I.—The Validity of Marriage. (continued 1)
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Hughes, Thomas Patrick
MINARET. [MANARAH.]
MINBAR. Generally pronounced mimbar (منبر). The pulpit in a mosque from which the k͟hut̤bah (or sermon) is recited. It consists of three steps, and is sometimes a moveable wooden structure, and sometimes a fixture of brick or stone built against the wall. Muḥammad, in addressing the congregation, stood on the uppermost step, Abū Bakr on the second, and ʿUmar on the third or lowest. ʿUs̤mān fixed upon the middle step, and since then it has been the custom to preach from that step. The Shīʿahs have four steps to their mimbars.
A MIMBAR IN AN INDIAN MOSQUE.
(W. S. Chadwick.)
A MIMBAR IN AN EGYPTIAN MOSQUE.
(W. S. Chadwick.)
The mimbars in the mosques of Cairo are elevated structures, but in Asia they are of a more primitive character.
Burton says: “In the beginning the Prophet leaned, when fatigued, against a post, whilst preaching the k͟hut̤bah or Friday sermon. The mimbar, or pulpit, was an invention of a Madīnah man of the Banū Najjār. It was a wooden frame, two cubits long by one broad, with three steps, each one span high; on the topmost of these the Prophet sat when he required rest. The pulpit assumed its present form about A.H. 90, during the artistic reign of El Walid.”
A MIMBAR IN MOSQUES AT PESHAWAR.
MINES. Arabic maʿdin (معدن), pl. maʿādin. In Zakāt, mines are subject to a payment of one fifth. (Hidāyah, vol. i. 39.)
MINḤAH (منحة). A legal term for a portion of camel’s or sheep’s milk which another is allowed to draw, but afterwards to restore the animal to its original owner.
MINORITY. [PUBERTY.]
MĪQĀT (ميقات). Lit. “A stated time, or place.” The stations at which Makkan pilgrims assume the iḥrām or “pilgrim’s garment.” Five of these stations were established by Muḥammad (Mishkāt, book xi. ch. i. pt. 1), and the sixth has been added since to suit the convenience of travellers from the East. They are as follows: (1) Ẕū ʾl-Ḥulafāʾ, for the pilgrims from al-Madīnah; (2) Juḥfah, for Syria; (3) Qarnu ʾl-Manāzil, for Najd; (4) Yaulamlam, for Yaman; (5) Ẕāt-i-ʿIrāq, for ʿIrāq; (6) Ibrahīm Mursīa, for those who arrive by sea from India and the east.
The putting on of the iḥrām at Jerusalem is highly meritorious, according to a tradition, which says, “The Prophet said, Whoever wears the iḥrām for ḥajj or ʿumrah, from the Masjidu ʾl-Aqṣā (i.e. the Temple at Jerusalem) to the Masjidu ʾl-Ḥarām, shall be forgiven for all his past and future sins.” (Mishkāt, book xi. ch. i. pt. 2.)
MĪR (مير). A title of respect used for the descendants of celebrated Muḥammadan saints. More generally used for Saiyids, or descendants of Fāt̤imah, the Prophet’s daughter.
MIRACLES. Supernatural powers given to men are spoken of by Muslim lexicographers as k͟hāriqu ʾl-ʿādat (خارق العادة), or “things contrary to custom.” In Muslim theology, they are expressed by eight terms:
(1) Āyah (اية), pl. āyāt, “a sign”; the only word used in the Qurʾān for a miracle (see Sūrahs xiii. 27; xxix. 49; liv. 2).
(2) Muʿjizah (معجزة), pl. muʿjizāt, “making weak or feeble,” or that which renders the adversaries to the truth weak and feeble; a term used only for miracles performed by prophets.
(3) Irhāṣ (ارهاص), pl. irhāṣāt, lit. “laying a foundation”; used for any miracle performed by a prophet before his assumption of the prophetical office. (4) ʿAlāmah (علامة), pl. ʿalāmāt, “a sign,” the same as āyah, and used for the signs of the coming Resurrection.
(5) Karāmah (كرامة), pl. karāmāt, lit. “beneficence”; wonders wrought by saints for the good of the people as well as in proof of their own saintship.
(6) Maʿūnah (معونة), pl. maʿwanāt, lit. “help or assistance;” used also for the wonders wrought by saints.
