Health, body and death
Family: People and stages of life · 88 entries
Entries on this theme
Person
Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib
c. 568 CEAn uncle of the Prophet who became one of the fiercest early defenders of Islam; killed at Uhud and remembered in tradition as the Master of the Martyrs.Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah
c. 583 CEAn early Qurayshi convert the Prophet called the trustworthy man of this community; he commanded the armies in Syria at the height of the conquest and died in the plague of Amwas.Husayn ibn Ali
c. January 626 CE · c. Rabi' I 4 AHYounger grandson of the Prophet through Fatima and Ali; killed at Karbala in 680 CE after refusing allegiance to Yazid I, an event of lasting significance especially in Shia tradition.Usama ibn Sharik
A Companion from the Banu Tha'laba. Authors of the Sunan collections, Ahmad, Ibn Khuzayma, Ibn Hibban and al-Hakim narrated his report, which includes the instruction to seek treatment, since God has not sent a disease without sending a remedy for it except old age.
Event
Kurz ibn Jabir's detachment against the men of Bajila who killed Yasar
c. 627 CE · c. 6 AHIbn Hisham tells it from a scholar, from Muhammad ibn Talha, from Uthman ibn Abd al-Rahman: in the raid on Muharib and Banu Tha'laba the Prophet acquired a slave named Yasar and put him in charge of his milch-camels grazing near al-Jamma'; a party of Qays Kubba of Bajila came to Medina, fell sick and their spleens swelled, so the Prophet told them to go out to the camels and drink their milk and urine; when they recovered they attacked Yasar, slaughtered him, drove thorns into his eyes and drove off the camels. The Prophet sent Kurz ibn Jabir after them; he caught them and brought them to the Prophet on his return from the Dhu Qarad raid, and he cut off their hands and feet and put out their eyes.The death of Amir ibn al-Tufayl
c. 631 CE · 9 AHOn the Banu Amir delegation's way home a plague-swelling struck Amir ibn al-Tufayl in the neck and he died in the house of a woman of Banu Salul, saying: a swelling like a young camel's, in the house of a Saluli woman. Ibn Ishaq places it after the Prophet's prayer 'O God, suffice me against Amir ibn al-Tufayl'; Ibn Hisham records another wording.The death of Arbad ibn Qays by lightning
c. 631 CE · 9 AHWhen Arbad's companions reached Banu Amir's land and asked what news he brought, he said Muhammad had called them to worship something he wished he had at hand to shoot with arrows; a day or two later he went out with a camel and God sent a thunderbolt that burned him and the camel. Ibn Hisham reports from Zayd ibn Aslam, from Ata' ibn Yasar, from Ibn Abbas that verses of sura al-Ra'd were revealed about Amir and Arbad; his maternal brother Labid mourned him in several poems.The dosing of the Prophet during his illness
c. May 632 CE · c. Safar 11 AHDuring the Prophet's illness, a group of his wives and some Muslim women, among them Asma' bint Umays, gathered with al-Abbas present and agreed to dose him; al-Abbas said 'I will dose him'; they did; when he came round he asked who had done it, was told it was his uncle, and said this was a medicine brought by women from the direction of Abyssinia; his uncle said they feared pleurisy; he said that was a disease God would not bring on him, and that everyone in the house should be dosed except his uncle, so Maymuna, who was fasting, was dosed as a punishment for what they had done.The death and burial of Fatima bint Muhammad
November 632 CE · 3 Ramadan 11 AHFatima died in Medina six months after the Prophet, on the night of Tuesday, 3 Ramadan 11 AH, in a narration Sallabi cites through Malik and Ali ibn al-Husayn. Abu Bakr and Umar came to condole with Ali; in one report Abu Bakr led the funeral prayer, while Muslim's report, which the book prefers, says Ali led it.Smallpox and epidemic deaths, 422–425
c. 1031 CE · 422 AHThe deaths ran on for four years. In 422 rain came late, bodies dried out, coughing and sickness multiplied, to the point that the sale of broth boomed. In 423 the epidemic spread over India, Ghazna, Khurasan, Jurjan and al-Rayy; forty thousand were buried in Isfahan within a few days, and in the land of al-Jibal, while four thousand boys died of smallpox in Mosul, and smallpox swept Baghdad from April to October so that no house was spared. In 424 smallpox befell the caliph himself when he entered the bath, and he was lifted out of it. In 425 death multiplied, especially among women in al-Hawaniq, and it was said that in Dhu al-Hijjah seventy thousand died in Baghdad.
Work
Labid ibn Rabi'a's elegies for his brother Arbad
Six pieces Ibn Ishaq gives as Labid's laments for his maternal brother Arbad ibn Qays after his death by lightning: a dal-rhymed poem, a mim-rhymed poem bidding him farewell by his kunya Abu Hurayz, a rajaz, a short piece on his virtues, a ra'-rhymed poem, and two verses on the kinsmen he had lost. Ibn Hisham marks certain verses as from Abu Ubayda or from other than Ibn Ishaq.The hadith of the five afflictions
Words of the Prophet to the Muhajirun transmitted by Abdullah ibn Umar in the account of Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf's dispatch: five things he sought refuge from befalling them: open indecency bringing plague, short measure bringing famine and tyranny, withheld zakat bringing drought, broken covenants bringing an outside enemy, and rulers not judging by God's book bringing internal strife.Hassan ibn Thabit's elegy for the Prophet
An elegy on the Prophet which Ibn Hisham transmits from Abu Zayd al-Ansari; it opens with Medina as the trace and habitation of the Messenger, describes his chambers, the pulpit and the grave that covered him, and says that weeping for him is not enough, that the earth wept for him, and that no calamity equals the day Muhammad died.
