ẔABḤ (ذبح). Heb. זֶבַח zebak͟h. Arabic lexicographers define the word to mean the act of cutting the throat. In the language of the law, it denotes the act of slaying an animal agreeably to the prescribed forms, without which its flesh is not lawful for the food of man. See Qurʾān, Sūrah ii. 167, 168:—
“Eat of the good things wherewith we have provided you, and give thanks unto God, if ye are His worshippers. He has only forbidden for you that which is dead, and blood, and flesh of swine, and whatsoever has been consecrated to other than God; but he who is forced, neither revolting nor transgressing, it is no sin for him: for verily God is forgiving and merciful.”
The injunctions in the Traditions are more explicit (Mishkāt, book xviii. ch. i.), for example: Abū T̤ufail relates that ʿAlī was once asked, “Has the Prophet ever told you anything with regard to religion which he has not told others?” And ʿAlī replied, “Nothing, unless it be that which I have in the scabbard of my sword.” Then ʿAlī brought out of his scabbard a piece of paper, and thereon was written: “May God curse those who slay without repeating the name of God, in the same manner as the polytheists did in the names of their idols; may God curse those who remove their neighbours’ landmarks; may God curse those who curse their fathers; may God curse those who harbour innovators in matters of religion.”
According to Sunnī law, ẕabḥ is of two kinds: (1) Ik͟htiyārī, of choice; and (2) Iẓt̤irārī, of necessity.
The first is effected by cutting the throat above the breast and reciting the words Allāhu akbar, “God is most great”; and the second by reciting these words upon shooting an arrow or discharging a gun.
The latter act, however, is merely a substitute for the former, and accordingly is not of any account unless the former be impracticable; for the proper ẕabḥ is held to be by the shedding of blood, and the former method is most effectual for this purpose.
It is absolutely necessary that the person who slays the animal should be a Muslim or a kitābī (i.e. a Jew or a Christian), and that he should do it in the name of God alone; it signifies not whether the person be a man or a woman, or an infant, or an idiot, or an uncircumcised person.
An animal slain by a Magian is unlawful, as also that slain by an idolater or a polytheist. Ẕabḥ performed by an apostate from the Muslim faith (who is worthy of death) is also unlawful; but, according to Abū Ḥanīfah, if a Jew or a Christian become an apostate from his own creed, his ẕabḥ is lawful, for the Muslim law still regards him, with respect to ẕabḥ, in the same light as formerly.
If the slayer wilfully omit the invocation, “In the name of the most great God,” the flesh of the animal is unlawful; but if he omit the invocation through forgetfulness, it is lawful, although there is some difference of opinion on this subject amongst the Sunnī doctors. Ash-Shāfiʿī is of opinion that the animal is lawful in either case, but the Imām Mālik maintains that it is unlawful in both.
Abū Yūsuf and all the Ḥanafī doctors have declared, that an animal slain under a wilful omission of the invocation is utterly unlawful, and that the magistrate must forbid the sale of meat so killed.
It is a condition of ẕabḥ ik͟htiyārī that the invocation be pronounced over the animal at the time of slaying it; but in the case of ẕabḥ iẓt̤irārī (i.e. when a person slays an animal in hunting), the condition is that the invocation be pronounced at the time of letting loose the hound or hawk, or of shooting the arrow or gun, or casting the spear.
It is a condition of ẕabḥ that nothing but the invocation Bismi ʾllāhi Allāhi akbar, “In the name of God, God the most great,” should be said. That is, no prayer or other matter must be mentioned.
The place for slaying is betwixt the throat and the head of the breast-bone (Arabic labbah), and the vessels it is requisite to cut are four, al-hulqūm, “the wind-pipe,” al-marīʾ, “the gullet,” and al-warīdān, or al-wadajān, “the two jugular veins.”
Ash-Shāfiʿī holds that if a man slay an animal with a nail or horn or teeth, the flesh is unlawful, but this is not the opinion of other doctors. (See Durru ʾl-Muk͟htār and Hidāyah, in loco.)
