History of the Arabs

Queen Zenobia, c. 240 – c. 274 AD) was a third-century queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Syria. One of several ancient female rulers in antiquity of Arab origin. Depicted as empress on the obverse of an antoninianus (272 AD).

The recorded history of the Arabs begins in the mid-ninth century BC, which is the earliest known attestation of the Old Arabic language. The Arabs appear to have been under the vassalage of the Neo-Babylonian Empire; they went from the Arabian Peninsula to Mauritania.^[1] Tradition holds that Arabs descend from Ishmael, the son of Abraham.^[2] The Syrian Desert is the home of the first attested "Arab" groups,^[3]^[4] as well other Arab groups that spread in the land and existed for millennia.^[5]

Before the expansion of the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661), "Arab" referred to any of the largely nomadic and are settled Arabic tribes from the Arabian Peninsula, Syrian Desert, North and Lower Mesopotamia.^[6] Today, "Arab" refers to a variety of large numbers of people whose native regions form the Arab world due to the spread of Arabs and the Arabic language throughout the region during the early Muslim conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries.^[7] The Arabs forged the Rashidun (632–661), Umayyad (661–750) and the Abbasid (750–1258) caliphates, whose borders reached southern France in the west, China in the east, Anatolia in the north, and the Sudan in the south. This was one of the largest land empires in history.^[8] In the early 20th century, the First World War signalled the end of the Ottoman Empire; which had ruled much of the Arab world since conquering the Mamluk Sultanate in 1517.^[9] This resulted in the defeat and dissolution of the empire and the partition of its territories, forming the modern Arab states.^[10] Following the adoption of the Alexandria Protocol in 1944, the Arab League was founded on 22 March 1945.^[11] The Charter of the Arab League endorsed the principle of an Arab homeland whilst respecting the individual sovereignty of its member states.^[12]

Antiquity

Origins

Arab soldier (Old Persian cuneiform: 𐎠𐎼𐎲𐎠𐎹, Arabāya)^[13] of the Achaemenid army, circa 480 BC. Xerxes I tomb relief.

Proto-Arabs are presumed to have originated from what is now northern Arabia, Jordan and southern Syria. From their urheimat, ancient Arabs established themselves as far as Babylon, Sinai and further into Arabia, over time replacing some of the old languages there such as Dadanitic and Taymanitic.

Iron age

Arabs are first mentioned in Biblical and Assyrian texts of the ninth to fifth centuries BC where they appear as inhabiting parts of present-day Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq.^[14] During the Battle of Qarqar, Gindibu the Arab king of Adummatu was part of the coalition of the 12 kings who fought the Assyrian invasion of Syria. Arabs were also present in the regions of Tadmor, Homs and Lajat during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III, and Tiglath-Pileser III himself appointed the Sinai peninsula jurisdiction to a certain Arab, Idibi'ilu. It is also during this period that the Nabatu are first mentioned, likely the predecessors of the Nabataeans.^[15] Arab presence in Mesopotamia is also evident during the Neo-Assyrian period from records bearing the names of several tribes and towns within Babylon's sphere of influence bearing Arabic onomastics and toponyms. On the other hand, during Alexander the Great's Siege of Tyre (332 BC), he fought the Itureans living in the hills above the city who blocked his army's access to wood supply. The Itureans are considered Arabs by most historians.

Classical kingdoms

Façade of Al Khazneh in Petra, Jordan, built by the Nabateans.

Ancient North Arabian texts give a clearer picture of Arabic's developmental history and emergence. Ancient North Arabian is a collection of texts from Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria which not only recorded ancient forms of Arabic, such as Safaitic and Hismaic, but also of pre-Arabic languages previously spoken in the Arabian peninsula, such as Dadanitic, Hasaitic and Taymanitic.^[16] The texts are either written in variants or closely related sister scripts of epigraphic south Arabian musnad.

The Nabataeans were nomads who moved into territory vacated by the Edomites – Semitic-speakers who settled the region centuries before them. Their early inscriptions were in Aramaic but gradually switched to their spoken Nabataean Arabic, thus producing some of the earliest clear Arabic texts. The Nabataean alphabet was adopted by Arabs to the south, and evolved into modern Arabic script around the 4th century. This is attested by Safaitic inscriptions (beginning in the 1st century BC) and the many Arabic personal names in Nabataean inscriptions. From about the 2nd century BC, a few inscriptions from Qaryat al-Faw reveal a dialect no longer considered proto-Arabic, but pre-classical Arabic. Five Syriac inscriptions mentioning Arabs have been found at Sumatar Harabesi, one of which dates to the 2nd century AD.

The ruins of Palmyra. The Palmyrenes were a mix of Arabs, Amorites and Arameans.

