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From Hutton Webster's, Early European History (1917); edited for this on-line publication, by ELLOPOS
XIII. THE ORIENT AGAINST THE OCCIDENT: RISE AND SPREAD OF ISLAM, 622-1058 A.D.
» Contents of this Chapter
Page 2
THE BEDOUINS OF THE DESERT
The Bedouin Arabs, by which name the nomadic inhabitants of the desert are known, claim Ishmael, the son of Abraham and half-brother of Isaac, as their ancestor. The life which they lead in the Arabian wilderness closely resembles that of the Hebrew patriarchs, as described in the Old Testament. The Bedouins are shepherds and herdsmen, continually moving with their sheep and camels from one pasturage and water-hole to another. Their virtues—hospitality to the stranger, generosity, faithfulness to the ties of kinship—are those of a nomadic, barbarian people. Such also are their vices—love of fighting and plunder, revengefulness, and impatience of restraint. Nothing like a settled government is known to them. The only tribal authority is that of the chief, or "sheik," who, because of his birth, courage, or wealth, has been chosen to the leadership. This description of the Bedouins to-day applies equally well to them in the age of Mohammed, during the sixth century.
THE SEDENTARY ARABS
The Arabs who settled along the southern and western coasts of the peninsula had reached in the sixth century a considerable degree of civilization. They practiced agriculture and carried on a flourishing trade across the Red Sea and even to distant India. Between these sedentary Arabs and the Bedouins raged constant feuds, leading to much petty warfare. Nevertheless the hundreds of tribes throughout the peninsula preserved a feeling of national unity, which was greatly strengthened by Mohammed's appearance on the scene.
ARABIAN HEATHENISM
The city of Mecca, located about fifty miles from the Red Sea, was a commercial metropolis and the center of Arabian heathenism. Every year the Arab tribes ceased fighting for four months, and went up to Mecca to buy and sell and visit the famous sanctuary called the Kaaba. Here were three hundred and sixty idols and a small, black stone (probably a meteorite), which legend declared had been brought from heaven. The stone was originally white, but the sins of the people who touched it had blackened it. Although most of the Arabs were idolaters, yet some of them recognized the "Unknown God" of the Semites, Allah, the Creator of all things. Arabia at this time contained many Jews, Zoroastrians, and Christians, who helped to spread abroad the conception of one God and thus to prepare the way for a prophet of a new religion.
THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY: Table of Contents
url: www.ellopos.net/politics/european-history/default.asp
Cf. The Ancient Greece * The Ancient Rome
Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) * Western Medieval Europe * Renaissance in Italy
