Rahmanism

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The term Rahmanism (from old South Arabic rḥmn-n “the merciful”) denotes one or more monotheistic religions that replaced the polytheistic old South Arabian religion since the 4th century AD . Since the naming of a monotheistic God appears as the only known characteristic, it cannot be determined whether Rahmanism was a uniform religion and whether it can then be identified with another monotheistic religion.

Since the 2nd half of the 4th century, inscriptions in old South Arabic increasingly invoke “the Merciful” ( old South Arabic rḥmn-n ) and “the Lord of heaven and earth”. Some inscriptions as well as archaeologically proven synagogues show that Judaism has played an important role in southern Arabia since the 4th century , but it is not clear whether all Rahmanistic inscriptions of this time can be interpreted as Jewish; It is also conceivable that Rahmanism also comprised its own, autochthonous monotheistic religion. There are clear indications of Christians in southern Arabia at the beginning of the 6th century, when a Christian community in the city of Najran was the victim of a politically motivated persecution of Christians by the Jewish king Yusuf Asʾar Yathʾar . The Christian Aksumite Empire then invaded southern Arabia and established Christianity as the official religion until it was replaced by Islam in 632. A Christian community was recorded in Najran until the 13th century and on Socotra as late as the 16th century ; Jewish communities still exist today (see Judaism in Yemen ).

literature

  • AFL Beeston: Studies in the History of Arabia. Vol. II, Pre-Islamic Arabia. Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Studies of Arabia, 13th-19th April 1979. Riyad 1984, pp. 149 ff.
  • Iwona Gajda: Le royaume de Ḥimyar à l'époque monothéiste. L'histoire de l'Arabie ancienne de la fin du ive siècle de l'ère chrétienne jusqu'à l'avènement de l'Islam . Paris 2009.
  • Christian Robin: Himyar et Israël. In: Académie des inscriptions et belles lettres (ed.): Comptes-rendus des séances de l'année 2004. 148/2, Paris 2004, pp. 831–901.
  • Walter W. Müller: Art. Himyar. In: Real Lexicon for Antiquity and Christianity . Vol. 15, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-7772-5006-6 , Sp. 303–331 (extensive presentation of South Arabian Christianity).