Arabs are first recorded in Palmyra in the late first millennium BC.^[17] The soldiers of the sheikh Zabdibel, who aided the Seleucids in the battle of Raphia (217 BC), were described as Arabs; Zabdibel and his men were not actually identified as Palmyrenes in the texts, but the name "Zabdibel" is a Palmyrene name leading to the conclusion that the sheikh hailed from Palmyra.^[18] After the Battle of Edessa in 260 CE, the Roman emperor Valerian was taken prisoner. Assuming the side of Rome, the Palmyrenes united under Odaenathus and defeated the Sassanian armies in several battles, even reaching the capital city, Ctesiphon, twice. His son Vaballathus succeeded him in 270 under the regency of his mother Zenobia, who declared the Palmyrene Empire. Zenobia quickly captured most of the Near East, including Egypt and most of Asia Minor in 271, even reaching Ancyra. In 273, Aurelian was able to recover the territories lost to the Palmyrenes, whereby the city capitulated. Aurelian himself was helped by the Arab enemies of Zenobia, the Tanukhids. The Tanukhids initially appear in 196 CE as a federation of Arab tribes roaming the western banks of the Euphrates who later made way into central and northern Syria, where they became part of the foederati of the Romans. They rebelled against Roman authority in 378 CE under their queen, Mavia, who lead her forces into Palestine, Arabia and even the edges of Egypt, and also served as auxiliaries in the Roman army.

Approximate map of the kingdoms of Hatra, Edessa and Adiabene as vassals of the Parthians in Mesopotamia in 200 CE

The Osroeni Arabs were in possession of the city of Edessa which they had occupied and ruled since the 2nd century BC, and which they had continued to rule until the 3rd century CE. The Kingdom of Hatra was similarly ruled by an Arab dynasty since the 2nd century CE, whose rulers assumed the title malka often in form of "King of the Arabs".^[19]^[20] The Osroeni and Hatrans were part of several Arab groups or communities in upper Mesopotamia, who also included the Praetavi of Singara (present-day Sinjar, Iraq) reported by Pliny the Elder, and the Arabs of Adiabene. This elaborate Arab presence in upper Mesopotamia was acknowledged by the Sasanians, who called the region Arbayistan, meaning "land of the Arabs".^[21]

In the Levant, various Arab groups flourished during the period of Seleucid and Roman rule. To the south of the Taurus range and in the region of Antioch in Coele-Syria, there was an Arab group ruled by a certain Aziz, who played an important role in the affairs of the last Seleucid king Antiochus XIII Asiaticus. To the east of Antioch, there was another Arab group that ruled in Chalcidice represented by the Rhambaei, Gambarus and Themella, who were ruled by way of various Arab princes, including Alchaedamnus who fought with and against the Romans in their wars against Tigranes and against Caesar. Southward in the Orontes river valley, the Emesene Arabs dominated Emesa and Aresutha until the 2nd century, and were involved in the affairs of late Seleucid monarchs under their chief Sempsigeramus. The Itureans were another possibly Arab group known since Alexander the Great's conquests, they inhabited the Bekaa valley, Southern Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon mountains, and from there they expanded their Kingdom of Chalcis to the Phoenician coast, Aurinitis, Trachonitis and Batanaea; they also maintained two capitals, a religious one in Heliopolis and a secular one in Chalcis sub Libanum (possibly in present-day Majdal Anjar, Lebanon). In southern Palestine, the Idumaeans inhabited to the west of the Dead Sea, and after the fall of the Hasmoneans became politically dominant in Palestine and southern Syria with Rome's support for more than a century under Herod the Great.

Arabs were also living in Egypt even in pre-Christian times, in the Ptolemaic nome called Arabia, in Arsinoites across the Nile, and in Thebaid.^[22]

Late kingdoms

Tanukhid territories in the Levant, Mesopotamia and Arabia in the 4th century

Several Arab entities flourished during middle and late Antiquity, these included kingdoms and confederations of tribes that dominated large swaths of land in the Arabian Peninsula, Levant and Mesopotamia.

Map of the Lakhmid Kingdom in the 6th-century. Light green is Sasanian territory governed by the Lakhmids.

In central Arabia and Iraq, the Lakhmids assumed leadership from the Tanukhids and established themselves as clients for the Sasanians by 300 CE, ruling from their capital city of Al-Hirah and acting as a buffer between them and the Romans & unruly nomadic Arab tribes further south. Their Ghassanid counterparts served the same purpose for the Byzantines after their settlement in Syria likely between 250 and 300 CE. The Ghassanids were part of an influx from Yemen due to conflict between the South Arabian kingdoms of Qataban, Himyar and Sabaa in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE; it's not clear whether or not Ghassanids originally spoke Arabic or a South Semitic language like the ones spoken in Yemen at the time. Upon their settlement in the Levant around 300 CE, the Ghassanids also became part of the foederati, along with several other Arab tribes in the region including Banu Amilah and Banu Judham.

Ghassanid kingdom in the 6th century

Greeks and Romans referred to all the nomadic population of the desert in the Near East as Arabi. The Romans called Yemen "Arabia Felix".^[23] 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.

Approximate extent of the Kingdom of Kinda, c. 500

The Kingdom of Kinda was yet another Arab entity in central Arabia, established in 450 CE as a confederation of the Ma'ad tribes ruled by the Kindites. The Kindites originally migrated from Yemen along with the Ghassanids, where they had served as nomad auxiliaries for the armies of the Sabaean and Himyarite kings,^[24] but were turned back in Eastern Arabia 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 Arabia from "Qaryah Dhat Kahl" (the present-day called Qaryat al-Faw). The Lakhmids contested control of the Central Arabian tribes with the Kindites with the Lakhmids eventually destroying Kinda in 540 after the fall of their main ally Himyar. The Persian Sassanids dissolved the Lakhmid dynasty in 602, being under puppet kings, then under their direct control.^[25] They ruled much of the Northern/Central Arabian peninsula, until they were destroyed by the Lakhmid king Al-Mundhir, and his son 'Amr.

