Judaism in pre-Islamic Arabia


Judaism was the first monotheistic religion practiced in pre-Islamic Arabia, since at least the 1st century BCE. Arabian Jews were linguistically diverse, and communities spoke Greek, Aramaic, Arabic, and Sabaic. The centers of Arabian Judaism were in the Northwest and South of the Arabian Peninsula, and its main period of political ascendancy took place after the conversion of the ruling elites of the Himyarite Kingdom, who dominated South Arabia, to Judaism in the late fourth century.
How Judaism entered Arabia remains controversial. Some theories center on migrations that took place after the destruction of the Second Temple during the Jewish–Roman wars or in the aftermath of Persian, Babylonian, or Roman persecutions, but these theories remain speculation. The way Judaism was practiced, and its diversity, is also not well-understood. In addition, there is no concrete evidence for the translation of entire Jewish scriptures into local Arabian languages, indicating that religious communication was largely oral.

South Arabia

Before the 4th century

Evidence for Judaism in South Arabia before the fourth century is sparse. According to Josephus in his Antiquities of the Jews, Herod the Great, the king of Judea in the 1st century BCE, contributed 500 men to the personal guard of the Roman governor Aelius Gallus to aid his invasion of South Arabia around 25/24 BCE, which was ultimately unsuccessful.

Himyarite period

Conversion

By 300, the Himyarite Kingdom had vanquished other political units and became the ruling power of southern Arabia, uniting the region for the first time. In the mid- to late-fourth century, Himyar or at least its ruling class had adopted Judaism, having transitioned from a polytheistic practice. These events are chronicled by the Book of the Himyarites and the fifth-century Ecclessiastical History of the Anomean Philostorgius. Such sources implicate the motive for conversion as a wish on the part of the Himyarite rulers to distance themselves from the Byzantine Empire which had tried to convert them to Christianity. The conversion from polytheism and the institutionalization of Judaism as the official religion is credited in these sources to Malkīkarib Yuha’min. According to traditional Islamic sources, the conversion took place under his son, Abu Karib. It is in the mid-fourth century that inscriptions suddenly transition from polytheistic invocations to ones mentioning the high god Rahmanan. A Sabaic inscription dating to this time, titled Ja 856 describes the replacement of a polytheistic temple dedicated to the god al-Maqah with a mikrāb. The evidence suggests a sharp break with polytheism, coinciding with the sudden appearance of Jewish and Aramaic words and personal names. Nevertheless, the nature of the Judaism practiced by the rulers is not clear and the Jewish nature of the kings rule was not frequently made explicit.

Judaism among the local population

There is not as much evidence for the religion of the locals compared with the rulers, but evidence is available for a practice of Judaism among locals. The name "Israel" appears in four inscriptions and replaces the earlier term shaʿb/community: one inscription from the fifth century mentions the "God of Israel". Three inscriptions mention the "God of the Jews". MAFRAY-Ḥaṣī 1, describes the construction of a graveyard specifically for the Jewish community. There is a Hebrew inscription known as DJE 23 from the village of Bayt Hadir, 15 km east of Sanaa. It lists the mishmarot, enumerating the twenty-four Priestly families appointed to protect the Solomon's Temple after the return of the Jews following the Babylonian exile. It is also written in biblical as opposed to Aramaic orthography. Local inscriptions mention synagogues in the cities of Zafar, Marib, Rayda, Naʿd, Najr, Dulaʿ, and Tanʿim, implying a formal organization of South Arabian Judaism. The phrase hagios topos, which usually means a synagogue, has also been found from a 6th-century Greek inscription from the port of Qāniʾ in Bi'r Ali, and an earlier 4th-century Sabaic inscription. However, the interpretation of the former inscription and its building from Qani have been disputed. Additional evidence is also known.
Christian Julien Robin argues that the epigraphic evidence argues against viewing the Judaism of Himyar as rabbinic. This is based on the absence of belief in the afterlife, the predominant use of a local language as opposed to Hebrew, and the priestly emphasis of DJE 23, Himyarite Judaism may have been more "Priestly" than "Rabbinic". However, Iwona Gajda interprets DJE 23 as evidence for the presence of rabbinic Judaism, and further points to evidence that the loanwords present in Ḥasī 1 indicate that its author was strongly familiar with Jewish law.

