The word AI-Jaahiliyyah (Days of Ignorance) is a term that refers to the period of time before the advent of Islaam. It is derived from the word al- jahl, which means, ignorance, because the aspects that the people of these pre-Islamic times were upon were either not based on any source of guidance or they were from previous revelations that had been corrupted and altered. So Allaah attributed this name to this point in time, out of dispraise for what its people were upon from beliefs, actions and methodology. And He did not mention it once in His Glorious Book, except that He condemned and repudiated it. For example, Allaah says: "Do they then seek the judgement of AI-Jaahiliyyah (the Days of Ignorance)? And who is better in judgement than Allaah for a people who have firm Faith." (Q5:50)
The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessing be upon him) was sent at a time and to an environment that was wallowing in ignorance. It was a time in which the people of the Arab peninsula were praying to statues and idols, supplicating to deceased humans, burying their newborn daughters alive, clans carried out feuds for years, and owners would beat their slaves severely.
This was the point in time where guidance was not to be found, and those who held the books once revealed by Allaah, had changed them in order to acquire a small gain in this worldly life. Thus the people did not know the truth from falsehood, and because of this, they created many practices and forged many beliefs of which Allaah sent no authority for. These practices and beliefs were what the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) was challenged with when he came with the guidance and the Religion of truth. So Allaah commanded His Messenger (peace and blessing be upon him) to oppose and contradict the disbelievers in what they were upon in beliefs and actions, except for that which He allowed to continue.
So the Days of Ignorance became the opposite of Islaam some people are of the erroneous opinion that the fear of Muslims engaging in the practices of Jahiliyyah has disappeared. But they got it wrong because there are so many aspects of Jaahiliyyah that many Muslims engage in today all in the name of Islaam. Some of the Muslims engage in these practices of Jaahiliyyah out of ignorance or misunderstanding of Islaam.
Our concern is to explain and call the attention of such Muslims to these practices which are just the opposite of what Islaam stands for. Some of these aspects include blind following, dividing and splitting up in the Religion, failure to obey the person of authority, fanaticism for ones group, taking the graves of righteous people as places of worship and speaking about Allaah without knowledge. Insha Allaah, in subsequent editions we shall treat some of these attributes one after the other.
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited