Political life in the pre-Islamic era was not in a good condition compared to the current political situation, as it was characterized by the tribe system that prevailed in this time period.
The pre-Islamic era is considered an important historical era, so it is necessary to highlight this era in an integrated manner; So that the nature of political life in the pre-Islamic era is understood, and this is what we will reveal clearly through the following topic in.
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Political life in pre-Islamic era
Political life was largely ambiguous in the pre-Islamic era, except that historians have attributed this reason to illiteracy that prevailed at that time, but this does not mean that political life in the pre-Islamic era was not recorded.
We also find that the pre-Islamic era differs from the rest of other human civilizations, such as the Pharaonic civilization, the Sumerian civilization, the Roman and Greek civilization, as the civilization of this era was very poor.
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Definition of pre-Islamic era
The pre-Islamic era is seen as the period of time that preceded the emergence of Islam, that is, before the mission of the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace.
Historians have sought to define this period as nearly a hundred and fifty years before Islam, and the term “jahiliyya” or “pre-Islamic” was applied to this period after the advent of Islam.
The reason for calling this era Jahili is due to the great ignorance that spread among the Arabs in this period, in addition to the tribal conflicts and disputes.
Also, the Arabs of this period were interested in worshiping idols that were made by their hands, such as the idols of Hubal, Al-Lat, Al-Uzza and Manat, and from the Arabs of the Fire Slave.
We also find that some of them are from the servant of the sun and the moon, but we find a few of them from the servant of God Almighty to the religion of Abraham, peace be upon him.
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Arab life in pre-Islamic era
The Arabs lived a tribal life based on conflicts, rebellions and wars in the pre-Islamic era, where they were a people of Jahiliyya whose fervor and tribal tendency took them to bloodshed, so they paid much attention to waging wars for years and decades, which was reflected in the political life in their pre-Islamic era.
The best evidence of these wars is the war of Bassous, the war of felon and al-Ghubra. All this is the best evidence of the barbarity of the life of the Arabs before Islam, these two wars that lasted for many years of fighting and blood between Arab tribes for silly and naive reasons.
Where the tribe was the way of life for the Arabs in the pre-Islamic era, and these Bedouin tribes lived in the desert behind the sources of water and grass, and they used to take tents as their dwelling in the deserts and their food was milk and dates, and they relied on camels for their travels and their various caravans.
This does not mean that the prevailing system was very degraded and backward. Rather, we find that there are many urban cities in which people, especially merchants and farmers, lived in, such as Makkah, Yathrib, Taif, and the cities of Yemen, Ghassanid and Al-Hirah.
Where the city dwellers lived in stone houses and wore luxurious clothes, and their food was milk and wine, and their food was meat, and they used vessels of silver and gold.
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The nature of political life in the pre-Islamic era
Political life in the pre-Islamic era was unstable and largely unknown, and this is due to the fact that the history of the Arabs in the pre-Islamic era was not recorded due to the illiteracy that prevailed at that time.
The relations between the Arab kingdoms that ruled over the Arabian Peninsula were economic and political relations, as the Kingdom of Sheba, which was in the south, was on political accord to some extent with the Kingdom of Hadhramaut in the north.
However, these existing relations between some kingdoms were not sufficient to extend complete calm between the kingdoms of the Arabian Peninsula, as the period of pre-Islamic era was a period full of wars and conflicts between the Arab tribes on the one hand and the Arab kingdoms on the other hand.
Among the wars that took place in the pre-Islamic era were the wars of the King of Himyar with the Manhathra, and the wars of the Himyarites that he waged on the northeast of the Arabian Peninsula, and there was also a group of pre-Islamic kingdoms that collapsed before Islam, such as the Kingdom of Himyar that collapsed in 525 AD, the Kingdom of Ghassanids that collapsed in 583 AD, and the Kingdom of the Manathira Which collapsed in 609 AD.
Also, we find in the system of political life in the pre-Islamic era the availability of a large number of tramps, a group of poets who revolted against the customs and traditions of their pre-Islamic tribes and fled and hid in the countryside.
Where the tramps took the behavior of launching raids on caravans as a craft and sustenance, and their examples are the poet Al-Shanfari, Urwa bin Al-Ward and other well-known pre-Islamic poets.
Political formation in the pre-Islamic era
Through what has been mentioned, it becomes clear to us that the organized political formation was absent in political life in the pre-Islamic era, perhaps this is due to the state of weakness that the Arabs lived in Mecca, for fear of any invasion threatening them from the neighboring empires from the north and south.
It is also due to the domination and control of those empires over their most important parts, such as Al-Hirah, Ghassanids, and Yemen, and the Arab tribe was a political entity that characterized the political life in the pre-Islamic era, so it was based on a hierarchical organization consisting of several degrees represented in the following form:
- First: The master of the tribe, who is the sheikh, head and head of the tribe, where the president comes in a democratic way, and if they were not elections, as we find that nowadays, they relied on automatic choice in choosing the sheikh. And patience, dream, humility, and statement, and with the importance of nervousness in choosing, but personal qualities were the basis.
- Secondly, the mullah or the tribe’s council, who are the noblemen of the people and their masters, and they are the elites of the people and people of opinion, and the people of the solution and the contract.
The Arabs in the peninsula used to go to the master of the tribe to seek opinion on important matters such as issues of peace and war, just as tribal leaders used to meet to consider the matter of choosing a new president if their chief died and had no inheritance.
