ABSTRACT
From what has emerged in the preceding paragraphs, the religious conditions among the Arabs in antiquity acquire new interest. The Arabs appear as a segment of society in Arabia, sharing many features of life-style and economy with other inhabitants of that area. Their distinctive features are not found in their way of living as nomads or shepherds, but in certain more subtle characteristics differentiating them from ordinary nomads and shepherds. In the same way, it cannot be assumed that a general description of what we know about religion in pre-Islamic Arabia will give us a true picture of the religious customs of the Arabs. We have now seen that there are strong indications that the Arabs in antiquity were indeed a group with a special status, expressed in features very possibly linked to religious concepts: initiation and taboos manifest in outer signs. The question must be: is there any hint that the Arabs, as they appear in this investigation, did have a cult of their own distinguished from that of the other inhabitants of Arabia? Did they have their own gods or did they have a special relationship to some of the gods worshipped in Arabia?
