Arabness Before Islam: Views from the Poetry and the Nasab Literature

Was the construction of Arabness a purely Islamic phenomenon or was there already a pre-existing conception of Arab identity before Islam? Most scholars have accepted that "Arab" is an appropriate term for the pre-Islamic inhabitants of Arabia Deserta, while noting abundant problems posed by the available evidence. In particular, it has been observed that "Arab" is exceedingly rare in pre-Islamic poetry, lending support to the possibility that names such as Maʿadd were overtaken by "Arab," as a product of a religious (Islamic) ethnogenesis. This study addresses the question through a comprehensive survey of poetical and onomastic attestations. Part I comprises a commentary on thirty-four poetical attestations of ʿarab and closely related terms, a far more substantial sample than was hitherto thought to exist. This "normal" vocabulary is compared, in Part II, with terms that have an unclear and "contested" connection to Arabness, particularly the poetical usage of ʿarīb and aʿārīb, and the onomastic usage of ʿarīb and yaʿrub. I propose that much of this vocabulary reflects a genuine, if fluid, conception of Arabness. Among the many factors impacting its lengthy evolution, which continued well into the Islamic era, the appearance of Islam was not the first and perhaps not even the most decisive.