THE CONCEPTION of AUTHORITY in PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA the CONCEPTION of AUTHOHI'l'y in PRE-ISLAMIC AHABIA

ABSTRACT

Author: Manuel Ruiz

Title of the Thesis: The Conception of Authority in Pre-Islamic

Arabia (Its Legitimacy and Origin)

Department: Institute of Islamic Studies

Degree: M.A.

This thesis is an attempt to interpret the conception of authority that was predominant among the Central and Northern

Arabs at the time immediately preceding the rise of Islam. Since that conception was not explicitly formulated, we have analyzed the role and influence of the different political and religious functionaries as well as the reactions of their "subjects" to their commands in arder to discover the basis of legitimacy for that authority. As there exists an essential relationship between authority and society, we have presented the social and economie organization and the ideal values of the pre-Islamic Arabs which might have influenced their conception of authority. That is why we discuss the Bedouin and the urban settlements separately. As a possible origin and justification of authority, we discuss its connection with religion, in particular, whether in pre-Islamic times there ever existed a theocratie rulership. THE CONCEPTION OF AUTHORITY IN PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA THE CONCEPTION OF AUTHOHI'l'Y IN PRE-ISLAMIC AHABIA

(Its Legitimacy and Origin)

Manuel Ruiz

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research of McGill University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of Master of Arts in

Islamic Studies.

Montreal, June 1971 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish ta express my gratitude ta Prof.Niyazi Berkes whose course on Islamic Political Institutions accompanied by other invaluable suggestions provided the framework for this thesis. I am also indebted ta Prof.T.Izutsu, whose ample know ledge of pre-Islamic times, in particular of poetry, has provided me with very useful advice.

Ta Dr.Ismail K.Poonawala, who went painstakingly through the draft, I stand greatly inaebted.

Among my colleagues at the Institute I wish ta thank

G.Bowering for sorne bibliographical information; Michael Norvelle and Linda Northrup whose invaluable help in reviewing my English

I highly appreciate; A.Ahmad for helping me with the translation of sorne Arabie works, and especially K.Mas'ud for his accurate proofreading.

I must acknowledge as well my debt to the staff of the

Library of the Institute of Islamic Studies, especially Miss

Salwa Ferahian, for their assistance in acquiring the necessary material.

For my wife Vesna who was a constant source of encourage ment I reserve my loving gratitude.

ii TRANSLITEHATION AND ABBREVIATIONS

I have adhered ta the transliteration scheme of the

Institute of Islamic Studies except in two cases: First, where modern anthropologists have transliterated the following words differently: ~amüle (~amÜlah), 'ashire ('ashirah) and 'o~fe

('utfah); and secondly, in the case of Arabie proper names which • have become fairly common in English, e.g., Mecca, Yemen, Islam, etc.

On the whole, frequently recurring words such as sayyid, kâhin, qubbah, etc., are underlined only upon their first appearance to preserve the attractivness of the manus~ript.

The name of sorne journals and reference works has been abbreviated. They are:

Acta Orient. Hung. = Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum

Hungaricae

Agh. = Kitab al-Aghani

Arch.f.Rel.Wiss. = Archiv für Religionswissenschaft

BIFAO =Bulletin de l'Institut français d'archeologie orientale

BSOAS = Bulletin of the School of Griental and African Studies

EI = Encyclopaedia of Islam. First Edition 2 EI = Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition

ERE = Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics

RUCA = Hebrew Union College Annual

I.A.E.= Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie

iii IC = Islamic Culture

~ = Islamic Quarterly

JAOS = Journal of the American Oriental Society

JESHO = Journal of the Economie and Social History of the Orient

JRAS = Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society

JRCAS = Journal of the Royal Central Asiatic Society

MUSJ =Mélanges de la Faculté orientale de l'Université St. Joseph

de Beyrouth

REI = Revue des études islamiques

RHR = Revue de l'histoire des religions

SEI = Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam

SWJA = Southwestern Journal of Anthropology Tab. = Annales of Tabarï. ZDMG = Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft

Zeit. für Ethnol.= Zeitschrift für Ethnologie

ZRW = Zeitschrift fUr vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft

iv TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ACKNOWLEDGEI"'ENTS ii

TRANS LI TERATION AND ABBHEV IATIONS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • iii

INTRODUCTION • • • . • • • . • . • • . . • • . . • . • • • . • . • . • . . . . • . . • • • • • • vi

Survey of sources ...... xiii

CHAPTER I: BEDOUIN SOCIETY l

Social structure ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• l

Material interests ••.••••••.•••..•••.•.•••••• 6

Ideal values ...... 1:5

Persans in charge of authority ••••••••••••••• ll

CHAPTER II: MECCA: ;rHE CONS.r;QUENCE OF COHMBRCE •••••.•• 21

Sedentarization and development of commerce ••• 21

Impact and supremacy of the material interests 25

The ~ums ••••••••••••••••••••••••.•••.•••••••• 30 Traditional society ••...... •...... •••• 35 CHAPTER III: RELIGIOUS OHGANIZATION IN PRE-ISLAMIC

1\RABIA ••••••••••••••••••..••.••••.•••. • • • • • • • 39

Pre-Islamic religious beliefs •••••••••••••••• 41

Religious functionaries or pre-Islamic Arabia 46

Influence of pre-Islamic religion upon society 50

Religion as the origin of law (Tradition) and authority ...... 53 CONCLUSIVE REivlABKS 68

NOTES • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . . • . . • . • • . . . • • • . • • • • • • • 75

BIBLIOGRAPHY • . • • • • • • . . • • • • • . . . • . . . • • • • . • • • • • • • • . . . • • • . 122

v INTRODUCTION

"Authority is an institution natural to mank.ind" is a 1 statement of the great Arab philosopher of history, Ibn KhaldÜn, derived from his deep observation and insight of human nature.

This observation, in fact, can be recognized as universally valid, since it has been proven by numerous historical evidences that every human association, from the earliest known times to the present day, has been presided over by one or more persans acting as the leaders of their group.

"Without an authority no social association can subsist,

11 but it is irremediably condemned to chaos and finally to perish ,

Ibn KhaldÜn continues to say, and "royal authority"--he concludes--

11 results from'a9abïyah not by choice but through (inherent) 2 necessity and the arder of existence" •

Even if the necessary existence of an authority is well established, the way it is manifested may differ considerably from t~me to t~me a n d among d~fferent soc~al broups. At the same time, the manner in which it is put into practice also supposes a theoretical assumption a s to the legitimacy, orig in, function, power and influence of such an authority, though it might be completely unformulated and therefore only implicit. The reason for this is that every human activity as human supposes a rational basis anQ has attached to it a subjective meaning .

Certainly, not all human acts have the same degree

vi vii

of rationality, nor is the same action performed by several

individuals always backed by the same degree of consciousness.

A man, can perform a certain act simply following the

conduct of others ("unreflective imitation"), but even in this

case what men take for granted in their most routine behavior

actually involves basic beliefs and assumptions without which

they cannat function. In other words we are taking into consid

eration the fact that man is a "cultural being", as Max Weber

explains, 11 endowed with the capacity and the will to take a

deliberate attitude toward the world and to lend it significance 113 •

Rationality on the other hand, increases when an

action demands from men a personal judgement. That is, when he

is challenged, compelled to react and finally to take a decision.

Such is the case in the relations between an individual and

authority, particularly when the individual is of an independent

character and nature as we know the Bedouin is. In the conflict

between his independence and liberty and the submission to the

will of another, there has to be a rational ground which justi-.

fies his obedience, i.e., showing that it is not irrational, and

that after all it is nothing other than the acceptance of the

legitimacy of that authority.

When dealing then with the pre-Islamic authority, we

wish not only to present the way it was exercised and formal d a ta but to try to reach, as far as possible, the underlying viii

conception of authority behind them. This conception was certainly not systematic, however, it was expressed and manifested in practical and concrete terms, i.e., in the way the pre-Islamic

Arabs reacted to the instructions of an authority, accepting and following seme of them while rejecting ethers, so as to delimit the field of its influence and reveal its actual power. We wish to pay special attention to a possible justification of its legitimacy on grounds of religious or supernatural origins or connections. We know that this was a common pattern in the ancient

Middle East 4 and even in classical Arabia itself. Thus we find in South Arabian Kingdoms at the first stage the Mukarrib, a

"Priest-King ", and later in Central Arabia the theocracy of the

Ummah of the Prophet and that of his rival Musaylima.

The significance of this point is better perceived when one considera that the ideal Muslim state is conceived as an Ummah, after that of the Prophet, i.e., as a political- religious community, although in fact , later, political and religious a uthority was not always united in one persan. When surveying the history of that Ummah, we discover that the main struggles and turning points have occurred around authority, and always tinted with religious coloring. Already in the Saqifah gathering after the death of Muhammad dissension occurred and the first schismatic movements, the Shi-a and the Khawarij, were centered around the rightly qualified persan to succee d the

Prophet. ix

The present study will perhaps contribute to a better understanding of the Prophet's Ummah and indirectly to that of the first stages of development of the Muslim community modeled after that of Muhammad.

The influence of the Arabian environment upon Muhammad and his dependance on it has constantly gained broader scholarly acceptance, especially regarding its political, relig ious and social institutions. As to many of his ideas, we certainly have to take into account external influences--particularly Judaism and Christianity--but otherwise he is extremely indebted to the traditional patterns of bahavior of his native Arabia, from the beginning of his revelations to the establishment of the

Medinan baram and Ummah. Thus, his external similarities to the kahins (ecstasies, use of saj', oaths, etc.), his mig ration to Medina as a 9akam endowed with supernatural knowledge, his starting position as a simple head of the MuhajirÜn in parity to the heads of other clans, his gradually increasing authority and power mainly due to his personal qualities--intelligence,

~ilm, political ability and nis railitary success--the establish ment of the Medinan ~aram and a vast net of alliances similar to those of the Quraysh in Mecca, to conclude as the s upreme religious and political head of the new Ummah 5

We can safely assume that when AbÜ Bakr took over the

Caliphate at the well known Saqïfah gathering, each group

--supporti ng either AbÜ Bakr , or the ca ndida te from al-Ansar-- x

lacking exact instructions from the Prophet, tried to conform to the pre-Islamic way of transmitting the a uthority. This is reflected in the predominance gained thereafter by the Quraysh as the leading tribe, which continued to increase to the point where the belonging to the Quraysh group became a precondition to 6 selection as Caliph •

With respect to the historical development of the Muslim

Community the present work could shed light particularly on the motivation and origin of the Shi'a movement, which claims that only the "Ahl al-Bayt" have the right to succeed the Prophet on the basis of a traditionally supposed transmission of hereditary

"holiness" among the "priestly'' families of the pre-Islamic sanctuaries 7 • They claim that this dignity belongs to'Ali and his descendants the holy Imams, in whom are united both the religious and political authority, constituting in this way a real theocracy. Therefore, we can ask whether a theocracy existed in pre-Islamic Central Arabia . In this way, every piece of information about pre-Islamic Arabia is of g rea t help in gaining knowledge about the Mu slim 11 Ummah 11 •

In arder to obtain a correct understanding of a certain a uthority, it has to b e placed in its own context , i . e ., it has to be viewed in the specifie historical society over which it presided. In the same way , a complete picture of a s ociety cannet be obtained if the kind of a uthority it has is neglected. xi

There is, in fact, an essential interrelationship and insepara- bility between authority and society. This correspondance between the two has been formulated by Ibn Khaldun in the philo- sophical terms of "matter and form". 11State is to society, as form is to matter", he says, adding "one without the other is inconceivable" and "any disturbance in either of them will cause 8 a disturbance in the other" • The same union and mutual influenc~ of the two has been pointed out by Karl Marx and Max Weber. Marx, insisting on the economie aspect, notes that the political structure reflects the socio-economic basis of society 9 and

Weber in a broader analysis dissects social life into three over- lapping dimensions: authority, material interest and value 10 orientation • Such dimensions constitute and determine the dynamics of a social organization. In fact, men in society act with or against each other on the basis of their material and ideal interests and they stand in relation to authority and obedience on the basis of shared understanding. That means that any behavior always has two related attributes: Men in society are oriented toward each other (even when they are alone) and they are oriented toward norms (even when these are unarticulated).

These two basic orientations of men in society, toward each ether and toward authority, were already recognized by Ibn KhaldÜn.

What he calls "~al?abiyah", painting to the relationship of men toward each other, can be compared to the material and ideal interests that unite a social group. "'A~abïyah" he says, 11 is xii

what makes a social organization ctifferent from another in size,

quality, strength and influence". Further, he maintains that the

existence of an authority is postulated and originated by the

' a~a b-1ya h f rom 1n . h eren t necess1 . t y ll • We can conc l u d e th en tha t

every society is constituted from two basic elements. One, that

we could call "internal"--solidarity on the basis of ideas and

interests ("Constellation of interest")--and the other "externalU-

the moral order of authority imposed on the basis of a belief 12 in its legitimacy ("Types of domination") • Henceforth, a

comprehensive view of society can be obtained if approached

under these two basic components, not however in a static form

but with a view to their internal dynamics and mutual interrela-

tions, influences and reactions.

Therefore, in our study of pre-Islamic Arabia, we wish

to concentrate our attention on these points: What were the

material and ideal values shared by this society? Which type of

authority they employed in order to maintain their unity? To

what extent did religion influence and color these values and

the authority? Were there organized groups to protect and develop

these values? In particular, regarding authority, we have to

know the different persans who exercized political or religious

authority, the way they acquired it, the role and influence of

these persons as well as the reactions of other groups to them,

so as to appreciate the dynamics of that society. Also important

is the conception of God's authority. Did they conceive the xiii

universe as governed by God's laws and what kind of relations existed between God and man? At the same time, since there were two different kinds of social life, the Bedouin and the urban settlements, we must analyze each of them separately. 13

The study will be confined to Central Arabia, excluding the Northern kingdoms of Ghassan and Rira and limited to the time immediately preceeding the rise of Islam.

Survey of the sources

For the study of pre-Islamic times three types of sources are at our disposal: l. Fre-Islamic sources; 2. Islamic sources --both of which we can consider Primary sources; and 3.

Modern sources mainly from Western authors which can be considered as Secondary sources.

l.The pre-Islamic sources are of two kinds: Arabie and foreign. Foreign accounts about the "'Aribi" date from ancient 14 Egyptian, Babylonian, Assyrian and Biblical times although it is not always clear whether the use of the term implies an ethnie connotation or not. ln any case, these reports (outside, external descriptions as clothes, arms, etc.) are far from giving precise information about Arab social and religious life.

The Biblical and post-Biblical accounts are concerned mainly with South Arabia. The same is true of Greek and Roman authors of both the classical and later period. Only a few, such xiv

as Herodotus, Strabo, Ptolomy and ethers give some information about Central Arabia, in particular about the northern border 15 lands • Their information, on the ether hand, is not of equal value but has to be carefully used since very often it was second 16 hand • The same is true of the Byzantine and Syriac writers.

These authors are in general well informed about sorne regions of the northern border land and even about Yemen, but they provide scanty information about ether less accessible regions of the 17 interior

A broader and deeper view of pre-Islamic life, is afforded only by the use of the Arab sources, preserved in literary and epigraphie documents. Extant literary sources are divided into poetry (shi'r) and prose works. Most of the profuse poetic material was collected in Islamic times (from the 2nd century A.H./?th 18 A.D.) and numerous verses are cited in biographical, philolo- 19 gical and other works. The prose works, commonly known as akhbar are of two categories. First, the Ayyam al-'Arab (the ba ttle days) and the second, formed by the narratives of exemplary character which consist of two kinds as well: The proverbs (amthal) and the accounts, explaining a name or relating about the founders 20 o f eus t oms, ar t s or o ff..lees ( awa - 1 l"1 ) • c rl . t.lClsm, . h owever, h as been voiced against the use of the literary sources, bath shi'r and akhbâr. Their fragmentary and unsystematic information has been pointed out on one hand, and on the other, more radically, their authenticity itself has been doubted, particularly regarding xv

poetry. It has been said that they are stories rather than history, i.e., accounts about disconnected events, isolated from their historical perspective, and thus they have been 21 compared to "index cards" • Nevertheless, even though these remarks are to a great extent valid, bath of them (poetry and akhbar) are especially valuable in revealing the Jahilïyah outlook toward life. In them, especially their "value judgements" are disclosed as well as the "ideal" principles that guided the pre-Islamic Arab and his heroes in the absence of a rationalized and systematized religion. They indicate the intellectual atmo- sphere and climate of that time, being, as they are, the embodiment of the pre-Islamic Weltanschauung against which the Prophet opposed a new and superior view of life. In this sense their significance increases despite their fragmentary historical 22 data •

The necessity of distinguishing between the genuine and the spurious in the pre-Islamic poetry was already felt by 23 early Muslim scholars and such an attitude has persisted until recent times. D.S.Margoliouth 2 ~ rejected many passages on the grounds that the religious feelings were Islamic, hence they had to be of Islamic origin. But never, perhaps has a criticism bee n so radica l and caused so much opposition as that 25 of Taha ~usayn , a criticism probably inspired by Marg oliouth's views. Regina ld Blachère is one of the last authors to have 26 resumed that discussion • He cri t i cally reexamines the method xvi

of transmission of that poetry, the uncertainities, conscious or unconscious omissions, replacements and alterations, finally concluding that pre-Islamic poetry reflects at least the "climate" of its time. Before him, Julius Wellhausen, Theodor Nëldeke and

Sir Charles Lyall among ethers had accepted it as authentic.

After him, Francesco Gabrieli, Giorgio Levi della Vida and J.A. 27 Arberry who expresses special confidence in the Mu~allaqat • We can thus take advantage of their abundant information, in particular regarding the cultural milieu.

Pre-Islamic inscriptions are usually divided according to their origin into: South Arabian, Central Arabian (Thamudean, according to Qur1 an 7,7lff; ll,64ff, etc.), Northern Arabian

(9afaitic) and the Syro-Mesopotamian borders (Nabatean). Their information, as can be expected, is generally scanty except for 28 South Arabia • In their totality, however, they constitute an excellent complement to the ether sources we possess. Although

?afaitic or Nabatean inscriptions at times throw sorne light on the life of Central Arabia, for our purposes the Thamudean inscriptions are the most valuable. These inscriptions, from the

Central and Northern ~ijaz, dating from the 3rd and 4th century before the Hijrah, have been collected by A. van den Branden 29 •

Studies on these inscriptions have been conducted by E.Littman 30

J.Ryckmans 31 , A.Grohmann32 , M.Hëffner and ethers 33 • We shall have the occasion to see the usefulness of these inscrip- tians and how they complement data from other sources. xvii

2. Among Islamic sources we have first of all the Qur 1an, which often provides valuable insights. Additionally, abundant information concerning pre-Islamic Arabia is to be found in the copious Islamic literature; It is, however, scattered throughout the literature in an unsystematic fashion and moreover, it is not of equal value. Whereas these authors were either eyewitnesses themselves or could interview eyewitnesses or at least consult written records for the events of their time or of that immediately •preceding it, for the Jahili period they had perforee to depend on oral tradition. On the other hand, the Islamic victory over Arab polytheism with its unyielding intent to uproot any traces of idolatrous cults, customs and values, hindered the work of the first Muslim scholars. Only later when the new faith became firmly implanted and the danger of a return to the pagan ways was over, did they dare to direct their attention to the Jahilïyah.

Perhaps, as H.S.Nyberg says that were it not for the Bedouin

Romanticism of the Umayyad period we would be divested of any knowledge concerning the Jah1liyah, as is often the case with a vanquished religion 34 • Due to this late beginning and to their desire to check and restrain the old pagan views the Muslim scholars often lost either the true meaning and origin of a custom, institution or a word, or they consciously tried to extract them from their original context or interpret sorne data according to Muslim tenets 35 • Nevertheless, the Muslim writers have preserved invaluable information regarding the Jahiliyah xviii

complementing the otherwise scanty and fragmentary data of that

period. Of particular interest are the Kitab al-Aghani already

mentioned above, the Ibn Isgaq's Sirah Rasül Allah, and the

Kitab al-Aenam of Ibn al-Kalbi. Also very useful are the histories

or annals dealing with pre-Islamic Arabia such as the Annals of

Tabari, the MurÜj al-Dhahab of Mas'üdi, the Ta'rikh of Ya'qübi.

Moreover, Ibn Durayd's Kitab al-Ishtiqaq, Yaqüt's Mu'jam al-Buldan,

Azraqi's Akhbâr Makkah,Abü Ubayda's Naqâ'i~ Jarir waal-Farazdaq,

Ibn Abd Rabbîhi's AlJiqd al-Farïd and Ibn al-Athïr's Kitab

al-Kamïl fi al-Ta'rTkh.

3 . As for modern schola rship, an enormous amount of

outstanding books and articles is extant covering the most varied

fields. We do not know, howe ver, of a work dealing expressly with

the problem with whiéh we are interested. Some works directly

discuss pre-Islamic Arabia, while others do so indirectly, in

particular those examining the life and work of the Prophet. Their

quality and value, of course, differs and bas to be judged in

each specifie c ase . In sorne cases, especially in those of pio-

neering authors of the last century whose main tenets remain

valid, certain specifie aspects of their works had t o be adjusted.

Besides general works 36 , those dealing with pre-Islamic

literature a nd epi graphy, s orne of which are mentioned a bove , and

studies on pre-Islamic relig ion and values 37 , we wish to pay special attention to the studies on sociology, ethnology and 38 ethnography in the conviction that the attitudes a nd b e havior xix

of the Bedouins of today can illuminate and increase the insufficient knowledge about their ancestors.

In our discussion we will follow the terminology used by Max Weber in his socio-economic works. Thus, "material interests" and "ideal values" instead of "economie structure",

"ideal system" or something similar 39 . CHAPTER I

BEDOUIN SOCIETY

Although the tribal sys tem is at the root of both

Bedouin and urban settlements, important differences between t h e

two especially regarding the life outlook and ideal values force

us to treat each of them separately. However, what we shall

observe about the Bedouin social and political organization is

equally applicable to the urban communities unless the contrary

is expressly stated.

While trying to answer the questions we posed i n the

Introauction we shall discuss for both Bedouin and urban

communities, the social and political organization, their ma terial

interes ts a nd ideal val u e s. In a separate chapter we will treat

the pre-Islamic religion.

l. Social structure

Three main units formed the social framework of the

pre-Islamic Arab . This means that his life developed a t three

levels , not isolated but i ntegrated one i nto the other. Th e 1 largest group was t he t rib e , us ua lly called qa bilah • The

tribe was divided into a variable numbe r of clans name d usually 2 ~ or ba tn and the cla n was composed a lso of a va r iable

numbe r o f famil i e s ,•â ' ilah, a hl , ba yt 3 wh i c h was the s ma llest

l 2

unit. The same social structure is maintained by the Bedouin tribes of today, though the terminology has changed somewhat 4 and continues to be very flexible • The family, strictly speaking, was composed only of the persons sharing the same tent so that these two terms (family and tent) became practically synonymous. Today the average number of persons per tent is 5 or 6, i.e., father, mother and sons, with the father being at the head, usually until his death. When a son is married the common custom is to build another tent close to that of his father. Today the family certainly constitutes the basic unit, but it was not the case in pre-Islamic times when the tribe occupied the first place. The idea of family (closer relatives) only developed gradually and supplanted the tribal feeling while weakening that system 5

Originally, the degrees of kins hip were not so important and every member of the tribe had the obligation to carry out 6 the vengeance (tha'r) but with the increasing family feeling this duty was restricted to a limited number of closer r e latives.