Medieval period

Age of the Caliphs

Expansion under Muhammad, 622–632/A.H. 1–11

Expansion during the Rashidun Caliphate, 632–661/A.H. 11–40

Expansion during the Umayyad Caliphate, 661–750/A.H. 40–129

Rashidun Caliphate (632–661)

United by their new faith after the death of Muhammad in 632, the Rashidun armies launched campaigns of conquest of the surrounding territories controlled by the Sassanians and Romans, effectually establishing what is known in Islamic chronology as the Rashidun Caliphate. The state was centered at the Hejaz, in particular in Medina from 632 until 656 CE, when Ali moved the capital to Kufa.

Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 & 756–1031)

The Great Mosque of Kairouan in Kairouan, Tunisia was founded in 670 by the Arab general Uqba ibn Nafi; it is the oldest mosque in the Maghreb^[26] and represents an architectural testimony of the Arab conquest of North Africa.

The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, built in 715, is one of the oldest, largest and best preserved mosques in the world.

In 661, the Rashidun Caliphate shifted into the hands of the Umayyads, who established their capital in Damascus. The Umayyads derived most of their military from Arabs of Syria, and heavily sponsored poetry. They established garrison towns at Ramla, Raqqa, Basra, Kufa, Mosul and Samarra, all of which developed into major cities.^[27]

Caliph Abd al-Malik established Arabic as the Caliphate's official language in 686.^[28] This reform greatly influenced the conquered non-Arab peoples and fueled the Arabization of the region. However, the Arabs' higher status among non-Arab Muslim converts and the latter's obligation to pay heavy taxes caused resentment. Caliph Umar II strove to resolve the conflict when he came to power in 717. He rectified the disparity, demanding that all Muslims be treated as equals, but his intended reforms did not take effect, as he died after only three years of rule. By now, discontent with the Umayyads swept the region and an uprising occurred in which the Abbasids came to power and moved the capital to Baghdad.

The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, constructed during the reign of Abd al Malik.

Umayyads expanded their Empire westwards capturing North Africa from the Byzantines. Before the Arab conquest, North Africa was conquered or settled by various people including Berbers, Punics, Vandals and Romans. After the Abbasid Revolution, the Umayyads lost most of their territories with the exception of Iberia. Their last holding became known as the Emirate of Córdoba. It wasn't until the rule of the grandson of the founder of this new emirate that the state entered a new phase as the Caliphate of Córdoba. This new state was characterized by an expansion of trade, culture and knowledge, and saw the construction of masterpieces of al-Andalus architecture and the library of Al-Ḥakam II which housed over 400,000 volumes. With the collapse of the Umayyad state in 1031 AD, Islamic Spain was divided into small kingdoms.

Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258 & 1261–1517)

Mustansiriya University in Baghdad.

Scholars at an Abbasid library in Baghdad. Maqamat of al-Hariri Illustration, 1237.

The Abbasids were the descendants of Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, one of the youngest uncles of Muhammad and of the same Banu Hashim clan. The Abbasids led a revolt against the Umayyads and defeated them in the Battle of the Zab effectively ending their rule in all parts of the Empire with the exception of al-Andalus. In 762, the second Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur founded the city of Baghdad and declared it the capital of the Caliphate. Unlike the Umayyads, the Abbasids had the support of non-Arab subjects.^[27]

The Islamic Golden Age was inaugurated by the middle of the 8th century by the ascension of the Abbasid Caliphate and the transfer of the capital from Damascus to the newly founded city of Baghdad. The Abbasids were influenced by the Qur'anic injunctions and hadith such as "The ink of the scholar is more holy than the blood of martyrs" stressing the value of knowledge. During this period the Muslim world became an intellectual centre for science, philosophy, medicine and education as the Abbasids championed the cause of knowledge and established the "House of Wisdom" (Arabic: بيت الحكمة) in Baghdad. Rival dynasties such as the Fatimids of Egypt and the Umayyads of al-Andalus were also major intellectual centres with cities such as Cairo and Córdoba rivaling Baghdad.^[29]

Harun al-Rashid receiving a delegation sent by Charlemagne.

The Abbasids ruled for 200 years before they lost their central control when Wilayas began to fracture in the 10th century; afterwards, in the 1190s, there was a revival of their power, which was ended by the Mongols, who conquered Baghdad in 1258 and killed the Caliph Al-Musta'sim. Members of the Abbasid royal family escaped the massacre and resorted to Cairo, which had broken from the Abbasid rule two years earlier; the Mamluk generals taking the political side of the kingdom while Abbasid Caliphs were engaged in civil activities and continued patronizing science, arts and literature.

Fatimid Caliphate (909–1171)

The Al-Azhar Mosque, commissioned by the Fatimid Caliph Al-Mu'izz for the newly established capital city of Cairo in 969.

The Fatimid caliphate was founded by al-Mahdi Billah, a descendant of Fatimah, the daughter of Muhammad, in the early 10th century. Egypt was the political, cultural, and religious centre of the Fatimid empire. The Fatimid state took shape among the Kutama Berbers, in the West of the North African littoral, in Algeria, in 909 conquering Raqqada, the Aghlabid capital. In 921 the Fatimids established the Tunisian city of Mahdia as their new capital. In 948 they shifted their capital to Al-Mansuriya, near Kairouan in Tunisia, and in 969 they conquered Egypt and established Cairo as the capital of their caliphate.

