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Zulfiqar (Arabic: ذو الفقار Ḏū-l-Faqār or Ḏū-l-Fiqār) is the name of the legendary sword of Ali ibn Abi Talib which is said to have been given to him by Muhammad. Muhammad gave this sword to his cousin Ali in the Battle of Uhud.The sword was brought by Jibraeel (Gabrial "Lord of Angels") as an order from Allah. It was historically frequently depicted as a scissor-like double bladed sword on Muslim flags, and it is commonly shown in Shi'ite depictions of Ali and in the form of jewelry functioning as talismans as a scimitar terminating in two points. 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.
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Name
The name is also variously transliterated as Dhulfiqar, Zulfiquar, Zulfikar, Thulfeqar, Zoulfikar, Zulfeqhar etc. The meaning of the name is unclear. The word ذو ḏu means "lord, master", and the idafa construction "master of..." is common in Arabic phraseology (e.g. in Dhu-l-Qarnayn, Dhu-l-Kifl, Dhu-l-Hijjah etc.). The meaning of فقار, on the other hand, is unclear. It may be vocalized as either fiqār or faqār; Lane cites authorities preferring faqār and rejecting fiqār as "vulgar", but the vocalization fiqār still sees the 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:
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,
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 (paralleling the tahlila in form):
لا فتى إلا علي لا سيف إلا ذو الفقار lā fata ʾillā ʿAlī; lā sayf ʾillā Ḏū l-Fiqār. "There is no hero like Ali; There is no sword like Dhu-l-Fiqar"A record of this statement as part of a longer talismanic inscription was published by Tewfik Canaan in The Decipherment of Arabic Talismans (1938).
Legendary background
In legend, the exclamation lā fata ʾillā ʿAlī lā sayf ʾillā Ḏū l-Fiqār is attributed to Muhammad, who is said to have uttered it in the Battle of Uhud in praise of Ali's exploit of splitting the shield and helmet of the strongest Meccan warrior, shattering his own sword in the same stroke. Muhammad is said to then have given his own sword Dhu-l-Fiqar to Ali to replace the broken sword. In another variant, the exclamation is not due to Muhammad but to "a voice on the battlefield".
According to the Twelver Shia, Dhū al-Fiqār is currently in the possession of the Imam in occultation Muhammad al-Mahdi, alongside the al-Jafr.