Makkah in Pre-Islamic and Early Islamic Poetry
By Adil SalahiCities may flourish during a certain period of history and then they may lose their importance, depending on various factors. However, cities that are built around a religious tradition tend to prosper and grow in importance. This is particularly true in our modern times, when travel has become fast and easy in the pre-Covid 19...
Cities may flourish during a certain period of history and then they may lose their importance, depending on various factors. However, cities that are built around a religious tradition tend to prosper and grow in importance. This is particularly true in our modern times, when travel has become fast and easy in the pre-Covid 19 world.
Perhaps Makkah, or Mecca, is the best known religious city in the world today, because of its function as the centre of an essential Islamic duty, the hajj, or pilgrimage, which is incumbent on every Muslim, man or woman, once in their lifetime. The Kaabah, which is the cubic building enshrouded with a Black drape at the centre of the Sacred Mosque in Makkah, is the place to which all Muslims face when they offer their daily prayer, wherever they are. For an informed reading on the Kaabah and its orientations, see the recent publication by Simon O’Meara[1]. This association between Islam and Makkah is taken for granted by all people.
When examining the history of a particular city, a historian will look at the records of its own people and what they tell us about their city in different periods. It is of interest to look at the mention of Makkah by its people prior to the time of Prophet Muhammad and the start of Islam (in 610 CE, in Makkah, according to Arab and Islamic tradition).
What is very helpful in this study is the fact that Arabic has not changed much over the centuries. This is due to the Qur’an, which has preserved its construction, derivative character, grammar and vocabulary. We are able to read today what was written in Arabic long before the start of Islam in the seventh century. At that time, the Arabs took much pride in their language, particularly in poetry, which is still considered highly relevant in academic circles. Poems from pre-Islamic days are still studied in secondary schools and universities throughout the Arab world. There are some difficulties encountered by students, but this is natural because of the social development that has introduced new terms and discarded obsolete ones, but an educated Arab would have no difficulty with grammar and construction of Arabic poetry written fifteen or sixteen centuries ago, or even earlier.
The Arabs of pre-Islamic days were exceedingly fond of their poetry and each tribe celebrated the growth of a fine poet, considering him or her a great asset. Some poets became so famous because of the extra care they used with their poetry. It is said that when they composed a particularly important poem, they resorted to immortalize it by writing it on a scroll and displaying it on the wall of the Kaabah, for pilgrims to read. Thus, we have the ‘displayed’ or ‘hanged’ poems (Al-Mu’allaqat)[2], which are known, at least in part, to many school children and university students. We note here that there is a dispute amongst historians on whether these poems were actually physically hung on the Kaaba walls, or named as such, to mean being hung in the minds and hearts of people. However, none of the historical sources denies the pre-Islamic existence of these poems.
A particularly relevant point to the questions raised by those who question the existence of Makkah prior to Islam is whether any mention of Makkah occurs in any of these important poems.
One of these important poems was by Zuhair ibn Abi Sulma[3]. He died in 609, i.e. one year before the start of the Islamic message. He was one of three poets of that era whom critics consider the best of Arab poets. What distinguishes his poetry is that it is serious, finely constructed and full of wisdom. His two sons Bujair and Kaab were also poets, but Bujayr embraced Islam early and was a companion of the Prophet, while Kaab did not. He abused Islam and the Prophet in his poetry, until shortly before the Prophet’s death when he also embraced Islam. In his most famous poem, displayed at the Kaabah, Zuhair follows the standard pattern followed at the time, which begins the poem with a few lines addressed to a former love that has long departed with her tribe. This normally takes the form of visiting the ruins of her tribe’s former quarters. His fourth line in the poem says:
I stopped there after twenty pilgrimage seasons, and I could hardly recognize the place.[4]
وقفت بها من بعد عشرين حجة فلأياً عرفتُ الدارَ بعد توهّم
He is dating his last visit to his love as ‘twenty pilgrimage seasons’ earlier. It is well-known that a pilgrimage is an annual event. We need to remember that the pilgrimage, or the hajj, was not started by Islam, but by Prophet Abraham who is believed to have built the Kaabah many centuries earlier. This is a clear statement confirming that the pilgrimage to Makkah was an established tradition and that the Arabs, who did not have a regular calendar, estimated time and number of years by this tradition.
The sixteenth line of the poem says:
I swear by the House around which walked the men who built it, belonging to Quraish and Jurhum.
فأقسمتُ بالبيت الذي طاف حولَهُ رجالٌ بَنَوهُ من قريشٍ وجُرْهُم
This line refers to the essential ritual of the pilgrimage, which is the walk around the Kaabah, which everyone can see today on television screens. The Kaabah itself is referred to as the House, which was the traditional reference to it among the Arabs, and it is referred to in the same way in the Qur’an. The poet mentions that the Kaabah was built by men from Quraish and Jurhum. These are the names of two major Arabian tribes that lived in Makkah. Jurhum came first, shortly after Prophet Abraham settled there his young son Ishmael and his mother, Hagar. Jurhum continued to live in Makkah for several generations, then it was taken over by the Khuza’ah tribe, before it was finally taken over by the Quraish tribe. Quraish rebuilt the Kaabah a few years before Islam, because its building was severely damaged by torrential rain.
