From Marib to Mecca

The book includes scientific translations of a selected list of the most prominent studies by Western anthropologists and travelers in Yemen on the ancient pagan remains that continue in the modern era. The studies combine field documentation of unknown popular practices, archaeological work by studying inscriptions and monuments, and comparison with the Arab and Islamic heritage, in light of the common Semitic traditions. The phenomena studied varied between the remains of pagan rituals, annual celebrations, the remains of linguistic terms, religious ideas, sexual customs, and architectural structures, which correspond to what is in the Yemeni inscriptions and monuments, and the remains of social and economic systems that influenced the form of early Islam and continued to live in popular religiosity. These studies reveal the role of ancient Yemen in Islam and the usefulness of employing antiquities and folklore in Islamic studies.