HUNTING

Arabic ṣaid ( صيد‎ ); Heb. ‏צַיִד‎ . There are special rules laid down in Muslim law with regard to hunting. (See Hamilton’s Hidāyah , vol. iv. p. 170.) It is lawful to hunt with a trained dog, or a panther (Arabic fahd , Persian yūz , which is an animal of the lynx species, hooded and trained like a hawk), or a hawk, or a falcon. The sign of a dog being trained is his catching game three times without eating it. A hawk is trained when she attends to the call of her master. If the dog or panther eat any part of the game it is unlawful, but if a hawk eat of it, it is lawful; but if the dog merely eat the blood and not the flesh, it is lawful. If a hunter take game alive which his dog has wounded, he must slay it according to the law of Ẕabḥ , namely, by cutting its throat, with the head turned Makkah-wards, and reciting, “In the name of the Great God!” The law is the same with respect to game shot by an arrow. If a sportsman let fly an arrow (or fire a gun) at game, he must repeat the invocation, “In the name of the Great God!” And then the flesh becomes lawful if the game is killed by the shot. But if only wounded, the animal must be slain with the invocation. Game hit by an arrow which has not a sharp point is unlawful, and so is that killed by throwing pebbles. Game killed by a Magian, or an apostate, or a worshipper of images is not lawful, because they are not allowed to perform ẕabḥ . But that slain by a Christian or a Jew is lawful. Hunting is not allowed on the pilgrimage nor within the limits of the sacred cities of Makkah and al-Madīnah. ʿAdī ibn Ḥātim ( Mishkāt , book xviii. ch. i.) gives the following tradition on the subject of hunting:— “The Prophet said to me, ‘When you send your dog in pursuit of game, repeat the name of God, as at slaying an animal; then if your dog holds the game for you, and you find it alive, then slay it; but if you find your dog has killed it, and not eaten of it, then eat it; but if the dog has eaten any of it, do not you eat it, for then the dog has kept it for himself. Then if you find another dog along with yours, and the game is killed, do not eat of it; for verily you cannot know which of the dogs killed it; and if the other dog killed it, it might so be that when he was let loose after the game, the name of God might not have been repeated. And when you shoot an arrow at game, repeat the name of God, the same as in slaying an animal; then if you lose sight of the game, and on finding it perceive nothing but the impre ion of your own arrow, then eat it if you wish; but if you find the game drowned, do not eat of it, although the mark of your arrow should be in it.’ ” ḤUR ( حور‎ ), the plural of ḥaura . The women of Paradise described in the Qurʾān, e.g . Sūrah lv. 56–78 :— “Therein shall be the damsels with retiring glances, whom nor man nor djinn hath touched before them: “Which then of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny? “Like jacynths and pearls: “Which, . “Shall the reward of good be aught but good? “Which, . “And beside these shall be two other gardens: “Which, . “Of a dark green: “Which, . “With gushing fountains in each: “Which, . “In each fruits and the palm and the pomegranate: “Which, . “In each, the fair, the beauteous ones: “Which, . “With large dark eyeballs, kept close in their pavilions: “Which, . “Whom man hath never touched, nor any djinn: “Which, . “ Their spouses on soft green cushions and on beautiful carpets shall recline: “Which, . “Ble ed be the name of thy Lord, full of majesty and glory.” AL -ḤUSAIN ( الحسين‎ ). The second son of Fāt̤imah, the daughter of Muḥammad, by her husband ʿAlī, the fourth K͟halīfah. A brother to al-Ḥas an, the fifth K͟halīfah. According to the Shīʿahs, he was the third K͟halīfah. He was born A.H . 4, and died at Karbalā A.H . 61, being cruelly slain in his conflict with Yazīd, the seventh K͟halīfah, according to the Sunnīs. The martyrdom of al-Ḥusain is celebrated by the Shīʿahs every year during the first ten days of the Muḥarram [ MUHARRAM ]; an account of his tragic death is therefore nece ary for understanding the intensity of feeling with which the scenes and incidents of the last days of the “Imām Ḥusain” are enacted in the “Miracle Play,” a translation of which has been given in English by Sir Lewis Pelly. The following account is taken from the Preface to this work, p. xi. seqq .:— “Shortly after the acce ion of Yezid (Yazīd), Ḥusain received at Mecca secret me ages from the people of Cufa (al-Kūfah), entreating him to place himself at the head of the army of the faithful in Babylonia. Yezid, however, had full intimation of the intended revolt, and long before Ḥusain could reach Cufa, the too easy governor of that city had been replaced