A Pre-Islamic Rite in South Arabia
A Pre-Islamic Rite in South Arabia
A Pre-Islamic Rite in South Arabia
of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 1 (1987), pp. 514 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25212064 . Accessed: 05/05/2012 14:42
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The twoYemens
the manners barrenness of and the
are still that part of the Middle East which most vividly retains
customs desert, of the ancient torrid Arabia. shores ThrThajestic of the Red mountain Sea, the ridges, proud Yemeni the
tribesmen with their traditional janblya, the picturesque palaces and houses pitched on towering peaks, the lone columns of the temples of Saba' (Sheba) in forgotten
sands, Arabia's all this cannot fail It does to convey seem the image that of timelessness, (the and, central indeed, mountain of yesterworld. to many the highlands
are the
as well can be
traced only in the western part (the flat Tihama coastal strip along the Red Sea),
in the eastern desert and in South Yemen, especially in Hadramut. I would suggest
that this is not only because of the puritan Zaydls who eradicated the worship of saints and other popular "superstitions", but that itmay possibly go back to the immigration of North Arabian stock into this part of Yemen. In the central Tihama, some 70 km. north-east (by road) of (North-) Yemen's
principal sea-port al-Hudayda, lies the town of Bajil on the road to San'a'. Coming
saint's is considered
correctly,
large al-Qahra
was The the great rites
tribal confederation.
event of the with year this and ziydra,
connected
of Islam they clearly point to the ancient religion superseded by the Prophet's teaching. This is of course not the only phenomenon of this kind inYemen; Harold
Ingrams, R.B. Serjeant and others have recorded such customs. What makes the
al-Shams! ziydra truly unique is the story connected with it. This legend is indeed so detailed and precise that it affords us an exceptional insight into the material
structure as there of the pre-lslamic of South Arabia. religion are no myths recorded of the ancient Sabaeans, This the is all the more of welcome inscriptions thousands
Before going into the rites and the legend of al-ShamsI, I am happy to acknowledge my double gratitude to Francine Stone's discussion of the wall and the ziydra in her admirable Studies on the Tihamah (1985). First, itwas through the relevant chapter
in her Khadama; book that second, I became it was aware the data of the she treasure assembled to be which searched enabled for me in Dayr to put al the
6
"right" reluctant
to the local people out who, questions to convey to a stranger. their beliefs
Had
the information collected by Francine Stone in my mind able to gather the full story as itwill now be presented.
The of land saint's tomb lies with the walls in this in the large of centre river of an extensive the wall ones lesser is covered and growing stones;
I would
The are them. the
these and
stones, shrubs
area
dried-up
wddl-beds
awe probably
were true, that
watercourse indeed
there had been "many centuries ago" a large wddl, (the bed is approx. 200m wide)
which now runs several kms west and which came from the mountains south-east
of Bajil,
Shi'ba
shVb means
phenomenon at the (pre-Islamic) tomb of the Prophet Hud inHadramut. When I was at the al-ShamsI site in late May 1986, which is the period of the rainy season
in theTihama, a side bed at the very edge of the former watercourse was wet from
the rain water which had apparently flowed there a few days previously. The first and surprising fact therefore is that the wall was erected in the middle
of a large watercourse, and not in or near the hamlet Dayr al-Khadama which lies
approximately
sanctuary wddl bed
100 metres
centre strange of
outside
a very thing,
in the is a very
purpose. The to the construction four cardinal Inside, which "tower". one on is quadrangular, points. in the I will The The centre, call now wall not the corners, of an but outer the walls wall with also being surmounted a small has cella oriented with in it.
consists
crenellations. This and south, and, inside wax, The south, structure a central and opposite the Ka'ba is said
is a four-sided for wall On convenience of the the wall inner opening A niche side
outer side.
