Religions Existing in the Arabian Peninsula pre Islam

[Anam 27]

I am interested to know what religions existed in the Arabian peninsula pre Islam. I understand that the majority were polytheists, worshipping the 360 idols kept on the kaaba. There were some Jewish tribes, there were Christian converts like Waraqa ibn Nawfal, who felt Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) was the Last Prophet.

Were there other native Christians in what is today Saudi Arabia & Yemen too?

Can someone clarify what religious beliefs existed in detail?

Thank you.

[Missinglinks]

Bismillah, alhamdolillah

yes I can do it.

First of all, if we go back, early arabs, like Aad and Thamoud where polytheists, but this changed into monotheist due to their prophets. And after this I don't know.
Later on Ibrahim(Abraham) went to Mecca and there he settled Ismail and Hajar and went back to Sarah. Ismail and Hajar lived among the arabs, and Ismail learned arab language from them and he spoke it fluently and married among them women. So he was (let's say) one of them.
Ismail was a messenger and prophet. When he grew and became older he invited them to accept monotheism and the arabs responded positive and Makkah was the centre of religion and also the centre(leader) of the arab world. He(Abraham) would come to Makkah once per year to perform the rites of Hajj with his family until he died. His son Ismaa'eel who had by then married a woman from the tribe of Jurhum, continued the tradition of Hajj and looked after the Ka'bah until he died(the autenticity of this sentence is doubtfull). So the arabs were all muslims and following the religion of Ibrahim, alhamdolillah.

Then a long time passed by and amr ib luhay was the first one to introduce shirk(polytheism). Idolatry was introduced into Arabia by 'Amr ibn Luhay. The story is that one day he went on a trip to Syria (or Iraq?), and there he saw people worshipping idols and he thought that there was nothing wrong with this act and he even liked it. So he brought an idol with him back to Makkah. Bringing the idol to Mecca, where he erected it in the courtyard of Kaaba, and invited people to worship it. This act was the beginning of idolatry in the peninsula; it quickly spread and became the dominant belief of the people in the region. The number of idols brought to the Kaaba increased day by day, until there were finally a great number; every tribe, every family even, had their own idols. It is known that the number of idols in the Kaaba reached 360 just before the advent of Islam. The most famous of these idols in the Hejaz were Hubal, Isaf, Naila, Wadd and the three goddesses Lat, Manah and Ozza, who were known as “Allah’s daughters”. Hubal was the first idol brought to the Kaaba and it was the most respected idol. Hubal was made of red agate and had a human form. It was accepted as a god by all the Arabian tribes.

Later on there was Judaism, Christianity(not the one we know today, but monotheism-christianity) and even sorcery and many strange beliefs among them. So when the time began to pass by and the monotheism began to dissapear, some wanted to go back to the religion of Ibrahim, the monotheism instead of worshipping idols that can do nothing. But they were confused and had no clue how this religion is performed and what it commanded or forbade. So they stuck to what they were sure of and that is the belief in only one god and that is Allah and rejecting the worship of something besides him. But although the Arabs in the Age of Ignorance basically worshipped idols, they also accepted the existence of a superior God called “Allah”, who they saw as the creator. As a matter of fact, there were people who adopted Hanafiyyah, the religion of Abraham in the region; this fact is seen as evidence that monotheism was not an unknown concept in the Arabian Peninsula at the time. It is interesting that this belief, which was known to have existed in the years after the birth of Jesus, particularly in southern Arabia, and which probably came to Mecca via trade activities, found a place also in the poems of the Age of Ignorance. It is particularly interesting that the word “rahman”, used in the poetry of the Age of Ignorance to define Allah, had no plural form and was considered to denote a single God.
As stated in the Holy Quran (Al-Zumar, 39/13), the polytheist Arabs worshipped idols so that they could come closer to Allah. They knew that Allah, who waters the earth, causes the crops to grow, and provides the flocks commanded by humans, is “the Creator of all things”, “the Lord of the earth”, “Owner of the heavens and the earth”. They would pray to Allah in tumultuous times and swear grave oaths in the His name. They even allocated some portion of their crops to Allah. They prayed to Him in dangerous situations, but they forgot Him when situation passed. They sacrificed animals in the name of idols, but they also worshipped Allah. All these examples show that the Arabs’ faith in Allah was very ambiguous and there was a conflict in faith. Although the idols were seen as mediators on a conscious level, they were concerned in all parts of daily life and were the dominant objects of worship.

i am tired now, i have more info. but i think this should be enough

[DancesWithChair]

Religions Existing in the Arabian Peninsula pre Islam

There is an unresolved issue.

The Koran says that Christ did not die on the cross. Instead, it says he appeared to die on the cross.

So we know that the Arabs were aware of the story of Christ at the time the Koran was written.

After Christ, it was 700 years before the Koran was written.

