All Units - Pre-Islamic To Umayyad Period

M.
A ISLAMIC STUDIES
Semester—I
MAIS-105-E: Pre-Islamic to Umayyad Period
Course Material (Unit 1, 2, 3 and 4) Prepared by:

Dr. Abroo Aman Andrabi
Assistant Professor
Department of Islamic Studies
Jamia Hamdard, Hamdard Nagar, New Delhi-62
Coordinated by:
Published by:
SCHOOL OF OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING

JAMIA HAMDARD
Table of Contents
Page No
Unit 1 - Pre-Islamic Arabia
 Jahiliyya period: an overview
 Socio-religious practices
 Political system
 Economic conditions
Unit 2 - Prophet Muhammad and the Emergence of Islam

 The Prophet and his life at Makkah
 Migration and life at Madina
 Achievements of Prophet Muhammad
 Organization of society and formation of Islamic state
Unit 3 - Khilafat-e Rashida

 Hazrat Abu Bakr
 Hazrat Umar
 Hazrat Usman
 Hazrat Ali
Unit 4 – Umayyad Period

 Establishment and consolidation of rule
 Education, art and architecture
 Socio-political situation
 Decline of Umayyad rule
UNIT 1 PRE – ISLAMIC ARABIA
UNIT STRUCTURE
Lesson 1: Jahiliyya period: an overview

1.1.1 Introduction
1.1.2 Learning Objectives
1.1.3 Tribal Society in Pre - Islamic Arabia
1.1.4 Distinctive Features of Pre - Islamic Arabia
1.1.5 Women in Pre - Islamic Arabia
Lesson 2: Socio-religious practices
1.2.1 Introduction
1.2.3 Poetry as a practice in Pre - Islamic Arabia
1.2.4 Social evils in Pre - Islamic Arabia
1.2.5 Religious Humiliation of the Arabs in Pre-Islamic Arabia
1.2.6 Deities in Pre - Islamic Arabia
1.2.7 Religious Superstitions in Pre - Islamic Arabia
1.2.8 Polytheism, Monotheistic and Semitic Religions in Pre - Islamic Arabia
Lesson 3: Political system
1.3.1 Introduction
1.3.3 Political Life in Pre - Islamic Arabia
1.3.4 Tribal Law and Tribal Chiefs in Pre - Islamic Arabia
1.3.5 No Justice System in Pre - Islamic Arabia
Lesson 4: Economic conditions
1.4.1 Introduction
1.4.3 Economy of the Pre - Islamic Arabia
1.4.4 Beginning of Trade Journeys by the Quraysh
1.4.5 Trades and Transactions in Pre - Islamic Arabia
UNIT END SUMMARY

UNIT END QUESTIONS
UNIT SUGGESTED READINGS
Lesson 1: Jahiliyya period: an overview
1.1.1 Introduction
1.1.1 Introduction
The Pre – Islamic Society is known with a term Jahiliyya which is derived from the verbal root jahala
"to be ignorant or stupid, to act stupidly". This Arabic word means “ignorance,” or “barbarism,” and
indicates a negative Muslim evaluation of Pre-Islamic life and culture in Arabia as compared to the
teachings and practices of Islam. There was no clear-cut religious ideology, no inspired Prophet, no
revealed book in Pre-Islamic Arabia, and they had no idea of the constructive government, no idea of
proper and noble life. Their religious as well as political life was on a thoroughly primitive level.
Thus, the Pre-Islamic period was the darkest age in human history. It was a time of ignorance and
anarchy in the religious as well as social life. The political, social and cultural life developed by the
people of the ancient world was shattered by the Barbarians. The social and religious order organized
by Judaism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism had disintegrated. This lesson will elucidate the
sociocultural structure of Arabia before the emergence of the last Prophet of Islam.

To know about the tribal society of Pre – Islamic Arabia
To know about the state of Pre – Islamic Arabia before the rise of Islam.

A tribe is a group which possesses certain qualities and characteristics that make it a unique cultural,
social, and political entity. And a society with the social organization of a tribe is known as tribal
society. For example, hunting and gathering society, hunting and gathering tribe. A group that
supports itself by hunting and fishing and by gathering wild fruits and vegetables; usually is nomadic.
Just before the rise of Islam one of the major cultures that dominated the Arabian Peninsula was that
of the nomadic Bedouin people. The polytheistic Bedouin clans placed heavy emphasis on kin-related
groups, with each clan clustered under tribes. The immediate family shared one tent and can also be
called a clan. Many of these tents and their associated familial relations comprised a tribe. Although
clans were made up of family members, a tribe might take in a non-related member and give them
familial status. Society was patriarchal, with inheritance through the male lines. Tribes provided a
means of protection for its members; death to one clan member meant brutal retaliation. Therefore,
in the peninsula, a tribe is a group defined by perceived descent from a common male ancestor.
The word qabila (tribe) refers not only to a kinship group but also to a status category. Qabili families
claim descent from one of the two eponymous Arab ancestors, Adnan or Qahtan, and feel themselves
to be distinct from and superior to the nontribal khadiri, freeborn people who cannot claim such
descent. The khadiri included most of the tradesmen, artisans, merchants, and scholars of pre-
oil Arabia. Non-members of the tribe were viewed as outsiders or enemies. Tribes shared common
ethical understandings and provided an individual with an identity. Warfare between tribes was
common among the Bedouin, and warfare was given a high honor. Because of the harsh climate and
the seasonal migrations required to obtain resources, the Bedouin nomadic tribes generally raised
sheep, goats, and camels. Each member of the family had a specific role in taking care of the animals,
from guarding the herd to making cheese from milk. The nomads also hunted, served as bodyguards,
escorted caravans, and worked as private soldiers/fighters. Some tribes traded with towns in order to
gain goods, while others raided other tribes for animals, women, gold, fabric, and other luxury items.
Arabia is the largest peninsula of the world surrounded by the Red Sea in the West, the Indian Ocean
in the South, the Persian Gulf in the East, and in the North the Syrian Desert, which extend to the
Euphrates, stretch, in round numbers from the 12th to 34th degree of North Latitude, its length from
the Mediterranean to the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, as about1400 miles. It breaths across the neck of
the Peninsula is 800 miles, whilst its coastline on the Indian Ocean approaches 1200 miles, “although
Arabia does not possess a single navigable river”. Few of its streams reach ocean. Most of them exist
only when swelled by the periodic rains and as a rule lose themselves in the sandy plains. Arabia was
named after its nomads. It was, as the borders assigned to it by classical geographers suggest, the land
of the Arab or Bedouin. But, although the very name “Arabia” may call forth in many minds images
of a vast desert occupied exclusively by nomads, it is unlikely that nomadic peoples have ever formed
more than a small fraction of its population. Settled peoples have far outnumbered the nomads in all
historical periods, and there are very few districts in which no sedentary communities are to be found,
areas that can be said to be the exclusive domain of nomadic peoples. Most Arabians, then, are, and
have been, settled people. Unlike the South Arabians, the vast majority of the population of North
Arabia, including Hijaz and Najd, is nomadic. The history of the Bedouins is in the main a record of
intertribal wars called Ayyiim al‘Arab (the days of the Arabians), in which there was a great deal of
raiding and plundering but little bloodshed. The sedentary population of Hijaz and Najd developed
no ancient culture of its own. In this, they were unlike their neighbors and kindred, the Nabataeans,
Palmyrenes, Ghassanids and Lakhmids. The Nabataeans, and to a larger extent the Palmyrenes, were
partially Aramaicized; the Ghassanids and Lakhmids were South Arabian colonists amidst Syro
Byzantine and Syro Persian cultures. The Pre- Islamic Period therefore limits itself to a survey of the
battles between the northern Bedouin tribes’ in the century preceding the Hijrah and to an account of
the outside cultural influences operating among the settled inhabitants of Hijaz preparatory to the rise
of Islam. The light of authentic record illumines but weakly the ignorant age. The sources for this
period, in which the North Arabians had no system of writing, are limited to traditions, legends,
proverbs, and above all to poems, none of which, however, were committed to writing before the
second and third centuries after the Hijrah, two to four hundred years after the events which they were
supposed to commemorate. Though traditional and legendary this data is none the less valuable; for
what a people believe, even if untrue, has the same influence over their lives as if it were true. The
North Arabians developed no system of writing until almost the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace
and blessings be upon him). The only three pre-Islamic Arabic inscriptions thus far found (besides
the proto Arabic inscription of lmru-al-Qays in al-Namarah, are those of Zabad southeast of Aleppo
of Harran in al-Laja and Ummal-Jimal (same century). There existed a striking uniformity to Arabian
social organization. For everywhere, it appears, Arabian society on the eve of Islam was tribal. The
individual in such a society saw himself as belonging to several interrelated groups that expressed
membership in terms of real or supposed kinship in the paternal line. These groups provided the
individual with varying degrees of support in social situations and were correspondingly the focus of
the individual's loyalty. The smallest and most immediate of such groups was, of course, the family,
which formed the ultimate focus of an individual's feelings of solidarity. But the individual also felt
himself to be a member of a somewhat broader group that included several closely related families
(those of his paternal uncles, for example) as well as his own. Beyond this were yet broader groups
of increasingly distant “relatives,” real or presumed groups that also could serve as sources of
solidarity at times. The largest solidarity group of this kind that provided the individual with effective
social support was what we can call, arbitrarily, the “tribe.” The understanding of the tribe’s role as a
solidarity unit must be tempered, however, by an appreciation of the importance of inner divisions
within the tribe. These inner divisions were also traceable to the tribe's character as a group of
descendants of a common ancestor; for the main divisions were those between different lineages
within the tribe, that is, between different lines of descent from the eponymous ancestor between, for
example, the Banu ‘Amir and Banu al-Dul within the tribe of Banu Hanifa. These lineages were, of
course, themselves internally subdivided into sub lineages, which were in turn also subdivided, and
so on until the smallest unit within the tribe was reached the family and the individuals in it. Group
solidarity was, to be sure, vitally important to tribal life, but feelings of solidarity within the lineage
(against another lineage) could keep the members of different lineages within a tribe at odds with one
another, just as feelings of solidarity within the tribe could, at other times, pull the different lineages
together in the face of a common threat to the tribe as a whole. The strongest feelings of solidarity
existed in the lowest levels of the tribal organization; among members of a single family or tenting
group, for example, solidarity and loyalty of members was absolute and binding. As one moved up
to levels of broader group identification, the solidarity feelings became correspondingly weaker.
Thus there was rarely open conflict within a single family, whereas rivalries between different
lineages within a large tribe were quite common place and sometimes very bitter. The individual
tribesman thus drew social support in different situations from different levels in his network of
kinsmen. If he became involved in a dispute with another family closely related to his own, he could
rely only on his own family to back him; but if the family or individual with whom he came into
conflict belonged to a distantly related lineage, he might have the support of his entire lineage in the
dispute, while his opponent would also enjoy lineage backing (presuming that the larger groups felt
the issue to be of sufficient importance). The tribe, then, always brought social solidarity to its
members, but it did not always provide the same degree of social support in all situations.

