Chapter III: AHL EL-KIBLY: (Southernly tribes) (2)

[40] For the interesting history of the cities that occupied the site of Busrah before the days of Islam, and as far back as Nebuchadnezzar, see Ainsworth’s “Personal narrative of the Euphrates expedition.”

[41] The following are the villages and encampments between _Hillah_ and _Diwaniyeh_: El Ataj, Doulab, Dobleh, Kwaha, Saadeh, Tenhara, Bir Amaneh, Allaj, Anameh, Hosein, Khegaan Sageer and Khegaan Kebir.

[42] The distinction between true Arabs of the nomad tribes and the _Me’dan_ was made as early as 1792 by Niebuhr in his travels, and the river boatmen still answer your question with contemptuous accent: “Those are not Arabs, they are Me’dan.”

[43] It contains the following Wadys: Nejran, Habuna, Wanan, Moyazet, Bedr and the extensive Wady Dauasir.

[44] Aflaj has six villages: Siah, Leyta, Khurfa, Ei-Rautha, El-Bedia. Wady Dauasir has these towns: El-Hammam, Es-Shotibba, Es-Soleil, Tamera, Ed-Dam, El-Loghf, El-Ferrà, Es Showeik, and El-Ayathat. (Doughty.) Most of these towns are not given on the maps, but as some of them are, it is interesting to mention the route from Hassa to this Wady, given by Capt. Miles in a letter to Sprenger (dated Muscat, March, 1873) and quoted in his “Alte Geog. Arabiens,” page 240. “Route from El Hasa to Solail: Hassa, Khaiaj, Howta, Hilwa, Leilah, Kharfa, Rondha, El Sih, Bidia, Shitba, Solail. From Solail to Runniya it is three days’ journey. It is a town larger than Solail. The Dosiri tribes are as follows El-Woodaieen at Solail; El Misahireh possess most camels, etc.; Al Hassan at Wasit; Beni Goweit; El-Khutran in Shitba; El Sherafa; El-’Umoor, east end of Wady; Al Saad, west of Wady; El-Showaiej; El-Khamaseen; El Kahtan; Hamid; Al Amar; El Farjan in Kharfa.”

[45] A full account of their peculiar beliefs and their disputed origin is given in the Appendix to Badger’s “History of Oman.”

[46] The Talh is a large tree of roundish, scanty, leafage, with a little dry berry for fruit, its branches are wide-spreading and thorny. The Nebaa’ is much smaller though of considerable height; it has very small ovate bright green leaves. The Sidi is a little acacia tree.

[47] For our present knowledge of the government, population, cities and villages of Nejd we are chiefly indebted to the following travellers: Captain G. F. Sadlier, of the English army, who was the first European to cross the Arabian Peninsula. (1819) George Wallin, a learned young Swedish Arabist, travelling in 1845 and 1848 as a Mohammedan doctor of law, passed through the northern desert from Jauf to Hail and visited Medina. William Gifford Palgrave, a Jesuit Roman Catholic, of English birth and scholarly tastes made his celebrated journey across Arabia from west to east in 1862-63. In 1864 the bold Italian traveller Guarmani went from Jerusalem straight to Jebel Shammar and Aneyza. In 1865 Colonel Pelly, the British Resident at Bushire made an important journey, in company with Dr. Colville and Lieutenant Dawes, from Kuweit through southeastern Nejd to Riadh, returning by Hassa to Ojeir and Bahrein. Then Charles M. Doughty (_facile princeps_ among all authorities and travellers Arabian) made his long, arduous, zigzag journeys through northwestern and northern Arabia from November, 1876, to August, 1878. Our other authority for Nejd is Lady Ann Blunt who with her husband visited the capital of Ibn Rashid’s country from Bagdad in 1883.

[48] If we remember that Palgrave compares Feysul’s mud brick palace to the Tuileries of Paris, states that the great mosque of Riad can accommodate 2,000 worshippers, and gives the Wahabi ruler a standing army of 50,000, we deduct a little from the poetical description to have a balance of net facts.

