RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS IN PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIAN SOCIETY

The information available about the pre-Islamic religions of the Arabs is primarily based on Arabic scriptures and archeological data. However, the materials within these documents, rather than providing explanations for basic religious issues, such as faith principles, worship and prayers, present information only about the names of the gods and the idols. In addition to the scriptures and archeological works concerned with pre-Islamic Arabian religions, it is also possible to make use of Assyrian, Hebrew, Greek and Latin sources, as well as the poetry from the Age of Ignorance and proverbs which provide direct information about pre-Islamic Arabian society. Other than these varied, but limited sources, there is reliable and detailed information related to the religions of the polytheist Arabs in the Quran, and Quranic studies, such as tafsir, hadith, siyar and in Islamic historical sources. In particular, those which are concerned with the time right before the advent of Islam and the first period after this are particularly helpful.

Idolatry

Although, different faiths, such as Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Sabi and Hanafiyyah were common among the Arabs before the advent of Islam, the most common religious belief was no doubt a form of paganism. In particular, the creed of the Bedouins was dominant, and it represented the oldest and primary form of Semitic belief. There are some claims suggesting that the adoption of idolatry by the Arabs in fact took place in later periods, and that to begin with the Arabs did not deny the presence of one Creator, but that with time they acquired idols which they used as mediators, thinking that this was the only way to reach God; it is also stated that the Arabs adopted idols from foreign elements. This claim is based on the thesis that the people of Mecca were introduced to monotheistic belief after the construction of the Kaaba by Prophet Abraham. It is thought that when the descendants of Abraham and his son Ishmael were leaving the city of Mecca, as their needs could not be met there, they took along them small stones which they had removed from Kaaba; they revered these stones which they considered sacred, and in this way departed from the original monotheistic faith.

The reverence shown to these stones became a form of worship in the third century, when Mecca and the Kaaba fell under the control of the Khuzaa tribe. According to one account, Amr ibn Luhay, one of the leaders of this tribe, took an idol named Hubal from Damascus when he went there for purposes of trade, bringing the idol to Mecca, where he erected it in the courtyard of Kaaba, and invited people to worship it. This act was the beginning of idolatry in the peninsula; it quickly spread and became the dominant belief of the people in the region. The number of idols brought to the Kaaba increased day by day, until there were finally a great number; every tribe, every family even, had their own idols. It is known that the number of idols in the Kaaba reached 360 just before the advent of Islam. The most famous of these idols in the Hejaz were Hubal, Isaf, Naila, Wadd and the three goddesses Lat, Manah and Ozza, who were known as “Allah’s daughters”. Hubal was the first idol brought to the Kaaba and it was the most respected idol. Hubal was made of red agate and had a human form. It was accepted as a god by all the Arabian tribes. While being transferred from Syria, Hubal’s hand was broken, and it was replaced with a golden hand by the Quraishi polytheists. As for the god Isaf of Safa and Naila of Marwa, they were representative of two people having sexual intercourse in the Kaaba. Wadd was the idol of the Khuzaa tribe; this was a statue of a colossal man. Lat was one of the oldest idols of the Arabs and was regarded as a goddess who represented the sun. In what remnants can be found of statues of Lat, she was depicted sometimes as a part of the sun, sometimes as a naked woman, and sometimes as a horse. Ozza was not only worshipped in the Hejaz, but also in regions like Iraq, Damascus, Nabat and Safa. Ozza was one of the largest idols of the Quraishis. As for Manah, she was the goddess of faith who had a temple at the seaside, and was glorified by many tribes other than the Quraishis. She was one of the most notable goddesses, especially in the Hejaz region. Although the number of idols and the importance attributed to them varied in the Kaaba, these idols were respected by all tribes.

