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

Within the building are the tombs of Muḥammad, Abū Bakr, and ʿUmar, with a space reserved for the grave of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom Muslims say will again visit the earth, and die and be buried at al-Madīnah. The grave of Fāt̤imah, the Prophet’s daughter, is supposed to be in a separate part of the building, although some say she was buried in Baqīʿ. The Prophet’s body is said to be stretched full length on the right side, with the right palm supporting the right cheek, the face fronting Makkah. Close behind him is placed Abū Bakr, whose face fronts Muḥammad’s shoulder, and then ʿUmar, who occupies the same position with respect to his predecessor. Amongst Christian historians there was a popular story to the effect that Muḥammadans believed the coffin of their Prophet to be suspended in the air, which has no foundation whatever in Muslim literature, and Niebuhr thinks the story must have arisen from the rude pictures sold to strangers. Captain Burton gives the annexed plan of the building.

It is related that Muḥammad prayed that God would not allow his followers to make his tomb an object of idolatrous adoration, and consequently the adoration paid to the tomb at al-Madīnah has been condemned by the Wahhābīs and other Muslim reformers.

In A.D. 1804, when al-Madīnah was taken by the Wahhābīs, their chief, Saʿūd, stripped the tomb of all its valuables, and proclaimed that all prayers and exclamations addressed to it were idolatrous. (See Burton’s Pilgrimage, vol. ii.; Burckhardt’s Arabia and Wahhābīs.)

Abū Dāʾud relates that al-Qāsim the grandson of Abū Bakr came to ʿĀyishah and said, “O Mother, lift up the curtain of the Prophet’s tomb and of his two friends, Abū Bakr and ʿUmar,” and she uncovered the graves, which were neither high nor low, but about one span in height, and were covered with red gravel. (Mishkāt, book v. ch. vi. pt. 2.)

Sūrah iii. 73: “It beseemeth not a man, that God should give him the Scriptures and the Judgment and the Prophecy, and that then he should say to his followers, ‘Be ye worshippers of me, as well as of God’; but rather, ‘Be ye perfect in things pertaining to God, since ye know the Scriptures and have studied deep.’ ”

HUMAN SACRIFICES. There is no trace in the Qurʾān or Traditions of the immolation of human beings to the Deity as a religious rite. But M. C. de Perceval (vol. ii. p. 101) mentions a G͟hassānide prince who was sacrificed to Venus by Munẕir, King of Ḥirāʾ. Infanticide was common in ancient Arabia, but it seems to have been done either, as amongst the Rajputs of India, from a feeling of disappointment at the birth of female children, or to avoid the expense and trouble of rearing them. The latter seems to have been the ordinary reason; for we read in the Qurʾān, Sūrah xvii. 33: “Kill not your children for fear of poverty.” [INFANTICIDE.]

AL-HUMAZAH (الهمزة). “The slanderer.” The title of the CIVth Sūrah of the Qurʾān, so called because it commences with the words: “Woe unto every slanderer.” The passage is said to have been revealed against al-Ak͟hnas ibn Sharīq, who had been guilty of slandering the Prophet.

ḤUNAIN (حنين). The name of a valley about three miles to the north-east of Makkah, where in the eighth year of the Ḥijrah a battle took place between Muḥammad and the Banū Hawāzin, when the latter were defeated. In the Qurʾān, the victory of Ḥunain is ascribed to angelic assistance.

The sign of a dog being trained is his catching game three times without eating it. A hawk is trained when she attends to the call of her master. If the dog or panther eat any part of the game it is unlawful, but if a hawk eat of it, it is lawful; but if the dog merely eat the blood and not the flesh, it is lawful. If a hunter take game alive which his dog has wounded, he must slay it according to the law of Ẕabḥ, namely, by cutting its throat, with the head turned Makkah-wards, and reciting, “In the name of the Great God!” The law is the same with respect to game shot by an arrow.

And then the flesh becomes lawful if the game is killed by the shot. But if only wounded, the animal must be slain with the invocation. Game hit by an arrow which has not a sharp point is unlawful, and so is that killed by throwing pebbles.

“The Prophet said to me, ‘When you send your dog in pursuit of game, repeat the name of God, as at slaying an animal; then if your dog holds the game for you, and you find it alive, then slay it; but if you find your dog has killed it, and not eaten of it, then eat it; but if the dog has eaten any of it, do not you eat it, for then the dog has kept it for himself. Then if you find another dog along with yours, and the game is killed, do not eat of it; for verily you cannot know which of the dogs killed it; and if the other dog killed it, it might so be that when he was let loose after the game, the name of God might not have been repeated. And when you shoot an arrow at game, repeat the name of God, the same as in slaying an animal; then if you lose sight of the game, and on finding it perceive nothing but the impression of your own arrow, then eat it if you wish; but if you find the game drowned, do not eat of it, although the mark of your arrow should be in it.’ ”