Intellectual life in Egypt during the Fatimid period achieved great progress and activity, due to many scholars who lived in or came to Egypt, as well as the number of books available. Fatimid Caliphs gave prominent positions to scholars in their courts, encouraged students, and established libraries in their palaces, so that scholars might expand their knowledge and reap benefits from the work of their predecessors.^[30] The Fatimids were also known for their exquisite arts. Many traces of Fatimid architecture exist in Cairo today; the most defining examples include the Al-Hakim Mosque and the Al-Azhar University.

Arabesque pattern behind hunters on ivory plaque, 11th–12th century, Egypt

It was not until the 11th century that the Maghreb saw a large influx of ethnic Arabs. Starting with the 11th century, the Arab bedouin Banu Hilal tribes migrated to the West. Having been sent by the Fatimids to punish the Berber Zirids for abandoning Shias, they travelled westwards. The Banu Hilal quickly defeated the Zirids and deeply weakened the neighboring Hammadids. According to some modern historians. their influx was a major factor in the arabization of the Maghreb.^[31]^[32] Although Berbers ruled the region until the 16th century (under such powerful dynasties as the Almoravids, the Almohads, Hafsids, etc.).

Ottoman Empire (1299–1922/1923)

Soldiers of the Arab Army in the Arabian Desert carrying the Flag of the Arab Revolt.

From 1517 to 1918, much of the Arab world was under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans defeated the Mamluk Sultanate in Cairo, and ended the Abbasid Caliphate. Arabs did not feel the change of administration because the Ottomans modeled their rule after the previous Arab administration systems.^{[citation needed]}

In 1911, Arab intellectuals and politicians from throughout the Levant formed al-Fatat ("the Young Arab Society"), a small Arab nationalist club, in Paris. Its stated aim was "raising the level of the Arab nation to the level of modern nations." In the first few years of its existence, al-Fatat called for greater autonomy within a unified Ottoman state rather than Arab independence from the empire. Al-Fatat hosted the Arab Congress of 1913 in Paris, the purpose of which was to discuss desired reforms with other dissenting individuals from the Arab world. However, as the Ottoman authorities cracked down on the organization's activities and members, al-Fatat went underground and demanded the complete independence and unity of the Arab provinces.^[33]

After World War I, when the Ottoman Empire was overthrown by the British Empire, former Ottoman colonies were divided up between the British and French as League of Nations mandates.

Modern period

Arabs in modern times live in the Arab world, which comprises 22 countries in Middle East, North Africa, and parts of the Horn of Africa. They are all modern states and became significant as distinct political entities after the fall and defeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. Arab League was founded in Cairo on 22 March 1945.