Concept
Bone (adhm): purity, use and retaliation
In the lexicon, adhm is the bone that has flesh on it, plural 'idham and 'izam. Most jurists hold that a human bone is pure, whether living or dead, of a Muslim or not; that a fish bone stays pure after death; and that the bone of a lawfully slaughtered edible animal is pure and may be used. The bone of carrion, or of a non-edible animal, is impure according to the Malikis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis and Ishaq, and cannot be purified; the Hanafis hold it pure, and 'Umar disliked oiling in ivory. On cleansing after excretion with a bone, the Shafi'is and Hanbalis forbid it; the Hanafis dislike it as forbidden but accept that it suffices; the Malikis forbid a carrion bone and allow a pure bone with disapproval. Most jurists allow retaliation for a bone only at a joint, since equality cannot be achieved elsewhere.Fleshy growth in the wife's womb and the right to annul (afal)
In the lexicon, afal is a fleshy growth in a woman's genital passage, which arises after childbirth and not in virgins; some say it is a swelling that narrows the passage until penetration is impossible. Some jurists distinguish it from ratq, a closure from birth; both are defects that give an option to end the marriage. The Malikis and Hanbalis hold that it gives the husband an option to annul the marriage, since it defeats the marriage's main purpose; Abu Hanifa and Abu Yusuf hold that neither spouse has such an option. The Shafi'is count ratq and qaran, another closure, as defects peculiar to women that give the option.Grief and worry (al-huzn)
Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy distinguishes grief over what has passed from worry about what is to come; he describes untreated grief as developing into kamad, bath, constriction of the chest and distress, and presents its remedies as prayer, reliance on God and love of God.The clot stage of the embryo (alaqa) and the rulings on its loss
In the lexicon, alaqa is thick coagulated blood, or blood that clots before it dries; it is a stage in the formation of the embryo, from which the lump of flesh develops, and it follows the drop of semen. The Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis hold that causing the loss of the clot is forbidden; the Hanafis allow the loss of a pregnancy before a hundred and twenty days on conditions they set out, and some read this as limited to necessity. The majority do not require a ghurra for a lost clot, while the Malikis do. The majority hold that a woman who loses a clot is not counted as in post-natal bleeding, while the Malikis count her so, and a waiting period ends with it.Alya (the rump, and its rulings)
Alya is the rump, the flesh and fat that sit over the buttock. Rulings on it touch ablution, sleep, sacrifice and injury. The Hanafis and Shafi'is hold that sleeping with the rump on the ground does not break ablution; the views on a sacrifice with its rump-fat cut off differ; for injury to the rump, qisas is due in the majority view, and in an accident half a diya, with the full diya for both rumps.Anf (the nose, and its rulings in purification, prayer, fasting and retaliation)
Anf is the nostril, plural anaf or unuf, and its rulings vary with its place. Washing the inside of the nose by sniffing water in is sunna, while washing the outside is obligatory as part of the face; in full washing the outside is obligatory for all, and the inside is obligatory for the Hanafis and sunna for others. Placing the nose with the forehead on the ground in prostration is sunna for the majority and obligatory for the Hanafis. If medicine or water inhaled through the nose reaches the stomach or throat, the fast is broken by the views of many jurists, with disputes over the detail. A deliberate injury to the nose calls for retaliation where an equal can be exacted without wrong, and otherwise for blood money; loss of the sense of smell alone carries blood money.Anthayan (the two testicles, and rulings on them)
Anthayan are the two testicles. They belong to the parts of the body that must be covered, and castration is forbidden on the report of Ibn Mas'ud, who said that they asked the Prophet whether they might castrate themselves, and he forbade it. The injury to them by error carries a diya; for deliberate injury retaliation is due according to the Shafi'is, Hanbalis and Malikis, while the Hanafis deny retaliation. The jurists differ on castrating an animal between allowance and dislike.Reason as the basis of legal capacity and of the blood-money (aql)
In the lexicon, aql is restraint and reason, the opposite of folly; it is also used for blood-money. As a term it is the power prepared to receive knowledge. The jurists agree that reason is the basis of legal obligation: acts of worship are not owed by the insane or anyone without reason, on the prophetic instruction that the pen is lifted from three. Those without reason cannot validly make property transactions, contracts or dissolutions of marriage, and their statements do not bind them or others; they lose their guardianship, though some acts with them are taken into account, such as destruction of property and nursing a child. Loss of reason by madness, fainting or intoxication breaks ablution. No retaliation is due for a blow that removes reason, but blood-money is due for its loss through injury.One-eyed defect ('awar) and its effect on sacrifice, marriage, manumission and injury
'Awar is the loss of sight in one eye; the jurists use the word in its plain sense. It is distinguished from 'asha, night blindness, from 'amash, weak sight with a watering eye, from hawal, squint, and from 'ama, blindness of both eyes. A one-eyed animal is not valid for sacrifice where the eye is gone, though the Hanafis allow it where the eye is only white and still sees. Defect of one eye gives no option to annul the marriage unless one spouse stipulated soundness. A one-eyed slave may be freed in expiation, by the majority. For injury to a sound-eyed person by a one-eyed man, the rulings differ: the Hanafis and Shafi'is require a full blood-money, the Hanbalis require half, and the Malikis give the victim a choice. The Hanafis and Shafi'is allow retaliation on the sound eye of a person who blinds a one-eyed man's only sound eye, while the Malikis give the choice between retaliation and blood-money.Hadhayan (delirium: its effect on acts and testimony)
Hadhayan in the lexical sense is speech without sense, in illness or otherwise; technically it is speaking without reflection. It differs from lagh, speech with no legal weight, and from laghat, noisy talk whose meaning is intended. All scholars agree that the divorce of one who has lost his reason, without intoxication, does not take effect; the Hanafis hold that the words of one whose speech is mostly delirious carry no weight. The Malikis hold that one who divorces in delirium and later says he did not notice is not bound, unless evidence shows his reason was sound; if he says something happened that he did not understand, Ibn Naji holds the divorce binds him, and al-Dardir objects that a sick man may imagine things and speak accordingly. Among the conditions of uprightness, the Hanafis require little idle talk and delirium; a man given to lying or delirium is not accepted as a witness.Hadi (the whitish fluid before childbirth: its ruling on ablution and purity)
