Christianity In Pre-Islamic Arabia

Christianity was one of the major religions of pre-Islamic Arabia. It was likely introduced in the fourth century, during the period of Late Antiquity, and had achieved a large presence by the fifth century. Bishoprics were established in multiple areas in Eastern Arabia, as well as in Arabia Petraea, Najran, and Zafar. Churches, martyria and monasteries were constructed across the peninsula, allowing local leaders to display their benefaction in the region, communicate with locals and with local officials, and to establish points of contact with Byzantine representatives.

Christian proselytism also happened throughout the peninsula, especially in its northwest and southwest. Northern proselytization was driven by Syrian Christian missionaries, and the south, by Ethiopian Christians in the aftermath of the Ethiopian conquest of the South Arabian Kingdom of Himyar. Many conversion stories of Arabs are found in Byzantine Christian literature, especially those with a Syrian and Iraqi background. Arabian Christian communities are also known from the Quran and a growing number of pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions.

North Arabia

Many hagiographical sources record stories of Christian holy men converting groups of Arabs to Christianity. These stories followed a common template: first, an Arabian community interacts with a monk (or other kind of holy man). Shortly afterwards, the community renounces polytheism and idol worship. Finally, a church is built. Missionaries described in these accounts included Ahudemmeh (d. 575), Euthymius the Great (d. 473), Simeon Stylites (died 459), and the events leading to the construction of the shrine of St. Sergius at Resafa patronized by Al-Mundhir III, leader of the Ghassanid tribe.

Jerome (in the ''Life of St Hilarion'' 16.1–12) says that Saint Hilarion converted the Arabs of Elusa, a city located southwest of the Dead Sea, who worshipped the goddess Venus. After exorcising demons from many of their members, they flocked to him and ask for his blessing. Idol worship ended and Hilarion helped them lay the plan for building a church before his departure. The ''Life of Euthymius'' by Cyril of Scythopolis says that Euthymius the Great, the abbot of Israel, was approached by the an Arab of the Persian army, Aspebetos, to cure his sons sickness. When Euthymius did this, Aspebetos converted and defected to the Romans along with the rest of his clan. Another figure, Ahudemmeh, was said to "visit all the camps of the Arabs, instructing and teaching them in many sermons .... establishing in every tribe a priest and a deacon ... and founding churches and naming them after tribal chiefs."

A growing number of Christian inscriptions have been identified in the area, especially Paleo-Arabic inscriptions like the Jebel Usays inscription, Harran inscription, Zabad inscription, and the Umm al-Jimal inscription. The Umm al-Jimal inscription was discovered in the northern part of the Double Church at Umm al-Jimal. In 2021, the first Christian Safaitic inscription, dating to the fourth century, was found, invoking the aid of Jesus to cure the maternal uncle of the author. The text calls Jesus ''ʿĪsâ'', the earliest use of this grammatical form before the Quran. A monastery from northwest Arabia has been identified in the Tabuk region of Saudi Arabia, dedicated to Saint Thecla, a disciple of Paul the Apostle. The monastery might have been established at the eve of Islam. Its presence in the arid desert indicates that some nomadic Arab tribes had converted by that time. A number of known tribal conversions to Christianity happened from the fourth to sixth centuries, including of the then-dominant Byzantine ''foederati'', the Salihids, around 400 (following the decision of their leader Zokomos), the Ghassanids at the beginning of the reign of their leader Al-Harith ibn Jabalah (r. 528–569), and the Lakhmids during the reign of their final king of the Nasrid dynasty, Al-Nu'man III, in the late 6th century. There is also some evidence that the Taghlib and Tanūkhid tribes had converted.

