₦airaland Forum

1. Can you provide a reference to at least one of these pre-Islamic records?

2. Himyarite Sabaic inscriptions reflect exclusive monotheism with no references to pagan gods is more than likely a reference to the Jews among the Sabaens of the time. Yes, many Jews lived among them and introduced monotheism to the Sabean religion landscape. That does not, however, suggest that all Sabeans worshipped one deity. There are still records of Sabean polytheism that exist to this day. 🥱 🥱

3. There is no record of such a sect ever existing before those words were printed in Mohammed's Quran. 🥱

@Explore2xmore

Kobojunkie:
1. Can you provide a reference to at least one of these pre-Islamic records?

2. Himyarite Sabaic inscriptions reflect exclusive monotheism with no references to pagan gods is more than likely a reference to the Jews among the Sabaens of the time. Yes, many Jews lived among them and introduced monotheism to the Sabean religion landscape. That does not, however, suggest that all Sabeans worshipped one deity. There are still records of Sabean polytheism that exist to this day. 🥱 🥱

3. There is no record of such a sect ever existing before those words were printed in Mohammed's Quran. 🥱

@Explore2xmore

The Qur'an's description of Abraham as a hanif is not merely a historical label but signifies an existential commitment to exclusive devotion to one God and the rejection of idols. This commitment persisted in Arabia. Epigraphic evidence from the 4th to 6th centuries CE reveals that Arabs were invoking a singular, universal deity Rahmanan, Lord of Heaven and Earth in their native language, without references to Judaism or Christianity as there are no Hebrew divine names (YHWH, Elohim), nor Trinitarian expressions (Hoyland, Arabia and the Arabs, 2001, pp. 161–165).

This indicates a sustained monotheistic inclination in Arabia that existed independently of synagogues or churches. Islam did not originate this orientation; rather, it identified, revived, and organized it, linking it back to Abraham as its archetype. The continuity is more about existential experience than institutional structures: the same attitude toward God submitting without intermediaries recurs throughout history in various contexts.[/quote]The Qur'an's description of Abraham as a hanif is not merely a historical label but signifies an existential commitment to exclusive devotion to one God and the rejection of idols. This commitment persisted in Arabia. Epigraphic evidence from the 4th to 6th centuries CE reveals that Arabs were invoking a singular, universal deity Rahmanan, Lord of Heaven and Earth in their native language, without references to Judaism or Christianity as there are no Hebrew divine names (YHWH, Elohim), nor Trinitarian expressions (Hoyland, Arabia and the Arabs, 2001, pp. 161–165).

This indicates a sustained monotheistic inclination in Arabia that existed independently of synagogues or churches. Islam did not originate this orientation; rather, it identified, revived, and organized it, linking it back to Abraham as its archetype. The continuity is more about existential experience than institutional structures: the same attitude toward God submitting without intermediaries recurs throughout history in various contexts.

No existing Jewish sources mention Ezra being worshipped, but this absence does not contradict Qur’an 9:30; it merely highlights the limitations of surviving records. The Qur’an may refer to a localized, extinct, or misunderstood belief known in Arabia but lost to history considering how many ancient sects left no evidence behind. A lack of corroboration does not equal disproof, and the verse stands as a theological assertion rather than a claim reliant on later Jewish documentation.

Explore2xmore:
➜The Qur'an's description of Abraham as a hanif is not merely a historical label but signifies an existential commitment to exclusive devotion to one God and the rejection of idols. This commitment persisted in Arabia. Epigraphic evidence from the 4th to 6th centuries CE reveals that Arabs were invoking a singular, universal deity Rahmanan, Lord of Heaven and Earth in their native language, without references to Judaism or Christianity
➜ as there are no Hebrew divine names (YHWH, Elohim), nor Trinitarian expressions (Hoyland, Arabia and the Arabs, 2001, pp. 161–165).
➜ This indicates a sustained monotheistic inclination in Arabia that existed independently of synagogues or churches. Islam did not originate this orientation; rather, it identified, revived, and organized it, linking it back to Abraham as its archetype. The continuity is more about existential experience than institutional structures: the same attitude toward God submitting without intermediaries recurs throughout history in various contexts...

1. Please provide a reference for your claim here regarding this universal deity "Rahmanan" that isn't linked to Judaism or Christianity.

2. I read the pages indicated of the book, Arabia and the Arabs by R. Hoyland, and nothing of what you claim is mentioned in there. Rather, those pages assure the reader that polytheism was the way among the Arabs an visitors were expected to honor the traditions and festivals surrounding the worship of said gods. In particular, those pages highlight hajj that were made to certain locations during which a truce would exist — for periods lasting approximately a month — so people could peacefully worship, pay homage to the gods, and socialize.
Pages 139 -145 discuss the culture of worship of various gods that was common among the Arabs of the time, too. No mention of Hanif.

3. I am interested in evidence, not a lecture! 🥱🥱

The book is named Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam by Robert G. Hoyland

Kobojunkie:
1. Please provide a reference for your claim here regarding this universal deity "Rahmanan" that isn't linked to Judaism or Christianity.

2. I read the pages indicated of the book, Arabia and the Arabs by R. Hoyland, and nothing of what you claim is mentioned in there. Rather, those pages assure the reader that polytheism was the way among the Arabs an visitors were expected to honor the traditions and festivals surrounding the worship of said gods. In particular, those pages highlight hajj that were made to certain locations during which a truce would exist — for periods lasting approximately a month — so people could peacefully worship, pay homage to the gods, and socialize.
Pages 139 -145 discuss the culture of worship of various gods that was common among the Arabs of the time, too. No mention of Hanif.

3. I am interested in evidence, not a lecture! 🥱🥱

Hoyland, Arabia and the Arabs (2001), pages 146-147. I mistakenly cited pages 161-165 (polytheism) instead which discuss the monotheistic shift to the Merciful...Lord of heaven and earth.

Gajda, Le royaume de Himyar (2009), pages 115, 226-231.

CIH 6 is a physical artifact that has been catalogued.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIH_6

Can you find one Himyarite monotheistic inscription that uses Hebrew or Christian divine names?