جاهلية
jāhiliyya
The “age of ignorance”: the Arabia before the Prophet, marked by idol worship, tribal feud and the burying of daughters.
What it means
The Quran uses the word for the pride and rage of the unbelievers (48:26) and warns women against “the display of the former jahiliyya” (33:33). Ja‘far ibn Abi Talib told the king of Abyssinia that before Islam “we were people of jahiliyya, worshipping idols, eating carrion, committing shameful acts, and the strong among us devoured the weak”, and that the Prophet called them to truth, honesty and kindness to kin (Musnad Ahmad). Poetry, hospitality and courage did exist then, and Islam kept the good.
Often misunderstood as
The word means a state of moral unawareness, not low intelligence, and some modern writers use it for any society that rejects divine guidance. It is a judgement on behaviour and not on a people.