Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia

In

The contemporary sources of information regarding the pre-Islamic Arabian religion and pantheon include a growing number of pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions, written in scripts like Safaitic, Sabaic, and Paleo-Arabic,^[6] pre-Islamic poetry, external sources such as Jewish and Greek accounts, as well as the Muslim tradition, such as the Qur'an and Islamic writings. Nevertheless, information is limited.^[6]

One early attestation of Arabian polytheism was in

Muslim sources regarding Arabian polytheism include the eighth-century Book of Idols by Hisham ibn al-Kalbi, which F.E. Peters argued to be the most substantial treatment of the religious practices of pre-Islamic Arabia,^[10] as well as the writings of the Yemeni historian al-Hasan al-Hamdani on South Arabian religious beliefs.^[11]

According to the Book of Idols, descendants of the son of Abraham (Ishmael) who had settled in Mecca migrated to other lands carried holy stones from the Kaaba with them, erected them, and circumambulated them like the Kaaba.^[12] This, according to al-Kalbi led to the rise of idol worship.^[12] Based on this, it may be probable that Arabs originally venerated stones, later adopting idol-worship under foreign influences.^[12] The relationship between a god and a stone as his representation can be seen from the third-century Syriac work called the Homily of Pseudo-Meliton where he describes the pagan faiths of Syriac-speakers in northern Mesopotamia, who were mostly Arabs.^[12] However, mythologies and narratives elucidating the history of these gods, as well as the meaning of their epithets, remain uninformative.^[13][14]

The pre-Islamic Arabian religions were polytheistic, with many of the deities' names known.^[1] Formal pantheons are more noticeable at the level of kingdoms, of variable sizes, ranging from simple city-states to collections of tribes.^[15] Tribes, towns, clans, lineages and families had their own cults too.^[15] Christian Julien Robin suggests that this structure of the divine world reflected the society of the time.^[15] Trade caravans also brought foreign religious and cultural influences.^[16] A large number of deities did not have proper names and were referred to by titles indicating a quality, a family relationship, or a locale preceded by "he who" or "she who" (dhū or dhāt respectively).^[15]

The religious beliefs and practices of the nomadic

In South Arabia, mndh’t were anonymous guardian spirits of the community and the ancestor spirits of the family.^[19] They were known as 'the sun (shms) of their ancestors'.^[19]

In North Arabia, ginnaye were known from Palmyrene inscriptions as "the good and rewarding gods" and were probably related to the jinn of west and central Arabia.^[20] Unlike jinn in modern times, ginnaye could not hurt nor possess humans and were much more similar to the Roman genius.^[21] According to common Arabian belief, soothsayers, pre-Islamic philosophers, and poets were inspired by the jinn.^[22] However, jinn were also feared and thought to be responsible for causing various diseases and mental illnesses.^[23]

Aside from benevolent gods and spirits, there existed malevolent beings.^[20] These beings were not attested in the epigraphic record, but were alluded to in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, and their legends were collected by later Muslim authors.^[20]

Commonly mentioned are ghouls.^[20] Etymologically, the English word "ghoul" was derived from the Arabic ghul, from ghala, "to seize",^[24] related to the Sumerian galla.^[25] They are said to have a hideous appearance, with feet like those of an ass.^[20] Arabs were said to utter the following couplet if they should encounter one: "Oh ass-footed one, just bray away, we won't leave the desert plain nor ever go astray."^[20]

Christian Julien Robin notes that all the known South Arabian divinities had a positive or protective role and that evil powers were only alluded to but were never personified.^[26]

Some scholars postulate that in pre-Islamic Arabia, including in Mecca,

Charles Russell Coulter and Patricia Turner considered that Allah's name may be derived from a pre-Islamic god called Ailiah and is similar to El, Il, Ilah, and Jehovah. They also considered some of his characteristics to be seemingly based on lunar deities like Almaqah, Kahl, Shaker, Wadd and Warakh.^[39] Alfred Guillaume states that the connection between Ilah that came to form Allah and ancient Babylonian Il or El of ancient Israel is not clear. Wellhausen states that Allah was known from Jewish and Christian sources and was known to pagan Arabs as the supreme god.^[40] Winfried Corduan doubts the theory of Allah of Islam being linked to a moon god, stating that the term Allah functions as a generic term, like the term El-Elyon used as a title for the god Sin.^[41]

