Page 10 - Christianity among the Arabs

RELIGION ONLINE

East of the Euphrates: Early Christianity in Asia
by T.V. Philip

Christianity Among the Arabs

J. Spencer Trimingham (J. Spencer Trimingham, Christianity Among the Arabs in Pre-
Islamic Times, London, Longman, 1979) points out that we should discard the notion
that until the Muslim Arab expansion in the seventh century, the Arabs lived mainly in
the Arabian Peninsula and that the term Arab meant camel nomads. Even before the
emergence of Islam, the Arabs were found in all the regions beyond the northern
border in Syria and Palestine, Mesopotamia and Babylon, and even in western Persia.
They intermingled with the Aramaic speaking peoples of the region and spoke
Aramaic. Some were cultivators of the land and some were nomads, while some lived
in cities. When Christianity spread to Syria and Persia, there is no doubt that some of
the Arabs also became Christians. Unlike the Greeks, the Aramean Christians showed
no interest in metaphysics as an end in itself. They were concerned with a joyful
transformation of life within the world accomplished through the possession of the
Holy Spirit. For them the Lord is a spirit and salvation in Christ meant victory over the
powers of the evil spirits. The deserts were the abode of such demonic spirits.
Trimingham says that the conversions of many Arab leaders came about through their
deliverance from the possessive spirits or the cure of maladies caused by the spirits.
For example, a number of nomad Arabs in the valley of the Euphrates accepted
Christianity because they were attracted to the Christian faith by the power which the
Christian monks and hermits exercised over the evil spirits in the name of Jesus." (Ibid.,
p.128.)
There were a number of small independent buffer States between Rome and Parthia
and several of them were of Arab tribes. There were Christians among them. According
to Trimingham, the ruler of Edessa, king Abgar who became a Christian, was of Arab
origin. Two of the important Arab tribes which lived between Persia and the Roman
empire with whom the great powers maintained relationships were Banu Ghasan on
the Syrian frontier and Banu Hira on the Persian frontier. In course of time Banu Ghasan
became a strong Monophysite stronghold. Not all Banu Hira were Christians but
several clans among them were Nestorian Christians.

It is very difficult to say when and how exactly Christianity came to peninsular Arabia;
through Arab Christians from the north or through Persian missionaries or through
Christian traders from Persia or through Christian immigrants. It might have been
through all these means. There were three important trade routes to Arabia
connecting it to Persia, Syria and Egypt. It is important to note that it was along these
trade routes that Christian centres developed. Several historians have suggested that
the most important mode of entrance had been by emigration of Christians from
Persia at the time of persecution, particularly in the latter part of the reign of Shapur 11