[49] In our chapter on the Arabic language we shall see that the golden age of Arabic literature was just before the birth of Mohammed.

[50] “Mohammedanism had owed much to the Jewish kingdom of Sâba. The rule of the Sabean kings had extended over Mecca, and Jewish ideas and beliefs had thus made their way into the future birthplace of Mohammed. The fact is full of interest for students of the history of Islam. The epigraphic evidence which Dr. Glaser has presented to us shows that the rise of Mohammedanism was not the strange and unique phenomenon it has hitherto been thought to be. It had been prepared for centuries previously. Arabia had for ages been the home of culture and the art of writing, and for about two hundred years before the birth of Mohammed his countrymen had been brought into close contact with the Jewish faith. Future research will doubtless explain fully how great was his debt to the Jewish masters of Mecca and the Sabean kingdom of Southern Arabia.”—Prof. A. H. Sayce in the _Independent_.

[51] Koelle’s Mohammed, p. 5.

[52] Het Matriarchaat bij de onde Arabieren (1884), and _Supplement_ to the same, in answer to critics, (1885). The Hague.

[53] Smith’s “Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia,” pp. 100, 104.

[54] Palmer’s Introduction to the Koran, p. xv.

[55] In the order of time, and to fully grasp the extent of Christian ideas prevalent in Arabia the chapter on Early Christianity in Arabia should precede this chapter on Islam; but logically that chapter belongs with the other chapters on mission-work. The same is true, in a measure, of the chapter on the Sabeans.

[56] See pp. 177, 178, for tables showing the Elements in Islam and the sources from which they were derived.

[60] Koelle’s Mohammed, p. 27.

[61] See an article on “Mohammedanism and Christianity.”—Dr. Robert Bruce, _The Christian Intelligencer_ (New York) April, 1894.

[62] Even the sacred books of India and China and Ancient Egypt compare more favorably with the Bible in this respect than does the Koran. They teach the heinous character of sin, as sin, and do not deny the need of a mediator or of propitiatory sacrifice but are full of both ideas.

[63] For a Chronological table of Arabian history, from the earliest times to the present, _see Appendix_.

[64] The four orthodox sects are called: Hanafis, Shafis, Malakis, and Hambalis. The last was founded by Ibn Hambal at Bagdad, 780 A. D. it is the least popular sect.

[65] The Mahmal is a covered litter, an emblem of royalty and of superstitious honor sent from Cairo and Damascus to Mecca, to this day.

[66] Zehm’s Arabie, p. 332.

[67] Saud died at the age of forty-five, in April, 1814, from fever, at Deraiyah. He was a strong-willed ruler but administered justice with rigor; he was wise in council and skillful in settling disputes and healing factions. Of his eight children, Abdullah, the eldest, succeeded him as ruler.

[68] The history of its tedious prosecution and all its cruelty on the side of the Turks is told by Burckhardt, the traveller, who was himself living in Mecca at this time.

[69] Palgrave visited the Wahabi capital during the reign of Feysul and gives his usual picturesque descriptions of the court and family life of the genial tyrant. But it is necessary to take his accounts of Riad _cum grano salis_; a Jesuit Roman Catholic would not describe the strict Puritanism of the Wahabis with any degree of admiration. Palgrave’s statistics of the strength of Feysul’s army and of the population of his dominions are utterly unreliable and greatly exaggerated. However one must read Palgrave to know what was the condition of the Wahabi empire in 1860-63, for he is our only authority for that period.

[70] The history of Mecca under these Sherifs is given by Snouck Hurgronje at length in his “Mekka.”

[71] This is according to the testimony of Walter B. Harris who was in Yemen shortly after the rebellion.

[72] See Lady Ann Blunt’s “Bedouins of the Euphrates.”

[73] Statesman’s Year Book.

[74] For a complete account of Perim, see “The Description and History of Perim,” by J. S. King, Bombay, 1877.

