Zulfiqar

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Shi‘a

Islam

Ahl al-Bayt

Muhammad
Ali • Fatimah
Hasan • Husayn

Texts & Laws

Qur'an

Major branches

Twelvers • Ismaili • Sufism • Zaidiyyah

Societal aspects

History of Shi'a Islam

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Views on Shi'a Islam

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Zulfiqar, the sword of Ali. The phrase above it, Alīyun wali Allah (Ali is the viceregent of God), is added by some Shi'a Muslims to the end of the shahadah.

Zulfiqar (Dhu'l-Fiqar) (Arabic: ذو الفقار‎) was the sword of Muhammad and his son-in-law, Ali. The scimitar is one of the oldest and best known symbols of Islam, as important to Muslims as Excalibur is to the British.

Ali's son, Imam Husayn bin Ali, used Zulfiqar against the Umayyad caliph Yazid I in the Battle of Karbala, where he and his family became martyrs. As a symbol of honour and knighthood, Zulfiqar has appeared in the iconography of Islamic nations for centuries, and was used extensively by the Abbasid Caliphate and the Ottoman Empire. Multiple conflicting images of the sword exist. Some show two parallel blades to emphasize its mystical abilities and speed, while others portray a more traditionally-shaped scimitar and still others depict a split, V-shaped blade. The Shi'a, who believe Ali was the first rightful successor to Muhammad, consider the sword to be as exceptional a weapon as Ali was a knight. Their saying, "La fatà illa Ali, la saif illa Zulfiqar" ( لا فتى إلا على لا سيف إلا ذو الفقار ), "there is no hero except Ali, there is no sword except (his sword) Zulfiqar", was frequently inscribed on new weapons. The sword was presented to Ali by Allah in the battle of Ohad. Ali with the help of this Zulfiqar defended the Prophet Muhammad and won the lost battle for the Muslims, after which the above mentioned phrase was recited

"Zulfiqar" and phonetic variations have been popular given names, as in former Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Various spelt variations exist in modern language scripts, including "Zulfikar", "Thulfiqar", "Dhulfaqar", "Zolfaqar", etc. "Zulfiqar", however, remains the most widely used rendition of the Arabic word.

[edit] History

The name is variously explained, but is generally thought to mean "cleaver of the spine" [1], "the two-pronged one" or "double-edged one". It is sometimes also interpreted as "sharp distinction between right and wrong" or "the one who distinguishes between right and wrong", or "trenchant".

According to legend, Ali used the sword to slice an opponent and his horse in half, and had the archangel Gabriel not intervened, the swing would have split the entire earth in two. The opponent was Amr ibn Abdawud, His strength was comapared to the strenght of 1000 men. He was so brave that no one dared to fight him except Ali, who killed him with just one blow. Amr wore a cone-shaped helmet to avoid swords' knocks over the head, this was no match for Zulfiqar.