Taqwā
Taqwā ( Arabic تقوى, DMG Taqwā 'fear of God') is a term from the vocabulary of the Koran that denotes a certain concept of piety and plays an important role in the religious culture of Islam . This concept has been developed in terms of content, especially in the area of Sufik . The term is a secondary formation to the VIII. Stem of the word root w-qy , ittaqā "(God) fear". In addition to the adjective taqī ("godly"; pl. Tuqāt ) formed in the same way, there is the participle muttaqī , which in principle has the same meaning . The term Taqīya , which in Imamitic Shia denotes the permitted concealment of one's own belief, also belongs to the same family of words.
Occurrence in the Koran
Taqwā is one of the religious concepts mentioned most often in the Quran. The term as well as the associated verb and its derivatives appear 285 times in the Koran. It is noticeable here that the term can be found in the earliest passages of the Koran . For example, in sura 92 : 5-6, the fear of God, along with sharing prosperity and believing in the divine promise, is named as one of the virtues that make it easy for man to partake of salvation.
And in a passage from medinischer time is explained, should that not the tribe, but the degree of fear of God above the rank of the individual with God decide, "Behold, the true God as edelster of you that God fears most" ( akramukum ʿInda Llāhi atqākum ; Sura 49 : 13 transl . H. Bobzin ). The Qur'anic verse Sura 9 : 108 is also particularly well-known, which speaks of the "place of worship" which was founded from the first day on the fear of God "( al-masǧidu llaḏī buniya ʿalā t-taqwā min auwali yaum ). This place of worship is identified in traditional exegesis with the Qubāʾ Mosque in Medina, where Mohammed is said to have prayed for the first time after performing the hijra.
For content determination of Taqwa is Sura 7 : 201 important. Here it is stated that those who are godly ( allaḏīna ttaqau ) allow themselves to be admonished "if a web of Satan comes over them" ( iḏā massa-hum ṭaifun min aš-šaiṭān ), so that they can see clearly again immediately.
Definitions
The theologian al-Jurdschānī , who wrote in the 15th century, gives the following explanations of Taqwā in his "Book of Definitions":
"In lexicography it has the meaning of" being on guard "( ittiqāʾ ), that is," taking a preventive measure "( ittiḫāḏ al-wiqāya ). With the People of Truth ( ahl al-ḥaqīqa ) it consists in protecting oneself from punishment by obedience to God and keeping the soul from the actions or omissions that result in that punishment. "
By the "people of truth" al-Jurdjani probably meant the Sufis, because the view he writes about them is partly in line with the explanations given by al-Qushairī in his Sufi manual on the term Taqwā . In the chapter specifically devoted to this term it says:
“Taqwā is the epitome of good things. The essence of godliness is that obedience to God protects oneself from punishment. It is said: so and so protects himself with his shield ( ittaqā ). The root of godliness is that one is wary of the shirk , then comes that one is wary of sins and evil deeds, then that one is wary of the doubtful, then one gives up the superfluous. "
Other statements from earlier times, however, bind Taqwā more closely to the principle of belief ( īmān ). For example, the companion of the Prophet ʿUbāda ibn Sāmit (st. 654) delivered the following warning to his son:
“O little son! I urge you to fear God ( taqwā Llāh ). Know that you are God-fearing only when you believe in God. And know that you only believe in God and taste the truth of faith when you believe in the predestination in its entirety, (the predestination) of good as well as evil. "
Here the belief in divine predestination and the abstention from qadaritic teachings, which ascribed to the human being a Qadar of their own , are raised to the ultimate decisive criterion for the achievement of the pious virtue of fear of God.
Role in contemporary Islamic culture
Even in the present, the Taqwā concept is still an important point of reference for Islamic thought and Islamic piety. Fazlur Rahman described it in his book Islam and modernity as "perhaps the most important single term in the Qur'an". Due to the statement in Sura 9: 108, Taqwā is also a popular name for mosques in Germany and worldwide (see the list here ).
The term is also very popular with Western converts. For example, the Swiss convert Ahmed Huber founded an Al-Taqwa bank in Lugano in 1988 . And the Muslim American writer Michael Muhammad Knight, who strives for a synthesis of Islamic religiosity and modern punk culture, coined the term Taqwacore , a neologism after which he named his first novel published in 2002.
The Turkish film Takva - Godfear from 2006, which was nominated for the Fassbinder Prize as “best discovery” at the European Film Awards ceremony in December 2007 , deals with the inner conflicts that a Muslim who is oriented towards the Taqwā ideal can experience .
literature
- Leonard Lewisohn: Art. "Taḳwā" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition Vol. XII, pp. 781-785. Available online here .
- Erik Ohlander: "Fear of God ( taqwā ) in the Qurʾān: Some Notes on Semantic Shift and Thematic Context" in Journal of Semitic Studies 50 (2005) 137-152.
- Ahmad Shboul: Art. "Taqwā" in John L. Esposito (ed.): The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. 6 Vols. Oxford 2009. Vol. V, pp. 330b-331a.
Web links
- ismaili.net: Taqwa (First Ismaili Electronic Library and Database)
Individual evidence
- ↑ See on these secondary formations Wolfdietrich Fischer : Grammar of Classical Arabic . 2., through Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 1987. § 242, note 2.
- ↑ See Lewisohn 782a.
- ↑ Süleyman Uludağ in: İslâm Ansiklopedisi , Vol. 39, pp. 484–486
- ↑ Kitāb at-Taʿrīfāt . Ed. Gustav wing . Leipzig 1845. p. 68. Can be viewed online here.
- ↑ See Lewisohn 782b-783b.
- ↑ Quoted from Ǧaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Firyābī: Kitāb al-Qadar. Ed. ʿAmr ʿAbd al-Munʿim as-Salīm. Dār Ibn Ḥazm, Beirut, 2000. p. 270.
- ↑ Quoted from Shboul 331a.