PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD. According to the teaching of Muḥammad, it is the duty of all true Muslims to pray for the dead. (Durru ʾl-Muk͟htār, p. 135.) See also Mishkāt, book v. chap. iii.

“God most certainly exalts the degree of a virtuous servant in Paradise, and the virtuous servant says, ‘O my Lord, from whence is this exalted degree for me?’ and God says, ‘It is on account of your children asking pardon for you.’”

“The Prophet passed by graves in al-Madīnah and turned his face towards them, and said, ‘Peace be to you, O inhabitants of the graves! may God forgive us and you. Ye have passed on before us, and we are following you.’”

“A dead person in the grave is like one over his head in water, who calls to somebody to take him by the hand. For he has hope that his father or mother, or his brother, or his friend will pray for him. For when the prayer reaches the dead person, it is more esteemed by him than the whole world, and all that is in it; and verily God most certainly gives to the dead, on account of the prayers of the people of the earth, rewards like mountains, for verily the offerings of the living for the dead are asking forgiveness for them.”

Sūrah lxxi. 29: “And Noah said, O my God, forgive me and my parents.”

Sūrah ix. 114, 115: “It is not for the Prophet to pray for the forgiveness of those, who, even though they be near of kin, associate other gods with God, after it hath been made clear to them that they are to be the inmates of hell. For neither did Abraham ask forgiveness for his father, but in pursuance of a promise which he had promised him, and when it was shown him that he was an enemy of God, he declared himself clear of him: yet Abraham was pitiful and kind.”

It is related in the Traditions that the Prophet visited his mother’s grave, and wept in such a way as to cause those who were standing around him to weep also. And the Prophet said, “I have asked my benefactor permission to ask pardon for my mother, which was not granted then. I asked my Lord’s permission to visit her grave and it was granted, therefore do ye visit graves, because they remind you of death.”

PREACHER. Preaching. There are four words generally used for a preacher: k͟hat̤īb (خطيب‎), muẕakkir (مذكر‎), wāʿiz̤ (واعظ‎), and nāṣiḥ (ناصح‎).

K͟hat̤īb is always applied to the official who recites the k͟hut̤bah, or oration, in the Friday service. The other three terms are applied generally to preachers.

In the present day, preaching seldom takes place in a mosque except on Fridays, when the k͟hut̤bah is recited, although it is not forbidden, and Muḥammad was frequently in the habit of addressing his people after the prayers were over.

No Maulawī of reputation preaches in the street, but paid preachers sometimes undertake the office.

PREDESTINATION. Arabic qadar (قدر‎), the word generally used in the Ḥadīs̤; taqdīr (تقدير‎), the word usually employed in theological works. Expressions which mean “measuring out,” or “preordering.”

Taqdīr, or the absolute decree of good and evil, is the sixth article of the Muḥammadan creed, and the orthodox believe that whatever has, or shall come to pass in this world, whether it be good or bad, proceeds entirely from the Divine Will, and has been irrevocably fixed and recorded on a preserved tablet by the pen of fate. The doctrine, which forms a very important feature in the Muslim system, is thus taught in the Qurʾān:—

Sūrah liv. 49: “All things have been created after fixed decree” (qadar).

Sūrah iii. 139: “No one can die except by God’s permission according to the book that fixeth the term of life.”

Sūrah lxxxvii. 2: “The Lord hath created and balanced all things and hath fixed their destinies and guided them.”

Sūrah viii. 17: “God slew them, and those shafts were God’s, not thine.”

Sūrah ix. 51: “By no means can aught befall us but what God has destined for us.”

Sūrah xiii. 30: “All sovereignty is in the hands of God.”

Sūrah xiv. 4: “God misleadeth whom He will, and whom He will He guideth.”

Sūrah xviii. 101: “The infidels whose eyes were veiled from my warning and had no power to hear.”

