Zulfiqar

Zulfiqar ( ar, ذُو ٱلْفَقَار, Ḏū-l-Faqār, ), also spelled ''Zu al-Faqar'', ''Zulfikar'', ''Dhu al-Faqar'', ''Dhulfaqar'' or ''Dhulfiqar'', is the sword of Ali ibn Abi Talib.

Middle Eastern weapons are commonly inscribed with a quote mentioning Zulfiqar, and Middle Eastern swords are at times made with a split tip in reference to the weapon.

Name

The meaning of the name is uncertain. The word ''ḏhu'' () means "possessor, master", and the idafa construction "possessor of..." is common in Arabic phraseology, such as in ''Dhu al-Qarnayn'', ''Dhu al-Kifl'', ''Dhu al-Qadah'' and ''Dhu al-Hijjah''.

The meaning of ''faqār'' (), means "splitter, differentiatior". It is often vocalized as ''fiqār'' instead of ''faqār''; Lane cites authorities preferring ''faqār'' however the vocalization ''fiqār'' still sees more widespread use. The word ''faqār'' has the meaning of "the vertebrae of the back, the bones of the spine, which are set in regular order, one upon another", but may also refer to other instances of regularly spaced rows, specifically it is a name of the stars of the belt of Orion.

Interpretations of the sword's name as found in Islamic theological writings or popular piety fall into four categories:Christoph Heger in: Markus Groß and Karl-Heinz Ohlig (eds.), ''Schlaglichter: Die beiden ersten islamischen Jahrhunderte'', 2008
pp. 278–290

*reference to the stars of the belt of Orion, emphasizing the celestial provenance of the sword
*interpretation of ''faqār'' as an unfamiliar plural of ''fuqrah'' "notch, groove, indentation", interpreted as a reference to a kind of decoration of regularly spaced notches or dents on the sword
*reference to a "notch" formed by the sword's supposed termination in two points
*reference to the literal vertebrae of the spine, yielding an interpretation in the sense of "the severer of the vertebrae; the spine-splitter"
The latter interpretation gives rise to the popular depiction of the sword as a double-pointed scimitar in modern Shia iconography. Heger (2008) considers two additional possibilities:
*the name in origin referred simply to a double-edged sword (i.e. an actual sword rather than a sabre or scimitar), the μάχαιρα δίστομη of the New Testament.

*''fiqār'' is a corruption of ''firāq'' "distinction, division", and the name originally referred to the metaphorical sword discerning between right and wrong.

Invocation and depiction

Zulfiqar was frequently depicted on Ottoman flags, especially as used by Janissaries cavalry, in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Zulfiqar is also frequently invoked in talismans. A common talismanic inscription or invocation is the double statement:
:
:
:"There is no sword but the Zulfiqar, and there is no Hero but Ali"

The order of the two-part phrase is sometimes reversed, instead saying "there is no Hero but Ali, and there is no sword but the Zulfiqar". A record of this statement as part of a longer talismanic inscription was published by Tewfik Canaan in ''The Decipherment of Arabic Talismans'' (1938).
Heger (2008) speculates that the talismanic formula may be old and may have originated as a Christian invocation.

Legendary background

In legend, the exclamation was given after Muhammad asked God to give him a sword. The sword appears in Muhammad's hands and then Muhammad throws the sword to Ali to replace his old broken sword.

Al-Tirmidhi attributes to Ibn Abbas the tradition that Muhammad acquired the sword on the day of Badr, after he had seen it in a dream concerning the day of Uhud.

Modern references

In Qajar Iran, actual swords were produced based on the legendary double-pointed design. Thus, the Higgins Collection holds a ceremonial sabre with a wootz steel blade, dated to the late 19th century, with a cleft tip. The curator comments that "fractures in the tip were not uncommon in early wootz blades from Arabia" suggesting that the legendary double-pointed design is based on a common type of damage incurred by blades in battle. The tip of this specimen is split in the blade plane, i.e. "For about 8" of its length from the point the blade is vertically divided along its axis, producing side-by-side blades, each of which is finished in itself", in the curator's opinion "a virtuoso achievement by a master craftsman". Another 19th-century blade in the same collection features a split blade as well as saw-tooths along the edge, combining two possible interpretations of the name ''Dhu-l-Faqar''. This blade is likely of Indian workmanship, and it was combined with an older (Mughal era) Indian hilt.

"Zulfiqar" and its phonetic variations has come into use as given name, as with former Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

In Iran, the name of the sword has been used as an eponym in military contexts; thus, Reza Shah Pahlavi renamed the military order ''Portrait of the Commander of Faithful'' to ''Order of Zolfaghar'' in 1925. The 58th Takavar Division of Shahroud is also named after the sword.

An Iranian main battle tank is also named after the sword, ''Zulfiqar''.

Gallery

File:Sword_and_shield_reproduction_from_Bab_al_Nasr_gate_Cairo_Egypt.jpg, Drawing of Fatimid version of Zulfiqar in the 10th-century; the earliest visual depiction in history, as carved on Bab al-Nasr, one of the gates of Cairo.
File:BarbarosSancagi.svg, Flag of Barbarossa
File:Zulfiqar flag at Guruslău (1601).svg, Ottoman Zulfiqar flag, captured during the Battle of Guruslău (1601), drawn after Károly Cserna, ''Transylvanian and Turkish flags (1898)
Shah Jahan and his son, Dara Shikoh, c17th century.jpg, The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan leading the Mughal Army, in the upper left War elephants bear emblems of the legendary Zulfiqar (17th century)
File:Flag of Mahmut Pasha Bushatli - 1796.svg, Flag of Kara Mahmud Pasha (Ottoman Albania, 1796).
File:Ali Ali with Zulfiqar on his knees (19th century, MuCEM inv. no. 2003,197,7)
Zulfiqr (split-bladed sword), India, blade perhaps 1800s - Higgins Armory Museum - DSC05551.JPG, Closeup of the saw-toothed and notched point of the 19th-century Indian-made "Zulfiqar" sword kept in the Higgins Collection (accession no. 2240); ''circa'' 1800.
File:Imperial Coat of Arms of Iran.svg, Coat of Arms Pahlavi Iran, showing a Zulfiqar sword in the lower-left shield quadrant (1925 and after).
File:Khalili Collection Hajj and Arts of Pilgrimage mss 1270 swords.jpg, Two Zulfiqar swords on a Chinese Islamic scroll, 1845

References

{{Notable swords

Middle Eastern swords
Mythological swords
Islamic mythology
Shia Islam
Amulets
Heraldic charges
Islamic terminology
Life of Muhammad
Islamic religious objects
Ali
Sunni Islam