Religion in pre-

Islamic Arabia

Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia included

indigenous Arabian polytheism, ancient
Semitic religions (religions predating the
Abrahamic religions which themselves
likewise originated among the ancient
Semitic-speaking peoples), Christianity,
Judaism, and Iranian religions such as
Zoroastrianism, Mithraism, and
Manichaeism.
Alabaster votive figurines from Yemen, now in the
National Museum of Oriental Art, Rome

Arabian polytheism, the dominant form of

religion in pre-Islamic Arabia, was based
on veneration of deities and spirits.
Worship was directed to various gods
and goddesses, including Hubal and the
goddesses al-Lāt, al-‘Uzzā, and Manāt, at
local shrines and temples such as the
Kaaba in Mecca. Deities were venerated
and invoked through a variety of rituals,
including pilgrimages and divination, as
well as ritual sacrifice. Different theories
have been proposed regarding the role of
Allah in Meccan religion. Many of the
physical descriptions of the pre-Islamic
gods are traced to idols, especially near
the Kaaba, which is said to have
contained up to 360 of them.

Other religions were represented to

varying, lesser degrees. The influence of
the adjacent Roman and Aksumite
civilizations resulted in Christian
communities in the northwest, northeast,
and south of Arabia. Christianity made a
lesser impact, but secured some
conversions in the remainder of the
peninsula. With the exception of
Nestorianism in the northeast and the
Persian Gulf, the dominant form of
Christianity was Miaphysitism. The
peninsula had been a destination for
Jewish migration since Roman times,
which had resulted in a diaspora
community supplemented by local
converts. Additionally, the influence of
the Sasanian Empire resulted in Iranian
religions being present in the peninsula.
Zoroastrianism existed in the east and
south, while there is evidence of
Manichaeism or possibly Mazdakism
being practiced in Mecca.

Background and sources

Until about the fourth century, almost all
inhabitants of Arabia practiced
polytheistic religions.[1] Although
significant Jewish and Christian
minorities developed, polytheism
remained the dominant belief system in
pre-Islamic Arabia.[2][3]

The contemporary sources of

information regarding the pre-Islamic
Arabian religion and pantheon include a
small number of inscriptions and
carvings,[3] pre-Islamic poetry, external
sources such as Jewish and Greek
accounts, as well as the Muslim tradition,
such as the Qur'an and Islamic writings.
Nevertheless, information is limited.[3]
One early attestation of Arabian
polytheism was in Esarhaddon’s Annals,
mentioning Atarsamain, Nukhay, Ruldaiu,
and Atarquruma.[4] Herodotus, writing in
his Histories, reported that the Arabs
worshipped Orotalt (identified with
Dionysus) and Alilat (identified with
Aphrodite).[5][6] Strabo stated the Arabs
worshipped Dionysus and Zeus. Origen
stated they worshipped Dionysus and
Urania.[6]

Muslim sources regarding Arabian

polytheism include the eight-century
Book of Idols by Hisham ibn al-Kalbi,
which F.E. Peters argued to be the most
substantial treatment of the religious
practices of pre-Islamic Arabia,[7] as well
as the writings of the Yemeni historian al-
Hasan al-Hamdani on South Arabian
religious beliefs.[8]

According to the Book of Idols,

descendants of the son of Abraham
(Ishmael) who had settled in Mecca
migrated to other lands. They carried
holy stones from the Kaaba with them,
erected them, and circumambulated
them like the Kaaba.[9] This, according to
al-Kalbi led to the rise of idol worship.[9]
Based on this, it may be probable that
Arabs originally venerated stones, later
adopting idol-worship under foreign
influences.[9] The relationship between a
god and a stone as his representation
can be seen from the third-century work
called the Syriac Homily of Pseudo-
Meliton where he describes the pagan
faiths of Syriac-speakers in northern
Mesopotamia, who were mostly Arabs.[9]

Worship

Deities …
Nabataean baetyl depicting a goddess, possibly al-
Uzza.

The pre-Islamic Arabian religions were

polytheistic, with many of the deities'
names known.[1] Formal pantheons are
more noticeable at the level of kingdoms,
of variable sizes, ranging from simple
city-states to collections of tribes.[10]
Tribes, towns, clans, lineages and
families had their own cults too.[10]
Christian Julien Robin suggests that this
structure of the divine world reflected the
society of the time.[10] Trade caravans
also brought foreign religious and
cultural influences.[11]
A large number of deities did not have
proper names and were referred to by
titles indicating a quality, a family
relationship, or a locale preceded by "he
who" or "she who" (dhū or dhāt
respectively).[10]

The religious beliefs and practices of the

nomadic Bedouin were distinct from
those of the settled tribes of towns such
as Mecca.[12] Nomadic religious belief
systems and practices are believed to
have included fetishism, totemism and
veneration of the dead but were
connected principally with immediate
concerns and problems and did not
consider larger philosophical questions
such as the afterlife.[12] Settled urban
Arabs, on the other hand, are thought to
have believed in a more complex
pantheon of deities.[12] While the
Meccans and the other settled
inhabitants of the Hejaz worshiped their
gods at permanent shrines in towns and
oases, the Bedouin practiced their
religion on the move.[13]

Minor spirits …

In South Arabia, mndh’t were anonymous

guardian spirits of the community and
the ancestor spirits of the family.[14] They
were known as ‘the sun (shms) of their
ancestors’.[14]
In north Arabia, ginnaye were known from
Palmyrene inscriptions as "the good and
rewarding gods" and were probably
related to the jinn of west and central
Arabia.[15] Unlike jinn, ginnaye could not
hurt nor possess humans and were much
more similar to the Roman genius.[16]
According to common Arabian belief,
soothsayers, pre-Islamic philosophers,
and poets were inspired by the jinn.[17]
However, jinn were also feared and
thought to be responsible for causing
various diseases and mental illnesses.[18]

Malevolent beings …
Aside from benevolent gods and spirits,
there existed malevolent beings.[15]
These beings were not attested in the
epigraphic record, but were alluded to in
pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, and their
legends were collected by later Muslim
authors.[15]

Commonly mentioned are ghouls.[15]

Etymologically, the English word "ghoul"
was derived from the Arabic ghul, from
ghala, "to seize",[19] related to the
Sumerian galla.[20] They are said to have
a hideous appearance, with feet like
those of an ass.[15] Arabs were said to
utter the following couplet if they should
encounter one: "Oh ass-footed one, just
bray away, we won't leave the desert
plain nor ever go astray."[15]

Christian Julien Robin notes that all the

known South Arabian divinities had a
positive or protective role and that evil
powers were only alluded to but were
never personified.[21]

Roles of deities …

Role of Allah …

Some scholars postulate that in pre-

Islamic Arabia, including in Mecca,[22]
Allah was considered to be a deity,[22]
possibly a creator deity or a supreme
deity in a polytheistic pantheon.[23][24] The
word Allah (from the Arabic al-ilah
meaning "the god")[25] may have been
used as a title rather than a
name.[26][27][28] The concept of Allah may
have been vague in the Meccan
religion.[29] According to Islamic sources,
Meccans and their neighbors believed
that the goddesses Al-lāt, Al-‘Uzzá, and
Manāt were the daughters of
Allah.[2][24][26][27][30]

Regional variants of the word Allah occur

in both pagan and Christian pre-Islamic
inscriptions.[31][32] References to Allah
are found in the poetry of the pre-Islamic
Arab poet Zuhayr bin Abi Sulma, who
lived a generation before Muhammad, as
well as pre-Islamic personal names.[33]
Muhammad's father's name was ʿAbd-
Allāh, meaning "the servant of Allah".[29]

Charles Russell Coulter and Patricia

Turner considered that Allah's name may
be derived from a pre-Islamic god called
Ailiah and is similar to El, Il, Ilah, and
Jehovah. They also considered some of
his characteristics to be seemingly based
on lunar deities like Almaqah, Kahl,
Shaker, Wadd and Warakh.[34] Alfred
Guillaume states that the connection
between Ilah that came to form Allah and
ancient Babylonian Il or El of ancient
Israel is not clear. Wellhausen states that
Allah was known from Jewish and
Christian sources and was known to
pagan Arabs as the supreme god.[35]
Winfried Corduan doubts the theory of
Allah of Islam being linked to a moon
god, stating that the term Allah functions
as a generic term, like the term El-Elyon
used as a title for the god Sin.[36]

South Arabian inscriptions from the

fourth century AD refer to a god called
Rahman ("The Merciful One") who had a
monotheistic cult and was referred to as
the "Lord of heaven and Earth".[24] Aaron
W. Hughes states that scholars are
unsure whether he developed from the
earlier polytheistic systems or developed
due to the increasing significance of the
Christian and Jewish communities, and
that it is difficult to establish whether
Allah was linked to Rahmanan.[24]
Maxime Rodinson, however, considers
one of Allah's names, "Ar-Rahman", to
have been used in the form of Rahmanan
earlier.[37]

Al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat …

Bas-relief: Nemesis, al-Lat and the dedicator.

Palmyrene, 2nd–3rd century AD.
Al-Lāt, Al-‘Uzzá and Manāt were common
names used for multiple goddesses
across Arabia.[26][38][39][40][41] G. R.
Hawting states that modern scholars
have frequently associated the names of
Arabian goddesses Al-lāt, Al-‘Uzzá and
Manāt with cults devoted to celestial
bodies, particularly Venus, drawing upon
evidence external to the Muslim tradition
as well as in relation to Syria,
Mesopotamia and the Sinai Peninsula.[42]

Allāt (Arabic: ‫ )اﻟﻼت‬or al-Lāt was

worshipped throughout the ancient Near
East with various associations.[34]
Herodotus in the 5th century BC identifies
Alilat (Greek: Ἀλιλάτ) as the Arabic name
for Aphrodite (and, in another passage,
for Urania),[5] which is strong evidence for
worship of Allāt in Arabia at that early
date.[43] Al-‘Uzzá (Arabic: ‫ )اﻟﻌﺰى‬was a
fertility goddess[44] or possibly a
goddess of love.[45] Manāt (Arabic: ‫)ﻣﻨﺎة‬
was the goddess of destiny.[46]

Al-Lāt's cult was spread in Syria and

northern Arabia. From Safaitic and
Hismaic inscriptions, it is probable that
she was worshiped as Lat (lt). F. V.
Winnet saw al-Lat as a lunar deity due to
the association of a crescent with her in
'Ayn esh-Shallāleh and a Lihyanite
inscription mentioning the name of Wadd,
the Minaean moon god, over the title of
fkl lt. René Dussaud and Gonzague
Ryckmans linked her with Venus while
others have thought her to be a solar
deity. John F. Healey considers that al-
Uzza actually might have been an epithet
of al-Lāt before becoming a separate
deity in the Meccan pantheon.[47] Paola
Corrente, writing in Redefining Dionysus,
considers she might have been a god of
vegetation or a celestial deity of
atmospheric phenomena and a sky
deity.[48]

Mythology
According to F. E. Peters, "one of the
characteristics of Arab paganism as it
has come down to us is the absence of a
mythology, narratives that might serve to
explain the origin or history of the
gods."[49] Many of the deities have
epithets, but are lacking myths or
narratives to decode the epithets, making
them generally uninformative.[50]

Practices

Stone-carved god-stones in Petra, Jordan.

Cult images and idols …

The worship of sacred stones
constituted one of the most important
practices of the Semitic peoples,
including Arabs.[51] Cult images of a deity
were most often an unworked stone
block.[52] The most common name for
these stone blocks was derived from the
Semitic nsb ("to be stood upright"), but
other names were used, such as
Nabataean masgida ("place of
prostration") and Arabic duwar ("object of
circumambulation", this term often
occurs in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry).[53]
These god-stones were usually a free-
standing slab, but Nabataean god-stones
are usually carved directly on the rock
face.[53] Facial features may be incised
on the stone (especially in Nabataea), or
astral symbols (especially in South
Arabia).[53] Under Greco-Roman influence,
an anthropomorphic statue might be
used instead.[52]

The Book of Idols describes two types of

statues: idols (sanam) and images
(wathan).[54] If a statue were made of
wood, gold, or silver, after a human form,
it would be an idol, but if the statue were
made of stone, it would be an image.[54]

Representation of deities in animal-form

was common in South Arabia, such as
the god Sayin from Hadhramaut, who
was represented as either an eagle
fighting a serpent or a bull.[55]
Floor-plan of the peristyle hall of the Awwam temple
in Ma'rib.

Sacred places …

Sacred places are known as hima, haram

or mahram, and within these places, all
living things were considered inviolable
and violence was forbidden.[56] In most
of Arabia, these places would take the
form of open-air sanctuaries, with
distinguishing natural features such as
springs and forests.[56] Cities would
contain temples, enclosing the sacred
area with walls, and featuring ornate
structures.[57]

Priesthood and sacred offices …

Sacred areas often had a guardian or a

performer of cultic rites.[58] These
officials were thought to tend the area,
receive offerings, and perform
divination.[58] They are known by many
names, probably based on cultural-
linguistic preference: afkal was used in
the Hejaz, kâhin was used in the Sinai-
Negev-Hisma region, and kumrâ was
used in Aramaic-influenced areas.[58] In
South Arabia, rs2w and 'fkl were used to
refer to priests, and other words include
qyn ("administrator") and mrtd
("consecrated to a particular divinity").[59]
A more specialized staff is thought to
have existed in major sanctuaries.[58]

Pilgrimages …

Pilgrimages to sacred places would be

made at certain times of the year.[60]
Pilgrim fairs of central and northern
Arabia took place in specific months
designated as violence-free,[60] allowing
several activities to flourish, such as
trade, though in some places only
exchange was permitted.[61]