Hadi, in the technical sense, is a term of the Malikis: a whitish fluid that comes from a pregnant woman near childbirth; some define it as a fluid coming at the birth or at a miscarriage. It differs from madhi, wadi, semen, menses and postpartum bleeding in its outflow from the womb, and menses requires bathing while hadi does not. The Malikis have two views on whether hadi breaks ablution: the accepted one says it does, the other says it is nothing, since it is not habitual. The Malikis hold hadi impure, and the Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis agree on the impurity of what comes from a pregnant woman before the birth.Hair, wool and fur (their purity, the rules for the dead, washing, adornment and sale)
Hair, wool and fur are parts that grow on people and animals, and the rules of purity and impurity apply to them. A person's hair is pure, living or dead, and may not be sold or used, because the human being is honoured. The hair of a permitted animal, shorn while it lives, is pure by consensus. Among the rules for the living: the hair must be washed in the major ritual bath, and most jurists require a woman to unbraid her plaits only if the water cannot reach the roots otherwise; joining hair with impure or human hair is forbidden. Tying the hair up in prayer is disliked, and combing it is recommended.Pregnant woman (hamil) in fiqh
A pregnant woman (hamil) in fiqh is a woman carrying a child. The entry covers her blood, fasting, marriage, divorce, waiting period, maintenance, the carrying-out of penalties, injury to her or her foetus, the burial of a pregnant woman, and rules for pregnant animals in slaughter, zakat and sale.Hashima (a head wound that breaks the bone: its compensation)
Hashima in the lexical sense is a wound that breaks the bone of the head; for the majority it is a wound that breaks the bone, the Shafi'is adding that it does so even without separating the flesh or exposing the bone, and the Hanbalis and some Shafi'is defining it as a wound that exposes and breaks the bone. No retaliation is due for it, by agreement, and compensation is due. The Shafi'is and Hanbalis fix it at ten camels, on the ruling of Zayd ibn Thabit; the Hanafis at a tenth of the full diya; the Malikis differ according to their definitions. When a hashima accompanies a muwadiha, the compensations combine, and the victim may take retaliation for the muwadiha, with the schools differing on the extra arsh. The Malikis give discretionary compensation for a broken bone in the body where retaliation is excluded, and most jurists do not call a break in the body other than the head or face a hashima.Cupping (hijama)
Hijama is the drawing of blood by suction after the skin has been cut with a cupping instrument. It differs from fasd, which is opening a vein. Jurists regard cupping as recommended for treatment, on the basis of hadiths in the two Sahih collections. On whether it breaks wudu', the Hanafis treat it as breaking; the Hanbalis require wudu' for heavy bleeding; the Malikis and Shafi'is do not require it. On fasting, the Hanafis dislike it for a fasting person who is weakened; the Malikis judge by the person's strength and likelihood of harm; the Shafi'is hold that it does not break the fast; the Hanbalis hold that it breaks the fast for both the cupper and the cupped. On the pilgrim's state of ihram, the Hanafis see no objection; the Malikis forbid it without need if it entails removing hair; the Shafi'is allow it when it does not cut hair; the Hanbalis allow it, and removing hair brings a redemption payment. Most jurists allow cupping as a paid trade, while a view attributed to Ahmad disapproves of the fee; the cupper is not liable if he performs the task skilfully and within what is customary.Hudb (eyelashes: injury and washing in ablution)
Hudb is the hair growing on the eyelids; the hair above the eyes is called hajib. For injuring a single eyelash so that it is pulled out and does not regrow, the Hanafis and Hanbalis hold a full diya is due, while the Malikis and Shafi'is hold neither retaliation nor diya applies, only an assessed compensation (hukuma). On washing the eyelashes in ablution: if the hair is dense and does not show the skin, washing its outer surface suffices according to the Malikis and Hanbalis, with combing it recommended for the Hanbalis; the Hanafis require passing water over the hair without washing beneath it, while the Shafi'is require washing both outer and inner surfaces.Severance of a part from a living body (ibana)
For the jurists, ibana means separation or severance, and it includes the separation of a part from a living creature. The Kuwaiti encyclopedia states the general rule: what is severed from a living creature, other than the wool and hair of an edible animal, is like its carrion, on the basis of a report transmitted in several forms. The encyclopedia notes that critics judged its chain weak in most routes, while al-Tirmidhi graded it hasan; and that a part cut after slaughter and before death is lawful to eat, though disliked in general.Dyeing the hair (ikhtidab)
Ikhtidab (dyeing the hair): the use of dye to change the colour of hair with henna, katam, waras, saffron or black; the majority hold that changing the grey is recommended; black is disliked outside war by the Hanbalis, Malikis and Hanafis and forbidden by the Shafi'is except to holy warriors; a woman is recommended to dye her hands and feet with henna outside ihram with her husband's or master's leave.. The unmarried woman is disliked dyeing hands and feet by three schools, a widow may dye according to the Hanbalis, tattooing is absolutely forbidden, dyeing a black beard white is disliked, dyeing for a menstruating woman and for treatment is lawful, a widow in mourning may not dye, the head of a newborn is not to be smeared with blood, a man dyes his head and beard and may not dye hands and feet, and one in ihram may not use henna according to the Hanafis and Malikis..Infisal (separation of parts of the body, of the foetus and of the spouses, and its rulings)
Infisal is lexically cutting off, the reflexive of fasl, and the opposite of joining, whether visibly or not. Some parts change their ruling on separation: what is forbidden to look at before it separates remains forbidden after, and some jurists wash, pray over and bury what separates from a dead body. A miscarriage born alive and then dying takes the ruling of an adult; one born dead is not prayed over but buried. One who is born dead does not inherit, by agreement. Spouses are separated by dissolution, by divorce, or by death.Impotence (inna) as a ground for the wife's option to end the marriage
