MUSIC

Arabic mūsīqā ( موسيقا‎ ), mūsīqī ( موسيقى‎ ), which the author of the G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah says is a Syriac word. It is generally held by Muḥammadans to be contrary to the teachings of the Prophet; for Nāfiʿ relates that when he was walking with Ibn ʿUmar on a road, they heard the music of a pipe, and that Ibn ʿUmar put his fingers into his ears, and went on another road. Nāfiʿ then asked Ibn ʿUmar why he did so, and he said, “I was with the Prophet, and when he heard the noise of a musical pipe, he put his fingers into his ears; and this happened when I was a child.” ( Mishkāt , book xxii. ch. ix., pt. 3.) Muḥammadan doctors, however, are not agreed on the subject, for Abū Ḥanīfah says, “If a person break a lute or tabor, or pipe, or cymbal belonging to a Muslim, he is responsible, because the sale of such articles is lawful.” But his two disciples, Imāms Muḥammad and Abū Yūsuf, do not agree with him. ( Hidāyah , vol. iii. p. 558.) MUS̤LAH ( مثلة‎ ). The mutilation of the body, which is forbidden by Muslim law, except in the case of retaliation. ( Mishkāt , book xii. ch. ii.) MUSLIM ( مسلم‎ ), from Islām . One who has received Islām. A Muḥammadan. [ MUHAMMADANISM , ISLAM .] MUSLIM ( مسلم‎ ). Abū ʾl-Ḥusain Muslim, son of al-Ḥajjāj al-Qushairī, the compiler of the collection of the Traditions known as the Ṣaḥīḥu Muslim , was born at Naishapūr, A.H . 204, and died A.H . 261. His book of traditions ranks amongst the Sunnīs as but second in authority to the Ṣaḥīḥu ʾ-Buk͟hārī . The two works being styled the Ṣaḥīḥān , or the “two authentics.” It is said to contain 3,000 authentic traditions. [ TRADITIONS .] MUSTAḤĀẒAH ( مستحاضة‎ ). A woman who has an i ue of blood ( ist iḥāẓah ), independent of the menses or of the cleansings after parturition. A must aḥāẓah is not considered junub , or unclean, but may say her prayers and perform the other religious offices. Compare Levitic us xv. 3 . MUṢT̤ALIQ ( مصطلق‎ ). Banū Muṣt̤aliq. An Arabian tribe in the time of Muḥammad. He attacked the Banū Muṣt̤aliq in A.H . 5, and took many of them prisoners. (Muir’s Life of Mahomet , vol. iii. p. 237). They embraced Islām at an early period. MUSTAʾMIN ( مستامن‎ ). Lit . “One who seeks security.” One who, being a foreigner, and not a Muslim, enters Muḥammadan territory, and claims safe conduct and immunity from hostilities. AL -MUTAʿĀLĪ ( المتعالى‎ ). “The Exalted.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It occurs in the Qurʾān, Sūrah xiii. 10 : “He knows the unseen, and the visible,—the Great, the Lofty One .” MUʿTADDAH ( معتدة‎ ). A woman in her ʿiddah , or period of probation, after the death of her husband, or after her divorce. MUTʿAH ( متعة‎ ). Lit . “Usufruct, enjoyment.” A marriage contracted for a limited period, for a certain sum of money. Such marriages are still legal amongst the Shīʿahs, and exist in Persia (Malcolm’s Persia , vol. ii. p. 591) to the present day, but they are said to be unlawful by the Sunnīs. They were permitted by the Arabian Prophet at Aut̤ās, and are undoubtedly the greatest stain upon his moral legislation; but the Sunnīs say that he afterwards prohibited a mutʿah marriage at K͟haibar. (Vide Mishkāt , book xiii. ch. iv. pt. 2.) The Shīʿahs establish the legality of mutʿah not only upon the traditions, but also upon the following verse in the Qurʾān, the meaning of which, according to the commentary Tafsīr-i-Maz̤harī , is disputed. Sūrah iv. 28 : “Forbidden to you also are married women, except those who are in your hands as slaves. This is the law of God for you. And it is allowed you, beside this, to seek out wives by means of your wealth, with modest conduct, and without fornication. And give those with whom ye have cohabited their dowry. This is the law. But it shall be no crime in you to make agreements over and above the law. Verily, God is Knowing, Wise!” According to the Imāmīyah Code of Jurisprudence, the following are the conditions of Mutʿah , or “temporary marriages.” There must be declaration and acceptance, as in the case of nikāḥ , and the subject of the contract must be either a Muslimah, a Christian, or a Jewe , or (according to some) a Majūsī ; she should be chaste, and due inquiries should be made into her conduct, as it is abominable to enter into contract with a woman addicted to fornication, nor is it lawful to make such a contract with a virgin who has no father . Some dower must be specified, and if there is a failure in this respect, the contract is void. There must also be a fixed period, but its extent is left entirely to the parties: it may be a year, a month, or a day, only some limit must be distinctly specified, so as to guard the period from any extension or diminution. The practice of ʿazl ( extra here ante emi ionem seminis ) is lawful, but if, notwithstanding this the woman becomes pregnant, the child is the temporary husband’s; but if he should deny the child, the denial is sustained by the law. Mutʿah marriages do not admit of divorce or repudiation, but the parties become absolutely separated on the expiration of the period. (Baillie’s Digest.) There is a curious account of a discu ion at the Court of the Emperor Akbar with reference to the subject of Mutʿah marriages in the ʿAīn-i-Akbari (Translation by H. Blochmann , M.A., p. 173). At one of the meetings for discu ion, the Emperor asked how many free-born women a man may legally marry. The lawyers answered that four was the limit fixed by the Prophet. His Majesty thereupon remarked that, from the time he had come of age he had not restricted himself to that number, and in justice to his wives, of whom he had a large number, both free-born and slaves, he now wanted to know what remedy the law provided for his case. Most of the Maulawīs present expre ed their opinions, when the Emperor remarked that Shaik͟h ʿAbdu ʾn-Nabī had once told him that one of the Mujtahids had had as many as nine wives. Some of those present said that some learned men had allowed even eighteen from a too literal translation of the second verse of Sūratu ʾn-Nisāʾ in the Qurʾān. [ MARRIAGE .] After much discu ion, the learned men present, having collected every tradition on the subject, decreed, first, that by mutʿah a man may marry any number of wives; and, secondly, that mutʿah marriages were sanctioned by the Imām Mālik; but a copy of the Muwat̤t̤aʾ of the Imām Mālik was brought, and a pa age cited from that collection of traditions against the legality of mutʿah marriages. The disputation was again revived at a subsequent meeting, when at the request of the Emperor, Badāʾonī gave the following summary of the discu ion: “Imām Mālik, and the Shīʿahs are unanimous in looking upon mutʿah marriages as legal; Imām ash-Shāfiʿī and the great Imām Abū Ḥanīfah look upon mutʿah marriages as illegal. But should at any time a Qāẓī of the Malakī sect decide that mutʿah is legal, it is legal, according to the common belief, even for Shāfiʿīs and Ḥanafīs. Every other opinion on this subject is idle talk.” This saying pleased the Emperor, and he at once appointed a Qāẓī, who gave a decree which made mutʿah marriages legal. In permitting these usufructuary marriages Muḥammad appears but to have given Divine (?) sanction to one of the abominable practices of ancient Arabia, for Burckhardt (vol. ii. p. 378) says, it was a custom of their forefathers to a ign to a traveller who became their guest for the night, some female of the family, most commonly the host’s own wife! AL -MUTAKABBIR ( المتكبر‎ ). “The Great.” (When used of a human being it implies haughtine .) One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It occurs in the Qurʾān, Sūrah lix. 23 : “He is … the Great One!” MUʿTAMIR ( معتمر‎ ). A performer of the ʿUmrah. [ UMRAH .] MUʿTAQ ( معتق‎ ). An emancipated slave. [ SLAVERY .] MUTAQĀDIM ( متقادم‎ ). Such a distance of time as suffices to prevent punishment. It operates in a way somewhat similar to the English statutory limitations . MUTAWALLĪ ( متولى‎ ). Lit . “A person endowed with authority.” A legal term used for a person entrusted with the management of a religious foundation. [ MASJID .] MUʿTAZILAH ( معتزلة‎ ). Lit . “The Separatists.” A sect of Muḥammadans founded by Wāṣil ibn ʿAt̤āʾ, who separated from the school of Ḥas an al-Baṣrī ( A.H . 