South Arabian inscriptions from the fourth century AD refer to a god called

Al-Lāt's cult was spread in Syria and northern Arabia. From Safaitic and Hismaic inscriptions, it is probable that she was worshiped as Lat (lt). F. V. Winnet saw al-Lat as a lunar deity due to the association of a crescent with her in 'Ayn esh-Shallāleh and a Lihyanite inscription mentioning the name of Wadd, the Minaean moon god, over the title of fkl lt. René Dussaud and Gonzague Ryckmans linked her with Venus while others have thought her to be a solar deity. John F. Healey considers that al-Uzza actually might have been an epithet of al-Lāt before becoming a separate deity in the Meccan pantheon.^[52] Paola Corrente, writing in Redefining Dionysus, considers she might have been a god of vegetation or a celestial deity of atmospheric phenomena and a sky deity.^[53]

The worship of sacred stones constituted one of the most important practices of the Semitic speaking peoples, including Arabs.^[54] Cult images of a deity were most often an unworked stone block.^[55] The most common name for these stone blocks was derived from the Semitic nsb ("to be stood upright"), but other names were used, such as Nabataean masgida ("place of prostration") and Arabic duwar ("object of circumambulation", this term often occurs in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry).^[56] These god-stones were usually a free-standing slab, but Nabataean god-stones are usually carved directly on the rock face.^[56] Facial features may be incised on the stone (especially in Nabataea), or astral symbols (especially in South Arabia).^[56] Under Greco-Roman influence, an anthropomorphic statue might be used instead.^[55]

The Book of Idols describes two types of statues: idols (sanam) and images (wathan).^[57] If a statue were made of wood, gold, or silver, after a human form, it would be an idol, but if the statue were made of stone, it would be an image.^[57]

Representation of deities in animal-form was common in South Arabia, such as the god Sayin from Hadhramaut, who was represented as either an eagle fighting a serpent or a bull.

Sacred places were known as hima, haram or mahram, and within these places, all living things were considered inviolable and violence was forbidden.^[59] In most of Arabia, these places would take the form of open-air sanctuaries, with distinguishing natural features such as springs and forests.^[59] Cities would contain temples, enclosing the sacred area with walls, and featuring ornate structures.^[60]

Sacred areas often had a guardian or a performer of cultic rites.^[61] These officials were thought to tend the area, receive offerings, and perform divination.^[61] They are known by many names, probably based on cultural-linguistic preference: afkal was used in the Hejaz, kâhin was used in the Sinai-Negev-Hisma region [ar], and kumrâ was used in Aramaic-influenced areas.^[61] In South Arabia, rs²w and 'fkl were used to refer to priests, and other words include qyn ("administrator") and mrtd ("consecrated to a particular divinity").^[62] A more specialized staff is thought to have existed in major sanctuaries.^[61]

Pre-Islamic Arabia was a region of many pilgrimage rituals beyond that of Hajj.^[63] Many words in Arabian languages were used to describe pilgrimage, including the Semitic ḥgg.^[64] The most important pilgrimage ritual in South Arabia was the one to the Temple of Awwam, dedicated to the god Almaqah, which was associated with a ḥaram or maḥram.^[65][66] A number of other South Arabian deities were also associated with special sanctuaries and pilgrimages, including Dhu Samawi, Qaynan, Siyan, and several more.^[67]

Pilgrimages to sacred places would be made at certain times of the year.^[68] Pilgrim fairs of central and northern Arabia took place in specific months designated as violence-free,^[68] allowing several activities to flourish, such as trade, though in some places only exchange was permitted.^[69]

