@omalam @BholeVenator @therealignis @AlanSmith8859 @bin_ibadh Fair enough, this is also definitely why there is room for things to turn out different.
As to Safaitic: I'm not saying no Arab speakers were ever pagan. Safaitic writers were clearly pagan and they indeed invoke many different Gods (and hardly ever Allah).

@omalam @BholeVenator @therealignis @AlanSmith8859 @bin_ibadh In other words: there can be no doubt about Safaitic that they were pagan. It's perfectly obvious from the epigraphic record. But we are talking about Arabic speakers seven centuries before Islam, in Jordan. Totally different time, place and context!

@omalam @BholeVenator @therealignis @AlanSmith8859 @bin_ibadh The great kingdoms of South Arabia (who, mind you, did not speak or write Arabic! But a group of very different languages) were indeed at one point before Christ clearly pagan, as is once again obvious from their inscriptions in a way it isn't in Hijazi inscriptions.

@omalam @BholeVenator @therealignis @AlanSmith8859 @bin_ibadh But by the time we get to the 7th century, they have been monotheistic in one way or the other for centuries. Which is indeed perfectly clear from their inscriptions. There are Jewish, Christian and more vaguely monotheistic (Rahman invoking) inscriptions.

@omalam @BholeVenator @therealignis @AlanSmith8859 @bin_ibadh Once we get really close to the 7th century, around Najran we start seeing Arabic inscription in the Arabic script. Every single one that has any sign of of religious affiliation in that region is clearly Christian.