Encyclopedia of Islam

Arabian religions, pre-Islamic

---

after the destruction of the Second Temple in 

J

erUsalem

 by the Romans (70 

c

.

e

.), which caused 

a flow of 

reFUgees

 southward. Islamic sources 

indicate that there was a Jewish community led 

by rabbis in Yathrib (m

edina

), which existed 

alongside the settled Arab tribes there in the sixth 

to seventh centuries. Dhu Nuwas, a Jewish king, 

ruled southern Arabia for a short time in the sixth 

century with the support of the Persians. Christi-

anity was familiar to the Arabs in several forms. 

The Banu Ghassan tribes of Syria were allies of the 

Byzantine Empire, and were members of the Syr-

ian Church. The Arab Lakhmid rulers of southern 

Iraq generally held to the Nestorian sect of Chris-

tianity. There was also a strong Christian presence 

in southern Arabia, centered on the city of Najran, 

which was known for its monasteries, churches, 

and shrines dedicated to Arab Christian martyrs. 

Its leaders were allied to the rulers of Byzantium 

and Ethiopia. Followers of the Zoroastrian reli-

gion, the official religion of the Sasanian Persian 

Empire (224–651), could be found in southern 

Iraq, along the Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf, 

and in y

emen

. Most of these Zoroastrians were 

probably Persians, but there is evidence that some 

may also have been Arabs. According to early 

Muslim accounts, one of the first of Muhammad’s 

followers was Salman al-Farisi, a Persian from Iraq 

who had converted from Zoroastrianism.

See also  c

hristianity

 

and

  i

slam

; 

idolatry

; 

jahiliyya

; J

Udaism

 

and

 i

slam

.