Jāhilīya

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Jāhilīya - also written Jahili (y) ya - ( Arabic جاهلية, DMG ǧāhilīya ) is an Arabic term from the vocabulary of the Koran , which in common usage denotes the time of ancient Arabic paganism before Islam , the exact meaning of which is unclear, however. The attribute derived from this is jāhilī (جاهلي / ǧāhilī ), accordingly in Arabic literary historiography, for example, the poetry ( shiʿr ) of the pre-Islamic Arabs is called shiʿr jāhilī (شعر جاهلي / šiʿr ǧāhilī ) called. In the Salafi tradition of thought, which is based on the writings of the Hanbali scholar Ibn Taimīya , the term does not mean a period of time, but a state that can occur at any time when a society deviates from Islam.

From a purely grammatical point of view, the word Jāhilīya forms an abstract noun to the participle active jāhil (جاهل / ǧāhil ). This in turn belongs to the Arabic root j-hl . The noun dschahl , which also belongs to this root, has the meaning of "ignorance, ignorance, folly" in modern Arabic.

Koranic usage

The participle active dschāhil from which the term JAHILIYYAH is derived, the Koran, which appears for the first time at locations medium Mekkan or late Mekkan be assigned time (see, for example.. Sure 25 ; 63: Sure 28 : 55; 39: 64), and there denotes the opponents of the prophet.

The term Jāhilīya itself only appears in Medinian times, there in four places:

  • In Sura 3 : 154, in connection with a battle of the Prophet Mohammed, a group of followers is mentioned who, unlike other followers, cannot sleep, but rather worry about themselves by making wrongful assumptions about God in the manner of the Jāhilīya . The place is dated to the time immediately after the battle of Uhud in year 3 of the Hijra .
  • In sura 5:50 , in connection with a quarrel, the question is asked: " Do you want the Jāhilīya to decide (for example) ? Who could decide better than God for people who are convinced?" (Translation Paret). The dating of the site is uncertain.
  • In sura 33 : 33 the wives of Muhammad are asked to stay in their house and not to behave in the manner of the first jāhiliyya (الجاهلية الأولى / al-ǧāhilīya al-ūlā ) to dress up . The passage is in a passage that is dated to the year 5 of the Hijra.
  • In Sura 48 : 26 the zeal of the Jāhilīya , which has penetrated the hearts of the unbelieving Meccans, is contrasted with the "inner peace" ( sakīna ) that God has sent down on the believers. The passage is related to the time shortly after the peace treaty of Hudaibiya in the year 6 of the Hijra.

Islamic interpretations

Traditional exegesis

The nine Koranic documents for jāhil and the four documents for Jāhilīya do not allow a precise semantic definition of the terms. In the traditional Islamic exegesis of the Koran it is usually emphasized that dschahl represents an antonym to ʿilm ("knowledge"), and accordingly interprets the jāhil as "ignorant": he knows neither the only God as creator nor the prophet Mohammed nor the religious law and has thus no knowledge of religious norms of Islam.

The first Jāhilīya in sura 33:33 is interpreted in the Islamic Koranic exegesis either as the epoch from Adam to Noah (in contrast to the second Jāhilīya , which is said to extend from Jesus to Mohammed) or as the entire pre-Muslim period in contrast to the relapse into ins Paganism that occurs after the Prophet's appearance.

The Salafīya tradition of thought

Even the medieval scholar Ibn Taimīya , who is considered to be the pioneer of Salafīya , used the Jāhilīya term to characterize contemporary customs that he regarded as un-Islamic. The term became particularly important among the Wahhabis, who were strongly influenced in their thinking by Ibn Taimīya. For example, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab , the founder of the Wahhabi doctrine, spoke in his writings of a second Jāhilīya which, like the first, pre-Islamic one, would have to be ended by a renewed proclamation of Islam. In doing so he saw himself in the position of the necessary herald. The Wahhabi historian Husain ibn Ghannam (d. 1811) said that at the beginning of the twelfth century of the Hijrah u, ie at the beginning of the 18th century. Z. most Muslims have sunk back into the shirk and have fallen away from their belief in the Jāhiliyya. It was Ibn Abd al-Wahhāb's mission to take action against the symptoms of this second jāhiliyyah.

The term also played an important role among Muslim thinkers who orientated themselves towards Ibn Taimīya in the 20th century. For example, the Indian Muslim Abū l-Hasan ʿAlī an-Nadwī compared the current situation of Muslims in a paper in 1945 with passengers on a train called Jāhilīya, which takes them into Hellfire at high speed. In 1951 an Arabic translation of this text was published in Cairo under the title Māḏā ḫasir al-ʿālam bi-inḥiṭāṭ al-muslimīn ("What has the world lost through the decline of the Muslims?"), To which the Egyptian Muslim brother Sayyid Qutb wrote an enthusiastic foreword . In it he was particularly impressed by an-Nadwī's use of the term Jāhilīya:

