Haraam
Harām ( Arabic حرام, DMG ḥarām ) is an Arabic adjective that in Islam describes everything that, according to the Sharīʿa, is inviolable (see also Haram (holy district) ), untouchable, inviolable, holy, sanctified or cursed, cursed or forbidden. In terms of its meaning, it most closely resembles the term “ tabu ” in German . Accordingly, something is haram when it is taboo. Depending on the interpretation, the opposite meaning to ḥarām has the word ḥalāl (حلال). It denotes something that is optional according to the Sharīʿa that is not subject to a taboo. The pair of terms ḥarām / ḥalāl is of the highest importance in Islam. It is used to describe a religion-based dislike or affection for both actions and objects.
The supposedly opposing double meaning of the term " ḥarām " as "holy" or "cursed" and the associated scope for interpretation is reinforced in the Judeo-Christian context. Here the “ sacred ” represents something that is essentially positive and associated with the divine. This property fundamentally differs from taboos derived from religion and can only be used to a limited extent for an appropriate translation.
Etymology and related terms
The term ḥarām is originally related to the Hebrew term ḥerem (חרם), which in the Hebrew Bible refers to the segregation and transfer of property and persons to the God of Israel, YHWH , and which is translated as "ban" in the Luther Bible . The Syrian verb ܚܪܡ (ḥrm), which means “consecrate, curse”, is related to ḥarām .
The adjective ḥarām has a common root word with the Arabic noun Ḥaram , which denotes an area covered by taboos. At the same root include Harem whose meaning "holy, inviolable place; Sanctuary; sacred area; female family members, women, wife ”.
As a term for actions
In relation to actions, the term arām can already be found in the Koran . In Sura 16 : 116 people are asked not to claim with a lying tongue that one thing is permitted (( alāl ) and the other is forbidden ( ḥarām ). According to the Islamic view, a Muslim commits a sin by performing an act classified as ḥarām by the Koran or by legal doctrine . In this sense, ḥarām is from the adjective mamnu ' /ممنوع / mamnūʿ, denoting prohibitions that are not derived from Islam.
Ḥarām is the last of the five categories of human action in Islamic jurisprudence .
As a term for objects
The term ḥarām also occurs in the Koran for objects . In several places (for example 2: 144; 17: 1) the Kaaba with the surrounding complex al-masjid al-ḥarām (المسجد الحرام / 'The holy place of worship / mosque'). And for the Kaaba itself, the term al-bait al-ḥarām (البيت الحرام / 'The holy house'). In § 49 of the municipal code of Medina , which in its surviving version can be dated to the year 627, the valley of the pre-Islamic settlement Yathrib (Islamic: Medina ) is also declared to be ḥarām . According to the classical Sharīʿa, pork , blood , dead things, alcohol and other objects are also ḥarām .
Works on the subject
One of the most important recent Arabic works dealing with Ḥarām prohibitions is the book The Permitted and the Forbidden in Islam ( al-ḥalāl wa-l-ḥarām fī l-islām ) by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, first published in 1960 . Here, among other things, the ban on erecting monuments, the various types of forbidden magic and various prohibitions from the economic field, such as the prohibition of interest and the prohibition of risky business, are discussed in detail.
literature
- William Robertson Smith : Lectures on the Religion of the Semites. The fundamental institutions . 3. Edition. A. & C. Black Ltd., London 1927, p. 152-153, 446 ff .
- Julius Wellhausen : Remains of Arab paganism . 3. Edition. de Gruyter, Berlin 1961.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans Wehr: Arabic dictionary for the written language of the present , Wiesbaden 1952, p. 155
- ↑ RB Serjeant: The Sunnah Jāmiʿa, pact with the Yathrib Jews, and the Taḥrīm of Yathrib : Analysis and translation of the documents comprised in the so-called "Constitution of Medina." In Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (BSOAS ) 41 (1978), pp. 1-42. here: 34–35 and 38–39