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EspañolPRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA
'Pre-Islamic Arabia', the history of Arabia before the rise of Islam in the 630s, is not known in great detail. Archaeological exploration in the Arabian peninsula has been sparse; indigenous written sources are limited to the many inscriptions and coins from southern Arabia. Existing material consists primarily of written sources from other traditions (such as Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Romans, etc.) and oral traditions later recorded by Islamic scholars. The topic is relevant to Islamic studies because it is the context in which Islam, as practiced today.
There are epigraphic Old South Arabian sources from about the 9th century BC, and Old North Arabian one from about the 6th century BC. From the 3rd century AD, Arabian history becomes more tangible with the rise of the Himyarite Kingdom, and with the appearance of the Qahtanis in the Levant and the gradual assimilation of the Nabateans by the Qahtanis in the early centuries AD, a tendency of expansion that finally culminated in the explosive Muslim conquests of the 7th century.
The earliest known events in Arabian history are migrations from the peninsula into neighbouring areas.[1] in the 3rd millennium BC, Semitic-speaking peoples migrated from the Arabian peninsula into Mesopotamia, conquered Sumer, and established the Akkadian Empire under Sargon of Akkad.[2] The Babylonians and Assyrians were later descended from the Semitic Akkadians.
The East Semitic group established itself at Ebla. The Amorites were West Semitic speakers who left Arabia in the late 3rd millennium and settled along the Levant. Some of these migrants evolved into the Amorites and Canaanites of later times.[3][4]
★ Magan is attested as the name of a trading partner of the Sumer. It is often assumed to be located in Oman.
★ The A'adids established themselves in South Arabia settleing to the East of the Qahtan tribe. They established the Kingdom of A'ad around the 10th century BC to the 3rd century AD.
The A'ad nation were known to the Greeks and Egyptians. Claudius Ptolemy's ''Geographos'' (2nd century AD) refers to the place by a Hellenized version of the inhabitants of the capital Ubar.
Main articles: Ancient history of Yemen
Main articles: Minaean
During 'Minaean' rule the capital was at Karna (now known as Sadah). Their other important city was Yathill (now known as Baraqish). The Minaean Kingdom was centered in northwestern Yemen, with most of its cities laying along the Wadi Madhab. Minaic inscriptions have been found far afield of the Kingdom of Ma'in, as far away as al-`Ula in northwestern Saudi Arabia and even on the island of Delos and in Egypt. It was the first of the South Arabian kingdoms to end, and the Minaic language died around 100 CE.[5]
Main articles: Sabaeans
During Sabaean rule, trade and agriculture flourished generating much wealth and prosperity. The Sabaean kingdom is located in what is now the Aseer region in southwestern Yemen, and its capital, Ma'rib, is located near what is now Yemen's modern capital, Sana'a.[6] According to South Arabian tradition, the eldest son of Noah, Shem, founded the city of Ma'rib.
During Sabaean rule, Yemen was called "Arabia Felix" by the Romans who were impressed by its wealth and prosperity. The Roman emperor Augustus sent a military expedition to conquer the "Arabia Felix", under the orders of Aelius Gallus. After an unsuccessful siege of Ma'rib, the Roman general retreated to Egypt, while his fleet destroyed the port of Aden in order to guarantee the Roman merchant route to India.
The success of the Kingdom was based on the cultivation and trade of spices and aromatics including frankincense and myrrh. These were exported to the Mediterranean, India, and Abyssinia where they were greatly prized by many cultures, using camels on routes through Arabia, and to India by sea.
During the 8th and 7th century BCE, there was a close contact of cultures between the Kingdom of Dʿmt in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea and Saba'. Though the civilization was indigenous and the royal inscriptions were written in a sort of proto-Ethiosemitic, there were also some Sabaean immigrants in the kingdom as evidenced by a few of the Dʿmt inscriptions.[7][8]
Agriculture in Yemen thrived during this time due to an advanced irrigation system which consisted of large water tunnels in mountains, and dams. The most impressive of these earthworks, known as the Ma'rib Dam was built ca. 700 BCE, provided irrigation for about of land[9] and stood for over a millennium, finally collapsing in 570 CE after centuries of neglect.
