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

EAR-RINGS; NOSE-RINGS. In the East it is the universal custom of Muḥammadan women to wear ear-rings, and they are not unfrequently worn by young men and children. Gold ear-rings are, however, forbidden in the Traditions; for Abū Hurairah relates that the Prophet said, “Whoever wishes to put into the ear or the nose of a friend a ring of hell fire, let him put in the ear or the nose of his friend a gold ring … let your ornament be of silver.” And Asmāʾ bint Yazīd relates the same tradition. (Mishkāt, book xx. c. 11, part 2.)

EARTH, The. Arabic arẓ (ارض). Muḥammad taught his followers that just as there are seven heavens [HEAVEN] one above another, so there are seven earths one beneath another, the distance between each of these regions being five hundred years’ journey. (Mishkāt, book xxiv. c. i. part 3.)

In the Qurʾān the earth is said to be stretched out like a carpet or bed (Sūrah ii. 20; xiii. 3; lxxviii. 6), which expression the ancient commentators understood to imply that the earth was a vast plane, but circular; and (Sūrah xxxix. 67) to be but a handful in the sight of God, which in the last day shall be changed into another earth (Sūrah xiv. 49).

The earth is believed by Muḥammadan writers to be surrounded by a great sea called al-Baḥru ʾl-Muḥīt̤, or the circumambient ocean, which is bounded by the mountains of Qāf. The extent of the earth is said to be equal to a journey of five hundred years; two hundred years’ journey being allotted to the sea, two hundred to the uninhabited desert, eighty to the country of Gog and Magog (Yājūj wa Mājūj) and the rest to the civilised world. Certain terræ incognitæ in the midst of the mountains of Qāf are said to be inhabited by the jinn, or genii. According to some, Makkah (or Jerusalem according to others) is situated in the centre of the earth. On the Muḥīt̤ is the ʿArshu ʾl-Iblīs, or “Throne of Satan.” The western portion of the Muḥīt̤ is often called the Baḥru ʾz̤-Z̤ulmāt, or “Sea of Darkness,” and in the south-west corner of the earth is the Fountain of Life of which al-K͟hiẓr drank, and in virtue of which he still lives, and will live till the Day of Judgment. The mountains of Qāf which bound the great sea Muḥīt̤, form a circular barrier round the whole earth, and are said to be of green chrysolite, the colour of which the Prophet said imparts a greenish tint to the sky. The general opinion is that the mountains of Qāf bound our earth, but some say there are countries beyond, each country being a thousand years’ journey.

The seven earths, which are five hundred years’ journey from each other, are situated one beneath the other, and each of these seven regions has its special occupants. The occupants of the first are men, genii, and animals; the second is occupied by the suffocating wind which destroyed the infidel tribe of ʿĀd (Sūrah lxix. 6); the third is filled with the stones of hell, mentioned in the Qurʾān (Sūrah ii. 22; lxvi. 6) as “the fuel of which is men and stones”; the fourth by the sulphur of hell; the fifth by the serpents of hell; the sixth by the scorpions of hell, which are in size and colour like black mules, and have tails like spears; and the seventh by the devil and his angels. Our earth is said to be supported on the shoulders of an angel, who stands upon a rock of ruby, which rock is supported on a huge bull with four thousand eyes, and the same number of ears, noses, mouths, tongues, and feet; between every one of each is a distance of five hundred years’ journey. The name of this bull is Kujūta, who is supported by an enormous fish, the name of which is Bahamūt.

The above is but a brief outline of the Muḥammadan belief as regards the earth’s formation; but the statements of Muḥammadan commentators are so wild on the subject, that it seems quite useless to quote them as authorities, for they contradict each other in endless variety.

EATING. According to the Traditions, Muḥammadans have been enjoined by their Prophet to eat in God’s name, to return thanks, to eat with their right hand, and with their shoes off, and to lick the plate when the meal is finished. The following are some of Muḥammad’s precepts on the subject:—

“First of all, he should wash his hands, mouth, and nose. Before beginning he should say, ‘In the name of God’ (Bismillāh); and after ending he must say, ‘Glory to God’ (Al-ḥamdu lillāh). He is not to be in a hurry to begin, unless he is the master of the feast; he must not dirty his hands, or clothes, or the table-linen; he must not eat with more than three fingers, nor open his mouth wide; not take large mouthfuls, nor swallow them hastily, nor yet keep them too long unswallowed. He must not suck his fingers in the course of eating; but after he has eaten, he may, or rather ought, as there is scripture warrant for it.

