Levite Quraysh

Anushirvan Khosrow

               According to the poem of Zuhair ibn Abi Sulma, the Levite Quraysh fled to the Meccan oasis around 480. Perhaps after 455, the conquest of Africa by the Arian Vandals opened up new opportunities for them. This meant that they returned to Jerusalem for about twenty years, from 460 to 480, during which they were absent from Mecca for the middle 20 years. This means that they were already in Mecca before this period. Since the Tabernacle was a temporary structure, it is reasonable that the Levite Quraysh had left Yemen a few years earlier, so that they could wait for an opportunity to return to Jerusalem.

Pursued by Israel, the Levite Quraysh descended south along the Jordan River—leaving behind their enemies, but also their Jewish friends. The Levite Quraysh found their old home in ruins, but the man-made Zamzam Well was still intact. It served as the site of the Kaaba and as a source of water for the Levite Quraysh priests. In this way, they transformed the land into a miniature paradise.

When the Kaaba was demolished, its black stone was still intact. The poem describes this place as the “Tabernacle” of God, built according to the instructions given in the Book of Exodus of the Torah. The Tabernacle was a temporary temple for God. It was a temporary alternative to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, until the Levite Quraysh could return to the Promised Land and rebuild the House of God. The Tabernacle had existed before, and the Levite Quraysh used it for the pilgrimage—a reenactment of the Exodus. Because they were no longer allowed to perform this ritual in Jerusalem, which was under Byzantine rule.

There was no Kaaba in Mecca before the return of the Levite Quraysh. Instead, there was the Tabernacle, which was covered with a curtain, which was brought from Yemen. Ancient tradition says that this curtain was first made in the city of Najran, where a rich textile industry existed.

"From that custom comes our current practice, where after the temple was built, fine muslin curtains were hung over the entrances. But the other ten curtains […] were finely sewn with gold thread, so that one curtain blended so perfectly with the other that it appeared as one continuous curtain. These curtains were spread over the temple and covered the roof and parts of the walls of the temple, both in front and behind […]."

This description may remind one of the curtain used in the Kaaba in Mecca today, but it is written by the first-century historian Josephus, in which he explains why the Holy Temple in Jerusalem was hidden behind a curtain. This was a description of the fixed Tabernacle, as opposed to the temporary and mobile Tabernacle, which is mentioned in an ancient Arabic poem. When the Tabernacle became permanent, it transformed into the Kaaba—where the Shechinah (which is the Spirit of God according to the Quran) took up residence and became a place of worship. The Shechinah connected God’s presence with the Ark of the Covenant, the Ten Commandments of the Torah, and of course the Temple in Jerusalem, which is the only resting place of God in Judaism.

The poem states that the black stones of the Tabernacle were the foundation stones of the tent structure. One of these cornerstones later became known as the "Black Stone", which believers touch and kiss and which bears the inscription of Jewish tradition.

Source:

*The Poem of Zuhair, F. Horne, ed., The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East (New York: Parke, Austin, & Lipscomb, 1917) Vol. V: Ancient Arabia

*Koran 36: 34: And a sign for them is the dead land, that We quickened and brought forth from it grain, whereof they eat; and We made therein gardens of palms and vines, and therein We caused fountains to gush forth, that they might eat of its fruits and their hands’ labor.

*Tabernacle (טבערנאקל) is the ancient portable house of worship of the Jews, also known as the Mishkan (מִשְׁכָּן). This was the sacred tabernacle of the time of Moses (Moses), where the Jews felt the presence of God and conducted religious activities, including sacrifices.

*Najran is said to have been the first place in the Arab Peninsula where Christianity arrived.

Flavius ​​Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews ca. 90 AD, III: 6.4, translated by William Whiston

*Koran 48: 4.

*Koran 2: 248: The sign of his kingdom is that there shall come to you At-Tabut [the lost Ark of the Covenant], wherein is Sakinah from your Lord and a remnant of that which Moses and Aaron left behind [the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments], carried by the angels.