Muslims say, the new testament, is the message from God, except that the message has been corrupted.

But Arabs didn’t know that the new testament was corrupted till the Koran was written.

That means for 700 years, Arabs considered Christ the last prophet and the new testament the word of god.

And yet they didn’t act on it and become Christians. Why did Arabs not become Christians?

-

[جوري]

Generally an 'atheist' shouldn't be the first to pass historical information to others, least of which when not properly sourced.. we all know how under-educated the majority of you are.. it is almost astounding why those with the least accurate things to say are always the first at the scene?


The Arabian peninsula has been populated since the earliest days of recorded history, the inhabitants of the Persian gulf actually establishing city states prior to the third c millennium c.e. Many scholars consider the region to be the cradle of all Semitic races, though by no means a full consensus, Babylonia (the opinion of Von Kermer, Guide and Hommel) the Arabian Peninsula (sprenger, Sayce, DeGoeje, Brockelmann and others) Africa (Noldeke and others) etc etc
Anyhow because I don't have all day for this, Makkah was a tribal society.

Arabia was thoroughly antagonistic to any religious reformation. For centuries the cult of Pagan worship had withstood the presence of Jewish settlements and foreign attempts at evanglization from Syria and Egypt. William Muir in his 'the life of Muhammad' argues that the Jewish presence helped neutralize the spread of the gospel in two ways, first by establishing itself in the northern frontiers of Arabia, and thus forming a barrier between the christian expanse to the north and the pagan stronghold in the south. His second argument is that Arabian idolatry had formed a sort of compromise with Judaism, incorporating enough of its legends to diminish the exotic appeal of Christianity. I do not concur at all with his theory. What the Arabs professed in fact was distorted remnants of Ibrahim and Ismail monotheistic faith by centuries of superstitions and ignorance. The legends which the Jews and Arabs held in common were, therefore, a common ancestry.

The Christianity of the 7th c itself was mired in corruption and myth, caught in a state of complete stagnation. Formally submitting Arabia to Christianity would have required, not religious persuasions, but the political coercion of a superior christian power. No such power bore down upon the pagan Arabs, and idolatry held Arabia in the tightest grips. Five centuries of christian evangelism had produced two meagre results: converts were limited to the Banu Harith of Najran and Banu Hanifa of Yamama, and some of th Banu Tayy at Tayma. In these five centuries, historical records don't show any incidence involving the persecution of christian missionaries. This is vastly different from the fate which awaited Muhammad and his earliest followers in Makkah. Revealing perhaps that while christianity was viewed as a troublesome Nuisance, Islam was deemed overtly dangerous to the institutional fabric of Pagan Arabia. Pg 22-23 (The History of Quranic Text)

pls. don't feel so free to speak on behalf of Islam or Muslims. If you wish to share distorted history and inaccurate dating and draw some satisfaction out of some inane sophomoric conclusions -- then go to some christian fundie forum.. it is in fact better to not show up here under false pretenses we aren't of the same stock as the stumblebums' who raised you and told you what you ought to think we are as opposed to what we actually are! . or you can scurry to some sort of dawkins forum.. they are popping all over the place as many places as there are under-educated buffoons on the web!

all the best

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[Zafran]

There is an unresolved issue.

The Koran says that Christ did not die on the cross. Instead, it says he appeared to die on the cross.

So we know that the Arabs were aware of the story of Christ at the time the Koran was written.

After Christ, it was 700 years before the Koran was written.

Muslims say, the new testament, is the message from God, except that the message has been corrupted.

But Arabs didn’t know that the new testament was corrupted till the Koran was written.

That means for 700 years, Arabs considered Christ the last prophet and the new testament the word of god.

And yet they didn’t act on it and become Christians. Why did Arabs not become Christians?

-

Your making some odd assumptions about the pagan arabs - what would they have to do with christianity and why would they believe in christ or the "new testement" to be the last messege when they were pagan????? Your confusing yourself.

[Woodrow]

There were many Arab Christians on the Arabian Peninsula. We accept that Isa(as) was the last Prophet (PBUH) until the birth of Muhammad (SAWS). We do not know at what point the Bible became corrupted. We do know that the old Testement was incomplete and Isa(as) was given the Injeel to complete and correct it. At what point in time the Injeel was lost is hard to pinpoint. It most likely became lost to many at the time of the first Nicene Council as it was not included in any of the books. Possibly it remained intact orally for a longer length of time on the Arabian Penninsuela as it is written that the Christians were the closest to Islam and It does seem most Christians living in the region reverted to Islam very early. Since the Qur'an was revealed beginning in 610 Ad and Isa(as) was most likely born in 4 BC (The reason he was not born in the year one is because of errors in the war the Gregorian Calender was calculated.) We do know Isa(as) was born shortly before the death of Herod and we do know for certain that Herod died in what was 4 BC ad. Since Isa(as) began his ministry in the year 25 AD there is 585 years from the time the Injeel was revealed and the Qur'an was revealed. The Written Injeel was already lost by the time of the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. There is evidence that the Apostle Mark was in Syria so it is highly possible the Injeel did exist in the Arabian region long before the written version was corrupted. However, since it does not appear that any written version of the Injeel was every preserved there was/is no way to validate what of the oral injeel was preserved and still in existence at the time of Muhammad(saws) However reading the ahadeeth and the high respect given to the Arabian Christians, it is probable that true Christianity existed there, at least among some Arabs until shortly before the Birth of Muhammad.

