
Ghazall also utilizes the figure of the angel
Ruman who visits each newly deceased
person even prior to the questioning of
Naklr and Munkar and asks the deceased
to write down the good and evil deeds he
has done. The dead person protests that
he or she has no pen, ink, or paper; Ru-
man — or in some traditions, simply Mun-
kar and Naklr — orders the deceased to
substitute his own finger, saliva and shroud.
The tradition concludes with the deceased
sealing the record and hanging it onto his
neck until the day of resurrection, an allu-
sion to 0_I7-I3, "We have fastened the fate
of every man on his neck."

Little is said in the Qur'an about the state
between death and resurrection, the time
of angelic visitation and instruction imme-
diately after death. The term partition (bar-

9 1

Zakh, q.v.) in the Qur'an (023:100) simply
refers to the inability of the departed to
return to earth — to do or to undo how
one has lived his or her faith. The partition
or barrier comes to denote, however, the
time between death and resurrection and
the place or abode wherein the waiting
occurs. The imagery of the partition in
death and resurrection literature is a fur-
ther affirmation of the qur'anic themes of
divine justice and human accountability.
Moreover, the traditions regarding the
barrier emphasize the themes of conscious
awareness of the configuration of the life
of faith or lived religion (din) during one's
earthly existence (al-dunya) and the
angel — mirroring the role of Gabriel in
Muhammad's ascension — as constant
companion, guide and cognitive interme-
diary in the death process. These tradi-
tions regarding the barrier echo qur'anic
end-time themes, focusing on that mo-
ment: "When the great cataclysm comes,
that day when man will recall what he had
been striving for" (0.79:34-5), "the hour"
when every human being will be shaken
into a unique and unprecedented self-
awareness of his deeds in which "We have
lifted your veil so your sight today is keen"
(5)50:22). The eschatological themes of the
transparency of the heart as an ultimate
aim of the human being and the question-
ing of the soul "immediately" after death
by the angels and by the guards of the
gates of hell (q.39 : 7 i_ 4) — a ^ so identified
with angels — signify key theological
themes in Islam: while God is utterly tran-
scendent, it is through the divine mercy
and illumination that self-understanding
takes place and this justice mandates that
the human being experiences/knows the
motivations and consequences of his
deeds.

The mystical schools of thought in Islam
in particular interpreted the qur'anic day
of resurrection (yawm al-qiydma), "the day

when the earth shall be transmuted into
something else" (q_ 14:48), when "we shall
create you in [forms] you do not know"
(o 56:61) as referring not only to the end of
the world and one's physical existence but
also to an interior state of transformation
in this life. The annihilation of all things at
the end time, is seen as a spiritual state of
having overcome the struggle in the human
heart against the lower self (nafs), the
world (dunya) and Satan — a "dying be-
fore death." As Bowering describes in The
mystical vision of experience in classical Islam
(149-58), this experience is one of reinte-
gration into the lasting presence of the one
God in which one is granted the encounter
with God (liqa' al-haqq), the abiding in the
divine truth (al-baqd' ma'a al-haqq) and the
visual perception of God (al-nagar ila l-
haqq). The heart (qalb) becomes in mystical
literature the seat of knowledge "through
God's knowledge" and the angel becomes
identified as the purifier of the heart, the
spiritual cleansing of which is seen as a
prerequisite for clear understanding of
God, self and the world. Furthermore, the
qur'anic "expansion" of Muhammad's
breast: "Did we not expand your breast?"
(q_94:i) is read as a widening or opening
of Muhammad to the infusion of divine
gifts and is described as being initiated
"through the light of the prophetic mis-
sion" (nur al-risala) and through the "light
of Islam" (nur al-islam). Thus, links are
made in early Islamic mystical literature
(e.g. Tustarl, Tafsir, 123, in Bowering, Mysti-
cal vision) between the heart of Muham-
mad — the essence or living reality of Mu-
hammad, which receives its pristine light
from the divine substance, the light of
prophecy — and the symbol of the angel
as the agent of the initial expansion of
Muhammad's breast and, by extension, the
expansion (the opening and receptivity) of
"whomsoever God desires to guide" to
spiritual realities. The early Islamic mystics

!>-'

speak of the peak of mystical experience as
a prefiguring of the final day of resurrec-
tion in which all humankind will be ex-
posed before God in order to account for
their deeds as well as a prefiguring of that
final annihilation of the created order
(o 28:88; 55:26-7). In the eschatological tra-
ditions, Israfil (who is not named in the
Qur'an) is the angel who sounds the trum-
pet signaling the arrival of the hour, as
stated above, and who reads from the Pre-
served Tablet (q.v.; cd-lawh al-mahju^), the
account of human creatures' deeds and
motivations. In many traditions there is a
second blast signaling the final cataclysm at
which time all created order must lose it-
self, even the angels and archangels. We
see, then, in classical mystical literature the
development of the notion of the unveiling
(kashf), that is, the revealing of one's most
secret motivations to oneself by the agency
of the angel of God through the light of
God himself and the notion of the ulti-
mate goal and end of individual existence
as the annihilation of the self (nafs), the re-
alization that all perishes but the "face of
God" (q, 55:26-7).

Gisela Webb

Bibliography
Primary: c Abd al-Rahlm b. Ahmad al-Qadl,
Daqa'iq al-akhbdr ft dhikr al-janna wa-l-ndr, trans.
A. al-Rahman, Islamic book oj the dead, Norwich
1977; al-Ghazall, Abu Hamid Muhammad,
al-Durra al-jakhira, ed. M. Gautier, Leipzig 1877,
trans. J. Smith, The precious pearl. A translation, from
the Arabic with notes of the Kitab al-durra al-fakhira
fl kashf 'ulum al-akhira, Missoula 1979; Ibn
al- Arabi, Fusus al-hikam., ed. A. A. Affifi, Cairo
1946, trans. R.W.J. Austin, Bezels of wisdom, New
York 1980; id., al-Futuhdt al-makkiyya, 4 vols.,
Cairo igiijjalal al-Dm RumT, Mathnawi-yi
ma'nawi, i, 1234; id., Kulliydt-i Shams yd Diwan-i
kabir; Muhaiyaddeen, M.R. Bawa, To die before
death, Philadelphia 1997; al-Qazwml, Zakariyya,
Kitab Ajd'ib al-makhluqdt wa-gharib al-mawjuddt, ed.
F. Wiistenfeld, Gottingen 1849; al-Suhrawardl,
Shihab al-Dln, Oeuvres philosophiques et mystiques.
Opera metaphysica et mystica II, ed. H. Corbin,

Teheran 1954; id., Oeuvres philosophiques et
mystiques. Opera metaphysica et mystica III, ed. S.H.
Nasr and H. Corbin, Teheran 1970, 1976 (rev.
ed.), trans. W. Thackston, The mystical and
visionary treatises of Suhrawardi, London 1982;
al-Suyutl, Bushrd al-ka'Tb bi-liqa' al-habib, Cairo
1969; M. Wolff (ed.), Kitab Ahwdl al-qiydma,
Leipzig 1872.

Secondary: M. Asin Palacios, La escatologia
musulmana en la Divina Comedia, Madrid 1919; G.
Bowering, The mystical vision oj existence in classical
Islam, New York 1980; W. Chittick, The Sufi path of
knowledge, New York 1989; id., The Sufi path of love,
Albany 1983; H. Corbin, Avicenna and the visionary
recital, Irving 1980; id., Creative imagination in the
Sufism of Ibn Arabi, Princeton 1964; id., The man
of light in Iranian Sufism, Boulder 1978; T. Izutsu, A
comparative study of key philosophical concepts in Sufism
and Taoism, Tokyo 1966; A. Jeffery, Ibn Arabi's
shajarat al-kawn (trans, and comm.), in SI 10-11
(1959), 43-77, ii3-6o;L. Massignon, The passion of
al-Hallaj, trans. H. Mason, 4 vols., Princeton
1982; J. Morris, The spiritual ascension. Ibn
Arabi and the mi c raj, inJAOS 107 (1987), 629-52;
108 (1988), 63-77; S - Murata, Angels, in S.H.
Nasr (ed.), Islamic spirituality foundations, New York
1987, 324-44; S. Murata and W. Chittick, The
vision of Islam, New York 1994; S.H. Nasr, al-
Hikmat al-ildhiyyah and kalam, in si 33 (1971),
130-43; id., Three Muslim sages, Delmar 1976; id.,
Shihab al-Din Yahya Suhrawardl's maqtul, in
M.M. Sharif (ed.), A history of Muslim philosophy, 2
vols., Wiesbaden 1963-6; I. Netton, Muslim
neoplatonists. An introduction to the thought oj the
Brethren oj Purity, London 1982; F. Peters, Origins
of Islamic Platonism. The school tradition, in
P. Morewedge (ed.), Islamic philosophical theology,
Albany 1979; F. Rahman, Prophecy in. Islam,
Chicago 1979; id., Major themes in the Quran,
Minneapolis 1980; A. Schimmel, Mystical
dimensions of Islam, Chapel Hill 1975; J- Smith and
Y. Haclclad, The Islamic understanding of death and
resurrection, Albany 1981; G. Webb, The human-
angelic relation in the philosophies of Suhrawardi and
Ibn Arabi, Ph.D. diss., Temple 1989.

Anger

A manifestation of God's opprobrium
mentioned numerous times in the Qiir'an
in the context of his censure of unbeliev-
ers, detractors of Muhammad and those
guilty of moral and material crimes and
general wrongdoing. It is furthermore an

ANIMAL LIFE

emotion attributed to believers, Muham-
mad's enemies and prophets, for instance
Moses (q.v.) and Jonah (q.v.).

God's anger, paired occasionally with his
curse (q.v.; 04:93; 5:60; 24:9; 48:6), sym-
bolizes his negative opinion of certain hu-
man behavior. Among past nations, the
pre-Islamic prophet Hud (q.v.) informed
the people of 'Ad (q.v.) of God's anger
against them (0,7:71), while the People of
the Book (q.v.) incurred God's anger by
mistreating messengers sent to them
(q_3:ii2). Jews (see jews and Judaism) in
particular are chastised for disobeying their
prophets' monotheistic injunctions (02:61;
7:152; 20:86).

Polytheists, hypocrites and those who
swear to falsehood knowingly are among
those who provoke God's wrath (p_48:6;
58:14; see BELIEF AND UNBELIEF; HYPO-
CRITES AND hypocrisy). Their lasting-
abode is a blazing fire that wants to con-
sume them in its fury (025:12). Jews and
other People of the Book also continue to
incur God's wrath by aligning themselves
with the unbelievers (o_5:5g-6o) and by
"denying the revelation which God has
sent down" (02:90). See also opposition

TO MUHAMMAD.

Aside from the specifically named groups,
those who are religiously and morally mis-
directed in a general sense are also subject
to God's anger (0,1:7; 3:162; 20:81; 47:28;
60:13). In addition, God's wrath falls on
those miscreants who spread discontent
among the believers by attempting to dis-
suade them from their faith (o 42:16). The
same fate is reserved for a believer who re-
linquishes his faith, unless under compul-
sion or torture (016:106), for someone who
murders a believer (04 : 93) an d f° r a De ~
liever who turns away from a righteous
battle (08:16). A woman accused of adul-
tery by her husband may, in the absence of
any evidence in support of the adultery
such as other witnesses, refute the charge

by professing her innocence and swearing
that God's wrath be upon her if her ac-
cuser is telling the truth (o 24:9). See also
apostasy; murder; adultery and
fornication.

With respect to anger as a human emo-
tion, the Qur'an mentions Moses' outburst
against his people for being led astray in
worshipping a calf of gold (q.v.) during his
absence (07:150, 154; 20:86). The prophet
Jonah was angry at God in a moment of
unjustified frustration, but eventually real-
ized his error and was saved (021:87-8).
When the time of fighting against those
who oppose Muhammad is over, the
Qur'an states that God improves the be-
lievers' hearts by removing their anger
against their enemies and making them
merciful (09:15). Suppression of anger is
generally deemed a praiseworthy quality
(03:134; 42:37). In contrast to the merciful
believers, the unbelievers (022:15; 33:25;
48:29), the hypocrites (03 :iI 9) anf l those
who criticize Muhammad out of greed
(09.58) are said to be seething in anger be-
cause of his success and God's protection
of him. See also punishment stories.

Shahzad Bashir

Bibliography
Nwyia, Exegese, 74-99; Watt-Bell, Introduction,
I2 7-35-

Animal Life

The references to fauna in the Qur'an.
There are more than two hundred pas-
sages in the Qur'an dealing with animals
and six suras bear the names of animals as
titles (02 The Cow [Surat al-Baqara]; 06
The Herding Animals [Surat al-An'am] ;
0i6 The Bee [Surat al-Nahl]; 027 The
Ant [Surat al-Naml]; 029 The Spider
[Surat al-'Ankabut] ; 105 The Elephant

ANIMAL LIFE

[Surat al-Fil]). Nevertheless, animal life is
not a predominant theme in the Qur'an.

Animal species
The common Arabic word for "animal"
hayawdn (lit. life) occurs only once in the
Qur'an (029:64) and actually does not re-
fer to an animal, but rather to life in the
next world. Arabic authors of the Middle
Ages commonly classified animals into four
basic categories on the basis of their habi-
tat. They separated animals living on dry
land from those living in the air, those liv-
ing in dust and those living in water. We
find no evidence of this classification in the
Qur'an, which only distinguishes between
animals which creep on their belly, animals
which walk on two legs and animals with
four legs. Yet some other distinctions are
also found, e.g. animals similar to men are
of greater importance than others. Like-
wise, some kinds of animals, such as fish,
are discussed less.

The qur'anic term for animal in general
and the land animal in particular is dabba
with 18 occurrences (pi. dawdbb), although
this word is not typically used in this sense
in medieval Arabic works on zoology. The
most frequently-occurring animal name in
the Qur'an is an'dm, "gregarious or herding
animals" (thirty-two occurrences) and
there are three occurrences of its synonym
bahimat al-an 'dm, referring to livestock and
large domestic animals. The singular form
na'am only occurs once. The animals which
live in herds include domestic animals as
well as those driven to pasture, which rep-
resent the wealth of men. q 6:143-4 identi-
fies them as sheep, goats, camels — more
precisely dromedaries — and cattle. There
is also a certain number of specific refer-
ences to each of these species. General
terms for camel (q.v.) such as ibil (twice),
jamal/jimdla (twice) and ndqa (seven times)
occur alongside more specific terms. 'Ishdr
(a she-camel ten months with young), ddmir

(the lean one, meaning a riding camel),
rikdb (a generic term for "riding animal,"
which in the Qur'anic passage [059:6] is
clearly not referring to a horse but to a
camel), budn (sacrificial camels) and him
(camels crazed with thirst) occur only once.
In addition, there are two terms which
probably also mean "camel," hamula and
farsh (q_6:i42), but the exact meaning and
scope of these words was disputed. Hamula
was obviously connected with the root
h-m-l, bearing the basic sense of "to
carry." Thus, according to the interpreta-
tion preferred by the famous exegete al-
Tabari (d. 310/923) and most others who
have commented on this passage, hamula
are mature camels capable of carrying a
load while farsh are camels too young to
support any weight. Some commentators
have speculated that hamula are camels and
cows while farsh are sheep or that hamiila
are camels and cows while farsh are every-
thing else. Others reasoned that hamula are
camels, horses, asses and other animals
and farsh are sheep (Tqfsir, viii, 62-4). There
are nineteen occurrences of terms for "cat-
tle" and "cow" (baqar/ 'baqara/ baqardt, and
'ijl for calf), eight occurrences of terms for
"sheep" [da'n, ghanam and na'ja/ni'dj, "fe-
male sheep"), but only one occurrence of
ma'z (goat).

The word khayl for "horse" occurs five
times in the Qur'an and we find once the
word mu 'allaqa used metaphorically for a
"disregarded woman" (0^4:129), a term
with the original sense of a mare which is
no longer ridden. The title and the first
verse of suras 79 (Those that Draw [al-
ndzidt]) and 100 (The Runners fal-'ddiydtj)
are probably further references to horses.
The titles of suras 37 (Those who Dress the
Ranks [al-saffatj), 51 (Those that Scatter
fal-dhdriydt]) and 77 (Those that are Sent
[al-mursaldt]) may also refer to them as
well. We also find words denoting asses
(himdr/humur/hamir, four occurrences) and

ANIMAL LIFE

mules (bighdl, a single occurrence). "Swine"
(khinzir/khanazir) and "dog" (kalb, see dog)
each occur five times in the Quran.

Wild animals are also mentioned. We find
four references to "quarry" (sayd), i.e. an
animal being hunted, and three references
to "wolf" (dhi'b). Furthermore, there is one
occurrence of a general term for "beast of
prey" (sabu'), one occurrence of "lion"
{qaswara, a word for "lion" that is otherwise
rarely encountered), three occurrences of
"apes" (qirada) and one occurrence of "ele-
phant" (Jil).

With regard to flying animals or birds,
there are twenty-four occurrences of the
general terms tayr and td'ir (tayr is also used
for "omen"). A term of particular interest
is jawarih which in qur'anic usage means
"hunting animals," while later Arabic au-
thors use this term exclusively for "birds of
prey." There are only a few references to
specific species of birds. We find one men-
tion of "quail" (salwd), one of "hoopoe"
(hudhud) and two of "raven" (ghurdb). Fur-
thermore, mention is made of flocks of
birds called abdbil, although the exact
meaning of this word remains unclear. Ac-
cording to some commentators, there was
a verse in the Qur'an referring to the three
pre-Islamic goddesses al-Lat, al-'Uzza and
Manat, who were described as "cranes"
(ghardmq, the qur'anic usage of this word is
connected to 053:19-20). However, it
should be noted the question of whether
this verse ever existed has been hotly de-
bated (see SATANIC verses).

Although the Arabic language has a great
number of words for reptiles and crawling
and flying insects, very few of them are to
be found in the Qur'an. Only "snake"
(thu'bdn, hayya), "ant" (naml/namla, also
dharra, "ant" being only one of several pos-
sible meanings of the last), "fly" (dhubdb),
"gnat" (ba'uda), "lice" (qummal), "locusts"
(jardd), "moths" (fardsh, also used for "but-
terflies"), "bees" (nahl), "spider" ('ankabut)

and "termite" (ddbbat al-ard, with ard un-
derstood to be "wood" and not "earth" in
this usage. This term is not to be confused
with the ddbba min al-ard — beast coming
from the earth — of the Apocalypse, q.v.).
We find hut/hitdn used for "fish" in general
in the Qur'an and there is one special fish
{nun, a whale?) which swallowed Jonah.
Frogs (dafadi') are also mentioned. Several
passages also make reference to body parts
of animals, such as wings, claws and
trunks, as well as to products from animals,
such as eggs, feathers, fat, milk, meat and
skin, and even musk, pearls and coral.

The creation of animals and their destiny
God cares for all his creatures and provides
for them (q_ii:6; 29:60; see creation). The
Qur'an asserts that God is the creator of
every living creature (0 2:29). The beasts
which God has dispersed in the heavens
and the earth are given special mention in
the Qur'an as divine signs (02:164; 31:10;
42:29; 45:4; cf also o_25:49). God created
animals (ddbba) from water (q_ 24:45), just as
he created every living thing (shay' hayy,
0.21:30). No further remarks about the ori-
gin of life are found in the Qur'an. God
created pairs of every living thing (q_43:i2
and 51:49 refer to couples and hence to the
different species of living beings), which
should be interpreted as a reference to
males and females. 53:45 definitely makes
a distinction between the two sexes. Herd
animals close to man are explicitly empha-
sized (0,16:5; 36:71). Four of the animals
usually driven to pasture — sheep, goats,
camels and cattle (06:143-4; 39:6) — were
said to have been created in pairs. Gregari-
ous animals are of great importance.
When Satan wanted to lead humankind
astray, he planned to cut the ears of camels
with the intention of changing an animal
which God had created (04:119). Further-
more, God instructed Noah (q.v.) to take
two examples of all the animal species

ANIMAL LIFE

9 6

onto his ark to save them from drowning
(q_ 23:27). Just like men, animals (dabba) and
birds form communities (umam, p_6:38, a
reference to groups of animals of the same
species living together), which will be as-
sembled before God ((542:29). The follow-
ing passages seem to indicate that animals
will be resurrected, although this is never
explicitly stated.

God subjected his whole creation (q.v.),
including animals, to men (022:65; 45:13)
and also provided men with cattle
(o 26:133). Therefore animals must have
been created in order to serve men, espe-
cially the domestic animals and those
driven to pasture. 16:5-8 refers to these
two main uses for animals, to carry loads
and to warm and feed men. Furthermore,
horses, mules, asses and camels are to be
ridden (06:142; 22:27; 36:72; 40:79-80).
Men regard horses as desirable property
(o 3:14), but they are only appurtenances of
the life of this world and should not be es-
teemed too highly. There are also passages
in the Qur'an referring to animal products
like pure milk from the belly of animals
(o_i6:66; 23:21; 36:73), skins (016:80) and
the healing power of honey (o_ 16:69). All of
these benefits exemplify God's concern for
humanity. Animals are of still further use
for men as adornments. Q_i6:8 refers ex-
plicitly to horses, mules and asses in this re-
gard. Q_35:i2, in an apparent reference to
pearls, speaks of the wearing of adorn-
ments coming from the depths of the sea
({522:23; 35:33). Coral (q.v.) in particular is
described as pleasing to look at (0.55:58;
56:23; 76:19). Q_ 16:6 describes the pleasure
one has in looking at cattle when they are
brought home or driven out to pasture.
Thus it seems to have also been God's in-
tention to create animals for the aesthetic
enjoyment of man.

Naturally, all of the animals are at God's
disposal: "There is not a beast but he takes
it by the forelock" (p_ 11:56). God sends

down rain to revive dead land and slake
the thirst of his creation ((525:48-9; cf.
10:24; see AGRICULTURE AND VEGETA-
TION). By his order, flocks are led to pasture
(p_ 20:54). The bee is following God's com-
mand when it makes its home in the moun-
tains, trees and manmade structures and
eats from the various fruits (q_ 16:68-9). Ani-
mals benefit man in many ways and stand
as proof of God's benevolence toward
man, who, according to the Islamic view-
point, stands in the center of creation and
dominates the universe, having precedence
over all other creatures (cf. o_ 17:70). Even
animal products coming out of the sea,
such as pearls and corals, represent God's
mercy ((555:22).

Animals in Islamic law
The Qur'an includes many regulations for
the use of animals and animal products, as
well as for hunting. The quintessence of
these regulations is that animals are a ben-
efit to humankind, either as food or as sac-
rifices. Man is allowed to kill animals to
keep himself alive. He may eat animals on
condition that they are lawful (halal) and
that they fall into the category of "good
things" [tayyibdt, cf. 02:172; 7:157; 23:51).
Furthermore, they must be slaughtered in
accordance with the law, although the
Qur'an itself offers no information regard-
ing the technical details of this operation
(see consecration of animals).

The Qur'an provides the basic outline of
Islamic dietary law, emphasizing the un-
lawful over the lawful foods. A number of
verses (0.2:173; 5:3, 145; 16:115; cf. 6:118-9,
121; 22:34) prohibit the consumption of
carcasses, blood, and pork as well as any
other meat over which any name other
than God's has been invoked. The Qur'an
explicitly mentions what is unlawful while
everything else is assumed to be lawful and
permitted (cf. 05 :i i 6:119) and even the for-
bidden foods are permitted in emergencies

ANIMAL LIFE

(5,2:173; 6:119; 16:115). The only foods ex-
plicitly characterized as lawful in the Qur-
an are animals taken from fresh or salt
water (016:14; 35:12). The consumption of
poultry and veal are mentioned in contexts
that indicate that they specifically are not
forbidden. Poultry will be the food of the
blessed in paradise (056:21) and Abraham
(q.v.) fed the flesh of a calf to his angelic
guests (011:69). Dishes eaten by Jews and
Christians are also permitted to Muslims
except for those which are specifically for-
bidden (q.v.), such as pork.

Islamic dietary restrictions are portrayed
as a relaxation of both the customs ob-
served by the pagan Arabs (06:138) and
the Jewish dietary law (06:146, 4:160),
which is described as prohibiting the eating
of animals having claws and certain kinds
of fat from cattle and small livestock. The
Jewish prohibitions had already been par-
tially abrogated by Jesus (q.v.; 03-5°> see
abrogation).

022:36 refers to sacrificial camels (budnj
as signs (sha'a'ir) of God (see signs). The
sacrificial animals (hady) mentioned in 05 :2
and 5:97 should probably be identified as
camels and sheep. The Qur'an prohibits
the bloodless sacrifices or consecrations
practiced in pre-Islamic times in which an-
imals were set free and allowed to go wher-
ever their impulses led them (05 :i0 3)-
These animals are privileged creatures that
were neither milked nor ridden. According
to the most common interpretation of the
relevant Arabic terms, the animals which
could serve as a bloodless consecration in
the past were a she-camel which has borne
five young ones, the last one being male
(bahira); a she-camel subject to the owner's
vow (sd'iba); the only male descendant of a
goat which had also given birth to three fe-
male kids (wasTla); a camel having offspring
old enough to be ridden; or a stallion
which has sired ten foals (hdmi).

As for hunting, animals living within the

sacred precincts (q.v.) around Mecca are
taboo (05 :i )- The prescription declares
that the hunting of land animals within
this area is forbidden, while aquatic ani-
mals remain lawful (05 : 95)- According to
the Qur'an, this prohibition is nothing less
than a test God is imposing on man (05 :i >
g4-6). It is interesting to note that all of the
qur'anic references to punishment and
compensations having to do with animals
concern the pilgrimage (q.v.) to the Ka'ba
(q.v.) in Mecca (5:94-5).

The qur'anic dietary regulations are nei-
ther completely nor systematically pre-
sented. The rules concerning slaughtering
and hunting are also not very detailed.
This situation may be a reflection of a de-
bate or dialogue over dietary regulations
occurring between the Muslims and the
Jews of Medina (q.v.; see also JEWS AND
Judaism), since the rules offered by the
Qur'an appear to be answers to particular
questions raised in that environment and
do not constitute a full-fledged dietary
code. Thus, many vital questions awaited
the attention of later scholars for answers.
In order to elaborate and systematize the
isolated qur'anic injunctions, the experts in
Islamic law turned to the practice of the
Prophet as documented in the hadlth. Ini-
tially, the passages concerning animals in
the hadlth received little attention, but
when the jurists tried to draw up a com-
plete dietary code, emphasis was also
placed on what the Prophet himself had
said about animals. It was then that the rel-
evant and appropriate passages became of
interest and hence of real importance.

Animals as signs of God's omnipotence and

warnings of punishment
Animals were created because of God's be-
nevolence and goodwill toward human-
kind. Moreover, their existence is proof of
God's omnipotence and wisdom. He is the
one who has the power to create life and to

ANIMAL LIFE

9«

destroy it (cf. 03:27). The Quran particu-
larly emphasizes the marvelous flight of
birds which are kept in the air by God
(o 16:79; 67:19). There are also tales about
the events of the past which illustrate
God's omnipotence and in which animals
figure. Manna and quails were sent down
to the Children of Israel (q.v.; 02:57; 7:160;
20:80). The dog of the Seven Sleepers is
mentioned (p_ 18:18; see MEN of the cave).
There is also a similar story of a man who
was brought back to life after one hundred
years and instructed to look at his ass,
among other things, so that he could ap-
preciate how much time had passed
(o 2:259). God brought to life four dead
birds before the eyes of Abraham (q.v.;
Q_2:26o). There has been only one living
being who on one special occasion God
permitted to create life and this was Jesus.
He created figures like birds from clay and
then breathed upon them, bringing them
to life (£3:49; 5:110). Therefore, Jesus is
privileged. Although not a part of the New
Testament, in the apocrypha we do find a
story about the young Jesus creating twelve
sparrows from clay on the Sabbath.

Here, one may see a relation between
animals which are signs of God's omni-
potence and those which are symbols
representing warnings and admonitions.
Animals are frequently cited when human-
kind is commanded to fear God's punish-
ment. God may let the animals needed by
men perish in order to call them to ac-
count for their misdeeds (q 16:61; 35:45;
during the events of the Apocalypse (q.v.),
even camels ten months with young will be
untended, cf. 081:4). On the other hand,
animals are powerful signs to convert the
infidels and make them observe God's
commands. In this connection, the unbe-
liever is instructed to examine a camel to
realize God's greatness (088:17) and we are
warned that sinners "will not enter the
Garden until a camel passes through the

eye of a needle" (07:40; cf. Matt 19:24,
Mark 10:25, and also Luke 18:25, not refer-
ring to sinners but to the rich).

As for the warnings, the Qur'an cites in-
stances in history in which animals play
different roles (see also punishment sto-
ries; warning). The people of Thamud
(q.v.) were punished after they hamstrung a
she-camel the prophet Salih (q.v.) had
brought forth to demonstrate the power of
God (0.7:73-9). In this case, an animal led
to God's intervention. There are many dif-
ferent occasions when God used animals as
instruments to guide men toward the good
or the bad. God sent plagues of locusts,
lice and frogs to punish the sinful Egyp-
tians who thought themselves mighty
(07 :i 33)- God also dispatched the raven
which showed Cain how to hide the corpse
of his brother Abel (0.5:31; see gain and
abel). As a punishment for impiety, God
transformed human beings into swine and
apes for worshipping evil (0,5:60) and some
Jews were transformed into detestable apes
as punishment for breaking the Sabbath
(02:65; 7:166). In reference to more recent
times, I0 5 describes the military expedi-
tion of the Abyssinian general Abraha
(q.v.) to Mecca (ca. 570 c.E.) on which oc-
casion the Abyssinians were accompanied
by at least one elephant. In their raid
against the Meccans, the Muslims had
horses at their disposal (08:60). Flocks of
birds attacked and destroyed the army of
the people of the elephant (0 I0 5 : 3~4> see
also abyssinia). In another passage speak-
ing of the successes of the early Muslims,
God reminds them that he alone is respon-
sible: "You spurred neither horse nor
camel" (059:6). Even Satan musters horses
(017:64).

Many of the animals found in the Bible
are also mentioned in the Qur'an to show
God's authority, omnipotence and wisdom.
The staff of Moses (q.v.) was turned into a
snake as a divine sign. (The serpent is

ANIMAL LIFE

called thu'bdn in cj 7:107; 26:32, but hayya in
020:20. Minor differences in the versions
of the story itself are neglected in this arti-
cle.) Solomon (q.v.) understands the speech
of an ant advising caution to his fellows
(£27:18.) The jinn (q.v.) learned that Solo-
mon had died when a termite (dabbat al-
ard) ate away the staff his body had been
leaning on (034:14). A fish (a whale?, hut,
021:87-8; 37:142-5; 68:48-9; nun, 021:87-8)
swallowed Jonah (q.v.) and then cast him in
the desert.

In the Qur'an, we find further references
to legendary events dealing with animals.
There are references to the cow being sac-
rificed by the Israelites by order of Moses
(02:67-71). The intended breakfast of
Moses on his journey with the wise man to
reach the junction of the two seas is a fish
(018:61-3; see khadir/khIdr). Birds are
gathered as troops by Solomon, in addition
to men and jinn (027:17-20, followed by
the story of the hoopoe). Birds are seen in
a dream which Joseph (q.v.) interprets
(012:36, 41). The dog of the Seven Sleep-
ers is mentioned four times but is never
named (o 18:18, 22). David (q.v.) and Solo-
mon ruled in a case in which the sheep of
one shepherd wandered into the field of
someone else (021:78). David also settled a
dispute between two brothers over the
ownership of another sheep (o 38:23-4). In
the narrative on Joseph, his brothers play
on their father's fear that Joseph would be
eaten by a wolf by claiming that a wolf
had killed him (012:13-7).

Nevertheless, God grants grace and pos-
sesses unlimited compassion, e.g. toward
the Israelites who have taken as a god the
golden calf (02:521-4, 92-3; 7:148, 152;
20:88; see calf of gold). Humankind
should not forget about the goodness of
God. They should turn to him, praise him,
adore and worship him and confess their
dependence on him (see adoration;
BOWING AND PROSTRATION; WORSHIP).

This is the reason that the Qur'an offers a
number of arguments derived from history
and from nature (02:116, everything is sub-
missive to God; 17:44; 24:41; 43:12; 59:24;
61:1; 62:1; 64:1, everyone in the heavens
and on earth gives glory to God). The ani-
mals (every ddbba, 016:49; 22:18) worship
God by prostrating themselves, including
the birds, which do so while flying (024:41).
The birds as well as mountains sing his
praises (034:10; cf. 38:19).

Animals as symbols and objects of comparisons
In certain cases, we find animals referred
to in analogies. The flames of hell throw
out sparks as large as castles the color of
"yellow camels" (jimala sufr, 077 : 3 2 "3)- The
word dharra means a "tiny particle," an
"atom," a "grain" or an "ant." God does
not do an ant's weight of wrong (04:40).
Something as tiny as an ant does not es-
cape God's attention (010:61). Those who
have done an ant's weight of good or evil
(q.v.) will see it on the day of judgment
(099:7-8; see last judgment). Other small
insects are symbols of the insignificant and
trivial. The idols (see idols and images)
people had formerly worshipped cannot
create even a "fly" (dhubab, 022:73). God
"does not disdain to coin a simile (q.v.)
from a gnat" (ba'iida, 02:26).

As for the comparison of men with ani-
mals or the metaphorical use of animals in
the Qur'an, it is worth noting that negati-
vity and deprecation predominate. It is
chiefly the sinners and infidels who are
compared to animals. Those who have dis-
believed and those who do not want to be-
lieve (08:55) and the metaphorically deaf
and dumb who do not understand (08:22)
are the worst of beasts (dawdbb). In hell,
the infidels will drink boiling water the way
a camel crazy with thirst (him) drinks
(056:55). Unbelievers are more misguided
and heedless than cattle (an'dmj and are
even further astray than cattle (07:179;

ANIMAL LIFE

25:44). They even eat as cattle do, oblivious
to anything else (£47:12). The Jews, who do
not understand or adhere to the laws of
the Torah (q.v.), are like an ass carrying
books (p_62:5). On the day of judgment,
sinners will be like startled asses fleeing
from a mighty lion {qaswara, o_ 74:50-1).
Those who choose for themselves benefac-
tors other than God are to be likened to
the spider (q.v.) because it chooses for itself
the frailest of houses (£29:41). An unflat-
tering comparison with animals also occurs
in £2:171: "A simile of those who disbe-
lieved is like someone calling to goats,
something which hears nothing but a call-
ing and a shouting [without comprehen-
sion]." In £7:176, one of the infidels is
compared to a dog that lolls out its tongue
"whether you attack him... or leave him
alone." If anyone associates anything with
God, it is as if he fell down from heaven
and the birds snatched him away or the
wind swept him to a remote place (£22:31).
Furthermore, on the day of judgment,
men will come forth from the tombs as if
"they were locusts scattered abroad"
(Q.54'7) ana - people will be "like moths scat-
tered" (£101:4). Those who disbelieve and
behave arrogantly will not enter the garden
until "a camel passes through the eye of a
needle" (£7:40).

The zoological elements of the Qur'an
Very little zoological information is found
in the Qur'an. Zoological realities based
on actual observation are not offered in the
Qur'an. The Qur'an does not describe ani-
mals in any depth and only very few pas-
sages refer to animal behavior. Remark-
ably, where we do find zoological accounts
is mainly in reference to insects. The spider
chooses the frailest of houses (£29:41).
God commanded the bee, in the sura
named after the insect: "Take as houses the
mountains, the trees and the arbors men
erect. Then eat all of the fruits"

(£16:68-9). These verses show awareness
of the natural environment spiders and
bees inhabit. The mention of the termite
(dabbat al-ard) gnawing Solomon's staff dis-
plays knowledge of its eating habits
(£34:14). Locusts are described as "scat-
tered abroad" (£54:7).

The qur'anic descriptions of animal be-
havior are very basic and for the most part
are confined to commonly-known matters.
The Qur'an also draws upon popular
pseudo-zoological lore, e.g. some animals
are able to talk. Three animals speak in the
presence of Solomon, who understands
their language (£27:16, 18, 22-6). As was
mentioned above, Solomon understood the
words of an ant advising the other ants to
avoid being stepped on (£27:18). Solomon
was said to know the speech of birds as
well (£27:22-6). In fact, it is a hoopoe — an
exotic looking bird indigenous to most of
the old world — who informs Solomon
about the Queen of Sheba, her magnifi-
cent trappings and her heathen ways
(£27:22-6; see also sheba; BiL£ls). The
bird then bore a letter from Solomon to
the Queen. This story was a favorite of the
commentators and was considerably elabo-
rated in later literature. The fourth animal
able to speak is the beast of the Apocalypse
(ddbba ruin al-ard, "the beast coming out of
earth," £27:82) which has not yet spoken,
but eventually will. There is no informa-
tion in the Qur'an about what this beast
will look like or what it will do. Neverthe-
less, later commentators, basing their ac-
counts on the prophetic hadith, are able to
provide a fairly detailed description of it.
Apart from the beast of the Apocalypse
(q.v.) and the aforementioned birds (abdbil)
which destroyed the army of the People of
the Elephant (q.v.), no other mythical and
theriomorphic beings are mentioned in the
Qur'an. While the Qur'an does not per-
sonify animals, in a very few instances ani-
mals appear as primary actors. The most

ANIMAL LIFE

notable exceptions are King Solomon's
hoopoe (q_ 22:28), Cain's raven (0,5:31) and
the flocks of birds which stymied the Peo-
ple of the Elephant (0,105:3) and Solo-
mon's ant and termite. However, these ani-
mals always act to benefit men and none
actually possesses any individuality. Con-
sequently, we cannot say that the Qur'an
offers much information about animal
behavior.

The Qur'an, like Arabic zoological litera-
ture of later centuries, contains no reflec-
tions on animals for their own sake or in
connection to purely zoological aims. Ani-
mals are only examined in respect to hu-
mankind. The description of animals in
classical Arabic literature centers on a few
important points. Only one of these is
treated in the Qur'an and these are the
practical components of the legal regula-
tions. The Qur'an clearly did not provide a
framework for the zoological research of
later authors. This fact is indeed striking,
since the Qur'an contrasts with pre-Islamic
poetry which is full of descriptions of the
appearance and behavior of a great num-
ber of wild and domestic animals.

Conclusion
Neither animals nor animal life are a prin-
cipal theme in the Qur'an. Though there
are six suras named after identifiable ani-
mals, animals are not described in any
depth. They stand as signs of God's om-
nipotence and sometimes play a role in his
attempts to warn sinful peoples. The
Qur'an, like later Islamic writing on ani-
mals, deals with them in relation to man
and not their life in their natural surround-
ings. Animals were created to serve hu-
mankind. Nevertheless, the Qur'an does
not provide much information on how peo-
ple should treat animals. Observation of
animals in their natural surroundings is not
a qur'anic topic. If it had been, it may
have led to the development of scientific

zoology. There are certain passages in the
Qur'an which would make us expect far-
reaching reflections on animals. But even
in these passages, many details remain un-
examined or not described. Reflections on
folk and animal lore are lacking as well.
Also, the few animals who are mentioned
in more than a few passages in the Qur'an
are neither really informative nor detailed.
Furthermore, the presentation of animals
sometimes seems inconsistent. For instance,
cattle adore the Lord, but when mentioned
in analogies their description is negative.
Apart from the power of speaking, animals
are not personified and they never bear
personal names. Animals have no individ-
ual existence in the Qur'an. What is more,
the Qur'an displays a decidedly urban atti-
tude towards animals. This attitude is also
prominent in later Arabic prose writings on
animals. Within this literature as well, nu-
merous accounts of animals are collected
without any real scientific research.

The qur'anic view of animals created the
Islamic tendency toward anthropocen-
trism. According to this viewpoint, animals
are beholden to humankind in principle
and must be seen in relation to men.
Therefore, the animal's right to exist is
based on its coexistence with men. As a
consequence, pets were not considered fit
companions for humans, and they were not
portrayed as such in either the Qur'an or
in later Arabic literature.

Herbert Eisenstein

Bibliography
Primary: Tabari, Tafsir, ed. A.S. c All.
Secondary: A. Abel, Dabba, in El 3 , i, 71; A. A.
Ambros, Gestaltung nnd Fnnktionen der
Biosphare im Koran, in ZDMG 140 (1990),
290-325.; id., Mensch und Biosphare im Koran,
in B. Scholz (ed.), Der orientalische Mensch und seine
Beziehungen zur Umwelt. Beitrdge zum 2. Grazer
Morgenldndischen Symposion (2.-5. Mdrz 1989), Graz
1989, 51-7; M. Bucaille, The Bible, the Qur'an and
science. The holy scriptures examined in the light of

ANOINTING

102

modern knowledge, Tripoli 1987, esp. 197-210; J.
Burton, Those are the high-flying cranes, in jss
15 (1970), 246-65; H. Eisenstein, Bemerkungen
zur ddbbat al-ard in Koran 34, 13 (13), in WZKM
79 (1989), 131-7; id., Einfiihrung in die arabische
^pographie. Das tierkundliche Wissen in der arabisch-
islamischen Literatur, Berlin 1991, esp. 12-21; E.
Graf, Jagdbeule und Schlachttier im islamischen Recht.
Eine Untersuchung zur Entwicklung der islamischen
Jurisprudenz, Bonn 1959, 4-66; I. Lichtenstadter,
A note on the gharamq and related Qur'anic
problems, in IOS 5 (1975), 54-61; T
O'Shaughnessy, Creation from nothing and the
teaching of the Qur'an, in ZDMG 120 (1971),
274-80; G. Pellat, L.P. Elwell-Sutton and P.N.
Boratav, Hayawan, in El 2 , iii, 304-15; N.
Robinson, Creating birds from clay. A miracle
of Jesus in the Qur'an and in classical Muslim
exegesis, in MWjg (1989), 1-13; T Sabbagh, La
metaphore dans le Coran, Paris 1943, esp. 100-7.

Anointing

The ritual practice of touching objects or
persons with scented oils. A practice com-
mon to various cultures of the ancient
Near East, anointing is typically done on
festive occasions and avoided during peri-
ods of fasting and mourning, although it is
used in burials. It has also been a ritual act
of the dedication of an individual to the
deity. In the ancient Near East, kingship
especially was conferred formally through
anointing rather than through a crown or
other fabricated symbols. The practice of
anointing was then extended to the priest-
hood in the person of the high priest who
adopted many of the roles of the king. It is
in that context that the anointing of David
(q.v.) in ancient Israel and the image of
Jesus (q.v.) as the anointed one — in
Greek, the "Christ", and Hebrew, the
"Messiah" — were developed. The Chris-
tian usage carries a deeper sense than that
of the simple act of being anointed. It con-
veys also the eschatological idea of the
promised redeemer.

In Arabic, duhn can be used in the sense
of anointing oil and that may be the

meaning reflected in o_ 23:20, "a tree issu-
ing from the Mount of Sinai that bears oil
(duhn) and flavoring for foods." In the com-
mon use of the word duhn, however, there
appears to be no particular religious signif-
icance. It is used in connection with the
anointing of one's moustache, face or hair
with oil, perhaps specifically sesame oil, or
an ointment. 2{ayl, another word for oil,
perhaps specifically olive oil, has the sense
of an oil for burning, certainly when used
in Q_ 24:35, "whose oil well-nigh would
shine, even if no fire touched it."

It is in the word masih in reference to
Jesus, of course, that the prime interest in
this concept arises. The word is used elev-
en times in the Qur'an ("the Messiah,
Jesus, son of Mary (q.v.)" in Q_3:45; 4:157;
4:171; "the Messiah, Mary's son" in 05:17,
72, 75; 9:31; "Messiah" in 0^4:172; 5:17, 72;
9:30) and is a loanword from the Aramaic
meshihd (see foreign vocabulary). The
sense often attached to that word is "puri-
fied" or "filled with blessing," both fairly
obvious attempts at isolating an appropri-
ate meaning with little foundation in the
language and mainly derived from exegesis
(see Q_ 19:31 in which Jesus says of himself,
"He has made me blessed (mubdrak) wher-
ever I be"). The idea of connecting the
word to "touching," a root sense in Arabic,
also produced the idea that Jesus' touch
could heal; thus it was suggested that Jesus
had this power because he had been
"touched" himself as had the earlier
prophets (see prophets and prophet-
hood). Al-Firuzabadl (Basd'ir, iv, 499-505)
has been able to compile a list of forty-nine
different meanings for the word masih, indi-
cating the extent to which the exegetes
went in order to find an explanation for a
word which would avoid the Christian
connotations. In the use of al-masih in ref-
erence to Jesus in the Qur'an, there is little
significance given to the sense of "anoint-
ing" as it had become connected to the

i03

ANTHROPOMORPHISM

Redeemer in Christianity, who is known as
al-Masih. The common statement that al-
Masih is understood as a proper name or
perhaps a title of honor — in the same
way that "Christ" frequently is understood
in popular Christianity — would appear
to be the best conclusion about its occur-
rence in £3:45: "His name (ism) shall be
the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary," although
the use of the proper article with a non-
Arabic proper name is unknown in other
instances.

The use of the word al-masih in connec-
tion with the Antichrist (q.v.; see also apoc-
alypse), the one-eyed al-Masih al-Dajjal,
follows the Syriac usage and does not alter
the fundamental observation that the an-
cient idea of "anointed" is very remote
from any Muslim use of the term al-masih.

Andr

Rippi:

Bibliography
Primary: Flruzabadl, Basa'ir, iv, 499-505.
Secondary: M. Hayek, L'origine des termes Tsa
al-Masih (Jesus-Christ) dans le Coran, in Orient
syrien 7 (1992), 223-54, 365-82; Horovitz, ku,
129-30; Jeffery, For. vocab., 765-6; H. Midland,
Jesus selon le Coran, Neuchatel i960, 44-9; G.
Parrinder, Jesus in the Qur'an, London 1965, 30-4;
A. Wensinck and C. Bosworth, al-Masih, in
El', vi, 726.

Ansar see emigrants and helpers

Ant

see animal life

Anthropocentricity see creation
Anthropology see social sciences

and the our an

Anthropomorphism

Ascribing human attributes to God. Tash-
bih, the term most commonly rendered in

English as "anthropomorphism," does not
appear in the Qur'an with that meaning.
The second form of the root sh-b-h appears
only once, in the passive voice, in reference
to Jesus' death: "They did not kill him nor
did they crucify him, but it appeared to
[Jesus' followers that they had]" (Q_4^I57)-
The sixth form occurs nine times, predom-
inantly denoting "likeness," as in Q 2:70:
"To us all cows look alike." The form tasha-
baha also connotes ascribing associates to
God (q_ 13:16). It also appears in £3:7,
which distinguishes between the ambigu-
ous verses of the Qur'an (mutashabihdt) and
the clear verses (muhkamat, see ambiguous).

Another expression of anthropomor-
phism was found in the ontological claim
by some Muslims that God has a physical
body (jism). Corporealism (tajsim) was not
based on any occurrence of the term with
that sense in the Qur'an but rather on liter-
al understandings of qur'anic descriptions
of God as having a physical body and also
on the ground that God exists and only
that which has physical extension can exist.
Nonetheless, references in the Qur'an gave
rise to the image of God having a human
form. Often cited were such passages as
the Throne Verse (q_ 2:255; cf. 20:5; see
throne of god) which suggests that God
is seated on a throne in heaven and the
passages that suggest God has hands (e.g.

a3 : 73; 5 :6 4; -f 8:i °) and eves ( e -g- ft 20:39;
52:48; 54:14). Quite early on, those who ac-
cepted literal meanings of passages in the
Qur'an that likened God to humans were
labeled by their opponents as anthropo-
morphists (mushabbihun) .

The background of Islamic anthropomorphism
The topic of likening God or gods to hu-
mans was already well-known in the Mid-
dle East prior to the rise of Islam, both in
Christianity and in Judaism. It had been
discussed much earlier by the Greeks. The
poet Xenophanes (fl. ca. 570-470 b.c.e.), in

ANTHROPOMORPHISM

I()4

his criticism of the anthropomorphism of
Homer and Hesiod (fl. ca. 700 B.C.E.),
claimed that God could in no way be like
human beings. This led, as H. Wolfson has
argued [Philo, i, 125), to a struggle between
the popular conception of Olympic deities
in human form on the one side and the ab-
stract philosophical conceptions on the
other. The latter came to be expressed
through allegorical interpretations of the
human representations of the gods, a solu-
tion not unlike the one argued by Mu'ta-
zilite theologians in Islamic discussions
of the question. In certain passages the
Hebrew Bible portrays God in human
terms, with hands (e.g. Isa 41:13) and feet
{^ech 14:4) and so on; but Hebrew scripture
in other passages distances God from hu-
man likeness (Isa 40:25, 46:5; Ps 89:7). As
with the Greeks, opposition to anthropo-
morphic understandings of God in the
Hebrew Bible was strongest among philos-
ophers like Philo (d. ca. 50) and later Tal-
mudic scholars. Among the Church Fa-
thers, it was the less educated monks who
asserted the anthropomorphic conceptions
of God. Clement of Alexandria (d. ca. 215)
and Origen (d. ca. 254), under the influ-
ence of Philo and perhaps the Greek phi-
losophers, rejected anthropomorphism on
theological grounds.

The formation of the discourse on an-
thropomorphism and corporealism in the
first three centuries of Islam in many ways
resembles the earlier discussions among the
Christians, Jews and pagan Greeks. It was
Plotinus (d. ca. 270) who said in the Enne-
ads, "The One is, in truth, beyond all state-
ment; whatever you say would limit it..."
(5, iii, 1215). In the early second/eighth
century, the church father John of Damas-
cus (d. 749), under the employ of the
Umayyad chancery, included in his Defide
orthodoxa a chapter on the human need to
conceive of God metaphorically in human
terms (A.J. Wensinck, Muslim creed, 68). Al-

though some Neoplatonic and Christian
influence on Muslim thinking in this re-
gard is possible, the earliest statements of
the problem in Islam are clearly linked to
disputes about how to interpret passages in
the Quran that ascribe, or seem to ascribe,
human attributes to God. Moreover, since
the great majority of Muslim speculative
theologians (mutakallimun) denied anthro-
pomorphism, the textual record of this dis-
pute is accordingly biased against those
who held that God may be described liter-
ally in human terms. The critique of an-
thropomorphism among those who denied
the anthropomorphic doctrine of God was
expressed by the term ta'ttl (divesting God
of all human attributes). In point of fact,
most of the speculative theologians and
their opponents who disputed this doctrine
found ways to hedge extreme positions of
totally affirming or totally denying the hu-
man attributes of God. Tashbih and ta'ttl
became terms of opprobrium used ascrip-
tively, rather than descriptively, as accusa-
tions against theological opponents.

Anthropomorphism in early and medieval Islam
The context of the earliest expressions of
anthropomorphic views of God is difficult
to establish with precision. Although it is
possible to speak in general terms of the
way theological movements, such as
Ash'ari or Mu tazills (q.v.) or the H anDa h~
scholars of hadith (muhaddithun), ap-
proached the problem of anthropomor-
phism, it is more accurate to analyze how
individual theologians stated the problem
and often that must be based on textual
evidence as scant as one or more brief
quotations preserved in later sources.

Muslim heresiographical sources locate
the first arguments in favor of the position
that God lacks human attributes, that is,
denying anthropomorphic views of God,
in the tumultuous final decade of the civil
war during the second quarter of the

ANTHROPOMORPHISM

second/eighth century that brought the
Umayyad Arab kingdom down and ush-
ered in the 'Abbasid age. Two rather shad-
owy figures among the earliest theologians
were said to have advanced arguments
against anthropomorphism: Ja'd b. Dir-
ham, who was put to death for his hetero-
dox religious views around the year 126/
744, and Jahm b. Safwan, who also was ex-
ecuted in 128/745 f° r m 's religious teach-
ings. The theological views of Jahm are
better attested by later heresiographers.
According to the heresiographer al-Shah-
rastanl (d. 548/1153), Jahm said it is not
possible to describe the Creator by an at-
tribute by which his creatures are described
because this would entail likening God to
his creatures (Milal, i, 86). Abu 1-Hasan al-
Ash'ari (d. 324/936) quotes Jahm and some
of the Zaydl Shl'ls as saying that God can-
not be described as a thing (shay') because
a created thing has a likeness to other cre-
ated things (Maqalat, 181). Al-Ash'arl
quotes an argument from Jahm that identi-
fies him also as an anti-corporealist: God
cannot be a thing because a thing, accord-
ing to Jahm, is an existent body and God
cannot be so described (Maqalat, 494).
Modern scholars have suspected that Jahm
was influenced by the Neoplatonic doctrine
of the unique Transcendent One (R.M.
Frank, Neoplatonism, 399-402; B. Abraha-
mov, Anthropomorphism, 12). One can infer
from the later association of the attack
against anthropomorphism with such het-
erodox figures as Ja'd and Jahm that in the
emerging orthodoxy of the late Umayyad
period anthropomorphic conceptions of
God must have been well established.
Denying that God had human attributes
entailed more than mere theological con-
flict. R. Strothmann has pointed out that
third/ninth-century Mu'tazills in Bagh-
dad accused the pro-'Uthman party,
known as the "rising generation" (nabita)
among the speculative theologians, of pro-

fessing anthropomorphic views of God.
Political conflict played a role that one can
identify in these early theological conflicts
but not always describe in much depth or
detail.

Those often accused of anthropomor-
phism, the collectors and teachers of the
prophetic hadith, were known as the "ad-
herents of hadith" (ashab al-hadith, ahl al-
hadith). The extreme literalists were often
referred to contemptuously by Mu'tazill
and Ash'arl theologians as hashwiyya (de-
rived from hashwa, forcemeat) because they
accepted anthropomorphic descriptions of
God in the Quran "without [asking] how"
(bi-la kayf). The defense of their views re-
garding anthropomorphism is often traced
to Ahmad b. Hanbal (d. 241/855) whose
statements on anthropomorphism were de-
scribed in the next generation by al-Ash'arl
( d - 324/935) in his Maqalat (pp. 290-7).
There al-Ash'arl reports that the "adher-
ents of the hadith and sunna (q.v.)" — re-
ferring in this context to the followers of
Ibn Hanbal — confess "without [asking]
how, that God is on his throne, just as He
said [in the Qur'an] — 'The Beneficent
One, who is seated on his throne'
[o_20:5] — and that he has two hands"
(Maqalat, 290). Although Ibn Hanbal and
the adherents of hadith generally rejected
the Mu'tazill doctrine of purifying God of
all human attributes, he is also counted
among those who rejected the doctrine of
anthropomorphism. Indeed, the Hanball
method of dealing with troublesome theo-
logical claims by not attempting to explain
them rationally often led to the stance of
affirming neither of two conflicting views.
Al-ShahrastanI tells us that Ahmad b. Han-
bal and other adherents of hadith took a
more moderate position, affirming their
belief in everything revealed in the Qur'an
and authentic hadith while at the same
time asserting that God is not like any of
his creatures (Milal, i, 104). Some of the

ANTHROPOMORPHISM

to6

early Imami (Twelver) Shl'ls — referred to
by Mu'tazills, Ash'arls and others as "turn-
coats" (rajida) — on the other side, asserted
both corporealism, i.e. God has a physical
body, and anthropomorphism, i.e. God's
body is like a human body. The later
Imami Shl'ls who studied theology (kalam)
with Mu'tazili teachers did not affirm an-
thropomorphism (al-Ash'ari, Maqalat,
34-5). Another early Muslim sect accused
of anthropomorphism and corporealism
was the Karramiyya, a group that began in
Khurasan in the first half of the third/
ninth century and continued to attract fol-
lowers until the Mongol devastation of the
seventh/thirteenth century.

Beyond the ascription of anthropomor-
phism to these sects, certain individuals
among the early theologians were also ac-
cused of holding and defending such
views. Opposing such views were the ma-
jority of the theologians of the Mu'tazili,
Ash'arl and Maturidi schools. Also, the
second/eighth-century Qur'an exegete,
Muqatil b. Sulayman, was accused by later
Muslims of holding anthropomorphic
views of God, but the recent publication of
his qur'anic commentary (tafsir) indicates
that he understood some of the seemingly
anthropomorphic passages in the Qur'an
figuratively (B. Abrahamov, Anthropomor-
phism, 4-6).

The problems of anthropomorphism and
corporealism lay at the heart of the dis-
putes about God in Islamic theology. For
some, such as the more extreme Imami
Shl'ls, anthropomorphic and corporealistic
notions of God were necessary ontologic-
ally; for they believed that God could not
be said to exist unless he had physical ex-
tension in space and time. Yet, as the
Mu'tazilites and other theologians argued,
a God limited by a body could not be om-
nipresent. For the extremists among the
SunnI adherents of hadlth, asserting an-
thropomorphic views of God seems to

have been more a matter of fideism based
on scriptural literalism (tamthil). Such
crude literalism could be attacked by refer-
ence to the Qur'an itself. Q_ 42:11, for exam-
ple, says of God: "nothing is like him"
(laysa ka-mithlihi shay'un). For the theolo-
gians who attacked anthropomorphism,
the discourse became more abstract and
specialized over the problem of divine at-
tributes. The Mu'tazili and Ash'arl theolo-
gians generally disagreed with each other
as to why anthropomorphism was a matter
of theological error. Inasmuch as they de-
nied that it was possible for God to possess
human or any attributes, the majority of
the Mu'tazills adopted a doctrine of God
via negativa. Al-Ash'ari described the Mu'ta-
zili view in the third/ninth century as God
"is not comparable with humans and does
not resemble creatures in any respect"
[Maqalat, 155). The Mu'tazills also ad-
vanced the concept of tanzih, the declara-
tion that God is free of any impurities such
as the ascription of human attributes to
him. Al-Ash'ari himself, following scholars
of hadlth (muhaddithun) like Ahmad b.
Hanbal, argued that what the Qur'an
states about God — such as passages ref-
erring to God's eyes, feet, hands, face and
seated body — should be accepted as true
"without [asking] how," thus neither af-
firming the anthropomorphic or non-
anthropomorphic interpretations (B. Abra-
hamov, Anthropomorphism, 6).

Anthropomorphic passages in the Qur'an
basically posed a problem in hermeneutics,
for the question that remained for all but
the most crude literalists (mumaththilun) was
how these qur'anic passages could be inter-
preted without violating the divine nature.
The Mu'tazills took the position that God's
word, i.e. the Qur'an, must be rational and
therefore the rational, i.e. true, meaning of
the anthropomorphic and ambiguous
(mutashdbihat) passages must be determined
allegorically or figuratively. This is the her-

in;

ANTICHRIST

meneutical principle behind allegorical in-
terpretation (ta'wil). Eventually Ash'arl and
Slrfl exegetes came to prefer allegorical
over literal methods of interpreting the
Qur'an (S. Wasserstrom, Between Muslim and
Jew, 136-53). Like Ibn Hanbal, al-Ash'arl
also claimed that the anthropomorphic
passages in the Qur'an must be accepted
"without asking how." Yet, in the Book of
the sparkle [Kitab al-Luma', 9) he offers a
rationale for rejecting the claim that God
is like his creatures: If he were like them
in any or all respects, he would be, like
creatures, temporally produced in those
respects and it is impossible to say this
about the eternal, uncreated God
(Luma\ g).

In contemporary Islamic theology, the
position usually found is the Ash'arite
melding of literalist and rationalist treat-
ments of the anthropomorphic passages in
the Qur'an. Among many modernist think-
ers, the more stringent Miftazill denial of
anthropomorphism is even argued, though
it is seldom identified as such. See also GOD
and his attributes; exegesis of the
qur'an: classical and medieval.

Richard G. Martin

Bibliography
Primary: al-Ash c arI, Abu 1-Hasan, Maqalat al-
isldmiyyin, ed. H. Ritter, Wiesbaden 1963; al-
Qasim b. Ibrahim, Kitab al-Mustarshid, ed. and
trans. B. Abrahamov, Anthropomorphism and the
interpretation of the Qur'an in the theology of al-Qasim
ibn Ibrahim, Leiden 1996; al-Shahrastanl, al-Milal
wa-l-nihal, ed. M.S. Kllani, 2 vols., Beirut
1406/1986; G. Turnbull (comp.), The essence of
Plotinus, New York 1934.

Secondary: van Ess, TCi, ii, 206-15; R. Frank, The
Neoplatonism of Gahm ibn Safwan, in Le museon
78 (1965), 395-424; W. Kadi, The earliest
"Nabita" and the paradigmatic "Nawabit," in
5/78 (1993), 27-61; R. Strothmann, Tashblh, in
EI 1 , iv, 685-7; S- Wasserstrom, Between Muslim and
Jew. The problem of symbiosis under early Islam, New
York 1995; A.J. Wensinck, The Muslim creed. Its
genesis and historical development, London 1965;
H. Wolfson, Philo. Foundations of religion and

philosophy in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, 2 vols.,
Cambridge, Mass. 1947.

Antichrist

In the Islamic tradition, an evil figure who
will lead people astray (q.v.) in the last days
and whose advent will be one of the signs
of the approaching "hour." The Antichrist
(al-Dafjdl, al-Masih al-Daj]dl) is not men-
tioned in the Qur'an, but he figures in nu-
merous hadlth that are cited by the classi-
cal commentators. Although many Jews
expected an eschatological conflict be-
tween God's agents and the forces of evil
(see eschatology), the belief that those
forces would be concentrated in a specific
individual called the Antichrist seems first
to have arisen in Christian circles shortly
before the destruction of the temple in 70
c.E. During that period, there were rumors
that the Roman emperor Nero (r. 54-68
c.E.) who had committed suicide in 68 c.E.
was not dead but had escaped to the East
and was about to return to recapture the
Roman empire. As Nero was a notoriously
cruel man who had instigated the persecu-
tion of Christians, it is possible that this
rumor gave rise to the specifically Chris-
tian belief in the Antichrist (cf. Ascension of
Isaiah 4:2; Sibylline oracles 4:121; Rv 13:3; 17:8).

Etymology
It is likely that the Muslims learned about
the Antichrist from Syriac-speaking Chris-
tians as the Arabic dajjdl almost certainly
comes from the Syriac daggdl which means
"a liar" or "lying" (see foreign vocabu-
lary). Hence, al-dajjdl literally means "the
liar" and al-masih al-dajjdl "the lying Mes-
siah." However, medieval lexicographers
attempted to derive dajjdl from an Arabic
root (Lane, iii, 853). One fanciful sugges-
tion is that it comes from the verb dajala,
"to cover [a mangy camel] with tar,"

ANTICHRIST

108

because the dajjal will in like manner cover
the earth with his adherents. The claim
that it comes from a homonym of the same
verb meaning "to have one eye and one
eyebrow" is equally implausible, for when
dajala is used in this sense it is clearly de-
nominal and means "to resemble the Anti-
christ." A third suggestion is that dajjdl is
derived from dajala meaning "to gild," be-
cause the Antichrist will deceive human-
kind by covering up the truth, which has
the merit of giving a sense not far re-
moved from that of the original Syriac
term.

Jewish background
The English word "Antichrist" comes from
the Greek antichristos, which is composed of
two elements: the preposition anti, "in
place of," and the noun christos, "Messiah"
or "anointed one." However, as in other
compound words of this sort, the preposi-
tional element implies that the substitute is
a counterfeit and that his relationship with
the real person is antagonistic. Thus the
Antichrist is not simply a substitute Mes-
siah, he is a false Messiah, the opponent
of the genuine one.

Although the Jews looked for the coming
of a Messiah, there is no specific mention
of an Antimessiah in the Hebrew Bible or
intertestamental Jewish writings. Neverthe-
less, there are several Old Testament types
which set a precedent for a belief in this
figure: i) Sea monster. Together with the
ancient Babylonians and Ganaanites, the
Jews believed that before creating the
world God had vanquished a sea monster
(e.g. Isa 51:9; Ps 74:i3f). According to
some authors, the monster still lies dor-
mant [Amos Q\Q,;Job 7:12) and will even-
tually be slain in an eschatological struggle
(Isa 27:1). 2) Angelic adversary. Probably
through contact with the Persians, the Jews
came to believe in Satan (Shaytan, lit. the
Adversary), a member of the heavenly

court whose role is to accuse human beings
(Jb 1:6; £ech 3:1). As the devil (q.v), Satan
was subsequently identified with the ser-
pent who brought death into the world
(Wis d of Solomon 2:24; cf. Gen 3:1-15) and
Belial, who gains power over all human be-
ings (Jub 1:20). According to some authors,
Belial will be the eschatological enemy who
will perform signs and wonders and de-
ceive many before he is finally destroyed
(Sibylline oracles 3:63-74). 3) Evil human
ruler. From the sixth century b.g.e. on-
wards, when Jerusalem was conquered by
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (r. ca. 605-
561 B.C.E.), the Jews were increasingly op-
pressed by foreign rulers. Matters came to
a head in 168 B.G.E., when the Hellenistic
king of Syria, Antiochus IV (r. 175-164
B.O.E.), erected a statue of the Greek god
Zeus in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem
(1 Mace 1:54). The Book of Daniel refers to
this as "the abomination of desolation"
(Dan 8:13) and fictionally projects the inci-
dent into the future so that it marks the last
of the seventy weeks of years before the
restoration of God's people (Dan 9:1-2,
20-7). 4) False prophet. The Book of Deu-
teronomy contrasts "the prophet like
Moses (q.v.)" who must be obeyed (Deut
18:15-9) with the "false prophet" who will
lead people astray by performing signs and
wonders (Deut 13:2-6; 18:20). Originally,
both descriptions were generic. By the time
of the New Testament, however, some
groups, including the Qumran sectaries,
expected the advent of a specific prophet-
like-Moses (iQS 9:11). A corollary to this
was the belief that one or more false
prophets would be active in the last times.

Christian background
The New Testament writers assume that
Jesus (q.v.) is the Messiah and often refer to
him as Christ Jesus or Jesus the Christ.
However, they differ over the nature of the
eschatological conflict in which he and the

109

ANTICHRIST

Christians will be involved. Features of all
of the four types from the Old Testament
are combined in the Johannine apocalypse,
which purports to be a revelation of those
things which must soon take place (Res 1:1).
It includes a vision of a sea monster (Rev
13:1-10) which is clearly an allegorical de-
scription of the Roman empire and the em-
perors who persecuted Christians. There is
also a reference to Satan who will lead the
whole world astray and who is identified
with the devil and the serpent of old (Rev
12:9). Finally, there are three references to
the "false prophet" (Rev 16:13; 19:20; 20:10).

Mark's gospel, which portrays the escha-
tological conflict as having already begun
during Jesus' ministry, depicts Jesus' adult
life as coinciding with the fulfillment of
time and the approach of God's kingdom
(Mark 1:15). Because of this, it portrays the
eschatological conflict as having already
begun during his ministry. Thus, the Mar-
kan Jesus quells a storm on the Sea of Gal-
ilee, addressing it as if it were a sea mon-
ster (Mark 4:39), and presents his healings
and exorcisms as the binding of Satan
(Mark 3:23-7). Nevertheless, Mark holds
that there will be other developments in
the future. When the disciples see "the
abomination of desolation standing where
he ought not to be," they will know that
the days of tribulation have arrived
(Mark 13:14-20). The disciples are warned
that in those days there will be "false
Christs" (pseudochristoi) and "false prophets"
who will perform signs and wonders and
seek to lead people astray (Mark I3:2if.) be-
fore Jesus finally returns on the clouds as
the Son of Man (Mark 13:26).

Although Mark does not use the term
Antichrist, he probably has the Antichrist
in mind when he employs the Danielic ex-
pression "the abomination of desolation."
In this context, the term can be under-
stood as a reference to a human embodi-
ment of evil who will make his stand in the

Jerusalem temple as the eschatological ad-
versary of God. In a similar vein, the au-
thor of 2 Thess insists that Jesus will not
return until "the man of lawlessness is re-
vealed, the son of perdition who opposes
and exalts himself against every so-called
god or object of worship, so that he takes
his seat in God's temple proclaiming him-
self to be God" (2 Thess 2:31".). He further
states that Jesus will slay him by the breath
of his mouth (2 Thess 2:8). Some scholars
still defend the Pauline authorship of this
letter, but it is probably a pseudonymous
work written like Mark in the turbulent pe-
riod immediately before the destruction of
the temple in 70 c.E. At that time, as men-
tioned above, there were rumors that Nero
was about to return and this may have cat-
alyzed the Christian formulation of the fig-
ure of the Antichrist.

The only New Testament writer to em-
ploy the actual word antichristos is the au-
thor of the first and second letters of John,
which were probably written some thirty
years after the destruction of the Temple:

Children it is the last hour. You heard that
the Antichrist is to come. Well now many
Antichrists have come (1 John 2:18)

Who then is the liar? None other than the
person who denies that Jesus is the Christ.
Such is the Antichrist (1 John 2:22).

Every spirit which does not profess Jesus
is not from God. It is rather of the Anti-
christ (1 John 4:3).

For many deceivers have gone out into
the world, those who do not confess that
Christ has come in the flesh. This is the
Deceiver and the Antichrist. (2 John 7).

These passages are striking in the extent to
which they demythologize the notion of
the Antichrist. The recipients of the letters
had been led to await his coming as that of
a distinct eschatological figure, but the au-
thor urges them instead to recognize him

ANTICHRIST

in the false teachers who have broken with
the community and who fail to acknowl-
edge the full humanity of Jesus.

With some justification, the Fathers of
the Church assumed that the Markan
"abomination of desolation" and the Pau-
line "man of lawlessness" were alternative
names for the Antichrist. Hence, they in-
ferred that the Antichrist would come to
the temple; that he would rule for three
and a half years (Irenaeus, Against the here-
sies, 5:1-3; cf. Dan 7:25); and thatjesus,
upon his own return, would dispatch him
(e.g. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical lectures,
15:12). Ephraem Syrus (ca. 306-373 c.E.)
added the interesting detail that the Anti-
christ will come from Khurasan (Sermo II de
fine extremo). Some of these features recur in
the Islamic tradition. Moreover, in the
Peshitta — the standard Syriac translation
of the New Testament — the Greek words
for "the liar" and "the Antichrist" (in
1 Jn 2:22) are rendered as daggala and
mashiha daggala respectively, furnishing a
precedent for the two ways of rendering
"the Antichrist" in Arabic.

The Antichrist in Islamic tradition and qur'dnic

exegesis
The Sunn! collections of hadith contain
numerous traditions about the Antichrist.
When these are pieced together, the follow-
ing picture is obtained. He was born to
parents who waited thirty years to have a
son. He is a thick-set man with a ruddy
face and a mass of very curly hair. He is
blind in his right eye, which swims in its or-
bit like a swollen grape. He also has the
word "unbeliever" (kdjir) written on his
forehead. He is currently chained up on an
island in the East, where a Companion of
the Prophet (see companions of the
prophet) called "Tamlm al-Darl" claimed
to have seen him. The Prophet himself
dreamed that he saw him circling the
Ka'ba (q.v.) and he was shown him again

on the night of his ascension (q.v.). The
Antichrist will be released after a six- or
seven-year war between the Arabs and the
Byzantines (q.v.) which will culminate in
the capture of Constantinople. His coming
will be one of the ten signs (q.v.) which will
precede the last hour. The signs usually
listed are smoke; the Antichrist; the beast;
the rising of the sun from the West; the de-
scent of Jesus; Gog and Magog (q.v.); a
landslide in the East; a landslide in the
West; a landslide in Arabia; and fire burn-
ing forth from the Yemen. However, some
reports substitute a violent gale for the de-
scent of Jesus and others make his descent
the tenth and final sign. The Antichrist will
come from the East via Khurasan. He will
ride a white donkey and will be followed by
seventy thousand hooded Jews from Is-
fahan. He will not be able to enter Mecca
or Medina. He will set out to attack the lat-
ter but, when he reaches the mountain of
Uhud (q.v.) outside of Medina, the angels
will turn his face towards Syria. He will
have two canals with him, one flowing with
water and the other with fire. The people
will believe in him because he will work
miracles and will bring an abundant supply
of water, bread and mutton. He will be at
large for forty days or forty years. Jesus will
descend in Damascus and will catch up
with him at the port of Lydda in Palestine,
where he will kill him with a lance. In addi-
tion, there are hadith that the Prophet said
that the person who most resembled the
Antichrist was a pagan Arab called Abd
al-'Uzza b. Qatan. It is also reported that
he suspected a Medinese Jew named Ibn
Sayyad (or Ibn Sa'id) of being the Anti-
christ. Muhammad is said to have loved
the tribe of Banu Tamlm because they
would put up the staunchest resistance to
the Antichrist. He also prayed for refuge
from the trial of the Antichrist and urged
his Companions to do the same; and he
promised that reciting the first (or last) ten

APOCALYPSE

verses of sura 18 would offer protection
against the Antichrist. Many of these de-
tails are also reported in Shl'i hadlth but
the Shi'T belief is that the Antichrist will be
dispatched by the Mahdl and not by Jesus
(see SHl'lSM AND THE (JDR'an).

The folkloric character of much of this
material suggests that it may have origin-
ated with Muslim story-tellers long after
the rise of Islam. However, there is little
doubt that the Prophet and his Compan-
ions were concerned about the Antichrist.
Proof that this must have been an interest
of theirs may be gleaned particularly from
the authentic ring of the extensive tradi-
tions about Ibn Sayyad, a Jew who ap-
parently indulged in merkavah mysticism.
Moreover, the difficulty of reconciling
these traditions with some of the other
reports tells against their having been
invented.

The classical commentators make refer-
ence to the Antichrist principally in the fol-
lowing contexts: i) Traditional accounts of
the Prophet's description of the Antichrist
are mentioned in their commentaries on
the allusion to Muhammad's night journey
in Q_i7:i. 2) Traditions that indicate that Je-
sus is alive and will return to kill the Anti-
christ are cited as evidence that the phrase
"before his death" in 04:159 means before
Jesus' death. 3) They use the same tradi-
tions in connection with 0.3:55 as evidence
that this verse refers to Jesus' rapture ra-
ther than his death. 4) Traditions which list
all the signs that will precede the final hour
are contained in their comments on the
references to Gog and Magog in o 18:94
and 021:96, to the beast in 027:82, and to
smoke in 044-10. 5) They cite the same tra-
ditions in connection with the references to
the hour in 07:187 and o 79:42. 6) They
cite these same traditions of the signs pre-
ceding the final hour together with those
which relate that Jesus will kill the Anti-
christ as evidence that 043:61 alludes to Je-

sus' final descent. 7) In their introduction
to sura 18, they cite traditions, as men-
tioned above, about the merits of reciting
its first (or last) ten verses. See also apoc-

alypse; RESURRECTION.

Neal Robinson

Bibliography
Primary: R.H. Charles, The apocrypha and
pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English,
2 vols., Oxford 1913; S. Cyril, Archbishop of
Jerusalem, The catechetical lectures, Oxford 1839;
Irenaeus, Against the heresies, ed. D.J. Unger, New
York 1992; A. Roberts andj. Donaldson (eds.),
The ante-Nicene Christian library, vol. ix (Irenaeus,
ii, etc.) Edinburgh 1868; J. Robson, Mishkdt al-
masdbih. English translation with explanatory notes,
repr. Lahore 1990 (most of the relevant hadlth
are in iii.xvi.l, viii.i, x.vii.l, and xxvi.iii-vii);
G. Vermes, The Dead Sea scrolls in English,
Harmondsworth 1975.

Secondary: W. Bousset, The Antichrist legend,
London 1896; R. Brown, The epistles of John,
London 1983; D.J. Halperin, The Ibn Sayyad
traditions and the legend of al-Dajjal, in JAOS 16
(1976), 213-25; N. Robinson, Christ in Islam and
Christianity. The representation of Jesus in the Quran
and the classical Muslim commentaries, London 1991.

Apocalypse

Revelation of things to come, especially at
the end of times, and a religiously-motiv-
ated form of eschatology (q.v.) with an em-
phasis upon the cosmic events which will
occur at the end of the world. Since most
of the apocalyptic events mentioned in the
Qur'an are connected with the resurrec-
tion (q.v.) of the dead, they are called by
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 606/1210) "the
portents of the day of resurrection"
{muqaddimat yawm al-qiydma, Tafsir, ad
039:68).

In the Qur'an
As a prophetic, revealed message, the
Qur'an is to a large extent apocalyptic yet
there are parts of it that carry this theme

APOCALYPSE

112

in a more intense manner. For example,
rj 81 The Overthrowing (Surat al-Takwir),
Q_82 The Cleaving (Surat al-Infitar) and
Q_gg The Earthquake (Surat al-Zilzal) are
accurately termed "apocalyptic suras," in-
asmuch as they are entirely devoted to the
portrayal of the upset in the natural order
of things that will occur at the end of
times. A good example of this is o_8i:i-i4,
which is considered one of the earliest pas-
sages with an apocalyptic theme to have
been revealed: "When the sun will be dark-
ened, when the stars will be thrown down,
when the mountains will be set moving,
when the ten-month pregnant camels will
be neglected... then will a soul know what
it has produced." Nevertheless, other parts
of the Qur'an are not necessarily less apoc-
alyptic. In the earlier suras in particular,
the theme of the end of the world and its
accompanying terrifying phenomena is of-
ten repeated. Although Muslim and non-
Muslim qur'anic scholarship — notwith-
standing their interdependency — do not
always agree on the order of the revelation
of these segments of the qur'anic text,
there is a general consensus that the follow-
ing apocalyptic passages: o 56:1-56; 75:7-15;
80:33-42; 81:1-14; 82; 83; 84; 89:21-30; 99;
101 are to be dated to the earlier period
of revelation (see chronology and the
o_ur'an). Western scholarship, when using
the classification of T. Noldeke and R.
Blachere, considers the most picturesque
apocalyptic parts to be from the latter
part of the first Meccan period and from
the second Meccan period. In R. Bell's
schema, they are attributed to the "early
Qur'an period."

Images of the end of the world in these
early suras are often quite vivid and con-
tain colorful descriptions of cosmic events.
However, given the variety of images de-
picted in the various suras, one cannot
form an exact picture of the events which

will occur at the end of times. As R. Paret
states, on the last day "the earth begins to
move violently. It staggers, quakes and is
crushed and flattened. It brings forth what
is inside of it and empties itself. Like a mi-
rage the mountains assume variable forms.
They collapse, are like teased wool and dis-
integrate into sand and dust. Heaven will
be like molten metal and be rent asunder,
split open and full of gaping holes. The
sun will be coiled up. The moon will
darken. The sun and moon will be brought
together. The stars will go out and tumble
down (or become dull), etc. It would be
pointless to try to patch together a coher-
ent and comprehensive account of the
events on the last day from the different
statements. The individual suras must be
taken separately, just as they originally
were recited. Indeed, the images of the
events on the last day are not intended to,
as it were, depict objective reality or to
foretell the future exactly in all its details.
They have been designed and formulated
with the intention to shock the audience, to
foreshadow the terror that, at some time in
the future, on the last day, will seize all of
creation" [Mohammed, 64-5). In addition to
these cosmic events, there are other signs
which will signal the end, e.g. the breaking
loose of Gog and Magog (q.v.; p_ 18:94,
21:96). God will bring forth from the earth
a beast that will speak (q_27:82) and the
trumpet or horn [sur, e.g. £27:87; 36:51;
39:68; 69:13; 78:18; naqur, o 74:8) will be
blown to summon every creature.

Interestingly, the early apocalyptic pas-
sages do not explicitly mention the end of
the world, refer directly to the resurrection
of the dead or give much detail about the
day of judgment (see last judgment).
Much is implicit, although the final result
is clear: the unbelievers (or ungrateful,
kujffar) and the evildoers (alladhina ajramu)
will receive their punishment in hell (al-

APOCALYPSE

jahim or al-jahannam) and the reward of the
believers (alladhina amanu) who do right-
eous deeds ('amilu al-salihat) will be para-
dise [al-janna, see hell; paradise;
garden; belief and unbelief; reward
and punishment). The fact that much is
implicit in these early apocalyptic passages
suggests that in the Mecca of the early
qur'anic revelations at least part of Mu-
hammad's audience must have been famil-
iar with some of this apocalyptic imagery.
Scholars have noted that it calls to mind
many parallels with Jewish and Christian,
canonical and apocryphal apocalyptic lit-
erature, although Arabian features, such as
the neglect of ten-month pregnant camels
(081:4) are unique to the Qur'an.

Some of the expressions used to indicate
apocalyptic phenomena occur only once in
the Qur'an, e.g. "when the earth shall be
rocked and the mountains crumbled" (idha
rujjati l-ardu rajjan wa-bussati l-jibalu bassan,
0.56:4-5). One conspicuous characteristic
of the descriptions of the apocalyptic
events is that there is no mention of who
or what brings them about ('A. Abd al-
Rahman, Tafsir, i, 80). Often the meaning
of the apocalyptic terms is not straightfor-
ward, as in the case of "the great catastro-
phe" [al-tamma al-kubra, 0,79:34) and "the
blast" [al-sakhkha, 080:33) and traditional
exegesis does not offer much more than to
say that they are names for the day of res-
urrection (e.g. Tabarl, Tafsir). The same
is said about "the calamity" (al-qana,
0101:1-3) but this term is also used to
denote the catastrophe that overtakes un-
believing communities in the punishment
stories (q.v.; 0.13:31; 69:4). Likewise, the
root r-j-f — basically "to tremble" — is
used both in apocalyptic passages and in
punishment stories (q.v.; 07:78, 91, 155;
29:37; 73:14; 79:6). The apocalyptic pas-
sages in combination with the announce-
ment of the final judgment belong to the

earliest themes of the qur'anic message. As
in Christianity and Judaism, the theme of
punishment has raised the question of
compatibility with the idea of a good cre-
ator God (see Watt-Bell, Introduction,
158-62; R. Paret, Mohammed und der Koran,
62-71).

Just as the identity of the author and the
precise nature of the events of the last day
are ambiguous, so too is the time when it
will occur. Not even the Prophet himself
was able to tell when the apocalyptic end
of the world and the subsequent resurrec-
tion and judgment will come (079:43), but
that they are sure to happen and nearly
at hand is stated more than once (e.g.
9_5 i: 5-6; 527; 53 : 57; 78:40)- According to
047:18, its tokens or portents (ashrdt) have
already come, but the hour itself will arrive
suddenly.

In exegesis and hadith
The fact that the Qur'an mentions that
even the Prophet cannot foretell the com-
ing of the hour is probably one of the rea-
sons why the exegetical works generally do
not elaborate on the apocalyptic phenom-
ena or try to determine when the end of
the world will come. Referring to 03 : 7 an d
07:187, al-Tabarl (d. 310/923), for in-
stance, mentions in his introduction that
God has reserved the knowledge and the
interpretation of the future apocalyptic
events for himself [Tafsir, i, 74).

Nevertheless, one can find some addi-
tional and traditionally accepted details in
the exegetical works. For instance, it is
commonly stated that an angel (q.v.),
Israfel (Israfll) or Gabriel (Jibrll; see
oabriel), will blow the trumpet and that
he is also the "caller" (al-munadi) of 050:41.
The commentaries elaborate upon the two
blasts of the trumpet of 039:68. At the
first blast everybody will die except for a
few chosen by God (the archangels and/or

APOCALYPSE

114

the martyrs, cf. £3:169) and the resurrec-
tion of the dead will occur forty years later
at the second blast (Muqatil, TafsTr; Tabari,
TafsTr; Qur^ubl, Jami'; Baydawl, Anwar ad
loc). In an apparent attempt to harmonize
£39:68 and £27:87 (cf. RazI, Tafsir, ad
o 39:68), Abu 1-Layth al-Samarqandl (d.
ca. 375/985), in his commentary mentions
a variant given on the authority of the
Prophet: The first blast of the trumpet or
horn — which has a circumference as
great as the distance between heaven and
earth — frightens all of creation. At the
second blast, the inhabitants of heaven and
earth die. At the time of the third blast, all
the souls or spirits (arwah) are gathered in
the horn and then blown into their respec-
tive bodies for the resurrection [Tafsir, ad
£39:68). The famous commentator al-
Tabari (d. 310/923) mentions the tradition
of the Companion Abu Hurayra about the
three blasts (TafsTr, ad £27:87 and 39:68),
without any further comments and al-
Qurtubl (d. 671/1272), after having men-
tioned the three, explicitly states that there
will only be two blasts (Jami', ad p_27:87).
Ibn Kathlr (d. 774/1373) in his commentary
on £27:87 and 39:68 also mentions three
blasts (Tafsir, ad loc). Another accepted de-
tail of the end of times is that Jesus (q.v.)
will defeat the Antichrist (al-dafjal, see
antichrist). Ibn Kathlr, in keeping with
his penchant for providing very detailed in-
formation on the events at the end of
times, says (quoting, among other sources,
the hadith contained in the SahTh [Fitan,
117] of Muslim, d. 261/875) that the period
of peace after this defeat will extend seven
years. Usually in connection with the "near
place" (makan qanb) of £50:41, "the rock of
Jerusalem" (sakhr bayt al-maqdis) is identified
as the place where the trumpet shall sound.
Often this is rationalized on the grounds
that it is the place on earth nearest to
heaven (e.g. Muqatil, Tafsir; Tabari, Tafsir;

Abu 1-Layth al-Samarqandl, TafsTr; Ma-
wardl, .Nukat; Zamakhshari, Kashshaf; Qur-
tubl, Jami'; Ibn Kathlr, TafsTr; al-Mahalll
and al-Suyutl, Jalalayn ad loc). Muqatil
(d. 150/767) suggests that the end of times
will not witness the end of the earth, but
rather the world "will become empty with
nothing in it. It will be laid out new and
white, as if it were silver or as if it were un-
wrought. It will have rays like the rays of
the sun. There will be no sin committed on
it and no blood shed" (TafsTr, ad o 99:2).

The hadith literature — such as the
chapter of Muslim's SahTh entitled Kitab
al-Fitan wa-ashrdt al-sa'a, which contains 143
hadith on the subject — gives much more
detailed and precise accounts of the apoca-
lyptic events than is found in the Quran
and the commentaries (see hadith and
the £Ur'an). In Western qur'anic scholar-
ship the study of the apocalypse in the
Qur'an and its commentaries is somewhat
underdeveloped, especially when com-
pared with the recent upsurge of attention
given to Jewish and Christian apocalyptic
literature.

Frederik Leemhuis

Bibliography
Primary: ! Abd al-Rahman, Tafsir; Cairo 1966 s ;
Abu 1-Layth al-Samarqandl, Tafsir, Beirut
1413/1993; Baydawl, Anwar; Ibn Kathlr, TafsTr;
Jalalayn; Mawardl, Nukat; Muqatil, Tafsir;
Muslim, SahTh; QurtubT, Jami '; Tabari, Tafsir;
Zamakhshari, Kashshaf.

Secondary: R. Blachere, Le Goran, Paris 1966,
1980 6 , 32-7; M. Cook, Muhammad, Oxford 1983;
R. Paret, Mohammed und der Koran. Geschichte und
Verkilndigung des arabischen Propheten, Stuttgart 1957,
62-71; U. Rubin, Apocalypse and authority in
Islamic tradition. The emergence of the twelve
leaders, in al-Qiintara 18 (1997), 1-42; P. Ryan, The
descending scroll. A study of the notion of
revelation as apocalypse in the Bible and in
the Qjir'an, in Ghana Bulletin oj Theology 4 (1975),
24-39; Watt-Bell, Introduction, 1970, 1977, 158-62;
V.P Zimbaro, Encyclopedia of apocalyptic literature,
Santa Barbara 1996, 12-4, 134.

APOLOGETICS

Apocalyptic Suras see :

Apologetics

A systematic argumentative discourse in
defense of a religion or doctrine. In the
history of encounters between Muslims of
differing opinions and between Muslims
and members of other faiths, the Qur'an
has usually been central as a guide and
source in debates and has often been a sig-
nificant topic in these discussions.

Within the Qur'an itself there are argu-
ments defending both its proclamations
and its own status. Its fundamental empha-
sis that God is one and distinct from all
other beings is most emphatically asserted
in Q_ii2, which is generally thought to have
been delivered in the context of debates
with polytheists, Jews or Christians (e.g.
RazT, Tafsir, ad loc). The Qur'an argues
generally against anyone who thinks of
God as a creature (0^2:255; 43:81, etc.);
against those, including the Jews and
Christians, who implicate him in human-
like relationships (q_5:ii6; 6:100-1; 9:30; see
anthropomorphism) or suggest he is Trin-
itarian (see trinity; cf. £4:171; 5:73); and
against the notion that anyone else is capa-
ble of creating anything without his aid
(o_6:i). Likewise, Muhammad's activity as
God's messenger is distinguished from the
actions of soothsayers and people pos-
sessed by the jinn (q.v.; g_52:20,-3i; 68:2),
authenticated (o 53:10-1) and supported by
God against opponents (o_ 108:3; see oppo-
sition to muhammad) and defined as a
continuation of the work of previous
messengers (o_4:i63; 33:40; 37:37; 61:6; see
messenger; prophets and prophethood).
With equal emphasis, the divine origin of
the Qur'an is defended against its detrac-
tors (q_46:7-8) by reference to its inimitabil-
ity (q.v.; q_2:23"4; 10:38; 11:13-4; 17:88).

On the whole, the Qur'an counsels
against involvement in pointless disputes
about matters of faith (0^4:140; 6:68-70).
The appropriate course of action is to
point out true belief politely and tactfully
(o_ 16:125; 29:46). It does, however, expli-
citly sanction confronting those who deny
the plainly revealed truth, as is indicated
by the injunction given in Q_3:6i that the
opposing parties should meet and ritually
invoke a curse (q.v.) on the liars among
them. This verse is connected with the mu-
tual cursing (mubahala) that was arranged
to decide the outcome of the meeting be-
tween Muhammad and the Christians,
who are said to have come from Najran
(q.v.) in 10/631 to put questions to him (Ibn
Ishaq-Guillaume, 277). It is the first intima-
tion of the long history of debate between
Muslims and Christians in which the
Qur'an was nearly always crucial.

Among some Muslims the status of the
Qur'an was a matter of dispute from an
early date. In the second/eighth century,
Mu'tazill (see mu'tazilis) theologians
(mutakallimun, sing, mutakallim) rejected the
Qur'an's uncreatedness as part of their
perception of the strict unity and unique-
ness of God (see createdness of the
chjr'an). At the same time scholars of a
more independent frame of mind have
openly rejected the notion that its miracu-
lous nature could be readily proven (al-
Qadi Abd al-Jabbar, Tathbit, 412-3). The
fragmentary form in which their views
have come down to us makes it difficult to
appreciate the real intention behind them,
but if the early third/ninth-century Mus-
lim Abu ( Isa 1-Warraq, who will be dis-
cussed further below, is in any way typical
of them, it appears that they were rebutting
apologetic arguments based upon the Qur-
'an's literary qualities. Remarkably, he de-
nigrates the notion that the Qur'an repre-
sents an inimitable literary achievement.

APOLOGETICS

Il(i

Among the points he makes is that the
Qur'an stands out only because literary
ability was lacking at the time it appeared,
that Muhammad's opponents were too oc-
cupied with resisting him to meet the chal-
lenge to produce passages comparable to
the Qur'an and, maybe most telling, that
literary abilities can be acquired naturally
and are not necessarily indications of di-
vine endowments (al-Maturldl, Tawhid,
igi; see also D. Thomas, Anti-Christian po-
lemic, 28). These particularly provocative
criticisms presuppose a lively and devel-
oped debate about the claims made within
the Qur'an itself for its distinctiveness and
suggest that the opposition to which the
text itself attests was by no means silenced
in every quarter by the defensive responses
it contains.

If such radical criticisms were relatively
rare among Muslims themselves and lev-
eled by marginal figures, they persisted
among Christians who expressed views
about the Qur'an throughout much of the
shared history of the two faiths. The first
major figure whose opinions are clearly
known is John of Damascus (d. ca. 132/
750) who accuses Muhammad of writing a
work on his own on the basis of what an
Arian monk had told him about the Bible
(q.v.; J.-P. Migne, Patrologia graeca, xciv, col.
765; see informants). Here there is a clear
allusion to the story of the monk who rec-
ognized Muhammad as a prophet, which
the classical biographies of Muhammad
(see SIRA and THE qur'an) relate (e.g. Ibn
Ishaq-Guillaume, 79-81). However, the
Christian apologists identify him as a here-
tic who was consciously exploited by Mu-
hammad. The accusation that the Qur'an
springs from Muhammad's own authorship
became commonplace in the Christian
anti-Muslim polemic in the Middle Ages,
when it was generally accepted unques-
tioningly that he was driven by selfish am-
bition in composing it (N. Daniel, Islam and

the West, 47-99). Some modern scholars
have substantially reversed this received
verdict. Their views concerning the sincer-
ity of Muhammad's sense of vocation may
suggest that Muslims and Christians can
move closer together with regard to their
view of the status of the Qur'an in the
light of present-day understandings about
the incidence of inspiration (see revela-
tion and inspiration).

Undoubtedly, the Qur'an has been the
most important single influence upon Mus-
lim thinking about other faiths. This is at-
tributable to the explicit teachings it con-
tains concerning the leading figures and
beliefs of Judaism and Christianity, and
even more importantly to the relationship
it asserts both between itself and previous
revelations and between the faith it pro-
claims and earlier beliefs. Among the most
detailed, though nevertheless incomplete,
teachings in the Qur'an are the explana-
tions about the person of Jesus (q.v.), the
Messiah, and the community who claimed
to follow him. Muslims who were involved
in encounters with Christians in the early
centuries of Islam often made these teach-
ings the basis of arguments with which
they attempted to show that Jesus was only
human, that God was one and not triune,
and that Christians had been misled in a
number of their beliefs. One of the earliest
surviving, though incomplete, examples of
this demonstrative literature, perhaps dat-
ing from as early as 210/825, is the now in-
complete Response to the Christians (al-Radd
'aid l-nasara) of the Zaydi imam al-Qasim
b. Ibrahim (d. 246/860). This relatively
short tract contains full and accurate infor-
mation about Christian doctrines and be-
liefs. Nevertheless, its author remains loyal
to what he understands to be the qur'anic
view of Christianity. Thus his main argu-
ment that Christianity is wrong about the
divinity of Christ, which he adduces Gos-
pel texts to support, is essentially a vindica-

APOLOGETICS

tion of the teaching on this point given in
the Qur'an (see jews and Judaism; chris-
tians AND CHRISTIANITY; SCRIPTURE AND
THE QUR'AN).

It might be assumed that polemical litera-
ture of this type runs the risk of failing to
carry its arguments home to Christians for
the reason that it was not addressing their
understanding of the doctrines but rather
the qur'anic interpretation of them. Never-
theless, in numerous later instances it is still
evident that Muslim authors were guided
primarily by the teachings of the Qur'an.
Even when they took Christian doctrinal
explanations into account, they still gener-
ally conformed to the tendency to follow
the Quran's guidelines in their approach.
The most striking exception to this general
trend appears to be the independent
thinker Abu ( Isa al-Warraq, from the early
third/ninth century, one of the most in-
tense periods of intellectual encounter be-
tween Muslims and Christians. His long
and concentrated refutation of the doc-
trines of the Trinity and Christ's divine
and human nature is based upon exhaus-
tive research into the teachings of the ma-
jor Christian denominations. It relies for its
effect entirely upon stringent logical rea-
soning, which reveals the inconsistencies
and contradictions in the doctrines he ex-
amines. Thus, his arguments stem from the
structure of Christian thought itself. It is
little wonder that within a few decades
Christians recognized the cogency of his
attack and saw the need to marshal re-
sponses. Nonetheless, the work tacitly ac-
knowledges the pervasive influence of the
Qur'an, since its twin attacks are effectively
amplifications of the qur'anic denial of the
Christian assertion of the Trinity (tathllth,
cf. Q_4:i7i; 5:73) and the divine sonship of
Jesus (5)9:30; 19:34-5). Therefore, despite its
stance of rational impartiality, the attack is
as much a defense of absolute unity (taw-
hid) as a refutation of Christian doctrines.

In this respect it conforms to the typical
model of Muslim anti-Christian polemic.

The general stance of Muslim polemicists
may be linked to the attitude expressed in
the Qur'an itself that it was revealed to
confirm the earlier revelations (o_ 3:3-4;
5:48; 6:92; 10:37; 46:12) and that it should
be taken as the complete guide to the truth
(o 9:33; 25:1). Believing that the Qur'an was
the source of the truth and that Islam was
the authentic expression of this truth, po-
lemicists viewed other religions as either
incomplete or incorrect forms of Islam
(q.v; see also belief and unbelief). It fol-
lowed that one main purpose of their argu-
ments was to show where the inadequacies
of the other faiths were to be found. An-
other was to establish the truth of Islam
by demonstrating that other attempted
versions of the truth did not have the in-
ner consistency or comprehensiveness of
their own. Some of the fullest examples of
this approach are to be found in the theo-
logical compendiums of the two leading
fourth/tenth century theologians, the Book
of preparation (Kitab al-Tamlud) of the
Ash'arl theologian al-Baqillam (d. 403/
1013) and the Only work necessary on the vari-
ous aspects of [divine] unity and justice (al-
Mughmfi abwdb al-tawhid wa-l-'adl) of the
Mu'tazill al-Qadl Abd al-Jabbar al-
Hamadhanl (d. 415/1025). In both of these
works a refutation of the main doctrines of
other religions as understood by Islam fol-
lows the exposition of the corresponding
Islamic doctrine. A refutation of the Chris-
tian doctrines of the Trinity and Incarna-
tion follows the exposition of the Muslim
doctrine of God's unity. In the same way,
Jews are criticized for their rejection of
prophets who succeeded Moses and this is
combined with an exposition of Muham-
mad's authenticity as a prophet. In such
cases the refutations of the rival doctrines
serve to adumbrate the soundness of the
Islamic formulation. This is a large-scale

APOLOGETICS

118

expression of the way in which qur-
'anically-inspired religious thinking in
Islam gives arguments against the validity
of other religions a character which is both
instructive and apologetic. Again, this ap-
proach accords with the qur'anic injunc-
tion to desist from unedifying discussions
about matters of faith (g_4:i40; 6:68-9) and
to use the best means when arguing with
the other so-called "People of the Book"

(q-v-; 029:46).

A last feature of Muslim apologetics
worth noting is the manner in which the
scattered remarks given in the Qur'an re-
garding the concealment and corruption of
earlier revelations ((32:75, 140; 3:78; 4:46;
5:15, 41) are systematized into the general
principle that the Torah (q.v.) and Gospels
(q.v.) are unreliable. Some authors pro-
ceeded on the assumption that, while the
actual text of the biblical books was more
or less sound, the Jewish and Christian in-
terpretations of them were confused.
Among these were the aforementioned al-
Qasim b. Ibrahim, who adduces long quo-
tations from the Gospels to support his
argument that Jesus was only human. An-
other was the Christian convert to Islam
Allb. Rabban al-Tabarl (d. ca. 250/864),
whose Book of religion and empire (Kitab al-Din
wa-l-dawla) contains about 150 verses trans-
lated from throughout the Bible together
with ingenious and sometimes tortuous in-
terpretations to show the ways in which
they foretell the coming of Muhammad
and Islam. The author of The beautiful re-
sponse (al-Radd al-jamil), which has often
been attributed to al-Ghazali (d. 505/1 1 11),
also followed this course. Other scholars
adopted the position that the texts them-
selves had been corrupted. They postu-
lated that this came about when the early
Christians attempted to reconstruct the
original Gospels, which they had lost, or
when the apostle Paul introduced extrane-
ous material into the sacred text. The anti-

Christian polemic of the famous litterateur
al-Jahiz (d. 255/869) implies that the evan-
gelists have lied [al-Radd 'aid l-nasdrd, 24).
Al-Qadl Abd al-Jabbar argued at length
that Paul corrupted the original purity of
Jesus' message (Tathbit dald'il al-nubuwwa).
The Andalusian theologian and litterateur
Ibn Hazm (d. 458/1065) composed one of
the most searching critiques of the biblical
texts (Mild). Al-Juwaynl (d. 478/1085) at-
tempted to show that textual corruption
had taken place (Shifd' al-ghalil) . Whether
exposing misinterpretations or misrepre-
sentations of the original texts, Muslim au-
thors produced their arguments in confor-
mity with the belief that the Qur'an itself
provided unimpeachable guidance.

A small but instructive indication of the
trust placed in sacred text by Muslim po-
lemicists is that for many of them a proof
verse against the divinity of Jesus was, John
20:17, where Jesus says to Mary Magda-
lene, "Do not touch me, for I have not yet
ascended to ray father, but go to my breth-
ren and say to them, 'I ascend to my father
and your father, to my God and your
God.' " They could presumably feel confi-
dent in citing this because it was close
enough to Jesus' words to the people of Is-
rael in the Qur'an, "It is God who is my
lord and your lord. So worship him"
((53:51), for them to consider it authentic.
See DEBATE AND DISPUTATION.

David Thomas

Bibliography
Primary: Abd al-Jabbar b. Ahmad, al-Mughm ji
abwab al-tawhid wa-l-'adl, various eds., Cairo
1958-65; id., Tatbbit dald'il al-nubuwwa, ed. ( A.-K.
'Uthman, Beirut 1966; Abu ( Isa al-Warraq, Kitab
al-Radd 'aid l-thaldth firaq min al-nasdrd, ed. and
trans. D. Thomas, Anti-Christian polemic in early
Islam. Abu Isa al-Warrdq's "Against the Trinity,"
Cambridge 1992; al-Baqillam, Kitab al-Tamlud,
ed. R.J. McCarthy, Beirut 1957; al-Ghazali
(attributed), al-Radd al-jamil li-ildhiyyat : Isd bi-sarih
al-injTl, ed. and trans. R. Chidiac, Refutation

1 1 9

APOSTASY

excellente de la divinite de Jesus Christ d'apres les
evangiles, Paris 1939; al-Jahiz, al-Radd 'aid l-nasdrd,
in Thalath rasa'il li-Abi 'Uthman 'Amr b. Bahr
al-Jdhi^, ed. J. Finkel, Cairo 1926; al-Juwaynl,
Shifa' al-ghalilfi bayan ma waqa'afi l-tawrah wa-l-
injil min al-tabdil, ed. M. Allard, Textes apologetiques
de Guwayni, Beirut 1968; al-Maturldl, Kitab al-
Tawhid, ed. F. Kholeif, Beirut ig7u;J.-P. Migne,
Patrologia graeca, xciv, col. 765; al-Qasim b.
Ibrahim, al-Radd did l-nasara, ed. and trans. I. di
Matteo, Gonfutazione contro i Cristiani dello
zaydita al-Qasim b. Ibrahim, in RSO 9 (192 1-2),
301-64; al-Tabarl, 'All b. Rabban, Kitab al-Din
wa-l-dawla, ed. A. Mingana, Manchester 1923.
Secondary: N. Daniel, Islam and the West. The
making of an image, Oxford i960, 1993 s ; D. Kerr,
"He walked in the path of the prophets."
Toward Christian theological recognition of the
Prophet Muhammad, in Y.Y. Haddad and W.Z.
Haddad (eds.), Christian-Muslim encounters,
Gainsville 1995; H. Lazarus-Yafeh, Intertwined
worlds. Medieval Islam and biblical criticism,
Princeton 1992; I. Shahld, The martyrs of Najrdn.
New documents, Bruxelles 1971; W.M. Watt,
Muslim-Christian encounters. Perceptions and
misperceptions, London 199 1.

Apostasy

Turning away from or rejecting one's reli-
gion. The qur'anic notion of apostasy is
functionally represented by two main con-
cepts, kufr and irtidad, the latter bearing
more directly than the former upon no-
tions of apostasy. Beginning sometime dur-
ing the second/eighth century, irtidad came
to be used in legal and other discourses
to speak exclusively of apostasy. In the
Qur'an, however, the semantic and con-
ceptual connection between the terms irti-
dad and kufr seems to have already been
made, albeit tenuously, before the emigra-
tion to Medina, as evidenced in the verse:
"Those who come to disbelieve (kafara) af-
ter believing" (q_ 16:106). In the Medinan
period of the Qur'an, the connection be-
came more pronounced and in some in-
stances the terms were used synonymously.

The meaning embedded in the qur'anic
concept of disbelief (kufr) assumes God to
be infinitely merciful, generous, compas-

sionate, and beneficent. Being directed to-
wards human beings, these qualities dictate
that humans, in turn, should be grateful to
God for his goodness. Disbelief, then, is
the act of failing to acknowledge, even of
rejecting, God's benevolence, and together
with this ingratitude and rejection comes,
in a more developed sense of the term, the
renunciation of God himself (see belief
and unbelief). In this respect, the Qur'an
distinguishes between two types of disbe-
lief: that of the person who could never see
God's goodness and thus remains in his
original state of disbelief and that of
someone who did acknowledge God, but
subsequently turned his back upon his be-
nevolence and finally upon God himself.
This latter type becomes the exact equiva-
lent of the apostate (murtadd), one who
commits apostasy (irtidad). Derivatives of
the root k-f-r occur some 482 times in the
Qur'an. When verbal variations of kafara
are used, it is not always clear which of the
two types is meant. In at least nineteen
verses, kufr is unmistakably used in the
sense of apostasy. A small number of other
verses may arguably be interpreted as car-
rying this sense, but such interpretations
remain shrouded in uncertainty.

Yet another central qur'anic term con-
ceptually associated with apostasy isfisq, a
stage beyond that of kufr, when the person
stubbornly persists not only in turning
away from God but also in deliberately dis-
obeying his commands. o_ 24:55 reads:
"God has promised to appoint those of
you who believe and perform honorable
deeds as [his] representatives on earth, just
as he made those before them into such
overlords, and to establish their religion for
them which he has approved for them, and
to change their fear into confidence. They
serve me [alone] and do not associate any-
thing else with me. Those who disbelieve
(kafara) henceforth are the miscreants (jusi-
qun)." Abandoning the religion of Islam is

AP O STAS Y

120

therefore not only irtidad but also kufr and
fisq. It is through the juxtaposition of this
terminological triad that the Quran artic-
ulates the idea of apostasy.

The characterization and fate of those
who commit apostasy vary in the Qur'an.
What is striking, especially in light of later
juristic developments, is that although
apostates are usually assigned a place in
hell, there is no mention of any specific
corporeal punishment to which they are to
be subjected in this world. In certain chap-
ters of the Qur'an, the apostates are de-
scribed merely as "having strayed from the
right path" (q_2:io8; also 4:167), while in
others they are threatened with a severe yet
unspecified punishment in this world and
in the hereafter (q_ 9:74). They are ignorant
and "their punishment is that upon them is
heaped the curse of God, of angels and of
people in their entirety" (03:87). In fact, in
Q_ 2:109, the believers are even asked to for-
give them: "Many People of the Book (q.v.)
would like to turn you back (yaruddunakum)
into unbelievers (kujjar, sing, kafir) after you
have professed the faith, out of envy of
their own, even though the truth has been
manifested unto them. Pardon and forgive
them till God brings his commands." The
relatively lenient position of the Qur'an to-
ward apostates is also betrayed by the self-
reassurance expressed in such verses as
(^3:176-7: "Let not their conduct grieve
you, who rush into disbelief, for lo! they in-
jure God not at all. It is God's will to assign
them no portion in the hereafter, and theirs
will be an awful doom. Those who pur-
chase disbelief at the price of faith harm
God not at all, but theirs will be a painful
torment." It is quite plausible that the vari-
ous types of reaction to apostasy, from the
near oblivion to the angry chastisement

(see CHASTISEMENT AND PUNISHMENT),

may be a reflection of the changing cir-
cumstances with which the Qur'an had to

deal as its mission evolved. At the early
stages, the Prophet did not have the effec-
tive power to deal with the apostates and
thus the Qur'an adopted a considerably
more lenient attitude. With the growing
strength of the new religion that attitude
changed into a confident and less compro-
mising one.

Despite the apostates' fate (q.v.) in the
hereafter and their awful doom, they can
always return to Islam, for God is "forgiv-
ing and merciful." This is especially true in
the case of those who were coerced to
apostatize (cj 16:106). But the repentance of
those who persisted in and cherished apos-
tasy and heresy (q.v.), and who remained
for long obdurate in their antagonism to-
ward Islam, shall never be accepted
(q_ 3:90). The Qur'an frequently reminds
the apostate who is not long persistent in
his heresy and disbelief to re-embrace the
faith soon while he still has the opportunity
to do so. For death can come stealthily and
seal the fate of the apostate into an eternal
and irreversible doom. 0,47:34 is quite
clear and sums up the qur'anic position on
the matter: "Those who disbelieve (kafaru)
and turn from the way of God (see path
or WAY [of god]) and then die unbeliev-
ers, God surely will not pardon them" (see
also Q_2:i6i, 217; 3:91).

Upon the Prophet's death and until the
early months of 13/634, Muslim armies
engaged in a number of battles that came
later to be known as the wars of apostasy
(hurub al-ridda). Except for Medina, Mecca
and the immediately surrounding regions,
nearly all the rest of Arabia rose up against
Muslim rule. Scholars disagree as to the
causes of resistance, some arguing that it
was provoked by a rejection of the taxes
the Prophet imposed on the Islamicized
tribes together with what that clearly im-
plied in terms of political domination.
Others have seen it as expressing a reli-

APOSTASY

gious revolt, challenging the religion of the
new state at Medina. A more convincing
view, however, is that each of the revolts
against the new order had its own causes.
Of the six major centers of uprising, four
had a religious color, each led by a so-
called prophet, prophetess or soothsayer:
al-Aswad al-AnsT in Yemen, Musaylima
(q.v.) in Yamama, Tulayha b. Khuwaylid of
the tribes of Banu Asad and Banu Ghata-
fan and Sajah of the tribe of Tamlm. The
resistance in the two other centers — east
and southeast of the Arabian peninsula —
seems to have been caused by a refusal to
submit to the political authority of Medina
including the payment of taxes imposed
upon them by the Prophet in g/630.

Following classical Islamic sources, much
of modern scholarship tends to see all
these wars and battles that took place
within the boundaries of Arabia — before
the conquests in Syria and Fflra began —
as falling into the category of the wars of
apostasy. In point of fact, of all the centers
of revolt only Najd qualifies, strictly speak-
ing, for classification as a center of apostate
rebellion. The Banu Hanlfa, led by Musay-
lima in Yamama, had never been subject to
Medinan domination nor did they sign
any treaty either with Muhammad or with
his successor Abu Bakr (11/632-13/634). It
was only when the military commander
Khali d b. al-Walld (d. 21/642) defeated
them in 12/633 that they came, for the first
time, under Medinan domination. In
other words, they never converted to Islam
in the first place so that they cannot cor-
rectly be labeled as apostates. A similar
situation existed in 'Urnan, al-Bahrayn, al-
Yaman, and Hadramawt. There, Muham-
mad concluded treaties with military
leaders — some of whom were Persian
agents — who were quickly ousted by the
local tribes. Thus, the tribes' resistance to
Medina did not presuppose a particular re-

lationship in which they paid allegiance to
the Muslim state. Again, their uprising
does not constitute apostasy, properly
speaking. The tribes of Najd, on the other
hand, were their own masters and signed
treaties with Muhammad, the terms of
which required them to adopt Islam and to
pay homage as well as taxes to Medina.
Their revolt, thus, constituted a clear case
of apostasy. In the other cases it was not
exactly apostasy on the part of the tribes
which prompted the wars but rather the
Medinan religious, political and territorial
ambitions.

It is highly probable that the events mak-
ing up the so-called wars of apostasy, to-
gether with their fundamental impact upon
the collective Muslim psyche, generated a
new element in the attitude toward apos-
tasy. Being largely a reflection of the post-
Prophetic experience, hadlth — the reports
that are believed to document the words
and deeds of the Prophet — stipulate, at
variance with the Quran, that the apostate
should be punished by death. To be sure,
this stipulation reflects a later reality and
does not stand in accord with the deeds of
the Prophet. In fact, if we go by what
seems to be reliable information about
Muhammad, the Quran emerges as a
more accurate representation of his atti-
tude toward apostasy. It is more likely that
Abu Bakr was the first to be involved in
putting to death a number of apostates, an
action which was in the course of time per-
ceived as the practice (sunna, q.v.) of the
Prophet. Later sources sanctioned this pen-
alty and made a point in mentioning that
the other Companions approved of Abu
Bakr's action.

On the authority of the Companion Ibn
'Abbas (d. 68/688), the Prophet is reported
to have said, "He who changes his religion,
kill him." Another hadlth from Ibn 'Abbas
and the Prophet's wife 'A'isha (see 'a'isha

AP O STAS Y

I.'L>

bint abi bakr) states that the Prophet al-
lowed the execution of anyone who aban-
doned Islam and dissented with the com-
munity. The Prophet is also reported to
have given Mu'adh b. Jabal the following
order when he dispatched him to govern in
the Yemen: "Any man who turns away
from Islam, invite him [to return to it] ; if
he does not return, cut off his neck." The
second half of the hadlth occurs also in a
virtually identical formulation, but applies
to women. A more categorical, yet value-
less, hadlth specifies that "He whose reli-
gion differs from that of Islam, behead
him." The means of implementing capital
punishment so stated in hadlth did vary.
One hadlth, reported by A'isha, specifies
that beheading, crucifixion or banishment
are acceptable, but burning at the stake is
not. Another hadlth — used by Ibn
Abbas in criticism of the fourth caliph
All (r. 35/ 656-40/661), who burned some
unbelievers or heretics (zanadiqa, sing.
zindlq) — declares that: "He who aban-
dons his religion (variant: "turns back on
his own religion") kill him, but do not pun-
ish anyone by means of God's punish-
ment," i.e. fire.

Within Islamic law, apostasy is defined as
releasing oneself from Islam (gat' al-Islam)
by means of saying or doing something he-
retical, even in jest. Upholding a theologi-
cal doctrine which negates the existence of
God; rejecting the Prophets; mocking or
cursing God or the Prophet; kneeling down
in prayer to an idol, the moon or the sun
(see idols and images); dumping a copy
of the Quran in a waste basket; declaring
legal what is otherwise strictly illegal, such
as adultery (see adultery and forni-
cation), all constitute apostasy.

The apostate who is compos mentis (mukal-
laf), is given a three-day grace period to re-
consider his decision. If he repents, there
are to be no legal consequences. If he does

not, then he is by juristic consensus (ijma')
to be executed by the sword. The female
apostate receives the same punishment ac-
cording to all the schools except the
Hanafis and Twelver Shi'is (Ja'faris), who
waive this punishment and replace it by
imprisonment. If the apostate is killed
during the grace period, his killer is not
prosecuted nor under the obligation to
pay blood money (diya, see blood
money). Some of the civil consequences of
apostasy are that the property of the apos-
tate is appropriated by the state treasury
and all his transactions are considered null
and void. If the person repents, he is given
what is left of his property. This precept
was formulated in a context where apos-
tates had escaped to non-Muslim territory
and returned much later to repent and re-
claim their property. Legally speaking, mi-
nors, madmen and fully capacitated per-
sons coerced into apostasy are not
considered apostates. The foregoing dis-
cussion of the Quran makes it clear that
nothing in the law governing apostates
and apostasy derives from the letter of the
holy text. See also faith.

Wael Hallaq

Bibliography
Primary: al-Baladhurl, Futdh at-bulddn, Hyderabad
1932; al-Ghunayml, al-Lubdb fi shark al-kitdb, 4 vols.,
Cairo 1963, iv, 148-53; Ibn Hajar, Fath al-barl bi-sharh
Sahih al-Bukhdn, ed. C A/A. al-Baz et al., 13 vols.,
Beirut 1980, xii, 264-75; Ibn Ishaq-Guillaume; Ibn
Kathlr, 'TafsTr; Ibn Qudama, al-Kafijifiqh al-imdm
Ahmad b. Hanbal, ed. S. Yiisuf et al., 4 vols., Cairo
1994, iv, 73-9; M. al-Khattab, Mawdhib al-jalil
li-sharh Mukhtasar al-Khalil, 6 vols., Tripoli (Libya)
1969, vi, 279-90; NawawT, Minhdj al-tdlibin, trans.
E.C. Howard, London 1914, 436-8; QastallanT,
Irshdd al-sdri li-sharh Sahih al-Bukhdn, 15 vols., Beirut
1990, xiv, 392-8; TabarT, Tankh, repr. Karachi 1967,
iii, 223-342.

Secondary: W. Heffening, Murtadd, in ei s , vii,
635-6; Izutsu, Concepts, 119-33, l b6-Q m , E. Shoufani;
al-Ridda and the Muslim conquest of Arabia, Toronto
1972.

123

APOSTLE

Apostle

The disciples of Jesus (q.v.). The word for
the apostles, hawariyun ('sing, hawari), occurs
four times in the Qur'an ((53:52; 5:111, 112;
61:14) and only in the plural. Most Muslim
commentators (cf. M. Ayoub, The Qur'an,
158-62) regard hawari as a pure Arabic
word derived from the verb hara, meaning
"to return," or from hawira, "to be glisten-
ing white." The first derivation yields the
meaning "disciples," since a prophet turns
to a disciple for help. This understanding
would also be compatible with another
tradition that the apostles are "helpers"
(ansar). This reflects Jesus' question in the
Qur'an, "Who will be my helpers to God?"
[man ansari ila llah, 03:52). Some reports in-
dicate that apostles are, in a general sense,
the "special companions of the prophets"
(khassat al-anbiyd' ' wa-safwatuhum), as in the
statement of Muhammad, "[The Com-
panion al-Zubayr b. al-'Awwam] ... is my
apostle from my community" (cf. M.
Ayoub, The Qur'an, 159; Ibn Kathir, Tafsir,
ii, 42-3). The most popular etymology de-
rives the meaning of hawari from hawat;
meaning "intense whiteness." Some report
that the apostles wore pure white gar-
ments. Others make them fullers (sing.
qassdr). Still others hold that the name re-
fers to the purity of the apostles' hearts.
Interpretations closer to the witness of
the Christian gospels frequently mention
that Jesus' apostles, corresponding to the
twelve tribes of Israel, were twelve in num-
ber; they were fishermen and his first loyal
followers (khulasd' or talamidh), even leaving
their families and homes to follow Jesus.
Others say hawariyun means "strivers" (sing.
mujahid) because in 061:14 believers are be-
ing asked to fight for Muhammad in a spir-
it of obedience like that of Jesus' apostles.
The most difficult interpretation to justify
with reference to a specific Quranic pas-

sage is that the apostles were "kings" (sing.
malik).

Most Western interpreters trace the ori-
gin of hawari to the Ethiopic word hawarya,
meaning "messenger." In the Ethiopic
translation of the New Testament this
word is used for the twelve apostles of Jesus
(see foreign vocabulary).

The Qur'an mentions only two events in-
volving the apostles of Jesus. In 5)5:112 the
apostles ask Jesus to have God send down a
table of food to satisfy their hunger and
strengthen their faith. Jesus agrees to do so,
but warns them that, because they have
witnessed such a confirmation of faith,
God will tolerate no future deviation from
faith on their part. The second instance
takes place at the end of Jesus' mission.
When he is under attack from unbelievers,
his apostles testify to the constancy of their
faith in him. Jesus asks, "Who will be my
helpers to God?" His apostles answer, "We
are God's helpers! We believe in God and
do you bear witness that we are Muslims.
Our lord! We believe in what you have re-
vealed and we follow the messenger. Then
write us down among those who bear wit-
ness (0.3:52-3)." One final passage probably
refers to the apostles of Jesus and his other
followers: "We sent... Jesus the son of
Mary (q.v.), and bestowed on him the Gos-
pel (q.v.); and We ordained in the hearts of
those who followed him compassion and
mercy" (057:27). See also christians and

CHRISTIANITY.

A.H. Mathias Zahniser

Bibliography
Primary: Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, 7 vols., Beirut
1389/1970, ii, 42-3; TabarT, Tafsir, 16 vols.,
Cairo 1961-9, vi, 442-52.
Secondary: M. Ayoub, The Qur'an audits
interpreters, 2 vols., Albany 1992, ii. The House
of Imran, 154-69; Jeffery, For. vocab., 115-6;
McAuliffe, Qur'anic, 260-6; N. Robinson,

APPARITION

IL>4

Christ in Islam and Christianity, Albany 1991, 31-8;
A.J. Wensinck, "Hawarl," in Ef, iii, 285.

Apparition

The preternatural appearance of a specter
or vision. There is no specific qur'anic
term for apparition, and qur'anic words
which in some contexts may be taken to in-
dicate an apparition, such as burhan (proof)
and aya (sign), have different meanings in
other verses. For example, Joseph (q.v.)
"saw the proof of his Lord," while being
seduced by his master's wife. The qur'anic
verse reads "For she desired him and he
would have taken her but that he saw the
proof (burhan) of his Lord" (q_ 12:24).
"Proof" in this verse has been interpreted
in a variety of ways. Most commonly exe-
getes claim that Joseph saw a vision of his
father Jacob (q.v), from which he came to
understand that he was acting improperly
(e.g. Muqatil, Ashbah, ii, 329; Tabari, Tafsir,
xii, 110-3; Wahid!, Want, ii, 608; Razi,
Tafsir, ix, 122; Qurtubl, Jaim '■', ix, 169-80;
Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, ii, 474; see also The Baby-
lonian Talmud, Tractate Sota, ii, 36b). Oth-
ers claimed that he saw a vision of some-
thing that appeared through the roof of
the house which reminded him that he was
one of the prophets of God and therefore
infallible (Tabari, Tafsir, xii, 113; SuyutI,
Durr, iv, 15; ShawkanI, Tafsir, iii, 18; see
IMPECCABILITY AND INFALLIBILITY). The
commentaries give different form to this
vision, e.g. the palm of a hand, a note of
warning, certain verses read or heard by
Joseph (Tabari, Tafsir, xii, 113; Ibn Abl
Hatim, Tafsir, xii, 2124-6; Qurtubl, Jami ',
ix, 169; Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, ii, 475). In each
of these cases, the "proof" is interpreted as
an apparition.

If "apparition" is understood to include
visual illusions or optical errors, we may
cite other examples. For instance, the com-

mentators regarded "There was already a
sign (aya) for you in the two companies
which met, one company fighting in the
way of God and the other unbelieving.
Their eyes saw them to be twice their num-
ber" (o_3:i3) as dealing with the battle of
Badr (q.v.). However, they differed as to
whether it was the infidels who saw the be-
lievers in this fashion or vice versa. One
view is that the infidels were made to see
the believers as being twice as many in
number as themselves. Another holds that
the believers saw the infidels as being twice
their own number while in reality the
Meccan force was three times as large as
theirs (Tabarsi, Majma', i, 7-28). Whichever
interpretation is adopted, the victory of
the believers is attributed to a divine sign
in the form of the apparent change in
number.

In the case of "and for [the Jews] saying,
'We slew the Messiah, Jesus (q.v.), the son
of Mary (q.v), the Messenger of God,' yet
they did not slay him or crucify him. It
only appeared like that to them (wa-lakin
shubbiha laltum)" (0:4:157), we are dealing
here with something else which was per-
ceived differently from its actual state (for
the way in which the change became possi-
ble, see T aDars t) Majma', i, 282-3). The illu-
sion was created by God to mislead the
Jews.

Another apparition of a different nature
is implied in (37:148: "And the people of
Moses took to them, after him, a calf
[made] of their jewelry, a mere body that
lowed (jasadan lahu khuwar)" (see calf of
gold). The commentators had to answer
two questions: How did the idol produce
the sound and why? The last question is
more relevant to our topic. Most commen-
tators argue that God turned the golden
calf into flesh and blood and enabled it to
low, with the intention of putting the peo-
ple to a test (Qurtubl, Jarm '.', vii, 284-5, see
esp. the secret conversation between God

!-'5

AQ_ S A M O S QUE

and Moses). This means that the people
who melted the gold and created the calf
witnessed an apparition: They saw their
idol as a living creature and took it to be
God, failing the test. All of these appari-
tions originate in the divine will and dem-
onstrate the divine plan. In this sense, the
apparitions in the Quran may be viewed
as a particularly edifying means for God
to communicate with mankind. See also
signs; visions.

Leah Kinberg

Bibliography

The Babylonian Talmud, Jerusalem 1979; CM.
Horowitz (ed.), Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, Jerusalem
1972 (critical edition of codex); Ibn Abl Hatim
al-RazI, TafsTr al-Quran al-'agim, 10 vols., Riyad
1997; Ibn KathTr, TafsTr; Midrash Tankhuma,
Jerusalem 1927; Mnqatil, Ashbah; QurtnbT, Jami';
RazI, Tafslr; ShawkanI, TafsTr; Suyuti, Durr;
Tabari, TafsTr; TabarsI, Majma'; Wahidl, WasTt.

Appointed Time see freedom and
predestination; time

Aqsa Mosque

An early mosque located in Jerusalem on
what is called in Islam "The Noble Sanctu-
ary" [al-Haram al-Sharlf, see archaeology
and the ojur'an). "The farthest place of
prayer" (al-masjid al-aqsa) is attested once
in the Qiir'an, in Q_i7:i (see ascension):
"Glory be to he who transported his serv-
ant by night from the sacred place of
prayer (al-masjid al-haram) to the farthest
place of prayer (al-masjid al-aqsa)." Within
Muhammad's life-time "the sacred place of
prayer" [al-masjid, the place of prayer,
mosque; al-haram, the sacred) was recog-
nized as the sacred mosque at Mecca (q.v.)
while "the farthest (al-aqsa) place of
prayer" might have been in heaven, in Je-
rusalem (q.v.) or perhaps in a locale near

Mecca. Only at a later, unknown time did
the topographical attribution become the
proper name of the Aqsa Mosque. In the
earliest associations of al-masjid al-aqsa
with Jerusalem, it is likely that the whole
of the Haram was thought to be a place
of prayer.

There was no mosque on al-Haram al-
Sharlf before Muhammad's death; the
Herodian platform was used then as a re-
fuse dump and it is said that the second
Caliph (q.v.), 'Umar b. al-Khattab, who ac-
cepted the surrender of Jerusalem in about
17/638, commenced clearing away the
rubbish. No Muslim source records the
Haram's first mosque but, in the reign of
Caliph Mu'awiya I (41/661-60/680), the
Gallic pilgrim Arculf saw that the "Sara-
cens" had a rough prayer house, unnamed,
in its eastern part, built on what he under-
stood to be the remains of the Jewish Tem-
ple. That mosque has been attributed to
'Umar b. al-Khattab.

The Aqsa Mosque is situated in the
southwest corner of the Haram and dur-
ing the repairs of 1938-42, five previous
major (Aqsa I-V), and several lesser, struc-
tural periods were identified. In period V
(746-7/i345"75 I / I 350), associated with
the Mamluk 'Izz al-Dln Aybak al-Misrl,
the western vaulted aisles and the outer
western porch bays were constructed. Pe-
riod IV was the work of the Knights Tem-
plar who occupied the mosque (492/1099-
582/1187), when some of the eastern aisles
were demolished and replaced with vaulted
galleries and the central porch bays built.
Literary evidence credits two Umayyad ca-
liphs, Abd al-Malik (65/685-86/705) and
al-Walid I (86/705-96/715) and two Abba-
sids, al-Mansur (136/754-158/775) and al-
Mahdi (158/775-169/785) with the building
or restoration of the first three archaeolog-
ically distinguishable structures, which will
now be discussed.

Al-Muqaddasi, who saw the Aqsa

AO_S A M O S Q_UE

126

Mosque in 374/985, Nasir-i Khusraw who
saw it in 438-9/1047 and the eighth/four-
teenth century author of Muthir al-gharam
quoted by al-Suyutl all say that 'Abd al-
Malik built the mosque. Remains of Aqsa I
were found in the mosque's southern part
and nineteen meters short of its present
northern wall (Hamilton, Structural history,
fig. 30). Archaeological evidence for Aqsa
II, which had a wide central nave, a dome
before the mihrab (see art and architec-
ture and THE qur'an) and the nineteen
meter extension of its northern wall, in-
cluded Greek graffiti found on and
deemed to be contemporary with the nave
timbers. On epigraphic grounds, these car-
penters' notes have been given a date
range from the end of the sixth century
c.E. to the beginning of the second/eighth
century.

For Aqsa III the nave and aisles north of
the dome were demolished and new col-
umns installed. Al-MuqaddasI wrote of
these "marbled" columns which, Hamilton
determined, had been specially prepared
for the mosque and which remained in
place until the 1938-42 repairs, when they
were transferred to the H aram museum.
The Muthir, written at Jerusalem in 752/
1351, states that the Aqsa Mosque was
rebuilt by al-Mansur after the earthquake
of 130/747-8, and built again by al-Mahdi
after a second earthquake; this second
quake is unrecorded and is generally
thought to duplicate the earlier one.

No contemporary Muslim reports of the
building of the Aqsa Mosque exist. Its
most detailed, sometimes contradictory,
descriptions are those of al-MuqaddasI,
Nasir-i Khusraw and the author of the
Muthir al-gharam as repeated by al-Suyutl,
while Hamilton's study provides the most
complete archaeological record. Greek pa-
pyri of ca. 90/708-96/714 found at the
Egyptian village of Aphrodito mention
workmen and materials having been requi-

sitioned for construction of a mosque and
palace at Jerusalem, but it cannot be deter-
mined if the reference is to a new mosque
or to an ongoing project.

According to Creswell's interpretation of
all of the evidence, al-\ Valid I built Aqsa I,
al-Mahdi Aqsa II, and, after the 424/1033
earthquake, the Fatimid Caliph al-Zahir
constructed Aqsa III. He believed that the
Aphrodito papyri confirmed al-Walld I as
the mosque's originator and inferred from
al-Zahir's mosaic inscription (see below)
that, in addition to his renovation of the
dome and its supports, al-Zahir rebuilt the
nave and aisles. Stern understood the evi-
dence to mean Aqsa I and II were Umay-
yad and Aqsa III Abbasid; furthermore,
he believed that the Fatimid mosaics on
the dome were modeled after those of the
original Umayyad building, pointing out
their resemblance to those found in the
Dome of the Rock. In more recent evalua-
tions of the literary and archaeological re-
cord summarized by Hamilton (Creswell
and Allan, A short account, 79-82), Aqsa, I is
credited to 'Abd al-Malik, Aqsa II to al-
Walid I and Aqsa III to al-Mansur and al-
Mahdi after the earthquake of 130/748-9.
It is surmised that Aqsa II was enlarged
considerably because the original building
was too small.

An extant mosaic inscription at the base
of the dome recording al-Zahir's repairs of
426/1034-6 contains 017:1 immediately fol-
lowing the basmala (q.v.). A second inscrip-
tion of al-Zahir, in the dome and now lost
but recorded by 'All al-Harawi in 568-9/
1173, also contained q 17:1 immediately
after the basmala. An inscription of part of
Q_i7:i, dating from 583-4/1187, appears on
the wall east of the mihrab, while the in-
scription of p_ 17:1-6 which is found at the
eastern end of the transept is dated 731-2/

N.J.Johnson

l -l

ARABIC LANGUAGE

Bibliography
Primary: Aclamnan, De locis Sanctis, ed. D.
Meehan, Dublin 1958; H.I. Bell (ed.), Greek papyri
in the British Museum, iv. The Aphrodito papyri,
London 1910; G. Le Strange (ed.), Description of
the noble sanctuary at Jerusalem in 1470 A.D., by
Kamal (or Shams) ad-Din as-Suyutl, in jras ig
(1887), 247-305; al-MaqdisT al-Shan'T, Shihab
al-Dln Abu Mahmud Ahmad b. Muhammad,
Mutliir al-gharam, ed. Ahmad al-Khutaymi, Beirut
1994; al-MuqaddasT, Shams al-Dln Abu
"Abdallah Muhammad, Ahsan al-taqdsim.fi marijat
al-aqalim, ed. M.J. de Goeje, Leiden 1906; Nasir-i
Khusraw, Sefer Nameh. Relation du voyage en Syrie, en
Palestine, en Egypte, en Arabie et en Perse, pendant les
annees de I'Hegire 437-444 ('1035-1042), trans. C.
Schefer, Paris 1881.

Secondary: H.I. Bell, The Aphrodito papyri, in
The journal of Hellenic studies 28 (1908), 97-120; R.
Bell, Muhammad's visions, in Ani'24 (1934),
145-54; M- van Berchem, Materiaux pour un corpus
inscriptionum arabicarum, II part 2, nos. 275, 284
and p. 407, Cairo 1927; A. A. Bevan,
Mohammed's ascension to heaven, in ^eitschrift
fur Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 27 (1914), 51-61;
Brockelmann, gal; H. Busse, Tempel,
Grabeskirche und Haram as-sarlf. Drei
Heiligtumer und ihre gegenseitigen Beziehungen
in Legende und Wirklichkeit, in H. Busse and
G. Kretschmar, Jerusalemer Heiligtumstraditionen in
alikirchlicher una ' fruhislamischer %eii, Wiesbaden
1987, 1-27; Greswell, ema; id., A short account of
early Muslim architecture, 1958, rev. and suppl.J.W.
Allan, Aldershot 1989; E.G. Dodd and S.
Khairallah, The image of the word. A study of quranic
verses in Islamic architecture, 2 vols., Beirut 1981; M.
Gil, ^4 history of Palestine, 634-1099, trans. E.
Broido, Cambridge 1992; O. Grabar, al-Haram
al-Sharlf, in ei s , iii, 173-5; id., al-Masdjid al-
Aksa, in El 2 , vi, 707-8; A. Guillaume, Where was
al-Masyid al-Aqsa? in al-Andalus 18 (1953),
323-36; R.W. Hamilton, The structural history of the
Aqsa mosque. A record of archaeological gleanings from
the repairs of ig$8-ig4.2, Oxford 1949; id., Once
again the Aqsa, inj. Raby andj. Johns (eds.),
Bayt al-Maqdis. Abd al- Malik's Jerusalem, Part One,
Oxford 1992, 141-4; M.J. Kister, You shall only
set out for three mosques. A study of an early
tradition, reprinted in M.J. Kister, Studies in
jdhiliyya and early Islam, London 1980, 173-96 and
extra notes 1-8; G. Le Strange, Palestine under the
Aloslems, London 1890; R. Paret, Die "feme
Gebetsstatte" in Sure 17,1, in Der Islam 34 (1959),
150-2; rcea, VII, no. 2410, Cairo 1937; M.
Rosen-Ayalon, The early Islamic monuments of al-
Haram al-Sharif, Jerusalem 1989; H. Stern,
Recherches sur la mosquee al-Aqsa et sur ses
mosai'ques, in Ars orientalis 5 (1963), 27-47; M. de

Vogue, Le temple de Jerusalem, Paris 1864; J.
Wilkinson, Jerusalem pilgrims before the Crusades,
Warminster 1977; C.W. Wilson, Ordinance survey of
Jerusalem, 1865, facsimile Jerusalem 1980.

Arabic Language

The language codified by the grammarians
of al-Basra and al-Kufa in the second/
eighth century as representing the speech
of the pre-Islamic Arabs and the language
of the Qur'an. Ever since, this language
has been the one in which most of the Is-
lamic cultural and religious heritage has
found expression. Historical, geographical
and social varieties closely related to this
language exist or have existed and a num-
ber of linguistic communities currently use
variants of this language.

Considerable controversy surrounds
such questions as the status of Arabic
(al- Q arabiyya, lisan al-'arab) before and at the
time of codification, the status of the vari-
ety of Arabic used in the Qur'an at the
time of revelation (see dialects), the na-
ture of the relationship between Arabic
and the colloquials spoken in the various
parts of the Arab world as well as the na-
ture of the relationship between this "clas-
sical" Arabic language and that used for
written and formal spoken communication
in the Arab world today. This article will
outline current terminology relating to the
varieties of the language and then address
these questions. (For an outline of the
structure of Arabic, the reader is referred
to works such as M.C. Bateson's Handbook
and C. Holes' Modern Arabic.)

Varieties of Arabic
Twenty modern states use Arabic as an of-
ficial language: Algeria, Bahrayn, Djibouti,
Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon,
Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qa-
tar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, the Sudan,
Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates

ARABIC LANGUAGE

1128

and the Yemen. To this list should be
added the Palestinian Authority/State and
Israel, where Arabic is not the principal
language, but is nevertheless widely used.
The language used in all of these states,
and taught in their schools, is said to be
structurally identical to the classical Arabic
language and the language of the Quran
(al-fusha or "classical Arabic"). It is, how-
ever, freely admitted that both its vocabu-
lary and idiomatic usage have developed
considerably. One, therefore, frequently
finds a distinction being made between
classical Arabic, on the one hand, and con-
temporary Arabic (al-lugha al- 'arabiyya al-
haditha or al-mu'asira), on the other. Con-
temporary Arabic, which in Western
studies is frequently referred to as Modern
Standard Arabic (MSA) or, mainly in text-
books, as Modern Literary Arabic, is not a
variety used for everyday, informal speech
by any community, even if certain groups
would like to see it become one. Nor is it a
purely written language. It is, perhaps, best
described as a formal language, used for all
types of formal communication, both writ-
ten in most contemporary literature and in
the press and spoken on all formal occa-
sions, including "serious" programs on ra-
dio and television as well as in most educa-
tional contexts. Its use is acquired mainly
through formal education and only a rela-
tively small group within the communities
which it serves as an official language can
be said to have mastered it.

For informal communication, regional di-
alects, referred to as al-lahjdt or as al-
'ammiyya, the language of the commonality,
or sometimes as al-darija, the popular lan-
guage, is used. In Western research, they
are commonly called "colloquials." The
various dialects all belong to the same rec-
ognizable type of Arabic, sometimes called
neo-Arabic, but show a great deal of diver-
gence among themselves, increasing ac-
cording to geographical distance. The dia-

lects of the extreme west and those of the
eastern parts of the Arabic world are thus
almost mutually incomprehensible. Dia-
lects are normally referred to by names de-
rived from the geographical area in which
they are used, qualified, at times, with a
reference to the religious status of the
users. For purposes of classification, a dis-
tinction is made between sedentary (hadari)
and Bedouin (badawl) dialects, the Bedouin
dialects being those descended from the
varieties used by tribal groups that mig-
rated from the Arabian peninsula well after
the original conquests. These groups may
later have settled so that one encounters
places where the sedentary population
speak Bedouin dialects (see bedouin). The
sedentary dialects are again subdivided
into town (madam) and village (qarawi)
dialects.

The term "Proto-Arabic" has frequently
been used for the language in which the
Thamudic, Lihyanic, Safa'itic and
Hasaitic inscriptions were written (see
Arabic script). This language may be an
early stage of the later Arabic language.
K. Versteegh suggests that it be called
Early North Arabic to distinguish it from
the language of Arabic inscriptions (Proto-
Arabic) and that the language of the Is-
lamic papyri pre-dating the codification of
Arabic be called Early Arabic [Arabic lan-
guage, 26). It is to be hoped that this distinc-
tion will be adopted.

Classical Arabic is the language which
was defined at the beginning of this article.
The term is, however, used for a wide
range of purposes. It is thus commonly
used for the formal language as opposed to
the colloquials throughout all periods of
the development of Arabic but also for a
specific period in the history of this devel-
opment. Sometimes this period is narrowly
defined — for instance, classical as op-
posed to medieval — while at other times
it is defined more broadly — the classical

129

ARABIC LANGUAGE

language as opposed to the modern. It is
also ordinarily used to designate a style of
language, that of literature and religious
learning as opposed to the "modern stan-
dard" of the press. In short, readers of
works where this term is used would do
well to look for clues as to its exact mean-
ing in the specific text in which it is en-
countered. In this article, it is used as a
translation of the Arabic term fiusha for all
of the varieties of the formal language ir-
respective of the period from which they
stem.

Old Arabic is a term sometimes used for
the tribal dialects which are supposed to
have co-existed with classical Arabic as
vernaculars from pre-Islamic times on-
wards. The use of this term signals a belief
in an essentially diglossic relationship be-
tween these dialects and classical Arabic.
Most Arabs, and certain Western research-
ers, prefer to see these dialects as local vari-
ations of the classical language. Evidence
as to the nature of the dialects is limited to
a few scattered remarks in the works of the
philologists regarding the forms they per-
ceived to be unusual.

From Old Arabic, or from the dialects of
the classical Arabic if one subscribes to this
view, developed the medieval vernaculars
collectively known as Middle Arabic.
Much can be inferred about this stage of
development from various kinds of text
produced in circumstances where the nor-
mative influence of classical Arabic was
not too strongly felt, either for religious
reasons (Jewish and Christian Arabic) or
because the purpose of the text was simply
too mundane to warrant the effort entailed
in attempting to produce correct classical
Arabic. It is generally recognized that the
modern colloquials developed from Middle
Arabic vernaculars.

The impression of diversity — which the
plethora of terms used above must neces-
sarily create — should not be left unquali-

fied. The Arabs will insist on the essential
unity of their language and are right in do-
ing so. Anyone with an educated person's
command of Modern Standard Arabic
finds it easy to acquire the knowledge nec-
essary to read classical or medieval Arabic
texts and the divergence between the vari-
ous dialects is, on the whole, small, consid-
ering the distances and geographical obsta-
cles which separate their users.

Classification and early history
Arabic is usually classified as belonging,
alongside the south Arabian and Ethiopian
languages, to the southwestern branch of
the Semitic family of the Afro-Asiatic phy-
lum. The classification as such is relatively
undisputed, yet a number of points per-
taining to its meaning deserves special con-
sideration. Firstly, the group of languages
referred to as the Semitic family is not such
a widely divergent and heterogeneous one
as, for instance, the Indo-European family,
and a comparison to one of the smaller
branches of the latter, such as the Ro-
mance languages, would provide a truer
picture of the facts. Secondly, the varieties
within the Semitic family tend to show
continuous rather than discrete variation
among themselves. This family of lan-
guages should therefore be seen as a large
and varied continuum, specific segments of
which have, at specific points of time, been
liberalized and codified, becoming,
through this process, the individual Semitic
languages of antiquity and modern times.
The early history of the Arabic language
cannot at present be satisfactorily estab-
lished. This is mainly due to the lack of
sources or to the unreliable nature of those
sources which do exist. At the time of the
revelation of the Qur'an, Arabic had long
been the bearer of a literary, mainly po-
etic, tradition. Yet the development of the
Arabic script (see calligraphy), and
hence of Arabic as a written language, is

ARABIC LANGUAGE

130

almost entirely connected to the transmis-
sion of the text of the Qur'an. The process
was a long one and the Arabic script was
not fully developed until the end of the
third/ninth century. Epigraphic evidence
of Arabic predating the revelation of the
Qur'an is mainly limited to five brief in-
scriptions the oldest of which is the five-
line Namara inscription from 328 C.E.,
written in Nabatean characters, but in a
language which is essentially identical to
Classical Arabic. Then follows the Zebed
inscription dated to 512 C.E., the Jabal
Usays inscription dated to 528 c.E., the
Harran inscription dated to 568 c.E., and
the Umm al-Jimal inscription, also from
the sixth century c.E. All of these are brief
inscriptions representing an early stage of
the Arabic script. All these inscriptions tell
us, however, that for some time before the
Arabic language emerges into the light of
history with the mission of the prophet
Muhammad, a language very similar to
classical Arabic was in use on the peninsula
and in neighboring areas, and that some of
the users of this language had mastered
the art of writing (see epigraphy and the
qur'an).

The poetic literature of the pre-Islamic
Arabs was committed to writing only
through the efforts of the Muslim philolo-
gists towards the middle of the second/
eighth century. The earliest preserved spec-
imens of the tradition would seem to date
from the beginning of the sixth century
c.E., so that the time span in which oral
transmission was unsupported by writing
was quite considerable. This has made sev-
eral researchers doubt the validity of the
poetic evidence for purposes of research
on the linguistic situation prior to the codi-
fication of Arabic. In addition, there is evi-
dence indicating that the philologists col-
lecting the poems may have corrected
them a bit during the process. To rely on

the poetic corpus as evidence for the lin-
guistic situation prior to the codification of
Arabic is therefore to rely on the work of
early Muslim philologists. Another matter
is that the very nature of poetry, and the
specific use to which poetry was put in the
pre-Islamic society of Arabia, makes it
likely that the language of the poetic cor-
pus may not directly represent the linguis-
tic varieties used for purposes of everyday
communication within the tribes of the
peninsula. The question which arises at
this point, to wit, that of how great the dif-
ferences between the language of the po-
etry and the vernaculars were in pre-
Islamic times, has been a matter of con-
tention throughout the twentieth century.
Currently, the proponents of the view that
the "poetic koine" existed in a diglossic re-
lationship with the vernaculars would seem
to outnumber those who think that the
"poetic register" and the vernaculars es-
sentially represented one and the same
language. The latter view, which is repre-
sented mainly in the writings of K. Ver-
steegh, does, however, have the consider-
able weight of the Islamic scholarly
tradition to recommend it. See poetry
and POETS.

To sum up, of the very little that can be
known about Arabic before the dawn of Is-
lam, we know that varieties very similar to
classical Arabic were used for several hun-
dred years before, extending over an area
encompassing not only the Arabian penin-
sula but also parts of the Fertile Crescent.
We also know that some of these varieties
had sufficient prestige to be used for in-
scriptions and poetic composition. We do
not, however, know who the users of these
varieties were, what name they gave to
their language, or for what other purposes,
besides inscriptions and poetry, they may
have used them. Nor do we know how
great were the differences between the va-

ARABIC LANGUAGE

rieties in question since only one of them,
classical Arabic, has been preserved for us
in the form of a corpus of text and a sys-
tematic description.

Codification
The actual codification of Arabic took
place, as has already been stated, in the
second/eighth century. The first dictionary
was compiled — but never completed —
by al-Khalll b. Ahmad (d. 175/791), who
also codified Arabic prosody. The first
grammar is the famous Kitab of al-KhallFs
student Sibawayhi (d. 177/793), which was
completed and transmitted after the au-
thor's death by his student al-Akhfash
al-Awsat (d. 221/835).

Among the factors usually mentioned to
explain the process of codification, the
most important are, on the one hand, the
needs of non-Arab citizens of the empire
to master Arabic as well as the linguistic
corruption which supposedly came about
as a result of the uprooting of Bedouin
tribesmen from their natural environment
and, on the other hand, the decision taken
during the reign of the Umayyad caliph
Abd al-Malik b. Marwan (r. 65/685-86/
705) to make Arabic the language of the
public registers. It should, however, be
noted that the early works on grammar are
not elementary textbooks for teaching lan-
guage to beginners. On the contrary, a
work such as the Kitab is concerned mainly
with explanation and the systemization of
the hierarchical ordering of facts with
which the student is assumed to be familiar
into a coherent whole. It is, in short, a trea-
tise on grammar. Yet, the object of this sys-
tematization is definitely not Arabic as
it was spoken in the time and place of the
actual codification. Sibawayhi aims at an
ideal which M. Carter terms "good old
Arabic" (Sibawayhi, 526). The data of
which Sibawayhi makes use include pas-

sages from the Qur'an and verses of po-
etry, but also data obtained from contem-
porary Bedouin. This indicates that "good
old Arabic" was a living language among
the Bedouin at the time, in the sense that
they could produce it upon demand, but
not necessarily that it was a common
medium of day-to-day communication. It
should be noted that although as a totality
the three groups of data are seen as em-
bodying "good old Arabic," no individual
group is given priority or accepted uncriti-
cally. The variety among the "readings"
(qira'at, see readings of the qjjr'an) of
the Qur'an sometimes makes it possible to
reject certain readings. Poetic usage is in
some cases seen as differing from prose
and certain Bedouin usages are dismissed
as incorrect.

M. Carter has argued convincingly that
Slbawayhi's system of grammar was, on
the whole, inspired by the science of "law"
(fiqh) as it was taught at that time. This im-
plies a wholly pragmatic view of language:
A language is not a system — though its
grammar is — but rather a type of behav-
ior, the individual acts of which are to be
judged "by motive, structure and commu-
nicative effectiveness" (M. Carter, Siba-
wayhi, 526). Communicative effectiveness
is the absolute. Speech is right (mustaqim) if
it conveys meaning, but wrong (muhal) if it
does not. Structural correctness, on the
other hand, is relative and speech may be
mustaqim qabih, that is, make sense and thus
be right, but still be structurally incorrect
and hence "ugly." This implies that the
codification of Arabic was neither a pre-
scriptive project, aimed at teaching a for-
gotten language — or a language rapidly
becoming forgotten — nor a descriptive
one, aimed at setting down the facts of
acknowledged contemporary usage.
Rather it was a conservative effort, in-
tended to keep linguistic behavior from

ARABIC LANGUAGE

I;jL>

straying too far from what was the "way"
of the Arabs (q.v.) and, more importantly,
of the Qur'an.

The Qur'an
The Qur'an is somewhat self-conscious
with respect to its language. Generally
speaking it identifies the language (the
word used is lisan, "tongue"), in which it is
revealed as that of the Prophet (0^19:97;
44:58), as that of the Prophet's people [bi-
lisni qawmihi, 0^14:4) and as Arabic
(o 26:195; 46:12). The epithet "Arabic" is
also given to the Qur'an itself (0,12:2) and
to its function as a decisive utterance [hukm,

ai3 : 37)-

As was recently pointed out by Jan Retso,
the Qur'an, which is the oldest source in
Arabic which actually talks about a lan-
guage named after the Arabs, does not
contrast the Arabic language to any other
languages identified by name. Throughout,
the epithet 'arabi, "Arab" or "Arabic," is
contrasted to ajami, "non-Arab" or "non-
Arabic," but it is never stated that the
Arabic tongue is not understood by non-
Arabic speakers. Indeed, verses such as
Q_ 26:199 seem to indicate that the Qur'an
would be understood by non-Arabs should
it be recited to them. However, it is also
clear, from e.g. Q_ 16:103, that one whose
tongue is a'jami cannot be expected to pro-
duce Arabic.

In order for the Qur'an to be able to de-
clare itself Arabic, there had to exist some
sort of criteria for what is Arabic and what
is not. Such criteria may, of course, be very
loose, but if one assumes that the a jam
were foreigners in the sense of people
speaking languages entirely different from
Arabic and maybe even incomprehensible
to an Arab the qur'anic argumentation
loses much of its force. For the argument
"this is Arabic and hence divine" to have
any noticeable force, the criteria for what is
Arabic have to be quite narrow, to amount,

in fact, to a standard of language recogniz-
ably out of reach of the ordinary member
of society. In the words of J. Wansbrough:
"The linguistic tradition to which reform-
ers and prophets, as well as poets, turn may
be ancient. What it must be, is other than
the current usus loquendi. . ." (gs, 103).

The philologists' choice of the poetic cor-
pus as the second source for the codifica-
tion of Arabic has been taken to indicate
what the tradition to which Muhammad
turned was. Their use of contemporary
Bedouin informers demonstrates that this
tradition was, at least in some areas, still
alive at the time of codification. What is
important to note is that the tradition is
presented neither as a language nor as a
literature but as a way of life, an ideal of
culture. Even in works specifically devoted
to the language itself, it is the "speech of
the Arabs" (kaldm al- 'arab) which is pre-
sented and it is presented as a "way," a set
of manners and customs. Equally impor-
tant is the fact that both the Qur'an and
the philologists present the tradition as es-
sentially somebody else's. Whether the
"way" of the Arabs consisted in the active
use of case and mode endings (i'rab) no
longer in use in the vernaculars, as the pro-
ponents of the "poetic koine" hypothesis
would have it or merely in the deliberate
use of an archaic tradition of poetic dic-
tion and eloquent speech encompassing
such features as the careful pronunciation
of the glottal stop (a phoneme not realized
in the Meccan dialect), use of the elevated
register of poetry, the use of rhymed prose
and the deliberate creation of parallelism,
the effect would be much the same. The
point, in both cases, is the appeal to a tra-
dition which is both an essential part of the
community's heritage and at the same time
definitely not a "natural" part of the com-
munity's everyday language. Whoever
coined the translation "classical" iorfusha
knew what he was doing.

l 33

ARABIC LANGUAGE

The current situation: diglossia
The concept central to most descriptions
of the linguistic situation of the Arab
world today is that of diglossia. In Fergu-
son's classic paper from 1959, diglossia is
defined as "a relatively stable language sit-
uation in which, in addition to the primary
dialects of the language (which may in-
clude a standard or regional standards),
there is a very divergent, highly codified
(often grammatically more complex) super-
imposed variety, the vehicle of a large and
respected body of written literature, either
of an earlier period or in another speech
community, which is learned largely by for-
mal education and is used for most written
or formal spoken purposes, but is not used
by any sector of the community for ordi-
nary conversation" (Diglossia, 336). To
Ferguson, this definition is an attempt to
outline one specific type of language situa-
tion, in the hope that other contributions,
outlining other types of language situa-
tions, would in the end lead to the estab-
lishment of a viable taxonomy. However,
much of the discussion relevant to Arabic
pivoted on the validity of the concept itself,
with alternatives such as pluriglossia and
multiglossia competing with models em-
ploying the concept of variation along a
continuum.

The crux of the problem lies in the fact
that Ferguson's original article outlined
the properties and areas of use of two "va-
rieties" of language as if these varieties —
which Ferguson later identified as cases of
register variation — were linguistic (sub-)
systems in normal and frequent use. As is
shown by D.B. Parkinson's attempts to have
Egyptians produce classical Arabic, at least
this high variety is used very seldom by
most members of the Egyptian speech
community in any kind of pure form.
Though I do not know of any published
investigations of the problem, I would pre-
dict that "pure" Egyptian colloquial, with-

out the slightest admixture of classical
forms, is not very common either. In most
cases of actual conversation, elements of
the high variety and elements of the low
variety are mixed in such a manner that it
is frequently difficult to identify both the
underlying matrix on which the specific in-
stance of usage builds and the target at
which the user aims. Actual usage is nor-
mally neither "high" nor "low" but some-
where in between.

S. Badawi's very influential Levels of con-
temporary Arabic in Egypt recognizes this
problem. For him, modern Egyptian Ara-
bic exhibits a continuum of socio-linguistic
variety which he illustrates through the
identification of five imaginary levels: "the
classical of the heritage" (fusha al-turdth),
"contemporary classical" (fusha at- 'asr),
"the colloquial of the cultured" ('ammiyyat
al-muthaqqafin), "the colloquial of the en-
lightened" ('ammiyyat al-mutanawwinn) and
"the colloquial of the illiterate" ('ammiyyat
al-ummiyyin) . Although Badawi stresses
that the levels are imaginary points of ref-
erence on a scale of free variation, he does
assign specific linguistic features to the dif-
ferent levels. However, analysis of actual
speech will show that there is normally a
mixture of elements from various places on
such a scale, operating on all levels of anal-
ysis. Not only may a sentence contain some
words that are markedly classical side by
side with some that are markedly collo-
quial but a single word marked as one vari-
ety may take an ending marked as another.
The varieties, seen as levels on a scale, are
therefore not discrete systems. The study of
this phenomenon, called code-switching,
has currently not reached the point where
any decisive results can be established but a
considerable amount of research is at pres-
ent being carried out.

If Ferguson's original term diglossia
still remains the most frequently used de-
scription of the current linguistic situation

ARABIC LANGUAGE

r 34

in Arab societies, it is because, as he him-
self points out, the type of variation which
he calls diglossic is just that and not pluri-
glossic because there are only two identifi-
able poles or ends to the scale of variation
(Epilogue, 59). Furthermore, these poles
are identifiable in the sense that systematic
descriptions do exist, based, for the clas-
sical end of the scale, on the Arabic lin-
guistic tradition and for the colloquial
end, mostly on textbooks aimed at foreign
students.

Attitudes
As K. Versteegh recently pointed out, lan-
guages are surprisingly often discussed as if
they were some kind of living organisms,
capable of birth, growth, change and de-
cline. Yet they are not. They are patterns of
human behavior, conventions acquired and
manipulated by individuals. The attitude
which the individual user of a language
takes towards that language is therefore a
matter of some importance. Of even
greater importance are the attitudes which
researchers take towards the object of their
research.

Classical Arabic is, throughout the Arab
world, seen as the Arabic language par ex-
cellence. Correspondingly, the colloquials
are often seen as not being languages at all,
but rather as chaotic, unsystematic and
lacking in grammar. Yet a certain ambiva-
lence of feeling towards the use of the clas-
sical language is often reported. D.B. Par-
kinson relates how users with an active
command of the classical language are of-
ten constrained to deliberately employ a
certain admixture of colloquial forms,
even when speaking from rather formal
platforms like that of the university lecture
theatre (Variability, 92). On the other
hand, suggestions for linguistic reform in-
volving modification of the classical lan-
guage or letting the colloquials take over
some of its functions are either met with

hostility or ignored. Classical Arabic re-
mains the language in which the religion of
Islam finds expression throughout an area
considerably greater than that of the
Arabic-speaking countries. It remains the
language in which the cultural and politi-
cal life of the Arab world is conducted and
the language used by most mass media in
the Arab world. It may be that the percent-
age of speakers who can claim an active
command of the language is rather small,
but there is no sign that this will seriously
affect its position.

Classical Arabic is often treated as some-
thing of a special case in modern linguis-
tics. Dominant trends, such as generative
grammar, have assigned a somewhat im-
portant place among their data to the "in-
tuition" of "native speakers" about their
"first language." Classical Arabic does not
quite fit in here since there is no one who
has it as a first language. This may, unless
due care is taken, lead to a view of classical
Arabic as somehow "artificial" or "con-
gealed" or as a "dead language" artificially
kept alive by the conservatism of certain
elites. The feeling that the "real" or "liv-
ing" Arabic language is represented by the
colloquials is quite widespread. This has
the laudatory effect of drawing attention to
the actual colloquial usage in which most
communication within the Arab world
takes place, a field which is seriously under-
studied. It is, however, also an attitude
which an Arab may regard as offensive.
Not only is this person denied the status of
a "native speaker" of his own language, he
is also being told that he may not really
master it (Parkinson, Variability), and that
it is a foreign language, or at least a strange
dialect, even to the great linguists from
whom he inherited its rules (Owens, Foun-
dations, 8). One cannot help but feel that
this is quite unnecessary and certainly
counterproductive.

In the end, classical Arabic is much more

r 35

ARABIC SCRIPT

than a language. A hadith of the Prophet,
related in the History of Damascus (Ta'rlkh
madinat Dimashq) of Ibn Asakir (d. 571/
1 176) illustrates this point: "Oh my people!
God is one and the same. Our father [i.e.
Adam, (see ADAM AND eve)] is the same.
No one amongst you inherits Arabic from
his father or mother. Arabic is a habit of
the tongue, so whoever speaks Arabic is an
Arab" (Y. Suleiman, Nationalism, 22). Classi-
cal Arabic is thus the heritage of all Arabs,
though it may not be the heritage of any
individual Arab. It is the primary indicator
of the Arab identity, though individual
Arabs may partake of it in varying degrees.
In most cases it is, and as far as we know it
may always have been, more of an ideal to
be striven for through painstaking effort,
than an actual habit of everyday life, but
this does not diminish its reality nor its sta-
tus. As a matter of fact, it enhances it, for
such strife is the theme around which the
entire religion of Islam revolves. Thus,
Arabic is more than the language of Islam,
it is part of Islam. It is, as indeed are all
languages, a phenomenon of culture, not
one of nature, and changes as does the cul-
ture for which it is a medium changes but
at the core it is unchanging, just as the doc-
ument which is at the core of the culture of
Islam, the Quran, is unchanging.

Herbjorn Jenssen

Bibliography
S. BadawT, Mustawayat al-'arabiyya l-mu'asira Ji
Misr, Cairo 1973; M.C. Bateson, Arabic language
handbook, Washington, D.C. 1967; J. Blau, Studies
in middle Arabic and its Judaeo-Arabic variety,
Jerusalem 1988; G. Bohas,J.-P. Guillaume and
D.E. Kouloughli, The Arabic linguistic tradition,
London 1990; M.G. Carter, Arab linguistics. An
introductory classical text with translation and notes,
Amsterdam 1981; id., Language control as
people control in medieval Islam. The aims of
the grammarians and their cultural context, in
al-Abhath 31 (1983), 65-84; id., Writing the history
of Arabic grammar, in Histongraplua linguistica 21
(1994), 385-414; id., Stbawayhi, in El 2 , ix, 524-31;

M. Eid, The non-randomness of diglossic
variation, in Glossa 16 (1982), 54-84; C.A.
Ferguson, Diglossia, in Word 15 (1959), 325-40;
id., Epilogue. Diglossia revisited, in Alaa Elgibali
(ed.), Understanding Arabic. Essays in contemporary
Arabic linguistics in honor of El-Said Badawi, Cairo
1996; W. Fischer and H. Gatje (eds.), Grundriss der
arabischen Philologie, 3 vols, to date, Wiesbaden
1982; B. Hary, The importance of the language
continuum in Arabic multiglossia, in Alaa
Elgibali (ed.), Understanding Arabic. Essays in
contemporary Arabic linguistics in honor of El-Said
Badawi, Cairo 1996; C. Holes, Modern Arabic.
Structures, functions and varieties, London 1995; J.
Owens, The foundations of grammar. An introduction
to medieval Arabic grammatical theory, Amsterdam
1988; D.B. Parkinson, Variability in standard
Arabic grammar skills, in Alaa Elgibali (ed.),
Understanding Arabic. Essays in contemporary Arabic
linguistics in honor of El- Said Badawi, Cairo 1996;
Y. Suleiman, Nationalism and the Arabic
language. A historical overview, in Y. Suleiman
(ed.), Arabic sociolinguistics. Issues and perspectives,
Richmond/Surrey 1994; K. Versteegh, The Arabic
language, Edinburgh 1997; J. Wansbrough, OS.

Arabic Literature and the Qur'an

see LITERATURE AND THE QJJR'aN

Arabic Script

Arabic script (al-khatt al-'arabi) refers to 1) a
set of characters and their sequential and
spatial arrangement, 2) their forms and
media and 3) the typology of a consonant-
only system (abjad) denoting utterances in
an abbreviated manner with linguistic and
sociological implications (P. Daniels, Fun-
damentals, 730). Arabic script also forms
part of the broader concept of Arabic
writing which usually defines one Arabic
variant (classical, Modern Standard or
"written") within a multiglossic environ-
ment (see ARABIC language). The signifi-
cant role of Arabic writing in religion, art,
administration and scholarship, as well as
in public and private life, characterizes the
Arabic-Islamic world as a literate culture,
albeit one in which the written and oral

ARABIC SCRIPT

136

transmission of knowledge were continu-
ous and complementary (E Rosenthal,
Many books, 46-7). The impact of Arabic
script throughout the multilingual Muslim
world far surpassed that of Arabic lan-
guage (F. Rosenthal, Significant uses, 53-4).
As the Islamic script par excellence, Arabic
was adapted by many non-Semitic Muslim
languages, notably Berber, Persian, Pashto,
Kurdish, Urdu, Sindhi, Kashmiri and Uy-
ghur. In the past, languages as diverse as
Medieval Spanish (Aljamiado), Ottoman
Turkish, Azeri, Serbo-Croatian, Malay
(Jawi), Sulu, Malagasy (Sorabe), Swahili,
Hausa, Fulani and Afrikaans were periodi-
cally spelled with Arabic characters. Con-
versely, Christian Arabic was also recorded
in Syriac (Karshunl) and Judeo-Arabic in
Hebrew characters. Today, the Arabic abjad
is, next to the Latin alphabet, the most
widely employed segmental script in the
world.

Sources and methods
Arabic paleography, i.e. the history of
Arabic script and its emerging styles, is
based both on medieval Muslim accounts
and preserved written specimens. In ad-
dition, it draws on the disciplines of pa-
pyrology codicology, numismatics and
art history (see epigraphy and the
qjjr'an).

Medieval accounts of Arabic script and
penmanship appear in over forty literary
sources, notably Ibn al-Nadlm's (d. 385/
995 or 388/998) Fihrist and the extensive
treatment by al-Qalqashandl (d. 821/1418)
in Subh al-a'shd (ii, 440-88; hi, 1-226/ii 2 ,
440-88; iir, 1-222; cf. G. Endress, Arabi-
sche Schrift, 190-1; A. Gacek, al-Nuwayri's
classification, 129-30). Some of these ac-
counts claim that the Arabic script origi-
nated in al-Anbar or al-Hlra in Iraq,
against the mainly Syrian epigraphic evi-
dence, a conflict N. Abbott attempts to
reconcile (Rise, 3-12). But G. Endress (Ara-

bische Schrift, 169-70) interprets the ac-
counts as a retrospective construction by
Muslim scholars to place the inception of
writing at the point of the encounter be-
tween Aramaic-Hellenistic culture and a
pre-Islamic Arab culture as exemplified
by the person of Adl b. Zayd (d. ca. 600
G.E.). The literary accounts of this early
stage, generally composed after the time of
the scribal practices they discuss, lack com-
plete descriptions of graphemes. Ibn al-
Nadim defines one letter (alif) of the early
Meccan script, allowing its identification in
actual specimens (N. Abbott, Rise, 18-9, pis.
8-13). The terms md'il and mcishq, often un-
derstood as names of scripts today, may
not have meant that originally (E Deroche,
Ecritures coraniques, 213-21). Nonetheless
scholars have ventured to identify scripts
listed in the sources. J.G. Adler first applied
the term kufic in 1780 to qur'anic material
and J. von Karabacek did the same with
md'il and 'iraqT (E Deroche, Ecritures cora-
niques, 20g-i2). Others identified badi'
(Schroeder, Badi' script, 234-48), ghubdr
(N. Abbott, Rise, 37-8), musalsal (N. Abbott,
Arabic paleography, (j8-C)), jalil (A. Groh-
mann, From the world, 75-7), thuluth rayhan
(A. Grohmann, From the world, 81), and qar-
mata (A. Dietrich, Arabische Brieje, 46, 67).
Some medieval terms became too vague,
so the kufi of early Qur'ans has been split
into six groups of scripts by Deroche
(Abbasid tradition, 34-47), and naskhi should
no longer be used in reference to early pa-
pyri, according to G. Khan (Arabic papyri,
45-6). In short, the use of medieval termi-
nology in paleographic study can be
treacherous, and one should, according to
Deroche, rely instead on datable speci-
mens (Paleographie des ecritures livres-
ques, 3-5). Irrespective of their often dubi-
ous factual accuracy for the early period,
the rich literary sources underscore the
interest of Arabic-Islamic culture in the
history of its script (see ART AND archi-

'37

ARABIC SCRIPT

tecture and the qur'an). Later, Mam-
luk secretarial manuals described and even
illustrated chancellery scripts which were
also partially used for calligraphy. By the
seventh/thirteenth century, five or, more
frequently, six scripts (later called al-aqlam
al-sitta) had established themselves in chan-
cellery and popular practice. They fell into
a "moist" (murattab) subgroup which em-
phasized the curvilinear elements and con-
sisted of thuluth, tawqi', riqa' and a "dry"
(ydbis) subgroup that tended towards the
rectilinear and included muhaqqaq, rayhan
and naskh. Scripts were further classified by
size — the extremes being the gigantic
tumor and the tiny ghubar used for pigeon
post — or by the presence of serifs (tarwis)
or closed loops [tarns, A. Gacek, Arabic
scripts, 144-5). The literary sources also
recorded pioneering calligraphers: Ibn
Muqla (d. 328/940), who codified naskh,
elevating it to a qur'anic script; Ibn al-
Bawwab (d. 413/1022), who further re-
fined it; and Yaqut al-Musta'siml (d. ca.
697/1298), who invented a new way of
trimming the pen and excelled in the six
scripts. Ibn al-Bawwab left us the first
Qur'an in naskh, dated 391/1001 (D. Rice,
Ibn al-Bawwab, 13 and pi. 7) and Yaqut's
name appears on several (partly forged)
Qur'ans (D.James, Master scribes, 58-74).
The second type of source, groups of
dated or datable specimens, provides a
more reliable basis for early paleographic
study. Even so, this research remains in a
preliminary state with a vast amount of yet
uncharted material in Eastern and Western
libraries including that from recent finds,
such as the one in the Great Mosque of
San'a,' in 1971-2. The latter discovery not
only offers new material for the paleogra-
phy of the Qur'an but also for the history
of its codification (G. Puin, Masdhif Sana',
11-14; id., Observations, 110-1; E. Whelan,
Forgotten witness, 13). During the first
three centuries of Islam, scripts diverged

among four more or less homogenous
groups of texts with distinct functions: me-
morial and votive inscriptions, Qur'ans,
papyrus documents and letters, and schol-
arly and literary manuscripts. To apply one
script terminology derived from secretarial
manuals to these various groupings is prob-
lematic. Some scholars prefer a careful an-
alysis of all, or a significant sample, of a
script's graphemes in order to build a ty-
pology, yet the conclusions drawn from
small samples are limited (S. Flury, Isla-
mische Schriftbdnder, 8-21; E Deroche, Ecri-
tures coraniques, 213). Different concepts
have been introduced to grasp the level of
execution in a piece of writing. For exam-
ple, a cluster of scripts can be viewed as a
circle with the specimen closest to the
"ideal" at its center and the loosest repro-
duction at the periphery (E Deroche, Abba-
sid tradition, 16). Similarly, N. Chomsky's
syntactical notion of competence versus
performance serves to distinguish a
writer's ideal form, "competence," from
the actual result, "performance" (G.
Khan, Arabic papyri, 39, n. 53).

The formation of Arabic script before Islam
Prior to the (north) Arabic script, inhabit-
ants of the Arabian desert wrote graffiti —
short informal texts on rocks and the
like — using the Dedanic, Lihyanic, Safa'i-
tic, Thamudic and Hasaean (also called
Flasa'itic), derivatives of South Arabian
script. In Tell el-Maskhuta near Ismailiyya
in Lower Egypt, Arabs used Imperial Ara-
maic as early as the fifth century B.c.E.
but, four centuries later, the Arab satellite
states of the Seleucid and Roman empires
developed their own branches of Aramaic
script, including Nabatean and Palmyre-
nian. The script of the Nabateans contin-
ued to be used after the Romans defeated
them in 106 c.E. for inscriptions made by
Arabs throughout the Provincia Arabia
until the fourth century c.E. Two such

ARABIC. SCRIPT

I 3 8

inscriptions ('En Avdat, between 88-9 and
125-6 C.E.; al-Namara, 328 c.E.) employ
Nabatean characters for writing Arabic
while others (e.g. Umm al-Jimal, ca. 250
(I.E.; Mada'in Salih, 267/268 c.E.) show a
linguistic admixture of Arabic (A. Negev,
Obodas, 48; K. Versteegh, Arabic language,
30-6 with further bibliography).

The characteristic basic forms of later Arabic
The characteristic basic forms of later
Arabic (the Arabic abjad) first materialized
in five brief pre-Islamic inscriptions from
Syria and northwest Arabia. They display
a clearly Arabic ductus — general shape
and formation of letters and their combi-
nations — though their language is contro-
versial and their writing unhomogeneous.
Except for the graffito in a Nabatean
sanctuary in Jabal Ramm near Aqaba,
datable to the first half of the fourth cen-
tury c.E., they all belong to the sixth cen-
tury c.E. They include a trilingual in-
scription in Greek, Syriac and Arabic on
a Christian martyry in Zabad southeast of
Aleppo (512 c.E.), a historical inscription in
Jabal Usays (Ses) on the Syrian-Roman
border about 100 kilometers southeast of
Damascus (528 c.E.), a graffito in the dou-
ble church of Umm al-Jimal southwest of
Bosra (ca. sixth century c.E.) and a Greek
and Arabic bilingual inscription on a mar-
tyry in Harran in the Leja' (586 c.E.; see
A. Grohmann, Arabische Paldographie, ii,
14-5; B. Gruendler, Development, 13-4.). The
general proportions of this pre-Islamic
Arabic script suggest Syriac calligraphic in-
fluence (N. Abbott, Rise, 19-20; F. Briquel-
Chatonnet, De l'arameen, 143-4; J.E
Healey, Nabatean, 41-3). Yet the individual
Arabic graphemes descend through Naba-
tean from the west Semitic alphabet. T
Noldeke first established this link in 1865,
later to be confirmed against J. Starcky's
Syriac thesis (Petra, 932-4) by A. Groh-
mann [Arabische Paldographie, ii, 13, 17-21).

This affiliation is now fully documented
(J.E Healey, Nabatean, 44-5 and tables; B.
Gruendler, Development, 123-30 and charts).
The shift from Nabatean to Arabic was
complex, for the Nabatean script com-
bined epigraphic, formal and free cursive
variants, developing at different rates. At
the end of the first century c.E. the formal
cursive of the Engaddi papyrus (J. Starcky,
Contrat, 162, pis. 1-3) and the free cursive
of the Nessana ostraca (E Rosenthal,
Nabatean, 200) already include shapes
which the epigraphic script only achieves
two centuries later. But few cursive docu-
ments have been preserved and supple-
mentary evidence must be gleaned from
late epigraphic Nabatean (J. Naveh, Early
history, 156; J.E Healey, Nabatean, 43-4,
50-2 with further bibliography, 156).

The five constitutive trends of Arabic
script articulated themselves very early:
1) positional variants (allographs) emerged
in the Aramaic cursive of the fourth cen-
tury B.C.E., 2) letters became fully con-
nected in cursive Nabatean of the first cen-
tury c.E., 3) the /am-a/f/ligature appeared
in the Namara inscription (328 c.E.), 4) the
"ceiling-line" limiting the height of most
letters yielded to a baseline for free cursive
in the first century c.E. (and for graffiti the
third century (I.E.), 5) the bars of letters
were integrated into continuous strokes
and formerly distinct letters merged (bet/
nun, gimel/het, zayin/ res, yddj taw, peh/qop) in
the cursive of Nahal H ever - (I n this article,
a letter's name, e.g. zayin or zdy, is a refer-
ence to its shape; and one mentioned by its
phonetic symbol, e.g. z, is a reference to its
sound). These mergers are the only ways to
account for the Arabic homographs jvn/
ha', rd'/ zdy, medial ba/nun,ya'/ta', and
medial fa/ qdf and by themselves preclude
a provenance from Syriac, where these
graphemes stay distinct. Cursive Nabatean
graphemes most closely approximate those
of pre-Islamic Arabic: straight (Nabatean)

!:j9

ARABIC SCRIPT

alep /{Ar&hic) alif, short hooked taw/ta',
three parallel teeth for shin/ shin, integrated
tetjta', hooked 'ayin/'ayn, a closed loop
without stem for peh/fd', rounded mem/mim,
looped heh/ha', lowered curved waw/waw,
and s-shaped left-turning final yod/yd'. At
the present state of paleographic evidence,
the emergence of the Arabic abjad must be
assigned to the late second or third century
c.E., between the latest cursive Nabatean
and the earliest attested Arabic script.

In the Arabic abjad, two formative trends
(i and 2 above) were harmonized into a co-
herent system, each shape corresponding
to a specific (initial, medial, final or iso-
lated) position, excepting the six letters alif,
ddl/dhal, ra'/zay and wdw, which formed no
connection to the left. In addition to the
above-mentioned mergers (5), homographs
had been imported with the West Semitic
abjad based on its reduced inventory of
twenty-two Phoenician sounds. In Arabic
most proto-Semitic sounds (except s) had
been preserved and had to be recorded by
an extant grapheme. This explains the
presence of multiple homographs. The
Nabatean letters taw, het, ddlet, sddeh, tet and
'ayin denoted additionally the sounds th, kh,
dh, d, 1 and gh, and Nabatean shin denoted
both Arabic s and sh. The spelling of a
given Arabic word followed its (Imperial
Aramaic or Nabatean) etymological cog-
nate (W. Diem, Hauptentwicklungsstadien,
102-3). Combined graphic and sound
mergers reduced the Arabic graphemes to
eighteen (alif, ba\jTm, dal, rd', sin, sad, la',
'ayn,fd', qdf kdf lam, mini, nun, ha', wdw, yd'),
or fifteen in non-final position (identical
ba'/nun/ya' andfd'/qdf) expressing a total
of twenty-eight sounds. This homogeneity
became an asset for Arabic calligraphy, but
it also hampered the legibility of texts.

The development of Arabic script in early Islam
The pre-Islamic formation and early Is-
lamic documentation of Arabic script sug-

gest that it was readily available at the time
of the Prophet. Some qur'anic fragments
on papyrus have indeed been attributed to
the first/seventh century, though a more
precise dating remains impossible. As the
medium recording the Quran and the offi-
cial script of the Umayyad caliphate since
Abd al-Malik's (d. 86/705) reforms, the
Arabic script thrived and spread from
Upper Egypt to Sogdiana within a century.
In this time, five distinct scripts emerged:
1) An angular epigraphic script, first at-
tested in a clumsily carved Egyptian tomb-
stone (31/652), reached a regular ductus in
milestone inscriptions (65/685-86/705) and
the mosaic band and copper plate of the
Dome of the Rock (both 72/691; see ar-
chaeology and the q_ur'an). Arabic
rounded cursive, first attested in a requisi-
tion of sheep on papyrus (22/643), diversi-
fied into 2) a routinized ligatured protocol
script, 3) a wide-spaced slender chancellery
hand, preserved in the gubernatorial cor-
respondence of Qurra b. Shank (r. go/
709-96/714), including 4) a denser and
squatter variant for bilingual tax notifica-
tions (entagie) and 5) a slanting script of
qur'anic fragments, now referred to as
hijdziifi- Gruendler, Development, 131-41).

Diacritical marks (ijdni, naqt) were possi-
bly inspired by pre-Islamic Nabatean or
Syriac examples (G. Endress, Arabische
Schrift, 175, n. 82 with further bibliogra-
phy). They appear as a full system, though
used selectively, on the earliest dated docu-
ments: the aforementioned requisition and
a building inscription (58/678) on a dam of
the first Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya (r. 41/
661-60/680). During the next two centu-
ries diacritics were generalized in Qur'ans
and difficult texts. As points or strokes —
the former predominate in Qur'ans, the
latter in papyri and manuscripts — they
marked either several meanings of a ho-
mograph (<bd'/td'/tha'/nun/ya'>, <jim/
ha'/khd'>, <fd'/qaf>) or only one of a pair

ARABIC. SCRIPT

I40

(<ddl/dhdl>, <ta'/ga'>, <'ayn/ghayn>,
<sin/shin>). In the second/eighth century,
qaf alone was distinguished by a dot above
or below. Only later did^S' receive the re-
spective opposite diacritic. This method
was preserved in maghribi script, while a
single dot on fi' and a double dot on qaf
spread in the East from the third/ninth
century onwards. The early fluidity of the
system articulated itself in further alternate
diacritics. A qur'anic manuscript (Paris Ar.
376 b) distinguishes zdy from ra'and 'ayn
from ghayn with a dot beneath and sin from
shin with three dots beneath. In the
second/eighth century, the feminine end-
ing written in pausal form as ha' received
two dots, forming the la' marbuta, and a
century later, a miniature kaf was placed
inside the final kaf to prevent confusion
with lam. Muhmal signs indicated unmarked
letters in the form of dots, tilted small la or
miniatures of the letters themselves. In
modern print, diacritics have become part
of the letters, yet in pre-modern writing,
their presence varied greatly. Business and
private correspondence largely dispensed
with them, and an entirely unmarked epis-
tle conveyed a writer's respect for the
learning of the addressee.

The Arabic script is an abjad (or conso-
nantal) system, with the added obligatory
notation of long vowels. It abbreviates
words by omitting the short vowels, dou-
bled consonants and inflectional endings.
Thus it can be read faster than alphabetic
script, denoting both consonants and vow-
els, but it requires simultaneous linguistic
reconstruction. This is done for each word
theoretically by paradigmatic-etymological
analysis and practically by lexical recogni-
tion. Many words, however, are ambigu-
ous, <kt'b> for instance, stands for kitdb,
"book," and kuttdb, "scribes," the correct
reading depending on the syntactic and se-
mantic context. Such reconstruction re-
quires competence in the classical language

('arabiyya), and Arabic-Islamic society is
unique in the precedence it assigns this
knowledge as the foundation of general
culture. The same graphic economy safe-
guards the inclusiveness of Arabic script,
for it tends to veil the mistakes and hyper-
corrections of uneducated writers. This
feature also permits written texts to be
read as colloquial, a capacity the renowned
Egyptian writer Tawfiq al-Haklm (1898-
1987) exploited in his play al-Safqa, "The
Deal."

Most medieval Arabic sources ascribe the
invention of qur'anic vocalization to Abu 1-
Aswad al-Du'ali (d. 69/688) or his disciple
Nasr b. l Asim (d. 89/707), but they trace
the impulse back to an Umayyad governor,
Ziyad b. Ablhi (r. 45/665-53/673) or al-
Hajjaj (r. 75/694"95/7 I 4)- Evidence of the
actual use of vowel signs in the mid-
second/eighth century can be gathered
from the theological dispute about them, as
well as from contemporary qur'anic frag-
ments (N. Abbott, Rise, nos. 9-13, 15).
There, a colored dot above a consonant in-
dicates the following short vowel /a/ (fatfi),
beneath it /i/(kasr), at the letter's base /u/
(damm) and a double dot in these positions
signifies indeterminacy (tanwin). Further
orthographic signs — an inverted half-
circle or hook for a double consonant
and a line above alif for its zero-value
(was!) — were ascribed to al-Khalll b.
Ahmad (d. 175/791) though attested only
in the third/ninth century. Since the
orthography of the consonantal text re-
flected the dialect of the Quraysh, it did
not indicate the glottal stop (hamz) unless
an otiose alif had been kept or a glide had
replaced it. Hamz was reinstated as a sup-
plemental sign to an existing letter (alif
waw or yd') or placed on the line. The
marker was a colored dot, a semi-circle or
a miniature 'ayn. In the same century, pa-
pyri began to display the use of short
strokes for the vowels /a/ and /i/, a small

141

ARAB I l: SCRIPT

waw for /u/ and a double stroke (or a dou-
ble warn) for indeterminacy. Further minia-
ture letters were introduced: to indicate
the absence of vowels (sukun), a small num
standing for the word for "apocopation,"
jazm; a small shin derived from the word
shadd or tashdid, "strengthening," for a
double consonant; a small sad standing for
either wasl or sila, "connection," for alif
with zero-value, and small mlm-dal derived
from the word madd, "extension," for
word-initial /'a,/ or word-final /a,'/. These
orthographic signs became fully used a
century later in Qur'ans and difficult texts.
Qur'anic verse markers (dots, strokes, cir-
cles or rosettes) remained the only punctu-
ation. Occasionally, non-quranic texts
were subdivided with dotted circles or ex-
tended words (mashqj.

Papyri, Qur'ans, and manuscripts
Ibn Durustawayh's (d. 346/957) thesis that
script varies by profession, that there are,
for example, differences between a copier
of Qur'an codices (masdhif), a bookseller-
copyist (warraq) and a chancellery scribe
(kiitib), is supported by the fact that three
functionally distinct groups of texts — let-
ters and documents on papyrus or paper,
Qur'ans, and literary and scholarly manu-
scripts — have warranted their own sub-
disciplines (Ibn Durustawayh, Kuttab,
113-27; E. Whelan, Early Islam, 49-53).

Papyrus remained in use until the
cheaper and smoother rag paper replaced
it in the middle of the fourth/tenth cen-
tury. In addition to governmental use, pa-
pyrus was (re)used for legal documents as
well as commercial and private letters,
which were written in a careless non-offi-
cial style (mutlaq), governed by common use
rather than formal rules (muhaqqaq) . The
writing can be divided into two phases
dominated by "tendencies" rather than
discrete scripts, as a piece of writing de-
pended not only on date, but also on pur-

pose and addressee. For example, a later
text might revert to archaic graphic fea-
tures, an earlier text might anticipate new
developments or different stages of devel-
opment could coincide (W. Diem, Arabische
Briefe, nos. 24/25). 1) The script of the first
two Islamic centuries was angular with
mostly open loops, well-separated letters
and extended connecting strokes. Typical
letter shapes recall the epigraphic script,
e.g. isolated alif with a bent foot and ex-
tending high above other letters; medial/
final alif extending below the connecting
stroke; dal bending rightward at its top;
and medial/final 'ayn made up of two
oblique strokes (G. Khan, Arabic papyri,
27-39; id., Bills, 19-21). 2) With the third Is-
lamic century, letters grew rounded, most
loops were filled in, and four cursive ten-
dencies dominated the performance: An-
gular forms became rounded, rounded
forms, straightened, the nib no longer left
the writing surface between letters and the
pen covered a shorter distance. New ho-
mographs ensued, such as dal/ra' and final
nun/yd'. Unusual ligatures abounded to the
point of connecting most letters of a given
line. This, as well as the papyri's laconic
formulation, complicates their decipher-
ment. A comprehensive assessment of the
papyri's scripts is still needed; nonetheless,
recent publications by W. Diem, R.
Khoury, G. Khan and others have ren-
dered much material accessible.

As is the case with the Yemeni find,
Qur'ans offer cohesive groups of scripts,
conducive to establishing script families.
For some areas and periods they also pro-
vide the only illuminated specimens.
Qur'anic fragments prior to the third/
ninth century, however, lack dates, leaving
their dating to paleographic considerations
(A. Grohmann, Problem, 225). The pro-
duction of Qur'ans falls into two larger
phases, using very different scripts. From
the beginning of Islam until the fourth/

ARABIC. SCRIPT

14.'

tenth century, Qur'ans were written on vel-
lum and more rarely on papyrus. During
the earliest period, usually limited to the
first/seventh century, Qur'ans were written
in high format in various styles of slanted
hijazi script. From the second/eighth cen-
tury onwards, broad format fragments ex-
hibit six "Abbasid styles" (F. Deroche's
term replacing kuji), each of which is de-
fined by a significant sample of letters.
During the third/ninth century, "new
styles" (F. Deroche's term replacing "east-
ern" or "broken kuji") emerge with oblique
letter shapes and a changing thickness of
the line, resembling contemporary book
script (E Deroche, Collection, 157-60).
Meanwhile, the western part of the Arab-
Islamic world developed the "new style"
into maghribi and andalusi, written on vel-
lum in a square format. These western
scripts persisted, unaffected by the eastern
emergence of naskh script. Ibn al-Bawwab's
naskh codex dated 391/1001 heralds the
second phase of Quran production in
rounded scripts written in high format and
on paper. An early muhaqqaq Qur'an is at-
tested in 555/1160 (M. Lings and Y. Safadi,
Qur'an, no. 60). Rounded scripts soon
reached calligraphic perfection. Naskh,
muhaqqaq and rayhan formed the Qur'an's
main text and thuluth adorned headings as
did ornamental kuji. The Saljuq and Ayyu-
bid dynasties commissioned magnificent
Qur'ans, celebrating the return to Sunnl
orthodoxy. Yet the earliest fully preserved
(single or multiple-volume) Qur'ans be-
long to the Mamluk and Ilkhanid periods.
Under Tlmurid, Safavid, Mughal and
Ottoman patronage, the qur'anic scripts
themselves hardly changed, but were cre-
atively adorned and framed with exquisite
illuminations.

The scripts of scholarly and literary man-
uscripts and codices are the least studied to
date and pose the greatest problems for
classification. The scholars, literati and

copyists were not committed to formal
scribal criteria and their hands diverged
substantially. Systematic paleographic
study has been almost nonexistent up to
the present and is urgently needed. Much
material must still be consulted in the al-
bums collected around the turn of the last
century. However, a preliminary survey
based on dated specimens suggests five
styles (G. Endress, Handschriftenkunde,
282-4), th e nrst ' wo °f which, dating
mostly to the third/ninth century, overlap
with a style defined in another study as
"Abbasid book script" (F Deroche, Manu-
scrits arabes, 356-63, tables i-ii).

Calligraphy
Arabic script also served as a highly refined
artistic medium on buildings, objects, pa-
per and other supports. Calligraphy flour-
ished in the post-Mongolic period, particu-
larly under Safavid, Mughal and Ottoman
patronage. The Ottoman divani script
emerged and scripts of the oblique ductus,
ta'liq, nasta'liq and the "broken" shikasta
found application in illuminated pages and
albums, mostly in Persian. New calli-
graphic genres were invented, among them
the tughra (originally a sultan's stylized sig-
nature, later any pious name or formula
shaped into a graphic), pages of single let-
ter exercises, mirrored writing, the verbal
image of the prophet (hilya), miniature
script inside larger letters (ghubar), decoup-
age and the gilt leaf. Arabic or pseudo-
Arabic script was also adopted as an orna-
mental feature in European medieval and
Renaissance art. See also calligraphy
AND THE QJJr'AN.

Beatrice Gruendler

Bibliography
Primary: Ibn Durustawayh, Kitab al-Kultab al-
mutammam ji l-khatt wa-l-hija] ed. I. al-Samarra'i
and A. Fatll, Kuwait 1977; Ibn al-Nadim, Fihrist,

r 43

ARAB IG SCRIPT

ed. Ricla Tajaddud, Teheran 1971; al-
Qalqashandl, Subh al-ashafi sina'at al-insha] 14
vols., Cairo 1913-20, 1357/1938°, repr. 1383/1963.
Secondary (arranged by topic): Script and literality:
J. Brockmeier, Literates Bewufitsein. Schriftlichkeit und
das Verhdltnis von Sprache und Kultur, Miinchen 1997;
P. Daniels, Fundamentals of grammatology, in
JAOS no (1990), 727-30; P. Daniels and W. Bright
(eds.), The world's writing systems, New York 1996
(esp. sees. 5, 47, 50 and 62, by M. O'Connor, P.
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manuscrits moyen-orientaux dates
(Fi.M.M.O.D.), published as insert of Nouvelles des
manuscrits du Moy en- Orient, Paris 1992-; W.
Graham, Beyond the written word. Oral aspects oj
scripture in the history of religion, Cambridge 1989;
H. Gimther and O. Ludwig (eds.), Schrift und
Schriftlichkeit. Writing and its use, 2 vols., Berlin
1994-96 (esp. sees, by C. Scheffler, V. Wilbertz,
A. Schimmel, H. Biesterfeldt and T. Bauer); H.
Jensen, Sign, symbol and script. An account of man's
efforts to write, trans. G. Unwin, New York 1969 3
(rev. and enlarged); J. Naveh, Early history of the
alphabet, Leiden 1982; F. Rosenthal, "Of making
many books there is no end." The classical
Muslim view, in G. Atiyeh (ed.), The book in the
Islamic world, Albany 1995, 33~55- — Formation and
early development: N. Abbott, The rise of the north
Arabic script and its Ruranic development, Chicago
1939; id., Arabic paleography, in Ars Islamic a 8
(1941), 65-104; F Briquel-Ghatonnet, De
Tarameen a l'arabe. Quelques reflexions sur la
genese de l'ecriture arabe, in F Deroche and F.
Richard (eds.), Scribes et manuscrits du Moyen- Orient,
Paris 1997, I35~49;J- Cantineau, Le Nabateen,
Paris 1930, repr. Osnabriick 1978; W. Diem,
Some glimpses at the rise and early development
of the Arabic orthography, in Orientalia 45 (1976),
251-61; id., Die Hauptentwicklungsstadien der
arabischen Orthographic, in Akten des VII.
Kongresses fur Arabistik und Islaniwissenschaft,
Gottingen 1976, 101-7; id., Untersuchungen zur
fruhen Geschichte der arabischen Orthographic,
i. Die Schreibung der Vokale, in Orientalia 48
(1979), 207-57; n - Die Schreibung der
Konsonanten, in Orientalia 49 (1980), 67-106;
iii. Endungen und Endschreibungen, in Orientalia
50 (1981), 332-80; iv. Die Schreibung der
zusammenhangenden Rede. Zusammenfassung,
in Orientalia 52 (1983), 357-404; G. Endress, Die
arabische Schrift, in gap'i, 165-83, 190-97; A.
Grohmann, Arabische Paldographie, 2 vols., Vienna
1967-71; B. Gruendler, The development of the Arabic
scripts. From the Nabatean era to the first Islamic century
according to dated texts, Atlanta 1993; J. Healey,
Nabatean to Arabic. Calligraphy and script
development among the pre-Islamic Arabs, in
Manuscripts of the Middle East 5 (1990-1, publ.

1993), 41-52; B. Levine and A. Yardeni, The

documents from the Barkokhba period in the cave of
letters, iii. Hebrew Aramaic and Nabatean documents
(forthcoming); S. al-Munajjid, Dirdsatji ta'nkh al-
khatt al-'arabi mundhu biddyatihi ila nihayat al-'asr al-
Umawi, Beirut 1972; A. Negev, Obodas the god,
in Israel exploration journal 36 (1986), 56-60;
E. Revell, The diacritical dots and the
development of the Arabic alphabet, in jss 20
(1975), 178-90; F Rosenthal, Nabatean and
related inscriptions, in H.P Colt (ed.), Excavations
at Nessana, 3 vols., London 1962, i, 198-210, pis.
34-35 (cf. J. Naveh, Arabic Nabatean incantation
text, in Israel exploration journal 29 [1979], m n. 4);
E. Schroeder, What was the badi ( script?, in Ars
Islamica 4 (1937), 232-48; J. Segal, The diacritical
point and the accents in Syriac, London 1953; J.
Sourdel-Thomine, Khatt, in ei 2 , iv, ni3-22;J.
Starcky, Un contrat nabateen sur papyrus, in
Revue biblique 61 (1954), 161-81; id., Petra etla
Nabatene, in Dictionnaire de la Bible. Supplement,
Paris 1966, vii, 886-1017; J. Teixidor, Deux
documents syriaques du IIP siecle apres J.C.
provenant du Moyen-Euphrate, in Comptes rendus
de Vacademie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, (1990),
144-66; K. Versteegh, The Arabic language,
Edinburgh 1997. — Papyrus and paper: N. Abbott,
The Kurrah papyri from Aphrodito in the Oriental
Institute, Chicago 1938; id., Studies in Arabic literary
papyri, 3 vols., Chicago 1957-72; W. Diem,
Arabische Brief auf Papyrus und Papier aus der
Heidelberger Papyrus -Samm lung, 2 vols., Wiesbaden
1991; id., Arabische Geschaftsbriefe des 10. bis 14.
Jahrhunderts aus der Osterreichischen Nationalbibliothek
in Wien, 2 vols., Wiesbaden 1995; id., Arabische
Privatbriefe des g. bis 15. Jahrhunderts aus der
Osterreichischen Nationalbibliothek in Wien, 2 vols.,
Wiesbaden 1996 (excellent glossary and
indices); A. Dietrich, Arabische Brief aus der
Papyrussammlung der Hamburger Staats- und
UniversiUits-Bibliothek, Hamburg 1955; A.
Grohmann, From, the world of Arabic papyri, Cairo
1952; id., Einfuhrung und Chrestomathie zur arabischen
Papyruskunde. i. Einfuhrung, Prague 1954; id.,
Arabic papyri from Hirbet el-Mird, Louvain 1963;
id., Arabische Chronologic. Arabische Papyruskunde
(HO 1. Abt. Ergbd. II, 1. Halbbd.), Leiden 1966;
G. Khan, Arabic papyri. Selected material from the
Khalili collection, London 1992 (cf. W. Diem,
Philologisches zu den Khalili-Papyri, in wzkm
83 [1993], 39-81); id., Bills, letters and deeds. Arabic
papyri of the ?"' to 11"' centuries, London 1993; id.,
Arabic legal and administrative documents in the
Cambridge Genizah collections, Cambridge 1993;
R. Khoury, Papyruskunde, in gap, i, 251-70;
id., Chrestomathie de papyrologie arabe. Documents
relatifs a la vie privee, sociale et administrative dans les
premiers siecles islamiques (HO 1. Abt. Ergbd. II,

i 4 4

2. Halbbd.), Leiden 1993; id., Papyrologische
Studien. ^um. privaten una ' gesellschaf lichen Leben in
den ersten islamischen Jahrhunderten, Wiesbaden
1995. — Qur'dn: A. Arberry, The Koran illuminated.
A handlist of the Korans in the Chester Beatty Library,
Dublin 1967; F. Deroche, Les ecritures
coraniques anciennes. Bilan et perspectives, in
REI 48 (1980), 207-24; id., Collection de
manuscrits anciens du Coran a Istanbul.
Rapport preliminaire, in J. Sourdel-Thomine
(ed.), Etudes medievales et patrimoine turc. Cultures et
civilisations medievales no. 1, Paris 1983, 145-65; id.,
Catalogue des manuscrits arabes. 2. partie. Manuscrits
musulmans. i. Les manuscrits du Coran. Bibliotheque
Nationale. Departement des manuscrits, 2 vols., Paris
1983-85; id., The Abbasid tradition. Qiir'ans of the 8"'
to the io lh centuries a.d., London 1992 (detailed
script charts); id., The Qur'an of Amagur, in
Manuscripts of the Middle East 5 (1990-1, publ.
1993), 59-66; id., Catalogue des manuscrits de Coran
damascenes au Musee des arts turc et islamique
(forthcoming); id., and S. Noja Noseda, Sources
de la transmission manuscrite du texte coranique.
I. Manuscrits de style hijazi- i- Ms. arabe 328 (a)
(forthcoming); A. Grohmann, The problem of
dating ancient Qiir'ans, in Der Islam 33 (1958),
213-33; D.James, Qur'dns of the Mamluks, London
1988; id., The master scribes. Qur'ans of the 10"' to
if 1 centuries a.d., London 1992; id., After Timur.
Qiir'ans of the 15 th and 16 th centuries, London 1992;
M. Lings, The quranic art of calligraphy and
illumination, London 1976; M. Lings and Y.
Safadi, The Qur'dn. Catalogue of an exhibition, of
Qur'dn manuscripts at the British Library, London
1976; N. al-Naqshbandl, al-Masahif al-kanma ft
sadr al-Islam, in Sumar 12 (1956), 33-37 (pis.);
Noldeke, gq; G. Puin, Methods of research on
Quranic manuscripts — a few ideas, in Masdhif
San'd'. ig March — ig May ig8j, Kuwait n.d.,
9-17; id., Observations on early Qur'an
manuscripts in San'a 1 , in Wild, Text, 107-11; D.
Rice, The unique Ibn al-Bawwdb manuscript in the
Chester Beatty Library, Dublin 1955; E. Whelan,
Forgotten witness. Evidence for the early
codification of the Qur'an, iaJAOS 118 (1998),
1-14; id., Writing the word of God. Some early
Qur'an manuscripts and their milieux,
Part I, in Ars orientalis 20 (1990), 113-47 (with 22
pis.). — Manuscripts and codices: G. 'Awwad, Aqdam
al-makhtutat al-'arabiyyafi maktabdt al-'alam,
Baghdad 1982; F. Deroche, Les manuscrits
arabes dates du III L /IX° siecle, in REI 55-7
(1987-9), 343-79 (ills, and script charts); id., La
paleographie des ecritures livresques dans le
domaine arabe, in Gazette du livre medieval 28
(1996), 1-8; G. Endress, Handschriftenkunde, in
gap, i, 271-96; B. Moritz, Arabic paleography,
Cairo 1905, repr. Osnabriick 1986, pis. 117-88;

S. al-Munajjid, al-Kitdb al-'arabl al-makhtut ild
l-qarn aL'dshir al-hijn, i. al-JVamddhij,
Cairo i960; R. Sellheim, Materialien zar arabischen
Literaturgeschichte, 2 vols., Stuttgart 1976-87; E.
Tisserant, Specimina codicum orientalium, Bonn
1914, pis. 45-61; G. Vajda, Album de paleographie
arabe, Paris 1958; E. Wagner, G. Schoeler and R.
Quiring-Zoche, Arabische Handschriften, 3 vols.,
Stuttgart 1967-94. — Calligraphy: S. Flury,
Islamische Schriftbander. Amida-Diarbekr. XL
Jahrhundert, Basel ig20; A. Gacek, al-Nuwayrl's
classification of Arabic scripts, in Manuscripts of
the Middle East 2 (1987), 126-30; id., Arabic scripts
and their characteristics as seen through the eyes
of Mamluk authors, in Manuscripts of the Middle
East 4 (1989), 144-49; G- Huart, Les calligraphes et
les miniaturistes de VOrient musulman, Paris 1908,
repr. Osnabriick 1972; E. Kiihnel, Islamische
Schriftkunst, Berlin 1942, repr. Graz 1972; H.
Massoudy, Calligraphic arabe vivante, Paris 198 1; F.
Rosenthal, Four essays on art and literature in Lslam,
Leiden 1971 (esp. Significant uses of Arabic
writing, pp. 50-62 and Abu Hayyan at-Tawhidi
on penmanship, pp. 20-49); Y. Safadi, Islamic
calligraphy, London 1978; N. Safwat, The art of the
pen. Calligraphy of the if' to 20 th centuries, London
1996; A. Schimmel, Islamic calligraphy, Leiden
1970; id., Calligraphy and Islamic culture, New York
1984; D. Sourdel, Ibn Muqla, in ep, iii, 886-7;
J. Sourdel-Thomine, Ibn al-Bawwab, in ei 2 , iii,
736-7; E. Whelan, Early Islam. Emerging
patterns (622-1050), in E. Atil (ed.), Islamic art and
patronage. Treasures from Kuwait, New York 1990,
41-96; N. Zaynaddin, Musawwar al-khatt al-'arabl,
Baghdad 1388/1968.

Arabs

The native inhabitants of the Arabian pen-
insula and their descendants. The Qur'an
refers repeatedly to what may loosely be
called peoples, communities, tribes and na-
tions (see tribes AND GLANs). Most belong
to the past but a few are contemporaneous,
e.g. the Byzantines (al-Rum, see Byzan-
tines) and the Quraysh (q.v.). However,
the Arabs (al- c arab) are not among these
groups, either of the past or of the present.
Instead, the Qur'an employs the adjective
Wa£z"(Arab, Arabic) to qualify a number of
substantives such as the Qur'an itself (six
times) and the language in which it is re-

r 45

ARAFAT

vealed (three times). In one instance only,
q 13:37, the expression "an Arab(ic) judg-
ment" (hukm 'arabT) is used in a context
which may suggest a contrast between two
ethnic groups but may equally be inter-
preted linguistically. Finally, there is an-
other phrase in Q_ 41:44, which contrasts
'arabi (Arab, Arabic) to ajami (non-Arab)
but here, too, the linguistic interpretation is
as likely as the ethnic. From this brief por-
trait of the term 'Arab(ic)," one might con-
clude that the Quran does not employ this
term to refer to a distinct ethnic group. This
impression is fortified by the fact that in
pre-Islamic (jahili, see age of ignorance)
poetry, the terms 'arab and 'arabT are hardly
ever encountered as an ethnic designation.

Yet the issue appears to be more complex
than this. To begin with, it is not entirely
legitimate to conclude from the absence of
ethnic designators the absence of any con-
cept of an Arab ethnos. Secondly, the
Qtir'an insists upon its own manifest clarity
and derives this clarity from its use of the
Arabic language (q.v.; e.g. 016:103; 26:195).
In this, one may well detect an appeal to
Arabism as a form of collective conscious-
ness. Thirdly, the ten references in the
Qtir'an to a group called al-a'rab (nomadic
Arabs; see bedouin; nomads) — a term
that has preserved the same meaning up
to the present day in many Arab countries
and has been consistently applied by
urban Arabs to nomads — suggests a con-
trast of group identities that is not far
from the ethnic. "You call us a'rab but our
name is the Arabs," sings a poet of the
Umayyad pe-riod (41/661-132/750), not
too many years after the revelation of the
Qtir'an.

Examined from this or a similar perspec-
tive, it appears that the term "Arab" in the
Qtir'an should be contextualized within a
broad array of kindred terms. One such
that should be singled out here is the term
umma (group, community, religious follow-

ing; see community and society in the
qjur'an). The umma of Muslims is what the
Qtir'an proposes as the new collective
identity of the faithful: "You are the best
umma that ever was delegated to mankind"
(q_3:iio). If we now reintroduce the em-
phasis by the Qtir'an on its Arabic speech,
it would be possible to argue that this new
umma, this new collective identifier, is to be
coupled with Arabic, which is, as it were,
its banner of clarity. Thus, although a
community of the faithful strictly defined
by religion is put forward as the ideal, this
is nevertheless combined with a particular
cultural expression. In short, while the
term "Arab" may not have been used in a
strictly ethnic sense in the Qtir'an, a qua-
lity of Arabness is attached to the concept
of umma, rendering it an essential aspect of
the earliest self-definition of the new faith.
See also pre-islamic Arabia and the
q_ur'an.

Tarif Khalidi

Bibliography
J. 'All, Ta'rTkh al-'arab qabla l-isldm, Baghdad
1950; S. Bashear, Arabs and others in early Islam,
Princeton 1997; A. A. Duri, The historical formation
of the Arab nation, London 1987; I. Goldzihcr,
Muslim studies, 2 vols., London 1967-72; T.
Khalidi, Aspects of communal identity in
Umayyad poetry, paper presented to Workshop
IV of Late Antiquity and Early Islam, The
Wellcome Institute, London, May 1994
(publication forthcoming); N. Nassar, Mafium al-
umma bayna l-dm wa-l-ta'nkh, Beirut 1978.

'Arafat

A plain extending about six and a half km
in breadth from east to west and about
twelve km in length, lying twenty-one km
to the east of Mecca (q.v.). The grammari-
ans agree that the word Arafat is a singu-
lar noun in the form of a plural. Although
the plain is also referred to by the singular

ARARAT

146

form Arafa, this is regarded by some ex-
perts as a later-day corruption (Yaqut,
Buldan, iv, 104). The name, according to the
classical scholars, is derived from the verbs
based on the root '-r-f. According to one
account, Gabriel (q.v.) is said to have
taught ('arrafa) the rites of the pilgrimage
to Abraham (q.v). When Gabriel made the
prophet stand (waqqafahu) on the plain, he
asked him "Do you know? f'arafta)" and he
replied, "yes." Other discussions of the
etymology claim that the plain was where
Adam and Eve (q.v.) encountered each
other (ta'araja) after the fall. The sole men-
tion of this place in the Quran is in
(32:198: "There is no fault in you that you
seek bounty from your Lord. So when you
pour out from Arafat, remember God at
the sacred monument. Remember him as
he has guided you, though formerly you
had gone astray (q.v.)."

The plain of Arafat plays an important
role in the rites of the pilgrimage. Accord-
ing to a famous hadlth of the Prophet, the
ritual at Arafat is the pilgrimage. On the
ninth day of the month of Dhu 1-Hijja,
the pilgrim must stand (waqafa) before
God from shortly after midday until sun-
set. Most of this time is occupied by two
long sermons (sing, khutba), which are usu-
ally delivered by a local dignitary. The
preacher sits astride a camel on the side
of a low hill known as the Mountain of
Mercy (Jabal al-Rahma), also sometimes
called 'Arafat or 'Arafa, which lies in the
northeastern corner of the plain.

At one time, the plain was fertile. It is de-
scribed as containing fields, meadows and
fine dwellings which the inhabitants of
Mecca occupied during the pilgrimage.
Indeed, the area produced a number of
notable transmitters of hadlth and poetry
(Yaqut, Buldan, iv, 104-5). Today, little
remains but a few stunted mimosas and
the plain is uninhabited with the excep-

tion of one day of the year. See also
PILGRIMAGE.

R.G Khoury

Bibliography
Primary: TabarT, Tafsir, ii, 166-7; AJ- Wensinck
and H.A.R. Gibb, 'Arafa, in Ef, i, 604; Yaqut,
Buldan, 5 vols., Beirut 1374/1955-1376/1957, iv,
104-5.

Secondary: G.E. von Grunebaum, Muhammadan
festivals, London 1951, A. Th. Khoury, Der Koran.
Arabisch-Deutsch Ubersetzung und wissenschaftlicher
Kommentar, Giitersloh 199 r-, ii, 308.

Ararat

The tallest of two peaks of a group of
mountains, actually an extinct volcanic
range, in the northeast of modern Turkey,
south of present-day Armenia. Mount
Ararat is identified by Jews and Christians
with the biblical story of the Hood and the
ark (q.v.) of Noah (q.v.) in Gen 6-9. This
peak is known by the Arabs as Jabal al-
Harith, by the Turks as Biiyuk Agri Dag,
by the Iranians as Kuh-i Nuh (Mountain of
Noah) and as Mount Masis (or Masik) by
the Armenians, who view the mountain as
their national symbol, but did not come to
consider it to be the resting-place of No-
ah's ark until about the twelfth century c.E.

Islamic tradition makes no mention of
Ararat, for Q_ 11:44 states that "[Noah's]
ship came to rest on Mount Judi," present-
day Cudi Dag. This mountain lies some
forty km northeast of Jazlrat Ibn 'Umar
(now Cizre) in Turkey, just north of the
Iraqi border, and some three hundred km
southwest of Ararat. Nearby lies the town
of Thamanln (Arabic for "eighty"), sup-
posedly named for the eighty passengers of
the ark who survived the flood.

Attempts at locating the biblical Ararat
are complicated by the names and loca-
tions given to the resting-place of the ark

ARBITRATION

in other languages and traditions. It is of-
ten overlooked that the biblical text, which
has inspired repeated searches of remnants
of the ark, actually states {Gen 8:4) that "the
ark [of Noah] rested on the mountains of
Ararat" as the flood waters subsided. In
the Jewish Aramaic Targum and in Syriac
"mountains of Ararat" is translated "ture
Qardu." The latter appears as Qarda in
the famous geographical dictionary of
Yaqut (d. 626/1229), Mu'jdm al-bulddn (iv,
56), which locates it south of the present
day Ararat. Yaqut states that " [al-Judl] . . .
is a mountain overlooking Jazlrat Ibn
'Umar, on the east side of the Tigris, in the
district of Mosul" (ii, 144, s.v. al-Judl),
hence in the territory of ancient Qardu.
Some scholars have linked this name with
Gordyene, the Greek appellation for the
entire area and generally connected with
the Kurds, whose ancient presence in this
area seems to be attested by Xenophon (d.
ca. 350 B.C.E.). The q/k of Qardu/Kurd,
however, presents a problem and scholars
are now of the opinion that an earlier
people in this area, named Qardu were
succeeded by the Kurds coming from the
east.

The location of Ararat is undoubtedly
connected with the ancient kingdom of
Urartu (Ararat in ancient Hebrew). Urartu
ruled much of the area of today's eastern
Turkey from about the ninth to the seventh
century b.c.e., vying for control of the re-
gion with the Assyrians until, weakened by
constant warfare with its neighbors, it was
finally conquered by the Medes in 612
B.c.E. A current view is, therefore, that the
biblical phrase "the mountains of Ararat"
actually refers to the entire area of moun-
tain ranges of the kingdom of Urartu
which includes both Mount Judl and
Mount Ararat. See also JUDl.

William M. Brinner

Bibliography
A. Heidel, The Gilgamesh epic and Old Testament
parallels, Chicago 1946, 250-1; G. LeStrange,
Lands of the eastern caliphate, Cambridge 1905, 93
(Mount Judi), 182-3 (Ararat); V. Minorsky, Kurds,
Kurdistan, in Ef, v, 447-9; B.B. Piotrovskii,
Urartu. The kingdom oj Van and its art, trans, and
ed. P.S. Gelling, New York 1967; M. Streck and F.
Taeschner, Aghri Dagh, in Ef, i, 251-2;
M. Streck, Djudl, in Ef, ii, 573-4; Tabarl, Ta'rikh,
trans. F. Rosenthal, The history of al-Taban. i.
From the creation to the flood, Albany 1989, 366, n.
"37-

Arbitration

An arrangement by which two or more
persons, having a difference, appoint some-
one to hear and settle their dispute and to
abide by that decision. Arbitration appears
in the Quran several times. The Arabic
equivalent, used only in the singular, is
hukm, a verbal noun of hakama. The root
h-k-m, which is said to be of non-Arabic
origin (Jeffery, For. vocab., ill), has a num-
ber of meanings (see foreign vocab-
ulary). The principal meanings of the
simple verbal form hakama are "to govern,"
"to restrain," "to pass judgment" and "to
be sage." From these original meanings
hakim, "he who decides, the authority, gov-
ernor, judge, wise," and hukm, "order, rule,
sentence, judgment, wisdom," are derived
(°-5 : 46-g; 6:56; 12:39; 18:25; 26:82). Hakam,
"arbiter," appears twice in the Qur'an.
One verse enjoins the appointment of an
arbiter in the case of marital disputes: "If
you fear a split between a man and his
wife, send for an arbiter from his family
and an arbiter from her family. If both
want to be reconciled, God will adjust
things between them. For God has full
knowledge, and is acquainted with all
things" (o 4:35). The other is "Shall I seek
an arbiter other than God, when he it is
who has sent you the book, explained in
detail?" (£6:114).

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE Q_UR AN

The appointment of arbiters, like a num-
ber of other practices of the Islamic com-
munity, is of pre-Islamic origin. In the
Mecca of Muhammad's day, it was cus-
tomary for the parties in a dispute to select
their own arbiter, usually a man noted for
his tact, wisdom and knowledge of ances-
tral custom. Very often the disputing parties
referred their case to a soothsayer (kahin,
see soothsayers), a practice the Quran
specifically denounces (o_52:2g; 69:42).

Ultimately, the Qur'an stresses that final
judgment belongs to God alone (06:57, 62;
12:40; see last judgment) and "the Arbi-
ter" (al-hakam) is one of his titles (see GOD
and his attributes). It is he who con-
ferred the authority to make decisions on
his prophets (q_ 2 1:78-9). As long as Mu-
hammad was alive, he was naturally re-
garded as the ideal person to settle disputes
and was elevated to the position of judge
supreme. His functions and responsibilities
in Medina are defined in terms of qur'anic
decrees: "We have sent down to you the
Book (q.v.) with the truth in order that you
may judge (li-tahkuma) between the people
on the basis of what God has shown you"
(04:105). Muhammad distinguished him-
self from soothsayers by basing his judg-
ments upon scripture.

Muhammad is told that if Jews come to
him seeking arbitration and he accepts,
"Judge (fahkum) between them fairly"
(o 5:42; see Watt-Bell, Introduction, 29). The
Prophet left Mecca for the purpose of act-
ing as an arbiter between the feuding tribes
in Medina (see emigration). His role as
the messenger (q.v.) of God apparently
suggested that he was a man of superior
wisdom (Watt, Islamic political thought, 21).
Later generations ascribed to Muhammad
a great number of legal decisions which,
coupled with the existing customary law,
formed the basis of Islamic law. See also
judgment; law and the qur'an.

Mohsen Zakeri

Bibliography
W.M. Bell, Introduction to the Qur'an, Edinburgh
1953; N. Coulson, A history of Islamic law,
Edinburgh 1964, 11, 26; L. Gauthier, La racine
arabe hukm et ses derives, in Homenaje a Don
Francisco Codera, Saragossa 1904, 435-54; A.-M.
Goichon, Hukm, in Ef, hi, 549; J. Horovitz,
A't/71-3; A. Jeffery, For. vocab., in; id., The
Qur'an as scripture, in MW \a (1950), 121-2; J.
Schacht, An introduction to Islamic law, Oxford
1964, 10-1; W.M. Watt, Islamic political thought,
Edinburgh 1968, 20-1, 24, 26, 40-1; T.H. Weir,
Hukm, in El 1 , ii, 332.

