BATHING

The Arabic term for ordinary bathing is ( غسل‎ ) g͟hasl , and that for the religious purification of the whole body g͟husl . In all large mosques, and in most respectable dwellings in Muḥammadan countries, there are bathing-rooms erected, both for the ordinary purposes of bathing and for the religious purification. An account of the legal purification will be found in the article GHUSL . Although purifications and bathing form so e ential a part of the Muslim religion, cleanline does not distinguish Muḥammadans, who are generally in this respect a striking contrast to their Hindū fellow subjects in India. According to the saying of Muḥammad, decency should be observed in bathing, and the clothes from the waist downwards should not be taken off at such times. ( Mishkāt , ii. c. iv.) BĀT̤IL ( باطل‎ ). That which is false in doctrine. AL -BĀT̤IN ( الباطن‎ ). (1) One of the ninety-nine special names of God. It means “that which is hidden or concealed,” “The Hidden One,” or “He that knows hidden things.” (2) A term used in theology for that which is hidden in its meaning, in contradistinction to that which is evident. BATŪL ( بتول‎ ). Lit . “A shoot or offset of a palm-tree cut off from its mother tree;” “a virgin” (as cut off or withheld from men). The term al-Batūl is applied to Fāt̤imah , the daughter of Muḥammad, because she was separated from the other women of her age by her excellences. Heb. ‏בְּתוּלָה‎ Bethūlāh . BĀʿŪS̤ ( باعوث‎ ). A Syriac word, ‏בָּעוּתָא‎ ( i.e . “petition, prayer”), which, in the dictionary al-Qāmūs , is said to mean the Christian Easter; and also prayers for rain, or the Istisqā of the Christians. ( Majmu ʾl-Biḥār , p. 101.) BĀẔAQ or BĀẔIQ ( باذق‎ ). A prohibited liquor. The juice of the grape boiled until a quantity le than two-thirds evaporates.