Ibn al-Kalbi's 'Book of Idols' depicts 6th c. Arabia (excluding Yemen) as dominated by paganism. But what do the Arabic inscriptions of 6th century Arabia tell us? day 2 ~AA @safaitic pic.twitter.com/HkcleuU88g
— Tweeting Historians (@Tweetistorian) April 28, 2020
Today on Twitter there was something interesting and edifying posted. The account about reported the finding that 6th century inscriptions of a religious character in Arabia seem invariably to be Christian, rather than pagan. This is interesting and surprising because Islamic tradition, and works such as the 8th century Book of Idols, allude to a 6th century Arabia which was aggressivley pagan. Islamic tradition speaks of the city of Mecca as a center of public elite paganism; a piligrimage site for Arabian pagans. This was the paganism that the prophet Muhammad rebuked and destroyed. The conventional narrative is that these newly converted Arabs burst out upon the world, conquering much of Byzantium, and swallowing Persia in toto.
Muslims believe that their religion is the primordial religion, the monotheism of Adam, the first man. Traditionally groups such as Christians and Jews were seem as reflecting some of that primordial religion, while