Mythology among the Hebrews and Its Historical DevelopmentGoldziher, Ignác
Religion
Mythology among the Hebrews and Its Historical Development
Goldziher, Ignác
Jewish mythology; Judaism -- History -- To 70 A.D.
and the scholiast observes on the passage, ‘that is, she is a Beduin,
and the Bedawî always follow the rain and the places where raindrops
fall from heaven.’[141] The old Arabian poet wishes for rain also on the
grave of his friend; he cannot bear to see it scorched by the sun’s
heat. ‘Drench, O clouds, the earth of that grave!’ is a frequently
recurring formula in the old Arabic poetry; and the later poetry, with
its imitation of old forms, has received this phrase into its
inventory.[142] It is connected with this preference of the nomads for
the heavens by night, that Hind, daughter of ʿOtbâ, says on the day of
the battle of Oḥod to the Koreyshites, the opponents of Islâm: ‘We are
the daughters of the Star,’ (naḥnu binât Ṭâriḳ),[143] thereby claiming
descent for herself also from the nightly heaven. We put this
exclamation of the brave Arab woman in the same category with the
above-mentioned reference of the origin of the Arabs to the Rain, and
consider ourselves justified in rejecting the explanation given by
al-Jauharî, who finds in it a simile, with the sense, ‘Our father excels
others in nobility of birth, as that brilliant star excels the other
stars.’[144] It is then quite indifferent which star Ṭâriḳ is, whether
the morning star, according to most lexicographers, or Zoḥal, (Saturn,
or another of the five Chunnas-stars),[145] as al-Baiḍâwî explains
it.[146] The point lies only in the fact that the Arab woman calls
herself ‘Star’s daughter;’ and this designation falls into the same
category with Banû Badr ‘Sons of the Full Moon,’ Banû Hilâl ‘Sons of the
New Moon,’ adopted by some Arabian tribes, and compared even by
Bochart[147] with the name of the people Jerah.[148] Thus also several
clans of Arabian tribes, especially the Banû Temîm, Banû Ḍabbâ, and Banû
Azd called themselves ‘Sons of Night,’ (Banû Ṣarîm).[149] On the other
hand, the townsman of Mecca called himself ‘Child of the Sun,’—a name
which has survived to the present time, as is to be seen from an
interesting communication of Kremer.[150]
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