Main articles: Hadhramaut
The first known inscriptions of Hadramaut are known from the 8th century BCE. It was first referenced by an outside civilization in an Old Sabaic inscription of Karab'il Watar from the early 7th century BCE, in which the King of Hadramaut, Yada`'il, is mentioned as being one of his allies. When the Minaeans took control of the caravan routes in the 4th century BCE, however, Hadramaut became one of its confederates, probably because of commercial interests. It later became independent and was invaded by the growing kingdom of Himyar toward the end of the first century BCE, but it was able to repel the attack. Hadramaut annexed Qataban in the second half of the 2nd century AD, reaching its greatest size. The kingdom of Hadramaut was eventually conquered by the Himyarite king Shammar Yuhar`ish around 300 CE, unifying all of the South Arabian kingdoms.[10]
Main articles: Awsan
The ancient 'Kingdom of Awsan' in South Arabia (modern Yemen), with a capital at Hagar Yahirr in the wadi Markha, to the south of the wadi Bayhan, is now marked by a tell or artificial mound, which is locally named Hagar Asfal.
Main articles: Arabia (satrapy)
Achaemenid Arabia corresponded to the lands between Egypt and Mesopotamia, later known as Arabia Petraea. According to Herodotus, Cambyses did not subdue the bedouins when he attacked Egypt in 525 BCE. His successor Darius the Great does not mention the bedouins in the Behistun inscription from the first years of his reign, but mentions them in later texts. This suggests that Darius conquered this part of Arabia.[11][12]
Main articles: Nabateans
The Nabateans are not to be found among the tribes that are listed in Arab genealogies because the Nabatean kingdom ended long time before the coming of Islam. They settled east of the Syro-African rift between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea, that is, in the land that had once been Edom. And although the first sure reference to them dates from 312 BC, it is possible that they were present much earlier.
Originally speaking an Aramaic language, they adopted an Old North Arabian dialect from ca. the 4th century AD.
Petra (from the Latin ''petrae'', meaning 'of rock') lies in a great rift valley east of Wadi `Araba in Jordan about 80 kilometers south of the Dead Sea. It came into prominence in the late first century BCE (BC) through the success of the spice trade. The city was the principal city of ancient Nabataea and was famous above all for two things: its trade and its hydraulic engineering systems. It was locally autonomous until the reign of Trajan, but it flourished under Roman rule. The town grew up around its Colonnaded Street in the first century and by the mid-first century had witnessed rapid urbanization. The quarries were probably opened in this period, and there followed virtually continuous building through the first and second centuries CE.
:
Palmyra was made part of the Roman province of Syria during the reign of Tiberius (14–37). It steadily grew in importance as a trade route linking Persia, India, China, and the Roman empire. In 129, Hadrian visited the city and was so enthralled by it that he proclaimed it a free city and renamed it ''Palmyra Hadriana''.
In the mid-first century, Palmyra, a wealthy and elegant city located along the caravan routes linking Persia with the Mediterranean ports of Roman Syria and Phoenicia, came under Roman control. During the following period of great prosperity, the Arab citizens of Palmyra adopted customs and modes of dress from both the Iranian Parthian world to the east and the Graeco-Roman west.
Main articles: Qataban
Qataban was one of the ancient Yemeni kingdoms which thrived in the Baihan valley. Like the other Southern Arabian kingdoms it gained great wealth from the trade of frankincense and myrrh incense which were burned at altars. The capital of Qataban was named Timna and was located on the trade route which passed through the other kingdoms of Hadramaut, Saba and Ma'in. The chief deity of the Qatabanians was Amm, or "Uncle" and the people called themselves the "children of Amm".
Main articles: Himyar
The 'Himyarites' rebbeled against Qataban and eventually united Southwestern Arabia, controlling the Red Sea as well as the coasts of the Gulf of Aden. From their capital city, the Himyarite Kings launched successful military campaigns, and had stretched its domain at times as far east to the Persian Gulf and as far north to the Arabian Desert.
