Jahiliyyah - Social Aspects of Pre-Islamic Arabia

Jahiliyyah - Social Aspects of Pre-Islamic Arabia

• Arabia in the sixth century was defined by a nomadic culture.
• In the summer nomadic Arabs would settle in the desert regions.
• Each tribe would have a number of wells where they grazed their camels.
• In the winter they wandered into the grasslands, which would have been covered with rich vegetation that was a paradise for their animals after the rains.
• These nomadic Arabs lived off camel milk and the flesh of animals killed by their hunters.
• Nomadic Arabs could not survive alone and also depended on farmers.
• The farmers would provide them with the wheat and dates that were essential to supplement their small diets.
• As the nomads gradually penetrated the desert regions, they would have been followed by the farmers, who settled in the oasis, irrigated the surrounding area.
• The nomads were nearly always hungry and suffering from malnutrition
• They were also in fierce competition with one another for the necessities of life.
• In order to survive, society was organised into closely-knit groups.
• Western scholars call the smaller groups clans; the larger groups are called tribes.
• For example, Muhammad’s clan was the Banu Hashim, his tribe was the Quraysh.
• Clans and tribes were organised according to blood and kinship (family ties) and were united by a real or mythical common ancestry.
• The Arabs used the term qawm to describe both clans and tribes.
• Qawm = people
• It was essential to have absolute loyalty to the qawm and to its related allies.
• Only the tribe could ensure the personal survival of its members
• Each clan had a council of elders who elected one of their members as shaykh.
• The shaykh could rule on disputes on the basis of the Sunnah
• The council of elders were made up of the heads of the extended families within the clan
• Sunnah = the way in which the ancestors had done things.
• Disputes between clans were resolved through vendetta (eye for an eye).
• Another group that were important to the social life of jahiliyya were poets.
• Poetry was a skill much valued by the Arabs.
• Poets felt possessed by the jinn and would read their poetry out loud.
• Jinn = one of the spirits that dwelt in the desert
• Poetry was believed to be supernatural and the curse of a poet could have a disastrous effect on the enemy.
• The social function of a poet was that he would pass on information
• A poet could give rival tribes an interpretation of events which might influence them not to go to war.