GABR [MAJUS.]

GABRIEL Arabic Jibra'il The angelic being who is supposed to have been the medium of the revelation of the Qur'an to Muhammad. He is mentioned only twice in the Qur'an by name Suratu i-Baqarah ii 91 "Whoso is the enemy of Gabriel - for he hath by God's leave caused to descend on thy heart the confirmation of previous revelation," &c. And again in Suratu 'i-Tahrim lxvi 4: "God is his Protector and Gabriel." He is, however, supposed to be spoken of in Surahs ii 81, 254; v 109; xvi 104, as "the Holy Spirit," Ruhu l-Quaus; in Surah xxvi 193, as "the Faithful Spirit", ar-Ruhu 'l-Amin; and in liii 5 as "one terrible in power." Shadulu 'l-Quwa.

The account of Gabriel's first appearance to Muhammad is related as follows by Abu 'l-Fida, "Muhammad was wont to retire to Mount Hira for a month every year. When the year of his mission came, he went to Mount Hira in the month of Ramazan for the purpose of sojourning there, having his family with him, and there he abode until the night arrived in which God was pleased to bless him. Gabriel came to him, and said to him, "Recite!" And he replied "What shall I recite?" And he said, Recite thou in the name of the Lord who created. Created man from clots of blood. Recite thou! For the Lord is most Beneficent. Who hath taught the use of the pen. Hath taught man that which he knoweth not." After this the Prophet went to the middle of the mountain, and heard a voice from heaven which said, Thou are the Messenger of God and I am Gabriel." He continued standing in his place to contemplate Gabriel until be withdrew." [QURAN.]

Sir William Muir says: "It is clear that at a later period at least, if not from the first, Mahomet confounded Gabriel with the Holy Ghost. The idea may have arisen from some such misapprehension as the following. Mary conceived Jesus by the power of the Holy Ghost, which overshadowed her. But it was Gabriel who visited Mary to announce the conception of the Saviour. The Holy Ghost was therefore another name for Gabriel. We need hardly wonder at this ignorance when Mahomet seems to have believed that Christians held Mary to be the third person in the Trinity!

With reference to the verse quoted above, from the Surat 'l-Baqrah, Sale says the Commentators say that the Jews asked what angel it was that brought the Quran to Muhammad, and on being told that it was Gabriel, they replied that he was their enemy and the messenger of wrath and judgement, but that if it had been Michael they would have believed on him, because that angel was their friend, and the messenger of peace and plenty.

It is also important to observe that the only distinct assertion of Gabriel being the medium of divine revelation, occurs in a Madanivah Surah.

Gabriel is called in Muslim books ar-Ruhu 'l-A'zam' "The Supreme Spirit"; ar-Rahu 'l-Mukarram, "The Honoured Spirit"; Ruhu 'l-Ilqa', "The Spirit of casting into"; Ruhu 'l-Qudus, "The Holy Spirit"; and ar-Ruhu 'l-Amin, "The Faithful Spirit.

GAMBLING (Arabic maisir, , qimar ) is forbidden in the Qur'an.

Surah ii 216: "They will ask thee concerning wine, and games of chance. Say both is a great sin, and advantage also to men but their sin is greater than their advantage."

Surah v 93: "Only would Satan sow hatred and strife among you by wine and games of chance, and turn you aside from the remembrance of God, and from prayer; will ye not, therefore abstain from them?"

The evidence of a gambler is not admissible in a Muhammadan court of law because gaming is a great crime. (Hidayah li, p. 688.)

GARDEN Arabic jannah ; Heb. pl. . In the Quran the residence of our first parents is called Al-hannah, "the garden" and not Jannatuy Adn, or the "Garden of Eden." Jannatu Adn being the fourth stage of celestial bliss. Al-jannat, "the gardens is a term frequently used in the Quran for the state of heavenly joy; and the stages of paradise, which are eight, are known as -(1) The garden of eternity, (2) The dwelling of peace, (3) The dwelling which abideth, (4) The garden of Eden, (5) The garden of refuge, (6) The garden of delight, (7) The garden of Illiyun, (8) The garden of Paradise. [PARADISE.]

GENII Arabic jinn and jann . Muhammad was a sincere believer in the existence of good and evil genii, and has left a record of his belief in the LXXIInd chapter of his Quran, entitled the Suratu 'l-Jinn. It opens thus: -

"SAY, It hath been revealed to me that a company of JINN listened and said - Verily, we have heard a marvelous discourse (Qur'an);

It guideth to the truth; wherefore we believed in it, and we will not henceforth join any being with our Lord;

And He, - may the majesty of our Lord be exalted! - hath taken no spouse neither hath he any offspring."

"But the foolish among us hath spoken of God that which is unjust:

And we verily though that no one amongst men or jinn would have utered a lie against God.

There are indeed people among men who have sought for refuge unto people among jinn: but they only increased their folly;

And they thought as ye think, that God would not raise any form the dead.

And the Heavens did we essay, but found them filled with a mighty garrison, and with flaming darts;

And we sat on some of the seats to listen, but whoever listeneth findeth an amush ready for him of flaming darts."

The following exhaustive account of the Muhammadan belief on the subject is taken from the writings of the late Mr. Lane (the learned author of the Modern Egyptians and of Note on the Arabian Nights), but slightly altered to meet the requirements of the present work.

According to a traction from the Prophet, this species consists of five orders, namely, Jann (who are the least powerful of all), Jinn, Shaitans (or devils), 'Ifrits, and Marids. The last, it is added, are the most powerful; and the Jann are transformed Jinn, like as certain apes and swine were transformed to men. It must, however, be remarked that the terms Jinn and Jann are generally used indiscriminately as names of the whole species, whether good or bad, and that the former term is the more common. Also, that Shaitan is commonly used to signify and evil genius. An 'Ifrit is a powerful evil genius; a Marid, as evil genius of the most powerful class. The Jinn (but generally speaking, evil ones) are called by the Persian Deves, the most powerful evil Jinn, Narahs (which signifies "males", though they are said to be males and females); the good Jinn, Piris, though this term is commonly applied to females. In a tradition from the Prophet, it is said, "The Jann were created of a smokeless fire." The word which signifies "a smokeless fire" has been misunderstood by some as meaning "the flame of fire." Al-Jauhari (in the Sihah) renders it rightly; and says that of this fire was the Shaitan or Iblis created. Al-Jann is sometimes used as a name for Iblis, as in the following verse of the Qur'an (Surah xv, 27): "And the Jann [the father of the Jinn i.e. Iblis] we had created before [i.e. before the creation of Adam] of the fire of the Samum [i.e. Of the fire without smoke]." Jann also signifies "a serpent," as in other passages of the Qur'an, and is used in the same book as synonymous with Jinn. In the last sense it is generally believed to be used in the tradition quoted in the commencement of this paragraph. There are several apparently contradictory traditions from the Prophet, which are reconciled by what has been above stated; in one it is said that Iblis was the father of all the Jann and Shaitain; Jann being here synonymous with Jinn; in another, that Jann was the father of all the Jinn, here Jann being used as a name for Iblis.

"It is held," says al-Qazwini, "that the Jinn are aerial animals, with transparent bodied which can assume various forms. People differ in opinion respecting these beings; some consider the Jinn and Shaitans as unruly men, but these persons are of the Mu'tazilahs [ a sect of Muslim freethinkers], and some hold that God, whose name be exalted, created the angels of the light of the fire, and the Jinn of its flame [but this is at variance with the general opinion], and the Sahitans of its smoke [which is also at variance with the common opinion]; and that [all] these kinds of beings are [usually] invisible to men, but that they assume what forms they please, and when their for becomes condensed they are visible." This last remark illustrates several descriptions of genii in the Arabian Nights, where the form of the monster is at first undefined, or like an enormous pillar, and then gradually assumes a human shape and less gigantic size.

It is said that God created the Jann [or Jinn] two thousand years before Adam [or according to some writers, much earlier], and that there are believers and infidels and every sect among them, as among men. Some say that a prophet named Yusuf was sent to the Jinn; others that they had only preachers or admonishers; others, again, that seventy apostles were sent, before Muhammad, to Jinn and men conjointly. It is commonly believed that the preadmite Jinn were governed by forty (or, according to some, seventy-two) kings, to each of whom the Arab writers give the name of Sulaiman (or Solomon); and that they derive their appellation from the last of these, who was called Jann ibn Jann and who, some say, built the Pyramids of Egypt.

The following account of the preadamite Jinn is given by al-Qazwini: -

"It is related in histories that a race of Jinn in ancient times, before the creation of Adam, inhabited the earth, and covered it, the land and the sea, and the plains are the mountains; and the favors of God were multiplied upon them, and they had government, and prophecy, and relgion and law; but they transgressed and offended, and opposed their prophets, and made wickedness to abound in the earth; whereupon God, whose name be exalted, sent against them an army of angel, who took possession of the earth, and drove away the Jinn to the regions of the islands, and made many of them prisoners; and of those who were made prisoners was 'Azazil (afterward called Iblis, from his despair), and a slaughter was made among them. At that time, 'Azazilwas young; he grew up among the angels [and probably for that reason was called one of them], and became learned in their knowledge, and assumed the government of them; and his days were prolonged until he became their chief; and thus it continued for a long time, until the affair between him and Adam happened, as God, whose name be exalted, hath said, 'When we said unto the Angels, Worship ye Adam, and

[all] worshiped except Iblis [who] was [one] of the Jinn.' (Surah l. 49)."

Iblis, we are told by another authority, was sent as a governor upon the earth, and judged among the Jinn a thousand years, after which he ascended into heaven, and remained employed in worship until the creation of Adam. The name of Iblis was originally, according to some, 'Azazil (as before mentioned), and according to other, al-Haris; his patronymic is Abu Munnah or Abu 'l-Ghimr. It is disputed whether he was of the angels or of the Jinn. There are three opinions on this point: (1) That he was of the angels, from a tradition from Ibn 'Abbas; (2) That he was of the Shaitans (or evil Jinn), as it is said in the Qur'an, "Except Iblis [who] was [one] of the Jinn"; this was the opinion of al-Hasanu 'l-Basrf, and is that commonly held; (3) That he was neither of the angels nor of the Jinn, but created alone of fire. Ibn 'Abbas founds his opinion on the same text from which al-Hasanu 'l-Basri derives his: "When we said unto the angels, worship ye Adam, and [all] worshiped him except Iblis, [who] was [one] of the Jinn" (before quoted); which he explains by saying that the most noble and honorable among the angels are called "the Jinn", because thay are veiled from the eyes of the other angels on account of their superiority; and Iblis was one of these Jinn. He adds, that he had the government of the lowest heaven and of the earth, and was called the Ta'us (lit. "Peacock") of the angels; and that there was not a spot in the lowest heaven but he had prostrated himself upon it; but when the Jinn rebelled upon the earth, God sent a troop of angels, who drove them to the islands and mountains; and Iblis being elated with pride, and refusing to prostrate himself before Adam, God transformed him into a Shaitan. But this reasoning is opposed by other verses, in which Iblis is represented as saying, "Thou hast created me of fire, and has created him [Adam] of earth." It is therefore argued, "If he were created originally form fire, how was he created of light? For the angels were [all] created of light." The former verse may be explained by the tradition that Iblis, having been taken captive, was exalted among the angels; or, perhaps, there is an ellipsis after the word "Angels"; for it might be inferred that the command given to the Angels was also (and a fortiori) to be obeyed by the Jinn.