In the jurists' usage, 'inna is the inability to have intercourse through the front passage while the organ is sound; the man is called 'anin for the softness and bending of his organ. Impotence is a defect that gives the wife the right to ask for separation, according to the majority; the judge gives the husband a lunar year from the day of the claim, after the practice of 'Umar. The time is not counted while a lawful barrier stops intercourse, such as menstruation, fasting, sickness, pilgrimage or travel, on the detail set by each school. Impotence is established by the husband's admission, by his oath, or by evidence before the judge; the judge or his deputy takes the decision. If the year ends without consummation, the wife chooses; the Hanafis hold the separation is an irrevocable divorce, the Shafi'is and Hanbalis hold it an annulment, and the Malikis draw distinctions. The wife is due the full dower according to the Malikis and, in general, the Hanafis; she observes a waiting period, which the Hanafis, Hanbalis and Malikis hold as a precaution.Visiting the sick (iyada)
In the lexicon, iyada means visiting in general, but the word became fixed for visiting the sick. The jurists differ on its ruling. The majority hold it a sunna or recommended act, which may rise to an obligation for some persons. Ibn Alan of the Shafiis calls it a communal sunna, and others a communal obligation; al-Nawawi reports a consensus that it is not an individual obligation. For the Malikis it is recommended if others perform it, and otherwise a communal obligation; it is an individual obligation on the one whose maintenance the sick person is owed. Visiting a man of religious innovation is disliked, and forbidden to a scholar when it leads to harm such as encouraging the public to follow him. Visiting a sinner is allowed in the sounder view; visiting a non-Muslim is allowed if his conversion is hoped for, and visiting a protected non-Muslim is allowed; on visiting a Magian there are two opinions. Many reports praise it: on the Day of Judgment God reproaches the servant who did not visit a sick person, and one who visits a Muslim brother stays in the fruit-gathering of Paradise until he returns. Etiquette: do not stay long unless the patient is not burdened and at ease; come near, lay a hand on the body, ask about his condition, speak words that gladden him, counsel patience, and ask for his prayer. The visitor may bring something refreshing such as basil or fruit, give charity if the patient is needy, encourage repentance and a will if this does not distress him, and if the patient fears death, remove the fear by recalling his good deeds. Visiting is recommended at any suitable time, for any illness, without a set interval from its onset, and right after the news of the illness. It is for all Muslims; kin and acquaintances have the stronger claim, and a neighbour is one near enough that custom expects affection and enquiry. An enemy who knows or suspects the patient dislikes his entry, and whose sight would harm him beyond what is usual, should not visit or it is disliked. If the patient craves food the visitor should give it, unless it harms him; he may not compel him to eat.Janin (the unborn child)
Janin in the language is the child in the womb. In fiqh it names what forms in the womb. The Kuwaiti encyclopedia sets out its effect on the waiting period (iddah) of a pregnant woman, on inheritance and on gifts and bequests made for it, the rule for an assault on the unborn that causes miscarriage (a ghurra, which the source gives as one-twentieth of the blood-money, according to the majority), and how a stillborn child is washed, shrouded, prayed over and buried, with the rules depending on whether it was born alive, moved, or was a miscarriage of less than four months.Junun (insanity in law)
In law, insanity is a disorder of the mind that prevents acts and words from having their proper legal effect. The Kuwaiti encyclopedia sets out its effect on bodily acts of worship (prayer and fasting, including what a madness that begins or ends in the middle of a prayer or of Ramadan does), on zakat, on the validity of gifts, bequests and agency, on guardianship over marriage and waqf, on the jizya, on retaliation and the hadd punishments. It distinguishes madness from mental weakness (ta'ah), from foolishness (sufah) and from epilepsy. It records that the intentional act of a child or a madman counts as accidental for blood-money purposes.Palm of the hand (kaff)
Kaff is the palm of the hand with its fingers. Rules on it include washing the hands at the start of ablution, on rising from sleep and before and after eating; wiping the palms in tayammum; and washing the hands up to the elbows as a pillar of ablution. In retaliation the hand is cut at the wrist joint; the blood-money for a hand is half the blood-money of the whole limb, on the reports of Mu'adh and Amr ibn Hazm; a thief's hand is cut at the wrist, as is a highwayman's.Breaking (kasr)
Kasr in the lexicon is shattering a thing and separating its parts; in the law it is breaking a bone of a person whose blood is protected, which is forbidden. Retaliation is owed for breaking a tooth when the conditions of retaliation hold and no further damage is feared. For other bones the schools differ: the Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis allow no retaliation, while the Malikis allow it where it is not dangerous. There is no fixed compensation for breaking a bone beyond an assessed sum, though these schools set fixed sums for some bones. The schools disagree whether the owner must pay for musical instruments and wine vessels broken by a man who forbids them. In inheritance, a fraction of the shares is adjusted so each heir receives a whole number of shares.Shoulder blade (kataf)
In the lexicon kataf is the broad bone behind the shoulder, and in the law of injuries it names the rules on cutting the arm and breaking the bone. Most jurists allow retaliation for cutting the hand at the shoulder joint, provided a deep wound into the body is not feared; if it is feared, retaliation is at the elbow. Breaking the shoulder blade carries no fixed retaliation or fixed compensation, only an assessed sum. Related rules include the sadl and the idtiba' in circumambulation.Shafa (the lip: washing it in purification, the blood money for the lips, and the drinking of water)
The shafa is the lining of the mouth. Several rulings attach to it. Washing the outer part of the lips is required in purification, while what is hidden when they close is part of the mouth and is recommended, though the Hanbalis and, for the full bath, the Hanafis require it. Deliberate injury to the lips carries retaliation; by mistake it carries full blood money for both lips, half for each, and in one Hanbali report a third for the upper lip and two thirds for the lower. In the sense of drinking, rules for water as shared use depend on its kind.The dead person (mayyit) and the rules of the funeral
The dead (mayyit) is one who has left life; the word is pronounced with or without doubling its y. Its rules agreed by the jurists include closing the eyes, tying the jaw, softening the joints, turning the body towards the qibla in different ways, covering the body while washing, and the duty of washing, shrouding, carrying and burying it as a collective obligation. Differences exist on kissing the face, prompting the testimony of faith, washing by a person in major or menstrual impurity, reading the Qur'an near the body, exhuming or moving the grave, the punishment for slandering the dead, the purity of the body and its parts, the prayer over part of a body, and the competing claims of the dead and the living to water.Shaarib (the moustache) and the rules on it
