Chapter 2 - Pre-Islamic SocietyArab in its absolute root refers to something that flows, something that runs. It referred to clarity & speech. To speak clearly Non-Arabs are called ajaam (someone who doesnt speak mute, or speaks gibberish) The word Arab itself is not used in the Quran in that form. Different forms of Arab are used. Arabiyoon, Arabi are extraction of Arab. Something thats Arab. These terms are used in the Quran. Orob someone whos loyal, loving, passionate in their love for someone run like a river flows Arabatoon a well thats overflowing Arabat When something becomes chaotic & loses order. When a stream runs/river runs, the waters flowing in all different directions, not organized. Controlled chaos. To a greater extent, all of these qualities describe these people. Theyre articulate in speech & language, very passionate, had trouble containing emotions/chaos, & had no established form of governance, economics, or centralized religion Arab race divided into 2 major categories Ancient Arabs Perished Arabs not a lot is known about them Arabs who remained Migrated Arabs epicenter was in Arabian Peninsula, but the Arabs in that region migrated there from other regions Migrated Arabs Pure Arabs (modern day Yemen Yemen region) There was a great flood in the Yemen, so some Arabs migrated to Hijaz due to economic troubles Arabized Arabs (musta araboon ones who became Arabs) E.g. Ismail (as) Someone whos not ethnically Arab became Arab Vast majority of modern day Arabs are these kind of Arabs Muhammad (saw) comes from the progeny of Arabized Arabs Geography From the northeast to mid & northwestern region, the Arabian Peninsula is completely surrounded by water Northern region of Arabian Peninsula borders Syria (Bilad al-Sham) Arabian Peninsula is very internal Only entrance to AP is thru land (Syrian desert). Hundreds/thousands of miles of desert. There were not a lot of foreign invasions Have to travel thousands of miles of severe desert to get into AP, which left it isolated from outside influences. Language, culture, & religion were not influenced from external factors. Hotbed for deep cultural tradition Treasure of linguistic nuances Arabian Peninsula also a very external region Very exposed in terms of sea and ocean. Served as a primary port to many key trading & traveling routes to key parts of world Epicenter for trade & business Politics of Arabian Peninsula the surrounding regions of ancient Arabia At the time of Prophets birth, Yemen (Hijaz) had been a battleground between Christians & Jews for hundreds of years. They fought over the kingship of Yemen. Judaism found itself a home in Yemen Christian kingdom in Abyssinia had backed Christians in Yemen. They came in and took over Yemen Invasion of Elephants Closer to the time of Prophethood, there was an uprising. A Persian influence came into Yemen & backed some of the Jews & local Arab polytheist/idol-worshipping tribes of Yemen. They were able to overthrow the Christian Abyssinian rule of Yemen. Because of this the Persian rule came into power. The local Arab tribes were the ones put into power, but it was attributed back to the Persian Empire, essentially an extension of the empire. The last of the Persian rulers, Badhan, accepted Islam, so Yemen entered Islam during the lifetime of the Prophet The Prophet sent Ali bin Talib & Muadh bin Jabal to go into Yemen & teach the people of Yemen about Islam. Hera was another region to have an influence on ancient Arabia. Hera is the ancient classical region (current day southern parts of Iraq) Mostly a Persian influence, which remained during Prophets time During the khilafa of Umar ibn al-Khattab, the local Arab tribes were able to regain the region for themselves, but for only less than a year. Syria classical region of Bilad al Sham toward the north Mostly a Roman Christian influence The northern regions of ancient Arabia were primarily Christian at the time. This influence lasted until the khilafa of Umar ibn al-Khattab, when Islam came into the region The Arabian Peninsula did not have any centralized law Lands ruled by tribal law. Lots of inner-tribal warfare Tribal law similar to kingship Chieftains rulings would be accepted & enforced like dictators rulings, no questions Tribal leadership would pass down the family lines Because of tribal law, there was not a great preservation of your rights If you were wealthy, influential, related to the tribal leaders, or had something to offer to the leaders, then you were alright If you belonged to a class of society that was out of favor, irrelevant, or not of concern to the tribal leaders, then you did not enjoy a lot of rights & liberties at the time In the heart of Hijaz (Arabian Peninsula), there was no centralized law, but they were the envy of other Arabs because no one treated them 2nd class citizens The Arabs of Hijaz had tribal wars but they also had complete autonomy & were not subject to foreign invasions or rule Rulers of al Hijaz were held in great esteem by the commoners. They were not just seen as cultural, political, or economic leaders, but were also seen as religious leaders Leaders of the tribe (Banu Kinana of Quraysh) were seen as a servant/custodian of the sacred house of the Kabah Tribes actually fought over whod get to take care of the Kabah, give water to the visitors The tribal leader not only set laws & dictating rulings to people, youd also see him walking around giving water to the hujjaz Social life of Arabs consisted an interesting mix of different social constructsThe Negatives Lack of fair treatment. Slavery was prevalent. Slaves treated horribly, lesser than animals Women in pre-Islamic society