of sacrifice in islam is not the atonement of sins,
as in the Old Testament; rather, what is important
is Abraham’s submission to God’s will. The Quran
states that with animal sacrifices, “It is not their
meat nor their blood that reaches Allah; it is your
piety that reaches him” (Q 22:37).
Lastly, in the sharia menstrual blood is consid-
ered to be a source of major impurity, and Women
are exempted from prayer and Fasting as long as
their monthly period lasts, as are women expe-
riencing postpartum bleeding. When a woman’s
period ends, she must perform a complete ablU-
tion before engaging in an act of worship or enter-
ing a sacred place, such as a mosqUe. Rules about
menstruation and ritual purity are a major topic in
the hadith and fiqh literature.
See also dietary laWs; id al-adha.
Further reading: Laleh Bakhtiar, Encyclopedia of Islamic
Law: A Compendium of the Major Schools (Chicago:
ABC International Group, 1996); Somaiyah Berrigan,
ed., An Enlightening Commentary into the Light of the
Holy Quran. 2 vols. (Isfahan: Amir-al-Momineen Ali
Library, 1994), 2:121–128; Maurice Bucaille, The Bible,
the Quran and Science: The Holy Scriptures in the Light
of Modern Knowledge. Translated by Alastair D. Pannell
and Maurice Bucaille (Indianapolis: American Trust
Publications, 1979), 198–210.
boat
Boats have been a primary means of transpor-
tation on the waters in Islamicate lands. The
qUran mentions noah’s ark, a boat made of
planks and nails (Q 54:13), and to this day the
benediction God gave to Noah when he launched
it—“Embark! In the name of God be its course
and mooring” (Q 11:41)—is written on boats and
ships owned or used by Muslims. The Quran also
mentions ships boarded by Jonah (Q 37:140) and
moses (Q 18:71). Muslims have used boats and
ships since the inception of islam as vehicles of
commerce, travel, and military conflict. Seafaring
Muslim merchants have been a vital part of both
the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean maritime
trading networks and were responsible for the
initial spread of Islam along the coasts of South
and Southeast Asia. Muslim navies controlled
much of the Mediterranean for centuries and took
part in such famous naval battles as the Battle of
the Masts, when a newly formed Islamic fleet first
defeated its Byzantine counterpart in 655.
There were a wide variety of types of boats
in medieval Islamdom, but there were two basic
methods of construction: the Mediterranean
method and the West Indian Ocean method. In
the Mediterranean, boats were built frame first,
constructing a wood skeleton and then attaching
the planking over it with metal nails. In the Indian
Ocean, boats were built shell-first, from the out-
side in, and sewn together completely with palm
fiber cord without the use of nails. After the intru-
sion of the European navies in the 16th century,
the Indian Ocean tradition gradually faded as boat
builders adopted European methods, which were
better suited to modern weaponry such as can-
non. Today a rich tapestry of traditional boats still
exists in Muslim lands, from the fishing felucca of
the Nile to the merchant dhow of the Gulf, plying
the waters side by side with their more modern
fiberglass and metal counterparts.
Eric StaplesEgyptian feluccas docked in Aswan (Juan E. Campo)K 110 boat