Archaeology and the Qur'an

At present the field of archaeology has lit-
tle to contribute to an understanding of
the Qur'an and the milieu in which Islam
arose. Archaeological excavations are ta-
boo in Mecca (q.v.) and Medina (q.v.) and
only a few other excavations or surveys
have yet taken place in the Arabian penin-
sula that shed much light on the topic.

The pioneering work on historical geog-
raphy and on the initial survey and collec-
tions of inscriptions in the Arabian penin-
sula began at the end of the nineteenth
century with such explorers as Alois Musil
in northern Arabia and Eduard Glaser in
the Yemen, but only a limited number of
archaeological surveys or excavations were
carried out prior to the second World War.
Substantial archaeological work has been
underway since the 1950s in the Yemen
(see B. Doe, Monuments, for a summary) and
in the Arabian Gulf states (conveniently
synthesized by D. Potts, Arabian Gulf). Ar-
chaeology in Saudi Arabia, beginning with
the excavation at Qaryat al-Fa'w in 1972
and regional surveys since 1976 (published
in the first issues of Atldl), is less advanced
than in those two areas.

Yet some information has become avail-
able. Among the principal journals devoted
to the archaeology of the Arabian penin-
sula are Atldl, published by the Department
of Antiquities in Saudi Arabia since 1977,
the Proceedings of the seminar for Arabian stud-

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

ies, held annually in Great Britain since
197 1, and Arabian archaeology and epigraphy
since 1990. One should also note in general
the several volumes of the Studies in the his-
tory of Arabia published in Riyadh between
1979 and 1989. While few articles in those
journals examine the physical remains of
the cultural milieu of early Islam, there are
two articles — S. Rashid, Athar Islamiyya
and G. King, Settlements — that sum-
marize the state of knowledge about the
archaeology of Arabia around the rise of
Islam. One should also note numerous
short entries of relevance in the Oxford ency-
clopedia of archaeology in the Near East (1997).

The light that archaeology can shed on
the Quran falls into two categories: 1) the
physical remains from the distant pre-
Islamic past that can be associated with
earlier biblical and Arabian prophets and
peoples (see scripture and the q_ur'an;
punishment stories), 2) the physical re-
mains that can be informative for the life-
time of Muhammad. Concerning the dis-
tant pre-Islamic past, the archaeological
remains in Palestine that can be associated
with the Israelites and other peoples also
recorded in the Bible have been receiving
intensive attention for over a century and
little need be said here. But one should
note that there is no recorded physical
trace of the destruction of the people of
Lot (q.v; o 15:76; 25:40; 37:137; 15:73;
37:136) other than the general God-for-
saken barrenness of the Dead Sea region.

A number of qur'anic verses relate to
events that took place in Jerusalem (q.v.) in
the pre-Islamic periods. Likewise, the Mus-
lims early on localized there the mihrab of
Mary (q.v.; 0.3:37), the mihrab of Zechariah
(q.v.; 03:39; 19:11), the cradle of Jesus (q.v.;
03:46; 5:110; 19.29), the mihrab of David
(q.v.; 038:21) and the gate where the Chil-
dren of Israel (q.v.) were to enter and say
"Repentance" (02:58; 7:161; cf. A. Elad,
Medieval Jerusalem; A. Kaplony, Die fatimid-
ische Moschee). The Islamic tradition has

also associated eschatological traditions
with the double-door golden gate on the
east enclosure wall of the Haram (the
Arabic-Islamic designation of the Temple
Mount), called the "gate of mercy and re-
pentance" (localizing 057 :i 3)- Yet the
development of the architectural manifes-
tations associated with those qur'anic allu-
sions, which have no claim to preserving
any pre-Islamic features, falls within the
purview of later Islamic art and architec-
tural history rather than archaeology.
No trace of the palace of Solomon (q.v.;
027:44) or the first temple has been identi-
fied nor would they have survived the neo-
Babylonian destruction of the city in 586
B.c.E. and subsequent rebuilding^.

The people of Midian (q.v.), to whom the
prophet Shu'ayb (q.v.) was sent (07:85;
11:84; 26:176), are also known from the Bi-
ble and can be identified with the popula-
tion of northwest Arabia in the northern
Hejaz and Gulf of Aqaba coast during the
late second millennium B.c.E. in the Late
Bronze Age (G. Mendenhall, Qurayya).
But only limited survey work has been
done in the area, notably at the major site
of Qurayya, which consists of a citadel, a
walled sedentary village and irrigated
fields. Such clearly important sites like al-
Bad', the probable city of Midian itself,
and Magha'ir Shu'ayb await careful exami-
nation.

To turn to the non-biblical, pre-Islamic
peoples, the Thamud (q.v), the people to
whom the prophet Salih (q.v.) was sent (e.g.
0773-9; 11:61-8; 26:141-58; 27:45-52;
54:23-31), are a historically well-docu-
mented tribal group in northwest Arabia.
The Thamud first appear in Assyrian texts
in the eighth century B.c.E. as tribal ene-
mies of the Assyrians (I. Eph'al,TA« ancient
Arabs); the name also appears in a variety
of Greek and Roman written sources.
Most interestingly, a bilingual Greek-
Nabataean dedicatory inscription records
the erection of a temple dedicated to the

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE Q_UR AN

150

god Ilaha between 166 and 169 c.E. in the
reign of the Roman emperors Marcus
Aurelius and Lucius Verus at Ruwwafa in
northwest Saudi Arabia by the confedera-
tion of the Thamud [Thamudendn ethnos in
Greek; SRKTH TMWDWin Nabataean),
by the heads of the confederation and by
the efforts of the Roman governor who
had made peace among them (D. Graf,
The Saracens; M. O'Connor, Etymology

of Saracen). The term SRKTH {or con-
federation is a possible etymology for the
term "Saracen" that the Romans used to
identify the Arabs in general. The architec-
tural style of the temple is typical Naba-
taean and along with the use of Nabataean
for the dedicatory inscriptions reflects the
acculturation of the Thamud to their
Nabataean rulers. One assumes that the
temple functioned as a central shrine for
the Thamudic confederation along the
major caravan route. The Thamud be-
came federate allies of the Romans and
served as auxiliaries in the Roman army.
For example, there were cavalry units in
the fourth century c.E. identified as "Tha-
mudeni" stationed in Palestine in the
Negev, and as "Saraceni Thamudeni"
stationed in Egypt in the Nile Delta.

The name Thamud, however, only oc-
curs a very few times in pre-Islamic Ara-
bian inscriptions themselves. The inscrip-
tions found by the thousands throughout
northern Arabia and southern Syria and
Jordan of uncertain date and debated clas-
sification, which modern scholars have at-
tributed to nomads in the pre-Islamic cen-
turies and have labeled as "Thamudic" for
the sake of convenience, need not have
had anything to do with the Thamud
themselves. The "Thamudic" inscriptions,
mostly short graffiti recording personal
names, may have been written by a num-
ber of diverse tribes with no necessary con-
nection with the Thamudic confederation.
See also Arabic script.

The place where the Thamud cut the
mountains into dwellings (o_7:74; 89:9) has
commonly been identified with Hijr/Ma-
da'in Salih in northwest Arabia where in
the first century c.E. the Nabataean rulers,
generals and other central government au-
thorities, rather than the locals, cut num-
erous tombs for themselves into the moun-
tain sides, similar to their more famous
tombs in Petra. Architectural studies were
carried out there in an earlier period (A.
Jaussen and E Savignac, Mission archeolo-
gique) and archaeological excavations began
in 1986 (see the preliminary reports in Atldl
since 1988). The area of Hijr [Hegra in
Nabataean) marked the southern limit of
Nabataean territory and the Nabataeans
established Hijr along the caravan route as
their military and government center in
the south in preference to nearby Dedan/
al-'Ula. The earliest pottery found there is
Nabataean, leaving open the question of
whether there was substantial pre-Naba-
taean occupation at the site. The site con-
tinued as a government center after the
Roman annexation of the Nabataean
kingdom in 106 c.E. Some Latin inscrip-
tions at Mada'in Salih and at al-'Ula from
the second century c.E. provide slight evi-
dence for a Roman military presence, al-
though the area was always outside the
frontier of the Roman empire (D. Graf,
The Saracens). There is no trace of occu-
pation at the site after the second or third
century c.E.

The other peoples that were destroyed
after they rejected the prophets who were
sent to them are not readily identifiable as
any archaeological remains. They include
the 'Ad (q.v.) who built monuments and
strongholds on every high place
(q_ 26: 128-9) ana - whose fate, according to
the Qur'an, is manifest from the remains of
their dwellings (o_2g:38; 46:25). Likewise
remains have not been found which could
be associated with the dwellers in al-Rass

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE Q_UR AN

(025:38, see also people of the ditch;

RASS).

The site of Marib, capital of the Sabean
kingdom in southwest Arabia, and its irri-
gation dam (Q.34: 15-6) have been investi-
gated intensively, especially by German
scholars (B. Doe, Monuments, 189-202; W.
Daum, Yemen, 55-62; and the several vol-
umes of the Archdologische Berichte aus dem
Yemen of the Deutsches Archdologisches Institut
San'a,'). The Marib dam was the largest
and most technologically sophisticated of
the numerous other dams in southwest
Arabia. While the Marib oasis was being
irrigated as early as the third millennium
B.c.E., the oldest extant inscription that re-
fers to separate irrigation works for the
north and south halves of the Marib oasis
(o_ 34:15) dates to 685 B.c.E. The extant sin-
gle large dam, eight kilometers from the
city, was first constructed after the date of
these inscriptions, in ca. 528 B.c.E. Like the
other dams, its function was not to store
water long term but rather to reduce the
velocity of the twice yearly flood waters
and to raise the water level so that the
water could be diverted through two
sluices and distributed through a complex
system of canals onto a wide cultivated
area. The area irrigated by the dams was
some 9,600 hectares along a distance of
some eleven kilometers for the northern
oasis and twenty-one kilometers for the
southern oasis. The dam would have re-
quired frequent maintenance, and dam
bursts necessitating repairs are recorded
numerous times in inscriptions in the first
centuries C.E., and for the last time in 553
c.E. Another dam burst occurred some
thirty-five years later and it was repaired.
The final, unrepaired burst caused by the
qur'anic flood of al-Arim (q.v; Q_ 34:16;
'-r-m is the Sabean word for "dam") would
have occurred in the early years of the
first/seventh century.

The principal difficulty with such flood

diversion irrigation is the gradual accumu-
lation over time of deposits of silt that con-
tinuously raise the ground level of the irri-
gated fields. This necessitates the periodic
raising of the water channels and the dams
or relocating them so that they remain
higher than the fields. Such maintenance
to keep the system in operation becomes
increasingly difficult and eventually be-
comes uneconomical and results in the
abandonment of the irrigation works. The
ultimate abandonment of the Marib dam
was, however, not due to questions of the
technical feasibility of repairing it, but
rather due to the political and social condi-
tions of decline, culminating in the Sasani-
an Persian occupation of southern Arabia
in 575 C.E., that broke down the public in-
stitutions needed to maintain such large
projects as the dam.

Various locations have been proposed for
the cave referred to in the qur'anic passage
on the Men of the Cave (q.v; q 18:9-27).
One such possible location is at an exca-
vated rock-cut Roman-Byzantine tomb at
al-Raqlm, just south of Amman in Jordan
(R. al-Dajam, Iktishaf kahf).

To turn to more general topics, in south
Arabia the Kingdom of Sheba (q.v), with
its capital at Marib, was the leading state
in the first millennium B.c.E. It was formed
as a tribal confederation headed by a ruler
who was given the title of "Mukarrib."
The early chronology of the Sabean state
is obscure due to the lack of early datable
inscriptions or links with events outside
southern Arabia. A Solomon and Queen
of Sheba (see bilqJs; Q_22:i5"44) synchro-
nism would need to be in the tenth century
B.c.E. (see J. Pritchard, Solomon and Sheba),
but the Queen is not an otherwise attested
historical figure. There is no reference to a
queen in any Sabean inscriptions, although
queens of the Arabs are cited in several
eighth-century B.c.E. Assyrian inscriptions
recording the Assyrian military campaigns

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE Q_UR AN

into the northern Arabian peninsula (I.
Eph'al, Ancient Arabs). These obscurities
have led to two competing scholarly recon-
structions of Sabean history, one dating
the origins of the state to the eighth cen-
tury b.c.e., based on synchronisms, which
are not definite, of names of Sabean rulers
appearing in the Assyrian annals. The
other reconstruction locates the start of the
monumental cultures of south Arabia hun-
dreds of years later, around the fifth cen-
tury b.c.e. For the second view of Sabean
history, that of the shorter chronology, the
Solomon and Queen of Sheba incident be-
comes more legendary than historical.

The other independent states in southern
Arabia, Ma'in, Qataban and Hadramawt
also arose by the fifth and fourth centuries
b.c.e. In the first centuries c.E. the politi-
cal situation changed with the emergence
of the state of Himyar. Tubba' (q.v.) was
the title used by the Himyarite rulers, thus
localizing the people of Tubba' (0:44:37;
50:14) in southwest Arabia. By the mid-first
millennium b.c.e. the south Arabians cer-
tainly were building monumental stone ar-
chitecture, including city walls and tem-
ples, characterized by a distinctive style of
square-sectioned monolithic pillars, per-
haps evocative of the multi-columned Irani
(q.v.; c) 89:7). There are any number of ma-
jor surviving monumental temples in
southwest Arabia (see B. Doe, Monuments).
The temples are often identified with the
term mahram in the south Arabian dedica-
tory inscriptions. Those temples typically
are rectangular columned structures with-
out any direct influence on later mosque
design. The Awwam temple of the god II-
muqah at Marib is unique in having a
large oval enclosure wall (100 X 75 m), de-
lineating a sacred space (hawta) with a rect-
angular entrance hall on one side.

The caravan trade linking the incense-
producing areas in southern Arabia and
the Mediterranean was of major impor-

tance and was facilitated by the domestica-
tion of the camel (q.v.). While the first use
of camels may have been as early as the
fourth or third millennium b.c.e., and
camels were certainly being used as pack
animals by the second millennium b.c.e., it
was the development of a suitable camel
saddle by the early first millennium b.c.e.
that enabled nomadism to develop fully
(see bedouin; nomads). At first the Sa-
beans were in control of most of the cara-
van route north to the Mediterranean but
in the last centuries b.c.e., the Minaeans
controlled the route, and they established a
trading colony in the oasis at Dedan/al-
'Ula in northwest Arabia. The site of
Dedan is known to have been occupied
previously and the kingdom of Lihyan was
centered there by around 400 b.c.e., about
the time that the colony of traders from
Ma'in was established. Dedan continued in
the Hellenistic period until the Nabataeans
took over in the second or first century
b.c.e. and moved their center to Hijr/
Mada'in Salih to the north. The connec-
tion between the Lihyans and the Tha-
mfld, discussed earlier, is obscure. The ar-
chaeological site of al-Khurayba, ancient
Dedan, has been surveyed and the water
supply system has received focused atten-
tion (A. Nasif, 'al-'Ula).

A few excavation projects at other sites
from the distant pre-Islamic past took
place in Saudi Arabia in the ig8o's. Ac-
companying these projects were brief pre-
liminary reports published in Atldl, such as
the excavation at Taym at the sixth or fifth
century b.c.e. palace of Qasr al-Hamra',
and at tombs dating from 1450-750 b.c.e.
and excavations at the multi-period site of
Dflmat al-Jandal/al-Jawf (K. al-Muaikel,
Study of the archaeology; A. al-Sudayri, The
desert frontier). Of greater interest here is the
excavated site of Qaryat al-Fa'w, the thriv-
ing capital of the pre-Islamic state of
Kinda in southwest Arabia, occupied be-

'5:3

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

tween the second century B.c.E. and the
fifth century c.E. (A. al-Ansarl, Qaryat al-
Fa'w). The ancient name of the site was
Dhat Kahl, named after their chief god.
Although there was some limited agricul-
tural potential at the site, trade was impor-
tant for the city. It was a large town with its
buildings constructed of mud bricks on
stone foundations. The excavations uncov-
ered remains of a walled, two-storied mar-
ket, with further open markets surrounding
it; a palace; a temple; a residential area
and a number of tombs, including one of
the king, Mu'awiya b. Rabi'a, and tombs of
nobles and commoners. Among the strik-
ing finds were a collection of bronze stat-
ues from the temple, some with Hellenistic
features; painted wall plaster depicting
people and animals from the palace; coins
minted at the site; and numerous inscrip-
tions in south Arabian musnad script.

There are large numbers of rock draw-
ings throughout the Arabian peninsula
spanning a wide range of time, both pre-
Islamic and Islamic. They frequently de-
pict hunting and pastoral scenes (E. Anati,
Rock art, M. Khan, Prehistoric rock art; and is-
sues of Atlal since 1985).

Inscriptions from the pre-Islamic period
in the Arabian peninsula number in the
tens of thousands. H. Abu 1-Hasan's
1997 study of Lihyanic inscriptions is only
the most recent of a number of publica-
tions of inscriptions by King Sa'ud Univer-
sity in Riyadh; one should also note a
growing number of masters theses by the
students of Yarmouk University in Jordan.
There are many different types of inscrip-
tions, ranging from dedicatory inscriptions
to graffiti. Some of these are the monu-
mental dedicatory inscriptions in southwest
Arabia written in the musnad script. Others
include the thousands of graffiti written in
a variety of scripts labeled, as stated above,
by scholars for convenience as Thamudic.
Another group includes over fourteen

thousand north Arabian inscriptions
whose sites are concentrated in southern
Syria and northeastern Jordan, labeled by
scholars as "Safa'itic", again for conve-
nience, after the Safa' basalt region of
southern Syria, regardless of the fact that
few such Safa'itic texts have been found
there specifically. The Safa'itic texts are
rarely dated but range from the first cen-
tury B.c.E. and seem to end by the fourth
century c.E. because there is no hint of
any Christian influence in them (M.
Rtisan, al-Qabd'il al-Thamudiyya). The evo-
lution of the Nabataean script into the
Arabic script has been well established
(B. Gruendler, The development).

Of special note is a south Arabian in-
scription from the second century B.c.E.
that decrees a ban on the practice of kill-
ing (new-born?) girls (C. Robin, LArabie an-
tique, 141-3; see o_ 16:58-9; 81:8-9; see infan-
ticide). It is noteworthy that around the
fourth century c.E. pagan formulas in the
south Arabian inscriptions are replaced by
monotheistic expressions, using the term
rahmdn (G. Robin, L'Arabie antique, 144-6; see
cod and his attributes). The term
mihrab — later used to indicate the direc-
tion of prayer (qibla, q.v.) in mosques — is
used in the south Arabian inscriptions to
mean a structure, along the lines of an au-
dience chamber, or the title of a govern-
ment official, along the lines of chancellor
(C. Robin, LArabie antique, 152-5). There
are some surviving papyrus documents and
inscriptions that shed light on the period of
the Rightly-Guided Caliphs (11/632-40/
661; see F. Donner, The formation), but not
on the lifetime of the Prophet.

Turning to the time period of Muham-
mad himself, very little can be said about
the physical remains of pre-modern Mecca
and Medina, although much can be known
from the historical sources which have
been repeatedly analyzed. Nothing re-
mains of the original architectural features

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE Q_UR AN

of the sanctuary in Mecca except for the
Ka'ba (q.v.) itself nor of the sanctuary in
Medina due to the repeated rebuilding and
expansions over the centuries. Little of the
pre-modern cities in general has survived
massive modern development, although
there are a number of pre-modern historic
mosques in the two cities and elsewhere in
Saudi Arabia (G. King, Historical
mosques). A few stone defensive towers
(utum) from the pre-Islamic period are
known around Medina (A. Ansarl, Athar al-
Madina, 72-4; G. King, Settlements in Ara-
bia, 189-91). There are, of course, many
place names recorded in the biographies of
the prophet Muhammad (see SIRA AND
THE q_ur'an), such as battle sites or places
where Muhammad built mosques, but
archaeological inquiry, as opposed to the
study of historical geography, has little to
offer. A number of places known to have
been major settlements at the time of
Muhammad, such as Khaybar (q.v.) or
'Ukaz, remain essentially uninvestigated
beyond basic identification in the course of
surveys. Nothing is known about al-Ta'if
beyond several dams and other irrigation
works, one of which was constructed in
58/678 under the Umayyad caliph Mu'a-
wiya (M. Khan and A. al-Mughannam,
Ancient dams).

However, a few excavated sites are worth
mentioning here. The major site of Najran
(q.v.) in southwest Arabia is well known his-
torically from the sixth century c.E. as a
center of Christianity. The persecution of
the Christians there by the Jewish ruler
around 520 c.E. is one candidate for the in-
cident of the People of the Ditch (q.v.;
o 85:4-9). Ukhdud, the archaeological site
of Najran, received some attention in 1967
and the early 1980s (J. Zahrins et al., Sec-
ond preliminary report, 23-4; G. King, Set-
tlements, 201-5). It had a stone-walled cita-
del within which possible remains were
found of the Ka'ba of the Banu 1-Harith b.

Ka'b, mentioned by Ibn al-Kalbi (d. 204/
819). During the late pre-Islamic period
continuing into the Islamic period, the
principal settlement in the area of al-'Ula
shifted to Qiirh or Wadi al-Qura. Qtira is
identifiable with the archaeological site of
al-Mabiyat, where two seasons of excava-
tions were carried out in 1984 and 1985
(M. Gilmore et al., Preliminary report;
A. Nasif, al-'Ula). The site of Jurash was
excavated, but few details beyond a pottery
analysis are available (A. al-Ghamedi, The
influence, 176-220). The port of Ayla,
modern-day Aqaba in Jordan, which
some commentators have identified as the
Sabbath-breaking town on the sea
(q_7:i63), has received intensive attention
in the last decade. Work has been done
excavating at the early Islamic settlement,
founded perhaps as early as the reign of
the third caliph 'Uthman (r. 23/644-35/
656; D. Whitcomb, Ayla) as well as at the
Roman-Byzantine site nearby (T Parker,
Roman Aqaba project), whose surrender
on terms to Muhammad in 630 c.E. is
prominently recorded in the Islamic
sources.

Of particular note is the excavated site of
al-Rabadha, a settlement east of Medina
along the caravan route between the Hejaz
and al-Kufa. Al-Rabadha experienced a
continuity of settlement in the pre-Islamic
and early Islamic periods, although the ex-
cavation report (A. al-Rashid, al-Rabadhah)
makes little mention of the pre-Islamic and
pre-'Abbasid remains there. The second
caliph 'Umar b. al-Khattab (r. 13/634-23/
644) set aside the area around the site as a
state pasturage (himdj. Reservoirs and
wells were studied there, along with a west-
ern mosque and a second mosque in the
residential area; a fortress or palace; sev-
eral residential units; industrial installa-
tions; and a portion of the town enclosed
by a wall with towers.

P. Crone and M. Cook's idea (Hagarism,

r 55

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

22-4) that the original pre-Islamic shrine of
Bakka (0.3:96) was located in northwest
Arabia has no remaining physical support.
The orientation of some early mosques
that are well off the true direction of
prayer can be explained as the result of in-
accurate measurement rather than as a de-
liberate orientation to a shrine in north-
west Arabia. One should also note that Y.
Nevo and J. Koren's (Origins of Muslim
descriptions) discussions of the pre-Islamic
cultic practices in Mecca are based on fun-
damental misidentifications as cultic of the
non-cultic sites that Y. Nevo excavated in
the Negev area of southern Palestine.

The diffusion of Christianity in the Ara-
bian peninsula was limited (see christians
and Christianity). J. Beaucamp and C.
Robin (Le Christianisme) summarize the
evidence, to which should be added more
recent archaeological discoveries along the
Persian Gulf. These include churches (see
church) in Jubayl, Saudi Arabia and else-
where (J. Langfeldt, Early Christian monu-
ments). An example of one of these is the
church at Failaka, Kuwait dating from the
end of the fourth century c.E. with later
non-church occupation starting in the
seventh century c.E. (V. Bernard et al.,
L'eglise d'al-Qpusour). Another of these is
the Nestorian monastery at Sir Bam Yas in
Abu Dhabi, dating around the sixth to sev-
enth century c.E. (G. King, A Nestorian
monastic settlement). One may also note
the isolated hermitage at Kilwa in extreme
northwest Saudi Arabia; one cell has a
cross and a Christian Arabic inscription on
its lintel (N. Glueck, Christian Kilwa). In
South Arabia, a few columns remain of
the famous al-Qalls church built by Abraha
(q.v.) in the middle of the sixth century c.E.
to surpass the sanctuary of Mecca (R. Ser-
jeant and R. Lewcock, Sana, 44-8). These
columns can now be found appropriated
for use in the main mosque of San'a. There
seems to be no identified physical trace of

the Jewish presence, known from historical
sources, which existed in Medina and
northern and central Arabia in the pre-
Islamic period (see jews and Judaism;
khaybar; nadir; oaynuq_a'; qjjrayza).

Several aspects of archaeological inquiry,
such as palaeo-botanical and faunal analy-
ses, and environmental studies, have not
yet been fully integrated into archaeologi-
cal projects, so the contribution that they
could make for understanding the milieu of
early Islam remains mostly a potential for
the future. There are no physical anthro-
pological studies of human skeletal re-
mains particularly close to the time of
Muhammad, although one can note the
Bedouin cemetery excavated at the Queen
Alia International Airport south of Am-
man in Jordan dating to the first and sec-
ond centuries c.E. (M. Ibrahim and R.
Gordon, A cemetery). The issue of possible
climate changes remains open (J. Dayton,
The problem of climatic change).

No examples are known to have survived
of divining arrows (q. 5:3, 90), and one
would have to move beyond the close cul-
tural milieu of the Hejaz in Muhammad's
day to find surviving examples of jewelry
(o_ 24:31). There are no surviving early ex-
amples of armor (q_2i:8o). The first Islam-
ic artistic depictions are the stucco statues
of soldiers from the eighth-century c.E.
Umayyad palace at Khirbat al-Mafjar
(R. Hamilton, Khirbat al-Mafiar). Just what
distinguished the famous sword of Mu-
hammad and All (see c ali b. abi talib) to
warrant its special name Dhu al-Faqar
(sword with grooves) is not clear, but it may
have been a straight-bladed, double-edged
sword with two grooves as known from the
Yemen (W. Daum, Yemen goooyears, 15-6,
24); it would scarcely have had the imprac-
tical bifurcated tip so often described. The
swords attributed to Muhammad and
other early figures in the Topkapi Museum
in Istanbul are of dubious authenticity (A.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE Q_UR AN

156

Zaky, Medieval Arab arms, 203-6).

In addition to the major settlements that
they passed through, the various trade
routes throughout the peninsula were pro-
vided with numerous way stations. Such
facilities for travelers were expanded along
the routes that were used by the pilgrims to
Mecca (see pilgrimage). The way stations,
reservoirs and wells along the main pilgim-
age route from Kufa to Mecca have been
well-documented. That route is known as
the Darb Zubaydah, named after the wife
of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashld
(r. 170/786-193/809), who expanded the
route's facilities. The Egyptian and Syrian
pilgrimage routes in the northwest Arabian
peninsula have also been studied (A. Ha-
med, Introduction). Some fragments of stone
figures (see IDOLS and images), seemingly
deliberately destroyed at the onset of Islam,
are at Q_aryat al-Fa'w and al-'Ula (G. King,
Settlements, 211-2). The Nabataeans had
often depicted their gods in a non-figura-
tive manner (J. Patrich, The formation).

Concerning Jerusalem, the early Islamic
tradition quickly identified it as the loca-
tion of the Aqsa Mosque (al-Masjid al-
Aqsa, q_i7:i; see aqsa mosqjje) which is as-
sociated with Muhammad's night journey
and ascension (q.v.) to heaven (q.v.). The
use of the term "al-Haram al-Sharif " to
identify the area of the former Jewish
Temple Mount in Jerusalem, as well as the
identification of the tomb of Abraham
(q.v.) in Hebron as a haram, has no explicit
qur'anic authority and only came into
general use in the Mamluk and Ottoman
periods. Prior to that period, the term
"al-Masjid al-Aqsa," was used to refer both
to the entire Haram area as well as to the
roofed structure in the south edge of the
Haram, the Aqsa mosque in the narrower
sense. The Dome of the Rock in Jerusa-
lem, the oldest surviving Islamic monu-
ment, contains the earliest extant extensive
portions of the qur'anic text, datable by

Abd al-Malik's dedicatory inscription to
72/692 C.E. (see EPIGRAPHY AND THE
QUR'an; ART AND ARCHITECTURE AND
THE q_ur'an). The qur'anic passages vary
slightly from the standard text with
changes from the first to the third person
and are interspersed with other non-
qur'anic pious phrases (see most recently
O. Grabar, The shape of the holy). The Aqsa
Mosque was first built as a monumental
stone structure by the Umayyad caliph al-
Walid (r. 86/705-96/715), replacing a
wooden structure noted by the Christian
pilgrim Arculf around 675 c.E. But al-
Haram al-Sharif, where both the Aqsa
Mosque and the Dome of the Rock are
located, is off limits for excavations, while
the results of the excavations of the
Umayyad palaces just to the south and
southwest of the H aram await substantive
publication. See also material culture
AND THE QUR'aN; PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA AND
THE Q_UR'AN.

Robert Schick

Bibliography
H. Abu 1-Hasan, Qira'a li-kitdbat lihyaniyya min
jabal 'Akma bi-mintaqat al-'Ula, Riyadh 1997; E.
Anati, Rock art in central Arabia, Louvain 1968-74;
A. al-Ansarl, Athar al-Madlna al-munawarra,
Medina 1973; id., Qciry at al-Fa'w, Riyadh ig8i; J.
Beaucamp and C. Robin, Le Christianisme dans
le peninsule arabique d'apres l'epigraphie et
l'archeologie, in Hommage a Paul Lemerle. Travaux et
memoire, Paris 1981, 45-61; V Bernard, O. Callot
andJ.-F. Sales, L'eglise d'al-Qpusour Failaka,
Etat de Koweit, in Arabian archaeology and epigraphy
2 (1991), 145-81; P. Crone and M. Cook, Hagarism,
Cambridge 1977; R. al-Dajanl, Iktishaj kahj aid
al-kahf, Beirut 1964; W. Daum (ed.), Yemen. 3000
years of art and civilization in Arabia Felix, Innsbruck
1988; J. Dayton, The problem of climatic change
in the Arabian peninsula, in Proceedings of the
seminar for Arabian studies 5 (1975), 33-60; B. Doe,
Monuments of south Arabia, New York 1983; E
Donner, The formation of the Islamic state, in
JAOS 106 (1986), 283-96; A. Elad, Medieval
Jerusalem and Islamic worship, Leiden 1995; I.
Eph'al, The ancient Arabs, Leiden 1982; A. al-
Ghamedi, The influence of the environment on

i;37

pre-Islamic socio-economic organization in southwestern
Arabia, Ph.D. diss., Arizona State 1983; M.
Gilmore et al., A preliminary report on the first
season of excavations at al-Mabiyat, an early
Islamic site in the northern Hijaz, in Aflat 9
(1985), 109-2; N. Glueck, Christian Kilwa, in
Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society 16 (1936), 9-1;
O. Grabar, The shape of the holy. Early Islamic
Jerusalem, Princeton 1996; D. Graf, The Saracens
and the defense of the Arabian frontier, in basor
229 (1978), 1-26; B. Gruendler, The development of
the Arabic scripts. From the Nabatean era to the first
Islamic century according to dated texts, Atlanta 1993;
A. Hamed, Introduction a I' etude archeologique des
deux routes syrienne et egyptienne de pUerinage au nord-
ouest de VArabie Saoudite, Ph.D. diss., Universite de
Provence aix Marseille 1988; R. Hamilton,
Khirbat al-Mafjar, Oxford 1959; M. Ibrahim and
R. Gordon, A cemetery at Queen Alia International
Airport, Wiesbaden 1987; A. Jaussen and F.
Savignac, Alission archeologique en Arabic, Paris
1909-14; A. Kaplony, Die fatimidische "Moschee
der Wiege Jesu" in Jerusalem, in ^eitschrift des
deutschen Palastina-Vereins 113 (1997), 123-32; M.
Khan, Prehistoric rock art of northern Saudi Arabia,
Riyadh 1993; M. Khan and A. al-Mughannam,
Ancient dams in the Ta ! if area 1981 (1401), in
Atlal 6 (1982), 125-3; G. King, The historical mosques
of Saudi Arabia, London 1986; id., Settlement in
western and central Arabia and the Gulf in the
sixth-eighth centuries a.d., in G. King and A.
Cameron (eds.), The Byzantine and early Islamic
Near East ii. Land use and settlement patterns,
Princeton 1994, 181-212; id., A Nestorian
monastic settlement on the island of Sir BanT
Yas, Abu Dhabi. A preliminary report, in bsoas
60 (1997), 221-35; J. Langfeldt, Recently
discovered early Christian monuments in
northeastern Arabia, in Arabian archaeology and
epigraphy 5 (1994), 32-60; G. Mendenhall,
Qurayya and the Midianites, in Studies in the
history of Arabia 2. Pre-Islamic Arabia, Riyadh
1984, 137-45; K. al-Muaikel, Study of the
archaeology of the Jawf region, Saudi Arabia,
Riyadh 1994; A. Nasif, al-'Uld. An historical and
archaeological survey with special reference to its
irrigation system, Riyadh 1988; Y. Nevo and J.
Koren, The origins of the Muslim descriptions
of thejahili Meccan sanctuary, in JNES tyQ (1990),
23-44; M. O'Connor, The etymology of
Saracen in Aramaic and pre-Islamic Arabic
contexts, in P. Freeman and D. Kennedy (eds.),
The defense of the Roman and Byzantine East,
Oxford 1986, 603-32; T. Parker, The Roman
c Aqaba project. The 1994 campaign, in Annual
of the Department oj Antiquities of Jordan 40 (1996),
231-57; J. Patrich, The formation of Nabataean art,
Leiden 1990; D. Potts, The Arabian Gulf in

antiquity, Oxford 1990; J. Pritchard, Solomon and
Sheba, London 1974; S. al-Rashld, al-Rabadhah.
A portrait oj early Islamic civilization in Saudi Arabia,
Riyadh 1986; id., al-Athdr al-islamiyyafi l-jazira
I- 'arabiyyafi asr al-rasul wa-l-khulafa 1 al-rdshidin,
in Studies in the history of Arabia, Hi. Arabia in the
age of the Prophet and the four caliphs, part 2, Riyadh
1989, 145-99; C. Robin, L'Arabie antique de
Kariba 3 il a Mahomet. Nouvelles donnees sur
l'histoire des Arabes grace aux inscriptions, in
REMMM 61 (1991-93); M. al-Rusan, al-Qabail
al-thamudiyya wa-l-safawiyya. Dirdsa muqdrana,
Riyadh 1992; R. Serjeant and R. Lewcock,
San'a. An Arabian Islamic city, London 1983; A.
al-Sudayri, The desert frontier of Arabia. al-Jawf
through the ages, London 1995; D. Whitcomb,
Ay la. Art and industry in the Islamic port of Aqaba,
Chicago 1994; J. Zahrins, A. Murad and
Kh. al-Yaish, The second preliminary report
on the southwestern province, in Atlal 5 (1981),
g-42; A. Zaky, Medieval Arab arms, in R.
Elgood (ed.), Islamic arms and armour, London
1979, 202-12.

c Arim see al- c arim

Ark

The English term most frequently used in
reference to the vessel that bore Noah (q.v.)
and his family during the Hood, it also de-
notes (2) the sacred chest that, for the Isra-
elites, represented God's presence among
them known as the ark of the covenant,
and (3) the raft that carried the infant Mo-
ses (q.v.).

The ark of Noah
The ark or vessel that bore Noah, his fam-
ily and two of every kind of animal is re-
ferred to in the Qur'an by two separate
Arabic words, fulk and sajina, both meaning
"boat," as well as one circumlocution, "a
thing of planks and nails" (dhati alwahin wa-
dusur). The last, found in (354:13, is the
only qur'anic reference to the composition
of the vessel. In extra-qur'anic legends,
which are generally derived from haggadic
sources, the early Muslim commentators

ARROGANCE

I 5 8

elaborated on the materials and method of
the ark's construction, the number of its
levels, the types and location of the ani-
mals and the sundry difficulties that Noah
faced when loading and unloading it. In
accordance with the Qur'an's general
tendency to present a more abstract and
paradigmatic representation of themes
paralleled in the Jewish and Christian
scriptures (see scripture and the
qjur'an), the ark is a sign both of God's
punishment and of his willingness to save
believers. When the Qur'an is read in Ara-
bic, the words referring to Noah's ark reso-
nate with the more general uses of the
words, usually translated as "ship" or
"boat," reinforcing the sense of the ark as
one of God's portents and providing a con-
nection to the story of Jonah (q.v; 0.37:140)
and to that of Moses and God's servant in
Q_ 18:71 (see khadir/khidr).

The ark of the covenant
In Q_ 2:248, the ark (tdbut) of the covenant
(q.v.) is mentioned as a sign of God's so-
vereignty. In that verse, it is said to con-
tain the divine presence (sakma, see
sechina). Extra-qur'anic commentaries
on this verse identify the ark of the cove-
nant with the same cultic object men-
tioned in the Hebrew scriptures (see Exod
25:10-22).

The ark of Moses
The ark (tdbut) in which the infant Moses
floated down the Nile is mentioned in
p_2o:3g. The qur'anic account follows the
biblical and extra-biblical stories of Moses
being set adrift during the time Pharaoh
(q.v.) was killing the first-born sons of the
Israelites. Moses was found by a sister of
Pharaoh and was given, by divine interven-
tion, to a wet nurse who was Moses' actual
mother. The Islamic tradition understands
the ark as a small chest rather than the

pitch-covered reed vessel in the biblical ac-
count. See also ships.

Gordon D. Newby

Bibliography
Primary: Tabarl, Tafsir; Tha'labT, Qjsas.
Secondary: G.D. Newby, The making of the last
prophet, Columbia, SC 1989.

Army see expeditions and battles

Arrogance

A sense of superiority which manifests
itself in an overbearing manner. Acting
arrogantly or insolently has different con-
notations in reference to God and his crea-
tures. In the case of God, the creator of
the whole universe and the supreme au-
thority on heaven and earth, his expression
of his superiority is devoid of any negative
connotation. "The Great" (al-kabir) is men-
tioned six times in the Quran as one of
God's attributes; five times in association
with "the Supreme" (al-'ali, 04:34; 22:62;
31:30; 34:23; 40:12) and once with "the Ex-
alted" (al-muta'al, Q_i3:g). The Quran spec-
ifies, "God possesses greatness (kibriya') in
the heavens and on earth" (o_ 45:37). As a
divine attribute, "exalting in his greatness"
(al-mutakabbir) means that God exalts him-
self over his creation (q.v.) and transcends
the characteristics of his creation.

Humans who claim to be great are guilty
of an unwarranted assumption of dignity,
authority (q.v.) and knowledge. A human
who claims any of these attributes is to be
considered an infidel (kdfir) and should be
punished as a polytheist. In fact unbelief
(kufr), "as man's denial of the Creator,
manifests itself most characteristically in
various acts of insolence, haughtiness, and
presumptuousness" (Izutsu, Concepts, 120;

■59

ARROGANCE

see belief and unbelief). The basic dif-
ference between God and his creatures is
that "whereas God is infinite and absolute,
every creature is finite. All things have po-
tentialities but no amount of potentiality
may allow what is finite to transcend its fin-
itude and pass into infinity. This is what the
Qur'an means when it says that everything
except God is 'measured out' [qadar or qadr,
taqdir, etc.) and is hence dependent upon God,
and that whenever a creature claims com-
plete self-sufficiency or independence (is-
tighnd", istikbar), it thus claims infinitude and
a share in divinity (shirk)" (F. Rahman, Ma-
jor themes, 67). Human arrogance is a form
of injustice (zulm) against God and the self
((3 6:93), as well as against other people.
"Those regarded as weak" (mustad'ajun) are
a category of people mentioned in the Qur-
'an as subjugated by the arrogant (alladhina
stakbaru, c) 7:75; 34:31-3). The Qur'an urges
Muslims to fight for the weak (0,4:75).

The common word for "arrogance" (kibr)
occurs only once with this sense in the
Qur'an: "Those who dispute about the
signs of God without any authority, there is
nothing in their hearts but an [unfounded]
sense of greatness (kibr) that they will never
[actually] attain" (q_ 40:56). Related to kibr
is the verbal noun kibriyd' (greatness) which
occurs twice in the Qur'an, once as one of
God's attributes, "To him be greatness
throughout the heavens and the earth: and
he is exalted in power full of wisdom"
(c) 45:37). The second occurrence is associ-
ated with the allegation made by Pharaoh
(q.v.) and his people against Moses (q.v.)
and Aaron (q.v.) that they wanted to turn
the people of Pharaoh away from their tra-
ditions in order for Moses and his people
to gain greatness, al-kibriya', in the land of
Egypt (q_ 10:78). Moses' prayer, on the other
hand, asks God to provide protection for
him and his people against every arrogant
one [mutakabbir, o_ 40:27). Conceiving of

oneself as great and superior is considered
by the Qur'an to be claiming one of God's
attributes, because only he is great (al-
kablr). Thus, arrogance in man is a griev-
ous sin (kabira, see sin, major and minor).
Acting insolently or behaving arrogantly is
to claim God's position (0^59:23). It is re-
ported in one of the pronouncements of
God preserved as a hadlth and not found
in the Qur'an [hadlth qudsi, see hadith and
the qjjr'an) that God said, "Magnificence
(al- 'agama) is my garment and greatness
(al-kibriya) is my covering. Whoever claims
them surely will be thrown into hell." A
well-known hadlth of Muhammad reads,
"Whoever has in his heart the smallest por-
tion of arrogance (kibr) will never enter
paradise."

Al-Ghazali (d. 505/11 11) explains that the
arrogant person (al-mutakabbir) is one who
considers the position of every one else to
be inconsiderable. He looks down on oth-
ers and treats them like slaves. If arrogance
manifests itself as mere insolence, it is
wicked behavior. Whoever claims absolute
greatness is nothing but a liar, because this
position is absolutely inconceivable for
anyone but God. Al-Ghazali concedes that
some individuals who enjoy higher posi-
tions or authority in society have the right
to be somewhat arrogant. He explains
that, according to mystical terminology,
"arrogant" (mutakabbir) also may refer to
the ascetic gnostic, i.e. one who renounces
whatever keeps him from serving and
communicating with God (al-Maqsad al-
asnd, 75).

Takabbur and istikbar, acting insolently or
behaving arrogantly have different conno-
tations in reference to God and to his crea-
tures. For humans, acting arrogantly is a
form of behavior directed towards other
people on the grounds that they are infe-
rior. It has been defined as undue assump-
tion of dignity, authority, or knowledge,

ARROGANCE

160

aggressive conceit, presumption or haugh-
tiness. In the case of God, understood as
the creator of the whole universe and the
supreme authority on heaven and earth,
arrogance is devoid of such a connotation.
As a divine attribute al-mutakabbir means
that he exalts himself over doing injustice
to his creation, or that he transcends the
characteristics of his creation. Besides be-
ing great, high and self-exalted, he is also
exalted in might (jabbar). Whoever ac-
quires or claims any of these attributes is to
be considered kafir and should be punished
as a polytheist. In fact kujr, "as man's denial
of the Creator, manifests itself most char-
acteristically in various acts of insolence,
haughtiness, and presumptuousness"
(Izutsu, Concepts, 120).

The first act of arrogance was committed
by Satan when he refused the command of
God to prostrate before Adam (see ad am
and eve). For this he was condemned as an
infidel. Although Satan represents the most
wicked example of arrogance (07:13;
38:74, 75), Pharaoh became the human re-
flection of Satan when he rejected the mes-
sage God revealed to Moses (q 28:39) and
misled his people into acting arrogantly
(°-7 :i 33i 10:75; 23:46; 29:39). Thus Satan
and Pharaoh became the two representa-
tive symbols for the disastrous conse-
quences of arrogance and insolence (takab-
bur and istikbar). The majority of Muslim
theologians and jurists consider Satan's ar-
rogance, and to a great extent Pharaoh's,
to be the act of disobedience that led to
the existence of the devil (q.v.) on earth.
The jurist and theologian Ibn Hazm (d.
456/1064), with the obvious intention of
condemning speculative theology (kaldm),
considers Satan the first one to employ
analogy (qijds) in religious matters.

The view of the famous mystic al-Hallaj
(d. 309/940) regarding Satan and Pharoah
was exceptional. He saw their arrogance as
a manifestation of their awareness of the

divine nature of all creatures. Their appar-
ent disobedience was thus in consonance
with their real inner nature. Though Satan
was cursed and expelled from God's pres-
ence, his loyalty and sincerity did not
change. For his part, Pharaoh was drowned,
but he did not betray himself. Al-Hallaj
considered them his true models (Tawasin,
16-20). As is to be expected, this view was
totally rejected by the mainstream of Is-
lamic thought (see sufism and the our'an).

There are many references in the Quran
to communities, groups and individuals
who insolently and arrogantly rejected the
word of God. In addition to the subjects of
Pharaoh, the Qur'an mentions the neigh-
bors of Noah (q.v.; (571:7), the people of
Ad (q.v.; Q_4i:i5), the people of Thamud
(q.v.; 0.7:75-6), the people of Midian (q.v;
0.7:88) and the pagan Meccans (passim).
Apart from these specific groups, a number
of general classes of people are portrayed
as arrogant, including those in defiance of
right (q_7:i46); those who dispute about the
signs of God (o. 40:35; see signs); those
who refuse to serve God (0.4:172); those
who tell lies about God, scornfully reject-
ing his revelation ((3.6:93; see revelation
and inspiration); those who turn away
from listening to the Qur'an and prefer
frivolous tales llahw al-hadith, 0.31:6); those
who ignore the revelations of God com-
pletely (0.45:8); those who do not believe in
the afterlife (0.16:22); and the hypocrites
(munafiqun, see hypocrites and hy-
pocrisy) of Medina (q 63:1,7-9). Hell will
be the final dwelling place of all of these
arrogant people (o. 16:29; 39:60, 72; 40:76).

Those who are not arrogant, but rather
are humble, unconditionally obey God and
willingly accept his revelation. The Qur'an
several times refers to those who do not
disdain to be God's servants (la yastakbiriina
'an 'ibadatihi, 0.7:206), e.g. the followers of
Jesus (q.v.; 0.5:83), the angels (q.v.) and all
of creation (0. 16:48-9; 21:19) and those who

iGi

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

believe in the Quran (032:15). In contrast
with the arrogant disobedience of Satan
and Pharaoh, Jesus, who is described as a
servant of God (o_ 19:30-2), was neither
overbearing (jabbar) nor miserable (shaqi).
He will never disdain (lanyastankifa) to
serve and worship God ({34:172). The be-
lievers are those who accept the Quran.
When the verses are recited to them, they
fall down in adoration (q.v.), praising their
Lord. They are never puffed up with pride
(la yastakbiruna, 032:15). The ideal behavior
expected from Muslims that makes them
worthy of the title "servants of God most
gracious" ('ibad al-rahman) is, among other
things, that they walk on the earth in hu-
mility (q 25:63). The advice of the sage
Luqman (q.v.) to his son was "Do not put
on a contemptuous mien toward people
and do not walk on the earth exuberantly,
for God does not like any self-important
boaster" (o_ 31:18). All those who disdain his
worship and are arrogant (man yastankij 'an
'ibddatihi ' wayastakbir, 04:172) will be gath-
ered together to be questioned and pun-
ished grievously, while those who believe
and perform righteous deeds will be given
their just rewards and more from God's
bounty (0:4:173). The mustad'ajun, the ill-
treated or the disinherited, is a category of
people mentioned in the Qur'an as op-
pressed by the mustakbirun (0,7:75; 34:31-3).
The Quran urges Muslims to fight for the
liberation of the mustad'ajun (04 : 75) an d en-
courages them in the meantime to resist
such oppression even by emigrating to an-
other land (q_4:o,7). Istikbar thus leads to op-
pression which is a grievous form of gulm,
injustice against others.

It is worthwhile to refer briefly to the re-
cent political manipulation of the notion of
arrogance. The old slogan of the national
movements in the Arab and Muslim coun-
tries through the sixties was commonly
"The struggle against international imperi-
alism" (al-kijdh didda l-isti'mar al-'dlanu) .

The increasing power of the Islamic move-
ments in the seventies led to the replace-
ment of the non-qur'anic concept of "im-
perialism" with "arrogance" (istikbar).
Before the Islamic revolution in Iran, Aya-
tollah Khomeini (d. 1989) started using the
concept in reference to the Shah's regime.
"The mustakbirun were those who supported
the regime of the Shah. After the revolu-
tion, mustakbirun was used in a broader
sense to describe also external enemies of
the Islamic Republic" (Gieling, Sacraliza-
tion, 100). The same negative connotation
was applied to "the industrialized world,
with the United States as its major repre-
sentative. In this sense, istikbar was synony-
mous with other concepts with a negative
connotation like colonialism and imperial-
ism" (Gieling, Sacralization, 100). During the
Iran-Iraq War (1980-88), the concept was
used to condemn Saddam Hussain and
other enemies. See also GOD AND His
ATTRIBUTES.

Nasr Abu Zayd

Bibliography
Primary: Bukharl, Sahih; al-Ghazali, Abu Hamid
Muhammad, al-Maqsad al-asnafi sharh ma'am
asma' Allah al-husnd, Cyprus 1987; id., Kitab al-
Tawba (Trom Ihya' 'alum al-dm), ed. R. al-Sayyid,
Beirut 1403/1983; al-Hallaj, Kitab al-Tawasin, ed.
P. Nwyia, Beirut 1972.

Secondary: S. Gieling, The sacralization of war in
the Islamic republic of Iran, Ph.D. diss., Nijmegen
1998; Izutsu, Concepts; F. Rahman, Major themes of
the Qur'an, Chicago 1980.

Art and Architecture and the
Qur'an

The relationship between the revealed
scripture of Islam and attitudes towards art
and architecture and the practice thereof
will be discussed under three headings:
1. Quranic references or allusions to art
and architecture, including passages later

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

l62

cited with respect to artistic creativity, even
if they were not initially so intended;
2. The uses of the Quran as a source for
citations in the making and decorating of
works of art; and 3. The enhancement of
the Quran itself through art.

Art and architecture in the Qur'an
It must be stated at the outset that, with
the partial exception of c) 27:44, which will
be discussed later, the Qur'an does not
contain any statement which may be con-
strued as a description of manufactured
things or as a doctrinal guide for making or
evaluating visually perceptible forms. The
world in which the revelation of the
Qur'an was made was not one which knew
or particularly prized works of art and
later hadlth — the reports recording the
Prophet's words and deeds — only briefly
mention a few fancy textiles owned by the
members of the entourage of the Prophet.
Furthermore, although hadlth do attribute
to the Prophet theoretical positions or
practical opinions on the making of works
of art, none is directly asserted in the
Qur'an itself, but only deduced from vari-
ous passages. Finally, while the Qur'an is
quite explicit about such practices as
prayer (q.v.) or pilgrimage (q.v.) being spe-
cifically restricted to Muslims, it provides
no direct or implied definition or even a re-
quirement for a particular locale for the ac-
complishment of these practices. For all
these reasons, the consideration of art and
architecture in the Qur'an does not lead to
a coherent whole, but to a series of dis-
jointed observations which may be divided
into two groups: the direct references to
things made or to spaces built; and the in-
direct implications for the making of
things and the design of spaces.

Direct references
There are, first of all, references to catego-
ries of manufacture and especially of con-

struction. One rather striking set of exam-
ples involves concrete items which are
mentioned only once. All of them are de-
scribed as being in the possession of Solo-
mon (q.v.), the prophet-king whose patron-
age for works of art was legendary and
whose artisans were usually the no less leg-
endary jinn (q.v.). In Q_ 34:12 he ordered the
making of a fountain of molten brass, a
Muslim adaptation of the celebrated bra-
zen sea in Solomon's temple in Jerusalem
(q.v.) as it is described in 2 Kings 25:13 and
/ Chron 18:8. Then in o 34:13, the jinn man-
ufacture for him maharib, tamdthil, jifan of
enormous size and qudur which were an-
chored down so that they could not easily
be removed. The meaning of the word
mihrab (sing, of maharib), which will be dis-
cussed later, appears in other contexts as
well. Jifan — meaning some sort of recep-
tacle, usually translated as "porringer," a
term of sufficiently vague significance to
hide our uncertainty as to what was really
involved — and qudur, "cooking-pots" are
only mentioned in this particular passage.
The exact meaning and function of these
two items are somewhat mysterious. Tim-
thai, also in the plural, appears again in
(3 21:52, where it clearly refers to the idols
worshiped by the father of Abraham (q.v.).
These idols would have been sculptures of
humans or of animals and it is probably
sculptures in general rather than idols in
particular that must be understood in
°_34 :i 3 ( see IDOLS ANrj images).

The association of Solomon with unusual
buildings is confirmed by 0,27:44, where, in
order to test the Queen of Sheba (q.v.) and
ultimately to demonstrate his superiority to
her, Solomon orders the construction of a
sarh covered or paved with slabs of glass
(mumarrad min qawdrir). Usually translated
as "pavilion" or "palace," the word sarh oc-
curs also in Q_ 28:38 and 040:36. Both times
it is modified by the adjective "high" and
refers to a construction ordered by Pha-

l(S;j

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

raoh (q.v.). Since all these passages deal
with mythical buildings and because the
root of the word implies purity and clarity,
the term may reflect the attribute of trans-
parency in a building, rather than its form.
It would then be a pavilion comparable to
the elaborate construction alleged to have
existed on top of pre-Islamic Yemeni pal-
aces. Generally speaking, it seems prefer-
able to understand the term as a "con-
structed space of considerable merit and
attractiveness," without being more spe-
cific, though the matter remains open to
debate. What is of import here is not the
exact meaning of the term but the presence
within the qur'anic images of works of art
that have not been seen, but only imagined.
Further on it will be seen that the story of
Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (see
bilqJs), as told in the Qur'an, has many
additional implications for the arts.

A second category of qur'anic terms
dealing with or applicable to the arts con-
sists of much more ordinary words. There
is a series of terms for settlements, such as
qarya (025:51), usually the term for a city as
well as for smaller settlements; madlna, a
word used only twice (q_28:i8, 20), possess-
ing very broad connotations; masakin "[ru-
ined] dwellings" (029:38), which often oc-
curs in poetry; and a more abstract term
like balad in al-balad al-amin, "the place of
security" (0.95:3), which is probably a refer-
ence to Mecca (q.v.). Bayt is the common
word for a house and it is supposed to be a
place of privacy (03:49; 4:100; 24:27-9), a
quality which has been sought until today
by architects building in what they assume
to be an Islamic tradition. The word was
used for the dwellings of the wives of the
Prophet (q.v.; 033 : 33~4)j for whom privacy
was an essential criterion, and also for the
presumably fancy abode of Zuleika, the
wife of Potiphar (o_ 12:23; see Joseph).
When it is mentioned as adorned with gold
(q.v.; Q_ I 7 : 93)j it is meant pejoratively as an

expression of vainglorious wealth. Ddr oc-
curs occasionally (e.g. 017:5; 59:2) with no
clear distinction from bayt except insofar as
it implies some broader function as in al-
ddr al-dkhira in 028:83 indicating "the
space of thereafter." The rather common
word qasr (castle, palace) occurs only four
times, twice metaphorically, once in a well-
known cliche referring to the destroyed
"palaces" of old and once with reference
to paradise (q.v.) in a passage which will be
examined later. Other terms for something
built or at least identified spatially are
rarer, like mathwd (dwelling, 047:19) or
masdnt '■■' (buildings, 026:129). There are a
few instances when techniques of construc-
tion are indicated, often in a metaphorical
way as in 013:2, where the heavens are de-
picted as a miraculous, divine creation
built without columns.

A third category of terms consists of
words which, whatever their original
meaning, acquired a specifically Muslim
connotation at the time of the Prophet or
later. The two most important ones are
masjid and mihrdb. Masjid (place of prostra-
tion, see mosoue) occurs twenty-eight
times in the Qtir'an. In fifteen instances it
is modified by al-hardm, a reference to the
Meccan sanctuary whose pre-Islamic holi-
ness was preserved and transformed by the
Muslim revelation, i.e. the Ka'ba (q.v.), the
holy house (al-bayt al-hardm in 053-97)
which Abraham and Ishmael (q.v.) built
(02:125). It is mentioned as the qibla (q.v.)
or direction of prayer (02:142-7) and as the
aim of the pilgrimage (0,5:96-7). However,
nothing is said about its form or about the
space around it and there is only a vague
reference to the importance of its proper
maintenance (09:19). Even this action is
not as important as professing the faith in
all of its truth. In 17:1, the word is once
used for the Meccan sanctuary while in
017:7 it refers to the Jewish temple in Jeru-
salem (q.v.). The word is used a second

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

164

time in J 7 :i in the expression "the far-
thest mosque" (al-masjid al-aqsa), the exact
identification of which has been the sub-
ject of much debate (see aqsa mosque).
There is no doubt that, at some point in
history and possibly as early as the mid-
second/eighth century, it became generally
understood as a reference to Jerusalem.
This, however, was not the case during the
first century after Muhammad's emigra-
tion to Medina (hijra, see emigration),
when it was identified by many as a place
in the neighborhood of Mecca or as a sym-
bolic space in a miraculous event (see
ascension).

The remaining ten occurrences of masjid
do not form a coherent whole except inso-
far as they all mention a place where God
is worshiped (0,7:29). It literally belongs
to God (072:18, a passage often used in
mosque inscriptions, see below) and unbe-
lievers are banned from it (09:17). "Those
who believe in God and his last day, prac-
tice regular prayer and give to charity, and
fear none but God must maintain and
frequent [the verb 'amara has a complex
range of meanings] the mosques of
God" (09:18, another passage frequently
used in inscriptions). In recounting the
story of the seven sleepers of Ephesus (see
men of the cave), the Qur'an asserts that
God built a masjid over them (0 18:21). A
most curious and somewhat obscure pas-
sage is 022:40, which contains a list of
sanctuaries that would have been destroyed
had God not interfered to save them. The
list includes sawdmi', biya\ salawdt and masd-
jid, usually — but there are variants —
translated as "monasteries [or cloisters],
churches, synagogues and mosques." The
first two words are never again used in the
Qur'an. The third term, salawdt, is the plu-
ral of saldt, the word commonly used for
the Muslim ritual prayer. Here it seems to
mean a place rather than the act of prayer.
But the sequence itself suggests four differ-

ent kinds of sacred spaces, probably repre-
senting four different religious traditions.
If there are four religious groups implied,
Islam, Judaism and Christianity are easy
to propose — even if one does not quite
know which term goes with which system
of faith — , what is the fourth religion? It
is, in fact, with some skepticism that the
word masdjid is translated as "mosques"
since nowhere else in the Qur'an is the
word masjid used alone to be understood
correctly as a place of prayer restricted to
Muslims. It always means a generally
holy space which could be used by Mus-
lims. This verse must, therefore, be con-
nected to some particular event or story
whose specific connotations are unknown.

In short, the proper conclusion to draw
from the evidence is that, while the Qur'an
clearly demonstrates the notion of a sacred
or sanctified space, it does not identify a
specifically Muslim space as a masjid. The
only specifically Muslim space mentioned
in the Qur'an is the masjid of Mecca and its
sacred enclosure. The vagueness of nearly
all references to it may explain some of the
later problems in actually defining the ex-
act direction of prayer (qibla). Was it to-
ward the city of Mecca (q.v.), a large en-
closure, the Ka'ba, one of its sides or the
black stone in its corner? In short, the
word masjid — destined for a long and
rich history in Arabic and in many other
languages — soon after the death of the
Prophet in 11/632 came to mean a special
type of building restricted to Muslims. In
the Qur'an it appears to have a very broad
significance with a very uncertain relation-
ship to exclusively Islamic worship.

Matters are almost as complicated with
the word mihrdb, which also possesses a
range of practical and symbolic meanings.
It too was destined for a long and distin-
guished history as the name for the niche
indicating the direction of prayer on the
wall of all Muslim sanctuaries. The term

i6 5

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

mihrab also refers to a type of decorative re-
cess found on tombstones, faience panels
and rugs. As has been shown in a recent
article (N. Khoury, Mihrab), the word orig-
inally designated elevated structures which
had acquired some sort of honorary signif-
icance, although the element of height is
only clearly present in one qur'anic verse.
In o 38:21 the disputants go up to the mihrab
where David (q.v.) is. The honorific quality
applies to this particular place by inference
as it does in the three instances (03 : 37> 39;
19:11) where the term is used for Zechariah
(q.v.), the servant of God and the father of
John the Baptist (q.v.). When used in the
plural maharib (0.34:13), it has usually been
interpreted as "places of worship," but,
even if consecrated by tradition, this inter-
pretation does not seem necessary since the
other terms listed in this passage — the
maharib, tamathil, jifdn and qudur (see above)
that the jinn manufactured for Solomon —
are mostly exemplars of power and wealth
rather than of religious, though pagan,
needs. Altogether, the exact meaning of
this word in the Quran seems to be more
secular than pious and bears no direct rela-
tionship to the word's later uses in mosques
and as a theme of design.

While masjid and mihrab became terms to
define major elements of Islamic architec-
ture and while other terms dealing with
created forms remained consistent and rel-
atively clear (bayt or dar) or rare and fairly
obscure (sarh), there is a category of qur-
'anic references to visually-perceived mat-
ters which have not been seen, but which
nonetheless are held to exist. The numer-
ous accounts of paradise include a great
number of references which fall into the
category of architecture and planning.
These accounts may have had an impact
on the design of gardens, most particularly
in Mughal India as with the tomb of Ak-
bar in Sikandara near Agra and with the
Taj Mahal in Agra itself (see W. Begley

and Z.A. Desai, Taj Mahal, although their
arguments are not universally accepted). It
has also been argued that these qur'anic
passages were literally illustrated in the
decoration of mosques, most specifically in
the early second/eighth century mosaics of
the Great Mosque of Damascus, also
known as the Umayyad Mosque (B. Fin-
ster, Die Mosaiken; C. Brisch, Observa-
tions) although others (O. Grabar, The for-
mation) have remained more skeptical.
Whatever turns out to be appropriate to
explain later developments in decoration
and in design, an architectural and decora-
tive imagery pervades most of the Qur'an's
vision of paradise and even, at times, of
hell (q.v.).

Both paradise and hell are entered
through fancy gates, green being the color
of the ones for paradise (039:72). Rivers
and formal — as opposed to natural —
gardens abound (0.43:70-3; 44:51; 47:15;
76:12, among many places; see garden) in
paradise. There are also fountains (076:6).
In a celebrated passage (061:12) gardens
are described above underground rivers
and beautiful dwellings [masdkin in 061:12
or qusur in 025:10) are erected in the gar-
dens. In five passages (025:75; 29:58; 34:37;
39:20-1), these dwellings are called ghuraf
("sing, ghurfa), in all cases but one modified
by the adjective "lofty" with apparently the
same equation between height and impor-
tance as in the instance of the word mihrab.
It is difficult to know what was meant or
imagined by the term in its singular occur-
rence in a strange passage (o 2 5 : 75)> which
seems to state that there is only one ghurfa
in paradise. Were these meant to be whole
architectural establishments or simple pa-
vilions? Inasmuch as we have no means to
enter the imaginary world of qur'anic sen-
sitivity, the question cannot be answered in
historical terms, although it possibly, as will
be seen, may be entered in the fiction of
later art.

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

I 66

The same difficulty appears when we try
to imagine the khiydm, "tents or pavilions"
(o 55:72) in which houris (hur, see houris)
are found, the surur (sing, sarir, one of the
several words for "throne," [q.v.]) with per-
petually youthful companions (0.56:15) and
especially the throne of God himself. The
word for God's throne is 'arsh, as in 040:7,
only one of its twenty-nine occurrences in
the Qur'an. Most of the time the word is
used in the singular and refers to the
throne as the place of divine presence (see
sechina). The word 'arsh is also used once
in the story of Solomon and the Queen of
Sheba (027:41-2). When used in the plural
{'urush, 02:259; 18:42; 22:45), it refers to
some part of a larger architectural compo-
sition. Here it is usually translated as "tur-
rets" or "trellis," which reflects the uncer-
tainty of the translators and commentators
about a feature which is always shown as
destroyed by divine wrath.

One last visually significant qur'anic ref-
erence dealing with paradise and with
visually-perceived matters is that the elect
are beautifully dressed (035 : 33> 76:21) and
the companions they find there (076:15-7)
carry vessels (aniya), cups (akwdb) and gob-
lets flea's) polished to look like crystal or sil-
ver (this seems to be the correct interpreta-
tion of qawanra minjidda, 076:16). Their
clothes are of silk (q.v.), the most precious
metals are silver and crystal and polished
glass is the model for the expected visual
effect. These images are important in sug-
gesting the materials and objects which
were considered luxurious in early first/
seventh century Arabia and also serve as
inspiration for later Persian painting,
where the association between paradise
and luxury through expensive clothes and
other objects was fully exploited.

Implications for art
Quite early passages from the Qur'an
came to be used to justify and explain

Muslim attitudes toward the arts in general
and the representation of living beings in
particular. This last topic has been and will
continue to be the subject of much debate
and discussion because it reflects the ever-
changing needs and concerns of the pre-
vailing culture and society as much as the
actual positions apparent in the Qur'an.
The latter is, on the whole, quite clear. Un-
like the second commandment of the Old
Testament, there is no opposition to art or
to representation, just as there is no call for
the creation of works of art or of a mate-
rial culture that would be distinctly Mus-
lim. Thus terms like "iconoclasm" (a call
for the destruction of images) or even the
German Bilderverbot (forbidding the making
of images) are inappropriate to define any
part of the message of the Qur'an. The
term "aniconism," meaning simply "the
absence of a doctrine or even of much
thought about representational imagery,"
has found favor among some scholars and
is more accurate in reflecting the attitude
of the Qur'an.

On the other hand, once a broad Muslim
culture had been established over vast ter-
ritories, it was compelled to deal with the
rich and varied artistic traditions of the
alien cultures it encountered and it sought
in the Qur'an either direct answers to its
own questions about the validity of artistic
activities or, at the very least, references
that could lead to such answers. In the ab-
sence of direct statements, three kinds of
arguments could be, and were, derived
from the Qur'an.

One is based on a few passages which
may be construed as dealing with represen-
tations. The "statues" made for Solomon
(034:12-3) have already been mentioned.
A more frequently used passage to uphold
a prohibition of images is 06:74, where
Abraham, a far more saintly figure than
Solomon in the Islamic tradition, says to
his father Azar (q.v.): "Do you take idols

i(>7

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

(asnam) as gods? Indeed, I see that you and
your people are in manifest error." This
passage must be connected with 05:90,
where idols (ansab) are also mentioned, to-
gether with wine and games of chance (see
intoxicants; gambling), as "abominations
of Satan's handiwork." Both words mean
"idols," which usually have the shape of
men or animals, or "statues" of figures that
could be used as idols. The two passages
are usually seen as expressing an objection
to images, but they are more appropriately
construed as being in opposition to idols
regardless of their shape. A third passage is
more specific and, therefore, more perti-
nent. In p_ 3 147-9, God says to Mary (q.v.),
"God creates what he wills. When he de-
crees something, he only says to it 'be' and
it is." An example is the case of Jesus (q.v.),
who comes with the following message: "I
have come to you with a sign from your
lord. I will make for you out of clay the fig-
ure of a bird. I will breathe into it and it
will become a [real] bird by God's leave."
Here it is clear that the making of a repre-
sentation is only meaningful if life is given
to that representation. Since the giving of
life is reserved to God alone, it is only with
his permission that the creation of a three-
dimensional and lifelike bird can occur.

These few specific passages dealing with
representations are not conclusive in them-
selves, but they served as important points
of reference in the later development of
the opposition to the making of images.
They acquired their particular importance
when put next to a second type of argu-
ment based less on specific passages than
on two themes which pervade the Quran:
the absolute opposition to idolatry and
God's uniqueness as creator. These two
Islamic doctrines were used as arguments
against the legitimacy of images as long as
images were indeed worshiped and the be-
lief existed that they partook of the spirit
of what was represented. It may also be ar-

gued that they lost their pertinence once
the old equation no longer held. Over the
years, much has been written arguing that
abstraction, visual distortion and ornamen-
tation occur with such frequency in Islamic
art because mainstream Muslim patrons
and artists sought to conform to a doctrine
that always aimed at the equation of the
representation and the represented. Ac-
cording to this view, alternate modes of ex-
pression had to be found in order to avoid
criticism or even condemnation for vying
with God, as a result of such an alleged
doctrine.

Another doctrine alleged to have been
derived from the Qur'an has been that of
opposition to luxury, what may be called
an ideal of reasonable asceticism in private
and public life. Its premise is that art is a
luxury, a point which certainly has been ar-
gued forcefully by fundamentalist groups
and more moderately by moralists down
through the centuries. Although common
enough in any religious movement with a
populist base, as Islam was certainly at the
beginning, such a doctrine is difficult to
represent as one which has maintained it-
self on a significant scale throughout time
and even its qur'anic basis is somewhat
uncertain.

In spite of a number of contrary argu-
ments, on the whole it is difficult to explain
the development of an Islamic art through
doctrines derived from the Qur'an. This
view may only appear to be correct, be-
cause too many problems have not re-
ceived the proper attention. Instead, it
would seem to have its roots in the com-
plex contingencies of a new ethic encoun-
tering the well-developed cultures of the
world with their rich visual heritage There
is a need for a careful investigation of the
terminology dealing, directly or potentially,
with the arts. Words like asnam (idols), ansab
(idols), tamathil (statues), sura (shape, o_82:8),
hay'a (form, cj 3:49; 5:110) are all terms

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

1 68

which actually refer to or imply a likeness
or copy and suggest some sort of relation-
ship to a previously existing original. The
full investigation of the occurrences of
these terms in the Qur'an and in early Ara-
bic poetry, as well as later usage both
among litterateurs and in technical philo-
sophical thought, may well provide a
sketch of the conceptual framework im-
plied by the revelation and give some idea
of what the arts may have meant at the
time. An interesting beginning in that di-
rection occurred in a recent article by
Muhammad Qlaaji published in a Saudi
Arabian legal journal which argues, on the
basis of a set of qur'anic citations, for the
canonical value of ornament in Islamic
art. A much more imaginative work by the
young French esthetician Valerie Gonzalez
(Piege de crystal) will soon demonstrate the
deep philosophical problems behind the
qur'anic passage mentioned earlier
(p_ 27:44) in which Solomon creates an ob-
ject, the mysterious sarh, which is supposed
to appear real and to be understood as
such, without in fact being what it appears
to be. The implications are striking not
only for Islamic art, but for the very nature
of art in general. Comparable statements
have been made by twentieth-century sur-
realists like Rene Magritte. Yet such efforts
at an interpretation adapted to the needs,
tastes and paradigms of our own century
are rare. Also they may well go against an
interpretative current which asserts that
only in its historical truth can the divine
message be accepted.

Altogether, there is no doubt that the
Qur'an will continue to be mined for an-
swers to the esthetic and social needs of
Muslim societies and cultures as they
evolve with time. It is also fairly clear, how-
ever, that the arts were not a significant
concern of the revelation nor did they play
a large role in the modes of life prevalent

in the Arabian peninsula during the first
decades of the first/seventh century. Fancy
and elaborate objects were largely absent
in the surroundings of Mecca and Medina
and the vision of architecture was limited
to the simple Ka'ba. There was a vision of
art and architecture based on the legends
of Solomon and memories of the ancient
Arabian kingdoms. Ruins in the desert or
in the steppe could then, as they do now,
be transfigured into mirages of a lost man-
made world of awesome proportions. It
does not, however, seem that the milieu in
which the Qur'an appeared was truly
aware of the great artistic traditions of the
Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, Iran, India,
or even of the Yemen and Ethiopia. Fur-
thermore, the Qur'an contains no trace of
the neoplatonic debates about the nature
of art. The emerging universal Muslim
culture had to seek in the Qur'an answers
to questions which were only later for-
mulated.

Uses of the Qur'an in later art
It is well known that script played an im-
portant part in the arts of all Muslim
lands, regardless of whether that art was
primarily secular or religious (see ARABIC
script). Large inscriptions are a common
part of the decoration of buildings and
many objects have long bands or short car-
touches with writing, at times even with
imitations of writing. These inscriptions of-
ten used to be identified in older catalogs
and descriptions as "Koranic" without
proper concern for what they really say. It
is, of course, true that there is an orna-
mental or esthetic value to these inscrip-
tions which is independent of whatever
meaning they convey. In order to organize
a subject, which heretofore has received lit-
tle attention, it has been broken into two
headings: iconographic uses of the Qur'an
and formal uses of qur'anic scripts.

i6g

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

tomographic uses
The founder of the systematic study of
Arabic epigraphy (see epigraphy and the
qur'an), Max van Berchem, was the first
scholar to establish that most formal in-
scriptions in monumental architecture con-
sist of citations from the Qur'an which
bear or may bear a relationship to the
function of the buildings on which they
were found. He initiated the systematic
publication with commentary of all Arabic
inscriptions. Beginning in 193 1 these were
published under the title Materiaux pour un
corpus inscriptionum arabicarum as part of the
Memoires of the Institut Frangais d'Archeo-
logie Orientale in Cairo. M. van Berchem
himself published the volumes on Cairo
(with a supplementary volume by G. Wiet),
Jerusalem and Anatolia, while E. Herzfeld
produced the volumes on Aleppo. A simi-
lar survey, although less elaborate in its
commentaries, was made by Muhammad
Husain for the Archaeological Survey of
India. In recent years, G. Wiet and M. Ha-
wary, using almost exclusively secondary
sources, produced collections of the in-
scriptions of Mecca. In addition, S. Blair
recently collected the inscriptions of pre-
Mongol Iran and M. Sharon published
those of Palestine. Unfortunately, M. van
Berchem adopted the practice of providing
only the sura and verse numbers of the
qur'anic quotations, usually according to
the verse division of the G. Fliigel edition,
which does not always agree with the now-
standard Egyptian edition. Therefore,
there are problems whenever one tries to
identify the exact wording of an inscrip-
tion. Although most recent publications
have abandoned this practice, it is still
found in the most important corpus of
Arabic epigraphy, the eighteen volumes
published so far of the Materiaux pour un
corpus inscriptionum arabicarum.
A particularly important tool has been

derived from all these efforts. Erica Dodd
and Shereen Khairallah produced the
work The image of the word, the first vol-
ume of which contains a list of all of the
qur'anic passages cited in inscriptions and
where they have been used, thus allowing
one to study the frequency of use of cer-
tain passages and the temporal or geo-
graphical variations in their use. The sec-
ond volume is comprised of a series of
essays on individual monuments and on
questions which grow out of these catalogs,
for example why certain inscriptions were
placed in different places on different mon-
uments. All of the essays show the influ-
ence of a major article written by E. Dodd
in 1969 entitled "The image of the word,"
outlining the historical and psychological
premises behind the existence of an ico-
nography of the Qur'an. She argues that
in trying to avoid or even reject the reli-
gious imagery of Christianity and pagan-
ism, the mainstream of Islamic culture
replaced images with words whenever it
wished to make some pious, ideological
or other point. Within this scheme, the
Qur'an was pre-eminent both because of
its sacredness and because most Muslims
were familiar with it. Therefore, the viewer
appreciates the significance of the selection
of the particular passages from the Qur'an
and interprets them in accordance with
the expectations of the patron. It may be
noted that Buddhism and Hinduism do
not appear to have been pertinent to the
formation of Islamic culture, even though
this assertion may be modified by future
research.

Though never established as a formal
doctrine, this "iconography" of the divine
word developed quite early in Islamic
times, under Umayyad rule (r. 41/661-132/
750). It might even be proper to associate
its appearance with the caliph Abd al-
Malik (r. 65/685-86/705), who made the

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

170

language of administration Arabic and in-
troduced Arabic inscriptions on the coin-
age. For the latter, the so-called "mission
verse," "It is [God] who sent his messenger
with guidance and the religion of truth to
proclaim it over all religion, even though
the pagans may detest it" (0.9:33; see
verses) became the standard formula for
thousands and thousands of coins. It is, in
fact, rather remarkable how rarely alter-
nate passages were used. Even if there are
sixty-one qur'anic citations identified in
North African coinage (H.W. Hazard, Nu-
mismatic history), many are only pious state-
ments rather than fuller citations and
should not be considered as iconographi-
cally or semantically significant quotations.

The ideological and political assertion of
truth made by the passage chosen for coins
is easy to explain for a coinage that was
used all over the world and which, quite
specifically, competed in its inscriptions
with Byzantine gold and silver. It is also
quite early that the glass weights and
stamps used for internal consumption re-
ceived as decoration "Give just measure
and be not among the defrauders"
(026:181; G.C. Miles, Early Arabic glass
weights). This selection demonstrates a con-
siderable and very early sophistication in
the manipulation of qur'anic passages for
pious as well as practical purposes.

The most spectacular early use of
qur'anic quotations on a building occurs in
the Dome of the Rock (dated 71/691) in
Jerusalem, where 240 meters of Umayyad
inscriptions running below on either side of
the dome octagon are divided into seven
unequal sections, each of which begins with
the phrase known as the basmala (q.v.), "In
the name of God, the merciful and the
compassionate." The first five sections
contain standard proclamations of the Mus-
lim faith. "There is no god but God, one,
without associate" is the most common of
these. There is also a series of short pas-

sages which are probably excerpted from
the Qur'an (q_ii2; 35:36; 17:111, 64:1 com-
bined with 57:2), but which might also be
merely pious statements not taken from the
Qur'an. The sixth section contains histori-
cal data while the seventh, occupying half
of the space, repeats a few of the formulas
or citations from the first half and then
creates a composite of 04:171-2; 19:33-6
and 3:18-19 with only one minor addi-
tion in the middle. This statement exposes
the main lines of the Christology of the
Qur'an (see christians and Christian-
ity; scripture and the qur'an), which
makes sense in a city which was at that
time a major ecclesiastical and devotional
center of Christianity. Other inscriptions
in the Dome of the Rock use various com-
binations of 02:255 and 2:112 (or 3:1 and
6:106); 3:26; 6:12 and 7:156, 9:33, 2:139 or
3:78 (slightly modified) in order to make
clear the eschatological and missionary
purpose of the building. Although the mat-
ter is still under much discussion, it is possi-
ble that the transmission of the qur'anic
text used for the decoration of the Dome
of the Rock was done orally rather than
through written copies of the text. This
would seem to account for the fact that
many of the inscriptions do not exactly
agree in wording with the most common
version of the Qur'an in circulation.

While the use of the qur'anic passage
09:33 on coins remained a standard proce-
dure throughout Islamic history and the se-
lection of verses made for the Dome of the
Rock remained unique, other citations ap-
pear in several early Islamic inscriptions
and deserve to be studied in detail. Such is
the case with the series, known from later
texts, of inscriptions from Mecca and Me-
dina (see rcea, nos. 38, 40, 46-52; G. Wiet
and H. Harawy, Materiaux) with a primarily
religious content. A curious painted graf-
fito in Medina dated 117/735 contains a
long citation dealing with faith [rcea, no.

i;i

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

30), but its context is unclear and slightly
troubling. There are no such concerns
about the fragment of an inscription found
on a floor mosaic in a private house, prob-
ably from the Umayyad period, excavated
in Ramallah in Palestine. It contains a
fragment of Q_7:205 "Do not be among the
unheedful" next to the representation of
an arch which may or may not be a mihrab
(Rosen-Ayalon, The first mosaic). The ac-
tual point of the inscription and the reason
this particular citation was chosen are still
difficult to explain.

These early examples all suggest a con-
siderable amount of experimentation in
the use of qur'anic citations during the first
two centuries of Muslim rule. A certain
norm became established from the third/
ninth century onward. Epitaphs will almost
always contain the Throne Verse (£2:255,
sura 112 in its entirety, or both. These
verses proclaim the overwhelming and
unique power of God. Often these pas-
sages are accompanied by c) 9:33 with its
missionary universality. Mosques will have
the throne verse and c; 9:18 beginning with
"the masdjid of God will be visited and
maintained by such as believe in God and
the last day." Mihrabs have their own
qur'anic iconography with the beautiful
o 24:35: "God is the light of the heavens
and of the earth, the parable of his light
(q.v.) is as if there was a niche [mishkdt, an-
other mysterious architectural term] and
within it a lamp, the lamp enclosed in
glass, the glass like a brilliant star, lit from a
blessed tree, an olive neither of the East
nor of the West, whose oil is luminous, al-
though fire hardly touches it. Light upon
light, God guides whom he wills to his
light." There is little wonder that the deco-
ration of mihrabs, and of tombstones often
included lamps hanging in a niche and
tree-like vegetal ornaments.

The history of this iconography is still in
its infancy but almost every major monu-

ment of Islamic architecture bears, in ad-
dition to the common and frequently re-
peated passages, citations expressing some
special function or purpose or references to
events which have been mostly forgotten.
Examples include the great mosque of
Isfahan (O. Grabar, The great mosque); the
minarets of Iran (J. Sourdel-Thomine,
Deux minarets and S. Blair, Monumental in-
scriptions); the striking minaret at Jam in
Afghanistan (A. Maricq and G. Wiet, Le
minaret and J. Moline, The minaret); the in-
scriptions of the small al-Aqmar mosque in
Cairo, which expresses Slrf I aspirations
through qur'anic citations (C. Williams,
The cult); the Ghaznavid palace of Lash-
kar-i Bazar in Afghanistan, which is the
only building known so far to have used the
Solomonic reference of (J 27:44 (J. Sourdel-
Thomine, Lashkar-i bazar); the Firdaws law
school (madrasa) in Aleppo, where a rela-
tively unusual qur'anic passage (q 43:68-72)
is found together with an extraordinary
mystical text made to look like a qur'anic
inscription (Y. Tabbaa, Constructions of
power). In the great mausoleums of the
Mughal emperors of India (r. 932/1526-
1274/1858), a wealth of qur'anic inscrip-
tions have allowed some scholars (W. Beg-
ley and Z.A. Desai, Taj Mahal) to interpret
the buildings themselves in an unusual way
as slightly blasphemous attempts to create
on earth God's own paradise. These inter-
pretations have not convinced all histori-
ans, but the point still remains that the
choice of inscriptions and of qur'anic cita-
tions is not accidental and reflects precise
concerns on the part of patrons and consti-
tutes a powerful message to the outside
world.

In general, it is proper to conclude that
qur'anic citations were important signify-
ing components of Islamic art, especially
of architecture. They became part of the
monument and served as guarantors or
witnesses of its function and of the reasons

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

: 7-

for its creation. They could be highly per-
sonalized, as in the epitaphs filling grave-
yards, where endlessly repeated statements
are attached to individuals or more general
proclamations of power, glory or good
deeds projected to the whole of human-
kind and especially to the faithful. What is,
however, less clear is the extent to which
these messages were actually understood
and absorbed. It is, in part, a matter of
evaluating the level of literacy which ex-
isted over the centuries or at the time of a
building's construction. It is also a matter
of seeking in the chronicles and other
sources describing cities and buildings ac-
tual discussions of the choice of inscrip-
tions made. These descriptions, however,
are surprisingly rare. Often it seems as
though this powerful visual instrument,
from which modern scholars have derived
so many interpretations, was hardly no-
ticed in its own time. Much remains to be
done, therefore, in studying the response
of a culture to its own practice, if one is to
accept the position that the use of the
qur'anic word can be equated with the use
of images in other religious systems. It is
just possible that modern, primarily West-
ern, scholarship misunderstood the mean-
ing of these citations by arbitrarily estab-
lishing such an equation.

In a fascinating way, the contemporary
scene has witnessed rather interesting
transformations of this iconographic prac-
tice. A recently-erected mosque in Tehran,
the al-Ghadir Mosque designed by the ar-
chitect Jahangir Mazlum and completed in
1987, is covered with large written state-
ments, for the most part in glazed or un-
glazed bricks. Some of these calligraphic
panels are indeed placed like icons or
images in a church and contain qur'anic
passages. Others are pious statements or
prayers, for example the ninety-nine names
of God on the ceiling and the endlessly re-
peated profession of faith (see confession

of faith). While the esthetic success of the
structure is debatable, the building itself is
impressive for its use of writing so well-
blended into the fabric of the wall that its
legibility is diminished and its value as a
written statement difficult to perceive. It is
almost as if the difficulty of reading the
words contributes to their esthetic and
pious values (M. Falamaki, al-Ghadir
mosque). Many other contemporary
mosques, especially the monumental ones,
provide examples of the same difficulties
(R. Holod and H. Khan, The mosque).
A particularly spectacular use of the
Qur'an has been proposed by the architect
Basil al-Bayati for the city of Riyadh in
Saudi Arabia. He envisioned huge arches
in the shape of open books of the Qur'an
along the main highway leading into the
city as a sort of processional alley greeting
the visitor. The project, however, has not
been executed. Yet an open book appears
as the facade of a mosque designed by the
same architect in Aleppo and the Pakistani
sculptor Gulgee created a stunning free-
standing mihrab in the shape of two leaves
from an open Qur'an for the King Faisal
Mosque in Islamabad. The effect is strik-
ing, if unsettling for those who are used to
traditional forms, but it demonstrates the
contemporary extension of an iconogra-
phy taken from the Qur'an to one that uses
the book itself as a model. Whether suc-
cessful or not as works of art, these recent
developments clearly indicate that the fu-
ture will witness further experiments in the
use of the Qur'an, as a book or as a source
of citations, to enhance architecture, espe-
cially that of mosques, and to send reli-
gious and ideological messages. Thus,
shortly after the end of the Cultural Revo-
lution in the primarily Muslim Chinese
province of Sinkiang, a modest plaque at
the entrance of a refurbished mosque in
the small town of Turfan (Tufu in Chinese)
on the edge of the Tarim Basin quoted in

'73

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

Arabic script, which presumably was inac-
cessible to the secret police, (39:17: "It is not
for idolaters to inhabit God's places of wor-
ship (masajid), witnessing unbelief against
themselves. Their work has failed and in
fire they will forever dwell." Thus, the Qur-
an continues to reflect the passions, needs,
and aspirations of Muslims everywhere.

The forms of the Qur'an
Thanks to important recent studies in the
paleography of early Arabic (E Deroche,
Les manuscrits du Coran; Y. Tabbaa, The
transformation; E. Whelan, Writing the
word) and to the stunning discovery of
some forty thousand parchment pages of
early Islamic manuscripts of the Qur'an in
the Yemen, we are beginning to under-
stand the evolution of the Arabic script
used in manuscripts of the Qur'an in spite
of the total absence of properly-dated ex-
amples before the third/ninth century. The
variety of early scripts was already recog-
nized by the bibliographer Ibn al-Nadim
(d. ca. 385/995) and modern collectors
have transformed early pages of what is
known in the trade as "Kufic" writing into
works of art which frequently fetch high
prices on the market.

It is much more difficult to decide whe-
ther these early manuscripts were indeed
meant to have a formal esthetic value inde-
pendent of their sacred content. Some of
them acquired many forms of ornamental
detail, which will be examined in the fol-
lowing section of this entry. It is also diffi-
cult to evaluate whether they or the many
styles of angular writing discovered in the
San'a,' trove or elsewhere were meant pri-
marily for the pleasure of the beholder.
Matters changed considerably after the in-
troduction of a proportioned script (al-khatt
al-mansub) by the Abbasid vizier Ibn
Muqla (d. 328/940) in the fourth/tenth
century. The establishment of a modular
system of writing made it possible to create

canons for scripts and variations of these
scripts around well-defined norms. As a re-
sult, from the time of the small Qur'an of
Ibn al-Bawwab (d. 413/1022) in the Chester
Beatty Library dated to 391/1001 (D.S.
Rice, The unique Ibn al-Bawwab) until today,
thousands of professional scribes and art-
ists have sought to create variations on the
conventional scripts which would attract
and please the eyes of buyers. These scripts
were not restricted to the text of the
Qur'an but, with the major exception of
manuscripts of Persian poetry, the holy
book was the text on which the most effort
was lavished. This is demonstrated by the
magnificent Qur'ans of the Mamluks
(r. 648/1250-922/1517) in Egypt, Syria and
Palestine and those of the Ilkhanids
(r. 654/1256-754/1353) in Persia (D.James,
Qur'ans and After Timur). It is also for the
accurate reading of the qur'anic text that
diacritical marks and other identifying
signs were carefully integrated into the
composition of words and of letters with-
out detracting from the availability of the
text. Already with the celebrated "Qarma-
tian" Qur'an of the fifth/eleventh or
sixth/twelfth centuries, the leaves of which
are spread all over the world (B. St. Lau-
rent, The identification), each page be-
came a composed entity to be seen and
appreciated in its own right and in which
writing and ornament are set in an even
balance. A potential conflict between form
and content has begun, with the former of
greater importance to the ordinary faithful
and the latter more important to the col-
lectors of artistic writing or calligraphy.

Enhancement of the Qur'an through art
Two aspects of the enhancement of the
Qur'an have already been mentioned: the
varieties of styles of writing and the addi-
tion of small, ornamental, usually abstract
or floral, features in the midst of the text
itself or in the margins. At some point, large

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

i/4

headings were introduced between suras
and some of these acquired decorative de-
signs. A group of pages, presumably in the
Egyptian National Library in Cairo but
not seen since their publication by B. Mo-
ritz almost a century ago, uses arcades and
other architectural features, perhaps repre-
senting or symbolizing places of prayer, as
well as geometric and floral designs. Large
floral compositions project into the mar-
gins and the design of these headings has
been compared to the tabulae ansatae of
classical antiquity. In Mamluk, Ilkhanid or
later manuscripts, the cartouches with the
titles of each sura are often dramatically
separated from the text proper, while in
earlier manuscripts they are more closely
imbricated with each other. Enhancement
could also be provided by variations in size.
There are minuscule copies of the Qur'an
and gigantic ones, like the Tlmurid one
which requires a special stand to be used
and whose pages cannot be read and
turned simultaneously. Accounts of callig-
raphers, especially in Iran, often boast of
such feats of marvelous transformations
of the holy book, thereby illustrating the
major traditional esthetic value of being
"astonishing" ('ajibj. Qur'ans were also
honored with fancy and expensive bind-
ings. Especially valued copies were even
kept in special boxes. When the Almohad
ruler Abd al-Mu'min (r. 524/1130-558/
1 163) received from the people of Cordoba
the copy of the Qur'an which had alleg-
edly belonged to the caliph 'Ufhman (r. 23/
644-35/656) and preserved traces of his
blood, he hired jewelers, metalworkers,
painters and leather workers to embellish
it. In Ottoman times (r. 680/1281-1342/
1924) particularly beautiful cabinets were
made for keeping pages and manuscripts of
the holy book.

It is, on the whole, clear and not particu-
larly surprising that many techniques were
used to honor manuscripts of the Qur'an

by making them more attractive and more
exciting than other books and by treating
them like precious items, if not literally like
works of art. What is more difficult to de-
cide is whether certain styles of writing,
certain techniques of binding, certain ways
of ornamenting pages and certain motifs
were, generally and exclusively, restricted
to the Qur'an. The argument may be
made for the composition of pages after
the fifth/eleventh century and for scripts
which, angular or cursive, were written
with particular care when used for the holy
text. More tentatively, it may be argued
that certain types of decorative feature like
the marginal ornaments — which also
served to signal divisions within the text —
were exclusively restricted to the Qur'an.
All these hypotheses, however, still await
investigation and discussion. The difficulty
they present is well illustrated by two hith-
erto unique pages from the trove in Yemen
which were published by H.C. von Both-
mer (Architekturbilder) and discussed by
O. Grabar (The mediation) . They illustrate
large architectural ensembles, which have
been interpreted as mosques shown in a
curious but not unique mix of plans and
elevations. Are they really images of
mosques? If so, are they representations of
specific buildings or evocations of generic
types? Could they be illustrations of pas-
sages in the Qur'an describing buildings in
paradise? There are as yet no firm answers
to these questions, but it may be suggested
that there was a complex vocabulary of
forms more or less restricted to the en-
hancement of the Qur'an. These forms did
indeed create an art. See also material
CULTURE AND THE QUR'AN.

Oleg Grabar

Bibliography
M. Aga-Oglu, Remarks on the character of
Islamic art, in The art bulletin 36 (1954), 175-202;

175

ARTERY AND VEIN

W. Begley, The myth of the Taj Mahal, in The art
bulletin 61 (1979), 7-37; W. Begley and Z.A. Desai,
Taj Mahal, Seattle 1989; M. van Berchem,
Materiaux pour un corpus inscriptionem arabicarum.,
Jerusalem, Cairo 1922-7; M. Bernhard, Arabic
palaeography, Cairo 1904; repr. Cairo 1974; S.
Blair, The monumental inscriptions from early Islamic
Iran and Transoxiana, Leiden 1992; H.C. von
Bothmer, Architekturbilder im Koran. Eine
Prachthandschrift der Umayyadenzeit aus dem
Yemen, in Pantheon 45 (1987), 4-20; C. Brisch,
Observations on the iconography of the mosaics
in the Great Mosque at Damascus, in P. Soucek
(ed.), Content and context of visual arts in the Islamic
world, University Park, PA 1988; Dar al-Athar al-
Islamiyya, Masahif 'Sana, Kuwait 1985; F.
Deroche, The Abbasid tradition. The Nasser D.
Khalili collection of Islamic art, Oxford 1992, i; id.,
Les ecritures coraniques anciennes, in REI /\&
(1980), 207-24; id., Les manuscrits du Goran.
Catalogue des manuscrits arabes de la Bibliotheque
Rationale, 2 vols., Paris 1983-5; E. Dodd, The
image of the word, in Berytus 18 (1969), 35-62; E.
Dodd and S. Khairallah, The image of the word,
Beirut 1981; R. Ettinghausen, The character of
Islamic art, in Nabih A. Faris (ed.), The Arab
heritage, Princeton 1948, 251-67; id., Arabic
epigraphy, in D. Kouymijian (ed.), Near Eastern
numismatics, iconography, epigraphy and history in honor
of George C. Allies, Beirut 1974, 297-317; M.
Falamaki, al-Ghadir mosque, Tehran, in Mimar

29 (1988), 24-9; B. Fares, Essai sur Vesprit de la
decoration islamique, Cairo 1952; B. Finster, Die
Mosaiken der Umayyadenmoschee von
Damaskus, in Kunst des Orients 7 (1970-1), 83-141;
V. Gonzalez, Piege de crystal en palais de Solomon,
Paris forthcoming; O. Grabar, The formation of
Islamic art, New Haven 1983 2 ; id., The mihrab in
the mosque of Cordova, in A. Papadopoulo (ed.),
Le mihrab dans V architecture et la religion musulmanes.
Actes du colloque international tenu a Paris en Mai
ig8o, Leiden 1988; id., The great mosque of Isfahan,
New York 1990; id., The mediation of ornament,
Princeton 1993; id., The shape of the holy,
Princeton 1996; H.W. Hazard, The numismatic
history of North Africa, New York 1952; E.
Herzfeld, Adateriaux pour un corpus inscriptionem
arabicarum, Alep, Cairo 1954-6; R. Holod and H.
Khan, The mosque and the modern world, London
1997; M.A. Husain, Quranic epigraphy in Delhi
province, Calcutta 1936; D.James, Qur'ans of the
Alamluks, London 1988; id., After Timur. Qur'ans of
the 15 th and 16 th centuries, New York 1992; N.
Khoury, The mihrab. From text to form, in ijmes

30 (1998), 1-27 with a good bibliography; A.
Maricq and G. Wiet, Le minaret de Djam, Paris
1959; G.C. Miles, Early Arabic glass weights and
stamps, New York 1946; J. Moline, The minaret of

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Muhammad, Muslims and taswir, in MW 45
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position of Islam, in Majallat al-buhutli al-fqhiyya
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journal) 8 (iggr); D. van Reenen, The
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27-77 ( me latest survey of the subject); D.S. Rice,
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id., Deux minarets d'epoque seljoukide, in Syria
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frangaise en Afghanistan, Paris 1978; B.St. Laurent,
The identification of a magnificent Koran
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Moyen-Orient, Istan-bul 1989, the whole volume
contains many pertinent contributions; Y
Tabbaa, The transformation of Arabic writing.
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Uni-versity Park, PA 1997, ii; E. Whelan, Writing
the word of God, in Ars orientalis 20 (1990), 113-47
with 22 pis.; G. Wiet and H. al-Hawary, Alateriaux
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(rev. ed.); C. Williams, The cult of Alid saints, in
Muqarnas 3 (1985), 39-60.

Artery and Vein

The only qur'anic reference to these vessels
which carry blood away from and to the
heart is the word wand, usually translated
as "jugular vein:" "We are nearer to him
than his jugular vein" ((£50:16). The criti-
cal nature of the jugular heightens the im-
port of the message: Just as human life is
dependent upon this vein, so human exist-
ence is dependent upon God. Exegetes
have observed four constellations of mean-
ing in the verse: the closeness of God to
the believer, the protection afforded the
believer by God, God's control of and
oversight of the individual and the pro-
found relationship which demands cau-
tion in all of one's activities. Al-Baydawi
(d. ca. 716/13 17) stresses that God knows

ASCENSION

176

everything about humans and this knowl-
edge encompasses all details about the
individual. Thus, God is closer to the indi-
vidual than even the most intimate living
person. This knowledge has immediate
spiritual benefit because the believer can
thus be assured that he is "closer to God
because of his knowledge of humans."
Al-Qurtubl (d. 671/1272), on the other
hand, finds significance in the blood flow-
ing through the vein and sees this as sym-
bolizing that God is "in control of and
oversees everything the individual does or
thinks." Hence, one becomes aware of
God's closeness and lives in cautious
awareness. He concludes that if one "knew
the meaning of the verse, one would never
do anything against God" (Jami\ iv, 4, no.
3362). For Sufi commentators (see sufism
and THE qur'an), the divine watchfulness
is a key factor in interpreting this verse.
They see it as indicating a spiritual rela-
tionship between God and the believer that
transcends ordinary language. They hold
that this closeness is the confirmation of
the special spiritual states, namely "intima-
cy" (uns) and "nearness" (qurb), that a true
believer moves through in his spiritual
quest. Thus, these words are held to denote
experiential levels of religious attainment
and the verse is a scriptural validation of
the metaphysical system that the Sufis
practice in their spiritual exercises. The
Sufi commentator al-Qushayrl (d. 465/
1072), for example, elaborates a complex
system of meanings based on nearness to
God that ends with an exploration of self-
identity The Pakistani savant 'Abdullah
Yiisuf All (1872-1948), in the commentary
on his translation of the Qur'an, combines
these notions when he argues that just as
the blood vessel is the vehicle of life and
consciousness, so God "knows more truly
the innermost state of our feeling and con-
sciousness than does our own ego" (The

holy Qur'an, 1412 n. 4952). In short, the
word is universally interpreted by com-
mentators to indicate the depth of God's
relationship with human beings.

Earle H. Waugh

bibliography
'A. Yusuf 'All, The holy Qur'an. Text, translation and
com-mentary, Qatar 1934; BaydawT, Anwar, ii, 422;
Qurtubl, Ja~mi\ Beirut 1988; QushayrT, al-Risala
al-qushayriyya, ed. 'A. Mahmud and M. al-Sharlf,
Cairo 1966.

Asbab al-Nuzul see occasions of

REVELATION

Ascension

Muhammad's night journey. The qur'anic
grounding of the ascent (mi'raj) of Mu-
hammad is tenuous in two ways. In the first
place, the ascent is not described and the
term mi'raj is not used in the Qur'an. Sec-
ondly, the Qur'an stresses that Muhammad
brings no miracle (q.v.) other than the
divinely-wrought miracle of the Qur'an
itself (see inimitability). Even so, key
qur'anic passages are woven through the
post-qur'anic narrative of Muhammad's
ascent.

The qur'anic evidence for the tradition of
the ascension is the first verse of (317, "The
Night Journey" (Surat al-Isra'): "Glory to
the one who took his servant on a night
journey from the sacred place of prayer
(al-masjid al-haram) to the furthest place of
prayer (al-masjid al-aqsd, see aq_sa mosq_ue)
upon which we have sent down our bless-
ing, that we might show him some of our
signs (q.v.). He is the all-hearing, the all-
seeing." The tradition has understood "the
sacred place of prayer" either as the sacred
enclosure at Mecca (q.v.) or the Ka'ba (q.v.)

i/7

ASCENSION

itself. However, the identity of "the furthest
place of prayer" has been disputed, lead-
ing to several traditions about the ascen-
sion. One modern scholarly view holds
that the oldest tradition identified "the fur-
thest place of prayer" with the heavenly
prototype of the Ka'ba. The night journey
(isra'J was then a night journey from Mecca
through the heavens to the celestial Ka'ba.
A later tradition identified "the furthest
place of prayer" as the abode of sanctuary
(bayt al-maqdis), which is considered to be in
Jerusalem (q.v.). Finally, the two journeys,
the vertical and horizontal, were harmo-
nized as Muhammad was portrayed on a
night journey to Jerusalem and from there
on an ascension from Jerusalem through
the heavens (see B. Schrieke and J. Horo-
vitz, Mi'radj).

The debate over the layers of tradition
and the goal of the journey is largely based
upon extra-qur'anic evidence. There is lit-
tle further information to be found in sura
17. Verse 60 does mention a vision (ruya)
but within a hypothetical framework not
tied clearly to Q_ 17:1. Verses 0,0-3 °ffcr a list
of proofs that the opponents of Muham-
mad demand from him to validate his
prophecy: a spring that bursts forth from
the earth; a garden of date palms and
grape vines among which rivers are gush-
ing; the ability to bring down the sky or to
summon God and the angels (see angel);
possession of an ornamented abode (bayt);
and the ability of the prophet to "rise (ruqi)
into the sky." These challenges are an-
swered not by the claim that Muhammad
has carried out or could carry out such
wonders, but rather by the repetition that
he is merely a mortal messenger (q.v.).

Yet the challenges of Q_ 17:90-3 could have
been an impetus for later storytellers who,
qur'anic statements to the contrary not-
withstanding, began elaborating the mira-
cles of Muhammad in competition with

miracle stories from other religious tradi-
tions. In such a spirit, storytellers may have
been provoked by Q_ 17:90-3 into vindicat-
ing Muhammad more literally in the face
of such challenges. According to some as-
cension accounts, Muhammad indeed at-
tains a garden with gushing rivers — often
named and specified as four — and a
spring (zamzam) that bursts from the
ground (see WELLS AND springs).

In the ascension stories, Q_i7:i is collated
with the depiction of Muhammad's pro-
phetic vision or visions in Q_53, "The Star"
(Surat al-Najm). Verses 1-12 begin with an
oath, "By the star as it falls," then explain
that "your companion" is not deluded and
does not speak out of desire (hawa) but that
the vision is a revelation given to him by
one of great power. What was seen is de-
scribed as being on the uppermost horizon,
and then coming within a distance of "two
bows' length" (kana qdba qawsayn). Some
consider 53:13-8 to be another descrip-
tion of the same vision, while others main-
tain that it is a description of a separate
vi-sion. Here, there is another descent
(nazla ukhra) at the lote tree of the furthest
boundary (sidrat al-muntaha) when the tree
was enshrouded. In a phrase that would be
key to the ascension tradition, the gaze of
the Prophet neither exceeded its bounds
nor strayed (ma zagha l-basaru wa-ma tagha) .
The passage ends with a statement that
the Prophet had seen one or more of the
greater signs of his Lord (mill ayati l-rabbihi
l-kubrd).

The opening verses of sura 53, especially
Q_53:i2-8, serve as a constant subtext for
the ascension stories. The lote tree and the
garden of sanctuary (jannat al-ma'wa) are
not constants; that is, they appear at differ-
ent stages in different accounts of the as-
cent. However, Q_53:i-i8 was used as a sub-
text by commentators not only for Q_i7:i,
but also for the depiction of the descent

ASCENSION

I 7 8

of revelation on the night of destiny (laylat
al-qadr) in 097:1-5: "We sent him/it down
on the night of destiny (see NIGHT OF
power). What could tell you of the night
of destiny? The night of destiny is better
than a thousand months. The angels come
down — and the spirit among them/it/
her — by permission of their lord from
every decree. Peace she/it is until the rising
of the dawn." Qur'anic commentators dis-
agree on whether what is sent down on the
night of destiny is Gabriel (q.v.; "We sent
him down") or the qur'anic revelation
("We sent it down"). The angels that are
said to come down in Q.97-4 are said, in
some hadith, to have been sent down from
the lote tree of the furthest boundary (cf.
Qurtubl, Jami', xx, 133-4). The fact that the
visions of o 53 serve as a subtext for both
the ascension and the night of destiny sets
up a tension between the sending down of
revelation to Muhammad and his rising up
to receive it in the heavens. These two
paradigms — the sending down of the rev-
elation and the rising up to receive it —
were in tension throughout the late antique
era and they are clearly in tension in the
tradition surrounding Muhammad's pro-
phetic call. As the tradition holds that the
night of destiny and the night of the ascen-
sion are separate events, some commen-
tators associate the first vision passage
(o 53:1-12) with the night of destiny and the
second vision passage (0.53:13-18) with the
ascension. The tension is not easily re-
solved, however, and recurs throughout
the exegetical tradition (see exegesis of
the qjjr'an: classical and medieval).
A particularly revealing and brilliantly il-

lustrated example of this tension occurs
in the commentary of al-Qurtubl (Jami',
xvii, 81-103).

Further heightening the tension between
the ascent and descent paradigms is the in-
tertextual connection between Q_ 97 and
o 70:1-9, which begins with a question
about the "pain that would fall" ('adhab
waqi'): "From God, Master of the ascend-
ing stairways (al-ma'drij), angels and the
spirit (q.v.) ascend to Him on a day whose
span is fifty thousand years. Patience, pa-
tience most fair. They see it from afar, we
see it near. A day the sky will be like mol-
ten copper and the mountains like fluffs of
wool." These verses depict the day of
reckoning (yawm al-din; see last judg-
ment) in terms that resonate directly with
other day-of-reckoning passages such as
p_ 101:4-5, which also refers to a time when
the mountains are like fluffs of wool (al- 'ihn
al-manjush) .

A reference to stairways in a passage con-
cerning the rising of the angels at the end
of time would seem at first an unlikely
proof for the ascent of Muhammad during
his lifetime. However, the intertextual link
of (397 and 070:1-9 may have facilitated
the use of the term mi'rdj and variations on
the '-r-j radical in traditional accounts of
Muhammad's ascent. In Q_7 U ! the angels
rise; in Q_97> the angels descend during the
night of destiny or upon the night of des-
tiny. The night of destiny is "better than a
thousand months." Similarly, the day of
reckoning is "a day whose span is fifty
thousand years." These parallels in imag-
ery are strengthened by sound and syntax
parallels:

70:4 ta ruju

there rise

97:4 tanazzalu

there descend

l-mala'ikatu wa-l-ruhu ilayhi

the angels and the spirit in/upon him/it

l-mald'ikatu wa-l-ruhu Jthd

the angels and the spirit in/upon/among it/them/her

r 79

ASCENSION

Both the night of prophetic revelation and
the day of reckoning are boundary mo-
ments, moments in which the eternal
realm comes into contact with the tempo-
ral realm. Although discrete in narrative
sequence, they are nevertheless linguistic-
ally embedded within one another. The in-
tertextual link between these two suras ac-
centuates further the tension between the
ascent and descent models of revelation
even as it binds the two models together.

Another day-of-reckoning passage critical
to the ascension accounts is in (552:1-10:
"By the Mount [i.e. Mount Sinai]. By the
book inscribed on rolls of parchment most
fine. By the enlivened house (al-bayt al-
ma'mur). By the roof raised high. By the sea
boiled over. The pain of your lord will fall
(inna 'adhaba rabbika la-waqi l ). None can
ward it off. On a day the sky will sway and
the mountains will slide." These verses are
bound to the opening verses of O_70 in that
both contain a warning of the pain that
will fall ('adhab wdqi'j and cannot be kept
away, and by their depiction of the moun-
tains sliding on the day of reckoning. Such
intertextual connections cluster around the
term al-bayt al-ma'mur, a term difficult to
translate but which means the abode that is
inhabited and, as such, enlivened. The two
major uses of the term bayt in the Quran
are with little ambiguity attributed to the
Ka'ba: al-bayt al- 'atiq (the ancient abode)
and al-bayt al-hardm (the sacred abode). The
identity of "the enlivened house," men-
tioned only this one time in the Qur'an, is
not specified.

The commentary of al-Qurtubi on "the
enlivened house" [Jami\ xvii, 59-61) elabo-
rates on the controversy among various ex-
egetes over which heavenly sphere contains
the house. The region above the seventh
sphere just before the divine throne, the
sixth sphere, the fourth sphere, and lowest
sphere are among the candidates (see cos-

mology in THE q_ur'an). In each case, the
enlivened house would be a celestial abode
that corresponds to the Ka'ba, although
some others claim that the term refers to
the Ka'ba itself. For those who put the en-
livened house in the world of the celestial
spheres, the way is paved for a connection
between the apocalypse (q.v.) — in which
the house will be encountered on the day
of reckoning — and Muhammad's ascent,
a preview of what is revealed on the day of
reckoning. Once Muhammad's ascent is
accepted, then it would be as natural to
find him encountering the enlivened house
as it would be to find him encountering
the lote tree or the rivers of paradise (al-
Qurtubl cites the proof par excellence for
such an encounter from Muslim's SahTh).
Given the association of "the sacred place
of prayer" with the origin of Muhammad's
journey, the links between suras 52, 70 and
97 facilitate the identification of "the enliv-
ened house" as its goal, particularly when
the journey is seen as one of heavenly as-
cent, and provide a matrix of qur'anic sub-
texts for the development and differing ver-
sions of the traditions about the ascension.

Finally, 0^94:1, "Did We not open your
breast?" becomes the evidence for stories
of the extraction of Muhammad's heart
and its purification in the waters of £flm-
Zam that parallel accounts of shaman-like
preparatory practices in other cultures.
Eventually, almost any aspect of qur'anic
language can be incorporated into the as-
cension tradition but the passages above
form its core.

A passage from Muslim's SahTh concern-
ing the Prophet near the culmination of
his ascent offers an example of how these
passages are incorporated into the ascent
narrative: "He [Abraham] was resting his
back against the enlivened house [al-bayt al-
ma'miir, q 52:4) into which seventy thousand
angels would disappear each day, not to

ASCENSION

180

return. Then I was taken to the 'lote tree of
the furthest boundary' (o 53 114, sidrat al-
muntahd). Its leaves were like the ears of ele-
phants and its fruits were as large as jugs of
clay. He said, When by the command of its
lord 'the tree was enfolded' (0,53:16) it was
transformed. None of the creatures of
God could describe its beauty. 'Then God
revealed to me what he revealed' "

(°-53 :i °)-

The ascension traditions expanded in
length, complexity and cultural accretions
throughout the medieval world in which
traditions of heavenly ascent abounded.
The number seventy thousand was stand-
ard in the ascent of Enoch stories, for ex-
ample. In other cases, features of cosmol-
ogy, both qur'anic and extra-qur'anic,
associated with the creation were woven
into the story of the ascension.

Muhammad's ascent brought together
the imagery of creation, revelation and the
reckoning, the three major boundary mo-
ments of qur'anic and extra-qur'anic tradi-
tion. Examination of the relation of the as-
cension to extra-qur'anic sources must be
left to another occasion. Once the notion
of the physical ascent was established,
qur'anic subtexts with strong intertextual
bonds became a vehicle for exploring the
tensions between the this-worldly vision
and the end-of-time vision. Within the
individual religions, the interreligiously
symbolic cosmos of successive spheres or
heavens became the site of contest among
differing religions. The ascension was
Islam's principle vehicle for expressing
such a contest.

Within the Islamic tradition, these heav-
ens also became the site of exploring the
tension between revelation as sent down to
earth and its retrieval by a prophet rising
through the heavens. Both sets of tensions
were at the core of the apocalyptic tradi-
tions that surrounded Islam and with
which Islamic traditions of ascent were

in increasing competition. They were
adapted into the Sufi tradition, both in the
forms of paradigms of Sufi experience and
in Sufi accounts of their own personal as-
cents. (For Bistaml's ascent, see M. Sells,
Early Islamic mysticism, 121-231, 242-50; for
that of Ibn al-Arabl, see his al-Futuhat al-
makkiyya, trans. M. Ghodkiewicz, Les illumi-
nations, 350-81.)

Just as the mosque retains its basic ele-
ments but reflects the culture in which it is
built, the ascent traditions reflect the his-
torical and cultural diversity, tensions and
interactions of the classical Islamic world.
A late pictoral representation of the ascen-
sion offers an example. Among the angels
encountered by Muhammad is an angel
half of fire and half of ice, reflecting a di-
chotomy and experience that can be traced
back to the world of 1 Enoch (Seguy, plate
10). The angels recite the tasbih (Praise be
to God!) in the same place that the angels
in the Jewish Merkevah tradition recite the
qedusha. Yet this angel in full lotus position
reflects the cultural sphere of Buddhism,
even as the facial features, dress and the
bearing of this and other angels are Mon-
golian.

Michael Sells

Bibliography
Primary: al-GhaytT, Muhammad b. Ahmad,
Qissat al-isra' wa-l-miraj, Cairo 1974, trans. A.
Pavet de Courteille, Mi 'raj-Nameh, Paris 1882;
Ibn Abbas (attr.), al-Isrd' wa-l-miraj, n.p. 1957;
Ibn al-'Arabl, al-Futuhat al-makkiyya, trans. M.
Chodkiewicz et al., Les illuminations de la Mecque,
Paris 1988, 350-81; id., Kitab al-Miraj, trans. R.
Rossi Testa, // libro de la scala de Mahoma, Milan
1991; QushayrI, Kitab al-Mi'raj, ed. A. Abd
al-Qadir, Cairo 1994; SuyutT, al-Aya al-kubraji
shark qissat al-isra', Beirut 1985.
Secondary: M. Amir-Meozzi (ed.), Le voyage
initiatique en terre d'islam, Louvain 1996; M. Asin
Palacios, La escatologia musulmana en la Divina
Comedia. Seguida de liistoria y critica de una polemic a,
Madrid 1919, 1961 3 ; J. Bencheikh, Le voyage
nocturne de Mahomet, Paris 1988; G. Bowering,

i8i

ASCETICISM

Mi'raj, in er ix, 552-6; H. Busse, Jerusalem in
the story of Muhammad's night journey and
ascension, in/A'A/14 (iggi), 1-40; B. Schrieke
et al., Mi'radj, in EI 2 , vii, 97-105; M.-R. Seguy,
The miraculous journey of Mahomet, New York 1977;
M. Sells, Sound, spirit, and gender in sural al-
qadr, in JAOS in (1991), 239-59; id., Early Islamic
mysticism, New York 1996.

Asceticism

The principles or practice of people who
engage in rigorous self-discipline, absti-
nence and austerity for the sake of spiritual
or intellectual discipline. The Arabic term
Zuhd — not found in the Qur'an — has
usually been translated as "asceticism" but
would be better rendered as "renunciation
of the world." Another Arabic word that
does not appear in the Qur'an, nask (also
vocalized as nusk and nusuk), which desig-
nates the pious lifestyle of the hermit, is a
closer equivalent of "asceticism." There is
not much about asceticism in the Qur'an,
but a certain amount of attention is given
to two key elements of the ascetic lifestyle,
vigils (q.v.) and fasting (q.v.), while there are
also brief mentions of a third, weeping
(q.v.), and of monasticism (rahbdniyya, see
monasticism AND monks), which ascetic-
ism overlaps. By contrast, the Qur'an does
not advocate celibacy (see sex and sex-
uality; abstinence), another key element
of asceticism, but enjoins marriage (see
marriage AND divorce). Men are permit-
ted the pleasures of sex with wives and
slave-girls. The Qur'an also rejects the idea
that one should give all one's wealth away
(c) 17:26-9). While almsgiving (q.v.) is en-
joined, the absolute and voluntary poverty
which is characteristic of asceticism is not
recommended. However, the presence of
Christian — and especially Syrian — as-
ceticism in the historical background to the
Qur'an is undoubtedly important as are
the vigils apparently observed by Muham-
mad himself.

Background
In eastern Christianity, in the centuries be-
fore Muhammad, one finds an extremely
strong ascetic tradition. Notably, one en-
counters the "Sons of the Covenant," who
were neither priests nor monks but pursued
mortification of the flesh and devotional
exercises. Celibacy, even within marriage,
was particularly venerated. Although
Egypt is supposedly the birthplace of
Christian monasticism, abstention from
food does not seem to have been more
than moderate amongst Egyptian monas-
tics. In Syria, however, the mortification of
the flesh was more extreme: There were
"browsers" who ate nothing but plants and
wearers of heavy iron chains, alongside the
celebrated "stylites," ascetics who lived on
the tops of pillars for decades. Here lay-
men often retired into solitude to live like
hermits for a time, and nightly vigils for
prayer and recitation were particularly
prominent. It is not clear how all of this
would have had an influence on the
Qur'an. According to Christian sources, a
large number of Arabs from northern Ara-
bia came to the most famous of the stylites,
St. Simeon Stylites (ca. 390-459 c.E.) and
were converted by him (A. Voobus, History,
ii, 253-4). T. Andrae [Mohammed, 83-8) in-
sists that Syrian Christian asceticism lies at
the root of the Qur'an 's piety but K. Wag-
tendonk (Fasting, 129) sees this view as "cer-
tainly one-sided."

Muhammad outside the Qiir'dn
In assessing extra-qur'anic materials that
attribute ascetic practices or teachings to
Muhammad one comes up against the
problems of the authenticity, historicity
and reliability of the hadlth. Muhammad
is credited with advocating poverty and
weeping (Wensinck, Handbook, q.v. "Poor"
and "Weeping"). In general, however, the
hadlths which have been collected that fa-
vor a renunciation of the world are often

ASCETICISM

1 8 1

vague exhortations to a life of piety as
opposed to specific recommendations of
ascetic practices. By contrast, Muhammad
is said to have rejected both monasticism
and the "wandering" (siydha) characteristic
of the Syrian anchorites (Wagtendonk,
Fasting, 129-30). As regards Muhammad's
own practices, we are told that before his
mission he would spend one month a year
in seclusion on mount Hira,' (ibid., Fasting,
32-3). There he would engage in "the hold-
ing of pious exercises" [tahannuth, a word
again not found in the Qur'an, and the ex-
act meaning of which is not clear). Appar-
ently asceticism as such did not exist as an
indigenous Arabian phenomenon; fasting
and other forms of abstinence existed only
in particular rituals and as penance or as
the result of specific vows but not as part of
asceticism in the sense of a permanent way
of life (cf. Wagtendonk, Fasting, 8, 31-40;
and G. Hawting, Tahannuth).

Muhammad and vigils in the Qur'an
In the Qur'an itself Muhammad is shown
as engaging in vigils (5373:1-4, 20). Here the
injunction to Muhammad to keep awake
for half the night is an echo of eastern
Christian teachings. Similarly, the qur'anic
injunction for Muhammad and his follow-
ers to recite the Qur'an (see recitation
of THE qur'an) during vigils also echoes
Christian practices in which the recitation
of the scriptures formed an important part
of the vigil along with constant prostra-
tion. Here again, the Qur'an 's assertion
that Muhammad's true followers have
marks on their faces as a result of their
constant prostrating ((348:29) is an echo of
a classic eastern Christian topos. The actu-
al term for "keeping a vigil," tahajjud, oc-
curs only once in the Qur'an (p_ 17:79). In
C3 73:1-4 the command to keep a vigil and
to recite the Qur'an for about half the
night is addressed to Muhammad alone. In

the same sura ((373:20) we are informed
that Muhammad and some of his followers
keep vigils for two-thirds, half or a third of
the night. As there then ensues an obscure
continuation, generally considered to be
God's abrogation (q.v.) of his earlier com-
mand at the beginning of (373, this verse
is said to have been revealed much later.
God now gives a collective command to
Muhammad's followers to recite as much
of the Qur'an as they can easily manage,
given their various difficulties (cf. Wen-
sinck, Tahadjdjud). It is not clear, however,
whether this collective command also in-
cludes Muhammad himself; if it does not,
then it does not require the hypothesis of
abrogation and subsequent revelation since
there is no contradiction with the initial in-
dividual command addressed to Muham-
mad. In Q 76:26 Muhammad is again told
to prostrate himself to God and praise
him through the night (see adoration;
BOWING AND PROSTRATION). In 0_ 25:64 we
are told that God's servants are those who
spend the night prostrating themselves and
standing in worship (q.v.) of him. In Q 17:79
the command to keep a vigil is again ad-
dressed to Muhammad alone and it is ex-
plained that this is a "work of supereroga-
tion" (nafila) for which Muhammad may
be rewarded with a glorious position in the
hereafter (see REWARD AND punishment).
In 039:9 a rhetorical question asks whe-
ther someone who spends the night in wor-
ship, prostrating himself and standing up,
in wariness as regards his fate in the next
world and in hope of God's benevolence,
is equal with someone who does not. In
Q 3:113 we are told that among the People
of the Book (q.v.) there are some good peo-
ple who recite the scriptures and prostrate
themselves all night long (see scripture
and the qur'an). In Q5i:i5-8 the right-
eous are depicted as being rewarded in
heaven for having slept little at night and

1 8 3

ASCETICISM

for praying at dawn and in 032:16 they are
shown as forsaking their beds in order to
pray in fear and in hope.

Fasting
Alongside the obligatory fast in the month
of Ramadan (q.v.) and the examples of
fasting prescribed as penance and acts of
reparation or compensation (see atone-
ment), supererogatory pious fasting is also
mentioned in the Qur'an (o_ 9:112; 33:35;
66:5). In Q_ 9:112 and 66:5 the verb saha is
used to mean "fast" and here there is cer-
tainly an echo of the "wandering" (siyaha)
of the Syrian Christian anchorites. As
Wagtendonk observes, this verb is never
used to designate the fast of Ramadan and
it must designate supererogatory pious fast-
ing as must the verb sama in the compara-
ble passage 033-35- In all three passages
the context is that of the behavior of pious
Muslims (see piety): They are obedient
(see obedience), persevering, humble, giv-
ers of alms, chaste (see chastity), peni-
tent, worshipping and also fasting (men
and women in 0,33:35, potential wives of
Muhammad in 066:5 and fighters in the
holy war in Q_9-H2). However, this context
cannot be seen as that of asceticism and
the extreme fasting of ascetics cannot be
intended. Thus saha, in spite of its Syrian
ascetic connotations, must here be used in
a weaker sense of "supererogatory pious
fasting" or "voluntary religious fasting" on
a more moderate scale. As for the fast of
Ramadan itself, it has its roots in Judaic
penitential fasting but in the Qur'an is
associated with gratitude (02:185; see
GRATITUDE AND INGRATITUDE): it is a
thank-offering (Wagtendonk, Fasting,
128-43).

Weeping
Weeping is an important aspect of both
Christian and Islamic asceticism and, as

E Meier has pointed out (Bakka', 960),
there is clear evidence of historical conti-
nuity between the two traditions, from the
Coptic and Syrian monks, with Isaac of
Nineveh in the seventh century c.E., to the
"weepers" of early Islam. In the Qur'an
there are explicit references to weeping:
The recitation of the Qur'an itself causes
people to weep (017:109) and in the past
the recitation of God's previous signs (q.v.)
to true believers had the same effect

fe^sS)-

Monasticism
The Qur'an's attitude to asceticism is prob-
ably best expressed in its specific mention
of Christian monasticism (057 :2 7)- Unfor-
tunately, this verse is unclear and has been
interpreted in different ways. It reads,
"And in the hearts of those who followed
him [i.e. Jesus], we put kindness and be-
nevolence, and monasticism (rahbaniyya) —
they instituted it — we did not prescribe it
for them — out of desire to please God.
But they did not observe it as they ought."
Some exegetes take the view that here rah-
baniyya is not one of the objects of God's
"putting:" thus it would be of purely hu-
man origin. Other exegetes do see rahba-
niyya as put in the hearts of Christians by
God, and, thus, of divine origin but not
prescribed for everyone and later per-
verted (cf. A.J. Wensinck, Rahbaniyya;
McAuliffe, Quranic, 263-81). The idea, in
any case, seems to be that the extreme
asceticism of Christian monasticism,
however well-intentioned, is an unrealistic
and impractical ideal and the monks have
not lived up to it. This interpretation is
supported by the Qur'an's brief refer-
ences to the Christian monks themselves:
On the one hand, the Christians are clos-
est to the Muslims because they have
priests and monks (05:82) but, on the
other hand, the monks have become

1 84

objects of worship and have amassed
riches (o_g:3i-4).

Julian Baldick

Bibliography
T. Andrae, Mohammed. The man and his faith,
London 1936; repr. London 1956; G.R. Hawting,
Tahannuth, in EI 3 , x, 98-9; L. Massignon, Zuhd,
in is/', iv, 1239-40; McAuliffe, Quranic; F. Meier,
Bakka', in EI 3 , i, 959-61; A.Voobus, History of
asceticism in the Syrian orient, 3 vols., Louvain
1958-88; K. Wagtendonk, Fasting in the Koran,
Leiden 1968; Wensinck, Concordance, q.v. Bakd,
Facp; Faqir, Sdma, Tahajjada,Tahannatha; id.,
Handbook, q.v. Fast, Fasting, Poor, Vigils,
Weeping; id., Rahbaniyya, in EI 1 , iii, 1103; repr.
in EI 3 , viii, 396-7; id., Tahadjdjud, in EI 1 , iv,
607-8; repr. in EI 3 , x, 97-8.

Ashes

The solid residue left when a material is
burnt. The word "ashes" (ramad) occurs
only once in the Qur'an, in 14:18: "A simili-
tude of those who have disbelieved in their
Lord: Their actions will be like ashes swept
away by a severe wind on a stormy day.
They have no power over what they
earned; it is this that is extreme misguid-
ance." As the phrase "swept away by a se-
vere wind on a stormy day" qualifies the
ashes, it will be discussed here as well (see
also AIR AND wind). The point of the simi-
le is that on the day of resurrection the dis-
believers who had hoped to be saved on
the strength of their supposedly good ac-
tions will be disappointed because these
deeds will not avail them "just as no one
can control ashes when [God] sends a
wind against them on a blustery day"
(Tabari, Tafsir, xiii, 198). The verse thus
emphasizes the importance of grounding
actions in faith and the utter futility of ac-
tions not so grounded, for the latter will
not only be reduced to ashes, but these
ashes themselves will be blown away and
no trace of them will be left behind (Za-

makhsharl, Kashshdf, ii, 298; Razi, Tafsir,
xix, 105; Qutb, £ilal, iv, 2094).

The qur'anic use of the word ramad in the
sense of wasted effort represents an older
usage most likely derived from a nomadic
lifestyle. The wind blowing away the ashes
left by a campfire must have been a famil-
iar sight to the dwellers of the desert (cf.
Qutb, %ilal, iv, 2094). A proverb such as
"Your brother roasted [meat] until it was
cooked, but then threw ashes over it (ram-
mada)" means that he spoiled the good he
had done (cf. Lisan al-'Arab, q.v. r-m-d, and
Zamakhsharl, Asds, q.v. r-m-d). This partic-
ular usage appears to antedate the Qur'an,
as does this expression for destruction: "We
arrived in this town and were reduced to
ashes (ramadnd) in it" (Zamakhsharl, Asds,
q.v. r-m-d). From a literary viewpoint, the
Qur'an's comparison of certain kinds of
human actions to ashes is an instance of
what the twentieth-century Egyptian theo-
logian Sayyid Qutb represents as the char-
acteristic qur'anic technique, corporealiz-
ing (tajslm) abstractions (al-Taswir al-fanrnft
TQur'an).

Although the word "ashes" occurs only
once in the Qur'an and expresses wasted
efforts, there are several instances in which
other words and images are used to repre-
sent utter destruction in a similar eschato-
logical context (see eschatology). God
will turn the actions of the disbelievers into
scattered dust motes (haba'an manthuran,
(325:23); the disbelievers will realize that
their actions have been nullified. What
they had regarded as water will turn out
to be a mirage (q 24:39). The wealth such
people might have spent on good causes
will become like a crop hit by a freezing
cold wind ((^3:117). The actions of some-
one who does somebody a favor and then
reminds him of it will be washed away like
the layer of dust on a rock (5)2:264). Thus
it may be seen that Q_ 14:18, with its men-
tion of ashes, belongs to a larger category

i8 5

ASTRAY

of verses. Indeed the concept of nullifica-
tion of deeds is stated and explained in
many places in the Quran and all the
above-mentioned verses and many others
may be subsumed under that general
concept. See also apocalypse; resur-
rection.

Mustansir Mir

Bibliography
Mir, Dictionary; Qutb, glial; id., al-Taswir al-fanm
ji l-Qur'an, Cairo 1963; RazT, Tafsir; Tabari, Tafsir,
ed. A.S. 'All, 30 vols., Cairo 1373/1954-1377/1957;
ZamakhsharT, Asds; id., Kashshdf.

Ass

see ANIMAL LIFE

Association see politics and the
q_ur'an

Astray

To wander from a set path. Dalla, the root
of which (d-l-l) means "to err," "to go
astray," "to lose one's way," is a ubiquitous
and fundamental qur'anic concept that ap-
pears 191 times in forty-seven derivatives of
the Arabic verb. The best-known example
is al-dallin "those who go astray," the final
word in the opening sura of the Qur'an
(Surat al-Fatiha, see fatiha). It is linked
in the same sura to a central qur'anic
theme "the straight way" (al-sirat al-
mustaqlm).

In pre-Islamic sources, the word dalla is
employed primarily in discourse on mun-
dane matters related to travel in the desert.
With the advent of Islam and the growing
influence of the Qur'an on the Arabic lan-
guage (q.v.), dalla assumed an array of
moral and spiritual meanings related to the
straight way. This concept, first encoun-
tered in Q_i:6, forms the basis of one of
several religious dichotomies that charac-

terize the qur'anic worldview: the distinc-
tion between belief (iman) and unbelief
(kufr, see belief and unbelief). In Sunn!
sources, the straight way is interpreted as
God's guidance (huda) consisting of the
Qur'an and the exemplary words and
practices of Muhammad (q.v.). Humans
respond to God's guidance either with
belief — demonstrated by accepting
God's guidance and adhering to the way
(ihtida') — or with unbelief characterized
by straying (dalal or dalala), the rejection of
guidance and right conduct. Thus straying
came to represent the harmful, base incli-
nations of human nature in the Qur'an's
dualistic moral conception.

The synonyms, correlatives and deriva-
tives of dalla reflect its variant but related
qur'anic meanings. Synonyms include
ighwa' (temptation, enticement to evil),
khusran, (spiritual deterioration, moral de-
pravity) and shaqa' (misery, suffering).
Among the chief causes of a person's going
astray are Satan's desire to lead people
astray (04:60) and the natural, destructive
appetites and passions of human nature
(ahwa', sing, hawa, 0^5:77; 6:56). The most
prominent and exhaustively interpreted
derivative is al-dallin. Classical Sunni exe-
gesis regularly identifies "those who have
gone astray" (al-dallin) as the Christians
who once possessed but subsequently lost
true knowledge of the way. The famous
commentator al-Tabarl (d. 310/923), how-
ever, points out that both Jews and Chris-
tians have incurred God's wrath and have
gone astray in the same manner (Tafsir, i,
189-95; see JEWS AND JUDAISM; CHRISTIANS
AND Christianity). Modern Sunni com-
mentators tend to interpret "those who
have gone astray" more broadly, given the
absence in the Qur'an of specific reference
to any particular religious group. For ex-
ample, M. al-Sha'rawI, a famous contem-
porary Egyptian shaykh, states that al-dallin
are people who do not know the way to

ATONEMENT

I 86

where they want to go, who adopt any way
of life other than God's and who thus be-
come Satan's associate (Tafsir, i, go). Pre-
dictably, Shf I commentators identify
"those who have gone astray" as those who
do not recognize the spiritual primacy of
the imam (q.v.). In mystical exegesis, spiri-
tual seekers go astray if they fail to see the
beauty and love of God in all things. See
also sufism and the q_ur'an; shi'ism and
the o_ur'an; exegesis of the qur'an.

Exegetical differences concerning going
astray fueled debate in early Islamic theol-
ogy on the question of indeterminism ver-
sus determinism (see freedom and pre-
destination). Some verses seem to affirm
the principle of free will: "Those who re-
ceive guidance, do so for the good of their
own souls. Those who stray, do so to their
own loss" (qio:io8); "Let him who will, be-
lieve. Let him who will, reject" (q 18:29).
Other verses appear to support the doc-
trine of God's causality: "For those whom
God has led astray (man yudlili llah), never
will you find the way" (Q4:88); "God leads
astray (yudillu) those whom he pleases and
guides whom he pleases" (o 14:4). Al-
Tabari deals with this controversy in his
commentary on "those who have gone
astray" in Q 1:7, first dismissing the conclu-
sion that humans are free to choose their
spiritual destiny and then affirming the tra-
ditional view that God is the cause of hu-
man action {Tafsir, i, 195-7). The trend in
modern commentary is to reconcile the ap-
parent contradictions. 'A. Yusuf All's
commentary on Q8i:28-g argues for a
compromise position: "Both extremes, viz.,
cast-iron Determinism and an idea of
Chaotic Free-will, are condemned" (The
holy Qur'an, ad loc). M. Mir avers that ac-
cording to o 92:5-10 "God facilitates (taysir)
the doing of good actions for those who
would perform them, and... he facilitates
the doing of evil actions for those who

would do such actions" (Dictionary, 79-80).
M. T an tawi, the Shaykh of Sunn! Islam's
al-Azhar University, holds that God gives
humans only what they first choose for
themselves: guidance for those who seek
the straight path through God and mis-
guidance for those who opt to go astray.

James A. Toronto

bibliography
[ A. Yusuf 'All (trans.), The holy Qur'an. English
translation of the meanings and commentary, Medina
1413/1992-3; A. Atiyyatullah, al-Qamus al-Islanu,
5 vols., Cairo 1976; Mir, Dictionary; M. al-
Sha'rawT, Tafsir al-Shardwi, 10 vols., Cairo 1991;
Tabarl, Tafsir, 30 vols., Cairo 1954-7; M.
Tantawi, interview with author, Cairo iqq8.

Astronomy see cosmology in the
qur'an

Asylum see protection; oaths

Atheism see polytheism and atheism

Atmospheric Phenomena see
natural world and the qur'an

Atom see SCIENCE AND THE OUrAn

Atonement

The act of making amends for an injury or
an offense. The idea that acts, whether
moral or ritual lapses, can be atoned or
compensated for by other acts occurs on a
number of occasions in the Qur'an, but it
does not seem possible to construct either a
clear or complete doctrine of atonement
on the basis of the qur'anic references
alone. In three passages, the act which
atones, expiates or compensates is called a
kaffara (cf. the cognates in the other Semitic
languages; see foreign vocabulary), but

i8 7

ATONEMENT

there are other words used as well which
are not easy to distinguish in sense.

0^5:45 says that waiving, as an act of
charity, one's right to retaliate for an injury
or a death suffered is an atonement (kaj-
jara). In this instance the idea seems to be
that a voluntary meritorious act can atone
for past sin. Here the commentators dis-
cuss whether the sin in question is that of
the perpetrator or that of the one who
waives his right to retaliate. In other pas-
sages the act of atonement appears to be
undertood more as a compulsory conse-
quence of a specified act or lapse.

555:89 — where the word kajjara occurs
twice — sets out a choice of atonements in
connection with oaths (q.v.): feeding ten
poor people according to the normal level
of the provision for one's own family,
clothing them, emancipating a slave or
fasting (q.v.) for three days. Commentators
disagree whether the selected act atones for
an oath which, for one reason or another,
was not properly made (al-laghwji aymani-
kum) or for an oath which was binding (ma
'aqqadtumu l-ayman) but broken. In this con-
nection it is questionable whether the idea
of atonement for a sin (see sin, major and
minor) or lapse actually applies since re-
lease from oaths which it was not desirable
or possible to keep was a frequent and nor-
mal procedure.

C3 5:95 sets out three possible courses of
action for someone who infringes the law
by killing game (sayd, see hunting and
fishing) while in the state of ritual conse-
cration (ihram) of the pilgrim (see pilgrim-
age). Such a person should provide a
"compensation" (jaza] see recompense) in
the form of a domestic animal comparable
to the animal killed, to be brought as an
offering ihady, see sacrifice) at the Ka'ba
(q.v.); or he should make an "atonement"
(kajjara) by feeding an unspecified number
of the poor or fasting for an unspecified

period of time. These requirements are in-
terpreted in qur'anic commentary in ways
which suggest no clear distinction between
the idea of compensation and that of atone-
ment. Some regard all three courses of ac-
tion as equal in value so that the one who
has killed an animal in a consecrated state
may choose freely from among them (see
consecration of animals). Others re-
gard the offering of an animal in compen-
sation as preferable to the other two possi-
bilities and thus perhaps see compensation
as different in nature from atonement.

One possible distinction is that the com-
pensation involves doing something com-
parable in kind to the sin: "As for [God's]
saying, 'a compensation of livestock similar
to what he killed,' he is saying that [the
hunter] owes the equivalent and the reim-
bursement" (wa-amma qawluhu "fa-jaza'un
mithlu ma qatala min al-na'arni" [0^5:95] fa-
innahuyaqiilu wa-'alayhi kija'un wa-badalun,
Tabari, TafsTr, xi, 13). The idea that one
can make up for having missed a duty by
performing something similar in different
circumstances occurs too without the word
compensation (jaza'). For example, in
0^2:184 it is said that someone who does not
fast because he is sick or travelling might
make up the missed days at a later time.

Another concept which seems to carry
connotations of atonement is that of "ran-
som" (jidya). o_ 2:184 prescribes the feeding
of a poor person or something more than
that as a ransom (jidya) for someone who
has failed to fast, and 0^2:196 asks for a
ransom of fasting, charity or sacrifice from
someone who has had to interrupt his pil-
grimage.

o 58:3-4 sets out a choice of acts required
from a man who renounces sexual relations
with his wife (yuzdhiruna min nisd'ihim) by
an oath known as zihiir but then wished to
retract it and resume sexual relations (see
abstention). It is not clear whether the

AUTHORI T Y

acts set out are a consequence of having
made such an oath in the first place or are
a condition of release from it. They are ar-
ranged not as equal alternatives but in de-
scending order of acceptability: freeing a
slave, fasting for two consecutive months,
or feeding sixty poor people. Though the
word "atonement" (kciffara) is not used
here, a connection with 05:89 seems obvi-
ous. Commentaries and works of Islamic
law freely use "atonement" (kciffara) when
discussing the case.

The idea of atonement also occurs in
02:54 in connection with the story of the
worship of the calf of gold (q.v.) by the
Children of Israel (q.v.). The words of
Moses (q.v.), "Kill yourselves," are under-
stood as a command to the Israelites to
atone to God for their sin. In commentary
we are frequently told that the Israelites'
subsequent fighting and killing one another
was an atonement (kaffdra). See also LAW
AND THE OUR'aN; REPENTANCE AND PENANCE.

Gerald R. Hawting

Bibliography
J. Chelhod, Kaffara, in Ef, iv, 406-7; D.S.
Margoliouth, Expiation and atonement
(Muslim), in ERE, v, 664; S.M. Zwemer,
Atonement by blood sacrifice in Islam, in MW
36 (1946), 189-92.

Attributes of God see god and his

ATTRIBUTES

AllgUry see POPULAR AND TALISMANIC
USES OF THE QJJR'aN

Authority

The right to act or command. The con-
cept of authority is clearly attested in the
Qur'an but is not imparted by a single
term or expression. The most common

modern Arabic word for "authority," sulta,
does not occur in the Qur'an. Its cognate,
sultan, does indeed occur there frequently,
although solely as a verbal noun with an
abstract sense. Sultan denotes mainly, ac-
cording to the classical exegetes, "proof"
or "argument"; it only occasionally seems
to mean "authority," and even then mostly
in association with "proof." Other terms
which denote some form of authority are
quwwa (power), amr (command), hukm
(judgment or decision) and mulk (sover-
eignty, possession or power). With the ex-
ception of 0.4:59, which might hint at po-
litical authority, the authority with which
the Qur'an is concerned is essentially reli-
gious with credal, theological, legal, escha-
tological and moral implications.

There is no ambiguity whatsoever in the
Qur'an that all, full and absolute authority
in the entire universe belongs to God and
God alone. The Qur'an thus keeps repeat-
ing: "To [God] belongs the sovereignty
(mulk) of the heavens and the earth" (e.g.
05:40; 9:116). Although this authority does
derive from God's singular and unique om-
nipotence, omnipresence and omniscience,
it is essentially based on his being the cre-
ator of all things and on his holding su-
preme sway over their affairs in all matters,
including the day of judgment (see LAST
judgment). Thus one finds the strikingly
simple "verily His is the creation and the
command." (a-la lahu l-khalqu wa-l-amr,
07:54)- This makes God's relationship to
his creatures one of sovereignty and
ownership (mulk), where he is "the lord of
all being" (rabb al-'alamm, e.g. (J 1:2) and his
creatures are his servants and worshippers
('ibad, 'abid, sing, 'abd, e.g. 039 :i o). This re-
lationship is one which all human beings
accepted collectively before creation (q.v.)
and which constituted the primordial and
binding covenant (mithaq, see covenant)
between humankind and God (see ADAM
AND eve). It is binding for man until the

i8g

AUTHORITY

day of judgment and man cannot deny be-
ing aware of it (0,7:172). Accordingly, the
Qur'an emphasizes repeatedly the funda-
mental importance of man's obedience
[ta'a, see obedience) to God (e.g. 03 : 5 )-

While the Qur'an presents God as em-
powering both individuals and groups to
perform extraordinary acts — e.g. Dhu
1-Qarnayn (o 18:83-98), Moses' (q.v.) com-
panion (018:60-82; see khadir/khidr)
and the people of l Ad (q.v.; 07-74) — such
acts do not necessarily provide them with
authority. In one case only does a verse
come close to associating empowerment
with authority. When God created Adam,
he made him a vice-regent [khalifa, see
caliph) on earth, asked the angels to pros-
trate before him (02:30-4; see adoration;
angel; bowing and prostration) and
put the fruits of the earth at his service (e.g.
055:1-27). Nevertheless, in the Qur'an the
only area where God's authority is unam-
biguously and actually delegated to any
creature is prophecy (see prophets and
prophethood).

According to the Qur'an, God selected
from among humankind a number of
prophets and messengers (see messenger)
as guides to his way and warners against
deviating from it (see warning). These
messengers are provided by God, among
other things, with power and authority
supported by proof [sultan, 011:96; 4:144).
The most paramount of these is a scripture
[kitdb, see book; scripture and the
OUr'an) which carries God's authoritative
message (e.g. 02:29; 4:54, 113). Hence be-
lief in it is a requirement of faith (q.v.; e.g.
02:177, 285; 3:84; see also belief and
unbelief). Most importantly, though, these
prophets are fundamentally aware that
their authority is not independently ac-
quired, but is derived from God (e.g.
014:11). It is precisely because of this that
they can demand obedience from others:
"We sent no messenger save that he be

obeyed by God's leave" [wa-ma arsalnd min
rasiilin ilia li-yuta'a bi-idhni llah, 04:64). This
obedience to the prophets is given an ele-
vated position in the Qur'an and in the
case of the Prophet Muhammad it is cou-
pled frequently with obedience to God, as
in the repeated statement "Obey God and
the messenger" [atT'u llaha wa-l-rasul, e.g.
03:32, 132). Indeed, obedience to the
Prophet is equated once with obedience to
God: "Whoever obeys the messenger obeys
God" [manyuti' al-rasulafa-qad atd'a llah,
04:80). In another significant verse (04:59),
the Qur'an commands people to obey
"those in charge among you" (uli l-amr min-
kum), in addition to God and the Prophet.

Due to the nature of the topic and its
manifestation in many contexts in the
Qur'an, the qur'anic commentaries are of
limited use, except where a particular verse
(such as 04:59) i s OI direct relevance. The
ambiguity of 04 : 59> as well as its potential
political significance, made it subject to nu-
merous interpretations, most of which re-
flect the opinions of the various theological
and political groups in early Islamic soci-
ety. The Sunn! groups identified "those in
charge among you" variously as the
Prophet's military commanders (umara'J,
religious scholars ('ulama] fuqaha'), the
Prophet's Companions (see companions
of THE prophet) or more specifically the
Prophet's close associates and future ca-
liphs Abu Bakr (q.v.; r. 11/632-13/634) and
'Umar (q.v.; r. 13/634-23/644; see T aDar i)
Tafsir, viii, 495-502; Ibn al-jawzl, ^ad, ii,
116-7). The view that became prevalent,
however, is that they are the actual rulers
of the Muslim community (al-umara' wa-l-
wulat), as al-Tabarl (d. 310/923) himself
concludes [Tafsir, viii, 502-5). The Shl'is,
on the other hand, believe that "those in
charge among you" are the infallible
imams (q.v.; al-a'imma min al Muhammad,
TabarsI, Tafsir, v, 138-9). Sufis tended to
identify them as the Sufi saints (e.g.

AUTHORI T Y

igO

Qu-shayrT, Lata'if, ii, 36-7). See also imam;
shT'ism and the qur'an; hadith and
the q_ur'an; sufism and the q_ur'an.

While divinely sanctioned authority is
considered legitimate in the Qur'an, au-
thority unauthorized by God is not
(055:33). Accordingly seven out of the
thirty-six verses containing the word sultan
assert the falsehood of idols and other
"gods," calling them merely "names" de-
vised by people without God's proof, au-
thority or authorization (e.g. (37:71), a mat-
ter which has credal implications (see
IDOLS AND IMAGES; IDOLATRY AND IDOL-
ATERS). Seven others decry the machina-
tions of the devil (q.v), declaring that he
has authority only over the non-believers
(e.g. Q_ 14:22), an issue which has some bear-
ing on the theological question of indeter-
minism or determinism [qadar, see free-
dom and predestination). On the moral
level, the worldly authority of Korah
(Qarun, see korah) derived from his
wealth (0 28:76-82), that of Hainan (q.v.)
was due to his ambitious constructions
(o_ 28:38-9; 40:36-7); and that of Pharaoh
(q.v.) was because of his powerful kingship
(e.g. Q_7:75-g2). All of these figures are con-
demned for the fault of arrogance (q.v.; cf.
Q_7:i46; 10:75). This authority is in any case
ephemeral and these figures are eventually
destroyed by God. In contrast, the right or
authority (sultan) of an heir to retaliate
when his relative is wrongfully slain is con-
firmed (q 17:33; see bloodshed). This pro-
duced a legal rule that had political and
ideological implications in early Islamic
history.

Although obedience to God and his mes-
sengers is obligatory upon people, due to
their original and derived sovereignty, re-
spectively, history, according to the
Qur'an, is replete with instances of un-
lawful and hence sinful disobedience to
them (see punishment stories). The arch-
disobedient figure in the Qur'an is the

devil, who first refused to prostrate himself
before Adam (5)2:34) and then pledged —
and implemented his pledge — to lead hu-
manity astray (q.v.; e.g. Q_7:i6-22). The var-
ious peoples who refuse to heed and obey
God's messengers are sometimes consid-
ered to have been led astray by the devil
(e.g. Q_6:i2i), although more frequently no
mention of the devil's machinations is
made. In any case, those people are held
accountable for their transgressions. Some
are severely punished, as human history
has repeatedly shown, and all are to be
subject to eternal punishment on the day
of judgment (e.g. 0.7:59-136).

Wadad Kadi (al-Qadl)

Bibliography
P. Crone and M. Hinds, God's caliph, Cambridge
1986 (concerned more with the title of the
Muslim rulers and the nature of their power
than with the original, qur'anic concept); H.
Dabashi, Authority in Islam, New Brunswick 1989,
8-9, 60; J. van Ess, L'autorite de la tradition
prophetique dans la theologie mu'tazilite, in G.
Makdisi et al. (eds.), La notion d'autorite au nwyen
age, Paris 1982, 211-26; J. Jomier, L'autorite de la
revelation et la raison dans le commentaire du
Goran de Fahr al-Dln al-Razi, in G. Makdisi et
al. (eds.), La notion d'autorite au moyen age, Paris
1982, 243-61; M.J. Kister, Social and religious
concepts of authority in Islam, in jsai 18 (1994),
84-127, esp. 98-9 (also discusses the occurrences
of the concept in the hadith); J.H. Kramer and
C.E. Bosworth, Sultan, in Ef, ix, 849^ (the first
part is particularly informative of the
developments of the term in classical Muslim
society and history); C. Lindholm, The Islamic
Middle East. An historical anthropology, Oxford 1996
(see particularly 139-50. Like many modern
studies on authority in Islam, it sidesteps the
qur'anic conception of authority, being more
interested in authority as a political or
anthropological concept in Islamic history.); W.
Madelung, Authority in Twelver Shiism in the
absence of the imam, in G. Makdisi et al. (eds.),
La notion, d'autorite au m.qyen age, Paris 1982, 163-73;
M. Plessner, Mulk, in Ef, viii, 546-7; U. Rubin,
Apocalypse and authority in Islamic tradition, in
al-Qantara 18 (1997), n-33 (analyzes the structure
of reports and their reference to the twelve
imams).

AVARICE

Avarice

Greed or cupidity. Avarice is a multi-
faceted vice that plays an important role in
the Islamic assessment of human nature
and behavior. Despite the existence of syn-
onyms, the primary term for the vice is
bukhl. The miser is a bakhil (with the rare
form of bakhil), plural bukha la' (and more
rarely bukhkhal).

The pre-eminent role that avarice holds is
but a counterpart to the importance of
generosity, long considered a primary so-
cial virtue by the Arabs, even before the
advent of Islam. Both the Quran and the
hadith have much to say about avarice.
Qur'anic verses, both Meccan and Medi-
nan (see chronology and the q_ur'an),
argue in favor of generosity and the giving
of alms as well (see almsgiving) and op-
pose the notion that one should accumu-
late one's wealth. Two examples will suf-
fice. Q_3:i8o lays this out clearly: "But as for
those who are niggardly (alladhina yabkha-
luna) with the bounty God has given them,
do not let them suppose it is better for
them; rather it is worse for them; that
which they were niggardly with (ma bakhilu
bihi) they will have hung about their necks
on the resurrection day" (see last judg-
ment). q_o,2:5-ii also says, "As for him who
gives, is god-fearing and testifies to the
best; we will certainly make the path to
bliss smooth for him. But as for him who is
a miser (man bakhila), and self sufficient and
denies what is good, we will certainly ease
his way to misery. His wealth will not avail
him when he perishes."

Qur'anic exhortations must be seen
alongside the numerous hadith of the
Prophet in which avarice plays an impor-
tant role. There, avarice takes its place in
the garden of vices, sitting side by side
with, among others, laziness and coward-
ice. The Prophet sought God's protection
from these vices, carefully enumerating

them one after another. Avarice is also
transformed into a tool that can permit
the elaboration of proverbial construc-
tions. It becomes, for example, one of the
trees of hell (q.v.), the branches of which
hang over the world and whoever grabs one
of the branches will be led by this branch
to hellfire. The Prophet even asked if there
was a disease worse than avarice. It should
not be a surprise then that he declared,
"An ignorant (jahil, a loaded word imply-
ing ignorance of Islam; see AGE OF igno-
rance) generous man is more beloved to
God than an avaricious worshipper."

Despite these various denunciations, the
miser has a special place in the Arab-
Islamic cultural sphere. Anecdotal
works — like the much-beloved Kitab al-
Bukhala' 'of al-Jahiz (d. 255/869) or the
work of the same title by al-Khatlb al-
Baghdadi (d. 463/1071) — testify to the fact
that the miser is a character type who can
become the subject of anecdotes. As such
he or she (there are female misers) testifies
to an aspect of avarice that is almost de-
nuded of any religious significance. Here,
avarice becomes a major player in a cul-
tural game of hospitality in which the
guest reigns supreme. Nevertheless, the re-
ligious injunctions with their concomitant
moral repugnance mean that the miser as
anecdotal type is not as ludic as his anec-
dotal cousins, such as uninvited guests. The
synonyms for avarice (bukhl) play an im-
portant role here, directing the concept to-
wards the area of covetousness (Mrs) or a
more intense and generalized state of ava-
rice (shuhh), as well as lowness or meanness
(lu'm). See also virtues and vices.

Fedwa Malti-Douglas

Bibliography
Jahiz, Kitab al-Bukhald', ed. T. al-Hajirl, Cairo
1971; al-Khatlb al-Baghdadi, Kitab al-Bukhala\
ed. A. Matlub, K. al-Hadlthi and A. al-QaysI,

1 92

Baghdad 1964; F. Malti-Douglas, Structures of
avarice. The bukhala' in medieval Arabic literature,
Leiden 1985; id., Structure and organization in a
monographic adab work. al-Tatjil of al-Khatlb
al-Baghdadl, in JNES 40 (1981), 227-45.

Aya see verses; signs; form and

STRUCTURE OF THE OUr'An

Ayyub see job

Azar

Generally considered to be a name for the
father of Abraham (q.v.) in the Quran, the
word "azar" appears only in 5)6:74: "[Re-
member] when Abraham said to his father,
Azar, do you take idols as gods? I most cer-
tainly see you and your people clearly in
error." Early commentators know the bibli-
cal name of Abraham's father, Terah (Ara-
bic Tarih or Tarakh; cf. Gen 11:24-32) and
therefore suggest three interpretations to
reconcile the difference. The most widely
cited considers the name Azar as a second
name for Abraham's father, but only a few
explanations are provided: one suggests
that Terah's name in Arabic is Azar, an-
other that it was a title given to him after
he became responsible for Nimrod's (q.v.)
idols. A second interpretation is that Azar
is the name of an idol (see idolatry and
idolaters; idols and images), with the
verse therefore meaning: "... Abraham
said to his father: "do you take 'Azar' as
idols for gods?" (cf. N. C alder, Tafsfr from
Tabari to Ibn Kathlr, 102). A third expla-
nation is that azar is a disparaging epithet
with which Abraham insults his father for
remaining idolatrous even after having
been warned by Abraham.

There is no evidence in early Arabic liter-
ature for the name Azar, either applied to
humans or gods, although the names al-
Ayzar and al-Ayzara (both with the letter

'ajin) are attested (cf. J. Horovitz, Jewish
proper names, 157). Moreover, there is no
evidence that the word azar was considered
an insult outside of the commentaries on
this verse. It therefore appears that in this
as in many other cases in the Qur'an, the
name is borrowed from a non-Arabic
source and this has been the approach of
orientalist scholarship (see foreign vo-
cabulary). One school (Jeffery, For. vocab.,
53-5) suggests that it derives from Eusebius'
error of metathesis when, in writing the
Septuagint, he wrote Thara (for Terah) as
Athar, in which form it entered the Islamic
corpus (but with an unlikely phonetic
switch from th to <;). Another proposes that
the word derives from the old Persian alar
(modern Persian adhar) associated with the
fire demon. The most widely-accepted
view (J. Horovitz, Jewish proper names,
157; cf. S. Fraenkel, Miscellen, 72) is that
the name derives from the Hebrew Eli'ezer,
the name of Abraham's servant in Gen
15:2, with the eventual omission of the el
after it was construed as the Arabic article
al and with a lengthening of the vowel of
the first syllable according to the Arabic
pattern af'al (likewise with Adam). This,
however, does not adequately explain the
problem of the dropping of the 'ayn in the
Arabic form, and it also suggests an in-
ability among early Muslims to differenti-
ate Abraham's father from his servant in
the biblical account. Another possibility
derives from a rabbinical homiletic
interpretation of Ps 89:20: "I have con-
ferred help upon a warrior (Heb. shiwwiti
'ezer 'al gibbor)..." The Psalm references
David but the rabbis also associate it with
Abraham (M. Margalioth (ed.), Midrash va-
yikra rabah, 1:4). Although not now attested,
a typical rabbinical interpretive hermeneu-
tic would easily render the verse: "I have
made 'Ezer (i.e. Terah) [the father] of war-
rior Abraham," a fitting reference to Gen
14, with which the midrash associates the

»):3

verse. By the period of late antiquity, the
rabbis had lost the phonetic distinction be-
tween the Hebrew 'ayin and aleph and
would easily have rendered ezer as 'ezer
which, in Arabic, would become azctr.

Abraham's father is referenced elsewhere
in the Quran, although never by name.
Although Abraham later disowned his fa-
ther, in Q_g:iiz|, (and again in 26:86), he is
noted to have prayed for his idolatrous fa-
ther's forgiveness. In q 19:42-9, Abraham
tries to dissuade his father from idolatry
but to no avail and, even after being ban-
ished by his father, tells him that he will
ask God's forgiveness on his behalf. In
C3 21:51-71, Abraham rejects his father's and
his people's idols and is punished with
burning, but is saved by God. These
themes are repeated in Q_ 11:69-104;
37 : 85-99; 43 : 26-8; and 60:4.

Bibliography
Primary: Bukharl, Sahih, Anbiya\ 8; Ibn Qutayba,
Kitcib al-Maarif, Cairo n.d., 19-22; Ibn Sa c d,
Tabaqat, i, 21, 27; Lisan al-Arab, 15 vols., Beirut
1955-6, iy, 18-9; M. Margalioth (ed.), Midrash
va-yikra rabah, 2 vols., New York/Jerusalem 1993;
MawardT, Nukat, ii, 134 (q.v. £6:74); Tabarl,
Tafsir, ad (36:74; id., Ta'nkh, i, 217-25, 253-60;
( UlaymI, al-Uns al-jalil bi-ta'nkh al-Qiids
wa-l-Khalil, ed. Abu al-Yaman Mujlr al-Dln
al-Hanbali, 2 vols., Amman 1973, i, 24;
Zamakhsharl, Kashshaf, ii, 29-30 (q.v. q_6:74).
Secondary: N. Calder, Tafsir from Tabarl to Ibn
KatliTr. Problems with the description of a genre,
in Hawting and Shareef, Approaches, 102-3; S.
Fraenkel, Miscellen zum Koran, in zdmg 56
(1902), 72; J. Horovitz, Jewish proper names and
derivatives in the Koran, in Hebrew Union College
Annual 2 (1925), 157; id., A't/85-6; A. Jeffery, Azar,
in Ei 2 , i, 810; id., For. vocak, 53-5.

Reuven Firestone

Baal

Baal (ba'l) is both a proper name of a pre-
Islamic pagan deity worshipped by the
people to whom the messenger Elijah (q.v.)
was sent (0.37:125) and a common noun
meaning "husband" (q_2:228; 4:128; 11:72;
24:31).

and plants relying exclusively on natural
water. Some scholars see a parallel to the
ancient Mesopotamian god Baal and his
three daughters in the Meccan belief that
the goddesses al-Lat, Manat, and al-'Uzza'
were the daughters of God (q_ 53:19-23).
See also idols and images; pre-islamic

ARABIA AND THE OUr'An.

Baal as a pagan deity
The biblical prophet Elijah (1 Kings 17-22;
2 Rings 1-2) is mentioned two times in the
Qur'an (o 6:85; 37:123-30). He was sent to
turn his people from the worship of the de-
ity Baal. Commentary elaborates on the
brief qur'anic passages. It is said that, dur-
ing the reign of the Israelite king Ahab
(r. ca. 873-851 B.C.E.), Elijah attempted to
turn the Children of Israel (q.v.) away from
the false worship of Baal and asked God to
give him power over the rain. That
granted, Elijah caused a three-year
drought during which time he concealed
himself. This torment failed to divert the
Israelites from their paganism, so Elijah
prayed to be taken into heaven. There he
was transformed into a heavenly being
made up of light. The story of Elijah's
control over the rain may possibly survive
in the common modern use of the Arabic
word ba'l in the sense of unirrigated land

Baal as a common noun
The word ba'l is used four times in the
Qur'an as a common noun meaning hus-
band, twice in the singular (04:128; 11:72)
and twice in the plural (bu'ula, 0.2:228;
24:31). In this sense, the word finds paral-
lels in the northwest Semitic languages, in
which the root bears the basic sense of
"owner," one of the characteristics of the
deity with that name in Canaanite my-
thology.

Gordon Darnell Newby

Bibliography
C.H. Gordon, The daughters of Baal and Allah,
in MW33 (1943), 50-1; G.D. Newby, The making of
the last prophet, Columbia, SC 1989; A.J.
Wensinck, Ilyas, in El 2 , iii, 1 156.

Babil see BABYLC

I( J5

BABYLON

Babylon

The renowned ancient Mesopotamian city.
Babylon (Babil) is mentioned once in the
Qur'an: "And follow what the devils used
to recite in the reign of Solomon (q.v.).
Solomon did not disbelieve, but the devils
disbelieved, teaching the people magic and
what had been sent down to the two an-
gels, Harut and Marut (q.v.), in Babylon.
They do not teach anyone without first
saying, 'We are only a temptation, so do
not disbelieve' " (o_ 2:102).

According to the geographer and biogra-
pher Yaqut (d. 626/1228), Babylon consti-
tuted an entire region famed for its magic
and wine (Buldan, i, 309-11). The commen-
tators are unanimous in their agreement
that Babylon is a place in Mesopotamia, al-
though they do not identify it as an ancient
Akkadian city. Islamic tradition states that
Noah (q.v.) settled in Babylon after the del-
uge and expanded it and that the Chal-
deans served him as soldiers there. Accord-
ing to some commentators, Harut and
Marut were two fallen angels (see angel)
condemned to live in Babylon as prisoners,
where they devoted themselves to magic.
Many legends about these angels are found
in the classical qur'anic commentaries
(summarized in A. Khoury, Der Koran, ii,
77-9; Horovitz, ku, 146-8; M. Ayoub, The
Qur'an, i, 130-6; see also magic, prohibi-
tion of).

Relying on the Qur'an, the Muslim story-
tellers familiar with biblical lore connected
Babylon and the Bible. Of special interest
are the tales concerning Babylon in the
oldest collections (see R. Khoury, Babylon,
I23f; id., Les legendes, 223-84). These con-
tain a description of the prophet Jonah's
(q.v.) encounter with the whale, his return
to his people and the designation of Isaiah
(q.v.) as his successor (R. Khoury, Les leg
des, 223-37). The main Babylonian kings
are then treated. Sennacherib (ibid.,

237-50), ruling from Nineveh, is the first
king of Babylon to be mentioned. He led
into Palestine an army of "six hundred
thousand banners," each representing a
thousand warriors, which was defeated as
the prophet Isaiah had prophesied. The
story of Nebuchadnezzar is of more inter-
est because it covers the fall of Jerusalem
and the deportation of Daniel with the
other Jewish captives. They are liberated
when Daniel interprets the king's dream
(ibid., 250-79).

Such early tales circulated first orally and
were gradually written down in the
second/eighth century. They may be
viewed as elaborate commentaries on the
qur'anic material, taken primarily from
Jewish and Christian converts — who
knew more about this subject than the pa-
gan Arab converts did — to explain the
biblical elements in the Qur'an. The histo-
rian and philosopher Ibn Khaldun (d.
808/1406) mentions the necessity of rely-
ing on these sources, while condemning
their overuse in the commentaries (see R.
Khoury, Ibn Khaldun, 197-8; id., Baby-
lon, I42f). In any case, the tales about
Babylon belong to a common historical
tradition and stories of this sort should be
considered important sources for ancient
history, especially when other information
is lacking. The work of H. Schwarzbaum
illustrates how useful such material can be
in elucidating certain aspects of the bibli-
cal tradition (Biblical legends, iof, 2if; for
the present topic, see 46f, esp. 57f; see also
SCRIPTURE AND THE QJJR'an).

R.G. Khoury

Bibliography
Primary: R.G. Khoury (ed.), Wahb B. Munabbih.
I. Der Heidelberger Papyrus PSR Heid Arab 23,
Wiesbaden 1972; Tabarl, TafsTr, i, 359-66; Yaqut,
Buldan.

Secondary: G. Awad, Babil, in El 2 , i, 846; M.
Ayoub, The Qur'an and its interpreters, 2 vols., i,

1 9 6

130-6; Horowitz, At/; Jeffery, For. vocak, 74-5;
A.Th. Khoury, Der Koran. Arabisch-Deutsch
Ubersetzung und wissenschaftlicher Kommentar,
Gvitersloh rggif., ii, 76-79; R.G. Khoury,
Babylon in der altesten Version iiber die
Geschichte der Propheten im Islam, in G.
Mauer and U. Magen (eds.), Ad bene etfideliter
seminandum. Festgabefur K. Deller zum 21. Februar
ig8y, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1988, 123-44; l ^-> ^ es
legendes prophetiques dans F Islam depuis le I" jusqu' au
III siecle de I'Hegire, Wiesbaden 1978, 237-43; id.,
Ibn Khaldiin et quelques savants des deux
premiers siecles islamiques, 'mjSAl 10 (1987),
192-204; H. Schwarzbaum, Biblical and extra-
biblical legends in Islamic folk-literature, Walldorf-
Hessen 1082.

Badr

The site of Islam's first major military
victory which occurred in the month of
Ramadan (q.v.) in the second year after
Muhammad emigrated from Mecca to
Medina (March 624, see emigration).
Badr is mentioned explicitly only a single
time in the Quran (q 3:123), but there are
allusions to it in at least thirty-two other
verses. Almost all of these references are
found in the eighth sura, "The Spoils"
(Siirat al-Anfal), which addresses the issues
that arose as a direct consequence of this
Muslim victory and stresses above all the
spiritual gains that gave Islam its firm
foundations.

Badr, also known as Badr Hunayn, was at
the time a small settlement with water
wells on the Arabian peninsula near the
Red Sea coast, lying some one hundred
and fifty kilometers southwest of Medina
and more than three hundred kilometers
northwest of Mecca. The encounter be-
tween the Muslims from Medina and their
pagan Meccan foes was occasioned by the
return of a Meccan caravan. One of the
Prophet's archenemies, Abu Jahl, led the
Meccan forces sent to defend the caravan.
At Badr, the Prophet together with little
over three hundred of his followers met

Abu Jahl and his army of approximately
one thousand. Despite the disparity in
numbers, the Muslim force emerged victo-
rious over the Meccans, who reportedly
had not known defeat for generations. Abu
Jahl and a number of other prominent
Meccan leaders lost their life and many
prisoners and the caravan's cargo were
captured as well.

The basic theme of the qur'anic allusions
to the victory of Badr is God's unmistak-
able vindication of Islam. The Prophet
prayed for deliverance and received clear
signs of God's grace (q_8:7, 9), causing the
Muslims to fight with even greater convic-
tion. God himself aided the Prophet's
forces (o_8:i7), sending a thousand angels
to help (q_8:o,, 12). God's direct intervention
signified his confirmation of Islam and set
the Islamic community (see community
and society in THE qjjr'an) apart from
all others. In particular, the identification
of the battle with the "Day of the Cri-
terion" {jawm al-furqan, 08:41; see cri-
terion) signaled the distinction between
right and wrong which the battle of Badr
had wrought.

Badr reflects other motifs as well. God
tested his servants (p_ 8:17; 33:11). Human-
kind must fear God and be grateful to him
since, in spite of the small size of the Mus-
lim force, he gave them victory (o 3:123; see
gratitude and ingratitude). God also
provided clear insight — i.e. the distinction
between truth and falsehood — when he
caused it to rain before the battle (08:11),
thereby aiding the Muslims (see hidden
AND THE HIDDEN).

The battle of Badr took place just after
Muhammad had broken with the Jewish
tribes in Medina and the direction of the
ritual prayers had been changed from Jeru-
salem to Mecca (see q_ibla). Thanks pri-
marily to this triumph, the Prophet and his
followers became even more assured of the
righteousness of their cause. Furthermore,

'97

BAH A IS

it consolidated their break with the pagan
Meccans and their creation of an inde-
pendent community of believers. Later
generations viewed the Muslims who
fought in this battle with special reverence.
See also expeditions and battles.

John Nawas

Bibliography
Primary: Ibn Ishaq, Sua, ii, 606-iii, 43, Ibn
Ishaq-Gnillaume, 289-360; Tabari, Tcuikh, i,
1281-1359, trans. M.V. McDonald, History of
cd-Taban, vii. The foundation oj the community,
25-85 (with annot. by W.M. Watt).
Secondary: G.H.A. Juynboll, Fighting angels, in
Ohio journal of religious studies 2 (1974), 85-7; A.
Kherie, Index-cum-concordance for the holy Qiu'dn,
Delhi 1992, 986-7; A.D. al-'Umari, Madinan
society at the time of the Prophet, 2 vols., Herndon
1991, ii, 31-47; W.M. Watt, Badr, in El", i, 867-8;
id., Muhammad at Medina, Oxford 1956, IO-6;
Watt-Bell, 145-7.

Baha'is

The adherents of Baha'ism (ahl al-Bahd'),
widely recognized as the "Baha'T Faith," an
independent world religion with Islamic
origins. The Baha'T movement, a universal-
ization of Babism, was founded by Mirza
Husayn 'All Nurl (1817-92), known as Ba-
ha'ullah (Splendor of God; standardized
Baha'T spelling, Baha'ullah), in Baghdad
in the year 1863. In 1866, it emerged as a
distinct faith-community in Adrianople
(Edirne). Baha'ism underwent transforma-
tions in ethos and organization throughout
three missionary phases: the Islamic con-
text (1844-92), the international missions
(1892-1963) and global diffusion (1963-pres-
ent). The Islamic context was co-extensive
with the combined ministries of Baha'ullah
and his precursor, Sayyid 'All Muhammad
Shlrazi (1819-50), known as the Bab (Gate),
the prophet-martyr of the Babl movement.
The year 1260/1844 marked the Shi'i mil-
lennium, a thousand lunar years since the

occultation of the twelfth imam (see imam;
sht'ism and the qjjr'an). On 22 May 1844
the Bab effected a decisive, eschatological
break from Islam by means of an exegeti-
cal work entitled The immortal renovator of the
divine names (Qayyum al-asmd', often referred
to as The commentary on the Joseph sura), an
audacious and revolutionary commentary
on the twelfth sura of the Qur'an (see
Joseph). In this work he "proclaimed him-
self the focus of an Islamic apocalypse"
(T Lawson, Structure, 8). One of his most
distinctive exegetical techniques is his "ex-
ploded commentary." In works on Q_io8
and Q_ 103, the exegesis proceeds "not only
verse by verse, or even word by word, but
also letter by letter" (T Lawson, Dangers,
I7g). The Bab's commentaries on the
Qur-'an are remarkable in that, by force
of his prophetic authority, "interpretation
became revelation" (T Lawson, Interpre-
tation, 253). In 1848, he revealed a new
law code (baydn-ifdrsi), paradoxically
super-Islamic in piety, yet supra-Islamic
in principle.

After the Bab's execution (1850) by the
Persian authorities, Baha'ullah revitalized
the Babl community by employing sym-
bolic interpretation as strategy to abolish
the Babl antinomianism. In the Arabic
Tablet of "all food" (Lawh-i hull al-ta 'dm,
1854 — note that the titles of Baha'i works
written in Arabic are conventionally given
in Persianized form), Baha'ullah related
the abolishment of the Jewish dietary re-
strictions in Q_3:g3 to the mystical and cos-
mological realms. While the Baghdad
period (1853-63) was eschatologically
charged with his own messianic secrecy
(ayydm-i butun), Baha'ullah, in his pre-
eminent doctrinal work, the Book of certitude
[Kitdb-i Mustatdb-i iqan, Jan. 1861), advanced
an extended qur'anic and biblical argu-
ment to authenticate the Bab's prophetic
credentials. Baha'ullah 's repertoire of exe-
getical techniques includes most of the

BAH A IS

I()8

twelve "procedural devices" attested in the
classical commentaries (Wansbrough, qs,
part ii) as well as others. Baha'ullah's style
of discourse is itself exegetical, with fre-
quent pairings, linked by the Persian
metaphorical genitive (idafa-yi majdzi), of
qur'anic symbols and referents. Herme-
neutically, Certitude resonates with five Is-
lamic orientations to symbolism: 1. the
semanticism of rhetoric, especially the sci-
ence of tropes film al-bayan); 2. the dialec-
tic of theology (kaldm); 3. reason ('aql) and
analogy (qiyds) as a reflex of philosophy
(falsafa) and jurisprudence (fiqh); 4. the use
of allusion (ishdra) and gnosis (ma 'rifa qal-
biyya) in Sufi/Ishraql mysticism (see sOfism
and THE qjur'an); 5. recourse to apocalyp-
tic presentism, adducing prophetic proof-
texts to instantiate a realized eschatology, a
common characteristic of millenarian sec-
tarianism. In his Commentary on the sura "By
the sun" (Tafsir sural wa-l-shams), while criti-
cal of rhetoric film al-baldgha) and the cog-
nate qur'anic sciences, Baha'ullah echoes
al-Ghazall (d. 505/1 in) and al-Taftazanl
(d. 791/1389) in stressing the need to har-
monize literal and figurative interpreta-
tions (G. Buck, Symbol, 91-2, 104). In his
Tablet on esoteric interpretation (Lavoh-i ta'wil),
citing 03:5, he states that eschatological
verses are properly susceptible to esoteric
interpretation (ta'wil) whereas qur'anic
laws are to be understood by their obvious
sense [tafsir, see exegesis of the qjjr'an:

CLASSICAL AND MEDIEVAL).

Islamic prophetology is anchored in the
received interpretation of Q_ 33:40, which is
widely believed to establish Muhammad as
the final prophet (see prophets and
prophethood). In what is perhaps his
most significant exegetical maneuver,
Baha'ullah relativizes that claim in order to
supersede it, refocusing the reader's atten-
tion a mere four verses later (o_ 33:44) on
the eschatological attainment to the pres-
ence of God (liqd' Allah) on the last day (see

eschatology). Arguing that direct beatific
vision of God is impossible, Baha'ullah
reasons that 0,33:44 anticipates a future
theophany who, as deus revelatus and divine
vicegerent, is symbolically God by proxy.

By force of explicative logic, Certitude —
arguably the world's most-widely-read
non-Muslim qur'anic commentary —
served as an advance prophetic warrant for
Baha'ullah, who on 22 April 1863 declared
himself "He whom God shall manifest"
(man yu^hiruhu lldh), the messianic theoph-
any foretold by 'All Muhammad. In public
epistles to Queen Victoria, Napoleon III,
Pope Pius IX and other world leaders
during the Adrianople and 'Akka (Haifa)
periods (1864-92), Baha'ullah proclaimed
himself the advent of the millenarian
"Promised One" of all religions — a
"multiple-messiahship" (C. Buck, Unique,
158), i.e. the Zoroastrian Shah Bahrain
Varjavand, the Jewish Everlasting Father
(Isa g:6)/Lord of Hosts, the Christian
Spirit of Truth, the Shi'l al-Husayn redi-
vivus and the Sunn! return of Christ (see
apocalypse).

As "the world-reformer," Baha'ullah ad-
vocated world peace, parliamentary de-
mocracy, disarmament, an international
language, the harmony of science and reli-
gion, interfaith concord as well as gender
and racial equality. From a historicist per-
spective, Baha'i principles represent mod-
ernist universalizations of Islamic canons,
transcending the traditional believer/in-
fidel dichotomy (see belief and unbelief).
In precocious religious preparation for a
global society, Baha'ullah's signal contribu-
tion was to sacralize certain secular mod-
ernist reforms within an irreducibly origi-
nal paradigm of world unity in which
peace is made sacred. By designating his
son 'Abdu 1-Baha' (Servant of the Baha,',
d. 192 1) as interpreter, exemplar and suc-
cessor and by establishing elected councils,
Baha'ullah instituted his Covenant, sym-

r 99

BANU ISRA 1L

bolized as "the Crimson Ark" (G. Buck,
Paradise, ch. 5). This is the organizing prin-
ciple of the Baha'l community and the
means to safeguard its integrity against
major schism. Succeeding c Abdu 1-Baha' in
1921 as "Guardian" of the Baha'l faith,
Shoghi Effendi (d. 1957) globalized and
evolved the Baha'l administration as a sys-
tem of local and national Spiritual Assem-
blies. This led in 1963 to the establishment
of the Universal House of Justice, the in-
ternational Baha'l governing body, on
Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel.

While granting the Bible's divine inspira-
tion, Baha'is regard the Qur'an as the sole
world scripture which, apart from the
Baha'l canon, qualifies as pure revelation.
Sacred, but not central, the Qiir'an none-
theless profoundly enriches the Baha'l
scripture as a revelation within a revelation
and is essential to its study. Qur'anic vo-
cabulary, ideology and motifs, as well as a
plethora of citations and allusions and even
the use of rhymed prose similar to that in
the Qur'an (see rhymed prose), inform
and suffuse the other Baha'l scriptures.
All Muhammad's earliest works exhibit a
conscious effort to extend and amplify a
qur'anic voice, a crucial warrant of revela-
tion. Baha'ullah's commentaries include
Commentary on the mysterious letters {TafsTr-i
hurufat-i muqatta'a; see letters and mys-
terious letters), which incorporates a
discourse on the Light Verse (£24:35);
Commentary on "He is" (Tafsir-i Hu[zvaJ) and
Essences of the mysteries (Jawahir al-asrar).

Christopher George Buck

Hofheim-Langenhain 1980, trans. S. Effendi, The

book of certitude, Wilmette 1931; id., Lawh-i kull
al-ta'am, in Iran national Baha'l archives, xxxvi
(private printing), 268-77; id., Tafslr-i hurujat-i
muqatta'a (also known as Lawh-i dya-yi nur), in
A.H. Ishraq-Khavari (ed.), Md'ida-yi asamani,
Tehran 1973, iv, 49-86 (unreliable); id., Tafsir
surat wa-l-shams [in Arabic], in M.D. Sabrl (ed.),
Majmu'ayi alvah-i mubdraka-yi hadrat-i Baha'ulldh,
Cairo 1920, 2-17.

Secondary: A. Amanat, Resurrection and renewal.
The making of the Babi movement in Iran, 18441850,
Ithaca 1989; C. Buck, A brief description of the
Kitdb-i Iqdn, in Occasional papers in Shaykhi, Babi and
Bahd'i studies 2 (1998); id., Paradise and paradigm.
Key symbols in Persian Christianity and the Baha'l faith,
Albany 1999; id., Symbol and secret. Quran
commentary in Bahd'ulldh's Kitdb-i Iqdn, Los Angeles
1995; id., A unique eschatological interface.
Baha'ullah and cross-cultural messianism, in
Studies in Babi and Baha'l history 3 (1986), 156-79; J.
Cole, Bahd'ulldh's commentary on the sura of the sun,
in Bahd'i studies bulletin 4 (1990), 4-27; id., A tablet
by Baha'ullah on the figurative interpretation of
scripture (Lawh-i Ta'vll), in Translations of Shaykhi,
Bdbl and Baha'l texts 1 (1997); id., Modernity and the
millennium. The genesis of the Baha'l faith in the
nineteenth century Middle East, New York 1998; S.
Lambden, A tablet of Mlrza Husayn All
Baha'ullah, in Baha'l studies bulletin 3 (1984), 4-67;
T. Lawson, Interpretation as revelation. The
Quran commentary of Sayyid All Muhammad
ShlrazI, in Rippin, Approaches, 223-5; id., The
terms "remembrance" (dhikr) and "gate" (bdb) in
the Bab's commentary on the sura of Joseph, in
Studies in Babi and Baha'l religions 5 (1988), 1-63;
id., The structure of existence in the Bab's tafsir
and the Perfect Man motif, in Baha'l studies
bulletin 6 (1992), 4-25; id., The dangers of
reading, in M. Momen (ed.), Scripture and
revelation, Oxford 1997; id., Reading reading
itself. The Bab's "Sura of the bees," in Occasional
papers in Shaykhi, Babi and Baha'l studies 1 (1997);
D. MacEoin, The. sources for early Babi doctrine and
history, Leiden 1992; R Smith, The Babi and Baha'l
religions, Cambridge 1987; H. Taherzadeh,
Selections from the writings of the Bab, Haifa 1978;
Wansbrough, qs.

Bibliography
Primary: All Muhammad, Tafsir surat al-'asr,
Cambridge, Browne Or. Ms. E 9 (6); id., Tafsir
surat al-kawthar, Cambridge, Browne Or. Ms. E 10
(19); id., Tafsir surat Tusuf (Qayyum al-asmd'),
Cambridge 1891; Mlrza Nun, Alvdh-i mubdraka-yi
hadrat-i Bahd' Allah, ed. Mishkln-Qalam, Bombay
1310; id., Kitdb-i Alustatdb-i Iqdn [in Persian],

Ballira see idols and images

Balance see eschatc

Banu Israel see children of Israel

BAPTISM

Baptism

The practice of using water for religious
purification, while a ritual feature in a
number of religions, is often most closely
identified with Christianity. There is one
possible reference in the Qur'an to bap-
tism, Q_2:i38: "The baptism (sibgha) of
God and who is better than God in terms
of baptizing (sibghatan) ?" The term sibgha,
however, usually refers to "color" or "dye"
and it is not absolutely clear how the word
has come to be understood as a reference
to baptism. English translations of the
Qur'an reflect this ambiguity, with G. Sale,
J.M. Rodwell, A.J. Arberry, K. Cragg and
A. Yusuf All rendering sibgha as "bap-
tism." Preferring some reference to color
or dye (see colors), M. Pickthall and A.
Mawdudi translate it as "color," N.J.
Dawood as "dye" and M. Asad as "hue."
R. Bell gives "savour," focusing on a
slightly different metaphor, that of taste.
Bell comments that "the exact meaning of
the word is uncertain" (Bell, i, 18).

Muslim commentaries on the Qur'an dis-
play a similar range of understanding. Al-
Tabari (d. 310/923) takes sibgha as a syn-
onym for milla, which occurs three verses
earlier with the sense of "religion:" "Follow
the religion of God, which is the best reli-
gion" [TafsTr, iii, 18). For his part, al-
TabarsI (d. 548/1153) interprets it as the
faith which is inculcated into children, so
that the Jews give their children the sibgha
of Judaism and the Christians give their
children the sibgha of Christianity, the true
sibgha being Islam (Majma ', i, 492-3; cf.
Q_3:ig). Al-Wahidi (d. 468/1076), by con-
trast, takes the verse to be an explicit refer-
ence to the Christian custom of immersing
a child in water seven days after its birth in
order to purify it, a replacement for cir-
cumcision [Asbab, 38). Similarly, al-Qurtubl
(d. 671/1273) suggests that sibgha refers to
the ritual bath which must be taken by

those who wish to enter into Islam, equat-
ing it with the major ablution [ghusl, Jami',
ii, 144-5; see CLEANLINESS AND ABLUTION;
ritual purity). Among the modern com-
mentators, Asad [Message, 28), following al-
Tabarl, takes the term as referring to
"creed" in general, while Mawdudi [To-
wards understanding, i, 117-8) sees the verse as
commending the adoption of the color of
God which comes from service and devo-
tion to God rather than from any bathing
or immersion: "Of what use is this formal
baptism?"

Perhaps the most plausible explanation
for the double meaning of the term comes
from A. Yusuf All who, building upon al-
Baydawi (d. ca. 700/1300) and al-Suyuti
(d. gn/1505), speculates in a footnote to his
translation that "apparently the Arab
Christians mixed a dye or colour in the
baptismal water, signifying that the bap-
tized person got a new colour in life" [Holy
Qur'an, 56, n. 137). Bell, on the other hand,
notes that sibgha has frequently been de-
rived from the Syriac sba\ meaning "to
baptize" (see foreign vocabulary), but
comments that this is not the usual word
for "to baptize" in Syriac and suggests that
an Arabic usage referred to by E. Lane, i.e.
a girl who is brought into the household of
someone, is preferable [Commentary, i, 27).
Perhaps M. Watt's careful conclusion is
therefore best: "While the verse could
possibly mean that God gives a man a
certain colour when he serves him, it is
better to regard its interpretation as un-
certain." He adds, "It is doubtful if there
is any reference to Christian baptism"
[Companion, 31). See also christians and

CHRISTIANITY.

Hugh Goddard

Bibliography
Primary: QurtubT, jfdmi j TabarT, TafsTr; TabarsI,
Alajma'; Wahidi, Asbab.

B A R E L W I S

Secondary: ( A. Yusnf 'All, The meaning of the holy
Qur'an, Leicester 1975; M. Asad, The message of the
Qilr'an, Gibralter 1980; Bell, Commentary; A.
Mawdudi, Towards understanding the Qur'an, i, ed.
Z.I. Ansari, Leicester 1988; W.M. Watt,
Companion to the Qilr'an, London 1967.

Barelwis

A group of religious scholars ('ulama') and
their followers, originally of South Asia,
who trace their worldview to the teachings
of Ahmad Rida Khan Barelwl (d. 1921).
The Barelwis call themselves the "People
of the [Prophet's] sunna (q.v.) and the ma-
jority community" (Ahl-i sunnat wa-jama'at)
and reject the name "Barelwl" as deroga-
tory, because of its implication that their
beliefs are local and deviant rather than
universalistic and mainstream. Neverthe-
less, the term "Barelwl" is widely current
wherever the movement exists, which to-
day includes not only South Asia but also
Britain, continental Europe and South
Africa, among other places.

The Barelwis emerged as a cohesive
movement in the 1880s under the leader-
ship of Ahmad Rida Khan. He strongly
opposed interpretations of Islam articu-
lated by the leading contemporary figures.
These included Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (d.
1908), the founder of the Ahmadiyya (q.v.);
the Deobandls (q.v.); the Ahl-i hadith and
Nadwat al-'ulama'; as well as modernist
Muslim intellectuals such as Sayyid Ahmad
Khan (d. 1898) of Aligarh and Mawlana
Abu 1-Kalam Azad (d. 1958). In the twenti-
eth century, the Barelwis have also opposed
the interpretations of al-Mawdudl (d. 1979)
and his movement, the Jama'at-i Island.

What was in dispute between the Barel-
wis and the nineteenth-century groups
mentioned above related primarily to be-
liefs about the Prophet Muhammad. The
Barelwis' strong belief in the Prophet as in-
tercessor with God on behalf of the faith-

ful at all times contrasted particularly with
the Ahl-i hadith who denied the importance
of prophetic intercession (see interces-
sion). It also conflicted with the position
taken by Sayyid Ahmad Barelwl (d. 1831)
and Muhammad Isma'll (d. 1831), leaders
of the Delhi-based Tariqa-i Muhammadiyya
movement. Ahmad Rida Khan referred to
these and other like-minded religious
groups as "Wahhabls," a reference to the
austere religious movement prevalent in
the Arabian peninsula which has the unity
of God as its central theme. The Barelwis
also opposed these groups on questions re-
lated to Sufism (see sufism and the
qur'an). The Ahl-i hadith and others were
hostile to the idea of saintly intermediar-
ies, while the Barelwis regard saints as an
essential means to having a loving relation-
ship with the Prophet and ultimately with
God.

The sources for the Barelwl interpreta-
tion of Islam and more particularly of its
prophetology (see prophets and proph-
ethood) are the classic ones of Qur'an,
hadith (see hadith and the qur'an) and
Islamic law (fiqh). It is noteworthy that
Ahmad Rida Khan was primarily a jurist
(faqih) and a religious scholar ('alimj rather
than a Sufi. He supported his positions re-
garding the Prophet primarily with textual
citations from legal sources rather than
Sufi writings. In qur'anic exegesis, Ahmad
Rida Khan employed the concept of abro-
gation (q.v.) to support his arguments. An
illustration of this may be seen in his views
regarding the question of the Prophet's
knowledge of the unseen ['Urn al-ghayb, see
hidden and the hidden), which he
addressed in numerous writings. Briefly,
Ahmad Rida Khan's position was that God
gave the Prophet knowledge of the unseen,
including the five items mentioned in
Q 31:34 as known to God alone: "God has
knowledge of the hour and he sends the
rain. He knows what is in the womb. No

BARELWIS

one knows what he will gain tomorrow and
no one knows where he will die." Ahmad
Rida Khan asserted that these five items
were actually a small fraction of the
Prophet's total knowledge, which encom-
passed knowledge of heaven (q.v.) and hell
(q.v.), the resurrection (q.v.), the angels (see
angel), the nature and attributes of God
(see god and His attributes) and much
else besides. Central to his argument is
both "[God] will not disclose to you the se-
crets of the unseen, but he chooses of his
messengers whom he pleases" (9.3:179) as
well as "He knows the unseen. He does not
make any one acquainted with his myster-
ies, except a messenger whom he has cho-
sen" (q_ 72:26-7).

In Ahmad Rida Khan's formal legal
judgment (fatwa) written in Mecca in 1905
entitled "al-Dawla al-makkiyya bi-maddat al-
ghaybiyya, " he argued that each time a verse
(aya) or chapter (sura) was revealed, the
Prophet's knowledge increased further. Al-
though some qur'anic verses refer to Mu-
hammad's lack of knowledge of the proph-
ets and of those to whom the Quran refers
as the hypocrites, for instance, this was
only because the Qur'an had not yet been
fully revealed to him. Thus, these verses
were abrogated by later ones, such as those
quoted above. By the time the revelation
was complete, the Prophet had detailed
(mufassal) and clear knowledge of every-
thing (Ahmad Rida Khan, al-Dawla, 105).
Elsewhere in the same document (175-91),
he wrote that sometimes the Prophet was
silent about certain things such as when
judgment day (see last judgment) would
come, for he had been ordered not to re-
veal them. Also he sometimes temporarily
forgot something because his mind was
preoccupied with other important matters.
Ahmad Rida Khan argued that "forgetting
something is not a negation of knowledge
[of that thing] , rather it requires that one
have known it first" (ibid., 110-12).

The concept of abrogation (q.v.) was
again employed in the context of argu-
ments made in 1919-20, when the Indian
religious scholars were debating whether to
support the Congress Party's Non-Cooper-
ation Movement — which was largely
Hindu — and whether to invite Congress
to support their own Khilafat Movement.
In qur'anic exegesis undertaken to oppose
the above movements, Ahmad Rida Khan
used the exegetical principle that some
earlier qur'anic verses are abrogated by
later ones to argue that Q_ 60:8-9, in which
Muslims were told they could enter into
friendly relations with non-Muslims as long
as they were not fighting them, had been
abrogated by o 9:73, which advocated tak-
ing stern measures against "unbelievers"
and "hypocrites" (see belief and un-
belief; HYPOCRITES AND HYPOCRISY).

Ahmad Rida, Khan relied heavily on quo-
tations from the hadith and Islamic legal
texts, as well as the Qur'an. He even ac-
cepted weak hadiths that elevate the
Prophet's stature. It is interesting to note
that on several issues concerning the
Prophet he reached a position that resem-
bles Shl'i beliefs even though his arguments
were based on SunnI sources and not Shl'i
ones. Such issues include the concept of
the pre-eminence of the Prophet's light
(q.v.), which was created before God
created the spiritual or material universe
and before the creation of the first prophet
Adam (see ADAM AND eve); the belief that
God created the world for the Prophet's
sake; the belief that the Prophet's ancestors
were believers; and the belief that the
Prophet, being made of light, had no
shadow (see shi'ism AND THE qjjr'an).

Ahmad Rida, Khan's translation of the
Qur'an, entitled Kanz al-Imanfi tarjumat al-
Qur'an, published in Muradabad, India
1911, has recently been translated into Eng-
lish by H-A. Fatml and published by the Is-
lamic World Mission, U.K. It is in current

203

BARRIER

use among English-speaking followers of
the Barelwl movement, although it awaits
scholarly attention. See also exegesis of
the qur'an: early modern and con-
temporary.

Usha Sanyal

Bibliography
Primary: Ahmad Rida Khan, al-Ataya
l-nabawiyya fi fatdwd l-ridawiyya [in Urdu] , vols.
i-vii, x-xi, Saudagaran, Bareilly 1981-7; id.,
al-Dawla al-makkiyya bi-maddat al-ghaybiyya [in
Urdu], Karachi n.d.; id., Kanz al-Imdnji tarjumat
al-Qiir'an, Muradabad 191 1; id., Holy Qur'an,
trans. HA. Fatnil, London n.d.; Z.D. Biharl,
Hayat-i aid hazrat [in Urdu], Karachi 1938, i.
Secondary: M.A. Mas'ud, Neglected genius of the
East. An introduction to the life and works of Alawlana
Ahmad Rida Khan of Bareilly (India) 1272/
1856-1340/ IQ2I, Lahore 1987; B.D. Metcalf,
Islamic revival in British India. Deoband 1860-igoo,
Princeton 1982; U Sanyal, Devotional Islam and
politics in British India. Ahmad Riza Khan Barelwi and
his movement, i8yo-ig20, Delhi 1996.

Barrier

An obstacle; anything that hinders ap-
proach or attack. Both hijdb and barzakh
(q.v.) are used to denote "barrier" in the
Qur'an. Under this general category of
barrier, Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597/1200) in two
cases understands the word hijdb to mean a
concrete division: he interprets "between
the two is a hijdb" (baynahum hijdbun, 0,7:46)
as a bridge (sur) between heaven (q.v.) and
hell (q.v.); while he considers the hijdb that
obstructs Solomon's (q.v.) view [tawdrat bi-l-
hijdb, 038:32) to be a mountain (Nuzha,
246). Other qur'anic citations of hijdb are
used to connote a covering (satr), such as a
curtain or a veil (q.v.): Believers are in-
structed to speak with the wives of the
Prophet from behind a hijdb (o_ 33:53; see
wives of the prophet); hijdb also appears
in reference to Mary's (q.v.) seclusion from
her people (q 19:17); when Muhammad re-

cites the Qur'an, God places between him
and "those who do not believe in the here-
after a hidden hijdb" (hijdban masturan,
Q_ 17:45; cf. 83:15). However, the focus of
this article is on barrier in its sense as an
actual physical barrier.

Barzakh as barrier
Although barzakh is most commonly under-
stood as the barrier that separates this
world from the next, in Q 25:53 and 55:20
barzakh connotes a barrier, partition or sep-
aration between two oceans (see geogra-
phy in the qjjr'an). Ibn Qutayba (d. 276/
889) defines barzakh as a partition between
two entities {kullu shay' bayna shay'aynfa-
huwa barzakh, Ghanb, 438). The Lisdn (i, 193)
describes barzakh as an obstacle or partition
(hdjiz), a term found in the exegetical works
of Muqatil (d. 150/767; cf. Tafsir, iv, 197),
al-Tabarl ( d. 310/923; cf. Tafsir, xix, 16;
xviii, 41), al-Qurtubl (d. 671/1272; cf.Jdmi',
xiii, 59; xvi, 162-3), irj n Kathir (d. 774/
1373; cf. Tafsir, v, 158; vi, 488), al-Baydawi
(d. ca. 716/1316-7; cf. Anwar, ii, 167, 484),
al-RazI (d. 606/1210; cf. Tafsir, vi, 300-3),
and Tabataba'l (d. 1403/1982; cf. Mizdn, xv,
229; xix, 99-100) — whereas al-Zamakh-
sharl (d. 538/1144) refers to barzakh as a
hindrance of divine will (hd'il rain qudra-
tihi) that bars the merging of the two
oceans [Kashshdf, hi, 286-7; lv > 445)- ^ _
Nasafi (d. 710/1310) uses both terms (hdjiz
and hd'il) interchangeably [Tafsir, ii, 548;
iii» 455)-

The two oceans
The interpretation about what the barzakh
separates has been subject to varied inter-
pretations. Al-Tabarl [Tafsir, xix, 16) and al-
Baydawl [Anwar, ii, 167) interpret the fresh
water as that of rain and rivers and the salt
waters as that of the ocean. Al-Qurtubl
[fdmi\ xvii, 162-3) us ' s other possibilities:
the Persian Gulf (bahr faris) and the Me-
diterranean (bahr al-rum); the oceans of

BARZAKH

204

heaven and earth; or, metaphorically, the
paths of good and evil (q.v.). The point of
contact between the two seas (majma' al-
bahrayn) has been somewhat mysterious. Al-
Qurtubl considers the destruction of the
barzakh as one of the eschatological signs
(see apocalypse; cosmology in the
q_ur j an; eschatology). The two oceans
are separated for the duration of this
earth. The overflowing oceans of the earth
(082:3) herald the end (Qurtubi, Jdmi',
xvii, 162-3). Itm Kathlr, on the other hand,
strongly objects to the notion of cosmolog-
ical oceans. The barrier is concrete (ydbis
min al-ard) and maintains the separation of
the distinct characteristics of salt and sweet
waters (Ibn Kathlr, Tafsir, v, 158). In de-
scribing the cyclical pattern of water,
Tabataba'l infers that the barrier, though
not visible, does exist nonetheless. The
oceans help form clouds that fill the wells
and rivers with sweet water through rain.
These rivers, in turn, lead to the sea
(Tabataba'l, Mizdn, xix, 99-100).

Cosmography
A.J. Wensinck (The ocean, 37-8) suggests that
the isthmus and the dual form of ocean is
part of a cosmographic story that is now
lost. Within western Semitic cosmology the
meeting of the oceans (majma ' al-bahrayn)
marks the end of the world. This majma'
was incorporated in legends of al-Khadir
and the Alexander (q.v.) romance (see also
khadir/khidr). In the latter, it is given as
the goal of the journey. Al-Khadir is some-
times depicted as sitting on a pulpit (min-
bar) of light between the upper and lower
oceans. Ibn al-Wardi (d. 749/1349; Kharida,
6) identifies the barzakh as the four stages of
the journey (mardhil) separating the Medi-
terranean (bahr al-riim) and the Red Sea
(bahr al-qalzam).

Mona M. Zaki

Bibliography
Primary: Baydawl, Anwar; Ibn Hajar, al-^ahr al-
nadir fnaba : al-Khadir, Beirut 1988; Ibn Kathlr,
Tafsir; Ibn Chitayba, Gharib; Ibn al-WardT, Abu
Hafs ! Umar b. al-Muzaffar, Khandat al-'ajd'ib wa-
faridat al-ghara'ib, Cairo 1303/1885; Lisdn al-'Arab;
Muqatil, Tafsir; Nasafl, Tafsir; Qiirtubi, Jdmi';
Razi, Tafsir; Tabarl, Tafsir; Tabataba'l, Adizdn;
Zamakhsharl, Kashshaf.

Secondary: A.J. Wensinck, al-Khadir, in El 2 , iv,
902-5; id., The ocean in the literature of the western
Semites, Amsterdam 1918.

Barzakh

The term barzakh occurs three times in the
Qur'an; in 0,25:53 and 55:20, barzakh is a
partition between two seas, a barrier that
could be an allusion to a cosmic myth (see
barrier; cosmology in the qur'an).
The third reference, which is the focus of
this article, occurs in Q 23:100: "And be-
hind them is a barrier until the day they
are raised." This verse applies the concept
of partition to the eschatological scene and
death (see eschatology; death and the
dead). A. Jeffery (For. vocab., 77) suggests
Persian as a possible source for this loan
word — farsakh, parasang, a measure of land
that fits the description of a physical bar-
rier (see foreign vocabulary).

Barzakh and the day of resurrection
One interpretation places barzakh as a time
barrier, a stated time or life span (ajal) in
the momentous day of resurrection (qiyd-
ma, see resurrection). Barzakh is the time
gap between the first and the second blow-
ing of the trumpet (see apocalypse). It
lasts forty years and constitutes the only re-
spite (khumud) that the tormented sinners
will ever experience (Ibn Habib, Firdaws,
105; Ghazall, Ihyci', iv, 512-3; Qurtubi,
Jdmi', xii, 150).

A second interpretation brings barzakh
closer to home. Mujahid (d. ca. 104/722)

BARZAKH

describes the barzakh as the grave that sepa-
rates us from the hereafter (al-barzakh hiya
hddhihi l-qubur allatT baynakum wa-bayna l-
dkhira, Tafsir, 488). The term becomes cen-
tral to belief in life after death and, thus,
co-opts a range of issues related to the con-
tinual existence of the soul (q.v.). By the
third/ninth century al-Tabarl (d. 310/923)
defines barzakh as life span (ajal); as a veil
(lii/iib) between the dead and their return
(ruju') to this world; as what is between
death (mawt) and resurrection (bath); and,
spatially, as what separates this world (al-
dunyd) from the hereafter (al-dkhira, Tabari,
Tafsir, xii, 150). Al-Qurtubl's (d. 671/1272)
list is similar. Parsing these definitions in
light of texts on the afterlife reveals how
the temporal concept acquired a spatial
concreteness that makes barzakh an indis-
pensable phase in what happens after
death (Qurtubl, Jami', xii, 150).

Ajal, which literally means a "stated time"
or "life span," when used as a meaning for
barzakh testifies to existence in the grave, a
view adopted early by Muqatil (d. 150/767;
Tafsir, iii, 165-6). A later fourth/tenth cen-
tury Isma'ill text refers to barzakh as man's
second ajal — a continuation of his time
on earth. The author draws the conclusion
that whoever has a long life on this earth
has a shorter span in the barzakh and vice
versa (Ja'far b. Mansur al-Yaman, Sard'ir,
no).

Barzakh acts as an obstacle (hdjiz) that
prevents the dead from returning (ruju') to
this world. This is also an early idea sug-
gested by Mujahid (Tafsir, 488). Al-BaydawT
(d. ca. 716/1316-7; Anwar, ii, 128) and al-
Nasaft (d. 710/1310; Tafsir, ii, 438) prefer
the term ha'il. Exegetes emphasize here the
definitive aspect of barz&kh that is applica-
ble to sinners who, at the moment of death
or in the process of eyeing the torments
awaiting them in hell (q.v.), request a sec-
ond chance. Death heralds the barzakh

from which there is no return; the despair
of the doomed is total.

Ibn Qutayba (d. 276/889) defines the bar-
zakh as what lies between this world and
the next. It acquires a life of its own. It is
an interregnum (mutawassit) between death
and resurrection (Kafiyajl, Manazil, 72-3).
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 751/1350) re-
fers to dar al-barzakh as the intermediary of
three stages, which are this world (dunyd),
barzakh and the hereafter (dkhira); in this
schema, barzakh is seen as a partition
through which the dead can look onto this
world and the next. Each of the three
stages is governed by its own rules (ahkdm,
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Ruh, 92-3, 105-6).
Al-SuyutI (d. 911/1505) is more precise, in-
terpreting barzakh as threefold: place, time
and condition. The place is the grave from
which the soul (q.v.) traverses either to the
uppermost heaven ('illiyun, see paradise;
heaven) or to the depths of hell (sijjin); the
time is that between death and resurrec-
tion; and the condition is that of pain,
pleasure or incarceration — the last being
a reference to the interrogation of the
grave that should be over in seven days
(SuyutI, Hawi, ii, 185). Ibn Taymiyya (d.
728/1328) maintains that these conditions
are experienced by both body and soul.
The soul is free to roam and connect with
other souls. It is God's will that permits it
full or partial contact with its body. The
soul has the full capacity of hearing and
responding (Ibn Taymiyya, Adhab, 92-3).

Barzakh as repository of souls
The association of barzakh with souls was
not limited to the dead. There is also a ten-
dency to expand it so that it would incor-
porate all souls including the unborn. In
rejecting the doctrine of the Ash'ariyya of
the continual recreation of the soul, Ibn
Hazm (d. 456/1064) asserts that the barzakh
is the repository of all the spirits of Adam's

BARZAKH

206

progeny (see ADAM and eve). It exists in
the lowest heaven where an angel (q.v.)
blows these souls into wombs (see birth).
This doctrine is strongly rejected by Ibn
Qayyim al-Jawziyya (Ibn Qayyim al-
Jawziyya, Ruh, 158-9; see also I. Netton,
Nafs).

Punishment in the barzakh
The interrogation by the angels Mimkar
and Naklr and the punishment of the
grave become central to the barzakh experi-
ence (see reward and punishment). The
vision of Muhammad during an eclipse
and his ascension (q.v.; mi'raj) were evidence
that certain punishments are ongoing
(Bayhaqi, Ithbdt, 76-g; Ibn Tulun, Barzakh,
222-8; and for an analytical version, see
SuyuU, Aya, 3-29). The Mu'tazills (q.v.) ac-
knowledge barzakh as a stage but strongly
object to the idea of punishment, main-
taining that the soul does not reside in the
grave and that the body would be incapa-
ble of experiencing pleasure or pain. Ibn
Kathlr (d. 774/1373; Tafsir, v, 38-9) empha-
sizes that o_ 23:100 is primarily a warning
(q.v.) and a threat (tahdid) to tyrants (gdli-
mun) who will be punished in their graves
until their resurrection. In more general
terms, this punishment is treated as a pre-
liminary penance prior to the reckoning
(hisab) of the resurrection (qiyama). There
is no doubt that the punishment of the bar-
zakh endorsed the legitimacy of the idea of
a reckoning in the afterlife. The corporeal-
ity attributed to the dead in their graves
has at times been exaggerated. Ibn al-
Jawzi (d. 597/1200) alludes to and rebukes
the credulity of the masses who believe the
dead are currently partaking in carnal
pleasures, such as food and sex, in their
graves (Sayd, 40).

Relationship of the living to the barzakh
The deeds of the dead affect the condi-
tions of the barzakh. These conditions are

ameliorated further through the prayers of
the living. Shfls, who emphasize the con-
cept of the return (raj'a) as part of their
millenarian thought, list among their crite-
ria for good deeds that the rewards are
reaped in this world, the barzakh and the af-
terlife. Good deeds performed in ignorance
(ghafla) are rewarded in the barzakh by pre-
venting the punishment of the grave or
opening the gate of heaven to the grave so
that the soul can enjoy respite (Ahsa'i,
Raj'a, 197). Later Sufis such as al-Sha c ranI
(d. 973/1565) describe the spatial dimen-
sions and the quality of light and visibility
in the barzakh as defined by the deeds of
the dead. Unpaid debt can incarcerate the
soul. The barzakh is portrayed as a cosmol-
ogy of consecutive circles (al-barzakh al-
mutlaq) where every prophet resides with
his own constituents in separate spheres
(Sha'ranl, Durar, 60-1; see also shi'ism and
the qjjr'an; sufism and the cjur'an).

Ibn al-'Arabi and the barzakh
Ibn al-'ArabT (d. 638/1 240) expands the
spatial idea of barzakh beyond the defini-
tion found in relation to death (cf. S. al-
Hakim, al-Mu'jam al-suft). Man himself is
an intermediate creation, a barzakh be-
tween God and the world. The barzakh is
also the beyond; Ibn al-'Arabi coins the
term al-nubuwwa al-barzakhiyya in the case
of Khalid b. Sinan who promised to tell
his sons what happens after death if they
exhumed his body. Death signals the birth
of man into the first stage of the afterlife,
the barzakh, during which he continues to
mature until resurrection. The soul could
travel to barzakh in its dream-state thus
making it an accessible realm to living hu-
mans. In Ibn al-Arabl's definition of imag-
ination as a creative energy that is capable
of touching the eternal, knowledge gained
through dreams ('Urn al-khayal) is synony-
mous with that gained through the barzakh
('Urn al-barzakh), a divine emanation where

207

BASMALA

meanings manifest themselves without the
need of form.

Conclusion
R. Eklund maintains that barzakh emerges
on the eschatological scene free of any in-
fluence from the People of the Book (ahl al-
kitdb, see people of the book; scripture
and THE ojltr'an) and represents a "genu-
ine Islamic product, a rare phenomenon
on the eschatological market" (Life, 82).
Most scholars hesitate to label it as purga-
tory, preferring the term limbo. Barzakh as
a barrier between this world and the next
acquires a life of its own. The expanded
sphere of the barzakh is exemplified in later
works, like that of al-Sha'ram, where the
dead are depicted as conducting an active
afterlife allowing for a more dynamic inter-
action with the living. Here barzakh stops
short of being the passive barrier to the
afterlife.

Mona M . Zaki

Bibliography
Primary: Ahsa'l, Ahmad b. Zayn al-Dln, Kitdb al-
Rafa, Beirut 1993; Baydawl, Anwar; al-Bayhaql,
Abu Bakr Ahmad, Ithbdt 'adhdb al-qabr, ed. S.
Quda, Amman 1983; al-Ghazall, Abu Hamid
Muhammad, Ihyd' hllurn abdTn, Cairo 1965; Ibn
Hablb, Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik al-Sulaml,
Wasf al-firdaws, Beirut 1987; Ibn al-JawzT, Sayd
al-khdtir, ed. A. Abu Sunayna, Amman 1987; Ibn
KathTr, TafsTr; Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Kiiab
al-Ruh, ed. Abd al-Fattah Mahmud 'Umar,
Amman 1985; Ibn Qutayba, Ghanb; Ibn Rajab,
Abd al-Rahman, Ahwdl al-qubur, ed. Kh. AlamT,
Beirut 1990; Ibn Taymiyya, FatawT c adhdb al-qabr,
ed. Abu Bakr al-Raziq, Beirut 1992; Ibn Tulun,
Shams al-Dln, Kiiab al-Barzakh, ed. A. al-Atharl,
Tanta 1991; Jafar b. Mansur al-Yaman, Sara'ir
wa-asrar al-nutaqa] ed. M. Ghalib, Beirut 1984;
al-Kafiyajl, Abu c Ali Muhammad b. Sulayman,
Manazil al-arwdh, ed. M. al-Sayyid, Cairo 1991;
Lisdn al-Arab; Mujahid, TafsTr, ed. M. Abu 1-Nll,
Cairo 1989; Muqatil, TafsTr; NasafT, TafsTr;
Qurtubl, Jdmi '; id., al-Tadhkiraf ahwdl akmawtd
wa-umur al-dkhira, ed. A. Saqqa, 2 vols, in I,
Cairo 1980; al-ShaVam, Abd al-Wahhab, Durar
al-ghawwas 'alafatdwTl-Khawwds, ed. M. Lsma'll,

Cairo 1985; al-Suyutl, Jalal al-Dln, al-Aya al-kubra
f shark qissat alisrd\ M. Mastu, Damascus 1985;
id., al-HawT lil-fatwdfi l-fiqh wa-'ulum al-tafsTr
wa-l-hadTth wa-l-nahw wa-l-i'rdb wa-sd'ir al-funun,
2 vols., Cairo 1352/1933-4; Tabarl, TafsTr;
Zamakhsharl, KashshdJ.

Secondary: B. Carra de Vaux, Barzakh, in El 2 , i,
1071-2; R. Eklund, Life between death and resurrection
according to Islam, Uppsala 1941; S. al-Haklm,
al-Mujam al-sujT. al-Hikmaf hudud al-kalima,
Beirut 1 98 1 (see entries under barzakh, khaydl,
and al-nubuwwa al-barzakhijya); L. Kinberg,
Interaction between this world and the
afterworld in early Islamic tradition, in Oriens
29-30 (1986), 285-308; I.R. Netton, Nafs, in El 2 ,
vii, 880-4; J.I. Smith, Concourse between the
living and the dead in Islamic eschatological
literature, in History of religions 19 (1980), 224-36;
J.I. Smith and Y. Haddad, The Islamic
understanding oj death, Albany 1 98 1.

Bashir see prophets and prophet-
hood; GOOD NEWS

Basmala

The invocation bi-smi lldhi l-rahmani l-
rahlm(i), "In the name of God, the Merci-
ful, the Compassionate," also known as the
tasmiya, "naming/uttering (God's name),"
occurs 114 times in the Qur'an: at the head
of every sura except the ninth, which is en-
titled "Repentance" (Surat al-Tawba or
Surat al-Bara'a), and also in c) 27:30 as the
opening of Solomon's (q.v.) letter to the
queen of Sheba (see bilqis). Of the 113 oc-
currences at the head of a sura, only the
first, that before the opening sura, Surat al-
Fatiha (see fatiha), is commonly reckoned
as an aya, i.e. as c) 1:1, although the other
112 unnumbered prefatory occurrences
are still considered part of the sacred text
(RazI, Ahkdm al-basmala, 21; SuyutI, Dun;
i, 20).

Precedents for and parallels to the basmala
The basmala has various historical prece-
dents among invocational formulae in

B ASM ALA

208

other traditions. Al-Zamakhsharl (d. 538/
1 144) long ago noted the pre-Islamic Arab
use of parallel formulae such as "in the
name of al-Lat [or] al-'Uzza" (Rashshdf i,
29; see idols and images; pre-islamic
Arabia and the qur'an). T. Ndldeke
points out Jewish and Christian parallels
to bi-smi lldhi in the recurrence of "in the
name of the Lord" (gq, i, 112, 116-7; cf. ii,
42; see jews and Judaism; christians
and Christianity) in the Hebrew and
Christian bibles. Y. Moubarac suggests a
coalescence of Jewish, Christian and pa-
gan south Arabian influences behind the
tripartite Allah al-rahmdn al-rahim (Les
etudes d'epigraphie, 58-61). There is
also a parallel in the Mazdean formula
pad nam iyazddn, "in the name of (the)
god(s)," attested as early as the third cen-
tury at Paikuli (P. Gignoux, Pad Nam,
162).

Meaning of the basmala in the Qur'an
Grammatically bi-smi lldhi has the form of
an oath (see oaths) introduced by hi- but
traditionally it has been construed as an in-
vocation, as opposed to an oath such as bi-
lldhi, "by God!" The bi- is held to require
an implied verb expressing the intention of
the one uttering the basmala to act or begin
an action "with the naming [glossing ism as
tasmiya] of God." Thus al-Tabarl (d. 310/
923) cites Ibn Abbas as saying that an ac-
tion following utterance of the basmala —
be it reciting, standing or sitting down —
implies intent to perform the act "in the
name of" or "by naming" God, not
"through" God (as agent; Tafsir, i, 114-8).
On the other hand, a modern interpreter,
Rashid Rida,, says that to recite a sura "in
the name of God..." means to "recite it as
a sura coming from him, not from you"
[Tafsir al-mandr, i, 44; A. Khoury, Koran, 147).

There are frequent invocations of God's
name in the Qur'an apart from the bas-
mala. The short formula, "in the name of

God," occurs only in 5)11:41: "[Noah (q.v.)]
said, 'Embark in it [the ark (q.v.)]! In the
name of God be its sailing and its moor-
ing! . . . '" However, bi-smi rabbika, "in the
name of your Lord," occurs four times, af-
ter the command to "glorify" (q_ 56:74, 96;
69:52; cf. 87:1) or to "recite" (Q_g6:i) ex-
pressing similarly the invoking of God's
name in performing an action. "Mention-
ing" or "remembering" (dh-k-r) God's
name occurs 13 times and 0.55:78 speaks of
blessing God's name (tabdraka smu rabbika).
These passages have been interpreted spe-
cifically as exhortations to repeat the bas-
mala to declare one's righteous intention
and to bless and consecrate any act, from
drinking water to ritual ablution to marital
intercourse (see blessing).

