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Pre-Islamic Arab Religion in Islam: Difference between revisions
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=== General Judeo-Christian Monotheism in Arabia === | === General Judeo-Christian Monotheism in Arabia === | ||
At the time of Muhammad, the two largest Near-East Empires at the time were the Byzantine (Roman) Empire, of which Christianity was the state religion,<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/question/Did-the-Byzantine-Empire-practice-Christianity ''Did the Byzantine Empire practice Christianity?''] Byzantine Empire Article. Home. Geography & Travel Historical Places. Britannica Questions.</ref>and Judaism was still | At the time of Muhammad, the two largest Near-East Empires at the time were the Byzantine (Roman) Empire, of which Christianity was the state religion,<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/question/Did-the-Byzantine-Empire-practice-Christianity ''Did the Byzantine Empire practice Christianity?''] Byzantine Empire Article. Home. Geography & Travel Historical Places. Britannica Questions.</ref>and Judaism was still practiced.<ref>[https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2012/byzantium-and-islam/blog/topical-essays/posts/judaism#:~:text=During%20the%20Byzantine%20period%2C%20Jewish,gathering%2C%20study%2C%20and%20prayer. ''Judaism During the Byzantine Period.''] Yitzchak Schwartz. 2012. .Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters. The Met Museum.</ref> And the Sasanian (Persian) empire where the Nestorian/Church of the East, although not the state religion, was practiced,<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nestorianism ''Nestorianism.''] Christian sect. History & Society. Religion Religious Movements & Organizations. Britannica Entry.</ref> as was Judaism.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/place/Mesopotamia-historical-region-Asia/The-Sasanian-period ''The Sasanian period.''] Mesopotamia from ''c.'' 320 BCE to ''c.'' 620 CE. Britannica Entry</ref>These had extensive contact with Arab tribes in the centuries leading up to Islam. | ||
{{Quote|Tribal Poetics in Early Arabic Culture: The Case of of Ashʿār al-Hudhaliyyīn. Nathan A Miller. 2016. pp. 52|There is certainly evidence of increasing use of probably nomadic Arabs in military units. During the fifth century, numerous Greek and Syriac sources testify to Rome and Persia subsidizing Arab tribal nomads along the | {{Quote|Tribal Poetics in Early Arabic Culture: The Case of of Ashʿār al-Hudhaliyyīn. Nathan A Miller. 2016. pp. 52|There is certainly evidence of increasing use of probably nomadic Arabs in military units. During the fifth century, numerous Greek and Syriac sources testify to Rome and Persia subsidizing Arab tribal nomads along the | ||
frontier, probably for no other reason than because both empires’ financial resources were mostly diverted elsewhere and these nomads would otherwise raid sedentary areas. "Saracen” military units did, however, serve in other campaigns, and the ca. fourth century Roman administrative document Notitia Dignitatum mentions that they served in Egypt, Palestine and Phoenecia. After the battle of Adrianople in 378, Arab forces are reported to have played a role in repelling the Goths from Constantinople. Following the peace of 363, the maintenance of frontier forces was neglected, and it was not until the sixth century that Arab tribesmen would serve in the proxy wars between the Sasanians and Romans closer to home.}} | frontier, probably for no other reason than because both empires’ financial resources were mostly diverted elsewhere and these nomads would otherwise raid sedentary areas. "Saracen” military units did, however, serve in other campaigns, and the ca. fourth century Roman administrative document Notitia Dignitatum mentions that they served in Egypt, Palestine and Phoenecia. After the battle of Adrianople in 378, Arab forces are reported to have played a role in repelling the Goths from Constantinople. Following the peace of 363, the maintenance of frontier forces was neglected, and it was not until the sixth century that Arab tribesmen would serve in the proxy wars between the Sasanians and Romans closer to home.}} | ||
