Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent is a
peninsula in Southwest Asia at the junction of Africa, Europe and Asia. The seas
off the coast of the Arabian Peninsula are, on the west the Red Sea and the Gulf
of Aqaba, on the northwest Mediterranean sea, on the southeast the Arabian Sea
(part of the Indian Ocean), and on the northeast, the Gulf of Oman, the Strait
of Hormuz, and the Arabianian Gulf. It lies between 32o E to 60o E and 13o N to
40o N. Since the early Islamic years, the peninsula has been called
Jazira-tul-Arab ( Arabian Island), as it is surrounded by the sea in three sides
and has a short range of land connection to the Asia Minor and Persian land,
only in the north. Geologically, the whole land mass existing on the Arabian
Plate composes Arabian Peninsula.
The main land feature of Arabia is desert, however, mountain ranges along the
eastern coast of Red Sea extending from south to north is another major feature.
The mountains show a steady increase in altitude westward as they get nearer to
Yemen, and the highest peaks and ranges are all located in Yemen. The highest,
Jabal Al-Nabi Shu'ayb in Yemen, is 3666 m high.
Arabia has few lakes or permanent rivers. Most are drained by ephemeral
watercourses called wadis, which are dry except during the rainy season.
Plentiful ancient aquifers exist beneath much of the peninsula, however, and
where this water surfaces, oases form (e.g., Al-Hasa and Qatif, two of the
worlds largest oases) and permit agriculture, especially palm trees, which
allowed the peninsula to produce more dates than any other region in the world.
In general, the climate is extremely hot and arid, although there are
exceptions. Higher elevations are made temperate by their altitude, and the
Arabian Sea coastline can receive surprisingly cool, humid breezes in summer due
to cold upwelling offshore. The peninsula has no thick forests, although
desert-adapted wildlife is present throughout the region.
A plateau more than 2,500 feet high extends across much of the Arabian
Peninsula. The plateau slopes eastwards from the massive, rifted escarpment
along the coast of the Red Sea, to the shallow waters of the Arabian Gulf. The
interior is characterised by cuestas and valleys, drained by a system of wadis.
A crescent of sand and gravel deserts lies to the east. The vegetation is
confined to the oasis in the desert and Fertile Crescent.
The Origin of Civilization
Adam (Peace be on him), the father of mankind, along with his wife Hawa / Eve
(Peace be on her) – the mother of mankind, was sent to the earth. The place
where the couple settled was the Holy City of Makkah( Saudi Arabia). Being the
centre of the terrestrial surface, it was the most suitable place for the
breeding and distribution of mankind. The Qur’an states:
“The first House (of worship) appointed for men was that at Bakka (Makkah); full
of blessing and of guidance for all kinds of beings”
Muhammad, the Last Messenger (Be His blessings and peace on him) told that Adam
(Peace be on him) and Hawa (Peace be on her) built the Holy Ka,abah in Makkah as
the first House of Worship on the commandment of Almighty Allah.
The Old Testament ( Hebrew Bible) mentions that Adam (Peace be on him) was
created out of the dust taken from the holy place i.e the centre of the earth.
The Jewish Encyclopedia states about his creation:
“According to Targ. Yer. to Gen. ii. 7, God took dust from the holy place (as
"the center of the earth"; compare Pirḳe R. Eliezer xi., xx.) and the four parts
of the world, mingling it with the water of all the seas, and made him red,
black, and white”
The Jewish Encyclopedia declares that Adam (Peace be on him) was sent to the
earth on the ground from which his dust was taken:
“Finally, the man and his wife were expelled from the garden "to till the ground
from which he was taken."
The ‘holy place’- the centre of the earth, is definitely Makkah, as it is the
true centre of the terrestrial surface and a holy place from the time
immemorial. There is no doubt that Makkah is the place where the first human
civilization did originate, being the follower of the first Prophet Adam (Peace
be on him) it was the first Muslim civilization.
Origin of Idolatry
After the death of Adam (Peace be on him), his descendents diverged from his
monotheistic faith and started worshipping the saints like Wadd, Suwâ, Yaghûth,
Ya‘ûq and Nasr. Even they portrayed them in mud and thence appeared idolatry,
first time in the human history.
The Qur’an mentions the event as such:
“And they have said: ‘You shall not leave your gods: nor shall you leave Wadd,
nor Suwâ‘, nor Yaghûth, nor Ya‘ûq nor Nasr’.”