The teaching of Muḥammad, as given in the Traditions handed down by al-Buk͟hārī and Muslim, is as follows:—

“God created Adam, and touched his back with his right hand, and brought forth from it a family; and God said to Adam, ‘I have created this family for Paradise, and their actions will be like unto those of the people of Paradise.’ Then God touched the back of Adam, and brought forth another family, and said, ‘I have created this for hell, and their actions will be like unto those of the people of hell.’ Then a man said to the Prophet, ‘Of what use will deeds of any kind be?’ He said, ‘When God createth His servant for Paradise, his actions will be deserving of it until he die, when he will enter therein; and when God createth one for the fire, his actions will be like those of the people of hell till he die, when he will enter therein.’ ”

“ ‘There is not one amongst you whose place is not written by God, whether in the fire or in Paradise.’ The Companions said, ‘O Prophet! since God hath appointed our places, may we confide in this and abandon our religious and moral duties?’ He said, ‘No; because the righteous will do good works and the wicked will do bad works.’ After which the Prophet read this verse from the Qurʾān: ‘To him who giveth alms, and feareth God, and yieldeth assent to the excellent creed, to him will we make easy the path to happiness. But to him who is worldly and is indifferent, and who does not believe in the excellent creed, to him will we make easy the path of misery.’ ”

“The first thing which God created was a pen, and He said to it ‘Write’; it said, ‘What shall I write?’ And God said, ‘Write down the quantity of every individual thing to be created,’ and it wrote all that was and that will be, to eternity.”

“God hath pre-ordained five things on his servants; the duration of life, their actions, their dwelling-places, their travels, and their portions.”

“When God hath ordered a creature to die in any particular place, he causeth his wants to direct him to that.”

“There is not one born but is created to Islām, but it is their fathers and mothers who make them Jews and Christians and Majūsī.”

“It was said, ‘O Prophet of God! inform me respecting charms, and the medicines which I swallow, and the shields which I make use of for protection, whether they prevent any of the decrees of God?’ Muḥammad said, ‘These also are by the decree of God.’ ”

“Verily God created Adam from a handful of earth, taken from all parts, and the children of Adam became different, like the earth; some of them red, some white, and some black, some between red, white and black, some gentle, and some severe, some impure and some pure.”

“The Prophet of God was asked about the children of polytheists who might die in their infancy, whether they would go to heaven or hell. He said, ‘God knoweth best what their actions would have been had they lived; it depends on this.’ ”

“The Prophet of God came out of his house when the Companions were debating about fate, and he was angry, and became red in the face, to such a degree that you would say the seeds of a pomegranate had been bruised on it. And he said, ‘Hath God ordered you to debate of fate? Was I sent to you for this? Your forefathers were destroyed for debating about fate and destiny; I adjure you not to argue on those points.’ ”

(See Aḥādīs̤u ʾl-Buk͟hārī and Muslim, in loco.) [PRESERVED TABLET.]

The doctrine is expressed in an Arabic treatise on the subject, as follows:—

“Faith in the decrees of God, is that we believe in our heart and confess with our tongue that the Most High God hath decreed all things; so that nothing can happen in the world, whether it respects the conditions and operations of things, or good and evil, or obedience and disobedience, or faith and infidelity, or sickness and health, or riches and poverty, or life and death, that is not contained in the written tablet of the decrees of God. But God hath so decreed good works, obedience, and faith, that He ordains and wills them, and that they may be under His decree, His salutary direction, His good pleasure and command. On the contrary, God hath decreed, and does ordain and determine evil, disobedience and infidelity; yet without His salutary direction, good pleasure, and command; but being only by way of seduction, indignation, and prohibition. But whosoever shall say that God is not delighted with good faith, or that God hath not an indignation against evil and unbelief, he is certainly an infidel.”

The Rev. E. Sell, in his Faith of Islám, page 173, says:—

“There are three well-defined schools of thought on the subject.

“First.—The Jabríans (Jabarīyūn), so called from the word “jabr”, compulsion, deny all free agency in man and say that man is necessarily constrained by the force of God’s eternal and immutable decree to act as he does. They hold that as God is the absolute Lord, He can, if He so wills, admit all men into Paradise, or cast all into hell. This sect is one of the branches of the Ashʾaríans with whom on most points they agree.

“Secondly.—The Qadríans (Qadarīyūn), who deny Al-Qadr, or God’s absolute decree, say that evil and injustice ought not to be attributed to God but to man, who is altogether a free agent. God has given him the power to do or not to do an act. This sect is generally considered to be a branch of the Mutazilite body (Muʿtazilah), though in reality it existed before Wásil quitted the school of his master Hasan. As Wásil, however, followed the opinions of Mábad-al-Johní, the leading Qadrían divine, the Mutazilites and Qadríans are practically one and the same.

