The Fire Borrowed from Magus”: Sacred and Profane Fire Traditions in Pre-Islamic Arabia Aida Gasimova

doi: 10.2143/ANES.56.0.3286822 ANES 56 (2019) 329-345 “The fire borrowed from magus”: Sacred and profane fire traditions in pre-Islamic Arabia Aida GASIMOVA Abstract The present article analyses beliefs, superstitions and customs related to fire in pre-Islamic Arabia, as reflected in pre-Islamic tradition, Jāhiliyya poetry and medieval Muslim sources. First, the influence of Zoroastrianism on the mental-spiritual life of pre-Islamic Arabs will be explored; in this context, ancient Arabs’ forms of worship and superstitions borrowed from Zoroastrianism (nār al-istimṭār, nār al-taḥāluf, nār al-Sālim) are discussed. Next, some records concerning the ancient Arabian fire temple — the so-called Nār al-ḥārratayn — will be reviewed. Among Zoroastrian rites, the ordeal by fire that was practised by pre-Islamic Arabs in the south of Arabia will be considered. The second part of the article explores indigenous Arabian rites and traditions related to fire, proceeding on the assumption that fire played a crucial role in the life of desert nations, as well as inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula. The nār al-qirā, nār al-Ḥubāḥib, nār al-jinn and nār al-ḥarb will be considered.* Introduction As one of the four eternal elements of the universe, fire, with its numerous real and virtual attributes (flame, smoke, ashes, family hearth, divine manifestation, the holy light, the blazes of hell, heavenly light), has deeply affected the material and spiritual life of humanity. Therefore, it is almost impossible to find a nation which lacks beliefs, superstitions, rituals, myths and legends connected with fire. Beginning from Vedic mythology, with its supreme god Agni — the burning, shining, illuminating god of fire — and continuing up to the terrible practice of medieval inquisi tors of executing heretics by burning them at the stake; from Vesta and Hestia — the Roman and Greek goddesses of the hearth, to the manifestation of divine wisdom through the Fire in Zoroastrianism, to the archetype of fire illustrated in the holy books as a form of manifestation of God Almighty, various customs, traditions and tenets concerning fire have constituted an important part of the ethic-aesthetic life of human society. This article deals with traditions and customs related to fire in pre-Islamic Arabia. It attempts to distinguish between two types of fire traditions — those borrowed from Zoroastrianism and those that were indigenous Arabian customs. The former represent fire as something sacred, with inner spiritual power, and comprise ritualistic prayers, oaths, curses, magic therapy and ordeal by * I would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers and Abby Robinson whose feedback and remarks were extremely useful in working on this article. 330 A. GASIMOVA fire. The second set of customs, the Arabic traditions, are more connected with everyday desert life and reflect practical uses of fire such as for providing light at night, branding cattle, hunting, and frightening beasts away. Historical prelude In the pre-Islamic era, Sasanian Persia exercised great influence over neighbouring countries in the Middle East, including the Arabian Peninsula.1 The earliest Arabian historians (rightly or wrongly) assign the first acquaintance of the Arabs with Zoroastrianism to a period long before Islam; to be more precise, during the military campaign of the semi-legendary Yemeni king of the Tubba‘a dynasty, Tubān As‘ad (7th century BC), or the historical figure Abū Karib Asad al-Kāmil (4th century AD) to northern lands including Azerbaijan,2 where the main halidom of the Zoro- astrians was located. By the testimony of Ibn Jarīr al-Țabarī (d. 923), when Tubān As‘ad made inroads into Azerbaijan, he encountered Turks there and waged a battle against them. He defeated the Turks and captured their children, who were taken to Yemen.3 Historical encounters of this kind with the supposed land of Zoroastrianism might have made an impression on the beliefs and superstitions of pre-Islamic Arabs. Such stories, even if they are of legendary character, may reflect relations between different nations that shed light on the religious beliefs of the population of Arabia. Yemeni kings had long-established good relationships with Sasanians.4 Besides widespread idolatry, Yemen was a point of intersection of deeply inimical Judaic and Christian elements, as mirrored in the Qur’an (al-Burūj 4–9). Warm relations with Persia benefitted the Yemeni kings of the dynasty Ḥimyar when Ethiopian military forces occupied Yemen at Byzantium’s instigation and threatened the existence of Ka‘bah as a common sanctuary of all Arabs.5 Some reflections of these circumstances found their way into Arabian poetry. Al-Khaṭīb al-Tabrīzī (1030–1109) in his commentary on the al-Maqṣūra of