The First Messenger: Noah (Peace be on him)
Among the early descendents of Adam (Peace be on him), in eleventh generation,
was Noah (Peace be on him) who is entitled as the first messenger in prophetic
traditions. He continued calling people to original monotheistic faith
throughout his long life, but only eighty people responded positively.
On the commandment of Allah Almighty , he constructed a big boat, a closed
vessel, like a submarine. It is mentioned in the Qur’an that people used to poke
fun at his work, during making the boat. What was the reason for mocking in
people’s mind? It seems that Noah’s town was located far enough from the coasts
and river banks and was impossible to drag the boat to a distant sea. They used
to say that the big boats( ships) are made for sea, then what is the purpose of
a boat in the dry land?
H.G.Wells, a biased historian for Europe’s Glory, writes:
“Arabia would have seemed what it had been for times immemorial, the refuge of
small and bickering nomadic tribes.”
Renowned historian, Philip Khuri Hitti, alluded towards this fact in these
words:
“The people of the Arabia, particularly Bedouins, have remained virtually the
same throughout all recorded ages. And it was in Arabia that the ancestors of
the Semitic peoples - the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Chaldaeans, Amorites,
Aramaeans, the Phoenicians, Hebrews, Arabians and the Abyssinians- had their
origin. Here they lived at some time as one people.”
Second Human Community
Adam( Peace be on him) migrated westward and inhabited the eastern coasts of
Mediterranean sea and established the second human community which later known
as Al-Quds or Yerushalayim or Jerusalem.
The Prophet’s companion Abu Zar Ghiffari ( May He pleased with him) reports that
he asked the Messenger of Allah (Be His blessings and peace on him) , “ Which
mosque was constructed first?” He said, “ Masjid Al-Haram ( Holy Mosque of
Makkah)”, he asked, “ Which one then?”, He said, “ Masjid Al-Aqsa (Holy Mosque
of Jerusalem); he asked again, “ How much time difference was in between the two
(mosques)?” he said, “ Forty years.”
It was Adam( Peace be on him) who built Masjid Al-Aqsa first time.
Diversity of mankind
The earliest human community evolved into three races namely Semitic, Hamitic
and Japhetic. These races lived in their native land, the Arabian Peninsula, for
decades.
Wikipedia states:
“ The earliest known events in Arabian history are migrations from the peninsula
into neighboring areas. In the 3rd millennium BCE, Semitic-speaking peoples
migrated from the Arabian Peninsula into Mesopotamia, settled in Sumer, and
eventually established the Akkadian Empire under Sargon of Akkad (c. 2300 BCE).”
The ancestors of the Semitic people were not except the children of Adam (Peace
be on him). It is generally accepted by the historians that the descendants of
Noah’s ( Peace be on him) sons , Semitic, Japhetic and Hamitic peoples,
originally inhabited Arabian Peninsula and its neighboring regions.
Muhammad, the Last Messenger (Be His blessings and peace on him) told that Saam
(Shem) is the father of Arabs, Ham is the father of Abyssinians ( Africans) and
Japheth is the father of Romans ( Europeans).
Agricultural Revolution
It is a matter of fact that Arabian Peninsula is the region, where the earliest
evidence of farming has been found. Wikipedia states:
“The Neolithic Revolution is the first agricultural revolution—the transition
from hunting and gathering communities and bands, to agriculture and settlement.
Archaeological data indicate that various forms of domestication of plants and
animals arose independently in at least seven or eight separate locales
worldwide, with the earliest known developments taking place in the Middle East
around 10,000 BC or earlier.”
Domestication of Animals
Likewise agriculture, domestication of animals first time happened in Arabian
Peninsula. Wikipedia states:
“The Middle East served as the source for many animals that could be
domesticated, such as goats and pigs. This area was also the first region to
domesticate the Dromedary Camel. The presence of these animals gave the region a
large advantage in cultural and economic development. As the climate in the
Middle East changed, and became drier, many of the farmers were forced to leave,
taking their domesticated animals with them. It was this massive emigration from
the Middle East that would later help distribute these animals to the rest of
Afroeurasia.”
All the prophets, mentioned in the Bible (Old & New Testaments) and the Qur’an,
were sent either in Arabian Peninsula or its neighboring regions. This
historical fact strongly supports the idea of Makkan origin of human
civilization.