Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

Economic Conditions
The land of Arabia was barren. There were no agricultural and mineral products. The Arabs in general were economically depressed. They earned tl.Jr livelihood by tending cattle. The Arabs had to wander from one placs to another in search of green pastures. In their nomadic life camel played an important role and as ”a ship of the desert” brought about great change • i.i their wanderings.
According to Abdul Hameed Siddiqui, ”Before the recent gush of oil and the gold thtt it has brought, the Arabs were living a life of extreme poverty. Their soil was poor; and constant tilling enabled them to wring onl> a precarious substance.” They earn their livelihood either by rearing camels, horses, cattle and sheep pitching their tents within certain limits where water and pasturage were most abundant, or they were engaged in the transport of merchandise along the trading routes through the desert.18 M. Mazheruddin Sidiqui described the commercial activities of the Arabs in these words, ”The pre-Islamic Arabs were the carriers of the international trade of the time. Arabia was famous for its spices and frankincense and the Byzantine cities obtained these commodities through Arabian traders.”19
Spices as sentiments and for burning as incense had become necessities and had to be produced at all lost: alike in the ceremonial of the court and in the ritual of the church incense was firmly
< .*»
Hasan Askari, P.l£.
Abdul Hameed Siddiqui, The Life of Muhammad (PBUH). Lahore. 1989. P.4
M Mazheruddin Siddiqi, P 6.
established and the requisite spices could be obtained only through Arabian and Indian trade. ”The Greek and Romans,” says Hitti, ”evidently presumed that all the commodities in which the Arabians dealt were native products of their own land, so jealously did the merchants guard the secrets of their other sources in Abyssinian and India and so strict was the monopoly.”
The Arab merchants imported balm, spices, myrrh .and other articles from Western India and exported them to Egypt and Palestine. They imported Indians and Chinese articles through Yaman, Syria and Egyptian goods through the border towns of Syria and Persian products such as silk, cotton and linen goods, arms, cereals and oil through Mesopotamia. The main articles of import were skins, leather, currant, ingots of gold and silver, perfumes, spices, aromatics, germs drugs etc. Gems, gold, silver, sandal wood, ebony and spices were exported to Palestine. The Arab ships used to sail in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean which was the field of great enterprise. Gharra was the chief port for the Indian trade in East Arabia. So trade and commerce made much progress in those days of pre-Islamic Arabia.
Makkah was the big centre of trade and commerce. Traders carried on inland and foreign trade through routes which enabled the city of Makkah a great trade centre. Makkah being at the cross-roads of routes from Abyssinia to Iraq and Yaman to Syria had a special economic importance for the tribes living in the neighbouring districts. Their services were utilized .by the merchants as trackers and suppliers of provisions. The chiefs of the tribes were paid for safe-conduct through their territories. The prosperity of Makkah meant their own. Their attachment with Makkah was strengthened further by having shares in the joint-s ock companies of Makkah and matrimonial alliances with the Makkan chiefs. There were small industries in the Hijaz and Taif was known for its leather work. Yaman was famous for its agricultural products. Such were the economic conditions of pre-Islamic Arabia.