The term 'ashirah also employed in pre-Islamic times 7 could be a sign that only the persans included until the tenth degree of kinship were involved in the tha'r just as today it i s restricted 8 to the fifth degree, the s o called khamsah that consti tutes another social group b e yond the three mentioned above. Although the number of families (tents) comprising a clan is highly variable , for p oliti c al ( self defense and a ttack) and economie 3

reasons (suitable work) it cannet be either seant or excessively large. Today it varies from no less than 20 to a few more than

200 tents 9 • The clan therefore (l!ayy, today"~amüle"or"'ashïre'' is identical to the camp, that is, the families (or tents) which live, travel and stay permanently together. The gathering of the whole tribe may occur only once a year, e.g., at very special occasions like a big war (not a simple razzia), for a ~ajj , or a great fair like ~Uka~ in the pre-Islamic era. Every clan had, as today, its own chieftain chosen from among the family heads.

Its dependence upon the sayyid (or shaykh today) of the whole tribe varied in each case. A very independent clan, can at times 10 practically be taken as one forming a new tribe • Often every clan keeps its own battle cry, nakhwah or shi"ar, its own emblem 11 liwa~ and its own wasm (pl. wusüm) or property mark

According to the Muslim genealogiste, the total number of clans who claim male descent of a common ancestor constituted the tribe. In that case the tribe should be nothing else than a larger family. But the practice proved to be contrary to the theory. Disappearance of complete tribes or fractions of them and formation of new unitë from heterogeneous elements has been a persistent pattern throughout Bedouin history. Professer E.

Br ~uml ich has masterfully depicted t his high degree o f change- 12 ability and dynamism of the tribal system • The basic principle which determines the life or death of a clan or tribe in terms of the continuance o f its organizational e xistence is naturally 4

established by the conditions of desert life. Thus, the group has to be of a number which permits quick and secure mobilization

for attack, defence and work. Also it is always conceived as having been formed by blood ties which are supposedly the most solid. What militates against this principle causes the dissolution

of a tribe compelling it to disappear or take shelter in a new unit, since the desert life does not allow an isolated life. There, as in no other place, common life and work are absolutely indis- pensable. The most common facts leading to the break up are the great amount of losses in human lives or livestock caused by

frequent blood feuds, razzias, epidemies or similar, as well as internal dissentions that cannot be resolved, or on the contrary

the huge increase in tents or cattle that makes the group very difficult to control and a peaceful separation issues. 13

The integration and adoption within another tribe, commonly a more powerful one, used to take place in different ways. The adopted one (mawl~ pl. mawali) could be only one person, a more or less large group or even a whole tribe. It could manifest itself in three forms. First, it could be only a

temporary protection (jar, pl. jiran =protégé, today \anib or qa~1r- ) 1~ , secondly it could be a lasting aggrggation or confederation (~ilf) 15 a common pattern for these confederations, especially the largest ones, was to be assembled around a sanctuary or sacred territory (taram)just like that of Mecca, 16 or that of the Prophet in Medina , stressing in this way its 5

religious coloring; and thirdly, a full and permanent membership adopting all duties and rights of the other tribe and even taking its name. This last form was always accompanied by special rites, such as the comingling of blood,swearing of oaths, and fire sprinkled with salt and perfumed liquids 17 . These frequent mixtures of heterogeneous elements within the tribe, contrast with the static view presented by the ancient genealogiste. And because of it, certain tribes distinguish between ~amülah(the descendants of a common ancestor) and ~ashirah(which includes the adopted persans or groups that have taken a feigned genealogy).

The tribal system had a very simple structure if compared to other similar peoples. The only social hierarchy was that of nobility. Accordingly, at the top were the "nobles"

(9arï~ or 9amïm), their positions deriving from noble families of pure blood, belonging ta the tribe from time immemorial.

Within that level of society, however, there were innumerable degrees of termed nobility reflecting their love of maintaining 18 the purity of genealogy (sharaf) • Then, the clients, Arabs or not, were in a lower position. The slaves, usually captured

Arabs or Africans, formed the lowest stratum, and beyond them the artisans although in a higher social rank than the slaves were perhaps the more despised l9 • 6

2. Material interests

The Bedouin economy was based upon two main sources, stock-breeding and the razzias (ghazw). The principle capital of

the Bedouin was the dromedary, for the raising of which there

were specialized shepherds. For their daily needs, however, sheep and goats were raised providing them with their meat supply and a portion of their required milk. The dromedary, on the other hand, was a riding and pack animal and beyond that, provid~d

them with milk and also hair and skin for barter trade with

their sedentary neighbors. The camel, then, provided the products

with which they could acquire the other items necessary for their existence such as finished clothing materials, tools and 20 weaponry • The possession of the horse was a luxury. Indeed, it only provided the kinds of transport directly associated with warfare and prestige. As social status, combined with independence, was the most important consideration to the Bedouin, the horse . l 21 was h onore d accor d ~ng y •

Lack of water, or insufficient grazing areas in the desert constituted a constant threat to the large flocks which

they raised. This situation led to frequent fights for the rights of a water well but more especially it led to a cherished activity of the Bedouin later adopted as a customary practice --the razzia.

The wealth of sedentary settlements (based on agriculture or

trade) in particular, was always a great temptation for the

Bedouins who tried to take them over by force. Pre-Islamic 7

inscriptions from different places make frequent allusions to this fact. In Sumer, the ward "kur" for "desert" had also the 22 meaning of 11 enemy" and "hostility" • In the :tlimya.rite inscriptions the Bedouins appear as warriors, mercenary soldiers, but never as settled workers employed on the reconstruction of the Dam of Marib 23 • The Bedouins also received an income when hired as mercenary soldiers for the protection of the trade caravans or pilgrims. The Ayyam-literature also provides a clear proof of the constant feuds of the pre-Islamic days and the bellicose character of the Bedouins. We can say that geographie and climatic conditions forced the Bedouin to become a born combatant. He was a rider-warrior and this warrior spirit is a 24 very essential trait of the Bedouin nature • If we take that fact into account it will be easier to understand their psychological traits and ideal values.

The possessions of the Bedouin, obtained by natural reproduction of their flock as well as by being captured as booty during the razzias, were held as tne common property of the tribe. Personal property of any sort was quite secondary.

The poor asked help from the rich not as a favor, but as a right.

Individual property gradually arase as a consequence of the increase of people and substance, creating the necessity of its being shared and promoting the development of the idea of family identity. Wealth, in fact, is one of the factors which creates the "individualization" of man ( 11 sich vereinzeln") in 8

2 the words of Karl Marx 5 . This consequence can be observed in the rich Meccan society as we shall see. 26 The greater or lesser belongings of the Bedouin , and even his own life, were subjected to sudden changes, good or bad as the case may be. Natural disasters (dryness, disease) or frequent razzias could unexpectedly reduce them to poverty and misery. This high degree of insecurity and instability of fortune left its imprint in the Bedouin soul inclining hifu toward pessimism, suffering passively the tyranny of destiny, dahr, and leading him 27 to an hedonistic life • The harshness of the desert life, more than to philosophy or mysticism, leads to a practical and realistic life. It is a measurment of his own force and weakness as Maxime

. t. d 28 R o d ~nson no 1ce •

3. Ideal values

As with the social life, so were ideal values centered around the tribe, particularly prior to the emergence of the family idea. The individual was totally absorbed by the tribe and he did not "make sense" outside of it. He lived and acted for 29 the glory of his tribe ("Do not laud me, laud my group") and he followed it as the supreme rule of conduct were it right or 30 wrong • The tribal system was essentially anthropocentric, while stressing the communal aspect of a man as a social being

( 11 generic or tribal being"),as integrated into his clan or tribe.

This has been termed: "Tribal humanism", a social concept leaving 9

almost no place for a full development of the individual persona lity. Even the responsability of an individual man's actions was held in common, shared by all members of the tribe.

The supreme JahilÎ value and the core of all virtues was the ~irg (honor) 31 • Its content and manifestations took different forms according to the various persans involved and to the specifie situations. As for the tribe as a whole, honor demanded it to be numerous, victorious, independent and to have a good poet. From certain individuals, like the sayyid, qualities of a higher degree were required to maintain his honor such as generosity, hospitality and ~· From everybody the maintenance of his own liberty, nobility (sharaf), undertaking of the ven geance, the fulfillment of one's word, the protection of guests and protégés and all those qualities which stress force ('izzah) and virility and exclude debility and humiliation (dhillah)were 32 expected • Among the latter qualities were principally those virtues connected with warfare like bravery, forbearence, courage, etc.3j The warrior character of the Bedouin has to be considered as the origin and source of these virtues in Arabian society.

Indeed, these ideals do not fit well with a simple desert shepherd unless we bear in mind that at the same time he is a true warrior.

We could therefore describe the Bedouin ideal as a "Warrior Ethic".

The Bedouin thinks of himself as an aristocratie warrior and acts accordingly, hence his claims of descent of noble ancestors, his irksome pride and arrogance and his refusal of any sort of authe- 10

rity human or divine. There cannat be any doubt that these ideal values occupied the first place and played the most prominent role in the Bedouin life, to the point of overshadowing the 34 religion and in a sense taking its place • The "Mufakharah" contests, in fact, which persisted until Islamic times 35 had 36 the character of a religious ceremony • Their influence can be seen also in the Bedouin conception of vengeance (tha'r) and in that of sacrifice, as we shall see further 3?

The imprint of these ideal values, was also felt in the use of the material goods, as in their exaggerated and immo- derate g enerosity and hospitality frequently leading ta neglect of the needs of one's own family for instance 3B •

In the social life, it can also be seen how th~ ariste- cratic warrior represented the ideal pattern. They hated and despi sed any manual labor outside war even in thei r own camp. Thi s work, therefore, was done by slaves, hired herdsmen and black~ smiths, i.e., all considered non-combatants 39• The right to hold private property especially in earlier times was restricted

to t he warriors so that women and other non-combatants were 40 deprived of private property and booty • Important promoters of these values we re the poets. They however, a cte d individua lly a nd we re not organiz ed in corporat i ons or otherwise . The se values were henceforth the supreme rule pervading and coloring every aspect of their l ife: Social, poli t i cal, economie a nd religious. 11

4. Persans in charge of authority

A. Offices and functions

The instinctive rebellion of the Bedouins to any 41 authority and their opposition to every sign painting to a monopolization of power, accelerated the division of functions and the decentralization of authority characteristic of earlier . '+2 t 1.mes • At the time immediately preceding the rise of Islam, bath among the Bedouins as well as in Mecca, we find that each separate function, important or not, was held by different persans, usually as a privilege of the clan and transmitted 43 hereditarily • The primary "official" was the chief of the 44 tribe, for which sayyid was the most common title • Other synonyms such as shaykh, kabir and za'rm occur though less frequently 45 . A combination of these terms indicates a title of greater respect reserved for those who attained greater influence due to their personal authority and prestige as well 46 as because of their wealth and services to the tribe • In the same way the rare title "Sayyid al-"'Arab" was employed only when the moral authority of a chief surpassed the limits of his 47 tribe • The terms shaykh and kab!r stressed the seniority principle among the Arabs. Malik, on the other hand, was never employed in Central Arabia at this time, and Amïr was only seldom 48 used •

Beyond the role of the sayyid there were other "semi- official" positions within the tribal structure: Thus ra•1s, 12

later qâ 1 id or military commander 49 • For the purpose of solving the disputes there was the ~akam or arbitrator and beyond them the orator khatib and the poet sha•ir who without holding a position of authority attained a very influential status in the social life.

The role and duties of the sayyid, one could say, were mainly in relation to outside problems, rather than inside his tribe where he was considered simply "primus inter pares". More than po~er, the chieftainship carried burdens but at the same time an honor and prestige which were strongly coveted and sought.

It is with him that all kinds of contracts and confederations with other tribes were concluded 50 as well as other stipulations for the protection of pilgrim or trade-caravans or even sorne sedentary settlements. At times he had to take care of the ful 52 fillment of vengeance 51 and to decide upon war and peace •

Though his pacts and agreements with foreign groups were compulso ry for the whole tribe, opposition and veto used to take place often 53 • This fact shows how his authority was essentially of moral order and based virtually on his prestige and personal qualities. Inside the tribe he had to care for the internal har mony and unity. Its different problems as time for mig rations, attendance to a pilgrimage or fair, were discussed in common and in equality of rights and the opinion of the sayyid was followed or not accordingly to his prestige and personal influence.

Additionally, opposition to the sayyid arase frequently from the 13

heads of the other clans or similar groups in particular when they were wealthy 54 • This is why truly powerful sayyids whose authority and influence remained uncontested for long periods of time were seldom to be found 55 •

The sayyid had to provide for the sustenance of orphans and widows, to entertain a guest from his own or a foreign tribe

(al-Qiyafah, or al-qirah) and to receive official visits from other tribes--occasions of which he took advantage in arder to show off his liberality and display spectacular generosity 56 •

In arder to fulfill these tasks and responsabilities he used to receive a fourth part (mirbac)57 of any booty captured while also depending upon voluntary contributions from his tribesmen and mainly upon his own personal wealth, what meant that he had to be rich. In accordance with the "Warrior Ethic" the same old traditional virtues were expected from the sayyid almost at their highest degree if he did not want to damage his honor. Apart from outstanding generosity, bravery, hospitality, courage and intelligence it was required of him, almost as his distinctive attribute, to possess the ~ilm (gentleness, politeness, moderation, 58 "maitrise de soi 11 ). He had ta control his anger not ta despise or scorn the weak or poor nor be jealous of the noble and rich 59

Only in such a way was he able to increase his prestige and influence and to control the Arabs who were suspicious of every 60 authority and thinking of themselves as having no superior

"If you wish to succeed me" said one sayyid to his son, "you must 14

be kind that every one loves you, humble to be respected, 61 obsequious and servile to be obeyed" •

In conclusion, outside war-times when the sayyid had a 62 real power , his authority was strictly of moral arder, deprived of any coercive capability, subjected to opposition and veto especially on the part of the majlis or council formed of the heads of each clan. His success was based upon his influence, prestige and personal qualities, especially intelligence and tilm.

He was expected to be a sort of "charismatic hero" and a "symbolic figure" or the emboà.iment of the tribe and its ideals, and hence he was honored accordingly. He was called the Cam!d or l'amûd (pillar, 6 column, support) of his tribe 3 The men stood up in his pre- 61f sence as a sign of respect • Like the tribal notables he wore 65 the ~imamah (turban) and on more solemn occasions the taj • Of special significance was the qubbah (princely tent), built near 66 his tent where the warriors' assembly took place •

Considering the amount of qualities required for the office of sayyid, in particular long and pure genealogy of noble descent, wealth and tilm, it was restricted to certain families only and transmitted hereditarily 67 • For rarely was he elected solely on the basis of his personal qualities if he did not belong to a powerful clan. Family tradition was always necessary.

Occasionaly, when the ruling house would degenerate losing its prestige or wealth, another one would emerge either gradually or 68 by violence and replace the former dynasty • 15

The inheritance of the office was not, however, understood as a direct transmission from father to son. Two other factors played a decisive role. First of all the majlis approval of the candidate's suitability and fitness for the charge was required (in early Islam the shura) and even more important perhaps, the candidate's own energy and quick acti on ta present himself as the success or. Once it was "fait accompli" the recognition on the part o f the tribe followed e a sily. The election or better, acknowledgement or consent was sometimes nothing else but the acceptance o f a ruler who already imposed h i mself by f orce 69 • I f the eldest s on did not appear to be a right persan, then either a younger son, a brother, an uncle, cousin or a nephew of the dead chie f would be the successor 7ü

The office of r a 1 I s , or qa'id (today 'aq1d ), i n earlie r times held by the sayyid, was later on tra nsferr ed to a nother persan, because of either the greater skill required or due to the du ti es wh i ch comp..elled t he sayyid to remain, at t imes , in the camp. The ra11s dicta torially dire cted a nd l ed t he batt le , divided the shares o f the booty and bore the liwa1 or rayah of the trib e wh ich ha d not to be t a ken by the enemy 71 • This off ice, like that o f t he sayyid, was held heredi t a r i ly by the same family and he, like the sayyid, also had to receive the sanction of the maj 72 lis and could be deposed • Associated wi th the qiya da h was t he qalÏd , whose primary f unctions were t he conclusion of p e a c e - agreements a nd s uperv ision o f t heir l oyal fulfill ment , was also 16

subject to the same rules as the other offices 73 •

The kha~Ib, also called za'Im and mutakallim was in charge of debating and expediting the affairs of the tribe.

His office was also normally maintained hereditarily within one family 74

B. Traditional domination

Authority in pre-Islamic Arabia can be classified as predominantly "Traditional Domination", in the terminology of

Max Weber, although the "pure types" of domination, as Weber acknowledged exist, in reality, only in modified form, combined with other "pure" types to degrees determined by the peculiar circumstances of each different society 75 •

One of the pure types of traditional domination, designated also by Weber as 11 Patriarchalism11 is characterized in the following way: Its solidarity arises from the fact that its members share lodging, food and the use of tools and that they live together in close personal proximity and mutual dependence. The relationship between the 11 authority" and the "subjects" is a personal one described as "filial respect" different from contractual obligation (in a legal domination) and from faith (in the case of a charismatic person). This relationship is part of an inviolable arder that has the sanctity of timeless tradition.

Their norms are supposed to have been created by the deities 17

who continue to be their guardians.

The traditionally dominated society has no administra tive staff or machinery (a part of domination intended to serve the purposes of the ruler) but the observance of the ruler's will depends only upon willingness of the group members to respect his authority. The ruler, in Weber's view, has two basic charac teristics:An arbitrary power and its limitation by sacred tradi tion. The content of commands is bound up with, and limited by tradition. A master cannat violate tradition without endangering the legitimacy of his authority or create new laws deviating from tradition. Outside the norms of tradition, however, his will has a very imprecise and highly elastic limitation. In this type of domination there is no "law" in the sense of rules of conduct intentionally created as such and gua ranteed by "legal coercion~

We might perhaps say that here the law is " i rrational" in the sense that it is only based on tradition and consensus of the community, and it was not oriented toward rules or bound by them.

If we apply this description to the pre-Islamic civil authority, we can see that it fits, outside of some few modi fications, a nd tha t the tribal system bears an extraordinary resemblance to the picture of the t raditiona l dominat i on. In fact, we saw t hat the s a yyi d or chief of t he tribe wa s consid e red only as "primus inter pares" and that he was unable to impose his wi ll by force, but was followed and r e specte d mainly because of his p ersonal qualit ies and pres tige , to t he ext e nt t hat h e l a c ked 18

a real authority except during warfare. Though in theory he could have an arbitrary power, as postulated by Weber, in the practice of pre-Islamic Arabia this was not the case. The rest of the tribal system also corresponds to the picture of the traditional domination. The supposed revealed character of the 11 Sacred

Tradition", will be discussed in the third chapter.

Another important persan in the social life of pre-Is- lamie Arabia not yet discussed, who also limited the authority of the sayyid, was the l}akam or arbitrator (better than "judge") whose features are also within the context of a traditional domination.

Given the lack in a traditional domination of an administrative staff, the pre-Islamic Arabs had no public authority responsible for the settling of disputes. Outside the tribe, the individual did not have any legal protection so that the ~akam's was the sole judicial procedure available for those who did not wish to exercise their right of private justice or were unable to settle the difference by means of direct friendly 76 agreement • Though the recourse to a hakam• indicates that the persans who did so considered him as an expert and interpreter of tradition, the ~akam was not an official persan nor did he hold an official office. On the contrary, all of the procedures

and stages of the arbitration were of purely private and personal character. He was freely chosen by the parties and his decisions were not legally binding but had a moral force. He did not belong to a particular caste or group, nor was he educated in a special 19

school, but was chosen only because of his personal qua lities, in particular of ~ilm and persuasion.

There are two facts, however, worthy of being mentioned.

First, it can be seen t hat gradually this kind of arbitration acquired a certain 11 institutional 11 character, amounting to the exercise of public justice in the fairs. Thus in ~Ukâ~ 77 arbitrations were conducted not only between private individuals but also at a n inter-tribal level. In this way, juridical arbi tration was achieving also a certain "systematization" of tradition, so that every one of the public decisions of a ~akam established a precedent for f urther cases. In all probability, if not stopped by the Prophet, this activity would have developed g radually and given place to learned men dedicated not only to a "law-finding" in tradition but to a real "law-making" 78 • In other words, pre-Islamic Arabia was developing in the dire ction of a "legal domination" type of authority structure. Thus we can see how the

"pure types" are, in fact, mixed in reality. We could even s a y tha t the hakam was a l s o seen as a 11 c ha rismatic pers an", since he " was chosen as endowed with superior qualities.

Secondly, perhaps we have to consider the activity of the ~akam as in between the politica l or c i v i l and the r e ligious sphere, since often a ~akam was chosen not only because of his personal qualities ( wisdom, integrity, reputation , h ilm, etc.) • but also, a nd p erhaps more i mportantly , b e c a use o f his real or s upposed s u pernatural p owers . Sinc e s uch powers , e specially tha t 20

of divination, were found among the kahins, they were v e r y fre quently chosen and preferred as ~akams. The decisions of the l'}akam, as we said above, were not of a "legally" enforceable character. The only real and effectively powerful force ensuring the fulfillment of the "decision" reached was that of public opinion, i.e., the fear, on the part of the participants, of being considered without "honor" after having publically given their ward to follow and respect the decision whatever it may be.

Here again, at the root of this commitment, we find "honor" which by itself and its elements constituted a complete "system of laws", as B.Farès has noticed 79 21

CHAPTER II

MECCA: THE CONSEQUENCES OF C0l'1MERCE

One might suspect that the situation peculiar to the urban settlements, differentiating them from the nomadic Bedouin society, brought about a series of changes in the attitudes of those undergoing the transformation from a transient to a more settled existence, reflected in their social, political and religious life. At this juncture, we wish to examine the char acteristics, attitudes and values of the Meccan society in which the Prophet grew up and against which he proposed a new world view.

1. Sedentarization and development of commerce

Although the commercial activities of the Meccans at the time of the rise of Islam are a very well established fact, a great number of connected problems have not yet received completely satisfactory answers, particularly those relating to the chronology and the stages of growth of Mecca and its commerce. The fact that Mecca was, at the time of the Prophet, a famous religious center of pilgrimage and a rich commercial town, may lead to the belief that its existence goes back to very remote times, both as a sacred place and as a commercial center. Studies, however, especially of the historical condi tions surrounding it, point to another solution. The existence 22

of Mecca as a place of cult may be very ancient, linked to its

having been a way-station in the "incense trade-route". There

are no means, however, to determine when the first shrine was 1 erected, as Nëldeke noticed • In any case, its rise and

development as trade-center has to be placed much later.

