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What is the meaning of the colour "ṣafrāʾ"?

Réponse

Imām Ibn al-Jawzī (d. 597/1201) summarized the scholars' opinions in his book "Zād al-Masīr" as follows:

  1. It means yellow, the well-known color. [Ibn ʿAbbās, Qatādah, Ibn Zayd, Ibn Qutaybah, al-Zajjāj]
  2. It means black. [Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī]

The second opinion was rebutted by a group of scholars:

Ibn Qutaybah states: "This word only means 'black' when describing camels, not cows... Evidence for this is the statement of Allah, the Exalted: "bright in its colour" (fāqiʿ lawnuhā). The Arabs do not say: "bright black" (aswad fāqiʿ) but rather say "pitch black" (aswad ḥālik) and "bright yellow" (aṣfar fāqiʿ)."

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