[75] Treaties were made with the Arabs of the pirate coast in 1835, 1838, 1839, 1847, 1853, and 1856; of these we shall speak later.

[76] The British India steamer, carry the mails and leave Bombay and Busrah once a week, touching at the intermediate ports in the Gulf, after Kerachi, as follows: Gwadur, Muscat, Jask, Bunder Abbas, Lingah, Bahrein, Bushire, Fao and Mohammerah; the journey lasts a fortnight and the distance, zigzag, is about one thousand nine hundred miles.

[77] In a recent paper read before the Society of Arts in London Mr. C. E. D. Black of the Geographical Department of the India office urges other reasons for the practicability of this route.—(London _Times_, May 7th, 1898.)

[78] _Times_ of India, June 17, 1899.

[79]

1. Ras el Kheima—Jowasim tribe. 2. Um-el-Kawain—Al-bu-Ali tribe. 3. Ajman—Al-bu-Ali tribe. 4. Sharka—Jowasim tribe. 5. Debai—Al-bu-falasal tribe. 6. Abu Dhabi—Bni Yas tribe.

All of these tribes reside between Katar and Ras el Had on the Arabian coast. (See Aitchison, Vol. VII., No. xxvi.)

[80] Curzon’s “Persia,” Vol. II., p. 453.

[81] The following tribes in the vicinity of Aden receive (or received) annual subsidies from the British Government:

_Tribe._ _Estimated Population._ Abdali 15,000 Fadhli 25,000 Akrabi 800 Subaihi 20,000 Haushabi 6,000 Alawi 1,500 Amir 30,000 Yaffai 35,000

Thus the total estimated population of these tribes is 133,300 and the total amount of the annual stipend paid them in 1877, was 12,000 German crowns. (Hunter’s “Aden,” p. 155.)

[82] In a remarkable article, the _Novoe Vremya_ makes known the Russian discovery of “a new British intrigue.” It appears that Great Britain, not content with the virtual annexation of Egypt and the Sudan, is even, while carrying out her plans for the absorption of the Transvaal and the advancement of her interests in Persia, busily engaged in setting up a Mohammedan Power which is to rival that of the Sultan, and is ultimately to be used as a means of menacing, if not destroying, Russian authority in Central Asia. The puppet Prince selected for this purpose is the Sherif of Mecca. According to the _Novoe Vremya_, the Sherif has recently received from England a letter stating that the British government, having decided to invest a certain worthy but impecunious Mohammedan Sheikh with the Caliphate of Zeila, on the borders of Somaliland, and recognizing the Sherif as a descendant of the Prophet and great protector of Islam, considers it desirable for the Sherif on the day of the appointment of the new Caliph to issue a manifesto expressing his approval. In return for this service, Great Britain will proclaim Mecca and Medina the private property of the Sherif, will assure to him the greater part of the revenues of the new Caliphate, and will defend him by diplomatic means, or even by force of arms, against the interference of the Sultan or any other Foreign Power. It is perhaps needless to say that the author of this intrigue is said to be Mr. Chamberlain, who is described as a man “without faith, without truth, capable of trampling under foot every commandment, whether of God or man, in order to accomplish his purpose of placing Great Britain at the head of the Powers of the world.”—_Times_ of India, 1899.

[83] He speaks of it as follows in his Histoire des Langues Semitques, p. 342 “Cette langue, auparavant inconnue, se montre à nous soudainement dans toute sa perfection, avec sa flexibilite, sa richesse infinie, tellemen-complete, en un mot, que depnis ce temps jusqu’a nos jours elle n’a subi ancune modification importante. Il n’y a pour elle ni enfance, ni vieillesse; une fois qu’on a signalé son apparition et ses prodijieuses cont quêtes, tout est dit sur son compte. Je ne sais si l’on trouverait un autre exemple d’un idiome entrant dans le monde comme celui-ci, sans état archaïque, sans degrés intermediaires ni tatonnements.”