“Thirdly.—The Ashʾaríans maintain that God has one eternal will which is applied to whatsoever He willeth, both of His own actions and those of men; that He willeth that which He knoweth and what is written on the preserved table; that He willeth both good and evil. So far they agree with the Jabríans; but then they seem to allow some power to man. The orthodox, or Sunní belief is theoretically Ashʾarían, but practically the Sunnís are confirmed Jabríans. The Mutazilite doctrines are looked upon as quite heretical.

“No subject has been more warmly discussed in Islám than that of predestination. The following abstract of some lengthy discussions will present the points of difference.

“The Ashʾaríans, who in this matter represent in the main orthodox views, formulate their objections to the Mutazilite system thus:—

“(i.) If man is the causer of an action by the force of his own will, then he should also have the power of controlling the result of that action.

“(ii.) If it be granted that man has the power to originate an act, it is necessary that he should know all acts, because a creator should be independent in act and choice. Intention must be conditioned by knowledge. To this the Mutazilites well reply that a man need not know the length of a road before he walks, or the structure of the throat before he talks.

“(iii.) Suppose a man wills to move his body and God at the same time wills it to be steady, then if both intentions come to pass there will be a collection of opposites; if neither, a removal of opposites; if the exaltation of the first, an unreasonable preference.

“(iv.) If man can create an act, some of his works will be better than some of the works of God, e.g. a man determines to have faith: now faith is a better thing than reptiles, which are created by God.

“(v.) If man is free to act, why can he not make at once a human body; why does he need to thank God for grace and faith?

“(vi.) But better far than all argument, the orthodox say, is the testimony of the Book. ‘All things have we created under a fixed decree.’ (Súra liv. 49.) ‘When God created you and that ye make.’ (Súra xxxvii. 94.) ‘Some of them there were whom God guided and there were others decreed to err.’ (Súra xvi. 38.) As God decrees faith and obedience He must be the causer of it, for ‘on the hearts of these hath God graven the Faith.’ (Súra lviii. 22.) ‘It is he who causeth you to laugh and weep, to die and make alive.’ (Súra liii. 44.) ‘If God pleased He would surely bring them, one and all, to the guidance.’ (Súra vi. 36.) ‘Had God pleased, He had guided you all aright.’ (Súra vi. 150.) ‘Had the Lord pleased, He would have made mankind of one religion.’ (Súra xi. 120.) ‘God will mislead whom He pleaseth, and whom He pleaseth He will place upon the straight path.’ (Súra vi. 39.) Tradition records that the Prophet said, ‘God is the maker of all makers and of their actions.’

“The Mutazilites took up the opposite side of this great question and said:—

“(i) If man has no power to will or to do, then what is the difference between praising God and sinning against Him; between faith and infidelity; good and evil; what is the use of commands and prohibitions; rewards and punishments; promises and threats; what is the use of prophets, books, &c.

“(ii.) Some acts of men are bad, such as tyranny and polytheism. If these are created by God, it follows that to tyrannise and to ascribe plurality to the Deity is to render obedience. To this the Ashʾaríans reply that orders are of two kinds, immediate and mediate. The former, which they call ‘Amr-i-takwíní,’ is the order, ‘Be and it was.’ This comprehends all existences and according to it whatever is ordered must come to pass. The latter they call ‘Amr-i-tashríʾí,’ an order given in the Law. This comes to men through prophets and thus is to be obeyed. True obedience is to act according to that which is revealed, not according to the secret intention of God, for that we know not.

“(iii.) If God decrees the acts of men, He should bear the name of that which he decrees. Thus the causer of infidelity is an infidel; of tyranny a tyrant, and so on; but to speak thus of God is blasphemy.

“(iv.) If infidelity is decreed by God He must wish it; but a prophet desires faith and obedience and so is opposed to God. To this the orthodox reply, that God knows by His eternal knowledge that such a man will die an infidel. If a prophet intends by bringing the message of salvation to such an one to make God’s knowledge become ignorance, he would be doing wrong; but as he does not know the secret decrees of God, his duty is to deliver his message according to the Hadís: ‘A prophet has only to deliver the clear message.’

“(v.) The Mutazilites claimed as on their side all verses of the Qurán, in which the words to do, to construct, to renew, to create, &c., are applied to men. Such are the verses: ‘Whatever is in the heavens and the earth is God’s that He may reward those who do evil according to their deeds: and those who do good will He reward with good things.’ (Súra liii. 32.) ‘Whoso shall have wrought evil shall not be recompensed but with its like: but whoso shall have done the things that are right, whether male or female and is a believer, these shall enter Paradise.’ (Súra xl. 43.) ‘Say: the truth is from the Lord; let him then who will, believe; and let him who will, be an infidel.’ (Súra xviii. 28.) ‘Those who add gods to God will say: ‘If God had pleased neither we nor our fathers had given Him companions.’ ‘Say: Verily ye follow only a conceit, ye utter lies.’ (Súra vi. 149.) The Hadís is also very plain. ‘All good is in Thy hands and evil is not to Thee.’

“The Ashʾaríans have one famous text which they bring to bear against all this reasoning and evidence. It is: ‘This truly is a warning; and whoso willeth, taketh the way of his Lord; but will it ye shall not, unless God will it, for God is knowing, wise.’ (Súra lxxvi. 29, 30.) To the Hadís they reply (1) that there is a difference between acquiescence in evil and decreeing it. Thus the expression ‘God willeth not tyranny for His servants,’ does not mean that God hath not decreed it, but that tyranny is not one of His attributes: so ‘evil is not to Thee’ means it is not an attribute of God; and (2) the Hadís must be explained in accordance with the teaching of the Qurán.

“The Muslim philosophers tried to find a way out of the difficulty. Averhoes says: ‘We are free to act in this way or that, but our will is always determined by some exterior cause. For example, we see something which pleases us, we are drawn to it in spite of ourselves. Our will is thus bound by exterior causes. These causes exist according to a certain order of things which is founded on the general laws of nature. God alone knows beforehand the necessary connection which to us is a mystery. The connection of our will with exterior causes is determined by the laws of nature. It is this which in theology we call, ‘decrees and predestination.’ ” (Mélanges de Philosophie Juive et Arabe, par S. Munk, p. 458.)

PRE-EMPTION. Arabic Shufʿah (شفعة‎). Lit. “Adjunction.” The right of pre-emption is a power of possessing property which is for sale, and is established upon the teaching of Muḥammad. It applies not to movable property but to immovable property (ʿaqār). This right of pre-emption appertains in the first place to the co-sharer or partner in the property; secondly, to a sharer in the immunities and appendages of the property, such as the right to water, or to roads; and thirdly, to the neighbour. (Hidāyah, vol. iii. p. 594.)

PRE-EXISTENCE OF SOULS is taught both in the Qurʾān and the Traditions.

ʿĀyishah relates that Muḥammad said, “Souls before they became united with bodies were like assembled armies, and afterwards they were dispersed and sent into the bodies of mankind.” (Mishkāt, book xxii. ch. xvi.)

There is said to be a reference to this doctrine in the Qurʾān:—

Sūrah vii. 171: “And when the Lord drew forth their posterity from the loins of the sons of Adam.…”

The commentator, al-Baiẓāwī, says, “God stroked Adam’s back and extracted from his loins his whole posterity, which should come into the world until the Resurrection, one generation after another; and that these souls were all assembled together like small ants, and after they had in the presence of the angels confessed their dependence upon God, they were again caused to return into the loins of Adam.” (See Tafsīru ʾl-Baiẓāwī, in loco.)

PRESERVED TABLET. According to the teaching of Muḥammad, both the actions of men and the Qurʾān were recorded before creation upon a preserved tablet called Lauḥ Maḥfuz̤ (لوح محفوظ‎), Sūrah xxxv. 22: “And if they treat thee as a liar, so did those who were before them treat their Apostles who came to them with the proofs of their mission, and with the Scriptures and with the clear Book”; and Imām Mubīn (امام مبين‎), Sūrah xxxvi. 11: “Verily, it is We who will quicken the dead, and write down the works which they have sent on before them, and the traces which they shall have left behind them: and everything have we set down in the clear Book of our decrees.” [PREDESTINATION, QURʾAN.]

PRIDE, Arabic kibr (كبر‎), is forbidden in the Qurʾān, see Sūrah xvii. 39: “Walk not proudly on the earth; truly thou canst by no means cleave the earth, neither canst thou reach the mountains in height: all this is evil with thy Lord and odious.”

PRIEST. There is no sacerdotal class of ministers in the Muḥammadan religion. The leader of the daily prayers is called an Imām. [IMAM.]

