Griffithes Wheeler Thatcher

“ The eschatology of the Koran is especially prominent in its earlier parts. The resurrection, last judgment, paradise and hell are all described. At death the body again becomes earth, while the soul sinks into a state of sleep or unconsciousness. ”

“ Make not thy hand fettered to thy neck, nor yet spread it out quite open, lest thou shouldest have to sit down blamed and straightened in means. Verily, thy Lord spreads out provision to whomsoever He will or He doles it out. Verily, He is ever well aware of and sees His servants.
“And slay not your children for fear of poverty; we will provide for them; beware! for to slay them is ever a great sin. ”

“ In politics they accepted the Omayyads as de facto rulers, since they were Moslems, and left the judgment of their actions to God. As theologians they taught that religion consists in belief (imān) in the unity of God and in his apostle, and in that alone, consequently no one who held this faith would perish eternally, though he had been a sinner. This was opposed to the Khārijite doctrine that the unrepentant sinner would perish eternally, even though he had professed Islam. ”

“ Islam is the latest of the so-called world-religions, and as several of the others were practised in Arabia at the time of Mahomet, and the Prophet undoubtedly borrowed some of his doctrines and some of his practices from these, it is necessary to enumerate them and to indicate the extent to which they prevailed in the Arabian world. ”

“ Each new life was created by God’s breathing into it a soul. The duality of soul and body is maintained. In each man is a good and a bad impulse. The bad impulse which was latent in Adam was roused to action by Satan Cosmology. (Iblīs) . Adam by his fall lost the grace of God, which was restored to him solely by the gracious choice of God. Between men and angels in their nature are the genii (jinn) male and female, inhabitants of desert places, created from smokeless fire. They had been accustomed to spy round heaven, but in Mahomet’s time could learn no more of its secrets. ”

“ A few years later Mahomet decreed the use of the uncorrected lunar year, which remains the standard of time for the Moslem world, so that the month of fasting now occurs at all seasons of the year in turn. The fast is severe, and means entire abstinence from food and drink from sunrise to sunset each day of the month. The fast is associated with the statement that in this month God sent down the Koran from the seventh heaven to Gabriel in the lowest that it might be revealed to the Prophet. ”

“ LABĪD (Abū ʽAqīl Labīd ibn Rabī’a) (c. 560–c. 661) , Arabian poet, belonged to the Banī ’Āmir, a division of the tribe of the Hawāzin. In his younger years he was an active warrior and his verse is largely concerned with inter-tribal disputes. ”

“ A critical study of the Koran shows in the earlier revelations the marks of a reflective mind trained under the influence of Arabian education and stirred by an acquaintance (somewhat imperfect) with Judaism and Christianity. The later revelations seem to be influenced by the now dominant position of the Prophet and a desire after the capture of Mecca to incorporate such heathen religious ceremonies as are national. God is one and universal from the beginning. His unity is emphasized as against the mistaken conception of the Christian Trinity. ”

“ In religion he was a Shiite. Although he wrote poetry, also an anthology of verses on the monasteries of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and a genealogical work, his fame rests upon his Book of Songs (Kitāb ul-Aghāni) , which gives an account of the chief Arabian songs, ancient and modern, with the stories of the composers and singers. It contains a mass of information as to the life and customs of the early Arabs, and is the most valuable authority we have for their pre-Islamic and early Moslem days. ”

“ He is also said to have spent a year with the Arabs in the desert to gain purity of language. Settling in Bagdad he enjoyed the favour of Harūn al-Rashīd and al-Amīn, and died there probably about 810. The greater part of his life was characterized by great licentiousness and disregard of religion, but in his later days he became ascetic. Abū Nuwās is recognized as the greatest poet of his time. His mastery of language has led to extensive quotation of his verses by Arabian scholars. Genial, cynical, immoral, he drew on all the varied life of his time for the material of his poems. ”

“ Those who were known as the Khārijites, being mainly country Arabs, were democratic, and claimed that the office of caliph was elective, and that the caliph might be chosen from any Arab Moslem family. In strong opposition to these stood the party afterwards called the Shiites, who regarded ʽAlī and his descendants as the only rightful caliphs. For them the caliphate was a God-given office, and not one to be given by human appointment. ”

