jahiliyyah

English

Alternative forms

  • al-Jahiliyah
  • jahhiliya

Etymology

From Arabic جَاهِلِيَّة‎ (jāhiliyya, “ignorance”).

Noun

jahiliyyah (uncountable)

  1. (Islam) The condition of ignorance, barbarism and unbelief in Arabia before the coming of Islam; more recently its meaning has been expanded to include Western non-Muslims.
    • 1834: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, page 422 (Cambridge University Press for the Royal Asiatic Society)
      Some valuable chapters are occupied with the drawing of parallels between the Arabian Jāhiliyyah, or pre-Islamic period, and Greek heroic antiquity; some others with the history of Arabic poetry, and an endeavour to define the characteristics of the different periods and their chief representatives.

Further reading

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