Arabian Historical Weapons

[Mosamania]

I thought I would bring some Ancient Arabian history and culture to this forum since and shed some light on ancient culture and civilizations that have lived in the Arabian Subcontinent regarding weapon making in particular since this is a military pictures thread:

1-Here is an interesting bronze age Sabaean dagger/sword that belongs to the Sabean Dynasty which ruled Southern Arabia (Yemen, Oman and one third of current day Saudi Arabia). You can find mention of this Dynasty in the Quran where King Solomon peace be upon him have played a game with this Dynasty's Queen regarding her throne:

2-Traditional Central to Western Arabian Ancient Dagger. This is also from the Pre-Islamic era:

This is the dagger in its sheath:

As this type of Dagger evolved it started to take different shapes and forms from A Soldier's side arm to a mainly decorative and ceremonial looking ones over the years and many types of it came into being:

This type of Dagger/knife is known as the Shafrah (The word Shafrah is still used in some parts of Arabia as a meaning of the word Knife Shafra literary means "That which is sharp")

(I couldn't find enough material so I had to use this sale site for the pictures)
(To be continued)

 

[W.11]

did u just get golden??

 

[Mosamania]

Carrying a dagger has always been part of Arabian Culture which gave it the name "Jambiyah" Literally meaning "That which is by your side at all times" this practice was more apparent in Southern Arabia (Oman and Yemeni Flag still has Jambiyah as the main coat of arms) and Areas of southern Hijaz (Jazan and Najran) and also as you go North all the way to the Ancient city of Taif in its southern Ancient Tribal Areas. Many types of Jambiyah has risen according to the place of its origin even some types of Jambiyahs are known to certain famous BlackSmiths which their weapons were the stuff of legend. Let us start from the most southern part and go our way up as we go along:

1-You have the Yemeni Jambiyah Known Simply as "AlJambiyah Alyamaniyah":
These Jambiyahs are wide and thick they are Lighter than they look and Also stronger than they look it is designed in such a way that it is extremely difficult to parry or block an attack by one of these Jambiyahs (Both sides are bladed):

As you can see from this picture it is made with a center of balance down the middle which gives it both its light weight and strength (Al though I wished such a picture was provided on a more less ugly situations )

 

[Gold1010]

Scimitar

 

[SQ8]

I believe the forked sword of Caliph Ali(RA) also demands a view.

 

[Mosamania]

2-Southern Saudi Arabian Jamboiyahs are quite different than the ones used in Yemen and Oman as you can see from these pictures. These Jambiyahs have special names which is "The Lightning Jambiyah" they say in Ancient times when Lightning would strike a mountain blacksmiths would rush to that mountain to collect Iron Ore from it to create these Jambiyahs Legend has it that if this Jambiyah does not taste blood regularly it will turn back on its owner and betray him one day and cut him and maybe even kill him one way or another also it sharpens itself with age as you guys can see a lot of folk tale surround these weapons)

The balance of this blade is Beyond Amazing as it balance itself out:

---------- Post added at 05:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:23 PM ----------

I am getting to weapons depending on age I am using stuff from Pre-Islamic times and so on and so forth

 

[474474]

Scimitar

This looks a lot like the sword from the (really really old) 90s game Aladdin
But the name doesnt sound very Arab-ish

 

[Drawn_Sword_of_God]

wow you wahabhi arabz hazzz weaponsss?????you evil wahabis gonna use them on yourself.

they use them to cut of hands and heads

 

[W.11]

this is hazrat ali's sword

prophet muhammad pbuh sword

 

[Drawn_Sword_of_God]

this is hazrat ali's sword

prophet muhammad pbuh sword

is it that sword hazrat Isa is going to use against dajjal?
anyways, we should give this sword a good muslim soldier it will destroy a m1 abrams in one slash

 

[W.11]

is it that sword hazrat Isa is going to use against dajjal?
anyways, we should give this sword a good muslim soldier it will destroy a m1 abrams in one slash

dude its just a sword

without cover i guess

From top to bottom:
The First Caliph,HAZRAT ABU BAKR SIDDIQ (R.A) (632-634 A.C.)
The Second Caliph, HAZRAT UMAR BIN KHATTAB (R.A) (634-644 A.C.)
The Third Caliph, HAZRAT USMAN BIN AFFAAN (R.A)(644-656 A.C.)
The Fourth Caliph,HAZRAT ALI IBNE ABI TALIB (R.A) (656-661 A.C.)


