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The history of Pre-Islamic Arabia before the rise of Islam in the 610s is not known in great detail. Archaeological exploration in the Arabian peninsula has been sparse; indigenous written sources are limited to the many inscriptions and coins from southern Arabia.
Sep 27, 2020 · Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia was a mix of polytheism, Christianity, Judaism, and Iranian religions. Arab polytheism, the dominant belief system, was based on the belief in deities and other supernatural beings such as djinn.
- Centerpoint Between Empires
- Towns, Oases, and Trade-Routes
- Between Empires
- Gods and Stones
- Legacies
In the eyes of the ancient Romans, Arabia Felix—meaning “lucky Arabia”—was a rich and exotic place, at the limits of the Roman Empire. The incense and spices that grew in the south of the peninsula were certainly valuable commodities. But far from being at the edge of the world, late antique Arabia (encompassing the modern countries of Bahrain, sou...
The Arabian Peninsula has low rainfall and few rivers, so the locations of settlements were partly determined by access to water. The most densely settled areas were the Hijaz regionin the west and Yemen in the south. Qaryat al-Faw: capital of the Kingdom of Kinda An exception in central Arabia was Qaryat al-Faw, the capital of the Kingdom of Kinda...
To the east of Arabia was the Parthian Empire, succeeded in the 3rd century C.E. by the Sasanians, while to the north and north-west was the Byzantine Empire (before that the Roman Empire), in addition to the Kingdom of Aksum directly to the west. Arabian kingdoms and tribes engaged with these neighboring powers as enemies, subjects, and allies—wit...
A widespread religious practice in Arabia, going back into the first millennium B.C.E., was the veneration of selected stones. Shaped rocks called betyls are found at the Nabataean sites of Petra and Madain Salih, some carved with eyes and others featureless. The 9th-century Muslim author al-Kalbi described people seeking blessings from tall stones...
Some monuments of ancient and Late Antique Arabia were remembered well into the Islamic period. The richly decorated Christian churches of Yemen were described in glowing terms by 12th-century authors, long after the buildings themselves were disused. Some sites gathered new associations, for instance the stone tombs of al-Hijr were believed to be ...
Pre-Islamic Arabia is the Arabian Peninsula prior to the emergence of Islam in 610 CE. Some of the settled communities developed into distinctive civilizations. There common language was Arabic, There was no political unity among them.
The term ‘pre-Islamic Arabia’ is thus a fortunate and a significant one, reflecting as it does the decisive role which Islam played in changing its character, both as a religion which appeared within its boundaries, and as a movement which launched the Arabs on the paths of world conquest.
- Irfan Shahîd
- 1977
Apr 14, 2011 · Contains numerous articles on the history, geography, culture, and personalities of pre-Islamic Arabia. For introductory surveys, see the articles “Djahiliyya,” “al-ʿArab,” and “ʿArab (Djazirat al-).”
Recent enquiries into the history of pre-Islamic Arabia have adopted the mm/year isohyet (rainfall line) as the northernmost border of the Arabian Peninsula,
