Chapter 5 : The Age of Ignorance

Question 1

What was “ The Age of Ignorance “

Answer 1

• The Age of Ignorance / The Era of Ignorance is also known as Zaman Al-Jahiliyyah
• Historians maintain that it began about 150 - 200 years before the Prophet began his Prophetic Mission
• The term “ Jahiliyyah “ was first used in the Quran to refer to the Era before the coming of Islam
• However, The Quran does not confine it to a specific Geographic Location or a specific Group of People
• The word “ Jahiliyyah “ is derived from the word “ Jahl “ which means Ignorance
• However, this is not a reference to just a lack of Knowledge, since it is possible to have knowledge but still remain in a state of “ Jahl “
• The use of the word “ Jahiliyyah “ in the Quran can be seen in the following verses :-

” Remain in your homes and do not display your ornaments as was the case in The Era of Ignorance. Establish prayer, pay alms-tax and obey Allah and His Messenger. Allah only intends to keep ‘ the cause of ‘ Evil away from you and purify you completely, O members of the ‘ Prophets ‘ family ! “

• Al-Quran 33 : 33

” Then after distress, He sent down serenity in the form of drowsiness overcoming some of you, while others were disturbed by evil thoughts about Allah - the thoughts fit for The Era of Ignorance. They ask ‘ Do we have a say in the matter ? ‘ Say O Prophet, ‘ All matters are destined by Allah ‘. They conceal in their hearts what they do not reveal to you. They say ‘ to themselves ‘, If we had any say in the matter, none of us would have come to die here. Say O Prophet, ‘ Even if you were to remain in your homes, those among you who were destined to be killed would have met the same fate ‘. Through this, Allah tests what is within you and purifies whats in your hearts. And Allah knows best what is hidden in the heart “

• Al-Quran 3 : 154

” Do they seek the law of pagan ignorance ? But who is better than God in judgment for a people firm in faith “

• Al-Quran 5 : 50

” Remember when the disbelievers had filled their hearts with zealotry, the zealotry of pagan ignorance, then Allah sent down his serenity upon His Messenger and the believers inspiring them to uphold the declaration of faith, for they were better entitled and more worthy of it. And Allah has perfect knowledge of all things “

• Al-Quran 48 : 26
• Imam Ali also describes the Pre Islamic Era as follows :-

” He ( God ) sent him ( The Prophet ) at a time when people were going astray in perplexity and moving here and there in mischief. Desires had deflected them and arrogance had derailed them. Extreme ignorance had made them foolish. They were confounded by the unsteadiness of matters and the evils of ignorance. Then The Prophet - Blessing of Allah be upon him and his descendants - Did his best in giving them sincere advice, himself trod on the right path and called ( Them ) towards wisdom and good counsel “

• Nahjul Balagha Sermon 95

Question 2

What was the Political Climate like during The Era of Ignorance

Answer 2

• The tribal systems which existed among the Arabs were a necessary adaptation to the rugged life in the Desert
• Living in conditions of great difficulty, having trouble gaining a livelihood, living in a near constant state of strife and conflict, lacking pasture and various other issues all caused the Arabs to develop and adopt a very particular type of clan life
• The best option for people living under such conditions was to band together as a group
• The only issue that remained was determining with whom to form a clan, indeed not every stranger could be trusted so in the end, Arabs decided to form groups based on blood relations ( Blood is thicker than water )
• The Arabs in the Preislamic Era had no Central Government
• When a contemporary Persian King asked why the Arabs would not live under a Government, he was told :-

” Some nations sense a type of weakness and they fear the attack of their enemies, as such, they entrust their affairs to a selected family. The Arabs, on the other hand each desire to be a King themselves and also despised paying taxes and tributes “

• Out of necessity, this extreme sense of individualism was transformed into a clan spirit and each individual was ready to do whatever it took to protect and elevate his clan over all others
• It is for this very reason that the concept of lineage was so important and the Arabs considered their own individual worth to be equivalent to their clan’s worth
• The larger the size of the clan, the greater the perceived sense of honour, this praise in the size of one’s tribe during The Preislamic Era even reached the point where polytheists began to count their dead as a way of bolstering their sense of honour and pride
• Since there was no Government, there was no Law and Order
• Since there were no such things as Police, Courts or Judges, the tribe had an obligation to protect its members even if they had committed crimes
• Basically, their loyalty to the tribe transcends and superseeds any other consideration
• To them, war was a pastime or rather a dangerous sport and it is in fact war that provided an escape from drudgery and from the monotony of life in desert
• War also gave them an opportunity to display their skills at Archery, Fencing and Horsemanship
• In War, they could also distinguish themselves by their Heroism and at the same time win glory and honour for their tribes
• In many cases, the Arabs fought for the sake of fighting
• The political sentiment during the Preislamic Era was “ Might is Right / Survival of the Fittest “
• The more important tribes exercised a certain amount of authority in their respective areas
• In Makkah, the dominant tribe was the Quraysh
• In Yathrib, the dominant tribe were the Arab Tribes of Aus and Khazraj and the Jewish Tribes of Nadheer, Qaynuqaa and Qurayza