entrances,
the west
a small narrow
to bear of
candles the
ceremony
ziydra. to be as follows. (as Pilgrims they do enter in Mecca), from take the a
circumambulate
the Ka'ba
counterclockwise
handful of dust from inside the Ka'ba (this dust is thrown back, or sometimes kept)
and The tombs The leave two of the place small two of hamlet through domes the the western the wall entrance. on its northern side are said to be the outside sons. al-Khadama is the home of the "keeper" of the shrine
saint's of Dayr
small
ARABIA 7 RITE INSOUTH A PRE-ISLAMIC and of his extended family. The name of the place, Dayr al-Khadama (place of this connection. The keeper is called Qayyim. It may be men service), expresses tioned that in the western part of South Yemen the word is quyyum, elsewhere in the Tihama,
to was the actual Ibrahim
it ismansub
Qayyim. Muhammad His
generations,
always
be the family name, so he said.We shall try to explain the word at the end of this
paper. The most interesting part of the ziydra rites takes place in the hamlet, and not
at the wall itself. The following description is based on the account of the Qayyim's family. He himself only confirmed from time to time, and very much against his liking, what his family said and that too was brought forward in bits and pieces, and very reluctantly. Had it not been for the sacred Arab hospitality, the Qayyim would certainly have had me thrown out. His family confided to me that he was
in fear of the vengeance of the wall, should its secrets be disclosed to a stranger. I
cannot but warn and implore that foreigners living inYemen should not investigate
there which, out This would of curiosity. certainly as I sensed and heard, is viewed with in the destroy much this distrust precious by and rare and flower secular religious
authorities. The and tion water, family saint, insisted married. that this one of central ceremony shorter starts henna consists (Francine evening, Each the two erection says of two wooden 7 metres poles (and poles, one The longer,
8 and The
in the
prepara high). are first washed with the above mentioned the I
is clearly
is applied. a dual,
as was on The
hesitation
when
al-Shamsfs with
wife,
but
poles top an of
up
usually go up
the
slither the
of of
expect I was
answer that
what
told
to ensure be born
If the
children
played
zealously,
many
boys
following
rather
offered and
meat, goats.
communal
banquet,
important recount
story
al-ShamsI.
There
are
two
versions,
which
differ
slightly, one as told by the Qayyim and his family, and the other by the Shaykh al-Masha'ikh of the Qahra-tribe of Bajil and the notables of Bajil whom I met in
his company.
A PRE-ISLAMIC RITE INSOUTH ARABIA and indeed their Arabic was rather down
aus dem Jemen. I shall therefore
my Mdrchen
versions
stated
name
the
hero
was
not
al-ShamsT
Ahdal
(as
it
is related by Francine Stone) but simply al-ShamsI. The legend as it was told by the Qayyim runs as follows. Al-ShamsI
far had than away, only your from one eye eye, the west, from the other side of the Red but any and this one human farther. Sea, from in the middle eye, more right of his forehead, than eye was eye. He
came from
or my
powerful
it all over
the mountains,
into Hadramut
Nothing
hidden from him. At that time a mighty demon lived in the mountains over there (pointing in the direction of Bajil and the mountains overlooking it, i.e. the direction
of the watercourse), far away, six hours away by car, in the middle of the mountains.
The Qayyim used for demon the words jinnl, mdrid, shaytdn.When I asked if the name of the demon might have been 'afrit, (I knew this word from my Mdrchen), the Qayyim denied this so furiously that it was perfectly clear what the real name of the demon was. Every year, the Afrit demanded from the people in Dayr
al-Khadama done in order village a virgin water as a bride. (the flood) Knowing from my Mdrchen I asked about that the this was reason of to ensure in the wddl,
it was because
said that dressed the and camel killed when
otherwise
not put
so. He
the girl
sunset, her,
to the mountain.
to meet
in that
particular
year
al-ShamsT
saw
the
distress
of
the
people
and
the horrible deed of the demon, he went behind the girl; slightly outside the village
(where his sword the wall and now thus stands), liberated al-ShamsT the village met from with the demon, The cut off his of head with this affliction. corpse life, lived the demon
thrown for the away. Al-ShamsT, lay there and was as an honoured to a question In a reply guest, jar.
it was
he did not marry the liberated girl; he did not marry at all. He had three children. (How this happened without marrying was not explained.) The two small walls,
outside is the into the north ancestor existence of in wall of the tomb at are his two elder day. The time sons; tomb after the third, the death, the youngest, festival came the Qayyim the following the present way: A and his
certain
al-ShamsT
appeared in a dream to a member of the learned Sayyid family of al-Ahdal and requested him to build the wall, and to establish the ziydra. The Islamic layer of
this explanation now I will of saint is all come the came too obvious. may be called and by the more himself. a small town about 20 km south-west profane version, told by the to what
notables The
Shaykh's originally
entourage, from
al-Marawika,
of Bajil;
this is the seat of the al-Ahdal Sayyids; his name was Abdurrahman
b.
one-eyed", stranger).
a'war. The
to Dayr olden
village,
in those
rosh ha-shana,
a bride jinnt).
this
This
of al-Jitha the year") the people was only as a general known 'afrit,
for a demon
for Qur'anic
demon
not very sunset of saw When received He with are wall,
girl
he hid out
himself of
came
the well,
had
several
sons,
he never
married.The
al-yamaniya.The village of
Hasan qubbas,
al-Qananlya).
