Ikhwa or ikhwaan?
We often hear the terms ‘Ya ikhwaan!’ or ‘Ya ikhwa!’
These are the two plurals of the word ‘akh’ which means brother. But what’s the difference and when do we use them?
In general, there is no difference and one may use either. However, dig deep enough and you’ll find that each has its own place!
Abu Haatim relates: The people of Basra said that the plural of akh is ikhwa when we are referring to blood brothers, lineage (nasab) etc. The plural of akh becomes ikhwaan when referring to companionships/friends.This is possibly a reason why Allaah ‘azza wa jall used ‘ikhwa’ in the story of Yusuf (as) and not ‘ikhwaan’:
لَّقَدْ كَانَ فِي يُوسُفَ وَ إِخْوَتِهِ آيَاتٌ لِّلسَّائِلِينَ
“Verily, in Yusuf (Joseph) and his brothers, there were Ayaat for those who ask.”
[Yoosuf: 7]
In Lisaan al-‘Arab, it states that the majority of the time, ‘ikhwaan’ is used in the case of friends or companions and ‘ikhwa’ used to refer to wilaada (birth).
Some examples…
إنَّ المُبَذِّرينَ كَانُوا إخْوَانِ الشَّيَاطِينِ و كَانَ الشَّيطَانُ لِرَبِّهِ كَفُورَا
“Verily, spendthrifts are brothers of the Shayaateen (devils), and Shaytaan is ever ungrateful to his Lord.”
[Al-Israa’: 27]
Of course, Shaytaan does not have blood brothers from mankind! But he has companions and friends, hence ‘ikhwaan’ was used.And…
و نَزَعْنَا مَا فِي صُدُورِهِم مِّن غِلٍّ إخْواناً عَلى سُررٍ مُتَقَابِلِين
“And We shall remove from their breasts any sense of injury, (so they become like) brothers facing each other on thrones.”
[Al-Hijr: 47]
And this is an interesting one…
ألم تَرَ إلى الذين نَافَقُوا يَقُولُونَ لإخْوانِهمُ الذين كَفَرُوا مِّن أهْلِ الكِتَاب
“Have you not observed the hypocrites who say to their friends among the people of the Scripture who disbelieve…” [Al-Hashr: 11]
The arabic says ‘ikhwaan’ but most will translate that to ‘friends’ instead of the direct ‘brothers’
And in the case where ‘ikhwa’ is used to mean ‘blood-brothers’:
و جَاءَ إخوةُ يُوسُفَ فَدَخَلُوا عَلَيهِ فَعَرَفَهُم و هُم لَهُ مُنْكَرُون
“And Yusuf’s (Joseph) brothers came and they entered unto him, and he recognized them, but they recognized him not.” [Yusuf: 58]
قإنْ كَانَ لَهُ إخْوةٌ فَلأُمِّهِ السُّدس
“If the deceased left brothers, the mother has a sixth” [An-Nisaa: 11]
Here ‘ikhwa’ is used to mean brothers in the family, as this verse is dealing with inheritance.
However, the complete opposite of the usage of these terms is jaa’iz and OK to use, and in fact it crops up in the Qur’aan!
Allaah (‘azza wa jall) said:
إنَّمَا المُؤمِنون إخوةٌ
“The believers are nothing else than brothers…” [Al-Hujuraat: 10]
Of course, this does not mean that the believers are all blood-brothers (although one may argue that this could be used for balaagah purposes wallahu a’lam).
أوْ بُيُوتِ إخوانِكم أو بُيُوت أخَواتكم
“… Or the houses or your brothers, or the houses of your sisters…” [An-Noor: 61]
And again, this is in reference to brothers in the family although the word ‘ikhwaan’ is used.
So there you have it… what do you usually say?
I heard that one was for Jam’a Aqillah and the other for Katheer, ie one was used for between 3 & 9 brothers, and the other for more than nine. Something like the difference between daqaa’iq & daqeeqaat ( I think), it’s a bit late so its very plausible I’m mixing up things in my head. Jazakallah khairan for the post though! Very informative!
aslamu alaikum wa rahmatallah
very interesting…
maybe Allah azza wa jall used the word “ikhwa” for the relationship between mu`mineen because the bond of brotherhood between them should be such?
just a thought…
jzakiAllahu khair
As Salaam Alaykum Wa Rahmatullah,
funny…this actually came up in our arabic class yesterday……we jsut made taqleed of our teacher that they can be used interchangeable, eventhough he is right, i never knew there was such significance.
JazakAllahu khayran..(emailign thsi to my teacher right now…lol)
Wa iyyaakum
Yaser, you could be right – Im not too grounded in Arabic so can’t clear your confusion at this stage. I’ll be sure to reply if I find anything on the matter.
Sleepless longing – yeah thats what I thought too. I put in brackets that it could be used for balaagha purposes (rhetoric), to bring across a stronger meaning, wallaahu a’lam.
Overall however, the two plurals can be used interchangeably without a problem (so your teacher was absolutely correct danishhasan). But alhamdulillaah this small piece of information was quite interesting.
Let us know what your teacher says akh danishhasan.
Jazaakumullahu khayran
I will bring it up with my teacher Inshallah, if my sins dont make me forget like they have once already now. 🙁
Inshaa’Allaah you’ll remember. Let us know what he says.
Jazaak-Allaahu khayran
Jazaakillaahu khayran, very beneficial
Wa iyyaaki khayral jazaa’ 🙂 al-hamdulillaah
JazaakAllaah – very informative post
Wa iyyaaki ukhti 🙂
Mashaa’Allaah good to see you back!
BaarakAllaahu feeki.
Wa feeki ukhti 🙂
Ps. I don’t know if its this particular computer I’m on… but is the font unusually tiny?