The Religion and Superstitions of pre-Islamic Arabs

[00:00:02]In continuation of the series onah or the preislamic times, I feel that this is the right time to shed light on the religion and the beliefs of the people of the peninsula.

[00:00:23]I don't want to go into much detail about the religions of the northern kingdoms yet. I'm referring to the and since they were both different Christian sects, but I'll go into that later on.

[00:00:34]Yeah, this lecture I want to mainly focus on the beliefs and practices of the pagan Arabs themselves. As we know, the pagans worshiped idols, statues that they built with their own hands. But it is important to not have a simplistic view of the pagans. uh they didn't believe that their statues created them or anything like that. Um they believed that their idols were representatives.

[00:01:09]Ib Abbas reports in Bkari um some of the background that led to the emergence of or polytheism in pre-Islamic Arabia. He said all the idols which were worshiped by the people of Noah were worshiped by the Arabs later on. As for the idol, it was worshiped by the tribe of Kelb was the idol of the tribe of Yah was the woripped Yah was worshiped by the tribe of Burad and then by at near was the idol of Hamdan and was the idol of the branch of Dil.

[00:01:57]The names of the idols formerly belonged to some pious men of the people of Noah.

[00:02:03]And when they died, Satan inspired their people to prepare and place idols at the places where they used to sit and to call those idols by their names. The people did so but the idols were not worshiped till those people who initiated them had died and the origin of the idols had become obscure whereupon people began worshiping them.

[00:02:28]If you notice what Abbas said, he mentioned that Yah was first worshiped by the tribe of Murad and then it was worshiped by the tribe of Banu.

[00:02:40]Muhammad bin Habib Baghdadi um who's an early historian explains that Yut was an idol that was worshiped by Medj as a whole uh which included multiple tribes and it was specifically among the tribe of En.

[00:02:58]However, the tribe of uh fought them over it and then they escaped with the idol to Najan among Ben.

[00:03:10]In a report, Yah would once be shifted over from tribe to tribe that would continuously be fighting over it. One of the battles ended in a lot of bloodshed and it occurred during the time of the battle of Bedr. was known as the day of the shapes of these idols came in different forms. Wed was in the form of a man. Su was in the form of a woman and was a white cube with carvings. By the way, these were the major idols. Um there were smaller idols that people kept in their homes as well. And apparently it was uh quite common.

[00:03:51]Pagans from around the peninsula would even purchase idols from the people of Mecca. In another report, uh Ib Hisham narrates from the people of knowledge of his time that Lu uh left Makkah towards Hashem and when he was in which is modernday Jordan, he met some Amalachites um that were worshiping idols and he asked them, "What are these idols that you're worshiping?" So they said these are idols that we worship. If we ask for rain then rain comes down for us and if we ask for victory then victory comes to us. So he said do you mind giving me an idol to take to the land of the Arabs uh for them to worship? So they gave him an idol named Hub. So he brought it to Mecca and told the people to worship and glorify it.

[00:04:46]bin Lu is the father of which means that he passed away 300 years before Islam.

[00:04:53]This means that Hubal was brought to Mecca relatively late. For a comprehensive list of the idols, um there are two recommended works that I would suggest. The first isam by Kalby and uh even though he's not generally a reliable uh historian um but there's little reason for us to assume that the information contained within are fabrications. Um and the second is a contemporary work called uam which is a modern work and uh it gets information from various sources in terms of how the Arabs view their idols. We find the Quran quoting them inah saying we worship them only so they may bring us closer to Allah. In other words, in many cases, these deities weren't independent gods, but rather they were intermediaries. However, they still offered them worship. Now, keep in mind that unlike many people today, the Arabs at the time understood the concept of worship. Now, people today think that worship is specifically directed at a deity. um as in if you perform an act of worship towards a human it isn't counted as worship since that human is not a deity. Now this is a basis claim that conflicts with the dictionary definition which basically is worship is the height of humility and subservience. In any case, what were the beliefs and practices of the Arabs towards these idols? Well, hubal specifically would be approached for knowledge of the unseen. Um reported from that at hub there would be seven cups. Um each of these cups would have a label. um a cup for compensations which is used for whenever a compensation needs to be paid and there's a difference among those that were trying to decide on the compensation and there would be a cup in matters that they differed in in which the answer would be a yes or no in order for them to decide matters in which they differed in uh says if so if they wish to circumcise a child or get married or bury the dead or if they doubted someone's lineage they would go to hubal with 100 dirhams and slaughtered meat and they would give it to the custodian of the cups. Uh then they'd bring forward the person that they came for and then they would say, "Oh our god, uh this is the person we wanted for him this and that. So bring out the truth concerning him." Then they would say to the custodian of the cups to draw the arrow. So if the arrow came out with the words he's from you, then he would be accepted as someone from them. And if it came out that he's from other than you, they would consider him to be an ally.

