Birthplace of Islam - Background of the Birth of Islam [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Birthplace of Islam

In order to acquire a close familiarization with Islam
it is necessary to know the environment in which Islam
took birth and started to spread since such an
understanding greatly aids the recognition of that
entity.

It is possible to have a superficial knowledge of
certain matters without being familiar with their knowing
their background or the conditions of their origin. But a
profound understanding of a certain being or phenomenon
depends wholly on a thorough familiarization of the
background of that being or phenomenon. This applies
equally to individuals or technical , artistic or social
phenomena. For this reason, a deep understanding of the
environments of Islam at the time of its birth is
essential. The environments at the time of the birth of
Islam may be misconstrued to mean the region including
Mecca, or Mecca and Medina, or Mecca, Medina and Ta'if,
or Hejaz or Arabia. It should be noted though that the
noble Prophet of Islam from the very outset as he began
his call to Islam while he was still at Mecca and Islam
had not yet spread to Medina, began his call in the
following manner:

"Come and embrace a faith the light of which will
spread over Iran, Rome, Abyssinia and all other
places." Thus from beginning the Prophet's call was
a universal one addressing the civilised world of that
time. Moreover, in the 6th year of (Hijra) migration,
namely six years after the prophet's immigration to
Medina, he wrote letters all of which are found in
historical records namely . to Khusrow Parviz King of
Persia, Heraclius[2] ruler of a part of the Roman Empire,
Mequqass ruler of Egypt,[3] Najashi (or Negus) ruler of
Abyssinia,[4] Ruler of Ghassan as a deputy of Rome,[5]
and to the ruler of Hira of the tribe of AI-e-Mundir and
a vice regent of the throne of Iran, inviting all of them
to accept Islam. Thus it becomes apparent that in order
to know the background of the rise of Islam, we cannot
con fine ourselves to Mecca, Medina and Ta'if, or to the
Arab Lands but expand our view to at least include all
such regions as the Prophet himself called to accept
Islam in his own time.

A brief description of
Arabia

The name Arabia is applied to a land populated by
Arabic-speaking people. At the time of the birth of the
Prophet, the Arabic-speaking region was not so vast as it
is to-day; on one side it was bounded by the Persian Gulf
much as it is to-day, since at that time, too, the
southern borders of the Persian Gulf were inhabited by
Arabs In Iraq the boundary was almost along the Tigris
and the Euphrates namely that side of the Tigris where
Arabic is now the main language In the region between
Iran and the Tigris the main language was not Arabic, but
Kurdish, Persian and some local dialects with Arabic as
the main language that side of River Tigris. In fact the
Arabs now inhabiting Khuzestan are not the original
inhabitants but migrated to this region after Islam. In
the north were the present countries of Shaam or Syria
and Jordan where a number of Arab migrant tribes lived in
the time of Islam, the period of that migration will be
explained later. In the north, too, Arabic was not,
unlike to-day, the main language, though a considerable
Arab migrants had settled in the valley of the Jordan
River. It may be observed that at present the Arab land,
have extended as far as Turkey, whereas at that time it
was limited more to the south towards Jordan. The present
Lebanon and Syria were not Arabic speaking. In Jordan,
too, Arabic was not the main language, and only the Arab
migrants spoke Arabic. In this respect Jordan resembled
the present Khuzestan where a group speak Arabic and
another speak Persian.

In the west, in a significant part of Africa where
Arabic is now spoken, the main language at the time was
not Arabic. Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Algeria,
Morocco, Tunisia and even Abyssinia and other parts where
Arabic is now spoken, Arabic was not the main language at
that time. Thus we see that at the time of the birth of
Islam the region of Arabia and the Arab land from the
viewpoint of the Arabic language was located in the south
of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman extending in the
west up to the Red Sea - beyond which Arabic was not
prevalent - and in the north till the Jordan River valley
beyond which Arabic was not prevalent, and in the east to
the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This, then was the
extent of Arabia at the time of the birth of Islam.

Here it should be pointed out that the language spoken
in the regions beyond these frontiers, namely in a part
of Africa, Shaam, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and to the east
of the Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq, had been branches of
Semitic languages, having a common root with Arabic - in
the same way that Persian has a common root with German,
Indian Sanskrit and Indo-European languages. The local
languages of Somalia, Abyssinia, Egypt and a part of
Jordan (which was Hebrew) and those of the present
Lebanon and Syria (which had been Phoenician), and those
of other parts (which had been Chaldean, Assyrian etc.)
were all like the Arabic language Semitic in origin and
are recognised as Semitic languages and both from the
viewpoint of script as well as vocabulary linked
together.

