ABSTRACT
The quest for understanding ourselves and the world we live in is universal among all human beings. In this study, however, our concern will be mainly with the developments that occurred in the East Mediterranean region, especially in the Arabian Peninsula and its fertile peripheries. The East Mediterranean region is the home of the ancient civilisations of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece (Rome), and of the Semitic peoples and their Scriptures (the Hebrew Bible, the Gospels and the Qur’an). Several centres of civilisation formed in this region in ancient times, centres which appear on the surface to be somewhat separate but which in fact were sufficiently connected so as to allow the intimate flow of information and of people, making it possible to regard them as something of a unit. This characteristic helped keep lit the torch of seeking knowledge. When the torch was extinguished in one or more of the other neighbouring centres of civilisations, it continued to shine in the remaining ones. It must be stressed, however, that the region was not completely isolated from developments in the quest for the meaning of life that occurred in other parts of the world, in particular India. We shall note some of these influences later on. In this part we are mainly interested in the evolution of the concept of the deity and its relationship with mankind up to the appearance of the Qur’an. This period will be divided into two interpenetrating eras: () the era preceding the appearance of the Scriptures (from ancient times up to about the beginning of the first millennium BCE when the practice of religion was predominantly based on non-exclusive worship and was mainly polytheistic); and (2) the period that witnessed the rise of the Scriptures (up to the seventh century CE). The latter period witnessed the spread of positive preaching of a particular
worldview or belief (generally monotheistic) usually across communal boundaries. Compare, however, the discussion of the ‘axial’ period by Hick, who describes the transition state between an archial (pre-axial) period terminating at about 800 BCE and a post-axial period beginning about 200 BCE, and the fluid nature of this demarcation.2