had 2 opposite experiences Women in pre-Islamic Arabia (X) In certain social circles, women were treated as subhuman. They were a commodity that would be passed on from family to family, man to man In elite society (among families of tribal leaders), women held great esteem They owned land & wealth (e.g. Khadijah) They also played a critical role in politics of the region. Their opinions were crucial to a lot of the major decisions/policies enacted (e.g. Hind bint Utba, wife of Abu Sufyan was a key contributor to Battle of Uhud) Money & leadership of tribes passed on through families. If youre born into poverty, you most likely stayed there Social statuses played a role in the moral/ethical culture If you committed wrong to someone who was of higher social status than you, then you would probably get killed whether your crime warranted that or not If you committed wrong to someone who was of lower social status than you, then you would probably get away with it In terms of family, you had opposite extremes In elite society, family is integral Marriage was treated as very sacred 4 kinds of marriages existed in this society Modern day type Muslim marriage Marriage was not treated as sacred There were lots of infidelity, & they were expected. Spouses would know about each others infidelity & were cool with it Communal fornication No marriage. Woman would fornicate with a set group of men After getting pregnant, the woman would designate the child to one of the men, & the kid would be raised by that man Straight up prostitution Residences would be marked for attaining the services of a prostitute Children of these women would be called walaad al zina & they had no status in society. No one claimed them. These children lived a life of disgrace. The Prophet said that the latter three forms of marriage have been abolished by Islam. Only the first form of marriage is accepted and reveredThe Positives There was a deep emotional attachment to family relations, & emphasis on being good to your kin. The farther you went into tribal & nomad life, the more you found this experience. Family relations were maintained as sacred. Primary form of making a living at the time was rooted in trading & business, especially with outside regions There were not a lot of natural resources, so trade was essential the entire economic structure of pre-Islamic Arabs was based on this But because of the political instability, the economic situation would get unstable. Bad economic situation led to political instability, & vice versa. It was a vicious circle. There was no middle class society of pre-Islamic Arabia. You had the very elite, & the predominantly poor (the latter was more common) Hospitality was big deal, almost to a fault There were no hotels, restaurants, grocery stores, so travelers were dependent on hospitality of private homes In the spirit of hospitality, people would often jeopardize their relations with family Negatives existed in culture of hospitality They would even offer up their own spouses in the spirit of hospitality They would enlist services of prostitutes for travelers They would serve alcohol Interesting linguistics: Karaam to be noble, dignified. Also means grapes Kareem a good noble host Thus,serving grapes (wine) & being a good host went hand in hand Sanctity of a persons word was absolute People held their word. Since there was no law, no court, no judge, a persons word was everything Poverty was rampant, people phave nothing, so the only thing they have is their honor Simplicity Elites would have lot of materials, but leader found dignity & honor in slaughtering & skinning his own animal & cooking/serving it to his people They would sleep among their people by fire Since theyre a passionate/chaotic people, Arabs admired serenity & composure in people since they were hard to come by Illiteracy was common among the pre-Islamic Arabs. Not even 20 literate people within Makkah at the time of Prophets birth In spite of this, there was a great premium placed on knowledge itself, which was carried through oral tradition When people would travel to other parts of the world & bring back any new information astrology, economy, trade business agriculture, farming, history, religion, the people would form circles around these individuals to get that knowledge directly from them At the same time, genealogy was an expertise of these Arabs By the age of 4, a child could recite his own family tree going 20 generations back They would even memorize the genealogy of horses Arabs prided themselves on their poetic & oratory skills Battles would begin to display their eloquence Their best poets would be sent to the middle to praise their own people & degrade the others Poetry would not just begin wars but would also end wars Tribes would pride each other based on their poets The tradition of hajj that existed in pre-Islamic era was a gathering when they would have poetry competitions Thered be a festival at Ukaadh, when all wars & differences would be placed aside & the greatest poets of the land would gather outside of Makkah to hold a grand poetry festival This was where the king of poetry would be crowned for the year. This was a big part of the culture of the time. Poetry was the law of the land. The Prophet was not literate, but he was an extremely eloquent man Whatever poetry was crowned to be the best of that competition, it would have the honor of being hung on the Kabah or near the KabahThese Hanging Poems were called Al-Muallaqat

