Pre-Islamic Arabia up to the 600s
Chapter 6 (part 1 of 5)
Islam did not arrive until the 600s
Arabian Peninsula Before Islam
• People considered
backwards
• Lived in the desert
• Nomads who rode
camels
Bedouins = Arab nomads who rode camels
Clans
L’Town Tribe
• Tough to survive in desert
• Families joined to form
clans
• Clans joined to form
tribes
Clan Leadership
Shaykhs = Clan leaders
selected by elders
Clan councils – Shaykhs
met to make rules,
enforced by warriors
Examples of Rules:
Regulated use of watering holes and grazing land
Clan Hierarchies
Shaykhs
Large herds, several
wives, many children
Warriors
From families who made up
the clan
Slave Families
conquered from other clans
Wealth Disparities
Wealth Disparities
Within clans some families
were wealthy, while some
were poor
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Within tribes, some clans
wealthy, some poor
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The Big Problem – Clan Fighting
• Fights constantly broke out between clans
• Fought over issues such as:
- Grazing land
- Defeat in horse race
- An insult
• These feuds often lasted 100s of years
• Constant infighting hurt the bedouins:
- Drained resources
- Weakened bedouins compared to their neighbors
Women in Pre-Islamic Arabia
Had more status than in surrounding empires
(Byzantine and Sasanian)
Played key economic roles: milking camels,
weaving clothes, raising children
Women did not have to wear veils, that came
later
Women still not equal: couldn’t be warriors, and
property inheritance/divorce laws favored men
Religion
In Pre-Islamic Arabia, religion was mostly mix of:
1. Animism
2. Polytheism
Animism = worship of nature
Polytheism = belief in many gods
Pre-Islamic Arab Culture
Pre-Islamic art
and architecture
not advanced
Poetry was main cultural output and
how we know what life was like
Visitors to Arab cities like Mecca
thought architecture was
unimpressive
2 Major Cities: Mecca and Medina
Grew b/c along trade route
Ruling Clan = Umayyad
Ruling Tribe = Quraysh
The Ka’ba
1) Religious shrine in Mecca
2) Site of yearly truce as pilgrims
came to Mecca
3) Helped business b/c visitors
traded in peace
4) Big reason for Mecca being
major city
(formerly called Yathrib)
City of the Prophet Muhammad
Like Mecca, grew b/c along
trade route
Constant fights for control left
Medina behind Mecca