Georgie Zeydan, in his book, 'History of
Civilisation,[6] narrates that at that time if someone
went from Arabia to Abyssinai, or from Jordan or the
Lebanon to Hejaz, he did not feel like an alien, the
languages were so much alike that he could understand the
local language without the aid of an interpreter, and if
he stayed there for a little while, he could learn the
local language - the same way that a Persian-speaking
person visiting Kurdestan can learn the local language
within a short time. Thus the Arabic speaking region of
to-day used to be the region of Semitic languages, which
have common roots with Arabic, and is thus easily
understood by their neighbours, while the Arabian
peninsula was the home to Arabs who spoke pure unmixed
Arabic.

Origin of Arab Tribes

The inhabitants of the Arabian peninsula who were
generally called Arabs, were in two groups: Qahtani
Arabs' and 'Adnani Arabs.' Qahtani Arabs were those whose
original abode was Yemen. The Yeminis and Yemen of that
time included the present Aden, the Sheikhdoms of the
Persian Gulf littoral and the Sea of Oman.

The Adnani Arabs were centered around Najd and Hejaz
that is to say around Mecca stretching as far as the
Hejaz Desert. Both the Qahtani and Adnani Arabs share a
common historical root, originating from the same
ancestors. You can imagine an Arab family of three
thousand years ago steadily multiplying in numbers, then
branching into two sections The descendants of Ya'rib Ibn
Qahtan went to Yemen. Others who went to Mecca - and
founded Mecca - the descendants of Ismail, because they
had an ancestor named Adnan, came to be called Adnani.

Arabs who went to Yemen, the Qahtani Arab, had come to
the land of good fortune, because Yemen was a better land
compared with Mecca, Najd and the Arabian Desert from the
viewpoint of natural potential climate and water.
Accordingly in the lands of Yemen, civilisation and
industry and urban development began much sooner. The
history of urban development and civilisation in Yemen,
the home of the Qahtani Arabs, dates several centuries
before Hejaz and Najd, the home of the 'Adnani Arabs. It
would be pertinent at this stage to consider how the
factor of environment influenced the development of two
branches of a common stock who shared common language as
well as many other characteristics. According to
historians, not only from the viewpoint of urbanisation
and development, but also from the viewpoint of political
organisations and government, Yemen and Qahtani Arabs
were centuries ahead of Najd and Hejaz and the Adnani
Arabs. Further explanations will follow about this
aspect.

In Yemen the Hemyari Kings ruled as the crowned
monarchs at the time when in Hejaz social organisations
had not developed beyond tribal ways. Ya'qubi, the great
Islamic historian narrates that the crown worn by Hemyar,
founder of the Hemyari dynasty was made of silver with a
large ruby set in the middle and such was the situation
prevailing in Yemen several centuries before the
establishment of a government in Hejaz, Najd and Arabia.
From the viewpoint of technology and civilisation, long
before the appearance of such developments over the
ordinary tribal life in Najd and Hejaz, the historical
'Mareb Dam' had been constructed. In this regard a
historian narrates that this dam was six kilometers in
length situated between two mountains so that the winter
rains and torrents would collect in the form of a lake.
It had a number of sluice gates through which passed
seventy irrigation channels passed for irrigating seventy
agricultural sectors. Mareb Dam had been built eight
centuries before Islam and as it happened two centuries
before Christ, the object is to show the background of
the birth place of Islam, as also to compare Yemen with
Hejaz which was the location of the advent of Islam.