According to a tradition, Iblis and all the Shaitans are distinguished from the other Jinn by a longer existence. "The Shaitans", it is added, "are the children of Iblis, and die not but with him; whereas the [other] Jinn die before him, though they may live many centuries. But this is not altogether accordant with the popular belief; Iblis and many other evil Jinn are to survive mankind, but they are to die before the general resurrection, as also even the angels, the last of whom will be the Angel of Death, 'Izrail. Yet not all the evil Jinn are to live thus long. Many of them are killed by shooting stars, hurled at them from heaven; wherefore, the Arabs, when they see a shooting star (shihab) often exclaim, 'May God transfix the enemy of the faith!' Many also are killed by other Jinn, and some even by men. The fire of which the Jinn is created circulates in his veins, in place of blood; therefore, when he receives a mortal wound, this fire, issuing from his veins generally consumes him to ashes.

The Jinn, it has been already shown, are peaceable. They also eat and drink, and propagate their species, sometimes in conjunction with human beings; in which latter case, the offspring partakes of the nature of both parents. In all these respects they differ from the angels. Among the evil Jinn are distinguished the five sons of their chief Iblis; namely, Tir, who brings about calamities, losses, and injuries; al-A'war, who encourages debauchery; Sut, who suggests lies; Dasimn who causes hatred between man and wife; and Zalambur, who presides over places of traffic.

The most common forms and habitations or places of resort of the Jinn must now be described. The following traditions from the Prophet are to the purpose:-

The Jinn are of various shapes, having the forms of serpents, scorpions, lions, and wolves, jackal, &C. The Jinn are of three kind - one on the land, one on the sea, and one in the air. The Jinn consist of forty troops, each troop consisting of six hundred thousand. The Jinn are of three kinds - one have wings and fly; another are snakes and dogs; and the third move about from place to place like men. Domestic snakes are asserted to be Jinn on the same authority.

The Prophet ordered his followers to kill serpents and scorpions if they intruded at prayers; but on other occasions, he seems to have required first to admonish them to depart, and then, if they remained, to kill them. The Doctors, however, differ in opinion whether all kinds of snakes or serpents should be admonished first; or whether any should; for the Prophet, say they, took a covenant of the Jinn [probably after the above-mentioned command], that they should not enter the houses of the faithful; therefore, it is argued, it they enter, they break their covenant, and it becomes lawful to kill them without previous admonishment. Yet it is related that 'Ayishah, one of the Prophet's wives, having killed a serpent in her chamber, was alarmed by a dream, and fearing that it might have been a Muslim Jinni, as it did not enter her chamber, when she was undressed, gave in alms, as an expiation, twelve dirhams (about 300 pounds) the price of the blood of a Muslim.

The Jinn are said to appear to mankind most commonly in the shapes of serpents, dogs, cats or human beings. In the last case they are sometimes of the stature of men, and sometimes of a size enormously gigantic. If good, they are generally resplendently handsome; it evil, horribly hideous. They become invisible at please (by a rapid

extension or rarefaction of the particles which compose them), or suddenly disappear in the earth or air, or through a solid wall. Many Muslims in the present day profess to have seen and held intercourse with them.

The Zaubarah, which is a whirlwind that raises the sand or dust in the form of a pillar of prodigious height, often seen sweeping across the deserts and fields, is believed to be caused by the flight of an evil genii. To defend themselves from a Jinn thus "riding in the whirlwind," the Arabs often exclaim "Iron! Iron!" (Hadid! Hadid!), or "Iron! Thou unlucky!" (Hadid! Ya Mashum!) as the Jinn are supposed to have a great dread of that metal; or they exclaim, "God is most great!" (Allahu akbar!). A similar superstition prevails with respect to the waterspout at sea.

It is believed that the chief abode of the Jinn is in the mountains of Qaf, which are supposed to encompass the whole of our earth. But they are also believed to pervade the solid body of our earth, and the firmament and to choose as their principal places of resort, or of occasional abode, baths, wells, the latrina, ovens, ruined houses, market places, the junctures of roads, the sea, and rivers.

The Arabs, therefore, when they pour water &c on the ground, or enter a bath, or let down a bucket into a well, or visit the latrina, and on various other occasions, say "Permission!" or "Permission, ye blessed!" (Izn, or Izn ya Mubarrakun). The evil spirits (or evil genii), it is said, had liberty to enter any of the seven heavens till the birth of Jesus, when they were excluded from three of them. On the birth of Muhammad, they were forbidden the other four. They continue, however, to ascent to the confines of the lowest heaven, and there listening to the conversation of the angels respecting things decreed by God, obtain knowledge of futurity, which they sometimes impart to men, who by means of talismans or certain invocations make them to serve the purposes of magical performances.

What the Prophet said of Iblis in the following tradition applies also to the evil Jinn over whom he presides: His chief abode [among men] is the bath; his chief places of resort are the markets and junctures of roads; his food is whatever is killed without the name of God being pronounced over it; his drink, whatever is intoxicating; his Mu'azzin, the mizmar (musical pipe) ie any musical instrument); his Qur'an, poetry; his written character, the marks made in geomancy; his speech, falsehood; his snares are women.

That particular genii presided over particular places, was the opinion of the early Arabs. It is siad in the Qur'an (Surah xxii. 6), "And there were certain men who sought refuge with certain of the Jinn." In the commentary of the Jalalan, I find the following remark on these words: - "When they halted on their journey, in a place of fear, each man said, 'I seek refuge with the lord of this place, from the mischief of his foolish ones!" In illustration of this, I may insert the following tradition, translated from al-Qazwini - "It is related by a certain narrator of traditions, that he descended into a valley with his sheep, and a wolf carried off a ewe from among them; and he arose and raised his voice, and cried "O inhabitant of the valley! Whereupon he heard a voice saying, 'O wolf, restore to him his sheep! And the wolf, restore to him his sheep! And the wolf came with ewe, and left her, and departed." The same opinion is held by the modern Arabs, though probably they do not use such an invocation.

A similar superstition, a relic of ancient Egyptian credulity, still prevails among the people of Cairo. It is believed that each quarter of this city has its peculiar guardian genius, or Agathodaenion, which has the form of a serpent.

It has already been mentioned that some of the Jinn are Muslims, and others infidels. The good acquit themselves of the imperative duties of religion, namely, prayers, alms-giving, fasting during the month of Ramazan, and pilgrimage to Makkah and Mount Arafat, but in the performance of these duties they are generally invisible to human beings.

No man, it is said, ever obtained such absolute power over the Jinn as Sulaiman ibn Daud (Solomon the son of David). This he did by virtue of a most wonderful talisman which is said to have come down to him from heaven. It was a sealing ring, upon which was engraved "the most great name" of God [AL ISMU 'L-A'ZAM], and was partly composed of brass and partly of iron. With the brass he stamped his written commands to the good Jinn; with the iron (for a reason before mentioned) those of the evil Jinn, or devils. Over both orders he had unlimited power, as well as over the birds and the winds, and as is generally said, the wild beasts. His wazir, Asaf the son of Barkhiyah, is also said to have been acquainted with "the most great name", by uttering which the greatest miracles may be performed, even that of raising the dead. By virtue of this name, engraved on his ring, Sulaiman compelled the Jinn to assist in building the temple of Jerusalem, and in various other works. Many of the evil genii he converted to the true faith, and many others of this class, who remained obstinate in infidelity, he confined in prisons. He is said to have been monarch of the whole earth. Hence, perhaps, the name of Sulaiman is given to the universal monarchy of the preadamite Jinn; unless the story of his own universal dominion originated from confounding him with those kings of the Jinn.

The injuries related to have been inflicted upon human beings by evil genii are of various kinds. Genii are said to have often carried off beautiful women, whom they have forcibly kept as their wives or concubines. Malicious or disturbed genii are asserted often to station themselves on the roofs or at the windows

of house, and to throw down bricks and stones on persons passing by. When they take possession of an uninhabited house, they seldom fail to persecute terribly any person who goes to reside in it. They are also very apt to pilfer provisions &c. Many learned and devote persons, to secure their property from such depredations, repeat the words "In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful!" On locking the doors of their houses, rooms, and on covering the bread-basket, or anything containing food. During the month of Ramazan, the evil genii are believed to be confined in prison; and, therefore, on the last night of that month, with the same view, women sometimes repeat the words above mentioned, and sprinkle salt upon the floors of the apartments of their houses.

To complete this sketch of Arabian mythology, an account must be added of several creatures generally believed to be of inferior orders of the Jinn. One of these is the Ghul, which is commonly regarded as a kind of Shaitan, or evil genii, that eats men and is also described by some as a Jinn, or an enchanter, who assumes various forms. The Ghuls are said to appear in the forms of various animals, and of human beings, and in many monstrous shapes; to haunt burial grounds and other sequestered spots; to feed upon dead human bodies; and to kill and devour any human creature who has the misfortune to fall in their way; whence the term "Ghul" is applied to any cannibal.

An opinion quoted by a celebrated author respecting the Ghul is that it is a demoniacal animal, which passes a solitary existence in the deserts, resembling both man and brute; that it appears to a person traveling alone in the night and in solitary places, and being supposed by him to be itself a traveller, lures him out of his way. Another opinion state by him is this: that, when the Shaitans attempt to hear words by stealth, [from the confines of the lowest heaven], they are struck by shooting stars, and some are burnt; some falling into a sea, or rather a large river (bahr), become converted into crocodiles; and some, falling upon the land, become Ghuls. The same author adds the following tradition: "The Ghul is any Jinn that is opposed to travels, assuming various forms and appearances; and affirms that several of the Companions of the Prophet saw Ghuls in their travels; and that 'Umar among them saw a Ghul while on a journey to Syria, before Islam, and struck it with his sword."

It appears that "Ghul" is, properly speaking, a name that is given to a female demon of the kind above described; the male is called "Qutrud". It is said that these beings, and the Ghaddar, or Gharra, and other similar creatures, which will presently be mentioned, are the offspring of Iblis and of a wife whom God created for him of the fire of the Samum (which here signifies, as in an instance before mentioned, ' a smokeless fire'), and that they sprang from an egg. A female Ghul, it is added, appears to men in the deserts, in various terms, converses with them and sometimes prostitutes herself to them.

The Si'lat, or Si'la, is another demonical creature, described by some [or rather, by most authors] as of the Jinn. It is said that it captures a man, it makes him dance, and plays with him as the cat plays with the mouse. A man of Isfahan asserted that many beings of this kind abounded in his country; that sometime the wolf would hunt one of them by night, and devour it, and that, when it had seized it, the Si'la would cry out - "Come to my help, for the wolf devoureth me!' Or it would cry, "Who will liberate me? I have a hundred dinars, and he shall receive them!" But the people knowing that it was the cry of the Si'la, no one would liberate it; and so the wolf would eat it.

An island in the sea of China (Sin) is called "the island of Si'la", by Arab geographers from its being said to be inhabited by the demons so named; they are described as creatures of hideous forms, supposed to be Shaitans, the offspring of human beings and Jinn, who eat men.

The Ghaddar is another creature of a similar nature, described as being found in the borders of al-Yeman, and sometimes in Tihamah, and in the upper parts of Egypt. It is said that it entices a man to it, and either tortures him in a manner not to be described, or merely terrifies him, and leaves him.

The Dalhan is also a demoniacal being, inhabiting the islands of the seas, having the form of a man, and riding on an ostrich. It eats the flesh of men whom the sea casts on the shore from wrecks. Some say that a Dalhan once attacked a ship on the sea and desired to take the crew; but they contended with it; whereupon it uttered a cry which caused them to gall on their faces and it took them.