AZ-ZABĀNĪYAH (الزبانية). Lit. “Guards.” The angels in charge of hell, of whom Mālik is said to be the chief. Sūrah xcvi. 17, 18: “So let him call his council: we will call the guards of hell (az-Zabānīyah).”
ẔABĪḤAH (ذبيحة). Lit. “Cut or divided lengthways.” Heb. זֶבַח zebak͟h. An animal slaughtered according to the law; a sacrifice. [LAWFUL FOOD, SACRIFICES.]
ZABŪR (زبور), pl. zubur. Also zubūr, pl. of zibr. From the Heb. זִמְרָה zimrāh, “a psalm or chant” (Psa. lxxxi. 2, xcviii. 5). The title given to the Psalms of David in the Qurʾān, where it occurs only three times.
Sūratu ʾn-Nisāʾ (iv.) 161: “And to David we gave Psalms (zabūran).”
Sūratu ʾl-Miʿrāj (xvii.) 57: “And Psalms (zabūran) we gave to David.”
Sūratu ʾl-Ambiyāʾ (xxi.) 105: “And now, since the exhortation (ẕikr) was given, have we written in the Psalms (fī ʾz-zabūri) that my servants the righteous shall inherit the earth.”
Both Sale and Rodwell take this last to be a quotation from Psa. xxxvii. 29 (it appears to be the only direct quotation from either the Old or New Testament in the whole of the Qurʾān), and they have both translated the Arabic ẕikr “the law,” meaning, of course, the Taurāt. Amongst Muslim commentators, there is considerable difference of opinion as to what is meant in this verse by ẕikr and zabūr.
The commentator al-Baiẓāwī says there are three views. Said ibn Jubair and Mujaiyid explained the word zabūr to mean all inspired books, and that by ẕikr was meant the Preserved Tablet (al-Lauḥu ʾl-Maḥfūz̤). Ibn ʿAbbās and aẓ-Ẓaḥḥāk said by zabūr was meant the Taurāt, and by ẕikr those books which came after. And Shaʿbī said the zabūr was the Book of David, and the ẕikr that of Moses.
Al-Bag͟hawī and al-Jalālān decide in favour of the first interpretation, Ḥusain decides in favour of the third, whilst al-Baiẓāwī leaves it an open question.
Jalālu ʾd-dīn as-Suyūt̤ī gives the word zabūr as one of the fifty-five titles of the Qurʾān.
ZACHARIAS. Arabic Zakarīyāʾ (زكرياء). [ZAKARIYAʾ.]
ZAFĪR (زفير). Lit. “Drawing back the breath because of distress; groaning.” In the Qurʾān, for the groans of hell. Sūrah xi. 108: “In the Fire, there shall they groan.”
ẔAʿFIRĀNĪYAH (ذعفرانية). A sect of Muslims, who say the Qurʾān is a created thing, the orthodox school maintaining that the Word of God is uncreated. (Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, in loco.)
ZAḤF (زحف). Lit. “A swarming multitude.” An army; a military force arrayed for battle.
Qurʾān, Sūrah viii. 15: “O ye who believe! when ye meet the marshalled hosts of the unbelievers, turn not your backs to them.” Hence, battle, combat.
ZĀHID (زاهد). Lit. “Abstinent; continent.” An ascetic person. Zāhid-i-k͟hushk, Persian, “a dissembler, a hypocrite.”
Z̤ĀHIR (ظاهر). “Outward, exterior, manifest.” A word much used in Muslim theology to express that which is manifest, as distinguished from bāt̤in, “interior,” or k͟hafī, “that which is hidden.”
AZ̤-Z̤ĀHIR (الظاهر). “The Evident.” One of the ninety-nine attributes of God.
Qurʾān, Sūrah lviii. 3: “He is the First and the Last, the Evident and the Hidden.”
