The pre-Islamic Arabia was famous for its poetry which had reached its pinnacle during the time of the Prophet^(P). Louis Cheikho's aim for collecting the poetry was to show that the Qur'ân had the origins in Jahiliyyah (Pre-Islamic) poetry. But what is remarkable is that the poetry which he collected resulted in the opposite conclusion!

At the beginning of this century, the Jesuit fathers of Beirut did extensive research on this (the Christian influence in Jahiliyyah) subject order to determine the role of "Christian Poets of Jahiliyya". The research resulted only in a literary composition, which has had the remarkable and unexpected result of proving the contrary of what the authors intended. Neither in pre-Islamic Mecca nor in its surrounding area, was there any record of a monotheistic cultural centre which could have disseminated the Biblical thought that we find expressed in the Holy Qur'ân.^[1]

An observation from the point of view of Islamic traditions had been made by Richard Bell quite a long time ago. He says:

...in spite of traditions to the effect that the picture of Jesus was found on one of the pillars of Ka'aba, there is no good evidence of any seats of Christianity in the Hijaz or in the near neighbourhood of Makkah or even of Madina.^[2]

The New Catholic Encyclopaedia confirms that during the time of the Muhammad^(P)

The Hijaz [Arabian peninsula] had not been touched by Christian preaching. Hence organisation of the Christian church was neither to be expected nor found.^[3]