Mareb Dam

Mareb Dam played an effective role in the development
of Yemen which flourished alongside of it. Strabon, the
famous Greek geographer and traveller (about 63 B.C. to
26 A.D ) whose name is mentioned frequently in the annals
of history, has written many strange accounts about the
city of Mareb and its wonders and fine palaces which have
been quoted in various books of history. This city had
attracted travellers from many parts of the world and
flourished until the second century A.D. From the
beginning of the second century A.D. it started to
deteriorate. The interesting point which historians have
recorded is that since individuals were unable to
maintain the Dam, this task had to be performed by their
governments, but as public authorities had become
inefficient and were too busy feasting and drinking, they
neglected their responsibility of preserving the Dam.
Consequently it fell into disrepair. This shows that in
those times the people of Yemen expected their government
to undertake such tasks. Mareb Dam began to deteriorate
in the beginning of second country A.D. so that all
realised that it would collapse within the next ten or
twenty years So the Qahtani Arabs of Yemen began to
abandon their homes fearing that with the collapse of the
Dam no water would be available for irrigation or
farming. They were also alarmed that when the Dam
collapsed it would release a torrent which would destroy
their homes and fields and everything else that came in
its way Consequently such fears caused the Qahtani tribes
to begin emigrating

One group emigrated towards Hira and the land of Iraq
and settled along the banks of the Tigris, and founded
the government of Munadherah or Al-e-Mundher. The people
& Munadherah on account of their proximity to Iran,
became tributaries of the Iranian governments possibly
maintaining political relations with them. Another group
migrated to the territory near the present day Jordan,
and settled in the flourishing Jordan Valley. They were
the earliest Arabs to settle there and set up the
Ghassani dynasty which normally had relations with Rome.
A third group of them in their migration came to Yathrib
(the present Medina) which was at that time home to the
Jews, however this subject will be discussed later in the
chapter related to Judaism. These last Arabs formed the
twin tribes of 'Aus' and 'Khazraj' whose names appear
frequently in the course of the history of Islam. These
two tribes settled in Yathrib where some farming land and
water were available. Another group, namely Bani Khuza'a
moved to Mecca and fought the Adnani Arabs of Mecca,
drove them out and took control of Mecca themselves. Yet
another group called Bani 'Addi went to Najd and became
the rulers of the greater part of the desert.

What is note worthy here is that a civilised people
accustomed to urbanisation and well developed social
existence should as a result of an anticipated
catastrophe, migrate from their home land, and then
organise their communities wherever they set foot.

Those who went to Shaam, established the Ghassani
rule; those who went to Hira, founded the dynasty of
Al-e-Mundher, No'manian and Munadherah; whose who settled
in Medina, namely the tribes of Aus and Khazraj, will be
discussed in subsequent chapters; and the group that went
to Mecca, pushed away the Adnanis who were the least
developed. These were the ones who went to the desert,
dominated the waste lands of the Arabian Desert. The
remaining Arabs who stayed back in Yemen, either on
account of laziness or hoping that no calamity such as
the collapse of the Dam would occur, were annihilated by
the well-known flood of 'Arem in the end of the second
century A.D. which has been mentioned in the Chapter of
Saba of the holy Qur'an, where a brief history of Yemen
is narrated.

Thus the structure of Arabia in the second century
A.D. consisted of the government of one group of Arabs in
the present day Jordan neighbouring ancient Rome; another
group building a city state in the present Iraq and Hira
set up a state neighbouring Iran; another group settled
in Yathrib as neighbours of the Jews, and lastly another
group of Qahtani Arabs settled in Mecca and its suburbs.
This then was the situation four centuries before the
birth of Islam.

Cultural Situation

All historians are agreed that the highest
manifestation of the development of Arab culture in the
century preceding Islam was poetry which was not known
before that time. A well known historian named Ya'qubi
has written that poetry among the Arabs had taken the
place of science, philosophy, history and everything
else.[7] If an Arab had a bright idea he would give it
the form of a few verses and thus express it. Thus if
someone should question what Arab culture was at that
time, the answer would be 'a few stanzas of poetry'.

The Arabs were a people with a poetic bent even though
their land was no land of flowers and nightingales, but
only thorns and sand, yet it nurtured many a poet. As
poetry was esteemed by them to be the highest
manifestation of culture, their poets were on the lookout
for a suitable spot to present their poems. The finest of
their poems were then inscribed on posters and hung on
the walls of the Ka'aba in the annual rendezvous of the
Arabs. They called these posters 'Mu'allaqat' meaning
'hanging verses'. Such display on the walls of the Ka'aba
was the the reward for the poets, who as a result became
famous. Amra' al-Qais and other contemporary poets of
early Islam were among the poets thus honoured. They were
the authors of 'the seven hanging pieces' that had found
place of honour on the walls of the Ka'aba and in history
Beside poetry there was another cultural source in the