Академия Корана:Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān/Anointing

Andrew Rippin, "Anointing" in: Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, General Editor: J. D. McAuliffe, Georgetown University, Washington DC.

The ritual practice of touching objects or persons with scented oils. A practice common to various cultures of the ancient Near East, anointing is typically done on festive occasions and avoided during periods of fasting and mourning, although it is used in burials. It has also been a ritual act of the dedication of an individual to the deity. In the ancient Near East, kingship especially was conferred formally through anointing rather than through a crown or other fabricated symbols. The practice of anointing was then extended to the priesthood in the person of the high priest who adopted many of the roles of the king. It is in that context that the anointing of David (q.v.) in ancient Israel and the image of Jesus (q.v.) as the anointed one — in Greek, the « Christ», and Hebrew, the « Messiah» — were developed. The Christian usage carries a deeper sense than that of the simple act of being anointed. It conveys also the eschatological idea of the promised redeemer.

In Arabic, duhn can be used in the sense of anointing oil and that may be the meaning reflected in q 23:20, «a tree issuing from the Mount of Sinai that bears oil (duhn) and flavoring for foods». In the common use of the word duhn, however, there appears to be no particular religious significance. It is used in connection with the anointing of one’s moustache, face or hair with oil, perhaps specifically sesame oil, or an ointment. Zayt, another word for oil, perhaps specifically olive oil, has the sense of an oil for burning, certainly when used in q 24:35, «whose oil well-nigh would shine, even if no fire touched it».

It is in the word masīḥ in reference to Jesus, of course, that the prime interest in this concept arises. The word is used eleven times in the Qurʾān («the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary (q.v.)» in q 3:45; 4:157; 4:171; «the Messiah, Mary’s son» in q 5:17, 72, 75; 9:31; «Messiah» in q 4:172; 5:17, 72; 9:30) and is a loanword from the Aramaic meshīḥā (see foreign vocabulary). The sense often attached to that word is «purified» or «filled with blessing», both fairly obvious attempts at isolating an appropriate meaning with little foundation in the language and mainly derived from exegesis (see q 19:31 in which Jesus says of himself, «He has made me blessed (mubārak) wherever I be»). The idea of connecting the word to «touching», a root sense in Arabic, also produced the idea that Jesus' touch could heal; thus it was suggested that Jesus had this power because he had been «touched» himself as had the earlier prophets (see prophets and prophethood). Al-Fīrūzābādī (Baṣāʾir, iv, 499—505) has been able to compile a list of forty-nine different meanings for the word masīḥ, indicating the extent to which the exegetes went in order to find an explanation for a word which would avoid the Christian connotations. In the use of al-masīḥ in reference to Jesus in the Qurʾān, there is little significance given to the sense of «anointing» as it had become connected to the Redeemer in Christianity, who is known as al-Masīḥ. The common statement that al-Masīḥ is understood as a proper name or perhaps a title of honor — in the same way that «Christ» frequently is understood in popular Christianity — would appear to be the best conclusion about its occurrence in q 3:45: «His name (ism) shall be the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary», although the use of the proper article with a non-Arabic proper name is unknown in other instances.

The use of the word al-masīḥ in connection with the Antichrist (q.v.; see also apocalypse), the one-eyed al-Masīḥ al-Dajjāl, follows the Syriac usage and does not alter the fundamental observation that the ancient idea of «anointed» is very remote from any Muslim use of the term al-masīḥ.

Bibliography

Primary

• Fīrūzābādī, Baṣāʾir, iv, 499—505

Secondary

• M. Hayek, L’origine des termes ʿIsā al-Masīh (Jésus-Christ) dans le Coran, in Orient syrien 7 (1992), 223-54, 365-82
• Horovitz, ku, 129-30
• Jeffery, For. vocab., 765-6
• H. Michaud, Jésus selon le Coran, Neuchatel 1960, 44-9
• G. Parrinder, Jesus in the Qurʾān, London 1965, 30-4
• A. Wensinck and C. Bosworth, al-Masīḥ, in ei1, vi, 726