In memory
remarkable
it happened. On
for the yakulu two stories guests,
it seems to include
from lives of of
my Marchen. in the mountains, the monsoon in the direction unload civilizations themselves. of Yemen with the
clouds
the
ancient
the fields irrigating the Shaykh's version, the wadi. Lord a set of
in the middle
is even
more and
towering and
the
smoke"
he comes human
black clouds, ering ten men"; he when to shake A bride what arrival back also of and that
shape, castle
a fart, the
the whole
the
a year. that
story,
the water.
of my Marchen).
10
then marries the girl (who happens to be the daughter of the ruler of the village), thus establishes himself in the village, and, after the death of the Sultan, becomes
the new ruler and the ancestor of the ruling dynasty.
explains the ritual of al-ShamsI more fully than the words used by the Qayyim: after having killed the monster, al-ShamsI marries in the village (this is This
enacted poles applying with the al-ShamsT exactly Also, the pole to and the "female" corresponds henna. the marriage-rites banquet treatment The pole). of Yemen: with bathing (wallma, always mentioned of the two and also in water
important
the Mdrchen) is not missing. This banquet is offered in the al-ShamsT ritual by the offered by the Qayyim and his family, in my Mdrchen it is the wedding-banquet
ruler of the village on the occasion of the marriage of his liberated daughter. The
purpose of the ritual is of course the fertility of the land (through the liberated waters) and of the family (the children climbing up the poles).
Before going on, I have now to explain the date fl ras al-sana. As the meaning
I discussed
that it signified
the time immediately after the end of the year, "when the
in so many It was not admitted and the end was over". words completed new year, but that is what was that this the beginning it is, translated into of the our way not I was the Muslim but the then told that this was of thinking. year, "agricultural harvest with "end" was after the mawsim al-kharlf, (the year". The a was This then rest-time). subsequent exemplified end as of the main the
follows:
main
was and
tember". It was then said that the killing of the demon had happened
of ably was the full moon, on and and that that the yearly i.e. knew the festival first one of remembrance following ziydra was the end could of be celebrated the rule night,
in the night
prefer "This
everybody consideration,
the actual
according
at any on but
a Thursday also at
if
the quarter
three-quarter-moon.
This dating is another interesting point of the al-ShamsT ritual. It confirms what
has been generally assumed, i.e. that the Sabaean (or Himyaritic) calendar was
solar and not lunar. Iwould not wish here to go into the problems of the Himyaritic
calendar. concur Serjeant, that to whom I am year grateful for a comment on while this point, would (Arabian the Himyaritic commenced in October, Beeston
and Robin
think be
says April.
that there were here. the that
elaborated is at seen
dating have
same
time
point
of view. We
the wording
A PRE-ISLAMIC RITE INSOUTH ARABIA 11 really means "beginning of the year", but that the real New Year's date is not the first day of the month, but the day of the full moon, i.e. the fifteenth. This is exactly what the Bible says, when it speaks of Tabernacles: "At the end of the year" (Exodus 23, 16), "on the fifteenth day of the seventh month"
23, 39), "after the harvest" (Deuteronomy 16, 13), and "at
the change
(Exodus 34, 22). Libraries have been filled by the attempts of Biblical
reconcile the two dates ("the change of the year", i.e. the first day of
scholars to
the month,
and the fifteenth day of that month ? the "seventh" month being easily explained as the first month of the second semester or with a shift in the New Year from autumn to spring). From the identical phenomenon here in South Arabia it becomes
clear that there is no contradiction if we the and understand idea they those are meant briefly formulae to convey. two other ethnological not with our mathematical It is now observations Serjeant Hadramawt" but through approach to Yemen time to go back concerning has shown that the the in his great al-ShamsT pioneering
to mention
annual
pilgrimage
the Hadramut,
Prophet Hud,
Prophet. Semitic which religion,
is pre-Islamic
Hud and a bride probably
"To offer
is enshrined
in this
strange
verse",
called
in a tree. memory,
clothing in winter.