This is particularly documented with the pro-Roman and Sasanian Arab factions led by two dynasties, the Jafnids or “Ghassānids,” and the Naṣrids or “Lakhmid”,<ref>Fisher, G. and Wood, P. (2016) ‘[https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/iranian-studies/article/abs/writing-the-history-of-the-persian-arabs-the-preislamic-perspective-on-the-nasrids-of-alhirah/02B7E13B668BEA420EF82FEF2A7775FC ''Writing the History of the “Persian Arabs”: The Pre-Islamic Perspective on the “Naṣrids” of al-Ḥīrah'']’, Iranian Studies, 49(2), pp. 247–290. doi:10.1080/00210862.2015.1129763.</ref> who are depicted in many other non-Arabic sources.<ref>''[https://www.academia.edu/29277725/Tribal_Poetics_in_Early_Arabic_Culture_The_Case_of_of_Ash%CA%BF%C4%81r_al_Hudhaliyy%C4%ABn Tribal Poetics in Early Arabic Culture: The Case of of Ashʿār al-Hudhaliyyīn.]'' Nathan A Miller. 2016. pp. 62 (Chapter 1.2 (pp 43-72) covers the relationships of Arab tribes with surrounding empires and kingdoms).</ref> | This is particularly documented with the pro-Roman and Sasanian Arab factions led by two dynasties, the Jafnids or “Ghassānids,” and the Naṣrids or “Lakhmid”,<ref>Fisher, G. and Wood, P. (2016) ‘[https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/iranian-studies/article/abs/writing-the-history-of-the-persian-arabs-the-preislamic-perspective-on-the-nasrids-of-alhirah/02B7E13B668BEA420EF82FEF2A7775FC ''Writing the History of the “Persian Arabs”: The Pre-Islamic Perspective on the “Naṣrids” of al-Ḥīrah'']’, Iranian Studies, 49(2), pp. 247–290. doi:10.1080/00210862.2015.1129763.</ref> who are depicted in many other non-Arabic sources.<ref>''[https://www.academia.edu/29277725/Tribal_Poetics_in_Early_Arabic_Culture_The_Case_of_of_Ash%CA%BF%C4%81r_al_Hudhaliyy%C4%ABn Tribal Poetics in Early Arabic Culture: The Case of of Ashʿār al-Hudhaliyyīn.]'' Nathan A Miller. 2016. pp. 62 (Chapter 1.2 (pp 43-72) covers the relationships of Arab tribes with surrounding empires and kingdoms).</ref> | ||
And to the South lay the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himyarite_Kingdom Himyarite Kingdom] ( | And to the South lay the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himyarite_Kingdom Himyarite Kingdom] (centered in modern-day Yemen), in which Christianity and Judaism gained large footholds since the 4th century,<ref>''[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Himyar Himyar Britannica Entry]''. People. People's of Asia. Geography & Travel. Britannica. </ref> with rulers converting.<ref>Christian Julien Robin, "Arabia and Ethiopia," in Scott Johnson (ed.) ''[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GKRybwb17WMC&pg=PA289&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity]'', Oxford University Press 2012 pp.247–333, p.279 | ||
Diversity and Rabbinization: Jewish Texts and Societies between 400 and 1000 CE. Gavin McDowell (editor) Ron Naiweld (editor) Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra (editor). 2021. ''See: [https://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0219/ch7.xhtml Chapter 7. The Judaism of the Ancient Kingdom of Ḥimyar in Arabia: A Discreet Conversion.] pp.165–270. Christian Julien Robin (CNRS, Membre de l’Institut).''</ref> | Diversity and Rabbinization: Jewish Texts and Societies between 400 and 1000 CE. Gavin McDowell (editor) Ron Naiweld (editor) Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra (editor). 2021. ''See: [https://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0219/ch7.xhtml Chapter 7. The Judaism of the Ancient Kingdom of Ḥimyar in Arabia: A Discreet Conversion.] pp.165–270. Christian Julien Robin (CNRS, Membre de l’Institut).''</ref> Christian Julien Robin notes the development of a Judeo-inspired monotheism in the region labeled ‘Raḥmānism’ by A. F. L. Beeston during this time.<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/37672841/_%E1%B8%A4imyar_Aks%C5%ABm_and_Arabia_Deserta_in_Late_Antiquity_The_Epigraphic_Evidence_dans_Arabs_and_Empires_before_Islam_edited_by_Greg_Fisher_Oxford_University_Press_2015_pp_127_171_chapter_3_ H˙imyar, Aksūm, and Arabia Deserta in Late Antiquity. The Epigraphic Evidence.] Christian Julien Robin. Found in: | ||