The Ghassanids controlled a kingdom in the Levant and northern Arabia. John of Ephesus describes the convert king, al-Harith, as helping appoint bishops and exercising authority in the "southern and asterncountries and in the whole of the desert and in Arabia Petraea">Arabia_Petraea.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Arabia Petraea">Petraeaand Palestine". The Ghassanids became leading patrons of the Miaphysites and sponsored the martyr cult of Sergius and Bacchus">St Sergius, popular among Arabs. Mutually, the Miaphysites sent missionaries into Arabia. Epigraphic evidence suggests they sponsored multiple Christian sites, including the shrine of St Sergius, a basilica in al-Ruṣāfa, and a three-church complex in Nitl (near Madaba). The Ghassanids are also linked to three Christian Paleo-Arabic from Syria, including the Jebel Usays inscription, the Harran inscription, and the Zabad inscription. The Zabad inscription was found at a martyrium at the Church of St. Sergius. Other inscriptions at martyria mention more sponsors with Arab names.

The Letter of the Archimandrites dating to 569/570, composed in Greek but preserved in Syriac, demonstrates the presence and distribution of episcopal sees from its 137 Archimandrite signatories from the province of Roman Arabia.

South Arabia

Christianity was introduced into South Arabia in the 5th century. Towards the end of the 5th century, Christianity's presence was strong enough that the ''Synodicon orientale'' says a "Moses of Himyar" attended a synod in 486 AD. During he 6th century, bishoprics are described in the capital Zafar ( Gregentios), Najran, and Qana'. It was also in this period that the Christian community of Najran faced severe persecution, precipitating an invasion by the nearby Christian Ethiopian Kingdom of Aksum, leading to official Christian rule for much of the century.

Early missionary efforts

According to the Greek historian Philostorgius (d. 439) in his ''Ecclesiastical History'' 3.4, Constantius II, the successor of Constantine the Great, sent an Arian bishop known as Theophilus the Indian (also known as "Theophilus of Yemen") to Tharan Yuhanim, then the king of the South Arabian Himyarite Kingdom to convert the people to Christianity. According to the report, Theophilus succeeded in establishing three churches, one of them in the capital Zafar. From the fifth and sixth centuries, the Miaphysite church displayed a significant interest in expanding missionary activity in the Himyarite Kingdom.

Najran

Christianity may have been introduced into Najran in the fifth century, plausibly through trade routes. Several late sources suggest different beginnings for the Christianity of Najran. According to the Chronicle of Seert, Christianity was introduced into the area around 450 when a Christian merchant from the city named Hannan travelled to Constantinople, and then Al-Hira, where he converted and was baptised. Upon returning to Najran, he began sharing his faith with others and other members of the community also began to convert. Ibn Ishaq offers a different story: a Christian Syrian named Fimiyyun ended up as a slave in Najran. His manner of praying shocked the Najran community, leading to a mass conversion. Other versions of the story also permeated the Arab-Islamic tradition, some focusing on the miracles of a man named Abdallah ibn Tahmir that Fimiyyun was ministering to, and another centered on a secret conversion of a Himyarite king. Though the details about Christianity's introduction into the area cannot be recovered, an involvement of the trade routes of Al-Hira are possible. Several explicitly Christian inscriptions are known from the Hima Paleo-Arabic inscriptions, located at a site near Najran, with the texts dates covering the late fourth to early fifth centuries. Many of these contain Christian iconography, including large and ornate crosses, establishing a notable Christian community in the region which had produced them. For example, Ḥimà-al-Musammāt PalAr 5 contains a cross and describes a figure named "῾Abd al-Masīḥ" ("the servant of Christ").

A Greek inscription, likely Christian, has been found north of Najran which reads "Lord, protect me."

The Christian community of Najran experienced waves of persecution before the massacre of the Jewish king Dhu Nuwas, likely beginning around 470. The ''Martyrdom of Azqir'' reports that Najran's first priest, Azqir, was transferred to the Himyarite capital Zafar where he was beheaded on the advice of a group of rabbis to create an example against introducing a new religion into the region. The first bishop of Najran, named Paul, was stoned to death sometime afterwards but before 500. Ethiopian sources describe a persecution of Najran's Christians during the reign of the Himyarite king Sharhabil Yakkuf (468–480 AD). Later, the Syriac poet Jacob of Serugh wrote a letter of consolation to the Christian community of Najran (his ''Letter to the Himyarites''), sometime before his death in 521, indicating another wave of persecution prior to the massacre of 523. Finally, the ''Book of the Himyarites'' says that an (unidentified) bishop named Thomas appealed to the aid of the Kingdom of Aksum in the face of the Himyarite persecution of the Najran Christians.