One of the first things Allah commanded the Prophet (saw) to do was to warn the people. To warn them of a danger/threat that is approaching. Its like a person is walking & theres a ditch in their path. Its only a matter of time before that person falls into the ditch, so you warn him to look out of sincere honesty. Paganism in Makkah Ibrahim & his sons (as) followers were monotheistic (this was in Makkah). After several generations had passed, idolatry was introduced to these people in Makkah. The very first person to introduce idolatry to Makkah was Amr bin Luhay, who was a leader of his tribe & a very cultured traveler. He was from the tribe Khuzai. Amr bin Luhay traveled to Bilad al-Sham (Syria) & found the people there worshipping idols. He brought back the idol Hubal (moon god) to Makkah & said to Makkans, This is how people of that area worship. They claim to be adherents of the previous prophets, & they claim to be good righteous people, but they worship these idols. I think we should also worship these idols. People look up to Amr bin Luhay, so they listen to him & start worshipping idols. They go on to bring in different idols from different parts of the world & start worshipping them. A Hadith tells us that Amr bin Luhay was led by a jinn to Jeddah. The jinn showed him where certain idols were buried. Amr uncovered 5 idols. These 5 idols were the same idols that the people of Nuh (as) used to worship. Names of the 5 idols: Wadd, Suwa, Yaghuts, Yauq, & NasrNuh said, My Lord, indeed they have disobeyed me and followed him whose wealth and children will not increase him except in loss. And they conspired an immense conspiracy. And said, Never leave your gods and never leave Wadd or Suwa or Yaghuth and Yauq and Nasr. (Surat Nuh, 71:22-24)Why mention these 5 idols by their names?These are 5 idols that Arabs used to actively worshipThese 5 are mentioned among the hundreds of thousands idols in Surat Nuh because they were uncovered by Amr bin Luhay, & he knew of them because of a jinn. The next surah after Surat Nuh is Surat Al-Jinn, so theres a connection here. Idol-worshipping (paganism) became widespread. It became the predominant form of spirituality at the time. Christianity & Judaism played minimal role in pre-Islamic Arabian Peninsula. Followers of those 2 religions were a minority in that region. Christians were scattered.You had neighboring regions (Bilad al Sham and Ghassanid Empire)Some Jewish tribes immigrated to A.P. but kept themselves isolatedThey didnt actively preach & seek converts The pagan Arabs believed & acknowledged in the supremacy & divinity of Allah, but still worshipped idols Idols were intermediaries between people & Allah, to connect them back to Allah Different tribes had different main idols Wadd worshipped by Banu Kalb in Murrah Suwa worshipped by Banu Hamadan, etc. Some idols had more significance than others. These idols would be placed in strategic places around the Hejaz (satellite locations of the mini Kabah). These idols had their own sanctuaries. Al-Lat was worshipped by the people of Takhif, at Taif Uzza was worshipped at a region called Nakhla, near Makkah Manat was worshipped in Yathrib Dhul Khasla was worshipped by tribe al Daus. This idol had a sanctuary called al Kabah al Yamaniya Falas was worshipped by the people of Taif. Riyam was worshipped by the people of Yemen Dul Kabat was worshipped by the people of Banu Bikr and Banu Taglib There was an effort to replicate the same vibe that was present in terms of the Kabah Kabah was sacred placed where the supreme Allah was worshipped, & the people wanted to venerate the 360+ idols there as well People had idols within their homes, but different tribes would take main idols & build a mini-Kabah for those idols. Would do tawaaf around the idols. For Allah, they had Kabah. Now they need sanctuaries for 2nd tier Kabah. They start to attach superstition, evil omens, spiritual significance, & other practices to these idols Allah has not appointed [such innovations as] bahirah or saibah or wasilah or ham. But those who disbelieve invent falsehood about Allah, and most of them do not reason. (Surat al-Maidah, 5:103) Practices for the idols Bahirah Milk of she-camel solely designated as offerings for the idols. The milk of the she-camel was off-limits for anything else. Saibah A she-camel that would be let loose. Cant be used for anything (food, transportation) This she-camel was to roam freely & was solely for the gods. No one else can benefit from it. Wasilah A she-camel that was set free for idols, & would be the offspring of Sayiba Ham A male camel that would be used for the any work the idols needed Would also be used to breed with Sayiba to give birth to Wasila Hadith: Prophet (saw) tells us that the very first one to institute a lot of these practices among these Arabs was Amr ibn Luhay. Amr ibn Luhay was the first one to alter the deen of Ismail (as). Hes the one that came & erected the idols to be worshipped by the pre-Islamic Arabs. He was the first one to designate a she-camel for the milk of the idols. He was the first one to mark a she-camel just for the gods. Etc.