The shaarib is, in language, the active participle of drink, and the term also names the hair that flows over the mouth; its plural is shawarib. The moustache is washed with the face in ablution and every hair and skin of it is covered with water in the bath of major impurity. Trimming it is part of the fitra by sound report, and a sunna for the jurists; the schools differ between cutting, shaving and close trimming. Removing it is forbidden to a pilgrim in the state of consecration; for the dead the jurists differ, and injury to it carries a just assessment.Exhuming graves (nabsh)
To dig up is to bring out what is buried and expose what is hidden. Exhuming a grave before decay without need is forbidden by agreement, since it violates the dead person's sanctity. Exhumation is allowed for a necessity or a lawful purpose. If property of value falls into a grave, the Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis allow digging it up, though they differ on whether it is compulsory and on whether the body must be undecayed. If the dead swallowed another's property, the views range from paying from the estate to cutting open the body. The grave may be opened for a usurped shroud, with conditions. A grave dug in usurped land may be opened on the owner's claim. Exhumation for moving the dead is forbidden by most jurists, while the Hanbalis allow it in some cases. Digging a grave for another burial is forbidden to the Malikis and Hanbalis until the first has decayed. The Hanafis and Hanbalis allow digging up the graves of unbelievers for property in them.Nai (announcing a death)
Nai, in the lexicon, is news of a death; the announcer (nai) brings or spreads it. The Arabs used to send a rider to tell the tribes of the death of a noble man. Lamentation and wailing are related but not necessarily part of the announcement. Wailing is raising the voice in weeping with a keen. Informing neighbours, friends and the righteous is recommended; announcing quietly is permitted; calling it out is disliked by the Hanbalis and Malikis; wailing, boasting and the pre-Islamic form are forbidden.The mourning woman (na'iha)
In the lexicon, a na'iha is a woman who weeps over the dead and recounts their virtues. The jurists hold that she is disciplined and held until she repents. A report related by al-Awza'i says that Umar struck a mourning woman, saying she troubles the dead in their graves and the living in their houses, forbids patience which God commands, and urges despair which God forbids. Al-Shayzari says the market inspector disciplines a wailing woman and bars her from funerals and graves.Narcotics and drugging
Takhdir is a numbness that comes over some limbs or the whole body; a narcotic makes a person lose consciousness in varying degrees, as with henbane, hashish and opium. Most jurists forbid taking narcotics that cloud the mind, distinguish use for treatment from use without excuse, and discuss purity, sale, the validity of acts and penalty.Nawm (sleep: its rulings, its effect on ablution, worship and legal acts)
Nawm in the lexical sense is calm and stillness; technically it is the relaxing of the brain's nerves through vapours rising from the stomach. It differs from nu'as, the first stage of sleep, from sina, a drowsiness that does not take away reason, and from fainting. Sleep is permitted in itself; it may be obligatory when a duty depends on it, recommended when one dozes in prayer or recitation, forbidden when one sleeps past the prayer time, and disliked in certain cases such as sleeping after the afternoon prayer or among the awake. Before sleep one is recommended to put out lamps, close the water-skin and the door, and on waking to recite the prescribed formulas and wash the hands three times. Sleep breaks the ablution in general, the majority relying on the saying 'the eyes are the binding of the buttocks'. The speech of a sleeper is void in legal acts: his consecration, vow, oath, divorce and admission do not take effect, with the exception of standing at Arafat. In injury, the sleeper's act is treated as an error, with the diya on his kin and expiation on him, and in destruction of property he is liable like the waking.Nifas (postnatal bleeding)
Nifas, in the lexicon, is a woman's childbirth. As a term, the Hanafis and Shafi'is define it as the blood that comes after birth; the Malikis as the blood that comes because of the birth; the Hanbalis as blood the womb sheds with the birth and two or three days before it, with a sign such as pain, and afterwards up to forty days. It is sound blood, like menstruation, and differs from istihada, which is blood of disease. Blood after the child is separated is nifas by agreement, and blood before birth is disputed. Most jurists set its longest period at forty days; the Shafi'is and the prevailing Malikis at sixty; most hold that it has no minimum. A woman in nifas is forbidden what a menstruating woman is forbidden: prayer and fasting, with the fasts made up but not the prayers.Niyaha (wailing over the dead: its ruling, the dead's punishment, and hire)
Niyaha in the lexical sense is wailing aloud, as in keening; the jurists' definitions differ: for the Hanafis it is weeping with praise of the dead, its good qualities enumerated; for the Shafi'is and most Malikis it is raising the voice in lament, even without weeping; for the Hanbalis it is raising the voice in lament with a chanted or rhymed cry. It differs from weeping, elegy, condolence and the announcement of death. The majority hold wailing forbidden; the Hanafis hold it disliked in the sense of forbidden. The prophetic prohibitions are many, including the report of Umm Atiyya at the pledge and that of Aisha on throwing dust into the mouths of mourners. Some Malikis allow loud weeping over a dying man when no ugly words are added. Most jurists hold that the dead is punished for wailing over him only if he bequeathed it; some reports from Umar and Ibn Umar take it otherwise, and the jurists interpret the hadith. A bequest to wail is void and forbidden. The imam must discipline a wailing woman according to the majority; others counsel and give respite without beating. Hire for wailing is void, and its earnings are unlawful according to the majority; the Hanafis allow a fee where custom makes it expected.The spinal marrow (nukha')
Nukha', in the lexicon, is the white vein inside the neck running along the spine to the coccyx; mukh is the brain or marrow, and nukha' is narrower; faqra is the vertebra that holds it. A prohibition on nakh' (cutting the spinal cord) in slaughter is related on the authority of Ibn Abbas, which al-Bayhaqi judged weak, and the jurists differ on its ruling; the detail is under slaughter. The jurists also treat head wounds that reach the spinal cord, such as the hashima and the munaqqila, and give their rulings under diyya (blood money).Shalal (paralysis: its rulings for touch, prayer, injury, retaliation and marriage)