a full moon
be
noted Yemen.
that Am
the
definite
article form
(Arabic
"al")
is am, country,
parts Little
of
South
is the
common
am The is often fully assimilated belongs. are therefore but am-4Ajiz and nothing "the old man".The ritual. the limited space of this paper, Little Aden
following "the
The
two and
woman"
ceremony
is therefore
basically
identical
al-ShamsI in
I cannot,
deal
with
the
various
arguments,
for equating
central Gods of
figures
Sabaean
pantheon, i.e. Almaqah (who should now definitely be transliterated TI muqahh(w) the God II who abundantly waters'), Athtar and the female Shams (the sun). II
would be the old We demon in the mountains, of these the Athtar divinities; form is the we of can young now hero, connect ran as the Shams with II is the bride. a myth. know able the names to show that them follows:
I was
original
the myth
12
holds the waters back, unless a bride is offered to him. Athtar comes from afar (from the east), kills the II and marries Shams in a matrilocal way in her village. This happened on the night of the full moon in spring. At a later stage, the whole
myth securing is shifted rain, to the autumn hero equinox (who now full moon, comes from the emphasis takes is more up the upon charac the young the west)
a female
of
festival traced,
This
in Mahra and,
country, it may
in Hadramut,
be mentioned,
is jar,
This dhat Himyam 'Athtar yajur, in Ja formula, religion. (e.g. we saw to al-Shamsl!) in the term which exists also applied as the Qatabanic as well is yaghul. The the verb Sabaic formula "The attacks". hot-one The (= the Sun) for into which the translation Athtar came enters" from or "the
difficulty
the unfor
the mythological
preferred "enters". the "To
means for marrying. formula therefore is a general Semitic The expression sun whom in a matrilocal marries It may that be noted Athtar way". finally has frequent, very recently if not marriage of demonstrated structure, the custom that the uxorilocal society. the that can ancient they still in Sabaean among marriage can We Sabaeans, re-enacted see this was at least say they a
gods
marriage,
being
performed The
al-Khadama. ceremony event in the Yemeni which had Tihama happened is now in illo clear: tempore, It is the yearly securing the
meaning
of our of
representation
the great
fertility of the land and of the dynasty. The two poles are al-Shamsl and his bride (contrary to the words used by the Qayyim); the bride had been offered for water
(wadi water or well water); as al-hinna, the washing it is still the and the marriage washing, and ceremony yawm current day of of the poles corresponds anointing the day in our day yawm al-ghasl, the meal is the great banquet, to of
henna,
wallma, of a marriage.
word night", siru! Sabaean sirw "to detach
II represented?:
sard, young demon, "to hero
in the
by of
travel in one
a force
my Marchen, as yd sari
following
the bride
brought
to the old
is addressed
If we
this
ritual
into
temple
architecture,
we
should
expect
to
A PRE-ISLAMIC a water
RITE
13 If we read the
find,
in Sabaean
temples,
basin
and
carefully
preliminary
indeed the
survey made
case (p. 75, p.
by J. Schmidt
137, p. 154).
in the Marib
This reminds
(I Kings 7, 15-26)
a riddle to exegetes.