The most important pilgrimage in

The pilgrimage of Mecca involved the stations of Mount Arafat, Muzdalifah, Mina and central Mecca that included Safa and Marwa as well as the Kaaba. Pilgrims at the first two stations performed wuquf or standing in adoration. At Mina, animals were sacrificed. The procession from Arafat to Muzdalifah, and from Mina to Mecca, in a pre-reserved route towards idols or an idol, was termed ijaza and ifada, with the latter taking place before sunset. At Jabal Quzah, fires were started during the sacred month.^[70]

Nearby the Kaaba was located the

Meccan pilgrimages differed according to the rites of different cult associations, in which individuals and groups joined for religious purposes. The Ḥilla association performed the hajj in autumn season while the Ṭuls and Ḥums performed the umrah in spring.^[72]

The Ḥums were the Quraysh,

The ancient Arabs that inhabited the Arabian Peninsula before the advent of Islam used to profess a widespread belief in fatalism (ḳadar) alongside a fearful consideration for the sky and the stars, which they held to be ultimately responsible for every phenomenon that occurs on Earth and for the destiny of humankind.^[75] Accordingly, they shaped their entire lives in accordance with their interpretations of astral configurations and phenomena.^[75]

In South Arabia, oracles were regarded as ms’l, or "a place of asking", and that deities interacted by hr’yhw ("making them see") a vision, a dream, or even direct interaction.^[76] Otherwise deities interacted indirectly through a medium.^[77]

There were three methods of chance-based divination attested in pre-Islamic Arabia; two of these methods, making marks in the sand or on rocks and throwing pebbles are poorly attested.

The most common offerings were animals, crops, food, liquids, inscribed metal plaques or stone tablets, aromatics, edifices and manufactured objects.^[83] Camel-herding Arabs would devote some of their beasts to certain deities. The beasts would have their ears slit and would be left to pasture without a herdsman, allowing them to die a natural death.^[83]

Pre-Islamic Arabians, especially pastoralist tribes, sacrificed animals as an offering to a deity.^[82] This type of offering was common and involved domestic animals such as camels, sheep and cattle, while game animals and poultry were rarely or never mentioned. Sacrifice rites were not tied to a particular location though they were usually practiced in sacred places.^[82] Sacrifice rites could be performed by the devotee, though according to Hoyland, women were probably not allowed.^[84] The victim's blood, according to pre-Islamic Arabic poetry and certain South Arabian inscriptions, was also 'poured out' on the altar stone, thus forming a bond between the human and the deity.^[84] According to Muslim sources, most sacrifices were concluded with communal feasts.^[84]

In South Arabia, beginning with the Christian era, or perhaps a short while before, statuettes were presented before the deity, known as slm (male) or slmt (female).^[62] Human sacrifice was sometimes carried out in Arabia. The victims were generally prisoners of war, who represented the god's part of the victory in booty, although other forms might have existed.^[82]

Blood sacrifice was definitely practiced in South Arabia, but few allusions to the practice are known, apart from some Minaean inscriptions.^[62]

Pre-Islamic Arabia practiced various forms of polytheistic religion until the 4th century, when monotheism was introduced into the region and became largely prevalent by the 6th century, as is attested in texts like the inscriptions from Jabal Dabub, Ri al-Zallalah, and the Abd Shams inscription.^[85]

With the rise of Christianity and Judaism, religious scriptures entered into use in pre-Islamic Arabia, although the available evidence is limited. Nevertheless, with the number of Christians and Jews in this period, it is likely that their scriptures were revered to a degree.

In the Hejaz, menstruating women were not allowed to be near the cult images.[58] The area where Isaf and Na'ila's images stood was considered out-of-bounds for menstruating women.^[58] This was reportedly the same with Manaf.^[93] According to the Book of Idols, this rule applied to all the "idols".^[58] This was also the case in South Arabia, as attested in a South Arabian inscription from al-Jawf.^[58]

Sexual intercourse in temples was prohibited, as attested in two South Arabian inscriptions.^[58] One legend concerning Isaf and Na'ila, when two lovers made love in the Kaaba and were petrified, joining the idols in the Kaaba, echoes this prohibition.^[58]