[84] Von Kremer, Guidi, Hommel.

[85] Sayce, Sprenger, Schrader, De Goeje, Wright.

[86] Assyrian Grammar, p. 13.

[87] An account of this language or dialect was given by Surgeon H. J. Carter in Journal Roy. Asiat. Soc., July, 1847.

[88] Lansing.

[89] Found in the _Edinburgh Review_ for July, 1866, article “Mohammed.”

[90] “It would take a long list to exhaust the religious, literary and scientific contributions to the Arabic language from the missionaries in Syria. They include the translation of the Scriptures and the stereotyping of the same in numerous styles; the preparation of a Scripture guide, commentaries, a concordance, and a complete hymn and tune book; text-books in history, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, logarithms, astronomy, meteorology, botany, zoölogy, physics, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, hygiene, materia medica, practice of physic, surgery, and a periodical literature which has proved the stimulus to a very extensive native journalism. The Protestant converts of the mission, educated by the missionaries, have written elaborate works on history, poetry, grammar, arithmetic, natural science, and the standard dictionary of the language, and a cyclopædia which will make a library by itself, consisting of about twenty volumes of from six hundred to eight hundred pages each.”—_Dr. G. E. Post, in New York Evangelist_.

[91] Gen. xxv. 16.

[92] In the _Edinburgh Review_, July, 1866.

[93] International Routes of Asia, by Elisée Reclus, in New York _Independent_, May 4, 1899.

[94] Smith’s Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia, pp. 9, 17, 131.

[95] What the boys and girls of the towns can study we have described in our chapter on Mecca.

[96] This is the testimony of Burckhardt and Doughty.

[97] Arabia Deserta, Vol. I., p. 238.

[98] Translation from Mekka, Vol. II., p. 187.

[99] See Burckhardt’s book for further particulars.

[100] Signifying “Allah.”

[101] Baidhawi’s Commentary _in loco_.

[102] For on account of these ancient superstitions and idolatries still practiced, see W. Robertson Smith’s “Religion of the Semites” and his “Kinship and marriage in Early Arabia.” The mass of purely Mohammedan superstition can be studied in books like the Arabian Nights and Lane’s “Modern Egyptians.”

[103] This chapter is an enlargement of a paper on “The Star-Worshippers of Mesopotamia” read before the Victoria Institute, Adelphi Terrace, London, 1897.

[104] Kessler.

[105] Surah ii. 59; v. 73; xxii. 17

[106] According to Gesenius, Sabeans should be _Tsabians_ from _tsabaoth_, the “host of heaven.” Nöldeke and others say it comes from a root _subba_ to wash, baptise, and refers to the manner of their worship. Gibbon is perhaps correct when, on the authority of Pocock, Hettinger, and D’Herbelot, he states the origin of their other name thus: “A slight infusion of the gospel had transformed the last remnant of the Chaldean polytheists into the Christians of St. John at Bussora.”

In regard to their name _Sabeans_, Lane’s Arabic dictionary says that it comes from a root meaning “one who has departed from one religion to another religion.” The Arabs used to call the prophet _as-Sabi_, because he departed from the religion of the Koreish to El-Islam. Nasoreans is the name given them by some authors. According to Petermann they themselves give this title only to those of their number who are distinguished for character or knowledge. It doubtless comes from [Greek: Nazôrãioi], the early half-Christian sect of Syria.

[107] The only grammar of the language is the elaborate _Mandäische Grammatik_ of the indefatigable scholar Nöldeke. One great drawback of the book however is that the _Hebrew_ character is used throughout and not the Mandâitic.

[108] Leviticus xiv. 4-7, 49-53.

[109] Cf. Job xxxi. 26-28.