Z̤ĀHIRU ʾL-MAẔHAB (ظاهر المذهب). An expression used by Ḥanafī Muslims for those theological questions which are decided in the four well-known Sunnī books: al-Mabsūt̤, al-Jāmiʿu ʾl-Kabīr, al-Jāmiʿu ʾṣ-Ṣag͟hīr, as-Sairu ʾl-Kabīr.
Z̤ĀHIRU ʾL-MUMKINĀT (ظاهر الممكنات). An expression used by theologians for the proofs of God’s existence, power, and attributes, as exhibited in nature.
ZAID IBN AL-HĀRIS̤ (زيد بن الــحــارث). Muḥammad’s freedman and adopted son. Muḥammad having seen and admired Zaid’s wife Zainab, her husband divorced her. The relations of the ancient Arabs to their adopted children were very strict, and Muḥammad’s marriage with the divorced wife of his adopted son occasioned much scandal amongst his contemporaries. A revelation was consequently produced which revoked the inconvenient restrictions.
Sūrah xxxiii. 37: “And when Zaid had settled the necessary matter of her divorce, we did wed her to thee, that it might not be a crime in the faithful to marry the wives of their adopted sons, when they have settled the necessary affair concerning them.”
Zaid was slain at the battle of Mūtah, as he carried the standard of Islām, A.H. 8.
ZAIDĪYAH (زيدية). A Shīʿah sect. Those who followed Zaid the son of ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusain instead of the other son Jaʿfar aṣ-Ṣādiq. [SHIʿAH.]
ZAIG͟H (زيغ). Lit. “Turned aside” (from the Truth). It occurs in the Qurʾān, Sūrah iii. 5, 6: “In whose hearts is perversity.… O Lord, pervert not our hearts.”
ZAINAB (زينب). The daughter of K͟huzaimah and the widow of ʿUbaid, Muḥammad’s cousin, who was slain at Badr. She married Muḥammad in the third year of the Hijrah. Zainab was renowned for her kindness to the poor, and was called Ummu ʾl-Masākīn, “the mother of the poor,” from her care of destitute converts. She and K͟hadījah were the only wives of the Prophet who died before him.
ZAINAB (زينب). The daughter of Jaḥsh and the divorced wife of Muḥammad’s adopted son Zaid. Being the wife of an adopted son, she was unlawful to the Prophet, but a pretended revelation (see Qurʾān, Sūrah xxxiii. 37) settled the difficulty, and Muḥammad married her. [MUHAMMAD.]
ZAINAB BINT MUḤAMMAD (زينب بنت محمد). The daughter of Muḥammad by K͟hadījah. She married Abū ʾl-ʿĀṣ. The story of the conversion of Abū ʾl-ʿĀṣ, through the devotion of his wife, is told by Muir (vol. iv. p. 7). She died A.H. 61.
ZĀʾIR (زائر). A pilgrim to Muḥammad’s grave at al-Madīnah, as distinguished from a ḥājī, or pilgrim to Makkah. According to Burton, Zāʾirs are ordered to visit the tomb perfumed and in their best clothes. The person who conducts the zāʾir to the sacred spot, is called a muzawwir, who on the occasion of Captain Burton’s visit recited the following prayer:—
“In the name of Allah and in the Faith of Allah’s Prophet! O Lord, cause me to enter the entering of truth, and cause me to issue forth the issuing of Truth, and permit me to draw near to Thee and make me a King victorious!” (i.e. over the world, the flesh, and the devil). Then follow blessings on the Prophet, and afterwards: “O Allah! open to me the doors of Thy mercy, and grant me entrance into it, and protect me from the stoned devil!” (Burton’s El-Medinah and Meccah, vol. ii. p. 296.)
