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Pre-Islamic Arab Religion in Islam: Difference between revisions
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==History of the name Allah and the Basmala== | ==History of the name Allah and the Basmala== | ||
The Book of Idols by Hisham ibn al-Kalbi (d. 819 CE) is a | The Book of Idols by Hisham ibn al-Kalbi (d. 819 CE) is a series of distantly remembered folk tales describing the outright idolatry of the pre-Islamic Arabs, with an overall narrative that this came to an end with the rise of Islam. Academic scholarship today recognises this as a false narrative, serving to bring the immediately pre-Islamic period into a sharper contrast with Islam.<ref>See the introduction of the open access chapter: Ahmad Al-Jallad (2022), [https://www.academia.edu/45498003/Al_Jallad_Pre_Print_Draft_The_Religion_and_Rituals_of_the_Nomads_of_Pre_Islamic_Arabia_A_Reconstruction_based_on_the_Safaitic_Inscriptions The Religion and Rituals of the Nomads of Pre-Islamic Arabia: A Reconstruction based on the Safaitic Inscriptions] in (ed. Zhi Chen et al.), Ancient Languages and Civilizations, Volume: 1, Leiden: Brill</ref><ref>Patricia Crone' [https://www.ias.edu/sites/default/files/hs/Crone_Articles/Crone_Quranic_Deities.pdf The Religion of the Quranic Pagans: God and the Lesser Deities], Arabica 57 (2010) p. 171 ff.</ref> Our understanding of the religious landscape in pre-Islamic Arabia is being transformed by the study of epigraphic evidence (inscriptions on rocks, rock art, and their archaeological contexts), complemented with careful study of Quranic internal evidence and early Islamic sources, independent of later histographic works. | ||
From the fourth century CE, pagan deities almost completely disappear from the epigraphic record, commencing what is known as the monotheistic period in Arabia. In their place, a single god, Rhmnn starts to appear, which eventually becames the Quranic epithet al-Rahman (more on this below).<ref>Ahmad al-Jallad (2020) [https://www.academia.edu/43141064 Chapter 7: The Linguistic Landscape of pre-Islamic Arabia - Context for the Qur’an] in Mustafa Shah (ed.), Muhammad Abdel Haleem (ed.), "The Oxford Handbook of Qur'anic Studies", Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 122</ref> | From the fourth century CE, pagan deities almost completely disappear from the epigraphic record, commencing what is known as the monotheistic period in Arabia. In their place, a single god, Rhmnn starts to appear, which eventually becames the Quranic epithet al-Rahman (more on this below).<ref>Ahmad al-Jallad (2020) [https://www.academia.edu/43141064 Chapter 7: The Linguistic Landscape of pre-Islamic Arabia - Context for the Qur’an] in Mustafa Shah (ed.), Muhammad Abdel Haleem (ed.), "The Oxford Handbook of Qur'anic Studies", Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 122</ref> | ||
The word Allah first appears in the epigraphic record as the name of one of many Nabataean | The word Allah first appears in the epigraphic record as the name of one of many Nabataean deities in 1st century BCE or 1st century CE northern Arabia.<ref name="alJallad2022">See the start of Appendix one in the open access chapter: Ahmad Al-Jallad (2022), [https://www.academia.edu/45498003/Al_Jallad_Pre_Print_Draft_The_Religion_and_Rituals_of_the_Nomads_of_Pre_Islamic_Arabia_A_Reconstruction_based_on_the_Safaitic_Inscriptions The Religion and Rituals of the Nomads of Pre-Islamic Arabia: A Reconstruction based on the Safaitic Inscriptions] in (ed. Zhi Chen et al.), Ancient Languages and Civilizations, Volume: 1, Leiden: Brill</ref> The word possibly might have come from a contraction of al-ʾilāh (the god), though there are some linguistic difficulties with this idea. In any case it was the name of a deity at that time and there is no indication that it was associated with the monotheistic Judeo-Christian god. The name Abd Allah (like the name of Muhammad's father) first appears in a Nabataean pagan context (they used the same construct also for other gods, for example ʿAbdu Manōti, "servant of Manāt"). In Safaitic inscriptions (a script used in the north Arabian desert), the name Allah is occasionally invoked, though other deities much more so. By the sixth century CE the name Allah is applied in a monotheistic context around the Hijaz and at some point merges with the Christian al-ʾilāh (the god). Allah appears equated with al-Rahman (who in the south was associated with the Judeo-Christian God) in a pre-Islamic basmala inscription discovered in Yemen, as discussed in the next section below.<ref>See this [https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1450418538418745355 twitter thread] by leading linguist in the history of Arabic, Dr Marijn van Putten - 19 October 2021 ([https://web.archive.org/web/20211027185522/https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1450418538418745355 archive])</ref> | ||
===The Basmala=== | ===The Basmala=== | ||
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===Beliefs of the Quranic Mushrikeen=== | ===Beliefs of the Quranic Mushrikeen=== | ||
Patricia Crone in a detailed article on the Quranic mushrikeen pointed out that they believed in Allah as the Judeo-Christian creator god, but associated with him one or more lesser partners, usually described as gods but sometimes his offspring, and that he took female angels for himself. Sometimes these gods are named, most of which have also been found in rock inscriptions. The mushrikeen also believed in jinns and demons, and some worshipped heavenly bodies. Ahab Bdaiwi adds that only rarely is outright paganism found of the kind described in later sources (like Ibn al-Kalbi).<ref>Patricia Crone' [https://www.ias.edu/sites/default/files/hs/Crone_Articles/Crone_Quranic_Deities.pdf The Religion of the Quranic Pagans: God and the Lesser Deities], Arabica 57 (2010) 151-200</ref><ref>See this [https://twitter.com/abhistoria/status/1293641557531414528 Twitter.com thread] by Dr Ahab Bdaiwi - 12 August 2020 ([https://web.archive.org/web/20220816120902/https://twitter.com/abhistoria/status/1293641557531414528 archive]) [https://twitter.com/abhistoria/status/1397609517052006404 and this one] - 26 May 2021 ([https://web.archive.org/web/20220814092519/https://twitter.com/abhistoria/status/1397609517052006404 archive])</ref> | Historian Patricia Crone in a detailed article on the Quranic mushrikeen pointed out that they believed in Allah as the Judeo-Christian creator god, but associated with him one or more lesser partners, usually described as gods but sometimes his offspring, and that he took female angels for himself. Sometimes these gods are named, most of which have also been found in rock inscriptions. The mushrikeen also believed in jinns and demons, and some worshipped heavenly bodies. Ahab Bdaiwi adds that only rarely is outright paganism found of the kind described in later sources (like Ibn al-Kalbi).<ref>Patricia Crone' [https://www.ias.edu/sites/default/files/hs/Crone_Articles/Crone_Quranic_Deities.pdf The Religion of the Quranic Pagans: God and the Lesser Deities], Arabica 57 (2010) 151-200</ref><ref>See this [https://twitter.com/abhistoria/status/1293641557531414528 Twitter.com thread] by Dr Ahab Bdaiwi - 12 August 2020 ([https://web.archive.org/web/20220816120902/https://twitter.com/abhistoria/status/1293641557531414528 archive]) [https://twitter.com/abhistoria/status/1397609517052006404 and this one] - 26 May 2021 ([https://web.archive.org/web/20220814092519/https://twitter.com/abhistoria/status/1397609517052006404 archive])</ref> | ||
==Worship at the Ka’aba== | ==Worship at the Ka’aba== | ||