The Bedouin tribes were nomadic pastoralists who relied on their herds of goats, sheep, and camels
for meat, milk, cheese, blood, fur/wool, and other sustenance. The pre-Islamic Bedouins also hunted,
served as bodyguards, escorted caravans, worked as mercenaries, and traded or raided to gain animals,
women, gold, fabric, and other luxury items. The Bedouin’s deep rooted emotional attachment to his
clan was too much. Family, or perhaps tribal pride, was one of the strongest lusts with a Bedouin. The
doctrine of unity of blood as the principle that bound the Arabs into a social unity was formed and
supported by tribal pride. Tribes shared common ethical understandings and provided an individual
with an identity. Warfare between tribes was common among the Bedouin, and warfare was given a
high honor. In this regard, the continued bloody conflicts of Aws and Khazraj, ‘Abs and Dhubyan,
Bakr and Taghlib, etc. are striking examples. Intertribal relationships were brittle and weak due to
continual inter-tribal wars of erosion. Deep devotion to religious superstitions and some customs
held in veneration, however, used to curb their impetuous tendency to quench their thirst for blood.
In other cases, there were the motives of, and respect for, alliance, loyalty and dependency which
could successfully bring about a spirit of rapport, and abort groundless bases of dispute. Undoubtedly,
vices and evils, utterly rejected by reason, were rampant amongst the Pre- Islamic Arabs, but some of
the highly praiseworthy qualities, of which we could mention in the following:
A) Hospitality: They used to emulate one another at hospitality and take utmost pride in it.
Almost half of their poetry heritage was dedicated to the merits and nobility attached to
entertaining one’s guest. They were generous and hospitable on the point of fault. They would
sacrifice their private sustenance to a cold or hungry guest. They would not hesitate to incur
heavy blood money and relevant burdens just to stop bloodshed, and consequently merit praise
and eulogy. In the context of hospitality, there springs up their common habits of drinking
wine which was regarded as a channel branching out of generosity and showing hospitality.
B) Keeping a covenant: For the Arab, to make a promise was to run into debt. He would never
grudge the death of his children or destruction of his household just to uphold the deep rooted
tradition of covenant keeping. The literature of that period is rich in stories highlighting this
merit.
C) Sense of honor and repudiation of injustice: This attribute stemmed mainly from excess
courage, keen sense of self-respect and impetuosity. The Arab was always in revolt against
the least allusion to humiliation or slackness. He would never hesitate to sacrifice himself to
maintain his ever alert sense of his dignity.
D) Firm will and determination: An Arab would never desist an avenue conducive to an object
of pride or a standing of honor, even if it were at the expense of his life. Arabs would go to
any extend to pursue their aims and showed their determination in wars which lasted for more
than three or sometimes four decades. The difficult living conditions in the Arabian Peninsula
created a heavy emphasis on family cooperation, further strengthening the tribe system.
E) Forbearance, perseverance and mildness: The Arab regarded these traits with great
admiration, no wonder, his impetuosity and courage based life was sadly wanting in them.
Their belief in their customs, culture and principles always inspired them to manifest
perseverance and forbearance for their cause. Such priceless ethics coupled with a favorable
geographical position of Arabia were in fact the factors that lay behind selecting the Arabs to
undertake the burden of communicating the message of Islam and leading mankind down a
new course of life. In this regard, these ethics peruse, though detrimental in some areas, and
in need of rectification in certain aspects, were greatly invaluable to the ultimate welfare of
the human community and Islam has did it completely. The most priceless ethics, next to
covenant keeping, were no doubt their sense of self-esteem and strong determination, two
human traits indispensable in combating evil and eliminating moral corruption on the one
hand, and establishing a good and justice orientated society, on the other.

Women had no status of any kind other than an object of use. The number of women a man could
marry was not fixed. When a man died, his son “inherited” all his wives except his own mother. A
violent custom of the Arabs was to bury their female infants alive. Even if an Arab did not wish to
bury his daughter alive, he still had to uphold this “honorable” tradition, being unable to resist social
pressures. Why this was their practice, the motives were twofold: the fear that an increase in female
offspring would result in economic burden, and the fear of the humiliation frequently caused when
girls were captured by a hostile tribe and subsequently preferring their captors to their parents and
brothers. The woman enjoyed a considerable portion of free will, and her decision would most often
be enforced. She was so highly cherished that blood would be easily shed in defense of her honor. In
fact, she was the most crucial key to bloody fight or friendly peace. These privileges notwithstanding,
the family system in Arabia was wholly patriarchal. The marriage contract rested completely in the
hands of the woman’s legal guardian whose words with regard to her marital status could never be
questioned. On the other hand, there were other social strata where prostitution and indecency were
rampant and in full operation. Abu Dawūd, on the authority of ‘Aishah (May Allah be pleased with
her) reported four kinds of marriage in Pre-Islamic Arabia: The first was similar to present day
marriage procedures, in which case a man gives his daughter in marriage to another man after a dowry
has been agreed on. In the second, the husband would send his wife―after the menstruation
period―to cohabit with another man in order to conceive. After conception her husband would, if he
desired, have a sexual intercourse with her. A third kind was that a group of less than ten men would
have sexual intercourse with a woman. If she conceived and gave birth to a child, she would send for
these men, and nobody could abstain. They would come together to her house. She would say: ‘You
know what you have done. I have given birth to a child and it is your child’ (pointing to one of them).
The man meant would have to accept. The fourth kind was that a lot of men would have sexual
intercourse with a certain woman (a whore). She would not prevent anybody. The relations of these
women were extremely loose. Many women sold themselves to make their living since there was
little else they could do. These women flew flags on their houses, and were called “ladies of the flags”.
These flag at their gates
to invite in anyone who liked. If this whore got pregnant and gave birth to a child, she would collect
those men, and would tell whose child it was. The appointed father would take the child and declare
him/her his own. When Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) declared Islam in
Arabia, he cancelled all these forms of sexual contacts except that of present Islamic marriage.
Women always accompanied men in their wars. The winners would freely have sexual intercourse
with such women, but disgrace would follow the children conceived in this way all their lives. Pre-
Islamic Arabs had no limited number of wives. They could marry two sisters at the same time, or
even the wives of their fathers if divorced or widowed. Divorce was to a very great extent in the
power of the husband. The obscenity of adultery prevailed almost among all social classes except few
men and women whose self-dignity prevented them from committing such an act. Free women were
in much better conditions than the female slaves who constituted the greatest calamity. It seemed that
the greatest majority of Pre-Islamic Arabs did not feel ashamed of committing this obscenity. Abu
Dawud reported: A man stood up in front of Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him)
and said: “O Prophet of Allah! that boy is my son. I had sexual intercourse with his mother in the Pre-
Islamic period.” The Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) said: “No claim in Islam for Pre-
Islamic affairs. The child is to be attributed to the one on whose bed it was born, and stoning is the
lot of a fornicator.” With respect to the Pre-Islamic Arab’s relation with his offspring, we see that life
in Arabia was paradoxical and presented a gloomy picture of contrasts.
Lesson 2: Socio-religious practices

1.2.1 Introduction
1.2.3 Poetry as a practice in Pre - Islamic Arabia
1.2.6 Deities in Pre - Islamic Arabia
1.2.8 Polytheism, Monotheistic and Semitic Religions in Pre - Islamic Arabia
1.2.1 Introduction
Before the advent of Islam, worst anarchy and confusion prevailed in the soci-religious life of the
Arabs. With the exception of the Jews and the Christians, the rest of the Arabs were idolaters. The
core of their soci-religious beliefs and practices was characterized by unmistakable traces of the
Abrahamic tradition. No other people of the time or subsequently so well remembered the Abrahamic
tradition and so closely performed the Abrahamic rites as did the Arabs. Yet, at the same time, they
had succumbed to polytheism and idolatry with all its associated customs and superstitions. The idol
worshippers, adorning many Gods and Goddess, Ka’bah, the House of Allah was adorned with idols
and converted into the centre of idolatry in Arabia. This lesson will explore the socio-religious
practices of Arabian society before the emergence of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings
be upon him).