As the natural geographical conditions of Mecca do 2 not permit agricultural activities, as in Ta 1 if or Yathrib any settlements there had to depend essentially on commerce. In

other words, without commerce any sedentarization thera was impossible. In fact, the principal sources which attribute the

foundation of Mecca to Qu~ayy do not mention a permanent settlement before him. On the contrary, al-Bakrî clearly states: ''The Fihr used to live around Mecca until Qusayy. b. Kilab made them settle in the tJ.aram and in Hecca there was no one" (Kanat lars_~

bi-ha ahadu~). Hisham reports al-Kalbï saying: "The people used

to go there for pilgrimage, then they dispersed and Mecca

remained empty without anybody there 113 •

Even after Qu~ay~ stock breeding continued to be the main occupation of the Quraysh, as can be inferred, among ether data, from the partially, somewhat legendary account of 1Abd al-Mut~alib, grandfather of Muhammad, and Abraha from whom 'Abd 4 al-Muttalib. . claimed only his 200 camels . Since the development of Mecca as a permanent settlement was directly related to its commercial activity and the latter depended not only on the ability later shawn by the Quraysh, 23

but mainly on extrinsic conditions allowing independent commercial activity, such a development took place only gradually. In the measure that the big powers of the time (Yemen, Persia and Byzan- tine Empire) weakened ana lost control of the international trade-routes, there was the possibility of the rising of a new competitor 5 •

In the traditional Arab sources the orig in of Meccan commerce appears to be oversimplified. Accordingly, it was originated by the initiative of Hâshim and his brothers who established sorne "Ïlaf" (pacts) with the powers of the time and 6 in this way the commercial activity developed almost "ex nihilo"

Though this tradition has a historical basis and was actually followed by many scholars 7 , it has to be critically reviewed 8 in the light of the external historical conditions • A recent examination of the development and growth of the Meccan commerce, critically reviewing the traditional Arab accounts in the light of South Arabian, Byzantine and Syriac sources has been under taken by R.S imon 9. The author s hows how various events (e. g ., the foundation of Mecca by Qu~ayy, the accounts of the Ilaf, the campaign of Abraha, the Hi. lf al-Fudül, the Harb. al-Fijar, etc.), described by the traditi onal sources correspond , to a great extent to d ifferent stages by wh i ch only gradual ly the Quraysh obtained control over the commerce. Grea ter commercial activity on the part o f the Quraysh took place only after the middle of the 6th c e ntury. In fac t, a t the time of Abraha ' s invasion ( about 24

5~7 A.D.) the Yemenite traders played a considerable role in the incense trade-route, and at that time the main occupation 10 of Quraysh was still stock-breeding • Complete control was achieved only with the -Ilaf- al-Iraq,' - already at the rise of 11 Islam •

This achievement of the Quraysh in such a short time, clearly manifests their extraordinary commercial ability and skillful diplomacy, especially when one sees that it was mainly through peaceful means that they gained commercial control over the trade routes. It was not without reason that they were praised for their "tJ.ilm" and fine sense of politics. In fact, during this brief period of time through their meticulous organization and well planned speculations, perhaps, rather than by direct trading activity , they became extremely rich. The

Qur 1 an itself, at different occasions, discloses not only the wealth of the Meccans but also the security which accompanied such wealth, especially important in contrast to the permanent insecurity and instability of the possessions of the Bedouins 12 and their towns

These new facts, the sedentarization, and particularly the commercial activity, brought about profound changes in the life of the Quraysh, threatening or causing a real crisis to the former Bedouin patterns and ideals. 25

2. Impact and supremacy of the material interests

Meccan society gradually departed from Bedouin structures and developed an entirely new life orientation, constituting, in certain aspects, the antithesis of the

Bedouin arder. One reason for this could be ascribed to the sedentarization process, a fact that by itself, demands a great number of human adjustments from inner psychological to external adaptations of the most va rious sorts. Mecca was not, however, the only town in Central Arabia. There were also Ta 1 if and

Yathrib, but while these two were mainly agricultural settlements and did not pose a threat to the Bedouin institutions and values,

Mecca constituted a challenge to the old tradition in many aspects. Bence, a satisfactory explanation for the Meccans' new outlook has to be searched for in the new activity which the

Quraysh undertook:Commerce.

The influence which an occupation has upon the persan who practices it, is well attested to by modern psychology and was already pointed out by Ibn Khaldun l3 • The profession one practices influences the way of thinking of the individual, his conception of society and religion, and his relationship with his fellowmen. Following the pattern of our study we will try to show the extent to which the new business of the Meccans left an imprint upon the rest of their lives. The Quraysh quickly became aware of the significance of wealth and especially of the power it confers, a factor until then practically unknown to 26

them. Consequently they devoted themselves to the development of a social, political and religious structure directly intended for the protection and enlargement of their fortune. Placing it, in this way, in a central position, all the rest of their endeavors were but means to this aim.

The stage of development in Mecca induced by the commercial activity can be understood through the analysis of 14 Kar l Jv1arx- • Th e1r . progress cons1s. t e d o f a grow1ng. emanc1pa-. tian from nature and, at the same time, a growing control over it, as is the case in commerce in contrast with the Bedouin and agricultural villa~es. While bath the Bedouin and agrarian economies depend almost entirely on natural conditions and the products of which are intended and restricted to internal consumption only, commerce basically depends upon one's own skill and is concentrated on surplus and exchange which ultima- tely lead to capital accumulation, something unimaginable in the other two types of economy.

Since the process of emancipation from n ature is identical to that of human individualization, man departs from his former status of a " generic being" or "herd animal" a nd from communal property, ta a further "historie phase of property relations~ Its origin is the formation of cities by the union of tribal groups, developing cooperation and the division of f unctions. The result is the emergence o f private property side by side with the communal holdings until the 27

latter decays together with the former social arder. At this point the directly intended abject is the accumulation of capital and not production for internal consumption, hence, the division and gap between town and country becomes deeper, as well as that within the town itself, between slave and free or between rich and poor as in the case of Mecca. The consequences of this process were saon felt. If the tribal system, the root of the social organization, had started to weaken even before this time, due to the emergence of the idea of a family 15 identity, i.e., closer relatives , now with the new economie effects of commerce its stability was further endangered.

Against the collectivism of the tribe, an individualism emerged as a result of the private accumulation of wealth. Hence, the

Quraysh started to confine their aid to their nearest kinsmen and to neglect their obligations toward the poorest persons of other families. There are sorne traditions painting in a contrary direction, stressing the idea of "mixing of the poor" (or inferior people) with the rich as an ideal of the Meccan society 16

In particular, Hashim, great-grandfather of the Prophet, seems to have expanded the tendency of care for t h e needy into a sociaL principle. These accounts, in particular those about

Hashim, could be explained as a glorification of an ancestor of 17 Muhammad following the usual exemplary etiological pattern •

Besides that, it is well known that the Hishim clan was not among the richest. 28

There were , however, other reasons for "mixing of the poor", i.e., the necessity of security. Before the Ilaf were concluded the sending of caravans seems to have been very risky and in case of attack, the tradesmen were exposed to the possibi- 18 lity of losing everything , as M.J.Kister acknowledg es • It was not, then, for humanitarian reasons, but for personal interest. The Qur 1an itself, by insisting in showing love and generosity, especially to the destitute and lowest, can be taken as an indication that these virtues were disappearing among the 19 Quraysh • They created, however, other social groups not founded on blood ties but on the comn10n interest of protecting and increasing their wealth. The vast network of a ll kinds of 20 alliances bears testimony to that • The former 'A~abiyah was substituted by a business relationship.

The poli t i c a l, or civil admi nistration o f the town was also affected by the new life outlook. The government of Mecca was entrusted to a council "Mala" that seems to be an urban ' --' equi va lent of the Beciouin 11 Majlis". The conditions for membership were determined by the prestige of one's intelligence and pilm, the services which he g ranted to the town (same qualities as in the JVJajlis). Beyond that wealth and a successful bus iness were requ i red, and i n a seconda ry plac e was the connec tion wi th a 21 traditionally noble family • This policy seems to be confirmed by the participation, allowed by the Quraysh, even o f outsiders i n c e rtain affairs o f Me cca b e ca u se of t heir role i n est a blishing ------··- ··- ·· --··--·--·· -·· ·- ···

the economie power of Mecca. The Banû Tamim for instance, were

invested with the "ifa

procession) in Mecca itself, since the cooperation of the Tamïm 22 helped the Quraysh to avoid competition in t h e ma rket of 'uka~

This practice of the Meccans led to the formation of an

oligarchie system and to a remarkable degree of distinction of

social strata, thereby increasing the s eparation between rich 2 a nd poor (the "Quraysh al-Zawahir") 3

The "Dar al-Nadwah", whose foundation is attributed

to Qu9ayy, probably had not only a political but a religious

character as well, as the na me "'Abd al-Dar" ( e ldes t son o f 2 4 Qu9ayy) seems to indicate • It served for the discussion of

more important matters, especially sorne alliances, and marriage

r i t e s used to t a ke pla ce there as we l l as the i mposition o f the

veil to the young girls. Other ordinary ma tters we re discussed 25 in the courtyard of the Ka'ba • As f or honor a nd the

11 murüwah 11 i deals, such as generos ity a nd h osp i talit y , they

d ecreas e d a n d egoistic care of one ' s own interes t s , arrogance

(istakbara), self-sufficiency (istaghan~), and niggardliness 26 took their p l a ce a s the Qur 1ân ofte n wi tness es • In the

s a me way religion wa s used by the Qura y s h for t heir economie

profits. 30

3. The ijums

Although the Quraysh did not da re, at least explicitly, to oppose or change the tra dition or religion --on the contrary, in their s truggle a gainst Muhammad t h ey claimed to "follow t he 27 sunnah of their fathers , they certainly attempted to g ive them a new orientation according to t heir own aims. That can be seen in the institution of the ?ums.

"I do not know whether it wa s before or a f ter the year of the elephant that the Quraysh invented the idea of ~ums a nd

0 - 28 ~ put it into p ractice", says Ibn H~sham , but Azraq~ places its 29 institution aft er the campaign o f Abra ha • As descri be d in these sources, the ?urns a r e characterized by their 11 religious zeal". The selfimposed hardships, called by Ibn Hisham "innovations without wa r r a nt"; we re such as not to pre pa r e or eat cheese , milk or clarif y butter during the period of the I{lram• They would not enter tents of camel-hair nor seek s helte r from the sun e xcept in l eather t e nts while they were i n the sta t e of s a cra l i z a tion - -Ihra m. Th e y performe d t he WuqÛf a .t a l-Huz da lifah • i nstead of at ' Ara fat,- and they conf ined themselves during t h e tt.ill to the bounda ries of the ljara m. People not bel ong ing to the ~ums , t h e ~illa h, when performing the ~a j j or the'umrah were forbidden to take with them any k ind o f food from outside and they had t o perf orm t he tawaf i n the ga r ments o f t h e ~u m s, otherwi s e the y ha d to g o naked or t hrow away their clothes aft e r- wa r ds s o tha t no one e l se coulct mak e use of t h e m. These t wo 31

30 last prescriptions were abolished later by Qur 1 àn • The

restrictions the ~ums imposed on themselves, typical of the

Bedouin milieu, show, in fact, their affection and love for the

Ka'ba, as those taboos added ta the ~illa certainly are an

indication of pressure of the ~ums to compel other tribes to

form part of the ~ums. A similar indication can be seen in the

policy adopted by the Quraysh of restricting the marriage of

their daughters to certain tribes only 3l •

Some of the lists of the ~ums preserved by the

Huslim scholars present some contradictions as to the number

of tribes and which tribes comprised them. The examination of

these lists shows undoubtly, however, that the ~ums included

not only the Quraysh but also people outside Mecca, and even a more significant fact is that the tribes allied in the orga-

nization of ~ums are of different origin and belong to various 32 tribal divisions • Hence, the definition of C. van Arendonk:

ntfums is the name traditionally given to the inhabitants of

Mecca at Muhammad's appearance ···" 33 , has ta be corrected.

Examining further the origin of sorne of these tribes it can be seen that they lived in different areas of the peninsula. The

Thaqif inhabited the South East of Jvlecca, the Kinana the South controlling the route, Mecca to Yemen, the

the North East of Mecca, the Qu~a'a (Kalb) the North controlling

the trade route to Syria, Yarbü' and Nâzin controlled the route 4 to al-~ira and Persia, as J.M. Kister has shown 3 • Obviously 32

the ~ums were intended for, and linked with the economie enterprise of the Meccans, in the same way as the different

Ilafs the Quraysh contracted with great number of tribes.

The economie purpose of the ~ums and Ilafs appears even clearer when considering their practical results: Indepen- denee and neutrality of Mecca, security and inviolability of the Meccan ~aram and its inhabitants, the primary condition for a permanent settlement (in Mecca) and for the organization of commerce. The Qur1ân itself stresses this fact: "Do they not see that we have made a haram. secure ~amin) while men from around them are carried away by force"? (29, 67 ). The same in the surah 11 al-Frl" and in that of "Quraysh". Indeed the inviolability of Mecca after the institution of the ~ums was assured not only during the period of the ~ajj but due to the ability of Quraysh, during the whole year 35 . In view of this connection of the l}ums with the commercial purposes of the Quraysh, we cannat consider them as the "familles clericales de la Mecque" as A.Haldar calls them following the opinion of H.Lammens 36 •

At the same time, the economie context of the ~ums until recent ly escaped the observation of the specialists 37

The idea of ~ums was probably derive d from that of garam . A garam, given the continuous state of war among the

Bedouins, is almost a natural necessity, as R.Serjeant points 8 ou t 3 • A t r~ . 'b esman requ~r. es a greater a ut h ority t han h is own and one which he trusts to preside over tribal arbitrations 33

and to impose seme sanctions with supernatural authority in arder to enforce the observence of security on those occasions such as pilgrimages, markets, arrangements for truce, payment of blood money, etc. The institution of a ~aram may then derive from the tribe's own initiative or from that of a saint or noly man who induces sorne tribes to contract agreements with him. The essential condition for the proper functioning of a

~aram, is the recognition of it on the part of the tribes and their commitment to respect it. Otherwise it will be unsuccessful. A great part of its success has to be attributed to the personal qualities and prestige of the founder, as is the case with the sayyid or every ether authority among the Bedouins. If the persan or persans who control the ~aram have gained prestige among the tribes that recognize it, then they can virtually rule the confederation 39 • 40 At the time of Qu~ayy Mecca was already a ~aram , though certainly of very restricte~ influence. The work of Quraysh consisted, then, of extending the recognition of that ~aram to the greatest possible number of tribes, following the policy of

Qu~ayy which was to make it the only great sanctuary of Arabia overshadowing ethers and to assure the security and inviolability of Mecca, the essential condition for the development and growth of commerce. The function of the ~ums was, hence, ta create a religious unity, first among the Quraysh themselves and secondly with the tribes important to them for their economie enterprises. 34

The intention of the Meccans was to achieve the domination of the peninsula not by war, a very bold and dangerous enterprise, but concealing their goals behind peaceful religious confederation --a more skillful maneuver. The subtle dimplomacy of the ~ uraysh in trying to achieve the unification of the Arabs by means of a religious amphictiony prepared the rise of Islam, but at the same time shows clearly how in a given society many changes may occur according to the aims it chooses.

Being the accumulation of wealth the supreme ideal of the Quraysh, the social and political structure, the traditional values and even the religion were affected and subjected to this goal. This is why the Meccan society can be truly called

111'1aterialistic Humanism".

The Meccan society earned the disapproval and contempt of many of the Bedouin tribes and perhaps was the occasion of the rise of reformers who, individually or in groups, tried to change this situation. Thus, the ~anifs, among whom the Prophet counted Ibrahim and to whom he later attached his message. Many of these reformers, however, especially individuals, are not 41 well known • In any case their attempts failed until Muhammad appeared and successfully accomplished his mission. 35

4. Traditional society

The Meccan society bears the main basic characteristics of the Bedouin society, hence it has to be classified as one of

"Traditional Domination" as described in Chapter I, part 4. In the Meccan organization, however, further progress can be observed in the creation of new administrative functions. As a consequence of sedentarization and principally of their commercial enterprises, they were compelled to institute a quasi-administrative apparatus in arder to assure the proper functioning of their commercial activities.

They organized a kind of military guard (mainly formed by the Ayabish) for the protection of their caravans and also perhaps to watch the arder within the town itself where many monetary operations took place and which was visited by many foreigners. They had a normal service of informers whose function was to constantly bring news of the success or disaster of the 42 trade caravans, hence, called nadhir or bashir • N.F. Coussin de Perceval also mentions the creation of a 11 espece de magistra- ture criminelle", called diyat and the khazinah or finance administration 43 . Besides these, there were the ijums, whose reforms, concealed under religious zeal (hence called by Ibn 4Lt Hisham "innovations without warrant", i.e., against the inviolability and unalterability of the sacred tradition), were actually clear attempt of institutionalizing and systematizing their

'rradition. 36

The institution of new functions like the above mentioned is called by M.Weber "legal order", which differs from the 11 conven tional arder'', as in the Bedouin society, be cause i t possesses "specialized personnel for the implementation of coercive power (enforcement machinery) and the conventional arder does not. A legal arder, remarks Weber, has existed under many systems of authority and it is not identical with legal domina tion 45 • In Mecca, we notice the lack of professional priests, police and judges, but its orientation toward a legal arder is clear.

On the other hand, the transmission of authority, its influence and power are identical with customary practice among the Bedouins. Thus, at his death, Qu9ayy left as inheritance to his eldest son ~bd al-Dir, all the religious functions he had crea ted (the lJijabah, Rifada, Liwa~ , Siqayah and Dar al-Nadwah) on the grounds that his other sons "had a greater 46 reputation and strength than him • After the death of ~bd al-Dar, his sons inherited the same functions, but the sons of

~bd Manaf, in particular ~bd al-Shams and Hashim, agreed to seize the rights that the sons of (Abd al-Dar possessed consider ing that they had a 11 better right to them because of their superiority and their position among the people". This struggle for power and the right to hold authority on the basis of

"superiority and better position" follows the same principles that establish authority among the Bedouins. Furthermore, it 37

shows that the possession of a religious function did not constitute any long er the basis of authority. In other words, a division of functions was already ach ieveà by t hat time.

A.fter that struggle the offices of "Rifadah" and "Siqayah" passed to Hàshim. Surprisingly these offices did not pass to

~bd al-Shams who was older than Hishim, a fact that proves that the position and p ersonal influence of Hashim were g reater than those of his brother. After the death of Hashim t hese functions were taken by his brother al-Muttalib and only after his death passed ta ~bd al-Mu~talib son of Hashim.

By that time , the position and wealth of the Banü ~bd al-Shams had become greater and consequently their influence also.

They started to contest the authority of ~bd al-Mu~~alib as it appears in the dissention about the rights upon the Zamzam well, tha t had to be decided by recourse to a Kahinah 47

Notwithstanding this fact, the Banü Hishim kept the leadership of Quraysh until the campaign of Abraha . Indeed, Abraha sent messengers to Mecca instructing them to inquire who was its "chief notable" and he was answered that 1Abd al-Mu~talib was the "shaykh 48 of Q,uraysh11 -

After the death of ~bd al-Mu~~alib, the Banü Hashi m, whose wealth had considerably decreased, lost the c hieftainship of Mecca, a lthough they retained their relig ious func tions until the rise of Islam. The leadership of Me cca wa s taken by the ~bd al-Shams , i n pa rticular the Umayyads, who b e came f a mous f or thei r ~ilm and extraordinary sense of politics, more than for their wealth. At the time of the rise of Islam, Ab~ Sufy~n who inherited from his father, Harb. b. Umayah, the office of "qiyadah" or military commander, as presented in the Sirah, appears as the '~ayyid and kabÎr of Quraysh 11 • It was he who organized the ransom for Badr, and the expedition of U~ud for which he carried 4 al-Lat and al~Uzz~ 9

This new shift of authority is also very significant, for it reveals again tha t the basis of authority was personal prestige and wealth independant of any connecti on with religious offices. Indeed, there are no evidences that the Umayyads tried to deprive the Banu al-Dar, or the Banü Hashim of their religious offices. With the military victory of the Prophet over Mecca, the supreme authority passed again to a member of the Hashim , but only until his death and then under different conditions and up on a s ociety whose social organization was, theoretically at least , founded on a reli g i ous basis.

we can conclude then that bath the Bedouin society, a s well as that of Jvlec ca, can be classified as mainly "Traditional

Domina tion 11 , and fur th er, tha t des pi te the vast number of ·,Ïlafs contracted by Mecca , and the efforts of the ~ums to unify and systematize the religious attitudes, t he construction of a unified Arabia as a s trong political power was only at its very beginning . 39

CHAP'rER III

RELIGIOUS Ob'GANIZA'riON OF PRE-ISLAHIC .AHABIA

As far as we know, the pre-Islamic Arabs did not have a system of beliefs; rather practices and institutions were the core of their religion, that is, they were at the stage previous to what Max Weber calls the "rationalization of relig ious life".

Religion, as politics and social structure, was a part of the whole Tradition transmitted from father to son. To believe was not obligatory nor meritorious; the only important matter was the performance of those acts prescribed by religious tradition.

There were no beliefs out of which practice derived, but practice preceded any doctrinal theory. 1 The "rationalization of religious life 11 goes on beyond practices and rites for the sake of good fortune and includes a systematic conception of man's relation to the divine as well as a religious ethic based obviously on an ethical concept of the deity. These systematic conceptions are absent when worship is conducted without an established priesthood or where magicians prevail and regular worship (bound by definite norms and celebrated at specified places and times) does not exist. Under these conditions religious ideas tend to make all traditional practices sacred and therefore unalterable.

Full development of such rationalization, which contrasts with this sanctification of tradition, occurs only 40

where priesthood or similar groups have successfully established a status ethic and a power position. On the other hand, this rationalization is generally found in conjunction with the development of urban settlements since different social groups in accordance with their way of life ana material interests usually 2 give rise to different religious propensities and beliefs • The emergence of these groups, as well as their influence and changing position in society are a clue to understandine the impact and development of religious ideas in society •

In the case of pre-Islamic Arabia we notice the absence of a professionally qualified priesthood and the prevalence of divination and magic conducted by free-lance professionals hired by individuals from time to time. Or maybe we can feel the beginning of a relig ious systematization carried out by several prophets and ~an!fs, who like the prophets of ancient I s rael, were spreading a new religious outlook outside and against the official authorities and outside and a gainst the official religion.

