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Pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions refer to inscriptions (writings inscribed on stone or other hard surfaces) from pre-Islamic Arabia, or the Arabian Peninsula prior to the origins of Islam in the early seventh century. These inscriptions are a major source for learning about the history and culture of this region and period. Over 65,000 pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions have already been discovered from surfaces ranging from stone, metal, pottery, and wood, demonstrating high rates of literacy among both nomadic and settled populations.

Pre-Islamic inscriptions can be categorized into one of two types: graffiti, which are "self-authored personal expressions written in a public space", and monumental inscriptions, which are inscriptions whose creation would have been commissioned to serve an official role. Both served a public role. Unlike modern graffiti, the graffiti described in the study of pre-Islamic inscriptions are usually signed (as opposed to being anonymous) and were not used for an illicit or subversive purpose. Graffiti are usually just scratchings on the surface of rock, but both graffiti and monumental inscriptions could be produced by painting, or the use of a chisel, charcoal, brush, or the use of other methods. Inscriptions are typically lapidary (as opposed to portable) and engraved (instead of painted).

There are three scripts represented in pre-Islamic inscriptions: Ancient South Arabian (ASA), Ancient North Arabian (ANA), and Nabataean. Despite the prevalence of each script in different times, all but the Nabataean tradition died out by the sixth century. Furthermore, it is now widely accepted that the Nabataean script is the precursor of the Arabic script through a Nabataean Arabic transitional phase. The Arabic language itself is first attested in inscriptions from the early first millennium BC (in cuneiform). The pre-Islamic phase of the Arabic language is called Old Arabic and inscriptions in this Arabic were primarily written down in the following scripts: Safaitic, Hismaic, Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean Arabic, Paleo-Arabic. In addition, a handful of Arabic inscriptions are known in the Greek, Dadanitic, and Ancient South Arabian scripts.

Certain challenges exist in studying pre-Islamic Arabia with inscriptions. First, not all communities expressed themselves through a culture of inscribing their writings on rock. Second, the content of inscriptions is often formulaic. Nevertheless, many formula were used and the phrasings become formula (widely employed) because they help encode the beliefs and attitudes of the authors. Third, inscriptions can be destroyed by weather or human activity. Therefore, inscriptions known today may not be a full representation of those originally created.

Scripts

There are three scripts that were used to write down pre-Islamic inscriptions:

1. Ancient South Arabian (ASA): includes Sabaic, Minaic, Qatabanic, and Ḥaḍramitic
2. Ancient North Arabian (ANA): includes all South Semitic scripts not covered by ASA, such as Taymanitic or Thamudic B
3. Nabataean

The ASA script was written in one of two forms, known as the monumental and the minuscule form. The monumental form was created on hard surfaces (as proper inscriptions) such as bronze or rock. The minuscule form was created on perishable surfaces like palm-bark or sticks (examples of these were only discovered in recent years from South Arabia). More perishable surfaces were the ones utilized for day-to-day documents. Unlike ASA, ANA is not a homogeneous group. The designation refers to a wide number of scripts representing many languages which have yet to be properly classified and distinguished.

See also

• Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry

References

Citations

1. MacDonald 2015, p. 1.
2. Al-Jallad 2022, p. 7.
3. MacDonald 2015, p. 3.
4. MacDonald 2015, p. 3–4.
5. Lindstedt 2023, p. 12–14.
6. Donner 2022, p. 1–7.
7. Al-Jallad 2020, p. 37–38.
8. Lindstedt 2023, p. 11–12.
9. Donner 2022, p. 1–4.
10. MacDonald 2015, p. 2.
11. Al-Jallad 2020b, p. 112–113.

Sources

• Al-Jallad, Ahmad (2020). "Pre-Islamic Arabic" (PDF). In Lucas, Christopher; Manfredi, Stefano (eds.). Arabic and contact-induced change. Language Science Press. pp. 37–55.
• Al-Jallad, Ahmad (2020b). "The Linguistic Landscape of pre-Islamic Arabia: Context for the Qur'an". In Shah, Mustafa; Haleem, Muhammad Abdel (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Qur'anic Studies. Language Science Press. pp. 111–127.
• Al-Jallad, Ahmad (2022). The Religion and Rituals of the Nomads of Pre-Islamic Arabia: A Reconstruction Based on the Safaitic Inscriptions. Brill.
• Donner, Fred (2022). "Scripts and Scripture in Late Antique Arabia: An Overview". In Donner, Fred; Hasselbach-Andee, Rebecca (eds.). Scripts and Scripture: Writing and Religion in Arabia circa 500–700 CE. Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures. pp. 1–15.
• Lindstedt, Ilkka (2023). Muhammad and His Followers in Context: The Religious Map of Late Antique Arabia. Brill.
• MacDonald, Michael C.A. (2015). "On the Uses of Writing in Ancient Arabia and the Role of Palaeography in Studying Them". Arabian Epigraphic Notes. 1: 1–50.

External links

• DASI (Digital Archive for the Study of pre-Islamic Arabian Inscriptions)
• DiCoNab (The Digital Corpus of the Nabataean and Developing Arabic Inscriptions)
• OCIANA (Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia)

• Epigraphy
• Inscriptions by region
• Pre-Islamic Arabia
• Pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions