A Pre-Islamic Rite in South Arabia Author(s): Werner Daum Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society

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
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Cambridge University Press and Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

http://www.jstor.org

A PRE-ISLAMIC RITE IN SOUTH ARABIA

By Werner Daum

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

ridge stretching from about 50 miles north of Aden

most as from stubbornly an ethnological traditional point part of of Yemen. view, many Still, of

far into Saudi Arabia)

an anthropological ancient features

are the
as well can be

from the more

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

from San'a', Bajil is the first large settlement

the mountains. near more the hamlet About Dayr "the 4 km. south-west The He of Bajil al-Khadama. sunny-one".

in the Tihama plain, just after leaving

lies a famous name saint's tomb (a "wair), the and Sun, of or, the is "al-ShamsI", the saint of Bajil,

saint's is considered

correctly,

large al-Qahra
was The the great rites

tribal confederation.
event of the with year this and ziydra,

The annual pilgrimage

is still are considered very strange.

(ziydra) to this tomb

formal layer

connected

so by many. a thin Under

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

being for the most part formal dedications mentioning

without really elucidating the connections between them.

the gods of the Pantheon

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

A PRE-ISLAMIC RITE INSOUTH ARABIA

of religious I not fear, come were to so the extremely place with

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

not have been

whole assembled The acacia stretch from trees

graveyard. graves from of

these and

stones, shrubs

al-ShamsT's are the

are built so typical

area

dried-up

wddl-beds

in South Arabia. The

protected first this vegetation. in the answered

sanctity of the place and the local people's

My negative, inquiries but later if this had it was been said an ancient that this was

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

i.e. in the prolongation

Finally, Literally, the name

of a line from Dayr al-Khadama

of the watercourse mountain-cleft was and also is used

to Bajil and into

forward: brought for a very similar

the mountains. Jurayniya.

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,

the wddl, about 200 metres west of the wall. A

strong and and in former have been times placed obviously in this torrential location on it must

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

structure Ka'ba, has of leads in the two

crenellations one wall on the

outer side.

entrances,

the west

the northern into south

is a qibla, room with

the qibla, is very

a small narrow

door-like indeed. the said

the Ka4ba.The wall, all covered

to bear of

candles the

ceremony

during ziydra was

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

and in Hadramut mansab. The word mansab was known

name Sirayn, is and 'Uthman in former Ibrahim Qayyim, his Sirayn father's used name to

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,

somewhat the poles and name then

Stone after pole siru).

8 and The

in the

sunset. is called The I asked,

prepara high). are first washed with the above mentioned the I

is clearly

is applied. a dual,

siru, longer and the of that

represents the shorter was It was

al-ShamsI, is "female". that he

as was on The

said without asking two

hesitation

when

if this was poles the second are

al-Shamsfs with

wife,

but

answer cloth. it also are

never said clothes

decorated of When a rope I did be,

a bundle and two on

expressly climb then

in the them, down,

represented case of the

clothes pole. from so on. might

al-ShamsI the fixed not but

represented boys They I asked meant would

poles top an of

erected, pole. when it was

up

usually go up

suspended again, this children. year. times, now and "play"

the

slither the

significance abundance in the

of of

expect I was

answer that

what

told

to ensure be born

If the

children

played

zealously,

many

boys

following

In former pilgrims; slaughtered obviously I will an now

rather

seldom, brought for God". the of ritual.

the Qayyim bulls, This sheep

offered and

meat, goats.

dhabaih, The animals wallma,

to the were was

the pilgrims "for the

themselves poor part the and of

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

Both versions were informally worded,

to earth, limit myself Both in remarkable to the contrast of the with the contents that story. of

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

He Ethiopia. more powerful see with could could remain

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,

this offering, whether

waters was back. evil. The after But virgin it was was

it was because
said that dressed the and camel killed when

otherwise
not put

the demon would

asked for in a camel-litter The

have held the

because he it was from

this was as a bride, was the sent girl.

so. He

the girl

(a mahmal, demon came

said) and his abode But

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.

rest of his of mine,

in the village reiterated that

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.

A PRE-ISLAMIC RITE INSOUTH ARABIA 9

Abl Bakr, his surname, He went laqab, was al-ShamsI, al-Khadama days, was and where a town, his he other settled called surname as ajar, al-Jitha. was uThe

one-eyed", stranger).

a'war. The

to Dayr olden

(protected Every year,

village,

in those

ff ras al-sana, (in spite of the apparent

means (mdrid\ "at the end of the word

identity with Hebrew

prepared term

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,

lived in the well of the village which was outside

far away. The and girl put the was on dressed the edge and drew of her as a bride, the well. down. year, and harba. eldest tribe muldbisa to the well seized enquired demon him and

the walls of the village,

al-'urs, brought got after out the demon year when beside

In the night, In the first

the water, this, the he

girl

al-ShamsI the well. al-ShamsI

about emerged killed him but

it. In the following from with the water his spear,

he hid out

himself of

came

the well,

had

several

sons,

he never

married.The

was Hasan of Awlad The two

b. Abdurrahman (al-Hasanlya) behind the

the surname his are descendants his two of

muftial-diydr (in younger this the

al-yamaniya.The village of

Hasan qubbas,

al-Qananlya).