Examining the place and role of religion in the 1'tra ditional" society of pre-Islamic Arabia, we wish to consider four points: 1. religious belief~ in particular the concept of Gad and His authority; 2. religious functionaries; 3. i nfluence of r eligion upon s ociety ; and 4. religion as origin of law and authority. 41

1. Pre-Islamic religious beliefs

Pre-Islamic religion has been analyzed and explained

in many different ways. It has been interpreted as fetishism

(cult of stones), animism (cult of collective and anonymous spirits,

like the jinnes), manism (cult of ancestors), totemism, astral religion, and pure monotheism 3 . In face of a scanty informa-

tian, we will discuss only the most relevant ieatures as ascer-

tained by well known facts.

We must acknowledge it was a polytheistic religion.

The pre-Islamic Arabs worshiped a great number of deities and 4 had correspondingly innumerable idols • Many of these deities are known only by the so-called "theoforous" names and their

nature and qualities are very vague or simply ignored. Sorne of

them go back to remote times, to the time of Noah as stated in

Qur'an maybe indicating by that the not well-known character

of these gods 5 •

An astral character can be affirmed of certain deities, like al-Lat and al~Uzza, and in Qur 1an we find sorne hints that point out in this direction. Thus, in the history of Ibrahim, sûrah 6,74-78, we find the following: "When he saw the star he said: Is this my Lord"? Similar examples are found in other 6 passages

They also conceived the universe as populated by more or less impersonal beings (jinnes), but these were more in 42

connection with divination and magic than abjects of a proper cult. The ancestors occupied a central position in the life of the pre-Islamic Arab. However, rather than being the abject of a proper religious cult, they were the abject of profound veneration and the source of pride and glory for the tribe, especially the great heroes 7 •

The Arab did not have an organized Pantheon, rather, each tribe worshiped independently its own god or gods.In Mecca, however, the diplomatie and religious activities of the ?ums, we can presume, were aimed at achieving a high degree of religious unification. That the economie and commercial supremacy of the

Quraysh carried on the impositions of their beliefs and rites 8 as a "national religion'' as J .Chelhod supposes, could be accepted with sorne nuances. But his affirmation that Allah, a contra~tion of Al-Ilah (the deity) designated only an impersonal and diffuse force whose attributes are a borrowing of the attri butes of the other gods, is very difficult to prove 9 • Allah was the Supreme Being, the "Creator of the World", the "Giver of rain" and the "Lord of the Ka~ba". It is He by whom the most solemn oaths are sworn and at times He is the unique Gad in a 10 kind of "temporary monotheism" • Most of the time, however,

He was not viewed as unique and was relegated to a lower place in the cultural and practical life. Nevertheless, neither this supreme Gad, nor the ether gods and goddesses had an absolute power and control over everything. They were not conceived as 43

Law-giver gods who through their legislation ordain and rule the universe and its forces. They were not "Lords of the worlds" nor the "Lords of history", rather, local gods with a power limited to their sacred territory and ta their worshipers. From the gods moral support was expected rather than an extraordinary intervention in human affairs. In ordinary matters it was men's 11 business ta help themselves • In the Jahiliyah outlook, the hour of man's death, his sustenance, his happiness or misery

(in this world) and the sex of a child, were under the control of 11Fate 11 , "dahr", in a sense superior to Allah Himself, because man once created by Allah is put into the hands of this more powerful master who oppresses him until his death. It was conceived as a "merciless tyrant", as a half personal force bringing all kinds of misery and misfortune to man, and before whom man 12 remains helpless

Beyond that, the g ods were not conceived as absolutely

"just", that is, they did not enforce j ustice, or in other words, the y lacked an " et.hic a l 11 cha r a cter. In this way the relation between man and g od cannat be conceived a s an ethical one and consequently the "rationalization o f religious life" was far awa y. This "rationaliza t ion", in contrast to the unchangeability of tradition, gradually develops an ethical character of the deity according to which the arder of nature and society is under g od's p rotecti on and those who violate it will b e p unished. It is a replac ement of magic ideas of evil (~arim-Taboo ) by a 44

religious ethic. Misfortune results not from the failing power of one's god but from his wrath because of man's violation.

Thus, the predominant relation between man and god in the J~hiliyah was at the stage of the pre-rational or pre ethical, i.e., in the sphere of magic as can be seen also in the role and function of the persans who acted as intermediaries between goà and man. One point that can help us to understand the conception of God and especially the relation between gad and man is that of the sacrifice, it being the bridge which unites them. As the discussion of the sacrifice is a very complex matter, we will only try to see how it was understood ta function.

There is not a commonly accepted definition of the sacrifice 13 , but its basic elements are: A gift- hamage presented to a Superior

Being; the destruction of that gift or victim, which is frequent but not essential for a sacrifice; a communal meal with the deity, also frequent but not essential, to create the communion with the deity. Magic elements have influenced certain rites of the

Arab sacrifice, but it is doubtful whether the sacrifice as such l'+ is derived from an impersonal magic action. Thus Henninger gives the following definition: "The oblation of a visible abject

(often symbolized and achieved by its destruction) made ta a

Superhuman being, to recognize his supremacy, to gain his favars and to be in a closer relation ta him (often by a sacrificial meal)~ J.Chelhold's merit has been in stressing the oblation as the principal part of sacrifice, an element sometimes neglected 15 45

Leaving aside his insistence on the "magic character of the blood" that leads him to require the destruction of the victim 16 as an essen t 1a. l par t o f th e sacr1. f.1ce and- h.lS th eory o f th e

"sacré impersonnel" to wbom it is offered to preserve the equilibrium of the Universe 17 , he is absolutely right in affirming that even in the case of hospitality the communal meal is not essential to establish a communion between the 18 donor (giver) and the guest • In the same way the communion with the deity is achieved not by the sacrificial meal but by the gift itself. The donation of something,that symbolizes the donation of the donor himself,has by itself the power to relate and attach the persan who receives and accepts the donation to the persan who gives it.

We can say that the Arabs used in regard to the gods the same procedure used among men. The generosity and hospitality, often exaggerated, were qualities especially practiced by the chiefs who through them sought to gain faithful subjects.

A gift, in fact, places in a lower position the persan who receives it and in state of obligation towarà the donor. In this way, once a sacrifice was offered and supposedly accepted by a god, he cannat behave as an enemy nor even be indifferent without "dishonoring" himself. Again we find the key concept of

''honor" of the ''warrior ethic" in a very central place in the relations between god and man, and we can see how the "ideal values" influenced the religion. While in ether religions the 46

power that compels a god in a sacrifice is the "magic force" attached to the blood, in the Arab sacrifice perhaps more important was the conception of 11 honor 11 •

2. Religious functionaries of pre-Islamic Arabia

As a parallel to the lack of an instituted civil authority, neither the religious nor semi-religious functionaries represented an instituted religious leadership. They operated mainly on private initiative and authority, hence there is no clear distinction among the different religious officials nor among the different religious offices proper to one with exclu- sion of the ethers. In fact, the different names of these persans:

Kàhin, s âdin, afkal, ~azi, carraf, dhÜ~ilah, ~aji b, sa~ir as used by t he Arab sources show that they shared ma ny common attributes and hence that it is very difficult to establish a clear difference among them l9 •

Among the better known are the kâhins. Although there is a controversy as to the origin of t he term 11 kahin" and their early history sometimes seen as priests in the "full sense of 20 the term" like the Hebrew " Kohen", the procedure of their actions and their infl uence upon s ocie ty can be determined clearly enough.

They derived their mantic knowledge from ec6tatic inspi r a tion, the source of which was a "jinn " or "s hayta n ", 47

called by different names: Tâbi', ~a.Qib, mawl~ or wali ( companion, 21 comrade, friend, familiar spirit) • They used the sajt or rhymed prose, a pattern , in all divination forms, often a very obscure and amhlguouslanguage accompanied by symbolic actions and striking oaths and swearings (on the earth, moon, stars, 22 sun, light and darkness, etc.) • They did not have, however, a continuous inspiration but were "possessed" only at intervals.

In this respect they bear much resemblance to the poet, shacir, whose inspiration had the same source. Certainly at an earlier time they were very similar, as I.Goldziher suspects 23 • In fact, the poets were consulted before a migra tion or war, the 24 same as the kihins • Later, however, the function of the poet in war was that of discouraging the enemy by swearing formulas suppos ed ta harm him g iven the magic force attributed by the semites to the ward 25

As to the influence of the kâhins on society, we can say that no one else attained a level equal to theirs. The y were consulted for a ll kinds o f matters related to private as well as public life, sometimes descending ta a lower scale of 26 divination • They received an honora rium for their work.

The presence of a kâhi n was especially important at times of war or razzias, often led by him in persan 27 Disputes of all kinds were brought ta him and his decisions were considered as a kind of divine judgement and thus more easily followed , 48

i.e., closely connected with the ~akam but superior to him and preferred because of the supernatural origin of his knowledge.

Sorne of them became famous and influential beyond their own tribe. They were held so important that every tribe beyond its sha

The kahins regardless of their origin, from lower or higher strata, belonged to the leaders or intellectual aristocracy of the tribe.

Their influence, however, was limited to practical decisions without embracing at the same time a cultural sphere or supplementing moral or ideal values. As far as we know there is no evidence that the kahins or ether similar persans were recruited from cultural or similar corporations. As the ~akam, they acted on a personal basis, as kind of personal gift or charisma. Renee, 11 kahinship" was not an hereditary office. This 28 is why the theory of Baldar who postulates that the office was hereditary and that its holders were recruited from religious organizations, cannat be accepted. Even J.Wellhausen 29 who calls them "Priester" denies the existence of such organizations.

The lack of these associations corresponds to the conditions of the Bedouins and other similar peoples of nomadic groups 30 •

Not even the sadin or ~ajib charged with the custody of a fixed sanctuary were organized in a sort of a religious corporation nor can bear the title of "priest". They were families that kept hereditarily the guard of shrine, house, or similar, when there 49

was something to watch over and that often remained there even when their tribe was expelled and a new tribe came in control of the shrine 31 • These families, however, were independent from one another and never, it is said, constituted a priestly hierarchy. It is a controversial matter whether they were simply guardians or also possessors of the shrine or the idols 32

The office of the sidin beyond the custody of the shrine, was reduced to precede the drawing of arrows before the god. They did not make the sacrifice either, but everybody, except women, was entitled to perform it 33 • Probably in sorne cases the sadins were oracle tellers like the kahins,- 34 but this was not the general rule. Neither did they exercise any cultural activity, like the Hebrew kohen, who, beside being an oracle dealer and sacrificer was also a teacher of the Torah.

It does not seem appropriate to call them real priests. The formation of a priest statua had a late appearance among the

Semites 35 and always in conjunction with the sedentarization.

As to the other religious men such as ~azi, 'arraf, and afkal, these terms seem to be synonymous to Qesig nate different kinds of diviners less important than the kahin 36

Important conclusion for our purpose, is that these religious functionaries, even if they had a considerable influence in matters of practical concern, made very little imprint in the cultural sphere. Most of their activities, in fact, were reduced to divinatory practices. On the contrary, the role of the sh;'ir (poet), another "possessed by a jinn" though without connection with cult places, was ta extol the virtues of the warrior ethic and praise the glory and excellence of his tribe over the ethers.

Thus, the poets were not only, as often it is said, the

"journalists of the desert", but the promoters and in sorne sense the guardians of the pre-Islamic ideal values by encouraging them (hedonism, love of wine, free love, bravery, etc.) hence the opposition of Muhammad ta them 37 • Yet, though the poet bad a very important position, we do not know of a poet acting as ~akam.

3. Influence of pre-Islamic religion upon society

Considering the facts we have about pre-Islamic religion, we have ta admit that its impact on society was very small. That was due ta the fact that the pre-Islamic relig ion was mainly reduced to institutions and practices, many of them of a magic character, but which at the same time did not provide an intellectual,theoretical system whose content would offer the guiding principles or moral values. The true ideal inspiration for their life was based on the "warrior ethic" whose ess ence was the "honor" resulting in a real "cult of the tribe".

We cannat, however, conclude there was "religious indifference" on the part of the Bedouins as it is said sorne 38 times • Certainly religious piety was not the main charac- 51

teristic of the pre-Islamic Arab, but to affirm the absence of religious feelings is to go too far. The fact that the pre-

Islamic poetry is rather silent about religion does not constitute a serious proof since the conventional and fixed character of that poetry is well known. The religious heedlessness of the

Bedouin, according to J.Chelhod 39 can be seen in the "complete absence of myths". 11 He is more preoccupied with extoling his own bravery or courage, his glorious feats and exploits than with chanting an Iliad or an Odyssey in honor of the gods 11 • His view that the gods in the battle field were more or less like the women and magicians who with their presence and shouting encouraged the warriors to fight, all the merit being granted to the combatants, likewise does not seem acceptable.

We have evidence that clearly indicates the religiosity of the pre-Islamic Arabs. Ibn al-~albi, throughout the Kit~ al-Asnâm shows the close relation between the Arabs and their gods and the great veneration they were always shawn. At times he expressly states that: 11 All the people in Mecca had an idol

(~anam) in their house which they worshiped. When they wanted to undertake a journey, the last thing they did in their house was to stroke the idol with their hand. And the first thing they did when coming back was to stroke ag·ain the idol". "Among them were those who had a shrine (bayt), others an idol (~anam) and those who were not able to have a shrine or an idol chose a 40 stone (~ajar) from the ~aram or other place'' • When explaining 52

the beginning of idol worship he says: ''No one departed from

Mecca without carrying with him a stone (~ajar) from the stones of the h.aram for veneration (ta'azim). to the haram . and for love 41 (flababah) to Hecca" •

Besides the pilgrimage, they u s ed to offer sacrifices at the most i mportant moments of their life, thus at births and deaths, at the circumcision, for marriage, for a new tent, divorce, before a razzia, at the time of a n epidemie or drought 42 or many others, as J.Chelhoa acknowledges • Not only the pre-Islamic South Arabian inscriftions but also the Safaitic inscriptions ofte n ask the gods for help, peace, health, vengeance and booty. In the Thamudic inscriptions are found those called the "siltr" used for ma g ic protection Lt- 3 •

Moreover, we have witnesses from the Ayyam-literature about the role the supernatural played at war times. The hero of these battles often appears in connection with the supernatural world, decid ing the operations by dreams, visions and oracles.

Not infrequently the unsuccessful results or his own death are attributed to personal fault 44 .

We will examine in the next paragraph the decisive importance of the kahin and in particular that of the qubbah at war times. In ordinary matters, man had to resolve his own problems, but for extraordinary circumstances the gad of the tribe was expected to play a more or at l east equally i mportant part as man. 53

Certainly the religiosity of the Bedouin was mixed with superstitions and magic belief, but we can make neither generalizations nor very schematic judgements 45 •

4. Religion as the origin of law (Tradition) and authority

Among Weber's postulates when analyzing the development of "rationalization of law", is that its first stage was charismatic legal revelation through "law prophets". At one time legal prophecy was the universal practice due to the 46 principle that law can only be revealed • As confirmation of this view, Veber forwards examples from ancient Egypt, Baby- lonia and Greece, from Ireland, Gaul, Russia and other European countries. In the case of pre-Islamic Arabia, however, clear evidences are lacking to prove that the "traditional law" had a divine origin.

G.E. von Grunebaum thinks that the "Sunnah of the fathers", at the moment it reaches us, is already "secularized".

Like the 11 égrophos nomos" of Greece, from the ritual sphere it moved to matters less connected with religion, the thâ 1 r

(vengeance law), however, preserves certain religious characteristics 47

H.Lammens was the first to call attention to the 48 sacred character of the tha'r • After him, J.Chelhod believes that the tha 1 r was a "veiled form of human sacrifice" whose negligence is a "dishonor" since it is part of a sacred duty to 54

the kinsmen and a part of the cult of the ancestors that in

Farès's opinion was identified by the Arabs as a sort of religion 49

The relig ious character of the tha'r, however, has been put in doubt by E.Graf who considers the thaar as an institution outside the religious sphere and merely a social regulation 50 • However, it may take on a religious nature in instances of personal vengeance. The same view is expressed by

Henninger

Outside sorne p oetic expressions that cannet be used as factual evidence, there is nothing compelling which would justify one in considering the blood vengeance as a proper sacrifice (Lammens 215: voici un autre qui se vante d'avoir inmolé aux mânes de ses frères cent enemies) 5l •

According to J.Wellhausen, in historical times captives were no longer sacrificed, but either ransomed or s imply put to death. As a reminiscence, there remains only the term

-d'": 52 h a ~ • In Nôldeke's view, however, which denies the human sacrifi ces in Arabia, the ward hadi (conducted) when applied to sacrificial Viictims is always col~ective, the singular being then hadÏyah. Thus, he concludes: "It would not be correct to say t hat a prisoner was called a "victim11 53 We c an then conclude with

He nninger , that there is no certainty that in Arabia itself the custom of sacrificing the prisoners ever existed 54

There is no indica tion either that the pre-Islamic g ods were conceived of, as they were among other s e mites, as " law 55

giver" gods. In ancient Babylonia and Israel it is God who reveals His will, but in Arabia this happened only with Prophet

Muhammad. The phenomenon of "revelation" is rather something new brought by Islam. Certainly the tribal gods were consulted by oracles or soothsayers especially in matters of common difficulty, but recourse to a pakam was more frequent in Arabia for the solution of legal disputes. Thus one must conclude that these cases of 11 law-finding" 55 were restricted to specifie moments; rather than constituting precedents for further similar circumstances, as for example the procedures of the ~akam.

We would rather suc;gest that the pre-Islamic "tradi tion" was formed gradually following the customs and usages of the ancestors. In fact, the origin the Meccans give to this 56 tradition, as preserved in Qur 1 ân, is "the steps of our fathers" •

This seems more in conformity with the exemplaristic and etiological patterns used in the Arabie narrations and stor~es that reflect the Arab mind and their way of thinking.

When interpreting and explaining the origin of their custom and usages the pre-Islamic Arabs recurred as a rule to an eponymous ancestor, sometimes a semi-historical figure. Thus the social structures are attributed to Nizar, the eponymous ancestor of the Northern Arabs. When he was dying he distributed his possessions among his four sons Iyad, Anm';i"r, RabT'ah and

Mu~ar. According to what they received--a red tent and what is similar to it (Muqar), a black tent and what is similar to it (Rabï'ah), a slave and what is similar to him (Iyad), a money- bag and what is similar to it (Anmâr)--they represent the four basic groups of the whole Arab economy: Dromedary breeders who became later the commercial traders, the warriors, the shepherds and the farmers 57 • It is interesting to note that "priests" are not mentioned, a fact that reveals the absence of organized associations of professional religious functionaries. At times these narratives allude to customs no more in use in later times, like the "right of the first night", or a matriarchal society and the matrilocal residence 58

The foundation of customs and institutions is explained in the same way. Jadhimah was the first to wear sandals, the first to sit on a litter and the first to put on a necklace. 'Amr b. Lu~ayy was the introducer of idol worship and the first to consecrate animals to the gods 59 • Qu~ayy wa,s the founder of the five famous religious institutions of the Ka~ba and the re f armer o f th e p1"l gr1mage. 60 , e t c.

All these personages are conceived of as true "héros civilisateur", acting on a purely human sphere. Sometimes these accounts allude to a supernatural or better to a super-human intervention. Thus ~Amr b. Lu~ayy brings the idols following the advice of a jinn, since he was a kâhin, but it never appears that the "héros civilisateur", is instructed by a gad.

The same pattern was later adopted by Islam, only now 57

it clearly appears that its "héros civilisateur" follows a direct instruction from Allah. Thus the Ka'ba, the first sanctuary to 61 be constructed was done by an order- o f God to Abraham. • Th e personages to whom Islam attributes the beginning of a custom or institutions are generally those of the Bible. Thus Salomon was the first to fabricate soap; David, iron; Abraham the first to offer hospitality; Joseph the first to use books; Ism~tll the 62 first who tamed camels, etc. The Prophet himself is presented as acting as a true "héros civilisateur", sent to restore the religion of Ibràhim; Muhammad transmitted the revelation, he taught how to perform the ablutions, the prayers, the pilgrimage, etc. As Ibrahim constructed the Ka'ba, at its new reconstruction by the Quraysh, Muhammad remade the act of his ancestor, and put in its place the black stone b3 . As IbrihÎm was at the point of immolating one of his sons, the grandfather of Muhammad was at the point of sacrificing~bdallah, the father of the Prophet.

In contrast to the Islamic conception, in the Jahillyah, it does not appear that its heroes are acting, instructed by the gocts, or at least, as we said above, there is no clear evidence painting in this direction. Rather it appears that the Jahili tradition is of human origin.

On the contrary, the foundation of civil authority shows clear connections with the religious world. Evident indica- tian of that connection is the qubbah, a red leather tent, dome- shaped, always built close to the tent of the sayyid, hence 64 called by Wellhausen the "Fürstenzelt"--princely tent .

Contrary to the opinion of Wellhausen who sees it as a simple symbol of princely authority, Lammens has put in evidence the religious character of the qubbah 65 • In Lammens's view these leather tents are nothing else than "portable sanctuaries" containing the tribal deities the existence of which has escaped

the observation of Wellhausen. The use of leather for the qubbah and not the goat's hair as in the black dwelling tents, is a sign of religious conservatism and proves the antiquity of the use of qubbahs. Indeed, if we examine the use and character of simila r abjects among moaern Bedouins we can trace those of the ancient Arabs.

A very complete study of these sacred abjects has been undertaken by J.Morgenstern, base d on testimonies of many travel- ers and anthropologiste of the last and this century, in particular 66 A.Mus;l~ • H;s~ study can b e summar~ze· d ~n· th'~s way: Th e R wa l a

Bedouins possess an abj e ct called"'otfe"('u!fah), a kind of camel-saddle or hawdaj , of tent-like shape with a domect top, adorned with ostrich feathers. According ta sorne accounts the

Rwala should be the only cnes ta possess such an abje ct, but these are definite intimations tha t orig inally eve ry cla n or tribe had its own 'otfe and that in sorne way the clan or tribal deity was associated with it. On occasions a maiden sits on it and she is always one of the mo s t beautiful of the tribe a nd of noble line a g e, frequently the daugh ter or siste r of t he shaykh h i ms elf , us ua lly 59

a virgin, dressed as a bride ana attended as a rule by other maidens each mounted upon her own camel. That girl is looked upon at that moment at least, as a persan of super-human nature and authority. Her persan is inviolable even by the enemy if she is captured. When going to battle she stands erect with her hair flying loose, bearing her breasts in the sight of all the warriors of the tribe and by her appearance, gestures and above all her cries excites them to superhuman efforts, even to death.

The authority, honor and independence of the princely house and also of the tribe are bound with the possession and retention of the 'otfe;. these are forfeited if the 'otfe. is captured, and can be regained only with its recapture. Thus when captured, the enemy tries to destroy it promptly 67 • The possession of it by a family establishes their title to authority within the tribe.

A new 'o~fe can be made only by using a fragment of the old ~o!fe in which something of the mana or supernatural spirit of the 'otfe abides.