During the 3rd century CE, the South Arabian kingdoms were in continuous conflict with one another. GDRT of Aksum began to interfere in South Arabian affairs, signing an alliance with Saba', and a Himyarite text notes that Hadramaut and Qataban were also all allied against the kingdom. As a result of this, the Kingdom of Aksum was able to capture the Himyarite capital of Thifar in the first quarter of the 3rd century. However, the alliances did not last, and Sha`ir Awtar of Saba' unexpectedly turned on Hadramaut, allying again with Aksum and taking its capital in 225. Himyar then allied with Saba' and invaded the newly taken Aksumite territories, retaking Thifar, which had been under the control of GDRT's son BYGT, and pushing Aksum back into the Tihama.[13][14]
They established their capital at Thifar (now just a small village in the Ibb region) and gradually absorbed the Sabaean kingdom. They traded from the port of Mawza'a on the Red Sea. Dhu Nuwas, a Himyarite king, changed the state religion to Judaism in the beginning of the 6th century and began to massacre the Christians. Outraged, Kaleb, the Christian King of Aksum with the encouragement of the Byzantine Emperor Justin I invaded and annexed Yemen. The Aksumites controlled Himyar and attempted to invade Mecca in the year of the elephant 570CE, Eastern Yemen remained allied to the Sassanids via tribal alliances with the Lakhmids, which brought the Sassanid army into Yemen ending the Aksumite period.
The Persian king Khosrau I, sent troops under the command of Vahriz (Persian اسپهبد وهرز), who helped the semi-legendary Saif bin Dhi Yazan to drive the Ethiopian Aksumites out of Yemen. Southern Arabia became a Persian dominion under a Yemenite vassal and thus came within the sphere of influence of the Sassanid Empire. After the dissolvment of the Lakhmids another army was sent to Yemen making it a province of the Sassanid Empire under a Persian satrap. Following the death of Khosrau II in 628, then the Persian governor in Southern Arabia, Badhan, converted to Islam and Yemen followed the new religion.
In Sassanid times, Arabia Petraea was a border province between the Roman and Persian empires, and from the early centuries AD was increasingly affected by South Arabian influence, notably with the Ghassanids migrating north from the 3rd century.
The Ghassanids,Lakhmids and Kindites were the last major migration of non-muslims out of Yemen to the north.
★ 'The Ghassanids' revived the Semitic presence in the then Hellenized Syria. They mainly settled the Hauran region and spread to modern Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan. The Ghassanids held Syria until engulfed by the expansion of Islam.
Greeks and Romans referred to all the nomadic population of the desert in the Near East as Arabi. The Greeks called Yemen "Arabia Felix".[1], The Romans called the vassal nomadic states within the Roman Empire "Arabia Petraea" after the city of Petra, and called unconquered deserts bordering the empire to the south and east Arabia Magna.[2]
★ 'The Lakhmids' settled the mid Tigris region around their capital Al-hira they ended up allying with the Sassanid against the Ghassanids and the Byzantine Empire. The Lakhmids contested control of the Central Arabian tribes with the Kindites with the Lakhmids eventualy destroying Kinda in 540 after the fall of their main ally Himyar. The Sassanids dissolved the Lakhmid kingdom in 602.
★ 'The Kindites' migrated from yemen along with the Ghassanids and Lakhmids, but were turned back in Bahrain by the Abdul Qais Rabi'a tribe. They returned to Yemen and allied themselves with the Himyarites who installed them as a vassal kingdom that ruled Central Arbia from Qaryah dhat Kahl (the present-day Qaryat al-Faw) in Central Arabia. They ruled much of the Northern/Central Arabian peninsula until the fall of the Himyarites in 525AD.
:Main articles: Tribes of Arabia, Bedouin
Much of the the Arab lineages provided before Ma'ad relies on biblical genealogy. The general consensus among 14th century Arabic genealogists was that Arabs are of three kinds:
#"Perishing Arabs": These are the ancients of whose history little is known. They include ‘Ad, Thamud, Tasm, Jadis, Imlaq and others. Jadis and Tasm perished because of genocide. Ad and Thamud perished because of their decadence. Some people in the past doubted their existence, but Imlaq is the singular form of 'Amaleeq and is probably synonymous to the biblical Amalek.
#"Pure Arabs": They allegedly originated from the progeny of Ya‘rub bin Yashjub bin Qahtan so were also called Qahtanian Arabs.
#"Arabized Arabs": They allegedly originated from the progeny of Ishmael Son of the biblical patriarch Abraham and were also called ‘Adnani Arabs.
There is very little material on which to base a description of pre-Islamic religion, particularly in Mecca and the Hijaz. The Qur'an and the hadith, or recorded oral traditions, give some hints as to this religion. Islamic commentators have elaborated these hints into a coherent account that most academics doubt in part or in whole.