Shalal is the corruption of a limb and the loss of its movement; the loss of feeling entirely is not required. Several rulings attach to it. The Malikis and Hanbalis limit breach of ablution by touch to touch with desire. A paralysed person prays with whatever pillars he can perform: if he cannot stand he prays seated, and if he cannot bow or prostrate he signals with his head. A sound hand is not cut for a paralysed hand; the paralysed hand carries a fair assessment of damages, and paralysis of the male organ gives the wife the right to annul the marriage.What accompanies a person to the grave
What accompanies a person to the grave, in Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy's account: goods stay behind, family walks him to the grave, and only his deeds go in with him. He gives his account of burial and the grave, presenting the narrations as his own; some are not sourced in the recording.Ratq (the closure of the female passage): its effect on the marriage, on the option to annul, on cure, maintenance and division
Ratq is the opposite of splitting; in the jurists' usage it is the closure of the place of intercourse by flesh or other matter, and qarn and 'afal are near terms. The Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis give the husband an option to annul the marriage if he did not know of the closure at the contract; the Hanafis give none. The Malikis delay the case for treatment if the wife asks for it; the Shafi'is do not allow forcing the opening. Maintenance is due to her and the husband must divide his nights fairly.Ritha' (praising the dead in verse or speech): its meaning and its ruling
Ritha' in the lexicon is compassion for the dead, weeping, praise and recounting his virtues, and in the jurists' sense it is praising the dead and recounting his good qualities. It is distinguished from ta'bin, weeping and praising the dead, and from nadb, recounting his virtues. The Hanafis allow an elegy in verse or prose, but dislike excessive praise, especially at the funeral; al-Nawawi disliked recounting the dead's ancestors, and preferred asking forgiveness for him. The Hanbalis count as forbidden wailing whatever stirs grief through preaching or recited verse.Ruqya (healing by recitation and charms): when it is lawful, its conditions, and the taking of a fee for it
Ruqya in the lexicon is the charm recited over a sufferer from fever or fits, and its plural is ruqa. The majority allow healing by recitation under three conditions: that it use the words of God or His names and attributes; that it be in Arabic or in words whose meaning is known; and that the one who recites believe that it works only by God's leave, following the saying that there is no harm in charms when they contain no shirk. Some scholars disliked it as harming trust in God, and some allowed it only for the evil eye and a sting. The majority allow a fee for ruqya.Shiba' (satiety) and moderation in eating
Satiety is known in language and in the technical sense. Moderation is a manner of eating, and the most that suits a person is to divide his belly into thirds, one for food, one for drink and one for breath. Some jurists grade eating as obligatory, recommended, permitted, disliked or forbidden; excess above satiety is disliked by one view and permitted by the Hanbalis when it does not harm. For one compelled to eat carrion, all agree that he may take enough to keep him alive, and the jurists differ on whether he may eat to satiety.Shijaj (wounds to the face and head, and their penalties)
Shijaj is the plural of shajja, a wound to the face or the head only. Most jurists count ten or eleven kinds: the scratch, the weeping, the bleeding, the incision, the flesh-tearing, the simhaq, the mudiha (which exposes the bone), the hashima (which breaks it), the munaqqila (which displaces the pieces), the ama (which reaches the lining of the brain) and the damigha (which pierces it). Below the mudiha there is no fixed arsh, so a just assessment is owed; from the mudiha upward a fixed arsh applies, five camels for the mudiha. Retaliation for a deliberate wound is due for the mudiha by agreement, and not for those above it. Most jurists hold that retaliation or compensation for a wound is ordered only after it heals. The rules differ by school when a wound heals without a mark.Shurb (drinking: manners, the one who drinks in prayer and fasting, and vessels of gold and silver)
In language shurb is taking in any liquid, water or other. The basic rule is that all drinks are lawful unless a proof forbids them. Its manners include naming God at the start and praising Him at the end, drinking with the right hand, taking the drink in three breaths outside the vessel, drinking seated, sipping rather than gulping, and disliking drinking from the mouth of a waterskin or from a notch in a vessel. Most jurists forbid eating and drinking from vessels of gold or silver. The fasting person is forbidden to eat and drink; drinking deliberately in an obligatory prayer requires repetition, and the schools differ on drinking in prayer by mistake.Simhaq (a head wound reaching the membrane over the skull)
The simhaq is a thin membrane above the skull bone that separates flesh from bone. In the usage of most jurists it is a head wound that reaches that membrane, cutting the flesh without reaching the bone; the Malikis call it mulatta. Among the wounds of the head it has no fixed blood-money or fixed arsh for the majority, so a just assessment (hukuma) is owed for it, whether intentional or by error. The Malikis, and a view among the Shafi'is and a report from a Hanafi jurist named Muhammad, hold that retaliation (qisas) is due for it when intentional, since it can be measured.Sinn (the tooth) and retaliation and compensation for it
In the lexicon sinn is a single tooth, a piece of bone set in the jaw, and the sinn of a thing is any toothed, pointed part of it. The jurists agree that retaliation is due for a deliberately extracted tooth where equal matching is possible, and that the diya of each tooth is five camels. They differ on breaking a tooth, on extracting the tooth of one who has not yet shed his milk teeth, on the timing of retaliation, and on a tooth that grows back after extraction. Most jurists allow a man to fit a gold or silver tooth, and filing the teeth apart for beauty is forbidden.Shamm (smelling: its rulings in fasting and pilgrimage, hiring for scent, injury to the sense of smell, and proof of drinking wine)
Shamm is the perception of scents by the nose. It may be obligatory, as when witnesses smell the mouth of a drunkard to find the smell of wine; forbidden or disliked, as the use of perfume by a pilgrim according to some; or permitted, as the smelling of lawful flowers and perfumes, except that smelling a perfume worn by a foreign woman is forbidden. The Hanafis and Malikis hold that a fasting person who lets incense reach his throat breaks his fast, while smelling air carrying the scent of roses does not. The schools differ on hiring something for its smell and on injury to the sense of smell, where retaliation is due if possible and otherwise full blood money in the majority view.Ta'ziya (condolence visit)