Fall of Jewish rule over South Arabia

Around 500, the Kingdom of Aksum invaded the peninsula, overthrowing the Himyarite king and installing in his place the hardline Christian king Ma'dikarib Ya'fur. His successor, Dhu Nuwas went on to try combatting the Christianizing influence from the Kingdom of Aksum militarily and massacred the Christian community of Najran, which is in part documented by an inscription made by S²rḥʾl Yqbl, Ja 1028, which describes the burning of a church and slaughtering of Abyssinians, claiming thousands of deaths and prisoners. These events are also discussed in several contemporary Christian sources: in the writings of Procopius, Cosmas Indicopleustes, John Malalas, and Jacob of Serugh. Soon afterwards, John of Ephesus related a letter from another contemporary, Mar Simeon, directed to Abbot von Gabula about the events. In addition, an anonymous author produced the Book of the Himyarites, a sixth-century Syriac chronicle of the persecution and martyrdom of the Christians of Najran. This event to a significant counterattack by the Ethiopian kingdom, leading to the conquest of Himyar in 525 and the end of the Jewish leadership of southern Arabia.

Communication with non-peninsular Jews

Unfortunately, Jewish literary texts outside of Yemen do not discuss the Jewish community there. However, epigraphs from Palestine and Jordan do reflect communication and knowledge from the Yemenite Jewish community:
  • An inscription from Palestine using the Sabaic script is known.
  • A Greek inscription from the village of Beit She'arim mentions the burial of a "Himyarite".
  • A fifth-century Hebrew epitaph from Zoara, Jordan describes an individual named Ywsh br ʾWfy who "died in Ẓafār, the land of the Ḥimyarites".
These communication routes may have also transferred rabbinic and other Jewish teachings. In addition, evidence from the Talmud and the Syriac Book of the Himyarites shows that members of priestly tribes known as Cohanim originating from the land of Israel were active in the Himyarite Kingdom.

Northwest Arabia

Data on Judaism in northwestern Arabia largely relies on occasional information found in inscriptions. One, from 203 AD, indicates a Jewish headman of the oasis of Tayma named Isaiah. Jewish headmen of both Hegra and Dedan are also indicated by inscriptions from the mid-4th century. One Dedanite inscription mentions a rabbi. A Jewish presence in Western Arabia is also indicated by the inscription UJadhNab 538.
There is also some literary evidence. The Midrash Rabba suggests that two third-century rabbis thought it would have been beneficial to them to travel to Hegra in order to improve their Aramaic. Procopius, a 6th-century Byzantine historian, when commenting about the Tiran Island, says that the "Hebrews had lived from of old in autonomy, but in the reign of this Justinian they have become subject to the Romans."
Haggai Mazuz has argued that the Hijazi Arabian Judaism was rabbinic and halakhic, but his thesis has criticized for an uncritical reliance on traditional sources. While the nature of Hijazi Judaism remains controversial, some sort of rabbinic element is likely to have existed.
The Quran, emerging from the early seventh century in West Arabia, regularly mentions Jews and their beliefs, in both Meccan surahs and Medinan surahs. They are mentioned 23 times by the root hwd, 43 times as part of the "Children of Israel", and 32 as part of the "People of the Book". In the latest layers of the Quran, direct engagement with the Mishnah occurs several times, likely reflecting a growing awareness and interaction with the Jewish scholarly elite.
Another document from Muhammad's lifetime, the Constitution of Medina, describes a pact between Muhammad's polity and several Jewish tribes.

Central and East Arabia

Evidence of Jews or Judaism in this region is tenuous. Christian Julien Robin has suggested that a governor of one of the tribes in central Arabia, Ḥujr, may have been Jewish. In eastern Arabia, Josephus claims that a son of the first-century king of Adiabene converted to Judaism.

Poets and poetry

Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry was compiled and written down during the Islamic period, and it occasionally includes Jewish poets and their compositions, although the question of the authenticity of this poetry is still debated, in addition to the difficulties involved in their dating and detecting the degree of Islamicization they underwent. The Ṭabaqāt fuḥūl al-shuʿarā, composed by the Basran traditionalist and philologist Muḥummad ibn Sallām al-Jumaḥī, records a list of Jewish poets. The Arabian/Arab antiquities collector Abū l-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī also has scattered reference to eleven Jewish poets in his Kitāb al-agānī. The poets they refer to are as follows, followed by if mentioned by al-Jumahi and if they are mentioned by al-Isfahani:
According to some traditions, Imru al-Qais also converted to Judaism.
The poetry ascribed to these figures rarely make reference to precise historical details or religious expressions, although some poems ascribed to al-Samaw'al in the Asma'iyyat collection are explicitly religious. In addition, al-Jumahi offers very little by way of biography for each of these figures other than to recount popular anecdotes that a few are associated with. Al-Isfahani gives more detailed biographical information. For example, he says Al-Samaw’al ibn ‘Ādiyā was a native of Tayma whose father had ties to the Ghassanids. He lived in a family home often called a castle and whose name was al-Ablaq. Popular stories described his fidelity and loyalty, such as one where he refuses the surrender of the possessions of Imru' al-Qais to Imru's enemies despite their attempt to besiege his castle. Asides from Samaw'al, the only other Jewish poet to earn some renown was al-Rabī‘ ibn Abī l-Ḥuqayq, chief of the Naḍir tribe. The earliest sources make no mention of this figure, but only his son Kināna. Instead, it is only with the work of al-Isfahani that the exploits of al-Rabī‘ are described.