There are two possible grammatical read-
ings of the final three words of the basmala:
(i) with al-rahmdn and al-rahim taken as par-
allel attributive epithets of Allah, seen in
modern translations that replicate the Ara-
bic word order (e.g. M. Henning [190 1],
"Allah, der Erbarmer, der Barmherzige;"
R. Bell [1937], "Allah, the Merciful, the
Compassionate") or that emphasize the
emphatic force of two cognate attributives
(e.g. G. Sale [1734], "the most merciful
God"; E.H. Palmer [1880], "the merciful
and compassionate God"; R. Paret [1962],
"der barmherzige und gtitige Gott");
(ii) with al-rahmdn construed as a name of
God in apposition to Allah, modified by the
attributive al-rahim, (e.g. R. Blachere
[1949], "Allah, le Bienfaiteur misericor-
dieux"; K. Cragg [1988], "God, the merci-
ful Lord of mercy"). Al-Tabarl's discussion
[Tafsir, i, 55f.) supports the former, which
became the standard reading. Most com-
mentators focus on distinguishing the
meanings of rahmdn and rahim, taking the
intensive rahmdn to refer to God's mercy
(q.v.) generally either (a) in this world and
the next or (b) to all creatures; and rahim
for God's mercy more specifically, limited

2og

BASMALA

either (a) to the next world only or (b) to
the faithful only. The commentators note
also that rahman can only be used of God
while rahim can be applied to humans
(Tabari, TafsT?; i, 55f; Ibn al-Arabl [attr.],
TafsTr, i, 7; Zamakhsharl, Kashshaf, i, 41-5;
M. al-GharawI, Ism, 148-50).

While Muslim and non-Muslim scholars
have preferred to read al-rahman al-rahim as
paired attributive epithets (see GOD AND
his attributes), the other instances of
rahman and rahim in the Qur'an could sup-
port reading rahman as an appositive modi-
fied by rahim. The two words are paired
only four times (q 1:3; 2:163; 41:2; 59:22)
apart from the basmala and can in each
case be cogently construed as a substantive
(al-rahman) with a following adjective (al-ra-
him), "the compassionate Merciful [One]."
Rahman occurs in the Qur'an only with the
definite article al- (57 instances in num-
bered ayas). Rahim occurs 81 times without
the definite article as an adjectival predi-
cate of God, most often paired with and
following ghafir, "forgiving." Al-rahim is
found 32 times (including four occurrences
apart from the basmala with al-rahman), all
but once (0^34:2: al-rahim al-ghafir) as an at-
tribute following other divine names or at-
tributes: al-'aziz ("the Mighty"), al-ghafir
("the Forgiving"), al-tawwdb ("the Relent-
ing") and al-birr ("the Beneficent"). Thus
the qur'anic evidence could support the
translation, "God, the compassionate (al-
rahim) Merciful One (al-rahman) ." This
would accord also with pre-Islamic use of
al-rahman as the name of God in south
Arabia (see archaeology and the
qur'an), the pagan Meccans' aversion to
using it instead of Allah (G. Ryckmans, Les
religions arabes, 47-8; cf. J. Jomier, Le nom
divin, 2; Y. Moubarac, Les etudes d'epigra-
phie, 58-9) and its use as God's name by
Muhammad's contemporary, the "Arabian
prophet" Musaylima (Tabari, Ta'rikh, hi,
245-6; Zamakhsharl, Kashshaf, i, 42; cf.

Noldeke, gq, i, 112-3; see musaylima and
pseudo-prophets).

Place of the basmala in the Quran
The question as to whether the basmala is
to be counted as the first aya in the Fatiha
(o_ i) and the remaining 112 suras it pre-
cedes has been discussed by Muslim and
non-Muslim scholars alike. The Muslim
consensus is represented in the modern
Cairo text, which counts it as an aya only in
the Fatiha, otherwise as an unnumbered
line of text (satr) that separates the first aya
of every sura (except Q_g, "Repentance"
[Surat al-Tawba]) from the last aya of the
preceding sura (cf. Suyuti, Durr, i, 20). The
exception of Surat al-Tawba is held tradi-
tionally to stem from either (i) its being
originally joined with q8, "The Spoils of
War" (Surat al-Anfal), as a single unit later
divided in two before the word bard'a,
which thus became the first word of Q_g
(Suyuti, Itqan, i, 60, 65; Tirmidhl, 48:10.1;
cf. Ibn al-Arabl, Futuhat, 4, 211-3, 355-6,
who says the basmala of o 27:30 is the one
missing at the head of q 9) or (ii) its having
as a main theme God's threats against the
idolaters which makes the basmala inappro-
priate for it (Razi, Tafsir, vii, 225; M. al-
Gharawl, Ism, 77; see idolatry and
idolaters; polytheism and atheism).

Whether the basmala even belongs to the
Qur'an at all has been a live question for
Muslims (cf. M. b. All al-Shawkam, Path
al-qadir, i, 64-5). According to most reports,
neither Ibn Mas'ud's nor Ubayy b. Ka'b's
Qur'an copy {mushaf see codices of the
q_ur'an) included Surat al-Fatiha. Further,
Anas is reported as saying, "I performed
the ritual prayer (salat) with God's apostle,
Abu Bakr (q.v.), 'Umar (q.v.) and 'Uthman
(q.v.) and I did not hear any of them recite
'bi-smi Hah..."' (Muslim, Sahih, 4:50; cf. 4:52;
see prayer). However, Anas is also said to
have reported that Muhammad recited
Q_ 108, "Abundance" (Surat al-Kawthar),

B ASM ALA

with the basmala (Muslim, Sahth, 4:53) and
al-Suyutl (d. 911/1505) cites traditions that
the basmala belonged to the revelations
from the beginning or sometime during the
Prophet's mission (e.g. it "was sent down
with every sura"); however, he also cites
traditions that the basmala was an opening
or closing benediction given Muhammad
at the institution of the ritual prayer (saldt,
Suyuti, Durr, i, 20-3; cf. A. Spitaler, Vers-
Zdhlung, 31-2). The reciters (see reciters
of THE qur'an) and jurists of Medina,
Basra and Syria did not consider it an aya
at the beginning of a sura, but a sura-
divider and a blessing that one would use
to begin any important act. Abu Ha-nlfa
(d. 150/767) agreed, and the Hanafis do
not recite it audibly in the ritual prayer.
However, the Meccan, Kufan and most
Iraqi reciters and jurists recognized it as
an aya whenever it begins a sura, as did al-
Shafi'l (d. 204/820) and his followers who
recite it aloud in the ritual prayer (saldt)
and likewise the Shl'ls who recite it silently
(Zamakhshari, Kashshaf i, 24-5; RazI,
Ahkdm al-basmala, 20; ShawkanI, Fath al-
qadir, i, 64-5; H. Algar, Besmellah, 172).
The division of the law schools over the
audible reciting of the basmala likely re-
flects the early tradition's ambivalence
about both the basmala and the Fatiha: Are
they part of the Word of God (see book)
or only invocations used by Muhammad?
(cf. Noldeke, gq, ii, 79). It would also ap-
pear from the earliest extant Qur'an pages
that the basmala is almost always ortho-
graphically integral to the subsequent
sura's text and not set apart visually in any
way (Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyya, Alasdhif
San'd', 36-61).

Western scholars have also examined the
question of the basmala'?, relationship to the
qur'anic text (see collection of the
qur'an). Noldeke suggests that at least as
early as the Qur'an copy (mushaf q.v.) of
Ffafsa the basmala was used to separate

suras [gq, ii, 46). R. Blachere sees the bas-
mala as a formula used by Muhammad to
introduce letters and pacts which was inau-
gurated at some point to mark the begin-
ning of a sura [Introduction, 143-4). ^- Raret
says it was likely added later as a seventh
verse to Qi to allow "the seven oft-repeated
[verses]" (sab'an mina l-mathdni, Q 15:87) to
apply to the Fatiha (Kommentar, 11). A. Neu-
wirth argues from Christian and Jewish li-
turgical formulae and the Fatiha's internal
structure and content (e.g. repetition of
part of the basmala in Q 1:3) that the basmala
of Q 1:1 did not belong originally to the
Fatiha (cf. Noldeke, gq, i, 116-7; ii, 41-2).

Place of the basmala in Muslim life and

tradition
The basmala has been arguably the most-
repeated sentence in Muslim usage. It is
axiomatic that a Muslim should begin
every act of any importance with the bas-
mala (Zamakhshari, Kashshaf i, 26; Bajurl,
Tuhfat al-mund, 3; RazI, Ahkdm al-basmala,
ig; M. al-GharawI, Ism, 91; see ritual
and THE qur'an). Muhammad is quoted
as saying that "every important affair that
one does not begin with 'in the name of
God' is void" (Zamakhshari, Kashshaf i, 31;
M. al-GharawI, Ism, 13; Sabban, Risdla, 21).
Scriptural support is found in Q 6:119
which begins, "Why do you not eat that
over which the name of God has been
mentioned?" Various traditions stress the
basmala's great power and blessing, e.g.
"Whoever recites bi-smi lldh al-rahmdn al-
rahim enters paradise [al-janna [see para-
dise; garden])" (A. Ghaylan, Da'wa, 37;
cf. M. b. All al-Shawkanl, Fath al-qadir, i,
67-8).

The use of the basmala is often a legal and
sometimes even political matter of impor-
tance. The divergence of the law schools
concerning the audible recitation of the
basmala in worship (q.v), based on its status
as an aya in the Fatiha and elsewhere, has

BASMALA

been especially subject to considerable
Muslim debate and discussion (e.g. RazI,
Ahkam al-basmala, 38-78; Murtada al-
Zabidl, Radd; cf. Bajuri, Tuhfat al-mund,
3-4). This question has even become the
key issue for differing local interpretations
of Islam as in the case of modernists and
traditionalists in Gayo society in Acheh
(J. Bowen, Muslims, 306-9).

Traditionally, the basmala carries special
blessings and power (cf. I. al-Basyunl, Bas-
mala, 19-20; T a barsi, Majma', i, 26-7) and is
used as a talisman in popular magic (see
amulets). One tradition claims it is "...
an aya of God's scripture not revealed to
anyone other than the Prophet save for
Solomon (q.v.) the son of David (q.v.)"
(Suyutl, Durr, i, 20). Especially in mystical
thought it is considered the quintessence
of the Quran: According to Ibn al-'Arabi
(d. 638/1240) "the basmala is the key to
every sura" and God says that uttering the
basmala is remembering (dhikr) him (Futuhdt,
viii, 343; vii, 274-5). An earr y Isma'lli work
studied by W. Ivanov explains its esoteric
meaning in cosmological terms (W. Ivanov,
Studies, 68). The mysteries of the letters of
the basmala are many, e.g. the popular tra-
dition that all of the scriptures are con-
tained in the dot of the Arabic letter bd'ra
the bi- of the basmala ( ( Abd al-Karlm al-Jlll,
Kahf, 4-5; see letters and mysterious
letters). Slrfi sources develop a similar
interpretation: According to Ja'far al-
Sadiq (d. 148/765) and others, the greatest
aya in the Qur'an is the basmala (M. al-
Gharawl, Ism, 77); all the areas of knowl-
edge ('ulum) are contained in "the four
[Slrf I hadlth] books" and their 'ulum in the
Qur'an and the 'ulum of the Qur'an in
the Fatiha and the 'ulum of the Fatiha in
the basmala and the 'ulum of the basmala
in the Art'of the basmala (M. al-GharawI,
Ism, 64, 98). In a variation on this theme,
Mir Dard (d. 1199/1785) cites All b. Abi
Talib (q.v.) as saying all mysteries are con-

tained in the dot beneath the ba' oi the bas-
mala and he, 'All, is that dot (A. Schimmel,
Pain, 90).

Orthographically, the basmala is set apart
by the traditional but grammatically ex-
ceptional omission of the prosthetic alifoi
ism (<s-m-w) connecting the ba.' directly to
the sin. One attestation of this is the ab-
sence of mention of the alif from the tradi-
tion that 'Umar said "Lengthen the ba',
show clearly the teeth [of the sin] and
make round the mim" (Zamakhsharl, Kash-
shaf i, 35).

The calligraphic embellishment of the
basmala has always been a favorite artistic
undertaking in Islam, whether executed in
formal script styles, zoomorphic (bird, lion,
etc.) designs, stylized calligraphic shapes
(tughra) or decorative calligrams (see ART
AND ARCHITECTURE AND THE QJUR'An;
Arabic script; calligraphy). The culmi-
nation of the calligrapher's art is often
considered to be the famous basmala of the
Ottoman artist Ahmad QarahisarT (d.
963/1520) in which extreme application of
the principle of assimilation of letters (the
letters ra'andjya' disappear, lam is short-
ened and "Allah" becomes symbolic verti-
cal strokes) leads to a basmala crafted into a
single sweeping line of script without lift-
ing the pen.

William A. Graham

Bibliography
Primary: AlusI, Ruh; Bajuri, Ibrahim b.
Muhammad, Tuhfat al-mund 'aid jawharat
al-tawhid, Cairo 1939; Ibn al- ( Arabl, Muhyl 1-Dln
Abu Abdallah Muhammad b. All, al-Futuhdt
al-makkiyya, ed. Uthman Yahya, 14 vols, to date,
Cairo 1972-; id. (attr.; actual author is c Abd
al-Razzaq al-Kashanl), Tafsir al-Qiiran al-kanm,
ed. M. Ghalib, 2 vols., Beirut 1978; al-Jlll, Abd
al-Karlm, al-Kahf wa-l-raqim fi shark bi-smi Hah
al-rahman al-rahim, Hyderabad 1340/1922;
Muhammad b. All al-Shawkanl, Fath al-qadir.
al-Jdmi' bayna fannay al-riwaya wa-l-diraya min 'Urn
al-tafsir, ed. 'Abd al-Rahman 'Umayrah, 6 vols.,
Cairo 1994; Murtada al-Zabldl, at-Radd 'aid man

BEAUTY

L>IL>

aba l-haqq wa-idda'd anna l-jahr bi-l-basmala min
sunnat Sayyid al-Khalq, eel. A. al-Kuwayti, Riyadh
1991; Muslim, Sahih; RashTcl Rida, Mandr; RazT,
Ahkam. al-basmala, ed. Majdl 1-Sayyid Ibrahim,
Cairo n.d.; id., Tafsir; al-Sabban, Muhammad b.
'All Abu l-'Irfan, al-Risdla l-kubrdji l-basmala, ed.
F. al-Zamrl and H. al-Mir, Beirut 1995; SuyutI,
Durr; id. Itqan; TabarT, Tafsir; id., Ta'rikh; TabarsT,
Majma; Zamakhshari, Kashshaf.
Secondary: H. Algar, Besmellah. In exegesis,
jurisprudence and cultural life, in E. Yarshater
(ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, 7 vols, to date, London
1982-, iv, 172-4; M. Ayoub, The Qur'an and its
interpreters, 2 vols., Albany 1984, i; I. al-Basyiinl,
al-Basmala bayna ahl al-'ibdra wa-ahl al-ishdra,
Cairo 1972; Blachere, Introduction; J. Bowen,
Muslims through discourse, Princeton 1993;
B. Carra de Vaux (rev. L. Gardet), Basmala, in
ei 2 , i, 1084-5; Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyya, Kuwait
National Museum, Masdhif San'd', Kuwait 1985;
M. al-GharawT, al-Ism al-a'zam. aw al-basmala wa-
l-hamdala, Beirut 1982; 'A.S. Ghaylan, al-Da^wa
ild lldh bi-afddl bismi lldh, Rabat 1994; P.
Gignoux, Besmellah. Origin of the Formula, in
E. Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, 7 vols, to
date, 1982-, iv, 172; id., Pad Nam i Yazdan. Pour
une origine iranienne du bi'smillah, in Travaux de
VInstitut d'Etudes Iraniennes (Sorbonne Nouvelle),
Paris n.d., 159-63; W. Ivanov, Studies in early
Persian Ismailism, Bombay 1955; J. Jomier, Le nom
divin L 'al-Rahman" dans le Coran, in L'Institut
Francais de Damas, Melanges Louis Alassignon, 3
vols., Damascus 1956, h, 361-81; A.T. Khoury,
Der Koran. Arabisch-Deutsch Ubersetzung und
wis sens ch aft lie her Kommentar, 9 vols, to date,
Giitersloh 1990-; K. Kufrah, Besmele, in Islam
Ansiklopedisi, 16 vols., Istanbul 1988-97, ii, 568-70;
Y Moubarac, Les etudes d'epigraphie sud-
semitique et la naissance de l'Islam, in RET 25
(1957)5 : 3"68; A. Neuwirth, Surat al-Fatiha —
''Eroffnung" des Text-Corpus Koran oder
"Introitus" der Gebetsliturgie? in W. Gross, H.
Irsigler and T. Seidl (eds.), Text, Methode und
Grammatik, St. Ottilien 1991, 331-57; Noldecke,
gq; Paret, Kommentar; G. Ryckmans, Les religions
arabes preislamiques, Louvain 1951; Y Safadi,
Islamic calligraphy, Boulder 1979, 32-9; A.
Schimmel, Islamic calligraphy, Leiden 1970, 3,
16-19; id., Pain and grace, Leiden 1976, 90; A.
Spitaler, Die Verszdhlung des Koran nach islamischer
Uberlieferung, Munich 1935; M. Uzun, Besmele
(Hat), in Turkiye Diyanet Vakfi Islam Ansiklopedisi,
16 vols., Istanbul 1988-97, v, 532-40; S. Yildinm,
Besmele, in Turkiye Diyanet Vakfi Islam Ansiklopedisi,
16 vols., Istanbul 1988-97, v, 529-32; M.
Zakariya, The calligraphy of Islam, Georgetown
J 979> 34-7-

Batin and Zahir see exegesis of the
q_ur d an: classical and medieval

Battles/Warfare see expeditions and
battles

see creation; jesus

Beast of Prey see animal life; lawful

AND UNLAWFUL

Beating see chastisement and

PUNISHMENT

Beauty

A quality in persons or objects that appeals
to the human senses and exalts the spirit.
At least a dozen terms describe beauty in
the Qur'an, which is more often under-
stood as a moral quality than an aesthetic
one. It is a quality defined by its deep ef-
fects upon the beholder rather than by its
own properties. Aesthetic terms (e.g. the
various terms related to jamal, i'jab, zina,
hilya, zukhruf, tayyib, alwan, qurrat 'ayn, bahlj)
signal moral choices to be made or divine
grace rendered (see consolation), while
moral terms (e.g. the various terms related
to husn, itqan, jitna, kanm) signal either beau-
ty or the appropriate response to it. Refer-
ence to three kinds of beauty is discernible
in the Qur'an. The first characterizes the
signs (q.v.) of God in creation (q.v.): awe-
some, delightful, instructive or useful, but
ultimately transitory. The second describes
the ornaments produced by human beings:
attractive and enticing but also meaning-
less and even deceptive. This, too, is transi-
tory. The third kind of beauty is not of this
world but rather is sublime and eternal.
Each of these three categories will be dis-
cussed in sequence.
The Arabic word most often translated as

313

BEAUTY

"beauty" (jamal) occurs only once in the
Qur'an and in that instance it has an aes-
thetic denotation: "And livestock... you
find beauty in them when you bring them
home in the evening and when you put
them out to pasture" (o 16:5-6). Yet other
forms and effects of beauty are frequently
cited. Humans delight in their children
(q.v.; Q 28:13); fair winds (0 10:22; 30:46; see
air and wind); rain (030:48) and the
earth (q.v.) afterward (o 57:20) and seed
that grows (048:29); fine animals (q 2:69)
and fertile pairs (p_22:5; 26:7-8); and nice
clothes and pure things (p_ 7:31-2; see
blessing). God has made things beautiful
on purpose, as seen in the phrase "the cre-
ation of God, who has perfected (atqana)
all things" (027:88; cf. 22:6; 95:4). "We
placed constellations in heaven and made
them beautiful (zayyanndha) to the behold-
ers" (p_ 15:16; cf. 37:6-7; 50:6; 67:3-5). "It is
God... who has formed you and made
your forms beautiful (ahsana suwarakum)"
(0.40:64).

Earthly beauty, however, can be a temp-
tation and a test. (518:7 asserts: "What is on
earth we have made a [mere] decoration
for it (zinatan laha), so that we might test
which of them is best in his actions" (cf.
057:20). 02:221 notes that beauty must not
be the overriding criterion: "A believing
slave-woman is better than an unbeliever,
however much the latter pleases you
(a'jabatkum) ." Other verses remark that hu-
mans deceive themselves and others with
superficialities (zina). Significantly, the calf
of gold (q.v.) is made from "the people's or-
naments" [zTnat al-qawm, o_ 20:87). We hear
of unbelievers dazzled by their own strata-
gems (f) 13:33) and of him "whose evil act
is made to seem fine to him (zuyyina lahu
su'u 'amalihi)" (035:8; cf. 9:37; 10:12; 47:14).
Forms of natural and man-made orna-
mentation (zukhruf) can be assessed as both
positive and negative: "The earth takes on

its ornament (akhadhat al-ardu zukhrufahd)
and is adorned (azzayyanat)" (010:24) but
humans deceive each other with "fancy
talk (zukhruf al-qawl)" (06:112).

The delights of paradise (q.v.) are some-
times evoked by the mention of beautiful
objects, e.g. luxuries such as gold (q.v.) and
silk (q.v; e.g. 035-33) or couches and rich
drinking cups (e.g. 056:12-18 ; see CUPS
AND vessels). More often, however, the
pleasures of paradise are described in
terms that would appeal particularly to
desert dwellers: trees, gardens, shade, and
water (q.v.; see garden). The Qur'an itself
is more often described in terms that mark
its connection to the divine. The jinn (q.v.)
who hear the Qur'an do not call it "beauti-
ful" but "a wonder" (Qur'dnan 'ajaban,
072:1), while humans break out in goose-
flesh (039:23). God himself is the subject
of an extended metaphor in the Light
Verse (024:35; see verses) from which the
listener infers his beauty, though he is
never called "beautiful." Aspects of divin-
ity are awesome rather than beautiful (see
GOD AND HIS attributes). Yet a hadith
says what the many qur'anic references to
beauty seem to imply: "God is beautiful
and loves beauty" (Muslim, Sahili). Beauty
was certainly a factor in the later theologi-
cal concept of the "miraculous inimitabil-
ity" ft'jdz) of the Qur'an (see inimitabil-
ity). See also art and architecture and

THE OUR'AN.

Rosalind Ward Gwynne

Bibliography
Primary: al-Ghazall, Abu Hamid Muhammad,
al-Hikma ji makhluqat Allah, Beirut 1398/1978;
Muslim, Sahih; RazT, Tafsir, ed. M. Muhyl 1-Dln;
SuyiitT, Itqdn, ed. M.A.F. Ibrahim, 4 vols, in 2,
Cairo 1967, esp. chaps. 64 and 73; Tabarl, Tafsir,
ed. Shakir; Tabarsi, Majma', 5 vols., Sidon 1333/

Secondary: K. Cragg, The mind of the Qur'an,
London 1973; H. Kassis, A concordance to the

BEDOUIN

1214

Quran, Berkeley 1983; Nwyia, Exegese; F.
Rahman, Major themes of the Qur'an, Minneapolis
1980.

Bedouin

The Arabic term for "desert-dweller" (ba-
dawi) is a derivation from the root b-d-w.
Arabic lexicographers use the term badw/
badawi as an antonym for "sedentary peo-
ple" (hddir), and the expression "people
became Bedouin" (badd l-qawm badwan)
means that they went out to the desert (Ibn
Sida in Lisan al-'Arab, xiv, 67). The cognate
term bddiya refers to the sand-desert as op-
posed to the settled lands. The terms badw,
badawi or the active participle bddi signify
one who pursues a certain way of life, i.e.
people of the desert or nomads as distinct
from settled people. Badl'is used twice in
the Qur'an; of more frequent occurrence is
another term for Bedouin, the plural form
a'rdb (sing, 'arab, see arabs).

Words derived from the root '-r-b were
used in pre-Islamic times in different Se-
mitic languages as appellations for the in-
habitants of the desert, whether for sand-
dwellers or oasis dwellers. In the biblical
context 'arab is a term for a particular
mode of life [ha 13:20; Jer 3:2) and not the
name of a particular people. The Old Tes-
tament locates the Arabs as nomads in the
neighborhood of Israel (Jer 25:24; Ezek
27:21; 2 Chron 9:14). Assyrian documents of
the second half of the eighth century
B.c.E. frequently mention the aribi/aribu as
referring to nomadic tribes in the deserts
around Palestine and northern Sinai.

In south Arabian inscriptions from the
third century c.E. onwards the term 'arab
(pi. a'rdb) designates the Bedouin inhabit-
ants of the Arabian peninsula as distinct
from its sedentary people. From the men-
tion of a'rdb in Sabaic inscriptions in con-
nection with accounts of armed conflicts

between Saba' and Himyar, the conclusion
can be drawn that Himyar recruited some
of its soldiers from the Bedouin. In a late
Sabaic inscription (516 c.E.) the a'rdb occur
as soldiers too. An inscription from the late
third century B.c.E. mentions the a'rdb of
Marib and it is not clear whether they are
part of a south Arabian tribe or serve as
auxiliaries in armed conflicts. After the
year 400 c.E. the royal title also includes
the a'rdb of the peninsula highlands and
the Tihama without precise definition.

Before Islam, the use of the term 'arab
was restricted and appears rarely in pre-
Islamic poetry though it is seen more fre-
quently in pre-Islamic prose (for examples
see G. von Grunebaum, Nature of Arab
unity, 21-2). In pre-Islamic times, the in-
habitants of the Arabian peninsula did not
know the term 'arab as a name for them-
selves. Use of this word for the whole pen-
insula and its population was adopted
from the Greeks who first described the
inhabitants of the northern part of the
peninsula with this term and applied it
later to the whole peninsula. The close
relationship between the word 'arab and
the meaning "Bedouin," especially in the
sense that the Bedouin preserve the pure
Arabic speech, is a later development. To
date there has been no complete study of
the development of the term 'arab and its
derivatives in early Islamic times.

Modern ethnology distinguishes between
so-called full Bedouin and non-sedentary
agriculturists and pastoralists. Yet these
categories are frequently blurred because
the main characteristic of both is nomad-
ism or a non-sedentary life. There are
many intermediate and transitional stages
between a sedentary life and that of the
full Bedouin (cf. M. von Oppenheim, Bedu-
inen, i, 22-36). In addition to the transition
of the breeders of sheep, goats and cattle
from a non-sedentary life with occasional
farming to a fully settled life, there is also

BEDOUIN

evidence of the reverse development. Ara-
bic lexicographical works that draw upon
classical sources, however, do not reflect
such ethnographic refinements. The appel-
lation a'rab is given to those who dwell in
the desert and move about in search of
grazing and water (Lane, 1993). Such a def-
inition presents no distinction between the
above-mentioned different types of no-
madic life nor does it permit a strict differ-
entiation between the terms a'rab and bad!
(e.g. Lisdn al-'Arab, i, 586; Taj al-'arus, iii,
333). In light of this, the translation of the
term badi as it occurs in the Qur'an pres-
ents something of a problem. In Q_ 22:25
badi is in contrast with 'dkif, a word that sig-
nifies someone who is remaining or staying
in a place (Lane, 2122). In this verse, badi
can thus be interpreted as strangers or as
visitors who are not permanent residents of
Mecca (q.v.). It need not necessarily refer
to non-sedentary people. The passage
badunaji l-a'rab in q 33:20 (translation by
Arberry: "desert-dwellers among the
Bedouins," Blachere: "au desert, parmi les
Bedouins," Paret: "unter den Beduinen in
der Steppe") gives the impression that a
particular group of Bedouin is meant and
a'rab functions as a generic term for differ-
ent types of nomadic people. There is,
however, no hint in pre-Islamic literature
of a similar use.

The Qur'an and later classical sources of
Islamic literature present a composite pic-
ture of Bedouin lifestyles. The Bedouin are
pastoralists specialized in camel breeding.
Unlike pastoralists who specialize in the
breeding and raising of other domesticated
animals, such as cattle, sheep and goats,
the Bedouin are almost self-sufficient. Nev-
ertheless they are, to some extent, depend-
ent on the settled lands. The existence of
the Bedouin depends in great measure on
the dromedary camel that supplies them
with milk, meat (on festive occasions),
leather, hair and dung (as fuel) and is used

as both a means of transportation and a
pack-animal (cf. Q_ 16:5; 40:79-80; 43:12-3;
see camel). The life of the Bedouin differs
from that of the settled Arab despite the
ties and relations between them. Summers
are spent near permanent wells or other
water-sources. With the beginning of the
winter rains, animals are moved away from
the exhausted summer pasture and are
driven out to graze on the new grasses of
the more arid steppes and deserts, a pro-
cess called tabaddi. In spring the Bedouin
return to their permanent wells to await
the dry season. These places are called
hadar, i.e. a fixed place, q 16:6 refers to this
periodic wandering of the Bedouin and
the daily driving of their animals to pas-
ture: "When you bring them home to rest
and when you drive them forth to pasture"
(see also early reports in Marzuql, Azmina,
ii, 119-23, 125-32). Of course, tent-dwelling
is a feature of this nomadic existence and
Q_ 16:80 mentions the tents or round huts
(buyut) made of leather (minjuludi l-an'dmi).
Unlike the Bedouin, the population in ur-
ban and oasis settlements earned their live-
lihood from agriculture or from trade and
pilgrimage income. Yet the development of
trade in Arabia, especially on the incense
route, was closely connected with camel
nomadism. The Bedouin were certainly in-
volved in conducting caravans of merchan-
dise and in guaranteeing the safe transit of
these caravans, although the details of that
have not yet been closely studied. Because
a Bedouin lifestyle also included raiding
and plundering, people of the settled areas
always strove for effective control of the
Bedouin. Not only the trader had to come
to an agreement with the Bedouin for
guaranteeing him safe transit but also the
oasis dweller often had to pay a so-called
khuwa as protection money against raids on
the settled population. Arab historiogra-
phers mention continual diplomatic con-
flicts in pre-Islamic times between the

BEDOUIN

216

settled population and its nomadic neigh-
bors (see the examples in R. Simon, Hums
et llaf, 217-20.)

In the Qur'an, remarks about the Be-
douin are not extensive and they testify to
problems that emerged from forming alli-
ances (see CONTRACTS AND ALLIANCES)
with the Bedouin and to Muhammad's sus-
picions about the existence or sincerity of
their belief in God. In the years after the
emigration from Mecca to Medina (the
hijra, see emigration) the armed conflicts
of the newly established Muslim communi-
ty with the Bedouin were of great histori-
cal importance for Medina's development
and independence. As we know from Arab
historiography, raids (ghazw) against the
Bedouin were more numerous than the
armed conflicts with the Meccans (al-
Waqidl mentions 74 raids in his Kitab al-
Maghazi)', and problems that emerged from
contracting alliances with Bedouin tribes
came into focus in this period. One of the
most important efforts to consolidate Mu-
hammad's own strength in Medina was the
formation of alliances with nomadic tribes
in the surrounding area of the town.

Some verses in the Qur'an indicate that
Muhammad had enormous difficulties in
controlling and using the Bedouin for his
own ends. Q_9:go, 33:20, 48:11 and 48:16 re-
fer to different expeditions (see expedi-
tions and battles) that depended upon
the support of Bedouin on both sides, the
Muslim and the Meccan. During the siege
of Medina in the year 5/627, known to
Muslims as the Expedition of the Trench
(khandaq, see people of the ditch), the
Meccans were supported by a vast confed-
eracy, including some of the nomadic
tribes. In Q_ 33:20 Muhammad mentions
the groups (ahzdb) of Bedouin who joined
the Meccans in this siege and criticizes the
vacillation of some of his own Bedouin
allies. In o_ 48:11 and 16 — obviously re-
vealed after the expedition of al-

Hudaybiya (6/628; see hudaybiya) —
Muhammad rebukes the Bedouin who
were left behind [mukhallafun, for an expla-
nation see Paret, Kommentar, 208-9). The
Bedouin (al-a'rab) mentioned in these vers-
es did not join the expedition to al-
Hudaybiya and made flimsy excuses for
their absence. In q 9:90 Muhammad
threatens the Bedouin with dire punish-
ment in the afterlife (see reward and
punishment) for absenting themselves
from an expedition, probably that to
Tabuk in the summer of the year 9/630.
These verses show how deeply Muham-
mad had been disappointed when some of
the nomads refused to join the expedition.
Apparently the Bedouin had seen no pros-
pect of booty (q.v.) and therefore had re-
jected Muhammad's appeal to them.

559:97-9, 101, 120 and 49:14 offer indica-
tions of the fact that Muhammad held the
religious zeal of the Bedouin in low regard.
He charges that some of the nomadic peo-
ple pretend to be faithful simply in order
to derive material advantage. These are
described as more stubborn in unbelief
(ashaddu kufran wa-nijaqan, 0,9:97) and as
hypocrites [munafiqun, o_ 9:101; see belief
and unbelief; hypocrites and
hypocrisy). In the early Medinan years
Muhammad contracted alliances with no-
madic tribes in the neighborhood on a
secular basis, i.e. without demanding reli-
gious affiliation. After the treaty of al-
Hudaybiya, however, the position of Mu-
hammad and the Muslims in Medina grew
stronger and he began to demand accep-
tance of Islam and recognition of himself
as Prophet. In letters and treaties concern-
ing alliances with different tribes there are
statements that, if the persons fulfil their
obligations (performing the ritual prayer
\salat, see prayer] and paying the commu-
nal alms [sadaqa, see almsgiving]), they
have a guarantee of security (dhimma),
meaning security for their lives, goods and

- >: 7

BEDOUIN

rights to use the land (Ibn Ishaq, Sua, 9631^;
Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat, i, 2, passim). Bedouin
acceptance of these obligations does not
appear to have modified their religious
practices significantly nor could their de-
gree of compliance be presumed to match
that of those who had migrated from Mec-
ca to Medina with Muhammad (cf. Ham-
dam, Iklil, i, 167 for an account that there
existed a special pledge made by the Be-
douin to Muhammad, bay 'a a'rabiyya as
against a pledge of migration, bay 'a hij-
riyya). In pre-Islamic times the religious life
of the Bedouin consisted largely of peri-
odic visits to holy places (q.v.), various
forms of ritual sacrifice (q.v.) and the con-
sultation of diviners (see pre-islamic.
ARABIA AND THE Q_Ur'aN; DIVINATION). It
is likely that most Bedouin managed with
even less than that. Therefore the Bedouin
considered the daily prayers (salat) and also
the communal alms (sadaqa), which were
two of the most important religious duties
for a Muslim, as an unreasonable demand.

Later Muslim sources elaborated upon
such differences of religious adherence and
observance. Al-Marzuqi [Azjnina, ii, 330-1)
differentiates between those who emigrated
from Mecca to Medina {muhajirun, see
emigrants and helpers) and nomadic
peoples who neither took part in the mi-
gration (hijra) nor submitted themselves to
Muslim sovereignty. About the difference
between Arabs ('arab) and Bedouin (a'rdb)
the philologist al-Azharl wrote that the
muhajirun and the residents of Medina who
allied themselves with Muhammad — the
Helpers (ansar) — are not Bedouin but
Arabs because they live in settlements (qura
'arabiyya) and towns. Those who reverted to
a nomadic lifestyle (ahl al-badw) after the
migration to Medina became Bedouin
again (ta'arraba) . As indicated by passages
such as £4:31 and Q_ 42:37, such reversion
constitutes one of the "great sins" (kaba'ir,
see sin, major and minor) for which an

individual can be held accountable on the
day of judgment (cf Azharl in Lisan al-
'Arab, i, 586-7; Taj al-'arus, hi, 334; see last
judgment). Only the Bedouin who per-
formed the migration were considered to
be full Muslims and this included the obli-
gation of military service. From the last-
mentioned remark of al-Azharl the conclu-
sion can be drawn that, after the migration
to Medina, many of the Bedouin returned
to their tribes and refused to perform the
military service (see tribes and clans).
This situation changed after the defeat of
the ridda, the "defection" of some tribes
that occurred after the death of the
Prophet (see apostasy). Eventually no-
madic units developed into important aux-
iliary troops and were brought together in
garrison towns (amsar). Nevertheless, the
integration of the nomadic population into
the Islamic state remained a source of so-
cial and political tension for centuries.

Ute Pietruschka

Bibliography
Primary: Hamdanl, Abu Muhammad al-Hasan
b. Ahmad, Kitab al-lklil, ed. M. al-Aqwa (
al-HiwalT, 2 vols., Cairo 1383-6/1963-6; Ibn
Ishaq, Sira; Ibn Sa ( d, Tabaqat; al-Marzuql, Abu
All Ahmad b. Muhammad b. al-Hasan, Kitab
al-Azmina wa-l-amkina, 2 vols., Hyderabad 1332/
1914; Taj al-'arus.

Secondary: R.W. Bulliet, The camel and the wheel,
Cambridge, MA 1975; W. Dostal, The
development of Bedouin life in Arabia seen from
archaeological material, in The International
Symposium on Studies in the History of Arabia,
al-Jazira al-'arabiyya qabla l-Isldm, 2 vols., Riyadh
1979, i, 125-44; id., The evolution of Bedouin
life, in S. Moscati and F. Gabrieli (eds.), L'antica
societd beduina, Rome 1959, n-34; I- Eph ( al, The
ancient Arabs. Nomads on the borders of the fertile
crescent. g tk -$ centuries B. c, Jerusalem/Leiden
1982; G.E. von Grunebaum, The nature of Arab
unity before Islam, in Arabica 10 (1963), 5-23; J.
Henninger, La religion bedouine preislamique,
in S. Moscati and F. Gabrieli (eds.), L'antica societd
beduina, Rome 1959, 115-40; J. Jabbur, The
Bedouins and the desert. Aspects of nomadic life in the
Arab east, New York 1995; Lane; A. Musil,

BELIEF AND UNBELIEF

.Northern Negd, New York 1928; T. Nagel, Staat und
Glaubensgemeinschaft itn Islam, 2 vols., Zurich 1981,
i; M. von Oppenheim, Die Beduinen, 4 vols.,
Leipzig 1939-1968, i, 22-36; Paret, Kommentar,
208-9; C* K-°bin, La penetration des Arabes
nomades au Yemen, in REMMM 61 (1991-3); id.,
U Arabic antique de Karib'il a Mahomet. Mouvelles
donnees sur Vhistoire des Arabes grace aux inscriptions,
71-88; R. Simon, Hums et Tlaf, 011 commerce
sans guerre (Sur la genese et le charactere du
commerce de la Mecque), in ao-h 23 (1970),
205-32; J. Wagstaff, The evolution of Middle
Eastern landscapes. An outline to a.d. 1840,
London 1985; W.M. Watt, Muhammad at Medina,
Oxford 1956; T. Weiss Rosmarin, Aribi und
Arabien in den babylonisch-assyrischen
Quellen, in Journal of the Society of Oriental
Research 16 (1932), 1-37.

ee See ANIMAL LIFE

Beguiling/Bewitching see magic,

PROHIBITION OF

Belief see belief and unbelief

Belief and Unbelief

The fundamental attitudes to the divine
being, to the prophethood of Muhammad
and to the message of the Quran. The
paired terms "belief and unbelief" (iman,
kufr) and their correlates "believer and un-
believer" (mu'min, kdfir) represent the cen-
tral antithesis of the qur'anic discourse.
The root '-m-n in the sense of "believing"
and its most common, though by no means
only, antonym, k-f-r (see gratitude and
ingratitude), are among the most frequ-
ently attested roots in the Qur'an with
close to 500 cases of each. They appear,
either separately or in combination, in
most qur'anic suras, often more than once
in a single verse. This in itself shows the
central importance of these two pivotal
concepts in the Qur'an.

Belief and the believers
The term used most frequently in the
Qur'an to denote belief or faith (q.v.) is
iman. It is closely related to the term islam
(q.v.) which is usually translated as "sub-
mission" or "the act of submitting." Al-
though these two closely-related concepts
seem at times to be near-synonymous
(q, 10:84; 51:35-6), their difference is em-
phasized in 0^49:14: "The wandering Arabs
(q.v.; see also bedouin) say: We believe
(dmannci). Say: You believe not, but rather
say 'We submit' (aslamnd), for the faith has
not yet entered into your hearts "

Iman is the verbal noun of the fourth
form of the root '-m-n. The active partici-
ple, mu'min, is usually translated as "be-
liever" (its plural, mu 'minun, is sometimes
rendered "the faithful"), the only exception
being 0^59:23 where it is God who is de-
scribed as mu'min but in the sense of a pro-
tector or guarantor of security (cf. also
Q_ 106:3-4). According to M. Mir (Iman),
the root '-m-n, especially in its fourth form,
does indeed connote security since the one
who believes becomes secure against un-
truth and misguidance in this world and
against punishment in the next (cf. T usl >
Tibydn, i, 54; T a bataba'l, MTzdn, i, 45).
Muslim commentators usually provide an
explanation of what is to be understood by
the term iman at its first occurrence in the
Qur'an (0,2:3), glossing it as affirmation
or attestation of the truth of something
(tasdiq) .

Even though the term mu 'min, in an abso-
lute sense, is primarily used to describe an
adherent of the religion founded by Mu-
hammad — in other words, a Muslim —
it should be emphasized at the outset that
in the Qur'an mu'min does not have this
exclusive meaning. It also covers the pre-
Muhammadan believers, i.e. those who
believed in the messengers (see messenger;
prophets and prophethood) that were

2ig

BELIEF AND UNBELIEF

sent by God before the appearance of
Muhammad, the most obvious example
being the mu'min mentioned in 0.40:28-45
who was a supporter of Moses (q.v.) at the
court of Pharaoh (q.v.). A second group of
non-Muslim mu'minun consists of individ-
uals among the People of the Book (q.v.;
see below) who are described in the Quran
(0.2:62; 3:110, 113-5, : 99; 5 ; 66, 83; 28:52-4;
57:27) as believers although most commen-
tators regard them as converts to Islam.
Strictly speaking, then, mu'min and Muslim
are not synonymous. However, in the fol-
lowing, mu'min will be used primarily in
the sense of an adherent to the religion of
Muhammad. The formula "O you who
believe" (yd ayyuhd lladhi dmanu), which ap-
pears frequently in suras from the Medi-
nan period introducing a precept (see
boundaries and precepts) or an admoni-
tion, invariably addresses this class of be-
lievers. At times, female believers (mu'minat)
are explicitly addressed or mentioned, e.g.

The objects of belief
What distinguishes true believers from
polytheists (see polytheism and atheism)
is the belief in one God, whereas what sets
them apart from the earlier monotheists is
the belief that Muhammad is the messen-
ger of God. This is reflected in the sha.hd.da,
the Muslim profession of faith (q.v.), which
constitutes one of the five pillars of Islam
and to which the Shi'ls add the affirmation
that 'All (see c ali b. abi talib; shi'ism and
the qur'an) is the friend of God. But
there is more to belief than that. In order
to qualify as a mu'min, one must further-
more believe in God's earlier messengers,
his revealed books (see book), his angels
(see angel) and the hereafter (see heaven;
hell; 0.2:177, 285; 4:136). A separate arti-
cle of faith is belief in al-ghayb (0.2:3, see

HIDDEN AND THE HIDDEN), which is given

various glosses by the commentators (see
Ibn al-Jawzi, ^ad, i, 24-5). The commonly
accepted view is that it refers to "unseen
things," knowledge of which is hidden
from humankind. Examples of "unseen
things" that commentators on the Qur'an
frequently mention include the destiny
(q.v.; see also fate) of an individual hu-
man being, the events of the last day (see
apocalypse), the resurrection (q.v.), and
the last judgment (q.v; Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, i,
41; Jaldlayn, 7; Qurtublj^Jamf', i, 159). For a
Shi'i exegete like al-Tus! (d. 460/1067;
Tibydn, i, 55), al-ghayb includes the (un-
known) duration of the occultation of the
awaited Imam (q.v.) and the coming of the
Mahdi. Only God has the keys to the un-
seen things {mafdtTh al-ghayb, 06:59, also the
title of the commentary by Fakhr al-Din
al-Razl) but man must believe in their ex-
istence. Moreover, some commentators
state that in order for imdn to be valid, it
should be a genuine affirmation and not
merely an attitude acquired by imitation
(taqlid, Rashld Rida, Mandr, ii, inf., I45f.
and cf. Ibn al-'Arabi [attributed] , Tafsir, i,
16-7, who distinguishes between imdn taqlidi
and imdn tahqiql) .

Belief and works
According to the Qur'an, the attitude of
true believers towards God is characterized
by gratitude, awe, repentance, and sub-
mission. In their attitude to their fellow
humans, they are distinguished by their
chastity, modesty, humility, forgiveness,
and truthfulness. They respect their con-
tracts and covenants (see 0.8:2-4, 74; 9:112;
13:20-3; 23:1-6, 8-n, 57-61; 24:36-9;
25:63-8, 72-4; 28:54-5; 32:15-7; 33:35-6;
42 : 36-43; 48:29; 70:22-35; 76:7-10; see
CONTRACTS AND ALLIANCES; COVENANT;
BREAKING TRUSTS AND CONTRACTS). The

suras from the Medinan period emphasize
the importance of the coherence of the

BELIEF AND UNBELIEF

Muslim community (see community and
society in the qur'an). Believers are
brothers (o 49:10; see brothers and
brotherhood) and should assist and pro-
tect each other (08:72, 74; 9:71). Peace
must be established between them in case
they should fight (p_ 49:9-10) and they
should show each other mercy (048:29).
Offending another believer is a sin (048:29;
see sin, major and minor). These pas-
sages, incidentally, show that all was not
well and harmonious among the believers
in Medina; there were even special rules
governing their proper conduct towards
the Prophet and his wives (e.g. 0.33:53;
49:2-5; 58:12-3; see wives of the prophet).
Belief should ideally be accompanied by
and expressed in pious deeds ('amal al-
salihat) such as worship (q.v.), charity and
striving for the cause of God in different
ways. Belief and works frequently appear
together in the Qur'an which suggests that
'amal (see work) is an integral part of iman
(02:82, 277; 3:57; 4:57, 122, 173; 5:9, 93;
7:42). However, post-qur'anic literature re-
veals a tendency to separate iman and 'amal,
often equating the latter with islam in the
sense of an outward expression of the faith
whose interior location is the heart (q.v.).
This tendency can already be observed in
certain traditions on iman in the canonical
collections of hadith where Muhammad is
asked by the angel Gabriel (Jibril, see
gabriel) about the essence of islam, iman
and ihsdn (which latter stands for super-
erogatory acts of worship; see Bukharl,
Sahih, K. al-lman, 38, 50; cf. Muslim, Sahih,
K. al-lman). Compendiums of theology and
heresiographical tracts invariably include
discussions about the relationship between
faith and works and the nature of belief.
They raise such questions as whether
someone who professes faith but does not
observe the corresponding precepts can be
considered a mu'min and whether he or she
is entitled to a reward (see reward and

punishment) in the hereafter. (For a survey
of theological positions held by different
groups and individuals, see Razi, Tafsir, ad
Q_2:6.) Another much-debated question is
whether belief can increase or decrease
(based on 0.3:173; 8:2; 48:4).

For their belief and their righteous deeds,
believers will be the recipients of God's
favor and enjoy preferential treatment. Al-
though they will be subjected to trials in
this world (02:214; 3:186; 47:31; see trial),
they also prosper and God makes their
works succeed (e.g. 2: 5i 3 :i0 4j 2 3 :i > 33 : 7 : )-
He strengthens the believers and defends,
saves and protects them (058:22; 22:38;
39:61; 40:9). Ultimately, they will be admit-
ted to paradise (q.v.) — described in vivid
detail throughout the Qur'an — where
they will remain in eternal bliss (e.g. 02:25;
3 :i 5; 9 : 72; I3 : 23; '8:31; 22:23; 23:19; 35:33;
55:54; see also garden).

Unbelief and unbelievers
The most frequent, though not the only,
Arabic term denoting unbelief, disbelief or
misbelief is kufr but the Qur'an contains a
series of related and to some extent syn-
onymous concepts. These include iniquity
($ubm), sinfulness (fisq), arrogance (q.v.) or
haughtiness (istikbar) and denial (takdhib),
each of which expresses an aspect of the
unbeliever's attitude (for a detailed analy-
sis, see Izutsu, Concepts, 105-77).

The basic meaning of k-f-r is to cover, to
hide, to conceal, e.g. the truth. By exten-
sion, kufr came to mean to ignore or fail to
acknowledge (03 0:i 3j 35 :i 4> 46:6; 3:115), to
reject, to spurn, to be thankless or ungrate-
ful (o 2:152; 16:55, 83, 122-4; i7 : 27;
26:18-19; 29:66; 30:24; 43:15). Finally, men-
tion must be made of the meaning which
today is regarded as the primary one, to
disbelieve. This signification of kufr retains
all the connotations of the above-men-
tioned verbs. It was not so much trans-
formed as extended in the course of the

BELIEF AND UNBELIEF

revelation of the Qur'an (see M. Waldman,
Development). According to classical
sources of Arabic lexicography, such as the
Lisan al-'Arab (v. 144), the fundamental
meaning of kufr is ingratitude for benefits
received (kufr al-ni'ma) .

Someone accused of kufr is called a kafir
(pi. kafirun, kuffar, alladhma kafaru, and
kafara, which latter occurs only once in the
Qur'an; often, however, the Qur'an simply
calls them alladhma la yu'minuna, "those who
do not believe"). The older English transla-
tion "infidel" is now used less frequently.
The intensive forms, kafir and kaffar, de-
scribe someone whose kufr takes extreme
forms (o 2:276; 11:9; 14:34; 22:38; 31:32;
35 : 36; 39:3; 42:48; 50:24). The derived
form takfir, not found in the Qur'an, means
branding someone, especially a fellow-
Muslim, as a kafir. This is condemned in
hadlth but nonetheless takfir became an ef-
fective instrument of excluding someone
from the Muslim community. In the forma-
tive period of Islam the first ones to make
this accusation were the Kharijis (q.v.) who
reserved for themselves the qualification
mu'minun while applying the term kuffdr to
all others. Their example has been fol-
lowed by many others. Similarly, accusa-
tions of ascribing partners to God or of
making anything else equal to him (shirk)
have been used by Muslims in both medi-
eval and modern times to challenge those
whose views are deemed to be deviant.

The Qur'an distinguishes two main groups
of unbelievers. Although at first sight these
two appear very different, they actually
have much in common, not least being the
fact that both rejected the message of
Muhammad. The idolaters (mushrikun, see
idolatry and idolaters) were by far the
most numerous for they constituted the
majority among the Arabs, both sedentary
and nomadic. The second group is that of
the People of the Book (ahl al-kitdb). A third
group, to be discussed separately, is formed

by the so-called hypocrites (munafiqun, see
HYPOCRITES AND HYPOCRISY) who first
appear in the Medinan period. Though
outwardly professing belief, they are not
truly committed to faith. This attitude is
referred to in the Lisdn al- 'Arab (v. 144) as
kufr al-nifdq, to be distinguished from kufr
al-inkdr (failure to acknowledge the oneness
of God either in the heart or in speech),
kufr al-juhud (refusal to affirm in speech
what the heart acknowledges as true), and
kufr al-mu 'dnada (to acknowledge God in
the heart and in speech but to refuse to
act accordingly; cf. Lane, vii, 2621).

Idolaters, idol-worshippers, polytheists, pagans
The term mushrik is derived from shirk, i.e.
associating, in the sense of ascribing part-
ners to God, which is described in the
Qur'an as the only sin for which no for-
giveness is possible (o_4:48). Another com-
mon qur'anic expression for this is "those
who associate" (alladhma ashraku). At first,
Muhammad's preaching was addressed al-
most entirely to the pagan Arabs whose at-
titude may be described as follows: Not be-
lieving in the existence of an afterlife, they
are excessively attached to worldly goods
and take great pride in their material pos-
sessions and in their sons (o_ 19:77-80). But
their enjoyment of this world will be brief
(o_2:i26; 3:196-7; 31:24; 77:46) and their
possessions and children will not avail
them (0.3:10, n6; 9:85; 34:35-7; 58:17;
60:3). Although they ascribe daughters to
God (p_ 16:57; 53:19-23), they themselves are
aggrieved when female children are born
to them (o 16:58-9). God shows them his
signs (q.v.), the wonders of nature, that
they may believe and gives them of his
bounties, that they may be grateful but
they fail to acknowledge that the source of
these favors is the one God, the creator of
all things, who will resurrect and judge
them on the last day. In their unbelief they
follow the ways of their ancestors (o_2:i70;

BELIEF AND UNBELIEF

37:69-70; 53:23) and are loath to give up
their traditional beliefs and rites which are
connected with idols (see IDOLS AND im-
ages) that will be of no help to them
when the final hour comes. They ignore
the warning's (q.v.) communicated to them
by Muhammad, just as earlier nations (the
pre-Islamic unbelievers) had rejected the
call of the messengers that God had sent,
messengers such as Hud (q.v), Salih (q.v.),
Noah (q.v.), Abraham (q.v.), Lot (q.v.),
Moses (q.v.), and Jesus (q.v; e.g. Q_6:34;
26:105, 123, 139, 141; 43:7; see also AGE OF
ignorance; PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA and
the our'an). They mock the believers
(o 83:29-32) and are not impressed by a
message coming from someone who is a
mere mortal like themselves, someone who
fails to produce the miracles (see miracle)
that they demand as proof (q.v.; Q_ 17:90-3;
cf. 0^74:52). Considering him possessed as
had previous nations deemed the earlier
warners, they call Muhammad a liar who
represents stories he received from outsid-
ers as divine revelations. For their rejec-
tion, these nations had been severely pun-
ished (see punishment stories) both in
this life and in the hereafter, and this is
what awaits the pagan Arabs unless they
repent and turn to God and Muhammad.
However, most of the people to whom
Muhammad was sent will only recognize
the truth of the warning and the reality of
the punishment in the afterlife, when it is
too late to mend their ways (e.g. Q_ 34:33;
39:56-8). Rather, they turned away when
they were admonished (o_2i:2; 26:5; 74:49)
or put their fingers in their ears (o_7 i: 7! see
also blasphemy). Theirs will be a painful
doom in hell (graphic descriptions are
found throughout the Qur'an, e.g. 5)2:24;
4:56; 7:50; 8:50; 9:35; 21:39; 22:19; 23:104;
40:49, 72; 37:62-8; 44:43-8; 56:52-6). Criti-
cism of the pagans continues into the Me-
dinan period although there the focus shifts

somewhat from the mushrikun to the hypo-
crites and the People of the Book.

The People of the Book
This term (0,2:105, 109; 3:64, 65, 69, 70, 71,
72, 75> 98, 99, no, 113, 199; 4:123, 153, 159,
l 7 l l 5 :i 5, l 9> 59: 68, 77; 29:46; 33:26; 57:29;
59:2, 11; 98:1, 6), along with phrases like
"those who were given the book" (alladhina
utu l-kitab, o_2:i44, 145; 3:19, 20, 100, 186,
187; 4:47, 131; 5:5; 9:29; 74:31; 98:4, and cf.
2:213; 4:44, 51) and "those to whom we
gave the book" (alladhma ataynahum al-kitab,
£2:146; 6:20, 89, 114; 28:52; 29:47), is com-
monly taken to refer to the Jews and the
Christians (see christians and Chris-
tianity; jews and Judaism). In some
verses that allude to the Jews and Chris-
tians, the Qur'an mentions a third group:
the enigmatic Sabians (Sabi'un, Q_2:62;
5:69; 22:17) but whether they and the
Magians [Adajus, Q_ 22:17) are to be consid-
ered as "People of the Book" is disputed
among commentators and legal scholars
(see sabians and magians).

The Meccan suras contain little direct
polemic against Judaism or Christianity.
On the contrary, the Israelites or Jews and
the Christians are presented as an example
to be followed. This is because they ac-
knowledge that there is only one God, the
creator of the universe, who makes himself
known to humankind through revelations
(see revelation and inspiration)
brought by prophets and messengers and
who rewards obedience (q.v.) and severely
punishes rejection and unbelief. In the
Meccan period, the believers are still en-
couraged to seek the advice of the People
of the Book who, having been steeped in
monotheistic tradition, may be able to clar-
ify for them issues that they do not under-
stand (o 10:94).

This initially benevolent attitude changes
after Muhammad moves to Medina (q.v.)

->2;j

BELIEF AND UNBELIEF

where he becomes closely acquainted with
adherents of other monotheistic religions,
especially with Jews. Although some of the
Jews converted to the new religion, the ma-
jority rejected Muhammad's claim to
prophethood. This, combined with politi-
cal factors, led to the deterioration of rela-
tions between Muhammad and the Jews of
Medina as is reflected in many of the suras
from the Medinan period. Jews are now
grouped together with the idolaters as
those who are the most inimical towards
the believers. Christians, on the other
hand, who constituted a less immediate
threat, are presented as sympathetic to the
believers (o 5:82-3; see McAuliffe, Qur'anic,
chap. 7). Even though Christians them-
selves — although, according to certain
commentators, only a portion of them —
are judged more favorably than are the
Jews, Christian teachings such as the Trin-
ity (q.v.) andjesus as the son of God,
which are considered by Muslims to be
distortions of true Christianity, are se-
verely condemned in the Quran as being
in contradiction with the doctrine of the
absolute oneness of God (q_4:i7i; 5:75, 116;

9 : 30).

The unbelief of which the majority
among the People of the Book are accused
is of a different kind than that of the pa-
gans. The stubborn rejection of Muham-
mad's message by the People of the Book is
simply incomprehensible because they had
received revelations before and should
therefore have been the first to believe in
Muhammad, whose coming was foretold
in their scriptures (0,7:157; 61:6; see scrip-
ture and THE qjur'an). Moreover, they
shared with Muhammad and his followers
a number of essential truths. But, they re-
fused to accept that Muhammad had
brought a new (or rather renewed) dispen-
sation and are accused of having obscured
scriptural references to him. In addition,

they constituted a threat to the believers,
whom they tried to lead astray (q.v.), seduc-
ing them back to their former unbelief
(02:109; 3:98-199).

The People of the Book, however, are not
all alike. According to the Qur'an, there
are some among them who believe (q_3:iio,
113, 199; 28:52-4, and cf. 5:66, analyzed in
detail in McAuliffe, Qur'anic, chaps. 5, 6, 8).
According to most commentators, this re-
fers to those Jews and Christians who em-
braced Islam, such as the Jew Abdallah
b. Salam and certain Christians from
amongst the Abyssinians and others (e.g.
Tabari, Tafsir, vii, 107; Tusi, Tibyan, ii, 54;
Tabarsi, Majma ', iv, 170; Qurtubi, Jami',
ii, 166; Ibn Kathlr, Tafsir, i, 397; Jalalayn,
69-70; see also Abyssinia). They are, in
other words, Muslims. Another view is that
the reference is to people who did not for-
mally convert to Islam but whose loyalty to
the true interpretation of their scriptures
impelled them to profess belief in Muham-
mad as the one who was announced there-
in. Unlike their coreligionists, they were
not dismayed by the fact that he was not
from among their own people. The ones
who are described in o 28:52-4 as stating
that they submitted before "it," i.e. before
the coming of Muhammad or the revela-
tion of the Qur'an (inna kunna min qablihi
muslimin), are seen as Jews and Christians
who understood from their scriptures that
a new prophet was to be sent and who
recognized Muhammad as that prophet
when he appeared. They are promised a
double reward because of their loyalty to
two books, the earlier revelation and the
Qur'an.

Despite the potentially higher status of
the earlier monotheists, those among them
who are guilty of unbelief will share a
painful doom with the pagans unless they
mend their ways, o 98, taken by most
commentators to be Medinan, places the

BELIEF AND UNBELIEF

224

unbelievers amongst the People of the
Book on the same level as idolaters (mush-
rikun), calling them "the worst of created
beings," as opposed to the believers, who
are the best of them (098:6-7).

The People of the Book were offered the
choice of joining the new religion or of
maintaining their own religious identity,
but at the price of a poll-tax (jizya, q.v.),
payment of which expressed submission to
the Muslim community (09:29). This ar-
rangement was to become the basis for the
dhimma-system which guaranteed the Peo-
ple of the Book protection (q.v.) of their
lives and goods and which dates from the
period following the death of Muhammad
(see A. Fattal, Le statut legal; C. Cahen,
Dhimma; id., Djizya). The tolerance that
was sometimes accorded to the People of
the Book was not granted to the idolaters
(mushrikun) . For them, the choice was be-
tween Islam and death. p_ 2:256, which
reads "there is no compulsion in religion"
(la ikrahafi l-din) and which in modern
times is often adduced as proof of Muslim
tolerance of other religions, is considered
by most exegetes to have been abrogated
by the so-called sword-verse (0,9:5; see
abrogation) and other passages that call
for an all-out war against the unbelievers
(Q_2:2i6; 8:39; 47:4). Another passage
which is often considered as proof of toler-
ance is "To you your din, to me mine"
(o 109:6) where dm is interpreted either as
religion or as the recompense for one's be-
liefs. Most commentators interpret this
verse as a radical break with the pagans by
those who had accepted the prophethood
of Muhammad (see Ibn al-JawzT, %ad t ix,
252).

Relations between believers and unbelievers
Various passages in the Qur'an speak of
the attitude to be adopted by the believers
towards the unbelievers, warning them
against close contacts with others who are

not of their own rank. Whoever associates
with them is one of them (03:28; 118;

4 :i 44i 5 : 5 : ; 9 : 23-4; !3 :i ; 60:1; and cf. 58:22).
The unbelievers are each other's allies
(558:73). Sitting with the unbelievers who
mock the Qur'an is forbidden (04:140); the
contributions from unbelievers may not
be accepted (09 : 54) an d praying at their
graves is prohibited (09:84). Some pas-
sages explicitly forbid relations with pagan
Arabs even if these are one's own relatives.
The reason for the passage's revelation
(sabab al-nuzul, see occasions of revela-
tion) is not clear in every case, nor is the
category of unbelievers to which reference
is being made: the pagans, the People of
the Book or perhaps the hypocrites. Not
surprisingly, then, the exegetical literature
also presents many different solutions. The
unbelievers in 03:28, for example, are
identified once as Jews and then again as
pagan Meccans (Ibn al-jawzl, %ad, i, 371).

The unbelievers will only mock the be-
lievers (083:29-32) and try to corrupt them
(03:99-100). One should, therefore, avoid
and ignore them and pay no attention to
their idle talk. Only in cases of fear for
one's life may one associate with unbeliev-
ers (03:28; cf. 16:106). In this context, the
term taqiyya — dissimulation (q.v.) — is
mentioned. Whereas Sunn! commentators
tend to see taqiyya as an option, their Shi'i
counterparts consider it a duty when faced
with a threat to one's life (T usl > Tibyan, ii,
435; Mufld, quoted in T a barsl, Majma', iii,
56; Tabataba'l, MTzan, iii, 153, 162-3). More
recently, a very negative attitude was ad-
opted toward the unbelievers, i.e. non-
Muslims, by the twentieth century Egyp-
tian thinker Sayyid Qutb (£ilal, i, 568) who
was executed in 1966.

The passages listed so far suggest that a
passive attitude be adopted towards the un-
believers. Other verses, however, which
may be encountered in any discussion of
jihad (q.v.), stress that believers should exert

225

BELIEF AND UNBELIEF

themselves in the way of God (see PATH
OR WAY [of god]) in the struggle against
unbelief or prescribe fighting against the
unbelievers (e.g. Q_ 2:190-3, 218, 244; 4:74-6,
84. 95; 8:15-6, 45-6, 57, 65; 9:20, 81). Under
certain circumstances, however, it is possi-
ble to make peace with them (o_ 4:90-1;
8:61). Not surprisingly, all these verses are
from the Medinan period when Muham-
mad was in a position of power and no
longer the persecuted preacher that he
had been in Mecca.

The impurity of the unbeliever
Although at first Muhammad tried to
maintain amicable relations with the unbe-
lievers, this attitude changed after the con-
quest of Mecca. Q_g:28 declares the mush-
rikun to be impure (nqjas, see purity and
impurity) and forbids them to come near
the Meccan sanctuary (al-masjid al-haram).
This verse came to be interpreted in the
Malikl and Ja'farl schools of law as prohib-
iting all non-Muslims from entering Mus-
lim places of worship and led to discus-
sions about the nature of the unbeliever's
impurity: Were they literally filthy or rit-
ually impure because they did not perform
ablutions (see cleanliness and ablution;
ritual purity)? Is their impurity a judg-
ment or conception in the minds of the be-
lievers? Or are they intrinsically impure
and contaminating (see contamination)
(Ibn al-Jawzi, 2^ad, iii, 417; Rashld Rida,
Mancir, x, 417; and see A.J. Wensinck,
Nadjis)? Shi'is like al-Tusi (Tibydn) and al-
Tabarsi (d. 51 8/1 153; Majma', 43) subscribe
to the latter view and declare that contact
with the unbelievers should be limited. If
one has shaken hands with an unbeliever
and the hand of either party was moist
one should wash one's hand. Ibn Hazm
(d. 456/1064), representing a Zahirl view-
point, maintains the essential impurity of
all unbelievers but, unlike the Shi'is, does
not prohibit their access to mosques

(Muhalld, iii, 162). The Qur'an does not de-
mand that the unbelievers live in segrega-
tion from the believers or that they distin-
guish themselves from the believers in their
outward appearance; this was a later dev-
elopment of Islamic jurisprudence (see A.
Fattal, Le statut legal; M. Perlmann, Ghiyar).

Belief and unbelief choice or destiny?
According to the Qur'an, humankind can
be divided into two basic categories, those
who believe and those who do not believe.
Yet to what extent are people free to
choose between belief and unbelief? While
several passages in the Qur'an suggest that
people are given the option to choose whe-
ther or not to respond to the call of God's
messenger(s) and that in the final analysis a
person's fate in the afterlife depends on
that person alone (q_ 17:15, 54; 18:29; 20:82;
27:92; 34:50; 39:41), a larger number of
verses give the impression or leave no
doubt that it is God who decides who will
be guided and who will be led astray. In
other words, it is he who decides the fate
of man (q_6:i25; 7:178, 186; 10:96-7, 99;
i3 : 33; 28:50; 39:23, 36, 37; 45:23; 74:31).
This apparent contradiction has given rise
to much theological debate in later Islam
about the question of indeterminism ("free
will") or determinism ("predestination").
The members of the Mu'tazila school (see
mu'tazilis) and the Shi'is, who were influ-
enced by them, felt that predestination
(qada' wa-qadar) was incompatible with the
idea of God's absolute justice (see justice
and injustice). Exegetes like the Mu'tazill
al-Zamakhsharl (d. 538/1144) and the Shl'l
al-Tusi (d. 460/1067) devote much effort to
proving that the Qur'an supports their
claim that man creates his own actions. On
the other hand, the Ash'arl, Fakhr al-Dfn
al-RazI (d. 606/1210) expends much effort
in refuting this view. The Qur'an describes
the unbelievers as people in whose ears
there is a deafness (0,41:5, 44; cf. 16:108),

BENJAMIN

226

whose hearts and hearing have been sealed
by God (£45:23; 63:3) or covered with a
veil (0^6:25; 17:46; 18:57; 41:5). Their hearts
have been made hard or have rusted
(o 39:22; 83:14, and cf. 47:24). The unbe-
lievers are compared with people who are
deaf, dumb and blind (q_2:i8, 171; 6:39;
8:22) and God put fetters on their necks
(o 36:8). Whether this should be seen as the
cause or as the result of unbelief is a dis-
puted question among commentators, their
answers depending upon their theological
orientations. See also freedom and pre-
destination.

Camilla Adang

Bibliography
Primary: BukharT, SahTh, ed. Abd al- c AzTz b.
Abdallah b. Baz, 8 vols, (and fihrist), Beirut
1411/1991; Ibn al-Arabl, MuhyT al-Dln
(attributed), Tafsir al- Qur'an al-karim., 2 vols.,
Beirut 1387/1968; Ibn Hazm, al-Muhalld bi-l-
athar, ed. A.S. al-Bandarl, 12 vols., Beirut
1408/1988; Ibn al-JawzT, %ad; Ibn Kathlr, Tafsir;
Jaldlayn, Beirut 1407/1987; Muslim, Sahih, ed.
M.J. al- Attar, 9 vols., Beirut 1415/1995; Qurtubl,
Jdmi\ ed. M.J. al-Asha, ro vols., Beirut
1414/1993; Qutb, %ilal, 8 vols., Cairo n.d; Rashid
Rida, Aland?; RazT, Tafsir; TabarT, Tafsir, ed.
Shakir; TabarsT, Majma 1 ; Tabataba'i, Adizan;
TusI, Tibydn, ed. A.H.Q. al-Amill, 10 vols.,
Beirut n.d.

Secondary: (General background): C. Adams, Kufr,
in J. Esposito (ed.), The Oxford encyclopedia of the
modern Islamic world, 4 vols., New York 1995; P.
Antes, Relations with unbelievers in Islamic
theology, in A. Schimmel and A. Falaturi (eds.),
We believe in one God. The experience of God in
Christianity and Islam, London 1979, 101-11;
W. Bjorkman, Shirk, in ei ! , iv, 378-80 (still
worthwhile); id., Kafir, in ei 2 , iv, 407-9; CI.
Cahen, Dhimma, in El 2 , ii, 227-31; id., Djizya, in
Ei 2 , ii, 559-62; L. Gardet, Iman, in ei 2 , hi, 1 170-4;
id., Islam, in ei 2 , iv, 171-4; D. Gimaret, Shirk, in
ei 2 , ix, 484-6; J.J.G. Jansen, Mu'min, in ei 2 , vii,
554-5; Lane; Lisan al-Arab; M. Mir, Dictionary of
qur'dnic terms and concepts, New York 1987; id.,
Iman, in J. Esposito (ed.), The Oxford encyclopedia of
the modern Islamic world, 4 vols., New York 1995;
M. Perlmann, Ghiyar, in ei 2 , ii, 1075-6; F. Sherif,
^4 guide to the contents of the Qur'an, London 1985,

81-95; G. Vajda, Ahl al-kitab, in ei 2 , i, 264-6; AJ.

Wensinck, Nadjis, in ei 2 , vii, 870. (Belief and
unbelief '): M.M. Bravmann, The spiritual background
of early Islam. Studies in ancient Arab concepts, Leiden
1972, 26-31; J. van Ess, to, with full bibliography;
L. Gardet, Dieu et la desiinee de Vhomme, Paris 1967,
353-99; Gardet and Anawati, Introduction, Paris
r 97° 2 ; 33°"45; Izutsu, Concepts; id., The concept
of belief in Islamic theology. A semantic analysis of
iman and islam, Tokyo 1965, repr. New York 1980;
H. Ringgren, The conception of faith in the
Koran, in Oriens 4 (1951), 1-20 (a critique of M.
Bravmann's views); J.I. Smith, An historical and
semantic study of the term "islam" as seen in a sequence
of Qur'an commentaries, Missoula 1975; W.C.
Smith, Faith in the Qur'an and its relation to
belief, in id., On understanding Islam. Selected studies,
New York 1981, 110-134; M. Waldman, The
development of the concept of kufr, injAOS 88
! 1968), 442-455 (a critique of Izutsu's method).
(People of the Book): W.A. Bijlefeld, Some recent
contributions to qur'anic studies. Selected
publications in English, French, and German,
I 964" I 973' ^ mw^ (1974), 79-102, esp. 89-95;
J. Bouman, Der Koran und die Juden, Darmstadt
1990; H. Busse, Die theologischen Beziehungen des
Istams zufudentum und Chris tentum. Grundlagen des
Dialogs im Koran und die gegenwdrtige Situation,
Darmstadt 1988; A. Fattal, Le statut legal des non-
musulmans en pays d'Istam, Beirut 1958; McAuliffe,
Qur'dnic; Kh. Samir, Le commentaire cle TabarT
sur Goran 2/62 et la question du salut des non-
musulmans, in AIT/ON 40 (1980), 555-617.

Believers and Unbelievers see belief

AND UNBELIEF

Bekka see megga

Benjamin

The brother of Joseph (Yusuf, see Joseph).
Identified in the Bible as the son of Jacob
(q.v.) and Rachel, Benjamin (Binyamin) is
not mentioned by name in Q_ 12, the sura
which tells the story of Joseph. Of the
eighteen dramatis personae of this sura,
only Joseph is named directly. Nevertheless
the identity of Benjamin is clear and his
presence in the story exemplifies the effec-

■22J

BENJAMIN

tiveness of the referential character of
qur'anic rhetoric.

Benjamin is referred to on the following
occasions: When the brothers complain
"Joseph and his brother [i.e. Benjamin] are
dearer to our father than are we" (p_ 12:8);
when they plot to rid themselves of him;
when Joseph, while giving his brothers
corn after having been established in
Egypt, orders them, "Bring me another
brother of yours by your father" (0 12:59);
when they say to Jacob on their return to
Canaan, "Father, we are not to be given
any more corn! So send our brother with
us" (q_ 12:63); when Jacob responds to
them, "Shall I entrust him to you other
than as I entrusted to you his brother long
ago?" (0,12:64); and in Jacob's reluctant
words of consent, "I will not send him with
you unless you make a pledge before God
that you will bring him back to me"
(o 12:66).

Additionally, back in Egypt there are
qur'anic references, when Joseph takes
Benjamin aside and says to him, "Truly, I
am your brother" (q_ 12:69); when Joseph
has his cup (see cups and vessels) put in
the saddle bag of his brother (0 12:70) from
which it is taken (o_ 12:76); when the broth-
ers make an excuse for him, saying, "If he
has stolen something, he has a brother who
also stole" (p_ 12:77); when the brothers
plead to Joseph to take one of them in
Benjamin's place, since he "has an aged
father" (012:78); prompting Joseph's re-
sponse, "God forbid that we should take
other than the one on whom we found our
property" (o_ 12:79). Further, when they re-
turn to Canaan to tell their father, "Father,
your son has stolen" (o_ 12:81); and Jacob
exclaims, "Perhaps God will bring them all
back to me" (o_ 12:83); and orders them,
"Go, search for Joseph and his brother"
(o_ 12:87). Finally, after their return to Egypt
and to Joseph's presence, he asks them,

"Do you know what you did to Joseph and
his brother?" (o 12:89); and after their hesi-
tant reply he declares, "I am Joseph, and
this is my brother" (p_ 12:90).

Every reference to Benjamin has a role in
the development of the narrative (see nar-
ratives): not, paradoxically, because of
anything he says or does, but simply
through his rel ationship to Joseph. It is
jealousy of Benjamin as well as of Joseph
that precipitates the events of the story
(o_ 12:8). It is through Benjamin that Joseph
first exercises power over his brethren
(0 12:59). It is through Benjamin that Jacob
puts his other sons to the test, to discover
whether they will be faithful to their pledge.
The discovery of the cup in Benjamin's
saddle bag in Q_ 12:76 plays a pivotal role.
The brothers' response to his arrest shows
that they are faithful to their pledge (o 12:78,
80). Benjamin is the agent of their change
of heart. Jacob's order to his sons to search
for Joseph and his brother (0 12:87) leads to
the narrative's denouement when Joseph
reveals his identity to them (0 12:90). The
tensions that generated the story at a liter-
ary level are thereby resolved and the moral
lessons of the sura thereby confirmed.

The close fraternal relationship between
Benjamin and Joseph is a leitmotiv in the
qur'anic story (see brother and brother-
hood). The brothers are envious of Joseph
and his brother; Jacob asks the brothers
whether he can trust Benjamin with them
any more than he trusted them with Benja-
min's brother Joseph (012:64); when reveal-
ing himself to Benjamin, Joseph says to
him, "I am your brother" (0 12:69); Joseph's
cup is placed and found "in his brother's
saddle bag" (012:70, 76); the brothers' ex-
cuse for Benjamin's supposed theft is that
he also had a brother who stole; Jacob sends
the sons back to Egypt to seek Joseph and
his brother; upon their return, Joseph puts to
them the question, "Do you know what

you did to Joseph and his brother?" and in
revealing himself, says, "I am Joseph and
this is my brother."

The Muslim exegetical tradition elabo-
rates these elements in the story. Qur'anic
commentators had no problem in identi-
fying Benjamin and in noting that his
mother Rachel died giving birth to him.
Both commentary literature on the Qur'an
as well as the Muslim literary genre known
as the "tales of the prophets" (qisas al-
anbiya') elaborated the elements of the core
qur'anic narrative that emphasized the
positive role of Benjamin and that showed
the love between the two brothers. The
later Islamic mystical tradition, inspired
by their closeness, saw in Joseph's love for
Benjamin a metaphor for God's primordial
love of the sinner (see sOfism and the
q_ur'an). See also scripture and the
q_ur'an.

A.H.Johns

Bibliography
Primary: Kisa'i, Qisas, trans. W.M. Thackston,
The tates of the prophets of al-Kisd'i, Boston 1978.
Secondary: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The story of

Joseph in the Qur'an and the Old Testament, in
Islam and Christian-Muslim relations (1990), 171-91;
L.Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, Philadelphia
1909-36, v, 83-4 (for the Jewish background to
some aspects of the story); A.H.Johns, Joseph in
the Qur'an. Dramatic dialogue, human emotion
and prophetic wisdom, in Islamochristiami 7 (1981),
29-55; id., The qur'anic presentation of the

Joseph story. Naturalistic or formulaic language?
in Rippin, Approaches, 37-70; M. Mir, The
qur'anic story of Joseph. Plot, themes, and
characters, in MWjb (1986), 1-15; A.L. Premare,

Joseph dans le Goran. Lecture de la sourate 12,
in Foi et vie 86 (1987), 36-59; H. Ritter, Das Meer
der Seete, Leiden 1955, 255; M.R. Waldman, New
approaches to ''biblical" materials in the
Qur'an, in Studies in Islamic and Judaic traditions

presented at the Institute for Islamic-Judaic Studies,
University of Denver (1986), 47-64 (Joseph story,
appendix).

Bequest see inheritance

Berries see agriculture and
vegetation

Betrothal see marriage and divorce

Bible

While there is no qur'anic equivalent of the
term, the Qur'an refers to certain elements
of this scriptural composite. The most pro-
minent of these are: Torah (tawrat), Gospel
(injll), Psalms (zabur) and more ambiguously
scrolls or leaves (suhuf). See torah; gos-
pel; psalms; scripture and the qjur'an.

Jane Dammen McAuliffe

Bilqis

The name most frequently given by Is-
lamic commentators to the anonymous
queen of the land of Sheba (q.v.). Bilqis is
the powerful and intelligent ruler whose
celebrated visit to the court of the prophet
Solomon (q.v.; see also art and architec-
ture and the q_ur'an) is mentioned in
c) 27:20-44. The etymology of the name is
unknown. The view that "Bilqis" is derived
from the Hebrew pilegesh (concubine) or
from jHaukalis, the Greek name given her by
Flavius Josephus, is not at all convincing
(see E. Ullendorff, Bilkls). Muslim religious
scholars also refer to the queen as Bahama
(cf. Tha'labi, Qisas, 312 and other sources
with variant readings), i.e. the female Ba-
laam. The Bahama-tradition features an
extended genealogy, with minor variations,
that projects the queen's ancestors back to
Qahtan, the progenitor of the southern
Arabs (Tha'labi, Qisas, 313 among others).
The queen's story in the Qur'an (J. Lass-
ner, Demonizing the queen, 36-48), while lack-
ing a coherent narrative, has a clear mes-
sage. The Sheban ruler, a woman who

22Q

BIOLOUY

worships other than God (see idolatry
and idolaters; belief and unbelief),
must be brought to submission by the
prophet Solomon once he is made aware of
her unbelief by the hoopoe, a bird from his
flying corps who discovered the queen and
her kingdom in the Yemen (see animal
life). The prophet sends a threatening let-
ter to the queen commanding her to sub-
mit. She attempts to deflect Solomon with
various gifts, all of which are scornfully re-
jected. The queen, alarmed by Solomon's
reaction to her initiative, journeys to visit
him at his court, where she is twice tested.
She passes the first test, but when she en-
ters the prophet's pavilion, she thinks it to
be a pool of water and so lifting her skirt,
she uncovers her ankles. This forces her to
acknowledge — although no reason is
given — that she has wronged herself and
she submits through Solomon to the lord of
the universe.

The subsequent commentary and exege-
sis on the qur'anic verses (J. Lassner, De-
monizing the queen, 47-86) fill the interstices
of the loosely formulated qur'anic text. By
providing a lengthy and sustained narra-
tive, later Muslim writers also added an ad-
ditional dimension to the account of the
queen's visit. From their perspective, the
queen must be brought in line, not only be-
cause she does not recognize God, but be-
cause she violates the nature of the uni-
verse, which is God's design. That is to say,
the queen, who is half jinn (q.v.) and hence
an unnatural creature, has no plans to ful-
fill the time-honored functions of women,
namely, child bearing and nurturing (see
women AND THE q_ur'an). Instead she ar-
rogates to herself the prerogatives of rule
in a most defiant manner. She marries to
unite a divided kingdom only to slay her
husband on their wedding night (Tha'labi,
Qisas, 312-3; al-Dlnawarl, Akhbdr, 22-5;
Ya'qubl, Ta'nkh, ii, 222; T a barl, Ta'nkh, i,
684; Mas'udi, Muruj, iii, 173; and others).

Faced with Solomon's call for her submis-
sion and the rejection of her initial diplo-
matic efforts to bribe him, she travels to
Solomon's court to test him. Should he fail
the tests, she will retain her kingdom and
with that the natural order so carefully de-
signed by God will be undone (J. Lassner,
Demonizing the queen, 57-61). But Solomon
with some help from the angel Gabriel
(q.v.) overcomes her carefully crafted ploys
and in the end the queen, unable to distin-
guish between a pool of water — God's
design for nature — and an artificially
created pool made from glass — repre-
senting her unnatural desire to rule —
capitulates. These themes also appear in
the Jewish lore of Solomon and the Queen
of Sheba, a body of tradition that is seem-
ingly linked, however loosely, with the
Muslim scripture and its commentary (J.
Lassner, Demonizing the queen, 88-132). See
also MYTHIC AND LEGENDARY NARRATIVES
AND THE Q_UR'aN.

Jacob Lassner

Bibliography
Primary: al-Dmawarl, Kitab at-Akhbar at-tiwdl, ed.
V Guirgass, Leiden 1888 (indices by I.
Kratchkovsky, 1912); Mas c udl, Muruj; TabarT,
Ta'nkh; Tha ( labi, Qisas; Ya'qubl, Ta'nkh.
Secondary: J. Lassner, Demonizing the queen of
Sheba, Chicago 1993 (contains extensive
bibliography of primary and secondary sources);
J. Pirenne, Bilqis et Salomon. La reine de Saba
dans le Coran et la Bible, in Dossiers de t'archeoiogie
33 ( : 979)> 6" rn j B.F. Stowasser, Women in the
Qur'an, traditions and interpretation, New York 1994,
62-66; E. Ullendorf, Bilkls, in Ef, i, 1219-20;
W.M. Watt, The queen of Sheba in Islamic
tradition, in Solomon and Sheba, ed. J. Pritchard,
London 1974, 85-103.

Biology as the Creation and Stages
of Life

The Qur'an depicts the creation of the
universe and everything within it as a

BIOLOUY

230

miracle (q.v.) of God and as proof of die
existence of divine power (see POWER and
impotence). According to the Qur'an, hu-
man life began with the creation of Adam
and Eve (q.v.). The qur'anic account of the
creation (q.v.) narrative affirms that every-
thing has been created in pairs for repro-
duction and perpetuation of its own spe-
cies. Modern Muslim commentators,
particularly those who are devoted to "sci-
entific" exegesis [tafslr 'ilmi, see exegesis of
the q_ur'an), have decided that since the
Qur'an makes no mention of the evolution
of one species to another kind of species,
the Darwinian theory of evolution is con-
trary to the teachings of the Qur'an. Such
contemporary Muslim exegesis also makes
the claim that the qur'anic description
from over 1400 years ago, of the concep-
tion of the fetus and of its subsequent de-
velopment and growth, contains details of
which scientific observation has become
aware only in relatively recent times. A
consistent pattern of interpretation, both
medieval and modern, is to read the refer-
ences to conception, birth and human de-
velopment as evidence of God's creative
majesty and care for humankind. The
early life stages and aspects of human biol-
ogy mentioned in the Qur'an include con-
ception, fetal development and growth,
childbirth, lactation and weaning. There is
also abundant reference to the various as-
pects of adult life as well as to death and to
life after death (see DEATH AND THE dead).
There is no sequential treatment in the
Qur'an of the biology of human life and of
the human life span. Rather, these are
treated in many different suras and verses
but relevant verses have here been grouped
for the purpose of thematic analysis. See
also LIFE.

Creation
The creation of humans from dust (turdb)
is mentioned six times in the Qur'an, from

clay (tin) in eight places and from dry clay
(salsal) in four places (see clay). Qur'anic
commentators are of the opinion that tu-
rdb, tin and salsal complement rather than
contradict each other, as they refer to the
various stages through which Adam was
formed (Tabarl, Tafslr; Ibn Kathir, Tafslr, ii,
457). According to this interpretation, God
created Adam from clay, which is a mixture
of water and soil or dust and this was then
turned into dark fetid mud and brought
into shape. This inorganic matter was then
transformed into organic material through
the divine command of "Be!" (kun) after
the soul (ruh) had been "breathed" into
Adam (see spirit; air and wind). Not
only was Adam created from dust but the
Qur'an speaks of all men as being created
in a similar fashion, thus signifying that the
bodies of the progeny of Adam are com-
posed of various organic and inorganic
substances such as those found within the
soil (M. Asad, Message, 520). An apt verse
that summarizes the process of human cre-
ation is: "From the [earth] did we create
you, and into it shall we return you, and
from it shall we bring you out once again"

(a 20:55).

Stages and materials of human creation
are mentioned in numerous qur'anic suras:
Q_6 ("Cattle," Surat al-An'am), Q_22 ("The
Pilgrimage," Surat al-Hajj), Q_23 ("The Be-
lievers," Surat al-Mu'minun), 040 ("The
Believer," Surat al-Mu'min), Q_30 ("The
Romans," Surat al-Rum), o 32 ("The Pros-
tration," Surat al-Sajda), 0,55 ("The Bene-
ficent," Surat al-Rahman), Q77 ("The
Emissaries," Surat al-Mursalat), and Q_86
("The Morning Star," Surat al-Tariq). The
qur'anic vocabulary in each relevant pas-
sage, however, varies in both its mention
and its ordering. For example, the stages
of dust (turdb), sperm (nutfa), a material
that clings {'alaqa, see BLOOD AND BLOOD
clot; anatomy) and a lump of flesh
(mudgha) are mentioned in 5)22:5, while in

-':.!'

BIOLOUY

Q_ 23:12 clay (tin) is mentioned instead of
dust (turab). In Q 55 :i 4 only the dry clay
(salsal) is mentioned while the materials
and stages of dust (turab), clay (tin), sperm
(nutfa), blood clot ('alaqa) and chewed lump
(mudgha) are omitted. As with c) 6:2, which
refers to clay (tin), o_ 30:20 refers to dust
(turab) and to the fully formed human stage
but none of the other materials or stages is
mentioned.

•tion and fetal development
In Qur'an 23:12-4 reference is made to fe-
tal development and growth. There is
again reaffirmation, at the beginning of
this passage, of human origin from clay.
Explanations of these verses express the
view that "sperm" and "firm lodging" refer
to sperm within the female reproductive
tract, more specifically within the uterus.
Prior to fertilization, sperm bind to the
zona pellucida or outer covering of the
ovum. Following such lines of interpreta-
tion, 'alaqa could be a reference to this, i.e.
to sperm "clinging" to the ovum. However,
'alaqa is also interpreted by some exegetes
as "blood clot" and taken to refer to
"something that clings" to the uterus (M.
Butl, Tahdid al-nasl, 69). For those modern
commentators who then extrapolate this
interpretation scientifically, the "blood
clot" could be taken to represent the fertil-
ized ovum or early embryo implanting it-
self in the endometrium or uterine lining.
The "chewed lump" could then be refer-
ence to the cleaved embryo and organo-
genesis, the "fashioning of bones and
flesh." Some exegetes and jurists (fuqahd)
are of the opinion that "another act of cre-
ation" signifies the fetus being imbued with
a soul (q.v.; cf. M. Madkur, JanTn, 84).

A second passage, (322:5, follows in much
the same vein as the first except that early
fetal development is further explained and
specified with the phrase "formed and un-
formed" (mukhallaqa wa-ghayr mukhallaqa) .

Furthermore, the statement that "We cause
whom we will to rest in the wombs for an
appointed term," is understood as a recog-
nition that not all fertilized ova (or em-
bryos) complete the full fetal cycle. Some
are aborted and this citation exemplifies
God's prerogative and power over birth,
life and death (see abortion; birth
control).

A third passage, o 32:7-9, makes clear ref-
erence to the creation of Adam from clay
and to the conception of his progeny by
natural reproductive process, i.e. "an ex-
tract of despised fluid." The paradox in
this latter phrase is noteworthy in that a
pure form, the human being, is created
from impure fluid (A.Y. All, The holy
Qur'an, 1094). According to Islamic law, se-
men is a polluting substance, one of the
bodily emissions that necessitates a major
ablution before the ritual prayer (q.v.; see
also ritual purity; purity and im-
purity). The comment by Abdullah
Yusuf All, a well-known translator of the
Qur'an, connects this situation of legal im-
purity with its consequence in the act of
conception. Finally, Q_3g:6 points out that
fetal development within the womb pro-
ceeds in three veils of darkness (gulumat
thaldth). The three veils of darkness are,
according to qur'anic exegetes, the abdo-
minal wall, the uterine wall and the embry-
onic sacs which surround the fetus (Ibn
Kathlr, TafsTr, iv, 46; T a barl, Tafsir, x, part
23:125-7; see also BLOOD AND BLOOD clot).

Birth
According to q 80:20, God lets the birth
(q.v.) of the baby take place through the
birth canal. Embryological science ex-
plains this by the sequence of events which
occur just before birth and that enable the
baby to be born through the birth canal:
The ovaries and placenta secrete a hor-
mone which loosens the ligaments of the
pelvic joints and softens the cervix. This is

L> :! 2

followed by uterine contractions, the rup-
ture of the bag of water, which helps in
providing a smooth and slippery surface
for the fetus to glide down, and, finally,
birth, o 46:15 also makes reference to this
process, including the pangs of pregnancy,
the actual birth and the subsequent period
of lactation and weaning. Commentaries
on this verse explain that since the mini-
mum period of pregnancy is six months
and the maximum period for breast-feed-
ing is two years, the qur'anic reference to a
thirty month "carrying period" is an allu-
sion to this entire process (Ibn Kathlr,
Tafsir, iv, 157; AlusI, Ruh, ad loc).

Growth and maturation
The full cycle of human creation and de-
velopment is described thus in the Qur'an:
"It is God who created you in [a state of]
weakness, then gave [you] strength after
weakness, then after strength, gave [you]
weakness and a hoary head. He creates as
he wills, and it is he who has all knowledge
and power" (0.30:54). Qur'anic commen-
tary on this verse sees both a succinct ex-
pression of the human life cycle and an
affirmation of divine power over all things.
A baby is born weak and slowly begins to
grow, becomes a youth and then an
adult — this is what is meant by strength
after weakness. Thereafter the human
reaches middle-age, then old age and fi-
nally senility — this is what is meant by
weakness after strength. In other words,
during old age, one's determination, move-
ment, courage and other faculties are
weakened (SabunI, Tafsir, ii, 531). More-
over, the Qur'an mentions that it is within
God's prerogative to allow some of his cre-
ation to undergo the entire cycle from birth
to old age and to end the lives of others be-
fore old age is attained (ibid., i, 567). For
example, according to Q_6:2, the duration
of one's existence on this earth is decreed
by God alone.

Death
According to the Qur'an life does not end
with death. Death is not the total annihila-
tion of human life. The Qur'an uses the
word barzakh (q.v.; Q_ 23:100) to signify the
state that human beings enter into upon
death. Barzakh is a screen or partition
which separates this world from the next
until the day of resurrection (q.v.; cf.
Tabarl, Tafsir, ad p_ 23:100). In affirming
human resurrection, the Qur'an asserts
that all human beings will be brought back
to life to stand in judgment before their
Creator (see LAST judgment). The Qur'an
contains innumerable passages confirming
the day of resurrection and the belief that
humankind will be raised from the dead,
e.g. Q_22:7- Further, at the time of resurrec-
tion, an individual's deeds will be assessed
and judgment will be rendered about
whether entrance will be to paradise (q.v.)
or hell (q.v.) as a permanent abode. This
would then be the final stage of life, i.e. life
after death (o_4:i2i-2 and 168-9).

Abul Fadl Mohsin Ebrahim

Bibliography
Primary: AliisI, Ruh, repr. Beirut 11. d.; Buti,

Muhammad Sa'Tcl Ramadan, Tahdid at-nast,
Damascus 1976; Ibn Kathlr, Tafsn; ed. Abd al-
'AzTz Ghunaym et al., 4 vols., Beirut 1388/1979;
M.S. Madkur, al-Janin wa-l-ahkam al-muta'alliqa
bihifi ' t-Jiqh al-isldmi, Cairo 1969; SabunT, Tafsir;
Tabarl, Tafsir, 12 vols., Beirut 1400/1980+.
Secondary: M.A. Albar, Human development as
revealed in the holy Qiir'dn and hadlth, Jeddah 1992 3 ;
A.Y. 'All, The holy Qur'an. Text, translation and
commentary, Lahore 1969; M. Asad, The message of
the Qur'an, Gibraltar 1980; M. Bucaille, The Bible,
the Qur'an and science, Indianapolis 1978; A. EM.
Ebrahim, Abortion, birth control and surrogate
parenting. An Islamic perspective, Indianapolis 1991;
K.L. Moore, The developing human, Jeddah 1983 3 .

Biosphere see animal life

Birds see ANIMAL LIFE

-'33

Birth

The act of bringing forth new life from the
womb of a mother. The Qur'an details
the process leading to birth in the concep-
tion of the fetus (see biology as the
creation AND stages OF life). It empha-
sizes the sacrosanct nature of life (q.v.),
God's knowledge of and willing of all new
life, and it acknowledges the honorable
role of mothers (see women and the
qjjr'an).

The topic of birth receives less specific at-
tention in the Quran than that of creation
(khalq, see creation), a more inclusive
term with a wider set of meanings. Life,
granted by God (029:27), is sacred
(q_ 17:31). When God wills the birth of a
child, no human physical barriers can pre-
vent the birth (0,3:39; 19:3-8; see abor-
tion; birth control). God knows each
person before birth when each is hidden in
his mother's womb (o 53:32). God created
the first man, Adam and the first woman,
Eve, and their progeny is countless (04:1;
see ADAM and eve). Humankind is en-
joined to respect God's creative power:
"Men have fear of your Lord, who created
you from a single soul (q.v). From that soul
he created its mate and through them he
disseminated a multitude of men and
women" (04:1). The process leading to an
individual's birth, more specifically, the
creation of the fetus and its being imbued
with a soul, takes place in stages. 023:12-14
is one of several passages that explains this
process: "We first created man from an es-
sence of clay (q.v.): then placed him, a liv-
ing germ (sperm), in a safe enclosure. The
germ we made a clot of blood (see BLOOD
and blood clot), and the clot a lump of
flesh. This we fashioned into bones, then
clothed the bones with flesh, thus bringing
forth another creation. Blessed be God, the
noblest of creators!" Qur'anic references
to the stages of conception, fetal develop-

ment and birth imply that God creates in-
dividuals as male or female. As 'Imran's
(q.v.) wife delivers Mary (q.v), she ex-
claims, "Lord, I have given birth to a
daughter." The passage continues by
relating that God knew the gender of the
child: "God knew well of what she was
delivered: The male is not like the female"

fe3 : 36)-

The role of mothers — women who con-
ceive, give birth and sustain infants
through the period of lactation — is noted
with respect. Muslims are commanded to
"honor the mothers that bore you" (0,4:1)
and to show kindness to parents for "with
much pain his mother bears him and he is
not weaned before he is two years of age"
(031:14; see family).

The births of Adam and Jesus (q.v.) are
treated in more detail in the Qur'an as
each birth miraculously differed from those
of other mortals. Adam, the first man, was
created from clay (023:12) or dust (o 3:59).
Then God said to him "Be!" and he was
(03:59). In the same verse, the creation of
Jesus is likened to that of Adam, support-
ing the point that Jesus was a man like
Adam. Among those who are venerated as
prophets (see prophets and prophet-
hood) in the Muslim tradition, Jesus holds
special status through the sign (see signs)
of his miraculous birth. Mary, his mother,
was given special protection from the time
of her birth (o 3:35-6, 42). An angel (q.v.)
tells her to rejoice in a Word from God, the
Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary (03 : 45!
19:17-22). Mary replies, "How can I bear a
child... when I am a virgin, untouched by
man?" (0 19:20; 3:47). "Such is the will of
your Lord, he replied. That is no difficult
thing for him. He shall be a sign to man-
kind, says the Lord, and a blessing from
ourself " (0 19:21).

Donna Lee Bowen

BIRTH CONTROL

234

Bibliography
Primary: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Tuhfat al-
mawdud bi-ahkam al-mawlud, ed. 'A.S. al-Bundari,
Cairo 1986.

Secondary: N.J. Dawood, The Koran, New York
1974; A. Giladi, Children of Islam. Concepts of
childhood in medieval Muslim society, Oxford 1992;
J.D. McAuliffe, Chosen of all women. Mary and
Fatima in qur'anic exegesis, in Islamochristiana 7
(1981), 19-28; N. Robinson, Jesus and Mary in
the Q^ur'an. Some neglected affinities, in Religion
20 (1990), 161-75; J. Smith and Y. Haddad, The
virgin Mary in Islamic tradition and
commentary, in MWJQ (1989), 161-87; B.
Stowasser, Women in the Quran, traditions and
interpretation, Oxford 1994.

Birth Control

Avoiding pregnancy to space or to limit
childbirth. The subject of birth control in
this sense is not discussed in the Qur'an.
Rather, the major sources that both medi-
eval and modern Muslim jurisprudence
has used to assess practices of controlling
birth are those of the prophetic tradition
(sunna, q.v.) and its expression in hadith,
specifically those accounts that speak of
coitus interruptus or withdrawal ('azl)- Yet
verses of the Qur'an have been used to
support the practice of contraception and
to argue the contrary despite the fact that
no qur'anic references bear directly on the
permissibility or impermissibility of birth
control.

According to classical Muslim sources
that describe the historical period prior to
the birth and prophethood of Muhammad
(see age of ignorance; pre-islamic
Arabia and THE qur'an), pre-islamic Ar-
abs employed infanticide (q.v.) or infant ex-
posure (wa'd) as a means of ridding them-
selves of unwanted female children. As
such, it could be understood as a method
of birth control. The Qur'an condemns
this practice of female infanticide in
strong terms: "Do not kill your children

for fear of want. We provide for you and
for them; the killing of them is a great sin"
(0^17:31; also 6:151; 81:8-9; 60:12). Later
sources, however, seem to indicate that less
extreme forms of population control were
known in the formative period of Islam.

Numerous hadith speak of the use of 'azl
during the Prophet's lifetime and note that
it was considered permissible. "We [the
Companions of the Prophet, q.v.] used
to practice 'azl during the time of the
Prophet. The Prophet knew about it and
did not forbid it" (Muslim, Salnh, from
Jabir b. Abdallah). Reasons mentioned in
the hadith texts for employing contracep-
tion center primarily on property rights,
that is, not wanting to impregnate a slave
or female prisoners captured in war. A
prophetic tradition that is commonly cred-
ited to Abu Hurayra (d. ca. 58/678) has be-
come the most frequently cited justification
for the majority of classical jurisprudence
(fiqh) texts and the contemporary opinions
of 'ulama' on the use of birth control pills,
iuds and other temporary forms of family
planning. According to one version of this
hadith, the Prophet said, "Do not use 'azl
with your wife without her permission."
Consequently, the prevailing opinion of
Muslim authorities has been to permit con-
traception when used with the consent of
both spouses.

Breast-feeding children can also provide
a measure of contraceptive protection.
Some authorities, therefore, consider the
Qur'an's recommendation to nurse chil-
dren for two years to be an indirect support
for contraception ((32:233; 31:14; see also
birth; biology as the creation and
stages of life).

Within the Islamic tradition, however, the
acceptance of methods to avoid pregnancy
has not been universal. Arguments which
have been constructed against birth control
emphasize qur'anic texts that affirm the

235

BLASPHEMY

importance of marriage (see marriage
and divorce) and progeny (see chil-
dren). Frequent reference is made to
Q_ 16:72: "And God has given you wives
from yourselves and has given you, from
your wives, children and grandchildren
and has made provision of good things for
you" (cf. £2:223; 4:1; 6:140; 7:86; 11:61;
13:38; 25:74; see blessing). Opponents of
birth control also argue that contraception
denies the will and power of God (5)7:18;
81:29). The hadlth collections, too, provide
support for this position of prohibition.
According to a report from Anas b. Malik
(d. ca. gi-3/709-n), the Prophet said,
"Even if you spill the seed from which a
child was meant to be born upon a rock,
God will bring forth from that rock a
child." The use of birth control for eco-
nomic reasons has been criticized as a de-
nial of God's promise to sustain man and
man's duty to rely upon God fe 3:159; 11:6;
65:2-3). See also abortion.

Donna Lee Bowen

Bibliography
Primary: Muslim, Sahih.

Secondary: A. Ide, The Qur'an on woman, marriage,
birth control, and divorce, Las Golinas, TX 1996;
International Islamic Conference, Rabat,
Morocco, December 1971 , Islam wa-tan^Tm al-usra.
Islam and family planning. A faithful translation of the
Arabic edition of the proceedings of the conference,
Beirut 1974; M.S. Madkur, Nazjat al-Isldm li-
tan^im al-nasl, Cairo 1965; B. Musallam, Sex and
society in Islam, Cambridge 1983; A. Omran,
Family planning in the legacy of Islam, London 1992.

Blasphemy

Speech that is derogatory to God. The
qur'anic terms that correspond most
closely to blasphemy are takdhib, "giving
the lie, denial" and iftira', "invention" (cf.
Izutsu, Concepts, 40, 99-101, 169-70). Inas-

much as God and his messages represent
the ultimate truth (q.v), blasphemy is
denial of that truth or propagation of a
falsehood in its place.

Blasphemy by denial (takdhib) is the out-
right rejection of revealed religious truths,
such as the revelations and warnings of
God's messengers (Q54; see messenger;
revelation and inspiration; warning),
and the announcements of the day of
judgment and the meeting with God
(06:31; 10:45; 23:33; 25:11; 82:9; see last
judgment). It can also include the refusal
to recognize and acknowledge God's signs
(q.v), particularly the wonders of the natu-
ral world which serve as evidence of his
omnipotence and unity (q_6:2i; 17:59; 55;
see power and impotence; creation).
According to passages such as (35:10, the
refusal to recognize God's signs is asso-
ciated with unbelief (kuft; see gratitude
and ingratitude; belief and unbelief)
and guarantees doom in the afterlife:
"Those who reject faith and deny our signs
will be the denizens of hell-fire."

Blasphemy by invention (iftira') is the dec-
laration of a false belief of one's own con-
trivance. It most often occurs in the verbal
idiom "to invent a lie against God" (iftard
'aid lldhi kadhiban, Q_ 11:18). Similar expres-
sions that convey this signification are "to
lie against God" (kadhaba 'aid llah, o 39:32)
and "to say a lie against God" {gala 'aid lldhi
al-kadhib, 0,3:75, 78). This form of blasphe-
my calls down God's curse (q.v; Q_ 11:18)
and is equated with great sin or wrongdo-
ing (see sin, major and minor), as appar-
ent from the oft-repeated rhetorical ques-
tion, "Who does greater wrong than he
who invents a lie against God?" (e.g.
Q_6:2i). The gravest offense of this type is
polytheism [shirk, see polytheism and
atheism): the attribution of partners to
God or the worship of other gods indepen-
dent of, or as intercessors with, God

BLESSING

236

(o 6:24, 137; 7:89; 10:18, 30; 16:56, 87; 18:15;
21:22; 28:75; 29:61-8). A prominent exam-
ple of such an affront to God is the He-
brews' worship of the calf of gold (q.v.) un-
der Moses (q.v.; Q_ 2:51-4; 7:152; see also
IDOLS AND IMAGES; IDOLATRY AND IDOL-
ATERS). The Qur'an strongly denounces
the claims that God engendered a son
(p_ 10:68-9; 19:88-92; see CHRISTIANS AND

Christianity; jesus), that God produced
son or daughter gods (06:100; 16:57;
53:19-22) and that demons (jinn, q.v.) share
in God's divine power (p_6:i00; 37:158).
Blasphemy need not refer directly to God
but may simply infringe on a divine pre-
rogative. Thus, it is held to include false
claims to prophecy or revelation (o_6:g3;
23:38; see prophets and prophethood)
and declaring things lawful or unlawful of
one's own accord (see lawful and un-
lawful; jews and Judaism). This latter is
a charge made against Jewish dietary laws
and the taboos of the pagan Arabs con-
cerning cattle or crops dedicated to
various gods (535:103; 6:136-45; 10:59;
16:116; see consecration of animals).

DevinJ. Stewart

Bibliography
M. Ayoub, The Qur'an and its interpreters, 2 vols.,
Albany 1984-92, ii, 225-8; R. Bell, Commentary, i,
80; Izutsu, Concepts.

Blessing

Prosperity or favor (ni'ma, baraka) bestowed
(an'ama, baraka) by God; a wish, invocation
or greeting asking for such a favor to be
granted to someone else; or an expression
of praise (q.v.) for God.

Blessings in the Qur'an, as in the Hebrew
Bible, partake in an ongoing, reciprocal
covenant (q.v.) between humans and God
(o 5:7). God bestows blessings on human-

kind, including the creation and ordering
of life and the universe, sustenance, pro-
geny, material wealth (q.v.), protection
(q.v), deliverance from enemies, and so on
(R. Darnell, 50-4; o_ 16:66-83; 55; see crea-
tion; BIOLOGY AS THE CREATION AND
STAGES OF LIFE).

According to the Qur'an, expression of
gratitude for God's blessings is a funda-
mental obligation and failure to do so is
tantamount to unbelief (o 14:28; 16:114; see
BELIEF AND UNBELIEF; GRATITUDE AND
ingratitude). God has particularly
blessed earlier cities or nations (034:18),
the Israelites (£2:40, 47, 122; see children
of Israel), his prophets or messengers in-
cluding Moses (q.v.), Lot (q.v.), and Jesus
(q.v; 05:20, no; 19:31, 58) as well as other
biblical figures such as Solomon (q.v.) and
Mary (q.v.; 05:110; 27:19; see also proph-
ets and prophethood; messenger).
Abraham (q.v), Moses, and Solomon ful-
filled their obligations to God by giving
thanks for his blessings (o_ 16:121; 27:19;
28:17). The Israelites are often reminded of
the special favor God has bestowed upon
them in the past, implying a duty to ex-
press gratitude in the present (02:211;
14:28). God will only alter his blessings in
response to some change in the recipients'
behavior (0.8:53). Forgetting God's bless-
ings, expressing dissatisfaction or "ex-
changing God's blessings for thanklessness"
leads to severe punishment (02:211; 14:28;
see punishment stories; chastisement
and punishment). Gratitude for God's fa-
vor leads to renewed blessings, as when Lot
(q.v.) was rescued from the destruction
which befell his people (o 54-35)-

Blessings take place at critical junctures
in religious history. Abraham blessed Mec-
ca and its inhabitants when he was about
to build God's temple, the Ka'ba (q.v;
02:126), and Noah (q.v.) blessed the ark
(q.v.) upon embarkation (o 11:41). Blessings

-'37

BLOOD AND BLOOD CLOT

also reflect bonds with the historical reli-
gious community. It is a duty to bless one's
parents, praying for God's mercy on their
behalf (q 17:24) and to bless the earlier
prophets (q 37:78-9, 108-9, 119-20, 129-130).

Thanking God involves expressions of
praise which are also blessings. The most
frequently occurring are "Praise be to
God!" (al-hamdu lilldh, qi:i); "Glory be to
God!" (subhdna llah, q 12:108), "Blessed" (or
hallowed, tabdraka, o_25:i, 10, 61), [be
God]!"; and "Exalted be God!" (ta'dla llah,
Q7: 190). The inhabitants of heaven will
pray, "Glory be to you, oh God!" (subhd-
naka lldhumma) and conclude their prayers
with "Praise be to God, Lord of the
worlds" (al-hamdu lilldhi rabbi I- 'alamin,
q 10:10).

An important sub-category of qur'anic
blessings are greetings, the most common
of which is "Peace!" (saldm): thus will the
inhabitants of heaven greet each other
(o_ 10:10; 14:23; 33:44). Abraham exchanges
this greeting with his guests, the angels
(q 11:69; see angel), and the Prophet
greets believers with "Peace be upon you!"
[saldm 'alaykum, 06:54). Other blessings in
the context of greeting are "May God's
mercy and His blessings be upon you!"
(rahmatu lldhi wa-barakdtuhu 'alaykum,
qn:73), and "May you be well!" (tibtum,
°39 : 73)-

DevinJ. Stewart

Bibliography
M. Ayoub, Thanksgiving and praise in the
Qur'an and Muslim piety, in Islamochristiana 15
(1989), 1-10; G.S. Colin, Baraka, in Ef, i, 1032;
R.C. Darnell, The idea of divine covenant in the
Qitr'dn, Ph.D. diss., Michigan 1970;
L. Sanneh, Thanksgiving in the Qur'an. The
outlines of a theme, inj. Carman and F. Streng
(eds.), Spoken and unspoken thanks. Some comparative
soundings. Papers, Seminar on acts of thanksgiving and
the virtue of gratitude, Dallas, 1983, Cambridge,
MA 1989, 135-43.

Blood and Blood Clot

The fluid which circulates in the arteries
and veins (see artery and vein) of ani-
mals and a coagulated mass of such fluid.
In the Qur'an, the terms blood and blood
clot do not refer primarily to concrete,
physical, internal aspects of the body as
they do in contemporary western cultures.
Indeed, the two terms function quite differ-
ently than one might expect.

Except for one verse (q 16:66), blood
(dam, pi. dima') is always laden with a signif-
icance beyond its identity as the essential
ingredient of living creatures. Thus, blood
is a metaphor for illicit killing (q 2:30, 84;
see blood money; murder), is forbidden
to humans for ingesting (o 2:173; 5:3; 6:145;
16:115), is the sign of a plague from God
(o 7:133) and is an indication of false evi-
dence (q 12:18). The first of these meta-
phors bears the message of God's designa-
tion of humans as vicegerents (sing, khalifa,
see caliph) on earth, the second affirms
the rule of law (see lawful and unlaw-
ful; law and the qUR'AN) over such do-
mestic matters as dietary fare, the third
reflects the Qur'an's affirmation of ancient
historical details about God's relationship
with earlier prophets (see prophets and
prophethood), and the fourth similarly
asserts God's guidance even against the
wiles of evil people (see obedience). In the
main, then, these meanings reflect themes
analagous to those in the Hebrew and
Christian scriptures (see scripture and
the qUR'AN). Noticeably different, how-
ever, is the lack of reference to blood for
sacrificial purposes, a theme that domi-
nates the earlier sacred writings, both the
Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Tes-
tament. For example, the concept of sacri-
fice (q.v.) is central to biblical explanations
of the death of Jesus (q.v.), such as that in
Paul's Letter to the Romans (Rom 5:9). The

BLOOD AND BLOOD CLOT

2 3 8

lack of this elaborate superstructure of
blood sacrifice in the Quran has been
viewed by some historians as a distinctive
shift from the Semitic and Near Eastern
religious past.

Also unique are references to blood clot
{'alaq, pi. 'alaqdt, see biology as the cre-
ation AND STAGES OF LIFE; BIRTH) which,
besides being the title of a sura (o 96, tradi-
tionally held to be the first sura revealed to
the Prophet) is found within a series of
verses reflecting upon the omnipotence of
God and the evidence of his creative pow-
ers in the world. Blood clot references en-
compass three distinctive nuances, all of
them associated with what we might term
biological processes: a stage in human em-
bryonic development (0,22:5); a gum-like
character in clay (q.v.) which produces ad-
hesion (o_23:i2-4); and an ingredient out of
which God shapes humans (096:2). Com-
mentators have universally acknowledged
the leech-like qualities implied by the men-
tion of blood clot in these verses and have
seen them connoting various religious
meanings. These include the loftiness of
God's creation of humans, given the lowly
and worthless character of their begin-
nings and the social character of human
life as metaphorically expressed in adhe-
sion during the first stages of existence (see
social relations; social interactions).
Such adhesion then becomes the grounds
for the kindness and affection generated in
human society. Finally, it is understood as
emblematic of the male seed "attaching"
itself to the female egg, implying human
procreation. By fixing these meanings
within a larger process, the Qur'an has
been understood to reflect an awareness of
human biology and to present a somewhat
sophisticated model of human generation.
Some modern interpreters combine these
verses with 039-6, seeing in the reference
to the "three veils of darkness" a reflection

of the three anatomical layers that protect
the fetus — the abdominal wall, the uterus
and the matter surrounding the child, i.e.
placenta, embryonic membranes, amniotic
fluid. Traditionally, such biological specific-
ity was held to indicate the superiority of
the Qur'an to earlier scriptures but in re-
cent years some forms of qur'anic exegesis
(see exegesis of the our'an: early mod-
ern and contemporary) have found in
such passages an affirmation that modern
science validates the Qur'an. The intent
of these interpretations is to highlight the
Qur'an's superior knowledge of the cre-
ative process and to indicate not only its
ascendancy over any other scriptures but
also its superior insights into scientific un-
derstanding. Hence a contemporary com-
mentary by Iranian scholars on the verses
that refer to the blood clot notes, "It is true
that at the time of the appearance of Islam
these problems were not known to Man,
but the Holy Qur'an, as a scientific mira-
cle, unveiled the true meaning" (A. Sadr
al-Ameli (trans.), Enlightening commentary,
125). Interpretations of this sort are char-
acteristic of a form of modern qur'anic
commentary known as "scientific" exe-
gesis (tafsir 'ilmi). See science and the
OUr'an.

E.H. Waugh

Bibliography
Primary: A. Sadr-al- c Ameli (trans.), An enlightening
commentary into the light of the holy Qur'an, ed. S.
Berrigan, Esfahan 1994, 125; Tabarl, Tafsir, trans.
J. Cooper, The comm.entary on the Qur'an (abridged
translation), 1 vol. to date, London 1987-, i,
206-30.

Secondary: J. Bounian, Gott und Mensch im Koran.
Eine Struktutform religioser Anthropologic anhand des
Beispiels Allah und Muhammad, Darmstadt 1989 2 ;
M. Bucaille, The Bible, the Qur'an and science, trans.
M. Bucaille and A.D. Pannell, Indianapolis 1979,
205; S. Hussain, The clot (al-'alaq), in iq 24
(1980), 107-10; I. Khalll, al-Damfi l- ( ilm wa-l-
Tawrd wa-l-Injil wa-l-Qur'dn, Cairo 1996.

^39

BLOOD MONEY

Blood Kinship see kinship; family

Blood Money

Money obtained in compensation for life.
The qur'anic term commonly translated as
"blood money" is diya. It is practically a ha-
pax legomenon, occurring only in the phrase
"blood money is to be paid to his kin" (di-
jatun musallamatun ild ahlihi), which occurs
twice in a single piece of legislation in
0^4:92. The verse lays down the law of ac-
cidental homicide for which the perpetra-
tor must emancipate a slave or fast for two
months (see atonement) and deliver a diya
to the victim's family if the victim was a
believer or protected by treaty (see con-
tracts and alliances). Both the term
and the institution may well be of pre-
Islamic Arabian origin (see pre-islamic
ARABIA AND THE qur'an). The verbal ex-
pression wdy nfs (fulan), apparently in the
sense of "he paid the diya for the life of
(so and so)," occurs in two Lihyanic in-
scriptions from the valley of al-Ula in
northwest Arabia. Under Jewish law
even accidental homicide renders the per-
petrator liable to retaliation, unless he can
escape to a city of refuge, and payment of
a ransom (kofer) is specifically prohibited
(Nam 35:26-7, 32; Deut 19:4-6). On the other
hand, o_ 4:92-3 make clear that only acci-
dental homicide must be compounded
with a diya. (34:93 condemns the murderer
with intent and unlawful killing is formally
prohibited in o 6:151, 17:33 and 25:68 (see
bloodshed; murder). £5:45 reaffirms the
principle of "a life for a life" and Q_ 17:33
endorses the right of the murdered victim's
kin or protector to take vengeance (see jus-
tice and injustice). All this sits uneasily
with 5)2:178, which endorses retaliation in
kind (qisds, see retaliation) in respect of
those killed, "a free man for a free man, a

slave for a slave, a female for a female."
Unlike cj 4:92-3, this verse makes no dis-
tinction between deliberate and accidental
killing and — despite the best efforts of the
exegetes — suggests that the person liable
to retaliation is not necessarily the killer
but any appropriate person of the same
status as his victim. It encourages the com-
pounding of the offense but without either
the systematic distinction or the technical
term diya of 5)4:92-3. The use of add' (pay-
ment, delivery) in 0^2:178 is suggestive of
the diya of 0^4:92, though neither exegetes
nor lexicographers make any explicit con-
nection between the two terms.

Classical Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh, see
law and THE q_ur'an) has harmonized
these somewhat disparate elements. It sets
its face firmly against retaliation on the in-
nocent and insists in principle that "a life
for a life" means the life of the murderer
for the life of the victim. It does, however,
make exceptions. For example, when the
victim is a slave and the perpetrator a free
Muslim there can be no retaliation (see
slaves AND slavery). It also extends the
legality of compounding the offense of ho-
micide to that of murder with intent, for
which a diya may be paid instead of lawful
retaliation if the victim's next of kin or
protector agrees (see kinship; protec-
tion). The amount of the diya for a free
male Muslim is set at 100 camels, perhaps
a gesture to Arabian origins rather than an
original statute that has survived the test of
time. In settled lands, the diya is payable in
cash.

Richard Kimber

Bibliography
R. Brunschvig, c Alula, in El 3 , i, 337-40; W.
Caskel, Lihyan und Lihyanisch, Cologne 1954, 91-2,
1 1 6-8; A. Jaussen and R. Savignac, Amission
archeologique en Arable, 3 vols, in 4, Paris 1909-22,
ii, 369-70, 441-5; B. Johansen, Eigentum, Familie

BLOODSHED

24O

und Obrigkeit im Hanafitischen Strafrecht, in WI
19 (1979), 38-46; J. Schacht, An introduction to
Islamic law, Oxford 1964, chap. 24; id., Katl, in
El", iv, 766-72; id., Kisas, in Er', v, 177-80; E.
Tyan, Diya, in EI 3 , ii, 340-3.

Bloodshed

Killing or injuring human life (q.v.). The
Qur'an bans bloodshed (sajk al-dimd'), but
it is specifically mentioned in the Qur'an
only twice (q_2:30, 84). Nevertheless, there
are numerous less-specific references to this
concept, just as there are in its biblical an-
tecedents (see the numerous and themati-
cally diverse biblical references cited in A.
Khoury, Der Koran, i, 223). Furthermore,
the qur'anic accounts of human creation
use blood as a metaphor for life (see blood
and blood clot; biology as the cre-
ation and stages of life). God is said to
have created man of a clay of molded mud
[salsdlmin hama' ' masnun, Q_ 15:26, 28, 33)
and, in a further stage of the physical for-
mation, of a blood clot {'alaq, Q_g6:2). The
latter conveys the ancient idea that life "is"
blood and vice versa. When blood leaves the
body, it carries life with it (H. Wheeler
Robinson, Blood, 715; J.H. Waszink, Blut,
469).

According to the Qur'an, "not to shed
blood" is a divine command that the Isra-
elites received in their holy scripture. The
qur'anic expression of this connection has
given rise to different explanations by Mus-
lim exegetes about the binding nature of
the command. The idea of the creation of
man (cf. Q_ 2:30-9) forms the context for the
first qur'anic mention of bloodshed. God
speaks to the angels: '"I am setting in the
earth a viceroy.' The angels ask, 'What,
will you set therein one who will do cor-
ruption there, and shed blood (yasfiku l-
dima')?' He said, 'I know that which you
know not.' And he taught Adam [how to]
name all things..." (q_ 2:30-1). According

to qur'anic and biblical understanding,
God handed over his creation (q.v.) to hu-
mankind despite the angels' warning (cf.
Khoury, i, 222; see caliph; angel). There-
fore, some Muslim commentators felt
themselves forced to rule out any connec-
tion of Adam and his descendants with
bloodshed by insisting that the passage re-
ferred to another kind of human being or
to jinn (q.v.) "who lived on earth, doing
corruption and shedding blood" before the
time of Adam (Tabarl, Tafsir, i, 154-5,
170-1; RazI, Tafsir, i, 265; see also ADAM
AND EVE).

According to other sources, however, the
ethical-religious evidence is unequivocal:
Bloodshed is related to corruption (q.v.).
What is meant by the latter term becomes
clearer with the description of the "work-
ers of corruption" in Q_ 2:8-18. Here it is
associated with the unbelievers, the oppo-
nents of the Muslims among the Jews
and with the hypocrites of Medina (cf.
Khoury, i, 178, 192; see opposition to

MUHAMMAD; HYPOCRITES AND HYPOCRISY).
The "mischief-makers" (mufsidun, see also
W Caskel, Entdeckungen, 11, 27, 32) and
"their evil abettors" (shayatin) are "sin-
ners" who trick God and the true believ-
ers and have "a sickness in their hearts"
so that they "blindly wander in their in-
solence."

The second qur'anic mention of blood-
shed is contained in those passages that en-
join Jews to convert to Islam or to become
allies of the Muslims (cf q 2:40-74; see
jews and Judaism). Hostilities between
two Jewish tribes in Medina (q.v.) at the
time of Muhammad are also of relevance
since they temporarily led to the situation
in which Jews were fighting and killing
each other (Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, i, 189; also
Khoury, Der Koran, ii, 42). In this context
the Children of Israel (q.v.) are addressed
directly: "And when we took compact
(mithaq, see 0^2:27, 63; see covenant) with

-4 1

you: 'You shall not shed your own blood (la
tasfikuna dima'akum), neither expel your own
from your habitations,' then you confirmed
it Then there you are killing one an-
other..." (o_ 2:84-5). The exegete Fakhr al-
Dln al-RazT (d. 606/1210; Tafsir, i, 422)
notes that it is "difficult" (fa-fihi ishkdl) to
ascertain the binding character of the
qur'anic command not to shed blood.
Accordingly, the interpretations cited by
commentators and their authorities are
multiple: (a) the ban was issued only to
Jews ("the Banu Isra'll [see children of
Israel] and their descendants are meant,"
Qurtubl, Jatni '■', ii, 18); therefore, they are
strictly forbidden to kill each other, accord-
ing to "their" belief and to the word of
"their holy scripture" (Ibn Kathlr, Tafsir, i,
189; RazI, Tafsir, i, 422; T a bari, Tafsir, i,
297; see scripture and the q_ur'an); (b)
the ban is indirectly extended to Muslims
by referring to people of "the same descent
and belief" (RazI, Tafsir, i, 423; AlusT, Riih,
i, 490); (c) the ban is directly in force for
Muslims due to their civil wars (al-fitan find,
Qurtubl, Jatni '.', ii, ig); (d) "unjustified" (bi-
ghayr haqq) bloodshed is forbidden (Tabari,
Tafsir, i, 298; see blood money; murder);
(e) the ban on suicide (q.v.) is intended be-
cause an excessive devotion to secular mat-
ters is tantamount to suicide of the soul
(RazI, Tafsir, i, 422).

Sebastian Giinther

Bibliography
Primary: Alusi, Ruh, ed. M. Husayn al-'Arab, 16
vols., Beirut 1414/1994; Ibn Kathlr, Tafsir;
Qurtubl, Jami'; RazI, Tafsir; Tabari, Tafsir.
Secondary: W. Caskel, Entdeckungen in Arabien,
Koln 1954; A.Th. Khoury, Der Koran. Arabisch-
Deutsch Ubersetzung und wissenschafilicher Kommentar,
9 vols, to date, Giitersloh 1990-, i, 218-29
(q_ 2:30-4); ii, 36-45 (g_ 2:83-86); H. Wheeler
Robinson, Blood, in ERE, ii, 714-9; J.H. Waszink,
Blut, in Th. Klauser (ed.), Reallexikon filr Antihe
and Chnstentum, 10 vols., Stuttgart 1954, ii,
459-73-

Boast

To vaunt oneself or one's possessions. Sev-
eral passages in the Qur'an warn of the
dangers of boasting. Boastfulness is con-
trasted with positive virtues that should be
cultivated by the righteous. For example,
0.4:36 commands serving God alone, in
part by doing good to others, and by being
neither boastful (fakhuran), nor arrogant
nor stingy. (J 11:10 tells of those who exult
and boast (innahu lafarihun fakhurun) after
experiencing blessing (q.v.) in the wake of
adversity. Q_3i:i7-8 admonishes people to
"enjoin what is good and forbid what is
wrong [i.e. al-amr bi-l-ma'ruf]; and bear pa-
tiently against whatever befalls you... and
do not turn your cheek scornfully to peo-
ple, nor walk in the earth with exultant in-
solence (Id tams/iifi l-ard marahan), for God
loves not any arrogant boaster (kulla
mukhtdlin fakhurin) ." The Qur'an, from the
earlier revelations to the later ones, consis-
tently warns against boastful people and
their close companions: those who are dis-
dainful (alladhina stankafu, q 4:173), those
who are haughty (al-mutakabbirin, o_ 39:60),
those who consider themselves to be self-
sufficient (an ra'dhu staghnd, 096:7) and
those who are conceited (mukhtdlan, {34:36).
Q_ 57:20 presents a characterization of the
life of this world (al-haydt al-dunyd) as "play
and amusement, pomp and boasting (tafd-
khur) among you, and rivalry in prolifera-
tion of wealth and offspring." Compare
this with the early Meccan sura, Q,I02,
which is entitled "Mutual Rivalry" (al-
Takathur): "Piling up of [good things] dis-
tracts you until you visit the graves. But no,
you soon shall know the reality. . . . You shall

certainly see hell-fire Then you shall be

interrogated on that day concerning the
comfort you indulged in" (q_ 102:1-3, 6, 8).
The obvious lesson is that at the point of
death a person will perhaps look back
on a life wasted in a quest for material

242

possessions and satisfactions. But the spe-
cialist of pre-Islamic poetry, Muhammad
al-Nuwayhi, once (in a 1970 exegesis semi-
nar at the American University in Cairo)
interpreted this passage as containing in-
sider information that would have caused
the original listeners to nod in recognition.
It seems that Meccans used to argue and
boast about who had the largest, most illus-
trious family, clan and tribe (see tribes
and clans), to the point that in alterca-
tions, they would stagger from tavern to
cemetery to tally the departed as well as
the living members of a kinship (q.v.)
group.

The Meccan army that attacked the
Muslims at Badr (q.v.) in 2/624 * s charac-
terized most unflatteringly in 0^8:47: "And
do not be like those who came out of their
dwellings boastfully (bataran) and in order
to be seen by people, and to divert [them]
from the path of God." This and other
passages teach, in one way or another, that
"pride goes before destruction, and a
haughty spirit before a fall" (Pros 16:18). In
a similar vein, Q_ 28:58 declares that: "And
how many a community that was exulting
(batirat) in its [comfortable] way of living
have We destroyed; now those dwellings of
theirs, after them, except for a few, are de-
serted. And we are their heirs!"

Various hadiths continue the Qur'an's
condemnation of pride and boastfulness as
is illustrated in the well-known saying from
Muslim's Sahih: "He who has in his heart
the weight of a grain of mustard seed of
pride (kibriya') shall not enter paradise."
See also arrogance; pride; virtues and
vices.

Frederick Mathewson Denny

Bibliography
Primary: al-Ghazall, Abu Hamid Muhammad,
Ihya' 'ulum al-din, 4 vols., Bulaq 1289/1872, iii,
288-323 (bk. 29, K. Damm al-kibr wa-l-'ujb);

Muslim, Sahih, K. al-Iman, B. tahrim al-kibr, Eng.
trans. A.H. Siddiqi, 4 vols., Lahore 1976, i, 53.
Secondary: F. Denny, Ethics and the Chir'an.
Community and world view, in R. Hovannisian
(ed.), Ethics in Islam, Malibu 1985, 103-21; Izutsu,
Concepts.

Body see anatomy; god and his
attributes; anthropomorphism

Body Fluids see bi

3LOOD AND BLOOD

clot; biology as the creation AND

STAGES OF LIFE

Bohoras see shi'ism and the q_ur'an

BoneS see BIOLOGY AS THE CREATION
AND STAGES OF LIFE; DEATH AND THE
DEAD

Book

There is probably no word more important
to the understanding of the Qur'an than
kitab and yet its meaning is far more com-
plex than the simple and almost universal
translation "book" would seem to imply.
The Qur'an uses the word 261 times, not
only in describing itself but also in refer-
ring to earlier scriptures and to various
other means God employs in dealing with
creation (q.v.). The noun comes from the
verb kataba (to write) and thus can be ap-
plied to written material in any form — it
is used for a letter in Q_ 27:28-9 and for a le-
gal document in Q_ 24:33 — or to the act of
writing itself. It also has extensive meta-
phorical uses which lead to the conclusion
that in the Qur'an the term kitab operates
on several levels at once. Since it also car-
ries the force of a verbal noun, in order to
understand kitab it is necessary to examine
it together with the verb from which it de-
rives. In qur'anic usage the word represents
a quintessentially divine activity and ap-

243

plies only rarely to human writing. The
translation "scripture" does some justice to
the connotations of kitab but runs the risk
of reading Jewish and Christian under-
standings of scripture into the Qur'an
which has its own unique conception of
the phenomenon of God's writing.

Kitab and divine i
It is a commonplace of Near Eastern reli-
gions that God keeps both an inventory of
everything created as well as a detailed re-
cord of all human deeds. The Qur'an ad-
dresses its hearers as though they are quite
familiar with these ideas. "Did you not
know that God knows all that is in heaven
and on earth? Surely it is in a kitab. That is
easy for God" (o_ 22:70). Nothing is too
small or too great to be comprehended by
God's knowledge (g_ 10:61) and nothing of
the unseen remains unaccounted for in the
kitab (o_ 27:75). The birds and beasts, no less
than humanity, have been recorded and
nothing has been neglected in this inven-
tory ((36:38), not even their sustenance or
habitation (p_n:6). The important thing to
note in these verses about the inventory is
the close connection between kitab and
knowledge. The kitab represents what God
alone knows: "And with him are the keys of
the unseen (see hidden and the hidden).
No one but he knows them, and he knows
what is in the land and the sea. Not a leaf
falls without his knowing it, not a grain in
the darkness of the earth, nothing either
wet or dry but it is in a kitab that makes
things clear" (0.6:59). This inventory is
characterized as haji£ (guarding, watchful,
remembering, 0.50:4) like God (0.11:57;
34:21; see god and his attributes). It is
also said to be mubin (clear or clarifying,
06:59; 10:61; 11:6; 27:75; 34:3), echoing a
term that the Qur'an uses of itself (0.12:1;
27:1). This adjective is not only very com-
mon (ng uses) but also very significant in
the Qur'an: true clarity is something only

God is able to provide, since only God has
full knowledge of all things.

Closely related to this inventory is the di-
vine recording of human deeds and
thoughts, both good (03:53; 5:83; 9:120-1;
21:94) and bad (03:181; 4:81; 10:21; 19:79;
43:19, 80; 78:29). Everything said and done
by human beings is recorded (p. 10:61;
54:52; 82:11) in order that retribution and
recompense may be made on the day of
judgment (see last judgment): "And the
kitab is put in place, and you see the guilty
fearful of what is in it. They say, 'What
kind of a kitab is this that passes over no
matter either small or great without taking
account of it?' And they find all that they
did confronting them. Your Lord treats no
one unjustly" (q_ 18:49). "And each soul
(q.v.) will be recompensed in full for what it
has done" (0.39:70). Good deeds are said to
be written "to people's credit" (lahum,
Q_g:i2i; 21:94). This register is sometimes
referred to as an imam (leader, example, au-
thority): "Surely it is we who bring the
dead to life. We record (naktub) what they
send before, and the traces [they leave be-
hind] . And everything we have kept ac-
count of in an imam that makes things
clear" (0.36:12; see also Q_ 17:71; 36:12). On
one occasion (q 54:52) it is called zubur, a
word often translated as "psalms" although
it is actually a more general word for
books, writings or scriptures. It is most of-
ten God who is depicted as recording
(o 3:181; 4:81; 19:79: 21:94; 36:12; 45:29),
but there is also talk of "envoys" (rusul,
Q_ 10:21; 43:80; see messenger) who write
and of "guardians, noble scribes" [hdji^in
kirdman katibin, 082:10-1) who know all that
is done.

Although the record of deeds is often
spoken of as a single entity, the final judg-
ment is pictured as one in which each per-
son will be handed the kitab detailing his or
her deeds. "On the day when we shall
summon all people with their record

244

(imam), whoever is given his kitdb in his
right hand — those will read their kitdb and
they will not be wronged a shred" (q 17:71;
see also 69:19; 84:7). Anyone to be pun-
ished will be given the kitdb in the left hand
(o 69:25) or behind the back (q 84:10). In
another place, there seems to be a separate
kitdb for each nation (q 45:29). The image
of judgment is a commercial one — a final
settling of accounts. Like the inventory of
creation the record of deeds is character-
ized as mubin (q 10:61; 34:4; 36:12) in that it
makes clear precisely the recompense or
punishment to be apportioned (see re-
ward and punishment). It is intimately
related to God's knowledge in that it re-
flects the fact that God is "most aware
(a'lam) of what they have done" (q 39:70)
and is a witness (shuhud) to all actions in
which people are engaged (q 10:61). Taken
together, these two activities of recording
represent the completeness of God's
knowledge of all that exists and all that
takes place.

Kitab and divine authority
The idea of writing is also very much asso-
ciated in qur'anic usage with the exercise
of divine authority (q.v.; see also fate).
The length of one's life is "in a kitdb" and
can neither be shortened nor lengthened
(q_ 35:11). One can neither escape death
when it has been "written" (q 3:154) nor
hasten it since it comes by God's permis-
sion "as a writ to be carried out later" (kitd-
ban mu'ajjalan, 5)3:145). No city (q.v.) is pun-
ished by destruction without there having
been a "known decree" (kitdb ma lum,
0^15:4; see punishment stories). Such sen-
tences of punishment are said to be "in the
kitdb" (q 17:58), as are those meted out to
individuals (bi-imdm mubin, q 15:79). "No ca-
lamity strikes either on the earth or among
yourselves which is not already in a kitdb
before we bring it into being — surely that

is easy for God" ((557:22; see also 09:51).
It might seem that the use of the word
kitdb in connection with these acts of divine
authority indicates that they are envisaged
as being recorded in some kind of book of
decrees. However, the word is also used to
apply independently to the decrees them-
selves (0,2:235; 4:103; 8:68; 13:38; 30:56)
suggesting that the usage of the root k-t-b
(to write) is largely metaphorical. The verb
kutiba (it has been written) is used when
speaking of various aspects of law (see LAW
and the qur'an): retaliation (q.v.; 02:178),
inheritance (q.v.; q 2:180), fasting (q.v.;
q2:i83) and warfare (q2:2i6, 246; see
war). God writes to determine obligations
on various individuals and groups ^4:24,
66, 77; 5:32, 45; 57:27). In an unusual con-
struction God is also said to have written
mercy (q.v.) as an obligation for himself
(q6:i2, 54); this in effect expresses an ele-
ment of the divine nature. In several uses
of the verb "to write" there is a very close
relationship between the decree and the re-
cord of people's deeds. God writes punish-
ments (q22:4; 59:3; see chastisement and
punishment), entitlements (q2:i87; 4:127)
and rewards (q5:2i; 7:156; 21:105). Indeed,
it is sometimes difficult to make any sepa-
ration at all between the recording of
deeds and the determination of judgment:
"This kitdb of ours pronounces against you
truly. Surely we caused to be recorded
(kunnd nastansikh) whatever you used to do"
(q 45:29). The definitive divine judgment
against evildoers is inseparable from God's
knowledge of all that they have done. Sim-
ilarly, the recording of the time of each
person's death is presented both as a mat-
ter of knowledge and also as an act of
determination — foreknowledge and fore-
ordaining are somehow inseparable. This
very ambiguity suggests that the Qiir'an
does not so much contain a reference to a
heavenly archive with separate registers

245

and inventories as it does, in a more
amorphous sense, to the overarching
knowledge and authority of God.

It is common, of course, for qur'anic
commentators to gloss occurrences of the
verb kataba with such verbs as amara, hafiza,
hasiba or fa.ra.da and, similarly, for transla-
tors to render them "command," "remem-
ber," "keep account of," "enjoin," "pre-
scribe" or "decree." They are surely right
in detecting here a metaphorical usage of
the verb "to write." The question then
arises whether the use of the noun kitab is
not likewise more metaphorical than con-
crete. As long as the kitab operates only in
the heavenly realm it makes little differ-
ence. However, the issue becomes more
acute when an effort is made to try to un-
derstand what the Qur'an means when it
refers to itself as kitab and when it speaks of
the kitab being "sent down" and given to
other peoples through the prophets (see
PROPHETS AND PROPHETHOOD).

Kitab and revelation
One of the most important concepts used
in connection with revelation in the
Qur'an is kitab (see revelation and in-
spiration). It is several times stated in gen-
eral terms that whenever God sent proph-
ets and messengers to give good tidings
and to warn of judgment, he sent down
with them the kitab (02:213; 3:81; 35:25;
40:70; 57:25). The kitab comes with the
truth so that the Prophet may judge ac-
cording to it (q_ 2:213). It is specifically men-
tioned as having been given to Moses (q.v.;
ft 2:53, 87; 17:2; 23:49; 25:35), to Jesus (q.v.;
o 3:48; 5:110; 19:30) and most often, of
course, to Muhammad (e.g. 0,5:48; 7:2;
14:1) . The Quran also mentions by name
several of those to whom God has given
revelation: "Indeed we communicate to
you just as we communicated (awhaynd) to
Noah (q.v.) and the prophets after him, as

we communicated to Abraham (q.v.) and
Ishmael (q.v.) and Isaac (q.v.) and Jacob
(q.v.) and the tribes, and Jesus and Job (q.v.)
and Jonah (q.v.) and Aaron (q.v.) and Solo-
mon (q.v.), and as we granted to David
(q.v.) the z.abur (see psalms)" (04:163). This
listing marks out one feature of the Qur-
'an 's understanding of kitab: It is thought
to have a particularly close association
with the lineage of Noah, Abraham and
Israel (q.v.; 04:54; 40:53; 57:26; see also
children OF Israel). Although attempts
have sometimes been made to distinguish
between messengers (rusul) and prophets
(anbiya') on the basis of whether they were
given a canonical text or merely an oral
message, there appears to be no such con-
sistent distinction in the Qur'an itself.
Some canons resulting from God's sending
of the kitab are. mentioned by name: Torah
[tawrat, 18 times; see torah) and Gospel
(injil, twelve times; see gospel); the generic
al-suhuf al-ula ("the former pages," 020:133;
87:18) are specified as belonging to Moses
and Abraham (053 : 36"7; 87:19). It is not
clear that Moses' "pages" are thought of
as identical to the tawrat. Although the
Qur'an understands tawrat to be the reve-
lation given to the Jews, it is most often
paired with Injil and mentioned in connec-
tion not with Moses but with Jesus.

The kitab is said to come to the prophets
by wahy (inspiration, revelation or com-
munication; e.g. o 18:27; 29:45; 35:31).
However, more commonly God is said to
"send it down" (nazzala, anzala, e.g. 02:174,
176, 213, 231) or simply to "give" it [ata, e.g.
02:53, 87, 121, 146). God teaches the kitab
tojesus (03:48; 5:110), gives it as an inheri-
tance to the Children of Israel (04 0: 53)
and to some chosen servants (o 35:32). The
messenger who brings the kitab (03:184,
6:91) in his turn teaches it to the people
(02:129; 2:151; 3:164; 62:2). The people re-
cite it (qara'a, 02:44, 113, 121; 10:94; 69:19),

246

learn it {'alima, £2:78, 144, 146), study it
[darasa, 0.3:79; 34 : 44; 68:37) and teach it
{'allama, 0,3:79; see knowledge and
learning).

In order fully to understand what the
Qur'an means when it speaks of kitdb in
the context of revelation, it is necessary to
view the word within the whole field of vo-
cabulary with which it is used. The word
acts as the focus for some of the most sig-
nificant concepts in the Quran. Two key
terms in this respect (dya and hikma) appear
with kitdb in something like a credal for-
mula that occurs four times (q 2:129, 151;
3:164; 62:2). The role of the messenger
(rasul) is to recite to the people God's signs
or revelations [dydt, see signs), to purify
them and to make known to them the kitdb
and the hikma. This latter term is often
translated "wisdom" but such a rendering
fails to take account of the origins of the
word in the verb hakama (to judge, to rule,
to decide). To the extent that hikma is wis-
dom at all, it is not to be mistaken for the
esoteric wisdom of the gnostic but should
be understood as the practical wisdom or
the wise authority of the experienced ruler
(see wisdom; judgment). Kitdb and hikma
appear ten times together and form a vir-
tual hendiadys. The term dya (pi. dydt) is
used to refer to everything that reveals
God's will and ways, whether in nature
(e.g. 02:266; 16:11-3; 30:46; see animal
life), history (e.g. Q_ 46:27), legislation (e.g.
Q_ 24:61) or in revelation (e.g. (324:1). The
dydt of God are intended to prompt people
to reason ('aqala), to learn ('alima), to pon-
der (tafakkara, tadhakkara) and so to come to
faith (dmana). The coming of the kitdb with
its dydt provides insight into what God
knows and what God commands. There-
fore, far from being clearly distinguished
from the above-mentioned registers, the
kitdb of revelation is intimately linked with
the same divine knowledge and authority

that they symbolize. The fundamental pat-
tern (with associated verbal roots) is this:
(a) As creator God knows ('-l-m) the truth
(h-q-q) of all things and is in command
(h-k-m) of all things. The symbol for this
knowledge and authority is kitdb. (b) Given
close attention and reflection ['-q-l,f-k-r,
etc.), it is possible for people to learn ('-l-m)
from the dydt of nature and history much
of the truth of what God knows and com-
mands. Yet, they rarely do so. (c) In order
to call humanity to such attentiveness and
reflection, God sends prophetic messengers
(r-s-l, n-b-) who bring their communities
guidance (h-d-y), a privileged insight into
God's knowledge and authoritative decree.
They recite (q-r- \ t-l-w) God's dydt in order
to remind (dh-k-r) the people of them, to
make quite clear (b-y-n, n-w-r,f-s-l) pre-
cisely what God requires (h-k-m) and to
warn [n-dh-r, see warning) of the coming
judgment (f-s-l, h-k-m, d-y-n). (d) The sym-
bol of this guidance is the kitdb — God's
sending down (n-g-l) through the Prophet
of an authoritative word (q-w-l, k-l-m) to
address the current situation and the pre-
vailing issue. This divine/prophetic ad-
dress bears the name kitdb not because of
its form (which remains oral and respon-
sive) but because of its origin and its nature
as a communication (n-z-l, w-h-y) of God's
knowledge ('-l-m) and a clear statement
(b-y-n) of God's commands (h-k-m). (e) The
community (see community and society
in THE q_ur'an) addressed by God accepts
the relationship of guidance first by ac-
cepting ('-m-n) that what the Prophet re-
cites has a divine origin, then by commit-
ting themselves (s-l-m) to following (t-b-\
t-w- ) the divine will manifested in the pro-
phetic word and, finally, by reciting (q-r-) it
in their turn. In this way, they become a
people who are identified and defined by
their having been granted the kitdb.
It is the phenomenon of the kitdb that

^47

unifies this whole schema while itself re-
maining somewhat elusive. It is often re-
ferred to in the plural, the indefinite or the
partitive form so it remains unclear from
the Quran whether anyone can be under-
stood to be fully in possession of the kitab.
In this respect, the Qur'an does not present
the kitab as a closed and definable corpus of
text, but rather as an ongoing relationship
of guidance.

Ahl al-kitab — the people of the kitab
It is the kitab relationship that defines the
Christians (nasdra), the Jews (yahud, Band
Isrd'il) and the Sabians (sdbi'un). All of
these groups are referred to in the Qur'an
as ahl al-kitab or alladhina utu l-kitdb (those
who have been granted the kitab; see
PEOPLE OF THE BOOK; CHRISTIANS AND
CHRISTIANITY; JEWS AND JUDAISM;

sabians; magians). The Qur'an calls for
belief not only in the kitab sent down to
Muhammad but also in the kitab (or the
plural kutub) sent down before him (02:285;
4:136). It is precisely because they have al-
ready been recipients of God's revelation
that the ahl al-kitab are expected to recog-
nize in Muhammad a genuine messenger
of God and to acknowledge in what he
brings the same kitab (05:83; 13:43;
29:47) — not precisely the same text but
the same message of God, the same guid-
ance to humankind.

It is recognized that the Jews put "the
kitab that Moses brought as a light and a
guidance for humanity" on papyri (qardtis,
sing, qirtds, (36:91) yet it is not their posses-
sion of physical books that constitutes the
ahl al-kitab. If it had been, one might have
expected an earlier attempt to have a writ-
ten version of the Qur'an. As it was, a
standardized written text was not pro-
duced, according to Muslim tradition, until
perhaps as late as twenty years after the
death of the Prophet during the caliphate

of 'Uthman (r. 23-35/644-56; see collec-
tion of the q_ur'an). The ahl al-kitab seem
to be thought of primarily as — like Mus-
lims — reciters of the word of God rather
than as writers and readers of books (see
RECITATION OF THE QUR'AN; READINGS OF
THE qur'an). Ahl al-kitab should probably
be understood as those who have been
given not possession of but rather access to
and insight into the knowledge, wisdom and
sovereignty of God for which the very fluid
term kitab serves as a symbol. "Those who
have been given the kitab" are also called
"those who have been given knowledge"
(alladhina 'utu l-'ilm, e.g. o_ 16:27; 17:107;
22:54). They have learned to read the
"signs" (cf. o_ 45:2-7), yet it is clear that they
do not actually possess all knowledge. They
have rather been given access to the divine
knowledge through God's initiative in ad-
dressing humanity through the prophets
(cf. p_ 20:110-114).

Umm al-kitab — the "mother" cf the kitab
Three times the Qur'an refers to the umm
(literally "mother" hence "essence" or
"source") of the kitab (0.3:7; 13:39; 43:4)-
The latter two cases are traditionally read
as referring to a heavenly archetype of the
kitab, a text that constitutes the source of
all the particular versions given through
Muhammad and the other prophets. The
commentary literature has developed what
might be termed a "topography" of revela-
tion that begins with the archetypal kitab
on the Preserved Tablet (lawh mahfug,
085:22; see preserved tablet) and in-
volves the noble scribes (safarat kirdm,
080:15-6) who are said to have revealed
the text to Gabriel (q.v.) over twenty nights
and who, in his turn, revealed it to Mu-
hammad over twenty years. Yet the term
umm al-kitab can just as well be read in the
symbolic way that has been suggested
above. To God alone belongs the essence

of authority and knowledge, so whatever
authoritative guidance is given through
God's messengers comes from that source.
In Q_ 3:7 this term seems clearly to refer to
part of the text of the Qur'an: "It is he
who has sent down to you the kitdb, some
of whose verses are decisive — they are the
essence [umm, lit. "mother") of the kitdb —
and others that are ambiguous." In this fa-
mously controversial verse the Qur'an dis-
tinguishes between those verses that are
considered muhkamat (defined, fixed, firm,
decisive, straightforward) and those that
are mutashabihat (lit. "resembling one an-
other" possibly meaning "ambiguous" or
"metaphorical"; see ambiguous). Since the
Qur'an does not specify which verses are
which, this pair of terms has been inter-
preted in many different ways. It is the
muhkamat that are said to constitute the es-
sence or substance of the kitdb. Quranic
commentators often understand this to
mean that such verses lay down the princi-
ples of Islam; they contain the basis of
creed and law; they outline all the duties,
punishments and commandments (q.v.)
that are essential to Islam (see boundaries
and precepts). The muhkamat are some-
times thought to be the abrogating (ndsikh)
verses because they remain firm and fixed
whereas the mutashabihat, although they re-
semble the others, are in fact without legal
force due to their having been abrogated
[mansukh, see abrogation). Other com-
mentators distinguish the muhkamat, those
verses that can stand alone and so require
little or no interpretation, from the muta-
shabihat, those that can only be fully un-
derstood in relationship to other verses
treating the same matter. The exegetical
tradition has often identified the first sura
of the Qur'an (Surat al-Fatiha; see fatiha)
as umm al-kitdb since it is thought to contain
the essential content of the Qur'an. So also
the so-called mysterious letters (fawdtih)
at the beginning of some suras have been

thought to contain in some mystical way
the essence of the Qur'an. (See letters
AND MYSTERIOUS LETTERS.)

The Qur'an as kitab
One of the most complex questions about
the Qur'an is what it means when it refers
to itself as kitdb. Western scholars have, by
and large, taken the use of the word kitdb
as an indication that Muhammad intended
to provide his community with a written
canon of scripture parallel to those pos-
sessed by the Christians and the Jews. G.
Widengren draws on Near Eastern reli-
gious history to propose that the Prophet
saw himself primarily as the bringer of a
written corpus. Noldeke-Schwally (gq, ii,
1-3) argue that, given Muhammad's under-
standing that his revelations were to serve
in place of the Bible as the definitive docu-
ment of the divine will, he must also have
intended to safeguard them in written
form. R. Bell takes al-kitdb to refer to a
document originally conceived of as dis-
tinct from al-qur'dn and which ultimately
replaced it. He suggests that what the text
calls al-qur'dn is a collection of recitations
that was probably closed about the time of
the battle of Badr (2/624; see badr). The
kitdb was never actually completed and if it
ever had any logical framework its organi-
zation was constantly intruded upon by the
vicissitudes, both internal and external, of
communal life. Bell understands the kitdb
to have been intended to be the complete
record of revelation; it was to comprise, in
a slightly re -worked form, all the elements
Bell previously distinguished as character-
izing the stages in the development of the
Prophet's revelations: "signs" passages,
stories of punishment, Qur'an. It was also
intended to include the material — the ap-
peals, regulations and exhortations de-
manded of him as a leader — unsuitable
for a collection meant for recitation. Bell is
largely followed in this approach by W.M.

249

Watt and A.T. Welch. For A. Neuwirth, the
term kitab functions as a symbol of the
shared prophetic heritage, the common
memory of salvation history which Mus-
lims now share with the Christians and
Jews. Neuwirth believes that only certain
parts of the Qur'an are to be understood
as belonging to the kitab — the pericopes
excerpted from the heavenly book, i.e. the
dhikr or recalling of prophetic history.

Perhaps the weakest part of all these sce-
narios is the idea that the task of produc-
ing a book of scripture was left undone
because of other responsibilities and de-
mands which pressed upon Muhammad. If
one understands the verses about the kitab
to indicate that it was the Prophet's defin-
ing function to produce such a canonical
text, then it becomes difficult to see how
Muhammad could have placed any duty
above this one.

Muslim tradition has long understood
that the Prophet intended the written codi-
fication of the Qur'an; yet, the traditions
about the collection and writing down of
the text are at cross purposes (see codices
of THE q_ur'an). On the one hand, some
traditions seek to assure those who trust
written texts that there exists an unbroken
manuscript tradition, authenticated not
only by the Prophet but by the angel Ga-
briel. On the other, many traditions repre-
sent the writing down of the text as an act
of doubtful piety and they portray the
manuscript tradition as in some respects
deficient and as dependent on an oral tra-
dition codified only after the Prophet's
death. Neither strand of the tradition rep-
resents the text at the time of the Prophet's
death as having existed in a physical form
that would indicate that Muhammad had
all but finished preparing the definitive doc-
ument of revelation. The scraps of wood,
leather and pottery, the bones and the bark
on which the revelations were apparently
written down seem to indicate that the

Prophet did not have in mind producing
the kind of scroll or codex that was charac-
teristic of Jewish and Christian use in other
places. Furthermore, given the limitations
of the Arabic script (q.v.) at the time, such
written material as did exist could serve as
not much more than an aide-memoire to those
who knew that part of the text by heart.

Given all this, there remains considerable
doubt as to whether the Prophet thought
of the word kitab as defining either the
form in which the Qur'an was revealed or
the form in which it was to be propagated
and perpetuated. Both Western and Mus-
lim approaches seem to read into the
Qur'an what they know of the Christian
and Jewish use of scripture in other con-
texts outside Arabia. However, in order to
understand the meaning of the qur'anic
kitab as fully as possible, such preconcep-
tions must not become the sole basis for its
interpretation.

At the beginning of what might be called
the text proper (q_ 2:1-2) the Qur'an speaks
of the kitab: "Alif. Lam. Mlm. That is the
kitab about which there is no doubt, guid-
ance for the God-fearing." Qur'anic com-
mentators were rather puzzled to find
dhalika ("that") rather than hddha ("this") in
Q_2:2, but the majority of exegetical tradi-
tions opted to equate the two and in this
they are generally followed by translators.
Others, recognizing that dhalika logically
refers to something absent or already com-
plete, took it to refer variously to the mys-
terious letters of Q_ 2:1 or to the suras of the
Qur'an that had thus far been revealed or
even to the Gospel and the Torah. The
issue was in effect side-stepped at this point
yet the question remains: what is this kitab
that the kitab is always talking about? What
is the recitation (Qur'an) about which
verses are constantly being recited? The
abiding enigma of the text is that, along
with verses that are to be construed as
timeless divine pronouncements, it also

250

contains a large amount of commentary
upon and analysis of the processes of its
own revelation and the vicissitudes of its
own reception in time. One wonders how
the two genres can exist not just side by
side but interwoven within a single docu-
ment; how the Qur'an can so constantly
refer to itself in the third person and at the
same time be considered a unity; how it
can define and defend itself even as it is
being revealed.

The Qur'an is both itself and about itself;
both hddhd and dhalika. Even in its final
form it seems still a work-in-process, care-
fully observing and commenting upon it-
self. This is what makes it so enigmatic as a
canonized, codified text. What is to be
found "between the two covers" remains a
surprise because it does not behave as
though it were a completed volume nor,
indeed, as the copy of a pre-existent heav-
enly document.

The Qur'an actually rejects certain com-
mon conceptions of kitdb. It is reiterated
several times that in the ministry of the
Prophet there comes to the Arabs (q.v.) "a
kitdb from God" (e.g. 5)6:19, 114). However,
it is also clear that Muhammad does not
consider that the lack of any written text
invalidates this claim in any way. When the
Prophet is challenged to produce a writing
from heaven as proof (q.v.) of his authen-
ticity (0.17:93; see BELIEF AND UNBELIEF),
he is told to reply that he is merely a hu-
man messenger. In 0,6:7 God says, "Even if
we had sent down a kitdb on papyrus and
they were to touch it with their hands,
those who disbelieve would have said,
'This is clearly nothing but sorcery'" So
when the Qur'an speaks of itself as kitdb, it
seems to be talking not about the form in
which it is sent down but rather about the
authority it carries as a manifestation of
the knowledge and command of God.

This is borne out in another situation of
challenge where the Prophet's critics de-

mand to know why the recitation he claims
is from God is being given to him only
piecemeal rather than "as a single com-
plete pronouncement" (jumlatan wdhidatan,
025:32). To Muhammad's interlocutors, a
divine pronouncement must, almost by
definition, be complete. Yet the Qur'an
comes only, as the commentators like to
say, responsively (jawdban li-qawlihim), in
installments (munajjaman) according to situ-
ations and events in order that the Prophet
will be able to address God's response to
whatever objection is being raised, what-
ever question is being asked (o 2 5 : 33)- I n
this context they quote o 17:106: "... and in
the form of a recitation that we have di-
vided up (faraqndhu) that you might recite
it to the people at intervals ('ala mukthin),
and we have indeed sent it down." In re-
jecting the claim that it should be sent
down "as a single complete pronounce-
ment" the Qur'an is asserting its fluidity
and its responsiveness to situations. It is
refusing to behave as an already closed
and canonized text but insists on being
the authoritative voice of God in the
present.

This immediate and responsive quality of
the Qur'an is illustrated again and again in
one of its most characteristic rhetorical de-
vices: the imperative, "Say!" [qui, the singu-
lar addressed to the Prophet is used 323
times, and it appears in other forms 26
times). This is not merely one among sev-
eral literary forms (see language and
style OF THE our'an) but rather demon-
strates the Qur'an's fundamental sense
of itself: it "comes down" as the divine
response placed on the lips of God's
Prophet. In the ministry of Muhammad,
the kitdb comes not as a finished tome in
which to search for the divine wisdom and
will but as a wise and commanding voice
to be heeded.

The term kitdb, then, does not indicate
that the Qur'an is to be understood as a

^J 1

closed corpus of text, codified in writing; it
used that language of itself long before it
was either closed or written. The Muslim
community used the same term while at
the same time preserving the text primarily
in oral form. The word kitab rather ex-
presses a claim as to the origin of the
words on the Prophet's lips: they are kitab
because they come from God, from the
realm of God's knowledge and authority,
as these are symbolized by writing. Writing,
of course, is a process of engagement with
an audience. It involves re -writing and re-
phrasing, emendation and development.
This is what the Muslim interpretative tra-
dition has recognized in the phenomenon
of abrogation (naskh): that elements of
God's word are conditioned by time and
circumstance and so God exercises the pre-
rogative of amending the text, removing
the force of some earlier pronouncements
and perhaps even their wording as well.
The Quran is God's writing in the sense
that it is God's definitive and authoritative
word. Yet it is not the sum total of God's
word but rather a token of it and a guaran-
tee of continuing guidance. See also scrip-
ture AND THE QUR'AN.

Daniel Madigan

bibliography
H. Berg, Tabari's exegesis of the Qur'anic term
al-kitdb, in JAAR 63 (1995), 761-74. Burton,
Collection, passim; Graham, Beyond, 79-115; id.,
"Book, writ, and word." Scripture and the
history of religion, in Bulletin of the Center for the
Study oj World Religions, Harvard University 1 6
(1989-90), 2-15; id., The earliest meaning of
"Qur'an," in 11723-4 ( I 9^4), 361-77; id., Qur'an
as spoken word: an Islamic contribution to the
understanding of scripture, in R.G Martin (ed.),
Approaches to Islam in religious studies, Tucson 1985,
23-40; A. Jeffery, The Qur'an as scripture, New
York 1952; D. Kiinstlinger, "Kitab" und "ahlu
1-kitabi" im Kuran, in Rocznik Orjentalistyczny
4 (1926), 238-47; D.A. Madigan, The Qur'ans
self-image: books, writing and authority in Muslim
scripture, Princeton 2001; T Nagel, Vom

"Qur'an" zur "Schrift." Bells Hypothese aus
religionsgeschichtlicher Sicht, in Der Islam 60
(1983), 143-65; A. Neuwirth, Vom Rezitationstext
iiber die Liturgie zum Kanon: zu Entstehung
und Wiederaufiosung der Surenkomposition im
Verlauf der Entwicklung eines islamischen
Kultus, in Wild, Text 69-105; Noldeke, uq; J.
Pedersen, Review of Ursprung und Geschichte der
Mormonen: mil Exkursen iiber die Anfdnge des Islams
und des Christentums by Eduard Meyer, in Der
Islam 5 (1914), 1 10-5; W.C. Smith, The true
meaning of scripture. An empirical historian's
nonreductionist interpretation of the Qur'an, in
ijmes 11 (1980), 487-505; id., What is scripture? A
comparative approach, Minneapolis 1993; Watt-Bell,
Introduction, 132-41; G. Widengren, The ascension of
the apostle and the heavenly book, Uppsala 1950; id.,
Holy book and holy tradition in Islam, in F.F.
Bruce and E.G. Rupp (eds.), Holy book and holy
tradition, Manchester 1968, 210-36.

Book of David see psalms

Booty

Plunder taken in war (q.v.). The Qur'an
does not mention the words ghamma or fay \
which became the technical terms for
booty in Islamic law, but refers explicitly
only to the plural noun maghanim (0^4:94;
48:15, 19, 20); the verb ghanima, to take
booty (08:41, 69); and the verb afa'a (from
the same root as fay'), to give as booty
(q_ 33:50; 59:6-7). In pre-Islamic times the
terms were synonymous. There are indica-
tions that in P_ 59:6-7, referring to the sur-
render of the Band 1-Nadlr, afa'a denotes
booty acquired not by actual fighting but
as a result of the surrender of the enemy.
Q_ 48:15, 19 and 20 suggest that taking booty
is considered a normal element of warfare
and o 8:69 confirms that booty taken from
the enemy is lawful property. A specific rule
is given in Q_8:4i where the pre-Islamic
custom of assigning one-fifth of the booty
(ghamma) to the leader is upheld. The verse
mentions that this share belongs to God
and is to be spent on the Messenger, i.e.

BOUNDARIES AND PRECEPTS

-'5-'

the prophet Muhammad, (his) relatives,
the orphans (q.v.), the needy and travelers.
Regarding fay ', Q_5g:7 stipulates that this
type of booty is not to be distributed
among the fighters but also belongs to God
and his messenger and is to be spent on
(his) relatives (see family of the prophet),
the orphans (q.v.), the needy and travelers.
F. Lokkegaard (Islamic taxation, 50), how-
ever, asserts that this constituted a breach
with the established custom introduced by
Muhammad and was prompted by his lack
of means. In o_ 4:0,4 the rewards of para-
dise (q.v.) are corn-pared to booty (see
reward and punishment).

A great deal of controversy exists among
Muslim legal scholars with regard to the
rules about booty (see LAW and the o_ur-
'an). Ghanima, i.e. movable goods taken by
force from unbelievers during actual war-
fare, must be divided among the army
and the imam (as head of state; see imam)
once the army has returned to Islamic ter-
ritory. The head of state is entitled to one-
fifth (to be distributed to the leader, the
Prophet's relatives, the orphans, the needy
and travelers) and the remainder is to be
divided among the soldiers. Only free,
adult, male Muslims who were present dur-
ing the battle have a share, regardless of
whether they actually fought or not. The
Hanafi form of Islamic law assigns a share
also to soldiers who joined the troops after
the battle but before reaching Islamic terri-
tory. Mounted soldiers are entitled to a
double or triple portion. The head of state
may reward certain warriors by giving
them larger shares (naji, pi. anfal, cf. c) 8:1).
Opinions differ on whether this reward is
to be paid from the one-fifth portion of the
state or at the expense of the other sol-
diers. Some jurists hold that a soldier is
entitled to appropriate the spoils (salab) of
the enemy he has killed, whereas others
are of the opinion that the consent of the
head of state is needed in this instance.

Opinions also vary on the status of land
acquired by force. The Maliki form of Is-
lamic law holds that it is state land whereas
the Shafi'l view is that it must be divided
among the army that has conquered the
region. The Hanafis left the matter to the
discretion of the head of state: He could
make it state land, divide it among the
army or leave its ownership to its inhabit-
ants, provided they pay the kharaj tax.

As to fay', enemy property (including trib-
utes, the kharaj tax and the jizya) acquired
by Muslims as a result of the surrender of
the enemy, jurists generally hold that it is
not to be divided among the army but that
all of it is at the disposition of the head of
state. See also jizya; taxation; tribute;

EXPEDITIONS AND BATTLES.

Rudolph Peters

Bibliography
Primary: Abu Yusuf Ya c qub b. Ibrahim, Kitab
al-Khardj, Cairo 1973 4 , trans. A. Ben-Shemesh,
Taxation in Islam, Hi. Abu Yusuf 's Kitab al-Khardj,
Leiden 1969; Ibn Rushd (al-Hafld), Bidayat
al-mujtahid, 2 vols., Cairo i960, ii, 390-403;
Mawardl, al-Ahkam al-sultdniyya, ed. M.PL
al-Fiql, Cairo 1966, 136-53.

Secondary: N.P. Aghnides, Mohammedan theories
of finance, Lahore 1961 s , 407-11, 461-80; F.
Lokkegaard, Islamic taxation in the classic period,
Copenhagen 1950.

Boundaries and Precepts

Prescribed rules guiding behavior, which
one should not transgress. The phrase
"God's boundaries" (hudud Allah) occurs
twelve times in the Qur'an. It is used
mainly as an admonitory conclusion to a
preceding passage of legislation, as in
"These are God's boundaries, do not ap-
proach them" (q_ 2:187) or "These are
God's boundaries, do not transgress them.
Whoever does transgress God's boundar-
ies, those are the wrongdoers" (q_ 2:229)

-•5:j

BOUNDARIES AND PRECEPTS

and "These are God's boundaries, and the
unbelievers shall have a painful torment"
(£58:4). 04:13-4 balances reward with ret-
ribution (see REWARD AND PUNISHMENT):
"These are God's boundaries. Whoever
obeys God and his messenger, He will
cause him to enter gardens below which
rivers flow (...), but whoever disobeys God
and his messenger, and transgresses his
boundaries, He will cause him to enter a
fire" (cf. £2:230; 65:1; cf. 9:112; see fire;
hell; garden). Both the meaning and use
of qur'anic hudud are similar to those of
the biblical huqqim / huqqot, "boundaries,
statutes (of God)" (e.g. Lev 18:4-5, 26; 19:19,
37; 2 6:3: '5; Num 30:17; Deut 5:1; 6:1, 24;
26:16-7; huqqei ha-elohim occurs in Exod
18:16).

The legislation in these qur'anic passages
is always concerned in some way with mar-
ital or family relations (see marriage and
divorge). q_2:i83"7 reminds the believers
of their obligation to observe fast days but
tends to alleviate the burdens that this im-
poses. In particular, Q_ 2:187 permits sexual
intercourse with women as well as eating
and drinking during the hours of darkness
(q.v.) before the day of fasting. This is a de-
parture from Jewish law as it relates to the
Day of Atonement (see fasting; absti-
nenge; jews and Judaism). 0^2:229-30 oc-
cur as part of a long passage of legislation
on divorce and deal specifically with the
divorced wife's right to retain property
granted her by her husband and with the
permissibility of the divorced couple's re-
marrying if the ex-wife marries a different
husband and is then divorced by him. This
latter is also a permissive variation from
Jewish law. o 58:3 outlines the standard
means (i.e. the freeing of a slave, see
slaves and slavery) by which a man may
lawfully resume relations with his wife after
lihar, a device by which a husband could
deny his wife her right to sexual inter-
course in the marriage. The following

verse lays down an alternative expiatory
procedure for annulling the device. Q 4:11-3
contain detailed rules for inheritance
(q.v.), one of the most important qur'anic
legal reforms and a mainstay of qur'anic
family law. o_ 65:1 is again concerned with
divorce. Returning to Q_ 2:229-30, its some-
what different usage of the phrase "God's
boundaries" strengthens the impression
that his "boundaries" are invoked espe-
cially in connection with marital relations.
According to o 2:229, a wife may redeem
herself from marriage in certain circum-
stances by surrendering to her husband at
least part of the settlement she would nor-
mally retain on divorce. The circumstances
are those of likely marital breakdown ex-
pressed as the couple's anticipated failure
to "uphold God's boundaries." g_ 2:230 lays
down a corresponding expectation to "up-
hold God's boundaries" as a precondition
for the remarriage of a previously divorced
couple.

In Islamic jurisprudence the expression
hudud Allah has become detached from civil
law and serves instead as symbolic qur'anic
sanction for the classical theory of penal
law. Here, in theory, "God's boundaries"
are the deterrent corporal penalties of
flogging (q.v), amputation and execution
as laid down in the "Book of God" (see
book) for the infringement of specific pro-
hibitions (see ADULTERY AND FORNICA-
tion; theft; highway robbery; intoxi-
gants). This classical doctrine, with its
emphasis on scriptural sanction for judi-
cial punishments, has a close parallel in
Jewish law but requires some exegetical in-
genuity to be wholly reconciled with the
actual text of the Qur'an. See also sin and
grime; chastisement and punishment;
stoning; grugifixion; law and the
qtjr'an.

Richard Kimber

BOWING AND PROSTRATION

254

Bibliography
D. Amram, Divorce, in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 17
vols., Jerusalem 1971-2, iv, 624-8; B. Carra de
Vaux/J. Schacht and A.-M. Goichon, Hadd, in
EI 3 , iii, 20-2; L. Dembitz, Fines and forfeiture, in
Encyclopaedia Judaica,!*] vols., Jerusalem ig7l-2, v,
386-7; id., Punishment, 'mEncyclopaedia Judaica, 17
vols., Jerusalem 1971-2, x, 273; G.R. Hawting,
The significance of the slogan la hukma ilia lilldh
and the references to the hudud in the traditions
about the Fitna and the murder of 'Uthman, in
bsoas 61 (1978), 453-63; H. Hirschfeld, Fasting
and fast days, in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 17 vols.,
Jerusalem 1971-2, v, 347-9; B. Johansen,
Eigentum, Familie und Obrigkeit im
Hanahtischen Strafrecht, in Wl 19 (1979), 38-46;
R. Peters, The Lslamization of criminal law. A
comparative analysis, in WI 34 (1994), 246-53;
F. Rahman, The concept of hadd in Islamic law,
in Islamic studies. Journal of the Central Institute of
Islamic Research, Karachi, 4 (1965), 237-51; J.
Schacht, An introduction to Islamic law, Oxford
1964, chap. 24; id., The origins of Muhammadan
jurisprudence, Oxford 1950, 191, 208-10;
Wansborough, QS 177.

Bovines see animal life

Bowing and Prostration

Bowing, an inclination of the head or a
bending of the body in reverence; prostra-
tion, reclining with the face on the ground
in humble adoration (q.v.). The two funda-
mental gestures of the ritual prayer, bow-
ing (ruku') and the more frequent prostra-
tion (sujiid) are mentioned numerous times
in the Quran.

Many qur'anic passages that refer to
bowing (02:43; 5:55; 77:48) and prostration
(04:102; 15:98; 25:64; 26:219; 50:40; 76:26;
96:19) allude to prayer (q.v.) and devotion
in general. Other verses mention the two
gestures together (q_2:i25J 3:43; 9:112;
22:26; 22:77; 48:29), again evidently refer-
ring to prayer. The Qur'an does not always
seem to make a clear distinction between
the two terms. One such verse (o_ 38:24)

states that David (q.v.) fell down bowing
(raki'an) in repentance but in this instance
the act was actually a prostration. In con-
trast, in those verses describing the com-
mand given to the Israelites (see children
of Israel) to enter the door "prostrating
themselves" (sujjadan, 5)2:58; 4:154; 7:161),
the act was most probably a bow.

Prostration is much more frequently cited
in the Qur'an than bowing. The use of the
root sajada in the Qur'an underlines the rel-
evance of prostration to God in Muslim
devotion and at the same time reflects the
reactions of people during the time of
Muhammad when this act was prescribed.
The Qur'an attests that prostration met
strong opposition among Arabs (q_ 25:60;
cf. 68:42-3) and that pride (q.v.) was the
cause of this opposition (q_ 7:206; 16:49;
32:15; see arrogance). Later traditions
describe the haughty behavior of the pa-
gans and their attempts to harass Muham-
mad and the Muslims when they were
prostrating themselves (see opposition to
muhammad). On the other hand, various
other verses stress the importance of pros-
tration for the believer (o_3g:g; cf. 3:113)
and that it should be addressed to God
only and not to the sun (q.v.) or moon (q.v.;
Q_ 41:37). The true believer should also
prostrate himself at the recitation of the
Qur'an (q.v.; o_ 17:107; 19:58; 32:15; 84:21).
Moreover, all the creatures in heaven or on
earth, as a sign of their devotion to the cre-
ator, perform this act directly or by means
of their shadows (£7:206; 13:15; 16:48-9;
22:18; 55:6). Finally, another verse (o_ 48:29)
refers to the mark of prostration (athar al-
sujiid) that in later traditions came to indi-
cate the mark or callous left on the fore-
head of the believer who performs many
prostrations.

Prostration also occurs in several other
verses relating to the narrative parts of the
Qur'an. The people of Sheba (q.v.) used to

^55

prostrate themselves to the sun instead of
to God (o_ 27:24-5). The magicians gathered
by Pharaoh (q.v.) fell down prostrate and
proclaimed their faith in God when Moses
(q.v.) defeated them (0^7:120; 20:70; 26:46).
Joseph's (q.v.) parents and brothers fell
down prostrate before him in Egypt
(p_ 12:100; cf. 12:4) and the angels prostrated
themselves to Adam after his creation
whereas Iblls (q.v.) refused to do so (p_2:34;
7:11-2; 15:29-33; 17:61; 18:50; 20:116;
38:72-5; see angel; adam and eve). Given
the strict Muslim prohibition against pros-
tration to anything other than God (see
idols and images; idolatry and idol-
aters; POLYTHEISM AND ATHEISM), these
last two episodes were problematic for
commentators on the Qur'an and exegetes
have written many pages trying to account
for these prostrations. Both bowing and
prostration were widely diffused acts
throughout the Middle East, especially in
Jewish and Christian communities (see jews
AND JUDAISM; CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIAN-
ITY). They were also well-known to Arabs
(q.v.) prior to the preaching of Muham-
mad, as is attested in pre-Islamic poetry
(see PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA AND THE QUR'an).
The Qur'an particularly establishes the
centrality of prostration to Muslim devo-
tion and displays various attitudes, which
were later expanded in Muslim literature.

Roberto Tottoli

Bibliography
Primary: ( Abd al-Razzaq, Tafsir, i, 328; Ibn al-
'Arabl, Ahkam, ii, 368-73; Ibn KathTr, Bidaya, i,
196; Khazin, Lubdb, vii, 137-40; MaturTdT,
Ta'wildt, ed. M.M. al-Rahman, Baghdad 1983,
94-100; Muqatil, Tafsw, ii, 351; iv, 640, 794;
Tabarl, Taf'sTr, Cairo 1968, xxvi, no-r.
Secondary: M.J. Kister, Some reports concerning
al-Ta'if, in/A'.4/ I (1979), 3-6; G. Monnot, Salat,
in Ef, viii, 925-34; Speyer, Erzdhlungen, 54-8; R.
Tottoli, Muslim attitudes towards prostration
(sujud). I: Arabs and prostration at the beginning

of Islam and in the Qur'an, in ay 88 (1998),
5-34; id., Traditions and controversies
concerning the sugud al-Qur'an in hadit literature,
in ZDMG 147 (1997), 371-93; A.J. Wensinck,
Muhammad and the Jews of Aledina, trans, and ed.
W.H. Behn, Berlin 1982=, 75-6; id., Salat, in El',
iv, 96-105.

An article of food made from flour or meal
by moistening, kneading and baking. The
word "bread" (khubz) occurs only once in
the Qur'an, in the story of the prophet
Joseph (q.v.) in the twelfth sura. The wife of
Potiphar (in the Qur'an Potiphar is called
'aztz, "powerful," that is, one holding a
powerful position [cf. o_ 12:30, 51, 78, 88]),
on failing to persuade Joseph to sleep with
her, carries out her threat to him and he is
thrown into prison. Two young fellow-
prisoners ask Joseph to interpret their
dreams. One of them (whom the commen-
tators on the Qur'an, accepting the Biblical
account in Gen 40:2, identify as the Egyp-
tian king's baker) relates his dream in these
words: "I see myself carrying on my head
bread, and birds are eating of it." Joseph
interprets the dream by saying that the
young man "will be crucified and birds will
eat of his head" (o_ 12:41; see crucifixion).
In this interpretation, "bread" comes to
have the ominous signification of "feed,"
the prisoner in question being fated to
"play host" to predatory birds.

This use of the word "bread" in the verse
carries ironic connotations. First, the same
life-sustaining bread he used to bake be-
comes the bread of death, foreboding the
death of none other than the baker him-
self. A second, related point may be made
in light of al-Tabari's (d. 310/923) sugges-
tion [TafsTr, xii, 129; also Qurtubl, Jami '.', ix,
191) that the Egyptian king (see pharaoh),
when he intended to kill someone, used to

BREAKING TRUSTS

256

send him a certain kind of food, signify-
ing death. This suggestion, if followed,
means that the baker, instead of serving
nourishing food to the king, will receive
from him deadly food. Third, in the phrase
"I see myself carrying on my head bread,"
the Arabic preposition used for "on" is
fawqa which, strictly speaking, means
"over" rather than "on," for which 'aid
would be more appropriate. It can be ar-
gued thatfawqa has been used here in the
sense of 'aid (Tabari, Tafsir, xii, 128). It is,
however, possible that it has been used in
its literal sense, graphically portraying the
baker as carrying a basket of bread
"over" his head for this would enable him
to move briskly in order to serve his mas-
ter. If so, then the irony becomes sharper
still: The baker is hastening to his own
death.

The fact that the baker mentions "bread"
in relating his dream signifies that the con-
tent of his dream reflects his occupation.
This is also true of the dream of the sec-
ond prisoner (whom the qur'anic exegetes,
again following the Bible, identify as the
king's cupbearer) who reports having
dreamt of pressing wine (o 12:36; cf. RazI,
Tafsir, xviii, 134: "The dream of each [pris-
oner] conforms to his occupation"). This
may have some bearing on the broader is-
sue of the qur'anic view of dreams and
dream-interpretation (see dreams and
sleep).

As we have seen, the use of the word
"bread" in the Qur'an is significant in its
context. Its use, however, is essentially lit-
eral, even when it is interpreted to mean
food in general (as in RazI, Tafsir, xviii, 134:
"... as if there were, on my head, three
baskets containing bread and all kinds of
foods and meals and suddenly birds of
prey started biting into them"). Nonethe-
less, in this interpretation, as in the identifi-
cation of the prisoner as the king's baker,

the influence of the biblical account is ob-
vious (cf. Gen 40:16-7; see also scripture

AND THE Q_UR'An).

Mustansir Mir

Bibliography
Primary: Qurtubl, Jami'; RazT, Tafsu; Tabari,
Tafsir.

Secondary: M. Mir, Irony in the Qur'an. A
study of the story of Joseph, in I. Boullata
(ed.), Literary structures of religious meaning in the
Qur'an, Richmond/Surrey, 1999; D. Waines,
Cereals, bread and society. An essay on the
staff of life in medieval Iraq, injESHO 30/3

(1987), 255-85.

Breaking Trusts and Contracts

Not honoring one's legally enforceable ob-
ligation to another. Muslim exegetes iden-
tify a number of qur'anic verses which re-
quire that contracts fuqud, sing, 'aqd, see
contracts and alliances) not be bro-
ken, the most general of which is (35:1.
Other verses enjoin keeping covenants
fuhud, sing, 'ahd, see covenant), trusts
(amdndt, sing, amdna), oaths (aymdn, sing.
yamin, see oaths) and pacts (mawdthiq, sing.
mithdq). According to many qur'anic exe-
getes, the meanings of these terms are
closely related but each carries particular
legal obligations.

Q_g:4 and q 16:91, both of which warn
against breaking covenants, are interpreted
by many exegetes as referring to particular
events in the life of the Prophet. According
to Fakhr al-Dln al-RazI (d. 606/1210; Taf-
sir, ad loc), Q_ 16:91 is related to 5)5:7 and
the covenant made between the Prophet
and the ansdr at 'Aqaba (see emigrants
and helpers). According to al-Zamakh-
sharl (d. 538/1144; Kashshdf, ad loc), ^9:4
refers to an incident in which the Quraysh
(q.v.) broke their pact with the Prophet by
backing their clients, the Banu Bakr,

257

BREAKING TRUSTS

against the clients of the Prophet, the
Banii Khuza'a (see clients and client-
age; tribes and clans). Qur'anic exe-
getes ordinarily claim that the Prophet's
breaking of his contract in this case is a
justifiable exception because the unbeliev-
ers with whom he had contracted did not
uphold their end of the contract.

Concerning the most general verse about
breaking contracts, 0,5:1, there is exegetical
disagreement. Some exegetes disagree con-
cerning the scope of 05 :i - Ibn al-Arabl
(d. 543/1148; Ahkam, ad loc.) mentions a
number of different interpretations, each
associated with the name of a particular
early commentator: Ibn 'Abbas (d. 68/
686-8) says the injunction to fulfill all con-
tracts is coterminous with that of fulfilling
all covenants; Qatada (d. 117/735) savs it
refers only to keeping alliances (ahlaf, sing.
hilf) made in the period before Islam. Ac-
cording to Zayd b. Aslam, 05:1 includes
keeping all contracts of marriage, partner-
ship, sales, oaths, covenants and treaties.
Interpreting the verse as applying only to
divine-human relations and not to agree-
ments among people, al-Zajjaj (d. 311/923)
says o 5:1 commands keeping all contracts
made between God and humanity. The
most general opinion is that of al-Tabarl
(d. 310/923), who reports {Tafsir, ad loc.)
that the order to fulfill all contracts entails
fulfilling all obligations (fara'id) incumbent
on Muslims.

In his exegesis of 023:8, al-Qurtubi
(d. 671/1272; Jami\ ad loc.) repeats this
comprehensive understanding when he re-
marks that keeping trusts and covenants
includes all that for which people are re-
sponsible in the matters of religion and in
matters of this world, in both speech and
deed. An inclusive understanding finds ad-
ditional confirmation in the hadlth litera-
ture. It is reported in several of the stand-
ard collections of prophetic hadlth that all

people who act treacherously, i.e. not keep-
ing their agreements, will be held account-
able for this on the day of judgment (see
Bukhari, Sahih, 9:72; Ibn Hanbal, Musnad,
2:70; Tirmidhi, Sahih, 2191; Ibn Maja,
2872-2873; Nasa'i, Sunan, 6:180; see LAST
judgment).

Moving on to other relevant qur'anic ref-
erences, Q_ 13:20 and the verse repeated in
023:8 and 70:32 seem to contain a slight
variation on the qur'anic understanding of
keeping covenants, which is in line with
that of the hadlth collections. In 013-20
fulfilling the covenant of God and not
breaking the pact are listed along with
other attributes of the people who will en-
ter the gardens of paradise (see garden;
paradise), thus providing a positive ob-
verse to the judgment scenarios already
mentioned. Keeping covenants and trusts
is also listed in the context of the attributes
given in 023:1-11 and 070:22-35 of those
who will enter paradise. (See reward and
punishment.)

Note also that there are structural paral-
lels among the three lists in 013-19-23,
23:1-11, and 70:22-35. Each list includes a
ritual obligation or contract with God such
as the requirement to pray or give alms
(013:22; 23:2, 4, 9; 70:34; see almsgiving;
prayer). Each list includes marriage and
family obligations including the restriction
of sex to properly contracted contexts
(013:21-2; 23:5-7; 70:29-31; see absti-
nence; chastity; sex and sexuality;

MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE). At least two of
the lists have reference to giving upright
testimony (07 0: 33) an[ l n °t en g a g m g m
idle talk (023:3). o : 3 : 22 mentions repelling
evil with good in this context. In comment-
ing upon these lists, Ibn Kathlr (d. 774/
1373; Tafsir, ad loc.) reports that the con-
nection between these social and religious
contracts and the requirement of keeping
such obligations, reflects the obligation

BRIDE WEALTH

2 5 8

arising from the "trust" accepted by Adam
(see ADAM AND eve) from God in Q_ 33:72.
This trust, rejected by the heavens, earth
and mountains, signifies the obligation to
serve God when given the freedom to
choose between good and evil (q.v.).

M. Whe

Bibliography
Primary: BukhaiT, Sahih; Ibn al-'Arabl, Ahkam;
Ibn Hanbal, Alusnad; Ibn Kathlr, Tafsir; Ibn
Maja; Nasa'l, Sunan; Qurtubl, Jami'; RazI, Tafsu;
TabarT, Tafsir; Tirmidhl, SahTh; Zamakhsharl,
Kashshaf.

Secondary: M. c Abd al-C^adlr, Kitdb al-Ayman
wa-l-nudhur, Amman 1988; M. Abu Zahra,
al-Milkiyya wa-naiariyyat al-'aqd, Cairo 1939;
Ch. Chehata, Essai d'use theorie generate de
['obligation en droit musulman, Cairo 1936; N.
Hammad, al-Hiydzafi Wuqudfl l-fiqh al-isldmi,
Damascus 1978; E. Tyan, Institutions du droit
public musulman, Paris 1954; B. Weiss, Covenant
and law in Islam, in E. Firmage, B. Weiss and
J. Welch (eds.), Religion and law. Biblical-Judaic
and Islamic perspectives, Winona Lake, IN 1990,
49-83-

Bridewealth

The obligatory payment of a sum of
money by the groom to the bride as stipu-
lated in the marriage contract, a sum
which in turn becomes her property. Mod-
ern English usage has shown a preference
for the term bridewealth or marriage pay-
ment over the earlier term "dowry" (cf.
Encyclopaedia Britannica 1996, s.v. "bride-
wealth" and "dowry"). In the Qur'an three
different words are used for the concept: ajr
(reward), farlda (legal obligation) and saduqa
(nuptial gift).

Several aspects of bridewealth are treated
in the Qur'an: (1) The payment of bride-
wealth is a prerequisite of marriage (the
term used is ajr in o 4:24, 25; 5:5; 33:50) In
Q_ 60:10, for instance, it is stated that
"There is no fault for you to marry them

when you have given them their rewards."
(2) The bridewealth becomes the property
of the bride. This is an obvious conclusion
from Q_ 4:4 where men are asked to "give
the women their nuptial gifts (saduqat) as a
present (nihlatan)" to which they no longer
have any rights except any portion volun-
tarily renounced by the woman (cf. also
o_ 4:20). Such possible post-marriage ar-
rangements between spouses concerning
the bridewealth are also mentioned in
Q_ 4:24 and 2:237. (3) There is a relation be-
tween bridewealth and marital intercourse
(q 4:21 and 24). According to o 2:236-7 the
full amount of the bridewealth has to be
given only when marital intercourse has
occurred (see marriage and divorce).

The qur'anic concept of bridewealth and
the terms used for it differ substantially
from pre-Islamic Arab custom (see PRE-
ISLAMIC ARABIA AND THE QJJR'an). In old
Arabic poetry (see POETS and poetry) the
bridewealth is called mahr and was given
to the father or male relatives of the
bride (cf. also p_ 60:10 and Farra', Ma'am,
i, 256). The bride may also have received
from the groom a gift called sadaq which
was, however, of much lesser value. Similar
customs were known in ancient Israel (cf.
Gen 34:12; Exod 22:16; 1 Sam 18:25). The
Qur'an, on the contrary, reserves the bride-
wealth for the married woman herself and
gives her the sole right of disposal. This
must have constituted an innovation in
Arabic-Islamic society, as suggested by two
facts: 1) the avoidance of the term mahr in
the extensive terminology concerning
bridewealth in the Qur'an; and 2) the
qur'anic idea that the bridewealth is a
compensation for the permission to have
sexual intercourse (not a compensation for
the loss of a potentially productive mem-
ber of a clan as mahr was probably consid-
ered in pre-Islamic Arab tribal society)
and, related to this idea, the choice of the
term ajr (reward).

259

BROTHER AND BROTHERHOOD

The amount to be given as bridewealth is
not stipulated in the Quran. In Arab soci-
ety it depended on the bride's social status.
It is unknown whether the qintar (of silver
or gold?) mentioned in q 4:20 should be
considered as an average measure of
bridewealth among the wealthier follow-
ers of Muhammad or as a very large one
(cf. Abd al-Razzaq, al-Musannaf, vi, no.
10420).

In early Islamic legal discussion on bride-
wealth the qur'anic discussion of the sub-
ject forms the point of departure (see LAW
and THE qjjr'an). In this discussion, how-
ever, many questions left unanswered in
the Qur'an are also tackled, such as the
lower and upper limits of bridewealth, the
date of payment, the possibility of pay-
ment by installments and so on. It is re-
markable that in early legal discussions
the qur'anic terms for bridewealth are not
used at all. The most favored term is sadaq
(bridewealth) with ?nahr as a synonym oc-
curring less frequently.

Harald Motzki

Bibliography
Primary: ( Abd al-Razzaq, Musannaf, vi, K.
al-Nikah; Farm', Ma'am; Malik, Muwatta\ chap.
28; Tabarl, Tafslr, ad loc.
Secondary: A.M. al-Hnfl, al-Mar'aji l-shi'r
al-jahili, Cairo, 2nd ed., n.d. [1964], i, 190-6; G.
Jacob, Altarabisches Beduinenleben, Berlin 1897, 57,
213; H. Motzki, Geschlechtsreife nnd
Legitimation zur Zeugnng im frtihen Islam, in
E.W. Miiller (ed.), Geschlechtsreife und Legitimation
zur ^eugung, Freiburg/ Miinchen 1985, 527-30;
W. Robertson Smith, Kinship and marriage in early
Arabia, Boston 1885 1 , 1903*, 93, 96, 105-6, ill,
113, 119, 151 (cf. the review by Th. Noldeke in
ZDMG 40 [1886], 154); O. Spies, Mahr, in EI 1 , vi,
78-80; J. Wellhansen, Die Ehe bei den Arabern,
in Nachrichten von der Kbniglichen Gesellschaft der
Wissenschaften und der Georg-August- Universitat zu
Gbttingen 11 (1893), 431-6.

Brocade see material culture and

THE OUr'An

Brother and Brotherhood

The term brother (akh) is used in the
Qur'an in several senses: in its strict biolog-
ical sense; in several partly metaphorical
senses, especially to indicate membership
in a genealogical group; and, in a more ex-
tended metaphorical sense, to indicate
membership in a group united by a shared
belief. There are verses in the Qur'an that
indicate that the sense of community and
mutual respect, concern and aid implied
by brotherhood in this extended, meta-
phorical sense can unite not only Muslims
but any humans who do virtuous acts in re-
sponse to God's expectations of them (see
COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY IN THE Q_UR'AN;
GRATITUDE AND INGRATITUDE).

Brother, in its literal sense, a male who
shares one or both parents with another
sibling, is the object of several verses with
legal implications. A brother is within the
closer degrees of kinship (q.v.) and there-
fore both forbidden to marry the daughter
of his brother (04:23) and allowed to see
his sisters dressed less formally than would
be proper before men not in close kin rela-
tion or considered likely to see them as sex-
ually desirable (q 24:31; compare q 33:55
on the Prophet's wives; see WIVES OF THE
prophet; sex and sexuality; social
interactions). Since q4:23 also forbids a
"milk sister" to marry a biologically unre-
lated male suckled by the same mother,
specialists in Islamic law have usually in-
cluded the milk brother as well as the milk
sister and milk mother in most of the legal
rulings that regulate marriageability and
acceptable private association. The brother
also has a fixed position in entitlement to
inheritance (q.v.; q4:i76 and 0,4:11, in
which "brothers" (ikhwa) is generally un-
derstood to mean both brothers and sisters;
see sister). The brother is referred to as
the archetype of the wall l-dam, the next of
kin with the right to demand retaliation

BROTHER AND BROTHERHOOD

260

(q.v.) for a deliberately slain kinsman or to
settle for blood money (q_ 2:178; see BLOOD
money; murder).

The most important "blood" brothers
who figure in the Qur'an are Cain and
Abel, (who are referred to, but not men-
tioned by name; see CAIN and abel), the
brothers of Joseph (q.v.; see also benjamin),
and Moses (q.v.) and Aaron (Harun, see
aaron). It is interesting that a figure so
centrally important as Moses has a brother
who is specifically called both a "prophet"
[nabi, <?_ 19:53) and a messenger (rasul,
£20:47; see messenger) of the Lord and
who could, like his brother, receive divine
inspiration [wahy, Q_ 10:87; see revelation
and inspiration) as well as miraculous
signs [ayat, Q_ 23:45; 20:42; see signs).
Moses, whose speech is hard to under-
stand, has asked God to give him Aaron,
his brother, as a "helper" (wazir) from his
family (q_ 20:29-30; 25:35; 28:35). More-
over, both Moses and Aaron are given
sultan, a word usually understood to mean
authority, power and authoritative proof
(o_ 28:35; and 23:45, in which the phrase
is sultan mubin, "clear authority").

The simultaneous appearance of two
prophet brothers among one people raised,
for later generations, questions about the
nature of prophethood (see prophets and
prophethood). The Qur'an seems to con-
tain a two-fold explanation of the need for
both prophets: namely, the rebelliousness
of the Israelites towards Moses and his re-
sultant need of Aaron's help, and the assis-
tance Moses needs in circumventing his
difficulty in speech. Thus when Moses or-
ders them to enter the Holy Land and they
refuse, Moses prays: "My Lord, I control
only myself and my brother. Distinguish us
(or "distance us") from such perverse peo-
ple" (535:25). Yet one might argue that God
could have given Moses the gifts of speech
and authority that would have freed him
from the need of a prophet-brother.

A further problem is raised by Aaron's
presence when the calf (see calf of
gold) was made to be an object of wor-
ship while Moses was absent and receiving
the law on Mount Sinai (q.v.), especially
as Moses had told Aaron, "Be my deputy
among my people, act righteously and do
not follow the path of the perverse"
(c) 7:142). That Moses on his return at least
pretends to hold his brother responsible is
shown by the words: "He [Moses] took his
brother by the head, pulling him toward
himself" (q_ 7:150). Hence Aaron says in ex-
planation: "O son of my mother, the peo-
ple have humiliated me [or, "thought me to
be weak"] and almost killed me. So do not
let my enemies gloat over me nor place
me among the wrongdoers" ((37:150).
Moses then prays for both himself and
his brother: "O Lord, forgive me and my
brother and cause us to enter in your
mercy" (Q_7:i5i). Alongside all of these
problems was the problem of the appar-
ent sin of Moses in killing a man (o_ 20:40;
26:14; 26:19). These verses offered rich
material for the speculation of later Mus-
lim thinkers on the sinlessness, the degree
of foreknowledge (or reasons for with-
holding foreknowledge) and the timing of
divinely ordained persuasive miracles that
God might grant his prophets (see impec-
cability and infallibility; miracle).

The commentators by and large avoid
this discussion. Al-Tabari (d. 310/923) ex-
plains that "From our mercy we gave [Mo-
ses] his brother Aaron as a prophet (nabi)"
(o_ 19:53) means: "We supported and helped
him [Moses] through his [Aaron's] proph-
ethood" (Tafsir, xvi, 95). Al-Tabari (Tafsir,
xvi, 160) also implies that Aaron's station is
in answer to Moses' prayers (which, per-
haps, God anticipated) when Moses asks
God to give him his brother Aaron as a vi-
zier (wazir) and says: "Let him share in my
mission (atnri)" (o_ 20:32). Moses is saying,
al-Tabarl explains, "Make him a prophet

26l

BROTHER AND BROTHERHOOD

just as you made me a prophet." Al-
BaydawT (d. ca. 716/1316-7) seems to be ex-
plaining Aaron's inability to stop the wor-
ship of the calf — and also, perhaps, to be
justifying Aaron as a second prophet —
when he says that Aaron was three years
older than Moses and was "a mild-tem-
pered and tractable person, better loved by
the people of Israel" (Anwar, i, 345). Yet
often, even when the verse refers to pro-
phetic traits possessed by both brothers,
the commentators remain principally in-
terested in Moses. Thus, in discussing the
"miraculous signs" mentioned in o_ 23:45,
Tafslr al-Jalalayn (450) only refers to the
miracles of Moses since Aaron plays such a
subordinate role in the narrative of their
lives. Nevertheless, as al-Tusi (d. 460/1067)
explains (Tibyan, iv, 532), when Moses went
up Mount Sinai he was able to order
Aaron to be his deputy even though God
had sent Aaron as a prophet with a mission
(nabi ' mursal) because Moses had leadership
(riyasa) over Aaron as well as over all of the
rest of the religious community (umma) to
whom Moses brought revelation. Interest-
ingly, the sultan given to Moses and Aaron
is understood by several commentators
to mean hujja, "argument (for a case)" (e.g.
Tabari, Tafsu, xx, 76; see proof). Al-
Baydawl (d. ca. 716/1316-7) interprets sultan
mubin (q 23:45), in which mubin would ordi-
narily be understood to mean "manifestly
clear," as "a manifestly clear argument,
compelling to the one who opposes it" and
says that it may mean such miraculous
signs as Moses' staff which turned into a
snake (Anwar, ad loc). Incidentally, the use
of terms such as sultan and wazir, later to
become political terms frequently used in
the Islamic world, caused the verses on
Moses and Aaron to be examined in the
light of this use (see authority). The ex-
ample of Aaron as an "infallible" aide sent
to help Moses was of importance to some
Shl'is in understanding the role of All (see

'ali b. abi talib) and other imams (see
SHl'lSM AND THE QJJR'an; IMAM).

Very common in the Qur'an is the largely
metaphorical use of "brother" to mean
members of a tribe or people (see tribes
and clans) especially (though not exclu-
sively) in connection with three of the so-
called "Arabian" prophets sent by God to
their people. Hud (q.v.) is the "brother" of
the Ad (q.v.; 0,7:65; 11:50; 26:124; 46:21),
Salih (q.v.) is the brother of the Thamud
(q.v.; 07:73; 11:61; 26:142; 27:45) and
Shu'ayb (q.v.) is the brother of Midian
(q.v.; 07:85; 11:84; 2 9 : 36)- Similarly, Noah
(q.v.) is the brother of the "people" or
"tribe" (qawm) of Noah (p_ 26:105-6). Lot
(q.v.) is the brother of the qawm of Lot
(o_ 26:160-1); and, correspondingly, "the
brothers (ikhwan) of Lot" (meaning the
people of Lot) are listed among those peo-
ples who rejected messengers sent by God
(050:13). Al-Raghib al-Isfaham (d. early
5th/nth cent.; Mufradat, 68, under the
heading "akh") says that brother is used in
these verses to convey that the compassion
that such a messenger has for his people is
just as that which a brother has for his
brother. In a parallel usage the kin of
Mary (q.v.) address her as "sister of Aaron"
(019:28).

There are a few verses that bridge or par-
tially indicate the transference of "bro-
ther" from its literal or partly metaphorical
use (as when it means kinsman) to its full
metaphorical sense. A striking example of
the use of the emotional closeness implied
by brotherhood is the simile which warns
the believers to avoid suspicion, spying and
speaking ill of each other, for: "Would one
of you like to eat the flesh of his dead
brother? For you would have a horror of
such things" (o_ 49:12). The believers are
told if they "become mixed" with orphans
(q.v.), "they become your brothers (ikhwa-
nukumj" (q_ 2:220). Tajsir al-Jalalayn (46)
echoes many commentaries in saying that

BROTHER AND BROTHERHOOD

L>()_>

"brothers" here means "brothers in reli-
gion"; but, like many other commentaries,
it implies that such acceptance means ac-
ceptance in a quasi-familial relationship,
"For it is customary for a brother to mingle
his expenses with his brothers, so you
should act in this way [with such or-
phans]." Similarly, it is said of adoptive
children that they should keep the names
of their fathers "but if you do not know
their fathers, then they are your brothers
(ikhwanukum) in religion (din) and your
friends/clients/proteges (mawali)" (0.33:5;
see CLIENTS AND CLIENTAGE).

While several verses attest that biological
kinship, including brotherhood, is less im-
portant than spiritual kinship, the verse fol-
lowing the discussion of adoption shows
that for legal purposes real brotherhood is
still the measure relevant to inheritance
and kindred matters: "Blood relatives are
closer to each other in God's book than to
the believers and the emigrants. If (never-
theless) you act with goodness toward those
affiliated with you (awliyd'ikum), that is set
down in the Book (q.v.)" (5333:6). This verse
is said by virtually all the commentators to
confirm the abrogation of the mu'akhat, the
adoption of each other as brothers by the
Meccan Emigrants (muhajirun) and certain
members of the Helpers (ansar), the sincere
believers among the M edinans, at the time
that the Prophet settled in Medina (see
EMIGRANTS AND HELPERS).

Nevertheless, in the larger scheme of
things, the ties created by religion are more
meaningful in the eyes of God and should
be a more significant source of motivation.
If your kin and your wealth are dearer to
you than the Prophet, God and the strug-
gle in his path (see PATH OR WAY [of
god]), "then lie in wait until God brings
his command to pass" (5)9:24). "Those
who believe in God and the last day (see
last judgment) will not show love to those
who oppose God and his Prophet whether

they be fathers or sons or brothers or mem-
bers of their clan ('ashira)" ((358:22). This
sura belongs to the Medinan period and
may refer to the attempts by the Prophet to
make the sincere converts among the Me-
dinans place their loyalty to Islam above
their feelings of kinship to their relatives
who were not real converts, the "hypo-
crites" (see HYPOCRITES AND HYPOCRISY).

Several verses affirm the brotherhood of
the believers (see belief and unbelief).
The Quran reminds Muslims that before
accepting Islam they were enemies, "then
he unified your hearts so that through his
bounty you became brothers (ikhwan)"
(t3 3:103). The believers must take care to
preserve this condition for they "are but
brothers (ikhwa); therefore, make peace be-
tween (any) two of your brothers" (5)49:10).
Correspondingly, those who share in some
form of sinful behavior can be considered
members of a "brotherhood" so that
"those who squander money [or are prodi-
gal] are the brothers of the devils (shayatin,
see devil)" (q_ 17:27). Al-Tabarl (TafsTr, xv,
74) adds: "In this way the Arabs (q.v.) speak
of anyone who adheres to a habit of a peo-
ple and follows their tradition: [he is] their
brother."

Other verses show that the brotherhood
of the believers entails a feeling of mutual
affection and interdependence regardless
of gender. Thus 03:195 reads: "And their
Lord answers them, 'I do not/will not
cause the action of anyone of you to be
lost, whether male or female; you depend
on/belong to/proceed from each other
(ba'dukum min ba'din). ,,, Similarly 539:71
reads: "The believers, male and female, are
friends/guardians of each other (ba'duhum
awliyd' ba'din)." Indeed, 059-9) which refers
to the Emigrants from Mecca and the
Helpers in Medina but may be generalized
to indicate the degree to which all true be-
lievers prefer the interests of other believ-
ers to their own, reads: "They do not find

263

envy in their hearts for that which has been
given [to the emigrants] but prefer them
to themselves even if there be poverty
amongst themselves. Whoever guards him-
self from the avarice (q.v.) of his own soul,
those are the truly fortunate." (See also the
next verse, Q_5g:io and compare 0,64:16).

According to some modernists all hu-
mans are believers by nature, and only by
willful commitment to evil leave that state.
Some verses might be seen to support this
view. There are those who associate others
with God (mushrikun, see idolatry and
idolaters); "but" — adds a verse which
need not be read as exclusively designating
Muslims — "if they repent and establish
worship (q.v.) and pay the alms-tax (z_akat,
see almsgiving), they are your brothers
(ikhwdn) in religion" (o_g:n). And in a verse
which seems from its context to be ad-
dressed to the righteous (al-muttaqln), they
are promised that in heaven (q.v.): "We
shall root out whatever [remains] of hatred
in their hearts; [they shall be] as brothers
(ikhwdn) on raised couches, face to face"
(q_ 15:47). If this verse is addressed to the
righteous, both Muslim and non-Muslim,
it conceives of brotherhood as their uni-
versal reward and ideal condition in the
future life.

Elaboration of the concept of brother-
hood as a heightened form of religious
identification became prominent in medi-
eval Islam. Literary examples of this would
include the writings of the Brotherhood of
Purity (Ikhwan al-Safa') and of Ibn Abl
1-Dunya (d. 281/894), whose ideas on
"brotherhood" in God are often quoted by
al-Ghazall (d. 505/11 11) in book 15 of his
Ihya' 'ulum al-din. Historical formulations,
especially those associated with Sufism, are
a prominent feature of religious life in vir-
tually every Islamic century (see sufism
and the qjjr'an).

Roy P. Mottahedeh

Bibliography
Baydawl, Anwar; al-Ghazall, Abu Hamid
Muhammad, Ihya' 'ulum al-din, 4 vols., Bulaq
1289/1872, ii, 138-97; Ibn Abil-Dunya, Kitab
al-Ihhwan, ed. M. Tawliba, Cairo 1988 (rev. by
M. Ar Khalaf); Jalalayn; al-Raghib al-Isfahanl,
Mufradat, Beirut 1412/1992; Tabarl, Tafsu; TusI,
Tibyan.

Buildings see house — domestic
divine; mosoue; markets

Burial

The interment of the body after death and
accompanying practices involving the
preparation of the body, its transportation
to a cemetery, mourning, and erection of
tombstones and mortuary buildings. In Is-
lam, burial and its attendant preparations
are the method prescribed for disposing of
the dead. Islamic burial rituals (jana'iz)
normally require four elements: washing
the body, shrouding, funeral prayers, and
prompt burial with the face oriented to-
wards the Ka'ba (q.v.) in Mecca. They are
discussed most fully in Islamic legal litera-
ture (fiqh) and in modern ethnographies.
The Qur'an itself deals substantively with
eschatology (q.v.) but has little to say about
burial per se. Muslims nonetheless use
verses from the Qur'an in burial rites,
mourning and mortuary inscriptions.

The Qur'an briefly addresses itself to the
question of the origin of burial in two
ways. It depicts burial as the closing stage
in the course that God has set for humans
to follow from conception until death (see
biology as the creation and stages of
life). At death, he causes them to be bur-
ied (aqbarahu) in anticipation of the resur-
rection (q.v; Q_ 80:18-22) when they will
come forth from their graves (ajddth, qubur)
for the day of judgment (q_36:5I-64; 100:9;
see last judgment; apocalypse). The

264

Qur'an also alludes to the origins of burial
in the narrative of Adam's two sons (identi-
fied as Gain [Qabll] and Abel [Habll] in
the commentaries) where a raven sent by
God shows the murderer how to bury his
brother's body (o_5:3i; cf. Tabarl, Tafsir, vi,
127-8; see CAIN and abel). Unlike the Bi-
ble, the Qur'an does not explicitly discuss
burial procedures. It does, however, pro-
hibit prayer over the graves of hypocrites
and disbelievers (q_ 9:84; see hypocrites
and hypocrisy; belief and unbelief).

Despite the dearth of information about
burial in the Qur'an itself, Muslims have
ubiquitously employed the sacred text in
their funerary rites. According to some
hadlths, the recitation of specific chapters
and verses can earn the deceased special
rewards in the hereafter (see reward and
punishment). Thus, reciting 036, the sura
entitled Ya Sin and known as "the heart of
the Qur'an," will bring them forgiveness,
even a martyr's blissful status. According to
another tradition, whoever dies after read-
ing the last verses of 5)59, which glorify
God, will be rewarded with paradise (q.v.).
Comparable blessings are attributed to
reciting q 1, 67, 112, 113, and 114. More-
over, some hadlths report that the faithful
will continue to recite and study the Qur-
'an in their graves until resurrection.

Fiqh manuals and ethnographic descrip-
tions of Muslim burial practices in the
Middle East, North Africa, south and
southeast Asia, and North America com-
pensate for the paucity of information in
historical literature. Jurists commend the
reading of Q_36 when death approaches.
Though they deplore recitation of the
Qur'an in funeral processions, those who
follow the Shafi'i and Hanball forms of
Islamic law approve reading the first sura,
Surat al-Fatiha (see fatiha), during pre-
scribed funerary prayers. Shafi'i and Ha-
nafl jurists favor reciting "From it we
created you, to it we will return you, and

from it we will extract you a second time"
(q_ 20:55) when the bereaved throw dirt on
the grave. Another practice, involving ad-
vising the soul of the deceased on how to
answer the angels that interrogate it in the
grave the night after burial, includes the
admonition that it should confess that the
Qur'an is its guide (imam) or book. Known
as the talqln, this rite is endorsed by most of
the Islamic legal schools.

Ethnographies, on the other hand, indi-
cate that recitation of the Qur'an (q.v.) is a
sine qua non in funerary rites, though these
vary according to circumstance and local
custom. This can be done by trained recit-
ers (see recitation, the art of), by the
religiously learned or by ordinary mourn-
ers at the homes of the deceased, as well as
in mosques, assembly halls and cemeteries.
Qur'anic recitation characterizes multiple
aspects of the full range of Islamic burial
practices. Generally, it occurs when some-
one is in the throes of death, while the
body is being washed and enshrouded, at
funerary prayers, and on death anniversa-
ries. During the mourning period (usually
forty days), a complete reading of the
Qur'an (khatma) is conducted in many
Muslim cultures.

The written Qur'an has various uses in
burial rites. Sometimes the whole book is
placed on the breast of the deceased or
carried in the funeral cortege. In some cul-
tures, the outer shroud has qur'anic verses
written upon it. More commonly, verses
about God's unity and permanence, inter-
cession, the afterlife, the Prophet, and the
inevitability of death are inscribed on
tombstones and mausolea. Epigraphic sur-
veys (see epigraphy and the q_ur'an) in
medieval cemeteries reveal that the Throne
Verse (£2:255); {33:169, 185; 112; and
55:26-27 were among the most popular
verses, but many others are also attested.
Funerary shrines and mosques dedicated
to rulers, saints and esteemed scholars of-

2l>5

BYZANTINES

ten feature artistically rendered inscrip-
tions from the Quran. The Taj Mahal in
Agra, India, wherein lie the tombs of Shah
Jahan (1000/1592-1076/1666) and his wife
Mumtaz (d. 1040/1631), is exquisitely in-
scribed with verses from 23 suras, including
p_36 and 112. Muslim jurists periodically
condemn such practices, however, and none
more than the Hanballs. See also DEATH
AND THE DEAD; RITUAL AND THE QUR'aN.

Juan Eduardo Campo

Surat al-Rum, p_ 30:1-5: "The Byzantines
have been defeated (ghulibati l-Rum) in a
nearby land, but after their defeat they will

prevail (sa-yaghlibuna) within a few years

On that day the believers will rejoice." An
alternate reading going back to several
early authorities, including Ibn 'Umar (d.
73/693), reverses the voice of the verbs:
"The Byzantines have prevailed (ghalabati
l-Rum)... [but afterwards] will be defeated
(sa-yughlabuna) ." This reading has mostly
been rejected (e.g. Tabarl, Jami\ xxi, 15-21).

Bibliography
Primary: ( Abd al-Rahman al-jazlrl, Kiiab al-Fiqh
'aid l-madhahib al-arba'a, 5 vols., Beirut 1990 (see i,
455-91); al-Ghazall, Abu Hamid Muhammad,
Ihyd' 'ulum al-din, iv. Kitdb Dhikr al-mawt wa-ma
ba'dahu, Cairo n.d., trans. T.J. Winter, The
remembrance of death and the afterlife, Cambridge,
UK 1989; Suyuti, al-Fawz al-aiimfi liqa'
al-kanm, ed. M. ( Abd al-Hamid and M. Faris,
Beirut 1994; id., Itqdn, 2 vols, in I, Beirut n.d., ii.
On the excellences of the Qur'an, 192-8.
Secondary: M. Abdul Rauf, Islam. Creed and
worship, Washington 1974, 96-inn; W. Begly, The
myth of the Taj Mahal and a new theory of its
symbolic meaning, in Art bulletin 61 (1979), 7-37;
J.R. Bowen, Death and the history of Islam in
Highland Aceh, in Indonesia 38 (1984), 21-38; B.A.
Donaldson, The wild rue. A study of Muhammadan
magic and folklore in Iran, London 1938; repr. New
York 1973, 69-78; N. Khoury, The mihrab image.
Commemorative themes in medieval Islamic
architecture, in Muqarnas 9 (1992), 11-28; E.W.
Lane, Account of the manners and customs of the
modern Egyptians, London i860; repr. New York
1973 5 , ch. 28; H. Masse, Persian beliefs and customs,
trans. C.A. Messner, New Haven 1954, 80-104; S.
Mehdi (comp.), Death and death ceremonies, Karachi
1972; Kh. Moaz and S. Ory, Inscriptions arabes de
Damas. les steles funeraires. I: Cimetiere d'al-Bdb al-
Saghir, Damascus 1977; A.K. Reinhart and KM.
Denny, Funerary rites, in The Oxford encyclopedia oj
the modem Islamic world, ii, 34-7.

Byzantines

The inhabitants of the Eastern Roman
Empire, which had its capital at Constanti-
nople. The Byzantines [al-Rum, lit. "the
Romans") are named in the Qur'an only in

Historical context
The apparent context of this qur'anic ref-
erence is the war between the Byzantine
and Sasanian (Persian) Empires which co-
incided with the earliest years of Islam.
The deposition of the Byzantine Emperor
Maurice in 602 and his replacement by
Phocas provoked the Sasanian Emperor
Khusraw II Parviz into reopening hostili-
ties. Byzantine defenses crumbled and the
widely-hated Phocas was deposed in turn
by Heraclius in 610. In the following de-
cade, the Persians conquered Byzantine
Syria, Palestine and Egypt, as well as much
of Anatolia. Byzantine prestige received a
harsh blow with the loss of Jerusalem and
the True Cross in 614. But in the 620s
Heraclius turned the tables in a series of
northern campaigns crushing the Sasani-
ans decisively at Nineveh in 627. He re-
turned the Cross in triumph to Jerusalem
in 630. By then, however, Muslim fighters
from the south were already probing By-
zantine defenses; they became the real
beneficiaries of this long, devastating
Perso-Byzantine war about which little is
known except from archaeological evi-
dence (C. Foss, The Persians; W. Kaegi,
Byzantium).

The opening verses of o_ 30, Surat al-
Rum, thus refer to Persian successes in
Syria in the 610s, although it is not clear
precisely when and where. In biographical

BYZANTINES

L>66

literature (slra) about the Prophet and in
exegetical literature, Muhammad and the
early Muslims favor the monotheistic By-
zantines in this war while their Meccan en-
emies favor the "pagan" Persians. Alterna-
tively, the largely rejected reading could
refer to an early defeat of the Muslims at
Byzantine hands as at Mu'ta (629) and pre-
dict Muslim victories about to come (see
the discussion in M. Gotz, Historischen
Hintergrund).

In the decades before these events, impe-
rial power in northern Arabia had already
declined and with it the fortunes of Arab
imperial proteges (see I. Shahid, Byzantium;
B. Isaac, The limits; A. Cameron, Byzantine
Near East, see pre-islamic Arabia and
the q_ur'an). But with the disappearance
of the Sasanian Empire and the rapid suc-
cess of Muslim armies almost everywhere,
the stubbornly surviving Byzantine empire
became what it had not been during
Muhammad's lifetime, the paradigmatic
enemy of the Islamic polity. Despite the
varied exchanges which took place con-
stantly and the admiration which Byzan-
tines and Muslims often expressed for one
another, true coexistence remained impos-
sible as expressed by Andre Miquel:
"Which of the two of us was created for
the ruination of the other?" ("Lequel de
nous deux fut cree pour la ruine de
l'autre?" La geographie, ii, 384). The con-
quest of Constantinople appears as a cos-
mic event (fitanj in eschatological hadith
(see eschatology; hadith and the
qur'an), while the long history of the wars
between the two powers often evidences a
ritual character.

