Luqman, Lokman or Lukman (; also known as Luqman the Wise or Luqman al-Hakim) was a man after whom ''
Luqman'', the 31st ''
surah
A ''surah'' (; ; ) is an Arabic word meaning 'chapter' in the Quran. There are 114 ''suwar'' in the Quran, each divided into ayah, verses (). The ''suwar'' are of unequal length; the shortest ''surah'' (al-Kawthar) has only three verses, while ...
'' (chapter) of the
Qur'an
The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...
, was named. There are many stories about Luqman in
Persian,
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
and
Turkish literature.
Source of Luqman's wisdom
According to the 12th ''
ayah'' (verse) of surah Luqman in the Qur'an, Luqman was bestowed with
hikmah by
God, ''al-Hakim''. "We gave wisdom to Luqmān, and said, 'Be grateful to God', and whoever is grateful is, in fact, grateful for his own benefit, and whoever is ungrateful, then God is free of all needs, worthy of all praise." ()
According to a
hadith
Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
in the
''Muwatta'' of Imam Malik, Luqman was asked, "What has brought you to what we see?", referring to his high rank. Luqman said, "Truthful speech, fulfilling the trust, and leaving what does not concern me." This narration has also been mentioned with different wording in another source from ibn Jarir who heard it from ibn Hamid who heard it from al-Hakam who heard it from Umar ibn Qays.
Identity of Luqman
According to the 14th-century Arabic scholar
Ibn Kathir
Abu al-Fida Isma'il ibn Umar ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi (; ), known simply as Ibn Kathir, was an Arab Islamic Exegesis, exegete, historian and scholar. An expert on (Quranic exegesis), (history) and (Islamic jurisprudence), he is considered a lea ...
, Luqman is believed to have been from
Nubia
Nubia (, Nobiin language, Nobiin: , ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the confluence of the Blue Nile, Blue and White Nile, White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), and the Cataracts of the Nile, first cataract ...
,
Sudan
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...
or
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
.
[Ibn Kathir, Hafiz, Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Dar-us-Salam Publications, 2000 (original ~1370)]
A mythical figure of
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world.
Geographically, the ...
named Luqman existed long before the Quran, resulting in considerable debate of both theological and historical nature as to the relationship of the two characters. Some, such as 17th-century French scholar
Pierre Daniel Huet
P. D. Huetius
Pierre Daniel Huet (; ; 8 February 1630 – 26 January 1721) was a French churchman and scholar, editor of the Delphin Classics, founder of the Académie de Physique in Caen (1662–1672) and Bishop of Soissons from 1685 to 1689 ...
, maintain that the two are the same person, but others argue that they simply share the same name.
In Arabic proverb collections, the two characters are fused, drawing from both the Quran and pre-Islamic stories, endowing Luqman with superhuman strength and lifespan. According to
Arab mythology, the
pre-Islamic Luqman was a member of the
ʿĀd who lived in
al-Ahqaf in
South Arabia
South Arabia (), or Greater Yemen, is a historical region that consists of the southern region of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia, mainly centered in what is now the Republic of Yemen, yet it has also historically included Najran, Jazan, ...
while Luqman in the Quran is from
Nubia
Nubia (, Nobiin language, Nobiin: , ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the confluence of the Blue Nile, Blue and White Nile, White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), and the Cataracts of the Nile, first cataract ...
.
Some scholars have suggested that the figure of Luqman in Arabic is based on
Alcmaeon of Croton. By the Middle Ages, many of the ancient fables traditionally associated with
Aesop
Aesop ( ; , ; c. 620–564 BCE; formerly rendered as Æsop) was a Greeks, Greek wikt:fabulist, fabulist and Oral storytelling, storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as ''Aesop's Fables''. Although his existence re ...
in Europe became associated in Arabic culture with Luqman.
References
Further reading
*
Barham, Francis Foster ''Lokman's Arabic Fables'', literally translated into English (word for word), Bath, 1869, 12mo.
External links
*
*
FABULAS DE LUQMAN POR M. CHARBONNEAU. PARIS . HACHETTE, 1846Fables de Loqman le Sage; le texte rev. de nouveau sur les mss., accompagné d'une version française et des notes, et précédé d'une introduction sur la personne de Loqman et sur l'origine de ce recueil de fables (1850)
{{Portal, Islam
People of the Quran
Angelic visionaries
Islamic mythology
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