The Religion and Rituals of the Nomads of Pre-Islamic Arabia

A Reconstruction Based on the Safaitic Inscriptions
Erscheinungsjahr 2022
ISBN: 978-90-04-50426-4
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 1, 150 Seiten, Format (B × H): 160 mm x 238 mm, Gewicht: 386 g

Reihe: Ancient Languages and Civilizations

This book approaches the religion and rituals of the pre-Islamic Arabian nomads using the Safaitic inscriptions. Unlike Islamic-period literary sources, this material was produced by practitioners of traditional Arabian religion; the inscriptions are eyewitnesses to the religious life of Arabian nomads prior to the spread of Judaism and Christianity across Arabia. The author attempts to reconstruct this world using the original words of its inhabitants, interpreted through comparative philology, pre-Islamic and Islamic-period literary sources, and the archaeological context.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Al-Jallad, Ahmad

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte Religionen der Antike
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Archäologie spezieller Regionen und Zeitalter

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface

List of Illustrations

Sigla

1 Introduction

1 Religion and the Inscriptions of the Pre-Islamic Nomads: From Thamudic B to Safaitic

2 Scope and Methodology

2 Rites

1 Animal Sacrifice

2 Erection of the n?b Stone

3 The Ritual Shelter

4 The Pilgrimage

5 Ritual Purity

6 Offerings

7 Vows and Oaths

8 Sacred Water

3 Divinities and Their Roles in the Lives of Humans

1 Location of the Deities

2 The Gadds

3 The Gods and Their Worshippers

4 Sin, Obedience, and Repentance?

5 Malignant Magic

4 Fate

5 Afterlife

1 Burial Installations

2 Invoking the Names of the Dead

6 Visual Representation of Deities and the Divine World

7 Amplification and Why Write

8 Worldview—A Reconstruction

Appendix 1: Glossary of Divinities

Appendix 2: Previously Unpublished Inscriptions

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Ahmad Al-Jallad, Ph.D. (2012), Harvard University, is Universitair Hoofddocent in Islamic Origins at the University of Groningen. He has published on inscriptions, writing cultures, and religions of Ancient Arabia and their reception in Islamic-period literary sources, as well as on the comparative grammar of the Semitic languages.