“It is noticeable that the author always uses the term ǧāhilīya to refer to the relapse that has embraced all humanity since the Muslims were no longer able to lead . It is a term that precisely indicates the author's understanding of the fundamental difference between the spirit of Islam and the material spirit that ruled the world before Islam and continues to rule it today after Islam gave up leadership. This is the ǧāhilīya in its basic, true nature. Because the ǧāhilīya is not a limited period of time, but a certain spiritual and spiritual imprint. "

- Sayyid Qutb (1951)

Sayyid Qutb first became aware of the Jāhilīya term through an-Nadwī's writing. From the mid-1950s he also used it in several of his own writings, making it a key term in Islamism . He appears particularly prominent in his writing Maʿālim fī ṭ-ṭarīq ("Road Signs"), which he wrote in the early 1960s during his imprisonment. Here he explained:

“Today we are in a Jāhilīya that is like the Jāhilīya at the time (of the creation) of Islam, or even darker. Everything that surrounds us is jāhilīya: people's ideas and beliefs, their habits and customs, their cultural foundations, arts and manners, their rules and laws. Even much of what we believe to be Islamic culture, Islamic reference works, Islamic philosophy and Islamic thought is in fact the work of Jāhilīya !! "

- Sayyid Qutb: signposts

According to Sayyid Qutb, the Jāhilīya is by no means limited to pre-Islamic Arabia, but is a constant threat:

“Jāhilīya is not a period of time, but rather a state that always returns when society deviates from the path of Islam. This applies equally to the past, present and future. "

The dichotomous relationship between Islam and Jāhilīya that Sayyid Qutb outlines in his book also includes the area of ​​politics. According to him, all forms of government that do not conform to the Islamic order, regardless of whether they are democratic, dictatorial, communist or capitalist, are to be assigned to the Jāhilīya and must be fought accordingly. According to his idea, a secular society also lives in the Jāhilīya because it forbids people to claim the rule of Sharia in their lives and God wants to restrict them to the kingdom of heaven. The nature of the Jāhilīya remained one of the main points of contention, even in current forms of Islamic radicalism.

Orientalist interpretations

Excerpt from Krehl's letter to Goldziher

The orientalist Ignaz Goldziher questioned the traditional Islamic interpretation of Jāhilīya and countered it that in ancient Arabic poetry the antonym to ǧahl is not ʿilm , but ḥilm (حلم= "Meekness; insight; reason"). Accordingly, the Qur'anic term Jāhiliyya does not mean “ignorance” but “barbarism”.

Idolatry of is actually already in a poem Hanif Zaid ibn 'Amr ibn Nufail as a sign of lack of Hilm considered. There it says, in the English translation by Alfred Guillaume :

"I will not worship Hubal though he was our lord / in the days when I had little sense ( iḏ ḥilmī yasīru )"

However, Ludolf Krehl questioned Ignaz Goldziher's interpretation of the term in a private letter dated March 5, 1889:

“… However, I do not agree with your understanding of the name and term Ǧāhilīja. In my opinion, the opposite of ǧhl is notحلم( ḥilm di meekness; insight; reason), butعلم( ʿIlm di knowledge, knowledge), ie the knowledge of God, the one God. The nameجاهليةis only Muslim (which Sujūtī himself admits in Muzhir) and the Muslim represents d. "Film about the film ..."

Franz Rosenthal later suggested that Jāhilīya should be understood as an echo of the Jewish term Galut , which denotes the Jewish diaspora.