The Dilmun civilization, which existed along the Persian Gulf coast and Bahrain until the 6th century BC, worshipped a pair of deities, Inzak and Meskilak.^[94] It is not known whether these were the only deities in the pantheon or whether there were others.^[95] The discovery of wells at the sites of a Dilmun temple and a shrine suggests that sweet water played an important part in religious practices.^[94]

In the subsequent Greco-Roman period, there is evidence that the worship of non-indigenous deities was brought to the region by merchants and visitors.^[95] These included Bel, a god popular in the Syrian city of Palmyra, the Mesopotamian deities Nabu and Shamash, the Greek deities Poseidon and Artemis and the west Arabian deities Kahl and Manat.^[95]

The main sources of religious information in pre-Islamic South Arabia are inscriptions, which number in the thousands, as well as the Quran, complemented by archaeological evidence.

The civilizations of South Arabia are considered to have the most developed pantheon in the Arabian peninsula.

Evidence from surviving inscriptions suggests that each of the southern kingdoms had its own pantheon of three to five deities, the major deity always being a god.

Anbay was an oracular god of Qataban and also the spokesman of Amm.^[99] His name was invoked in royal regulations regarding water supply.^[100] Anbay's name was related to that of the Babylonian deity Nabu. Hawkam was invoked alongside Anbay as god of "command and decision" and his name is derived from the root word "to be wise".^[7]

Each kingdom's central temple was the focus of worship for the main god and would be the destination for an annual pilgrimage, with regional temples dedicated to a local manifestation of the main god.[96] Other beings worshipped included local deities or deities dedicated to specific functions as well as deified ancestors.^[96]

The encroachment of northern Arab tribes into South Arabia also introduced northern Arab deities into the region.

Various other deities were venerated in the area by specific tribes, such as the god Suwa' by the Banu Hudhayl tribe and the god Nuhm by the Muzaynah tribe.^[118]

The majority of extant information about Mecca during the rise of Islam and earlier times comes from the text of the Quran itself and later Muslim sources such as the

The

Different theories have been proposed regarding the role of Allah in Meccan religion. According to one hypothesis, which goes back to Julius Wellhausen, Allah (the supreme deity of the tribal federation around Quraysh) was a designation that consecrated the superiority of Hubal (the supreme deity of Quraysh) over the other gods.^[36] However, there is also evidence that Allah and Hubal were two distinct deities.^[36] According to that hypothesis, the Kaaba was first consecrated to a supreme deity named Allah and then hosted the pantheon of Quraysh after their conquest of Mecca, about a century before the time of Muhammad.^[36] Some inscriptions seem to indicate the use of Allah as a name of a polytheist deity centuries earlier, but we know nothing precise about this use.^[36] Some scholars have suggested that Allah may have represented a remote creator god who was gradually eclipsed by more particularized local deities.^[33] There is disagreement on whether Allah played a major role in the Meccan religious cult.^[2][30] No iconic representation or idol of Allah is known to have existed.^[30][132]

The three chief

The pantheon of the Quraysh was not identical with that of the tribes who entered into various cult and commercial associations with them, especially that of the hums.[137]^[138] Christian Julien Robin argues that the former was composed principally of idols that were in the sanctuary of Mecca, including Hubal and Manaf, while the pantheon of the associations was superimposed on it, and its principal deities included the three goddesses, who had neither idols nor a shrine in that city.^[137]

The second half of the sixth century was a period of political disorder in Arabia and communication routes were no longer secure.

