Luqman

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Luqman or Lôkman ( Arabic لقمان, DMG Luqmān ), also Lokman the Wise (Luqman al-Hakim) , was a legendary figure of Arab paganism. In the Koran , the 31st sura is named after Luqman.

Luqman in pre-Islamic times

In pre-Koranic tradition, Luqman appears as "the long-lived" ( al-Muʿammar ). When offered long life, Luqman chooses the lifespan of seven vultures. He raises them one after the other and lives so 560 years (7 × 80 years). His last vulture is called Lubad. When he drops his wings, Luqman encourages him to fly in vain. Lubad dies and with him Luqman.

In Tabari's universal story ( Taʾrīch al-rusul wa-ʾl-mulûk wa-ʾl-chulafāʾ ) Luqman belongs to the people of the prophet Hūd . He belongs to an embassy to Mecca which implores rain for their sinful and drought-ridden people. The embassy forgets this concern due to the hospitality of the Meccans. Thereupon their people are afflicted with perdition in the form of a black cloud.

Luqman in the Koran

In the Koran a sura is named Luqmans. There Luqman appears as a wise poet who admonishes his son:

And yet we (at that time) gave the Luqman the wisdom (by asking him): Be thankful to God! If one is grateful to God, it is for his own benefit. And if someone (him) is ungrateful (does not harm God). God does not depend on anyone and is worthy of praise. And (at that time) when Luqman admonished his son and said, "My son! Do not join (one) God (other gods)! To associate (other gods) with him is a great outrage." (31: 12-13)

Some of Luqman's admonitions already belonged to the common property of proverbs in Muhammad's time. An example of this is the following Quranic verse, which was widely used in hundreds of versions

And if (all) that there are trees on earth were pens, and the sea (ink and), after it is exhausted, received seven (more) seas as supplies (so that the words of God can all be written down), the words of God would not come to an end. God is mighty and wise.

Another example is the Koran verse:

Walk calmly and muffle your voice! The donkeys have the worst voices.

This verse finds its forerunner in the so-called Ahikar story :

My son, lower your head, lower your voice and look down! For if the house were built by a loud voice, the donkey would build two houses in one day.

The Islamic Tafsīr science identified Luqman with the biblical Balaam (cf. Numbers 23-24) because of the equality of meaning of both names .

Luqman in late oriental poetry

A few centuries after Mohammed, Luqman is reported as a fable poet. He appears as a carpenter, shepherd, tailor, as a misshapen slave and also as an Egyptian, Nubian or Ethiopian slave. These fables, which emerged in the late Middle Ages, can all be ascribed to the Greek fable poet Aesop , whose stories have been translated into Arabic.

Also in the West-Eastern Divan by Goethe Luqman occurs "

"What could Lokman not
produce, Who was called the Garst'gen!"
The candy is not in the cane,
the sugar is sweet. "

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ B. Heller: sv Lukman. In: AJ Wensinck, JH Kramers (Hrsg.): Short dictionary of Islam. EJ Brill, Leiden 1976.
  2. ↑ Michael Jan de Goeje (Ed.): Annals of Tabari, Vol. II, pp. 235-240
  3. ↑ B. Heller: sv Lukman. In: AJ Wensinck, JH Kramers (Hrsg.): Short dictionary of Islam. EJ Brill, Leiden 1976. There also other documents
  4. ↑ For a detailed discussion see: Rendel Harris et al .: The Story of Ahikar. Cambridge 1913, pp. 79-83
  5. ↑ English translation see: The Story of Ahikar, chap. II, 11
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