The Shiqq is another demoniacal creature, having the form of half a human being (like a man divided longitudinally); and it is believed that the Nasnas is the offspring of a Shiqq and of a human being. The Shiqq appears to travellers; and it was a demon of this kind who killed, and was killed by 'Alqamah, the son of Safwan, the son of Umaiyah, of whom it is well known that he was killed by a Jinn. So says al-Qazwini.

The Nasnas (above mentioned) is described as resembling half a human being; having hald a head, half a body, one arm, and one leg, with which it hops with much agility; as being found in the woods of al-Yaman, and being endowed with speech; "but God", it is added, "is all knowing." It is said that it is found in Hazramaut as well as al-Yaman; and that one was brought alive to al-Mutawakkil. It resembled a man in form, excepting that it had but half a face, which was in its breat, and a tail like that of a sheep. The people of Hazramaut, it is added, eat it; and its flesh is sweet. It is only generated in their country

a man who went there asserted that he saw a captured Nasnas, which cried out for mercy conjuring him by God and be himself.

A race of people whose head is in the breast is described as inhabiting an island called Jabah (supposed to be Java), in the sea of Hind, or India. A kind of Nasnas is also described as inhabiting the island of Raij in the sea of China and having wings like those of the bat.

The Hatif is a being that is heard, but not seen; and is often mentioned by Arab writers. It is generally the communicator of some intelligence in the way of advice, or dirction, or warning. (See Lane's Modern Egyptians; Lane's Notes on Arabian Nights).

GENTILES Arabic Ummi from umm, "a mother") pl. ummiyan, lit. "Ignorant as new-born babes." Hebrew . According to al-Baizawi, all the people of the earth who do not possess a Divine Book. In the Qur'an, the term is specially applied to the idolaters of Arabia.

Surah lxii. 2: "He (God) it is who sent unto the Gentiles a Prophet, amongst them to recite to them His signs and to purify them. And to teach them the Book, the wisdom, although they were before in obvious error."

GEORGE, St. [JIRJIS AL-KHIZR].

GHABAH, AL . "The desert". A name given to the open plain near al-Medinah.

GHABN Fraud or deceit in sales.

GHADDAR A species of demon said to be found on the borders of al-Yaman. [GENII.]

GHADIR A festival of the Shi'ahs on the 18th of the month of Zu'l-Hijjah, when three images of dough filled with homey are made to represent Abu Bakr, Umar and 'Usman, which are stuck with knives and the honey is sipped as typical of the blood of the usurping Khalifahs. The festival is named Ghadir, "a pool", and the festival commemorates, it is said, Muhammad having declared 'Ali his successor at Ghadir Khum, a watering place midway between Makkah and al-Madinah.

GHAIB Lit. "Secret". The terms Ghaibu 'l-Huwiyah, "Secret essence" and al-Ghaibu 'l-Mutlaq, "the absolute unknowable," are used by Sufi mystics to express the nature of God. ('Abdu 'r-Razzaiq's Dict. Of Sufi Terms.)

GHAIRAH "Jealousy." Muhammad is related to have said, "There is a kind of jealousy (ghairah) which God likes, and there is a kind of jealousy which He abominates. The jealousy which God likes is when a man has suspicion that his wife and a slave girl comes and sits by a stranger; the jealousy which God abominates is when without cause, a man harbors in his heart a bad opinion of his wife." (Mishkat, book xiii c xv pt 2)

GHAIR-I-MAHDI Lit. "Without Mahdi." A small sect who believe that the Imam Mahdi will not reappear. They say that one Saiyad Muhammad of Jeypore was the real Mahdi, the twelfth Imam, and that he has now gone never more to return. They venerate his as highly as they do the Prophet, and consider all other Muslims to be unbelievers. On the night called Lailatu 'l-Qadr, in the month of Ramazan, they meet and repeat two rak'ah prayers. After that act of devotion is over, they say: "God is Almighty, Muhammad is our Prophet, the Qur'an and Mahdi are just and true. Imam Mahdi is come and gone. Whosoever disbelieves this is an infidel." They are a very fanatical sect. (See Qanun-i-Islam)

GHAMARAT , plural of ghamrah, "abyss". A word used to express the agonies of death. It occurs in the Qur'an, Surah vi 93: "But couldst thou see when the ungodly are in the floods of death (ghamaratu 'l-maut), and the angels reach forth their hands, saying, 'Yield up your souls: - this day shall ye be recompensed with a humiliating punishment.'"

AL-GHANI "The Independent One." One of the ninety-nine special names or attributes of God, expressing the superiority of the Almighty over the necessities and requirements of mankind. The word occurs in the Qur'an, Surah lx. 6, and is translated by Palmer. "He is rich."

GHASB "Using by force; usurpation."

Ghasb, in its literal sense, means the forcibly taking a thing from another. In the language of the law it signifies the taking of the property of another which is valuable and sacred, without the consent of the proprietor, in such a manner as to destroy the proprietor's possession of it, whence it is that usurpation is established by exacting service from the slave of another, or by putting a burden upon the quadruped of another, but not by sitting upon the carpet of another the possession of the proprietor is not destroyed. It is to be observed that if any person knowingly and wilfully usurp the property of another, he is held in law to be an offender, and becomes responsible for a compensation. If, on the contrary, he should not have made the usurpation knowingly and wilfully (as where a person destroys property on the supposition of its belonging to himself, and it afterwards proves the right of another), he is in that case also liable for a compensation, because a compensation is the right of men; but he is not an offender, as his erroneous offence is cancelled. (Hidayah, vol iii p 522.)

AL-GHASHIYAH "The Covering, Overwhelming." A name given to the LXXXVIIIth Surah of the Qur'an, the word occurring in the first verse for the Day of Judgement: "Has there come to thee the story of the overwhelming?"

GHASIL "A washer of the dead." An official is generally appointed for this purpose by the Imam of the parish.

GHASSAN A tribe of Arabs inhabiting the western side of the Syrian desert in the time of Muhammad. (See Muir's Life of Mahomet, vol. i p clxxxiii.)

GHATAFAN An Arabian tribe descended from Qais.

GHAUS Lit. "One to whom we can cry for help." A mediator. A title given to a Muhammadan saint. Some hold it to be the highest order of sanctity, whilst others regard it as second in rank to that of of Qutb. According to the Ghiyasu 'l-Lughah it is an inferior rank of sanctity to the of Qutl.

GHAZAB "Anger", "wrath." A word used fequently in the Qur'an for the wrath of God eg Surah iv 95: "God shall be angry with him."

GHAZI One who fights in the cause of Islam. A hero; a warrior. One who slays an infidel. It is also a title of distinction conferred by Muslim rulers upon generals and warriors of renown. In the Turkish Empire the title of Ghazi implies something similar to out "Field Marshal." The Prophet is related to have said, "God is sponsor for him who goes forth to fight in the road of God, for His satisfaction, and for that of His Prophet. He shall, if he be not killed, return to his home with plunder and rewards. And if he dies, his reward is paradise." (Mishkat, book xvii c 1.)

GHAZWAH A military force when it is lead by either an Apostle (Rasul) or an Imam. A small force commanded by one of the Imam's lieutenants is a sariyah, or brigade. (See Ghiyasu 'l-Lughah, in loco.)

AL-GHAZZALI Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Ghazzali, is a well known Sunni doctor surnamed Hajjatu 'l-Islam ("the proof of Islam"). He was a native of Tus and for sometime a professor in the college at Naisapur. Born A.H. 450 (A.D. 1058), died A.H. 505 (A.D. 1111), at Tus. His exposition on the nature of God will be found in the article GOD. His great theological work is the Ihya'u 'Ulumi 'd-Sin.

AL-GHIBAH "Slander; calumny." Anything whispered of an absent person to his detriment, although it be true. (Buhtan expressing a false accusation.) Ghibah is condemned in the Qur'an (Surah xlix 12): "O believers, avoid frequent suspicions, for some suspicions are a crime; neither let one of you traduce (ghibah) another in his absence." A chapter is devoted to the condemnation of backbitting and calumny in the Traditions (vide Mishkat, book xxii, ch x.)

GHIFAR An Arabian tribe in the time of Muhammad who inhabited a tract of country in the vicinity of al-Madinah. They were descendants of Abu Zarri 'l-Ghifari.

GHISHAWAH Lit. "A covering." A dimness in the eye. A word used in the Qur'an for spiritual blindness. Surah ii 6, "Their hearts and their ears hath God sealed up, and over their eyes is a covering.

GHISLIN The water, blood, and matter, supposed by Muhammadans to run down the skin and flesh of the damned in hell. See Qur'an, Surah lxix 36: "No friend shall he have here that day, nor food but ghislin."

GHUL A man-devouring demon of the woods. A species of Jinn [GENII.]

GHULAM pl. ghilmah. A boy under age. A term used in modern Muslim for a slave, the legal word being abd. It occurs in the Qur'an for a son. Surah iii 42: "She (Mary) said, 'How can I have a son when a man has not touched me?"

GHULAT Lit. "The Zealots." A title given to a leading sect of the Shi'ahs who, through their excessive zeal for the Imams have raised them above the degree of human beings.

GHULUL Defrauding or purloining any part of the lawful plunder in a jihad, or religious war. Forbidden in the Qur'an, Surah iii 155: "But he who shall defraud, shall come forth with his defrauding on the day of resurrection; then shall every soul be paid what it hath merited, and they shall not be treated with injustice."

GHURAB Lit. "A crow." Ghurabu 'l-Bain; "The crow of separation." A term used by the Sufi mystics for a certain state of separation from God. ('Abdu r-Razzaq's Dict. Of Sufi Terms.)

GHURRAH A fine of five hundred dirhams. A slave of that value. It is the fine for a person striking a woman so as to occasion a miscarriage. (Hidayah, vol iv p 552.)

GHUSL , as distinguished from ghasl (washing) is the religious act of bathing the whole body after a legal impurity. It is founded upon the express injunction of the Qur'an, Surah v 9: "If ye are polluted then purify yourselves." And the

Traditions most minutely relate the occasions on which the Prophet performed the ceremony of ghusl, or bathing. The Muslim teachers of all sect are unanimous in prescribing the washing of the whole body after the following acts, which render the body junub, or impure: (1) Hayz menses; (2) nifas, puerperium; (3) jimi', coitus; (4) ihtilam pollution nocturna. It is absolutely necessary that every part of the body should be washed, for 'Ali relates that the Prophet said "He who leaves but one hair unwashed on his body will be punished in hell accordingly." (Mishkat, book ii c viii).

GHUSL MASNUN Lit. "Washings which are Sunnah."

Such washings are founded upon the Sunnah, or precept and practice of Muhammad, although they are not supposed to be of divine institution. They are four in number: (1) Upon the admission of a convert to Islam; (2) Before the Friday prayers and on the great festivals; (3) After washing the head; (4) After blood-letting. (See Sahihu-Bukhari, p 39, Babu 'l-Ghusl.) Akrimah relates that people came from al-'Iraq and asked In Abbas if he believed that bathing on Fridays was a divine institution, and Ibn Abbas replied, "No, but bathing is a great purifier, and I will tell you how the custom of bathing began. The people were engaged in daily labor and wore blankets, and the people sweated to such a degree as to cause a bad smell, so the Prophet said: "O men! Bathe ye on Fridays and put some scent on your clothes." (Matthew's Mishkat, vol i 120, from the Hadis of Abu Da'ud.)