Fisher, Greg. Arabs and Empires before Islam (p. 129-130). OUP Oxford. | |||
''If one takes into account that no known inscription contemporary to this period displays an orientation favourable to Christianity, one can conclude that the H ˙ imyarite rulers had founded a new religion inspired from Judaism, called ‘Rah˙mānism’ by A. F. L. Beeston, although the term ‘Judaeo-Monotheism’ is preferable. This new religion formalized a type of belief in Judaism seen elsewhere in the Mediterranean world, whose followers might be called ‘fearers of God’ (metuentes and theosebeis).7 It is relevant to note that one H ˙ imyarite inscription clearly reflects this notion, asking that ‘God, Lord of the Sky and the Earth, grants | fear (s ˙ bs¹, probably a borrowing from Greek sebas) of His Name’ (see 3.5).'' </ref> Which was later conquered by the Christian Kingdom of Aksum temporarily in the 6th century, spreading their influence until the Persians invaded in the latter half of the century.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/place/Aksum-ancient-kingdom-Africa Aksum] | ancient kingdom, Africa | Historical Places | Geography & Travel. Britannica Entry</ref> | |||
As alluded to, regardless of tracing exact terms, academic scholarship has long recognised the penetration of Judeo-Christian Monotheism into the Arabian peninsula and among Arab tribes long before Islam. These would have provided both the stories and general concepts to the Hijaz, whether through Christian and Jewish tribes living side-by-side with the Quran's initial community, or simply through travellers telling stories and/or proselytizing, the movement of slaves who knew them, trade and commerce, pilgrimage etc. | As alluded to, regardless of tracing exact terms, academic scholarship has long recognised the penetration of Judeo-Christian Monotheism into the Arabian peninsula and among Arab tribes long before Islam. These would have provided both the stories and general concepts to the Hijaz, whether through Christian and Jewish tribes living side-by-side with the Quran's initial community, or simply through travellers telling stories and/or proselytizing, the movement of slaves who knew them, trade and commerce, pilgrimage etc. | ||
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There was also reports of sectarian violence between competing monotheist groups in Arabia. | There was also reports of sectarian violence between competing monotheist groups in Arabia. | ||
{{Quote|Durie, Mark. (PhD). The Qur’an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion (p. 29-30). Lexington Books.|A massacre of Najrān Christians had been conducted by Dhu Nawās, the Jewish king of the Ḥimyarites, in 523 CE, reportedly in an attempt to compel them to convert to Judaism. Ibn Isḥāq gives an account of a massacre by fire and the sword of some 20,000 Christians, associating it with Q85:4–8 (Guillaume 1955, 17). This massacre was also referred to in contemporary Christian sources. In retaliation, the Christian Ethiopians destroyed the Ḥimyarite kingdom in 525 CE (Smith 1954, 431), ending six centuries of Yemeni dominance in the region.}} | {{Quote|Durie, Mark. (PhD). The Qur’an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion (p. 29-30). Lexington Books.|A massacre of Najrān Christians had been conducted by Dhu Nawās, the Jewish king of the Ḥimyarites, in 523 CE, reportedly in an attempt to compel them to convert to Judaism. Ibn Isḥāq gives an account of a massacre by fire and the sword of some 20,000 Christians, associating it with Q85:4–8 (Guillaume 1955, 17). This massacre was also referred to in contemporary Christian sources. In retaliation, the Christian Ethiopians destroyed the Ḥimyarite kingdom in 525 CE (Smith 1954, 431), ending six centuries of Yemeni dominance in the region.}} | ||
==== Abrahamic revivalism ==== | |||