South Arabian pilgrimages …

The most important pilgrimage in Saba'

was probably the pilgrimage of Almaqah
at Ma'rib, performed in the month of dhu-
Abhi (roughly in July).[59] Two references
attest the pilgrimage of Almaqah dhu-
Hirran at 'Amran.[59] The pilgrimage of
Ta'lab Riyam took place in Mount Tur'at
and the Zabyan temple at Hadaqan, while
the pilgrimage of Dhu-Samawi, the god of
the Amir tribe, took place in Yathill.[59]
Aside from Sabaean pilgrimages, the
pilgrimage of Sayin took place at
Shabwa.[59][60]
Meccan pilgrimage …

The pilgrimage of Mecca involved the

stations of Mount Arafat, Muzdalifah,
Mina and central Mecca that included
Safa and Marwa as well as the Kaaba.
Pilgrims at the first two stations
performed wuquf or standing in
adoration. At Mina, animals were
sacrificed. The procession from Arafat to
Muzdalifah, and from Mina to Mecca, in a
pre-reserved route towards idols or an
idol, was termed ijaza and ifada, with the
latter taking place before sunset. At
Jabal Quzah, fires were started during
the sacred month.[62]
Nearby the Kaaba was located the betyl
which was later called Maqam Ibrahim; a
place called al-Ḥigr which Aziz al-Azmeh
takes to be reserved for consecrated
animals, basing his argument on a
Sabaean inscription mentioning a place
called mḥgr which was reserved for
animals; and the Well of Zamzam. Both
Safa and Marwa were adjacent to two
sacrificial hills, one called Muṭ'im al Ṭayr
and another Mujāwir al-Riḥ which was a
pathway to Abu Kubais from where the
Black Stone is reported to have
originated.[63]

Cult associations …
Meccan pilgrimages differed according
to the rites of different cult associations,
in which individuals and groups joined
together for religious purposes. The Ḥilla
association performed the hajj in autumn
season while the Ṭuls and Ḥums
performed the umrah in spring.[64]

The Ḥums were the Quraysh, Banu

Kinanah, Banu Khuza'a and Banu 'Amir.
They did not perform the pilgrimage
outside the zone of Mecca's haram, thus
excluding Mount Arafat. They also
developed certain dietary and cultural
restrictions.[65] According to Kitab al-
Muhabbar, the Ḥilla denoted most of the
Banu Tamim, Qays, Rabi`ah, Qūḍa'ah,
Ansar, Khath'am, Bajīlah, Banu Bakr ibn
Abd Manat, Hudhayl, Asad, Tayy and
Bariq. The Ṭuls comprised the tribes of
Yemen and Hadramaut, 'Akk, Ujayb and
Īyād. The Basl recognised at least eight
months of the calendar as holy. There
was also another group which didn't
recognize the sanctity of Mecca's haram
or holy months, unlike the other four.[66]

Divination …

In South Arabia, oracles were regarded as

ms’l, or "a place of asking", and that
deities interacted by hr’yhw ("making
them see") a vision, a dream, or even
direct interaction.[67] Otherwise deities
interacted indirectly through a
medium.[68]

There were three methods of chance-

based divination attested in pre-Islamic
Arabia; two of these methods, making
marks in the sand or on rocks and
throwing pebbles are poorly attested.[69]
The other method, the practice of
randomly selecting an arrow with
instructions, was widely attested and
was common throughout Arabia.[69] A
simple form of this practice was
reportedly performed before the image
of Dhu'l-Khalasa by a certain man,
sometimes said to be the Kindite poet
Imru al-Qays according to al-Kalbi.[70][71]
A more elaborate form of the ritual was
performed in before the image of
Hubal.[72] This form of divination was
also attested in Palmyra, evidenced by an
honorific inscription in the temple of al-
Lat.[72]

Offerings and ritual sacrifice …

Thamudic petroglyphs from Wadi Rum, depicting a

hunter, ibex, a camel and a rider on horseback.
Camels were among the sacrificial animals in pre-
Islamic Arabia.[73]
The most common offerings were
animals, crops, food, liquids, inscribed
metal plaques or stone tablets,
aromatics, edifices and manufactured
objects.[74] Camel-herding Arabs would
devote some of their beasts to certain
deities. The beasts would have their ears
slit and would be left to pasture without a
herdsman, allowing them to die a natural
death.[74]

Pre-Islamic Arabians, especially

pastoralist tribes, sacrificed animals as
an offering to a deity.[73] This type of
offering was common and involved
domestic animals such as camels, sheep
and cattle, while game animals and
poultry were rarely or never mentioned.
Sacrifice rites were not tied to a
particular location though they were
usually practiced in sacred places.[73]
Sacrifice rites could be performed by the
devotee, though according to Hoyland,
women were probably not allowed.[75]
The victim's blood, according to pre-
Islamic Arabic poetry and certain South
Arabian inscriptions, was also 'poured
out' on the altar stone, thus forming a
bond between the human and the
deity.[75] According to Muslim sources,
most sacrifices were concluded with
communal feasts.[75]
In South Arabia, beginning with the
Christian era, or perhaps a short while
before, statuettes were presented before
the deity, known as slm (male) or slmt
(female).[59]

Human sacrifice was sometimes carried

out in Arabia. The victims were generally
prisoners of war, who represented the
god's part of the victory in booty,
although other forms might have
existed.[73]

Blood sacrifice was definitely practiced

in South Arabia, but few allusions to the
practice are known, apart from some
Minaean inscriptions.[59]
Other practices …

In the Hejaz, menstruating women were

not allowed to be near the cult
images.[55] The area where Isaf and
Na'ila's images stood was considered
out-of-bounds for menstruating
women.[55] This was reportedly the same
with Manaf.[76] According to the Book of
Idols, this rule applied to all the "idols".[55]
This was also the case in South Arabia,
as attested in a South Arabian inscription
from al-Jawf.[55]

Sexual intercourse in temples was

prohibited, as attested in two South
Arabian inscriptions.[55] One legend
concerning Isaf and Na'ila, when two
lovers made love in the Kaaba and were
petrified, joining the idols in the Kaaba,
echoes this prohibition.[55]

By geography

Eastern Arabia …

The Worshipping Servant statue from Tarout Island,

2500 BC

The Dilmun civilization, which existed

along the Persian Gulf coast and Bahrain
until the 6th century BC, worshipped a
pair of deities, Inzak and Meskilak.[77] It is
not known whether these were the only
deities in the pantheon or whether there
were others.[78] The discovery of wells at
the sites of a Dilmun temple and a shrine
suggests that sweet water played an
important part in religious practices.[77]

In the subsequent Greco-Roman period,

there is evidence that the worship of non-
indigenous deities was brought to the
region by merchants and visitors.[78]
These included Bel, a god popular in the
Syrian city of Palmyra, the
Mesopotamian deities Nabu and
Shamash, the Greek deities Poseidon and
Artemis and the west Arabian deities
Kahl and Manat.[78]

South Arabia …

Sculpture of a Sabaean priestess raising her hand to

intercede with the sun goddess on behalf of a donor.
Probably first century.

The main sources of religious

information in pre-Islamic South Arabia
are inscriptions, which number in the
thousands, as well as the Quran,
complemented by archaeological
evidence.

