Was entering from rear door a superstition in pre-Islamic Arabia?

[Ruhi_Rose]

 




يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْأَهِلَّةِ ۖ قُلْ هِيَ مَوَاقِيتُ لِلنَّاسِ وَالْحَجِّ ۗ وَلَيْسَ الْبِرُّ بِأَنْ تَأْتُوا الْبُيُوتَ مِنْ ظُهُورِهَا وَلَٰكِنَّ الْبِرَّ مَنِ اتَّقَىٰ ۗ وَأْتُوا الْبُيُوتَ مِنْ أَبْوَابِهَا ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ   
(2:189)  Surah Al-Baqra


"They ask you, (O Muhammad), of new moons, say:  They are fixed seasons for mankind and for the pilgrimage. It is not righteousness that you go to houses by the backs thereof (as do the idolaters at certain seasons), but the righteous man is he who wards off (evil). So go to houses by the gates thereof, and observe your duty to Allah, that you may be successful."  2:189  Al-Baqrah. 


As-Salam Alaykum dear MV folks.  By reading this Verse it seems that idolaters some sort of delusion or idiosyncratic belief about entering homes from the rear doors, and the Noble Quran has rejected that. 

What sort of superstition was it, would anyone know?

[N. Truth Seeker]

Walaykum As-Salam, sister.  Yes it was a superstitious custom in pre-Islamic Arabia.   As soon as they got ready for pilgrimage, they refrained from entering their houses by the front doors.  I don't know what that superstition implied but it was based on some deluded idea such as good luck or something similar.  So, they would enter their homes or the homes they visited by barging in through the back door, or if the house didn't have a back door then by climbing through windows from the rear of the house.  In this verse, Allah has completely rejected this superstitious practice by asserting that virtuous deeds have nothing to do with such superstitious practices and make-believe ideas which are blind following of meaningless customs coming from ancestors.  These type of illogical and untruthful concepts have no bearing on a person's character nor on one's human quality.

[Ruhi_Rose]

Yeah I thought as much.   Thanks a lot for the information, brother. 

[N. Truth Seeker]

Welcome sister.