Through all of the above, it becomes clear that there is a political organization available in political life in the pre-Islamic era, albeit in its simple form that is limited to the tribe, in addition to that the issue of decision-making and the exercise of governance was hierarchical.
As it was based on the choice of the leaders of the people and on him in deciding the fate of the tribe, and therefore the characteristics of differentiation and class are strongly present between the upper class and the general members of the tribe.
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The nature of religious life in the pre-Islamic era
The pre-Islamic era is full of many religions, but most of them were paganism, as paganism spread widely throughout the peninsula and was as follows:
There were pagans who worshiped idols after they lost all the teachings of the prophets sent by God Almighty to the Arabs, such as the Prophet of God is Hood and peace be upon them, and the Arabs left the teachings of the Prophet of God Abraham – upon him be peace – the father of the Arabized Arabs who were the largest portion of the Arabs in the pre-Islamic era.
This is in addition to some accounts indicating that some Arabs used to believe in Christianity, the religion of the Roman Empire that was in the Levant and which was followed by a number of Arab tribes. The best evidence for that is the Christians of Najran.
There was also a group of Jewish Arabs, most notably those who were in Yathrib and in northern Arabia and Hanifiya, but to a small extent, and some of them condemned the religion of the Magian Persians and the worshipers of fire.
The nature of economic life in pre-Islamic times
We find that the entire economy of the Arabian Peninsula was largely dependent on trade, in addition to agriculture and livestock raising of camels, sheep and horses, and Quraysh was the center of Arab trade entirely because of its location and because of the Arabs’ intention of Mecca for the Hajj, so it was an important religious and commercial center.
The Quraish caravans were heading in the summer towards the Levant, Egypt and Sinai, and in the winter they were heading towards Yemen along the road along the Red Sea coast. As for the Arab tribes, they were many wandering in search of water and what the cattle graze on the ground of wet or dry grass or plants in all parts of Arabian island.
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The nature of social life in pre-Islamic times
Arabs are distinguished by a distinctive social life despite the poverty of their civilization and their backwardness compared to other civilizations that prevailed in their time, as well as their poverty in the scientific and cultural aspects that greatly affect their lives, so many of them used to travel around the world to gather various industries and different developments and bring them back again They have.
Also, many countries of the other world used to come to them to display their trade, and the main reason behind their continued arrival was the Arabs’ morals of generosity, loyalty to the covenant, self-esteem, courage and non-acceptance of injustice.
There are also some wrong habits prevailing in the pre-Islamic era, where the value of people in the pre-Islamic era was according to their lineage, and strength was measured by the abundance of men.
He who was born in a tribe with many men would have been dear and impregnable among the people of his own people, but he who was born in a small tribe is free, but he is not dear as members of strong tribes, so he does not dare to oppose one of the men of other powerful tribes.
This is in addition to the great spread of slaves in the pre-Islamic era, due to the marriage of Arabs to slaves and slaves, who are the degenerate class between classes in Arab society in the pre-Islamic era.
Slaves in the pre-Islamic era had no rights at all, but were unjustly exploited by their masters in all the works that the descendants and high-class owners did not do in society. As for women, she was viewed in an inferior view and considered her inferior to men, until infanticide spread Among the Arabs.
Where a man used to bury his daughter while she was alive when a female child was heralded, so the male was a pride for his father, and the female was humiliated and deficient, and these are among the customs that indicate the ignorance of the Arabs and their barbarism at that period as well.
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The nature of literary life in the pre-Islamic era
Arabic literature in the pre-Islamic era is the oldest known Arab literary product, as Arabic literature in the pre-Islamic era spread in the region of the Arabian Peninsula.
That is why literature was influenced by the political and commercial conditions that the Arabian Peninsula experienced. The naming of pre-Islamic literature with this name came from the case of the Arabs in that period of time.
Tribal nervousness ruled among them, and this is what we mentioned about the nature of political life in the pre-Islamic era, and customs spread among them indicating the spread of ignorance in society in that era, such as the infanticide of girls, conflict, wars, rebellions, etc.
From the above, we find that poets utter their poems through what they live in on the ground, for example, but not limited to:
- The saying of the pre-Islamic poet Amr Ibn Kulthum explains what is required. He said: Does not anyone be ignorant of us, so let us ignore above the ignorance of the ignorant ones?
It is worth noting here that Arabic literature in the pre-Islamic era was a great and eternal literature, as poetry rose as rhetoric rose in that era, and the poet and preacher occupied a great position among the ignorant people, until their poetry remained immortal to these days, and it is still the focus of attention of many scholars and critics of the literary value The great literature this literature carries.
Topic summary in 7 points
Based on what was presented in the previous topic, we find that:
- The political life in the pre-Islamic era was very primitive compared to the civilizations spread at that time.
- The life of the Arabs during the pre-Islamic era was sometimes mobile in search of water and herbs for their sheep, and there are also cities in which they lived and inhabited.
- The nature of religious life in the pre-Islamic era was largely pagan. They worship whatever they make with their own hands, along with Christianity and Judaism.
- We find that the system of economic life in the pre-Islamic era is based on trade, agriculture and the large number of markets spread to them.
- If we devote ourselves to social life in the pre-Islamic era, we find there are a set of good qualities, such as generosity, but there is a large group of unhealthy characteristics such as the spread of slavery and infanticide of girls.
- Political life in the pre-Islamic era was characterized by the tribe and the sheikh of the tribe was the chief, and they put a set of basic characteristics that must be present in it.
- Literary life in the pre-Islamic era was distinguished greatly, as there were many poets, writers, and speeches in this era.