Challenge to be endured. Some one hundred verses in the Qurʾān deal directly or indirectly with trial, in particular as a trial or test of true belief. Four verbs and/or their verbal nouns are especially used, of which the first two constitute the vast majority of these references: balāʾ, ibtilāʾibtilāʾ v, 362b (e.g. q 2:49; 3:186; 47:31; 89:16), fatanafatana v, 362b , fitna (e.g. q 8:28; 64:15), maḥḥaṣamaḥḥaṣa v, 362b (only in q 3:141 and 154) and imtaḥana (only in q 49:3 and 60:10; q 60 is additionally entitled al-Mumtaḥana, literally, “she who was tested,” but its main concern is relations between believers and non-believers, which is tangential to this article; see belief and unbelief ). For trial in the sense of inquisition, see inquisition .
An English rendering of the Arabic phrase aṣḥāb al-ayka that occurs in four Meccan sūras (q 15:78; 26:176; 38:13; 50:14). No consensus exists about the identity of these people who suffered the fate of punishment by destruction for their unbelief (see belief and unbelief; punishment stories). There are at least five different theories about the identity of these people who are associated with the prophet Shuʿayb (q.v.). Some exegetes consider them to have been the inhabitants of a place called Madyan (see midian ) or, secondly, a subgroup of a people called Madyan; it is also posited that they are another people altogether, a second people to whom the prophet Shuʿayb was sent (i.e. in addition to Madyan), while a fourth alternative suggests that al-ayka was a village (balad), namely, the village of al-Ḥijr (which is also the title of a qurʾānic sūra, q 15; see ḥijr ). The fifth theory that is put forward suggests that they are simply Bedouins (ahl al-bādiya, people of the desert; see bedouin ). Lexicographers define ayka and its plural ayk as tangled vegetation or a dense forest or wood, hence the English “thicket” or, in Muḥammad Asad's translation, “wooded dales.” Others add that it consisted of a particular palm tree, al-dawmdawm iv, 54a in Arabic (see date palm ). The early exegete Muqātil b. Sulaymān (d. 150/767; see exegesis of the qurʾān: classical and medieval ) explains that al-dawm is in fact al-muqlmuql iv, 54a (Theban palm; Tafsīr, ii, 434).
A literal translation of the Arabic expression ayyām Allāhayyām allāh i, 505a i, 505b iii, 423a v, 279b . The expression assumes its fuller significance in analogy to the phrase ayyām al-ʿarab, i.e. battles of Arab tribes in the pre-Islamic era (see pre-islamic arabia and the qurʾān ), leading to the more appropriate translation, “battles of God.” The phrase ayyām Allāh occurs twice in the Qurʾān.
Act or process of questioning; judicial or official questioning before a jury, often with the connotation of pursuit of heresy (q.v.) and the punishment of heretics. Two Arabic roots appear in the Qurʾān with the sense of “inquisition:” the fifth verbal form of f-q-df-q-d ii, 537b and the eighth form of m-ḥ-nm-ḥ-n ii, 537b ii, 538a . Tafaqqadatafaqqada ii, 537b is attested once, at q 27:20, where Solomon (q.v.) searches among the birds for the hoopoe (see animal life ), who finally brings him news of the Queen of Sheba (q.v.; see also bilqīs ). The eighth verbal form of the root m-ḥ-n (whence also miḥna, discussed below) is attested twice (q 49:3; 60:10) and lends itself to the title of a sūra, q 60 (Sūrat al-Mumtaḥanaimtaḥana ii, 538a v, 362b , “She who is to be examined”). In both of the qurʾānic attestations, reference is made to the testing of conscience regarding faith (q.v.): in the first instance, those who lower their voices in the presence of the Prophet (see social interactions ) are the ones whose hearts (see heart ) God has proven to righteousness (amtaḥana llāhu qulūbahum lil-taqwā). The second verse, from which the name of q 60 is derived, instructs the believers (see belief and unbelief ) to examine women who come to them seeking refuge. If they are found to be true believers, they are not to be returned to the unbelievers (kuffār, see polytheism and atheism ) who, the verse continues, are not lawful (ḥill, see lawful and unlawful ) for them. It is not, however, a sin (junāḥ, see sin and crime) for the believers to marry such women (see marriage and divorce; women and the qurʾān). This policy marked a modification of the truce of Ḥudaybiya, according to which the Muslims were to return all fugitives, male and female, but the polytheists were not required to give up renegades from Islam (see contracts and alliances; expeditions and battles). q 60:12 contains the terms of the oath of allegiance (see oaths and promises) that such women were to swear to Muḥammad: they were to ascribe no partner to God (see idols and images; idolatry and idolaters), would not steal (see theft ), commit adultery (see adultery and fornication ), kill their children (see infanticide ), lie (q.v.), nor disobey Muḥammad (see disobedience ; cf. Ibn Isḥāq-Guillaume, 509-10).
The site of Islam's first major military victory which occurred in the month of Ramaḍān (q.v.) in the second year after Muḥammad emigrated from Mecca to Medina (March 624, see emigration ). Badr is mentioned explicitly only a single time in the Qurʾān (q 3:123), but there are allusions to it in at least thirty-two other verses. Almost all of these references are found in the eighth sūra, “The Spoils” (Sūrat al-Anfāl), which addresses the issues that arose as a direct consequence of this Muslim victory and stresses above all the spiritual gains that gave Islam its firm foundations.