ABSTRACT
Arabia in general and the Hijaz in particular are regions where both polytheistic and monotheistic beliefs and practices are attested before Islam. In connection with the Arabic sources one must mention the originally oral Arabic poetry that is attributed to the pre-Islamic era even if it was collected in the first centuries of Islam. To show how at a loss the Islamic-era Arabic literary evidence can sometimes be, one needs only to consider the linguistic situation of pre-Islamic Arabia. There is a sizeable secondary literature on pre-Islamic Arabian tribal groups. The main religious currents in Arabia were forms of Christianity, Judaism, polytheism and, to a much lesser degree, Mazdaism. The main powers in and around Arabia were the Byzantine Empire, Sasanian Persia, the kingdom of Axum in Ethiopia, and the kingdom of Himyar in Yemen, all of which wielded influence at times on different parts of Arabia.