Western academics believe that the stories of Abraham and Ishmael and the divine origin of the Kaaba are myths. Most academics do accept that the Kaaba was a cult center housing a number of gods, that it was a pilgrimage center, and that the Black Stone was a feature of the pre-Islamic Kaaba. However, there is not enough evidence to prove the theories one way or another.
Islamic scholars say that the Kaaba, the sacred edifice which all Muslims pray, was built by the patriarch Abraham and his son Ishmael. One of the cornerstones of the Kaaba, the Black Stone, was sent down from heaven. The Kaaba was the center of Islam, as revealed to Abraham and Ishmael, and it was maintained by Ishmael's descendants for generations. However, Ishmael's descendants, the Arabian tribes, fell into idolatry and filled the Kaaba with idols. They still remembered Allah, the one god, but accepted idols as his "associates". There were a few hanif who still maintained the pure Abrahamic faith, but they were few and had no power to cleanse the Kaaba. Then came Muhammad,the last prophet of Islam, and denounced idolatry. After he took power in Mecca, he destroyed the idols in the Kaaba and re-established the pure and ancient worship.
(Shi'a Muslims -- as well as a few Sunni -- believe that Muhammad and his family, including his cousin Ali, were hanif and thus never sullied by worship of idols.)
The Muslim view of the pre-Islamic religion, then, is that it was pagan, barbaric, and idolatrous. The most important gods were evidently Hubal and the three "daughters of God", Manat, Allat, and al-Uzza. Islamic traditions supply the names of hundreds of other gods as well. The Arabians sacrificed animals to the gods and made pilgrimages to cult centers. Mecca was only one of many cult centers.
Main articles: Muhammad after the conquest of Mecca, Muslim conquests
1. Philip Khuri Hitti (2002), History of the Arabs, Revised: 10th Edition
2. Akkadians Study, Washington State University
3. http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9007224/Amorites The Amorites migration from Arabia
4. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9007224/Amorite The Amorites origin - Britannica
5. Nebes, Norbert. "Epigraphic South Arabian", ''Encyclopaedia: D-Ha''pp.334.
6. http://www.iraqandiraqis.com/Arab%20history.htm
7. Sima, Alexander. "Dʿmt" in Siegbert von Uhlig, ed., ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: D-Ha'' (Wiesbaden:Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005), pp.185.
8. Munro-Hay, Stuart. ''Aksum: A Civilization of Late Antiquity,'' (Edinburgh: University Press, 1991), pp.58.
9. http://www.everyculture.com/To-Z/Yemen.html
10. Müller, Walter W. "Ḥaḍramawt", ''Encyclopaedia: D-Ha'', pp.965-6.
11. Arabia
12. Encyclopaedia Iranica
13. Sima, Alexander. "GDR(T)", ''Encyclopaedia: D-Ha'', pp.718-9.
14. Munro-Hay, ''Aksum'', pp.72.
★ Berkey, Jonathan P. -- ''The Formation of Islam'', Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0-521-58813-3
★ Bulliet, Richard W. -- ''The Camel and the Wheel'', Harvard University Press, 1975, ISBN 0-674-09130-2
★ Crone, Patricia -- ''Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam'', Blackwell, 1987, as reprinted by Gorgias Press, 2004, ISBN 1-59333-102-9
★ Donner, Fred -- ''The Early Islamic Conquests'', Princeton University Press, 1981, ISBN 0-691-10182-5
★ Hawting, G.R. -- ''The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam: From Polemic to History'', Cambridge University Press, 1999
★ Hoyland, Robert G. -- ''Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam'', Routledge, 2001
Aisha is quoted as saying there was four kinds of marriage in the pre-Islamic era, one of them being a form of polyandry called ''Nikah Ijtimah''.
★ Ancient history of Yemen
★ Tribes of Arabia
★
★ Adnan
★
★ Qahtanite
★ Old North Arabian
★ Old South Arabian
★ Incense Road
★ Arab (name)
★ pre-Islamic Arabic inscriptions
★ History of the Levant
★ Ancient Near East
There are epigraphic Old South Arabian sources from about the 9th century BC, and Old North Arabian one from about the 6th century BC. From the 3rd century AD, Arabian history becomes more tangible with the rise of the Himyarite Kingdom, and with the appearance of the Qahtanis in the Levant and the gradual assimilation of the Nabateans by the Qahtanis in the early centuries AD, a tendency of expansion that finally culminated in the explosive Muslim conquests of the 7th century.
