ARABIA IS THE largest peninsula on the map of the world. The Arabs call it Jazirat al-‘Arab, [1] which means the ‘Island of Arabia,’ although it is not an island, being surrounded by water on three sides only. Lying in the south-east of Asia, the land which was known to the Greeks as the Persian Gulf is to its east; the Indian Ocean marks the southern limits; and to its west is the Red Sea, which Arabs call Sinus Arabicus or the Arabian Gulf by the Greeks and Romans, and Bahr Qulzum by the ancient Arabs. The northern border is what the Arabs believed to be an imaginary line drawn from the Gulf of ‘Aqabah in the Red Sea to the mouth of the Euphrates. [2]
The Muslim geographers have divided the country into four regions: (1) Hijaz extends from Ayilah (‘Aqabah) to Yemen and has been so named because the range of mountains running parallel to the western coast separates the low coastal belt of Tihamah from Najd; (2) Tihamah inside the inner range is a plateau extending to the frontiers of this; (3) Yemen, south of Hijaz, occupies the south-west corner of Arabia; (4) Said, ancient home of the Sabaeans, is the most mountainous region of Hijaz; in the west to the deserts of Bahrain in the east and encompasses a number of deserts and mountain ranges; (5) ‘Arūd which is bounded by Bahrayn to its east and Hijāz to its west. The area lying between Yemen and Najd was also known as Yamāmah.[3]
THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE
Nine-tenths of Arabia is made up of barren desert, making it one of the driest and hottest regions of the world. The geological and physical features of the land, along with its climatic conditions, have kept its population, in the days gone by and also in the present time, to a minimum and hindered the flowering of civilized communities and empires. The nomadic life of the desert tribes, the rugged individualism of the people, and the unrestrained tribal conflict limited the settled population to the areas with sufficient rainfall, or where water surfaced to the land in the form of springs or ponds, or was found near the surface of the earth. The Bedouins would dig deep wells in the ground. The way of life in Arabia was, so to speak, dictated by the availability of water. Nomadic tribes continually roamed the desert in search of water. Wherever verdant land was found, the tribes would go seeking pastures without being bound to the land like the tillers of the soil. They would stay over a pasture or oasis so long as they could graze their flocks of sheep, goats, and camels, before breaking up their camps to search out new pastures.
Life in the desert was hard and filled with danger. The Bedouin felt bound to the family and to the clan, on which his existence in the arid desert depended; loyalty to the tribe meant the same lifelong alliance for him as others feel for their nation and state. Life was unstable and vagrant; like the desert, the Bedouin knew neither ease nor comfort, and understood only the language of power and might. He knew no moral code-no legal or religious sanction-nothing save the traditional sentiment of his own tribe and the tribe’s honor. In short, it was a life that always brought about hardship and trouble for him, and sowed the seeds of danger for the neighboring sedentary populations.
The desert tribes of Arabia were continually engaged in endless strife amongst themselves or made incursions into the settled lands around them. At the same time, the Arabs displayed a boundless loyalty to their tribes and traditions, were magnanimously hospitable, honored the treaties, were faithful friends, and dutifully met the obligations of tribal customs. All these traits of the Arab character are amply illustrated in their forceful and elegant literature, both in prose and poetry, proverbs, fables, metaphors, and similes.
The Arab was thus a born democrat, individualistic and freedom-loving, practical-minded and a realist, active and straight-thinking, and would shrink from doing anything deemed vulgar or indecent. Not only was the Bedouin content with his nomadic life and the frugal demands it made upon him, but he also felt satisfied with, or even proud of, his migratory existence, for it fulfilled his passionate desire for freedom. The Bedouin was lukewarm to spiritual impulses, although he was absolutely loyal to the ancient traditions of his tribe. The fundamental virtues of an Arab consisted of courage, loyalty, and generosity, and were derived from the concept of ‘mūrūwwah’ or manliness. He was never tired of singing its praises in odes and orations.
CULTURAL CENTRES
In places where there were sufficient periodic rains or water was available in wells or springs, settlements would spring up, or the nomads would gather during seasonal fairs and festivals. While such get-togethers exerted a civilizing influence on the life of the Bedouin, the agricultural settlements reflected their specific characteristics depending on climatic conditions and the economic and occupational features of the sedentary population. Accordingly, Makkah had a distinct cultural development, unlike other settlements like Yathrib and Ḥīrah, which had their own distinguishing cultural features. Yemen was culturally the most developed region in the country, owing to its long history and political developments in the recent past. Because of its suitable climate, Yemen had made rapid strides in the cultivation of cereals, animal husbandry, quarrying of minerals, and the construction of forts and palaces. It had commercial relations with Iraq, Syria, and Africa, and imported the various commodities it needed.