Michael Bonner

Exegetical explanations
As noted above, several scholars have al-
luded to the difficulty to be found in read-
ing and interpreting the first verses of

Surat al-Rum, 0,30:1-5, pointing to the
problematic vocalization of these verses, a
textual situation that carries the potential
of changing the meaning and the depend-
ent historical explanation (cf. R. Bell, Origin
of Islam, 137-8; id., Commentary, ii, 69-70; E.
Beck, Die Sure ar-Rum, 336-9). The most
important problem concerns the forms of
the verb ghalaba, "to vanquish," and whe-
ther in its repeated usages it is understood
as passive voice or active. For this passage
the voweling of the verbs is crucial as it
fundamentally changes the meaning and
interpretation of the verses.

The early commentary of Muqatil b.
Sulayman (d. 150/767) states that "Persia
had defeated the Rum and the unbelievers
(kujjar) of Mecca rejoiced saying that the
Persians, like us, do not have a [holy] book
(q.v.) and they have defeated the Rum who
are People of the Book (q.v.) like you and
so we will defeat you the way the Persians
defeated the Rum... On the day of Badr,
the Muslims triumphed over the unbeliev-
ers (kuffar) of Mecca and the news reached
them that the Rum triumphed over the
Persians and the Muslims rejoiced for that"
(TafsTr, hi, 406-7). Although the early exe-
getical texts stress the main reading that fa-
vors Byzantine victory, the variant reading
is found already in texts of the early sec-
ond/eighth and early third/ninth century
with chains of authorities going back to
much earlier times. According to the gram-
marian al-Farra' (d. 207/822), "The recit-
ers (qurra', see reciters of the qur'an)
agree on ghulibat except for Ibn 'Umar who
read it ghalab at." Al-Farra', however, states
that the exegetical tradition rejects the say-
ing of Ibn 'Umar [Ma'am, ii, 319).

Al-Tabarl (d. 310/923) cites the material
of the standard authorities, noting even in-
significant variants. The main traditional
reading, which is the most prevalent in the
commentaries is, according to al-Tabari,
ghulibat... sayaghlibun. The basic explana-

267

BYZANTINES

tion provided by al-Tabarl [Tafsir, xxi,
15-21), which reiterates earlier exegetical
works and is repeated by a majority of
later commentaries, is the following: The
Rum were defeated by the Persians but
they will soon be victorious and on that
day, the day when the People of the Book
defeat the pagan Persians, the believers will
rejoice. This reading reflects a positive out-
look towards the Byzantines in the expec-
tation of a later Byzantine victory that will
give the believers cause to celebrate. The
believers' "rejoicing" at a Byzantine vic-
tory is explained by the commentators in
religious terms that stress the importance
of Byzantine monotheism as a determining
factor in securing such Muslim approval:
The "believers shall rejoice" for the victory
of the Byzantines, a People of the Book,
over the polytheist Persians (see belief
and unbelief; polytheism and atheism).
This explanation is also found in the major
work on the occasions of revelation (asbab
al-nuziil, see occasions of revelation) of
al-Wahidl (d. 468/1075; Asbab, 258-9; cf.
id., Wasit, iii, 462-3).

Another explanation provided by the
commentators is that which attributes the
believers' "rejoicing" to a Muslim victory
which coincided with the predicted Byzan-
tine victory. Al-Tabarl {Tafsir, xxi, 16) states
that the Muslims and the unbelievers
(mushrikm) met in battle on the same day
the Byzantines and Persians were confront-
ing each other; God let the Muslims tri-
umph over the polytheists and he let the
People of the Book vanquish the Persians.
Most commentaries mention the battle of
Badr (2/624; see BADR ) or the treaty of
Hudaybiya (q.v.) as coinciding with the
Byzantine victory over the Persians (see
expeditions AND battles). It is significant
that the exact date for the promised future
victory became an important subject of
debate and led the Companion of the
Prophet, Abu Bakr (q.v.), to engage in a

wager (murahana) with his enemies. The im-
portance of the debate is linked in the
commentaries with Muhammad's ability to
prophesy future events. The murahana, dis-
cussed at length since such an action sub-
sequently became forbidden, centered
around the definition of the phrase "a few
years" in Q_3o:4. The commentators' iden-
tification of this time span generally places
it between three and nine years or at the
outset of the seventh year.

Al-Tabarl mentions the principal variant
reading ghalabat. . . sa-yughlabun on the au-
thority of Ibn 'Umar and Abu Sa'id. This
tradition has the potential of changing the
meaning of these verses drastically. The
Byzantines defeated the Persians but, later,
the Byzantines will be defeated by the
Muslims, the real cause for Muslim rejoic-
ing. Al-Tabarl, however, states that "the
only correct reading for us is ghulibat al-
Rum and no other reading is acceptable..."
(Jami', xxi, 16). Nevertheless, a large num-
ber of commentaries record this variant
(ghalabat. . . sa-yughlabun) that promises the
ultimate defeat of the Byzantines by the
Muslims. This negative interpretation at-
tempts to circumvent the issue of the be-
lievers' rejoicing by denying any previous
ideological affiliation between Islam and
Byzantium, a perspective that assumed
prominence in the course of the eleventh
century. The Mu'tazili 'Abd al-Jabbar (d.
415/1025) explained the believers' joy in
light of his own times: "Why is it that the
believers shall rejoice for the polytheists'
victory over one another... the answer is
that God will bring victory upon the be-
lievers by bringing about the humiliation
of a group of polytheists by another such
group..." [Tanzih, 399; see also mu'tazi-
lis). Similarly, the Mu'tazili al-Zamakh-
sharl's (d. 538/1144) interpretation is that
the Rum were victorious and they will be
defeated by the Muslims in a few years. Al-
Zamakhsharl proposes that the continuous

BYZANTINES

268

weakening of the warring parties would
strengthen Islam, hence the believers' re-
joicing (Kashshaf, iii, 466-7). Abu Hayyan
(d. 745/1344) also includes the variant
reading of Ibn 'Umar and explains that
after a certain period, the Muslims will tri-
umph over the Rum, whereas al-BaydawT
(d. 685/1286) provides the variant reading
along with the traditional interpretation,
but without any further discussion as to its
veracity. It is as if the two interpretations,
the prevalent and the variant, are on a par.
The Sufi c Abd al-Karim al-Qushayrl (d.
465/1072) adheres to the traditional read-
ing but does not neglect to specify that "the
Muslims rejoiced for the victory of the
Rum over the Persians, even though unbe-
lief unites them"; the Rum, however, are a
little better off having singled out a num-
ber of prophets for devotion (Lata'if, v, 107;
see also sufism AND THE qjur'an).

Al-Qurtubl (d. 671/1273) includes a third
reading that uses both verbs in the active
voice and provides the following explana-
tion: On the day of Badr, the Rum were
victorious over the Persians and the Mus-
lims rejoiced and then God brought down
the good news that the Rum would be
victorious once again in a few years"
(Jami\ xiv, 4). This variant promising a
double Byzantine victory is exceptional but
is in line with the traditional positive read-
ing that promises a future Byzantine vic-
tory. Another isolated reading is found in
the Shl'l tafsTr of al-Qumml (d. 328/939)
who offers a unique interpretation: The
Persians defeated the Byzantines and they
(the Persians) will be defeated by the be-
lievers (the Muslims). Al-QummT is per-
haps alone in explaining these verses in
terms of a later Persian defeat by the Mus-
lims and with reference to the reception of
the Prophet's letters by the great leaders of
the Near East (cf. QummT, Tafsir, ii, 152-3).

But to return to the principal alternative
interpretation, commentators of the fifth/

eleventh to seventh/thirteenth centuries
adopted a new exegetical emphasis at-
tempting to circumvent the believers'
rejoicing (see exegesis of the qur'an;
classical and medieval). This new line of
explanation reflects the emergence of two
cardinal differences in relation to the prior
standpoint. First, the Byzantines who were
traditionally viewed as monotheists are
now depicted as polytheists. Second, the
joy of the believers no longer stems from
the knowledge of a future Byzantine vic-
tory. In the commentaries dating from the
twelfth century on, the "rejoicing" arises
from a combination of reasons: because
the polytheists (Persians and Byzantines)
were battling one another; because the
Muslims were victorious over their ene-
mies; because the Byzantine victory coin-
cided with a Muslim victory; or because
the victory, predicted by the Prophet, testi-
fied to his truthfulness. This new attitude
represents an attempt at depreciating the
traditional explanation of the believers' re-
joicing with its main emphasis on the
shared monotheism of the Muslims and
Byzantines. This traditionally proclaimed
reason becomes now only one among a va-
riety of other reasons.

Another departure from the traditional
explanation occurs in the Shl'l commen-
tary of al-Tabarsi (d. 548/1153), which
states that "Jerusalem (q.v.) was for the
Rum, the equivalent of the Ka'ba (q.v.) for
the Muslims." In explaining the believers'
"rejoicing" he introduces a nuance: "The
believers will rejoice for the expulsion of
the Persians from Jerusalem and not for the
Byzantines' victory because the latter are
infidels (kuffar); the other reasons for rejoic-
ing are due to the polytheists' distress, to
the fulfillment of the prophecy and the
heralding of the Muslims' own future vic-
tory" (TabarsI, Majma ', xx-xxv, 7). This ris-
ing motif of the Byzantines as infidels is
coupled with a novel stress on the impor-

269

BYZANTINES

tance of Jerusalem. Abu Hayyan similarly
introduces Jerusalem into the debate: In "a
few years" the Muslims will conquer Jeru-
salem (Bahr, 162, par. 9-12). The fact that
such interpretations coincided with the pe-
riod of the Crusades is not accidental.

The late fourth/tenth and early fifth/
eleventh centuries had seen major Muslim
defeats at the hands of the Byzantine em-
perors. The anti-Byzantine interpretation
that was now emphasized must be linked to
the new defensive position taken by the
Muslims. The late fifth/eleventh century
saw the arrival of the Crusades with their
fresh religious message. From then on, a
clear religious consciousness would develop
in response to this specific crusading men-
tality, one that rejected any identification
with the other monotheists and that placed
Jerusalem at the top of its military and cul-
tural agenda.

Consequently, the principal variant read-
ing assumed a more prominent place in the
commentaries, in particular in the more
polemical commentaries. The variant
reading sought to find different reasons for
the believers' rejoicing in an attempt to dis-
tance the early Muslim community from
Byzantium. The variant reading never,
however, stands on its own. The tradition-
ally more accepted reading is always juxta-
posed side by side with the variant. Work-
ing as they were within a tradition, the
commentators reiterated the traditional
reading and interpretation. Ideology
created a further problem for the com-
mentators who were caught by having to
re-interpret a series of verses that were
originally used to establish the very foun-
dation of prophecy in Islam (see prophets
and prophethood). The miraculous char-
acter of the Quran, partly reflected in the

prophecies of future events, was essential
to the theory of the inimitability of the
Qur'an (i'jaz al-Qur'an, see inimitability).
In his chapter explaining the Qur'an's in-
formation about future events, al-Baqillan!
(d. 403/1013) cites the opening verses of
Surat al-Rum (0,30) as a major example of
this (I'jaz, 78). To save the "prophesying"
aspect of these verses was one of the com-
mentator's essential tasks. The fulfillment
of the prophecy partially hinged on the
explanation of the believers' "rejoicing."
Thus those departing from the traditional
interpretation made the fulfillment of the
prophecy one of the basic explanations for
this "rejoicing."

Nadia Ma

El-Cheikh

bibliography
Primary: Abu Hayyan, Bahr; Abel al-Jabbar,
Tanzfh; BaqillanT, I'jaz; BaydawT, Anwar; Muqatil,
TafsTr; Qiimmi, TafsTr; Qurtubl, Jdmi'; Tabarl,
TafsTr; TabarsT, Alajma'; Wahidl, Asbab;
Zamakhsharl, Kashshaf.

Secondary: E. Beck, Die Sure ar-Rum (30), in
Orientalia Ms 13 (1944), 334-55; Bell, Commentary;
id., The origin of Islam in its Christian environment,
London 1926; A. Cameron (ed.), The Byzantine
and early Islamic Near East, Hi. States, resources and
armies, Princeton 1995; J. Chabbi, Ribat, in Ef,
viii, 493-506; N. El-Cheikh, Surat al-Rum. A
study of the exegetical literature, in JAOS 118/3
(1998), 356-64; N. El Cheikh and C.E. Bosworth,
Rum, in El 2 , viii, 601-6; C. Foss, The Persians in
Asia Minor and the end of Antiquity, in English
historical review go (1975), 721-47; M. Gotz, Zum
historischen Hintergrund von Sure 30, 1-5, in E.
Graf (ed.), Festschrift Werner Casket, Leiden 1968,
iu-20 (with bibliography); B. Isaac, The limits of
empire. The Roman army in the East, Oxford 1990;
W. Kaegi, Byzantium and the early Islamic conquests,
Cambridge 1992; A. Miquel, La geographic humaine
du monde musulman jusqu'au milieu du XT siecle, Paris
1980; I. Shahid, Byzantium and the Arabs in the sixth
century, Washington 1995; id., Ghassan, in El 3 , ii,
I020-I.

Cain and Abel

The sons of Adam and Eve (q.v.). The
qur'anic account of Gain and Abel
(q_ 5:27-32) closely follows the narrative in
the Bible [Gen 4:1-16; see scripture and
the qur'an). Each of the two sons of
Adam and Eve — whose names are not
mentioned in the Qur'an — offers a sacri-
fice (q.v): Only Abel's was accepted while
Cain's was rejected because he was not
God-fearing. Upon Cain's threat to murder
Abel, the latter remained passive, wishing
only that Cain be held responsible for the
sins of both (inniundu an tabu'a bi-ithmiwa-
ithmika, Q_ 5:29) and punished accordingly
(see chastisement and punishment). Hav-
ing followed the guidance of a raven about
the burial of Abel's body, Cain repents.
The story closes by directing the Banu Is-
rael (see children OF Israel) that murder
(q.v.) is unlawful (see lawful and unlaw-
ful). Whoever kills someone for a reason
other than justified punishment (man qa-
tala nafsan bi-ghayri nafsin aw fasadin, o 5:32)
should be viewed as though he has killed
all humanity ( fa-ka'annama qatala l-nasa
jami'an); the opposite applies to those who
save human life (man ahydha).

Since the Banu Israll are mentioned to-
ward the end of the story, some qur'anic

exegetes have offered the opinion that by
"the sons of Adam" is meant not Adam's
own sons but the Israelites. Most exegetes,
however, reject this view. That the story
was addressed to the Jews of Medina (q.v.)
can be concluded from its context (see
occasions of revelation; jews and Ju-
daism). On the other hand, the exegete
Muqatil (d. 150/767; Tafsir, i, 468) explains
"recount to them" (wa-tlu 'alayhim, Q_ 5:27)
at the beginning of the narrative to mean:
"Oh Muhammad! Recount to the people
of Mecca." According to Noldeke (oq, i,
61, 229), Q 5:15-38 is a textual unit proba-
bly anteceding the conquest of Khaybar
(q.v.) in 7/628. Bell (i, 154) proposed an ear-
lier date because of Abel's inaction. In sup-
port of this suggestion, one can adduce
that wa-tlu 'alayhim was used as an opening
clause already in the late Meccan period.
The exegetes were acquainted with the
biblical account. To this they added a vari-
ety of details drawn from relevant Jewish
and Christian traditions, much of which
goes back to old Oriental and/or Greco-
Roman mythology and folklore including,
for instance, the story of Cain's punish-
ment which recalls the myth of Pro-
metheus (see MYTHIC AND LEGENDARY
narratives). To render many of these ad-
ditions authoritative, they were couched in

-I 1

CAIN AND ABEL

the shape of a hadith (see hadith and the
qur'an). It should also be remembered that
the borrowing also went in the other direc-
tion: Islamic elements did ultimately find
their way into Jewish folklore.

Different locations for the events have
been suggested (see geography in the
qur'an): The sacrifice took place onjabal
Nawdh in India or at Mina, (near Mecca).
The fratricide was committed on the
"Holy Mountain" (al-Jabal al-Muqaddas)
from which Cain is said to have descended
to the Land of Nawdh; Jabal Qasyun near
Damascus; Jabal Murran in the Ghuta of
Damascus; Jabal Thawr or 'Aqabat al-
Hira' near Mecca; and, finally, in the Fri-
day Mosque of al-Basra.

The importance of the story for Muslim
thinking is obvious and its moral and theo-
logical dimensions have been discussed in
exegetical and other relevant literature.
Most exegetes tell us that Cain was to
marry Abel's twin sister on the order of
Adam. Others, who consider this objec-
tionable, opt for a variant tradition accord-
ing to which God sent a virgin (huriyya, see
houris) from paradise (q.v.) to Abel and a
female demon (jinniyya, see jinn) in human
form to Cain, an account apparently based
on the biblical story of the sons of God
who married the daughters of man (Gen
6:1-4).

Abel's inaction and passivity (cf Q_ 5:28) is
evidently a Christian element since, ac-
cording to Christian tradition, the murder
(q.v.) of Abel is considered a prefiguration
of the crucifixion of Jesus. Traditional
Muslim exegesis asserts that killing in self-
defense was prohibited at the time of Cain
and Abel but that this prohibition was later
abolished. In support of this interpretation
a hadith is cited in which it is declared for-
bidden for a Muslim to kill another Mus-
lim in self-defense. If he prefers to fight
and dies, both he and his opponent will be
condemned to the fire (q.v.) of hell (q.v).

Other hadiths recommend the abandon-
ment of self-defense. In emulation of
Abel, the caliph 'Uthman (q.v.; d. 35/656)
is said to have renounced self-defense
when his murderers entered his house.
According to other commentators, the is-
sue of self-defense is of no relevance in
this context because Abel was murdered
treacherously.

The interpretation of Q_ 5:29, "Verily I
wish you to become liable for my sin and
for your own" (inniundu an tabu'a bi-ithml
wa-ithmika) , is problematic because the
Qur'an teaches that nobody can bear an-
other's burden of guilt (o 6:164, and paral-
lels). Often "for my sin" (bi-ithml) is said to
refer to Cain's sin of murdering Abel and
"for your sin" (bi-ithmika) to Cain's other
sins. According to others, the point under
discussion is the punishment, not the sin
(see sin, major and minor). It is held that
the phrase in Q 5:29 has to be explained by
adding la to an (alia), i.e. by supplying an
implied negative, as is also the exegetical
situation in o 12:85 and Q_ 16:15. Another
hadith on the last judgment (q.v.) offers yet
another explanation; the hadith states that
a murderer will be charged with the sins of
his victim.

Many interpretations of "as though he
has killed all humankind" (ka'annama qatala
l-nasajami'an) have also been offered: The
practice of blood revenge (see blood
money; retaliation; vengeance) must be
applied in all cases regardless of whether
the murdered victim was a single person
or the whole of humankind; everyone is
bound to avenge the blood of a victim; as
the very first human being to have taken
the life of another, Cain made killing cus-
tomary (sanna al-qatl).

The quarrel between Cain and Abel has
also been explained allegorically. In Sunn!
tradition, "whoever kills someone" (man qa-
tala nafsan) means he "who seduces some-
body to polytheism" (shirk, see polytheism

CALENDAR

■2J2

and atheism) and "whoever revives or
saves someone" (man ahyaha) refers to one
"who invites somebody to the right belief."
With appropriate modification, this inter-
pretation was adopted by the Sirfis (see
shi'a; shi'ism and the qjjr'an); for them
man ahyaha means he "who guides some-
body from error to true religion" (min al-
dalal ila hudan), or "who supports one of
'All's family (see 'ali b. abi talib), helping
him to gain the victory" (Furat b. Ibrahim,
Tafsir, i, 122).

Heribert Busse

Bibliography
Primary: ( Abd al-Jabbax, Mutaskabih, i, 221; Furat
b. Ibrahim al-KufT, Tafsir, ed. M. al-Kazim,
Beirut 1412/1991, i, 122; Ibn al- c ArabT, Alikam, ii,
88-90; Ibn Hisham, al-Tijan fi muluk Himyar, 17-8;
Ibn Kathlr, Mukhtasar tafsir, ed. M. ( A. al-Sabunl,
3 vols., Beirut 1399/1979, i, 507; Ibn Qutayba,
Kitdb al-Mcddrif ed. Th. c Ukasha, Cairo i960, 17;
Ibn Sa ( d, Tabaqat, i, 14; Jassas, Ahkam, ii, 502-3,
507; QummT, Tafsir, 155; QurtubT, Jami j vi,
89-92; RazT, Tafsir, vi, 11; SuyutT, Dun; ii, 488;
Tabarl, Tafsir, x, 221-2, 228, 230, hadlth nos.
11746, 11765, 11767-9; Tha'labT, al-Kashf wa-l-
bayan 'an tafsir al-Qur'an, ms. Ahmet III 76/2, fol.
17 b-20 a; id., Qisas, 37-41; Ya'qiibl, Ta'rikh, i, 4.
Secondary: Bell; W. Bork-C^aysieh, Die Geschichte
von Rain und Abel (Habit wa-Qabil) in der sunnitisch-
islamischen Uberlieferung. Untersuchung von Beispielen
aus verschiedenen Literaturwerken unter Berucksichtigung
Hires Einflusses auf den Volksglauben, Berlin 1993
(exhaustive treatment of SunnI sources,
including the author's report of a visit to the
"Cave of Blood" [magharat al-dam or maqdm al-
arbain] onjabal Qasyun); C. Bottrich, Die Vbgel
des Himmels haben ihn begraben. Uberlieferungen zu
Abels Bestattung und zur Atiologie des Grabes,
Gottingen 1995, 33-77 (German translation of
selected texts dealing with burial in the
rabbinical and Islamic traditions); S. Giinther,
Hostile brothers in transformation. An
archetypical conflict figuring in classical and
modern (Arabic) literature, in Angelica Neuwirth
et al. (eds.), Myths, historical archetypes and symbolic
figures in Arabic literature, Beirut 1999, 309-36
(includes a section on relevant writings by Najlb
Mahfuz and Sa'dallah Wannus); D. Masson, Le
Goran et la revelation judeo-chretienne. Etudes comparees,
2 vols., Paris 1958, 1976' (rev. ed.), i, 336
(juxtaposition of texts in two columns: o 5:27-32,

Gen 4:1-16, and rabbinical stories); Noldeke, GQ
N.A. Stillman, The story of Cain and Abel in the
Qur'an and the Muslim commentators. Some
observations, in JSS 19 (1974), 231-9 (treats mainly
the Jewish and Christian traditions); Wensinck,
Handbook, 172 (q.v. murder).

Calendar

System of fixing the divisions of time (q.v.),
adapted to the purposes of communal life.
References in the Qur'an related to calen-
dar include the terms waqt/miqat which
mean, among other things, fixed or ap-
pointed time (e.g. o 2:189; 4:103; 7:143;
44:40; 78:17); the computation of years
and numbers [li-ta'lamu 'adad al-simn wa-
l-huab, o_ 10:5; 17:12; see numbers and
enumeration); and the division of the year
into twelve months (q.v.): "The number of
months with God is twelve in accordance
with God's decree on the day he created
the heavens and the earth; of which four
are holy months" (q_ 9:36).

There is no reference in the Qur'an to
the pre-Islamic system of anwa' (see
PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA AND THE 0_UR'an),
which was used by the Arabs to estimate
the passage of time and to predict the state
of the weather (q.v). In this system, the
year is divided into precise periods on the
basis of the rising and setting of certain
stars (see cosmology in the qur'an). Ac-
cording to tradition, this system was con-
sidered anathema in Islam. The most rele-
vant qur'anic allusion to calendar-related
computation is the phases of the moon
(mandzil al-qamar, cj 10:5; 36:39). p_ 10:5
reads: "It is he who gave the sun (q.v.) its
radiance, the moon (q.v.) its luster, and de-
termined its phases so that you may com-
pute years and numbers..." Qur'anic
exegesis as well as the exact scientific com-
putations of calendars identify 28 such
phases. The definition of these phases,
however, is based on a combination of the

^73

CALF OF GOLD

pre-Islamic system of anwa' with the sys-
tem of lunar phases. Thus the solar zodiac
is divided into 28 equal parts defined by
the rising and setting of certain stars or
constellations. Each of these parts is a sta-
tion, or phase, and in rough measure the
moon occupies one of these stations each
day of the lunar month. At the end of a
lunar month, the moon would have trav-
eled through all 28 stations; in other words,
the moon would have completed one revo-
lution along the solar zodiac (Qurtubl,
Jami\ viii, 310; xv, 29-30).

The official Islamic calendar is lunar with
year one coinciding with the year 622 c.E.,
the date of Muhammad's emigration {hijra,
q.v.) from Mecca (q.v.) to Medina (q.v.).
This calendar was adopted during the
reign of the second caliph 'Umar (q.v.;
r. 13-23/634-44). Later sources, however,
suggest that the use of the lunar calendar
is already prescribed in the qur'anic refer-
ences to the phases of the moon. For
example, in the commentary on p_ 10:5
mentioned above, al-Qurtubl (d. 671/1272;
Jami\ viii, 310) maintains that after men-
tioning the light of the sun and the moon,
the Qur'an uses the singular (qaddarahu, not
qaddarahumd) . This is taken to indicate that
only the lunar calendar is meant to serve as
the basis for computing the official months
or "new moons" {ahilla, Q_ 2:189) and for
determining the dates for important reli-
gious activities such as fasting (q.v.) and pil-
grimage (q.v.). Unless otherwise specified,
time stipulations in legal contracts and
documents are based on the hijra lunar cal-
endar (see LAW AND THE QJJR'An).

On average, the lunar months alternate
between 29 and 30 days. Although the be-
ginning of the lunar month is determined
by sighting the new moon, numerous
methods were developed to compute the
exact length of the lunar months, to deter-
mine the days of the lunar year in relation
to the solar year and to perform calendar

conversions between different eras. Tables
of varying details were also compiled to
facilitate this conversion. In fact, in con-
trast to earlier Greek sources, Islamic astro-
nomical handbooks often started with dis-
cussions of calendar computations and
conversions between different eras (for ex-
ample, Persian, Coptic, Syriac, Chinese-
Ughur, Jewish and Hindu calendars). In
addition to the basic computational tech-
niques, numerous works also provide ad-
ditional information covering calendar-
related subjects, such as the length of day
and night (q.v.); patterns of weather and
wind (see air and wind); dates and de-
scriptions of Christian, Jewish and Indian
festivals as well as agricultural practices
(see AGRICULTURE AND VEGETATION) at
various times of the year. See also DAY,
TIMES OF.

A. Dallal

Bibliography
Primary: Qurtubl, JV7?»r.

Secondary: E.S. Kennedy et al., Calendars, in
D.A. King and M.H. Kennedy (eds.), Studies in the
Islamic exact sciences, Beirut 1983, 652-709; D.A.
King, Astronomy in the service of Islam, Aldershot
1993; id., Islamic mathematical astronomy,
Hampshire 1993; id., Mlkat, in Ef, vii, 26-32;
L. Nabiron, Notes on the Arab calendar before
Islam [orig. pub. in ja (Apr. 1843)], trans. C. de
Perceval, in ic 21 (1947), 135-53; *-*■ Pellat, Anwa 1 ,
in Ef, i, 523-4; M. Rodinson, al-Kamar, in Ef, iv,
517-9; id., La lune chez les Arabes et dans
l'Islam, in La lune, mythcs et rites, Paris 1962.

Calf of Gold

The image of a calf worshipped by the
Israelites while Moses (q.v.) was on the
mountain receiving the tablets of the Law.
Allusion to this story is made in five pas-
sages of the Qur'an. There, as in the main
biblical account (Exod 32), the object of
worship is not explicitly called a "calf of
gold" but simply a "calf" ('ijl, Heb. 'egel).

CALF OF GOLD

^74

The Qur'an says that it was made from
ornaments [hull, o 7:148; zma, 20:87),
Exodus 32:2-3 from golden rings (nizmey
ha-zjihab).

The qur'anic allusions to the story
(02:51,54, 92, 93; 4:153; 7:148-53;
20:83-98) display several verbal and
conceptual parallels and similarities: the
evil committed by those who worshipped
the calf (e.g. Q_ 2:51, 54, 92; 7:148); their
punishment in this world (q_ 2:54, 93; 7:152;
20:97; see CHASTISEMENT AND PUNISHMENT);
God's forgiveness (q.v.) and mercy (q.v.),
sometimes specified for those who repent
(p_ 2:54; 7:153; see REPENTANCE AND
penance), sometimes applied generally
(o_ 2:52; 4:153; 7:149); and the role of Moses
in obtaining God's mercy (q 2:54; 7:151).
Absent from the Qur'an, but sometimes
evident in the commentary, is any attempt
to use the story as polemic against Judaism
(cf. the speech of Stephen in the Acts of
the Apostles, chapter 7).

Qur'anic commentary
The qur'anic allusions to the story of the
calf suggested several questions to the tra-
ditional commentators. Unlike the Exodus
narrative, the qur'anic passages nowhere
explicitly connect Aaron (q.v.) with the
construction of the calf, although Q_ 7:150-1
and 20:90-4 could imply that Aaron had in
some way erred and that Moses was angry
with his brother. These passages proved
problematic in relation to the doctrine of
the impeccability ['isma, see impeccability
axd infallibility) of the prophets — both
Moses and Aaron being accepted as proph-
ets — and gave rise to various suggestions
about how they might be understood in
ways compatible with this doctrine (see
prophets and prophethood).

At Q_ 20:85, 87 and 95-7, responsibility for
making the calf is placed squarely with a
figure called "the Samaritan" (al-Samirl).
Various suggestions are made in the qur-

'anic commentaries about his origins and
identity and about the significance of the
phrase "do not touch" (la misasa) which,
it is said at Q_ 20:97, Moses told him he
would have to utter during his lifetime.
Especially notable are statements by some
commentators that the name of the Sa-
maritan was "Aaron" (see Samaritans).

The ornaments from which the calf was
fashioned are frequently described in the
extra-qur'anic materials as having been
taken from the people of Pharaoh (q.v.)
whom God had drowned in the sea (see
drowning). One explanation of why, at
Q_ 7:148, they are described as "their" (i.e.
the Israelites') ornaments is that the Israel-
ites borrowed them from the Egyptians for
a festival and they became the property of
the Israelites once the Egyptians died in
the sea.

Q_ 20:96 may seem obscure: When Moses
asked the Samaritan to give an explanation
for his role in the making of the calf, he re-
plied that he had noticed something which
they (the Israelites) had not, that he had
seized a "handful from the traces of the
messenger" and had thrown it in (quia ba-
surtu bima lam jabsuru bihifa-qabadtu qabdatan
min athari l-rasuli fa-nabadhtuha wa-kadhalika
sawwalat linajsi). This phrase and the iden-
tity of the messenger are variously under-
stood, a common explanation being that
the Samaritan saw the angel Gabriel (q.v.)
on a horse at the time when Pharaoh's
people were drowned in the sea. He seized
a handful of the dust which the horse had
turned up and threw it into the fire in
which the ornaments were melted. This
often explains the ability of the calf to
low, for both Q_ 7:148 and 20:88 say that it
had a body and lowed ('ijlanjasadan lahu
khuwarun).

There are various views about the nature
of the calf. Had it been transformed into
flesh and blood so that it could really low
or had it remained simply an image made

275

CALF OF GOLD

from ornaments? The qur'anic jasad is
interpreted by some, particularly the
rationalist sect of the Mu'tazila (see
mu'tazilIs), as applicable to any solid ob-
ject and it was explained how a lowing
sound could have been produced by
mechanical devices or human trickery. The
question of whether the calf had been
changed into a real one also affected the
understanding of Q_ 20:g7, where Moses
tells the Samaritan that he is going to burn
the calf (la-nuharriqannahu) and scatter it
upon the sea. Some commentators, noting
that gold cannot be burned, argue that this
was an indication that the calf had indeed
become flesh and blood. Those who main-
tain that it had remained merely an image
were able, by associating the verb harraqa
with a meaning of the root indicating
"rubbing" or "grinding," to interpret it as
"filing down with a rasp" (la-nabrudannahu
bi-l-mibrad), thus making it possible that the
calf could have been scattered upon the
sea. Some read nuharriq as nahruq in order
to make that interpretation clearer.

O 2:93, "they were made to drink the calf
in their hearts with their unbelief" (see
belief and unbelief), is sometimes con-
nected in the commentary with the de-
struction of the calf and the scattering of
its ashes into water subsequently drunk by
the Israelites (as at Exod 32:20). But it is fre-
quently read metaphorically: They were
made to imbibe the love of the calf. Sup-
porters of the doctrine of human free will
argue that it should not be taken to mean
that God caused them to drink it (see
freedom and predestination).

At Q_ 2:54 it is said that, when Moses
came down from the mountain and found
his people worshipping the calf, he called
upon them: "Turn in repentance to your
Creator and kill yourselves" (fa-tubu ila
bdri'ikum fa-qtulu anfusakum). This injunction
is generally understood literally and we
find various accounts of how the Children

of Israel (q.v.) fulfilled the command. It is
reported, for example, that they divided
themselves into two groups which fought
one another, father fighting against son,
son against father and brother against
brother. This continued until a large num-
ber had been killed and God, moved by the
appeals of Moses and Aaron, allowed
them to desist.

The qur'anic material in relation to the biblical

and post-biblical material
Most non-Muslim scholars have assumed
that the qur'anic allusions to the story de-
pend ultimately on the biblical account
and are to be understood as drawing on
and developing the interpretations and em-
bellishments which had arisen about the
biblical narrative in subsequent Jewish and
Christian reworkings of it. In other words,
the qur'anic material has been itself under-
stood as part of the midrashic tradition
(see scripture and the qur'an).

Compared with the account in Exodus,
the responsibility for making the calf had
already been shifted from Aaron, as noted
above, in Stephen's speech in the Acts of
the Apostles (7:40-1) to the people them-
selves. This development is also evident in
the explanation given in the Jewish midrash
that Aaron called upon the people to give
him their golden ornaments in the belief
that they would not do so, i.e. it was only a
delaying tactic.

The identity of "the Samaritan" and the
source of the name have been much dis-
cussed by academic scholars and it may be
that it combines ideas from various
sources. The "handful" (qabda) from the
"traces" (athar) of the messenger which,
Q_ 20:96 tells us, the Samaritan cast in, has
been suggested to relate to the midrashic
story that Micah (associated vajudg 17:4
and i8:i4f. with molten and graven
images) threw a fragment containing the
words "come up ox," 'aleh shor (cf. Gen

276

49 ; 22, "Joseph [q.v.] is a fruitful bough...
whose branches run over the wall" [aley
shurj) into the fire melting down the orna-
ments. The words had been written on the
fragment by Moses when he cast it into the
Nile in order to cause the coffin of Joseph
to come to the surface. It was this fragment
which caused the calf to appear, alive and
leaping. Other accounts attribute the fact
that the calf was alive to the activity of two
Egyptian magicians, Jannes and Mambres
(see MAGIC, PROHIBITION OF).

Aaron's words at Q_ 7:150, "The people
considered me weak and came near to kill-
ing me," have been associated with the
story that Hur — named at Exodus 24:14
by Moses as his deputy along with Aaron
but subsequently absent from the ac-
count — tried to dissuade the people from
worshipping the calf but was killed by
them and that Aaron was afraid of suffer-
ing the same fate. Aaron's words at
Q_ 20:94, "I was afraid that you would say,
'You have caused division among the Chil-
dren of Israel and have not paid attention
to what I said,' " may relate to the tradi-
tional image of Aaron as a peacemaker
and to the story that he had thought it bet-
ter to agree to the people's demands than
to cause them to sin further by killing him
as well as Hur.

The preference of the Muslim tradition
for seeing the ornaments from which the
calf was made as coming from the Egyp-
tians — in spite of the fact that Q_ 7:148
simply says, "their ornaments" — reflects
the wording of o 20:87, "We have been
burdened with the weight of the orna-
ments of the people" (hummilna awzaran min
Zinati l-qawm). A connection seems likely
here to Exodus 12:35-6, where it is related
that the Egyptians were so eager to let the
Children of Israel finally go that they were
ready to lend them anything they needed,
including "jewels of silver and jewels of
gold." In the midrash the Children of Israel
sought to excuse themselves for making the

calf by complaining that God had given
them an abundance of gold and silver
when they left Egypt.

The explanation by the commentators of
Moses' words "kill yourselves" (fa-qtulu
anfusakum) in o_ 2:54 probably relates to the
story in Exodus 32:25-9, which describes
how Moses ordered the sons of Levi to
"slay every man his brother, every man his
companion and every man his neighbor."
It may be, however, that the words attri-
buted to Moses in the Quran reflect
Leviticus 16:29, which is understood as
the ordinance for the Day of Atonement
in Judaism: "Afflict yourselves" (te'annu et-
nafshotekem) . The meaning of the Hebrew
phrase was much debated among Jewish
groups, some of whom understood it to de-
mand mortification and penitential prac-
tices. See also idols and images.

Gerald R. Hawting

Bibliography
Primary: Ibn Hazm, Milal, Cairo 1317, i, 161-3;
M.A. Palacios (trans.), Abenh&zem de Cordoba,
Madrid 1928, ii, 304-6; Ibn Kathlr, Qisas al-
anbiya\ ed. 'A.Q.A. 'Ata', Beirut n.d., ii, 111-17;
Qurtubi, Jami', Cairo 1354/1935, i, 393-7, 400-3;
ii, 30-32; vi, 6-7; vii, 284-92; xi, 232-43; RazT,
TafsTr, iii, 84-7, 200-2; xv, 6-15; xxii, 98-113;
TabarT, TafsTr, Cairo 1954-68, ii, 63-8, 72-9,
354-61; ix, 356-60; xiii, 117-37 an d Cairo 1373-77/
1954-7, xvi, 145-54; Tusl, Tibyan, i, 243-49, 35^-6;
ix, 577-9 1 ; xvi , 195-206.

Secondary: P. Crone and M. Cook, Hagarism. The
making of the Islamic world, Cambridge 1977, 177,
n. 60; A. Geiger, Was hat Mohammed aus dem
Judenthume aufgenommen? Bonn 1833, 165-8;
Gimaret, Jubba% 88, 365-6, 603-5; G.R.
Hawting, The tawwdbun, atonement and 'ashura',
inJSAIiy (1994), 166-81; H. Lazarus-Yafeh,
Intertwined worlds. Medieval Islam and Bible criticism,
Princeton 1992, 63, n. 41; D. Sidersky, les origines
des legendes musulmanes, Paris 1933, 87-9; Speyer,
Erzdhlungen, 323-33.

Caliph

In Arabic, khalifa is the title adopted by the
head of the Muslim polity (see community

277

and society in the qur'an) ever since the
death of the prophet Muhammad in
11/632. The term occurs in the Qur'an
twice in the singular and seven times in the
plural, as khala'if or khulafd', and some of its
verbal occurrences (particularly khalafa and
istakhlafa) are semantically very closely con-
nected with it.

There is little in the qur'anic occurrences
of the term that prepares for its politically
and theologically charged meaning. By far
its most prevalent meaning in the Quran
is "successor, substitute, replacement, dep-
uty" which is particularly clear in the ver-
bal and nominal plural occurrences. The
basic notion is that — as human history
has repeatedly shown, and as it will show
in the future — God warns a people (see
warning) when they go astray (q.v.), God
destroys them and replaces them with an-
other people who obey God's messengers
(see messenger), worship (q.v.) him, act
morally and are consequently rewarded by
inheriting the land and the scripture of
their predecessors (q 6:133, 165; 7:69, 74,
129; 10:14, 73; 11:57; 24:55; 27:62; 35:39; see
also PUNISHMENT STORIES; GENERATIONS). In
this sense, the term is, understandably,
closely associated with such terms as adhhaba
(to destroy; e.g. Q_ 4:133), awratha (to be-
queath; e.g. Q 33:27) and istabdala (to re-
place; e.g. Q 47:38). The second, rarer and
philologically less obvious meaning of the
term is "inhabitant, settler on earth." This
meaning is most evident in Q_ 2:30 where
God says to the angels (q.v): "I am mak-
ing/creating on earth a khalifa..." clearly
meaning Adam (see ADAM and eve); it is
also implied in Q_ 14:14 where the verb
sakana, to dwell, connects it with the first
meaning of a believing nation replacing
a non-believing one (see belief and
unbelief). The third meaning has some po-
litical and juridical implications; it is "one
who exercises authority (q.v.)." It is clear in
only one verse, Q 38:26, where the prophet
David (q.v.) is addressed thus: "O David,

we have made you a khalifa on earth; so
judge justly between people and follow not
desires lest they should thwart you from
God's path."

The early Muslim exegetes who were
philologically oriented and had some ac-
cess to Jewish and Christian lore, i.e.
Isra'iliyyat, considered "succession and
substitution" the main meaning of the
term khalifa and its cognates, and applied
it with varying degrees to almost all of its
occurrences, an interpretation that led
them into great difficulties with the exege-
sis of the Adam occurrence (see scripture
and the qur'an). On the other hand, they
did indeed mention the other two mean-
ings of the term although they seemed in-
clined to link them, sometimes artificially,
with the main meaning: succession. With
regard to the Adam verse, a general sense
seems to have existed that the term refers
not only to Adam but also to all humanity,
i.e. the children of Adam. Conversely,
most exegetes considered the David verse
as referring to David alone and not to
"people in authority" in general. It can
therefore be said that during the Umayyad
period, the exegetes made no connection
between the qur'anic term khalifa and the
politico-religious reality of the institution
of the caliphate.

This tendency began to change about the
middle of the second/eighth century when
a more comprehensive interpretation
started to appear. Beginning with a hint by
al-Suddl (d. 128/745; cf. T aDarl > Tafsir,
xxiii, 151: "[God] made [David] king
(mallakahu) on earth") this became more
generalized in Sufyan al-Thawrl's (d.
161/778) commentary on Q 24:55: The be-
lievers who succeed others on earth are the
governors/the people in charge (al-wuldt,
see his Tafsir, 185). By the time of the great
synthesizer of Muslim exegesis al-Tabari
(d. 310/923), the standard Sunnl exegetical
position had created a complete merger
between the qur'anic khalifa and the head

CALLIGRAPHY

278

of the Islamic caliphate. Thus, at the first
occurrence of the term, in the Adam verse,
and after indicating the philological mean-
ing of the term as successor or replace-
ment, al-Tabari adds, "hence the supreme
authority (al-sultan al-a'gam) is called
"khalifa" for he succeeds the one who pre-
ceded him, replacing him in taking charge
of matters, thereby being his substitute"
(Tabari, TafsTr, i, 199). This standard Sunni
position insists that the title "khalifa" for
the head of the Muslim polity is an abbre-
viation of the longer (and eventually cum-
bersome) formula khalifat rasul Allah (succes-
sor of the messenger of God) which the
first Muslim Caliph, Abu Bakr (q.v.; r.
1 1-3/632-4) adopted, not of khalifat Allah
(viceregent of God). Although this last for-
mula was indeed used by most Umayyad
and Abbasid caliphs, it never received le-
gitimation in Islamic political theory.

Wadad Kadi

Bibliography
Primary: Muqatil, TafsTr; Sufyan al-Thawrl,
TafsTr; Tabari, TafsTr.

Secondary: P. Crone and M. Hinds, God's caliph,
Cambridge 1986 (a new interpretation of Tyan's
thesis); R. Paret, Signification coranique de halifa
et d'autres derives de la racine Ijalafa, in si 31
(1970), 211-7; W. al-Qadl, The term "khalifa" in
early exegetical literature, in 11/28 (1988),
392-411 (esp. for the views of pre-'Abbasid
exegetes; with bibliography on p. 392, n. 1); E.
Tyan, Institutions du droit public musulman. i. he
call/at, Paris 1956 (history of the title itself and
the development of the institution); W.M. Watt,
God's caliph. CMrr'anic interpretations and
Umayyad claims, in C.E. Bosworth (ed.), Iran and
Islam in memory of the late Vladimir Minorsky,
Edinburgh 1971, 565-74.

Calligraphy

The Arabic script (khatt), its development,
and its formal use in manuscripts of the
Qur'an. Though initially presented as an

oral recitation (see book), the Qur'an has
played an essential role in the development
of the Arabic script (q.v.). According to
traditional accounts, certain fragments
were committed to writing by some of the
Companions of the Prophet (q.v.) on crude
materials such as Hat stones, veins of palm
leaves, animal skins or ceramic shards (see
TEXTUAL HISTORY OF THE QJJr'an). The
script was then still imperfect and its signs
were little more than a mnemonic tech-
nique for fixing a text already committed
to memory — a far cry from the Arabic
script we know today.

This primitive script, which probably
originated in Hira, capital of the Christian
Arab kingdom of the Lakhmids (see
christians and CHRISTIANITY), was an ad-
aptation of the Syriac script and was not
widespread at the time. With the passing of
the generation of the Companions, the
first to have heard the Quran from
Muhammad and to have learned it by
heart, it became necessary to fix the final
text of the holy book and to perfect the
system for recording it in written form.
Most versions of the textual history of the
Qur'an state that an official text was im-
posed by the third caliph, 'Uthman (q.v.;
r - 2 3"35/644 _ 56), and distributed to the
main centers of early Islam. Copies of the
sacred text thence multiplied in territories
conquered by the Arab armies. In an era
when reproduction of the Qur'an de-
pended totally on the scribal art, consider-
able praise and merit was attributed to the
skill of writing and its use in recording the
Qur'an. To emphasize the worthiness and
nobility of this task, some religious scholars
fulama') asserted that at the day of judg-
ment (see LAST judgment), the ink of callig-
raphers, placed on one of the arms of the
scale of justice (see justice and injustice),
would balance the blood of martyrs on the
other (see blood and blood clot; martyr).

^79

CALLIGRAPHY

During the first three centuries of Islam,
calligraphy underwent considerable devel-
opment. This was due first of all to the
need to meet the demands of state admin-
istration (most of the great calligraphers
began their careers as secretaries either of
the chancellery or the land-tax, both of
which required skill in writing). An equal
factor was the multiplication and distribu-
tion of copies of the Qur'an throughout
the entire empire. Given this increase in
written production, efforts were thus made
to make the script more legible. Diacritic
signs were added to characters with an
identical form to prevent confusion. At
first, these were very fine lines superim-
posed above the letters, but the lines were
then replaced by small, more or less regu-
lar dots. Beginning with the caliphate of
'Abd al-Malik (r. 65/685-86/705), relatively
large red dots corresponding to the vowels
were joined to the letters to facilitate the
reading of the Qur'an and to prevent any
falsification of the text: A dot above the let-
ter corresponded to afatha (a), a dot under
the letter to a kasra (i) and a dot on the base
line to a damma (u). This practice provoked
opposition among certain scholars ('ulamd'J
who considered it a human addition to an
already perfect text given by God and thus
a reprehensible innovation (q.v.). At the be-
ginning of the fifth/eleventh century, the
vowel signs currently in use replaced the
red dots; it is this custom of vocalizing the
qur'anic text which persists today.

In addition to increasing precision of the
script, manuscripts of the Qur'an began to
include additional textual specification. In
former times (the dating of which is diffi-
cult to specify), small superimposed lines,
drawn with the same ink as the text, sepa-
rated one verse from another. The suras
were separated by a single blank line and
had no title. Later, colored bands with a
crude geometrical design were added to

the empty space separating the suras. In
turn, three small dots in gold replaced the
previous separation marks in ink. Small
rosettes indicated groups of five verses
while larger ones were used for groups of
ten verses. Later, titles of suras were
inscribed in golden ink or placed in the
centre of a painted band often illuminated
with gold.

Centers for the instruction and produc-
tion of the calligraphic art multiplied in
the great urban milieux of the empire, in
which various writing styles developed as
may be observed in the qur'anic material
written on parchment and preserved in
museums all over the world. The calligra-
phy of these old, handwritten Qur'ans can
be divided into two main groups: The first
and oldest is a more or less angular type
called Kufic. The second, which is more
cursive, appeared in Baghdad at the end
of the third/ninth century. These two
groups are further divided into a plethora
of scribal forms of which both place of
origin and period are difficult to deter-
mine. In fact, the earliest qur'anic material
written on parchment is not dated at all.
The first established reference (264/877-8)
appears in the waqfof the Qur'an of
Amajur (governor of Damascus). This date
refers to its placement in the Umayyad
mosque; it was probably copied a bit
earlier. Resort must be had to palaeogra-
phy when attempting to classify the many
types of old, handwritten copies of the
Qur'an in order to date them and/or trace
their origin. This is a particularly arduous
enterprise which specialists have under-
taken for more than two centuries without
any fully satisfactory results. This continu-
ing ambiguity can be attributed to the fact,
on the one hand, that variations in the
written form are innumerable and im-
precisely named and, on the other, that
copies of the Qur'an were moved from

CALLIGRAPHY

280

one calligraphic center to another or given
as gifts to sovereigns or other notables who
subsequently moved them to mosques in
their respective capitals or added them to
their personal libraries.

The primary source consulted by palaeo-
graphers is the Kitdb al-Fihrist, the famous
work of Ibn al-Nadlm (d. after 377/987-8)
who includes an inventory of the styles of
writing in use during his time. From this
and with the help of commentaries by
later Arab authors, specialists have tried
to identify the types of script encountered
in available collections of ancient copies
of the Qur'an on parchment. With a few,
rare exceptions, this effort has been unsuc-
cessful since the information provided by
Ibn al-Nadlm has proven insufficient to
establish secure identification. From this
perspective, even a work as important as
that of Nabia Abbott (The rise of the north
Arabian script) which refers to Ibn al-Nadlm
as well as al-Qalqashandi (Subh al-A'sha')
has resulted in very little. In fact, al-
Qalqashandl (d. 821/1418) himself used
terminology borrowed from writers of dif-
ferent epochs without any regard for possi-
ble evolution in the meaning of these
terms. Consequently, by classifying very
diverse types of script under one single
name borrowed from Arab authors, Nabia
Abbott's attempt has only added to the
confusion since these authors had not
clearly identified the terms they used.

Recent studies have made use of a new
methodology that consists in classifying —
independently from their designation by
classical Arab authors — copies of the
Qur'an with easily identifiable common
features. Once the numerous collections
discovered during the twentieth century
have been studied, it should be possible to
match different scripts selected on the basis
of clearly defined criteria to rare examples
lacking dates. Scholars will then be able to
fit certain examples into a sequence of

which the date and the provenance are
easier to determine.

The most recent conclusions of this new
methodology distinguish two main groups
which allow classification of the first hand-
written copies of the Quran: hijazi and
"classical Kufic." This latter term is pre-
ferred to "Kufic" which is used widely as
though covering a single entity; it actually
includes many forms. A broad consensus
exists for the identification of the hijdzi
script as a result of the comparative studies
undertaken by A. Grohman between this
style of writing and the related script used
in papyri. Hijazi — referred to in some
works, notably that of Nabia Abbott, as
md'il (slanted), a term presently in question
since it groups together scripts too diverse
to be characterized by a single term —
was already in use at a very early stage in
Mecca (q.v.) and Medina (q.v.). It is char-
acterized by oblique strokes, generally
oriented, more or less unvaryingly, from
right to left; alifs ending in a short curved
return; letters having a circular loop (fa',
qaf mini, warn); 'ayns having the shape of a
small v when in medial position; nuns, in the
form of a wide and very open curve when
in isolated or final positions; characters
packed together on the line; short liga-
tures slightly curved; and a regular, sober
rhythm of script which is sometimes inter-
rupted by stretching out letters at the end
of a line.

Considered Iraqi in origin, classical Kufic
displays considerable variety but also
enough common features to be classified
under one heading. At first glance classical
Kufic conveys a balanced and harmonious
impression because of the equal space be-
tween the lines and the regular dimensions
and geometry of the characters. This im-
pression is reinforced by the rhythm creat-
ed, firstly, by the alternation of short and
long ligatures and, secondly, by the con-
trast of compact (rd\ zayn, ha', mini, ha',

.•8 1

CALLIGRAPHY

waw) and stretched (dal, dhal, sad, dad, ta\
£flj kdf, yd') characters. This type of script
has slender, vertical strokes with upper
ends that have a beveled edge while the
lower ones have either a large, tapering
curve (alif) or a right angle descending
well below the line (lam and nun). The tails
of the letters jot, ha', kha\ warn are short
and compact and their end-point falls be-
low the line whereas the tail of the 'ayn
ends in a large curve with a tapered point
reminiscent of the alif. The tail of the mini
is reduced to a small horizontal stroke.

Between these two main groupings, a
whole range of types shows particularities
of both the hijazi group and the classical
Kufic. These are the types of script which
specialists attempt to classify for the sake of
defining them more precisely.

Several other scripts, related to classical
Kufic but with specific criteria, arose at the
end of the fourth/tenth century and were
used conjointly with cursive writing (see
below). Among these is "oriental Kufic"
which owes its name to its appearance in
the easternmost provinces of the Islamic
empire (see the examples in the catalogue
of M. Lings, pis. 11-21). This type of writ-
ing, while retaining the geometry of classi-
cal Kufic, exhibits characters with radically
different proportions. In oriental Kufic, the
ratio of the length of the low characters
(teeth and loops) to that of the tall charac-
ters (down-strokes) is 1:8 whereas it varies
from 1:3 to 1:2 in classical Kufic. The com-
mon features of oriental Kufic can be sum-
marized as follows:

— a strictly horizontal base-line broken by
small dots which serve as ligatures between
characters closely packed together (letters
with teeth and loops); in other cases, the
ligatures are rather short but those of the
basmala (q.v.) are sometimes thoroughly
stretched out so that the phrase fills up the
entire line.

— very slender strokes with upper extre-

mities ending in a small triangle or bevel
extended by a fine oblique segment. Some-
times the down-strokes of certain charac-
ters (ta\ zd\ kdf) display an obliquity of 45
degrees and end in a leftward pointed
bulge. The strokes of the la.m-alifa.re ei-
ther very close parallel lines or two fairly
thin symmetric curves with conjoined
ends. The strokes of the two lams, in the
word Allah are sometimes reduced to two
small and very oblique segments packed
together, thus reducing the size of the word
by half.

— the loss of the verticality known in clas-
sical Kufic in characters with teeth which
are oblique in oriental Kufic. The rectan-
gular bodies of the letters dal/ dhal, sad/dad,
td'/gd] kdf are thoroughly stretched out in
length and small in height.

— the loss of the circular shape of the let-
ters^', qdf mim and waw as in classical
Kufic, which become either triangular or
square or even an oblique trapezoid
pointed forward. Only the medial Aa'has
a circular shape with two eyelets.

— the loss of the regular curve in the tails
of characters, although still just as large.
The tails descend obliquely below the
line, then break off and end in a triangle,
parallel to the line with the points below.
It is perhaps this rupture of curves that
provides the origin of the name of broken
Kufic, sometimes used to designate this
script.

Many examples of this oriental Kufic are
adorned with illuminated bands in gold
which frame the title of the sura, the num-
ber of its verses and its Mekkan or Medi-
nan origin. The rosettes marking the sepa-
ration between verses or groups of verses
are also written in golden ink. The diacriti-
cal dots are generally in the same ink as the
text but the vowels are often in red.

Some of these qur'anic manuscripts are
signed and dated, for example that writ-
ten and illuminated by 'Uthman Husayn

CALLIGRAPHY

■>?,2

Warraq (466/1073-4) from Iraq or Iran,
that by Abu Bakr Ahmad b. 'Abdallah al-
GhaznawT (573/1 177-8) which was copied
in Afghanistan and, finally, the one by 'All
b. Muhammad b. Muhammad (620/1223)
copied in Iran.

The appearance of cursive writing, the
second main category of qur'anic scripts,
coincided more or less with that of paper
(the first attested copy of the Qur'an in
cursive dates from 361/971). The cursive
script, quite ancient but reserved up to that
time for daily use, owes its nobility to the
vizier and famous calligrapher, Ibn Muqla
(d. 328/940). Using a circle with a diame-
ter corresponding to the height of an alif,
he standardized the method of tracing the
characters, all other characters being de-
fined in accordance with this circle. A sys-
tem of measures allowed the standardiza-
tion of the characters' proportions, where
the unit used for measuring was the dot,
still in use today by calligraphers. This
square-shaped dot, resting on its point,
corresponds to the trace left on paper by
the tip of the calligrapher's reed when
applied to the sheet with a certain pres-
sure. Ibn Muqla's innovative style of writ-
ing is called al-khatt al-mansub, "the well-
proportioned script," though its exact
meaning is not known. Another great mas-
ter of calligraphy, 'All b. Hilal, known as
Ibn al-Bawwab (d. 413/1022) improved Ibn
Muqla's style by increasing its elegance. In
charge of the library of the Buwayhid
Baha' al-Dawla in the city of Shlraz, Ibn
al-Bawwab was very pious and could recite
the Qur'an by heart. He appears to have
made sixty-four copies of the Qur'an, one
of which, signed by him, is still extant:
Dated 391/1000-1, it is conserved in the
Chester Beatty Library in Dublin where it
is possible to admire the aesthetic quality
of its letters as well as the beauty of its illu-
mination. D.S. Rice has, in a detailed study
of the manuscript, demonstrated its au-

thenticity. The style Ibn al-Bawwab
created is known as naskhi.

More than two centuries later, another
calligrapher succeeded in surpassing Ibn
al-Bawwab. Yaqut al-Musta'simi (d. 697/
1298), known as the "sultan of calligra-
phers," brought Ibn al-Bawwabs naskhi to
its apogee. Several manuscripts by this
great artist have survived, among them one
dated 685/1285, which was written in
Baghdad in rayhani '(a variety of naskhi) and
bears witness to the exactness of his skill,
as well as the suppleness and lightness of
his hand. To attain this quality of writing,
al-Musta'simi cut the tip of his reed at an
angle so that it barely touched the paper.
In the ornamental band at the head of
each sura, the title — written in oriental
Kfific — is outlined. Thus it appears in
white on a blue background adorned with
golden arabesque. A flower with slightly
gyron-like petals separates each verse.

Cursive scripts multiplied in centers of
calligraphy attached to the courts of
princes and sultans; these scripts appar-
ently received their name according to
their size. It should also be noted that all
of these scripts are vocalized. Particular
care has been given to the slope of the
fathas and kasras which are slightly oblique
and at the same angle. According to
F. Deroche, the six most "fundamental"
varieties are the following:
— naskhi, the most common and widely
used style throughout the centuries, is a
medium-sized cursive. The base line is al-
ways horizontal but sometimes broken to
allow a new beginning at a slightly higher
level for characters starting inside the tail
of a preceding letter. This style is easily
recognized by its alif, the shape of which is
reduced to a simple, vertical segment with
a beveled upper end and a pointed, slightly
tapered lower end. The tails have fairly
small curves protruding under the next
character which thus must be written

283

CALLIGRAPHY

slightly higher. The longevity of this style
explains the many varieties it has. A great
number of qur'anic manuscripts from the
Ottoman era were written in naskhins wit-
nessed in the numerous examples of the
Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris now con-
served in the Grande Bibliotheque de
France (see the examples in the Deroche
catalogue, nos. 88-120).
— the rayhani and muhaqqaq scripts seem to
present only slight differences. Deroche re-
serves the term muhaqqaq for larger scripts
whereas M . Lings gives the name of rayhani
to some large types (see no. 85 of his cata-
logue). In rayhani, the characters appear
more packed together than in muhaqqaq. In
both styles, the alif has a small hook at the
upper end and terminates in a slightly
curved point below. The tails pointing left-
wards have such slight curves that they
sometimes convey the impression of being
oblique, especially in the cases of the num
and the warn. Nevertheless, the tails point-
ing towards the right (like jfm, ha] kha\ 'ayri]
and dropping well below the line, have
very ample curves. These two styles were
in favor among the Ilkhanids and the
Timurids (see the superb examples of
muhaqqaq in Ling's catalogue [nos. 45-51]
and rayhani [nos. 81-85]). For another ex-
ample of muhaqqaq, mention can be made
of the manuscript copied in 707/1307 by
the great master Muhammad b. Aybak for
the Ilkhanid sultan UljaytQ (r. 703-16/
1304-16), preserved in the library of the
Top Kapi Sarayi in Istanbul (no. 46). It has
a large format (72 x 50 cm) and one of the
two pages reproduced has alternating lines
of handwritten characters, one in gold ink
with a black-ribboned edge and the other
in black ink with a golden edge. The ro-
settes embellishing the margins of the
pages are very delicate and quite beautiful.

For examples of rayhani, mention can be
made of the qur'anic manuscripts copied
in 827/1424 and 834/1440 by the great

calligrapher Ibrahim Sultan b. Shahrukh
b. Timur. Richly illuminated under the
supervision of the grandson of Timur
Leng, they also offer pages entirely written
in gold (those of the Fatiha [q.v.]) in an il-
luminated frame in which gold is matched
with blue. A detail concerning sura titles
should be added: The type of script se-
lected for these titles is generally oriental
Kufic. A cursive style has rarely been re-
tained but when this is the case, thuluth was
chosen (see below). Within the classifica-
tion of these two scripts, one can include
some Mamluk manuscripts also written in
gold ink with frontispieces richly illumi-
nated with geometrical motifs and inter-
laces that encircle fine golden arabesque
which stand out against a blue or red back-
ground (cf. M. Lings, nos. 52-59).

— thuluth, rather similar to muhaqqaq, is eas-
ily recognized by the triangular profile of
the upper ends of the alif and the very ta-
pered, and sometimes curved, lower end.

It is rarely used in the calligraphy of the
Qur'an except for sura titles (see above). It
is equally favored by artists who reproduce
"mirrored" qur'anic verses on mosque
walls, thanks to the possibility of giving its
tails a tapered curve that intertwines with
the down-strokes of other characters (see
examples in H. Massoudi, pp. 103 and 104).

— the last two styles considered funda-
mental by F Deroche are tawqi' and riq'a
(sometimes vocalized as ruq'a); he under-
lines the links between these two styles and
thuluth. Few qur'anic manuscripts have
been calligraphed in these styles.

The qur'anic script originating in the
western provinces of the Islamicate should
be classified separately. In fact, this script
has features of both classical Kufic and
some clearly cursive characteristics. The
designation as Andalusian Kufic for
manuscripts copied in Andalusia or
North African Kufic for those copied in
Ifrlqiyya or the Maghrib bears witness to

CALLIGRAPHY

the links binding them to the classical
Kufic in spite of the suppleness of certain
types of characters. Lings defines this style
as the first which stems directly from Kufic
and qualifies it as occidental Kufic, con-
trasting it with the earlier oriental Kufic.
This style was known in Ifrlqiyya from the
time of the Quran calligraphed by 'All
al-Warraq in 410/1019-20 for the wet nurse
of the Zirid prince al-Mu'izz b. Badis (r.
407-54/1016-62), which was doubtlessly
copied in Qayrawan where it is still pre-
served in the new museum of Raqqada.
The alphabetic repertoire of this type of
large and massive script resembles that of
oriental Kufic: the same ruptures in the
horizontal base-line by ligatures in the
shape of triangular dots, characters with
oblique teeth, characters with non-circular
curls varying from the triangle to the
square pointed forwards and with small
eyes. All these characteristics belong to
oriental Kufic but certain particularities
distinguish the two styles: the slight bend-
ing of the small oblique teeth, the inflec-
tion of median Jim and ha', intersecting
curves of the lam-alif and the slender and
disproportionate tail of the nun with its
broad, angular, lance-shaped end. Classi-
cal Kufic was also known and used in
Ifrlqiyya as witnessed by examples from
the mosque of Qayrawan and, in particu-
lar, one superbly calligraphed Quran in
gold on parchment tinted in indigo.

A number of particularities of classical
Kufic are clearly perceptible in North
African-Andalusian Kufic: the horizontal
and rigid writing line and the great num-
ber of ligatures, the verticality and fineness
of the down-strokes of the alif and lam, the
open rectangular shapes of dal/dhal and kaf
along with the stretching out of the body
of certain characters. On the other hand,
some features clearly refer to cursive writ-
ing, like certain supple or slightly dented
ligatures, the ra' with a very open curve,

the rounded teeth of the sin/ shin, the flat-
tened ovals of the sad/dad, ta'/ga', the large
semi-circular and sometimes slightly bro-
ken tails surrounding several characters,
which give a rhythm to the base-line. In
other respects, an old writing practice re-
mains in practice in the diacritics of this
writing style: The dot of the Ja' is always
placed below the letter whereas the qaf has
only one dot placed above the letter. Some
of these manuscripts (e.g. nos. 95-98 in the
collection published by Lings) are written
in large characters and have only a few
lines per page (5-9) while certain others
(nos. 99, 102 and 103 of the same cata-
logue) are written in an extremely fine
script and have up to 27 lines on a page for
qur'anic manuscripts of a similar size.
Splendid frontispieces with richly ornate
bands, titles written in gold, series of me-
dallions or small rosettes embellished with
fine arabesques in the margin contribute to
the beauty and majesty of these manu-
scripts (see in particular the frontispieces
of nos. 100 and 101 of the Qur'an of
Valencia, copied by Abdallah b. Atus in
578/1182).

A few words must be said about the use of
qur'anic calligraphy in epigraphy (q.v.). Its
function is both educational and ornamen-
tal. It is educational because the choice of
reproduced verses reminds the believers of
the great truths of the Islamic faith (q.v.);
this choice is adapted to the type of educa-
tion religious authorities want to further
(see TRADITIONAL DISCIPLINES OF QUR'ANIC
study). It is ornamental because it is linked
to religious architecture where it consti-
tutes one of the essential decorative ele-
ments (see art and architecture). The
bands decorated with qur'anic verses sur-
round the upper part of the walls of
prayer rooms in mosques, madrasas and
mausoleums, frame the mihrabs, crown the
arcades of mosque courtyards and make
the shafts of minarets more attractive; they

28 5

CALLIGRAPHY

generate the composition of stone rosettes
that decorate some portals and, inscribed
on funerary stelae (see burial), they ac-
company the faithful to the gates of the
hereafter.

From the very outset, calligraphed verses
of the Qur'an have contributed to the
beauty of monuments, like the superb, 240
meter-long band decorating both sides of
the arcade around the rock of the Qubbat
al-Sakhra (the Dome of the Rock; see aqsa
mosque) in Jerusalem. The style, a form of
classical Kufic adapted to the material (see
MATERIAL CULTURE AND THE QIJr'an), be-
came the prototype of the Kufic used in of-
ficial Umayyad inscriptions. Executed in
gold mosaic on a blue background, the an-
gular ductus, of the characters is naturally
more accentuated than in manuscripts (see
manuscripts OF THE qur'an), but the shape
and proportions of the letters correspond
generally to the same norms. Throughout
the centuries, qur'anic calligraphy on stone
(q.v.) has followed, more or less, the devel-
opment of manuscript calligraphy, though
sometimes with a certain delay. It has,
however, made its own contributions to the
efflorescence of character ornamentation
(see ornament and illumination): The
down-strokes intersect, curve, turn over
and are stretched to create interlaces that
balance the empty spaces in the band.
Their ends are enriched with leaves, flow-
ers, palmettes or foliage; the bodies of
the letters are adorned with indentations,
knots, strapwork or vegetal elements; their
tails go up in elegant curves and counter
curves and their ornate ends add to the
whole decorative impression of the band.

At the end of the fourth/tenth century,
cursive qur'anic calligraphy appeared in
stone inscriptions in the eastern provinces
during the same period in which it ap-
peared in manuscripts; it was often found
in combination with Kufic script and then
finally replaced it. Its development was

rapid and it attained a degree of perfection
comparable to that of manuscripts. Exam-
ples are the so-called throne verse (see
throne of cod) that frames the mihrab of
the Arslanhan mosque in Ankara (seventh/
thirteenth century) in thuluth with charac-
ters that stand out against a background of
arabesque and flowers (G. Akurga et al.,
Tresors de Turquie, 132); at the Sukulu
mosque in Istanbul (tenth/sixteenth cen-
tury), one can find the four verses of Surat
al-Ikhlas (q_ 112) written in thuluth and ar-
ranged in a circle embellishing the rosette
of the portal. The radiating strokes of the
alifi and lams are interlaced into strapwork
and open out into a star-shaped composi-
tion at the center of the rosette (H. Mas-
soudi, La calligraphic, 74 and no).

Qur'anic calligraphy remains the most
specific expression of Islamic aesthetics.
Taken in its entirety, it is an astounding
combination that embraces the geometri-
cal rigidity of the Kufic characters, the
fantasy in the rhythm of the inscribed
lines, the contrastive sobriety of lines and
lavishness of illuminations, the subtle har-
mony of proportions and supple elegance
of the cursive characters; and the delicacy
of foliages and arabesques that interlace
with the letters. In the eyes of a Muslim,
qur'anic calligraphy is the visible form of
the revealed word, an achievement in
which artists and faithful are united in
their search for the unspeakable and the
ineffable.

Solange Ory

Bibliography

N. Abbott, The rise of the north Arabian script and its
kur'anic development with a full description of the
Kur'an manuscripts in the Oriental Institute, Chicago
1939; E. Akurga, G. Mango, and R.
Ettinghausen, Tresors de Turquie, Skira, Geneva
1966; E Deroche, Les ecritures coraniques
anciennes. Bilan et perspectives, in RE1 48 (1980),
207-24 (its excellent bibliography is useful for

_.,'-!()

earlier works); id., Catalogue des manuscrits arabes.
Deuxieme partie, manuscrits musulmans. Tome I/i, Les
manuscrits du Coran. Aux origines de la calligraphic
coranique, Paris 1983; Tome 1/2, Les manuscrits du
Coran. Du Maghreb a VInsulinde, Paris 1985; id.,
L'ecriture arabe dans le Grundriss der
Arabischen Philologie, in rei 53 (1985), 325-9;
id., Les premiers manuscrits, in Le monde de la
Bible — Le Coran et la Bible, 115 (1998), 32-7; O.
Grabar, The mediation, of ornament. The A.W. Mellon
lectures in the fine arts, 1989, Princeton/Washington
1992 (ch. ii, The intermediary of writing,
47-119); Institut du Monde Arabe/Bibliotheque
Nationale, Splendeur et majeste. Gorans de la
Bib liotheque Nation ale, Paris 1987; M. Lings, The
qur'dnic art of calligraphy and illumination,
Westerham, Kent 1976; H. Massoudi, La
calligraphic arabe vivante, Paris 1981; S. al-
Munajjid, Tarlkh al-khatt al-'arabi mundhu I- bid ay at
ila ' nihayat al-'asr al-umawi, Beirut 1972; D.S. Rice,
The unique Ibn al-Bawwdb m.s. in the Chester Beatty
Library, Dublin 1955; H.S.S. Sabah et al., Masdhif
San c a] ig March- ig May 1985, Kuwait 1985; A.-M.
Schimmel, Islamic calligraphy, Leiden 1970; N.
Zayn al-Dln, Atlas of Arabic calligraphy, Baghdad

1968.

Camel

A large, ruminant mammal used for carry-
ing burdens and for riding in the desert
regions of Asia and Africa. The central
Asiatic species has two humps on its back,
while the Arabian camel, or dromedary,
has only one. The presence of this animal
in the Near East and North Africa appears
to date back to the third millennium B.c.E.,
although there is no evidence of the do-
mesticated dromedary prior to the nth
century B.c.E. (cf. H. von Wissmann,
Badw). The camel played an important
role in sacrifices (see sacrifice; consecra-
tion of animals): Before Muhammad's
time, they were ritually slaughtered at the
time of the pilgrimage (q.v.) to Mecca
(q.v.; see also pre-islamic Arabia and the
qur'an; cf. J. Chelhod, Sacrifice). As the
camel was an integral part of the Arabs'
(q.v.) daily life, not only as a means of
transportation, but also as a source of food

(see FOOD AND drink) and clothing (q.v.),
they developed a rich vocabulary for this
animal. Many of these terms are not solely
proper designations for the animal per se,
but rather describe aspects of its appear-
ance or its various stages of growth. Al-
though the numerous words for camel are
preserved in Arabic poetry and lexicogra-
phy, only four of the names appear in the
Qur'an (cf. C. Pellat, Ibil).

Ban; the generic term for camel, male or
female, is mentioned in the Qur'an in the
story of Joseph (q.v.), and solely in connec-
tion with a measure (see weights and
measures): "We have lost the king's cup,
and whoever brings it shall have a camel-
load (hamlu ba'irin) . . ." (q_ 12:72; cf. 12:65).
The most common Arabic word for the
male camel, jamal, is mentioned only once
in the Qur'an: "Verily for those who have
counted our signs (q.v.) false and been too
proud to receive them, the gates of heaven
(q.v.) will not be opened, nor will they enter
the garden (q.v.), until a camel (jamal)
passes through the eye of a needle (Jisam-
mi l-khiyat); so do we recompense the sin-
ners" (q_ 7:40). In reference to this single
occurrence, most qur'anic commentators
read the Arabic word as, jamal (as in Matt
19:24; Luke 18:25, repeated here with other
terms) while they vocalize the word for the
"eye" of the needle (samm) either with a or
with u (summ) as noted by the tenth-century
exegete al-Tabarl (d. 310/923; Tafsir, viii,
130-2). Another possible reading of the
consonantal structurej-m/isjamma/ (i.e. a
thick cord) but this rendition is an isolated
occurrence in the exegetical literature. As a
consequence of the reading of jamal, com-
mentators ordinarily provide extensive
descriptions of the camel in their commen-
taries on this verse.

A female camel (naqa) appears in the sto-
ries of the prophet Salih (q.v.) and the
Thamud (q.v): "And to Thamud [we sent]
their brother Salih. He said, 'Oh people!

287

t: AM P H O R

Worship God, for there is no other god for
you. Evidence from your lord has come to
you. This is the she-camel (naqa) of God as
a sign for you. Let her eat in the land of
God, and do not molest her lest a painful
retribution afflict you'" (q_ 7:73). However,
the Thamud disregard their prophet's
warning (q.v.) and hamstring the camel.
For this violation of his commandment
(see commandments), God destroys them
with an earthquake (cf. o_ 7:77-8; 11:64-8;
17:59; 26:155-8; 54:27-31; 91:11-4; see
PUNISHMENT STORIES).

The exegesis of the fourth qur'anic term
for camel, ibil (cf. p_ 6:144), demonstrates
the elasticity of the Arabic language (q.v.).
A feminine word, ibil, is used for the spe-
cies and the group. However, Q_ 88:17,
which alludes to the creation (q.v.) of the
camel (ibil), is understood by some inter-
preters to be a reference to the creation of
the clouds. One example of a qur'anic
designation of a camel, which does not
allude so much to an image of the animal
itself as to a condition of that animal, is
the camel that is in the tenth month of her
pregnancy ('ishar, o_ 81:4). This image is
often invoked in Islamic apocalyptic lite-
rature (see apocalypse), recalling its
Arabian origins.

Popular beliefs about the camel
abounded and have survived in classical
Islamic exegetical literature. Some exam-
ples of these beliefs, testified by Ibn
Qutayba (d. 276/889) and al-Jahiz (d. 255/
868-9), among others, are that the animal
descended from demons and that the jinn
(q.v.) could take on the form of a camel,
which urinated backwards so as not to soil
Abraham (q.v.).

The camel, often dubbed "the ship of the
desert," is one of the most important ani-
mals for Bedouins (see bedouin) and very
early it captured the interest of ancient
Arab poets (see poetry and poets). They
considered no other companion more

trustworthy and persevering than the
camel, both for their settled and for their
nomadic life-styles (see nomads). For this
reason the Arabs of antiquity accumulated
particular designations and descriptions of
the camel and poets surpassed themselves
in characterizing this animal's attributes
(see especially the mu 'allaqa poem by
Tarafa b. al-Abd, fl. sixth century C.E.;
see also literature and the qjjr'an).

R.G Khoury

Bibliography
Primary: Tabari, TqfsTr, i, 359-66.
Secondary: R. Bulliet, The camel and the wheel,
Cambridge, MA 1975, repr. New York 1990;
J. Chelhod, Le sacrifice chez les Arabes, Paris 1955;
Horovitz, KU, 146-8; Jeffery, For. vocak, 74-5;
A.Th. Khoury, Der Koran Arabisch-Deutsch
Ubersetzung und wissenschaftlicher Kommentar, g vols.
(to date), Giitersloh 1991-, vii, 73; R.G. Khoury,
Babylon in der altesten Version iiber die
Geschichte der Propheten im Islam, in G. Mauer
and U. Magen (eds.), Alter Orient und Altes Testamen
220 (iq88). Ad bene etfideliter seminandum. Festgabe
fur Karlheinz Deller zum 2lfebruar ig8y, Kevelaer
1988, 123-4; id., [ Umara b. Watima h. Musd al-
Fdrisi. Les legendes prophetiques dans ITslam depuis le
I.jusqu'au III. siecle de VHegire avec id. critique du
texte Kitab Bad' al-khalq wa-qisas al-anbiya',
Wiesbaden 1978, 237-43; id., Wahb b. Munabbih.
1. Der Heidelberger Papyrus PSR Held Arab 2 J. Leben
und Werk des Dichters. (Codices Arabici Antiqui I),
Weisbaden 1972, 232; C. Pellat, Hayawan, in Ef,
iii, 304-9; id., Ibil, in Ef, iii, 665-8; H.
Schwarzbaum, Biblical and extra-biblical legends in
Islamic folk literature, Walldorf-Hessen 1982; H.
von Wissmann, Badw II. The history of the
origin of nomadism in its geographical aspect,
d. The appearance of camel nomadism in
North Africa, in Ef, i, 887-9.

Camphor

A white, translucent substance distilled
from the wood of the camphor tree (Cinna-
momum camphora, family Lauraceae) which is
indigenous to China, Taiwan and Japan.
The term camphor (kafur, qajur, qaf[f]ur)
denotes the tree, its resin and its drug.

South and southeast Asian designations of
these botanical products include Indian
karpura, kappura or Malayan kapur. It is at-
tested once in the Quran at o_ 76:5. Besides
the qur'anic kdfur there are references to
the spelling with qaf instead of kaf in works
of qur'anic commentary (Alusi, Ruh, xxix,
154; Qurtubl, Jdmi '■', xix, 124; for further
variants see M. Ullmann, Wbrterbuch, i, 10b).

The single relevant verse, p_ 76:5, reads:
"Surely the pious shall drink of a cup
whose mixture (mizaj) is camphor (kdfur)."
Among the classical exegetes, Fakhr al-Din
al-RazI (d. 606/1210) and al-Qurtubl
(d. 671/1272) explain that this verse cannot
mean that the liquid really contains cam-
phor because it would not have a good
taste [layakunu ladhidhan, RazI, Tafsir, xxx,
240) or, respectively, one does not drink this
drug [Id yushrabu, Qurtubl, Jdmi', xix, 123).
According to this and other classical exege-
sis on the verse, the liquid to which refer-
ence is made is only similar to camphor
(ka-kafur). It has some of the camphor
qualities, i.e. its fragrance (lib) and its scent
(ra'iha), its whiteness and coolness (Tabarl,
Tafsir, xxviii, 112-3; Ibn Kathlr, Tafsir, vii,
179-80; Qurtubl, Jdmi', xix, 123-4). I* does
not, however, have its harmful effect (ma-
darr, Tabarl, Tafsir, xxviii, 112; RazI, Tafsir,
xxx, 240). Again al-Razi {Tafsir, xxx, 240)
and al-Qurtubl (Jami\ xix, 123) emphasize
that it does not have its taste. Taking into
consideration the beginning of the next
verse, Q_ 76:6, "A fountain whereat drink
the servants of God..." where the first
word, "fountain" {'aynan, see fountains),
is in grammatical apposition to kafuran,
all the above-mentioned exegetes explain
that there is a fountain in paradise (q.v.)
called the camphor fountain. In his con-
temporary commentary the German
scholar, R. Paret, like others, considers the
drink mentioned in o_ 76:5 to be wine (see
intoxicants) mixed with camphor-
flavored water.

In the olfactory classification of the eight
basic odors, camphor is qualified as spicy
(G. Ohloff, Diifte, 14). According to the
pharmacological humoral theory of the
four elements (cold-warm, dry-moist)
which should be in harmony in a healthy
body, and the corresponding qualities of
drugs, it is classified as cold and dry in the
third degree (L. Leclerc, Ibn el-Beithar, iii,
no. 1868, 128). Camphor is often used as a
metaphor for white. The Indian perfume-
tradition obtained — already 5000 years
ago by a primitive method of distilla-
tion — scented waters from camphor. At
the same time in China, the wood of the
tree was burnt with other incenses. There
camphor has long been one of the most
important scents, used not only as a rem-
edy, but also in a ritual context, e.g. em-
balming. Within the Islamic tradition can
be found hadiths which refer to the use of
camphor to wash the corpse (Nasa'i,
Sunan, iv, no. 1890), a practice that can still
be found in Muslim countries (see burial;
death AND THE dead). Besides its use as an
aromatic, camphor offers a wide range of
medicinal qualities (cf. L. Leclerc, Ibn el-
Beithar, iii, no. 1868, 129-30). It remains an
ingredient in cosmetic compounds, oint-
ments and rubbing alcohol.

Hanne Schonip'

Bibliography
Primary: AliisI, Ruh; Ibn Kathlr, Tafsir; Nasa°T,
Sunan; Qiir^ubT, Jarni '; RazI, Tafsir; Tabarl, Tafsir.
Secondary: Arberry; A. Dietrich, Kafur, in El 2 ,
iv, 417-8; L. Leclerc, Traite des simples par Ibn el-
Beithar. Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la
Bibliotheque Nationale et autres bibliotheques, 3 vols.,
Paris 1877-83; G. Ohloff, Irdische Diifte himmlische
lust. Eine Rulturgeschichte der Duftstoffe, Frankfurt
1996; Paret; M. Ullmann and A. Spitaler (eds.),
Worterbuch der Klassischen Arabischen Sprache,
Wiesbaden 1970.

Gape

see CLOTHING

2 8g

CAPTIVES

Capital Punishment see boundaries

AND PRECEPTS

Captives

Persons who are captured in an act of war
and whose lives are in the hands of the
captor. According to Islamic law a captive
may be killed, enslaved or returned for
ransom. The Qur'an refers to captives di-
rectly as asir (pi. asm, asdra or usard'), the
literal meaning of which is "one who is
shackled" (cf. Q_ 2:185; 18:73; 94:5, 6).
Raqaba (pi. riqdb), literally "nape of the
neck," is used six times (cf. Q_ 2:177; 5:89;
g:6o; 47:4; 58:3; 90:13) to refer to captives
or slaves synecdochically; the verb ta'siruna,
"you make captive," is found in Q_ 33:26
(see slaves and slavery).

Pre-Islamic rules of warfare (see war;
PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA AND THE OJJR'an) in-
volved small raiding parties rather than
full-scale battles. This practice was well-
known to Muhammad who used such
raids to great effect in his campaigns (see
expeditions AND battles) against the
Meccans after his emigration to Medina
(hijra, see emigration). References to cap-
tives from the Medinan period of the
Qur'an (see chronology and the qur'an)
are all in the context of such raids and
some may be connected with specific
events, such as Q_ 33:26, which commenta-
tors connect with the killing and enslaving
of members of the Qurayza (q.v.) tribe in
Medina (q.v). Other references are more
vague but seem to refer to a strategy of
engaging in more violent raids before tak-
ing captives (see q 8:67).

In the Meccan period, the only mention
of asir is in a list of actions undertaken by
the "servants of God:" "For the love of
[God] , they give food to the poor, the or-
phan, and the asir" (o_ 76:8). There is some
debate in the commentaries as to whether

this verse refers to captives or prisoners,
but compare similar lists at Q 2:177 and
g:6o. The former reads: "The pious
(see piety) is the one who believes in God,
and the last day (see apocalypse;
eschatology; last judgment), the angels
(q.v), the book (q.v.), and the prophets (see
prophets and prophethood), and who
shares wealth (q.v), for the love of [God],
with relatives (see kinship), orphans (q.v.),
the poor (see poverty and the poor), the
traveler, beggars, and with the riqdb." In
this case, al-Zamakhsharl (d. 538/1144;
Kashshaf, i, 217-8) and others gloss sharing
wealth with the riqdb as "helping mukatab
slaves... or ransoming captives (fakka
l-usard)." While the ransoming of captives
of war (see hostages) seems reasonable for
the qur'anic period, recent scholarship has
questioned the commentators' implicit
assertion that the institution of mukatab
slaves (i.e. slaves who have entered into a
contract of emancipation with their mas-
ters) was already established (J. Brockopp,
183-221; P. Crone, 64-76). Further, scholars
continue to debate the ways in which Mec-
can society distinguished among captives,
slaves, clients (mawdli) and allies (hulaja'),
all of whom were in a dependent relation-
ship with the tribal unit (see tribes and
clans; clients and clientage).

That captives were a known source for
slaves is demonstrated by Joseph's (q.v.)
capture and sale in the Joseph narrative
(q_ 12:19-20). Of the many Companions of
the Prophet (q.v.) who were slaves, only
Suhayb b. Sinan (d. 38/659) appears to
have been an actual captive, though the
accounts are contradictory (see Ibn Ishaq,
Sira, i, 488-9). During the conquests (q.v.)
in the years following the death of Mu-
hammad, Medina and Damascus were
flooded with thousands of captives, leading
to significant slave markets in these and
other cities. Since Islamic law forbids en-
slaving Muslims, capture from outlying,

CARAVAN

290

non-Muslim territories was essential to
maintaining slave populations.

Jonathan E. Brockopp

Bibliography
Primary: Ibn Ishaq, Sua; ZamakhsharT, Kashshdj.
Secondary: J.E. Brockopp, Early Maliki law. Ibn
'Abd al-Hakam and his Major compendium of
jurisprudence, Leiden 2000; id., Slavery in Islamic
law, Ph.D. diss., Yale 1995; R. Brunschvig, ( Abd,
in Ef y i, 24-40; P. Crone, Roman, provincial and
Islamic law, Cambridge 1987; M. Kister, The
massacre of the Banu Qurayza. A
re-examination of a tradition, in JSAI 8 (1986:.
61-96; H. Muller, Sklaven, in Ho 6/6/1.
Wirtschaftsgeschichte des Vorderen Orients in islamischer
^eit, 53-83; D. Pipes, Slave soldiers and Islam, New
Haven 1981; R. Roberts, The social laws of the
Qordn, London 1925.

Caravan

A company of travelers on a journey
through a desert or hostile region; also, the
vehicles which transport the company. The
most prominent qur'anic word denoting a
"caravan" is 'lr, which occurs three times in
o_ 12, "Joseph" (Surat Yflsuf; o_ 12:70, 82,
94). Arabic lexicographers say that origin-
ally this term denoted camels, asses or
mules that carried provisions of corn but
that it was later applied to any caravan
(see camel). Some say, however, that in the
Qur'an it signifies asses not camels (Lane,
q.v. 'ir) which does not comply with the
biblical version of the story of Joseph
(q.v.) where camels are mentioned explic-
itly [Gen 37:25). In the qur'anic story of
Joseph, a caravan is also called sayyara
(q_ 12:10, 19) which recalls the Hebrew
shayyara. However, lexicographers explain
this term as coming from the Arabic root
s-y-r in the sense oijamd'a sayyara: "a
company of persons journeying" (Lane,
q.v. s-y-r).

Muslim commentators have also discov-
ered an allusion to caravans in o_ 106 (Surat
Quraysh; o 106:2), in which the "journey

of the winter and the summer" is men-
tioned (see journey; trips and voyages).
In English translations of the Qur'an, the
"journey" (rihla) is often rendered as "cara-
van" (e.g. Arberry). Commentators usually
identify the journeys of the winter and the
summer with the commercial caravans of
pre-Islamic Meccan traders (see pre-
islamic ARABIA AND THE qjjr'an). The win-
ter journey is ordinarily said to have set out
to Yemen (q.v.) and the summer journey to
Syria (q.v.). Less current interpretations say
that both journeys were to destinations in
Syria. The leaders of Quraysh (q.v.), who
are said to have initiated the journeys while
obtaining pacts of security for their travels,
were heads of prominent Meccan clans
and mainly the sons of 'Abd Manaf:
Hashim, al-Muttalib, 'Abd Shams and
Nawfal (see tribes and clans). The reports
about them may reflect political tensions
between their respective Muslim descend-
ants (U. Rubin, Ilaf, 170-1; see politics
and the qjjr'an). A less commercial per-
ception of the winter and summer journey
is reflected in interpretations to the effect
that Quraysh carried them out not merely
for trade but also for pleasure and recre-
ation. In summer they reportedly used to
travel to cool places in Yemen, Syria or al-
Ta'if and in winter they went to warmer
places in Syria. Conversely, other interpre-
tations hold that the journeys did not start
from Mecca (q.v.) but rather ended there.
These were journeys of pilgrims coming to
Mecca from various zones twice a year to
perform the 'umra and the hajj, i.e. the
lesser and the greater pilgrimage respec-
tively (U. Rubin, Ilaf, 174, n. 59; see
pilgrimage). Implicit here is the notion
that pilgrimage and commerce are closely
associated.

Most modern scholars have tended to
adopt the commercial interpretation of the
winter and summer journey and infer from
them that Mecca of the sixth century c.E.
rose to the position of an important center

agi

CARRION

of transit trade (e.g. M.J. Kister, Mecca
and Tamlm, 120). This has been chal-
lenged by Patricia Crone who, relying on
the variety of inner contradictions in the
suggested interpretations, has observed
that "the exegetes had no better knowledge
of what this sura meant than we have to-
day" (Meccan trade, 210).

Whatever the case may be, the Qur'an
mentions the winter and the summer cara-
van journey that Quraysh performed regu-
larly in order to illustrate a divine benevo-
lence that is consequent upon belief in
God (see blessing; belief and unbelief).

Uri Rubin

Bibliography
Primary: ( Abd al-Rahman b. Muhammad b.
Abl Asim, Tafsir aTQur'dn al-'a^im, ed. A.M.
al-Tayyib, 10 vols., Riyadh 1997, x, no. 19491;
Htid b. Muhakkam, Tafsir, iv, 536; Mawardl,
Nukat, vi, 347.

Secondary: H. Birkeland, The Lord guideth,
Uppsala 1956, 102-30; P. Crone, Meccan trade and
the rise of Islam, Princeton 1987, 205-9; M.J.
Kister, Mecca and Tamlm, injESHO 8 (1965),
329-56 (repr. in M.J. Kister, Studies in Jahiliyya and
early Islam, London 1980); Lane; I. Mahmood,
Social and economic conditions in pre-Islamic
Mecca, in 1JMES 14 (1982), 343-58; F.E. Peters,
The commerce of Mecca before Islam, in F.
Kazemi and R.D. McChesney (eds.) 3J 4 way
prepared. Essays on Islamic culture in honor of Richard
Bayly Winder, New York 1988, 3-26; id.,
Muhammad and the origins of Islam, Albany 1994,
68-75; U- Rubin, The ilafof Quraysh. A study of
sura cvi, in Arabica 31 (1984), 165-88.

Carcass see carrion

Carpet see material culture and the
qjjr'an

Carrion

The putrefying flesh of a carcass. The Ara-
bic term is mayta, from the verbal root
meaning "to die." Hence the word is used

in an adjectival sense as in o_ 36:33: "The
dead earth (al-ard al-mayta) is a sign for
them. We have brought it to life [i.e. by
means of rain] ..." In all other qur'anic
instances, the term refers specifically to
carrion, one of the Islamic food taboos
supported also in prophetic traditions
(see food and drink; forbidden).

E. Lane's definition of mayta includes
both animals which have died a natural
death (explicitly mayta, as in Q_ 2:173; 5:3;
6:139, 145; 16:115) and those killed in a state
or manner different from that prescribed
by the religious law (see LAW AND THE
qur'an). In the latter situation the circum-
locution is used, "over which has been in-
voked a name other than that of God" (as
in all the above-mentioned references ex-
cept p_ 6:139; see consecration of
animals). Thus the term carrion may be
applied where either the agent or the ani-
mal killed may not meet prescribed condi-
tions, as for example, a person who slaugh-
ters an animal in a state of ritual purity
(ihrdm, see ritual purity) or an animal sac-
rificed to an idol (see idols and images;
sacrifice). The prohibition of carrion in
these two senses (to which one could add
the refinements of Q_ 5:3 that include ani-
mals who died from asphyxiation, a beating,
a fall or being gored) is mentioned along
with the religious taboos against eating
blood and pork meat. An exception is made
(q_ 16:115; 6:145) when one might be forced
to consume any of these prohibited sub-
stances under duress. Q_ 6:139 also suggests
that a fetal or stillborn animal could be
lawfully eaten (see lawful and unlawful).

The hadith literature expanded upon
these few and brief qur'anic references.
Fish (and, according to some authorities,
by extension all sea animals and birds) and
locusts were deemed lawful since they re-
quired no ritual slaughter. According to the
caliph 'Uthman (q.v.; r. 23-35/644-56),
doves could be slaughtered and were there-
fore governed by the conditions of mayta.

-'<)-'

Among the traditions recounted by al-
Bukharl (d. 256/870) a shepherd slaugh-
tered one of his flock after noticing that it
was on the verge of death. Following con-
sultation (q.v.) with the Prophet, the meat
was permitted for consumption as slaugh-
tering the dying animal had prevented it
from becoming carrion. In another tradi-
tion, al-Bukharl cites an episode in which
an expedition of the Prophet's troops be-
gan to suffer severe hunger. They discov-
ered a huge fish cast upon the shore which
provided nourishment for several days.
Upon their return to Medina, the incident
was related to the Prophet who replied,
"Eat of those things which God sends you"
(cf. Q 5:4). This tradition offered an im-
plicit extension of the qur'anic context
(o 16:115), which dealt only with prohibited
foods, and the tradition may also have
helped settle what was considered a prob-
lematic case of fish. Other traditions pro-
hibit the sale of meat and by-products
from such prohibited carcasses though
there was exegetical and legal discussion
about the permissibility of using the skin.

Islamic restrictions governing food prepa-
ration and consumption are fewer than in
Judaism (see jews and Judaism). However,
the context of the verses cited here reflects
close adherence to Jewish religious tradition.
In both, the name of God has to be invoked
when an animal is slaughtered and blood —
the essential life force given by God (see
blood and blood CLOT; life) — cannot be
consumed but must be poured out, re-
turned to the earth (q.v.) whence it came.

David Waines

Bibliography
M. Benkheira, Chairs illicites en Islam. Essai
d'interpretation anthropologique de la notion de
mayta, in s/84 (1996), 5-33; M. Cook, Early
Islamic dietary law, in JSAI J (1986), 217-77; F.
Dachraoni, A propos de l'ethiqne alimentaire
traditionelle. Preceptes islamiques, in Revue

d'etudes Andalouses 18 (1997), 47-62; E. Graf,
Jagdbeute und Schlachttier im islamisehen Recht. Eine
untersuchung zur Entwicklung der islamisehen
Jurisprudent, Bonn 1959; R. Lobban, Pigs and
their prohibition, in IJMES 26 (1994), 57-75; J.
Schacht, Mayta, in Ef, vi, 924-6; A. Sharma,
Licit food in Hindu and Islamic mysticism, in
Bulletin of the Henry Martin Institute of Islamic
Studies 8.4 (1985), 127-30.

Cattle see animal life

Gave

A hollow space in a mountain or hill. The
term cave (kahf, ghar, magharat) is used in the
Qur'an to designate a place of refuge for
the faithful or a locus of intimate contact
with God. Kahf occurs six times (cj 18:9, 10,
11, 16, 17, 25). Ghar and magharat (sing, ma-
ghara) each occur once (o_ 9:40, 57); lexicog-
raphers consider these latter terms to be
synonymous with kahf or to be designations
for small caves.

"The Cave" (Sflrat al-Kahf ) is the title of
o_ 18, which consists of no verses. It refers
to the story of the Companions of the
Cave (w. 9-26), an Arabic version of
widely-circulated Christian accounts about
the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus (see MEN of
the cave). This version tells of a group of
youths who, fearing persecution or death
for their faith, fled to a cave with their dog
(q.v.). God sheltered them there in a slum-
berous state for perhaps 309 years. When
they awoke, they were discovered by their
townspeople who decided to build a
mosque over them and their hiding place.
Muslim commentators and traditionists
(Tabari, TafsTr, xv, 130-54; Tha'labl, Qisas,
370-86; Zamakhsharl, Kashshaf ii, 473-81;
for Fakhr al-Din al-Razl's commentary on
o_ 18: 9-12, see R. Gramlich, Fahr ad-Din
ar-Razl) debate the meaning of the ambig-
uous qur'anic narrative and embellish it

293

with details from Christian accounts (see
CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIANITY; NARRATIVES).
According to these sources, after the youths
discovered that their religion had finally
prevailed in their homeland, they blessed
Theodosius, the faithful ruler, and returned
to their death-like sleep to await the final
resurrection (q.v.).

In the Quran and its subsequent inter-
pretation, this cave was understood to be a
sanctuary for the faithful and a place
where they enjoyed God's mercy (q.v.). It
also represents the tomb from which the
dead were to be resurrected. Ibn Ishaq
(d. 150/767; Sua, i-ii, 302-3), a biographer
of the Prophet, said that this story was
revealed in response to challenges to Mu-
hammad's authenticity as a prophet and
to his growing persecution in Mecca (q.v.;
see also opposition to muhammad). It
functioned as a proof of God's ability to
revive the dead (see DEATH and the dead)
but it was also to portend the emigration
(q.v.; hijra) to either Abyssinia (q.v.) or Me-
dina (q.v). The cave thus signified the goal
of emigration. For Sufi commentators, it
came to represent a place for spiritual re-
treat for the worldly body awaiting illumi-
nation from the divine spirit (see sufism
and THE qjjr'an). The modern commenta-
tor Sayyid Qutb (d. 1966) saw it as a meta-
phor for the heart (q.v.) filled with faith
(q.v.). The story of the Companions is also
the subject of a play by the Egyptian play-
wright Tawflq al-Hakim (d. 1987) and was
used by the Egyptian media to describe
anti-government Islamist groups such as
that led by ShukrI Mustafa in Egypt during
the 1970s. Muslim exegetical and geo-
graphical literature ordinarily followed the
Christian placement of the Companions of
the Cave at Ephesus in present-day Turkey
(see geography in the qjjr'an). In addi-
tion to Ephesus, however, Muslims fixed
the geographical site of the cave in various

locations including the Muqattam hills in
Cairo, Mount Qasyun in Damascus and
even Tuyuk in Chinese Turkestan.

Caves were also the locations of pivotal
moments in the life of Muhammad. After
periods of spiritual retreat, Muhammad
received his first revelations (see revela-
tion and inspiration) from the angel
Gabriel (q.v; Q_ 96:1-5) in a small cave
(ghdr) on Mount Hira', according to re-
ports attributed to A'isha (Bukhari, Sahlh,
Bad' al-wahy 3, Tafsir sura 96; Ibn Sa'd,
Tabaqat, i, 194; T arj arT, Tafsir xxx, 161; see
'a'isha bint abi bakr). Through the centu-
ries this site, which is located five miles
north of Mecca near Mina, was visited by
pilgrims who came for the pilgrimage (q.v;
hajj). It is mentioned in medieval texts
(AzraqI, Akhbar Makka, i-ii, 204; Yaqut,
Bulddn, ii, 228; Ibn Jubayr, Travels, 160) and
modern pilgrim narratives (M. Faraham,
Safarnameh, 235-6; M. Haykal, Manzil,
228-46). Tradition also maintains that p_ 77
was revealed to Muhammad in a cave at
Mina itself (Bukhari, Sahlh, Tafsir sura 77).

Another noteworthy cave in Islamic tra-
dition is on Mount Thawr, south of Mecca
on the road to Yemen (q.v.). It was there,
according to early accounts (Ibn Ishaq,
Sua, i-ii, 485-6; Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat, i, 228-9;
Tabari, Tafsir, x, 95-6), that Muhammad
and Abu Bakr secluded themselves for
three nights during their emigration (hijra)
to Medina to avoid capture by their Qu-
raysh (q.v.) opponents. According to com-
mentaries, this event is addressed in a late
Medinan sura: "If you do not help him
[Muhammad] , God certainly will, as he
did when the disbelievers expelled him and
the second man. When they were in the
cave, he said to his companion (see com-
panions of the prophet), 'Grieve not,
for God is with us'" (o 9:40). The spider's
web and the dove's nest that God used to
conceal them in the cave (according to Ibn

CHASTISEMENT AND PUNISHMENT

294

Sa'd, d. 230/845) became popular symbols
of the emigration.

A cave was not a shelter for disbelievers
and hypocrites, however (see hypocrites
and hypocrisy). The Qur'an states that
they would like to flee to caves (maghdrdt,
cf. Q_ 9:57) and other places of refuge to
escape divine retribution but God has
readied a harsher abode (i.e. hell [jahan-
nam\, cf. p_ 9:63, 68, 73) for them in the
hereafter (see hell; last judgment).

Juan Eduardo Campo

Bibliography
Primary: al-AzraqT, Akhbdr Makka wa-ma jd'a fthd
min al-athdr, ed. R.S. Malhas, 2 vols, in I, Beirut
1969; Bukharl, Sahih, 9 vols, in 3, Cairo 1957-60;
M.H FarahanT, A Shi 'ite pilgrimage to Mecca,
(l88yi886). The Safarnameh of Mirza
Mohammad Hosayn Farahani, ed., trans, and
annotated by H. Farmayan and E.L. Daniel,
Austin 1990; T. al-Haklm, Ahl al-kahf, Cairo 1933;
M.H. Haykal, FT manzil al-wahy, Cairo 1937, repr.
1986; Ibn Ishaq, STra (recension ot Abd al-Malik
b. Hisham), ed. M. al-Saqqa et al., 4 vols, in 2,
Cairo 1955 2 ; Ibnjubayr, The travels of Ibn Jubayr,
ed. W. Wright, Leiden 1907 2 (rev. by M.J. de
Goeje); Ibn Sa c d, Tabaqdt, ed. Ihsan ( Abbas, 9
vols., Beirut 1957-8; Qutb, £ilal; Tabarl, TafsTr;
Tha'labT, Qisas, Beirut n.d.; Yaqut, Buldan;
ZamakhsharT, RashshdJ.

Secondary: M. Campanini, La Surah della
Caverna. Meditazione filosofica suH'unicita di
Dio, in Pubblicazioni della Facolta di Lettere e Filosqfia
delVUniversitd di Milano 125 (1986), sect. 13; P.
DalPOglio, Speranze nellTsldm. Interpretazione della
prospettiva escatologica di Corano XVIII, Genoa 1991;
R. Gramlich, Fahr ad-Din ar-RazTs Kommentar
zu Sure 18, 9-12, in Asiatische Studien/Ftudes
asiatiques 33 (1979), 99-152; I. Guidi, Seven
sleepers, in ERE, xi, 428-30; R. Kriss and H.
Kriss-Heinrich, Volksglaube im Bereich des Islam, 2
vols, Wiesbaden i960; L. Massignon, Les sept
dormants cFEphese (ahl al-kahf) en Islam et en
Chretiente, in REI 22 (1954), 59-112; Nadwl, Abu
1-Hasan ( All, Faith versus materialism. {The message of
Surat-ul-Kahf), Lucknow 1972; H. Nibley,
Cuimran and the Companions of the Cave, in
Revue de Qumran 5 (April 1965), 177-98; R. Paret,
Ashab al-kahf, in EI 2 , i, 691.

Cave, Men of the see men of the cave

Celibacy see abstinence; chastity
Ceremony see festivals
Chair see throne of god
Challenges of Modern Science

see SCIENCE AND THE CTJR'aN

Chance and Coincidence see

marvels; omens; secrets; hidden and the
hidden; theology and the qjjr'an

Chapters see sura(s)

Charity see almsgiving

Charm see amulets

Chastisement and Punishment

To discipline, especially by corporal means,
as retribution for a wrong and incidentally
for correction and prevention. "Chastise-
ment" and "punishment" correspond to
several Arabic terms used in the Qur'an,
e.g. 'adhdb, naked, 'iqab,jaza' and their cog-
nates, although, in addition to these dis-
crete terms, the Qur'an does use other ex-
pressions to convey the same meaning. The
word 'adhdb and its cognates appear in the
Qur'an over 350 times; jazd' and its cog-
nates over 100 times; 'iqdb and its cognates
26 times; and nakdl and its cognates four
times. Considering the numerous qur'anic
stories of divine punishment meted out to
those who rejected God's prophets, it is
clear that divine chastisement — in this
world and the next — is one of the most
important topics in the Qur'an.

While these terms have shared meanings,
it is useful to distinguish them carefully.
The most general of these terms is 'adhdb,
which al-Zamakhshari (d. 538/1144; Kash-
shdf, i, 164-5) defines as any type of burden-

295

CHASTISEMENT AND PUNISHMENT

some pain. More specifically, 'iqab is used
to mean various forms of punishment
while nakal is used to refer particularly to
exemplary punishment. Therefore while
every 'iqab and nakal is also a type of 'adhab,
the opposite is not true — one can suffer
some type of 'adhab that is not a punish-
ment. Fin ally, ja.ja' carries the signification
of "just deserts," i.e. the deserved conse-
quences of one's actions, and can therefore
be found in the sense of either chastise-
ment or reward. These terms and their
cognates appear in a variety of contexts in
the Quran and are employed to describe
events both in this world and the next (see
reward AND punishment). When their use
is related to events in this world, moreover,
they apply equally to both divine and hu-
man acts. Finally, 'adhab and naked are used
to describe punishments required by law,
e.g. flogging (q.v.), which in Q_ 24:2 is the
prescribed punishment for adultery (see
adultery AND fornication) and the am-
putation of the hand of the thief, the
qur'anic punishment for theft (q.v; cf.
o 5:38), but the use of these terms in this
sense is extremely limited in the Qur'an
(see boundaries and precepts; law and
the qjjr'an; stoning).

According to the Qur'an, both humans
and God share in the capacity to adminis-
ter punishment (see judgment). Further,
there is an acknowledgement of the de-
structive power of some events and pro-
cesses. Consequently, theological reflection
takes up the question of the cause of
human calamities, attributing them vari-
ously to natural explanations and acts of
divine judgment. This question presents a
tension that is central to the qur'anic view
of humankind's relationship to the divine.

Human acts of chastisement
The Qur'an describes many instances
where one human, typically a ruler or the
equivalent, inflicts a terrible punishment

upon another who is, predictably, power-
less. Interestingly, the Qur'an does not at-
tach any independent ontological signifi-
cance to the act of punishment itself. Thus,
at times the wicked succeed in torturing
the good, as in the story of Pharaoh's (q.v.)
treatment of the Jews (o_ 2:49), as well as
that of Pharaoh's treatment of his magi-
cians after they announced their faith in
Islam (o_ 20:71; see magic, prohibition of);
at other times, the good is empowered
over the wicked and is able to punish ac-
cordingly, as in Dhu 1-Qarnayn's (see
Alexander) punishment of the unjust
whom he encountered in his travels and
conquests (q_ 18:86-7).

The central lesson of the Qur'an regard-
ing these events is that the ontological sta-
tus of any human act of punishment is de-
rivative, viz. a result not of the act itself
but rather of the nature of the actor. For
that reason, the qur'anic view is that a
naive "empiricism" is insufficient to grasp
the moral reality behind actual exercises of
power (see intention), i.e. mere empiricism
is unable to judge whether the exercise of
power was just (see justice and injustice).
The Qur'an presents a vivid example of
the fallacy of confusing empirical manifes-
tations of power with the moral judgment
of truth (q.v.) and falsehood when it de-
scribes Abraham's (q.v.) encounter with a
king who had fallaciously claimed to share
in divine attributes (see GOD and his
attributes; kings and rulers) because he,
just as God, could grant life and take it
away (q_ 2:258).

It is not just the powerful, however, who
endow their acts with ontological signifi-
cance. The powerless, according to the
Qur'an, also believe, on the basis of the
power of their oppressors, that they must
be right or, less drastically, that God has no
concern for the believers' welfare (see
belief and unbelief). Thus, when Pharaoh
began to slaughter the male offspring of

CHASTISEMENT AND PUNISHMENT

296

the Jews in retaliation for their support of
Moses (q.v.) and Moses urged the Jews to
remain firm in their faith in God and to
seek his help, their reply was simply:
"Tortured were we (udhina from root,
'-dh-y) before you came to us, and [tor-
tured are we] after you came to us"
(q_ 7:129; see jews and Judaism). Likewise,
the Qur'an portrays the powerless' con-
fusion of might with right as a failure to
exercise their own judgment; they thus
blindly follow the powerful to their own
perdition:

Were you [O Muhammad!] to see the
moment when the unjust are brought
standing before their Lord, as they ex-
change words, one with another, and the
downtrodden say to the mighty, "But for
you, we surely would have been believers!"
And the mighty will say to the downtrod-
den "Did we keep you away from [God's]
guidance after it came unto you? No, you
indeed were wicked!" And the downtrod-
den will say to the mighty, "No, indeed, it
was rather your plotting, day and night,
commanding us to be ungrateful (see
gratitude and ingratitude) to God and
to assign unto him peers" (p_ 34:31-3; see
polytheism and atheism).

Thus, despite the fact that punishment
administered by humans — and the power
that stands behind it — says nothing
about the moral significance of that act,
humans nevertheless tend erroneously to
attribute moral value to the exercise of
power. They presume to read moral mean-
ing into punishment prescribed by the so-
cially and politically powerful or they inter-
pret it negatively as divine disinterest.
Because of such human misapprehension,
the qur'anic demystification of the empiri-
cal phenomenon of power (see power and
impotence) provides an answer to the ques-
tion of how one is to differentiate good

from evil (see good and evil), given that
both will at times use the same means.

Divine chastisement in this world
Qur'anic narrative repeatedly demon-
strates the belief that God intervenes at
least episodically in human history. In a
frequently encountered qur'anic pattern,
the most spectacular of these interventions
begins when God sends a prophet (see
prophets and prophethood) to a human
group and ends when God destroys them
for their rejection of this prophet (see
punishment stories). While these stories
are mentioned throughout the Qur'an, the
seventh sura, Surat al-A c raf, narrates in
succession the accounts of the major
prophets whose peoples God had de-
stroyed — Noah (q.v.), Hud (q.v.), Salih
(q.v.), Lot (q.v.), Shu'ayb (q.v.), and Moses

(q-v.; a 7:59-93, 103-37).

The Qur'an concludes its narration of
these events with some general observa-
tions: The missions of the prophets are
simultaneously accompanied by some sig-
nificant misfortune (bi-l-ba'sa' wa-l-darra')
inflicting the people to whom they are sent,
so as to awaken them from their heedless-
ness (q_ 7:94). But God does not allow their
misery to continue unabated and eventual-
ly replaces their misfortune with good for-
tune leading to general prosperity (q_ 7:95).
Instead of responding to God with grati-
tude, however, the prophet's people natural-
ize the calamity, concluding that the cycle
of misfortune followed by good fortune is
natural, something which occurs at all
times. They therefore conclude that what
happened to them during the course of
their prophet's preaching had no causal
connection with the prophet's mission
(q_ 7:95). God then sends his chastisement
at the moment when they convince them-
selves that their experience was simply nat-
ural, lulling themselves thereby into a false
sense of security (q_ 7:95; see natural

2() 7

CHASTISEMENT AND PUNISHMENT

world and the qur'an). Apparently, it is
their reckless disregard for the possibility
that the prophet is telling the truth that
warrants their punishment and by analogy
the punishment of future sinners who fail
to take heed of their predecessors' example
(o 7:97-100).

Although the Qur'an creates the impres-
sion that the majority of the prophets' peo-
ples rejected them, their leaders are singled
out by the Qur'an for particular blame. It
is always the leading citizens such as the
town or tribal assembly (al-mala') that con-
stitutes the biggest obstacle to the success
of the prophet's mission (p_ 7:60, 66, 75-7).
Such is the case with the story of Moses
and Pharaoh where the conflict between
prophets and wicked temporal authority
reaches its apogee. Although there are a
number of other versions of the conflict
between prophets and the political power
(see politics AND the qur'an), the story of
Moses produced sign after sign of God's
power — first miracles (o_ 7:107-8; see
miracle) and the defeat of Pharaoh's ma-
gicians (p_ 7:117-9); then after the request of
Pharaoh and his people, Moses removed
the plagues (q.v.) that God had sent upon
Pharaoh's people (p_ 7:133-4). Pharaoh and
his people, however, insisted that Moses
was a mere politician whose only goal was
to drive the Egyptians from power
(q_ 7:109-10, 127). When Pharaoh and his
people broke their promise to Moses to re-
lease the Children of Israel (q.v.) from cap-
tivity after Moses removed the plagues
from Egypt (q.v.), God finally destroyed
them because "they rejected our clear signs
(q.v.) and were heedless of them" (p_ 7:136;
see also captives; authority).

According to the narrative in Q_ 7, the
story of Moses and Pharaoh provides a
more detailed demonstration of the dy-
namic relationship between the unaccept-
able status quo and the reforming prophet
than is generally to be found in the stories

of the other prophets. The common theme
among all the punishment stories asso-
ciated with prophets, however, is that hu-
man beings, due to their narrow self-
interest, behave recklessly when God gives
them an opportunity to reform themselves.
It is their reckless disregard for God's
teaching that constitutes ungrateful rejec-
tion of God (kufr) and justifies his interven-
tion in the form of a terrible chastisement.
Yet given the indeterminacy of the means
God chooses to punish the wicked, such as
natural phenomena, the question facing
human beings is how to distinguish a truly
natural calamity from one that is an actual
manifestation of divine judgment. The
answer that the Qur'an gives is the person
of the prophet, and o_ 17:15, "We never
punish until we send a messenger (q.v.),"
offers ratification of this. Thus when a
prophet confronts evil and challenges his
people with the consequences of sinful
behavior (see SIN, major and minor), hu-
man actions assume a moral dimension,
thereby creating a solid basis for divine
judgment. According to the Qur'an, only
when God sends a prophet, therefore, do
humans become morally accountable to
God for their actions. Otherwise, their
injustice would be a result of mere negli-
gence and, as discussed above, only reck-
less disregard for truth that has been con-
veyed by God through a prophet (see
revelation and inspiration) creates, in
the sight of the Qur'an, a moral justifica-
tion for punishment.

The nature of divine punishment in the next world
The Qur'an is replete with descriptions of
the torments of hell (q.v.) that await those
whose deeds made them deserving objects
of divine chastisement. Whether these
vivid descriptions should be understood in
a strictly literal manner is a question that
has preoccupied Muslim theologians of
both the medieval and the modern periods.

CHASTITY

Even among the classical figures of Islamic
thought there has been the recognition that
this cannot be answered from the qur'anic
text itself (e.g. RazI, Tafsir, ii, 54-8). In-
deed, the language of the Qur'an uses
vivid, literal images of the chastisements
of hell at the very least to create "literal
psycho-physical effects of the Fire" (F. Rah-
man, Major themes, 112-3). According to
some contemporary lines of interpretation,
more interesting and more answerable is
the Qur'an 's description of the psychologi-
cal aspect of divine chastisement in the
next world.

While the image of God sitting in judg-
ment over humankind (see throne of god;
last judgment), separating the saved from
the damned has been criticized as a gross
oversimplification of qur'anic eschatology
(q.v.), it does have some basis in the qur'a-
nic text, e.g. Q_ 2:284. Although Muslim
dogma certainly promotes this image of
the day of judgment, some modern com-
mentators understand the day of judg-
ment to be more a moment of complete
self-awareness than a trial before a judge.
Within this perspective, punishment is as
much a result of the guilty person's realiza-
tion of his or her own guilt as something
that God imposes upon the individual
(o 2:167; 17:14; 69:25-9; 78:40). As a result
of their new-found self-awareness, the
guilty accept the justice of their punish-
ment in recognition of their own moral
depravity. Thus "they say 'Had we listened
or reasoned, we would not have been
among the denizens of the flame.' Thus
did they recognize their sin..." (q_ 67:10-1).
In support of such a view, these commen-
tators note that the Qur'an often describes
punishment in the next world as a depriva-
tion of divine blessings, the effect of which
is the equivalent of a punishment (q_ 2:174;
3:77; 83:14-5; see also sin and crime).

Mohammad Hossam Fadel

Bibliography
Primary: RazI, Tafsir; Tabarl, Tafsir;
Zamakhshari, Kashshqf,

Secondary: M. Bravmann, Allah's liberty to
punish or forgive, in Der Islam 47 (1971), 236-7;
R. Eklund, Life between death and resurrection
according to Islam, Uppsala 1941; Izutsn, Concepts;
id., God; T. Juynboll, ( Adhab, in Ef, i, 186; F.
Rahman, Major themes of the Qur'an, Chicago
1980; A.J. Wensinck/A.S. Tritton, 'Adhab al-
kabr, in El 2 , i, 186-7; A.J. Wensinck, The Muslim
creed, Cambridge 1932 (see "punishment" in
general index).

Chastisement and Sentences see

chastisement and punishment; trial;
judgment

Chastity

Avoidance of illicit sexual intercourse.
Within the Qur'an, this concept is gene-
rally expressed by the Arabic verb ahsana,
its participles and the verbal noun tahassun.
The original meaning of the fourth form
of the verb is "to protect or preserve some-
thing or someone," in the fifth form "to
protect oneself" (Lane, 586). Other verbs
used to convey this idea are hafi^a (to pro-
tect) and ista'affa (to abstain).

The special meaning of the concept can
be discerned by a comparison of qur'anic
verses in which the word, its synonyms or
antonyms occur. There are transitive and
intransitive forms. The transitive ones have
as their complement the wordfarj (vagina)
orfuruj (genitals). In Q_ 21:91 and 66:12,
Mary (q.v), the mother of Jesus (q.v), is
called a woman "who preserved her
vagina" (allati ahsanat farjahd) meaning
that she had not had sexual intercourse
before she became pregnant with Jesus
(rj 19:19-20). In Q. 33:35, 23:5 and 70:29 it is
said that "preserving one's genitals" is a
general virtue of Muslims, both males and
females. This statement should not be
taken as covering all connotations of the

2<)9

CHASTITY

English word "chaste," since the qur'anic
concept does not imply that it is a virtue to
abstain completely from sexual intercourse
and lead a celibate life (see abstinence).
This is made clear by Q_ 23:5-7 and
70:29-30 where true Muslim men are de-
scribed as "those who preserve their geni-
tals except from their wives and slave
women." Wives and concubines (q.v.) of a
Muslim man are considered lawful sexual
partners (see SEX AND sexuality). The vir-
tue of chastity is therefore limited to the
abstention from sexual intercourse with all
others who are by definition unlawful (see
lawful and unlawful). In the case of a
Muslim woman the only lawful partner is
her husband. In the verses in which the
term ahsana is used intransitively, the
meaning is the same and can best be trans-
lated by "abstaining from unlawful sexual
intercourse." This is obvious from the
verses in which the term muhsin is con-
trasted with its opposites, namely people
who have illicit sexual relations (men,
musafihun; women, musafihat) and a man
who takes mistresses [muttakhidh akhddn, cf.
Q_ 5:5; 4:25). Other antonyms are imrd saw',
Zdnin and khabith for men, all of which are
best rendered by "fornicator" (o_ 19:28;
24:3, 26), and, for women, baghi (whore; cf.
p_ 19:28), and zdniya and khabitha, which are
the feminine forms of terms for fornicator
(cf. o 19:20; 24:3, 26).

Free Muslims must be chaste. This is also
assumed of Christians and Jews and there-
fore Muslim men may marry Christian and
Jewish women (o_ 5:5; see christians and
CHRISTIANITY; JEWS AND JUDAISM; PEOPLE OF
the book). Heathens are regarded as un-
chaste and are — like Muslims, Jews or
Christians who have fornicated — unac-
ceptable marriage partners (p_ 2:221; 24:3;
60:10). Slaves are generally not regarded as
chaste (see slaves and slavery). The
Qur'an, however, prohibits forcing them
into prostitution if they wish to live chaste

lives (p_ 24:33; in all likelihood this verse
refers to Jews and Christians or to slaves
who have converted to Islam). Free Mus-
lims may even marry Muslim slaves who
are then obliged by marriage to live
chastely, i.e. to abjure illicit intercourse

(a 4:25; 24:33)-

Although chastity was already considered
a virtue (at least for women) among the
heathen Arabs before Islam (see PRE-
ISLAMIC ARABIA AND THE QUR'an), the
qur'anic ideal of chastity follows Jewish
and Christian traditions. Besides the in-
stances cited above, the example of Joseph
(Yusuf; see Joseph) who, as a slave in
Egypt, had resisted with God's support the
seduction of his master's wife (o_ 12:22-34,
50-3) is a clear illustration of this continu-
ity (see also scripture and the qjjr'an). In
order to realize this ideal in the (early)
Muslim community (see community and
society in the qjjr'an), the Qur'an stipu-
lates a special code of behavior among the
sexes and prescribes severe sanctions for il-
licit sexual relations. The Qur'an recom-
mends that the sexes refrain from sexually
provocative behavior and that people care-
fully veil their physical charms in front of
the opposite sex (p_ 24:30-1). People are
warned by the Qur'an not to enter other
people's houses without asking permission
to do so (o_ 24:27-9, 58-g). If women have
to leave the house, they are told to pull a
piece of their clothes down (presumably
over their heads) in order to be recognized
as chaste women who do not want to be
molested (o_ 33:59; see veil). Unlawful
sexual relations are condemned as sins
(see SIN, major and minor) and fornicators
are threatened with severe punishment
(0.4:15-6, 19; 12:25; 17:32; 19:27; 23:5-7;
24:2; 65:1; see ADULTERY AND FORNICATION).
For the wives of the Prophet even stricter
standards of decent behavior are pre-
scribed and their punishment in cases of
adultery is doubled (p_ 33:30, 32-3, 53;

CHEATING

300

see wives of the prophet; chastisement
and punishment). In Islamic jurisprudence
the meaning of the word ihsan underwent
a change and the measures to enforce chas-
tity and to prevent illicit sexual intercourse
became more severe over time. See also
family; marriage and divorce; women
and the qur'an.

Harald Motzki

Bibliography
J. Burton, The meaning of "ihsan," in JSS 19
(1974), 47-75; id,, Muhsan, in El 2 , vii, 474-5; H.
Motzki, Geschlechtsreife unci Legitimation zur
Zeugung im fruhen Islam, in E.W. Muller (ed.),
Geschlechtsreife und Legitimation zur £eugung, Munich
1985, 479-550; id., Wal-muhsanatu mina n-nisa'l
ilia ma malakat aimanukum (Koran 4:24) und die
koranische Sexualethik, in Der Islam 63 (1986),
192-218; id., Dann machte er daraus die beiden
Geschlechter, das mannliche und das
weibliche... (Koran 75.39). Die historischen
Wurzeln der islamischen Geschlechterrollen, in
J. Martin and R. Zoepffel, Aufgaben, Rollen und
Rdume von Fran und Mann, Munich 1989, 607-41
(with full bibliography).

Cheating

Defrauding by deceit or trickery. Several
qur'anic expressions depict this vice (see
virtues and vices): tatfif '(lit. making light
of or slighting); bakhs (shortchanging); akl
amwal al-nds bi-l-batil (devouring people's
wealth on false pretext); taghabun (mutual
fraud). Surat al-Mutaffifun, "The Slight-
ers" (o_ 83), is one of two suras of the
Qur'an named for the actual practice of
cheating. Its opening verses chide propri-
etors who manipulate the scales and mea-
suring devices (see measurement) in the
market (see markets) so that buyers receive
less than the quantity for which they are
paying. These same proprietors, mean-
while, go to market and demand full
measure. This suggests some type of oli-
garchic conspiracy on the part of propri-

etors of which the general public was
largely unaware (see community and
society in the qur'an). Muslim exegetes
differ, however, over whether these verses
were revealed in response to the actual
situation at Mecca (q.v.) or Medina (q.v.).
Lexicographically, the word tatfif 'implies
that the gains it brings are trifling. A fortiori,
its condemnation in the Qur'an is seen to
cover all measures of cheating, though no
legal sanctions against tatfif are mentioned
in the Qur'an (see LAW AND THE qur'an).
The matter is referred, rather, to the forum
internum as cheaters are reminded about
the resurrection (q.v.) and the grievous
penalty they will face on the day of judg-
ment (see reward and punishment; last
judgment). Later, Muslim society would
entrust the regulation of proper weights
and measures (q.v.) in the marketplace
to a market inspector, the so-called
muhtasib.

Several verses (q_ 2:282; 7:85; 11:85;
26:183) proscribe the practice of cheating
in the form of "bakhs" or shortchanging
people. The verses on bakhs are easily at-
tributable to both the Meccan and Medi-
nan periods. At Q 2:282, for example, the
object is clearly the Muslim community at
Medina. At Q_ 7:85 (a Meccan verse), mean-
while, the reference is to the pre-Islamic
community of Midian (Madyan; see
midian) to whom the prophet Shu'ayb (q.v.)
was sent in order that, among other things,
he might command his people to give just
measure and not shortchange their coun-
trymen (la tabkhasil l-nas ashya'ahum) . This
same theme is repeated in the Meccan
verses, 11:85 anc ' 26:183. What can be
found here is a type of intertextuality quite
common in the Qur'an, where the rhetoric
serves as a form of warning (q.v.) by exam-
ple. The people of Midian failed to heed
the warnings of Shu'ayb and as a result
suffered destruction, a fate that the Qur'an
describes in moving imagery (see punish-

30i

CHILDREN

ment stories). Muhammad's condemna-
tion of bakhs in his preaching to the early
Muslim community could hardly fail to
conjure up such images.

A number of verses (o_ 2:188; 4:29; 9:34)
condemn the practice of devouring peo-
ple's wealth on false pretext (akl amwal al-
nas bi-l-batil). This is actually a general cat-
egory of misappropriation of which
cheating, including such activities as gam-
bling (q.v.) and unlawful gain (riba, see
usury), are a subset. In terms of psycho-
logical impact, the verses treating of akl
amwal al-nas bi-l-batil constitute, in all likeli-
hood, the most powerful condemnation of
cheating since the word here translated as
"false pretext" (bdtil) is also used in some
twenty other qur'anic verses with the
meaning of falsehood as the antithesis of
divinely revealed truth (q.v.; see revela-
tion AND INSPIRATION).

Surat al-Taghabun, "Mutual Fraud"
(O. 64), also takes its title from the notion of
cheating. Here, however, the reference is
not to pecuniary cheating but to the self-
deception of the unbelievers through
which they "cheat" themselves (collec-
tively) out of a place in paradise (q.v.).
Judgment day is thus callcdyawm al-
taghdbun, "the day of mutual fraud," i.e.
the time when the results of their mutual
deception are brought to light (see also
BELIEF AND UNBELIEF).

Sherman A.Jackson

Bibliography
c Abd al-Baql; Ibn Kathlr, Alukhtasar tafsir Ibn
Katlm; 3 vols., Beirut 1402/1982; SabfrnT, Tafsir;
Shawkam, Tafsir; TabarT, Tafsir.

Children

Offspring; gender-inclusive term for young
people, between infancy and youth. The
Qur'an contains a number of terms for

"offspring" and "young people," (e.g. dhur-
riyya; ghulam, pi. ghilmdn; ibn, pi. banun; wa-
lad, pi. awldd), but it is only seldom clear
from the context when these refer to the
age group between birth (q.v.) and maturity
(q.v.). More specific terms for infants and
children are: walid, "child" (pi. wildan, al-
though in c) 56:17, wildan probably means
"youths"); mawlud, "born, child," sabi, "in-
fant, boy," tifl, "infant" and saghir, "young."
Generally the terms in this latter group do
not distinguish between various stages or
developments in childhood, whereas the
transition from childhood to maturity
(balagha ashuddahu) or to puberty (balagha
al-hulum) is mentioned in a few places.
Qur'anic statements about children which
convey a normative-ethical significance
form the foundation for later Islamic le-
gislation and are mainly concerned with
infanticide, adoption, breast-feeding, and
fatherless children (see family; milk;
orphans).

Infanticide
Infanticide as a form of post-partum birth
control in pre-Islamic Arab society was
motivated either by want and destitution
and therefore practiced on males and fe-
males alike (o_ 6:151; 17:31), as in cases of
sacrificing children to gods (q_ 6:137, 140),
or by the disappointment and fear of social
disgrace felt by a father upon the birth of
a daughter (o_ 16:57-9; 81:8-9; see PRE-
ISLAMIC ARABIA AND THE QJJR'An; COMMU-
NITY AND society IN THE qur'an). Regard-
ing it as a practice typical of the pagan
social mores of the pre-Islamic period
(jahiliyya, see age of ignorance), the
Qur'an, already in Meccan suras, defines
infanticide as a grave sin (see sin, major
and minor). Consequently, it totally forbids
the practice, together with other grave sins
such as polytheism (see polytheism and
atheism) and homicide (see murder; cf.
Q_ 6:151; see also o_ 60:12 — the only

CHILDREN

:.!"-'

reference to women committing infanti-
cide). Infanticide is also implicitly de-
nounced in the story of Pharaoh (q.v.) and
the Children of Israel (q.v.; Q_ 2:49; 7:127,
141; 14:6; 28:4; 40:25). The case of an un-
believing young man, who is killed in
order to preserve his parents from the dis-
obedience (q.v.) to God which he is des-
tined to bring to their life, appears in a
legendary context (o_ 18:74, 80; see mythic
and legendary narratives) and is cer-
tainly not intended as an example to be
followed. See birth control.

Adoption
Adoption as a practice in which an
adopted son would take the name of his
adoptive parent was common in pre-
Islamic Arabia. It was cancelled and for-
bidden, however, in the early years of
Islam (o_ 33:4-5). Thus, Muhammad was
able to marry Zaynab bt. Jahsh after his
formerly adopted son Zayd had divorced
her, confirming the rule that forbids father
and son to marry the same woman
(q_ 33:37; see A. al-Azhary-Sonbol, Adop-
tion, esp. 45-52; see also family of the
prophet; wives of the prophet).

Breast-feeding
Two of the five (Medinan) verses which
mention breast-feeding (q 2:233; 65:6; see
biology as the creation and stages of
life) aim at protecting repudiated but still
lactating women (see lactation) and their
nurslings by guaranteeing them economic
support from the father for at least two
years and by sanctioning non-maternal
nursing when needed (see marriage and
divorce). A related verse, Q_ 4:23 forbids
sexual relations between males and their
milk-mothers as well as milk-sisters thereby
extending the realm of incest as defined by
Judaism and Christianity (see A. Giladi,
Infants, chap. 1; see also lawful and un-
lawful). See WET NURSING.

Fatherless children
Quranic sensitivity to society's weaker
members finds its full expression in nine-
teen verses forbidding the harsh and op-
pressive treatment of fatherless children
(yatama, sing. yatim) while urging kindness
and justice towards them. A passage from
the first Meccan period (q_ 93:6-8) cele-
brates God's providence towards the or-
phan Muhammad (q.v.). The fatherless
children mentioned in some of the Medi-
nan verses (e.g. Q_ 8:41) are those of Mu-
hammad's followers who had fallen in bat-
tle (see T O'Shaughnessy, Youth and old
age, 35-8). See orphans.

The many other qur'anic references
without any explicitly normative message
reflect concepts of childhood and attitudes
towards children that are, on the whole,
typical of patrilineal societies (see patri-
archy; inheritance): sons (and property)
are signs of divine benevolence (e.g.
Q_ 16:72; 17:6; 26:132-3; 71:12; see blessing)
but can also be a temptation for the believ-
ers (q_ 8:28) who, unlike pagans, are to rely
on God, not on earthly power (e.g. Q_ 3:10,
116; 9:24; 18:46; 19:77; see arrogance).
Unlike daughters, whose birth evokes dis-
appointment and protest against God's de-
cree (q_ 16:57-9; cf 42:49-50), sons are
much desired (cf. Q_ 7:189-90). Both parents
invest much in their children, from the mo-
ment of conception through pregnancy
and lactation to weaning and upbringing
(o_ 17:24; 31:14; 46:15) and hope to find
comfort in them (o_ 25:74). Mothers, partic-
ularly, love their children (o_ 20:40; 28:7-13),
with some indication of favoring sons.
Children are sexually innocent and there-
fore may be in the company of adults of
both sexes even when the latter are not
completely dressed (o_ 24:31, 58-9). See also
kinship; women and the qjjr'an.

Avner Giladi

3<>3

CHILDREN OF ISRAEL

Bibliography
A. al-Azhary-Sonbol, Adoption in Islamic
society. A historical survey, in E. Warnock
Fernea (ed.), Children in the Muslim Middle East,
Austin 1995, 45-67; A. Giladi, Infants, parents and
wet nurses. Islamic medieval views on breast-feeding
and their social implications, Leiden 1999, chap. 1;
id., Saghlr, in El 2 , viii, 821-7; id., Some
observations on infanticide in medieval
Muslim society, in IJMES 22 (1990), 185-200;
I. Lapidus, Adulthood in Islam. Religious
maturity in the Islamic tradition, in E. Erikson
(ed.), Adulthood, New York 1978, 97-112; R.
Levy, The social structure of Islam, Cambridge
1969, 135-49; H. Motzki, Das Kind und seine
Sozialisation in der islamischen Familie des
Mittelalters, in J. Martin and A. Nitschke
(eds.), Zjir Sozialgeschichte der Kindheit, Munich
1986, 391-441; T. O'Shaughnessy, The qur : anic
view of youth and old age, in zdmg 141 (1991),
33-5 1 -

Children of Israel

One of the qur'anic designations of Israel-
ites as well as Jews (yahud, see jews and
Judaism) and Christians (nasdrd, see chris-
tians and Christianity), in reference
mainly to past generations (q.v.). The ma-
jority of the passages mentioning the
Children of Israel (Band Israll) are dedi-
cated to the Israelites of the time of Moses
(q.v.), while references do exist to later
stages of their history, such as the story of
Saul (Talut; o_ 2:246-52; see saul), the de-
struction of the Temple (c) 17:2-8) and the
emergence of Jesus (q.v.) among them
(c) 61:6). Sometimes, the label "Children of
Israel" is interchangeable with the label
"People of the Book" {ahl al-kitdb, see
PEOPLE OF THE BOOK).

Biblical background
The qur'anic treatment of the Children of
Israel must be examined against the back-
ground of the biblical allusions to them.
The labels "Israel," "House of Israel" and
"Children of Israel" had already appeared
in the Hebrew Bible as synonymous names

for the Israelite nation, which is thus
named after its genealogical father, Jacob
(q.v), whose name was changed to Israel
(q.v; cf. Gen 32:29). In the New Testa-
ment, "Israel" is retained as a name for
the Jewish people (e.g. Acts 1:6; 2:22, 36;
3:12; 4:8).

In the Hebrew Bible, Israel is a holy com-
munity chosen by God to be his special
people and ranks above all other nations
that are upon the face of the earth (e.g.
Deut 7:6). The election of Israel signifies a
covenant (q.v.) between God and his cho-
sen people whose duty it is to keep his laws
(Ps 105:43-5), fight the idolaters (see
idolatry and idolaters) and avoid all
kinds of sins (Deut 7:5-6; 14:1-2, etc.). This
election signifies God's blessing (q.v.) of
them; God did not choose the children
of Israel because they deserved it, but
merely because of God's love for Israel
(Deut 7:7-8) and for the sake of His own
name (ha 48:9-11).

The historical evidence of the election of
Israel is provided in the exodus, i.e. Israel's
deliverance (q.v.) from slavery (see slaves
and slavery) in Egypt (q.v.) "by signs (q.v.)
and by wonders," which is followed by the
conquest of the Promised Land. This rep-
resents the fulfillment of God's ancient
promise to the fathers of Israel to bequeath
the land of Canaan to their posterity (e.g.
Exod 3:6-17; Deut \:^\ 7:8; Jet 11:4). Israel
can remain a chosen community only as
long as they obey God and keep his cove-
nant (Exod 19:5), but when they stray (see
astray) they are no longer regarded as
God's people. Thus when the Israelites
commit the sin of worshipping the golden
calf (see CALF OF gold), God disclaims
them, and refers to them as Moses' people
whom Moses, not God, has brought out of
Egypt (Exod 32:7). Due to their sin, the peo-
ple of Israel have become lo-'ammi: "not
my people" (Hos 1:9). See scripture and

THE OUr'aN.

CHILDREN OF ISRAEL

304

Qur'anic Israelites as a chosen community
This set of ideas, which appears mainly in
the Book of Deuteronomy, reappears almost
intact in the Qur'an. The qur'anic allu-
sions to the Children of Israel are focused
on the election of Israel on the one hand,
and on Israel's breaking of God's covenant
on the other. Taken together, they convey
the idea that Israel has betrayed God's love
and lost the status of God's chosen com-
munity, which implies that the believers
who follow the qur'anic Prophet replace
the Children of Israel as God's renewed
chosen community (see community and
society IN THE qur'an). Most allusions are
anchored in the story of the exodus, which
exemplifies the election of Israel as well as
their sin (see sin, major and minor).

The most explicit formulation of the idea
of Israel's election is provided in q 44:30-3
in which God announces that he has cho-
sen them (ikhtarnahum) above all beings.
This statement is coupled with the story of
Israel's deliverance from Pharaoh (q.v.), in-
cluding the signs (ayat) given to Israel dur-
ing their deliverance. The signs are men-
tioned in additional passages presenting
the Children of Israel as chosen by God,
for example in Q_ 45:16-7, in which God
gives them the book (i.e. the Torah [q.v.];
see also book) as well as judgment (q.v.)
and prophethood (see prophets ajstd
prophethood), provides them with good
things and "prefers" them (wa-faddalnahum)
above all beings. Then the clear signs (bay-
yindt) that were given to them are men-
tioned. According to other passages (e.g.
Q_ 5:32), the signs were brought to them by
their prophets.

The election of Israel forms the essence
of God's blessing (ni'ma) unto them. Thus
in Q 2:211, the "clear signs" given to Israel
by God are mentioned within a warning
(q.v.) against "changing" God's ni'ma.
God's ni'ma features as something which
the Children of Israel must remember; it

consists not only of their preference above
all beings (q_ 2:47, 122) but also of their
being given prophets and of their being
made into kings (p_ 5:20; see kings and
rulers).

God's ni'ma appears also in close associa-
tion with God's covenant {'ahd) which the
Children of Israel must keep. Keeping
the covenant means that they must believe
in the Torah and observe God's laws
(q, 2:40-3; see boundaries and precepts).
God's covenant with the Israelites is often
called mithdq (q, 2:63, 83-4, 93; 5:12, 70),
which also applies to the obligation of
keeping the sabbath (q.v.; o_ 4:154). It is also
a covenant with "those who have received
the book" (q_ 3:187).

The exodus from Egypt and the sins of Israel
Israel's deliverance from Pharaoh provides
the clearest manifestation of God's ni'ma
(q_ 14:6). This event, as well as the journey
of the Israelites to the holy land, is re-
counted in the Qur'an in several parallel
passages of varying length. A detailed ver-
sion is provided in Q_ 7 ("The Heights,"
Surat al-A'raf ) in verses 103-71. Here the
story begins with Moses and Aaron (q.v.)
and their encounters with Pharaoh, includ-
ing the signs, i.e. the miracles they perform
and the calamities they bring down upon
Pharaoh (o 7:103-33; see miracle). This is
followed by the departure of Israel from
Egypt (q.v.) and the drowning (q.v.) of the
troops of Pharaoh in the sea (q_ 7:134-6).
Then comes a short reference to Israelite
settlement in the Promised Land (q_ 7:137).
This version of Pharaoh's story is one of a
series of well-known qur'anic punishment
stories (q.v.) that deal with nations which
have been destroyed because of their dis-
obedience (q.v.). Sometimes Pharaoh's
punishment story appears independently of
the story of the Israelites (o_ 26:10-68;
27:7-14; 28:3-47; 43:46-56; 51:38-40;
79:15-29). In Q_ 7 the story about Pharaoh's

3°5

CHILDREN OF ISRAEL

punishment is followed by an account of
the events that take place after the Chil-
dren of Israel cross the sea. The plot now
focuses on their sins, mainly on their fash-
ioning the calf of gold which results in the
breaking of the Tablets (q_ 7:138-51). Other
sins mentioned in this sura are the refusal
to say hitta (a word, or profession, of re-
pentance), for which they are destroyed in
a disaster (rijz) sent from heaven (q_ 7:161-2;
see also o_ 2:58-9) and the violation of the
sabbath (q.v.), for which they are turned
into apes (o, 2:65; cf. 7:163-7). Elsewhere
(q_ 5:20-6) the Qur'an recounts the sin of
the Israelites when refusing to wage war on
the mighty inhabitants of the Promised
Land. As punishment they must wander in
the wilderness for 40 years (till they perish).
This is based on the biblical affair of the
spies (JVum 13).

The Qur'an is also aware of other Israel-
ite sins, which are outside the scope of the
exodus, for example, persecuting and kill-
ing their prophets (o_ 2:61, 87, 91; 3:21, 112,
181; 4:155; 5:70). The Qur'an also con-
demns the Children of Israel for inner
conflicts (ikhtildf) which divided them after
they had been chosen by God (q_ 45:16-7;
see also Q_ io:g3). Elsewhere this divisive -
ness is attributed to the People of the Book

(a 3 :i 9)-

A major sin committed by the Children
of Israel, one which signifies violation of
God's covenant, is the distortion (tahnf) of
the word of God, i.e. the Torah (o 5:13;
see corruption). The same is said of the
Jews as well (q_ 4:46; 5:41). The Qur'an also
mentions those of the People of the Book
who conceal parts of the Book (q_ 6:91;
see also Q_ 2:159, 174; 3:187, etc.). The Qur-
'an not only recounts the sins of the
Children of Israel but states that some of
their own prophets, namely David (q.v.)
and Jesus have already cursed them for
their deeds (q_ 5:78).

The polemical purpose
The Qur'an employs the theme of the
Children of Israel for polemical reasons
arising from tensions between Muslim be-
lievers and their contemporary Jews and
Christians. The Qur'an strives to prove
that Islam provides the framework for
God's newly chosen community and that
the Children of Israel, i.e. the Jews and
the Christians, are no longer a chosen
community (see election). This is stated
explicitly in q 5:18, in which the Jews and
the Christians are said to claim that they
are "the sons of God and his beloved
ones." To this the Qur'an responds by
asserting that they are no more than
mortals (bashar) whom God punishes for
having sinned (see chastisement and
punishment).

The elevation of the Muslims to the sta-
tus of a chosen community destined to re-
place the Israelites is indicated in passages
which shift to the believers various aspects
of their share in God's blessing. Thus
God's ni'ma emerges as something equiva-
lent to the religion given to the believers
(o 5:3) and is coupled with the divine cove-
nant that is being made with them (q_ 5:7).
In this capacity, God's ni'ma consists in giv-
ing the believers the book and the wisdom
(q.v.; Q_ 2:231), in bringing their hearts to-
gether (q_ 3:103; see heart), in protecting
them against the schemes of their enemies
(q 5:11; see protection) and in assisting
them in battle (q_ 33:9). See opposition to
muhammad; polemic and polemical
lanouaoe; expeditions and battles.

teous Israelites
On the other hand, the Qur'an is also
aware of a righteous Israelite group, con-
sisting mainly of a minority who have re-
mained faithful to the prophets. In Q_ 7:159
a group (umma) of the righteous living
among the "people of Moses" (aawm Musd)
is mentioned; they "guide by the truth and

CHILDREN OF ISRAEL

306

by it act with justice." Some early com-
mentators on the Quran (Muqatil, Tafsir,
ii, 553-4) identify them with the lost tribes
of the Israelites who dwell beyond a river
of running sand called Ardaf which
"freezes" every Sabbath (i.e. the midrashic
Sambatyon). More prevalent, however, are
interpretations identifying them with con-
temporary Jews who have embraced Islam.
Similarly, a righteous group of leaders
(a'imma, sing, imam [q.v.]) among the Chil-
dren of Israel are mentioned in Q_ 32:24 (cf
Q_ 28:5). Mention is also made of a right-
eous group (umma) among the People of
the Book (q_ 5:65-6; 3:113-4; cf. p_ 3:199).
See obedience; belief and unbelief;

GRATITUDE AND INGRATITUDE; JUSTICE AND
INJUSTICE.

Qur'anic Israelites and Muslims
Muslim historiographers used qur'anic
passages about the Children of Israel as an
instrument to illuminate the relations be-
tween the prophet Muhammad and the
Jews of Medina (q.v.; see nadIr; oaynuoa';
q_urayza). In the work of one of Muham-
mad's earliest biographers, Ibn Ishaq
(d. 150/768), there is an early instance of
regarding these passages as an attack on
the Jews of Muhammad's own times. He
incorporated many of the verses recount-
ing the sins of Israel — mainly from Q_ 2
("The Cow," Surat al-Baqara) — in his de-
scription of conditions in Medina shortly
after Muhammad's emigration (q.v.; hijra)
from Mecca (Ibn Ishaq, Sua, ii, I77f). Most
characteristic is his interpretation of Q_ 2:40
in which the Children of Israel are com-
manded by God to remain faithful to his
covenant. For Ibn Ishaq this verse is specif-
ically addressed to the leaders of the Jews
of Medina, requesting them to keep faith-
ful to God's covenant, i.e. to believe in Ah-
mad (cf. Q_ 61:6) when he comes to them
(Ibn Ishaq, Sira, ii, 181).
However, qur'anic models of Israelite sin,

and particularly the making of the calf of
gold, were also adduced to denounce ob-
jectionable phenomena within Islamic
society itself, situations which were re-
garded as signaling the assimilation of
Muslims to other communities. The sin of
the making of the calf is mentioned, for
example, in a story about Muhammad in
which he predicts that the Muslims will fol-
low the evil ways {sunan, see sunna) of the
Israelites. He declares this after being
asked by the Muslims to establish for them
a place of worship on the model of a near-
by pagan sanctuary (see idols and images).
The Prophet refuses and says that the Mus-
lims have asked for the same thing that the
people of Moses had previously requested,
i.e. the calf (Ibn Ishaq, Sira, iv, 84-5). Qur-
'anic models of Israelite punishment, espe-
cially transformation into apes and pigs
(q_ 2:65; 5:60; 7:166) were also employed
as a warning against various phenom-
ena of assimilation into Jewish and Chris-
tian beliefs and practices for which some
heretical trends in Islam were held par-
ticularly responsible. Several traditions
predict that heretics (such as Qadarls, etc.)
will suffer punitive transformation into
apes or pigs. See religious pluralism and
the qjur'an.

Qur'anic Israelites and the ShT'a
The qur'anic Israelites play a key part in
Shf 1 tradition where their history foreshad-
ows the history of the Shf Is. The massacre
of al-Husayn and his following at Karbala'
by the hand of the Umayyads (61/680) is
equated in Shf I tradition to the evil ways
of the qur'anic Israelites who killed their
prophets (Furat, Tafsir, i, 136, no. 162). The
Shf is also applied to the Umayyads the
qur'anic model of Pharaoh who slew the
sons of the Israelites (cf. o_ 40:25), an inter-
pretation which meant that the persecuted
Shf is were equal to the persecuted Israel-
ites of Pharaoh's time (e.g. T aDar i> Ta'rikh,

3<>7

CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIANITY

ii, 711; Ibn A'tham, Futuh, vi, 281).

More frequently, however, the Shf a (q.v.)
identify with the Children of Israel in their
role as a chosen community. Shf T qur'anic
exegetes explain that the chosen Israelites
mentioned in the Qur'an (e.g. in Q_ 2:47)
stand for the Shf is. This is based on the
notion that Isra'Tl (see Israel) is one of
Muhammad's own names (Ayyashl, Tafsir,
i, 62-3) which, in turn, implies that the
"Children of Israel" are Muhammad's
descendants, i.e. the imams. Twelver Shf Is
found the most suitable Israelite model for
their imams in the qur'anic reference to the
twelve "chieftains" (nuqaba, sing, naqib)
whom, according to o_ 5:12, Moses ap-
pointed to lead the Israelites. The twelve
imams were held to be analogous to them
(Ibn Shahrashub, Manaqib, i, 258). See

Christianity see christians .

imam; SHI ism and the our an.

Uri Rubin

Bibliography
Primary: 'Ayyashl, al-Tafsir; Ibn A c tham al-Kufi,
Kitab al-Futuh, ed. A. Shlra, 8 vols,, Beirut 1991;
Ibn Furat al-Kufi, Tafsir Ibn Furat al-Kufi, ed. M.
al-Kazim, 2 vols,, Beirut 1992; Ibn Hisham, al-
Sira al-nabawiyya, ed. M. al-Saqqa, I. al-Abyarl
and ( A.H. Shalabl, 4 vols., repr. Beirut 1 9 7 1 ; Ibn
Shahrashub, Abu JaTar Muhammad b.
Abdallah, Manaqib al AbT Tdlib, 3 vols., Najaf
1956; Muqatil, Tafsir.

Secondary: M.M. Bar-Asher, Onjudaism and
the Jews in early Shfl religious literature (in
Hebrew), in Pe'amim 61 (1994), 16-36; A. Geiger,
Was hat Mohammed ails dem Judentum aujgenommen?
repr. Leipzig 1902, trans. EM. Young, Judaism and
Islam, New York 1970; M.J. Kister, Haddithu 'an
Bam Isra'Fla wa-ld liaraja, in 10s 2 (1972), 215-39,
repr. in id., Studies in jahiliyya and early Islam,
London 1980; McAuliffe, Quranic; U. Rubin,
Apes, pigs, and the Islamic identity, in IOS 17
(1997), 89-105; id., Between Bible and Quran. The
Children of Israel and the Islamic self-image,
Princeton 1999; W. Rudolph, Die Abhangigkeit des
Qorans von Judentum und Christentum, Stuttgart
1922; H. Speyer, Die biblischen Erzdhlungen im
Qoran, repr. Hildesheim 1961.

Christ (masih)

see jesus

CHRISTIANITY

Christians and Christianity

Evidence for the presence of Christians
and currency of Christianity in the
Arabian milieu in which Islam was born
comes from the Qur'an itself as well as
from reports included in other documents
of a similar date and provenance. From
these texts it is clear that by the beginning
of the first Islamic century, toward the end
of the first quarter of the seventh century
according to the common reckoning, the
number of Christians in the territories fre-
quented by the Arab tribes in the Middle
East was on the increase (see tribes and
clans). Evidence of the Christian presence
on the periphery of Arabia proper, in
Syria/Palestine, in the Syrian desert, in
southern Iraq, south Arabia and the
coastal areas of the Red Sea as well as in
Ethiopia (q.v.) is abundant and widely dis-
cussed in modern histories of Christianity
in the Near East. Increasingly, there is fur-
ther evidence of an important Christian
presence in the first Islamic century within
Arabia, in the territories of the central
tribal confederations such as the Kinda, in
the area of Najran (q.v.), and even in the
Etijaz, in Mecca (q.v.) and its surroundings,
but the textual references are fragmentary,
sometimes obviously legendary and often
difficult to interpret. So far the published
archaeological record is meager (see
archaeology and the qjjr'an).

The province of Bostra/ Busra
Already in New Testament times a Chris-
tian presence existed in Arab territory.
St. Paul reports that after his conversion,
needing time away from Damascus to
think about his experiences there, "I went
off to Arabia" (Gal 1:17). While Paul's

CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIANITY

3 08

precise destination is unknown, it was in all
probability in the territories controlled by
the Nabateans, which in the year 106 c.E.
were to be incorporated into the Roman
Empire as the Province of Arabia. The
capital of the former Nabatean kingdom,
Bostra/Bfisra in due course became the
seat of a metropolitan bishop and by the
first third of the third century, under
bishop Beryllus (d. after 244 c.E.) the city
was the scene of a theological controversy
that drew into its affairs the intervention of
no less an ecclesiastical figure than Origen
of Alexandria (ca. 185-ca. 251 c.E.) who
visited the locale at least three times over
the course of almost thirty years for pur-
poses of theological consultation. By the
year 325 c.E. the Christian communities
had grown so numerous in the region that
there were five representatives of the
province of Arabia at the council of Nicea.
The churches in this Arab milieu had
strong ties with the Syriac-speaking, Ara-
maean churches in Mesopotamia, espe-
cially Edessa and its environs. In Mesopo-
tamia from the fourth century onward
there was even a bishop for the nomad
Arabs, whose see in later times was 'Aqula,
the site of Kufa in the early Islamic period.
Arab tribes associated with these areas,
many of whom were at one time or an-
other in alliance with the Byzantines (q.v.)
or Sasanians, include Tanukh, Salih,
Judham, Kalb, Ghassan, Lakhm, and al-
Tayy. Syriac-speakers often used the name
of the last-mentioned tribe to designate all
Arabs and later the Muslims, viz., Tayyaye.

Ghassanids and Lakhmids
It is reasonable to suppose that Christianity
found its way into the Arab tribes on the
periphery of desert Arabia through the
ministrations of Greek and Aramaic-
speaking monks in Sinai, Syria/Palestine,
Mesopotamia and Iraq as well as through
the attraction of pilgrimage centers (see

pilgrimage; holy places) such as Jerusa-
lem (q.v.) in the Holy Land, Qal'at Sim'an
and Rusafa/Sergiopolis in Syria. What is
more, the Byzantine practice of forging
military alliances with Christianized Arab
tribes on the Arabian frontier of the em-
pire to counterbalance the comparable ar-
rangement made by the Persians to the
east, also encouraged the further spread of
Christianity among the Arabs of the inte-
rior. In this connection the mention of the
Ghassanid and Lakhmid confederations
and their special relationships with the Ro-
mans and the Persians respectively high-
lights the situation in the fifth and sixth
centuries c.E.

The Ghassanids became the principal
group of Arab tribes who were the foederati
of Byzantium on the Arabian frontier in
the sixth century. The names of their lead-
ers, Harith (Arethas), Mundhir and
Nu'man in particular, figure prominently
in the accounts of the troubled relations
between the Byzantines (q.v.) and the Per-
sians in this period, in the annals of Byzan-
tine political life more broadly as well as in
the record of the current ecclesiastical con-
troversies. As for the territories under the
control of the Ghassanids, recent archaeo-
logical excavations in Transjordan have re-
vealed the remains of extensive church and
monastery building at this time along the
whole extent of Rome's Arabian frontier
(see church). Many of these installations
include strikingly beautiful mosaic floors,
some with Greek inscriptions, testifying to
a certain level of material prosperity as
well as cultural sophistication.

An important Christian center of influ-
ence among the Arab tribes in the territo-
ries under Persian influence in pre-Islamic
times was the Lakhmid enclave of Hlra, on
the lower Euphrates. Here, as was also the
case further to the north in Syrian Meso-
potamia, the dominant ecclesiastical lan-
guage was Syriac but the predominant

309

CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIANITY

confessional allegiance was that of the so-
called "Nestorians" or the "Assyrian
Church of the East" whose principal
hierarch occupied the see of Seleucia-
Gtesiphon. The king of Hira, Nu'man b.
Mundhir (583-ca. 602 C.E.), converted to
this Christian allegiance toward the end of
the sixth century but even prior to this de-
velopment, the church had nourished in
the area and its influence was felt in the
associated Arab tribes. Archaeological in-
vestigations on the coast of southern Ara-
bia (see south Arabia), especially along the
Persian Gulf, have uncovered a number of
sites with extensive church remains typical
of the Nestorians, particularly in the terri-
tory of modern Kuwait.

The movement of monks (see monas-
ticism and monks), traders and caravans
(see caravan) from all these areas into
central Arabia was unhindered as was the
seasonal transhumance of the pastoral
nomads (q.v.) from the heart of the desert
to the pastures on the periphery at pilgrim-
age time in the spring of the year and at
other times as well (see calendar). These
were the traditional routes of Christianity's
spread eastward and southward from the
beginning. By the time of Muhammad's
birth, in the late sixth century C.E., there is
every reason to think that Christianity
would have been well known, if not widely
practiced, in the very heart of Arabia.

Arabia Deserta
From the fragmentary sources it is clear
that already in the fifth century, the Arab
tribal confederation of Kinda, whose lead-
ers were originally from South Arabia
(q.v.), had gained a strong political pres-
ence in the center and the northern
reaches of the peninsula and had numer-
ous contacts with both the Romans and the
Persians on the borders of Arabia as well
as with their Arab allies, the Ghassanids
and the Lakhmids. Christianity, if not al-

ready present among them, probably came
to the Kinda with the enlistment of the
tribal leader, Harith b. Amr, as a Byzan-
tine phylarch in the early sixth century.

Knowledge of the Christians of Najran,
who flourished in the sixth century as an
enclave of the "Jacobite" church in the
Arabic-speaking milieu of southwestern
Arabia, is mostly preserved in the Syriac
letters of Simeon of Beth Arsham (fl. ca.
525 c.E.) and in the enigmatic Book of the
Himyarites. The texts tell of the martyrdom
of some 300 Christians around the year
520 c.E. at the hands of Yiisuf As'ar Yath'ar,
the allegedly Jewish king of the Himya-
rites. Their shrine in Najran became a
pilgrimage center. In later times, Islamic
tradition passed on the account of a dele-
gation of Christians from Najran who are
said to have visited Muhammad (q.v.) at
Medina (q.v.) and to have engaged in a de-
bate with him about the true identity of the
Messiah, Jesus (q.v.), "son of Mary (q.v.)."
It ended, according to the Islamic exegeti-
cal tradition of a passage in the Quran,
when the Christian delegation withdrew at
the threat of an ordeal to determine who
was telling the truth aboutjesus (o 3:61-2),
the Muslims or the Christians (see W.
Schmucker, Mubahala; see curse).

One finds in later Islamic traditions re-
marks which suggest that there was a cem-
etery in Mecca for Christians during Mu-
hammad's lifetime and a Christian group
is mentioned who engaged in the water
trade there (see water). But the most dra-
matic record of a Christian presence in
Mecca is the claim voiced by al-Azraqi
(d. 222/837), the early historian of the
Muslim holy places, that among other
images in the Ka'ba (q.v.) there was an icon
of Mary and her son Jesus and that at the
"cleansing of the Ka'ba" of its idols the
Prophet himself forbade its effacement.
While legendary reports such as this one,
coming as they do from much later times in

CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIANITY

310

Islamic history and normally rejected by
Islamic tradition criticism, cannot be cited
as convincing historical evidence, they do
nevertheless testify to the sense among at
least some early Muslim scholars of a more
than casual Christian presence in the world
of the Qur'an at the very time of the birth
of Islam. In the Islamic scripture itself a
Christian presence among the Arabs who
were its primary audience is openly men-
tioned and evidently taken for granted.
The text refers to Christians, their beliefs
and practices, both directly and indirectly.

Direct references to Christians in the Qur'an
In most passages of the Qur'an that di-
rectly concern Christians, they are in-
cluded, along with Jews and others, under
the general heading of "People of the
Book" or "Scripture People" (ahl al-kitdb,
see people of THE book). This phrase oc-
curs some 54 times in the Qur'an, mostly
in passages that reflect events in the last ten
years of Muhammad's prophetic career,
when he governed the Muslim community
in Medina. Christians and Jews together
were among those who found some obsta-
cles to the acceptance of the teachings of
the new revelations (see REVELATION and
inspiration; opposition to muhammad).
The Qur'an in turn observed faults and
short-comings in both Jewish and Christian
doctrines and practices. A major claim is
that Jews and Christians both had fallen
away from the faith of Abraham (q.v.),
whom all the scriptures recognize as
"God's friend" (Isa 41:8; James 2:23;
Q_ 4:125). Whereas, according to the
Qur'an, "Abraham was neither a Jew nor a
'Nazarene,' but he was "hanijan, musliman"
(see hanif) and he was not one of the poly-
theists" (o 3:67). The implied claim in this
passage, that Abraham was a proto-
Muslim, is reminiscent of the comparable
early Christian claim, recorded in the
Ecclesiastical history of Eusebius of Cae-

sarea (ca. 260-ca. 340 c.E.) that Abraham
could rightfully be considered a Christian
"in fact if not in name" (i, 4).

Once in the Qur'an Christians are called
"Gospel People" (ahl al-injil, q_ 5:47; see
injil) and they are admonished to "judge
by what God sent down in it." However,
the Gospel (q.v.) is not what the Christians
think it is. Rather, the Torah (q.v.), the
Gospel and the Qur'an are said to be on a
par in terms of God's promise and cove-
nant (q.v.; Q_ 9:11 1). In the form in which
Jews and Christians have them, their scrip-
tures are considered to be in some sense
distorted (q_ 2:75; see corruption). Jesus is
presented as being but God's messenger
(q.v.), like Abraham and Moses (q.v.) before
him (q 42:13) and like Muhammad after
him (p_ 3:144).

Some 14 times in the Qur'an Christians
are named al-nasdrd (sing, al-nasrdni) . Inter-
preters of the text in western languages,
both Muslims and non-Muslims, have cus-
tomarily translated this term by substitut-
ing the noun "Christians" for it. Strictly
speaking, this is not a correct rendering
and the usage in fact obscures what the
text actually says. The Arabic noun Masi-
hiyyun, which does properly mean "Chris-
tians," is never used in the Qur'an.

The prevailing scholarly opinion is
that the Arabic term al-,Nasdrd is derived
from the name of Jesus' home town of
Nazareth in Galilee and that it literally
means "Nazarenes," alternately "Nazo-
reans," that is to say, "people from Naza-
reth," echoing the Greek nazoraioi and the
Syriac nasrdye. The Syriac name preserves
the original Aramaic form, from which the
Greek name was transcribed. This epithet
is applied in the singular to Jesus himself in
the Gospel (Matt 2:2% John 19:19) and in
the plural in the Acts of the Apostles (24:5)
to the associates of Paul who is himself de-
scribed before the Roman governor Felix,
by Tertullus, an attorney for the Jewish

CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIANITY

elders, as "a ringleader of the sect of Na-
zoreans." In later times the same Greek
noun was used in the plural by Epiphanius
of Salamis (ca. 315-403 c.E.) and other
heresiographers of the established Church
of the Roman empire, to designate a
"Christian" community deemed heretical
because of their Christological views. But
in Greek the term was never used to desig-
nate "Christians" in general. However, the
case was otherwise in Aramaic usage
where the cognate noun in Syriac, nasraye,
was widely used in the early period to des-
ignate "Christians" in general, particularly
in works by east Syrian writers living in the
Persian empire.

Some early commentators on the Qur-
an, both Muslim and Arab Christian,
seeking a properly Islamic sense for the
term al-nasara have posited a linguistic con-
nection in Arabic on the basis of the
shared root consonants n-s-r between the
noun al-nasara and the expression ansdr
Allah, "God's helpers," as it is used in the
Quran to refer to Jesus' apostles (al-hawa-
riyyun) in Q_ 61:14 (see apostle). On this
hypothesis, which is rejected by grammari-
ans on philological grounds, the noun al-
nasara as it is used in the Qur'an would then
be thought to indicate people in the Arab-
ian milieu who were considered as in some
way being "God's helpers" in the manner
of Jesus' apostles, that is to say, those cus-
tomarily called "Christians" elsewhere.

For the sake of completeness, one should
note that some commentators have sought
a connection between the nosrim of Jewish
rabbinical literature and the nasard of the
Qur'an; both terms may be considered to
have a similar etymology and to have been
used to designate "Christians." And while
there were certainly Jews in the environs of
Mecca and Medina (see jews and Judaism),
it nevertheless seems most likely that the
Arabic term nasard as it is used in the
Qur'an is a caique of the Syriac word

nasraye, meaning "Nazarenes" or "Nazo-
reans." It preserves an archaic usage cur-
rent, though not dominant, in east Syrian
circles, according to which "Christians" in
general are called "Nazarenes," "Nazo-
reans," mostly by non-Christians. There
are numerous other instances in the Qur-
'an in which the Arabic religious vocab-
ulary is used in accordance with the sense
of the cognate words in Syriac. This is not
surprising in contexts evoking Christian
belief or practice since it is clear that the
Christianity known in tribal Arabia during
the time of the Qur'an's appearance had
its most immediate background in the
Syriac-speaking communities of the des-
ert's landward fringes.

The Qur'an's posture towards Chris-
tians in the Arabian milieu is somewhat
guarded. On the one hand, there are posi-
tive comments in the text about them but
there are also sharp criticisms. In general,
the Qur'an says, the Christians (i.e. the
"Nazarenes") will give Muslims a friendlier
reception than will the Jews or the polythe-
ists. And the text gives as the reason for this
friendly attitude the fact that among the
Christians "there are presbyters and monks,
and the fact that they do not behave arro-
gantly" (q 5:82). But in other passages
there are strictures against monks. People
in the past are said to have wrongly taken
them as masters instead of God, and the
monks themselves, the passage says, were
among those who "would consume peo-
ple's wealth (q.v.) for nought and turn them
aside from God's way" (o 9:31, 34). So it is
not surprising in yet another passage to
read that from the Qur'an's viewpoint, the
development of monasticism in the Chris-
tian community followed a path of unwar-
ranted innovation (q.v.). The text says,
"Monasticism they invented; we prescribed
for them only to seek God's favor, but they
did not keep its right observance" (q_ 57:27).

Given this ambivalence about such a

CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIANITY

:! IL>

typical ecclesiastical institution as monas-
ticism, it is hardly surprising to read at
another place in the Qur'an about the
Christian community at large that al-
though they may give Muslims a friendlier
reception than do most people of other re-
ligions, Muslims nevertheless should not,
the text insists, take either Jews or "Naza-
renes" as their friends (o 5:51). For, as the
scripture also says, "Neither the Jews nor
the 'Nazarenes' will be pleased with you
until you follow their religion" (o_ 2:120).
While listing the Christians (i.e. the "Naza-
renes") among those who generally believe
in God and the last day (see last judg-
ment) and who do the works of righteous-
ness (q_ 2:62), the Qur'an nonetheless also
exhorts Muslims to fight against such "Peo-
ple of the Book" who do not uphold these
truths until they pay the tribute (al-jizya,
see taxation) and are humble (cf. q 9:29).
The Qur'an charges that the "People of
the Book" exaggerate in their religion
(o_ 4:171; 5:77)- The text in these passages
clearly rejects the conventional Christian
doctrines of the Trinity (q.v.) and the In-
carnation (o_ 4:171; 5:17, 72, 73, 116, 117),
teaching to the contrary that Jesus, Mary's
son, is but a man like Adam (see ADAM and
eve) before him (o_ 3:59) and that he is
God's messenger (o_ 5:75). The text also re-
jects the conventional Christian view of
the crucifixion of Jesus in terms (shubbiha
lahum, p_ 4:157) that are reminiscent of cer-
tain issues in the Christological controver-
sies in the churches of the time such as
those of the so-called Aphthartodocetists and
the followers of Julian of Halikarnassos (d.
after 518 c.E.). They bedeviled the "Jaco-
bite" followers of the teachings of Severus
of Antioch (ca. 465-538 c.E.), who were
prominent among the Christians of west
Syrian theological heritage in the Arabian
milieu of Muhammad's day. On the face of
it, the passage is addressed to Jews, as a
reprimand for infidelity, for slander against

Mary, the mother of Jesus, and for the
claim that they killed Jesus by crucifixion.
These are charges against Jews that are re-
flected in Syriac Christian texts as well.

Two things are very clear in the Qur'an 's
assessment of conventional Christian
teaching: the view that the doctrines of the
Trinity and the Incarnation are wrong; and
that in propounding them Christians go to
an excess or they go beyond the bounds of
scriptural truth in their religious confes-
sion. From the Qur'an 's perspective the ex-
aggeration consists in saying more about
God and about Jesus than the Torah and
the Gospel warrant one to say. And the
Qur'an goes on to suggest that the exag-
geration comes more proximately from the
tendency on the part of Christian teachers
"to follow the whims of a people who had
earlier gone into error (q.v.), and had led
many into error, and who had gone off the
right path into error" (o_ 5:77). The earlier
people in question are the polytheists. Like
the polytheists who also thought the one
God had offspring, the Christians, accord-
ing to the Qur'an, have exposed themselves
to the charge of infidelity and are liable to
be branded as infidels. The text says,
"They have become infidels who say that
God is one of three" (o_ 5:73).

The "one of three" with whom this verse
(°~5'73) claims the Christians wrongfully
identify God is, as the text itself goes on to
make clear, Jesus the Messiah (0,5:75). In
fact, the otherwise enigmatic epithet "one
of three" sometimes translated "third of
three" (thalith al-thalatha) finds its best ex-
planation in the recognition that it reflects
an epithet applied to Christ in Syriac
Christian usage, the tradition most imme-
diately available to Arab Christians. The
epithet in Syriac is thlithaya, no easier to
translate into a western language than the
Qur'an's reflection of it in Arabic. It
means "third," "threefold," "treble" or
"trine" and is sometimes used in the plural

3 1 :.!

CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIANITY

to refer to the three "persons" or "hyposta-
ses" of the Trinity. As an epithet of Christ
it evoked for the liturgical poets in Syriac
primarily the recollection of their belief in
Christ's three-day stay in the tomb, after
his passion and death on the cross, before
his resurrection. That Jesus is "one of
three" along with God and a Spirit from
him, all three of whom are one God, is the
Christian tenet the Qur'an criticizes most
explicitly in o_ 4:171. In the Qur'an's view
the Christian doctrine of the Trinity thus
involves an association of creatures with
God the creator, an infidelity that partici-
pates in the pagan infidelity of polytheism
(see polytheism AND atheism). The basic
problem with Christian teaching, accord-
ing to the Quran, is that "the 'Nazarenes'
say that Christ is the Son of God. . . imitat-
ing the parlance of those who disbelieved
before" (q_ 9:30). It is for this reason that in
another place the Qur'an puts an emphasis
on Jesus' full humanity by saying, "With
God Jesus is as Adam; he created him from
dust, then said to him 'Be,' and he was"
fe 3:59; see creation).

The Qur'an often calls Jesus "Mary's
son" as if to insist that he is in no strict
sense God's son as the Christians say. The
Qur'an fully accepts Jesus' virgin birth from
Mary, who became pregnant with him at
the message of an angel (q.v; q 3:45-9;
19:1-22). But to say thatjesus the Messiah
is God's son is to say that he is God or an
associate of God in divinity, so the Qur'an
explicitly teaches, "They disbelieved who
said God is the Messiah, Mary's son. Say,
who could prevail with God in anything if
he wanted to destroy the Messiah, Mary's
son, and his mother" (q_ 5:17). Further-
more, in a passage that pointedly criticizes
the typical Christian veneration of Jesus
and his mother Mary in both liturgy and
icon (see IDOLS AND images), the Qur'an en-
visions what God will ask Jesus at the end
of time. He will say, "Jesus, son of Mary,

did you say to mankind, 'Take me and my
mother as two gods besides God?'"
(°5 :iI 6)-

Melkites, Jacobites and JVestorians
In its direct references to Christian beliefs
and practices as well as in its judgments of
them, the Qur'an is reflecting its interac-
tion with those main-line Christian com-
munities whose Arabophone members
owed their ecclesiastical formation to the
monks and preachers whose languages
were principally Syriac together with some
Greek and Coptic. They were the "Mel-
kites," "Jacobites" and "Nestorians" long
familiar from the Christian history of the
area; the progress of their teaching and
preaching among the Arabs from the fifth
century c.E. onward is demonstrable from
a number of sources. The Qur'an assumes
that members of its audience are already
familiar with the Bible stories and with
many customary Christian interpretations
of them. Too often in the past, Western
scholars in particular have wrongly inter-
preted the rhetorical devices (see rheto-
ric of THE qtjr'an) of the Qur'an's criti-
cism or rejection of conventional Christian
doctrines as flawed reports of misunder-
stood teachings or as echoes of the doc-
trines of shadowy groups such as the
"Nazarenes/Nazoreans" or the "Colly-
ridians" of the Byzantine heresiographers
or of "Jewish Christian" groups often men-
tioned by modern scholars, no historical
trace of whom is otherwise to be found in
the Arabian milieu in the time of Muham-
mad and the Qur'an. Such interpretations
have themselves often been the product of
a polemical or of an apologetic agenda in
regard to the Qur'an rather than the yield
of a credible historical examination of the
milieu in which the text appeared, and to
which it spoke in the first instance. In light
of the plentiful evidence of the presence of
Christians in the world of earliest Islam,

CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIANITY

3 J 4

their several conventional denominations
of that time and place, the most plausible
interpretive stratagem is to relate the Qur-
an's statements about the "Nazarenes"
and the "People of the Book," their beliefs
and practices, to these known Christian
groups with reference to the largely Syriac
idiom in which modern scholars can find
written expressions of their faith and
works. On this reading of the evidence, the
"Nazarenes" of whom the Qur'an speaks
were no other group than the "Melkites,"
"Jacobites" and "Nestorians" of ordinary
church history, notwithstanding the fact
that in earlier times there were some who
were called "Nazarenes/Nazoreans" by the
Byzantine heresiographers, whom they de-
scribed as espousing views which, in hind-
sight, some modern scholars would regard
as being compatible with views of Christ
expressed in the Qur'an. Rather, the term
"Nazarenes" as it is used in the Qur'an is
taken to be a general one reflecting an
archaic Syriac usage and indicating those
"People of the Book" whom others cus-
tomarily called "Christians." The Qur'an
would have had its own reasons for not
using the more customary nomenclature
and it is not inconceivable that these were
polemical reasons comparable to the use
of the cognate term nosrim by Jews as
attested in some rabbinical texts and in
accordance with the practice of non-
Christians, as reported in Syriac texts, of
calling Christians in Persia "Nazarenes/
Nazoreans."

Indirect reference to Christians in the Qur'an
Indirectly, the Qur'an attests to the pres-
ence of Christianity and to Christians
themselves in a number of passages that
mention in passing such typical institutions
and personages as monasteries and
churches (q 22:40), monks and monasti-
cism (p_ 57:27), people who argue with
Muslims about religion (e.g. o_ 3:61) or even

to the troubles of the neighboring Byzan-
tines (q_ 30:2). Yet by far the most signifi-
cant indirect evidence for the presence of
Christians in the world of the Qur'an is the
sustained dialogue in the text about the
proper understanding of the numerous
biblical characters and events mentioned
there as well as allusions to and comments
on narratives that were widespread in the
Christian communities of the day espe-
cially in the Syriac-speaking milieu such as
the story of the "Companions of the
Cave" (p_ 18:9-26; see cave; men of the
cave) or the memory of episodes in the
apocryphal Gospels (o_ 5:110). Biblical and
literary echoes such as these evoke the
realm of intertextuality in virtue of which
the Qur'an presumes in its audience a ba-
sic familiarity with narratives which are
also to be found in the Bible and the lore of
the churches. This textually-necessary pre-
sumption of familiarity with ecclesiastical
lore is itself a testimony to the significant
presence of Christians in the milieu of the
Qur'an and it demonstrates that from its
origins, Islam has been in dialogue with
Christianity as it has been with Judaism.

Slra and hadlth
Other Islamic texts from the early period
similarly document the ample presence of
Christianity and Christians in the milieu of
the Qur'an. These include in particular the
collections of pre-Islamic, Arabic poetry
put together in the days of the early ca-
liphs, which sometimes refer to Christians
and their activities. In some instances the
poets themselves were Christians but their
poems did not on this account exhibit no-
tably Christian themes. What is more to
the point, Christians figure somewhat pro-
minently in the numerous traditions assem-
bled in the literature of the biography of
the Prophet Muhammad. Here the Chris-
tians portrayed as intimately involved with
the Prophet range from monks like Bahr,

3 J 5

CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIANITY

to the monotheist (hamf) Waraqa b. Nawfal
and the early Companion of the Prophet,
Salman the Persian. In the hadith collec-
tions that came to govern religious practice
in the Islamic community in later times
there are also numerous evocations of
Christianity. These and many other testi-
monies in Islam's foundational documents
are, at the very least, literary intimations
of the presence of Christianity, as the con-
fessional "other" in the matrix of the delin-
eation of the new community's distinctive
religious profile.

Pre-Islamic, Arab Christian texts?
While there is thus abundant confirmation
of Christianity among the Arabs in the
world in which Islam was born, there is as
yet no conclusive evidence of the existence
of a pre-Islamic, Christian literature in
Arabic. The patristic and liturgical heri-
tage of the Arab Christians before the rise
of Islam was predominantly Aramaic and
Greek. As their own indigenous poetry was
mostly oral, there is every reason to think
that there would also have been among
them a vibrant, oral Christian culture in
Arabic reflecting in translation the reli-
gious diction of the Greek and especially
the Syriac-speaking monks and preachers
from whom the Arabs would have learned
their Christian discourse. Traces of this
diction seem to have survived even within
the Qiir'an itself (see foreign vocabu-
lary). But as for the liturgy and the Bible
or any other Christian text in the form of
written translations into Arabic from the
time before the rise of Islam, scholars have
so far not been able to find any conclusive
evidence of their existence. Perhaps this is
not so surprising a fact; it was arguably the
Qur'an itself that gave the Arabic lan-
guage a literary definition and provided a
point of reference for the development of
a classical language from a welter of previ-
ously current, tribal speech patterns. In

this connection, one might think of the
Qur'an as having done for the Arabic lan-
guage what the translations of the Bible
did for the development of the Germanic
and Slavonic languages in other parts of
the world, just one or two centuries later.
As for actual Christian texts in Arabic, the
evidence in hand suggests that they were
first produced in the eighth Christian cen-
tury, in early Abbasid times, in monastic
communities in the conquered territories
outside of Arabia properly so-called. Typi-
cally, they exhibit a sometimes hypercor-
rect idiom that reflects the conventions of
a developing Middle Arabic diction which
had as its background the concurrent evo-
lution of the classical form of the Arabic
language. By the time of the appearance of
these texts, the language of the Arab con-
querors of the Middle East was fast be-
coming the lingua franca of all the peoples
living in the burgeoning Islamic common-
wealth and the principal carrier of their
cultures, Christians included.

Sidney H. Griffith

Bibliography
T. Andrae, Der Ursprung des Islams und das
Christentum, Uppsala 1926; R. Bell, The origin of
Islam in its Christian environment, London 1926; W.
Caskel, Das altarabische Konigreich, Krefeld 1950;
H. Charles, Le christianisme des arabes nomades sur le
limes et dans le desert syro-mesopotamien, Paris 1936;
L. Cheikho, al-Nasraniyyatu wa-adabuha bayna 'arab
al-jdhiliyya, 3 vols., Beirut 1913-23; R. Dussaud,
La penetration des arabes en Syrie avant VIslam, Paris
1955; J.M. Fiey, Nasara, in EF, vii, 970-3; S.H.
Griffith, The Gospel in Arabic. An inquiry into
its appearance in the first Abbasid century, in oi:
69 (1985), 126-67; A. Havenith, Les arabes chretiens
nomades au temps de Mohammed, Louvain-La-Neuve
1988; C. Hechaime, Louis Cheikho et son livre. Le
christianisme et la litterature chretienne en Arabie avant
Vislam, Beirut 1967; J. Henninger, Christentum
im vorislamischen Arabien, in .Neue ^eitschrift fir
Missionswissenschaft 4 (1948); R.G. Hoyland, Seeing
Islam as others saw it. A survey and evaluation oj
Christian, Jewish and ^oroastrian writings on early
Islam, Princeton 1997; M.J. Kister, Concepts and
ideas at the dawn of Islam, Aldershot, Hampshire

CHRONOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

316

1997; McAulifFe, Qilr'anic; A. Moberg, Book of the
Himyarites, Lund 1920-1924; F. Nau, Les arabes
Chretiens de Alesopotamie et de Syrie du VI' au VII siecle,
Paris 1933; G. Olinder, The kings of Kinda of the
family of Akil al-Murar, Lund 1927; R.A. Pritz,
Nazarene Jewish Christianity, Leiden 1988; G.
Rothstein, Die Dynastie der Laluniden in al-HTra,
Berlin l8g9;J. Sauvaget, Les Ghassanides et
Sergiopolis, in Byzantion 14 (1939), 115-30; R.
Schick, The Christian communities of Palestine from
Byzantine to Islamic rule, Princeton 1995; W.
Schmucker, Mubahala, in EP, vii, 276-7; I.
Shahid, The martyrs of Najran. New documents,
Brussels 1971; ibid., Rome and the Arabs. A
prolegomenon to the study of Byzantium and the Arabs,
Washington 1984; ibid., Byzantium and the Arabs
in the fourth century, Washington 1984; ibid.,
Byzantium and the Arabs in the fifth century,
Washington 1989; ibid., Byzantium and the Arabs
in the sixth century, 2 vols., Washington 1995; J.S.
Trimingham, Christianity among the Arabs in fire-
Islamic times, London/New York 1979.

Chronological Sequence of the
Qur'an see chronology and the

Chronology and the Qur'an

The Qur'an is the most recent of the ma-
jor sacred scriptures to have appeared
in the chronology of human history. It
originated at a crucial moment in time
when Muhammad proclaimed it in the
northwestern half of the Arabian penin-
sula during the first quarter of the seventh
century c.E. The Qur'an exhibits a signifi-
cant relationship to the biblical tradition,
the scriptures of Judaism and Christianity,
while it shows no literary affinity to the sa-
cred literatures of Hinduism and Bud-
dhism and little to Zoroastrian sacred writ-
ings (see scripture and the qjjr'an). The
elements of the biblical tradition included
in the Qur'an echo themes found in the
apocryphal and midrashic writings of Ju-
daism and Christianity more than those in-
corporated in their normative scriptures,
the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.

No single collection of biblical writings,
normative, apocryphal or midrashic, how-
ever, has been identified as the major
source on which the Qur'an might have
depended directly. Nevertheless, as the last
holy book in the historical sequence of the
great world religions, the Qur'an stands in
a clear chronological relationship to the
biblical tradition of Judaism and Christian-
ity. There is no evidence that this tradition
had been translated into Arabic by the
time of Muhammad, either as a whole cor-
pus or in the form of single books. It is a
widely shared view among historians of re-
ligion that Muhammad's knowledge of the
biblical tradition came principally, if not
exclusively, from oral sources. This oral
lore, enriched by extra-biblical additions
and commentary, was communicated to
Muhammad in his mother tongue. It, how-
ever, ultimately originated in traditions
recorded mainly in Syriac, Ethiopian,
Aramaic and Hebrew, as evidenced by the
vocabulary of foreign origin to be found
in the Arabic Qur'an (see foreign vocabu-
lary). In the main, this foreign vocabulary
had already been assimilated, however,
into the Arabic religious discourse of
Muhammad's native environment.

The Qur'an is the first book-length pro-
duction of Arabic literature and as such
stands at the crossroads of the pre-Islamic
oral, highly narrative and poetical tradition
of the Arabic language (q.v.) and the writ-
ten, increasingly scholarly prose tradition
of the subsequently evolving civilization of
Islam (see orality and writings in
Arabia). The beginnings of this transition
in the Arabic language from the oral to
the written tradition can be pinpointed
chronologically to the time and person of
Muhammad and can be seen as clearly
reflected in the rhymed prose style of the
Qur'an. This rhymed prose (saj c , see
rhymed prose), the mode of speech of
the pre-Islamic soothsayer's oracles (see

:j'7

CHRONOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

divination), is a characteristic of the Qur-
an, the first sizeable Arabic document
to exhibit this form of speech in written
form. The roots of the Qur'an as the first
Arabic book can also be discovered in its
content. In its verses (q.v.) the Qur'an cap-
tured many topics that had formed an
important part of the worship and cult of
the non-scriptural tribal religion practiced
in pre-Islamic Arabia (see south Arabia,
religion in pre-islamic). Again, it is not
possible to ascribe the origin of the Qur'an
to any single current of pre-Islamic tribal
religion, though the religious practice of
Mecca (q.v.) exerted the most influence on
the vision of Arab tribal religion that
Muhammad had acquired in his early
youth (see pre-islamic Arabia and the
qur'an).

While the historian of religion classifies
the Qur'an as the last major scripture to
appear in human history and the first
actual book to be produced in the Arabic
language, the Muslim believer views it as a
text that in its essence fundamentally tran-
scends all matters of chronology. For the
believer the Qur'an lies beyond the hori-
zon of chronological analysis because it is
the word of God, which is beyond all time,
and the supreme book of divine revelation
that derives its origin from God eternal
(see revelation and inspiration). Since
the dawn of creation (q.v.), God has mani-
fested his will to humanity, revealing him-
self in his divine speech (q.v). His word
became book (q.v.) in the revealed scrip-
tures that were communicated to the
prophets throughout human history (see
prophets and prophethood). The Qur'an
is the most perfect and ultimate form of
this divine revelation and represents the fi-
nal stage of a process of "in-libration," the
divine speech becoming holy book. In es-
sence there is only one timeless revelation
reiterated by the prophets, God's messen-
gers (see messenger) throughout the ages,

without any contribution of their own.
From Adam (q.v.) through Abraham (q.v.),
Moses (q.v), David (q.v.) and Jesus (q.v.) to
Muhammad, the messengers are human
beings and divinely chosen mouthpieces of
revelation through whom, in chronological
succession, God speaks forth the primor-
dial truth he wishes to reveal. God is the
sole author of revealed scripture and his
word passes untouched through the mes-
senger whom it neither transforms nor di-
vinizes. God is the speaker of the Qur'an,
Muhammad its recipient; an angel of reve-
lation, eventually identified as Gabriel
(q.v), its intermediary agent. Since the
Qur'an is and remains God's very own
words, it includes only God's voice without
any admixture of human speech. It liter-
ally is God's word, word for word. It holds
nothing radically new because it brings the
oldest thing of all, the first proclamation,
unknown in the Arabic tongue prior to
Muhammad: God is one, creator of this
world and judge in the world to come (see
last judgment). Though clearly revealed
at a definite point in time, in its essence the
Qur'an is rooted in the eternity of God

(see CREATEDNESS OF THE OUr'An).

The essential content of the divine reve-
lation that would become the proclamation
of the prophets is recorded in a heavenly
book (q.v.), "the mother [i.e. essence] of
the book," a qur'anic phrase denoting the
archetype of all divine revelation that is
preserved in heaven and guarded by the
angels (see PRESERVED tablet). From this
heavenly, a-temporal archetype the Qur'an
was revealed in clear Arabic to Muham-
mad, the last prophet and messenger of
God. Clearly understood, faithfully pro-
claimed and accurately recited by Muham-
mad in historical time, the Qur'an, accord-
ing to the normative Muslim view, was
memorized with exact precision and also
collected in book-form by Muhammad's
followers after his death. Then it was

CHRONOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

3 i8

recited and copied with infinite care in
continuous transmission from generation
to generation. Today, as in the past, the
Qur'an is copied and recited in Arabic,
pronounced only in Arabic in Muslim rit-
ual worship, by Arabs and non-Arabs alike
(see recitation of the qjjr'an). It cannot
be rendered adequately into any other
tongue and, in the Muslim view, all transla-
tions are crutches, at best helpful explana-
tions of its original intention and at worst
doubtful makeshifts endangering its true
meaning. Inasmuch as Muslims believe
that the Qur'an has been preserved un-
changed through time in its pristine Ara-
bic, it is superior to all other scriptures
because of the faulty form in which these
latter have been preserved by their respec-
tive communities. In particular, the re-
vealed scripture given to Jesus, called the
injll (q.v; see gospel) and also the scripture
given to Moses, called the tawrah (see
torah) have undergone alteration (tahnf,
see corruption) at the hands of their fol-
lowers through such modification of the
original texts as insertions, omissions or fal-
sifications (see polemic and polemical
language). In Muslim eyes, the Qur'an
alone has remained unchanged over time
in its divinely-willed form, transcending
chronology both in its origin from God
eternal and in its minutely faithful trans-
mission through the centuries.

While respecting the faith perspective of
Muslim believers about the Qur'an, there
have been since the middle of the last cen-
tury philologists and orientalists and then
in the present century islamicists and text-
critical scholars of the history of religions
who have tried to analyze the Qur'an as a
literary text and historical source. These
scholarly approaches have focused prin-
cipally on questions involving the "chro-
nology" of the Qur'an. What is the self-
perception of time and history in the
Qur'an? What are the historical data in the

Qur'an that link it chronologically to Mu-
hammad's life and career? What differ-
ences exist between the chronological se-
quence of the revelation of individual
qur'anic passages and the actual order of
the chapters (suwar, sing, sura) and verses
(ayat, sing, aya) that appear in the final re-
daction of the Qur'an as a book? What
were the major stages of composition and
redaction that were taken sequentially by
the early Muslim community to produce
the book of the Qur'an in the form in
which it appears today? These questions,
focused on the chronology of the Qur'an,
were to become of central importance in
any scholarly analysis of the text, its con-
tent, its style, its composition, its redaction
and the history of its early transmission
until the final fixation of the normative
text of the Qur'an. Due to the complexity
of each of these questions, they shall be
addressed separately below.

Qur'anic perception of time
The qur'anic text reflects an atomistic con-
cept of time, while lacking a notion of time
as divided into past, present and future.
Chiefly this is because Arabic grammar
knows only two aspects of time (q.v.), com-
plete and incomplete, without distinguish-
ing precisely between present and future.
The Qur'an also rejects the pre-Islamic fa-
talism of impersonal time (dahr, see fate)
which holds sway over everything and
erases human works without hope for life
beyond death (cf. o_ 39:42; 45:24; 76:1). Af-
firming resurrection (q.v.) of the body and
life in the world to come (see eschatol-
ogy), the Qur'an explains time from the
perspective of a transcendent monotheism
(see god and his attributes) that promises
paradise (q.v.) and threatens eternal dam-
nation (see hell). Obliterating the spell of
fate and subduing the all-pervading power
of time, God almighty made the heavens
and the earth (o_ 6:73; 7:54; 10:3; 11:7; 25:59;

3 ! 9

CHRONOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

32:4; 50:38; 57:4) and formed the first hu-
man being in an instant through his com-
mand, "Be!" (o_ 3:59; for other references
to God's creative ability, cf. Q_ 2:117; 3:47;
16:40; 19:35; 36:82; 40:68). He gives life
and brings death according to his will and
rules each moment of human existence
(ft 53 : 44-54; cf - 35 :i 2; 39 : 42; 40:69; 50:42):
God is the Lord of each instant; what he
has decreed happens. The most common
term adopted in Arabic for time, zaman,
does not appear in the Qur'an, nor does
qidam, its counterpart for eternity. The
Qur'an, however, has a great variety of
terms for time understood as a moment or
short duration (e.g. waqt, hin, dn,yawm, sa'a).
These terms give expression to an atomism
of time that includes a vision of God acting
instantaneously in the world as the sole true
cause. Of itself, creation (q.v.) is discontin-
uous. It appears to be continuous only be-
cause of God's compassionate consistency.

Qur'anic perception of history
Bolstered by the lack of genuine verbs for
"to be" and "to become" in the Arabic
language, the atomism of time also under-
lies the qur'anic vision of history, which is
typological in nature and focused on the
history of the prophets. In the Qur'an, his-
tory is seen as the scenario of God's send-
ing messengers as warners (see warning)
and guides to successive generations (q.v.),
each of whom rejects the monotheistic
message that the prophets proclaim and is
overtaken by a devastating divine punish-
ment (see punishment stories). Whether it
refers to the legendary peoples of the an-
cient Arabs and their leaders or to biblical
figures such as Noah (q.v.), Lot (q.v.) and
their people, the same typology is repeated
from messenger to messenger. Each of
them comes with an essentially identical
message and is himself saved, while his dis-
obedient people are destroyed. History in
the Qur'an is principally portrayed as a se-

ries of such typological events, in which
the features of similarity override the ac-
tual differences among individual stories of
the prophets. The best explanation for this
recurrent typological pattern is Muham-
mad's ingenious interpretation of history
in the light of his own life and time, which
he took as the yardstick, projecting his own
experience back onto all other messengers
before him. Just as the qur'anic emphasis
on the atomism of time had frozen the flux
of time into that of reiterated instants of
God's action, so its typology of history had
collapsed the rich variety of past events
into a regularly recurring pattern. Not pre-
tending to be a document of historical re-
cord, the Qur'an simply represents the pro-
phetic preaching of Muhammad, making
passing references to his personal situation,
the opposition of his adversaries (see oppo-
sition to muhammad) and the questions
of his followers. Consequently it often
lacks precise historical information, men-
tion of the specific dates of events and de-
termination of detailed or approximate
historical settings (see history and the
qur'an).

Qur'anic references to events contemporaneous with

the lifetime of Muhammad
There are certain allusions, however, which
may be retrieved from the text of the Qur-
'an as indicators of historical circum-
stances that relate to Muhammad's life and
times. These references are often obscure.
They refer to Muhammad's orphanage
(see orphans), his uncle Abu Lahab (see
family OF THE prophet), his persecution
at the hands of the Meccans, the tribal
boycott of his clan at Mecca, the political
rivalry of Mecca with T a 'if and the reli-
gious practices observed at the Meccan
sanctuary of the Ka'ba (q.v.), the hills of
Safa (q.v.) and Marwa (q.v.), Mount Arafat
(see 'arafat) and the sanctuary in al-
Muzdalifa. A somewhat cryptic reference

CHRONOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

320

to the military defeat of the Byzantine
forces at the hands of their Persian
enemies — probably leading to their loss of
Jerusalem in 614 c.E. — is found in
Q_ 30:2-5 (see Byzantines). The return to
Mecca of some of Muhammad's followers
who had emigrated to Abyssinia (q.v.) —
probably in 615 c.E. — and had recited
Q_ ig to the Negus, may be connected with
Q_ 53:19-23 on the basis of references found
in the traditional biography of Muham-
mad (see sira and the qur'an). The con-
version of 'Umar (q.v.) — dated on the ba-
sis of extra-qur'anic sources to the year
618 c.E. — occurred after the revelation of
Q_ 20. The emigration (hijra) of Muham-
mad and his followers from Mecca to Me-
dina (see emigration), which is generally
understood as the first firm date of the Is-
lamic era (see calendar), is implied in
Q_ 2:218, although its actual dating to Sep-
tember, 622 can only be determined with
the help of extra-qur'anic sources. The
change of the direction toward which ritu-
al prayer must be performed [qibla, q.v.),
which Muhammad initiated more than a
year after settling in Medina, is signaled in
Q_ 2:142-4 in association with o_ 2:150.

For the time after the emigration, there
are explicit references to battles fought by
Muhammad at Badr (q.v.; 2/624) an d
Hunayn (q.v.; 8/630), and circumstantial
references to the battle of Uhud (q.v;
3/625), the encounter at the Trench (5/627),
and the expeditions to Khaybar (q.v.;
7/628) and Tabuk (9/630, see expeditions
and battles). We find as well implicit
references to the pledges made by Muham-
mad at Aqaba in the year prior to the emi-
gration (cf. Q_ 40:12) and at al-Hudaybiya
(q.v.) in 6/628 (cf. Q_ 48:27 in association
with 48:18), the expulsion of the Jewish
tribe of Banu 1-Nadlr from Medina (cf.
Q_ 59:1-24; see nadir), an episode involving
Muhammad's adopted son Zayd b.
Haritha (q.v; cf. cj 33:37) and a reference to

Muhammad's qur'anic address at his fare-
well pilgrimage (cf. o_ 5:3; see farewell).
The dates for these events, however, can
only be supplied from extra-qur'anic
sources such as the biographical literature
on the Prophet. Qur'anic passages with
chronological implications that are linked
to the inner development of Muhammad's
prophetic career and religious experience
are p_ 96:1-5 and 74:1-7 (Muhammad's call
to prophethood), Q_ 53:1-18 and 81:15-29
(Muhammad's visions, see visions) and
Q_ 17:1 (Muhammad's night journey; see
ascension) among others. As is evident
from all of these mainly circumstantial ref-
erences, the framework for dating qur'anic
verses in relation to Muhammad's life is
rather tenuous. There are no reliable
chronological references in the Qur'an it-
self that could be matched with the period
prior to the emigration and there are only
a few firm dates concerning events of Mu-
hammad's biography after the emigration
that can be coordinated chronologically
with qur'anic verses. Again, hardly any of
the historical events in question can be es-
tablished purely by reference to the Qur'an
without recourse to extra-qur'anic sources.

Early Islamic methods for determining the order in
which Muhammad received the revelations
From the earliest centuries of Islam, the
jurists and scholars of religious law (fu-
qahd'J developed a particular sensitivity for
chronological inconsistencies affecting a
variety of legal stipulations in the Qur'an.
Acknowledging the differences and varia-
tions of regulation found in disparate
verses of the Qur'an, they developed a the-
ory of abrogation {al-nasikh wa-l-mansukh,
see abrogation), which established lists
of abrogating and abrogated verses on the
basis of their chronological order. This
analysis had its earliest example in the
systematic work entitled al-.Nasikh wa-l-
mansukh of Abu 'Ubayd al-Qasim b. Sal-

321

CHRONOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

lam (d. 224/838). For this theory — the
qur'anic basis for which is found in q 2:106
and 16:101 — examples into the hundreds
were cited. q 5:90, prohibiting the drinking
of wine, was understood as abrogating
q 2:219 and 4:43, which tolerated it (see
intoxicants), q 4:10-1 on inheritance (q.v.),
allotting to the relatives specific shares in a
deceased's estate, were seen as revoking
q 2:180, which had instituted testamentary
provisions for parents and nearest kin.
q 8:66 was taken to reduce from ten to two
the number of unbelievers against whom
the Muslims in q 8:65 were required to
fight. The "sword verse" (q 9:5) alone was
thought to have replaced 124 other verses.
The "Ibn Adam verse" and verses praising
the martyrs of Bi'r Ma'una (see martyr)
were claimed to have been lost altogether.
The locus of the spurious "stone verse,"
mandating ritual stoning (q.v.) as a punish-
ment for fornication, was believed to have
been omitted from the qur'anic text (see
adultery and fornication). The highly
controversial and infamous "Satanic
verses" (q.v.), cited in the extra-qur'anic lit-
erature (e.g. T aDarl ) Ta'rikh, i, 1 192-3), were
understood as having been actually re-
placed by o 53:19-23 with the significantly
later q 22:52-3 explaining the Satanic in-
terference. (See also chastisement and
punishment; boundaries and precepts).
Other Muslim scholars, especially the
early works of qur'anic exegetes (mufas-
sirun), were fully aware of the scanty
amount of chronological information that
could be retrieved from the Qiir'an and
hence turned to the Prophet's biography
(sira, see sira and the quR'AN), the reports
about his actions and words (hadith) and
the early historiography of Muhammad's
campaigns (maghazi) for circumstances that
might be seen as linked to individual pas-
sages of the Quran. This led to the devel-
opment of a separate genre of literature
called "the occasions of the revelation"

(asbab al-nuzul, exemplified by the work of
al-Wahidi, d. 468/1075-6; see occasions of
revelation) that connected a small por-
tion of qur'anic verses with actual occur-
rences and with stories about Muham-
mad's time and career, many of which
were legendary. The method of the schol-
ars dealing with the theory of abrogation
was primarily intra-qur'anic, i.e. replacing
the legislative force of one qur'anic verse
with that of another. It, however, also
made ample room for a hadith to be abro-
gated by another hadith and cited cases
where a qur'anic passage was abrogated by
a hadith or vice versa (see hadith and the
quR'AN). On the contrary, the method of
the scholars dealing with the occasions of
the revelation was primarily extra-qur'anic,
relating qur'anic verses to circumstances
that could be established through recourse
to the extra-qur'anic literature of the Is-
lamic scholarly tradition. Both methods fo-
cused their chronological analysis on indi-
vidual or isolated qur'anic verses and small
passages rather than on qur'anic chapters
and suras as integral units of revelation.
This approach, attentive to individual
qur'anic passages, was very much in step
with the piecemeal character of the
qur'anic revelation itself.

Another group of Muslim scholars active
in later medieval times based their analysis
of qur'anic chronology on the assumption
that the individual suras formed the origi-
nal units of revelation and could best be
divided into two sets, Meccan and Medi-
nan, according to whether they were re-
vealed before or after the emigration (hijra).
This division into Meccan and Medinan
suras became the most characteristic
method of chronological analysis. The first
attempt of this kind was the list of suras at-
tributed to Ibn 'Abbas (d. 68/688), the tra-
ditional father of qur'anic exegesis. Later
scholars further elaborated this system
until it achieved fixation in the qur'anic

CHRONOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

;j2 2

commentary of al-BaydawI (d. 716/1316)
and die Itqdn of al-Suyutl (d. 911/1505).
Centuries later the latter became the prin-
cipal starting point for Western scholarship
on qur'anic chronology. Muslim scholars,
however, had to cope with the fact that the
exact chronological listing of suras had
been in dispute since Qatada (d. 1 12/730)
and that qur'anic scholars had not man-
aged to agree on whether certain suras
were either Meccan or Medinan, and thus
had furnished a list of 17 disputed suras,
namely 13; 47; 55; 57; 61; 64; 83; 95; 97;
98; 99; 100; 102; 107; 112; 113; 114). To these
other scholars added six more (o_ 49; 62;
63; 77; 8g; 92). The traditional chronologi-
cal order attributed to Ibn 'Abbas, how-
ever, became widely accepted and was gen-
erally adopted by the Egyptian standard
edition of the Qur'an published in 1924. It
enumerated 86 Meccan suras and added
headings to each sura indicating its exact
chronological locus in the traditional order
of revelation established by Muslim schol-
arship. It also noted later Medinan verses
which were inserted into a number of the
earlier Meccan suras and cited three Medi-
nan suras (o 8; 47; 9) that incorporated ear-
lier verses. This Muslim method of chron-
ological analysis, separating Meccan from
Medinan suras, reflected two basic assump-
tions, namely that the sources of traditional
Muslim scholarship provided a solidly reli-
able basis for the chronological ordering of
the suras and that the suras could be treated
and dated as integral units of revelation.

Western historical-critical qur'anic analysis
From the mid-nineteenth century Western
scholars began to engage in serious literary
research on the Qur'an linking the schol-
arly findings of traditional Muslim scholar-
ship with the philological and text-critical
methods that biblical scholarship was de-
veloping in Europe. An intensive scholarly
attempt was made to arrive at a chronolog-

ical order of qur'anic chapters and pas-
sages that could be correlated with the de-
velopment and varying circumstances of
Muhammad's religious career. Beginning
with Gustav Weil (Historisch-kritische Einlei-
tung, Bielefeld 1844), this Western chrono-
logical approach to the Qur'an achieved its
climax in the highly-acclaimed Geschichte
des Qorans by Theodor Noldeke (Gottingen
i860). It was later revised and expanded by
Friedrich Schwally (Leipzig 1909-19) and
later by Gotthelf Bergstrasser and Otto
Pretzl (Leipzig 1938) into a three-volume
work. This work became the classic of
Western qur'anic scholarship and the foun-
dation of its widely-accepted framework of
qur'anic chronology, one to which Regis
Blachcre (Introduction, Paris 1947-50) added
further refinements. The chronological
sequencing of the suras, elaborated by
Western qur'anic scholarship, largely
adopted the distinction of traditional
Muslim scholarship between Meccan and
Medinan suras. It further subdivided the
Meccan phase of Muhammad's procla-
mation of the Qur'an into three distinct
periods.

A different method leading to similar
chronological results, however, was chosen
by Hartwig Hirschfeld (Composition and
exegesis, London 1902), who proposed an
arrangement of the Meccan suras into
periods according to five literary criteria —
confirmatory, declamatory, narrative, de-
scriptive and legislative — followed by the
group of Medinan suras. Some years ear-
lier (The Cordn. Its composition and teaching,
London 1875), William Muir made the in-
novative suggestion in his rearrangement
of the suras that eighteen short suras,
termed rhapsodies, dated from before Mu-
hammad's call (o_ 103; 100; 99; 91; 106;
1; 101; 95; 102; 104; 82; 92; 105; 89; 90; 93;
94; 108). A drastically different approach
was taken by Richard Bell (The Qur'an, 2
vols., Edinburgh 1937-9 anc ' posthumously

3*3

CHRONOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

A commentary on the Qur'an, 2 vols. Manches-
ter 1991), who abandoned the chronologi-
cal division into Meccan and Medinan pe-
riods and designed a highly subjective and
disjointed dating system for individual
verses in the Qur'an taken as a whole. The
two summary follow-up reactions to R.
Bell in 1977 by John Wansbrough (Quranic
studies, London 1977) andjohn Burton (The
collection of the Qur'an, Cambridge 1977)
challenged the assumptions underlying the
Western chronological approach from to-
tally opposite sides. Rudi Paret (Der Koran:
Kommentar una! Konkordanz, Stuttgart 197 1),
on the other hand, integrated the major
findings of Western scholarship on qur-
'anic chronology with the principal ancil-
lary studies authored in the West in his
balanced manual of commentary and con-
cordance to the Qur'an.

The overriding goal of the chronological
framework of the Qur'an, elaborated in
Western scholarship, was to divide the qur-
'anic proclamation into four periods —
Mecca i, Mecca ii, Mecca iii, and Me-
dina — and to link these with a vision of
the gradual inner development of Mu-
hammad's prophetic consciousness and
political career that Western scholarship
had determined through biographical re-
search on the life of Muhammad, worked
out in lockstep with its research on the
Qur'an. This was initiated by Alois
Sprenger (Leben und Lehre, 3 vols., 1861-5)
and Hubert Grimme (Mohammed, 1892-5)
and was later developed by Frants Buhl
(Das Leben Mohammeds, 1934) and with cer-
tain modifications by W. Montgomery
Watt (Muhammad at Mecca, 1953; Muhammad
at Medina, 1956). Chronological research on
the Qur'an and biographical research on
Muhammad's career were closely depen-
dent on each other. For this reason, the
threat of a circular argument remained a
constant danger for this approach because
the subjective evaluation of Muhammad's

religious development had to be read back
into a great variety of disparate qur'anic
verses from which it had been originally
culled. Nevertheless, the division of the
Meccan suras into three sequential periods
offered many new insights into Muham-
mad's genesis as a prophet prior to the
emigration and opened novel perspectives
into significant stages of development in
his early qur'anic proclamation.

In general, the fourfold division of
periods of the qur'anic proclamation pro-
ceeded on the basis of two major princi-
ples. It related qur'anic passages source-
critically to historical events known from
extra-qur'anic literature and it systemati-
cally analyzed the philological and stylistic
nature of the Arabic text of the Qur'an
passage by passage (see orammar and the
chjr'an; form and structure of the
q_ur'an). It also placed clear markers be-
tween the Meccan periods at the approxi-
mate time of the emigration to Abyssinia
(about 615 c.E.) and Muhammad's disillu-
sioned return from T^'if (about 620 c.E.)
and retained the emigration in 622 c.E. as
the divide between Meccan and Medinan
suras. An overview of major versions of
the chronological re-arrangement of the
suras in comparison to their actual num-
bered order in the Qur'an may be found in
Watt-Bell, Introduction, 205-13.

The group of suras classified as belong-
ing to the first or early Meccan period —
forty-eight suras in T Noldeke's chron-
ology — were identified by a similarity of
style which gives expression to Muham-
mad's initial enthusiasm in a language that
is rich in images, powerful in passion, ut-
tered in short and rhythmic verses, marked
by a strong poetic coloring and with about
thirty oaths or adjurations introducing in-
dividual suras or passages. Most of these
suras, which are understood as a group
rather than as standing in the exact chron-
ological order of their revelation, are short.

CHRONOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

324

Twenty-three of them have less than
twenty and fourteen less than fifty verses.
They are driven by a heightened awareness
of the apocalyptic end of this world and
God's final judgment of humanity (see
apocalypse). They include Muhammad's
vehement attacks against his Meccan op-
ponents for adhering to the old Arab tribal
religion and his vigorous rebuttals of their
damaging accusations against his claim of
divine inspiration, when they dismissively
characterized him as a soothsayer (kdhin,
see soothsayers), poet (shd'ir, see poetry
and poets) and a man possessed (majnun,
see insanity).

The suras of the second or middle Mec-
can period, twenty-one in number, have
longer verses and longer units of revela-
tion, which are more prosaic and do not
exhibit a clearly distinct common charac-
ter. They mark the transition from the ex-
citement of the first phase to a Muham-
mad of greater calm who aims to influence
his audience by paranetic proofs selected
from descriptions of natural phenomena,
illustrations from human life and vivid
depictions of paradise (q.v.) and hellfire
(see fire; hell; natural world and the
qur'An). The stories of earlier prophets
and elements from the story of Moses, in
particular, are cited as admonitions for his
enemies and as encouragement for himself
and the small group of his followers. The
place of the oaths (q.v.) is taken by intro-
ductory titles such as "This is the revela-
tion of God" and by the frequently recur-
ring, "Say!" (qui), the divine command for
Muhammad to proclaim a certain qur'anic
passage. The name al-rahmdn (the merciful),
a name for God in use prior to Islam in
southern and central Arabia, although re-
jected by the pre-Islamic Meccans, is fre-
quently employed although it dies out in
the third period (see below for a discussion
on the names of God).

The suras of the third or late Meccan

period are also 21 in number but cannot be
seen as standing in any kind of inner
chronological order. They exhibit a broad,
prosaic style with rhyme patterns that be-
come more and more stereotyped, fre-
quently ending in -un and -in. The formula
"You people" (yd ayyuha l-nas) is frequently
employed by Muhammad in addressing his
followers as a group. Muhammad's imagi-
nation seems to be subdued, the revelations
take on the form of sermons or speeches
and the prophetic stories repeat earlier
ideas. Overall, this group of suras could be
understood to reflect Muhammad's exas-
peration at the stubborn resistance to his
message on the part of his fellow Meccan
tribesmen.

The suras of the Medinan period, 24 in
number, follow one another in a relatively
certain chronological order and reflect
Muhammad's growing political power and
his shaping of the social framework of the
Muslim community (see community and
society). As the acknowledged leader in
spiritual and social affairs of the Medinan
community, a community that had been
torn by internal strife prior to his arrival,
Muhammad's qur'anic proclamation be-
comes preoccupied with criminal legisla-
tion, civil matters such as laws of marriage,
divorce (see marriage and divorce) and
inheritance (q.v.), and with the summons to
holy war (jihad, q.v.) "in the path of God"
(ji sabil Allah, see path or way [of god];
law and THE qjjr'an). Various groups of
people are addressed separately by differ-
ent epithets. The believers, the Meccan
emigrants (muhdjirun) and their Medinan
helpers (ansar, see emigrants and helpers),
are addressed as "You who believe" (yd
ayyuha lladhina dmanu), while the Medinans
who distrusted Muhammad and hesitated
in converting to Islam are called "waver-
ers" (munafiqun, see hypocrites and
hypocrisy). The members of the Jewish
tribes of the Qurayza (q.v.), Nadir (q.v.)

:^3

CHRONOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

and Qaynuqa' (q.v.) are collectively called
Jews (yahud, see jews and Judaism) and the
Christians are referred to by the group
name of Nazarenes (nasdra, see christians
and Christianity). More than thirty
times — and only in Medinan verses —
the peoples who have been given a scrip-
ture in previous eras are identified collec-
tively by the set phrase "the people of the
book" (aid al-kitab, see people of the book).
They are distinguished from the ummiyyun
(q_ 2:78; 3:20, 75; 62:2), who have not been
given the book previously but from among
whom God selected Muhammad, called
al-nabi al-ummiva the late Meccan passage
0. 7-157-8, as his messenger (see illiter-
acy). A significant group of qur'anic pas-
sages from Medinan suras refers to Muham-
mad's breach with the Jewish tribes and his
subsequent interpretation of the figure of
Abraham, supported by Ishmael (q.v.), as
the founder of the Meccan sanctuary and
the prototypical Muslim (hamf, q.v.) who
represents the original pure religion desig-
nated "the religion of Abraham" (millat
Ibrahim) and now reinstated by Muhammad.

The most radical chronological rear-
rangement of the suras and verses of the
Qur'an was undertaken by R. Bell who
concluded his elaborate hypothesis with
many provisos. He suggested that the com-
position of the Qur'an followed three main
phases: a "Sign" phase, a "Qur'an" phase
and a "Book" phase. The earliest phase in
R. Bell's view was that of "sign passages"
(ayat) and exhortations (q.v.) to worship
God. These represent the major portion of
Muhammad's preaching at Mecca of
which only an incomplete and partially
fragmentary amount survive. The "Qur-
an" phase included the later stages
of Muhammad's Meccan career and about
the first two years of his activity at Medina,
a phase during which Muhammad was
faced with the task of producing a collec-
tion of liturgical recitals (sing, qur'an). The

Book phase belonged to his activity at
Medina and began at the end of the sec-
ond year after the emigration from which
time Muhammad set out to produce a
written scripture (kitab). In the present
Qur'an, each of these three phases, how-
ever, cannot be separated precisely
because sign passages came to be incorpo-
rated into the liturgical collection and ear-
lier oral recitals were later revised to form
part of the written book. In explaining his
complex system of distinguishing criteria,
Bell often remained rather general in his
remarks. He dissected suras on the basis of
subjective impressions and suggested arbi-
trarily that certain passages had been dis-
carded while the content of other "scraps
of paper" that were meant to be discarded
had been retained. He convincingly ar-
gued, however, that the original units of
revelation were short, piecemeal passages
which Muhammad himself collected into
suras and that written documents were
used in the process of redaction, a process
undertaken with the help of scribes during
Muhammad's career in Medina. Regard-
ing the redaction of the Qur'an during
Muhammad's lifetime, the starting point
for the Qur'an as sacred scripture, in Bell's
view, had to be related to the time of the
battle of Badr (q.v.; 2/624). For Bell, this
was the watershed event while the emigra-
tion (hijra) did not constitute a great divide
for the periodization of the suras.

None of the systems of chronological
sequencing of qur'anic chapters and verses
has been accepted universally by contem-
porary scholarship. T. Noldeke's sequenc-
ing and its refinements have established a
rule of thumb for the approximate order of
the suras in their chronological sequence.
Bell's hypothesis has established that the
final redaction of the Qur'an was a com-
plex process of successive revisions of
earlier material whether oral or already
available in rudimentary written form. In

CHRONOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

326

many ways, Western qur'anic scholarship
reconfirmed the two pillars on which the
traditional Muslim views of qur'anic chro-
nology were based. First, the Qur'an was
revealed piecemeal and, second, it was col-
lected into book-form on the basis of both
written documents prepared by scribes on
Muhammad's dictation and qur'anic pas-
sages preserved in the collective memory of
his circle of companions. All methods of
chronological analysis, whether traditional
Muslim or modern Western, agree that the
order of the suras in Muhammad's procla-
mation was different from the order found
in the written text we hold in hand today
where, in general, the suras are arranged
according to the principle of decreasing
length.

