The Nature and Character of the Ancient Arabs – Brief

There are many positive as well as negative aspects of the pre-Islamic Arab culture and behavior.

Many of the hadiths (traditions) speak to the nature of the pre-Islamic Arabs, and also ones who later convert to Islam. A few examples suffice to give a broad stroke to the customs and behavior of the ancient people of Arabia in Jahiliya and then in the Islamic era.

1 – ‘Urwah bin Az-Zubair narrated: I asked Abdullah bin ‘Amr bin Al-‘As to tell me of the worst thing that the pagans did to the Prophet [SAWS]. He said: “While the Prophet [SAWS] was praying in Al-Hijr of Al-Ka’bah, ‘Uqbah bin Abi Mu’ait came and put his garment around the Prophet’s neck and strangled him violently. Abu Bakr came and caught him by his shoulder and pushed him away from the Prophet [SAWS] and said: ‘Do you want to kill a man just because he says: My Lord is Allah?” (Sahih Al-Bukhari)

2 – ‘Hamzah rushed upon [Abu Jahl] and struck his bow upon his head violently and said: “Ah! You have been abusing Muhammad; I too follow his religion and profess what he preaches.”’ (P. 127, The Sealed Nectar; Raheeq al-Makhtum, Al-Mubarakpuri)

‘The men of Bani Makhzum came to his help, and men of Bani Hashim wanted to provide help, but Abu Jahl sent them away saying: “Leave Abu ‘Umarah alone, by Allah I did shamelessly abuse his nephew.” ‘ (P. 127, Al-Mubarakpuri)

In fact, Hamzah’s conversion derived initially from the pride of a man who would not accept the concept of others humiliating his relative. (P. 128, Al-Mubarakpuri)

“Later on, however, Allah purified his nature and he managed to grasp the most trustworthy handhold (faith in Allah).” (P. 128, Al-Mubarakpuri)

3 – After many threats by the Quraish the Prophet’s Uncle Abu Talib became distressed, and said, ‘“Spare me and yourself and put not burden on me that I can’t bear.” ‘But when he saw that Muhammad was adamant and as he turned away from his uncle ‘his uncle called him and said, “Come back, my nephew,” and when he came back, he said, “Go and preach what you please, for by Allah, I will never forsake you.”’ His love and care were too great to be overcome by fear or abuse he too received due to his support of Muhammad, pbuh. For this reason, the Prophet asked Allah to give his uncle, who refused to accept Islam despite his support for the caller to Islam, the least form of punishment of any in the Hellfire. He used to say, “I hope his punishment will be lightened because of my dua (supplications) for him”. (Pp. 110-11, Al-Mubarakpuri)

4 – Khadijah, the wife of the Prophet, SAWS, had accepted the initial call to Islam immediately, and gave her full support to him, SAWS. He said, ‘“She believed in me while the people disbelieved in me. And she trusted in me while the people belied me. And she helped and comforted me, in person and wealth, when the people would not. Allah provided me with children by her, and He did not with others.”’ (P. 150, Al-Mubarakpuri)

5 – “Hisham bin ‘Amr, who used to smuggle some food to Bani Hashim [(one of the tribes under embargo by the Qurashites)] secretly at night, went to see Zuhari bin Abi Umaiyah Al-Makhzumi and condemned him for agreeing to that intolerable treatment meted out to his uncles in exile.”

“The latter expressed weakness, but agreed to work with Hisham and form a pressure group…thee emerged a group of five people who set out to abolish the pact and declare all relevant clauses null and void.” (P. 143, Al-Mubarakpuri)

6 – Abu Talib’s trust and belief in the Messenger, despite his own disbelief in the message, proved so great it could not be lessened, as one of the miraculous events which gave more weight to the truth of Islam and the Prophet of Islam as from Allah, the author writes, “Abu Talib meanwhile was sitting in a corner of the Mosque. He came to communicate to them that a Revelation had been sent to his nephew, the Prophet [SAWS], to the effect that ants had eaten away all their declaration …except those parts that bore the Name of Allah.” And “Al-Mut’im went to see the parchment and there he did discover that it was eater away by ants and nothing was left except the part bearing the Name of Allah. The declaration was thus cancelled…”

Many more examples can be found of interest which speak to the process of revelation, dawa and the mission of the Prophet, Muhammad, SAWS, intertwined with the descriptions of the ancient people and how Islam as an opposing faith challenged the strongly held beliefs and customs of the ancient Arabs and how that impacted on the Muslims and also their non-Muslim relatives, and the general climate in the early days of the Islamic call.