Beginning in 522, the Jewish king Dhū Nuwās initiated a series of campaigns against Christians in South Arabia, including Himyarite locals and Aksumites in the region. The massacre is also recounted in a celebratory manner in an inscription ( Ja 1028) commissioned by one of the army commanders of Dhu Nuwas. According to his inscriptions, Dhu Nuwas himself captured and burned down the churches of the cities of Zafar and Al-Mukāʾ. Then, three inscriptions ( Ja 1028, Ry 507, and Ry 508) describe the campaigns of Sharahil Yaqbul dhu-Yazan against Najran (despatched by Dhu Nuwas) and the ensuing massacre. According to these inscriptions, Sharahil "positioned himself against Najran" (laying it to siege). He blocked the Najran's caravan route to the northeast that would have led to both Qaryat al-Faw and eastern Arabia to put economic pressure on the city. After a thirteen month long siege, Sharahil captured Najran, which resulted in a large plunder of the area and a stated execution of 12,500 people from the city. Part of the success of the capture involved, according to Simeon's letters, an offer made by Dhu Nuwas that relinquishing control of the area would result in guarantees for the safety of the Christians, which Dhu Nuwas was said to have sworn an oath over, on a Torah scroll, and in the presence of several rabbis. However, Dhu Nuwas broke his promise, and the massacre ensued. The massacre became a moment of international outrage among Christians, with Syriac authors writing many works about the massacre of the Christian community of Najran, including the Book of Himyarites and Simeon's Letter on the Himyarite Martyrs. There is also the Greek ''Martyrdom of Arethas''. A particular moment of outrage, according to Simeon's letters, was how Dhu Nuwas ordered the bones of Najran's bishops to be exhumed, collected in a church, and then burned up there alongside other Christian laity and clerics.

At Najran, Christians built churches, monasteries, and martyria. In the aftermath of the massacre, the Ḥārith ibn Kaʿb clan of the Christian community built a martyrium dedicated to the martyred Christians known as the Kaaba of Najran, one of several pre-Islamic Arabian Kaabas. This Kaaba became a point of pilgrimage, and its custodians were from Banū ʿAbd al-Madān, the chief clan of the tribe of Balḥārith. As such, Najran became one of the holy cities of Eastern Christianity. The Kaaba may also be identical to another martyrium described in the city, the Martyry of Arethas, constructed around 520. In addition to the Kaaba Najran, three churches from Najran are known: the Church of the Ascension of Christ, the Church of the Holy Martyrs and the Glorious Arethas, and the Church of the Holy Mother of God. Monasticism (involving monks and monasteries) is also documented.

Najran was the only episcopal see in the Arabian Peninsula apart from those in Eastern Arabia. The first bishops of Najran are mentioned by the letter written in 524 of Simeon, the bishop of Beth Arsham. According to Simeon, Philoxenus of Mabbug consecrated two bishops, both called Mar Pawlos (Paul). Both died during the massacre, the first during the siege of Zafar, and the second in Najran before its final surrender to Dhu Nuwas. The consecration being done by Philoxenus, a leading member of the Syrian Orthodox Church, indicates a Miaphysite, non-Chalcedonian Christianity at Najran. Other bishops are mentioned in Islamic sources, including the legendary Quss Ibn Sa'ida al-Iyadi, a contemporary of Muhammad. Bishops are attested for Najran into the Islamic era, up until the 9th and 10th centuries.

The Christian community of Najran was also linked with Syriac Christianity and some of the clerics located at Najran were trained in Syriac monasteries. This link is also indicated by a letter sent to the Christians of the city by the Syriac poet and bishop, Jacob of Serugh.

