Читать книгу A Dictionary of Islam - Thomas Patrick Hughes - Страница 33

G͟HULĀT (غلاة‎). Lit. “The Zealots.” A title given to a leading sect of the Shīʿahs who, through their excessive zeal for the Imāms, have raised them above the degree of human beings.

G͟HULŪL (غلول‎). Defrauding or purloining any part of the lawful plunder in a jihād or religious war. Forbidden in the Qurʾān, Sūrah iii. 155: “But he who shall defraud, shall come forth with his defraudings on the day of the resurrection: then shall every soul be paid what it hath merited, and they shall not be treated with injustice.”

G͟HURĀB (غراب‎). Lit. “A crow.” G͟hurābu ʾl-Bain: “The crow of separation.” A term used by the Ṣūfī mystics for a certain state of separation from God. (ʿAbdu ʾr-Razzāq’s Dict. of Ṣūfī Terms.)

G͟HURRAH (غرة‎). A fine of five hundred dirhams. A slave of that value. It is the fine for a person striking a woman so as to occasion a miscarriage. (Hidāyah, vol. iv. p. 552.)

G͟HUSL (غسل‎), as distinguished from g͟hasl (washing) is the religious act of bathing the whole body after a legal impurity. It is founded upon the express injunction of the Qurʾān, Sūrah v. 9: “If ye are polluted then purify yourselves.” And the Traditions most minutely relate the occasions on which the Prophet performed the ceremony of g͟husl, or bathing. The Muslim teachers of all sects are unanimous in prescribing the washing of the whole body after the following acts, which render the body junub, or impure: (1) Ḥayẓ, menses; (2) nifās, puerperium; (3) jimāʿ, coitus; (4) iḥtilām, pollutio nocturna. It is absolutely necessary that every part of the body should be washed, for ʿAlī relates that the Prophet said, “He who leaves but one hair unwashed on his body, will be punished in hell accordingly.” (Mishkāt, book ii. c. viii.)

G͟HUSL MASNŪN (غسل مسنون‎). Lit. “Washings which are Sunnah.”

Such washings are founded upon the Sunnah, or precept and practice of Muḥammad, although they are not supposed to be of divine institution. They are four in number: (1) Upon the admission of a convert to Islām; (2) Before the Friday prayers and on the great festivals; (3) After washing the dead; (4) After blood-letting. (See Ṣaḥīḥu ʾl-Buk͟hārī, p. 39, Bābu ʾl-G͟husl.) Akrimah relates that people came from al-ʿIrāq and asked Ibn ʿAbbās if he believed that bathing on Fridays was a divine institution, and Ibn ʿAbbās replied, “No, but bathing is a great purifier, and I will tell you how the custom of bathing began. The people were engaged in daily labour and wore blankets, and the people sweated to such a degree as to cause a bad smell, so the Prophet said, ‘O men! bathe ye on Fridays and put some scent on your clothes.’” (Matthew’s Mishkāt, vol i. p. 120, from the Ḥadīs̤ of Abū Dāʾud.)

GIANTS. There is but one allusion to giants in the Qurʾān, namely, to the tribe ʿĀd, who are spoken of as men “with lofty statures” (Sūrah lxxxix. 6), and the commentator, Shāh ʿAbdu ʾl-ʿAzīz of Delhi, says they were men of not less than twelve yards in stature. According to a tradition in the Kitābu ʾsh-Shafah by the Qāẓī ʿAyāẓ (p. 65), Adam was sixty yards in height. In the G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah, a giant named ʿŪj is mentioned, who was born in the days of Adam and lived until the time of Moses, a period of 3,500 years, and that he was so high, that the flood in the days of Noah only reached to his waist. There are traditions and stories of giants whose graves exist unto the present day, throughout the whole of Asia. Opposite the Church Mission House at Peshawur is a grave nine yards long, which is held in great reverence by both Muḥammadans and Hindūs. De la Belle, in his Travels in Persia, vol ii. p. 89, mentions several which exist in Persia. Giant graves in Hindūstān are numerous.

GIDEON. In the Qurʾān there is evidently a confusion in one passage between the story of Saul as told therein, and the account of Gideon given in the Old Testament, as the following extracts will show:—

“And when Saul marched forth with his forces, he said, ‘God will test you by a river: He who drinketh of it shall not be of my band; but he who shall not taste it, drinking a drink out of the hand excepted, shall be of my band.’ And, except a few of them, they drank of it. And when they had passed it, he and those who believed with him, the former said, ‘We have no strength this day against Goliath (Jālūt) and his forces:’ But they who held it as certain that they must meet God, said, ‘How oft, by God’s will, hath a small host vanquished a numerous host! and God is with the steadfastly enduring.’” (Sūrah ii. 250.)

Which compare with Judges vii. 5:—

“So they brought down the people unto the water; and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.… The Lord said, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand.”

GIFTS. Arabic hibah (هبة‎), pl. hibāt. A deed of gift. The term hibah in the language of Muslim law means a transfer of property made immediately and without exchange. He who makes the gift is called the wāhib, or donor; the thing given, mauhūb; and the person to whom it is given is mauhūb lahu.

Muḥammad sanctioned the retraction of a gift when he said, “A donor preserves his right to his gift, so long as he does not obtain a return for it.” Although there is another tradition which says: “Let not a donor retract his gift; but let a father if he pleases retract his gift to his son.” Ash-Shāfiʿī maintains that it is not lawful to retract a gift, except it be from a father to a son. All the doctors are agreed that to retract a gift is an abomination, for Muḥammad said: “The retraction of a gift is like eating one’s spittle.” The general opinion is that a gift to a stranger may be retracted, but not a gift to a kinsman. A retracted gift, by the mutual consent of the parties, should be effected by a decree of the Qāẓī, or judge. (Hidāyah, vol. iii. p. 290.)

