Safari

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Safar ( Arabic صفر, DMG Ṣafar ; falsely also Saphar ) is the second month of the Islamic calendar .

meaning

There are two theories about the meaning of the name of the month: One says that the name is derived from ṣufār ("yellow"); In the days when the calendar was still a solar calendar , the leaves turned yellow in safari. Safar derives the other theory from ṣifr ("zero, empty"); After the Muharram, in which war is prohibited, the houses were deserted and their residents were on their way to the battlefield.

In pre-Islamic times, the safari was a double month, which consisted of the current months of Muharram and Safar. At that time, the second part of the double month , today's Safar, was called Safar II , the two months together as as-Safarani ; the first half of the year thus consisted of the three double months of Safar, Rabiʿ and Dschumada.

In India the month is known as Terah tezi ("thirteen"), this designation refers to the 13th day of the month on which the last illness of the Prophet Mohammed is said to have broken out. On the last Wednesday of the safari this disease is said to have improved again. On the 20th day of the safari, Shiites celebrate the Arba'in festival.

The safari is considered an unlucky month. According to popular belief, 12,000 of the 12,400 prophets before Mohammed died in this month. The first and eighteenth of the month are considered negative days for some. According to a play on words, safar should not be a trip (سفرة, DMG safra ).

Safar is rarely used as a first name.

literature

  • Annemarie Schimmel: The Islamic Year: Times and Festivals . CHBeck 2001. ISBN 3-406-47567-1
  • Martijn Theodoor Houtsma, Thomas W. Arnold, Arent J. Wensinck (eds.): EJ Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam. 1913-1936. Volume 7: S - Ṭaiba. Brill, Leiden et al. 1993, ISBN 90-04-09793-7 .

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