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Pre-Islamic Arab Religion in Islam: Difference between revisions
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→General Judeo-Christian Monotheism in Arabia: Have added further Jewish and Christian pre-Islamic groups in Arabia in more areas of Arabia from Muḥammad and His Followers in Context: The Religious Map of Late Antique Arabia: 209 (Islamic History and Civilization) Nov. 2023. Ilkka Lindstedt (Author)
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(→Praying 5 Times Towards Mecca: Added section on the pre-Islamic pagan 4 sacred months.) |
(→General Judeo-Christian Monotheism in Arabia: Have added further Jewish and Christian pre-Islamic groups in Arabia in more areas of Arabia from Muḥammad and His Followers in Context: The Religious Map of Late Antique Arabia: 209 (Islamic History and Civilization) Nov. 2023. Ilkka Lindstedt (Author)) |
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This is particularly documented with the pro-Roman and pro-Sasanian Arab factions led by two dynasties, the Jafnids or “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghassanids Ghassānids],” and the Naṣrids or “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakhmid_kingdom Lakhmids]”,<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 pro-Sasanian Arab factions led by two dynasties, the Jafnids or “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghassanids Ghassānids],” and the Naṣrids or “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakhmid_kingdom Lakhmids]”,<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] (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 | As Lindstedt (2023) notes, the Ghassānids and Lakhmids rose to important positions as allies and sort of buffer states of the Byzantine empire and the Sasanian empire toward the end of the third century ce.<ref>[https://brill.com/display/title/69380?language=en ''Muḥammad and His Followers in Context:'' ''The Religious Map of Late Antique Arabia'':] 209 (Islamic History and Civilization) Nov. 2023. Ilkka Lindstedt. pp. 104</ref> the Ghassānids had converted around the 5th century, and the Lakhmids had converted pre-Islam.<ref>Ibid. pp. 102-103</ref> The Ghassānids were said to possess some kind of religious scripture, though it is not known exactly what it was.<ref>Ibid. pp. 107</ref> Both the Ghassānids and Lakhmids sponsored Christianity by e.g. building churches, And the Ghassānid elite are known to have built churches throughout the 6th century from archaeology.<ref>Ibid. pp. 107-108</ref> It is possible that already the fourth-century Lakhmid king Marʾ al-Qays ibn ʿAmr had converted to Christianity, though sometimes the Lakhmids’ embrace of Christianity is dated to the late sixth century; be that as it may, Arabic and non-Arabic sources suggest that the Lakhmids and the inhabitants of the area they ruled became ''majority-Christian'' before Islam, though it is difficult to state this with certainty.<ref>Ibid. pp. 107-108</ref> | ||
He also notes that the tribe of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taghlib Taghlib] converted in the late sixth century, as evidenced by poetry composed by members of that tribe, and the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salihids Ṣāliḥids] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanukhids Tanūkhids] also became Christian. According to the surviving evidence, most North Arabian tribes embraced Christianity in its [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miaphysitism miaphysite] form.<ref>Ibid. pp. 102-103</ref> | |||
Monotheist inscriptions, most likely Christian, have further been found in NorthWest of Arabia, in the localities of alʿArniyyāt and Umm Jadhāyidh, in Saudi Arabia, northwest from Madāʾin Ṣāliḥ (ancient Hegra) and Al-Jawf - the localities lie a bit over 500km via road from Medina, which as Lindstedt notes, is a similar distance of the 450km from Mecca to Medina.<ref>Ibid. pp. 108-109</ref> Jewish presence was also recorded as being established across the Hijaz centuries before Islam, with inscriptions from 230ce in Tayma stating a Jew was the 'headman' of the town, and similarly from Hegra and Dedan, including in Nabatean Arabic, and similar one's dated to 356–367ce; of which Hoyland remarks, the two inscriptions “are very important texts for north Arabian Jewry, for they imply that some of them at least were members of the elite of this society. Since the texts are separated by more than 150 years, we can also assume some stability for this office."<ref>Ibid. pp. 60</ref> | |||
Lindetedt (2023) notes that in all probability the majority of inhabitants of Arabia were Jews/Christians,<ref>Ibid. pp. 322</ref> with the majority in the north Christians, and the majority in the south Jewish.<ref>Ibid. pp. 323.</ref> | |||
It should also be noted that some later, Islamic-era writers (such as historians, commentators and poets) also identified a number of place names in and around Mecca that suggest that there were Christians living in or visiting Mecca such as for pilgrimage.<ref>Ibid. pp. 114-115</ref> For example, al-Azraqī (d. 837 ce) notes that there was a maqbarat al-naṣārā, “graveyard of the Christians,” in Mecca (without qualifying it further); Establishing the date and existence of this graveyard is difficult, but it is difficult to know what motivation the Muslim authors might have had for forging such information (as it goes so against Muslim traditions that paint Mecca as a pagan city).<ref>Ibid. pp. 114-115</ref> | |||
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> 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: | 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: | ||