ZAKARĪYĀʾ (زكرياء). Zacharias. The father of John Baptist; the husband of Hannah’s sister, and the uncle of the Virgin Mary. Mentioned four times in the Qurʾan:—
Sūrah iii. 32: “So with goodly acceptance did her Lord accept her, with goodly growth did He make her grow, and Zakarīyāʾ reared her. So oft as Zakarīyāʾ went in to Mary at the sanctuary, he found her supplied with food. ‘Oh Mary!’ said he, ‘whence hast thou this?’ She said, ‘It is from God; verily God supplieth whom He will without reckoning!’ There did Zakarīyāʾ call upon his Lord; ‘O my Lord!’ said he, ‘vouchsafe me from Thyself good descendants; Thou verily art the hearer of prayer.’ Then did the angels call to him, as he stood praying in the sanctuary: ‘God announced John (Yaḥyā) to thee, who shall be a verifier of the Word from God, and a great one, chaste, and a prophet of the number of the just.’ He said, ‘O my Lord! how shall I have a son now that old age has come upon me and my wife is barren?’ He said: ‘Thus will God do his pleasure.’ He said, ‘Lord! give me a token.’ He said, ‘Thy token is, that not for three days shalt thou speak to man but by signs. But remember thy Lord often, and praise Him at even and at morn.’ ”
Sūrah vi. 85: “And Zakarīyāʾ, John, Jesus, and Elias: all were just persons.”
Sūrah xix. 1–12: “A recital of thy Lord’s mercy to His servant Zakarīyāʾ, when he called upon his Lord with secret calling. He said: ‘O Lord, verily my bones are weak and the hoar hairs glisten on my head, and never, Lord, have I prayed to Thee with ill success. But now I have fear for my kindred after me; and my wife is barren: Give me, then, a successor as Thy special gift and an heir of the family of Jacob: and make him, Lord, well-pleasing to Thee.’ ‘O Zakarīyāʾ, verily We announce to Thee a son,—his name Yaḥyā (John): that name We have given to none before him.’ He said: ‘O my Lord! how when my wife is barren shall I have a son, and when I have now reached old age, failing in my powers?’ He said: ‘So shall it be. Thy Lord hath said, Easy is this to Me, for I created thee aforetime when thou wast nothing.’ He said: ‘Vouchsafe me, O my Lord! a sign.’ He said: ‘Thy sign shall be that for three nights, though sound in health, thou speakest not to man.’ And he came forth from the sanctuary to his people, and made signs to them as though he would say, ‘Praise God at morn and even.’ ”
Sūrah xxi. 89: “And Zakarīyāʾ, when he called upon his Lord saying, ‘O my Lord leave me not childless: but there is no better heir than Thyself.’ So We heard him and gave him Yaḥyā (John), and We made his wife fit for child-bearing.”
ZAKĀT (زكوة). In its primitive sense the word zakāt means purification, whence it is also used to express a portion of property bestowed in alms, as a sanctification of the remainder to the proprietor. It is an institution of Islām and founded upon an express command in the Qurʾān (vide Sūrah ii. 77), being one of the five foundations of practical religion.
It is a religious duty incumbent upon any person who is free, sane, adult, and a Muslim, provided he be possessed in full property of such estate or effects as are termed in the language of the law niṣāb, and that he has been in possession of the same for the space of one complete year. The niṣāb, or fixed amount of property upon which zakāt is due, varies with reference to the different kinds of property in possession, as will be seen in the present article.
The one complete year in which the property is held in possession is termed ḥaulu ʾl-ḥaul. Zakāt is not incumbent upon a man against whom there are debts equal to or exceeding the amount of his whole property, nor is it due upon the necessaries of life, such as dwelling-houses, or articles of clothing, or household furniture, or cattle kept for immediate use, or slaves employed as actual servants, or armour and weapons designed for present use, or upon books of science and theology used by scholars, or upon tools used by craftsmen.
(1) The zakāt of camels. Zakāt is not due upon less than five camels, and upon five camels it is one goat or sheep, provided they subsist upon pasture throughout the year, because zakāt is only due upon such camels as live on pasture, and not upon those which are fed in the home with forage. One goat is due upon any number of camels from five to nine; two goats for any number of camels from ten to fourteen; three goats for any number from twenty to twenty-four. Upon any number of camels from twenty-five to thirty-five the zakāt is a bint mik͟hāẓ, or a yearling female camel; from thirty-six to forty-five, a bint labūn, or a two-year-old female camel; from forty-six to sixty, a ḥiqqah, or a three-year-old female camel; from sixty-one to seventy-five, a jaẕʿah, or four-year-old female camel; from seventy-five to ninety, two camels’ female two-year-old colts; and from ninety-one to one hundred and twenty, two camels’ female three-year-old colts. When the number of camels exceeds one hundred and twenty, the zakāt is calculated by the aforesaid rule.