What happened to them? I suspect most died off before the birth of Muhammad(saws) and those who survived accepted Islam as being the correction of what had been lost.

[جوري]

5 centuries of evangelizing produced two tribes as stated above banu Harith and banu yamama .. there were Jewish tribes and Pagan tribes.. if you want to know how Paganism started in Arabia, then the matter has been discussed in the old posts so you can look through the archives!

all the best!

[Supreme]

I think it's unfair to just list pagan Arabs as one religion. Paganism is as diverse a set of beliefs as, say, the Abrahamic religions, and pagan is too broad a term to summarize the beliefs of pre-Islamic Arabs. Rather, what did specific pagan groups believe?

The Christianity of the 7th c itself was mired in corruption and myth, caught in a state of complete stagnation. Formally submitting Arabia to Christianity would have required, not religious persuasions, but the political coercion of a superior christian power. No such power bore down upon the pagan Arabs, and idolatry held Arabia in the tightest grips. Five centuries of christian evangelism had produced two meagre results: converts were limited to the Banu Harith of Najran and Banu Hanifa of Yamama, and some of th Banu Tayy at Tayma. In these five centuries, historical records don't show any incidence involving the persecution of christian missionaries. This is vastly different from the fate which awaited Muhammad and his earliest followers in Makkah. Revealing perhaps that while christianity was viewed as a troublesome Nuisance, Islam was deemed overtly dangerous to the institutional fabric of Pagan Arabia. Pg 22-23 (The History of Quranic Text)

Well, you could argue that the Meccan pagans were only defending themselves against a sect that preached their obliteration. After all, Muhammad and his followers hardly embraced a path of mutual tolerance: from the very beginning, they held that theirs was the only true religion, and that all other forms of spirituality should be done away with.

How would you react to a sect that proclaimed their desire to destroy your houses of worship and re-dedicate them to their own deity/deities? Even if our own age would perhaps deal less violently with the situation, I doubt that you'd be overeager to embrace them as valuable members of your community.

[Ramadhan]

Well, you could argue that the Meccan pagans were only defending themselves against a sect that preached their obliteration. After all, Muhammad and his followers hardly embraced a path of mutual tolerance: from the very beginning, they held that theirs was the only true religion, and that all other forms of spirituality should be done away with.

How would you react to a sect that proclaimed their desire to destroy your houses of worship and re-dedicate them to their own deity/deities? Even if our own age would perhaps deal less violently with the situation, I doubt that you'd be overeager to embrace them as valuable members of your community.

There are so many holes in your assumptions and accusations above that I don't know where to start correcting you. It's like conversing with a stupid person who insists he is a genius. I suggest you read the sirah of prophet Muhammad SAW that details his life, and especially about the beginning of Islam and the relations with the pagans and how the pagans treated the early followers of islam, before you come here and spew filth and lies against the prophet SAW.

[جوري]

I think it's unfair to just list pagan Arabs as one religion. Paganism is as diverse a set of beliefs as, say, the Abrahamic religions, and pagan is too broad a term to summarize the beliefs of pre-Islamic Arabs. Rather, what did specific pagan groups believe?

What is the point to this? shades of paganism? some worshiped alat, some worshiped al3ozzah, some worshiped manat some worshiped hubal, some worshiped baal.. Is there a point to this? they'd make statues of dates of their gods and ear them after celebrations.. there is really not much to it and it has already been covered in part by Br. Missing!

Well, you could argue that the Meccan pagans were only defending themselves against a sect that preached their obliteration. After all, Muhammad and his followers hardly embraced a path of mutual tolerance: from the very beginning, they held that theirs was the only true religion, and that all other forms of spirituality should be done away with.

As I have pointed out to the other fellow, scholarship is about precision-- I am not interested in your secondary opinion of what you think happened, rather history as recorded. If you wish to start a thread on the topic do so-- it has been covered amply otherwise like on this thread for instance:
http://www.islamicboard.com/clarific...ead-sword.html

How would you react to a sect that proclaimed their desire to destroy your houses of worship and re-dedicate them to their own deity/deities? Even if our own age would perhaps deal less violently with the situation, I doubt that you'd be overeager to embrace them as valuable members of your community.