Ibn Durayd (838–933) says that Persian military forces organ- ised hurriedly by the Sasanian king and made up mostly of condemned prisoners released Yemen from the Ethiopians, restored Yemeni prince Sayf ibn zī Yazan (c. 516–574 AD) to the throne, and then inhabited Yemen. They were known as abnā’ (sons) in Yemen.6 Apparently, the abnā’ brought with them Persian rites, beliefs and customs. Therefore, on the eve of Islam, Zoroastrian ideas could be seen in Yemen’s spiritual life. Besides in Yemen, Sasanian influence was also very strong in al-Ḥīra — the centre of Lakhmid rulers, vassals of Iran. As a result of the liberal policy and loyalty of Persian kings towards other confessions,7 no Lakhmid rulers accepted Zoroastrianism. On the contrary, the country turned into one of the centres of Christianity in Northern Arabia, and even some royalty adopted it.8 1 See Yarshater 1998, pp. 4–30; Tisdall 1905, p. 212; Большаков 1989, pp. 21–30; Jawād ‘Alī, Tārīkh, pp. 693–694; Gasimova 2007, pp. 95–112. 2 al-Țabarī 1967, pp. 566–567. 3 al-Țabarī 1967, pp. 566–567. 4 This favour shown by the Persians toward the population of Yemen was marked in the shu‘ūbiyya movement, which was against the northern rather than the southern Arabian tribes. 5 Knysh 2009, pp. 22–21. 6 Mahmudov 2001, pp. 213–215. 7 For instance, Cyrus II always took note of the ancient rites and rituals of indigenous populations of the territories occupied by him and repaired the ancient temples. Iranian kings were very respectful towards Yahweh in Jerusalem and Greek gods in Asia Minor. Аверинцев and Алексеев 1989, pp. 153–159. 8 Jawād ‘Alī, Tārīkh, p. 694. “THE FIRE BORROWED FROM MAGUS” 331 The intermingling of Persian traditions with Christianity provided fertile soil for the spread of Manichaeism, a dualistic religious system based on the conflict between light and darkness. There- fore, historians assume that some people from Quraysh became zindīqs under the influence of al-Ḥīra.9 As the ideological background of zanādiqa was Manichaean dualist tendencies,10 we can suppose that the Manichaean trend may also have spread in Arabia. A few names appear in history books of people who embraced Zoroastrianism in pre-Islamic Arabia. They were Zurāra ibn ‘Adas and his son Ḥājib ibn Zurāra from the Tamīm tribe, al-Aqra‘ ibn Ḥābis, and Abū ’l-Aswad, grandfather of Wakī‘ ibn Ḥassān.11 Fire-worshippers are mentioned in the Qur’an, where the 17th ayah of Sūra al-Ḥajj says: Those who believe (in the Qur’an), those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Sabians, Christians, Magians (majūs), and Polytheists, Allah will judge between them on the Day of Judgment: for Allah is witness of all things (trans. Yusuf Ali)12 Majūs as mentioned here is an Arabian word for Persian mūgh. There are some definitions given for this word in medieval Arabic dictionaries. According to Ibn Manẓūr (d. 1311), majūs is a well-known generation (jīl ma‘rūf ) that testifies to Arab society’s close acquaintance with the the first to ,منج كوش institution of Zoroastrian priesthood. Majūs is an arabised word for Persian venerate fire. According to magi, there are two basic elements of all things: light and darkness. The light manifests goodness and the darkness, evil.13 Although Ṣiḥāḥ by al-Jawharī (d. 1005) does not go beyond morphological explanations of the word, it encourages speculation by quoting a distich from pre-Islamic poetry that says:14 أصاحي ا ترى بريقا هب وهنا كنار مجوس تستعر استعارا Oh friend, do you see the lightning and its glittering? Like fire borrowed from magus it was faintly glowing. In this reading, magi not only lived in Arabia, but also gave sacred fire to the indigenous population. Magi were among the inhabitants of the frontier lands with Persia or of regions which had close trade-economic connections with it. Some of them were of Persian origin, but subse- quently some Arabs also adopted fire worship.15 Furthermore, P. Thsvetkov makes the interesting claim that Arabs were so fond of Persian heroic eposes that they became deeply influenced by Persian religious beliefs as well.16 According to K. Inostrantsev, Zoroastrian influence was also 9 Maḥmūd Shukrī al-Alūsī, n.d., vol. 2, p. 228. 10 Borrowed from Persian, the word zindīq first had the narrow and precise definition of ‘Manichaean’. Subse- quently, it became synonymous with mulhid, kāfir and murtadd, with the definition ‘heretic, renegade, unbeliever’; see Blois 2012. It derived from ‘zand’ which related to exegetics of the Avesta. According to al-Mas‘ūdī (2005, vol. 1, pp. 191–192), zindīq appeared during the period of Mani, when some perverted interpretations of the Avesta were made. He who made it (in my opinion, seemingly followers of Mani) was called zindīq. See also Ibrahim 1994, pp. 53–72. 11 Jawād ‘Alī, Tārīkh, p. 693. 12 Except for Qur’anic verses, all translations are my own. 13 Lisān al-‘arab, entry m, j, s.

Load more