ETHNIC DIVISIONS
Arab historians, as well as old traditions of the land, hold that the people of Arabia can be categorized into three broad divisions. The first of these were the Arab Bā’idah (extinct Arabs) who populated the country but ceased to exist well before the advent of Islam. The next were the Arab Āribah (Arabian Arabs) or Banū Qaḥṭān, who replaced the Arab Bā’idah, and the third were the Arab Mustā’ribah (Arabised Arabs) or the progeny of Ishmael, who settled in Ḥijāz. The line of demarcation drawn according to the racial division of the Arab stock makes a distinction between those descended from Qaḥṭān and ʿAdnān; the former are held to be Yemenites or southern Arabs, while the latter had settled in Ḥijāz. Arab genealogists further divide the ʿAdnān into two sub-groups, which they term as Rabīʿah and Muḍar. There had been a marked rivalry from the distant past between the Qaḥṭān and the ʿAdnān, just as the Rabīʿah and the Muḍar had been hostile to each other. However, the historians trace the origin of the Qaḥṭān to a more distant past from which the ʿAdnān branched off at a later time [4], and they learned the Arabic vernacular from the former. It is held that the ʿAdnān were the offspring of Ishmael (Ismāʿīl), who settled in Ḥijāz after naturalization.
Arab genealogists give great weight to these racial classifications, which also find a confirmation in the attitude of Iranians in the olden times. The Iranian General Rustam had admonished his courtiers, who had derided Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah and looked down upon him for presenting himself as the envoy of Muslims in tattered clothes. Rustam had then said to his counselors: ‘You are all fools. The Arabs give little importance to their dress and food but are vigilant about their lineage and family.’ [5]
LINGUISTIC UNITY
Multiplicity of dialects and languages would not have been at all surprising in a country so immense as Arabia (actually, equal to a sub-continent), divided into north and south, not only by the trackless desert, but also by the rivalry of kindred races and clannish patriotism of a passionate, chauvinistic type, affording but little opportunity for intermixing and unification of the country’s population. The tribes living in the frontier regions close to the Iranian and Byzantine empires were, quite naturally, open to influences of alien elements. Similar factors gave birth to numerous languages in Europe and the Indian subcontinent. In India alone, fifteen languages have been officially recognized by the Constitution of India, while there are still people who have to speak in an official language other than their own mother tongue or take recourse to English to be understood by others.
But the Arabian Peninsula has had a common language ever since the rise of Islam, despite its vastness and proliferation of tribes. Arabic has been the language of Bedouins living in the deserts as well as of the sedentary and cultured populations like the Qaḥṭān and ʿAdnān. Some local variations in the dialects of various regions arising from differences of tones and accents, wide distances, and diversity of physical and geographical conditions could not be helped. Yet, there has always been a linguistic uniformity which made the Qur’ān intelligible to all. It was also helpful in the rapid diffusion of Islam to the far-flung tribes of Arabia.
ARABIA IN ANCIENT HISTORY
Archaeological excavations show the existence of human habitation in Arabia during the earliest period of the Stone Age. These earliest remains pertain to the Acheulean period of the Paleolithic epoch. The people of Arabia mentioned in the Old Testament throw light on the relations between the Arabs and ancient Hebrews between 750 and 200 BC. Similarly, the Talmud also refers to the Arabs. Josephus (c. 37-100) gives some valuable historical and geographical details about the Arabs and Nabataeans. [6] There are many more Greek and Latin writings from the pre-Islamic era that enumerate the tribes living in the Peninsula, providing their geographical locations and historical details. Although these writings contain mistakes and inconsistencies, they are invaluable sources of information about ancient Arabia. Alexandria was also one of those important commercial centers of antiquity that had taken a keen interest in collecting data about Arabia, its people, and the commodities produced in that country for commercial purposes.
The first classical writers to mention the Arabs in Greek literature were Aeschylus (525-465 BC) and Herodotus (484-425 BC). Several other writers of the classical period have left an account of Arabia and its inhabitants. Among these, Claudius Ptolemaeus of Alexandria was an eminent geographer of the second century, whose Almagest occupied an important place in the curriculum of Arabic schools. Christian sources also contain considerable details about Arabia during the pre-Islamic and early Islamic era, although these were primarily written to describe Christianity and its missionary activities in that country.
The numerous references made to the “Ereb” [7] in the Old Testament are synonymous with the nomadic tribes of Arabia since the word means desert in Semitic, and the characteristics of the people described therein apply to the Bedouins. Similarly, the Arabs mentioned in the writings of the Greeks and Romans, as well as in the New Testament, were Bedouins who used to make plundering raids on the frontier towns of the Roman and Byzantine empires, despoiled the caravans, and imposed extortionate charges on the traders and wayfarers passing through their territories.