References

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- Jan, Retsö. "Arabs (historical)".
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- Cameron, Averil (29 April 2015). The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity: AD 395–700. Routledge. ISBN 9781136673054.
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Fredrick E. Greenspahn (2005). "Ishmael". In Lindsay Jones (ed.). Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol. 7. Macmillan Reference USA. pp. 4551–4552. ISBN 9780028657400. ISHMAEL, or, in Hebrew, Yishmaʿeʾl; eldest son of Abraham. Ishmael's mother was Agar, an Egyptian slave-girl whom Sarah had as her maid and eventually donated to Abraham because this royal couple were aged and childless but they were unaware then of God's plan and Israel; in accordance with Mesopotamian law, the offspring of such a union would be credited to Sarah (Gn. 16:2). The name Yishmaʿeʾl is known from various ancient Semitic cultures and means "God has hearkened," suggesting that a child so named was regarded as the answer to a request. Ishmael was circumcised at the age of thirteen by Abraham and expelled with his mother Agar at the instigation of Sarah, Abraham's wife, who wanted to ensure that Isaac would be Abraham's heir (Gn. 21). In the New Testament, Paul uses this incident to symbolize the relationship between Judaism and Christianity (Gal. 4:21–31). In the Genesis account, God blessed Ishmael, promising that he would be the founder of a great nation and a "wild ass of a man" always at odds with others (Gn. 16:12). So Abraham rose up in the morning, and taking bread and a bottle of water, put it upon her shoulder, and delivered the boy, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Bersabee. [15] And when the water in the bottle was spent, she cast the boy under one of the trees that were there. Genesis chapter 21: [16] And she went her way, and sat over against him a great way off as far as a bow can carry, for she said: I will not see the boy die: and sitting over against, she lifted up her voice and wept. [17] And God heard the voice of the boy: and an angel of God called to Agar from heaven, saying: What art thou doing, Agar? fear not: for God hath heard the voice of the boy, from the place wherein he is. [18] Arise, take up the boy, and hold him by the hand: for I will make him a great nation. [19] And God opened her eyes: and she saw a well of water, and went and filled the bottle, and gave the boy to drink. [20] And God was with him: and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became a young man, an archer. [21] And he dwelt in the wilderness of Pharan, and his mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt. [22] At the same time Abimelech, and Phicol the general of his army said to Abraham: God is with thee in all that thou dost. [23] Swear therefore by God, that thou wilt not hurt me, nor my posterity, nor my stock: but according to the kindness that I have done to thee, thou shalt do to me, and to the land wherein thou hast lived a stranger. [24] And Abraham said: I will swear. [25] And he reproved Abimelech for a well of water, which his servants had taken away by force. [26] And Abimelech answered: I knew not who did this thing: and thou didst not tell me, and I heard not of it till today. [27] And Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech: and both of them made a league. [28] And Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock. [29] And Abimelech said to him: What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set apart? [30] But he said: Thou shalt take seven ewe lambs at my hand: that they may be a testimony for me, that I dug this well. [31] Therefore that place was called Bersabee: because there both of them did swear. [32] And they made a league for the well of oath. [33] And Abimelech, and Phicol the general of his army arose and returned to the land of the Palestines. But Abraham planted a grove in Bersabee, and there called upon the name of the Lord God eternal. [34] And he was a sojourner in the land of the Palestines many days. [Genesis 21:1-34]Douay Rheims Bible. He is credited with twelve sons, described as "princes according to their tribes" (Gn. 25:16), representing perhaps an ancient confederacy. The Ishmaelites, vagrant traders closely related to the Midianites, were apparently regarded as his descendants. The fact that Ishmael's wife and mother are both said to have been Egyptian suggests close ties between the Ishmaelites and Egypt. According to Genesis 25:17, Ishmael lived to the age of 137. Islamic tradition tends to ascribe a larger role to Ishmael than does the Bible. He is considered a prophet and, according to certain theologians, the offspring whom Abraham was commanded to sacrifice (although surah Judaism has generally regarded him as wicked, although repentance is also ascribed to him. According to some rabbinic traditions, his two wives were Aisha and Fatima, whose names are the same as those of Muhammad's wife and daughter Both Judaism and Islam see him as the ancestor of Arab peoples. Bibliography A survey of the Bible's patriarchal narratives can be found in Nahum M. Sarna's Understanding Genesis (New York, 1966). Postbiblical traditions, with reference to Christian and Islamic views, are collected in Louis Ginzberg's exhaustive Legends of the Jews, 2d ed., 2 vols., translated by Henrietta Szold and Paul Radin (Philadelphia, 2003). Frederick E. Greenspahn (1987 and 2005)
- Noegel, Scott B.; Wheeler, Brannon M. (April 2010). The A to Z of Prophets in Islam and Judaism. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9781461718956.
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- Bernard Ellis Lewis, Buntzie Ellis Churchill (2008). Islam: The Religion and the People. Pearson Prentice Hall. p. 137. Retrieved 21 August 2017. At the time of the Prophet's birth and mission, the Arabic language was more or less confined to Arabia, a land of deserts, sprinkled with oases. Surrounding it on land on every side were the two rival empires of Persia and Byzantium. The countries of what now make up the Arab world were divided between the two of them—Iraq under Persian rule, Syria, Palestine, and North Africa part of the Byzantine Empire. They spoke a variety of different languages and were for the most part Christians, with some Jewish minorities. Their Arabization and Islamization took place with the vast expansion of Islam in the decades and centuries following the death of the Prophet in 632 CE. The Aramaic language, once dominant in the Fertile Crescent, survives in only a few remote villages and in the rituals of the Eastern churches. Coptic, the language of Christian Egypt before the Arab conquest, has been entirely replaced by Arabic except in the church liturgy. Some earlier languages have survived, notably Kurdish in Southwest Asia and Berber in North Africa, but Arabic, in one form or another, has in effect become the language of everyday speech as well as of government, commerce, and culture in what has come to be known as "the Arab world."{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
^
*"Islam, The Arab Empire Of The Umayyads". history-world.org. Archived from the original on 2014-12-15. Retrieved 2017-12-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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^ Shahid, Irfan (1984). Rome and the Arabs: A Prolegomenon to the Study of Byzantium and the Arabs. Dumbarton Oaks. pp. 3–6. ISBN 9780884021155.
^ "Dionysius Periegetes". www.cartographic-images.net.
^ Beeston, A. F. L. (1986). "Kinda — The relations of Kinda with Saba and Himyar". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E.; Lewis, B. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume V: Khe–Mahi. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 120. ISBN 978-90-04-07819-2.
^ Harold Bailey The Cambridge history of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian periods, Volume 1, Cambridge University Press, 1983, ISBN 0-521-20092-X p. 59
^ Clifford Edmund Bosworth Historic cities of the Islamic world, Brill, Leyde, 2007, ISBN 90-04-15388-8 p. 264
^ ^a ^b Lunde, Paul (2002). Islam. New York: Dorling Kindersley Publishing. pp. 50–52. ISBN 0-7894-8797-7.
^ John Joseph Saunders, A history of medieval Islam, Routledge, 1965, page 13
^ Vartan Gregorian, "Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith", Brookings Institution Press, 2003, pg 26–38 ISBN 0-8157-3283-X
^ Shorter Shi'ite Encyclopaedia, By: Hasan al-Amin, http://www.imamreza.net/eng/imamreza.php?id=574 Archived 2010-06-16 at the Wayback Machine
^ Shillington, Kevin (4 July 2013). Encyclopedia of African History 3-Volume Set. Routledge. p. 668. ISBN 9781135456702.
^ Joris, Pierre; Tengour, Habib (2012). Poems for the Millennium, Volume Four: The University of California Book of North African Literature. Univ of California Press. p. 42. ISBN 9780520269132.
^ Choueiri, pp.166–168.

