Pre-Islamic Arabia

Pre-Islamic Arabia refers to the history of the Arabian Peninsula up to the proclamation of Islam by the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century.

Understand


Before the rise of Islam, Arabia was home to nomadic Bedouin tribes as well as emerging civilizations and kingdoms that were in close contact and traded with Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Mediterranean, the Horn of Africa and India. In the early centuries CE, northwest and northeast Arabia were subsumed under the Roman and Persian Empires respectively. The Arabian kingdoms that were involved in the lucrative trade networks in frankincense, myrrh and other spices prospered and amassed great amounts of wealth.

The rise of Islam was marked by the Islamic Golden Age.