The civilizations of South Arabia are

considered to have the most developed
pantheon in the Arabian peninsula.[50] In
South Arabia, the most common god was
'Athtar, who was considered remote. The
patron deity (shym) was considered to be
of much more immediate significance
than 'Athtar. Thus, the kingdom of Saba'
had Almaqah, the kingdom of Ma'in had
Wadd, the kingdom of Qataban had
'Amm, and the kingdom of Hadhramaut
had Sayin. Each people was termed the
"children" of their respective patron deity.
Patron deities played a vital role in
sociopolitical terms, their cults serving as
the focus of a person's cohesion and
loyalty.

Evidence from surviving inscriptions

suggests that each of the southern
kingdoms had its own pantheon of three
to five deities, the major deity always
being a god.[79] For example, the
pantheon of Saba comprised Almaqah,
the major deity, together with 'Athtar,
Haubas, Dhat-Himyam, and Dhat-
Badan.[79] The main god in Ma'in and
Himyar was 'Athtar, in Qataban it was
Amm, and in Hadhramaut it was Sayin.[79]
'Amm was a lunar deity and was
associated with the weather, especially
lightning.[80] One of the most frequent
titles of the god Almaqah was "Lord of
Awwam".[81]

Anbay was an oracular god of Qataban

and also the spokesman of Amm.[82] His
name was invoked in royal regulations
regarding water supply.[83] Anbay's name
was related to that of the Babylonian
deity Nabu. Hawkam was invoked
alongside Anbay as god of "command
and decision" and his name is derived
from the root word "to be wise".[4]
Ruins of temple of Awwam, dedicated to Almaqah.

Each kingdom's central temple was the

focus of worship for the main god and
would be the destination for an annual
pilgrimage, with regional temples
dedicated to a local manifestation of the
main god.[79] Other beings worshipped
included local deities or deities
dedicated to specific functions as well
as deified ancestors.[79]

Influence of Arab tribes …

The encroachment of northern Arab
tribes into South Arabia also introduced
northern Arab deities into the region.[21]
The three goddesses al-Lat, al-Uzza and
Manat became known as Lat/Latan,
Uzzayan and Manawt.[21] Uzzayan's cult
in particular was widespread in South
Arabia, and in Qataban she was invoked
as a guardian of the final royal palace.[21]
Lat/Latan was not significant in South
Arabia, but appears to be popular with
the Arab tribes bordering Yemen.[21] Other
Arab deities include Dhu-Samawi, a god
originally worshipped by the Amir tribe,
and Kahilan, perhaps related to Kahl of
Qaryat al-Faw.[21]
Bordering Yemen, the Azd Sârat tribe of
the Asir region was said to have
worshipped Dhu'l-Shara, Dhu'l-Kaffayn,
Dhu'l-Khalasa and A'im.[84] According to
the Book of Idols, Dhu'l-Kaffayn originated
from a clan of the Banu Daws.[85] In
addition to being worshipped among the
Azd, Dushara is also reported to have a
shrine amongst the Daws.[85] Dhu’l-
Khalasa was an oracular god and was
also worshipped by the Bajila and
Khatham tribes.[71]

Influence on Aksum …

Before conversion to Christianity, the

Aksumites followed a polytheistic
religion that was similar to that of
Southern Arabia. The lunar god Hawbas
was worshiped in South Arabia and
Aksum.[86] The name of the god Astar, a
sky-deity was related to that of 'Attar.[87]
The god Almaqah was worshiped at
Hawulti-Melazo.[88] The South Arabian
gods in Aksum included Dhat-Himyam
and Dhat-Ba'adan.[89] A stone later
reused for the church of Enda-Cerqos at
Melazo mentions these gods. Hawbas is
also mentioned on an altar and sphinx in
Dibdib. The name of Nrw who is
mentioned in Aksum inscriptions is
related to that of the South Arabian god
Nawraw, a deity of stars.[90]

Transition to Judaism …
The Himyarite kings radically opposed
polytheism in favor of Judaism, beginning
officially in 380.[91] The last trace of
polytheism in South Arabia, an inscription
commemorating a construction project
with a polytheistic invocation, and
another, mentioning the temple of Ta’lab,
all date from just after 380 (the former
dating to the rule of the king Dhara’amar
Ayman, and the latter dating to the year
401–402).[91] The rejection of polytheism
from the public sphere did not mean the
extinction of it altogether, as polytheism
likely continued in the private sphere.[91]

Central Arabia …
The Kindah tribe's chief god was Kahl,
whom their capital Qaryat Dhat Kahl
(modern Qaryat al-Faw) was named
for.[92][93] His name appears in the form
of many inscriptions and rock engravings
on the slopes of the Tuwayq, on the walls
of the souk of the village, in the
residential houses and on the incense
burners.[93] An inscription in Qaryat Dhat
Kahl invokes the gods Kahl, Athtar al-
Shariq and Lah.[94]

Hejaz …

According to Islamic sources, the Hejaz

region was home to three important
shrines dedicated to al-Lat, al-’Uzza and
Manat. The shrine and idol of al-Lat,
according to the Book of Idols, once
stood in Ta'if, and was primarily
worshipped by the Banu Thaqif tribe.[95]
Al-’Uzza's principal shrine was in Nakhla
and was the chief-goddess of the
Quraysh tribe.[96][97] Manāt's idol,
reportedly the oldest of the three, was
erected on the seashore between Medina
and Mecca, and was honored by the Aws
and Khazraj tribes.[98] Inhabitants of
several areas venerated Manāt,
performing sacrifices before her idol, and
pilgrimages of some were not
considered completed until they visited
Manāt and shaved their heads.[54]
In the Muzdalifah region near Mecca, the
god Quzah, who is a god of rains and
storms, was worshipped. In pre-Islamic
times pilgrims used to halt at the "hill of
Quzah" before sunrise.[99] Qusai ibn Kilab
is traditionally reported to have
introduced the association of fire
worship with him on Muzdalifah.[99]

Various other deities were venerated in

the area by specific tribes, such as the
god Suwa' by the Banu Hudhayl tribe and
the god Nuhm by the Muzaynah tribe.[100]

Historiography …

The majority of extant information about

Mecca during the rise of Islam and earlier
times comes from the text of the Quran
itself and later Muslim sources such as
the prophetic biography literature dealing
with the life of Muhammad and the Book
of Idols.[101] Alternative sources are so
fragmentary and specialized that writing
a convincing history of this period based
on them alone is impossible.[102] Several
scholars hold that the sīra literature is
not independent of the Quran but has
been fabricated to explain the verses of
the Quran.[103] There is evidence to
support the contention that some reports
of the sīras are of dubious validity, but
there is also evidence to support the
contention that the sīra narratives
originated independently of the
Quran.[103] Compounding the problem is
that the earliest extant Muslim historical
works, including the sīras, were
composed in their definitive form more
than a century after the beginning of the
Islamic era.[104] Some of these works
were based on subsequently lost earlier
texts, which in their turn recorded a fluid
oral tradition.[102] Scholars do not agree
as to the time when such oral accounts
began to be systematically collected and
written down,[105] and they differ greatly
in their assessment of the historical
reliability of the available
texts.[103][106][107]

Role of Mecca and the Kaaba …

A drawing of the Kaaba's black stone in fragmented
form, front and side illustrations.

