Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

arabian religious traditions 685
The Christianization of the Roman empire in the fourth century opened
the way for the large-scale spread of the faith along and beyond the empire’s
frontiers, including Arabia. 45 Along the Syrian desert fringe from the Red Sea
to the Euphrates, it spread to the Arab tribes via monasteries and wandering
missionaries, primarily Monophysite. In some cases, as with the Taghlib and
Ghassān, entire tribes converted; tribal settlements such as al-Jābiya and
Jāsim, south of Damascus, became ecclesiastical centres too. These tribes
were familiar with at least basic observances, yet remained completely within
Arab tribal culture as well. 46 Along the Iraqi frontier the spread of Christianity
was somewhat slower, perhaps because a network of Nestorian monasteries
in the area took longer to appear than had been the case among the
Monophysites. 47 Still, al-H · īra, the Lakhmid base, was the seat of a bishopric
by a.d. 410. 48 Further south, there were major Christian communities at such
centres as Najrān and S · an�ā�, and small ecclesiastical outposts along the
Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf. In such centres, specifically Monophysite
or Nestorian forms of Christianity were practised, but elsewhere the Arab
tribesman’s main contact with the faith was via individual monks and hermits,
and there confessional boundaries may have been less sharply drawn. 49
Other currents influenced by Judaism and Christianity remained distinct
from both. These trends revolved around two notions: that of a ‘high god’,
and a belief in what was called h · anīfīya. Little can be said about belief in a
‘high god’ in ancient Arabia, apart from the fact that, as elsewhere in the
Near East, 50 some held that a god called Allāh held a certain dignity and
status above the other deities of the Arabian pantheon and was extolled as
a deity to whom one could turn in case of particular need. 51 On h · anīfīya
there is more information. 52 The Qur�ān makes it the religion of Abraham
and associates it, on the one hand, with belief in a single God and, on the
other, with rejection of idolatry and repudiation of worship of the sun,
moon and stars. In particular, and most importantly, it reflects not the pragmatic
attitude toward religion described above, in which the individual worships
his god(s) in expectation of services with respect to worldly needs
beyond his control, but rather a submissive devotion to and faith in God
for his own sake. H · anīfīya is also distinct from Christianity and Judaism; in
several passages its adherent (a h · anīf ) is equated with a Muslim, and in one
variant to the Qur�ānic text h · anīfīya replaces Islam as the ‘true religion’. 53
45 For an overview, see Charles (1936); Trimingham (1979).
46 For a valuable anthology of the verse of early Arab Christian poets, see Cheikho (1890). Cf. also
Conrad (1994) 30, 31, 51. 47 Cf. Brock (1982). 48 Synodicon orientale 36.
49 On the Qur�ānic evidence, see Ahrens (1930); Michaud (1960); Parrinder (1965); Bowman (1967);
Robinson (1991). The relevant Qur�ānic verses, with the commentaries from many tafsīrs, are assembled
in Abū Wandī et al. (1996). 50 Teixidor (1977) 17, 161–2.
51 Watt (1979); Welch (1979); Rubin (1981).
52 For differing interpretations, see Gibb (1962); Rubin (1990); Rippin (1991).
53 Jeffery (1937) 32, ad Sūrat Āl �Imrān (3), v. 19; �Arberry, 47.
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