(2) The zakāt of bulls, cows, and buffaloes. No zakāt is due upon fewer than thirty cattle, and upon thirty cattle which feed on pasture for the greater part of the year, there is due at the end of the year a tabīʿah, or a one-year-old calf; and upon forty is due a musim, or a calf of two years old; and where the number exceeds forty, the zakāt is to be calculated according to this rule. For example, upon sixty, the zakāt is two yearling calves; upon seventy, one tabīʿah and one musim; upon eighty, two musims; upon ninety, three tabīʿah; upon one hundred, two tabīʿahs and one musim; and thus upon every ten head of cattle a musim and a tabīʿah alternately. Thus upon one hundred and ten kine, the zakāt is two musims and one tabīʿah; and upon one hundred and twenty, four tabīʿahs. The usual method, however, of calculating the zakāt upon large herds of cattle is by dividing them into thirties and forties, imposing upon every thirty one tabīʿah, or upon every forty one musim.
(3) Zakāt upon sheep and goats. No zakāt is due upon less than forty, which have fed the greater part of the year upon pasture, upon which is due one goat, until the number reaches one hundred and twenty; for one hundred and twenty-one to two hundred, it is two goats or sheep; and above this, one for every hundred. The same rules apply to both sheep and goats, because in the Traditions the original word g͟hanam applies to both species.
(4) Zakāt upon horses. When horses and mares are kept indiscriminately together, feeding for the greater part of the year on pasture, it is the option of the proprietor to give a zakāt of one dīnār per head for the whole, or to appreciate the whole, and give five per cent. upon the total value. No zakāt whatever is due upon droves of horses consisting entirely of males, or entirely of mares. There is no zakāt due upon horses or mules, unless they are articles of merchandise, nor is it due upon war horses, or upon beasts of burden, or upon cattle kept for drawing ploughs and so forth.
(5) Zakāt upon silver. It is not due upon silver of less value than two hundred dirhams, but if one be possessed of this sum for a whole year, the zakāt due upon it is five dirhams. No zakāt is due upon an excess above the two hundred dirhams till such excess amount to forty, upon which the zakāt is one dirham, and for every succeeding forty, one dirham. Those dirhams in which silver predominates are to be accounted silver, and the laws respecting silver apply to them, although they should contain some alloy; and the same rule holds with regard to all articles falling under the denomination of plate, such as cups and goblets.
(6) Zakāt upon gold. No zakāt is due upon gold under the value of twenty mis̤qāls, and the zakāt due upon twenty mis̤qāls is half a mis̤qāl. When the quantity of gold exceeds twenty mis̤qāls, on every four mis̤qāls above twenty are due two qirāt̤s, and so on in proportion.
Zakāt is due upon gold and silver bullion, and upon all gold and silver ornaments and utensils.
(7) Zakāt upon articles of merchandise. Articles of merchandise should be appraised, and a zakāt of 2½ per cent. paid upon the value, if it exceed two hundred dirhams in value.
(8) Zakāt upon mines, or buried treasures. Mines of gold, silver, iron, lead, or copper, are subject to a zakāt of one-fifth (k͟hums); but if the mine is discovered within the precincts of a person’s own home, nothing is due. And if a person find a deposit of buried treasure, a fifth is due upon it. No zakāt is due upon precious stones.
(9) Zakāt upon the fruits of the earth. Upon everything produced from the ground there is a tenth (ʿāshir or ʿushr), whether the soil be watered by the overflow of rivers or by periodical rains, excepting the articles of wood, bamboo, and grass, which are not subject to the tithe. Land watered by means of buckets, or machinery, or watering camels, is subject to a twentieth. Honey and fruits collected in the wilderness are subject to tithe.
