Critical Studies on the Quranic Exegesis

Critical Studies on the Quranic Exegesis

Al-Jihād fī Sabīl Allāh: the Formation of the Idea at the Beginning of Islam

Document Type : Promotional article

Author
Member of the Department of Islamic Theology, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
An overview of the numerous uses of the term Sabīl Allāh in the Qurʾān shows that this concept has gone through different semantic paths and undergone semantic changes to be established in Islamic culture. Understanding these semantic changes is possible by reviewing the Qurānic exegesis and Islamic traditions. In this study, we are going to examine the stages of semantic evolution of the concept of Sabīl Allāh in the era of its formation. The obtained results show that Sabīl was first used in the concept of a vague path as a term of transportation, then it found the meaning of a way and also a way of life in the Quraʾāic vocabulary, then the migration of Muslims from Mecca to Medina, which was a movement along the same vague path, was called a movement in Sabīl Allāh. In a later stage, the desirable way of life of a Muslim was represented as a movement in such a vague path, which was known as the Sabīl Allāh. In order to be placed in this divine Sabīl, Muslims had to face difficulties such as being persecuted, emigrating, spending their wealth, doing Jihād, and finally being killed in such a way by the enemies of their religion. After the stabilization of the Islamic society by the prophetic migration, the idea of Jihad in the way of God was also formed based on the same idea of the Sabīl Allāh to mean the sum total of sincere efforts that a person should make with a divine purpose.
Keywords

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Volume 3, Issue 1 - Serial Number 5
September 2022
Pages 207-228

  • Receive Date 30 December 2022
  • Accept Date 03 January 2023