Before Islam: When the Arabian Peninsula was a Jewish monarchy

The discovery of the oldest stone inscriptions discovered in Saudi Arabia, dating back to 470 AD, and their Christian and Jewish context, has been a source of surprise.

Haaretz recently reported on the results of a remarkable archaeological study that was conducted in 2014 by researchers from a Saudi and French delegation after studying inscriptions discovered in southern Saudi Arabia.

They announced the discovery of what is likely the oldest writing in the Arabic alphabet. Dozens of stone inscriptions were found around Bir Hima, in a site 100 kilometers north of the city of Najran. The site contains thousands of inscriptions, apparently carved by passersby, travelers and officials of the time. At least two of the inscriptions date back to the ancient period, and experts have estimated that the oldest of them dates back to 469 or 470 AD.

The discovery was astonishing: the oldest ancient inscriptions using this pre-Islamic Arabic script date back at least half a century after these inscriptions, which were found in Syria.

However, the news was kept quiet. Several Arabic and French-language media outlets reported the news very briefly, describing the writings as a "missing link" between the Arabic alphabet and an older alphabet previously used in the region. Most of the published news used archival photographs or images of other ancient inscriptions.

Thawban ibn Malik was a Christian.

It is called “Thobane (son of) Malik,” according to a 100-page report published in December by the French Academy of Epigraphy. The inscription begins with a Christian cross, which is also found on other columns discovered from the period.

The Saudis had mixed reactions to the discovery of these artifacts, as they showed that the alphabet used to write their holy book, the Quran, had a Christian background, just 150 years before the rise of Islam.

The astonishment and wonder will increase when we learn that these writings are not only the legacy of a Christian community, but also the history of an ancient Jewish royal family that once ruled in present-day Arabia and Yemen.

The Quran and Muslim traditions acknowledge the presence of Jewish and Christian communities throughout the peninsula in the time of Muhammad, but the overall picture of pre-Islamic Arabia is vague and confused. The image presented of the region in pre-Islamic times is that it was dominated by savage tribes and plagued by lawlessness, illiteracy, and sectarianism, which Islamic traditions call the "Age of Ignorance."

Now, it seems that the descriptions given so far of pre-Islamic Arabia are not much more accurate than the stories that were created and elaborated to emphasize the power and enlightening role of Muhammad's message.

A review of the cultural survival of Christians and Muslims in recent years and evidence found in Saudi Arabia paints a far more complex picture, forcing researchers to uncover the rich and complex history of this region before the rise of Islam.

One of the key, but forgotten, points of that time is the Himyar kingdom.

In a new article titled “What Kind of Judaism Existed in Arabia,” Christian Robin, a French historian who also led the archaeological mission to the Bir Hima region, writes that most scholars now agree that around 380 AD, the elite of the Himyrian kingdom converted to Judaism.

The Himyar rulers probably saw Judaism as a unifying force for their new, culturally diverse kingdom, to resist with a single identity the encroaching dominance of Byzantine and Abyssinian Christians and Persian Zoroastrians.

In the Sabaean language, God is called "the Most Gracious," "Lord of the heavens and the earth," "Lord of the Jews," and prayers end with "shalom" and "amen."

The Himyarites expanded their empire to central Arabia, the Persian Gulf, and the Hejaz (Mecca and Medina) in the following century. Inscriptions of the Himyarite kings can be found not only in Bir Hima but also in northern Yemen.

The Saudi-French team says that in the Arabic text discovered in Bir Hima, the name of Thawban ibn Malik appears in eight inscriptions along with Christians, which is probably a kind of memorial to them.

The Haaretz report also states that Christians living near Najran at that time were being persecuted and tortured by the Humairites, and it is likely that they were killed along with Thawban.

The pre-Islamic Arabic alphabet was called Nabataean because it was used by the Nabataeans, who were once a powerful nation. But this alphabet is in clear contrast to the Sabaean language of the Himyarite inscriptions.

The French researchers wrote in their report: "The new versions indicate a distance from Himyar and a reconciliation with other Arabs. The Himyar inscriptions indicate a powerful cultural movement of the Arabs from the Euphrates to Najran, which manifested itself in the use of a uniform script."

Gradually, the pressures on the Himyar increased and, around 500 AD, it was ended by Christian invaders from the Kingdom of Axiom in Ethiopia.

In 522, a Jewish Humairaite king named Yusuf Assar Yasar rebelled against the Negus's puppet rulers and put the Aksumite king to the sword. He then besieged Najran and massacred part of the Christian population. This incident angered Yusuf's enemies and precipitated revenge against Ethiopia.

Saudi and French researchers found a writing by Joseph in Birhima that states that after the massacre of Najran, he went to the Arabian Desert with 12,000 people to claim the rest of the kingdom for himself. After that, there is no trace of him, but Christian researchers say that around 525 AD, the Ethiopians defeated him.

It is said that the last Jewish king of Arabia was either killed in battle or rode his horse into the Red Sea and killed himself. For the next century, Himyar was a Christian kingdom.

The big question is, what kind of Jews were the Jews of Hamair? Did they observe the Sabbath (the Jewish day of rest, Saturday) and the rules of kosher (halal food and drink)?

Some scholars, including Joseph Halevy, a 19th-century French-Jewish orientalist, believe that a Jewish kingdom could not have persecuted and killed Christians, and that the Himyrians were probably a Christian sect of the time.

In his article, French thinker Robin writes that the official religion of Hamir was probably "monotheistic Judaism," which is considered "a type of minimalist Judaism" that only observed some of the basic principles of this religion.

The reality is that none of the documents allow researchers to provide a clear picture of the religion of the people in the kingdom of the Arabian Peninsula.

It should also be noted that during Christian and Muslim rule, Jews continued to be present in the Arabian Peninsula. This is clear both from Muhammad's contacts and conflicts with them, and from the influence that Judaism had on Islamic religious practices and prohibitions (daily prayer, circumcision, pilgrimage, charity, the prohibition of images, and the prohibition of pork).

Until a few decades ago, the Jewish community in Yemen, the center of the Himyar people, lived under persecution until they were sent to Israel in 1949-50. They had their own rituals and traditions that were different from the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews. There seems to be no doubt that they are indeed the last descendants of the extinct Himyar Jewish royal family.

Source: London Cosmos