The zakāt is received by a collector duly appointed for the purpose, although it is lawful for the possessor to distribute his alms himself. If a person come to the collector, and make a declaration on oath as to the amount of his property upon which zakāt is due, his statement is to be credited.
There are seven descriptions of persons upon whom zakāt may be bestowed.
(1) Faqīrs, or persons possessed of property, the whole of which, however, does not amount to a niṣāb.
(2) Miskīns, or persons who have no property whatever.
(3) The collector of zakāt.
(4) Slaves.
(5) Debtors.
(6) Fī sabīli ʾllāh, i.e. in the service of God, or religious warfare.
(7) Travellers.
The above laws with reference to zakāt are those according to the Ḥanafīyah sect, but the differences amongst the Imāms of the Sunnīs on this subject are but small. They may be seen upon reference to Hamilton’s translation of the Hidāyah, vol. i. p. 1.
ẔĀKIR (ذاكر). One who remembers God by reciting His names and praises. The reciter of a ẕikr. [ZIKR.]
ẒALĀLAH (ضلالة). “Error.” The word frequently occurs in the Qurʾān, e.g. Sūrah ii. 15: “These are they who have purchased error, at the price of the guidance.”
ẔAMB (ذمب), pl. ẕunūb. “A sin; a crime.” A charge of such. The word occurs frequently in the Qurʾān, e.g.:—
Sūrah xxvi. 13: “They have a charge against me (i.e. Aaron), and I fear lest they put me to death.”
Sūrah xl. 2: [From God] “the forgiver of sin.”
Sūrah lxxxi. 9: “For what crime she was put to death.” [SIN.]
ZAMZAM (زمزم). The sacred well within the precincts of the mosque at Makkah. It is supposed to be the identical spring from which Hagar and Ishmael drank in the wilderness (Genesis xvi. 4), but which is stated in the Scriptures to have been between Kadesh and Bared.
The origin of the word zamzam is uncertain. According to Johnson’s Arabic Dictionary, it means the low buzzing sound, made by the ancient fire-worshippers, and may therefore allude to the murmuring of the water of the well. Some Muslim commentators derive it from zamm! zamm! i.e. “fill! fill!” Hagar’s words to Ishmael when she saw the water. Sale translates it: “Stay! Stay!” and adds that Hagar called out in the Egyptian language to prevent Ishmael wandering.
The building which encloses the well Zamzam stands close by the Maqām Ḥanbalī, and was erected in A.H. 1072 (A.D. 1661). According to Burckhardt, it is of a square shape, and of massive construction, with an entrance to the north, opening into the room which contains the well. This room is beautifully ornamented with marbles of various colours; and adjoining to it, but having a separate door, is a small room with a stone reservoir, which is always full of Zamzam water. This the pilgrims get to drink by passing their hand, with a cup, through an iron-grated opening which serves as a window, into the reservoir, without entering the room. The mouth of the well is surrounded by a wall five feet in height, and about ten feet in diameter. Upon this the people stand who draw up the water in leathern buckets, an iron railing being so placed as to prevent their falling in. The water is then poured into earthen jars, called dauraq, which Captain Burton describes as little amphoræ, each marked with the name of the donor and a peculiar cypher. These jars are placed in long rows on the ground, along the paved causeways which lead up to the Kaʿbah, and between which grass appears growing in several places, produced by the Zamzam water oozing out of the jars.