The 'otfe is employed only in major battles when the very existence of the tribe seems at stake, never in minor skirmishes or raids. It is also employed when the tribe is on march from one camping-place to another. It is usually borne by a camel of fine appearance, great size and strength and .usually white in color.

Very clear evidences exist that the 'otfe is regarded 60

as possessing something of an inna te, supernatural power to select the spot for the decisive battle or the raad which the tribe should take. Closely related to these particular functions are certain powers of divination that the 'otfe seems to possess; gives forth oracles, and oaths may be sworn by it. Also, among sorne tribes at least, a sacrifice is annually offered to or on behalf of the

'otfe to the tribal deity or his modern equivalent thought to dwell in it or to be associated with it, since the victory of the battle is attributed to it.

The na me of the 'otfe of the Rwala is "Abu-d-Dhur" or

11 11 68 69 al-Markab • The 'otfe• is also an a.sylum place • Thus 1

Morgenstern compares it to the Israelitish 11 ark of the covenant", which meant safety and power to the tribe holding it, while its loss spelled disaster to the tribe and its consequent dispersion70•

Another similar abject is the ma~mal, whose origin, history and significance has been discussed in considerable detail by Gaudefroy-Demombynes 7l It is a tent-like structure with a rounded or dome-like top and it seems to be a representation of the Karba. It is regularly mounted upon a hawdaj or woman's camel saddle, usually without human occupant. Instead one or two copies of the Qur•in are deposited in it.

Other characteristics are identical with those of the

'o~fe. It is mounted on a camel of outstanding appearance, regarded as possessing a measure of sanctity or holiness. A barakah 61

or blessing is acquired from touching tne ma~mal, identical with that acquired from touching the black stone in the Kafba.

It seems that it was used mainly upon the pilgrimage 72 procession to Mecca, selecting the road through the desert

The ma~mal appears as a symbol of royalty. The possession of it establishes the authority of the clan or tribe and within the tribe itself the authority of the clan or family which has the right of custody of that ohject.

Two conclusions can be drawn from the former descriptions. First, that there is a very etriking similarity between the 'offe and tne ma~mal and seconà that the similarities and basic relationship of these two abjects with the pre-Islamic portable shrines are equally striking.

Before tammens this connection with the pre-Islamic qubbah had been noticed by De Goeje and Gaudefroy-Demombynes 73 , but it was Lammens's merit to reveal fully the sacred character of the pre-Islamic qubbah.

Lammens corrected or complemented the observations of

Wellhausen who denied the existence of portable sanctuaries but admitted sorne sacred abjects at times of war 7 ~ • Ibn Hisham and

Ibn al-Kalbi expressly say that the Arabs used to carry with them sorne of the sacred stones of the ~aram 75 • Wellhausen mentions how Yaghüth was carried into battle by his worshipers 76 but he did not mention any qubbah, failing to appreciate its sienificance.

During the Harb al-Fijar, a pavillion was dressed in honor of 62

al-Lat whose sacred territory served as asylum place 77 • It is well known how Abu Sufyan for the battle of U~ud took al-Lat and 78 al-fUzza wi th the :~ uraysh •

Hence, the existence of portable sanctuaries at the

rise of Islam cannat be put in doubt. It was the famous red leather qubbah containing the tribal deities. In fact, the permanent necessity of consulting the gods before a razzia or a migration supposes the vicinity of a sanctuary. Like the modern

'o!fe, the qubbah normally stood in immediate contiguity to the

tent of the sayyid, its guardian, and was viewed as the symbol

of his authority, so that the possession of a qubbah became symbolic of chieftainship. The extremely coveted qualification

of "Ahl ·al-qubbat al-Khamr" shows it clearly 79 , hence, the

name given to it by Wellhausen of 11 princely tent".

The custoay of the qubbah passed hereditarily within

the ruling family as the expression rr{ihim al-Bayt" and similar 80 expressions clearly indicate • Hence, in Islamic times, the

11 BuyÜtat al..:'Arab 11 came to mean the "aristocratie or noble families", the holders of authority (Riyasah wa l;lukÜmah or 81 al..!adad wa al-sharf) • R.Smith and J.Wellhausen, noticed also

that the passing of the betyl or betyls within one family or

from one clan to another symbolized the passing of authority 82 to the new possessors • As the modern •o!fe, the qubbah was also put on a camel on the biggest occasions only; thus for a war in which the existence of the tribe itself was put in danger, - . . . 83 no t f or ordlnary ra1ds •

The qubba~ was also occupied by one of the noblest girls of the tribe, usually a daughter of the sayyid, escorted 84 by other girls playing flutes and shouting probably in saj<

The presence of the qubbah in battle symbolizing the presence of the tribal deities also permitted the prognostication or divination during the course of the battle. Not only the probable outcome could be forseen but a lso procedures and maneuvers by which victory might be achieved, could be suggested by divine oracles. Renee the necessity of a competent diviner or oracle teller. This role was l e ft to the kahin or kahinah , who had to accompany the tribe at every moment. This explains why we do not find as a rule, a kahin as the guardian of a fixed sanctuary whose custody was left to the sadin. ~t explains also why every tribe had to have a kihin. The k5hin acted as intermediary between the tribe and its deities. At times the kihin impersonated in such a meas ure the deity tha t he was address ed as "Rabb", answering wi th the wo rds " Ya C:i.badi" This was the use in early times, however, and Nëldeke doubts the authenticity of 86 t hat passage • After Islam , the title rabb was reserved exclusi vely for Allah , but in the Jahi llyah it was freque ntly used for great sayyids, especially t h ose who presided over g reat tribes or confederations. Probably the title is a n abbreviation 87 for " Rabb al- Qubbah" • v"le noticed above, how the kahins we re always consulted b efore a war , and how a t times themselv es i n 64

persan led military expeditions. Even when they did not perso- nally lead the battle, their orders were blindly followed:"At 11 88 his order (the Taghlibite Kulayb) Madh.Q.ij advanced or withdrew 89 and disobedience to a kahin could result i n defeat

Even today, as Husil records, t he Kerak do not go into battle without taking with them a professional diviner who 90 also practices ma gic on behalf of his people • The function of the Hebrew kohen was also originally identical in character a nd function to the Arabie kahin. He was primarily a diviner and soothsayer rather than a priest 91 • And the "Ark of the covenant" like the qubbah was carried in battle. The oracles or instructions 92 which it gave were to be obeyed • In later times the pre-Isla- mie qubbah became also a fixed tent, employed on profane and festivity occasions. It became a "pavillion of honor" and a

11 tent of meeting " especially of the warriors 93 • Thus we find 94 a qubbah at the fair of Uka~ , and in the Munafarah contests pres ided by a kàhin-~akam which concluded with a sacrifice 95

The ?ums also possessed similar qubbahs used not for dwelling 96 but only at the period of I~rim during the pilgrimage •

Lammens s upposes that at the time of the rise of Islam the qubbah was empty and simply built next to t hat of the Sa yyid as symbol of his authority. This use pervaded t he early Islam. In fact, at the battle of Siffin, Mu'awiyah built a simil ar red l eather tent • clos e to his own 97 The liw~1 or tribal emblem, shared sorne characteristics of the qubbah but does not seem ta have possessed a religious character 98 • Now, that we have estab lished the religious character of the qubbah and its custody under the sayyid we have to determine whether its possession constituted the base and origin of authority or whether it was only its symbol.

In accordance with the Shï'a claims as presented by

R.Serjeant and w.Rajkowsky, the foundation of leadership is the

"hereditary holiness" of the priestly clans in charge of the custody of a sanctuary , transmitted also hereditarily. They affirm that the pre-Islamic authority was political and religious at the same time, in other words, that the basis of rulership in the Jahiliyah was the "theocratie princ i ple" 99.

Now we will s ummarize our main conclusions. First, the use of the term "priestly11 applied to the i"amilies in charge of the custody of a fixed sanctuary does not seem correct, as lOO explained above •

S e cond, these families r e maine d atta che d to those sanctuaries even when anothe r tribe came in control of the land where those sanctuaries were erected, so t hat they did not follow the mi g rati ons of their tribe and c onse qu e ntl y they could not possibly be its leaders. These auth ors are confusing between the guard o f t he fixed s a nctuaries and tha t of the qubbah.

Thi rd, the basic a r gume nt a dva nced by these a uthors 66

to establish an inner relation between the possession of the qubbah and transmission of the "hereditary holiness" is that the leaders of the tribe, the sayyids, were "the intermediaries between their tribe and its g ods11101 • But as we have sufficiently seen, such a role was performed by the kàhins, who accompanied permanently their tribes and whose presence especially in times of war, as diviner or oracle tellers, was eagerly required so that every tribe had to have its own kahin. In so far as a sayyid was at the same time kahin the postulated principle by those authors is valid. The conjunction of bath dignities k~hin and

0 0 0 102 0 sayy1d was f requen t 1n ear1° 1er t 1mes b u t as we sa1 d , a t th e time of the rise of Islam the division of functions was already op erated and the office of sayyid was "secularized". Since at this time the conjunction of these two functions is never or seldom found i f the sayyid were the i ntermediary between his tribe and its g ods, then the presence of a kahin would be absolutely needless.

Fourth, there are insta nces , from modern and ancient times, of families or clans which lest, by force or peacefully, the possession of the qubbah which sometimes passed to other 103 "non priestly families " • In such cases, by a "tour de force ",

Ra jkowsky concludes: "When political leadership is a ttained by non priestly clans, it imposes upon them relig ious functions 11104 but in such cases obvious ly one cannat speak of "heredita ry holiness11 • 67

Finally, we do not know of any case in which a sayyid dared to impose a rule or create an innovation outside or against the Tradition, while we know that the kahin, Asad b. Kur~, prohibited th e use o f. w1ne· l05 • E ven more s t r1· k 1ng· per h aps 1s . th e case o f al-Akr~ ibn ~abis a kahin-~akam of 'Uka~, who by the rightness of his decisions was honored with the title of "hakam al.!Arab 11 • 106 we are told that "he was the first to prohibit the games of chance i.e., he appears as a true legislator.

We can therefore conclude that originally the tribal leadership was based upon religion, on the possession of the tribal deities. But gradually with the division of functions, although the custody of the qubbah remained under the sayyid, he lest his role of intermediary between his tribe and its gods.

That role passed to the kahin. Consequently his authority, certainly under the protection of the gods, was no longer founded upon a religious basis, but mainly upon his noble descent, his personal qualities, his services to the tribe and his wealth, the latter especially important in the Meccan society 107 68

CONCLUSIVE REMAHKS

The manner of exercising authority and its conception are determined by the connection and relationship authority has with the other constituent elements--material interests and ideal values--of the society over which it presides. Every change occurring in the components of society affects authority and is consequently reflected in its conception, as every change that occurs in authority (becoming weak or powerful) will influence and induce reactions in its society.

In the Bedouin system the s upreme guiding principle that regulated and determined everything, of personal or tribal concern, was constituted by the "ideal values", especially the

"honor" (

"law", the vengeance (tha'r), and even the relig ion, as it appears in the conception of sacrifice.

In the same way , one might suspect that the conception of a uthority was influenced by the m. We would say then, tha t they 69

conceived authority, specifically the "sayyid", as an exemplary personality to be followed and imitated rather than to deem him as endowed with real power to enforce his will. Lacking any legal basis his power derived from his personal qualities and prestige.

He was viewed as the embodiment of glory and "honor" of the tribe, something like its symbol, and he was honored accordingly.

Henceforth,from him, more than from any ether, a great number of qualities and in the highest possible degree were required (noble descent, hospitality, generosity, bravery, Çilm, etc.). Especially important sayyids, because or their personal prestige and influence, were considered after the ir dea th as a sort of "héros civilisateur~' as can be seen in the profound veneration shawn to the ancestors.

In the Meccan society due above all to their commercial activities, a shift of values occurred. Accumulation of wealth and the power it confers were placed as the supreme goals of life, instead of the idealistic values of the Warrior-ethic. Renee, a new social structure appeared, determined more by wealth than by blood ties and nobility of descent, which increased the gap bet ween poor and rich. This also produced a higher degree of "indi vidualization", restricting the practice of certain tribal duties, like tha)r, to the nearest relatives only. The use of wealth followed new economie patterns (surplus, exchange, accumulation) criticized as being niggardly by the Qur1 an, instead of the old prodigality and extravagant generosity. The religion itself was 70

used as a means to the new aim, as can be observed in the institution of the ~ums. The conception of authority was deprived of its idealistic and etiological traits and was put in a more realistic and practical context. In fact, one can discover certain steps toward a "legal arder" with the possibility of further progress and institutionalization had it not been curtailed by Islam. The Quraysh were on the way to instituting a sort of administrative apparatus, and the innovations of the vums ''without warrant", as Ibn Hishàm remarks, constitute a clear proof that they were acting against the inviolability and unalterability of

Tradition and toward a "rationalization" and systematization not only of religion but of the whole sacred tra dition, similar to the orientation of the ~akams toward a legal domination.

Muhammad again brought about a new change. He placed the ideal values at the center of his system, but in connection with religion, and endowed them with an ethical character.

The restricted role of religion, both among the Bedouins as well as in Mecca, can be explained by the lack of such a rationalization since it was reduced mainly to practices and magic, and by the lack of priesthood or similar groups. The function of the pre-Islamic religious functionaries was that of divination and oracle telling.

Bath the Bedouin and the Meccan societies, however, remained within the sphere of the "traditional domination" and 71

can be classified as such. Therefore, the legitimacy of authority was conceived and accepted as a part of the sacred tradition transmitted from generation to generation since time immemorial.

As for the religious origin of authority, clear indications are extant that from the earliest times a type of charismatic leader prevailed who accumulated the religious as well as the political leadership (kâhin-sayyid). At the time immediately preceding the rise of Islam, however, the process of division of functions was already operating. The sole remaining indication that the primitive basis of political authority had a connection with the supernatural, is the qubbah, bayt or "princely tent" which contained the tribal deities (idols) and whose exclusive guardian was the sayyid, as in modern times. In Islamic times

11 buyÜtat" will be applied to the noble aristocratie families, but the ward completely lost its early religious relationship.

The sacred tradition, on the contrary, does not appear to ha ve had a d i vine ori gin. It is ascribe d to a "héros civi li sateur" remaining within the purely human field. There are no clear evidences that the gods revealed it or that its obedience was enforced through the use of divine sanctions or punishments.

On the other hand, the authority of the gods was relative. They gave oracles for specifie critical moments but their power was limited by that of the more powerful "dahr" (destiny). The true force compelling obe die nce to the traditi on, or the decision of 72

a l_lakam, was "public opinion", or the fear of losing one's honor before "the Arabs".

Perhaps as a reminiscence of its early religious origin as well as of the great number of qualities required for the office of sayyid, particularly noble descent and wealth, such an office was transmitted hereditarily within the same family, though the eldest son was not necessarily the heir.

Similar to the development of authority (separation from religion and further division of functions), is that of pre-Islamic society. The tribesman, at the beginning totally absorbed by the tribe ("herd animal" or "generic being 11 ) and holding property in common, gradually attained a certain degree of individualization manifested in the emergence of the family idea and in the possession of private property. This individualization was carried on further in the Meccan society by the accumulation of private wealth and it was completed by Islam, where the individual (no longer his clan) is held responsible for his actions before Allah.

This evolution, synonymous with progress, certainly prepared the way for Islam. This gradual individualization, in fact, weakened the tribal system and its narrow sense of unity, based exclusively on descent from a common ancestor. At the same time, it made possible the conception of greater unities (confederations, harams)• not based on blood ties. We saw that the efforts 73

of the Quraysh we re centered on a policy of economie domination over the peninsula by means of religious, perhaps later also by a political, unification. Considering the external situation

(weakening of Yemen, Persia and Byzantine Empire) they were in the position of developing a Northern Arab Empire, as it once existed in South Arabia. Toward this purpose, they established a vast network of ·Ïlafs (alliances-pacts) and instituted the

~ums. On the other hand, it seems that the Meccans were not the only ones to have such a d ream, but it was shared by other tribes.

An indication of that can be seen in the use of the term "Arabs", expressing the "publ ic opinion", tha t remarka bly enough, was comprised not of the one's own tribe but of "all the Arabs". This term points to the feeling of a certain "national" identity, but as E.von Grunebaum properly remarks, rema ined rather a s a hope 1 a nd an aspir a tion

By Arabs it is meant the larg est but vaguely defined group sharing pol itical and historical memories and more i mportant a s the publ ic before whom the individual and the tribe must make g ood •••• as a court in permanent session •••• a group in which the i nd i vidual a nd the tri b e "make sense 11 •••• as an ori entation p oint stabl e in s p ite of its elusiveness, a concept not to be strictly defined though sufficiently precise to allow the growth of a sense of "national" cha r a cter.

Ye t, as he also points out, the Northern Arabs consti tuted a 2 " Kul turnati on " rat her tha n a "Staat na t ion" i n t he sens e t hat they shared the feeling of belonging to the same cultural heritage, but without a union by s trong political s t r ucture and g eog raphical o r territ orial delimitations . They l a c ked a r eally p owerfu l 74

authority. The Prophet was able to realize that cherished unity by placing authority in Gad, the supreme Being, Creator of everything, i.e., substituting their homocentric system by a theocentric one, and strengthening the former by religious beliefs • ~sabiyah•

Though the Prophet made these intellectual innovations ~rationalization~) he followed ether traditional patterns of pre-Islamic

Arabia, e.g., his migration to Yathrib and integration into another tribe, and his establishment of a Qaram and a vast network of alliances, no doubt inspired by the Meccan policy. In this way he proved to be the expected charismatic hero to fulfill the aspirations of unifying the Arabs. 75 N 0 T E S

INTRODUCTION

Complete references to the following sources will be found in Bibliography. l. Muqaddimah, vol.I, tr., F.Rosenthal (New York: 1958), p.380.

2. Ibid., p. 98f. Ibid., P• 414.

3. Max Weber On the Methodology of the Social Sciences, (Glencoe: 1949), p.81; and Grundriss der Sozialokonomik,III Abteilung, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, vol.I, (Tübingen: 1925), PP• 1-ll.

4. Thus in ancient Egypt the Pharaoh was considered as Gad, and in Mesopotamia the kings as sons of God. Ancient Israel was also ruled by a theocratie kingàom.

5. Ibn Hisham, 2 23-246. See R.Serjeant, "The constitution of Medina", lQ, VIII (1964), pp. 12-16. M.Watt, Muhammad at Medina, pp. 221-250; Id., Islamic Political Thought,p. 2lf.

6. Tab.I, 1820-1823. The survival of Jahilïyah tribal patterns and the slow penetration of the Muslim ideal of equality, can be observed in the social system of the Umayyad period and in the conflicts of the "shu'übïyah", I.Goldziher, Muhammedanische Studien, I, pp. 40ff and l47ff.

7. W.Rajkowsky, Ea rly Shi'ism i n 'Iraq, (Ph.D.Thesis) (London: University, 1955), p.l4 and passim. R.Serjeant, "The Saiyids

of \fa~ramawt", Inaugural lecture. (London: 1957), p. 7ff.

8. Muqaddimah, vol.II, p. 264. That will be clearly seen in the case of Mecca where we will g ive a more d e tailed description of its social and economie conditions. See Chapter II.

9. Pre-Capitalist Economie Formations, tr., J.Cohen (New York: 1969), P• 69f. 76

10. Wirtschaft und Gese11schaft,vo1.I, pp. 21-25 and vo1.II, 610-613.

11. Muqaddimah, vol.!, pp.89-92. 380. 414.

12. According to the terminology of Max Weber, On Law in Economy and Society(Cambridge: l954),pp. 323-328.

13. For the urban settlements we wish to examine in particular the Meccan society since it was the frame of the Prophet's early activities and better known.

14. P.Hitti, History of the Arabs, (London: 1946~,pp. 32-36; A. 2 Grohmann, art. Arab, in EI , vol.I, 524-525. A.Musil,

Northern ~igaz,(New York: 1926),pp.287-296. In the Old Tes tament, Jer.3,2; 25,24, etc. In the New Testament, Act.2,ll.

15. The Greek authors seem to be the first to employ the term "Arab" in an ethnie sense, and such a use was gradually adopted in Arabia itself. See H.von Wissmann, art. "Badw" 2 in EI , vol.I,884.

16. J.Henninger has discussed a passage of Strabo about polyandry in South Arabia, "Polyandrie in vorislamischen Arabien 11 in Anthropos XLIX (1954), 314-322. He has also examined the supposed account of Nilus about a human sacrifice performed in the Sinai by the Saracens about 410 A.D. (Migne,LXXI, 612), "Ist der soggennante Ni1us-Bericht eine brauchbare relig ions geschichtliche Quelle?", in Anthropos L (1955), 81-148.

17. c.Char1es for instance has largely employed this material in

his "Le Christianisme des Arabes nomades~' •• (Paris: 1936,). J.Henninger has critically discussed the s upp osed cult of Aphrodite in Mecca as mentioned in these sources, 11 Ueber Sternkunde und Sternkult in Nord- und Zentral-Arabien" in Zeit. für Ethnol., LXXIX (1954), 82-117; similarly in his article "Menschenopfer bei den Arabern", Anthropos LIII (1958), 721-805. 77

18. The Diwa~ (pl.dawawin) of the six poets (Nâbighah, ~Antarah,rarafah, Zuhayr, 'Alqamah and Imr al-Qays), collected by al-Sukkarï (d. 888 A.D.). The Seven Mu'allaqat (Imr al-Qays, tarafah, Zuhayr, Labïd, ~Antarah, ~Amr b. Kulthum and Harith. b. .Hillizah) probably collected by ~ammâd al-Râwiyan (d. 8th century A.D.). The MufaQ9aliyat, 128 qa~Ïdas, collected by Mufa~?al al-Dabbi (d. ab. 786 A.D.) extant in two recenssions. The Famasah of AbÜ Tammam Habib. b. Aws (d. ab. 850 A.D.) divided into ten sections. The Uamasah of Bupturï (d. 897 A.D.) and the Jamharah Ash'ar al-'Arab, 49 odes collected by Abu Zayd Nu~ammad al-Qurashï, ab. the year 1000 A.D. Comments and translations of sorne of these poems have been made by Western scholars.

Thus Th.N~ldeke, Beitr~ge zur Kenntniss der Poesie der alten Araber, (Hannover: 1864). Sir Ch.Lyall, Translations of Ancient Arabian Poetry--chiefly pre-Islamic with introduction and notes, (London: 1885); Translation of the Mufaggaliyat (Oxford:

1918); F.Rückert, Uamasa oder die ~ltesten Arabischen Volks lieder übersetzt und erl~utert, 2 vols. (Stuttgart: 1846); Id., Amrilkais, Sein Leben dargestellt im seinen Liedern

(Hannover: 192~); W.Ahlwardt, The Diwans of Six Ancient Arabie

Poets (London: ~ l870); Th.N~ldeke, Fünf Mo'allaqât übersetzt

und erkl~rt (Wien: 1899-1901), and A.J.Arberry, The Seven Odes (London: 1957) among ethers.