Ta'ziya is, in language, the consoling of a mourner, and in law the urging of patience with the promise of reward, the warning against wrongdoing, a prayer for the dead person's forgiveness and for the mourner's relief. The jurists agree it is recommended for anyone stricken by a loss. Mourners of every age and sex are consoled, except an infant who does not understand; a young woman is consoled only by women or her unmarriageable kin, for fear of temptation. Most jurists fix its period at three days and prefer it after the burial; the Shafiis and Hanbalis dislike mourners gathering to receive visitors, and sitting for it in a mosque is disliked by all. Neighbours are recommended to send food to the bereaved family, while the family preparing food for visitors is disliked. Formulas are not fixed; the book cites a short prayer for mercy and reward reported from Ahmad. Condoling a Muslim with a non-Muslim is allowed by al-Shafii and one view of Abu Hanifa, and forbidden by Malik.Tadarruk (making up or repairing a missed part of worship)
Tadarruk is performing an act of worship, or part of it, that the person left out at its proper time, as long as the time has not passed. Making up a fixed pillar is obligatory; the rules for obligatory and recommended parts differ by school. In wudu, the Hanafis and Malikis make up only the missed part, while the Shafi'is require order. In the pilgrimage the making up of circuits, running, standing and stoning follow their own rules; in madness and fainting, the duty of prayer, fasting and pilgrimage is decided by the state of the person.Seeking treatment (tadawi)
Treatment is lawful in general. Most jurists hold it permitted; the Shafi'is, al-Qadi, Ibn Aqil and Ibn al-Jawzi among the Hanbalis hold it recommended; most Hanbalis hold that leaving it is better. Treatment with what is unlawful or impure is forbidden except in necessity, under conditions the schools dispute; recitation with God's words and names is allowed under conditions. For a muhrim, scent used in treatment requires ransom; for the sick, silk and gold for the nose and teeth are allowed.Takhlil (passing water between fingers, hair and teeth; vinegar from wine)
Takhlil is passing water through the fingers, combing or separating the hair, or cleaning between the teeth; in purification its rulings range from obligation to sunna and recommendation. Wine that turns to vinegar by itself becomes pure and lawful; adding something to wine to make vinegar is disputed, the Shafi'is and Hanbalis forbidding it and the Hanafis and (preferably) Malikis allowing it.Tarabbu (sitting cross-legged in prayer)
Tarabbu is a way of sitting: one sits on the hips, stretches the right knee to the right and the right foot to the left. In prayer it is allowed for one who cannot stand; in an obligatory prayer without excuse the Hanafis call it disliked, and most jurists hold it departs from the required posture. In a voluntary prayer, sitting is allowed while one can stand, though standing is better. Reciting the Qur'an is allowed in any position.Tasnim (raising the grave into a ridge, against leveling it)
In the jurists' usage tasnim is raising a grave above the ground by about a span or a little more; its opposite is tasttih (tasteeh), making the grave flat and level. All agree that raising the earth over a grave by about a span is recommended, and some Hanafis allow a little more, so that the grave is known, avoided and prayed for. The Hanafis, Malikis and Hanbalis recommend the ridge and dislike leveling, since leveling resembles the buildings of the world. The Shafi'is recommend leveling and hold it better. If a Muslim dies in a land outside the abode of Islam and cannot be moved to it, the better course is to level the grave and conceal it, for fear it will be dug up.Tatbib (medical treatment: the physician, his look, hire and liability)
Tatbib is medical treatment. Learning medicine is a communal duty, practising it is lawful, and it may be recommended by intention to follow the Prophet or to benefit Muslims, or obligatory where one physician is specifically needed. A physician may look at the place of illness as far as needed. The Shafiis and Hanbalis require a chaperone when the physician is a stranger to the woman patient. Hiring a physician is lawful for a term, not for the cure; the Hanbalis forbid making the medicine a condition, and Ibn Qudama allows a cure fee as a reward rather than a hire. The physician owes compensation for harm caused by ignorance, negligence, or treatment without consent; he owes none if he is skilled, authorised, and does not exceed the usual.Ta'widh (amulets and incantations)
Ta'widh is in language from 'udha, to seek refuge, a charm or what one seeks protection by; in law it covers incantations (ruqa) and amulets (tamima) and the like, lawful and unlawful, and ruqya is narrower. A tamima is a thread or beads hung on children against the evil eye; a wadi'a is a white object from the sea hung for the same purpose; a tawla is an object meant to make a wife or husband fond; a nushra is an incantation or writing washed and given to drink; a ratima is a thread tied to remember a need. The ruling depends on the material: charms in an unknown tongue are forbidden by most jurists, and the warning in the reports is read as applying to belief that the bead averts harm. Charms of God's words or names in Arabic that can be understood are allowed by most, on condition that the power is God's. Charms with names other than God's are disliked. Al-Sha'bi, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, Qatada and others disliked incantation as a matter of trust in God. On breathing over the sick during incantation, al-Nawawi reports agreement that it is allowed and most recommend it; others such as Ibrahim and Ikrima dissent. The nushra is allowed by most Hanafis, Shafiis and Hanbalis; Ibn Abd al-Salam among the Malikis, al-Hasan and al-Nakha'i forbid it, and Mujahid disliked writing verses and washing them. The ratima for memory is not disliked by Ibn Abidin, and disliked by others as idle; the ratima hung on the neck in the time of ignorance is forbidden. Healing by the Qur'an is disputed: some say it is healing of hearts only, while most jurists permit reciting it over the sick, choosing a suitable passage; a report of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri on the Opening chapter and a fee is cited, and Ibn Hajar discusses the report that only the protective surahs may be used. Healing by approved prayers and remembrance is allowed by agreement, as in the report of Uthman ibn Abi al-As with the hand on the place of pain. The tawla is forbidden by the Hanafis as a form of sorcery; Ibn Rislan of the Shafiis thought an object with permitted speech or food, believed to have a property by God's decree, is allowed. Most scholars hold the evil eye real and able to harm property, people and animals; some naturalists and innovators denied it. Protection from the evil eye includes reciting prayers, the one who admires blessing what he admires, seeking a cure by incantation, and ordering the one who causes the evil eye to