| Part of themyth series on Religions of the ancient Near East |
| Pre-Islamic Arabian deities |
|---|
| Arabian deities of other Semitic origins |
Raḥmānān (Musnad: 𐩧𐩢𐩣𐩬𐩬 rḥmnn, "the Merciful") was anepithet and theonym predominantly used to refer to asingular, monotheistic God from the fourth to sixth centuries inSouth Arabia (though the term originates much earlier in Syria), beginning when the ruling class of theHimyarite Kingdom converted to Judaism and replacing invocations to polytheistic religions. The term may have also been monolatrous until the arrival of Christianity in the mid-sixth century.
During the reign of the ChristianHimyarite kingSumyafa Ashwa,Jesus was referred to as the son ofRaḥmānān. A few decades later, during the reign ofAbraha, Jesus was also described as theMessiah ofRaḥmānān.
The rootr-ḥ-m and its derivative words, originally referring not to a deity but just the notion of mercy, appears inAkkadian (sometimes an epithet for the godNinurta),Hebrew (occurring in theHebrew Bible),Old Aramaic (especially as an epithet for theMesopotamian godHadad), in addition to many other dialects of post-biblical Aramaic includingSamaritan Aramaic,Christian Palestinian Aramaic,Palmyrene Aramaic, the Aramaic dialects of theBabylonian Talmud and thePalestinian Talmud (as the term appears in these texts too), andSyriac. It can be shown that Syriac was not the dialect of Aramaic through which the root reachedSouth Arabia.[1]
The South Arabian root is currently considered a loan fromJewish Aramaic. The form Rahmanan, as it appears in the South Arabian language known asSabaic, is also widely agreed to be the source of the Arabic formal-Raḥmān, especially as both forms use the definite article (al- in Arabic,-an in Sabaic). Both therefore translate to "The Merciful".[2][3][4]
The earliest known usage of the term is found in a polytheistic bilingual inscription from northeastern Syria written inAkkadian andAramaic dedicated to theAramean godHadad. In Aramaic, it reads:‘lh. rḥmn zy. tṣlwth. ṭbh; "merciful god to whom prayer is sweet." The Akkadian version uses the formrēmēnȗ in the place ofrḥmn, a title that was also used as an epithet forMarduk. Worship of the "Merciful One" (rḥmnn), under Mesopotamian cultural influence, became widespread in Syria in the first centuries AD.[5]
When the ruling class ofHimyar converted toJudaism in the fourth century, public inscriptions began to only mention one singular god. The name of this singular god, from the mid-5th century onwards, isRaḥmānān, "The Merciful".[4] The South Arabian high god Rahmanan may have evolved fromKahl, who had already gradually begun assimilating monotheistic characteristics between the 1st and 3rd centuries, partly attested in the 3rd-centurySabaic poemZaid Inan 11.[6] Rahmanan's new role as the sole deity of Himyar is attested in several inscriptions:[5]
Ry 515: Bythe Merciful, Lord of the Jews
Ry 520: 4 ... For their Lord / 5theMerciful, Master of Heaven, so that he grant to him and his spouses / 6 and to his children,the Merciful, to live a life of justice, and to / 7 die a death of justice. And thatthe Merciful grant to him children / 8 who are healthy who will fight for the name ofthe Merciful...
Rahmanan received epithets like "Lord of the Jews", "Lord of Heaven", "Masters of Heaven and Earth", and is often also associated with people who have biblical names. People prayed to Rahmanan for a just life, children, and to have their prayers answered. After the Himyarite Kingdom fell to theChristianKingdom of Aksum, Rahmanan continues to be used as the name for the monotheistic God in Christian inscriptions, sometimes in a Trinitarian context, such as inRy 506, theMarib Dam inscription (CIH 541), and theJabal Dabub inscription.[5] The Jabal Dabub inscription, in particular, attests a pre-Islamic version of theBasmala.[7]
Two names of God are used in the inscriptionsJa 1028 and Ry 515:Rb-hwd b-Rḥmnn, 'Lord of the Jews by/with Rahmanan', andRb-hd b-Mḥmd: 'Lord of Jews by / with the Praised'. They are connected by the prepositionb-, implying that the two gods are one entity. The two deities may have been distinguished, or syncretized.[8] Evidence from another inscription, CIH 543, may suggest that the two are separate entities.[9] According to this interpretation, Himyar practiced monolatry, and distinguished their own high god (Rahmanan) from the high god of Israel. One hypothesis holds that local Jews would have equated Rahmanan with the biblical God, whereas immigrant Jews would have seen Rahmanan as a local god to be invoked alongside the God of Israel. After the conquest of Himyar by the Kingdom of Aksum, the term was solely used to refer to the one biblical God.[2]
Rahmanan is mentioned 58 times in surviving Late Sabaic inscriptions, none of which have evidence of being pagan or polytheistic.[2] Himyaritic epigraphy also sometimes uses the term synonymously withʾl andʾlh.[10] The phraseal-Raḥmān appears in putative pre-Islamic poetry as a synonym withAllāh, but it is unclear if these appearances represent later Islamicization.[11]
Around 530 AD, South Arabia fell under the rule of the ChristianAksumite Kingdom. During this period, the nameRaḥmānān begins to be used in Christian inscriptions, especially as a component ofTrinitarian formulas.[4]
TheQuran frequently uses the termal-Raḥmān to refer to "the Merciful One". The entry of the termal-Raḥmān intoOld Arabic likely predates the Quran, as there is at least somepre-Islamic poetry using the phrase that appears to be authentic.[12] Although Rahmanan was once its own name for the deity in South Arabia, and is sometimes used as such in the Quran, by its final redaction it had become an adjective modifying the word "God" as "the merciful".[13]
The lengthier Quranic phraseal-rahman al-rahim ("The Merciful, the Compassionate") is likely related to Himyaritic inscriptions referring torahmanan metrahim (with the same meaning). One example may be found in theJabal Dabub inscription, which opens with reads "in the name of Allah, al-Rahman, al-Rahim, Lord of the heavens".[14]
Tradition holds that during negotiations for theTreaty of al-Hudaybiya betweenMuhammad (representing the state of Medina) and theQuraysh (representing Mecca), the Qurayshi emissarySuhayl ibn Amr demanded that Muhammad remove the oath "in the name of Allāh, al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm" from the written agreement, as for him, it would have represented an acquiescence to monotheistic practice. In its place, Suhayl said that the phrase "In thy Name O God" should be used, representing a generic oath for the highest god that was still compatible with notions of practice that were not strictly monotheistic. Though his followers objected, Muhammad agreed to the compromise.[2]