in Solomon's
When I first heard about al-ShamsT, I felt sad that I had not known this before and been able to include it inmy book Ursemitische Religion, the first part of which
pretends to be "the ancient Sabaean religion rediscovered". On the other hand, it
Mecca festival sheds new light on the two pre-Islamic feasts atMecca, (the 'Umra in itself and the Hajj inArafa). Scholars have long been wondering why the Ka'ba
was Ka'ba are what now built in the middle of of Mecca's wadl, We in the now "batn know Makka". why. really The story clear in Mecca of the is a story able devastating floods. the word as the general It is also means, namely that we itself,
to understand give
'Umra, meaning
which of
the word,
"a matrilocal
are two
to the patrilocal 'urs). identical in so many aspects, ancient Hebrew feasts of Pesah
including and
the
date,
and
even
the Feast of
It seems
fascinating
that an answer
to the age-old
question
(not the origin, however, which rests in the North!) of the two central feasts of the
Bible Mecca. should be found in South Arabia, as well as the explanation of the feast of
BIBLIOGRAPHY
in Saba", Arabian "Women and Islamic Studies, Festschrift R.B. A.F.L., Serjeant, London 1983, 7-13 aus dem Jemen, Koln, 1983 Daum, Werner, Marchen Ursemitische 1985. Daum, Werner, Religion. Stuttgart, 1975 chez les Semites et la Paque Israelite, Paris, Henninger, Joseph, Les fetes de printemps "Die vorislamischen in Hartmut Hofner, Maria, Arabiens", Gese, Maria Hofner, Religionen und der Mandder, 1970. Rudolph Kurt (edd.), Die Religionen Altsyriens, Altarabiens Stuttgart, Oliver Humphrys, "Little Aden Bulletin de ITnstitut francais d' archeologie Folklore", Myers, 177-233 orientale. Le Caire, XLIV(1947). "Le calendrier Robin, Christian, Nouvelles himyarite: suggestions". of the Seminar Proceedings 11 (1981), 43-51 for Arabian Studies. Schmidt, Berichte aus dem Yemen. Band I, Mainz 1982 Jiirgen (ed), Archdologische "Hud and other pre-islamic of Hadramawt", Le Museon LXVII Serjeant, R.B., Prophets (1954). in: Serjeant, R.B., Studies inArabian History and Civilisation, 121-179; Reprinted 1981 London, in Stidwestarabien", Bustan Serjeant. R.B., (Wien) 1964, II, 16-23 "Heiligenverehrung 1985 Stone, Francine (ed.), Studies on the Tihamah, London, "Arabic New-Year and the Feast of Tabernacles", Wensinck, A.J., der Koninklijke Verhandelingen van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam, Akademie Nieuwe Reeks, Deel XXV Letterkunde, Afdeeling Beeston, No. 2 (1925), 1-41
to Professor to a very important parallel which for drawing my attention Serjeant records for the Church of San'a', built by the Abyssinian ruler Abraha. The text can
A PRE-ISLAMIC
RITE
IN SOUTH ARABIA
consulted in Serjeant/Lewcock, San'a', London, 1983, page 46: "Abrahah's church one called Ku'ayb "from which and the other Ku'ayb's wife, they used to seek in the Jahiliyyah". They were 60 dhira" long (understood good fortune (yatabarrakuna bi-hima) as "high"?). When in great fear. This looks very much like these were pulled down people were the situation in Dayr al-Khadamah, of al-ShamsT." Indeed it does! This text should prove definitely that the rite is pre-Islamic in origin, and that in the high place in the capital, it must have been one of the central rituals of being performed the ancient it also be a coincidence recalls the idea of Should that the word Ku'ayb religion. in Mecca, and finally the name of the wad! the name of the sanctuary ("little breast"), fertility and kings shi'b al-Ka'ab on Jabal al-Laudh which has been the great sanctuary of the mukarribs of Saba' where the word mukarrib their yearly hieros gamos, (in my opinion) they performed from hakraba = to marry a woman in a matrilocal being derived way)? seems to me at least as also suggests another for the word siru which Serjeant etymology ? the u as the one brought forward in this paper. He says: "The word siru may be convincing as in, e.g. am-baytu, It may only be coincidental, the final u in theTihamah-dialect the house. a mast but sarlyah (sawari) is a column and can also mean (Lane)". to which Professor is another parallel Ibn al-Kalbl, There has drawn my attention. Serjeant in his Kitdb al-asnam, mentions Isaf and Na'ila which were beside the twice the two stone-idols Ka'ba. Isaf and Na'ila, it is said, were two young people of the tribe of Jurhum; they lived in to the Ka'ba, in the temple. They Yemen. On the occasion of a pilgrimage they had intercourse were then erected This happened the night. The two stones were instantly petrified. during and the Arabs worshipped them. Ibn al-Kalbl also and Khuza'a, Quraysh outside by the people, as a warning to the people. Animal immolated for sacrifices were says that they were erected them. If we leave the clearly posterior moralizing into aside, the facts fit perfectly explanation what has been said in this paper. The Ka'ba is one of the sanctuaries of the ancient Arabian water and fertility religion. The main act was a hieros gamos performed in the temple, at night. Glaser was, by the way, the first to explain Ptolemy's ("Makoraba") by strange name for Mecca I would even go one step further and say that a makrab must Sabaic makrab or mikrab, temple. a mukarrib be the place where his great yearly deed, i.e. performed seems then no longer surprising of it should that the cultic representation as it endured in the church of San'a' and at Dayr al-Khadama. the sacred marriage. It have endured inMecca,