Religions in the Arabian Peninsula c. 600 CE

Dominant: Polytheistic Paganism

• Tribal worship of pantheons: Hubal (chief god of Kaaba), al-Lāt, al-'Uzzā, Manāt (three "daughters of Allah")
• Animism, ancestor veneration, sacred stones (betyls), trees, wells
• Kaaba in Mecca: central pilgrimage site housing 360 idols
• Poetry, oracles (kahins), soothsaying intertwined with religion

Significant Minorities

Christianity

• Nestorian (Church of the East): Strong in NE Arabia, Gulf coast, Yemen (Najran)
• Miaphysite (Syriac Orthodox): Yemen, Najran
• Greek Orthodox / Melkite: NW Arabia (Ghassanids), Sinai
• Monastic communities, missionary activity from Syria/Mesopotamia

Judaism

• Established communities in Yathrib (Medina), Khaybar, Fadak, Tayma
• Arab tribes converted (e.g., Banu Nadir, Banu Qurayza, Banu Qaynuqa)
• Himyarite Kingdom (Yemen) converted to Judaism ~380 CE; later persecuted Christians

Other Influences

• Zoroastrianism: Persian (Sasanian) influence in NE Arabia, Bahrain, Oman
• Manichaeism, Gnosticism: Traces in merchant networks
• Hanifiyya: Pre-Islamic monotheistic seekers rejecting idolatry (e.g., Zayd ibn Amr, Waraqa ibn Nawfal)

Significance

This pluralistic religious milieu—pagan heartland, Christian/Jewish oases, monotheistic ferment—was the context for Muhammad's preaching (610 CE) and Islam's emergence.