Bronze Age Arabia
Early Semitic migrations
The earliest known events in Arabian history are migrations from the peninsula into neighbouring areas.[1] in the 3rd millennium BC, Semitic-speaking peoples migrated from the Arabian peninsula into Mesopotamia, conquered Sumer, and established the Akkadian Empire under Sargon of Akkad.[2] The Babylonians and Assyrians were later descended from the Semitic Akkadians.
The East Semitic group established itself at Ebla. The Amorites were West Semitic speakers who left Arabia in the late 3rd millennium and settled along the Levant. Some of these migrants evolved into the Amorites and Canaanites of later times.[3][4]
Magan and A'ad
★ Magan is attested as the name of a trading partner of the Sumer. It is often assumed to be located in Oman.
★ The A'adids established themselves in South Arabia settleing to the East of the Qahtan tribe. They established the Kingdom of A'ad around the 10th century BC to the 3rd century AD.
The A'ad nation were known to the Greeks and Egyptians. Claudius Ptolemy's ''Geographos'' (2nd century AD) refers to the place by a Hellenized version of the inhabitants of the capital Ubar.
Iron Age South Arabia
Main articles: Ancient history of Yemen
A Griffon from the royal palace at Shabwa, the capital city of Hadhramaut.
Kingdom of Ma'in (9th century BC - 1st century BC)
Main articles: Minaean
During 'Minaean' rule the capital was at Karna (now known as Sadah). Their other important city was Yathill (now known as Baraqish). The Minaean Kingdom was centered in northwestern Yemen, with most of its cities laying along the Wadi Madhab. Minaic inscriptions have been found far afield of the Kingdom of Ma'in, as far away as al-`Ula in northwestern Saudi Arabia and even on the island of Delos and in Egypt. It was the first of the South Arabian kingdoms to end, and the Minaic language died around 100 CE.[5]
Kingdom of Saba (9th century BC - 275AD)
Main articles: Sabaeans
During Sabaean rule, trade and agriculture flourished generating much wealth and prosperity. The Sabaean kingdom is located in what is now the Aseer region in southwestern Yemen, and its capital, Ma'rib, is located near what is now Yemen's modern capital, Sana'a.[6] According to South Arabian tradition, the eldest son of Noah, Shem, founded the city of Ma'rib.
During Sabaean rule, Yemen was called "Arabia Felix" by the Romans who were impressed by its wealth and prosperity. The Roman emperor Augustus sent a military expedition to conquer the "Arabia Felix", under the orders of Aelius Gallus. After an unsuccessful siege of Ma'rib, the Roman general retreated to Egypt, while his fleet destroyed the port of Aden in order to guarantee the Roman merchant route to India.
The success of the Kingdom was based on the cultivation and trade of spices and aromatics including frankincense and myrrh. These were exported to the Mediterranean, India, and Abyssinia where they were greatly prized by many cultures, using camels on routes through Arabia, and to India by sea.
During the 8th and 7th century BCE, there was a close contact of cultures between the Kingdom of Dʿmt in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea and Saba'. Though the civilization was indigenous and the royal inscriptions were written in a sort of proto-Ethiosemitic, there were also some Sabaean immigrants in the kingdom as evidenced by a few of the Dʿmt inscriptions.[7][8]
Agriculture in Yemen thrived during this time due to an advanced irrigation system which consisted of large water tunnels in mountains, and dams. The most impressive of these earthworks, known as the Ma'rib Dam was built ca. 700 BCE, provided irrigation for about of land[9] and stood for over a millennium, finally collapsing in 570 CE after centuries of neglect.
Kingdom of Hadhramaut (8th century BC - 3rd century AD)
Main articles: Hadhramaut
The first known inscriptions of Hadramaut are known from the 8th century BCE. It was first referenced by an outside civilization in an Old Sabaic inscription of Karab'il Watar from the early 7th century BCE, in which the King of Hadramaut, Yada`'il, is mentioned as being one of his allies. When the Minaeans took control of the caravan routes in the 4th century BCE, however, Hadramaut became one of its confederates, probably because of commercial interests. It later became independent and was invaded by the growing kingdom of Himyar toward the end of the first century BCE, but it was able to repel the attack. Hadramaut annexed Qataban in the second half of the 2nd century AD, reaching its greatest size. The kingdom of Hadramaut was eventually conquered by the Himyarite king Shammar Yuhar`ish around 300 CE, unifying all of the South Arabian kingdoms.[10]
Kingdom of Awsan (8th century BC - 6th century BC)
Main articles: Awsan
The ancient 'Kingdom of Awsan' in South Arabia (modern Yemen), with a capital at Hagar Yahirr in the wadi Markha, to the south of the wadi Bayhan, is now marked by a tell or artificial mound, which is locally named Hagar Asfal.
