Jahiliyyah - Part 2

[Guest guest]

('Jahiliyyah' - traditionally translated " Time of Ignorance " , and used to apply

to the pre-Islamic period in Arabia, but in the Muslim sources its primary

meaning is violent and explosive irascibility, arrogance, tribal chauvinism.

[Muhammad Prophet For Our Time Glossary pg. 217].)

 

 

Jahiliyyah - Part 2

 

(p.58) Muhammad's converts eagerly awaited each new revelation; after he had

recited it, they would learn it by heart, and those who were literate wrote it

down. They felt moved and stirred by the exquisite language of their scripture,

which, they were convinced, could only have come from God. It is difficult for a

non-Arabic speaker to appreciate the beauty of the Qur'an, because this is

rarely conveyed in translation. The text seems wearyingly repetitive; it has no

apparent structure, no sustained argument or organizing narrative. But the

Qur'an was not designed to be read sequentially. In its final form, the chapters

or surahs of the Qur'an have been arranged arbitrarily, beginning with the

longest and ending with the shortest, so the order is not important. Each surah

contains essential teachings and it is possible to dip into the text at any

point and imbibe crucial lessons.

 

In common with the majority of Arabs at this time, Muhammad could neither read

nor write. The word 'qur'an' means " recitation. " It was not designed for private

perusal, but like most scriptures, it was meant to be read aloud, and the sound

was an essential part of the sense. Poetry was important in Arabia. The poet was

the spokesman, social historian, and cultural authority of his tribe, and over

the years the Arabs had learned how to listen to a recitation and had developed

a highly sophisticated critical ear. [9] (p.59) Bards chanted their odes at the

annual trade fairs to excited audiences from all over the peninsula. Every year

there was an important poetry contest at the fair of 'Ukaz, just outside Mecca,

and the winning poems were embroidered in gold on fine black cloth and hung on

the walls of the Kabah. Muhammad's followers would, therefore, have been able to

pick up verbal signals in the text that are lost in translation. They found that

themes, words, phrases, and sound patterns recurred again and again--like the

variations in a piece of music, which subtly amplify the original melody, and

add layer upon layer of complexity. The Qur'an was deliberately repetitive; its

ideas, images, and stories were bound together by these internal echoes, which

reinforced its central teaching with instructive shifts of emphasis. They linked

passages that initially seemed separate, and integrated the different strands of

the text, as one verse delicately qualified and supplemented others. The Qur'an

was not imparting factual information that could be conveyed instantaneously.

Like Muhammad, listeners had to absorb its teachings slowly; their understanding

would grow more profound and mature over time, and the rich, allusive language

and rhythms of the Qur'an helped them to slow down their mental processes and

enter a different mode of consciousness.

 

The American scholar Michael Sells describes what happens when the driver of a

hot, crowded bus in Egypt plays a cassette of Qur'anic recitations: " A

meditative calm begins to set in. People relax. The jockeying for space ends.

The voices of those who are talking grows quieter and less strained. Others are

silent, lost in thought. A sense of shared community overtakes the discomfort. "

[10] Breath control is crucial to most of the contemplative traditions. (p.60)

Yogins have found that it brings a feeling of expansiveness, comparable to the

effect of music, especially when played by oneself. [11] Qur'anic reciters chant

long phrases on a slow exhalation and, when they inhale, leave silent pauses for

meditation. It is natural for the audience to adjust their breathing too and

find that this has a calming, therapeutic effect, which enables them to grasp

the more elusive teachings of the text.

 

God was not booming clear instructions from on high. The divine voice constantly

changed the way it referred to itself--as " we, " " he, " " your lord, " " Allah " or

" I " --shifting its relationship to both the Prophet and his audience. Nor was God

distinctively male. Each recitation began with the invocation: " In the name of

Allah, the Compassionate ('al-Rahman') and the Merciful ('al-Rahim'). " Allah was

a masculine noun, but the divine names al-Rahman and al-Rahim are not only

grammatically feminine but related etymologically to the word for womb. A

partially personified female figure was central to nearly all the early

revelations. We find veiled allusions to a woman conceiving a child or giving

birth; the image of a woman who has lost her only child, and the poignant

evocation of a baby girl, murdered by her disappointed parents. [12] This strong

female presence was remarkable in the aggressive patriarchy of Mecca and may

explain why women were among the first to respond to the message of the Qur'an.

 

In each of the early surahs (chapters), God spoke intimately to the individual,

often preferring to pose many of his teachings in the form of a question-- " Have

you not heard? " " Do you consider? " " Have you not seen? " (p.61) Each listener was

thus invited to interrogate him or herself. Any response to these queries was

usually grammatically ambiguous or indefinite, leaving the audience with an

image on which to meditate but with no decisive answer. [13] This new religion

was not about achieving metaphysical certainty: the Qur'an wanted people to

develop a different kind of awareness.

 

The Christian notion of the Last Judgment was central to the early message of

the Qur'an. Muhammad believed that Mecca was in crisis because the Quraysh no

longer felt accountable for their actions. In the steppes, the karim [bedouin

ideal] may have been arrogant and egotistic, but he had felt responsible for all

the members of his tribe. The Quraysh, however, were busily amassing private

fortunes, without giving a thought to the plight of the " weak. " They did not

seem to realize that their deeds would have long-lasting consequence. To counter

this heedlessness, the Qur'an taught that individuals would have to explain

their behavior to God. There would be a " day of reckoning " ('yawm ad-din'): the

Arabic term also implies a " moment of truth. " [14] At the end of their lives,

human beings would have to face up to uncomfortable realities they had tried to

avoid. They would experience a terrifying ontological reversal, in which

everything that had seemed solid, important, and permanent would prove to be

ephemeral. (p.62) In staccato, lapidary verses, the early surahs tore this veil

of delusion away.

 

When the sun is overturned

When the stars fall away

When the mountains are moved

When the ten-month pregnant camels are abandoned

When the beasts of the wild are herded together

When the seas are boiled over...

Then a soul will know what it has prepared. [15]

 

Sun, moon, and stars would disappear. Even a pregnant camel, the desert Arab's

most precious possession, had no lasting value. All that really mattered was a

person's conduct:

 

At that time people will straggle forth

to be shown what they have done

Whoever does a mote's weight good will see it

Whoever does a mote's weight wrong will see it. [16]

 

Deeds that seemed unimportant at the time would prove to have been momentous; a

tiny act of selfishness and unkindness or, conversely, an unconsidered act of

generosity would become the measure of a human life: " To free a slave, to feed

the destitute on a day of hunger, a kinsman, orphan, or a stranger out of luck,

in need. " [17]

 

Anybody who had performed these " works of justice " ('salihat') would be rewarded

eternally in Paradise ('illiyyin) but those who had concentrated on the selfish

acquisition of material possessions would be punished in the 'jahim'--a strange

word, usually translated " raging fire. " But the Qur'an was not preaching a

crudely apocalyptic vision of hell. The passages describing the jahim are sad

rather than angry.

 

Muhammad (Prophet For Our Time)

Chapter 2, 'Jahiliyyah', p.58-62

Karen Armstrong

Harper Perennial - London, New York, Toronto and Sydney

ISBN-13 978-0-00-723248-2

ISBN-10 0-00-723248-9

 

Notes:

 

[9] Michael Sells, ed. and trans., 'Approaching the Qur'an: The Early

Revelations' (Ashland, OR, 1999), xvi.

 

[10] Sells, 'Approaching the Qur'an', 183-84.

 

[11] Mircea Eliade, 'Yoga: Immorality and Freedom', trans. Willard Trask

(London, 1958), 56.

 

[12] Sells, 'Approaching the Qur'an', 183-204. See also Qur'an 81:8-9.

 

[13] See Qur'an 82:17-18, 83:8-9, 19.

 

[14] Sells, 'Approaching the Qur'an', xliii.

 

[15] Qur'an 81:1-6, 14, in Sells, 'Approaching the Qur'an'.

 

[16] Qur'an 99:6-9, Sells translation.

 

[17] Qur'an 90:13-16, Sells translation.