Two strands of the Islamic tradition commented on Christian community of Najran: those sources commenting on the Quranic story of the People of the Ditch, believed by many to be about the massacre of Najran's Christians, and South Arabian Muslims with an antiquarian interest in the regions pre-Islamic history.

Christianity survived in Najran into the Islamic period. Muhammad is said to have sent a delegation to the Najrani Christian community, and there is a fable claiming that the Christians of Najran were expelled by the caliph Umar. According to the traveler Ibn al-Mujawir (d. 1292), Christianity survived in Najran until the 13th century.

Socotra

Christianity was introduced into the Yemeni island of Socotra in the 5th century. A travel report from around 518 AD of Cosmas Indicopleustes says that Socotra had a "multitude of Christians", as well as clerics appointed from Persia (likely of Nestorian background). According to Portuguese sources, a vestigial form of Christianity may have been practiced on Socotra as late as the 16th century. Christianity's introduction may have been facilitated by Greek-speaking communities on the island, which Yaqut al-Hamawi says were the first to embrace Christianity, and some place names on the island have been suggested to be related to the Greek word for "cathedral". According to Al-Hamdani, a Sasanian emperor expelled a Greek community on the island, which later (along with members of Mahri tribes on the mainland) embraced Christianity. Christian material culture has been found on the island, including crosses in Socotran rock art from multiple sites, a church that has been dated between the 7th and 10th centuries, and pottery vessels at burial sites decorated with crosses.

Christianity as the official religion

The massacre of the Christian community of Najran precipitated an invasion by the nearby Christian kingdom in Ethiopia, leading to the conquest of Himyar in 525 and the end of the Jewish leadership of southern Arabia and the beginning of Christian rule. Sumyafa Ashwa came into power, but he was soon overthrown by his rival Abraha, initiating a period of Ethiopian Christian rule over southern Arabia in 530. Historians continue to debate the relative role of religion in the decision to invade South Arabia, as to whether it was the main cause (responding to local aggression against Christians) or whether it was used to legitimate an invasion whose motives were more rooted in material and political incentives.

Christianity became the official religion of South Arabia after the Aksumite conquests and several churches were built. A church being built off the coast of Yemen is mentioned in RIÉ 191, and the Marib Dam inscription mentions a priest, a monastery, and its abbot.

Continuing with the Jewish period, Christian inscriptions call God Rahmanan. They also have crosses and references to Christ as the Messiah and to the Holy Spirit. CIH 541 mentions Abraha sponsoring a church for Marib, describes celebrations hosted by a priest at another church, and invokes the Messiah and the Spirit. Abraha celebrated the construction of the dam by holding mass in the city church and inviting ambassadors from Rome and Persia. Later Islamic historiography also ascribes to Abraha the construction of a church at Sanaa. Christian J. Robin argues Abraha's inscriptions bear a relatively low Christology, perhaps to assuage the Jewish population, with formula resembling descriptions of Jesus in the Quran. Whereas Abraha's predecessor Kaleb of Axum explicitly calls Jesus the Son of Rahmanan and "Victor", and used Trinitarian formulae, Abraha only called Jesus the "Messiah" (not Son). Shoemaker argues that it is doubtful that Himyarite Christians would have not accepted Jesus' Sonship, as no such form of Christianity from these centuries is known, and that the small number of inscriptions mean that more explicit inscriptions may just not have been found.

Abraha severed ties between the Himyarite and Ethiopian churches, realigning himself with the Syriac Christianity centred at Syria and Antioch. Religious terminology from Ethiopian loanwords were systematically replaced with Syriac equivalents, including the words for Messiah, church, and priest. Because of Abraha's conquests, Abraha's influence may have extended to eastern Arabia, central Arabia, and western Arabia (the Hejaz), including his capture of Medina.