110). The following are their chief tenets: (1) They entirely reject all eternal attributes of God, to avoid the distinction of persons made by the Christians; saying that eternity is the proper or formal attribute of his e ence; that God knows by His e ence, and not by His knowledge: and the same they affirm of His other attributes (though all the Muʿtazilahs do not understand these words in one sense). Hence this sect is also named Muʿat̤t̤ilī, from their divesting God of His attributes; for they went so far as to say, that to affirm these attributes is the same thing as to make more eternals than one, and that the unity of God is inconsistent with such an opinion. This was the true doctrine of Wāṣil, their master, who declared that whoever a erted an eternal attribute a erted there were two gods. This point of speculation concerning the divine attributes was not ripe at first, but was at length brought to maturity by Wāṣil’s followers, after they had read the books of the philosophers. (2) They believe the word of God to have been created in subjecto (as the schoolmen term it), and to consist of letters and sound; copies thereof being written in books, to expre or imitate the original. (3) They also go farther, and affirm that whatever was created in subjecto is also an accident, and liable to perish. They deny absolute predestination, holding that God is not the author of evil, but of good only; and that man is a free agent; which is the opinion of the Qadarīyah sect. On account of this tenet and the first, the Muʿtazilahs look on themselves as the defenders of the unity and justice of God. (4) They hold that if a profe or of the true religion be guilty of a grievous sin, and die without repentance, he will be eternally damned, though his punishment will be lighter than that of the infidels. (5) They deny all vision of God in Paradise by the corporeal eye, and reject all comparisons or similitudes applied to God. According to Shahrastānī, the Muʿtazilah hold:— “That God is eternal; and that eternity is the peculiar property of His e ence; but they deny the existence of any eternal attributes (as distinct from His nature). For they say, He is Omniscient as to His nature; Living as to His nature; Almighty as to His nature; but not through any knowledge, power or life existing in Him as eternal attributes; for knowledge, power and life are part of His e ence, otherwise, if they are to be looked upon as eternal attributes of the Deity, it will give rise to a multiplicity of eternal entities. “They maintain that the knowledge of God is as much within the province of reason as that of any other entity: that He cannot be beheld with the corporeal sight; and, with the exception of Himself, everything else is liable to change or to suffer extinction. They also maintain that Justice is the animating principle of human actions: Justice according to them being the dictates of Reason and the concordance of the ultimate results of this conduct of man with such dictates. “Again, they hold that there is no eternal law as regards human actions; that the divine ordinances which regulate the conduct of men are the results of growth and development; that God has commanded and forbidden, promised and threatened by a law which grew gradually. At the same time, say they, he who works righteousne merits rewards, and he who works evil deserves punishment. They also say that all knowledge is attained through reason, and must nece arily be so obtained. They hold that the cognition of good and evil is also within the province of reason; that nothing is known to be right or wrong until reason has enlightened us as to the distinction; and that thankfulne for the ble ings of the Benefactor is made obligatory by reason, even before the promulgation of any law upon the subject. They also maintain that man has perfect freedom; is the author of his actions both good and evil, and deserves reward or punishment hereafter accordingly.” During the reigns of the Abbaside K͟halīfahs al-Maʾmūn, al-Muʿtaṣim, and al-Was̤iq ( A.H . 198–228) at Bag͟hdād, the Muʿtazilah were in high favour. Mr. Syed Ameer Ali Moulvi, M.A., LL.B. , in the preface to his book, The Personal Law of the Mahommedans (W. H. Allen and Co.), claims to belong to “the little known, though not unimportant philosophical and legal school of the Mutazalas,” and he adds, “the young generation is tending unconsciously toward the Mutazalite doctrines.” According to the Sharḥu ʾl-Muwāqif , the Muʿtazilah are divided into twenty sects, viz.: Waṣilīyah, ʿUmarīyah, Huẕailīyah, Naz̤āmīyah , Aswārīyah, Askāfīyah , Jāfarīyah, Basharīyah, Mazdārīyah, Hishāmīyah, Ṣālhīyah, Hābit̤īyah, Hadbīyah, Maʿmarīyah, S̤amāmīyah, K͟haiyāt̤īyah, Jāhiẓīyah, Kaʿbīyah, Jubāʾīyah, and Buhshamīyah. AL -MUʿT̤Ī ( المعطى‎ ). “The Giver.” One of the ninety-nine names or attributes of God. It is referred to in the Qurʾān, Sūrah cviii. verse 1 : “Verily we have given thee al-Kaus̤ar.”