sura belongs to the Meccan period and has 45 verses. Its title 1st verse which opens by praising God, Creator fatāwā] A technical term used in Islamic law to ex nihilo at a moment in time emanated eternally from that Deity. al-Fārābī; Ibn Sīnā; Neoplaton- for the development of (See Art and Architecture, Islamic) sura belongs to the Meccan period and has 5

The sura belongs to the Meccan period and has 45 verses. Its title is drawn from the 1st verse which opens by praising God, Creator of the Heavens and the earth and the One who has made the angels His envoys or emissaries. This reference here to the angels has also led some commentators to give the title 'The Angels' to this sura. It calls on men to remember God's generosity of provision to them. Hell fire awaits the disbeliever but God's true believers will enter the gardens of Eden. The partners whom the unbelievers associate with God, and invoke, are incapable of creation. God sustains the Heavens and earth in existence. (See 'Adn.) Fatwā (Ar.) [pl. fatāwā] A technical term used in Islamic law to indicate a formal legal judgement or view. (See Mufti.) Fayd (Ar.) In its technical philosophical sense, as used by the Islamic philosophers, meant 'emanation'. The contrast often posed was between a world created ex nihilo at a moment in time by God, and a world which emanated eternally from that Deity. The latter position was frequently condemned as heretical by the 'ulamā' (q.v.). (See Falsafa; al-Fārābī; Ibn Sīnā; Neoplatonism, Islamic) Feast See 'Īd; Mawlid. Fez Anglicized form of Arabic Fas, an important town in Morocco. Founded by the Idrsīds towards the end of the 2nd/8th century, it was conquered by the Almoravids (q.v.) in the 5th/ 11th century, and afterwards by the Almohads (q.v.). It was the Almoravid period which was the great one for the development of Islamic art and architecture: this is to be seen most notably in the enlargement and decoration of the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque which is a superb monument to the skills of Hispano-Moorish art in the Almoravid period. (See Art and Architecture, Islamic) al-Fīl (Ar.) The title of the 105th Sura of the Qur'ān. It means 'The Elephant'. The sura belongs to the Meccan period and has 5 82

Fiqh

verses. The title is taken from the 1st verse which asks whether the actions of God with the men of the elephant have not been noticed. The reference here is to the attack on Mecca (q.v.) by Abraha (q.v.) which, as the rest of the sura shows, was unsuccessful.