Muḥammad emphasizes following "the religion of Abraham" rather than Jews or Christians ({{Quran|2|135}}, {{Quran|3|67}}). The Qurʾān elevates Abraham's son Ishmael, who was believed to be the ancestor of the Arabs based on later writers' interpretations of the biblical 'Ishmaelites'<ref>Fisher, Greg. Arabs and Empires before Islam (p. 367). OUP Oxford. 2015. | |||
''No passage in the Hebrew Bible or the Septuagint explicitly identified this group as ‘Arabs’, and a passage in the book of Jubilees (written in the second century bc), which might do so, has proved inconclusive.<sup>348</sup> While two late Hellenistic writers identify Arabs as Ishmaelites, the clear identification between Arabs and Ishmaelites was found only later, in the person of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (37–c.100).<sup>349</sup>'' | |||
</ref> (however in the bible it is his other son Isaac whom a covenant is established, while Ishmael is specifically left out).<ref>Cook, Michael. ''A History of the Muslim World: From Its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity'' (p. 58). Princeton University Press. 2024.</ref> In the Qurʾān Ishmael is now a prophet, and it describes him and Abraham building a temple ({{Quran|2|125-127}}), identified in Islamic tradition as the Ka'aba in Mecca. This narrative of his followers descending from Ishmael not only aligns Arab monotheism with Abraham's legacy through genealogy but also establishes a religious charter for the Meccan sanctuary and pilgrimage, providing Muḥammad a significant foundation for his teachings. | |||
Michael Cook 2024 notes that this idea that the Arabs were descendants of Abraham {{Quran|22|78}} pre-dates the Qurʾān, and was well-known in the cultural millennia to the Arabs, as Sozomenus, a Christian (born c. 380, Bethelea, near Gaza, Palestine—died c. 450, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey.])<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sozomen Sozomen] | Christian lawyer | Byzantine historian | Britannica Entry </ref> wrote that some had learned of this fact and began practicing a Jewish inspired monotheism over paganism in his own time, several centuries before Islam. | |||
{{Quote|Cook, Michael. A History of the Muslim World: From Its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity (p. 58-60). Princeton University Press.|Sozomenus, a Christian from a village near Gaza writing in the first half of the fifth century, has an interesting account of the Saracens, one of the names by which the Arabs were widely known at the time. They descended from Ishmael, after whom they were also called Ishmaelites. “Such being their origin, they practice circumcision like the Jews, refrain from the use of pork, and observe many other Jewish rites and customs.” Of course this ancient heritage of the Arabs was only imperfectly preserved, but that was not hard to explain: “The inhabitants of the neighboring countries, being strongly addicted to superstition, probably soon corrupted the laws imposed upon them by their forefather Ishmael.” They thus came to serve “the same gods as the neighboring nations.” But eventually the damage was repaired: “Some of their tribe, afterwards happening to come in contact with the Jews, gathered from them the facts of their true origin, returned to their kinsmen, and inclined to the Hebrew customs and laws.” Finally Sozomenus comes back to his own time: “From that time on, until now, many of them regulate their lives according to the Jewish precepts.”<sup>5</sup> | |||
For Sozomenus, then, the Arabs had originally shared with the Israelites the heritage of their common ancestor Abraham, though under the influence of their pagan neighbors they had later lost this precious ancestral heritage and fallen into paganism. This is not just how Sozomenus sees it himself; he is also telling us in this passage that some Arabs had learned of their Ishmaelite ancestry through contact with Jews and had then returned to the heritage of their ancestors. In doing so they were discarding the errors of their recent ancestors in order to recover their original ancestral heritage. Rather than a betrayal of their ancestry their embrace of Abraham’s legacy was the height of fidelity to it. Two centuries later a similar idea figures prominently in the Qurʾān.}} | |||