GIANT There is but one allusion to giants in the Qur'an, namely to the tribe 'Ad who are spoken of as men "with fifty statures" (Surah lxxxix 6), and the commentator Shah 'Abdu 'l-Aziz of Delhi, says they were men of not less the twelve yards in stature. According to a tradition in the Kitabu 'sh-Shafah by the Qazi 'Ayaz(p 65), Adam was sixty yards in height. In the Ghiyasu 'l-Lughah, a giant named Uj is mentioned who was born in the days of Adam and lived until the time of Moses, a period of 3500 years, and that he was so high, that the flood in the days of Noah only reached to his waist. There are traditions and stories of giants whose graves exist unto the present day, throughout the whole of Persia. Opposite the Church Mission House at Peshawur is a grave nine yards long, which is held in great reverence by both Muhammadans and Hindus. De le Belle, in his Travels in Persia, vol ii p 89, mentions several which exist in Persia. Giant graves in Hindustan are numerous.

GIDEON In the Qur'an there is evidently a confusion in one passage between the story of Saul as told therein, and the account of Gideon given in the Old Testament, as the following extract will show:-

"And when Saul marched forth with his forces, he said, 'God will test you by a river; He who drinketh of it shall not be of my band; but he who shall not taste it, drinking a drink out of the hand excepted, shall be of my band'. And, except a few of them, they drank of it. And when they had passed it, he and those who believed with him, the former said, 'We have no strength this day against Goliath (Jalut) and his forces;' But they who held it as certain that they must meet God, said, 'How oft, by God's will, hath a small host vanquished a numerous host! And God is with the steadfastly enduring.'" (Surah ii 250).

Which compares with Judges vii 5:-

"So they brought down the people unto the water; and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set be himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.... The Lord said, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand."

GIFTS Arabic hibah pl. hibat. A deed of gift. The term Hibah in the language of Muslim law means a transfer of property made immediately and without exchange. He who makes the gift is called the Wahib, or donor; the thing given, mauhub; and the person to whom it is given in mauhub lahu.

Muhammad sanctioned the retraction of a gift when he said "A donor preserves his right to his gift, so long as he does not obtain a return for it." Although there is another tradition which says: "Let not a donor retract his gift; but let a father if he pleases retract his gift to his son." Ash-Shafi'i maintains that it is not lawful to retract a gift, except it be from a father to a son. All the doctors are agreed that to retract a gist is an abomination, for Muhammad said: "the retraction of a gift is like earing one's spittle." The general opinion is that a gift to a stranger may be retracted, but not a gift to a kinsman. A retracted gift, by the mutual consent of the parties, should be effected by a decree of the Qazi, or judge. (Hidayah, vol iii p 290.)

GIRDLE Arabic nitaq Amongst the Bakhtashis and several other orders of faqirs, investiture with a girdle is the sign of the incorporation into the order. The Bakhtashis say that Adam was the first to wear the girdle worn by them, and after him, fifteen other prophets wore it in succession, vic. Seth, Noah, Shu'aib, Job, Joseph, Abraham, Husha', Yusha', Jirjis, Jonas, Salih, Zakariah, al-Khir, Ilyas, and Jesus. (Brown's Dervishes, p 145.)

GNOSTICS "The singular correspondence between the allusions to the crucifixion in the Coran, and the wild speculations of early heretics, have led to the conjecture that Mahomet acquired his notions of Christianity from a Gnostic source. But Gnosticism had disappeared from Egypt

before the sixth century, and there is no reason for supposing that it had at any time gained footing in Arabia. Besides, there is no affinity between the supernaturalism of the Gnostics and the Docetae, and the rationalism of the Coran. According to the former, the Deity must be removed far from the gross contact of evil matter; and the Aeon Christ, which alighted upon Jesus at His baptism, must ascend to its native regions before the crucifixion. With Mahomet, on the contrary, Jesus Christ was a mere man - wonderfully born, indeed - but still an ordinary man, a servant of the Almighty, as others had been before him. But although there is no ground for believing that Gnostic doctrines were taught to Mahomet, yet some of the strange fancies of those heretics, preserved in the Syrian tradition, may have come to the ears of his informants, the chief of whom, even on Christian topics, seem to have been Jews, unable probably to distinguish heretical fables from Christian doctrine), and have been by them adopted as a likely and convenient mode of explaining away that which formed the great barrier between Jews and Christians." (Muir's Life of Mahomet, no ed. p 161.)

GOD The name of the Creator of the Universe in the Qur'an is Allah, which is the title given to the Supreme Being by Muhammadans of every race and language.

Allah is supposed to be derived from ilah a deity or god, with the addition of the definite article al- Al-ilah, "the God" - or according to some authorities, it is from lah, ie Allah, "the secret one." But Abu Hanifah says that just as the essence of God is unchangeable, so is His name, and that Allah has ever been the name of the Eternal Being (See Ghiyasu-'l-Lughah.)

Allah may be an Arabic rendered of the Hebrew el, and the unused root ul, "to be strong", or from , the singular form of . It is expressed in Persian and Hindustani by the word Khuda derived from the Persian khud, self; the self-existing one.

Another word very frequently used for the Almighty in the Qur'an, is Rabb, which is generally translated in English versions of the Qur'an, "Lord." It seems to stand in the relative position of the Jehovah of the Old Testament and the of the New Testament. The word is understood by Muslims to mean "the sustained," but it is probably derived from the Hebrew , "a stronghold," or from its root rab, which, according to Gesernius means "a multitude," or anything of size or importance.

The title Allah is called the Ismu 'z-Zat, or the essential names of God, all other titles including Rabb, being considered Asa u 's Sifat, or "attributes are called al-Asthma u'l-husna, or the "excellent names." The expression occurs in the Qur'an, (Surah vii 179), "But God's are excellent names, call on Him thereby." This verse is commented upon in the Traditions, and Abu Huraurah says that Muhammad said, "Verily there are ninety-nine names of God, and whoever recites them shall enter into Paradise.

In the same tradition these names (or attributes) are given as follows:-

1. Ar-Rahman The Merciful
2. Ar-Rahim The Compassionate
3. Al-Malik The King
4. Al-Quddus The Holy
5. As-Salam The Peace
6. Al-Ma'min The Faithful
7. Al-Muhaimin The Protector
8. Al-Aziz The Mighty
9. Al-Jabbar The Repairer
10. Al-Mutakabbir The Great
11.Al-Khaliq The Creator
12. Al-Bari The Maker
13. Al-Musawwir The Fashioner
14. Al-Ghaffar The Forgiver
15. Al-Qahhar The Dominant
16. Al-Wahhab The Bestower
17. Ar-Razzaq The Provider
18. Al-Fattah The Opener
19. Al-'Alim The Knower
20. Al-Qabiz The Restrainer
21. Al-Basit The Spreader
22. Al-Khafiz The Abaser
23. Ar-Rafi' The Exalter
24. Al-Mu'iaz The Honourer
25. Al-Muzil The Destroyer
26. As-Sami' The Hearer
27. Al-Basir The Seer
28. Al-Hakim The Ruler
29. Al-'Adl The Just
30. Al-Latif The Subtle
31. Al-Khabar The Aware
32. Al-Halim The Clement
33. Al-'Azim The Grand
34. Al-Ghafer The Forgiving
35. Ash-Shakur The Grateful
36. Al-'Ali The Exalted
37. Al-Kabir The Great
38. Al-Hafiz The Guardian
39. Al-Muqit The Strengthener
40. Al-Hasib The Reckoner
41. Al-Jalil The Majestic
42. Al-Karim The Generous
43. Ar-Raqib The Watcher
44. Al-Mujib The Approver
45. Al-Wasi' The Comprehensive
46. Al-Hakim The Wise
47. Al-Wadud The Loving
48. Al-Majid The Glorious
49. Al-Bais The Raiser
50. Ash-Shahid The Witness
51. Al-Haqq The Truth
52. Al-Wakil The Advocate
53. Al-Qawi The Strong
54. Al-Matin The Firm
55. Al-Wali The Patron
56. Al-Hamid The Laudable
57. Al-Muhsi The Counter
58. Al-Mubdi The Beginner
59. Al-Mu'id The Restorer
60. Al-Muhya The Quickener

61. Al-Mumit The Killer
62. Al-Haiy The Living
63. Al-Qaiyam The Subsisting
64. Al-Wajid The Finder
65. Al-Majid The Glorious
66. Al-Wahid The One
67. Ab-Samad The Eternal
68. Al-Qadir The Powerful
69. Al-Muqtadhir The Prevailing
70. Al-Muqaddim The Bringing foward
71. Al-Mu'akhkhir The Deferrer
72. Al-Awwal The First
73. Al-Akhir The Last
74. Az-Zahir The Evident
75. Al-Batin The Hidden
76. Al-Wali The Governor
77. Al-Muta'ali The Exalted
78. Al-Barr The Righteous
79. At-Tawwab The Acceptor of Repentance
80. Al-Muntaqim The Aveneger
81. Al-'Afuw The Pardoner
82. Ar-Ra'uf The Kind
83. Maliku 'l-Mulk The Ruler of the Kingdom
84. Zu'l-Jalali wa'l-Ikram The Lord of Majesty and Liberality
85. Al-Muqsit The Equitable
86. Al-Jami' The Collector
87. Al-Ghani The Independent
88. Al-Mughni The Enricher
89. Al-Mu'ti The Giver
90. Al-Mani' The Withholder
91. Az-Zarr The Distresser
92. An-Nafi' The Profiter
93. An-Nur The Light
94. Al-Hadi The Guide
95. Al-Badi' The Incomparable
96. Al-Baqi The Enduring
97. Al-Waris The Inheritor
98. Ar-Rashid The Director
99. Ar-Sabur The Patient

The list either begins or closes with Allah, thus completing the number of one hundred names, which are usually recited on a rosary in the ceremony of Zikr [ZIKR], as well as at all leisure moments, by devout Muslims. The Wahhabis do not use a rosary but count the names on their finger, which they say was the custom of the Prophet, for from the Traditions it appears that Muhammad did not use a rosary.

According to the Traditions (Mishkat, book x. c. i.), the Almighty has an "exalted name" known as the Ismu 'l-Azam, which Muhammad is related to have said was either in the Suratu 'l-Baqarah, the second chapter of the Qur'an, 158th verse, or in the Suratu Ali 'Imran, the third chapter, first verse. The names of God which occur in these two verses are ar-Rahman, "the Merciful," ar-Rahim, "The Compassionate," al-Haiy, "the Living," and al-Qaiyum, "the Subsisting." There is, however, another tradition, from which it would appear that the name may be either al-Ahad, "the One," or as-Samad, "the Eternal."

'Abdu 'l-Haqq in his remarks on these traditions that it is generally held, according to the a tradition by 'Ayishah, that this great name is known only to the prophets and other saintly persons. The compiler of the Kitabu 't-Ta'rifat says it is none other than the name of Allah.

The Prophet having said that whoever calls upon God by this name shall obtain all his desires (Mishkat, book x. c. i. pt. 2), the various sects of faqirs and mystics spend much time in endeavoring to ascertain what the name really is [DA'WAH], and the person who is able to assert that he has obtained this secret knowledge possesses great influence over the minds of the superstitious.

There can be little doubt that the discussion regarding this exalted name has arisen from the circumstance that Muhammad became aware of the fact that the Jews never recited the great name of Jehovah, and spoke of it as "the great and terrible name," "the peculiar name" of God.

The attributes of God as expressed in the ninety-nine names, are divided into the asma'u 'l-jalaliyah, or the glorious attributes, and the asma'u 'l-jamaliyah, or the terrible attributes. Such names as ar-Rahim, "the Merciful," al-Karim, "the Kind," and al-'Afuw, "the Forgiver," belonging to the former; and al-Qawi, "the Strong," al-Muntaqim, "the Avenger," and al-Qadir, "the Powerful," to the latter.