Note: The sword of Ali in this picture is not Zulfikar, this is a ceremonial sword of him when he was elected to be the Caliph of Islamic Empire.

http://www.defence.pk/forums/genera...s-first-4-caliphs-al-khulafa-ur-rashidun.html

 

[Drawn_Sword_of_God]

@KarachiPunk that was just sarcastic
but we should hand over the sword to mythbusters and see if it can slice open a m1 abrams :p

 

[W.11]

well im a lil confused, is the red one of khalid bin walid or hazrat umer, because in discription its written khalid bin waled

 

[Mosamania]

Now moving on to swords. While the general belief that Arabian swords are "Curved" is somewhat true however the majority of swords used in Pre-Islamic era were not curved and only daggers were again the type of sword wither it is curved or straight depended on its region of origin here is a list of the types of Swords used in that Era and each type had a name:

As you can see Zul-Fiqar contrary to popular belief is not named after only the sword of Ali (May God's acceptance be upon him) but in fact it is named after a whole family of swords.

The straight sword which appears on the most right has influence from Roman and Assyrian Cultures however it is longer than both because in Arabian culture a sword's length MUST be at least half as long as a man to be considered a sword other wise it is just a dagger.

The sword after it was a slightly curved sword named "Qazeeb" which means strong handle because the bulk of its weight lied in the handle to allow for a faster slash and a stronger stabbing action.

The one next to it is the "Mathor" sword which literally means "Tracked through the sand" or more common meaning of Ancient Ancient Arabic as you can see liked to name things based on this double meaning of words to give a more specific meaning to their namings This sword has heavy Assyrian influence in it however it is curved handle makes the sword more powerful in slashing.

The one next to it is the "Mukhatham" Sword which is the very common curved sword Mukhathham means "that of the bloody nose" it is named this way because the curve on its nose will always get bloody.

The one in the middle is the Zul-Fiqqar type sword it was called this way due to a distinctive line in the middle of it that separates both the two bulks of this wide sword also its other meaning is to give meaning of cutting things into two most sword of this type were straight ones and did not have a bend the double tongued appearance of the famous Hazrat Ali sword was a special sword of this type. (Arabians did not have the habit of naming their sword special names but called them based on their types).

Al-Qula'a type sword was different than the Ma'athor type because it was wider and had three lines in the middle of it to counter weight.

Hatf sword this sword is by far the widest and heaviest to carry and only a select few would be able to carry a sword of such magnitude Arabians never had the culture of a sword held by both hands as evident from the handles which are designed to be carried by only one hand so its name was given as Hatf as a double meaning while it is a great honor to carry a sword such as this one to battle Arabian battles would last from Dawn till Dusk and if your hand got tired then you are dead so the carriers of such a sword must bet on their own stamina vs the stamina of their opponent since such a sword really drains the stamina of both so Hatf which literally means "Eradication" could be inflected on either of them.

Al-rasoub is a sub-division of the Zul-Fiqar type this one designed in the same way but lacks the middle line cut Rasoub means "Precipitating" because this sword would dig its way through sand the easiest and the sword able to do that can dig through flesh the same way.

Al-Battar which literally means "Cutter" was the most common and normal type of sword available.

 

[W.11]

@KarachiPunk that was just sarcastic
but we should hand over the sword to mythbusters and see if it can slice open a m1 abrams :p

i think mythbusters should examine you because rumors are you have a hollow skull