Zulfiqar

This article is about the sword. For the tank, see Zulfiqar (tank). For other uses, see Zulfiqar (disambiguation).

A Persian miniature dated to 1426 AD, depicting Ali killing the dragon using his double-edged sword Zulfiqar.

Zulfiqar (Arabic: ذُو ٱلْفَقَار, Dhū al-Fiqār, also spelled Dhu al-Fiqar, Dhu'l-Fiqar, Zulfikar, or Zulfaqar) is the name of the sword of Ali, the cousin and son-in law of the prophet Muhammad, the first Shia Imam and the fourth Sunni Rashidun caliph. The sword is closely associated with Ali's bravery, military prowess, and spiritual authority. It subsequently developed into one of the most recognizable Islamic symbols and iconography, particularly in Shia Islam. The sword is widely known for its double-edged or bifurcated blade, splitting into two points at the tip. Middle Eastern weapons are commonly inscribed with a quote mentioning Zulfiqar, and they are at times made with a split tip in reference to the weapon.

The hadith “There is no sword but Zulfiqar, and there is no warrior but Ali” is attributed to Muhammad in praise of Ali's bravery and his sword. The fate of Zulfiqar after Ali's death is not known. According to some accounts, the sword changed hands several times between the Alids and the Abbasids, while Twelver Shia Islam holds that it is now in the possession of the Mahdi. Some traditions attribute miraculous deeds to Ali performed with Zulfiqar. It has also appeared on military banners of the Ottoman Empire, and some Safavid kings even claimed to possess the sword. The name Zulfiqar is also used as a given name and epithet in the Muslim world.

Name

The meaning of the name is uncertain. The word ḏū (ذُو) 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.

Another Persian miniature dated to 1426 AD, depicting Ali killing demons using his double-edged sword Zulfiqar.

The meaning of faqār (فَقَار), 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 'vertebrae of the back, 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:

• 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 considers two additional possibilities:

• the name in origin referred simply to a double-edged sword, in Koine Greek the μάχαιρα δίστομη (máchaira dístomē) 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

The hadith “There is no sword but Dhu al-Fiqar, and no warrior but Ali” is attributed to the Prophet Muhammad in praise of Ali's bravery and his sword. The saying appears here on a 19th-century calligraphic panel: lā fatā illā ʿAlī, lā sayfa illā Dhū l-Fiqār.

Zulfiqar was frequently depicted on Ottoman flags, especially as used by Janissaries cavalry.

Zulfiqar is also frequently invoked in talismans. A common talismanic inscription or invocation is the double statement:

لَا سَيْفَ إِلَّا ذُو ٱلْفَقَارِ وَلَا فَتَىٰ إِلَّا عَلِيٌّ
lā sayfa ʾillā ḏū l-faqāri wa-lā fatā ʾillā ʿalīy^un
"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 Zulfiqar". A record of this statement as part of a longer talismanic inscription was published by Tawfiq Canaan in The Decipherment of Arabic Talismans (1938). Heger (2008) speculates that the talismanic formula may be old and may have originated as a Arab Christian invocation.

Legendary background

A stamped amulet, made in India in the 19th century for a Shia patron. The amulet comprises gnostic squares, Qur'anic verses (including ayat al-kursi (2:255) running around the frame), divine or holy names, besides a depiction of Zulfiqar at the center.

In legend, the exclamation lā sayfa ʾillā Ḏū l-Faqāri wa-lā fatā ʾillā ʿAlīy^un was made for prophet Muhammad by Allah, Muhammad gave the sword to imam Ali ibn Abi Talib 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. The Higgins Armory Museum collection, now at the Worcester Art Museum, 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.

In Iran, the name of the sword has been used as an eponym in military contexts; thus, Reza Shah Pahlavi renamed the military order Decoration of the Commander of the Faithful to Order of Zolfaghar in 1925. An Iranian main battle tank called Zulfiqar is named after the sword. An Iranian short-range ballistic missile is named Zolfaghar. The 58th Takavar Division of Shahroud is also named after the sword. At least three ships of the Pakistan Navy have been named PNS Zulfiqar.

Poetry

Rumi

My king says, “In this wilderness, you may think that I am lost; You do not know that my patience has become the sheath of Dhu al-Fiqar.”

Saif Farghani

The fear of the servant is of the mighty arm of Ali; Do not think that I am afraid of Dhu al-Fiqar.

Unsori

If his stature mocks the cypress by the stream, Why should his glance pierce through the grief with the sword of Dhu al-Fiqar?

Saib Tabrizi

Do not withdraw your head from the command of the sword like a pen; Once the heart is split in two, it becomes like Dhu al-Fiqar.

Gallery

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  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, Egypt
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  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
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  Two Zulfiqar swords on a Chinese scroll, 1845
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  Sokulluzade Hasan Pasha (center) leading in troops with a Zulfiqar Ottoman flag in 1590. Divan of Mahmud Abd al-Baki, 1590–95
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  Ali's duel with the Jewish Knight Marhab during the Battle of Khaybar
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  Ali at the Battle of the Camel
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  Zulfiqar has sometimes been depicted in the hands of Qanbar, a servant of Ali, carrying it for his master.
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  During the 16th-17th centuries the Zulfikar flags were widespread in Ottoman army and numerous red Zulfikar flags left in the battles in Europe are shown in museums and one can even see a red, triangular Zulfikar flag in the Doge Palace in Venice.
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  Depiction of Ali in the Shia tradition by Abolfazl Mirzabeygi, 1978 Iran, with Zulfiqar in his hands.
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  Military flag of Knights of the Ottoman Empire, with Zulfiqar in middle
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  Ottoman emblems and military flags, with Zulfiqar present
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  Purported flag of the Republic of Zamboanga
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  Ismaili flag, with Zulfiqar and Muhammad's hadith present
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  A 1978 Iranian painting depicting the Twelve Imams. Ali is depicted in the center with his Zulfiqar, while the person whose face is obscured by light is the Mahdi.
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  16th-century Ottoman depiction of Husayn bearing his father's sword, Zulfiqar.

See also

• Arab sword
• Bara Sangihe, the Sangirese sword of Indonesia also has a split blade