The Achaemenids in Northern Arabia
Main articles: Arabia (satrapy)
Achaemenid Arabia corresponded to the lands between Egypt and Mesopotamia, later known as Arabia Petraea. According to Herodotus, Cambyses did not subdue the bedouins when he attacked Egypt in 525 BCE. His successor Darius the Great does not mention the bedouins in the Behistun inscription from the first years of his reign, but mentions them in later texts. This suggests that Darius conquered this part of Arabia.[11][12]
Nabateans
Main articles: Nabateans
The Nabateans are not to be found among the tribes that are listed in Arab genealogies because the Nabatean kingdom ended long time before the coming of Islam. They settled east of the Syro-African rift between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea, that is, in the land that had once been Edom. And although the first sure reference to them dates from 312 BC, it is possible that they were present much earlier.
Originally speaking an Aramaic language, they adopted an Old North Arabian dialect from ca. the 4th century AD.
Petra (from the Latin ''petrae'', meaning 'of rock') lies in a great rift valley east of Wadi `Araba in Jordan about 80 kilometers south of the Dead Sea. It came into prominence in the late first century BCE (BC) through the success of the spice trade. The city was the principal city of ancient Nabataea and was famous above all for two things: its trade and its hydraulic engineering systems. It was locally autonomous until the reign of Trajan, but it flourished under Roman rule. The town grew up around its Colonnaded Street in the first century and by the mid-first century had witnessed rapid urbanization. The quarries were probably opened in this period, and there followed virtually continuous building through the first and second centuries CE.
Palmyra
:
Palmyra was made part of the Roman province of Syria during the reign of Tiberius (14–37). It steadily grew in importance as a trade route linking Persia, India, China, and the Roman empire. In 129, Hadrian visited the city and was so enthralled by it that he proclaimed it a free city and renamed it ''Palmyra Hadriana''.
In the mid-first century, Palmyra, a wealthy and elegant city located along the caravan routes linking Persia with the Mediterranean ports of Roman Syria and Phoenicia, came under Roman control. During the following period of great prosperity, the Arab citizens of Palmyra adopted customs and modes of dress from both the Iranian Parthian world to the east and the Graeco-Roman west.
Qataban & Himyar in South Arabia
Kingdom of Qataban (4th century BC - 3rd century AD)
Main articles: Qataban
Qataban was one of the ancient Yemeni kingdoms which thrived in the Baihan valley. Like the other Southern Arabian kingdoms it gained great wealth from the trade of frankincense and myrrh incense which were burned at altars. The capital of Qataban was named Timna and was located on the trade route which passed through the other kingdoms of Hadramaut, Saba and Ma'in. The chief deity of the Qatabanians was Amm, or "Uncle" and the people called themselves the "children of Amm".
Kingdom of Himyar (2nd Century BC - 525 AD)
Statue of Ammaalay,1st century BC, Yemen
The 'Himyarites' rebbeled against Qataban and eventually united Southwestern Arabia, controlling the Red Sea as well as the coasts of the Gulf of Aden. From their capital city, the Himyarite Kings launched successful military campaigns, and had stretched its domain at times as far east to the Persian Gulf and as far north to the Arabian Desert.
