Arab Jews - Jews of Arabia Before Islam

Jews of Arabia Before Islam

Jewish populations have existed in the Arabian Peninsula since before Islam; in the north where they were connected to the Jewish populations of the Levant and Iraq, in the Ihsaa' coastal plains, and in the south, i.e. in Yemen.

While Jewish populations around the world as far as India and Ethiopia have always claimed descent from the twelve tribes of Israel, it is unclear whether all or some of the Jewish populations of Arabia did have such an ancestry, or were locals who have adopted Judaism as a faith, or mixtures of both cases.