See above reply.. and pls. educate yourself on the topic before discussing it!


all the best

[جوري]

There are so many holes in your assumptions and accusations above that I don't know where to start correcting you. It's like conversing with a stupid person who insists he is a genius. I suggest you read the sirah of prophet Muhammad SAW that details his life, and especially about the beginning of Islam and the relations with the pagans and how the pagans treated the early followers of islam, before you come here and spew filth and lies against the prophet SAW.

Sob7an Allah, not only that but it seems none of them can focus on the subject matter without imposing that their opinion some historical credence!

The entire thread has been answered in three posts and then all the extra furnishings to coax the christian ego back to good health!

[Ibn Ezra]

Of course, the Arabic language grew out of the Middle-Aramaic dialect of Nabatean. Interestingly, according to Josephus, the Nabateans claimed to have descended from Ishmael (Ant. 1.221-222), similar to Muslim claims today.

[Woodrow]

Of course, the Arabic language grew out of the Middle-Aramaic dialect of Nabatean. Interestingly, according to Josephus, the Nabateans claimed to have descended from Ishmael (Ant. 1.221-222), similar to Muslim claims today.

:sl: Akhi,

I do not disagree, I just want to embellish upon what you wrote.



I'm Muslim, my ancestry for the largest part is traced back to Lithuania and Northern Mongolia. I doubt if I can claim to be descended from Ishmael. While Arab Muslims can usually trace a direct line to Ishamel, not all Descendants of Ishmael are Muslim, there are and have been Arab Jews and Christians and Pagans, all of whom have a valid claim of Ancestry back to Ishmael. Islam, is a Religion, not a race or Nationality.

I do not see where it would be against Islamic teachings if the Nabateans are descended from Ishmael. Not all Arabs are good, pious Muslims. a few malcontents, rebels, and general ne'er do wells do fall out of the family tree when the branches are shaken.

Now for languages it is very well established the 4 Semitic languages (Phoenician, Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic) are dialects of the same language. It would be an endless pointless debate to agree upon a name for that Language. I just happen to agree with the view they are all dialects of Arabic. While the Modern Arabic alphabet is without question the newest alphabet used for them, this would be primarily a difference of penmanship, not language.

[Supreme]

There are so many holes in your assumptions and accusations above that I don't know where to start correcting you. It's like conversing with a stupid person who insists he is a genius. I suggest you read the sirah of prophet Muhammad SAW that details his life, and especially about the beginning of Islam and the relations with the pagans and how the pagans treated the early followers of islam, before you come here and spew filth and lies against the prophet SAW.

The first sentence is redundant. I've never claimed to be a genius, and someone disagreeing with your views does not make them an idiot. I know how paganism treated early Islam, but then it was an emerging religion that was converting pagans at a worrying speed. Additionally, it claimed the holiest pagan shrine- the Kaaba- for itself, suggesting that the shrine was originally built by Abraham. Tell me, if a new religion sprouted in Saudi Arabia, that said it wanted to worship in the Masjid Haram, and also claimed Islam to be completely false and was also converting Muslims, how do you think the Saudi authories would treat them? Would they welcome them, or try and destroy them? How would you feel about them? One of the most important skills I believe is empathy, and if you cannot see it from someone else's perspective, you have not thought something through properly.

[جوري]

We are not speaking of opinions, we are speaking of proper history, which you repeatedly distort and have no frank knowledge of-- compounded by the fact that you never admit to error, rather you go on cementing it with more foolish statements. The Kaaba was never a Pagan shrine even if paganists got a hold of it and spread around their idols! we recommend before you further comment on the subject that you find out exactly how Islam was spread through Arabia .. and continues to spread today (by the same means) in spite of repeated efforts to distort its image!


all the best

[Ibn Ezra]

:sl: Akhi,


Now for languages it is very well established the 4 Semitic languages (Phoenician, Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic) are dialects of the same language. It would be an endless pointless debate to agree upon a name for that Language. I just happen to agree with the view they are all dialects of Arabic. While the Modern Arabic alphabet is without question the newest alphabet used for them, this would be primarily a difference of penmanship, not language.

There is no question that Arabic is one of the least ancient among the Semitic languages. There is no doubt that it grew out of Nabatean which flourished in the first century BC and the first century AD. Hebrew goes back into the bronze age, along with Ugaritic and Phoenician. Akkadian is older than all of these - you can find all sorts of Akkadian literature dating back to the third millenium BC - centuries and centuries before Arabic ever existed.

That being said, though Arabic was the last Semitic language to come out of the desert (as it were), it often preserves some of the oldest Semitic linguistic features. That is, as Semitic languages go, Arabic is quite conservative and is useful for understanding and reconstructing earlier Semitic dialects.