A Dictionary of Islam Being a cyclopedia of the...

BOASTING. Arabic مفاخرة mufāk͟harah. Muḥammad is related to have said, “I swear by God, a tribe must desist from boasting of their forefathers; for they are nothing more than coals from hell-fire (i.e. they were idolaters); and if you do not leave off boasting, verily you will be more hateful in the sight of God than a black-beetle. Mankind are all the sons of Adam, and Adam was of the earth.” (Mishkāt, xxii. c. 13.)

BOOKS, Stealing. The hand of a thief is not to be cut off for stealing a book, whatever be the subject of which it treats, because the object of the theft can only be the contents of the book, and not the book itself. But yet, it is to be observed, the hand is to be cut off for stealing “an account book,” because in this case it is evident that the object of the theft is not the contents of the book, but the paper and material of which the book is made. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. ii. 92.)

BREACH OF TRUST. Arabic خيانة k͟hiyānah. The punishment of amputation of the hand is not inflicted for a breach of trust. And if a guest steal the property of his host whilst he is staying in his house, the hand is not cut off. Breach of trust in Muslim law being a less offence than ordinary theft, the punishment for breach of trust is left to the discretion of the judge. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. ii. pp. 93–102.)

BRIBERY (Arabic رشوة rishwah) is not mentioned in the Qurʾān. In the Fatāwā ʿĀlamgīrī it is stated that presents to magistrates are of various kinds; for example, if a present be made in order to establish a friendship, it is lawful; but if it be given to influence the decision of the judge in the donor’s favour, it is unlawful. It is also said, if a present be made to a judge from a sense of fear, it is lawful to give it, but unlawful to accept it. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. iii. p. 332.)

BUKĀʾ (بكاء). Heb. בָּכָה he wept. Weeping and lamentation for the dead. Immoderate weeping and lamentation over the graves of the dead is clearly forbidden by Muḥammad, who is related to have said, “Whatever is from the eyes (i.e. tears), and whatever is from the heart (i.e. sorrow), are from God; but what is from the hands and tongue is from the devil. Keep yourselves, O women, from wailing, which is the noise of the devil.” (Mishkāt, v. c. vii.) The custom of wailing at the tombs of the dead is, however, common in all Muḥammadan countries. (See Arabian Nights, Lane’s Modern Egyptians, Shaw’s Travels in Barbary.) [BURIAL.]

AL-BUK͟HĀRĪ (البخارى). A short title given to the well-known collection of Sunnī traditions by Abū ʿAbdu ʾllāh Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mug͟hīrah al-Juʿfī al-Buk͟hārī, who was born at Buk͟hārā, A.H. 194 (A.D. 810), and died at the village of K͟hartang near Samarqand, A.H. 256 (A.D. 870). His compilation comprises upwards of 7,000 traditions of the acts and sayings of the Prophet, selected from a mass of 600,000. His book is called the Ṣaḥīḥ of al-Buk͟hārī, and is said to have been the result of sixteen years labour. It is said that he was so anxious to record only trustworthy traditions that he performed a prostration in worship before the Almighty before he recorded each tradition.

BUK͟HTU NAṢṢAR (بخت نصر). “Nebuchadnezzar.” It is thought by Jalālu ʾd-dīn that there is a reference to his army taking Jerusalem in the Qurʾān, Sūrah xvii. 8, “And when the threat for the last (crime) came (to be inflicted, we sent an enemy) to harm your faces, and to enter the temple as they entered it the first time.” The author of the Qāmūs says that Buk͟ht is “son,” and Naṣṣar, “an idol,” i.e. “the son of Naṣṣar.”

BURĀQ (براق). Lit. “The bright one.” The animal upon which Muḥammad is said to have performed the nocturnal journey called Miʿrāj. He was a white animal, between the size of a mule and an ass, having two wings. (Majmaʿu ʾl-Biḥār, p. 89.) Muḥammad’s conception of this mysterious animal is not unlike the Assyrian gryphon, of which Mr. Layard gives a sketch. [MIʿRAJ.]

BURGLARY is punished as an ordinary theft, namely by the amputation of the hand, but it is one of the niceties of Muḥammadan law, according to the Ḥanafī code, that if a thief break through the wall of the house, and enter therein, and take the property, and deliver it to an accomplice standing at the entrance of the breach, amputation of the hand is not incurred by either of the parties, because the thief who entered the house did not carry out the property. (Hidāyah, vol. ii. 103.)

BURIAL OF THE DEAD (جنازة Jināzah or Janāzah). The term Janāzah is used both for the bier and for the Muḥammadan funeral service. The burial service is founded upon the practice of Muḥammad, and varies but little in different countries, although the ceremonies connected with the funeral procession are diversified. In Egypt and Buk͟hārā, for instance, the male relations and friends of the deceased precede the corpse, whilst the female mourners follow behind. In India and Afg͟hānistān, women do not usually attend funerals, and the friends and relatives of the deceased walk behind the bier. There is a tradition amongst some Muḥammadans that no one should precede the corpse, as the angels go before. Funeral processions in Afg͟hānistān are usually very simple in their arrangements, and are said to be more in accordance with the practice of the Prophet, than those of Egypt and Turkey. It is considered a very meritorious act to carry the bier, and four from among the near relations, every now and then relieved by an equal number, carry it on their shoulders. Unlike our Christian custom of walking slowly to the grave, the Muḥammadans carry their dead quickly to the place of interment; for Muḥammad is related to have said, that it is good to carry the dead quickly to the grave, to cause the righteous person to arrive soon at happiness, and if he be a bad man, it is well to put wickedness away from one’s shoulders.

Funerals should always be attended on foot; for it is said that Muḥammad on one occasion rebuked his people for following on horse-back. “Have you no shame?” said he, “since God’s angels go on foot, and you go upon the backs of quadrupeds?” It is a highly meritorious act to attend a funeral, whether it be that of a Muslim, a Jew, or a Christian. There are, however, two traditions which appear to mark a change of feeling on the part of the Prophet of Arabia towards the Jews and Christians. “A bier passed by the Prophet, and he stood up; and it was said to the Prophet, this is the bier of a Jew. ‘It is the holder of a soul,’ he replied, ‘from which we should take warning and fear.’ ” This rule is said to have been abrogated, for, “on one occasion the Prophet was sitting on the road when a bier passed, and the Prophet disliked that the bier of a Jew should be higher than his head, and he therefore stood up.” (Mishkāt, v. c. v.) Notwithstanding these contradictory traditions, we believe that in all countries Muḥammadans are wont to pay great respect to the funerals of both Jews and Christians.

The Muḥammadan funeral service is not recited in the graveyard, it being too polluted a place for so sacred an office; but either in a mosque, or in some open space near the dwelling of the deceased person or the graveyard. The owner of the corpse, i.e. the nearest relative, is the proper person to recite the service; but it is usually said by the family Imām, or the Qāẓī.

Then those present arrange themselves in three, five, or seven rows opposite the corpse, with their faces Qiblah-wards (i.e. towards Makkah). The Imām stands in front of the ranks opposite the head (the Shīʿahs stand opposite the loins of a man) of the corpse, if it be that of a male, or the waist, if it be that of a female.