Zulfiqar

 ( Ali ) 

Zulfiqar or Zulfaqar (, ), also spelled Zu al-Faqar, Zulfakar, Dhu al-Faqar, or Dhulfaqar), is the sword of Ali that was distinguished by having a double blade.

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 meaning of the name is uncertain. The word ḏhu (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.

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 "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:Christoph Heger in: Markus Groß and Karl-Heinz Ohlig (eds.), Schlaglichter: Die beiden ersten islamischen Jahrhunderte, 2008, pp. 278–290.

• 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 (2008) considers two additional possibilities:

• the name in origin referred simply to a double-edged sword, in Koine Greek the μάχαιρα δίστομη 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.

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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 . A common talismanic inscription or invocation is the double statement:

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"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 the Zulfiqar". A record of this statement as part of a longer talismanic inscription was published by Tewfik 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 Christians invocation.reprinted 2004 in Magic and Divination in Early Islam, pp. 125–177, cited after Heger (2008) p. 283.

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Legendary background In legend, the exclamation was made for prophet Muhammad by Allah, Muhammad gave the sword to imam Ali ibn Abi Talib to replace his old broken sword.Heger (2008), p. 286.

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.

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Modern references In Qajar dynasty, actual swords were produced based on the legendary double-pointed design. Thus, the Higgins Collection 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".Higgins Collection, Accession Number target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> 321.a. 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 Empire) Indian hilt.Higgins Collection, Accession Number target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> 2240.

"Zulfiqar" and its phonetic variations has come into use as given name, as with former Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

In Iran, the name of the sword has been used as an eponym in military contexts; thus, Reza Shah renamed the military order Portrait of the Commander of Faithful to Order of Zolfaghar in 1925. The 58th Takavar Division of Shahroud is also named after the sword.

An Iranian main battle tank is also named after the sword, Zulfiqar.

==Gallery==

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Recent developments On 5 February 2025, the Swiss news outlet Presseportal Schweiz published an article titled "An Ancient Arab Weapon or a Sword of Great Historical Significance?", presenting key evidence that a recently surfaced sword may be the original Zulfiqar. The article triggered international media debate.

On 6 February 2025, the Abu Dhabi-based newspaper The National responded critically with an article titled "Swiss Collector Claims to Have Found Zulfiqar, but Experts Are Skeptical." /ref>

In defense against the criticism, two publications— Eye of Riyadh /ref> and the English-language UAE Tribune /ref>

The sword in question had previously appeared in a 2007 catalog by the Lithuanian state-run Trakai Historical Museum, where it was then regarded as a replica. Research efforts have involved experts from the P. Gudynas Restoration Center in Lithuania, led by Prof. J. Senvaitienė, along with Mrs. S. Troicher (Switzerland), Prof. A. Bulakh (USA), Prof. J. Kliver (Austria), Prof. A. Luchtanas (Lithuania), and Ukrainian scholars Prof. A. Minzhulin and Prof. G. Herikh.

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See also

• Bara Sangihe

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