Ajam

ʿ Adscham (Arabic عجم, DMG ʿ aǧam, non-Arabs, Persians ' ) is a term of national, constitutional, cultural and religious conflict, especially within Islam and the Muslim community. The word has to Arabs about the same broad meaning as for the Greeks the word " barbarian ". There are those strangers who articulate the Arab incorrect ( Fasih ). Derived from the root ʿ - Ǧ -m " test, test " to characterize a person with ʿ udschma / عجمة / ʿ uǧma / accent ' that speaks incorrect and incomprehensible. From this basic meaning of the term ʿ is then adscham already in the pre-Islamic poetry to refer to the non-Arabs, were subsequently derived almost exclusively for the Persians.

According to Bernard Lewis, however, the most common word for " outsider " in the language of Islam is kafir " unbeliever ".

In the Quran

Accordingly, mentioned in the Quran word Arab is أعجمي, DMG ʿ aǧamī, not Arab, non-Arab ' ( Qur'an, 16, 103) and al - ʿ aǧamīna ( Qur'an, 26, 198) and ʿ aǧamīyan ( Qur'an, 41, 44 ), which literally means " strangers (r ) "and" foreign language (s ) "means, with " translated non-Arabs "or (erroneously ) as" barbarian (s) ". Koran, 26, 198f. expresses this understanding of the term:

"If we had sent down to him on one of the non-Arabs and he had ( in his own language ) recited it to them, they would have ( already ) not believed it. "

Similarly, in Surah 41, verse 44:

"If we had (ie the Qur'an) made ​​it a non-Arabic Qur'an, they would say, 'Why are its verses ( w. characters) not ( in detail) dealt ( so that anyone can understand them ) ' ( What does that :) a non-Arab ( Koran ) and an Arab ( the Herald)? "

In the Qur'an exegesis ( tafsir ) is generally explained that the " infidels" the accusation against Mohammed collected the Qur'an was forged by him because he was so Arabs and the Koran in Arabic. You could have claimed a revelation of God it was when Mohammed had started talking language in a foreign ( non-Arab ). The exegesis explains that the Quran is exactly countering this accusation by saying that the Qur'an was precisely disclosed because of its intelligibility to the Arabs in Arabic to avoid that say "infidels ": " How strange: An Arab envoy came to the Arabs, but his revelation is in a language that is not understood neither by him to the Arabs. "

In the Hadith

During the Farewell Pilgrimage, the Prophet Muhammad taught at the mountain of ʿ Arafat, including the following words to his followers:

"I have something clear and strong left; if you hold fast to it, you will never go astray: God's Book and the Sunnah of His Prophet. People! hear my words and understand them! You should know that every Muslim is the brother of Muslim and that the Muslims ( among themselves ) are brothers [ ... ], the most excellent of you with God is the most pious of you. An Arab has only by his piety precedence over the non-Arabs ( ʿ aǧam ). "

This equality ethos that is being demonstrated here is attributed only concerns the speech of the Prophet, because this additional continuous missing in the oldest sources of the Islamic tradition being and - what already Ignaz Goldziher has pointed out - will probably be regarded as a later addition. However, this positive attitude towards non- Arabs is already in the extensive collection of Ahmad ibn Hanbal tradition (d. 855 in Baghdad ) as part of the speech of the prophets before. Other content similarly aligned prophetic statements that had been later than the time of al - Shafi'i (d. 815 in Egypt) handed down in written form, also suggest the idea of ​​the equality of Arabs and non-Arabs:

"Five things have been bestowed on me and no other before me ( by God): the whole earth has been given to me as a ritually pure place of prayer. Through fear I was helped to victory. The spoils of war have been permitted to me. I have been sent to the red and the white ( equally ). Intercession ( between God and man ) has been given to me. "

The color name - red and white - is used here to mean " for all mankind ". The Arabs called the Persians - that is, the ʿ aǧam - as "Red" is so bright in color as opposed to " black ", as the Arabs called back then. Also the color combination Yellow and White comes in the importance of before "all", all of humanity. (Lit.: . Goldziher, blacks and whites ) Accordingly, the color combination of "black" (Arabs ) and "Red" ( Persian ) used in the collection of Ahmad ibn -mentioned tradition Hanbal.

Another development is the juxtaposition of the " black " slaves ( raqaba Sauda ʾ ), as ʿ aǧamiyya called, and the "white " ( Baida ʾ ) slaves in the Islamic jurisprudence dar. The former is to be understood as a black man in the modern sense.