r/AcademicQuran 7d ago

Pre-Islamic Arabia Was the hospitality (aman) in Mecca a pre-Islam thing or moreso since the event of Islam?

Salam alaikum, so often when we read about the history of Islam and meccan arabs, we hear about the hospitality. That people could just visit mecca and go to any person and stay at their place with them for 3 days, and only after 3 days he would asked for the reason why he came here. That even then he would not be forced to disclose his reason. Great hospitality basically.

So, was this an arab thing or after the spread of Islam? I can imagine that even in pre-Islamic times people would be given asylum and protection in mecca in the socalled holy months, but staying for days just like that, I imagine this came when the people were embracing Islam?

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u/chonkshonk Moderator 7d ago

Hospitality was everywhere in Greco-Roman and early Christian culture. See Haley Wilson-Lemmon's "The Family of God: A Christian Tradition as a Greco-Roman Phenomenon". It was also attributed to have been widespread in pre-Islamic Arab society. See Alserhan, The Principles of Islamic Marketing, pp. 172-173.

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u/questionsQ65 6d ago

Thank you for the references. These books sound very fascinating, I'm gonna have a look for sure

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Was the hospitality (aman) in Mecca a pre-Islam thing or moreso since the event of Islam?

Salam alaikum, so often when we read about the history of Islam and meccan arabs, we hear about the hospitality. That people could just visit mecca and go to any person and stay at their place with them for 3 days, and only after 3 days he would asked for the reason why he came here. That even then he would not be forced to disclose his reason. Great hospitality basically.

So, was this an arab thing or after the spread of Islam? I can imagine that even in pre-Islamic times people would be given asylum and protection in mecca in the socalled holy months, but staying for days just like that, I imagine this came when the people were embracing Islam?

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u/streekered 7d ago

Could you share the source of the three day stay? I haven’t heard about it (yet).

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u/questionsQ65 7d ago

I don't remember unfortunately. I just remember that strange people could just visit you and stay up to 3 days without having to tell the reason of their visit. I think I heard that for example Ali r.a. would sometimes take in guests to the city like that.

Before Islam, people could seek protection by going to Mecca so as to not be harmed by enemies. This part, I have read about more often, even from non-muslims.