PRIVACY OF DWELLINGS is established by the teaching of Muḥammad, and it is therefore unlawful to enter the house without Istiʾẕān, or “asking permission.” The injunction is given in the Qurʾān, Sūrah xxiv. 27–29:—

“O ye who believe! enter not into other houses than your own, until ye have asked leave, and have saluted its inmates. This will be best for you: haply ye will bear this in mind. And if ye find no one therein, then enter it not till leave be given you; and if it be said to you, ‘Go ye back,’ then go ye back. This will be more blameless in you, and God knoweth what ye do. There shall be no harm in your entering houses in which no one dwelleth, for the supply of your needs: and God knoweth what ye do openly and what ye hide.”

ʿAtāʾ ibn Yasār relates that “A man once asked the Prophet, ‘Must I ask leave to go into the room of my mother?’ The Prophet said, ‘Yes.’ Then the man said, ‘But I live in the same home.’ The Prophet said, ‘Yes, even if you live in the same home.’ The man said, ‘But I wait upon her!’ The Prophet, ‘But you must ask permission; for, what! would you like to see your mother naked?’ ”

It is further related that Muḥammad always went first to the right and then to the left of a door which had no curtain, and salamed several times before he entered. (Mishkāt, book xxii. ch. ii.)

This has become an established rule in the East, and it is considered very rude to enter any dwelling without first giving notice.

PROHIBITED DEGREES OF MARRIAGE. According to the Qurʾān they are seven: 1, mother; 2, daughter; 3, sister; 4, paternal aunt; 5, maternal aunt; 6, sister’s daughter; 7, brother’s daughter. And the same with regard to the other sex. It is also unlawful for a Muslim to marry his wife’s sister (see Lev. xviii. 18) or his wife’s aunt during the lifetime of his wife. Fosterage in Muslim law establishes relationship, and therefore a foster-sister or a foster-brother is unlawful in marriage. [MARRIAGE.]

PROPHET. The Arabic words used to express the prophetic office are nabī (نبى‎), pl. ambīyāʾ; rasūl (رسول‎), pl. rusul; and mursal (مرسل‎), pl. mursalūn. In Persian, the three titles are invariably translated by the word paig͟hambar (پيغمبر‎) (i.e. a messenger).

Nabī is the Hebrew nābī ‏נָבִיא‎, which Gesenius says means “one who bubbles forth” as a fountain. The Arabic lexicon, the Qāmūs, derives the word from nubūʾ, “to be exalted.”

According to Muḥammadan writers a nabī is anyone directly inspired by God, and rasūl and mursal, one to whom a special mission has been entrusted.

Muḥammad is related to have said (Mishkāt, book xxiv. ch. i. pt. 3) that there were 124,000 ambiyāʾ, or prophets, and 315 apostles or messengers. Nine of these special messengers are entitled Ūlū ʾl-ʿAzm, or “possessors of constancy,” namely, Noah, Abraham, David, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Moses, Jesus, and Muḥammad. Six are dignified with special titles: Adam, Ṣafīyu ʾllāh, the Chosen of God; Noah, Nabīyu ʾllāh, the Preacher of God; Abraham, K͟halīlu ʾllāh, the Friend of God; Moses, Kalīmu ʾllāh, the Converser with God; Jesus, Rūḥu ʾllāh, the Spirit of God; Muḥammad, Rasūlu ʾllāh, the Messenger of God.

The number of sacred books delivered to mankind is said to have been 104 (see Majālisu ʾl-Abrār, p. 55); of these, ten were given to Adam, fifty to Seth (a name not mentioned in the Qurʾān), thirty to Enoch, ten to Abraham, the Taurāt to Moses, the Zabūr to David, the Injīl to Jesus, and the Qurʾān to Muḥammad.

The one hundred scriptures given to Adam, Seth, Enoch, and Abraham are termed Ṣaḥīfah (a pamphlet), and the other four Kitāb (a book); but all that is necessary for the Muslim to know of these inspired records is supposed to have been retained in the Qurʾān.

Muḥammad’s enumeration of the Old and New Testament prophets, both as to name and chronological order, is exceedingly confused, and it is acknowledged to be a matter of doubt amongst Muslim commentators whether or not Alexander the Great and Æsop were inspired prophets.

