The most significant populations of Arab Christians formed among Roman populations, especially in the province of Roman Arabia, and on the Arabian Peninsula, in Eastern Arabia and South Arabia, with local populations also forming in the Hejaz. With the growth of Christianity in the Arabian Peninsula in the fifth and sixth centuries, churches, monasteries, cathedrals, and martyria were built. These new institutions allowed local leaders to display benefaction towards their communities, communicate with local leaders, and act as points of communication with Christian communities abroad, such as Byzantine Christians.[1][2] Major Christian centers were assigned into bishoprics, so that a bishop could act as the local religious leader for the Christians in the region. Bishoprics appeared across Eastern Arabia, North Arabia, and South Arabia (especially in Najran and Zafar).[3][4][5]
The growth of Christianity on the Arabian Peninsula was driven by proselytism:[6] the mains sources of proselytism were missionaries from Christian churches, especially Syrian churches, from the Byzantine Empire, Christian Iraqi populations in the Sasanian Empire (particularly from Al-Hira), and Ethiopian Christians from the newly converted Kingdom of Aksum, who, in the early sixth century, conquered Himyar, the ruling power over South Arabia.[7][8] Byzantine Christians wrote many stories about holy men and miracle workers active in converting Arabs, turning them away from pagan and polytheistic idolatry.[9] Arabian Christianity is also known from the Quran, the holy scripture of Islam, and a growing number of pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions.[10] Arabian Christianity did not immediately decline following the early Muslim conquests, with the most severe economic and other pressures leading to the decline of the Christian communities coming in the eighth century onwards.[11]
Arab Christianity in the Roman Empire
Outside of the Arabian Peninsula, large populations of Arabs lived in the Roman Empire and in other places in the Near East. After the conversion of Constantine the Great to Christianity in the early fourth century, large swathes of these Arabs converted to Christianity. Even before this, Abgar VIII, the Arab king of the Osroene Kingdom (known also as the "Kingdom of Edessa") converted to Christianity around 200 AD, making Abgar the first head of state in world history to convert to Christianity, and the Edessan kingdom the first Christian state. Abgar's conversion also provided a place of protection for Christians in the time from Roman persecution, and turned Edessa into a spiritual capital of Syriac Christianity, a counterpart to the role played by Antioch in Greek Christianity. Even before Constantine, the emperor Philip the Arab was also speculated by fourth-century Christians to have privately converted to Christianity, although his reign was short.[12]
Constantine's conversion ushered in a three-century period of the rise of Christianity among Roman Arab populations. In Syria, this included the conversion of the tribe of the Tanukhids in the fourth century, the Salihids in the fifth century, and in the sixth century, the Ghassanids, who rose to power as Rome's primary and most powerful Arab client kingdom at this time. Their doctrine was Monophysitism, and they widely sponsored Christian churches and monasteries in their areas across Syria. In Mesopotamia (Iraq), this was initiated by Abgar's conversion; his territory was conquered by the Romans in the 240's AD. After this conquest, the Mesopotamian center of the region transitioned from Edessa to Al-Hira, the capital of the Lakhmid kingdom. The Lakhmids ruled Al-Hira for three centuries, during which it became a major Christian center. The city became an episcopal see with a bishop around 410 AD. Vast numbers of churches and convents were built, to the point that it fascinated the eighth-century Muslim author Hisham ibn al-Kalbi enough to write a book about it, which has largely been lost, except for quotation of a long inscription he documented from later Islamic authors. Christian Hira may have even been the place where the Arabic script was developed. Towards the very end of the Lakhmid period, the final Lakhmid king, Al-Nu'man III, also converted to Christianity.[12]
The growth of Christianity among Arabs was fuelled by missionary efforts. Many hagiographical sources record stories of Christian holy men converting groups of Arabs to Christianity. These stories followed a common template: first, an Arabian community interacts with a monk (or other kind of holy man). Shortly afterwards, the community renounces polytheism and idol worship. Finally, a church is built. Missionaries described in these accounts included Ahudemmeh (d. 575), Euthymius the Great (d. 473), Simeon Stylites (died 459), and the events leading to the construction of the shrine of St. Sergius at Resafa patronized by Al-Mundhir III, leader of the Ghassanid tribe.[1]
Jerome (in the Life of St Hilarion 16.1–12) says that Saint Hilarion converted the Arabs of Elusa, a city located southwest of the Dead Sea, who worshipped the goddess Venus. After exorcising demons from many of their members, they flocked to him and ask for his blessing. Idol worship ended and Hilarion helped them lay the plan for building a church before his departure.[15] The Life of Euthymius by Cyril of Scythopolis says that Euthymius the Great, the abbot of Israel, was approached by an Arab of the Persian army, Aspebetos, to cure his sons sickness. When Euthymius did this, Aspebetos converted and defected to the Romans along with the rest of his clan.[16] Another figure, Ahudemmeh, was said to "visit all the camps of the Arabs, instructing and teaching them in many sermons .... establishing in every tribe a priest and a deacon ... and founding churches and naming them after tribal chiefs."[17]
A number of known tribal conversions to Christianity happened from the fourth to sixth centuries, including of the then-dominant Byzantine foederati, the Salihids, around 400 (following the decision of their leader Zokomos),[18] the Ghassanids at the beginning of the reign of their leader Al-Harith ibn Jabalah (r. 528–569),[19] and the Lakhmids during the reign of their final king of the Nasrid dynasty, Al-Nu'man III, in the late 6th century.[20][21] There is also some evidence that the Taghlib and Tanūkhid tribes had converted.[22]
The Ghassanid Kingdom (220–638 AD)
The war banner of the Ghassanids, bearing the picture of Saint Sergius
Arab kings became involved in imperial church affairs and in theological debates, and helped organize meetings between members at the highest authorities in the churches of the empire.[23] The most important of these were the Ghassanids, who controlled a kingdom in the Levant and in northern Arabia. John of Ephesus describes the convert king, al-Harith, as helping appoint bishops and exercising authority in the "southern and [eastern] countries and in the whole of the desert and in Arabia [ Petraea] and Palestine".[19] The Ghassanids became leading patrons of the Miaphysites and sponsored the martyr cult of St Sergius, popular among Arabs.[24] Mutually, the Miaphysites sent missionaries into Arabia.[25] Epigraphic evidence suggests they sponsored multiple Christian sites, including the shrine of St Sergius, a basilica in al-Ruṣāfa, and a three-church complex in Nitl (near Madaba). The Ghassanids are also linked to three Christian Paleo-Arabic inscriptions from Syria, including the Jebel Usays inscription, the Harran inscription, and the Zabad inscription. The Zabad inscription was found at a martyrium at the Church of St. Sergius.[26] Other inscriptions at martyria mention more sponsors with Arab names.[27]
