Hunting in Pre-Islamic Arabia

Last updated: April 30th, 2025 at 12:40 pm · Est. Reading Time: 3 minutes

Hunting was a favourite pastime of affluent Arabs in pre-Islamic times. Though hunting was partly practiced to supplement food, its main purpose was to practice archery to get fame.

Technique of Hunting

The hunter was armed with a bow and arrow and was aided in the chase by the cheetah, the caracal lynx, or, more commonly, the hound. A beautiful pre-Islamic ode testifies:

In his fright, he [the oryx] turns to escape and finds the way blocked by dogs well trained;
Two with hanging ears, crop-eared the third;

With their teeth they grip him, but stoutly thrusts he the hounds away;
A defender sturdy of leg, his long sides streaked with brown;

Sideways, he turns to bring into play horns sharp as steel;
On them the blood shines red and bright as Socotra’s dye;

Two spits they seem, fresh cut to skewer the feasters’ meat; drawn off before it is thoroughly cooked, as he thrusts them quick;
Till at last when all of the pack were checked, a good handful slain, and rest dispersed, yelping with pain;

Stood forth the master to save his hounds, in his hand a sheaf of slender arrows with shining points, feathers cut close;
Then he shot, if haply the remnant escape: and the arrow sped; And the bitter shaft transfixed the Oryx from side to side; headlong he crashed, as a camel stallion falls outworn in the hollow ground, but the oryx was fairer and goodlier far.¹.

Extent of Hunting for Entertainment

Hunting for fun is the only leisure activity, which is represented in pre-Islamic rock inscriptions. It was widespread and quiet common. A Hismaic inscription from Wadi Hafir (Ḥafīr) in ‘Aqabah Governate of Jordan reads: ‘By Ḥzmt is oryx and dogs.’ The drawing nearby is of an oryx being attacked by at least five dogs and two hunters with bows.²

Hunting to Supplement Food

The people, who hunted for food, were generally poor and did not have fancy equipment. Many times, their hunts ended in frustration. Look at this piece of pre-Islamic Arabic poetry:

So he [the alpha male of the herd] led them down to water, to [where lay concealed] a vagabond from al-Yaman, who gives thanks to God when he sees the prospect of fresh meat
He has a bow of Shiryānah wood occupying his hands – well skilled is he to put it to use

And arrows headed with blue steel which he chose carefully from a qaḍb tree, tying fast upon their stems the arrow-heads
He conceals himself in a hut of boughs which he has built. He creeps into a sitting place therein, closely hidden

And when the wild-asses see no great cause for fear, they come down, athirst, to drink at the fountain hid among the trees
Then did he send forth, when their vitals offered a target to that which they encountered, an arrow of Yathrib that should have been a deadly poison

But the arrow-head fell, bent, broken off the stem, and the stem itself flew splintered in various directions.
And he went home in the evening athirst, broken with grief and overcome, to tell his wife of the event that was only too clear

When he returned to them, they were confidently looking for the meat, whether in the morning or the evening
And if she should be slapped there by his hand, he would get in return from her two such blows of no less strength.³

Endnotes

Al-Mufaḍḍal son of Muhammad. The Mufaddaliiyat: An Anthology of Ancient Arabian Odes. Vol. II, ed. and trans. Charles J. Lyall (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1918), 358, Ode no. 126, poet: Khālid ibn Khuwailid, Abū Dhu’aib.
G. J. Corbett, Mapping the Mute immortals: A locational contextual analysis of Thamudic E/H.ismaic inscriptions and rock drawing from the Wādi. Ḥafīr of southern Jordan, PhD Thesis (University of Chicago) 2010. Pages: 366. (Inscription CH. R715.1, OCIANA, P 306.
‘Amr ibn Qami’ah, The Poems of ‘Amr son of Qami’ah, ed. and trans. Charles Lyall, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1919), 53.

Technique of Hunting

Extent of Hunting for Entertainment

Hunting to Supplement Food

Further Reading

Endnotes