Question 3

What was the Economic Conditions like during The Era of Ignorance

Answer 3

• The Jews were among the wealthiest in Arabia
• They were the owners of the best lands in Hijaz ( Majority of West Arabia including Makkah, Madina, Jeddah, Tabuk, etc ) and they were the best farmers in the region
• Slavery was an economic institution in Arabia
• Male and Females slaves were sold and bought like commodities ( This provides a robust free-labour force )
• The most powerful class of the Arabs was made up by the capitalist and money lenders
• The most important urban centers of Arabia were Makkah and Yathrib both in Hijaz
• The residents of Makkah were mostly merchants, traders and money lenders, their caravans travelled in the Summer to Syria and in Winter to Yemen
• The residents of Yathrib were primarily farmers ( More Rural in comparison to Makkah )
• Usury - The practice of lending money at unreasonably high rates of interest ) was widely used ( Riba ) was widely practiced in Makkah
• In order to participate in the profitable caravan trade, many a Makkan who had only a modest income had to resort to usurers despite high rates of interest
• He could hope to benefit after the safe return of the caravan
• The richer merchants were both traders and usurers

Question 4

What was the Social Values and Norms like during The Era of Ignorance

Answer 4

• Women had almost no legal status under tribal law in Preislamic Arabia
• Women were of little utility beyond child bearing and physical pleasure
• The number of woman a man could marry was not fixed ( In contrast to popular belief, Islam reduced the number of woman a man could marry instead of increasing it )
• When a man died, his son “ inherited “ all his wives except his own mother
• One of the most important roles for women was to produce children especially male offspring
• Women also cooked meals, milked animals, washed clothes, prepared butter and cheese, spun wool and wove fabric for tents
• Upper class women ( Hind - Wife of Abu Sufyan ) usually had more rights than tribal women and might own property or even inherit from relatives
• The barbaric practice of female infanticide was widely prevalent in Preislamic Arabia as narrated in Al-Quran :-

” And when one of them is informed of ( The birth of ) a female, his face becomes dark and he suppresses grief. He hides himself from the people because of the ill of which he has been informed. Should he keep it in humiliation or bury it in the ground ? Unquestionably, evil indeed is their judgement “

• Al-Quran 16 : 58-59
• Drunkenness was a common vice of the Arabs
• With drunkenness went their gambling
• They were compulsive drinkers and compulsive gamblers
• The relations of the sexes were extremely loose
• Many women sold sex to make their living since there was little else they could do
• Despite their hedonistic ( Engaged in the pursuit of pleasure ) inclinations, the Arabs did possess certain praiseworthy qualities or at least they saw them to be worthy of praise :-

i) Generosity and Hospitality
ii) Sharp Memory and Eloquence ( Shakespearean Arabic )
iii) Truthfulness ( A Man’s Word Is His Bond )
iv) Bravery

Question 5

What was the Religious Demographic like during The Era of Ignorance

Answer 5

1. Paganism

• Pagan rituals and beliefs were widespread throughout Arabia and over the centuries had slowly crept into Makkan society
• The Ka’bah which was erected as the House of the One True God had turned into a storage facility for a pantheon of Idols and Statues
• Not only did Makkah have a chief idol named Hubal, it was surrounded by 3 sister idols :-
  i) Al-Lat
  ii) Al-Manaat
  iii) Al-Uzzha
• The pagans did not see Monotheism as incompatible with Polytheism
• They viewed Allah as the Creator while the idols acted as the sustainers and managers of the affairs of creation

2. Zoroastrianism

• Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion of the Persian Empire
• Founded by Prophet Zoroaster in the 10th or 11th Century BCE
• It began as a Monotheistic Tradition with a divinely revealed scripture but later developed into a Dualistic Theology pitting Good against Evil
• While the vast majority of Persia was Zoroastrian, the empire also served as a refuge for many Jews and Nestorian Christians

3. Judaism

• The Jews traced their ancestry from Abraham through his second son, Isaac
• Isaac’s son Jacob had 12 sons including Prophet Joseph
• Thus, Jacob’s sons formed the 12 tribes of Israel which spread throughout Canaan and gave rise to the great Hebrew Prophets mentioned in the Bible and Quran
• The Jews experienced a number of successive diasporas ( The dispersion or spread of people from their homeland ) from their lands in Canaan
• The most recent occurred after the Roman occupation of Jerusalem in 70 CE which forced a number of Jewish Tribes to seek refuge in the Arabian Peninsula
• By the end of the 6th Century, Jewish Tribes had spread all over the Middle East
• One of these enclaves was known as Yathrib, a collection of Jewish settlements roughly 200 miles North of Makkah
• Many of them had settled there in anticipation of the advent of God’s Final Messenger :-

” When a scripture came to them from God confirming what they already had, and when they had been praying for victory against the disbelievers, even when there came to them something they knew ( To be true ), they disbelieved in it, so the curse of God will be upon the disbelievers “

• Al-Quran 2 : 89

4. Christianity

• By the 5th century, Christians had evolved significantly from its simple origins
• It began as a small Jewish sect and became the state religion of Roman Empire
• In 325 CE, Jesus was formally recognized as both fully man and fully God
• By 451 CE, the majority of Roman Christians had officially adopted the concept of the Trinity
• Like many Jews, Ebionite Christians believed that the coming of a Prophet was imminent
• Perhaps this was due to their interpretation of John 16 : 13 :-

” He shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak “

5. Haneefism

• Haneefism was a form of Primitive Monotheism that dates back to the 5th and 6th Centuries CE
• It was a reaction to the growing prevalence of Idolatry
• The Haneef shunned Idols in exchange for a simpler life devoid of Pagan Rituals
• The Haneef were scattered around Arabia including a handful who lived among the Quraysh in Makkah
• Haneef means “ Renunciate “
• During Preislamic Arabia, the Hunafa were those who renounced Idolatry and retained the tenets of The Religion of Abraham which was Submission to God in its Purest Form
• These people include :-
  i) Abdul Muttalib
  ii) Abu Talib