The Kaaba, whose environs were

regarded as sacred (haram), became a
national shrine under the custodianship
of the Quraysh, the chief tribe of Mecca,
which made the Hejaz the most
important religious area in north
Arabia.[108] Its role was solidified by a
confrontation with the Christian king
Abraha, who controlled much of Arabia
from a seat of power in Yemen in the
middle of the sixth century.[109] Abraha
had recently constructed a splendid
church in Sana'a, and he wanted to make
that city a major center of pilgrimage, but
Mecca's Kaaba presented a challenge to
his plan.[109] Abraha found a pretext for
an attack on Mecca, presented by
different sources alternatively as
pollution of the church by a tribe allied to
the Meccans or as an attack on Abraha's
grandson in Najran by a Meccan
party.[109] The defeat of the army he
assembled to conquer Mecca is
recounted with miraculous details by the
Islamic tradition and is also alluded to in
the Quran and pre-Islamic poetry.[109]
After the battle, which probably occurred
around 565, the Quraysh became a
dominant force in western Arabia,
receiving the title "God's people" (ahl
Allah) according to Islamic sources, and
formed the cult association of ḥums,
which tied members of many tribes in
western Arabia to the Kaaba.[109]

The Kaaba, Allah, and Hubal …

According to tradition, the Kaaba was a

cube-like, originally roofless structure
housing a black stone revered as a
relic.[110] The sanctuary was dedicated to
Hubal (Arabic: ‫)ﻫﺒﻞ‬, who, according to
some sources, was worshiped as the
greatest of the 360 idols the Kaaba
contained, which probably represented
the days of the year.[111] Ibn Ishaq and
Ibn Al-Kalbi both report that the human-
shaped idol of Hubal made of precious
stone came into the possession of the
Quraysh with its right hand broken off
and that the Quraysh made a hand of
gold to replace it.[112] A soothsayer
performed divination in the shrine by
drawing ritual arrows,[108] and vows and
sacrifices were made to assure
success.[113] Marshall Hodgson argues
that relations with deities and fetishes in
pre-Islamic Mecca were maintained
chiefly on the basis of bargaining, where
favors were expected in return for
offerings.[113] A deity's or oracle's failure
to provide the desired response was
sometimes met with anger.[113]

Different theories have been proposed

regarding the role of Allah in Meccan
religion. According to one hypothesis,
which goes back to Julius Wellhausen,
Allah (the supreme deity of the tribal
federation around Quraysh) was a
designation that consecrated the
superiority of Hubal (the supreme deity of
Quraysh) over the other gods.[31]
However, there is also evidence that Allah
and Hubal were two distinct deities.[31]
According to that hypothesis, the Kaaba
was first consecrated to a supreme deity
named Allah and then hosted the
pantheon of Quraysh after their conquest
of Mecca, about a century before the
time of Muhammad.[31] Some
inscriptions seem to indicate the use of
Allah as a name of a polytheist deity
centuries earlier, but we know nothing
precise about this use.[31] Some scholars
have suggested that Allah may have
represented a remote creator god who
was gradually eclipsed by more
particularized local deities.[28] There is
disagreement on whether Allah played a
major role in the Meccan religious
cult.[2][25] No iconic representation or idol
of Allah is known to have existed.[25][114]

Other deities …
The three chief goddesses of Meccan
religion were al-Lat, Al-‘Uzzá, and Manāt,
who were called the daughters of
Allah.[2][26][27][30] Egerton Sykes
meanwhile states that Al-lāt was the
female counterpart of Allah while Uzza
was a name given by Banu Ghatafan to
the planet Venus.[115]

Other deities of the Quraysh in Mecca

included Manaf, Isaf and Na’ila. Although
the early Arab historian Al-Tabari calls
Manaf (Arabic: ‫" )ﻣﻨﺎف‬one of the greatest
deities of Mecca", very little information
is available about it. Women touched his
idol as a token of blessing, and kept
away from it during menstruation.
Gonzague Ryckmans described this as a
practice peculiar to Manaf, but according
to the Encyclopedia of Islam, a report
from Ibn Al-Kalbi indicates that it was
common to all idols.[116] Muhammad's
great-great-grandfather's name was Abd
Manaf which means "slave of Manaf".[117]
He is thought by some scholars to be a
sun-god.[118] The idols of Isāf and Nā'ila
were located near the Black Stone with a
talbiyah performed to Isāf during
sacrifices. Various legends existed about
the idols, including one that they were
petrified after they committed adultery in
the Kaaba.[63]
The pantheon of the Quraysh was not
identical with that of the tribes who
entered into various cult and commercial
associations with them, especially that of
the hums.[119][120] Christian Julien Robin
argues that the former was composed
principally of idols that were in the
sanctuary of Mecca, including Hubal and
Manaf, while the pantheon of the
associations was superimposed on it,
and its principal deities included the three
goddesses, who had neither idols nor a
shrine in that city.[119]

Political and religious developments …

The second half of the sixth century was

a period of political disorder in Arabia
and communication routes were no
longer secure.[121] Religious divisions
were an important cause of the crisis.[122]
Judaism became the dominant religion in
Yemen while Christianity took root in the
Persian Gulf area.[122] In line with the
broader trends of the ancient world,
Arabia yearned for a more spiritual form
of religion and began believing in afterlife,
while the choice of religion increasingly
became a personal rather than
communal choice.[122] While many were
reluctant to convert to a foreign faith,
those faiths provided intellectual and
spiritual reference points, and the old
pagan vocabulary of Arabic began to be
replaced by Jewish and Christian
loanwords from Aramaic everywhere,
including Mecca.[122] The distribution of
pagan temples supports Gerald
Hawting's argument that Arabian
polytheism was marginalized in the
region and already dying in Mecca on the
eve of Islam.[122] The practice of
polytheistic cults was increasingly limited
to the steppe and the desert, and in
Yathrib (later known as Medina), which
included two tribes with polytheistic
majorities, the absence of a public pagan
temple in the town or its immediate
neighborhood indicates that polytheism
was confined to the private sphere.[122]
Looking at the text of the Quran itself,
Hawting has also argued that the
criticism of idolaters and polytheists
contained in Quran is in fact a hyperbolic
reference to other monotheists, in
particular the Arab Jews and Arab
Christians, whose religious beliefs were
considered imperfect.[103][123] According
to some traditions, the Kaaba contained
no statues, but its interior was decorated
with images of Mary and Jesus,
prophets, angels, and trees.[31]

To counter the effects of anarchy, the

institution of sacred months, during
which every act of violence was
prohibited, was reestablished.[124] During
those months, it was possible to
participate in pilgrimages and fairs
without danger.[124] The Quraysh upheld
the principle of two annual truces, one of
one month and the second of three
months, which conferred a sacred
character to the Meccan sanctuary.[124]
The cult association of hums, in which
individuals and groups partook in the
same rites, was primarily religious, but it
also had important economic
consequences.[124] Although, as Patricia
Crone has shown, Mecca could not
compare with the great centers of
caravan trade on the eve of Islam, it was
probably one of the most prosperous and
secure cities of the peninsula, since,
unlike many of them, it did not have
surrounding walls.[124] Pilgrimage to
Mecca was a popular custom.[125] Some
Islamic rituals, including processions
around the Kaaba and between the hills
of al-Safa and Marwa, as well as the
salutation "we are here, O Allah, we are
here" repeated on approaching the Kaaba
are believed to have antedated Islam.[125]
Spring water acquired a sacred character
in Arabia early on and Islamic sources
state that the well of Zamzam became
holy long before the Islamic era.[126]

Advent of Islam …
Persian miniature depicting the destruction of idols
during the conquest of Mecca; here Muhammad is
represented as a flame.