One consequence of the chronological
periodization of suras was the attention
given to the first and last qur'anic procla-
mations. There is a general consensus that
either o 96:1-5 or 74:1-7 represent the first
proclamation of qur'anic verses uttered by
the Prophet. In particular o g6:i-5 which
includes the command, "Recite!" (iqra'),
derived from the same Arabic root as the
word "Qur'an" but also Q_ 74:1-7 which
may refer to Muhammad being raised
from sleep at night, especially if seen in
parallel to q 73:1-5, are linked in hadlth lit-
erature with Muhammad's call to prophet-
hood. This call, the beginning of qur'anic
revelation, occurred according to Islamic
tradition during the night of destiny [laylat
al-qadr, Q_ 97:1-3; cf. 44:3; see night of
power), ordinarily identified as the twenty-
seventh day of the month of Ramadan
(q.v.). As is to be expected, the last passages
of the Qur'an were sought among the
Medinan suras and Muslim scholarship
identified suras 5, 9 or no as the last to be
revealed. Some pointed to either o_ 2:278 or
281 or cj 4:174 as the last verse of the Qur-
'an, while others opted for q g:i28-g, two
verses said to have been finally found dur-

ing the collection of the qur'anic material
into book-form. The most suitable candi-
date for the last verse, however, is Q 5:3
which includes Muhammad's affirmation,
"Today I have completed your religion,"
and one on which there is much agree-
ment among Muslim and Western Qur'an
scholars.

Thematic manifestations of qur'anic chronology
Qur'anic chronology is also manifest in the
development of inner-qur'anic topics, four
of which may be analysed as cases in
point: disconnected letters, ritual prayer,
the name for God and the figure of
Abraham. From a stylistic perspective, a
particular and characteristic phenomenon
of the Qur'an with chronological implica-
tions is the so-called mysterious or discon-
nected letters [al-huruf al-muqatta 'a, see

LETTERS AND MYSTERIOUS LETTERS) found
immediately after the introductory basmala
(q.v.; the formulaic saying "In the name of
God, the merciful, the compassionate") of
twenty-nine suras. Muslim sources, which
consider the disconnected letters an inte-
gral part of the qur'anic revelation, record
no recollection of their real significance as
is shown by the great variety of explana-
tions given for them. Many Muslim and
Western scholars have attempted to inter-
pret the function of the disconnected let-
ters in the Qur'an, but no satisfactory ex-
planation has been found. Among the
theories put forward are that the letters
represent abbreviations of the divine
names, the initials of the owners of manu-
scripts used in the redaction of the Qur'an,
numbers written in Arabic letters or simply
letters possessing an inscrutable or mystical
meaning known only by God. Three con-
sistent factors, however, can be observed
that may undergird a chronological expla-
nation of their function in the Qur'an.
First, the disconnected letters at the begin-
ning of the twenty-nine suras belong to

327

CHRONOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

later Meccan and early Medinan suras.
The letters sometimes occur singly and
sometimes in groups of two to five. Some
of these occur only once while others are
repeated before two, five or six suras. Sec-
ondly, these letters are pronounced sepa-
rately in recitation as the letters of the
alphabet, and the literature on the variant
readings of the Qur'an reveals no differ-
ences regarding their recitation (see read-
ings of THE quran). Thirdly, they represent
every consonantal form of the Arabic al-
phabet in Kufic script, the earliest Arabic
script (q.v), namely fourteen forms, and no
form is used for more than a single letter of
the alphabet.

On the basis of these constant factors it
may be argued that the disconnected let-
ters are related to an ordering of suras,
using the letters of the Arabic alphabet in
the time when Muhammad collected suras
(q.v.) for liturgical purposes and began to
take the first steps toward a written scrip-
ture. This rather general explanation of
the function of the disconnected letters in
the chronological genesis of the text of the
Qur'an could be confirmed by the fact that
certain groups of suras introduced by the
same letters — especially those beginning
with the letter patterns alif- lam - mim,
alif - lam - ra\ ha' - mim and ta' - sin -
[mim] — have been kept together in the
actual order of the Qur'an despite their
sometimes widely varying lengths and by
the fact that in almost all cases the discon-
nected letters are followed by a usually ex-
plicit or occasionally implicit reference to
the revelation of scripture as a "Book" sent
down or a "Qur'an" made clear. Because
the disconnected letters appear only at the
beginning and never within the body of a
sura, such as at points of incision indicated
by a change of style, rhyme or content, they
belong to the initial phase of redaction by
Muhammad himself rather than to either
the original proclamation of qur'anic pas-

sages by Muhammad or to the final redac-
tion of the Qur'an after his death. The in-
sertion of the letters after Muhammad's
death would presuppose the sporadic intro-
duction of letter patterns into the final text
by a later hand. This general explanation
favors the view that Muhammad as redac-
tor was the author of the disconnected let-
ters affixed to the beginning of suras and
that he began quite early to produce his
own scriptural text with the help of scribes,
by piecing together passages of similar
content in certain suras. Some of these he
then marked as a liturgical unit through
the insertion of the disconnected letters, a
marking scheme that the final redactors of
the Qur'an felt obliged to respect.

Yet another phenomenon that manifests
significant chronological parameters is the
genesis of central religious institutions in-
troduced by Muhammad such as the ritual
prayer [salat, see prayer) of Islam. The in-
stitution of the ritual prayer cannot be
traced to the earliest phase of Muham-
mad's qur'anic proclamation in which the
root salla is used in reference to the tribal
practice of animal sacrifice (q_ 108:2; see
consecration of animals; sacrifice)
and the prayers of unbelieving Meccans
(q_ 107:4-7). At this stage the recitation of
the Qur'an is as yet not linked with ritual
prayer but is connected with Muhammad's
labor in composing qur'anic passages
(q_ 73:1-8). Somewhat later, about the mid-
dle of the Meccan period of his qur'anic
proclamation, Muhammad began to ob-
serve a night vigil (tahajjud) which com-
bined the recitation of the Qur'an with
the beginnings of a prayer practice called
salat (q_ 17:78-9; cf. 25:64; 51:17-8) that was
performed both by day and by night
(q_ 76:25-6; 52:48-9). At first Muhammad
alone is called to perform the salat
(q, 17:110; 20:130) but, then, in Q_ 20:132, he
is clearly summoned to command his rela-
tives or followers (ahlaka) to perform the

CHRONOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

328

salat together with him and to persevere
with those who invoke God morning and
evening (o 18:28) or prostrate themselves in
prayer at night (o 39:9; see bowing and
prostration). During this phase, Muham-
mad also draws attention to the great
qur'anic models of prayer, Abraham
(o_ 26:83-9), Moses (q_ 20:25-35) and Zecha-
riah (q.v.; q 19:3-6) and points to God's
servant, Jesus, as a prophet divinely com-
missioned to practice salat (o_ 19:30-1). Per-
haps somewhat later in the Meccan phase
of his proclamation Muhammad is
prompted, again in the singular, to per-
form the salat at three different times of
day (see DAY, TIMES of), in the morning
and in the evening, and also during the
night (o 11:114-5; 5 0: 39"T )- His followers
are admonished to join in the practice,
which clearly includes the recitation of
the Qur'an and prostration in prayer
(cj 7:204-6). The evolution of ritual prayer
can also be traced in the varying yet vacil-
lating qur'anic vocabulary used in the late
Meccan and early Medinan periods for the
prayer times: in the morning (at the dawn-
ing of the day and before the rising of the
sun), in the evening (at the declining of the
day and before the setting of the sun) and
during the night (tahajjad, q 17:79; zulqfan
min al-layl, o_ 11:114; ana' al- lay I, Q_ 3:113).

After the emigration (hijra), qur'anic
chronology demonstrates that the salat be-
comes a firm institution of the individual
and communal ritual prayer for Muslims.
References to salat (generally used in the
singular) occur with high frequency in the
Medinan suras (33 times in Q_ 2, 4, 5, 9 and
24 alone, representing half of all occur-
rences of this term in the entire Qur'an)
and are now frequently linked with its sis-
ter religious institution of almsgiving
[zakat, the development of which can itself
be traced in the Qur'an from an act of free
giving to a religious duty and communal
tax; see almsgiving). The frequent refer-

ence to a normative obligation to perform
salat is paralleled by the emphatic introduc-
tion of the obligatory direction of prayer
(qibla). At first this may have been observed
in the direction of Jerusalem (q.v.), emulat-
ing Jewish-Christian custom, but then was
changed toward the Ka'ba of Mecca by a
qur'anic command (q_ 2:142-52). These par-
ticular early Medinan verses were pro-
claimed by Muhammad at about the time
of the battle of Badr in 2/624 although
they may actually reflect a gradual process
of change in the ritualization of the salat
and the fixation of its qibla. Furthermore,
in Medina, the specific prayer times are
fixed for what has now clearly become a
daily ritual prayer that is repeatedly en-
joined in the plural (aqimu al-saldt), is per-
formed standing upright (cf o 4:102) and
includes the recitation of the Qur'an (cf.
o_ 7:204-5). Finally, the Medinan verse
Q_ 2:238 firmly establishes a ritual mid-day
prayer (al-saldt al-wustd) which may already
have been introduced toward the end of
Muhammad's career in Mecca when he
summoned his followers to praise God in
the morning, the evening and during the
middle of the day {wa-hina tuzhirun,
Q_ 30:17-8). From this point on, the salat is
enjoined upon the believers at fixed times
(kitdban mawqutan, Q_ 4:103) and the commu-
nal prayer during the week is explicitly
fixed on Friday (yavum al-jum'a), the market
day of Medina (o_ 62:9). The believers are
called to prayer (o 5:58; 62:9) and ritual
ablutions before prayer (wudu\ ghusl) are
established in detail, including such speci-
ficity as the substitution of sand in the
absence of water {tayammum, cf. o_ 4:43;
5:6) and provisos for people who are trav-
eling (see cleanliness and ablution;

RITUAL PURITY).

It is more difficult to trace stages of
chronological development for the proper
name for God in the Qur'an, which relies
principally on Allah (al-ildh, lit. the deity),

3 -'9

CHRONOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

Lord (rabb) and the Merciful (al-rahman)
but ultimately establishes Allah as the
predominant designation and the one
adopted by Islam throughout the centuries.
In what the Islamic tradition identifies as
the first verses of qur'anic revelation, Mu-
hammad is summoned to speak in the
name of "your Lord" (rabbika, o_ 96:1; rab-
baka, 74:3)- A non-secular usage of lord (q.v.)
or master [rabb, never used with the definite
article in the Qur'an yet very often linked
with a personal pronoun), was familiar to
the Meccans from pre-Islamic times. This
is demonstrated by the phrase "the lord of
this house" (rabba hddhd l-bayt, o_ 106:3), the
house being the Ka'ba in Mecca. It is most
frequently employed in the first Meccan
period (e.g. "Extol the name of your lord
the most high [sabbihi sma rabbika l-a'ldj"
o 87:1), less often in the second and third
(as in Pharaoh's [q.v] blasphemous utter-
ance, "I am your lord the most high [and
rabbukumu l-a'ld]" Q_ 79:24; see also
blasphemy), and only rarely in Medinan
verses. On the contrary, the term Allah,
known to the Meccans prior to Muham-
mad as a proper name for God, is attested
in pre-Islamic poetry and pre-Islamic per-
sonal names. In all probability it is a con-
traction of al-ildh which, itself, is never
used in the Qur'an, though the form ildh,
without the definite article but in a genitive
construction, is employed to denote a spe-
cific deity as in "the deity of the people,"
ildh al-nds, p_ 114:3, used interchangeably
with "the lord of the people," rabb al-nds,
q 114:1). The term Allah occurs very rarely
in the first Meccan period, is still infre-
quent throughout the second and into the
third Meccan periods but finally becomes
so dominant that it appears on average
about every five verses in the Medinan
suras. The Merciful [al-rahmdn, probably
derived from the personal name for God in
southern and central Arabian usage),
makes a strong entry into the qur'anic vo-

cabulary for God in the second Meccan
period but then is almost entirely sub-
sumed by "Allah," except for its inclusion
(albeit in a subordinate position to Allah) in
the formula of the basmala (p_ 27:30) that
becomes the introductory verse to each
qur'anic chapter except o_ g.

One crucial stage of transition toward
the breakthrough of the finally dominant
"Allah" may be traced in God's declaration
of his unicity before Moses (p_ 20:12-4; cf.
27:8-9). Immediately following the declara-
tion, "I am your Lord" (innam and rabbuka,
Q_ 20:12), the name Allah is affirmed by the
first form of the emphatic, "I, I am God
(innam and Ildh), there is no deity save me"
[la ildha ilia and, Q_ 20:14) in a passage that
belongs to the second Meccan period. This
verse is chronologically later than sura 7g
including Pharaoh's blasphemous utter-
ance, "I am your Lord the most high" [and
rabbukum al-a'ld, Q_ 79:24). After Q_ 20:12 the
use of rabb decreases noticeably in fre-
quency, while the affirmations, "there is no
deity save me" [la ildha ilia and, in late Mec-
can verses, i.e. Q 16:2; 20:14; 21:25) and
"there is no deity save him" [Id ildha ilia
huwa, in late Meccan verses, i.e. o_ 28:70,
88, and increasingly in Medinan verses, i.e.
Q_ 2:163, 255; 3:6, 18) occur repeatedly.
Since rabb was applied to a variety of dei-
ties in pre-Islamic Arabia, it proved less
suitable to serve as the name for the one
God of Muhammad's monotheistic mes-
sage than Allah, a name that by its very
nature is definite and unique. An explana-
tion for the rare occurrence of Allah in the
early Meccan suras may also be found in
the possibility of Muhammad's original
reluctance to adopt any name associated
with polytheistic practices as a proper
name for a supreme God. For pre-Islamic
Arabs swore solemn oaths "by Allah" [bi-
lldhi, o_ 6:109; 16:38; 35:42), worshipped
Allah as creator and supreme provider

(a 13:16-7; 29:60-3; 31:25; 39:38; 43:9, 87)

CHRONOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

330

and asserted Allah to have a kinship with
the jinn (cf. Q_ 6:100, 128; 37:158; 72:6) and
a relationship to subordinate deities such as
al-'Uzza, Manat and al-Lat, identified as
his daughters (cf. Q_ 53:19-21; 16:57; 37:149),
and others anonymously as his sons
(kharaqu la-hu banina wa-handt, o_ 6:100). The
sheer amount of references to God in the
Qur'an, which number in the thousands,
makes it difficult to develop a precise curve
of chronological development. Neverthe-
less, the overwhelming inner-qur'anic evi-
dence suggests that Muhammad moved
from a forceful personal experience of God
who could be addressed as "my Lord"
(rabbi), to a conception of the unique god-
head of Allah, the one and only God of his
message (la ilaha ilia lldh), to whom a great
number of epithets and attributes (al-asma'
al-husnd) were applied in the Qur'an (see
GOD AND HIS ATTRIBUTES).

The figure of Abraham (q.v., Ibrahim),
who appears with many details of his story
in twenty-five suras, also provides an im-
portant touchstone for inner-qur'anic
chronology. In the first Meccan period the
"sheets" (suhuf) of Abraham are cited as
previously revealed scriptures and Abra-
ham stands as a prophetic figure next to
Moses (o 87:18-9). In the second and third
Meccan periods Abraham is identified as
"a prophet, speaking the truth" (siddiqan
nabiyyan, Q_ 19:41) and depicted in detail as
a staunch monotheist who attacks the idol-
worship of his father and his people
(ft 37 : 83-98; 26:69-89; 19:41-50; 43:26-8;
21:51-73; 29:16-27; 6:74-84; see IDOLATRY
AND IDOLATERS; POLYTHEISM AND ATHEISM).
Next to many other details (e.g. Abraham's
rescue from the fire and his intercession for
his idolatrous father), the same periods also
record men sent by God to visit Abraham
and to announce the punishment imposed
on Lot's people (o_ 51:24-34; 15:51-60;
11:69-76; 29:31-2). They also refer to
Abraham's near sacrifice of his son

(ft 37:100-11), ordinarily understood to be
Isaac (q.v.) on account of Q_ 37:112-3 and,
anonymously, o_ 51:28 and 15:53. In the
Medinan suras, Abraham, supported by his
son Ishmael, erects the Ka'ba in Mecca as
a place of pure monotheistic belief and as
a center of pilgrimage (q.v; cf. o 2:124-41;
3:65-8, 95-7; 6:125; 22:26-9, 78). Called em-
phatically a "true monotheist" (hanif), who
did not belong to the idolaters {mushrikun,
cf- ft 2:135; 3:67, 95; 4:125; 22:31, 78) and
mentioned once as God's friend (khalil,
Q_ 4:125), Abraham becomes the exemplary
prototype for Muhammad who identifies
the religion he himself proclaims as "the
religion of Abraham" {millat Ibrahim,
ft 2:130, 135; 4:125; 6:161; 16:123).

The characteristic features of the qur-
'anic story of Abraham have been the sub-
ject of much scholarly research by Snouck
Hurgronje (Mekkaansche feest), A.J. Wen-
sinck (Muhammad and the Jews) and Y. Mou-
barac (Abraham), and more recently R.
Firestone (Journeys). These scholars have
laid great stress on the re-interpretation of
Abraham in the Medinan suras as pro-
voked by Muhammad's break with the
Jewish tribes of Medina. Muhammad's re-
orientation to Mecca, linking the figure of
Abraham with the change of the prayer-
orientation (qibla) to Mecca, is most cer-
tainly a significant chronological incision in
the interpretation of Abraham and in the
thrust of the qur'anic message. What tends
to be de-emphasized in the chronological
analysis, especially of the Meccan verses,
however, is an indisputable fact analyzed
by E. Beck (Die Gestalt des Abraham). Ac-
cording to Beck, Abraham was already
understood in the Meccan verses as con-
nected with Mecca, prior to his association
with Ishmael in the Qur'an, and Muham-
mad had developed his idea of the millat
Ibrahim, at least initially, already at Mecca
prior to his break with the Jews of Medina.
In this perspective, some of G. Liiling's

33 1

CHRONOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

observations about Muhammad's "religion
of Abraham" (pruned of their bitterly con-
troversial aspects, cf. Wiederentdeckung,
213-303), call for a more substantive exami-
nation as to whether Muhammad pos-
sessed a distinct knowledge of Hellenistic
and Judaeo-Christian trends in Christianity
that facilitated his turning to a pre-Islamic
Arab tradition of Abraham, closer akin to
the latter, while rejecting the icon-worship
of the former.

These four examples of a detailed ap-
proach to inner-qur'anic chronology that
concentrates upon central themes — i.e.
the literary phenomenon of the discon-
nected letters, the institutional genesis of
the ritual prayer, the qur'anic development
of the proper name for God and the tradi-
tion of the prophetic figure of Abraham
and his religion — may open ways to com-
plement the standard approach to qur'anic
chronology based on the four-period classi-
fication advanced by T. Noldeke or the
three-phase hypothesis advocated by R.
Bell. The mosaic stones of such inner-
qur'anic approaches, case by case and lim-
ited to a manageable amount of verse
analysis, may help to fill the somewhat in-
distinct and conjectural framework of the
chronological approach to the Qur'an as a
whole.

Compilation of the Qur'an
As mentioned above, it is a well-known fact
that in the "completed" Qur'an, i.e. that
finally produced as Islam's holy book, the
suras are generally arranged according to
decreasing length. This order was estab-
lished in the final redaction of the written
text of the Qur'an, which reached its ca-
nonical completion many years after Mu-
hammad's death in 11/632. This process
of final redaction and canonical comple-
tion represents the history of the text from
Muhammad's last qur'anic proclamation,
shortly before his death, until the appear-

ance of the final vocalized text of the
Qur'an in the fourth/tenth century. This
history of the text moves the Qur'an from
the life of the Prophet into the life of the
Muslim community and from the princi-
pal historical author of the qur'anic mes-
sage to the chief redactors who produced
the final written version we hold in our
hands today. Due to its very nature, the
history of this process is a minefield of
chronological problems that are deeply
rooted in the highly complex and contra-
dictory evidence included in the Islamic
tradition, especially the hadlth.

After Muhammad's death, the Muslim
community faced three major tasks with
regard to establishing the Qur'an as ca-
nonical scripture: it had to collect the
text from oral and written sources, estab-
lish the consonantal skeleton of the Arabic
text (see ARABIC script) and finalize the
fully-vocalized text that came to be ac-
cepted as the canonical standard. The tra-
ditional view depicting the accomplish-
ment of these tasks covers three centuries
and telescopes the history of the text into a
basic scheme (the principal objections to
which are examined in volumes ii and iii of
Noldeke's revised Geschichte des Qorans). This
scheme proceeded on the assumptions that
Muhammad did not leave a complete writ-
ten text of the Qur'an and that the Qur'an
was preserved primarily in oral form in the
memory of a considerable number of Mu-
hammad's direct listeners with a sizeable
amount of the text having been recorded
in writing by scribes during Muhammad's
lifetime. A group of the Companions (see
companions of the prophet), led by Zayd
b. Thabit (q.v.; d. 46/665), whom Muham-
mad himself had employed as a scribe in
Medina, collected and arranged the oral
and written materials of the Qur'an in a
complete consonantal text during the sec-
ond half of the caliphate of 'Uthman (q.v.;
r. 23/644-35/656; see collection of the

CHRONOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

33*

qur'an). The final fully-vocalized text of
the Qur'an was established and completed
only in the first half of the fourth/tenth
century after different ways of reading —
either seven, ten or fourteen in number —
displaying slight variations in vocalization,
came to be tolerated and accepted as stan-
dard. In addition to these standardized
variations of vocalization, however, thou-
sands of other textual variants were re-
corded in the literatures of Islamic tra-
dition and Qur'an commentary (tafsrr
al-Qur'an), many of which cannot be found
in the myriad, complete and fragmentary,
manuscripts of the Qur'an, extant in lib-
raries all over the world (see codices of

THE QUR'AN).

It is unlikely, as is maintained in a num-
ber of early accounts, that the initial col-
lection of the Qur'an took place in the
short reign of the first caliph Abu Bakr
(11/632-13/634) at the instigation of
'Umar. 'Umar is supposed to have per-
ceived a serious threat to the integrity of
the transmission of the qur'anic text in the
many casualties at the battle of al-Yamama
because these included a number of recit-
ers (qurra') who knew the text by heart.
According to this story, Abu Bakr, though
hesitating for fear of overstepping Muham-
mad's precedent, ordered Zayd b. Thabit
to collect all of the qur'anic fragments
written on palm leaves, tablets of clay and
flat stones and "preserved in the hearts of
men" and to write them out on sheets
(suhuf) of uniform size. These written
sheets came into the possession of 'Umar
upon his accession to the caliphate in
13/634 and when he died in 23/644, his
daughter Hafsa, one of the Prophet's
widows (see wives of the prophet), inher-
ited them from him. Another account
credits the creation of the first collected
volume (mushaf) to 'Umar while yet an-
other refutes this by asserting that 'Umar
did not live to see this collection com-

pleted. The historicity of these accounts,
placing the collection of the Qur'an within
the caliphates of Abu Bakr and 'Umar, has
been challenged on the grounds that criti-
cal study shows only two of the dead at the
battle of al-Yamama actually qualified as
reciters (see reciters of the qur'an), that
'Uthman's widely-attested role in establish-
ing the official text has been intentionally
neglected and that Muhammad's role in
the preparation of the text and the scribal
work done during his lifetime have been
under-emphasized.

The most widely-accepted version of the
traditional history of the Qur'an places the
collection of the final consonantal text in
the caliphate of 'Uthman about twenty
years after Muhammad's death. The occa-
sion for the final collection of the Qur'an,
according to this account, was a military
expedition to Azerbayjan and Armenia
under the leadership of the general Hu-
dhayfa. Apparently his Muslim contingents
from Syria and those from Iraq fell into
dispute about the correct way of reciting
the Qur'an during the communal prayers.
Trying to establish order, 'Uthman ap-
pointed a commission of four respected
Meccans, presided over by Zayd b. Thabit,
to copy the "sheets" that were in Hafsa's
personal possession. Where variant read-
ings of words were encountered, they
chose the one in the dialect of the Qu-
raysh. When the scribes completed their
assignment, 'Uthman kept one copy in
Medina and sent other copies to al-Kufa,
al-Basra and Damascus. He then com-
manded that all other extant versions be
destroyed. His order, however, was not
heeded in al-Kufa by the Companion Ibn
Mas'ud (d. 32/653) and his followers. The
difficulties of this version of the story cen-
ter on essential points, namely the doubt
that accuracy in the recitation of the Qur-
'an would have caused significant unrest in
the military during the early conquests of

333

CHRONOLOGY AND THE Q_ U R AN

Islam, the widely-accepted view that the
Qur'an is not actually in the dialect of the
Quraysh (q.v.) and the improbability that
the caliph would have given an order to
destroy the already existing copies of the
Qur'an. Further, the appearance of Hafsa
in this narrative probably functions simply
as a mechanism to link the Abu Bakr/
'Umar and 'Uthman versions together and
to establish an unbroken chain of custody
for an authoritative text that remained
largely unnoticed in the community. De-
spite the difficulties in this version of the
chronology of the collection of the Qur-
'an, scholars generally accept that the offi-
cial consonantal text of the Qur'an was es-
tablished in Ufhman's caliphate and that
Zayd b. Thabit played a significant role in
effecting it.

To gain a clearer picture of the collection
of the standard consonantal text of the
Qur'an, one may have to consider the pos-
sibility of a number of factors, among
them the following: i) that Muhammad
himself had begun the work of establishing
a written version of the Qur'an without
completing it; 2) that during the first two
decades after his death, the Muslim com-
munity was focused on expansion and con-
quest rather than on standardizing the
qur'anic text; 3) that the need for a stand-
ardized text of the Qur'an manifested itself
only after local Muslim communities began
to form in the newly established garrison
cities (amsar) such as al-Kufa, al-Basra and
Damascus; and 4) that the "Uthmanic
text" established in Medina by the chief
collector Zayd b. Thabit has to be seen as a
parallel phenomenon to the codices con-
taining textual variants — all of which are
said to have been begun during Muham-
mad's lifetime — the one attributed to
'Abdallah b. Mas'ud and accepted in al-
Kufa, the one attributed to Ubayy b. Ka'b
(d. ca. 29/649) and accepted in Syria, the
one attributed to Abu Musa al-Ash'arl

(d. 42/662) and accepted in al-Basra as
well as to other "primary" codices of indi-
viduals (see A. Jeffery, Materials; see also
TEXTUAL HISTORY OF THE QUR'An). All b.
AblTalib (q.v.; d. 40/661), Muhammad's
cousin and son-in-law, is also cited in the
early sources as the first to collect the Qur-
'an after the Prophet's death. It is said
that he arranged the suras in some form of
chronological order and that he allowed
his codex to be burned when the '"Uth-
manic text" was promulgated.

While the establishment of the consonan-
tal text of the Qur'an, the '"Uthmanic
text," is intertwined with the question of
the parallel personal or metropolitan codi-
ces (masahif, see mushaf), the promulgation
of the fully vocalized text involves the
question of the various "readings" (qira'at)
of the Qur'an (see readings of the qur-
'an). Since the non-vowelized '"Uthmanic
text" was written in a "scriptio defectiva"
that was merely a consonantal skeleton
lacking diacritical marks that distinguish
certain consonants from each other, oral
recitation was needed to ascertain the in-
tended pronunciation of the text. As the
qur'anic orthography developed step by
step over more than two centuries and as
the linkage between the consonantal skele-
ton and the oral recitation became more
and more defined, the deficiencies of the
Arabic script were gradually overcome.
The variations of recitation, in the vast
majority of a minor nature, were either
reconciled or accommodated and the writ-
ten text became increasingly independent
of its linkage to oral pronunciation. This
process culminated with the "scriptio
plena," the fully-vocalized and pointed
text of the Qur'an.

This text may be considered as a "textus
receptus, ne varietur" with the proviso that
no single clearly identifiable textual speci-
men of the Qur'an was ever established or
accepted with absolute unanimity. Rather

CHRONOLOGY AND THE OUR AN

334

the final, fully-vowelized and pointed text
of the Qur'an, accepted as normative and
canonical, may best be understood as a
construct underlying the work of Abu Bakr
b. Mujahid (d. 324/936), who restricted the
recitation of the Qur'an to seven correct
readings, termed ahruf (lit. letters) on the
basis of a popular hadith. Ibn Mujahid
accepted the reading (qira'a) of seven
prominent Qur'an scholars of the second/
eighth century and declared them all as
based on divine authority. In 322/934 the
Abbasid establishment promulgated the
doctrine that these seven versions were the
only forms of the text and all others were
forbidden. Nevertheless, "three after the
seven" and "four after the ten" ways of
reading were added somewhat later to
form, respectively, ten or fourteen variant
readings. Finally, each of the ten ways of
reading was eventually accepted in two
slightly varying versions (sing, riwaya), all of
which, at least theoretically, belong within
the spectrum of the "textus receptus, ne
varietur." For all practical purposes today,
only two versions are in general use, that of
Hafs (d. 190/805) from ('an) Asim (d. 127/
744), i.e. Hafs's version of Asim's way of
reading, which received official sanction
when it was adopted by the Egyptian stan-
dard edition of the Qur'an in 1924; and
that of Warsh (d. 197/812) from ('an) Naff
(d. 169/785), i.e. Warsh's version of Naff's
way of reading, which is followed in North
Africa, with the exception of Egypt.

The hypothetical nature of the scholarly
arguments about the textual variants of the
parallel codices ultimately led those schol-
ars who most meticulously examined them
(e.g. G. Bergstrasser, O. Pretzl, A. Jeffery
and A. Fischer) to pronounce a very
guarded judgment about their authenticity.
It became the increasingly accepted schol-
arly view that most of the allegedly pre-
'Uthmanic variants could be interpreted as
later attempts by Muslim philologists to

emend the "'Uthmanic text." In the second
half of this century two scholars came to
the conclusion that these "codices" were
virtual fabrications of early Muslim schol-
arship without offering, however, substan-
tive and irrefutable proof for their claims.
Arguing in opposite directions, J. Wans-
brough (qs) concluded that the Qur'an was
not compiled until two to three hundred
years after Muhammad's death while
J. Burton contended that Muhammad him-
self had already established the final edi-
tion of the consonantal text of the Qur'an.
Such widely-differing hypotheses, as well as
the fact that there is no single uniform text
of the Qur'an that would represent a text-
critical edition composed on the basis of
the essential extant manuscripts and the
critically evaluated variant readings, dem-
onstrate that much of the chronological
reconstruction of the Qur'an 's fixation as a
written text has reached an impasse. Only
the future will tell whether a possible com-
puter analysis (see computers and the
qur'an) of the sheer mass of textual mate-
rial may enable scholarly research to dev-
elop a more consistent picture of the Qur-
'an 's textual chronology.

Certain breakthroughs with regard to
qur'anic chronology, however, may be
achieved through a more systematic chron-
ological analysis of the major themes with-
in the Qur'an such as the four examples
cited in this survey. Another challenge
might be a more consistent search for an
Ur-Qur'an, initiated by G. Liiling, that
would reopen scholarly debate about the
sources of Muhammad's proclamation and
whether he only began to produce religious
rhymed prose after the defining religious
experience that the sources identify as his
call to prophethood, an event that took
place when he was a man of about forty
years of age. Searching the text for seg-
ments that could antedate this experience
may reveal their roots in usages of religious

:',:',:->

C HURG H

worship and liturgy within the Arab envi-
ronment in which Muhammad grew up
and reached his maturity. Finally, it may
be necessary for scholarly research to es-
pouse more unequivocally the view that
Muhammad was not the mere mouth-
piece of the Qur'an's proclamation but,
as its actual historical human author,
played a major role in its collection and
compilation.

Gerhard Bowering

Bibliography
Primary: Ibn Ishaq-Guillaume; TabarT, Ta'nkh.
Secondary: T. Andrae, Mohammed, the man and his

faith, New York 1936; E. Beck, Der ( utmanische
Kodex in der Koranlesung des zweiten

Jahrhunderts, in Orientalia 14 (1945), 355 - 73! id.,
Die Gestalt des Abraham am Wendepunkt der
Entwicklung Muhammeds, in Museon 65 (1952),
73-94; R. Bell, The origin of Istam in its Christian
environment, London 1926; Blachere, Introduction,
1977 s ; E Buhl, Das Leben Mohammeds, Heidelberg
1961; Burton, Collection; R. Firestone, Journeys in
holy lands, New York 1990; Goldziher, Richtungen;
H. Grimme, Mohammed, 2 vols., Aschendorff
1892-5; H. Hirschfeld, .New researches into the
composition and exegesis of the Qoran, London 1902;
Horovitz, ku; Jeffery, For. vocab.; id., Materials; id.,
The Quran as scripture, New York 1952; J. Jomier,
Le nom divin al-Rahman dans le Goran, in
Institut Francais d'Etudes Arabes en Damas,
Melanges Louis Massignon, 3 vols., Damascus
1957, ii, 361-81; G. Liiling, Uber den Ur-Qilr'an,
Erlangen 1974; id., Die Wiederentdeckung des
Propheten Muhammad, Erlangen 1981; Y
Moubarac, Abraham dans le Coran, Paris 1958; W.
Muir, The Coran. Its composition and teaching,
London 1878; Nagel; Noldeke, oq; Paret,
Kommentar; id., Der Koran, Darmstadt 1975; id.,
Mohammed und der Koran, Stuttgart 1957; G.
Snouck Hurgronje, Het Mekkaansche feest, Leiden
1880; Speyer, Erzdhlungen, repr. Hildesheim 1961;
A. Sprenger, Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammed,
3 vols., Berlin 1861-5; C.C. Torrey, The Jewish

foundation of Islam, New York 1933; Wansbrough,
os; W.M. Watt, Muhammad at Mecca, Oxford
1953; id., Muhammad at Medina, Oxford 1956;
Watt-Bell, Introduction; G. Weil, Historisch-kritische
Einleitung in den Koran, Bielefeld 1844 ; A.J.
Wensinck, Muhammad and the Jews of Medina,
Freiburg 1975.

Church

Building in which public Christian reli-
gious services occur. Christian churches,
shrines, monasteries and other institutions
were common in the territories inhabited
by Arabic-speaking peoples in the world
in which Islam was born. In the early Is-
lamic period both Muslims and Christians
regularly used the word kamsa to mean
"church" and sometimes "synagogue." Al-
though this conventional Arabic word for
church does not appear in the Quran,
there is one verse that has been interpreted
as referring to churches. In o_ 22:40,
churches (biya') are mentioned along with
monasteries (sawami'), synagogues (salawat,
see jews and Judaism) and mosques [tnasa-
jid, see mosojje) as places "in which God's
name is mentioned frequently." The Ara-
bic noun bi'a (pi. biya') that appears in this
verse very probably came into the lan-
guage from Syriac where the cognate
word, bi'ta, means simply "egg." The egg-
shaped dome found on many shrines and
churches in the geographical milieu of
early Islam is thought by many commenta-
tors to explain the appropriation of the
word to mean "church" in Arabic already
in pre-Islamic times. In the qur'anic com-
mentary (tafsir) literature, the word kamsa is
used by the earliest exegetes to gloss the
more obscure term bi'a.

In addition to numerous references to
churches in the documentary sources such
as early Arabic poetry, inscriptions and the
capitulation treaties of numerous cities at
the time of the Islamic conquest, there is
an increasingly abundant archaeological
record of churches in the Arabian milieu
well into early Islamic times (see south
ARABIA, RELIGION IN PRE-ISLAMIC). Their
ruins have been discovered in south Ara-
bia, east of the Jordan river, in the modern
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, in Syria
and in Iraq as well as in Palestine and in

CIRCUMCISION

336

the Sinai peninsula. Of particular signifi-
cance are the shrine churches of Syria such
as those at Qal'at Sim'an and Rusafa (Ser-
giopolis), the memorials of St. Simeon the
Stylite the Elder and of St. Sergius the
Martyr respectively where, according to
the sources, in the sixth and seventh cen-
turies Arab Christians were among the
numerous pilgrims who thronged to these
sites. Similarly important in early Islamic
times would have been the smaller
churches and chapels of the numerous
monastic establishments that were located
on the periphery of the Arabian desert (see
monasticism and monks). Not only did
Muslims and Christians sometimes both
worship in them, but as a result of the
practice of visiting monasteries for a mea-
sure of rest and recreation, a sub-genre of
Arabic-Islamic poetry, "On Monasteries"
(al-diyarat), soon developed. While these
compositions had wine (see intoxicants)
and revelry as their principal themes, they
did often mention in passing some aspects
of the ecclesiastical structures in which
they found their settings.

Churches also figured in early Islamic
legal texts, particularly those concerned
with spelling out the stipulations (shurut) in
the observance of which the subject Chris-
tian populations were allowed to live under
the protection (dhimma, see protection) of
the Islamic community in return for the
payment of the capitation tax [jizya, see
taxation) and the maintenance of a low
social profile as the Qur'an requires (cf.
Q_ 9:29; see law and the qur'an). Speci-
fically, new church construction was often
theoretically prohibited as were repairs to
existing structures. Churches were required
to be no taller or more sumptuous in pre-
sentation than neighboring mosques and
they were not allowed to display crosses,
icons or other troublesome decorations
(see iconoclasm). They were forbidden to
ring bells or to sponsor public parades or

processions or in any other way to draw
public attention to themselves. See also
CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIANITY.

Sidney H. Griffith

Bibliography
Primary: al-ShabushtT, Kitab al-Diyarat, ed. J.
Awwad, Baghdad 1966; al-Tabarl, TafsiT, xvii,
112-5.

Secondary: Y. Calvet, Monuments paleo-
chretiens a Koweit et dans la region du Golfe, in
R. Lavenant, Symposium Syriacum VII, OCA, 256,
Rome 1998, 671-85; A. Fattal, Le stalut legal des
non-musulmans en pays d'islam, Beirut 1958; Jeffery,
For. vocab.; R. Schick, The Christian communities of
Palestine from Byzantine to Islamic rule, Princeton
1995; I. Shahid, Arab Christian pilgrimages in
the proto-Byzantine period (v-vii centuries), in
D. Frankfurter, Pilgrimage and holy space in late
antique Egypt, Leiden 1998, 373-89; G. Troupeau,
Kanlsa, in EI 2 , iv, 545-6; id., Les couvents
chretiens dans la litterature arabe, in la nouvelle
revue de Caire 1 (1975), 265-79; Wensinck,
Concordance, Leiden 1936-88.

Cinema and the Qur'an see media

AND THE QUR'AN

Circumambulation see ka'ba;

PILURIMAOE

Circumcision

The removal of the foreskin of the penis
or, in the case of females, of the internal
labia. Male circumcision is denoted in
Arabic by the term khitan, and sometimes
by tahara, "purity." For female circumci-
sion, the term usually employed is khafd,
"reduction," i.e. of the clitoris. Circumci-
sion of either type is nowhere mentioned
in the Qur'an but was practiced by pre-
Islamic Arabs and is mentioned in poetry
(see PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA AND THE Q_UR'an;
POETRY AND POETs).

There are two qur'anic occurrences of
the plural form of an Arabic term (aghlaf,

337

CIRCUMCISION

pi. ghulf) that can mean uncircumcised.
"They [the Jews] say: 'Our hearts are
hardened (qulubuna ghulf ).' Indeed, God
has cursed them for their unbelief. Little is
that which they believe" (q 2:88; cf. 4:155).
According to the qur'anic exegete Ibn
Kathlr (d. 774/1373; Tafsir, ad loc), the ref-
erence in q 2:88 and 4:155 is to Jewish
hearts as "wrappings" of God's word. Al-
though ironic for its semantic relation to
foreskin (ghulfa), the word probably does
not intend the sense of uncircumcised in its
qur'anic occurrences (but cf. Lev 26:41,
which refers to sinful Israelites with uncir-
cumcised hearts and Jer 10:25-6, concern-
ing "all those who are circumcised [i.e. in
the flesh] but still uncircumcised [in the
heart]").

To be uncircumcised (aghral or aghlafi)
was considered a disgrace among pre-
Islamic Arabs. According to the biogra-
pher of the Prophet, Ibn Ishaq (d. ca. 150/
767; Sua, ii, 450; Ibn Ishaq-Guillaume,
572), during the battle of Hunayn (q.v.) in
the year 8/630, the corpse of a young
enemy warrior was discovered by one of
the Helpers (ansdr, those inhabitants of
Medina who assisted Muhammed as he
emigrated from Mecca to Medina; see
emigrants and helpers) to be uncircum-
cised (aghral). The discoverer of the dead
man's anomalous condition "shouted at
the top of his voice: 'O, fellow Arabs! God
knows that Thaqlf are uncircumcised!'"
Fearing that the report would spread
among the Arabs, a comrade took the
shouter's hand and said that the deceased
was only a Christian slave. Upon examina-
tion, it was discovered that other slain
soldiers were properly circumcised Arabs,
albeit worshippers of al-Lat (see IDOLS AND
images) rather than of God.

The notion of fitra, which has the sense of
humankind's natural disposition or char-
acter as created by God (mentioned once
in the Qur'an at q 30:30), figures in later

references to circumcision. The details of
this disposition are given in the hadlth:
"Five are the acts of fitra: circumcision
(khitan), shaving the pubes, clipping the
moustache, cutting the nails, plucking the
hair under the armpits" (Abu Hurayra as
reported by Muslim; cf. Nawawl, Sahlh
Muslim. R. al-Tahdra. B. Rhisdl alfitra, iii,
146; Muslim, Sahlh [Eng. trans.], i, 159).
Abraham's (q.v.) circumcision is also re-
ported in the hadlth literature. Muslim
(d. ca. 261/875) relates:... "Abraham cir-
cumcised himself (ukhtatana) by means of
an adz (bi-l-qadum) at the age of eighty"
(Nawawl, Sahlh Muslim. R. al-Fadd'il, xv,
122). Some scholars have attempted to dis-
cern circumcision in the Qur'an by refer-
ring to q 3:95 where Abraham is declared
to have been a hamfi (q.v.) and not a poly-
theist (see polytheism and atheism), but
D.S. Margoliouth (Circumcision) objects
that the passage says nothing about any
particular ritual obligations (see ritual
purity).

The question of whether circumcision is
absolutely required of Muslims was ad-
dressed by classical jurisconsults with vary-
ing opinions. For example, al-Shafi'l (d. ca.
204/820) considered it obligatory for both
males and females (see al-Nawawl's com-
mentary in Nawawi, Sahih Muslim. R. al-
Tahdra, iii, 148; for an English translation
of the passage, see A.J. Wensinck, Khitan).
Some jurists consider circumcision to be a
recommended (surma) rather than an obli-
gatory (wdjib) practice, although custom
has usually supported it strongly, particu-
larly in the case of males (see lawful and
unlawful; law and the quR'AN). Thus,
while explicit qur'anic support is lacking,
the strong support for circumcision in the
Islamic tradition suggests that it was sim-
ply assumed by Muhammad and his
community.

Frederick Mathewson Denny

338

Bibliography
Primary: Ibn Ishaq, Sua, Cairo 1955; Ibn Ishaq-
Guillaume; Ibn Kathlr, Tafsir; NawawT, Sahih
Muslim bi-sharh al-Nawawi, 18 vols., Cairo 1964;
Muslim, Sahih, A.H. Siddiqi (Eng. trans.), Sahih
Muslim, Lahore 1976.

Secondary: D.S. Margoliouth, Circumcision
{Muhammadan}, in ere, iii, 677; A.J. Wensinck,
Khitan, in eF, v. 20-2.

City

An inhabited place of greater size, popula-
tion or importance than a town or a vil-
lage. Although the construction of a mon-
otheistic, just and ethical social order is a
fundamental theme running throughout
the Quran, surprisingly little is said about
the city, the most elaborate of human or-
ganizations (see COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

in the qjjr'an; social interactions;
social relations). Even the city of Yath-
rib, which was at that time being refash-
ioned as madinat rasiil Allah, the "city of the
messenger of God" (i.e. Muhammad), is
mentioned only four times — at Q_ g:ioi,
120; 33:60; 63:8 — and in each instance
is termed al-Madlna, i.e. "the city" (see
Medina). References to cities in the Quran
are typically laconic, non-specific and
oblique. One of two terms — qarya and
madina — is always used to designate a city.
A third term, ddr, which generally means
"abode," is ordinarily employed with a
qualifier to designate the House of God
(see house-domestic and divine) or the
hereafter (see eschatology; resur-
rection) but at least once (p_ 59:9) it ap-
pears to indicate Yathrib at the time of
the emigration from Mecca (hijra, see emi-
gration; Mecca). Qarya, clearly the pre-
ferred term, occurs a total of 56 times. Ma-
dina with its more meaningful etymological
connections to religion (dm), judge or gov-
ernor (dayyan) and civilization (madaniyya),
appears only 17 times. In two cases —
Q_ 18:77, 82 and 36:13, 20 — qarya and
madina seem to have been used synony-

mously. This makes it difficult to assert that
the Qur'an originally drew the distinction
that later developed in Islamic thought
whereby madina became the term for the
city as the center of religiously and politi-
cally structured social life while qarya re-
ceded to mean a village or any small hu-
man agglomeration.

Madina occurs 14 times in the singular
form, four of which — Q_ 9:101, 120; 33:60;
63:8 — are in reference to madinat rasul
Allah, as Yathrib became known after the
Prophet's emigration (hijra). It also appears
three times in the plural (mada'in), always
in reference to a gathering of the sorcerers
from the cities of Egypt (q.v.) in the context
of the story of Moses (q.v.) and Pharaoh
(q.v.). Of the 56 times that qarya appears,
37 are in the singular form, one followed by
the second person masculine singular pos-
sessive, "qaryataka, " (in reference to Mecca),
two by the second person masculine plural
possessive, "qaryatakum" and one by the first
person plural possessive "qaryatana. " It also
occurs once in the dual form "qaryatayn"
(°- 43 : 3 : )> which seems to refer to the two
cities of Mecca and Ta'if and 18 times in
the plural "qurd, " two of them (q_ 6:92 and
42:7) in the form umm al-qura, "the mother
of cities." This epithet seems to have been
applied to Mecca, although in one instance
(q_ 28:59) the expression refers to some
other capital to which God sent a mes-
senger (q.v.) to warn a group of cities (see
also warning).

Most references to qarya and madina occur
in conjunction with the parables of past
nations. In the majority of instances, the
qarya is described as an insidious environ-
ment: Its people revel in excess and perver-
sion, ignore their religious duties and chase
out God's prophets (see punishment stor-
ies; prophets and prophethood). They
therefore deserve God's fire and brimstone,
not because of their status as cities, but
because they usually reject God's warning
delivered by his messengers (see chas-

:!:;<)

tisement and punishment). This negative
impression of cities in the Qur'an influ-
enced many early Islamic views expressed
in hadlth, exegesis (tafsir) and belles-lettres
(adab) and even found its way into later
legal (fiqh) discourses, the main objective
of which was to regulate the Islamic urban
order (see LAW AND THE qur'an).

Nasser Rabbat

Bibliography
T. Khalidl, Some classical Islamic views of the
city, in W. al-QadT (ed.), Stadia Arabica et Islamica.
Festschrift for Ihsan 'Abbas, Beirut 1981, 265-76;
J.M. Rogers, Innovation and continuity in
Islamic urbanism, in I. Sarageldin and S.
el-Sadek (eds.), The Arab city. Its character and
Islamic cultural heritage, Medina 1982, 53-9; R-
al-Sayyid, al-Madlna wa-1-dawla fl 1-Islam.
Dirasa fl ru'yatay al-Mawardl wa-Ibn Khaldun,
in al-Abhdth 34 (1986), 67-85; J. Wellhausen,
Skizzen and Vorarbeiten, 6 vols., Berlin 1889, iv
(see Medina vor dem Islam and Die
Gemeindeordnung Muhammeds).

Civil Society see politics and the
qur'an; community and society in the
qur'an

Clans and Tribes see tribes and clans

Clay

An earthy material, plastic when moist but
hard when baked or fired. There are
twelve references to clay (tin); four to "re-
sounding" clay (salsal); three to petrified
clay (sijjil); and one to baked clay or earth-
enware (fakhkhdr) . Whereas salsal is pure
Arabic, tin and fakhkhdr are probably Syriac
loan words and sijjil is almost certainly Per-
sian (see foreign vocabulary).

Etymology
Arabic lexicographers derive tin from the
verb tana, "to plaster with clay" (said of a
roof or wall) or "to seal with clay" (said of

a written document). However, this verb,
which is not found in the Qur'an, is clearly
denominal. Most European scholars as-
sume that the substantive tin is a loan
word, although its occurrence in early
poetry may indicate that it was already in
circulation in pre-Islamic times (Jeffery,
For. vocab., 208). The most plausible deriva-
tion is from the Syriac find which likewise
means simply "clay." The noun salsal is
derived from the Arabic verb salsala, "to
make repeated sounds." It denotes dry clay
that has not been baked but which makes a
sound when struck (Tabari, Tafsir, xxvii,
73). The noun fakhkhdr cannot be derived
from the Arabic verb fakhara which means
"to boast." There is consensus among the
classical commentators that the noun de-
notes baked clay or earthenware. It is
probably derived from pahdrd, the Syriac
term for potter. As sijjil is used interchange-
ably with tin (q 11:82; 15:74; cf. 51:33), it
must have a similar meaning. It is widely
acknowledged that it is the Arabicized
form of sdng-i gil, a Persian expression
denoting stones of clay or petrified clay.

The creation of humankind from clay
There are eight references to the creation
of humankind from clay (o 6:2; 7:12; 17:61;
23:12; 32:7; 37:11; 38:71, 76); three to their
creation from "resounding" clay (q 15:26,
28, 33) and one to their creation from "re-
sounding clay like earthenware" (q 55:14).
Most of the passages refer to the creation
of the first human being, although in
Q 6:2, it is the Prophet's contemporaries
who are envisaged (see biology as the
CREATION AND STAGES OF LIFE).

The ancient Egyptians depicted Knum,
the ram-god of Elephantine, as fashioning
man on a potter's wheel and the Bible,
which speaks of God creating man from
the earth {Gen 2:7), likens human beings to
pots in his hands (e.g. Jer 18:6, Rom 9:21). In
the Qur'an, however, the emphasis is on
humankind's base origins rather than their

340

malleability or fragility. According to Ibn
'Abbas (an early exegete to whom much
material is ascribed, d. 68/688), Adam's
body lay prostrate for 40 nights after God
had fashioned it. Then Iblls (the devil)
came along and kicked it with his foot and
it resounded (Tabarl, Tafsir, xxvii, 73).

At Q_ 23:12, God says "We have created
humankind from a sulala of clay." A stand-
ard exegetical work glosses this as "He ex-
tracted him from it and it is his essence"
(Jaldlayn, 452). Hence most translators as-
sume that sulala means "an extract." How-
ever, the word occurs elsewhere in the
Qur'an only at o_ 32:8 where it clearly
means "semen." Bell therefore suggests
that o_ 23:12-4 was an early revelation
which originally referred to natural procre-
ation and that the words "of clay" (min
tinin) were added to make it rhyme when it
was inserted in its present context (Watt-
Bell, Introduction, 90-1; see blood and
BLOOD CLOT).

Clay projectiles
God is said to have punished Lot's (q.v.)
people by sending his angels to rain "peb-
bles of clay" (q_ 51:33) or "pebbles of petri-
fied clay" (q_ 11:82; 15:74) upon them (see
punishment stories). This corresponds to
the biblical account of their destruction by
showers of brimstone [Gen 19:24). It is con-
ceivable that the phenomenon in question
was occasioned by a volcanic irruption but
Ahmad All goes too far when he translates
sijjil as "hardened lava." God is also said to
have sent flocks of birds to hurl "pebbles of
petrified clay" at the owners of the elephant
(o_ 105:3-4; see abraha). Some modernists
have been reluctant to admit that the Qur-
an contains legends of this sort and have
therefore attempted to interpret these verses
in the light of modern science (see exege-
sis OF THE QUR'an: EARLY MODERN AND

contemporary; mythic and legendary
narratives). M. Asad, for example, notes

correctly that the word which is usually
translated "birds" simply means "flying
creatures" and could therefore denote in-
sects. As there is a tradition that smallpox
first appeared in Mecca (q.v.) in the year of
the expedition of the elephant (see Muham-
mad; expeditions and battles; chronol-
ogy and THE qur'an), he therefore argues
that the Qur'an is at this point referring to
an insect-born disease. Then, ingeniously,
but most implausibly, he connects sijjil with
sijill, a word which means a scroll (see
scrolls) or written decree, and renders
the passage "Thus, he let loose upon them
great swarms of flying creatures which smote
them with stone-hard blows of chastisement
pre-ordained."

Other passages
Two Medinan verses relate how Jesus (q.v.)
fashioned birds from clay (q_ 3:49; 5:110). A
similar miracle (q.v.) is attributed to him in
an apocryphal gospel known as the Infancy
story of Thomas (see christians and Chris-
tianity; SCRIPTURE AND THE QUR'an).
Whereas Christians interpreted Jesus'
action as proof of his divinity (Ibn Ishaq-
Guillaume, 271) because it resembled
God's initial creation of humankind, the
Qur'an stresses that it was a sign which
Jesus performed with God's permission
(see creation; signs). There is no justifica-
tion for eliminating the supernatural ele-
ment as M. Asad, Ahmad All and other
modernist translators have done by giving
the impression that Jesus, rather than fash-
ioning birds from clay, moulded his disci-
ples' destiny.

Finally, in one passage, Pharaoh (q.v.) is
said to have ordered Hainan to fire clay for
him and build a lofty palace so that he
could mount up to the God of Moses
(q.v.; Q_ 28:38). This episode resembles the
biblical story of the Tower of Babel (Gen
11), which contains a mocking allusion to
the ziggurats of ancient Mesopotamia.

34i

CLEANLINESS AND ABLUTION

However, the pharaonic building projects
were equally extravagant. According to the
early exegete Qatada (d. 117/735), Pharaoh
was the first person to have bricks made in
this way (Tabarl, Tafsir, xx, 49).

Neal Robinson

Bibliography
Primary: Ahmad ( All, al-Qjir'dn. A contemporary
translation, Karachi 1984, Princeton I988- 5 ; Ibn
Ishaq-Guillaume; Jaldlayn; TabarT, Tafsir.
Secondary: M. Asad, The message of the Qiir'dn,
Gibraltar 1980; E. Hennecke, New Testament
Apocrypha, 2 vols., London 1963, i; Jeffery, For.
vocab.; T. O'Shaughnessy, Man's creation from
clay and from seed in the Qur'an, in Boletin de la
Asociation Espafiola de Orientalistas 7 (1971), 131-49;
N. Robinson, Creating birds from clay. A miracle
of Jesus in the Qur'an and classical Muslim
exegesis, in A/W'79.1 (1989), 1-13; id., Christ in
Islam and Christianity. The representation of Jesus in
the Qur'an and the classical Muslim commentaries,
London 1991; id., Sectarian and ideological bias
in English translations of the Qur'an by Muslims,
in Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 8 (1997),
261-78; Watt-Bell, Introduction.

Cleanliness and Ablution

Cleanliness, the quality of keeping oneself
free from defilement; ablution, an often-
times ritual process by which one is puri-
fied. The concepts of cleanliness and ablu-
tion are represented in the Qur'an both by
a small set of specific injunctions regarding
purity practices and by a vocabulary of pu-
rity with ethical and spiritual dimensions
(see purity and impurity; ritual purity).
The Qur'an 's specific directions regard-
ing ablutions and the occasions on which
these must be performed are concentrated
largely in two lengthy verses, Q_ 4:43 and
o 5:6. Q_ 4:43 opens by instructing the be-
lievers not to "approach" prayer when they
are intoxicated (sukara) or sexually polluted
(junub), a command that suggested to com-
mentators an early date of revelation pre-
ceding the definitive proscription of wine

(see intoxicants; lawful and unlawful).
Those who are intoxicated are to wait until
they are cognizant of what they say, while
those who are sexually polluted must wait
until they have "washed" (hatta taghtasilu),
understood as a reference to the full-body
ablutions known in the legal literature
(fiqh) as ghusl. An exception to the require-
ment of washing is made for those who are
"passing on the road" (ilia 'abiri sabil) . This
dispensation is commonly interpreted in
two ways: Some commentators explain it
as an allusion to the traveler's prerogative
of performing substitute ablutions with
dust (tayammum) when water is unavailable,
while others argue that one does not "ap-
proach" the act of prayer (q.v.), thus infer-
ring that one must not enter places of
prayer (i.e. mosques, see mosq_ue) in a state
of sexual pollution except when passing on
a journey (q.v.).

Q_ 5:6 begins with a detailed description of
the minor ablutions known to the juridical
literature as wudii': "O believers! When you
rise to pray, wash your faces and your
hands up to the elbows, and wipe your
heads and your feet up to the ankles." It
then instructs those who are in a state of
sexual pollution (junub) to purify them-
selves (ittahharu). These apparently simple
and explicit instructions contain several
points which emerged as major interpre-
tive controversy among jurists and writers
of exegetical works (tafsir). These include
the verse's opening injunction to perform
aWu'when they rise to pray, which in its
most literal meaning would contradict the
almost universal understanding that one
must perform wudu' only if in a state of
minor impurity. Most commentators have
understood this command to be qualified
in light of the verse's later reference to
"coming from the privy" and "touching
women" while others have interpreted it as
a reference to "rising" from sleep. Yet other
interpreters accept a literal understanding

CLEANLINESS AND ABLUTION

34*

of the verse's wording while rejecting its
legal implications. Thus, some hold that
the Prophet was originally enjoined to per-
form the minor ablutions before every
prayer but that, this requirement proving
onerous, it was abrogated (mansukh) at the
time of the conquest of Mecca (q.v.). Oth-
ers argue that the directive to perform ab-
lutions before every prayer was directed
exclusively to the Prophet or that it is di-
rected at all believers but represents a rec-
ommendation rather than a command (cf.
J. Burton, The practice of wudu\ 32).

Questions have also been raised by the
syntactical structure of the verse's instruc-
tion to "wash your faces and your hands
up to the elbows and wipe your heads and
your feet." The most obvious reading
would place "feet" in apposition to "heads"
and thus imply that the feet are to be wiped.
This reading was early rejected by Sunn!
commentators who believed that the feet
were to be washed and accordingly read
"feet" in apposition to "hands." Because
Shi'l interpretations rejected this under-
standing, the washing or wiping of the feet
came to be among the most visible every-
day ritual distinctions between Sunnls and
Shfls, starting in the early Islamic period
(see SHl'lSM AND THE QJJR'an).

Verses o 4:43 and o 5:6 then continue
identically enumerating a series of situa-
tions understood to be the occasions of
pollution ("coming from the privy," i.e. uri-
nation and defecation, and "touching
women," variously understood as sexual
intercourse or simple skin-to-skin contact)
and the special circumstances (illness and
travel) under which one is entitled to per-
form symbolic ablutions with dust (tayam-
mum). Each verse then ends with a refer-
ence to the clemency of God.

These two lengthy verses opened a num-
ber of questions debated by exegetes and
jurists not only because of their syntactic
and semantic complexity but because of

their apparent interrelation. Some com-
mentators argue that Q_ 4:43 was abrogated
(mansukh) by C) 5:6, a chronological se-
quence suggested by o_ 4:43's apparent
reference to the use of intoxicants (see
abrogation). Further complication is in-
troduced by a well-known tradition from
the Prophet's wife A'isha bint Abi Bakr
(q.v.), in which her search for a misplaced
necklace detains a caravan in a waterless
spot and prompts the revelation of the
"verse of tayammum" (see occasions of
revelation). Commentators are generally
undecided about which of the two verses
is intended since both contain the dispen-
sation relating to tayammum. Perhaps the
"verse of tayammum" of the tradition
should in fact be understood as the seg-
ment on tayammum shared by o_ 4:43 and

Purity practices are also addressed in a
small number of other verses. Q_ 2:222
instructs men to "avoid" (i'tazilu, see abs-
tinence) women during their menstrual
periods, a command understood in the ex-
egetical tradition to prohibit only sexual in-
tercourse (in contrast with the comprehen-
sive avoidance practiced by Zoroastrians
and/or Jews). The praise of "those who
purify themselves" (al-muttahhinn) in
p_ 9:108, although it seems to invite a meta-
phorical interpretation, is traditionally un-
derstood to refer to the practice of cleans-
ing the affected parts with water after
relieving oneself. A widespread hadlth
identifies as the people of the Mosque of
Qiiba' the verse's "men who love to purify
themselves" and who merit the right to
stand in the "mosque founded upon piety."
They are said to have learned this form of
purification from neighboring Jews (see
jews and Judaism), q 9:28, which identifies
polytheists as "unclean" (najas, see con-
tamination) and bars them from the
Sacred Mosque (i.e. that of Mecca), is un-
derstood in the SunnI tradition either as a

343

CLEANLINESS AND ABLUTION

metaphorical reference to moral turpitude
or as an allusion to chronic sexual pollu-
tion resulting from the failure to perform
ablutions. The Twelver Shit tradition, in
contrast, has embraced a literal under-
standing that non-believers are substan-
tively impure (see belief and unbelief;

POLYTHEISM AND ATHEISM).

The verses enjoining specific purity prac-
tices occur in Medinan chapters although
the practice of ablution was traditionally
understood to have been introduced to the
Prophet by the angel Gabriel (q.v.), along
with prayer, at the beginning of his mission
(cf. Ibn Ishaq-Guillaume, 112). In general,
the qur'anic chapters which contain the
verses describing purity practices are suras
thematically concerned with the definition
of community boundaries, containing a
high proportion of references to defining
ritual practices (prayer, pilgrimage [q.v.],
fasting [q.v.], alms [see almsgiving]) and to
relations with non-believers and members
of other religious communities (see com-
munity and society). The Qur'an's provi-
sions regarding ritual purity seem to be
thematically linked with the concept of the
covenant (q.v.) which is also strongly repre-
sented in the relevant chapters. This link-
age is reflected in the end of Q_ 5:6 and the
opening of p_ 5:7 which conclude the in-
structions regarding ablutions by stating:
"God does not wish to burden you, but to
purify you and to complete his favor to
you, so that you may give thanks. Remem-
ber God's favor to you, and his covenant
which he concluded with you when you
said 'We hear and we obey'..."

The relationship between the early study
and interpretation of the qur'anic text and
the development of the Islamic law of
ritual purity seems to have been a complex
one. The centrality of qur'anic exegesis to
early legal discussion of purity practices is
demonstrated by the fact that all important
interpretive cruxes in the relevant qur'anic

verses generated juristic debates that can
be traced in the early sources. However,
the development of Islamic law (fiqh) does
not merely represent unconstrained reflec-
tion on the qur'anic text. Rather, as in the
case of the washing or wiping of the feet,
pre-existing understandings of right prac-
tice sometimes led to strained readings of
the wording of the Qur'an. The develop-
ment of fiqh must be understood to repre-
sent a living tradition of normative prac-
tice as well as exegetical refinement (see
LAW AND THE QJJR'an).

In addition to providing instructions for
the practice of ritual purity, the Qur'an
uses a terminology of purity in a number
of different contexts. Notable among these
are its description of paradise and its self-
description as a revealed book (q.v.; see
also revelation and inspiration). The
blessed in paradise will enjoy pure drink
(q_ 47:15; 76:21) and consort with pure
spouses (q_ 2:25; 3:15; 4-57); the Qur'an is a
pure scripture (o 80:14; 98:2) and is
touched by none but the pure (q_ 56:79), a
statement interpreted either as a require-
ment of ritual purity for those who touch
earthly copies of the Qur'an or as a de-
scription of the heavenly exemplar of the
Qur'an touched only by the angels (see
angel). The term "pure" (t-h-r) is also used
in an ethical context referring to sexual
and moral purity (q_ 74:4, also sometimes
interpreted in a physical sense; o_ 2:232;
7:82; 11:78; 27:56; 33:53). The literal mean-
ing of the word zakat, "alms" (etymologi-
cally derived from the root Z~k-y, "to be
pure"), is reflected in verses describing
almsgiving as purifying (o_ 9:103; 58:12).

The strong connection between the
Qur'an's purity terminology and its moral
vocabulary is exemplified by the antonyms
tayyib / khabith ("pure, pleasant, good"/"vile,
evil") and the range of their usage extends
from the purity status of foods (e.g. Q_ 5:4-5)
to general moral censure and praise. These

CLIENTS AND CLIENTAGE

344

two contrasting roots are among the most
frequently used in the purity terminology
of hadlth and of opinions attributed to the
earliest jurists. The antonyms halal/haram
("licit"/"forbidden") cover a similar se-
mantic range (cf. Q_ 5:1-5)- Izutsu (Concepts,
237) suggests that these antonyms "go back
to the old Semitic idea of ritual cleanness"
with haram denoting that which is taboo
(i.e. both holy and polluted) and haldl de-
noting that which is free from this ban.
Significantly, the legal scholar al-Shafi c I
(d. 204/820) uses "haram" as a synonym of
"najis" (i.e. substantively impure).

Marion Holmes Katz

Bibliography
Primary: QurtubT, JdmV; al-ShafiT, al-Umm, 8
vols, in 4, Beirut n.d.; TabarT, Tafsir.
Secondary: 'A. Abdel Kader, The concept of
purity in Islam, in Proceedings of the nth
international congress of the international association for
the history of religions, ii. Guilt or pollution and rites of
purification, Leiden 1968, 104-7; G.H. Bousquet,
Ghusl, in El 2 , ii, 1 104; J. Burton, The Qur'an and
the Islamic practice of wudu\ in bsoas 51 (1988),
21-58; Izutsu, Concepts, 235-41; TJuynboll,
Djanba, in EI 2 , ii, 440-1; M. Katz, Purified
companions. The development of the Islamic law of
ritual purity, Ph.D. diss., Chicago 1997; C. Pellat,
Djins, in El 2 , ii, 550-3.

Clear and Unclear see ambiguous

Clients and Clientage

The legal attachment of a person or group
to another person, family, clan or tribe (see
family; tribes and clans). The term "cli-
ent" (mawla, pi. mawali) plays, along with
"confederate, ally" (halif) and "protected
neighbor, temporary protege" (jar), a
prominent role in pre-Islamic Arabia and
in early Islamic society and law (see
PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA AND THE QUR'AN;

community and society; law and the
qur'an). A client was either under the pro-
tection of, or nominally equal to, those
born into, and thus "full" member(s) of, a
family, clan or tribe (Watt-Bell, Introduction,
6; see kinship). The meanings of both
mawla (in the sense of client, protege, affili-
ated free person or manumitted slave or a
group of such individuals) and wala' (cli-
entage, patronage) essentially vary accord-
ing to their legal, historical or theological
usage and according to the periods and the
social contexts to which they were applied
(A.J. Wensinck, Mawla, in El', hi, 417-8;
J. De Bruijn, Iran, 44; Juda, Mawali, 1-29;
P. Crone, Mawla, 874; and esp. id., Roman
law, 43-4; 49-63; and W. Hallaq, Use and
abuse, 84-7).

In the Qur'an mawla occurs 21 times
(three of which are in the plural form,
mawali), predominantly with a signification
antonymous to that of the English ex-
pression "client," i.e. with the meaning of
master or patron. In the majority of the
qur'anic occurrences, mawla is an epithet of
God or a divine attribute with the meaning
of Lord (synonymous with al-sayyid), Pro-
tector, Helper and Trustee (p_ 2:286; 3:150;
6:62; 8:40; 9:51; 10:30; 19:5; twice in 22:78;
47:11; 66:2, 4). The term also indicates a
master, a responsible person or thing
(p_ 16:76: "He is a burden upon his mawla";
o_ 57:15: "Your refuge is the fire (q.v.; see
hell), that is your mawla"), a good protec-
tor (p_ 47:11: "Unbelievers have no mawla")
or an evil protector (o_ 22:13) and it occurs
in the sense of heir (p_ 4:33: "To everyone
we have appointed mawali") or kinsman
(p_ 19:5, where Zechariah [q.v.] prays:
"Now I fear my kinsfolk (mawali) behind
me").

Only twice does mawla occur in the Qur-
'an with the common meaning of client.
o_ 33:5 from a Medinan sura states: "They
[i.e. the adopted sons] are your brothers in

345

CLIENTS AND CLIENTAGE

religion and your mawali" (see children).
o 44:41 from a Meccan sura captures, in
some interpretations, the term's antonymy:
"the day a master (mawla) shall be of no
profit to a client (mawla)." The basic mean-
ing of the root w-l-y, "to be near or close
to, to be connected with someone or some-
thing," is the linguistic explanation for this
antonymy. Mawla connotes primarily a per-
son or party linked to another person or
party by proximity (wald), and can thus, as
attested in the Quran, be a designation for
both client and its counterpart lord (q.v.) or
master (q.v.).

The qur'anic use of client is explained by
the exegetes as meaning close person or
relative (qarib, Ibn Kathlr, Tafsir, iv, 233, ad
o 44:41) and, figuratively, fellow-tribesman
(ibn al- 'amm), helper (ndsir), friend [sadlq,
Qurtubi, Jami', xvi, 148, ad Q_ 44:41), the
one to whom one feels connected by close-
ness or friendship (bi-qardba aw saddqa,
Jalalayn, 377, ad Q_ 33:5), but also as protec-
tor (waif, Qurtubi, Jami '.', xvi, 148, ad
Q_ 44:41) which again has a double meaning
(see B. Carra de Vaux, Wall). However, on
the day of judgment (see last judgment)
no mawla can protect another mawla from
punishment ("layadfa' 'anhu mina l-'adhab, "
Jalalayn 457; cf. Qurtubi, Jami', xvi, 148, ad
o_ 44:41). Compared with the (also figura-
tively used) word, brother [akh, see
BROTHER AND BROTHERHOOD), mawla is the
expression which describes a slightly firmer
relationship to another person (Qurtubi,
Jami', xiv, 119, ad o_ 33:5). Both terms, how-
ever, can also be understood as synonyms
(as exemplified by Ibn Kathlr, Tafsir, iii,
772, citing the saying of the Prophet "anta
akhuna wa-mawldnd, " see Bukharl, SahTh,
nos. 2700, 4251; Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, no.
933). It is important to note that the close
relationship, which both client (mawla) and
brother (akh) commonly represent, seems
to be specified and restricted in the Qur-

'an to a relationship in terms of religion,
as shown by the parenthetical usage of
"ikhwanukum Ji l-din wa-mawalikum" (q 33:5).

The qur'anic conception of clientage,
however, seems to reflect the old Arab pat-
tern of collective, egalitarian social rela-
tionships of mutual assistance. This differs
from Islamic patronage (wald) in its institu-
tionalized form, the latter's being indivi-
dual and assimilative (P. Crone, Roman law,
35-42, 43). Furthermore, it is of theological
relevance that the idea of God as the Lord
and mawla of believers not only indicates
the one who has the authority (q.v.) over
them but also implies that he is close to
and, in a certain sense, in charge of them
(while always protecting his "clients"). The
qur'anic notion of a certain kind of
interrelation between the human and the
divine spheres contributes to enabling
Muslim believers to feel closer to God and
to making the "All-Mighty" (e.g. Q_ 16:70)
seem somewhat more approachable (see
SUFISM AND THE QJUR'an).

Clientage of a slightly different nature is
mentioned in o_ 20:39-43. Here it is the
word istana'a which signifies the patronage
of God over a client: Moses (q.v.) is told by
God when his mother puts him in the Nile:
"And I laid upon you love from me, and to
be formed in my sight" [wa-li-tusna'a 'aid
'ayni, Q_ 20:39). Moses grew up with the
education and experience that God had
desired for him, at which point God said
to him: "I have bound you to myself"
(wa-stana'tuka li-nafsi, Q_ 20:41) According to
Muslim commentators, this phrase means
that God had chosen, formed and educ-
ated Moses for himself in order that Moses
might establish God's proof (q.v.) and serve
as his spokesman, or that Moses might un-
dertake a special task (see prophets and
prophethood). The idea of helping or
promoting somebody as contained in the
qur'anic istana'a, seems to have gained a

CLOTHING

346

new importance in medieval Islamic soci-
ety, as shown by its frequent appearance in
texts of the fourth/tenth and fifth/eleventh
centuries. Here it means "to foster some-
one's career" but connoting at the same
time an almost parental connection of a
master to his client or protege (mustana',
sani\ sani'a) who has been reared, educated
and trained well by his master (cf. R. Mot-
tahedeh, Loyalty, 82-3).

Sebastian Giinther

Bibliography
Primary: BukharT = Ibn Hajar al-Asqalanl, Fath
al-Ban bi-sharh Sahlh al-Bukhdn, ed. M. Fu'ad
'Abd al-Baql et al., 14 vols., Cairo 1407/1987; Ibn
Kathlr, Tafsir, ed. A.Sh. al-DimashqT, 4 vols., Beirut
ig8H;Jalalayn, ed. A. Muhammad, Cairo 1936;
QurtubT, Jami, 24 vols., Beirut 1985-93.
Secondary: J. T.E de Bruijn et al., Iran, in EI 2 , iv,
1-75; B. Carra de Vaux, Wall, in EI 1 , viii, 1109-11;
J.Juda, Die sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Aspekte der
Mawali in fiihislamischer Zjeit, Ph.D. diss.,
Tubingen 1983 (one of the most detailed studies
on the social and economic aspects of the mawd.li
in ancient Arabia and early Islam), esp. pp. 1-51
(trans., al-Awdd' al-ijtimd c iyya wa-l-iqtisadiyya
lil-mawdlifi sadr al-Isldm, Amman 1989). P.
Crone, Mawla (in historical and legal usage), in EI 2 ,
vi, 874-82; id., Roman, provincial and Islamic law. The
origins of the Islamic patronate, Cambridge 1987; W.B.
Hallaq, The use and abuse of evidence. The
question of provincial and Roman influence on early
Islamic law, inJAOS no. I (1990), 79-91; H.E. Kassis,
A concordance of the Quran, Berkeley 1983, 1276-7;
R.O. Mottahedeh, Loyalty and leadership in an early
Islamic society, Princeton 1980; A. Noth, The early
Arabic historical tradition. A source- critical study, trans.
M. Bonner, Princeton 1994 (see Mawla in Index);
A.J. Wensinck, Mawla, in El', iii, 417-8.

Clothing

Garments worn for modesty (q.v.), utility,
protection and decoration. Explicit refer-
ences to clothing appear 23 times in the
Qur'an. Quranic terms for clothing are
libels and thiydb (clothing, garment), zlna
(finery), hilya (ornament) and rish (attire).
Only rarely are specific items mentioned:

(mail) shirts [sardbil, o 16:81), sandals [na%
Q_ 20:12), robes (jalabib, o_ 33:59) and shirt
[qamis, o_ 12:18, 25-8, 93). A wrap or cloak
(dithdr) is evoked in o 74, which is entitled
"The Cloaked One" (Surat al-Muddath-
thir). In the Qur'an hijab denotes a curtain
or separation rather than a female head
wrap or face-veil (see barrier; veil). As
presented in the Qur'an, clothing is made
from various materials, including animal
hides and furs (see camel; animal life).
The making of coats of mail (san'at labus) is
alluded to in cj 21:80 (see solomon); and
mountains are likened to carded cotton (al-
'ihn al-manjush) in q_ 101:5 (see apocalypse).

On the whole, the Qur'an provides little
information regarding specific forms of
dress, though it is categorical regarding
women who should "draw their hooded
robes (jalabib) close around themselves"
fe 33:59; cf. 24:31; see WOMEN AND THE
qur'an). Yet the Qur'an's use of clothing
imagery in a metaphorical sense is note-
worthy. The verse, "We have revealed
(anzalna) to you clothing (libds) to conceal
your nudity/pudenda (saw'dt), and attire
(rish)" for example, continues "but the gar-
ment (libds) of piety is superior" (o_ 7:26;
see nudity; piety). Indeed, the "first" gar-
ments were not Adam and Eve's "leaves of
the garden" (waraq al-janna) but rather the
"garment" of honor stripped away by Iblls
(q, 7:22; 20:i2i; see ADAM AND EVE; FALL OF

man; devil; garden; paradise). And in
Q_ 2:187 men and women are described as
garments for one another (see marriage
and divorce). The night (o_ 25:47; 78:10)
and hunger and fear (p_ 16:112) are also de-
scribed as garments.

The Qur'an's most symbolic garment is
the shirt (qamis) of Joseph (Yusuf; see
Joseph). It is produced by Joseph's brothers
as bloodstained proof of his death (q_ 12:18;
see brother and brotherhood); it is rent
by Zulaykha, as she attempts to seduce him
(p_ 12:25-8) and is used to restore his

347

CODICES OF THE OUR AN

father Jacob's (Ya'qtib; see Jacob) sight
(q_ 12:93). The shirt, a synecdoche forjo-
seph, serves each time to establish truth (q.v.)
or restore honor (q.v.). Q_ 12:18 explains that
the shirt is in fact stained with false or lying
blood (dam kadhib). The discovery in
Q_ 12:28 that it is torn from behind proves
Joseph's innocence; and in Q_ 12:94, in pro-
claiming to Jacob that Joseph is still alive,
prophecy and kingship are validated (see
prophets and prophethood). A similar
validation is echoed in Q_ 27:44 where the
Queen of Sheba (see bilqis; sheba), mis-
taking Solomon's crystal palace-floor for a
deep pool, raises her garment and thus im-
modestly exposes her legs. On discovering
her error, she is forced to acknowledge Sol-
omon's superior knowledge. Her act of un-
covering results in a validation of Solomon
as prophet and ruler.

Shl'l exegesis of Q_ 3:61-2 and q 33:33
relates the tradition of Muhammad's
embracing his daughter Fatima (q.v.), his
son-in-law 'All b. Abl Talib (q.v.) and their
sons Hasan and H usavn under his cloak, a
group subsequently honored as the "people
of the cloak" (ahl al-kisd\ cf. W. Schmucker,
Mubahala; A. Tritton, Ahl al-kisa'; see
shi'ism and the qjjr'an). This bestowal of
favor highlights a connection between
clothing and reward (see reward and pun-
ishment; virtues and vices). Indeed, the
reward in heaven (q.v.) for the righteous in-
cludes garments of silk and brocade (sun-
dus, istabraq, harlr). These luxurious fabrics
are in contrast to the clothing of the inhab-
itants of this world — Muhammad pro-
scribed the wearing of silk for men — and
in stark contrast to the fire-dwellers' gar-
ments of fire (q_ 22:19; see hell; fire).

Shawkat M. Toorawa

bibliography
F. Altheim and R. Stiel, Die Amber in der Alien
Welt, 5 vols, in 6, Berlin 1965, ii; H. Algar, Al-

Aba, in Encyclopaedia Iranica, London 1985, i, 742;
R. Dozy, Dictionnaire detaille des noms des vetements
chez les Arabes. Ouvrage couronne et public par la
troisieme classe de Vlnstitut Royal des Pays-Bas,
Amsterdam 1845; W. Schmucker, Mubahala, in
Ef, vii, 276-7; Y.K. Stillman, Arab dress. From the
dawn of Islam to modern times, Boston 2000; id.,
Libas, in Ef, v, 732-50; Y.K. Stillman and N.
Micklewright, Costume in the Middle East, in
Middle East Studies Association bulletin 6 (1992),
13-38; S.M. Toorawa, Every robe he dons
becomes him, in Parabola 19.3 (1994), 20-8; A.
Tritton, Ahl al-Kisa', in El 2 , i, 264.

Clouds see natural world and the
q_ur'an

Codes/Markings for Recitation

see RECITATION, THE ART OF

Codices of the Qur'an

A designation generally used to refer to the
masahif, plural of mushaf, meaning "a copy
of the complete text of the Qur'an" as
these existed in the early period of Islam
(see J. Burton, Mushaf). These ancient
codices, both extant and presumed, are
important for the study of the history of
the text of the Qur'an. There are suppos-
edly two categories of these early codices,
the pre-'Uthmanic codices and those with
an 'Uthmanic text (see collection of the
qjjr'an; 'uthman).

Until the present day, no pre-'Uthmanic
codices of the Qur'an have been discov-
ered and definitively identified, although
possibly some extant palimpsest leaves may
contain a non-'Uthmanic text (Noldeke,
gq, hi, 97-100, but also see W. Diem, Un-
tersuchungen, 211 and 226-7). Nevertheless,
many textual variants reported to have ex-
isted in these pre-'Uthmanic codices are
known from other sources such as exegeti-
cal works (tafdsir, sing, tafsir) and specialized
works dealing with non-canonical readings
(al-qira'at al-shddhdha) like Ibn Jinni's

CODICES OF THE OUR AN

348

(d. 392/1002) Muhtasab and the much ear-
lier Ma 'am l-Qur'an works by al-Akhfash
al-Awsat (d. between 2 10-2 1/825-35) anc ^
al-Farra' (d. 207/822). Or they are found in
works dealing specifically with the non-
'Uthmanic codices as such, like the Kitab al-
Masahifof Ibn Abl Dawud al-Sijistam
(d. 316/929; Jeffery, Materials) which ap-
pears to be the only surviving example of
this specialization in early qur'anic studies.

Codices of the second category, however,
those with an Uthmanic text, have been
preserved. Yet the age of the oldest ones,
written in the ma'il script, has still not been
established beyond doubt (see Arabic
script). Some of the codices that were dis-
covered in the loft of the Great Mosque of
San'a' in 1972 appear to be of a very early
date. However, very little of this material
has become available for philological study
and until now it is not clear to what extent
these manuscripts deviate from the 'Uth-
manic orthographic rendering [rasm, G.-R.
Puin, Observations, 107-11). For a number
of leaves from ancient codices that were
originally preserved in the Umayyad
Mosque in Damascus some scholars have
suggested an Umayyad origin (S. al-
Munajjid, Dirasat, 90-5; see also S. Ory
Nouveau type).

According to prevailing Islamic tradition,
the members of a group led by Zayd b.
Thabit (q.v.; d. ca. 34-5/655) discharged
the task, assigned to them by the third ca-
liph 'Uthman (r. 23-35/644-56), of produc-
ing a complete codex of the Qur'an. This
became the master copy, usually referred to
as al-imdm. Copies of this codex were made
and sent to the chief centers of the Muslim
empire; all other codices were ordered to
be destroyed. In Kufa, 'Abdallah b. Mas'ud
(d. ca. 33/653) refused, however, to destroy
his codex, and his reading apparently re-
mained in use there for some time. Eventu-
ally, some seventy years later, the famous
governor al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf (d. 95/714) felt

compelled to suppress it. Other codices,
like those of Ubayy b. Ka'b (d. 21/642),
'All b. Abl Talib (q.v.; d. 40/661), the
Prophet's wife 'A'isha bt. Abl Bakr (q.v;
d. 58/678) and Abu Mtisa al-Ash'arl
(d. ca. 42/662), are also reported to have
been destroyed. Nevertheless, from these
codices variant readings are reported in
classical Islamic literature (see readings of
the qur'an).

The 'Uthmanic recension credited by
Muslim tradition to the group led by Zayd
b. Thabit only established the rasm of the
text, i.e. the writing of the consonantal
structure but without the diacritics and
vowel signs incorporated at a later stage.
Thus the reported variant readings of the
ancient pre-'Uthmanic codices — of which
the Ibn Mas'ud codex appears to have
been the most important — are of two
kinds: those which do and those which do
not presuppose a different rasm than that
recorded in the 'Uthmanic master copy.

Variant readings of the first kind range
from a difference of one Arabic character,
like the reading of sirat instead of sirat in
o_ 1:6 and all subsequent occurrences in the
Qur'an as reported from a codex attributed
to Ibn 'Abbas (d. ca. 67-8/686-8), to the
addition of whole verses or even suras like
"The Renunciation" (Surat al-Khal') and
"The Service" (Surat al-Hafd) in Ubayy 's
codex. Reported omissions fall within the
same range: from wa-nunsiha, "and we
cause to be forgotten," instead o£ aw
nunsiha, "or we cause to be forgotten," in
Q_ 2:106 as reported from 'All and Ubayy, to
the omission of the first and the two last
suras from the codex of Ibn Mas'ud.

The readings reported from Ibn Mas'ud
of the kind which presupposes a different
rasm may be characterized as follows: (a)
They offer synonyms to the 'Uthmanic text
like irshadna for ihdina in Q_ 1:6, both mean-
ing "guide us." (b) They leave less room for
ambiguity, as in ta'wiluhu ilia 'inda llahi, "its

349

CODICES OF THE OUR AN

interpretation is only with God," for wa-ma
ya'lamu ta'wilahu ilia llahu, "and none knows
its interpretation, save only God," in Q_ 3:7,
the frame of which excludes the possibility
of the following phrase, al-rdsikhuna fi l-'ilm,
"those firmly rooted in knowledge," being
also "those who know." (c) They provide
clarification, as in the addition of fi mawa-
sim al-hajj, "in the seasons of the pilgrim-
age (q.v.)," after an tabtaghufadlan mill rabbi-
kum, "if you seek bounty from your Lord,"
in Q, 2:198. (d) They provide more easily
understood alternatives like mithaq alladhina
iitu l-kitab, "the covenant (q.v.) of those who
were given the book" instead of mithaq al-
nabiyyin, "the covenant of the prophets," in
q 3:81. It is thus no wonder that these
readings continued to play a role in classi-
cal exegetical literature [tafsir, see exegesis
OF THE QIJr'an: CLASSICAL AND MEDIEVAL).
Indeed one often finds in early commen-
tary (tafsir) a qur'anic term explained by a
synonym or a phrase which elsewhere is
mentioned as a variant reading. This is
hardly surprising in view of the interde-
pendence of early exegetical activity and
the regular recitation of the Qur'an (F.
Leemhuis, Origins, 24 and 26-7; see reci-
tation of the qjjr'an).

Sometimes non-'Uthmanic readings also
occur among the ones which the commen-
tators explain and 'Uthmanic readings are
qualified as scribal errors. In Sufyan al-
Thawrl's (d. 161/778) commentary on
Q_ 24:27 {Tafsir, ad loc), Ibn 'Abbas is
quoted as having said that tasta'nisu, "en-
gaging in social talk," is a scribal error for
tasta'dhinu, "asking for permission." In the
tafsir tradition of Mujahid (d. 104/722) on
q 3:81 (both in al-Tabarl's Tafsir and in the
independently preserved recension of
Mujahid, ad loc), the case is the same, the
above-mentioned reading of Ibn Mas'ud
being presented as the correct one. In the
manuscript of the commentary of Sufyan
al-Thawrl the more than 60 variant read-

ings transmitted are nearly always clus-
tered together near the end of his treat-
ment of each sura. Most of these are
attributed to Ibn Mas'ud and his followers
and the majority of them, but certainly not
all, do not necessarily presuppose a non-
'Uthmanic rasm. The same treatment of
variant readings is found in the fdmi'oi the
Malik! traditionist of Egypt, Ibn Wahb
(d. 197/813; cf. M. Muranyi, Materialien,
239-42). All of this suggests that in the first
half of the second Islamic century (720-70
c.E.) variant readings were considered to
fulfill a separate exegetical function and
that the 'Uthmanic recension, apart from
some exceptions, had been accepted as the
textus receptus. About half a century later,
al-Farra' (Ma'ani, i, 11) explicitly contrasts
"the reading (qird'a) of Ibn Mas'ud" with
"our reading." Nevertheless, these texts
also make clear that the existence of vari-
ant readings which presupposed a non-
'Uthmanic rasm was considered a matter
of fact.

Apart from the connection with qur'anic
exegetical literature, there is also a connec-
tion with the corpus of hadlth as some ad-
ditions from the non-'Uthmanic codices
are also reported as sayings of the Prophet,
whether inspired by God or not (see
REVELATION AND INSPIRATION; HADITH AND
the qur'an). The verse about the greed of
man (see avarice), "If man had two val-
leys of riches..." (law [kdna] anna li-bni
adama wddiyani min malin.. .), for instance, is
reported both as an addition in Ubayy's
codex at Q_ 10:24 and in all the six canoni-
cal hadlth collections as an utterance of
the Prophet and sometimes as a non-
'Uthmanic Qur'an quotation as well. It
also appears that, at least in some cases,
the supposed existence of some verses in
non-'Uthmanic codices functioned in the
framework of the doctrine of the abroga-
tion (q.v.) of the recited text but not of the
divine directive contained therein (naskh

CODICES OF THE OUR AN

350

al-tilawa duna l-hukm, cf. J. Burton, Collection,
68-86).

It is often asserted that Ibn Mas'ud's
codex contained a number of Shl'l read-
ings which were omitted from the 'Uthma-
nic codex. Although some of these read-
ings are reported to have also been present
in other codices, like Ubayy's and 'All's, a
separate Shl'l Qur'an codex is not known
(see shi'ism and the qur'an). It could be
argued, however, that if there ever was a
distinct Shl'l codex of the Qur'an it prob-
ably would have contained the explicit Shl'l
readings reported from Ibn Mas'ud's codex.

Eventually, the readings from the pre-
'Uthmanic codices which show a different
rasm disappeared from the recitation of the
Qur'an. Those which did not, continued to
play a role in the recitation systems of the
Qur'an as variant readings of the 'Uthma-
nic text. Parenthetically, it should be noted
that al-Farra' (Ma 'am, 95) suggests that in
some cases a canonical reading may actu-
ally have its origin in a different rasm.
Those non-'Uthmanic readings which fit-
ted in with the later systems of the seven,
ten or fourteen accepted recitation systems
(qira'at) remained accepted, like the read-
ing hasanan of Ibn Mas'ud in o_ 2:83 which
is also the reading of Hamza, al-Kisa'l,
Ya'qtib, Khalaf and al-A'mash whereas
the rest (of the fourteen) read husnan (see
reciters OF THE qjur'an). Those readings
which did not fit acquired the qualification
of "deviant readings" (qira'at shadhdha) and
became unfit for recitation, although they
continued to play a role in the interpreta-
tion and linguistic explanation of the
Qur'an.

Alongside the different readings of these
pre-'Uthmanic codices, a variant order of
suras (q.v.) is frequently mentioned (see
CHRONOLOGY AND THE QUR'an), the most
plausible being the ones of Ibn Mas'ud
and Ubayy. As in the case of the variant
readings of the pre-'Uthmanic codices,

until recently there was no extant manu-
script evidence to support this. In some
early codices from San'a', however, such
different arrangements are indeed found,
agreeing or nearly agreeing with what is
known from the Ibn Mas'ud and Ubayy
arrangements (G.-R. Puin, Observations,
IIO-l).

Although the concept of the 'Uthmanic
rasm suggests a uniform and invariable text,
such uniformity is not presented by most of
the oldest extant codices. Considerable
variation in orthography is found espe-
cially in connection with long a and words
which in the later classical Arabic orthog-
raphy required a hamza. Even the word
qur'an is found spelled as qrn (e.g. in Q_ 50:1
of the St. Petersburg fragment as repro-
duced in E. Rezwan, Friihe Abschriften,
120-1). In addition to their value for study
of the Qur'an's textual history such eviden-
tial examples are important for the history
of Arabic orthography.

Before the second World War, two com-
plementary projects for preparing a critical
edition of the Qur'an were initiated. A.
Jeffery's aim was to present all variants of
the Uthmanic text that could be collected
from the Islamic literary tradition (see
literature AND THE q_ur'an), whereas G.
Bergstrasser planned to collect variants
from (photographs of) extant early manu-
scripts of the Qur'an. Although neither
project survived the war, Jeffery was able to
publish his harvest of readings of the old
codices together with his edition of the
Kitab al-Masahij 'of al-Sijistanl (d. 316/929),
and at least part of Bergstrasser's work
found its way into the third volume of Ge-
schichte des Qorans (Noldeke, G'g), which was
completed after his death in 1933 by O.
Pretzl, T. Noldeke having died in 1930.

According to the hypothesis of J. Wans-
brough (qs, esp. 43-52), which asserts that
the Qur'an only reached its final, standard
form during the formative process of the

35 1

COLLECTION OF THE Q_UR AN

first two centuries of the Islamic commu-
nity, the reports of the 'Uthmanic recen-
sion and of the existence of pre-'Uthmanic
codices, as well as accounts of their sup-
pression must be regarded as fiction, prob-
ably patterned after Jewish views about the
creation of the Hebrew scriptural canon.
On the other hand, J. Burton's (Collection,
esp. 160-89) thesis considers the collection
and codification of the Qur'an to have
been the work of the prophet Muhammed
himself and the stories about its later col-
lection and codification are therefore to be
entirely distrusted since their function was
probably only to provide a basis for the
doctrine of abrogation (naskh).

From these two contrasting views, it is
apparent that the paleographical study of
ancient codices has produced no clear,
unambiguous and generally accepted re-
sults with respect to the dating of extant
codices. Recent, new studies, however, do
appear to be more promising in their at-
tempts to develop a chronological frame-
work based on an inductive approach or to
apply classical, art-historical methods to
the paleography of the early qur'anic man-
uscripts. See also textual history of the
our'an; mushaf.

arabischen Orthographie, in Orientalia 48 (1979),
207-57; A. Jeffery, Progress in the study of the
Qur'an text, in MW 25 (1935), 4-16; F. Leemhuis,
Origins and early development of the tafsir
tradition, in Rippin, Approaches, 24 and 26-7; S.
al-Munajjid, Dirdsdtft ta'nkh al-khatt al- l arabi,
Beirut 1972, 90-95; M. Muranyi, Neue
Materialien zur fa/if?-Forschung in der
Moscheebibliothek von Qairawan, in Wild, Text,
225-55; A- Neuwirth, Koran, in gap, ii, 96-135,
esp. 101-3 (with detailed bibliography); S. Ory,
Un nouveau type de mushaf, in rei 33 (1965),
87-149; G.-R. Puin, Observations on early
Qur'an manuscripts in San ( a', in Wild, Text,
107-n; E.A. Rezwan, Friihe Abschriften des
Korans, in J.A. Petrosjan et al. (eds.), Von Bagdad
bis Isfahan. Buchmalerei und Schriftkunst des Vorderen
Orients (8.- 18. Jh) aus dem Institutfur Orientalistik,
St. Petersburg, Lugano 1995, 117-125; A. Spitaler,
Die nicht-kanonischen Koranlesarten und ihre
Bedeutung fur die arabische Sprachwissenschaft,
in R. Paret (ed.), Der Koran, Darmstadt 1995,
413-4; J.C. Vadet, Ibn Mas'ud, in Ef, hi, 873-5;
A.T. Welch, al-Kur'an. History of the Kur'an
after 632, in El 2 , v, 404-9; E. Whelan, Forgotten
witness. Evidence for the early codification of
the Qur'an, in /.40s 118 (1998), 1-14; id., Writing
the word of God. Some early Qur'an
manuscripts and their milieux, in Ars orientalis
20 (1990), 113-47.

Coercion see tolerance and
compulsion

Frederik Leehmuis

Collection of the Qur'an

Bibliography
Kh. Ahmad Mufti, .Nahw al-qurrd' al-kufiyyin,
Mecca 1985, (esp. 27-61); A. al-Bayll, al-Ikhlilaf
bayna l-qird'dt, Beirut 1988, esp. 39-71; G.
Bergstrasser, Plan eines Apparatus Griticus zum
Koran, in Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie
der Wissenschaften 7 (1930); J. Burton, Mushaf, in
Ef, vii, 668-9; S- Carboni, Die arabischen
Handschriften, in J.A. Petrosjan et al. (eds.), Von
Bagdad bis Isfahan. Buchmalerei und Schriftkunst des
Vorderen Orients (8.- 18. Jh) aus dem Institutfur
Orientalistik, St. Petersburg, Lugano 1995, 85-100; F.
Deroche, Les manuscrits du Goran. Aux origines
de la calligraphic coranique, in Catalogue des
manuscrits arabes, Bibliotheque .Rationale. PL 2.
Manuscrits musulmans, Paris 1983; W. Diem,
Untersuchungen zur fruhen Geschichte der

The assemblage, ordering and recording of
the textual material of the Qur'an. Muslim
reports on the collection of the Qur'an
must, like any other hadlth, be tested by
exposure to the wider background of Is-
lamic definition from which they emerged.
It was held by the most influential com-
mentators and by a majority of the legal
scholars that the entire Qur'an was never
collected. This view has been echoed by
Western scholars following Noldeke's Ge-
schichte of i860 (gq', 43; GQ S , i, 47; ii, 44).
From this perspective it is important to
note a basic verbal distinction: By Qur'an

COLLECTION OF THE OUR AN

352

was meant all that was ever revealed to the
Prophet as "the Book of God." The word
refers not to a physical object but to an
idea. The inherited book or written mani-
festation, on the other hand, is called the
mushaf (q.v.) and the hadiths about the col-
lection of the Qur'an are concerned with
its identity, provenance and completeness
as a textual object (see book).

Several members of the Prophet's circle
(see companions of the prophet) are said
to have prepared during Muhammad's
lifetime personal copies of the qur'anic
revelations, the significance of which be-
came apparent only after Muhammad's
death. These texts, also called mushaf, ex-
hibited mutual differences. They also differ
from a definitive text, mushaf, said to have
been promulgated by official state action
some dozen years after the Prophet's
death. This last text, known as the 'Uth-
manic mushaf (see tjthman), shows three
classes of "omission" relative to the Qur'an
and a fourth when compared to the mushaf
of the Companions (see codices of the
qur'an) .

Legal rulings and the 'Uthmanic mushaf
Islamic law (see law and the qur'an) is
understood to have been derived primarily
from two sources, the Qur'an and the
sunna (q.v), the latter originally defined as
reports on the words and actions of pre-
vious generations of Muslims but, as these
reports showed wide differences by the late
second century, redefined as reports on the
words and actions of the Prophet speci-
fically. These reports reach us through
the Companions of the Prophet and their
successors.

On certain topics the law exhibits rulings
that are not mentioned in the 'Uthmanic
mushaf and are thought to derive from the
sunna. Other rulings of the law clash with
rulings mentioned in the mushcif. Some
scholars traced these discrepancies to the

sunna as well, while others — impressed
by their adoption in the law and by their
certainty that the Prophet had constantly
been directed by divine inspiration (see
revelation and inspiration; prophets
and prophethood) — postulated texts
(or pericopes) allegedly once revealed in
the Qur'an although omitted from all
mushaf.

One finds, for instance, almost unani-
mous legal agreement in the early texts
that for certain cases of adultery (see
ADULTERY AND FORNICATION; CHASTISEMENT

and punishment; flogging) the penalty is
death by stoning (q.v.), a ruling that cannot
be reconciled with the penalty prescribed
in Q 24:2, "Adulterers, male and female,
flog each of them one hundred strokes."
The law's stoning penalty had been re-
jected by some precisely because it was ab-
sent from the mushaf (Malik [d. 179/796],
Muwatta', K. al-Hudud). But the majority ac-
cepted the penalty since it was present in
the inherited law and argued that it de-
monstrated the repeal of the mushaf penalty
by the sunna penalty. Others, supposing
that the words and actions of a human,
however elevated, could never supersede
the words of the divine lawgiver (see
inimitability), were driven to argue that
stoning "must" have originated in a further
qur'anic revelation, a stoning-verse that
had simply been omitted from the mushaf
(Malik, Muwatta', K. al-Hudud). Thus
knowledge of the law indicated that the
omission of a confirmatory text from the
mushaf carried no negative implication for
the continuing validity of a revealed ruling.
The inherited law also indicated that inclu-
sion of a text in the mzu/ia/carried no posi-
tive implication for the continuing validity
of a revealed ruling. As an example,
Q_ 2:240 seemed to establish a period of
twelve months during which a widow (q.v.),
since she might not legally contract a fresh
marriage, was entitled to accommodation

COLLECTION OF THE OUR AN

and maintenance (see marriage and
divorce), q 2:234, it was argued, appears
to reduce the period to four months and
ten nights, the ruling adopted in the law.
It was concluded that verse 234 had been
revealed to repeal verse 240 although the
wording of both verses survived in the
mushaf (Tabari, Tafsir, v, 250-62; J. Burton,
Sources, 56-80). The two cases are said to
represent partial omissions from the mushaf.
One involved the omission of a text but
not its ruling; the other showed suppres-
sion of a ruling but not its text (see
ambiguous).

Other cases involving omission of both
text wording and ruling can with certainty
be traced to old exegetical assertions about
the implications of verses still present in
the mushaf. q 87:6-7, for instance, "We shall
instruct you to recite it and you will not
forget — except what God wills," was held
by commentators to mean, "except what
God wills you, Muhammad, to forget"
(J. Burton, Interpretation; see abroga-
tion). Ubayy b. Ka'b (d. 21/642) reports
that q 33 used to equal q 2 in length "and
we used to recite the stoning verse in
Q_ 33." Abu Mtisa al-Ash'ari (d. ca. 42/662)
reported that q 33 was once as long as Q_ 9
"but I have been caused to forget it — ex-
cept one verse." Hudhayfa declared, "You
do not recite today a quarter of q g" while
A'isha bint Abl Bakr (q.v.) stated that q 33
had once consisted of two hundred verses
(Burton, Collection, 80-2; Suyuti, Itqan, ii,
26f.). The mushaf 's q 33 consists of
seventy-three verses. Such reports had con-
vinced many that words and rulings to-
gether had been forgotten. The two kinds
of omission, total and partial, are said to
be the intended reference of the mention
in q 2:106 of the aya which was "abro-
gated" or "caused to be forgotten" (ma nan-
sakh min aya aw nunsihd) and then replaced
with a better or a similar one.

The mushafr of the Companions
Following the Prophet's death, many of his
Companions had dispersed to participate
in the administration and islamization of
newly conquered lands outside Arabia.
Syrians and Iraqis, like the Arabians at
Mecca and Medina, claimed to have ac-
quired and preserved their stock of sunna
and Qur'an lore from these Companions.
The surviving literature shows the use
made of their names in disputes arising be-
tween regional coteries of scholars. The
following will illustrate this trend: c Urwa
was perplexed by the status of the say or
"running" between Safa, (q.v.) and Marwa
(q.v.). q 2:158, "There is no harm for him
(lajunah 'alayhi) in moving about between
the two of them" appears to suggest that it
is optional — one Iraqi view — whereas
the Medinan law assumes that it is a rite
indispensable to the validity of the pilgrim-
age (q.v.). 'Urwa consulted his aunt A'isha,
a widow of the Prophet, who replied that
his view would call for a different reading,
i.e. "There is no harm in not performing
it." She explained that the obligatory status
of this ritual derived not from the Qur'an
but from the sunna, which had cleared up
the ambiguity of the text. The Medinese
and other Iraqis agreed that the say ritual
was obligatory. One early Iraqi exegete re-
ports an anonymous variant identical to
A'isha's hypothetical variant. Although
convinced that the ritual is obligatory, he
did not on that account reject the reading
(see readings OF THE qur'an). Comparing
it with further qur'anic usage, he neutra-
lizes it. The variant incorporates a double
negative and so just as q 7:12 "What pre-
vented you that you did not prostrate?"
means "What prevented you from doing
it?" q 2:158 means "There is no harm in
performing it." He can now accept the
variant without having to accept the ruling
it implies since the variant means the same
as the mushaf reading (Farra', A4a'am, i, 95;

COLLECTION OF THE OUR AN

354

Burton, Collection, 12, 30-1). A century later,
reporting that certain Companions and
their successors had held this ritual to be
optional, al-Tabarl (d. 310/923) states that
their view was explicitly grounded in the
mushafi of Ibn Mas'ud (d. ca. 33/653) and
Ibn 'Abbas (d. ca. 67-8/686-8; Tabarl,
Tafisir, iii, 241-2). That discrete variants had
logically evolved into discrete mushafi was
already a given for the earlier exegete men-
tioned above although, in this present in-
stance, the variant he treated was still unat-
tributed. One of two contending opinions
had claimed support in Q_ 2:158. Its con-
trary, countering that such an understand-
ing would necessitate a different text, had
sought its evidence in the sunna. An under-
standing of this ritual as optional requires
notional improvement of the text in the
form of an interpolation. The interpola-
tion is supplied, first as an anonymous
reading, but one that can be linguistically
neutralized. Persisting in its claim of qur-
'anic support, the optional interpretation
next acquires specific attribution to named
Companion texts. The obligatory nature
of the ritual finally claims support in the
'Uthmanic mushafi as allegedly interpreted
by the Prophet. The interpolation proved
neither necessary nor effective.

Another example involves competing in-
terpretations of a mandated expiation (see
atonement). Humayd and Mujahid were
circling the Ka'ba (q.v.) when a man ap-
proached and asked Mujahid whether the
days of fast in expiation of the breach of
an oath (see oaths) had to be consecutive
(see fasting). Humayd said the matter was
optional but Mujahid disagreed. The fast
must be consecutive since in the reading of
Ubayy, "a fast of three consecutive days"
was the wording that actually appeared.
Non-committal as to the preferred reading,
Malik b. Anas (d. 179/796) expresses his
own preference that all fasts imposed in the
Qur'an should be consecutive (Muwatta',

Siyam, al-nadhrfii l-siyam). Al-Ghazali's
(d. 505/1 1 11) much later view was that this
fast need not be consecutive even if Ibn
Mas'ud did read Q_ 5:89 as "three consecu-
tive days" rather than the 'Uthmanic
mushafis reading of "three days." Accord-
ing to al-Ghazall, since Ibn Mas'ud's inter-
polation was not universally acknowledged,
it is not part of the Qur'an. Possibly Ibn
Mas'ud mentioned this restriction as his
considered interpretation or he may have
imported the wording from o_ 58:4, where
"consecutive" does occur, albeit in another
context. Abu Hanlfa (d. 150/767), who
conceded that the wording is not qur'anic,
had accepted Ibn Mas'ud's view — but as
a hadlth. The practice, however, should
be understood as based solely on what is
reported from the Prophet (al-Ghazall,
Mustasja, i, 102; Burton, Collection, 35, 128).
A Hanafl scholar argued that the princi-
ple of the omission of a qur'anic wording
with no negative implication for the con-
tinuing validity of its ruling is shown "by
our doctrine that the fast in expiation of
the breach of the oath must be consecutive
on account of 'Abdallah's [i.e. Ibn Mas'ud]
reading 'three consecutive days.'" That
reading was still current in Abu Hamfa's
day but had not achieved the universal
acknowledgment requisite to establish it as
the definitive text of the Qur'an. As no-
body questions the integrity and trustwor-
thiness of Ibn Mas'ud as transmitter, the
early authorities had no alternative other
than to presume that his reading had been
the original text as preserved by him al-
though omitted during the Prophet's life-
time by God's causing it to be forgotten —
except by Abdallah b. Mas'ud whose read-
ing was to be the means of preserving the
ruling. Since the status of his hadlths is
that they must be acted upon, his Qur'an
reading could not be held inferior to his
hadlths as source (al-SarakhsI, Usui, ii, 81).
Examples like these demonstrate that the

:j55

COLLECTION OF THE Q_UR AN

Companions were repositories of two
classes of hadlths: Companion-sunna-
hadlths and Companion-Qur'an-hadTths
(see HADITH AND THE QUR'An).

The collection of the mushaf
Reports on the collection of the mushaf
reveal disparities as to its completeness or
incompleteness, evincing pressure from
some intepretations of Q_ 87 and from the
condition of the law. To provide a sum-
marized version of these reports: Muham-
mad's death had been followed by the
outbreak of civil wars, and al-Zuhri
(d. 124/741) reports that men who had
memorized many Qur'an passages fell in
the fighting. Those passages had neither
been written down nor had the Prophet's
successors as yet collected the texts. Conse-
quently, those passages had been lost. That
impelled the Muslims to pursue the collec-
tion of the Qur'an which, in the reign of
Abu Bakr (r. 1 1-3/632-4), they assembled
on sheets. They were motivated by fear
that others who bore much of the Qur'an
in memory would perish and would take
their memorized portions to their graves.
Zayd b. Thabit (q.v; d. ca. 34-5/655) states
that he was reluctant to attempt what the
Prophet had never undertaken but that he
had agreed to do so at the urgent requests
of Abu Bakr (q.v.) and 'Umar (q.v.) who
feared that much of the qur'anic texts
would perish. Little more than a year after
the Prophet's death, Zayd collected the
texts from the people's memories and their
written memoranda. He found the final
verse of p_ 9 with Abu Khuzayma, having
found it with no one else (Ibn Hajar, Fath,
ix, 9-12; Burton, Collection, 119, 128). It is
also reported that Zayd and others col-
lected the Qur'an from the personal copy
of Ubayy who dictated as they wrote ( Jef-
fery, Materials, 9; Burton, Collection, 124).
When they thought that they had com-
pleted the text of o_ g, Ubayy read to them

two further verses which they recorded.
Anas b. Malik (d. ca. 91-93/709-711) claims
to have been among those who dictated as
this written record was being made (Ta.-
bari, Tafsir, i, 62). At a later date, when
Zayd was editing the texts for 'Uthman, he
recovered from Khuzayma b. Thabit a
verse missing from Q_ 33 ( Jeffery, Materials,
18-9; Burton, Collection, 142). Others report
that Khuzayma himself, noting the omis-
sion of the Q_ 9 verse, brought it to 'Uth-
man, who accepted it (Jeffery, Materials, 11).

Additional reports provide amplification
or variant scenarios. Adjudicating a legal
case, 'Umar inquired about the relevant
verse. Informed that it had been known by
a man who had fallen in battle, 'Umar
commanded that the Qur'an be collected
(Jeffery, Materials, 10; Burton, Collection,
120). On this occasion, al-Harith b. Khu-
zayma brought the Q_ 9 verse to 'Umar.
Further, 'Umar is said, before the Prophet's
death, to have requested permission to
record the stoning verse, but the request
had been denied (Burton, Collection, 82;
Suyuti, Itqan, ii, 26-7). 'All said that the
stoning verse had been revealed but that
those who had memorized it and other
revelations had perished in battle (Burton,
Collection, 121). Questioned about his non-
appearance at the inauguration of the
Prophet's first successor, 'All explained that
he had solemnly sworn not to appear in
public following the Prophet's death until
he had first collected the Qur'an. Having
now done so, he was free to take the oath
of allegiance to Abu Bakr (Jeffery, Alate-
rials, 10; Ibn H a j ar > Fath, ix, 9; Burton,
Collection, 122).

In these and many similar reports, West-
ern scholarship has traditionally detected
competitive claims to primacy in the Qur-
'an 's collection on behalf of each of the
Prophet's four immediate successors and
sought to determine which was the one
"true" version. It is, however, clear from

COLLECTION OF THE OUR AN

356

the literature that this is not the usual Mus-
lim duplication of attribution but an at-
tempt to account for more than one as-
pect of the qur'anic texts by assuming
more than one phase in their collection.
Abu Bakr assembled the text for fear of
further loss as a result of the deaths of
those who had memorized it ( Jeffery,
Materials, 23). The scrupulous care with
which Zayd proceeded, taking account
both of people's memories and of written
records, is calculated to provide reassur-
ance that nothing of what he could yet
collect had been overlooked. The early
date of the first collection initiative aims to
provide similar reassurance. That is bal-
anced by mention of loss through death
but even more importantly by the placing
of the first collection after the death of the
Prophet. Some Muslim scholars suggested
a cause for the Prophet's non-participation
in the collection but none has explicitly
questioned his exclusion.

The 'Uthmanic mushaf
As the traditional reports proceed, they
provide further elaboration: Scandalized
by the beadle's separating those in the
mosque who followed the Ibn Mas'ud
mushaf bora those who adhered to that of
Abu Miisa, Hudhayfa counseled the ruler
to take immediate action (Jeffery, Materials,
11; Burton, Collection, 142). 'Uthman
(r. 23-35/644-56) himself had been out-
raged by quarrels that broke out at Me-
dina. He advised the other Companions
that he proposed to unite the people on the
basis of a single text. "Companions of
Muhammad! Act in unison to write out a
definitive text for the Muslims that will
unite them" (Jeffery, Materials, 21; Burton,
Collection, 143). "Abu Bakr was the first to
collect the Quran into folios on the deaths
of those slain in battle; 'Uthman collated
and published the folios to produce a single
reading, he then commanded the destruc-

tion of all other texts" (Jeffery, Materials,
18-9; Burton, Collection, 141).

Inasmuch as reports about 'Uthman's ini-
tiative are hostile to the Companion-
mushafi, efforts were made to defend their
legitimacy. A man complained to the
Prophet, "Ibn Mas'ud taught me a Qur'an
passage; Zayd taught me the same passage
and so also did Ubayy. The readings of all
three are different, so whose reading ought
I to adopt?" (Tabari, Tafsir, i, 24). The re-
quest received several replies in different
versions of the report. "Recite as you were
taught"; "their readings are all equally
valid" (Tabari, Tafsir, i, 26, 30, 32); "only
public contention over the Qur'an
amounts to apostasy (q.v.)" (Tabari, Tafsir,
i, 44, 63; see recitation OF THE qjjr'an;
RECITERS OF THE QJJr'an).

Arbitrating similar quarrels between
'Ulnar and a fellow Meccan or between
Ubayy and a fellow Muslim, the Prophet
announced, "Each of your readings is cor-
rect. The Qur'an was revealed in seven
forms, so recite whichever is easiest"(Ta-
bari, Tafsir, i, 24-5 ['Umar]; 32 [Ubayy]).
Attempts to explain reading differences as
being caused by their different local dia-
lects (q.v.) foundered on the observation
that 'Umar's quarrel had been with a Mec-
can. Perhaps each had used different words.
Reciting o 73:6, hiya ashaddu wat'an wa-
aswabu qllan, Anas b. Malik was corrected,
"It is aqwamu qilan." He replied, "Agwamu,
aswabu, ahya'u — they all mean the same
thing" (Tabari, Tafsir, i, 52). Even the syn-
onym explanation had to be abandoned on
the mature view that at no stage had the
transmission of the Qur'an according to
the meaning only ever been countenanced.
When the doctrine of the uniqueness fi'jaz)
of the Qur'an was being interpreted in the
sense that the text was inimitable in the
strict literary sense (see inimitability), it
had to be agreed that the transmission of
the early authorities had been rigorously

357

COLLECTION OF THE Q_UR AN

verbatim. With the abandonment of the
dialect and synonym explanations, a re-
serve rationalization was proffered. Ac-
cording to this interpretation, 'Umar, an
early convert, would have memorized the
Qur'an at an early date. His compatriot,
Hisham, had converted only after the con-
quest of Mecca and had probably memo-
rized later additions to the text which, at
the time of their quarrel, 'Umar had not
yet heard (Ibn Hajar, Fath, ix, 21).

The isnad of the mushaf
'Uthman is said to have dispatched copies
of his mushaf to the metropolitan centers
with the command that all other texts be
shredded or burned. "When the copy ar-
rived at Basra, Abu Mtisa declared that
everything in 'Uthman 's text and lacking in
his own should be added. Anything in his
own but lacking in 'Uthman 's text should
not be omitted. Hudhayfa exclaimed,
'What is the point of all our work? Nobody
in this province will abandon Abdallah's
[i.e. Ibn Mas'ud] reading, and nobody of
Yemeni origin will abandon Abu Musa's' "
( Jeffery, Materials, 35). Abdallah b. Mas'ud
is projected as protesting, "How can I be
ordered to conform to the reading of
Zayd, when I recited seventy suras from
the very lips of the Prophet? Am I to be
excluded from the collection and the task
given to a man who was still an infidel in
his father's loins when I first became a
Muslim?" (Jeffery, Materials, 15, 17). Propo-
nents of the Ibn Mas'ud mushaf recruited
the Prophet's authority in its defense.
"Whoever wishes to recite the Qur'an in its
purest form, as it was revealed, should
adopt the reading of Abdallah" (TayalisI,
Musnad, ii, 150-1). When 'Uthman's order
for the destruction of their copies reached
Iraq, Abdallah b. Mas'ud is portrayed as
advising his followers to conceal their
mushaf to preserve it from destruction
(XayaKsI, Musnad, ii, 150-1; Jeffery, Mate-

rials, 15; Tabarl, Tafsir, i, 28). Reading
differences had thus allegedly evaded the
supposed 'Uthmanic initiative to unite the
Muslims on the basis of a single text.

The readings attributed to Companions
are of two kinds: attempted interpolations
into a universally acknowledged text or
variations on the consonantal or vocalic
values that may be assigned to the script
used to record the mushaf, a script which
originally lacked both diacritics and short
vowel markers (see ARABIC script). The use
of a denuded script has even been ex-
plained as a deliberate device to accommo-
date the "seven readings" which the
Prophet was said to have sanctioned. A
reading of the final verse which Zayd, or
'Umar, or 'Uthman had recovered, "There
has now come to you a prophet from your
own number (anfusikum)" was ascribed to
A'isha and Fatima (q.v.), respectively the
Prophet's widow and daughter, and even to
the Prophet himself, as anfasikum, "from the
most noble among you" (Zamakhsharl,
Kashshaf, ad o_ 9:128).

At the time when irreconcilable doctrines
were being attributed to the different past
"authorities," to whom appeal was made in
support of competing regional or school
attitudes, the sunna showed bewildering
contradictions and confusions. To control a
growing accumulation of disparate source
materials, scholars began to insist on the
naming of those in each generation who
transmitted relevant statements from their
putative authors among the Companions.
The lists could be compared and judg-
ments made as to degrees of accurate
memorization, hifz, and trustworthy trans-
mission, thiqa. Al-Shafi'l (d. 204/820)
sought to impose the solution of discount-
ing all Companion information when
reports from the Prophet himself were
available. Reports from the Prophet con-
tinued to conflict, so al-Shafi'l insisted on
closer scrutiny of the lists of transmitters

COLLECTION OF THE OUR AN

358

(sing, isndd), applying the principle of
abrogation. It is possible to date a shift in
preference for reports from older to
younger Companions. Invariably, where
reports clash, the later are to be accepted.
The application of this rule can already be
seen in reference to the reported quarrel
between 'Umar and Hisham discussed
above. In this light, the participation of
Zayd in every phase of Qur'an compila-
tion becomes clearer. Addressing Zayd,
Abu Bakr declared, "You are young, intel-
ligent and we know nothing to your dis-
credit. You served the Prophet by recording
his revelations in writing, so now pursue
the Qur'an and bring it all together." Here,
the moral uprightness ('addlaj of Zayd is
assured, and the projection or "raising"
(raj') of the isndd of his mushaf to the
Prophet is established as against that of
the older Companions. The 'Uthman-
Zayd label identifies the last historical link
between the time of the Medinan cali-
phate (see caliph) and that of the Prophet.
It was thus designed to supersede all other
Qur'an traditions.

As to the abrogation principle, two fea-
tures can be observed when it is applied to
the Qur'an: alleged omissions from the
Qur'an and alleged omissions from the
'Uthmanic text. The latter are the Com-
panions' "variants," actually attempted
interpolations. Yet despite the near una-
nimity on the stoning penalty, for example,
it is strikingly noteworthy that the wording
of the stoning verse has never been attrib-
uted to any Companion-m«j/zo/! Thus it
can be argued that it represents attempted
interpolation into an ideal text.

In another example, o_ 2:184 permits the
sick and those who are travelling to breach
the Ramadan (q.v.) fast on condition that,
when they can, they will fast the precise
number of days they had not fasted. The
manner of this compensatory fast became
the subject of dispute. 'A'isha reports that

the verse "was originally revealed: 'a num-
ber of alternative consecutive days.' Subse-
quently, the word 'consecutive' was
dropped." One commentator explains
"was dropped" to mean that the word was
withdrawn by the divine author (Suyuti,
Dun; i, 192). Elsewhere al-Suyutl (d. 911/
1505) explains that "Abu Bakr's aim was
seen to have been to collect the Qur'an
'between two covers'; 'Uthman's had been
to collect those readings attested as coming
from the Prophet and to reject all non-
canonical readings. He sought to unite the
Muslims on the basis of a single text
containing no interpolations which still
appeared in written documents alongside
verses whose inclusion in the final version
of the text had been endorsed" (Suyuti,
Itqdn, i, 60-1).

The extent of the Companion mushafs
When isolated readings from Companions
or their successors were discussed, the
majority of scholars tended to mention
them as curiosities and, apart from those
who were dependent on them for their evi-
dence, to view them as variants or as ex-
planatory additions, hence as secondary to
a generally recognized text. They were
only prepared to acknowledge readings
that conformed with the consonantal ma-
trix of 'Uthman's mushaf, conformed with
the rules of Arabic grammar (see grammar
and the qur'an) and were equipped with a
sound isndd. Consonantal or vocalic read-
ings can be indicated by symbols external
to the core script, which thus remains unal-
tered. Given this limitation, these tolerated
variants amounted to no more than the in-
terpretation of a shared common text.
Only in very rare cases was there potential
for serious division of opinion. Such an in-
stance occurred in the reading of Q_ 5:6,
where the absence of short vowel markers
raised the difficulty of deciding whether, in
the ritual purification required for prayer

359

COLLECTION OF THE Q_UR AN

(q.v.), the feet should be washed like the
face and hands or merely wiped like the
head (see ritual purity; cleanliness and
ablution).

When, to reinforce appeal to Companion
readings, Companion mushafo began to be
mentioned, they had to be differentiated
from the Uthmanic mushaf. The order of
the suras in Ibn Mas'ud's or Ubayy's mushaf
had, it was alleged, differed from that of
the 'Uthmanic text (see sura). Any sura
lists produced for these codices merely had
to vary from the 'Uthmanic sequence.
Adoption of the present order could have
occurred, it was thought, when Uthman
arranged the sheets of Abu Bakr. Further
reports state that annually during the
Prophet's later years, in Ramadan, Ga-
briel (q.v.) reviewed the year's revelations.
It was presumed that he would have fixed
at least the order of the verses within their
suras. There has, in any event, been no re-
corded dispute over the internal arrange-
ment of the individual suras. Perhaps the
order of the suras themselves had also
been fixed at the same time. The precise
order of the suras is, however, of no practi-
cal relevance. All classical Muslim scholars
are agreed that the present order of the
mushaf beam no relation to the order in
which the suras were revealed. A chrono-
logical ordering of the revelations would
have been of practical utility only in dis-
cussions on abrogation, the earlier being
thereby more easily distinguished from the
later revelation. Although 'All is reputed to
have collected his Quran materials in
chronological order and to have included
notes on abrogation, no copy of his mushaf
has ever been located (SuyutI, Itqan, i, 58).
A fourth/tenth century bibliographer
claimed to have handled a number of
mushafo, all of which were attributed to Ibn
Mas'ud, but no two of them agreed in re-
spect of sura order (Ibn al-Nadlm, Fihrist,
46, on the arrangement of the Qur'an in

the mushaf of 'Abdallah b. Mas'ud).

Both the 'Abdallah b. Mas'ud and the
Ubayy mushafo were said to have varied
from the Uthmanic mushaf m length.
Numerous reports relate 'Abdallah b.
Mas'ud's erasure of the first and the last
two suras on the grounds that "they were
not part of the book of God." There was
considerable speculation as to the implica-
tions of this procedure. In the end, it was
concluded that, having seen the Prophet
frequently employ the three short passages
as charms (see amulets), 'Abdallah had
supposed that they must be special prayers,
as opposed to revealed passages. Others
dismissed the reports outright as a pack of
lies fathered upon a leading Companion of
the Prophet who could not conceivably
have entertained doubts about the revela-
tion. 'Abdallah himself had characterized
denial of any part of the Qur'an as apos-
tasy (Tabarl, Tafsir, i, 38). Eventually it
was settled that, because one may not sim-
ply dismiss reports of sound isnad, 'Abd-
allah had at first doubted whether the
Companions were justified in their deter-
mination to include these passages and was
only slowly won round to their view. It had
to be presumed that by "book of God,"
'Abdallah had meant only the mushaf and
not the Qur'an. Further, he may have con-
sidered that the purpose of the collection
was to obviate possible forgetting, loss or
addition, dangers which would not arise
with regard to the three sections. They
were all extremely brief and one was re-
peated five times daily in the ritual prayers
(SuyutI, Itqan, i, 79; Burton, Collection,
221-4; see prayer formulas). Ubayy's
mushaf was said to have contained two sec-
tions absent from the Uthmanic mushaf. It
was similarly supposed that, having noted
the frequency with which the Prophet had
recited them in the ritual prayers, Ubayy
had erroneously imagined that the for-
mulae must have been part of the divine

COLLECTION OF THE OUR AN

360

revelation since they were uttered in the
ritual. Misapprehension had thus led him
into admitting the two passages into his
recension of the Qur'an (Burton, Collec-
tion, 221).

The final review of the text
There are numerous reports that record
what were understood to be the last stage
of the Quran's collection. The Prophet's
daughter is reported as saying that her
father told her that Gabriel, who checked
the revelations with him once a year, had
just checked them twice, from which Mu-
hammad inferred that his death must be
imminent. According to another account
when Ibn 'Abbas asked, "Which of the two
texts do you consider the later?" they
said the Zayd text. "No," he replied, "the
Prophet reviewed the texts annually with
Gabriel, twice in his final year. The reading
of Ibn Mas'ud is that of the later of the
two final reviews" (Ibn Hajar, Fath, ix, 35-6).

When a man referred to "the former
reading," Ibn Abbas asked what he meant.
He said "When 'Umar sent 'Abdallah [b.
Mas'ud] to Kufa, the people there adopted
his reading. Then when Uthman changed
the texts, they referred to the 'Abdallah
reading as 'the former text.'" "But it is the
later," insisted Ibn 'Abbas, "based on the
final review. Ibn Mas'ud attended the final
review and learned what had been with-
drawn and what had been altered" (Ibn
Hajar, Fath, ix, 35-6).

Two sets of hadiths involving 'Abdallah
b. Mas'ud and Zayd concern the isndd of
the texts. One stressed the early date of
Abdallah's acceptance of Islam and
claimed that his mushqfhad considerably
predated that of Zayd. The second now
seeks to claim that 'Abdallah's represents
the most recent text. Appropriating this
second hadith motif, the proponents of the
Zayd-'Uthman mushqf insist that Zayd
attended the final review, learning what

had been withdrawn and what remained:
"Zayd attended the final review in which
he learned what had been removed and
what remained. He wrote out this final
review text and read it over to the Prophet
for him to check once more. Thereafter
Zayd taught that text to the Muslims. That
explains why Abu Bakr and 'Umar relied
on Zayd to collect the texts and why 'Uth-
man entrusted him with production of the
copies" (Suyuti, Itqdn, i, 51).

The Uthman collection tradition was not
opposed to the Abu Bakr-Umar initiative.
It was opposed to the "variant reading"
and "variant mushqf" tradition (DanI,
Muqm, 7; Burton, Collection, 146). As noted
earlier, the consolidation of the sunna
involved the transition from the hadiths
reported from the Companions to those
reported from the Prophet and, as trans-
mitters from the Prophet, younger Com-
panions came to be preferred to older
Companions in order to ensure reports
from the Prophet's late period. Mushqfi,
reported from the Companions, however,
failed to complete the transition since no
mushqf has ever been attributed to the
Prophet. The reason is clear and simple.
No revealed verse still legally valid when
the Prophet died could have been omitted
from the mushqf if the Prophet had been
credited with its collection. To accommo-
date the concept of abrogation, the collec-
tion had logically to be consciously and de-
liberately placed in the period following
the Prophet's death, a motif the scholars
were keen to emphasize by repeating it in
the collection hadiths. They knew why and
they explained why: "It is probable that the
Prophet did not himself collect the Qur'an
into a single volume, since he expected
abrogation to affect either some of its legal
provisions or certain of the wordings.
Once revelation ceased absolutely on the
Prophet's death, God inspired his Com-
panions to the task of collecting the texts,

;j()I

COLORS

in fulfillment of the divine promise (o 15:9)
to preserve them" (Ibn Hajar, Fath, ix, g).
Western scholarship has in the past cen-
tury contributed considerably to the
knowledge of the Qur'an sciences (see
EXEGESIS OF THE Q_Ur'an: CLASSICAL AND

medieval; traditional disciplines of
qur'anic study) by discovering and pub-
lishing many works on the various aspects
of the qur'anic texts with particular em-
phasis on the structure of the composition,
the periodization of the content and close
examination of accumulated variants. In-
terest has focused principally on the Qur-
'an as a literary monument and the labors
of many outstanding experts might have
resulted in a scholarly edition of the entire
text. Such a project was, indeed, planned
in the earlier years of the century by G.
Bergstrasser, A. Jeffery and others but was
frustrated by the outbreak of the second
world war. It had probably, in any case,
been rendered unnecessary by the excel-
lent Royal Egyptian version of 1342/
1923-4. It should also be remembered that
to Muslims, the Qur'an is both unparal-
leled literary document and legal source
and it is this combined quality that has
determined their view of its history. See
also textual history of the qur'an;

CHRONOLOGY AND THE QUr'An.

John Burton

Bibliography
Primary: Ibn Abl Dawud, K al-Masahif, ed.
Jeffery, Cairo 1936; Dam, Muqm; Farm', Ma'am;
al-Ghazall, Kitab al-Mustasfd, 2 vols., Bulaq 1322/
1904; al-HazimT, Muhammad b. Musa, Kitab
al-Vtibcu; Hyderabad 1359/1940 2 (rev. ed.); Ibn
Hajar, Fath al-ban, 12 vols., Cairo 1376/1957; Ibn
al-Nadlm, Fihrist; Malik, Muwatta'; QiirtubT,
JatnV; al-SarakhsI, Shams al-A'imma, al-Usul,
2 vols., Hyderabad 1372/1952; al-ShafTl, Kitab
IkhtildJ al-hadlth, on margin of id., Kitab at-Umm,
7 vols., Biilaq 1322-4/1904-6, vii; id., Kitab
al-Risdla, Bulaq 1321/1904; SuyutI, Durr; id.,
Itqdn; Tabarl, Fafsir; al-TayalisT, Abu Dawud,
Musnad, Hyderabad 1321/1904 (an edition

organised according to abwab al-fiqh is found in
A. Dimyati, Minhai al-ma'bud, 2 vols., Cairo 1372/
1952-3); ZamakhsharT, Rashshaj.
Secondary: Burton, Collection; id., The
interpretation of o 87:6-7 and the theories of
naskh, in Der Islam 62.1 (1985), 5-19; id., Fhe sources
of Islamic law, Edinburgh 1990; Goldziher,
Richtungen; Jeffery, Materials; T. Noldeke, Geschichte
des Qorans, Gottingen i860; id., gq; A.S. Shahln,
Fa'rikh al-Qur'an, Cairo 1966.

Colors

The distinguishing hues and shades reflect-
ing or emanating from a light source. The
Qur'an speaks of color generically as an
attribute of God's creation: The fact of the
existence of diverse hues, alwan, is men-
tioned nine times (twice in Q 2:69 and
35:27; also in Q 16:13, 69; 30:22; 35:28; and
39:21), most often connected to evidence
for God's handiwork in creation (q.v.). As
might be expected, then, a majority of the
mentions of individual colors are con-
nected to this same motif.

Before discussing the qur'anic material,
however, it is necessary to understand what
is meant by color terminology. Linguists
have established sets of criteria by which
words for basic colors may be identified.
The work of B. Berlin and P. Kay, Basic
color terms. Their universality and evolution
(Berkeley 1969) is the standard work in the
field and the authors provide four such cri-
teria for a word to be considered a "color
term" (p. 6): (a) it is monolexemic (i.e. not
predictable from the meaning of its parts);
(b) its significance is not included in that of
any other color term; (c) its application is
not restricted to a limited class of objects;
and (d) it is psychologically salient for in-
formants, i.e. it appears at the beginning of
elicited lists of color words, is stable across
informants and is used in ideolects of all
informants. Berlin and Kay have also
made a significant contribution to the
study of the historical development of

DOLORS

362

color terms, but the limited corpus of early
Arabic means that making suggestions
about the emergence of color terms in that
language is unlikely to be very profitable.

Using these criteria for the assessment of
color terminology, then, certain words may
be isolated in the Qur'an as representing
colors. White (abyad), black (aswad), yellow
(asfar), red (ahmar) and green (akhdar) are
all prominent; a number of other terms
may also be suggested as conveying color
perception, frequently with an ambiguous
relationship to these primary terms.

Red (ahmar) is used only once (in the plu-
ral form humr) in the Qur'an, in Q_ 35:27-8,
a passage which speaks of the multi-
colored nature of God's creation and
which conveys the significance of most
color references in the Qur'an by indicat-
ing that they are a part of the way of ap-
preciating God's creative work in the world
(see NATURAL WORLD AND THE QUR'an):
"Have you not seen how God sends down
water (q.v.) from heaven, and therewith we
bring forth fruits of diverse hues (alwan)?
And in the mountains are streaks white
and red, of diverse hues (alwan), and pitchy
black; men too, and beasts and cattle —
diverse are their hues." Another word for
red (or crimson) is used in o_ 55:37, in
which the day of judgment (see LAST
judgment; apocalypse) is described: "And
when heaven is split asunder, and turns
crimson like [red] hide (warda ka-l-dihdn) ."
The phrase warda ka-l-dihdn apparently has
an exact sense which, in this occurrence, is
nonetheless unclear. Dihdn is used only
once (cf. p_ 23:20 with its use of duhn in ref-
erence to the anointing oil flowing from a
tree on Mount Sinai; see anointing; sinai)
and some translations of the word suggest
"ointment" or "grease" although the lexi-
cographers certainly favor a meaning of
"a red hide" (see Lane, ad loc.). Warda,
likewise, is only used once in what appears
to be a color reference (cf. wand in Q_ 50:16

meaning "jugular vein"; see artery and
vein) and the sense seems to flow from the
context of a brilliant sky as being colored
red, rosy or crimson. While the word red is
commonly employed as a powerful image
associated with blood and life (see blood
and blood clot; biology as the creation
and stages of life), the Qur'an does not
follow that direction in its color language.
Qur'anic usage does, however, express the
prominence or "strikingness" of this color.
Green is mentioned six times as an adjec-
tive [khudr, akhdar, o_ 12:43, 46; 18:31; 36:80;
55:76; 76:21) and once as a participle
(o_ 22:63), "to become green." The usage of
khadir in o 6:99 is a related nominal usage
referring to a "green leaf" but is not,
strictly speaking, a color word. Green con-
veys a sense of freshness and luxuriousness
in the Qur'an. It is likely that the connota-
tion of vegetation (see agriculture and
vegetation) explicit in the reference to
"green ears of corn" in p_ 12:43 and 12:46,
is the foundation for the associative senses
of the color green, as in the green gar-
ments of silk (q.v.; q 18:31; 76:21. Note may
also be made of the connected uses of gold
[q.v.] and silver here; see also clothing)
and of green cushions (q_ 55:76) pictured
within the comforts and lushness of the
hereafter (see heaven). The participial
usage of mukhdarra in Q_ 22:63 echoes the
more general color connotation of the glo-
ries of God's creation manifested in the
colors which result, in this instance, from
rainfall. The word mudhamm is commonly
translated as green pastures but has more
the sense of dark, tending towards black
(which is the common meaning of the
adjective adham). Its use in o_ 55:64 in refer-
ence to the "two gardens" tends to demand
a translation that stresses green; the lexi-
cographers try to explain this as a shade of
green so intense that it "appears black
when viewed from a distance" (Lane, ad
loc; see garden).

363

COLORS

The color yellow or golden, asfar, is used
five times including three times in verbal
form. The "golden cow" (see CALF OF
gold) of the Moses (q.v.) story in Q_ 2:69 is
understood as intense, bright or pure, JSgi',
a word associated with both yellow and
white. In o_ 77:33, the association of yellow
is with hell fire (see hell) in which sparks
are spoken of "as if they were yellow cam-
els." While it might be possible to suggest
that there is an association of the quality of
animals with brilliant yellowness, clearly
the biblical story of the golden calf could
very well have suggested the image as it is
found in the Qur'an. The three participial
uses refer to a "yellow wind," perhaps of a
sand storm (o_ 30:51) and to the withering
of vegetation after the rain has turned it
green and it has grown (p_ 39:21; 57:20).
Reference to color is thus again evidence
of God's work although notably in this in-
stance not simply of a generative kind, but
of involvement with the entire life cycle.

Absent in this list of colors thus far are
brown and blue. The use of zurq (plural
form of azraq, the common adjective for
blue) in o_ 20:102 denotes eyes (q.v.) specifi-
cally and cannot be considered truly a col-
or word: "The day when the trumpet shall
be sounded, at that time we will gather the
sinful blue-eyed (zurqan)."

The fact that the adjective azraq is com-
monly associated with eyes (q.v.) that are
blind and, as a color, is often seen to tend
towards gray, makes it likely that the ex-
pression of the perception of the blue
spectrum in Arabic is more closely aligned
to that of green, as is common in many
languages, despite the sense that blue is
"one of the essential colors of nature"
(A. Morabia, Lawn). There may also be a
connection with the medical ailment of
cataracts, which turns the eye blue or even
grey or green. In contemporary Arabic di-
alects cataracts are called blue water (al-
ma' or al-miya al-zarqa). It is here that some

of the dimensions of the cultural values
which colors can convey may be perceived.
The glorification of blue skies is perhaps
something meaningful only to those who
live in climates in which precipitation is an
expected element in life (see weather). It is
more likely that the appearance of storm
clouds is to be greeted with pleasure in
areas where rain is not a predictable phe-
nomenon. Thus the symbolic usages of the
word — the praising of blue skies, blue
waters, blue eyes — are more limited and,
in fact, when used, tend towards the nega-
tive as indicated by the association of blue
eyes with evil in Q_ 20:102. But even there, it
should be noted that explicit development
of the negative connotations of blue (the
use of blue to ward off the evil eye, for ex-
ample) is absent from the Qur'an. Accord-
ing to A. Morabia, the color blue was so
"magical, inauspicious and disturbing"
that "the Arabs took pains to avoid men-
tioning this color" (Lawn). The overlap
between brown and yellow and red makes
the absence of the color brown from the
Qur'an perhaps less remarkable than the
absence of blue.

White and black, often contrasted, con-
stitute a substantial portion of the color
references in the Qur'an, as might be
expected. Abyad, "white," (including its
feminine and plural forms) occurs eight
times (the root is also used for eggs in
0. 37-49) P ms three times in a verbal conju-
gation. In o_ 35:27, white is a color of cre-
ation, put alongside red, black and "many
colors" as a description of colors in moun-
tains, as mentioned above. Similar perhaps
is Q_ 37:46 as a description of water in para-
dise (q.v.) but this may also be understood
as the use of white as a symbol of purity, a
notion conveyed in the contrast with black
in p_ 3:106 and 3:107 where the pure believ-
ers "glow in white" and the unbelievers
"glow in black" (see belief and unbelief;
faith). Another sense here might be that to

DOLORS

364

"glow in white" is to be filled with joy
while "black" represents sadness (Mir,
Verbal, 63-4). Likewise, Moses' hand being
miraculously white when he withdraws it
from his garments as an evidence to Pha-
raoh (q.v.) also conveys a sense of purity.
Numerically, this is the most significant use
of white, being mentioned in Q_ 7:108,
20:22, 26:33, 27:12 and 28:32. These pas-
sages have another interpretation, how-
ever, in precisely the inverse, emphasizing
the miraculous element rather than the
metaphoric. Developing a Rabbinic inter-
pretation (Pirke Rabbi Eliezer, chapter 48,
quoted in A. Geiger, Judaism and Islam, 125,
n. 4), some Muslim commentators (e.g.
Tarafi, Qisas, p. 262) are aware of the ver-
sion of the story in which Moses' hand was
"white with leprosy (haras)," thus white
would mean impure (see purity and im-
purity). Finally, in a passage which must
be understood as idiomatic, Jacob's (q.v.)
grief over the loss of Joseph (q.v.) is de-
scribed in Q_ 12:84 as causing his eyes (q.v.)
to "become white with sorrow" (ibyaddat
'ayndhu min al-huzn), sorrow causing blind-
ness, which itself is characterized as show-
ing the whites of one's eyes (see Mir,
Verbal, 64).

The contrast between the "white thread
(or streak)" and the "black thread" in
Q_ 2:187, as this refers to daybreak and thus
to the beginning of a day of fasting (q.v.;
see also Ramadan), has been a locus of exe-
getical discussion about the meaning of the
statement. Generally this contrastive ter-
minology is understood to indicate the
difference between dark and light (see
darkness) rather than the colors black and
white per se. Clearly there is a relationship
between these two pairs, especially on the
metaphorical level in which God is seen as
the source of light (q.v.) and of purity.

The color black is denoted primarily by
aswad and its derivatives although several
other terms apparently fall within the chro-

matic field. Of the seven uses of the root
s-w-d, four (o_ 2:187; twice in 3:106; 35:27)
appear alongside white as detailed in the
previous paragraph, suggesting not only
the color black in nature but also its meta-
phorical usage as the opposite of white in
the latter's sense of purity. The word mus-
waddis, used in q 16:58 and its parallel
Q_ 43:17 to suggest the darkening of the face
in the light of bad news as a reflection of
grief, echoing the eschatological (see
eschatology) usage in Q_ 39:60, as well as
the previously-mentioned o_ 3:106 (see Mir,
Verbal, 177). Other words generally under-
stood as the color black (or at least dark
hues) include ahwa in Q_ 87:5, where the
contrast is between lush pasture land (i.e.
green) and what becomes dark stubble
(ghirfhd' ahwa), according to God's (i.e.
nature's) laws. Hamida in Q_ 22:5 means
lifeless and is ordinarily taken as black-
ened, as though by fire (q.v.; an image
sometimes connected to aswad as well, due
to hell fire "blackening" the faces of its in-
habitants). Mudhamm, used in Q_ 55:64 in
the sense of dark, sometimes seen as dark
green (as mentioned in the discussion of
"green") tending to black, is found as a de-
scription of lustiness of the "two gardens."
Several other terms related to darkness
have a primary sense of cloud covering,
shadows and the like and are not truly col-
or terms.

Colors are present in the Qur'an, there-
fore, in both descriptive and metaphoric
usage. The most pervasive sense of color is
detailed in God's creative power, which is
witnessed in the presence and the changing
of colors in the world. Cultural values,
however, are also conveyed in the meta-
phorical instances, reflecting both common
elements of the biblical Near Eastern tra-
dition and the culture of Arabic speakers
of the first/seventh century.

Andrew Rippin

365

COMMANDMENTS

Bibliography
Primary: al-Taraff, Abu ( Abdallah Muhammad
b. Ahmad, Qisas al-anbiyd\ ed. and trans. R.
Tottoli, Stone dei profeti, Genova 1997.
Secondary: B. Scarcia Amoretti, Lunar green
and solar green. On the ambiguity of function of
a colour in Islam, in ao-h 33 (1979), 337-43; A.
Brenner, Colour terms in the Old Testament, Sheffield
1982 (contains a full bibliography on the study of
color and color terms); W. Fischer, Farb- und
Formbezeichnungen in der Sprache der altarabischen
Dichtung. Untersuehengen zur Wortbedeutung und zur
Wortbildung, Wiesbaden 1965 (the standard
reference work on the subject in the held of
Arabic); A. Geiger, Judaism and Islam, Madras
1898 (German original 1833); Lane; Mir, Verbal;
A. Morabia, Lawn, in EI 2 , v, 698-707 (provides an
excellent overview and extensive bibliography);
A. Shivtiel, The semantic held of colours in
Arabic, in Proceedings of the colloquium on Arabic
grammar. The Arabist — bsa 3-4 (1991), 335~9-

Combat see

Commandments

Moral regulations mandated by divine
decree. The Qur'an does not refer expli-
citly to the biblical Ten Commandments
(see scripture AND THE q_ur'an) or "ten
words," and Muslim exegetes have not
generally tried to find either the Decalogue
itself or a Muslim equivalent in the text.
The Qur'an does speak of tablets (alwah)
given to Moses (q.v.; Q_ 7:145^ but alludes
to their content only in general terms:
"And we wrote for him on the tablets of
everything an admonition (maw 'iga) and
exposition (tafsilan) for everything." The
tradition often seems as interested in what
the tablets were made of (emerald with
gold writing, according to Mas'udl, Muruj,
i, 49; other possibilities include ruby, chrys-
olite, wood, stone; see Qurtubl, Jami\ vii,
179) as in what they contained. Otherwise,
commentators generally see the tablets of
o 7:145 as containing a law code of sorts
("what [the Israelites, see children of

Israel] were commanded to do and forbid-
den from doing," Tabari, Tafsir, ix, 57).
Some exegetes consider the tablets to have
contained both statutory rules (ahkam, see
boundaries and precepts) and narrative
material intended to induce obedience
(q.v.; e.g. RazI, Tafsir, xiv, 193). Wahb b.
Munabbih (d. 110/728 or 114/732), thejew-
ish convert and well-known transmitter of
"Jewish lore" or Isra'Tliyydt, is said to have
associated the tablets of Q_ 7:145 with the
Ten Commandments and gives — without
identifying it as such — a close paraphrase
of some of the Decalogue: "[God] wrote:
Do not associate with me anything of the
heavens and the earth, for all of that is my
creation (q.v.; cf. the wording of Exod 20:4,
on graven images); Do not swear falsely in
my name, for I will not cleanse the one
who swears falsely (cf. Exod 20:7 and Dent
5:11, with the Hebrew loymakkeh [God will
not acquit, or purify] semantically equiva-
lent to the Arabic la uzakki, "I will not
cleanse"); and honor your parents"
(Tabarl, Tafsir, ix, 57f).

Apart from the tablets of Q_ 7:145, Moses
(q.v.) also receives nine "clear signs" (ayat
bayyinat, see signs) at Q_ 17:101. From the
context, this must refer to something other
than the Ten Commandments and most
commentators have taken it to mean nine
miracles performed for the benefit of Pha-
raoh (q.v.; see also Egypt) and his people,
spoken of elsewhere at Q_ 27:12. These are
traditionally said to have included, among
other things, the changing of the rod into
a serpent, Moses' white hand and the
plagues (q.v.) of locusts, lice, frogs and
blood (Tabarl, Tafsir, xv, 171; Baydawl,
Anwar, i, 583; RazI, Tafsir, xxi, 54). How-
ever, one line of commentary takes these
"nine clear signs" to refer to nine specific
legal statutes, some of which are familiar
from the biblical Decalogue while others
are foreign to it: Do not associate anything
with God; do not steal; do not kill anyone

COMMANDMENTS

3 66

(whose blood) God has declared unlawful,
except with just cause (see murder; blood-
shed); do not use magic (see magic, prohi-
bition of); do not take unjust enrichment,
i.e. usury (q.v.); do not bring an innocent
person before the ruler (see kings and
rulers) so that he may be killed; do not
slander a chaste woman (see chastity); do
not flee on the day the army marches (see
war); and — a matter specifically ad-
dressed to the Jews (see jews and Juda-
ism) — do not transgress the Sabbath (q.v.).
Muhammad's recitation of this list is sup-
posed to have pleased the two Jews who
had inquired about the meaning of
Q 17:101 (Tabarl, TafsTr, xv, 172; Tirmidhl,
Sahih, v, 286, no. 3144) and there are indi-
cations that Muhammad's words were un-
derstood by some to recall the Decalogue.
In a late collection of hadiths, one com-
mentator remarks that the Prophet an-
swered the question about the nine clear
signs by reciting the Ten Commandments
(Tabriz!, Mishkdt, i, 62); moreover, the very
next tradition in this collection gives ten
commands which the Prophet is supposed
to have made, some of which link up with
the list of commandments Muhammad re-
cited to the two Jews. Finally, the presence
of the Sabbath command in Muhammad's
list is a strong indication that reference to
the Decalogue is being made here, as that
particular command is frequently omitted
in the few Muslim versions of the Ten
Commandments we have. (The command
has fallen out of Wahb's partial version
noted above and it does not appear in
Tha'labl, Qisas 180-1; though glossed in a
Muslim sense, it is present in Ibn Kathlr's
version, Biddya, i, 281. Both al-Tha'labl and
Ibn Kathlr explicitly identify their text
with the "ten words," al-'ashar al-kalimdt, cf.
the 'aseret haddevarim of Deut 10:4).

From the exegesis of Q_ 7:145 and 17:101, it
would not seem that early Muslims had a
precise notion of the biblical Decalogue or

that they tried very hard to discern its pres-
ence in the Qur'an, even if some did make
that effort. Elsewhere, the Quran offers a
coherent list of precepts and prohibitions
which a few Western scholars have taken
to be an incomplete version of the Ten
Commandments (M. Seale, Qur'dn, 74f;
T. Hughes, Dictionary, s.v. commandments).
The list appears at o_ 17:22-39 and an ab-
breviated version can be found at o 6:151-3:

Set not up with God another god...

The Lord (q.v.) has decreed that you shall

not serve any but him...

And [that you] be good to your parents...

Give the kinsman (see kinship) his right,

and the needy, and the wayfarer; and never

squander...

Slay not your children (q.v.) for fear (q.v.) of

poverty...

Approach not fornication (zind)...

Slay not the soul (q.v.) God has forbidden,

except by right

Do not approach the property (q.v.) of the
orphan (see orphans) save in the fairest
manner...

Fill up the measure when you measure,
and weigh with the straight balance...
Pursue not what you have no knowledge
of; the hearing, the sight, the heart (q.v.)...
Walk not in the earth (q.v.) exultantly...

Much of this does indeed parallel the bib-
lical Decalogue. The first two echo Exodus
20:3f, where graven images and other
gods are prohibited (see idolatry and
idolaters; idols and images); the third
parallels Exodus 20:12; the sixth parallels,
but is somewhat broader than, the biblical
prohibition of adultery since the Arabic
Zind is understood to apply to all kinds of
sexual misconduct (see adultery and
fornication; sex and sexuality); the
seventh recalls the Decalogue's prohibition
of murder (q.v.; Exod 20:13), although it is
much less unequivocal, and goes on to

367

COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

allow the Arabian lex talionis. For other
parts of this passage, parallels can be sup-
plied from elsewhere in the Pentateuch: the
ninth, for example, concerning weights
and measures (q.v.), which echoes Leviticus
19:35. There are also divergences where
biblical parallels are harder to find, as in
the case of the fifth command prohibiting
infanticide (q.v.).

None of this, however, amounts to very
much: Commands such as these are the
common stock of ethical monotheism and
their collective grouping here need not
suggest a failed qur'anic attempt to appro-
priate the biblical Decalogue. It is not clear
what particular importance the Qur'an
attaches to this list, although it is interesting
to note that the abbreviated version in the
sixth sura is juxtaposed with a reference to
Mosaic revelation. Although Muslim com-
mentators have not generally connected
the list with the Ten Commandments, Ibn
'Abbas (d. ca. 67-8/686-8) is said to have
referred to Q 6: 15 if. as the "essence of
scripture" {umm al-kitab, Ibn Kathlr, Tafslr,
ii, 178), and Ibn Kathlr (d. 774/1373) re-
marks, after giving a rare Muslim transla-
tion of much of the biblical Decalogue,
that many consider the content of the "ten
words" to be present in these verses from
the sixth sura (Ibn Kathlr, Biddy a, i, 281).
W. Brinner has argued that Q 17:22-39 and
6:151-3 represent less an incomplete Deca-
logue than a uniquely Muslim code of
ethics (see ethics in the qur'an), albeit one
perhaps shaped by a desire to rival Moses.
The presence of this code in the seven-
teenth sura may locate it, according to
Brinner, in the context of Muhammad's
divine ascension (mi'rdj, see ascension), tra-
ditionally associated with the first verse of
this sura if not explicitly mentioned in the
Qur'an. Just as Moses received the tablets
while in the immediate presence of God,
so too Muhammad's commandments
might be seen as the product of a similar

experience, as the juxtaposition of Mu-
hammad's code with Mosaic revelation
(o 6:155) might suggest (W. Brinner, Islamic
decalogue, 73-5, 81). Such a conclusion
must remain speculative since neither the
Qur'an nor tradition unambiguously asso-
ciates these verses with the Ten Command-
ments and the connection between the
divine ascension and the seventeenth sura
is likely to be secondary. See also LAW and
the qur'an; lawful and unlawful.

Keith Lewinstein

Bibliography
Primary: Baydawl, Anwar; Ibn Kathlr, 'To/sir;
Qurtubl, Jami; Tabriz!, Shams al-Dln
Muhammad b. All al-Khatlb, Alishkdt al-masalnh,
2 vols., n.p. 1961; Tirmidhl, SahTli.
Secondary: W.M. Brinner, An Islamic decalogue,
in W.M. Brinner and S.D. Ricks (eds.), Studies in
Islamic and Judaic traditions, Atlanta 1986, 67-84;
T.P. Hughes,^ dictionary of Islam, London 1885;
M.S. Seale, Qur'an and Bible, London 1978;
Speyer, Erzahlungen.

Commentary and Commentaries

(tafsir, tajdsir; ta'wil) see exegesis of the
qur'an: classical and medieval; exegesis
of the qur'an: early modern and
c ontemporary

Commerce and Commercial
Terminology see selling and buying

Community and Society in the
Qur'an

It is noteworthy that the Qur'an, as Islam's
preeminent source of information about
God, is also the tradition's definitive guide
to what constitutes a godly community
and society, in both theory and practice.
Although the Qur'an's discourse on social
dimensions of human existence is intended
principally for guidance, inspiration and

COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

3 68

regulation of Muslims in the service of God,
there is also an abundance of information
on a diverse range of human groupings
viewed from a religious perspective.

The Quran is not a textbook that expli-
cates the sociology of ancient Arabia (see
PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA AND THE QJJR'An); that
must be constructed from a wide variety of
sources, including the Qur'an. An exten-
sive modern literature has been devoted
to that task since the appearance of W.
Robertson Smith's Kinship and marriage
in early Arabia in 1885. Scholarship has
ranged widely, embracing both ancient
Arabia (e.g. H. Lammens, L'Arabie occiden-
tale and B. Fares, L'honneur chez les Arabes)
and more recent Middle Eastern tribal
societies (e.g. T. Ashkenazi's analytical es-
say, La tribu arabe). For an extensive list-
ing of sources and studies, see the articles
"al-Arab," "Badawl" (Bedouin, pastoral
nomads), "Kabila" (tribe), and "Nasab"
(genealogy) in EI 2 . A relatively recent, com-
prehensive study, embracing the qur'anic
period and early Islamic history, is R. al-
Sayyid, Mafdlwm al-jama'dtji l-Isldm (con-
cepts of human groups in Islam). See also
arabs; bedouin; kinship; tribes and clans.

The ancient Arabian context of qur'dnic
religio-communal ideas and institutions
A stimulating and influential older study,
with special reference to early Islam, is
W.M. Watt's Muhammad at Mecca (1953) and
a sequel Muhammad at Medina (1956) which
provides detailed analyses of the Arabian
tribes and clans that figured in the forma-
tive phases of the Muslim community's
(umma) development. The birth of Islam as
a new socio-religious system, unprece-
dented in some ways yet peculiarly and
effectively adapted to the existing social
and value system of the Hijaz, is addressed
within the context of a theory of "tribal
humanism" (A'luhammad at Mecca, 24f).

This was, in Watt's view, the effective value
system, really a functional religion, signifi-
cantly advanced beyond the old cults of
veneration of trees, sacred stones and
springs, with an extensive and diverse pan-
theon (see south Arabia, religion in
pre-islamic). Tribal humanism, focusing
on social and economic matters far more
than transcendent spiritual concerns, was
itself also in decline by the time of Mu-
hammad. Its character can best be dis-
cerned in the poetry of those times which
witnesses to a strong veneration of tribal
heritages, a fiercely defended sense of
honor, bravery in combat and generosity
of a sometimes prodigal character. The
tribe with its kinship subdivisions was the
main focus of values rather than the indi-
vidual, tribal unity and survival being the
greatest good. There is little if any aware-
ness of the possibility of a personal after-
life and this fact becomes a key element in
the Qur'an's challenge to the old Arabian
worldview, with its fatalistic resignation
(see fate) and materialistic emphasis, de-
nounced frequently by the Quran as pre-
ferring the life of this world (haydt al-dunya,
e.g. Q_ 2:86; 9:38; 16:107) over the afterlife
(al-akhira, see heaven and hell).

According to Watt (as summarized in his
more recent work, Muhammad's Mecca,
1988, 15-25), the Arabian tribal system at
the time of Muhammad was organized
principally in the male line (see patriar-
chy). Kinship of a matrilineal type had
earlier been known also in Medina (q.v.).
Q_ 25:54 speaks of God having created
humankind from water (q.v.; see crea-
tion), then establishing relationships both
of consanguinity (nasab) and by marriage
or affinity (sihr) which latter may possibly
also refer to matrilineality, according to al-
Baydawl's commentary (Anwar, ad loc).
The Qur'an also says (q_ 49:13) that God
created all humankind from one male and

369

COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

female couple and made them into nations
(shu'ub) and tribes (qaba'il) so that they
might know each other.

Tribes were subdivided into clans which
contained families (see family), but accord-
ing to Watt {Muhammad's Mecca, 16; also F.
Donner, see below) the highly elaborated
and differentiated definitions of ancient
Arabian tribal kinship were largely a later
development. During Muhammad's time a
kinship group was most often referred to as
"the sons of" (banu) a certain tribal figure.
The word qawm occurs very often in the
Qur'an with the general meaning of "peo-
ple." Little can be learned from the Qur'an
about the specifics of tribal organization
and structure. Watt points out the word
mala', a collective term for the leading
males of a tribe and, in the Qur'an, it
sometimes connotes a council or assembly
(e.g. Q_ 10:75 for Pharaoh's [q.v.] mala',
Q_ 27:29 for the Queen of Sheba's [see
bilqJs], q_ 2:246 for the Children of Israel's
[q.v.] "chiefs" as Yusuf 'All renders the
term in his translation of the Qur'an). The
Qur'an also speaks of al-mala' al-a'la
(q_ 37:8; 38:69), an "exalted assembly" of
angels (see court). Mecca (q.v.) apparently
had a mala' comprised of clan representa-
tives, mentioned in Q_ 38:6 as Muhammad's
opposition (see opposition to muhammad).

Leadership of a tribe was in the hands of
a sayyid or "chief," a term not found in the
Qur'an in this precise sense. A tribal chief
was in no sense an autocratic ruler or he-
reditary monarch but a first among equals,
respected for experience, character, good
judgment, courage, hospitality and wisdom
as well as the ability to provide protection.
This last virtue Watt considers to be the
most important aspect of pre-Islamic Ara-
bian tribal life [Muhammad's Mecca, 17-20).
Protection included the law of retaliation
(lex talionis), where an injury or killing in
one kinship group was answered in kind by

the other group. This is supported by the
Qur'an, when it repeats the Mosaic law
(o 5:45) of "life for life, eye for eye, nose for
nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth and
wounds equal for equal" and when it sets
forth a guide for Muslims (q_ 2:i78f.)
which is similar and also provides, as in
ancient Israel, an opportunity for remission
through a just compensation known as
blood money (diya, see blood money). Kill-
ing people outside of one's group was not
necessarily considered wrong per se but it
could bring a most costly and bloody retal-
iation (q.v.; see murder; bloodshed). What
is more, both warfare (harb) and raiding
(ghazw) had clearly understood rules and
worked within the social system (see war;
battles and expeditions). War was the
norm in pre-Islamic Arabia but it became
unlawful under Islam for Muslims to shed
their co-religionists' blood. Yet holy war
(jihad, q.v.) was permitted, indeed encour-
aged under certain circumstances in order
to defend the Muslims as well as to extend
the territories to be governed by Islamic
principles. War between Muslims and non-
Muslims was to become a permanent state
of affairs but governed by the principles
and practices of Islamic law (shari'a) with
respect to the treatment of prisoners
(see captives) and other matters (see M.
Khadduri, War and peace).

People not belonging by blood to a pro-
tecting tribal structure could often find
protection (q.v.) by attaching themselves to
a powerful group in a protected neighbor
(jar) relationship. The Qur'an speaks of
this arrangement in various ways: It re-
gards good done toward both the distant
and unknown as well as the near and inti-
mate neighbor as meritorious (q_ 4:36); it
reveals that whereas God protects (yujiru)
all things, he is himself unprotected (la
yujaru 'alayhi, o 23:88); and it advises that
seeking protection from God is far more

COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

37°

secure than relying on the material world
even if there is no evidence beyond belief
and trust in him (o 67:28-9; see TRUST AND
patience). Expressions in a new light of an
old Arabian protection option did much to
promote the idea of a Muslim community,
an ummci, that would far exceed tribal affili-
ation in benefits bestowed.

Watt adds (Muhammad's Mecca, ig) that a
more common notion of protective affilia-
tion was that of friend or protector (wall,
pi. awliya), terms that occur frequently in
the Qur'an. The word wall may apply to
either the one protected or the protector as
patron or guardian (see clients and
clientage). q_ 3:68 states that "God is the
protector (wall) to those who believe" while
Q_ 10:62-4 asserts "Truly, the friends (aw-
liya') of God, no fear will be on them, nor
shall they be sorrowful; those who believe
and are god-fearing for them is good news,
in the life of this world and in the here-
after." The helpless individual in ancient
Arabian society could seek protection from
a human group of higher status whereas
Islam raised that paradigm to a theological
level by providing membership in a com-
munity that itself received protection from
the highest authority. Because the Qur'an
was able to express old ideas and to refor-
mulate customs in new and appealing
ways, Islam gained additional authenticity
while preserving much of the old values
and security. And, for example, the qur-
'anic teaching on wali-hood would have far
reaching effects in the elaboration of later
Islamic ideas about human interpersonal
and inter-group relations no less than
divine-human relations, particularly in
Sufi confraternities (see sufism and the
qur'an).

Yet even though Islam could claim a
larger authority than the traditional tribal
system for the ordering and regulation of
community life, the old system was by no
means simply abandoned. Rather it was

incorporated into the larger complex of
Muslim community life by means of what
Fred M. Donner calls "genealogical legiti-
mation" (Narratives, 104-11), an ancient
practice in the Near East. And although
the Qur'an rejects claims that the super-
iority of people is based on their kinship
affiliation, in post-qur'anic times there
developed a well-elaborated science of
genealogy, as has been mentioned. Donner
sees at the base of this a strong commit-
ment by the dominant Arabs, however they
were defined, to preserving hegemonic
control in the early empire over the subject
peoples of other ethnic-linguistic groups.
Arab tribal legitimation became stronger,
not weaker, as other peoples embraced
Islam and questioned the Arab suzerainty.
"Arabians were able to respond that their
rule was legitimate because, as the people
to whom the Prophet had been sent and in
whose language the Qur'an had been re-
vealed, they were the rightful heirs of the
Prophet, whose mission was, after all, uni-
versal" (ibid., 109). Further, Donner's anal-
ysis of the sources for early Islamic history
includes attention to what he calls "themes
of hegemony" (ibid., 174-82) whereby Mus-
lim conquerors, leaders and claimants to
leadership came to control not only non-
Muslims but fellow Muslims as well. A ma-
jor issue was fitna, variously translated as
temptation or sedition, within the Muslim
community itself and the ways in which
various groups and interests justified them-
selves politically as fit to rule. In other
words, war was not simply a matter of
conflict between insiders and outsiders,
Muslims and non-Muslims; increasingly, it
became an intra-communal phenomenon
with fateful consequences. Though the
Qur'an provides general principles for Is-
lamic community life, history itself posed
the greatest challenges to these ideals of
harmony and cooperation. See politics

AND THE QUR'AN.

37'

COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

Dormer's contribution to our understand-
ing of the beginnings of Islamic historical
writing includes a useful treatment of
"themes of community" [Narratives, ch. 6)
in which he traces the umma idea from its
qur'anic context and relates it closely to
another theme that he calls prophecy
(nubuwwa, .Narratives, ch. 5; see prophets
and prophethood). Although Donner sees
the centrality of the qur'anic message in
the Prophet's development as both prophet
and community leader or shaper, he also
combines many other aspects of the com-
plex history in a coherent manner. Thus, in
addition to Muhammad's establishment of
social and ritual practices which were foun-
dational, Donner includes consideration of
how the cult of the community was rou-
tinized over time and administered in a
larger context of government and taxation
(q.v.). Donner's approach is important for
its attention to the diverse historical sources,
of which the Qur'an is but one, however
fundamental. He makes clear that one can-
not arrive at a full understanding of com-
munity and society in the age of the Qur-
'an and in the aftermath of the umma\
founding from the Qur'an alone.

A richly documented study of the evolu-
tion of ideas about community and society
since the pre-Islamic period in the Arabian
peninsula is Ridwan al-Sayyid's al-Umma
wa-l-jama'a wa-l-sulta. Dirasat jT l-fikr al-siyasi
l-'arabT l-islami (The umma, the community
and political authority. Studies in Islamic
Arab political thought). Drawing upon
modern scholarship as well as traditional
sources about Arabian religion and society
before Islam, the author proceeds to dem-
onstrate the novelty of the Islamic umma
as a universal community intended to
unite humankind in a system of common
belief and action. The work is an absorb-
ing example of a theologically informed
sociology that utilizes not only the Qur'an
and other contemporary documents but

also hadlth, qur'anic interpretation (tafsir),
poetry (see poetry and poets), history,
prophetic biography (sira, see sira and
the qur'an) as well as qur'anic sciences
(see traditional disciplines of qur-
'anic study) in addition to commentary
(e.g. asbab al-nuziil and nasikh wa-mansukh
discussions; see occasions of revela-
tion; abrogation) to show how the umma
evolved over time into a multi-dimensional,
charismatic community.

It has been important to situate the Qur-
'an within its larger historical, social, cul-
tural, linguistic and religious contexts —
which can only be suggested here — before
turning to an exploration and survey of its
complex, evolving discourse on society and
community throughout the period of Mu-
hammad's prophetic vocation. The re-
mainder of this article focuses principally
upon the contents of the Qur'an itself with
respect to this subject.

Religio-communal terms and ideas in the

Qur'an: umma
The idea of Islamic community is based
definitively, if not exclusively, on the qur-
'anic meanings of the ancient Semitic root
that produced the Arabic word umma (pi.
umam). Umma possibly derives ultimately
from the Akkadian ummatu (Jeffery, For. vo-
cab., 69) or from the Hebrew umma or the
Aramean umetha (Horovitz, Jewish proper
names, 190). In the Qur'an, umma most of-
ten means a human religious community
although additional meanings include: any
traditional value or belief system (q_ 43:22,
23); a tribe or subgroup (o 7:164; 28:32); a
fixed term or time (q_ 11:8; 12:45); a para-
gon or exemplar (see below in connection
with Abraham in Q_ 16:20); and genera of
animals (o_ 6:38; see animal life). This last
is far-reaching in its moral and ecological
implications, for animals and birds form
"ummas like unto you" (see natural world

AND THE OUr'An).

COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

37^

The term umma occurs in both Meccan
and Medinan passages a total of 62 times
(including 15 plurals). The term first occurs
in Noldeke's (oq) second Meccan period
where it refers to ummas either before or
concurrent with the Qur'an's revelation
(see chronology AND THE q_ur'an). The
most numerous occurrences are in Nol-
deke's third Meccan period. The term has
a variety of references before it comes to
designate, more or less exclusively by the
Medinan period, a fledgling Muslim com-
munity under Muhammad's guidance after
the Muslim umma as both a religious and
political entity had been established there
(see Medina).

Q_ 2:128 speaks of an umma muslima, a
community submitting to God; Q_ 2:213
refers to an umma wahida, meaning human-
kind as an archetypal "single community"
or a specific unified community (o 21:92);
and 2:143 identifies the believers in the qur-
'anic message as an umma wasatan, a "mid-
most community," properly balanced and
standing as a kind of model among other
communities in relation to God. To every
umma has been given a prophetic messen-
ger (o 10:47; see messenoer) preaching both
good news (q.v.) and warnings (see warn-
ing). And every umma has been provided by
God with a ritual system (mansak) to ob-
serve (o_ 22:67; see ritual and the qur'an).

Although nowhere does the Qur'an ex-
plicitly state this, it is not inaccurate to as-
sert that the Muslim umma is seen in Islam's
scripture as the "qur'anic umma." The
word al-kitab, meaning the scripture or
book (q.v.), is frequently associated with
religious communities such as the Jews,
Christians and Muslims (see people of the
book). When kitab is used in connection
with the Muslims it generally means the
Qur'an, as in o 2:2-4: "This is the book
(kitab); in it is guidance sure, without
doubt, to those who fear God... who be-
lieve in the revelation (see revelation and

inspiration) sent to you [Muhammad] ,
and sent before your time, and they are
certain of the hereafter." In Q_ 32:3 the
book is designated as a message for those
who had not previously received admon-
ishment, namely the pagan Arabs (cf.
o 36:2-6 where qur'an replaces kitab). And
in Q_ 42:7 an Arabic Qur'an is declared to
have been inspired in order to warn the
"mother of cities," Mecca (q.v.). There
have been and continue to be other entities
known as ummas,, but by the end of the
Qur'an's revelatory stages the term refers
definitively, if not exclusively, to the Mus-
lims as just stated. (Further consideration
of umma will be given as it relates to other
terms and concepts, but for a more exten-
sive survey see F. Denny, The meaning of
ummah.) Still, the qur'anic concept of umma
as it described the actual human groupings
of the early Islamic generations should not
be overemphasized. According to J. van
Ess, "the Mmma-concept, which today has
become so highly esteemed, hardly played
a role"; tribal and partisan associations
were far more prominent (tg, i, 17).

Other prominent religio-communal terms and

concepts in the Qur'an
Although the umma idea is the most fully
developed qur'anic concept of the commu-
nity as applied to Muslims, other terms
and concepts are also significant, both in
themselves and as part of a comprehensive
qur'anic framework of socio-communal
meaning. There seems to be a category for
every type of individual and community in
the Qur'an's view and these categories
present a broad range of values from ex-
emplary religio-moral qualities to disap-
proved and condemned characteristics.

Hanif (pi. hunafa')
An example of the first is the type of ge-
neric monotheist — being neither Jew
nor Christian — identified by the Qur'an

373

COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

as hanif (q.v.). Although there is consider-
able scholarly literature about the origins
and meanings of the word hanif m the
Semitic languages (see F. Denny, Religio-
communal), the Quran employs the term
twelve times in late Meccan and Medinan
passages with distinctive emphases. Ten of
the occurrences are in the singular, of
which eight refer to Abraham (q.v.). Of
these eight, five also contain the term milla,
commonly translated as religion (p_ 2:135;
3:95; 4:125; 6:161; 16:123) and one
(q, 16:120) includes umma. All of the twelve
passages but one (o_ 4:125) directly contrast
idolater (mushrik) and hanif as opposites. So
one finds in the Qur'an, apart from the
traditional monotheisms of Judaism and
Christianity, an ideal of an Abrahamic ur-
monotheism, as it were, that precedes them
as a paradigm of what God intends as reli-
gion for his human creatures. Q_ 3:67 states:
"Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Chris-
tian; but he was a hanif, a muslim and was
not of the mushriks"; (see idolatry and
idolaters; polytheism and atheism).

Hanif is not strictly a term denoting com-
munity but it does stipulate what the Is-
lamic umma is meant to embody and from
where it should draw its inspiration: not
from the older monotheistic siblings men-
tioned but from Abraham and his commu-
nity at the beginning of authentic religion.
Abraham was both a hanif and an umma.
The latter application seems somewhat
strange so that instead of thinking of the
patriarch as a community to himself, some
have suggested that umma in Q_ 16:120
either has an eponymous meaning or
means paragon of virtue as Fakhr al-Dln
al-RazI (d. 606/1210) speculated in his
commentary (Tafsir, ad loc).

4:125; 6:161). Milla is a loan-word from
Aramaic and in the Qur'an a synonym for
the Persian-derived din (Noldeke, i, 20 n. 2).
Although milla and umma overlap in their
meanings to some extent, the former is a
much more restricted term referring to any
religion and, by extension, to its commu-
nity but without defining or representing a
tradition theologically or ethically. A milla
simply is whereas the umma, in the sense of
the Muslim community, becomes an histori-
cally particular community through faith
(q.v.), responses to challenges (see trial)
and maturation. When the Qur'an declares
in Q_ 109 "The Unbelievers" (Surat al-
Kafirun): "To you your religion and to me
my religion," (lakum dinukum wa-liya din,
Q_ 109:6) it could just as well have used milla
as din. W.C. Smith has wondered if milla
"is not the only word in any language or
culture that designates a specific and trans-
ferable religion, one as distinct from others,
and nothing else" [The meaning and end of
religion, 294). Of course, that the Qur'an
could employ terms such as milla, with the
assumption that they would be understood
by the first hearers, implies that the HijazI
Arabs shared fully in the general Semitic
worldview that featured close relations be-
tween religions and communities, between
ethics and society in a pluralistic framework
(see ethics in the qur'an; theology and
the q_ur'an). The qur'anic message, though
it sets forth absolute truth as it sees it, nev-
ertheless also defines the rest of the world
in terms of a range of options that assume
close relationships between religious
commitments — whether traditional and
inherited or confessional (in the philoso-
pher Karl Jaspers' sense) and thus change-
able — and socio-communal groupings.

Milla {pi. milal)
This word is clearly a religio-communal
term, most often related to Abraham, as in
the phrase millat Ibrahim (e.g. Q_ 2:130; 3:95;

Submitters and believers constitute the Muslim

umma
Arabic plural forms for human groups con-
stitute much of the Qur'an's categories of

COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

374

society and community. Two of the most
frequently encountered terms also are pi-
votal for the Islamic religion: muslimun and
mu'minun, submitters (i.e. Muslims) and be-
lievers, those who have faith (Tman). The
two terms occur frequently, although per-
haps surprisingly "believers" occurs five
times as frequently (ca. 200 times) as "sub-
mitters" (ca. 40). Faith (man) is a weightier
concept than submission (islam) both
throughout the Quran and in the devel-
oped Muslim theological tradition (see
faith; islam).

Only rarely does umma occur in close
conjunction with islam, Tman, muslim or
mu'min. However, when it does it is a signi-
ficant passage as in Q_ 3:110: "You are the
best umma that has been raised up for hu-
manity. You enjoin right conduct and for-
bid indecency; and you believe (tu 'minima)
in God. And if the People of the Book
had believed (law dmana), it had been bet-
ter for them. There are believers (mu'minun)
among them but most of them are wicked
transgressors." This passage appears to say
that being a nominal Jew or Christian is
not sufficient to be acceptable to God; one
must also be a believer. Q_ 3:113-4 states
that "of the People of the Book there is an
upright group (umma qa'ima) . . . [who] be-
lieve in God and the last day [see apoc-
alypse; last judgment] . . . they are in the
ranks of the righteous (wa-ula'ika min al-
sdlihTn)." This seems to be just as true of
Muslims who without faith are under-
stood to be merely submitters and at an
inferior level of spiritual awareness and
development.

The occurrences of umma along with ref-
erences to faith and submission are gener-
ally found in the most highly developed
instances of umma, those in Medinan pas-
sages when it refers to the Muslims exclu-
sively. For example, Q_ 3:102-4 states, "O
you who believe, fear God as he should be
feared, and do not die except as muslimun.

And hold fast together to the rope of God
(habl Allah), and do not become divided

among yourselves Let there arise from

you a community (umma) inviting to all that
is good, enjoining what is right and forbid-
ding what is wrong. Those, they are the
prosperers." Islam's legendary sense of
strong community loyalty and solidarity
may be seen in its qur'anic iteration in pas-
sages such as this. A similar passage
(q, 2:256), that addresses the individual as
much as the group, speaks of "the strong-
est handhold" (al- 'urwa al-wuthqa), which is
available to those who avoid evil and be-
lieve in God. It should be recalled that
throughout the Qur'an 's discourse on com-
munity the emphasis is not on community
as such; the ancient Arab world did not
lack understanding and appreciation of
strong social and communal networks. The
important thing is the Qur'an's consistent
pattern of linking community with belief
and morals within a monotheistic para-
digm. This was one of the principal ap-
peals of the new religion to tribal as well as
town folk who already placed such a high
value on kinship and covenants.

Watt has compared the Medinan Muslim
umma to a kind of tribe that was based not
on blood but on a common faith {Muham-
mad at Medina, 239). The new order did not
discard kinship relations; rather it placed
them within the larger circle of loyalties
and affiliations brought by Islam. Just as
the Qur'an appealed to its first hearers
because of its excellence in Arabic ex-
pression so also there appears to have
been an elective affinity between its socio-
communal emphases and the Arabs' own
strong community-mindedness, albeit at
different levels. The "pattern-maintenance
system," to borrow the sociologist Talcott
Parsons' useful concept, of Arabian society
and kinship was to be enhanced by that of
the qur'anic vision of submission, belief,
obedience (q.v.) and solidarity within the

375

COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

umma. It is worth noting here that, accord-
ing to Watt at least, the term umma appar-
ently did not dominate the discourse on
Muslim community to the end of the Me-
dinan period for, after Mecca was incor-
porated, other terms, both non-qur'anic
and qur'anic, such as, respectively, jama 'a
and hizb Allah (party of God) took its place
in extra-qur'anic documents and treaties
[Muhammad at Medina, 247).

The important contemporary, extra-
qur'anic document known as the Constitu-
tion of Medina uses the term umma but
with a somewhat different meaning from
that of the Quran — moving in the direc-
tion of a political confederation more than
a single community united by a common
creed (see creeds). There is a diverse mod-
ern scholarly literature on this document
that is fairly summarized by R. Stephen
Humphreys in his Islamic history. A framework
for inquiry (g2-8).

Faith as a higher value than submission
may also be seen in a dramatic passage
(o 49:14-5) where desert Bedouin declared
to Muhammad: "'We believe (amannd).'
Say [Muhammad], unto them, 'You do
not believe yet.' Say rather, 'We have sub-
mitted (aslamnd), for faith (iman) has not
yet entered your hearts'... The believers
(mu 'minun) are those who believe in God
and his apostle [Muhammad] , and after-
wards never doubt, but struggle with their
wealth and their lives in the way of God,
such are the sincere ones." Passages like
this may mislead one into imagining that
submission (islam) is not such a profound
matter in the Quran after all. It clearly is,
but it must be understood in relation to
other things. Submission is the crucial
gateway to the service of God, without
which faith would not be possible; humans
themselves are capable of submitting ac-
cording to their own will and power where-
as faith is bestowed as a grace (q.v.) later
on. As T. Izutsu has expressed the matter,

"surrender, far from being, as is suggested
by [q_ 49:14] ..., a lukewarm and superficial
sort of belief, or the first stumbling step in
the faith, is the very foundation on which
the whole religion of Islam is based" [Con-
cepts, 190-1). Faith and submission are often
coupled and placed as opposites to other
terms such as unbelievers (kdfirun), idola-
ters (mushrikun) and sinners (mujrimun) . The
last group are often spoken of as a sinful
people [qawm, e.g. Q 6:147; 15:58; see also
BELIEF AND UNBELIEF; SIN AND CRIME).

Servants ( c ibad) of God
When the most important dimension of
individual and group identity and values
is religion, it is not surprising that funda-
mental distinctions will be made between
insider and outsider, brother (see brother
and brotherhood) and other. The striking
early Meccan sura, Q_ 109 "The Unbeliev-
ers" (Surat al-Kafirun) reveals the tension
among Muhammad's contemporaries that
was brought by the preaching of Islamic
monotheism. This brief, vital sura is a tour-
de-force focusing on the Arabic root letters
'-b-d, from which are derived the terms for
worship of and service to God: 'abd, slave
or servant of God, 'ibdda, worship and
'ibdd, servants, especially of God. The ac-
tive verbal form of the root applies in the
sura both to Muslims and to disbelievers,
as both are viewed as serving some supe-
rior power. The Muslims serve God
whereas the disbelievers serve, according
to classical commentary, idols and are thus
mushriks as well as disbelievers (kdfirun). The
terse ending of Q_ 109 sharply distinguishes
the speaker's community, the Muslims, and
the opposition's, which according to the
commentaries, is devoted to disbelief (kufr)
or idolatry (shirk): "Say: O unbelievers, I
serve not what you serve and you are not
serving what I serve, nor will I serve what
you have served, neither will you serve
what I serve. To you your religion (din) and

COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

376

to me my religion." Although the qur'anic
use of the '-b-d root generally refers to wor-
ship of and service to God, this early sura
shows how it can be neutral as well, refer-
ring to the worship of anything.

The servant of God is not a passive
adorer; active exertion is a key aspect of
this status. There is a strong sense of work
involved, in a manner that parallels the
Jewish idea of worship (avoda), a Semitic
parallel that also means service. A Chris-
tian parallel is the medieval Benedictine
monastic expression, the work of God
(opus dei), meaning the Divine Office of
daily prayers and worship as the primary
task of monks and nuns. The Qur'an de-
clares that the "servants of the Merciful
are those who walk humbly on the earth,
and when the ignorant address them say,
'Peace.' Who spend the night (in prayer),
prostrate and standing" (q_ 25:63-4; see
bowing AND prostration). Clearly, the
qur'anic idea of true religion is strongly in-
vested in service, in "work" for God in
ways parallel to Islam's older, cognate tra-
ditions of Judaism and Christianity (see
work; servant; worship; prayer).

Excursus: Concerning category formation in the

Qur'an
It is all too easy for western readers of the
Qur'an and other Arabic texts to fall into
the practice of reifying dynamic, verbal ex-
pressions such as islam, Imdn, muslim, mu'min,
shirk, mushrik and their human plural forms.
Stated differently, it would be a distortion
to consider muslimun, mu'minun, mushrikun,
mujrimun ("sinners") and so forth as rigid,
unchangeable categories of human associ-
ation based on this or that virtue or offense
(see virtues and vices; boundaries and
precepts). Nor do words like islam, imdn,
shirk and kufr refer to static abstractions;
they are essentially active and engaged.

Although it is true that the Qur'an views
human groups according to their degree

of religion and/or impiety, generally the
message also regards human beings as
capable of repentance (see repentance
and penance) and conversion (q.v.) to the
"straight path" of Islam (see path or way
[of god]). So, to denominate people as
fated to sin or deceit or falsehood, at least
in the present, is generally un-qur'anic if it
means there is no hope (q.v.) of deliverance
(q.v.) or, to be more idiomatically qur'anic,
no hope of success or prosperity (faldh).
Although the noun faldh does not occur in
the Qur'an, it appeared early on in Islamic
history in the clause of the call to prayer:
"Hasten to success" (hayy 'aid l-faldh, see
prayer formulas). Verbal forms derived
from the Arabic root letters^/ 1 /-/!, as well as
the human plural al-muflihun, the success-
ful, do appear in strong ways, as in the fre-
quently recalled Q_ 2:1-5, where those who
fear God, believe in the unseen (see hidden
and THE hidden), persist in prayer, share
their wealth (q.v.) with others, believe in
divine revelation, and anticipate the here-
after will be considered to be "on true
guidance from their Lord, and it is these
who will be successful (humu l-muflihun) ."

Hence human groupings as described in
ethical and spiritual terms are not rigid,
unchanging realities in principal. Of
course, the Qur'an frequently presents its
teachings through reference to historical
groups whose fate was already sealed.
Sometimes such groups saw the error of
their ways, repented, and were forgiven
and set on a new course (see forgiveness).
An example is when Moses' (q.v.) followers
repented of their sin of creating and wor-
shipping the graven image of a calf
(q_ 7:152-5; see calf of gold). At other
times, groups fell into error (q.v.) from
which they did not recover, as was the case
of the people of certain unnamed towns in
Q_ 7:94-102 who failed to heed God's wrath
(see anger) after they were warned. "Did
they feel secure against the trickery (makr)

:.!77

COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

of God? But no one feels safe from God's
stratagem (makr) except a people who have
utterly lost their bearings (al-qawm al-
khdsirun)" (q_ 7:99; see also punishment
stories).

Those who are saved and those who lose
out from previous generations do not re-
ceive their recompenses because they are
urban, or rural, or Jews, or Christians, or
foreigners; they are judged according to
their dispositions and behavior. The qur-
'anic denomination of significant human
groups, in the religious and moral senses,
usually pertains to faith and righteousness
or their absence. This universality of theo-
logical and moral vision has been funda-
mental in enabling Islam to be a world reli-
gion transcending social, cultural, political
and regional boundaries. The umma ideal is
thus global in both its intent and scope.
(See F. Donner, Narratives, 141-6, for a clas-
sification of historiographical themes cru-
cial for understanding the early Muslim
community's "collective vision of the past"
and how these enabled Muslims to make
sense of their experience.)

The ideal of a unified umma and the People of

the Book
Humankind were one umma but then they
went in different directions and split up
(q_ 2:213). From a somewhat different slant,
the Quran states that God could have
created a unified umma but declined that
option so that people might be tested and
find their own way as morally accountable
beings (q_ 5:48; see freedom and predes-
tination). A single umma of humankind
would have included both unbelievers and
believers, the bad and the righteous
fe 43-33)- The Qur'an does not equate
humankind or the people (al-nds) with an
umma, at least not descriptively. Ideally, it
may turn out that all people will submit
and follow God's teachings, but until then
an umma will be a selective grouping

drawn out from the larger human family
to be a specially dedicated cohort.

23:52-4 states, concerning the People
of the Book: "Lo, this umma of yours is one
umma, and I am your Lord so show piety
(q.v.) towards me. But they cut their affairs
into pieces amongst them in the matter of
scripture, each sect (hizb) in what is with
them rejoicing. Leave them in their confu-
sion for a time." This passage is from the
second Meccan period (according to N61-
deke, gq), before umma came to refer more
exclusively to the Muslims under Muham-
mad's guidance. If the Noldeke chronology
is accepted, by the second Meccan period,
umma in its true sense is a religious commu-
nity, ideally unified in its beliefs, although
not necessarily Muslim in the sense of
Muhammad's umma. During the Meccan
periods of the Qur'an's revelation, much
attention is paid to Jews and Christians as
fatefully important precursors of the Is-
lamic venture between the archetypal era
of Abraham who was neither a Jew nor
Christian but a pure monotheist (hanif)
and the prophetic career of Muhammad.
Although the People of the Book had been
called to serve God, many of them failed
in their religion and fell astray (q.v.).

In addition to submission, belief, idolatry,
and other frequently expressed qur'anic
ideas by which human groups are catego-
rized, "brand name" communities are also
identified. Ahl al-kitdb, the People of the
Book, has already been mentioned as refer-
ring to the Jews and Christians, Islam's im-
mediate precursors in scriptural monothe-
ism. The phrase occurs about 30 times.
Jews (yahud or hud) occurs some nine times
(with hud occurring three times; see jews
and Judaism). Christians (nasdra) occurs 14
times and the adjective Christian (nasrdm)
once (with reference to Abraham's not be-
ing such, or Jewish, yahudi, in Q_ 3:67; see
christians AND Christianity). The Sons of
Israel (Band Isrdll, see children of Israel)

COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

378

occurs some 40 times, whereas the Sons of
Adam (banu Adam), i.e. humanity, occurs
seven times. Sabi'un, referring to the Sabi-
ans (q.v.; probably meaning Mandaeans, a
Jewish-Christian sect in Iraq), occurs three
times. Muslims, Jews, Christians, Sabeans,
Magians (q.v.; i.e. Zoroastrians) and poly-
theists are all mentioned together in
Q_ 22:17 as peoples among whom God will
judge. In his commentary on this verse, al-
Zamakhsharl (d. 538/1144) recalls the view
that, according to the Quran, there are
five religions, four belonging to Satan (see
devil; iblis) and one to God (Islam). In this
schema, the Sabians are considered to be
a branch of Christianity (Zamakhshari,
Kashshaf, ad loc).

There are some very negative remarks
directed at the Jews in the Qur'an, much
more so than against Christians (see
POLEMIC AND POLEMICAL LANGUAGE). An
example is o_ 5:82: "The strongest among
men in enmity to the believers are the Jews
and idolaters; and the nearest to them in
love are those who say, 'We are Christians.'
Because among these are priests and
monks (see monasticism and monks) and
they are not arrogant." Al-Zamakhshan
comments that because the Jews are men-
tioned before the idolaters in the passage,
they are at their head. The great rationalist
commentator closes his interpretation of
this passage by citing Q_ 2:96 wherein the
Jews are portrayed as grasping for life as
much as a thousand years; but God would
still punish them at the end for "all that
they do" (as translated in H. Gatje, The
Qur'an, 134). Al-Zamakhshari declares:
"The Jews are like this, and even worse!"
Then he quotes a prophetic hadlth: "If a
Muslim is alone with two Jews, they will try
to kill him" (Gatje, The Qur'an, 134). The
Muslims had a great conflict with Jews in
Medina and this is reflected in strongly
critical qur'anic passages such as Q_ 5:82
(quoted above). Nevertheless, the Jews

were also considered, in the Constitution
of Medina, to be an umma alongside the
Muslim umma. And for a period Jews and
Muslims worshipped together facing Jeru-
salem (q.v.) as their common prayer orien-
tation (qibla [q.v.], see F. Denny, Umma, 44;
also R. Humphreys, Islamic history, 92-8).

The Qur'an's criticism of Jews and, to a
lesser extent, Christians, exhibits early Is-
lam's struggle to define itself over against
the older siblings of the Abrahamic tradi-
tion. The disagreements between Islam
and the other two religions are not like the
fundamental controversy with the polythe-
ists because there is a basic common foun-
dation for the monotheistic traditions. The
disagreements over actual behavior versus
lofty ideals, as occurs in qur'anic criticisms
of Jews or over a doctrine regarded as
heretical, such as the Christian Trinity
(q.v.), are nevertheless disagreements
among cognate systems. It is like a large,
extended family with diverse branches:
Their theological, scriptural and, with re-
spect to Jews and Muslims, ritual, disagree-
ments and conflicts only make sense within
their common monotheistic framework,
however generalized that may be. Religion
is first of all an embodied and socially em-
bedded reality in the Quran's view, so it is
individual Jews, Christians and others, as
well as groups of them, that are the focus
of criticism and occasional admiration
(as in Q_ 5:82, quoted above) rather than
Judaism and Christianity per se. From this
perspective, it is hoped that the People of
the Book will someday see the light and
submit to God as proper Muslims; but
meanwhile they are to be tolerated be-
cause they are not all astray and they do
have a valid heritage in covenant (q.v.)
with God. (For an extended qur'anic dis-
course, see Q 3:64-115; covenant ideas are
treated below).

Fred Donner (From Believers to Mus-
lims,) hypothesizes that the Muslim follow-

379

COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

ers of Muhammad in the community's for-
mative period did not necessarily make a
strong distinction between themselves and
other monotheists in their environment but
viewed them as fellow believers (mu'minun)
before the term Muslim took on the in-
creasingly political and exclusionary mean-
ings of the caliphal era (see caliph). There
is much to commend in Donner's carefully
argued general thesis that the community
of believers in the period of the Prophet
and for a time thereafter did not constitute
a distinct religious confession although
such an argument certainly goes against
the traditional Muslim view of the matter.

The Muslims as a covenant people and a people
united by devotion to the Prophet of God
The Muslim umma, like its Jewish and
Christian predecessors, is a covenant
('ahd or nuthaq) community. Contracts,
covenants and treaties were important fac-
tors in pre-Islamic Arabian society (see
CONTRACTS AND ALLIANCES; BREAKING TRUSTS
AND contracts). A key term was wafa\
"to fulfill, be faithful to." This idea was
well established in pre-Islamic times as in
the ode of Zuhayr: "Whoever keeps his
word (manyuji) goes unblamed; he whose
heart is set on the sure path of piety (q.v.)
needs not to fear or falter" (A.J. Arberry,
Seven odes, 117; cf. Izutsu, Concepts, 87). This
idea is clearly reflected in the following
qur'anic passage, which chides some Peo-
ple of the Book for not fulfilling concluded
agreements with ignorant pagans (ummiy-
yun): "No! The one who fulfills his promise
('ahd) and is godfearing — truly God loves
the godfearing (al-muttaqin, o 3:76).

The Muslim community came to view
God as the guarantor of oaths (q.v.) and
covenants. This belief in a divine witness-
ing of agreements contributed greatly to
the establishment of an Islamic ideal of
justice (see justice and injustice; law and
the qur'an) that would be honored

throughout an ever-increasing umma. In a
way it reflects the notion that can be dis-
cerned in the Hebrew Bible, Genesis 31:49,
the famous Mizpah Benediction, wherein
Jacob and his uncle Laban, after much
conflict and disagreement over property
and relationships, solemnly declared to-
gether: "May the Lord watch between you
and me when we are absent from one an-
other." The core of this agreement is that
God sees all and will judge any misdeeds
accordingly. Q_ 16:91 reflects this idea: "Ful-
fill the covenant of God when you have en-
tered into it, and do not break your oaths
(aymdn) after you have confirmed them;
you have indeed made God your surety
(kajilan), for God knows what you do"
(o 16:91). Islam adopted this idea and ap-
plied it both to human social relations and
to the divine-human relation of religion.

The establishment of the Muslim umma
on the occasion of the emigration (hijra) of
Muhammad and his fellow Meccan Mus-
lims (known henceforth as al-muhajirun, the
Emigrants) to Medina in 622 c.E. (see
emigration) marked a definitive trend
away from tribalism toward a supra-com-
munity knit together by faith more than by
kinship, as was noted earlier. Before the
umma's founding, there had been an inter-
tribal confederation for mutual defense
known as hilf al-fudul, which Muhammad is
said to have admired. Even so the Prophet
reportedly declared that there was to be
no hilf in Islam (see E. Tyan, Hilf, and C.
Pellat, Hilf al-fudul).

The Qur'an frequently refers to the Mo-
saic covenant ('ahd) as a paradigm of the
divine-human relationship (e.g. C) 7:134).
In the Bible, the covenant is not between
God and Moses, but between God and
the community of Israel. The Qur'an,
however, presents a covenant (mithaq) that
is first between God and his prophets —
Noah (q.v.), Abraham (q.v.), Moses (q.v.),
Jesus (q.v.) — and then through them to

COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

3 80

the Jews, Christians and Muslims (o_ 33:7;
cf. 3:81). There is, in the Qur'an, a society
of prophets, as it were, that will endure
until judgment day and vindication, with
their communities safeguarded by their
faith. A vigorous declaration of these
closely related convictions is the following
passage from the Medinan period,
Q_ 58:21-2: "God has decreed: 'Verily, I and
my messengers shall prevail...' You will not
find any people believing in God and the
last day, loving those who resist God and
his messenger, even though they were their
fathers or their sons, or their brothers, or
their kindred. For such he has written faith
(al-imdn) in their hearts, and strengthened
them with a spirit from himself. And he
will admit them to gardens beneath which
rivers flow, to dwell therein forever. God
will be well pleased with them and they
with him. They are the party of God (hizb
Allah). Truly it is the party of God that will
be successful (al-muflihun) ."

The word hizb (pi. ahzdb) occurs a num-
ber of times and is pertinent to this dis-
course because it can mean sect, party or
confederacy in the religious sense. A hizb of
Satan is mentioned in o 58:19 and shortly
afterward countered by a hizb Allah
(q_ 58:22). Q_ 33 takes its name, "The Con-
federates" (Surat al-Ahzab) from a group-
ing of clans opposed to Muhammad at the
Battle of the Ditch (khandaq) in 5/627. Ear-
lier occurrences of ahzdb refer to ancient
peoples who had rejected their prophets
(e.g. Q_ 38:11-3; discussed in F. Rahman,
Major themes, 138-9). The idolaters are char-
acterized in o_ 30:32 as "Those who split
up their religion (din), and became sects
(shiya) — each party (hizb) rejoicing in that
which is with itself." Unlike umma, the term
hizb does not come to refer to the Muslims
exclusively. Even so, it does have a power-
ful rhetorical impact when conjoined with
the divine name, as in hizb Allah. The party
of God trumps all other parties and is the

opposite of sectarianism and division.
The Qur'an claims unity and communal
coherence in belief and practice, and that
not only for Islam as the religion estab-
lished under the prophetic guidance of
Muhammad. The Qur'an further insists
that "the same religion (din) has he estab-
lished for you [i.e. the Muslims under Mu-
hammad's leadership] as that which he
enjoined upon Noah — that which we
have sent by inspiration to you — and that
which we enjoined on Abraham, Moses,
and Jesus: Namely, that you should remain
steadfast in religion and make no divisions
therein" (q_ 42:13). Passages such as this
help us to understand better the direction
and character of qur'anic criticisms of
Jews and Christians. The message is not
denying the validity of those traditions'
fundamental covenants and doctrines —
indeed it is strongly affirming it; the prob-
lem is a perceived deviation from the pri-
mordial monotheism that the Qur'an views
as having been established by Abraham,
Moses and Jesus preeminently. The quarrel
is, as it were, a family affair. Inasmuch as
the old-style "Muslims" have slipped and
deviated as well as split up into sects, then
the fresh Muslims of the Muhammadan
renewal movement — and such it is viewed
to be — must fill the breach and constitute
the party of God.

The principal covenant term in the Qur-
'an is mithdq, from wathiqa, meaning to place
confidence in someone. In the third form
the verb means to enter a compact or treaty.
Mithdq can have a secular sense, as in
Q_ 4:21 where it concerns a marriage price
compact. Most often, however, mithdq in
the Qur'an refers to a religious agreement
between God and humans or more specifi-
cally between God and his prophets, usu-
ally in the context of the People of the
Book (ahl al-kitdb). The term occurs 25
times, principally in Medinan passages.

Another important qur'anic term for

3 8i

COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

covenants and contracts is 'a/id, whether
with reference to the Children of Israel
(e.g. Q_ 2:40) or to the Muslims. The root
occurs more than 50 times, mostly in Me-
dinan passages. (A valuable exploration
and analysis of covenant ideas in the an-
cient Semitic world is J. Pedersen, Der Eid
bei den Semiten; a review of selected theories
concerning covenant in the Qur'an is F.
Denny, Religio-communal terms).

Some negative religio-communal terms
We have mostly considered positive com-
munal terms and concepts such as umma,
milla, hamf/hunajd', submitters, believers
and the People of the Book. The strongly
negative and accursed category of idola-
ters (mushrikun) has also been included
because of its frequent binary opposition
with the various positive dimensions of
monotheistic theology and ethics. Also,
there are the so-called hypocrites (see
hypocrites and hypocrisy), a category
represented in the Qur'an more than 25
times often in contrast to the believers.
Although the historical Hypocrites (al-
mundfiqiin), a disaffected Medinan commu-
nity that, covertly, supported the Meccan
Quraysh (q.v.), were nominally Muslim,
they are consigned, together with the un-
believers, to hell (q_ 9:68 with both mascu-
line and feminine plural forms so as to
specify equal accountability and treatment;
cf. Q 4:140; Q_ 33:73 has the hypocrites and
idolaters, male and female, paired for pun-
ishment; see REWARD AND PUNISHMENT).

Another strongly negative category cen-
ters upon kufr, which can be translated as
unbelief, ingratitude or covering and con-
cealing the truth (see gratitude and in-
gratitude!. The root occurs three times as
often as the root (s-l-m) for Islam and Mus-
lim. Only the root for faith f'-m-n) occurs
more frequently among the terms we are
examining here. To disbelieve in or be un-
grateful to God is not always considered to

be as heinous as idolatry (shirk) but it is a
grave offense and is sometimes understood
as interchangeable with idolatry. So preva-
lent is the Muslim awareness of being a
people strongly demarcated from other
communities and so persistent is the
Qur'an's condemnation of unbelievers that
Muslims have throughout history referred
to non-Muslims as kajirun, "unbelievers,
infidels," although the degree and type of
unbelief has been a topic of reflection and
mitigation (cf. Jewish characterizations of
outsiders as Gentiles (goyjim) and Christian
references to infidels and gentiles, whether
Muslims or others). In this regard, recall
p_ 109, known as 'The Unbelievers" (Surat
al-Kafirim), quoted and discussed above.

Another frequent signifier for humans
engaging in disapproved beliefs and be-
havior is the Arabic root k-dh-b, which
occurs in the Qur'an in active verbal forms
as well as plural forms, e.g. mukadhdhibun,
"those who falsely accuse or deny." In
Q_ 77, an early Meccan litany of punish-
ments to come, the following phrase punc-
tuates the building tempo ten times: "Ah
woe, that day, to the rejecters of truth
(al-mukadhdhibin)!"

"Those who are astray, in error" are
known in the Qur'an as ddllun. This term
often implies a willful straying and not a
haphazard mistake. An example is o_ 3:90:
"But those who disbelieve after they be-
lieved, and then go on adding to their dis-
belief — never will their repentance be
accepted; for they are those who have [of
set purpose] gone astray (uld'ika humu l-
ddllun)." The most frequently encountered
example of this group term is in Q_ 1 "The
Opening" (Surat al-Fatiha): "Show us the
straight path, the path of those on whom
you have bestowed your grace, not [the
path of] those whose portion is wrath, nor
of those who go astray (al-dallin)" (q_ 1:6-7).
One school of classical Qur'an commen-
tary (tafsir) has interpreted this term in this

COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

382

particular passage to refer to the Chris-
tians, with the Jews being understood as
the objects of the divine wrath. This is a
questionable interpretation of the meaning
of the references at the time of their reve-
lation, however, because the sura is univer-
sally regarded as very early and, thus, is
more pertinent to the conflicts between
Muhammad and the polytheistic Quray-
shls of Mecca during a period when Mus-
lim prayers at the Ka'ba (q.v.) sanctuary
were a vexed issue. (But see F. Donner, Nar-
ratives, 162-3, f° r a discussion of the matter
in the early Medinan context).

Another negative term applied to groups
is mutakabbirun, "arrogant ones" (e.g.
Q_ 39:60 where hell is the "abode for the
haughty"; see arrogance). Although this
category does not denote a moral meaning
as such, the desert Arabs (al-a 'rab) are.
viewed somewhat negatively in the Qur'an,
as in Q_ 9:97: "The Arabs of the desert are
the worst in unbelief and hypocrisy, and
most fitted to be in ignorance of the com-
mand which God has sent down to his
messenger." But not all desert Arabs are
considered wicked and, although some
went to Muhammad claiming to be be-
lievers, they had not quite reached that
level yet (q_ 49:14) as is described above.
This survey has not been exhaustive but it
does suggest the range of negative terms
by which human groups or types are cate-
gorized.

Marriage and family
Marriage and domestic interrelations be-
tween the sexes figure fairly prominently in
the Qur'an. This is not surprising consider-
ing the importance of kinship in ancient
Arabian society. Although before the
founding of the Muslim umma there were
no stable, large scale social groups, particu-
larly of a political character, beyond the
tribal level, kinship was a well delineated
social reality with varied, complex levels.

The Qur'an does not explicate this topic
although key terms and concepts occur
here and there.

Perhaps the most explicit treatment of
kinship relations in the Qur'an in a socio-
logical (as well as a legal and moral) sense
involves the immediate family level in con-
nection with what is permitted and forbid-
den with respect to marriage, family (q.v),
sexual relations (see SEX and sexuality),
women's rights, orphans (q.v.), inheritance
(q.v.) and related matters (see social
relations). The fourth sura, "Women"
(Surat al-Nisa'), is in a way a parallel with
the Jewish mishna's book on women.
There is no sura about men as such be-
cause the society into which the Qur'an
came was an increasingly patriarchal and
patrilineal society albeit with some vestiges
of matrilinearity (if not matriarchy), de-
pending on how the sources are inter-
preted (see W.R. Smith, Kinship and mar-
riage, ch. 3; W.M. Watt, Muhammad at
Medina, 272-3; L. Ahmed, Women and gender,
4if; A. Wadud-Muhsin, Qur'an and
woman, 1992; see WOMEN AND THE o_ur'an).

Watt contends, as was noted earlier, that
the pre-Islamic Arabian family tended
most often towards a matrilineal type with
both women and men "reckoned as be-
longing to their mother's groups. Tribes
and individuals are known as sons of
females." [Muhammad at Medina, 272). Mar-
riage was uxorial and property was com-
munally owned by the matrilineal group.
Women in this system could have several
husbands concurrently. But Watt finds
evidence of patrilineal practices as well,
strongest in Mecca. The Qur'an favors
patrilinealism and probably de-emphasized
continuing evidence of matrilineal prac-
tices. By the time of the emigration (hijra)
to Medina both systems existed side by
side, according to Watt, and "often inter-
mingled" (ibid., 273). Watt theorizes that
the patrilineal system came to replace

383

COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

matrilineal tradition by the time Islam
emerged and that it was based on increas-
ing individualism. Males' interest in their
own children went against the matrilineal
tradition when it came to distributing in-
heritances. Under patrilineal authority a
man could control the distribution of his
wealth after his death and preserve it for
his own sons especially, whereas under the
matrilineal custom the inheritance would
normally devolve to his sister's son. As
patrilineal practices increased in influence
men were much more interested in who
was in fact father to sons while under a
matrilineal system that was not deemed to
be very important. Watt argues that the
Qur'an encourages patrilinearity, for ex-
ample, in its legislation concerning the
waiting period f'idda) between divorce and
remarriage of a woman — to see if she
were pregnant from her former husband.
"In the case of divorce the man, if he was
a 'gentleman,' would do nothing during
the waiting period that would prevent can-
cellation of the divorce should his wife
present him with a son" (ibid., 274).

The Qur'an exhorts men to marry up to
four wives (q_ 4:3). In pre-Islamic Arabia
men sometimes married more than four
wives concurrently but the Qur'an stipu-
lates that if wives cannot be treated equally
then only one woman should be married.
There is much concerning marriage in Q_ 4.
There is also a detailed listing of people
whom it is forbidden for a male to wed
(q_ 4:22-4), namely his mother, daughter,
sister, aunt (on either side), his brother's
or sister's daughter, his wife's mother or
daughter or his father's or son's wife,
someone who has nursed the male, step-
daughters (provided their mother and the
male have consummated their marriage),
women who have been married to one's
sons or two sisters concurrently (see mar-
riage and divorce).

The forbidden degrees of marriage just

summarized are complemented by a listing
of the legal bounds of consanguinity in
Q_ 24:31. This regulation is situated in a dis-
cussion of personal and family privacy and
propriety governing believers: They should
not enter houses other than their own
without gaining permission, and both men
and women should be exceedingly modest
in their relations with each other (see
chastity). Women, particularly, should
draw their veils (see veil) over their bo-
soms and not display their beauty except to
their husbands, their fathers, their hus-
bands' fathers, their sons, their husbands'
sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons
or their sisters' sons or their women, or the
slaves whom their right hands possess or
male servants free of physical needs (see
slaves and slavery) or small children who
have no understanding of the nakedness of
women (cf. o_ 24:31).

Those enumerated in Q_ 4:22-4 are known
in Islamic law as forbidden fmahram) to
marry because of being within the bounds
of legal consanguinity (see lawful and
unlawful). Until the present, Muslims
have, more often than not, conducted their
social lives strictly within these boundaries
with the result that free mingling between
the sexes, as is often found in the schools,
workplaces, markets, entertainment centers
and so forth of western societies, is severely
censured by the traditionally-minded.
Needless to say, strict interpretation of the
qur'anic teachings concerning social rela-
tions between the sexes is strongly chal-
lenging Muslim families and individuals
now residing in western countries where
such behavior is normal (see social inter-
actions).

There is material in the Quran pertain-
ing to the prophet Muhammad's marriages
and family life (see family of the
prophet). In Q_ 33:50 we read that, for a
period, he was permitted by God to marry
without limit, whereas other Muslims were

COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

384

limited to four wives concurrently. But this
permission to Muhammad was later with-
drawn (q_ 33:52) so that he ceased taking
wives (except for Mary the Copt, but she
was sometimes reported to have the status
of concubine, not wife). One of the issues
that loomed large in the Medinan period
of Muhammad's prophetic career was
privacy and security for his family in a
growing and sometimes unruly social
milieu. The Prophet's family situation,
with multiple wives and households be-
yond the four permitted to Muslims by the
Qur'an, required special attention and reg-
ulation. Watt characterizes Muhammad's
households as a "plural virilocal family"
[Muhammad at Medina, 284), meaning that
his residence was the base with close prox-
imity of his wives' separate households.
The Prophet visited his several wives in a
scheduled manner and sought always to be
equitable and just in his dealings with each
of them. Muhammad's wives had special
status above other women in the early
Islamic movement (see WIVES OF THE
prophet). This is seen, for example, in the
institution of veiling or covering (hijab)
addressed by the Qur'an in Q_ 33:53: "O
you who believe! Do not enter the Proph-
et's houses until leave is given to you, for a
meal, but not so early as to await its prepa-
ration. But when you are invited, enter;
and when you have taken your meal, dis-
perse without small talk. Such behavior
bothers the Prophet; he is ashamed to dis-
miss you, but God is not ashamed to tell
the truth. And when you ask of the women
of his household anything, do so from be-
hind a screen (hijab): That is more pure for
their hearts and for yours." A bit farther in
the same sura, additional admonition is
provided: "O Prophet, tell your wives and
daughters, and the women of the believers,
that they should draw their jilbabs [jalabib,
flowing garments covering the bosom and
neck, or even the whole body] about them-

selves. That is better, that they be recog-
nized [sc. as respectable women] and not
bothered (o_ 33:59)." Whatever the original
reasons for such regulations, Muslims ever
since have drawn on the above two pas-
sages for guidance in the conduct of their
social relations, particularly regarding
male-female contact, the presentation of
the female self and proper deportment
generally.

The original context for the revelations
was clearly one of stressed conditions
wherein the Prophet's family was subjected
to more or less public display because of
the proximity of their households to the
center of power in Medina. People appar-
ently attempted to access the Prophet by
seeking the intervention of members of his
household which in the case of his wives
could lead to gossip and even scandal (see
W.M. Watt, Muhammad at Medina, 285).
There were also tensions and conflicts
between the elements of Muhammad's
extended households.

There has been considerable discussion
and debate over whether the passage about
the screen, or curtain, namely the hijab,
applies only to the Prophet's wives in that
context or more generally to Muslim
women in all times and places. There is no
consensus in a restricted sense although
Muslims generally accept the passages as
serious advice however the specifics are
interpreted and emulated.

Society perfected
Although the Qur'an's treatment of society
and community is focused principally on
the historical world, considerable attention
is also given to the afterlife, whether in
heaven or hell. The Companions of the
Garden (ashdb al-janna), those who believed
and lived upright lives, will live an eternal
existence of happiness in the company of
God, the angels (see angel), the lovely
female denizens or houris (hur, see houris)

38 5

COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

and the community of the saved. As for
this last grouping, believing husbands and
wives will be together (o 43:69-70) as will
their pious parents and offspring (o_ 13:23;
cf. 52:21). Also in heaven will be those who
fought in the way of God. The blessed of
the garden will praise God (o_ 10: 10) and
the angels in heaven will address the be-
lievers with: "Peace be unto you because
you persevered patiently! How excellent is
the final home!" (q_ 13:24). Q_ 52 contains
additional details about the heavenly soci-
ety with its ranks of saved: persons reclin-
ing on couches (o 52:20), the availability of
good fruit and meat to eat (o_ 52:22), the
sharing of a convivial cup (q_ 52:23; see
cup) and enjoyment of mutual inquiry and
discussion without fear (q_ 52:25; see gar-
den; paradise; blessino).

The damned, called Companions of the
Fire (ashab al-nar) will suffer eternal woe
and pain. The horrors of hell are de-
scribed in various passages. The saved will
be able to observe the damned and com-
municate with them in a limited way
(O. 7-44)- Some humans and jinn (q.v.; the
creatures, made from fire, that have a mo-
ral nature similar to that of humans and
include some converted by the Qur'an;
o 72:1-19) will be consigned to hell
(q_ 7:179). Generally speaking, the saved in
heaven will enjoy life in a society of purity,
mutual respect and courtesy, and con-
tinued awareness of the blessings of God
and his created order at an exalted level
whereas the damned will suffer not only
the literal pains of the fire (q.v.) but the
alienation and meaninglessness that prevail
when there is no meaningful social exist-
ence or community life. For the person
who is consigned to hell, "therein shall he
neither die nor live" (q_ 20:74).

Conclusion
This article has covered the principle di-
mensions of the Quran's views of society

and community and it has attempted to
place them in the social and cultural con-
text of pre-Islamic Arabia. Although the
material in the Qur'an concerning more
descriptive dimensions of our subject is
limited, the doctrines and views contained
there have nevertheless had the most im-
portant influences on the history, customs
and attitudes of Muslim peoples every-
where. Even today we find Muslim coun-
tries aspiring to order their lives according
to the Qur'an, treating it as a charter and
constitution for their societies.

Surely the most enduring and influential
qur'anic idea and ideal of community is
that of umma and so flexible is it in specific
social, religious, and political terms that it
can be embraced across a wide range of
concerns by Muslims without their losing a
general sense of common cause and con-
sensus concerning the big questions of
belief and the proper conduct of life both
individually and communally. Indeed, the
umma idea has enabled Muslims to endure
serious setbacks as in the times of western
colonialism when political power was at a
low point in many Muslim regions. What is
more, the umma ideal does not require a
unified political order among Muslims in
order to be realized and activated. In
America, for example, Muslim prison in-
mates constitute ummas in the facilities
where they are incarcerated. And North
America itself, as is often said, is a place
where the umma is being established (see
AFRICAN Americans). There is one umma
ideally but there are multiple instances of
the umma being established, empowered
and enjoyed as an enduring religio-moral
community in touch with the Muslim
mainstream.

Wherever one looks in the spreading
Muslim populations of today — in the
traditional centers of Muslim civilization
and in new locales such as Europe, the
Americas, Australia, New Zealand and the

COMPANIONS OF THE PROPHET

3 86

Pacific — the qur'anic foundations and
models of social and communal life of
Muslims predominate and provide an ever
fresh and innovative approach to defining
what it means to be Muslim and how to
live in a pluralistic world alongside other
communities and societies, whether reli-
gious or secular in nature. For an examina-
tion of the qur'anic terminology relating to
the commercial and economic aspects of
communal life, see selling and buying.