To counter the effects of anarchy, the institution of sacred months, during which every act of violence was prohibited, was reestablished.[142] During those months, it was possible to participate in pilgrimages and fairs without danger.^[142] The Quraysh upheld the principle of two annual truces, one of one month and the second of three months, which conferred a sacred character to the Meccan sanctuary.^[142] The cult association of hums, in which individuals and groups partook in the same rites, was primarily religious, but it also had important economic consequences.^[142] Although, as Patricia Crone has shown, Mecca could not compare with the great centers of caravan trade on the eve of Islam, it was probably one of the most prosperous and secure cities of the peninsula, since, unlike many of them, it did not have surrounding walls.^[142] Pilgrimage to Mecca was a popular custom.^[143] Some Islamic rituals, including processions around the Kaaba and between the hills of al-Safa and Marwa, as well as the salutation "we are here, O Allah, we are here" repeated on approaching the Kaaba are believed to have antedated Islam.^[143] Spring water acquired a sacred character in Arabia early on and Islamic sources state that the well of Zamzam became holy long before the Islamic era.^[144]

According to Ibn Sa'd, the opposition in Mecca started when the prophet of Islam, Muhammad, delivered verses that "spoke shamefully of the idols they (the Meccans) worshiped other than Himself (God) and mentioned the perdition of their fathers who died in disbelief".^[145] According to William Montgomery Watt, as the ranks of Muhammad's followers swelled, he became a threat to the local tribes and the rulers of the city, whose wealth rested upon the Kaaba, the focal point of Meccan religious life, which Muhammad threatened to overthrow.^[146] Muhammad's denunciation of the Meccan traditional religion was especially offensive to his own tribe, the Quraysh, as they were the guardians of the Kaaba.^[146]

The conquest of Mecca around 629–630 AD led to the destruction of the idols around the Kaaba, including Hubal.^[147] Following the conquest, shrines and temples dedicated to deities were destroyed, such as the shrines to al-Lat, al-’Uzza and Manat in Ta’if, Nakhla and al-Qudayd respectively.^[148][149]

Less complex societies outside South Arabia often had smaller pantheons, with the patron deity having much prominence. The deities attested in north Arabian inscriptions include Ruda, Nuha, Allah, Dathan, and Kahl.^[150] Inscriptions in a North Arabian dialect in the region of Najd referring to Nuha describe emotions as a gift from him. In addition, they also refer to Ruda being responsible for all things good and bad.^[150]

The Safaitic tribes in particular prominently worshipped the goddess al-Lat as a bringer of prosperity.^[150] The Syrian god Baalshamin was also worshipped by Safaitic tribes and is mentioned in Safaitic inscriptions.^[151]

Religious worship amongst the Qedarites, an ancient tribal confederation that was probably subsumed into Nabataea around the 2nd century AD, was centered around a polytheistic system in which women rose to prominence. Divine images of the gods and goddesses worshipped by Qedarite Arabs, as noted in Assyrian inscriptions, included representations of Atarsamain, Nuha, Ruda, Dai, Abirillu and Atarquruma. The female guardian of these idols, usually the reigning queen, served as a priestess (apkallatu, in Assyrian texts) who communed with the other world.^[152] There is also evidence that the Qedar worshipped al-Lat to whom the inscription on a silver bowl from a king of Qedar is dedicated.^[45] In the Babylonian Talmud, which was passed down orally for centuries before being transcribed c. 500 AD, in tractate Taanis (folio 5b), it is said that most Qedarites worshiped pagan gods.^[153]

The Aramaic stele inscription discovered by Charles Hubert in 1880 at Tayma mentions the introduction of a new god called Salm of hgm into the city's pantheon being permitted by three local gods – Salm of Mahram who was the chief god, Shingala, and Ashira. The name Salm means "image" or "idol".^[154]

The

The Lihyanites worshipped the god Dhu-Ghabat and rarely turned to others for their needs.^[100] Dhu-Ghabat's name means "he of the thicket", based on the etymology of gabah, meaning forest or thicket.^[156] The god al-Kutba', a god of writing probably related to a Babylonian deity and perhaps was brought into the region by the Babylonian king Nabonidus,^[100] is mentioned in Lihyanite inscriptions as well.^[157] The worship of the Hermonian gods Leucothea and Theandrios was spread from Phoenicia to Arabia.^[158]

According to the Book of Idols, the Tayy tribe worshipped al-Fals, whose idol stood on Jabal Aja,^[159] while the Kalb tribe worshipped Wadd, who had an idol in Dumat al-Jandal.^[160][161]

The Nabataeans worshipped primarily northern Arabian deities. Under foreign influences, they also incorporated foreign deities and elements into their beliefs.