literature

  • Sujata Ashwarnya Cheema: Sayyid Qutb's Concept of Jahiliyya as Metaphor for Modern Society. In: Nadeem Hasnain (Ed.): Beyond Textual Islam. Serials Publications, New Delhi 2008, ISBN 978-81-8387-192-1 , pp. 143-172.
  • Sabine Damir-Geilsdorf: Rule and Society. The Islamist pioneer Sayyid Quṭb and his reception (= communications on the social and cultural history of the Islamic world. Vol. 11). Ergon-Verlag, Würzburg 2003, ISBN 3-89913-319-6 , pp. 85-88. (At the same time: Giessen, University, dissertation, 1999)
  • Dj āhiliyya. In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam . Volume 2: C - G. New Edition. Brill et al., Leiden et al. 1965, Sp. 383b-384b (editors).
  • Ignaz Goldziher : What does “Al--âhilijja” mean? In: Ignaz Goldziher: Muhammedanische Studien. Volume 1. Niemeyer, Halle (Saale) 1889, pp. 219–228 .
  • Hans Jansen : Mohammed. A biography. (2005/2007) Translated from the Dutch by Marlene Müller-Haas. CH Beck, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-406-56858-9 , pp. 80-101, 137 f., 164 and 185.
  • Klaus Kreiser , Werner Diem , Hans Georg Majer (Ed.): Lexicon of the Islamic World. Volume 1: A - Grab (= Kohlhammer-Urban-Taschenbücher. 200, 1). W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart et al. 1974, ISBN 3-17-002160-5 , pp. 146-147.
  • William E. Shepard: Sayyid Qutb's Doctrine of "Jāhiliyya". In: International Journal of Middle East Studies. Vol. 35, No. 4, 2003, ISSN  0020-7438 , pp. 521-545, JSTOR 3879862 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ See: Fuat Sezgin : History of Arabic literature. Volume 2: Poetry. Until about 430 H. Brill, Leiden 1975, ISBN 90-04-04376-4 , pp. 7-33.
  2. ↑ See Wolfdietrich Fischer : Grammar of Classical Arabic (= Porta linguarum Orientalium . NS 11). 2nd, revised edition. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1987, ISBN 3-447-02609-X , § 76.
  3. ↑ See Hans Wehr : Arabic - German. Arabic dictionary for contemporary written language. 5th edition, revised and expanded with the help of Lorenz Kropfitsch . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1985, ISBN 3-447-01998-0 , sv
  4. ↑ Cf. Theodor Nöldeke : History of the Qorāns. Volume 1: On the Origin of the Qorān. 2nd edition edited by Friedrich Schwally . Dieterich, Leipzig 1909, p. 193 .
  5. ↑ Cf. Theodor Nöldeke: History of the Qorāns. Volume 1: On the Origin of the Qorān. 2nd edition edited by Friedrich Schwally. Dieterich, Leipzig 1909, p. 230 f.
  6. ↑ Cf. Theodor Nöldeke: History of the Qorāns. Volume 1: On the Origin of the Qorān. 2nd edition edited by Friedrich Schwally. Dieterich, Leipzig 1909, p. 207 .
  7. ↑ Cf. Theodor Nöldeke: History of the Qorāns. Volume 1: On the Origin of the Qorān. 2nd edition edited by Friedrich Schwally. Dieterich, Leipzig 1909, p. 215 f.
  8. ↑ See al-Mausūʿa al-fiqhīya . Kuwait 2002. Vol. 16, p. 197.
  9. ↑ Cf. Goldziher: What is meant by "Al-Ǧâhilijja"? In: Goldziher: Muhammedanische Studien. Volume 1. 1889, pp. 219-228, here p. 220 .
  10. ↑ See Shepard: Sayyid Qutb's Doctrine of "Jāhiliyya". In: International Journal of Middle East Studies. Vol. 35, No. 4, 2003, pp. 521-545, here p. 523.
  11. ↑ Cf. Esther Peskes: Muḥammad b. ʿAbdalwahhāb (1703–92) in conflict. Investigations to reconstruct the early history of the Wahhābīya (= Beirut texts and studies. 56). Steiner, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-515-06256-4 , p. 45, (at the same time: Bochum, Universität, dissertation, 1990).
  12. ↑ Cf. Esther Peskes: Muḥammad b. ʿAbdalwahhāb (1703–92) in conflict. Investigations to reconstruct the early history of the Wahhābīya (= Beirut texts and studies. 56). Steiner, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-515-06256-4 , pp. 193-197, (also: Bochum, Universität, Dissertation, 1990).
  13. ^ Damir-Geilsdorf: Rule and Society. 2003, p. 85f.
  14. ^ Damir-Geilsdorf: Rule and Society. 2003, p 86. The Arabic original of Sayyid Qutb's Foreword is here visible.
  15. ^ Damir-Geilsdorf: Rule and Society. 2003, p. 86f.
  16. ↑ Quote from Cheema: Sayyid Qutb's Concept of Jahiliyya as Metaphor for Modern Society. In: Hasnain (ed.): Beyond Textual Islam. 2008, pp. 143–172, p. 146. The Arabic original ( Maʿālim fī ṭ-ṭarīq. 6th edition. Dār aš-Šurūq, Beirut et al. 1979, p. 17 f.) Can be viewed here.
  17. ↑ Zit. After Qutb ma'alim 167, here available online. See also Cheema: Sayyid Qutb's Concept of Jahiliyya as Metaphor for Modern Society. In: Hasnain (ed.): Beyond Textual Islam. 2008, pp. 143–172, here p. 147.
  18. ^ Damir-Geilsdorf: Rule and Society . 2003, p. 87.
  19. ↑ Hans Jansen: Mohammed. A biography. 2008, p. 92 f.
  20. ^ The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Volume 3: H - Iram. New Edition. Brill et al., Leiden et al. 1971, p. 390 (ḤILM).
  21. ↑ Goldziher: What is meant by "Al-Ǧâhilijja"? In: Goldziher: Muhammedanische Studien. Volume 1. 1889, pp. 219-228 .
  22. ^ Alfred Guillaume: The Life of Muhammad. A translation of Isḥāq's Sīrat Rasūl Allāh. 3rd impression. Oxford University Press - Pakistan Branch, Lahore et al. 1970, p. 100.
  23. ↑ Source: Hungarian Academy of Sciences . Budapest. Archive: letters to Ignaz Goldziher. Slipcase No. 22. sn L. Krehl, Leipzig: 11 letters. The mentioned work of as-Suyuti is called: al-Muzhir fī-l-luġa (The brilliant in linguistics); see The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Volume 9: San - Sze. New Edition. Brill, Leiden et al. 1997, ISBN 90-04-10422-4 , p. 913.
  24. ↑ See his Knowledge triumphant. The concept of knowledge in medieval Islam. Brill, Leiden 1970, p. 33.