Although the Arabs in the Age of Ignorance basically worshipped idols, they also accepted the existence of a superior God called “Allah”, who they saw as the creator. As a matter of fact, there were people who adopted Hanafiyyah, the religion of Abraham in the region; this fact is seen as evidence that monotheism was not an unknown concept in the Arabian Peninsula at the time. It is interesting that this belief, which was known to have existed in the years after the birth of Jesus, particularly in southern Arabia, and which probably came to Mecca via trade activities, found a place also in the poems of the Age of Ignorance. It is particularly interesting that the word “rahman”, used in the poetry of the Age of Ignorance to define Allah, had no plural form and was considered to denote a single God.

As stated in the Holy Quran (Al-Zumar, 39/13), the polytheist Arabs worshipped idols so that they could come closer to Allah. They knew that Allah, who waters the earth, causes the crops to grow, and provides the flocks commanded by humans, is “the Creator of all things”, “the Lord of the earth”, “Owner of the heavens and the earth”. They would pray to Allah in tumultuous times and swear grave oaths in the His name. They even allocated some portion of their crops to Allah. They prayed to Him in dangerous situations, but they forgot Him when situation passed. They sacrificed animals in the name of idols, but they also worshipped Allah. All these examples show that the Arabs’ faith in Allah was very ambiguous and there was a conflict in faith. Although the idols were seen as mediators on a conscious level, they were concerned in all parts of daily life and were the dominant objects of worship.

The words sanam and wathan were the most frequent words used by the Arabs in the Age of Ignorance for their idols. Sanam was used to mean “statue” and it refers to “a thing worshipped other than Allah”. The word nasb, which means “obelisk”, was used for idols made of stone.

As a natural result of idolatry it became important in Arabia to have an idol or a temple. In Arabia before the advent of Islam stones were erected in front of the Kaaba or temples. The places where people worshipped in groups had many idols and religious ceremonies were carried out in the form of circumambulation. These temples were greatly respected by the Arabs. Although they were usually called bayt, the temples in the shape of cubes were called kaaba. The Temple of Riyam in the San’a region of Yemen was among the most famous temples in the Age of Ignorance.

In this pre-Islamic Arabic faith, the main purpose of worship was to accomplish a number of worldly aims. Worship was performed in the form of prayers, sajda (bowing down) and circumambulation of the temples, the sacrificing of animals and giving of charitable alms. In their prayers, people usually asked for health, wealth, victory and children. They requested help and forgiveness from the idols so that their prayers would be accepted. In this pagan belief, where the main purpose was to achieve worldly pleasures, although there was no obvert belief in an afterlife there was ambiguity. The dead were buried with goods like food and clothing, and animals were left to die near a grave in the belief that the dead would use these animals on the Day of Judgment. This demonstrates that there was a subconscious belief in the afterlife.

The most important place in this pre-Islamic belief was without a doubt the Kaaba and its surroundings. As a matter of fact, it is known that pilgrimage to the Kaaba was the most common and the regular form of worship during the Age of Ignorance. In the pilgrimage season, during which fighting was prohibited and conflicts among the tribes came to a halt, every tribe would circumambulate the Kaaba. They would stop in front of their own idols, bow with respect and utter a prayer. To symbolize purification from sins, the circumambulation was generally performed naked. Although the circumambulation constituted the basis of the pilgrimage, the pilgrimage also included visits to other temples in the region where other idols were located. No living creatures would be killed in the temples, which were believed to have the traces of God’s existence and which, accordingly, were considered to be sacred. For that reason, such places were ideal shelters for people who were victimized by tribes and who feared for their lives. The Arabs at this time would give various presents, including perfume, to the gods in the temples, and they would make offerings and sacrifice animals for them. It is also known that the Arabs fasted like the Jews and Christians, and circumcised their sons. Although it is known that there were practices like ghusul (total ablution of the body), washing the dead and wrapping them in shrouds, it is not known how common these acts were.

