Place
The peninsula where Islam began, in which Jews, Christians and idol-worshippers lived before the Quran.
What it means
Arabia before Islam was not simply pagan. Jewish tribes lived in Medina and Khaybar, and Christians in Najran, Yemen and along the northern borders. The Himyarite kingdom in the south was ruled by Jewish kings in the early sixth century and then conquered by Christian Abyssinians. Inscriptions in the south from the fifth and sixth centuries use Raḥmānān, “the Merciful”, as a name of God in monotheist, Jewish and Christian contexts.
What the sources say
This is how the Quran could address its audience as people who knew of Moses and Jesus, and why it speaks of a God known to them as “al-Rahman”. The Quran says its audience used to say “who is the Merciful?” (25:60) when told to prostrate to Him, which suggests unfamiliarity with the form for some, but not with the idea of a God above.