Pre-Islamic Arab Religion in Islam: Difference between revisions

{{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

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>  

{{Quote|Durie, Mark. (PhD). The Qur’an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion (p. 29). Lexington Books.|The religious milieu of the Ḥijāz, in which the Qurʾan reportedly arose, was well aware of both Judaism and Christianity and the same was also true of other regions frequented by Arabic speakers. Finster (2011, 70–74) has provided a detailed overview of the reported presence of Christianity among the Arab tribes. By the end of the sixth century CE substantial numbers of Arabs in the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Arabia had converted to Christianity: Najrān, an important Arab city 1,000 kilometers to the southeast of Mecca, was predominately Christian by the time Islam arose; the kingdom of Ḥimyar in the south had been under Christian rule for fifty years during the sixth century (Robin 2012); the region of Bet Qaṭraye off the East Arabian coast in the Persian gulf had a Christian presence from the fourth to the ninth century (Witztum 2011, 259); and Petra, the former Nabataean capital, and later southern capital of the Byzantine province of Palaestina Tertia, whose influence spread south into Arabia (Nehmé 2017, 149) and north into the Levant, included a Christian community from at least the third century CE: Asterius, Bishop of Petra, was reported to have attended the Council of Alexandria in 363 CE (Wace and Piercy 1999, 123).

{{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|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.”⁵  

{{Quote|Durie, Mark. (PhD). The Qur’an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion (pp. 30-31). Lexington Books.|Within the ḥadīth and sīrah there are references to Christians who were known to Muḥammad, endorsed him, and could have influenced him. One was Muḥammad’s wet nurse, Umm Aymān, an Ethiopian (Shahīd 2006, 15). Another was the cousin of his wife Khadījah, Waraqah ibn. Nawfāl, who Ibn Isḥāq described as “a Christian who had studied the scriptures and was a scholar” (Guillaume 1955, 83, 99, 107). Another was the monk Baḥīra, who was “well versed in the knowledge of Christians” (Guillaume 1955, 79–81). Mention is also made of a Christian slave named Jabr, of whom critics of Muḥammad had said “The one who teaches Muḥammad most of what he brings is Jabr the Christian” (Guillaume 1955, 180). There is also a reference in a ḥadīth to a nameless Christian and one-time scribe for Muḥammad, who had converted to Islam but then returned to Christianity, and claimed to have been the source of much of Muḥammad’s knowledge. Indeed this idea, that Muḥammad was receiving help from others, goes back to the Qurʾan itself (Q25:4–5). The ḥadīths also refer to some Jews who, like Waraqa and Baḥīra, endorsed Muḥammad (Guillaume 1955, 79, 90, 93).}}

''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.

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.''