Frederick Mathewson Denny

Bibliography
Primary: RazT, Tafsir; ZamakhsharT, Kashshdj.
Secondary: L. Ahmed, Women and gender in Islam.
Historical roots oj a modern debate, New Haven 1992;
M.F. Ansari, The qur'anic foundations and structure of
Muslim society, 2 vols., Karachi 1973 (extensive
applications of qur'anic teachings for the
contemporary Muslim world); A.J. Arberry, Seven
odes, London 1957; T. Ashkenazi, La tribu arabe.
Ses elements, in Anthropos 41-4 (1946-9), 657-72;
D. Bakker, Man in the Qiir'an, Amsterdam 1965
(ch. 3 is a thorough summary of human
groupings in the Qur'an); J. Chelhod, Kabila, in
El 3 , iv, 334-5; C.S. Goon et al., Badawl, in El 3 , i,
872-92; F.M. Denny, Ethics and the Qur'an.
Community and world view, in R.G.
Hovannisian fed.), Ethics in Islam, Malibu, CA
1985, 103-21; id., The meaning of iinimah in the
Qur'an, in History of religions 15 (1975), 34-70; id.,
Some religio-communal terms and concepts in
the Qiir'an, in Numen 24 (1977), 26-34; id., Umma
in the Constitution of Medina, in JNES 36 (1977),
44; F. Donner, From believers to Muslims.
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and early Islamic Near East iv. Patterns of communal
identity, Princeton (forthcoming); id., Narratives
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framework for inquiry, Princeton 1991 (revised);
H.E. Kassis, A concordance of the Qiir'an, Berkeley
1983 (an excellent reference work for readers
without a knowledge of Arabic that includes

topical headings in English with the original
Arabic qur'anic terms in Roman transliteration);
M. Khadduri, War and peace in the law of Islam,
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avant I'Hegire, Beirut 1928; L. Massignon,
L'umma et ses synonymes. Notion de
"comrnunaute sociale" en Islam, in rei
(1947), 151-7; McAuliffe, Qur'anic; C.A.O. van
Niewenhuijze, The ummah. An analytic
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Pedersen, Der Eid bei den Semiten, Strassburg 1914;
C. Pellat, Hilf al-fudul, in El 3 , iii, 389; FE.
Peters, Muhammad and the origins of Islam, Albany
1994 (a clear, non-technical but sophisticated
historical analysis of Islam's founding); F.
Rahman, Major themes of the Qiir'an, Chicago
1980; G. Rentz, Djazlrat al-arab, in El 3 , i,
533-56; R. Roberts, The social laws of the Qpran,
London 1925 (still a useful overview); F
Rosenthal, Nasab, in El 3 , vii, 967-8; R. al-Sayyid,
Mafahim al-jama'dtfi l-islam, Beirut 1984; id.,
al-Umma wa-l-jama'a wa-l-sultdn. Dirdsdt Ji l-fikr
al-siydsi l-'arabi l-isldmi, Beirut 1984; W.C. Smith,
The meaning and end of religion. A new approach to the
religious traditions of mankind, New York 1963; W.
Robertson Smith, Kinship and marriage in early
Arabia, Cambridge 1885; London 1903 (rev. ed.);
B. Stowasser, Women in the Qur'an, traditions and
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388-9; A. Wadud-Muhsin, Qiir'an and woman,
Kuala Lumpur 1992; W.M. Watt, Islam and the
integration of society, Evanston 1961; id., Muhammad
at Mecca, Oxford 1953; id., Muhammad at Medina,
Oxford 1956; id., Muhammad's Mecca, Edinburg

Companions of the Prophet

The body of people who had known or
seen the Prophet Muhammad during his
lifetime. The plural "Companions of the
Prophet" (ashab al-nabi), otherwise known
simply as "the Companions" (sahaba), is
derived from the root s-h-b and has re-
ferred, at least since the classical period, to
this group. (On the question of whether a
merely ocular encounter with the Prophet
could be considered a sufficient criterion to
render someone a Companion, cf. Gold-
ziher, MS, ii, 240.) For Sunn! Muslims, a
reference to the Companions serves not

387

COMPANIONS OF THE PROPHET

only to describe certain individuals as a
collective entity but also carries with it an
immense weight from a fheologico-political
prescriptive: Appeal is made to the sayings
and deeds of the Prophet and his Com-
panions, as recorded in the hadlth, in all
matters of Islamic decision-making as well
as for guidelines about personal piety and
everyday conduct.

As explicitly articulated in al-Shafi'l's
(d. 204/820) great legal treatise al-Risala,
the manner of conduct [sunna, q.v.) of the
Prophet and his Companions is considered
one of the four sources of the law (usul al-
fiqh) and commands an authority second
only to that of the Qur'an. Al-Shafi'T lo-
cates the authority for the prophetic sunna
in the Qur'an itself, insofar as the Qur'an
commands Muslims to obey the Prophet's
orders. Although al-Shafi'l asserts that the
Qur'an "explains everything," he argues
nonetheless that the sunna may clarify
the general or particular meaning of a
qur'anic passage or supply an answer to an
issue not treated in the book. In response
to the question whether the Qur'an can
ever abrogate the sunna, al-Shafi'l replies
that only another sunna can abrogate the
sunna (see abrogation). This statement
appears to be based on his explicit pre-
sumption that the sunna can never be in
contradiction with the Qur'an. He also
avers that if there "is a contradiction [in
the sunna] , it is not a contradiction" (cf.
al-Risala, chapter ix, "On Traditions").

Qur'anic references
Given the enormous religious significance
later accorded the Companions of the
Prophet by Sunnl Muslims, it is interesting
to note that the phrase ashdb al-nabi does
not appear anywhere in the Qur'an. Nor
does the plural form sahdba occur there. Of
the 94 times that the noun sahib and its plu-
ral ashab do appear in the Qur'an, the vast
majority of instances are found in the fol-

lowing phrases: companions of the fire
(q.v.; or hell, q.v.) and companions of para-
dise (q.v.; 42 times), and companions of the
right hand and companions of the left
hand (14 times; see hands). The Compan-
ions of the fire (or hell) are also usually
identified, in a nearly formulaic fashion, as
"those who disbelieved [see belief and
unbelief; blasphemy] and lied about our
signs (q.v.)." It is emphasized that those
people are not only "Companions" of the
fire but also that they are most emphatic-
ally "dwelling in it."

The remaining instances of sahib carry a
wide range of generic meanings including
any fellow traveler, fellow dweller, friend or
mate. In the three instances in which a ver-
bal form of the root s-h-b occurs in the
Qur'an, the actions are predicated by
Moses (q.v.; Id tusdhibni, Q_ 18:76), Luqman
(q.v.; sahibhumd, Q_ 31:15) and those who
worship other gods [yushabuna, Q_ 21:43; see
idolatry AND idolaters), respectively.

The Qur'an qualifies the Prophet three
times as "your [pi.] companion" and once
as "their companion." However, in these
four cases the Prophet is not being de-
scribed as the companion of the faithful
but rather as the companion of those who
disbelieve. "Those who have lied about our
signs" are addressed by the qur'anic verse,
"your companion is not possessed"
(o 81:22). The same group is urged to see
that "there is no madness in their com-
panion" (q_ 7:184). After recalling those
who have "lied about my messengers"
(o 34:45), the Qur'an attests that "there is
no madness in your companion" (q_ 34:46).
The Qur'an also reminds that "your com-
panion has not gone astray (q.v.), nor is he
deluded" (q_ 53:2; see impeccability and
infallibility). q_ 9:40 is the only qur'anic
verse in which someone is designated as
the "companion" of the Prophet. However,
Abu Bakr appears to be designated as such
only insofar as he is Muhammad's "fellow

COMPANIONS OF THE PROPHET

dweller" in the cave (q.v.) where they were
hiding (see emigration). The notion of the
Companions of the Prophet as a defined
body with a special theologico-political
authority thus does not appear to be at-
tested by the revelation.

The Companions in the hadlth and exegetical

literature
While the Companions as a body as such
are not mentioned in the Quran, they, as
well as their relations to the Qur'an, are
amply attested in the hadlth and exegetical
literature. One finds hadlth collections in
the form of short manuscripts or pam-
phlets dedicated to the sayings and deeds
of a single companion, as well as larger an-
thologies that treat individual Companions
in sub-chapters (kutub, literally "books").
The well known hadlth collections of the
classical period gather stories about the
virtues (fadd'il or mandqib) of the Com-
panions, taken as a group, in discrete chap-
ters. The remaining narratives about the
sayings and deeds of the Prophet and his
Companions in this literature are organ-
ized according to practically expedient
themes such as prayer (q.v.), fasting (q.v),
alms (see almsgiving) and so forth. Other
compendia supply a list of the Compa-
nions with short biographical references
along with some of the reports they
handed down. (For some of the most fa-
mous collections of hadlth, sira and tabaqdt,
see bibliography below; see also sira and
the q_ur'an).

For Muslims, it is the reputation of the
men and women who handed down the
stories about the sayings of the Compa-
nions that guarantees the veracity of these
accounts rather than the content of the
stories and sayings themselves. Accord-
ingly, one finds prefixed to the text of each
hadlth story (main) a chain of transmitters
(isndd) linking that particular account
back to one of the Companions or to the

Prophet himself (see hadIth and the
qjjr'an). According to al-Shafi c I, the mini-
mum proof for the authenticity of a narra-
tive about the Prophet is that the narrative
must be "related by one person from an-
other back to the Prophet or to one next to
the Prophet." Fladlths are thus not only
about the Prophet and his Companions but
they are also recounted by them as well.

The hadlth narratives also address the
question of their own authenticity inter-
nally. For example, one finds hadiths in
which a Companion recounts that a hadlth
about the Prophet and his Companions is
to be considered sound only if two Com-
panions can testify to it. In some story cy-
cles, one finds the Companions openly dis-
cussing and then deciding upon the limits
of their own authority. In the absence of a
clear prophetic precedent, they are often
called upon to make their own decisions on
the basis of utility, which in turn may be
further validated by God. One sees this, for
example, in 'Umar's and Abu Bakr's suc-
cessful persuasion of Zayd b. Thabit to
compile the revelation into one written
book after the Prophet's death on the basis
of God having "opened" their breasts to it
and its being a "good" thing despite the
fact that the Prophet himself had not done
it (cf. Bukhari, Sahih, Tafsir al-Qur'an, 9,
Fadd'il al-Qitr'dn, 3 and Ahkdm, 37; see
CODICES OF THE 0_UR'aN; COLLECTION OF
THE QUR'An).

Certain Companions enjoy a special dis-
tinction in hadlth literature. The first four
caliphs (or successors to the Prophet; see
caliph) are remembered by Sunnis as the
Rightly Guided Ones (Rashidun) . They are
Abu Bakr (r. 1 1-3/632-4), 'Umar b. al-
Khattab (r. 13-23/634-44), Uthman b.
Affan (q.v.; r. 23-35/644-56) and 'All b. Abi
Talib (q.v.; r. 35-40/656-61) respectively.
Sunnis recall the period of their political
leadership as a golden age from which the
Muslim community has devolved not only

389

COMPANIONS OF THE PROPHET

in time but also in righteousness. The
caliph 'Ulnar also appears to have pre-
dicted the revelation, verbatim, before it
was announced by the Prophet on at least
three different occasions. Accordingly, the
narratives have him claim that "my lord
agreed with me about three (things)" and
that "I agreed with God about three
(things)" (cf. Bukharl, Sahih, Tafslr al-Qur'an,
2 and Salat, 31). The Prophet's cousin Ibn
'Abbas (d. ca. 67-8/686-8; see family of
the prophet), as well as Muhammad's
youngest wife A'isha bint Abi Bakr (q.v.;
d. 58/678), are also frequently mentioned,
among many others. Over 600 women are
mentioned by name in the six canonical
collections alone, either as transmitters or
in the hadlth stories themselves.

The canonical hadlth also mention that
"ten will be in paradise" although the ten
names that comprise that list vary. Accord-
ing to Abu Dawud (d. 275/889) and Ah-
mad b. Hanbal (d. 241/845), the ten in-
clude Muhammad, Abu Bakr, 'Umar,
'Uthman, 'All, T al b a > Zubayr, Abd al-
Rahman b. Awf, Sa'd b. Abi Waqqas and
Sa'ld b. Zayd. According to al-Tirmidhl
(d. ca. 270/883-4), Ibn Sa'd (d. 230/845)
and Ahmad b. Hanbal, on the other hand,
the name of Abu 'Ubayda b. al-Jarrah is
substituted for that of Muhammad in this
list. The ten later came to be referred to as
al-'ashara al-mubashshara, although this term
does not appear in the canonical hadlth
collections themselves.

The Prophet's Companions were also
commonly distinguished according to
other categories such as whether they ac-
companied him as emigrants (muhajirun)
from Mecca to Medina (then known as
Yathrib; see Medina), whether they were
"helpers" [ansar; see emigrants and help-
ers) from Medina, whether they fought in
certain battles (such as the battle of Badr,
q.v.) and how early they converted to Is-
lam. (Cf. Nawawl, Shark, v, 161, for a col-

lection of the differing views about the
gradations attributed to the Companions).

Whereas the muhajirun were largely pagan
converts to Islam from Mecca, the ansar
were primarily converts from the Aws and
Khazraj tribes of Medina (see tribes and
clans). Both categories are mentioned by
name in Q_ 9:100 and 9:117. The term ansar
is related to the verb nasara, in the sense of
coming to the aid of someone who has
been wronged by his enemy, which is found
in Q_ 8:72, among other instances of its use.
The word ansar also bears some resem-
blance to the Arabic nasara or "Christians,"
as when Jesus (q.v.) asks in Q_ 3:52 "who will
be my helpers in God's cause?" The more
common exegetical etymology of nasara,
however, connects it to the village of Jesus,
i.e. Nazareth (al-Nasira; see christians
and Christianity).

Another group of Companions is distin-
guished as the so-called "people of the
bench" (ahl al-sujfa). According to Lane,
these were the people who reclined on the
bench or banquette in a long, covered por-
tico or vestibule attached to Muhammad's
home, part of the mosque complex in
Medina. Later legend traces the origins
of the mystical, ascetic Sufi group to these
Companions — based in part on the simi-
larity between the Arabic words for bench
(sujfa) and for the woolen (sufi) garment the
Sufis wore (see sufism and the qur'an).
Some commentators, such as Muhammad
b. Ka'b al-Quraz! claim that qur'anic pas-
sages such as 2:273-4, 6:52, 18:27-8 and
42:26-7 are intended to refer to the ahl al-
sujfa even though they are not explicitly
mentioned by name there. Other orthodox
commentators, such as al-BaydawI (d. ca.
716/1316-7), are more hesitant to make
such assertions reporting only that "it is
said" to be the case.

Although some of the stories in Shi'l col-
lections of hadlth overlap with those found
in their SunnI counterparts, they are read

COMPENSATION

o'J"

by the Shl'a (q.v.) in different, and some-
times in directly opposite, ways. Most nota-
bly, the Shl'a read the Prophet's sayings
and deeds regarding 'All b. Abl Talib as an
indication that the Prophet intended 'All to
succeed him following his death. Thus, in
direct antithesis to the Sunnis, the Shl'a
regard the rule of the first three caliphs
not as a golden age but a period of unjust
usurpation.

In many cases, this difference results in
the paradoxical situation wherein Shl'a
may point to a hadith about one of the
first three caliphs as evidence of wicked-
ness while Sunnis may point to the very
same story in their hadith collection as evi-
dence of that person's exemplary conduct.
A classic example of this phenomenon
would be their diametrically opposed read-
ings of the second caliph 'Ulnar. Shl'a
read these stories, such as the one where
'Umar refuses to let the Prophet write
something for his followers at the moment
of his death, as evidence of 'Umar's unsur-
passed wickedness while Sunnis interpret it
as yet another example of 'Umar's uncom-
promising defense of the Prophet's tradi-
tion (cf. Bukhari, Sahih, I'tisam, 28).

According to the tradition about the
"people of the cloak" (ahl al-kisa') the Shl'a
recount that Muhammad went out one
morning during the visit of the Najran
(q.v.) delegation and drew his daughter
Fatima (q.v.), her husband 'All and their
sons al-Hasan and al-Husayn under his
cloak (see clothing; curse). He then ut-
tered the words in Q_ 33:33: "God only de-
sires to put away filthiness from you as
his household (ahl al-bayt), and with cleans-
ing to clean you." While the Sunnis inter-
pret the "filthiness" in this verse as unbe-
lief, the Shl'a understand it as a concern
with this impure world and in particular
with the SunnI caliphate. For the Shl'a,
the ahl al-bayt, or Family of the Prophet
(q.v.), have a special salvational function

(see salvation). Devotion to them is cen-
tral to the religion and it has a redemptive
quality. In one version of the Prophet's
farewell (q.v.) sermon, Muhammad pro-
claims that God has given two safeguards
to the world, his book (q.v.) and the Proph-
et's sunna. In another version, however,
Muhammad describes the two safeguards
God left the world as his book and the
Prophet's family fitra). The heads of the
family are the infallible and sinless Imams
(see imam). For Muslims in general and for
Sunnis in particular, the Companions of
the Prophet, collectively, can also be said to
have played a certain role in the work of
salvation as the link between the Prophet
and the transmission of the faith.

Linda L. Kern

Bibliography
Primary: Bukhari, Sahih; Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, Kitab
al-IstT'ab ff ma'rifat al-ashdb, 4 vols., Hayderabad
1318/1900-1; Ibn al-Athlr, Usd al-ghdbafi ma~rifat
al-sahdba, 5 vols., Cairo 1286/1869-70 (critical
compilation of and supplement to Ibn Sa'd and
Ibn 'Abd al-Barr); Ibn Hajar, al-Isdbafi tamyiz al-
sahdba, 4 vols., Calcutta 1853-94; ^ vols., Cairo
1323-5/1905-7 (in-depth treatment of works on
the Companions); Ibn Kathlr, Tafsir; Ibn Sa'd,
Tabaqdt (contains short biographical references
and excerpts from the narratives of the most
famous authors of works on the Companions);
NawawT, Sharh.

Secondary: I. Goldziher, Ashab, in El', i, 477-8;
id., MS; L. Kern, The riddle of 'Umar b al-Khattdb in
Bukhdn's Kitab al-Jdmi ' at- sahih (and the question of
the routinization of prophetic charisma), Ph.D. diss.,
Harvard 1996; E. Kohlberg, Some Zaydi views
on the Companions of the Prophet, in bsoas 39
(1976), 91-8; W. Schmucker, Mubahala, in El', vii,
276-7; A. Tritton, Ahl al-kisa', in El 2 , i, 264; L.
Wiederhold, Blasphemy against the Prophet
Muhammad and his Companions (sabb al-rasul,
sabb al-sahdbah). The introduction of the topic
into Shafi'l legal literature and its relevance for
legal practice under Mamluk rule, in/ss'42
(!997). 39-70-

Compensation see recompense

39 1

COMPUTERS AND THE OUR AN

Compulsion see TOLERANCE ,

COMPULSION

Computers and the Qur'an

Electronic versions of the Qur'an exist
in two major forms: multimedia presenta-
tions of the Qur'an on compact discs
(CD-ROMs) and on the Internet, particu-
larly on the World Wide Web (WWW).
Each of these two forms has its own pecu-
liarities and consequently they will be
treated separately. The digitization of the
Qur'an also offers new but as yet relatively
unexplored possibilities in computer-
assisted textual analysis. Producing elec-
tronic versions of the Qur'an presents no
more of a technological difficulty than
any other text, though the Arabic alphabet
has several major encoding standards:
ASMO 449, ISO 8859-6 and UNICODE.
The pages of the Qur'an need only be
scanned and preserved as images or, al-
ternatively, scanned and then encoded ac-
cording to one of these standards using
Optical Character Reader (OCR) software.
Many such electronic versions of the Qur-
'an already exist and most of the major
translations of the Qur'an have also been
encoded. Nor does digitizing the Qur'an
present any significant theological diffi-
culty. The importance of both qur'anic
recitation (see recitation of the qur'an)
and calligraphy (q.v.) demonstrates that
Muslims accept the presentation of the
Qur'an in various media and even recita-
tional requirements such as the ta'awwudh
(a call for God's protection before reading
the Qur'an) can be incorporated digitally.

Multimedia presentations of the Qur'an on

CD-ROM
The storage capacity of compact discs not
only allows the complete text of the Qur-
'an to be preserved electronically in a rela-

tively portable and inexpensive format but
also permits it to be presented in a multi-
media format. The description which fol-
lows is based upon the two most popular,
currently available multimedia presenta-
tions on one or more CD-ROMs. Shared
features of these presentations include: the
fully vocalized text of the Qur'an, a trans-
literation to aid pronunciation and as
many as three English translations. The
translations of Abdallah Yusuf All, Mar-
maduke M. Pickthall and Muhammad
Shakir are the most common. The ability
to display these translations simulta-
neously along with the Arabic allows for
easy comparison. One presentation also
offers French, Spanish, German, Malay,
Turkish, Indonesian, Chinese and Urdu
translations as well as an Arabic exegetical
commentary (tafslr; see exegesis of the
qjjr'an: classical and medieval; exegesis
of the q_ur'an: early modern and con-
temporary). The other presentation has
bundled a number of reference books with
the Qur'an. The most notable of these are
English translations of selected sections of
Malik b. Anas' (d. 179/796) Muwatta', al-
Bukharl's (d. 256/870) Sahih and those tra-
ditions which Muslims believe convey
God's very words as uttered by the Prophet
[hadith qudis, see hadith and the qijr'an). It
also includes abridged versions of the ha-
dith collections (Sunans) of Muslim (d. ca.
261/875), al-Tirmidhl (d. ca. 270/883-4)
and Abu Dawud al-Sijistam (d. 275/889).
None of these hadiths are presented with
their lines of transmission (isndds). Addi-
tional bundled reference materials include
English translations of Muhammad's last
sermon (see farewell), a legal (fiqh) text,
biographies of the Companions (see com-
panions of the prophet), various subject
indices, concordances and dictionaries and
the sura introductions of the modern Pa-
kistani exegete, Abu al-Ala' al-Mawdudl.
Both of these multimedia presentations

COMPUTERS AND THE OUR AN

:.!<)-'

also provide audio recitations coordinated
with the displayed text of the Qur'an.
Several recitation styles may be present
(see recitation, THE art of), though at
the time of writing these additional recita-
tions require the use of more than one
compact disc.

All of these features on one or even a few
compact discs is certainly useful for a num-
ber of purposes. Pedagogically, they pro-
vide a means for more easily learning
proper qur'anic pronunciation and even
the recitation(s) provided. The reference
books included are also helpful for homi-
letic purposes. These multimedia presenta-
tions, however, are less useful as research
tools. In one of the programs, searching
can only be done with the English trans-
lation. In the other, searching is done
with the Arabic text but only finds exact
matches. Therefore, words that are vocal-
ized or declined differently (for example,
al-kitdbu versus al-kitdbi) are not found. As a
result, no searching can be done according
to the radical consonants alone. (For exam-
ple, kitab and its plural, kutub would have to
be searched individually rather than by
their three common consonants.)

The Qur 'an as hypertext on the World Wide Web
Electronic versions of the Qur'an on the
Internet predate those on CD-ROMs and
can be downloaded to one's personal com-
puter. Numerous sites on the WWW also
contain electronic versions of the Qur'an
that can be viewed by browsers (front-end
graphical interfaces) such as Netscape or
Internet Explorer — though this normally
requires that an Arabic font exist on the
destination computer. Most of the popular
translations of the Qur'an are also readily
available. The placing of the Qur'an in
this medium is not remarkable but it is the
potential of this medium that may have an
enormous impact on how the Qur'an is
used and understood.

The technology used for producing and
preserving written documents whether in-
scriptions on stone, wood or clay, hand-
written papyrus scrolls and codices or
mechanically printed books, had a signifi-
cant effect on the form and concept of
scripture in two important ways (see co-
dices of the qur'an; collection of the
qur'an; textual history of the qur'an).
First, the prevalent technology determined
who had access to the meaning of the texts
and thus controlled that meaning. The
scroll and the codex visibly fixed a text but
left the interpretative authority in the
hands of literate elites. This manuscript
culture allowed the concept of canon —
with its claims to unicity of authority,
content and source — to develop. The
printed book democratized direct access
to scripture while largely retaining its sta-
bility. Second, the technology, particularly
in the Islamic context, influenced the scrip-
ture's self-description. In the Qur'an, God
is even said to "teach by the pen" (q_ 96:4).
A sense of awe at the written word is also
obvious in the use of the word kitab for
God's various revelations (see book; reve-
lation and inspiration), the records of
deeds {kitab a'mdl, see record of human
actions) and the knowledge and power of
God (as in p_ 34:3; see power and impo-
tence; god and his attributes). It is pre-
cisely in the areas of canonicity and re-
spect for the written word, both products
of a manuscript and print culture, that the
reduction of God's speech to ones and ze-
roes may prove problematic.

Computers have introduced the use of
hypertexts and hypermedia which repre-
sents a technological revolution as signifi-
cant as the inventions of papyrus and the
printing press. A printed book is a linear
structure — the reader moves from begin-
ning to end or in the case of the Qur'an
from one verse to the next sequentially.
Cross references in footnotes, indices and

393

COMPUTERS AND THE OUR AN

concordances have adapted this linear
retrieval system somewhat and are them-
selves a form of hypertext or "non-
sequential writing." But such cross refer-
ences are not problematic and in fact
support theological claims for the unity of
a text of scripture whereas hypertexts on
the WWW may undermine such claims.
More generally, hypertexts are texts with
links to other texts. These information
units are connected through linkages made
by the author or by the reader using a
browser. Instead of linear or sequential
access required of the printed text, the
author or reader can use the computer's
ability to access a multitude of diverse
texts, some or all of which are located on
other computers connected by the Inter-
net. The author of a particular text may be
able to determine what links to other texts
will be embedded in his or her own text,
but cannot control which other texts will
link themselves to his or her text. And since
it is the reader who determines which links
to follow, the text's context and meaning is
also reader-dependent. In addition, these
linked "texts" can include images, sounds,
video and animation. Therefore it is more
correct to speak of hypermedia or inter-
active multimedia. By its very nature hy-
permedia lends itself to multiple or even
conflicting interpretations of these infor-
mation units. They no longer speak with a
single voice nor are they fixed and unified
with a linear, hierarchical structure. Pun-
dits predict that without this structure the
binary opposites it produced such as cen-
tral/marginal, top/bottom, first/last,
orthodox/heretical, canonical/non-
canonical will "vanish in the networked
world of the hypertext" (R. Fowler, The
fate of the notion of canon).

The doctrine of the Qur'an 's unicity of
authority, content and source, a doctrine
that has been so firmly established during
the period of manuscript and print culture

which produced concepts of "canon," is
unlikely to be affected in a hypermedia
culture. In other words, the content of the
Qur'an may not be as malleable or multi-
linear as other electronic texts and its sta-
tus as the central authoritative text will
probably survive the transition to the new
technology. Where hypermedia is already
affecting the Quran is in its interpretation.
Exegesis or interpretation of the Qtir'an
(tafsir) has been until now largely under the
purview of scholars steeped in the classical
tradition. Currently, a search of the WWW
on the word "Qtir'an" will yield close to
10,000 "hits" with subjects that range from
"how to become a Muslim" to "contradic-
tions in the Qtir'an." Websites offering ac-
cess to electronic versions of the Qtir'an or
interpretation of the Qur'an are as often
those of the Nation of Islam, Ahmadiyyas,
Baha'ls as those of more "orthodox"
groups and individuals (see African Ame-
ricans; ahmadiyya; baha'is). While most
do not present themselves as commentaries
(tafsirs), clearly the context in which they
are placed will affect how the reader inter-
prets the Qur'an. And on the WWW, there
are no scholars or 'ulama' to police or cen-
sor websites. Therefore, while the WWW
and hypermedia are unlikely to make the
qur'anic canon more fluid, the democrati-
zation of tafsir has already begun.

Although this development presents new
possibilities for research about the popular
understanding of the Qur'an, it will un-
likely become a significant new tool for
scholars of the classical exegetical tradi-
tion. There are, however, far more practi-
cal research applications for the WWW.
Digital libraries accessed through the
WWW have obvious advantages. Ancient
manuscripts of the Qur'an, its commen-
taries or other early texts in museums and
libraries around the world can easily be
preserved electronically. Their copyrights
or ownership can be protected by invisible

COMPUTERS AND THE OUR AN

394

electronic watermarks. As electronic im-
ages, these manuscripts would be far
easier to protect from man-made and
natural disasters and even the slow decay
of time. Moreover, instead of relying on
the expertise of one scholar to analyze
the provenance and authenticity of a
text, digital preservation and distribution
allow anyone access to the "original"
manuscript.

Computer assisted analysis of the Qur'an
Computers have proven to be extremely
useful and sophisticated tools for analysis
of texts. Stylistic, grammatical and lexical
features can be located and compared
with relative ease using computers (see
grammar AND THE qjjr'an). Except for
isolated efforts such as Rashad Khalifa's
search for words and letters in the Qur'an
that occur in multiples of 19, little has been
done with computer-assisted analysis of
the text. For such analyses, the text of the
Qur'an and a complete index of all posi-
tions of the words (or words with the same
roots) in the text are needed. At the very
least, these two components would provide
a simple computerized concordance — a
useful project in itself. Automatic index
and concordance software already exists:
WordCruncher, Oxford Concordance
Program, MacConcordance and TACT,
for example. Each of these provides key-
word-in-context (KWIC) concordances,
meaning that these programs can generate
a list of passages from the text in which a
particular word occurs. Repetends, both
fixed-order word sequences and colloca-
tions, can be discovered and even displayed
using distributional graphs. Such software
is not automatic — it still requires that the
scholar produce some initial hypothesis.

Unfortunately, at the date of the writing
of this article, the scholar must still work in
translation. Such programs cannot be used
with the Arabic text of the Qur'an. Arabic,

along with other Semitic languages, pres-
ents some unique morphological difficul-
ties not present in most languages using
Roman script (see Arabic script; Arabic
language). In order to search for a partic-
ular word in the Qur'an, the software must
be able to separate all the prefixes such as
the definite article, conjunctions, prefixed
prepositions, verbal prefixes and suffixes,
nominal case suffixes and enclitic direct-
object and possessive -pronoun suffixes.
Only then could the root or stem of the
word and its consonant-vowel pattern
(both of which might be obscured by
phonological and orthographic practices
such as those associated with weak and
hollow roots) be discerned. Such difficul-
ties, though complex, are now being over-
come. One new morphological analysis
system includes a lexicon of 4,930 roots
and a dictionary of 400 phonologically
distinct patterns, many of which are ob-
viously ambiguous (K. Beesley, Arabic
morphological analysis). However, such a
system has not yet been combined with
KWIC software. Thus, for the present,
computer-assisted analysis of the Qur'an
remains an intriguing but unexplored field.
Nevertheless, given the speed of technolog-
ical innovation the reader should remem-
ber that this article could capture only
those advances available at the time of
its authorship.

Herbert Berg

Bibliography
G. Armstrong, Computer-assisted literary
analysis using the TACT text-retrieval program,
in Computers & Texts 11 (1996), on http:/ /
info.ox.ac.uk/ctitext/pubtish/comtxt/ctll/armstron.htmt;
K.R. Beesley, Arabic finite-state morphological
analysis and generation, (1996), on http://
www.xrce.xerox.com/research.mltt/arabic; id., Arabic
morphological analysis on the Internet, (1997),
on http://www.xrce.xerox.com/research.mltt/arabic;
R.M. Fowler, The fate of the notion of canon in
the Electronic Age, (1994) on http://www2.bw.edu/

395

CONCEIT

~rfowler; R. Khalifa (trans.), Quran. The final
testament (authorized English version), Tucson 1981;
G.P. Landow and Paul Delany (eds.), The digital
word. Text-based computing in the humanities,
Cambridge 1993; P. Mullins, Sacred text in
an electronic age, in Biblical theology bulletin 20
(1990), 99-106; A. Rippin, The study of tafsir in
the 21st century. E-texts and their scholarly use,
(2000), on http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/
Area.Programs/Near.East/MELANotcs6gJo/ tafsir.pdf.

Conceit

An exaggerated sense of one's own im-
portance. The Qur'an declares conceit
and insolence toward others to be major
human failings, especially when directed
toward God and his prophets. Several qur-
'anic terms elucidate the causes and con-
sequences of conceit. Adukhtal is a close
Arabic equivalent to "self-conceit," and in
the Quran the three instances of the term
are paired with the notion of boasting
[fakhur, see boast) as in Q_ 31:18: "Do not
turn your cheek away from people in con-
tempt, or strut about the earth (q.v.); God
does not love any who are self-conceited
and boastful!" This attitude of superiority
stems from the mistaken belief that good
and bad fortune are solely the product of
one's own efforts whereas in fact they may
be a test (see trial) sent by God: "No dis-
aster falls upon the earth or among your-
selves, save that it is in a book (q.v.) before
we cause it to appear — and that is easy
for God — lest you should grieve for what
has passed you by or be overjoyed by what
has come to you. For God does not love
any who are self-conceited (mukhtal) and
boastful (fakhur), those who are stingy and
encourage others to do likewise..."

(a 57:22-4; cf. 4:36).

While all humans are vulnerable to mo-
ments of smug self-satisfaction, according
to the Qur'an, persistent attitudes per-
meated with vanity and conceit have led
many to think themselves self-sufficient

and, so, they have scorned God's prophets
and their calls for religious and social re-
form (see PROPHETS AND PROPHETHOOD;
GRATITUDE AND INGRATITUDE; VIRTUES AND

vices). In this context the Qur'an speaks of
those who are insolent (verb: 'ata; noun:
'utuw): "Who is there to sustain you if he
withholds his sustenance? Yet [the unbe-
lievers] persist in insolence and aversion"
(q_ 67:21). Conceit and insolence, then, are
directly opposed to belief which requires
obedience (q.v.) and humility (see belief
and unbelief). "Those who do not hope
to meet us say: 'Why have no angels de-
scended to us?' or 'Why do we not see your
Lord?' They are full of self-superiority
(istakbarufi anfusihim) and extremely inso-
lent!" (o 25:21).

This passage introduces a third related
qur'anic concept, that of being haughty,
arrogant or proud (kibr, takabbara, mutakab-
bir, istakbara, istikbar, mustakbir). In over fifty
verses (q.v.), the Qur'an condemns arro-
gance and pride (q.v.) which were first
manifest by Iblis when he refused the di-
vine command to bow before Adam (see
ADAM AND EVE; BOWING AND PROSTRATION;

devil; angel): "When we told the angels,
'Prostrate to Adam!' they did so save Iblis;
he scornfully refused and grew haughty,
and so became an unbeliever!" (q_ 2:34; cf
38:74-5). Following in Satan's footsteps was
Pharaoh (q.v.) and communities in the past
including those of Ad (q.v.) and Thamud
(q.v.). In their arrogance, they denied
God's message, persecuted his messengers
and so earned God's wrath (e.g. Q_ 23:46;
7:73-84; see punishment stories; chastise-
ment and punishment; anger). In response
to such resistance "God seals up every
haughty, pitiless heart!" (q_ 40:35) and, as
the Qur'an declares on numerous occa-
sions, damnation is the fate of all those
who feel secure in their conceit and selfish
ways: "And your Lord has said: 'Gall to me,
and I will answer you. Truly, those who are

CONCUBINES

39 6

too proud to worship (q.v.) me will enter
hell (q.v.), humbled!'" (q_ 40:60; cf. 4:173;
7:36). See also arrogance.

Th. Emil Homerin

Bibliography
Primary: Lisan al-'Arab, v, 49-50, 125-31; xi,
199-200; xv, 27-8; QushayrT, Lata'if i, 79; iii, 132,
311, 542-4; Qutb, Zilal, i, 58; v, 2558, 2790, 3081,
3089-91; vi, 3492-4, 3642-4; RazI, TafsTr, ii, 235-6;
xxiv, 68-70; xxv, 149; xxvii, 63; xxix, 238-9; xxx,
72; Tabarl, TafsTr, i, 180-1; xx, 48; xxiv, 46, 52;
xxvii, 134-6; xxix, 6-7.

Secondary: F. Rahman, Major themes of the Qur'an,
Chicago 1980.

Concordances of the Qur'an see

TOOLS FOR THE STUDY OF THE Q_UR'aN;
COMPUTERS AND THE OUr'aN

Concubines

Female slaves who enter into a sexual rela-
tionship with their male master. In addi-
tion to four legal wives, Islamic law allows
a Muslim man the right of sexual inter-
course with his female slaves (see marriaoe
and divorce; sex and sexuality). This
right is based on ancient Arab custom (see
PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA AND THE QUR'an) and
on several verses of the Qur'an which refer
to "that which your [or their] right hands
own (ma malakat aymanukum, variants: ay-
mdnuhum, aymanuhunna, yaminuka) ." The
phrase occurs 15 times in the Qur'an.
Other qur'anic terms for female slaves
(ama, pi. ima',fatayat) do not refer to concu-
bines but appear in the context of mar-
riage (ama, pi. ima', in Q_ 2:221 and 24:32;
fataydt in Q_ 4:25) or prostitution (fatayat in
Q_ 24:33). The classical Arabic word for
concubine, surriyya, is unknown in the
Qur'an.

The circumlocution "that which your
right hands own" appears as a generic
term for slaves in several instances (e.g.

24:32, 58; 30:28; 33:55; 70:30) although
elsewhere the subject of discussion appears
to be marriage, not concubinage (q_ 4:25;
33:50). For instance, Q_ 4:3, "Marry such
women as please you — two, three or
four — but if you fear that you will not be
just, then only one, or those your right
hands own," supports a reading of both
marriage and concubinage, but al-Tabari
(d. 310/923; TafsTr, &d\oc.),Jalalayn (ninth/
fifteenth century) and other exegetes gloss
this verse as referring to concubines.
Q_ 23:5-6 and 70:29-30 are more explicit in
urging men to hide their private parts from
all except their wives and "those their right
hands own."

The vague qur'anic pronouncements on
concubines are matched by vigorous de-
bates in the first few centuries over the sta-
tus of children (q.v.) born to concubines.
Although the Prophet is known to have
had a child by his concubine Mariya, who
was given to him by the Byzantine ruler of
Alexandria (see family of the prophet;

MUHAMMAD; WIVES OF THE PROPHET), the

rules on the umm walad (literally "mother of
children") were not solidified until long af-
ter the Prophet's death. According to this
law, the children born to a free man and
his concubine are legitimate; further, the
concubine is freed upon the master's death.
As the Islamic empire grew, concubines
were understood as a necessary part of a
ruler's household and most of the Abbasid
caliphs were sons of concubines, who were
able to exert considerable influence at
times on political and courtly affairs.

The right of intercourse with slaves is not
unlimited in Islamic law. For instance, right
of intercourse does not translate into li-
cense to sell that right, as the Qur'an spe-
cifically forbids the prostitution of female
slaves (q_ 24:33); nonetheless, such prostitu-
tion appears to have existed in Islamic soci-
eties. Unlike ancient Roman law, Islamic
law does not extend the right of concubi-
nage to female masters of male slaves nor

397

CONQUEST

does it condone in any way homosexual
intercourse. The Qur'an also promotes
marriage to slaves and abstinence (q.v.;
see also chastity) as alternatives to right
of intercourse by possession. The marriage
of free persons to slaves was unusual in
other Near Eastern cultures and there ap-
pears to have been some problems with its
incorporation into Islamic society. While
al-Zamakhsharl (d. 538/1144; Kashshaf, i,
260) explains Q_ 2:221, "A believing female
slave is better [to marry] than an idola-
tress," by stating that "all people are slaves
of God (al-nasu kulluhum 'abidu llahi wa-
ima'uhu)," while the Jalalayn (ad loc), on
the other hand, regard marriage to slaves
as shameful ('ayb). See also slaves and
slavery.

Jonathan E. Brockopp

Bibliography
Primary: Jalalayn; Tabarl, TafsJr; Zamakhsharl,
Kashshaf.

Secondary: F-P. Blanc and A. Lourde, Les
conditions juridiques de l'access an statut de
concubine-mere en droit musulman malekite, in
Revue de VOccident musulman et de la Medilerranee 36
(1983), 163-75; J.E. Brockopp, Early Maliki law. Ibn
Wbd al-Hakam and his Major compendium of
jurisprudence, Leiden 2000; id., Slavery in Islamic
law, Ph.D. diss., Yale 1995; R. Brunschvig, ( Abd,
in Ef, i, 24-40; H. Muller, Sklaven, in HO 6.6.1,
Wirtschaftsgeschichte des vorderen Orients, 53-83; R.
Roberts, The social laws of the Qor'dn, London
: 9 2 5'J- Schacht, Origins of Muhammadan
jurisprudence, Oxford 1950, 264-6 and 277-8; id.,
Umm al-walad, in EI 1 , iv, 1012-15.

Confession of Faith (shahada) see

WITNESS TESTIFYINC

Conquest

Gain or acquisition by force of arms. In
the Islamic context it is associated with the
"opening" of a land to the message and
rule of Islam. The Qur'an, revealed as it

was before the Islamic conquests had be-
gun, does not possess a clear concept of
conquest, but the Arabic root f-t-h pro-
duced during the first Islamic century the
technical term for the Muslims' conquests
over the Byzantine and Sasanian empires
(fath/futuh) and is frequently translated as
such in the Qur'an.

The Qur'an has much to say about war-
fare (see war). It is enjoined upon those
able to do so (q 48:17 exempts the blind,
crippled and ill) at specific times, outside
of specific places (o_ 9:36; 2:217) and only
within certain limits: "Fight in the way of
God (see path or way [of god]) those who
fight you, but do not aggress (or trans-
gress)" (o_ 2:190). Q_ 61:4 enjoins a forma-
tion, "God loves those who fight on his
path in a rank," and Q_ 47:4 recommends a
combat protocol, "when you meet the un-
believers, strike their necks until you have
subdued them, then bind a bond" (cf.
Q_ 8:12; see belief AND unbelief). In the
next world, the reward for those who fight
and die in battle is the pleasures of heaven
(q.v.); in this world, it is the spoils of victory
(q.v.), the distribution of booty (q.v.) figur-
ing prominently — even producing the
name of a sura, Surat al-Anfal (q 8, "The
Spoils of War"; see reward and punish-
ment; blessing). The reason and purpose
of warfare are less clear, perhaps because
they were so clear to contemporaries; but
they were probably religious. According to
Q_ 9:33 and 61:9, Muhammad had been
sent by God to make his religion prevail
over all others, "though the unbelievers
loathe it." Q_ 2:193 and 8:39 instruct believ-
ers to fight until there is no fitna, a term
usually understood to mean the Meccans'
opposition to Muhammad and his fol-
lowers (see opposition to muhammad).
According to Q_ 9:29, "those who have re-
ceived the book (q.v.)" are to be fought
until they pay the jizya (see taxation), an
obscure verse that has inspired a small in-
dustry of scholarship.

CONQUEST

398

For the historical context of these verses
one conventionally turns to the historical
and exegetical traditions. The Constitution
of Medina, the series of documents under-
stood to have been drafted by Muhammad
soon after his emigration [hijra, see emi-
gration) from Mecca to Medina, makes
it plain that he put his community on a
war footing fairly soon after the hijra and
indeed the first decade of the hijra was do-
minated by a string of campaigns, the most
prominent being Badr (q.v.) in Ramadan
(q.v.) of 2/624, Uhud (q.v.), al-Khandaq
("The Ditch"; see people of the ditch),
al- Hudaybiyya (q.v), Khaybar (q.v), Mecca
(q.v), Hunayn (q.v), and Tabuk in Rajab of
9/630. The political context of this cam-
paigning was tribal rather than imperial:
Forces were small (tribesmen often num-
bering in the hundreds; see tribes and
clans), marches short and shows of
strength more frequent than actual vio-
lence. The handling of captives (q.v), one
infers from c) 8:67, seems to have been ad
hoc. The object of these campaigns, more-
over, was not to acquire and control land
so much as to secure the loyalty and obedi-
ence of the principal tribes, an object also
achieved by negotiation and the promise of
material blandishments of various sorts.
That the tribesmen's loyalties had been
committed to Muhammad, rather than to
his nascent polity, is made clear by the
eruption of the so-called "Wars of Apos-
tasy" that broke out upon his death (see
apostasy). In the view of modern histori-
ans, Abu Bakr's (r. 1 1-3/632-4) campaigns
to re-impose Islamic rule within the Ara-
bian peninsula led directly to 'Umar's
(r. 13-23/634-44) campaigns beyond its
borders.

The qur'anic lexicon of warfare is domi-
nated by the Arabic terms qital and jihad
(q.v), that of victory by nasr andfath. The
first of this latter pair of terms, nasr, poses
fewer problems than the second, in part

because its qur'anic usage is so clearly mir-
rored by that in the Constitution of Me-
dina where it, too, signifies "support" or
"help" (either God's or the Believers'). As a
first and second form verb, f-t-h usually sig-
nifies the basic Semitic meaning "to open
or loosen" (Hebrew patah, Aramaic and
Syriac^'fa/z, ¥j\hiop\cfatha). Quranic usage
correlates the verb with gates (usually of
heaven [q.v.], sometimes of hell [q.v.], cf.
0, 6:44; 7:40; 15:14; 23:77; 38:50; 39:71, 73;
54:11; 78:19), belongings or baggage (ma-
ta'ahum, o_ 12:65; see Joseph), and Gog and
Magog (q.v; o_ 21:96). Lexical authorities
such as al-Raghib al-Isfahanl (d. early
fifth/eleventh cent.) not infrequently ex-
plain the Fatiha, the opening verses of the
Qur'an (see fatiha), as the "starting point,
by which what follows is opened." The
range of this verb also extends in several
instances to the sense of revealing or deliv-
ering, e.g. "blessings from heaven and
earth" and mercy (q.v; o_ 7:96 and 35:2,
respectively) and in this sense it is echoed
in Hassan b. Thabit's (d. ca. 40/659) verses
as well as those of al-Farazdaq (d. ca. 110/
728; Shark diwan al-Farazdaq, i, 375, line 6).
In two instances of the imperative
(q, 26:118 and 7:89; cf. the tenth forms in
C) 2:89, 8:19 and 14:15), the root clearly has
the narrower sense of to deliver, render or
make a judgment. In Q_ 26:118, Noah asks
God to "make a judgment between me and
them" (fa-ftah bayni wa-baynahum fathan), a
translation that is indebted in the first in-
stance to J. Horovitz ("Urteil," KU18, n. 2)
who is followed by A. Jeffery ("judgment,
decision," For. vocab., 221). Both adduce
Ethiopic and Jeffery includes South Ara-
bian as well (see J. Biella, Dictionary, 41 2f;
A. Beeston, Dictionnaire, 47; W. Leslau,
Comparative dictionary, 170). Commentators
suggest the same: R. Paret cites al-Farra'
(d. 207/822) apud al-Tabari (d. 310/923) for
his reading of o_ 7:89 (rabbandftah baynana
wa-bayna qawmind bi-l-haqq wa-anta khayru

:;<)'.)

CONQUEST

l-fdtihin), to which can be added other au-
thorities, both early and late. Thus Muqatil
b. Sulayman (d. 150/767; TafsTr, ii, 49)
glosses the imperative "make a judgment"
(ftah) as iqdi; and Makkl b. Abl Talib (d.
437/1045; al-'Umda, 136) and Abu Hayyan
al-AndalusI (d. 745/1344; Tuhfat al-arib, 94)
gloss it as uhkum, the latter also glossing
al-fattdh of o_ 34:26 as the judge (al-hdkim).
Paret ("Bedeutungsentwicklung," Kommen-
tar, 167) holds that this was the primary
meaning (Grundbedeutung) oi f-t-h, translat-
ing it as Entscheidung (thus q_ 8:19; 32:28, the
latter perhaps best translated in English as
reckoning). He further holds that it shifted
towards success (Erfolg), which is how he
suggests the noun and verb be read in a
number of instances (Paret, c) 4:141; 5:52;
48:1, 18, 27; 57:10; 61:13; 110:1). Q_ 48:1, innd
fatahna lakafathan mubinan, which is said to
have been revealed in connection with ei-
ther Hudaybiyya or Khaybar, is translated
by A.J. Arberry as "Surely we have given
thee a manifest victory," and by Paret as
"Wir haben dir einen offenkundigen Er-
folg bescheiden." ( Abd al-Razzaq al-
San'anl (d. 211/827; TafsTr, ii, 225; see also
Muqatil b. Sulayman, TafsTr, iv, 65) glosses
this passage as "We have made a clear
judgment for you" (qadaynd laka qada'an
mubinan).

For Paret, as for others (e.g. R. Bell, W.M .
Watt), the fall of Mecca, particularly as
mentioned in o 57:10, probably explains
the historians' use of fath in the sense of
conquer. In the words of Watt, "The
meaning of conquest, however, is derived
from this conception of the conquest of
Mecca as a judgment or clearing up" [Mu-
hammad at Mecca, 67). Certainly Mecca's
capitulation hardly qualifies as conquest in
any military sense. Only two Muslim fatali-
ties are connected to the event, and these
only tangentially. The city never really re-
sisted, Abu Sufyan, the leader of pagan
opposition, having been captured earlier.

Even so, when medieval Muslims came
across the term al-fath in hadlth (e.g., Id
hijra ba'd al-fath, "there shall be no migra-
tion after the conquest") or in history in a
more general context (e.g. 'dm al-fath, "the
year [a.h. 8] of the conquest"), they had
no doubt which one was intended; indeed,
according to some sources (e.g. Bukhari,
SahTh, ii, 301), Muhammad uttered a ver-
sion of the la hijra statement on the very
day Mecca fell. Ibn Ishaq (d. 150/767), as
well as later authorities on the biography of
the Prophet (sira), describes any number of
forays (sariyyaa) and raids (ghazwas), but
only one fath; and it was the Prophet's cam-
paigns (conventionally called maghdzT) that
produced the normative form of prophetic
biography in the first three centuries, alter-
native titles (e.g. al-Mada'inl's putative
Kitdb Futuh al-nabi cited by Ibn al-Nadim,
Fihrist, 113) being extremely rare.

That the fall of Mecca came to be called
"al-fath" tout court must therefore be ex-
plained in terms of salvation (q.v.) rather
than military or legal history. For unlike
the treaty of Najran (q.v.) or especially
Khaybar, the terms of Muhammad's en-
trance into (pagan) Mecca seem to have
played no important role in legal discus-
sions about the conquest fate of the
(mostly Christian and Jewish) communities
of the Near East (see jews and Judaism;

CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIANITY). It might be
suggested that by labelling as futuh the
Muslims' victories outside of Arabia, histo-
rians sought to reinforce a point made by
Tabuk accounts and the modelling of Mu-
hammad's biography upon Moses', i.e.
that warfare beyond both the Arabian pen-
insula and the Prophet's direct experience
enjoyed his (and God's) sanction. The nat-
ural alternative, the Arabic root gh-l-b
meaning to overcome, conquer or prevail,
was perhaps too closely associated with
the fate of the Byzantines (q.v.) in Q_ 30.
Exactly when and how Mecca emerged as

CONQUEST

400

the definitive fath is just as difficult to know,
the evidence being so exiguous. For exam-
ple, q_ 110:1 (idhdjd'a nasru llah wa-l-fath, see
Noldeke, GQ, ii, 2igfi; followed by F. Buhl,
Leben, 310) is variously held to be a Meccan
or a Medinan verse. Adducing the Medi-
nan-sounding second verse, Noldeke opted
for the latter categorization, connecting
it, via the exegetical works, to the fall of
Mecca. This does appear to have been the
tradition's consensus, one attested already
in the commentary attributed to Mujahid
b.Jabr (d. 104/722, Tafsir, 792; cf. Ibn Han-
bal, Musnad, v, no. 3127). But some authori-
ties held that events at Hunayn gave rise to
the verses (thus Wahidl, Asbdb, 506) or even
that it was revealed after the Prophet's
Farewell Pilgrimage some two years later
(see farewell; occasions of revelation).
q_ 57:10 is sometimes taken to refer to
Mecca but other times to the truce (sulh) of
al-Hudaybiya. Al-Tabarl preferred the lat-
ter. In fact, G.R. Hawting has adduced
some evidence suggesting that the associa-
tion of fath in the sense of conquest with
Mecca is secondary on two counts: The
opening of the sanctuary at al-Hudaybiya
may be primary.

In any case, since the poetry of the early
Islamic period betrays a clear debt to qur-
'anic imagery, one can fairly infer that the
infusion of the Arabic root f-t-h with God's
providential direction was indeed a qur-
'anic innovation, albeit one with scriptural
precedents (e.g. Deut 28:12 and Ezek 25:9,
the latter closer to the classical notion of
conquest than anything qur'anic). The first
instance of this connection is a verse at-
tributed to Muhammad's contemporary
Hassan b. Thabit (Diwdn, i, 17, line 14)
which is said to have been composed
shortly before Mecca fell in Ramadan of
8/629. ^ already echoes o_ 18:101 and
50:22, as well as prophetic hadlth (Wen-
sinck, Concordance, v, 50). Similarly, al-
Farazdaq's panegyric to the Muhallabids

(Sharh diwdn al-Farazdaq, i, 375, lines 5-6)
draws on o_ 48:18 (fa-anzala l-sakinata 'alay-
him wa-athdbahum fathan qariban, see SE-
china). Elsewhere (Diwdn, i, 330, line 1), we
find the qur'anic conjunction of fath and
nasr, along with the familiar instrumental-
ity of human agents (see also Sharh diwdn
Jarir, 218, line 31): God conquers through
men. The poetry of this period now begins
to exhibit signs of the conquest rhetoric
that characterizes the historical prose of
the second and third centuries, even pro-
ducing one of its principal genres, the futuh
works of Ibn A'tham al-Kuft (fl. third/
ninth century), al-Mada'inl (d. 225/840)
and, most famously, al-Baladhurl (fl. third/
ninth century), among others. When al-
Farazdaq has strongholds (ma'dqil) defy the
Sasanians, only to be conquered by the
sword of the Muhallabids (Diwdn, i, 380,
lines 5-6), the usage is identical to that
found amongst the narrators of historical
material (akhbdrm). See also expeditions
and battles.

Chase F Robinson

Bibliography
Primary: ! Abd al-Razzaq, Tafsir; Abu Hayyan al-
Gharnatl, Tuhfat al-arib bi-mdji l-Qiir'dn mina
l-gharib, Hamah 1926; BukharT, Sahih;
al-Farazdaq, Sharh diwdn al-Farazdaq, ed. M.I. 'A.
al-SawT, Cairo 1936; Hassan b. Thabit, Diwdn,
ed. W. Arafat, London 1971; Ibn Hanbal,
Musnad; Ibn al-Nadlm, Fihrist; Jarlr b. Atiyya,
Sharh diwdn Jam; ed. I. al-HawT, Beirut 1982;
Makkl, al-'Umdaji ghanb al-Qur'dn, ed. Y/A.
al-Mar'ashll, Beirut 1981; Mujahid, Tafsir;
Muqatil b. Sulayman, Tafsir; al-Raghib
al-Isfahanl, al-Mufraddt ji gharib al-Qur J dn, Cairo
1906; Wahidl, Asbdb.

Secondary: E. Beck, Die Sure ar-Rum, in
Orimtalia 13 (1944), 334-55 and 14 (1945), 118-42;
A.F.L. Beeston et al., Dictionnairc Sabeen,
Louvain-la-Neuve/Beirut 1982; J.C. Biella,
Dictionary of old south Arabian, Chico, CA 1982; M.
Bravmann, A propos de Qiir'an IX-29: hattayutu
l-gizyata 'anyadin wa-hum sdghiruna, in Arabica 10
(1963), 94-5; repr. in Paret, 293-4; F. Buhl, Das
Leben Aluhammads, Leipzig 1930; H. Busse, The
Arab conquest in revelation and politics, in 10s

4oi

CONSECRATION OF ANIMALS

10 (1980), 14-20; G. Cahen, Goran IX-29: hatta
yu'tu l-gizyata 'an yadin wa-hum sdghiruna, in Arabica
9 (1962), 76-9; repr. in Paret, 288-92; D.C.
Dennett, Conversion and the poll-tax in early Islam,
Cambridge 1950; EM. Donner, The early Islamic
conquests, Princeton 1981; id., Muhammad's
political consolidation in western Arabia up to
the conquest of Mecca. A reassessment, in MW
69 (1979), 229-47; A. Fattal, Le statut legal des
non-musulmans en pays dTslam, Beirut 1958; G.R.
Hawting, al-Hudaybiyya and the conquest of
Mecca. A reconsideration of the tradition about
the Muslim takeover of the sanctuary, in jsaiS
(1986), 1-23; Horovitz, A't/;Jeffery, For. vocab.;
J.M. B.Jones, The chronology of the maghazi —
a textual survey, in bsoas 19 (1957), 245-80.
W. Leslau, Comparative dictionary of Ge'ez,
Wiesbaden 1987; Noldeke, eg; R. Paret, Die
Bedeutungsentwicklung von arabischfath, in J.M.
Barral (ed.), Orientalia Hispanica sive studia EM.
Pareja octogenario dicata, Leiden 1974, 537-41; id.,
Kommentar; R.B Serjeant, The sunnah jami'ah,
pacts with the Yathrib Jews, and the Tahrim of
Yathrib. Analysis and translation of the
documents comprised in the so-called
"Constitution of Medina," in BSOAS 41 (1978),
1-42; E.S. Shoufani, al-Riddah and the Muslim
conquest of Arabia, Toronto 1972; M.W. Watt,
Muhammad at Mecca, Oxford 1953; id., Muhammad
at Medina, Oxford 1956; Wensinck, Concordance.

Consanguinity see blood and blood
clot; kinship

Consecration of Animals

The ritual reservation or segregation of
animals for religiously mandated reasons.
Some information about pre-Islamic prac-
tices of this sort can be gleaned from qur-
'anic statements that proscribe them. Is-
lamic forms of animal consecration and
sacrifice (q.v.) present both continuities and
discontinuities with earlier practice.

Consecration in pre-Islamic Arabia
Animal consecration in pre-Islamic Arabia
can be conveniently divided into those
forms that involve bloodshed (q.v.) and
those that do not (see pre-islamic Arabia

and THE qur'an). For the latter the locus of
proscription is Q_ 5:103. Among ancestral
customs ('awa'idj that were considered sa-
cred (adhd, dahdya) by pre-Islamic Arabs,
the following were condemned by Q_ 5:103:
(1) The consecration to the gods of any fe-
male camel with her female offspring after
having given birth to the fifth. Such a
camel (q.v.) was given the name of bahira,
i.e. "with slit ear," because as a sign of her
consecration her ear, as that of her female
offspring, was slit; as a consequence, peo-
ple refrained from mounting such an ani-
mal or cutting its hair. According to the
biographer of the Prophet, Ibn Ishaq
(d. 150/767), however, her milk could be
offered to a guest or to a person in need
(Sira, 57f.). Q_ 11:4 indicates that a camel
consecrated in this manner (ndqat Allah)
was given by the prophet Salih as a "sign"
(dya) of his mission and allowed to graze
on the "land of Allah" without any harm
being done to her. (2) The consecration of
any she-camel (or he-camel) following an
oath sworn for the purpose of healing an
illness or ensuring the success of a busi-
ness. No subsequent benefit was to be de-
rived from this consecrated camel, and that
is why it was called sd'iba, "left in nature."
Ibn Ishaq records that a camel that has
given birth to ten she-camels in five preg-
nancies with no intervening male offspring
was also given this name (Sua, 57-8).
(3) The consecration of the fruit of the
seventh pregnancy: If a he-camel, it was
sacrificed, but if a she-camel, it was left in
the herd; if twins were born, however, con-
sisting of a male and a female, the male
was not sacrificed. Hence the name of
wasila was given to this she-camel whose
birth spared the life of her brother. Al-
though Ibn Ishaq states that both the male
and female were sacrificed, this contradicts
the meaning of the name given to such a
ewe. On the other hand, Ibn Hisham
(d. 218/833), the redactor of Ibn Ishaq's

CONSECRATION OF ANIMALS

402

text, comments that this name is applied to
the she-camel that gave birth to ten fe-
males in five pregnancies without any in-
tervening male [Sua, 57). (4) The consecra-
tion of a camel-bull that has become a
great-grandfather. This animal was no
longer mounted and it could graze and
drink wherever it wanted. It was called a
harm, or harm ^ahrahu, "protector of itself."
Ibn Ishaq (Sira, 57) applied this term to a
camel-bull that had fathered ten females
in a row without a single intervening male.
(5) The hundredth he-camel of the herd
was added to these consecrated animals
that had been dedicated to the gods. If the
herd increased to one thousand animals,
an eye of this camel-bull was pierced and,
above this number, the second eye was torn
out as well. (6) In addition to the customs
just enumerated, the custom of tying the
she-camel to the tomb of its master by
pulling its head towards its tail and sad-
dling it with its packsaddle should be
mentioned. If the animal succeeded in
escaping, it was given to the deity and
could graze wherever it desired. In later
heresiographical literature this custom
was explained as the wish to provide the
deceased with a mount on the day of uni-
versal resurrection (q.v.; ShahrastanI,
Milal, 439-40; Fr. trans, ii, 513-4; Lammens,
Culte des Betyles, 99f). Consecration of these
animals to the gods is condemned by the
Qur'an together with the added stipulation
that only males may benefit from them
(i.e. eat the flesh of the sacrificed beast,
o 6:138-9), whereas both men and their
wives might partake in the flesh of those
animals which have died of natural
causes. W.R. Smith [Lectures, 269) consid-
ered this common meal the most appro-
priate expression of the ancient ideal of
religious life.

The sacred character of these animals is
denoted by the term haram, the primary
meaning of which is "retrenchment, ex-

clusion, prohibition" (see lawful and un-
lawful; forbidden). According to qur'anic
(as well as Mosaic) law, this designation
precludes any secular use and sets aside a
person, an animal, a place or a thing (the
hurumat, see sacred precincts) from any
common use as a result of its dedication to
God, including the impossibility of repur-
chase or exchange (cf. Lev 27, 28). (This
notion of taboo is also represented by the
Sumerian nig-nig. The opposing notions of
holiness and abomination, born out of the
concept of inviolability, are also attested in
other earlier Near Eastern Sources [W. Al-
bright, De I'dge de la pierre, 128]).

Animal consecration that involved blood-
shed also presents a specific vocabulary.
Animals (an'am) destined for sacrifice were
c&MeAfara'i 1 (&\sofara') and 'ata'ir, the first
originally referring to the first-born she-
camel and the second designating the sac-
rifices offered during the month of Rajab.
Both were considered to be on the same
level as the produce of the earth (harth), of
which the first fruit was offered to the gods
(see agriculture and vegetation). The
Quran expresses surprise that men dedi-
cate to God a part of what he himself has
given them and especially that they give
another part to deities which are associated
with him. In such dedications the deities
will receive nothing nor will God receive
his due (p_ 6:136). Verses or verse segments
of Q_ 6:138 elaborate the areas of contra-
diction and complexity: At the same time,
men decide that such animals and produce
are illicit (hijr); they determine to whom
these can be given to eat (o_ 6:138a); some
animals are made sacred while others have
their throats slit without the name of God
spoken over them (q_ 6:138b); people go
even further by deciding that whatever is
born from these animals is licit for their
male children but illicit for their wives
(0.6:139a).

The Qur'an raises the question of the

403

CONSECRATION OF ANIMALS

gender of the animal to be sacrificed. Of
two sheep, goats, camels or cows, does
God want the males or the females of the
litter to be consecrated? q 6:143-4 con-
cludes with the accusation that lies are told
in the name of God. Among animals are
those created for carrying burdens while
others are destined to be killed (o_ 6:142)?
q 6:145 states: "Say: 'I do not find in what
has been revealed to me anything which is
forbidden to eat, except for dead animals,
blood poured forth, and pig's meat.'"
While the following verse explains what
had been prohibited to the Jews: "We have
forbidden to them all animals which have
nails (gufur) and we have forbidden the fat
of the cows and sheep, except that which
covers their back or their intestines or their
bones" (o_ 6:146). This prohibition of fat is
justified in Leviticus as follows: "All fat be-
longs to Yahweh. It is a perpetual law for
your descendants, in whatever place you
may live. You will eat neither fat nor
blood" [Lev 3:14-5).

Q_ 6:143-4 refers to offerings of first-born
animals which were made mainly during
the month of Rajab and which included
the firstborn animals of every herd (see
Henninger, Fetes de Printemps, 37-44). It is
true that, according to these verses, the
first-born animals were not explicitly the
"actual object of sacrifice, as there is no
other indication found that the Arabs felt
obliged, as did the Hebrews, to sacrifice
the firstborn animals" (J. Lagrange, Etude,
299). To be sure, dhabh al-'atd'ir, the sacri-
fice of small cattle, was practiced during
Rajab but in reality the Arabs only carried
out spontaneous sacrifices (nadhr, Heb.
nedhanm) and Islam did not reject these sac-
rifices. During his farewell pilgrimage (see
farewell), the Prophet is said to have left
everyone completely free to sacrifice the
firstborn of the herd (fard'i') and to prac-
tice the sacrifices of the month of Rajab
{'atd'ir, Ibn al-Athlr, Usd, i, 341) as he him-

self had carried out these sacrifices (Ibn
Sa'd, Tabaqdt, i, 104; on this subject also see
J. Ghelhod, Sacrifice).

Consecration in Islam
It should be noted that the words fard'i 1 and
'atira do not appear in the Qur'an. Perhaps
they are replaced by the term mandsik
which refers to both sacrifices with and
without bloodshed. The term nusuk consists
of the cultic practice in general, including
a sacrifice with bloodshed, there being no
mention of dhabh al-mandsik during the
month of Rajab. The Quran considers
nusuk to be at the same level as fasting (q.v.)
and almsgiving (q.v). Another term,
sha'd'ir, refers to the victims (budn, sing.
badana), destined for sacrifice which wear,
as a distinctive mark, a silver or iron collar
in the shape of a grain of barley (cf. T.
Fahd, Shi'ar). Camels wore a garland
(qildda, pi. qald'id) of different materials. A
practice called ish'dr, consisting of making
incisions on one side of the bump of a
camel or on its skin for the purpose of al-
lowing its blood to be shed, is also men-
tioned. Such an animal often wore a spe-
cial cover.

This ritually mandated sacrifice, called
hadi. "oblation," is still practiced today in
the entire Muslim world during the pil-
grimage (q.v.) on the Day of Sacrifice
(yawm al-nahr) in Mina, in memory of the
sacrifice of Ishmael (q.v.; see ritual and
the qtjr'an; festivals and commemora-
tive days). In reference to the topic of
almsgiving (zakdt) in the classical books
about ritual obligations (kutub al- 'ibdddt),
one finds that pre-Islamic customs contin-
ued under Islam after being purified from
any remains of paganism in accordance
with the conditions set forth in the sunna
(q.v.) of the Prophet. This is the case in
particular for the addhl l-nahr, i.e. sacrifices
with bloodshed (adhd, dahdyd), just men-
tioned, and consecration of the 'aqiqa of

CONSECRATION OF ANIMALS

4O4

the newly born, i.e. the sacrifice of a sheep
(cf. M. 'Abduh, Ibdddt, 276ff.). These
bloody sacrifices are optional, whereas
consecration by invoking the name of God
and by carrying out the tazkiya or by pour-
ing out as much blood as possible from the
animal slaughtered for eating, is obligatory
(see prohibited degrees).

Additionally, a temporary consecration of
animals within the haram (i.e. the sacred
territory of Mecca) was in force during the
sacred periods of the major pilgrimage
(hajj) and the minor one ('umra). Whoever
hunts while in the state of ritual purifica-
tion (ihram) has to compensate for his yield
by carrying out an equivalent number of
bloody sacrifices (hadi) of camels, cows or
sheep, by giving food to the poor, or by
fasting (o 5:94-5). Five harmful animals are
exempted from this prohibition: crows,
kites, scorpions, mice and mad dogs (Bu-
kharl, iii, Bab al-mahsar wa-jaza' al-sayd) as
well as animals that are similarly noxious,
such as snakes, wolves or panthers (see
ANIMAL LIFE).

In many ancient Near Eastern cultures,
animals have been an object of worship
and were thus included in the sacred, ei-
ther through sacrifice or incarnation of
a divinity, as in ancient Egypt, where they
served as an omen for the divine (see
omens). "The primitive belief that the god
or demon comes to dwell in his statue, by
virtue of the magic ritual of consecration,
has, in ancient Egyptian religion, been
raised to a real theological principle" (P.
Kraus, Jabir II, 131-2; for more informa-
tion, see H. Bonnet, Tierkult, 812-24). Giv-
ing a "soul" to the objects of worship has
led to their sacralisation. Nothing similar is
found in the cultic traditions of central
Arabia, the cradle of Islam. The only
known divinity in the shape of an animal is
Nasr, the vulture god; but this god was part
of the South Arabian pantheon where ani-
mal figures were numerous (Fahd, Pantheon,

132-4; see south Arabia, religton in pre-
islamic). The sacred character of the
animal dedicated to a divinity is reflected
by the following rites: the use of its blood
for the unction of the central pole of the
tent or of an erect stone (ansdb), the use of
its flesh for a sacred meal and the prohibi-
tion of breaking its bones out of respect to
the animal. This can be concluded from
the book of Exodus (12:2-11); a text that is,
in fact, a typical example of a sacrifice
among nomads (Dhorme, L'evolution, 57f;
cf. Henninger, Fetes de prin-temps, 581I).

The main idea which emerges from sacri-
ficing, among the ancient Arabs and in the
Qur'an, is that an animal is a gift (see gift
and giving) from the divinity to human
beings as is the agricultural produce of the
earth. To gain his favor, the human gives
the divinity the blood, i.e. its life, so that his
own life may be spared. It is at once an
oblation [hadi, Q_ 5:95, 97) and a ransom
(fidd\ Q_ 37:107) or a compensation, "be-
cause the soul of the flesh is in the blood"
(Lev 17:11) and "it is by the soul that the
blood atones" (Lev 27:gf). To this, finally,
should be added that the sacrifice of ani-
mals, common in Near Eastern religions
since the third millennium before Christ,
was meant to construct a dynamic bond
between the divinity and the faithful who
united with him in flesh and in spirit, by
sharing the flesh of the sacrifice (Albright,
De I' age de la pierre, 195).

T Fahd

Bibliography
Primary: Ibn al-Athir, Usd al-ghdbaji ma'rifat al-
Sahaba, 5 vols., Cairo 1869; Ibn Ishaq, Sira, ed.
Wiistenfeld; Ibn Sa ! d, Tabaqdt; ShahrastanT,
Milal, D. Gimaret et al. (trans.), Livre des religions
et des sectes, Paris 1986.

Secondary: M.M. Isma/ll ( Abduh, al-'Ibadatji
l-Isldm, Cairo 1954; W.F. Albright, De Vdge de la
pierre a la chretiente. Le monotheisme et son evolution
historique (Fr. trans.), Paris 1951; H. Bonnet,
Tierkult, in Reallexicon d. aegupt. Religionsgesch.,

405

CONSOLATION

Berlin 1952, 812-24; J. Chelhod, Le sacrifice chez les
Arabes, Paris 1955 (with ample information on the
subject); E. Dhorme, devolution religieuse d' Israel,
Brussels 1937; T. Fahd, Le pantheon de V Arabic
centrale a la milk de Vhegire, Paris 1968, 4-6; id.,
Shi'ar, in El 2 , ix, 424; J. Henninger, Fetes de
printemps chez les Arabes avant l'lslam, in Les
fetes de printemps chez ks Semites et la pa que israelite,
Paris 1975, 37-50; P. Kraus, Jabir ibn Hayyan.
Contribution des idees scientifiques dans l'lslam. II Jabir
et la science grecque, Paris 1942, pp. 131-2; J.M.
Lagrange, Etude sur les religions semitiques, Paris
: 9°5 a ( rev - e d-); H. Lammens, Le culte des
Betyles et les processions religieuses chez les
Arabes preislamites, in bfiao 17 (1919-20),
39-101; W.R. Smith, Lectures in the religions of
the Semites, London 1927 (1889 1 ); J. Wellhausen,
Reste arabischen Heidentums, 2 vols., Berlin-Leipzig

1887-97-

Consolation

A form of divine beneficence bestowed
upon the pious or those confronted with
worldly misfortune despite their righteous-
ness. The Quran recalls instances of God
or his agents consoling some pre-Islamic
figures; in addition, a number of qur'anic
verses themselves constitute divine consola-
tion for Muhammad and his followers.

God strengthened the heart of Moses'
(q.v.) mother (rabatna 'aid qalbihd) when she
was told to cast him into the river to elude
Pharaoh's (q.v.) soldiers (o_ 28:10). She was
comforted (taqarra 'aynuhd) when Moses' life
was spared and Pharaoh's wife selected her
as his wet nurse (p_ 20:40; 28:13). On her
part, Pharaoh's wife urged him to adopt
Moses rather than killing him so that he
might be a comfort (qurrat 'aynj for them
(Q, 28:9; Speyer, Erzdhlungen, 241-5; G.
Newby, Making, 12 1-3; K. Prenner, Muham-
mad and Musa, 222-33). I n another in-
stance, God's messengers told Lot (q.v.) to
"fear not, neither sorrow" (la takhaf ma-la.
tahzan) when he felt himself unable to pro-
tect them from his people (o 29:33; Speyer,
Erzdhlungen, 147-58; G. Newby, Making,

Muhammad received God's consolation
numerous times during periods of adver-
sity or strife. After a discouraging period
during which he feared that divine revela-
tion (see REVELATION AND INSPIRATION) had
lapsed (fatrat al-wahy), Muhammad was re-
minded how God sheltered (dwd), guided
(hadd) and enriched (aghnd) him when he
was a destitute orphan without direction
(o 93:6-8). God would not forsake him and
would aid him further as long as he re-
mained thankful and obedient despite
hardships (cf. o_ 93:3-5; 94:1-8; U. Rubin,
Eye, 116-24, 2 5°- 2 j see gratitude and in-
gratitude; obedience). He is advised to
overlook the unbelievers' malicious words
(ft 6:33-5; 10:65; 27:70; 36:76; 73:10; see
BELIEF AND UNBELIEF; OPPOSITION TO MU-
HAMMAD), not to regard their error as his
failure (o_ 31:23) and to elicit assurance
from what God has revealed to him
(o 76:24). Similarly, he is to ignore the hy-
pocrites and the Jews who twist his words
in an attempt to manipulate potential be-
lievers (p_ 5:41; see HYPOCRITES AND HY-
POCRISY; JEWS and Judaism). With respect
to specific events, God's assurance (saklna,
see sechina) descended upon Muham-
mad during his migration from Mecca to
Yathrib (see Medina), giving him strength
to console Abu Bakr (o_ 9:40; M. Lings,
Muhammad, 118-9; see companions of the
prophet; emigration). He is told not to
grieve over those who deserted him during
the battle of Uhud (q.v.; 3/625) since the
weakness of their faith was a divine curse
(q.v.) inflicted upon them (p_ 3:175-7; Wa-
qidi, Maghdzi, i, 327; see freedom and pre-
destination). At H ima y n (q- v -; 8/630), it

was God's assurance and unseen aid that
enabled Muhammad and his followers to
win the battle after an initial retreat
(o_ 9:25-6; Waqidi, Maghdzi, iii, 189-90; see
expeditions and battles). Muhammad is
counseled many times to be patient in af-
fliction and await his due in both this

CONSULTATION

406

world and the next (e.g. Q_ 11:115; 16:127;

40:77; 74 : 7)-

Muslims as a group received the good
news [bushrd, see good news) of victory
from God when they feared a much stron-
ger enemy at Badr (q.v.; 2/624; °- 8:10, 26;
Waqidl, Ma.gha.7J, i, 131-8). His consoling
words "fear not, nor sorrow" (la tahinu ma-
la tahzanu) comforted them after the retreat
at Uhud (cj 3:139-40; Waqidl, Maghazh h
320-1) and his assurance descended upon
them at Hudaybiyya (q.v.; 6/628) as they
negotiated a truce with the Meccans
(o 48:4, 18, 26; Waqidl, Maghdzi, ii,
618-24). Their firm faith (q.v.) in God
gained them blessedness {tuba, o_ 13:29),
worldly refreshment (qurrat ayun) such as
spouses and children (q.v.; Q_ 25:74-5), and
it will secure them rewards in the hereafter
(ft 32:17; 4 i: 3°; 78:3 T "6; 88:8-16; 95:6;
98:7-8). See also blessing; reward and

PUNISHMENT.

Shahzad Bashir

Bibliography
M. Lings, Muhammad. His life based on the earliest
sources, London 1983; Cambridge, UK 1991 (rev.
ed.); G. Newby, The making of the last prophet. A
reconstruction of the earliest biography of Muhammad,
Columbia, SC 1989; K. Premier, Muhammad und
Musa. Strukturanalytische und theologie-geschichtliche
Untersuchungen z.u den mekkanischen Musa-Perikopen
des Qiir'an, Altenberge 1986; U. Rubin, The eye of
the beholder. The life of Muhammad as viewed by the
early Muslims, Princeton 1995; W.M. Watt,
Muhammad at Medina, Oxford 1956.

Conspiracy see opposition to

MUHAMMAD

Consultation

To confer with other individuals or a
group. The term consultation (shurci) does

not appear to have been used in Arabic be-
fore Islam and the revelation of the Quran
and occurs only once in the text of the
Qiir'an at Q_ 42:38. Yet, the term shurci in
the sense of "consultation" has important
implications for social and political theory.

Etymology
The word shurci is related to the verb shara,
meaning to remove something from its
place. It can also refer to the display of a
thing, showing the good qualities inherent
in something. The term al-shurd can thus
connote a handsome outward appearance,
while the linguistic usage of the term is
also connected to removal and the appear-
ance of the thing removed (Lisdn al-'Arab,
iv, pp. 434-7). The term does not occur in
pre-Islamic poetry (see age of ignorance;
poetry and poets) but is first found in the
Qiir'an. There it is used to indicate or de-
scribe a consultation and deliberation, a
practice which was known to the Arabs
(q.v.) and other peoples before Islam.
Given its pre-Islamic use the custom of
consultation was not necessarily a religious
impulse, but connected to a social or politi-
cal impetus since consultation inevitably
involves a social structure.

Consultation according to the Arabs before Islam
The Arabs before Islam engaged in prac-
tices of social and political deliberation
and were considered to be knowledgeable
and experienced in worldly affairs. The
tribe of Quraysh (q.v.) had a meeting
house (ddr al-nadwa and sometimes mala'),
which was built by Qusayy b. Kulab and
established southwest of the Ka'ba (q.v.). It
was called this because the Quraysh used
to convene there to deliberate on issues of
social and political concern. Deliberative
authority rested with the elders of the tribe
(see tribes AND clans) as the Quraysh had
stipulated that no one could enact legisla-

407

CONSULTATION

tion until reaching the age of 40. A num-
ber of different types of deliberations were
conducted in this meeting house, including
the consideration of issues related to mar-
riage, matters of commerce, and war and
peace (ShintinawT, Da'irat al-Ma'arif, ix,
g2-3;Jawad 'All, Mifdal, ii, 109).

Among the Arabs who were familiar with
consultation were the people of Yathrib
(see MEDINA; city), the Aws and Khazraj,
some of whom were among those who
came to be known as the Helpers (ansar, see
emigrants and helpers) for assisting the
prophet Muhammad after his emigration
(q.v.; hijra) to Medina. Ibn Ishaq (d. 150/
767) mentions that they deliberated among
themselves when they sent the delegation
to negotiate the first pledge at Aqaba. This
delegation consisted of twelve men repre-
senting different clans of the tribe of the
prophet Muhammad and the pledge it-
self has been called the "pledge of the
women"; unlike the second pledge at
Aqaba, this one did not stipulate fighting
for the cause of the Prophet (Ibn Ishaq,
Sua, 288-303).

Consultation in the Qur'an
Because of the use of deliberation among
the Arabs before Islam the mention of
consultation in the Qur'an need not be
understood as the introduction of a new
concept. As noted above, though the word
consultation (shura) as such occurs only
once in the Qur'an, the word "consult"
(tashavour) occurs in Q_ 2:233 and the com-
mand "consult them" (shawirhum) is found
in Q_ 3:159. These three instances apply to
different situation and categories of Mus-
lims. Q_ 42:38 applies to all Muslims,
Q_ 2:233 applies particularly to the potential
controversy between two divorced partners
(see marriage AND divorce) concerning
the matter of weaning an infant and
3:159 is a special text related to the

prophet Muhammad in the shadow of the
occurrence of the battle of Uhud (q.v.) in
which the Muslims were defeated (see
expeditions and battles).

The three different significations of these
verses can lead to the following conclu-
sions. First, that consultation was originally
understood in relation to the prophet Mu-
hammad and in connection with Uhud as
one of the most important early battles.
Second, that consultation was connected to
relations among Muslims in the establish-
ment of an Islamic society (see community
and society in the qjjr'an). Third, that
consultation was understood to be con-
nected to situations of dispute (see debate
and disputation) where a form of commu-
nal deliberation was required or recom-
mended for the Muslim judge, a usage
which continues to the modern period. A
fuller consideration of the qur'anic con-
texts of the three passages will elaborate
these significations.

Surat al-Shura (q 4.2)
According to traditional understandings,
the 53 verses of this sura were revealed in
Mecca (q.v.), with the exception of four
(q_ 42:23-6) which were revealed in Medina
(q.v.). This is also related to the fact that
the sura begins with the letters ha'-mim and
'ayn-Sin-qaf; the other suras (q.v.) which be-
gin with ha'-mim are all said to be revealed
in Mecca (q_ 41-46) with the exception of
Q_ 42:23-6 and Q_ 45:14 which were revealed
in Medina (see letters and mysterious
letters).

It is not known with certainty why Q_ 42
was called al-Shura but it was well-known
as hd'-mim-'ayn-sin-qof owing to the letters
in the first two verses. According to al-
Suyuti (d. gn/1505; Itqcin, 148-57), other
suras derive their names from a word that
is mentioned in one of the verses. It is pos-
sible that g_ 42 derived its name from the

CONSULTATION

mention of shura in verse 38. In the com-
mentary known as Jalalayn, Q_ 42 is also
called Shura but without the definite article.
Some scholars claim that an earlier verse
in this sura (g_ 42:27) was revealed in ref-
erence to the ahl al-suffa, a group of Mus-
lims who emigrated to Medina with the
Prophet but had no money or clothes with
them (see sufism AND THE qtjr'an). They
passed the night in the mosque of Medina
and were fed there. The Ahl al-Suffa include
a number of prominent followers of the
Prophet such as Abu Hurayra, Sa'd b. Abl
Waqqas and Abu Dhurr al-Ghafari (Qur-
fubi, Jami', xvi, 27). The verse immediately
preceding Q_ 42:37 is said to have been
revealed in reference to the vilification
of 'Umar b. al-Khattab (q.v.) at Mecca. It
is also said that it was revealed concerning
Abu Bakr al-Siddlq (see ABU bakr) when
he was reproved by the people for giving
his property for charity (Qurtubi, Jami',

xvi , 35)-

The expression "consultation" occurs in
Q_ 42:38 and is understood in the context of
verses 37-9 as one of a series of attributes
of Muslims: They shun great sins (see sin,
major and minor) and indecencies, forgive
when angry, answer their Lord and perse-
vere in prayer (q.v.). Their rule is to consult
one another, spend out of what God pro-
vides and, when tyranny afflicts them, de-
fend themselves. Exegetes agree that these
verses were revealed in connection with the
Helpers (ansar) and that they were intended
to order deliberation among them. It is
also said that Q_ 42:38 refers to their delib-
eration when they heard about the appear-
ance of the prophet Muhammad (Qurtubi,
Jami', xvi, 36-7; T arj arsT, Majma', xxv,
57-60). These interpretations are problem-
atic, however, because the sura is said to
have been revealed in Mecca and so it
would have to be supposed that the Help-
ers knew how to pray before they met with
the Prophet. The interpretation of Sayyid

Qutb (d. 1966) resolves this problem by
mentioning that the verse refers in general
to all Muslims, requiring a new call to
God, matters of prayer and faith (q.v.),
consultation among themselves and chari-
table giving (see almsgiving). It is also evi-
dent from the context of Q_ 42:37, that this
refers to the Muslims of Mecca in particu-
lar, those who "respond to their Lord," i.e.
through faith in the religion of Islam when
the Prophet first began to call people to it.
Then they persevere in their prayer, for
they are the ones who were wronged by the
unbelievers (see belief and unbelief), such
as what happened to Bilal al-Habashi,
Ammar b. Yasir and his mother Samiyya
(Ibn Ishaq, Sua, 205-7).

Surat al-Baqara (q 2)
According to the exegetes, this sura was the
first to be revealed in Medina, except for
v. 281 which is said to have been the last to
be revealed. The verses on usury are also
held to be among the last verses revealed in
the Qur'an (Qurtubi, Jami', i, 152). Men-
tion of consultation appears in o_ 2:233.
The verse is long and is said to contain 18
different legal rulings relative to nursing
(see milk; wet nursing; lactation) and
the occurrence of divorce between two
parents (Qurtubi, Jami', iii, 160-73). If the
two parents concur on weaning the child
from the breast of its mother before the
child is two and there is no obstacle to this,
then it is legally permitted on condition of
consultation and mutual satisfaction be-
tween the parents (Qurtubi, iii, Jami', 170-1).
This is a separate instance of the use of
consultation because it applies to the spe-
cific case of two divorced parents. The
greater importance of this reference, how-
ever, lies in its allusion to the necessity of
consultation in matters of the family (q.v.).
In pre-Islamic tribal society, the man held
complete control over family matters but
with the revelation of this verse the extent

4 og

CONSULTATION

of his control was modified and the role was
given to the woman and the man jointly.

Surat Al 'Imran (q g)
This sura contains the term "consultation"
in the form of a command given directly to
the prophet Muhammad in the context of
Medinese society. The term is found in
Q. 3 :i 59 referring to the battle of Uhud in
which the Muslims experienced their first
defeat after the battle of Badr (q.v.). This
verse is not to be understood by itself or in
isolation but is to be explained in the con-
text of Q_ 3:118-74 and the picture of the
relations among the Muslims in the earliest
period of the Prophet's emigration to Me-
dina. In Medina, social relations were
organized according to different social
groups, such as those who lived in Medina
originally (the Helpers) and those who fol-
lowed the Prophet to Medina from Mecca
(the Emigrants). Likewise, there were divi-
sions according to religion between Mus-
lims and Jews (see jews and Judaism).
These groupings were further divided. To
the Emigrants belonged the tribes of al-
Aws and al-Khazraj, and the Jews were
linked historically to the Helpers. There
were also the so-called Hypocrites (muna-
Jiqun) under the leadership of Abdallah b.
Ubayy, leader of an influential group in
Medinese society. The relations between
the Helpers and the Jews were based on
long-standing connections between the
Jews and the tribes of al-Aws and al-
Khazraj. According to al-Qurtubl (d. 671/
1272) many of the offspring of the Helpers
were among the Banu 1-Nadlr (Qurtubi,
Jami', iii, 280; see nadir). The many affilia-
tions between the people of Yathrib, al-
Aws and al-Khazraj and the Jews is well-
known from Ibn Ishaq. The interactions
among the Muslims, the Helpers and the
Hypocrites headed by Abdallah b. Ubayy
were also established according to tribal
ties (see hypocrites and hypocrisy).

Q_ 3:118-74 must be understood in the
context of these social relations. Verses
118-20 refer specifically to those among al-
Aws, al-Khazraj and the Jews. Verses 121-2
refer to the fighting at the battle of Uhud,
verses 123-36 to the situation at the battle
of Badr, verses 137-59 to the victory of the
Muslims at the battle of Uhud and verses
174-160 to what came after the battle of
Uhud.

o 3:159 begins by indicating the tensions
among the Muslims. The situation was not
easy for the Prophet, who had to face the
Muslims who had been insulted by the de-
feat and those who had left their position
exposed to the enemy. This was com-
pounded by other issues concerning pa-
tronage between the Helpers and the Jews,
and the two groups of al-Aws and al-
Khazraj who were upset about the failure
of the call to fight after they themselves
had been wounded (Qurtubi, Jami', iv,
185-6). After the events of this battle, the
nascent Muslim community experienced a
period of communal tension. This uncer-
tain situation perhaps explains the reckless-
ness of the Helpers in battle, seventy of
whom were killed at Uhud while only four
Emigrants died in that engagement.
Q_ 3:159 addresses this situation: "This is
due to mercy from God that you treat them
lightly, for had you been heavy and hard-
hearted, they would have left your side."
The release of tension is attributed to
God's mercy (q.v.). Then comes the divine
command to pardon and forgive them (see
forgiveness), and consult with them in the
matter. The sequence of these commands
indicates that the command to Muham-
mad to consult the people came after he
had settled with them, pardoned them and
forgiven them for their sins. It was only
after these events, which assured him of
the sincerity of his followers, that he estab-
lished the process of consultation (Qurtubi,
Jami', iv, 249).

CONTAMINATION

410

Later theories concerning consultation
Based on these references in the Qur'an,
and particularly the command in o 3:159,
later Muslim thinkers have theorized about
the social and political dimensions of con-
sultation, including the scope and necessity
of its application. Examination of pro-
phetic hadiths related to these qur'anic ref-
erences also allowed for the extraction of
more general principles about the applica-
tion of consultation (Ansari, Shura, 65-9
and 113-222). The historical setting of Me-
dina was generalized to allow the emer-
gence of questions of political theory, such
as the role of consultation in legislation,
the installation of community leaders and
the legitimacy of the state (see politics
AND THE QJUR'an).

More recent theorists have sought to
compare the qur'anic concept of consulta-
tion with the modern western notion of
democracy. Others have critiqued such a
comparison, arguing that it often results in
eschewing more felicitous explanations of
"consultation" in its qur'anic and classical
exegetical contexts. According to these crit-
ics, a political system based on the consulta-
tion of a select group of religious scholars,
whose status is founded upon their exper-
tise in qur'anic exegesis, is at odds with a
number of the more normative understand-
ings of broad-based and secular democracy.

Ahmad Mubarak al-Baghdadl
(trans. Brannon M. Wheeler)

Bibliography
J. 'All, al-Mifdalfi ta'rikh al-'arab qabl al-Islam,
Beirut 1980; c Abd al-Hamld al-AnsarT, al-Shurd
wa-atharuhaji l-dimuqrdtiyya. Dirdsa muqdrina,
Beirut n.d.; B.A. Faraj, al-Shurd ji al-qur an
wa-l-sunna. Dirdsa mawdu'iyya wa-tahliliyya, Beirut
1996; A. al-Shmtinawi et al., Dd'irat al-ma'drif
al-isldmiyya, Cairo 1933.

Consultative Assembly see

CONSULTATION

Consummation see marriage and

DIVORCE

Contamination

Soiling or corrupting. It is perhaps surpris-
ing to find that the Qur'an has no concept
of contamination per se, in contrast, for
example, to the Pentateuch which is very
much concerned with the concept. There
is no qur'anic equivalent of Leviticus 15:19
which stipulates that "when a woman has a
discharge of blood which is her regular dis-
charge from her body, she shall be in her
impurity for seven days, and whoever
touches her shall be unclean until the eve-
ning." There are items to be avoided,
events and substances that leave one rit-
ually disabled, but in the qur'anic text
nothing suggests the transmission of im-
purity from one person to another.

Two words often understood as "impu-
rity" are (in the qur'anic vocalization) najas
and rijs. Najas appears only a single time in
c) 9:28: "O you who believe, polytheists (al-
mushrikun) are only [i.e. entirely] najas; do
not let them draw near the sacred mosque
after this, their year." Nothing here sug-
gests contamination that is transferred to
others; only that some quality of polythe-
ism disqualifies one from attending the
sacred mosque (see belief and unbelief;
polytheism AND atheism). Nonetheless, the
literature of qur'anic commentary consid-
ers the possibility. According to exegetical
traditions, Ibn Abbas (d. ca. 67-8/686-8)
maintained that mushrikun were najas in
their essence ('ayn) like dogs or swine (see
lawful and unlawful; doo). And the
Zaydis reportedly held, as do some Ima-
mis, that touching a polytheist (mushrik)
requires ritual ablution {wudu\ Nlsaburl,
Tafsir, x, 64; Qurtubl, Jami\ viii, 98; see
shi'ism and the qur'an). Yet the Prophet
drank from mushrik vessels (Nlsaburl, Tafsir,
x, 64). Moreover, nothing can make pork

4ii

CONTAMINATION

permissible for consumption (halal) but
upon conversion to Islam, a mushrik ceases
to be najas. It must be, as al-Tabarl (d. 310/
923, TafsTr, x, 105) suggests, that it is their
dietary habits and omission of full ritual
ablution (ghusl) that makes them deserving
of the epithet for contamination or impu-
rity (najas).

The more common word in the Qur'an is
rijs — and this is surprising since the domi-
nant words for ritually impermissible sub-
stances or acts in later legal literature are
(najis, najas or najdsa). Rijs occurs ten times
in the qur'anic text. The locus classicus for
rijs as "contamination" is q 5:90: "O you
who believe, al-khamr, al-maysar, al-ansdb and
al-azldm (see intoxicants; gambling;
divination) are entirely rijsun, and among
the works of Satan (see devil). Avoid it
(fa-jtanibuhuj, that perhaps you might pros-
per." The verbs derived from the root j-n-b
all convey, however, the sense of "separa-
tion, distinction from" in qur'anic usage
and so what is meant here is only that one
should avoid these substances and prac-
tices. The basic meaning of the word, ac-
cording to al-Nlsaburl (d. mid eighth/
fourteenth century; Tafsir, vi, 23), is "an
act that is repellent (qabih), disgusting (al-
qadhir)." One commentarial tradition sees
the innamd as governing the list of things to
be prohibited so that it is only these items
that are rijs, i.e. only wine, gambling, divin-
ing, etc. are rijs (Tabari, Tafsir, vii, 31). Al-
Nlsaburi [Tafsir, vi, 23) and others differ.
For them, wine (khamr) is "nothing but rijs."
That is, under no circumstances can it be
considered other than rijs.

Another passage often read as a reference
to contamination is q 6:145: "Say I do not
find in what is revealed to me anything
prohibited to eat except that it be carrion
[al-mayta, see carrion) or flowing (masfuh)
blood (see BLOOD AND blood clot) or the
meat of swine — these are rijs... Whoever
is compelled [to eat these things] while not
desiring [to do so] nor in hostility, your

Lord (q.v.) is forgiving, clement." It is not,
therefore, that one is contaminated by con-
tact with these items but that one is to
avoid them. If there should be contact, no
purification is necessary, no penance is to
be performed (see also q 22:30).

The underlying meaning of rijs, when not
specifically contamination, is certainly
"something worthy of avoidance" but the
"why" of that avoidance is elusive (see
Lane, 1037; Nisaburl, Tafsir, vi, 23 for ety-
mology). Some insight may be gained from
consideration of the term in other contexts
where the reference is not to substances or
acts but is more metaphorical. q 10:100
states: "And no soul will believe except by
God's permission, and he places al-rijs
upon those who do not reflect (laya'qilun)."
The failure to use common sense, to reflect
upon what one simply knows by virtue of
living in the world, seems to result in rijs.
Here the term must mean "repellent" or
"being such as to cause avoidance." This
meaning makes sense of other second-
order usages such as q 7:71: "[Hud, q.v]
said 'rijs and wrath (ghadb, see anger) from
your Lord have befallen you.'" Those who
have rejected Hud have become objects of
avoidance and wrath. Likewise q 9:125: "As
for those in whose hearts is a malady, repel-
lence has been added to their repellence,
and they shall die as unbelievers." It is
clear then that rijs suggests something that
evokes disgust, something that is repulsive.

Another domain often thought to reflect
a notion of contamination is that of ritual
purification. After urination and defeca-
tion, sexual intercourse, ejaculation (male
and female), menstruation and parturi-
tion, one is ritually disabled until the ap-
propriate ritual of purification is per-
formed (see q 4:43; 5:6). In these passages,
however, (with one possible exception)
there is no notion that the precluded (ju-
nub) person or the "affected" (muhdath) per-
son is contaminated or that the disability is
contagious.

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

412

There is one suggestion that contamina-
tion by touch might be possible. Q 4:43, in
the passage approving the "dry ablution"
(tayammum) states: "And if you are ill, or on
a journey, one of you comes from the privy
or you have touched (lamastum, variant la-
mastum) women, and you do not find water,
then perform the dry-ablution [with] fine
surface-soil and rub your faces and hands."
The question turns on what is meant by
"touching." The synonym for lamastum
given in al-Tabarl (Tafsir, v, 101) is bashar-
tum, the root meaning of which is "to touch
skin to skin." Yet that term itself gives rise
to substantial discussion, so it is clear that
"touching" is exegetically significant. In
one understanding, it is synecdochical and
understood to mean conjugal relation
(jima'). According to another, it is literal
and means "any contact of the two skins"
(Nlsaburl, Tafsir, v, 49). Al-Tabarl attrib-
utes these two positions to Arabs (q.v.), who
understood it as conjugal relation, and to
the mawali (non-Arab converts to Islam),
who interpret the term to mean "contact,"
respectively. Within the exegetical tradi-
tion, the contact position is attributed to
Ibn Mas'ud (d. 32/652-3), Ibn 'Urnar
(d. 73/693), al-Sha'bl (d. ca. 110/728), al-
Nakha'i (d. ca. 96/717) and al-Shafi'i
(d. 204/820) and is justified by reference to
Q_ 6:7: "So they could touch [the parch-
ment book] with their hands" (with the
root l-m-s). The sexual congress position is
attributed to Ibn Abbas, al-Hasan (d.
168/784-5), Mujahid (d. 104/722), Qatada
(d. ca. 117/735), ^e Hanafls and the Shf a
(q.v.) and justified by analogy to p_ 2:237:
"If you divorce them before you have
'touched' them" (here the root is m-s-s not
l-m-s) where touching clearly means "sex-
ual intercourse" (Nlsaburl, Tafsir, v, 49-50;
see marriage AND divorce). Only in this
qur'anic passage does one find suggestion
of contamination by contact with a
woman. Yet, for the most part, the legal

tradition rejected this literal reading and
required at least "desire" or "pleasure" in
the touching for one's purity to be "lifted"
(see Qurtubi, Jami', v, 203f.).

The qur'anic understanding that contam-
ination or any repellent quality is not con-
veyed by transmission is confirmed in ha-
dith literature, for the most part, but is
substantially modified in f ah, particularly
Shrt fiqh (see law and the qur'an; hadith
and THE qur'an). Yet for those who chose
to see Islamic ritual law as derivative of
Jewish and Zoroastrian sources, this differ-
ence, between qur'anic understanding of
a repellent quality and the Jewish and Zo-
roastrian logics of pollution, constitutes a
datum that must be explained (see scrip-
ture and the qur'an). See also purity and
impurity; ritual purity; cleanliness and
ablution.

A. Kevin Reinhart

Bibliography
Primary: Nlsaburl, Tafsir; Tabarl, Tafsir;
Qurtubi, Jami'.

Secondary: Izutsu, Concepts, 240-1; Lane; A. Kevin
Reinhart, Impurity/No danger, in History of
religions 30 (1990), 1-24; J.J. Rivlin, Gesetz im Koran.
Kultus and Ritus, Jerusalem 1934, 66-7 on rijs.

Contemporary Critical Practices
and the Qur'an

Contemporary methodology operative in
the study of the Qur'an, especially in the
West, and the philosophical and epistemo-
logical questions and problems related to
the study of the Qur'an in its function as
the focal point of a religion and a religious
tradition. See also post-enlightment pre-
occupations of qur'anic study.

Introduction: The ranking of rational processes
Reason no longer offers the certainty it
once did; only philosophers still adhere to

413

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

the primacy of critical reflection in the
implicitly or explicitly assumed hierarchy
of approaches (I'ordre des raisons) in every
cognitive construction. The social sciences
continue to produce their own isolated crit-
ical approaches to knowledge, the result
being a reduction of epistemological ex-
change and confrontation and the rise of
what J. Derrida calls teletechnoscientific reason,
a disjointed conglomerate that claims to be
the only reliable form of thinking in cur-
rent scholarly discourse. On the other
hand, P. Bourdieu has recently presented a
trenchant criticism of scholastic reason (in
Meditations pascaliennes), which is neverthe-
less unlikely to elicit any fruitful response
from the great figures of the scholarly
world since it is the systematic spread of
this very scholastic reason on which their
reputation has been based and continues
to depend.

Every scholar lives within the confines of
a speciality which can become a private
kingdom, and thus strives to establish cer-
tain aims which lack any real basis, in or-
der to publicize assumptions of meaning
(ejfets de sens) or representations of them.
These, in turn, are presented under the
guise of meaning or truth as established by
a scientific method and as recognized by
the community of scholars. According to
J.F. Lyotard, "Scientific reason is not ques-
tioned according to the criterion of (cogni-
tive) truth or falsehood on the message/
referent axis, but according to its (pragmat-
ical) performative abilities on the mes-
senger/recipient axis" (L'enthousiasme, 15).

European modernity, at least since the
eighteenth century, has left us with the im-
pression that reason would finally be liber-
ated from the constraints of dogmatism for
the service of knowledge alone, once a rad-
ical separation between every church and
the "neutral" state was accomplished.
When this latter body is free to exercise an
undisputed sovereignty, it does not, how-

ever, struggle with the same determination
for such a radical separation between cog-
nitive freedom and its own aims and ra-
tionality. This is not the place to explore
this subject further; it is enough to recall
now that in various Islamic contexts, rea-
son multiplies the constraints which it had
itself created for the sake of its initial inde-
pendence in the face of the strict control
of the state, a state which unilaterally pro-
claims itself the exclusive administrator of
orthodox religious truth (q.v).

Such are the two contexts in which the
Qiir'an has been read, consulted and inter-
preted for fourteen centuries on the Mus-
lim side and for some two centuries on the
side of the modern West. This introduc-
tion of a hierarchy of approaches makes
the debate on orientalism irrelevant as it
has hitherto been conducted, i.e. apart
from any preliminary critique, apart from
scholastic reason (as defined above), and
apart from recognition of the fact that cog-
nitive reason has willingly accepted this
utilitarian, pragmatic, teletechnoscientific
reason. One must, however, remember two
troublesome issues for the Western scholar
of the Quran who continues to be influ-
enced by the tools and assumptions of a
positivist and philological methodology:
(1) With the exception of a handful of
scholars who have had no lasting influence,
all qur'anic scholars have little regard for
any methodological debate and reject, if
they are not actually unaware of, questions
of an epistemological nature. They are
only sensitive to discussing the "facts" ac-
cording to the meaning and in the cogni-
tive framework which they themselves have
chosen. (2) Apart from specialists who are
themselves believers and bring their Jewish
or Christian theological culture to bear on
the question at hand, all who declare
themselves agnostic, atheist or simply secu-
lar dodge the question of meaning in reli-
gious discourse and thus refuse to enter

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

414

into a discussion of the content of faith
(q.v.), not as a set of life rules to be inter-
nalized by every believer, but as a psycho-
linguistic, social and historical edifice.
Hence the essential question about truth,
for religious reason as well as that of the
most critical philosphical kind, remains to-
tally absent in the so-called scientific study
of a corpus of texts of which the raison
d'etre — the ultimate goal to which all rhe-
torical and linguistic utterances bear
witness — consists in providing for its im-
mediate addressees, who have multiplied
and succeeded one another throughout the
centuries, the unique, absolute and intangi-
ble criterion of Truth as a True Being, a
True Reality and a True Sense of Right
(al-Haqq). Yet surely, this Haqq has from the
time it was first anounced orally between
610 and 632 c.E. until today developed in a
way which history and cultural sociology
must be willing to investigate and explain.
This is not a question of establishing the
true meaning of texts as lived by the faith-
ful, i.e. as sacred and revealed nor is it a
matter of articulating the certitudes re-
corded in a long process of sacralization,
transcendentalization, ontologization, spir-
itualization, etc., and systematized in the
great products of theological, philosophi-
cal, legal or historiographical thought in-
herited from the Middle Ages. Rather, the
task of the contemporary researcher is to
problematize all systems which claim to
produce meaning, all the forms, still ex-
istent or not, which offer meaning and
assumptions of meaning. This is an essen-
tial distinction that encompasses many
problems yet to be raised or, if they have
been, only poorly or without full recog-
nition. In the study of the Qur'an and
similar corpuses in other cultures — com-
parison must always be utilized — the
scholar approaches the activity of the
human spirit that most closely expresses
its own Utopian vision, its hopes, both

those which are unfulfilled and those
which recur, its struggle to push back the
limits of its servitude and to attain the full
exercise of its "will to know," combined
with its critical and creative freedom. The
theme in the case of the qur'anic corpus
and its vast historical development is to test
the capacity of reason to decipher the mys-
teries which it has itself produced.

Despite this shared reference to a Utopian
vision, it is important not to lose sight of
the fact that contemporary qur'anic studies
lag considerably behind biblical studies to
which it must always be compared (see
scripture and THE qjjr'an). This lag could
be said to reflect the different concerns that
emerged in the historical development of
societies in which the Qur'an continues to
play the role of ultimate and absolute ref-
erence point and in which it has never
been replaced as the sole criterion for the
definition and function of all true, legiti-
mate and legal value. In the violent and
passionate rejection of what political Islam
calls "the West," the stakes lie less in the
seizure of an ephemeral power than in the
progress of the secular model of historical
production which could ultimately render
the "divine" model obsolete, as it has al-
ready done in the West. This point is im-
portant for any attempt to liberate the
problematic of the Qur'an from its isola-
tion vis-a-vis the historical perspective of
modernity as well as for any effort to ad-
dress the religious problem, which has
been at one and the same time appropri-
ated by and disqualified by this political
concern. The context is also essential for
clarifying the strategy of mediating a solu-
tion and thus guiding the pedagogy of the
reflective researcher (chercheur-penseur) .

During the years of struggle for political
independence (1945-1970), one could have
hoped that an opening toward modern his-
torical criticism as shown in the Middle
East and North Africa during the so-called

4i:3

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

Renaissance (JVahda, 1830-1940), would
have grown to incorporate subjects as ta-
boo as qur'anic studies, including the sac-
ralised areas of law appropriated by the
shari'a and its legal statutes and rulings (see
law and THE qur'an), the corpus of ha-
diths (see hadith and the qur'an) which
enjoy the status of fundamental source (asl)
as defined by al-Shafi'i (d. 204/820). Cer-
tain historical events, however, altered this
potential course, beginning with the 1979
Islamic revolution in Iran and its eventual
global enlargement by so-called funda-
mentalist movements. This revived, in the
already very complex and inadequately ex-
plored area of qur'anic studies, the rather
archaic combination of the violent and the
sacred, a combination that was still able,
with some effect, to bring its weight to bear
upon the global civilization of disenchant-
ment, desacralization and the supremacy
of sciences over all dimensions of human
reality. In order to enrich the questions of
the social sciences and to radicalize their
criticism in every area, including, of
course, modernity, the reflective researcher
must bear in mind the historical, sociologi-
cal and psychological significance of the
religious imagination. This is a reality
which the assumptions of scientific social-
ism and militant secularism of the French
kind believed it was possible to eradicate
through teaching official atheism or
through eliminating the concept of the
religious event (fait religieux) from an edu-
cational system run by a state that self-
proclaimed its neutrality. By agreeing to
work within such assumptions, the social
sciences have contributed to nourishing
and even legitimizing recurrent wars be-
tween the forces, demographically in the
majority, that support sacrality and sacrali-
zation and the so-called enlightened who
support a rational process thought to be
emancipatory. But this process actually has
a hegemonic mission, since it continues to

spread pragmatic truths while refusing to
think philosophically about what is intoler-
able in relations between humans, cultures
and civilizations (cf. Arkoun, Les sciences
sociales).

Like Christians during the modernist cri-
sis of the nineteenth century, Muslims have
reacted — and still react — against earlier
works marked by historicist-philologist
positivism as well as against more recent
research that is relatively free of the as-
sumption of a triumphalist, even intolerant
science. Under the pretext of not wanting
to confuse different kinds of science, so-
called pure researchers refuse to address
the conflict between full-blown scientific
reason and religious reason that is appar-
ently vanquished intellectually or forced on
the defensive despite its historical persist-
ence. This refusal continues despite the
many possible applications of an epistemo-
logical radicalization of the social sciences.
These "pure" researchers steadfastly re-
fuse to integrate theological reasoning —
despite its popular persistence — into a
methodological program for an epistemol-
ogy of historical research (epistemologie histo-
rique) which could include all aspects and
dimensions of reason and its products and
in which relations between religious, philo-
sophical and scientific reason could be ex-
amined. They also prefer simply to ignore
even the mere suggestion of cooperation
with a reflective researcher since he or she
is dismissed as speculative and unable to
respect particular evidence (which does,
unfortunately, often happen) rather than
as a rigorous academic committed to the
establishment of facts. A necessary correc-
tion to this narrow perspective would mean
moving toward the use of historical psy-
chology, historical sociology and historical
anthropology for vast territories of the
past, long ignored by the historian inter-
ested in narration, description and tax-
onomy. The recently published work of

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

416

J. van Ess (Theologie und Gesellschaft) shows
all the richness of which we have been de-
prived and points to what will potentially
escape into the future.

As a rather marginal academic discipline,
the history of religions is looked at askance
by both theological authorities, guardians
of orthodoxy, and by secular states which
propagate a political "neutrality" yet to be
adequately examined philosophically and
anthropologically. Furthermore, this field
remains uncertain of its precise scope since
it spills into many other disciplines. The
same uncertainty applies to its intended
objects of study which largely involve the
invisible, the untouchable, the unnamable,
the supernatural, the miraculous, the mys-
terious, the sacred, the holy, hope, love,
violence and so on, as well as its instru-
ments, analytical framework and inevitable
relation to other disciplines, themselves
groping their way forward in the dark.
There is another rarely mentioned fact
about the history of religions: Specialists
writing for their colleagues are fully aware
of the academic constraints by which they
will be judged and admitted to the profes-
sion or excluded from it, no less differently
than theologians who must practice self-
censorship in order to obtain the imprimatur
of doctrinal authorities. In any case, the
populace at large, long confined to the dis-
course of oral culture, does not appear in
scholarly writing, although they are the
most directly concerned addressee of this
research and form by far the largest and
most convinced bloc of consumers of
systems of belief and non-belief which
science has submitted to its examination.
Medieval elites (khassa) already taught
openly that the masses ('awdmm) should be
kept away from scholarly debates. Today it
is left to the scorned popularizers of
knowledge to transmit to a large audience
bits and pieces of a highly specialized sci-
ence. The distinctive feature of religion,

however, is that it is a source of inspiration,
hope and legitimatization for all and first of
all for those who have not received instruc-
tion in critical thought. In the case of the
contemporary Muslim world, this observa-
tion bears considerably on qur'anic studies.

Reading the Qur'an today
As far as what is commonly called the
Qur'an is concerned, it must be said that
this term has become so heavily laden by
theological inquiry and the practical goals
of secular approaches that it must be sub-
jected to a preliminary deconstruction in
order to make manifest levels of function
and significance that have been side-
stepped, suppressed or forgotten by pious
tradition as well as by text-oriented philol-
ogy. As is well-known, this situation has a
long history, extending from the moment
the Qur'an was written down through its
centuries of propagation in manuscript
form until its modern-day dissemination
in print, an historical process which has
encouraged the rise of the clerical class to
political and intellectual power. The pres-
ent conceptual burden of the term Qur'an
is at odds with the social and cultural con-
ditions prevailing at the time of the emer-
gence and growth of that which the initial
qur'anic discourse calls Qur'an, the celestial
Text (al-Kitdb, see book), recited as a faith
event, aloud and before an audience. This
annunciation can be called prophetic dis-
course and establishes an arena of com-
munication between three grammatical
persons: a speaker who articulates the dis-
course contained in the celestial Text; a
first addressee, who transmits the message
of annunciation as a faith event; and a sec-
ond addressee, the people (al-nas), who
constitute the group, large or small accord-
ing to the circumstances, whose members
are nevertheless all equal and free in their
status as addressee. They are equal because
they share the same discourse situation, i.e.

41/

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

access to the same oral language used in
the annunciation of the message. They are
free because they respond immediately by
assent, understanding, rejection, refutation
or the demand for further explanation.
More will be said about the crucial import-
ance of the psycho-socio-linguistic analysis
of what will henceforth be called prophetic
discourse. (Justification will be given for
the use of this qualification of "prophetic,"
which, historically, is strongly contested by
the first addressee, after the adage that "no
one is a prophet in his own country") It
must be remembered that all orientalist
scholarship, in limiting itself to the curiosi-
ties of the task of a philological restoration
of the text (grammar, morphology, lexi-
cography, syntax) along with an historical
reconstruction of the simple facts, has ig-
nored the concepts of the structure of rela-
tions between persons (Benveniste), of the
discourse situation as conditioned by its
context (as described by P. Zumptor for
medieval literature by use of the term ora-
ture after the French ecriture, "writing"), and
of the dialectic between the powerful and
the weak (dicdectique des puissances et des resi-
dus). This last-mentioned encompasses the
interaction between orature and ecriture,
knowledge of the structure of myth and
critical historical knowledge, in other
words the functional solidarity among
i) the centralizing program of state educa-
tion, 2) ecriture, 3) the scholarly milieu and
the clerics who produce and manage it,
and 4) orthodoxy. Thus, four dynamic
socio-historical forces can be seen to be
dialectically related to four other forces in
the social arena which appear universally,
as in Mecca (q.v.) and Medina (q.v.) at the
time of the emergence of the qur'anic
event (fait coranique) no less than in the so-
cial milieu of the contemporary nation-
state: 1) segmented society which defies
uniformity, 2) orature, 3) culture which is
called popular and disintegrates into popu-

list culture in the contemporary megalopo-
lis, and 4) heterodoxies. This interconnect-
ed conceptual framework allows an
integration of all levels at which qur'anic
discourse functions — linguistic, social, an-
thropological, along with all historical
periods — into the project of analysis and
interpretation. This is demonstrated in a
reading of o_ g, Surat al-Tawba (Arkoun).

One can still be grateful, in fairness to
orientalist scholarship, for the efforts and
achievements of such pioneers as J. Well-
hausen, H. Grimme, T. Noldeke,
F. Schwally, G. Bergstrasser, O. Pretzl,
I. Goldziher, T Andrae, A. Guillaume,
A. Jeffery, M. Bravmann, whose work has
been continued by R. Paret, R. Blachere,
H. Birkeland, R. Bell, W.M. Watt, J. Bur-
ton, J. Wansbrough, AT. Welch, U. Rubin
and so on. It should also be noted that for
an area of studies which is so rich and
vital, the names of those who really mat-
ter in this past century are quite few, as
can be seen in bibliographies. The current
generation seems promising, but the
number and isolation of the researchers
remain the same, along with the meager
size of the projects and the less than con-
siderable importance of the publications.
Two additional remarks can elaborate
these assessments:

(1) The question of an epistemological
perspective — reductionist, scientist, pos-
itivist — that goes so far as to support,
openly and aggressively, an atheism that
does not acknowledge itself to be merely
one simple doctrinal option, must be ex-
amined, especially where it concerns com-
parative history and the anthropological
analysis of religion. This problem has to be
addressed repeatedly and discussed in rela-
tion to every scholarly production concern-
ing the religious event. (2) A scholar such as
J. Van Ess, whose contribution to Islamic
studies is exceptionally rich, represents
another perspective, belonging to that

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

4it

school which undertakes to censor itself,
constantly and strictly, when it comes to
the arena of faith, going so far as to respect
the expression of this faith which pro-
claims itself to be orthodox by virtue of
the sole fact of its sociological influence
and political dominance. Against both per-
spectives, it must be emphasized that the
deconstruction of every form of orthodoxy
falsely rendered sacred by historical figures
who happened to succeed politically is one
of the most essential critical tasks for the
social sciences. Within this context the fol-
lowing quotes from J. van Ess prove in-
structive: "I could have brought examples
from the Mu'tazila (see mu'tazilis), but
since they were considered to be heretics
by the majority of Sunni Muslims after-
ward, I would have to reckon with the
objection that they were ultimately not
representative for Islam... He [i.e. Bishr al-
Marlsl] is an interesting man, but, as in the
case of the Mu'tazilites, I do not want to
put the Islamic view of history upside
down. This would be something for the
Muslims themselves to do" (in Verbal inspi-
ration? Language and revelation in classi-
cal Islamic theology, a lecture given on No-
vember 21, 1994 at the plenary session of
the annual conference of the Middle East-
ern Studies Association (MESA) and pub-
lished in Wild, Text, 180-1). He adds, "As an
historian and non-Muslim, I should not ask
who was right, and who was wrong In-
deed, whoever believed the recitation to be
uncreated committed a sacrifice of intel-
lect" (184-5). This is not the place to com-
ment further on these two citations from
the perspective of the necessary epistemo-
logical commitments of reason in the do-
main of religious studies in general and
that of Islamic studies in particular. The
possibility of securing such commitments
and the way of defining this territory will
be clarified in the remainder of this essay.
From the vantage point of a kind of re-

search which is always accompanied by a
critical return to procedures, a process of
cutting and pasting, theoretical construc-
tions, explanations and meaningful results,
it can be concluded that the Qur'an is only
one among a number of events that have
the same level of complexity and the same
abundance of meanings. Others would be
the Bible, the Gospels and founding texts
of Buddhism and Hinduism, all of which
have already known and may in the future
know still more historical growth. It is nec-
essary to ask what would finally serve to
distinguish the religious corpus just men-
tioned from the vast Platonic and Aristote-
lian corpus with all its different forms in
Islamic and later European contexts or
from the corpus of the French Revolution
or that of the October Revolution of 1917
(cf the works of F Furet). It is nevertheless
clear that the invocation of a religious di-
mension, which can act, as a corrective, to
remind us of the dangers of reductionist
readings and the scholarship of cutting
and pasting, ought not lead to any conces-
sion to dogmatic definitions as advanced
by believers in the name of their sacred
writings (which in fact are sacralized and
sacralizing). The constructions of faith
which aim to build and manage the heri-
tage of symbols possessed by every com-
munity will be considered cultural manifes-
tations and defining premises in the type of
history produced with the attitude of the
believer. There should be no question of
screening these constructions of faith from
historical research or from a critical assess-
ment of the arguments of the authors who
have defended them, the historical actors
who have promoted them and the manag-
ers of orthodoxy who have perpetuated
their point of view in scholastic traditions
marked more or less by a dogmatic spirit.
Belief is in itself a domain of human reali-
ty which has been either ignored or insuffi-
ciently integrated into larger undertakings

4i9

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

of historical and philological research. His-
torical psychology, the discipline which
ought to treat this subject, has only begun
its first steps of exploration. Is it appropri-
ate to fragment, under the pretext of inevi-
table specialization, this contiguous and
indivisible domain which prophetic dis-
course has wrought and which believers
perceive and express daily?

By way of concluding these introductory
remarks, it will be helpful to ask whether
scholarly experience as amassed by orien-
talist scholarship enables us to pass to a
new phase of qur'anic studies. What would
then be the epistemological orientations,
the methodological choices and the appro-
priate programs of this new stage? Such
new fields of scholarly investigation of the
qur'anic event must obviously meet two
requirements: (i) Many more Muslim re-
flective researchers should be urged to
participate, by increasing the possibilities
and places for the exchange and confronta-
tion of thoughts, in order to make progress
in what is bound to be a long-term enter-
prise with the ultimate goal, indeed, of
comprehensive thinking and knowing (la
noese et la gnoseologie); (2) Room should be
given to previous and contemporary schol-
arship of Muslim believers. But which
scholarship? What positive knowledge,
independent of theological requirements,
can be derived from it? Will it be possible,
from this heterogeneous but undivided
reality that is the Qur'an, the revealed
word of God, to separate data that can be
declared objective from the psychological
burdens and the content of faith which be-
lievers attach to the Qur'an in their daily
use and which are still experienced as cor-
rect? Is it necessary to classify all Muslim
(or Christian or Jewish...) discourse as prior
or alien to the modern disposition towards
reason, as merely documentation for psy-
chological and historico-sociological in-
quiry? This would lead to the placement

of a scientific goal, entirely artificial, next
to the exuberant and effervescent produc-
tion of history by the strong dialectical
exchange between human faith (itself the
fruit of the interaction between the social
imagination, the imagined, reason and
memory) and the forces of upheaval in
what can be only partially expressed by
our concepts of speech, discourse, text,
Qur'an, revealed word and so on.

I will attempt to answer these questions
under the following subtitles: (1) Priorities
and limits of historical-anthropological in-
terpretation; (2) Linguistic, semiotic and
literary interpretation; (3) Religious inter-
pretation, (4) Final proposals.

Priorities and limits of historical-anthropological

interpretation
The short list, given above, of pioneering
researchers in the field of qur'anic studies
includes only orientalists. The choice to
exclude Muslim authors is, in itself, enough
to disqualify this study in the eyes of ortho-
dox believers (by which is not meant Mus-
lims in general since this generic name in-
cludes practising believers as well as the
many individuals who make claims upon a
culture, a sensitivity, a spirituality, in other
words an Islamic ethos without confining
their thought to the dogmatic enclosure of
a single orthodoxy). Mention will be made
of Islamic contribution to qur'anic studies
in the third part, though it is fitting to state
here that no arbitrary boundary has been
drawn. The epistemological criterion used
here is open to debate provided that the
essential distinction between the disposi-
tion of belief and that of critical reason
be respected. While no claim can be made
for the superiority of one over the other,
there are important differences separating
the two states of cognition in terms of
function, choice, aims, interests and results.
Furthermore, the confrontation between
these two attitudes and their respective

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

420

products is necessary for a fuller aware-
ness of the dimensions of cognition.

The criterion is as follows: The Quran as
an object of research is a collection of ini-
tially oral utterances put into writing in
historical conditions not yet elucidated.
These utterances were then elevated, by
the industry of generations of historical
figures, to the status of a sacred book
which preserves the transcendant word of
God and serves as ultimate and inevitable
point of reference for every act, every
form of behavior and every thought of the
faithful, who themselves are to be consid-
ered as communally interpreting this heri-
tage. In this framework of study, a number
of operative concepts and problems exist
and still await a sufficiently objective, well-
considered and inclusive elucidation so as
to appeal not only to the community of
reflective researchers but also to those be-
lievers who consider themselves practising
and orthodox Muslims. This is a crucial
point if one wants to overcome the arro-
gance of scientific reason which provides
believers with no opportunity to speak and
which interprets, cuts and pastes, catego-
rizes and judges without actually elucidat-
ing the mechanisms, the omnipresence, the
results and significance of belief for every
human person. The task of the reflective
researcher is to include in his or her field
of investigation and analysis all that is said,
experienced, constructed and emerges in-
side the dogmatic enclosure. To refuse to-
day to enter these laboratories, so full of
liveliness and significant events, which have
become the societies remade by so-called
religious revolutions, would deprive the
social sciences of essential data to renew
their theoretical positions and strategies
of intervention.

It will be seen later how the fact and
products of belief can be integrated into
such scholarship while also submitting it to
critical analysis of the most fruitful kind. In

a spirit of equity, it is necessary to mention
something of the still relevant achieve-
ments of orientalist scholarship. In Lectures
du Coran, this author has presented three
comparative tables which clarify the rela-
tions and differences between the Muslim
approach as synthesized by al-Suyuti in his
Itqanji 'ulum al-Qur'dn, the orientalist ap-
proach as summarized and followed by
A.T Welch (Kur'an) and the approach, still
in the process of elaboration, of the social
sciences which are themselves subject to
the ever evasive challenges of a compara-
tive history of religions, conceived and
written as an "anthropology of the past"
and an "archaeology of daily life" (G.
Duby J. Le Goff, A. Dupront). Although
not without problems, the theoretical proj-
ect proposed by this last category of ap-
proach ought not to be too hastily reduced.
For example, the synchronic linguistic ex-
ploration of qur'anic discourse, combined
with an anthropological analysis, has re-
cently been used in an excellent mono-
graph to be discussed later (Chabbi, Le sei-
gneur). This third approach is made possible
by the progress of the social sciences and
by the accumulative achievements of ori-
entalist scholarship.

The taboo that orthodoxy has always laid
on qur'anic studies was more easily lifted
during the period of historical-philological
positivism than it is today because the eu-
phoria of positivist reasoning was boosted
by colonial rule. Hence, the battle for a
critical edition of the text of the Qur'an,
including most notably a chronological
ranking of the suras (see chronology
and THE qjjr'an), is not as persistent as it
was in the period between T Noldeke and
R. Blachere. All the same, this initiative
has lost nothing of its scientific relevance
since it implies a more reliable historical
reading less dependent on suppositions, hy-
potheses and the quest for the plausible.
(Despite the trust she puts in her methods,

4-' i

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

J. Chabbi cannot avoid writing in the con-
ditional mood). Unless more incontrovert-
ible manuscripts related to the history of
the text are found, which is still possible, it
seems better to draw the conclusion that
an irreversible situation has been created
by the systematic destruction of precious
documents or by the lack of interest of
people today in all that has become essen-
tial for modern historical knowledge.

This field of research does not seem to
have broadened its horizons or inquiries, if
one is to judge by three collections of arti-
cles bearing carefully chosen signatures:
Approaches to the history of the interpretation of
the Qur'an, ed. Andrew Rippin, Approaches to
the Qur'an, ed. G.R. Hawting and Abdul-
Kader A. Shareef, and The Qur'an as text,
already cited above, the title of which does
not fulfill its promises, as its editor, S. Wild,
has admitted. The articles in each volume
seem to be limited to verifying the continu-
ity of historicist problematics, philological
procedures and peripheral curiosities. This
syndrome, clarified by J. van Ess, is appar-
ent in the work of the researchers who
contribute to these collections, each of
whom considers him or herself to be an
expert in a well-defined domain but who is
never a reflective researcher vis-a-vis an
object of knowledge that demands precise
intervention on all levels and manners of
production and propagation of meaning
and assumptions of meaning. This critique
can be addressed to those involved in the
collections under examination as well as to
other interpretations, including those
which circulate among the community
interpreting its heritage (la communaute
interpretante) .

The problem must be reiterated: We are
dealing with a corpus of which the pri-
mary constitutive function of its linguistic
articulation is to express the true meaning
of human existence — the objective, ideal,
intangible, insurmountable norms which

have to be strictly observed to keep this
existence in line with its true meaning. We
are also dealing with secondary corpuses
derived from the first, of which the linguis-
tic articulation has, in its long history, func-
tioned in a similar fashion (the yaqulu llahu
of the exegetes and of current discourse or
ja'afi l-hadith) to perpetuate, throughout
the long course of history, the illusion of a
lived continuity between the revealed
norms and meanings and the accumulated
interpretations and plans used by the living
tradition of the community of believers.
We are thus dealing with such an existen-
tial structure as translated into multiple,
developing existential realities. Is the re-
searcher permittted to sever systematically
knowledge of marginal facts from the cri-
tique of prophetic discourse as a discourse
of existentiation (the Arabic term, Tjdd, ren-
ders the causative function more explicit)
which gives shape, content and orientation
to the actual existence of the believers.
This is the problem toward which the re-
flective researcher directs his or her sights,
in reaction against the dominance of scho-
lastic reason which imposes its manner of
cutting and pasting the heritage, not on the
basis of an intellectual authority — which
would create a debt of meaning in its re-
gard, but by the mechanisms of academic
power which are intertwined with and de-
pendent on the political philosophy of
modern states, just as the clerics who cre-
ate and guard religious orthodoxies, were
enmeshed with these state powers before
the secular revolution.

The concepts introduced here as well as
those used previously are likely to alienate
quite a number of readers or even re-
searchers not familiar with the discourse
used in the social sciences and in a Chris-
tian theology attentive to the challenges of
the modern criticism of religious thought.
Doubtlessly in deference to these pio-
neering theologians, J. van Ess leaves to

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

4L>L2

Muslims the responsibility of accomplish-
ing the same theological tasks. There
remains, however, an objection to this
reticence on the epistemological and
gnoseological level: The advances of criti-
cal thought, as brought to light by the ex-
ample of their application to the Qur'an,
will certainly benefit from the conceptual-
ization of thought and thinking as a gen-
eral effort of the human spirit that can
push back against the limits encountered
by reductive critical analysis. In any event,
it is important to recall the distinct absence
of a prospective conceptual framework in
the most recent and best informed writings
on the Qur'an and the Islamic tradition.
It is appropriate to say something now
about J. Chabbi's contribution before ana-
lyzing it more fully later on. In brief, it is a
welcome example of historical analysis of
the Qur'an which illustrates the possibility
of crossing an epistemic and epistemolo-
gical threshold in the progress towards
the desired disposition of the reflective
researcher. The author traces the insur-
mountable boundary between the norma-
tive code of the professional historian and
the domain of the thought and knowledge
of the believer, while still incorporating
this methodologically separate domain into
the field of historical inquiry. The result is
real progress, not only in historical writing
as such, but first and foremost in the eluci-
dation of the linguistic and historical pro-
cesses which generated this belief. The
author works with a recognition that this
belief has become the inexhaustible source
and ever powerful force of all the com-
bined efforts and mental projections for
understanding an inaugural moment (mo-
ment inaugurateur) and its mythological,
ideological, semantic and semiotic ramifi-
cation and enlargement, as well as its intel-
lectual, institutional and artistic creations
which continue and become increasingly
complex. By using anthropological catego-

ries such as myth and social imagination,
the historian can, from the same critical
analytic perspective, gather the diverse
transformative dialectics reflected in the
Meccan utterances of the Qur'an, care-
fully restore them to their context, thus lib-
erating them from the overly determined
sense which subsequent religious readings
have projected onto them. As such, one
can retrace the inchoate manifestations of
a supra-tribal rationality and the formation
of a nascent conceptual framework, as
expressed in the linguistic usage, belief
and the account of the foundation of the
defined social group (nas, 'ashira, qavom) that
was meant to be the addressee. One can
see how this addressee gradually became
the dialectical protagonist and the involun-
tary agent of an historical transformation
which had been fought, refused and denied
in Mecca before imposing itself in Medina
through a doubly armed prophet who
added the weapon of revelatory speech to
that of military arms. The religious inter-
pretation of these events, which historians
and anthropologists seek to reconstruct by
archaeological investigation, was later
transformed into a conglomerate of actors
in a vast and long-lasting foundation
story — opponents in Mecca, helpers in
Medina (the kafirun, munafiqun, vs. the
mu'minun, muhajirun and ansar of orthodox
terminology; see opposition to Muham-
mad; EMIGRANTS AND HELPERS; HYPO-
CRITES AND hypocrisy) — which also re-
quires the same kind of archaeological
investigation to distinguish between his-
torical and sociological reality and the
subsequent mythical enlargment of the
religious imagination.

It is now becoming possible to see how
one might step out of the scientist rigidity
of the historical critical method which,
since the nineteenth century, has imposed
its judgments, chronological and thematic
categories, divisions of reality and objects

423

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

of study, etymologism and quest for origins
and relations of ideas and accounts onto
highly charged and creative contexts (e.g.
the reduction of the Qur'an to biblical and
Hebraic sources to the detriment of its lit-
erary and spiritual creativity which trans-
forms language and thought dynamically
under the twofold horizon of fundament-
ally Utopian thoughts and concrete action
meant to actualize these thoughts in his-
tory). Yet J. Chabbi is not entirely success-
ful in escaping all of these shortcomings
despite the fact that she criticizes them
sharply. For example, she was unsuccessful
in clarifying the anthroplogical problems,
like the tribal and political organization
often used as key references for her impres-
sionist interpretations, but not analyzed on
the level required by her ambitious theori-
zations. Even in this enhanced scholarly
environment, the philological concern is
still unavoidable, but it can now be en-
riched by the contribution of linguistics so
as to give place to the distinctive character-
istics of the oral announcement (I'enoncia-
tion orale) in relation to written accounts
(enonces ecrits) and to replace etymologism
by the reconstruction of semantic fields
and networks of language connotation.
This is done through patient microanalysis
which combines archaeological excavation
(see ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE QUR'an) with
vocabulary, ethno-linguistic inquiry and
ecological, sociological, cultural and politi-
cal recontextualization. All this must be at-
tained by using sources known for their
precariousness and insufficiency as well as
disguise, selection, transfiguration, subli-
mation, transcendentalization, essentializa-
tion, sacralization, mythologization and,
now today, gross ideologization. This is not
the place to specify the significance for the
historical method of this set of concepts,
intentionally grouped together, which are
often used to mark the substitution of a
principle of interpretation which is careful

to employ social dialectics and their effects
on the relation between language and
thought with a principle at once rigid, ig-
norant of these dialectics and with the ten-
dency to turn developing ideas, contingent
representations, the assumptions of truth,
precarious power relations and functional
or arbitrary categories into eternal es-
sences, intangible substances, ontological
and transcendent truths, and ethical and
juridical norms immune to every human
intervention.

The principle of interpretation for the
qur'anic text should be equally applied to
all sources with the same set of require-
ments: the hadith collections, the works of
exegesis, the biographical literature, the
expanding biblical-qur'anic imagination
in mystical experience, the IsraTliyyat, the
lives of the prophets, the integration myths
of symbolic founding figures, like Abra-
ham (q.v.) in the pantheon and Arab rituals
associated with the Ka'ba (q.v). These rich
sources can be reviewed and reinvested in
an archaeological excavation, now writ
large, where there is no question of quar-
reling over the sources or debating their
authenticity and the truth of positive facts
liberated from the superstitions of the
straightjacket of legends, popular stories
and the ramblings of a pious imagination.
This is what historicism has long done,
reinforced by dialectic materialism at a
time when Marxist rhetoric made its pre-
judice of rationality prevail in all domains
of knowledge. The great classical com-
mentators are no longer consulted — as
many orientalists have done and still con-
tinue to do — as reliable authorities in
clearing up the semantic contents of qur-
'anic vocabulary. All commentaries are
treated as corpuses which must be read
within the changing contexts of their pro-
duction, reception and reproduction.

It will be useful to elaborate on Chabbi's
monograph since it furnishes a relatively

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

424

convincing illustration of both the meth-
odological priority and the limits of the
historical-anthropological approach ap-
plied to a corpus which lays the foundation
of a religion. The limits are those which
the historian imposes on himself in decid-
ing when the work of scrutinizing and ex-
ploiting the documents is finished. One
can see clearly that, regarding the question
of contemporary critical practices and the
Qur'an, the historian is here caught within
an extreme tension between two different
attitudes of the human spirit: that of limit-
ing knowledge to theoretical and practical
pieces of information artificially con-
structed by scholarly disciplines or that of
recognizing the reliable and potentially
universal teaching of these disciplines
while also creating space for a policy of
hope, a concept that enables the integra-
tion of theological developments about the
history of salvation, the quest for salvation
and eschatological hope into historical psy-
chology and religious sociology.

To clarify: If the present resources of his-
torical inquiry are willing to concede, in
accordance with a scientifically acceptable
manner, that the Quran, when viewed in
the ecological, ethno-linguistic, sociological
and political theater of tribal life (see
tribes and clans) in Mecca and Medina
at the beginning of the seventh century
c.E., cannot but change its cognitive status,
a whole new field of work will be possible.
This raises the question of whether a histo-
rian can do justice to two clearly different
realms of cognition: 1) that of a Meccan
Qur'an restored to its concrete historical
and linguistic reality as distinct from the
Medinan corpus as well as from the univer-
sal corpus later imposed under the name of
mushaf (q.v.), and 2) that of this mushaf
which would be more aptly named the
Closed Official Corpus (see collection
OF THE Q_UR'An; CODICES OF THE Q_UR'an).
It is this later corpus that the interpreting

community has accepted and will continue
to accept for the foreseeable future as a
tanzil, a revealed given (donne rivele) that
abolishes — in interpretation and in experi-
ence, i.e. in the course of history — the sta-
tus of the corpus as unveiled by historians.

One cannot dodge this question by say-
ing that this later corpus is the concern of
believers because it is the historian who
uncovers the new status of belief to the
extent that his or her achievements as a
historian are recognized to be intellectually
compelling. A first answer would consist in
widening the same inquiry with the same
deconstructive procedure to the entire his-
tory of societies in which this revealed
given has been received, interpreted and
translated into ethical, juridical, political,
semantic, esthetic and spiritual codes. This
author has proposed the concept of societ-
ies of the book-Book (societes du Livre-livre),
including the Jewish and Christian exam-
ples, in order to integrate the revealed
given into the productive forces of the
history of these societies before it was dis-
qualified, marginalized and even elimi-
nated by scientific and political revolutions.
It is possible that the historian's refusal —
by leaving to the theologian and the philos-
opher a task lying within the scope of the
historian's responsibility — to enlarge the
working domain reflects a philosophical
commitment to the fait accompli of the
eighteenth century political revolutions in
Europe and America. This would explain
the difficulties of dialogue between histori-
ans, anthropologists, theologians and phi-
losophers on these delicate subjects. This
author has shown, with the example of the
work of C. Cahen, that historians have
until now not assumed the responsibilities
that ensue from a historical-anthropologi-
cal reading of the Meccan and Medinan
Qur'an (Arkoun, Transgresser, deplacer,
depasser, vaArabica 1996.1).

One should not forget that these battles

4A1

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

and debates take place within the historical
trajectory of European thought as it has
developed since the sixteenth century, i.e.
with the first challenges to the medieval
heritage by the Reformation and Renais-
sance. Within the Islamic context, these
questions are still suppressed and consid-
ered unimagineable. One can see the dis-
array in the human spirit wherever there
is a failure in the indispensable work, as-
signed to philosophy and anthropology, of
taking charge of the domains of thought
left in ruins by the social sciences which
limit themselves to working on divided
fragments of an undivided reality.

Linguistic, semiotic and literary interpretation
These approaches have produced far less
foundational or innovative work than the
historical approaches. Semiotics was in
fashion in France between i960 and 1980
with the support of A.J. Greimas and a
number of his disciples. A relatively small
number of doctoral theses on the Qur'an
have appeared in France during that pe-
riod, but it has not been possible to pub-
lish any of them in contrast with studies
on the Bible and the Gospels that have
abounded and been published. Linguistic
approaches to the Qur'an, especially in the
domain of discourse criticism, are not well
represented either, despite the fact that
studies of Arabic linguistic history have
flourished especially during the last twenty
years. One can see this paucity as clear
proof of an intellectual timidity, itself
nourished by the researcher's 'prudent'
reluctance to study the Muslim sacred
text. At the Sorbonne, many have pre-
ferred to renounce subjects which had
aroused their intellectual curiosity but
which also aroused their fears of rejection
in their countries of origin. Among the
few exceptions is C. Gilliot who has been
willing to work on the common Islamic
imagination as found in al-Tabari's (d.

310/923) commentary, although limiting
himself to the classical scholarly track in
which he continues to make substantial
contributions.

As for the literary approach, there is
nothing in qur'anic studies equivalent to
N. Frye (The great code), not to mention the
abundant research which has enriched and
renewed biblical studies. I have personally
planned to treat the use of the metaphor in
the Qur'an in order to correct an intolera-
ble shortcoming, one that has lasted since
the medieval battles over accepting or to-
tally rejecting the metaphorical dimension
in the interpretation of God's word. A
book by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 751/
1350), bearing the eloquent title, "Thunder
Bolts Sent in Refutation of the Sectarian
al-Jahmiyya and al-Mu ( attila" (al-Sawa'iq
al-mursalaji l-radd 'aid al-Jahmiyya wa-l-
Mu dttila), clearly sets out the stakes in the
debate over the theology of revelation. I
have not abandoned this rich project; but
the terrain left to be cleared is immense
and the few works available on this subject
are largely irrelevant. Muslims are them-
selves scandalised at hearing of this short-
coming and refer with pride to al-Baqillanl
(d. 403/1013), al-Jurjanl (d. 471/1078),
Fakhr al-Din al-RazT (d. 606/1210), al-
Sakkakl (d. 629/1231) and to the immense
i'jaz literature of which the apologetic di-
mension still weighs heavily on contempo-
rary works (e.g. Mustafa Sadiq al-Rafii,
Sayyid Qutb, Muhammad Shahrur).
These fail, however, to mention the current
hostility to metaphor and the fact that the
doctrine of the created Qur'an (see CRE-
atedness OF THE qur'an) has prevailed
since the fourteenth century. For this rea-
son, it is the literary approaches which
triumph today. Studies of Arabic rhetoric
and literary criticism are quick to scruti-
nize the positive and negative conse-
quences of the influence exerted by theo-
logical tenets on linguistic, semiotic and

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

426

literary approaches to the sacred text.
Among the positive results is the possibility
of enjoying, at one and the same time and
with the profound attention of an undiv-
ided conscience, the spiritual emotion,
ethical beauty and pleasure of the text,
whether read or recited. It is one of the
distinctive characteristics of prophetic dis-
course to bring together these three val-
ues — the true, the good and the beauti-
ful — in order to draw the human subject
more surely to the salvific Utopia. This is
exactly what Greek literature did before
the intervention and victory of Aristotelian
logocentrism. Additionally, there remains
the simple fact that the foundational texts
of religions never lose their initial status as
oral announcement. Thus do the faithful
identify with them through liturgical reci-
tation, ritual conduct and quotations in
current conversation (Graham, Beyond; see
recitation of the qur'an; ritual and the
q_ur'an; everyday life, the qjjr'an in).

It is therefore important to consider the
possibilities of literary criticism itself lest
religious discourse monopolize the meth-
ods and issues found in modern works. For
example, beyond prophetic discourse, what
status should be assigned to the immense
corpus left by a figure like Ibn al-'Arabl (d.
638/1240)? Religious and literary qualifica-
tions alone do not allow for an account of
the exceptional richness and dimensions of
such a written text, one for which the exact
status has yet to be defined.

How to take up these scientific chal-
lenges? It is not enough to denounce the
shortcomings of apology and the repres-
sion of innovation by the guardians of
orthodoxy. To take one case, Nasr Hamid
Abu Zayd, the first Muslim scholar to face
the Arabic world directly by writing in
Arabic while teaching at Cairo University,
tried to break the many taboos which pro-
hibit the application of the most relevant
achievements of contemporary linguistics

to the Qur'an. Before him, Muhammad
Khalafallah tried to apply literary criticism
to narrative in the Qur'an, and in spite of
its modest scientific span, his essay caused
a major upheaval. The works of Abu Zayd
contain nothing revolutionary if one places
them within the scholarly production of the
last twenty years, since they explain quite
straightforwardly the conditions necessary
for applying the rules of defining and ana-
lysing a text to the Qur'an (Mafhum al-nass).
Once more, the violent reaction to attempts
intending only to popularize knowledge
long since widely accepted, underlines the
area in contemporary Islamic thought of
what cannot be and has not been thought.

The religious interpretation
The concept of an interpreting community
leads to a wide range of possibilities for the
use of speech that has become text and of
a text that was laid down in the Closed
Official Corpus but which is still invoked
and experienced as speech. The range runs
the gamut from the most learned exegesis
to daily liturgical recitation and the sponta-
neous quoting of the text in current con-
versation, in controversy or at joyful or
somber events. Qur'anic studies has been
chiefly interested in scholarly exegetical
readings that offer historical information,
cultural insights or grammatical and lexi-
cal explanations which could enrich the
understanding of the text as given in the
Closed Official Corpus. Insufficient ac-
count has been taken of the cognitive sta-
tus of the many other religious approaches
to the text as these are interpreted by and
for the community. There are two major
reasons for this: Firstly, all approaches and
all appropriations are confined within a
dogmatic enclosure; secondly, the great
commentaries which were given authoriza-
tion over the historical development of the
living tradition function as orthodox cor-
puses of interpretation.

4^7

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

Not only are believing Muslims impris-
oned in this dogmatic enclosure, orientalist
scholarship has also long contented itself
with transferring to European languages
the exegetical orthodoxy of the dominant
Sunn! Islam before doing the same with
Shi'i Islam (and that at a time when politi-
cal events enabled political scientists to dis-
pute the supremacy of expertise claimed
by scholars of Islam). Those, for example,
who attempted to tackle the question of
the authenticity of the prophetic tradition
have instead used this material to prop up
artificially constructed historical argu-
mentation. In so doing, they are careful to
protect their scholarly status with certain
rhetorical techniques: "according to Mus-
lim tradition," "according to Muslim
faith," etc., and thus does the dogmatic
enclosure remain untouched and free to
operate without restraint.

The term "dogmatic enclosure" applies
to the totality of the articles of faith, repre-
sentations, tenets and themes which allow
a system of belief and unbelief (q.v.) to
operate freely without any competing ac-
tion from inside or outside. A strategy of
refusal, consisting of an arsenal of discur-
sive constraints and procedures, permits
the protection and, if necessary, the mobi-
lization of what is presumptuously called
faith (q.v.). It is well known how scrupu-
lously the profession of faith ('aqida, see
creeds) is translated and described, but no
green light has ever been given to a decon-
struction of the axioms, tenets and themes
that hold together and establish the adven-
turous cohesion of every faith. The point is
not to demonstrate the scientific validity
or the irrationality of the articles of faith
but rather to trace their genealogy from
Nietzsche's perspective of the criticism of
values as well as their psychological func-
tions and decisive role in the construction
and formation of every human subject.
All this is a matter for historical psychol-

ogy with its curiosity and inquiry which
has, as previously mentioned, not yet been
integrated into historical-anthropological
methodology. A realization of this direc-
tion of research is greatly to be desired
and could proceed by exploring the shared
Islamic imagination as represented in the
great corpuses of interpretation such as
those of al-Tabarl, Fakhr al-Dln al-RazI,
Muhammad al-Tahir Ben Ashfir (d. 1867),
and Muhammad Husayn T a bataba'i
(d. 1980) amongst others. As long as faith
and spirituality are the object of simple
narrative and descriptive accounts — be it
with the agnostic's cold distance (in the
style of H. Laoust) or with the warm and
exhorting empathy of the believer (in the
style of J. Jomier or Kenneth Cragg) —
qur'anic studies and, more generally, the
comparative history of religions will be
unable to achieve the exhaustiveness and
relevance expected of them.

The religious interpretation as applied to
foundational texts is also the place where
creativity of meaning, assumptions of
meaning, representations and mythological
or ideological construction emerge and
erupt in accordance with the cultural con-
texts of different social groups. This is
equally true for medieval approaches now
considerd sacred and treated as obligatory
classical reference works as well as for con-
temporary approaches. The functional re-
lation between the Closed Official Corpus
(including the hadith collections), pro-
moted to the rank of primordial founda-
tional text, and the corpuses of interpreta-
tion to which the Closed Official Corpus
gives rise remains the same whether these
be religious corpuses, as in the societies of
the book-Book, or secular corpuses, or
those of modern political revolutions. The
latter two categories, however, benefit from
historical clarity and from tools of analy-
sis which exclude any possibility of resort-
ing explicitly, as does the first category, to

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

mystery, the supernatural, transcendence
and the miraculous, where the operation of
sacralization, mythification, sublimation,
transfiguration, ontologization and even
mystification rests. Still, the historian has
to determine the various forms of reason
used (grammatical, theological, juridical,
historiographical or philosophical reason)
as well as the kind of rationality, imagina-
tion and modes of intervention and cre-
ative imagination, recognizing their diver-
sity in figures such as al-Hallaj (d. 309/
922), al-Tawhidi (d. 414/1023), Ibn al-
'Arabl (d. 638/1240), Mulla Sadra ShlrazI
(d. 1050/1604), Sayyid Qiitb (d. 1966), etc.
It is now possible to see in what way the
integration of religious interpretation into
the enlarged domain of the historian can
enrich historical knowledge while also re-
stricting speculative criticism of religious
reason that, as demonstrated here, is only a
modality of the reason of belief. At the
same time, it has been shown that the vari-
ous kinds of interpretation discussed here
lead to the same acknowledgment, namely
that the progress of qur'anic studies has
depended on the orientalist scholarship of
the nineteenth century. (The term scholar-
ship is used to underscore the orientalists'
refusal to commit epistemologically their
accumulated knowledge to a criticism of
religious reason that would include all
known examples in the societies of the
book-Book). The refusal of the historian,
anthropologist, sociologist, psychologist,
literary critic and semiotician to identify
and answer the challenges of prophetic
discourse and the logical universe it gener-
ates, will lead finally to the degeneration of
these disciplines themselves. As for Muslim
scholarship, it continues to inflict upon it-
self limitations, mutilations and prohibi-
tions that only accentuate the dependency
and backwardness of qur'anic studies.
What it has produced since the nineteenth
century has more of a documentary inter-

est for a history of religious psychology
and the enlargement of the imagination
of religious discourse, especially in the
domain of politics, than any intellectual
and scientific merit which could enrich our
knowledge of the qur'anic event and of the
Islamic event and, beyond those, of the re-
ligious event in general. The recently pub-
lished volume by Muhammad Shahrur,
"The Book and the Qur'an" (al-Kitdb wa-l-
Qur'an), has had a success that bears wit-
ness to both the intolerable pressure of
dogmatic control on qur'anic studies and
the limits within which every discourse
with hopes of innovation must be pursued.

Final proposals
The project of publishing an Encyclopaedia
of the Qur'an that is conceived and realized
with respect for the critical order of ra-
tional processes is long overdue. This delay
confirms this article's position on the his-
torical and epistemological discrepancy be-
tween philosophic and scientific reason, as
practiced today in the West and elsewhere,
and Islamic reason as it asserts itself in its
positions on Islam as well as in political
action, legal codes, educational systems
and behaviors which encourage the tradi-
tional. As long as the Islamic logical uni-
verse continues to function within the
dogmatic enclosure of its historical form
as received since the thirteenth and four-
teenth centuries, there will be a place for a
parallel Islamic encyclopedia of Islam and,
all the more, an Islamic encylopedia of the
Qur'an. The Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an
constitutes a basis of data that will un-
doubtedly, like every work of scholarship,
be subject to discussions, additions and
revisions. It will, however, be impossible
to ignore, particularly by people who pur-
sue the cognitive project of understanding
the religious event in a universal way.

To sustain this project within that per-
spective, it would be helpful to conclude

429

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

with the following proposals: It is necessary
to open up the qur'anic fact by situating it
in a comparative approach not only within
the three monotheistic religions but also
within a historical anthropology of the reli-
gious event in its geo-historical and geo-
cultural ambiance that can, for the time
being, be qualified as Mediterranean. The
historical phase of what historians explore
under the name of the Near East should
always be kept in sight, although not in
order to rediscover so-called origins or to
reconstruct linear relations of ideas, repre-
sentations, linguistic forms and rituals of
expression. The aim should be to deepen
our knowledge of constituent elements
common to the monotheistic religious con-
science in its global historical genesis and
manner of differentiation. This should
include attention to inaugural moments
and new departures from cultural codes
that engender logical universes, dogmatic
enclosures, societies of the book-Book and
communities of election who have been
promised salvation in contrast to anony-
mous groups destined to stray and be
damned. In brief, it is a matter of deepen-
ing our knowledge of all these historical
formations that the ethnographic view
imprisons in so-called identities and en-
closes in alleged regions, traditions and
cultures.

The concept of the Closed Official
Corpus provides a good example of the
comparative approach that will enable
Muslim readers of the Encyclopaedia of the
Qur'an to better assess the stakes in a scien-
tific problematization of the orthodox
vocabulary inherited from a theological
theory of values resistant to every critical
examination. The Jewish and Christian
traditions have similarly had a before and
an after to what has been called the fait
accompli of the Closed Official Corpus.
Christians today are willing to read the
apocryphal writings left out by the church

between the fourth and the sixteenth cen-
turies (cf. their publication in the Pleiade
series by F. Bovon and P. Geoltrain). The
results have not functioned in the same
way before and after the triumph of a
Closed Official Corpus in each tradition:
Scholarly research without the burden of
dogma creates more favorable conditions
for historical re-readings of the texts that
have been selected as sacred and thus un-
touchable. One can therefore understand
why the concept of a Closed Official Cor-
pus is more effective for a comparative his-
tory of the religious event in its prophetic
trajectory.

Two more gaps are left that must be men-
tioned: The theological and philosophical
attitudes of reason in the so-called societies
of the book-Book should be the object of
the same comparative historical approach
within the perspective of a critical histori-
cal epistemology Tackling such a task re-
quires constant vigilance, not only to check
the use of all conceptual frameworks which
have been protected from the critique of
deconstructionism but also to introduce
and refine more inclusive concepts which
are more productive from the perspective
of a critique of religious reason beginning
with its formulation by Jews, Christians
and Muslims.

In that which concerns the Qur'an more
directly, it is clear that what is called for
here is a protocol of interpretation that is
free from both the dogmatic orthodox
framework and the procedural disciplines
of modern scientism which is, it must be
admitted, no less constraining. It is an in-
terpretation which wanders, in which every
human, Muslim or non-Muslim, gives free
rein to his or her own dynamic of associat-
ing ideas and representations, beginning
from the freely chosen interpretation of a
corpus of which the often imputed disor-
der, so often denounced, favors the free-
dom to wander. This approach is able to

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

430

extricate itself definitively from every kind
of arbitrary rhetoric, artificial and allegedly
logical reconstruction, and delusive coher-
ence later imposed by juridical, theologi-
cal, apologetic, ideological and fantastic
interpretations. One potential model here
is, of course, the creative freedom of the
likes of Ibn al-'Arabl; but now the desired
freedom is more subversive since it would
include all forms and experiences of sub-
version that were ever attempted by mys-
tics, poets, thinkers and artists.

M. Arkoun

Bibliography
The titles included in the text demonstrate more
attention to the publications of the human and
social sciences than to the literature of Islamic
studies which I do not neglect, but which I
consider to be known by the readers of this
encyclopaedia. It is impossible to give here an
ample and fully annotated bibliography of
qur'anic studies from the perspectives herein
formulated. It would be necessary to include in
such a list publications in Islamic languages,
notably Arabic, Persian and Turkish. The
programme of which I have just given a too
brief overview will be more clearly defined
and duly illustrated in my forthcoming Lecture
de la sourate 9. It will also be noted that I have
not evoked the essential contribution of J.
Wansbrough. Discussions on his revolutionary
positions have recently been relaunched in a
rather redundant and all too brief fashion
(see H. Berg, Islamic origins reconsidered).
Wansbrough 's scientific intervention finds its
place in the framework I propose. It gives
priority to methods of literary criticism which,
like the historical-anthropological reading, lead
to questions left to other disciplines and a level
of reflection unimagineable in the current
fundamentalist context. Within this context I
would like to specify references briefly indicated
in the text or which seem to me essential to the
production of new works free from all the
constraints of outdated knowledge or from
condescending attitudes towards beliefs
arbitrarily sacralized.

Primary: M. Ben Ashur, Tafsir al-tahrir wa-l-
tanwir, vols. 1-30, Tunis 1984 (this commentary, as
well as those published since the nineteenth
century — e.g. those of TabatabaT and Sayyid
Qiitub — should be presented as contemporary,

not modern if by modern is meant the

critical-historical framework of analysis and
interpretation. It is easy to show that all of them
depend on the classical exegesis more than on
the modern approaches to religion as proposed
by the social sciences. A good example of this
epistemological posture which I support is given
in the two following titles by P. Gisel. See also my
essay, From inter-religious dialogue to the
recognition of the religious phenomenon); Ibn
Qayyim al-Jawziyya, al-Sawa'iq al-mursala fi l-radd
'aid al-Jahmiyya wa-l-Mu'attila, Cairo 1380/1960-1;
Qutb, %ildl; SuyutT, Itqan; M.H. TabatabaT, al-
Mizdnji tafsir al-Qur'dn, 20 vols., Beirut 1971 2 .
Secondary: M. Arkoun, Les sciences societies au defi
de 'Vislam, " Paris 1998 3 ; id., Lectures (a third
edition is in preparation under the title Critical
introduction to Qitr'anic studies, part of a larger
project presented since 1984 in the first edition
of Pour une critique de la raison islamique. New
additions to this project are presented in the
following volumes: Qaddydfi naqd al- l aql al-dim.
Kayfa najham al-islam al-yawm, Beirut 1998; al-Fikr
al-usulT wa-istihalat al-ta'sil, Beirut 1999; The
unthought in contemporary Islamic thought, London
2000, forthcoming; Combats pour Vhumanisme en
contextes islamiques, Paris 2000, forthcoming; Penser
Vislam aujourd'hui, Paris 2000; id., Lecture de la
sourate g, forthcoming; M. Ayoub, The Qur'an and
its interpreters, New York, vol. 1, 1984; vol. 2, 1992
(other volumes are in preparation; this work has
the merit of presenting Sunn! and Shl'l
commentary in the same volume, since a
comparative study of both lines would shed
light on the basic episteme underlying the
hermeneutic activity in Islamic thought and
would help introduce the study of the shared
Islamic imagination); Meir M. Bar-Asher,
Scripture and exegesis in early Imaini ShT'ism, Leiden
1999; H. Berg (ed.), Islamic origins reconsidered,
special issue of Method and theory in the study oj
religion, 9.1 (1997); id., The development of exegesis in
early Islam, Richmond/Surrey 2000; I. Boullata
(ed.), Literary structures of religious meaning in the
Qur'an, Richmond/Surrey 2000; P. Bourdieu,
Meditations pascaliennes, Paris 1997; F. Bowie, The
antliopology of religion, Oxford 2000; J. Chabbi, Le
seigneur des tribus. L' I slam de Mahomet, Paris 1997;
J. van Ess, Verbal inspiration? Language and
revelation in classical Islamic theology, in Wild,
Text, 180-1; id., to; N. Frye, The great code. The
Bible and literature, New York 1982; P. Gisel, La
theo logic face aux sciences religieuses, Geneva 1999; id.
and P. Evrard (eds.), La theologie en postmodernile,
Geneva 1996; Graham, Beyond; G.R. Hawting,
The idea oj idolatry and the emergence of Islam.. From,
polemic to history, Cambridge 1999; id. and Shareef
(eds.), Approaches; M. Lecker, Muslims, Jews and

43i

CONTRACTS AND ALLIANCES

pagans. Studies on early Islamic Medina, Leiden,
1995 (an excellent monograph making the step
towards a critical biography of the prophet
Muhammad in line with the methodology of the
recent book of J. Le Goff, Saint Louis, Paris 1995);
J.F. Lyotard, Uenthousiasme. La critique kantienne de
Vhistoire, Paris 1986; G. Makdisi, Ibn 'AqTl. Religion
and culture in classical Islam, Edinburgh 1997;
Rippin, Approaches; id. (ed.), The Qur'an. Formative
interpretation, Brookfield (Vermont) 1999; N.
Robinson, Discovering the Quran. A contemporary
approach to a veiled text, London 1996; G Salame,
Des democraties sans democrates, Paris 1994; M.
Sharur, al-Kitab wa-l-Qi/r ! dn, Damascus 1990;
Wansbrough, os; G. Versteegh, Arabic grammar
and qur'dnic exegesis in early Islam; A.T. Welch,
al-K'ur'an, in El 2 , v, 400-29; Wild, Text.

Contracts and Alliances

Contract, a unilateral or bilateral agree-
ment or promise to do or not to do a thing
or a set of things; alliance, a relationship of
solidarity and support to preserve and fur-
ther the common interests of those partici-
pating in the relationship.

The concepts of a strictly legal contract
or political alliance are not well articulated
in the Qur'an. That of a contract ('aqd)
in the sense of a covenant ('ahd, see cove-
nant) between God and man does, how-
ever, appear frequently The word 'ahd
seems at times to be a virtual synonym of
'aqd although the latter connotes more
than the former a sense of bilateralism
(q_ 17:34). The use of 'ahd in the Qur'an
varies. In some passages it connotes a
self-initiated commitment (as in o 16:91)
while in others it expresses a commitment
of man toward God but a commitment
imposed by God and accepted by man
(as in Q_ 48:10). The commentators dis-
agree as to the meaning of 'ahd, some ar-
guing that it is God's commandment (see
commandments) to his creation (q.v.) to
live by the laws he revealed to them
through his prophets and books (see book;
prophets and prophethood). Failing to

live by the law constitutes a breach of this
commandment.

Other commentators advance a more
limited definition of the term. The scope
of 'ahd, they maintain, is confined to the
People of the Book (q.v). They breached it
by rejecting Muhammad and his message
after having agreed to follow him once he
appeared. According to a third group of
commentators, apparently spearheaded by
al-Zamakhsharl (d. 538/1144), 'ahd is the
proof (q.v.) or set of proofs in favor of mo-
notheism, proofs which God had im-
planted in the minds of disbelievers in the
form of a commitment on their part, a
commandment by which they should live.

In the majority of instances, the term 'ahd
is used with a negative tenor, in the sense
of breaching the commitment to God, a
commitment of a binding nature that was
also signified by the term mlthdq (o_ 2:63;
4:90; see children of Israel). The pre-
servation or abandonment of the 'ahd de-
marcates the boundaries between belief
and heresy, between believer (mu 'min) and
disbeliever {kafir,Jasiq, cf. o_ 2:27-8, 100;
7:102; 33:23; see belief and unbelief). The
term also occurs in the sense of an alliance
or a treaty between Muhammad and one
group or another of his contemporaries,
such as the Meccan polytheists (see poly-
theism and atheism) and the People of the
Book. o_ 9:1 declares: "Freedom of obliga-
tion is proclaimed from God and his Mes-
senger toward those of the idolaters with
whom you made an alliance (or treaty)"
(see also Q_ 9:7; 8:56; see idolatry and
idolaters). In other instances, 'ahd signifies
personal commitment, such as in Q_ 17:34,
"Come not near the wealth of the orphan
(see orphans) save with that which is better
till he come to strength; and keep the com-
mitment ('ahd) for to the commitment [is
attached] a responsibility."

The notion of alliance is preeminently
expressed by the derivatives of the root

CONTRACTS AND ALLIANCES

43^

w-l-y, especially the noun wall which ap-
pears in the Qur'an over 85 times. It seems
that in pre-Islamic Arabia, wala' (aho
known as hilf) represented a relationship
of mutual support between two tribes or
between particular individuals belonging
to two tribes (see tribes and clans; pre-

ISLAMIC ARABIA AND THE QUR'an). It also
represented the admission of individuals
into a clan or a tribe through an agreement
with one of its members or with the tribe
as a collectivity. The strength of such a re-
lationship is reflected in the fact that once
wala' is concluded the individuals on both
sides would acquire equal rights, would
inherit from each other and would be
bound by the same set of obligations.
From this perspective then wala' creates
relationships that are equal in force to
blood relationships (see kinship; clients
and clientage). But the term «Jfl/i"may
designate a variety of relationships that
include a more basic form of loyalty and
support, relationships whose precise nature
is not entirely clear. It is fair to say, how-
ever, that the relationship of wala' is nearly
always understood to entail support. In
numerous qur'anic verses, the term wall
appears conjoined with the word nasir, an
ally, supporter or one aiding in achieving
victory (ft 4:45, 75, 89, 123, 173; 33:17, 65).
A term that does not appear in the Qur-
an but which denoted significant rela-
tionships of tribal alliance was hilf, a com-
pact into which various related and
unrelated clans entered. The purpose of
such alliances was to establish permanent
peace among these clans, to unite them in
war against common enemies, to consoli-
date their wealth (q.v.) to pay for blood
money (q.v.; see also retaliation), to share
pasturage, etc. Since these alliances
strengthened tribal structures, which did
not serve the cause of the new religion, the
Prophet condemned them with his famous
declaration: "There is no hilf in Islam."

In the Qur'an, God is the true and, ulti-
mately, only ally (wall) of the believers;
those who swerve from the path of belief
(see astray), especially apostates (see
apostasy), are left without such an ally
(q_ 2:107; 9:74; 41:31)- "And they have no
protecting allies fawlijia') to help them in-
stead of God" (q_ 42:46); "Besides God
you have no protecting ally or supporter"
(q_ 2:107; 42:31). Entering into alliance with
the People of the Book or with the Arab
polytheists is considered particularly repre-
hensible, if not absolutely forbidden: "Do
not take them as allies till they migrate in
the path of God" (o 4:89; see path or way
[of god]); "O you who believe, choose not
disbelievers for allies in place of believers"
((J 4:144); "O you who believe, take not the
Jews and Christians for allies. They are
allies of each other. He amongst you who
takes them for allies is one of them" (5:51).

As mentioned earlier, the term 'a/id was
considered virtually synonymous with 'aqd,
a word expressing notions of contractual
obligation. The latter term makes an ap-
pearance only once in the Qur'an (q_ 5:1),
in the plural form 'uqud. The form 'uqda
(lit. "knot"), however, in conjunction with
the word nikdh appears twice in the sense of
marriage contract (see marriage and
divorce). Likewise, the verb 'aqada, again
used in the context of marriage, occurs
twice.

The most general precept regarding obli-
gations or contracts occurs in Q_ 5:1: "O
you who believe, fulfill your contracts
f'uqud)." The term, Ibn Manzur reports
(Lisdn al-'Arab, iii, 296-300, 311-5), was
taken by some scholars to refer generally to
'uhud (pi. of 'ahd). Others understood it to
connote the religious obligations imposed
upon the believers. In commenting on this
verse, al-Zajjaj (d. 311/923) construes it to
have a double meaning; namely, the obli-
gations that God imposed upon Muslims
and those which Muslims imposed upon

433

CONTRACTS AND ALLIANCES

each other as elements of juridical con-
tractual transactions. Thus, accordingly,
the qur'anic use of the root '-q-d connotes
both unilateral and bilateral obligations.
When unilateral, they emanate from God
and are directed toward Muslims; when
bilateral, they are of human construction,
although the principles upon which they
are constructed are dictated by religion.

On the basis of Q_ 2:282, the Quran
was interpreted as having enjoined the
writing down of obligations. This particu-
lar verse, however, pertains to the record-
ing and attestation of debts (q.v.). It reads
as follows:

O you who believe, when you contract a
debt for a fixed term, record it in writing.
Let a scribe record it in writing between
you in (terms of) equity. No scribe should
refuse to write as God had taught him, so
let him write, and let him who incurred the
debt dictate, and let him observe his duty
to God his Lord, and diminish not thereof.
But if he who owes the debt is of low un-
derstanding, or weak, or unable himself to
dictate, then let the guardian of his inter-
ests dictate in [terms of] equity. And call to
witness, from among your men, two wit-
nesses. And if two men be not [available]
then one man and two women, of such as
you approve as witnesses, so that if one
[woman] errs [through forgetfulness] , the
other will remember. And the witnesses
shall not refuse when they are summoned
(see WITNESSING AND TESTIFYING). Be not
averse to writing down [the contract]
whether it be small or great, with [record
of] the term thereof. That is more equita-
ble in the sight of God and more sure for
testimony, and the best way of avoiding
doubt between you; save only in the case
when it is actual merchandise which you
transfer among yourselves from hand to
hand. In that case, it is no sin for you if
you do not write it down. And have wit-

nesses when you sell one to another, and let
no harm be done to scribe or witness. If
you do them harm, lo! It is a sin in you (see
WRITING AND WRITING MATERIALS; SIN
AND CRIME).

Despite the relative detail of this verse and
the clarity of the prescription to write
down contracts, Islamic law neither recog-
nized the validity of written instruments
nor elaborated a general, comprehensive
theory of contracts and obligations. To be
valid, it was required that an instrument be
attested by witnesses. Thus it is by virtue of
testimonial attestation that an instrument
acquires validity. The fact of its being a
written instrument did not, as a rule, be-
stow on it any validity. The Qur'anic in-
junction to reduce contracts to writing re-
flected the legal practices of the Near
East, both to the north and to the south of
Mecca (q.v.) and Medina (q.v.). Why Is-
lamic law — which developed primarily in
the Fertile Crescent, Egypt and the
Hijaz — broke away from this practice,
even at the expense of ignoring a qur'anic
prescription, remains largely a mystery.

In classical and medieval Islamic law, sev-
eral types of contract were recognized.
The most common source of contractual
obligations was primarily the 'aqd in mat-
ters of pecuniary transactions. More spe-
cifically, the contract of sale (bay', see
selling AND buying) formed not only the
archetype of contractual theory but also
constituted the core of legal obligations.
Commutative and other types of contracts
stand on their own though they are none-
theless constructed on the contractual
model of sale which otherwise includes
barter and exchange. In the sale contract,
strictly defined, the object sold is distin-
guished from the price and the value. And
being bilateral, a contract requires offer
(ijab) and acceptance (qabul), both taking
place in the same session in the presence

CONTRACTS AND ALLIANCES

434

of the contracting parties. It was generally
required that offer and acceptance be ex-
pressly stated although the Maliki school
did fully recognize implied-in-fact con-
tracts. The Quran itself does not explicitly
enjoin express offer and acceptance but it
does acknowledge that the basis of con-
tractual validity is mutual assent (p_ 4:29).

Islamic law recognizes the right to resci-
sion which is a unilateral right to cancel or
ratify a contract of sale. The buyer has the
right to rescind the contract at the time
when he inspects the object purchased.
The right to rescision arises if there is a
defect in the object of sale. Deficiency is
taken to be a cause for the reduction of the
value and thus the price of the object, and
reduction in price upsets the terms of the
contract. This right, however, lapses if not
exercised within a certain time limitation.
And once it lapses, the sale would be con-
sidered complete and thus irrevocable.
Similarly, once the time limitation on resci-
sion has expired, it is assumed that the re-
ciprocal taking of possession has gone into
effect.

In addition to the narrowly defined con-
tract of sale, Islamic law recognized a
variety of other types of contracts. A spe-
cial type was the salam which entailed the
ordering of goods to be delivered later (as-
suming usually that they are custom-made)
for a payment made immediately. Placing
an order for a ship to be built, for instance,
fell into this category. But because of the
disparity between the time of payment and
the delivery of goods, this type of contract
came close to violating the prohibition on
usury (riba, see usury). So did another, sim-
ilar type of contract known as nasi'a where-
by goods are delivered immediately for a
delayed payment.

An important type of contract is that of
hire and lease which involves the sale of a
usufruct. Two types of hire are distin-
guished, one for a period of time, the other

to carry out a specific task. Marriage is also
a type of contract under Islamic law and as
such it involves offer, acceptance and the
payment of a price, technically known as
dower (inah; see bridewealth). The bride-
groom concludes the contract with the le-
gal guardian (wall) of the bride before two
male witnesses or one man and two
women. The wall is the nearest male rela-
tive, usually the father or older brother.
The element of price in this contract is
constituted by the dower which he pays to
the bride instead of her guardian.

In the wake of the so-called legal reforms
during the nineteenth and twentieth centu-
ries, the law of obligations underwent vari-
ous degrees of change, depending on the
individual Muslim country in question.
The most fundamental change occurred
first in Egypt in 1949, when the Egyptian
Civil Code became law through the efforts
of 'Abd al-Razzaq al-Sanhuri. This code
became in many important respects the
model for the Syrian, Lebanese, Kuwaiti
and Libyan reforms. With its appearance, a
comprehensive and integrated text of legal
obligations replaced the medieval law
manuals, which lacked a unified theory of
contracts. Furthermore, formal matters of
wording and syntax, important in the me-
dieval context, now become marginal if
not obsolete. See also LAW AND THE qur'an;
BREAKING TRUSTS AND CONTRACTS.

Wael B. Hallaq

Bibliography
Primary: al-Halabl, Muhammad b. Ibrahim,
Multaqa al-abhur, ed. Wahbl al-Alba.nl, 2 vols.,
Beirut 1989, i, 2371".; ii, 5-67, 157-69, 210-14; Ibn
Kathlr, Tafsir; NawawT, Tashih al-tanbih, 3 vols.,
Beirut 1996, iii, 85-94, 109-10, 177-92, 265-73;
al-Qaffal, M. al-Shashl, Hilyat al-'ulama 'fi ma'rifat
madhahib al-fuqaha\ 8 vols., Mecca 1988, iv, 5-402.
Secondary: Ch. Chehata, Essai d'une theorie
generate de ['obligation en droit musulman. i. Les sujets
de ['obligation, avec une bibliographie, une methodologie
et un tableau general de la theorie de Vobligation en droit

435

CONVERSION

hanejite, Cairo 1936; W.B. Hallaq, The use and
abuse of evidence: The question of provincial
and Roman influences on early Islamic law, in
JAOS no (1989), 79-91; repr. in W. Hallaq, Law
and legal theory in classical and medieval Islam,
Aldershot/Hampshire 1995, ch. 9; J. Schacht,
An introduction to Islamic law, Oxford 1964, 144-61;
E. Tyan, Hilf, in El", iii, 388-9.

Conversion

Spiritual and moral transformation at-
tended by a sincere change of belief. The
concept of conversion is represented in the
Qur'an by a group of teachings which to-
gether stress the importance of admitting
God's lordship, accepting the guidance he
gives, following the way he has established
and conforming to his will (see belief
and unbelief; lord; obedience; islam). It
is essentially a matter of reverting to a
norm perceptible to all and to which one is
able to conform by one's own efforts. The
initiative for the movement of restoration
lies with God, though humankind has the
ability to comply or not (see freedom and
predestination).

God has created all things primarily so
that they should serve and worship (q.v.)
him (e.g. Q_ 6:102; 16:48-50; 21:19-20; 64:1;
see creation; servant). Among them are
humankind (p_ 51:56) whose vocation is to
seek God's help (c) 1:5) and thank him for
the good he gives. But humans are weak
and contentious (q_ 2:30; 4:28; 16:4; see
bloodshed; corruption) even though
God has given them intelligence (o_ 55:4),
and they allow themselves to be seduced
from their proper relationship with him
(q_ 20:121; 82:6-7; see disobedience;
gratitude and ingratitude). It is this fal-
libility that causes a slip from their true
nature (o 30:30; see fall of man) and
which God in his mercy (q.v.) seeks to
restore.

One of the commonest terms in the

Qur'an by which the notion of this resto-
ration is expressed is guidance, huda. It
springs from the idea that the fundamental
relationship entails that humans follow
where God leads and in so doing fulfill
their existence. But the term has rather
more nuanced meanings than this basic
depiction suggests. On the one hand, the
Qur'an makes clear that God's guidance
enlightens (o_ 24:35) and directs to the path
of right action (q 10:25) and that he pro-
vides signs (q.v.) to help along the way
(q_ 3:103). But this guidance is not made
available to everyone. For on the other
hand, some have fallen into error (q.v.;
Q_ 7:30; 16:36) or even been cast aside by
God (o_ 4:88) and purposely willed by him
to stray (q_ 7:155; 7:178; see astray). Exactly
why this should be is part of the divine
mystery, for only God can give guidance
(q_ 7:43) and no one else, not even the
Prophet (o_ 2:272; 4:88; 28:56). A partial
explanation, however, is provided by sug-
gestions that humans have a crucial part to
play for themselves, for God could have
willed to guide all (cj 6:149; 13:31; 32:13)
and he guides those who turn to him
(o_ 5:16; 13:27; 42:13). This is amplified by
indications that he gives guidance to those
who are already seeking it, alladhina htadaw
hudan (q_ 19:76; cf. 47:17) and guides those
who believe (o 2:4-5).

The relationship between belief and
guidance is made yet more explicit in refer-
ences to those who have made a choice.
God has shown the way to the grateful and
the ungrateful (cs 76:3); however, he only
guides those who believe (o_ 64:11; 2:264).
Believers who turn away from their belief
can only be left to the consequences of
their choice (o_ 3:86; see fate; destiny).
Here the Qur'an seems to suggest a subtle
interplay between God's unbounded will to
guide and the human ability to accept or
reject. While humans are not left entirely
to decide for themselves — because God's

CONVERSION

436

will is not to be resisted — the relationship
does involve a measure of freedom, with
the result that God's guidance is occasion-
ally identifiable as forgiveness (q.v.) offered
in order to bring back his willful creature
to his way (q_ 20:122-3).

This is the kind of awareness that is
shown by Abu Hamid al-Ghaza.li (d. 505/
mi) who tries to explain his recovery from
the debilitating skepticism (see uncer-
tainty) which struck him when he taught
in Baghdad. Quoting Q_ 6:125, he relates
that after a time God put light into his
heart (q.v.) to give him clearer insights than
he had obtained himself by the deductive
methods that he had previously employed,
implying that whereas his own faculties
had led him into error, he was brought
back to the truth by God's guidance. He
readily admits that he is moved entirely by
God in his new vocation of teaching the
true knowledge and he asks God to guide
him and through him to guide others
(Ghazall, Munqidh, 93, 159-60). It is clear
from what al-Ghazall says that he attri-
butes the origins of his recovery wholly to
God although the preparations he himself
made for the conversion are detailed
throughout his autobiographical account
in his expositions of the weaknesses of the
various sciences.

More or less the same dynamic is ex-
pressed in the less common notion that
God admits (adkhala) humankind into the
sphere of his mercy or into a place among
the righteous. While he admits those whom
he wills (q_ 42:8; 48:25; cf. 110:2), he also al-
lows to enter those who show their worth
by good deeds (q.v.; Q, 29:9; 45:30; cf. 9:99).
The elaborate relationship of divine ordi-
nation and human qualification is inti-
mated in the prayer of the prophet Solo-
mon (Sulayman, see Solomon) asking God
to compel him to have gratitude and to act
righteously and to admit him among his
servants (q_ 27:19). Human action and di-

vine conduct are inseparable here, forming
a partnership in which the responsibility
for fulfilling God's expectations seems to
be reciprocal.

The manner in which these terms are
employed suggests that the act of conform-
ing to God's way requires a conversion that
is determined by God himself but also in-
volves human initiative. The most intimate
form of this relationship is denoted by the
idea of returning to an initial position or
restoring a lost condition, expressed by the
verb taba and its forms. In some instances
this is used of humans alone and carries a
strong element of repentance (q_ 4:146;
g:n). But in other significant occurrences it
is used of God, as when he turns to Adam
and guides him (q_ 20:122; see ADAM AND
eve), or when the three followers of Mu-
hammad who have failed in their duty try
to run away until God turns to them to
enable them to turn as well, (thumma taba
'alayhim li-yatubu (q_ 9:118; compare 9:117;
see opposition to muhammad). The use of
the same verb for both divine and human
action here graphically portrays the way in
which the fugitives' return is reciprocated
by God's move to restore them. The same
divine concern is shown in God's turning
to those who believe (q_ 33:73), suggesting
that as soon as they signal their readiness,
he too is ready to help them in their faith.

The accounts of how the theologian
(mutakallim) Abu 1-Hasan All al-Ash'arl
(d. 324/936) abandoned the Mu'tazill doc-
trines (see mu'tazilis; createdness of the
qur'an) of his early years illustrate this co-
operative action well. In most versions of
the story of his conversion, he is first trou-
bled by the insufficiency of the answers
provided by speculative theology (kalam)
and then, after praying to God, is guided
in visions of the Prophet to accept tradi-
tional beliefs and to defend them with
rational arguments (see exegesis of the
qur'an: classical and medieval). Accord-

437

CONVERSION

ing to one version he publicly declares that
he now embraces Islam and repents of his
old ways, (inni qad aslamtu l-sa'a wa-inni ta'ib
minima kuntufi-hi, Ibn Asakir, Tabyin, 40;
also, R. McCarthy, Theology of al-Ash'an,
152). This conversion results from al-
Ash'ari's own preliminary efforts and
God's guidance working together.

The same movement, though only with
respect to human actors, is expressed in the
verb anaba, which similarly suggests the
motion of coming back to the same point.
So humankind is enjoined to make this re-
turn (q 31:15) and warned to do so before
punishment is inflicted (q 39:54; see chas-
tisement and punishment; punishment
stories; warning) though they only com-
ply when in trouble and at other times
ignore God's oneness (q 39:8; see GOD and
his attributes). Human responsibility for
making this move is emphasized in the
forthright admonition to unbelievers: God
leaves to stray those whom he wills but
guides those who make the return (q 13:27).
Here again there is a hint that the action of
God in guiding and that of humankind in
accepting are interconnected. But if con-
version consists in returning to the way
that God has set and which humans are
innately prepared to follow, there is still the
necessity of actively pointing them to this
way. The Quran explains that the activity
of calling humankind (see invitation), in-
dicated by the verb da'd, is undertaken both
by God through clear signs (q 2:221), and
by the Prophet. Muhammad is told to in-
vite people (q 7:193; 12:108; 28:87) with
proper exhortation (q 16:125) though, like
Noah (q.v.) and other earlier messengers
(cf. q 71:7), he meets solid resistance
(S. 2 3 : 73"5J 57:8; see messenger; prophets
and prophethood). One reason for this is
that God prevents those who have already
ignored his signs from hearing and under-
standing (q 18:57). And again we see an in-
timate relationship, this time between the

Prophet's call, people's readiness to heed
and God's ordaining the outcome. An obli-
gation for individual Muslims and the
community, the equivalent to the Prophet's
calling, is striving, jihad (q.v). While this
term is often employed for fighting with
arms, some uses suggest conduct that
marks out believers. Such is the case when
those who are called strive in God's way
(see path or WAY [of god]) with person
and possessions (e.g. q 8:72; 49:15; 61:11),
having been commanded to do this as part
of the observance of faith, as though their
conduct might attract others to imitate
them.

This nexus of movements in which God
and humankind seem engaged together
achieves its end in the conforming of the
individual to God's way. The Christian
convert 'All b. Rabban al-Tabarl (d. ca.
250/864) attests to this when he confesses
that he was able to recognize the existence
of one, eternal God through his own rea-
son, though it was God who called (da'd)
him to exercise his reason and so escape
from the error of unbelief (I. -A. Khalife
and W. Kutsch, Raid, ng). This is the true
conversion, fulfilled in the action of bow-
ing (see bowing and prostration) to
God's will as expressed by the verb aslama.
Its significance is perhaps most fully con-
veyed in q 3:83 which proclaims that all
things in heaven and earth surrender to
God, whether obediently or not, and will
return to him, indicating that God is the
lord of all and that eventually nothing can
remain indifferent to him. This receives
endorsement elsewhere, e.g. where Mu-
hammad is told to say that God's is the
only guidance and so humankind is com-
manded to surrender to him (q 3:20; 6:71)
and that there can be no help when pun-
ishment comes unless humankind sur-
renders to God (q 39:54). There is a
strong suggestion in such verses that the
act of bowing and submitting results for

438

reasonable creatures from an awareness
of God and of the individual's status as
subservient to him. Living indifferently
to him is, therefore, unreasonable and
fraught with obstacles, while living in har-
monious conformity with his way brings
self-enhancement.

The inference to be drawn is that conver-
sion and return to the position for which
creatures were ordained results from a
rational acknowledgement of the relation-
ship between the created order and the
Creator. The prime example of this in the
Qur'an is the prophet Abraham (Ibrahim,
see Abraham) who, from the initial realiza-
tion that idols cannot be objects of worship
(see idols and images), engages in a pro-
cess of deduction. From his observation of
the changing condition of the natural
world in which stars (q.v.), moon (q.v.) and
sun (q.v.) can appear to be supreme until
they decline and disappear, he deduces the
existence of the one who made them all
(o_ 6:74-9; see cosmology in the qjjr'an).
The prophet himself works out the differ-
ence between the created and Creator
but at the same time he is supported and
guided in his growing understanding by
God himself (rj 6:83).

It is salutary to be told in the Qur'an that
while the act of acknowledging God and
submitting to him is in conformity with his
will, it is not a cause for complacency as
though those who had accomplished it
have been able to do so through their own
insight. For the very act itself results from
God's guidance which he gives as a favor
(q_ 49:17; see blessing; power and impo-
tence). Again, the human's return through
reason to the appropriate position in rela-
tion to God is as much an act of God's
care as the individual's efforts. See also
ISLAM.

David Thomas

Bibliography
Primary: al-GhazalT, Abii Hamid Muhammad,
al-Munqidh min al-dalal, ed. 'A.-H. Mahmfid,
Cairo n.d.; Ibn ( Asakir, Tabyln kadhib al-muftarT,
ed. H. al-GUidsT, Damascus 1928.
Secondary: T.W. Arnold, The preaching of Islam.
A history of the propagation of the Muslim faith,
London 1896; M.Gervers and R.J. Bikhazi (eds.)
Conversion and continuity. Indigenous Christian
communities in Islamic lands, eighth to eighteenth
centuries, Toronto 1990; I. -A. Khalife and W.
Kutsch (eds.), ar-Radd 'ala n-nasara de All
at-Tabarl, in Melanges de VUniversite Saint Joseph
36 (1959), 115-48; N. Levtzion (ed.), Conversion to
Islam, New York 1979; B. Lewis, The Jews of
Islam, Princeton 1984; R.J. McCarthy, The
theology of al-Ash'arl, Beirut 1953 (contains a
partial translation); W.M. Watt, Conversion in
Islam at the time of the Prophet, in W.M.
Watt, Early Islam. Collected articles, Edinburgh
I990-

Coral

The lime-skeleton of sea-creatures covered
by animalcular polyps. Red coral (Corallium
rubrum), which is particulary valued, is har-
vested from the depths of the sea and used
in jewelry; moreover, it is supposed to pos-
sess curative power. The Arabic term for
this coral, marjan, appears twice in the
Qur'an.

The two qur'anic references to coral
occur in Q_ 55 ("The Merciful," Surat al-
Rahman; see god and his attributes).
Reflecting the name of the sura, coral and
pearls (lu 'lu \ see solomon) are mentioned
together in c) 55:22 as symbols of the
mercy (q.v.) and benefits of God (see
blessing): "He has loosed the two seas
[fresh-water and salt-water] which meet.
Between them is a barrier (q.v.) which they
do not transgress. Which then of the bene-
fits of your Lord will the two of you count
false? From both come forth the pearl and
the coral" (q_ 55:19-22). (o_ 35:12 contains a
similar passage, but with no reference to
any specific product: "... yet from each [of

439

CORRUPTION

the two seas] you eat fresh meat, and bring
forth adornment (hilya) to wear.") The sec-
ond reference to coral is found in o_ 55:58:
"As if [in paradise] they [women of re-
strained glance] are jacinth and coral [i.e.
like them in beauty]." In this passage, coral
and jacinth (jyaqut, which term eventually
came to denote a variety of minerals, most
commonly referring to the colorless corun-
dum) are used as attributes of modest
women. They also symbolize the benefits
of God in the next world (see reward and
punishment).

Reliable Arabic commentaries on the
Qur'an like al-Tabari's (d. 310/923) Tafsir,
al-Zamakhsharfs (d. 538/1144) Kashshaj or
Ibn Kathir's (d. 774/1373) Tafsir refer to
marjan not only as a precious red jewel, but
provide several other connotations. The
exegesis of Q_ 55:22 explains marjan to be a
small pearl in opposition to the large one,
the lu'lu'. Commentary on o 55:58 holds
that jacinth serves as a symbol of pureness
and coral as a symbol of beauty and glitter.
Another interpretation of coral and jacinth
offered by the commentators is that the
lexemes refer to the transparent silk (q.v.)
robes of the houris (q.v.) in paradise (q.v.)
with their legs shining through.

As for the Arabic sources that do not deal
with the Qur'an, coral, which is classified
as a mineral or a stone, is never found in
the zoological works. An extensive descrip-
tion of coral that shows its resemblance to
certain plants is offered by the Egyptian
scholar al-Tifashl (d. 651/1253) in his work
on mineralogy entitled Azhar al-afkar.
Egypt (q.v.) was the center of the coral
trade for centuries, as many varieties of
coral are found in the Mediterranean
Sea. See also material culture and the
qur'an.

Herbert Eisenstein

Bibliography
Primary: Ibn KathTr, Tafsir; Tabari, 'Tafsir; al-
Tffashl, Ahmad b. Yusuf, Kitab Azhar al-afkar ji
jawahir al-ahjar, ed. M.Y. Hasan and M. Basyuni
Khafajl, Cairo 1977; Zamakhsharl, Kashshaj.
Secondary: A. Dietrich, Mardjan, in El 2 , vi,
556-7; W. Heyd, Histoire du commerce du Levant au
Moyen-age, 2 vols., Leipzig 1885-6, Amsterdam
1959 (revised), ii, 609-10; Jeffery, For. vocab., 261.

Corruption

Decay, depravity, impurity. The topic of
corruption has two general references in
the Qur'an: (1) committing mischievous
and depraved deeds that willfully subvert
God's order and purposes (see disobe-
dience); (2) perverting scripture (see scrip-
ture and THE qur'an) so as to mislead
and conceal its meanings. The first refer-
ence is most often expressed by the Arabic
root f-s-d, occurring principally in late
Meccan and Medinan passages, e.g.
Q 2:251: "If God did not check one group
of people by means of another, the earth
(q.v.) would certainly have been corrupted"
(la-fasadati l-ard). This root is very fre-
quently paired with the phrase "in the
land/earth," e.g. in the account of Cain's
slaying of his brother Abel (see CAIN AND
abel) in Q 5:32: "We decreed for the Chil-
dren of Israel (q.v.) that if anyone killed a
person — except for murder (q.v.; see also
bloodshed) and corruption in the land
(fasddji l-ard) — it would be as if he had
slain all the people." Punishment for "cor-
ruption in the land" is extremely severe
("execution, or crucifixion [q.v] , or the
cutting off of hands and feet from opposite
sides, or exile from the land; that is their
disgrace in this world, and a heavy punish-
ment is theirs in the hereafter," p_ 5:33; see
chastisement and punishment; reward
and punishment), unless the perpetrator
sincerely repents in time (see repentance
and penance). The sense that threads

COSMOLOGY

440

through such passages is that corruption
and mischief are not only evil personal
deeds but also expressions of fundamental
hostility to and subversion of God's cre-
ated order, an order which embraces both
nature and justice (q 26:151-2, 183; see
justice and injustice). A particularly
pointed passage about the perpetrator of
corruption is Q_ 2:204-5: "There is the type
of individual whose speech about the life
of this world delights you, and he calls
God to witness what is in his heart (q.v.);
yet he is the most contentious of oppo-
nents. When he turns away, his effort is to
run about in the land sowing corruption in
it (yufsidajiha), destroying crops and young
livestock — God does not love corruption
(fasad)."

Another root, occurring far less fre-
quently \hzLnf-s-d, is chiefly found in Medi-
nan passages: kh-b-th, as in Q_ 8:37, "that
God may distinguish the corrupt (khabith)
from the good (tayyib, see good and evil),
and put the corrupt one upon another,
heap them together and cast them into hell
(q.v.)." This root is dramatically displayed
in Q 24:26, where both masculine and fem-
inine forms are used: "Corrupt women (al-
khabithdt) are for corrupt men (al-khabithin),
and corrupt men for corrupt women."
"Impure" is an alternative translation be-
cause the passage addresses the slandering
of chaste women (see adultery and for-
nication; chastity). Humankind's prone-
ness to corruption is an undesirable but in-
evitable consequence of their God-given
freedom of action in the natural, moral
and social realms (see freedom and pre-
destination).

The matter of distorting scripture is ad-
dressed in Medinan passages accusing Jews
(see jews and Judaism; Medina) of the prac-
tice, e.g. Q_ 4:46: "Some of those who are
Jews shift (yuharrifuna) words from their
proper places and say, 'We hear and dis-
obey,' and 'Hear as one who hears not,'

and 'ra'ina' [an insulting corruption of an
Arabic phrase, 'ra'ina,' meaning "Please lis-
ten to us"], distorting with their tongues
and slandering the religion." The corrup-
tion of scripture is not a major or sustained
topic in the Quran although it became an
important and abiding theological as well
as textual controversy in later relations be-
tween Muslims and the People of the Book
(q.v.; see also polemics and polemical
language; theology and the qjjr'an).

Frederick Mathewson Denny

Bibliography
'Abd al-Baql; J. Burton, The corruption of the
scriptures, in Occasional papers of the school of
Abb a sid studies 4 (1992, 1994), 95-106; L. Garclet,
Kawn wa-Fasad, in Ef, iv, 794-5; H.E. Kassis,
A concordance of the Qur'an, Berkeley 1983; H.
Lazarus-Yafeh, Tarf, in EI 2 , x, m-112 (see
bibliography).

Corruption of Scripture see revision
and alteration; people of the book;
abrogation; corruption

Cosmogony see creation; cosmology

IN THE QUR'AN

Cosmography see cosmology in the
our'an

Cosmology

Introduction
A divinely governed order of the universe
and the place of humans within it. This
qur'anic understanding of cosmology is
dramatized in diverse reports: the divine
six-day-work of creation (q.v; khalq) of the
cosmos (al-samawat wa-l-ard), of human-
kind (insan) and its habitat in nature (nabat
al-ard; see agriculture and vegetation),
of demons or spirits [jinn, q.v.) and the

44i

COSMOLOGY

animal world [al-dabba, al-an'am, see ani-
mal life) as well as the resolution of cre-
ated space on the day of doom (see judg-
ment) — all occupy prominent roles in the
Qur'an. Additionally, the existence of hu-
mans on earth (q.v.), the ambiguity of their
moral condition, the liability they bear to
fall prey to the seduction exercised by a
negative figure, Iblls (Diabolos, see iblis;
devil) or al-Shaytan (Satan) and the evil
(fasdd; see evil deeds; good and evil;
corruption) they commit are all elabo-
rated from an etiological orientation. All
these issues may, however, be due to the
peculiar genesis of the Qur'an as viewed
from two principally different perspec-
tives. The Qur'an first manifested itself as
the immediate expression of the psychic-
prophetic experience of Muhammad him-
self, meant to be read out to his audience
(qur'an); only later, once being canonized
(see collection of the qur'an), did it be-
come the binding document [mushaf, q.v.) of
a religion with social demands of its adher-
ents, "the corporate confession of it in the
inward possession of Islam and of Mus-
lims" (Gragg, Event). In the latter context
the cosmological recollections have served,
as did the analogous accounts in the scrip-
tures of the neighboring religions (see
scripture and the qur'an), to explain a
given world order and to justify particular
rulings therein. To read them exclusively in
a post-canonical context as etiological texts
is, however, by no means the only way to
look at them. One has to be aware that the
status of a canon presupposes a fixed, in-
deed "frozen" corpus of equally ranked
textual entities with no distinction regard-
ing the function they held in the text as a
"qur'an" in statu nascendi, i.e. in that histori-
cally unique sequence of communications
between a speaker and his audience, ac-
companying and at the same time docu-
menting the historical process of the emer-
gence of the early Muslim community (see

COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY IN THE OUR AN).

The value of references to cosmology and
of cosmogonic accounts in that process
can be made clear only by observing their
structural function within their particular
context of discourse, i.e. their particular
sura.

Indeed, considered in the context of the
emergence of a community, i.e. reflecting
the process of a "canonization from be-
low" of the successively publicized liturgi-
cal texts, the recollections of cosmogonic
accounts assume a different value. They
present themselves as new readings of a
familiar narrative with the perspicuous
tendency to demythologize it in certain
substantial traits, though not without in-
troducing new mythic elements meant to
elevate contemporary developments onto
a salvation-historical level (see my'thic
AND LEGENDARY NARRATIVES). The qur'anic
cosmological recollections are presented to
their listeners less as narrative accounts
than as exhortations serving immediate
theological rather than etiological aims:
The creation of nature — flora and
fauna — appears as a starting point
of the divine interaction with humans, a
"sign" (aya) of divine omnipotence and
an instigation for human gratefulness
(shukr). The creation of human beings,
moreover, framed in a divine deal with
Iblis, is presented as a challenge for the
option of accepting divine guidance (hudd)
and as an affirmation that the socio-
religious antagonisms existing in the
world of the addressees during the first
transmission of the Qur'an are nothing
else than part of a divine plan of salva-
tion (q.v.).

In order to give due attention to both
perspectives, canonical and pre-canonical,
evidence will be presented in this article,
wherever possible, from two different an-
gles: (i) a macro-structural perspective
on the basis of the Qur'an as canon, i.e.

COSMOLOGY

442

presented in the form of a cumulative
synopsis of qur'anic references to cosmol-
ogy; (2) a micro-structural perspective, by
situating references into their communica-
tional framework with a particular view to
their various typological features such as
situation of speech, context and refer-
cntiality.

The six-day work: Creation of the material

world
Collecting the dispersed qur'anic state-
ments about the creation of the world into
one comprehensive picture, an image in
accord with more ancient Near Eastern
lore emerges (for individual parallels see
Speyer, Erzahlungen, 4f): God created the
heavens (see heaven) and the earth in six
days (khalaqa l-samdwdti wa-l-arda fi sittati
ayyamin, q 7:54, cf. 10:3; 11:7; 25:59; 32:3),
not in jest (wa-ma khalaqnd l-samawati wa-l-
arda wa-ma baynahumd la'ibin, q 44:38-9, cf.
21:16), nor in vain (a-fa-hasibtum annand
khalaqnakum 'abathan, q 23:115; wa-md
khalaqnd l-samd'a wa-l-arda wa-ma baynahumd
bdtilan, q 38:27) but in truth and with a
stated term (ilia bi-l-haqqi wa-ajalin musam-
man, q 30:8; cf. 44:38). The heavens and
earth were completed in two days (khalaqa
l-arda fi yawmayn, q 41:9), formed from
an integrated disk-shaped mass which
had to be split (a-wa-lam yara lladhina kafaru
anna l-samdwdti wa-l-arda kdnatd ratqanfa-
fataqndhumd, q 21:30). From smoke (thumma
stawd ild l-samd'i wahiya dukhdnun, q 4i:nf.)
the seven heavens were created (fa-
qaddhunna sab 'a samdwatin fi 'yawmayn,
o_ 41:12; cf. 23:17; 78:12) forming layers, one
above the other (tibaqan, q 67:3; cf. 71:14).
In the seventh heaven or above it, where
the angels praise God (yusabihhuna bi-hamdi
rabbihim, q 40:7; cf. 39:75; 42:3; see angel;
praise) and seek forgiveness (q.v.) for the
believers (yastaghfiruna li-lladhma amanu,
Q_ 40:7), the divine throne ('arsh) is located
(see throne OF god), carried by angels (q.v.)

(alladhma yahmiluna l-'arsha, q 40:7), who
move in row after row (q 89:22; cf. 37:1).
The lowest heaven is adorned with lights
(wa-zayyannd l-samd'a l-dunya bi-masdbiha,
Q_ 41:12): the sun and the moon (q 71:16;
78:13), the stars (bi-zinati l-kawakib, q 37:6;
cf. 67:5) and the constellations of the zodi-
ac (wa-laqadja'alndfi l-samd'i burujan,
Q_ 15:16; cf. 25:61; 85:1). The sun (q.v.)
which follows a regular path is considered
to be subject to humans (wa-sakhkhara laku-
mu l-shamsa wa-l-qamara dd'ibayni, Q_ 14:33).
Its course serves man to reckon the peri-
ods of time (wa-ja'alna ayata l-nahari mubsira-
tan... li-ta'lamu 'adada l-simna wa-l-hisdba,
o 17:12; cf. 6:96-7; see day and night; day,
times of). As to the moon (q.v), particular
stations are decreed for it, again as a
means at man's disposal for his chronologi-
cal orientation (wa-qaddarahu manazila
li-ta'lamu 'adada l-sintna wa-l-hisaba, o_ 10:5).
Accordingly, the number of the months
have been fixed at creation (inna 'iddata
l-shuhuri 'inda lldhi thnd 'ashara shahran fi kitdbi
llahiyawma khalaqa l-samdwdti wa-l-arda,
q 9:36). The stars serve to guide people in
the darkness of the land and the sea (wa-
huwa UadhTja'ala lakumu l-nujuma li-tahtadu
bifid fi z u ^ um dti l-barri wa-bahri, q 6:97). The
lowest heaven is also the assembling place
of demons (jinn, wa-laqadja'alndfi l-samd'i
burujan. . . / wa-hafizndhd min kulli shaytdnin
rajim, o 15:16-7; cf. 21:33; 25:62; 67:5; 85:1),
who attempt to listen to the heavenly coun-
cils in order to convey supernatural knowl-
edge to privileged humans (hal unabbi'ukum
'aid man tanazzalu l-shaydtin, q 26:221). They
are, however, chased away by shooting
flames (ilia mani staraqa l-sam 'afa-atba 'aim
shihdbun mubin, q 15:18; cf. 37:6-10). God
raised the vault of the heaven high (rafa 'a
samkahafa-sawwaha, q 79:28; wa-l-sama'a
banayndha bi-aydin wa-innd la-musi'un,
q 51:47) without support (rafa'a l-samdwdti
bi-ghayri 'amadin, q 13:2), keeping it from
collapsing and falling down on the earth

443

COSMOLOGY

(wa-yumsiku l-samd'a an taqa'a 'aid l-ard,
q 22:65). In accordance with ancient Near
Eastern models the earth is viewed as be-
ing surrounded by waters separated by the
creator through a barrier (maraja l-bah-
rayni... wa-ja'ala baynahumd barzakhan wa-
hijran mahjuran, q 25:53; cf. 27:61; 35:12;
55:19), which are themselves divided into
two "oceans," the waters of one being
fresh and sweet, those of the other being
bitter (hddhd 'adhbun furdtun wa-hddha milhun
ujdjun, a 25:53; cf. 35:13).

God extinguishes the light (q.v.) of the
day and introduces the night (see dark-
ness), as two of his signs (q.v.; wa-ja'alnd
l-layla wa-l-nahdra dyataynifa-mahawnd dyata
l-layli wa-ja'alna dyata l-nahdri mubsiratan,
q 17:12), alternating continuously (inndji
khalqi l-samdwdti wa-l-ardi wa-khtildfi l-layli
wa-l-nahdri... bi-mdyanfa'u l-nasa, q 2:164;
cf. 3:26; 31:28; 35:14; 36:37; 39:7). In four
days God furnished the creation of the
earth with mountains, rivers and fruit-
gardens [wa-ja'ala find rawdsiya min fawqihd
wa-bdrakafihd wa-qaddara fiha, aqw3.taha.fi
arba'ati ayydmin sawd'an lil-sd'ilin, q 41:10;
cf. 13:3-4; 15:19; 16:15-6; 27:61). From
water (q.v.) he created the animals, some
that creep on their bellies and others that
walk on two or four feet iwa-lla.hu khalaqa
kulla ddbbatin min md'in fa-minhum manyam-
shi 'aid batnihi wa-minhum man yamshi 'aid
rijlayni wa-minhum man yamshi 'aid arba'in,
q 24:45). They have been created for the
benefit and adornment of man (wa-l-
an'dma khalaqahd lakumfihd dif'un wa-
manafi'u wa-minhd ta'kulun, q 16:5). Man
was elected to rule over the animals
(a-wa-lam yaraw anna khalaqnd lahum
mimmd 'amilat aydind an 'dman fa-hum lahd
mdlikun, q 36:71). No less was the sea
created for the benefit of man, supplying
him with food and ornaments to wear
(wa-huwa lladhi sakhkhara l-bahra li-ta'kulu
minhu lahman tariyyan wa-tastakhriju minhu
hilyatan talbasunahd, q 16:14; see clothing).

Time in cosmological context
After the six-day work of creation (q 7:54;
10:3; 11:7; 25:59; 32:4; 50:38; 57:4), that had
neither tired nor wearied him (wa-md
massand min lughub, q 50:38; wa-lam ya'ya,
Q. 46:33), God seated himself upon his
divine throne [thumma stawd 'aid I- 'arshi,

a 7 : 54; to:3; T 3 : 2; 20:5; 25:59; 57:4) which

extends over heavens and earth (wasi'a kur-
siyyuhu l-samdwdti wa-l-arda, Q_ 2:255), to
govern everything through his divine com-
mand (yudabbiru l-amra, Q_ 10:3). He is con-
tinuously occupied with maintaining his
creation (kullayawmin huwafi sha'n, q 55:29)
and does not rest (Id ta'khudhuhu sinnatun
wa-ld nawm, q 2:255). This explicitly stated
effortlessness and untiring activity (Bower-
ing, Time) is in clear contrast to the human
condition where sleep (q.v.) is part of the
divinely ordained rhythm (wa-ja'alnd naw-
makum subdtan, q 78:9). God, moreover,
plays an active role in man's sleep for "God
takes the souls unto himself at the time of
their death, and that which has not died in
its sleep. He keeps those on whom he has
decreed death, but looses the others till a
stated term" [Alldhu yatawaffd l-anfusa hina
mawtihd wa-llati lam tamutfi mandmihdfa-
yumsiku llati qadd 'alayhd l-mawta wa-yursilu
l-ukhrd ild ajalin musamman, q 39:42; see
DEATH AND THE DEAD).

Still, God's undisrupted concern for the
world is reflected in the rhythm of human
interaction (see social relations). Al-
though the heptad as a measure for count-
ing days must be assumed to have been
known in ancient Arabia (see calendar),
the qur'anic accounts of creation lack a
cosmic etiology or a divine prototype for
the concept of a six-day cycle of profane
working days culminating in a sacred sev-
enth day of rest, a concept so characteris-
tic for the rhythm of life with Jews and
Christians (see jews and Judaism; chris-
tians and Christianity). A particular day
of the week to be reserved for official

COSMOLOGY

444

services has been decreed in the Qur'an
(q_ 62:9) but Friday was chosen for purely
pragmatic and mundane reasons which
lack any reference to cosmic contexts. Ac-
cordingly, not the whole day but only a
particular period — the time until midday
prayer — is reserved for religious purposes
(see FRIDAY prayer), the rest being profane,
a ruling that has given Islamic culture a
distinct imprint of its own.

Even though no entire day of the week is
held sacred, there are nonetheless particu-
lar times during the day which are consid-
ered to have a sacred character and are
thus apt to be dedicated to communication
with the divine, namely dawn (fajr, Q_ 89:1),
afternoon ('asr, Q_ 106:1), sunset (maghrib,
qabla l-ghurub, o 50:39), later evening ['isha',
Q_ 24:58; cf. Q_ 30:18 where 'ashiyan is used)
and midday (gu.hr, hlna tughirun, Q_ 30:18).
Three of these prayer times (see prayer)
coincide with Jewish practice and in the
case of maghrib, the Hebrew 'erebh, the anal-
ogy is even etymologically obvious. The
two others are known as well in Christian
monastic contexts (see monasticism and
monks), for example, 'isha', reflecting the
Greek apodeipnon. The Qur'an knows about
additional sacred times like the time when
the day has reached its full light (al-duha), a
time marked by prayers in pre-Islamic
times (al- jdhiliyya) and apparently also in
the early years of the Muslim community
(o 91:1; 93:1). To be sure, the Qur'an does
not explicitly state that all these time peri-
ods bear a sacred character, but such can
clearly be inferred from some particularly
expressive verses which refer to these alone
and to no other periods as significant in
themselves. This relates to the early suras
where single oaths or oath clusters (see
oaths) refer to these periods (wa-l-fajr/
wa-laydlin 'ashr, Q_ 89:1-2; wa-l-'asr, q_ 103:1;
wa-l-duhd, q 93:1). It is worth noting (Neu-
wirth, Images) that all the suras in which
these oaths or oath clusters appear focus

on the idea of the believer's intimate close-
ness to the divine speaker. The sura texts
thus unfold the inherent liturgical rele-
vance implied in the sacred time evoked in
their introductory oaths.

There are also longer cosmically deter-
mined periods of time which are deemed
sacred (haram). It is true that the holy
months (al-ashhuru l-hurum, Q 9:5; see
months) which were cherished in the jahi-
liyya and during which no blood was to
be shed (see bloodshed) — though reaf-
firmed in the Qur'an — were already
superseded in significance during qur'anic
development by two important cosmolo-
gically determined feast periods (see fes-
tivals AND COMMEMORATIVE DAYS), one
inherited from pre-Islamic practice, the
other newly institutionalized, namely the
pilgrimage (q.v.) and the month of Rama-
dan (q.v.; shahru ramaddna lladhiunzilafihi
l-qur'dn, Q_ 2:185). Whereas the period of
pilgrimage was to occupy only a number of
days, the notion of a full holy month sur-
vived most vividly in Ramadan. This Mus-
lim month of fasting (q.v.) was introduced
as a cosmically defined sacred time early in
the Medinan period (fa-man shahida min-
kumu l-shahrafa-l-yasumhu... wa-li-tukmilu
l-'iddata, q 2:185; see chronology and the
qur'an), its beginning and end discernible
and definable only by the sighting (ru'yd) of
a cosmic sign, the appearance of the new
moon (hildl), as was the case for determin-
ing the beginning of the month of pilgrim-
age (yas'alunaka 'ani l-ahillati qui hiya mawd-
qltu lil-ndsi wa-l-hajj, q_ 2:189). Similarly
the exact period of daily fasting was de-
fined by cosmic observations, the rising
and the setting sun respectively. The qur-
'anic ruling, however, refers to these cosmic
aspects only obliquely, relying rather on a
cultural criterion for the distinction be-
tween daylight and darkness, i.e., the possi-
bility of distinguishing a white from a
black thread. The reference is to a custom

445

COSMOLOGY

already in use in monotheistic contexts
which presupposes a black-white garment
used for prayer [wa-kulii wa-shrabu hattayata-
bayyana lakumu l-khaytu l-abyadu mina l-khayti
l-aswadi mina l-fajri thumma atimmu l-siyama
ila l-layli, q 2:187). Ramadan was marked
from the outset by a particular affinity to
liturgical practice, the divine response to
human supplications uttered in that period
being assured already in the Qur'an itself
(wa-idha sa'alaka 'ibadi 'anmfa-inni qaribun
ujibu da'wata 'd-da'i idhci da'dnifal-yastajibu If,
q 2:186; cf. ha 55:6).

In accordance with a pre-Islamic custom,
the first ten nights of the month of pil-
grimage are also counted as exceptional as
reflected in a qur'anic oath (wa-laydlin 'ashr,
q 89:2; see oaths). This month, Dhu 1-
Hijja, had been — before the calendar be-
came confused due to lax intercalations
shortly before the event of the Qur'an —
the first month of the new year, a time in
which ritual practices in support of the
emergence of a new season (see seasons)
had been essential. Though traces of an-
cient new year's practices are still recogniz-
able in some qur'anic pilgrimage rites
(Wellhausen, Rests), the reform of the cal-
endar, ordained through the Qur'an, sev-
ered all relations of the pilgrimage with a
seasonal festival. The necessity of adduc-
ing cosmic evidence for determining
qur'anically endorsed feasts, though inter-
preted explicitly as an act of obedience
(q.v.) toward the divine legislator, still leaves
a strong cosmic imprint on the character of
Islamic feasts. This manifests itself not only
in quantitative terms — cosmic observa-
tions alone are deemed valid as the criteria
for the exact times of beginnings and
ends — but in more general, aesthetic
terms as well. The cosmic references en-
gender a peculiar imagery which connects
the idea of festiveness with that of the cre-
ation and the order of the cosmos, not as
a merely sensual backdrop, adding emo-

tional potential to the feasts, but in a more
sober manner, as a communicated "sign"
(aya), an invitation to humans to respond
to the divine gift of creation by conveying
gratefulness (shukr) and thus belief (see
BELIEF AND UNBELIEF; BLESSING; GRATITUDE
AND ingratitude). So although an insistent
iconoclasm cannot be denied, yet the im-
pact of the Qur'an — to use Kenneth
Cragg's words — eloquently conserved
that sense of the wonder of the natural or-
der which inspires all religiosity, including
so-called paganism, and told it in "the
signs of God" as the grateful benediction
of the divine unity suffused through the
plural world (Cragg, Event, 24).

Space in cosmological context
The Qur'an seems to reflect the
Aristotelian-Ptolemaic model with the
world (al-dunya) as the lowest level in the
center covered by seven homocentric
spheres (falak, pi. ajlak, q 21:33; 26:40). A
closer look, however, provides traces of an
older, ancient Near Eastern model of the
world which is also reflected in Genesis 1:6
(Alldhu lladhl khalaqa sab'a samawatin wa-min
al-ardi mithlahunna, q 65:12). Here, the
world is viewed as not only covered by
seven heavenly spheres but also as rely-
ing on as many layers of "earths." The
whole structure is surrounded by waters,
"oceans," separated by the creator through
a barrier (maraja l-bahrayni yaltaqiydn/ 'bay-
nahuma barzakhun la yabghiyan, q 55:19-20;
cf. 25:53; see barrier; barzakh). The cryp-
tic qur'anic statement about the two
oceans has engendered diverse interpreta-
tions, mostly attempts to vindicate the geo-
centric Aristotelean-Ptolemaic world view.
Only al-Tabarl (d. 310/923) presents an
interpretation in accordance with the
qur'anic evidence, the image of a world
swimming in an ocean and being covered
by another ocean above the highest
heaven. Al-Tabarl (TafsTr, xxvii, 75, ad

COSMOLOGY

446

Q_ 55:19) states that the two oceans are
located above the earth and around it
respectively, the upper waters being fresh
and sweet ('adhbunjurdtun), the lower salty
and bitter (milhun ujdjun).

The metaphorical qur'anic allusions to
the all-encompassing dimensions of God's
throne (wasi'a kursiyyuhu l-samdwdti wa-l-ard,
Q_ 2:255; wa-huwa rabbu l-'arshi l-'a^Tm,
Q_ 9:129) were already taken literally by
early exegetes who attempted to fit the
two different designations for the throne
image into a comprehensive scheme, 'arsh
thus figuring as the throne, kursi becoming
the footstool underneath. Throne and foot-
stool were imagined to be of a physical
nature in the sense of celestial bodies lo-
cated above the heavens and earths. The
earthly observer, facing the footstool from
below, thus finds himself in a dome-like
hemisphere. Equally, the "overflowing
ocean" (wa-l-bahri l-masjur, o_ 52:6), intro-
duced as an image of the overwhelming
mono-mentality of creation under the sky,
was claimed as a celestial phenomenon
and explained as "the upper water under
the throne." The assembled fragments of
early cosmological theories agree that the
space between the footstool or the whole
throne and the earth is filled with water.

The inhabitants of the created world: humans

and jinn
God created humans from dust (wa-min
dydtihi an khalaqakum min turdbin, q_ 3:52;
30:20; 40:67; 45:11) or clay (q.v.; wa-laqad
khalaqnd l-insdna min suldlatin min tin,
Q_ 23:12; cf. 6:2; 32:7; 37:11), potter's clay
(khalaqa l-insdna min salsdlin ka-l-fakhkhdr,
Q_ 55 :i 4)j fermented clay (laqad khalaqnd
l-insdna min salsdlin min hamd'in masnun,
Q_ 15:26) in contradistinction to the demons
which were created from smokeless fire
(wa-khalaqa l-jdnna min mdrijin min ndr,
o_ 55:15). He created, then proportioned
and stabilized man (alladhi khalaqaka fa-

sawwdkafa-'adalaka, p_ 82:7), leading him
through the various phases of his life (q.v.;
huwa lladhi khalaqakum min turdbin thumma
min nutfatin thumma min 'alaqatin thumma
yukhrijukum tiflan thumma li-tablughu ashudda-
kum thumma li-takunu shuyukhan, o_ 40:67),
giving him the beautiful shape he intended
(wa-sawwarakumfa-ahsana suwarakum, Q_ 64:3;
cf. 7:10), supplying him with the sense of
hearing and seeing (wa-ja'ala lakumu l-sam'a
wa-absdra wa-l-af'ida, p_ 32:9; see seeing and
hearing; eyes; ears; hearing and deaf-
ness) and blowing his spirit (q.v.) into him
(wa-nafakha fihi min ruhihi, Q_ 32.9, cf. 3:59;
40:68) or uttering the creational impera-
tive "be" over him (khalaqahu min turdbin
thumma qdla lahu "kun" fa-yakun, q_ 3:59)
while at once he fixed his death term
{thumma qadd ajalan wa-ajalun musamman 'in-
dahu, Q_ 6:2). These stages of creation do
not necessarily refer only to the mythical
context of the creation of Adam (see ADAM
AND eve) but may perhaps apply as well to
the empirically known process of human
reproduction in which God takes an active
part, forming the human being in the
womb of the mother (huwa lladhi yusaw-
wirukum fi ' l-arhdmi kayfa yashd'u, Q_ 3:6; see
biology as the creation and stages of
life).

