Editing Belomancy

{{Short description|Ancient art of divination by use of arrows}}
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{{One source|date=January 2022}}
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'''Belomancy''', also '''bolomancy''', is the ancient art of [[divination]] by use of [[arrow]]s. The word is built upon {{Langx|grc|βέλος|lit=arrow, dart|translit=belos}}, and {{Lang|grc|μαντεία}}, {{Transliteration|grc|manteia}}, 'divination'. Belomancy  was anciently practiced at least by [[Babylonia]]ns, [[Greeks]], [[Arab]]s and [[Scythians]].

The arrows were typically marked with [[occult]] symbols and had to have feathers for every method. In one method, different possible answers to a given question were written and tied to each arrow. For example, three arrows would be marked with the phrases, ''God orders it me'', ''God forbids it me'', and the third would be blank. The arrow that flew the furthest indicated the answer. Another method involves the same thing, but without shooting the arrows. They would simply be shuffled in the [[quiver]], worn preferably on the back, and the first arrow to be drawn indicated the answer. If a blank arrow was drawn, they would redraw.

== Usage throughout history ==
This was an ancient practice, and probably mentioned in the [[Book of Ezekiel]] 21:21, shown below in the original Hebrew, and translated to English in the [[New American Standard Bible]],

:{{lang|he|כִּי-עָמַד מֶלֶךְ-בָּבֶל אֶל-אֵם הַדֶּרֶךְ, בְּרֹאשׁ שְׁנֵי הַדְּרָכִים--לִקְסָם-קָסֶם:  קִלְקַל בַּחִצִּים שָׁאַל בַּתְּרָפִים, רָאָה בַּכָּבֵד.}}

:"For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination; ''he shakes the arrows'', he consults the [[teraphim]], he [[Hepatomancy|looks at the liver]]."

[[Jerome]] agrees with this understanding of the verse, and observes that the practice was frequent among the [[Assyria]]ns and [[Babylon]]ians. Something like it is also mentioned in [[Book of Hosea|Hosea]] 4:12, although a staff or rod is used instead of arrows, which is [[rhabdomancy]] rather than belomancy. [[Grotius]], as well as Jerome, confounds the two together, and shows that it prevailed much among the [[Magi]], [[Chaldea]]ns, and [[Scythians]], from which it passed to the [[Slavonia]]ns, and then to the Germans, whom [[Tacitus]]{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}} observes to make use of it.

=== Pre-Islam Arabia ===
Belomancy is also attested in [[Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia|pre-Islamic Arab religion]]. In his [[Book of Idols]], early Muslim historian [[Hisham ibn al-Kalbi|Ibn al-Kalbi]] mentions that there were seven divination arrows in front of the statue of [[Hubal]] in the [[Kaaba]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/KitabAlAsnam |title=Kitab Al Asnam by Hisham ibn-al-Kalbi (737 CE - 819 CE) |date=2018-02-26}}</ref>

Belomancy is condemned in the Qur’an as a “work of [[Satan]]” in [[Al-Ma'idah]], the 5th [[Surah]] of the Qu'ran<blockquote>{{Lang|ar|
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِنَّمَا ٱلْخَمْرُ وَٱلْمَيْسِرُ وَٱلْأَنصَابُ وَٱلْأَزْلَـٰمُ رِجْسٌۭ مِّنْ عَمَلِ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنِ فَٱجْتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ٩٠}}</blockquote>{{Blockquote|text=Translation: O believers, intoxicants, gambling, idols, and drawing lots for decisions are all evil of Satan’s handiwork. So shun them so you may be successful.|author=[[Qur'an 5:90]]<ref>{{cite quran|5|90|e=91|s=ns}}</ref>}}
In the 91st verse of [[Surah]] [[Al-Ma'idah]] of the Qu'ran:<blockquote> ﴿۹۲ اِنَّمَا یُرِیۡدُ الشَّیۡطٰنُ اَنۡ یُّوۡقِعَ بَیۡنَکُمُ الۡعَدَاوَۃَ وَالۡبَغۡضَآءَ فِی الۡخَمۡرِ وَالۡمَیۡسِرِ وَیَصُدَّکُمۡ عَنۡ ذِکۡرِ اللّٰہِ وَعَنِ الصَّلٰوۃِ ۚ فَہَلۡ اَنۡتُمۡ مُّنۡتَہُوۡنَ <ref>{{Cite web |title=Holy Quran: Read, Listen and Search |url=https://www.alislam.org/quran/app/ |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=The Holy Quran}}</ref></blockquote><blockquote>Translation: Satan desires only to create enmity and hatred among you by means of wine and the game of hazard, and to keep you back from the remembrance of Allah and from Prayer. But will you keep back?

- Qur'an 5:91<ref>{{Cite web |title=Holy Quran: Read, Listen and Search |url=https://www.alislam.org/quran/app/ |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=The Holy Quran}}</ref></blockquote>

==See also==
{{Portal|Religion}}
* [[Salat al-Istikharah]]

==References==
{{Cite Cyclopaedia 1728|title=Belomancy|url=https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/A4C5AV6Q7LZ5DY8E/full/A2WXL5HPQGRDL29D|vb=1|page=96|access-date=2 May 2022}}
<references />{{Divination}}

[[Category:Divination]]
[[Category:Book of Ezekiel]]
[[Category:History of archery]]