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ICHAPTERl

1
ARABIA BEFORE ISLAM
GEOGRAPHY OF ARABIA
The great Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was born in Arabia. So, to understand the History of Islam, one has to be acquainted with the nature of the land of the country and its people. Arabia occupied a unique position with regard to the continents of Asia, Africa and Europe. It is situated in Asia, yet nothing but the narrow Red Sea divides it from Africa, whilst one has only to cross the Suez Canal to be in the Mediterranean Sea and Europe. It is thus almost the centre of the three continents and yet stands apart from all of them. It is surrounded by water on all sides except a narrow strip of land on the north. It has the Red Sea in the west, the Indian Ocean in the south and the south-east, the Persian Gulf and the Euphrates on the northeast. The Arabs call it Jazirat-ul-Arab which literally means the Arabian Island. Yet this land surrounded by water on all sides except the north has no rivers of its own. Most of, it is an uninviting place, unfriendly too, from the physical point of view For miles around there appears to be no end to barren hills, no end to the glittering, blazing desert; no respite from the fiery heat except for the few green places which abound in palm and water and provided rest to the wandering tribes of the Arabs. The streams are few and seldom reach the sea. Most of them come to life only swelled by occasional rains and disappear in the sandy plains.
According to Hitti, ”Arabia is the south-western peninsula of Asia the largest peninsula on the map of the world. But its total population is estimated at eight million only about one million of whom, live in al-Hijaz, two and a half in al-Yaman, two and a half in Najad and its dependencies, al-Hasa and al-Jawf one million and half

32
Political and Cultural History of Islam

Arabia Before Islam
33
1 Mahra, but as articles of commerce they are now of virtually no value. Among animals the camel occupies a place analogous to that of the date palm among plants. The vast majority of Bedouins depend on the camel above all other material possessions. Along with camels most of the nomads keep sheep and goats, though not in great flocks like those of the northern steppes. Sheep and goats are valued for their milk, fleece, and skins.4 THE ANCESTORS OF THE ARABS
The Arabs are the descendants of Hazrat Noah. The races which have peopled in Arabia are divided into three sections:
(1) ArabBaida
(2) Arab A’rabia
(3) Arab Mustariba (1) Arab Baida
Arab Baida were all descendants of Laz son of Sam, son of Hazrat Noah. They have been divided into tribes, the names of which are:
(1) A’d (2) Samud
(3) Umaim (4) Abail
(5) Jurham (6) Ainalaqa
(7) Hadarmaut (8) Tasm
(9) Hadur (10) Judais
(11) AbdZakham
According to Dictionary of Islam, ”Arab Baida, are the old ”lost-Arabs”, of whom tradition has preserved the names of several tribes as well as some memorable particulars regarding their extinction.” According to the different accounts, the most famous of the extinct tribes were those of A’d, Samud, Jadis and Tasm, all descended in the third or fourth generation from Sam. A’d, the father of his tribe, settled, according to tradition in the Great Desert of alAhqaf soon after the confusion of tongues. Of the Adites and their succeeding princes, nothing certain is known, except that they were dispersed or destroyed in the course of a few centuries* by the sovereigns of Yaman. The tribes of Tasm and Jadis settled between Makkah and Medina.