Jahiliyyah

Jahiliyyah is the Arabic term, usually translated as the age of ignorance, which Muslim tradition uses for the period of Arabian society before the coming of Islam. In the Quran and later writing, it refers to a time of tribal rivalry, blood feuds and polytheism, with practices such as female infanticide condemned by the new faith. Modern historians point out that pre-Islamic Arabia was much more varied, with trading cities, Jewish and Christian communities, and a rich oral poetry, such as the Mu'allaqat, that was admired by later Arabs. Some twentieth-century Islamist writers, including Sayyid Qutb, used the word for modern societies that, in their view, ignored divine rule.

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