Around the year 569 or 570, Al-Harith ibn Jabalah convened a conference in the province of Roman Arabia towards resolving a theological debate at the time. A letter from the conference has survived, known as the Letter of the Archimandrites (preserved in the Documenta Monophysitarum), and it contains the signatures of the representatives (being the Archimandrite) of 137 different monasteries, indicating a widespread systematic presence of Christians in Roman Arabia, territorially centered in modern-day Jordan and adjacent regions.[28]
A growing amount of archaeological evidence for Christians in the region is known. A monastery has been discovered at Kilwa, located in northwest Arabia in the Tabuk Province of Saudi Arabia, dedicated to Saint Thecla, a disciple of Paul the Apostle. The monastery might have been established at the eve of Islam. Its presence in the arid desert indicates that some nomadic Arab tribes had converted by that time.[29][3] A growing number of Christian inscriptions in the area are also known, especially in the Paleo-Arabic script, such as the Jebel Usays inscription, Harran inscription, Zabad inscription, and the Umm al-Jimal inscription. The Umm al-Jimal inscription was discovered in the northern part of the Double Church at Umm al-Jimal.[30] In 2021, the first Christian Safaitic inscription, dating to the fourth century, was found, invoking the aid of Jesus to cure the maternal uncle of the author. The text calls Jesus ʿĪsâ, the earliest use of this grammatical form before the Quran.[31]
South Arabia
Christianity was introduced into South Arabia in the 4th century. Towards the end of the 5th century, Christianity's presence was strong enough that the Synodicon orientale says that a "Moses of Himyar" attended a synod in 486 AD.[32] During the 6th century, bishoprics are described in the capital Zafar (Gregentios), Najran, and Qana'. It was also in this period that the Christian community of Najran faced severe persecution, precipitating an invasion by the nearby Christian Ethiopian Kingdom of Aksum, leading to official Christian rule for decades.[33]
Early missionary efforts
According to the Greek historianPhilostorgius (d. 439) in his Ecclesiastical History 3.4, Constantius II, the successor of Constantine the Great, sent an Arian bishop known as Theophilus the Indian (also known as "Theophilus of Yemen") to Tharan Yuhanim, then the king of the South ArabianHimyarite Kingdom to convert the people to Christianity. According to the report, Theophilus succeeded in establishing three churches, one of them in the capital Zafar.[34] From the fifth and sixth centuries, the Miaphysite church displayed a significant interest in expanding missionary activity in the Himyarite Kingdom.[25]
The story of the introduction of Christianity into South Arabia, especially into the city of Najran, is known in many different versions, in many different later Christian and Islamic sources. According to the Chronicle of John of Nikiu, a woman named Theognosta was the first to convert south Arabians to Christianity in the mid-fourth century. According to the Book of the Himyarites and the Chronicle of Seert, the first South Arabian Christian was a man named Hannan (spelled as Ḥannān, or Ḥayyān). He was an international merchant, first travelling towards Constantinople in the Byzantine realm, and then to Al-Hira in the Persian realm. During his exposure to Christianity in the Persian world, he converted and was baptized. Upon returning to Najran, he began sharing his faith with others and other members of the community also began to convert. Ibn Ishaq, an Islamic source, offers a different story: a Christian Syrian named Faymiyūn ended up as a slave in Najran. His manner of praying shocked the Najran community, leading to a mass conversion. The Book of the Tower by Amr ibn Matta says that because of the missionary work of the famous Mār Māri, a student of Addai of Edessa, Christianity had already arrived to South Arabia before the time of a figure known to Amr ibn Matta as Aphrahat the King of Babylon (c. 270–345). Other versions of the story also permeated the Arab-Islamic tradition, some focusing on the miracles of a man named Abdallah ibn Tahmir that Fimiyyun was ministering to, and another centered on a secret conversion of a Himyarite king.[35][36]
Christianity may have been introduced into Najran in the fifth century, plausibly through trade routes. Though the details about Christianity's introduction into the area cannot be recovered in spite of the many varied stories, an involvement of the trade routes of Al-Hira are possible. Several explicitly Christian inscriptions are known from the Hima Paleo-Arabic inscriptions, located at a site near Najran, with the texts dates covering the late fourth to early fifth centuries. Many of these contain Christian iconography, including large and ornate crosses, establishing a notable Christian community in the region which had produced them. For example, Ḥimà-al-Musammāt PalAr 5 contains a cross and describes a figure named "῾Abd al-Masīḥ" ("the servant of Christ").[37][38] A Greek inscription, likely Christian, has been found north of Najran which reads "Lord, protect me."[39]
The Christian community of Najran experienced waves of persecution before the massacre of the Jewish king Dhu Nuwas, likely beginning around 470.[40] The Martyrdom of Azqir reports that Najran's first priest, Azqir, was transferred to the Himyarite capital Zafar where he was beheaded on the advice of a group of rabbis to create an example against introducing a new religion into the region. The first bishop of Najran, named Paul, was stoned to death sometime afterwards but before 500. Ethiopian sources describe a persecution of Najran's Christians during the reign of the Himyarite king Sharhabil Yakkuf (468–480 AD). Later, the Syriac poet Jacob of Serugh wrote a letter of consolation to the Christian community of Najran (his Letter to the Himyarites), sometime before his death in 521, indicating another wave of persecution prior to the massacre of 523. Finally, the Book of the Himyarites says that an (unidentified) bishop named Thomas appealed to the aid of the Kingdom of Aksum in the face of the Himyarite persecution of the Najran Christians.[41][42]
Beginning in 522, the Jewish king Dhū Nuwās initiated a series of campaigns against Christians in South Arabia, including Himyarite locals and Aksumites in the region. The massacre is also recounted in a celebratory manner in an inscription (Ja 1028) commissioned by one of the army commanders of Dhu Nuwas.[43] According to his inscriptions, Dhu Nuwas himself captured and burned down the churches of the cities of Zafar and Al-Mukāʾ. Then, three inscriptions (Ja 1028, Ry 507, and Ry 508[44]) describe the campaigns of Sharahil Yaqbul dhu-Yazan against Najran (despatched by Dhu Nuwas) and the ensuing massacre. According to these inscriptions, Sharahil "positioned himself against Najran" (laying it to siege). He blocked the Najran's caravan route to the northeast that would have led to both Qaryat al-Faw and eastern Arabia to put economic pressure on the city. After a thirteen month long siege, Sharahil captured Najran, which resulted in a large plunder of the area and a stated execution of 12,500 people from the city.[45][46] Part of the success of the capture involved, according to Simeon's letters, an offer made by Dhu Nuwas that relinquishing control of the area would result in guarantees for the safety of the Christians, which Dhu Nuwas was said to have sworn an oath over, on a Torah scroll, and in the presence of several rabbis. However, Dhu Nuwas broke his promise, and the massacre ensued. The massacre became a moment of international outrage among Christians, with Syriac authors writing many works about the massacre of the Christian community of Najran, including the Book of Himyarites and Simeon's Letter on the Himyarite Martyrs.[45][47] There is also the Greek Martyrdom of Arethas.[48] A particular moment of outrage, according to Simeon's letters, was how Dhu Nuwas ordered the bones of Najran's bishops to be exhumed, collected in a church, and then burned up there alongside other Christian laity and clerics.[49]