To get well acquainted with the social practices of Pre - Islamic Arabia.
To know the various religious beliefs of the Pre - Islamic Arabia.
1.2.3 Poetry as a Practice in Pre - Islamic Arabia

In the desert life, where people experienced tough environments in vast lands, Arabian society found
itself in a very different field, composed of poetry and discourse which became a practice. This was
their way of resisting the hardships of life and became very significant in uniting a society that was
continuously on the move from one place to another place. Their poetry had many themes, like love,
wine, battle, victory, bravery, hatred against the enemy, hunting, nature, and tribal qualities. It came
in some way to reflect Bedouin life. The literacy rate was very low in the Arabian Peninsula. The oral
poems were written down only at a very late period. For many centuries the poems were memorized
and were passed from one generation to another generation, bringing them down to the Islamic period.
Although the literacy rate was low, it can be said that the Arabs had a strong verbal accumulation in
certain fields to which they had transferred their knowledge and experiences. No people in the world,
perhaps, manifest such enthusiastic admiration for literary expression and are so moved by the word,
spoken or written, as the Arabs. Hardly any language seems capable of exercising over the minds of
its users such irresistible influence as Arabic. The Bedouin's love of poetry was his one social asset.
Arabic literature, like most literatures, sprang into existence with an outburst of poetry; but, unlike
many others, its poetry seems to have issued forth full grown. The oldest pieces of poetry extant seem
to have been composed some one hundred and thirty years before the Hijrah in connection with the
War of al Basus, but these odes, with their rigid conventions, presuppose a long period of development
in the cultivation of the art of expression and the innate capacities of the language. The poets of the
middle part of the sixth century have never been surpassed. The early Muslim poets as well as the
later and present day versifiers regarded and still do regard the ancient productions as models of aloof
excellence. These early poems were committed to memory, transmitted by oral tradition and finally
recorded in writing during the second and third centuries of the Hijrah.
In the Pre-Islamic period, one of the traditions was that of the Sab'a mu'allaquat (literally "the
hangings"). In the city of Makkah, poets and writers would hang their writings on a certain wall in
the city so that others could read about the qualities of their respective tribes. Their travels from city
to city and tribe to tribe were the means by which news, legends, and exploits would become known.
This shows that like later cultures in the region, the Bedouin tribes placed heavy importance on poetry
and oral tradition as a means of communication. Poetry was used to communicate within the
community and sometimes promoted tribal propaganda. Tribes constructed verses against their
enemies, often discrediting their people or fighting abilities. Poets maintained sacred places in their
tribes and communities because they were thought to be divinely inspirited. Poets often wrote in
classical Arabic, which differed from the common tribal dialect. Poetry was also a form of
entertainment, as many poets constructed prose about the nature and the beauty surrounding their
nomadic lives. The ancient odes are still honored throughout the Arabic speaking world as
masterpieces of poetical composition. The market of ‘Ukaz stood in Pre-Islamic days for a kind of
academic center of Arabia. The annual fair, as are told, was held during the sacred months when
fighting was forbidden. The pagan Arabian calendar was like the later Muslim one, lunar; the first
three months of its spring season, i.e. Dhul al-Qa'idah, Dhul al-Hijjah and Muharram, accorded with
the period of peace. The fair provided ample opportunity for the exhibition of native wares, and for
trade and exchange of commodities. It can be easily visualizing the sons of the desert flocking to these
annual peaceful gatherings, lingering around the booths, sipping date wine and enjoying to the full
the tunes of the singing girls. The Arabian poet, as the name indicates, was originally one endowed
with knowledge hidden from the common man, which knowledge he received from a wizard, his
special shaytan (Satan). As a poet he was in league with the unseen powers and could by his curses
bring evil upon the enemy. Satire (Hija') was therefore a very early form of Arabic poetry. As his
office developed the poet acquired a variety of functions. In battle, his tongue was as effective as his
people's bravery. In peace, he might prove a menace to public order by his fiery criticisms. His poems
might arouse a tribe to action in the same manner as the tirade of an agitator in a modern political
campaign. These poems, committed to memory and transmitted from one tongue to another, offered
an invaluable means of publicity. Bedouins measured intelligence by poetry. Its supremacy in
horsemen, poets and numbers. In these three elements, military power, intelligence and numbers, lay
the superiority of a tribe. As the historian and scientist of the tribe the poet was well versed in its
genealogy and folklore, cognizant of the attainments and past achievements of its members, familiar
with their rights, pasturelands and borderlines. Aside from its poetic interest and the worth of its grace
and elegance, the ancient poetry, has historical importance as a source material for the study of the
period in which it was composed. In fact, it is the only data in that period. It throws light on all phases
of Pre- Islamic life. Hence the motto, poetry is the public register (diwan) of the Arabians. In Pre-
Islamic Arabia the poems were used with music too, music was primarily vocal, and it may have
developed from simple caravan songs (huda) to a more sophisticated secular song (nasb). Instruments
were generally used alone and served only to accompany the singer. The short lute (‘ud), long lute
(tunbur), flute (qussaba), tambourine (duff), and drum (tabl) were the most popular instruments.

The social evils that were practiced by the most of the people in pre- Islamic Arabia were the
gambling, drinking wine, and Soothsaying.
Gambling was a famous hobby of the Arabs. A few herds of camels were their wealth and this
property was to be put at stake in gambling. They would slaughter their camels and divided it’s into
ten parts on which they threw their dice. There were ten arrows bearing names with determined share
for each of them. The arrows were placed in a bag which was handed over to an impartial person who
shuffled the bag and drew out the arrows one by one calling out a name each time. If the arrow had a
share against it then that person was successful. But three of the arrows had no share on them, so if
these arrows came into share of anyone, he would be declared unsuccessful. The meat collected in
this fashion was to be distributed among the poor, needy and friends. This activity was marked a
demonstration of loyalty and those refraining from participation in gambling were considered
ungenerous. The non-participants had a scar of disgrace on them being labelled berm (dull, irritating).
Those who were labelled as such could not find a life partner in society because marrying them was
insulting. Another kind of gambling identified as rihan. It was a bet on something which the loser had
to pay as a penalty. Gradually, betting became so common that when anyone had lost all his wealth
and property, he would pledge his wife and children. Usually, betting would become core reason for
bloodshed and feuds. The forty-year war of ayas-zibyan was caused by betting on horse race. They
were compulsive gamblers.
Drinking wine which is against the teachings of Islam, forbids all alcohol and intoxicants as haram.
In pre-Islamic period practically every Arab house was a semi bar. In fact, it was a strange thing to
avoid wine consumption and those who did not consume it before the advent of Islam were few and
far between. Drinking wine, gambling and staking camels were the chief and cherished activities at
the eve of gatherings among friends. They used to slaughter the camel won in the bet and used to
serve it to the company of friends. Sometimes, the host in a state of shocking intoxication, would
slaughter all his camels and serve his friends. Eating and feeding others was a matter of pride and
generosity for them. The wine shops were marked with a banner called ghayah and these remained
open round the clock. Drunkenness was a common vice and with drunkenness went their gambling.
They were compulsive drinkers and compulsive gamblers.
Soothsaying: This was a serious problem which infected the entire Arabian society and that is why
soothsayers were to be found everywhere. Their main function was to giving prediction of the future
and giving news of heaven to the masses. Each of them was thought to be accompanying a Jinn who
would convey him all sorts of news. It is reported that once the Prophet Muhammad (peace and
blessings be upon him) fell ill and due to physical weakness was unable to perform his usual worship
for two or three days. The wife of Abu Lahab (His uncle) came to him and told him “I suppose that
your demon has forsaken you”. The reason behind this kind of conduct was that they thought of the
Prophet as a soothsayer accompanied by a Jinn. The Qur’an categorically repudiates this stance by
asserting: “shall I inform you upon whom the Satan descend? They descend upon every lying sinful
one. They listen eagerly and most of them are liars. The soothsayers stayed in temples and would
carry on worship of their particular idol. By and large they were men but certain women also opted
to wear the garb of soothsayers and opted for that profession. Their mechanism to misguide the people
and plunder them was to prescribe cure for removing difficulty and rituals in the wake of idolatry and
charged heavy fees and offerings.

Before the arrival of revelation, the Arab region comprises of indigenous polytheistic beliefs, which
include Judaism, Ancient Arab Christianity, Nestorian Christianity, Polytheism and Zoroastrianism.
The early Arab traders of Arabian Peninsula established Christianity first when they heard the gospel
from Peter the apostle at Jerusalem. In the areas of Southern Arabia, the Ancient Arabic Christianity
was strong. Najran was the center of Christianity. In Eastern Arabia, Nestorian Christianity was the
dominant religion before the appearance of Islam in that region. Later on, before the start of Islamic
era Christianity was divided into some unorthodox sects such as Gnostics. The Arabs were
undoubtedly indifferent towards religion and had a very bleak notion of religion whatsoever. They
had an idea of All Supreme Power controlling the Universe, His wrath and favor, the Life after death
and the angels. But all these ideas had been adulterated with idolatry. This period in the Arabian
history presents a very dismal picture of religious humiliation. The Pre-Islamic Arabian society was
essentially polytheistic as they worshiped multitude of gods and goddesses. However, they believed
Allah to be the Supreme God, but His worship was neither obligatory nor common. Qur’an eloquently
testifies the fact that the unbelievers and polytheists of Arabia did not deny the existence of one
Almighty God. Qur’an says, “If indeed you ask them Who created the heavens and the earth and
subjected the sun and the moon (To His Law), they will certainly reply, “Allah” How are they then
deluded away (from the truth)? Qur’an again said “And if indeed thou ask them Who it is that sends
down rain from the sky, and fives life herewith to the Earth after its death, they will certainly reply,
“Allah!” Say, “praise be to Allah!” But most of them understand not. And if you ask them, “who
created the heavens and the earth? They will certainly say, “Allah.” Say, all praise be to Allah.”
The pre-Islamic period of Arab history presents a very dismal picture which is characterized by utter
display of chaos and confusion in their religious life. Until about the fourth century, almost all
inhabitants of Arabia practiced polytheistic religions. Although significant Jewish and Christian
minorities developed, polytheism, a small margin of Hanifites, and other Semitic religion remained
the dominant religious landscape in pre-Islamic Arabia. Formal pantheons are more noticeable at the
level of kingdoms, of variable sizes, ranging from simple city states to collections of tribes. Tribes,
towns, clans, lineages and families had their own cults too. Christian Julien Robin suggests that this
structure of the divine world reflected the society of the time. A large number of deities did not have
proper names and were referred to by titles indicating a quality, a family relationship, or a locale
preceded by “he who” or “she who” (dhū or dhāt). The religious beliefs and practices of the nomadic
Bedouin were distinct from those of the settled tribes of towns such as Makkah. Nomadic religious
belief systems and practices are believed to have included fetishism, totemism, and veneration of the
dead but were connected principally with immediate concerns and problems and did not consider
larger philosophical questions such as the afterlife. Settled urban Arabs, on the other hand, are thought
to have believed in a more complex pantheon on deities. While the Makkians and the other settled
inhabitants of the Hijaz worshiped their gods at permanent shrines in towns and oases, the Bedouin
practiced their religion on the move. Tribal gods were the ultimate sources of all phenomena, which
were of great significance in pre-Islamic Arabian society, but out of the direct control of human
beings: natural phenomena, fertility, disease, fortune, and so on. On the other hand, tribal gods were
definitely not for the Arabs the ultimate truth concerning the nature and meaning of life. Pre-Islamic
Arabs worshipped tribal gods just for practical purposes regarding these phenomena. The tribal gods
did not require or receive from their devotees any emotional commitment or loyalty. Compared to the
followers of Islam who generally hold strict and loyal beliefs, Arabian polytheists seem to have been
much more pragmatic and flexible. A well-known report reminds us that: “in the days of paganism
Banū Hanifa had a deity made of dates mixed with clarified butter. They worshipped it for a long
time. Then they were hit by a famine, so they ate it”. Also, when his idol had scared his camels away,
a pre-Islamic Arabian tribesman was supposed to have said in disgust: We came to Sa’ad so that he
might get us together, but Sa’ad dispersed us; so we have nothing to do with Sa’ad. In the same way,
a whole Arabian tribe abandoned its tribal gods for Christianity after a Christian monk had cured the
childlessness of its chief. After all, the gods in Arabian polytheism, framed into tribal structure, were
no more than powerful beings. The significance of worshipping and serving a tribal god only lay in
that it was expected to respond and benefit its worshippers through its power.
1.2.6 Deities in Pre-Islamic Arabia

