SABEISM. – The term applied in older treatises to the religion of the pre-Islamic Arabs, especially those of the southern region, where as early as the first millennium B.C. the kingdoms of the Mineans, Sabaeans, Qatabanians, and Hadramites appear; among these, the kingdom of the Sabaeans came to assume a predominant position in the 3rd century A.D.
The pantheon of these Arabs consisted, not exclusively but predominantly, of astral deities: ‘Attar, the planet Venus (Istar of the Babylonians, Astarte of the Canaanites); Šams, the sun (Šamaš of the Babylonians); the moon, Wadd among the Mineans, Ilumquh among the Sabaeans, Sin in Hadramut, identical with the Babylonian moon god. In northern Arabia the great female deity is Allāt, to be identified with the sun; al-‘Uzzā, the most powerful, to be identified with the planet Venus in its two aspects, the morning star (Phosphoros, Azizos) and the evening star (Hesperos, Monimos); whereas the lunar cult is lacking among the northern Arabs. It would be an exaggeration to reduce the entire pantheon of southern Arabia to the god of Venus, the moon god, and the goddess of fortune. Certainly they held a predominant position there.
Nor is mention lacking of various ba‘als, i.e., local protective deities of a place or tribe. Of great importance is the mention of Allah, extended to all Arabs, in accordance with the root common to the entire Semitic pantheon (Ilum of the Akkadians, El of the Canaanites, ‘Elōah and ‘Elōhīm of the Hebrews). Theophoric names, abundant in southern Arabia, reveal the concept that the Sabaeans and Yemenites had of the deity, as seen in the appellations of father, lord, king, powerful one, just one, steadfast one, radiant one.