The Zamzam water is held in great esteem throughout the East. It is used for drinking and ablution, but for no baser purposes; and the Makkans advise pilgrims always to break their fast with it. Captain Burton says: “It is apt to cause diarrhœa and boils, and I never saw a stranger drink it without a wry face. Sale is decidedly correct in his assertion: the flavour is salt-bitter, much resembling an infusion of a teaspoonful of Epsom salts in a large tumbler of tepid water. Moreover, it is exceedingly ‘heavy’ to the taste; for this reason, Turks and other strangers prefer rain-water collected in cisterns, and sold for five farthings a guglet. The water is transmitted to distant regions in glazed earthen jars covered with basketwork, and sealed by the Zem Zemis (Zamzamīs, or dispensers of the holy water). Religious men break their lenten fast with it, apply it to their eyes to brighten vision, and imbibe a few drops at the hour of death, when Satan stands by holding a bowl of purest water, the price of the departing soul. The copious supply of the well is considered at Meccah miraculous; in distant countries it facilitates the pronunciation of Arabic to the student; and everywhere the nauseous draught is highly meritorious in a religious point of view.”
According to the same author, the name has become generic for a well situated within the walls of a mosque, and amongst these, naturally, the Zamzam of al-Madīnah stands nearest in dignity to the Makkah well, with which it is said to be connected by a subterraneous passage. Others believe that it is filled by a vein of water springing directly under the Prophet’s grave, whence it is generally called Biʾru ʾn-Nabī, or the Prophet’s well. It stands at the south-east angle of an enclosure within the court of the mosque of al-Madīnah, called the garden of Fāt̤imah, under a wooden roof supported by pillars of the same material.
ZANĀNAH (زنانة). A Persian adjective derived from the word zan, “a woman.” That which belongs to women. It denotes the household of a Muḥammadan, his wives and children, and the apartments in which they reside. For a full account of an Indian zanānah by Mrs. Meer Ali, see HARIM.
“A zanānah mission” is a Christian mission established for the benefit of the wives and daughters of Muḥammadans.
ZANJABĪL (زنجبيل). “Ginger.” An aromatic with which the cups of Paradise are flavoured. See Qurʾān, Sūrah lxxvi. 17: “And they shall drink therein a cup tempered with zanjabīl.”
Z̤ANN (ظن), pl. z̤unūn. “Opinion; suspicion.” In Muḥammadan law, a presumption that a charge is well-founded, although the evidence is inconclusive. Az̤-Z̤annu ʾl-G͟halīb, expresses a strong presumption of truth in a charge, although the evidence does not amount to conviction. The “Not proven” of Scotch law. The word z̤ann, in the sense of “suspicion,” occurs in the Qurʾān, Sūrah xlix. 12: “O Believers! avoid frequent suspicions, for some suspicions are a crime.”
ZAQQŪM (زقوم). An infernal tree described in the Qurʾān.
Sūrah xxxvii. 60–64: “Is this the better repast or the tree az-Zaqqūm? Verily We have made it for a subject of discord to the wicked: Lo, it is a tree which cometh up from the bottom of hell; its fruit is as it were the heads of Satans; and, lo! the damned shall surely eat of it and fill their bellies with it.”
Sūrah xliv. 43, 44: “Verily the tree of az-Zaqqūm shall be the sinner’s food.”
Sūrah lvi. 51–53: “Then verily ye, O ye the erring, the imputers of falsehood, shall surely eat of the tree of Zaqqūm, and fill your bellies with it.”
It is a name now given to a thorny tree, whose fruit is sweet and styptic, and from the stone of which oil is extracted. (Richardson’s Dictionary.)
ZARĀMĪYAH (زرامية). A sect of Shīʿah Muḥammadans, who say that the next Imāms after ʿAlī were Muḥammad ibn Ḥanfīyah, ʿAbdullāh, ʿAlī ibn ʿAbdillāh ibn ʿAbbās, and afterwards his progeny, as far as Manṣūr, until at last the Divine power entered into Abū Muslim, who, they assert, was not really slain. (Kashfu ʾl-Iṣt̤ilāḥāt, in loco.)
ZARĀRĪYAH (زرارية). A sect of Muslims founded by one of the Companions, named Zarārah, who say the attributes of God are not eternal. (Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, in loco.)
ẒARB (ضرب). Lit. “Striking.” In arithmetic, “Multiplication.” The concluding foot of a line in poetry. A term used by Ṣūfī mystics for the ceremony of ẕikr.
