The Prayers of Answering of Religious Calling of the Jahiliya (Pre Islamic Arabs)

Abstract

The study sheds light on the features of religious life in the Jahiliya age through studying the Jahili “answering of callings” in a manner restricted to the themes constituting a general phenomenon therein, and which researches the general rituals, and the palpable religious works, and the spiritual supplications undertaken by the Jahili Arabs. The purpose was to achieve tangible material rewards. These topics have been under the aegis of three major titles that included the prayers of the Jahili Arabs towards the gods, the rituals of their pilgrimage, their religious festivals. This has been based on the researcher’s gaging common features. In effect, the researcher has found that the religious characteristic of the “answering of callings” in addition to the materialist nature of the Arabs are the predominant feature of these prayers. The study addresses, likewise, secondary themes gathered by the scholar in a single topic. Each of these topics- in terms of the size of the material and contents- does not constitute a separate subject. These are themes- interpretatively- that are related to their religious life, particularly in terms of their materialist view of their gods, and also in terms of their relationship to their gods based on a feeling of weakness and fealty. However, this feeling is absent in the relationship of one of the high-class social classes- the kings’ class, for example. In effect, the “answering of callings” has indicated a relationship involving an air of superiority. The connections between the answering of calling for the Arabs before Islam, and the nature of their religious life - had an effect on the various answerings of calling in so far as performance and content. Such variety is based, in their totality, on pleasing their gods and gaining affinity to them through various means, some of which have been addressed in the course of this study. Perhaps the researcher intended through the study to add what is new insofar as what has been known about religious life in the Jahili age with respect to verse and chronicles and, moreover, to add detail to the discussion of some of their aspects given that the Jahili “answering of callings” constitutes a broader discussion and a fuller reference.