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The Book of Idols by Hisham ibn al-Kalbi (d. 819 CE) is a series of distantly remembered folk tales describing the outright idolatry of the pre-Islamic Arabs, with an overall narrative that this came to an end with the rise of Islam. Academic scholarship today recognises this as a false narrative, serving to bring the immediately pre-Islamic period into a sharper contrast with Islam.<ref>See the introduction of the open access chapter: Ahmad Al-Jallad (2022), [https://www.academia.edu/45498003/Al_Jallad_Pre_Print_Draft_The_Religion_and_Rituals_of_the_Nomads_of_Pre_Islamic_Arabia_A_Reconstruction_based_on_the_Safaitic_Inscriptions The Religion and Rituals of the Nomads of Pre-Islamic Arabia: A Reconstruction based on the Safaitic Inscriptions] in (ed. Zhi Chen et al.), Ancient Languages and Civilizations, Volume: 1, Leiden: Brill</ref><ref>Patricia Crone' [https://www.ias.edu/sites/default/files/hs/Crone_Articles/Crone_Quranic_Deities.pdf The Religion of the Quranic Pagans: God and the Lesser Deities], Arabica 57 (2010) p. 171 ff.</ref> Our understanding of the religious landscape in pre-Islamic Arabia is being transformed by the study of epigraphic evidence (inscriptions on rocks, rock art, and their archaeological contexts), complemented with careful study of Quranic internal evidence and early Islamic sources, independent of later histographic works. | The Book of Idols by Hisham ibn al-Kalbi (d. 819 CE) is a series of distantly remembered folk tales describing the outright idolatry of the pre-Islamic Arabs, with an overall narrative that this came to an end with the rise of Islam. Academic scholarship today recognises this as a false narrative, serving to bring the immediately pre-Islamic period into a sharper contrast with Islam.<ref>See the introduction of the open access chapter: Ahmad Al-Jallad (2022), [https://www.academia.edu/45498003/Al_Jallad_Pre_Print_Draft_The_Religion_and_Rituals_of_the_Nomads_of_Pre_Islamic_Arabia_A_Reconstruction_based_on_the_Safaitic_Inscriptions The Religion and Rituals of the Nomads of Pre-Islamic Arabia: A Reconstruction based on the Safaitic Inscriptions] in (ed. Zhi Chen et al.), Ancient Languages and Civilizations, Volume: 1, Leiden: Brill</ref><ref>Patricia Crone' [https://www.ias.edu/sites/default/files/hs/Crone_Articles/Crone_Quranic_Deities.pdf The Religion of the Quranic Pagans: God and the Lesser Deities], Arabica 57 (2010) p. 171 ff.</ref> Our understanding of the religious landscape in pre-Islamic Arabia is being transformed by the study of epigraphic evidence (inscriptions on rocks, rock art, and their archaeological contexts), complemented with careful study of Quranic internal evidence and early Islamic sources, independent of later histographic works. | ||
From the fourth century CE, pagan deities almost completely disappear from the epigraphic record of the South Arabian script family, commencing what is known as the monotheistic period in that part of Arabia. In their place, a single god, ''Rḥmnn'' (literally, The merciful) starts to appear, which eventually becames the Quranic epithet al-Rahman (more on this below).<ref>See p. 122 in Ahmad al-Jallad (2020) [https://www.academia.edu/43141064 Chapter 7: The Linguistic Landscape of pre-Islamic Arabia - Context for the Qur’an] in Mustafa Shah (ed.), Muhammad Abdel Haleem (ed.), "The Oxford Handbook of Qur'anic Studies", Oxford: Oxford University Press</ref> | From the fourth century CE, pagan deities almost completely disappear from the epigraphic record of the South Arabian script family, commencing what is known as the monotheistic period in that part of Arabia. In their place, a single god, ''Rḥmnn'' (literally, The merciful) starts to appear, which eventually becames the Quranic epithet al-Rahman (more on this below).<ref>See p. 122 in Ahmad al-Jallad (2020) [https://www.academia.edu/43141064 Chapter 7: The Linguistic Landscape of pre-Islamic Arabia - Context for the Qur’an] in Mustafa Shah (ed.), Muhammad Abdel Haleem (ed.), "The Oxford Handbook of Qur'anic Studies", Oxford: Oxford University Press</ref> The use of Rahman (or Rahman-an) becomes truely monotheistic only in the sixth century CE, previously used in a monolatric context (the sole object of worship, even while other deities are acknowledged).<ref>Kjær, Sigrid (2022). [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-asian-studies/article/rahman-before-muhammad-a-prehistory-of-the-first-peace-sulh-in-islam/280B60BFF68749648057202B29C7C8F0 ‘Rahman’ before Muhammad: A pre-history of the First Peace (Sulh) in Islaw], Modern Asian Studies, 56(3), 776-795. doi:10.1017/S0026749X21000305</ref> | ||
