Before the rise of Islam, the prevalent regions of Arabia were idol worshiping, Judaism, and Christianity.
Idol Worshiping:
Most of the Arabs of the region followed Prophet Ismail and his religion. However, over a period of time, they forgot his teachings but they still kept the fundamental belief of the Oneness of God. Up until when a leader of the Khuzaa tribe “Amr Bin Luhai” came back from a Syrian trip. Khuzaa tribe ruled Makkah before Quraysh. Amr saw people worship idols during that trip and he got an inclination toward it. He placed an idol in Kaaba which he brought from Syria and asked people to worship it. Soon enough paganism (idol worshipping) spread all over Makkah and a great many idols, bearing different names, were introduced into the area.
The people of Makkah invited all tribes across Arabia to place their idols in the Kaaba, meaning all of the gods that were worshipped in Arabia were now collected in one place. This gave Makkah and its people enormous power. At its peak, there were as many as 360 idols in the Kaaba which Prophet Muhammad destroyed.
Judaism:
Jews started to arrive from Palestine to Arabia after they were expelled by Babylonian king Bukhtanassar. He destroyed Solomon's Temple (Prophet Sulaiman AS) and exiled the Jews. Most of the Jews settled in and around Medina. Some of these Jews tribes became very affluent in Medina. Judaism spread and prospered in Yemen. One of the Jewish king from Yemen “Yusuf Dhu Nawas” rose to power, attacked the Christian community in Najran and ordered them to embrace Judaism. When they refused, he ordered that a pit of fire be dug and all the Christians indiscriminately are dropped to burn therein. Estimates say that between 20-40 thousand Christians were killed in that human massacre. This story is mentioned in Quran in Surah Al-Burooj.
Yemenite Jews even today make up an important portion of Israel’s population.
Christianity:
Christianity was first introduced to Arabia by Abyssinian (Ethiopians) and Romans. The Abyssinian forces along with Christian missions entered Yemen as a retaliatory reaction to the bad behavior of Yusuf Dhu Nawas” and started vehemently to propagate their faith.
Najran fell and many Christians were killed. Abraha who was an army general of Aksum Empire fought a war against Dhun Nawas. Abraha conquered Yemen and Dhun Nawas died by suicide when he drowned himself in the Red Sea. Abraha promoted Christianity in Arabia where Judaism and Paganism were prevalent. He built a great Church in Sana’a in competition to the Kaab’a in Makkah. Follwing picture is remains of his Church.
