Some pre-Islamic sources refer to Zandaqa as one of the common religions in Quraysh tribe. This point has often been recorded in the works written during the second century (AH), during which the word Zandaqa was used in different meanings. Hence, it is an important que
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Some pre-Islamic sources refer to Zandaqa as one of the common religions in Quraysh tribe. This point has often been recorded in the works written during the second century (AH), during which the word Zandaqa was used in different meanings. Hence, it is an important question for historians of pre-Islamic period in which sense this word was commonly used in Quraysh. According to Ibn Kalbī in Mathālib al-‘Arab, as the oldest report available in this regard, there are some points about the Quraysh’s Zandaqa that can contribute to an understanding of its meaning. First, based on this report, the rise of Zandaqa in Quraysh was due to Quraysh’s merchants encounter with the people of al-Ḥirah, where the Christians were introduced as teachers of Zandaqa. Second, the names of the Zandaqa of Quraysh are recorded in this report. Given these two points, one can conclude that the Zandaqa in Quraysh does not indicate the Quraysh’s advocacy of gnostic religions, such as Manichaeism, nor their belief in Mazdakism, nor their apostasy and interest in the Magi’s duality. Other pieces of evidence, rather, indicate that this word was used to denote their lack of belief in the Origin or the hereafter.
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