Judaism in pre-Islamic Arabia

Judaism has been practiced as a religion in the Arabian Peninsula since at least the first century BCE. It is also the first monotheistic religion of Arabia. Arabian Jews were linguistically diverse and would have varied in their practice of the religion. The presence of Jews is best attested in Northwestern and Southern Arabia. Judaism would briefly become politically relevant in the fourth century, when the rulers of the Kingdom of Himyar converted to Judaism.

The exact means by which Judaism expanded or gained converts in regions of Arabia and why they expanded into some regions as opposed to others is unclear. One hypothesis proposes that migrations of Jews to Arabia occurred after the destruction of the Second Temple during the Jewish–Roman wars in the first century,^[1] or during other conquests or persecutions by the Persians, Babylonians, or Romans, but no data exists to support this.^[2]^[3] In addition, the religious diversity and the normative or non-normative nature of Arabian Judaism(s) is also ill-understood.^[4]

^ Bar-Asher, Meʾir Mikhaʾel (2021). Jews and the Qur'an. Translated by Rundell, Ethan S. Princeton: Princeton University Press. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-0-691-21135-0.
^ Hoyland, Robert G. (2011). "The Jews of the Hijaz in the Qurʾān and in their inscriptions". In Reynolds, Gabriel Said (ed.). New perspectives on the Qur'an. The Qur'an in its historical context. New York: Routledge. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-415-61548-8.
^ Lindstedt, Ilkka (2023). Muhammad and his followers in context: the religious map of late antique Arabia. Islamic history and civilization. Leiden Boston: Brill. pp. 59, n. 24. ISBN 978-90-04-68712-7.
^ Hughes, Aaron (2020). "South Arabian 'Judaism', Ḥimyarite Raḥmanism, and the Origins of Islam". In Segovia, Carlos Andrés (ed.). Remapping emergent Islam: texts, social settings, and ideological trajectories. Social worlds of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. pp. 19–22. ISBN 978-94-6298-806-4.

[1] Bar-Asher, Meʾir Mikhaʾel (2021). Jews and the Qur'an. Translated by Rundell, Ethan S. Princeton: Princeton University Press. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-0-691-21135-0.

[:0-2] Hoyland, Robert G. (2011). "The Jews of the Hijaz in the Qurʾān and in their inscriptions". In Reynolds, Gabriel Said (ed.). New perspectives on the Qur'an. The Qur'an in its historical context. New York: Routledge. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-415-61548-8.

[3] Lindstedt, Ilkka (2023). Muhammad and his followers in context: the religious map of late antique Arabia. Islamic history and civilization. Leiden Boston: Brill. pp. 59, n. 24. ISBN 978-90-04-68712-7.

[4] Hughes, Aaron (2020). "South Arabian 'Judaism', Ḥimyarite Raḥmanism, and the Origins of Islam". In Segovia, Carlos Andrés (ed.). Remapping emergent Islam: texts, social settings, and ideological trajectories. Social worlds of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. pp. 19–22. ISBN 978-94-6298-806-4.

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