Purity in Religious Beliefs in South Arabia before Islam in the Light of Musnad Inscriptions

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Lecturer at Faculty of Archeology and Tourism Guidance , Department of Ancient Egyptian Archaeology, Misr University for science & Technology (EGYPT)

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to highlight some of the human beliefs in southern Arabia in the pre-Islamic period, which is the issue of purity that occupied a large part of his thinking and beliefs. The study is based on highlighting this through the vocabulary and terminology indicating purity and impurity. The language of southern Arabia provided explicit vocabulary for the significance of purity and impurity in a group of orders and prohibitions in an attempt to seek purity and staying away from anything that violates or contradicts with it. This is in addition to a depiction of the places one uses to purify himself and to remove impurity if he is fallen into it, and the rituals to be performed to achieve total purity. The texts referred to two types of purity first: physical purity and water was the means to achieve it, and the second was psychological purity. This latter one can only be achieved through the establishment of a group of religious rituals, such as public confession and paying penance. Texts also highlighted the reasons for purity, such as contact with women, where contact with them is one of the things that are disputing for purity) MṢM7250),)CIH 523, 533(, and for women it has been menstruation and postpartum of the things that spoil their purity(Haram36), as was the blood(CIH 548), as well as the sins of the things that negate purity and which must be exalted in a kind of physical and psychological purity. This research deals with rituals related to purity such as pilgrimage and other religious rituals. Those rituals were not limited to the texts but referred to all classes, including the slaves' class, for practicing those religious rituals, reflecting the critical importance of purity in the beliefs of southern Arabia.

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References

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