Kutub al-Filāḥa or ‘Books of Husbandry’

The Arabic words filāḥa, ‘cultivation, tillage’, and by extension ‘agriculture, farming, husbandry’, and fallāḥ, ‘husbandman, tiller of the soil, peasant, farmer’, are derived from the verbal form falaḥa meaning ‘to cleave, split’, and in particular, ‘to plough, till, cultivate the land’. It also means ‘to thrive, prosper, be successful, lucky, or happy’, the two meanings being brought together beautifully by Ibn ‘Abdūn in the quotation above. Moreover, the word is sung out from the minarets of every mosque throughout the Muslim world five times each day during the call to prayer - hayya ‘ala ’l-falāḥ : “Come to success, come to salvation”. Husbandry, well-being (in this world and the next) and worship are thus inextricably linked in the Arabic language. >

Filāḥa Texts Project