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

MAULID (مولد). The birthday, especially of a prophet or saint. The birthday of Muḥammad, which is known as Maulidu ʾn-Nabī, is celebrated on the 12th of Rabīʿu ʾl-Awwal. It is a day observed in Turkey and Egypt and in some parts of Hindustān, but not in Central Asia, by the recital of numerous ẕikrs, and by distribution of alms.

Mr. Lane, in his Modern Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 171, gives the following specimen of a ẕikr recited in the Maulidu ʾn-Nabī: “O God bless our lord Muḥammad among the latter generations; and bless our lord Muḥammad in every time and period, and bless our lord Muḥammad among the most exalted princes, unto the Day of Judgment; and bless all the prophets and apostles among the inhabitants of the heavens, and of the earth, and may God (whose name be blessed and exalted) be well pleased with our lords and our masters, those persons of illustrious estimation, Abū Bakr, and ʿUmar, and ʿUs̤mān, and ʿAlī, and with all the other favourites of God. God is our sufficiency, excellent is the Guardian. And there is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great. O God, O our Lord, O Thou liberal of pardon, O Thou most bountiful of the most bountiful, O God. Amīn.”

MAUT (موت). “Death.” Heb. מָוֶת. The word is always used in the Qurʾān in its literal sense, meaning the departure of the spirit from the body, e.g. Sūrah ii. 182: “Every soul must taste of death.” But amongst the Ṣūfīs it is employed in a figurative sense, e.g. al-mautu ʾl-abyaẓ, or “the white death,” is held to mean abstinence from food, or that feeling of hunger which purifies the soul. A person who frequently abstains from food is said to have entered this state of death. Al-mautu ʾl-ak͟hẓar, “the green death,” the wearing of old clothes in a state of voluntary poverty. When a person has given up wearing purple and fine linen, and has chosen the garments of poverty, he is said to have entered this state of death. Al-mautu ʾl-aswad, “the black death,” the voluntary taking up of trouble, and submitting to be evil spoken of for the truth’s sake. When a Muslim has learnt to submit to such troubles and persecutions, he is said to have entered into this state of death. (See ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.) [MAMAT.]

MENSTRUATION. Arabic maḥīẓ (محيض). The catamenia, or menses, is termed ḥayẓ. The woman in this condition is called ḥāʾiẓ or ḥāʾiẓah. All books of Muḥammadan theology contain a chapter devoted to the treatment of women in this condition. During the period of menstruation, women are not permitted to say their prayers, or to touch or read the Qurʾān, or enter a mosque, and are forbidden to their husbands. But it is related in the traditions that Muḥammad abrogated the law of Moses which set a menstruous woman entirely apart for seven days. (Leviticus xv. 19). And Anas says that when the Jews heard this they said, “This man opposes our customs in everything.”

MERCY. Arabic Raḥmah (رحمة). Heb. רַחַם. The attribute of mercy is specially mentioned in the Qurʾān as one which characterizes the Divine Being; each chapter of that book (with the exception of the IXth), beginning with the superscription, Bismillāhi ʾr-Raḥmāni ʾr-Raḥīm, “In the name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate.” In the Tafsīr-i-Raufī it is said that ar-Raḥmān is only applicable to God, whilst ar-Raḥīm may be applied to the creature as well as to God; but the Jalālān say the two terms are synonymous, and on this account they are used together. Al-Baiẓāwī remarks that the attribute of mercy expresses “softness of heart” (riqqatu ʾl-qalb), and “a turning with kindness and favour towards a person,” and in this way it expresses God’s sympathy with mankind, although the terms are not strictly applicable to an unchangeable Being. In the Qurʾān, Job is described as speaking of God as “the most merciful of merciful ones.” (Sūrah xxi. 83). And the angels who bear the throne, and those around it who celebrate God’s praises, cry out: “Our Lord! thou dost embrace all things in mercy and knowledge!” (Sūrah xl. 7.) The “Treasuries of the mercies of the Lord,” are often referred to in the Qurʾān (e.g. Sūrahs xvii. 102; xviii. 81). The word Raḥmah, “a mercy,” is a term used for a divine book; it is frequently applied to the Qurʾān, which is called “a mercy and a guidance” (Sūrahs x. 58; xvii. 84), and also to the books of Moses (Sūrahs xi. 20; xii. 111). In one place it is used for Paradise, “They are in God’s mercy” (Sūrah iii. 103).

The bounty of God’s mercy is the constant theme both of the Qurʾān and the Traditions; e.g. Sūrah vii. 155: “My mercy embraceth everything.” To despair of God’s mercy is a cardinal sin. Sūrah xxxix. 54: “Be not in despair of the mercy of God; verily, God forgives sins, all of them.” Sūrah xv. 56: “Only those who err despair of the mercy of their Lord.”

In the Traditions, Muḥammad is related to have said: “When God created the world He wrote a book, which is with Him on the exalted throne, and therein is written, ‘Verily my mercy overcomes my anger.’ ” And, again, “Verily, God has one hundred mercies; one mercy hath he sent down to men and genii, but He hath reserved ninety-nine mercies, by which He will be gracious to His people.” (Mishkāt, book x. ch. 4.)

