Could Jahiliyya refer to a people rather than a pre-Islamic era?
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Here is a link to an interesting book about the travels of a Biblical scholar through the Palestine / Jordan region, by caravan, in 1838. You will find the language condescending and obnoxious but if you can ignore that... you are given a vivid description of the terrain, archeological ruins, and lifestyle of the Arab tribes within this area.
What is particularly fascinating is mention of the Jehalin Arab tribe. Could the term jahiliyya possibly refer to the ways of this tribe in the 6th century...rather than a pre-Islamic era?
Even if this question is not of interest to you, the places intricately described on the caravan routes are likely places the Prophet Muhammad would have known well, thus gives us a glimpse of what his travels entailed.
http//books.google.com/books?id=ZdsUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA98&lpg=PA98&dq=jehalin+keis+tribes&source=bl&ots=rMY5s5Zq60&sig=_tqUx9df-qegYSEESSYluZetKZM&hl=en&ei=tPoKTcjbC4OClAfMr6ziCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false