The meaning of anwaa’

We were told by Ali ibn Ibrahim bin Hashim, from his father, from Muhammed bin Abi ‘Umayr, from Muhammed bin Hamran, from his father, from Abu Ja’far, Muhammed bin Ali al-Baqir, peace be upon them, that he said: There are three things from the acts of the Jahiliya: pride in lineage, vilification due to status and seeking rain through anwaa’.

I heard several from the people of knowledge say: Anwaa’ are twenty-eight stars whose visibility is known throughout the times of the year, all from the summer, winter, spring and autumn. In every thirteenth night of it, one star of it falls during the sundown along with the rise of dawn, whereas another star appears opposite to it in the east of its hour, and both are known and recognized. The ending of all these twenty-eight is with the ending of the year, and then the matter returns to the first star by the commencement of the coming year. The Arabs, during the Jahiliya, used to say, when one star of them falls and another star appears: «It must be that there comes wind and rain along with that» and so they would ascribe every rain therein to that star that falls therein, and they would say: «Our rain is due to the movement towards the west of Thuraiya, Dabran, Samak» and whatever would be of these stars. Based on this, that is anwaa’ [1], and one is a naw’. It was only named naw’ because if a faller of them falls during sundown, that which appears in the east at sunrise comes up. It appears in an appearance , and that emergence is naw’, and so the star was named with it. So it is with everything that emerges and moves in slowness, it performs naw’ at its emergence. He, Blessed and Exalted is He, said: «would burden the band consisting of the strong» (28:76)