Dhū l-Madschāz
Dhū l-Madschāz ( Arabic ذو المجاز, DMG Ḏū l-Maǧāz ) was a place in the vicinity of Mecca , where a well-known market took place in pre- and early Islamic times immediately before the Hajj . According to the information of the Arab geographer Yāqūt al-Hamawī ar-Rūmī , the place was a parasange north of the plain ʿArafāt on the territory of the Arab tribe Hudhail and had a water point.
The market and its relationship to Hajj
The lexicographer Ibn Manzūr explained the name of the place (Arabic maǧāz = passage, place of permission) with the fact that the pilgrims were given permission to perform Hajj from here. The market of Dhū l-Madschāz began as soon as the new moon of the pilgrimage month of Dhū l-Hiddscha was visible and ended on the 8th day of the month, i.e. immediately before the beginning of the great festival of ʿArafa day on 9th Dhū l-Hiddscha. Since there is no water in the plain of ʿArafāt and in Muzdalifa , the pilgrims used the last day of the market in Dhū l-Madschāz to water their animals and to cover themselves with water. That is why the 8th day of the month Dhu l-Hiddscha is called the “day of the watering” ( Yaum at-Tarwiya ). Since the old Arabic calendar was a lunisolar calendar , which adjusted the lunar calendar to the solar year every three years by inserting a leap month, the market of Dhū l-Madschāz was constant in late summer (August / September). Only with the introduction of the Islamic lunar calendar and the abolition of the leap month Nasī ' did it lose its fixed place in the solar year and, like the Hajj itself, began to wander backwards through the year.
In ancient Arabic times, the market of Dhū l-Madschāz not only marked the beginning of the Hajj, but also the conclusion of a series of well-known markets that took place in the vicinity of Mecca during the holy months of Dhū l-Qaʿda and Dhū l-Hiddscha: the vonUkāz market lasted from the 1st to the 20th Dhū l-Qaʿda, the Majanna market lasted from the 21st to the 29th Dhū l-Qaʿda, and the third market was that of Dhū l-Madschāz from the 1st to the 8th Dhu l-Hijjah. All three markets had a firm relationship with Hajj. If the Quraish wanted to visit them, they went into the Hajj-specific state of consecration , and they are said to have imposed this on all other people as well. All three markets together are also mentioned in a tradition that is traced back to the companion of the prophet ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAbbās and as an explanation for the revelation of the Quranic word of sura 2: 198 ("You do not commit sin if you seek the favor of your Lord") serves. Hence ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAbbās said:
“ʿUkāz, Majanna and Dhū l-Madschāz were markets in the Jāhiliyya , and when Islam came up it was as if they were imposing restraint in this regard. Then came the Qur'anic word: "You do not commit sin if you seek favor from your Lord" (Sura 2: 198) descending on the feast days of Hajj. "
In another version of the hadith that mentions only two of the markets, Dhū l-Madschāz appears even more prominent:
“Dhū l-Madschāz and ʿUkāz were the trading post ( matǧar ) of the people in the Jāhiliyya, and when Islam came up it was as if they felt reluctance to do so, until the saying,“ You do not sin if you are favored strive from your Lord "(Sura 2: 198) came down about the feast days of Hajj."
Like the other two markets, the market of Dhū l-Madschāz was not only a trading center, but also an important intra-Arab communication platform and venue for poetry competitions. In a poem by the ancient Arabic poet al-Hārith ibn Hilliza, which was included in the famous collection of the Muʿallaqāt, an "alliance treaty of Dhū l-Madschāz" ( ḥilf Ḏī l-Maǧāz ) is mentioned. With him the king of al-Hira ʿAmr ibn Hind is said to have restored peace between the Arab tribes Bakr and Taghlib, who had fought for a long time in the so-called Basūs War. In the 66th verse of this poem it is said: “Remember the covenant treaty of Dhū l-Majāz and the oaths and guarantees that were made to it” ( uḏkurū ḥilfa Ḏī l-Maǧāz wa-mā quddima fī-hi l-ʿuhūdu wa -l-kufalāʾ ). However, it is not entirely certain whether this place is identical to the market in Mecca.
Dhū l-Madschāz as a forum for the spread of Islam
According to Islamic tradition, the Prophet Mohammed also stayed here several times during his Meccan times and used the place to spread his new religion. The companion of the Prophet Tāriq ibn ʿAbdallāh al-Muhāribī, who later settled in Kufa , is quoted as saying:
“When I was at the market in Dhū l-Madschāz, a young man passed me who was wearing a red robe and shouting in a loud voice:“ O people, say: There is no god but God, then you will be fine . “A man ran after him and pelted him, so that his thighs and lizards were already bloody. He shouted, “O people, don't follow him because he's a liar.” I asked, “Who is that?” They said, “A young man from the Hashimites who claims to be the Messenger of God. And the other is his uncle ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā [ie Abū Lahab ] "."
