1. Arabia before Islam

1. Arabia before Islam: the cards as text

Seerah. Draft written with AI help: awaiting scholar review.

  1. Card 1

    No king. No state. Tribes, poets, caravans, and a shrine full of idols.

  2. Card 2

    No king, only the tribe

    A land with no government at all. That was Arabia. Your tribe was your protection, your law, your identity. Feuds could last for generations. And the art people prized most was poetry.

  3. Card 3

    Lesson: With no state, the tribe was everything. And poets were celebrities.

  4. Card 4

    A town that lived on caravans and pilgrims

    Now picture one town in that land: Makkah. It sat on the trade routes between Yemen and Syria. At its heart was the Ka'bah, a shrine Muslims believe Abraham built for one God. By then it held hundreds of idols.

  5. Card 5

    Qur'an 106:1-4

    لِإِيلَٰفِ قُرَيۡشٍ ۝١ إِۦلَٰفِهِمۡ رِحۡلَةَ ٱلشِّتَآءِ وَٱلصَّيۡفِ ۝٢ فَلۡيَعۡبُدُواْ رَبَّ هَٰذَا ٱلۡبَيۡتِ ۝٣ ٱلَّذِيٓ أَطۡعَمَهُم مِّن جُوعࣲ وَءَامَنَهُم مِّنۡ خَوۡفِۭ ۝٤

    1 For the accustomed security of the Quraysh, 2 secure in their winter and summer journeys. 3 Let them worship the Lord of this [Sacred] House, 4 Who fed them against hunger and made them secure against fear.

  6. Card 6

    Lesson: Makkah's wealth depended on the pilgrims who came to the Ka'bah.

  7. Card 7

    Many gods, one distant God, and a few searchers

    Who were the idols in the Ka'bah for? Most Arabs worshipped idols while still recognising a high god, Allah. Jews and Christians lived in parts of Arabia. And a few people, called hanifs, rejected idols altogether.

  8. Card 8

    Lesson: Belief in God was there in Arabia. It was buried under idols.

  9. Card 9

    The year an army came for the Ka'bah

    Around 570 an army from Yemen, led by Abrahah, marches on Makkah with an elephant. Its aim is to destroy the Ka'bah. It fails. Arabs remembered that year as the Year of the Elephant. Tradition places the birth of the Prophet ﷺ in it.

  10. Card 10

    Qur'an 105:1-5

    أَلَمۡ تَرَ كَيۡفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِأَصۡحَٰبِ ٱلۡفِيلِ ۝١ أَلَمۡ يَجۡعَلۡ كَيۡدَهُمۡ فِي تَضۡلِيلࣲ ۝٢ وَأَرۡسَلَ عَلَيۡهِمۡ طَيۡرًا أَبَابِيلَ ۝٣ تَرۡمِيهِم بِحِجَارَةࣲ مِّن سِجِّيلࣲ ۝٤

    1 Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with the people of the Elephant? 2 Did He not turn their scheme into a total loss? 3 He sent against them swarms of birds, 4 pelting them with stones of baked clay,

  11. Card 11

    Lesson: The Prophet ﷺ was born, tradition says, in the year Makkah was spared.

  12. Card 12

    Reflect: Why did the Qur'an's challenge on language matter so much in Arabia?

    Answer: Arabs prized eloquence above all. Poets were celebrities and eloquence was the highest art, so a scripture that challenged them to match it struck at what they valued most.

  13. Card 13

    The end of 1. Arabia before Islam.

Read the full sheet or swipe the cards.