Religious and social views and practices of the Arabians before Islam.

1. Religious and social views and practices of the Arabians before Islam. 3 Chapter 3, Arabia before Islam

2. Chapter Three: The Beginnings of Islam • The Arabs and their religion before Islam (this session) • The career of the Prophet Muhammad (next session) • Conflict and conquest after Muhammad (following session)

3. Earlier Arabian communities and civilizations  • South Arabia (Yemen) • Saba, c1000 BCE? – c 500 CE? Biblical Sheba? • Himyar: From 4th century CE ? • Jewish kings from 5th century. • Dhu al-Nawas (king, c 518?-525) persecuted Christians (possibly referred to in Qur’an 85:4–9) • Ethiopian invasion 525; • Abraha Ethiopian governor, later virtually independent • Abraha’s expedition to Mecca destroyed c 570? (Qur’an 105) • Persian invasion, c 575, and predominance to c 630. • Najran: Christian settlement, from the 4th century or later. • (Qur’an 3:64 is said to refer to a deputation from them to Muhammad.)

4. North Arabia: • Nabateans at Petra c 4th century BCE – 106 CE • Palmyra – suppressed 273 CE after Queen Zenobia revolted against Romans • Thamud – known from inscriptions, mentioned in the Qur’an. • Philip the Arab was Roman Emperor 244-9 CE • Ghassanids: 483±? – c 640? – Monophysite Christian • Byzantine vassal and “buffer state” • Lakhmids (al-Hira )– 550±?-602 - Nestorian Christians (ruler Christian from c594) • Persian vassal and “buffer state”

5. Central Arabia • Mecca • Ibrahim said to have settled Hagar and Isma‘il there. • Built (or rebuilt) the Ka‘ba. • (Probably already connected with Ibrahim before Muhammad’s time) • Quraysh established there by Qusayy, 400 CE+ • A Shrine city: derived income from the activities connected with the Ka‘ba • ‘Abd al-Muttalib, the great grandson of Qusayy and grandfather of Muhammad become custodian of the Ka‘ba • A trading city • Long distance caravans to Yemen and to Syria. (Qur’an 106: 1-2) • But some (Western) scholars think their trade was only local (e.g. Crone, Peters). • Yathrib (Later Medina) • Agricultural settlement. • Two main Arab tribes, Aws and Khazraj, in conflict with each other. • Three main Jewish tribes, Banu Nadir, BanuQurayza and BanuQaynuqa‘. • From mid-6th century (?) clients of the Arab tribes.

6. Religion – gods, spirits, etc • Stones, trees, heavenly bodies (or the gods residing in/symbolized by them) worshipped or venerated • Over time sacred stones were increasingly shaped into human likeness, i.e became idols. •  Jinn: • non-material beings, created of fire (Qur’an 15:27) • like humans in some respects, more powerful • could help or harm humans, more likely to harm • could become believers (Qur’an 72:1-3) • shaytans and ifrits: classes of jinn, more powerful, (later?) more evil • Higher gods (or angels) also worshipped, • Sometimes associated with heavenly bodies • Each tribe or confederation had a patron god • Some gods: • Hubal: important at Mecca and throughout Arabia and beyond • Wadd, Suwa’, Yaghuth, Ya’uq, Nasr , mentioned in the Qur’an (71:23) • Al-Lat, Manat, Uzza , daughters of Allah (Qur’an 53:19-21) • Worship was generally quite pragmatic, depending on receiving what was requested.