GIRDLE. Arabic nit̤āq (نطاق‎). Amongst the Bak͟htāshīs and several other orders of faqīrs, investiture with a girdle is the sign of incorporation into the order. The Bak͟htāshīs say that Adam was the first to wear the girdle worn by them, and after him fifteen other prophets wore it in succession, viz. Seth, Noah, Shuʿaib, Job, Joseph, Abraham, Hushaʿ, Yūshaʿ, Jirjis, Jonas, Ṣāliḥ, Zakariah, al-K͟hiẓr, Ilyās, and Jesus. (Brown’s Dervishes, p. 145.)

GNOSTICS. “The singular correspondence between the allusions to the crucifixion in the Corân, and the wild speculations of the early heretics, have led to the conjecture that Mahomet acquired his notions of Christianity from a Gnostic source. But Gnosticism had disappeared from Egypt before the sixth century, and there is no reason for supposing that it had at any time gained footing in Arabia. Besides, there is no affinity between the supernaturalism of the Gnostics and Docetæ, and the rationalism of the Corân. According to the former, the Deity must be removed far from the gross contact of evil matter; and the Æon Christ, which alighted upon Jesus at His baptism, must ascend to its native regions before the crucifixion. With Mahomet, on the contrary, Jesus Christ was a mere man—wonderfully born, indeed—but still an ordinary man, a servant of the Almighty, as others had been before him. But although there is no ground for believing that Gnostic doctrines were taught to Mahomet, yet some of the strange fancies of those heretics, preserved in Syrian tradition, may have come to the ears of his informants (the chief of whom, even on Christian topics, seem to have been Jews, unable probably to distinguish heretical fable from Christian doctrine), and have been by them adopted as a likely and convenient mode of explaining away that which formed the great barrier between Jews and Christians.” (Muir’s Life of Mahomet, new ed. p. 161.)

GOD. The name of the Creator of the Universe in the Qurʾān is Allāh, which is the title given to the Supreme Being by Muḥammadans of every race and language.

Allāh is supposed to be derived from ilāh, a deity or god, with the addition of the definite article al—Al-ilāh, “the God”—or, according to some authorities, it is from lāh, i.e. Al-lāh, “the secret one.” But Abū Ḥanīfah says that just as the essence of God is unchangeable, so is His name, and that Allāh has ever been the name of the Eternal Being. (See G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah.)

Allāh may be an Arabic rendering of the Hebrew ‏אֵל‎ el, and the unused root ‏אוּל‎ ūl, “to be strong,” or from ‏אֱלוֹהַּ‎, the singular form of ‏אֱלֹהִים‎. It is expressed in Persian and Hindustani by the word K͟hudā, derived from the Persian k͟hud, self; the self-existing one.

Another word very frequently used for the Almighty in the Qurʾān is Rabb, which is generally translated in English versions of the Qurʾān, “Lord.” It seems to stand in the relative position of the Jehovah of the Old Testament and the Κύριος of the New Testament. The word is understood by Muslims to mean “the sustainer,” but it is probably derived from the Hebrew ‏רַבָּה‎ rabbah, “a stronghold,” or from its root rab, which, according to Gesenius, means “a multitude,” or anything of size or importance.

The title Allāh is called the Ismu ʾẕ-Ẕāt, or, the essential name of God, all other titles, including Rabb, being considered Asmāʾu ʾṣ-Ṣifāt, or “attributes” of the Divine Being. These attributes are called al-Asmāʾu ʾl-ḥusnā, or the “excellent names.” The expression occurs in the Qurʾān (Sūrah vii. 179), “But God’s are excellent names, call on Him thereby.” This verse is commented upon in the Traditions, and Abū Hurairah says that Muḥammad said, “Verily, there are ninety-nine names of God, and whoever recites them shall enter into Paradise.”