Contrarify, jznn (pi. jdnn) in general have
been created from fire (wa-khalaqa l-jdnna
min mdrijin min ndr, 55:15; cf. 15:27). Jinn
figure in the pre-qur'anic world as familiar
beings. They are known from desert life as
mostly harmless demons manifesting them-
selves unexpectedly — often in the guise of
an animal — in front of humans as a help
(although sometimes as a trick). Alongside
this ambivalent role, they also play a signif-
icant part as bearers of a faculty of com-
munication crucial for the social life of al-
jdhiliyya, acting as inspirers of supernatural
knowledge to humans who thus become
seers or poets (see poetry and poets). A
poet is supposed to be "possessed" by an

447

COSMOLOGY

inspiring spirit (i.e. to be majnun, passive
participle derived irom jinn). This faculty
of the jinn which contradicts monotheistic
notions of inspiration is vehemently con-
tested in the Quran: Even the Prophet
himself has to cleanse himself of the accu-
sation of being inspired hy jinn (wa-ma
sdhibukum bi-majnun, Q_ 81:22; cf. 68:2, 51;
52:29; 37:36; 26:27; 15:6; see REVELATION
AND INSPIRATION).

AmongjYnn, Iblls (o_ 2:34; 7:11; 15:31^;
17:61; 18:50; 20:116; 26:95; 34:20; 38:74f),
whose name is derived from Greek "dia-
bolos" ( Jeffery, For. vocab., 47f), plays a
prominent role in the Quran. The noble
substance from which he is created (fire,
q.v.) induces him to claim superiority over
man who is created from clay (tin). His
double affiliation — on the one hand with
jinn, as implied in o_ I5:27f. and as one
might infer from his occasional designation
as al-shaytan (q_ 20:120; 36:60), and on the
other hand with the angels, as evident from
o I5:30f. — suggests that the Qur'an shares
the notion developed in earlier Gnostic
thought that both groups, demons and an-
gels, are closely related. They become,
however, clearly distinguishable in the
Qur'an when the function of inspiration is
involved. The Prophet's own angelic inter-
mediator (qui man kana 'aduwwan li-Jibnlafa-
innahu nazzalahu 'aid qalbika bi-idhni lldhi. . .,
Q_ 2:97; innahu la-qawlu rasulin kanm,
Q 69:40) is vehemently defended against
the suspicion of belonging to the jinn as
inspirers of poets (wa-ma huwa bi-qawli
shd'ir, q_ 69:41) or to be a shaytan (wa-ma
huwa bi-qawli shaytanin rajim, o_ 81:25).

Descent of humans from paradise to earth
As known from the apocryphal "Life of
Adam and Eve" and other pre-qur'anic
sources (for details, see Awn, Tragedy),
though also found in the Qur'an, God had
announced his plan of creation to the an-
gels (q_ 2:28-31; 15:28-38). Man was to be

the vicegerent of God on earth. When the
angels contest the divine decree, God em-
powers Adam with the knowledge of the
names of all things whereupon the angels
accept to prostate themselves before him.
Only Iblls — figuring in the account as one
of the angels — refuses, claiming to be cre-
ated from nobler material than humans.
Though condemning Iblls for his disobedi-
ence (q.v.), God grants him his request to
play an active role in humankind's destiny
as the seducer who performs the task of
testing humans until judgment day

(ft 7:i5-6).

After the creator has formed from Adam
a wife for him, "from one soul" (khalaqakum
min nafsin wdhidatin wa-khalaqa minha zuw-
jahd, q 4:1; cf. 7:189; 30:21; 39:6; 42:11), he
lodges them in paradise (q.v.: yd-Adamu
skun anta wa-zawjuka l-jannata, o_ 2:35; cf.
7:ig; see garden). He forbids them to taste
from one particular tree (wa-ld taqrabd
hddhihi l-shajarata, q 2:35; cf. 7:19; see
trees), the tree of immortality (shajarati
l-khuldi wa-mulkin layabld, Q_ 20:120), warn-
ing them about al-shaytan (yd-Adamu inna
hadhd 'aduwwun laka wa-li-zawjika fa-la
yukhrijannakumd mina l-jannati fa-tashqayd,
Q_ 20:117), a figure identical to Iblls but
bearing in his function of the seducer the
generic designation of al-shaytan, i.e. a
spirit closely related to the jinn. Al-shaytan
succeeds in seducing them with vain prom-
ises (q_ 7:20-2) and induces them to eat from
the forbidden tree. As a result they realize
their nakedness and thus their sexuality
(fa-akala minha fa-badat lahumd saw 'atuhumd,
Q_ 20:121; cf. 7:22; also Bounfour, Sexe; see
SEX AND sexuality). Immediately they
cover themselves with leaves. Overtaken by
God, they have to descend from paradise
to earth (fa-qulnd hbitu, o_ 2:36) where they
continue to live as mortals (fihd tahyawna
wa-fthd tamutuna wa-minhd tukhrajun, Q_ 7:25),
but they do receive, after expressing re-
pentance (rabband alamnd anfusand, Q_ 7:23;

COSMOLOGY

448

see repentance and penance), divine for-
giveness (fa-talaqqa Adamu min rabbihi
kalimatin fa-tab a 'alayhi, q_ 2:37).

The episode is interpreted as an early
covenant between God and Adam, a cove-
nant which Adam and his offspring later
forgot (wa-laqad 'ahidnd ila Adama min qablu
fa-nasija wa-lam najid lahu 'azman/ . . . fa-
qulna yd-Adamu inna had/id 'aduwwun laka...,
Q_ 20:115-7). The covenant in pre-existence
is extended to humankind as a whole (a-lam
a'had ilaykum yd-bani Adama an la ta'budu l-
shaytdna innahu lakum 'aduwwun mubin,
Q_ 36:60). In spite of man's liability to neg-
lect it, Adam still figures as the first among
the prophets with whom God entered into
covenant and is the prototype of the vice-
gerent of God on earth, destined to reign
in truth. The notion of a fatal sin com-
mitted by Adam and passed on to human-
kind does not exist in the Quran (see FALL
of man).

The human habitat in space and time
Qur'anic sections entailing narrative re-
ports of the creation of the world (q.v.;
Q_ 41:8-12) and of humans (o_ 2:28-39;
7:10-34; 15:26-48; 17:61-5; 20:115-23;
38:71-85) are chronologically preceded by
reminiscences of creation embedded in ex-
hortations to give thanks to God, i.e. "signs
of creation" (ay at). These mostly hymn-like
appraisals of divine deeds, very frequent in
the early suras (Graham, Signs; Neuwirth,
Studien, 192-6), that create the image of the
world as a lodging for humans, as a tent
granting them repose (a-lam naj'ali l-arda
mihadan / 'wa-l-jibdla awtddan / ' wa-khaldqnakum
azwajan/wa-ja'alnd nawmakum subatan/wa-

ja'alna l-layla libdsan/wa-ja'alnd l-nahdra
ma'dshan, Q_ 78:6-11), are often clad in im-
ages familiar to the Psalms (compare, for
instance, Q_ 55 with Ps 136). There is, how-
ever, the marked difference that while the
psalmist praises God as the creator of a
monumental cosmos and a paradisiacal

dwelling for humans, in the qur'anic case it
is God who reminds them that his abun-
dantly furnished habitat is both a gift
demanding thanksgiving in return and a
token for which account must be made.

It is obvious that the images used in the
Qur'an to depict the human habitat as
divinely created and as divinely sustained
are in striking opposition to the image of
the heroic homelessness of human beings
in the midst of threatening and invincible
nature, as reflected in ancient Arabic po-
etry. Heroic man as depicted in the poetry
of the pre-Islamic Arabia is not only
charged with hardships to ensure the sur-
vival of his clan but also with existential
achievements to ensure the honor of his
tribe (see tribes and clans). The human
condition was understood to be governed
by the anticipation of a person's ajal, his
fated time, life being understood as gov-
erned by the inscrutable will of a dark,
blind, semi-personal being, Fate (q.v.; al-
dahr) from whose strong grip there was no
escape (Izutsu, God). Humans thus find
themselves in constant confrontation with
al-dahr, a superior power which wastes his
strength and eventually overwhelms him,
if he himself does not forestall its blow by
exposing himself to the worst dangers,
thus inviting death itself to hit him before
the appointed time. Contrary to that sce-
nario, in the Qur'an humans are not only
provided for materially (o 78:6-11), being
accommodated in surroundings that some-
times reflects material abundance (wa-l-
arda wada'aha li-l-andm/fihdjdkihatun wa-l-
nakhlu dhdtu l-akmdm / wa-l-habbu dhu I- 'asfi
wa-l-rayhan/fa-bi-ayyi dla'i rabbikuma tukadh-
dhibdn, o 55:10-13), but also spiritually since
God takes the responsibility for their dig-
nity by inviting them to accept his guid-
ance. Nothing is left to an unpredictable
fate, everything is measured in advance
(inna kulla shay 'in khalaqdnhu bi-qada?;

a 54 : 49)-

449

COSMOLOGY

The human being's approach to time,
conceiving it as devastating, al-ayydm and
even al-laydli — with the multiple mean-
ings of darkness and fate — as wasting
one's life away has thus been changed in
value. Day has become the portion of time
given to humans to strive for their liveli-
hood (wa-ja'alnd l-nahdra ma'ashan, q_ 78:11)
while nights are merely periods of repose
to be spent in the familiar space of home
and, moreover, conjugal company (wa-
khalaqndkum azwajan/wa-ja'alna nawmakum
subatan/wa-ja'alna l-layla libdsan, Q_ 78:8-10).

These presentations of an intact created
space are not to be taken in isolation but
are meant to hint at a concealed meaning.
They are oriented toward an eschatological
focus (see eschatology): God's absolute
power to create (khalq) warrants his power
to recreate (khalq jadid, see power and
impotence). The image drawn by the aydt
is therefore complemented by its reverse
projection, the image of the dissolution of
creation at the end of the days. These
counter-accounts to the aydt, the "eschato-
logical scenarios" (Neuwirth, Studien,
190-1), present created space in the situa-
tion of its destruction. The eschatological
events do not, however, mark the definite
extinction of the created cosmos, but
space — after passing the temporal limit of
judgment — reappears under two contrast-
ing images: the absolute negative, torment-
ing fire, hell (jahannam, see hell; fire); and
the absolute positive, the shady paradisia-
cal garden (janna), the representations of
which occupy considerable space in the
early suras. The early verses about human
accommodation on earth (al-dunyd, "the
lower world") and in the hereafter (al-
akhira, "the last times"), though highly ref-
erential, only incidentally reflect the older
scriptural narratives themselves. They are
very often closely related to the liturgical
recollections of ancient Near Eastern lore
with their rich metaphoric resources such

as the psalms (cf. Speyer, Erzahlungen, 447-g;
Neuwirth, Narrative; see metaphor;
narratives) known from the practice of
the monotheist groups adjacent to the
early community — a fact scarcely aston-
ishing in view of the liturgical character of
the early suras. It is only subsequently that
later reminiscences of world creation, en-
countered in suras that already serve pri-
marily didactic ends, occur in the shape of
sermon-like admonishments.

God and humans
The Quran stresses again and again that
humans, as such, are ambivalent creatures,
being ungrateful (qutila l-insdnu ma akfarahu,
Q_ 80:17; cf. 22:46; 42:48; 43:15; see grati-
tude and ingratitude) and stubborn (inna
l-insdna li-rabbihi la-kanud, p_ 100:6), faint-
hearted (inna l-insdna khuliqa halu'an,
Q_ 70:19), heavy (laqad khalaqnd l-insdna fi
kabad, o 90:4), unruly and willful (inna
l-insdna la-yatghd, p_ 96:6). This defici-
ency — as the context of the suras in ques-
tion shows — is due both to their short-
sightedness and to their obligations to their
creator (a-yahsabu an lam yarahu ahad, o 90:7;
cf. ioo:gf). It is a defect anticipated by the
angels who before the creation of Adam
disapproved of God's plan to install hu-
mans as his deputies on earth arguing that
they might cause corruption and shed
blood (qdlu a-taj'alujthd man yufsidu Jiha wa-
yasfiku l-dima', o 2:30). Still, "humanity,"
through Adam, is a khilafa (see caliph) of
God. The centrality of humanity and its
representational relationship to God can
be seen as grounded in an ontological
"community" (al-Azmeh, Thought; see com-
munity and society in the qijr'an). Al-
though according to the Quran human
beings are not explicitly created in the im-
age of God, they still share crucial faculties
with God, primarily that of mercy (q.v.;
rahma, cf. e.g. wa-huwa arhamu l-rdhimin,
Q_ 12:92; andfa-amma l-yatima fa-la taqhar/

COSMOLOGY

450

wa-ammd l-sd'ila fa-la tanhar, q_ 93:9-10), the
readiness to revise their positions and re-
pent (thumma yatubuna min qanbin fa-ula'ika
yatubu llahu 'alayhim, q_ 4:17), to remain pa-
tient (wa-la'in sabartum la-huwa khayrun lil-
sdbinn, Q_ 16:126). If humans do not cope
with the tasks imposed on them by God's
primordial design, it still remains their des-
tiny to take them upon themselves. As a
creature the human being is surely subject
to contradictory conditions, grandeur and
wretchedness (laqad khalaqna l-insanafi
ahsani taqwim / thumma radadnahu asfala
sdfilin, Q_ 95:4-5). However, as the symbolic
subtext of the sura suggests, human time
(q.v.) is not confined to the circular span of
an individual's lifetime but has become
linear, extending over a much longer pe-
riod. Although human physical time does
describe a circle from insignificant begin-
nings to its climax in adulthood and back
to decrepitude, the significant, spiritual
time of the human condition spans from
primordial creation and subsequent divine
revelation to humankind on the one hand,
to the resolution of creation and the final,
eschatological rendering of account on
the other.

These images, in spite of their eschato-
logical framework (see eschatology), are
closely reminiscent of the psalms, not only
implying an active, personal role on the
side of God but also his faculty to work as
an artisan who shapes humans like a potter
shapes his forms (khalaqa l-insana min salsdlin
ka-l-fakhkhdr, Q_ 55:14), who used his own
hands in creation (ma mana'aka an tasjuda li-
ma khalaqtu bi-yadayya, o_ 38:75) and who
certainly keeps everything under his super-
vision (wa-sna'i l-fulka bi-a'yunina, Q_ 11:37).
These verses of the Qur'an with their
overtly anthropomorphic imagery, attrib-
uting to God not only power and will but
also eyes (q.v.) and hands (q.v.) and most
strikingly a stable location, a throne (thumma
stawd 'aid l-'arshi, Q_ 7:54), are apt to coun-

terbalance the evidence of an absolute
transcendence of God as suggested by the
numerous verses about his extreme remote-
ness and exclusive power (see anthropo-
morphism). The notion of one particular
God as the creator of the world, of course,
had already been acknowledged in pre-
Islamic Arabia but this association between
creation and God had not always been
necessarily firm and definite and thus
could be taken to be of little relevance for
created beings. It is exactly the awareness
of human "creatureliness" (Isutzu, God),
the acceptance of this particular descent of
humankind, that forms the basis of an Is-
lamic consciousness.

There is further evidence of a totally new
scenario of mundane interaction: Social
life appears not only to be based on God's
providence, as though God were simply a
substitute for the blind fate which over-
shadowed the jdhilT life (see AGE OF ignor-
ance), but also to be substantially new in
nature. Human interaction is no longer
confined to the human agents involved
but has been extended to accommodate a
new "mythic participant," — hierarchic-
ally more elevated than the human co-
actors — who plays the role of a "stage
director." He lends his hand to support his
creatures in difficult ventures such as the
exaction of blood revenge (see ven-
geance) — previously a domain of the he-
roic individual (faqadja'alnd li-waliyyihi sul-
tdnan faldyusrif ji l-qatli innahu kana mansuran,
Q_. 17:33) and relieves man of the burden of
providing for his extended family in times
of crisis; God's provision even works to
eliminate the barbaric forms of self-preser-
vation inherited from the jdhiliyy a, such as
infanticide (q.v.; Q_ 17:31, cf. 81:9). But God
as the creator and preserver of his crea-
tures is not only their co-actor, he is their
preceptor as well: The mode of communi-
cating the new knowledge about the per-
sonal divine-human relation itself claims to

451

COSMOLOGY

encompass the participation of the domi-
nant new protagonist as it emerges as
speech sent from on high. Insofar as this
sender is at once an ever-present actor in
the scenario of the new scripture-oriented
interaction, communication as reflected in
the Quran decisively transcends all earlier
analogies of superhuman transmission of
knowledge, primarily the mode of sooth-
saying, wahy al-kahdna (see soothsayers).

Developments
The problem of evil and suffering (q.v.),
the need to explain their existence, which
does not arise in tribally oriented tradi-
tional religions, had to be introduced for
pagan listeners of the qur'anic message.
The myth of the first sin or more precisely
of human initiation in the notion of good
and evil, is conveyed in a biblical context in
the account of the first couple's tasting of
the forbidden tree in the very beginning of
the Judaeo-Christian scripture. As for the
Qur'an, the analogous account does not
occupy a comparably prominent position.
With regard to the early suras, the divine
creation of humans is often recollected,
clad in hymn-like reminiscences of divine
providence that appear in the context of
short hymn-like verses (qra ' bismi rabbika
lladln khalaqa / khalaqa l-insdna min 'alaq,
o 96:1-2; alladhi khalaqa fa-sawwd, Q_ 87:2).
These texts are not interested, however, in
the dramatic circumstances of man's tran-
sition from a mythic orbit into that of lived
reality. With the evolution of the polythe-
matic sura, i.e. with the transition of the
Qur'an from an oral to a written and thus
scripture-oriented text and the accompa-
nying process of a canonization from be-
low (Neuwirth, Rezitationstext; see book),
a complex structure for the mythic drama
emerges. The divine choice of the human
being as God's elect and the ensuing elec-
tion (q.v.) of a community is presented in
six suras; in later cases, it is complemented

by the account of the first transgression.
All cases, however, work to elucidate par-
ticular needs of the community. The
complete set of structural elements are
(1) a short introductory recollection of the
creation of human beings or of the pact
concluded between God and humankind.
This is followed by (2) the drama in
heaven: (a) God's announcement to the
angels of Adam's creation, (b) their disap-
proval but (c) final acceptance of Adam's
election, and (d) the deal concluded be-
tween God and Iblis allowing for the test-
ing of man by Iblls/a/ -shaytdn. After its
treatment in the first three sura accounts,
the deal story is finally followed by (3) the
test of the first couple. It is, however, note-
worthy that the canonized final text of the
Qur'an (mushaf, q.v.) has placed a most
elaborate and theologically relevant ver-
sion of the comprehensive account in the
first main part of the first long sura though
not the beginning of the corpus.

Sura 15:26-4.8
The earliest testimony of the story occu-
pies the central part of {) 15 (w. 26-48). It is
still confined to the drama of the deal in
heaven (2 a, c, d). This simple type (i.e.
without the test of the first couple) unfolds
before the mythic backdrop of the creation
of humans andjimi from diverse substances
as stated in the programmatic verse
Q_ 15:26, quoted almost exactly from the
earlier Q_ 55:14-5 {innd khalaqnd l-insdna min
salsalin ka-l-fakhkhdr wa-khalaqa l-jdnna min
mdrijin min ndr, Q_ 15:26-7). This diversity of
the elements of creation which did not
produce immediate antagonisms between
the two groups in Q_ 55, gains momentum
in all the texts involving Iblis. After creat-
ing the first human being from clay God
invites the spirits — creatures generated
from fire — to prostrate themselves before
him (see bowing and prostration). Only
Iblis refuses — claiming to be of more

COSMOLOGY

452

noble origin than Adam. Accused of dis-
obedience and cursed, he is nevertheless
granted respite from punishment and
authorized to set out to challenge his pri-
mordial rival, Adam, i.e. humankind,
through seduction. God himself thus cedes
part of his interaction with humankind to
Iblls, entitling him to test humans. He will,
however, have no power over God's elected
servants {ilia 'ibddaka minhumu l-mukhlasin,
Q_ 15:40). Humans thus have the option of
following guidance or giving way to seduc-
tion, which henceforth provides the crit-
erion separating true believers and deluded
disbelievers (see belief and unbelief). It is
the work of Iblls that underlies the crisis
reflected in the sura, namely the schism of
the Meccans into believers and unbeliev-
ers. Inasmuch as the agreement between
God and Satan, concluded in pre-existence
(for the type of this mythical story cf. Job),
foresees that most of those put to the test
by Iblis/al-shaytdn will not resist seduction,
it is only logical that the community of the
first hearers of the Qur'an ('ibddu lldhi
mukhlasun), who have remained untouched
by Iblls, have to face a majority who insist
on denying the message (see opposition to
Muhammad). The Meccan community and
their opponents alike thus appear to have
been preconceived as such in pre-existence.
The focus of the argument is on the elec-
tion of the group of actual listeners, the
adherents of the qur'anic message, who,
though suffering social hardships, are di-
vinely elected. The mythic narrative comes
as a consolation (q.v.), serving to reaffirm
for them the justice of their cause and to
legitimate them as a religious community.
Their status as a religious community is
affirmed by the fact that the ensuing peri-
cope addresses them (nabbi' 'ibdd, Q_ 15:49)
as the recipients of a divine message, in-
cluding the exemplary story of previously
beleaguered righteous believers. With such

biblical predecessors of the Meccan com-
munity, who emerge from their struggle
against calumny, prejudice, superstition
and tradition, with manifest triumph,
with their foes and hostile conspirators
disowned and broken (Cragg, Event, 171),
the sura predicts success for those who
endure.

Sura 38:71-85
The second version of the simple type of
the deal-story (o_ 38:67-85) serves different
ends. The pericope which differs in rhythm
and rhyme from the preceding text may
have been linked to it in order to supply a
heavenly prototype (o_ 38:69) for the am-
bivalent activity of arguing which appears
as the leitmotiv of the whole sura. Dispute
is presented as the negative counterpart of
the implementation of truth (al-hukm bi-
l-haqq, Q_ 38:22, 26; cf. 38:84; see debate
and disputation). The central figure of the
sura is David (q.v; Dawud), evoked as a
prominent scriptural personification of the
primordial deputy of God on earth, as
divinely decreed (jid-Ddwudu innja'alndka
khalifatanji l-ardifa-hkum bayna l-nasi bi-
l-haqqi wa-ld tattabi'i l-hawd fa-judillaka 'an
sabili lldhi, Q_ 38:26). The episode relates
that two numinous disputants {wa-hal atdka
naba'u l-khasmi... /id/i dakhalu aid Ddwuda
fa-fazi'a minhum qdlu la takhaf, khasmdni. . .,
C3 38:21-2) appear before David to enact a
symbolical lawsuit thereby arousing his
troubled conscience (wa-^anna Ddwudu
annamd fattanndhu fa-staghfara rabbahu,
o 38:24). The argument is about a case
where truth was suppressed by rhetorical
means {wa-'azzuniji l-khitdb, o_ 38:23), an
inappropriate use of dispute. Dispute to
avoid facing a truth is also practiced by
those condemned to hell (takhdsumu ahli
l-ndr, o_ 38:64). But the primordial origin of
arguing lies in the role played by Iblls in
the heavenly deal. It is true, the heavenly

453

COSMOLOGY

council (see court) itself is in dispute (ma
kana limin 'ilmin bi-l-mala'i l-a'la idhyakh-
tasimun, q_ 38:69), most probably an allusion
to the angels' disapproval of the election of
Adam as deputy of God and thus entitled
to the obedience of the heavenly hosts (wa-
idh qdla rabbuka lil-mald'ikati innijd'ilunji
l-ardi khalifatan fa-qdlu a-taj'alujihd manyuf-
sidujihd, Q_ 2:30). But all finally comply;
only the pretentious Iblls (istakbara, Q_ 38:74;
see arrogance) insists on the inferiority of
humans to spirits, daring to dismiss God's
argument of creating Adam with his own
hands (ma mana 'aka an tasjuda li-md khalaqtu
bi-yadayya, q_ 38:75) in view of his nobler
substance. He is cursed (see curse) and
driven from the heavens. Being granted,
however, respite from punishment, he
starts a new argument. He invokes God's
omnipotence itself (bi-'izzatika, o_ 38:82) in
swearing to seduce all of Adam's off-
spring — again excluding explicitly the
elected servants (o_ 38:83; cf. 15:40). Against
Iblls' pathetic oath, God invokes the truth
of his own word (qalafa-l-haqqu wa-l-haqqa
aqul, Q_ 38:84) to attest to the firmness of
his will to punish Iblls and his followers,
consigning them to hell. The pericope em-
bedded in a section about reaffirmation of
the community is — however close in con-
tent to that in Q_ 15 — distinguished from it
by its far higher tension, being itself an en-
actment of a takhdsum, a fierce argument.
Arguing, in the sense disapproved by the
hadlth (inna abghada l-ndsi ila lldhi l-aladdu l-
khasmi) has its primordial origin in Iblls'
performance in the deal episode. The focus
of the version presented in q 38 is on the
pretentiousness of Iblls (istakbara, Q_ 38:74-5)
who dares to argue with God, only to end
up with the power to work seductive works
(la-ughwiyannahum, Q_ 38:82) that fail next to
God's true words (al-haqq, o 38:84). His is a
merely rhetorical message devoid of truth
and meant to lead to an illusive confidence

in human self-sufficiency on the side of his
followers.

Sura iy.61-5
A further echo of the deal-story, again
placed in the context of consolation in a
crisis, is presented by a short pericope in
Q_ 17:61-5. The passage is part of a vehe-
ment polemic (see polemic and polemical
language) against unbelievers which en-
tails admonitions to the community to
remain patient with those who are ob-
viously affected by Yhlis/ al-shaytdn (wa-qul
li-'ibddi yaqulu llati hiya ahsanu inna l-shaytana
yanzaghu baynahum inna l-shaytana kana lil-
insdni 'aduwwan mubinan, q_ 17:53). The isola-
tion the community suffers thus follows
from Iblls' power over the majority of
humankind (la-ahtanikanna dhurriyyatahu ilia
qalilan, Q_ 17:62), while it is at the same time
proof of their being elected (inna 'ibddi
laysa laka 'alayhim sultanun wa-kaja bi-rabbika
wakilan, Q 17:65). The short recollection of
the deal-narrative pinpoints the means of
seduction introduced by al-shaytdn, partic-
ularly wealth and numerous offspring,
those privileges of which the community's
powerful opponents boast. The mythic
story thus reveals them as most ambiguous
commands, no more than divinely in-
tended devices for testing. In the end, the
essential remains the enactment of the
human response to the offer of divine
guidance.

Sura 20:115-23
In the second type of the account, which
focuses on the test (3) of the primordial
couple, only allusion is made to the mythic
deal (2) between God and Iblls. This more
complex narrative is presented in the final,
consoling, section of o_ 20 (w. 115-23). The
story is introduced (1) as a divine covenant
(q.v.) with Adam. Al-shaytdn, obviously
identical with Iblls but introduced with his

COSMOLOGY

454

generic designation to underline his role as
a malign force, seduces the first couple to
taste from the tree of immortality (shajaratu
l-khuld, Q_ 20:120). They comply — in spite
of a divine warning (yd-Adamu inna hddhd
'aduwwun laka wa-li-zawjika, Q_ 20:117) —
obviously from mere curiosity since God
has reminded them that they do not lack
anything by which to satisfy their hunger
(inna laka alia tajd'ajihd, q_ 20:118). What
they actually gain from tasting the forbid-
den fruit is, however, not immortality but
the awareness of their nakedness and their
sexuality (Bounfour, Sexe). The hitherto
unfclt desire to consume the fruit from the
unknown tree is now followed by an
equally novel desire to cover their bodies,
a measure which God had declared to be
superfluous (inna laka alia taju'ajihd wa-la
ta'rd, Q_ 20:118). Once the fruit is tasted, the
awareness of individuality and thus the
need of delimiting oneself from the sur-
rounding world, of bearing a secret (see
secrets) not to be exposed to outsiders, has
been aroused: They cover themselves with
leaves. The implications of their changing
relationship towards the outer world are,
however, fully elaborated. The transgres-
sion is, contrarily, viewed solely as de-
manding repentance. Accepted once
again by God they are granted guidance.
Though they have to descend from para-
dise, obviously understood as a demotion
in status, they do not part without the
divine promise that guidance will be of-
fered to them later on to save them from
going astray (q.v.). It is the awareness of
this binding covenant between God and
humankind which can only be disrupted by
human forgetfulness (qdla ka-dhdlika atatka
dydtund fa-nasitahd wa-ka-dhdlika l-yawma
tunsd, Q_ 20:126) that marks the dividing line
between the community and the disbeliev-
ers. The community — and this is the mes-
sage of the sura — has become a people of

a divine covenant (q.v.). It is noteworthy
that this first version of the test-narrative
displays a particular tendency to rid single
narrative elements of their virtual mythic
potency. Thus the act of tasting of the fruit
deemed fatal in the biblical story as well as
the desire to cover one's body, an experi-
ence marking the transition to a new stage
of socialization, are both reduced in ad-
vance to a mere satisfaction of physical
needs, God admonishing the first couple
that they do not suffer from hunger nor
from lack of clothing. The mythic signifi-
cance of the acts, the momentum of their
essential "firstness," has thus been lost and
excluded.

Sura y: 10-34.
The third type of account, which is the
most comprehensive account, entailing an
introduction and both the deal- and the
test-narratives (1, 2, 3), is presented in a
pericope embedded in the polemical intro-
ductory section of Q_ 7 (w. 10-34). It s t ar ts
with an appeal (1) to the listeners — who
are viewed as embodying Adam — to
remember their creation and their accom-
modation in their earthly dwelling, pre-
sented as an ideal habitat, and to be ac-
cordingly grateful. The scenario then
switches to the heavens (2) where Iblls fig-
ures in his well-known role as a rebel refus-
ing to prostrate himself before Adam; he is
cursed but at his request granted a stay of
punishment. Rather, he sets out to seduce
humans to the vice of ingratitude — that
particular human deficiency already la-
mented as prevailing among them in the
introduction. The test story (3) again sets
forth an appeal, addressed to Adam and
his wife to enjoy the fruit of the garden
except for one tree which they are to avoid.
Al-shaytdn, eager to make them aware of
their nakedness, whispers that the restric-
tion has only been made to deny them the

455

COSMOLOGY

status of angels and eternal life. Arousing
their curiosity and greed for a good with-
held, he induces them to eat from the tree,
thus causing their discovery of their naked-
ness. Again they hasten to cover themselves
with leaves. The mischief cannot, however,
remain hidden; God calls them to account,
reminding them that they have been
warned about al-shaytan — an allusion to
the earlier text Q_ 20:117 (ya-Adamu inna
hadha 'aduwwun laka wa-li-zawjika fa-la
yukhrijannakuma mina l-jannatifa-tashqayd).
They acknowledge their transgression and
ask to be pardoned. Since the acceptance
of the plea is already known from an ear-
lier text (thumma ijtabahu rabbuhu fa-tab a
'alayhi wa-hada, o 20:122), the divine answer
is confined to the decree that they have to
leave paradise altogether to find their liv-
ing on earth, destined moreover to be each
other's enemies. Immortality is emphatic-
ally denied to them (fha tahyawna wa-fiha
tamutuna, q_ 7:25) but death is not final in
view of the central qur'anic revelation, the
promise of resurrection (wa-minha tukhra-
juna, Q_ 7:25). This account of both the elec-
tion and the test of man, the fullest in the
Qur'an, functions as an etiological basis
for an argument that is unfolded in the en-
suing sermon. Humans are exhorted (see
exhorations) to accept the custom of
clothing as a divine grace calling for grate-
fulness, a social achievement to assure
decency — which is only eclipsed in value
by the allegorical cloth of humankind, the
virtue of fear of God. They shall beware
of al-shaytan whose seduction brings about
degradation in rank and humiliation
through exposure. Further admonitions
ensue regarding decent behavior in places
of worship, while the upholders of coarse
pagan customs are denounced as followers
of al-shaytan. The account, which is obvi-
ously understood to culminate in the pri-
mordial couple's shocking awareness of

their nakedness, is thus put to the service
of a reform concept, the plea for a less
ostentatious pagan practice of ancient
Arabian rites which were occasionally per-
formed by naked worshipers.

Sura 2:s8-gg
The fourth type (o_ 2:28-39) presents yet a
different selection of elements: It is charac-
terized by a particularly elaborate prologue
(2a) to the — shortly summarized —
heavenly deal (2b), leading to the test story
(3). The prologue, focusing on the newly
developed design, serves to solve the
enigma of God's demand of the angels to
prostrate themselves before a figure other
than himself. The pericope (q_ 2:28-39) is
part of a sura which appears as a loose col-
lection of diverse text units, thus making it
difficult to judge the structural function of
its single elements; the pericope may, how-
ever, be fruitfully juxtaposed to previous
versions. With a prelude which recalls
(1) the creation of humankind and the cos-
mos (o_ 2:28-9) it continues with God's an-
nouncement that he is to establish a deputy
on earth {inmja'ilunfi l-ardi khalifatan,
Q_ 2:30), a plan vehemently opposed by the
angels who anticipate the moral ambiva-
lence of human behavior in contrast to
their own pure service of God [wa-nahnu
nusabbihu bi-hamdika wa-nuqaddisu laka,
Q_ 2:30). In order for him to be superior to
the angels Adam is endowed with the
knowledge of the names of things and thus
accepted. The angels refrain from further
argument complying with God's knowl-
edge of hidden truth (a-lam aqul lakum inni
a'lamu ghayba l-samawati wa-l-ardi, Q_ 2:33;
see hidden AND THE hidden). They pros-
trate themselves before God's elect with
the now well-known exception of Iblls
whose ensuing "investiture" as seducer is
now presupposed. In the second part of
the narrative (3), Adam, whose future

COSMOLOGY

456

important role in the lower realm of the
earth has already been disclosed to the lis-
teners, has to go through the decisive
change from a privileged but not self-
responsible inhabitant of the garden to an
active responsible agent on earth. The pos-
itive response to God's invitation to estab-
lish himself with his wife in the garden
but to confine themselves to the share en-
trusted to them (wa-kula minha raghadan
haythu shi'tuma wa-la taqraba..., o_ 2:35) can-
not therefore be lasting. Indeed, the ensu-
ing transgression of the limits set in the
divine offer is but the enactment of the
transition demanded for the realization of
the destined change. But the qur'anic per-
spective is different: The blame is laid on
al-shaytan who is accused of having made
them slip and thus of despoiling their
enjoyment of the garden and the status
they had held. They are ordered to de-
scend to earth, inimical to each other
(see enemy), where they will find a living
place and provisional means of living.
Their repentance and rehabilitation being
known from the earlier texts, it is only fit-
ting that Adam whose election as khalifatu
llah on earth and whose endowment with
knowledge constituted the beginning of
the story, is honored in the end by a divine
message (fa-talaqqa Adamu min rabbihi kali-
matin, q 2:37) and promised guidance for
his offspring. The pericope is strongly ref-
erential and relies on the listeners' knowl-
edge of important details from earlier
publicized pericopes. But the plot has by
now changed its focus: It is no longer a
consolation for the community of the elect
confronted with followers of the seducer as
in the earliest versions (type one), nor a les-
son in obedience the neglect of which will
result in shameful self-exposure and humil-
iating degradation from a noble status to a
more burdensome one (type two), nor an
argument for the implementation of new
social norms (type three). Rather, it is obvi-
ously intended to be more universal by pre-

senting the primordial exemplum for the
endless coexistence of the positive option
of divine guidance — to be implemented
by the deputy of God on earth — and the
negative option of following one's desire.
Inclination towards the wrong choice has
been already experienced by the first hu-
man being and is reflected in human be-
havior since then. The human being now
established as the deputy of God on earth,
the qur'anic admonitions and recollections
of examples acquire the momentum of
this deputy's ethical project to be imple-
mented on earth.

Summary: Some theological implications
The seemingly repetitive qur'anic creation
accounts clearly convey various messages.
They share, however, the characteristic of
a far-reaching emptiness of those mythical
traits that in the biblical story serve to ex-
plain world order etiologically. Indeed, a
kind of demystification has taken place.
The first woman is neither compromised
by a "secondary" origin from a rib of
Adam, thus being degraded to compara-
tively inferior rank, nor does she play a
fatal initiative role in the act of transgres-
sion that could win her the doubtful repu-
tation of a seductress. Furthermore, the
tasting of the food is not motivated by any
alluring mystery that could arouse desire
(the biblical concupiscentia oculorum); rather,
the act is marginalized as essentially super-
fluous in view of the lack of hunger suf-
fered by the inhabitants of the garden. Not
even the sudden discovery of their naked-
ness as a shocking exposure is viewed as
more than incidental mischief. The most
significant role of Iblls as a dialogical
agent — bringing about the transforma-
tion of the human being from an obedient
but not self-responsible creature to an ac-
tive agent fit to take up his task on earth —
remains unacknowledged in the Quran.
It is no surprise, then, that later exegetes
in the Sufi tradition have revised his image.

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COSMOLOGY

Iblis becomes a tragic figure raised to the
rank of the purest believer in the unriv-
alled uniqueness of his lord, whose refusal
to prostate himself before Adam though an
act of disobedience to God's command,
becomes an act of faithfulness to God's
will (Hallaj; Awn, Tragedy). It is noteworthy
that determinist exegesis leads to similar
conclusions: If God has decreed the role
of Iblis, how can Iblis be blamed? The
Qur'an and mainstream exegesis, how-
ever, do not allow for such a moral rehabil-
itation of the figure. Still in the narrative,
however, he alone retains a mythic dimen-
sion, posing an unsolved enigma. In view
of the otherwise strikingly a-mythic read-
ing of the ancient accounts in the Qur'an
it becomes all the more relevant that a
mythic elevation of the community of be-
lievers has taken place, their emergence be-
ing foreshadowed in the deal concluded in
pre-existence between God and Iblis. It is
in that sense that the community is antici-
pated, raised to the rank of God's elects,
inaccessible to the machinations of Iblis.
The final growth of the account reached in
Q_ 2:28-39 culminates in a combination of
two election narratives, the universal elec-
tion of Adam who is called upon to imple-
ment divine truth on earth and the histori-
cal election of the community to live up to
the truth transmitted to them from the
same source, is hardly purely accidental. At
this advanced stage of the canonical pro-
cess where the concept of a khalijatu Hah on
earth as an agent of God who is to reign in
truth (already touched upon, but not yet
unfolded in o 38:26) constitutes the nucleus
of a central qur'anic design, could a more
qualified personification of that divine de-
sign be imagined than that offered by the
elect community?

A later, isolated verse, o_ 33:72, presents
a shorthand mythic image — familiar to
other Near Eastern traditions as well (cf.
Speyer, Erzahlungen) — for the unique rank
of man in the qur'anic concept of cosmog-

ony: "We offered the trust to the heavens
and the earth and the mountains, but they
refused to carry it and were afraid of it;
and man carried it, verily man is sinful,
very foolish" (innci 'aradna l-amanata 'aid l-
samawdti wa-l-ardi wa-l-jibali fa-abayna an
yahmilnahd wa-ashfaqna minha wa-hamalaha
l-insdnu innahu kdna galuman jahulan) . Hu-
mans thus took upon themselves the
challenge and the risk of falling prey to in-
justice and error (q.v.). Human consent to
this privileged, yet dangerous stance within
the venture of creation appears like a
"fiat" to the order of a world that involves
humans as serious partners from the begin-
ning (Talbi, L'homme). The risk is, of course,
mutual: Cragg [Mind, 142) has stressed,
"there is an evident risk divinely taken at
creation. Man was seen as a dubious pro-
position in the divine counsels — too frail
to be trusted, too arrogant to be thus em-
powered, too liable to shed blood and cor-
rupt the earth. In this qur'anic myth of
man-the-liability, history is seen as the
sphere of the Satanic determination to
prove the accusation valid and the divine
risk discredited. The very theme of history
is thus the question mark of human worth,
albeit understood as a vital question-mark
of divine wisdom and power. The wisdom
of God is staked on the credibility of man
as its supreme test and venture. The ques-
tion of God is the question of man. The
human is in this way the sphere in which
the divine is either acknowledged or be-
lied." See HISTORY AND THE QUR'AN.

Angelika Neuwirth

Bibliography
A. Ambros, Gestaltung unci Funktionen der
Biosphare im Koran, in ZDMG 140 (1990),
290-325; G.-C. Anawati, La notion de "peche
originel" existe-t-elle dans l'lslam? in SI 31 (1970),
29-40; R. Arnaldez, Khalk, in El', iv, 980-8; A.
al-Azmeh, Arabic thought and Islamic societies,
London 1986; PJ. Awn, Satan's tragedy and
redemption. Iblis in Sufi psychology, Leiden 1983;

COURAGE

458

A. Bounfour, Sexe, parole et culpabilite dans le
recit coranique de l'origine, in SI 81 (1995), 43-65;
G. Bowering, The concept of time in Islam, in
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 141
(1997), 57; K. Cragg, The event of the Qur'an. Islam
in its scripture, Oxford 1971, 1994; id., The mind of
the Qiir'an, London 1977; P. Crone and M. Hinds,
God's caliph. Religious authority in the first centuries of
Islam., Gambridge 1986; J. van Ess, Das begrenzte
Paradies, in P. Salmon (ed.), Melanges dTslamo logic.
Volume dedie a la memoire de Armand Abel par ses
collegues, ses eleves et ses amis, Leiden 1974, 108-27;
S.D. Goitein, Prayer in Islam, in S.D. Goitein
(ed.), Studies in Islamic history and institutions,
Leiden 1966, 73-89; W. Graham, "The winds to
herald his mercy" and other "Signs for those of
certain faith. 11 Nature as token of God's
sovereignty and grace in the Qur'an, in Sang
Hyim Lee et al. (eds.), Faithful imagining Essays in
honor of Richard R. Niebuhr, Atlanta 1995, 18-38;
R. Gramlich, Der Urvertrag in der
Koranauslegung (zu Sure 7:172-173), in Der Islam
60 (1983), 205-30; G. von Grunebaum,
Observations on the Muslim concept of evil, in
si 31 (1970), 117-34; al-Hallaj, al-Husayn b.
Mansur, Kitab al-TawasTn, ed. P. Nwyia, Beirut
1972; A. Heinen, Islamic cosmology. A study of as-
■Suyuti's Al-hay'a as-sanlya fl 1-haya as-sunmya
with a critical edition, translation, and commentary,
Beirut 1982; A. Neuwirth, Images and metaphors
in the introductory sections of the Meccan suras,
in Hawting and Shareef, Approaches, 3-26; id.,
Vom Rezitationstext iiber die Liturgie zum
Kanon. Zu Entstehung und Wiederauflosimg der
Surenkomposition im Verlauf der Entwicklung
eines islamischen Kultus, in Wild, Text, 69-105;
id., Qur'anic literary structure revisited. Surat
ar-Rahman between mythic account and
decodation of myth, in S. Leder (ed.), Fiction and
fictionality in classical Arabic literature, Halle 1999;
R. Paret, Signification coranique de Hallfa et
d'autres derives de la racine Halafa, in SI 31
(1970), 211-8; M. Talbi, L'homme dans le Goran,
Paris 1970; K. Wagtendonk, Fasting in the Koran,
Leiden 1968; W.M. Watt, God's caliph. Qur'anic
interpretations and Umayyad claims, in C.E.
Bosworth (ed.), Iran and Islam, Edinburgh 1971;
J. Wellhausen, Reste altarabischen Heidentums,
Berlin 1897 2 , repr. 1927, 1961.

ige

That quality of mind which enables one to
meet danger and difficulties with resolve.

Although this notion is often invoked in the
OjLir'an, especially in verses that describe
the struggle of the Muslim community
against their Meccan and pagan Arab foes
(see opposition to muhammad; arabs), it is
usually expressed indirectly or descriptively.
The words shaja'a, hamasa and basdla that
commonly designate "courage," "bravery"
or "valor" in pre-Islamic poetry and tribal
lore are conspicuously absent from the
qur'anic text (see pre-islamic ARABIA and
the qur'an). Qur'anic terms such as ba's
(a 4 8:i6 ; 59 :i 4; 27:33), batsh (o_ 50:36), sabr
and its derivatives (q_ 3:142, 146; 2:153, 155;
8:46, 65; 19:65, etc.), jihad (q.v.) and its cog-
nates (o_ 3:142, 9:41,81, etc.), do not cover
the same semantic field as the former
three, although they do highlight some
important aspects of the idea at hand.

The qur'anic avoidance of the common
pre-Islamic words for courage and bravery
may be attributed to the radical transfor-
mation of the traditional bedouin (q.v.)
tribal values following the advent of Islam
(see tribes and clans). Prominent among
these values were hamasa, muruwwa, and
'ird which connoted, in addition to the dig-
nity and power of a free tribesman, his
"bravery in battle, patience in misfortune,
persistence in seeking blood revenge [see
retaliation; blood money; murder; ven-
geance], protection (q.v.) of the weak, de-
fiance of the strong" (Izutsu, Concepts, 27).
More importantly, the word hamasa implied
the tribesman's readiness to defend valiantly
the gods and religious customs of his tribe
or tribal confederation, e.g. the hums and
the hilla (Frantsouzoff, Processes; see idol-
aters and idolatry; polytheism and
atheism). Such connotations may have ren-
dered it totally unacceptable from the Is-
lamic viewpoint. After Islam had thor-
oughly revised these and other concepts to
suit its overall value system, some of the
terms that were intimately intertwined

459

COURAGE

with the pre-Islamic bedouin mentality
seem to have been consciously abandoned
in favor of more neutral ones.

This Islamic revision of the old values
and virtues did not necessarily entail a
total and indiscriminate rejection of the
pre-Islamic code of honor (q.v.) that
praised courage and condemned coward-
ice. It is more appropriate to speak of a
selective adaptation of this code to the
central tenets of Islam. In the process of
this adaptation, the thoughtless, impul-
sive bravery of the proud tribesman
(see arrogance) which often led to the
senseless bloodshed (q.v.) and inhuman
ferocity of tribal feuds was replaced with
the idea of "a noble, well-disciplined cour-
age with a lofty aim serving the cause of
the right religion: courage 'in the way of
God'" (Izutsu, Concepts, 85; see islam; path
or way [of god]). This type of courage is
frequently invoked in the Qur'an without,
however, being described by such value-
laden terms of the pre-Islamic past as
hamasa, basala, shaja'a and their derivatives.
In the Qur'an, the correct type of courage
is consistently associated with the notions
of hilm and sabr, which signify man's ability
to "overcome his own blind passions and to
remain tranquil and undisturbed" in the
face of the gravest danger (Izutsu, God,
205) and to persevere in championing a re-
ligious cause (Izutsu, Concepts, 102). These
virtues (see virtue) are indispensable for
the Muslim warrior on the battlefield (see
expeditions and battles; war). Therefore,
they develop "quite naturally into the spirit
of martyrdom, that is, the moral strength
to undergo with amazing heroism death or
any torment for the sake of one's own
faith" (Izutsu, Concepts, 102; see martyr).

In the Qur'an, these qualities are some-
times juxtaposed with the unpredictable,
reckless behavior of the pagan Arab, who
is quick to lose self-control and to succumb

to fits of a destructive, blind rage. The con-
trast between the two types of behavior on
the battlefield is thrown into relief in
C3 48:26 which sets the senseless fierceness
of the pagan inhabitants (hamiyyat al-
jahiliyya) of Mecca (q.v.; see age of igno-
rance) in opposition to the unshakable
calmness and steadfast resignation of the
Muslims, which they acquire through the
Divine Presence [sakina, see sechina) in
their midst (cf o 9:26 and 40, where, in ad-
dition to the sakina, God reinforces the be-
lievers with "the multitudes, or legions, [of
angels?] you do not see"; see hidden and
the hidden). Occasionally, the Muslims'
unflagging allegiance to God's cause is
presented in terms of a commercial deal
between the two parties (see contracts
and alliances): "God has bought from the
believers their souls and their possessions
(see possession; wealth) as they will have
the Garden (q.v.; see also paradise); they
fight in the way of God, they kill and get
killed; that is a promise binding upon
God in the Torah (q.v), and the Gospel
(q.v.) and the Qur'an; and who fulfills his
covenant (q.v.) more truly than God?"
(q, 9:111; see selling and buying). The
actions of the pagan warrior, on the other
hand, are dictated primarily by his exag-
gerated sense of pride and independence,
his obligations toward his kinsfolk (see
kinship) and his confidence of his superior
physical strength, all of which constituted
the bedouin code of honor.

The Qur'an accentuates the disparity
between the pagan and Muslim values by
attributing the distinctive concepts of fear
(q.v.) and honor to their respective carriers.
While the pagan's haughty refusal to sur-
render to the will of any other person is
dictated by his fear of tarnishing his per-
sonal honor, as dictated by the unwritten
laws of the tribal society, the Qur'an pres-
ents the Muslim as willingly bowing before

COURAGE

460

the supreme authority and might of God
(see bowing and prostration; authority).
Hence his only fear is to fail in his obliga-
tions toward his Lord, e.g. by withdrawing
from battle or refusing to obey the com-
mands of his Messenger (q.v.; see also
disobedience). This pious fear (khawf,
taqwa, see piety) strengthens the resolve of
faithful Muslims in times of adversity,
causing them to resign themselves to their
destiny and to fight in the way of God to
the bitter end (q 3:172-5; cf. 9:81-3). More-
over, while pre-Islamic poetry (see poetry
and poets) usually celebrates individual
courage, the Quran emphasizes the col-
lective spirit of its Islamic counterpart:
"God loves those who fight in his way in
ranks, as though they were a building well-
compacted" (q_ 61:4; see community and
society; social interactions). In this con-
text, the god-fearing attitude of the Mus-
lim fighter which lies behind his inflexible
determination to defend his faith is inti-
mately linked to the central tenet of the
Muslim religion, that is, the human being's
unconditional submission to the will of
God. In return God gives them "the re-
ward of this world and the fairest reward
of the world to come" (q_ 3:148; see re-
ward and punishment; blessing).

As for those who waver when confronted
with a superior enemy force and who seek
refuge in their homes due either to weak-
ness or to the whisperings of Satan (see
devil; iblis), they are threatened with "a
grievous punishment" in the hereafter. The
Qur'an repeatedly condemns them as "the
hypocrites and those in whose hearts is
sickness" (q 33:12; see hypocrites and
hypocrisy). Boastful (see boast) and over-
confident in times of peace (q.v.), they
quickly panic and lose heart at the sight of
the approaching enemy: "When fear
comes upon them, you see them looking at
you, their eyes rolling like one who swoons

of death; but when the fear departs, they
flay you with sharp tongues, covetous of
the good things. Those have not believed"
(q_ 33:19). Since such people are interested
primarily in the spoils of war (see booty),
they are prone to squabbling and mutual
recriminations; they also routinely doubt
the wisdom of the Prophet and the accu-
racy of his predictions (q 3:149-52; see
prophets and prophethood; wisdom;
infallibility). Their vacillation and op-
portunism are constantlyjuxtaposed with
the moral strength and selfless heroism of
the true believers who remain steadfast and
unshakeable under any adversity or suffer-
ing: "They were true to their covenant
with God; some of them have fulfilled
their vow (q.v.) by death, and some are still
awaiting, and they have not changed in the
least" (q 33:23).

In many verses, the trials and defeat in
battle experienced by the Medinan com-
munity are depicted as divine tests that
were meant to unmask the backsliders and
separate them from the true believers. Al-
though God unfailingly comes to his com-
munity's rescue with "legions you do not
see," he wants the faithful to demonstrate
their fidelity to his cause by exerting them-
selves in the struggle against their pagan
foes (q 3:140-2,154, 166; 47:4; see trial).
The valiant behavior of the Muslim war-
riors at Badr (q.v.) and Uhud (q.v.) is prefig-
ured by the feats of the faithful followers of
the earlier prophets, e.g. those of Saul's
(Talut; see Saul) men against whom
Samuel (q.v.) sent the superior army of
Goliath (Jalut; see goliath) in an episode
probably meant to inspire a similar un-
swerving loyalty in Muhammad's own sup-
porters following the defeat at Uhud (Bell,
Commentary, i, 52): "Said those who reck-
oned they should meet God, 'How often a
little company has overcome a numerous
company, by God's leave! And God is with

4(ii

COURAGE

the patient.' So when they went forth
against Goliath and his hosts they said,
'Our Lord, pour out upon us patience, and
make firm our feet, and give us aid against
the people of the unbelievers!' And they
routed them, by the leave of God!"
(o_ 2:249-50; see trust and patience).

A large group of hortative verses appears
to be explicitly designed to instill resolve in
the Muslim warriors fighting against formi-
dable odds. They urge the Prophet and his
followers to "faint not, neither sorrow"
(O. 3 :i 39; cf - 4 :i °4; 47 : 35). to "struggle for
God as is his due" (<£ 22:78; cf. 5:35; 9:41,
73, 86; 25:52; 66:9), and to "fight in the
way of God" (q_ 2:190, 244; cf. 2:193; 3:167;
4:76, 84; 5:24; 8:39; 9:12, 14, 29, 36, 123;
49:9). These and similar passages mostly
pertain to the Muslim battles against pa-
gan Arabs (al-Nakhla, Badr, Uhud, Hu-
nayn [q.v.], etc.). Often invoked in these
contexts is the notion of sabr, "patience,"
that lies behind the Muslim fighter's "in-
flexible determination to persist in the
face of unrelenting attacks of the enemy"
(Izutsu, Concepts, 104). The frequency with
which this notion is mentioned in "battle
suras" (rj 2:153-5; 3:142, 146, 150; 8:45, 65;
61:4) indicates its centrality to Muslim war-
fare. The concerted, disciplined war effort
of the Muslim community is thus implicitly
juxtaposed with the disorganized raiding
expeditions of the pagan Arabs that
quickly disintegrate when confronted with
a stiff resistance or first reversals.

Verses pertaining to courage and heroism
on the battlefield became objects of exe-
getical elaboration in later qur'anic com-
mentary (tafsir). Muslim scholars sought to
elucidate the socio-political context in
which the particular verses were revealed
in order to draw moral and ethical lessons
(see occasions of revelation; ethics in
the qur'an). In so doing, they often sup-
ported their exegesis by relevant hadith

enjoining martyrdom and bravery on the
battlefield. Typical in this regard is Ibn
Kathlr's (d. 774/1373) commentary on
Q_ 3:143 in which he quotes the famous
prophetic tradition: "Do not yearn for
meeting your enemies; rather ask God for
well-being. But if you meet them, be stead-
fast, and know that paradise is under the
shadow of swords" (M. Ayoub, The Qur'an,
ii, 334). Al-Shawkam (d. 1250/1832) ex-
plains Q_ 3:139 in die following manner:
"God consoled the Muslims for the injuries
and loss of life they suffered on the day of
Uhud. He urged them to fight steadfastly
against their enemies and not give in to
weakness and defeat. Then God informed
them that they would prevail over their
enemies with victory (q.v.) and conquest.
God meant to say, 'You shall be uppermost
over them and any other people after this
battle'" (M. Ayoub, The Qur'an, ii, 328).
Sufi commentators, on the other hand,
sought to detach the "battle verses" from
their historical context and infuse them
with a spiritual, transcendent meaning (see
sufism and THE qur'an). As an example,
one may quote a gloss on o 3:141 by the
Sufi author al-Hasan al-Nisaburl (d.
728/1327). According to his interpretation,
the pain and hardships suffered by Muslim
warriors symbolize the "cleansing of their
hearts (see heart) of the darkness of unsal-
utary characteristics, illuminating them
with lights of divine mysteries (ghuyiib),
obliterating the attributes of unfaithful-
ness... and effacing the wicked marks of
their characters. Thus they would be liber-
ated from the prison of phantoms into the
sacred realms of the spirits" (M. Ayoub,
The Qur'an, ii, 334).

Frequently, such interpretative explana-
tions and conclusions evince the under-
lying religio-political agendas of the exe-
getes. Thus, in an effort to reproduce the
devoted homogeneity and bold enthusiasm

462

of the primitive community of Medina,
Kharijl leaders often quoted "battle verses"
to instill in their followers the spirit of self-
denial and martyrdom that they attributed
to the first Muslim heroes. Citing Q_ 9:111,
the Kharijis (q.v.) called themselves "ven-
dors" (shurat), i.e. those who sold their lives
and property to God in return for salvation
(q.v.). Pro-Alid and Shl'i exegetes, for their
part, use these verses in order to demon-
strate the exceptional courage and loyalty
to the Prophet shown by 'All during the
battles of Badr and Uhud (see shTTsm AND
the chjr'an; c ali b. abI talib). Simultane-
ously, they tended to ascribe cowardice and
wavering to some of the Companions (see
companions OF THE prophet), including
'Uthman (q.v.) and to a lesser extent 'Umar
(q.v.), who are said to have fled from the
battlefield leaving the Prophet face to face
with his enemies. Conversely, SunnI schol-
ars sought to exonerate their rightly-guided
Caliphs (see caliph) by offering various ex-
planations on their behalf and by empha-
sizing Abu Bakr's unwavering commitment
to the Prophet and the Muslim cause dur-
ing these fateful encounters (M. Ayoub, The
Qur'an, ii, 31 1-3, 335-7, 339, 343, 354-5).

Alexander D. Knysh

Bibliography
Primary: Abu Tammam, Dlwan, 2 vols., n.p.
1331/1913; TabarsT, Majma .
Secondary: M. Ayoub, The Qur'an audits
interpreters, 2 vols., Albany 1984-92, ii; S.
Frantsouzoff, Ethnic and confessional processes
in pre-Islamic Arabia (the religio-tribal
communities of hums, hilla and tuls) [in
Russian], in Sovetskaya etnografiya 3 (1986), 47-57;
A. al-HufT, al-Butula wa-l-abtal, Cairo 1967; id.,
al-Jihdd, Cairo 1970; Izutsu, Concepts, ch. 5; id.,
God, ch. 8; V. Polosin, A dictionary of the Abs tribe
[in Russian], Moscow 1995; F. Rahman, Major
themes of the Qur'an, Minneapolis 1980, 28-31;
M. Rodionov, Aluruwwa, 'asabiyya, dm: Towards
an interpretation of Near Eastern etiquette
[in Russian] , in The etiquette of the west Asian
peoples [in Russian], Moscow 1988, 60-8; W.M.

Watt, The formative period of Islamic thoug
Edinburgh 1973.

Court

The celestial court of God as both divine
ruler and judge. No qur'anic wording di-
rectly corresponds to the concept of a
celestial court but the idea is best approxi-
mated by the phrase al-mala' al-a'la which
occurs only twice in the Qur'an (O. 37:8;
38:69). 37:6-8 reads: "We have adorned
the lowest heaven (al-sama" ' al-dunya) with
adornment, the planets, a security from
every daring devil. They cannot listen to
al-mala' al-a'la; they are pelted from every
side." The Qur'an contains many other
scattered references to the celestial court
of God, most containing only a few words
or lines and offering too few specific details
to form a clear picture of the court. This
celestial court may be related to pre-
Islamic pagan nature myths, which con-
tain similar imagery and for which the
sky is a central theme (cf Bell, Commentary,
ii, 149; P. Eichler, Die Dschinn, 30-1; see
PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA AND THE Q_UR'an;
NATURAL WORLD AND THE QUR'an). The
qur'anic court consists of God and his
angels (see angel) with certain inanimate
accoutrements, such as God's throne (e.g.
Q_ 40:7; see throne OF god) and store-
houses (e.g. Q_ 15:21-2). Mention of the
court is mostly associated with either the
creation (q.v.) or the last judgment (q.v.).

Among the ongoing purposes of the
court is that it provides a place for the an-
gels to sing God's praises and to ask for-
giveness for the believers (o_ 40:7-9). The
angels' praises and supplications exalt
God's majesty while also providing an
authoritative model for the worship (q.v.)
of God required of believers on earth
(q.v.). Another purpose of the court is to
serve as the locus from which God's com-

463

mands are sent down to the earth (g_ 32:5;
cf. 16:2). The mediation of God's com-
mands from the celestial court in the heav-
ens, through angelic messengers, to the
earth emphasizes the divine authority (q.v.)
backing such commands (see messengers).
When a decree of God goes forth, the
devils try to steal a hearing of the court's
conversations from the lowest heaven only
to be pursued by meteors: "They cannot
listen to al-mala' ' al-a'la; they are pelted
from every side, outcast and theirs is a per-
petual torment; except for him who
snatches a fragment and a piercing flame
pursues him" (p_ 37:8-10; cf. 72:8-10).
Sometimes, the court takes on a military
character as God sends down armies of
angels to participate in certain earthly bat-
tles (q_ 3:124-5; 8:9; see EXPEDITIONS AND
battles). The concept of God showering
his bounty on earth from his storehouses
may also be connected with the image of a
regal court, although this does not appear
to require angelic intermediaries
(o 15:21-2; see blessing).

The Quran contains only general de-
scriptions of the court's working; the ac-
count of the creation of Adam (see adam
and eve) contains the sole mention of its
being issued a specific commandment
(q_ 2:30-33). The other event of note in
which the court participates is its assem-
bling for God's final judgment (o_ 2:210;
25:25; 78:38; 89:22) where the angels,
prophets or others will not be permitted to
intercede with God except by his permis-
sion (q_ 20:109; 53:26; see intercession).
On that day, certain angels will bear God's
throne (o_ 40:7; 69:17).

Although the qur'anic references to the
celestial court are brief, general and devoid
of descriptive imagery, they still constitute
a significant area of exegetical difficulty in
Muslim religious literature and have be-
come a major subject of debate between
literalist and allegorical schools of inter-

pretation (see exegesis of the our an:
classical and medieval), the central issue
being anthropomorphism (q.v). On the
one hand, the transmitters of hadlth (ahl
al-hadith) and those who, following Ahmad
b. Hanbal (d. 241/845), took a traditionalist
approach to the interpretation of the
Qur'an, use d a mass of prophetic tradi-
tions elaborating the qur'anic verses on
the court to support their insistence that
the descriptions referred to actual identifi-
able objects and that God, in effect, had
the likes of a royal court. On the other
hand, most of the jurists (ahl al-jiqh), the
specialists in speculative theology (the
mutakallimun) and the philosophers includ-
ing al-Ghazall (d. 505/im) sought to de-
emphasize or avoid such interpretations in
favor of allegorical ones. Much debate was
generated over God's location in the heav-
ens and his ability to sit on a throne (cf. D.
Gimaret, Dieu a Vimage de I'homme, 66-9,
76-89). Most works of qur'anic commen-
tary, however, have no reticence about pre-
senting both types of explanation side by
side, especially as both sides — regardless
of their opinion about the validity of a
literal interpretation of the qur'anic
imagery — are agreed that the celestial
court symbolizes God's dominion over the
heavens and the earth (cf. o 48:4, 7; 78:37).
See also createdness of the qjjr'an.

Khalid Yahya Blankinship

Bibliography
Primary: Abu 1-Shaykh al-IsbahanT, Kitab al-
Agama, ed. R. al-MubarakfurT, 5 vols., Riyadh
1988 (discusses anthropomorphic hadlths); Ibn
Abl Shaybah, Kitab al-Arsh wa-ma ruwiyaffhi, ed.
M. al-Humud, Cairo 1410/1990; Ibn Khuzayma,
Kitab al-Tawhid wa-ithbat sifidt al-rabb, ed. M.M.
A ( zaml, Cairo 1403/1982-3.

Secondary: Bell, Commentary; W.C. Chittick, The
Sufi path of knowledge. Ibn al-Arabi's metaphysics of
imagination, Albany 1989; P. Eichler, Die Dschinn,
Teufel and Engel im Koran, Lucka in Thiiringen
1928; R.M. Frank, al-Ghazall and the Asharite

COVENANT

464

school, Durham 1978; D. Gimaret, Dieu a I'image de
I'homme. Les anthropomorphismes de la surma et tear
interpretation par les theologiens, Paris 1997, 61-120;
J.W. Morris, The wisdom oj the throne. An introduction
to the philosophy of Alalia Sadra, Princeton 1981;
W.M. Watt (trans.), Islamic creeds. A selection,
Edinburgh 1994.

Courtesy and Hospitality see

HOSPITALITY AND COURTESY
Cousin see family

Covenant

An agreement between persons or parties;
theologically, the promises of God offered
to representatives of humanity as revealed
in the scriptures. The Qur'an employs two
principal terms for the idea of covenant,
mithdq and 'ahd, using each in the singular.
'Aqd, the term that is used in Islamic law
for the legal act of a contract, a will or
other forms of bi- or unilateral declara-
tions, has only a slim qur'anic basis: Twice
the cognate nominal form is used for the
marriage contract, i.e. the "knot of mar-
riage" {'uqdat al-nikdh, o 2:235, 237; see
marriage and divorce); once the plural,
'uqud, is employed, probably in reference to
Muhammad's treaty with the Meccans at
al-Hudaybiya (q.v.; q 5:1; cf. 9:1; see con-
tracts and alliances). Another cognate,
'aqida, which is the Arabic term for creed
or article of faith (q.v.) and which is central
to Islamic theology, does not appear at all
in the Qur'an (see creeds). The noun
mithdq, "agreement, covenant, contract," is
found 25 times in the Qur'an and is de-
rived from wathiqa (constructed with bi-)
"to place confidence in, depend on, trust
in" and wathiqa, "to be firm, solid." 'Ahd,
the term for commitment, obligation,
pledge, or covenant, occurs 29 times in the
Qur'an. It is the infinitive (masdar) of 'ahida,

"to entrust, empower, obligate," a verb that
appears eleven times in the Qur'an in its
third verbal form, 'ahada, "to make a cove-
nant, to pledge oneself to," a meaning
which stresses the bilateral aspect of cove-
nant. Both terms are found frequently in
suras of the third Meccan and the Medi-
nan periods of Muhammad's qur'anic
proclamation (with the earlier term, 'ahd,
already present in the second Meccan pe-
riod and mithdq appearing in the Medinan
period; see chronology and the qur'an)
and are used interchangeably in the Qur-
'an (compare Q 2:27 and Q 13:20, 25).
These two terms are applied to political
compacts and civil agreements as well as to
the idea of a covenant between God and
human beings (cf. A. Jeffery, Scripture,
119-121; see politics and the qur'an; law
and the qur'an). The political and civil
uses are less frequent (for 'ahd, cf. Q 17:34;
23:8; 70:32; for mithdq, cf. Q 4:90, 92; 8:72)
with the compact between husband and
wife termed once an inviolable covenant
{mithdqan ghali^an, Q 4:21). The principal
qur'anic signification of covenant, how-
ever, is God's enjoining a covenant upon
human beings, particularly upon prophets
and their followers (see prophets and
prophethood).

Underscoring God's unilateral imposition
of the covenant, the Qur'an prefers the
phrase that God "took" or "enjoined"
(akhadhnd, akhadha llah, cf. q 33:7, 3:81) the
covenant (mithdq) with Muhammad (q.v.)
and with other prophets such as Noah
(q.v.), Abraham (q.v.), Moses (q.v.) and Je-
sus (q.v). The same turn of phrase is used
for God's covenant with the People of the
Book (q.v.; Q 3:187), the Christians (nasara,
Q 5:14; see CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIANITY)
and Muhammad's following (o 2:84; 57:8),
whose loyal supporters keep the covenant
(q 13:20) while disloyal ones break it
(Q 13:25; see EMIGRANTS AND HELPERS; OPPO-
SITION to muhammad). God's covenant

465

COVENANT

(mithaq) with the Children of Israel (q.v.),
who broke the covenant made at Sinai
(q.v.; c. 2:63, 83, 93; 4:154; 5:12, 70), is
couched in an imagery that can be traced
back to the biblical covenant (berit/diatheke)
of the Pentateuch (cf. Horovitz, KU, 41, 51;
Speyer, Erzdhlungen, 295-296; Wansbrough,
QS, 8-12; see SCRIPTURE AND THE QUR'an).
An intriguing reference to God's covenant
is also found in o 7:169 citing "the cove-
nant of the book" (mithaq al-kitdb, see book)
because it seems to imply that God sepa-
rated the righteous from the damned prior
to creation (see freedom and predes-
tination). Whether the qur'anic "rope of
God" (habl Allah, cf. q_ 3:103, cf. 3:112) can
be understood as an image of God's cove-
nant depends in part on the interpretation
of the parallel though cryptic phrase of
"the most firm handle" (al-'urwatu l-wuthqd,
cf. Q_ 2:256; 31:22; wuthqd and mithaq are de-
rived from the same triliteral Arabic root,
w-th-q). The qur'anic phrase of "holding
on" to God's rope or to God himself
(i'tasamu bi-lldh, o 4:146; cf. 4: 175; jy« 'ta.ro;?,
O 3:101), especially when paired with the
duties of prayer (q.v.) and almsgiving (q.v;
Q_ 22:78), may refer to obligations pledged
at the moment of entering the Muslim
community in Medina (see community and
society in the qur'an). Mawthiq, a cognate
form of mithaq, is employed in reference to
God as the guarantor of the pledge that
Jacob (q.v.) takes from his sons promising
Joseph's (q.v.) safe return (q_ 12:66, 80).
In the Qur'an, as F. Buhl has shown
(Kuranexegese, 100-6), the notion of 'ahd
generally implies a reciprocal obligation of
two parties, yet frequently signifies the
promise of God in the sense of a unilateral
obligation (not unlike the pentateuchal
berit/diatheke). This latter sense is contained
in Q_ 20:115, "We made a covenant with
Adam before (la-qad 'ahidnd ild Adama min
qablu), but he forgot and we found no con-
stancy in him." This crucial qur'anic refer-

ence to God's covenant as 'ahd refers to
that which Adam (see ADAM AND eve) broke
by eating from the tree of paradise when
prompted by the whisperings of Satan (see
FALL of man). God also imposed a cove-
nant on Adam's offspring (q_ 36:60) obligat-
ing them not to serve Satan (see devil).
This covenant was broken by Israel
through the idolatry of the calf (q 20:86-9;
cf. 7:102; see calf OF gold). Furthermore,
God concluded an 'ahd with Moses (cf.
Q_ 7:134; cf. 43:49), voided his 'ahd for Ab-
raham's progeny when they betrayed it
(q_ 2:124) and summoned the Children of
Israel to fulfil the covenant so that he,
God, might fulfil it (wa-awju bi- 'ahdi ufi bi-
'ahdikum, Q_ 2:40, perhaps the strongest
bilateral declaration of covenant in the
Qur'an). Intercession (shaja'a, see inter-
cession) in the hereafter is only granted to
one who has received the promise of the
All-Merciful (man ittakhadha 'inda l-rahmdni
'ahdan, Q_ 19:87; cf. 19:78; 2:80). In their
deceit, unbelievers among Muhammad's
followers pledge their willingness to give
alms if they receive generously from
God's abundance (o_ 9:75; see belief and
unbelief; hypocrites and hypocrisy).
q_ 16:91 reminds the believers of the ab-
solute obligation to fulfil the covenant
of God into which they have entered
(wa-awju bi-'ahdi lldhi idhd 'dhadtum). In
Q_ 9:1 and 54:43 the term bard'a (origin-
ally, Aramaic bariya), seemingly reflecting
the Hebrew befit, is mentioned in the
meaning of God's "pact," and in Q_ 5:97
the Ka'ba (q.v.) is cited as the visible sym-
bol of God's compact with humanity (qiyd-
man lil-nas). Furthermore, C. Luxenberg
(Die syro-aramdische Lesart des Koran, 37-8)
argues that the qur'anic phrase millat Ibra-
him (q_ 6:161 and passim), understood on
the basis of the Aramaic term underlying it
(and the Syriac, meltd, "word"; cf. E Buhl,
Milla) implies the meaning of God's
"covenant" with Abraham (cf. Gen 17:2).

COVENANT

466

On the qur'anic evidence alone it cannot
be demonstrated whether the entrance into
Muhammad's community was linked with
a (ceremonial) compact between the neo-
phyte and God (or the Prophet) or an oath
of loyalty (bay 'a). In Medina, however, Mu-
hammad required his followers to swear a
solemn promise of allegiance or a pledge
of loyalty (e.g. Q_ 33:15; 48:10; 60:12; tahta l-
shajarati, "under the tree," Q_ 48:18) prior to
crucial moments of his cause. The term
'ahd, moreover, is used in the Islamic tradi-
tion for the treaty of protection (q.v.) the
Christians of Najran (q.v.) received from
Muhammad in exchange for their paying
tribute (q.v.) after the ordeal of the muba-
hala (mutual imprecation) had been averted
(cf. Q_ 3:61, thumma nabtahil). For the qur-
'anic significance of the oath (qasam, yamin)
as both God's oath and a human being's
pledge to God, see oaths; pledge. For ani-
mal sacrifice connected to a pledge or a
compact between two parties as a qur'anic
reflection of pre-Islamic Arab tribal cus-
tom, see sacrifice; consecration of ani-
mals; PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA AND THE QJJR'aN.

Early Islamic legal terminology used 'ahd
(short for kitab al-'ahd) to signify a certifi-
cate of appointment to administrative
office under the Umayyads while mithdq
denotes hostages given as a pledge of secu-
rity (cf. E. Tyan, Histoire, 56-7; 180-1). The
political language of wall al-'ahd, the suc-
cessor appointed by a ruler, and ahl al- 'ahd,
non-Muslims with whom the Islamic state
has entered into a treaty, also reflects post-
qur'anic usage. For the way in which Arab
foreigners, non-Arab freedmen or converts
to Islam became associated with the Arab
tribal structure (see tribes and clans) as
kinsmen (see kinship) by oath rather than
birth, by way of 'ahd and through proce-
dures known as compact or confederacy
(hilf) or proximity of kinsmen or allies
(wala'), see clients and clientage and
P. Crone, Mawla.

p_ 7:172 includes reference to neither mi-
thaq nor 'ahd, but nevertheless became the
fulcrum of qur'anic interpretation for the
primordial covenant on the "Day of
Alastu" (cf. Goldziher; Speyer, Erzdhlungen,
304-5; R. Gramlich, Urvertrag, 205-30)
which anchors mystical speculations of
Sufism (Bowering, Mystical, 147-65; see
sufism and the qjjr'an). God's servants
professed monotheism as humanity's
pledge in response to God's revelation in
the event of a primordial covenant con-
cluded at the dawn of creation. To God's
question "Am I not your Lord?" (alastu bi-
rabbikum) humanity answered with "Yes, we
testify!" (bald shahidna) thereby acknowledg-
ing God's oneness and sovereignty and in-
stantiating the first conscious act of the
human intellect ('aql, the source of knowl-
edge by nature in antithesis to naql, tradi-
tion). Linked with the qur'anic notions of
"God-given nature" [fitra, Q_ 30:30) and
baptism (sibgha, Q_ 2:138; cf. Jeffery, For.
vocah, 192; see baptism), the covenant in
pre-existence inspired theological contro-
versies on the issue of predestination (cf.
J. Van Ess, Zjvischen Hadith, 34-6, 105-7)
and the infant's inborn nature (anima natu-
raliter moslemica) as expressed by the hadith,
"Every infant is born according to the. fitra
{'aid l-fitra, "on God's plan"); then his par-
ents make him a Jew or a Christian or a
Magian" (cf. D. Macdonald, Religious atti-
tude, 243). The idea of a primordial cove-
nant animated qur'anic interpretation in
both Sunn! and Shfl circles and contri-
buted to the subtle insights of Islamic
mysticism (cf. L. Massignon, Le jour,
86-92; U. Rubin, Pre-existence, 62-119;
C. Schock, Adam, 138-40, 166-9, J ^7'9 2 )-
Lines of continuity between the qur'anic
covenant in pre-existence and the Judaeo-
Christian (cf. J. Habermann, Prdexistenza-
ussagen, 415-30) as well as the gnostic tradi-
tions (cf. I. Goldziher, Neuplatonische
Elemente, 317-44) remain insufficiently

467

CREATEDNESS OF THE OUR AN

studied. See also breaking trusts and

CONTRACTS.

Gerhard Bowering

Bibliography
T. Andrae, Die Person Muhammeds in Lehre und
Glauben seiner Gemeinde, Stockholm 1917;
Bowering, Mystical; F. Buhl, Zur Kuranexegese,
in AO 3 (1924), 98-108; P. Crone, Mawla, in EI 1 ,
vi, 874-82; id., Milla, in El", vii, 61; J. van Ess,
Zjuischen Hadit und Theohgie, Berlin 1975; I.
Goldziher, Neuplatonische and gnostische
Elemente im Hadit, in ZA 22 (1909), 317-44; E.
Graf, Jagdbeute and Schladitlier im islamischen Recht,
Bonn 1959; R. Gramlich, Der Urvertrag in der
Koranauslegung, in Der Islam 60 (1983), 205-30;
J. Habermann, Praexistenzaussagen im Neuen
Testament, Frankfurt 1990; Horovitz, ku; Jeffery,
For. vocab.; id., The Qur'an as scripture. Pts. 1-4,
in J/ll'40 (1950), 41-55, 106-34, 185-206, 257-75;
C. Luxenberg, Die syro-aramaische Lesart des Koran,
Berlin 2000; D.B. Macdonald, The religious attitude
and life in Islam, Chicago 1909; L. Massignon, Le
"jour du covenant" (yawm al-mithaq), in Oriens 15
(1962), 86-92; J. Pedersen, Der Eid bei den Semiten,
Strassburg 1914; U. Rubin, Pre-existence and
light, in los 5 (1975), 62-119; C. Schbck, Adam im
Islam, Berlin 1993; Speyer, Erzdhlungen; E. Tyan,
Histoire de ^organisation judicial™ en pays dTslam,
Leiden i960 2 (revised); Wansbrough, OS.

COW see ANIMAL LIFE

Coward see COURAGE

Cradle seejEs

Createdness of the Qur'an

A central issue in Muslim theological dis-
cussion that asks whether the Qur'an was
created by God or is, like him, eternal. The
term creation (khalq) appears 48 times in
the Qur'an and designates the natural
world and all existence as God's creation
(q.v.). Instances of the perfect and imper-
fect tenses of the verb (khalaqa, jakhluqu
and the passive khuliqa, yukhlaqu) appear

over 200 times in reference to God's act of
creation. God himself is referred to in the
Qur'an as the Creator (khdliq) twelve times,
e.g. "There is no God but he, the creator of
everything" (q_ 6:102). The phrase khalq al-
Qur'an, often rendered as "createdness of
the Qur'an" or "creation of the Qur'an
(by God)," does not occur in the Qur'an
as such. Assertions that the Qur'an was
created appeared at the beginning of the
second/eighth century and eventually
came to be associated primarily with the
heterodox theological school known as the
Mu'tazila (see mu'tazilis).

Introduction to the problem
The issue at hand does not conflict with
the fact of the prophetic event, i.e. the rev-
elation of the Qur'an to Muhammad at a
particular point in history. Both propo-
nents of and opponents to the theory of
the createdness of the Qur'an understand
many qur'anic verses as having been re-
vealed in response to a particular situation
in Muhammad's life (see occasions of
revelation; revelation and inspiration).
Both sides also acknowledge the role that
Muslims in the generations after Muham-
mad had in the collection and the ordering
of the codices of the Qur'an (see codices
OF THE QUR'AN; COLLECTION OF THE QIJR-
'an). Nor did the discussion of "created-
ness" involve the status of the Qur'an's
existence prior to Muhammad's receiving
of the revelation or even its existence be-
fore the rest of creation. Rather, the debate
over khalq al-Qur'an focuses on the nature
of the pre-existent prototype of the book
(q.v.), which is known as umm al-kitdb
(Mother of the Book, see heavenly book)
or lawh mahfu~£ (Preserved Tablet [q.v.]).
Both sides are agreed upon the exist-
ence of this heavenly prototype, but are
in disagreement as to whether it is co-
eternal with God or contingent upon
the will of God, and thus created and

CREATEDNESS OF THE OUR AN

468

existing within a limited sphere of time
(cf. van Ess, TG, iv, 625-7).

A legendary account of the origins of
the assertion of the createdness of the
Qur'an that circulated among some Sunn!
heresiographies traces it back through ex-
treme Shi 'I revolutionaries to Talut, the
son-in-law of a Jew, Labid b. al-A'sam.
Labld is said to have tried to cast a magical
spell on the Prophet (Ibn al-Athlr, Ka.mil,
7:49; van Ess, TG, i, 442). This may be seen
as a later orthodox attempt to depict the
Mu tazila and others who defended the
doctrine as enemies of the Prophet Mu-
hammad as well as of the Qur'an itself.
Muslim heresiographers trace the first
claims made by theologians (mutakallimun)
that the Qur'an was created (makhluq) by
God and sent down to the Arabs in histori-
cal time to the last decade or so of the
Abbasid revolution that brought down
Umayyad rule (ca. 120/738). In these tu-
multuous years of uprising and political
conflict, inevitably religious in its articula-
tion, two of the darker figures of early
Muslim thought are named as proponents
of the createdness of the Qur'an: Ja'd b.
Dirham (executed in 125/743) and Jahm b.
Safwan (killed in 128/745 wm l e supporting
the rebellion of al-Harith b. Surayj).

Before the inquisition
Particular attention is paid to Jahm b.
Safwan in the heresiographical literature
and especially among traditionalist oppo-
nents of the createdness of the Qur'an
such as 'Abdallah b. 'Abd al-Rahman al-
Darimi (d. 255/869) and Ahmad b. Hanbal
(d. 241/855). In a heresiographical notice
by Abu 1-Hasan al-Ash'ari (d. 324/936),
Jahm b. Safwan is also accused of denying
that heaven (q.v.) and hell (q.v.) are eternal
(Maqalat, 280, 1. 4, 279, 1. 2; see escha-
tology). Jahm's doctrine of God was
founded on the strict assertion that God
alone is eternal (see god and his attri-

butes). All else, including heaven and hell,
and even the prototype of scripture —
written on a heavenly Tablet, the Mother
of the Book — is created. The strongest
opponents of Jahm b. Safwan and his fol-
lowers, known as the Jahmiyya, were the
Traditionalists (muhaddithun) led by Ahmad
b. Hanbal. The latter's refutation of Jahm
is titled: al-Radd 'aid l-^anddiqa wa-l-Jah-
miyya, "Refutation of the deniers of our re-
ligion and the followers of Jahm." Jahm's
followers lasted apparently until the fifth/
eleventh century. W.M. Watt has warned
that it is extremely difficult to identify
those who are listed as members of the
Jahmiyya except to conclude that they are
enemies of the Hanbalis {Formative period,
144-7; c f- van Ess, tg, ii, 507; v, 220, Text ig
d-e and W. Madelung, Origins, Nr. V, 5o6f.
for a discussion on Jahm; a good summary
is found in van Ess, TG, iv, 625-30). None-
theless, the doctrine of the createdness of
the Qur'an seems to have found defenders
after Jahm other than the Mu tazila. The
latter were, however, the most important in
this debate. As a consequence of having to
defend the assertion of the createdness of
the Qur'an, they developed a philosophy of
language to support their claim that every-
thing about the Qur'an — paper, ink, or-
gans of speech, memory, writing, sounds
and phonemes — is a part of the phenom-
enal, created world.

One reason for Jahm's insistence that the
Qur'an was created was his strong denial
of anthropomorphism (q.v.). According to
Ibn Hanbal, Jahm held that "God has
never spoken and does not speak" (Ibn
Hanbal, Radd, 32). In the Qur'an, Moses
(q.v.) is presented as the only prophet to
whom God spoke directly (from the fire,
Q_ 20:10-48; cf. M. Seale, Muslim theology,
102-12 for an English translation of rele-
vant passages from the Radd). Jahm held
that God could not have a physical body
like his creatures. Therefore God must ere-

4 6g

CREATEDNESS OF THE OUR AN

ate a speech (the Qiir'an) unlike his own
speech which human ears can hear. Part of
what was at issue in the ensuing debate be-
tween rationalist mutakallimun on the one
side and the traditionalist Hanballs and
the Ash'arls on the other was the problem
of God's attributes {sifdt, see GOD AND His
attributes). Jahm promulgated a theologia
negativa by declaring it possible for humans
to say of God only what he is not. It fol-
lowed that God's attributes such as his
speech must be unlike the attribute of
speech among God's creatures. During
the three centuries after Jahm b. Saf-
wan, the Mu'tazila became the main, but
not the exclusive, defenders of the doctrine
of the createdness of the Quran (which
was not a monolithic position; cf. W. Ma-
delung, Origins and van Ess, to, iv, 620
for a discussion of the two prevalent
views supporting khalq al-Qur'an). They
were opposed vigorously in the court of
public opinion by traditionalists such as
the popular Ahmad b. Hanbal. Their
chief theological opponents were the
Ash'arls, who engaged the Mu'tazill muta-
kallimun on their own grounds of rational
argumentation.

The inquisition and the Mu 'tazilT doctrine
The dispute between those who defended
the doctrine of the created Quran and
those who denied it was one among many
such disputes in early Muslim thinking
about the nature of God, his attributes and
his revelation to humankind. It became a
major fissure in Islamic religious doctrine
when the caliph al-Ma'mun (r. 198-218/
813-33) made public affirmation of the cre-
ated Qiir'an a requirement forjudges
(qadis) during the last year of his reign (see
W. Madelung, Origins). The inquisition
(mihna), as it was called, lasted some 16
years until finally reversed by the caliph
al-Mutawwakil (r. 232-47/847-61) two years
after he assumed the caliphate. Of the

many judges and court-appointed wit-
nesses in the service of the caliph (q.v.) and
his provincial governors (not every prov-
ince beyond Baghdad and its environs in
Iraq paid much attention to al-Ma'mun's
decree), only two steadfastly refused to
affirm the doctrine of the created Qiir'an,
Ahmad b. Hanbal and Muhammad b.
Nuh. The latter died on his way to prison,
but Ibn Hanbal was imprisoned, beaten
and subjected to theological interrogation
and testing. Al-Ma'mun's brother and suc-
cessor, the caliph al-Mu'tasim (r. 218-27/
833-42), was less adamant about promul-
gating the affirmation of the createdness of
the Qur'an and feared the public reaction
gathering outside the prison in Baghdad
where Ahmad b. Hanbal was held. All
along, Ibn Hanbal refused to affirm that
the Qiir'an was created. After his release,
he shunned public life and did not engage
the issue when it cropped up again under
the more aggressive inquisitional policies
of al-Mu'tasim's son, the caliph al-Wathiq
(r. 227-32/842-7). Ibn H anDa l) nonetheless,
is remembered as the victor over the
Mu'tazill doctrine of the created Qur'an
and, in reference to this particular doc-
trine, over the three caliphs who attempted
to enforce it in Islamic public religious life
(cf. van Ess, TG, hi, 446-508).

After the inquisition
The mihna was not only a test of tradition-
alist beliefs about the Qur'an. It was also a
test of whether or not the caliphate had
the authority to define and enforce reli-
gious doctrine. Politically, the mihna and
Ibn Hanbal's tenacious refusal to affirm
the createdness of the Qur'an constituted
an important moment in the contest be-
tween the caliphate and the religious schol-
ars ('ulama') about the exercise of religious
authority in early and medieval Islam (see
exegesis of the qjjr'an: classical and
medieval). Theologically, the mihna and

CREATEDNESS OF THE OUR AN

470

the doctrine of khalq al-Qur'dn raised the
question of whether divine revelation,
"the Book" as the Qur'an often refers to
itself, was coeternal with God or a created
vessel of communication from God to his
creatures. Since the third/ninth century
the majority of Muslims have condemned
the Mu'tazill doctrine of the created Qur-
'an by asserting that the Qur'an is eternal.
Historically, the orthodox Shl'l rebuttal of
the assertion of the createdness of the
Qur'an has been more guarded.

For example, even in the second/eighth
century, the sixth Shl'l imam, Ja'far al-Sadiq
(d. 148/765), is said to have replied, when
asked if the Qur'an was the creator or the
created, that it was neither. A great many
early traditionalists such as Yahya b. Yahya
al-Tamlmi (d. 226/840) asserted against
the doctrine of the created Qur'an that the
Qur'an is the speech (q.v.) of God. For the
Mu'tazila, speech is phenomenal, that is,
sounds and letters which come into being
(muhdath) in the world God creates. Speech
is an attribute of God acting external to
himself. Later Mu'tazila developed a so-
phisticated theory of language and linguis-
tics based on the ontology and mechanics
of speech. Whereas the Jahmiyy a denied
that God could speak on the grounds that
this would constitute anthropomor-
phism — likening God to humans — the
Mu'tazila accused their opponents of
claiming that the Qur'an was eternal,
which was tantamount to implying that an
entity other than God is coeternal with
God, in other words, dualism. The unac-
ceptability of dualism, referred to as zan-
daqa and thanawiyya in the heresiographical
literature from the second/eighth century
on, was as strong among traditionalists
like Ahmad b. Hanbal as it was among
Mu'tazila.

In his super-commentary on Qadl Abd
al-Jabbar's (d. 414/1025) Shark al-usiil al-

khamsa, Ahmad b. al-Husayn b. Abi Ha-
shim, known as Mankdim (d. 425/1034),
says that the Qadl classified the dispute
about the createdness of the Qur'an under
the topic of divine justice (al-'adl, one of
the five fundamentals of Mu'tazill doc-
trine; see justice and injustice) because
the Qur'an is one of God's acts (Abd al-
Jabbar, Shark, 527). 'Abd al-Jabbar identi-
fies Abdallah b. Kullab (d. 240/854) and
those whom he terms the "mindless" (al-
hashwiyya) Hanbalis as holding that the
Qur'an is not created (ghayr makhluq) and
not produced (la muhdath), but that it is
eternal with God. He states the Mu'tazill
doctrine of the createdness of the Qur'an
as follows:

... the Qur'an is the speech of God and his
revelation (wahy)... it is created (makhluq)
and produced (muhdath). God sent it down
to his Prophet to be an emblem and evi-
dence of [the latter's] prophethood. [God]
made it an evidentiary proof (dalala) so
that we could have rules to which we could
refer concerning what is permitted and
what is forbidden (see lawful and un-
lawful) Therefore, the Qur'an is that

which we hear and recite today. If it is not
produced by God [in the present moment]
it is attributed to him in reality, just as the
poems we [might] recite today [can be] the
poetry of Imru' al-Qays [a pre-Islamic
poet] in reality, even though he is not pro-
ducing them now [when we recite them]
(Abd al-Jabbar, Sharh, 528).

Abd al-Jabbar's contemporary and oppo-
nent, the Ash'arl Abu Bakr Muhammad b.
al-Tayyib b. al-Baqillam (d. 403/1013), re-
plied to Mu'tazill defenses of the created-
ness of the Qur'an with arguments based
on qur'anic proof texts. Especially crucial
was the passage from p_ 16:40: "For to any-
thing we (God) have willed, we say to it 'be'

4?i

CREATEDNESS OF THE OUR AN

and thus it is," on which al-Baqillani builds
several arguments to deny the createdness
of the Qur'an (Baqillanl, Tamhid, 237-57).
Several historians of Islamic thought in
the twentieth century have also concluded
that 'Abd Allah b. Kullab, a contemporary
of Ibn Hanbal and considered a forerun-
ner or early exponent of many of the views
held by al-Ash'arl, was in fact the chief
architect of the orthodox doctrine of the
eternity of the Qur'an (cf. van Ess, TO, vi,
411-2). W. Madelung (Origins) believes that
the controversy over the createdness of the
Qur'an was not a critical public debate
until al-Ma'mun initiated the mihna, and
that Ahmad b. Hanbal, not 'Abdallah b.
Kullab, added to the traditionalist denial of
the createdness of the Qur'an the claim
that the Qur'an is eternal (qadim). Taqi
1-Dln b. Taymiyya (d. 728/1328), the later
theological critic of both Mu'tazill and
Ash'arl theology (kalam) and reviver of
Hanball traditionalist thought, also argued
against the doctrine of the eternity of the
Qur'an on the grounds that the pious an-
cestors (salaf) had claimed only that it was
the speech of God, not that it was eternal
[kalam Allah; Ibn Taymiyya, Majmu'a, iii, 20

Conclusion
Although the Ash'arl and traditionalist
Sunni doctrine of the eternity of the Qur-
'an has prevailed down to the present,
some modernist Muslims have challenged
the Ash'arl denial of the Mu'tazill doctrine
of the createdness of the Qur'an. Muham-
mad 'Abduh (d. 1324/1906) did so in the
late nineteenth century, although he re-
moved his defense of the createdness of
the Qur'an after the publication of the first
edition of Risdla al-tawhid, the work in
which it appeared. More recently, revision-
ist modernist writers such as Mohammed
Arkoun [Rethinking Islam, 6) have called for

a return to the Mu'tazill doctrine of the
createdness of the Qur'an. In the compar-
ative study of religions, the dispute about
the created versus the uncreated or eternal
nature of the Qur'an is a theological prob-
lem of the proportions of the ancient
problem in Christian theology concerning
the divine versus the human nature of
Jesus Christ. In fact, as Trinitarian debates
are attested within Christian circles at
Baghdad contemporaneous with the Mus-
lim discussion on the createdness of the
Qur'an, the formulation of the Christian
doctrine of the Trinity (q.v.) and the Is-
lamic debate on the createdness of the
Qur'an may have influenced one another
(cf. H. Wolfson, Philosophy, 240-2; for a re-
buttal of Wolfson's position, see van Ess,
to, iv, 625-7). See also theology and the
chjr'an.

Richard C. Martin

Bibliography
Primary: 'Abd al-Jabbar, al-AIuglimji abwdb al-
tawhid wa-l-'adl, vii hhalq al-Qur'dn, ed. Ibrahim
al-Ibarl, Cairo 1380/1961; id., Shark al-usul
al-khamsa, with the super-commentary by
Ahmad b. Husayn b. Abi Hashim known as
Mankdlm, ed. Abd al-Karlm 'Uthman, Cairo
1384/1965, 527-63; M. 'Abduh, Risalat al-tawhid,
Cairo 1315/1897; al-Ash'arT, Maqalat al-islamiyyin,
ed. H. Ritter, Wiesbaden 1963; Ibn Hanbal,
al-Radd 'ala l-^jmadiqa wa-l-Jahmiyya, ed. M.F.
Shaqafa, n.p. 1967; Ibn Taymiyya, Majmuat al-
rasd'il wa-l-masd'il, ed M. Rashld Rida, 5 vols, in
2, Cairo 1976 (esp. vol. iii).

Secondary: M. Arkoun, Rethinking Islam. Common
questions, uncommon answers, Boulder 1988;!. van
Ess, Ibn Kullab und die Mihna, in Oriens 18-9
(1965-6), 97-142; id., to; W. Madelung, The
origins of the controversy concerning the
creation of the Qur'an, in W. Madelung, Religious
schools and sects in medieval Islam, London 1985,
Nr. V, 504-25; J. Nawas, al-Ma'mun. Mihna and
caliphate, Ph.D. diss., Nijmegen 1992; W.M.
Patton, Ahmad b. Hanbal and the mihna, Leiden
1897; M. Scale, Muslim theology, London 1964;
W.M. Watt, Early discussions about the Qur'an,
in MW40 (1950), 21-40, 96-105; id., The formative

CREATION

472

period of Islamic thought, Edinburgh 1973; H.A.
Wolfson, Philosophy oj the kalam, London 1976.

Creation

God's origination of the universe and of
humankind. In cultural traditions around
the world, including the tradition of natu-
ralistic evolution, creation stories serve to
explain the nature of the human social and
physical environment, to make sense of
what befalls human beings and, often, to
legitimate particular moral, political or
ideological systems. One of the central
themes in the Qur'an is that reflection
upon creation (khalq) ratifies God's peer-
less authority (q.v.) to command (see
sovereignty) and his unique prerogative
to be worshipped (see worship). This, in
turn, indicates that the proper response to
him and to those who preach his revelation
(see revelation and inspiration) is sub-
mission {islam, q.v.) to his will.

God as sole creator
The Qur'an is insistent that God, Allah, is
the "creator (bad!') of the heavens and the
earth" (q 2:117; 6:101; cf. q 2:54; 10:3;
12:101; 13:16; 21:56; 26:77-8; 35:1; 36:70;
39:46, 62; 40:62; 42:11; 46:3; 59:24; 64:2-3;
85:13; 91:5-6), which signifies that he is
the creator of all things — the lowest,
the highest and, implicitly, all that is in
between.

Indeed, his being the creator is a central
reason that he is deserving of worship
(o 2:21; 6:1, 80, 96; 7:10; 11:61, 118-9; 14:10,
32-4; 16:52, 80-1; 36:22; 39:6; 43:26-7;
56:57-62; 87:1-4) for the entire universe
owes its existence to him. Moreover, in his
role as creator as with other aspects of his
nature, God has no partners, no helpers
and thus no peers (see GOD AND His at-
tributes). In fact, his uniqueness in this re-
gard is recognized even by the Qur'an's pa-

gan opponents (q 2:22, 164-5; 6:1, 14, 73,
80, 101-3; 7:54, 194; 10:32, 35, 69; 13:16;
16:17; 20:4; 25:3; 27:59-61, 64; 29:61; 30:27,
40; 31:11, 25; 32:4; 34:49; 35:3, 13, 40;
37 : 95-6; 39 : 38; 40:61-4; 41:9; 43:9, 87; 46:4;
52:35-6; 56:57-62) and therefore provides a
point of common agreement from which
theological debate can proceed. But, the
Qur'an says, the pagans fail to draw from
their recognition of God as sole creator the
appropriate conclusion, namely that he is
uniquely worthy of worship: "Those upon
whom they call besides God create noth-
ing, and are themselves created" (q 16:20;
cf. q 7:191; 25:2-3; see polytheism and
atheism). "Those upon whom you call
apart from God will never create a fly, even
if they gathered together in order to do it.
And if the fly should snatch something
away from them, they would be unable to
recover it from him. Weak is the peti-
tioner, and weak is he who is petitioned"
(q 22:73; cf. 16:73; 25:2-3; see power and
impotence).

The Qur'an is not, however, content to
assert merely that God created the uni-
verse at some definable point in the past.
As opposed to deism or to certain readings
of Newtonian physics, God continues to
sustain the creation during every moment
of its existence (q 2:255). (As discussed be-
low, this has implications for understanding
precisely what the Qur'an understands by
creation). Accordingly, worship of him
proceeds not merely from his gracious cre-
ative act in the past but from dependence
upon him for existence at every instant of
the present and the future. And in fact the
Qur'an is deeply impressed with the on-
going order of nature and summons all
humankind to share in its admiration and
to learn from it (q 7:54-6; 24:43-4; 25:47-50,
53-4, 61, 62; 26:7; 29:19; 31:10; 35:13; see
natural world and the quR'AN). It is, for
instance, God who sends down water in
rain and sends it coursing through rivers

473

CREATION

(o 6:6) — a power that would arouse par-
ticular attention in the aridity of Arabia.

God's purpose in creation
Creation had a divine purpose (q_ 3:190-1;
15:85-6; 30:8) and was done "in truth"
(o 6:73; 29:44; 39:5; 44:39; 45:22). But that
purpose is, in a sense, external to the deity
who does not need a cosmos for himself.
"We did not create heaven (q.v.) and earth
(q.v.) and what is between them for sport.
Had we wanted to adopt a pastime, we
could have found it in ourself," says the
God of the Quran (g_ 21:16-7; cf. p_ 44:38).
And since the creation and the cosmos it-
self are of a teleological character, those
who believe (see belief and unbelief) are
not free to view the universe or even their
own lives as pointless. "We did not create
heaven and earth and what is between
them for nothing. That is the thinking of
those who disbelieve" (o_ 38:27).

What was God's intention in creating the
physical cosmos? On this point, the Qur'an
is unabashedly anthropocentric. God's
purpose in the creation of the universe was
focused on humanity. This is manifest, for
example, in the fact that the universe is
admirably designed to provide for human
needs and wants (q_ 2:22, 29; 10:67; 14:32-4;
16:5-8, 10-8, 80-1; 17:12; 20:54-5; 22:65;
23:17-22; 67:15; 78:6-13; 79:32-3). The
Qur'an offers its own version of what has
come to be termed in cosmology the "cos-
mic anthropic principle." This beneficent,
human-centered design characterizes not
merely the arrangements on the earth
where humans actually live. It extends be-
yond to the heavens: "He cleaves the dawn
and makes the night for rest and the sun
(q.v.) and the moon (q.v.) for reckoning.
That is the decree of the Mighty, the Om-
niscient. He is the one who placed the stars
for you, so that you might be guided in the
darkness (q.v.) of land and sea" (p_ 6:96-7;
see cosmology in the our'an).

God did not, however, create the universe
merely for the comfort and enjoyment of
the human race. It is also arranged as a
proving ground for them. "He it is who
created the heavens and the earth in six
days... in order to test you, which of you is
best in conduct" (q_ 11:7; cf. Q_ 18:7; 67:2; see
trial. The Qur'an generally describes the
creation of the universe as requiring the
biblical six days [as at Q_ 7:54; 10:4; 11:7;

25 : 58-9; 32:4; 50:38; 57:4; but see 4 i: 9" I 2])-
"God made the heavens and the earth in
truth, so that each soul (q.v.) could be re-
warded for what it earned; they will not
be wronged" (c) 45:22; see reward and
punishment).

A qur'dnic natural theology
But the physical cosmos provides more
than just necessities for survival and good
things to enjoy; it is more than simply a
place where humans can be tested and
tried. It is a message to human beings that
if heeded, will help them pass the divinely
ordained test. It is, itself, a kind of revela-
tion. Nature is constituted as it is "that you
might remember" (q_ 51:49). Thus under-
girding the special revelation of the Qur'an
is a qur'anically endorsed natural theology
according to which serious and discerning
minds can deduce much about the exist-
ence and character of God by contempla-
tion of the cosmos (q 10:6-7, 67; 13:2-4;
16:10-8, 65-9, 79; 17:12; 20:53-4; 24:41, 44-5;
25:61, 62; 29:44; 42:29; 55:1-15; 56:57-62;
71:14-20; 88:17-20). "Truly, in the creation
of the heavens and the earth and the varia-
tion of night and day and in the ship (see
ships) that sails in the sea, carrying things
useful to the people, and in the water (q.v.)
that God sends down from the sky so that
he enlivens the earth after its death and
disperses every animal throughout it, and
in the direction of the winds and of the
subservient clouds between heaven and
earth, there are signs (dydt) for people who

CREATION

474

have intelligence" (o 2:164; cf. 6:96-7;
45:3-5; see animal life; agriculture and
vegetation; air and wind).

Significantly, the term used for the signs
(q.v.) of the natural realm, ayat, is the same
Arabic word used to denote the individual
verses (q.v.) of Islam's special revelation,
the Qur'an. Thus nature, properly viewed,
becomes a revealed book (q.v.) very much
like the Qur'an is itself composed of indi-
vidual signs or miracles (q.v.). (The iden-
tification of miracles as signs pointing to
the divine recalls the equivalent usage of
Greek semeia in the Gospel of John.) "Truly,
in the creation of the heavens and the
earth and the variation of night and day
there are signs (ayat) for those of under-
standing, those who remember God stand-
ing, sitting, and lying on their sides, and
who contemplate the creation of the
heavens and the earth: 'Our Lord, you did
not create this for nothing!'" (o 3:190-1; see
prayer). "Have they not looked at the sky
above them," the Qur'an asks of the unbe-
lievers, "how we have built it and adorned
it without rifts? And the earth, how we
spread it out and cast into it firmly-rooted
mountains and scattered throughout it
every delightful pair, as a sight and a re-
minder for every repentant worshiper?"
(q_ 50:6-8; cf. o_ 67:2-5). Such passages im-
ply that the ultimate condemnation of the
pagan polytheists will be just even if they
never heard the message of the Qur'an it-
self because they had before them the book
of nature and its clear testimony to the ex-
istence, beneficence and oneness of God.

The moral implications of God as sovereign and

creator
Humanity has been divinely appointed to
be God's vice-regent (see caliph) upon the
earth (o 2:30; the Qur'an knows the story
of the origin of the devil (q.v), as when
Iblls (q.v.) failed to prostrate himself before
the newly created Adam. See g_ 2:30-4;

7:11-22; 15:26-35; 17:61-2; 18:51; 20:120;
38:75-86; see disobedience; bowing and
prostration; adam and eve). In this re-
spect, qur'anic natural theology has ethical
as well as purely theological implications
(see ethics in the chjr'an). The universe
has been organized into a cosmos rather
than a chaos and humanity is accordingly
warned to introduce no human disorder
into the divinely ordained arrangement of
the physical world: "Do not sow corruption
(la tufsidu) in the earth after its ordering
(ba'da islahiha)" (p_ 7:56; see corruption).
Moreover, humankind is admonished to
read the signs (q.v.) of nature correctly:
"Among his signs (ayat) are night and day,
the sun and the moon. Do not bow before
sun and moon, but bow before God, who
created them" (o_ 41:37; cf. 6:75-9; see idols
and images; idolatry and idolaters).
The symbols were not created for their
own sake but are intended to point beyond
themselves.

As the creator of all things God is obvi-
ously also the creator of humankind (q_ 4:1;
6:2). In the intimate relationship between
creator and creature he knows everything
about human motivations, thoughts and
acts; he is closer to each person than that
individual's own jugular vein (q 50:16; see
artery and vein) and is therefore uniquely
equipped both to understand and to judge.

God as absolutely free agent
The assertion that the creation of the
heavens and earth was in some sense a
greater achievement than the creation of
man (q_ 40:57; 79:27-30) does not imply that
it was a more difficult act. For the Qur'an
stresses God's utter freedom in creation
and the sublime effortlessness with which
he acts (Q, 4:133; 5:17; 14:19-20; 35:16-7;
42:49; 46:33; 50:38). The most dramatic
qur'anic assertion of divine creative power
is the repeated declaration that God has
merely to say, "'Be!' And it is" {kunfa-yakiin,

475

CREATION

at ft 347: 59; 6:73; !6:4°; !9 : 35; 36:82;
40:68; 54:49-50). An uncritical reading
might gloss such passages as promising
material for the construction of a theory
of creation from nothingness (creatio ex
nihilo). Indeed, verses containing this
phrase or a variant thereof are commonly
used to support such a concept. Usage of
qur'anic evidence alone, however, does not
support the theory.

Origins of the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo
Although it is popularly regarded as a
teaching of their canonical scriptures, the
notion of creation from absolute nothing-
ness appears to have developed relatively
late in the history of Judaism and Chris-
tianity. The biblical terms that are gene-
rally rendered in English as "create" have
their origins in the Hebrew terminology
for handicrafts and the plastic arts. They
primarily refer to mechanical actions such
as cutting out or paring leather, molding
something into shape or fabricating some-
thing, rather than to metaphysical orig-
ination (for which early Semitic thought
almost certainly lacked the conceptual
apparatus; metaphorical usage was a later
development). Throughout the Hebrew
Bible, the image recurs of God as a crafts-
man, a potter shaping a vessel from clay
(q.v.) or a weaver at his loom (Isaiah 29:16;
40:22; 45:9; 51:13, 15-6; Psalms 74:13-7;
89:11; 90:2; Romans 9:20-3). Although it is
very doubtful that a doctrine of creation
from utter nothingness is to be found in
either the Hebrew Bible or the Greek New
Testament, by the early part of the third
century of the common era creatio ex nihilo
had become a fundamental doctrine of
orthodox Christianity. Its near-universal
adoption by Jews may have come still later.

Does the Our 'an teach creatio ex nihilo?
In light of the widely-held misconceptions
about the biblical attestation of creation

out of nothingness, it appears necessary to
examine whether such a concept appears
in the Qur'an. Traditional understandings
to the contrary, it seems that it does not. In
several of the passages where the phrase
kunfa-yakun occurs, creatio ex nihilo is ex-
cluded by the context. In no passages is
absolute nothingness a necessary pre-
requisite for the effectiveness of God's cre-
ative act. The subject of p_ 3:47, 3:59 and
19:35 is the virginal conception of Jesus
(q.v.), whom, p_ 3:59 affirms, God first cre-
ated from dust, and then said to him "Be!"
and he was (kunfa-yakun). This points to a
striking characteristic of these passages:
ft 2:117 typifies them in its assertion that
God "decrees a matter famr)" and then
"says to it (la-hu) 'Be,' and it is" (compare
ft 3'47> 40:68). ft 16:40 and 36:81-2 actually
speak of a thing (shay') to which God says
"Be!" and it is kun fa-yakun, (cf. q 54:49-50;
cf. 19:35; 40:68). There seems to be an
underlying and pre-existing substrate to
which the divine imperative is addressed
as clearly is the case in the story of the
Sabbath-breakers who are told "Be apes!"
(kunu qiradatan, Q_ 2:65; 7:166; see curse).
The command kun! would therefore seem
to be rather more determinative or consti-
tutive than productive of something out of
utter nothingness.

Indeed, a survey of the words used in the
Qur'an in connection with creation and an
examination of the ways in which they are
used, reveals little or no reason to suppose
that any of them involves a creation from
nothing. The great Andalusian jurist and
philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes, d. 595/
1 198) appears to have been correct when
he alleged that the theologians' adherence
to creation from nothing rests upon an
allegorical interpretation of the Qur'an
whose literal sense rather teaches a pre-
existent matter which simply received the
form given it in God's creative act. "For,"
as he observes, "it is not stated in scripture

CREATION

476

that God was existing with absolutely noth-
ing else: A text to this effect is nowhere to
be found" (Averroes, On the harmony, 56-7;
see exegesis of the qur'an: classical and
medieval).

The most common relevant qur'anic ter-
minolgy for creation involves the Arabic
root kh-l-q. Its original meaning seems to
have been associated, much like the
creation-related vocabulary of the Hebrew
Bible, with such things as working leather.
The Qur'an states that God created the
heavens and the earth in six days (q_ 7:54;
10:3; 11:7; 25:59; 32:4; 50:38; 57:4) and that
humankind is also among his creations (as
at o 2:21; 6:94; 7:11; 26:184; 37:96; 41:21; cf
5:18; 50:16; 51:56; 55:3; 56:57). An exam-
ination of the occurrences of the verb vir-
tually rules out creatio ex nihilo: Thus Iblls
in particular (o_ 7:12; 38:76) and the jinn
(q.v.) in general (q_ 15:27; 55:15) are cre-
ated of fire (nar). The human, on the other
hand, is said to have been created from
dust (turab, Q_ 30:20; this is specifically
stated of Adam and Jesus [q.v.] at o 3:59),
from the earth (ard, Q_ 20:55; see earth),
from clay [tin, Q_ 6:2; 7:12; 32:7; 38:71, 76; cf.
17:61), from sounding clay drawn from al-
tered mud (salsal min hama' masnun, Q_ 15:26,
28, 33), from an extraction of clay (sulalat
min tin, Q_ 23:12), from sticky clay (tin lazib,
Q_ 37:11) and from sounding clay like
earthenware (salsal ka-l-fakhkhdr, Q_ 55:14).
God created man with his hands (khalaqtu
bi-yadayya, Q_ 38:75-6) — recalling Jesus'
"creation" of a bird from clay by the leave
of God (o_ 3:49; 5:110). See clay.

It is not only in the miraculous origina-
tion of Adam and Eve that the divine role
of the creator is to be recognized. For, as
noted above, God is actively involved in
the ongoing order of the universe. Thus he
is also the creator of men and women as
manifested in the ordinary processes of
human reproduction (o_ 7:189; 16:4; 19:9;
23 : 78-9; 30:54; 35 : «; 36:35; 39:6; 49 :i 3;

53:32, 45; 67:23-4; 74:11-2; 76:2, 28; 82:6-8;
90:4; 92:3; 95:4-5) and in the natural suc-
cession of human generations (o_ 2:21;
39:6). "He it is who forms you in the
wombs as he pleases," says the Qur'an.
"There is no god but he" (q 3:6). God's
creative power is also at work in the every-
day events of animal reproduction
(q_ 24:44-5; 36:36) and the propagation of
plants (a 6:95, 99; 13:4). The Qur'an
names yet other materials, besides clay and
water, out of which the human body is
created — materials which cannot have
been involved in the origination of Adam
and Eve (q.v). It is produced from a single
soul (nafs, o 4:1; 7:189; 39:6) or from a male
and a female (o 49:13). It is created from a
kind of water (o_ 25:54, 77:20-2, 86:5-7) as
were all animals (o_ 24:45) — though this
water is not to be confused with the pri-
mordial water from which Adam was
taken. For the human body is created from
a drop of sperm (nutfa, Q_ 16:4; 36:77; 76:2;
80:18-9; cf. Q_ 53:45-6; 86:5-7), "from an ex-
tract of contemptible fluid" (q_ 32:8-9; cf.
p_ 77:20-2; 86:5-7). "We have created them,
they know of what" (o_ 70:39; this is remi-
niscent of the mishnaic injunction [Aboth
3:1] to "know whence thou art come."
The Mishna's answer to this question,
obviously designed to promote humility
in humankind, is from a "putrid drop"
[tippah serukhah]). Yet the human body is
also created from a blood clot ('alaq,
0.96:2).

How are we to reconcile these varied and
seemingly contradictory statements? It
would seem that there is really no contra-
diction, for the Qur'an affirms that human
beings are created in stages (atwdr, Q_ 71:14),
obviously referring to the process of fetal
development from conception through ges-
tation to birth, a process which at every
phase it ascribes to the creative agency of
God. "He creates you in the wombs of
your mothers, creation after creation in a

477

CREATION

three-fold gloom" [khalqan min ba 'di khalqin,
o 39:6). The physical human body is made
first from dust, then of a "drop," then of
clotted blood, then of a morsel of partially
formed flesh which turns into bones and
covering skin and, finally, it becomes a
man [rajul, Q_ 18:37; cf. 22:5; 23:12-4; 40:67;
75:37-9). In every case, the "creation" de-
scribed occurs from pre-existing materials.
See also birth; biology as the creation

AND STAGES OF LIFE; BLOOD AND BLOOD
CLOT.

Only two passages in the Qur'an would
seem to be susceptible to an interpretation
indicative of creatio ex nihilo. Both occur in
Q_ 19, "Mary" (Surat Maryam). When Ze-
chariah (q.v.), a believer, expresses some
doubt that he and Elizabeth should have a
child at their advanced ages, the Lord (q.v.)
replies, "That is easy for me, since I created
you before, when you were not anything"
[wa-lam taku shay', Q_ 19:9). Later it is the un-
believers who express doubt when they
question the possibility of bodily resurrec-
tion: "Man says, 'When I have died, shall I
then be brought forth living?' Does man
not remember that we created him before,
when he was not anything?" [wa-lam yaku
shay', 19:66-7). But if these two passages
teach creatio ex nihilo, they are the only qur-
'anic passages that do so, which in turn
suggests that they in fact do not propound
such a concept. See also MARY.

There is no obligation, of course, to as-
sume that the Qur'an is a monolithic, to-
tally consistent text, on this or any other
matter. There is no a priori reason, how-
ever, to take the opposite position, i.e. to
assume that the Qur'an is inconsistent and
self-contradictory. The situation must be
evaluated on a case by case basis and, as
will be clear, there is no compelling evi-
dence contained within these two passages
to imply that the Qur'an contradicts itself
on the issue of creatio ex nihilo. In the ab-
sence of such compelling evidence, it is

reasonable to take this scripture as being
internally consistent.

We know from Aristotle that the Platon-
ists called preexistent matter "the non-
existent" [to me on, Aristotle, Physics 1.9.192a
6-7). More to the point, however, the early
fourth century Syrian monastic writer
Aphraates uses a similar argument to
make precisely the same point as does the
latter of the two passages in Q_ ig — and
Aphraates clearly does not intend to argue
for creatio ex nihilo: "About this resurrection
of the dead I shall instruct you, most dear
one, to the best of my ability. God in the
beginning created man; he molded him
from dust and he raised him up. If, then,
when man did not exist, he made him
from nothing, how much easier is it for
him now to raise him up like a seed sown
in the earth" (cited by T O'Shaughnessy,
Creation from nothing, 278). What is in-
volved here is creation not from absolute
but from relative non-existence, from a
condition when the human body did not
exist as such but existed only potentially as
dust or clay. It is God's ability to give life to
inanimate matter both at birth and at the
resurrection (q.v.) which is the ultimate
proof of his power. Creatio ex nihilo is not
the point at issue.

If khalaqa is associated with pre-existing
material, the same is true of other words
used qur'anically in connection with God's
creative activity. The root j- '-1, for example,
is used to describe God's creation of earth
and sky (q_ 40:64), of the constellations or
zodiacal signs (q_ 25:61), of darkness and
light (i.e. night and day: Q_ 6:1; 10:67;
40:61), of the sun and the moon (p_ 6:96).
Indeed, it is very often used in precisely the
same sense as khalaqa — as, for instance,
when the Qur'an states that every living
thing, including particularly the posterity
of Adam, has been made from a kind of
water (p_ 21:30; 32:8; see also Q_ 23:12-4, in
which, when it is taken with other similar

CREATION

478

passages, ja'ala is synonymous with khalaqa).
It is also used to refer to God's changing
Sabbath-breakers into apes (o_ 5:60), the
transformation of what is on the earth into
barren sterility (o 18:8), the laying out of
gardens (o 36:34), the production of fire
from a green tree (q_ 36:80) and the divine
dispensation of ships (q.v.) and of cattle for
human usage (o 43:12). It is a form of this
root which is used when the Children of
Israel (q.v.) demand of Moses (q.v.) that he
"make" them a god like the gods of the
idolaters (o_ 7:138) — where presumably
what is meant is the fashioning of a mate-
rial idol (see calf of gold). Likewise it is
the verb used by Pharaoh (q.v.) when he
orders Haman (q.v.) and his servants to
build him a tower out of fired clay bricks
so that he may climb up to the god of
Moses (q_ 28:38).

Other verbs used in the Qur'an seem to
imply a similar pre-existent material, an
UrstojJ, out of which the universe was
made. At the very least, there is nothing
in them which would necessitate reading
the Qur'an as advocating creatio ex nihilo.
Heaven, for example, of which it is repeat-
edly stated that God is the creator (using
the root kh-l-q as at Q_ 65:12; 67:3; 71:15 and
throughout the Qur'an), is said to have
been "built" as an "edifice" (both the noun
and the verb are formed from the Arabic
root letters b-n-y, Q_ 2:22; 40:64; 50:6; 51:47;
78:12; 79:27; 91:5). In another version of
Pharaoh's order to Haman to build him a
tower, b-n-y is used as a synonym at ja'ala
(040:36).

In the case of bada'a, too — which is used
as a synonym of khalaqa at o 7:29 — there
is no reason to infer, from the text as it
stands, a creation out of nothing. In the
passages relevant to the present concern,
the root b-d-' invariably serves as an incep-
tive helping verb, with the actual content
relating to the creation being supplied by
another root. (See, for example, Q_ 10:4, 34;

21:104; 27:64; 29:19-20; 30:11, 27; 32:7;
85:13 [by implication] .)

The Arabic root b-d-' (whose third radical
differs from the root just discussed) occurs
only four times in the Qur'an. In two of
the four occurrences of the root, God is
simply declared to be the "creator of the
heavens and the earth." Neither requires
an understanding of creatio ex nihilo. In
their third qur'anic occurrence, the radi-
cals appear in the eighth verbal form and
are used to describe the allegedly unau-
thorized "invention" of monasticism by
Christians (o_ 57:27; see monasticism and
monks; christians and Christianity).
The fourth occurrence is in the form of
the noun, innovation [bid', Q_ 46:9). Admit-
tedly, the latter two cases might be inter-
preted to support the concept of creatio ex
nihilo, but there is nothing in the context
to suggest that they should be so taken.

The Arabic root b-r-\ cognate with the
Hebrew verb of creation occurring at Gen-
esis 1:1, is to be found almost solely (in the
contexts which concern the present discus-
sion) in the neutral meanings of "creator"
(q_ 2:54; 59:24) or "creature" (o 98:6-7),
where nothing is specified about the mode
of creation. The one exception to this is
o_ 57:22, which speaks of misfortunes as
foreordained before God brings them
about. It is evident, however, that misfor-
tunes in this life, whether earthquakes or
diseases or war (q.v.), are "brought about"
out of pre-existing matter or circumstan-
ces. Thus, again, nothing in the qur'anic
use of bara'a compels an assumption of cre-
atio ex nihilo and, indeed, what evidence the
book does furnish would seem to militate
against such an assumption.

Much the same can be said of the root
n-sh-' which, in its qur'anic manifestation,
essentially means "to cause something to
grow." God produces gardens, for example
(q_ 6:141; 23:19), and he makes trees grow
(q_ 56:72). He also causes clouds to swell up,

479

CREATION

heavy with rain (yunshi'u al-sahab al-thiqal,
Q_ 13:12). Significantly, the root occasionally
seems to be used as a synonym for khalaqa
as at Q_ 36:77-9 and 29:19-20. God created
humankind from a single soul (q 6:98) or
from the earth (o_ 11:61; 53:32). Verbs de-
rived from this root are also used to de-
scribe the raising up of a new human
generation (o_ 6:6, 133; 21:11; 23:31, 42;
28:45), the birth of a child (o_ 23:14) and
the development of sensory apparatus
(o_ 23:78). In none of these instances does
a concept of creatio ex nihilo appear to play
a role.

Protology and eschatology
A further clue to the qur'anic doctrine of
creation occurs in certain polemical pas-
sages (see POLEMIC AND POLEMICAL LAN-
GUAGE) which might seem at first only
marginally relevant. In accordance with
the ancient notion of history as cyclical,
almost every element of the traditional
creation myths was taken up again in
Judaeo-Christian apocalypticism, which
taught that God would renew the world in
a new creation or palingenesia. Not surpris-
ingly, the same doctrine is abundantly at-
tested in the Qur'an where protology fore-
tells eschatology (q.v.) and God's initial
creation is a sign pointing forward to the
resurrection at the end of time (see apoc-
alypse) as well as a demonstration of
God's power actually to do it (o_ 6:95; 7:29,
57; 10:55-6; 13:5; 16:70; 17:49-51, 98-9;
19:66-7; 20:55; 21:104; 22:5; 27:64; 29:19-20,
120; 30:11, 27; 31:28; 32:10; 36:76-8; 46:33;
50:2-11, 15; 53 : 45-6; 75 : 37-4o; 86:5-8; cf.
J. Bouman, Gott und Mensch, 252). God cre-
ates once and then he repeats the process
to bring men before his tribunal at the day
of judgment (p_ 10:4; 30:11; 32:10; 46:33-4;
see last judgment). Men will be "created"
again when they are but bones and dust

fe 13:5; 17:49-5!. 98-9; 32:10; 34:7; 36:77-82;
see death and the dead). "Were we

wearied in the first creation," God asks,
"that they should be in confusion about a
new creation?" (p_ 50:15). "Do they not see
that God, who created the heavens and
the earth and was not wearied in their
creation, is able to give life to the dead?"

(0-46:33)-

The nature of resurrection (q.v.) as a
revivification of once animate, now inani-
mate, matter and the pointed comparisons
to the initial creation (emphatically so at
Q_ 22:5-6; 36:77-82; 75:37-40; 86:5-8) are
significant in many ways. They sustain the
view that the qur'anic concept of creation
was most likely conceived as the determi-
nation of pre-existent matter. They are
also strikingly reminiscent of the argument
advanced in a formative Jewish context at
2 Maccabees 7 — one of the most import-
ant documents for the study of the devel-
opment of thinking in the Abrahamic tra-
ditions on the nature of creation (see also
scripture and the qjjr'an). "When we are
dust," exclaim Muhammad's Meccan crit-
ics, "shall we indeed be in a new creation?"
(o_ 13:5; cf. 32:10; 34:7; see opposition to
muhammad). "They say, 'When we are
bones and fragments, shall we really be
raised up again as a new creation?'" To
this, Muhammad is instructed to reply
"'Be stones, or iron, or some creation yet
more monstrous in your minds!' Then
they will say, 'Who will bring us back?'
Say: 'He who originated you the first
time'" (o_ 17:49-51). "Have they not seen
that God, who created the heavens and the
earth, is capable of creating the likes of
them?" (q 17:99; cf. 17:98).

Thus, while the Qur'an forcefully asserts
God's role as peerless creator of the uni-
verse and summons humanity to serve and
to worship him on that account, it does not
appear that a theory of creatio ex nihilo can
be constructed on the basis of qur'anic
material alone. Rather, it is only with the
development of the Islamic sciences, such

CREEDS

480

as hadtth (reports of the sayings and the
deeds of Muhammad and his early fol-
lowers), qur'anic commentary (tafslr), the-
ology ('Urn al-kalam), and philosophy (Jal-
safa) that one finds extensive discussion
about the divine act of creation from abso-
lute nothingness (cf. R. Arnaldez, Khalk,
esp. sec. Ill- VI; van Ess, TG, iv, 445-77 and
"Schopfung" in Index).

Daniel Carl Peterson

Bibliography
Primary: Averroes, On the harmony of religion and
philosophy, trans. G.F. Hourani, London 1961.
Secondary: R. Arnaldez, Khalk, in Ef\ iv, 980-8;
J. Bonman, Gott und Mensch im Koran, Darmstadt
1977, n-38, 89-94, 2 5 2 ; van Ess, re; J.A.
Goldstein, The origins of the doctrine of
creation ex nihilo, in Journal of Jewish studies 35
(1984), 127-35; G- May, Schopfung aus dem Nichts.
Die Entstehung der Lehre von der Creatio Ex Nihilo,
Berlin 1978; J.D. McAuliffe, Fakhr al-Din al-RazI
on God as al-Khaliq, in D. Burrell and B.
McGinn (eds.), God and creation. An ecumenical
symposium, Notre Dame 1990, 276-96 (examines
creation in al-Razl's exegesis of the Chrr'an);
K. Norman, Ex nihilo. The development of
the doctrines of God and creation in early
Christianity, in BYU studies 17 (1977), 291-318;
T O'Shaughnessy, Creation and the teaching of the
Qjiran, Rome 1985 (an updated expansion of his
article); id., Creation from nothing and the
teaching of the Qur'an, in ZDMG 120 (1970),
274-80; D.C. Peterson, Does the Qur'an teach
creation ex nihilo? in J.M. Lundquist and S.D.
Ricks (eds.), By study and also by faith, Salt Lake
City 1990, 584-610; D. Winston, Creation ex
nihilo revisited. A reply to Jonathan Goldstein,
in Journal of Jewish studies 37 (1986), 88-91.

Greeds

Concise and authoritative formulae that
provide a summation of the essentials of
faith (q.v.). Professions of faith or creeds
('ac/d'id, sing, 'aqida) were formulated by in-
dividual scholars and by groups of schol-
ars, yet there exists no standard or uni-
versally accepted Muslim creed. Rather,
there are a variety of Islamic creeds, which

vary substantially in length, contents and
arrangement.

Although the Qur'an does not proclaim
any formal creed or compendium of faith,
it does contain elements that form the basis
for most creeds. First among these is the
nature of God (see GOD AND His attri-
butes), particularly his unity and unicity
(e.g. Q_ 2:255; 27:26; 28:70, 112), although
other attributes are sometimes included.
The following are often singled out for
special consideration: power (e.g. Q_ 2:20,
106, 109 etc.; see power and impotence),
knowledge (e.g. 0^4:11, 17, 24 etc.; see
KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNING), will (e.g.
Q_ 3:40; 14:27; 22:18 etc.), life, including
hearing (e.g. Q_ 2:181, 224; 3:34) and sight
(e.g. rj 2:96, no; 3:15; 4:58, 134), speech
(q_ 2:253; 4:164) and visibility (q_ 75:22-3).
Other themes include the prophetic mis-
sion of Muhammad and earlier messen-
gers (e.g. o_ 4:136; 7:158; 8:1; 48:29; see

PROPHETS AND PROPHETHOOD; MESSENGER)

and eschatological matters, namely the
day of resurrection {jawm al-qiyama, e.g.
Q_ 6:36; 50:41-2; 58:6, 18) following the an-
nihilation of all creatures (e.g. p_ 28:88) and
preceding the last day or the day of judg-
ment [yawm al-din, e.g. Q_ 37:20; 70:26; see
eschatology; apocalypse; last judg-
ment; resurrection). In some passages,
the Qur'an explicitly puts forth a credal
prototype, such as that found at Q_ 4:136:
"O believers, believe in God and his mes-
senger, and the scripture (see book) he has
revealed to his messenger, and the scripture
he revealed before. But he who believes not
in God and his angels (see angel) and his
scriptures and his messengers and the last
day, has wandered far away" (cf. Q_ 2:136,
285; 3:84; 57:7; see belief and unbelief;
astray; scripture and the qjltr'an).

The qur'anic data constituting the neces-
sary beliefs that determine the content of
the Muslim faith were further supple-
mented by data from the sunna (q.v.).

48 1

CREEDS

Moreover, as a result of the controversies
that developed during the earliest period
of Islam and gave rise to the schisms
within the Islamic community and various
politico-religious traditions, other issues
became relevant for consideration in any
formulation of a credal proclamation of
the tenets of the faith. These included the
validity of the imamate (see imam), the
nature of faith (Tman), the conditions for
salvation (q.v.), the question of God's pre-
determination of events and human re-
sponsibility for their actions (see freedom
and predestination) as well as the issue of
the createdness versus the uncreatedness
of the Qur'an (see createdness of the
qur'an). These issues, together with the
conceptual elaboration of the qur'anic
data, were dealt with differently by various
Muslim groups. Thus, professions of faith
served not only to represent the faith of the
community but were also meant to refute
allegedly heterodox doctrines.

Although there are extant creeds from
the second Islamic century (such as those
of al-Awza'T, d. 157/774 an(1 Sufyan al-
Thawrl, d. 161/778; cf. Lalaka'i, Shark,
i/ii, 170-5), most of the earliest creeds were
formulated within the traditional, anti-
rationalist camp, the adherents of which
were hostile to speculative theology (kalam)
and to esoteric interpretation by Sufism
(see sufism and the qjur'an). Instead, they
relied exclusively on the Qur'an and the
sunna in its apparent form. Professions of
faith thus became a way for the adherents
of orthodoxy to express their doctrine and
to distance themselves from divergent
groups. This applies in particular to the
main representatives of orthodoxy, the
Hanballs. Six creeds are attributed to the
school's founder, Ahmad b. Hanbal
(d. 241/855; see Ibn Abl Ya'la, Tabaqat, i,
24-36, 130-1, 241-6, 294-5, 3 :l -3> 34!"5; Par-
tial trans, in W.M. Watt, Creeds, 30-40;
Lalaka'i, Shark, i/ii, 175-85, which contains

a version of Ibn Hanbal's creed (i'tiqdd) as
transmitted by his son, 'Abdallah, another
rendition of which is found in J. Schacht,
Der Islam, 36-7; cf. L. Massignon, Recueil,
213-4). Similar creeds are attributed to the
disciples of Ibn Hanbal, notably his son
'Abdallah b. Ahmad (d. 290/0,03) whose
Kitdb al-Sunna (ed. A. b. Basyunl Zaghlfll,
Beirut 1994 2 ) is one of the oldest extant
Hanball creeds, and Muhammad b. Idrls
Abu Hatim al-RazI (d. 277/890-1; see Ibn
Abl Ya'la, Tabaqat, i, 284-6). Another early
creed is that of the famous compiler of the
prophetic tradition, Muhammad b. Isma'il
al-Bukharl (d. 256/870; cf. Lalaka'i, Shark,

i/ii, 193-7)-

In the early Hanball creeds the import-
ance of polemics often eclipses the enu-
meration of even the most central articles
of faith, which are often missing. More-
over, these creeds frequently lack a logical
arrangement. Among the H anDa h~ s of the
second half of the third/ninth century,
mention should be made of Abu Bakr al-
Khallal (d. 311/922) who collected and
classified in his Kitdb al-Jdmi', partly extant
in manuscript, the responsa of Ibn H an b a l
on questions of law and dogmatics (cf.
H. Laoust, al-Khallal); and Abu Bakr al-
Sijistam (d. 316/928) who wrote, among
other works, a short profession of faith in
verse (see Ibn Abl Ya'la, Tabaqat, ii, 53-4).
One of the most significant H an ball creeds
of this period was composed by the mili-
tant traditionalist Abu Muhammad al-
Barbahari (d. 329/941) entitled Kitdb al-
Sunna (see Ibn Abl Ya'la,, Tabaqat, ii, 18-44;
H. Laoust, Les premieres professions de
foi, 22-5; C. Gilliot, Textes, in MIDEO 24). It
is, above all, a polemic work denouncing
the proliferation of blameworthy innova-
tions (bid'a), condemning pernicious de-
viations resulting from a personal and
arbitrary use of reason in the domain of
religious beliefs and enjoining a return to
the precepts of the "old religion" (din 'atTq)

CREEDS

of the first three caliphs. In his treatment
of doctrinal issues such as the divine attri-
butes and theodicy, al-Barbaharl repro-
duces data drawn from the Qiir'an and the
sunna. His creed proved particularly influ-
ential for Ibn Batta al-'Ukbarl (d. 387/997),
who composed, among other works, two
professions of faith belonging to the great
tradition of Hanball polemics: the shorter
version, al-Ibana al-saghira (cf H. Laoust,
Profession d'Ibn Batta) and the longer ver-
sion, al-Ibana al-kubra, both of which have
been published (cf. J. van Ess, Notizen,
I30f). Ibn Batta 's creeds apparently influ-
enced the various edicts issued between
408/1017 and 409/1018 by the Abbasid
caliph al-Qadir (r. 381-422/991-1031), who
wanted to make Hanbalism the official
credo of the state. These edicts came to be
known as the Qadirl Creed (al-i'tiqad al-
qddin, cf. G. Makdisi, Ibn 'AqTl, 8f). How-
ever, despite its hostile attitude towards
dogmatic theology, Hanbalism was not
immune to its influence.

In contrast to former H an balT creeds, the
dogmatic treatise of Abu Ya'la b. al-Farra'
(d. 458/1066), Kitab al-Mu'tamad, is organ-
ized after contemporary treatises on kaldm.
Towards the end of the sixth/twelfth cen-
tury and the beginning of the seventh/
thirteenth century, Muwaffaq al-Din b.
Qudama (d. 620/1223) composed a short
creed in traditional H an ball fashion, Lum 'at
al-i'tiqad (Brockelmann, gal, i, 398; G.
Anawati, Textes, in mideo 1, no. 22). Ah-
mad b. H am dan b. Shabib al-H a rr a rrI
(d. 695/1295) was also active in the sev-
enth/thirteenth century. His creed, Nihayat
al-mustad'in fi usul al-din, mentions the indi-
vidual views of numerous former H an ball
doctors (cf. J. van Ess, Notizen, 127-8). A
century later, the neo-H a nbali Ibn Tay-
miyya (d. 728/1328) wrote a number of
creeds, among them the 'Aqida al-wasitiyya
(cf. H. Laoust, La profession defoi d'Ibn Tay-
miyya) and the 'Aqida al-tadmuriyya (cf. Wein,

Die islamische Glaubenslehre). His student Ibn
Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 751/1350-51)
wrote a profession of faith in verse, the
JVuniyya (published as al-Kafiyya al-shdfiyyafi
l-intisar lil-firqa l-najiyya, Cairo 1901, 1920 2 ;
cf. Brockelmann, gal, S ii, 128 no. 47), di-
rected principally against the Jahmiyya
and the Ittihadiyya. Much use of the work
of Ibn Taymiyya was made by Muham-
mad b. Abd al-Wahhab (d. 1206/1791)
whose most significant writing, apart from
several professions of faith, was his Kitab
al-Tawhid (found in his Majmu'at al-tawhid,
Cairo n.d., 21st treatise, 156-232; cf. H.
Laoust, Essai sur les doctrines sociales,
514-24 and 615-24 for Laoust's French
translation of this 'aqida and another
Wahhabl creed).

To a lesser extent, the other legal schools
have also developed creeds often attributed
to their founders, although the authenticity
of these attributions is not clear. Of Abu
Hanlfa's (d. 150/767) own theological
tracts, only two epistles addressed to a cer-
tain 'Uthman al-Batti are extant {Risalat Abi
Hanifa ila 'Uthman al-Batti, in Abu H an if a >
al-'Alim wa-l-muta'allim, ed. M. Zahid al-
Kawthan, Cairo 1949, 34-8). By contrast,
al-'Alim wa-l-muta'allim and al-Fiqh al-absat,
usually attributed to Abu H arm<a ) were
composed by two of his students, Abu
Muqatil al-Samarqandl (d. 208/823) an< ^
Abu Mutf al-Balkhi (d. 199/814) respec-
tively (cf. U. Rudolph, al-Maturidi, 30-78).
Al-Balkhl's work is a collection of theologi-
cal statements with commentary by Abu
Hanifa. One of the most prominent
Hanafi creeds was composed towards the
end of the third/ninth century by Abu
1-Qasim Ishaq b. Muhammad al-H a klm al-
SamarqandT (d. 342/953), Radd 'aid ashdb al-
ahwa' al-musamma Kitab al-Sawad al-a'iam
'aid madhhab al-imdm al-a'^am Abi Hanifa
(Refutation of those holding heretical views enti-
tled the Book of the vast majority of people who
follow the teaching of the worthy Imam Abu

483

CREEDS

Hamfa), which became known under the ti-
tle al-Sawad al-a'^am. This creed, which al-
Hakim al-Samarqandi had been commis-
sioned to write, won the formal approval
of the Samanid ruler (amir) Isma'll b.
Ahmad (r. 279-95/892-907) and all the
Hanafi doctors of Transoxania. The tract,
translated into Persian and Turkish, served
as the official creed under the Samanids
and remained popular long after the fall of
the dynasty (cf. U. Rudolph, al-Mdtundl,
106-31 for a summary of the tract; he
gives a list of editions and translations on
p. 374). The Hanafi jurist Abu 1-Layth al-
Samarqandl (d. 373/983) composed a short
catechism, Aqidat al-usul, which became
highly popular among Indonesian and
Malayan Muslims (cf. Juynboll, Samar-
kandi's catechismus) and a manual of basic
religious knowledge entitled Bustdn al-
'drijin. In addition to these works, a com-
mentary on the above-mentioned al-Fiqh
al-absat entitled Shark al-fiqh al-akbar has
been attributed to al-Samarqandi (H.
Daiber, Islamic concept of belief). However,
this attribution is disputed (cf. U. Rudolph,
al-Mdtundi, 361-5).

Of the various professions of faith attrib-
uted to al-Shafi'i (d. 204/820) some (al-Fiqh
al-akbar fi l-tawhid and Wasiyyat al-Shafi'i)
may give the impression that his theologi-
cal thinking prefigured either Ash'arism
or, depending on who makes the claim,
Hanbalism (Ibn Abl Ya'la,, Tabaqat, i,
283-4). However, these attributions are
doubtful. For instance, later Shafi'l Ash'a-
rls like Fakhr al-Dln al-RazI (d. 606/1209)
or al-Subkl (d. 771/1370) describe al-Shafi'i
as having favored the exercise of specula-
tive theology ('Urn al-kalam), whereas ac-
cording to traditionalist Shafi'is, he is de-
scribed as having been hostile to this
discipline. Modern scholars usually con-
sider both views to be retrospective projec-
tion (cf. Laoust, Safi'i and Makdisi, Juridi-
cal Theology).

A profession of faith was also formulated
by the historian and commentator on the
Qur'an, al-Tabari (d. 310/923), who was
the founder of a school of law which did
not survive. Though his creed bears a
strong resemblance to the traditional
creeds of his time, al-Tabari deviates to
some extent from the orthodox doctrine
regarding the question of the imamate and
that of the divine attributes. This was pre-
sumably the reason for the strong H anDa rI
opposition he encountered (for the creed of
al-Tabari, cf. Gilliot, Ell, 60; Lalaka 1 !,
Shark, i/ii, 206-g; D. Sourdel, Une profes-
sion; for creeds before al-Tabari, cf. Gilliot,
Elt, 208-10).

Although creeds were natural expressions
of dogma for the orthodox, they are fre-
quently encountered within other Muslim
theological traditions. As the Maturidiyya
generally lagged behind the other kaldm
schools in methodological sophistication
and systematization, professions of faith
played a far more important role in ex-
pounding and elaborating the doctrine of
al-Maturidl (d. 333/944) than they did in
the refinement of Ash'arl doctrines. Most
significant for the dissemination of Matu-
ridl dogma was a creed by Abu H a f§
'Umar b. Muhammad al-Nasafi (d. 537/
1 142; for al-Aqd'id al-nasafiyya, see the sec-
ond creed in W. Cureton, Pillar; D. Mac-
donald, Development, 308-15; J. Schacht, Der
Islam, 81-7, no. 19; for Abu H a f s : see A.
Wensinck, al-Nasafi, no. III). It was fre-
quently versified and many commentaries
and glosses were written on it, the best
known by Sa'd al-Din al-Taftazam (d. 792/
1390; cf. C. Gilliot, Textes, in MIDEO 19,
no. 4g; the English translation of al-
Taftazam's commentary is E. Elder, A com-
mentary on the creed of Islam, NY 1950; the
best edition is that of Claude Salame,
Damascus 1974). All b. 'Uthman al-Ushi
(fl. 569/1173) composed another popular
creed in verse, known as al-Lamiyya fi

CREEDS

l-tawhid or Bad' al-amdli (cf. Brockelmann,
GAL, i, 429; S i, 764). Numerous commen-
taries were written on it, some of them in
Persian and Turkish. The most popular
was Daw al-amdli of 'All al-Qari (d. 1014/
1605; cf. Brockelmann, gal, S ii, 764, com-
mentary no. 6). Other popular MaturTdl
creeds were composed by Nur al-Dln al-
Sabunl al-Bukharl (d. 580/1184) entitled
Kitab al-Bidaya min al-kijayajl l-hiddya (ed.
F. Khulayf, Cairo 1969, 180 p.) and by Abu
1-Barakat al-Nasaft (d. 710/1310; cf. W.
Heffening, al-Nasaft, no. IV) entitled
'Umdat al- 'aqida li-ahl al-sunna (ed. W. Cure-
ton, Pillar). On this latter creed, in support
of the creed of Abu Hafs al-Nasaft (supra),
Abu 1-Barakat wrote a commentary enti-
tled Kitab al-I'timddfi l-i'tiqad.

Creeds were also frequently composed by
Ash'arT scholars. Al-Ash'arl (d. 324/936)
himself wrote a short creed, two versions
of which are extant, in his Ibdna (9-13) and
his Maqdldt (290-7; trans. W.M. Watt,
Creeds, 41-7; R. McCarthy, Theology, 235f).
Later adherents of his school also com-
posed numerous professions of faith. In
contrast to the specialized and elaborate
dogmatic treatises on Ash'ari doctrine,
these creeds were written for a wider audi-
ence with the purpose of attracting them
to Ash'arism. Examples are the 'Aqida of
al-Ustadh Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayinl (d. 418/
1027; CI - R- Frank, al-Ustadh Abu Ishak);
various creeds by Abu 1-Qasim al-Qushayrl
(d. 465/1074) such as al-Fusulji l-usul (for
English translation, cf. R. Frank, Two short
dogmatic works, [part 2] in MIVEO 16
(1983), 59-94), the Luma' ji l-i'tiqad (for Eng-
lish translation, cf R. Frank, Two short
dogmatic works, [part 1] in MIDEO 15
(1982), 53-74) and al-Man^uma, an 'aqida in
verse (ed. K. al-Samarra'l, in Majallat al-
majma' al-'ilnu l-'Irdqi, 18 (1969), 284-6); al-
Aqida al-nigdmiyya of Abu 1-Ma'all al-
Juwaynl (d. 478/1085; cf. G. Anawati,
Textes, in mideo 15, no. 13); a profession of

faith by Abu 1-Hamid al-Ghazall (d. 505/
mi; trans. W.M. Watt, Creeds, 73-9); al-
Aqd'id al-'adudiyya of Adud al-Dln al-Iji
(d. 756/1355; trans. W.M. Watt, Creeds,
86-9) as well as a number of popular
creeds by Muhammad b. Yusuf al-SanusI
(d. 891/1486 or 895/1490; cf. W.M. Watt,
Creeds, 90-7).

Few if any creeds seem to have been for-
mulated by the Mu'tazila (see mu'tazilis).
However, a number of summaries of
Mu'tazili doctrine meant to serve as pro-
fessions of faith are extant. Examples are
the Mukhtasar Ji usul al-din (see Rasd'il, i,
161-254) and the Shark al-usul al-khamsa by
the Qadl 'Abd al-Jabbar (d. 415/1025; cf.
Gimaret, Les Usui), who was the head of
the disciples of Abu Hashim 'Abd al-
Salam al-Jubba 1 ! (d. 321/933), who are
called in Arabic al-Bahshamiyya (cf.
Shahrastani, Livre des religions, 265-89). A
further example is the Minhajji usul al-din
of Mahmud b. 'Ulnar al-Zamakhshari (d.
538/1 144; (trans. Schmidtke, A Mu 'tazilite
creed), who was largely influenced by the
views of the founder of the last innovative
Mu'tazili school, Abu 1-Husayn al-Basrl
(d. 436/1044).

Countless professions of faith were com-
posed by Imamls, not only by traditional-
ists like Ibn Babawayh (d. 381/991; Risalat
al-i'tiqaddt, trans. A. Fyzee, Shi'ite Creed)
but also by later Twelver Shi'ls who were
predominantly influenced by Mu'tazilism.
Examples are the two popular creeds by
the 'Allama al-Hilll (d. 726/1325), the Bab
al-hadi 'ashar (trans. W.M. Watt, Creeds,
98-105) and the Risdlajiwajib al-i'tiqdd 'aid
jami' al- 'ibdd, both of which received fre-
quent and lengthy commentary; or the
Risala tashtamilu 'aid aqalli mdyajibu 'aid l-
mukallijin min al- 'Urn bi-usul al-din by Ibn
Abljumhur al-Ahsa'l (d. after 904/1499;
for further Imam! creeds, see al-Tihranl,
Dhari'a, ii, 224-9; xv > 2 ^ I > 3°6)- An example
of an Isma'lll creed is the 7~«/ al-'aqd'id of

48 5

CREEDS

Sayyidna 'All b. Muhammad al-Walid
(d. 612/1215; cf. Ivanov, Creed). Among
the Ibadls, professions of faith were writ-
ten by Zakariyya' Yahya b. al-Khayr al-
Jannawunl (fifth/eleventh century; cf.
Guperiy, Profession) and by Abu Hafs
'Amr b. Jamf (eighth/fourteenth-ninth/
fifteenth century; cf. A. Motylinski,
c Aqlda). Concise overviews of the essen-
tials of Islamic faith were also produced
by Sufis (cf. W. Chittick, Faith and Practice;
see shi c ism and the qur'an; sufism and

THE QUR'an).

Sabine Schrnidtke

Bibliography
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musdfinn fit usul al-din [= Risala tashtamilu 'aid aqalli
mdyajibu 'aid l-mukallafin min al- ! ilm bi-usul at-dm],
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b. al-Walid, Taj al-'aqd'id wa-ma'din alfawa'id, ed.
A. Tamer, Beirut 1967; al-Ash'arl, Abu 1-Hasan,
al-Ibana l an usul al-diy ana, Hyderabad 1903; id.,
Maqdldt al-isldmiyyin, ed. H. Ritter, Istanbul
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concept of belief in the 4 th / io th century. Abu l-Lait
as-Samarqandi's commentary on Abu Hanifa {died
150/767) al-Fiqh al-absat, Tokyo 1995; AAA.
Fyzee (trans.), A Shi'ite creed. A translation of
Risalatu 1-i'tiqadat of Muhammad b. All Ibn
Bdbawayhi al-Qummi known as Shaykh Saduq,
London 1942; Hasan al-Basri, Rasd'il al-'adl
wa-l-tawhid, ed. M. Tmara, 2 vols., Cairo 1971;
al-Hilh, Jamal al-Dln Hasan, al-Bdb al-hddi 'ashar
(with the commentaries al-Miqdad al-Suyurl,
al-Nafi yawm al-hashr and Ibn Makhdum, Miftdh
al-bab), ed. M. Muhaqqiq, Tehran 1365/1986; id.,
Risala ji wdjib al-iiiqdd 'aid jam!' al-'ibdd (with al-
Miqdad al-Suyurl, Ttimadfj sharh wdjib al-i'tiqdd),
in Kalimdt al-muhaqqiqin, Tehran 1315/1897,
380-422; Ibn AbT YaTa Abu 1-Husayn
Muhammad, Tabaqdt al-Handbila, ed. Muhammad
Hamid al-FlqT, 2 vols., Cairo 1371/1952; Ibn
Batta al- <T JkbarI, al-Ibana l-kubrd [— al-Ibdna an
shar'iyyat al-firqati l-ndjiyyati wa-mujdnabat al-firaq
al-madhmuma] , ed. R. Na'san Mu'tT et al., 7 vols.,
Riyadh 1988-97; Ibn al-Farra 3 , Abu Ya c la, Kitdb
al-Mu'tamadfi usul al-din, ed. Wadi ( Zaydan
Haddad, Beirut 1974; Ibn Hanbal, Kitdb al-Sunna,
Cairo 1349/1930; Ibn Taymiyya, al-Aqlda
al-wasitiyya, in id., Majmu'at al-rasd'il al-kubrd,
2 vols., Cairo 1323/1905, i, 387-406; H. Klopfer
(ed. and trans.), Das Dogma des Imam al-Haramain

al-Djuwaym und sein Werk Aqidat al-Ni^dmiya,
Cairo 1958; al-Lalakal, Hibat Allah b. al-Husayn
b. Mansur al-Tabarl, Sharh usul i'tiqdd ahl al-sunna
wa-l-jama'a, ed. A. al-GhamirT, 9 vols, in 5,
Riyadh 1997 5 (vol. 9 contains the first edition of
Karamat awliyd' Allah); al-QushayrT, al-Man^uma.
An aqlda in verse, ed. K. al-Samarra'T, in
Majallat al~majma ! al-'ilmi al- 'Iraqi 18 (1969), 284-6;
al-Samarqandl, Abu 1-Layth, Kitdb Bustdn al-
'drifin, Beirut 1979; S. Schrnidtke (ed. and trans.),
A Alu'tazilite creed of az-^jimahsari (d. 538/1144)
(al-Minhdgfi usul al-din), Stuttgart 1997; al-ShafTi,
Muhammad b. IdrTs, al-Fiqh al-akbarfi l-tawhfd,
Cairo 1324/1906; id., Wasiyyat al-Shdfi'i, ed.
Kern, in msos 13 (1910), 141-45; al-Tihranl, Agha
Buzurg, al-Dhana ild tasdnif al-shi'a, 25 vols.,
Beirut 1403-6/1983-6.

Secondary: G. Anawati, Textes, in mideo i
(1954), no. 22; id., Textes, in MIDEO 15 (1982), no.
13; E. Chaumont, Shafi ( T, in Ef, ix, 181-5; W.C.
Chittick, Faith and practice in Islam. Three thirteenth
century Sufi texts, Albany 1992; P. Guperiy, Une
profession de foi ibadite. La profession de foi
d'Abu Zakariyya' Yahya ibn al-Hair al-
GannawunT, in BEO 32-3 (1980-1), 21-54; W.
Gureton (ed.), Pillar of the creed of the Sunnites.
Being a brief exposition of their principal tenets,
London 1843 (contains a creed of al-NasalY);
H. Daiber, The creed ('aqidaj of the Hanbalite
Ibn Qudama al-MaqdisT, in W. al-Qadi (ed.),
Studia Arabica et Islamic a. Festschrift for Ihsdn Abbas
on his sixtieth birthday, Beirut 1981, 105-25; E.
Elder, A commentary on the creed of Islam. Sa'd al-Din
al-Taftazani on the creed of Najm al-Din al-Nasafi,
New York 1950; J. van Ess, Biobibliographische
Notizen zur islamischen Theologie, in wo 11
(1980), 122-34; id-> Kritisches zum Fiqh akbar, in
.ff.E/54 (1986), 327-38; R.M. Frank, Two short
dogmatic works ol Abu 1-Qasim al-Qushayrl, in
MIDEO 15 (1982), 53-74 and 16 (1983), 59-94; id.,
al-Ustadh Abu Ishak. An ( aklda together with
selected fragments, in MIDEO 19 (1989), 129-202;
Gardet and Anawati, Introduction, 136-45; Gilliot,
Elt; id., Textes, in mideo 19 (1989), no. 49; id.,
Textes, in mideo 24 (2000) no. 97; D. Gimaret,
Les Usui al-hamsa du OadT Abd al-Gabbar et
leurs commentaires, in Al 15 (1979), 47-96; W.
Heffening, al-Nasafi, in ei 2 , vii, 969, no. IV;
W. Ivanov, A creed of the Fatimids (A summary of the
Tdju 'l-'aqd'id, by Sayyidna All b. Muhammad b. al-
Walid, ob. 612/1215), Bombay 1936; A.W.T
Juynboll, Samarkandi's Catechismus opnieuw
besproken, in Bijdragen voor de Taal-, Land- en
Volkenkunde van JVederlands Indie, Ser. IV, 4 (1881),
267-84; H. Laoust, Essai sur les doctrines sociales et
politiques de Taki-d-Din Ahmad b. Taimiya, Cairo
1939; id., Les premieres professions de foi
hanbalites, in Alelanges Louis Massignon, 3 vols.,

CRITERION

486

Damascus 1957, hi, 7-35; id., La profession defoi
d'Lbn Batta, Damascus 1958; id., La profession defoi
dLbn Taymiyya. Texte, traduction et commentaire de la
Wasitiyya, Paris 1986; id., SafVT et le kaldm d'apres
RazT, in R. Arnaldez and S. van Riet (eds.),
Recherches d'islamologie. Recueil d'articles offert a
Georges C. Anawati et Louis Gardet par leurs collegues et
amis, Louvain 1979, 389-401; G. Lecomte, La
wasiyya (testament spirituel) attribue a Abu
Muhammad 'Abd Allah b. Musim b. C^utayba,
in rei 2% (i960), 73-92; D. Macdonald, The
development of Muslim theology, jurisprudence and
constitutional theory, London 1902, repr. 1985; W.
Madelung, Sonstige religiose Literatur, in GAP, ii,
379-83; G. Makdisi, Lbn Aqil et la resurgence de
ITslam traditionaliste au XL siecle (V e siecle de
VHegire), Damascus 1963; id., Lbn Aqil. Religion
and culture in classical Lslam, Edinburgh 1997; id.,
The juridical theology of ShafTl. Origins and
significance of Usui al-fiqh, in 5/59 (1984), 5-47;
id. al-Khallal, in is/ 1 ', iv, 989-90; L. Massignon,
Recueil de textes inedits concernant I'histoire de la
mystique en pays d'Lslam, Paris 1929; R.J. McCarthy,
The theology of al-Ashari, Beirut 1953; A. de C
Motylinski, L' ( aqlda des Abadhites, in Algiers.
Universite. Ecole superieur des lettres, Recueil de
memoires et de textes publics en Vhonneur du XLV 1 '
congres d'orientalistes, Alger 1905, 505-45; U.
Rudolph, al-Mdtundi und die sunmtische Theologie in
Samarkand, Leiden 1997; J. Schacht, Der Lslam. Mil
Ausschluss des Qpr'ans, Tubingen 1931 ; D. Sourdel,
Une profession de foi de l'historien al-Tabarl, in
RE136 (1968), 177-99; W.M. Watt, Aklda, in El",
i, 332-6; id., Islamic creeds, in ER, iv, 150-53; id.,
Islamic creeds. A selection, Edinburgh 1994; G
Wein, Die islamische Glaubenslehre ('aqida) des Lbn
TaimTya, Ph.D. diss., Bonn 1973; A.J. Wensinck,
The Muslim creed. Its genesis and historical
development, Cambridge 1932, 1965 2 ; id.,
al-Nasafl, in El 2 , vii, 968-9, no. III.

Crescent see days, times of

Crime see sin and crime

Criterion

A standard of judging. Among the many
names used by Muslims for the Qur'an,
one of the most popular is al-furqdn, usually
translated "the Criterion." The word ap-

pears in the text seven times (o_ 2:53, 185;
3:4; 8:29, 41; 21:48; 25:1) and is also one of
the names given to Q 25. It has long been
conjectured by Western scholars that the
origin of furqcin is the Aramaic/Syriac pur-
qdna (salvation, deliverance, redemption;
see foreign vocabulary). Although a for-
eign origin has not been posited by the
Muslim tradition, it has nonetheless been
recognized that a simple derivation from
the Arabic root letters f-r-q (to separate,
distinguish) will not easily explain all the
uses of furqcin.

There seem to be two basic elements in-
fluencing qur'anic usage of this term: a so-
teriological sense probably deriving from
an Aramaic or Syriac origin and the notion
of separation and discernment characteris-
tic of the Arabic verb faraqa. When a sense
of connection to revelation and scripture is
added to these two factors, the resulting
semantic field becomes quite complex (see
revelation and inspiration; scripture
and the qjjr'an). The aspect of salvation
(q.v.) is clearest in Q_ 8:29: "O you who be-
lieve! If you fear God, he will create for
you a furqcin, acquit you of your evil-doing
and forgive you (see forgiveness)." Al-
Tabarl (d. 310/923) notes that in this con-
text authorities have interpreted the word
variously as escape (makhrcij), salvation
(najcit) or separation/discernment (fasl, cf.
Tafsir, ad loc). Its use in connection with
Moses (q.v.) and Aaron (q.v.) forms a con-
ceptual link between salvation and scrip-
ture: "We granted to Moses the book [al-
kitab, see book) and the furqan. Perhaps you
might accept to be guided" (q_ 2:53); "In-
deed we granted to Moses and Aaron the
furqcin and a light and a reminder (dhihj
for the God-fearing" (q_ 21:48; see piety).
Since the career of Moses unites the roles
of both liberator and deliverer of revela-
tion, and since for the Qur'an it is the lat-
ter role that is paramount, it is not difficult

487

CRUCIFIXION

to see how the emphasis in the usage of
this loanword might shift from salvation
to revelation.

This dual emphasis is evident also in the
career of the Prophet (see Muhammad):
q 8:41 refers to "what we revealed to our
servant on the day of al-furqan, the day
when the two armies met." The tradition
universally recognizes this as referring to
the battle of Badr (q.v.) and so links the
revelation of the Qur'an in the month of
Ramadan (q.v.) with the divinely-granted
victory of the Muslims over the Meccan
forces (see conquest; expeditions and
battles). In this verse the various levels of
meaning in the word furqdn can be seen to
come together: God saves (Syr./Aram.^wr-
qdna) the smaller Muslim band from almost
certain defeat and at this juncture a deci-
sive break (farq) between Muslims and
Meccans takes place. Furthermore, God's
revelation in the Qur'an is something by
which right is distinguished (faraqa) from
wrong and it is also what distinguishes
(faraqa) Muslims from the unscriptured
and from the recipients of earlier revela-
tions (see people of the book). The sense
that al-furqan refers to revelation is rein-
forced by the fact that it is used on all but
one occasion with the verbs "to grant" fata)
and "to send down" (nazz^/ ^uzala) —
verbs most often, although not exclusively,
connected with revelation. To the extent
that the Qur'an recognizes a need for sal-
vation, the term al-furqan shows how it
considers the salvific action of God to be
the sending of prophetic guidance (see
prophets and prophethood).

Daniel Madigan

bibliography
Primary: Tabarl, Tafsir.

Secondary: Jeffery For. vocab., 225-9; ^- P are t,
Furkan, in Ef, ii, 949-50, and authors cited
there; Watt-Bell, Introduction, 145-7.

Criticism, Critical Theory see

CONTEMPORARY critical practices

Cross see crucifixion

Crucifixion

Nailing or binding the hands and feet of a
criminal to a cross of execution. The verb
salaba, "to crucify," occurs six times in the
Qur'an: twice in the root form and four
times in the second verbal form. It is prob-
ably a Syriac loan word (see foreign
vocabulary).

Etymology and meaning
The verb "to crucify" (salaba), which oc-
curs in the active voice at o_ 4:157 and
in the passive at Q_ 12:41, is a denominal
verb from the noun salib, meaning a cross.
This noun does not occur in the Qur'an,
although found in early poetry (see po-
etry and poets). It is probably derived
from fliba, the word for cross in Syriac.
The precise meaning of the second form
of the verb (sallaba), which occurs at
0. 5-33 m the passive voice and at Q_ 7:124,
20:71 and 26:49 in the active, is uncertain.
J. Penrice assumes that it is causative
{Dictionary, 85) but as the verb is denom-
inal the first and second forms may be
interchangeable. Other possibilities are
that the second form is intensive ("to
crucify with great violence") or nume-
rically extensive ("to crucify in large
numbers").

Crucifixion as a pre-Islamic punishment
Crucifixion was widely practiced in antiq-
uity. Herodotus (fifth century B.C. E.) makes
numerous references to its employment by
the Persians and other classical authors tes-
tify to its currency amongst Indians, Assyr-
ians, Celts, Carthaginians and Romans

CRUCIFIXION

(M. Hengel, Crucifixion, 4-5). According to
the Gospels, when the Romans crucified

Jesus they nailed him to a cross which had
to be carried to the site of execution (e.g.

John 19:17-23; 20:25). However, Paul
equates crucifixion with hanging on a tree
[Gal 3:13; cf. Deut 21:23).

In the Qur'an, crucifixion is associated
principally with ancient Egypt (q.v.).

Joseph (q.v.) interprets the dream (see
dreams and sleep) of a fellow prisoner to
mean that the latter will be crucified and
birds will eat from his head (p_ 12:41; cf.
Gen 40:23, where Pharaoh's chief baker is
hanged on a tree; see bread). Another in-
stance occurs in reference to Moses (q.v.).
When Pharaoh's magicians testify to their
belief in the God of Moses, Pharaoh
(q.v.) says that he will cut off their hands
and feet on opposite sides and crucify
them (q 7:124; 20:71; 26:49). We are not
given details of the procedure, although in
one of these qur'anic references, Pharaoh
tells his magicians that he will crucify them
"on the trunks of palm trees (q.v.)"
(q_ 20:71).

The non-crucifixion of Jesus
The Qur'an takes the Jews to task for
claiming that they killed Jesus (q.v.) and it
states that they did not kill him or crucify
him but that it appeared so to them
(q_ 4:157; see jews and Judaism; christians
and Christianity). According to the tradi-
tional SunnI and Shl'l commentators, God
raised him alive to heaven, having first pro-
jected his likeness onto someone else whom
the Jews crucified in the belief that he was
Jesus. In support of this interpretation,
they cite hadlths which state that Jesus will
descend to kill the Antichrist (q.v.) before
he dies (see apocalypse; eschatology), as
well as reports attributed to the early exe-
getes Ibn Abbas (d. 68/686-8), Wahb b.
Munabbih (d. no or 114 A.H.) and al-Suddl

(d. ca. 127/745) which narrate how God
outwitted the Jews (N. Robinson, Christ in
Islam, 127-41, 171-2). Muslim rationalists
were quick to point out the difficulties in
the projection theory. Some of them pro-
posed more credible alternatives, e.g. that
the authorities, after failing to arrest Jesus,
knowingly crucified another person and
that the crowds were misled into thinking
that the substitute was Jesus because they
were kept at a distance and his appearance
was disfigured by the ordeal (N. Robinson,
Christ in Islam, 136-8, 172; see polemics and

POLEMICAL LANGUAGE).

As some pre-Islamic texts such as the
gnostic Apocalypse of Peter discovered at
Nag Hammadi mention the crucifixion of
a substitute, it is possible that the tradi-
tional commentators have interpreted this
verse correctly. However, Christian apolo-
gists have long argued that Q_ 4:157 does not
actually deny that Jesus was crucified, but
rather, that it denies that it was the Jews
who crucified him. This accords with the
gospel accounts, which attribute his execu-
tion to the Romans (N. Robinson, Christ in
Islam, 108-9). Christian apologists also
draw attention to Q_ 3:55, which seems to
imply that Jesus' death is in the past and to
Q_ 3:169, which asserts that Muslim martyrs
are alive with God. The Brethren of Purity
(see brother AND brotherhood) appar-
ently accepted these arguments and
adopted the view that Jesus' body was
nailed to the cross but that his spirit was
raised alive into God's presence (N. Robin-
son, Christ in Islam, 56).

M.Z. Khan's translation of Q_ 4:157
(... "those who have differed in the matter
of his having been taken down alive from
the cross are certainly in a state of doubt
concerning it"...) gives the impression that
the Arabic explicitly states that Jesus was
taken down alive from the cross. However,
as the Arabic reads: wa-inna lladhma khtalafu

4 8g

CUPS AND VESSELS

jihi la-ji shakkin minhu, a more literal transla-
tion would be along the lines of "those
who have differed in it are certainly in a
state of doubt concerning it." He also ren-
ders Q_ 2:72-5 so as to allude to the cruci-
fixion. His rendition of Q_ 2:72-3, in partic-
ular, is at variance with the Arabic: "Call
to mind also when you claimed to have
brought about the death of a Personage
[wa-idh qataltum nafsan, lit. "and when you
killed a man"] and then differed among
yourselves concerning it, and Allah would
bring to mind that which you concealed.
So We said: 'Test the crucial question by
putting together other incidents relating to
the affair and you will arrive at the truth.'
Thus does Allah plan to preserve alive
those considered dead [kadhdlika yuhyi llahu
l-mawta, lit. "thus does God make the dead
alive"] and shows you His Signs that you
may understand." The interpretations con-
veyed in this translation, corresponding to
the teaching of the Ahmadiyya (q.v.), have
no textual basis.

tisement and punishment; belief and
unbelief; gratitude and ingratitude;
disobedience; law and the qur'an).

Neal Robinson

Bibliography
Primary: K. Aland et al. (eds.), The Greek New
Testament, London 1966; Bukhari, Sahlh; M.Z.
Khan, The Quran. Arabic text with a new translation,
London 1971, 1981 3 (rev. ed.); R. Kittel (ed.),
Biblica Hebraica, Stuttgart 1937; J.M. Robinson,
The .Nag Hammadi library in English, Leiden 1977.
Secondary: M. Asad, The message of the Qur'an,
Gibraltar 1980; M. Hengel, Crucifixion in the
ancient world and the folly of the message of the cross,
London 1977; B.T. Lawson, The crucifixion of
Jesus in the Qur'an and qur'anic commentary. A
historical survey. Part II, in Bulletin of the Henry
Martyn Institute of Islamic Sciences 10.3 (1991), 6-40;
J. Penrice, A dictionary and glossary of the Koran,
London 1873; repr. 1971; N. Robinson, Christ in
Islam and Christianity. The representation of Jesus in
the Qur'an and the classical Muslim commentaries,
London 1991; O. Spies, Uber die Kreuzigung im
Islam, in R. Thomas (ed.), Religion und religionen.
Festschriftfur Gustav Mansching, Bonn 1967, 14.3-56;
F.E. Vogel, Salb, in EI 2 , viii, 935-6; A.J. Wensinck
and D. Thomas, Sallb, in El 2 , viii, 980-1.

Crucifixion as a divinely-ordained punishment?
The traditional interpretation of Q_ 5:33 is
that it prescribes crucifixion as one of four
possible punishments for brigandage. The
basis for this view is a hadlth which states
that the verse (aya) was revealed when
some people from the tribe of 'Ukl abused
the Prophet's hospitality by killing a herds-
man and stealing cattle (Bukhari, Sahlh,
viii, 201-2; see occasions of revelation).
Without mentioning this hadlth, M. Asad
argues that the Qur'an would hardly pro-
mulgate a divine law which advocated a
punishment identical to that inflicted by
Pharaoh, whose qur'anic characterization
is that of an enemy of God. Asad suggests
that the aya is not a legal injunction, but
rather a description of what the unbeliev-
ers were doing to each other in their per-
verseness (The message, 148-9; see chas-

Grusher see hell

Crying see weeping

Cultivation see agriculture and
vegetation

Cups and Vessels

Hollow or concave receptacles for convey-
ing food and drink. As with qur'anic reli-
gious terminology, some of the Qur'an 's
cultural vocabulary, such as the various lex-
emes for cups and vessels, are of non-
Arabic origin (see foreign vocabulary).
As noted by Arthur Jeffery and others who
have investigated the origins of foreign
words in the Qur'an, the borrowings came

CUPS AND VESSELS

490

from other Semitic languages, such as Ara-
maic, Nabatean, Syriac, Ethiopian, as well
as from Persian and Greek. Eleonore
Haeuptner's study on material culture in
the Quran deals with the relationship be-
tween the references to material culture in
the Quran on the one hand — not so
much focusing on specific vocabulary, but
rather on general categories to which the
terms belong — and pre-Islamic Arab cul-
ture on the other, as it is known from po-
etry and from other sources, such as ha-
dith and biographies (see pre-islamic
ARABIA and THE qjjr'an), presenting a pan-
orama of the cultural environment of the
Qur'an. At least as important perhaps as
the etymology of the material-cultural
terms is the pattern of their occurrences.
The enumeration of vessels presented be-
low reveals such patterns with regards to
certain lexemes. Some words are exclu-
sively associated with specific contexts or
certain stories and do not occur elsewhere.
For example, ka's, akwab, abanq, and qawd-
rir, which are of diverse origins and all of
which refer to various types of drinking
vessels, occur only in descriptions of the
pleasures of paradise (q.v.) whereas the
words suwa' and siqdya, which also translate
as drinking vessels, are used only in Q_ 12
("Joseph," Surat Yusuf ) where none of the
previous paradisiacal vessels are men-
tioned. Sihaf, a kind of dish described as
made from gold (q.v.) and "vessels" (aniyya,
sing. ind'j, which are described as made
from silver, occur only in the context of de-
scriptions of paradise. The word zujaja, like
qdrura, is usually associated with a glass ves-
sel, but the former is used only in the sym-
bolic context of the oil lamp (q.v.) in the
Light Verse (ayat al-nur, o_ 24:35; see also
anointing) whereas the latter is used only
in a paradisiacal context. The following list
of qur'anic terms for vessels is arranged al-
phabetically. Abanq (sing, ibnq), ewer, jug:
Like ka's and akwab, the word abanq is

used in the context of paradise. It occurs
only once and in the plural form (o 56:18).
Akwab (sing, hub), goblet: Like ka's the word
is used in the context of paradisiacal
drinks. In Q_ 43:71 the cups are golden, in
Q_ 76:15 they are made of silver. In Q_ 56:18
the cup contains a wine that neither causes
headache nor intoxicates (see intoxi-
cants). It occurs only in the plural form
(p_ 43:71; 56:18; 76:15; 88:14). Aniyya min
Jidda, silver vessels: Like ka's and akwab, the
term appears in the context of the plea-
sures of paradise (o 76:15). Dalw, pail: It
occurs only once, in Q_ 12 ("Joseph," Surat
Yusuf), which relates the story of Joseph
(q.v). Thrown by his brothers (see brother
and brotherhood) into a well (see wells
AND springs), Joseph was found by some-
one who was drawing water from the well
with his pail (q_ i2:ig).Jifan (sing. jafha), ba-
sin: The word is used once, in the plural, to
describe basins as large as troughs in King
Solomon's (q.v.) palace (o 34:13; see Jinn;
art and architecture and the qjjr'an).
Ka's, cup: The word occurs only in the sin-
gular, and in the context of the pleasures of
paradise where the believers will be served
in cups a drink (wine) from a paradisiacal
well. In verse Q_ 76:5 the water in the cup is
camphor-flavored (kdjur, see camphor); in
Q_ 76:17 the drink is ginger-flavored (zanja-

bn, cf. a 37:45; 56:18; 52:23; 76:5, 17; 78:34).

Qawanr (sing, qdrura), a glass vessel, perhaps
a bottle: It is described as made of silver,
which could still mean that it is a glass
vessel, but comparable to or as shiny as
silver. The word is used in the plural and
in the context of paradisiacal delights; the
believers will be served in such vessels as
much as they like (o_ 76:15-6; see belief and
unbelief). Qudur (sing, qidra), cauldrons:
The term occurs only once in the text and
in the plural, referring to built-in cauldrons
which the jinn made for King Solomon's
palace (o 34:13). Mikyal, a measuring ves-
sel: The word is used in the singular to-

49 1

gether with mlzan in the metaphorical
sense of justice (q_ 11:84-5; see weights and
measures; measurement; metaphor). Sihaf
(sing, sahfa), originally meaning a flat sur-
face, in the Qur'an the term refers to
dishes. It occurs in the plural in the de-
scription of paradise, wherein the believers
will be served in golden dishes (q_ 43:71).
Siqaya, drinking cup: The word is used in
the singular, with two different meanings.
At Q_ 12:70, Joseph places a cup (siqaya) in
his youngest brother's saddlebag (see ben-
jamin). Used in the context of pilgrimage
(q.v.) in Q_ 9:19, however, it means a water
basin. Sum a ' (from sd'a, yasu'u, to measure),
a drinking cup: The word is used once, as
a synonym for siqaya, the cup which Joseph
placed in his brother's bag. The suwa'is
described as a royal vessel (suwa' al-malik,
Q_ 12:72). Zjijaja, glass vessel: The term oc-
curs only once and in the singular, at
Q_ 24:35 (dyat al-nur). The lamp that symbol-
izes the divine light is described as includ-
ing a zydja or glass vessel, which contains
the oil of an olive tree.

Conclusions about the significance of a
qur'anic lexeme cannot be drawn based
solely upon its status as a "loan word"
or an original Arabic term (see arabs; be-
douin; ARABIC LANGUAGE; LANGUAGE AND
STYLE OF THE QUR'AN; LANGUAGE, CONCEPT
of). It is important to know the history of
the presence of the term in the Arabic
language and to determine whether its
occurrence in the Quran was an innova-
tion. However, literature on material cul-
ture in the Qur'an (see material culture
and the q_ur'an) remains particularly
sparse.

Doris Behrens-Abouseif

Bibliography
c Abd al-Jalll, ( Isa, al-Mushaf al-muyassar, Cairo
1399/ 1979; E. Haeuptner, Koreinische Hinweise auf
die matenelle Kullur del' alien Amber, Ph.D. diss.,

Tubingen 1966; Jeffery, For. vocab.; Lisan al-'Arab;
Paret; id., Kommentar; SuyutI, Durr; Tabarl, Tafsir;
Taj al- 'arus.

A wish or prayer (q.v.) for misfortune or di-
saster to befall someone or something; with
specific reference to God, the prediction or
causation of misfortune; the expression of
this invocation, prediction or causation or
the result thereof. All of these significa-
tions are rendered in the Qur'an by la'na,
"curse"; closely related is wrath (ghadab,
see anger). Curses are often expressed by
verbs with an optative sense, with "to
curse, damn" (la'ana) appearing most fre-
quently. Other verses which may be read as
curses are: "May God fight against them!"
(°_ 9 : 3°> 63:4), "May their hands be tied
and may they be cursed for what they have
said!" (q_ 5:64), "May the hands [i.e. the
power] of Abu Lahab (q.v.) perish, and
may he perish as well!" (cj 111:1). The pas-
sive qutila ("may he be killed!") occurs five
times (q_ 51:10; 74:19, 20; 80:17; 85:4). The
accusative absolute understood to modify a
suppressed verb may also express a curse:
"May perdition befall them (fa-ta'san la-
hum) and may [God] make their actions
vain!" (q_ 47:8); "May the denizens of hell-
fire be far removed [from mercy]!" (ja-
suhqan li-ashabi l-sa'Tr, Q_ 67:11; see hell;
fire); "May the wrongdoing folk be far
removed!" (fa-bu'dan lil-qawmi l-^dlimin,
Q_ 23:41; cf. 11:44, 60, 68, 95; 23:44; see
punishment stories). A curse is created by
inversion of the greeting "Welcome!":
"May you not be welcome!" (la marhaban
bikum, Q_ 38:60). The noun wayl, "woe, mis-
fortune," appears in such frequent curses
as "Woe to the deniers on that day!" (e.g.
ten times in Q_ 77; see last judgment).
The act of cursing is most often per-
formed by God. God has cursed Satan

CUSTOM

492

(q_ 4:118; see devil), enemies of the faith
such as unbelievers, apostates, hypocrites
and those who conceal God's signs (q.v.;
O 2:88, 159; 3:8; 9:6; 33:64; see BELIEF AND

unbelief; astray; apostasy; hypocrites
and hypocrisy; idolaters and idolatry)
as well as perpetrators of specific legal in-
fractions such as Sabbath breakers, mur-
derers and those who accuse innocent
women of adultery (o 4:47, 93; 24:23; see
boundaries and precepts; murder;
bloodshed; adultery and fornication).
The curse of God is sometimes associated
solely with eternal damnation (e.g. o_ 4:93;
33:64; 48:6) while other passages imply that
it has two distinct effects: damnation in the
afterlife and destruction in this world (q_ 11
passim; see chastisement and punishment;

REWARD AND PUNISHMENT). God's curse
renders hypocrites blind and deaf (q_ 47:23)
and turns those who have incurred his
wrath into apes and pigs (cf. Q_ 5:60). Those
who are cursed by God are doomed and
will find no one to help them (q_ 4:52; see
fate; destiny). The curses of angels and
people may reinforce those of God
(q_ 2:159, 161). Nations curse their predeces-
sors for leading them astray and causing
their doom to hell (o 7:38). Earlier proph-
ets including Noah (q.v), Moses (q.v.) and
Jesus (q.v.) cursed the stubborn opponents
among their peoples for refusing to accept
the Lord's messages (q_ 5:78; 10:88; 71:24-8;
see disobedience; gratitude and ingra-
titude; opposition to muhammad).

An oath often contains a conditional
curse upon oneself as with li'an, whereby a
husband who has no witnesses other than
himself swears four times that his wife has
committed adultery and his wife swears
her innocence, each invoking God's curse
if he or she is lying (q_ 24:6-9; see marriage
and divorce; law and the qur'an; oaths).
As a means to settle a dispute concerning
the nature of Jesus as divine or human,
Q_ 3:61 proposes a technique of mutual

cursing known as mubahala, wherein the as-
sembled disputants each present their case,
then pray humbly (i.e. to God; ibtahala)
and, finally, invoke the curse of God upon
those who lie. This incident, which appar-
ently was never actually carried out, is said
to have been occasioned by a Christologi-
cal debate between the Prophet and a de-
putation from the Christian Balharith
b. Ka'b of Najran (q.v.) in 10/632 (see
POLEMICS AND POLEMICAL LANGUAGE;
CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIANITY; DEBATE AND

disputation). See also blessing.

DevinJ. Stewart

Bibliography
R. Brtlnschvig, Bayyina in El 3 , i, 1150-1151;
L. Massignon, La mubahala de Medine et
l'hyperdulie de Fatima, in Opera minora, Beirut
1963, i, 550f.;J. Pederson, Kasam, EI 2 , iv,
687-690; J. Schacht, Li'an, in El", v, 730-2; W.
Schmucker, Mubahala, in EI 2 , vi, 276-7; R.
Strothman, Die Mubahala in Tradition und
Liturgie, in Der Islam 33 (1958), 51*.

Custom see sunna; tradition and

CUSTOM

Dahr see fate

Damnation see last judgment
Dance see sufism and the qjur'an
Dar al-Harb see community and

SOCIETY IN THE QUR'aN

Dar al-Islam see community and

SOCIETY IN THE QUR'aN

Darkness

The absence of light (q.v.). In the Quran,
darkness is almost always evoked within
the semantic field of the term unbelief
[kufr, see belief and unbelief) as a meta-
phorical expression descriptive of the spiri-
tual state of the unbeliever (kafir). It is ex-
pressed by the word gulumat (the plural of
£ulma/ gulumd) attested 23 times in the text.
The fourth verbal form, which means to
become or to make dark (aglama, Q_ 2:20)
and its active participle muglim (o_ 10:27; cf.
36:37), account for the only other qur'anic
references to darkness. Finally, the elative
form (aglam), where it occurs, is not di-
rectly related to darkness semantically, but

rather to injustice (see justice and injus-
tice), arrogance (q.v.), unbelief, etc. (guhn).
As its antonym, light (nur), stands for faith
(q.v.; imari), darkness is inextricably associ-
ated with the concepts of error (q.v.) or
straying from truth (dalala, see astray),
perfidy (nifaq), and unbelief (kufr). Going
astray, open or hidden breach of faith and
concealment of the truth (q.v.) plunge hu-
man beings into the darkness of doubt (see
uncertainty), delusion and ultimately
faithlessness. In two powerful sequential
similes, the hypocritical dissenters (munafi-
qun, see hypocrites and hypocrisy) are
likened first to those who have lit a fire
which has gone out and left them in total
darkness so that they cannot see and then
to those who are caught in a rainstorm at
night, paralyzed by fear and darkness,
ironically able to take a few steps only in
the light provided by the lightening of
which they are terrified (q_ 2:17-20). The
unbelievers, by contrast, are totally blind
and cannot be compared to "those with
sight (basir)," i.e. the believers (q_ 13:16;
35:19-20). The parallelism here between
the antonym pairs of light-darkness and
seeing-blindness is unmistakable. The com-
mentators take the obvious step and super-
impose the pair iman-kufr onto the other

DATE PALM

494

two. This move also suggests an answer to
the question of why darkness is always ex-
pressed in the plural: Right guidance is sin-
gular and integral while error is multiple
(e.g. Baydawi, Anwar, i, 292, ad Q_ 6:1).

Even the more straightforward usage of
the term as in the expression "the dark-
nesses of the land and of the sea" (o_ 6:63,
97; 27:63), which the commentators regu-
larly gloss as difficulties attendant on travel
by land and sea, preserves the core meta-
phorical connotation of straying from the
proper course. The only exception to this
pattern is in Q_ 39:6 where the "three dark-
nesses" enveloping the fetus are decoded as
the belly, the womb, and the placenta by
the commentators (e.g. T aDarl ) Tafsir, x,
615-6; see BIOLOGY AS THE STAGES AND
CREATION OF LIFE; BLOOD AND BLOOD CLOT).
The commentary tradition cites the crying
out of Dhu 1-Nun (see jonah) in the dark-
ness (p_ 21:87) as another exception to the
general metaphorical interpretation of
darkness by interpreting pilumdt here as
physical darkness (of the fish's belly, of the
sea, of the night, e.g. T aDarl ) Tafsir, ix,
76-7); yet the verse is patently about Jo-
nah's temporary spiritual deviation and his
subsequent return to the truth, making a
metaphorical understanding of the term
difficult to rule out. Finally, it is noteworthy
that pilumdt is not found in semantic prox-
imity to the important qur'anic pair, day
and night (q.v.).

Ahmet T. Karamustafa

Bibliography
Baydawi, Anwar, 2 vols., Beirut 1408/198!
Tabarl, Tafsir, 12 vols., Beirut 1412/1992.

Date Palm

Phoenix dactylifera, a widely-cultivated tree of
great economic importance in the Middle

East: nakhl (collective noun), nakhil (plural),
and nakhla (nomen unitatis). These forms ap-
pear in the Qur'an a total of nineteen
times.

The date palm is mentioned in two gen-
eral contexts. The first is as one of the
signs (q.v.) of God's munificence towards
his creation, occurring often with the olive
and the grape, e.g. q 6:99; 16:11; 80:29.
The second is in a metaphorical sense, lik-
ening God's punishment of sin (see SIN,
major and minor; chastisement and
punishment) to the "uprooted trunks of
palm trees," as in q 54:20 and q 69:7. Both
contexts underline the great importance of
the palm tree in its various species to agri-
culture and human subsistence throughout
the Middle East (see agriculture and
vegetation).

This is confirmed by the unusually large
number of terms in the Qur'an which are
related to the plant, more in fact than to
any other. Of the following almost all are
single references, some used in a figurative
or metaphorical sense: Una, a kind of palm
tree (q 59:5); masad, the fibers growing at
the roots of the palm branches, used for
making rope (q 111:5); nau >d, the date stone
(o_ 6:95); hadim, palm spathe (q 26:148); du-
sur (sing, disdr), the palm fiber cord tradi-
tionally used in Arabian shipbuilding to
bind the planks of the hull together
(O. 54 :i 3)j ukmdm (sing, kumm), the calyx of
the flowers, the date bud (o 41:47; 55:11);
qitniir, the thin skin around a date stone
(o_ 35:13); qinwdn, said by al-Tabarl (d. 310/
923) to be the fruit stalks and fruit of the
palm when ripe (q 6:99); naqir, the groove
in a date stone (q 4:53, 124.)', jidh' (pi. judhu'),
the palm trunk (q 19:23, 25; 20:71); 'urjun,
the dry date stalk (q $6:0,0,); jand, fresh ripe
dates (q 55:54); a'jdz (sing, 'ajuz), trunks of
the palm tree (q 54:20, 69:7); tal\ the spa-
dix of the palm (q 50:10); sanm, dates cut
from the tree (q 68:20).

Two remarkable references may also be

495

DAVID

noted. In o_ 19:23-5 Mary (q.v.) seeks the
cooling shelter of a palm tree and then is
fed by its nourishing fruit (rutab), while
painfully awaiting the imminent birth of
her child. And in q 16:67 there is a men-
tion of the fruit of palms and grapes used
to make an intoxicating drink and a "good
substance." Attention is directed to these
products as a sign of God. Commentators
agreed that these verses were later abro-
gated by the verses prohibiting the use of
alcohol (see intoxicants; abrogation).

In a hadlth attributed to the Prophet, the
date palm is said to be the most blessed of
trees just as Muslims are the most blessed
community of humankind (see community
and society in the qjjr'an). This saying-
appears to have derived from the wide-
spread notion in Iraq that the date palm
occupies in the plant kingdom the same
rank as the human being among the ani-
mals. The date palm was honored with the
epithet of "Adam's sister" (Ibn Wahshiyya
[rl. late third/ninth century] , al-Filaha al-
nabatiyya, ii, 1339). In another tradition, the
Prophet recommended eating seven 'ajwa
(the best variety of dates grown in Medina,
called umm al-tamr, "the mother of dates")
in the morning to counteract the effects of
poison and other ills throughout the day.
The Prophet is said to have enjoyed hays, a
mixture of pitted dates, clarified butter and
dried curd, vigorously kneaded together
into a paste and shaped into mouth-sized
portions. Finally, dates could be used to
pay off a grower's debts (Bukharl, Sahlh, K.
At'ima for all references; see debt).

In Ibn Wahshiyya 's .Nabatean agriculture
(al-Filaha al-nabatiyya) the date is judged to
be more useful than the olive. It was more
widely cultivated than the olive and the
tree and its fruit were put to numerous
uses. The consumption of dates was seen
as the cause of the supposed longevity of
Arabs and was said to provide protection
against ulcers and tumors. Wine, vinegar

and syrup could be produced from the
fruit. Palm fronds were used to make
doors, beds, floor coverings and tents. (In-
deed, down to the present day, houses con-
structed of palm fronds are found in cer-
tain coastal areas of Oman). Palm fiber
was woven to make shrouds for the dead,
plates, baskets, trays and jar covers. The
wood of the trunks could be burned or
used as a building material. The first
mosque (q.v.) in the city of Medina (q.v.)
was constructed of palm trees. See also
FOOD AND DRINK.

David Waines

Bibliography
Primary: Ibn Wahshiyya, al-Filaha al-nabatiyya,
ed. and trans. T. Fahd, L'agriculture nabateenne.
Traduction en arabe attribute a Abu Bakr Ahmad b. All
al-Kasdam, Ibn Wahshiyya, 2 vols., Damascus

!993-5-

Secondary: P. Costa, The tarqbah: a traditional
date processing plant of Oman, in Quaderni di
StudiArabi 5-6 (1987-8), 167-88; R.B. Serjeant, A
maqamah on palm-protection, in JNES 40 (1981),
307-22; M. Vanhove, The making of palm vinegar
at al-Hiswah (near Aden) and some other crafts
related to palm trees, in New Arabian Studies 2
(1997), 175-85; F. Vire, Nakhl, in El", vii, 923-4.

Dates see DATE PALM

Dating

See CALENDAR

Daughters see children

Daughters of God see polytheism

and atheism; idols and images; idolatry
and idolaters; pre-islamic Arabia and

THE OUr'An

David

The Israelite king, mentioned sixteen times
in the Qur'an. David (Dawud) appears in
the Qur'an as a link in the chain of proph-

4 g6

ets who preceded Muhammad (q 4:163;
6:84). Although he is not one of the law
giving prophets (ulu al- 'azm), he is far from
a marginal figure.

David in the Qiir'an
David was the recipient of a written divine
book of psalms (q.v.; q 4:163; 17:55).
Mountains and birds obeyed him in prais-
ing God (q 21:79; 34:10). He killed Goliath
(q.v.; Jalut) and God granted him kingship
{mulk, see kings and rulers) after Saul
(q.v; Talut) and wisdom (q.v; hikma,
Q_ 2:251), sometimes explained as the gift of
prophecy (e.g. Tabari, Ta'nkh, i, 559). God
also gave David and his son Solomon (q.v.)
"knowledge" ('ilm, q 27:15), which in this
case is sometimes understood to be the
ability to comprehend the language of the
birds and animals (see knowledge and
learning). He was appointed a deputy of
God on the earth [khalifa fi l-ard, q 38:26;
see caliph), a title given only to him and to
Adam (see ADAM AND eve). David cursed
the unbelievers among the Children of Is-
rael (q.v; q 5:78). Exegetes commonly con-
nect this verse with q 7:166: "Be you apes,
miserably slinking!" (e.g. TabarsI, Alajma',
iii, 231). He was given the ability to distin-
guish between truth (q.v.) and falsehood
when dispensing justice [fast al-khitdb,
o_ 38:20; see justice and injustice; deci-
sion). God softened iron for him and in-
structed him to make coats of mail
(q_ 21:80; 34:10-1) to provide for his liveli-
hood. David thought that God was put-
ting him to the test (see trial). Then he
prayed and repented and God forgave him
(o 38:24-5; see forgiveness; repentance
and penance). A divine forgiveness that
commentators have linked to the biblical
story of Bathsheba and Uriah (Tabari,
Tafsir, ad q 38:24) yet unlike the Hebrew
Bible, the Quran does not explicitly men-
tion anything about Uriah, Bathsheba or
the other wives of David or about Absalom

or his other sons, with the exception of
Solomon. There is also no mention of his
stay in Hebron and Jerusalem (q.v.) and his
conflicts with the Philistines.

Surat Sad (q 38) is also called "the sura of
David" (Hibat Allah b. Salama, JVasikh,
262). Exegetes explain that since David
prostrated when asking God to forgive
him, Muhammad was ordered to imitate
him and to perform a prostration when
reading this sura (Bukhari, Sahih, vi, 155;
see bowing and prostration).

David in qur'dnic exegesis and the stories of

prophets
The need to explain some cryptic allusions
in the Quran opened the door to the
abundant and readily available Jewish and
Christian legends about David (see mythic
and legendary narratives). In particular,
homiletic interpretations of the scriptures
(midrash, see scripture and the our'an)
and pious Jewish legends (haggada) were to
figure prominently in the exegesis of the
Qiir'an and in the nascent literature of the
"stories of prophets" (qisas al-anbiya') . An
early collector, Wahb b. Munabbih (d. 110/
728 or 114/732), played an important role
as a source for traditions about David.
The image of David in later exegesis
closely parallels that in the Jewish sources
(e.g. the Books of Chronicles, the mishna,
the talmud and the haggada), where he is
represented as completely purified of all
sins. Such traditions were compatible with
the Islamic doctrine of infallibility of
prophets which developed in the second/
eighth and third/ninth centuries (see im-
peccability and infallibility) and Mus-
lim authors followed this lead. For exam-
ple, in the Muslim tradition Bathsheba
was engaged to Uriah, not married to him.
David asked for her hand and her parents
preferred him, the king, to Uriah, the war-
rior. Other versions of the story maintain
that Bathsheba was divorced or widowed

497

DAY AND NIGHT

and Uriah was resurrected for a moment
to tell David that he forgave him, not for
sending him to his death, but for marrying
his widow. God pardoned David (Sibt b. al-
Jawzi, Mir'dt al-zaman, i, 484-5). Muslim
story-tellers (qussds, sing, qassj accepted
these legends and rejected the older image
of David from the Book of Samuel and
Kings, where he is charged with adultery
and murder. Further, it seems that such a
total change in the attitude towards David
(and other biblical figures) in the Jewish
sources is one of the bases for the qur'anic
accusation that the Jews had falsified the
Bible (q_ 2:75; 4:46; 5:13, 41; see
corruption).

The image of David varies in different
currents of Islam. The canonical Sunn!
hadith collections, which were compiled in
the third/ninth century (see hadith and
the qur'an), strengthened opposition to
the use of traditions from Jewish sources
(hralliyyat) by neglecting all the above-
mentioned stories. In these sources David
is represented largely by his prayers, fasts,
songs and handiwork. On the other hand,
the Shl'l tradition insisted on the complete
infallibility of David and blamed the Sun-
nis for the accounts which portray him as
less than perfect (Majlisi, Bihar, xiv, 26). Fi-
nally, the Sufis made David a symbol of as-
ceticism, circulating his pious prayers and
utterances and the legends dealing with his
repentance. He became a supreme exam-
ple of devotion (Mojtaba'l, Dawud in Eh;
vii, 161-2). Accounts concerning David also
form an integral part of every book cele-
brating the importance and sanctity of Je-
rusalem (fada'il bayt al-maqdis). See also

PROPHETS AND PROPHETHOOD.

Isaac Hasson

Bibliography
Primary: 'Abdallah b. al-Mubarak, Kitab al-^uhd,
ed. H.R. al-A c zamI, Beirut n.d., 161-4; Ahmad b.

Hanbal, al-^uhd, Cairo 1987, 111-2, 114, 134; R.G.
Khoury, Wahb b Munabbih [Codices arabici antiqui
i), Wiesbaden 1972 (with bibliography); id., Les
legendes prophetiques dans I'lslam depuis le I" jusqu'au
IIP siecle de I'hegire {Codices arabici antiqui iii),
Wiesbaden 1978, 157-74; Hibat Allah b. Salama,
al-Ndsikh wa-l-mansukh (in the margin of Wahidl,
Asbdb), Cairo 1316/1898-9, 262; Ibn Qudama
al-MaqdisT, Kitab al-Tawwabm, ed. A.Q. Arna'ut,
Beirut 1974; Majlisi, Bihar al-anwdr, Beirut 1983,
xiv, 1-64; lxxiv, 39-44; Muqatil, TafsTr, i, 423; ii,
87-8, 639-43; m > 87-8, 298-9, 525-6; Sibt Ibn al-
Jawzl, Mir'dt, i, 472-92; Suyutl, Dun; vii, 148-76;
Tabarl, Tafsir, \; 360-76; TabarsI, Alajma'.
Secondary: A. Geiger, Judaism and Islam, Madras
1898, 144-5; E- Margoliouth, The convicted in the
Bible, cleared from guilt in the Talmud and Midrash
(Hebrew), London 1949, 60-7; F.A. Mojtaba'l,
Dawud, in Encyclopedia Iranica, vii, 161-2; R.
Paret, Dawud, in EI 2 , ii, 182; Y. Zakovitch, David.
From shepherd to Messiah (Hebrew), Jerusalem 1995
(see especially Annex A by A. Shin'an, 181-99).

wa see INVITATION

Dawn see DAY, TIMES OF

Day and Night

Alternation between light (q.v.) and dark-
ness (q.v.) due to the rotation of the earth
upon its axis. The numerous references in
the Qur'an to day and night (al-nahar wa-l-
layl) fall under four general themes. First,
the phenomenon of day and night itself, or
aspects of it, is frequently presented as a
sign (aya, see signs), lesson ('ibra) or expres-
sion of God's mercy (q.v.) for the wise to
note and remember. The other related as-
pects of the phenomenon of day and night
include their alteration (ikhtilaf), succes-
sion, covering up one by the other and
stripping off one from the other (yuliju,
yaqlibu, yaghsha, yaslukhu). As signs or proofs
of God, the darkness of the night and the
brightness of the day are called to witness
against unbelievers (see belief and un-
belief). Second, the Qur'an repeatedly
affirms that together with such natural

DAY OF JUDGMENT

phenomena as the heavens (see heaven),
earth (q.v.), sea, clouds and wind (see air
and wind), God subjugates (jusakhkhir) the
night and day for the service of human-
kind (see natural world and the qur'an;
creation). Thus, the night has been cre-
ated as a time for rest, sleep, covering up
and concealment (maskan, manam, subat,
libas, sarmad, mustakhja) while the day exists
for seeing, rising, walking freely and seek-
ing one's livelihood (mubsir, nushiir, sarib,
ma'ash, ibtigha'). The alteration of night and
day also enables people to compute years
and numbers (o 17:12; Qurtubl, Jami', viii,
227-8; see calendar; numbers and enu-
meration). The third theme is the precise
manner in which God creates day and
night (q 39:5) so that each has a prescribed
measure (p_ 73:20) and does not transgress
the orbit of the other (p_ 36:40). Interpreta-
tions of Q_ 73:20 often maintain that only
God knows the exact measures of day and
night whereas humans need to investigate
and exercise their judgment to estimate
these measures (Qurtubl, Jami', xix, 53).
Finally, there are several references to
praying and singing the praise (q.v.) of
God during the night and day or parts
thereof. Moreover, the Qur'an enjoins peo-
ple to pray at the "watches of the night"
(min ana'i l-layl) and the "ends of the day"
(atraj al-nahar, o 20:130); this, according to
many interpreters, is a reference to the
sunset (maghrib) and evening ('isha') prayers
(Qurtubl, Jami', xi, 261; see prayer).

Quranic references, in addition to vari-
ous mundane concerns, gave rise to an
elaborate mathematical tradition of calcu-
lating the exact length of day and night
and of determining the times of prayer rel-
ative to their beginning and duration. Two
systems were used for measuring the length
of the hours of the night and day. In the
system of equal hours, one daylight hour is
equal in length to one night hour and the
whole day is divided into twenty-four equal

parts. In the system of unequal hours,
however, the arc of daylight and the arc
of the night are each divided into twelve
equal parts; thus, one daylight hour gener-
ally differs from a night hour while the to-
tal number of each of the daylight hours
and the night hours is always twelve. While
this and other topics were already treated
in pre-Islamic astronomy, there are some
subjects unique to the Islamic astronomical
tradition which received no equivalent at-
tention in earlier traditions (see cosmology
and the qur'an; science and the qjjr'an).
One such subject is the elaborate discus-
sion of dawn and twilight which originated
in the need to determine the morning and
evening prayers commencing after dawn
and sunset, respectively. Many works of Is-
lamic astronomy include chapters on dawn
and twilight and provide exact mathemati-
cal methods for their determination (see
day, times of).

A. Dallal

Bibliography
Primary: Qurtubl, Jfitmi',
Secondary: E.S. Kennedy, al-Birunl on the
Muslim times of prayer, in E.S. Kennedy et al.
(eds.), Studies in the Islamic exact sciences, Beirut
1983, 299-310 (see also the sections on planetary
and lunar visibility [140-163] and on rising times,
daylight lengths and the duration of dawn and
twilight [253-310]); D.A. King, Some early
Islamic tables for determining lunar crescent
visibility, in D. King and G. Saliba (eds.), From
deferent to equant. A volume of studies in the history of
science in the ancient and medieval Near East in honor
of E.S. Kennedy, New York 1987, 185-225; G.
Saliba, The height of the atmosphere according
to Muayyad al-Din al-'Urdl, Qiitb al-Dln
al-ShlrazT and Ibn Muadh, in D. King and G.
Saliba (eds.), From deferent to equant. A volume of
studies in the history of science in the ancient and
medieval Near East in honor of E.S. Kennedy, New
York 1987, 445-65.

Day of Judgment see last judgment

499

DAY , TIMES OF

Day, Times of

Day (yawm) together with the correspond-
ing terms night (layl) and daytime (nahar),
as well as the regular intervals of the day
and parts or particular times of the day.
Such apparently familiar concepts actually
have considerable importance in the
Qur'an. Five suras are named for times of
day or daily natural phenomena: "The
Dawn" (al-Fajr, o 89); "The Night" (al-
Layl, o_ 92); "The Forenoon" (al-Duha,
Q_ 93); "The (late) Afternoon" (al-'Asr,
Q_ 103) and "The Daybreak" (al-Falaq,
Q_ 113). Times of day serve as a framework
for the events of the history of revelation
and sometimes determine rules of worship,
i.e. ritual as opposed to the actions of
everyday life. They are also used meta-
phorically and can assume a supernatural
dimension in formulas of evocation. Un-
derstanding such uses can offer much in-
sight into the intellectual and emotional
sensibilities of Islam.

The entire day
The full day is c&Medyawm. To express the
full period of twenty-four hours, the
Qur'an usually employs "night and day-
time" (layl wa-nahar) or, figuratively, "eve-
ning and morning." An entire day is the
period from sunset to sunset. The night
makes up its first half, starting immediately
after sunset at dusk (o_ 17:78; Ibn al-Sikkit,
Kanz, 51). The understanding of night as
the naturally more immediate portion of
the full day is reflected in the Islamic calcu-
lation of the twelve months (o 9:36) ac-
cording to the lunar phases (see calendar)
and the notion that the daytime is some-
how derived from night (q_ 36:37). This
seems to have already been common prac-
tice among the Arabs in pre-Islamic times
(cf. Fischer, "Tag unci Nacht," 741; see PRE-
ISLAMIC ARABIA AND THE QJJR'an) as it was
in much of the ancient world. According

to Pliny in his Naturalis historia (cf. Orelli,
Tag, 312), the earliest Hebrews and the
Athenians counted the entire day from sun-
set to sunset (cf. "evening-morning," Dan
8:14; "night-day," 2 Cor 11:25; see a ^ so Day
and Night, in Encyclopedia Judaica), while
the Babylonians counted from morning to
morning, and the Egyptians and the Ro-
mans from midnight to midnight. The
proto-Semitic sequence "day-night"
(*yawm-*laylay) has been substantiated,
with *yawm, originally designating daytime,
but eventually coming to mean the entire
day (Fischer, "Tag und Nacht," 753-5). The
simple fact that the qur'anic reference to
sun (q.v.) always precedes that to the moon
(q.v.), when the two occur in sequence
(eighteen times except Q_ 71:16), is possibly
due to this proto-Semitic understanding of
the day (Fischer, "Tag und Nacht," 745-6).

The indication of a period of time by
days, as can be seen in Western transla-
tions of the Qur'an, is often expressed in
terms of nights (layl, less frequently layl, pi.
layalin, see o_ 2:51 [but cf. Exod 34:28];
Q_ 7:142; 19:10; cf. also Q_ 8g:2 and Luke 1:20
without indication of time). This method
of counting can also be found in hadlth
(e.g. Muslim, Sahlh, no. 584). The reference
to God's creation of heaven (q.v.) and earth
(q.v.) in six days (ayyam, Q_ 7:54) has a bibli-
cal parallel (Exod 20:11). In p_ 6g:j, yawm
indicates not the entire day, but daytime
(Paret, Koran, 405).

"Day" (yawm) occurs 378 time as a noun,
mostly in the singular, but also in the dual
(o_ 2:203; 41:9, 12) and as an adverb of time
(al-yawma, "on the day [of judgment]" or
"today";yawma, "the day when," cf. Watt-
Bell, Introduction, ^g-^Ojyawman, "on a [cer-
tain] day"). The plural (ayyam) appears 27
times; and the temporal adverb "on that
day/time" (yawma'idkin) 69 times. Generally,
yawm describes a definite day, an event or a
certain date. In what follows, the specific
connotations of the word will be given.

DAY , TIMES OF

500

(a) In eschatology (q.v.): The day of judg-
ment (see last judgment) is expressed in
several ways in the Quran, each beginning
with the word "day," as in the day of doom
(yawm al-din, e.g. p_ 1:4; 13 times); the day of
resurrection [yawm al-qiyama, e.g. q 2:85; 70
times; cf. Rosenthal, The "Time," 13-4);
the last day (al-yawm al-akhir, e.g. p_ 2:8; 38
times); a mighty/dreadful day [yawm 'agim,
Q_ 6:15; 10 times); a great day (yawm kablr,

Q_ 11:3); a painful day (yawm alim, q 11:26;
43:65); an encompassing day (yawm muhit,
Q_ 11:84); a tempestuous day (yawm 'asif
Q_ 14:18); a day wherein shall be neither
bargaining nor befriending (yawm la bay 'un
fihi wa-la khullatun wa-la shafd'atun, q 2:254;
yawm la bay 'un jihi wa la-khilalun, q 14:31);
the day of the time appointed (yawm al-
waqt al-ma'lum, o 15:38; 38:81; see death
and the dead); an appointed day (yawm
ma'lum, q 56:50); the day of (painful) dis-
tress (yawm al-hasra, q 19:39); a disastrous
day (yawm 'aqim, q 22:55); the day of vic-
tory (yawm al-fath, q 32:29); the day of de-
cision (yawm al-fasl, q 37:21, 6 times; see
decision); the day of reckoning (yawm al-
hisab, q 38:16, 26, 53; 40:27); the day of the
encounter (yawm al-talaqi, q 40:15); day of
the imminent doom (yawm al-azjfa,
Q_ 40:18); the day of [disaster for] the fac-
tions [of unbelievers] (yawm al-ahzab,
Q_ 40:30); the day of invocation (yawm al-
tanadi, q 40:32; cf. 41:47); the day of gather-
ing (yawm al-jam', q 42:7; 64:9); the day of
the threat (yawm al-wa'id, q 50:20); the day
of eternity (yawm al-khulud, q 50:34); the
day of coming forth (from the gmve;yawm
al-khuruj, q 50:42); a hard day (yawm 'asir/
'asir, q 54:8; 74:9); the day of advantage
(of believers over unbelieversjjaaro al-
taghdbun, q 64:9; see belief and unbelief);
a gloomy and wrathful day (yawm 'abus
qamtarir, q 76:10); a burdensome day (yawm
thaqil, q 76:27); and the promised day (al-
yawm al-maw'ud, q 85:2).

(b) In the history of revelation (see reve-

lation and inspiration): The 'Ad (q.v.)
were killed "on a day of constant calamity"
(ji yawmi nahsin mustamirrin, Q_ 54:19); Moses
(q.v.) set the feast day (yawm al~zina,
Q_ 20:59); Lot (q.v.) spoke about the final
judgment in terms of a fierce day (yawm
'asib, o_ 11:77; CI - P are tj Kommentar, 238-9 on
Q_ 11:69-83); the magicians of Pharaoh
(q.v.) were gathered on an appointed day
(yawm ma'lum, Q_ 26:38; cf. Paret, Kommentar,
170 on o_ 7:113-4); and on an appointed day
the Thamud (q.v.) were given a sign

(a 26:155).

(c) In early Islamic history: the day of
decision/salvation ( yawm al-furqan, Q_ 8:41;
probably in reference to the battle of Badr
[q.v.]; cf. Paret, Kommentar, ig on q_ 2:53 and
187, Q_ 8:29 and the literature given there
on al-furqan; see also criterion; salva-
tion); and the day of Hunayn (q.v.; Q_ 9:25,
in reference to the battle of Hunayn; cf.
Buhl, Das Leben, 311-3).

(d) In religious and everyday life: the day
of congregation (yawm al-jum'a, Q_ 62:9; see
Friday prayer); the Jewish Sabbath (q.v;

yawm sabtihim, Q_ 7:163; 16:124); the day of
the greater pilgrimage (yawm al-hajj al-
akbar, o_ 9:3, probably in reference to the
major day of the pilgrimage [q.v.] on the
ninth/tenth Dhu 1-Hijja; cf. Paret, Kommen-
tar, 195 ad g_ 9:3; but noted differently by
Bell, Muhammad's pilgrimage, 233-44); tne
day of the harvest (yawm al-hasad, p_ 6:141);
and a day of privation (fi yawmin dhimas-
ghaba, Q 90:14).

The particular times of a day: the night and

daytime
The times of a day and their terminology
reflect the natural cycle of darkness (q.v.)
and light (q.v.; q 2:187) and the position of
the sun (q 25:45) and moon, God having
created "the sun and moon [as a medium]
for reckoning [time]" (q 6:96; 55:5). A
mathematical-chronometrical division of
the day (as the Babylonian system of

5 oi

DAY , TIMES OF

hours, minutes and seconds) is not encoun-
tered in the Qur'an.

The word "hour" (sd'a) is mentioned sev-
eral times. It does not, however, describe a
timed or calculated hour but rather an in-
definite shorter period or particular time of
the day. Thus we find the hour of difficulty
(sa'at al-'usra, Q_ 9:117); the hour of judg-
ment (q_ 6:31, 40; 7:187; 12:107; 15:85; 18:21,
36; 19:75; 20:15; 21:49; 22:1, 7, 55; 25:11;
30:12, 14, 55; 31:34; 33:63; 34:3, 30; 40:46,
59; 41:47, 50; 42:17, 18; 43:61, 66, 85; 45:27,
32; 47:18; 54:1, 46; 79:42) where God's or-
der comes to pass in "a twinkling of the
eye or less" (p_ 16:77); the period until the
last judgment will not be extended "by a
single hour" (p_ 7:34; 10:49; 16:61); and after
the resurrection people will feel as if they
had not tarried but "an hour," long enough
to "mutually recognize one another"
(o_ 10:45; 46:35; also o_ 30:55). It should be
added that the manner in which time is
partitioned "by a strip of the night" (bi-
qit'in min al-layl, o_ 11:81; 10: 27; 15:65) re-
mains vague.

The corresponding terms "night and day-
time" [al-layl wa-l-nahar, cf Pellat, Layl and
nahar) often express — in addition to
amounting to an entire day (e.g. o_ 34:18) —
reiteration, regularity or unqualified con-
tinuation of an action or a procedure. One
should, therefore, "constantly" give alms
(from one's wealth; p_ 2:274; see alms-
giving); to God belongs "whatsoever in-
habits the night and the day," i.e. all things
(o_ 6:13); and God's command is to be ex-
pected "at any time" (o_ 10:24); one should
glorify the Lord "continuously" (o_ 21:20),
etc.

God subjected "the night and the day-
time" to the benefit of humankind (q 7:54;
14:33; 16:12). Their creation as a pair
(p_ 17:22; 21:33) and their permanent and
mutual succession (o_ 24:44) are signs of
God's omnipotence (e.g. p_ 2:164). "God
[alone] determines [the extent and goal of]

night and daytime" (o_ 73:20). Here again,
night precedes daytime (o 2:164; 3:190;
10:6; 23:80; 25:62; 45:5) and retreats before
it (p_ 74:33). However, night covers daytime
[then again] (q_ 7:54; 1313), since both night
and daytime are made to enter into one
another (p_ 3:27; 21:61; 31:29; 35:13), and to
become wrapped together (q_ 39:5). Like all
celestial phenomena night and daytime fol-
low divinely ordained rules: "The [follow-
ing] night will never outstrip the daytime"
(o_ 36:40) although "it [daytime] is in haste
to follow it (p_ 7:54). The night "conceals"
the sunlight (q_ 91:4), "enshrouding [every-
thing with darkness]" (o_ 92:1).

Night implies quietness, tranquillity
(o_ 93:2) and security. It is "a garment [in
which you can swathe yourself] and [it
offers you] sleep for rest" (q_ 25:47; 78:9).
Darkness can also imply helplessness:
"Their faces were covered with [and un-
protected like] strips of night shadowy"
(p_ 10:27). Important events in the history of
revelation occur at night: The Quran is re-
vealed in "a blessed night" (o_ 44:3), the
Night of Power (q.v.; laylat al-qadr), which
"is better than a thousand months"
(o_ 97:1-3); Muhammad is taken at night
on his journey from Mecca to the Farther
Mosque in (Jerusalem and to) heaven
(o_ 17:1; see ascension); Muhammad's
opponents seem to have tried to discredit
him by claiming that writings of the
ancients were dictated to him at dawn and
early in the evening (q 25:5; see illiter-
acy); and the night gives to the god-fearing
protection from Pharaoh (q.v.; Q_ 44:23).

Morning, conversely, implies freshness
and pristineness (e.g. the root b-k-r from
which is derived not only early morning
[bukra], but also virgins fabkar], Q_ 56:36;
66:5). At this time, the normal work of the
day is described as beginning (p_ 68:21-2,
25) and important events such as battles
(o_ 3:121) are prepared. Also a decreed pun-
ishment came upon the people in the early

DAY , TIMES OF

502

morning (q_ 54:38; see chastisement and
punishment) as did the wind which killed
the 'Ad (q_ 69:7; see air and wind). In the
daytime everything is clearly visible
(q_ 10:67; 17:12; 27:86; 40:61) and obvious
(q_ 13:10). It is the time when one becomes
active again (o_ 25:47). It is the time of ac-
tion (q_ 6:60), created so that people might
earn their living (q_ 78:11) and seek the
bounty of the Lord (q_ 17:12; see blessing).
In early Mekkan suras (see chronology
and the qjjr'an), certain times of the day
frequently occur as basic elements in for-
mulaic evocation, contributing to the hym-
nal tenor of the given sura, as in o_ 74:33,
"[I swear] by the... night when it retreats
and the dawn when it is white"; Q_ 81:17,
"by the night swarming"; Q_ 81:17-18, "by
the dawn sighing"; Q_ 92:1, "by the night
enshrouding"; Q_ 89:4, "by the night when
it journeys on"; and Q_ 93:1, "by the sun and
his morning brightness"; etc. (see Giinther,
Tag und Tageszeiten, 54-5). This special
way of evoking a time of the day seems
somehow to record "the liturgical experi-
ence of the recipient of the revelation." It
seems to keep present the perception of
light and dark accompanying certain
exercises of worship and thus to 'capture'
this powerful experience for later genera-
tions of worshippers (Neuwirth, Zur Rele-
vanz, 21). It is interesting to note in passing
that the emphasis here is on the time of
twilight, i.e. the impressive period of tran-
sition from dark to light and vice versa as
known in the Middle East. However, the
last part of the night, i.e. the time of
morning twilight, seems to be of particular
importance in this regard. This observa-
tion is confirmed by two epithets of God:
"lord of the daybreak" (rabb al-falaq,
Q_ 113:1) and "the one who splits the sky
into dawn" (fdliq al-isbah, Q_ 6:96).

Divine service, rules of religious and everyday life
The ritual prayer (q.v.; salat), including its
five appointed times (mlqat, pi. mawaqit, cf.

Wensinck, Mikat) was standardized only
after the death of the Prophet in hadlth
and in works on jurisprudence (fiqh). The
Qur'an only generally mentions times of
day for (a) prayer and (b) glorification of
God (tasbih). This led Muslim and non-
Muslim commentators to differing inter-
pretations of qur'anic information on the
times of prayer (e.g. Paret, Kommentar, 305
on q 17:78-9; Watt-Bell, Introduction, 163;
"the middle prayer" [al-salat al-wusta,
Q_ 2:238], which gives no indication of
time).

(a) "And perform the prayer (salat) at the
two ends of the day and nigh of the night"
(q_ 11:114, i- e - 'he morning prayer at dawn
(salat al-subh or salat al-fajr), the afternoon
prayer at the beginning of sunset (salat al-
£uhr or salat al- 'asr), and the evening prayer
immediately after sunset (salat al-maghrib) .
"Perform the prayer at the sinking of the
sun to the darkening of the night, and the
recital of [the Qur'an at] dawn" (qur'an al-
fajr, Q_ 17:78). Some authorities interpret the

time of "the sinking of the sun" to start
from the point of the sun's culmination (at
noon) and thus include four canonical
prayers, i.e. al-^uhr, al-'asr, al-maghrib, al-
'isha' . Then, the fifth canonical prayer, sa-
lat al-subh, would be represented by qur'an
al-fajr (cf. Paret, Kommentar, 305-6 on

a 17:78-80).