19. Akhbar, i.e., works based merely on oral tradition that simply list events without any chronological classification, contrary to the Ta1 rÏkh works (from 9th century onwards) which try to arrange the events generally by dividing them into years (annals).

20. See W.Caskel, "Die Einheimischen Quellen zur Geschichte Nord Arabiens vor dem Islam", Islamica III (1927), p. 332.

21. J.Sauvaget-C.Cahen, Introduction à l'Histoire de l'Orient Musulman (Paris: 1961), p. 25f. W.Caskel, "Einheimische Quellen" 78

Is1amica,III (1927), p. 331, says:" Die echte arabische Ueber1iferung ist weder Chronik noch Geschichte. Sie ist erûihlender Na tur und besteht a us Einzelgeschichten", and "Die alte Poesie hat für die Aufhellung der vorislamischen Geschichte pracktisch keine grosse Bedeutung", Ibid., p. 334, footnote l.

22. F.Gabrieli, "La Letteratura beduina preislamica", in L'Antica Società Beduina, ed., F.Gabrieli, (Roma: l959) ,p. 98: "La poesia ••• fonte principale per la conoscenza dell'anima, degli ideali, del costume e della vita quotidiana dei figli

d'Ismaele 11 • See also Levi della Vida, in The Arab Heritage, ed., N.A.Faris, (Princeton: l944),p. 48. W.Caskel, art. cit. p. 333. Though he denies any historical or even cultural usefu1ness for the 11 exemplary Akhbar-Literature", and places sorne reserve for the "Ayyam-Literature" as a "Geschichtsquelle" except for a determined group in which "the picture of these accounts about the conditions of the 8th. century Arabia is surprising (auffallig) (p.335), he positively admits their value as cultural information: 11Eine Kulturgeschicht1iche Quelle erstens Ranges" (p.334). The invaluable contribution of the Ayyam a1~Arab in this regard, can be appraised in the detailed analysis of w.caskel, "Aijam a1.!Arab, Studien zur a1tarabischen Epik", i n Is1amica III Suppl (1931 ), l-99, as we will have the occasion to prove. For the origin, sources, transmission and redaction of this literature, see E.Mittwoch, Pro elia Arabum Paganorum, (Berlin: l 8SJS; ), and his art. "Ayyam" 2 in EI , vol.I, 793-794 . Also w.caskel "Aijam al-Arab", Ibid., pp . 85-90. Although none of the works menti oned by Fihrist (Maqala III, fann I) have come to us in their original form, considerable extracts are extant, most of t hem borrowed from AbÜ Ubayadah's(d. 210/939) Naqa'i

~Iqd al-Farid by Ibn Abd Habb1hi (d.32~/939)(Cairo:l316);as well as in the Ibn al-Athïr's (d.l234) Kitâb al-kamïl fi al-Ta'r1kh, ed., Tornberg, 14 vols.,(Leiden: l85l-l876),and most of them are scattered through the Kitab al-Aghan1 by AbÜ al-Faraj al-I9fahanï (d.967).

23. F.Gabrieli, op.cit.p.97. (Ibn Qutaybah, Kitab al-Shi'r wa Al-Shu•ara, ed., De Goeje, p. l.

24. Especially in his article "The origins of Arab poetry", in

JRAS, July (1925), 417-4~9.

25. Fi 1-Shi~r al-Jahili,(Cairo: l926).Though the oldest known poems are from the end of 5th or beginning of 6th centuries A.D., their highly finished form supposes that the poetical art had been practiced for a long time. Their profusion

however, among other things, surprises Dr.T.~usayn who says: "All this poetry which is so abundant that we might suppose that all the ancients were poets, is fabricated", op.cit. p. 147. The thes±s of Dr.T.?usayn has further religious implications, disapproving the traditional methods of educa tion and learning, and rejecting sorne facts stated by Qur•,an such as the historical existence of Abraham and Ismail, and that of the Jinns).

26. Histoire de la Littérature arabe des origines à la fin du XV siacle de J.c., 3 vols.,(Paris: l952-66J.Especially vol. I, pp.85-94.

27. Th.Noldeke, Die Fünf Mo~allaqat,(J'iien:lb99).A.J.Arberry, The Seven Odes, p. 228-254. Among the abundant literature in Arabie, especially important are the survey by Na9ir al-Din al-Asad, Ma9adir al-Shi'r al-JahilT,(Cairo: l962);and that

by Shawqi Daxf, Al'asTa~Jahili,(Cairo: 1960). . - 28. In fact, the Corpus Inscriptionum semiticarum , Section IV, 6 vols., 1889-1932, is totally about South Arabia. Out of the 80

Vth section only vol.I has appeared in 1950-51 with ~afaitic inscriptions by J.Ryckmans. South Arabian inscriptions go back to the 8th century B.C. and their great number allows a very acceptable historical reconstruction of the social, political and economie conditions. See G.Ryckmans, Les Religions Arabs préislamiques,(Louvain: 195l),p. 25ff.

29. Les Inscriptions Thamoudéennes, Bibliothèque du Muséon, vol.25,(Louvain: l950),and Les Textes Thamoudéennes de Philby, Bibliothèque du Museon, vol.5l,(Louvain: 1956).

30. Semitic Inscriptions,(New York: l905};§afatic Inscriptions in Syria. Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to Syria in 1904 and 1909, Division IV/ 3, 1943; and Thamüd und §afa, (Abhandl, für den Kunde des Morgenld.XXV,i),(Leipzig, 1940).

31. "L'Epigraphie arabe préislamique au cours de ces dix dernièrs années", in Le Muséon LXI (1948), 197-213; Corpus Inscripti onum Semiticarum, Pars',Quinta, (Paris: l95l).Répertoire

d'Epigraphie semitique, t.VII,(Paris: l950~;Les Religions

arabs préislamiques,(Louvain:l95l~;and "Aspects nouveaux du problème thamoudéenneV in Studia Islamica V (1956) 5-17.

32. In Expedition Philby-Ryckmans-Lippens en Arabie, Louvain, Institut Orientale, 1962, 2 Partie: vol.I Arab Inscriptions; and, Arabische Paleographie I Teil, I vol. Osterreich. Akademie der Wischenschaften, 94 Band,(Wien: 1967J•

33. M.H~ffner,"Die Beduinen in den Vorislamischen Inschriften," in L'Antica Società Beduina, ed., F.Gabrieli,(Roma: 1959), pp. 53-68. F.V.Winnet, A Study of the Lihyanite and Thamudic Inscriptions, University of Toronto Studies, Oriental Series No.3, 1937; A. Jaussen-R.Savignac, Mission archéologique

en Arabie, 3 vols.,(Paris: 1909-2l).From these ~afaitic and Thamüd inscriptions we learn that the population of Central Arabia was mainly Bedouin. See M.Hoffner, art.cit. 81

p. 59.

34. "Bemerkungen zum Buch der Gëtzenbilder", in Dragma, M.P. Nilsson dedicatum. (Lund: 1939), p. 348.

35. Sorne of these facts have been pointed out by I.Goldziher, Muhammedanische Studien, I, pp. 58-60. H.Lammens, "Le Culte des Bétyles", p. 82f. W.Caskel, "Aijam al-'Arab", p. 5. For the use of these sources, in particular of the Sirah, see G.Levi della Vida, EI s.voce. R.Serjeant's review of Guillaume's translation, in BSOAS XXI (1958) 1-13. (Also C. H.Becker in Islam IV (1913), 263-269, about Lammens's interpretations).

36. For instance the works of A.P.Caussin de Perceval, O'Leary,

I.Guidi, Jawad ~li (See Bibliography).

37. On religion: R.Smith, Wellhausen, Lammens, Guillaume, Chelhod, Haldar, Morgernstern, Henninger, T.Fahd. On values: I.Gold ziher (Muruwwa und Dïn), B.Farès, von Grunnebaum, Gabrieli.

38. See in Bibliography the works of: A.Musil, A.Jaussen, C. Raswan, A.De Boucheman, Montaigne, von Oppenheim, Glubb, Henninger, Chelhod, Serjeant, Caskel, Braunlich, Philby. Among the studies about the Prophet: M.Watt, M.Rodinson, Gaudefroy-Demombynes, T.Andrae, F.Buhl.

39. See Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, vol.I, pp. 1-ll. 82

N 0 T E S

CHAPTER I

1. Agh.II,45. Other terms occur like qawm (ijamasat A. Tammam,

II, 358); ~ayy (ijamasat A. Tammam,I 65); ba~n, 'amarah, rah t, and especially Banü Fulan or the Fulan (ijamasat A. Tammam, I, 65; II, 145. 151, etc.). The terminology, however, is not fixed and some of these terms are interchangeable and used to design the "cla n" or ether similar group. R.Smith, Kin ship and Marriage, pp . 37-41. 71. Th. Nëldeke's review of Smith's Kinship and Marriage, in ZDMG XL (1886), p. l75f.

B.Farès, L'Honneur chez les Arabes, pp. 44-50. E.Br~unlich,

"Beitr~ge", p. 78 .

2. Bath ~ayy and ba~n, as we said in Note l. above, are used for "tribe", but more frequently their s ense is that of "clan". Nëlde ke, op.cit., p. 176 says: IJ.ay y means "die Leute die zusammen wo h nen und reisen" (Imr al-Qays, Mu' a llaqah, v. 28). T.Ashke nazi also give s i t the same me a ning, "La Tribu Arabe, ses élements", in Anthropos XLI-XLIV (1946-49), p. 65ff. Other term for "cla n" i s "fakhidh',' but in prose only and never in poe try as T.Nël deke remarks, a rt. cit., p. 175. T.Ashkenazi, a rt.cit., p . 658 .

3. T.Ashkena zi, a rt. cit., p. 664. E.Br~unlich, a rt. cit., p.78 f.

4. The term bafn is no more i n use toda y, A. Jaussen, Coutume s des Ara b es a u Pay s d e Moa b ( Paris : 1 908 ), p . 112 ; neithe r is hayy, T.Ashkenazi, art. cit., p . 658. Fakhidh i s employ ed • today, R.Montaigne, "Notes s ur la vie sociale et p ol itique de l'Ara bie du Nord ", in REI VI (193 2), pp . 61-79. Today,

we fina a ccor ding t o A.Musil, Arabia Pe t raea , I , (Wien : 1908 )~ . 2;1: "''ailè"(family)l"ashïre"or"{lamule" (for smaller branches of the same descent) and "qabïle11 1or''bedl:de" for tribes or sub-tribes. A.Jaussen, op.cit.p.ll-13,lllff., gives slightly different terms: ahl (family) but as the members who inhabit the same tent), different from"1 ejal11 (closer relatives). He distinguishes further between 'ashïre a nd hamüle.• 'Ash'ïre stresses the political and .l;lam~ile the somatic aspect of the group. Finally, the tribe called only qabïle not bedTde. These terms are often interchangeable and they vary locally at times, T.Ashkenazi, art.cit., p. 659f. For ether details of the family life such as marriage, divorce, social position of the women, see J.Henninger, "Die Familie bei den heutigen Beduinen Arabiens und seiner Randgebiete". Ein Beitrag zur Frage der ursprünglichen Familienform der Semiten, I.A.E. XLII (1943), 1 88p.

5· R.Smith, Kinship, p.?l. 189ff, who gives among ether proofs the increasing number of fratricidal wars. The weakening of the tribal feeling and s ystem was not uniform in Arabia, as T.Noldeke remarks in ZDMG XL (1886), p. 17lf.

6. R.Smith, Kinship, p.63f., C.A.Nallino, "Sulla Constitu ~ione della Tribu Araba prima del Islamisme" in Raccolta di Scritti

editi ed inediti, vol.III, ~oma:l94l),p.74. T.Ashkenazi, art.cit., p.667 . B.Farès, L'Honneur, p. 14üf.

7• Imr a l-Qays, Mu&allaqah, v.69. Agh.xV,52. Lisan al ~Arab, vol. 5,37. Agh.XIX, 75: Labïd incites the parents of the dead to the vengeance, i.e., seems that the parents were the first to perform this duty.

8. E.Bra'unlich, art.cit., p.80f. who adds: "Der Modus der Abza'lehns i st z iemlich kompliziert und o ffenbar lokal etwas 84

verschieden".(Footnote 1).

9. Ashkenazi, art.cit.,p.659; E.Braunlich, art.cit., p.79f., mentions tribes whose total number of tents varies from 21 to 3000 and there are bigger tribes like the Rwala which counted 7000 tents, see C.Raswan, Black Tents of Arabia, p.86.

10. A. de Boucheman, art.cit., p. 20.

11. The name of the clan or tribe was usually used for the battle cry preceded by "yala". Mufa

12. "Beitrage", pp. 95-111, and 182 - 206.

13. Instances from ancient and modern times are cited by E.

Braunlich, ~., loc.cit.

14. A.Jaussen, Coutumes , p. 21 5-220: "Whe n the pr otecti on i s to be granted not to a few persons but to the whole tribe, the decision has to be taken by the shaykh together with the majlis. Mufa~qaliyat,ed.Sir Ch.Lyall,(Qxfàrd: 192l),p. 62lff., tr., p.34.

15. See I.Goldziher, Muh.Stud.I, p.67ff. E.Br§unlich distinguishes two meanings uncier the term "{lilf",: One a simple political union between two or more tribes, and the other the establish ment of a common life among them, art.cit., pp.l94 • 204.

16. See R.Serjeant, "ljaram and ljaw~ah", pp.41-58, and the

11Saiyids of ~a~ramawt", (London: 1957),pp.l9 • This kind of association, like the Greek Amphyctionies was used in Ancient Israel as well. See M.Noth, Geschichte Israels,(Gottingen: 195 0) ,p. 79ff.

17. R.Smith, Kinship, p.56f. See Nallino, "Sulla constituzione della tribu", p.76ff. E.Br§unlich, art.cit., p.200. I. Goldziher, Muh.Stud.I, 63-67. F.or the rules and tradition establishing equality between Mawl~ and his protector, see I.Goldziher, Muh.Stud.I , 105-107.

18. B.Farès, op. cit., p.8lf.

19. See J.Henninger, "La Societe Bedouine ancienne", in L'antica società Beduina, ed.,F.Gabrieli,(Roma: 1959),p.78-8o; Nallino, art.cit., p.68 f. 76f. W.Caskel, ZDMG, XCV (1942 ), 135ff.

2 20. See S.Coon, EI , art. 11Badw11 , vol.I, 873, and W.Dostal, "The Evolution of the Bedouin life", in L'antica società Beduina, ed.,F.Gabrieli,(Roma:l959),p.l2 f. 86

21. Mufallaqah by Imr al-Qays, vv.53ff.

22. G.Dossin, "Les Bedouines dans les textes de Mari", ed., F.Gabrieli,(Roma:l959},p.37f. Vocabul.Ass.523. The attitude of relations between the sedentary and the Bedouins is described in the Gilgamesh Epie, in his relationship with the savage Enkidu.

23. See M.Hëffner, "Die BeEluinen in den vor Islamischen Arabischen Inschriften", p.65f., for instance Inscriptions Ry 535.

24. W.Dostal, art.cit., p.15, and J.Henninger, "La Societe Bédouine ancienne'', p. 70 , -propose to use the term "badw" not in its etymological meaning as the "inhabitants of the desert", but based on ethnographie facts, i.e., as dromedary shepherds at the same time rider-Warriors. The term 11 nomad" would apply to other non-warrior shepherds.

See also B.Far~s, L'Honneur, 102-106.

25. Pre-Capitalist Economie Formations, p.96. According to Marx, the various stages in the social division correspond to the various forms of property. The stage of communal property corresponds to the undeveloped stage of production: hunting, cattle-ràising or farming for one's sustenance. Han at this stage is called by Narx a 11 generic being", a "tribal being" or "herd animal".

26. The wealth of a tribe could reach at times enormous amounts. The Rwala Bedouins, for instance, possessed together 350.000 camels, C.R.Raswan, The Black Tents of Arabia,(New York: 1947),p.86. J.C.G1ubb, "The Bedouins of Northern Arabia" (Iraq), JRCAS XXII (1935), p. 16, considera i-250 a year as 87

a handsome incarne for an important shaykh.

27. Qur 1 an XLV, 24 has admirably resumed this attitude:"And they say:'There is nothing but our life in this world; we live and die and nothing destroys us but time "· T.Izutsu, God and Man in the Koran,p. l24f. Dahr had also other names which indicate the great significance it had. Thus zamàn, iaïr , ayyam, •auq.. One of the most prominent was 'ajal--"the appointed time" of man to meet his death--which had also

several names , such as manïyah, ~imam, etc., all meaning death as a manifestation of dahr in opposition to maut death as biological phenomenon. See Wellhausen, Reste, p.

229; Quotes ~amasah 731; Agh. X,5, 151 12. Tarafah 4,67; Zuhayr 20. See F.Gabrieli, art.cit., p. 108.

28. Mahomet, Paris: 1961, p. 39f.

29. Hamasat A. Tammam, II, 358, quoted by B.Farès, op.cit., p.54.

30. "I am one of the Ghaziyah, if it is wrong I am wrong with it. If it goes straight I go with it" according to the verse by Durayd I. al-Simma in Agh.X.8.

31. B.Farès seems to be right in distinguishing the "honor" from the medieval chivalry, and in putting it as the center and nucleus of the pre-Islamic ideals, op.cit., pp.21-92 , and not the "murüwah" (manliness) as Goldziher, Muh.Stud. I, l-39.

32. See B.Farès, op.cit., PP• 50-98.

33. J.B.Glubb, "Arab Chivalry", in JRCAS, II (1937), p.lOf. says: "The typical nomadic qualities may be summarized as follows: 88

1. Seeking glory in war by the performance of individual resplendent deeds, not necessarily by winning the battle. 2. Worship of women ••• 3. Fantastic generosity and hospitality. 4. An illogical passion for performing fantastic beaux

gestes appealing to the imagination~ That is, a glorification of the tribe through the courageous accomplishments of its members especially in war. See also w.caskel, "Aijam", pp. 23-31, the picture of the hero in the Ayyam-literature. The ~uwe~at-Shaykh ~uda A.Tajeh was praised with this words: "The greatest fighting man in Northern Arabia. He saw life as a Saga. All the events in it were insignificant; all persans in contact with him heroic. His mind was stored with poems of old raids and epie tales of fights ••• " Lawrence, Revolt in the Desert (London: 192q), p. 94, quoted by W.Caskel, "Aijam", p. 84.

34. We will deal further with this point in Chapter III about religion. Being the religion at a pre-rational stage, i.e., mainly magic, it could not afford better values . See B.Farès, op. cit., 185-202 .

35. Agh.XIII, 45; Jamha rah,l70; ijamasat Abü Tammam, I, 87.

36. See B.Farès, op. cit., p. 190. Other simi1ar contests were the "Mu'aqarah" Agh.XVI, 91)f., and "Munafarah" Agh.XV, 25-27, VII, 126; I, 276. See also I.Goldziher, Muh.Stud. I, 54-60 . Chelhod, Le Sacrifice, p . 194f.

37. See Chapter III.

38. See J.Chelhod, Le Sacrifice chez les Arabes (Paris: 1955) , PP• 194-196 .

2 39. s.coon, EI , vol.I, 873. 40. R.Smith, Kinship, p. 117.

41. 11 0ur enemy is our master", Ja{li~, ljayaw'an,III, 25.3, cited by Lammens,Le Berceau de l'Islam, I,(Homa: 1914),p. 197.

42. The union in one persan of the offices of sayyid, ~akam, kahin, qa'id, and medicine man was not infrequent in earliest

times~ Sorne of these persans, however, appear more or less as legendary figures. Thus, Zuhayr b.Janàb al-Kalb'I, who was

sayyid, kh~~Ib, poet, medicine man, ambassador before the

kings and ~ahin; and was said to have lived 420 years. Kitab al-Mu'ammarin, ed., I.Goldziher, in Abhandlungen II, p.25. Lammens, "Le culte des Bétyles", p. 61. T.Fahd, La Divination, p. lOlf.

43. In Mecca, after the death of Qu~ayy, the institutions he founded (Qijàbah or sadanah, the siqayah, rifadah, liwa' and riyasah ) were taken by his sons and later passed hereditarily to their descendents, Ibn Hisham, 84ff. Tab.I, l095ff. This custom was also followed among the Bedouins, Agh.XIV,33; XXI,94. See also notes 67 and (0 below.

44. According to F.Hommel, in ZDMG XLVI (1892), p. 529, sayyid

.had originally the meaning of 11 orator, speaker"; Lammens, Berceau, I,p.222; C.Nallino, art.cit., p. 64.

45. Agh.XI,58.8; XVI 7ü,7; Tab. I, 3466. "Shaykh wa sayyid" in DÎnawari's Akhbar, 309,11 (cited by Lamme ns, op.cit., p. 207). "Shaykh wa Za'Ïm", Agh,XII, 54. See also H.Lammens, La Republique Marchand de la Mecque,(Cairo: 1910),pp. 23- 54.

46. For instance 'Amir I. al-~ufayl,~. XV, 137. Ishtiqaq, 180. Hani b.'Urba h is "za'im wa shaykh" of Murad, Mas"üdi , 90

Prairies,V, li+O.'Utbah ibn Rabï'ah is "shaykh al..fashïrah wa sayyiduha" in Balidhuri's FutÜ!), 359,8 and "shaykh al-qawm wa Kabiruhum" in Agh.XIX, 141. According to R. Serjeant, the term sayyid indicates the religious origin of authority so that this term was later reserved for the Prophet's descendents the Alids as the term sharïf. "The Saiyids of ljagramawt", pp. 4-7. The term shaykh is today the ordinary title of the chief.

47. For instance Kulayb Ibn Rabi'ah in Hamasah,p. 420; ~arith Ibn(Auf al-Murrï, in Agh. IX, 149.

48. Agh. XV, 73. The title "Rabb" will be discussed in Chapter III.

49. Agh. V, 159; X, 17; Agh.IV, 75; VI,3; X, 65; XX. 128, etc. Naqa'iQ Jarïr, 638. 464. The term "ra's" seems to be highly elastic since it designates every level of milita ry command, Ibn Durayd, Ishtiqaq, 115,1. See Lammens, Berceau,I, p. 206.

50. They were excellent politicians and diplomats. Ya'qûbï,

Tarikh, I I , 207; Bu~turi, Hamasah,v.4, 884. In fact, many of the marriages o f a sayyid obeyed to political reasons.

51. Agh. XIII, 145; XIX, 46.

52. Naqa'i~, 639f . Always, howe v e r, for more importa nt problems they had to cons u l t the "ma jlis", Naqa 'iQ., 98 ,16 .

53. The Banû~bs reject the decision of Qays Ibn Zuhayr, Naqa'ig, 83,3.

54. Agh. XI , 133 ; XXI , 60; XI , 92f . 91

55. Perhaps Zuhayr Ibn Jadïmah of the Banü ~bs, '~, II, 62,II. See also Lammens, Berceau, I, p. 254ff.

56. Agh. XV,76; Jamhara, 75; Agh. XIII, 145.

57. Agh. IX,3 XII,l2. Naqa 1 iQ, 192,6. See B.Farès, op.cit., p. 136.

58. 'Iqd al-Farid, I, 220. See Lammens, Berceau, I, p. 220.