(7) Istidrāj (استدراج), lit. “promoting by degrees”; a term employed to express the miracles wrought by the assistance of the Devil with the permission of God.
(8) Ihānah (اهانة), pl. ihānāt, lit. “contempt”; miracles wrought by the assistance of the Devil, but when they turn out to the disdain and contempt of the worker.
It does not appear from the Qurʾān that Muḥammad ever claimed the power of working miracles, but, on the contrary, he asserted that it was not his mission to work signs and wonders in proof of his apostleship. This seems to be evident from the following verses in the Qurʾān:—
Sūrah xxix. 49: “They say, Why are not signs (āyāt) sent down to him from his Lord? Say: Signs are in the power of God alone, and I am only an open warner.”
Sūrah xiii. 27–30: “And they who believe not say, Why is not a sign (āyah) sent down to him from his Lord? Say: God truly misleadeth whom He will, and guideth to Himself him who turneth to Him.… If there were a Qurʾān by which the mountains would be set in motion, or the earth cleft by it, or the dead be addressed by it, they would not believe.”
Sūrah xvii. 92–97: “And they say, By no means will we believe in thee till thou cause a fountain to gush forth for us from the earth, or till thou have a garden of palm trees and grapes, and thou cause gushing rivers to gush forth in its midst, or till thou make heaven to fall upon us, as thou hast given out in pieces; or thou bring God and the angels to vouch for thee; or thou have a house of God, or thou mount up into heaven; nor will we believe in thy mounting up until thou send us down a book which we may read. Say: Praise be to my Lord! Am I more than a man, and an apostle? And what hindereth men from believing, when the guidance hath come to them, but that they say, Hath God sent a mere man as an apostle? Say: Did angels walk the earth as its familiars, we had surely sent them an angel-apostle out of heaven.”
But notwithstanding these positive assertions on the part of their Prophet against his ability to work miracles, there are at least four places in the Qurʾān where the Muḥammadans believe that miracles are referred to.
1. The clefting of the moon (Sūrah liv. 1, 2): “The hour hath approached, and the moon hath been cleft. But if the unbelievers see a sign (āyah), they turn aside and say, Magic! that shall pass away!”
Al-Baiẓāwī says, in his commentary on this verse, “Some say that the unbelievers demanded this sign of the Prophet, and the moon was cleft in two; but others say it refers to a sign of the coming Resurrection, the words ‘will be cleft’ being expressed in the prophetic preterite.”
Rodwell renders it “hath been cleft,” as he thinks Muḥammad may possibly allude to some meteor or comet which he fancied to be part of the moon.
2. The assistance given to the Muslims at the battle of Badr. Sūrah iii. 120, 121: “When thou didst say to the faithful: ‘Is it not enough for you that your Lord aideth you with three thousand angels sent down from on high?’ Nay; but if ye be steadfast, and fear God, and the foe come upon you in hot haste, your Lord will help you with five thousand angels with their distinguishing marks.”
These “distinguishing marks,” say the commentators, were when the angels rode on black and white horses, and had on their heads white and yellow turbans, the ends of which hung down between their shoulders.
3. The celebrated night journey. Sūrah xvii. 1: “We declare the glory of Him who transports his servant by night from the Masjidu ʾl-Ḥarām to the Masjidu ʾl-Aqṣā (i.e. from Makkah to Jerusalem).”
4. The Qurʾān itself, which the Muḥammadans say is the great miracle of Islām, the like of which has not been created, nor ever will be, by the power of man. In proof of this they quote Sūrah xxix. 48: “It is a clear sign (āyah) in the hearts of whom the knowledge hath reached.”
Although these very doubtful assertions in the Qurʾān fail to establish the miraculous powers of the Prophet, the Traditions record numerous occasions when he worked miracles in the presence of his people.
The following are recorded in the traditions of al-Buk͟hārī and Muslim:—
(1) On the flight from Makkah, Surāqah being cursed by the Prophet, his horse sank up to its belly in the hard ground.
(2) The Prophet marked out at Badr the exact spot on which each of the idolaters should be slain, and Anas says not one of them passed alive beyond the spot marked by the Prophet.
(3) He cured the broken leg of ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Atiq by a touch.