At Najran, Christians built churches, monasteries, and martyria. In the aftermath of the massacre, the Ḥārith ibn Kaʿb clan of the Christian community built a martyrium dedicated to the martyred Christians known as the Kaaba of Najran, one of several pre-Islamic Arabian Kaabas. This Kaaba became a point of pilgrimage, and its custodians were from Banū ʿAbd al-Madān, the chief clan of the tribe of Balḥārith. As such, Najran became one of the holy cities of Eastern Christianity. The Kaaba may also be identical to another martyrium described in the city, the Martyry of Arethas, constructed around 520.[50][51] In addition to the Kaaba Najran, three churches from Najran are known: the Church of the Ascension of Christ, the Church of the Holy Martyrs and the Glorious Arethas, and the Church of the Holy Mother of God.[52]Monasticism (involving monks and monasteries) is also documented.[53]
Najran was the only episcopal see in the Arabian Peninsula apart from those in Eastern Arabia.[4] The first bishops of Najran are mentioned by the letter written in 524 of Simeon, the bishop of Beth Arsham. According to Simeon, Philoxenus of Mabbug consecrated two bishops, both called Mar Pawlos (Paul). Both died during the massacre, the first during the siege of Zafar, and the second in Najran before its final surrender to Dhu Nuwas.[54] The consecration being done by Philoxenus, a leading member of the Syrian Orthodox Church, indicates a Miaphysite, non-Chalcedonian Christianity at Najran.[55][56]John Diakrinomenos says that a bishop named Silvanus travelled to an unspecific place in the Himyarite Kingdom. The Letter on the Himyarite Martyrs by Simeon of Beth Arsham mentions two more people in South Arabia with connections to John of Tella and a monastery in the city of Edessa.[57] Islamic sources name bishops, like the legendary Quss Ibn Sa'ida al-Iyadi, a contemporary of Muhammad.[58] Sources continue naming bishops of Najran into the Islamic era, up until the 9th and 10th centuries.[50]
The Christian community of Najran was also linked with Syriac Christianity and some of the clerics located at Najran were trained in Syriac monasteries.[59] This link is also indicated by a letter sent to the Christians of the city by the Syriac poet and bishop, Jacob of Serugh.[60]
Two strands of the Islamic tradition commented on Christian community of Najran: those sources commenting on the Quranic story of the People of the Ditch, believed by many to be about the massacre of Najran's Christians, and South Arabian Muslims with an antiquarian interest in the regions pre-Islamic history.[61][62][63]
Christianity survived in Najran into the Islamic period. Muhammad is said to have sent a delegation to the Najrani Christian community, and there is a fable claiming that the Christians of Najran were expelled by the caliph Umar. According to the traveler Ibn al-Mujawir (d. 1292), Christianity survived in Najran until the 13th century.[64]
Socotra
Christianity was introduced into the Yemeni island of Socotra in the 5th century. A travel report from around 518 AD of Cosmas Indicopleustes says that Socotra had a "multitude of Christians", as well as clerics appointed from Persia (likely of Nestorian background). According to Portuguese sources, a vestigial form of Christianity may have been practiced on Socotra as late as the 16th century. Christianity's introduction may have been facilitated by Greek-speaking communities on the island, which Yaqut al-Hamawi says were the first to embrace Christianity, and some place names on the island have been suggested to be related to the Greek word for "cathedral". According to Al-Hamdani, a Sasanian emperor expelled a Greek community on the island, which later (along with members of Mahri tribes on the mainland) embraced Christianity. Christian material culture has been found on the island, including crosses in Socotran rock art from multiple sites, a church that has been dated between the 7th and 10th centuries, and pottery vessels at burial sites decorated with crosses.[65]
Christianity as the official religion
The massacre of the Christian community of Najran precipitated an invasion by the nearby Christian kingdom in Ethiopia, leading to the conquest of Himyar in 525 and the end of the Jewish leadership of southern Arabia and the beginning of Christian rule.[66]Sumyafa Ashwa came into power, but he was soon overthrown by his rival Abraha, initiating a period of Ethiopian Christian rule over southern Arabia in 530.[67] Historians continue to debate the relative role of religion in the decision to invade South Arabia, as to whether it was the main cause (responding to local aggression against Christians) or whether it was used to legitimate an invasion whose motives were more rooted in material and political incentives.[68]
Christianity became the official religion of South Arabia after the Aksumite conquests[69] and several churches were built.[70] A church being built off the coast of Yemen is mentioned in RIÉ 191, and the Marib Dam inscription mentions a priest, a monastery, and its abbot.[71]
Continuing with the Jewish period, Christian inscriptions call God Rahmanan. They also have crosses and references to Christ as the Messiah and to the Holy Spirit. CIH 541 mentions Abraha sponsoring a church for Marib, describes celebrations hosted by a priest at another church, and invokes the Messiah and the Spirit. Abraha celebrated the construction of the dam by holding mass in the city church and inviting ambassadors from Rome and Persia. Later Islamic historiography also ascribes to Abraha the construction of a church at Sanaa. Christian J. Robin argues Abraha's inscriptions bear a relatively low Christology, perhaps to assuage the Jewish population, with formula resembling descriptions of Jesus in the Quran. Whereas Abraha's predecessor Kaleb of Axum explicitly calls Jesus the Son of Rahmanan and "Victor", and used Trinitarian formulae, Abraha only called Jesus the "Messiah" (not Son).[72] Shoemaker argues that it is doubtful that Himyarite Christians would have not accepted Jesus' Sonship, as no such form of Christianity from these centuries is known, and that the small number of inscriptions mean that more explicit inscriptions may just not have been found.[73]
Abraha severed ties between the Himyarite and Ethiopian churches, realigning himself with the Syriac Christianity centred at Syria and Antioch. Religious terminology from Ethiopian loanwords were systematically replaced with Syriac equivalents, including the words for Messiah, church, and priest.[69][3] Because of Abraha's conquests, Abraha's influence may have extended to eastern Arabia, central Arabia, and western Arabia (the Hejaz), including his capture of Medina.[74]
