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

ANGEL. Arabic malʾak or malak (ملاك, ملك). Persian Firishtah (فرشته). “It is believed,” says Ibn Mājah, “that the angels are of a simple substance (created of light), endowed with life, and speech, and reason; and that the difference between them, the Jinn, and Shait̤āns is a difference of species. Know,” he adds, “that the angels are sanctified from carnal desire and the disturbance of anger: they disobey not God in what He hath commanded them, but do what they are commanded. Their food is the celebrating of His glory; their drink, the proclaiming of His holiness; their conversation, the commemoration of God, Whose name be exalted; their pleasure, His worship; and they are created in different forms and with different powers.” (Arabian Nights, Lane’s edition, Notes to the Introduction, p. 27.)

Four of them are archangels, or, as they are called in Arabic, Karūbīyūn (Cherubim), namely, Jabraʾīl, or Jibrīl, (Gabriel), the angel of revelations; Mīkaʾīl, or Mīkāl, (Michael), the patron of the Israelites; Isrāfīl, the angel who will sound the trumpet at the last day; and ʿIzrāʾīl, or ʿAzrāʾīl, the angel of death. Angels are said to be inferior in dignity to human prophets, because all the angels were commanded to prostrate themselves before Adam (Sūrah ii. 32). Every believer is attended by two recording angels, called the Kirāmu ʾl-kātibīn, one of whom records his good actions, and the other his evil actions. There are also two angels, called Munkar and Nakīr, who examine all the dead in their graves. The chief angel who has charge of hell is called Mālik, and his subordinates are named Zabāniyah, or guards. A more extended account of these angels will be found under their particular titles.

The angels intercede for man: “The angels celebrate the praise of their Lord, and ask forgiveness for the dwellers on earth.” (Sūrah xlii. 3.) They also act as guardian angels: “Each hath a succession of angels before him and behind him, who watch over him by God’s behest.” (Sūrah xiii. 12.) “Is it not enough for you that your Lord aideth you with three thousand angels sent down (from on high)?” (Sūrah iii. 120.) “He is the supreme over His servants, and sendeth forth guardians who watch over you, until, when death overtaketh any one of you, our messengers receive him and fail not.” (Sūrah vi. 61.)

There are eight angels who support the throne of God, “And the angels shall be on its sides, and over them on that day eight shall bear up the throne of thy Lord.” (Sūrah lxix. 17.) Nineteen have charge of hell. “Over it are nineteen. None but angels have we made guardians of the fire.” (Sūrah lxxiv. 30, 31.)

The names of the guardian angels given in the book on Exorcism (daʿwah), entitled the Jawāhiru ʾl-K͟hamsah, are Isrāfīl, Jibrāʾīl, Kalkāʾīl, Dardāʾīl, Durbāʾīl, Raftmāʾīl, Sharkāʾīl, Tankafīl, Ismāʾīl, Sarakīkāʾīl, K͟harūrāʾīl, T̤at̤āʾīl, Rūyāʾīl, Hūlāʾīl, Hamwākīl, ʿItrāʾīl, Amwākīl, ʿAmrāʾīl, ʿAzrāʾīl, Mīkāʾīl, Mahkāʾīl, Hartāʾīl, ʿAtāʾīl, Nurāʾīl, Nukhāʾīl. [EXORCISM.]

It is believed that at the Resurrection the irrational animals will be restored to life, that they may be brought to judgment, and then be annihilated. See Qurʾān, Sūrah vi. 38, “No kind of beast is there on the earth, nor fowl that flieth with its wings, but is a community like you; nothing have We passed over in the book (of the Eternal decrees): then unto their Lord shall they be gathered.”

AL-ʿANKABŪT (العنكبوت). “The Spider.” The title of the XXIXth Sūrah, in which there is a passing reference to this insect in the 40th verse:—“The likeness for those who take to themselves guardians besides God is the likeness of the spider who buildeth her a house; but truly the frailest of all houses surely is the house of the spider.”

