Fī sabīli Llāh
Fī sabīli Llāh ( Arabic في سبيل الله on the way of God, for the cause of God, for God's sake ) is an Arabic phrase that appears 49 times in the Quran and plays an important role in the religious language of Islam . In most cases it is related to the concept of jihad .
Use in the Koran
The Arabic word sabīl , along with sirāt, tarīq and minhādsch, is one of the terms used in the Koran to denote a path or path. It occurs a total of 176 times in the Koran and is probably borrowed from Syriac-Aramaic or post-Biblical Hebrew . Only one reference ( sura 80 : 20) can be safely assigned to the early Meccan period . But there it describes the general life path of man and has nothing to do with the idea of the "path of God" at this point.
In the Middle and Late Meccan periods the term sabīl was more closely related to God. Thus the angels circling the throne ask God for forgiveness for the believers who have followed his path (sabīl) ( sura 40 : 7), and it is said of God that he knows very well who is on his way ( sabīl ) stray, and whoever is guided ( Sura 6 : 117). The Prophet Mohammed is asked to say: “This is my way (hāḏihī sabīlī). I call you to God on the basis of a visible indication ”( Sura 12 : 108). Conversely, David is admonished not to follow his personal inclination so that it does not lead him astray from the “way of God” (sabīl Allaah) . To explain it, it says: "Those who stray from the path of God will (one day) face a severe punishment" ( Sura 38 : 26).
The phrase fī sabīli Llāh does not appear fully until the Medinic suras. Here it is mainly related to the concept of fighting the unbelievers . In the 49 references, the phrase appears 15 times in connection with the verb qātala “to fight, to fight” (e.g. Sura 2: 190; 3:13; 4:75; 9: 111; 61: 4; 73:20) and 14 times in connection with the verb jāhada "to strive, to fight" (e.g. sura 2: 218; 5:35; 8:74; 9:20; 61:11), from which the term "jihād" is derived. In this formula, the word sabīl receives a second phraseological meaning in the sense of "for ... sake, in the interest of, for the cause of". Frolov suspects that this new prepositional meaning of sabīl first came about in Medina under the impression of the essentially synonymous phrase bi-shebīl in post-Biblical Hebrew. At one point from the late Meccan period (29:69) the simple preposition fī appears in connection with the verb jāhada in place of fī sabīli .
The necessity of fighting “for the cause of God” (fī sabīli Llāh) is emphasized in numerous passages in the Medinan suras . In Sura 4:76 this struggle is contrasted with the struggle of the unbelievers who fight “for the cause of the Ṭāghūt ”. In several places it is affirmed that those who are killed “for the sake of God” go straight to Paradise; B. Sura 3: 169: “And you must not think that those who were killed for God's sake (fī sabīli Llāh) are (really) dead. No, (they are) alive (in the hereafter), and they are given (heavenly food) from their Lord. "
In addition, another way of participating in jihad is mentioned, namely by using one's wealth for the cause of God. The verb anfaqa “to spend” occurs in seven places (Sura 2: 195, 261, 262; 8:60; 9:34; 47:38; 57:10) in connection with the phrase. The relationship between the commitment to the cause of God and the reward on the other side is described in the manner of a commercial transaction with God: “God bought their lives and property from believers in order that they should have paradise. They are to fight for the cause of God and kill and be killed. That is a binding promise [...]. And who keeps his promise more faithfully than God? So rejoice in what you bought. For that is the great gain ”(Sura 9: 111).
The emigration ( hijra ) to the camp of the prophet is also an act that is performed “for the sake of God”. In connection with the verb hādjara “emigrate”, the phrase occurs in another five places (Sura 4:89; 4:95; 8:60; 22:25; 24:22). Believers are urged not to make friends who have not emigrated for God's sake (4:89). A passage where all forms of action for the cause of God are united is found in sura 8 : 72: “Those who believed, who emigrated and struggled with their property and their lives fī sabīli Llāh and who gave asylum and help ( = Ansār ), they are friends to each other. "
Gerd-Rüdiger Puin , who has investigated the usage of the expression ibn as-sabīl ("son of the way"; cf. e.g. 2: 177; 17:26; 30:38), which occurs frequently in the Koran , suspects that this Expression is also related to the formula fī sabīli Llāhi and means the one who has followed the path of God or has stood up for his cause in the form of jihad or hijra.
