Al-Farooq (title)

Al-Farooq (Arabic: الفاروق, "distinguisher") is the title given to one who distinguishes right from wrong. It was a well-known historical title of the second Caliph Umar.

Etymology
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. Al-Farooq is translated as "discriminator" by Gerald T. Elmore, Richard F. Burton. 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.

History
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. Also Umayyad caliph Sulayman called him discriminator (al-farooq) 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."

Among historical Shia sources, there is a hadith attributed to Muhammad in which he entitled Ali ibn Abi Talib as al-Farooq. Abu Dhar al-Ghifari and Salman the Persian narrated some of this Hadithes There are also some Shia sources that emphasized that the people of the book called Omar bin al-Khattab as al-Farooq.