AL-ANṢĀR (الانصار). “The Helpers,” a term used for the early converts of al-Madīnah; but when all the citizens of al-Madīnah were ostensibly converted to Islām, they were all named Anṣār, while those Muslims who accompanied the Prophet from Makkah to al-Madīnah were called Muhājirūn, or exiles. (Muir’s Life of Mahomet, vol iii. p. 26.) [MUHAMMAD.]

APOSTASY FROM ISLĀM. Arabic irtidād (ارتداد). According to Muslim law, a male apostate, or Murtadd, is liable to be put to death if he continue obstinate in his error; a female apostate is not subject to capital punishment, but she may be kept in confinement until she recant. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 227.) If either the husband or wife apostatize from the faith of Islām, a divorce takes place ipso facto; the wife is entitled to her whole dower, but no sentence of divorce is necessary. If the husband and wife both apostatize together, their marriage is generally allowed to continue, although the Imām Zufar says it is annulled. But if, after their joint apostasy, either husband or wife were singly to return to Islām, then the marriage would be dissolved. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 183.)

According to Abū Ḥanīfah, a male apostate is disabled from selling or otherwise disposing of his property. But Abū Yūsuf and Imām Muḥammad differ from their master upon this point, and consider a male apostate to be as competent to exercise every right as if he were still in the faith. (Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 235.)

If a boy under age apostatize, he is not to be put to death, but to be imprisoned until he come to full age, when, if he continue in the state of unbelief, he must be put to death. Neither lunatics nor drunkards are held to be responsible for their apostasy from Islām. (Hidāyah, vol. ii. 246.) If a person upon compulsion become an apostate, his wife is not divorced, nor are his lands forfeited. If a person become a Musalmān upon compulsion, and afterwards apostatize, he is not to be put to death. (Hidāyah, vol. iii. 467.)

ʿIkrimah relates that some apostates were brought to the K͟halīfah ʿAlī, and he burnt them alive; but Ibn ʿAbbās heard of it, and said that the K͟halīfah had not acted rightly, for the Prophet had said, “Punish not with God’s punishment (i.e. fire), but whosoever changes his religion, kill him with the sword.” (Ṣaḥīḥu ʾl-Buk͟hārī.)

APOSTLE. Arabic rasūl (رسول), ḥawārī (حوارى). The term rasūl (apostle or messenger) is applied to Muḥammad, that of ḥawārī being used in the Qurʾān (Sūrah iii. 4, 5; Sūrah iv. 111, 112; Sūrah lxi. 14) for the Apostles of Jesus. The word ḥawārī seems to be derived from the Æthiopic ḥōra, “to go”; ḥawāryā, “apostle”; although, according to al-Baiẓāwī, the commentator, it is derived from ḥawira, “to be white,” in Syriac, ḥewar, and was given to the disciples of Jesus, he says, on account of their purity of life and sincerity, or because they were respectable men and wore white garments. In the Traditions (Mishkāt, book i. c. vi. part 2) ḥawārī is used for the followers of all the prophets. [PROPHETS.]

AL-ʿAQABAH (العقبة). A sheltered glen near Minā, celebrated as the scene of the two pledges, the first and second pledge of al-ʿAqabah. The first pledge was made by ten men of the tribe of K͟hazraj and ten of Aus, when they plighted their faith to Muḥammad thus:—“We will not worship any but one God; we will not steal; nor commit adultery; nor kill our children; nor will we slander our neighbour; and we will obey the Prophet of God.” The date assigned to this pledge by Sir W. Muir is April 21, A.D. 621. The second pledge was a few months afterwards, when seventy-three men and two women came forward, one by one, and took an oath of fealty to the Prophet. Muḥammad named twelve of the chief of these men, and said:—“Moses chose from amongst his people twelve leaders. Ye shall be sureties for the rest, even as were the Apostles of Jesus; and I am surety for my people. And the people answered, Āmīn, So be it.” (Muir’s Life of Mahomet, vol. ii. pp. 216, 232.)