Meaning in the religious language of Islam
Due to its frequent use in the Koran in connection with the military struggle against the infidels, the formula fī sabīli Llāh also frequently stands for jihad in the post-Koranic religious language of Islam. Numerous traditions of acting "for the sake of God" are passed down in jihad literature. For example, in a tradition narrated in the “Book of Jihad” (Kitāb al-Ǧihād) by Ibn al-Mubārak (st. 797): “A morning or evening train for the cause of God is better as the world and all worldly things ” (Ġudwatun fī sabīli Llāhi au rauḥatun ḫairun min ad-dunyā wa-mā fī-hā). In another narration cited by Ibn al-Mubārak, Umar ibn al-Khattab declares that the best of people is the one who hears about Islam, then leaves his family, sells his fortune and, for the sale price, “some equipment for them Cause of God ” (ʿudda fī sabīli Llāhi) in order to then go to war with the Muslims.
Even Saddam Hussein fell back again to this formula. When his troops faced a US-led international coalition after the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, he tried to motivate his soldiers by describing the necessary military action as a fight fī sabīli Llāhi .
In addition, since the late Middle Ages, the formula has also been used in a demilitarized sense to denote charitable action that is not in one's own interest. In this sense, the formula gave its name to the establishment of the Sabīl, a public fountain that was donated by a private person “for the cause of God”. Such sabīl fountains from different epochs can still be found in numerous cities in the Middle East and represent important architectural monuments there.
The formula fī sabīli Llāh was also the title for the two books "In the path of God" (1983) by Daniel Pipes and "In the path of Allah" (1989) by John Ralph Willis. The former was an attempt to process the consequences of the Islamic Revolution for the West in the form of an overview of the history of the relationship between religion and politics in Islam ; the latter describes the jihad and the hijra of al-Hajj Omar .
literature
- CE Bosworth: Art. "Sabīl" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition Vol. VIII, p. 679.
- Dmitry V. Frolov: Art. "Path or Way" in Jane Dammen McAuliffe (ed.): Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an. 6 vols. Leiden 2001-2006. Vol. 4, pp. 28-31.
- Gerd-Rüdiger Puin: The Dīwān of ʿUmar ibn al-Ḫaṭṭāb. A contribution to the early Islamic administrative history. Bonn 1970. pp. 43-57.
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Arthur Jeffery: The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qurʾān. Baroda 1938. p. 162.
- ↑ Cf. Angelika Neuwirth : Frühmekkanische Suren. Poetic prophecy. Berlin 2011. p. 385.
- ↑ For further positions cf. Sura 2: 154; 3: 157, 195; 22:58; 47: 4.
- ↑ See also Silvia Horsch-Al Saad: Figurations of the Martyr in early Sunni writings . Würzburg 2011. pp. 107-111.
- ^ Translation: H. Bobzin, the arab. Phrase was in arab. Leave original.
- ↑ See Rudi Paret : The Koran. Commentary and Concordance. 4th edition Stuttgart u. a. 1980, p. 39.
- ↑ ʿAbdallāh ibn al-Mubārak: Kitāb al-Ǧihād. Ṣaidā: al-Maktaba al-ʿaṣrīya 1988. p. 24.
- ↑ Cf. ʿAbdallāh ibn al-Mubārak 84.
- ↑ Cf. Jerry Mark Long: Saddam's war of words: politics, religion, and the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Austin, Univ. of Texas Press, 2004. pp. 81-138.
- ↑ See e.g. B. El-Said Badawi, Martin Hinds: A Dictionary of Egyptian Arabic. Arabic-English. Beirut 1986. p. 397. Here the meaning “for the sake of God, out of charity” is given for the formula.
- ↑ See the article by Bosworth.