The Nabataeans' chief-god is

Outside Petra, other deities were worshipped; for example, Hubal and Manat were invoked in the Hejaz, and al-Lat was invoked in the Hauran and the Syrian desert. The Nabataean king Obodas I, who founded Obodat, was deified and worshipped as a god.^[163] They also worshipped Shay al-Qawm,^[164] al-Kutba',^[157] and various Greco-Roman deities such as Nike and Tyche.^[165] Maxime Rodinson suggests that Hubal, who was popular in Mecca, had a Nabataean origin.^[166]

The worship of Pakidas, a Nabataean god, is attested at

The Nabataeans were known for their elaborate tombs, but they were not just for show; they were meant to be comfortable places for the dead.[168] Petra has many "sacred high places" which include altars that have usually been interpreted as places of human sacrifice, although, since the 1960s, an alternative theory that they are "exposure platforms" for placing the corpses of the deceased as part of a funerary ritual has been put forward. However, there is, in fact, little evidence for either proposition.^[169]

Palmyra was a cosmopolitan society, with its population being a mix of Aramaeans and Arabs. The Arabs of Palmyra worshipped

The god Ashar was represented on a stele in Dura-Europos alongside another god Sa'd. The former was represented on a horse with Arab dress while the other was shown standing on the ground. Both had Parthian hairstyle, large facial hair and moustaches as well as similar clothing. Ashar's name is found to have been used in a theophoric manner among the Arab-majority areas of the region of the Northwest Semitic languages, like Hatra, where names like "Refuge of Ashar", "Servant of Ashar" and "Ashar has given" are recorded on an inscription.^[175]

In Edessa, the solar deity was the primary god around the time of the Roman Emperor Julian and this worship was presumably brought in by migrants from Arabia. Julian's oration delivered to the denizens of the city mentioned that they worshipped the Sun surrounded by Azizos and Monimos whom Iamblichus identified with Ares and Hermes respectively. Monimos derived from Mu'nim or "the favourable one", and was another name of Ruda or Ruldaiu as apparent from spellings of his name in Sennacherib's Annals.^[176]

The idol of the god al-Uqaysir was, according to the

The Bedouin were introduced to Meccan ritualistic practices as they frequented settled towns of the Hejaz during the four months of the "holy truce", the first three of which were devoted to religious observance, while the fourth was set aside for trade.^[126] Alan Jones infers from Bedouin poetry that the gods, even Allah, were less important to the Bedouins than Fate.^[180] They seem to have had little trust in rituals and pilgrimages as means of propitiating Fate, but had recourse to divination and soothsayers (kahins).^[180] The Bedouins regarded some trees, wells, caves and stones as sacred objects, either as fetishes or as means of reaching a deity.^[181] They created sanctuaries where people could worship fetishes.^[182]

The Bedouins had a code of honor which Fazlur Rahman Malik states may be regarded as their religious ethics. This code encompassed women, bravery, hospitality, honouring one's promises and pacts, and vengeance. They believed that the ghost of a slain person would cry out from the grave until their thirst for blood was quenched. Practices such as killing of infant girls were often regarded as having religious sanction.^[182] Numerous mentions of jinn in the Quran and testimony of both pre-Islamic and Islamic literature indicate that the belief in spirits was prominent in pre-Islamic Bedouin religion.^[183]

However, there is evidence that the word jinn is derived from Aramaic, ginnaye, which was widely attested in Palmyrene inscriptions. The Aramaic word was used by Christians to designate pagan gods reduced to the status of demons, and was introduced into Arabic folklore only late in the pre-Islamic era.^[183] Julius Wellhausen has observed that such spirits were thought to inhabit desolate, dingy and dark places and that they were feared.^[183] One had to protect oneself from them, but they were not the objects of a true cult.^[183]