During the 3rd century CE, the South Arabian kingdoms were in continuous conflict with one another. GDRT of Aksum began to interfere in South Arabian affairs, signing an alliance with Saba', and a Himyarite text notes that Hadramaut and Qataban were also all allied against the kingdom. As a result of this, the Kingdom of Aksum was able to capture the Himyarite capital of Thifar in the first quarter of the 3rd century. However, the alliances did not last, and Sha`ir Awtar of Saba' unexpectedly turned on Hadramaut, allying again with Aksum and taking its capital in 225. Himyar then allied with Saba' and invaded the newly taken Aksumite territories, retaking Thifar, which had been under the control of GDRT's son BYGT, and pushing Aksum back into the Tihama.[13][14]
Aksumite occupation of Yemen (525AD - 570AD)
They established their capital at Thifar (now just a small village in the Ibb region) and gradually absorbed the Sabaean kingdom. They traded from the port of Mawza'a on the Red Sea. Dhu Nuwas, a Himyarite king, changed the state religion to Judaism in the beginning of the 6th century and began to massacre the Christians. Outraged, Kaleb, the Christian King of Aksum with the encouragement of the Byzantine Emperor Justin I invaded and annexed Yemen. The Aksumites controlled Himyar and attempted to invade Mecca in the year of the elephant 570CE, Eastern Yemen remained allied to the Sassanids via tribal alliances with the Lakhmids, which brought the Sassanid army into Yemen ending the Aksumite period.
Sassanid period (570AD - 630AD)
The Persian king Khosrau I, sent troops under the command of Vahriz (Persian اسپهبد وهرز), who helped the semi-legendary Saif bin Dhi Yazan to drive the Ethiopian Aksumites out of Yemen. Southern Arabia became a Persian dominion under a Yemenite vassal and thus came within the sphere of influence of the Sassanid Empire. After the dissolvment of the Lakhmids another army was sent to Yemen making it a province of the Sassanid Empire under a Persian satrap. Following the death of Khosrau II in 628, then the Persian governor in Southern Arabia, Badhan, converted to Islam and Yemen followed the new religion.
Qahtani expansion to the North
In Sassanid times, Arabia Petraea was a border province between the Roman and Persian empires, and from the early centuries AD was increasingly affected by South Arabian influence, notably with the Ghassanids migrating north from the 3rd century.
Ghassanids, Lakhmids and Kindites
The Ghassanids,Lakhmids and Kindites were the last major migration of non-muslims out of Yemen to the north.
★ 'The Ghassanids' revived the Semitic presence in the then Hellenized Syria. They mainly settled the Hauran region and spread to modern Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan. The Ghassanids held Syria until engulfed by the expansion of Islam.
Coin showing the Roman Emperor, Philip the Arab.
Greeks and Romans referred to all the nomadic population of the desert in the Near East as Arabi. The Greeks called Yemen "Arabia Felix".[1], The Romans called the vassal nomadic states within the Roman Empire "Arabia Petraea" after the city of Petra, and called unconquered deserts bordering the empire to the south and east Arabia Magna.[2]
★ 'The Lakhmids' settled the mid Tigris region around their capital Al-hira they ended up allying with the Sassanid against the Ghassanids and the Byzantine Empire. The Lakhmids contested control of the Central Arabian tribes with the Kindites with the Lakhmids eventualy destroying Kinda in 540 after the fall of their main ally Himyar. The Sassanids dissolved the Lakhmid kingdom in 602.
★ 'The Kindites' migrated from yemen along with the Ghassanids and Lakhmids, but were turned back in Bahrain by the Abdul Qais Rabi'a tribe. They returned to Yemen and allied themselves with the Himyarites who installed them as a vassal kingdom that ruled Central Arbia from Qaryah dhat Kahl (the present-day Qaryat al-Faw) in Central Arabia. They ruled much of the Northern/Central Arabian peninsula until the fall of the Himyarites in 525AD.
Bedouin tribes
:Main articles: Tribes of Arabia, Bedouin
Much of the the Arab lineages provided before Ma'ad relies on biblical genealogy. The general consensus among 14th century Arabic genealogists was that Arabs are of three kinds:
#"Perishing Arabs": These are the ancients of whose history little is known. They include ‘Ad, Thamud, Tasm, Jadis, Imlaq and others. Jadis and Tasm perished because of genocide. Ad and Thamud perished because of their decadence. Some people in the past doubted their existence, but Imlaq is the singular form of 'Amaleeq and is probably synonymous to the biblical Amalek.
#"Pure Arabs": They allegedly originated from the progeny of Ya‘rub bin Yashjub bin Qahtan so were also called Qahtanian Arabs.
#"Arabized Arabs": They allegedly originated from the progeny of Ishmael Son of the biblical patriarch Abraham and were also called ‘Adnani Arabs.
