44 Political and Cultural History of Islam Arabia Before Islam 45 govern. This was possible by virtue of his personal valour and authority and also on the basis of his noble ancestry.
The kinship system, the identification of each individual with a group which will protect him against another, rival, group, is a logical response to the condition of non-government. In pre-Islamic Arabia, there was no law enforcement agency to protect persons and property, and safety was provided not by the state but by the kin and ihe principle of retaliation; if a man was robbed or murdered, then his kin were obliged to seek revenge or compensation. In this way a measure of security for life a.id property was obtained without any formal structure of government but it meant that the obligations of kinship were very important since no one could survive without being a member of or protected by an effective kin.’7