59. 'Iqd, I, 219

60. The idea that somebody could be superior to him was into lerable to a Bedouin. 11 We all are kings and sons of kings"

~assan ibn Thâbit, Dïwan, 79,3. See Lammens, Berceau, I, 199. 11 Nothing unites men of this stamp except sorne over powering personality who gains their loyal affection because he is wise and powerful enough to deserve it. From time to time great leaders of this type do arise in Arabia and to such a leader the Arab will attach himself with a loyalty that knows no limits" says P.w.Harrison, The Arab at Home(New York: 1924),p. 128f., quoted byE. Br§unlich, op. ci t. , p. 84.

61. Agh. III, 6f. The sayyid had to be the servant of his tribe. "Sayyid al-qawmi Khadimuhum", in HamasatA ... Tammam,l22. He had to disguise his personal superiority, to feign that he received instead of gave, Zuhayr (Ahlwardt) 80.2. He needed to be constantly vigilant and tactful, in order not to offend and to win submission of everyone. 11 Ask from me, take from me, I will give you everything I have in the difficult and lucky times'', Ibn Durayd, Ishtiqiq, 219,6. According to tammens, three qualities were requested to be 92

worthy of the title of "Kamil"; To shoot the arrow, to know how to write and to swim , Berceau, I, p. 244. The sayyid had to gain also the sympathies and support of the kahin and poets and to sorne extent also that of the Qakams to increase his prestige and influence.

62. If someone disobeys him, he can arder the destruction of his tent and animals. See A.Jaussen, Coutumes des Arabs, p. 143.

63. Al-Khamsa', Diwan, p. 21; Agh. XII, 60.

64. I.Goldziher, Muh.Stud. I, 154 and note 3.

65. Thus, he is c alled "mafammam", al-Khamsà', 31.5; Agh.XVI, 57; Abbas I. Anas al-Ra'li of Banü Sulaym, and Agh.X .30.

'Amr I. al-I~nabah sayyid of the B. al-Khazraj.

66. Agh.XIV, 105; XX , 1 4 . J . vv ell hausen, Reste, p. 130; H. Lammens, "Le culte des Bétyles11 ,p. 60. See further Chapter III.

67 . Even today this principle is followed, see E.Br~unlich,

11 Beitrage 11 , p . 83 ; A.Musil, Rwala Bedouins, p._7ü.

68. Changes of authority (sayyid) were frequent in old times.

For instance, among the Rabï'ah, see ~amme ns, Be rceau, I, 224f. The seniority principle wa s generally preferred, Naqa'ig, 66, see Lammens, Berceau , I , 316 ; but it was not a strict rule. Nallino, art.cit., p. 67f. See also note 102 in Chapter III.

69. Sorne similarities can be observed in the "election" of Abu 93

Bakr, Ibn Hisham, 1013-1018.; Tab.I, 1820-1823. The An~ar, who regarded themselves as the nucleus of Muslim community and who considered the Muhâjirûn as a clan affiliated to their tribes, acted promptly to appoint a successor from among themselves, hoping that after "fait accompli" the acceptance of their candidate (Sa'd b.'Ubadah) would easily follow. Abü Bakr and'Umar, however, acted not less quickly, treating the Ummah composed of many tribes as if they were but one, and the Quraysh as if they were the ruling house or clan. "The Q.uraysh are the most noble ••• " (Ibn Hisham, 1016). In this way, Abü Bakr extended the dynastie principle to embrace all the Quraysh o.r at least the Muhajirün, instead of supporting his argument on a religious basis or other such ground. It can be seen how the attitudes of both

An~ar and Muhajirün bear many similarities and can be under stood under the pre-Islamic patterns of transmitting the tribal leadership.

70. A~.XIV, 33. At his death Zuhayr was followed by his nephew, Agh.XXI, 94. See also Lammens, Berceau, I, pp. 316, 332ff. A.Jaussen, Coutumes,p. 127; A.Musil, Arabia Petraea,III, 3j4. At the death of Adwan ShaykhGAli Dhijab, the public opinion favored his youngest son. Sultan Pasha, the eldest, had his brother killed and was recognized as the next shaykh, E.Bdiunlich, "Beitrage", p. 83. This way of applying the 11 hereditary succession" also shows the predominance of the group over the individual. The relation between sayyid and the supernatural will be discussed in Chapter III.

71. ijamasa~,270,7.

72. Thus, 'Amîr b. al-~ufayl, Agh.XVI, 56. In a confederation, usually the more powerful tribe kept the ri1 asah, qiyadah 94

or military command. Agh.XXI, 186~

73. Similarly, he had to be approved by the "majlis" and could be deposed. :çiamasaq,l27,7· E.Br!iunlich, "Beitrage", p. 83-87.

74. Agh.XVIII, 139. I.Durayd, Ishtiqâq, 268; Ibid., P• 198-199, in Mecca the family of'Utbah Ibn Rabï'a. The poets having as origin of their inspiration the jinns, will be discussed in Chapter III.

75. M.Weber, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft,vol.I, pp. 122-124 and pp. 130-140; vol.II, 68of. Id., On Law in Economy and Society, tr., E.Shills (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1954), pp. 322-330. R.Bendix, Max Weber (New York: 1962), PP• 296.329-360.

2 76. E.Tyan, art. 11 Hakam. 11 in -EI , vol.III, p. 72. J.Schacht, Esquisse d'une Histoire du droit Musulman (Paris: 1952), p. lüff. Lammens, Berceau,I, p. 257f.

77. They even possessed a leather "qubbah" in'Ukâz. like that of the sayyid, Agh.VIII, 194; IX, 163. Famous arbitration was that of'Amr I. al-Nundhir, King of H'ïra. (554-568 A.D.) between the B. Bakr and the Taghlib represented by the poets

al-~ârith I. ~illizah and~mr b. Kulthüm respectively. Agh. IX, 179. They travelled even long distances in search of

an impartial ljakam. Agh. XIV, Ltl; Ya~qubi, Tâ1 rikh, I, 299.

78. Today in most of the tribes there is a family who keeps this office hereditarily. The members of these families from their youth follow jealously the judicial cases watching the procedure, customary laws and practice as a training 95

and preparation for the time of their future office. Thus,

the Banü ~Uqbah in Palestine, to the point that the name aljUqbï became synonymous of the office. See E.Br~unlich, 11 Beitrage", p. 86f. See also Chapter III, note 106 in which we mention a ~akam of 'Uka~, al-Akra~ibn ~abis, who forbade

games of chance, i.e., a case of a true 11 law-making11 , Naqa'id, 700.

79. B.Farès, op. cit., pp. 43 and 207. 96

N 0 T E S

CHAPTER II

1. Article 11 Arabs" in ERE, vol.I, 667b. T.Fahd, Le Panthéon de l'Arabie Centrale à la veille de l'Hégire (Paris: 1968), p. 208ff. thinks that the first shrine was erected at the beginning of the Christian Era, fol1owing A.P.Coussin de Perceval, Essai sur l'Histoire des Arabes, vo1.I, (Paris: 1847), p. 175. The Muslim sources ascribe the foundation of the Ka•ba to Abraham and his son Isma'il, Ibn al-Kalbï,

Kitab al-A~nam, 3,9ff. Tab.I, 274; following Qur'an 2,118ff; 3,60. 89-91; 16,121-124, etc.

2. Qur 1 ân 14,37; "0 our Lord! surely I have settled a part of my offspring in a valley unproductive of fruit near

Thy Sacred House 11 • Food had to be imported from outside, Qur'an, 2,126; 16,112; 28,57; and Lammens, La Mecque, p. 91.

3. Das geographische Worterbuch des al-Bakri(crotingen-Paris: 1876-77), p. 5b, cited by R.Simon, "J;:Iums et Ïlaf", ou commerce sans guerre, Acta Orient.Acad.Scient Hungar.XXIII (1970), p. 209. We hear also of floods and of the damage to the Ka'ba caused by them. A.P.Caussin de Perceva1, Essai, vol.I, p. 17'+f.

4. Ibn Hisham, 30ff; Tab.I, 938ff. Mas'Üdi, MurÜj III, p. 260. Other evidence in R.Simon, "!fums et Ïlaf", p. 221f.

5. See in particular S.Smith, "Events in Arabia in the 6th century A.D.", in BSOAS,XVI (1954), 425-468. 97

6. Ya'qübi,I, 280f; Tab.I, l089ff. See M.Hamidullah, "The

city-state of Mecca 11 , in Islam.Cult.XII (1938), 255-276, and Id., "al-Ilaf ou les rapports economico-diplomatiques de la Mecque pré-islamique" in Melanges L. Masignon, vol. II, (Damascus: 1957), pp. 292-311, who follows this tradition.

7. L.Caetani, Annali dell'Islam, vol.I, (Milano: 1905), p. 73ff., supposes that commerce in Mecca was already developed

at the time of ~u~ayy. H.Lammens, La Mecque, p. 52/l48f.,

places the unification of ~uraysh by ~u9ayy at the end of the 5th century but suggests the existence of a prosperous commercial activity before them. The same is valid for J.

Chelhod~. Introduction à la Sociologie de l'Islam (Paris: 1958), p. 109, after Lammens. Fr.Buhl, Das Leben Muhammads (Heidelberg: 1955), p. 106. A.J.Wensick, art. "Mekka" in EI, vol.III, p. 514f., without distinguishing between a pilgrimage and a commercial center, places its rise in ancient times without giving a date. J.M.Kister, "Hecca and TamÏm", in JESHO, VIII (1961), p. 121, states that a

century before Muhammad, the ~uraysh had under control North East and Western Arabia. E.R.Wolf, "The social orga nization of Mecca and the orig ins of Islam", SWJA, VII

(1951 ), 329- 356 , after ~ammens places t he founda tion of Mecca about the 5th century (p. 300) and its economie climax after the fall of Kinda. W.M.Watt, Muhammad at Mecca (Oxford: 1 953), p. 1 3 though acknowledg ing that the rise of commerce in Mecca p receded only a few decades that of Islam, affirms that s uch a commerce developed immediately after the conquest of Yemen.

8. In the history of pre-Islamic Mecca the exemplaristic and etiologic al charact er o f the narrati v e can b e observe d, in which the beginnings or foundations of certain facts are attributed to one persan only or a certain group. See Th. Ntlldeke, "Zur tendenziosen Gestaltung der Urgeschichte

des Islams 11 , in ZDMG, LII (1898), 16-33.

9. "L'inscription Ry 506 et la pré-histoire de la Mecque" in Act.Orient.XX (1967), 325-337, and especially ":tfums et Ïlaf, ou commerce sans guerre": sur la genèse et le

caract~re du commerce de la Mecque in Act.Orient. XXIII (1970), 205-232.

10. R.Simon, "!jums et Ïlaf", p. 22lf. The campaign of Abraha has to be placed around 547 A.D. and was not intended directly against Mecca as the Arab sources state, but against the Lakhmids,or better against the tribes controlled by them, who after the fall of Yemen took its place and had under their control the commerce in Northern Arabia, Mecca included. See R.Simon, "L'inscription Ry 506", p. 334f. Mecca replaced the Lakhmids and gained control of

their markets, especially that of'Uka~ only after the ~arb al-Fijar (590 A.D.), see R.Simon, ":tfums et Ilaf", p. 215. In the Arab sources, Qu9ayy appears only as a religious reformer of the pilgrimage and not as enga ged in any commercial activity. And though Mecca before him was already

a ~aram, its influence was very restricted. J.Wellhausen had protested against the great importance attributed to Mecca in the Muslim sources as a famous pilgrimage center, see Reste , p. 8 4.

11. R.Simon, "~ums et Ilaf", p. 227f.

12. 29,67; 105; 21,126; 16,112; 28, 57 especially 106, 1-4. For the organization a nd profits of the Meccan commerce , 99

see H.Lammens, La Mecque, pp. 212-332. J.Chelhcd 9 Intro duction à la Sociologie de l'Islam (Paris: 1958), Appendix I, Le "Capitalism" à la Mekke avant l'Hégere, pp. 189-195. M.watt, Muhammad at Mecca, p. 3.

13. Muqaddimah, vol. I, p. 154, vol. II, p. 380. "Every organized

craft affects the soul 11 •••

14. See for instance Pre-Capitalist Economie Formations (New York: 1965), pp. 65ff., and its introduction by E.J.Hobsbawm, pp. 12-28.

15. R.Smith, Kinship, p. 63,70.

16. See M.J.Kister, "Mecca and Tamiro", p. 123ff., who quetes al-Qalï, Amali II, 158; al-Bakri, Simt, p. 548, etc.

17. See note 8. above.

18. Art. cit., p. 123.

19. 59,7; 89;17-20: "You do not honor the orphan, nor do you urge one another to feed the poor, and you eat away the heritage devouring (everything) indiscriminately. And you love wealth with eocceeding love"; also 107,1-7, etc.

20. J.N.Kister, art. cit., pp. 113-122. R.Simon, "B:ums et Ilaf", p. 231; H.Lammens, La Mecque, pp. 127-145. This great number of alliances called by J.M.Kister "the tribal Commonwealth" (art.cit., p. 113), undoubtly prepared the way for Islam.

21. "Ainsi", says Lammens, "elle accueillera en son seine le 100

... plébéian millionaire, Ibn God 1 ân membre du modeste clan des Taim", Agh.VIII, 2-3, in La Mecque, p. 171 (175). This is why the Umayyads and the B.MakhzÜm are more frequently named as components of the !Viala', Ya'qüb:i, Ta'r:ikh, II , 6.

22. See M.J.Kister, "Mecca and Tamïm", p. 146. The control of 'Ukâ~ by the B.Tamim, as leaders (Alimmah) and arbiters (!Jakam) is put in doubt by R.Simon, "lj.ums et Ilaf". Accord ing to him, the Quraysh gained the control of it after defeating the Qays'Ailan and in particular the Hawazin in the lj.arb al-Fijâr (590 A.D.), p. 215, footnote 26.

23. Lammens, La Mecque,p. 176, calls this people of the 11 outside" formed of lately sedentarized Bedouins and foreign ers, the"proletariat exploited by the business men of the Ba tha.. "'·

24. Tab.I, 1073. The prefix "'abd", however, does not always seem to have a religious coloring. See Ibn al-Kalbi, Kitâb al-A9nam, 18,16: 11 1 do not know whether the names coined with (the prefix) 'Abd are related to the idols or not".

25. Ibn Hisham, 80ff; Tab.I, ~095ff. Azraqi, 66. Ibn Durayd, Ishtiqaq, 95: ("only for extraordinary matters"). T.Fahd, La Divination Arabe, (Leiden: 1966), p. 123. Lammens, La Mecque, p. 168ff. Ibid., p. 301, supposes that originally it was a kind of lodging for foreign visitors. And in "Le culte des Bétyles", p. 95, suggests that it could be the

tomb of Qu~ayy. R.Serjeant, ~aram and ijaw)ah,p. 53; He is inclined to see Nadwah supposedly the 11 Council of Quraysh" as a meeting place in a neutral centre to discuss inter tribal disputes. 101

26. 96,6-7; 90,4ff; 9,75; 25,45. The frequent calls to show gratitude to Gad: 16,16ff; 10-21; 30,45; etc., and in the content of the early message of the Prophet stressing the social side. M.Watt, Muhammad at Mecca,p. 66-71.

27. ~ur'an, 2,170; 43,21-24.

28. Translated by Guillaume, p. 87ff.

29. Akhbar, 122. As a confirmation of that date, can be considered the inner relationship existing between the sürah al-Fil and the sürah Quraysh, that formed only one sürah before the official redaction of Qur 1 an. A.Jeffery,

~~terials for the history of the text of the Qur1 an (Leyden: 1937), P• 179.

30. 2.189-199; 7,31-32. For ether details of their rites and customs, see Caetani, Annali dell'Islam, vol.I, 148ff; 2 M.Watt, EI , III , 557f. Jawad "Ali , Ta'rikh al-'Arab qabl al-Islam, v, 227.

31. J.Kister, art.cit., p. 158 .

32. See J.M.Kister, "Mecca and Tamïm" , PP• 1 32-134-. T.Fahd, La Divination Arabe, p. 125ff. The Prophet himself belonged

to the ~ums, Azraqï, Akhbâr, I, 12~.

1 33 . In EI s.v. ~ums , vol.II, 331 .

34-. Art.cit., p. 134.

35· Jawad ~li, Ta 'ri kh al-~rab qabl a l-Islam, bol.V (Baghdad: 1956 ), p . 228 , underlines the f a ct that f i delity to the 102

"tattammus" was obligatory the whole year and not only during the pilgrimage. M.Hamidullah, "al-Ilaf" , Melanges L. Massignon, II, Inst. Fr. du Damas: 1957, p. 307 says:

·counting the ashhur ~urum (four months) the institution of Basl (Ibn Hisham,66) (eigth months) and the l'lasï institution they had "l'année toute entiére pour voyager à leur gré •.•• There were however, tribes or clans which not only did not belong to the IJums, like the "tJ:illa", but besides, they did not recoGnize the sanctity of the IJaram. This led to a division of tribes between 11Muhrimun 11

which included the ~ums and ijilla though the latter had

ether ri tes during the i{lram and ~awaf, and the "Mu!}illun.,' who did not recogniz e the holiness of Mecca nor respected

the s a cred months, but stole in the ~ar a m and killed in it. These constituted a real da n ger for Mecca. See J.M.Kister, art.cit., pp. 14lff.

36. A.Haldar, Associations of Cult Prophets a mong the Ancient Semites (Uppsala: 1945), 190; Lammens, "Le culte d es

B~tyles", p. 130.

37. R.Wellhausen, Heste,p. 85ff; Caetani, Annali I, 148ff. 2 c. van Arendonk El 331; M.Watt, EI , III, 577f., consider -) - the ~ums simply as a religious organization. T.Fahd, La Divination Arabe, p. l25ff. though rejecting the view of

Lammens of "familles cl~ricales de la Jvlecque" does not assign them an economie connection. Only recently, J.M. Kister , art.cit., pp . 132ff., and e v en more R.Simon, " tfums et Ilaf", pp. 216ff., put them in their true place, showing

their relations with commerce.

38. " Haram and Jiaw~ah", pp . 42ff; "The saiyids ", p . 15 . 103

39. R.Serjeant, "The saiyids", p. 15; "Ijaram and J!aw~ah", p. 43.

40. Ibn Hisham, 80. Its institution as ~aram may go back to 'Amr b. Lu~ayy who according to Ibn al-KalbÏ was the one who

introduced the cult of the ido~ls in the Ka~ba and is express ly called by him a Kahin, Kitâb al-A9nam, p. 8 and 33,12ff.

41. A reaction against the ~uraysh's intended policy of unifi cation and domination of the peninsula, achieved later in Islamic times, can be seen in the case of Musaylima as anal:lzed by D.F.Eickelman, "Musaylima, an approach to the social anthropology of 7th century Arabia", McGill Universi ty M.A.Thesis , 1967, and in JESHO, X (1967), 17-52, which he calls a "revitalization movement", i.e., a return to the traditional patterns of inter-tribàl relations and kin-based society, as a reaction in particular to the Muhammad's

Ummah, see p. 50ff. See also Ibn al-Kalbï, Kitab al-A~nam, 28,16ff: A certain Man from the Juhaynah named 'Abd al-Dar b. Ijudayb, once said to his people: "Come let us build a shrine (bayt) with which we would rival the Ka'bah thereby attracting many of the Arab".

42. 'tabaqât,II, 64, cited by Lammens, La Mecque, p. 2?2.

43. Essai, I, p. 274.

44. Sïrah, 128.

4 5. Law , p • 2 7 •

46. Ibn Hisham, 83-85.

47. Ibn Hisham, 92 104

48 . Ibn Hisham, 33.

49. Tab.I, 1464; 1542f., Lammens, La Mecque, p . 1 65. The possession of the tribal deities, contained in a special ritual tent, the qubbah, is the symbol of a uthority as we will see later. See Chapter III, part 4. 105

N 0 T E S

CHAPTER III

1. See M.Weber, Grundriss der Sozial-okonomik,III Abteilung, 2 Wirtschaft und Gessellschaft, (Tubingen : 1925), p. 227ff. Die Entstehung der Religionen. Ursprüngliche Diesseitigkeit religiosen Handelns.

2. Ordinary men are influenced by religion because of their mundane expectations rather than because they have any

concern with great religious ideas (Ibid., p. 227~. Renee, a distinction has to be made between groups who depend upon commerce,handfcrafts or industry and those that depend upon agriculture. Commercial or industrial pursuits occur under largely forseeable conditions of relative alienation from the processes of nature. On the contrary as M.Weber says: "Das Los des Bauern ist so stark naturgebunden, so sehr von

organischen Prozessen und Naturereignissen abh~ngig und auch okonomisch aus sich heraus so wenig auf rationale systematisierung eingestellt ••• "Ibid., p. 267. These processes become a problem and a mystery precisely where they are no longer taken for granted. Rationalistic questions arise concerning the "meaning" of existence in a beyond, and these lead to religious speculations. In the agricultural life where natural phenomena like rain are essential for good crop production, man tries to control them by "magical" manipulations.

3. See Henninger, "La Religion Bedouinne", pp. 115-119 who ex aminés these theories. The lack of documents makes v ery difficult the task of recons tructing the pre-Islamic religion. Not without reason Wellhausen entitled h is book "Res t e 106

Arabischen Heidentums". Even the discovery of the Kitâb

al-A~nam has not made this work easier. The Inscriptions at times help, but they are a better source for South Arabia. After the classical studies of Wellhausen, Reste Arabischen Heidentums, Smith, The Religion of the Semites (New York: 1956), Nôldeke's reviews of these two works in ZDMG,XL (1886), 148-187; Id., in ZDMG, XLI (1887), 707-726; Id., the excellent article "Arabs" in ERE I, 659-675; specially useful are the works of E.Dhorme, "La Religion primitive des Semites"; A

Propos d'un ouvrage r~cent•·, in RHR, CXXVIII (1944), 5-27; Id., "Les Religions Arabes préislamiques d'après une publica tion récente" in RHR, CXXXIII (1947-48), 34-48. Id., La Religion des Hébreux nomades, Thèse, (Paris: Lettres, 1937), for a study on Comparative Religion. Recently the article by J.Henninger cited above ("La Religion Bedouine") with plenty of bibliographical information deserves a special mention. The two books by T.Fahd,Le Panthéon de l'Arabie centrale à la veille de l'Hégire (Paris: 1968), and La Divination Arabe (Leiden: 1966), dealing with a great number of subjects can be fruitfully consulted, though at times it gives the impression of eclecticism without a major criticism. He gives an abundant bibliography.