The polytheist Arabs would ask for help from the idols in order to accomplish important issues; they sought solutions to their problems by using divining arrows and they would make such actions religious duties. They would make prophecies based on the flight of birds or the direction taken by animals; they would use amulets and talismans to protect themselves from the evil eye. The polytheist Arabs would make offerings for the dead who were buried with their belongings  and they erected statues or stones by their tombs.

Hanafiyyah

Before the birth of Islam the Hanifs were notable for their resistance to the Quraishi paganism and the distance they maintained from the People of the Book, the Christians and Jews. They played a preparatory role in the spread of monotheistic belief throughout the peninsula and in the emergence of Islam. Despite not having great numbers, and leading solitary and separate lives, which was representative of their fear of God, the Hanifs succeeded in becoming prominent components of the Age of Ignorance, both with their simple life style and the virtues they represented, racially, intellectually and culturally. This community is praised in the Holy Qur’an (Al-Hajj, 22/30-1). They played a great role in the spreading of the religion propounded by Abraham, which they said was based on monotheistic belief.

Judaism

Judaism was one of the two Abrahamic religions in pre-Islamic Arabian society. It can be seen that Judaism was not very prevalent outside the regions of Yemen and Yathrib. Judaism began to be prevalent in these regions when the Hejaz became an important immigration area for the Jews after the invasion of Jerusalem in the 6th century B.C. The tension between the Jews who settled in the regions of Medina, Khaybar, Fadaq, Tayma, and Wadi al-Qura and the Yemeni tribes of Aws and Khazraj, who immigrated to the same regions in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, prevented Judaism from having a significant effect on the Arabs of the region. Although Judaism found a way to spread with the influence of Jewish merchants, as well as the fact that the Himyari ruler, Zu Nuvas of Yemen, was Jewish, the religion did not find much of a following among the Arabs. This was because Judaism was regarded as a religion based on race, with the Jews considering themselves to be superior to the followers of other religions; in addition, the Jewish laws were not appropriate for the Bedouin life style.

Christianity

Although, as seen above, Judaism had a limited effect on pre-Islamic Arabian society, Christianity played a much greater role. Christianity started to prevail in the Arabian Peninsula from the 4th century on, from Syria in the north to Abyssinia/Ethiopia in the south. Christians from Syria were composed of dissident groups who could not be accommodated in the Byzantine lands, due to sectarian conflicts within the eastern church. These people were effective among the Ghassani and Hira Arabs in northern Arabia, causing the Christianization of many Arab tribes.

The spreading of Christianity in eastern Arabia occurred with the Abyssinians. Apart from the Abyssinians who tried to make Najran one of the important centers of Christianity in the Arab lands, the support given by the Eastern Roman Empire, which wanted to dominate the Sassanians, was also effective in spreading Christianity throughout the region.  In particular, with the limited spread of Judaism, which started with the acceptance of Judaism by the Himyari King, Zu Nuvas, Christianity lost much of its influence in southern Arabia; the region was later re-Christianized with the involvement of the Byzantine Empire and the Kingdom of Abyssinia. Abyssinian forces even accomplished their aims in southern Arabia, marching on the Hejaz with their governor Abraha, but this campaign failed.

It is stated that one of the reasons for the rapid spreading of Christianity throughout the Arabian Peninsula was the fact that it was much more attractive in appearance than the primitive and simple structure of idolatry; the Christian culture, with its rituals, religious apparel, grandiose temples, statues and icons attracted the Arabs. The poems written to express the attraction of Christianity among Arabs are evidence of this. The intense propaganda of Christian missionaries and priests had a significant effect in the process of the spread of Christianity. The main area in which Christianity spread was northern Arabia, but it was also influential in the coastal areas of the peninsula and Yemen. Among the Arabian tribes in which Christianity was effective, we can count the Kudaa, Ghassan, Lahm, Taglib, Bakr, Bahra, Amila, Sulayh and Iyah.

Furthermore, there were communities, though small in number, that worshipped stars and other stellar objects in the environs of Yemen and Iraq, and there were Zoroastrians who worshipped fire around Bahrain.