The Arabs: A Short History/On the eve of the rise of Islam
ON THE EVE OF THE RISE
OF ISLAM
"Island" though it was, the Arabian peninsula did not escape the attentions of the outside world. The first unmistakable reference to the Arabians as such occurs in an inscription of the Assyrian Shalmaneser III, who in 854 b.c. led an expedition against the king of Damascus and his allies, among whom was an Arabian sheikh. It is typical of the spirit and of most of the events of the time: "Karkar, his royal city, I destroyed, I devastated, I burned with fire. 1,200 chariots, 1,200 cavalry, 20,000 soldiers of Hadad-ezer, of Aram [Damascus] . . . 1,000 camels of Gindibu, the Arabian." It is also significant that the first Arabian in rcc6rded history should be associated with the camel.
We have thus far used the term Arabian for all the inhabitants of the peninsula without regard for geographic location. But we must differentiate between the Arabians of the South and the North, the latter including the Najdis of Central Arabia. The geographical division of the land by the trackless desert into northern and southern sections has its counterpart in the peoples who inhabit it.
The racial affinities of the people of the north are with the Mediterranean race; those of the south arc with the Alpine type styled Armenoid, Hittite or Hebrew and characterized by a broad jaw and aquiline nose, flat cheeks and abundant hair. The South Arabians were the first to rise to prominence and to develop a civilization of their own. The North Arabians did not step on to the stage of international affairs until the advent of Islam in medieval times. Page:The Arabs short history-PKHitti.djvu/26 ةحhttps://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Page:The_Arabs_short_history-PKHitti.djvu/27&action=edit&redlink=1On the Eve of the Rise of Islam golden chains when led before the victor's chariot in his triumphal entry into Rome. A less spectacular episode in the early history of the peninsula, but one far more deeply significant, was the forty- year sojourn of the Hebrew tribes in Sinai and the Nufud, on their way to Palestine from Egypt about 1225 B.C. In Midian, the southern part of Sinai and the land cast of it, the divine covenant was made. Moses, the leader of the tribes, there married an Arabian woman, the daughter of a Midianite priest (Exodus 3:1; 18 : 10-12), and this union led to one of the most significant of all events in history. The wife of Moses was a worshipper of a God named Yahu, who became Yahwch, or Jehovah. He was a desert God, simple and austere. His abode was a tent and his ritual not elaborate, consisting chiefly in desert feasts and sacrifices and burnt offerings from the herds. The daughter of the Midianite priest instructed Moses in this cult. What vast events were to follow ! Echoes of the desert origin of the Hebrews abound in the Old Testament. The " kings " of the prophet Jeremiah were in all probability sheikhs of northern Arabia and the Syrian desert. The Shunamite damsel whose beauty is im- mortalized in the Song ascribed to Solomon was probably an Arabian of the Kedar tribe. Job, the author of the finest piece of poetry that the ancient Semitic world produced, was an Arab, not a Jew. The " wise men from the East " who followed the star to Jerusalem were possibly Bedouins from the North Arabian desert rather than Magi from Persia. The Jews were geographically the next-door neigbours of the Arabians and racially their next of kin. The list of biblical associations could be infinitely extended. But it is the rise of Islam, the religion of submission to the will of Allah, which concerns us most here. It is sufficient to note that by the beginning of the seventh century of the Christian era, the national life developed in early South Arabia had become utterly disrupted ; anarchy prevailed. 19Page:The Arabs short history-PKHitti.djvu/28 Page:The Arabs short history-PKHitti.djvu/29 Page:The Arabs short history-PKHitti.djvu/30