In the same tradition these names (or attributes) are given as follows:—

1.	Ar-Raḥmān	The Merciful.
2.	Ar-Raḥīm	The Compassionate.
3.	Al-Malik	The King.
4.	Al-Quddūs	The Holy.
5.	As-Salām	The Peace.
6.	Al-Muʾmin	The Faithful.
7.	Al-Muhaimin	The Protector.
8.	Al-ʿAzīz	The Mighty.
9.	Al-Jabbār	The Repairer.
10.	Al-Mutakabbir	The Great.
11.	Al-K͟hāliq	The Creator.
12.	Al-Bārīʾ	The Maker.
13.	Al-Muṣawwir	The Fashioner.
14.	Al-G͟haffār	The Forgiver.
15.	Al-Qahhār	The Dominant.
16.	Al-Wahhāb	The Bestower.
17.	Ar-Razzāq	The Provider.
18.	Al-Fattāḥ	The Opener.
19.	Al-ʿAlīm	The Knower.
20.	Al-Qābiẓ	The Restrainer.
21.	Al-Bāsit̤	The Spreader.
22.	Al-K͟hāfiẓ	The Abaser.
23.	Ar-Rāfiʿ	The Exalter.
24.	Al-Muʿizz	The Honourer.
25.	Al-Muzīl	The Destroyer.
26.	As-Sāmiʿ	The Hearer.
27.	Al-Baṣīr	The Seer.
28.	Al-Ḥākim	The Ruler.
29.	Al-ʿAdl	The Just.
30.	Al-Lat̤īf	The Subtle.
31.	Al-K͟habīr	The Aware.
32.	Al-Ḥalīm	The Clement.
33.	Al-ʿAz̤īm	The Grand.
34.	Al-G͟hafūr	The Forgiving.
35.	Ash-Shakūr	The Grateful.
36.	Al-ʿAlī	The Exalted.
37.	Al-Kabīr	The Great.
38.	Al-Ḥafīz̤	The Guardian.
39.	Al-Muqīt	The Strengthener.
40.	Al-Ḥasīb	The Reckoner.
41.	Al-Jalīl	The Majestic.
42.	Al-Karīm	The Generous.
43.	Ar-Raqīb	The Watcher.
44.	Al-Mujīb	The Approver.
45.	Al-Wāsiʿ	The Comprehensive.
46.	Al-Ḥakīm	The Wise.
47.	Al-Wadūd	The Loving.
48.	Al-Majīd	The Glorious.
49.	Al-Bāʿis̤	The Raiser.
50.	Ash-Shahīd	The Witness.
51.	Al-Ḥaqq	The Truth.
52.	Al-Wakīl	The Advocate.
53.	Al-Qawī	The Strong.
54.	Al-Matīn	The Firm.
55.	Al-Walī	The Patron.
56.	Al-Ḥamīd	The Laudable.
57.	Al-Muḥṣī	The Counter.
58.	Al-Mubdī	The Beginner.
59.	Al-Muʿīd	The Restorer.
60.	Al-Muḥyī	The Quickener.
61.	Al-Mumīt	The Killer.
62.	Al-Ḥaiy	The Living.
63.	Al-Qaiyūm	The Subsisting.
64.	Al-Wājid	The Finder.
65.	Al-Majīd	The Glorious.
66.	Al-Wāḥid	The One.
67.	Aṣ-Ṣamad	The Eternal.
68.	Al-Qādir	The Powerful.
69.	Al-Muqtadir	The Prevailing.
70.	Al-Muqaddim	The Bringing forward.
71.	Al-Muʾak͟hk͟hir	The Deferrer.
72.	Al-Awwal	The First.
73.	Al-Āk͟hir	The Last.
74.	Az̤-Z̤āhir	The Evident.
75.	Al-Bāt̤in	The Hidden.
76.	Al-Wālī	The Governor.
77.	Al-Mutaʿālī	The Exalted.
78.	Al-Barr	The Righteous.
79.	At-Tauwāb	The Accepter of Repentance.
80.	Al-Muntaqim	The Avenger.
81.	Al-ʿAfūw	The Pardoner.
82.	Ar-Raʾuf	The Kind.
83.	Māliku ʾl-Mulk	The Ruler of the Kingdom.
84.	Ẕū ʾl-Jalāli wa ʾl-Ikrām	The Lord of Majesty and Liberality.
85.	Al-Muqsit̤	The Equitable.
86.	Al-Jāmīʿ	The Collector.
87.	Al-G͟hanī	The Independent.
88.	Al-Mug͟hnī	The Enricher.
89.	Al-Muʿt̤ī	The Giver.
90.	Al-Māniʿ	The Withholder.
91.	Aẓ-Ẓārr	The Distresser.
92.	An-Nāfiʿ	The Profiter.
93.	An-Nūr	The Light.
94.	Al-Hādī	The Guide.
95.	Al-Badīʿ	The Incomparable.
96.	Al-Bāqī	The Enduring.
97.	Al-Wāris̤	The Inheritor.
98.	Ar-Rashīd	The Director.
99.	Aṣ-Ṣabūr	The Patient.

The list either begins or closes with Allāh, thus completing the number of one hundred names, which are usually recited on a rosary in the ceremony of Ẕikr [ZIKR], as well as at all leisure moments, by devout Muslims. The Wahhābīs do not use a rosary, but count the names on their fingers, which they say was the custom of the Prophet, for from the Traditions it appears that Muḥammad did not use a rosary.

According to the Traditions (Mishkāt, book x. c. i.), the Almighty has an “exalted name” known as the Ismu ʾl-Aʿz̤am, which Muḥammad is related to have said was either in the Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah, the second chapter of the Qurʾān, 158th verse, or in the Sūratu Āli ʿImrān, the third chapter, first verse. The names of God which occur in these two verses are ar-Raḥmān, “the Merciful,” ar-Raḥīm, “The Compassionate,” al-Ḥaiy, “the Living,” and al-Qaiyūm, “the Subsisting.” There is, however, another tradition, from which it would appear that the name may be either al-Aḥad, “the One,” or aṣ-Ṣamad, “the Eternal.”

ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq, in his remarks on these traditions, says that it is generally held, according to a tradition by ʿĀyishah, that this great name is known only to the prophets and other saintly persons. The compiler of the Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrifāt says it is none other than the name of Allāh.

The Prophet having said that whoever calls upon God by this name shall obtain all his desires (Mishkāt, book x. c. i. pt. 2), the various sects of faqīrs and mystics spend much time in endeavouring to ascertain what the name really is [DAʿWAH], and the person who is able to assert that he has obtained this secret knowledge possesses great influence over the minds of the superstitious.

There can be little doubt that the discussion regarding this exalted name has arisen from the circumstance that Muḥammad became aware of the fact that the Jews never recited the great name of Jehovah, and spoke of it as “the great and terrible name,” “the peculiar name” of God.

The attributes of God as expressed in the ninety-nine names, are divided into the asmāʾu ʾl-jalālīyah, or the glorious attributes, and the asmāʾu ʾl-jamālīyah, or the terrible attributes. Such names as ar-Raḥīm, “the Merciful,” al-Karīm, “the Kind,” and al-ʿAfūw, “the Forgiver,” belonging to the former; and al-Qawī, “the Strong,” al-Muntaqim, “the Avenger,” and al-Qādir, “the Powerful,” to the latter.

In praying to God it is usual for the worshipper to address the Almighty by that name or attribute which he wishes to appeal to. For example, if praying for pardon, he will address God as either al-ʿAfūw, “the Pardoner,” or at-Tauwāb, “the Receiver of repentance.”

A belief in the existence of God, His Unity, His Absolute Power, and in the other essential attributes of an Eternal and Almighty Being, is the most important part of the Muslim religion, and is supposed to be expressed in the two clauses of the well-known formula:—

لااله الاالله‎

Lā ilāha Il-lā ʾl-lāhu.

There is no deity But Allāh.

The first clause, “There is no deity,” is known as the Nafī, or that which is rejected, and the second clause, “But Allāh,” as the Is̤bāt, or that which is established, the term Nafī wa-Is̤bāt being applied to the first two clauses of the Muslim’s Kalimah, or creed.

The teaching of Muḥammad in his Qurʾān as to the nature of God, forms such an important consideration in an exposition of Islām, that no apology is needed for full and lengthy quotations from that book on the subject.

The following verses are arranged in chronological order according to Jalālu ʾd-dīn as-Suyūt̤ī’s list:—

Sūratu ʾl-Ik͟hlāṣ. Chapter cxiii.

(One of the earliest chapters of the Qurʾān)

“Say, He is God, One [God]

“God, the Eternal.

“He begetteth not nor is begotten,

“And there is none equal unto Him.”

Sūratu ʾl-Aʿrāf. Chapter vii. 52.

(Given at al-Madīnah.)

“Verily your Lord is God, who created the heavens and the earth in six days: then He ascended the throne. He causeth the night to cover the day; it followeth it swiftly: and He created the sun and the moon and the stars, made subject utterly to His command. Do not the whole creation and command belong to Him? Blessed be God, the Lord of the Worlds.”

Sūratu Maryam. Chapter xix. 91–96.

(Given at Makkah.)

“They say, ‘The Compassionate hath gotten offspring’: Ye have done an impious thing.

“It wanteth little but that the heavens be rent thereat, and that the earth cleave asunder, and that the mountains fall down in pieces.

“For that they have attributed offspring to the Compassionate, when it beseemeth not the Compassionate to get offspring.

“There is none of all that are in the heavens and the earth but he shall come unto the Compassionate as a servant. He hath known them and numbered them with an exact numbering.

“And each of them shall come unto Him on the day of resurrection, alone.

“Verily those who have believed and have done the things that are right, on them the Compassionate will bestow [His] love.”

Sūratu ʾl-Ḥijr. Chapter xv. 16–25.

(Given at Makkah.)

“We (God) have placed in heaven the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and adorned them for the beholders with the constellations;

“And We have guarded them (by means of shooting stars) from every accursed devil.

“Excepting him who listened by stealth, whom a manifest shooting star pursueth.

“We have also spread forth the earth, and thrown thereon firm mountains, and We have caused to spring forth in it every kind [of green thing] weighed.

“And We have provided for you therein necessaries of life, and for him whom ye do not sustain;

“And there is not a thing but the store-houses thereof are with Us, and We send it not down save in determined quantities.

“We also send the fertilizing winds, and We send down water from heaven, and give you to drink thereof; and ye are not the storers of it.

“And verily We give life and death, and We are the heirs of all the creation.

“We also know those who have gone before you, and We know those who follow after [you].

“And verily thy Lord will assemble them together: for He is Wise, Knowing.”

Sūratu ʾl-Anʿām. Chapter vi. 59–64.

(Given at Makkah.)

“With Him are the keys of the hidden things: none knoweth them but He: and He knoweth whatsoever is on the land and in the sea, and there falleth not a leaf but He knoweth it, nor a grain in the dark parts of the earth, nor a moist thing nor a dry thing, but [it is noted] in a distinct writing.

“And it is He who taketh your souls at night, and knoweth what ye have gained in the day; then He reviveth you therein, that an appointed time may be fulfilled. Then unto Him shall ye return: then will He declare unto you what ye have done.

“And He is the Supreme over His servants, and He sendeth watchers over you, until when death cometh unto any one of you, Our messengers take his soul, and they fail not.

“Then are they returned unto God their Lord, the True. Doth not judgment belong to Him? And He is the most quick of reckoners.

“Say, Who delivereth you from the darknesses of the land and of the sea, when ye supplicate Him humbly and in secret, saying, ‘If Thou deliver us from these dangers, we will assuredly be of [the number of] the thankful’?

“Say, God delivereth you from them and from every affliction.”

Ib., 95–103:—

“Verily God causeth the grain to come forth, and the date-stone: He bringeth forth the living from the dead, and He bringeth forth the dead from the living: This is God; then wherefore are ye turned away?

“He causeth the dawn to appear, and hath ordained the night for rest, and the sun and the moon for reckoning time: this is the appointment of the Mighty, the Wise.

“And it is He who hath ordained for you the stars, that ye may be guided by them in the darkness of the land and of the sea: We have clearly shown the signs of Our power unto the people who know.

“And it is He who hath produced you from one soul, and there is a place of rest and of storing: We have clearly shown the signs to the people who understand.

“And it is He who hath sent down water from heaven, and We have produced thereby the germs of everything, and We have caused the green thing to come forth therefrom, from which We draw forth grains massed; and from the palm-tree, from its fruit-branch, clusters of dates heaped together: and gardens of grapes, and the olive and the pomegranate, like one another and not like. Look ye at their fruits when they bear fruit, and their ripening. Verily therein are signs unto the people who believe.

“Yet they have set up the Jinn as partners of God, though He hath created them, and without knowledge have they falsely attributed to Him sons and daughters. Extolled be His purity, and high be He exalted above that which they attribute [to Him]!

“He is the Author of the heavens and the earth. How then should He have offspring, when He hath no consort, and hath created everything and knoweth everything?