According to Ibn Sa'd, the opposition in

Mecca started when the prophet of
Islam, Muhammad, delivered verses that
"spoke shamefully of the idols they (the
Meccans) worshiped other than Himself
(God) and mentioned the perdition of
their fathers who died in disbelief".[127]
According to William Montgomery Watt,
as the ranks of Muhammad's followers
swelled, he became a threat to the local
tribes and the rulers of the city, whose
wealth rested upon the Kaaba, the focal
point of Meccan religious life, which
Muhammad threatened to overthrow.[128]
Muhammad's denunciation of the
Meccan traditional religion was
especially offensive to his own tribe, the
Quraysh, as they were the guardians of
the Kaaba.[128]

The conquest of Mecca around 629–630

AD led to the destruction of the idols
around the Kaaba, including Hubal.[129]
Following the conquest, shrines and
temples dedicated to deities were
destroyed, such as the shrines to al-Lat,
al-’Uzza and Manat in Ta’if, Nakhla and
al-Qudayd respectively.[130][131]

North Arabia …
Less complex societies outside South
Arabia often had smaller pantheons, with
the patron deity having much
prominence. The deities attested in north
Arabian inscriptions include Ruda, Nuha,
Allah, Dathan, and Kahl.[132] Inscriptions
in a North Arabian dialect in the region of
Najd referring to Nuha describe emotions
as a gift from him. In addition, they also
refer to Ruda being responsible for all
things good and bad.[132]

The Safaitic tribes in particular

prominently worshipped the goddess al-
Lat as a bringer of prosperity.[132] The
Syrian god Baalshamin was also
worshipped by Safaitic tribes and is
mentioned in Safaitic inscriptions.[133]

Religious worship amongst the Qedarites,

an ancient tribal confederation that was
probably subsumed into Nabataea
around the 2nd century AD, was centered
around a polytheistic system in which
women rose to prominence. Divine
images of the gods and goddesses
worshipped by Qedarite Arabs, as noted
in Assyrian inscriptions, included
representations of Atarsamain, Nuha,
Ruda, Dai, Abirillu and Atarquruma. The
female guardian of these idols, usually
the reigning queen, served as a priestess
(apkallatu, in Assyrian texts) who
communed with the other world.[134]
There is also evidence that the Qedar
worshipped al-Lat to whom the
inscription on a silver bowl from a king of
Qedar is dedicated.[40] In the Babylonian
Talmud, which was passed down orally
for centuries before being transcribed c.
500 AD, in tractate Taanis (folio 5b), it is
said that most Qedarites worshiped
pagan gods.[135]

Aramaic stele inscription of Tayma dedicated to the

god Salm
The Aramaic stele inscription discovered
by Charles Hubert in 1880 at Tayma
mentions the introduction of a new god
called Salm of hgm into the city's
pantheon being permitted by three local
gods – Salm of Mahram who was the
chief god, Shingala, and Ashira. The
name Salm means "image" or "idol".[136]

The Midianites, a people referred to in the

Book of Genesis and located in north-
western Arabia, may have worshipped
Yahweh.[137] Indeed, some scholars
believe that Yahweh was originally a
Midianite god and that he was
subsequently adopted by the
Israelites.[137] An Egyptian temple of
Hathor continued to be used during the
Midianite occupation of the site, although
images of Hathor were defaced
suggesting Midianite opposition.[137]
They transformed it into a desert tent-
shrine set up with a copper sculpture of a
snake.[137]

The Lihyanites worshipped the god Dhu-

Ghabat and rarely turned to others for
their needs.[83] Dhu-Ghabat's name
means "he of the thicket", based on the
etymology of gabah, meaning forest or
thicket.[138] The god al-Kutba', a god of
writing probably related to a Babylonian
deity and perhaps was brought into the
region by the Babylonian king
Nabonidus,[83] is mentioned in Lihyanite
inscriptions as well.[139] The worship of
the Hermonian gods Leucothea and
Theandrios was spread from Phoenicia
to Arabia.[140]

According to the Book of Idols, the Tayy

tribe worshipped al-Fals, whose idol
stood on Jabal Aja,[141] while the Kalb
tribe worshipped Wadd, who had an idol
in Dumat al-Jandal.[142][143]

Nabataeans …
Relief of Dushara, National Museum of Damascus

The Nabataeans worshipped primarily

northern Arabian deities. Under foreign
influences, they also incorporated foreign
deities and elements into their beliefs.

The Nabataeans’ chief-god is Dushara. In

Petra, the only major goddess is Al-‘Uzzá,
assuming the traits of Isis, Tyche and
Aphrodite. It is unknown if her worship
and identity is related to her cult at
Nakhla and others. The Nabatean
inscriptions define Allāt and Al-Uzza as
the "bride of Dushara". Al-Uzza may have
been an epithet of Allāt in the Nabataean
religion according to John F. Healey.[144]

Outside Petra, other deities were

worshipped; for example, Hubal and
Manat were invoked in the Hejaz, and al-
Lat was invoked in the Hauran and the
Syrian desert. The Nabataean king
Obodas I, who founded Obodat, was
deified and worshipped as a god.[145]
They also worshipped Shay al-Qawm,[146]
al-Kutba',[139] and various Greco-Roman
deities such as Nike and Tyche.[147]
Maxime Rodinson suggests that Hubal,
who was popular in Mecca, had a
Nabataean origin.[148]

Nike holding up a bust of Atargatis, crowned as

Tyche and encircled by the signs of the zodiac.
Amman Museum copy of Nabataean statue, 100 AD.