[110] The first printed and translated edition of the _Sidra Rabba_ was by Math. Norberg (Copenhagen, 1815-16), but it is said to be so defective that it is quite useless critically; Petermann reproduced the Paris MSS. in two volumes at Leipsic, 1867. Besides the _Sidra Rabba_ there are: _Sidra d’Yaheya_ or Book of St. John, also called _Drasche d’Malek_ (discourse of the King); The _Diwan_; The _Sidra Neshmata_, or book of souls; and last, but not least, the books of the zodiac called _Asfar Malwashee_. Except for the _small_ portion of the _Sidra Rabba_ found in Brandt’s recently published _Mandäische Schriften_ (1895) all of the above still await critical study and editing.

[111] See the history of Gnostic teaching, especially that of the Ophites and Sethians. All the evil characters in the Old Testament, with Cain at their head, were set forth as spiritual heroes. Judas Iscariot was represented as alone knowing the truth. I find no large account of the serpent in the Sabean system; this may be otherwise accounted for.

[112] Gibbon.

[113] Sale’s Koran.

[114] Galatians i. 17.

[115] Gal. i. 18; Acts ix. 9, 25.

[116] Many others, including Hilary, Jerome, Theodoret and the Occumenian commentators are stated by Rawlinson (St. Paul in Damascus and Arabia, p. 128), to hold the same opinion. Porter, not alone of modern writers, puts forth the same view in his “Five Years in Damascus,” and supposes that Paul’s success was great enough to provoke the hostility of Aretas and make him join the later persecution.

[117] “Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia,” p. 214.

[118] Koran, Surah vii. 71.

[119] Desert of the Exodus, p. 50.

[120] Acts xvii. 26.

[121] Acts xvii. 29.

[122] Acts xvii. 31.

[123] Acts xvii. 25.

[124] Acts xx. 20, 27.

[125] Wright’s “Early Christianity in Arabia,” 1855.

[126] Buchanan’s Christian Researches.

[127] Wright, p. 77.

[128] The latest version of his life is by Nöldeke in his “Sketches from Eastern History.” (London, 1892.)

[129] Wright, p. 144.

[130] Kurtz’ “Church History,” Vol. I., p. 386.

[131] See however, _Christianity in China, Tartary and Tibet_, by Abbe Huc, Vol. I., p. 88 (New York, 1857). He speaks of Christians in Nejran as late as the tenth century.

[132] See Smith’s “Short History of Missions.” Peroquet, Vie de Raymund Lull (1667). Low de Vita Ray. Lull (Halle, 1830). Helfferich Raymund Lull (Berlin, 1858). Dublin _Univ. Mag._, Vol. LXXVIII., p. 43, “His Life and Work.”

[133] O merciful God, who hast made all men, and hatest nothing that Thou hast made, nor wouldest the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live: have mercy upon all Jews, _Turks_, Infidels, and Heretics, and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of Thy Word, and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to Thy flock, that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites, and be made one fold under one Shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

[134] “Life of Henry Martyn,” by George Smith, C. I. E., LL. D., (1892) p. 226.

[135] Journal of Mr. Anthony N. Groves, Missionary to and at Bagdad. (London, 1831.)

[136] George Smith’s Life of Martyn, p. 563.

[137] In 1876, after the death of Dr. Wilson, Mr. and Mrs. Stothert of the Free Church Mission arranged to take a trip up the Persian Gulf as far as Bagdad. They were deeply impressed by the spiritual needs of the whole of Eastern Arabia. On the way they sold Scriptures and on their return called attention to the needs of Bagdad. For twenty-five years special prayer was offered for Eastern Arabia every Monday by these two missionaries!

[138] _Church Missionary Intelligencer_ for May and June, 1887.

[139] The General also published an account of his journey in Yemen from a geographical standpoint in the _Geographical Journal_, Vol. IX., p. 479. See also _The Missionary Review of the World_, October, 1895.

[140] “The Missionary Expansion since the Reformation.”—Graham, p. 19. “Life and Letters of Rev. A. Stern.”