“This is God your Lord. There is no God but He, the Creator of everything: therefore worship ye Him; and He is guardian over everything.

“The eyes see Him not, but He seeth the eyes: and He is the Gracious, the Knowing.”

Sūratu Banī Israʾīl. Chapter lxvii. 1–4.

(Given at Makkah.)

“Blessed be He in whose hand is the dominion and who is all powerful;

“Who hath created death and life, that He may prove you, which of you [will be] best in works: and He is the Mighty, the Very-Forgiving:

“Who hath created seven heavens, one above another. Thou seest not any fault in the creation of the Compassionate. But lift up the eyes again to heaven. Dost thou see any fissures?

“Then lift up the eyes again twice; the sight shall return unto thee dull and dim.”

Sūratu ʾl-ʿAnkabūt. Chapter xxix. 40–43.

(Given at Makkah.)

“The likeness of those who take to themselves Tutelars instead of God is as the likeness of the spider, which maketh for herself a dwelling; and the frailest of dwellings surely is the dwelling of the spider! If they knew——!

“Verily God knoweth whatever thing they invoke in His stead; and He is the Mighty, the Wise.

“And these parables we propound unto men; but none understand them except the wise.

“God hath created the heavens and the earth in truth: verily therein is a sign unto the believers.”

Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah. Chapter ii. 157–160.

(Given at al-Madīnah.)

“And your God is One God: there is no god but He, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

“Verily in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the varying of night and day, and the ships that course upon the sea laden with what is profitable to mankind, and the water that God hath sent down from heaven, quickening the earth thereby after its death, and scattering about it all kinds of beasts; and in the changing of the winds, and the clouds that are compelled to do service between heaven and earth, are signs unto a people who understand.

“Yet among men are those who take to themselves, beside God, idols, which they love as with the love of God: but those who have believed are more loving towards God than these towards their idols.”

Ib., 256:—

“God! There is no God but He, the Ever-Living, the Ever-Subsisting. Slumber seizeth Him not, nor sleep. To Him belongeth whatsoever is in the Heavens and whatsoever is in the Earth. Who is he that shall intercede with Him, unless by His permission? He knoweth what [hath been] before them and what [shall be] after them, and they shall not compass aught of His knowledge save what He willeth. His Throne comprehendeth the Heavens and the Earth, and the care of them burdeneth Him not. And He is the High, the Great.”

Sūratu Āli ʿImrān. Chapter iii. 25.

(Given at al-Madīnah.)

“Say, O God, to whom belongeth dominion, Thou givest dominion to whom Thou wilt, and from whom Thou wilt Thou takest it away; Thou exaltest whom Thou wilt, and whom Thou wilt Thou humblest. In Thy hand is good. Verily Thou art all-powerful.

“Thou causest the night to pass into the day, and Thou causest the day to pass into the night; and Thou bringest forth the living from the dead, and Thou bringest forth the dead from the living; and Thou givest sustenance to whom Thou wilt without measure.”

Sūratu ʾr-Raʿd. Chapter xiii. 13.

(Given at al-Madīnah.)

“It is He who maketh the lightning to appear unto you, [causing] fear and hope of rain, and formeth the pregnant clouds.

“And the thunder proclaimeth His perfection with His praise; and [likewise] the angels, in fear of Him. And He sendeth the thunderbolts, and striketh with them whom He pleaseth, whilst they dispute concerning God; for He is mighty in power.”

Sūratu ʾn-Nisāʾ. Chapter iv. 51.

(Given at al-Madīnah.)

“Verily God will not forgive the associating with Him [any other being as a god], but will forgive other sins unto whom He pleaseth; and whoso associateth [another] with God hath wrought a great wickedness.”

The following is an interpretation of the Muslim belief in the existence and nature of God, by the famous scholastic divine, the Imām al-G͟hazzālī, in his book entitled al-Maqṣadu ʾl-asnā, an extract from which Ockley has translated from Pocock’s Specimen Historiæ Arabum:—

“Praise be to God the Creator and Restorer of all things; who does whatsoever He pleases, who is master of the glorious throne and mighty force, and directs His sincere servants into the right way and the straight path; who favoureth them, who have once borne testimony to the unity, by preserving their confessions from the darkness of doubt and hesitation; who directs them to follow His chosen apostle, upon whom be the blessing and peace of God; and to go after His most honourable companions, to whom he hath vouchsafed His assistance and direction which is revealed to them in His essence and operations by the excellencies of His attributes, to the knowledge whereof no man attains but he that hath been taught by hearing. To these, as touching His essence, He maketh known that He is one, and hath no partner; singular, without anything like Him; uniform, having no contrary; separate, having no equal. He is ancient, having no first; eternal, having no beginning; remaining for ever, having no end; continuing to eternity, without any termination. He persists, without ceasing to be; remains without failing, and never did cease, nor ever shall cease to be described by glorious attributes, nor is subject to any decree so as to be determined by any precise limits or set times, but is the First and the Last, and is within and without.

