Pre-Islam

Extent of the Crime Murder is the single most talked-about crime in pre-Islamic inscriptions and poetry.  How heinous was the crime in the eyes of Arabs, and how anxious were they to avenge it, can be assumed from the content of a Safaitic inscription. “He found the trace of his brother so he was distraught […]

Tribes had their leaders called shaykh (شَيخ).  The shaykh had two administrative tools at his disposal to manage his tribe. One was muru’ah – the general Arab code of conduct, and the other was sunnah – the code of conduct of that particular tribe. There was no official chief of tribe, let alone a hierarchy. 

Pre-Islamic Arabia had devised its own justice system.  It was prevalent all over the Tribal Zone of pre-Islamic Arabia. Need for Justice No society is devoid of crime. Despite a loyal following of muru’ah and sunnah among the Arabs, crime did take place. Source of the Law The authority that generates the law is called

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

Late pre-Islamic Arabs used to live in a variety of facilities.  They included semi permanent tents; temporary tents; houses, qasr (qaṣr قصر); and palaces Semi-Permanent Tents Nomads used to live in semi-permanent shelters.  They have not left any archaeological traces of their camps.  An account from pre-Islamic Arabic poetry demonstrates why it was almost impossible

All late antique Arabian tribes did not have equal social status.  Early Islamic sources consider some tribes to be respected and powerful, and others not that respected and rather weak.  We don’t know exactly what made a tribe respected in the eyes of fellow Arabs.  One guess is that the numerical strength of a tribe

Gambling was a favourite pastime for pre-Islamic Arabs.  Here is a piece of pre-Islamic Arabic poetry: I seemed to myself like a gambler who cleaves steadfastly to the bag in which the gaming arrows are kept; until at the day’s end, he is ruined and has lost heavily in all his wagers. Though generally gambling

The dress of the Bedouins was different from that of permanent dwellers.  The dress of the rich and poor sections of society also had differences.  Further, the pre-Islamic Arabs used different types of dress articles on specialized occasions, like war, formal occasions, industrial work, etc.  Finally, the dress of pre-Islamic Arabs changed tremendously over time.

There were three types of graves in pre-Islamic Arabia. Grave of the Commoners The grave of a common Arab was as simple as a trench covered by a pile of earth. A pre-Islamic Arab poet says: Yes sure enough, in a grave, dug where the valley is bent swathed in white I shall lie, white

The pre-Islamic Arabs did have a dancing tradition, though the evidence about it is thin. Khor Rory in modern Oman has yielded a statue of a semi-nude female dancer.  The discoverers date it to the 2nd century CE. Though the statue is ‘made in India’, its presence in the Arabian Peninsula gives a hint that