Draft:Anṣāb
Anṣāb were stones installed around the Ka'ba that polytheists worshipped during the Age of Ignorance. The Qur'an introduced Anṣāb as the works of Satan and ordered their abandonment. In the Qur'an, Anṣāb are mentioned alongside wine, maysir (gambling), and azlām as satanic acts, and Muslims are asked to avoid them.[1]
- «يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّمَا الْخَمْرُ وَ الْمَيْسِرُ وَ الْأَنْصَابُ وَ الْأَزْلَامُ رِجْسٌ مِنْ عَمَلِ الشَّيْطَانِ فَاجْتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ»
"O you who have faith! Indeed wine, gambling, Anṣāb, and azlām are abominations of Satan's doing, so avoid them, so that you may be felicitous." Qur'an 5:90
During the Age of Ignorance, idolaters had installed stones around the Ka'ba that had no specific shape or form.[2] These stone idols,[3] which were sacred to the polytheists[4] and were worshipped by them, were called nuṣub.[5] Placing these stones next to the Ka'ba and worshipping them was among the traditions of the polytheists.[6]
Polytheists, with the intention of seeking taqarrub to these stone idols,[7] would offer sacrifices for them[8] and smear the blood of the sacrifice on them.[9] Of course, sometimes the sacrificing was done on these very stones.[10] After the emergence of Islam, in addition to the prohibition of idolatry, sacrificing for Anṣāb was also forbidden.[11]
According to what some exegetes have reported, the polytheists did not have a specific zeal for the stones, and if they found a stone with a stranger shape and appearance, they would replace the previous stone with it.[12]
Exegetes believe that nuṣub were idols other than aṣnām.[13] Aṣnām were carved idols that had a specific shape and form, but nuṣub were shapeless and formless stone idols.[14]
See Also
Notes
- ↑ Qur'an 5:90.
- ↑ Al-Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, 1372 Sh, vol. 3, p. 244.
- ↑ Rashīd Riḍā, Tafsīr al-Manār, 1990, vol. 6, p. 121.
- ↑ Al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, 1417 AH, vol. 5, p. 166.
- ↑ Al-Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān, Beirut, vol. 3, p. 433.
- ↑ Al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, 1417 AH, vol. 5, p. 166.
- ↑ Al-Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, 1372 Sh, vol. 3, p. 244.
- ↑ Ibn Abī Ḥātim, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm, 1419 AH, vol. 4, p. 1198.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, 1374 Sh, vol. 4, p. 260.
- ↑ Al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-bayān, 1412 AH, vol. 6, p. 48.
- ↑ Al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-bayān, 1412 AH, vol. 6, p. 48.
- ↑ Al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-bayān, 1412 AH, vol. 6, p. 48.
- ↑ Al-Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān, Beirut, vol. 3, p. 433.
- ↑ Rashīd Riḍā, Tafsīr al-Manār, 1990, vol. 6, p. 121.
References
- Ibn Abī Ḥātim, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Muḥammad, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm, researched by Asʿad Muḥammad al-Ṭayyib, Saudi Arabia, Maktabat Nizār Muṣṭafā al-Bāz, third edition, 1419 AH.
- Rashīd Riḍā, Tafsīr al-Manār, Egypt, Al-Hayʾa al-Miṣriyya al-ʿĀmma li-l-Kitāb, 1990.
- Al-Shaykh al-Ṣadūq, Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh, corrected by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī, Qom, Islamic Publications Office, second edition, 1413 AH.
- Al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Al-Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn, al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, Qom, Islamic Publications Office, fifth edition, 1417 AH.
- Al-Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. Ḥasan, Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, introduction by Muḥammad Jawād al-Balāghī, Tehran, Nāṣir Khusraw, third edition, 1372 Sh.
- Al-Ṭabarī, Muḥammad b. Jarīr, Jāmiʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, Beirut, Dār al-Maʿrifa, first edition, 1412 AH.
- Al-Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. Ḥasan, al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, introduction by Āghā Buzurg Tihrānī, researched by Aḥmad Qaṣīr al-ʿĀmilī, Beirut, Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, n.d.
- Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir, Tafsīr-i nimūna, Tehran, Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, first edition, 1374 Sh.