In praying to God it is usual for the worshiper to address the Almighty by that name or attribute which he wishes to appeal to. For example, it praying for pardon, he will address God as either al-'Afuw, "the Pardoner," or at-Tauwab, "the Receiver of repentance."

A belief in the existence of God, His Unity, His Absolute Power, and in the other essential attributes of an Eternal and Almighty Being, is the most important part of the Muslim religion, and is supposed to be expressed in the two clauses of the well known formula:-

La ilaha Il-la 'l-lahu

There is no deity But Allah

The first clause, "There is no deity," is known as the Nafi, or that which is rejected, and the second clause, "But Allah," as the Isbat, or that which is established, the term Nafi wa-Isbat being applied to the first two clauses of the Muslim's Kalimah, or creed.

The teaching of Muhammad in his Qur'an as to the nature of God, forms such an important consideration in an exposition of Islam, that no apology is needed for full and lengthy quotations from that book on the subject.

The following verses are arranged in chronological order according to Jalalu 'd-din as-Suyuti's list:-

Suratu 'l-Ikhlas. Chapter cxii.
(One of the earliest chapters of the Qur'an)
"Say, He is God, One [God]
"God, the Eternal.

"He begetteth not nor is begotten.
And there is none equal to Him."

Suratu 'l-A'raf, Chapter vii 52
(Given at Medinah.)

"Verily your Lord is God, who created the heavens and the earth in six days; then He ascended the throne. He causeth the night to cover the day; it followeth it swiftly; and He created the sun and the moon and the stars, made subject utterly to His command. Do not the whole creation and command belong to Him? Blessed be God, the Lord of the Worlds."

Suratu Maryam. Chapter xix 91-96, (Given at Makkah.)
"They say, 'The Compassionate hath gotten offspring'; Ye have done an impious thing."

"It wanteth little but that the heavens be rent thereat, and that the earth cleave asunder, and that the mountains fall down in pieces."

"For that they have attributed offspring to the Compassionate, when it beseemeth not the Compassionate to get offspring."

"There is none of all that are in the heavens and the earth but he shall come unto the Compassionate as a servant. He hath known them and numbered them with an exact numbering."

"And each of them shall come unto Him on the day of resurrection, alone."

"Verily those who have believed and have done the tings that are right, on them the Compassionate will bestow [His] love."

Suratu 'l-Hijr. Chapter xv 16-25. (Given at Makkah.)

"We (God) have placed in heaven the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and adorned them for the beholders with the constellations;
And We have guarded them (by means of shooting star) from every accursed devil.
Excepting him who listened by stealth, whom a manifest shooting star pursueth.
We have also spread forth then earth, and thrown thereon firm mountains, and We have caused to spring forth in it every kind [of green thing] weighed.
And We have provided for you therein necessaries of life, and for him whom ye do not sustain.
And there is not a thing but the storehouses thereof are with Us and We send it not down save in determined quantities.
We also send fertilizing winds, and We send down water from heaven, and give you drink thereof; and ye are not the storers of it.
And verily We give life and death, and We are the heirs of all the creation.
We also know those who have gone before you, and We know those who follow after [you].
And verily they Lord will assemble them together; for He is Wise, Knowing."

Suratu 'l-An'am. Chapter vi 59-64. (Given at Makkah.)

"With Him are the keys of the hidden things; none knoweth them but He; and He knoweth whatsoever is on the land and in the sea, and there falleth not a leaf but He knoweth it, nor a grain in the dark parts of the earth, nor a moist thing nor a dry thing, but [it is noted] in a distinct writing.
And it is He who taketh your souls at night, and knoweth what ye have gained in the day; then He reviveth you therein, that an appointed time may be fulfilled. Then unto Him shall ye return; then will He declare unto you what ye have done.
And He is the Supreme over His servants, and He sendeth watchers over you, until when death cometh unto any one of you, Our messengers take his soul, and they fail not.
Then are they returned unto God their Lord, the True. Doth not judgement belong to Him? And He is the most quick of reckoners.
SAY, Who delivereth you from the darknesses of the land and of the sea, when ye supplicate Him humbly and in secret, saying, 'If Thou deliver us from these dangers, we will assuredly be of [the number of] the thankful'?
SAY, God delivereth you from them and from every affliction."

Ib. 95-108: -

"Verily God causeth the grain to come forth, and the date stone; He bringeth forth the living from the dead, and He bringeth forth the dead from the living; This is God; then wherefore are ye turned away?
He causeth the dawn to appear, and hath ordained the night for rest, and the sun and the moon for reckoning time; this is the appointment of the Mighty, the Wise.
And it is He who hath ordained for you the stars, that ye may be guided by them in the darkness of the land and of the sea; We have clearly shown the signs of Our power unto the people who know.
And it is He who hath produced you from one soul, and there is a place of rest and of storing; We have clearly shown the signs to the people who understand.
And it is He who hath sent down water from heaven, and We have produced thereby the germs of everything, and We have caused the green thing to come forth therefrom, from which We draw forth grains massed; and from the palm-tree, from it fruit-branch, clusters of dates heaped together; and gardens of grapes, and the olive and the pomegranate, like one another and not like. Look ye at their fruits when they bear fruit, and their ripening. Verily therein are signs unto the people who believe.
Yet they, have set up the Jinn as partners of God, though He hath created them, and without knowledge have they falsely attributed to Him sons and daughters. Extolled be His purity, and high be He exalted above that which they attribute [to Him]!
He is the Author of the heavens and the earth. How then should He have offspring, when He hath no consort, and hath created everything and knoweth everything?
This is God your Lord. There is no God but He the Creator of everything; therefore

worship ye Him; and He is guardian over everything.
The eyes see Him not, but He seeth the eyes; and He is the Gracious, the Knowing."

Suratu Bani Isra'il Chapter lxvii 1-4 (Given at Makkah).

"Blessed be He in whose hand is the cominion and who is all powerful;
Who hath created death and life, that He may prove you, which of you [will be] best in works; and He is the Mighty, the Very-Forgiving;
Who hath created seven heavens, one above another. Thou seest not any fault in the creation of the Compassionate. But life up the eyes again to heaven. Dost thou see any fissures?
The lift up the eyes again twice; the night shall return unto thee dull and dim."

Suratu 'l-Ankabut Chapter xxix 40-43. (Given at Makkah).

"The likeness of those who take to themselves Tutclars instead of God is as the likeness of the spider, which taketh for herself a dwelling, and the frailest of dwelling surely is the dwelling of the spider! If they knew - !
Verily God knoweth whatever thing they invoke in His stead; and He is the Mighty and Wise.
And these parables we propound unto men; but none understand them except the wise.
God hath created the heavens and the earth in truth; verily therein is a sign unto the believers."

Suratu 'l-Baqarah. Chapter ii 157-160. (Given at al-Madinah).

"And you God is One God; there is no god by He, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Verily in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the varying of night and day and the ships that course upon the sea laden with what is profitable to mankind, and the water that God hath sent down form heaven, quickening the earth thereby after its death and scattering about it all kinds of beasts; and in the changing of the winds, and the clouds that are compelled to do service between heaven and earth, are signs unto a people who understand.
Yet among men are those who take to themselves, beside God, idols, which they love as with the love of God; but those who have believed are more loving towards God than these towards their idols"

Ib. 256: -

"God! There is no God but He, the Ever-Living, the Ever-Subsisting, Slumber seizeth Him not, nor sleep. To Him belongeth whatsoever is in the Heavens and whatsoever is in the Earth. Who is he that shall intercede with Him, unless by His permission? He knoweth what [hath been] before them and what [shall be] after them, and they shall not compass aught of His knowledge save what He willet. His Throne comprehendeth the Heavens and the Earth; and the care of them burdeneth Him not. And He is the High, the Great."

Suratu Ali-Imran, Chapter iii 25. (Given at al-Madinah.)

"Say, O God, to whom belongeth dominion. Thou givest dominion to whom Thou wilt, and from who Thou wilt Thou takest it away; Thou exaltest who Thou wilt, and who Thou wilt Thou humblest. In Thy hand is good. Verily Thou art all-powerful.
Thou causes the night to pass into the day, and Thou causes the day to pass into the night; and Thou bringest forth the living from the dead, and Thou bringest forth the dead from the living; and Thou givest sustenance to whom Thou wilt without measure."

Suratu 'r-Ra'd Chapter xiii 13 (Given at al-Madinah).

"It is He who taketh the lighting to appear unto you [causing] fear and hope of rain, and formeth the pregnant clouds.

And the thunder proclaimeth His perfection with His praise; and [likewise] the angels, in fear of Him. And He sendeth the thunderbolts, and striketh with them whom He pleaseth whilst they dispute concerning God; for He is mighty in power."

Suratu 'n-Nisa'. Chapter iv 51 (Given at al-Madinah).

"Verily God will not forgive the associating with Him [any other being as a god], but will forgive other sins unto whom He pleaseth; and whoso associateth [another] with God hath wrought a great wickedness."

The following is an interpretation of the Muslim belief in the existence and nature of God by the famous scholastic divine, the Imam al Ghazzali, in his book entitled al-Maqsadu 'l-asna, an extract from which Ockley has translated from pocook's Specimen Historae Arabum:-

"Praise be to God the Creator and Restorer of all things; who does whatsoever He pleases, who is master of the glorious throne and mighty force, and directs His sincere servants into the right way and the straight path, who favoureth them, who have once borne testimony to the unity, by preserving their confessions from the darkness of doubt and hesitation; who directs them to follow His chosen apostle, upon whom be the blessings and peace of God; and to go after His most honorable companions, to whom he hath vouchsafed His assistance and direction which is revealed to them is His essence and operations by the excellencies of His attributes, to the knowledge whereof no man attains but he that hath been taught by hearing. To these, as touching His essence, He taketh known that He is one, and hath no partner; singular, without anything like Him; uniform, having no contrary; separate, having no equal. He is ancient, having no first; eternal, having no beginning; remaining forever, having no end; continuing to eternity, without any termination. He persists without ceasing to be; remains without failing, and never did cease, nor ever shall cease to be described by glorious attributes, nor is subject to any decree so as to be determined by any precise limits or set times,

but is the First and the Last, and is withing and without.

"(What God is not.) He, glorified be His name, is not a body endued with form, nor a substance circumscribed with limits or determined by measures; neither does He resemble bodies, as they are capable of being measured or divided. Neither is He a substance, neither do substances exist in Him; neither is He an accident, nor do accidents exist in Him. Neither is he like anything that exists, neither is anything like to Him; nor is he determinate in quantity nor comprehended by bounds, nor circumscribed by the differences of situation, nor contained in the heavens. He sits upon the throne, after that manner which He Himself hath described, and in that same sense which He Himself means, which is a sitting far removed from any notion of contact, or resting upon, or local situation; but both the throne itself, and whatsoever is upon it, are sustained by the goodness of his power, and are subject to the grasp of His hand. But He is above all things, even to the utmost ends of the earth; but so above as at the same time not to be a whit nearer the throne and the heaven; since He is exalted by (infinite) degrees above the throne no less that He is exalted above the earth, and at the same time is near to everything that hath a being; nay, ‘nearer to man than their jugular veins, and is witness to everything’: though His nearness is not like the nearness of bodies as neither is His essence of bodies. Neither doth He exist in anything, neither doth anything exist in Him; but He is too high to be contained in any place, and too holy to be determined by time; for He was before time and place were created, and is now after the same manner as He always was. He is also distinct from the creatures by His attributes, neither is there anything besides Himself in His essence, nor is His essence in any other besides Him. He is too holy to be subject to change, or any local motion; neither do any accidents dwell in Him, nor any contingencies befall Him; but He abides through all generations with His glorious attributes, free from all danger of dissolution. As to the attribute of perfection, He wants no addition of His perfection. As to being, He is known to exist by the apprehension of the understanding; and He is seen as He is by an ocular intuition, which will be vouchsafed out of His mercy and grace to the holy in the eternal mansion completing their joy by the vision of His glorious presence."