7. Allah • High god, creator of all • No image •  Normally approached through “associates”, e.g. his “daughters”, but might be approached directly in some situations: • “If you ask them, ‘Who created the heavens and the earth And subjected the sun and the moon?’, They will say, ‘Allah’. . . . When they embark on ships, they call on Allah, devoting themselves to Him exclusively, but when He brings them safely to land, they associate others with Him.” (Qur’an 29: 61, 65) • Some scholars think that more attention was given to Allah than is usually thought, speak of “imperfect monotheism” (Hawting )

8. Holy places and times – pilgrimage • Sanctuaries/shrines frequented by a tribe or group of tribes • Cult centers, for a high god who was lord of the shrine (called masjid, place for prostration; later the term for mosque) • Some actions forbidden – e.g. fighting • Sites of specific rituals, pilgrimage • Sacred times associated with these; also have prohibitions such as no fighting • The Ka‘ba at Mecca – the best known of these, not the only one • Allah was lord of the Ka‘ba • There were said to be 360 pictures or statues of other gods, such as Hubal, or prophets, including Ibrahim and Jesus with Mary, in or around the Ka‘ba. • Rituals included circumabulation (sometimes naked), sacrifice, shaving head, fasting, retreat. •  Pilgrimage: Umra and Hajj originally separate (joined by Muhammad?) • Umra: in Mecca, in month of Rajab. • Hajj: outside Mecca, in month of Dhu al-Hijja •  Four months were considered sacred, Rajab, Dhu’l-Qa’dah, Dhu’l-Hijjah and Muharram. No fighting during these.

9. Significant people and activities People possessed or inspired by jinn or shaytans (Qur’an 52:29-30; 69:41-2) • Poets (shā‘ir, originally “knower”) • Kāhins (soothsayers, oracles; ecstatic utterances in rhymed prose) • Majnūns (jinn possessed, crazy) • Sāhirs (sorcerers, magicians) Divination with arrows was common (esp. in connection with Hubal at Mecca)

10. Significant people and activities Tahannuth • Period of retreat for prayer and fasting • Evidently done by some of the Quraysh • Possibly connected with ritual acts at the Ka‘ba • Possibly connected with feeding the poor, freeing slaves, etc. • Muhammad described as doing this before his revelation Hanifs: “natural” monotheists • Not claiming revelation • Not part of a community based on their faith • Individual seekers • (Some scholars question their existence) • Hanif is also used in reference to Ibrahim (e.g. Qur’an 2:135) and to Islam as the religion of Ibrahim

11. “Tribal humanism” (term from W. M. Watt) • No belief in individual immortality (Qur’an 45:24) • “Time” or “Fate” determines one’s death • Centrality of the tribe’s lineage, honor and sunna • Frequent raiding for plunder • Sunna exemplified in the actions of past heroes, praised in poetry • Central ethical values and obligations: • values of generosity (karīm= noble, generous), courage, fortitude and loyalty • obligation of blood revenge • obligation of hospitality • Nobility based on lineage and appropriate action

12. Jāhiliyya • Name for the period in Arabia (and earlier according to some) before Muhammad • Time of ignorance (i.e. of the truth about God) and rejection of Allah • Barbarism, excessive behaviour as the characteristics of people at that time • Qur’an “fierce arrogance of jahiliyya (48:26; cf. 3:154, 5:50, 33:33) • e.g. Hatim al-Tayyi and Imru al-Qays (see book) • e.g. ‘AmribnKulthum: "Let no one act fiercely (in a jahili way) against us, for we shall be fiercer than the fierce (for we shall out- jahl the jahilis )." • Jahiliyya and hilm (moderation, self control) “Although I be in need of hilm, of jahlI am at times in greater need”

13. Jews and Christians • Jews at Yathrib, also Khaybar and elsewhere in Northwest Arabia. • Christians at Najran. Also scattered monks/hermits. • Some knowledge of Jewish/Christian ideas; e.g. in some pre-Islamic poetry. • Scriptural figures and stories known though not necessarily in the canonical forms • Possibly through Rabbinic midrash in some cases (e.g. Abraham breaking his father’s idols and being thrown into a fire)

14. Watt’s thesis on economic situation • Growth of long term trade led to a greater degree of individualism on the part of the rich and a greater gap between the rich and the poor • •This threatened tribal solidarity and occasioned other stresses • The Qur’anic social teaching is aimed at mitigating these stresses. • revised moral ideal • new sanctions: Allah, Day of Judgment

15. Pre-Islamic Arabic in the light of the Axial Age theory: