Are there any Arabic manuscripts that predate Islam/the Quran?

by Adelsdorfer

I have tried googling this question and haven't been able to find anything substantial. I read somewhere that Arabs only had oral traditions before Islam and didn't write anything. But I have also heard that they wrote down poetry and there were some Arabic-speaking Kingdoms in Norther Arabia. So, are there any Manuscripts/relics with an Arabic script that are older than the Quran? (Oldest Quranic manuscript being from 549-671)

thank you

thither_and_yon

There are a number of inscriptions in Arabic written in the Nabatean and other early scripts that predate Islam, largely carved in rock on tombs. Several of these are explicitly Christian. However, only five are in (early versions of) the actual Arabic script. It’s undoubtedly true that papyrus manuscripts also existed in this period - this is not what a rock-carvings-only script looks like, for one thing (too curvy) - but none have survived. The oldest surviving Arabic language, Arabic alphabet manuscript is a receipt from the Islamic era. Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry could have been written down - the technology existed - but we have no evidence that it was, and lots of evidence for a primarily oral culture.