One of the dominant powers over Eastern Arabia was the Lakhmid kingdom, the principal Arab client kingdom of the Sasanian Empire, whose rule was centered in Mesopotamia, at their capital Al-Hira. Initially pagan, they slowly transitioned to Christianity from the fourth to late sixth centuries. In the fourth century, they, and the Zoroastrian Sasanians, had a contentious relationship with their Christian minority, periodically shifting between tolerance and persecution. As the Christian minority grew and become more influential, especially at Al-Hira, a tolerant approach was preferred and a native Christian church was fostered, independent of that of the Romans. By 410 AD, Al-Hira had a bishop.[90][91]
Al-Hira became a major base for missionary activity, acting as a gateway for launching missions to the rest of the Sasanian world, on the one hand, and the Arabs of the desert, on the other.[92] Some of the most detailed information about the Christianity of the Lakhmid A-Hira comes from the Chronicle of Seert which, despite its late final date, is likely a redaction of multiple earlier records, including some written down very close to the events. (Independent records for this history are also found in the Khuzistan Chronicle and the Arabo-Islamic tradition.) The Chronicle records the missionary activites of the great monastic founder, Abraham of Kashkar, at Al-Hira. It also talks about how many of the Lakhmid kings engaged with the Christian presence of the city, and a long account of the final king, who did convert.[93]
Al-Mundhir III, in the mid-6th century, married the princess Hind of the Hujrid dynasty of the Kingdom of Kinda. While he did not become a Christian, Hind converted to Christianity, and even sponsored the construction of a monastery, now known as the Monastery of Hind the Elder, in the Lakhmid capital.[94] She also may have sponsored Christian monasteries and activities in Eastern Arabia.[95] Later, her great-granddaughter, also named Hind, sponsored the Monastery of Hind the Younger near Kufa.[96]
The final Lakhmid king, Al-Nu'man III, converted to Christianity, briefly introducing Christian rule into the area.[97] His conversion is said to have been precipitated by Simeon Jabara, the bishop of Al-Hira. The Persians did not look favorably on this conversion, and made efforts to reconvert him out of his new faith.[98]
History by region
Qatar
The Chronicle of Arbela claims that a bishopric in Beth Qatraye around the year 225, but the Chronicle is likely a later forgery.[99] The first concrete evidence of a highly organized Christian presence in the region of modern-day Qatar is in the description of the synods held at Seleucia-Ctesiphon between 410 and 776, as documented in the eighth-century Synodicon Orientale. The signatory Qatari bishop of this synod was stated to have replaced an earlier bishop, pushing back the date of organized Christianity in this region to the late fourth century. The Synodicon shows that four dioceses existed in the region connected to Persia. The earliest and largest of these dioceses was Mashmahig mentioned at the 410 synod, led by the bishop Elijah (Elias). The last known "bishop and metropolitan of the land of Qaṭar" was named Thomas, who signed his name on the synod in 676. The second largest diocese, Darain was located on the island of Toduro (modern Tarout Island) and was founded during the 410 synod. It was led by the bishop Paul. The third diocese, Hajar, was founded during the Synod of 576 under Bishop Isaac. The 676 synod divided it into two, the Hajar and Hatta dioceses. During this event, Hatta became the fourth and last diocese to be founded in Qatar. Later, Isaac the Syrian (613–700), also known as Isaac of Qatar, would grow up in Qatar before he was ordained and became a monk in Iraq. Other prominent Qatari Christians born in the pre-Islamic period include Gabriel of Qatar, Abraham bar Lipeh, and Ahob of Qatar.[100][101][102]
One literary account, a seventh- or eighth-century hagiography, mentions more monasteries. The History of Mar Yawnan (or Saint Jonah) says that a monastery was constructed on the "Black Island" (likely to be Sir Bani Yas) between 343 to 346 AD.[9]
Other Gulf countries
In Oman, a diocese was established by the name of Bet-Mazunaye in the Synod of 424 under the Bishop John. It was mentioned again at the synods of 544, 576, and 767. In the mid-seventh century, the Patriarch of the Church of the East, Isho'yahb, sent a letter to Qataris wherein he described the presence of several faithful communities, including Talun, which is a now an island of Bahrain.[100] The philologist Al-Asmaʿi reported while discussing a figure named Ibn Yāmin, that the people of Yāmin were Christians in Bahrain. This accords with the Jewish or Christian etymology of their name, related to Hebrew Bīnyāmīn or Benjamin, "son of the right side."[103]
Archaeology by region
Archaeological discoveries of Christian occupation have been made across Eastern Arabia.[104][105][106] This material culture is usually dated from the sixth to ninth centuries. Unfortunately, the lack of contemporary inscriptions has presented difficulties in dating them.[100][82]
Akkaz
In 1993 a joint Kuwaiti-French expedition found a church in Akkaz (in present Kuwait) dating to the early Abbasid era. The church was in the eastern church style and is symmetrical to that of Failaka.[107][108]
Failaka
Remnants of a church, dating to perhaps as early as the 5th or 6th century as determined by the crosses that form part of the stucco decoration, were found at Al-Qusur on the Kuwaiti island of Failaka. Pottery at the site can be dated from as early as the first half of the 7th century through the 9th century.[109][110]
Kharg
Several tombs have been found decorated with distinctive Nestorian crosses on Kharg Island of Iran, located 40 km offshore from Bahrain. A monastery with a church and nearby homes for married priests have also been excavated. The floral designs in the plaster decoration of the church suggested to the excavator a date in the fifth or sixth centuries AD.[111][100] Later studies would seem to date the decorations to the end of the sixth century AD.[112] Some Syriac inscriptions have been found at Kharg.[113]
A church consisting of a walled courtyard and three rooms on the east side was found in 1986 in Jubail, the Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia.[114] Initially dated to the fourth century, its dating has been moved to the mid-seventh, although this dating is not yet universally accepted.[82][105] Cross designs were seen to have been impressed into the plaster flanking the doors of the structure. The reporter of the site did not indicate a clear date for it, but suggested that it must have been in existence for two centuries before the advent of Islam. Christian gravestones were also found at the site. At Thaj, 90 km to the west, what appears to be a smaller church or chapel, built of reused stones and perhaps dating to the fifth or sixth century, has been discovered. 10 km northeast of Thaj, at al-Hinnah, there is evidence of a Christian cemetery of ancient but unknown date.[115] A church was identified in the island of Abu 'Ali near Jubail.[116]
Jabal Berri
Not far to the South of Jubail, at Jabal Berri, three bronze crosses have been found dating possibly to the period when SassanianPersia had influence over the region.[117] Ruins of a nearby settlement suggests that a Christian community may have resided in the area.[118]
Muharraq
Old foundations of a Nestorian monastery were discovered in Samaheej, a village in Muharraq, Bahrain. Another village in Muharraq, known as Al Dair, may have facilitated a monastery, as its name translates 'cloister' or 'monastery' in Aramaic.[119]
Qasr Al Malehat
