LIFE IN ARABIA BEFORE BIRTH

OF PROPHET (SAW)

INTRODUCTION:

1. Arabia is the largest peninsula on the surface of the

earth, being one -third of europe in size. It forms the
south-western wing of Asia, joined with Africa by
the sinai desert and Egypt. It is surrounded on three
sides by water- the red Sea to the West, the
arabian gulf to the east and the arabian sea to the
South. The rest of the peninsula is steppe land,
together with vast areas of fissured lava lands,
particularly in the central, western and northern
regions. The steppe lands are sprinkled with
numerous fertile regions in the West and South, as
along the coast. A look at the map would at once
make it clear that Arabia forms a link by land as
well as by sea between asia, Africa and Europe _the
three continents that untill the geographical
discoveries of the 15/16centuries were thought to
constitute the entire world.

Arabia historians and tradition s classify the

inhabitants of Arabia into two broad division s their
extinct ancestors and the surviving people. The
extinct ancestors are called al-arab al- baidah who
lived and flourished in dim antiquity but who have
gone almost entirely out of existence. Two other
powerful qahtanite tribes who settled in Arabia
were banu tayy and banu kindah. The former
settled in North Arabia , in the region between the
a'a and salma mountain s which are for that
reasons better known as the tayyi mountain’s. The
famous hatim at-tayyi belonged to this tribe. Banu
kindah, on the other hand, settlt in Central Arabia
and established a kingdom there. Their rulers,
unlike the others, bore the title of king. The
naturalized arabs, al-arab al -musta'ribah, we’re the
descendants of prophet ibraheem through his eldest
son prophet ismaeel. It must not be supposed that
they were later in coming to Arabia than the above
mentioned qahtanite tribes from the South.

Biography of prophet(saw)
The prophet ibraheem ‘s migration from babylonia
to syria -Palestine, then his return to Palestine and
subsequently his coming with his wife hajar nand
son ismaeel to makkah is well -known. These epoch-
making travels took place roughly at the beginning
of the second millennium B. C. Prophet ibraheem
had at first called his own people to abandon the
worship of idols and other object like the heavenly
bodies and worship the one only God. Next he
travelled to Egypt where the reigning monarch
Intilally designed evil against him but was
subsequently attracted to him and respected him.
Till ibraheem return from Egypt, lut had had all
along been with him. Then lut was called to
prophethood and was directed to preach to the
people inhabiting the then prosperous region lying
to the southeast of the dead Sea.

BEFORE THE BIRTH OF PROPHET (SAW)

After death of prophet ismaeel, his descendants
remained in control of the affairs of makkah for
some time. Then their maternal relatives, banu
jurhum, snatched power from them and continued
to rule makkah for several centuries. They were
then defeated and ousted from makkah by banu
khuza ‘ah in alliance with banu bakr ibn ‘and
manat ibn kinanah. At the time of their leaving
makkah, banu jurhum destroyed the zamzam well
by covering it with earth and burying in the spot
some of their arms and armour and two golden
gazelles the well this remained covered and
unspotted for a long time. Qusayy used to excerise
all these functions assisted by his four sons. He slos
built a house for tribal consultations near the kabah
called dar an -nadwah, setting it’sdoor towards the
kabah. All matters of peace and war and of civil
administration of makkah were discussed and
decision s taken on them in the dar-an-nadwah. The
chief of each clan spoke on behalf of his clan. The
quraysh clans were divided on the issue _one group
supporting the claims of banu abd manaf the others
supporting banu abdud -dar. Banu abd manaf were
supported by banu asad ibn abdul -uzza ibn qussayy
banu zuhrah ibn kilab , banu taym ibn murrah ibn
kilab and banu al -harith ibn fihr ibn malik ibn an-
nadr. The two groups formed two rival alliances -
former being called al mutayyabun because of their
having reportedly dipped their hands in a bowl -full
of scent and this vowed to supported banu abd
manaf while the other group came to be known as al
-ahlaf, or the confederate because they enetered into
formal alliance, hilf for supporting banu abdud -dar
the two rival group s were about to engage them
sleves in an armed conflict over the issues when
good sense prevailed and compromise was worked
out.