Most of the Arabs had complied with the call of Ismail, and professed the religion of his father Prophet
Ibrahim. They had worshipped one true God, and followed His religion for a long time until they
forgot part of what they had been reminded of. However, they still maintained such fundamental
beliefs such as monotheism as well as various other aspects of Prophet Ibrahim’s religion. A chief of
Khuza‘a, namely ‘Amr bin Luhai, who was well-known for righteousness, charity, worship and care
for belief, and was granted unreserved love and obedience by his tribesmen, went to Syria where he
saw people worship idols, a phenomenon he approved of and believed it to be righteous since
Syria was the locus of Messengers and Scriptures. When he came back from this trip to Syria, he
brought with him an idol (Hubal) which he placed in the middle of the Ka‘bah and summoned people
to worship it. Hubal (from Aram for vapor, spirit), evidently the chief deity of Ka‘bah, was
represented in human form. Beside him stood ritual arrows used for divination by the soothsayer
(kahin, from Aramaic) who drew lots by means of them. Readily enough, paganism spread all over
Makkah and, then to Hijaz, people of Makkah being custodians of not only the Sacred House but the
whole Haram as well. A great many idols, bearing different names, were introduced into the area.
Polytheism overcame and the number of idols increased everywhere in Hijaz. It was even mentioned
that ‘Amr bin Luhai, with the help of a jinn companion who told him that the idols of Noah’s
folk―Wadd, Suwa‘, Yaguth, Ya‘uk and Nasr―were buried in Jeddah, dug them out and took them
to Tihama. Upon pilgrimage time, the idols were distributed among the tribes to take back home.
Every tribe, and house, had their own idols, and the Sacred House was also overloaded with 360 idols
in and around Ka‘bah. As the Qur’an declares, idolatry (associating the God with others) and unbelief
were both prevalent before the advent of Islam. Despite the great amount of deities worshipped in
pre-Islamic Arabia, the Qur'an only refers to a few of them that were well known. Three goddesses
are mentioned by name in Qur’an 53:1920: al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat, which all had their own shrines
in Makkah's neighborhood, at al-Taif, Nakhla and Qudayd respectively. These three goddesses were
described by Arabian pagans as three “daughters of God”) (Qur’an 16:57), in the Quranic criticism
of the Quraysh. The Quranic verses that denounce the idea of pagan opponents that the angels were
female offspring of “Allah” (Qur’an 17:40; 37:149153) can be seen as a reflection of the accusation
appearing in the Quran (53:1920) about worshipping those three goddesses as “daughters of Allah”.
The Quranic passage associates the names alLat, alUzza, Manat with “angels” and “daughters of
Allah” in the usage of pagan opponents (mushrikūn); but later Muslim tradition further interprets
these three goddesses as typical idols, which reveals that they were real deities worshipped by Arabian
pagans, especially by Makkians.

Superstition was widespread in Pre-Islamic Arabia, despite the fact that people of pre-Islamic period,
believing in superstition, they still recalled some of the Prophet Ibrahim’s traditions such as devotion
to the Holy Sanctuary, circumambulation, observance of pilgrimage, the vigil on ‘Arafah and offering
sacrifices, all of these were observed fully despite some innovations that adulterated these holy rituals.
Quraysh, for example, out of arrogance, feeling of superiority to other tribes and pride in their
custodianship of the Sacred House, would refrain from going to ‘Arafah with the crowd, instead they
would stop short at Muzdalifah. The Noble Quran rebuked and told them: “Then depart from the place
whence all the people depart” (2:199). Another heresy, deeply established in their social tradition,
dictated that they would not eat dried yoghurt or cooked fat, nor would they enter a tent made of
camel hair or seek shade unless in a house of adobe bricks, so long as they were committed to the
intention of pilgrimage. They also, out of a deeply rooted misconception, denied pilgrims, other than
Makkians, access to the food they had brought when they wanted to make pilgrimage or lesser
pilgrimage. They ordered pilgrims coming from outside Makkah to circumambulate Ka‘bah in
Quraysh uniform clothes, but if they could not afford them, men were to do so in a state of nudity,
and women with only some piece of cloth to hide their projections. Allah says in this concern: “O
Children of Adam! Take your adornment (by wearing your clean clothes), while praying and going
round (the Tawaf of) the Ka‘bah” (7:31).
When the Makkians were in a pilgrimage consecration state, they would not enter their houses through
the doors but through holes they used to dig in the back walls. They used to regard such behavior as
deeds of piety and God fearing. This practice was prohibited by the Quran: “It is not Al-Birr (piety,
righteousness, etc.) that you enter the houses from the back but Al-Birr (is the quality of the one) who
fears Allah. So enter houses through their proper doors, and fear Allah that you may be successful”
(2: 189). Such was the religious life in Arabia, polytheism, idolatry, and superstition. Judaism,
Christianity, Magianism and Sabianism, however, could find their ways easily into Arabia.
1.2.8 Polytheism, Monotheistic and Semitic Religions in Pre – Islamic Arabia

