The Arab Conception of the Notion of “al-thaqāfah” (Culture) in Early Islamic Centuries

Document Type : Research Article

Author

• Hediye Taghavi

Associate Professor, Department of History, Faculty of Literature, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran

10.22067/jhistory.2025.90443.1338

Abstract

The term “al-thaqāfah” is defined as “culture” in Arabic dictionaries, texts, and contemporary intellectual discourse. This is a multilayered term, encompassing a wide range of elements such as knowledge and science, moral virtues and vices, customs and traditions, and patterns of social life. Because of its broad semantic scope, the word is regarded as a reflection of the intellectual landscape, social organization, and even level of civilization in a society. However, the historical background of this usage of the term “al-thaqāfah” in the Arabic language is rather brief. Evidence indicates that the term was not used in early Islamic centuries with its modern meaning of “culture”, but rather it underwent semantic transformation and evolution within its historical context. The present study relies on semantic analysis (a method than enables the reconstruction of word meanings through their contextual usage) in an attempt to explore and analyze the Arab conception of the word “al-thaqāfah” in early Islamic centuries, based on the Quran, literary texts, and historical resources. Findings indicate that the word “al-thaqāfah” was mainly associated with military contexts, referring to things such as physical combat, a metal tool for straightening spears, or military expertise.  In contrasts, words such as “sunnat” (tradition), “āyīn” (ritual practice) and “dīn” (religion) served the meanings associated with culture in that period. These words were suited to the social structure, belief system, and intellectual frameworks of the Arab society in that era. From the third century A.H. / ninth century A.D. onward, and at the same time as the expansion of civilization, transformations in people’s lifestyles, and the flourishing of sciences and knowledge, the word “al-thaqāfah” also underwent a semantic shift and took on meanings such as cleverness, skill, learning, and knowledge. This gradual process moved the word from its military connotations toward a cultural meaning. In the past century and a half, Arab modernist thinkers such as Ṭāhā Ḥusayn have played a key role in solidifying and expanding the new usage of “al-thaqāfah” in the Arabic language by employing it consciously and purposefully in its modern cultural meaning.

Keywords

• “al-thaqāfah”
• culture
• semantic transformation
• sunnat (tradition)
• conception
• Arabs of the early Islamic centuries

Main Subjects

• History of Islamic Civilization

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