The worship of Pakidas, a Nabataean

god, is attested at Gerasa alongside
Hera in an inscription dated to the first
century A.D. while an Arabian god is also
attested by three inscriptions dated to
the second century.[149]

The Nabataeans were known for their

elaborate tombs, but they were not just
for show; they were meant to be
comfortable places for the dead.[150]
Petra has many "sacred high places"
which include altars that have usually
been interpreted as places of human
sacrifice, although, since the 1960s, an
alternative theory that they are "exposure
platforms" for placing the corpses of the
deceased as part of a funerary ritual has
been put forward. However, there is, in
fact, little evidence for either
proposition.[151]
Religious beliefs of Arabs outside
Arabia …

Palmyra was a cosmopolitan society,

with its population being a mix of
Aramaeans and Arabs. The Arabs of
Palmyra worshipped al-Lat, Rahim and
Shamash. The temple of al-Lat was
established by the Bene Ma'zin tribe, who
were probably an Arab tribe.[152] The
nomads of the countryside worshipped a
set of deities, bearing Arab names and
attributes,[153] most prominent of them
was Abgal,[154] who himself is not
attested in Palmyra itself.[155] Ma'n, an
Arab god, was worshipped alongside
Abgal in a temple dedicated in 195 AD at
Khirbet Semrin in the Palmyrene region
while an inscription dated 194 AD at Ras
esh-Shaar calls him the "good and
bountiful god". A stele at Ras esh-Shaar
shows him riding a horse with a lance
while the god Saad is riding a camel.
Abgal, Ma'n and Sa'd were known as the
genii.[156]

The god Ashar was represented on a

stele in Dura-Europos alongside another
god Sa'd. The former was represented on
a horse with Arab dress while the other
was shown standing on the ground. Both
had Parthian hairstyle, large facial hair
and moustaches as well as similar
clothing. Ashar's name is found to have
been used in a theophoric manner among
the Arab-majority areas of the region of
the Northwest Semitic languages, like
Hatra, where names like "Refuge of
Ashar", "Servant of Ashar" and "Ashar has
given" are recorded on an inscription.[157]

In Edessa, the solar deity was the primary

god around the time of the Roman
Emperor Julian and this worship was
presumably brought in by migrants from
Arabia. Julian's oration delivered to the
denizens of the city mentioned that they
worshipped the Sun surrounded by
Azizos and Monimos whom Iamblichus
identified with Ares and Hermes
respectively. Monimos derived from
Mu'nim or "the favourable one", and was
another name of Ruda or Ruldaiu as
apparent from spellings of his name in
Sennacherib's Annals.[158]

The idol of the god al-Uqaysir was,

according to the Book of Idols, located in
Syria, and was worshipped by the tribes
of Quda'a, Lakhm, Judham, Amela, and
Ghatafan.[159] Adherents would go on a
pilgrimage to the idol and shave their
heads, then mix their hair with wheat, "for
every single hair a handful of wheat".[159]

A shrine to Dushara has been discovered

in the harbour of ancient Puteoli in Italy.
The city was an important nexus for
trade to the Near East, and it is known to
have had a Nabataean presence during
the mid 1st century BCE.[160] A Minaean
altar dedicated to Wadd evidently existed
in Delos, containing two inscriptions in
Minaean and Greek respectively.[161]

Bedouin religious beliefs …

The Bedouin were introduced to Meccan

ritualistic practices as they frequented
settled towns of the Hejaz during the four
months of the "holy truce", the first three
of which were devoted to religious
observance, while the fourth was set
aside for trade.[108] Alan Jones infers
from Bedouin poetry that the gods, even
Allah, were less important to the
Bedouins than Fate.[162] They seem to
have had little trust in rituals and
pilgrimages as means of propitiating
Fate, but had recourse to divination and
soothsayers (kahins).[162] The Bedouins
regarded some trees, wells, caves and
stones as sacred objects, either as
fetishes or as means of reaching a
deity.[163] They created sanctuaries
where people could worship fetishes.[164]

The Bedouins had a code of honor which

Fazlur Rahman Malik states may be
regarded as their religious ethics. This
code encompassed women, bravery,
hospitality, honouring one's promises and
pacts, and vengeance. They believed that
the ghost of a slain person would cry out
from the grave until their thirst for blood
was quenched. Practices such as killing
of infant girls were often regarded as
having religious sanction.[164] Numerous
mentions of jinn in the Quran and
testimony of both pre-Islamic and Islamic
literature indicate that the belief in spirits
was prominent in pre-Islamic Bedouin
religion.[165] However, there is evidence
that the word jinn is derived from
Aramaic, ginnaye, which was widely
attested in Palmyrene inscriptions. The
Aramaic word was used by Christians to
designate pagan gods reduced to the
status of demons, and was introduced
into Arabic folklore only late in the pre-
Islamic era.[165] Julius Wellhausen has
observed that such spirits were thought
to inhabit desolate, dingy and dark
places and that they were feared.[165]
One had to protect oneself from them,
but they were not the objects of a true
cult.[165]

Bedouin religious experience also

included an apparently indigenous cult of
ancestors.[165] The dead were not
regarded as powerful, but rather as
deprived of protection and needing
charity of the living as a continuation of
social obligations beyond the grave.[165]
Only certain ancestors, especially heroes
from which the tribe was said to derive
its name, seem to have been objects of
real veneration.[165]

Other religions

Iranian religions …

Iranian religions existed in pre-Islamic

Arabia on account of Sasanian military
presence along the Persian Gulf and
South Arabia and on account of trade
routes between the Hejaz and Iraq. Some
Arabs in northeast of the peninsula
converted to Zoroastrianism and several
Zoroastrian temples were constructed in
Najd. Some of the members from the
tribe of Banu Tamim had converted to the
religion. There is also evidence of
existence of Manichaeism in Arabia as
several early sources indicate a presence
of "zandaqas" in Mecca, although the
term could also be interpreted as
referring to Mazdakism. However,
according to the most recent research by
Tardieu, the prevalence of Manichaeism
in Mecca during the 6th and 7th
centuries, when Islam emerged, can not
be proven.[166][167][168] Similar
reservations regarding the appearance of
Manichaeism and Mazdakism in pre-
Islamic Mecca are offered by Trompf &
Mikkelsen et al. in their latest work
(2018).[169][170] There is evidence for the
circulation of Iranian religious ideas in the
form of Persian loan words in Quran such
as firdaws (paradise).[171][172]

Zoroastrianism was also present in

Eastern Arabia[173][174][175] and Persian-
speaking Zoroastrians lived in the
region.[176] The religion was introduced in
the region including modern-day Bahrain
during the rule of Persian empires in the
region starting from 250 B.C. It was
mainly practiced in Bahrain by Persian
settlers. Zoroastrianism was also
practiced in the Persian-ruled area of
modern-day Oman. The religion also
existed in Persian-ruled area of modern
Yemen. The descendants of Abna, the
Persian conquerors of Yemen, were
followers of Zoroastrianism.[177][178]
Yemen's Zoroastrians who had the jizya
imposed on them after being conquered
by Muhammad are mentioned by the
Islamic historian al-Baladhuri.[178]
According to Serjeant, the Baharna
people may be the Arabized descendants
of converts from the original population
of ancient Persians (majus) as well as
other religions.[179]

Abrahamic religions …

Judaism …
Seal ring from Zafar with writing "Yishaq bar Hanina"
and a Torah ark, 330 BC – 200 AD

A thriving community of Jewish tribes

existed in pre-Islamic Arabia and
included both sedentary and nomadic
communities. Jews had migrated into
Arabia from Roman times onwards.[180]
Arabian Jews spoke Arabic as well as
Hebrew and Aramaic and had contact
with Jewish religious centers in Babylonia
and Palestine.[180] The Yemeni Himyarites
converted to Judaism in the 4th century,
and some of the Kindah, a tribe in central
Arabia who were their vassals, were also
converted in the 4th/5th century.[181]
Jewish tribes existed in all major Arabian
towns during Muhammad's time including
in Tayma and Khaybar as well as Medina
with twenty tribes living in the peninsula.
From tomb inscriptions, it is visible that
Jews also lived in Mada'in Saleh and Al-
'Ula.[182]