The term ‘shirk’ (with verbal form ashraka and the active participle mushrik) is often understood as
“polytheism” or “idolatry”. However, this term can also refer to the concept of “making someone or
something a partner or associate, of someone or something else” in a non-religious sense. Therefore,
the term shirk may have been used in polemical way by the Prophet and early Muslims against
individuals or groups who identified themselves as “monotheists”. However, some scholars have
argued that the Arabic word root sh-r-k was already used by the so called monotheists of South Arabia
to refer to real polytheism before the advent of Islam. If this is the case, it becomes more problematic
to suggest that the Islamic use of shirk originated in intra monotheist polemics. Polytheism and
worship of idols became the most prominent feature of the religion of pre-Islamic Arabs despite
alleged profession of Prophet Ibrahim’s religion. Traditions and ceremonies of the worship of their
idols had been mostly created by ‘Amr bin Luhai, and were deemed as good innovations rather than
deviations from Abraham’s religion. Some features of idol worships were:
 Self-devotion to the idols, seeking refuge with them, praise of their names, calling them help
in hardship, and supplication to them for fulfilment of wishes, hopefully that the idols would
mediate with One True God for the fulfilment of people’s wishes.
 Performing pilgrimage to the idols, circumrotation round them, self-abasement and even
prostrating themselves before them. Seeking favor of idols through various kinds of sacrifices
and immolations, which is mentioned in the Quranic verses: “And that which is sacrificed
(slaughtered) on Al-Nusub (stone altars)” (5: 3).
 Consecration of certain portions of food, drink, cattle, and crops to idols.
 Dedication of certain animals (such as Bahira, Sa’iba, Wasila and Hami) to idols, which meant
sparing such animals from useful work for the sake of these heathen gods. Bahira, as reported
by the well-known historian, Ibn-Ish, was daughter of Sa’iba which was a female camel that
gave birth to ten successive female animals, but no male ones, was set free and forbidden to
yoke, burden or being sheared off its wool, or milked (but for guests to drink from); and so
was done to all her female offspring which were given the name ‘Bahira’, after having their
ears slit. The Wasila was a female sheep which had ten successive female daughters in five
pregnancies. Any new births from this Wasila were assigned only for male people. The Hami
was a male camel which produced ten progressive females, and was thus similarly forbidden.
In mention of this, the Quranic verses go: Allah has not instituted things like Bahira (a she
camel whose milk was spared for the idols and nobody was allowed to milk it) or a Sa’iba (a
she camel let loose for free pasture for their false gods, e.g. idols, etc., and nothing was allowed
to be carried on it), or a Wasila (a she camel set free for idols because it has given birth to a
she camel at its first delivery and then again gives birth to a she camel at its second delivery)
or a Hâm (a stallion camel freed from work for their idols, after it had finished a number of
copulations assigned for it, all these animals were liberated in honor of idols as practiced by
pagan Arabs in the pre-Islamic period). But those who disbelieve, invent lies against Allah,
and most of them have no understanding” (5:103). Moreover, they used to have a deep
conviction in the tidings of soothsayers, diviners and astrologers. A soothsayer used to traffic
in the business of foretelling future events and claim knowledge of private secrets and having
jinn subordinates who would communicate the news to him. Some soothsayers claimed that
they could uncover the unknown by means of a granted power, while other diviners boasted
they could divulge the secrets through a cause and effect inductive process that would lead to
detecting a stolen commodity, location of a theft, a stray animal, and the like. The astrologer
belonged to a third category who used to observe the stars and calculate their movements and
orbits whereby he would foretell the future. Lending credence to this news constituted a clue
to their conviction that attached special significance to the movements of particular stars with
regard to rainfall. The belief in signs as betokening future events was of course common
among the Arabians. Some days and months, particular animals were regarded as ominous.
They also believed that the soul of a murdered person would fly in the wilderness and would
never rest at rest until revenge was taken.
The Monotheistic and Semitic religions were Judaism and Christianity. Judaism was introduced into
Yemen by someone called As‘ad Abi Karb. He had gone to fight in Yathrib and there he involved
with Judaism and then went back taking with him two rabbis from Bani Qurayzah to instruct the
people of Yemen in this new religion. Judaism found a fertile soil there to propagate and gain
adherents. After his death, his son Yusuf Dhu Nawas rose to power, attacked the Christian community
in Najran and ordered them to embrace Judaism. When they refused, he ordered that a pit of fire be
dug and all the Christians indiscriminately be dropped to burn therein. Estimates say that between 20
to 40thousand Christians were killed in that human massacre. The migration of the Jews from
Palestine to Arabia passed through two phases: first, because of the pressure to which they were
exposed, the destruction of the temple, and taking most of them as captives to Babylon, at the hand
of the King Bukht Nassar. In the year B.C. 587, some Jews left Palestine for Hijaz and settled in the
northern areas whereof. The second phase started with the Roman occupation of Palestine under the
leadership of Roman Buts in 70 A.D. This resulted in a tidal wave Jewish migration into Hijaz, and
Yathrib, Khaybar and Taima’, in particular. Here, they made proselytes of several tribes, built forts
and castles, and lived in villages. Christianity likewise opened its doors inclusive to polytheism, and
got too difficult to comprehend as a heavenly religion. As a religious practice, it developed a sort of
peculiar medley of man and God. It exercised no bearing whatsoever on the souls of the Arabs who
professed it simply because it was alien to their style of life and did not have the least relationship
with their practical life. People of other religions were similar to the polytheists with respect to their
feelings, views, customs and conducts. Christianity had first made its appearance in Arabia following
the entry of the Abyssinian (Ethiopian) and Roman colonists into that country. The Abyssinian
colonization forces in league with Christian missions entered Yemen as a retaliatory reaction for the
iniquities of Dhu Nawas, and started strongly to propagate their faith ardently. They even built a
church and called it Yemeni Ka‘bah with the aim of directing the Arab pilgrimage caravans towards
Yemen, and then attempted to demolish the Sacred House in Makkah. Allah, the Almighty, however
did punish them and made an example of them–here and hereafter. A Christian missionary called
Fimion, and known for his severe behavior and working miracles, had likewise infiltrated into Najran.
There he called people to Christianity, and by virtue of his honesty and truthful devotion, he managed
to persuade them to respond positively to his invitation and embrace Christianity. The principal tribes
that embraced Christianity were Ghassan, Taghlib, Tai’ and some Himyarite kings as well as other
tribes living on the borders of the Roman Empire. In pre-Islamic times, the population of Eastern
Arabia consisted of Christianized Arabs (including Abd al Qays) and Aramean Christians among
other religions. Syriac functioned as a liturgical language. Serjeant states that the Baharna may be the
Arabized descendants of converts from the original population of Christians (Aramaean), among
other religions at the time of Arab conquests. Beth Qatraye which translates "region of the Qataris"
in Syriac was the Christian name used for the region encompassing northeastern Arabia. It included
Bahrain, Tarout Island, Al-Khatt, al-Hasa and Qatar. Oman and the United Arab Emirates comprised
the diocese known as Beth Mazunaye. The name was derived from ‘Mazun’, the Persian name for
Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Sohar was the central city of the diocese. In Nejd, in the center
of the peninsula, there is evidence of members of two tribes, Kindah and Taghlib, converting to
Christianity in the 6th century. However, in Hijaz in the west, there is evidence of the presence of
Christianity. Magianism was also popular among the Arabs living in the neighborhood of Persia, Iraq,
Bahrain, Al Ahsâ’ and some areas on the Arabian Gulf coast. Some Yemenis are also reported to have
professed Magianism during the Persian occupation. As for Sabianism, excavations in Iraq revealed
that it had been popular amongst Kaldanian folks, the Syrians and Yemenis. With the advent of
Judaism and Christianity, however, Sabianism began to give way to the new religions, although it
retained some followers mixed or adjacent to the Magians in Iraq and the Arabian Gulf. Such was the
religious life of the Arabians before the advent of Islam. The role that the religions prevalent played
was so marginal, in fact it was next to nothing.
Lesson 3: Political system

1.3.1 Introduction
1.3.1 Introduction
The period of ignorance before the rise of Islam in 610 CE. The period was identified with ignorance
because the political, religious and social conditions of Arabia were of the worst order. Practically
the pre-Islamic Arabs were not bound by any written code of law, and there was no state structure
which could enforce its statutes. There were no authoritarian political systems. Only the individual
prestige and close lineage loyalties mattered the most. The internal structure of Pre-Islamic Arabian
society itself had many problems, be it social, religious or economical. So there was no political
system at all.

To know the Political Conditions of Pre-Islamic Arabia.
To know the Tribal Law of Pre-Islamic Arabia.

As the time is often defined as the Age of ignorance, the period was called so, because the political,
religious and social conditions of pre-Islamic Arabia were of the worst order. The Pre-Islamic Arabs
had no inspired Prophet, no revealed book; no clear-cut religious ideology and they had no idea of
the system of government, no idea of moral and descent life. Their religious as well as political life
was on a thoroughly primitive level. This period was the darkest age in human history. It was a time
of ignorance and anarchy in the religious, social as well as political life in the world. Their political,
social and cultural life developed by the people of the ancient world was shattered by the Barbarians.
The most remarkable feature of the political life of Arabia before Islam was the total absence of
political organization in any form. With the exception of Yemen in the south- west, no part of the
Arabian Peninsula had any government at any time. In the northwest was the government of Aal-
Ghassan, which followed the Roman government and provided identical services to those of Aal-
Lakhm to the Romans. Basra was the capital of this state and it was located on the Northern Trade
Route. Its inhabitants made their livings through trade and commerce. The third government was that
of Aal-Kindah. The capital was located in Dummat-ul-Jandal along the Northern Trade Route.
Naturally, their source of income was also to be found in trade and commercial activities. Aal-Kindah
was under the influence of the governments located in the south.
The modern student of history finds it unbelievable that the Arabs lived, generation after generation,
century after century, without a government of any kind. Since there was no government, there was
no law and no order. The only law of the land was lawlessness. In the event a crime was committed,
the injured party took law in its own hands, and tried to administer ‘justice’ to the offender. This
system led very frequently to acts of horrendous cruelty. Since there were no such things as police,
courts or judges, the only protection a man could find from his enemies, was in his own tribe. The
tribe had an obligation to protect its members even if they had committed crimes. Tribalism or
‘asabiyya (the clan spirit) took precedence over ethics.
Judaism managed to play an important role in pre-Islam political life. When Islam dawned on that
land, there had already been several famous Jewish tribes - Khabeer, Al-Mustaliq, An-Nadeer,
Qurayzah and Qainuqa‘. In some versions, the Jewish tribes counted as many as twenty. Judaism
turned into abominable hypocrisy in league with hegemony. Rabbis turned into lords to the exclusion
of the Lord. They got involved in the practice of dictatorial subjection of people and calling their
subordinates to account for the least word or idea. Their sole target turned into acquisition of wealth
and power even if it were at the risk of losing their religion, or the emergence of atheism and disbelief.

