Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia

Arabian goddesses Al-Lat, Manat, Al-Uzza

Alabaster-carved votive figurines from Yemen, now located in the National Museum of Oriental Art in the city of Rome

Gilded statue of the Canaanite creator god El (c. 1400–1200 BC) from the site of Tel Megiddo. El is considered to be the cognate of the word "Ilah" and continues to appear in compound names like Gabriel, Michael, Azrael, Israel, Ishmael, Samuel and Raphael.

In pre-Islamic Arabia, the dominant religious practice was that of Arab polytheism, which was based on the veneration of various deities and spirits, such as the god Hubal and the goddesses al-Lāt, al-‘Uzzā, and Manāt. Worship was centred on local shrines and temples, like the Kaaba in Mecca and the Temple of Awwam in Yemen. Deities were venerated and invoked through pilgrimages, divination, and ritual sacrifice, among other traditions. Many of the physical descriptions of the pre-Islamic gods and goddesses are traced to idols, especially near the Kaaba, which is said to have contained up to 360 of them.

Other religions, especially Christianity and Judaism, were also represented in the region, especially in the fourth to seventh centuries. The influence of the Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Aksum enabled the nurturing of Christian communities in northwestern, northeastern, and southern Arabia. In the other areas of the Arabian Peninsula, Christianity did not have as much of a presence, though it did secure some converts, and with the exception of Nestorianism in the northeast and around the Persian Gulf, the dominant form of the religion was Miaphysitism. Since the beginning of the Roman era, Jewish migration into Arabia had become increasingly frequent, resulting in the establishment of a prominent Jewish diaspora community, which was supplemented by local converts. Over time, Judaism formed large communities throughout southern Arabia and the northwestern Hejaz.

The influence of Persian empires, including the Parthians and Sasanians, aided a limited spread of Zoroastrianism, especially in Eastern and South Arabia. It is speculated that Zoroastrianism may have been practiced by some inhabitants of the Himyarite Kingdom, which was home to a mixed Arab–Persian community called al-Abnāʾ in Arabic. Tentative evidence may also support a presence of Manichaeism or Mazdakism in parts of the peninsula.