# So what religion were the Arabs before Islam? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 24, 2002, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-religion-were-the-arabs-before-islam/105338 "2002-04-24T13:14:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-religion-were-the-arabs-before-islam/105338/1 "2002-04-24T13:14:55Z")
Christianity had a 600-or-so years headstart on it and Judaism had been practiced for a couple thousand years, neither of which the Arabs seemed to have embraced. Was there a common religion? ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-religion-were-the-arabs-before-islam/105338/2 "2002-04-24T13:21:04Z")
> [@](#): > > Arab tribes before the creation of Islam were **polytheistic** in religion; they lived by herding animals, much in the same fashion that the Hebrew people had earlier. Both the Arabs and the Hebrews were Semitic-speaking peoples. From [this site](http://faculty.tcc.cc.fl.us/hss/thompsonj/islam.htm) which looks as if it has a christian bent… Gp ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-religion-were-the-arabs-before-islam/105338/3 "2002-04-24T13:27:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Arab tribes before the creation of Islam were **polytheistic** in religion; they lived by herding animals, much in the same fashion that the Hebrew people had earlier. Both the Arabs and the Hebrews were Semitic-speaking peoples. From [this site](http://faculty.tcc.cc.fl.us/hss/thompsonj/islam.htm) which looks as if it has a christian bent… Gp ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-religion-were-the-arabs-before-islam/105338/4 "2002-04-24T13:51:07Z")
The arabs had a polytheistic religion where different gods were worshipped in different places. They were some similarities to Islam, such as circling the stone in Mecca seven times and throwing rocks at the demons afterwards. Also belief in jinns is a holdover. ---
**Author:** ![Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milton_De_La_Warre)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-religion-were-the-arabs-before-islam/105338/5 "2002-04-24T15:52:23Z")
Christianity and probably to a lesser extent Judaism had also been practiced in some places in the Arabian penninsula. The ruins of one pre-Islamic Christian church still exist in Saudi Arabia. I don’t know if it was ever excavated (or otherwise formally documented and studied), but the Saudi authorities have it fenced off, probably to prevent vandalism and assist in its preservation. Certianly the prophet was aware of the teachings of both in some detail, as Jesus, Mary, and many Old Testament figures are also mentioned in the Koran. As I recall (and please correct me if I am wrong), the Koran in at least some cases suggests that the readers are already familiar with some of these “Biblical” persons. So it is likely that what we might call “Bible Stories” were familiar to many people there, even if they were not total believers. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-religion-were-the-arabs-before-islam/105338/6 "2002-04-24T16:06:25Z")
[http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ISLAM/PRE.HTM](http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ISLAM/PRE.HTM) > [@](#): > > **The religion of the pre-Islamic Arabs was a mixture of Bedouin polytheism, Judaism, and a little bit of Christianity. The pre-Islamic Arabs worshipped three goddesses, al-Lat, al-Uzza, and Manat, who were all daughters of one god, Allah—this one god was probably derived from the monotheistic religions of Judaism and Christianity.** Also a lot of zoroastrianism flying around - though mainly in Persia, whose people weren’t actually Arabs.