Life and Teachings of the Prophet Muhammad
1. Arabia before Islam
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1. ARABIA BEFORE ISLAM
W
ITH
an area of 1,20,000 square miles the land of Arabia is the
largest peninsula in the world. It has the Red Sea to the West, the
Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Adan to the south-east and the rivers
Euphrates and Tigris and the Persian Gulf to the north-east. It thus
occupies a unique position. It is situated in Asia, yet only the
narrow Red Sea divides it from Africa and by just passing through
the Suez Canal, one reaches the Mediterranean Sea and Europe. It
is thus at the centre of three continents, yet it is apart from all of
them.
Arabia being a very hot and dry country, one third of it is
desert. It is strange that a land surrounded by water on three sides,
and with only a narrow strip of land to the north, has practically no
river of its own, except for small streams here and there, which
soon dry up in the hot desert.
Rain too is scarce. The rains come in torrents in spring, but the
water does not stay. It is lost in the sand as quickly as it comes.
There being no dependable rainy reason, which is necessary for
agriculture, this vast land, about a thousand kilometres wide and
about the same in length, is neither fertile nor cultivable.
Yemen, the original home of the Semites, is the only exception,
in that it is fertile and enjoys a rainy season. Besides this, the rest
of the peninsula consists of barren valleys and deserts. Due to the
lack of vegetation, life here can be only that of the desert. The