A site on the south-east coast of Qatar, near Al Wakrah, revealed the remnants of a structure purported to be a church. It was built directly on limestone bedrock and a hearth was found inside the ruins. Radiocarbon dating indicates the site was occupied in the early 7th century, and potsherds recovered from the surrounding area evidences continued occupation until the mid to late 8th century. The ceramics are consistent with those found in other Nestorian sites in the Eastern Arabia and the structure bears resemblance to the excavated church in Jubail.[120]
Umm Al Maradim
An excavation carried out in 2013 uncovered a Nestorian cross in Umm Al Maradim, a site in central Qatar. The cross is made of hard stone and measures between 3 and 4 cm. A number of hearths and potsherds were found at the site, though no structures were discovered.[121]
Umm Al Quwain
In 2022, archeologists announced the find of a monastery in Siniyah Island, off of the coast of Umm Al Quwain in the United Arab Emirates. The ruins include a monastery for prayers, a kitchen, store rooms, and living quarters for a bishop or abbot. There is a large cistern, possibly used for baptisms, and a chalices were found onside, which may have been used for communion.[86][87]
Sir Bani Yas
At Sir Bani Yas, an island off the Western coast of the United Arab Emirates, an extensive monastic and ecclesiastical complex has been found similar to that at Kharg. It is considered one of the most extensive monasteries in Eastern Arabia.[122] Excavations took place between 1993 and 1996.[122] The Sir Bani Yas church building itself was about 14 m × 4.5 m. As with other sites in the region, plaster crosses were excavated. The excavator suggests a date in the sixth or seventh century for the construction of the church.[123] The monastery contains decorative motifs that resemble ones known from Al-Hira in Iraq.[123][124]
West Arabia
Western Arabia is not mentioned in typical Christian sources,[125] leading some to question a Christian presence in the region.[126][127][128] However, sitting between two regions with major Christian populations (to the north, the Transjordan, and to the south, Himyar), and given the mobility of Arab troops, tribes, and elites, it is highly likely that Christians passed through the area.[94][129]
The Ghassanids, a major Christian Arab tribal confederation and ally of the Byzantine Empire, maintained a sphere of influence in the Hejaz, with the center of this influence at Medina.[130] One tribe that signed the Constitution of Medina may have been part of the Ghassanid confederation.[131]
The Tiran Island, an island part of modern-day Saudi Arabia, located between the Arabian Peninsula and the Sinai Peninsula, has a well-attested Christian population, including a bishop as early as the mid-fifth century, participating in church councils in the fifth and sixth centuries. In the early sixth century, Procopius attests that it became Byzantine territory, during the reign of the emperor Justinian I.[132][133]
A native Christian presence in the Hejaz has been recently established by the discovery of pre-Islamic Hejazi inscriptions and a monastery. As of 2025, pre-Islamic Christian inscriptions have been found in seven locations across Saudi Arabia.[134] The Dumat al-Jandal inscription from the Al-Jawf Province bears a cross and uses the divine epithet al-ilāh, an uncontracted form of allāh originating among Arabian Christians.[135] A second Christian inscription from the same area has now been found.[136] At least a dozen Greek Christian inscriptions, ornate with crosses, Christian names and language, were found at a pass located 17 km northwest of Hegra.[137][138][139] More speculatively, an inscription from Hegra itself mentions two individuals named "Samuel", both chief citizen of the cities of Hegra and Tayma: the name, however, could be Christian or Jewish.[140] In southern Saudi Arabia, one Christian inscription was found at Barqā al-Shāʿ.[141][142] Recently, a monastery was discovered at Kilwa, northeast of Tabuk.[29] Saba Fares believes that the Kilwa monastery was run by Syrian Christians.[143]
Some areas, like Mecca and Medina, have not been excavated, and so data available for looking for a presence of Christianity in the area is highly limited.[144] However, a few inscriptions in the immediate vicinity of Mecca (e.g., Ri al-Zallalah inscription) and Medina (e.g., FaS 7) use biblical language and expressions, including Hebrew and Aramaic loanwords unattested from Arabian inscriptions in the pre-monotheistic era, to express belief in the one Creator god, Allah. This reflects either Christian populations in the region, or a theological landscape that has been "deeply impacted" by Christianity.[145][146][147][148] One of these inscriptions is by a man known in Islamic tradition as the son of a Medinan convert to Christianity, and so himself may have been a Christian.[149]
The commonness of Christianity among the pre-Islamic poets in general is a matter of debate among historians.[150]Adi ibn Zayd was a reputed Christian poet of the sixth century. The poet Al-Nabigha, whose verses were thoroughly monotheistic and who was a court poet of the Christian Ghassanids, who praised the Ghassanids as pious Christians and likened their leadership to that of Solomon,[151][152] is familiar with and exhorts the pilgrimage at the Kaaba in Mecca.[153] In the early Islamic period, Anastasius of Sinai knew of Christians in Mecca.[154]
The Quran, the only literary source from the turn of the pre-Islamic era, documents a local Christian presence.[155][156] The Quran mentions Christian groups and beliefs[157] as well as Christian institutions and their clergy like monasteries, priests, and overseers.[158] Monks and the Christian institution of monasticism is mentioned, engaged with, and criticized, many times (Quran 5:63; 9:34; 22:40; 24:37-38; 57:27).[159]Gabriel Said Reynolds takes from this that "Muhammad knew of priests, churches, monks, monastic cells, liturgies, and monasteries".[160] Reynolds also observes that the Quran has at least a dozen biblical turns of phrase, and that they "are likely the sort of thing that entered into the Qur’an from habits of speech in a largely Christian culture".[161][162]
A source from the thirteenth century AD, probably unreliable, describes an active metropolitan bishop of the Church ofthe East based in Medina and a bishop in Souk Okaz near Mecca.[163][164]
Islamic tradition
Generally, Islamic tradition does not recognize the Christian history in Arabia, Western Arabia (the Hejaz) in particular.[a] Historians look at Islamic reports about pre-Islamic religion with suspicion, given that they often conflict with contemporary archaeological data when it is available. For example, Udhruh in southern Jordan is described as having been a Jewish site around 630 by Ibn Sa'd, but archaeological data has only found evidence of Christianity.[166] Sometimes, geographic definitions of the Hejaz were restricted to exclude Christian areas.[167]
Despite the general trend in Islamic tradition, there were exceptions. For example, Al-Ya'qubi reported that multiple individuals among the Quraysh in Mecca converted to Christianity, as well as some entire tribes elsewhere in Arabia:[168]
The Arab tribes that became Christian included some of the Quraysh, from the Banū Asad b. ʿAbd al‐ʿUzzā, one of whom was ʿUthmān b. al‐Ḥuwayrith b. Asad b. ʿAbd al‐ʿUzzā and another of whom was Waraqa b. Nawfal b. Asad. From the Banū Tamīm there were the Banū Imruʾ al‐Qays b. Zayd Manāt. From the Rabīʿa there were the Banū Taghlib. From the Yemen [that is, Yaman, the ‘southern’ Arab tribes, most of whom did not live in Yemen] there were the Ṭayyiʾ, Madhḥij, Bahrāʾ, Salīḥ, Tanūkh, Ghassān, and Lakhm.