In another tradition, which deals with the appearance of Muhammad, a sheikh from the Kinana tribe is quoted as saying that the Messenger of God had a black beard and black curly hair when he came across the market in Dhū l-Madschāz saw going. All in all, Mohammed is said to have regularly visited the festival markets ( mawāsim ) of ʿUkāz, Majanna and Dhū l-Madschāz for ten years in order to call people to Islam until he was forbidden to do so. According to a tradition quoted by Muhammad ibn Saʿd , Dhū l-Madschāz was also the place where Mohammed first contacted envoys from Yathrib and called them to Islam, thereby preparing his alliance with the inhabitants of the oasis.
Muhammad ibn Saʿd also narrates a miracle tale connected with Dhū l-Madschāz. Accordingly, when the young Mohammed was once on the road with his uncle Abū Tālib in Dhū l-Madschāz and he felt great thirst, he is said to have knocked water out of the ground with his heel.
The displacement of the market in Islamic times
According to al-Azraqīs report , the three markets of ʿUkāz, Majanna and Dhū l-Madschāz, which originally functioned as the markets of Mecca, continued to exist in Islamic times, but they were gradually replaced by the new markets of ʿArafa and Minā . The trade on ʿArafa day (9th Dhū l-Hiddscha) and on the days in Minā (10th – 12th Dhū l-Hiddscha), which had not yet existed in pre-Islamic times, is probably only through the Quranic word of Sura 2 : 198 authorized. In the Koran code of the Ubaiy ibn Kaʿb , the passage was provided with the explicit addition “at the festive times of Hajj” ( fī mawāsim al-ḥaǧǧ ).
The end of the Dhū l-Madschāz market came around the middle of the 8th century when the two Ibadites Abū Hamza and Tālib al-Haqq raided Mecca. On this occasion, in the year 746/7, the market of ʿUkāz was initially abandoned, followed a little later by the abandonment of Majanna and Dhū l-Madschāz. Trade now completely shifted to the markets in Mecca itself, Minā and ʿArafa.
literature
- Salamah Salih Sulayman Aladieh: Meccan Trade prior to the rise of Islam . Doctoral Thesis, University of Durham 1991. Available online here .
- Michael Bonner: "Time Has Come Full Circle": Markets, Fairs and the Calendar in Arabia before Islam , in: Asad Q. Ahmed, Behnam Sadeghi and Michael Bonner (ed.): The Islamic scholarly tradition: studies in history, law, and thought in honor of Professor Michael Allan Cook . Suffering a.]: Brill 2011. pp. 15-47.
- Patricia Crone : Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam . Princeton 1987. pp. 170-178.
- Julius Wellhausen : Remains of Arab paganism . Berlin 1897. pp. 88-91.
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Aladieh 126.
- ↑ See Bonner 30.
- ↑ Cf. Róbert Simon: Meccan Trade and Islam. Problems of Origin. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 1980. p. 155.
- ↑ Cf. Crone 173 and al-Azraqī : Aḫbār Makka wa-mā ǧāʾa fī-hā min al-āṯār. Ed. ʿAbd-al-Malik Ibn-ʿAbdallāh Ibn-Duhaiš. 2 vol. Mekka 2003. vol. I, p. 285.
- ↑ See Arthur John Arberry : The Seven Odes: the first chapter in Arabic literature. London 1957. p. 224.
- ↑ Muhammad ibn Saʿd : Kitāb al-Ṭabaqāt al-kabīr . Vol. I / 2, p. 137, line 7. Can be viewed online here.
- ↑ Muhammad ibn Saʿd : Kitāb al-Ṭabaqāt al-kabīr . Vol. I / 1, p. 145, lines 8-11. Here viewable online.
- ↑ Cf. Cook 176 and Muhammad ibn Saʿd: Kitāb aṭ-Ṭabaqāt al-kabīr . Ed. E. Sachau. 9 vols. Leiden 1904–1940. Vol. III / 2, p. 15, line 17. can be viewed online here.
- ↑ Muhammad ibn Saʿd: Kitāb al-Ṭabaqāt al-kabīr . Vol. I / 1, p. 98, lines 21-27. Here viewable online.
- ↑ See Crone 178.
- ↑ Cf. al-Azraqī I 281.
- ↑ See Crone 171.
- ↑ Cf. al-Azraqī I 281.
- ↑ Cf. Bonner 39f and al-Azraqī: Aḫbār Makka wa-mā ǧāʾa fī-hā min al-āṯār . Ed. ʿAbd-al-Malik Ibn-ʿAbdallāh Ibn-Duhaiš. 2 vol. Mekka 2003. vol. I, p. 283.