(b) God should be remembered, glorified
and praised in the morning and evening
(e.g. Q_ 7:205; 33:41; 48:9) when all who are
in the heavens and the earth bow to him
(p_ 13:15; 24:36; also 38:18; 41:38; see bow-
ing and prostration; glory; praise).
Early suras call to "remember the name of
your Lord at dawn and in the evening and
part of the night... and magnify him
through the long night" (q_ 76:26; also 73:2);
or "in the night, and at the declining of the
stars" (q_ 52:49). Among the People of the
Book (q.v.), there is a standing (qd'im) com-
munity "that recites God's signs [at certain
times] of the night..." (q_ 3:113). To "keep

5°3

DAY , TIMES OF

vigil a part of the night" is a supereroga-
tory work and will be rewarded in the next
world (q_ 17:79; see reward and punish-
ment). Further utterances, however, state
that the "first part of night is heavier in
tread, more upright in speech" (q_ 73:6) and
that eating, drinking and sexual intercourse
are permitted on the nights of Ramadan
(q.v.) "until [the early morning when] the
white thread appears clearly to you [in dis-
tinction] from a black thread" (q_ 2:187).

The times of the day in chronological order
The "night" [layl, 93 times; layla, 8 times;
pi. loyal, 4 times) is the first, dark half of
the full day. It starts with the "evening twi-
light" [shafaq, q 84:16; defined as "the first
moment of the night," li-awwal sd'a min al-
layl [HamadhanI, Alfdz, 287]; cf. Pellat,
Layl and nahar, 709). Furthermore, the
beginning of the night is described as "a
darkening [at the beginning] of the night"
[ghasaq al-layl, Q_ 17:78) or the "nigh of the
night" [zulafan min al-layl, Q_ 11:114; see DAY
and night).

The "late, dark evening" ('ashi, 'ashiyya)
corresponds to the period "from the time
when the sun starts to disappear until it
completely sets" (Qurtubl, Jdmi', vi, 82, ad
0_ 3:41). It marks the "end of the bright
day" [Jalalayn, 54, ad Q_ 3:41). It occurs as
'ashiyyatan (o_ 79:46); bi-l-'ashi (q_ 38:31); bi-l-
'ashi wa-l-ibkdr (p_ 3:41; 40:55); bi-l-'ashi wa-l-
ishrdq (o_ 38:18); 'ashiyyan wa-hina tuzhiruna
(o_ 30:18); 'ashiyyatan aw duhaha (o_ 79:46);
and, in a different sequence, bi-l-ghaddti
wa-l-'ashi [q_ 6:52; 18:28); ghuduwwan wa-
'ashiyyan (q 40:46); bukratan wa-'ashiyyan
(o_ 19:11, 62). The term 'ishd\ however, is
used both as a synonym for 'ashi and in
designation of a time following it
(HamadhanI, Alfdz, 287). It foreshadows
the beginning of darkness (q.v); see 'ishd'an
(o_ 12:16) and saldt al- 'is ha' (q_ 24:58).

"The night when it journeys forth" [wa-l-
layli idhdyasri, Q_ 89:4) is one of several me-
taphorical utterances which denote the

end of the night (see metaphor). Similarly,
at "the setting of stars" iidbar al-nujum,
Q_ 52:49) can mean not only the very early
morning but also, more generally, the day
(cf. Paret, Kommentar, 460 ad Q_ 52:48-9; 456
ad o_ 50:39-4). The short period directly be-
fore daybreak is referred to by a term best
translated as "the breaking of morning"
[sahar, o_ 54:34; pi. ashdr, o_ 3:17; 51:18; cf.
Mustafa, Morgenanbruch, 113). The "day-
break" (falaq) itself designates the time
when dark and light split (lord of the day-
break, rabb al-falaq, Q_ 113:1; and cleaver of
the daybreak,y2/;</ al-isbdh, o_ 6:96).

Daytime [nahar, 57 times; nahdran, three
times) is the second half of the full day. It
starts with the opening or "face of day-
time" (wajh al-nahdr, p_ 3:72). In this sense,
also used are the "[rising of] dawn, morn-
ing twilight" (matla' al-fajr, q 97:5;./%?;
Q_ 2:187; 17:28 [two times]; 24:58; 89:1) and
the period "before sunrise" [qabla tulu'i l-
shams, p_ 20:130; 50:39).

The "[early] morning" (ibkdr) indicates
the time "before sunrise" (HamadhanI,
Alfii, 287), "the end of the night" (Ibn
Kathlr, Tafslr, iv, 134 ad q 40:55) and "the
beginning of the bright day" [Jalalayn, 54
ad p_ 3:41). It is the counterpart of the late
evening [bi-l-'ashl wa-l-ibkdr, Q_ 3:41; 40:55).
Another word for morning, bukra, is also
used in this sense; it is also given as a coun-
terpart to both the early evening in which
daylight still appears [bukratan, bukratan wa-
asilan, o 25:5; 33:42; 48:9; 54:38; 76:25) and
the late evening when daylight is gone [buk-
ratan wa-'ashiyyan, Q_ 19:11, 62). The period
of "sunrise" [ishraq, cf. bi-l-'ashi wa-l-ishrdq,
Q_ 38:18; mushriqin, o 15:73; 26:60) is also
called "the sun, when it [rises]" [al-shams
id/id tala'at, q_ 18:17) or "the sun rising" [al-
shams bazighatan, q_ 6:78).

The "[early bright] morning" (ghaddh,
ghuduww) generally relates to the time "af-
ter sunrise" (HamadhanI, Alfdz, 287). We
find it as bi-l-ghaddt (wa-l-'ashi), ghuduww
(an wa-'ashiyyan), o_ 6:52; 18:28; 34:12;

DAY , TIMES OF

504

40:46; bi-l-ghudu wa-l-asdl, Q_ 7:205; 13:15;
24:36; "breakfast," ghada', o_ 18:62; ghada,
Q_ 3:121; 68:22, 25. Both "the dawning
of morning" (isbdh, o 6:96) and "morning"
(subh, sabah) designate the "first hour of the
daytime (before sunrise)" (Hamadhanl,
Alfaz:, 287; see subh, Q_ 11:81; 74:34; 81:18;
100:3; sabah, 0.37:177; sabbahahum bukratan,
q_ 54:38; asbaha, q_ 7:78, gi; 11:67, 94> 18:40,
41, 42, 45; 28:18, 37, 82; 30:17; 46:25; 67:30;
68:20; musbihina, Q_ 15:66, 83; 37:137; 68:17,
21). The time when the Lord "has
stretched out the shadow" (madda l-^illa,
Q_ 25:45), again, refers to early morning.

The "completely bright morning, or fore-
noon" (duhd, Q_ 7:98; 20:59; 79:29, 46; 91:1;
93:1) follows al-ghaddh (Hamadhanl, Alfag,
287), represents the "first part of the day-
time [after sunrise] or daytime itself"
(Jaldlayn, 567 ad Q_ 93:1), but also means
"sunlight" (wa-l-shamsi wa-duhaha, Q_gi:i).
This time is followed by the "heat of the
noon" [zahira, Q_ 24:58; see also "in your
noontide hour," hina tughiruna, Q_ 30:18).

The "later afternoon" ('asr, Q_ 103:1) gen-
erally indicates the period from before sun-
set until the sky is red with the glow of the
setting sun (Hamadhanl, Alfd^, 287). It is
also described, however, as "the period...
between the sinking of the sun [after pass-
ing its culmination, zawal] and sunset"
[Jaldlayn, 572 ad c) 103:1). The period of
the "return" home in the evening (rawdh,
o 34:12) seems to precede (Hamadhanl,
Aljaz, 287) the "late afternoon" or "early
bright evening" (asil, o 25:5; 33:42; 48:9;
76:25; pi. dsdl Q_ 7:205; 13:15; 24:36). The
latter determines the "end of the daytime"
(Jaldlayn, 382 ad o_ 33:42; Ibn Kathlr,
Tafsir, iv, 298 ad o 48:9) and is explained as
being a synonym for both 'ashi (Qurtubi,
Jdmi', vi, 267 ad Q_ 48:9) and masd' (Ibn
Kathlr, Tafsir, iii, 818 ad Q_ 33:42). Its coun-
terpart is the "early morning" (bukra).

The time of asil is followed by the "eve-
ning" (masd', Hamadhanl, Aljdi, 287): "in

your evening hour and in your morning
hour" (hina tumsuna wa-hina tusbihuna, 0.30:17).

Apart from this, the time "before sunset"
(qabla l-ghurub, o 50:39) appears to precede
the period of the "sinking of the sun
[against the horizon]" (duliik al-shams,
p_ 17:78), although the latter can designate
both (a) the time starting with noon, when
the sun has passed its zenith and, probably
originally, (b) the time of the bright eve-
ning, directly before sunset.

Sebastian Giinther

bibliography
Primary: al-Hamadhanl, 'Abd al-Rahman b.
Tsa, Kitab al-Aljai al-kitabiyya, ed. L. Cheikho,
Beirut 1885, 284-7 (al-nahar); 287-91 (al-layl); Ibn
Kathlr, TafsTr, ed. ( All ShTrl al-Dimashql, 4 vols.,
Beirut ca. 1989; Ibn al-Sikklt, Abu Yusuf Ya'qub
b. Ishaq, Kanz al-hufjaz. Kitab Tahdlrib al-alfai, ed.
L. Cheikho, Beirut 1896-8, 405-27 (chapters al-
layl and al-nahar); Jaldlayn, ed. Abd al-Rahlm
Muhammad, Cairo 1355/1936; Muslim, Sahih;
QurtflbT, Jdmi\ 24 vols., Beirut 1405-14/1985-93.
Secondary: R. Bell, Muhammad's pilgrimage
proclamation, in JRAS (1937), 233-44; Fr. Buhl,
Das Leben Muhammeds, Leipzig 1930, 31 1-3; Day
and Night, in Encyclopedia Judaica, Jerusalem n.d.,
ii, 1374-6; A. Fischer, "Tag und Nacht" im
Arabischen und die semitische Tagesberechnung,
in Abhandlung dcr Philosophisch-Historischen Klasse der
Koniglichen Sachsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften,
Leipzig 1909, vol. xxvii, 789-758; S. Giinther, Tag
und Tageszeiten im Qur'an, in Erlesenes. Hallesche
Beilra'ge z.ur Orientwissenschaft 25 (1998), 47-68; L.
Ideler, Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen
Chronologic. Aus den Quellen bearbeitet, 2 vols., Berlin
1825, vol. i; A.H. Mustafa, Morgenanbruch in
den nordwestsemitischen Sprachen, in Hallesche
Beitrage z.uj Orientwissenschaft 13/14 (1990), 113-6;
A. Neuwirth, Zur Relevanz der einleitenden
Schwurserien fiir die Suren der
friihmekkanischen Zeit, in U. Tworuschka
(ed.), Gottes ist der Orient, Gottes ist der Okzident.
Festschrift filr Abdoljavad Falaturi zum 65. Geburtstag,
Vienna 1991, 3-39; V. Orelli, Tag bei den
Hebraern, in Realenzyklopddie fur protestantische
Theologie und Kirche, Leipzig 1907 3 , ixx, 312-3;
Paret, Kommentar, 1985^; id., Der Koran. Ubersetzung,
1985 4 ; Ch. Pellat, Layl an d nahar, in El 3 , v,
707-10; F. Rosenthal, The "Time" of Muslim
historians and Muslim mystics, inJSAI 19 (1995),
5-35; A.J. Wensinck, Salat, in El 1 , viii, 96-105; id.,
Mlkat, in El', v, 492-3.

5°5

DEATH AND THE DEAD

Days of God

A literal translation of the Arabic expres-
sion ayyam Allah. The expression assumes
its fuller significance in analogy to the
phrase ayyam al-'arab, i.e. battles of Arab
tribes in the pre-Islamic era (see PRE-
ISLAMIC ARABIA AND THE CHJR'an), leading to
the more appropriate translation, "battles
of God." The phrase ayyam Allah occurs
twice in the Quran.

The first occurrence is Q 14:5 (Surat Ibra-
him), which reflects God's retribution —
grace and reward for believers and punish-
ment for unbelievers (see reward and
punishment; chastisement and punish-
ment). More specifically, ayyam Allah in
Q_ 14:5 refers to the signs God sent through
Moses (q.v.) for distinguishing between be-
lief and unbelief (q.v.). Apart from this ex-
plicit injunction to Moses in o_ 14:5, exe-
getes identified this and following verses
with the ill omens that befell the peoples of
Ad (q.v.) and Thamud (q.v.) for rejecting
God's revelations (see punishment stories).

The second occurrence of ayyam Allah is
Q_ 45:14 (Surat al-Jathiyya, "The Hob-
bling"), the only verse revealed at Medina
of this otherwise Meccan sura (see chron-
ology and THE qur'an). The verse, which
urges believers to forgive those who do not
look ahead to ayyam Allah but who will ulti-
mately receive their due in the final abode,
i.e. hell (q.v.), was eventually abrogated (see
abrogation). Indeed, the Quran repeat-
edly commands the believers to fight
against unbelievers — thus contravening
the injunction for forgiveness in the verse
just cited.

The specific qur'anic locus of the abroga-
tion of Q_ 45:14 is uncertain. Whereas some
consider it to be the ninth sura (Surat al-
Tawba, "Repentance") in its entirety, oth-
ers restrict this function to 9:5 alone
(since it specifically calls for violence
against unbelievers, it is known as the verse

of the sword, ay at al-sayf). Other authori-
ties link it to either Q_ 9:5 or 9:36, or both.
Further, a minority view considers Q_ 22:39
(Surat al-Hajj, "The Pilgrimage") as an al-
ternative. Finally, there are exegetes who
argue that Q_ 8 (Surat al-Anfal, "The
Spoils") is acting in conjunction with Q_ g.
Reference to Surat al-Anfal — a sura re-
vealed shortly after the battle of Badr
(q.v.) — constitutes a direct link to that bat-
tle and as such forms the basis for the anal-
ogy touched upon earlier between ayyam
Allah and ayyam al-'arab. The Muslim vic-
tory at Badr highlighted God's support of
the believers and gave them a flawless ra-
tionale for setting themselves apart from
unbelievers. Since Badr reflects in essence
a battle between good and evil (q.v), there
is logic to the claim of those who point to
Surat al-Anfal as the sura which abrogates
0. 45 :i 4> a verse that initially called for the
forgiveness of those who are not part of
God's religion. See also expeditions and
battles; war.

John A. Nawas

Bibliography
Primary: Abu Hayyan, Bahr, ed. A. A. Abd
al-Wujud and ! A.M. Mu'awwad, 8 vols., Beirut
z 993> v > 394~5> T aDal, T, Tafsir, vii, 416-8; xi, 256-7.
Secondary: Horowitz, KU, 22; T. Nagel,
Medinensische Einschube in mekkanischen Suren,
Gottingen 1995, 78; Paret, Kommentar, 267; W.M.
Watt, Companion to the Qur'an, London 1967, 124,
226.

Deadly Sins see sin, major and minor

Death and the Dead

The end of life (q.v). The following aspects
of the qur'anic depiction of death (mawt,
wajat) and the dead (al-mawtd) shall be ad-
dressed here: various qur'anic descriptions
of attitudes towards death on the part of

DEATH AND THE DEAD

5 06

both believers and unbelievers (see belief
and unbelief); the main themes connected
with death which occur in the Qur'an, or-
dered according to Bell's chronology; dis-
tinctive features of qur'anic statements
about death; and, finally, a sketch of the
qur'anic vision of death and its meaning.

Attitudes of believers and unbelievers
The Qur'an, especially in its Medinan
parts, takes the human fear of death for
granted. Death is the great enemy of hu-
mankind which overtakes (adraka) even
those who seek refuge in lofty towers
(q_ 4:78). Dying is a physical and spiritual
event of great importance that only hap-
pens under divine authority and by divine
decree. Death — whether natural or in
battle — loses its terror for the true be-
liever: "... my life and my death belong to
God..." (p_ 6:162). Three passages contain-
ing the prayers of those known to be be-
lievers depict them as requesting that God
allow them to die (tawajjd) as just men or
"surrenderers" to God's will (muslimun,
Q_ 7:126; cf. Q_ 3:193; 12:101). In short, death
need be feared only by those who have led
evil lives (see EVIL deeds). Those who have
given witness of their belief by dying as
martyrs (in battle; see martyr) should be
thought of not as dead but as living
(o_ 2:154; 3:169). One passage promises im-
mediate passage (lit. gathering [tuhsharuna])
to God for those who die "in the way of
God," (fi sabil Allah, o_ 3:157-8; see path
or way [of god]).

An unbeliever, however, clings to this life
and believes death to be the inevitable re-
sult of fate (dahr). Unbelievers who do not
believe in the resurrection (q.v.) are only
concerned with life in this world (dunya,
Q_ 6:29; 23:37). They think their life is splen-
did but deceive themselves and are de-
ceived by Iblls (q.v.; o_ 15:39; see devil);
they should rather be called "dead" al-
ready. They have reason to fear doubly: to

fear death itself and to fear retribution;
when they are punished it will be too late
to repent (see reward and punishment;
repentance and penance). The Qur'an
vividly describes the last moments of their
lives (o. 6:93; 33:19; 47:20; 56:83) and their
agony (o_ 50:19). Angels of death stretch
out their hands and speak to them while
they are dying (p_ 6:93). Those attached to
this world flee death in vain. One text,
however, describes how in a particular case
God had pity on thousands of people who,
threatened by death, left their houses
(ft 2:243).

Main themes of death
Following T. O'Shaughnessy [Muhammad's
thoughts on death, the only monograph on
the subject), one can organize the various
qur'anic themes of death according to
Bell's chronology of the revelation of the
Qur'an (see chronology and the qur'an).
In the Meccan period, death is first used
metaphorically in "sign passages," texts
speaking of God's providence: He brings
to life dead land (i.e. waste land) by send-
ing rain; in seeds he gives life to what has
been considered dead (see agriculture
and vegetation). Very soon those who re-
fuse to believe in God and his judgment
(see last judgment) are also considered to
be "dead." Inability to recognize God's
bounty (see blessing) and his control over
life and death is presented as a spiritual
death. In a further development hell (q.v.)
is called a "second" or "living" death, re-
served for those who have entered into
their "first" death as unbelievers. In the
face of skeptics in Mecca and Medina who
maintain that there is only one (i.e. the first
physical) death, the Qur'an asserts this sec-
ond death as well for the unbelievers.

The question "When I am dead, shall I
be brought out alive?" (p_ 19:66) elicits
lengthy responses. The imagery of the ear-
lier "sign passages" referring to God's

5 l >7

DEATH AND THE DEAD

providence is combined here with the
theme of the resurrection which testifies to
God's supreme power over life and death.
The resurrection represents the final resto-
ration and re-commencement of the hu-
man race as it was at the beginning, at the
pristine moment of creation (q.v.). It is
God who brings to life and causes to die,
who raises the dead as a new act of life-
giving creation and who brings the faithful
back to him in paradise (q.v.). This power
of God is the decisive argument in the
Qur'an for belief in God (see power and
impotence).

In the Medinan period these themes all
receive further elaboration in various ways.
Here, however, the stress is on God's om-
nipotence and his control of anything that
has to do with life and death, the ultimate
proof being the resurrection which is
viewed as a second creation. God's causing
objects to penetrate (walaja) one another
and then to come forth (kharaja) from one
another also illustrates his omnipotence.
Yet, most important is the fact that he has
power (qddir or qadirj to bring the dead to
life. In former times, God returned the
dead to life in this world: He raised some
of the dead from among the followers of
Moses (q.v.; Q_ 2:55-6) and gave leave to Je-
sus (q.v.) to bring the dead to life (o_ 3:49;
5:110). God differs from all living beings in
that he does not die; he is the Living One
{al-hayy, o_ 25:58; see god and his attrib-
utes). By his capacity to create life God
distinguishes himself from the idols which
are themselves created and simply dead
(p_ 16:20-1; see idols and images).

The appointed term (ajal) of human life
also receives emphasis in Medina. God de-
termines (qaddara) a human's life span at
his birth (see fate; freedom and predesti-
nation). At death God executes (qada) this
predetermined will for each person and
takes him or her to himself (tawajfd). Con-
sequently, human life and death are pre-

sented as subject to God's direct authority.

It is no accident that notions of God's
omnipotence and the human being's pre-
determined life are stressed in the Me-
dinan years of war (see war; expe-
ditions and battles; opposition to
muhammad). The same holds for a third
theme, that of fear (q.v.) of death, which is
found almost exclusively in the verses of
this period. All 48 qur'anic passages treat-
ing it are Medinan. These texts include
explicit references to Muhammad's own
foreseeable death as well as to the deaths
of earlier prophets (see prophets and
prophethood). Moreover, they affirm
God's providence and protection (q.v.) of
every believer. Typically, even more than
before, they insist that humans should not
cling to this passing life but instead prepare
for the everlasting life in the hereafter.
They should commit their lives to causes
connected with God; those who fight in
jihad (q.v.), for instance, make proper use of
their life "in the way of God." Injihdd, the
fear of death is absent, at least consciously.
In this period the theme of violent death,
whether of those committed to the cause
of Islam or of innocent people, is a mat-
ter of particular concern (see murder;
bloodshed).

Distinct features of the qur'anic treatment of death
The presentation of death in the Qur'an,
while resembling that of other religious
systems, also has its own distinctive traits.
For the Arabs of the pre-Islamic period,
for instance, death came about through the
(sometimes sudden) entrance of fate (dahr)
into a human's life (see pre-islamic Arabia
and the qur'an). They saw death basically
as the soul's (q.v.) departure from the body,
either in a bloody fashion (in case of a vio-
lent death) or by escaping from the nose at
the final breath (in case of natural death).
The survivors had the duty to see to a cor-
rect burial and to exact vengeance (q.v.; in

DEATH AND THE DEAD

5 08

case of a violent death), to ensure peace for
the departed soul, which would be forced
to wander otherwise, and to maintain the
honor of the tribe (see tribes and clans).
In ancient times a certain cult of the dead
may have existed, with offering's and sacri-
fices. A real man would show no fear of
death and the survivors would glorify the
departed (see courage).

In the Qur'an it is not dahr but God who
decides the appointed time (ajal) of each
individual and who causes the person to
die (amata); human beings can only mor-
tally wound (qatala) someone but it is God
who causes that person to die. The last act
in a person's life is thus an act of God.

The relation to death is a key issue for
two reasons. First, it implies a relation to
life and the freedom to decide what to do
with it. Second, in the qur'anic view any
attitude to death implies an attitude to
God, either of belief or unbelief. In the
qur'anic view, life and death have been in-
struments of God's providence to human-
kind from the very beginning. This theo-
centric view of death implies a radical
contingency of human beings as well as of
the world in which they live and to which
they should no longer attach themselves.
The way of life of the ancient Arabs is de-
clared to have been ignorance [jahiliyya,
see AGE OF ignorance). Life itself comes
about through God's blowing something of
his spirit (ruh, see spirit) into Adam's form
(q_ 15:29; 32:9; 38:72; see adam and eve).
This ruh is thus the principle of life which
leaves the body at the moment of death.
The fact that it originates in God has im-
portant implications. First of all, life is a
gift apportioned by God; this also means
that it is forbidden to kill someone (for in-
stance, out of revenge) except after due
process of law (see blood money; retalia-
tion). Second, the community of the faith-
ful replaces the older kinship (q.v.) and
tribal community organized along blood

relationships (see community and society
in the qjjr'an). Third, every believer is in-
dividually responsible for his life, thought
and action. The ancient glorification of the
dead gives way to a humble appeal to God
to show mercy (q.v.) on the dead. The
Qur'an suggests the continued existence of
the ruh after it has left the body in death
but leaves unspecified the period between
the grave and later resurrection (see
barzakh). In the new Islamic theocentric
framework, it is no longer the exact mo-
ment of death but the allotted term of life
as man's testing period (see trial) that is
important. Islam brings a profound change
not only in the visible customs of life but
also in the way in which one can and does
understand one's own life. Human life is
not the individual's property but a divine
gift to be used in God's service ('ibada, see
servant) or to be dedicated to a divine
cause or to God himself. God is seen as
creator of all that is and as the source of
all life: "... everything perishes except his
countenance..." (q_ 28:88).

Thus, with Islam, death is no longer the
end of life, but only the end of the ap-
pointed period (ajal) in which humans are
tested in the world. Human existence has
been extended to eternity and death be-
comes a merely transitional phase during
which the ruh, the principle of life, provi-
sionally remains separated from the disin-
tegrating body. In other words, death has
been designed as a part of creation and is
put to use to attain creation's aim; God
wants human life — understood as service
('ibdda) to him — not to end but to receive
eternity in paradise.

In a broader context the qur'anic mes-
sage thus follows very much the tradition
of the Near Eastern prophetic religions
from Zoroastrianism and the oldest proph-
ets of Israel onwards, all of whom call peo-
ple to choose between the new life which
they offer and the old life linked to by-gone

5°9

DEATH AND THE DEAD

conditions, ways of life and ideas, which
they consider to be in the realm of death.
Different prophetic religions, including
Christianity, have given different descrip-
tions of what may be called the old dispen-
sation in the light of their particular mes-
sage of renewal. They proclaim God as a
fundamentally liberating force.

In this context the Qur'an distinguishes
itself first by its proclamation of the God
of providence, liberating human beings
from the curse of dahr by causing them to
rise again as a new creation. After human-
kind has been haunted by fear of dahr and
death, dahr is nullified and death is brought
under God's omnipotence. Additionally,
the Qur'an distinguishes itself from other
prophetic messages by calling specifically
for action in this world in the dedicated
service of God. It shares the general
framework of resurrection and judgment
(q.v.) known since Zoroaster and shares
with the Akkadian and the Israelite reli-
gions the idea of a gloomy abode for the
deceased. There is a striking parallelism
between the qur'anic and Syriac emphasis
on the inevitability of death and the conse-
quences humans should thereby draw re-
garding their eternal destiny (q.v.), ending
in parallel descriptions of the terrors of
hell as the destiny of unbelievers. In the
case of the Qur'an, however, this preach-
ing did not lead to monastic asceticism
(see monasticism AND monks) as in Eastern
Christianity but to a particular form of
"inner-worldly" asceticism (q.v.).

Two facts are worth noting. First, this
kind of "Weberian" attitude produced an
outburst of energy which was invested in
worldly enterprises of a military, political
and economic nature. The qur'anic view of
life and death undoubtedly contributed to
the mobilization of many in this sense.
Second, in Islam as in other prophetic reli-
gions, God was proclaimed to be the force
which brings about a decisive change from

death to life. Where unbelief was seen as
chaotic since it did not recognize the provi-
dence and rule of God in this world, belief
was held to lead to the establishment of
God's rule through a particular ordering of
this world by means of a law considered to
have been revealed and to be contained, at
least in essentials, in the Qur'an.

The qur'anic vision of death; its meaning
Throughout the Qur'an the issue of death
is apparent, explicitly in the numerous
verses and implicitly as an inescapable hu-
man condition, which the Quran's preach-
ing continuously notes. Though the de-
scriptions of resurrection and final
judgment have attracted much scholarly
attention, the subject of death — with the
exception of T. O'Shaughnessy's study —
has been strangely neglected. For the Near
East at the time of Muhammad, death was
a problem, solutions for which were sought
in ascetic orientations and movements.
There is reason to assume that this was
also the case among bedouin Arabs (see
bedouin; Arabs) and townspeople in Ara-
bia, for whom it was the impersonal, law-
like and fatal dahr that brought man's life
to an end (q_ 45:24).

If the Qur'an maintains that the moment
of death is inescapably determined, this is
no longer the work of the power or law of
fate, but has been established, as the mo-
ment of birth, by God. The vision broad-
ens still further through the idea that God
alone can conquer death. This conquest
shows his omnipotence and his divinity;
idols cannot rival him. The final delivery
from death by fate (dahr) happens through
the anticipated resurrection. From the sec-
ond Meccan period onwards, there is a
qur'anic triad of concepts that constantly
reappears: God, life/death and resurrec-
tion. The last is primarily a deliverance of
humankind from the condition of death,
for the sake of a new creation, a gift of

DEATH AND THE DEAD

510

restoration. The judgment may be positive
for some, negative for others; common to
all, whether they like it or not, is that they
are brought to life again. Only God is able
to restore the creation after the temporary
condition of death.

Life and death — like God and human-
kind or this world and the hereafter — are
absolutely opposed to each other in the
Qur'an, but a shift in meaning is discern-
ible. The terms no longer signify the natu-
ral contrast between what is alive and what
is not, but indicate the opposition between
two states that are metaphysical rather
than physical, religious rather than empiri-
cal. On the one hand there are those who
reject belief in one God, in Muhammad as
a prophet and in the Quran, its preaching
and prescriptions as revelation (see reve-
lation and inspiration). Since unbelief is
viewed as a kind of death, these people,
seen as attached to this world and impris-
oned by it, are considered to be "dead."
On the other hand, those who believe in
God and the resurrection as well as in
Muhammad and the revelation are thereby
considered to be oriented towards eternal
life, as "living." In the Qur'an the natural
opposition between life and death merges
into the spiritual one between belief and
disbelief.

This vision of death is part of the
broader qur'anic vision of the purpose
of God's creation of humans to whom he
has assigned a final destiny. As a created
being, the human should live in his Cre-
ator's service ('ibada). To carry out his
task, he disposes of his natural faculties, his
reason and the revelation provided in the
Qur'an. As a logical consequence, once he
has accomplished this 'ibada in the course
of the lifetime allotted to him, he will be
with God forever. Human life has an eter-
nal destiny and the earthly phase of this
life is essentially a test of human submis-
sion to God. Death in this perspective is

simply the end of a testing period and a
threshold which must necessarily be
passed. Those who fail the test will simply
not reach their destiny. Normally, life
stretches from birth to paradise; abnor-
mally, it extends from birth to hell. The
message which emerges from this vision is
clear. Humans are warned (see warning)
and called not to attach themselves to this
life or to delude themselves with rewards
that are of a transient nature. They should
turn to God and take care to live as God's
servants and hence prepare for the real life
of the hereafter.

The Qur'anic view of death and the atti-
tude and actions which derive from it sig-
nify a complete shift from what may be
called the "natural" as well as the "secular"
view of life. As in other prophetic religions,
life and death are simply a testing ground
of human beings' basic intentions regard-
ing eternity and, in the case of the Qur'an,
the human willingness to put one's life en-
tirely at God's disposal. The result may be
not only an inner life of faith (q.v.) and
piety (q.v.) but also an extraordinary mobi-
lization of life forces for action — commu-
nal or individual — in this world. The
Qur'an 's message on the subject can be
seen as a liberation from the confines of
death, for which humans are grateful to
God (see gratitude and ingratitude). Or
is the very concept of God in prophetic re-
ligions perhaps born from the experience
of a conquest of and a liberation from
death — whatever the concept has meant
in particular contexts?

Jacques Waardenburg

Bibliography
M. Abdesselem, Mawt, in El", vi, 910-1; R. Bell,
The Qur'an translated, with a critical re- arrangement of
the surahs, 2 vols., Edinburgh 1937-9; J- Bowker,
The meanings of death, Cambridge 1991 ; E. Graf,
Anffassungen vom Tod im Rahmen islamischer
Anthropologic, in J. Schwartlander (ed.), Der

5 11

DEBATE AND DISPUTATION

Mensch und sein Tod, Gbttingen 1976, 126-45; T.E.
Homerin, Echos of a thirsty owl. Death and the
afterlife in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, in JNES 44
(1985), 165-84; J.H. Marks and R.M. Good
(eds.), Love and death in the ancient Near East
Essays in honor of M.H. Pope, Guilford 1987; T.
O'Shaughnessy, Muhammad's thoughts on death,
Leiden 1969; H. Reintjes-Anwari, Der Tod aus
islamischer Sicht, in C. von Barloewen (ed.), Der
Tod in den Weltkulturen und Weltreligionen, Miinchen
1996, 169-200; J.I. Smith and Y.Y. Haddad., The
Islamic understanding of death and resurrection,
Albany 1981; J. Waardenburg, 'Leben verlieren'
oder 'Leben gewinnen' als Alternative in
prophetischen Religionen, in G. Stephenson
(ed.), Leben und Tod in den Religionen. Symbol und
Wirklichkeit, Darmstadt 1980, 36-60.

Death Penalty see boundaries and

PRECEPTS

Debate and Disputation

An oppositional mode of discourse and a
formal process of argumentation. Refer-
ences to the activities of disputation and
debate are associated with several qur'anic
verbs in their various forms. Terminology
pertinent to the process of argumentation
occurs throughout the Quran and the im-
portance of such forensic activities as prov-
ing, explaining and making manifest is re-
peatedly stressed. Demonstrable proof
(q.v.) and convincing argumentation are
represented as indispensable elements of
conveying the divine message and actual or
anticipated opponents are a prominent fea-
ture of much qur'anic discourse. Further,
the qur'anic text frames and focuses upon
striking scenes of debate: Satan (Iblis, see
devil) argues with God about his superior-
ity over humans (q_ 15:30-3; 7:11-2; 17:61;
38:73-6); Abraham (q.v.) and Noah (q.v.)
dispute with the unbelievers among the
people to whom they are sent as do such
other prophets as Hud (q.v), Salih (q.v.)
and Shu'ayb (q.v.). Tengthy pericopes re-

port the exchanges of Moses (q.v.) and
Pharaoh (q.v.). Even the famous parable of
the two gardens (see garden) in q_ 18 (Surat
al-Kahf, "The Cave") is cast in the form of
a debate.

As just stated, the Qur'an uses several
terms to designate the multiple modes of
oppositional discourse. Of these jadala in
its various forms is central. While Arabic
lexicographers give "to twist firmly" or "to
make strong and compact" as the base
meaning of this verb, they also note the
more frequent use of those forms of the
verb that can denote reciprocal speech acts
such as debates, disputations, altercations,
arguments, quarrels, etc. (Taj al-'arus, vii,
253-5; see a ' so dialogues). Extra-qur'anic
attestation of jadala and its cognates, with
connotations of debate and confrontation,
can be gathered from a range of early
sources such as the verses of al-Kumayt b.
Zayd (d. 126/743) an d Dawud b. Salm (d.
ca - : 32/75o)-

In the Qur'an jadala and its cognates oc-
cur 29 times, with the first use in Q_ 2:197
and the last in p_ 58:1. This latter sura,
which is entitled Surat al-Mujadala ("She
Who Disputes"), is the only sura to carry a
form of the triliteral Arabic root j-d-l as its
title. The first use of a form of jadala in the
Qur'an is an imperative, as are four other
occurrences (<£ 4:107; 16:125; 22:68; 29:46).
All but one of these is, like the first, a nega-
tive imperative prohibiting disputation.
The initial mention, in C3 2:197, groups dis-
putation (jiddl) with obscenity (rafath) and
wickedness (fusuq) as forms of behavior
prohibited during the pilgrimage (q.v.) and
the majority of the other uses in this cate-
gory are also negative imperatives.

Descriptive and interrogative uses of ja-
dala and its cognates constitute a larger cat-
egory, o 4:109 raises the issue of disputa-
tion on behalf of the soul (q.v.) on the day
of resurrection (q.v.) by asking, "You have
disputed on their behalf in this present life,

DEBATE AND DISPUTATION

but who will dispute with God on their be-
half (fa-man yujadilu llaha 'anhum) on the
day of resurrection?" q 16:111 speaks of
the "day when every soul shall come debat-
ing on its own behalf (tujadilu 'an nafsihd)
and every soul (q.v.) will be recompensed
for what it has done and they will not be
wronged." A quasi-judicial eschatology
(q.v.) is evoked by this vocabulary. If debate
can constitute part of the process of hu-
man accountability, then the individual's
pleading may take the form of self- or me-
diated representation.

Yet this eschatological possibility captures
only a small proportion of the descriptive
and interrogative uses oijadala forms. In
most cases disputation is portrayed as de-
liberate disavowal of God's "signs" (q.v.). A
prominent example of this is q 6:25 which
insists, "Were they to see every one of the
signs, they would not believe in them, even
to the extent that when they come to you,
they dispute with you (yujadilunaka) [and]
those who do not believe say, 'These are
nothing but the tales of the ancients.' "
Again, q 13:12-3 contends, "He is the one
who shows you the lightning, [arousing]
both fear and hope, and raises the clouds
heavy [with rain] . Thunder extols his
praise (q.v), as do the angels with awe. He
sends thunderbolts, striking by them whom
he wishes. Yet they dispute about God (wa-
hum yujadiluna fi llahi) ." There is a persistent
rhetorical structure that emerges in these
qur'anic references to debate: Messengers
(see messenger) have been sent, the truth
(q.v.) has been given, parables have been
struck and "signs" made manifest but still
people dispute (cf. q 8:6; 18:54, 56; 31:20).
This connection of debate with "signs" is
pervasive. Multiple mentions of such
phrases as "those who dispute about the
signs of God" (alladhina yujadiluna f dydti
llahi, q 40:56; cf. 42:35; 40:69) and "the
only ones who dispute about the signs of
God are those who disbelieve" (mdyujddilu

fi dydti llahi ilia, lladhina kafaru, q 40:4; cf.
40:35) reinforce the linkage of disputation
and God's "signs." In every instance this
linkage is connected with condemnation
and rebuke.

Rebuke also characterizes the reference
to ignorantly disputing about God himself.
Q_ 22:3, 8; 31:20 contain the phrase, "There
are people who dispute about God without
knowledge (wa-mina l-nasi man yujadilu fi
llahi bi-ghayri 'ilmin)." The first time this ac-
cusation occurs, q 22:3, it is connected
with devils or with behavior prompted by
devils. "Those who dispute about God
without knowledge" are characterized as
following "every willful devil" (kulla shay-
tdnin muridin) while q 6:121 states, "Truly
the devils prompt their friends to debate
with you (li-yujddilukum) . If you obey them,
you are polytheists."

A final note should be made of a categ-
ory of statements which associatesjao'a/fl
with the prophets, sometimes directly,
sometimes tangentially. These would in-
clude the brief pericope in q 43:57-8:
"When the son of Mary (q.v.) is cited as an
example (mathal), your people turn away
from it [the example] . They say, Are our
gods better or is he?' They cite it to you
only in debate (jadalj. Indeed they are a
contentious people (qawmun khasimun)." (Cf.
q 18:54 — with its similar tagline — where
the provision of another "example" pro-
vokes dispute.) At q 43:57-8 Jesus' (q.v.) as-
sociation with disputation is somewhat
tangential. A more immediate connection
between prophets and disputation is found
in those instances where the prophets
themselves argue. In q 7:71, Hud chal-
lenges his people: "Atrocity and anger have
fallen on you from your Lord; would you
dispute with me about names (tujadilunamf
asmd'J that you and your fathers have as-
signed for which God has sent down no
authorization?" The figure of Noah is par-
ticularly associated with disputation. In

5i3

DEBATE AND DISPUTATION

Q_ 11:32 Noah's people charge: "Noah, you
have debated with us and prolonged our
disputation (qad jadaltana fa-aktharta jida-
lana). Now, if you are truthful, bring upon
us what you threatened." Perhaps most
striking are Abraham's debates with God
himself: "When fear had left Abraham and
the good news [of Isaac's (q.v.) conception]
came to him, he was disputing with us
(yujadiluna) concerning the people of Lot
(q.v.)" (q_ 11:74; c f- Gen 18:23-32). The classi-
cal exegetical tradition (see exegesis of
THE QUR'aN, CLASSICAL AND MEDIEVAL) also
regularly understood Abraham to be de-
bating the messengers (rusul) mentioned in
Q_ n:6g. Of course, with Muhammad him-
self the topos of prophets who debate and
dispute reaches its fullest exemplification
(see opposition to muhammad; prophets
and prophethood). Disputation, recollect-
ed and anticipated, drives the rhetorical
engine of the Quran. Instances of this are
too numerous to catalog but at least one
should be mentioned since it is captured
by the title of a sura. This is Muhammad's
exchange in o_ 58:1 with the eponymous
"disputatious woman" (mujddila). The lit-
erature dealing with the circumstance un-
der which this verse was revealed (sabab
al-nuzul, see occasions of revelation) as-
serts virtually unanimously its exegetical
association with the wife of Aws b. al-
Samit, who was complaining that her hus-
band had unjustly divorced her. (For rep-
resentative accounts and for variations of
her name, e.g. Khawla bt. Tha'laba, see
Tabari, Tafsir, xxviii, 1-6.)

There are other qur'anic terms relevant
to this topic such as the vocabulary related
to ikhtasama and naza 'a, both meaning "to
argue or dispute," that can be grouped in
the same way as the jadala category. These
include the strong negative imperative of
50:28, "Do not dispute in my presence
when I have already set the threat before
you (la takhtasimu ladayya wa-qad qaddamtu

ilaykum bi-l-wa'id)" and other occurrences
that maintain the connection of debate
and disputation with eschatological events
(o 36:49; 38:64; 39:31), with the rejection of
"signs" (cf. Q 22:19) and with the denigra-
tion or disregard of messengers (o_ 26:96-7;
27:45; cf. 3:44). The nearly synonymous
nature of this vocabulary is evidenced by
paired usage in passages like q 4:105-7 and
0. 43-5^ (forms of the Arabic rootsj-rf-/ and
kh-s-m) and p_ 22:67-8 (forms of the Arabic
roots j-d-l and n~z-'). Taken together the
qur'anic vocabulary associated with this
topic demonstrates that, in the overwhelm-
ing majority of cases, debate and disputa-
tion are assessed negatively. The activity of
oppositional discourse is associated with
human ignorance or with satanic insinua-
tion or with human insolence, as when in-
dividuals are unwilling to recognize the
probative value of God's "signs." Al-
though Abraham was permitted to debate
with God about the people of Lot, other
qur'anic scenarios depict prophets whose
people dispute with them as a form of re-
jection. While there are exceptions such as
the eschatological possibility in Q_ 16:111,
the human propensity to debate and dis-
pute generally elicits qur'anic condemna-
tion. In fact, p_ 18:54 laments that "more
than anything, humans are disputatious
(wa-kdna l-insdnu akthara shay'injadalanj."

Yet a keen awareness of that very pro-
pensity emerges in those verses describing
how one should deal with disputation that
express an etiquette of oppositional dis-
course. Q_ 22:68 advises: "If they dispute
with you (wa-in jadaluka), then say, 'God
knows best what you are doing.'" Even
more explicit is Q 16:125 with its encour-
agement to "summon to the way of your
Lord (q.v.) with wisdom and fine exhorta-
tion (see exhortations) and debate with
them in the better way (wa-jddilhum bi-llati
hiya ahsanu)."

This latter verse emerged in post-qur'anic

5 '4

literature as a frequently cited justification
for the use of disputation as a powerful
tool in fields such as law (see law and the
qur'an) and theology (see theology and
the qur'an). With the assimilation of
Greek dialectic as a major mode of intel-
lectual engagement, classical Muslim
scholars began to discuss scenes of debate
and disputation in the Quran from the
perspective of these refined rhetorical
tools. As indicated above, they were able to
point to many instances of this within the
textual narrative but they were also cogni-
zant of the frequent qur'anic denunciation
of the human propensity to argue, disagree
and contradict. Consequently, in the classi-
cal Islamic treatises devoted to such topics
as logic and jurisprudential theory it be-
came common to enumerate the qur'anic
texts where disputation is censured or, less
frequently, praised. This commonplace
of commendable/reprehensible disputa-
tion — the usual pair of Arabic adjectives
is mahmud and madhmum — can be found in
the works of many authors. Some exam-
ples are Ishaq b. Ibrahim's (fl. third/ninth
century) al-Burhanfi wujuh al-baydn, Ibn
Furak's (d. 406/1015) Mujarrad maqaldt al-
Ash'ari, the Kafiyyaji l-jadal attributed to
Imam al-Haramayn Abd al-Malik al-
Juwayni (d. 478/1085; but see D. Gimaret,
La doctrine d'al-Ashari, 183, 11. 2), Sulayman
b. Khalaf al-Baji's (d. 474/1081) al-Minhaj
ji tartib al-hijaj, Ibn Hazm's (d. 456/1064)
al-Ihkdmji usul al-ahkdm, Ibn al-Hanball's
(d. 634/1236) Istikhraj al-jiddl min al-Qur'dn
al-karlm, Najm al-Dln al-Tufl's (d. 716/
1316) 'Alam al-jadhalji 'Urn al-jadal. Finally,
the most noted of the works on the tradi-
tional disciplines of qur'anic study (q.v.)
include debate (jadalj among their long list
of contents. Al-Zarkashl (d. 793/1391) in-
cluded a section on the subject in his Bur-
hdn as did al-Suyutl (d. 911/1505) in his
Itqdn. See also rhetoric of the qur'an.

Jane Dammen McAuliffe

Bibliography
Primary: al-Bajl, al-Minhaj fi tartib al-hijaj, ed.
A.M. Turkl, Paris 1978; Ibn Ftlrak, Mugarrad
maqaldt al-As'an. Expose de la doctrine d'al-Asan, ed.
D. Gimaret, Beirut 1987; Ibn al-Hanball, Kitab
Aqyisat al-nabT al-mustafd Muhammad, ed. A.H.
Jabir and 'A. A. al-Khatlb, Beirut 1415/1994; Ibn
Hazm, al-Ihkdmfi usul al-ahkdm, Beirut 1987/1407;
Ibn al-JawzT, ^dd; Ibn GHitayba, Kitab al-Ma'dm
al-kabir, 3 vols, in 2, Hyderabad 1368/1949; Ishaq
b. Ibrahim, al-Burhdn fi wujuh al-baydn, ed. A.
Matlub and Kh. al-Hadlthl, Baghdad 1387/1967;
Pseudo-al-Juwaynl, al-Kdjiyyafi l-jadal, ed. F.H.
Mahmud, Cairo 1399/1969; SuyutI, Itqdn, iv,
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al-Tufl, Alam al-jadhalji 'Urn al-jadal, ed. W.
Heinrichs, Wiesbaden 1987; Zamakhsharl,
Kashshdf; Zarkashl, Burhdn, ii, 24-7.
Secondary: M. Abu Zahra, Ta'nkh al-jadal, Cairo
1980; Z. b. A. al-Alma ( I, Mandhij al-jadal fi
l-Qiir'dn al-kanm, Beirut 1400/1980; D. Gimaret,
Un document majeur pour l'histoire du kalam.
Le Mugarrad maqaldt al-As'an d'Ibn Furak, in
Arabica 32 (1985), 185-218; W. Heinrichs,
Gadal bei at-Tufl. Einer Interpretation seiner
Beispielsammlung, in zdmg, Suppl. 3.1,
Wiesbaden 1977, 463-73; M. al-Kattanl, Jadal
at- 'aql wa-l-naqlji mandhij al-tajkir al-Isldml,
Beirut 1412/1992; G. Makdisi, Dialect and
disputation. The relation between the texts of
Qirqisani and Ibn Aqil, in P. Salmon (ed.),
Melanges d'islamologie. Volume dedie a la memoire de
Armand Abel, 3 vols., Leiden 1974-78, i, 201-6; J. D.
McAuliffe, Debate with them in the better way.
The construction of a qur'anic commonplace, in
B. Embalo et al. (eds.), Myths, historical archetypes
and symbolic jigures in Arabic literature, Beirut 1999,
163-88; L. Miller, Islamic disputation theory. A study
of the development of dialectic in Islam from the tenth
through fourteenth centuries, Ph.D. diss., Princeton
1984; H- al-SharqawI, al-Jadalfi l-Qur'dn,
Alexandria 1986; A.M. Turki, Argument
d'authorite, preuve rationnelle et absence de
prevues dans la methodologie juridique
musulmane, in 5/42 (1976), 59-91.

Debt

A financial obligation due to another. The
qur'anic expression for debt is the Arabic
word dayn. Two places in the Qur'an, both
Medinan chapters, deal with the matter of
debts. At o 2:282, the longest verse in the
Qur'an, detailed instructions are given for
the actual handling of debts. All debts, be
they large or small, in the form of loans or

j!5

DECISION

deferred payment for goods received, are
to be recorded in writing. The only excep-
tion to this is "local business transactions"
involving nearly immediate exchange. Rec-
ognizing the paucity of literacy (q.v.) in
first/seventh century Arabia, the Quran
instructs the literate minority to serve as re-
corders in cases where the parties to a debt
are illiterate. Recognizing also the tribal
structure of the society, literate persons are
forbidden to refuse to record a debt when-
ever they are petitioned to do so; and they
are commanded to discharge this duty with
accuracy and without prejudice to either
party, i.e. regardless of clan- or tribe-affili-
ation (see TRIBES AND CLANS; CHEATING).
Debtors, not creditors, are to dictate to re-
corders. If a debtor is mentally or physic-
ally incapable, a representative is to dictate
on his or her behalf. In addition to being
recorded, debts are to be validated by wit-
nesses, preferably two males or, if that is
not possible, one male and two females. (As
an aside, it is on the basis of this verse that
the jurists have developed the more general
rule that one male equals two female wit-
nesses in a court of law [see LAW AND the
qijr'an; witnessing and testifying]). Both
male and female witnesses must be morally
upright. Here again, regardless of clan- or
tribe-affiliation, individuals are com-
manded not to refuse to serve as witnesses
nor to refuse to come forth and testify to
what they witnessed whenever petitioned
to do so. Finally, in circumstances such as
journeys where there is no access to scribes
to record the transaction, debtors are in-
structed to offer collateral to their credi-
tors. This, however, is not obligatory and
those who contract debts without collateral
are commanded not to betray the trust
placed in them.

The second passage that deals with debts
is in the fourth sura, entitled "Women"
(Surat al-Nisa'; see women and the qur-
'an). In a series of appendages to verses
outlining the shares of inheritance the stip-

ulation is added that any debts contracted
by the deceased prior to death are to be ex-
cluded from the shares distributed to his or
her heirs (cf. Q_ 4:11-2). The shares of inher-
itance (q.v.), in other words, are to be com-
puted after any and all debts have been set-
tled even if these should exhaust the entire
estate.

The Qur'an mentions no legal sanctions
to be applied to those who fail or refuse to
pay their debts. The matter is referred
rather to the forum internum as the Qur'an
bids debtors to be conscious of God in
their financial dealings (see economics).
Islamic law, however, subsequently devel-
oped elaborate rules on bankruptcy and
related matters (cf. A. Delcambre, Dayn).
See also contracts and alliances;

BREAKING TRUSTS AND CONTRACTS.

Sherman A.Jackson

Bibliography
Primary: 'Abd al-Baqi, Cairo 1407/1987, ad
Q_ 2:282; 4:11-2; Ibn Kathir, Mukhtasar tafsir Ibn
Kathir, 3 vols., Beirut 1402/1982, ad o 2:282;
4:11-2; Sabunl, Tafsir, 3 vols., Beirut 1402/1982 4 ,
ad o_ 2:282; 4:11-2; ShawkanI, Tafsir, ad o_ 2:282;
4:11-2; Tabarl, Tafsir, Cairo 1388/1968^, ad
Q_ 2:282; 4:11-2.

Secondary: A. Delcambre, Dayn, in El 2 , Supp.
fasc. 3-4, 207; Subhl MahmasanI, at-Nagarriyya al-
c amma tit-mujabat wa-t-'uqud, Beirut 1948.

Decadence see evil deeds;

INTOXICANTS

Decalogue see commandments

Deceit see trick

Decision

In the qur'anic context, a divine decree re-
flecting omniscience and omnipotence.
The notion of decision in the Qur'an is re-
lated to the concept of God as the creator,
the king and the judge whose decisions —

DECISION

5 l6

decrees, judgments and sentences — repre-
sent his supreme wisdom (q.v.) and power
(see power AND impotence). These deci-
sions emerge in both the initial and the fi-
nal phase of all acts and events. Through
them God creates inanimate objects and
human beings (see creation), rules over
the life of his creatures, which he brings to
their final end on the day of judgment (see
LAST JUDGMENT).

There is, however, no unique term in the
Qur'an which speaks in general to this con-
ception of decision. The terms which con-
vey the idea — namely hukm, fast, and
qada' — can function interchangeably (e.g.
Q_ 4:65; 6:57; 27:78; 42:21). There are, how-
ever, significant semantic differences be-
tween the three terms and the frequency
with which they occur also varies.

The most ubiquitous of the terms, hukm,
which is best translated as judgment (q.v.),
is historically related to pre-Islamic judges
(hakam, pi. hukkam) who exercised justice in
ancient Arabia (see pre-islamic Arabia
and THE qur'an). Lexically, it is associated
with wisdom (hikma) and authority (hukm,
hukuma) embodied in two of the most beau-
tiful names of God (al-asmd' al-husna, see
god and his attributes): al-Hakam, "the
Judge," and al-Hakim, "the Wise." The
term hukm already occurs in early Meccan
suras (see chronology and the qur'an) in
the juxtaposition of the human judgments
of the pagan Arabs (see age of ignorance)
next to divine judgment (q 5:50). God is
described as "the most just of judges"
(ahkam al-hakimin, o 11:45; 95-8) an d "the
best of judges" (khayr al-hakimin, Q 7:87;
10:109; 12:80). Of the three stages of exist-
ence of humans and the world — creation,
life history and resurrection (q.v.) — hukm
is overwhelmingly related to the second
and the third, since it appears in only one
qur'anic passage in the context of creation
(q 13:41; see death and the dead; escha-
tology). Hukm is also used in discussions

about the prophetic authority to judge in-
dividuals with the help of scriptures (see
book), wherein special emphasis is given to
Muhammad and the Qur'an, which is
called "the Arabic code" [hukm 'arabi,
8. I 3'37)- Moses (q.v.), David (q.v.) and Jesus
(q.v.) are also mentioned in this context, to-
gether with the Torah (q.v.; Q 5:44) and the
Gospel (q.v; 0,5:47).

The term fad, which is translated vari-
ously as cut, division, separation, differen-
tiation and judgment, and which appears
the least frequently of the three qur'anic
terms for decision, resembles hukm in its us-
age. It refers to the last judgment (q 22:17;
60:3) and gives an early name for it, "the
day of separation" (yawm al-fasl, Q 37:21;
44:40; 77:13, 14, 38; 78:17), which is later
replaced with "the day of judgment"
[yawm al-din, as in Q 1:4). It is etymologic-
ally related to the biblical Hebrew idiom as
well as to a qur'anic epithet of God, "the
best of arbiters" [khayr al-fasilin, Q 6:57). It
is also associated with the notion that the
revealed word, speech or utterance is the
basis of the judgment of prophets (q 6:57;
42:2i; 86:13; see PROPHETS AND PROPHET-
HOOD; REVELATION AND INSPIRATION).

The third term, qada', which has the sense
of decree, order or final judgment, is op-
posed to the previous two in many respects.
First, it never occurs in the early Meccan
suras. Secondly, it rarely conveys the idea
of a human judgment (with the exception
of Q 10:71 and 20:72). Thirdly, the term
usually implies God's pre-existent decision
to undertake creation (q.v.; kunfa-yakun,
Q 2:117; 3:47; 19:35; 40:68) as well as the
pre-ordained life-span (ajal) of human life
(q 6:2; 10:11; see fate), approximating the
meaning of qadar, i.e. the Lord's eternal
universal decision concerning his creatures
which he has determined for them from
their creation (see freedom and predesti-
nation). The main issues which Muslim
theology (see theology and the qur'an)

517

DEFERRAL

discussed in connection with qadd' included
the following: determinism; the essence of
the Prophet's mission; "acquisition" (kasb
or iktisab), i.e. the way in which humans
acquire the acts determined and created
for them by God (see anthropomorphism;
mu'tazila); the relationship between justice
(see justice and injustice) and mercy (q.v.)
at the last judgment and the role of inter-
cession (q.v.).

Dmitry V. Frolov

Bibliography
Primary: al-Ash c arI, Abu 1-Hasan, Risaia ila ahl
ai-thaghr, Medina/Beirut 1988 (for an account of
relevant theological topics, cf. esp. expositions of
the Muslim creed); Ibn Hazm, Milal; Ibn KathTr,
TafsTr, ad loc; Jalalayn; Lisdn al- c Arab, xii, 14-5
(hukmj; xi, 521-4 (fast); xv, 186-9 ( ( l a< in');
ShahrastanT, Alilal; Suyiitl, Durr; TabarT, Tafsir,
ad loc; ZamakhsharT, Kashshaf.
Secondary: Gardet and Anawati, Introduction,
especially pp. 37-8, 151-2, 257-8; Izutsu, God (see
indices); Gy. Kaldy Nagy, Kada', in Ef, iv, 364-5;
A.J. Wensinck, The Muslim creed, Cambridge 1932.

Decoration see material culture and

THE Q_UR'aN

Deed Scroll see record of human
actions; book

Deeds see ethics in the qjur'an; evil
deeds; good deeds

Defamation see lie; opposition to

MUHAMMAD

Deferral

The qur'anic concept of postponement or
delay in God's punishment. It was this con-
cept, derived from the single occurrence of
this word in conjunction with the decision-
making character of God at Q_ 9:106, that
formed the basis of the doctrine of a num-

ber of different groups of early Muslims
usually called Murji'is (murji'a, see creeds;
THEOLOGY AND THE QUR'an).

The concept of deferral (irjS'j is derived
from the fourth form of the Arabic root
r-j-', uniquely used in connection with God's
judgment (q.v.) at r> 9:106 (the fourth form
is also used at o_ 33:51 but in reference to
the Prophet's choice of spouses; see WIVES
of THE prophet). The word means to "de-
lay" or "postpone" and refers to a group
whose ultimate fate is postponed. With this
definition, the verse could be translated:
"There are others for whom God's com-
mand is deferred (murjawna), whether he
will punish them or forgive them; for God
is knowing, wise." Some commentators
read the word as murja'una from the same
root and with the same meaning while oth-
ers derive the word from the root r-j-w,
meaning "to hope" or "to anticipate," ren-
dering the translation: "There are others
who are made to hope for God's com-
mand " This reading, however, contra-
dicts the historical understanding of
o_ 9:106 (see occasions of revelation).

The context of o_ 9:106 is usually under-
stood to involve the defection of some of
Muhammad's putative supporters in the
expedition to Tabuk (see expeditions and
battles). There were those who were said
to receive punishment twice, meaning in
this world and the next (see reward and
punishment), whereas those whose actions
were considered a mixture of good and
bad and who acknowledged their bad
deeds (see good and evil) were offered the
hope of God's forgiveness (q.v.; Q_ g:ioi-2).
The third group, those of o_ 9:106, who
had not repented but were not in either of
the other groups, had their judgment de-
ferred (see repentance and penance). Af-
ter Muhammad's death, various doctrinal
and political positions arose around the is-
sues of sin and punishment (see sin, major
and minor). The Kharijls (q.v.) held that

DELIVERANCE

5 l8

anyone who committed a grave sin had
also committed apostasy (q.v.) and was con-
demned to hell (q.v.). They had emerged
from a group of adherents to the fourth
caliph (q.v.), 'All (see 'ali b. abi talib),
whose soldiers parted ways with him over
the issue of arbitration during the battle of
Siffln (q.v.). They held that 'All and his
Umayyad opponents were guilty of such a
sin and were thus not to be followed. In op-
position to the Kharijite position, some ar-
gued that these Muslims belonged to the
category of those for whom God's judg-
ment was deferred, and they too thus re-
frained from making a categorical judg-
ment. From this also developed the notion
that faith (q.v.) was sufficient to make one a
Muslim, even if his or her works were not
perfect (see work; good deeds; evil
deeds). As Islam spread into Khurasan
and Transoxania, the Murji'ls became sup-
porters of unity among all Muslims and
were thus in opposition to Shi'ls as well as
Kharijls in disputes about legitimate rule
as well as the definition of a good Muslim,
the Shl'ls holding as illegitimate the rule of
the caliphs Abu Bakr (q.v.; r. 11-13/632-4),
'Umar (q.v; r. 13-23/634-44) and TJthman
(q.v; r. 23-35/644-56). While the Murji'ls
split into a number of factions, Murji'ism
became identified with support of converts
to Islam, in opposition to some Umayyad
policies, and Murji'ls became the champi-
ons of the converted non-Arab Muslims,
the mawali. The famous jurist Abu Hanlfa
(81-150/700-760) held moderate Murji'i be-
liefs and many scholars see the origins of
later Sunnism in moderate Murji'ism.

Gordon Darnell Newby

Bibliography
Primary: Ibn Ishaq, Sua; Shahrastam, Milal;
Tabarl, Ta'nkh.

Secondary: J. van Ess, Friihe muHazilitische
Haresiographie, Beirut I0,7i;j. Givoni, The Murji'a
and the theological school of Abu Hanifa. A historical

and theological study, Ph.D. diss., Edinburgh 1977;
M.I. Ibrahim, Mujam al-alfdz wa-l-alam al-
qur'dniyya, Cairo 1969; W. Madelung, Murdji'a, in
Ef, vh, 605-7; id., Religious trends in early Islamic
Iran, New York 1988; W.M. Watt, Free will and
predestination in early Islam, London 1948; id.,
Islamic philosophy and theology, Edinburgh 1987; A.J.
Wensinck, The Muslim creed, Cambridge 1932; id.,
al-Murdji'a, in The shorter encyclopaedia of Islam,
Leiden 1974, 412.

Defilement see purity and impurity

Deities see polytheism and atheism;
idols and images; idolatry and idolaters

Deliverance

Throughout the Qur'an, but especially in
later Meccan suras, various forms of deliv-
erance (najja/anja, anqadha, waqa) illustrate
God's saving power (see power and impo-
tence; salvation). God typically speaks in
the divine plural, recalling specific settings
in which he had acted on behalf of either
the prophets or their people. Many of the
references occur in the context of Muham-
mad's efforts to counteract Meccan oppo-
sition (see opposition to muhammad).

Prominent among the beneficiaries of
divine deliverance are the prophets (see
prophets and prophethood), several of
whom God rescues from the treacherous
designs of those who reject their message
(see messenger). Moses (q.v.), Noah (q.v.)
and Lot (q.v.) appear most often in this
connection, their deliverance usually
linked to that of the believers among their
peoples. God rescues Moses (q_ 14:6; 20:40,
65), the people of Israel (q_ 2:49; 10:86;
20:80; 44:30; see children of Israel) and
Moses' brother Aaron (q.v.; Q_ 37:115) from
the evil designs of Pharaoh (q.v.). The
hadith attribute the cause for fasting (q.v.)
on 'Ashura' (the voluntary fast-day ob-
served on the tenth of Muharram) to that

5i9

DEOBANDIS

rescue (al-Hadlth al-sharif, Bukhari 3145 and
parallels, najja). Earlier in his career, Moses
begs deliverance from the angry throng
pursuing him after his murder of the
Egyptian (q 28:21; also 28:25). Pharaoh's
wife, Asiya, becomes the paradigm of the
believer whom God saves in the very home
of the arch-unbeliever (q 66:11); but God
accepts even Pharaoh's conversion as the
sea engulfs him (q io:g2). See belief and

UNBELIEF.

Noah's escape from the clutches of unbe-
lievers appears frequently (q 7:64; 10:73;
21:76; 23:28; 26:118). Several texts
(Q, 10:22-3; 17:67; 29:65; 31:32) speak of
God rescuing sea travelers from storms,
only to have them return to idolatry once
safely on land. One such text (o_ 36:43)
comes immediately after a reference to
Noah's ark (q.v.), emphasizing that only
God's power saves from death (see death
and the dead). For that verse, some exe-
getes gloss anqadha with najja (Tabari, Taf-
sir, x, 446; Baydawl, Anwar, ii, 283; Abu
Hayyan, Bahr, viii, 324); other exegetes
elaborate and identify deliverance as puri-
fication (see purity and impurity) from all
that is loathsome (Ibn al-jawzl, /[ad, vi,
282), and compare drowning to eternal
punishment (Qurtubi, Jami :', xv, 25; see
reward and punishment). Lot and his
family (q 21:74; 26:169-70; 37:134), with the
exception of his unbelieving wife (q 29:32),
merit deliverance, once in explicit associa-
tion with Abraham (q 21:71). God rescues
all three of the pre-Islamic Arabian proph-
ets: Hud (q.v.), Shu'ayb (q.v), and Salih
(q.v.;q 11:58, 94, 66; 41:18).

Though references to the deliverance of
Muhammad's people are scarce (q 6:63-4),
some texts refer to God protecting believ-
ers, either in general or as nameless indi-
viduals, from apocalyptic or eschatological
disasters (see apocalypse; eschatology)
such as the fire of hell (q.v.; q 52:18 which
uses waqa in the sense of "deliver"; q 70:14

[anjd]; q 3:103; 39:19 [anqadha]), fearsome
wind (q 58:23, often associated with the de-
struction of Hud's [q.v.] people, the Ad
[q.v.]) or the evil of the last day (q 39:61;
76:11; 10:103; see last judgment). The
hadlth speak of the deliverance of individ-
uals from the fire more often than the
Qiir'an. For example, among the three
kinds of people who experience the sweet-
ness of faith (q.v.) are those who, once God
has delivered them (anqadha) from unbelief,
would rather be thrown into hell (q.v.) than
revert to unbelief (kufr, al-Hadith al-sharif,
Bukhari 20; Muslim 60; Ibn H an bal 11563;
Tirmidhi 2548; Ibn Maja 4023; Nasa'l
4902 and parallels; a similar theme is
found in Ibn H an bal 8051, 13467 and par-
allels). God alone is the unprotected pro-
tector (wa-huwa yujiru wa-la yujdr 'alayhi,
q 23:88) whose deliverance and forgiveness
(q.v.) await all who heed the prophets
(q 46:31; see also q 67:28 and 72:22 on de-
nial of deliverance).

John Renard

Bibliography
Abii Hayyan, Bahr; Baydawl, Anwar; al-Hadlth
al-sharif, CD-ROM, Version 1. 1, Cairo 1995; Ibn
al-jawzl, ^ad; QnrtubT, Jami; TabarT, Tafsvr.

Demons see devil; spiritual beings

Deobandis

The name given to Muslim scholars
('ulamd'j associated with the Indo-Pakistani
reformist movement centered in the reli-
gious school (dar al-'ulum) of Deoband, a
country town some ninety miles northeast
of Delhi. Founded in 1867, the school was
a pioneering effort to transmit the religious
sciences by organizing staff and instruction
on the model of British colonial schools
(see traditional disciplines of our'anic

DEOBANDIS

520

study). The goal of the school was to pre-
serve the teachings of the faith (q.v.) in a
period of non-Muslim rule and consider-
able social change by holding Muslims to a
standard of correct individual practice.
Central to that goal was the creation of a
class of formally trained and popularly
supported religious scholars ('ulania, see
scholar) who served as imams (see imam),
guardians and trustees of mosques (see
mosq_oe) and tombs, preachers, muftis, spir-
itual guides, writers and publishers of reli-
gious works. The school's curriculum has
included study of the art of reciting the
Qur'an [tajwid, qira'at, see recitation of
the qur'an), of translation (tarjama, see
translation of the qur'an) and of
qur'anic commentary (tafsir and usul-i tafsir
such as Jaldlayn; Shah Wall Allah, al-Fawz
al-kabir; al-Baydawi, Anwar; and Ibn Kathir,
Tafsir; see exegesis of the qur'an: classi-
cal and medieval). At its first centenary in
1967, Deoband counted almost 10,000
graduates including several hundred from
foreign countries. Hundreds of Deobandi
schools, moreover, have been founded
across the Indian sub-continent.

The early Deobandis were associated
with a shift in emphasis from the rational
sciences (al-'ulum al-'aqliyya) to the revealed
or traditional sciences (al- 'ulum al-naqliyya)
of Qur'an and, above all, hadlth. In this
they followed their forebear, Shah Wall
Allah Dihlavi (1702-63) whose qur'anic
commentary stressing the clear meaning of
the Qur'an was highly influential and
whose translation of the Qur'an into Per-
sian stimulated further translations into
Urdu, among them two produced by his
sons. They have also been firmly commit-
ted to the Hanaft legal tradition (see LAW
and the qur'an). The Deobandis were
among those 'ulama' who took advantage of
the newly available lithographic presses to
disseminate sacred texts and vernacular

materials widely. The scholar and revered
spiritual guide, Mawlana Ashraf 'All
Thanavl (1864-1943), one of the most influ-
ential Deobandis of this century, is an im-
portant example of the school's qur'anic
scholars. He was an accomplished reciter
(qciri') of the Qur'an, enjoyed the prestige
of those who knew the holy text by heart
(hafiz), was esteemed for his natural voice
in recitation and authored many works on
tajwid. He translated the Qur'an into excel-
lent and accurate Urdu and prepared a
twelve -volume commentary, Tafsir baydn al-
Qur'an, with citations from hadlth to eluci-
date matters of law and Sufism (see sufism
and the qur'an).

Deobandi devotion to the Qur'an was not
merely scholarly. When Rashid Ahmad
Gangohl (1829-1905), for example, read the
Qur'an alone at night, his biographer
wrote, he would be overcome with joy or
shake in terror as he read of God's mercy
(q.v.) or his wrath (see anger). The Deo-
bandis also used sections of the Qur'an for
'amaliyyat, i.e. prescriptions of certain
prayers and readings intended to secure
particular concrete goals. Indeed another
of Ashraf All Thanavl's books was the
A 'mal-i qur'am, intended to save common
people from undertaking illegitimate works
(a'mdl).

The central school, as well as Deobandi
schools throughout the sub-continent, con-
tinue to teach many students. The apoliti-
cal strand within the school's teaching has
taken shape for many in the widespread,
now trans-national, pietist movement
known since the 1920s as Tablighi Jama'at;
the movement has particularly cherished
the popular writings of Mawlana Muham-
mad Zakariyya Kandhalavl (1897-1982),
among them the Fadd'il-i Qur'an (1930) and
its discussion of forty hadlth.

Barbara D. Metcalf

5-' 1

DESPAIR

Bibliography
Abd al-Rashld Arshad, Bis Bar'e Musalmdn,
Sahiwal 1969 (a compendium of detailed
biographical information about leading Indian
Muslim scholars of the twentieth century, most
of them Deobandis including Ashraf Ah
Thanavi); P. Hardy, The Muslims of British India,
Cambridge 1972 (an excellent survey, providing a
good context for specific educational and
political movements); B.D. Metcalf, Islamic revival
in British India. Deoband 1860-igoo, Princeton
1982 (a study of Deoband in its early decades
based on institutional records, government
records, biographies, memoirs, diaries, tracts,
letters andfatdwd; it also includes an overview of
other movements of the period: that of the Ahl-i
Hadith, the Barelwis, the Nadwatu l^Ulama 5 and
Aligarh); Muhammad Tayyib Qari', Dar al-'ulum
deoband kisad sdlah zindagi, Deoband 1965 (an
extremely valuable study of the school, including
detailed information on curriculum, written by a
revered scholar and qur'anic reciter (qari') as well
as rector of the school and grandson of one of
its eminent founders).

Depravity see evil
Desert see geography in the chjr'an
Design see cosmology in the qur'an
Desire see wish and desire

Despair

The loss of hope. Rendered in Arabic by
tire following five different roots,: y-'-s, q-n-t,
b-'-s, b-l-s, w-h-n. Loss of hope in God's
mercy (q.v.) is the chief cause of despair in
the Quran which contrasts human re-
sponses in good times with feelings that
can prevail in dire straits. Human beings
consider bounty to be the result of their
own doing, but when they encounter diffi-
culties, they assume God is to blame and
give up (rj 11:9; 17:83; 41:49; 57:23; see
30:49, 42:28 for the converse). In fact, hu-
man beings often cause their own sense of

desperation through evil deeds (q.v;
Q_ 30:36; 47:35)- A hadith says that God
"laughs at the despair of his servants,"
amused at humanity's insecurity about
something so infinitely certain as the divine
mercy (al-Hadlth al-shanf, Ibn Maja 177, Ibn
Hanbal 15598, 15612).

Prophets (see prophets and prophet-
hood) must maintain courage (q.v.) while
striving in the way of God (q 3:146; see
path or way [of god]) amongst unbe-
lieving peoples (q_ 12:110) though they may
be tempted to despair of God's largess for
themselves as Abraham (q.v.) did when he
doubted that the birth of a son would
come to pass (q_ 15:55, 56). Joseph (q.v.) tells
Benjamin (q.v.) not to lose heart at the ac-
tions of their brothers (q_ 12:60), and God
instructs Noah (q.v.) to rise above rejection
and build the ark (q.v.; q 11:36). Conversely,
a prophet's enemies (q.v.) may despair when
they fail to undermine the divine message
(o_ 5:3). Joseph's brothers lose hope of per-
suading Joseph not to detain the falsely ac-
cused Benjamin (q_ 12:80). Ironically, Jacob
(q.v.) later encourages his sons to return to
Egypt (q.v.) to ask about Joseph, so as not
to despair of God's mercy as unbelievers
do (q_ 12:87; see belief and unbelief).

All who reject God's signs (q.v.) despair of
divine deliverance (q.v.) and of a life here-
after (o_ 29:23; 60:13; see reward and pun-
ishment). After death (see death and the
dead) the burden of their deeds will mire
them in hopelessness (o_ 43:75), for none
will intercede for them (o_ 30:12; see inter-
cession). Distracted by every whim, the
spiritually petulant expect blessing (q.v.)
without consequence, unable to cope with
the ethical demands of God-given success
(q_ 23:77), while people of faith (q.v.) do
not lose heart (o_ 3:139). A hadith says:
"No believer who knows the punishment
God has in store aspires to heaven; and
no unbeliever who knows the extent of

DESTINY

522

God's mercy despairs (q-n-t) of paradise"
(al-Hadlth al-sharlf, Tirmidhi 3465; Muslim
4948; Ibn Hanbal 8063, 8799, 9890).

For sinners, trust in God's forgiveness is a
struggle (q.v.; Q_ 39:53)- Ibn Kathlr (d. 774/
1373; TafsTr, iv, 65-6) provides an excursus
on hadith about counteracting despair
with the certainty of divine forgiveness;
al-Tabarl (d. 310/923; TafsTr, xi, 14) and
Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597/1200; ^ad, vii, 59)
gloss q-n-t with j)- 's; the Mu'tazilite al-
Zamakhsharl (d. 538/1144; Kashshaf, iv,
130-1) emphasizes that God forgives all sin
since he is impervious and "does not care,"
i.e. is not affected by the sins of his crea-
tures. God seeks to bring the heedless back
through bounty, only to see them regress
into hopelessness at the merest hint of
accountability (q 6:44). Sufi authors also
develop the theme. Abu Talib al-Makki
(d. 386/996) quotes q 39:53 in his section
on hope (raja', Qut, i, 375); Abu Sa'ld al-
Kharraz (d. 286/899) glosses raja' as "'de-
spair (ya's) of all that God has marked
with the stamp of nothingness,' that is, all
that is not God" and interprets the "truth
of longing" (sidq al-raghba) as despairing
(qunut) of lust and covetousness (Nwyia,

280-1; see sufism and the our'an).

John Renard

Bibliography
Primary: al-Hadith al-shanf Version 1.1,
CD-ROM, Sakhr Software 1995; Abu Talib
al-MakkT, Qut at-qulub, 2 vols., Beirut 1997;
Tabarl, TafsTr, 12 vols., Beirut 1992;
Zamakhsharl, Kashshaf Ibn al-Jawzi, £ad; Ibn
KathTr, TafsTr.
Secondary: Nwyia, Exegese; Wensinck, Concordance.

Destiny

The predetermined course of events in
general and of human actions and eternal

fate in particular, a condition foreordained
by divine will or human will, a real or
imaginary impersonal power or agency.
From the first Islamic centuries, the ques-
tion of the agency of human works and
eternal destiny was a widely discussed con-
troversy among Muslim theologians —
whether they are ordained by God's decree
or whether they are executed by man him-
self (see FREEDOM AND PREDESTINATION;

anthropomorphism; decision). Both deter-
minists and non-determinists made refer-
ence to the Quran in support of their re-
spective views with scriptural proofs (see
THEOLOGY AND THE QUR'an).

In the Qur'an, deterministic and non-
deterministic sayings stand side by side.
The qur'anic concept of the last judgment
(q.v.) when God will demand individual
reckoning from each human being clearly
presupposes man's individual liberty and
responsibility for his actions in this world
and his destiny in the hereafter (e.g.
q, 3:161, 182; 4:110-2; 18:29-31; 36:54;
45 : 24-37; 53 : 33-4!> 56-62; 99:1-8). All that a
person has done in this world is recorded
in his or her individual record book (al-
kitdb) throughout life (see record of
human actions). When the day of judg-
ment comes, the acts of everyone in this
world are shown to the individual by God
(e-g- a 6:59; 10:61-5; 17:13-4, 71-2; 34:3;
36:12; 39:69-70; 45:28-9; 83:7-24). God is
considered an impartialjudge. He objec-
tively evaluates that which the individual
has done in this world. The objective char-
acter of the judgment is allegorically ex-
pressed by the metaphor of scales (e.g.
Q_ 7:8-9; 21:47; 23:101-5; 101:4-11; see
eschatology). Without the freedom to
choose one's actions, personal responsi-
bility for conduct on the day of judgment
would be meaningless. Free choice is also
expressly stated in those passages where
God is said not to lead astray (q.v.) except if

5 -'3

DESTINY

one chooses to disobey (e.g. Q_ 7:28; 11:101;
see disobedience). Similarly, God cannot
effectively guide those who are not willing
to receive his guidance (e.g. o_ 16:104).

In contrast, other passages of the Qur'an
emphasize God's omnipotence and omni-
science and human responsibility appears
completely eclipsed. Here, human destiny
is said to depend on the will of God. He is
the originator of belief and unbelief (q.v.),
he guides or leads astray as he pleases.
Whomsoever God desires to guide, he
opens his heart (q.v.) to Islam (q.v.); whom-
soever he desires to lead astray, he hardens
his heart, narrow, tight, as if forced to
climb to heaven unaided. So God lays
abomination upon those who believe not
(o_ 6:125; see also o 2:6-7; 7:177-9; 9:51;
10:98-103; 11:118; 13:27; 14:27; 16:35-40;
16:93; 18:17; 24:21; 32:12-4; 76:27-31;
81:27-9). God's omniscience furthermore
includes foreknowledge of all future events
which are laid down in the clear book (kitdb
mubin) or heavenly book (umm al-kitab, see
book). In contrast to the record book, kitdb
here refers to a book of destiny that con-
tains everything that God knows (e.g.
q 6:38; 11:6; 13:38-43; 15:4; 17:58; 20:51-5;
22:70; 27:75; 35:11; 57:22-3). The idea of
predetermination is also conveyed by the
concept of fixed terms (ajal) set by God in
his governing of the world and denoting, at
least in some instances, the time of death
(ft 3 :i 45; !o:49; Ii: 3; !5 : 4; 39 : 42; 63:10-11;

see DEATH AND THE DEAD).

In other passages a combination of deter-
minist and non-determinist outlooks is
found. In the following verses, for instance,
the idea of a book of account seems to be
confused with the idea of destiny or fate
fastened on man's neck: "Around each
man's neck we have hung his ledger (ta'ir)
of deeds and on the day of resurrection we
will present it as a book spread out [and
say] : 'Read your ledger; this day you are

sufficient to take your own account' "
(ft 17:13-4.; see also o_ 22:67-72; 27:71-5;
34:1-5; 53:33-62; see RECORD OF HUMAN

actions; resurrection).

It has been argued (Blachere, Paret) that
the discrepancies of the Qur'an on the is-
sue of human destiny are to be explained
in terms of chronological development.
During his early period, when the Prophet
demanded repentance in the face of im-
pending judgment (see REPENTANCE AND
penance), he assumed freedom of choice
and responsibility on the part of his hear-
ers. The opposition he encountered, how-
ever, called for an explanation which was
found in the idea of predestination; the un-
belief of his hearers must be due to the will
of God (see opposition to muhammad).
This explanation also served as a practical
source of comfort for the Prophet who was
thus freed from personal responsibility for
the unbelievers. Other scholars (Rahbar,
Raisanen) have argued that the determinist
passages should be interpreted in the light
of non-determinist sayings and attempted
to show that there are no predestinarian
teachings at all in the Qur'an. In their
view, the idea of human responsibility and
of judgment according to deeds is so fun-
damental in the Qur'an that it predomi-
nates even where the language has a pre-
destinarian coloring. Nagel and Jomier do
not see a contradiction in the two stand-
points as found throughout the Qur'an,
but rather understand them to result from
and stand in subordination to the notion
of the divine who is both supreme judge
and omnipotent, bountiful creator and
preserver of his creation (see cod and his
attributes; creation). Whenever em-
phasis is placed on God as the supreme
judge over his creation, man's freedom
and responsibility is implied. Whenever
God is referred to as omnipotent, bountiful
creator and preserver of his creation the

524

deterministic standpoint is included (see
power and impotence). It should also be
mentioned that the Qur'an, a text designed
to call people to faith (q.v.), had no inten-
tion of precise theological harmony, but
stands on the force of its rhetoric, much
of which involves contrasting language to
evoke a response in its hearers (see

RHETORIC OF THE QJJR'An).

Sabine Schmidtke

Bibliography
R. Blachere, Le probleme de Mahomet. Essai de
biographic critique dufondateur de VIslam, Paris 1952;
L. Gardet, Dieu et la destinee de Vhomme, Paris 1967;
J. Jomier, La tout-puissance de Dieu et les
creatures dans le Goran, in MIDEO 16 (1983),
31-58; Nagel; R. Paret, Mohammed und der Koran.
Geschichte und Verkiindigung des arabischen Propheten,
Stuttgart 1957, 1980 3 (rev. ed.); id., Der Koran
und die Predestination, in OLZ 58 (1963), 117-21;
D. Rahbar, God of justice. A study in the ethical
doctrine of the Qiir'an, Leiden i960; H. Raisanen,
The idea of divine hardening. A comparative study of the
notion of divine hardening, leading astray and inciting to
evil in the Bible and the Qur'an, Helsinki 1976; H.
Ringgren, Studies in Arabian fatalism, Uppsala,
Wiesbaden 1955; W.M. Watt, Free will and
predestination in early Islam, London 1948.

Destroyed Cities and Peoples see

PUNISHMENT STORIES

Determinism see freedom and pre-
destination

Devil

The fallen angel (q.v.) or jinn (q.v.) known
by two names in the Qur'an, Iblls (q.v.) and
Shaytan. The ambiguities present in the
English word "devil" (themselves a result of
early Christian translation activities; see
Jeffrey Burton Russell, The devil. Perceptions
of evil from antiquity to primitive Christianity,
Ithaca 1977) are precisely those reflected in
the Qur'an, such that the heritage of the

Greek demon "accuser" and the Hebrew
"adversary" are brought together in one
character.

The word shaytan is used 70 times in the
Qur'an in the singular form, including six
times in the indefinite (q_ 4:117; 15:17; 22:3;
37:7; 43:36; 81:25), plus 18 times in the plu-
ral, shaydtin, which is always definite. Ety-
mologically, the word is related to the He-
brew satan; and the passage of the word
into Arabic is not clear, although it is usu-
ally thought to have come into Arabic
through Christian languages (especially
Ethiopic; see foreign vocabulary). A re-
cent study of early Qur'an manuscripts has
suggested another reason for the particular
form of the Arabic word: The pronuncia-
tion of the word may be due to a misun-
derstanding of early Arabic orthography
(see calligraphy). The word was originally
to be pronounced satan or shdtdn, and the
first long a of the word was written with a
yd', contrary to the rules of later orthogra-
phy which does not allow yd' to represent a
in the middle of a word (but only at the
end). The loss of understanding of that or-
thography then resulted in the pronuncia-
tion shaytan (see Gerd-R. Puin, Neue Wege
der Koranforschung, in Universitdt des Saar-
landes Magazin Forschung 1 (1999), p. 40).

IblTs, on the other hand, is used only 11
times in the Qur'an, always as a proper
name. The general consensus is that the
word is derived from the Greek diabolos.
Arab tradition connects the word to the
verbal sense of ublisa meaning "he was ren-
dered without hope," a reference to Iblls'
fate of being cursed and sentenced to pun-
ishment by God (see Jeffery, For. vocab,
47-8, with a full bibliography). That sense
of the verbal root is itself present in
Q_ 30:12: "On the day when the hour will
arrive the guilty will be in despair," and
also Q_ 6:44, 23:77, and 43:75, with the same
sense of the punishment of the evil doers
(see CHASTISEMENT AND PUNISHMENT); in

5^5

Q_ 30:49 people are in despair (q.v.) over the
difficulties of life. In none of those cases,
however, does the figure of Iblls actually
enter into the picture.

The name Iblls figures mainly in the sto-
ries of the creation of Adam (see ADAM
AND eve) and the subsequent fall of the
devil (the context of nine of the instances
of the name is the "bowing" before Adam).
When the angels were ordered to bow be-
fore the first man Adam (see bowing and
prostration), Iblls refused (q_ 2:34; 7:11;
15:31; 17:61; 18:50; 20:116; 38:74-5; see
cosmology IN THE qur'an), citing the hu-
man's creation from clay as the reason (e.g.
0. I 5-33- "I am n °t S om § to bow to man
whom You have created from clay of
moulded mud"). God then curses Iblls,
calling him "accursed," rajim (q_ 15:34;
38:77, lit. "stoned," also used in reference
to al-Shaytan and the shayatm and symboli-
cally as "accursed" but meant literally in
the rituals of the pilgrimage [q.v.; haj)]; see
the commentary (tafsir) tradition on the
isti'ddha [the statement said before reciting
the Quran, "I seek refuge with God from
Satan, the accursed"], e.g. Tabarl, Tafsir, i,
111-13, trans. J. Cooper, The commentary on
the Qiir'an by Abu Jafar Muhammad b. Jarir al-
Tahari, Oxford 1987, 46-7). God orders
Iblls "out" (of paradise presumably;
Q_ 15:34; 38:77) but the punishment prom-
ised to him (unspecified but cf. Q_ 26:94-5:
"they will be thrown into it [hell, q.v.], they
and the perverse, and the hosts of Iblls")
is delayed until the judgment day (see LAST
judgment), as a result of Iblis's plea. Iblls
is given the power to lead astray (q.v.) those
who are not followers of the true God
(O. t 5 : 39"4°! 34 :20_I )- The name al-
Shaytan, however, is used in speaking of
Iblls' first act of temptation, when he
tempts Adam and Eve to eat of the "tree of
immortality" (p_ 20:120-3; see also 7:20-2;
see fall of man).

Al-Shaytan's role in scripture extends well

beyond this one myth (see mythic and
legendary narratives), however, while
the figure of Iblls is confined to it. Iblls
may be characterized, then, as the one
who is proud and disobedient (see disobe-
dience; arrogance), while al-Shaytan is
the tempter, and it is in that role that the
emphasis falls within other sections of the
Qur'an when al-Shaytan is mentioned. It is
notable that the two names, Iblls and al-
Shaytan, are used within the same narra-
tive (g_ 2:30-9; 7:11-25; 20:116-23) in such a
manner as to discount a simple blending of
separate myths related to these two names;
rather, the narrative appears integrated
and the change in name is best interpreted
to suggest that Iblls gained the name al-
Shaytan after his disobedience, which is
how the Muslim tradition has frequently
understood it.

The details of the story of the fall of the
devil are very similar to those found in Jew-
ish and especially Christian apocryphal lit-
erature (and quite distinct from the sketchy
story found in the biblical text itself; see
scripture and the ojjr'an). The idea of
the angels worshipping Adam and of the
devil's refusal is found in the Life oj Adam
and Eve (written no later than 400 C.E.; see
the introduction and translation by M.D.
Johnston, in James H. Charlesworth, The
Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Garden City,
NJ 1985, vol. 2, 249-95, es P- ^*' a 12:1-16:3)
and the Questions of Bartholomew (likely
third century C.E. in its original form) ex-
plains, among many details similar to the
qur'anic story, that the devil's refusal to
bow was based on the objection that his
essence was of fire (q.v.) as opposed to
Adam's clay (q.v.; see the introduction and
translation by F. Scheidweiler and W.
Schneemelcher in W. Schneelmelcher (ed.),
New Testament Apocrypha, vol. 1, Gospels and
related writings, trans. R.M. Wilson, Louis-
ville 1991,537-53, esp. 4:54).

It is thus to al-Shaytan that most of what

526

have become the traditional characteristics
of the devil are ascribed. He has the ability
to cause fear (q_ 3:175), cause people to slip
(Q, 2:36; 3:155), lead astray (g_ 4:60), precipi-
tate enmity and hatred (o_ 5:91), make peo-
ple forget (q_ 6:68; 12:42; 18:63), tempt
(q_ 7:27; 47:25), and provoke strife (p_ 17:53).
He is described as a comrade to unbeliev-
ers (p_ 4:38), a manifest foe (q_ 7:22, 17:53,
43:62), an enemy (p_ 12:5). Guile (o_ 4:76),
defilement (q_ 8:11) and abomination
(q_ 5:90) are associated with him. The im-
age of evil (see EVIL deeds) as a "path," like
that of righteousness, is conveyed in
Q_ 7:16-7, "Said [the devil], 'Now, for Your
putting me out, I will sit in ambush for
them on Your straight path. Then I will as-
sault them from in front and from behind,
from their right and their left.'" Al-Shaytan
also is spoken of as "taking steps" and his
followers take steps towards him (o_ 2:168,
208; 6:142; 24:21; see also 4:83). He is seen
as an influence towards a number of spe-
cific as well as more general sins (see SIN,
major and minor), actions which take peo-
ple away from God. Among his tools to do
this are several vocal attributes: He calls
(o 31:21), simply speaks (p_ 14:22; 59:16),
promises (q_ 2:268), and whispers (q_ 7:20;
20:120; see also 50:16; 104:4-5). The attri-
butes, "the deluder" (gharur, p_ 3:33; 35:5;
57:14) and "the one who slinks or sneaks
around" (khannas, o 114:4) have particularly
stuck with al-Shaytan, such that they have
even been used on occasion as proper
names for particularly evil people.

The proper name al-Shaytan may be dis-
tinguished from the qur'anic plural usage
shayatin which is often thought to reflect
Arabian notions of devils (although it is
used in a sense which is not unknown
within the biblical tradition as in the "ad-
versaries" of 1 Sam 29:4). These "devils"
can be humans or jinn (o_ 6:112) and come
in varying ranks (see spiritual beings).
The word is used to refer to the hosts of

evil (q_ 2:102; 6:121), the evil leaders among
humans (e.g. p_ 2:14) and mischievous
spirits very similar to jinn (p_ 6:71; 21:82).
They are the friends of the unbelievers
(q 7:27), they make evil suggestions
(o_ 23:97) and they were believed by Mu-
hammad's opponents to be the source of
his inspiration (o_ 26:210, 22i; see opposi-
tion TO MUHAMMAD).

In exegetical material and other literature
reflecting more popular images, especially
those associated with Sufism, the qur'anic
predominance of the evil influence of al-
Shaytan on humans becomes overtaken by
the personality of Iblls, ultimately reaching
the point of mystical meditation on the
"disobedience of Iblls." This results from
Iblls's ascetic, worshipping nature (his re-
fusal to bow down to Adam is an indica-
tion of how serious he took the command
to worship God alone) and because of his
personality which reflects human ambig-
uity and complexity (see sufism and the
qur'an). By no means is al-Shaytan neg-
lected, however, although the two names
do become separated to some degree in
later Islamic thought, such that al-Shaytan
is the force of malevolence (see GOOD and
evil) and Iblls more of a symbolic figure of
human failings.

A good deal of discussion has taken place
over the original nature of Iblls (and, thus,
al-Shaytan). One statement in the Qur'an
suggest that he was a jinn (q_ 18:50, "They
bowed themselves save Iblls; he was one of
the jinn"); and yet he was among the an-
gels when they were commanded to bow to
Adam. Resolving this apparent inconsist-
ency consumed many pages in classical
Muslim writing and continues to vex po-
lemicists today. The problem revolves
around an understanding of the nature of
the angels and the jinn. The angels were
considered incapable of disobedience; be-
ing sinless and able only to follow God's
will, they are unable to have offspring, and

5-'7

DHU L-KIFL

they were said to have been created from
light (q.v.). The Quran clearly indicates,
however, that Iblis was one of the jinn, that
the jinn were made from fire (q 55:15, "He
created the jinn of a smokeless fire"), and
that he has offspring (q 18:50, "What, do
you take him [Iblis] and his seed to be your
friends apart from Me while they are an
enemy to you?"). To resolve the problem,
many solutions were put forth, and they
are gathered together in works such as al-
Tabarl's (d. 310/923) History and most
Quran commentaries (mainly when deal-
ing with Q_ 2:34). One line of thought af-
firms Iblis's angelic nature. The suggestion
is made that jinn was a tribal or clan name
of some of the angels (perhaps of the cul-
tivators who lived on earth). The word
jinn was also said to be derived fcom janna,
paradise (q.v.) or garden (q.v), and the jinn
are a special class of angels in charge of
access to paradise. In fact, Iblis's downfall
was the result of his pride (q.v.) at being in
charge of everything between heaven and
earth. On the other hand, some argued for
Iblis as a member of a distinct class of cre-
ation, the jinn. One story recounts that
Iblis was a jinn who was captured by the
angels when young and raised by them.
This was the result of a battle between the
two groups. Among the many reports on
the subject, al-Tabari states, "God created
the angels on Wednesday, he created the
jinn on Thursday, and he created Adam on
Friday. . . . Some jinn disbelieved, and the
angels went down to them on earth to
fight them. Thus, bloodshed (q.v.) and cor-
ruption (q.v.) came into being on earth."
(Tabarl, Ta'nkh, i, 82, trans. Rosenthal,
253) and "the angels used to fight the jinn
and Iblis was taken captive. He was young
and used to worship together with the an-
gels" (i, 85, trans. 256). Popular imagina-
tion wound these and other such narrative
fragments into an imaginative story to rec-
oncile the various qur'anic elements, al-

though no consensus was truly reached as
to the nature or origin of Iblis.

Andrew Rippin

Bibliography
Primary: Tabarl, Ta'nkh, i, esp. 78-86, trans. F.
Rosenthal, The history of al-Tabari, volume I,
General introduction and from the creation to the flood,
Albany 1989, 249-57.

Secondary: H. Algar, "Eblls" in Encyclopaedia
Iranica, vol. 7, fasc. 6; PJ. Awn, Satan's tragedy and
redemption. Iblis in Sufl psychology, Leiden 1983 (the
fullest treatment of the devil in Islam, especially
pp. 18-56 on qur'anic commentaries and hadlth);
E. Beck, Iblis und Mensch, Satan und Adam.
Der Werdegang einer koranischen Erzahlung, in
Museon 89 (1976), 195-244; J. Chabbi, Le seigneur
des tribus. Uislam de Mahomet, Paris 1997, 185-211;
A. Eichler, Die Dschinn, Teufel und Engel im Koran,
Leipzig 1928; E Rahman, Major themes of the
Quran, Minneapolis and Chicago 1980, 121-31;
H. Speyer, Die biblischen Erzdhlungen im Qpran,
Grafenhainichen 1931 , esp. pp. 54-60; A.T.
Welch, Allah and other supernatural beings. The
emergence of the Qur'anic doctrine of tawhid, in
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
(thematic issue) 47 (1979), 733-58.

Dhikr see prayer

Dhimma see people of the book

Dhu 1-Kifl

An enigmatic figure, whose name appears
in the Quran in two places: "And [remem-
ber] Isma'll (see ishmael) and Idrls (q.v.)
and Dhu 1-Kifl, all of them were patient"
(o_ 21:85); "And call to mind Isma'll and
Alyasa' and Dhu 1-Kifl and all of the best"

(a 38:48).

In some exegetical works, it is held that
Dhu 1-Kifl was a prophet since he is men-
tioned alongside other prophets (see

PROPHETS AND PROPHETHOOD). Most

exegetes, however, deny his prophethood,
confining themselves to repeating the
qur'anic statement that he belonged to

DHU L-KIFL

528

those who were patient and the best.

A person named Dliii 1-Kifl is unknown
to the Bible (q.v.). One starting point for
fleshing out this figure is the meaning of
the root k-f-l: to nourish, to take care of, to
oblige oneself (kafala); to entrust (kaffala);
to vouch for, to guarantee, to engage one-
self (takaffala); portion (kiji, also nasib, i.e.
"share," sc. of felicity, hct£z); the double and
more (dif), sc. of doing good works and of
recompense (Azharl, Tahdhib, x, 250-3;
Lisdn al-'Arab, xiv, 107-10; see good deeds).

Many stories are told in exegetical litera-
ture (tafsir) and extra-scriptural tales (qisas)
to explain the name. While G. Vajda styles
these stories "edifying," they do have a
theological meaning. Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597/
1200; %dd, ad o_ 21:85) tells, on the trans-
mission of Muhammad b. al-Sa'ib (d. 146/
763), the story of Dhu 1-KifTs rescue of a
hundred prophets threatened with death
by an ungodly king and his care for them,
which recalls the biblical story of Obadiah
and Jezebel (1 Kings 18:4). Another story, in
which Dhu 1-Kifl promises a pious man
who performed a hundred prayers (saldt,
see prayer) every day to do the same after
the latter's death, first appears in 'Abd al-
Razzaq al-San'am (d. 211/827; Tafsir, ii, 25),
on the transmission of Abu Musa al-
Ash'ari (d. ca. 42/662; a prominent sahdbi,
see companions OF THE prophet) and is
based on kifl meaning "the double and
more." The story of Dhu 1-Kifl's kindness
to a prostitute illustrates the meaning of kifl
as "portion, delight" (nasib, ha^)\ There,
he solicits her with money, but overcomes
the temptation and, having promised never
again to sin, dies the same night (Tha'labi,
Qisas, 232; Shawkam, Tafsir, iii, 425f). He
was rewarded by eternal delight in para-
dise (q.v.; see reward and punishment).
An example of Dhu 1-Kifl's trust in God
and belief in the freedom of the will (see
FREEDOM AND PREDESTINATION) is the popu-

lar story of his appointment to succeed to
the office of a prophet or king of the Isra-
elites, on condition of committing himself
(takaffala) to fast during the day, to remain
awake at night and to act as a judge with-
out becoming angered. The devil's efforts
at making him angry produce no effect
(Sufyan al-Thawri, Tafsir, i6if.; SuyutI,
Durr, iv, 595f.). The story of Dhu 1-Kifl act-
ing as bailsman (kafil) on behalf of the
heathen king Kan'an is an example of di-
vinely conferred prophetic authority: Dhu
1-Kifl converts the king and gives him a
letter in which he guarantess God's obliga-
tion to reward the king (al-kafil 'aid lldh li-
Kan'dn) with paradise (Fasawl, Bad' l-k/ialq,
71-4, in three different versions; see also
Tarafl, Qisas al-anbiyd', 239-41; Qurtubl,
Jdmi', xi, 217, has all six stories).

Much in these stories reminds one of
biblical tales of prophets and other heroes,
especially the Elijah (q.v.) and Elisha (q.v.)
cycle (/ Kings, 17; 2 Kings 13) and Moses'
(q.v.) appointment of Joshua as his succes-
sor (JVum 27,16-23). Accordingly, Dhu 1-Kifl
has been numbered among the prophets
by identifying him as Elijah, Joshua or
Zechariah (Zamakhsharl, Kashshdf iii, 581;
RazI, Tafsir, xxii, 183; Baydawi, Anwar, ii,
77; Shawkam, Tafsir, iii, 425). His identi-
fication as Zechariah (q.v.) is possibly
based on cj 3:37, wa-kaffalahd ^akariyya,
"and he entrusted her [Mary] to the care
of Zechariah."

According to al-Tabari (Ta'rikh, i, 364),
God called Bishr, the son of Job (q.v.), to
prophethood after his father's death, nam-
ing him Dhu 1-Kifl; he converted the Rum
(Tha'labi, Qisas, 145; see Byzantines).
When identified as Elisha (perhaps in re-
collection of 3 Kings 2:9, "Let me inherit a
double share of your spirit"), Dhu 1-Kifl is
said to be a cousin of the biblical and
qur'anic Elisha (Baydawi, Anwar, ii, 314), a
brother of the latter (Burusawl, Tafsir, iii,

529

DIALECTS

368) or Elisha, the son of Akhtub or
Yakhtub (TabarsI, Majma', vii, 107).

Heribert Busse

Bibliography
Primary: ( Abd al-Razzaq, TafsTr; AzharT, Abu
1-Mansur Muhammad b. Ahmad, TahdhTb al-
lugha, ed. ( Abd al-Salam Muhammad Harun and
Muhammad 'All al-Najjar, 15 vols., Cairo 1964,
x, 250-3; Baydawi, Anwar; Burusawl, TafsTr ruh al-
bayan, 10 vols., Istanbul, 191 1-28; FasawT, 'Umara
b. Wathlma, Kitdb Bad' l-kbalq wa-qisas al-anbiya',
ed. R.G. Khoury, Wiesbaden 1978; Ibn al-JawzT,
2jid; Lisdn al-'Arab, xiv, 107-10; QurtubT, jfami '■';
RazI, TafsTr, Beirut 1411/1990; Shawkani, TafsTr;
Sufyan al-Thawrl, TafsTr; Suyuti, Durr; TabarT,
Ta'rTkh; TabarsT, Majma'; Tarafi, Muhammad
b. Ahmad, Qisas al-anbiya 1 , ed. R. Tottoli,
Naples 1996; Tha'labl, Qisas; ZamakhsharT,
Kasbsbdf

Secondary: Bell, Commentary, i, 555 (suggests Dhu
1-Kifl to be Tobit, kijl meaning "deposit"); I.
Goldziher, Dhu 1-Kifl, in m', i, 962-3; R. Tottoli,
The Qisas al-anbiya' of Ibn Mutarrif al-Tarafi (d.
454/1062). Stories of the prophets from al-
Andalus, in Qantara 19 (1998), 131-60; G. Vajda,
Dhu 1-Kifl, in El", ii, 242 (with bibliography
of secondary literature, to which has to be added
Paret, Kommentar, 422, ad o_ 38:48).

Dhu 1-Nuil see JONAH

Dhu 1-Qarnayn see Alexander
Dialectic and Debate see debate

AND DISPUTATION

Dialects

Different forms of the Arabic language
(q.v.). Commentators on the language of
the Qur'an, both medieval and modern,
often turn to dialectal material as a rele-
vant source for understanding the contents
and linguistic background of the sacred
text (see exegesis of the qjur'an). Already
in the earliest sources treating of dialectal

forms (dating back to the end of the sec-
ond/eighth century), which were produced
within the context of qur'anic exegesis and
the description of the Arabic language, the
word lugha denotes not only language vari-
ants but also dialectal forms, i.e. the partic-
ular form of Arabic used in a region or by
an ethnic (tribal or super-tribal) group
(pace Hadj-Salah, Lugha). Kinberg's index
of al-Farra"s (d. 207/822) Ma'am l-Qiir an
lists 25 groups with their own forms of the
language (i.e. lugha, kalcim): Azd 'Umman,
Banu Asad, Tamlm, Tamim wa-Bakr,
Tamim wa-Rabl c a, 'Ulya, Tamlm wa-Sutia
Qays, Tihama, Ahl al-Hijaz, Ahl al-Hijaz
wa-Ahl al-'Aliya, Banu 1-Harith b. Ka'b,
Hadramawt, Ahl al-Hawran, Salim, al-
Ta'iyyuna, Banu 'Uqayl, 'Ukal, al-'Aliya,
Banu Amir, Quraysh, Qays, Kinda, Najd,
al-Ansar, Hudhayl, and Ahl al-Yaman, also
called lugha yamaniyya (Kinberg, Lexicon,
744-53; see tribes and clans). For all that,
it should be noted that these early sources
tend to refer to a vague notion of lugha
without any further attribution. Al-Farra,',
for instance, states in his discussion of Q 1:7
on the alternative expression 'alayhum for
'alayhim: wa-huma lughatani li-kull lugha madh-
hab Ji l-'arabiyya, "... they are two modes of
expression, each one of which belongs to
an accepted custom in Arabic" (Farra',
Ma'am, i, 5). Likewise, in his discussion of
Q_ 2:61, al-Farra' [Ma'am, i, 41) identifies the
use of "corn" (Jum, variant reading "gar-
lic") as an archaic usage of the language
(lugha qadima). The very obscure lughat man
quia akaluni l-bardghlth, "the lugha of those
saying 'The fleas devoured me,'" is Slba-
wayhi's (d. ca. 180/796) recurring label for
what we would define as a structure in
which the verb (which should be in the
feminine singular form, but is in the mas-
culine plural) agrees with its subject in
number (for the analysis of the Arab
grammarians, see Levin, What is meant).

DIALECTS

530

Slbawayhi does not define the group fol-
lowing this usage, but Abu 'Ubayda (d.
209/824-5) ascribes the label and the per-
sonal use of this structure as it occurs in
Q_ 3:113 and in 5:71 to one Abu Amr al-
Hudhall, i.e. a person from Hudhayl
(Majaz).

It is instructive that the early commenta-
tors do not identify the language of the
Qur'an as purely Hijazl. For example, in
Q_ 25:18, "They were a corrupt people"
(wa-kanu qawman buran), the meaning of bur
is identified with the better known term for
"corrupt" (Jasid) in "the language of the
Azd of 'Umman" (lughat Azd 'Umman) as
opposed to the common speech of the
Arabs in general (kaldm al-'arab), in which
it means "nothing" (la shay'). There is,
however, a tendency to prefer Hijazl vari-
ants, especially when they are faithful to
the orthography of the canonical text, e.g.
the reading ja-ajd'ahd of Ahl al-Hijaz and
al-Aliya at p_ 19:23 is considered "qur-
'anic" whereas Tamlm's ashd'a is called
"another language not valid in the book
(i.e. the Qur'an)" (lugha ukhrd la tasluhuji
l-kitdb). Indication of dialectal peculiarities
offered early scholars a means by which to
explain variations in qur'anic readings
such as the Hijazl mathuldt and the Tamimi
muthldt in p_ 13:6 and, likewise, saduqdt and
sudqdt in Q_ 4:4 (see readings of the
qjjr'an).

The study of dialectal forms serves also
to explain the linguistic peculiarities of the
Qur'an, for instance, the four occurrences
of "They fear not meeting us [God] " [Id
yarjiina liqd'and, o_ 10:7, 11, 15; 25:21) in
which the verb seems to mean "to be afraid
of," and not the usual rendering, "to wish."
A Tihami use of raja in this sense is offered
as explanation by al-Farra' [Ma'dni, ii, 265).
Even more interesting is the attempt, re-
grettably missing in the otherwise useful
study of Burton (Linguistic errors), to re-
cruit dialectal study for a convincing solu-

tion of the dialectal variant in "These two
men are sorcerers" [inna hddhani la-sdhirani,
Q_ 20:63). Al-Farra' [Ma'dnl, ii, 183-4) ex ~
plains the unexpected use of the nomina-
tive hddhani (instead of the accusative
hddhajni) on the basis of information re-
ceived from a "most reliable" informant
with Asad affiliation (literally, "most elo-
quent," in the sense of an accurate and
natural instinctive sense for language
peculiarities) who states that the tribe of
Harith b. Ka'b has an uninflected dual
case-ending -d(ni) as well as an uninflected
relative dual alladhdni. In the same context,
al-Farra' [Ma'am, ii, 184) mentions another
dialectal peculiarity concerning the i'rdb
(i.e. desinential inflection) of alladhuna as
attested by the tribe of Kinana. A similar
attempt is made by Abu Zayd according to
al-Akhfash's (d. ca. 221/835) report in his
Ma'dni l-Qur'dn, who identifies the dialectal
form in question as a shift of all -ay to a
(e.g. 'alayka > 'aldka) and attributes its dis-
tribution to the tribe of Balharith (see Tal-
mon, Arabic grammar). Could it be that this
mode of utilizing dialectal data in the serv-
ice of qur'anic exegesis created the dogma
which is formulated as "The Qur'an has
been revealed in seven dialectal versions"
(nazala l-Qur'dn bi-sab' lughat)? Similarly,
al-Farra' contends that hayta in Q_ 12:23,
"Gome, she said, take me [lit. I'm yours]"
(qdlat hayta laka) is a way of expressing one-
self peculiar to the people of H awr 5 n
which had been adopted by the Meccans
(Ma'am, ii, 40: innaha lugha li-ahl Hawrdn
saqatat ild Makka fa-takallamu bihd) whereas
"the Medinans read hita," (wa-ahl al-Madina
yaqra'una hita). This, it can be argued, is in-
dicative of the thesis, developed later, that
the virtues of the Meccan dialect in the
Prophet's days comprised the virtues of all
other dialects.

Modern scholarship on the relations be-
tween the dialects of old Arabia and their
relation to qur'anic language reached its

53 1

DIALOGUES

peak in the 1940s with the studies of
Koffler (Reste altarabischer Dialekte) and
Rabin (Ancient west Arabian) . A revision of
their findings is a desideratum, considering
the abundance of first hand information
about the old philologists' original studies
on these data (see grammar and the
quran). Mention should also be made of
Noldeke's careful treatment of the ques-
tion of dialectal features in the Qur'an,
particularly two exemplary cases. First
(.Neue Beitrage, 21), he identifies the qur'anic
negative particle in as a dialectal form of
Mecca and Medina on the basis of later
citations of local speech as recorded in al-
Tabarl's History, Ibn Hisham's biography
of the Prophet (Sua) and in parallel pas-
sages. In the same study, he suggests Jarir's
use of lawla to be a case of qur'anic influ-
ence and notes the editor's change to halla
whereas lawla was current in Mecca and
possibly in Medina. A generally more skep-
tical attitude towards Arab philologists'
identification of dialectal features, notably
the indication of a Hijazl-Tamlml dicho-
tomy, is also expressed by Noldeke [Neue
Beitrage, 3f.).

Rafael Talmon

Bibliography
Primary: Abu 'Ubayda, Majaz; Akhfash, Ma'am,
ed. c Abd al-Amlr Ward, 2 vols., Beirut 1985 and
H.M. Qurra'a, 2 vols., Cairo 1990; Farra',
Ma ( am.

Secondary: J. Burton, Linguistic errors in the
Qur'an, in JSS 33 (1988), 181-96; A. Hadj-Salah,
Lugha, in EI 2 , v, 803-6; N. Kinberg, A lexicon of
al-Farra ;, s terminology in his Qia'an commentary,
Leiden 1996; H. Koffler, Reste altarabischer
Dialekte, in WZKM 47 (1940), 48 (1941), 49
(1942); A. Levin, What is meant by 'akaluni
l-baraghithu? in JSAI 12 (1989), 40-65; Th.
Noldeke, .Neue Beitrage zur Semitischen Sprachwis-
senschaft, Strasbourg 1910, 1-5, 5-23; Ch. Rabin,
Ancient west Arabian, London 1951; R. Talmon,
Arabic grammar in its formative age: Kitab al-
Ayn and its attribution to HalTl b. Ahmad, Leiden
!997-

Dialogues

Conversations between two or more per-
sons. Dialogue is an important and fre-
quently occurring feature of qur'anic style.
Direct speech, in fact, predominates in
many suras while narration (see narra-
tives) occupies relatively little space.

Of the four periods into which the
qur'anic suras are usually divided (three
Meccan and one Medinan; see chron-
ology and the qur'an), the second and
third Meccan periods are especially rich in
dialogue. The lack of dialogue in the suras
from the early period may be explained by
the fact that, throughout the first Meccan
period, the Quraysh (q.v.) ignored or ridi-
culed Muhammad's message (see opposi-
tion to Muhammad). When, however,
Muhammad began to gain followers and
pose a challenge to their supremacy, they
began to take his presence seriously by
raising questions about the tenets of Islam
and doubts about its validity. In other
words, as they entered into a "dialogue"
with the Prophet, their questions and
doubts were increasingly addressed in the
Qur'an. The criticisms made by the Qu-
raysh, which began in the second Meccan
period, continued into the third, thus pro-
viding an explanation for the Qur'an's fre-
quent use of dialogue in these two periods.
In the Medinan period, dialogue was to
become less frequent since the establish-
ment of an Islamic state in Medina created
a situation in which recourse to dialogue
was less likely. Consequently, the absence
of dialogue in certain periods is as signifi-
cant as its presence in others.

Using the criteria of speaker and content,
qur'anic dialogues can be divided into five
types. (1) Probably the most common dia-
logue is that between a prophet and the
nation to which he is sent: A prophet pres-
ents his message to his nation, which usu-
ally responds by ignoring or rejecting it (see

DIALOGUES

53-'

prophets and prophethood). q_ 26 con-
tains a series of such dialogues involving
the following prophets: Abraham (q.v.;
Q_ 26:69-82), Noah (q.v.; o_ 26:105-18), 'Ad
(q.v; o 26:123-38), Salih (q.v; Q_ 26:141-56),
Lot (q.v; Q_ 26:160-9), and Shu'ayb (q.v;
Q_ 26:176-88). (2) Another common exam-
ple of qur'anic dialogue is one which takes
place between God and prophets. Here, a
prophet is charged with a mission (see mes-
senger), a certain demand is made by a
prophet and God responds, or a prophet is
given an insight into divine acts (see impec-
gability and INFALLIBILITY). Examples are
Q_ 2:260, where Abraham demands to know
how God will resurrect the dead; Q_ 7:143,
in which Moses (q.v.) demands to see God;
and o_ 28:29-35, where Moses, commanded
by God to go to Pharaoh (q.v), expresses
his fear that Pharaoh will have him killed.
(3) A number of dialogues are situated in
the hereafter: In Q_ 74:40-7 the people of
heaven (q.v.) and the people of hell (q.v.)
converse; in o 7:38-9 the people of hell
curse one another; and in Q_ 34:31-3 the
wicked leaders and their followers indulge
in recriminations. (4) In some dialogues the
speakers consult with each other about
some important matter: In Q_ 12:8-10 Jo-
seph's (q.v.) jealous brothers (see brother
and brotherhood) discuss ways to get rid
of Joseph and enjoy their father's love and
affection, while in Q_ 27:29-35 the Queen of
Sheba (see bilqJs) solicits her courtiers'
views on the appropriate response to Solo-
mon's (q.v.) letter. (5) In some passages,
only one side of the dialogue is related: In
Q_ 2:34-9 God addresses first Satan (see
iblIs; devil) and then Adam and Eve (q.v),
and in o_ 31:12-9 Luqman (q.v), a wise man
of ancient Arabia, gives advice to his son.

Certain features mark the structure of
qur'anic dialogues. The onset of a dia-
logue may be signaled by a short phrase
like idh/wa-idh + verb ("Recall the time
when such-and-such an event occurred")

as in Q_ 2:30-3, which reports the conversa-
tion between God and angels (see angel)
at the time of Adam's creation (q.v.) or
Q_ 5:20-5, where the Israelites (see ghildren
of Israel) refuse to enter Palestine when
commanded to do so by Moses. Two other
phrases serve the same {unction fa-lammd +
verb + qdla ("When such-and-such a thing
happened, so-and-so said," cf. Q_ 10:76),
and hal atdka hadithu fuldnin ("Has the report
about so-and-so reached you?" e.g. Q_ 20:9;
51:24-8; cf. 38:21-4).

Sometimes one dialogue blends seam-
lessly with another. In Q_ 26:10-7, God com-
mands Moses and Aaron (q.v.) to confront
Pharaoh, and at Q_ 26:17 God asks Moses
and Aaron to tell Pharaoh that he must let
the Israelites leave Egypt (q.v). Although
the speaker in this verse is God, the follow-
ing verse, q 26:18, opens with Pharaoh's
response to the demand while addressing
Moses — and thus starting a new dialogue.
It is assumed that Moses repeated the de-
mand before Pharaoh but since this is not
explicitly stated, verse 17 serves as a con-
necting link between the two dialogues
since it belongs to both. Another example
is Q 12:80-2, where Joseph's brothers —
while still in Egypt — deliberate on how to
break the news to Jacob (q.v.) of Benja-
min's (q.v.) detention in Egypt. They agree
to inform Jacob that Benjamin was taken
into custody as punishment for theft and
that other members of the caravan may be
asked to verify this (q_ 12:82). Since the very
next verse reports Jacob's skepticism about
their statement, it must be assumed that
the brothers, on their return from Egypt,
repeated the content of Q 12:82. Dialogues
like these impart continuity to the narra-
tive by "splicing" two passages. This point
calls for further comment.

The importance of dialogue in qur'anic
narrative can be judged from the fact that
in some suras it acts almost as an organiz-
ing principle. For example, Q_ 12 (Surat

533

DIALOGUES

Yiisuf), which has in verses, is conceived
in terms of a series of dialogues: Joseph
andjacob (q_ 12:4-6); Joseph's brothers
(q_ 12:8-10); the brothers andjacob
(q, 12:11-4, 16-8); Potiphar's wife and Joseph
(q_ 12:23); Potiphar's wife, Joseph, the wise
observer and Potiphar (o_ 12:25-9); Poti-
phar's wife, the Egyptian ladies and Joseph
(o_ 12:31-3); Joseph and his two prison-
mates (o_ 12:36-42); the king and his court-
iers (q_ 12:43-4); the butler and Joseph
(p_ 12:46-9); the king, the Egyptian ladies
and Potiphar's wife (o_ 12:51); the king and
Joseph (p_ 12:54-5); Joseph and his brothers
(o_ 12:58-61); the brothers, andjacob
(q_ 12:63-7); the brothers, Joseph's men and
Joseph (o 12:70-9); the brothers among
themselves (o_ 12:80-2); the brothers and
Jacob (p_ 12:83-7); the brothers andjoseph
(o_ 12:88-93); Jacob and his neighbors
(q_ 12:94-5); and the brothers andjacob
(p_ 12:96-8). It is thus through dialogue that
the plot of the story advances. Even in the
narrative portions of the sura, direct
speech occurs in the form of a comment,
exclamation or aside (e.g. Q_ 12:19, 30, 62,
77). A detailed study of the suras of the
second and third Meccan periods is likely
to highlight the role of dialogue in estab-
lishing continuity and coherence in the
qur'anic text.

Quranic dialogues illustrate major
themes of scripture. A statement of the
themes may precede or follow the dia-
logues. Q_ 2:257 says that God is the friend
and supporter of the believers and leads
them out of darkness (q.v.) into light (q.v.)
whereas the taghut, "those who rebel
(against God)," are the friends of the un-
believers and lead them out of light into
darkness (see belief and unbelief; rebel-
lion). This statement is followed by three
short dialogues: between Abraham and the
king of his time, usually identified as Nim-
rod (q.v.); between God and a certain man
whom God had caused to die for one hun-

dred years and then brought back to life;
and between God and Abraham. Taken
together, these dialogues explain how the
believers are strengthened in their faith by
God and the unbelievers are led further
astray (q.v.) by the taghut. q 5:32, where the
law of vengeance or retaliation [qisas, see
bloodshed; retaliation) is stated, is im-
mediately preceded by a dialogue between
Cain and Abel (q.v.). Q_ 37 (Surat al-Saffat,
"Those ranged in ranks") underscores the
theme of the unity of prophecy and peo-
ple's unwillingness to accept it readily
through a series of dialogues between
prophets and their nations in which a num-
ber of prophets present essentially the
same message to their nations who fre-
quently respond to it negatively. Finally, the
Qur'an emphasizes that prophets, though
chosen individuals, are nonetheless human
and do not make any claims to divinity nor
should they be considered as such. In illus-
tration of this, Moses, when commanded
by God to go to Pharaoh, shows fear and
reservation with words which any other
mortal might have spoken (o 26:12-4). Sim-
ilarly, when angels visit Lot in the guise of
young boys, he is approached by his peo-
ple, who demand that the boys be handed
over to them. Lot feels helpless and utters,
as would any other, a cry of pain: "I wish I
had the power to confront you or could
seek some powerful support" (q_ 11:80).
The Quran uses dialogue to portray
character, as well, such as that of the
prophets. A study of the dialogues of
Abraham and Moses reveals interesting
differences between them. Abraham has
a sense of humor and would even play a
practical joke on his opponents. In
Q_ 21:62-7 he smashes all the idols (see
idols AND images) in the temple save one,
and when questioned by the indignant
priests, he tells them with tongue in cheek
that it was the work of the chief idol,
whom he had spared: "Ask them," he says

DIALOGUES

534

curtly, referring to the broken idols, "if
they can speak." In this way he plays upon
the foolishness of deifying inanimate,
powerless things. The dialogue illustrates
Abraham's characteristic use of irony and
satire (see language and style of the
qur'an) to defeat his opponents in a debate
(see debate and disputation). Just before
destroying the idols, he engages in a mock
dialogue with them, asking them ironically
why they are not eating the food placed be-
fore them and why they are not speaking
(q_ 37:91-2). Moses, on the other hand, has
a serious temperament and is also quick to
anger. On returning from Mount Sinai he
learns that the Israelites have started wor-
shipping a calf in his absence (see calf of
gold). Without stopping to investigate the
matter, he rebukes Aaron for his failure to
prevent the calf-worship. Aaron addresses
him with the words "Son of my mother,"
which show Aaron's humility and his love
for his brother (q_ 7:150). In Q_ 26 Moses
goes on a sea voyage to meet a certain indi-
vidual whom the Qur'an calls one of God's
servants but whom tradition has identified
as Khidr (see khadir/khidr). Khidr is sup-
posed to initiate Moses into certain myster-
ies. In the course of the journey Khidr
makes a hole in a boat, kills a young man
and repairs a wall. Moses, who has prom-
ised to remain silent until addressed by
Khidr, is unable to contain himself on any
of these occasions. The dialogue which en-
sues between the two after each outburst
demonstrates well Moses' impetuous na-
ture. In Q_ 12 the characters of Joseph and
many other figures are revealed through
dialogue. When, for example, Joseph in-
forms Jacob about his dream (see dreams
and sleep), he says: "My dear father, I
have seen eleven stars and the sun and the
moon — I have seen them bowing down
before me!" (q_ 12:4). The repetition of "I
have seen" (ra'aytu), signifying as it does a
certain hesitation on Joseph's part, is signi-

ficant, for it provides insight into Joseph's
character: Being modest, he is reluctant to
relate a dream in which he receives hom-
age from the heavenly bodies. His hesitation
may also be due to the fact that he already
knows the interpretation of the dream and
feels that he may appear presumptuous by
relating the dream. Only direct speech
could delineate character with such subtle
force. Similarly, only dialogue could have
revealed Joseph's tactfulness in his attempt,
while imprisoned, to convert his two fellow
inmates (see prisoners) to his religion:
When the butler and the baker (see bread)
approach him for an interpretation of their
dreams, he assures them that they will have
the interpretation very soon; with this de-
lay tactic, he proceeds to acquaint them
with his own monotheistic belief.

Dialogue represents one of the ways in
which the Qur'an differs from pre-Islamic
Arabic literature, which primarily exists
only in the form of poetry. Essentially the
impassioned utterance of the individual
soul, pre-Islamic Arabic poetry (see age
of ignorance; poetry and poets; pre-

ISLAMIC ARABIA AND THE QUR'an) makes
very little use of dialogue whereas the
Qur'an — which presents a program of
social action within a framework of strug-
gle — reflects, through dialogue, the in-
teraction between the Muslim and non-
Muslim communities of Arabia on the
one hand and among the members of the
Muslim community itself on the other.
Dialogue is inevitably interactive and so-
cial, and given the Qur'an's overt and
strong social dimension (see community
and society in the qijr'an), its frequent
use in the Qur'an is understandable. At the
same time, use of dialogue makes the
Qur'an stylistically akin to the Bible, where
dialogue is very prominent (see scripture
and the q_ur'an).

Mustansir Mir

535

DIFFICULT PASSAGES

Bibliography
R. Bell, Introduction to the Qur'an, Edinburgh 1953;
( A. al-Khatlb, al-Qasas al-qur'am. FT mantuqiliT wa-
majhunulu, Egypt 1965; M. Mir, Dialogue in the
Qur'an, in Religion and literature 24 (1992), 1-22; S.
Qiitb, al-TaswTr al-fanmfT l-Qur'an, n.p. 1963.

Difficult Passages

Seemingly contradictory verses in the Qur-
'an. Although qur'anic scholars frequently
used the word mushkil in its more usual
sense of "difficult to understand" in refer-
ence to verses (q.v.) and individual vocabu-
lary items in the Qur'an, as a technical
term (mushkil al-Qur'dn) it refers specifically
to the apparently contradictory passages
within the holy text. In this application, the
term "difficult" may have been somewhat
euphemistic. The analogous term in the
study of the reports of the utterances and
actions ascribed to the Prophet — where
the possibility of genuine contradiction, at
least among unauthentic reports, was
admitted — was called "contradictory
hadith" (ikhtilqf — or mukhtalij al-hadlth) .

The avowed aim of those who treated the
difficult passages was nothing less than
confirming the divine origin of the Qur'an
by vindicating o_ 4:82: "If it [i.e. the
Qur'an] had been from someone other
than God, they would have found much
contradiction (ikhtilqf) in it." The Cairene
expert in qur'anic commentary as well
as several other religious disciplines, al-
Zarkashl (d. 794/1392), stated this bluntly:
"Sometimes a beginner comes across
something which he mistakenly believes to
be a contradiction — and it is not one —
so [the putative contradiction] needs to be
eliminated" (Burhan, ii, 45). The range of
difficult passages would seem to cover
some of the same territory as that of the
abrogating and abrogated verses (al-ndsikh
wa-l-mansukh, see abrogation) and at least
one author regarded abrogation as a com-

ponent of the broader study of apparently
contradictory verses (al-Kafiji, Taysir,
228-35). I n practice, classical Muslim schol-
ars gave much more attention to the sup-
posed instances of abrogation than to the
other apparently contradictory verses,
which deal largely with such matters as the
creation (q.v.) of the universe, the nature
of God (see god and his attributes) and
eschatological events (see eschatology),
in other words, subjects to which the mech-
anism of abrogation could not be readily
applied.

It appears that in the earliest times, Mus-
lim attitudes about the validity of com-
mentary on the difficult passages varied
considerably, paralleling in some respects
those regarding the "ambiguous verses"
(mutashabihdt, see ambiguous). In one re-
port, the early commentator Ibn 'Abbas
(d. ca. 68/687) i s sa id to have refused dis-
cussion of the apparent qur'anic contra-
dictions (SuyutI, Itqan, iii, 83); in others he
speaks volubly about them. Similarly, it re-
mains unclear who undertook this criticism
of the Qur'an by pointing out its alleged
inconsistencies. Those who harmonized
the apparent contradictions were defend-
ing the faith against non-Muslim attacks
(e.g. a Jew; SuyutI, Itqan, iii, 83) and even
intra-communal criticism (cf. the title in
Ibn al-Nadim of the contribution of
Qutrub Muhammad b. al-Mustanlr [d.
206/821]: Regarding the verses of Qur'an which
the heretics question [FTma sa'ala 'anhu al-
mulhidun min ayi l-Qur'dn], Fihrist, ed. R.
Tajaddud, 41). On the other hand, it is ar-
gued that the fact of the Quran's revela-
tion in a hostile environment encouraged
the Prophet's enemies to claim inconsist-
ency and contradiction (Zarkashl, Burhan,
ii, 46). In fact, most of the examples of ap-
parent contradictions cited in the various
manuals are often trivial (e.g. the alleged
objection that phrases like, "Indeed, God
was [kdna] all-hearing, all-seeing," mean

DISOBEDIENCE

536

that he is no longer all-hearing, etc.) or
concern matters of which humans can
have no certain knowledge (e.g. whether
the earth was created first [q_ 41:9-11] or
the heavens [q_ 79:27-30]). Despite its im-
mense theoretical importance, the disci-
pline of difficult passages never seems to
have been widely cultivated. In fact, most
modern works ignore it. Furthermore, the
arguments produced to eliminate the ap-
parent contradictions, while important
for a systematic presentation of the faith,
usually offer little to inter-confessional
polemic. As the passage quoted above
from al-Zarkashl suggests, it would seem
that the real reason for a scholar to study
the difficult passages was to equip himself
to silence the conundrums posed by stu-
dents in elementary classes on qur'anic
commentary.

Eerik Dickinson

Bibliography
Ibn Outayba, Ta'wTl mushkil al-Qur'an, ed. S.A.
Saqr, Cairo 1393/1973 3 , 65-85; al-KafljI, al-
Taysirji qawa'id 'ihn al-tafsir, ed. N. al-Matrudl,
Beirut 1410/1990; SuyutT, Itqan, iii, 79-89;
TashkubrTzada, Miftah al-sa'ada, ed. K.K. Bakr
and c Abd al-Wahhab Abu Nfir, 4 vols., Cairo
1968, ii, 445; ZarkashT, Burhdn, ii, 45-67.

Din see religion; LAST JUDGMENT
Disciple see apostle

Disobedience

Transgression of or failure to comply with
God's commands (see commandments).
Disobedience, of which both angels (see
angel) and humans are capable, appears
in a variety of forms in the Qur'an. The
Arabic root corresponding most directly to
disobedience is '-s-y (e.g. Q_ 20:121, "And

Adam disobeyed his lord"), which appears
32 times in the Qur'an, and is translated
variously as to disobey, to rebel, to resist, to
flinch or to flout. Other roots reflecting dif-
ferent nuances of disobedience — such as
sin {kh-t-\ 22 times in the Qur'an; e.g.
Q_ 4:92, 112; 12:29; alsoj'-n-A, 25 times, and
dh-n-b, 27 times; see sin and crime), fault
('-th-m, 35 times) and transgression f'udwan)
of the limits sanctioned by God {hudud
allah, see boundaries and precepts) — also
appear in the Qur'an. Disobedience often
appears in conjunction with the denial of
God's signs (q.v.) or miracles (see miracle),
which leads one to go astray (ghawa,
Q_ 20:121; see astray) and to transgress
specified limits {i'tada, cf. Q_ 2:61; 3:112;

578).

The Qur'an distinguishes between the
disobedient and the obedient (see obedi-
ence). Two verses serve as reminders of
the fact that the angels are always obedi-
ent, even those in charge of hell (q.v.) "do
not disobey God in what he commands
them" (q_ 66:6). Abraham (q.v.) admits to
his father that "Satan (see devil) is a rebel
against the All-Merciful" (q_ 19:44). How-
ever, human beings are the only creatures
required to show proof (q.v.) of their obe-
dience (various forms of the root t-w- \ "to
obey, be obedient," appear 76 times in the
Qur'an). Nevertheless, for many different
reasons, humans do disobey God.

Various peoples disobey the messengers
(see messenger) sent by God for their guid-
ance. Noah (q.v.) states this in his supplica-
tion: "My Lord! Lo! They have disobeyed
me" (q_ 71:21). The people of c Ad (q.v.) act
no better with regard to the prophet Hud
(q.v.; cf. Q_ 11:59-60). As for Abraham (q.v.),
he was obliged to say: "Whoever follows
me belongs to me, and whoever disobeys
me, but You are indeed all-forgiving"
(Q. : 4'36)- Aaron (q.v), Pharaoh (q.v.) and
the Children of Israel (Banu hra'il, see
children of Israel) all disobey Moses

5:37

DISOBEDIENCE

(q.v.). The latter reproaches his brother
concerning the golden calf (see calf of
gold): "O Aaron! What held you back
when you saw that they had gone astray,
that you did not follow me? Have you then
disobeyed my order?" (q 20:92-3). Pharaoh
himself repeatedly refuses to obey Moses:
"Pharaoh disobeyed the messenger"
(S. 73 :i 6)j "He denied and disobeyed"
(q_ 79:21). Similarly, after the disaster which
befell him in the midst of the sea, he is
told: "What! Now! When hitherto you have
disobeyed and been of the wrong-doers!"
(q_ 10:91). So Pharaoh, like others who "dis-
obeyed the messenger of their Lord"
(o 69:10), is condemned (see punishment
stories). Moses' people experienced hu-
miliation, wretchedness and the wrath (see
anger) of God because, to use 'A. Yusuf
'All's rendition of Q_ 2:61, "they rejected
faith, slew God's messengers and went on
transgressing." Twice the Children of
Israel are reported to have said, "We hear
and we disobey" (sami'na wa-'asayna, o_ 2:93;
4:46), for (again, according to 'A. Yusuf
All's rendition) "the calf is the symbol of
disobedience, rebellion (q.v.), want of faith
(q.v.)." Moses, however, was an example of
obedience, saying to his anonymous guide
and spiritual leader: "God willing, you
shall find me patient, nor shall I disobey
you in anything" (q 18:69). Another model
of obedience is John, son of Zechariah
(q.v.), for he "was not arrogant or rebel-
lious" (q_ 19:14).

Muhammad, just like the previous proph-
ets, experienced rejection by his own peo-
ple (see opposition to muhammad). q_ 4:42
reads: "Those who disbelieved and dis-
obeyed the messenger will wish that they
were level with the ground." In fact, God
said to the Prophet: "If they [your kinsfolk]
disobey you, say: 'Lo! I am innocent of
what they do!'" (q_ 26:216). The Qur'an
cites the battle of Uhud (q.v.; see battles
and expeditions) as a particular instance

of the disobedience of Muhammad's fol-
lowers: "When... you disobeyed after he
had shown you that for which you longed!"
(q_ 3:152). So the followers of Muhammad
must not disobey because "[God] has
made detestable to you disbelief, wicked-
ness and disobedience" (q_ 49:7; see belief
and unbelief). Indeed, women are men-
tioned as taking the oath of allegiance to
Muhammad so that, among other things,
"they will not disobey you in what is right"
(q_ 60:12; see women and the q_ur'an).
Q_ 58:8-9 summarizes the qur'anic position
on disobedience: Regarding hypocrites (see
hypocrites and hypocrisy), q_ 58:8 states,
"Did you not see those who were forbidden
to hold secret counsels... and now conspire
together for sin, transgression and disobe-
dience toward the messenger." q 58:9 then
reads, "O believers! When you hold secret
counsel, do it not for sin, transgression and
disobedience toward the messenger; but do
it for righteousness and piety (q.v.); and
fear God." Jews (see jews and Judaism),
who are identified as disbelieving in the
revelations of God, are described as having
incurred the wrath of God (see anger)
"because they were rebellious and used to
transgress" (q_ 3:112). This disobedience
had also been denounced by the messen-
gers before Muhammad: "They were
cursed by the tongue of David (q.v.), and of
Jesus (q.v.), son of Mary (q.v), because they
disobeyed and used to transgress" (q_ 5:78).

To disobey his messengers is to disobey
God himself, a truth asserted on three oc-
casions, each of which implies various con-
sequences: "Whoever disobeys God and his
messenger" and "transgresses his limits, he
will make him enter fire (q.v.)" (q_ 4:14);
"he verily goes astray in error (q.v.) mani-
fest" (q_ 33:36); "his is the fire of hell"
(q 72:23). It is the disobedience towards
God which is the most serious infraction.
This, indeed, was Adam's (see ADAM and
eve) sin: "And Adam disobeyed his Lord,

DISSENSION

538

so went astray" (q_ 20:121). Herein lies the
central theme expressed by the messengers
of God: In no way was God to be dis-
obeyed. Sent to the Thamud (q.v.), Salih
(q.v.) expressed this fear in his own way:
"Who will save me from God if I disobey
Him?" (o 11:63). Muhammad likewise ex-
presses this fear: "If I were to disobey my
Lord, I should myself fear retribution of
an awful day" (q_ 10:15). He is actually
commanded to express such a fear on two
occasions: "Say: I would verily, if I dis-
obeyed my Lord, fear retribution of an
awful day" (o_ 6:15; 39:13; see reward and
punishment).

These, then, are the types of disobedi-
ence which appear in the Quran: Those
who disobey the messengers are really dis-
obeying him who sent them. One interpre-
tation of the prophetic mission is that the
prophets obey God's law and beg God that
they might in no way be rebellious fast) to
his will (see prophets and prophethood).
Does not the fear of God (taqwa) consist in
obeying his commands (awamir)? If obedi-
ence to God's commands is the proper re-
sponse in gratitude for his benificence, is
not disobedience, then, the highest form of
ingratitude? See gratitude and
ingratitude; sin, major and minor.

aurice rjorrmans

Bibliography
C A.Y. 'All, The glorious Qitr'an, 1934; Arberry;
Pickthall; L. Gardet, Dieu el la destines de I'homme,
Paris 1967, 85-6.

Dissension

Partisan quarreling which, in the Qur'an,
denotes religious sectarianism. The qur-
'anic concept of dissension is expressed by
the Arabic terms ikhtilaf or tafarruq, both
of which carry a pejorative sense. Ac-
cording to Q_ 2:213 and 10:19, humankind

started its existence on earth as a united
religious community. The nature of this
primordial religion is not specified in the
Qur'an; in exegetical literature it is de-
scribed as "the religion of truth" (din al-
haqq), sometimes explicitly equated with
Islam. The dissension that set in later and
resulted in the disruption of this unity is
seen as a negative development, which
God wanted to rectify by sending prophets
to preach and warn (see prophets and
prophethood; Warner). Dissension is re-
ported to have been rampant between Jews
and Christians who denounced each
other's religion (q 2:113; see JEWS and
Judaism; christians and Christianity).
Dissension within each of these two scrip-
tuary communities (see people of the
book) was also recorded: Some believed in
the revelation they received and some re-
jected it (o_ 2:253). The Qur'an instructs
Muslims not to follow the example of the
scriptuaries but rather to guard their own
unity (q_ 3:103, 105). Religious dissension is
thus perceived as a negative phenomenon;
nevertheless, God did not use his power to
unify all humanity in one religious com-
munity and saved from dissension only
those to whom he showed mercy (q.v.;
c) 11:117-8; see community and society tn

THE QUR'AN).

Attitudes to dissension in the hadlth vary
(see HADITH AND THE qur'an). Prior to his
death, the Prophet intended to write a
document that — according to some inter-
pretations — would have prevented later
dissension among Muslims. He is also re-
ported to have said that "Unity is tanta-
mount to (divine) mercy while dissension is
torment" (al-jama'a rahma wa-l-furqa 'adhab,
Ibn H an bal, Musnad, iv, 278, 375). The
Companion of the Prophet, Hudhayfa b.
al-Yaman, advocated the codification of
the Qur'an to save Muslims from the dis-
sension that plagued Jews and Christians
(Bukharl, SahTh, Fadd'il al-Qur'dn, 3, iii, 393;

539

DISSENSION

see the collection of the qijr'an). Given
the failure to achieve this ideal of unity,
however, a hadlth offers the gloomy pros-
pect of the division of the Muslim commu-
nity into 73 sects, only one of which will
merit paradise (q.v.; Darimi, Sunan, ii, 158).

In support of the opposing view is the
well-known tradition which maintains that
"dissension among my Companions (or in
my community) is (divine) mercy" (ihktilafu
ashabi/ ummati rahma) . Diversity among the
Companions of the Prophet (q.v.) is im-
plied and legitimized in a tradition that
states: "My Companions are like the stars:
Whichever one [of them] you follow, you
will find the straight path" (ashabi ka-l-
nujum bi-ayyihim iqtadaytum ihtadaytum) . Such
diversity was seen as minimizing the dan-
ger of deviations from the prophetic sunna
(q.v.). Similarly, the Umayyad 'Umar b.
c Abd al-'Aziz (r. 99/717-101/720) gave legit-
imacy to the diverse views of the religious
scholars ('ulama') in various areas of the
Muslim state and refused to impose a uni-
fied code on all (DarimI, Sunan, i, 122). The
Shafi'i jurist al-Dimashql (fl. eighth/four-
teenth century) wrote in the introduction
to his Rahmat al-ummafi ikhtilaf al-a'imma
that the scholars "dissented while exerting
themselves in the search of truth and their
dissension was mercy for the people" (fa-
khtalafu bi-shiddat ijtihddihim ft talab al-haqq
wa-kdna ikhtildfuhum rahmatan lil-khalq).

Traditions with a sympathetic view of
dissension were not included in the canoni-
cal collections of hadlth. They were rele-
gated to compilations of lesser authority or
to compilations dedicated to traditions
considered "fabricated" (mavudu) by the
Muslim mainstream. Conversely, traditions
advocating unity found their way into the
more authoritative compilations. This is an
indication of the importance attributed by
mainstream Islam to the unity of religious
belief. Nevertheless, the idea of dissension
was accepted in jurisprudential literature,

where differences of opinion between
schools of law and individual jurists be-
came a permanent fact of life (for a survey
of relevant literature, see J. Schacht, Ikhti-
laf; see law and the qur'an; creeds). In
an attempt to find theological justification
for the existence of dissension amongst
Muslims, some scholars have argued that
without religious dissension the world
would cease to be a place of trial (q.v.), in
which people must choose the right way;
there would be no need of ijtihdd and the
'ulama' would loose their prestige (fadila) as
arbiters of the law.

Political dissension in the Muslim com-
munity is referred to as "strife" (fitna),
sometimes equated with ikhtilaf [see Ibn
Hanbal, Musnad, ii, 345; v, 292). Al-Bukhari
(d. 256/870; Sahih, Maghazi, 12, hi, 70)
mentions two such moments of strife in
early Muslim history: the assassination of
'Uthman (q.v.) and the battle of Harra (see
L. Veccia Vaglieri, al-Harra). The struggle
between 'All (see 'ali b. abi talib) and
Mu'awiya and other internal disputes
among the Muslims are also considered to
be strife which threatened the unity of the
Muslim community (see also rebellion).

Yoha

Friedmann

Bibliography
Primary: Bukharl, Sahih; DarimI, Sunan, Medina
1966; Dhahabl, Alizan al-i'tiddl, ed. C A.M. al-
Bijawi, nos. 15 1 1 , 2299; al-Dimashql (al-
^thmanl), Abu c Abdallah Muhammad, Rahmat
al-ummafi ikhtilaf al-a'imma, Cairo 1300/1883, 2;
ai-Fattanl, Muhammad al-Tahir b. Ahmad al-
HindT, Tadhkirat al-mawduat, Beirut n.d., 90-1;
Ibn Hanbal, Musnad; Isma'll b. Muhammad al-
Jarrahl, Kashf al-khaja' wa-muzil al-ilbds 'ammo,
shtahara min al-ahddith 'aid alsinat al-nds, Beirut
1351 AH, i, 132, no, 381 (for ashabi ka-l-nujum
bi-ayyihim iqtadaytum ihtadaytum); al-Khattabl,
Hamd b. Muhammad, A 'lam al-hadith ft shark
Sahih al-Bukhdn, Mecca 1988-, i, 217-2 (for
ihktilafu ummati rahma; I am indebted to V.
Tokatli for this reference); Murtada al-Zabldl,
Ithdf al-sdda al-muttaqin bi-skarh asrdr Ihyd' 'ulum
al-din, 10 vols., Cairo 1311/1894, i, 204-6;

DISSIMULATION

540

al-MuttaqT al-Hindl, Kanz al-'ummal, 18 vols.,
Aleppo 1969-1984, x, 136 (no. 28686).
Secondary: van Ess, To, iv, 654-60; L. Gardet,
Fitna, in El 3 , ii, 930-1; I. Goldziher, The ^ahiris,
trans, and ed. W. Behn, Leiden 1971 , 89-102;
G.H.A. Juynboll, Muslim's introduction to his
Sahih, translated and annotated with an excursus
on the chronology of fitna and bid'a, inJSAI^
(1984), 303-8; R. Paret, Innerislamischer
Pluralismus, in U. Haarman and P. Bachmann
(eds.), Die islamische Welt zwischen Mittelalter und
JVeuzeit Festschrift fur Hans Robert Romer zum 6j.
Geburtstag, Beirut 1979, 523~9;J. Schacht, Ikhtilaf,
in Ef, iii, 1061-2; id., The origins of Muhammad an
jurisprudence, Oxford 1950, 95-7; R- Sellheim, Der
Zweite Burgerkrieg im Islam (680-692J, Wiesbaden
1970; L. Veccia Vaglieri, al-Harra, in Ef, iii,
226-7.

Dissimulation

The action of concealing one's religious
convictions when divulgence would bring
danger or death, called taqiyya in Arabic.
Two qur'anic verses seem to allow Muslims
to conceal their true convictions in case of
danger, i.e. o_ 3:28 and 40:28 (cf. q 16:106).
The two main terms found in these verses
for tactical dissimulation or mental con-
cealment in matters of faith are taqiyya, lit-
erally "care" or "fear" (from the same root
w-q-y come ta.tta.qu and tuqdtan in p_ 3:28)
and kitmdn, literally "the act of concealing
or hiding" (from k-t-m, cf. yaktumu in
Q_ 40:28).

The first Muslims to have practiced ta-
qiyya seem to be the 'Alid Kaysaniyya
(Qumml, Kitab al-Maqdldt, 22) and the
Kharijls (q.v.) except for the Azariqa sub-
sect who considered taqiyya illicit (Shahras-
tam, Milal, 379). Another Kharijl sub-sect,
the Najadat, used it both in word and
deed, the Sufriyya only in speech (Shahras-
tam, Milal, 379, 413; Goldziher, Das Prin-
zip, 217/63). Among the Kharijls in gen-
eral, dissimulation was used in the context
of jihad (q.v.) against non-Kharijis while the
Kaysams practiced it within the context of

their esoteric teachings. All such sects de-
signated regions outside their community
as "the abode of dissimulation" (dar al-
taqiyya, but the Azariqa used "the abode of
unbelief" (dar al-kufr, see belief and un-
belief) while referring to their own milieu
as "the abode of openness" (dar al- 'aldniyya,
Qumml, Maqalat, 22; Ash'art, Maqaldt, $]£.,
in, 120; Baghdad!, Farq, 108).

Although taqiyya is known to have been
practiced by SunnI Muslims in particular
political situations (Meyer, Anlass und An-
wendungsbereich, 47f.; Kohlberg, Taqiyya
in Shl'l theology, 361-2, n. 89), dissimula-
tion has remained closely linked to the
Shl'is (with the exception of the Zaydls; see
shi'ism and THE qjjr'an) since the classical
period. The origin of the practice most
likely derives from the Shl'l doctrine of as-
sociating (tawalli) with 'All (see 'ali b. abi
talib) and disassociating (tabarri) from the
first three caliphs, in particular the first
two, Abu Bakr (q.v.) and 'Umar (q-v.;
Ash'ari, Maqaldt, 17; Shahrastam, Milal,
435). Later taqiyya would be more precisely
applied to the concealment of particular
religious beliefs, divulgence of which ran
the risk of putting believers and especially
their leader, the Imam (q.v.), in danger.
Q_armatls and later Isma'llls use it fre-
quently (Daftary, The Ismd'TlTs), but the
notion and practice of taqiyya became an
article of faith with important doctrinal
developments only amongst the Twelver
Shl'a (Kohlberg, Imami-Sht'i views; id.,
Taqiyya).

Taqiyya in Twelver Shi'ism is usually com-
pared to the theological concept of badd',
i.e. change in God's decisions (see deci-
sion) or will. It is with this connotation that
it became the principal accusation against
the Twelver Shl'a, reproached for hiding
their erroneous and contradictory views
under the guise of dissimulation (Naw-
bakhtl, Firaq, 52; Shahrastam, Milal, 469).

54i

D ISSIMULATI O N

In addition to the above-mentioned verses,
the Twelver Shl'a used other qur'anic pas-
sages to legitimize their practice of dissi-
mulation — called by them taqijya, kitman
or khab' — such as Q_ 2:61, 4:83, 16:106 or
41:34 (Kohlberg, ImamT-Shl'l views, 396b;
id., Taqiyya, 352). In Kohlberg 's analysis,
the concept underwent development in
Twelver Shl'ism (Kohlberg, Taqiyya),
allowing us to distinguish two kinds of
taqiyya: (1) a "prudential taqiyya" which es-
pecially characterized the Shl'a (q.v.) dur-
ing the Umayyad period, when most made
use of armed revolt against caliphal au-
thority (q.v.; see caliph; rebellion) and
(2) a "non-prudential taqiyya" which took
shape primarily after the drama of Kar-
bala'. This second form of dissimulation
arose along with the Shl'T shift towards
quietism and the corresponding attempt to
elaborate esoteric doctrines in justification
of their positions, especially from the time
of the imamates of Muhammad al-Baqir
(d. 114/732 or 119/737) and Ja'far al-Sadiq
(d. 148/765).

Though Shi'i law considers dissimulation
unnecessary as far as less significant articles
of faith are concerned (Kohlberg, Imami-
Shl'l views, 3ggb-400a), taqiyya nonetheless
remains a canonical duty for fundamental
points of doctrine (Amir-Moezzi, Le guide
divin, 310-2). In many traditions attributed
to the Imams, Twelver Shi'i teachings are
presented as esoteric and hidden knowl-
edge (see HIDDEN AND THE HIDDEN), a
secret (see secrets) that must be concealed
and protected from unworthy people
(Amir-Moezzi, Le Guide divin, 143; 174-199).
Generally, the Shl'a present their doctrines
as a secret, esoteric dimension of Islam in
accordance with the tradition that "all
things have a secret, the secret of Islam is
Shl'ism" [li-kulli shay' sirrun sirru l-Islam al-
shi'a, Kulaynl, Rawda, ii, 14; Amir-Moezzi,
Du droit a la theologie, 38-40). A special

form of dissimulation, which seems to have
been elaborated ever since it found its way
into the oldest sources, is the technique of
attributing writings to Jabir b. Hayyan (fl.
second/eighth century), called tab did al-'ilm
(lit. "dispersion of knowledge") which con-
sist of fragmentary esoteric teachings dis-
persed in the most unexpected places
throughout the corpus attributed to this
figure (Amir-Moezzi, Le guide divin, index,
s.v.). Moreover, the ^dhir/batin (manifest/
hidden) complex is at work in every level
of reality, and each doctrinal system or
religious science is composed of many lev-
els, from the most apparent and obvious to
the most secret. In other words, both exo-
teric and esoteric cosmogonies exist as well
as exoteric (obvious) and esoteric (secret)
qur'anic exegesis (see exegesis of the qjjr-
! an: classical and medieval), an exoteric
and esoteric theology (see theology and
the qur'an), a divulged and secret law (see
law and the qjjr'an) and so forth (Amir-
Moezzi, Du droit a la theologie).

It is well-known that dissimulation and
secrecy tend to be natural practices of mi-
nority movements. Notions like protection
of the secret (hifg al-sirr), dissimulation
(katm or kitman), deception (i.e. making
something ambiguous, talbis), hiding the
real state of one's conviction ftk/ifa' al-hdl)
all constitute important characteristics in
occult sciences as well as in Sufi (espe-
cially malamati) circles (see sufism and the
qjjr'an), in philosophical teachings or in
mystical poetry, especially in Persian
(Suhrawardi, 'Awdrif, 72; Hujwlri, Kashf,
500-1; 'Afift, Malamatiyya, 89, 117; Shaybl,
Taqiyya, 2of). In Persian literature, for in-
stance, poets constantly refer to "the affair
of al-Hallaj," the famous mystic who was
brutally tortured and executed in 309/922
and to his divulgence of the secret par excel-
lence, i.e. the utterance of the celebrated
shath (ecstatic exclamation): "I am the

DIVINATION

542

Truth" (and l-haqq). The greatest Persian
mystical poets, like 'Attar (d. 627/1230),
'Iraqi (d. 688/1289) or Hafiz (d. 792/1390)
often make allusion to the "the crucified
one of Baghdad" (i.e. al-Hallaj, d. 309/
922) and call authentically inspired indi-
viduals "people of the secret" (ahl-e raz,
Khorramshahl, Hafiz Ndmeh).

Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi

Bibliography
Primary: al-Ash'arl, Abu 1-Hasan 'All b. Isma'll,
Maqdldt al-isldmiyyin wa-khtildf al-musallm, ed. H.
Ritter, Wiesbaden 1382/1963 2 ; Baghdad!, Farq,
ed. M. 'Abd al-Hamld, Cairo; HujwTrT, Kashf al-
inahjub (in Persian), ed. Jukovski, Teheran
1399/10,79; Kulaynl, Abu Ja'far Muhammad b.
Ya'qub, al-Rawda min al-Kdji, ed. H. Rasull
MahallatI, Tehran 1389/1969; Nawbakhti, Abu
Muhammad al-Hasan b. Musa, Firaq al-shVa, ed.
H. Ritter, Istanbul 1931; Qumml, Sa'd b.
Abdallah, Kitab al-Maqdldt wa-l-jiraq, ed. M.J.
Mashkur, Tehran 1963; ShahrastanI, Alilal, trans.
D. Gimaret and G. Monnot, Livre des religions et
des sectes, vol. I, Louvain 1986; Suhrawardl, Abu
Hals 'Umar b. Muhammad b. All, Kitab Awdrif
aTma'drif, Beirut 1966.

Secondary: A. A. 'Aflfi, ATMalamatiyya wa-l-
tasawwuf wa-ahl al-futuwwa, Cairo 1945; M.A.
Amir-Moezzi, Le guide divin dans le shi'isme originel,
Paris 1992; id., D11 droit a la theologie. Les
niveaux de realite dans le shi'isme duodecimain,
in Uesprit et la nature, Actes du Colloque de Paris
(11-12 mai igg6), Cahiers du Groupe d'Etudes
Spirituelles Comparees 5 (1997), 37-63; F. Daftary,
The Ismd'Tlis. Their history and doctrines, Cambridge
1990; I. Goldziher, Das Prinzip der Takijja im
Islam, in zdmg 60 (1906), 213-26 (= Gesammelte
Schriften, ed.J. de Somogyi, Hildesheim 1967-70,
v, 59-72); B. Khorramshahl, Hafii Ndmeh (in
Persian), Tehran 1987; E. Kohlberg, Some
Imami-Shl'l views on taqiyya, in/AOS'95 (1975),
395-402 (= Belief and law in Imdmi Shi'ism,
Aldershot 1991, hi); id., Taqiyya in Shl'l theology
and religion, in H.G. Kippenberg and G.G.
Stroumsa (eds.), Secrecy and concealment. Studies in
the history of Mediterranean and .Near Eastern religions,
Leiden 1995, 345-80; E. Meyer, Anlass und
Anwendungsbereich der Taqiyya, in Der Islam 57
(1980), 246-80; K.M. al-Shaybl, al-Taqiyya
usuluha wa-tatawwuruha, in Revue de lafacultc des
lettres de VUniversite dAlexandrie, 16 (1962-3), 14-40;
R. Strothmann-fMoktar Djebeli], Takiyya, in
El 2 , x, 134-6.

Divination

The art of foretelling the future or discov-
ering hidden knowledge through augury or
omen (see omens). In Q 52:29 and 69:42,
God reassures his messenger (q.v.) that he
is not a kdhin (i.e. a soothsayer; see sooth-
sayers); in Q_ 36:69 and 69:41, Muhammad
is told that his message is not poetry (see
poetry and poets). Such verses, along with
others (e.g. Q_ 21:5 and 52:30) mean to dem-
onstrate that Muhammad is neither poet
nor magician (sahir, sihr, see magic, prohi-
bition of), nor possessed by a demon
(majnun, mashiir, see insanity). Whereas
these last qualifications were applied to all
previous messengers, only the terms kdhin
(i.e. soothsayer) and shd'ir (i.e. poet) were
used as a label for Muhammad. This is re-
lated to the fact that these two categories
played an important role in the pagan soci-
ety of pre-Islamic Arabia (see pre-islamk;
Arabia and THE our'an). In preaching to
the members of this society, Muhammad
made use, at the very beginning of the rev-
elation, of the rhythmic and oracular style
then common (see rhymed prose). His op-
ponents took this as a pretext to reduce his
message to the level of the rhymed prose
(q.v.; saj') of the soothsayers and/or the
rajaz (end-rhyme) of the poets (cf. Fahd,
Sadj'; see opposition to muhammad).

The Prophet of Islam was born in an era
in which divination (kihdna) continued to
form one of the rare manifestations of the
divine in an Arab society in which religio-
sity, as it had been practised in the past,
had reached a critical point, if it had not
actually begun to fossilize (cf. Fahd, Le pan-
theon, intro.). Thus, the kdhin, with his vari-
ous attributes (cf. Fahd, La divination,
91-129), continued to exist, although with
nothing of his former prestige and pros-
perity (which may be concluded from the
great number of divinities in the Meccan
pantheon; see ka'ba). The absence of

543

DIVINATION

other designations in the Quran differen-
tiating the kahin's functions is another indi-
cation of the collapse of a religious, cultu-
ral and social framework in the face of
calls for the renewal of outdated religious
and social concepts which no longer reso-
nated with the society and its predomi-
nantly commercial activities and orienta-
tion. The kahin was, in the eyes of Mu-
hammad's contemporaries, already
scorned and despised, and thus calling
Muhammad a kahin was a clear attempt to
minimize his role and attack the revelation
itself. Since his craft was limited to a tradi-
tional knowledge, the kahin was confined to
a less significant role than he had had in
ancient society. The decline of religious
thought and the cult in central Arabia in
the fifth and sixth centuries c.E. reduced
the kahin to a mere charlatan, magician or
even searcher of lost objects and camels
(see camel). More privatized forms of faith
gradually replaced public acts of devotion
in which the rites of pilgrimage (q.v.) re-
mained the sole manifestation of commu-
nity feeling. The development of individual
conscience favored the adoption of new
ideas; these found inspiration in the mono-
theist environment of the surrounding
countries through which Meccan trading
caravans used to travel (see caravan). Such
developments contributed to the deprecia-
tion of the surviving elements of the jahi-
liyya (i.e. pre-Islamic times and customs;
see AGE OF ignorance) while opening a
venue for the new horizons of enlightened
spirits, such as poets, "monotheists" (hanlf,
q.v), preachers (khatib) and sages.

In an effort to comfort his messenger (see
consolation), always inclined to doubt his
vocation, God asks him to tell his fellow
tribesmen that his message cannot be com-
pared to that of a kahin, "It is the speech of
a noble messenger. It is not the speech of a
poet (little do you believe) nor the speech of
a soothsayer (little do you remember), a

sending down [i.e. revelation] from the
Lord (q.v.) of all worlds" (o 69:40-3). An-
other Meccan sura (p_ 52:29-34; see chron-
ology and the qur'an) emphasizes the
same assertion even more forcefully:
"Therefore remind [them]! By your Lord's
blessing (q.v.) you are not a soothsayer, nor
possessed. Or do they say, 'He is a poet for
whom we await fate's (q.v.) uncertainty'

[particularly times of war]? Or do their

intellects [ahlam, lit. dreams of an evil ori-
gin; see dreams and sleep] bid them do
this? Or are they an insolent people? Or do
they say: 'He has invented it?' Nay, but
they do not believe. Then let them bring a
discourse like it, if they speak truly" (a list-
ing of all God's works — beyond human
capacity — follows). This sura reflects the
objections raised by Muhammad's adver-
saries. The most relevant, so they believed,
was the comparison of his first revelations
to the prophecies of the soothsayers (kuh-
han, pi. of kahin) and to the trance of pos-
sessed poets. The Qur'an underscores the
following response to these objections
(o 81:22-5): "Your companion (sahibukum) is
not possessed; he truly saw him [i.e. God]
on the clear horizon; he does not hold back
[what he knows] of the unseen (see hidden
and the hidden). And it is not the word of
an accursed satan (see devil; curse)." The
accusation levelled at Muhammad was ap-
parently based on observed practices. In
their ecstatic manifestations, the ancient
soothsayers used a more elevated style than
that of common language. Prophetic and
divinatory language is characterized by its
rhythm, the structure of the sentence, the
balanced use of verbs, a vocabulary full of
imagery and the use of uncommon terms.
This is called by the Qur'an zukhruf al-
qawl, "the adornment of speech," which
sought to mislead and seduce people (ghu-
ruran). Arabs were (and remain) very sen-
sitive to the melody of rhythm and the
magic of the word. The first schism in

DIVINATION

544

Islam (ridda, see apostasy), the return to
paganism by the Yemenite tribes of the
Madhhij in the year 11/632, was instigated
by Dhii 1-Himar Abhala b. Ka'b, nick-
named al-Aswad (i.e. the black one), a
soothsayer, conjurer and magician, who
"charmed the hearts of those who heard
him speak" (Tabarl, Ta'rikh, i, 1851-80).
The second schism, led by Musaylima al-
Kadhdhab (see musaylima and pseudo-
prophets), also arose in response to the
seductive powers of his oratory style
(Tabarl, Ta'rikh, i, 1929-57).

Muhammad's opinion about soothsayers
and divination illustrates his belief, particu-
larly prior to his prophetic vocation, that
they offered a means by which the myster-
ies of God might be unveiled. When asked
about the kuhhan, Muhammad is said to
have replied: "They are nothing." Those
with him remarked that these soothsayers
nevertheless predicted events that came to
pass. The Prophet replied: "The true part
of what they say comes from the jinn (q.v.)
who, like chickens, cackle it into the ears of
the one into whose service he is placed,
while they mix with it more than a hun-
dred lies" (Bukharl, for reference see Fahd,
Nubuwwa). A hadith reported by Anas b.
Malik (Wensinck, Concordance, ii, 26, s.v.
khurafa) confirms that the Prophet put great
faith in revelations by jinn. This hadith
concerns a man by the name of Khurafa
from the tribe of 'Udhra who was ab-
ducted by the jinn; he listened to their re-
ports from the sky and passed them on to
the inhabitants of earth (q.v).

In other words, Muhammad acknowl-
edged that the kahin received his knowledge
from a spirit through possession (majnun),
i.e. a personal relationship with a jinn who
observes from the sky events below and re-
lays this information to his confidant(s).
When the Qur'an was revealed to Muham-
mad, the angels (q.v.) were said to have
been charged with guarding the sky by fir-

ing shooting-stars at the jinn in order to
prevent their spying (o_ 15:15-8; cf. 41:12;
67:5; Ibn Ishaq, Sua, I2gf; Ibn Sa'd,
Tabaqat, i, 1, no).

The constant assertion that there is to be
no divination after the Islamic prophecy (la
kihdna ba'd al-nubuwwa) was not accompa-
nied by any negative assessment of a mes-
sage transmitted by a jinn or shaytan (see
devil). Though there is no talk in Islam of
soothsayers, kihdna was never formally pro-
hibited by the Qur'an or even the sunna
(q.v.). Two matters are, however, forbidden:
first, consultation of a kahin and belief in
what he says, since this is tantamount to
denying the revelation made to Muham-
mad (Wensinck, Concordance, iv, 196); sec-
ondly, earning money as a kahin or alloting
a salary for this activity (Wensinck, Concord-
ance, i, 505). Nowhere in the Qur'an can
one find a prohibition analogous to the one
in Leviticus 19:3: "Do not turn to mediums
or wizards; do not seek them out, to be de-
filed by them." It seems, however, that such
a prohibition was not altogether absent; in
fact, it is related on the authority of Wahb
b. Munabbih (d. 114/732) that God re-
vealed to Miisa, b. Manassa b. Yusuf and
his people the following: "I have nothing to
do with whoever practices magic or con-
sults a magician, with whoever practices
soothsaying or consults a soothsayer and
with whoever draws omens from birds or
whoever lets anyone do so... Let he who
sincerely believes in me trust in me sin-
cerely..." (Ibn Qutayba, 'Uyun, ii, 263; cf.
Lev 20:6).

The Prophet's reluctance to condemn
divination outright can be related to the
overall conception of prophecy and me-
dium (i.e. supernatural agency) of his day
(see prophets and prophethood). Since
prophecy was considered an extension of
divination and an indication of a superior
state of being, it was only normal that cer-
tain pre-Islamic ideas and prophetic pro-

545

cesses should have carried over into the
young Islamic community. This explains
the fact that the role of mediums, angels,
demons and jinn remained prominent in
the notion of inspiration as conceived by
early Islam (see Fahd, La divination, d^i.,
68f; id., Kihilna, Nubuwwa; see also
REVELATION AND INSPIRATION).

In conclusion, it can be stated that ves-
tiges of ancient Semitic concepts appear in
both the Qur'an and the hadlth, including
the recognition of a strong relationship be-
tween the seer and the divine: Knowledge
of the seer originates in divinity and no in-
compatibility exists between the craft of
the seer and divine inspiration; only the
origin of the message, its nature and its
content make it different.

T. Fahd

Bibliography
Primary: Bukharl, Sahih; Ibn Ishaq, Sim; Ibn
Qutayba, Abu Muhammad 'Abdallah b. Muslim,
'Uyun al-akhbar, 4 vols., Cairo, 1925-1930; Ibn
Sa c d, Tabaqat; Tabarl, Ta'nkh.
Secondary: T. Fahd, La divination arabe. Etudes
religieuses, sociologiques et folkloriques sur le milieu natif
de I'Islam, Leiden 1966; Paris 1987 2 ; id., Le
pantheon de Varabie centrale a la veille de Vhegire, Paris
1968; id., Anges, demons et djinns en Islam, in
Sources Orientates, viii, Paris 1971, 155-213 (Ital.
trans, in Miditerran.ee , Rome 1994, 129-80); id.,
La connaissance de l'inconnaissable et l'obtention
de l'impossible dans la pensee mantique et
magique de I'Islam, in beo 44 (1992), 33-44; id.,
Kihana, in Ef, v, 99-101; id., Nubuwwa, in El 2 ,
viii, 93-7; id., Sadj c , in Ef, viii, 732-4; J.-G. Heintz
(ed.), Oracles et propheties dans Vantiquite. Actes du
Colloque de Strasbourg (ijj-ijjuin IQQ5), Paris 1997
(see, among others, T. Fahd, De l'oracle a la
prophetic en Arabic, 231-41; R.G. Khoury, Poesie
et prophetie en Arabic Convergences et luttes,
243-58); Wensinck, Concordance.

Divisions of the Qur'an see form

AND STRUCTURE OF THE QUR'AN

Divisions of the Qur'an for
Recitation see recitation, the art of

Divorce see marriage

;e and divorce

Djinn see jinn

Dog

A carnivorous domesticated mammal,
the dog (kalbj is mentioned twice in the
Qur'an, once in a generic sense and once
in reference to the dog of the Men of the
Cave (q.v.). Islamic law considers the ani-
mal unclean (see purity and impurity),
and although this cannot be inferred from
the qur'anic references, it is evident in the
exegetical literature (see exegesis of the
qur'an). That dogs were not entirely
shunned may be seen in Q_ 5:4, which de-
clares permissible eating that which has
been killed by "beasts of prey trained as
hounds." It has been taken to mean any
beasts (even birds) of prey, but the adjec-
tive "trained as hounds" (mukallabm), is a
derivation of kalb, indicating the import-
ance of the hunting dog. However, the
occasion for this revelation (see occasions
of revelation) is said to have been an
order of the Prophet to kill all the dogs in
Medina (q.v.), for the angel Gabriel (q.v.)
would not enter a house in which there
was a dog.

In o_ 7:176, the dog is used in a simile in
reference to the unbeliever or apostate (see
apostasy): "So his likeness is as the likeness
of a dog: If you attack it, it lolls its tongue
out; if you leave it, it lolls its tongue out.
That is that people's likeness who accuse
our signs (q.v.) of being lies." Sometimes
this is considered to refer to the biblical
figure Balaam. The simile implies the
thoughtlessness of the dog, but exegetes
often claimed that the dog represents the
most base of creatures, distinguished by
the "weakness of its heart (q.v.)."

The story of the Men of the Cave
(o 18:9-26) contains two references to a

DREAMS AND SLEEP

546

dog, here presented as the companion of
the Sleepers. The believers sleep, and
"their dog stretches out its paws on the
threshold" (q_ 18:18). Utterance of this
verse (or of Q_ 55:33), it is claimed, will stop
a dog from attacking (al-Damlrl, ii, 265).
More enigmatic is p_ 18:22: "[Some] will
say: They were three, their dog the fourth,
and [some] say: Five, their dog the sixth,
guessing at random; and [some] say:
Seven, and their dog the eighth." Narra-
tive details on the appearance and name
of the animal, as well as its relation to the
Sleepers, are described variously, but more
esoteric interpretations, even from the
most conservative commentators, have
been inspired by the place of the dog in
the parable. It is said to follow their reli-
gion, and in one common tradition, the
men try to drive the dog away, but it mirac-
ulously speaks, telling them that it is the
most beloved of God and will watch over
them. The fact of its presence among them
is proof of its exalted status, and it will be
the only dog to enter paradise (q.v.). L.
Massignon cites Isma'ili explanations in
which the dog is the spiritual instructor of
the Sleepers or Salman Pak, accompanying
the Seven Imams (Les sept dormants, 72-3).
In other versions the dog is a human or the
reincarnation of a human, or some other
animal. There seems to have been a desire
to see it as a human, perhaps as the owner
of the dog, and a variant reading to this
effect is attributed to Jafar al-Sadiq (d.
148/765; kalibuhum instead of kalbuhum),
but as pointed out by al-TusT (d. 459/1066),
this variant is difficult to reconcile with
"stretching its paws/arms on the thresh-
old" (Tibyan, v, 30).

Fuda

Bibliography
Primary: In addition to the exegetical tradition
for the relevant verses, see al-Damlrl, Hayat

al-hayawan al-kubra, Beirut n.d., 242-72, esp.
249-65; al-Jahiz, Kitab al-Hayawan, ed. A.S.M.
Harun, Cairo n.d., ii, 15-7, 187-90; iii 43-4; al-
Rummanl, al-Nukat, 76, ad p_ 7:176).
Secondary: I. Goldziher, Islamisme et parsisme,
in Actes du premier Congres International d'Histoire de
Religions, Paris 1900, 135-8 (early Muslim
attitudes towards dogs), also published inj.
Desomogyi (ed.), Gesammclte Schriflen, Hildesheim
1967-73, iv, 248-51; L. Massignon, Les sept
dormants d'Ephese (aid al-kahf) en islam et
chretiente, in REI 12 (1954), 61-110, esp. 72-3; R.
Paret, Ashab al-kahf, in El", i, 691; F. Vire, Kalb,
in Ef, 489-92.

Donkey see animal life

Doubt see UNCERTAINTY

Dower/Dowry see bridewealth
Dreams see dreams and sleep; sleep

Dreams and Sleep

Visions (q.v.) seen while asleep which con-
vey a message or meaning of some import.
Four different terms denote dreams in the
Qur'an. The word ru'ya appears six times
(ft 12:5, 43, 100; 17:60; 37:105; 48:27); the
word manam appears four times, twice
meaning sleep (q.v.; Q_ 30:23; 39:42) and
twice meaning dream (q_ 8:43; 37:102);
bushra, which means good tidings (see good
news), is interpreted once to mean a dream
(q_ 10:64). All three words signify good
dreams. For bad dreams the Qur'an uses
hulm. This word occurs twice, both times in
the expression adghath ahlam, meaning
"confused dreams" (o_ 12:44; 21:5). Of the
ten references, six deal with biblical figures:
four with Joseph (q.v.; Q_ 12:5, 43, 44, 100)
and two with Abraham (q.v.; q 37:102, 105);
the other references deal with matters re-
lating to central Islamic issues.

In their remarks on verses that mention
dreams, most qur'anic commentators ad-

547

DREAMS AND SLEEP

duce hadlth sayings of the kind found in
the canonical hadlth collections (see
hadIth and the chjr'an). These sayings
deal with the authority (q.v.) of dreams and
their usage as a means of legitimization.
(For a characterization of the nature of
dreams in the hadlth collections, see
Manam, Introduction, 36.) In citing these
sayings, the exegetical works (tafsir) associ-
ate the qur'anic dreams with the general
Islamic attitude toward dreams as ex-
pressed in the hadlth. The hadlth contrib-
utes to this association by referring to
qur'anic dreams and citing relevant
qur'anic verses in its dream chapters (for
example Bukharl, Sa/iTh, Bab al-ta 'bir, Bab
ru'yd al-sdlihm). The same occurs in other
sources that dedicate special chapters to
dreams, using qur'anic dreams to sup-
port their interest in the topic of dreams
(for example Abu 1-Qasim al-Qushayrl,
Risdla; cf. the examination of bushrd
below).

Some commentators suggest that qur-
'anic dreams be classified according to
their fulfillment and clarity. Al-RazI (d.
606/1210; Tafsir, xxvi, 157), for example,
mentions three classes: (1) dreams in which
the message or description becomes real-
ity, such as the message in Muhammad's
dream in Hudaybiya (q.v.), foretelling
the conquest of Mecca (q.v.; o_ 48:27);
(2) dreams in which the message is fulfilled
in the opposite way, e.g. Abraham's dream,
where the message was to sacrifice a son
but the reality was the sacrifice of a lamb
(o_ 37:102-5; see Isaac; ishmael); (3) dreams
that need interpretation to be understood,
exemplified by the four dreams in Surat
Yusuf (o_ 12).

The remainder of this article is devoted
to an examination of qur'anic verses that
allude to dreams (with a translation of the
verses), a summary of the relevant tafsir
sections as well as an analysis of their ap-
plicability to the hadlth.

Abraham's dream
Q_ 37:102-5 reads: "And when [his son] was
old enough to walk with him, he said, 'My
son, I see in a dream (manam) that I shall
sacrifice (q.v.) you; consider, what do you
think?' He said, 'My father, do as you are
commanded; you shall find me, God will-
ing, one of the steadfast.' When they had
surrendered, and he flung him upon his
brow, we called unto him, Abraham, you
have confirmed the vision (ru'ydf '..." Exe-
getical commentaries on these verses add
details to complete the account and raise a
few questions about the content and pro-
cess of Abraham's dream. Through such
details and questions, the status of dreams
in Islamic thought, not necessarily in the
Qur'an, was articulated.

Several commentators mention that
when Abraham was informed about the
future birth of his child, he took an oath
(see oaths) that he would sacrifice the child
to God. In a dream he was reminded of
that oath (Muqatil, Tafsir, iii, 615; RazI,
Tafsir, xxvi, 153; Qurtubl, Jami', xv, 102;
Suyuti, Durr, v, 307). Exegesis (see exegesis
OF THE Q_UR'AN: CLASSICAL AND MEDIEVAL)
further reports that Abraham saw the
dream three nights in a row. In the morn-
ing after the first night, Abraham thought
about the dream and wondered whether it
was from God or from Satan (see devil).
The next night he had the same dream and
then he knew that the message was from
God. By the third night, Abraham was
ready to sacrifice his son (RazI, Tafsir, xxvi,
153; Baghawl, Ma'dlim, iv, 569; Qurtubl,
Jami', xv, 101-2; Suyuti, Durr, v, 308). Abra-
ham's hesitation is understood to be in dis-
agreement with the hadlth that states that
prophets' dreams (ru'yd) are equal to reve-
lation (wahy, Suyuti, Durr, v, 305; cf. Joseph's
dream below). If dreams have the author-
ity of revelation, Abraham should not have
hesitated. Furthermore, the Qur'an nar-
rates that Abraham consulted his son

DREAMS AND SLEEP

548

about the sacrifice (fa-n^ur madha tara).
This, in the eyes of some commentators,
constitutes a contradiction: If dreams are
authoritative, as indicated by the hadith,
why did this dream not elicit Abraham's
immediate trust and certitude (see TRUST
AND patience)? On the other hand, if the
dream does not supply decisive proof of its
reliability, which may explain the hesitation,
how did it happen that Abraham decided
to sacrifice his son after all? Al-Razfs (d.
606/1210) (Tafsir, xxvi, 153) answer to both
questions is that Abraham hesitated with
regard to the dream (ru'ya) but was reas-
sured by a clear revelation (al-wahy al-sankh).

Attention should be given to the termi-
nology used by al-Razi: Although the verse
itself uses the word manam, the commenta-
tor refers to the word ru'ya without indicat-
ing whether it was a synonym for manam or
not. When dealing with ru'ya, he also refers
to wahy. The difference between the two
may be associated with the hadith that de-
fines dreams as part of prophecy (see Abu
Hajir Zaghlul, Mawsu'a, v, 156; Kinberg,
Literal dreams, 283-4, an< ^ n - I2 > Qurtubl,
ad Joseph's dream, below). Al-RazT, when
explaining how Abraham made the deci-
sion, puts ru'ya and wahy in a hierarchy, in
which the latter authorizes the former.

The tafsir emphasizes that Abraham was
so determined about what he was going to
do that the efforts of Satan to change his
mind were in vain (Baghawl, Ala 'alim, iv,
570; Suyuti, Durr, v, 306-7). Abraham made
all the preparations and when he was
about to sacrifice his son, a voice was
heard, complimenting him for trusting the
dream [ru'ya, Q_ 37:105). This, according to
al-Razi, indicates Abraham's awareness of
the fact that the message delivered in his
dream was obligatory. This does not mean,
however, that the command was actually
carried out (RazI, Tafsir, xxvi, 156). Follow-
ing this argument, al-Razi classifies this

dream among those in which the message
is fulfilled in an opposite way (id., 157).

Dreams related to Joseph
In Siirat Yusuf (o_ 12) there are four dreams
that are symbolic and require interpreta-
tion. As such they fit the third category of
dreams mentioned above. In the beginning
of the sura (o_ 12:3), Joseph tells his father
that he dreamt he had seen eleven stars,
the sun (q.v.) and the moon (q.v.), all bow-
ing down before him (cf. Gen 37:4-6; see
bowing and prostration). Later in the
sura we read about the dreams of the two
men who met Joseph in prison. One saw
himself pressing grapes, the other saw
himself carrying bread (q.v.) on his head
while birds were picking at it. Joseph inter-
preted the dreams to mean that the first
man will pour wine for his king and the
other will be crucified (o_ 35-41; cf. Gen
40:5-19; see crucifixion). Verse 12:43 tells
of Pharaoh's (q.v.) dream about the seven
fat cows eating the seven lean ones and
about the seven green and seven withered
ears of corn. Pharaoh's counselors could
not interpret the dream and defined it as
adghdth ahldm, "confused dreams" (o 12:44).
Joseph interprets the symbols as standing
for seven good years that will be devoured
by seven bad years (o_ 12:47-9). Toward the
end of the sura Joseph's dream, mentioned
at the outset of the sura, is fulfilled with
the arrival of his family to Egypt: "And he
lifted his father and mother upon the
throne and they fell down prostrate before
him. 'See, father,' he said, 'this is the inter-
pretation of my vision of long ago; my
Lord (q.v.) has made it true'" (o_ 12:100).

As in the case of Abraham's dream, here
too exegesis contributes to the understand-
ing of the status of dreams in Islam. While
dealing with the verse that cites Jacob's
(q.v.) advice to Joseph not to tell his dream
to his brothers (o_ 12:5), most commentators

549

DREAMS AND SLEEP

focus on the prophetic nature of this
dream and elaborate on the relationship
between prophecy and dreams. Al-Wahidi
(d. 468/1076; Want, ii, 600), for example,
explains that Joseph was a prophet and
states that prophets' dreams (ru'ya) are
equal to revelation [wahy, cf. Abraham's
dream above). Jacob knew that his sons,
Joseph's brothers, would understand the
meaning of the dream and would try to do
away with Joseph. Thus he advised him
not to tell them his dream.

For the same verse, al-Qurtubl (d. 671/
1272) adduces some of the hadlth sayings
that actually underscore the reliability of
dreams such as the one which defines
dreams as part of prophecy (the 26" 1 , 40 th ,
44 th , 46 th , 49 th , 50 th part of prophecy, Jami ',
ix, 122-4; °f' Abraham's dream above; see
REVELATION AND INSPIRATION; PROPHETS
and prophethood). He further examines
the qualities of dreams as truth-holders
(see truth), as prophecies that come true,
and compares different kinds of dreams
and different times of dreaming (Qurtubi,
Jami', 125-9). He ends his commentary with
the presentation of Joseph as a prophet
and as the best dream-interpreter on earth
(id., 129, ad v. 6). In his commentary on the
verses dealing with Joseph's interpretation
of the dreams of the two men in prison
(q_ 12:35-42), al-Qurtubl raises a question
concerning the actualization of dreams
according to their interpretation: When
the dreamer tells the truth, his dream will
be fulfilled according to its interpretation.
The process is different when the dreamer
lies. In this case, only the interpretation of
a prophet will be carried out. This is the
way to understand Joseph's words: "The
matter is decided whereon you enquire"
(o_ 12:41). Al-Qurtubl explains that when
Joseph interpreted the dream of the
doomed man, the latter denied having
the dream. To thatjoseph answered,

"Whether you saw it or not, 'the matter is
decided whereon you enquire'" (Qurtubi,
Jami', ix, 193). The question of the fulfill-
ment of dreams is raised again by al-
Qurtubi when dealing with the number
of years that passed from the time Joseph
had his dream as a boy until he met his
family in Egypt as a hero (p_ 12:100). Forty
years, as stated by al-Qurtubl, is the long-
est time that can pass from the time the
dream occurred until its actualization (id.,
264 ad Q_ 12:100).

Al-Qurtubi's elaboration conveys the
exegetical inclination to consider qur'anic
dreams an integral part of the literature of
dream interpretation (ta'bir). An examina-
tion of the ta 'bir literature shows that al-
though it also manifests that it has been
influenced by foreign cultures such as
Babylonian (Bland, Muhammedan sci-
ence, ng; Fahd, The dream, 351), Greek
(Bland, Muhammedan science, 123-4;
Fahd, The dream, 248; Somogyi, Inter-
pretation, 2) and Jewish (Kister, Interpre-
tation, gg-101). The literature on oneiro-
mancy is, however, Islamic in nature: A
basic requirement imposed on every
Muslim dream-interpreter is a thorough
knowledge of the tradition of qur'anic
commentary (tafsir) from which many ways
of interpretation derive (Bland, Muham-
medan science, 132). Qur'anic verses are
also often cited in ta'bir works and are fre-
quently used as means of interpretation
(id., 122; Kister, Interpretation, 90, 91;
Somogyi, Interpretation, 15-8). Joseph
appears in ta'bir books in illustration of
methods of interpretation (Bland, Mu-
hammedan science, 125). Certain parts of
the Quran are considered protectors
against bad dreams (id., 129-30) and verses
heard or seen in dreams are interpreted
according to the nature of the sura in
which they occur (id., 143).

More qur'anic references to dreams deal

DREAMS AND SLEEP

550

with issues taken from the biography of
Muhammad (see sira and the qjjr'an) and
contribute to the establishment of basic
elements of Islamic belief related to good
tidings about the next world (bushrd), the
battle of Badr, the conquest of Mecca,
the nocturnal journey of the Prophet (see
ascension) and the accusation against
Muhammad of being inspired by adghdth
ahldm, "confused dreams" (see opposition
to muhammad).

Bushrd
Q_ 10:62-4 reads: "Surely God's friends —
no fear shall be on them, neither shall
they sorrow. Those who believe, and are
godfearing — for them is good tidings in
the present life and in the world to come.
There is no changing the words of God;
that is the mighty triumph." Several defini-
tions of "good tidings" (bushrd) are ad-
duced in the commentary on this verse,
among which "dream" (ru'yd) is one.
Dreams are the good tidings in the present
world; the gardens of Eden (janndt Adan
(see garden)) are the good tidings of the
next world (Tabarsi, Majma', hi, 70). Apart
from commentary, this verse is often ad-
duced as an opening to examination of
dreams. For example, al-Qushayrl begins
the chapter about dreams in his Risdla with
this verse in order to legitimize the interest
Islam has in dreams (QushayrT, Risdla, Bab
ru'yd al-qawm, 304). Al-QushayrT further de-
velops the legitimization of dreams by ad-
ducing a set of prophetic sayings that de-
note the special value of this medium.

Similar traditions also appear in exegeti-
cal works. Al-Suyuti (d. 911/1505), in his
commentary on this verse, cites a variety of
sayings defining dreams as a part of proph-
ecy that has ceased to exist [Durr, iii, 337-9;
Ibn 'Atiyya, Muharrar, iii, 129). Kashanl
(d. after iogi/1680), on the same verse,
quotes a few Shl'ite traditions to demon-
strate the way in which the good tidings

are delivered. Such is the one transmitted
by 'Ayyashi (d. early fourth/tenth) on the
authority of Abu Ja'far al-Baqir (the sixth
Shi'l Imam, d. 114/733): When a man is
about to die, the angel of death comforts
him by telling him that his hopes will be
fulfilled and that none of his fears will ma-
terialize to hurt him. Then the angel (q.v.)
opens a door facing the gardens of Eden
and lets the man see his future abode (see
garden); there he sees the Prophet and
All (see c ali b. abi talib) and Hasan and
Husayn (Kashanl, Sdfi, ii, 410; see family
of the prophet; shi'ism and the qjur'an).
Visions of paradise (q.v.) and descriptions
of rewards in the next world are the most
common motifs in the literature of dreams
(see reward and punishment). By using
these motifs, and by referring to hadlth
sayings that legitimize the usage of dreams,
commentators try to anchor dream litera-
ture in the Qur'an.

The battle of Badr
o 8:43 reads: "When God showed them to
you [Muhammad] in your dream (mandm)
as few; and had he shown them as many
you would have lost heart, and quarrelled
about the matter; but God saved [you] ; he
knows the thoughts in the breasts." Some
commentators report that before the battle
of Badr (q.v.), Muhammad had a dream in
which he saw the enemy to be few in num-
ber. Upon divulging the dream, the people
were encouraged and declared that their
Prophet's dream revealed the truth. In the
battlefield, God, to fulfill Muhammad's
dream, decreased the number of infidels in
the eyes of the believers (Muqatil, Tafsir, ii,
117; Abu 1-Layth al-Samarqandl, Tafsir, ii,
20; cf. RazI, Tafsir, xv, 174). This verse
should be read together with Q_ 3:13 which
states that the victory of the believers at
Badr became possible through a divine
sign (dya) which had caused a deceptive
change in the number. Thus, if C3 8:43

55 1

DREAMS AND SLEEP

deals with a preliminary, revealing dream,
Q_ 3:13 describes some kind of apparition
(q.v.) that took place on the battlefield in
the fulfillment of the dream.

The conquest of Mecca
Q_ 48:27 reads: "God has indeed fulfilled the
vision (ru'ya). He vouchsafed to his messen-
ger truly: 'You shall enter the holy mosque
(q.v.), if God wills, in security, your heads
shaved, your hair cut short, not fearing.'
He knew what you knew not, and gave you
a victory beforehand." Of the three groups
of dreams presented above, this verse is
used to demonstrate the first kind, where
the message or description is fulfilled and
becomes a part of reality.

In explaining the background to the
verse, commentators emphasize that the
verse alludes to a dream which the Prophet
had before he went to Hudaybiya. In the
dream, he saw the believers entering the
holy mosque. The believers were pleased
to hear the dream, believing that they
would enter Mecca (q.v.) that same year.
When this did not happen, the so-called
hypocrites [mundfiqun, see hypocrites and
hypocrisy) became doubtful. The verse
was revealed to encourage believers and to
certify the trustworthiness of the dream
(see occasions of revelation), namely the
future entrance into Mecca (Muqatil, Tafsir,
iv, 76; T aDarsl ) Majma', iv, 78; Shawkam,
Tafsir, v, 55; Razi, Tafsir, xxviii, 104. See
also Bukharl, Sahih, Bab al-ta'bir, Bab ru'ya
al-salihin) .

God's promise to fulfill the dream ("You
shall enter the holy mosque") seems to con-
tradict the addition "if God wills." Exege-
sis suggests several ways to settle the con-
tradiction, all of which convey a need,
almost an obligation, to interpret the verse
in a manner that does not contradict the
idea of dreams as truth-holders or, as
stated by al-Qiirtubi, as "means to deliver
revelations to prophets" ifjami', xvi, 290).

The nocturnal journey of the Prophet
Q_ 17:60 reads: "And when we said to you,
'Surely your Lord encompasses human-
kind,' and we made the vision (ru'ya), that
we showed you, an ordeal (fitna) for hu-
mankind and [also] the tree cursed in the
Qur'an; and we frighten them, but it only
increases them in great insolence." Exeget-
ical literature offers various occasions to
which the ru'ya in this verse may refer: One
is the ascension (q.v.; isra'), mentioned in
the first verse of the same sura. In this
case, ru'ya (dream) might mean ru'yat 'ayn,
"physical seeing in wakefulness" and the
cursed tree (al-shajara al-mal'una) is the
zaqum (Tabarsi, Majma', iv (xv), 66; Suyuti,
Dun; iv, 210; Shawkam, Tafsir, iii, 240; Ibn
Atiyya, Muharrar, iii, 467, 468; see trees).
The reference could also be to Muham-
mad's dream regarding the conquest of
Mecca (q 48:27; T a t> a rsl, Majma', iv [xv],
66; Shawkam, Tajsir, iii, 240; Alusi, Riih,
viii, 107; Ibn 'Atiyya, Muharrar, iii, 468) or
to the dream in which the Prophet saw
monkeys climbing his pulpit (minbar), inter-
preted as being the Umayyad caliphs. Ac-
cording to the last interpretation, the
cursed tree alludes to the Umayyad dy-
nasty (Tabarsi, Majma', iv (xv), 66; Suyuti,
Dun; iv, 21 1; Shawkam, Tafsir, iii, 240; Alusi,
Ruh, viii, 107; KashanI, Soft, iii, 200; Ibn
Atiyya, Muharrar, iii, 468).

Unlike the other references discussed
above, the exegesis on this verse does not
examine the dream as a medium which re-
veals a future event but rather raises a ques-
tion as to the circumstances under which
the dream could cause fitna, "ordeal, inso-
lence, dissension (q.v.)." Performing the as-
cension (isra') through a dream would not
cause fitna (Ibn Atiyya, Muharrar, iii, 468).
Only physical ascension could be consid-
ered a miracle, the acceptance of which re-
quires profound belief and as such puts
people to the test. Following this line, at-
tention should be given to the exceptional

DREAMS AND SLEEP

55-'

usage of ru'ya in this verse. It means physi-
cal seeing rather than dreaming and indi-
cates wakefulness rather than sleep (see
seeing and hearing). If that ru'ya refers to
the dream Muhammad had before the
conquest of Mecca, fitna could be the out-
come of the disappointment of the people
who did not witness the immediate fulfill-
ment of the dream (see "The conquest of
Mecca" above).

Adghath ahlam
Dreams of this category are defined as
frightful nightmares, deceptive dreams or
dreams with a meaning that cannot be in-
terpreted (Qurtubl, Jami', xi, 270). In the
case of Pharaoh, the counselors did not
know how to interpret his dream and
named it adghath ahlam (q_ 12:44). In Q 21:5
the term refers to the Qur'an brought by
Muhammad and was used by those who
doubted his mission. Although not elabo-
rated in the tafsir, the difference between
the term adghath ahlam and ru 'yd/manam can
be easily perceived. The latter are consid-
ered part of prophecy, of divine origin, re-
vealing the future (see Bushrd above), they
hold the truth (see Muhammad's dream
before the conquest of Mecca, mentioned
above) and have the authority to lead peo-
ple and instruct them on how to act (see
Abraham's dream, and all the dreams in
Surat Yusuf, mentioned above). Adghath
ahlam, on the other hand, are represented
as misleading lies, stories inspired by de-
mons and, as such, invalid. By compar-
ing the negative features of adghath ahlam,
the value and weight of ru'ya and mandm
become prominent. This differentiation
also appears in the hadlth literature, ex-
pressed in a widespread saying "ru'ya is
from God and hulm is from Satan" (al-
ru'yd min Allah wa-l-hulm min al-shaytdn, for
a reference to different versions of this
hadlth, see Abu Hajir Zaghlfll, Mawsu'a,
v > 157)-

Conclusions
Of all the references to dreams examined
above, only in Surat Yusuf do we come
across dream narratives (q.v.). In all other
cases, the term "dream" is mentioned but
nothing is said about the content of the
dream, the reason for it or its background
(asbab al-nuzul; see ocgasions of revela-
tion); these are elaborated in the exegeti-
cal literature. This observation allows us to
say that — except for the dreams in Surat
Yusuf — the Qur'an does not contain nar-
ratives of dreams. The examination of
dreams in the exegetical literature reflects
the concerns of later times, when dreams
had already gained a special status in Islam.

The legitimization of the usage of
dreams, established in the hadlth, was set
to justify the special role dreams began to
play in the nascent Islamic community that
had lost its Prophet. People's search for the
authority of dreams increased after the
death of the Prophet, when prophecy
came to an end (see Kinberg, Literal
dreams, 283, and 11. 12; also Von Griine-
baum, Cultural function, 7). As part of
prophecy, dreams were perceived as vehi-
cles through which transcendental infor-
mation could reach the believers. This cre-
ated a special interest in dreams and, due
to the trust people had in them, they began
to function in a way similar to that of the
hadlth, especially that of edifying hadlth
(for further details see Kinberg, Literal
dreams, 283-92 [Dreams as a functional
parallel to hadlth]). The Qur'an naturally
was not in need of this kind of dream. The
exegetical literature, nevertheless, tried to
relate hadlth and Qur'an.

The same can be said of the relationship
between qur'anic dreams and ta 'bir litera-
ture, the interpretation of dreams. Exege-
sis, whenever applicable, dealt with the
way in which the interpretation of dreams
operated and the circumstances under
which they could be fulfilled. Ta 'bir books,

553

DROWNING

which developed into a distinct genre (for
details see Manam, Introduction, 43-6), re-
ferred to the Quran and used its verses as
a means of interpretation. Nonetheless,
were it not for the contribution of tafsir, no
qur'anic verse would have been associated
with the ta 'blr literature.

Leah Kinberg

Bibliography
Primary: Abu Hajir Zaghlul (ed.), Mawsu'at atraf
al-hadrth, Beirut 1989; Abu 1-Layth al-
Samarqandl, Tafsir; BukharT, Sahih; AlusT, Rich;
Baghawl, Ma'dlim; Ibn 'Atiyya, Muharrar;
KashanT, Soft; Manam, see below Kinberg,
Morality; Muqatil, Tafsir; QurtubT, Jami ' c ;
Qushayri, Abu 1-Qasim, al-Risala al-Qushayriyya,
Beirut 1987; RazI, Tafsir; Shawkam, Tafsir;
SuyutT, Durr; Tabarsi, Majma c ; Wahidi, Wasit.
Secondary: N. Bland, On the Muhammedan
science of ta'bfr or interpretation of dreams, in
JRAS (1856), 118-79; T. Fahd, Les procedes
oniromantiques, in id., La divination arabe, Leiden
1966, 247-367; id., The dream in medieval
Islamic society, in G.E. von Griinebaum and R.
Callois (eds.), The dream and human societies,
Berkelev 1966, 351-63; G.E. von Griinebaum,
The cultural function of the dream as illustrated
by classical Islam, in The dream and human societies,
3-21; L. Kinberg, Literal dreams and prophetic
hadit in classical Islam. A comparison of two
ways of legitimation, in Der Islam (1993),
279-300; id., Morality in the guise of dreams. Ibn
Abi al-Dunyd's K. al-Manam (a critical edition
with introduction), Leiden 1994 (— Manam),
and see the bibliography there; M.J. Kister,
The interpretation of dreams. An unknown
manuscript of Ibn Qutaybah's Ibarat al-ru'yd,
in IOS \ (1974), 67-103; J. de Somogyi, The
interpretation of dreams in ad-Damln's Haydt
al-hayawdn, in JRA s (1940), 1-20.

Dress see clothing

Drink see food and drink

Drowning

Death by suffocation under water. Along-
side warnings about the day of judgment

on which individuals will receive their
reckoning (see last judgment; apocalypse;
eschatology), the Qur'an also recounts
instances of God's judgments against en-
tire communities in former times. Due to
their corruption (q.v.), God had destroyed
these once powerful peoples, as stated in
Q_ 29:40: "And we seized [and punished]
each for its crime. We sent a hail of stones
against some; others were overtaken by an
awful cry; some we had the earth (q.v.)
swallow up; while still others we drowned!
Surely God did not wrong them; rather
they had wronged themselves." Such
drownings (gharaq, aghraq, mughraq) occur
approximately twenty times in the Qur'an
and almost always in explicit reference to
either the story of Noah (q.v.) and the
flood or to the destruction of Pharaoh
(q.v.) and his army in pursuit of Moses
(q.v.) and the Children of Israel (q.v.). Both
accounts depict people who are intransi-
gent in their evil ways (see evil deeds) and
deny the messengers sent by God to warn
them of his impending judgment (see
messenger; Warner): "When the folk of
Noah called the messengers liars, we
drowned them and made them a sign for
humanity. We have prepared a painful
punishment for oppressors!" (o_ 25:37; cf.
10:90; 11:37, 43; 23:27; 36:43; 44:24; 7 i: 25)-
Thus, and at times in nearly identical lan-
guage, the Qur'an describes God's deliver-
ance (q.v.) of Noah and Moses as well as
his punishment of their enemies by drown-
ing: "And we saved Moses and all of those
with him, then we drowned the others. In
that is a sign, but most do not believe"
(o_ 26:65-7; cf. 26:119-21; also 2:50; 7:64,
136; 8:54; 17:103; 21:77). Far from being
random acts of nature (see natural
world and the qjur'an), these drownings
result from the Hood of forty days and the
parting of the Red Sea and as such they
are miraculous in nature (see miracle).
Due to their miraculous nature, these and

DRUZES

554

similar events are meant both to under-
score God's justice (see justice and injus-
tice) and, equally important, to serve as a
sign (pya, see signs) for later generations
(q.v.), that they might take heed and follow
God guidance for humanity as revealed by
his prophets (see prophets and prophet-
hood): "So when they angered us, we took
vengeance (q.v.) and drowned them all,
and so we made them a precedent and an
example for those to come" (q_ 43:55-6; also
see 17:69; 25:37). See also chastisement
and punishment; punishment stories;

ANGER.

Th. Emil Homerin

Bibliography
Primary: 'Abd al-BaqT; Qushayrl, Lata'if, iii,
370-1; Qutb, glial, Beirut 1393-4/1973-4;
l407/ig87'3 (rev. ed.), v, 2599, 2735-6, 3194; RazT,
TafsTr, Cairo 1352/1933, xxiv, 140-1; xxv, 67; xxvii,
217; TabarT, Tafsir, Cairo 1373-77/1954-7, ixx,
5!-5. 57; xx, 96-7; xxv, 50-51.

Secondary: F. Rahman, Major themes of the Qilr'an,
Chicago 1980.

A religio-ethnic community and offshoot of
the Shl'l Isma'lli branch of Islam. The
Druze (durzi, pi. duritz) trace their origins
to early eleventh-century Fatimid Cairo
and the reign of the Isma'llT Imam-Caliph
al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (r. 386/996-411/
1021). The Druze faith or doctrine (madh-
hab) is based on in "Epistles of Wisdom"
(rasd'il al-hikma) written during the brief
period of its propagation, 408/1017-435/
1043. Three centuries later these epistles
were collected into six books by 'Isa, al-
Tanukhl. His organization of these epistles
constitutes the Druze Canon (14 in Book I,
25 in Book II, 15 in Book III, 13 in Book IV,
7 in Book V and 36 in Book VI; epistle 50
is addressed to Tanukhl, himself. With the
exception of eleven epistles whose author-

ship is unknown, all others bear the name
of one of the three founders of the faith:
Hamza b. 'All al-Zawzam (d. after 411/
1021), known as the guide of the believers
(hddi l-mustajibln), nos. 5-35 (although bear-
ing no author's name, the style of Epistles
5, 7, 8 and 11 indicate his authorship);
Isma'll b. Muhammad al-Tamlml, second
in rank, nos. 36-40; and Baha' al-Din al-
Muqtana (d. after 434/1032), whom
Hamza called the mouthpiece of the be-
lievers (lit. tongue of the unitarians, lisdn
al-muwahhidin) on account of his skill in ar-
ticulating the faith, nos. 42-111. The found-
ers called themselves and their followers
unitarians (muwahhidun) and their doctrine
unitarianism (da'wat al-tawhid) . Both terms
appear on almost every page of the Druze
Canon, where the epistles quote, either in
full or in part or sometimes even with a sin-
gle word, more than 250 verses from the
Qur'an to corroborate tawhid or to refute
tenets inconsistent with Druze doctrine
(Book I quotes 109 qur'anic verses, Book II
58, Book III 30, Book V 60, Books IV and
VI 4 each). For H amza (epistle 6), the Qur-
'an as revelation has seven forms (unzila'ala
sab 'at sunilf), one part of which is ndsikh
(abrogating), the other mansukh (abrogated),
and seven readings (auri'a bi-sab'at ahruf).
See abrogation; readings of the qjjr'an.

From Isma'Tlism to Da'wat al-tawhid
Shl'l Isma'lli precepts and beliefs grew out
of those of the Shl'a Imamiyya (see shi'ism
and the qjjr'an) in the second half of the
third/ninth century. Disagreement over the
identity of the legitimate imams led to di-
vergence in doctrine (see creeds; dissen-
sion), which soon set the Isma'llls apart as
an independent sect. Isma'Tlism achieved
its most brilliant success in North Africa
when in 297/909 it became the religion of
the Fatimid state that soon conquered
Egypt in 360/969. After the establishment
of this state, Isma'lli theologians instilled in

555

D RUZE S

the followers of the sect messianic expecta-
tions of the coming of the mahdi (the di-
vinely guided figure destined to usher in
the eschatological age of justice; see
eschatology), personified eventually in
the Fatimid Imam-Caliph (see imam;
caliph). Some orthodox Isma'llis were
eager to see the messianic promise fulfilled
during their own lifetime and thus were de-
scribed as extremists (ghulat). Such messi-
anic hopes reached their peak in 386/996
when, after almost a century and five
Fatimid caliphs, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah
ascended the throne. In 408/1017 Fatimid
Isma'lll missionaries (du'at, sing, dd'i)
claimed that al-Hakim was not only of
divine nature but that he was the long-
awaited mahdi. It is at this point that tradi-
tion locates the origin of the Druze reli-
gious sect.

The most radical change introduced by
Druzism was the abolishment of a here-
ditary system of the Imamate; after the
divine manifestation in al-Hakim, the
Isma'lll messianic belief in the coming
mahdi wan replaced by the definitive tri-
umph of unitarianism. The Druze belief is
based on the idea that human beings,
bound by their physical nature, possess a
faculty of comprehension which is corre-
spondingly bound by space and time and
thus incapable of conceiving the essence of
the divine (ldhut). God can be understood
only within the limits of our own compre-
hension: Like an image in a mirror, the di-
vine appears in human form (ndsut). Ldhut
and ndsut are based on an interpretation of
qur'anic verses. For example: "Say: 'Who is
the lord (rabb) of the heavens and earth?'
Say: 'Allah'" (o 13:16). The qur'anic terms
rabb and Allah are interpreted by H amza
(epistle 10) as the "Ldhut of our lord... who
cannot be defined and described." The
ndsut does not signify an incarnation of
God (see anthropomorphism) but an im-
age through which God brings himself

closer to human understanding. Al-Tamiml
(epistle 36) bases the form of ndsut on the
Qur'an: "Like a mirage in a desert which
the thirsty takes to be water, until when
he comes to it, he finds it to be nothing,
discovering instead God beside him"
(o 24:39). Al-Hakim was the penultimate
manifestation of the ldhut in the ndsut form,
completing the cycle of unitarian mes-
sages. Throughout the Epistles of the
Druze Canon, there is a strong emphasis
on the unitarian concept, and warning is
given against taking the ndsut image for the
divine itself: "God is unique, eternal, with-
out a beginning, and abiding without end.
He is beyond the comprehension of hu-
man understanding. Thus, he cannot be
defined by words or attributes distinct from
his essence. He has no body or spirit."

Tawhld
Druze doctrine follows Isma'ilism in its
distinction between formal revelation and
esoteric interpretation (see revelation
and inspiration) but adds a third element
in its call to apply, above all else, the heart
and mind to deep devotion to God, not to
rules and rituals. Those who follow either
the exoteric (tanzil) or esoteric (ta'wil) ap-
proach to interpreting scripture (see exe-
gesis OF THE QUR'an: CLASSICAL AND MEDIE-
VAL) remain dependent on intermediaries
and can thus never reach true belief in
God (tawhid). True unitarians have no need
for such mediation when it comes to wor-
ship. They are exempt from the perfor-
mance of ritual obligations (da'd'im taklijiyja
or al-takdlif al-shar'iyya, see ritual and
the qur'an) which they view as a form of
punishment God has set aside for non-
muwahhidun (see chastisement and punish-
ment). In place of the seven ritual obliga-
tions or pillars (da'd'im taklifiyya), the Druze
faith substitutes seven unitarian principles:
(1) truthfulness, (2) mutual aid, (3) disassoci-
ation from unbelievers, (4) renunciation of

DRUZES

556

belief inconsistent with taw/lid, (5) belief
that the unitarian doctrine was preached in
every age, (6) content resignation to all
God's actions and (7) submission to God's
will. Al-Tamlmi (epistle 37) considers
da'd'im taklifiyya to be fire (q.v.) which
scorches those who practice the ritual obli-
gations, as the Qur'an describes: "The fire
will scorch their faces" (p_ 23:104).

Thus early Isma'ilism was articulated
around the notion of the superiority of the
esoteric (batin) over the exoteric (^dhir) and
ta 'mil over tanzil, with the accompanying
conclusion that outward ritual acts are
God's punishment for non-Isma'ilis, i.e.
tawliid replaces tanzil and ta'wil. In this,
Druze doctrine differs from the Shl'i and
Isma'ill approaches as well as the Sunni
emphasis on the sacred law (shari'a). The
writers of the Druze Canon took pains to
ground their unique position in the Qur'an
through allegorical interpretation of qur-
'anic verses which are invariably quoted
to explain the principle of the unitarian
doctrine as the third or middle doctrine
(maslak) to which, according to al-Tamlmi
(epistle 38), the q 57:13 refers: "Between
them will be a wall with a door: The inner
side (batinuhu) will contain mercy, and the
outer side in front (wa-gdhiruhu min qablihi)
the punishment." The three doctrines are
perceived as three stages of the religious
faith: "Islam (gdhir) is the door to faith
(imdn, i.e. inner faith, batin) and Tnidn is the
door to the ultimate goal (tawhid), the high-
est stage of the religion" (epistle g). Al-
Tamlmi (epistle 38) distinguishes these
stages by quoting q 20:55 in the following
way: " 'From it did we create you,' i.e. from
£dhir, 'into it do we bring you again,' i.e. to
batin, 'and from it do we bring you forth
another time,' i.e. by setting the muwahhidun
apart from ^dhir and batin and bringing
them to the middle doctrine of al-tawhid."
There are three corresponding ranks of
believers: aid al-gdhir, i.e. Muslims (al-

muslimun); ahl al-bdtin, i.e. Believers (al-
mu'minun); and ahl al-rahma, i.e. Unitarians
(al-muwahhidiin) .

Ethics
While the Epistles provide a general frame-
work for morality (see ethics in the
qur'an), the influence of Sufism (see sufism
AND THE qur'an) comes to the fore in the
many mystical principles to which Druze
sheikhs adhere in their overall demeanor
(maslak, lit. way, path, course), i.e. the way
they eat, dress and pray and in their atti-
tude towards others (see FOOD AND drink;
clothing; prayer; social relations). In-
teresting is the way Baha' al-Dln deals with
qur'anic references to issues such as mar-
riage (nikdh) which, according to him, con-
tradict one another. This contradiction is
explained by the existence of abrogating
(ndsikh) and abrogated (mansukh) verses.
Accepting the ndsikh but viewing mansukh as
an addition to the qur'anic revelation,
Baha,' al-Dln (epistle 71) considers that only
what is true, i.e. non-contradictory, in the
Qur'an comes from God. Epistle 25 grants
women complete equality with men (see
FEMINISM AND THE QUR'aN; WOMEN AND THE
qur'an) in what concerns marriage and
divorce (q.v.) as well as inheritance rights
(where Islamic law normally makes a dis-
tinction between sons and daughters; see
inheritance). Four epistles (8, 18, 83 and
84) are addressed to female unitarians (a/-
muwahhiddt) and extol the values of purity
(tahdra, see purity and impurity) and good
conduct. Furthermore, women have full
access to the Canon and take part in reli-
gious meetings.

al-Amlr al-Sayyid al-Tanukhl
Al-Amlr al-Sayyid Jamal al-Dln Abdallah
al-Tanukhi (820/1417-884/1479) is revered
almost as highly as the propagators of the
faith themselves. Al-Amlr al-Sayyid de-
voted his life to the study of the Arabic

557

language, logic, poetry, history and, above
all, the Qur'an and the Druze Canon. His
legacy includes fourteen volumes with
commentary on the Epistles, theology and
ethics, with the aim of creating unity in the
exegesis of the Canon which guides the
Druze sages ('uqqal) until today. The moral
principles articulated by al-Sayyid and his
elaboration of "the lawful and the prohib-
ited" (al-halal wa-l-hardm., see lawful and
unlawful) soon became the elementary
code on which Druze came to rely in their
everyday life and in the rules of their
newly-established religious courts.

Modern times
Until the end of the Ottoman era in 1918,
the Druze were able to preserve their tradi-
tional characteristics as a close-knit ethno-
religious community. In modern times an
emerging generation of intellectuals has
begun to search for ways to combine Islam
and Arab nationalism in order to unite all
the various Muslim sects. They now em-
phasize the Islamic character of the Druze
"school" (madhhab) and turn to the Qur'an,
in addition to the Druze Canon, in order
to demonstrate that their madhhab repre-
sented one among several autonomous
Muslim doctrines. This work is often the
result of personal efforts of interpretation
and thus frequently adds new Islamic ele-
ments and incorporate beliefs current
among the Druze at large (juhhal, lit. the
ignorants), whose role in the formation of
the Druze faith has increased with the rise
of modernization and consequent dimin-
ishment of the numbers of 'uqqal.

At the close of the twentieth century, the
Druze numbered about one million and
are geographically dispersed over Syria,
Lebanon, Jordan and Israel/Palestine.
Emigration mainly from Syria and Leba-
non has created small pockets of Druze
populations in the American continents,
Australia and West Africa. Thus, socio-

economic and political changes, including
growing secularization, are reshaping the
life of the community as a whole.

Kais M. Firro

Bibliography
Manuscripts (see below Firro, 1992): Ashrafanl,
Abd al-Malik, Tfmdat al-'drifin; al-Kathif wa-l-latif
al-Munfarid bi-dhdtihi; Rasd'il al-hikma (The Druze
Canon); Tanukhl, Sayyid Abdallah, Shark (of
Three Epistles of the Druze Canon); TaqI 1-Dln,
Zayn al-Dln 'Abel al-Ghaffar, Majrd l-zamdn.
Primary: AntakT, Yahya b. Sa'id, Td'rikh Yahya b.
Said al-Antdki, ed. L. Cheikho, B. Carra de Vaux
and H. Zayyat, Beirut/Paris 1909; Ibn Sabat,
Hamza, Sidq al-akhbdr. Ta'rikh Ibn Sabat, ed. <T J/A.
Tadmurl, Tripoli, Lebanon 1993; Ibn Yahya,
Salih,777nA7i Bayrut, ed. L. Cheikho, Beirut 1927;
KirmanT, Hamld al-Dln Ahmad b. All, Rdhat al-
'aql, ed. M. Ghalib, Beirut 1983; id., al-Risdla al-
wd'iza, ed. M.K. Husayn, Cairo 1952.
Secondary: N. Abu Izzeddin, The Druzes. A new
study of their history, faith and society, Leiden 1984;
S. Assaad, The reign of al-Hakim hi Amr Allah,
gg6-lO'2l. A political study, Beirut 1974; D. Brayer,
The origin of the Druze religion, in Der Islam 52
(1975), 47-84, 239-261 and 53 (1976), 5-27; S. De
Sacy, Expose de la religion des Druzes, Paris 1838;
Amsterdam 1964^ K. Firro, A history of the Druzes,
Leiden 1992; id., The Druzes in the Jewish state. A
brief history, Leiden 1999; P. Hitti, The origin of the
Druze people and religion, New York 1928; M.
Hodgson, al-Darazi and Hamza in the origin of
the Druze religion, in JAOS 82 (1962), 5-20; S.
Makarem, Adwd' 'aid maslak al-tawhid, Beirut
1966; id., Maslak al-tawhid, Beirut 1980; A.
Najjar, Madhhab al-duruz wa-l-tawhid, Cairo 1965;
A. Nuwayhid, Sirat al-Amir al-Sayyid Jamdl
al-Din Abdullah al-Tanukhi, Beirut 1975; A. Talf ,
Asl al-muwahhidin al-duruz, Beirut n.d.

Dunya

see world; life

i»w 1T

■'.'. 1 ■"' ■'■■ U-

[i] Nabatean cursive, datable to 40—71 ce, from J. Starcky, Contrat, 169.

[11] Syriac cursive of the third century ce, from J. Teixidor, Deux documents

syriaques, 145.

11]

A-B

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1st. cent.

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)st/2nd cent.

211/2

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21-22
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il ft h b * ■ hil do an. j . l

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[iv] Arabic scripts of the first/ seventh century: early cursive (11. 1—2), epigraphic script (1.3), chancel-
lery cursive (1.4), entagia cursive (1.5), protocol cursive (1.6), cursive of palimpsest psi 1272' (1.7),
and slanting qur'anic script (8— g), from B. Gruendler, Development, 141.

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century, from F. Deroche, Manuscrils arabes, pis. i— n.

fmmr

mi -

[i] End of Q 38 (Surat Sad) and initial basmala of Q39 (Surat al-Zumar). Early Egyptian Kufic. Cour-
tesy of the Freer and Sackler Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, f 1930.60-1.

J^t&?&ng%$j$#i ■

3®

[n] Opening page of Ibn al-Bawwab's (d.413/1022) copy of the Qur'an, dated3gi/

1000. Qi (Surat al-Fatiha) and the beginning of Q 2 (Surat al-Baqara) . Courtesy of

the Trustees of the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin.

mcau-bas.p65

8/9/04, 12:05 PM

[m] Opening page of Q86 (Surat al-Tariq) with initial basmala. Eastern Kufic script

copied in the fifth/eleventh century in Iraq or Persia. Courtesy of the Prince and

Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan Collection, Geneva.

[iv] Basmala in upper facade of Imamzadaja c far's tomb tower, 726/1325 (restored) , Isfahan. Courtesy

of Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair.

[v] Beginning of poem byjaml (d. 899/1492) on the secrets
of the letters of the basmala. In nasldllq, ca. 906/1500. Cour-
tesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

[vi] Frontispiece of album of calligraphy by Ahmad Karahisari, showing the basmala
in both chain and square Kufic scripts. Istanbul, ca. 957/1550. Courtesy of the Mu-
seum of Turkish and Islamic Art, Istanbul.

**i^JA_ A * W

s n Ai m

[vn] Leaf from an album of calligraphy by Hafiz 'Uthman, Istanbul, 1105/1693. Courtesy of the
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - PreuBischer Kulturbesitz, Museum fur Islamische Kunst, Berlin.

a By A timed IJaraliisart, Turkey, i6 lh cty

b In oval shape, ig ,h cty (a)

c In Ta'IIq, by 'Abflulqadir 1351/1932

In a stork's shape, Turkey, ig<* cly

d By A^med Kat&hJsStl, Turkey, 16 th cty

[viii] Forms of the basmala, from A. Schimmel, Islamic calligraphy, lg.

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