The Bedouin

The Bedouin is a born democrat. He meets his sheikh on equal footing. Everything in society is leveled down. But he is also an aristocrat.

Importance of purity of blood, eloquence and poetry, sword and horse, and noble ancestry recorded back to the first (mythical) man.

More on Poetry

This is from notes.

Poetry would be used to glorify the deeds of warlords, particularly their accomplishments in battles versus other tribes.

A poet has a gift beyond human knowledge. Often takes on role as leader, spokesman, soothsayer, teacher, chronicler, and priest. Some were accomplished horsemen and hunters who rode in search of adventure.

A sense of nobility was important. The term Muru'a (spelling?) is used. Principles of Islam grow out of this code of nobility.

Poetry

One thing that's clear is the importance of poetry. The beauty of the language in it's spoken form preceeds the Qur'an and the beauty of poetry in the written form. Anyone of social standing will be expected to train in the poetic arts, and anyone hoping to climb into its social ranks must prove themselves a master of the art. Nomads, while resting in the tents, will have poetry contests. A poetry contest could easily take the place of fisticuffs and swordplay in resolving disputes

I'll need to track down some decent translations to provide a template for the kinds of forms and imagery which are most appropriate.

Certainly prayers will take the form of poetry, though I'm not sure of the role of chant.

What is al-Jahiliyyah

I've had it in the back of my head for a while now to develop a campaign world (and run some adventures through it) based upon Arab culture, but I want more of a pre-Islamic feel. This blog is to be my way of making notes and jotting down ideas for this world. Ideally everything I put down here will end up as resource material for myself and players if the campaign should ever come to pass. If I do, in fact, run a campaign, it will likely be using modified D&D 3.5 rules, as those are the most recent I am familiar with. I'll try to keep rule-specific information out of the blog, though.

I still have a lot of research to do. I own a copy of Arabian Nights, but have not read many of the stories yet. I intend to read it through, pulling out ideas about worldview, magic, creatures, etc. I own a number of other source books as well, such as the old Al-Qadim book and Gurps Arabian Nights. I do have gathered notes from other books I've read as well, which I'll start pulling from over time.

As to the name: al-Jahiliyya refers to an ignorance of god or Islam. I have seen the term used to describe the times before the Qur’an was written. But in addition to that meaning, I believe there is an implication of some chaos (relatively speaking), which I hope to play on. Also, I hope to draw out the idea of ignorance of god; not to imply that monotheism is on the cusp, but that religious turmoils may play a role.

Enjoy,
msd