Religion
There is very little material on which to base a description of pre-Islamic religion, particularly in Mecca and the Hijaz. The Qur'an and the hadith, or recorded oral traditions, give some hints as to this religion. Islamic commentators have elaborated these hints into a coherent account that most academics doubt in part or in whole.
Academic views
Western academics believe that the stories of Abraham and Ishmael and the divine origin of the Kaaba are myths. Most academics do accept that the Kaaba was a cult center housing a number of gods, that it was a pilgrimage center, and that the Black Stone was a feature of the pre-Islamic Kaaba. However, there is not enough evidence to prove the theories one way or another.
Muslim view
Islamic scholars say that the Kaaba, the sacred edifice which all Muslims pray, was built by the patriarch Abraham and his son Ishmael. One of the cornerstones of the Kaaba, the Black Stone, was sent down from heaven. The Kaaba was the center of Islam, as revealed to Abraham and Ishmael, and it was maintained by Ishmael's descendants for generations. However, Ishmael's descendants, the Arabian tribes, fell into idolatry and filled the Kaaba with idols. They still remembered Allah, the one god, but accepted idols as his "associates". There were a few hanif who still maintained the pure Abrahamic faith, but they were few and had no power to cleanse the Kaaba. Then came Muhammad,the last prophet of Islam, and denounced idolatry. After he took power in Mecca, he destroyed the idols in the Kaaba and re-established the pure and ancient worship.
(Shi'a Muslims -- as well as a few Sunni -- believe that Muhammad and his family, including his cousin Ali, were hanif and thus never sullied by worship of idols.)
The Muslim view of the pre-Islamic religion, then, is that it was pagan, barbaric, and idolatrous. The most important gods were evidently Hubal and the three "daughters of God", Manat, Allat, and al-Uzza. Islamic traditions supply the names of hundreds of other gods as well. The Arabians sacrificed animals to the gods and made pilgrimages to cult centers. Mecca was only one of many cult centers.
Rise of Islam
Main articles: Muhammad after the conquest of Mecca, Muslim conquests
References
1. Philip Khuri Hitti (2002), History of the Arabs, Revised: 10th Edition
2. Akkadians Study, Washington State University
3. http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9007224/Amorites The Amorites migration from Arabia
4. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9007224/Amorite The Amorites origin - Britannica
5. Nebes, Norbert. "Epigraphic South Arabian", ''Encyclopaedia: D-Ha''pp.334.
6. http://www.iraqandiraqis.com/Arab%20history.htm
7. Sima, Alexander. "Dʿmt" in Siegbert von Uhlig, ed., ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: D-Ha'' (Wiesbaden:Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005), pp.185.
8. Munro-Hay, Stuart. ''Aksum: A Civilization of Late Antiquity,'' (Edinburgh: University Press, 1991), pp.58.
9. http://www.everyculture.com/To-Z/Yemen.html
10. Müller, Walter W. "Ḥaḍramawt", ''Encyclopaedia: D-Ha'', pp.965-6.
11. Arabia
12. Encyclopaedia Iranica
13. Sima, Alexander. "GDR(T)", ''Encyclopaedia: D-Ha'', pp.718-9.
14. Munro-Hay, ''Aksum'', pp.72.
Literature
★ Berkey, Jonathan P. -- ''The Formation of Islam'', Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0-521-58813-3
★ Bulliet, Richard W. -- ''The Camel and the Wheel'', Harvard University Press, 1975, ISBN 0-674-09130-2
★ Crone, Patricia -- ''Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam'', Blackwell, 1987, as reprinted by Gorgias Press, 2004, ISBN 1-59333-102-9
★ Donner, Fred -- ''The Early Islamic Conquests'', Princeton University Press, 1981, ISBN 0-691-10182-5
★ Hawting, G.R. -- ''The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam: From Polemic to History'', Cambridge University Press, 1999
★ Hoyland, Robert G. -- ''Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam'', Routledge, 2001
Aisha is quoted as saying there was four kinds of marriage in the pre-Islamic era, one of them being a form of polyandry called ''Nikah Ijtimah''.
See also
★ Ancient history of Yemen
★ Tribes of Arabia
★
★ Adnan
★
★ Qahtanite
★ Old North Arabian
★ Old South Arabian
★ Incense Road
★ Arab (name)
★ pre-Islamic Arabic inscriptions
★ History of the Levant
★ Ancient Near East
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