Jahiliyyah is an Islamic concept referring to the spiritual condition of pre-Islamic Arabian society. It is described as a state of ignorance of God's message.
"When a person embraced Islam during the time of the Prophet-peace be on him-he would immediately cut himself off from Jahiliyyah. [The state of ignorance of the guidance from God.] When he stepped into the circle of Islam, he would start a new life, separating himself completely from his past life under ignorance of the Divine Law. He would look upon the deeds during his life of ignorance with mistrust and fear, with a feeling that these were impure and could not be tolerated in Islam! With this feeling, he would turn toward Islam for new guidance; and if at any time temptations overpowered him, or the old habits attracted him, or if he became lax in carrying out the injunctions of Islam, he would become restless with a sense of guilt and would feel the need to purify himself of what had happened, and would turn to the Qur'an to mold himself according to its guidance." -- Sayyid Qutb, in Milestones (external link)
Critical note
Jahiliyyah has come to have a particular function in some radical Islamic circles, analogous to the idea of false consciousness in secular radical movements. Following Sayyid Qutb, Jahiliyyah has come to be seen as an active force, emanating in particular from the permissive society of the USA, and seducing muslims away from the Divine Law. Participation in modern liberal capitalist social and political institutions is taken to be a symptom of the infection.
The threat this 'disease' poses to the survival of Islam might justify a more militant attitude towards Western influence in Islam's heartlands, and can be seen as permitting 'real' muslims to attack muslims who have succumbed to Jahiliyyah - who are therefore no longer true muslims.