Many other scattered reports of this nature existed, of converts to Christianity in Mecca and Medina.[169] One example concerned a certain ‘Uthman b. al-Huwayrith, who travelled from Mecca to Roman lands, converted to Christianity, and then returned, trying to convince the Meccans to submit to Roman rule and to convert alongside him.[170] Another figure, Ubayd Allah ibn Jahsh, a cousin of Muhammad, is said to have converted to Islam first, and later, converted from Islam to Christianity.[171] Another prominent Meccan, Al-Rabbab b. al-Baraʾ, abandoned his practice as a soothsayer (kāhin) to become a Christian.[171] More well-known are the ascetics and monks that Muhammad knew like Bahira, Waraqah ibn Nawfal, and Quss Ibn Sa'ida al-Iyadi.[172][58] Medinan converts included Abu ʿAmir al-Rāhib, who debated with local monks and the People of the Book and often travelled to Byzantine lands; Abu Qays, who practiced monasticism, but eventually converted to Islam; the two sons of Ansari Abu al-Husayn; and Wazr b. Sudus b. Jabir, who died a Christian. Reports also exist of Sayma al-Balqawi, a clergyman-merchant who traded with Medinans; Sayfi b. al-Aslat, a respected Christian poet of the Banu Aws; and multiple traditions of Muhammad sending out some of his followers to convert various Medinan Christians.[173] The sense of these reports is that these were first-generation converts before enough time allowed a proper Christian community to form in Mecca and Medina.[174] Ṣirma ibn Abī Anas, a Medinan poet, not said to have converted to Christianity himself, says in his verses that he spent time serving God in a church, using the Arabic word bīʿa, borrowed from Syriac biʿthā or Sabaic bʿt.[175]
According to Irfan Shahid, a significant enough number of references in Islamic sources could support a degree of Christianization of Mecca, a monastic presence in the Hejaz more broadly, and a conversion of some Arab tribes with a presence in the Hejaz to Christianity. Shahid observes that Umayyad poetry attests monks and monasteries at Midian and Wadi al-Qura, especially in the verses of the poet Kuthayyir who speaks of the "monks of Madyan" and that of Ja'far ibn Suraqa, addressing Jamil ibn Ma'mar, mentioning the "monks in the lower part of Wadi al-Qura".[176][177] Furthermore, places with Christian names in or near Mecca are named, like the "cemetery of the Christians" (maqbarat al-Naṣārā), a complex of mosques that were originally churches called "the oratories of Mary" (masājid Maryam) and "the station of the Christian" (mawqif al-Naṣrānī). Muhammad is reported to have interacted with Christian ascetics, monks, and bishops, like Bahira, Waraqa, and Quss. Shahid shows that tradition often mentions Ethiopians in the biography of Muhammad. Combined with the conversion of Ethiopia's Kingdom of Aksum to Christianity in the fourth century, Shahid deduces that these historical personages were likely Christian. Many Ethiopic loanwords appear in the Quran.[172][178] Furthermore, Shahid notes that the Banu Udhra, a nomadic tribe in the Wadi al-Qura region, converted to Christianity in the pre-Islamic period, and some of its members seem to have remained Christian in early Islamic times.[179]
I have heard that there was set up in al-Bayt (the Kaaba) a picture (timthāl) of Maryam and ʿIsa. ['Ata'] said: "Yes, there was set in it a picture of Maryam adorned (muzawwaqan); in her lap, her son ʿIsa sat adorned."
The description implies that Jesus was seated in Mary's lap, implying that it depicted the Christ Child, or Jesus when he was a baby. Jesus being seated in her lap also suggests Mary was in a seated position. This description therefore corresponds to widespread Christian imagery and iconography of the child Jesus being seated in the lap of the Virgin Mary.[180]
Central Arabia
According to Amr ibn Matta in his fourteenth century work the Book of the Towers, Christian missionaries into Arabia were "preoccupied with the kings of Kinda and the princes of Yemen".[181] The time that Christianity reached Central Arabia is not clear, but in the early sixth century, the Kingdom of Kinda, the major Arabian polity of the region, seems to have converted to Christianity, as attested by the Dayr Hind inscription. The final attestation of a Christian presence in the region is from the Islamic era, in the early ninth-century, during the reign of al-Ma'mun (r. 813–833), where a dialogue is recorded with a Central Arabian Christian who offers an argument for his faith.[182]
Architecture
Churches
In South Arabia, according to the Philostorgius (d. 439), Constantius II sent the bishop Theophilus the Indian on a missionary effort to South Arabia in the mid-4th century AD. While he did not convert the ruler, Tharan Yuhanim, he was said to have succeeded in building three churches in Zafar (the capital), Aden, and Qani'. However, archaeological evidence for Christianity in South Arabia is absent before the late fifth century. The next time churches are mentioned in the region, is from local inscriptions, describing several being burned (including at Zafar, Mokha, and Najran) during the persecution of Himyarite Christians by the king Dhu Nuwas in the early 520s. The massacre of the Christians of Najran resulted in an invasion of Himyar by the nearby Kingdom of Aksum, ruled by Ethiopian Christians. The invasion was a success, and resulted in Christian rulers being installed over the region. The first of these, Kaleb of Axum, built three churches in Zafar. His successor, Abraha, built and consecrated numerous churches, including in Marib and Hamer.[183]
Irfan Shahid has used literary sources (the Book of the Himyarites, the Martyrdom of Arethas, and the Life of Saint Gregentios), establish a tentative ecclesiastical map across South Arabia based on comments and lists that Shahid believes can be reliably accepted. Shahid points to a comment in the Book which indicates that there were many churches, widely dispersed in the area, beginning in the time of Kaleb of Aksum, when a new phase of Christian architecture was introduced into the region: the king "built many churches in the land, and appointed in them priests from those who were with him...and left notables of the Abyssinians to guard...also the churches that he had built". In the Vita, three churches are named at Zafar, the capital of Himyar: the Great Church of the Holy Trinity; the Church of the Holy Mother of God; and the Church of the Holy Apostles. Shahid has argued that one of these Zafar churches may have survived from the fourth until sixth centuries. Three churches are named for Najran: the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Life-giving Resurrection, the Church of the Holy Mother of God, and the Church of the Holy Martyrs and the Glorious Arethas. Of these, the Church of the Resurrection is likely to have been the principal church of Najran, because it is linked to an extensive ecclesiastical hierarchy including archprebysters, archdeacons, and archsubdeacons. Three are named at Qana', the main seaport of South Arabia: the Church of the Ascension; the Church of John, the Forerunner; and the Church of the Apostle Thomas. All of these churches are said to have been built by Kaleb. The number of churches, three in each of South Arabia's Christian centers and nine in all, may reflect a pattern in Kaleb's energetic efforts to ensure the Christianization of the kingdom.[184]
Multiple churches are mentioned in the Eastern Arabian or Gulf region, including the Jubail Church, and churches in Thaj and Failaka Island. The Jubail Church had a rectangular plan about 15–20 m2 and a chancel with pastophoria. Round supports on the wide walls probably helped carry a vault. The only decoration still visible are vine scrolls at the springing of the vault and crosses engraved into the pillars of the chancel area. The church at the Failaka Island was modelled off of church architecture from Mesopotamia, The building is 35 x 9 m, with a narthex, a wide central nave, and side aisles only connected to the nave through narrow arcades. The vaulted chancel was enclosed by a blank wall.[185][186]