4. Thus in the Ka'ba at the victory of Muhammad there were 360 idols, Ibn al-Athïr,II, 192 quoted by T.Fahd, Le Panthéon de l'Arabie centrale, p. 31, Azraqi, p. 75, Wellhausen,

Reste, p. 72. This great number ~bviously exaggerate~ could be explained as the result of the Ïlafs and of the religious

amphyctiony promoted by the ~ums. See also R.Smith, Religion, P• 38f.

5. Qur 1 an, 71,22f; Kitâb al-Asnam, (Klinken-Rosenberger), 33,lff. For the lists of gods and the theophorous names, see J. 107

Wellhausen, Reste, l-4 and 13-68. T.Noldeke, ZDMG, XLI (1887), l24f. Id., "Arabs" in ERE, vol.I, 66o-664. T.Fahd, Le Panthéon de l'Arabie Centrale, 44-101.

6. 15, 15-18; 24,34; 37,6; 53,50. According to L.Krehl, Die Religion der vorislamischen Arabern (Leipzig: 1863), p. 24, the Khuza'a worshiped Sirius.

7. Ibn al-Kalbï gives sorne hints of ancestors cult (Kita~ al-A9nam, 31-14-32,7), but i t does not seem proper to speak of a true cult, except perhaps in sorne specifie cases. The duties toward them appear rather as a continuation of the blood ties that remained even after death, as in the case of vengeance. They used to build a qubba h in the tomb of great and holy men and it became a place of asylum.

8. Introduction à la sociologie de l'Islam, p. 118-125, especially 120-122.

9. See J.Henninger, "Le sacrifice chez les Arabes", Ethnos, XIII (1948), p. l3f. Id., "Deux études récentes", Anthropos LVIII (1963), p. 4 53· Allah already before Islam was the common God of the semites, the original one and maybe unique, see w.Schmidt, Der Ursprung der Gottesidee (Müns ter: 1940), vol.I, pp. 670-674. C.Brokelmann, "Allah und die Gotzen, der Ursprung des Islamischen Monotheismus'', Arch.f.Rel.Wiss . XXI (1922 ), 99-121 .

10. See T.Izutsu, God and Man in the Koran, (Tokyo: 1964), p. 120. ll. R.Smi th, 'llhe Religion of the Semites, pp. 9lff.

1 2 . See T.Iz uts u, Ibi d., p. 12 4, see als o Chapter I , note 26 . 108

13. See Chelhod; . Le Sacrifice chez les Arabes, pp. 15-27, where he discusses sorne of them.Henninger, "Le Sacrifice", p. 14-16. ll.f.. J.Henninger, "Le Sacrifice", p.l6.

15. Thus R.Smith, who conceives the sacrifice as an act of communion with the deity through a sacrificial meal and in connection with totemism, The Religion,pp. 217ff. and 244.

16. In Sacrifice, the "pouvoir magique du Sang" is at times rejected, p. 192; but he turns again toit, Ibid., pp. 21,59. 106-116. 124. insisting upon the necessity of destroying the victim as an essential element of the sacrifice, Ibid.,

pp. 16, 1~-20, 126f. 134, hence, he has to conciliate this idea with the non-bloody sacrifice by a "tour de force", Ibid., p. 144. He also insists too much on expiation.

17. Le Sacrifice, p. 197, here the sacrifice is interpreted as a 11 cosmic cycle of the creative energy from which it passes through the creatures to return again to its origin". The idea of the equilibrium of the universe is better proved among the agricultural settlements. See Henninger, "Deux Etudes", PP• 459-46'+.

18. Ibid.,p. 185.

19. To make a clear distinction among them was even difficult for the Arab scholars, see T.Fahd, La Divination, p.94.110. These different names may indicate a high degree of special ization, as well as a very great spread of divinatory and magic practices. See Haldar, Associations, p. 179.

20. Nëldeke, article "Arabs", in ERE I, 667; Wellhausen, Reste, 109

p. 134. 11Es finden sich Kahine, die in Warheit Priester Sind'.' Haldar, Associations, p. 163 held the same opinion. Contrary to that, is A.Fischer, s.v. SEI, p. 207. T.Fahd, La Divination, p. 94, according to him in the kahin can be found "traces d'un véritable sacerdoce". See a1so W.F.Albright, From the

stone age to Christianity (Baltimore: 19~0), p. 18f. Women also hela frequently the office of kahin, i.e., kahinah, see Ibn Hishâm, 92. 98f.

21. A.Fischer, SEI, P• 207.

22. Wel1hausen, Reste, p. 135; A.Fischer, art.cit., p. ~07. See instances of swearin~and oaths in Mas'Üdi,III, 287ff. Agh. XI, 16lf. This is why the Prophet was compared to them.

23. Abhandlun~en zur arabischen Philologie,I,Teil (Leiden: 1896), P• 17 •

2~. Agh.IX, 157; XIX, 95. See I.Goldziher, Abhand1ungen,I, p. 20.

25. I.Goldziher, Abhandlungen,I, p. 27ff.

26. Mas4 ûdï, III, 552.

27. Agh.XV, 73; XIX, 79f; VIII, 65f. Ha1ctar, Associations, p. 200,4. T.Fahd, La Divination, p. 119f. Agh.l5,76:eAmr b. Ju• aid, kahin-sayyid of the RabT'a, known as al-Afkal and als o as the kahin-Faris, who died in ba t t1e .

28. Associations, p. 190.

29. "Der Priester ist nicht Mitglied eines Collegiums", Reste, p. 130. llO

1 30. Henninger, "La Relig ion Bedouine préislamique", p. 137 and footnote 92. jl. Ibn Hisham, ~5ff., mentions the Ban~ Shayban as sadins of al~Uzza in Nakhlah; the Banü Mu'attib of Thaqif, sâdins of 1 al-Lât in Tâ if; The Banû '"Abd al-Dar in Mec ca. Id., ~3 Ibn al-Kalbî, Kitab al-Ajnâm, mentions ~mr b. Lu~ayy, who after the expulsion of the Jurhüm took the sadanah for himself, (5,15; jj,l47). The BanÜ Umâmah of the Banü Bagh~lah, Sâdins of Dhû al-Khala9ah (22,6); The Khuzâ'"i of the Muzainah Sâdins of Nuhm (25,5J~Amr and his descendents as sadins of Wadd t34,7f) and the Banü Baulan as sadins of al-Fals (37,7). j2. Wellhausen, Reste, p. 130, following Ibn Hisham 503, is contested by Lammens, "Le culte d.es Bétyles", p. 69, according to him- the noble (ashrâf) are only the guardians of the idol and its qubbah.

33. Wellhausen, Reste, p. 55. 115. Henninger, "Ist des Nilus Bericht eine Branchbare religionsgeschichtliche Quelle?", in Anthropos L (1955), p. 119 says: "In Nord und Zentral arabien war die allgemeine Hegel das jeder Mann sein Opftertier selbst schlachten konnte". Haldar, Associations, p. 169. Henninc;-er, "La Religion Bedouine", p. lJ7, against Chelhod, Le Sacrifice, p. 169, who basing himself on an etymological argument states that the sadin performed the sacrifices.

34. Wellhausen, Reste, 131-134; Klinken-Rosenberger, Das Gotzenbuch (Leipzig: 1941), p. 13q, note 388. Henninger, "Nilus-Bericht", Anthropos,L (1955), 119.

35. R.Smith, The Religion, p. 143; G.Levi della Vida, Les Semites lll

et leur rôle dans l'histoire religieuse (Paris: 1933), p. 116, note 39. Henninger, "Nilus-Bericht", p. 121.

36. Haldar, Associations, p. 179.

37. Qur'an 26, 221-226.

38. W.Caskel, "Zur Beduinisierung Arabiens" in ZDMG CIII (195)), p. 31*; R.Smith, Religion, p. 47; Noldeke, "Arabs", in ERE I, p. 659b; l.>/ellhausen, Reste, 224-228; T.Fahd, La Divination, p. 13.

39. Le Sacrifice, p. 36.

40. Kitab al-A~nâm, 20,l8ff; 21,6. (Klinke-Rosenberger). Al-Kalbï gives two different interpretations of the term "l:ianam", in

21,9ff he says: "The "stones" were called "ansâb"• (sing • nu9ub), if they were statues they were called "al?nam" (sing.

~anam) or autân (sing. watan)". But in 33,5ff he says:"When it was made in a human figure from wood, gold or silver, it wss called "f}anam", and if it were (made) from stone it was called "watan".

41. Ibid.,4,lf.

42. Le Sacrifice chez les Arabes, pp. 120-125 and passim.

43. Hoffner, "Die Beduinen im dem vorislamischen Inschriften" p. 55, and p. 59. A. van der Branden, "Les textes thamou d~ennes de Philby", II, p. XXIIff.Qur 1 an, 33,32 recalls how they invoked Allah when they were in danger.

44. See W. Caskel, "Aijam al-~rab", pp. 26-28, "Characterisch 112

für den Held der Aijâm is seine Verbindung mit der überirdischen Welt. Er ist im Bunde mit dem Glück Maimum (Naqa'iQ, 306,5; Agh.IX, l~) oder mash1 Üm, mit bosen Geschick behaftet (Agh.X, 21; ~,III, 45; Naqa'ig, 1061,1) Es hat übernaturliches Wissen ••• Der Untergang des Helden wird durch eine Schuld begründet"--especially when they were kahins. A personal fault but as taboo not of ethical character.

45. The same is valid when judging the personal life of the Bedouin. To say that he was "an individualist without individuality (personality) and a traditionalist without tradition", J.Chelhod, Introduction à la Sociologie, p. 27, 41-43 is to oversimplify the facts. The personality of the Bedouin is very complex, as Ch elhod admits, Ibid., p. 59; certainly the absorption by the tribe could be a hindering to a full development of the individual, but we cannat see how only the sayyids we re expected to be unique in attaining this developme nt. Rudi Faret, Muhammed

und der Koran, ~tuttgart: 1967), p. 27, has better expressed this complexity: "This society, according to d ifferent points o f view can be judged as patriarchal, aris tocratie, oligarchie, democra tie or indivi dua lis t, and it i s a lways some thi n g characterist i c but without ma king justice to

the vas tness of these realities 11 •

~6. Max Weber on Law, pp. 303 and pp. 88f. (pp. 75-82; 86- 91)

47. "The Nature of Arab unity before I sla m", .Arabica,X (1963), p. 16. He quotes Chelhod, Le Sacrifice, p. 1 0 0-10~.

48. 'Le c a r a ctère r e l igieux du tar" in Ara b ie Occidentale , pp . 181-237 - 113

49. Le Sacrifice, p. lOO "une forme voilée du sacrifice humaine nous parait être le th'ar". B.Farès, L'Honneur, p. 184 note 1 a): "Ce culte (des ancêstres) s'identifiait chez les Arabes avec une sorte de Religion".

50. E.Gdif, "Probleme der Todesstrafe in Islam", in __ZRW , LIX (1957), 89f.

51. Henninger, "Menschenopfer bei den Arabern" in Anthropos LIII (1958), p. 75lf 11 ausser einig en poetischen Wendungen, die man nicht allzu sehr pressen kann liegt nichts vor, was dazu veranlassen mUsste in der Blutrache ein Opfer in

eigentlichen Sinne zu sehen11 •

52. Reste,p. ll5f. He quotes 'Antarah 9,1. He says, tha t at times they were put to death as an exercise for the people who should have experience with the sword •

53. Article "Arabs" in ERE ,I, 665b note•.

54. Henning er, "Menschenopfer", p. 753: "Man kann also nicht sicher behaupten, dass die sitte der Gefangenenopferung im eig entlichen Arabien bestanden habe".

55. Weber uses "Law-finding" (Rechts-findung) as contrary to "Law-making " which supposes a systematic elaboration of law and professionalized adminis tration of justice. See, Law, pp. 303 . This procedure shows the absence of "la w" in the sense of rules of conduct that are intentionally created as such and are guaranteed by "legal coercion".

56. 2,165; Nay, we follow wha t we found our fathers ( aba'ana) doi ng (alfa yna). 43, 21: We found our fathers (aba 1 an1i) 114

following a common religion (a community) and in their footsteps do we guide ourselves. (Tr., R.Bell, The Qurlin Translated). The absence of supernatural sanctions confirms this view.

57. AlÜsi, Bulugh,III, 263ff., cited by Chelhod, Les Structures du sacré chez les Arabes (Paris: 1964), p. 127f.

58. Âlüsï, BulÜgh, II, 177-182, cited by Chelhod, Les Structures, p. 129f.

59. Chelhod, Les Structures, p. 132; Ibn Hishâm, 51; Kitab al-Aênam, 5,llf; 33,12ff.

60. Ibn Hisham, 79ff.

61. Qur'an, 22,26; 2,125-127.

62. See Chelhod, Les Structures, 138f.

63. Ibn Hisham, 125.

64. Reste, p. 130.

65. "Le Culte des Bétyles et les processions religieuses chez les Arabes préislamites", in BIFAO XVII (1919-1920), 39-101, reprinted in L'Arabie Occidentale avant l'Hégire (Beirut: 1928), PP• 101-179.

66. J.Morgenstern, "The Ark, .the Ephod and the Tent of Meeting"

in HUCA XVII (1942-43), 153-265, and HUCA XVIII (1943-4~), 1-52. He quotes testimonies of Hartmann, Torczyner, Curtiss, Burckhardt, Wetzstein, Rogers, Lady A.Blunt, Leachman, 115

Seabrook, Oliphant, see pp. 157-171. A.Jaussen, Coutûmes des Arabes au pays de_Moab; C.Raswan, Black Tents of Arabia, and especially A.Musil, Manners and customs of the Rwala Bedouins (New York: 1928), pp. 571-574.

67. This can explain why many tribes today no longer possess

an ~o~fe.

68. Musil, The Rwala Bedouins, p. 571. "AbÜ-d-DhÜr" means 11 father of the times" (abu al-duhur) painting to a remote ancestor or a tribal deity. Soe C.Raswan, op.cit.,p.97.

69. Musil, The Rwala Bedouins, p. 63lf. "One from another tribe

ran into the tent of prince Sa~tam, grasped one of the peles of the Merkab litter and shouted: "I stand under the protection of this pole, and nothing shall part me from it".

70. Ibid.,p. 186.

71. Le Pèlegrinage à la Mekke (Paris: 1923), pp. 157-166 .

72. The Wahhabis have forcibly terminated the use of the ma~mal because of supp osedly idolatrous, i.e., pr e-Islamic orig in or connecti on. See, Horgenstern, Ibid., p. 206.

73. M.J. de Goeje, Memoires d'histoire et le g éographie 2 Orientales , No.l, p. 116, c i ted by J.Morgens tern, Ibi ~ ., p. 206. Ga udefroy-Demombynes , Pèlegrinage, p . 119 note 1 .

7'+. lteste,p. 102 : "The tribes of the Arabs mig rate but not their s a nctuari es (Heiligtümer) which rema in fixed (die fest an Ort und S t elle s t ehen". Ibid., p. 102 note 1: "There are t ransporta ble shrines (Heili g t ümer) f or the wa r. At t imes 116

it is a sacred camel or a girl who mounts it, an emblem (die Standarte) which will be courageously defended as in

the Battle of the Camel 11 •

75. S!rah, 51; Kitàb al-A9nam, 4,lff; and 26,16f. Al-Faz~ri carries with him an idol on his camel.

76. Reste, p. 21.

77• Agh. XIX, 79f.

78. Tab.I, 1395; I, 1428: "Al.!Uzz~ is with us, not with you".

79. Ibn Durayd, Ishtiqaq, 208; Agh.XIV, 116; XX, 136. This is why Rajkowsky remarks ~n Early Sh~cism in ciraq, p. 24, that whoever wanted to play the role of magnate had to have one.

80. Agh. VII, 99; 11Ahl al-Bayt", Agh. XX, 42; "Ahl al-Dar" Agh. XI, 89. This is why Lammens i nsists upon translating "Bayt" as qubbah and not as sanctuary or "house". The same Rajkowsky, who adds that "bayt" means also "the indescri bable yet productive and vitalizing (holy) energy", Ibid., p. 18.

81. Ya'qûbï, Ta'rÏkh,I 256f. 260f. Tab.II, 527. 'l'he Muslim authors, however, do not show the early idolatrous connection

of the t e rm 11 bayt 11 • See also Ishtiqaq, 214. 289.

82 . R.Smith, Kinship, p . 1 71; We llhausen, Res t e, pp . 1 9 and 21.

83. Lammens, "Le Culte des Bétyles ", p. 4-6. "The tribes have sweared not to f lee , nor to turn the ba ck to Mana t" verse

of the po e t Kuma yt, quote d b y Lammens , ~ ., p . 46 . 117

8lf. Agh. XX, l36ff. l44.XII,55· Lammens, "Le culte des Bétyles", pp. 48-54. See also Agh.XIV,l4; Ibn Hisham, 557: "Women in

howdahs went with them (the Quraysh at U~ud) to stir up their anger and prevent them from running away", tr., Guillaume. Qur'an, 113,4 may be an allusion to that custom, fully impregnated with religious color.

85. Agh.VIII,66, in the case of 'Auf I. Rabi'ah.

86. Der Islam, V (1914), p. 211.

87. Ishtiqâq,9lf; Akhbâr, II, 21; "Rabb al-Sham", "Rabb al-~ijaz"

Agh.XIV,7; Ishtiqâq,220; Akhbar,II,l~O.See nammens, Berceau, I, 203ff.

88. Ishtiqaq, 239; Agh. XI,44; XIX,78; XV,73.

89. Ibn al-Athïr,I,466 quoted by T.Fahd, La Divination, p. 119.

90. Arabia Petraea,III, 377.

91. Morgenstern, "The Ark", p. 2lln. 82.

92. Morgenstern, "The .Ark", HUCA, XVIII (l944J, p. ;,9.48f. The Ark originally contained two betyles (stones) later seen as the two "tablets of the law", but by the reformation of Moses, it was totally emptied symbolizing the "dwelling place" of Yaweh, the 11 hamishkan", "ohel Mo' ed" or "'rent of meeting" of the people with Yaweh. See Morgenstern, Ibid., PP• 37-52.

93. Lammens, "Le culte des Bétyles", p. 60. This evolution was fastened by Islam, and this is why according to Lammens , 118

Wellhausen did not see the originally religious character of the qubbah.

94. Agh.II,~); VII, 170.

95. Agh.XV,5Lt.

96. Ishtiqaq, 153; Ibn Hisham, 1~8.

97. Agh.XX,llt. This qubbah was probably empty or contained sheets of Qur'an to symbolize the presence of Allah in the battle. In Islamic times we find the expression "qubbal al-Islam". See Lammens, "Le culte des Bétyles", p. 69, who adds that Muhammad and Musaylimah also followed this custom.

98. The liwa' was also carried into battle, and was not to be taken by the enemy. But while its loss did not bring major consequences and it could be replaced by another, the loss of the qubbah did not only mean a great dishonor , but could also bring the disappearance of the whole tribe, Agh. VII,66.

See also Morgenstern, ''The Ark", p. ~09 note 81, who ascribes to it a profane and practical use as in Ancient Israel. At the battle of Badr the Meccans lost their liwât, thus at

the battle of U~ud, AbÜ Sufyan threatened the standardbearer of the Banû tA bd al-Dar to take i t from them. Ibn His ham, 56~. The religious character of the qubbah seems also to receive a confirmation from two terracotta images found in Syria, at present in the Louvre, one representing two goddesses sitting upon a camel saddle which rests upon the back of a camel, and the ether representing two figures, one playing a double flute and the ether tapping upon a square drum. Bath of them are mounted upon a camel saddle. Detailed description in

Morgenstern, Ibid.,pp. ~23-226. Hind b. 'Utbah and other 119

women w~re playing at Uhud,. Ibn Hishâm, 562 •

99. Serjeant, "The ~ayyids of l;ia~ramawt", p. 3, calls His spiritual power the "al-sultah al-rÜJ:Iyah". Rajkowsky, Ibid.,p. l4ff. and passim.

100. See notes 27-29 of Chapter III and the corresponding texts.

101. Rajkowsky uses expressly these words, Ibid., p. 25 and quotes the example of Palmyre. "Otherwise" he says, "they had little power or were unable to enforce and impose their decisions, reluctantly accepted". But if that were the case, the sayyid certainly would have been obeyed at least as much as the kâhins, whose orders as we have seen (see notes 87 and 88) were blindly followed.

102. "Rien de plus ordinaire dans l'antiquité au temps de la préhistoire islamique, que la réunion des dignités de Kahin at Sadin", says Lammens, "Le culte des Bétyles", p. 43. He quotes some instances; other cases see in T.Fahd, La Divination, p. 112 and p. ll9f. Lammens, Ibid., p. 78f., adds: "Antérieur à la disparition des bayt mobiles, nous semble celle des personages cumulant les functions de Kâhin et Sayyid". Id., Berceau: "La function de fixer et de lever le camp semble avoir eté rattachée d'abord à celle de Kahin, de ~âzi ou à la possession du bait", p. 267, n.3. In pre Islamic Arabia, however, it is never spoken of "divine sonship" as among other semites. R.Smith, Religion, p. 44. NBldeke, ERE, p. 665.

103. See Wellhausen, Reste, p. l9f. 21. R.Smith, Kinship, p. 171; Rajkowsky, Ibid., p. 12 note 2: "The a1-Swet with the loss of their 1eading position were a1so deprived of the tribal 120

tabernacle, the "Bwet" (little house). See G.Glubb, The History of the Arab legion, p. 136f. quoted by Rajkowsky. Ab~ Sufyan, who carried al-Lat and allUzz~ at U~ud and who is presented in the S1rah as the leader of Quraysh (see

Lammens, La Mecque, p. 165; Hish~m, 557) did not have religious function in connection with the KaCba. Such

functions were held by the Banu ~bd al-Dar, and the Banü Hashim. We can then say that he was not strictly speaking as a member of a "priestly clan".

104. Ibid., p. 24. On the ether hand, he explains this "spiritual force" by totemistic origins, which are very difficult to accept.

105. Agh.XIX, 53.

106. Naqa -· ~.,'d 700.

107. A similar development can be observed in South Arabia, see M.Hëffner "Die Beduinen in den vorislamischen Inschriften", p. 6lf. "Der südarabische Stamm ist eine Organization ursprünglich nach religi8sen, sp!ter mehr nach wirtschaflichen Gesichtspunkten aufgebaut. Er ist Hierarchisch ••• Mit Blutsverwandschaft hat er nichts zu tun". 121

N 0 T E S

CONCLUSIVE RE !YLARKS

1. E. von Grunebaum, "The Nature of Arab Unity before Islam", in Arabica X (1963), p. 2lf. See also W.Caskel, "Aijam", p. 54: Als Richtschnur für das Handeln fungiert die offentliche Meinung. Die "Gerede der Araber", who adds in footnote 8: "Die arabische Nation ist nicht erst durch den Islam geschaffen worden", since the carriers of the public opinion were always al}Arab and not the tribe.

2. E. von Grunebaum, art. cit., p. 5. 122

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