Bedouin religious experience also included an apparently indigenous cult of ancestors.^[183] The dead were not regarded as powerful, but rather as deprived of protection and needing charity of the living as a continuation of social obligations beyond the grave.^[183] Only certain ancestors, especially heroes from which the tribe was said to derive its name, seem to have been objects of real veneration.^[183]

A thriving community of

The key role played by Jews in the trade and markets of the Hejaz meant that market day for the week was the day preceding the Jewish Sabbath.^[184] This day, which was called aruba in Arabic, also provided occasion for legal proceedings and entertainment, which in turn may have influenced the choice of Friday as the day of Muslim congregational prayer.^[184] Toward the end of the sixth century, the Jewish communities in the Hejaz were in a state of economic and political decline, but they continued to flourish culturally in and beyond the region.^[184] They had developed their distinctive beliefs and practices, with a pronounced mystical and eschatological dimension.^[184] In the Islamic tradition, based on a phrase in the Quran, Arab Jews are said to have referred to Uzair as the son of Allah, although the historical accuracy of this assertion has been disputed.^[31]

The main areas of Christian influence in Arabia were on the northeastern and northwestern borders and in what was to become

Arabicized Christian names were fairly common among pre-Islamic Arabians, which has been attributed to the influence that Syrianized Christian Arabs had on Bedouins of the peninsula for several centuries before the rise of Islam.[200]

Neal Robinson, based on verses in the Quran, believes that some Arab Christians may have held unorthodox beliefs such as the worshipping of a divine triad of God the father, Jesus the Son and Mary the Mother.

• veneration of Mary.^[203]
• conquest of Mecca and that dating of some of the passages criticizing Christianity is uncertain.^[204] His view is that Muhammad and the early Muslims may have been unaware of some orthodox Christian doctrines, including the nature of the trinity, because Muhammad's Christian informants had a limited grasp of doctrinal issues.^[205]
• Watt has also argued that the verses criticizing Christian doctrines in the Quran are attacking Christian heresies like tritheism and "physical sonship" rather than orthodox Christianity.[204]^[206]
• G. R. Hawting, Sidney H. Griffith and Gabriel Reynolds argue that the verses commenting on apparently unorthodox Christian beliefs should be read as an informed, polemically motivated caricature of mainstream Christian doctrine whose goal is to highlight how wrong some of its tenets appear from an Islamic perspective.^[206]

Though they lack any surviving physical evidence,

Zoroastrianism was also present in Eastern Arabia^{[215][216][217]} and Persian-speaking Zoroastrians lived in the region.^[195] The religion was introduced in the region including modern-day Bahrain during the rule of Persian empires in the region starting from 250 B.C. It was mainly practiced in Bahrain by Persian settlers. Zoroastrianism was also practiced in the Persian-ruled area of modern-day Oman. The religion also existed in Persian-ruled area of modern Yemen. The descendants of Abna, the Persian conquerors of Yemen, were followers of Zoroastrianism.^[218][190]

There are some Islamic documents that, when describing the state of religion in pre-Islamic Arabia, include a presence of Buddhism. One recurring theme in these depictions is that the Buddhist community was able to store some of their idols in the Kaaba. Rashid al-Din Hamadani (d. 1318), in his Jāmiʾ al-Tawārīkh, says both that Buddhist idols could be found in the Kaaba and that both Arabs and some Persians on the peninsula saw themselves as students of the Buddha. One Islamic miniature from the thirteenth century depicts Muhammad destroying Hindu and Buddhist idols at the Kaaba. Al-Masudi said that Buddhists see the Kaaba as one of their temples. Al-Masudi also depicts the Quraysh tribe of Mecca as having gold-plated deer statues, which were then seen as typical Buddhist symbols. Mostafa Vaziri has speculated about a possible historicity to these descriptions, suggesting that Buddhism reached Arabia through Indian merchants and trade routes. Vaziri also speculates an influence of Buddhist architecture on the design of the Kaaba, such as from the Nawbahār and other Buddhist stupas.^[219]

• Ancient Semitic religion
• Ancient Canaanite religion
• Hanif
• Religions of the ancient Near East
• Rahmanan
• Shirk (Islam)
• Taghut