Pre-Islam

Pre-Islamic Arabs had a taste for wine drinking.  Here is a passionate description of wine by a pre-Islamic poet: Not wine of the white grape, fragrant as musk [when the jar is broached] And set on the strainer to clear, and ladled from cup to cup a captive, it dwelt in the jar for twenty […]

A tribal-based social hierarchy is well known among late pre-Islamic Arabs. However, this was not the only way of classifying people.  Vocation played some role in determining the social status of a person.  All trades were not considered to be of equal status by society.  Some jobs were superior to others.  Most menial work one

Pre-Islamic Arabia was predominantly rural.  Urban centers did exist, but were tiny as compared to the towns and cities in contemporary Sasanian Iran, Byzantine Rome, or Ethiopia. The tiny urban centers of Arabia existed to fulfill specific needs of the nomadic population, like their need to exchange the produce, seek tradesmen’s services, or get treatment

The punishment for theft was the chopping off of a hand in late pre-Islamic Arabia. Recognition of the Crime Theft was a crime in the eyes of the Arabs since ancient times. An inscription found at Hatra dates from December 151 CE.  It reads, “Anyone who will steal inside this store and inside the outer

Listening to songs was a popular entertainment activity of pre-Islamic Arabs.  The singers usually engaged with musicians who played different musical instruments to adorn the voice of a singer and enrich the overall impression. Our knowledge of singing and listening to singing comes from pre-Islamic Arabic poetry.  Pre-Islamic poetry has a lot of references to

Late Pre-Islamic Arabs used to follow the precedents set by their tribal heroes.  These precedents were called sunnah (سنه). Pre-Islamic poet Labid (Labīd لَبِيد) once spoke of a leader from his own clan: One of a tribe whose forefathers laid down for them a sunnah; and every folk has a sunnah and its imām (امام).

Corpses underwent preparations before being interred in pre-Islamic Arabia. One poet, imagining himself dead, describes how his kin “closed his eyes and said in sorrow, ‘he’s gone,’ combed his hair, clad him in clothes that bore no sight of wear, sprayed sweet odours on him and said lamenting ‘how goodly a man he was,’ wrapped

Late Antique Arabs had a taste for inter tribal wars. It is particularly true for the Arabs residing in the Tribal Zone. Nature of War Enmity could linger on for generations, but the battles were essentially brief, and none of them lasted for more than a day.  All of them are generally referred to as

Pre-Islamic Arabs were of two types in terms of their way of life: nomads (Bedouin, baddū, بدو) and sedentary (al-mustaqraʾ, المستقرأ). Nomads roamed the countryside, grazing their herds of camels and sheep. The sedentary lived in fixed settlements as farmers, traders, or engaged in other economic activities. Change in Historical Perception Classical historians believed that

Late pre-Islamic Arabs had a set of ethical behaviour that was valued as noble by the society at large and was called muru’ah (murūʾah مروءه). Muru’ah was the result of a shared vision of an ideal human, a shared attitude toward the role of the individual within society, and a shared apprehension of the human