Scientists have concluded that the oldest Arabic inscription found in Saudi Arabia is dated to 470 AD. e., refers to the Christian context and predates the arrival of Islam.
It is reported that in December 2015, researchers from the French-Saudi expedition, after examining rock carvings in southern Saudi Arabia, eventually published a 100-page report.
It said that the oldest Arabic text found in Saudi Arabia was adorned with a Christian cross. The same cross appears systematically on other similar stelae dating from about the same period.
The discovery is sensational because it shows that the origin of the Arabic alphabet used to write the Qur'an belongs to a Christian context.
This pre-Islamic alphabet is also called Nabataean Arabic because it evolved from the Nabataeans, a once powerful nation that built Petra and dominated trade routes in the South Levant and North Arabia before being annexed by the Romans in the early 2nd century.
The ancient text is the legacy of a once thriving Christian community in the area, also associated with the rise of the ancient Jewish kingdom that ruled over much of what is today Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
However, Islamic texts do not mention the numerous Christian and Jewish communities throughout the Saudi Peninsula that flourished during the time of Muhammad.
Recent research into the work of ancient Christians and Muslim records has changed the perception of the societies that existed in the region and shed new light on the complex history before Islam.
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