Some South Arabian inscriptions are influenced by the Bible. The Jabal Dabub inscription contains a pre-Islamic variant of the Basmala and has been argued by Ahmad Al-Jallad to rephrase parts of Psalm 90 and Psalm 123. Several inscriptions found in South Arabia, written in the Ge'ez script from the time of Kaleb of Axum, quote the Book of Isaiah, Psalms, Gospel of Matthew, and less certainly, the Book of Genesis.

Inscriptions from South Arabia disappear after 560.

East Arabia and Gulf Coast

Christianity had become present along the Eastern coast of the Arabian peninsula by the late fourth century, and shows evidence of substantial organization by the fifth century when it first appears in the records of synods being held by the international Christian communities in starting at 410. From then on, bishops and monasteries continue to be mentioned in the Gulf by chronicles, synodic acts, hagiographies and letters all in Syriac records, indicating the presence of many Christian communities in the area. Whereas textual records continue to mention Christian communities until the seventh century, evidence for Christian populations unearthed archaeologically additionally attests to their presence from the seventh to ninth centuries, including churches and monasteries.

Qatar

The Chronicle of Arbela, which appears to date to the sixth century, claims that a bishopric already existed in Beth Qatraye (Syriac-originating term for "territory of the Qataris") around the year 225. However, this is unlikely and the document is considered a forgery by modern specialists.

The first concrete evidence of a highly organized Christian presence in the region of modern-day Qatar is in the description of the synods held at Seleucia-Ctesiphon between 410 and 776, as documented in the eighth-century Synodicon Orientale. The signatory Qatari bishop of this synod was stated to have replaced an earlier bishop, pushing back the date of organized Christianity in this region to the late fourth century. The Synodicon shows that four dioceses existed in the region connected to Persia. The earliest and largest of these dioceses was Mashmahig mentioned at the 410 synod, led by the bishop Elijah (Elias). The last known "bishop and metropolitan of the land of Qaṭar" was named Thomas, who signed his name on the synod in 676. The second largest diocese, Darain was located on the island of Toduro (modern Tarout Island) and was founded during the 410 synod. It was led by the bishop Paul. The third diocese, Hajar, was founded during the Synod of 576 under Bishop Isaac. The 676 synod divided it into two, the Hajar and Hatta dioceses. During this event, Hatta became the fourth and last diocese to be founded in Qatar. Later, Isaac the Syrian (613–700), also known as Isaac of Qatar, would grow up in Qatar before he was ordained and became a monk in Iraq. Other prominent Qatari Christians born in the pre-Islamic period include Gabriel of Qatar, Abraham bar Lipeh, and Ahob of Qatar.

Other literary accounts mention additional monasteries. For example, according to the ''Life of Jonah'', a monastery was constructed on the Black Island between 343–346.

Several Christian sites have been discovered in Qatar and other Gulf countries in recent decades, and they have been dated between the sixth to ninth centuries. Unfortunately, the lack of inscriptions to accompany these discoveries have presented difficulties in dating their remains.

Eastern Saudi Arabia

Discovered in 1986, the Jubail Church is a church found near Jubail in northeastern Arabia and on the Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia. Discoveries of Christian sites have also been made at Jubayl, Thaj, and finally Kilwa, the latter being the only Christian site discovered in eastern Arabia that is not either on an island or directly on the coast. Although some have dated it to the fourth century, more recently, it has been redated to the mid-7th century.

Other Gulf countries

Several additional archaeological findings have been made elsewhere in the Gulf countries. In Oman, a diocese was established by the name of Bet-Mazunaye in the Synod of 424 under the Bishop John. It was mentioned again at the synods of 544, 576, and 767. In the mid-seventh century, the Patriarch of the Church of the East, Isho'yahb, sent a letter to Qataris wherein he described the presence of several faithful communities, including Talun, which is a now an island of Bahrain. The philologist Al-Asmaʿi reported while discussing a figure named Ibn Yāmin, that the people of Yāmin were Christians in Bahrain. This accords with the Jewish or Christian etymology of their name, related to Hebrew ''Bīnyāmīn'' or Benjamin, "son of the right side."