“(What God is not.) He, glorified be His name, is not a body endued with form, nor a substance circumscribed with limits or determined by measure; neither does He resemble bodies, as they are capable of being measured or divided. Neither is He a substance, neither do substances exist in Him; neither is He an accident, nor do accidents exist in Him. Neither is he like to anything that exists, neither is anything like to Him; nor is he determinate in quantity nor comprehended by bounds, nor circumscribed by the differences of situation, nor contained in the heavens. He sits upon the throne, after that manner which He Himself hath described, and in that same sense which He Himself means, which is a sitting far removed from any notion of contact, or resting upon, or local situation; but both the throne itself, and whatsoever is upon it, are sustained by the goodness of his power, and are subject to the grasp of His hand. But He is above the throne, and above all things, even to the utmost ends of the earth; but so above as at the same time not to be a whit nearer the throne and the heaven; since He is exalted by (infinite) degrees above the throne no less than He is exalted above the earth, and at the same time is near to everything that hath a being; nay, ‘nearer to man than their jugular veins, and is witness to everything’: though His nearness is not like the nearness of bodies, as neither is His essence like the essence of bodies. Neither doth He exist in anything, neither doth anything exist in Him; but He is too high to be contained in any place, and too holy to be determined by time; for He was before time and place were created, and is now after the same manner as He always was. He is also distinct from the creatures by His attributes, neither is there anything besides Himself in His essence, nor is His essence in any other besides Him. He is too holy to be subject to change, or any local motion; neither do any accidents dwell in Him, nor any contingencies befall Him; but He abides through all generations with His glorious attributes, free from all danger of dissolution. As to the attribute of perfection, He wants no addition of His perfection. As to being, He is known to exist by the apprehension of the understanding; and He is seen as He is by an ocular intuition, which will be vouchsafed out of His mercy and grace to the holy in the eternal mansion, completing their joy by the vision of His glorious presence.

“(His power.) He, praised be His name, is living, powerful, mighty, omnipotent, not liable to any defect or impotence; neither slumbering nor sleeping, nor being obnoxious to decay or death. To Him belongs the kingdom, and the power, and the might. His is the dominion, and the excellency, and the creation, and the command thereof. The heavens are folded up in His right hand, and all creatures are couched within His grasp. His excellency consists in His creating and producing, and His unity in communicating existence and a beginning of being. He created men and their works, and measured out their maintenance and their determined times. Nothing that is possible can escape His grasp, nor can the vicissitudes of things elude his power. The effects of his might are innumerable, and the objects of his knowledge infinite.

“(His knowledge.) He, praised be His name, knows all things that can be understood, and comprehends whatsoever comes to pass, from the extremities of the earth to the highest heavens. Even the weight of a pismire could not escape Him either in earth or heaven; but He would perceive the creeping of the black pismire in the dark night upon the hard stone, and discern the motion of an atom in the open air. He knows what is secret and conceals it, and views the conceptions of the minds, and the motions of the thoughts, and the inmost recesses of secrets, by a knowledge ancient and eternal, that never ceased to be His attribute from eternal eternity, and not by any new knowledge, superadded to His essence, either inhering or adventitious.

“(His will.) He, praised be His name, doth will those things to be that are, and disposes of all accidents. Nothing passes in the empire, nor the kingdom, neither little nor much, nor small nor great, nor good nor evil, nor profitable nor hurtful, nor faith nor infidelity, nor knowledge nor ignorance, nor prosperity nor adversity, nor increase nor decrease, nor obedience nor rebellion, but by His determinate counsel and decree, and His definite sentence and will. Nor doth the wink of him that seeth, nor the subtlety of him that thinketh, exceed the bounds of His will; but it is He who gave all things their beginning; He is the creator and restorer, the sole operator of what He pleases; there is no reversing His decree nor delaying what He hath determined, nor is there any refuge to man from his rebellion against Him, but only His help and mercy; nor hath any man any power to perform any duty towards Him, but through His love and will. Though men, genii, angels and devils, should conspire together either to put one single atom in motion, or cause it to cease its motion, without His will and approbation, they would not be able to do it. His will subsists in His essence amongst the rest of His attributes, and was from eternity one of His eternal attributes, by which He willed from eternity the existence of those things that He had decreed, which were produced in their proper seasons according to His eternal will, without any before or after, and in agreement both with His knowledge and will, and not by methodising of thoughts, nor waiting for a proper time, for which reason no one thing is in Him a hindrance from another.

“(His hearing and sight.) And He, praised be His name, is hearing and seeing, and heareth and seeth. No audible object, how still soever, escapeth His hearing; nor is any thing visible so small as to escape his sight; for distance is no hindrance to His hearing, nor darkness to His sight. He sees without pupil or eye-lid, and hears without any passage or ear, even as He knoweth without a heart, and performs His actions without the assistance of any corporeal limb, and creates without any instrument, for His attributes (or properties) are not like those of men, any more than His essence is like theirs.

“(His word.) Furthermore, He doth speak, command, forbid, promise, and threaten by an eternal, ancient word, subsisting in His essence. Neither is it like to the word of the creatures, nor doth it consist in a voice arising from the commotion of the air and the collision of bodies, nor letters which are separated by the joining together of the lips or the motion of the tongue. The Qurʾān, the Law, the Gospel, and the Psalter, are books sent down by Him to His apostles, and the Qurʾān, indeed, is read with tongues, written in books, and kept in hearts: yet as subsisting in the essence of God, it doth not become liable to separation and division whilst it is transferred into the hearts and the papers. Thus Moses also heard the Word of God without voice or letter, even as the saints behold the essence of God without substance or accident. And since these are His attributes, He liveth and knoweth, is powerful and willeth and operateth, and seeth and speaketh, by life and knowledge, and will and hearing, and sight and word, not by His simple essence.

