3 Pre Islamic Arabia

According to Arabist scholar Alfred Guillaume it is probable that the first Jews in
Arabia came in Cir. 722 B.C. when the Assyrians invaded Israel and carried them away
to Mesopotamia.1 Therefore they settled in Arabia in connection with the fall of Samaria
in 722 B.C. Guillaume is also certain that "in the first and second centuries A.D., Arabia
offered a near asylum" to the Jews who had been victimized by the "utterly ruthless"
Romans.

Numbers of Jewish and Christian settlements were established in different parts of
Arabia, both spreading Aramaic and Hellenistic culture. Christianity had already been
introduced into Southern Arabia and was flourishing by the time of Muhammad. The
heretical works such as the gospel of Barnabus was present there and were flourishing by
the time of Muhammad. The chief southern Arabian Christian centre was in Najran,
where a relatively advanced political life was developed. Jews and Judaized Arabs were
everywhere, especially in Yathrib, later renamed Medina.