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Taghut

Islamic term for idols or idolatry

Islamic term for idols or idolatry

Taghut (, ṭāġūt; pl. ṭawāġīt (طواغيت); broadly: "to go beyond the measure") is Islamic terminology denoting the worship of another deity besides God. In traditional theology, the term often connotes idols or demons drawn to blood of pagan sacrifices. They appear wherever a person has been murdered. The pre-Islamic deities al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā, later also Satan, are associated with that term.

In modern times, the term is also applied to earthly tyrannical power. The modern Islamic philosopher Abul A'la Maududi defines taghut in his Quranic commentary as a creature who not only rebels against God but transgresses his will. Due to these associations, in contemporary political discourse, the term is used to refer to people considered anti-Islamic and agent of Western cultural imperialism. The term was introduced to modern political discourse since the usage surrounding Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini during the 1979 Iranian Revolution, through accusations made both by and against Khomeini.

Etymology

The Arabic word ar is commonly seen as derived from the three-letter verbal root of ط-غ-ي , which means to "cross the limits, overstep boundaries," or "to rebel." From this, Taghut denotes one who exceeds their limits.

Manfred Kropp traced it to the Ge'ez (Old Ethiopian) ጣዖት ta'ot, meaning false idol.

Taghut is used together with جِبْت jibt in surah al-Nisa 4:51. Wahib Atallah says that these words are of Egyptian origins and explains these words as Hejazi pronunciations of Copt and Thoth.

In the Quran

The term taghut occurs eight times in the Quran. In Pre-Islamic Arabia referring to pagan deities such as Al-Lat and Al-Uzza.

This is taken to refer to an actual event in which a group of disbelieving Meccans went to two eminent Jewish figures for counsel on the truth of Muhammad's teachings and were told that the pagans were more rightly guided than Muslims.

The Arabic taghut is variously interpreted to refer to idols, a specific tyrant, an oracle, or an opponent of the Prophet.

Again, this term taghut has been used here to designate a demon worshipped by the Quraysh.

References

References

  1. Dmitriev, K., & Toral-Niehoff, I. (Eds.). (2017). Religious culture in late antique Arabia: selected studies on the late antique religious mind. Gorgias Press. p. 55
  2. Nünlist, Tobias. (2015). "Dämonenglaube im Islam". Walter de Gruyter.
  3. Zbinden, Ernst A.. Die Djinn des Islam und der altorientalische Geisterglaube. Deutschland, P. Haupt, 1953. p. 36
  4. "ṭāg̲h̲ūt". In Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Glossary and Index of Terms, (Brill, 2012) doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_ei2glos_SIM_gi_04636
  5. Momen, Moojan. (1995). "Țāghūt". In John L. Esposito. ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  6. Mawdudi, 1988, vol.1, pp.199-200
  7. Mir, Mustansir. (2007). "Understanding the Islamic Scripture". Pearson Longman.
  8. H. Rahman, “Jibt, Taghut and the Tahkim of the Umma”, Arabica, 29/1 (February 1982), 57
  9. Fahd, T.. (2012). "Encyclopaedia of Islam".
  10. {{cite quran. 7. 51
  11. See Abdel Haleem Oxford Translation p.87 notes
  12. {{cite quran. 4. 60
  13. See Abdel Haleem Oxford Translation of the Qur'an p.89
  14. Abdel Haleem Oxford Translation p.91
  15. {{cite quran. 4. 76
  16. Dr. Shmuel Bar ''Lebanese Hizballah – Political, Ideological and Organizational Highlights '' 29 October 2006 p. 6
  17. {{cite quran. 7. 256
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