List of Jewish epigraphs

This list is according to the 2012 compilation by Robert Hoyland. The inscriptions span at least five centuries, only number thirty-one if all are accepted as Jewish, are written in a variety of scripts/languages although most are in Nabataean Aramaic, are typically brief, and are geographically limited insofar as nearly all hail from Hegra or Al-Ula.
TextPlaceTypeDateScript/Lang
This is the tomb which Shubaytu son of Aliu, the Jew, made for himself and for his children and for Amirat, his wife. They may be buried in it by hereditary title. And no stranger has the right to be buried in it, and if any of the children of Shubaytu mentioned above or their legal heirs seeks to write for this tomb a deed of gift or any document, he will have no share in this tomb. And this was on the first day of Ab, the third year of King Maliku, King of the Nabataeans. Abd Obodat son of Wahballahi made itHegraTomb inscription42/43 CENabataean Aramaic
Manasse son of Natan, greetings/farewellHegraConstruction, base of sundial1st c CENabataean Aramaic
This is the stele which Yaḥyā son of Simon has built for his father Simon who died in the month of Sīwan of the year 201al-UlaTomb inscription307 CENabataean Aramaic
May Jacob son of Samuel be remembered wellHegraGraffito3rd - 5th cNabataean Aramaic
This is the memorial of Isaiah Neballaṭa son of Joseph, the headman of Tayma, which ʿImram and Ašmw, his brothers, erected for him in the month of Iyar of the year 98 of the provinceTaymaGraffito203 CENabataean Aramaic
This is the stele and tomb, which Adyon son of Ḥaniy son of Samuel, the headman of Hegra, built for his wife Mawiyah, daughter of the headman of Tayma, Amr son of Adyon son of Samuel, who died in the month of Ab in the year 251, aged 38 yearsHegraTomb inscription356/7 CENabataean Aramaic
DanielHegraGraffito1st - 3rd c CENabataean Aramaic
Abīyu son of Salmual-UlaGraffito1st - 3rd c CENabataean Aramaic
May ʿEzer be remembered wellHegraGraffito1st - 3rd c CENabataean Aramaic
ʿAzaryah son of Asyahal-UlaGraffito3rd - 1st c BCELihyanite
"By Ahab son of Simak the one buried "
or
"By/for Ahab son of Simak is the tomb"		al-UlaGraffito3rd - 1st c BCELihyanite
Greetings/Farewell Joseph son of ʿAwiyual-UlaGraffito1st - 3rd c BCENabataean Aramaic
Levial-UlaGraffito1st - 3rd c CENabataean Aramaic
May Ghanam son of Yehūdā be rememberedUmm JudhayidhGraffito1st c BCE - 1st c CENabataean Aramaic
May Joseph son of Ghanam be remembered well. PeaceUmm JudhayidhGraffito1st c BCE - 1st c CENabataean Aramaic
Indeed, may Simon son of Adiyu be rememberedHegraGraffito3rd - 5th c CENabataean Aramaic
May Laḥmu son of Yehūdā be remembered wellal-UlaGraffito3rd - 5th c CENabataean Aramaic
Peace on the tomb of Rh his wife, daughter of Joseph, son of ʿRr, who is from Qurayyā, who died on the twenty-sixth day of April, year one hundred and seventy-fiveal-MabiyyatTomb inscription280 CENabataean Aramaic
This is Abisalo son of Susannahal-UlaGraffitoUncertainHebrew/ Arabic
Blessing to Aṭūr son of Menaḥem and rabbi Jeremiahal-UlaGraffitoUncertainHebrew/ Arabic
May Samuel son of Hillel be blessed and protectedWadi HaggagGraffito2nd - 4th c CEHebrew/ Arabic
Blessed be the name of my LordJubbahGraffitoUncertainHebrew/ Arabic
Nam/Nuaym son of Isaac trusts in God. He has written.al-UlaGraffitoUncertainHebrew/ Arabic
This is what has written... and this is what...al-UlaGraffitoUncertainHebrew/ Arabic
And Ismaīl son of Ṣdq has writtenal-UlaGraffitoUncertainHebrew/ Arabic
God be blessed/Bless Godal-UlaGraffitoUncertainHebrew/ Arabic
This is the tomb which ʿAbday son of Tayma built for PN who on the twenty-seventh of š... two hundred years ten/twenty...al-UlaTomb inscription4th c CE?Nabataean Aramaic
... bn... bn b... ytpt y... klhw... wn...TaymaCommemorativeUncertainNabataean Aramaic / Jewish Aramaic