[00:07:57]If it came out as attached, meaning mulak, review the first lecture about that, then they would consider him to be a without attributing to him a genealogy or an alliance. By the way, a bit of a side note, they used cups for gambling as well. A fascinating example of is mentioned in when speaking of the tribe of and their idol that is referred to as or in some reports mentions they used to divide their crops and cattle between it and Allah and if any of Allah's portion in which they had earmarked for him came into Amnes's portion they would like leave it for him but if any of anes's portion went into Allah's portion, they would return it to him. And this wouldn't be solely for animals, but it would also include crops. We find in that the pagans would set aside for Allah a share of the crops and cattle he created, saying this portion is for Allah. And so they claim, and this one is for our associate gods. So in this example here, the picture is getting clearer. Some of the polytheists even seem to favor their demigods over Allah and their actions.

[00:09:16]The report about the idol MNS in which when the tribe of Kanan came to the prophet peace be upon him to pledge their allegiance to him uh he asked them about their idol. So they said uh Allahh had substituted them uh in the place of their former religion that which you ya Muhammad brought to us and there are some old men and women that are still holding on to him but if we return then we will surely destroy him for he was a trial. He was a trial. So the so the messenger peace be upon him said what was the greatest trial that you had seen from him?

[00:09:57]And they said, "We saw a time in which we ate leftover bones. So we brought together all that we could and uh brought with it 100 bulls, then slaughtered it to M&S as a means to get closer to him in a single day. And we left the slaughtered bulls for the beasts. And we are in greater need for them than the beasts." And when the rain came down upon us and we saw the grass grow high enough to cover a man. Now by the way I'm personally haven't uh found an authentic path for this report but what it does seem to do is reflect the understanding of the people of the time.

[00:10:41]People they would seek the help of idols and ask them for rain. And in some cases it indeed rained naturally, right? Which caused people to believe that the rain is from the idols and the idols had the ability to grant them blessings and provisions.

[00:10:59]And for those of you that recall from the first two lectures in the series, rain meant life or death for the Arabs.

[00:11:06]In occasions like the one uh I mentioned, they would seek their idols uh to keep them alive instead of asking Allahh.

[00:11:16]Uh another interesting form of sacrifice uh can be found in the Quran. uh we find a verse stating that Allah didn't institute a or now we come across these words in the Quran but the meaning uh are unknown to most Arabs today since we're unfamiliar with the traditions and the practices of the time we also find a narration by the prophet peace be upon him speaking of the second of these the he says that he was shown in hellfire dragging his intestines and he was the first to and then says in Arabic which uh translates to he was the first to let the camels loose. So what is exactly meant here by letting the camels loose? So Hisham explains that a person would vow that if he was cured from a sickness or if he was given something that he asked for then he would release one of his camels in the name of the gods. And when this happened uh when he'd release that camel it would just be released and no one would be allowed to benefit from it. In other words, one would not be able to make use of the fur of the camel. One would not be able to milk the camel. One would not be able to eat the camel. Someone would be cured from an illness and they would free the camel in the name of the gods as a gift to the god. And that is one form of giving thanks to the gods among the people. That's what they would do. Uh as for Abuari explains uh his book that if a she camel gave birth five times, they would cut its ear as a sign.

[00:13:16]They would do this if the fifth is a female and they would then forbid their own women from eating its meat or from drinking its milk. However, if the fifth was a male, they would sacrifice it to their gods. the sacrifice to men would eat the camel alone not allowing the women to eat it either.

[00:13:37]This is similar to the previous example in which the polytheists would be receiving something from Allah but they would be thanking their idols instead.

[00:13:48]In this case their risk uh came in the form of a sheic camel that had given birth five different times. It is important to keep in mind that it's not something that occurs frequently. It would take like 20 years for a camel to give birth five times. And when that finally happens, um they would often be sacrificing the male camel to one of their gods. It should be noted that one of the reasons that this seems to be a sacrifice um is because this is not something that someone would typically do. They would not typically slaughter a young camel due to issues with scarcity and because one would naturally rather let them grow to its full size before slaughtering it. Another example of something that is given to the gods is what is called uh mentions inkari that the was the sheic camel that gives birth to a female first then she gives birth to another female after without any males in between. The mother is then referred to as the and she is left alone and freed in the name of the gods. Sah then continues and he defines what is known as and that is the male camel that has had intercourse with multiple female uh camels impregnating them and after he has completed what was assigned to him he is let go free for the sake of the gods. Abu Alaskari adds that this would occur after 10 she camels gave birth. He is set loose and his back is protected so that nobody rides him and he is allowed to roam freely and nobody prevents him from drinking or from grazing.