Diodorus Siculus, a classical writer of Sicily in the second half of the first century BC, affirms that the Arabs are “self-reliant and independence-loving, like to live in the open desert and highly prize and value their liberty.” [8] The Greek historian Herodotus (484-425 BC) also makes a similar remark about them. “They revolt against every power,” he says, ‘which seeks to control their freedom or demean them.’ [9] The passionate attachment of the Arabs to their personal freedom was admired by almost all the Greek and Latin writers.
The acquaintance of the Arabs with the Indians and their commercial and cultural relations with India began in the days long before the advent of Islam and their conquest of India. Modern research on the subject shows that of all the Asiatic countries, India was closest to Arabia and well-acquainted with it. [10]
EARLIER REVEALED RELIGIONS OF ARABIA
Arabia had been the birthplace of several prophets of God in the bygone days. The Qur’ān says:
And make mention (O Muhammad) of the brother of ‘Âd when he warned his folk among the wind-curved sandhills-and verily warners came and went before and after him-saying: Serve none but Allah. Lo! I fear for you the doom of a tremendous Day. [11]
Prophet Hūd [12] was sent to the ‘Âd, a people, according to historians, belonging to the Arab Bā’idah who lived in a vast area to the south-west of ar-Rub’ al-Khāli (the Empty Quarter) near Hadramawt, an area which is now a tract of white or reddish sand blown into hill banks or dunes and covering. Although this region has no habitation and is devoid of the breath of life, in ancient times it was a verdant land, flourishing with towns inhabited by a people of strength and stature. The entire area was laid to waste by a fearsome and roaring wind that covered it with sand dunes. [13]
The Qur’anic verse quoted above shows that the Prophet Hūd was not the only messenger of God sent to the ancient Arabs of this area, as many more “warners came and went before him.”
Şālih [14] was another Arabian prophet sent to the people called Thamūd who lived in Al-Ijr situated between Tabūk and Hijaz. Prophet Ismā’il was brought up in Makkah, and he died in the same city. If we extend the frontiers of the Arabian peninsula northwards to include Madyan on the borders of Syria, Prophet Shu’ayb [15] would also be reckoned as an Arabian prophet. The historian Abu ‘l-Fida’ says that Madyanites (or people of Madyan) were Arabs, living in Madyan near Ma’ān, which is adjacent to the Sea of Lūṭ (the Dead Sea) in Syria on the frontier of Ḥijāz. The Madyanites flourished after the downfall of the people of Lūṭ. [16]
Ancient Arabia had been the cradle of many a civilized and flourishing people to whom God had sent His apostles. However, all of them were either destroyed due to their evil ways, became strangers in their own homeland, or were forced to seek new homes. The prophets of God, born in lands far away, had sometimes to seek refuge in Arabia from the despotic kings of their own lands. Ibrāhīm³ (Abraham) migrated to Makkah, and Moses⁴ had to flee to Madyan. Followers of other religions, too, had sought shelter in Arabia. The Jews, persecuted by the Romans, settled in Yemen and Yathrib, while several Christian sects, harassed by the Byzantine Emperors, had migrated to Najrān. [17]
***
[1] The word has been commonly used since ancient times because, in those days, no distinction was made between a peninsula and an island; however, separate words were used to denote the two. Certain scholars have tried to prove that Arabia is an island in the modern geographical sense, for instance, in the Tarikh al-Umam al-Islamiyah of ‘Allamah Khurq, but their argument requires that one stretch the sense of the term and move the borders of the peninsula so far away from its present limits.
[2] The author has relied heavily on Dawi Said Abu al-Hasan al-Baladhuri, Ak-Mussafi fi Tarikh al-Arab qablal Islam (vol 1-9).
[3] This geographical division of the country is attributed to ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbās.
[4] Some modern experts hold the view that the ʿAdnān are really the Arab ʿĀribah and form the original stock. Others who disagree with this view plead that the division made by earlier historians is based on the classifications made by authorities belonging to Qaḥṭān or the Yemenite stock after the advent of Islam and not before it.
[5] Ibn Kathīr, Al-Bidāyah wa’n-Nihāyah, vol. VIII, p. 40.
[6] Especially in the Jewish Antiquities edition. S. A. Naber (Leipzig, 1888).
[7] Is. 21:13, 13:20, and Jer. 3:2.
[8] Bibliotheca Historica, Book II, Chap. 1, §. 5.
[9] Herodotus, History, Book III, Chap. 88.
[10] For details, see ‘Arab awr Hind ke Tā’alluqât by S. Sulaymān Nadwi.
[11] Qur’ān 46:21.
[12] Recognized by some as Heber of the Bible (Judges iv-1).
[13] For details, see the chapter” The Reality” in the Qur’ān.
[14] Identified by some as Salah (Genesis xi-13).
[15] Identified with Jethro.
[16] Stories of the Prophets by Shaykh Abd al-Wahhab an-Najjar.
[17] For further details, see vol. 1 of Khātam an-Nabīyyin by Shaykh Muhammad Abu Zahrā’.
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