“Let him not look from dish to dish, nor smell the food, nor pick and choose it. If there should be one dish better than the rest, let him not be greedy on his own account, but let him offer it to others. He must not spill the grease upon his fingers, or so as to wet his bread and salt. He must not eye his comrades in the midst of his mouthfuls. Let him eat from what is next him, unless of fruit, which it is allowable to eat from every quarter. What he has once put into his mouth (such as bones, &c.), he must not replace upon his bread, nor upon the table-cloth; if a bone has found its way there, let him remove it unseen. Let him beware of revolting gestures, and of letting anything drop from his mouth into the cup. Let him so behave, that, if anyone should wish to eat the relics of his repast, there may be nothing to revolt him.

“Where he is a guest, he must stay his hand sooner than the master of the feast; and whenever the rest discontinue eating, he must act in concert with them, except he be in his own house, or some other where he constitutes part of the family. Where he is himself the host, he must not continue eating when the rest have stayed their hands, so that something may be left for anyone who chances to fancy it.

“If he has occasion to drink in the course of his meal, let him do it softly, that no noise in his throat or mouth may be audible to others. He must not pick his teeth in the view of the company, nor swallow what his tongue may extract from between them; and so of what may be extracted by the tooth-pick, let him throw it aside so as to disgust no one.

“When the time comes for washing his hands, let him be exceedingly careful in cleansing his nails and fingers. Similar must be his particularity in washing his lips, mouth, and nostrils. He must not void his rheum into the basin; even the water in which his mouth has been rinsed, let him cover with his hand as he throws it away.

EATING WITH JEWS OR CHRISTIANS. In Muḥammadan countries, where the people have not been brought in contact with Hindus, with caste prejudices, Muslims never hesitate to eat with Jews and Christians, provided the drink and victuals are such as are lawful in Islām. Since the British occupation of India, the question has often been raised, and few Muḥammadans will eat with Englishmen. Syud Aḥmad K͟hān, C.S.I., has written a book, in which he proves that it is lawful for Muḥammadans to eat with both Christians and Jews, and his arguments would seem to be in accordance with the teaching of the Qurʾān. Sūrah v. 7: “Lawful for you to-day are the good things, and the food of the people of the Book (i.e. Jews and Christians) is lawful for you, and your food is lawful for them.”

Al-Baiẓāwī, commenting on this verse, says: “This verse includes all kinds of food, that which is slain lawfully (ẕabḥ) or not, and this verse is of common application to all the people of the Book, whether Jews or Christians. But on one occasion K͟halīfah ʿAlī did not observe its injunctions with regard to the Banū Tag͟hlib, a Christian tribe, because he said these people were not Christians, for they had not embraced anything of Christianity except wine-drinking. And he does not include amongst the people of the Book, the Majūsīs, although he included the Majūsīs with the people of the Book when he took the poll-tax from them, according to a tradition which Muḥammad gave regarding the Majūsīs, viz. ‘Treat the Majūsīs as you would treat the people of the Book, but do not marry with them, nor eat what they slay.’” (Tafsīru ʾl-Baiẓāwī, p. 216.)

The following Ḥadīs̤ is given in the Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim on the subject: Abū S̤aʿlabah related, “I said, O Prophet of God! Verily we live in a land belonging to the people of the Book (i.e. Jews or Christians); is it lawful for us to eat out of their dishes? The Prophet replied, The order for dishes is this: if you can get other dishes, then eat of them; but if ye cannot, then wash those of the people of the Book and eat from them.”

The Imām Nawawī, the commentator on the Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, says Abū Dāʾud has given this Ḥadīs̤. in a somewhat different form to that in the text. He says: “Abū S̤aʿlabah relates, we were passing through the country of the people of the Book (i.e. Christians), and they were cooking pigs’ flesh in their dishes, and drinking wine from their vessels.” “For” (continues Nawawī), “the learned are all agreed that it is lawful to eat with Jews and Christians unless their vessels are polluted with wine or pork, in which case they must be washed before they are used.” (Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim wa Sharḥu Nawawī, p. 146.)

ECLIPSE. The Arabic k͟husūf (خسوف) is used to denote either an eclipse of the sun or of the moon (vide Mishkāt, book iv. c. li.); but it is more specially applied to an eclipse of the moon; and kusūf (كسوف) for an eclipse of the sun (vide Richardson’s Dictionary). Special prayers, consisting of two rakʿahs, are enjoined in the Traditions (Mishkāt, book iv. c. li.) at the time of an eclipse of either the sun or moon.