Ghazw
Ghazw ( Arabic غزو, DMG ġazw ) describes the long common behavior of tribes in the camel-keeping Bedouin societies of Arabia and the Sahara to undertake raids on other tribes in order to gain prey . A single raid is called Ghazwa (غزوة / ġazwa ). The German word Razzia is derived from this. The term was later used to designate the conquest campaigns of the Muslims in the context of Islamic expansion .
Significance in Bedouin society
The Ghazw was carried out in Bedouin society exclusively against those tribal groups that were not related to their own tribal association. The main goal in attacking other nomadic tribes was to acquire camels. When settled tribes were attacked at the Ghazw, they were usually charged a tax or protection money, called chuwwa ("brotherhood payment "). The raids were usually led by a ʿaqīd , who was mostly identical with the sheikh , i.e. the head of the tribe. A sophisticated system of distributing booty ( Ghanīma and Anfāl ) was associated with the Ghazw practice . In many cases the Ghazwa was followed by a counter-Ghazwa of the attacked tribe. If blood was shed at a Ghazwa, was the principle of retaliation ( qisas ) either was practiced vendettas or had a blood money to be paid. TM Johnstone interprets the Ghazw as an important means of redistributing economic resources in Bedouin societies when the economic relations between the tribes have become unbalanced by natural disasters.
In pre-Islamic Arab society, Ghazw campaigns were considered heroic deeds and were sung about in poetry. In the holy months of the pilgrimage , however, there was an obligation of peace. The reports and poems about the war campaigns of the ancient Arab tribes were collected and later recorded in writing under the title Ayyām al-ʿArab ("The Days of Battle of the Arabs").
Meaning in Islam
After the Prophet Mohammed emigrated to Medina in 622 , he also carried out raids in the manner of the Ghazw. These are referred to as the Maghāzī in Islamic literature , a term derived from the same Arabic word root as Ghazw. According to the chronology of al-Wāqidī , only seven months after his arrival Mohammed sent a group of warriors led by his uncle Hamza to ambush the Meccan trade caravan returning from Syria, led by Abū Jahl . This was the beginning of a military conflict with the Meccans that lasted until 630. As part of the development of the jihad concept, the Ghazw activity of Muslims was religiously exaggerated and stylized as a commitment “ for the cause of God ”.
After the Prophet's death, the Ghazw was continued in the form of the Futūh . In traditions about the Prophet and his companions, the merit of the Ghazw activity was emphasized. Ghazw was now considered an activity that could also be carried out at sea. Thus the Prophet is quoted in a hadith , which Ibn al-Mubārak (st. 797) in his “Jihad Book” ( Kitāb al-Jihād ), with the words: “Who did not have the opportunity to perform the Ghazw with me He shall perform the Ghazw on the sea ”( man lam yudrik al-ġazw maʿī fa-ʿalai-hi bi-ġazwi l-baḥr ).
Rulers and other people who excelled at the Islamic Ghazw were later given the honorary title Ghāzī , which represents the active participle of the verbal noun Ghazw.
literature
- TM Johnstone: Art. " Gh azw" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition Vol. II, pp. 1055-1056a.
- Asʿad AbuKhalil: Art. Ghazw , in John L. Esposito (ed.): The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. 6 Vols. Oxford 2009. Vol. II, pp. 321a-322a.
- Reuven Firestone: Jihad. The Origin of Holy War in Islam . New York et al. a. 1999. pp. 34-36.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cf. ʿAbdallāh ibn al-Mubārak: Kitāb al-Ǧihād. Ṣaidā: al-Maktaba al-ʿaṣrīya 1988. p. 96.