- When they had to make major decisions, theyd gamble by launching marked arrows. Whichever target the arrows hit or what direction the arrows flew or where itd fall led to the basis of decision making Sometimes would take a bird & release it for flight. The direction the bird flew in would determine the decisionAl-maghreb root word is gharb. Gharb means to vanish, disappear The direction of the west is called al-maghreb, because the sun vanishes/disappears in the west A crow in classical Arabic is called ghurab For many societies throughout history (including pre-Islamic Arabia), the crow has been a subject of much superstition, as an evil omen or bringer of death because its a scavenger bird When theyd see a crow fly, theyd believe death was coming, so theyd say ghurab ghurab disappear, disappear. Dont want death to appear. The pagans justification for worshipping the idols We know we come from a tradition that tells us to worship one god, Allah. Were okay with that. We still havent let go of Allah. We still worship & believe in Allah. The pagans introduced the idols as dignitaries/representatives of Allah. Each idol was designated for different things, such as rainfall, child-bearing, crops, etc. . Their belief was that Allah Himself put these idols in charge of different things, thats why the idols are worthy of veneration & worship because they channel to Allah. But these idols eventually began to become the object of peoples sole worship, so they ended up forgetting Allah. They ended up neglecting Allah. Pagans also started indulging heavily into their idol-worshipping They took some of these idols & said these are bigger idols, so they need to be 2nd-tier gods. They took those gods & designated sacred places of worship for them, where people can go visit & do tawaf around them Many Arabs referred to the Kabah in Makkah as Al-Kabah al Shamiya, the Kabah in the direction of as-Sham (Syria), because there were other kabahs. Superstition began to infiltrate into society Kahin soothsayer. They claimed to know the will of the gods. They claimed to have certain tricks, such as reading stars or certain incantations, or theyd bless you on behalf of the gods. If people wanted anything to be blessed, would go to Kahin When Prophet first started preaching, he was looked at as a kahin Very few people were also invested in astrology Among the Arabs, a man named Abu Kabsha had travelled to other parts of the world, & found people engaging in astrology. He brought back this information to the Arabs & tried to bring in worship of the star ShiyaraShiyara was worshipped based on the stars appearance, pattern, visibility in the night sky, and whatever constellation was visible at different times of the year, decisions would be made, citing it as the will of the gods. Abu Kabsha was dismissed by the Arabs. Theyd not accept this type of worship.When the Prophet first brought his message, one of the first accusations against him was Ibn Abi Kabsha. When the Prophet told them to stop worshipping the idols, sun, & moon and just worship one Allah alone, he was accused of being ibn Abu Kabsha.Abu Kabsha also tried to get us stop worshipping idols & worship some star. Youre just like that guy. Youre trying to stop us from worshipping idols & worship your god. Remnants of the teachings of the prophets of the past in present society few things that the pagans were still doing correctly in terms of proper worship Still believe in Allah, with twisted mentality that idols went back to Allah Kabah still seen as the supreme sacred place, the original house of Allah. Theyd still go make pilgrimage (a distorted form of Hajj).Kabah was seen as such a sacred place, that if you were not from the Quraysh, you were seen as something filthy. If you were not of the Quraysh & you wanted to make tawaaf, youd have to purchase clothing from the Quraysh. For the Quraysh, it became an opportunity for them to get rich. If pilgrims couldnt afford the clothing, then theyd have to do hajj nude, because they couldnt do it in their own clothing.We make dhikr & dua when we do tawaaf, but the pagans would whistle & clap as they did tawaaf. There would be civil wars between tribes (for generations) to be caretakers of the Kabah. Even with the good that remained with them from the original practices have been twisted. Because Quryash were inhabitants of Makkah & caretakers of Kabah, & gave water to the hajja, they held special place of leadership & reverence in the eyes of all the other tribes. Quraysh was seen as superior since they were the hosts of the hajja (51:00) In pre-Islamic Arabian society, religion had a symbolic sacredness, but in reality, it was a joke/mockery of religion. If 2 tribes were at war with each other, & the fighting approached a sacred month(s), then they would cease their fighting for that sacred month If war was about to be over (one tribe was about to crush the other tribe, has the upper hand), but a sacred month was fast approaching, then theyd delay the month & mark & observe the unholy months so that the fighting can continue without pausing for the holy months.E.g. September (regular month) would be followed by November (regular month), while October (sacred month) would be skipped & observed later.So you can imagine that people had a hard time keeping track of the time, switching months all the time A man named Assayib bin Abdullah had constructed an idol. He carved it & worshipped it along with his family & rest of his tribe. In order to honor this idol, hed milk the she-camels that were designated for the idols. Every day, hed bring the milk to the idol & pour the milk on the idol as an offering to the idol. At night, dogs would come & drink the milk & lick the idol. Theyd also urinate on the idol. Banu Hanifa made an idol out of hais (a type of halwa/cake/sweet) They carved an idol out of a type of cake (made out of dates, fat of animals) Theyd worship the idol until it rotted, insects ate it A drought hit the region. People eventually got hungry enough to eat that idolA poet saw the people eating the idol & said in poetry: The people of the Hanifa ate their raab. In a time of severe starvation and drought. They were not afraid of their lord, & how horrible of a followers were these people & how pathetic their raab was that eating the idol didnt strike fear into their hearts