There is evidence that Jewish converts in

the Hejaz were regarded as Jews by
other Jews, as well as by non-Jews, and
sought advice from Babylonian rabbis on
matters of attire and kosher food.[180] In
at least one case, it is known that an
Arab tribe agreed to adopt Judaism as a
condition for settling in a town
dominated by Jewish inhabitants.[180]
Some Arab women in Yathrib/Medina are
said to have vowed to make their child a
Jew if the child survived, since they
considered the Jews to be people "of
knowledge and the book" (ʿilmin wa-
kitābin).[180] Philip Hitti infers from proper
names and agricultural vocabulary that
the Jewish tribes of Yathrib consisted
mostly of Judaized clans of Arabian and
Aramaean origin.[108]

The key role played by Jews in the trade

and markets of the Hejaz meant that
market day for the week was the day
preceding the Jewish Sabbath.[180] This
day, which was called aruba in Arabic,
also provided occasion for legal
proceedings and entertainment, which in
turn may have influenced the choice of
Friday as the day of Muslim
congregational prayer.[180] Toward the
end of the sixth century, the Jewish
communities in the Hejaz were in a state
of economic and political decline, but
they continued to flourish culturally in and
beyond the region.[180] They had
developed their distinctive beliefs and
practices, with a pronounced mystical
and eschatological dimension.[180] In the
Islamic tradition, based on a phrase in
the Quran, Arab Jews are said to have
referred to Uzair as the son of Allah,
although the historical accuracy of this
assertion has been disputed.[26]

Jewish agriculturalists lived in the region

of Eastern Arabia.[183][184] According to
Robert Bertram Serjeant, the Baharna
may be the Arabized "descendants of
converts from Christians (Arameans),
Jews and ancient Persians (Majus)
inhabiting the island and cultivated
coastal provinces of Eastern Arabia at
the time of the Arab conquest".[179] From
the Islamic sources, it seems that
Judaism was the religion most followed
in Yemen. Ya'qubi claimed all Yemenites
to be Jews; Ibn Hazm however states
only Himyarites and some Kindites were
Jews.[178]

Christianity …

Jubail Church in eastern Saudi Arabia. The 4th

century remains are thought to be one of the oldest
surviving church buildings in the world.

The main areas of Christian influence in

Arabia were on the north eastern and
north western borders and in what was
to become Yemen in the south.[185] The
north west was under the influence of
Christian missionary activity from the
Roman Empire where the Ghassanids, a
client kingdom of the Romans, were
converted to Christianity.[186] In the south,
particularly at Najran, a centre of
Christianity developed as a result of the
influence of the Christian Kingdom of
Axum based on the other side of the Red
Sea in Ethiopia.[185] Some of the Banu
Harith had converted to Christianity. One
family of the tribe built a large church at
Najran called Deir Najran, also known as
the "Ka'ba of Najran". Both the
Ghassanids and the Christians in the
south adopted Monophysitism.[185]
The third area of Christian influence was
on the north eastern borders where the
Lakhmids, a client tribe of the
Sassanians, adopted Nestorianism, being
the form of Christianity having the most
influence in the Sassanian Empire.[185] As
the Persian Gulf region of Arabia
increasingly fell under the influence of the
Sassanians from the early third century,
many of the inhabitants were exposed to
Christianity following the eastward
dispersal of the religion by
Mesopotamian Christians.[187] However,
it was not until the fourth century that
Christianity gained popularity in the
region with the establishment of
monasteries and a diocesan
structure.[188]

In pre-Islamic times, the population of

Eastern Arabia consisted of Christianized
Arabs (including Abd al-Qays) and
Aramean Christians among other
religions.[176] Syriac functioned as a
liturgical language.[189][190] Serjeant
states that the Baharna may be the
Arabized descendants of converts from
the original population of Christians
(Aramaeans), among other religions at
the time of Arab conquests.[184] Beth
Qatraye, which translates "region of the
Qataris" in Syriac, was the Christian name
used for the region encompassing north-
eastern Arabia.[191][192] It included
Bahrain, Tarout Island, Al-Khatt, Al-Hasa,
and Qatar.[193] Oman and what is today
the United Arab Emirates comprised the
diocese known as Beth Mazunaye. The
name was derived from 'Mazun', the
Persian name for Oman and the United
Arab Emirates. Sohar was the central city
of the diocese.[191][193]

In Nejd, in the centre of the peninsula,

there is evidence of members of two
tribes, Kindah and Taghlib, converting to
Christianity in the 6th century. However, in
the Hejaz in the west, whilst there is
evidence of the presence of Christianity, it
is not thought to have been significant
amongst the indigenous population of
the area.[185]

Arabicized Christian names were fairly

common among pre-Islamic Arabians,
which has been attributed to the influence
that Syrianized Christian Arabs had on
Bedouins of the peninsula for several
centuries before the rise of Islam.[194]

Neal Robinson, based on verses in the

Quran, believes that some Arab
Christians may have held unorthodox
beliefs such as the worshipping of a
divine triad of God the father, Jesus the
Son and Mary the Mother.[195]
Furthermore, there is evidence that
unorthodox groups such as the
Collyridians, whose adherents
worshipped Mary, were present in Arabia,
and it has been proposed that the Quran
refers to their beliefs.[196] However, other
scholars, notably Mircea Eliade, William
Montgomery Watt, G. R. Hawting and
Sidney H. Griffith, cast doubt on the
historicity or reliability of such references
in the Quran. Their views are as follows:

Mircea Eliade argues that

Muhammad's knowledge of
Christianity "was rather
approximative"[197] and that references
to the triad of God, Jesus and Mary
probably reflect the likelihood that
Muhammad's information on
Christianity came from people who had
knowledge of the Monophysite Church
of Abyssinia, which was known for
extreme veneration of Mary.[197]
William Montgomery Watt points out
that we do not know how far
Muhammad was acquainted with
Christian beliefs prior to the conquest
of Mecca and that dating of some of
the passages criticizing Christianity is
uncertain.[198] His view is that
Muhammad and the early Muslims
may have been unaware of some
orthodox Christian doctrines, including
the nature of the trinity, because
Muhammad's Christian informants had
a limited grasp of doctrinal issues.[199]
 Watt has also argued that the verses
criticizing Christian doctrines in the
Quran are attacking Christian heresies
like tritheism and "physical sonship"
rather than orthodox
Christianity.[198][200]
G. R. Hawting, Sidney H. Griffith and
Gabriel Reynolds argue that the verses
commenting on apparently unorthodox
Christian beliefs should be read as an
informed, polemically motivated
caricature of mainstream Christian
doctrine whose goal is to highlight how
wrong some of its tenets appear from
an Islamic perspective.[200]

See also
 Ancient Semitic religion
Ancient Canaanite religion
Book of Idols
Religions of the ancient Near East
Rahmanism
Shirk (Islam)
Taghut

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