The LVth Sūrah of the Qurʾān is entitled the Sūratu ʾr-Raḥmān, or the “Chapter of the Merciful,” in which are set forth the “bounties of the Lord.” It is a chapter which is sadly marred by its concluding description of the sensual enjoyments of Muḥammad’s paradise.

MICHAEL. In Muḥammadan works generally, the Archangel Michael is called Mīkāʾīl (ميكائيل), Heb. מִיכָאֵל; but in the Qurʾān, in which his name once occurs, he is called Mīkāl (ميكال). Al-Baiẓāwī says that a Jew named ʿAbdu ʾllāh ibn Ṣūrīyāʾ, objected to Muḥammad’s assertion that the Archangel Gabriel revealed the Qurʾān to him, because he was an avenging angel, and said that if it had been sent by Michael, their own guardian angel (Daniel xii. 1), they might have believed. This assertion called forth the following verses from Muḥammad in Sūrah ii. 92:—

“Whoso is the enemy of Gabriel—For he it is who by God’s leave hath caused the Qurʾān to descend on thy heart, the confirmation of previous revelations, and guidance, and good tidings to the faithful—Whoso is an enemy to God or his angels, or to Gabriel, or to Michael, shall have God as his enemy: for verily God is an enemy to the infidels. Moreover, clear signs have we sent down to thee, and none will disbelieve them but the perverse.”

MIḤRĀB (محراب). A niche in the centre of a wall of a mosque, which marks the direction of Makkah, and before which the Imām takes his position when he leads the congregation in prayer. In the Masjidu ʾn-Nabī, or Prophet’s mosque, at al-Madīnah, a large black stone, placed against the northern wall, facing Jerusalem, directed the congregation, but it was removed to the southern side when the Qiblah was changed to Makkah.

MILLAH (ملة). A word which occurs in the Qurʾān fifteen times. Eight times for the religion of Abraham (Sūrahs ii. 124, 129; iii. 89; iv. 124; vi. 162; xii. 38; xvi. 124; xxii. 77); twice for the religion of former prophets (Sūrahs xiv. 16; xxxviii. 6); once for the religion of the seven children of the cave (Sūrah xviii. 19); three times for idolatrous religions (Sūrahs xii. 37; vii. 86, 87); and once for the religion of Jews and Christians (Sūrah ii. 114). The word is used in the Traditions for the religion of Abraham (Mishkāt, book x. ch. v.).

According to the Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, it is expressive of religion as it stands in relation to the prophets, as distinguished from Dīn (دين), which signifies religion as it stands in relation to God, or from Maẕhab (مذهب), which signifies religion with reference to the learned doctors. [RELIGION.] Sprenger and Deutsch have invested the origin and meaning of this word with a certain amount of mystery, which is interesting.

Dr. Sprenger says (Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad, vol. ii. p. 276 n):—“When Mohammad speaks of the religion of Abraham, he generally uses the word Milla (Millah) and not Dīn. Arabian philologists have tried to trace the meaning of the word from their mother tongue, thus, Malla (Mallah) signifies fire or hot ashes in Arabic and Zaggag says (Thālaby, vol. ii. p. 114), that religion is called Milla because of the impression which it makes, and which may be compared to that which fire makes upon the bread baked in ashes. Since the Arabs are unable to give a better explanation, we must presume that milla is a foreign word, imported by the teachers of the “Milla of Abraham” in the Hijāz. Philo considered Abraham the chief promoter of the doctrine of the Unity of God, and doubtless, even before Philo, Jewish thought, in tracing the doctrine of the true religion, not only as far back as Moses, but even to the father of their nation, emancipated the indispensability of the form of the law, and so prepared the road to Essaism and Christianity.”

Mr. Emanuel Deutsch, in his article on Islām (Literary Remains, p. 130), says: “The word used in the Qurān for the religion of Abraham is generally Milla. Sprenger, after ridiculing the indeed absurd attempts made to derive it from an Arabic root, concludes that it must be a foreign word introduced by the teachers of the ‘Milla of Abraham’ into the Hijāz. He is perfectly right. Milla = Memra = Logos, are identical; being the Hebrew, Chaldee (Targum, Peshito in slightly varied spelling), and Greek terms respectively for the ‘Word,’ that surrogate for the Divine name used by the Targum, by Philo, by St. John. This Milla or ‘Word,’ which Abraham proclaimed, he, ‘who was not an astrologer but a prophet,’ teaches according to the Haggadah, first of all, the existence of one God, the Creator of the Universe, who rules this universe with mercy and loving kindness.”

MILK. Arabic laban (لبن). The sale of milk in the udder is unlawful (Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 433). In the Qurʾān it is mentioned as one of God’s special gifts. “Verily, ye have in cattle a lesson: we give you to drink from that which is in their bellies betwixt chyme and blood—pure milk—easy to swallow for those who drink.” (Sūrah xvi. 68.)