Islamic tradition attributes to the Medinan poet Ṣirma ibn Abī Anas, albeit not a Christian himself, verses about him spending time serving God in a "church", using the Arabic word bīʿa, borrowed from Syriac biʿthā or Sabaic bʿt.[175]
Monasteries were centers of Christian scholarship, intellectual activity, and theology.[88]
In Eastern Arabia, four monasteries have been archaeologically discovered, including the Church of the East monastery on Sir Bani Yas.[2] They are also recorded, in inscriptions and literature, in South Arabia.[187] Since many bishoprics are known across Eastern Arabia, it is likely that other monasteries, churches, and cathedrals also once existed.[185]
In northwestern Arabia, in the Hejaz, a monastery has been found at Kilwa.[29]Umayyad poetry directly attests to a presence of monasteries at both Midian and Wadi al-Qura; the poet Kuthayyir speaks of the "monks of Madyan" and another, an obscure figure named Ja'far ibn Suraqa, speaking to the more famous poet Jamil ibn Ma'mar, talks of the "monks in the lower part of Wadi al-Qura".[176] A source from the thirteenth century AD, probably unreliable, describes an active metropolitan bishop of the Church ofthe East based in Medina.[163]
Syriac Christian churches may have trained and helped run these monasteries.[143][59] The practice of monasticism is criticized regularly in the Quran.[159]
The famous Al-Qalis Church was a cathedral built by Abraha at Sanaa, now the capital city of Yemen, best known from Al-Azraqi's writings about it. It was built over an earlier pagan sanctuary, and eventually become a part of the modern Great Mosque of Sanaa.[189] The bones of Christian martyrs from Najran or Zafar were placed into it, leading it to become a holy Christian pilgrimage site.[183]
Some place names at the island of Socotra, an island south of Yemen, have been suggested to be related to the Greek word for "cathedral". A church has also been discovered at the site, datable to the 7th–10th centuries.[65]
Kaaba of Najran
At the center of pilgrimage in the city of Najran was the Kaaba of Najran, first mentioned in pre-Islamic poetry attributed to Al-A'sha. Some have suggested that it was the same building as the Martyrium of Arethas mentioned in literary sources. The Kaaba was built by the Harith ibn Ka'b clan. It was a qubba (domed building), enclosed by the river Nuhairdan. According to Yaqut al-Hamawi, feasts were celebrated outside of the Kaaba's walls with singing, flowers, and drinking. Bakri says that the Kaaba was rectangular and accessible by a staircase. Ibn al-Kalbi says it was surmounted by a dome made of hides, whose construction may be analogous to the dome of Debre Dammo in Ethiopia. The dome is painted with the figures of saints gazing down from the heavens. The walls are covered with mosaics and the ceiling with gold, indicating a gilded coffered ceiling. The facade of the church is said to have been clad with marble panels like in the famous Ghumdan Palace in Sanaa.[190]
Cemeteries
A large Christian cemetery has been found at al-Hinna.[191][188] According to Islamic tradition, there was a "cemetery of the Christians" (maqbarat al-Naṣārā) at or near Mecca.[172]
Bishops and priests
Offices of bishops were established across the Arabian Peninsula between the third and sixth centuries, including in the province of Roman Arabia as early as the third century,[13] across Eastern Arabia by the fifth century,[100][13][101] and across multiple major cities in South Arabia by the late fifth and the sixth century.[33]
Byzantine Christians made special recognition of the bishops of the Arab peoples and an emphasis on reaching out to them to bring them into the religion. Bishops to the Arabs were called "bishops of the parembolai" in Greek, and "bishops of the ʿammē" in Syriac (equivalent to umam in Arabic, meaning "nations"). Theodoret of Cyrrhus urged Christians to learn the languages of these peoples in order to share Christianity with them.[192]
Liturgical languages
The Syriac language was one of the main languages used to connect Byzantine with Arab Christians. There was a special Syriac term, "bishops of the ʿammē" (nations), used for bishops sent out to, and among, the Arab peoples.[192] Syriac Christian populations lived in Beth Qatraye, a region covering large parts of Eastern Arabia. Qatrayith was their spoken language, but their written and liturgical language was Syriac.[79]
The Syriac language was also used for the Christian communities of South Arabia. The Christian community of Najran was linked with Syriac Christianity, with some Najranite clerics receiving training in Syriac monasteries.[59] The massacre of Najran's Christian community sparked outrage across the Syriac-speaking world, with numerous Syriac letters written about the events.[194] This massacre triggered a series of events, leading to an invasion by the nearby Christian Ethiopian kingdom. Abraha, one of the Christian rulers of South Arabia at this time, oriented the region's churches away from the Ethiopian sphere and into the Syriac sphere of influence.[69][3]
Sects and heresies
In earlier scholarship, it was believed that Arabia had become a refuge of heretical Christian groups that were not positively received in the rest of the Christian world. One of the main arguments cited for this has been that it would explain the unconventional Christian beliefs described by the Quran, the founding scripture of Islam that engaged with Christianity in an Arabian environment. However, in recent years, historians have moved away from this view. The Quran is no longer read as supporting the existence of Christians with heretical beliefs in Arabia, but instead, its uncharacteristic description of Christian doctrines has been understood to be a product of the rhetoric used by the Quran in its discourse and debate with Christians.[195][196][197]
The Arabs may have had occasional contact with heretical varieties of Christianity. Constantius II (r. 337–361 AD), an Arian emperor, is said to have sent missions into South Arabia.[198] Another Arian emperor, Valens (r. 364–378), wanted the Syrian-Arab queen, Mawiyya, of the Tanukhid tribal confederation, to appoint an Arian when she was making the choice for selecting a bishop for her people. However, Mawiyya refused, leading to a revolt where Valens' forces were repeatedly defeated. Mawiyya, successful, appointed a bishop of her own choosing, and married her daughter to a Roman man who adhered to the Nicene Creed, reinforcing her allegiance to the Nicene church.[199]
C. John Block has argued that the dominant variety of Christianity in South Arabia was Monophysitism, with a possible Nestorian minority, and virtually no Chalcedonians.[200]
Contact with Christians outside of Arabia
The Roman Near East had strong connections with South Arabia, attested by the many bishops sent on missions to, or to be consecrated in, the region, according to contemporary Christian sources.[57]
Many major cities in the eastern regions of the Roman Empire, north of the Arabian Peninsula, were multilingual (bilingual or trilingual), with Arabic being one of the major spoken languages. Al-Hira, the Lakhmid capital, was a meeting point between speakers of Arabic, Syriac, and Persian.[20][201] Al-Hira also controlled trans-Arabian commerce crossing from Mesopotamia into southern Arabia.[202] Another city, Petra, is also noted as a site of Aramaic-Arabic bilingualism. Of the three Paleo-Arabic inscriptions known from pre-Islamic, southern Syria, two out of three, the Zabad and Harran inscriptions, are multi-lingual with a corresponding Greek text.[203]
After Islam
Some Islamic traditions promote the idea of the expulsion of all Christians and Jews from the Arabian Peninsula, but opinions varied.[204][205] Historically, Christianity did not immediately end as a practiced religion after the rise of Islam and the early Muslim conquests, which first extended the first Islamic state in Medina to the entire Arabian Peninsula.
