By Arshad Alam, New
Age Islam
1 May 2021
Was Islam A Radical Break From Its Supposedly
Pagan Past Or Were There Continuities?
Highlights:
1.
The perceived picture of pre-Islamic
Arabia as polytheistic and regressive may not be so black and white.
2.
The personhood of Khadeeja provides
ample evidence to suggest the presence of string independent women at the time.
3.
The Islamic concept of monotheism
itself might have roots in the pre-Islamic notions of divinity.
-----
Normally
when we listen to any Muslim scholar, one gets a fairly simple and straight
forward narrative about pre-Islamic Arabia. The story goes that before the
advent of Islam, the Arab society was steeped into polytheism. Every tribe had
their own gods and goddesses whom they prayed to everyday and on special
occasions. Moreover, the social norms of the society were extremely regressive;
the practice of female infanticide being rampant. We are told that the advent
of Islam changed all that for the better. And not just in terms of religion but
also in terms of the associated social and cultural norms. No wonder then,
pre-Islamic era was referred to as Jahiliyya or the age of ignorance. But how
far are these assertions a matter of historical record? Or should we just
believe them because Islamic scholars want us to? Historical evidence suggests
that Islam might not be the rupture which many of us believe it was; there were
significant continuities between pre-Islamic and post Islamic Arabic society.
But first it
is important to demystify the word Jahiliyya itself. The victors always get to
write the history from their own perspective. As it happens most victors tell
us a story which justifies and legitimizes their own conquest. Modern Europe
developed a narrative of bringing Enlightenment to the slave and other colonies
in order to justify their conquests. The Blacks and Asians were to be conquered
for their own good: in order that they are civilized by the Whites. Much
earlier, early Islam seems to have adopted the same trope in order to justify
its subjugation of the peoples that it ruled over.
The period
before the advent of Islam was declared to be that of wholesale ignorance. It
was as if pre-Islamic Arabia was devoid of any merit and the only good thing that
happened in that geography was the coming of Islam. There are obvious problems
in this narrative. The vehemence with which Islam denounced the ‘pagan’
practices meant that any cultural artefact of this past was hard to find and
even if it was there, no attention was paid to it. We know for example that
pre-Islamic Arabia had a rich oral tradition and that poets had high esteem.
There were impromptu sessions of poetry and some of the best compositions were
publicly displayed on the walls of the Kaba. It is not surprising therefore
that one of the first challenges that Quran faced was from this robust poetic
tradition. The Quran’s claims to be divinely inspired and therefore being of an
unparalleled aesthetic composition was challenged by different poets at that
time. The Quran, in different verses [11:13, 17:88, 2:23], seems to addressing
such concerns. The very fact that the Quran had to answer to these challenges
means that it was in contest with other expressions of aesthetic fulfilment. It
is not without reason therefore that when Islam became powerful enough, it
eliminated these poets through sheer physical force.
Islam also
made certain to proclaim to the world that it came as the liberator of women.
Early Muslim writers condemned pre-Islamic Arabs of practicing female
infanticide and presented Islam as a great deliverer from this sinful practice.
This view also seems to be highly exaggerated. The practice of female
infanticide appears to be limited to some specific tribes rather than being a
widespread practice. If the practice was as widespread as it is claimed to be,
then we would not have strong personalities like Khadeeja who was an
independent woman in her own right. The first wife of the Prophet not only
proposed marriage to him but ran her own business and Muhammad was in her
employment. For many, this fact exemplifies that Islam gave high status to
women. But the matter is a bit complicated. The episode in fact exemplifies the
high status of women in pre-Islamic Arabia. We must remember that Khadeeja got
married to Muhammad before the onset of revelations and hence before the
establishment of Islam. In fact, Muhamad did not marry any other woman till the
time Khadeeja was alive and he did not inherit anything after her death. This
certainly points to the fact that the marriage must have been according to a
special contract drawn by Khadeeja and accepted by the Prophet. All subsequent
marriages of the Prophet meant the domestication of his wives as we do not hear
any example of any of his wives being engaged in non-domestic pursuits. Islam,
far from giving more rights to women, might have ended up taking away some of
the earlier rights which they customarily possessed. The practice of drawing up
of marriage contract continued but an ideal Muslim woman was now expected to be
tied to the household and conduct herself as an appendage to the husband.
There are
other continuities between pre-Islamic and Islamic Arabia. The widespread
belief that all of Arabia was polytheistic is simply not true. The presence of
Judaism and Nestorian Christianity is well documented. It is true that
different tribes had different gods and goddesses whom they prayed to. But as
Ahmad al Jallad has pointed out, there was also the al-Ilah (the God) which was
extremely popular not just in the Hejaz but also in parts of what is now Yemen.
It was generally understood that al-Ilah was a God who was without any partners
and was also understood as the underlying principle behind different divine
manifestations. Thus, monotheism and its underlying foundations was not
entirely absent from the pre-Islamic non-Semitic Arabs. The Islamic concept and
even the name (Allah) of the divine is basically a further elaboration of
al-Ilah. The Quran [4:48] tells us that Allah despises Shirk, which basically
means associating partners to Him. This certainly is a development on the
concept of al-Ilah, the one who did not have any partners. It is also possible
that pre-Islamic Arabs continued to worship al-Ilah along with minor deities
specific to their tribes. The Quranic commandment against Shirk makes perfect
sense in such a context. Rather than Islam inaugurating a break within the
religious episteme of Arabs, it appears more plausible that there were
significant continuities between pre-Islamic and Islamic contexts.
But in
order to proclaim a fundamental newness, Islam had to invent a past. And this
past had to be denigrated in order that Islam is heralded as this progressive
and modernizing force. Of course, the past, as always, was denied a voice in
its own characterization. It is up to Muslims now to correct this lopsided view
of their history. Such an exercise need not necessarily lead to questioning the
basic tenets of the faith as some suspect; it will only tell us a bit more
about how we have reached here.
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Arshad Alam is a columnist with
NewAgeIslam.com.
URL: https://newageislam.com/debating-islam/the-muslim-construction-pre-islamic/d/124766
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