Thomas Wright

“ But those who have most obstinately defended the ignorance of Muhammed, contrasted with the elegance of the Koran, with a view of depriving him of the credit of its composition, have not contemplated the state of literature in Arabia at the time of his appearance, or considered what might, under his peculiar circumstances, bear such a denomination. The time of his birth was the golden age of Arabian literature, for it was during the reign of Amru ben Hind at Hirah, who was contemporary with the greatest of the Arabian poets. ”

“ If its progress from obscurity be a proof of its truth, the rise of Rome proved the truth of its idolatry. The empires of Rome and Persia have passed away, the power of the Saracens has fallen before the same causes, and that which succeeded it is quickly following, but Christianity has arisen superior to every obstacle, and is now spread over countries unknown to Christians of former days. The name of Hamyar has sunk into oblivion, but the native songs of Ethiopia still celebrate the memory of Elesbaan the conqueror of Yaman, and of Arethas the pious martyr of Nadjran. [47] ”

“ The Persian monarchs, from Shahpoor to Kobad, had persecuted with unrelenting acrimony the followers of Christ, and the spirit of the monarch was easily imparted to his vassals and the kings who courted his alliance. The pious example and eloquent exhortations of Simeon Stylites, a Syrian monk, had induced numbers of the Saracen tribes to embrace the religion of their Saviour, and Naaman began to fear lest his subjects might be led by their religion to desert to the service of the Romans. The intercourse of the Arabs with the Christians was therefore forbidden on pain of instant death. ”

“ Christianity was propagated in peace, but it became in its progress mixed and tainted with the manners and sentiments of the various people who received it. Persecution, perhaps, is one of the surest schools of tyranny and intolerance ”

“ The various chiefs were perpetually at war with each other, and in these wars the powers of Hirah, of Ghassan, and of Yaman, became continually implicated. Their mutual hostilities were carried to such a height as to gain for them from one of their own poets the character of "men, like strong-necked lions, who menace one another with malignant hate, like the demons of Badiya, with feet firmly rivetted in the conflict." [1]
A quarrel about the swiftness of the favourite horses of their chiefs, which were named Dahes and Ghabra, gave rise to a war between the Absites and the Dzobijamites. ”

“ The tolerant spirit of the Arabian idolatry afforded equally a safe asylum to the persecuted disciples of Zoroaster, numbers of whom settled in Bahhrein, to the Jew, and to the fugitive Christian. As long as the kings of Hamyar adhered to their ancient superstition, each of these sects was allowed the free exercise of its religious ceremonies, and the public profession of its faith. But no sooner did the followers of Judaism gain power, than the disciples of Jesus, whom they considered as their bitterest enemies, began to experience their resentment. ”

“ Approaching the chief, who, terrified at the extraordinary appearance, had fallen almost senseless at his feet, he addressed him in an indignant tone, "Darest thou, wretch, to persecute the people of God?" The Arabian chief was then laid across his bed by the attendants, and scourged almost to death. ”

“ Within a few years after the death of the prophet, the crescent had spread its baleful influence over Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, and Egypt.
With the death of Muhammed the last sparks of Christianity in Arabia were extinguished. The professions of Abubeker, were marked by a spirit of moderation, [41] but he was surrounded by men whose only virtues were ferocious bravery and an unrelenting hatred to the enemies of their religion. The treatment of the conquered infidels accorded but little with those which, from such professions, we might be led to expect. ”

“ The Arabs of Ghassan, and other tribes who bordered on Syria, which was occupied by the Romans, sheltered themselves from the Persian power by a nominal alliance with their neighbours. Accordingly when Hormuz II., the seventh king of the Sassanian dynasty, attempted to exact a tribute of the tribe of Ghassan, they refused to comply with his demand. Without giving them time to seek assistance from their Roman allies, the Persian king invaded their territory, and entirely defeated them. But Hormuz himself was waylaid in the desert by a body of Arabs, who put him and his attendants to the sword. ”

“ Under the despotic government of the khalifs the Arabs might be more celebrated for their learning, for their skill in astrology, in grammar, in geography, or in the more abstruse science of geometry and numbers, but taste and purity of language belonged only to their free ancestors of the ages which preceded the reign of Islam. ”

“ The coasts of Arabia and Abyssinia approach each other by degrees, until at the southern extremity of the Red Sea they form a narrow passage, the entrance into the ocean, which from its perilous navigation gained from the Arabian sailors the name of Bab el Mandoub, or the Gate of Tears. The black, lofty, and often fatal shores of the African side were looked on with terror, and formed a bay which was named the Harbour of Death ”

“ On the nearer approach of Abrahah, the Koreish, and all the inhabitants of Mecca, led by Abdolmotalleb, unable to defend their city, took refuge on the neighbouring mountains, which overhung the narrow pass through which the enemy must march. Abrahah now approached the city, and had entered the narrow valley which led to it; not knowing, apparently, that the Koreish occupied the heights; but the army of Hamyar, which had hitherto overcome all resistance, fell beneath the shower of masses of rock and other missiles, incessantly poured on them by their assailants. ”