sons. deed, a yearly feast is celebrated on the day on

In memory

remarkable

which this happened

ziydra, the meat, At be this the people yadhbuhu stage, of

and on the spot where

the ahl village al-qarya useful some slaughter athwdr

it happened. On
for the yakulu two stories guests,

the occasion of this

and the guests eat

bulls fa-ad-duyuf the

minhum. and the ritual. It may

it seems to include

to summarise observations He the

permissible The Afrit which water

from lives of of

my Marchen. in the mountains, the monsoon in the direction unload civilizations themselves. of Yemen with the

is a mighty the wadi was the

water-demon. comes, basis of desert, down where the

from Their which the Afrit

clouds

existence outside from

the

ancient

lay in the eastern H^df-waters streaming is the "God" of

the mountains, the uplands. In of

the fields irrigating the Shaykh's version, the wadi. Lord a set of

the well, expressly

situated qualified He like (=

in the middle

In my Marchen, the dark clouds, he cloud,

the Afrit the will black

is even

more and

as a supernatural towering cloud"; he the than sun

rain-storm "come like over

the wddis: people

is "more a black the Afrit); his

towering and

heaven", "a black like

the

smoke"

appeared then sleeps, it rocks he

"is a giant, into that

he comes human

the all-cov as tall begins as

black clouds, ering ten men"; he when to shake A bride what arrival back also of and that

changes "he emits trees of once

appearance so strong forest". Several this not

shape, castle

a fart, the

the whole

the

is offered underlies the water

to this demon, the of al-ShamsT the wadi.

a year. that

of my Marchen is done offered, in order the Afrit

story,

say expressly to ensure the would hold

If the girl was

the water.

The killing of the dark old demon by the young

water (this is again said expressly in several

luminous stranger secures the

The young stranger

of my Marchen).

10

A PRE-ISLAMIC RITE INSOUTH ARABIA

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

of this formula was not clear to me,

his retainers. It was first made clear

I discussed
that it signified

it at length with the Shaykh and

indeed "the end of the year",

but that it really meant

year was

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

rainy season is sayf, the two months

the end a half of May). The end of the year this months. If I translate in our

season we were just halfway through (it

would to three in approximately three to mid-Sep it means calendar, "early be

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

therefore the year. fixed

everybody consideration,

it". But time

the actual

according

to any winter possible

practical time, at but the

at any on but

necessarily full moon,

a Thursday also at

the idle and during or Friday because or

climatically pleasant a holiday; this was

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

Studies I, 1974, 1) says May,

popular regions The from a calendar-lore, of Yemen, strangest comparative but thing and this about

and Robin
think be

says April.
that there were here. the that

I have quite a few notes on

two New Years, in different

I would cannot this

elaborated is at seen

dating have

same

time

the most "end of

important the year"

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

(Leviticus 23, 34 and

of the year"

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

ritual. paper of on the "Pre-Islamic prophets dedicated of to the

annual

pilgrimage

the Hadramut,

Prophet Hud,
Prophet. Semitic which religion,

is pre-Islamic
Hud and a bride probably

in origin and that it consists in offering a bride to the

and a marriage ceremony... is reminiscent of ancient of points to ceremonies says Serjeant. discontinued, the memory

"To offer

is enshrined

in this

strange

verse",

The other parallel was described by Myers

there was more behind his observations. of He the Ma'agiz", enshrined Myers the the most her jinnlya important in a tree. She had a husband, that of said the it could also be two and

in 1947, and he clearly sensed that

describes Little Aden "Mushaibah" also erected ziydra was enshrined in their on the female region. (in A the demon "al fisherman addenda, On the day

called

mentions occasion was

am-Shaibah), poles futa. were The

in a tree. memory,

clothing in winter.

ziydra, yearly to be their turban

a full moon

It should western Aden demons

be

noted Yemen.

that Am

the

definite

article form

(Arabic

"al")

is am, country,

in most to which noun. old

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

in $ubaylil to the am-Shaiba,

following "the

The

two and

woman"

her husband with the

ceremony

is therefore

basically

identical

al-ShamsI in

I cannot,

deal

with

the

various

arguments,

brought forward in my Ursemitische Religion,

of the "ethnological" ritual with the three

for equating
central Gods of

the three main

the ancient

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

A PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA RITE INSOUTH

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)

teristics of the girl (he becomes

warlike same. festival. One system. ical our the 618;, of the astonishing is of course features not Arabic, partner, It is this and second indeed (autumn)

the sun), while

Athtar. which The we stage

she becomes much more of a real

matrilocal can still witness marriage at remains the al-ShamsI the

a female

of

the al-ShamsI but can still be

festival traced,

is the matrilocal through careful Yemeni central

marriage ethnolog Jawf, formulae in of

This

observations, al-ShamsI ancient the story, Sabaean root

in Mahra and,

country, it may

in Hadramut,

in the North in one of the

be mentioned,

is jar,

Qatabanic, could Sun either whom

where mean Athtar

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

tunate fact that we did not know what

deities (page bo'a) "The Beeston fairly was. 284) Maria but now Hofner feels had that originally be it should

the mythological
preferred "enters". the "To

relationship of the two

interpretation enter" (dakhala, "attacks" Hebrew:

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

the usual was their

therefore that it through festival

that matrilocal imagined yearly

the marriage matrilocal in Dayr sacred

gods

in that way, and that we

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

But how is the killing of the God

means against who "campaigning the enemy is being by force", night". Arabic The

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

al-layl. were to translate

this

ritual

into

temple

architecture,

we

should

expect

to

A PRE-ISLAMIC a water

RITE

IN SOUTH ARABIA two columns.

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

region, we find that this is

us of course of the "sea of

bronze" and the bronze pillars Yakin and Boaz

temple, whose significance has presented many

(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

seems not disappointing

a combination of several

to unearth such a full proof of a thesis hitherto based on

conclusions. Finally itmay be mentioned that the Sabaean

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 dictionaries (in contrast

the word,

"a matrilocal

marriage" 'Umra the name, (Hag).

and Hajj with the

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

of Tabernacles the explanation

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

Postscript: I am grateful al-Azraql

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

14 be conveniently had two beams,

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,