
form *Arafa, this is regarded by some ex-
perts as a later-day corruption (Yāqūt,
Buldān, iv, ). The name, according to the
classical scholars, is derived from the verbs
based on the root -r-f. According to one
account, Gabriel (q.v.) is said to have
taught (arrafa) the rites of the pilgrimage
to Abraham (q.v.). When Gabriel made the
prophet stand (waqqafahu) on the plain, he
asked him “Do you know? (arafta)” and he
replied, “yes.” Other discussions of the
etymology claim that the plain was where
Adam and Eve (q.v.) encountered each
other (taārafā) after the fall. The sole men-
tion of this place in the Qur
ān is in
 :: “There is no fault in you that you
seek bounty from your Lord. So when you
pour out from *Arafāt, remember God at
the sacred monument. Remember him as
he has guided you, though formerly you
had gone astray (q.v.).”
The plain of *Arafāt plays an important
role in the rites of the pilgrimage. Accord-
ing to a famous adīth of the Prophet, the
ritual at *Arafāt is the pilgrimage. On the
ninth day of the month of Dhū l-ijja,
the pilgrim must stand (waqafa) before
God from shortly after midday until sun-
set. Most of this time is occupied by two
long sermons (sing. khuba), which are usu-
ally delivered by a local dignitary. The
preacher sits astride a camel on the side
of a low hill known as the Mountain of
Mercy ( Jabal al-Rama), also sometimes
called *Arafāt or *Arafa, which lies in the
northeastern corner of the plain.
At one time, the plain was fertile. It is de-
scribed as containing fields, meadows and
fine dwellings which the inhabitants of
Mecca occupied during the pilgrimage.
Indeed, the area produced a number of
notable transmitters of adīth and poetry
(Yāqūt, Buldān, iv, -). Today, little
remains but a few stunted mimosas and
the plain is uninhabited with the excep-
146
tion of one day of the year. See also
.
R.G. Khoury
Bibliography
Primary: abarī, Tafsīr, ii, -; A.J. Wensinck
and H.A.R. Gibb, *Arafa, in   , i, ; Yāqūt,
Buldān,  vols., Beirut ⁄-⁄, iv,
-.
Secondary: G.E. von Grunebaum, Muhammadan
festivals, London , A. Th. Khoury, Der Koran.
Arabisch-Deutsch Übersetzung und wissenschaftlicher
Kommentar, Gütersloh -, ii, .
Ararat
The tallest of two peaks of a group of
mountains, actually an extinct volcanic
range, in the northeast of modern Turkey,
south of present-day Armenia. Mount
Ararat is identified by Jews and Christians
with the biblical story of the flood and the
ark (q.v.) of Noah (q.v.) in Gen -. This
peak is known by the Arabs as Jabal al-
ārith, by the Turks as Büyük Aǧrı Daǧ,
by the Iranians as Kūh-i Nū (Mountain of
Noah) and as Mount Masis (or Masik) by
the Armenians, who view the mountain as
their national symbol, but did not come to
consider it to be the resting-place of No-
ah’s ark until about the twelfth century ..
Islamic tradition makes no mention of
Ararat, for  : states that “[Noah’s]
ship came to rest on Mount Jūdī,” present-
day Cudi Daǧ. This mountain lies some
forty km northeast of Jazīrat Ibn *Umar
(now Cizre) in Turkey, just north of the
Iraqi border, and some three hundred km
southwest of Ararat. Nearby lies the town
of Thamānīn (Arabic for “eighty”), sup-
posedly named for the eighty passengers of
the ark who survived the flood.
Attempts at locating the biblical Ararat
are complicated by the names and loca-
tions given to the resting-place of the ark
 147
in other languages and traditions. It is of-
ten overlooked that the biblical text, which
has inspired repeated searches of remnants
of the ark, actually states (Gen :) that “the
ark [of Noah] rested on the mountains of
Ararat” as the flood waters subsided. In
the Jewish Aramaic Targum and in Syriac
“mountains of Ararat” is translated “turē
Qardū.” The latter appears as Qardā in
the famous geographical dictionary of
Yāqūt (d. ⁄), Mujām al-buldān (iv,
), which locates it south of the present
day Ararat. Yāqūt states that “[al-Jūdī]…
is a mountain overlooking Jazīrat Ibn
*Umar, on the east side of the Tigris, in the
district of Mosul” (ii, , s.v. al-Jūdī),
hence in the territory of ancient Qardū.
Some scholars have linked this name with
Gordyene, the Greek appellation for the
entire area and generally connected with
the Kurds, whose ancient presence in this
area seems to be attested by Xenophon (d.
ca.  ...). The q⁄k of Qardū⁄Kurd,
however, presents a problem and scholars
are now of the opinion that an earlier
people in this area, named Qardū were
succeeded by the Kurds coming from the
east.
The location of Ararat is undoubtedly
connected with the ancient kingdom of
Urar(u (Arara( in ancient Hebrew). Urar(u
ruled much of the area of today’s eastern
Turkey from about the ninth to the seventh
century ..., vying for control of the re-
gion with the Assyrians until, weakened by
constant warfare with its neighbors, it was
finally conquered by the Medes in 
... A current view is, therefore, that the
biblical phrase “the mountains of Ararat”
actually refers to the entire area of moun-
tain ranges of the kingdom of Urar(u
which includes both Mount Jūdī and
Mount Ararat. See also .
William M. Brinner

Bibliography
A. Heidel, The Gilgamesh epic and Old Testament
parallels, Chicago , -; G. LeStrange,
Lands of the eastern caliphate, Cambridge , 
(Mount Judi), - (Ararat); V. Minorsky, Kurds,
Kurdistān, in   , v, -; B.B. Piotrovskii,
Urartu. The kingdom of Van and its art, trans. and
ed. P.S. Gelling, New York ; M. Streck and F.
Taeschner, Aghri Dagh, in   , i, -;
M. Streck, Djūdī, in   , ii, -; abarī, Ta$rīkh,
trans. F. Rosenthal, The history of al-8abarī. i.
From the creation to the flood, Albany , , n.
.
Arbitration
An arrangement by which two or more
persons, having a difference, appoint some-
one to hear and settle their dispute and to
abide by that decision. Arbitration appears
in the Qur
ān several times. The Arabic
equivalent, used only in the singular, is
ukm, a verbal noun of akama. The root
-k-m, which is said to be of non-Arabic
origin ( Jeffery, For. vocab., ), has a num-
ber of meanings (see  -
). The principal meanings of the
simple verbal form akama are “to govern,”
“to restrain,” “to pass judgment” and “to
be sage.” From these original meanings
ākim, “he who decides, the authority, gov-
ernor, judge, wise,” and ukm, “order, rule,
sentence, judgment, wisdom,” are derived
( :-; :; :; :; :). 2akam,
“arbiter,” appears twice in the Qur
ān.
One verse enjoins the appointment of an
arbiter in the case of marital disputes: “If
you fear a split between a man and his
wife, send for an arbiter from his family
and an arbiter from her family. If both
want to be reconciled, God will adjust
things between them. For God has full
knowledge, and is acquainted with all
things” ( :). The other is “Shall I seek
an arbiter other than God, when he it is
who has sent you the book, explained in
detail?” ( :).