“(His works.) He, praised be His name, exists after such a manner that nothing besides Him hath any being but what is produced by His operation, and floweth from His justice after the best, most excellent, most perfect, and most just model. He is, moreover, wise in His works, and just in His decrees. But His justice is not to be compared with the justice of men. For a man may be supposed to act unjustly by invading the possession of another; but no injustice can be conceived by God, inasmuch as there is nothing that belongs to any other besides Himself, so that wrong is not imputable to Him as meddling with things not appertaining to Him. All things, Himself only excepted, genii, men, the devil, angels, heaven, earth, animals, plants, substance, accident, intelligible, sensible, were all created originally by Him. He created them by His power out of mere privation, and brought them into light, when as yet they were nothing at all, but He alone existing from eternity, neither was there any other with Him. Now He created all things in the beginning for the manifestation of His power, and His will, and the confirmation of His word, which was true from all eternity. Not that He stood in need of them, nor wanted them; but He manifestly declared His glory in creating and producing, and commanding, without being under any obligation, nor out of necessity. Loving kindness, the showing favour and grace, and beneficence, belong to Him; whereas it is in His power to pour forth upon men a variety of torments, and afflict them with various kinds of sorrows and diseases, which, if He were to do, His justice could not be arraigned, nor would He be chargeable with injustice. Yet He rewards those that worship Him for their obedience on account of his promise and beneficence, not of their merit nor of necessity, since there is nothing which He can be tied to perform; nor can any injustice be supposed in Him, nor can He be under any obligation to any person whatsoever. That His creatures, however, should be bound to serve Him, ariseth from His having declared by the tongues of the prophets that it was due to Him from them. The worship of Him is not simply the dictate of the understanding, but He sent messengers to carry to men His commands, and promises, and threats, whose veracity He proved by manifest miracles, whereby men are obliged to give credit to them in those things that they relate.”

Included in the attributes of God as given in His ninety-nine titles or names, there are the Haft ṣifāt, or Seven Attributes; Muḥammad al-Barqawī has expressed them as follows:—

(1) Ḥayāt, or Life. God Most High is alone to be adored. He has neither associate nor equal. He is free from the imperfections of humanity. He is neither begotten nor does He beget. He is invisible. He is without figure, form, colour or parts. His existence has neither beginning nor end. He is immutable. If He so wills, He can annihilate the world in a moment of time and, if it seem good to Him, recreate it in an instant. Nothing is difficult to Him, whether it be the creation of a fly or that of the seven heavens. He receives neither profit nor loss from whatever may happen. If all the Infidels became believers and all the irreligious pious, He would gain no advantage. On the other hand, if all Believers became infidels, He would suffer no loss.

(2) ʿIlm, or Knowledge. He has knowledge of all things hidden or manifest, whether in heaven or on earth. He knows the number of the leaves of the trees, of the grains of wheat and of sand. Events past and future are known to Him. He knows what enters into the heart of man and what he utters with his mouth. He alone, except those to whom He has revealed them, knows the invisible things. He is free from forgetfulness, negligence and error. His knowledge is eternal: it is not posterior to His essence.

(3) Qudrah, or Power. He is Almighty. If He wills, He can raise the dead, make stones talk, trees walk, annihilate the heavens and the earth, and recreate of gold or of silver thousands similar to those destroyed. He can transport a man in a moment of time from the east to the west, or from the west to the east, or to the seventh heaven. His power is eternal a priori and a posteriori. It is not posterior to His essence.

(4) Irādah, or Will. He can do what He wills, and whatever He wills comes to pass. He is not obliged to act. Everything, good or evil, in this world exists by His will. He wills the faith of the believer and the piety of the religious. If He were to change His will there would be neither a true believer nor a pious man. He willeth also the unbelief of the unbeliever and the irreligion of the wicked and, without that will, there would neither be unbelief nor irreligion. All we do we do by His will: what He willeth not does not come to pass. If one should ask why God does not will that all men should believe, we answer: “We have no right to enquire about what God wills and does. He is perfectly free to will and to do what He pleases.” In creating unbelievers, in willing that they should remain in that state; in making serpents, scorpions and pigs: in willing, in short, all that is evil, God has wise ends in view which it is not necessary that we should know. We must acknowledge that the will of God is eternal and that it is not posterior to His essence.

(5) Samʿ, or Hearing. He hears all sounds whether low or loud. He hears without an ear, for His attributes are not like those of men.

(6) Baṣar, or Seeing. He sees all things, even the steps of a black ant on a black stone in a dark night; yet He has no eye as men have.

(7) Kalām, or Speech. He speaks, but not with a tongue as men do. He speaks to some of His servants without the intervention of another, even as He spoke to Moses, and to Muḥammad on the night of the ascension to heaven. He speaks to others by the instrumentality of Gabriel, and this is the usual way in which He communicates His will to the prophets. It follows from this that the Qurʾān is the word of God, and is eternal and uncreated. (Sale’s Faith of Islam.)

With regard to the Muḥammadan belief in the Supreme Being, Mr. Palgrave, the well-known Oriental traveller, thus expresses himself:—

“‘There is no god but God,’ are words simply tantamount in English to the negation of any deity save one alone; and thus much they certainly mean in Arabic, but they imply much more also. Their full sense is, not only to deny absolutely and unreservedly all plurality, whether of nature or of person, in the Supreme Being, not only to establish the unity of the Unbegetting and Unbegot, in all its simple and uncommunicable Oneness; but besides this, the words in Arabic and among Arabs imply that this one Supreme Being is also the only Agent, the only Force, the only Act existing throughout the universe, and leave to all beings else, matter or spirit, instinct or intelligence, physical or moral, nothing but pure unconditional passiveness, alike in movement or in quiescence, in action or in capacity. The sole power, the sole motor, movement, energy, and deed, is God; the rest is downright inertia and mere instrumentality, from the highest archangel down to the simplest atom of creation. Hence, in this one sentence, is summed up a system which, for want of a better name, I may be permitted to call the Pantheism of Force, or of Act, thus exclusively assigned to God, Who absorbs it all, exercises it all, and to Whom alone it can be ascribed, whether for preserving or for destroying, for relative evil or for equally relative good. I say ‘relative,’ because it is clear that in such a theology no place is left for absolute good or evil, reason or extravagance, all is abridged in the autocratical will of the One great Agent: ‘sic volo, sic jubeo, stet pro ratione voluntas’; or, more significantly still, in Arabic Kema yeshao (ka-mā yashāʾu), ‘as He wills it,’ to quote the constantly recurring expression of the Coran.