by Obaidallah (ʿUbaidu ʾllāh ibn Ziyād), the resolute ruler of Bu orah (al-Baṣrah), who by his rapid measures disconcerted the plans of the conspirators, and drove them to a premature outbreak, and the surrender of their leader Muslim. The latter foresaw the ruin which he had brought on Ḥusain, and shed bitter tears on that account when captured. His head was struck off and sent to Yezid. On Ḥusain arriving at the confines of Babylonia, he was met by Harro (al-Ḥurr), who had been sent out by Obaidallah with a body of horsemen to intercept his approach. Ḥusain, addre ing them, a erted his title to the Califate, and invited them to submit to him. Harro replied, ‘We are commanded as soon as we meet you to bring you directly to Cufa into the presence of Obaidallah, the son of Ziyad.’ Ḥusain answered, ‘I would sooner die than submit to that,’ and gave the word to his men to ride on; but Harro wheeled about and intercepted them. At the same time, Harro said, ‘I have no commi ion to fight with you, but I am commanded not to part with you until I have conducted you into Cufa’; but he bade Ḥusain to choose any road into that city ‘that did not go directly back to Mecca,’ and ‘do you,’ said he, ‘write to Yezid or Obaidallah, and I will write to Obaidallah, and perhaps it may please God I may meet with something that may bring me off without my being forced to an extremity on your account.’ Then he retreated his force a little to allow Ḥusain to lead the way towards Cufa, and Ḥusain took the road that leads by Adib and Cadisia. This was on Thursday the 1st of Mohurrum (Muḥarram), A.H . 61 ( A.D . 680). When night came on, he still continued his march all through the night. As he rode on he nodded a little, and waking again, said, ‘Men travel by night, and the destinies travel toward them; this I know to be a me age of death.’ “In the morning, after prayers were over, he mended his pace, and as he rode on there came up a horseman, who took no notice of him, but saluted Harro, and delivered to him a letter, giving orders from Obaidallah to lead Ḥusain and his men into a place where was neither town nor fortifications, and there leave them till the Syrian forces should surround them. “This was on Friday the 2nd of Mohurrum. The day after, Amer (ʿUmar ibn Saʿīd) came upon them with four you sand men, who were on their march to Dailam. They had been encamped without the walls of Cufa, and when Obaidallah heard of Ḥusain’s coming, he commanded Amer to defer his march to Dailam and go against Ḥusain. But one and all di uaded him. ‘Beware that you go not against Ḥusain, and rebel against your Lord, and cut off mercy from you, for you had better be deprived of the dominion of the whole world than meet your Lord with the blood of Ḥusain upon you.’ Amer was fain to acquiesce, but upon Obaidallah renewing his command with threats, he marched against Ḥusain, and came up with him, as aforesaid, on Saturday the 3rd of Mohurrum. “On Amer sending to inquire of Ḥusain what brought him thither, the latter replied, ‘The Cufans wrote to me; but since they reject me, I am willing to return to Mecca.’ Amer was glad when he heard it, and said, ‘I hope to God I may be excused from fighting against him.’ Then he wrote to this purpose to Obaidallah; but Obaidallah sternly replied, ‘Get between him and the river,’ and Amer did so; and the name of the place where he cut Ḥusain off from the Euphrates was called Kerbela (Karbalā): ‘ Kerb (anguish) and belā (vexation), Trouble and affliction,’ said Ḥusain when he heard it. “Then Ḥusain sought a conference with Amer, in which he proposed either to go to Yezid, to return to Mecca, or, as some add, but others deny, to fight against the Turks. Obaidallah was at first inclined to accede to these conditions, until Shamer stood up and swore that no terms should be made with Ḥusain, adding significantly that he had been informed of a long conference between Ḥusain and Amer. “Then Obaidallah sent Shamer with orders to Amer, that if Ḥusain would surrender unconditionally, he would be received; if not, Amer was to fall upon him and his men, and trample them under his feet. Should he refuse to do so, Shamer was to strike off Amer’s head, and himself command the attack against Ḥusain. “Thus pa ed Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th of Mohurrum. On the evening of the 9th, Amer drew up his forces close to Ḥusain’s camp, and himself rode up to Ḥusain as he was sitting in the door of his tent just after the evening prayer, and told him of the conditions offered by Obaidallah. Ḥusain desired Amer to give him time until the next morning, when he would make his answer. “In the night his sister came weeping to his bedside, and, awaking him, exclaimed, ‘Alas for the desolation of my family! my mother Fatima is dead and my father Ali, and my brother Ḥas an. Alas for the destruction that is past! and alas for the destruction that is to come!’ ‘Sister,’ Ḥusain replied, ‘put your trust in God, and know that man is born to die, and that the heavens shall not remain; everything shall pa away but the presence of God, who created all things by His power, and shall make them by His power to pa away, and they shall return to Him alone. My father was better than me, and my mother was better than me; and my brother was better than me; and they and we and all Muslims have an example in the Apostle of God.’ Then he told his men that Obaidallah wanted nobody but him, and that they should go away to their homes. But they said, ‘God forbid that we should ever see the day wherein we survive you!’ Then he commanded them to cord their tents close together, and make a line of them, so as to keep out the enemy’s horse. And he digged a trench behind his camp, which he filled with wood to be set on fire, so that he could only be attacked in front. The rest of the night he spent in prayer and supplication, while the enemy’s guard patrolled all night long round and round his camp. “The next morning both sides prepared for the slaughter. Ḥusain first washed and anointed himself with musk, and several of his chief men did the like; and one asking them what it meant, Ḥusain replied pleasantly, ‘Alas! there is nothing between us and the black-eyed girls of Paradise but that these troopers come down upon us and slay us!’ Then he mounted his horse, and set the Coran before him, crying, ‘O God, Thou art my confidence in every trouble and my hope in every adversity!’ and submitted himself to the judgment of his companions before the opened pages of the sacred volume. At this his sisters and daughters began to weep, when he cried out in bitter anguish self-reproachfully, ‘God reward the son of Abbas,’ in allusion to advice which his cousin, Abdullah ibn Abbas, had given him, to leave the women behind in Mecca. At this moment a party of the enemy’s horse wheeled about and came up to Ḥusain, who expected to be attacked by them. But it was Harro, who had quitted the ranks of the Syrian army, and had now come to die with Ḥusain, and testify his repentance before men and God. As Harro rode into the doomed camp, he shouted back to Amer, ‘Alas for you!’ Whereupon Amer commanded his men to ‘bring up the colours.’ As soon as they were set in front of the troops, Shamer shot an arrow into the camp, saying, ‘Bear witne that I shot the first arrow,’ and so the fight began on both sides. It raged, chiefly in a series of single combats, until noon-day, when both sides retired to prayer, Ḥusain adding to the usual office the ‘Prayer of Fear,’ never used but in cases of extremity. When shortly afterwards the fight was renewed, Ḥusain was struck on the head by a sword. Faint with the lo of blood, he sat down by his tent and took upon his lap his little son Abdullah, who was at once killed by a flying arrow. He placed the little corpse upon the ground, crying out, ‘We come from God and we return to Him. O God, give me strength to bear these misfortunes.’ Growing thirsty, he ran toward the Euphrates, where, as he stooped to drink, an arrow struck him in the mouth. Raising his hands, all besmeared and dripping with blood, to heaven, he stood for awhile and prayed earnestly. His little nephew, a beautiful child, who went up to ki him, had his hand cut off with a sword, on which Ḥusain again wept, saying, ‘Thy reward, dear child, is with thy forefathers in the realms of bli .’ Hounded on by Shamer, the Syrian troops now surrounded him; but Ḥusain, nothing daunted, charged them right and left. In the midst of the fighting, his sister came between him and his slayers, crying out to Amer, how he could stand by and see Ḥusain slain. Whereupon, with tears trickling down his beard, Amer turned his face away; but Shamer, with threats and curses, set on his soldiers again, and at last one wounded Ḥusain upon the hand, and a second gashed him on the neck, and a third thrust him through the body with a spear. No sooner had he fallen to the ground than Shamer rode a troop of horsemen over his corpse, backwards and forwards, over and over again, until it was trampled into the very ground, a scarcely recognisable ma of mangled flesh and mud. “Thus, twelve years after the death of his brother Ḥas an, Ḥusain, the second son of Ali, met his own death on the bloody plain of Kerbela on Saturday the 10th day of Mohurrum, A.H . 61 ( A.D . 680).” From al-Ḥusain and his brother al-Ḥas an are derived the descendants of the Prophet known throughout Islām as Saiyids. [ SAIYID , HASAN , MUHARRAM .]