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

The idea is universal amongst Muḥammadans that the incident took place on Mount Minā near Makkah, and not in the “land of Moriah,” as stated in Genesis xxii. 3. (For a discussion on the site of Mount Moriah, see Mr. George Grove’s article in Smith’s Dict. of the Bible.)

Sir William Muir says (Life of Mahomet, new ed. p. xvii.): “By a summary adjustment, the story of Palestine became the story of the Hejâz. The precincts of the Káaba were hallowed as the scene of Hagar’s distress, and the sacred well Zamzem as the source of her relief. The pilgrims hasted to and fro between Safa and Marwa in memory of her hurried steps in search of water. It was Abraham and Ishmael who built the (Meccan) temple, placed in it the black stone, and established for all mankind the pilgrimage to Arafât. In imitation of him it was that stones were flung by pilgrims at Satan; and sacrifices were offered at Minâ in remembrance of the vicarious sacrifice by Abraham instead of his son. And thus, although the indigenous rites may have been little if at all altered, by the adoption of the Abrahamic legends, they came to be viewed in a totally different light, and to be connected in the Arab imagination with something of the sanctity of Abraham, the Friend of God. The gulf between the gross idolatry of Arabia and the pure theism of the Jews was bridged over. Upon this common ground Mahomet took his stand, and proclaimed to his people a new and a spiritual system, in accents to which all Arabia could respond. The rites of the Káaba were retained, but stripped by him of every idolatrous tendency; and they still hang, a strange unmeaning shroud, around the living theism of Islâm.”

ISLĀM (اسلام). Resignation to the will of God. The word generally used by Muḥammadans themselves for their religion. ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq says it implies submission to the divine will; and Muḥammad explained it to mean the observance of the five duties: (1) Bearing witness that there is but one God; (2) Reciting the daily prayers; (3) Giving the legal alms; (4) Observing the Ramaẓān or month’s fast; (5) Making the pilgrimage to Makkah once in a lifetime.

In the Qurʾān the word is used for doing homage to God. Islām is said to be the religion of all the prophets from the time of Abraham, as will appear from the following verses (Sūrah iii. 78, 79):—“Say: We believe in God and in what hath been sent down to Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the Tribes, and in what was given to Moses, and Jesus and the Prophets from their Lord. We make no difference between them, and to Him are we resigned (i.e. Muslims). Whoso desireth any other religion than Islām, that religion shall never be accepted of Him, and in the next world he shall be lost.”

There are three words used by Muḥammadan writers for religion, namely Dīn, Millah, and Maẕhab; and in the Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, the difference implied in these words is said to be as follows:—Dīn, as it stands in its relation to God, e.g. Dīnu ʾllāh, the religion of God; Millah, as it stands in relation to a prophet or lawgiver, e.g. Millatu Ibrāhīm, the religion of Abraham; and Maẕhab, as it stands in relation to the divines of Islām, e.g. Maẕhab Ḥanafī, the religion or religious teaching of Abū Ḥanīfah. The expression Dīn, however, is of general application. [RELIGION.]

ISMĀʿĪLĪYAH (اسماعيلية). A Shīʿah sect who said that Ismāʿīl ibn Jaʿfar aṣ-Ṣādiq was the true Imām and not Mūsā al-Kāz̤im, and who held that God was neither existent nor non-existent, nor intelligent nor unintelligent, nor powerful nor helpless, &c.; for, they said, it is not possible for any thing or attribute to be associated with God, for He is the maker of all things, even of names and attributes. (Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, in loco.)

AL-ISMU ʾL-AʿZ̤AM (الاسم الاعظم). The exalted name of God, which is generally believed to be known only to the Prophets. Muḥammad is related to have said that it occurs in either the Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah, ii. 256: “God (Allāh) there is no God but He (Hū), the Living (al-Ḥaiy), the Self-subsistent (al-Qaiyūm)”; or in the Sūratu ʿĀli ʿImrān, iii. 1, which contains the same words; or in the Sūratu T̤ā Hā, xx. 110: “Faces shall be humbled before the Living (al-Ḥaiy) and the Self-subsistent (al-Qaiyūm).”

ISRAEL. Arabic Isrāʾīl (اسرائيل). The surname of Yaʿqūb (Jacob). Al Baiẓāwī says the meaning of Isrāʾīl in Hebrew is Ṣufwatu ʾllāh, i.e. “the sincere friend of God”; or, as some say, ʿAbdu ʾllāh, “the servant of God.” Banū Isrāʾīl, “the children of Israel,” is a term that frequently occurs in the Qurʾān. The XVIIth chapter of the Qurʾān, known as the Sūratu ʾl-Miʿrāj, is also called the Sūratu Banī Isrāʾīl.

ISTIʿĀNAH (استعانة). Lit. “Seeking aid.” Imploring help from God. The word occurs in the Sūratu ʾl-Fātiḥah, or the first chapter of the Qurʾān, which is part of the liturgical prayer: واياك نستعين waīyāka nastaʿīn, “Of Thee only do we seek help.”

ISTIBRAʾ (استبراء). The purification of the womb. The period of probation, of one menses, to be observed after the purchase of a female slave (or in the case of a virgin under age), the period of one month before she is taken to her master’s bed.