The names of twenty-eight prophets are said to occur in the Qurʾān:—

Adam, Adam; Idrīs, Enoch; Nūḥ, Noah; Hūd, Heber?; Ṣāliḥ, Methusaleh; Ibrāhīm, Abraham; Ismāʿīl, Ishmael; Isḥāq, Isaac; Yaʿqūb, Jacob; Yūsuf, Joseph; Lūt̤, Lot; Mūsā, Moses; Hārūn, Aaron; Shuʿaib, Jethro?; Zakarīyā, Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist; Yaḥyā, John Baptist; ʿĪsā, Jesus; Dāʾūd, David; Sulaimān, Solomon; Ilyās, Elias; Alyasaʿ, Elisha; Aiyūb, Job; Yūnus, Jonah; ʿUzair, Ezra; Luqmān, Æsop? more likely Balaam; Ẕū ʾl-Kifl, Isaiah or Obadiah?; Ẕū ʾl-Qarnain, Alexander the Great.

An account of these prophets will be found under their respective names.

A Persian book, entitled the Qiṣaṣu ʾl-Ambiyāʾ, the “Tales of the Prophets,” professes to give an account of the prophets mentioned in the Qurʾān, but the utter recklessness of the writer passes all description; for example, it is a matter of uncertainty whether Ẕū ʾl-Qarnain is Alexander the Great or some celebrity who lived in the days of Abraham!

PROPHETESSES. It is said that only three women have been prophetesses: Sarah, the mother of Moses, and Mary, the daughter of ʿImrān; for Sarah received by revelation the news of Isaac’s birth, the birth of Moses was divinely communicated to his mother, and Mary received from an angel the happy tidings of the birth of Jesus. (See Hist. of Temple of Jerusalem, translated from the Arabic.)

PSALMS OF DAVID, The. [ZABUR.]

PUBERTY. Arabic bulūg͟h (بلوغ‎) bulug͟hīyat (بلوغية‎). The puberty of a boy is established as soon as the usual signs of manhood are known to exist; but if none of these signs exist, his puberty is not clearly established until he have completed his eighteenth year. The puberty of a girl is established in the same way; but if the usual signs of womanhood are known not to exist, her puberty is not established until her seventeenth year has been completed. This is according to the teaching of the Imām Abū Ḥanīfah. But his two disciples maintain that upon either a boy or girl completing the fifteenth year, they are to be declared adult. The Imām ash-Shāfiʿī concurs in this opinion, and it is said there is also a report of Abū Ḥanīfah to the same effect. The earliest period of puberty with respect to a boy is twelve years, and with respect to a girl nine years.

When a boy or girl approaches the age of puberty and they declare themselves adult, their declaration must be credited, and they then become subject to all the laws affecting adults, and must observe all the ordinances of the Muslim faith. (Hidāyah, Hamilton’s Translation, vol. iii. p. 483; Jāmiʿu ʾr-Rumūz, Durru ʾl-Muk͟htār.)

Syed Ameer Ali says:—

“The validity of marriages contracted for minors by any guardian other than the father or the grandfather, is not established until ratified by the parties on arriving at puberty. Such ratification in the case of males must be express, and in the case of females may be either express or implied. On arriving at puberty, both the parties have the right of either ratifying the contract entered into during their minority or of cancelling it. According to the Sunnis, in order to effect a dissolution of the matrimonial tie, in exercise of the right of option reserved to the parties, it is necessary that there should be a decree of the judge; and until such decree is made, the marriage remains intact. If before a decree has been obtained one of the parties should die, the survivor would be entitled to inherit from the deceased.

“The Shiahs differ materially from the Sunnis on this. They hold that a marriage contracted on behalf of minors by any unauthorised person (fazûlî), i.e. any person other than a father or a grandfather, remains in absolute suspension or abeyance until assented to by the parties on arriving at puberty; that, in fact, no legal effect arises from it until such ratification, and if in the interval previous to ratification, one of the parties should die, the contract would fall to the ground and there would be no right of inheritance in the survivor.” (Personal Law of the Mahommedans, p. 269.)

PULPIT. The pulpit or mimbar (منبر‎) used for the recital of the k͟hut̤bah on Fridays in the chief mosque is usually a wooden structure of three steps and movable, but in the large mosques of Turkey and Egypt it is a fixture of brick or stone.

It is related that the Prophet, when addressing the people, stood on the uttermost step, Abū Bakr on the second, and ʿUmar on the third or lowest. ʿUs̤mān being the most humble of men, would gladly have descended lower, but this being impossible, he fixed upon the second step, from which it is now usual to recite the k͟hut̤bah on Fridays and on the two great festivals. [MOSQUE, MIMBAR.]

