Before Islam: When Saudi Arabia Was a Jewish Kingdom

Haaretz ^ | Mar 15, 2016 | Ariel David

[nickcarraway]

The discovery of the oldest-known pre-Islamic Arabic writing in Saudi Arabia, from ca. 470 CE, evidently caused some consternation, given its Christian and Jewish context.

In 2014, researchers from a French-Saudi expedition studying rock inscriptions in southern Saudi Arabia announced they had discovered what could be the oldest texts written in the Arabic alphabet. But they did so very quietly, perhaps because the context of the texts is something of an embarrassment to some.

The dozen or so engravings had been carved into the soft sandstone of the mountain passes around Bir Hima – a site about 100 kilometers north of the city of Najran, which over millennia has been plastered with thousands of inscriptions by passing travelers and officials. Conveniently, at least two of the early Arabic petroglyphs that were discovered cited dates in an ancient calendar, and expert epigraphists quickly calculated that the oldest one corresponded to the year 469 or 470 CE.

The discovery was sensational: the earliest ancient inscriptions using this pre-Islamic stage of Arabic script had been dated at least half a century later, and had all been found in Syria, which had suggested that the alphabet used to write the Koran had been developed far from the birthplace of Islam and its prophet.

Yet the announcement of the discovery was subdued. A few outlets in the French and Arab media tersely summarized the news, hailing the text as the “missing link” between Arabic and the earlier alphabets used previously in the region, such as Nabatean. Most of the articles were accompanied by stock photos of archaeological sites or other ancient inscriptions: it is almost impossible to find a picture of the inscription online or a reference to the actual content of the text.

Thawban son of Malik, the Christian

[Stepan12]

Ok, so Israel trades “Palestine” for Saudia Arabia, and everything’s fair and square.

Sounds like a sticky wicket to me. Especially considering the relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia right now. Are they frenemies?

[Albion Wilde]

bump

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

The whole earth is God’s. Some souped-up moon god and his worshipers are irrelevant.

[jackal7163]

Well, Yemen was a Jewish kingdom as the whole population had converted. After 1400 years of occupation by Islam, there are less than 50 left in Yemen. My great grandparents walked across the desert to then Palestine and freedom. Look up the wars between Jewish Yemen and Christian Ethiopia. Both were weakened which allowed Mohammed to take over...

[VanShuyten]

for later

[AdmSmith]

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/archaeology/.premium-1.709010?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[wardaddy]

I agree CE?

And the title is a bit off from the content

[wardaddy]

You are

I’ve known Jews in every corner of the world

Israeli youth left in droves in the 70s too and settled in boho locales all over

Other groups do this too

Chinese obviously and ironically what the world refers to as Palestinian and Lebanese and Syrian Christians

Some groups go where opportunity and freedom is

[Capt. Tom]

Well, Yemen was a Jewish kingdom as the whole population had converted.

My post was about the area we call today Saudi Arabia.
It is not about Yemen , Syria etc.- Tom

Before I actually got into studying what Islam was about I did some research on that Area we now call Saudi Arabia, before Islam.

[free_life]

Thanks for posting

[2ndDivisionVet]

Interesting.