A monastery has been discovered at Sir Bani Yas, an island in the United Arab Emirates. It contains decorative motifs that resemble ones known from Al-Hira in Iraq. Even more impressive is a monastery discovered in al-Quṣur in Failaka Island in Kuwait. A monastery has also been discovered at the Kharg Island in Iran, located 40 km offshore from Bahrain.

The dating of these archaeological sites is contentious. The new dating suggests their construction in the Islamic era, although this view does not presently have unanimous support.

West Arabia

Islamic tradition

Irfan Shahid argues that strong evidence of Meccan Christianization is available from Islamic sources. Tradition says that the Kaaba housed icons of Mary, the mother of Jesus and mentions places with Christian-sounding names in or near Mecca, like the "cemetery of the Christians" (''maqbarat al-Naṣārā''), "the oratories of Mary" (''masājid Maryam'') and "the station of the Christian" (''mawqif al-Naṣrānī''). Tradition mentions Christian ascetics and monks that Muhammad interacted with in the Hijaz, including Bahira, Waraqah ibn Nawfal, and Quss Ibn Sa'ida al-Iyadi. Shahid shows that tradition often mentions Ethiopians in the biography of Muhammad. Combined with the conversion of Ethiopia's Kingdom of Aksum to Christianity in the fourth century, Shahid deduces that these historical personages were likely Christian. Furthermore, many examples of religious vocabulary in the Quran are Ethiopian loanwords.

Christian inscriptions

Western Arabia does not feature in episcopal lists or in ecclesiastical hagiography and until recently it has been argued that there is little concrete evidence for the presence of Christians in this region, including near Mecca and Medina. Although no Christian inscriptions are yet known from the region immediately around Mecca or Medina, this is likely because no systematic epigraphic surveys or archaeological excavations of pre-Islamic sites have been done in these areas.

The Dumat al-Jandal inscription from northwestern Arabia in the Al-Jawf Province bears a cross and uses the divine epithet ''ʾl-ʾlh'' (''al-ilāh''), an uncontracted form of ''allāh'' which originated among Arabian Christians which may have begun as an isomorphism or calque on the Greek expression ''ho theos'' (the Greek rendering of the Hebrew ''ʾĕlōhîm'' in the Septuagint). Christians continued to use this expression into the Islamic era (like in the Yazid inscription), as late as the tenth century. A second pre-Islamic Dumat al-Jandal inscription was written by a Christian.

Among the eleven Greek inscriptions discovered from ʿArniyyāt and Umm Jadhāyidh (northwest of Hegra (Mada'in Salih) in Saudi Arabia), dating from the second and fourth centuries, several are evidently Christian: UJadhGr 10 has a cross inscribed on it, and ArGr1 reads "Remember Petros!", a typical Christian name.

Pre-Islamic poetry

The Arab Christian poet Adi ibn Zayd is quoted as swearing by "the lord of Mecca and of the cross", identifying God as the protector of both Mecca and the cross (i.e. Christianity).

Quran

The Quran mentions many Christian beliefs and an institutionalized population of Christians, including in its mentions of the institutions and officials of Christians like monasteries, priests, and overseers.

Contact with Near Eastern Christianity

Multiple Christian cities north of the Arabian peninsula acted as contact points between speakers of Arabic and other languages. For example, Al-Hira, the capital of the Arab Lakhmid tribe located in southern Mesopotamia, acted as a meeting point between Arabic, Syriac, and Persian. In addition, it controlled trans-Arabian commerce crossing from Mesopotamia into southern Arabia.

Another city, Petra, was a site of Aramaic-Arabic bilingualism. Furthermore, two of the three Arabic inscriptions from pre-Islamic Syria also contain a Greek text.

See also

* Judaism in pre-Islamic Arabia
* Paleo-Arabic

References

Bibliography

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

External links

Christianity in the Arabian Gulf
(Ancient Arabia Database)

Najran
(Ancient Arabia Database)
{{Pre-Islamic Arabia
Arab culture
History of Christianity in Yemen
Pre-Islamic Arabia