"(His power.) He, praised be His name, is living, powerful, mighty, omnipotent, not liable to any defect or impotence; neither slumbering nor sleeping, nor being obnoxious to decay or death. To im belongs the kingdom, and the power, and the might. His is the dominion, and the excellency, and the creation, and the command thereof. The heavens are folded up in His right hand, and all creatures are couched within His grasp. His excellency in His creating and producing, and His unity is communicating existence and a beginning of being. He created men and their works, and measured out their maintenance and their determined times. Nothing that is possible can escape His grasp, nor can the vicissitudes of things elude his power. The effects of his might are innumerable, and the objects of his knowledge infinite."

"(His knowledge.) He, praised be His name, knows all things that can be understood, and comprehends whatsoever comes to pass, from the extremities of the earth to the highest heavens. Even the weight of a pismire could not escape Him either in earth or heaven; but He would perceive the creeping of the black pismire in the dark night upon the hard stone, and discern the motion of an atom in the open air. He knows what is secret and conceals it, and views the conceptions of the minds, and the motions of the thoughts, and the inmost recesses of secrets, by a knowledge ancient and eternal, that never ceased to be His attribute from eternal eternity, and not by any new knowledge, superadded to His essence, either inhering or adventitious."

"(His will.) He, praised be His name, doth will those things to be that are, and disposes of all accidents. Nothing passes in the empire nor the kingdom, neither little nor much, nor small nor great, nor good nor evil, nor profitable nor brutal, nor faith nor infidelity, nor knowledge nor ignorance, nor prosperity nor adversity, nor increase nor decrease, nor obedience nor rebellion, but by His determinate counsel and decree, and His definite sentence and will. Nor doth the wink of him that seeth, nor the subtlety of him that thinketh, exceed the bounds of His will; but it is He who gave all things their beginning; He is the creator and restorer, the sole operator of what He pleases; there is no reversing His decree nor delaying what He hath determined, nor is there any refuge to man from his rebellion against Him, but only His help and mercy; nor hath any man any power to perform any duty towards Him, but through His love and will. Though men, genii, angels and devils, should conspire together either to put one single atom in motion, or cause it to cease its motion, without His will and approbation, they would not be able to do it. His will subsists in His essence amongst the rest of His attributes, and was from eternity one of His eternal attributes, by which He willed from eternity the existence of those things that He had decreed, which were produced in their proper seasons according to His eternal will, without any before or after, and in agreement both with His knowledge and will, and not by methodizing of thoughts, nor waiting for a proper time, for which reason no one thing is in Him a hindrance from another."

"(His hearing and sight.) And He, praised be His name, is hearing and seeing, and heareth and seeth. No audible object, how still soever, escapeth His hearing; nor is anything visible so small as to escape his sight;

for distance is no hindrance to His hearing, nor darkness to His sight. He sees without pupil or eye-lid, and hears without any passage or ear, even as He knoweth without a heart, and performs His actions without the assistance of any corporeal limb, and creates without any instruments, for His attributes (or properties) are not like those of men, any more than His essence is like theirs."

"(His word.) Furthermore, He doth speak, command, forbid, promise, and threaten by an eternal, ancient word, subsisting in His essence. Neither is it like to the word of the creatures, nor doth it consist in a voice arising from the commotion of the air and the collision of bodies, not letters which are separated by the joining together of the lips or the motion of the tongue. The Qur'an, the Law, the Gospel, and the Psalter, are books sent down by Him to His apostles, and the Qur'an indeed, is read with tongues, written in books, and kept in hearts; yet as subsisting in the essence of God, it doth not become liable to separation and division whilst it is transferred into the hearts and the papers. Thus Moses also heard the Word of God without voice or letter, even as the saints behold the essence of God without substance or accident. And since these are his attributes, He giveth and knoweth, is powerful and willet and operateth, and seeth and speaketh, by life and knowledge, and will and hearing; and sight and word, not by His simple essence."

"(His works.) He, praised be His name, exists after such a manner that nothing besides Him hath any being but what is produced by His operation, and floweth from His justice after the best, most excellent, most perfect, and most just model. He is, moreover, wise in His works, and just in His decrees. But His justice is not to be compared with the justice of men. For a man may be supposed to act unjustly by invading the possession of another; but no injustice can be conceived by God, inasmuch as there is nothing that belongs to any other besides Himself, so that wrong is not imputable to Him as meddling with things not appertaining to Him. All things, Himself only excepted, genii, men, the devil, angels, heaven, earth, animals, plants, substance, accident, intelligible, sensible, were all created originally by Him. He created them by His power out of mere privation, and brought them into light, when as yet they were nothing at all, but He alone existing from eternity, neither was there any other with Him. Now He created all things in the beginning for the manifestation of His power and His will, and the confirmation of His word, which was true from all eternity. Not that He stood in need of them, nor wanted them; but He manifestly declared His glory in creating and producing, and commanding, without being under any obligation, nor out of necessity. Loving kindness, the showing favor and grace, and beneficence, belong to Him; whereas it is in His power to pour forth upon men a variety of torments, and afflict them with various kinds of sorrows and diseases, which, if He were to do, His justice could not be arraigned, nor would he be chargeable with injustice. Yet He rewards those that worship Him for their obedience on account of his promise and beneficence, not of their merit nor of necessity, since there is nothing which He can be tied to perform; nor can any injustice be supposed in Him, nor can He be under any obligation to any person whatsoever. That His creatures, however, should be bound to serve Him, ariseth from His having declared by the tongues of the prophets that it was due to Him from them. The worship of Him is not simply the dictate of the understanding, but He sent messengers to carry to men His commands, and promises, and threats, whose veracity He proved by manifest miracles, whereby men are obliged to give credit to them in those things that they relate."

Included in the attributes of God as given in His ninety-nine titles or names, there are the Hafi-sifat, or Seven Attributes; Muhammad al-Barqawi has expressed them as follows:—

(1) Hayat, or Life. God Most High is alone to be adored. He has neither associate nor equal. He is free from the imperfections of humanity. He is neither begotten nor does He beget. He is invisible. He is without figure, form, color, or parts. His existence has neither beginning nor end. He is immutable. If He so wills, He can annihilate the world in a moment of time and, if it seem good to Him, recreate it in an instant. Nothing is difficult to Him, whether it be the creation of a fly or that of the seven heavens. He receives neither profit nor loss from whatever may happen. If all the Infidels became believers and all the irreligious pious, He would gain no advantage. On the other hand, if all Believers became infidels, He would suffer no loss.

(2) 'Ilm, or Knowledge. He has knowledge of all things hidden or manifest, whether in heaven or on earth. He knows the number of the leaves of the trees, of the grains of wheat and sand. Events past and future are known to Him. He knows what enters into the heart of man and what He utters with His mouth. He alone, except those to whom He has revealed them, knows the invisible things. He is free from forgetfulness, negligence and error. His knowledge is eternal; and is not posterior to His essence.

(3) Qudrah, or Power. He is Almighty. If He wills, He can raise the dead, make stones talk, trees walk, annihilate the heavens and the earth, and recreate of gold or of silver thousands similar to those destroyed. He can transport a man in a moment of time from the east to the west, or form the west to the east or to the seventh heaven. His power is eternal a priori and a posteriori. It is not posterior to His essence.

(4) Iradah, or Will. He can do what He wills, and whatever He will comes to pass. He is not obliged to act. Everything, good or evil, in this world exists by His will. He wills the faith of the believer and the piety of the

religious. If He were to change His will there would be neither a true believer nor a pious man. He willet also the unbelief of the unbeliever and the irreligion of the wicked and, without that will there would neither be unbelief nor irreligion. All we do by His will; what He willet not does not come to pass. If one should ask why God does not will that all men should believe, we answer: "We have no right to enquire about what God wills and does. He is perfectly free to will and to do what He pleases." In creating unbelievers, in willing that they should remain in that state; in making serpents, scorpions, and pigs: in willing, in short, all that is evil, God has wise ends in view which it is not necessary that we should know. We must acknowledge that the will of God is eternal and that it is not posterior to His essence.

(5) Sam', or Hearing. He hears all sounds whether low or loud. He hears without an ear, for His attributes are not like those of men.

(6) Basar or Seeing. He sees all things, even the steps of a black ant on a black stone in a dark night; yet He has no eye as men have.

(7) Kalam, or Speech. He speaks, but not with a tongue as men do. He speaks to some of His servants without the intervention of another, even as He spoke to Moses, and to Muhammad on the night of the ascension to heaven. He speaks to others by the instrumentality of Gabriel, and this is the usual way in which He communicates His will to the prophets. It follows from this that the Qur'an is the word of God, and is eternal and uncreated. (Sale's Faith of Islam.)

With regard to the Muhammadan belief in the Supreme Being, Mr. Palgrave, the well-known Oriental traveler, thus expresses himself:—

"'There is no god but God,' are words simply tantamount in English to the negation of any deity save one alone; and thus much they certainly mean in Arabic, but the imply much more also. Their full sense is not only to deny absolutely and unreservedly all plurality, whether of nature or of person, in the Supreme Being, not only to establish the unity of the Unbegetting and Unbegot, in all its simple and incommunicable Oneness; but besides this, the words in Arabic and among Arabs imply that this one Supreme Being, is also the only Agent, the only Force, the only act existing throughout the universe, and leave to all beings else, matter or spirit, instinct or intelligence, physical or moral, nothing but pure unconditional passiveness, alike in movement or in quiescence, in action or capacity. The sole power, the sole motor, movement, energy, and deed, is God; the rest is downright inertia and mere instrumentality, from the highest archangel down to the simplest atom of creation. Hence, in this one sentence, is summed up a system which, for want of a better name, I may be permitted to call the Pantheism of Force, or of Act, thus exclusively assigned to God, Who absorbs it all, exercises it all, and to Whom alone it can be ascribed, whether for preserving or for destroying, for relative evil or for equally realative good. I say 'relative' because it is clear that in such a theology no place is left for absolute good or evil, reason or extravagance, all is abridged in the autocratical will of the One great Agent; sic volo, sic jubeo, stet pro ratione voluntas, or more significantly still, in Arabic Kema yeshao (ka-ma yasha'u), 'as He wills it,' to quote the constantly recurring expression of the Coran."

"Thus immeasurably and eternally exalted above, and dissimilar from, all creatures, which lie leveled before Him on one common plane of instrumentality and inertness, God is One in the totality of omnipotent and omnipresent action, which acknowledges no rule, standard, or limit, save His own sole and absolute will. He communicates nothing to His creatures, for their seeming power and act ever remain His alone, and in return He receives nothing form them; for whatever they may be, that they are in Him, by Him, and from Him only. And, secondly, no superiority, no distinction, no pre-eminence, can be lawfully claimed by one creature over its fellow, in the utter equalisation of their unexceptional servitude and abasement; all are alike tools of the one solitary Force which employs them to crush or to benefit, to truth or to error, to honor or shame, to happiness or misery, quite independently of their individual fitness, deserts, or advantage, and simply because 'He wills it,' and 'as He wills it.'"