“Thus immeasureably and eternally exalted above, and dissimilar from, all creatures, which lie levelled before Him on one common plane of instrumentality and inertness, God is One in the totality of omnipotent and omnipresent action, which acknowledges no rule, standard, or limit, save His own sole and absolute will. He communicates nothing to His creatures, for their seeming power and act ever remain His alone, and in return He receives nothing from them; for whatever they may be, that they are in Him, by Him, and from Him only. And, secondly, no superiority, no distinction, no pre-eminence, can be lawfully claimed by one creature over its fellow, in the utter equalisation of their unexceptional servitude and abasement; all are alike tools of the one solitary Force which employs them to crush or to benefit, to truth or to error, to honour or shame, to happiness or misery, quite independently of their individual fitness, deserts, or advantage, and simply because ‘He wills it,’ and ‘as He wills it.’

“One might at first sight think that this tremendous Autocrat, this uncontrolled and unsympathising Power, would be far above anything like passions, desires, or inclinations. Yet such is not the case, for He has with respect to His creatures one main feeling and source of action, namely, jealousy of them, lest they should perchance attribute to themselves something of what is His alone, and thus encroach on His all-engrossing kingdom. Hence He is ever more prone to punish than to reward, to inflict pain than to bestow pleasure, to ruin than to build. It is His singular satisfaction to let created beings continually feel that they are nothing else than His slaves, His tools, and contemptible tools also, that thus they may the better acknowledge His superiority, and know His power to be above their power, His cunning above their cunning, His will above their will, His pride above their pride; or rather, that there is no power, cunning, will, or pride, save His own.

“But He Himself, sterile in His inaccessible height, neither loving nor enjoying aught save His own and self-measured decree, without son, companion, or counsellor, is no less barren of Himself than for His creatures, and His own barrenness and lone egoism in Himself is the cause and rule of His indifferent and unregarding despotism around. The first note is the key of the whole tune, and the primal idea of God runs through and modifies the whole system and creed that centres in Him.

“That the notion here given of the Deity, monstrous and blasphemous as it may appear, is exactly and literally that which the Coran conveys or intends to convey, I at present take for granted. But that it indeed is so, no one who has attentively perused and thought over the Arabic text (for mere cursory reading, especially in a translation, will not suffice), can hesitate to allow. In fact, every phrase of the preceding sentences, every touch in this odious portrait, has been taken, to the best of my ability, word for word, or at least meaning for meaning, from the ‘Book,’ the truest mirror of the mind and scope of its writer.

“And that such was in reality Mahomet’s mind and idea, is fully confirmed by the witness-tongue of contemporary tradition. Of this we have many authentic samples: the Saheeh (Ṣaḥīḥ), the Commentary of Beydāwi (al-Baiẓāwī), the Mishkat ul Masabih, and fifty similar works, afford ample testimony on this point. But for the benefit of my readers in general, all of whom may not have drunk equally deep at the fountain-heads of Islamic dogma, I will subjoin a specimen, known perhaps to many Orientalists, yet too characteristic to be here omitted, a repetition of which I have endured times out of number from admiring and approving Wahhābīs in Nejed.

“‘Accordingly, when God’—so runs the tradition: I had better said, the blasphemy—‘resolved to create the human race, He took into His hands a mass of earth, the same whence all mankind were to be formed, and in which they after a manner pre-existed; and having then divided the clod into two equal portions, He threw the one half into hell, saying, “These to eternal fire, and I care not”; and projected the other half into heaven, adding, “and these to Paradise, I care not.”’ (See Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābīḥ, Bābu ʾl-Qadr.)

“Commentary would here be superfluous. But in this we have before us the adequate idea of predestination, or, to give it a truer name, pre-damnation, held and taught in the school of the Coran. Paradise and hell are at once totally independent of love or hatred on the part of the Deity, and of merits or demerits, of good or evil conduct, on the part of the creature; and, in the corresponding theory, rightly so, since the very actions which we call good or ill-deserving, right or wrong, wicked or virtuous, are in their essence all one and of one, and accordingly merit neither praise nor blame, punishment nor recompense, except and simply after the arbitrary value which the all-regulating will of the great despot may choose to assign or impute to them. In a word, He burns one individual through all eternity amid red-hot chains and seas of molten fire, and seats another in the plenary enjoyment of an everlasting brothel between forty celestial concubines, just and equally for His own good pleasure, and because He wills it.

“Men are thus all on one common level, here and hereafter, in their physical, social, and moral light—the level of slaves to one sole Master, of tools to one universal Agent. But the equalising process does not stop here: beasts, birds, fishes, insects, all participate of the same honour or debasement; all are, like man, the slaves of God, the tools and automata of His will; and hence Mahomet is simply logical and self-consistent when in the Coran he informs his followers, that birds, beasts, and the rest are ‘nations’ like themselves, nor does any intrinsic distinction exist between them and the human species, except what accidental diversity the ‘King, the Proud One, the Mighty, the Giant,’ &c., as he styles his God, may have been pleased to make, just as He willed it, and so long as He may will it.

“However, should any one think himself aggrieved by such association, he may console himself by reflecting that, on the other hand, angels, archangels, genii, devils, and whatever other spiritual beings may exist, are no less on his level also; and that if he himself be no better than a camel, he is, however, no worse than Gabriel or any seraph. And then, over all and above all, ‘There is no god but God.’”—(Central and Eastern Arabia, vol. i. p. 365.)