Christians in Eastern Arabia and Oman flourished in the seventh century with the region still producing prominent Christian intellectuals like Isaac of Qatar. Eastern Arabia's Christian community survived into the first half of the eighth century, but afterwards, significantly declined: distinct signs of Islamic governance appear in the early eighth century[206] and forced conversions begin in its second half.[207]
According to Islamic tradition, East Arabia was swiftly conquered by Al-Ala ibn al-Hadrami. After this had taken place, the local Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians were given the option to convert to Islam or to pay the poll tax (jizya). In Oman, the pre-Islamic bishopric is documented to have participated in an international Christian synod in the year 676 AD, implying its continued existence at that time. [206]
Christian sources from the 630s to 650s, primarily the letters of Ishoyahb III, the Patriarch of the Church of the East from 649 to 659, view the early conquerors as liberators from Persian rule, as praising Christianity, and even supporting the Church of the East, with Ishoyahb writing: "Not only are they not opponents of Christianity, but they even praise our faith and honor the priests and holy ones of our Lord and give assistance to the churches and monasteries".[208] Nevertheless, while not being forced to convert, Ishoyahb complains that the economic pressure of the poll tax was leading to the apostasy of "the people of Mazon" (Mazon being the name of a southeast Arabian province roughly equivalent to modern-day Oman).[209] Ishoyahb complained that the Christian community there was acting independently of the church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. His successor, Giwargis I, a Patriarch of the Church of the East from 661–680, travelled from Beth Aramaye in Iraq to Beth Qatraye to participate in a local synod at the island of Dayrin (modern-day Muharraq Island), and is said to have succeeded in the reconciliation effort.[210] In the late seventh century, caliphs Mu'awiya I and Yazid I were both seen as benevolent rulers by Christians, and through the seventh century, boundaries between being Christian and being Muslim were fuzzy, with members from both practices being willing to participate in the rituals and places of worship of one another.[211] This picture is supported by material evidence, with multiple discovered monasteries in Eastern Arabia being radiocarbon dates to the seventh to ninth centuries; in this region, churches and monasteries were allowed to be repaired, reconstructed, and built from scratch. A seventh-eighth century Christian monastery has also been found in Kilwa, in northern Saudi Arabia, with Anastasius of Sinai (d. ~700) writing about Christians in Mecca. Christianity also survived in the south, especially in Najran.[212] The Christian population of Najran may have survived until the 13th century, with reports of their expulsion by the caliph Umar being fictional.[213]
↑One source, the Book of the Towers by Amr ibn Matta, offers an explanation for this: "There was no one who preached about the Messiah in the country of Tihāma and the Ḥijāz because the apostles stopped at Najrān and went no further. They were preoccupied with the kings of Kinda and the princes of Yemen."[165]
↑ʻAzmah, ʻAziz (23 February 2017) [2014]. "Preface to Allāh". The Emergence of Islam in Late Antiquity: Allāh and His People. New York: Cambridge University Press. p.263. ISBN9781316641552. Retrieved 15 February 2025. [...] the final phases of Christianisation of the phylarchic border tribes in the erstwhile Provincia Arabia came with the formation of an ethnically Arab episcopate, and the designation by Juvenal of Jerusalem (d. 458) of a 'bishop of encampments'. But central and western Arabia were not only bordered by Christianised lands to the north. This pagan reservation was in fact surrounded by Christian polities, and populations whose Christianity was largely of indeterminate character and uncertain extent, theologically porous and minimal.
↑Cook, Michael (2024). A history of the Muslim world: from its origins to the dawn of modernity. Princeton: Princeton University Press. pp.41–42. ISBN978-0-691-23657-5. [...] Christian communities [...] did not exist in the interior of the Hijāz, around Mecca and Yathrib; in Mecca our sources mention only a few individuals who were Christians. This region was nevertheless in touch with the Christian world outside Arabia, if only through trade. The later Arabic sources lay particular emphasis on the dependence of Quraysh on trade with Syria. The claim is credible, as they may have been helping meet the apparently insatiable demand of the Roman army for leather.
↑Shatzman, Israel (2019). "The Beginning of the Roman Defensive System in Judaea". In Zeichmann, Christopher (ed.). Essential Essays for the Study of the Military in First-century: Palestine Soldiers and the New Testament Context. Pickwick Publications. p.43.
↑Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (2014). Al-Ḥīra: eine arabische Kulturmetropole im spätantiken Kontext. Islamic history and civilization. Leiden, Boston: Brill. pp.194–211. ISBN978-90-04-26024-5.
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↑Fiema, Zbigniew .T; al-Jallad, Ahmad; MacDonald, Michael C.A.; Nehmé, Laïla (2015). "Provincia Arabia: Nabataea, the Emergence of Arabic as a Written Language, and Graeco-Arabica". In Fisher, Greg (ed.). Arabs and empires before Islam. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. pp.416–417. ISBN978-0-19-965452-9.
↑Fisher, Greg (2020). Rome, Persia, and Arabia: shaping the Middle East from Pompey to Muhammad. London New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. p.90. ISBN978-0-415-72880-5.
↑Robin, Christian; al-Ghabbān, ʿAlī Ibrāhīm; al-Saʿīd, Saʿīd Fāyiz (2014). "Inscriptions antiques de la région de Najran (Arabie Séoudite meridionale): nouveaux jalons pour l'histoire de l'écriture, de la langue et du calendrier Arabes". Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions & Belles-Lettres. pp.1033–1128.
↑Gajda, Iwona (2009). Le royaume de Ḥimyar à l'époque monothéiste. L'histoire de l'Arabie du Sud ancienne de la fin du IVe siècle de l'ère chrétienne jusqu'à l'avènement de l'Islam. Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. pp.249–250.
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↑Monferrer Sala, Juan Pedro (2010). Redefining History on Pre-Islamic Accounts: The Arabic Recension of the Martyrs of Najrān. Gorgias Press. pp.23–32.
↑Bowersock, G. W. (2012). Empires in collision in late antiquity. The Menahem Stern Jerusalem lectures. Waltham, Mass: Brandeis University Press. p.24. ISBN978-1-61168-320-2.
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↑Potts, Daniel T. (2004). The Arabian Gulf in antiquity. 2: From Alexander the Great to the coming of Islam (Reprinteded.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. p.241. ISBN978-0-19-814391-8.
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↑Calvet 1998, p.674. sfn error: no target: CITEREFCalvet1998 (help)
↑Shoemaker, Stephen J. (2022). Creating the Qur'an: a historical-critical study. Oakland, California: University of California Press. pp.245–254. ISBN978-0-520-38903-8.
↑Hawting, G. R. (1999). The idea of idolatry and the emergence of Islam: from polemic to history. Cambridge University Press. pp.15–16. ISBN978-0-521-65165-3.
↑Villeneuve, François (2018). "The Greek inscriptions at al-ʿArniyyāt and Umm Jadhāyidh". In Nehmé, Laila (ed.). The Darb al-Bakrah. A Caravan Route in North-West Arabia Discovered by Ali I. al-Ghabban. Catalogue of the Inscriptions. Riyadh: Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage. pp.285–292.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
↑Tesei, Tommaso (2021). "The Qurʾān(s) in Context(s)". Journal Asiatique: 189.
↑Zellentin, Holger (2016). "Aḥbār and Ruhbān: Religious Leaders in the Qurʾān in Dialogue with Christian and Rabbinic Literature". In Neuwirth, Angelika; Sells, Michael (eds.). Qurʼanic studies today. Routledge studies in the Qurʼān. London New York (N.Y.): Routledge, Taylor & Francis group. pp.258–289. ISBN978-1-138-18195-3.
↑Salles, J.‐Fr. et al. (2013). Les Églises de Koweit et du Golfe Persique. In Fr. Briquel Chatonnet, Les églises en monde syriaque, Collection Études Syriaques 10. Paris: Paul Geuthner, pp. 237–268.
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