Monotheism in pre-Islamic Arabia

Monotheism as the belief in a supreme Creator being,^[1] existed in pre-Islamic Arabia. This practice occurred among pre-Islamic Christian, Jewish, and other populations unaffiliated with either one of the two major Abrahamic religions at the time. Monotheism became a religious trend in pre-Islamic Arabia in the fourth century CE, when it began to supplant the polytheism that had been the common form of religion until then.^[2]^[3] Transition from polytheism to monotheism in this time is documented from inscriptions in all writing systems on the Arabian Peninsula (including those in Nabataean, Safaitic, and Sabaic), where polytheistic gods and idols cease to be mentioned. Epigraphic evidence is nearly exclusively monotheistic in the fifth century,^[4] and from the sixth century and until the eve of Islam, it is solely monotheistic.^[5] Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry is also monotheistic or henotheistic.^[6]

An important locus of pre-Islamic Arabian monotheism, the Himyarite Kingdom, ruled over South Arabia, whose ruling class converted to Judaism in the fourth century^{[citation needed]} (roughly when official polytheistic inscriptions stopped appearing in the area) and who nevertheless presented a neutral outwards monotheism in engagement with the public. Historians call a monotheism that came to be prevalent among populations unaffiliated with either then widespread Abrahamic religion by many terms, including "gentile monotheism", "pagan monotheism", "Himyarite monotheism", "Arabian monotheism", "hanifism", "Rahmanism", and so on.^[7] In the sixth century, the Aksumite invasion of Himyar led to Christian rule in the region.

Islamic tradition - as in the Book of Idols by Hisham ibn al-Kalbi (737–819) - characterises Arabia as dominated by polytheism and by idolatry before the mission of Muhammad. Such a representation is important to the Islamic idea of pre-Islamic Arabia as the Jahiliyyah ("Age of Ignorance"). Monotheism was allegedly confined to small pockets, like the Christian community of Najran or to Jewish tribes such as the Banu Qurayza. There was also the occasional hanif ("renunciate"). The awāʾil ("firsts") genre of literature frequently attributes the status of the first true monotheist to figures of the sixth and early-seventh-centuries like Quss Ibn Sa'ida al-Iyadi (died c. 610), Waraqah ibn Nawfal (died c. 610), and Zayd ibn Amr (died 605).^[8]

^ West, Martin Litchfield (8 July 1999). "Towards Monotheism". In Athanassiadi, Polymnia; Frede, Michael (eds.). Pagan Monotheism in Late Antiquity (reprint ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 21. ISBN 9780191541452. Retrieved 16 February 2025. A standard dictionary definition of 'monotheism' is 'the belief in only one God' [... with ] a god (and gods, of course, embrace goddesses) [defined] as an entity identified or postulated, by one or more members of the species homo sapiens, as a wilful agent posessing or exercising power over events that appear to be beyond human control or not governed by other tangible agencies.
^ Hoyland, Robert G. (11 September 2001) [2001]. "Religion". Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Peoples of the Ancient World (reprint ed.). London: Routledge. p. 139. ISBN 9781134646340. Retrieved 16 February 2025. Up until about the fourth century AD almost all the inhabitants of Arabia were polytheists.
^ Hoyland, Robert G. (2003). Arabia and the Arabs: from the Bronze Age to the coming of Islam (Reprinted, (twice) ed.). London: Routledge. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-415-19534-8.
^ Reynolds, Gabriel Said (2023). The emergence of Islam: classical traditions in contemporary perspective (2nd ed.). Fortress Press. pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-1-5064-7388-8.
^ Lindstedt, Ilkka (2023-12-01). "The Seed of Abraham". Advances in Ancient, Biblical, and Near Eastern Research. 3 (3): 253–255. doi:10.35068/AABNER.V3I3.1107.
^ Sinai 2019.
^ Lindstedt, Ilkka (2023). Muhammad and his followers in context: the religious map of late antique Arabia. Islamic history and civilization. Leiden, Boston: Brill. pp. 123–127. ISBN 978-90-04-68712-7.
^ Dziekan 2012, p. 130–133.

[1] West, Martin Litchfield (8 July 1999). "Towards Monotheism". In Athanassiadi, Polymnia; Frede, Michael (eds.). Pagan Monotheism in Late Antiquity (reprint ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 21. ISBN 9780191541452. Retrieved 16 February 2025. A standard dictionary definition of 'monotheism' is 'the belief in only one God' [... with ] a god (and gods, of course, embrace goddesses) [defined] as an entity identified or postulated, by one or more members of the species homo sapiens, as a wilful agent posessing or exercising power over events that appear to be beyond human control or not governed by other tangible agencies.

[2] Hoyland, Robert G. (11 September 2001) [2001]. "Religion". Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Peoples of the Ancient World (reprint ed.). London: Routledge. p. 139. ISBN 9781134646340. Retrieved 16 February 2025. Up until about the fourth century AD almost all the inhabitants of Arabia were polytheists.

[3] Hoyland, Robert G. (2003). Arabia and the Arabs: from the Bronze Age to the coming of Islam (Reprinted, (twice) ed.). London: Routledge. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-415-19534-8.

[:0-4] Reynolds, Gabriel Said (2023). The emergence of Islam: classical traditions in contemporary perspective (2nd ed.). Fortress Press. pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-1-5064-7388-8.

[5] Lindstedt, Ilkka (2023-12-01). "The Seed of Abraham". Advances in Ancient, Biblical, and Near Eastern Research. 3 (3): 253–255. doi:10.35068/AABNER.V3I3.1107.

[FOOTNOTESinai2019-6] Sinai 2019.

[:1-7] Lindstedt, Ilkka (2023). Muhammad and his followers in context: the religious map of late antique Arabia. Islamic history and civilization. Leiden, Boston: Brill. pp. 123–127. ISBN 978-90-04-68712-7.

[FOOTNOTEDziekan2012130–133-8] Dziekan 2012, p. 130–133.

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