jahiliyyah

Etymology
From.

Noun

 * 1)  The condition of ignorance, barbarism and unbelief in Arabia before the coming of Islam.
 * 2) * 1834: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, page 422 (Cambridge University Press for the Royal Asiatic Society)
 * Some valuable chapters are occupied with the drawing of parallels between the Arabian Jāhiliyyah, or pre-Islamic period, and Greek heroic antiquity; some others with the history of Arabic poetry, and an endeavour to define the characteristics of the different periods and their chief representatives.