[1] 
Bowman, Alan K.; Champlin, Edward; Lintott, Andrew (8 February 1996). The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521264303.

Jan, Retsö. "Arabs (historical)".

"LAKHMIDS – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org.

Bowersock, G.W.; Brown, Peter; editors, Oleg Grabar (1999). Late antiquity : a guide to the postclassical world (2. print. ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press. ISBN 0674511735. {{cite book}}: |last3= has generic name (help)

Cameron, Averil (29 April 2015). The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity: AD 395–700. Routledge. ISBN 9781136673054.

[2] Bowman, Alan K.; Champlin, Edward; Lintott, Andrew (8 February 1996). The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521264303.

[3] Jan, Retsö. "Arabs (historical)".

[4] "LAKHMIDS – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org.

[5] Bowersock, G.W.; Brown, Peter; editors, Oleg Grabar (1999). Late antiquity : a guide to the postclassical world (2. print. ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press. ISBN 0674511735. {{cite book}}: |last3= has generic name (help)

[6] Cameron, Averil (29 April 2015). The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity: AD 395–700. Routledge. ISBN 9781136673054.

[EoR-Ishmael-2] Fredrick E. Greenspahn (2005). "Ishmael". In Lindsay Jones (ed.). Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol. 7. Macmillan Reference USA. pp. 4551–4552. ISBN 9780028657400. ISHMAEL, or, in Hebrew, Yishmaʿeʾl; eldest son of Abraham. Ishmael's mother was Agar, an Egyptian slave-girl whom Sarah had as her maid and eventually donated to Abraham because this royal couple were aged and childless but they were unaware then of God's plan and Israel; in accordance with Mesopotamian law, the offspring of such a union would be credited to Sarah (Gn. 16:2). The name Yishmaʿeʾl is known from various ancient Semitic cultures and means "God has hearkened," suggesting that a child so named was regarded as the answer to a request. Ishmael was circumcised at the age of thirteen by Abraham and expelled with his mother Agar at the instigation of Sarah, Abraham's wife, who wanted to ensure that Isaac would be Abraham's heir (Gn. 21). In the New Testament, Paul uses this incident to symbolize the relationship between Judaism and Christianity (Gal. 4:21–31). In the Genesis account, God blessed Ishmael, promising that he would be the founder of a great nation and a "wild ass of a man" always at odds with others (Gn. 16:12). So Abraham rose up in the morning, and taking bread and a bottle of water, put it upon her shoulder, and delivered the boy, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Bersabee. [15] And when the water in the bottle was spent, she cast the boy under one of the trees that were there. Genesis chapter 21: [16] And she went her way, and sat over against him a great way off as far as a bow can carry, for she said: I will not see the boy die: and sitting over against, she lifted up her voice and wept. [17] And God heard the voice of the boy: and an angel of God called to Agar from heaven, saying: What art thou doing, Agar? fear not: for God hath heard the voice of the boy, from the place wherein he is. [18] Arise, take up the boy, and hold him by the hand: for I will make him a great nation. [19] And God opened her eyes: and she saw a well of water, and went and filled the bottle, and gave the boy to drink. [20] And God was with him: and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became a young man, an archer. [21] And he dwelt in the wilderness of Pharan, and his mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt. [22] At the same time Abimelech, and Phicol the general of his army said to Abraham: God is with thee in all that thou dost. [23] Swear therefore by God, that thou wilt not hurt me, nor my posterity, nor my stock: but according to the kindness that I have done to thee, thou shalt do to me, and to the land wherein thou hast lived a stranger. [24] And Abraham said: I will swear. [25] And he reproved Abimelech for a well of water, which his servants had taken away by force. [26] And Abimelech answered: I knew not who did this thing: and thou didst not tell me, and I heard not of it till today. [27] And Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech: and both of them made a league. [28] And Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock. [29] And Abimelech said to him: What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set apart? [30] But he said: Thou shalt take seven ewe lambs at my hand: that they may be a testimony for me, that I dug this well. [31] Therefore that place was called Bersabee: because there both of them did swear. [32] And they made a league for the well of oath. [33] And Abimelech, and Phicol the general of his army arose and returned to the land of the Palestines. But Abraham planted a grove in Bersabee, and there called upon the name of the Lord God eternal. [34] And he was a sojourner in the land of the Palestines many days. [Genesis 21:1-34]Douay Rheims Bible. He is credited with twelve sons, described as "princes according to their tribes" (Gn. 25:16), representing perhaps an ancient confederacy. The Ishmaelites, vagrant traders closely related to the Midianites, were apparently regarded as his descendants. The fact that Ishmael's wife and mother are both said to have been Egyptian suggests close ties between the Ishmaelites and Egypt. According to Genesis 25:17, Ishmael lived to the age of 137. Islamic tradition tends to ascribe a larger role to Ishmael than does the Bible. He is considered a prophet and, according to certain theologians, the offspring whom Abraham was commanded to sacrifice (although surah Judaism has generally regarded him as wicked, although repentance is also ascribed to him. According to some rabbinic traditions, his two wives were Aisha and Fatima, whose names are the same as those of Muhammad's wife and daughter Both Judaism and Islam see him as the ancestor of Arab peoples. Bibliography A survey of the Bible's patriarchal narratives can be found in Nahum M. Sarna's Understanding Genesis (New York, 1966). Postbiblical traditions, with reference to Christian and Islamic views, are collected in Louis Ginzberg's exhaustive Legends of the Jews, 2d ed., 2 vols., translated by Henrietta Szold and Paul Radin (Philadelphia, 2003). Frederick E. Greenspahn (1987 and 2005)
Noegel, Scott B.; Wheeler, Brannon M. (April 2010). The A to Z of Prophets in Islam and Judaism. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9781461718956.

