Ahmad Al-Jallad is a philologist, epigraphist, and historian of language. His work focuses on the languages, writing systems, history, and cultures of pre-Islamic Arabia and the ancient Near East.

The past several years have witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of documented Paleo-Arabic inscriptions from the Ḥigāz, ranging from the region of Tabūk to Ṭāʾif. Many of these texts contain substantial content that shed light on the religious background of their authors. The aim of this talk is to bring this material in conversation with the Quran and early literary sources to bring us towards an evidence-based reconstruction of the religious landscape of the Ḥigāz on the eve of Islam.