| Al-Farooq الفاروق | |
| Pronunciation: | Al-Farooq (Arabic: فاروق), Farouk, Faruqi, Farook, Faruk, Faroeq, Faruq, Farouq, Farooqi, Farooqui, Fārūq |
| Gender: | Male |
| Meaning: | The one who distinguishes right from wrong. |
| Region: | Arabia (Middle East) |
| Language: | Arabic |
Al-Farooq (Arabic: الفاروق, "distinguisher") is the title given to one who distinguishes right from wrong.[1] It was a well-known historical title of the second Caliph Umar.
According to the Lisān al-'Arab (Arabic dictionary by Ibn Manẓūr) al-Farouq refers to making a distinction between two subjects, and is a person who distinguishes between right and wrong.[2] Al-Farooq is translated as "discriminator" by Gerald T. Elmore,[3] Richard F. Burton.[4] As, however, the morphophonology of the lexeme farūq is not Arabic, the word seems to be of Syro-Aramaic origin, e.g. pārōqā "Saviour" as for example pointed out by Robert M. Kerr.[5]
According to historical Sunni sources, Muhammad entitled Umar ibn al-Khattab as al-Farooq. The son of Kahn Jahan, the minister of Muhammad bin Tughluq claimed Umar ibn al-Khattab got this title from the Islamic prophet Muhammad.[6] Also Umayyad caliph Sulayman called him discriminator (al-farooq)[7] It is mentioned in the History of Tabari, Taqabat ibn Sad, and Tahdhib "the people of the Book (Jews) were the first to call Umar 'al-Faaruq, we have never heard the Prophet make such reference."[8]
Among historical Shia sources, there is a hadith attributed to Muhammad in which he entitled Ali ibn Abi Talib as al-Farooq.[9] Abu Dhar al-Ghifari and Salman the Persian narrated some of this Hadithes [10] There are also some Shia sources that emphasized that the people of the book called Omar bin al-Khattab as al-Farooq.[11]