"Ishmael and Isaac". www.therefinersfire.org.

[8] Noegel, Scott B.; Wheeler, Brannon M. (April 2010). The A to Z of Prophets in Islam and Judaism. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9781461718956.

[9] "Ishmael and Isaac". www.therefinersfire.org.

[3] Inc, Encyclopædia Britannica (January 2012). Britannica Student Encyclopedia (A-Z Set). Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. ISBN 9781615355570.

[4] Hoyland, Robert G. (2001). Arabia and the Arabs. Routledge. ISBN 0-203-76392-0.

[5] *MacArthur, John F. (15 December 2001). Terrorism, Jihad, and the Bible. Thomas Nelson Inc. ISBN 9781418518974.

[6] *"Arab people". Encyclopædia Britannica.
Grant, Christina Phelps (2003). The Syrian desert : caravans, travel and exploration. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. ISBN 1136192719.

"The Nomadic Tribes of Arabia". Boundless. 2 October 2016. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2017.

electricpulp.com. "ʿARAB i. Arabs and Iran (pre-Islamic) – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 7 August 2017.

[14] Grant, Christina Phelps (2003). The Syrian desert : caravans, travel and exploration. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. ISBN 1136192719.

[15] "The Nomadic Tribes of Arabia". Boundless. 2 October 2016. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2017.

[16] tricpulp.com. "ʿARAB i. Arabs and Iran (pre-Islamic) – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 7 August 2017.

[7] 
Ruthven, Albert Hourani ; with a new afterword by Malise (2010). A history of the Arab peoples (1st Harvard Press pbk. ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674058194.

"HISTORY OF MIGRATION". www.historyworld.net.

"Untitled Document". people.umass.edu. Archived from the original on 3 September 2016.

"History of the Arabs (book)". www.historyworld.net.

Bernard Ellis Lewis, Buntzie Ellis Churchill (2008). Islam: The Religion and the People. Pearson Prentice Hall. p. 137. Retrieved 21 August 2017. At the time of the Prophet's birth and mission, the Arabic language was more or less confined to Arabia, a land of deserts, sprinkled with oases. Surrounding it on land on every side were the two rival empires of Persia and Byzantium. The countries of what now make up the Arab world were divided between the two of them—Iraq under Persian rule, Syria, Palestine, and North Africa part of the Byzantine Empire. They spoke a variety of different languages and were for the most part Christians, with some Jewish minorities. Their Arabization and Islamization took place with the vast expansion of Islam in the decades and centuries following the death of the Prophet in 632 CE. The Aramaic language, once dominant in the Fertile Crescent, survives in only a few remote villages and in the rituals of the Eastern churches. Coptic, the language of Christian Egypt before the Arab conquest, has been entirely replaced by Arabic except in the church liturgy. Some earlier languages have survived, notably Kurdish in Southwest Asia and Berber in North Africa, but Arabic, in one form or another, has in effect become the language of everyday speech as well as of government, commerce, and culture in what has come to be known as "the Arab world."{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)

[18] Ruthven, Albert Hourani ; with a new afterword by Malise (2010). A history of the Arab peoples (1st Harvard Press pbk. ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674058194.

[19] "HISTORY OF MIGRATION". www.historyworld.net.

[20] "Untitled Document". people.umass.edu. Archived from the original on 3 September 2016.

[21] "History of the Arabs (book)". www.historyworld.net.

[22] Bernard Ellis Lewis, Buntzie Ellis Churchill (2008). Islam: The Religion and the People. Pearson Prentice Hall. p. 137. Retrieved 21 August 2017. At the time of the Prophet's birth and mission, the Arabic language was more or less confined to Arabia, a land of deserts, sprinkled with oases. Surrounding it on land on every side were the two rival empires of Persia and Byzantium. The countries of what now make up the Arab world were divided between the two of them—Iraq under Persian rule, Syria, Palestine, and North Africa part of the Byzantine Empire. They spoke a variety of different languages and were for the most part Christians, with some Jewish minorities. Their Arabization and Islamization took place with the vast expansion of Islam in the decades and centuries following the death of the Prophet in 632 CE. The Aramaic language, once dominant in the Fertile Crescent, survives in only a few remote villages and in the rituals of the Eastern churches. Coptic, the language of Christian Egypt before the Arab conquest, has been entirely replaced by Arabic except in the church liturgy. Some earlier languages have survived, notably Kurdish in Southwest Asia and Berber in North Africa, but Arabic, in one form or another, has in effect become the language of everyday speech as well as of government, commerce, and culture in what has come to be known as "the Arab world."{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)

[8] *"Islam, The Arab Empire Of The Umayyads". history-world.org. Archived from the original on 2014-12-15. Retrieved 2017-12-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
"The Arab Empire | Mohammed | Umayyad Empire History". www.historybits.com.

"Top 10 Greatest Empires In History". Listverse. 22 June 2010.