"One might at first sight think that this tremendous Autocrat, this uncontrolled and unsympathizing Power, would be far above anything like passions, desires, or inclinations. Yet such is not the case, for He has with respect to His creatures one main feeling and source of action, namely, jealousy of them, lest they should perchance attribute to themselves something of that is His alone, and thus encroach on His all-engrossing kingdom. Hence He is ever more prone to punish than to reward, to inflict pain that to bestow pleasure, to ruin than to build. It is His singular satisfaction to let created beings continually feel that they are nothing else than His slaves, His tools, and contemptible tools also, that thus they may the better acknowledge His superiority, and know His power to be above their power, His power to be above their power, His cunning above their cunning, His will above their will, His pride above their pride; or rather, that there is no power, cunning, will, or pride, save His own."

"But He Himself, sterile in His inaccessible height, neither loving nor enjoying aught save His own and self-measured decree, without son, companion, or counselor, is no less barren of Himself that for His creatures, and His own barrenness and lone egoism in Himself in the cause and rule of His indifferent and unrewarding despotism around. The first note is the key of the whole tune, and the primal idea of God runs through and

modifies the whole system and creed that centres in Him.

"That the notion here given of the Deity, monstrous and blasphemous as it may appear, is exactly and literally that which the Coran conveys or intends to convey, I at present take for granted. But that it indeed is so, no one who has attentively perused and thought over the Arabic text (for more cursory reading, especially in a translation, will not suffice), and hesitate to allow. In fact, every phrase of the preceding sentences, every touch in this odious portrait, has been take, to the best of my ability, word for word, or at least meaning for meaning, from the 'Book,' the truest mirror of the mind and scope of its writer."

"And that such was in reality Mahomet's mind and idea, is fully confirmed by the witness-tongue of contemporary tradition. Of this we have many authentic samples: the Saheeh (Sahih), the Commentary of Beyduwi (al-Baizawi), the Mishkat ul Mosabih and fifty similar works, afford ample testimony on this point. But for the benefit of my readers in general, all of whom may not have drunk equally deep at the fountain-heads of Islamic dogma, I will subjoin a specimen, known perhaps to many Orientalists, yet too characteristic to here be omitted, a repetition of which I have endured times out of number from admiring and approving Wahhabis in Nejed."

"'Accordingly, when God' - so runs the tradition: I had better said, the blasphemy - 'resolved to create the human race, He took into His hands a mass of earth, the same whence all mankind were to be formed, and in which they after a manner pre-existed; and having then divided the clod into two equal portions, He threw the one half into hell saying, "These to eternal fire, and I care not"; and projected the other half into heaven, adding "and these to Paradis, I care not"' (See Mishkatu 'l-Masabih Babu 'l-Qadr.)

"Commentary would here be superfluous. But in this we have before us the adequate idea of predestination, or, to give it a truer name, pre-damnation, held and taught in the school of the Coran. Paradise and hell are at once totally independent of love or hatred on the part of the Deity, and of merits or demerits, of good or evil conduct, on the part of the creature; and, in the corresponding theory, rightly so, since the very actions which we call good or ill-deserving, right or wrong, wicked or virtuous, and in their essence all one and of one, and accordingly merit neither praise nor blame, punishment nor recompense, except and simply after the arbitrary value which the all-regulating will of the great despot may choose to assign or impute to them. In a word, He burns one individual through all eternity amid red-hot chains and seas of molten fire, and seats another in the plenary enjoyment of an ever-lasting brothel between forty celestial concubines, just and equally for His own good pleasure, and because He wills it."

"Men are thus all on one common level, here and hereafter, in their physical, social, and moral light - the level of slaves to one sole Master, of tools to one universal Agent. But the equalizing process does not stop here: beasts, birds, fishes, insects, all participate of the same honor or debasement; all are, like man, the slaves of God, the tools and automata of His will, and hence Mahomet is simply logical and self-consistent when in the Coran he informs his followers, that birds, beasts, and the rest are 'nations' like themselves, nor does any intrinsic distinction exist between them and the human species except what accidental diversity the 'King, the Proud One, the Mighty, the Giant &c', as he styles his God, may have been pleased to make, just as He willed it, and so long as He may will it."

"However, should any one think himself aggrieved by such association, he may console himself by reflecting that, on the other hand, angels, archangels, genii, evils, and whatever other spiritual beings may exist, are no less on his level also; and that if he himself be no better than Gabriel or any seraph. And then, over all and above all 'There is no god but God.'" - (Central and Eastern Arabia vol. i, p365.)

GOG AND MAGOG Arabic Yajuj was Majuj, also spelt Ma'juj wa Ya'juj . A barbarous people of Central Asia, perhaps the Turkomans, who are in the Qur'an represented as doing evil in the land in the days of Zu 'l-Qarnain (or Alexander). See Surah xviii. 93-97:-

"They said 'O Zu' l-Qarnain! Verily God and Maggog waste this land; shall we then pay thee tribute, so thou build a rampart between us and them?'"

"He said, 'Better than your tribute is the might wherewith my Lord hath strengthened me; but help me strenuously, and I will set a barrier between you and them."

"'Bring me blocks of iron,' until when it filled the space between the mountain sides - 'Ply,' said he, 'your bellows, - until when he had made it red with heat (fire), he said, - 'Bring me molten brass that I may pour upon it.'

"And Gog and Magog were not able to scale it, neither were they able to dig through it."

"'This,' he said, 'is a mercy from my Lord.'"

They are also spoken of in Surah xxi 95, 96, as a people who shall appear in the last days:-

"There is a ban on every city which we shall have destroyed, that they shall not arise again."

"Until a way is opened for Gog and Magog, and they shall hasten from every highland."

Al-Baizawi says Yajuj and Majuj are two tribes descended from Japheth the son of Noah, and some say Yajuj belong to the Turks and Majuj to the Jils (Comp.

Ezekiel xxxviii 2, xxxix 1; Rev. xvi 14; xx 8.)

GOLD Arabic gahab ; Heb. . The zakat imposed upon gold is upon twenty misqals, one-half missal and upon every four missals in excess, one qirat, because the alms upon gold is one fortieth of the whole. This is due upon all gold, whether it be in coin or in ornaments. But as-Shafi'i says it is not due upon the ornaments of women or the rings of men. (Hidayah, vol. i p 27.)

The sale of gold is only lawful when it is exactly equal in point of weight, for Muhammad said,: "Sell gold for gold, from hand to hand at an equal rate according to weight, for any inequality in point of weight is usury. (Idem, vol ii 552.)

"It is not lawful for a man or woman to eat or drink out of gold or silver vessels." (Idem., vol vi 86.)

GOLIATH Arabic Jalut . The giant whom King David slew. Mentioned in the Qur'an, Surah ii 251: "And when the came forth to battle against Jalut and his army, they said, 'O Lord, give us patience, an strengthen our feet, and help us against the infidel!' Therefore they discomfited them by the will of God, and David slew Jalut."

The commentators have not ventured to give any account of Jalut.

GOMORRAH Arabic Ghamurah . Not mentioned by name in the Qur'an; but Sadum was Ghamurah are understood to be "overturned cities" referred to in Surahs ix 71, lxix 9.

GOOD WORKS Arabic as-Salihat . According to the teaching of the Qur'an, good works without faith will not save from the torments of hell.

Surah xviii 103-5: "Shall we tell you who are they that have lost their labor most; whose efforts in the present life have been mistaken, and who deemed that what they did was right? They are those who believed not in the signs of the Lord, or that they should ever meet Him. Vain, therefore, are their works; and no weight will we allow them on the day of Resurrection."

Faith in the above is belief in the mission of Muhammad; all Muslims being considered in a state of grace, no matter what their actions may be. With reference to the good deeds of Muslims, the following is the teaching of Muhammad, as recorded in the Traditions (Mishkat, book x chap iii):-

"When a man is brought to Islam and he performs it well, God covers all his former sins, and he gets ten rewards for every good act, up to seven hundred, and even more than that, whereas the reward of misdeeds is as one to one, unless God passes that over likewise."

"There are three persons whose actions are not written; one a person asleep until he awakes; the second, a boy not arrived at puberty; the third, a madman until he recovers his reason."

"Verily, God recordeth both the good deeds and the evil deeds. He who has proposed to do evil, and did not do it, for him God recordeth one perfectly good deed. And he who intended to do good and put his intentions into practice, for him God recordeth from ten to seven hundred good deeds (according to their merits). And he who intended to do evil but did it not, God recordeth one good act; but he who intendeth to do evil and doth it, for him God recordeth one evil deed."

"Verily, the condition of that person who does evil and after that good deeds, is like the condition of a man with tight armour on, which has troubled him. He does one good deed and the rings of the armour become open. He does another deed, and the armour falls from his body."

"Verily, there was a man amongst those who were before you to whom the angel of death came to take his soul, and he was asked 'Have you done any good act?' He said in answer, 'I do not remember that I have done any good.' It was said to him, 'Look well into yourself, and consider if you have done any good work. He said, 'I do not find any good in myself, except that I used to buy and sell in the world and used to claim my right from the rich, but allowed them their leisure to pay me when they liked, and I forgave the poor.' Then God brought the man into paradise."

"An adulteress was forgiven who passed by a dog at a well, and the dog was holding out his tongue from thirst, which was near killing him. The woman drew off her boot and tied it to the end of her veil, and drew water for the dog, and gave him to drink, and she was forgiven on account of that act. It was asked the Prophet, 'Verily, are there rewards for our doing food to quadrupeds, and giving them water to drink?' He said, 'There are rewards for benefitting every animal having a moist liver.'"

"Your smiling in your brother's face is alms; and your exhorting mankind to virtuous deeds is alms; and your prohibiting the forbidden is alms; and your showing men the road when they lose it is alms; and your assisting the blind is alms; and your removing stones, thorns, and bones, which are inconvenient to a man is alms; and your pouring water from your bucket into that of your brother is alms for you.'"

GOSHAH-NISHIN Lit. "One who sits in a corner." A Persian term for a devout person who in retirement engages in the contemplation of the Deity.

GOSPEL Arabic Injil A term applied to the whole of the New Testament scriptures. [NEW TESTAMENT.]

GRAMMAR [ILMU 'L-ADAB]

GRANDFATHER Arabic jadd . If a father die without appointing an executor, the grandfather represents

the father. And in making contracts of marriage, the grandfather has precedence on an executor, although the executor takes precedence in managing the property. (Hidayah, vol iv p 555.) In case of the father being poor, it is the duty of the grandfather to act for his grandchild in the distribution of alms &c. (Idem. vol ii p 244.)

GRANDMOTHER Arabic jaddah If the mother of an infant die, the right hizanah, or guardianship, rests with the maternal grandmother in preference to the paternal; but if she be not living, the paternal grandmother has the right prior to any other relation. The paternal grandmother is also entitled to a sixth of the effects of a child of her son, if the child's mother be dead, as being the mother's share. (Hidayah, vol i p 386.)

GRAVE Arabic ; Heb. . The graves of Muhammadans are so dug as to allow the body to lie with its face towards Makkah; consequently in India they are dug from north to south. It is usual to dig a grave the depth equal to the height of the breast of a middle-sized man, and to make a recess at the bottom, which is called lahd, in which the body is places. The body having been placed in the recess, it is closed with earth and a mound raised over it.

The Traditions of Muhammad, as well as the works of Muslim doctors, teach that a dead body is conscious of pain, and therefore great care is taken to prevent any pressure upon the body.