The word Allah first appears in the epigraphic record as the name of one of many Nabataean deities in 1st century BCE or 1st century CE northern Arabia.<ref name="alJallad2022">See the start of Appendix one in the open access chapter: Ahmad Al-Jallad (2022), [https://www.academia.edu/45498003/Al_Jallad_Pre_Print_Draft_The_Religion_and_Rituals_of_the_Nomads_of_Pre_Islamic_Arabia_A_Reconstruction_based_on_the_Safaitic_Inscriptions The Religion and Rituals of the Nomads of Pre-Islamic Arabia: A Reconstruction based on the Safaitic Inscriptions] in (ed. Zhi Chen et al.), Ancient Languages and Civilizations, Volume: 1, Leiden: Brill</ref> The word possibly might have come from a contraction of al-ʾilāh (the god), though there are some linguistic difficulties with this idea. In any case it was the name of a deity at that time and there is no indication that it was associated with the monotheistic Judeo-Christian god. The name Abd Allah (like the name of Muhammad's father) first appears in a Nabataean pagan context (they used the same construct also for other gods, for example ʿAbdu Manōti, "servant of Manāt"). In Safaitic inscriptions (a script used in the north Arabian desert), the name Allah is occasionally invoked, though other deities much more so. By the sixth century CE the name Allah is applied in a monotheistic context around the Hijaz and at some point merges with the Christian al-ʾilāh (the god). Allah appears equated with al-Rahman (who in the south was associated with the Judeo-Christian God) in a pre-Islamic basmala inscription discovered in Yemen, as discussed in the next section below.<ref>See this [https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1450418538418745355 twitter thread] by leading linguist in the history of Arabic, Dr Marijn van Putten - 19 October 2021 ([https://web.archive.org/web/20211027185522/https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1450418538418745355 archive])</ref> | The word Allah first appears in the epigraphic record as the name of one of many Nabataean deities in 1st century BCE or 1st century CE northern Arabia.<ref name="alJallad2022">See the start of Appendix one in the open access chapter: Ahmad Al-Jallad (2022), [https://www.academia.edu/45498003/Al_Jallad_Pre_Print_Draft_The_Religion_and_Rituals_of_the_Nomads_of_Pre_Islamic_Arabia_A_Reconstruction_based_on_the_Safaitic_Inscriptions The Religion and Rituals of the Nomads of Pre-Islamic Arabia: A Reconstruction based on the Safaitic Inscriptions] in (ed. Zhi Chen et al.), Ancient Languages and Civilizations, Volume: 1, Leiden: Brill</ref> The word possibly might have come from a contraction of al-ʾilāh (the god), though there are some linguistic difficulties with this idea. In any case it was the name of a deity at that time and there is no indication that it was associated with the monotheistic Judeo-Christian god. The name Abd Allah (like the name of Muhammad's father) first appears in a Nabataean pagan context (they used the same construct also for other gods, for example ʿAbdu Manōti, "servant of Manāt"). In Safaitic inscriptions (a script used in the north Arabian desert), the name Allah is occasionally invoked, though other deities much more so. By the sixth century CE the name Allah is applied in a monotheistic context around the Hijaz and at some point merges with the Christian al-ʾilāh (the god). Allah appears equated with al-Rahman (who in the south was associated with the Judeo-Christian God) in a pre-Islamic basmala inscription discovered in Yemen, as discussed in the next section below.<ref>See this [https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1450418538418745355 twitter thread] by leading linguist in the history of Arabic, Dr Marijn van Putten - 19 October 2021 ([https://web.archive.org/web/20211027185522/https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1450418538418745355 archive])</ref> | ||