Arabs where tribal people meaning they were grouped together according to their common ancestors.
Some tribes were wealthier than others as the people did not share their wealth which created
problems especially to the poorer tribes. Because the social system was based on clans there was no
way to deal with unhappiness. Tribes were made up of clans; each clan had a leader (usually an elder).
Leaders would have almost a council to discuss tribal issues. The most powerful tribe were the
Quraysh. Within tribes all members were very loyal and killing each other in a tribe was forbidden.
Under the customary tribal law existing in Arabia at the advent of Islam, as a general rule women had
virtually no legal status. The tribe acted as the main functional unit of Arabian society and was
composed of people with connections to a common relative. These tribes were patriarchal and
inheritance was passed through the male lines; women could not inherit property. That time Arabia
was a male-dominated society. The tribal leader enforced the tribe’s spoken rules, which generally
limited the rights of the women. Women were often considered property to be inherited or seized in
a tribal conflict. The “tribe,” was essentially seen as a body of blood relations and was normally
defined as being all those people descended in the male line from some eponymous ancestor: thus the
tribe of Hanifa was the Banu Hanifa, literally, the “Sons of Hanifa.” Fellow tribesmen, being in theory
relatives, were supposed to stand together against the outsider. There was, of course, no structural
difference between the “tribe” and its component subgroups. Like the “tribe”, the subgroups were the
“sons of” an eponymous ancestor: the Banu Hanifa, for example, comprised several groups, including
the Banu ‘Amir (Sons of ‘Amir), Banu al Dul, and Banu 'Adi, where ‘Amir, al Dul, and 'Adi were
viewed as three sons, or other descendants, of their common ancestor, Hanifa. Thus, the notion of the
“tribe” was simply the extension to a higher plane of generalization of the same concept of group
identification and solidarity, expressed in terms of kinship, that was used to define the subgroups right
down to the level of the family. Presumably, it was a concept that could be extended upward
indefinitely, to embrace the whole human race an exercise in the systematization of a worldview that
medieval Arab genealogists pursued with great enthusiasm. In the Arabian setting, however, it is
convenient to use the term "tribe" to refer to the many large solidarity groups of considerable stability
that are mentioned constantly in the sources, and that in many cases seem to function as cohesive and
virtually autonomous social and sometimes political units. The whole Arabian population, then, was
divided into such tribes, and it was to his tribe and to the increasingly narrow subdivisions within the
tribe that an individual felt his primary loyalty. The tribe, or one of its subgroups, was the individual's
only defense against insult or injury in his dealings with society as a whole; if a man broke with his
tribe, as a few pre-Islamic heroic poets apparently did, he had no choice but to face life alone and in
virtual isolation that is, to withdraw from Arabian society. Whatever his way of life, the Arabian was
primarily a tribesman identified with his tribe, loyal to it, and secured as much as possible against
abuse by it. This was as true of the fully settled populations of South Arabia or the oasis towns
scattered through the peninsula, as it was of the nomadic peoples of Arabia.
The Arabs never acknowledged any authority other than the authority of the chiefs of their tribes. The
authority of the tribal chiefs, however, rested, in most cases, on their character and personality, and
was moral rather than political. The tribal chief provided leadership in fighting, served as an arbitrator
of disputes, and in many cases was also the custodian of the groups sacred symbols. However, the
chief had no authority to force the acceptance of his position upon any clan or any family. Even the
men were free to break their ties with their clans, and their families.
A tribe that failed to protect its members from their enemies, exposed itself to ridicule, criticism and
disrespect. Ethics, of course, did not enter the picture anywhere. Since Arabia did not have a
government, and since the Arabs were protestors by character and nature, they were locked up in
ceaseless warfare. War was a permanent institution of the Arabian society. The desert could support
only a limited number of people, and the state of intertribal war maintained a rigid control over the
growth of population. But the Arabs themselves did not see war in this light. To them, war was a
pastime or rather a dangerous sport, or a species of tribal drama, waged by professionals, according
to old and polite codes, while the “audience” cheered. Eternal peace held no appeal for them, and war
provided an escape from work and from the dullness of life in the desert.
As for as the social practices of the tribal chiefs are concerned, there were three main factors affecting
their social life. They all spoke one language, i.e. Arabic, though with its different dialects. They
preferred one and the same religion, namely the religion of idolatry. Besides, they belonged to one
common stock, i.e. the Semitic. Despite these common factors, they were always at war with one
another. The root cause of their fight was conflict over chieftainship and over capturing the source
of life, namely water and fodder.

Prior to Islam, the prevailing clans in this region used to move from one oasis to another until they
could find suitable pasture for their cattle. This climatic condition, naturally, did not render the region
suitable for settling and cultural interchange; hence, the formation and constitution of ideologies in
the central parts of the Peninsula. Therefore, no state or government was formed in centre of the
Peninsula, and, from among the various clans of the pre-Islam period, only the Quraysh tribe in
Makkah and the Thaqif tribe in Taif were settled; the remaining tribes were engaged in endless
migration. This way of life automatically led to the advent of superstition, isolationism and a struggle
for individual and clan supremacy. Nevertheless, the hardship of life led to crimes such as robbery,
looting from the other tribes, murder or taking revenge. In this way, murder and plundering were very
common among these tribes. Accordingly, some of these tribes used to come to agreements with the
commercial caravans to afford them security from other tribes, defending them against raids, and
finally gaining revenue for providing these services. Similarly, because the land was arid and finding
suitable places in which to camp was difficult, they used to provide guidance and rented their pack
animals (four footed animals) to earn some income for their services. On the verge of the emergence
of Islam, there were three puppet governments ruling in the north of the Peninsula. These governments
were no comparison with the governments of Hemyaris or the Persian and Roman Empire. But,
compared with the central nomadic tribes, they had considerable power and dignity. To north east of
the Peninsula, the government of Aal-Lakhm prevailed from their capital, which was located in the
city of Hirah. Lakhmids used to abide by Persian rule and, whenever there was a clash between Iran
and Rome, they used to side with and fight for the Persians. During times of peace, they would
strengthen and expand their positions.
There were no laws in Arabia before the coming of Islam as Arabia was an Anarchy (no laws or
government). As there was no law and order, they didn't have a justice system (policemen, courts,
etc). Without all of these in place people took law into their own hands. If a crime was ever committed
the injured party would take the law into their own hands and tried to administer what they considered
"justice" to the offender. As an anarchist nation, war was very popular in Arabia. To them war was
something to pass time with or a dangerous sport that took them away from the boring life of living
in the desert. There was no common court of justice in pre-Islamic Arabia. In the absence of any legal
authority, intergroup restraints were maintained by the principle of the retaliatory blood feud which
indicates that an injury by an outsider to any member of a group was regarded as crime committed
against the entire group and the enmity was considered against the whole group to which the outsider
belonged. The injured group’s honor required that it must avenge the dishonor. The norm was
normally an organ for an organ, a life for a life.
Lesson 4: Economic conditions

1.4.1 Introduction
1.4.1 Introduction
Arabia has a distinct geography with few places in Yemen, Bahrain, Central Arabia and several
scattered oases in the interior producing agricultural goods, such as frankincense, myrrh, vine, dyes
and dates. The rest of the peninsula features deserts and semiarid regions where nomadic lifestyle was
the norm. Across these infertile swaths of land, tribes were directly involved in the collection of booty
by conducting raids, known as ghazwat, on commercial caravans trading local produce as well as
spices, gold, ivory, pearls, precious stones, and textiles―all of which arrived at the local ports from
Africa, India, and the Far East. The Pre-Islamic Arabian society was very much in the primitive stage.
The land of Arabia was barren. There were no agricultural and mineral products. So the people of
Arabia generally were economically depressed. In the pre-Islamic era, trade was maintained in the
Peninsula as long as peripheral kingdoms along the edges of Arabia, namely Himyarites, Ghassanids
and Lakhmids, guarded the routes and policed Bedouin tribes. The practice of money lending based
on the system of ‘usury’ (interest) was in vogue among the Jews who treated their debtor very
severely. Therefore, the lives the Arabs is generally continued to be
very miserable. This lesson will explore the economic conditions and avenues available to the people
in Arabia prior to the emergence and establishment of Islamic society.

To know the Economic status in Pre - Islamic Arabia.
To know the role of trade and commerce in in Pre – Islamic Arabian Economy.

