Dalla tenda di Abramo alle dimore dei credenti. La sacralità dell’ospite nella tradizione islamica

This essay deals with the concept of hospitality in the Islamic tra- dition. According to a Koranic verse dedicated to the various com- ponents of “true pity” (in Arabic birr, Q 2,177), a good Muslim is someone who gives a part of his belongings to a “son of the street”. In the exegetical tradition, this usually refers to the guest, in Arabic, ḍayf. Like in English (and unlike the Italian ospite or the French hôte, which refers to both the receiver and the giver of hospitality), ḍayf is unidirectional and means “he who asks, and possibly receives, hospi- tality”. The word is derived from the verb ḍāfa cfr. iḍāfa or “annexation”, a technical term in Arabic grammar used to indicate the determination of a noun through the use of another noun in the genitive case. Another noteworthy element in the lexicologists’ explanations is the recurrence of the verb qarraba, meaning “to approach” or “to allow others to approach”, but also “to offer to God” and therefore “to sacrifice”.