wash, the victim then bathing in the water; Ibn Battal said a known eye-striker should be restrained, which Nawawi calls the sound view. The people of ignorance hung amulets for protection, which Islam abolished in the reports on the tamima and the wadi'a. Hanging beads, threads or bones on a person is forbidden. Hanging writing of unknown charms is forbidden. Hanging Qur'an or approved prayers is disputed: allowed by Abd Allah ibn Amr ibn al-As and one view of Ahmad; forbidden by Ibn Mas'ud, Ibn Abbas, Hudhayfa, Uqba ibn Amir, Ibn Hakim, many Successors and one view of Ahmad, to block the means. Those who allow it require it to be in a tube or on a strip, not worn during intercourse or relief, and only after the harm has come. Hanging an amulet on a clean animal is disliked; on an unclean one it is forbidden. Those who allow amulets see no harm in a junub or menstruating woman wearing one that is wrapped or sewn in leather. Whether a non-Muslim may recite over a Muslim is disputed: the Hanafis, al-Shafi'i and one view of Malik allow it with the Qur'an and the name of God, while Malik in another view disliked it. A Muslim reciting over a non-Muslim is allowed by agreement. Taking a fee for amulets and incantations is allowed by most jurists; al-Zuhri disliked it for the Qur'an in all cases.Tiryaq (antidote compound, and whether it may be taken)
Tiryaq is a medicine used against poison, of several kinds, and it may contain viper flesh. The Hanbalis do not allow eating or drinking it when the flesh of a viper is in it, since the flesh is forbidden and no forbidden thing may be used for cure. The Hanafis and Shafi'is forbid it in the apparent view, though some allow it when a cure is known and no other remedy exists. The Malikis allow eating a viper that is slaughtered properly.Turab (earth and dust)
Turab is the surface of the earth, a generic noun; the jurists imply that sand and rock dust are not turab, though some schools give them its ruling. Tayammum is valid with any clean earth that has dust clinging to the hand. The Shafi'is and Hanbalis require earth with water to clean the vessel licked by a dog, while the Hanafis and Malikis do not. Eating earth deliberately breaks a fast, and the jurists differ on selling it.The limb (udw) and its rulings in purity, injury and burial
In the lexicon, udw is any bone surrounded by flesh, of a person or an animal; its root sense is cutting and separating, and it refers to a distinct part of the body. In purity, the duty of washing attaches to what remains of an amputated limb: if the cut is above the elbow or ankle, washing of what is cut off falls away; the Malikis do not wash the stump of an elbow. The jurists agree that an extra limb growing in the place of washing must be washed; they differ when it grows elsewhere. A limb separated from a living person is buried without washing or prayer; for a dead person's separated part, the Hanafis and Malikis wash and pray over it only where it is more than half the body, while the Shafi'is and the main Hanbali view pray over any part of a dead Muslim whose death is known. A limb cut from a living animal is carrion, except fish and locusts; a human limb is subject to retaliation when deliberately injured where it can be matched, and otherwise to blood-money or an assessed award.Umm al-dimagh (the membrane over the brain, and wounds reaching it)
Umm al-dimagh is the membrane under the bone above the brain. A wound that reaches it without piercing it is called amma and ma'muma, and carries a third of the diya, with no retaliation according to the jurists. A wound that pierces it is called damigha, and the jurists give several views on it; the membrane also bears on the fast, if something reaches it.Sterility (uqm) and its effect on marriage
In the lexicon, uqm is a dryness that prevents conception; a woman who cannot conceive is barren, and the word is used of a man who cannot father children. The jurists recommend that a man marrying choose a fertile virgin, since the law encourages offspring and forbids what blocks them; a report discourages marrying a barren woman. The majority hold that sterility is not a defect that dissolves a marriage; al-Hasan alone gives the option of withdrawal at the start of the marriage, and the majority do not require a spouse who knows of his or her sterility to disclose it before the contract. Full blood-money is due for injuring the power to conceive or to impregnate, and cutting off offspring by medicine is forbidden.Wadi (the thick white fluid after urine: its purity, ablution and bath)
Wadi in the lexical sense is the thick white fluid that comes after urine or on lifting a heavy weight; it also means the young palm shoots. It differs from semen, which comes with desire, and from madhi, which is thin and comes with desire; wadi comes after urine. Most jurists hold wadi impure, and the Hanbalis hold that what is not eaten is impure, while the flesh of the animal eaten is pure. It must be removed when needed, by water or stones, and its exit requires only ablution, not bathing, on the report of Ibn Abbas; its exit breaks the ablution by agreement. One who wakes with a wet mark and is unsure whether it is semen or wadi or something else is not bound to bathe, according to most jurists; the Shafi'is let him choose the rule that fits the probable one.Wearing a ring
Wearing a ring means putting a ring on a finger. Jurists examine it by the metal of the ring, where it is worn, its weight, number, inscription and stone. Gold is lawful for women and forbidden to men; silver is lawful for women and, with differences between the schools, for men.
Practice
Male circumcision
Male circumcision; counted among the fitra by jurists and a firmly rooted practice in law and custom, with ages and celebrations varying by country.The miswak (tooth-stick)
Cleaning the mouth with an arak twig; a sunna of the Prophet that remains an everyday dental tool in many homes today.The funeral prayer
Prayer over the dead standing, without bowing or prostration — four takbirs with the Fatiha, blessing the Prophet and supplication for the deceased; a communal obligation.Visiting graves
Visiting graveyards for prayer and remembrance; permitted by the Prophet after an earlier prohibition, with practices that differ by country — some forms scholars reject.
Screening Room
The Big Sick
2017 CE · 1438 AH†Kumail Nanjiani's Oscar-nominated romantic comedy about his real-life courtship with Emily Gordon amid a Pakistani-American family's arranged-marriage expectations.Asmaa
2011 CE · 1432 AH†Asmaa.Cairo Station
1958 CE · 1377 AH†Cairo Station.Hafalan Shalat Delisa
2011 CE · 1432 AH†Hafalan Shalat Delisa.A Regular Woman
2019 CE · 1440 AH†A Regular Woman.Mimosas
2016 CE · 1437 AH†Mimosas.Taste of Cherry
1997 CE · 1418 AH†Abbas Kiarostami's Palme d'Or winner about a Tehran man seeking someone to bury him if he dies by suicide — its dialogues turn on Islamic arguments over life and death.The Gravedigger's Wife
2021 CE · 1442 AH†The Gravedigger's Wife.
What is missing? Tell us · A theme is open when it has a reviewed guide, 10 questions, 25 entries across 5 classes, and voices from several traditions and regions.