[00:15:48]So all of these terms describing sacrifices of camels in appreciation of the idols which of course is polytheism and they considered this they they did accept this to be polytheism. By the way the custodians of the idols were those that would benefit most from the idol worship in the societies uh since offerings that are made towards the idols would be given to them. Each of the major idols had custodians from different tribes. So for example, wed was under the care of was under the care of and so on and naturally they were seen as the most honorable subtribes in the region for their station.

[00:16:34]Now in regards to superstitions um there was a large variety of beliefs that existed at the time. One example uh it's a common word that was used it's which has to do with the movement of the birds. If someone starts off a journey and notices birds flying towards the right they would consider it to be a sign for the journey. If the birds flew towards the left they would consider it a bad sign. They would uh even return home. However, different Arabs interpreted these movements in different ways. So for some, if the birds were f flying from the left to the right, it would be a bad sign. However, um the concept is the same.

[00:17:25]The Arabs would use the same word to describe pretty much anything that was uh considered to be a bad sign. So, for example, if they went to the marketplace and saw a person with one eye or if they saw an animal that only had one eye at the edge of the marketplace, they would take it as a bad sign for business. This would all fall under or and this sort of thing wasn't like specific to animals or humans. It would include actions as well, including something as random as sneezing. If someone sneezed, people would sometimes see it as a sign of bad things to come.

[00:18:10]They would say, "I ask God to make the ill omen of your sneeze be upon you and not me."

[00:18:18]Now, this would also extend to the days of the week. every Wednesday if it was on the fourth day of the month. Every Wednesday on the fourth day of the month, um they considered to be a day of bad omens or the month of Shaw as a whole, it was seen a month uh it was seen as a month that one should not get married in. There were some strange beliefs that were widespread for unknown reasons. For example, there was a plant, it's called the Ratama. It's a white broom. Uh that's what it's referred to as. travelers would um go up to it and tie a knot around it before going ahead on their journey. Upon returning to their home, if the knot is still there, they would assume that their wives have been faithful to them. But if it was no longer there, they would assume that their wives cheated on them. They also believe that turning around to look back at your town while going on a journey will lead to misfortune. If someone was able to enter a town that had widespread disease or if it had the jin that they feared, they would be at the the outskirts of the town and they would start praying like a donkey um and they would hang a rabbit's foot as a form of protection. Like if someone was lost, they would shout the name of the person into an old well three times. If they heard a sound from within, they would assume that the person's still alive.

[00:19:46]But if they heard no sound, they would assume the person's dead. If someone bought a house, then they would make a sacrifice by slaughtering for the jin as a form of protection.

[00:19:56]If someone had a thousand camels, they would fear getting the evil eye. So, in order to counter it, they would pop the eye off one of their camels. And one of the stranger beliefs is that uh if someone gets rabies through a dog's bite, then the cure for it would be the blood of a king. They would extract the king's blood from his finger, mix it with water, and have the patient drink it to be healed.

[00:20:24]Another weird belief among pre-Islamic Arabs is that if there were two tribes that were about to go to war, and that some wish to prevent, they would have women um go in between both tribes and urinate in order to extinguish the flames of war.

[00:20:42]very strange metaphor that they put into practice to turn into some sort of reality is somehow supposed to lead to peace. One odd aspect regarding the beliefs of the Arabs was that they did not believe in life after death uh due to the lack of proof for life after death in their eyes.

[00:21:01]However, it does seem like they were very superstitious people that built their beliefs on coincidences and signs, seeking any sign as a good omen or bad one before making decisions, causing them to attribute to their idols that which coincidentally matched any good fortune that they sought. Oh, and before ending the lecture, I feel the need to share a few words uh on the topic of um since it is something that is tied to religion and gives uh you a better understanding of Quraysh and their status among the people. Basically the homes refers to kinana the whole of kana which is a part of andu um and it didn't include from within kana due to their bad blood with as I'll explain later in a different lecture the homes made religious rulings for themselves since they considered themselves to be superior to other Arabs um as they were custodians of the kaba They wouldn't turn butter or render ghee while in a state of haram, a state of ritual purity. Nor would they enter a tent of hair or seek shade except for if it was a leather tent. If someone wasn't from the homes, they would forbid that person from bringing their own food as pilgrims. If they sambulated around the Kaa, they need to wear clothes that were made by the Hums. If they couldn't find the hum's clothing, they would have to circumambulate the ka naked. If they circumambulated by with their own clothes, then they would be forced to throw their own clothes away when they are done. Anyway, the people had the general respect for Quraysh and they abided by these rules. And there was a type of segregation that occurred during Hajj in which those that were not from the hums they would go to in order to worship while the would go to and narrates as we find it says I lost my camel so I went to look for it on the day of so I saw the messenger of Allah peace be upon him standing with the people on Arafa and I said by Allah this man's from the hums what is he doing here of course this was all ended with Islam And as we can see today when we look at the pilgrimage there's no homes and the people were equal in their uh in the designation of obligations and their clothing.