PUNISHMENT is divided into three classes: (1) Ḥadd (حد‎), (2) Qiṣāṣ (قصاص‎), (3) Taʿẕīb (تعذيب‎).

(1) Ḥadd (حد‎), pl. Ḥudūd (lit. “That which is defined”), is that punishment the limits of which have been defined in the Qurʾān and Ḥadīs̤. The following belong to this class:—

(a) Adultery, zināʾ (زناء‎), for which the adulterer must be stoned, rajm (رجم‎). (Mishkāt, book xv. ch. 1.)

(b) Fornication, zināʾ (زناء‎), for which the guilty persons must receive one hundred stripes. (Qurʾān, Sūrah xxiv. 2.)

(c) The false accusation of a married person with adultery, qaẕf (قذف‎), for which the offender must receive eighty stripes (Qurʾān, Sūrah xxiv. 4.)

(d) Apostacy, irtidād (ارتداد‎), which is punishable with death. (Mishkāt, book xiv. ch. v.)

(e) Drinking wine, shurb (شرب‎), for which the offender must receive eighty lashes. (Mishkāt, book xv. ch. iv.)

(f) Theft, sariqah (سرقة‎), which is punished by cutting off the right hand. (Qurʾān, Sūrah v. 42.)

(g) Highway robbery, qat̤ʿu ʾt̤-t̤arīq (قطع الطريق‎): for robbery only, the loss of hands and feet, and for robbery with murder, death, either by the sword or crucifixion. (Qurʾān, Sūrah v. 37.)

(2) Qiṣāṣ (قصاص‎), lit. “retaliation,” is that punishment which, although fixed by the law, can be remitted by the person offended against, or, in the case of a murdered person, by his heirs. It is applicable to cases of murder and of wounding. Qiṣāṣ is the lex talionis of Moses: “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (Exodus xxi. 24); but in allowing a money compensation, Muḥammad departed from the Jewish Code. (Qurʾān, Sūrah ii. 173.)

(3) Taʿẕīb (تعذيب‎), is the punishment which is left to the discretion of the Qāẓī or Judge. [HADD, QISAS, TAʿZIB.]

PUNISHMENTS OF THE GRAVE. [AZABU ʾL-QABR.]

PURGATORY. [BARZAKH.]

PURIFICATIONS. Arabic t̤ahārah (طهارة‎). The legal methods of purification under the Muḥammadan law vary but slightly from those which were enjoined in the Talmudic law of the Jews; with the remarkable difference that whilst with the Muslim the simple act of purification suffices, the Jew was taught by the use of expiatory offering to discern to its full extent the connection between the outward sign and the inward fount of impurity.

The most minute regulations with reference to the subject of legal purification, were laid down in the Jewish law, and are found in a treatise of the Mishna entitled Yadaim. See also Leviticus xv.

The following are the different acts of purification existing in Muḥammadan law:—

1. G͟husl (غسل‎). The washing of the whole body to absolve it from uncleanliness and to prepare it for the exercise of prayer, after the following acts: pollutio nocturna, menses, coitus, puerperium. [GHUSL.]

2. G͟husl-masnūn (غسل مسنون‎). Such washings of the whole body as are founded upon the sunnah or practice and precept of Muḥammad, although they are not supposed to be of divine institution, namely, upon the admission of a convert to Islām; before the Friday prayer, on the festivals; after washing the dead; and after blood-letting. [GHUSL MASNUN.]

3. Waẓūʾ (وضوء‎), or the simple ablution of hands, arms, ears, face, mouth, &c., before the recital of the usual prayers. [ABLUTION.]

4. Tayyammum (تيمم‎), or the use of sand or dust instead of water for the waẓūʾ. [TAYAMMUM.]

5. Istinjāʾ (استنجاء‎), or the abstersion of the private parts. [ISTINJAʾ.]

6. Miswāk (مسواك‎), or the cleansing of the teeth. [MISWAK.]

7. Masaḥ (مسح‎), or the touching of the boots whereby they become purified for prayer. [MASAH.]

8. Tat̤hīr (تطهير‎), or the cleansing of vessels, articles of clothing, &c., from impurity, which is generally done by applying either water, or sand and dust, the mere sprinkling being sufficient. [TATHIR.]