“ Zoroastrianism was known to the Arab tribes in the north-east, but does not seem to have exercised any influence in Mecca or Medina except indirectly through Judaism in its angelology. As soon, however, as the armies of Islam conquered Mesopotamia it began to penetrate the thought and practices of Islam (see below) .
Sources of Authority.—Islam, as we have said, is founded on: (1) the Koran; (2) the tradition or rather the sunna (manner of life of Mahomet) contained in the tradition (Ḥadith) ; (3) ijmāʽ; the universal agreement; (4) qiyās (analogy) . ”

“ Moreover, the party consisted largely of Persians who on their conversion to Islam brought with them many of the doctrines of their old faith, religious and political. Among these was the belief in the divinity of the sovereign and the duty of worshipping him. Gnostic elements, which may have come from the old religion of Babylonia, were also introduced. The idea of an absolute personal and hereditary monarchy was thus developed among the subjects of ʽAlī. But in Islam there is no separation between politics and theology. ”

“ The Ismaʽīlites or Ismaʽīlīyya are the followers of Ismaʽīl, the elder son of Jaʽfar us-Sadīq, the sixth imām (see table below) . He was rejected as successor by his father for drinking wine, and his party might soon have disappeared if he had not served as imām for the adventurous sceptic ʽAbdallah ibn Maimūn (for his propaganda see Carmathians) . Owing to the success of this man the Ismaʽīlites have given rise to the Carmathians (q.v.) ”

“ Some of them were converted by the Prophet’s teaching. Lowest of creation in his estate is Satan (Shaitān) , who was an angel but was expelled from heaven because he refused to worship Adam at his Lord’s command. God has revealed himself to man by (1) writing (kitāb) , and (2) prophets. As he had given to the Jews the Law (Taurāt) and to the Christians the Gospel (Injīl) so he revealed to Mahomet the Koran (Qurʽān, known also by other names, e.g. al-Furqān, at-Tafṣīl, &c.) , each single revelation being called an aya. With his revelation God has also sent an apostle or prophet to each people. ”

“ There is still mental life and vigour among the Shiites, as appears among the sects, which, allowance being made for “taqīya,” play no inconsiderable part. The Akhbārīs (traditionalists) , who adopt a semi philosophical wayof explaining away the plainest doctrines (such as the resurrection of the flesh) on the authority of false traditions of ‘Alī, are not so much a sect as a school of theology within the same pale as the orthodox Shia or Mujtahids. ”

“ The ethics of the Koran are based on belief (imān) and Ethics. good works, the latter alone occurring in the early Meccan suras. Fear of the judgment of God was a motive of action; this is followed by repentance and turning to God. A complete surrender to God’s will (islām) is the necessary condition of religious life and is expressed in the phrase so common in everyday speech among the Moslems—inshallah, “if God will.” God has full power to overlook evil deeds if he will. Unbelievers can acquire no merit, however moral their actions. ”

“ Yūnusites.—Murjiites who taught that faith consists in knowledge of God, subjection to Him, abandonment of pride before Him, and love in the heart. Obedience apart from knowledge is not of faith.
Zaidites.—The moderate Shiʽites (see Shiʽites) .
Ziyādites.—Khārijites, followers of Ziyād ibn ul-Aṣfar, who did not regard those who abstained from fighting for Islam as unbelievers, and did not kill the children of idolaters or condemn them to hell. ”

“ Some of the more thoughtful theologians recognize only the ijmāʽ of the doctors or the teachers of Islam (the mujtahidūn) , these being restricted by the orthodox to the first few generations after Mahomet, while the Shiʽites allow the existence of such up to the present time.
4. The fourth basis of Islam is qiyās, i.e. analogy. It is that process by which a belief or practice is justified on the ground of something similar but not identical in the Koran, the tradition or ijmāʽ. ”

“ The shah is thus only the temporary substitute for the hidden imām; and authoritative decisions in religious matters are pronounced by Mujtahids, i.e. theologians who can form their own opinions and require obedience to their decisions.
Other points in which Shiites differ from Sunnites depend on their legitimistic opinions, or are accommodations of the rites of Shiite tenets. Islam to the Persian nationality, or else are petty matters affecting ceremonial. ”

“ The attention paid in early Islam to the joys and punishments of the future life led to self-denial and simple living in this world. An Arabian writer, speaking of the simplicity of manners of the first four caliphs, says that their affairs were conducted with more consideration of the future life than of this world. ”

