This book delves into the political and cultural developments of pre-Islamic Arabia, focusing on the religious attitudes of the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula and its northern extension into the Syrian desert. Between the third and the seventh century, Arabia was on the edge of three great empires (Iran, Rome and Aksūm) and at the centre of a lucrative network of trade routes. Valentina Grasso offers an interpretative framework which contextualizes the choice of Arabian elites to become Jewish sympathisers and/or convert to Christianity and Islam by probing the mobilization of faith in the shaping of Arabian identities. For the first time the Arabians of the period are granted autonomy from marginalizing (mostly Western) narratives framing them as 'barbarians' inhabiting the fringes of Rome and Iran and/or deterministic analyses in which they are depicted retrospectively as exemplified by the Muslims' definition of the period as Jāhilīyah, 'ignorance'.

Winner, 2023 Choice Awards

‘[A] wonderful exploration of a neglected area of late antiquity studies. It is this rarity that makes this work immensely important. … Essential.’

J. Tucci Source: Choice

‘Grasso’s monograph is an original contribution to the study of late antique Arabia, with emphasis on the political function of monotheism and the building of an identity of the Arabs. … It is outstanding in its ready adaptation of historical theories, interdisciplinary approach, and abundance of material. … the work is helpful for both academic and non-academic readers in providing a comprehensive list of primary sources and indicating many meaningful theoretical developments in the scholarship of Late Antiquity and Early Islam.’

Yiqing Li Source: Orientalistische Literaturzeitung