Written by Manahil Masood
Pre-Islamic Arabia, also known as the period of Jahiliyyah, can be defined as the ‘Age of Ignorance’ prior to the Prophet Muhammed’s first revelation and the rise of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula circa 600CE. While Arab society was characterised by a range of nomadic and settled inhabitants, semi-nomadic tribe members who were skilled pastoralists, traders, and indeed, poets, dominated society. According to Albert Hourani, the most important literary output of these pre-Islamic nomadic Arab Bedouins was orally transmitted poetry, as evidenced by the highly developed qasidas and the seven famous suspended Mu’allaqat passed down through generations. Arguably, these poems came about as a result of a shared cultural identity and common tribal experiences, with Hourani and Robert Hoyland remarking that scholars have identified a conventional structure of three thematic components in these qasidas. This article shall demonstrate how each of these components of nostalgic love, a travel narrative, and a concluding substantive theme directly reflect elements of the Arab tribal lifestyle and perpetuate the foundational values that these tribesmen built their identities and culture upon.
Scholars have identified that these pre-Islamic Arabian poems are often characterised by opening themes of nostalgia, whether that be for a personal long-lost love, a place once visited by the poet, or a tribal conquest reminisced. This evocative reflection often manifested in expressions of love for the tribes themselves, arguably in a direct reflection of the nature of Arab tribal life and loyalty. Indeed, tribes were organised around a common ancestor with no formal hierarchy or institutions, such as taxes or laws. Rather, all Bedouin tribe members (except slaves and clients) were equal and operated on a set of values and virtues that meant authority and loyalty were shared within the tribe and extended to other tribes through alliances. This embedded love for one’s tribal kinsmen can be identified in the famous Mu’allaqat poem by Labid, in which he displays this sincere devotion by writing that “love-longing came over you for the women of that clan, as they mounted their camels”. Moreover, the nostalgia underpinning this account reflects the nomadic quality of these Arab tribes, as places and people loved by tribesmen often took on an ephemeral quality as temporary phases of their constantly moving lives. Thus, evidently, this characteristic theme of nostalgic love directly mirrors both the foundational structure of the tribes, as well as the nomadic lifestyles they undertook.
Indeed, following on from this theme of nostalgia, the middle section of this pre-Islamic poetry often describes a journeying narrative. Again, this thematic component is directly representative of the nomadic nature of these tribes, whose lifestyle revolved around an epicentre of travel and trade. Whilst there were settlements and cities around the Syrian desert and South Arabia, Hourani notes that most of the Arabian Peninsula was steppe or desert and that it was the population minority of merchants and the mobile camel-nomads who dominated pre-Islamic Arab society. These tribes would utilise caravan trade to contact other peoples, with Southern Arab tribesmen travelling to engage in agro-pastoral trade, and Central Arab stockbreeders likewise journeying across Arabia to trade camels and sheep. Hoyland remarks that these descriptive travel narratives of departure or camel-riding could serve a range of purposes within the poems, whether to simply demonstrate a metaphorical shift in tone, or to form the symbolic body of a qasida through the scenic description of the lands left behind or the riding animal. Indeed, this motif of departure can be evidenced in the seven suspended Mu’allaqat poems, with Tarafa writing that “when grief assails me, straightaway I ride it off, mounted on my swift lean-flanked camel, night and day racing”. Here, the importance of riding for tribesmen is highlighted, not only as a requirement of their trading occupation, but as an instinctual element of their nomadic identities and as a means of expressive escape. Evidently, the travel narrative components of pre-Islamic Arabic poetry serve as strong representation of the role of tribesmen in wider Arab society, but also of the personal freeing value of their mobility.
These poems would often conclude with the perpetuation of a wider collective theme, oftentimes expressed through motifs of Bedouin virtues, such as that of eulogy or satire. The exploration of these wider themes thus clearly reflected the contemporary tribal intention to bolster the social values of the tribe, with eulogies expressing respect for tribesmen upholding these values, and satires mocking those who did not. These central values of courage, fidelity, generosity, patience, and resoluteness were known as muruwwa and as Carole Hillenbrand notes, this foundational Bedouin code of honour was perhaps more significant to tribal culture than any observance of religion. Labid’s first poem demonstrates this phenomenon, commissioned for his clan as a satirical response to the King of Lakhm insulting them and failing to uphold Bedouin honourable values; “his anus is blotched with leprosy, and he inserts his finger up it all the way to the knuckle”. Thus, as Hoyland notably remarks, in emphasising the righteousness of those who uphold these values, and in turn mocking those who do not, pre-Islamic Arabian poetry “contributes to the enunciation and enforcement of social norms” and, in turn, directly reflects contemporary tribal societal values.
In conclusion, evidently, pre-Islamic Arabian poetry served as a direct reflection of the contemporary lifestyle of the Arab tribesmen, with each key component of the qasidas serving as a descriptive representation of Bedouin culture. Arguably, the universal opening theme of nostalgic love could be interpreted as a simultaneous expression of tribal loyalty alongside a direct emotional response to the transience of the mobile tribal lifestyle. This nomadic way is further explored in the connecting ‘travel narrative’ component of these poems, with camel-back journeys mirroring the trading occupations of tribes as well as a deeper instinctual element of individual freedom. These poems conclude with a wider collective theme celebrating and perpetuating Bedouin values to contemporary Arab audiences, again displaying the reflective purpose of these poems and demonstrating how the popular circulation of these poetic works further fortified and maintained the significance of tribal values.
Bibliography
Allen, Roger. An Introduction to Arabic Literature. Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Hillenbrand, Carole. Islam: A New Historical Introduction. Thames & Hudson, 2015.
Hourani, Albert. A History of the Arab Peoples. Faber and Faber, 2013.
Hoyland, Robert G. Arabia and the Arabs: from the Bronze Age to the coming of Islam. Routledge, 2001.
Nicholson, Reynold A. “Pre-Islamic Poetry, Manners, and Religion.” In Literary History of The Arabs. Routledge, 1998.
Sells, Michael Anthony. Desert Tracings: Six Classic Arabian Odes. Wesleyan University Press, 1989.
Featured Image Credit: A 19th-century tattooing pattern depicting pre-Islamic Arab hero and poet Antarah ibn Shaddad (left) and his lover Abla (middle) riding horses via Wiki Commons.
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