Pillalamarri, Akhilesh. "The 5 Most Powerful Empires in History". The National Interest.

"10 Greatest Empires in the History of World". Top Ten Lists. 24 March 2010.

[24] "The Arab Empire | Mohammed | Umayyad Empire History". www.historybits.com.

[25] "Top 10 Greatest Empires In History". Listverse. 22 June 2010.

[26] Pillalamarri, Akhilesh. "The 5 Most Powerful Empires in History". The National Interest.

[27] "10 Greatest Empires in the History of World". Top Ten Lists. 24 March 2010.

[9] 
Page 8 – The Arab Revolt, 1916–18 Published by New Zealand History at nzhistory.net.nz

Sean McMeekin (2012) The Berlin–Baghdad Express. Belknap Press. ISBN 0674064321. pp. 288, 297

[29] Page 8 – The Arab Revolt, 1916–18 Published by New Zealand History at nzhistory.net.nz

[30] Sean McMeekin (2012) The Berlin–Baghdad Express. Belknap Press. ISBN 0674064321. pp. 288, 297

[10] 
L., Rogan, Eugene (1 January 2004). Frontiers of the state in the late Ottoman Empire : Transjordan, 1850–1921. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521892236. OCLC 826413749.

Schsenwald, William L. "The Vilayet of Syria, 1901–1914: A Re-Examination of Diplomatic Documents As Sources." Middle East Journal (1968), Vol 22, No. 1, Winter: p. 73.

[32] L., Rogan, Eugene (1 January 2004). Frontiers of the state in the late Ottoman Empire : Transjordan, 1850–1921. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521892236. OCLC 826413749.

[33] Schsenwald, William L. "The Vilayet of Syria, 1901–1914: A Re-Examination of Diplomatic Documents As Sources." Middle East Journal (1968), Vol 22, No. 1, Winter: p. 73.

[History-11] Arab League formed — History.com This Day in History — 3/22/1945. History.com. Retrieved on 28 April 2014.

[12] * MacDonald, Robert W. (8 December 2015). The League of Arab States: A Study in Dynamics of Regional Organization. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9781400875283.
"Arab League from The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed". Archived from the original on 2019-05-13. Retrieved 2017-12-16.

[36] "Arab League from The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed". Archived from the original on 2019-05-13. Retrieved 2017-12-16.

[13] DNa - Livius. p. DNa inscription Line 27.

[14] Hoyland, Robert G. (2001). Arabia and the Arabs. Routledge. ISBN 0-203-76392-0.

[15] Elayi‏, Josette (2022). Tiglath-pileser III, Founder of the Assyrian Empire. SBL Press. ISBN 9781628374308.

[16] Al-Jallad, Ahmad (2015). An Outline of the Grammar of the Safaitic Inscriptions. BRILL. ISBN 9789004289826.

[FOOTNOTEBryce2014[httpsbooksgooglecombooksidXno9AgAAQBAJpgPA278_278]-17] Bryce 2014, p. 278.

[FOOTNOTEBryce2014[httpsbooksgooglecombooksidXno9AgAAQBAJpgPA359_359]-18] Bryce 2014, p. 359.

[19] Jong, Albert (2013). "Hatra and the Parthian Commonwealth". Oriens et Occidens – Band 21: 143–161.

[20] Ellerbrock, Uwe (2021). The Parthians: The Forgotten Empire. Oxford: Routledge. ISBN 978-0367481902.

[21] Jullien, Christelle (2018). "Beth 'Arabaye". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8.

[Shahid-22] Shahid, Irfan (1984). Rome and the Arabs: A Prolegomenon to the Study of Byzantium and the Arabs. Dumbarton Oaks. pp. 3–6. ISBN 9780884021155.

[23] "Dionysius Periegetes". www.cartographic-images.net.

[24] Beeston, A. F. L. (1986). "Kinda — The relations of Kinda with Saba and Himyar". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E.; Lewis, B. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume V: Khe–Mahi. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 120. ISBN 978-90-04-07819-2.

[25] Harold Bailey The Cambridge history of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian periods, Volume 1, Cambridge University Press, 1983, ISBN 0-521-20092-X p. 59

[26] Clifford Edmund Bosworth Historic cities of the Islamic world, Brill, Leyde, 2007, ISBN 90-04-15388-8 p. 264

[Lunde-27] Lunde, Paul (2002). Islam. New York: Dorling Kindersley Publishing. pp. 50–52. ISBN 0-7894-8797-7.

[28] John Joseph Saunders, A history of medieval Islam, Routledge, 1965, page 13

[Vartan-29] Vartan Gregorian, "Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith", Brookings Institution Press, 2003, pg 26–38 ISBN 0-8157-3283-X

[imamreza.net-30] Shorter Shi'ite Encyclopaedia, By: Hasan al-Amin, http://www.imamreza.net/eng/imamreza.php?id=574 Archived 2010-06-16 at the Wayback Machine

[31] Shillington, Kevin (4 July 2013). Encyclopedia of African History 3-Volume Set. Routledge. p. 668. ISBN 9781135456702.

[32] Joris, Pierre; Tengour, Habib (2012). Poems for the Millennium, Volume Four: The University of California Book of North African Literature. Univ of California Press. p. 42. ISBN 9780520269132.

[Choueiri166-33] Choueiri, pp.166–168.

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