“ Ghāliites (Ghulā) are the extreme Shiʽites (q.v.) in ascribing deity to the imāms. Their heresies are said to be four in number: (1) Making God resemble man, (2) ascribing change of mind to God, (3) looking for the return of the imām, (4) metempsychosis. They are divided by Shahrastānī into ten classes.
Ghassānites.—Murjiites, followers of Ghassān ibn ul-Kufī, who say that faith consists of knowledge of God, his apostle, and the Koran in general not in detail, and that faith increases but is not diminished. ”

“ ABŪ-L-QĀSIM [Khalaf ibn ʽAbbās uz-Zahrāwi] , Arabian physician and surgeon, generally known in Europe as Abulcasis, flourished in the tenth century at Cordova as physician to the caliph ʽAbdur-Rahmān III. (912–961) . No details of his life are known. ”

“ FĀRĀBĪ [Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Tarkhān ul-Fārābī] (ca. 870–950) , Arabian philosopher, was born of Turkish stock at Fārāb in Turkestan, where also he spent his youth. Thence he journeyed to Bagdad, where he learned Arabic and gave himself to the study of mathematics, medicine and philosophy, especially the works of Aristotle. ”

“ In 1298 he entered the service of the Mameluke Sultan Malik al-Nāṣir and after twelve years was invested by him with the governorship of Hamah. In 1312 he became prince with the title Malik us-Sālih, and in 1320 received the hereditary rank of sultan with the title Malik ul-Muʽayyad. For more than twenty years altogether he reigned in tranquillity and splendour, devoting himself to the duties of government and to the composition of the works to which he is chiefly indebted for his fame. He was a munificent patron of men of letters, who came in large numbers to his court. ”

“ AMRU’-UL-QAIS, or Imru’-ul Qais, IBN HUJR, Arabian poet of the 6th century, the author of one of the Moʽallaķăt (q.v.) , was regarded by Mahomet and others as the most distinguished poet of pre-Islamic times. He was of the kingly family of Kinda, and his mother was of the tribe of Taghlib. While he was still young, his father was killed by the Bani Asad. After this his life was devoted to the attempt to avenge his father's death. ”

“ Later he went to Bagdad, but soon left, owing to a dispute with the Kufan grammarian Kisā‛ī, and returned to Persia, where he died at the age of about forty. His great grammar of Arabic, known simply as The Book, is not only the earliest systematic presentation of Arabic grammar, but is recognized among Arabs as the most perfect. ”

“ IBN FĀRID [Abū–l-Qāsim ʽUmar ibn ul-Fāriḍ] (1181–1235) , Arabian poet, was born in Cairo, lived for some time in Mecca and died in Cairo. His poetry is entirely Sufic, and he was esteemed the greatest mystic poet of the Arabs. ”

“ The creed is belief—“la ilaha illa-llahu, Muḥammad rasūl allahi,” “there is no god but God (Allah) , Mahomet is the apostle of God.” It is required that this shall be recited at least once in a lifetime aloud, correctly, with full understanding of its meaning and with Creed.heartfelt belief in its truth. It is to be professed without hesitation at any time until death.
ii. Every man who professes Islam is required in ordinary life to pray five times in each day. In the Koran these prayers are commanded, though four only are mentioned. ”

“ Little is known of him except that he belonged to a family of Yemen, was held in repute as a grammarian in his own country, wrote much poetry, compiled astronomical tables, devoted most of his life to the study of the ancient history and geography of Arabia, and died in prison at Sanʽa in 945. His Geography of the Arabian Peninsula (Kitāb Jazīrat ul-ʽArab) is by far the most important work on the subject. ”

“ WĀQIDĪ [Abū ‘Abdallah Mahommed ibn ‘Umar ul-Wāqidī] (747-823) , Arabian historian, was born at Medina, where he became a corn-dealer but was compelled to flee from his creditors (owing largely to his generosity) to Bagdad. Here the Barmecide vizier Yaḥyā b. Khālid (see Barmecides) gave him means and made him cadi in the western district of the city. In 819 he was transferred to Rosafa (Rusāfa) on the east side. His greatest work is the Kitāb ul-Maghāzi, or history of Mahomet’s campaigns. ”