The merchant caravans took advantage of the seasonal markets; these were set up in Yemen, Hijaz
and Sham, especially in Sana (Capital of Yemen), Yathrib and Makkah, and were able to trade
commodities. Also, another trade route passed through the north of Arabia. This route became an
important trade route, when the Southern Trade Route lost its importance. Since that time, the
commodities sent from India were shipped to Oman and, from there,
were carried on land through the north of Arabia and Sham to Rome. Along this route, seasonal
markets were set up and states in the area depended on these trading activities. Their capitals were
centers of commerce for the merchant caravans that were travelling this route. The capitals of the
states of Aal Lakhm, Aal-Kindah and Aal-Ghassan (i.e., Hirah, Doumatul Jandal and Bosra,
respectively) were located along the Northern Trade Route. Other than the Southern and Northern
Trade Routes, there was a third route between Sham and Yemen which was developed when Hashim,
the elder grandfather of the Prophet of Islam, took over the leadership of the Quraysh tribe. Trade
through this route was the result of the efforts of Hashim who obtained agreements and permissions
from the kings of Rome, Persia, Ethiopia and Yemen for Quraysh. Subsequently, trade through this
route developed and Quraysh gained a great deal of wealth. Makkah once again found its importance
as a trading center because the House of Ka‘bah was located there and the Arab tribes came once a
year for pilgrimage at Ka‘bah. Before the Pilgrimage ceremonies, the tribes had an opportunity to
trade. Being a sanctuary, the House of Ka‘bah created the necessary security for trade. War and
bloodshed were forbidden during four months of every year, and the concurrence of the ceremonies
during the same period ensured the safe movement of merchant caravans to Makkah and their return
to their destinations. The treaty of Hilf al-Fuzul was made between the Arab tribes and increased the
trade security in Makkah more than ever. Apart from this, the Peninsula was quite disadvantaged of
other natural attributes. The only humid region of the Peninsula, where it was possible to have some
agricultural activity, comprised the southern parts of the Peninsula, which were exposed to the
westbound humid winds of the Indian Ocean. For this reason, cultivation, horticulture and animal
husbandry had been established since the early years. With the sea as its border, the fishing industry
was established, and trade relations with India allowed the re-export of commodities to Rome. This
was a third opportunity that created the economic boom in the south of the Arabian Peninsula. In this
regard, the Peninsula has always had larger settlements and been urbanized; it has also seen the
emergence of powerful nations and governments. To mention some of these states, we would refer to
the Hemyaris, who ruled for several centuries in the south, and had confrontations and were in contest
with the Persian and Roman rulers. However, there are two great phenomena in the history of south
that caused the downfall of its dignity and glory. The first phenomenon was the great advances
Romans achieved in developing vessels that could travel and pass through the strait of “Bab-ul-
Mandab” and carry the Indian merchandise straight to Egypt, Palestine and Sham. This phenomenon
caused the Southern Trade Route, along which the trade caravans used to go from the south to the
west of the
Peninsula, passing from the Hijaz region towards Sham, Palestine and Egypt, to become redundant.
Consequently, people migrated from the south to the north. The second phenomenon, which occurred
later on and was almost concurrent with the year of the birth of the Prophet Mohammad, was the fall
into disrepair of the Ma’rib Dam between 542 and 570. This dam, which was very old and had been
repaired several times, finally, due to a huge flood known as Al-Eram, which is also cited in
the Qur’an was destroyed by a huge flood. The total destruction of this dam wiped out vast regions
of Yemen and, consequently, people migrated to other places. Unlike the south, the central regions of
the Peninsula had a dry climate with little rain. It is probably that some regions had only a few rainy
days in the course of a year. Very high temperatures and a lack of humidity turned the centre of the
Peninsula into a land of desert and sand, a practically non habitable area. Only in some regions, for
only a very short period each year, was the land green, at which time it was possible to engage in
animal husbandry and the grazing of cattle. In a few other places, like Yathrib, Taif and Khaybar,
there was a higher level of rainfall; thus, it was possible to maintain gardens and cultivate crops.
Ultimately, the living conditions in the Peninsula were very harsh.
The main source of their income was commerce and their capital was located on the trade route
towards the north. As the route to the south lost its importance and ceased to flourish, the Northern
trade route was improved from Oman, where they used it for transshipment of the Indian imported
merchandise. However, this time, movement of the caravans was from the north of the Peninsula by
passing from Hirah, Dummat-ul-Jandal, Basra and other places, heading for Qazza, Tyre (Sur) and
Iyleh; that is, all the places connected to Rome, Egypt and Palestine. Although the humidity and
rainfall were more favorable in the north than those in the centre of the Peninsula and even though
the climate was better and there were some agricultural activities in the north, their main source of
income was by way of trade. The principal reason for the extensive commercial activities in the
Peninsula was due to its excellent geographical position and its comparative advantages in this field.
The agricultural capacity of the Peninsula was by no way comparable with Persia and Rome, and, due
to climatic conditions, it had major drawbacks. Because of the continual differences and conflicts
between Iran and Rome, the Indian merchandise destined for Rome did not pass through Iran. The
major proportion of merchandise was transported via the sea routes, the remainder being sent via the
north and the south of the Peninsula. Therefore, passage through the Peninsula, besides being arduous
and insecure, had certain advantages, too. The inhabitants of the Peninsula in the south and north were
born traders who had learnt trade and commerce from their ancestors, and used to organize local and
seasonal markets on the trade routes. The caravans benefited from the transactions in these markets.
As has been mentioned, Hashim once more resumed trade between Sham and Yemen, although on a
very limited scale as compared with the past. This action helped the South Trade Route to some
extent. In fact, the Arab merchants, by establishing relationships with the neighboring governments,
tried to expand their trading activities throughout the Peninsula. The West Arabian town of Makkah
appears to have functioned for centuries as a typical haram, a combination of pilgrimage centre and
marketplace. Because it supported no agriculture, it is probable that the residents of the town were
from its earliest settlement active in the pursuit of trade, at least on a local scale, and it was from this
trade and from the economic benefits associated with pilgrimage to, the Ka‘bah, that the Makkians
were able to live. However, Makkah had undergone an economic and social development that set it
apart from other towns in northern and central Arabia. The tribe of Quraysh in Makkah, or at least
certain branches of Quraysh (especially the clans of Banu Umayya (‘Abd Shams) and (Makhzum)
had come to dominate the lucrative West Arabian transit trade in luxuries such as slaves and spices.
They maintained a far flung network of commercial contacts stretching from the Syrian entryways of
Basra, Gaza, and al‘Arish to the Yemen. They concluded economic, and sometimes political, alliances
with numerous nomadic groups in the deserts of northern and central Arabia, whose consent and
assistance were needed to facilitate the passage of Makki caravans; and they controlled large amounts
of capital, invested in their trading ventures not only by themselves, but also, it seems, by virtually
every resident of Makkah. The trade they worked was thriving, and the clans of Umayyah and
Makhzum in particular had grown wealthy and influential in Makkian politics. Furthermore, by
associating allied tribes with their commercial ventures by means of profit sharing, they were able to
translate some of their economic influence in western Arabia into a measure of political influence as
well. The cause of this tremendous burst of economic activity in Makkah remains obscure, despite
the considerable attention it has received. We cannot be certain whether Makkah’s booming
commerce resulted primarily from the decline of trading ventures organized by South Arabian
competitors, from a shift in trade routes that brought more trade to the West Arabian land route at the
expense of the Red Sea or other routes, from the development of superior organizational methods by
the Makkan merchants, or from other factors. What is clear is that Makkian commerce was flourishing
as never before, and that the leaders in this trade had developed from mere merchants into true
financiers. They were no longer concerned only with “buying cheap and selling dear,” but also with
organizing money and men to realize their commercial objectives. There was emerging, in short, a
class of men with well-developed managerial and organizational skills. It was a development
unheralded, and almost unique, in central Arabia. It was also the time each year when disputes would
be arbitrated, debts would be resolved, and trading would occur at Meccan fairs. These annual events
gave the tribes a sense of common identity and made Mecca an important focus for the peninsula. So,
trading was the most important part of the economy of Pre-Islamic Arabia. Makkah was located by
the most important trade route of Western Arabia.

Though it was agriculture and pastoralism that provided the people of pre – Islamic Arabia with their
basic livelihood, it was trade that brought them, or at least some of them, fame and fortune. Of course,
there was the ordinary business of exchanging animal products for the goods of farming communities.
But what fired the imagination of the writers of antiquity was that legendary trade in the ‘spices of
Araby’ which urged many emperor to dream of braving the desert wastes to wrest control of their
cultivation, made ‘many forget mortal pleasures and secretly suppose that they are partaking of
ambrosia’, and which kept many an imperial accountant awake at night worrying about balance of
payments, ‘because vast wealth from Rome and Parthia accumulates in their hands, as they sell the
produce they obtain from the sea or their forests and buy nothing in return. As Agricultural activities
were not possible in Makkah. Makkian people were conversant with winter and summer trade -
journeys to Syria, Palestine, Abyssinia Yemen, Rome and Persia. The people of other places held the
Quraysh traders in high esteem because of their position of custodians of the sanctuary in Makkah.
They were known as the “People as God” in side as well as outside Arabia. Hashim was the first man
from Quraysh who introduced the trade journeys from Makkah to the outside world. He got
permission from several rulers such as Hercules of Byzantine Empire, Emperor of Persia and the King
of Abyssinia, to trade in their lands without paying any tax. Thus Makkians started trade journey in
summer to Syria and Asia Minor and in winter to Yemen. In those days the trade routes were not safe.
The bandits of the tribal Bedouins used to rob the caravans of their belongings. Hashim approached
various tribes and made peace treaties with them so as to guarantee the safety to trade caravans.
Capitalists of Quraysh spent not only on themselves and their families but also on the poor and
destitute of their tribe. It is said that due to this intensity of the rich people the have-nots of the place
also got to live comfortably. It will not be wrong to say that Islam came in an atmosphere of financial
prosperity. Quraysh were well to do they enjoyed unparalleled honor and wealth in the whole of
Arabia. A poet refers to the generosity of the rich towards the needy and destitute: “It were they who
made their poor join with the men of wealth. Consequently, the poor became prosperous.” For
Makkians, the two trade - journeys of winter and summer were of much excellence. These journeys,
no doubt contributed a great deal to the economic prosperity of Makkians. The settlers of Makkah
were called Quraysh because they were traders. Strabo, a Greek historian and geographer maintains
that every Arab was either a trader or an agent to some trader. Here one may easily find the answer
to the question why a majority of the emigrants from Makkah to Madina asked their hosts first to
guide them to the market place. Women too had their share and experiences of trade. The mother of
Abu Jahl was a dealer in perfume. Khadijah bint Khuwailid was well known for her place in business
on her behalf. They would get their share in the profits. Trade relationship of the Prophet with his
first wife is on record in detail. She had offered her merchandise to the Prophet to take it to Syria for
trade. The Prophet had accepted the offer, Prophet presented the profits twice to Khadijah after his
return from trade journey which she had expected. Women used to eagerly wait for the return of the
trade caravans and on their arrival they would assemble around the leader, Abu Sufyan to know the
amount of the profit on their investments. The Makkian trade caravans were always large. The number
of camels in one such is stated as 2500. The men, in a caravan numbered from a hundred to three
hundred which included traders, guides and a convoy of fully armed people.