'Amir relates that his father Sa'd ibn Abu Waqqas said on his death-bed, "Make a lahd for me towards Makkah, and put unburnt bricks upon my grave, as was done in the case of the Prophet (Sahihu-Muslim, p 211)

Sufyan at-Tammar relates that he "saw the Prophet's grave, and the top of it was like a camel's back." (Sahihu 'l-Bukhari)

Ibn 'Abbas says "a red cloth was place upon the Prophet's grave." (Mishkat, book v c vi.)

Jabir says, "the Prophet prohibited building with mortar on graves, and also placing inscriptions upon them." (Mishkat, book v c vi). But notwithstanding this tradition (which is acted upon by the Wahhabis), masonry tombs are most common in all parts of Islam, and form some of the most striking specimens of Muhammadan architecture. [TOMBS.]

GRAVE The punishments of. ['AZABU 'L-QABR.]

GREEKS. Arabic ar-Rum by which is meant the Byzantine or Eastern Empire. In the xxxth chapter of the Qur'an, entitled the Suratu 'r-Rum, of the "Chapter of the Greeks", there is a reference to the defeat of the Byzantine power by the Persians with a supposed prophecy of future successes :-

"Alif. Lim. Mim. THE GREEKS have been defeated."

"In a land hard by; But after their defeat they shall defeat their foes."

"In a few years. First and last is the affair with God. And on that day shall the faithful rejoice."

"In the promise of God: He aideth who He will; and He is the Mighty, the Merciful."

"It is the promise of God: To his promise God will not be untrue; but most men know it not."

Following al-Baizawi, the Jalalan, and other commentators, Sale remarks that-

The accomplishment of the prophecy contained in this passage, which is very famous among the Muhammadans, being insisted on by their doctors as a convincing proof that the Qur'an really came down from heaven, it may be excusable to be a little particular.

The passage is said to have been reveled on the occasion of a great victory obtained by the Persians over the Greeks, the news whereof coming to Makkah, the infidels became strangely elated, and began to abuse Muhammad and his followers, imagining that this success of the Persians, who, like themselves, were idolators, and supposed to have no scripture, against the Christians, who pretended as well as Muhammad to worship one God, and to have divine scriptures, was an earnest of their own future successes against the Prophet, and those of his religion, to check which vain hopes it was foretold in the words of the text, that how improbable soever it might seem, yet the scale should be turned in a few years, and the vanquished Greeks prevail as remarkably against the Persians. That this prophecy was exactly fulfilled, the commentators fail to observe, though they do not exactly agree in the accounts they give of its accomplishment, the number of years between the two actions being not precisely determined. Some place the victory gained by the Persians in the fifth year before the Hijrah, and their defeat by the Greeks in the second year after it, when the battle of Badr was fought; others place the former in the third or fourth year before the Hijrah, and the latter in the end of the sixth or the beginning of the seventh year after it, when the expedition of al-Hudaibiyah was undertaken. The date of the victory gained by the Greeks in the first of these accounts, interferes with a story which the commentators tell of a wager laid by Abu Bakr with Ubaiy ibn Khalf who turned this prophecy into ridicule. Abu Bake at first laid ten young camels that the Persians should receive an overthrow within three years, but on his acquainting Muhammad with what he had done, that Prophet told him that the word buz made use of in this passage, signified no determinate number of years, but any number from three to nine (though some suppose the tenth year is included), and therefore advised him to prolong the time and to raise the wager, which he accordingly proposed to Ubaiy, and they agreed that the time assigned should be nine years and the wager a hundred camels. Before the time was elapsed, Ubaiy died of a would received at Uhub, in the third year of the Hijrah; but the event afterwards showing that Abu Bakr had won, he received the camels of Ubaiy's heirs, and brought them in triumph to Muhammad. History informs us that the successes of Khosru Parviz, King of Persia, who carried the terrible war against the Greek empire, to avenge the death of Maurice, his father-in-law, slain by Phocas, were very great, and continued in an uninterrupted course for two and twenty year. Particularly in the year of Christ 615, about the beginning of the sixth year before the Hijrah, the Persians, having the preceding year conquered Syria, made themselves master of Palestine and took Jerusalem. Which seems to be that signal advantage gained over the Greeks mentioned in this passage, as agreeing best with the terms here used, and most likely to alarm the Arabs by reason of their vicinity to the scene of action; and there was so little probability at that time of the Greeks being able to retrieve their losses much less to distress the Persians, that in the following years the arms of the latter made still father and more considerable progresses, and at length they laid siege to Constantinople itself. But in the year 625, in which the fourth year of the Hijrah began, about ten years after the taking of Jerusalem, the Greeks, when it was least expected, gained a remarkable victory over the Persians, and not only obliged them is quit the territories of the empire, by carrying the war into their own country, but drove them to the last extremity, and spoiled the capital city at al-Madayin; Heraclius enjoying thenceforward a continued series of good fortune, to the deposition and death of Khosru (Sale's Koran in loco.)

GROVE, The Arabic Aikah The Ashabu 'l-Aikah, or "the people of the Grove", are mentioned four times in the Qur'an, Surahs xv 78, xxvi 176, xxvii 21, l 13, as being a tribe or class of people who treated the prophets as liars. The following particulars regarding them are given in Surah xxvi 170:-

"The people of the grove of Madyan treated the apostles as liars.
When Shu'alb their brother said to them, 'Will ye not fear God?
I Truly am your trustworthy Apostle.
Fear God, then, and obey me.
No reward ask I of you for this; my reward is of the Lord of the Worlds alone."

GUARDIANSHIP Guardianship over a minor is of two kinds: wilayah , or guardianship of the property and education and marriage of the ward, and hizanah , or guardianship over the rearing and bringing up of the child.

Guardians are either so by natural right or by testament, or by a appointment by a judge.

The guardianship of a minor for the management and preservation of his property devolves first on his or her father, then on the father's executor, next on the paternal grandfather, then on his executor, then on the executors of such executors, next on the ruling power or his representative, the Qazi of judge. In default of a father, father's father, and their executors as above, all of whom are term near guardians, it rests in the Qazi to appoint a guardian of an infant's property. The other paternal kinsmen who are termed remote kindred, and the mother succeed, according to proximity, to the guardianship of an infant for the purpose of education and marriage; they have no right to be guardians of his property, unless appointed to be so by the ruling authority, or in the original proprietor's will, proved by competent witnesses. The mother's right of guard ianship is, however, forfeited upon her being remarried to a stranger, but regained when she is divorced by him, and has again become a widow.

In default of the mother as well as of the paternal kindred of a minor, this maternal relations are, according to proximity, entitles to guardianship for the purposes of education and marriage, and not for the management of his property, unless so appointed in the late owner's will or by the Qazi.

The general rule is that a guardian, executor, or anyone who has the care of the person and property of a minor, can enter into a contract which is or likely to be advantageous and not injurious to his ward.

A guardian may sell or purchase moveables on account with his ward, either for an equivalent or at such a rate as to occasion an inconsiderable loss, but not as such a rate as to make the loss great and apparent. (Hidayah vol iv p 553.)

A guardian is allowed to borrow money for the support and education of his ward, even by pawning the minor's property; the debt so contracted must be paid out of his (the minor's) estate, or by him when he comes of age.

It is not lawful for a guardian to pledge into his own hand goods belonging to his ward on account of a debt due to him or into the hands of his child being an infant, or into the hands of his slave being a merchant and free from debt. (Hidayah, vol iv p 214.)

A father can pawn the goods of his infant child into his own hands for a debt due from the child, or into the hands of another of his children being an infant.

A father may also pawn on account of his own debt the goods belonging to his minor son, who on coming of age will redeem the goods discharging the debt, and have a claim on the father for the sum.

The contract of pawn entered into by a father with respect to his minor child's good cannot be annulled by to minor, even if it were not for his own debt or for his own benefit.

The mother is, of all the persons, the best entitled to the custody (hizanah) of her infant child during marriage and after separation from he husband, unless she be an apostate, or wicked, or unworthy to be trusted. (Fatawa-I 'Alangiri, vol I p 728.)

Next the mother's mother how high soever is entitled to the custody (hizamah) of a child; failing her by death, or marriage to a stranger, the full sister is entitled; failing her by death or marriage to a stranger, the half-sister by the mother. On failure of her in the same way the daughter of the full sister, then the daughter of the half-sister by the mother. Next the maternal aunt in the same way, and then the paternal aunts also in like manner. (Fatawa-i-'Alamgiri, vol. i. p. 728.)

An umm-i-walad (or female slave who has borne a child to her master), when emancipated, obtains the right of taking her child. (Hiddyah, vol. i. p. 389)

When it is necessary to remove a boy from the custody of women, or there is no woman of his own people to take charge of him, he is to be given up to his agnate male relatives ('asabah). Of these the father is the first, then the paternal grandfather, how high soever, then the full brother, then the half-brother by the father, then the son of the full brother, then the son of the half-brother by the father, then the full paternal uncle, then the half paternal uncle by the father, then the sons of paternal uncles in the same order. But though a boy may be given up to the son of his paternal uncle, a girl should not be entrusted to him.

No male has any right to the custody of a female child, but one who is withing the prohibited degrees of relationship to her; and an 'asabah who is profligate has no right to her custody. (Fatawa-i-'Alamgari vol. i. p. 279.)

A female's custody of a boy terminates when he is seven years old, and of a girl at her puberty.

Male custody of a boy continues till puberty, of a female not only till puberty, but till she can be safely left to herself and trusted to take care of herself.

When a female has neither father nor grandfather nor any of her 'asabah to take charge of her, or the 'asabah is profligate, it is the duty of the judge to take cognizance of her condition; and if she can be trusted to take care of herself, he should allow her to live alone, whether she be a virgin of a saiyidah, and it not, he should place her with some female amin, or trustee, in whom he has confidence; for he is the superintendent of al Muslims. (Fatawa-o-'Alamgari, vol. i. p. 730.)

When a mother refuses to take charge of a child without hire, it may be committed to another.

A boy or girl having passed the period of hizanah, has no option to be with one parent in preference to the other, but must necessarily thenceforth remain in charge of the father. (Hidayah, vol. i. p. 389.)

Before the completion of 'iddah, or dissolution of marriage, the proper place of hizanah is that where the husband and wife live, and the former cannot take away the child out of the custody of the latter. After completion of her 'iddah, and seperation form her husband, a woman can take her child to the place of her nativity provided the marriage had been contracted there, or it is so near from the lace of separation or husband's residence, that if the husband should leave the latter in the morning to visit the child, he can return to his residence before night. There is also no objection to her removing with the child from a village to the city or chief town of the district, the same being advantageous to the child, and in no respect injurious to the father. If the child's mother be dead, and its hizanah or custody has passed to the maternal grandfather, she cannot remove the child to her own city, though the marriage had taken place there. Other women than the grandmother are like her in respect to the place of hizanah.

When umm i-walad has been emancipated, she has no right to take her child from the city in which the father is residing.

(Hidayah, vol. i; Fatawa-i-'Alamgari, vol. i.; Durru 'l-Mukhtar, p. 846; Jami'u 'r-Rumuz; Tagore Lectures, 1879; Bailie's Digest, p. 430.)

GUEST Arabic zaif. [HOSPITALITY.]

GURZ (1) The Persian word for the mitraqah, or iron mace, where-with the infidel dead are smitten in their graves by the angels Munkar and Nakir. ['AZABU 'L-QABR.]

(2) An iron mace pointed at one end and having a knob at the other covered with spikes, and used by the Gurz Mar, or Rufa'i faqirs, for striking against their devotional exercises. (Qanun-i-Islam, p. 291.)

Hughes' Dictionary of Islam
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