Quote Originally Posted by J.Alco
I'd like to thank Geoffrey S for answering point no.3. When you say that research would be influenced by nationalist/ethnic interpretations, What do you mean exactly? That the research would be biased from day 1 and would not construct the most accurate picture of the religion? Or that the research would be used for a particular group's agenda?
Well, what interest remains in 'smaller' religions is largely confined either to academics or to people in the direct area where such religions dominate(d) and their ties to modern ethnicities/groups inside larger nations. Living religions generate more general interest outside such groups, and while I wouldn't say it's less biased (far from it!) that does mean a larger amount of views and interpretations are available.

That said, pre-Christian and pre-Islamic religions in the Middle East and Arabia certainly have been researched, in particular their effect on said religions; mainly the effect of the various forms of Christianity on the formation of Islam. Just that it's not likely to be mainstream.