We often hear from Muslims that Muhammad and his early followers were descended from the Ishmaelites. Obviously Islam doesn’t come on the scene until the 7th century. We don’t know much about Arabia prior to Islam. Most of our information comes from secondary accounts and modern day archeology.
The 7th century wasn’t the first time an army from Arabia invaded the Roman Empire. In the late 4th century, Queen Mania of Arabia had an army and invaded the Roman Empire. We read about this in Sozmen’s Ecclesiastical history. In Book 6, Chapter 38 we read about the Ishmaelites(also called Saracens):
Such being their origin, they practice circumcision like the Jews, refrain from the use of pork, and observe many other Jewish rites and customs. If, indeed, they deviate in any respect from the observances of that nation, it must be ascribed to the lapse of time, and to their intercourse with the neighboring nations.
This is a fascinating comparison between people in Arabia in the 4th century and the Muslims who emerged during the 7th century. Sozomen doesn’t say that they follow every Jewish custom, just some. This is very compatible with Islam.
It then goes on to say that some of the Saracens were converted to Christianity through interaction with priests and monks. So not everything in Arabia was one hundred percent like 7th century Islam. What do we see in Arabia though. We see people who identify as Ishmaelites. We see them engaging in some Jewish practices but not all. We also see Christianity present among them. Arabia certainly had Christian communities. According to the early Islamic sources, Najran had a Catholic Christian community.
When we read the Quran it’s clear that Muhammad had influence from sources outside of the orthodox Christian tradition. He clearly drew on heretical and gnostic sources as is evidenced by several stories in the Quran. Although they’re not mentioned by Sozomen here, it’s not unreasonable to think that some of these people made it into Arabia. After all, the Roman Empire wasn’t in Arabia so it couldn’t enforce the orthodoxy of the ecumenical councils.
We don’t hear anything about Mecca or Yathrib(later Medina). We don’t hear about people waiting for a Paraclete or a prophet named Ahmad. Still, this is obviously a consistent milieu with what we get in the 7th century. Obviously the Christianity that existed in Arabia would be wiped out by Muhammad and his zealous followers when they consolidated power in Arabia. Either way, it’s interesting to read about it. Here’s the link if you want to read it yourself:
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/26026.htm
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