[141] On Van Tassel’s work and experiences see “North Africa” (21 Linton Road, Barking, London), Vol. for 1890, pp. 4, 21, 43, 59, 78; Vol for 1891, pp. 2, 14, 27, 31 and 50.

[142] Mackay of Uganda, by his sister, (New York, 1897) pp. 417-430 gives the article in full.

[143] The text of this resolution is quoted at the head of chapter thirty-five.

[144] See “Memorials of the Hon. Ion Keith Falconer.”—Robert Sinker (6th Edition Cambridge 1890) and Ion Keith Falconer, Pioneer in Arabia by Rev. A. T. Pierson, D. D. (Oct. 1897, _Missionary Review of the World_).

[145] Kalilah and Dimnah, or The Fables of Bidpai, by I. G. N. Keith Falconer, Cambridge, 1885.

[146] Life and Correspondence of T. V. French, First Bishop of Lahore, by Rev. Robert Birks, (Murray, London, 1895). 2 vols.

[147] The letters appeared in the _Church Missionary Intelligencer_, for May and July, 1891.

[148] An able plea for the acceptance of the Mission by the Church was made by Rev. J. A. Davis, in the _Christian Intelligencer_, N. Y., September 18, 1889.

[149] This meeting with General Haig was described by him in an account in the London _Christian_ (June, 1891).

[150] The Mohammedan Missionary Problem.—H. H. Jessup, D.D., 1879.

[151] Vol. II., pp. 503-529.

[152] Notes on Islam: A Hand-book for Missionaries.—Rev. Arthur Brinckman. London, 1868.

[153] Reprinted in “North Africa” (April, 1892), under the title: _Preaching, not Controversy_.

[154] History of the Church Missionary Society, Vol. II., p. 155.

[155] The Mohammedan Controversy and other articles—Sir Wm. Muir, Edinburgh, 1897.

[156] _Missionary Review_, October, 1893, p. 727, in article by “C. H.”

[157] Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race, by E. W. Blyden, London, 1888.

[158] Missions in Sumatra, Dr. A. Schreiber, “North Africa,” May, 1896.

[159] Gen. xii. 3, xviii. 8, xxii. 18, xxvi. 4, xxviii. 14; Num. xiv. 21; Forty-three of the Psalms; Isaiah ii. 2, 18, etc., etc.; Jeremiah iii. 17; Dan. vii. 13, 14; Joel ii. 28; Jonah, iii., iv.; Micah v. 4; Hab. ii. 14; Zeph. ii. 11; Hag. ii. 6, 7; Zech. ix. 10, xiv. 9; Mal. i. 11.

[160] See Isaiah xxxv. 1-3, xl. 3, xli. 19, xliii. 19, li. 3; Ezekiel xxxiv. 25, xlvii. 8; Ps. lxxii. 9, etc.

[161] According to Gesenius this is Suez, while Keil identifies it with Jifar, a site in the northwestern part of Arabia near Egypt.

[162] Compare Rom. iv. 11, and Gal. iii. 17.

[163] Gen. xxi. 9-22.

[164] Gen. xxv. 11-18, and 1 Chron. i. 28.

[165] Isaiah xxi. 13-17 and Jer. xlix. 28-33.

[166] See Smith’s Bible Dictionary.

[167] Cf. Exodus xxiii. 31 and Deut. xi. 24.

[168] _The Christian Intelligencer_ (N. Y.), March 15, 1899.

[169] Consult Bibliographies of Palestine and Syria with inference to Nomad life; also D. Islam.

[170] Consult also list in Gilman’s Saracens.

[171] Consult British and Foreign Bible Society Reports for account of Scripture circulation; the _Free Church of Scotland Monthly_ for reports of Keith Falconer Mission; the _Church Missionary Intelligencer_, 1887, vol. xii., pp. 215, 273, 346, 408; _Missionary Review of the World_, 1892-1899, October numbers, and _Record of the American Bible Society_, 1898-1900.

End of Project Gutenberg's Arabia: The Cradle of Islam, by S. M. Zwemer