The most famous of the great Arabian merchant peoples were the Palmyrenes. Their city of Palmyra
was a true caravan city, for it owed its prosperity entirely to its ability to channel the commerce
passing between the two empires either side of it. ‘Being traders they buy Indian and Arabian goods
from the territory of the Persians and dispose of it in that of the Romans’. Whereas other peoples of
Arabia almost never commented upon their mercantile activities, the Palmyrenes celebrated theirs
with gusto, honoring their caravan chiefs and financiers with statues and inscriptions. This statue is
that of Taymarsu, son of Tayme, son of Moqimu, son of Gabba, chief of the caravan, which has been
made for him by the members of the caravan who came up with him from Charax, because he paid
their expenses, three hundred gold coins, ancient currency, and was well pleasing to them. To his
honor and to the honor of Yaddai and ‘Abdibol, his sons, in the month of May, the year 504. In the
case of the Palmyrenes, it was a change in the political situation which ruined their fortunes. The
Sasanians, who replaced the Parthians in 224, were much more expansionist than their predecessors,
and the tense relations that existed between them and the Romans made it impossible for an entity
like Palmyra, which had truck with both, to survive for very long.
Traders of Makkah were not so different from the money―lenders we find now a day, they exploited
the situation. At the time of setting out of trade―caravan for Syria the Dinar were needed and
naturally the money lenders increased the amount of usury on the money loaned out. The
moneylenders gave money as loan to the investors and entrepreneurs. Makkah was a merchant
republic with all the characters of business activities including usury transaction. The rate of interest
was 100 percent. When Quran forbade usury, the Quraysh advanced their argument in favour of usury
that was also a kind of business in which the money is loaned on rent. The method of lending money
and then of its repayment was highly exploitative. The money lenders of Makkah as their counterparts
of Taif discussed above lent money to borrowers on heavy rates of interest and if the money borrowed
was not paid at the agreed time, it was doubled and then trebled at the expiry of third year. If the
interest was fixed at a camel of one year, the next year it would become two. If the grain of one sa'
was loaned out to someone, it would become double at the expiry of the first year. The expiry of the
stipulated time the creditor approached the debtor and enquired whether he would pay back the money
or agree to pay next year at double the amount. Makkians practiced two kinds of usury transaction,
in kind and in money. Although the whole Makkah was totally indulged in usury transaction there
were some people who never appreciated this way of earning, they regarded this kind of wealth
unholy. One Abu Wahb exhorted Quraysh not to use their money obtained out of these exploitative
means in the construction of Ka‘bah. He asked them to donate only pure earnings to that pious act.'
In spite of the development of trade among the Arabs prior to Islam and the formation of several
permanent and seasonal markets on the Southern―Northern Trade Route, we come across certain
types of transactions. The seller or the buyer would be cheated and worse off. The prevalence of
these types of transaction among the Arabs is yet another indication of the dominance of the
Jahiliyyah culture over them. Consequently, all such transactions are prohibited and banned in Islam.
Grit Throwing (Al Rami Bel Hesat): This transaction appeared in many forms in the Dumat- ul Jandal
market. In one form, the seller would tell the buyer to throw grit and whichever cloth was hit would
be sold for one Dirham to the buyer. If the buyer throws the grit, then the transaction is final, or he
would ask the buyer to throw the grit at a specified cloth and he would sell it to the buyer at a
predetermined price on the condition that the grit hits the cloth. The third form was for the purchase
of sheep, where, the buyer had to throw grit and hit a sheep before he could buy it for a predetermined
price. Another mode of this transaction was that the seller was to accept that, if a piece of grit thrown
by the buyer hit a good, then the good would be sold to the buyer. In another version, the sellers of
land would ask the buyer to throw grit across the land to set the boundaries of the land purchased by
him.
Monabazah: This transaction was done in three different ways. The seller and the buyer used to agree
on the condition that, if one throws the cloth to the other, then the cloth is sold for a predetermined
price and the transaction is done and final. Each one would throw a cloth to the other party without
having seen the cloth before, making the deal final.
Molamassah: This transaction was also done in three different ways. In the first model, the seller used
to sell to the buyer a folded cloth without allowing the buyer to see the cloth; or he could sell the cloth
in the darkness of night. In the second instance, the act of only touching the cloth would mean that
the transaction was complete and final without uttering a word of acceptance for the purchase of the
commodity. The third version was devised in such a way that, once you touched the cloth, then there
was no way to go back on the deal, meaning that merely touching the cloth once would mean a
completed trade and it was compulsory on the part of the purchaser to take the goods. Saeed Afghani
stated that, in the Mashqar market, the same transaction was done by way of gestures, and the signs
were sufficient enough to finalize the deal, or in some cases by just whispering with no sounds, in
both cases, without talking to each other. It is interesting to note that they claimed this was done to
avoid telling lies in the transactions.
Najsh: This is not a transaction but, rather, is a seller’s collusion with someone to appear to enter the
transaction and try to heat up the bargaining process and jack up the price.
Makkians: It was a kind of charge or tax levied on those parties taking part in the markets organized
by the tribes or the promoters of the market. In effect, Maks was a sort of sales tax on the goods sold
in these markets.
Mozabana: This transaction was meant for the sale of either ripe dates or raw dates on the palm tree,
based on a known quantity of already plucked ripe or raw dates. Similarly, sales of any kind of fruit
growing on trees based on the known quantity and quality of that good. The selling an unknown
quantity of a crop of produce is also known as Mozabana.
UNIT END SUMMARY

In this unit a brief description of the ways of life and the culture and the customs of Arabs prior to
Islam has been presented. The ignorance before Islam, was a culture that not only influenced the
livelihood and the economy of the Arabs, but also had a considerable effect on their visions and
thoughts. The social fabric was in complete chaos in Arabia; by saying that the Arabs of the Pre-
Islamic period were groping about in the dark and ignorance, entangled in a mesh of superstitions
paralyzing their mind and driving them to lead a life devoid of any moral or religious framework.
The society was divided into tribes and used to live in a nomadic state of life and had no organized
state and government amongst them. The period was labeled as the age of ignorance because the
political, religious and social conditions of Arabia was at its lowest ebb. The woman was a marketable
commodity and regarded as a piece of inanimate property. Intertribal relationships were fragile. Greed
for wealth and involvement in futile wars were the main objectives that governed their chiefs’ self-
centered policies. This period has a positive contribution in the field of literature; pre-Islamic Arabic
poetry is esteemed by Muslims for its precise and rich vocabulary, sophisticated metrical structures,
and fully developed systems of rhyme and thematic sequence. Among such vices, the unit explored
the vices of people in the period of ignorance, and how those qualities equally distinguished them as
the heirs of Prophetic message.
The unit tried to overview the religious nature of Arabian Peninsula before the emergence of Islam.
What we estimated and understood is that religion in pre-Islamic Arabia included indigenous
polytheistic beliefs, as well as monotheistic. Semitic faiths like Christianity and Judaism. Arabian
polytheism, the dominant form of religion in pre-Islamic Arabia was based on veneration of deities
and spirits. Worship was directed to various gods and goddesses, including Hubal and the goddesses
alLat, alUzza and alManat at local shrines and temples such as the Ka‘bah in Makkah. Deities were
venerated and invoked through a variety of rituals, including pilgrimages and divination, as well as
ritual sacrifice. The monotheistic faiths, however, had very little effect upon the life and society of
the Arabs in general. Particularly Christianity and Judaism had compromised their positions by their
conflicts and intolerance of each other, by their internal dissensions and by their deviation from the
original teachings of Jesus and Moses. The deities and venerations for them, and superstitions have
become the dominant form of religious makeup of Jahiliyya Arabia before the emergence of last
revelation from God. At last an overview of the prevalent economic conditions and avenues prevalent
in pre – Islamic Arabian Peninsula has been discussed. Trade was the most common means of
providing their needs of life. Therefore, this period is considered as the gloomiest period in human
history, and was a time of ignorance and chaos in the religious, social as well as political life in the
world.
UNIT END QUESTIONS

1. Discuss the tribal society in pre – Islamic Arabia?
2. Discuss the distinctive features of pre – Islamic Society?
3. Elaborate the status of Women in pre – Islamic Arabian Society?
4. Discuss the poetry as a practice in pre – Islamic Arabia?
5. Explain the social evils prevalent in pre – Islamic Arabia?
6. Explain the deities and religious superstitions in pre – Islamic Arabia?
7. Discuss the religious beliefs of pre – Islamic Arabia?
8. Describe Political conditions of Pre - Islamic Arabia?
9. Discuss the tribal law and tribal chiefs in Pre - Islamic Arabia?
10. Discuss the economic conditions of the pre – Islamic Arabia?
11. Discuss trade and commerce as worthwhile source of economy for pre – Islamic Arabia?
12. Deliberate upon the various dimensions of economy during pre – Islamic Arabia?
UNIT SUGGESTED READINGS

 Ahsanullah, M. History of the Islamic World. New Delhi: Deep and Deep Publications, 1992.
 M.A. Shaban, Islamic History: A New Interpretation: A.D. 600–750 (A.H. 132), vol. 1,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
 Masud Hasan, History of Islam, New Delhi: Adam Publishers, 2001
 Mohammad Hamidullah, Introduction to Islam, Delhi: Kitab Bhawan, 1992
 M. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam, USA: University of Chicago Press, 1977
 P.M. Holt, Cambridge History of Islam, UK: Cambridge University Press
 Philip K. Hitti, History of the Arabs, UK: Macmillan, 1963
 Robert. G. Hoyland, Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam, UK:
Routledge, 2001.
*****

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MAIS-105-E: Pre-Islamic to Umayyad Period

Course Material (Unit 1, 2, 3 and 4) Prepared by:

SCHOOL OF OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING

Unit 2 - Prophet Muhammad and the Emergence of Islam

Unit 3 - Khilafat-e Rashida

Unit 4 – Umayyad Period

Lesson 1: Jahiliyya period: an overview

UNIT END SUMMARY

1.1.2 Learning Objectives

1.1.3 Tribal Society in Pre - Islamic Arabia

1.1.4 Distinctive Features of Pre - Islamic Arabia

1.1.5 Women in Pre - Islamic Arabia

Lesson 2: Socio-religious practices

1.2.2 Learning Objectives

1.2.3 Poetry as a Practice in Pre - Islamic Arabia

1.2.4 Social evils in Pre - Islamic Arabia

1.2.5 Religious Humiliation of the Arabs in Pre-Islamic Arabia

1.2.6 Deities in Pre-Islamic Arabia

1.2.7 Religious Superstitions in Pre - Islamic Arabia

1.2.8 Polytheism, Monotheistic and Semitic Religions in Pre – Islamic Arabia

Lesson 3: Political system

1.3.2 Learning Objectives

1.3.3 Political Life in Pre - Islamic Arabia

1.3.4 Tribal Law and Tribal Chiefs in Pre - Islamic Arabia

1.3.5 No Justice System in Pre - Islamic Arabia

Lesson 4: Economic conditions

1.4.2 Learning Objectives

1.4.3 Economy of the Pre - Islamic Arabia

1.4.4 Beginning of Trade Journeys by the Quraysh

1.4.5 Trades and Transactions in Pre - Islamic Arabia

UNIT END SUMMARY

UNIT END QUESTIONS

UNIT SUGGESTED READINGS

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