==== In Islamic tradition ==== | ==== In Islamic tradition ==== | ||
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=== Islamic Prophet Narratives === | === Islamic Prophet Narratives === | ||
As many Islamic scholars with a variety of views on the religions' origins, for example Angelika Neuwirth<ref>The catalogue of punishment legends that is here presented only in a list form is the first of its kind in the Qur’an. ''It evokes events apparently already known to the hearers,'' wherein the local and Arab (ʿĀd, Thamūd, here mentioned for the first time) are brought together with the biblical (Firʿawn, likewise for the first time in this passage) without differentiation. | As many Islamic scholars with a variety of views on the religions' origins, for example Angelika Neuwirth,<ref>The catalogue of punishment legends that is here presented only in a list form is the first of its kind in the Qur’an. ''It evokes events apparently already known to the hearers,'' wherein the local and Arab (ʿĀd, Thamūd, here mentioned for the first time) are brought together with the biblical (Firʿawn, likewise for the first time in this passage) without differentiation. | ||
''Neuwirth, Angelika. The Qur'an: Text and Commentary, Volume 1: Early Meccan Suras: Poetic Prophecy (p. 117). Yale University Press.''</ref> Robert G. Hoyland,<ref>Hoyland, Robert G.. ''[https://archive.org/details/ARABIAANDTHEARABSFromTheBronzeAgeToTheComingOfIslamRobertG.Hoyland/page/n235/mode/2up Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam]'' (Peoples of the Ancient World) (p. 222-223). Taylor & Francis.</ref> Nicolai Sinai,<ref>Sinai, Nicolai. Qur'an: A Historical-Critical Introduction (The New Edinburgh Islamic Surveys) (p. 105). Edinburgh University Press. | |||
''Such an allusive invocation of Biblical figures and narratives characterises the Qur’an throughout: familiarity with a broad body of Biblical and Biblically inspired lore is simply taken for granted.<sup>27</sup>'' | |||
Footnote 27 (pp124): ''Thus, Griffith (The Bible in Arabic, p. 57) speaks of ‘the Islamic scripture’s unspoken and pervasive confidence that its audience is thoroughly familiar with the stories of the biblical patriarchs and prophets, so familiar in fact that there is no need for even the most rudimentary form of introduction’.''</ref> Andrew Bannister<ref>''The Qur’an frequently mentions biblical characters and episodes in a manner which suggests that the reader is clearly expected to be familiar with them.'' | |||
Bannister, Andrew G.. An Oral-Formulaic Study of the Qur'an (pp. 12-13). Lexington Books. 2014. </ref> and Stephen Shoemaker,<ref>At the most general level, the Qurʾān reveals a monotheist religious movement grounded in the biblical and extra-biblical traditions of Judaism and Christianity, to which certain uniquely “Arab” traditions have been added. ''These traditions, however, are often related in an allusive style, which seems to presuppose knowledge of the larger narrative on the part of its audience.'' | |||
Shoemaker, Stephen J.. ''The Death of a Prophet (Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion) (Kindle Locations 2691-2694).'' University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.. Kindle Edition. </ref> have noted that the Qur'an appears to recall Biblical and Arabian stories in a way that pre-supposes the audience is already familiar with the wider more detailed story and characters. This suggests that these were commonly known in the environment that it was originally preached in. | Shoemaker, Stephen J.. ''The Death of a Prophet (Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion) (Kindle Locations 2691-2694).'' University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.. Kindle Edition. </ref> have noted, that the Qur'an appears to recall Biblical and Arabian stories in a way that pre-supposes the audience is already familiar with the wider more detailed story and characters. This suggests that these were commonly known in the environment that it was originally preached in. | ||
==Worship at the Ka’bah== | ==Worship at the Ka’bah== | ||