AẔ-ẔĀRĪYĀT (الذاريات). “The Scatterers.” The title of the LIst Sūrah of the Qurʾān which begins with the words “By the Scatterers who scatter.” By which is understood the winds of heaven.
AẒ-ẒĀRR (الضار). “The Distresser.” One of the ninety-nine attributes of God. In the Qurʾān the word is applied to Satan.
Sūrah lviii. 11: “Only of Satan is this clandestine talk, that he may bring the faithful to grief; but, unless by God’s permission, not aught shall he harm them (laisa bi-ẓārrihim)! in God, then, let the faithful trust.”
God, therefore, is called the “Distresser,” in so far as evil befalls man only by His permission.
ẔARRAH (ذرة). “An atom.” The word occurs in the Qurʾān in the following verse:—
Sūrah xcix. 6: “On that day shall men come up in separate bands to behold their works; and whosoever shall have wrought an atom’s weight of good shall behold it, and whosoever shall have wrought an atom’s weight of evil shall behold it.”
ẔĀT (ذات), pl. ẕawāt. From ẕū, “a possessor,” of which ẕāt is the feminine. In the Dictionary al-Mug͟hrab it is defined as the essence of a thing, meaning that by being which a thing is what it is, or that in being which a thing consists; or the ultimate and radical constituent of a thing. It is used for the nature or essence of God, Allāh being called the Ismu ʾẕ-Ẕāt, or “Essential name of God.” Ẕātu ʾllāh, the “Essence of God,” is a scholastic theological expression. In Muslim law, ẕāt signifies the body connected with the soul, in opposition to badn, which means the “material body.”
ẔAWŪ ʾL-ARḤĀM (ذوو الارحام). [UTERINE RELATIONS.]
ẔAWŪ ʾL-FURŪẒ (ذوو الفروض). The Sharers of inheritance whose shares are specified in the Qurʾān itself. [INHERITANCE.]
ZEALOTS. [GHULAT.]
Z̤IHĀR (ظهار). Lit. “Likening to the back.” A form of imprecation which involves the separation of husband and wife until expiation is made. According to the Hidāyah, z̤ihār signifies the likening of a woman to a kinswoman within the prohibited degrees, which interpretation is found in the comparison being applied to any of the parts or members of the body improper to be seen. The usual formula is: Anti ʿalaiya ka-z̤ahri ummī, “Thou art unto me as my mother’s back.”
Before the establishment of Muḥammadanism, z̤ihār stood as a divorce, but Muḥammad changed it to a temporary prohibition, for which expiation must be performed, viz. either freeing a slave, or two months’ fast, or feeding sixty persons. Qurʾān, Sūratu ʾl-Mujādilah (lviii.), 1–5:—
“God hath heard the words of her who pleaded with thee against her husband, and made her plaint to God; and God hath heard your mutual intercourse: for God Heareth! Beholdeth.
“As to those of you who put away their wives by saying, “Be thou to me as my mother’s back”—their mothers they are not; they only are their mothers who gave them birth! they certainly say a blameworthy thing and an untruth:
“But truly, God is Forgiving, Indulgent.
“And those who thus put away their wives, and afterwards would recall their words, must free a captive before they can come together again. To this are ye warned to conform: and God is aware of what ye do.
“And he who findeth not a captive to set free, shall fast two months in succession before they two come together. And he who shall not be able to do so, shall feed sixty poor men. This, that he may believe in God and His Apostle. These are the statutes of God: and for the unbelievers is an afflictive chastisement!”
The above injunction was occasioned by K͟haulah, the daughter of S̤aʿlabah, having pleaded her case with the Prophet, because she had been divorced by her husband Aus ibn aṣ-Ṣāmit, by the formula above-mentioned, and which was understood by the Arabs to imply perpetual separation. Muḥammad had, in the first instance, decreed the divorce in accordance with ancient Arabic law, but relaxed his order in consequence of the woman’s earnest pleadings.