# What religion was the precursor to Islam? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2003, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-was-the-precursor-to-islam/150309 "2003-01-22T23:11:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-was-the-precursor-to-islam/150309/1 "2003-01-22T23:11:39Z")
A friend of mine, an avid Christian fundy, is reading a book about Abraham’s role in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. He’s really stoked about it, and he told me how the people who became Muslims were mostly descendants of Ishmael. Muhammed came along and started Islam quite a while after Jesus started Christianity. The early Christians were mostly converted Jews, I suppose.;j What were the early Muslims, before Muhammed? ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-was-the-precursor-to-islam/150309/2 "2003-01-22T23:33:06Z")
1. The first few dozen Christians were Jews, as Christianity was then a Jewish sect. After Paul got through with it, Greeks started joining, and they and other gentiles outnumbered the Jewish Christians. 2. The Arabs’ descent from Ishmael is, I think, Biblical, but I could be wrong - I don’t keep a Bible at work. It’s certainly traditional among people other than Arabs. 3. I guess you must mean “What religion were Arabs before Islam?” There were, of course, no Muslims before Mohammed. The answer is that they were pagans. Google for “Arab paganism.” ---
**Author:** ![Adam\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Adam\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Adam_K)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-was-the-precursor-to-islam/150309/3 "2003-01-22T23:52:59Z")
1. But they were big on the Patriarch right? Or did Mohammed SAWS introduce all of that? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-was-the-precursor-to-islam/150309/4 "2003-01-23T00:01:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*[[Pre-Islamic Arab culture\*\*](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. Mecca was the center of this religion with its Ka’ba, or “Cube,” which served as the temple for the religion. ---
**Author:** ![raygirvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-was-the-precursor-to-islam/150309/5 "2003-01-23T01:54:13Z")
_Diogenes the Cynic_ Extremely interesting. It would be quite tempting to draw parallels between the way Catholicism venerates Mary (in a region where worship of pre-Christian goddesses - such as Ishtar - prevailed) and the veneration of Fatima within Islam. And the crescent, symbol of Islam, is a long-standing moon-goddess symbol. **AskNott** , check out Google on [Islam goddess]. ---
**Author:** ![Ficer67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Ficer67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ficer67)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-was-the-precursor-to-islam/150309/6 "2003-01-23T10:52:38Z")
The religions have much more in common. Its surprising to see that we as people, can go to war and kill other people, just beacause we worship what is nearly the same thing. Mohammed recieved his vision from the angel Gabriel, Gabriel also heralded the arival of Christ. Gabriel’s master is the Christian God, and the Islamic Allah. So the same God is honored in both religions. The tora (Sp) koran (sp) and the bible read very similiarly, though I have not read each one cover to cover. And the laws of Mohammed read similiarly to the laws of moses, and the teachings of Jesus. “Give to ceasar what is ceasar’s” etc. I am too tired to look for cites right now, but there are some out there. I dont see why people are shooting at each other over religions that are very similiar, which also preach the merits of peace over war. No we are all human beings after all, and are fighting over something baser, like oil. ---
**Author:** ![mrcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@mrcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrcrow)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-was-the-precursor-to-islam/150309/7 "2003-01-23T10:57:36Z")
the early mosques on bahrein faced abraham’s burial place in hebron now it seems mecca is the focus. ? ---
**Author:** ![Ficer67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Ficer67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ficer67)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-was-the-precursor-to-islam/150309/8 "2003-01-23T10:57:43Z")
Ok this is a prime example of what happens when you dont sleep for three days. In place of tora (what I was thinking I will never know) put Tenach ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-was-the-precursor-to-islam/150309/9 "2003-01-23T12:12:44Z")
I certainly remember reading that the kabbala, pre-Islam, was a shrine to the Arcangel Gabriel. ---
**Author:** ![martin\_ibn\_martin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@martin\_ibn\_martin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/martin_ibn_martin)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-was-the-precursor-to-islam/150309/10 "2003-01-26T07:12:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MC Master of Cermonies \* > \*\*I certainly remember reading that the kabbala, pre-Islam, was a shrine to the Arcangel Gabriel. \*\* Never heard that one. Please cite. I’d love to read that theory. Martin ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-was-the-precursor-to-islam/150309/11 "2003-01-26T08:36:07Z")
The Kabbalah? You mean Jewish mysticism? Sure thing, Gabriel and the other archangels had prominent status in many Kabbalistic texts. ---
**Author:** ![raygirvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-was-the-precursor-to-islam/150309/12 "2003-01-26T12:24:59Z")
They mean the Ka’bah. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religion-was-the-precursor-to-islam/150309/13 "2003-01-26T13:58:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MC Master of Cermonies \* > \*\*I certainly remember reading that the kabbala, pre-Islam, was a shrine to the Arcangel Gabriel. \*\* Nope. The Ka’bah had shrines to many deities within it. The focus was a chunk of meteor (I think) or at least a big black stone that they believe came from heaven. But within the little templish thing that the Arabs had set up for it in Mecca, there were smaller shrines to other gods from the various religions that the Meccans felt were important enough to be included - so they had symbols from Christianity, Judaism, their own animist gods, etc. It was very important, and the Ka’bah was kept by a Meccan preistly family somewhat like the Sadducees. Needless to say, since Mohammed grew up in Mecca, he had a special reverence for the Ka’bah so when he came back with his Medinan army, he set up the Ka’bah as a special place to focus on God and got rid of all the none God related shrines in the Ka’bah. Islam was able to draw on a lot of Jewish and Christian mythology because it had extensive contact with these religions. Naturally, they became somewhat influential in the area due to the Roman empire, the diaspora and trade contacts with the north. So these were fused, along with animism, into a new religion - Islam.