Religion in Pre-Islamic Arabia

Sources/Suggested Reading:
al-Jallad, Ahmad (forthcoming) "The Religion and Rituals of the Nomads of Pre-Islamic Arabia: A reconstruction based on the Safaitic Inscriptions". Pre-Print Darft (Version 2: April 3, 2021).

al-Jallad, Ahmad (2019). "The 'One' God in a Safaitic Inscription". Draft. The Ohio State University.

al-Jallad, Ahmad (2020). "The pre-Islamic basmala: reflections on its first epigraphic attestation and its original significance". Draft. The Ohio State University.

Bowersock, G.W. (2017) "The Crucible of Islam". Harvard University Press.

Hoyland, Robert G. (2001). "Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam". Routledge.

Also check out these two great resources for ancient Arabic inscriptions:

#Arabia #Religion #Paganism

[csbalachandran]

I also love the calm *flow* of the narrator's speech. No hesitancies. Clear enunciation and continuous unfolding of the narrative. And so *informative !* Kudos!

[adnanbarakat]

Apart from this video being extremely well made and researched with such interesting facts and historical evidence, can we appreciate his pronunciation of the Arabic words ??? Very good job for a non-Arabic speaker 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[FallenEpic]

A quick browse of the comments section on this video is so wonderful. People talking about religion and history in respectful manners, anecdotes from Muslims and Arabs, people comparing and contrasting beliefs and histories. Really swell stuff, this is not the internet I knew 10 years ago and I'm so glad it's not.

[kirillzapple]

Thank you. I wish more people across the world would study history and culture. We could understand each other a lot better and a lot faster.

[someone-wixl]

hello from Saudi Arabia, thank you for the video
there is much more that isn't mentioned in the video for that each tribe had its own Pagan god for example Daws (from Zahran) had "Dhu Al-Khilsah", and here in Southern Najd we had "Dhu Kahl", Siwa' (سواع) for Hudh'ail
and much more ... all said tribes still exist today in Saudi Arabia

[MrDbate]

Have watched a number of your videos over the past week or so, and have to admit: You find and include the most evocative, beautiful art in the essays. This is no small feat .... Thanks for your work. There's not enough intellectual inquiry these days.

[illomens]

I actually never stopped to think about what religion would have been like in Arabia before Islam

Incredibly fascinating

[shalevedna]

Ad a historian I find it extremely important and interesting to know the polytheistic background of the various modern monotheistic religions. It goes a long way to explain each one and all at the same time. It does not weaken one’s personal religion, but instead strengthens it.

[MrHazz]

Can't wait for this. I do suggest the work of Pre and Early Islamic Arabic philologist Ahmed Al-Jallad, he has some fascinating insights into the Pre Islamic belief system based on the numerous rock etchings and writings found across Arabia.

[deznuces]

The amount of quality work here is just refreshing. Thank God that I stumbled upon such a respectful, historical and a lot of helpful channel about religion in general. I really, really appreciate the way you talk, it is so hard to not pay attention to you talking. Also, I can't stress enough how much I appreciate that you are not one of those "I can't pronounce this" or "I will probably butcher this if I say it" type of lazy people. You actually took time to learn couple of words/sentences and continue to pronounce them with such confidence is again, very refreshing and appreciated. Subscribed and would recommend this channel to everyone. Thank you sir, my brain is thankful for you sharing your knowledge.

[ahmedharris]

Can’t believe I just discovered this channel. And on a fascinating topic as this at that.

[honeycheesechips]

I love that he put citations in the description box which I personally experienced to be so rare! It makes thing easier for people to refer which allow better discussion, since it’s backed up

[melissapinol]

When talking about Paganism we should remember that Pagan is derived from the Latin "Pagana" or " country dweller" meaning that rural people were more likely to hang onto the old religion. Originally there were no negative connotations to the word but sadly that certainly has changed over the years.

[ruinezguitar]

Arabia was very complex.. i just wonder how many secrets and remantnts of old religion and structures are in the sands of Arabia..

[ss_avsmt]

I love how history used to be written in the old times. I would like to imagine a nerd of a man, unmarried, regarded by the society as a freak compulsively tagging along with roman soldiers in arabia, wandering out at night, writing his account of the world he sees so that he could write a book and keep it in his library when he returns 2 decades later to his land. These are the guys we should be grateful about.

[Xliandri]

I was just researching about this topic like 3 weeks ago, excited

[Nous]

Ahmad Al-Jallad is one of the most interesting scholar of Islamic and Quranic studies right now, especially because his expertise on other Arabic languages/dialects and scripts, other than Qurayshi/Quranic dialect and the Nabataean-Syrian form of Arabic script. His works really are important, refreshing, and much-needed contribution to the field.

[tariq]

i don't know if there is anyone else on YouTube whose work I have more respect for. Out comes a guy from Sweden who has helped me understand so much about the religion/culture I was born into. Thank you so much!

[MehrdadPoursadegh]

I can't emphasize enough how much this video means to me. I am not a person who says this often, but my understanding about Islam changed significantly after watching this over and over. I'm not sure whether Philip would see this comment of mine or not, but I want to say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. Also, if you're seeing it, do a part two of this😅

[salahudheenayyoobi]

A legendary version of public speaking, for making the better enlightenment for all