“ The Arab tribes have been ever celebrated for their frequent ablutions, and for their peculiar abhorrence of any thing that is considered impure or polluted. One of the tribe of Kenanah, who was bribed by the guardians of the Kaaba, had been admitted to perform some of the duties appertaining to the church of Sanaa. Seizing an opportunity during the preparations for an extraordinary festival, he entered the church by night, and strewed it with dung; and then immediately fled from the town, spreading everywhere in his flight the news of the profanation of the Christian church. ”

“ The poets of Arabia, like the bards of the west, were not shackled by minute and crippling rules of composition, their works were the spontaneous productions of their imagination, and perhaps they might disdain the servile task of perpetuating their effusions by the use of writing. ”

“ The Persian monarch, having devoted himself to a life of abstinence and piety, shed not any blood, neither did he put any person to death, nor make war on any one, and Mazdak encouraged, him in this line of conduct. Then all veneration and fear of Kobad departed from the hearts of the princes, and no one respected or dreaded him; and as they were free from any apprehensions of his attacking them, all the princes in his empire began to form ambitious projects. The king of the Arabs, Naaman ibn Al Mondar was under his subjection, and his residence was at Hirah ”

“ The interior has always been a sterile sandy desert, interspersed however by frequent green and fertile oases, which were occupied by villages and small towns, as was the case with Palmyra, which rose to power and opulence by being the centre of the trade from the Persian gulf. [12] On the east the Arabs were often in possession of the rich plains of the Hauraun and Damascus; towards the north the districts of Edessa and Emessa, as well as Irak and part of Mesopotamia towards the east, were long ruled by Arabian dynasties. ”

“ It was at this time that the Jews were first introduced into Hamyar.
Till the latter part of the fourth century, Christianity seems scarcely to have been known in the southern parts of Arabia. It was not till after the reign of tobbaa Assaad Abu Carb, when the Persians began by their increasing power to threaten the empire, that the Arabians had any connection with their Roman neighbours. Although there is no doubt abundance of exaggeration and fable in the Arabian annals previous to this period, the historical outlines may be correct. ”

“ The difference between the Romans and Arabs was further widened by an accidental circumstance. The Saracen chiefs were seldom included in the treaties of peace between Rome and Persia, and being at continual variance with each other, were often the cause of misunderstanding, and even of open war, between the two rival empires. At the time of the Persian embassy under Mebodes to the court of Justinian, Amrus, the Persian phylarch, made a demand on the emperor for a sum of money, which he alleged to be due to him for some service he had done for the empire. ”

“ On the breaking out of the persecution of the Christians of Hamyar by Dzu Nowass, the Roman merchants engaged in the Ethiopian trade were among the first who experienced its effects. The rich merchandise contained in their caravans naturally excited the cupidity of the persecutors, the injuries which the Jews were represented to have suffered under the dominion of Rome were eagerly embraced as a pretext, and under pretence of retaliation the caravans were stopped and plundered on their passage over the mountains, and the merchants put to death. ”

“ Arethas and his companions were urged to apostasy both by threats and persuasions, the Arabian king alleging that God, who was incorporeal, could not be killed or crucified — that Christ therefore ought not to be worshipped as a god, but should only be considered as a human being, and that he did not wish them to worship the sun and moon, or any created thing, but the one God who had produced all things, and who was the Father of all generation. ”

“ The Arabians are divided by the native historians into two distinct races: the posterity of Kâhtan, or Joktan, the son of Heber, who were termed Al Arab al Ariba, the pure Arabs, and the race of Adnân, the lineal descendants of Ishmael, who were called mixed Arabs, Al Arab al Mostareba. From the latter, who were intermixed with the descendants of Jorham, one of the sons of Kâhtan, and occupied the district of Hedjaz, were descended the tribe of Koreish. Kâhtan was the first that wore a diadem in the land of Yaman. ”

“ The love of the Arabs for independence, placed them under the necessity of being continually in a posture of defence; by their perpetual hostilities they learnt to consider every one as their enemy, and one of their poets has justified their mode of life, by observing, that "he who drives not invaders from his cistern with strong arms, will see it demolished; and he who abstains ever so much from injuring others, will often himself be injured." ”

“ That region of Ethiopia which was known to the Romans as the kingdom of Auxuma, was called by the Arabians Al Habesh, of which the modern name of Abyssinia is merely a corruption. Its eastern boundary is the Red Sea, and on the north it adjoins to Nubia; and in its physical geography it bears a great resemblance to the Arabian peninsula. It is described as a country of mountains. Like Arabia, it is characterized by its coast chains ”

“ Thus the religion of Muhammed was established without altering the form of that which had preceded it, the worship of the Pagan Arabs was permitted to proceed in its usual course, the Koreish were still allowed the possession of the house of God, and continued to reap the same profit as usual from the devotees who came to visit the Kaaba, and drink of the sacred well of Zemzem, to which their devotion was increased by the assurance that it was the identical spring which had been produced by God to allay the thirst of Hagar and Ismael. ”