Originally posted by Decebal
To my knowledge, there were a few notable vibrant civilizations in Arabia before Islam, notably the Sabeans and Nabateans. Don't you think that it is time that muslims and Arabs in particular should take more of an interest in these civilizations? |
You are right Decebal. There is a trend of ignoring the pre-Islamic Arabia part of history due to the vision that it is a period of uncivilization. I believe this trend is pushed by Muslim theologians because focusing on local history will promote restricted nationalism as oppose to Muslim unification belief where all Muslims mark their Islamic history as the start of their civilization.
I agree here with Decebal that is its wrong. In the Muslim doctorine you are not asked to ignore your pre-Islamic history but not to adopt that history for nationalist use. The fact that Mexicans maintain their Aztec culture doesn't mean they will abondon Christianity and Spanish and go back to Aztec traditions. So history is history to be respected because it is a mark of whole nations and civilizations that lived, fought, and struggled before us and might even be passed to us indirectly or directly.
Regarding the Pre-Islamic Arabia, most Arabs admire the quality of Poem (It is known that quality of Poem of the Pre-Islamic era is superior to the Islamic era). Many civilization existed there but the general tred is that Arabia was a neglected place of tribal wars, backwater of the larger surrounding Empires as the Sassanid and the Romans (Later Byzentine).
A famous incident of Arab history is the collapse of Ma'rib dam in Yemen. Though Arab tribes immigrations are recorded as early as pre-Canaanite periods, it is narrated that the collapse of the dam caused the great immigration of Arab tribes from Yemen to all of Arabia and the crescent leventine.
I will present a key events of pre-Islamic Arabia from 1000 BC to 632 AD:
Source
1000450 B.C. Small kingdoms or city-states emerge in South Arabia by about 1000 B.C. One of the oldest is Saba based at the cities of Marib and Sanca. The great stone-faced Marib Dam is constructed from the sixth century B.C., allowing extensive areas of desert to be irrigated.
853539 B.C. Camel-riding Arabs attack caravans crossing North Arabia and Sinai. Alliances are formed with the rulers of the Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires. King Nabonidus of Babylonia establishes a base at the oasis of Tayma on the caravan routes and campaigns against other rich oases or negotiates alliances with the Arabs.
ca. 450 B.C. Saba rules over most of the coastal states. Other kingdoms, such as Qataban and Macin, grow to rival Saba's power. Sculpture and metalwork is characterized by a distinctive "block" style.
ca. 325324 B.C. During his conquest of the Achaemenid Persian empire, Alexander of Macedon has the Arabian side of the Gulf explored. Bahrain probably has a mint producing Alexander-type tetradrachms. There is evidence of Hellenistic influence in Bahrain, eastern Arabia, and Failaka, where a small Greek-style temple is built.
late 1st millenium B.C. Images of humans, fashioned in an abstract "block" style from alabaster, are intended as funerary or votive objects to be placed in a tomb or temple. The placement of the ears high on the head, the aquiline nose, the small mouth, and the fully frontal pose are all characteristic of human images made in this region. Animals are also finely modeled in stone and metalwork.
ca. 25 B.C. Aelius Gallus, Roman governor of Egypt, leads an army into southern Arabia but soon retreats to the port city of Madacin Saleh, frustrated by the shortage of water.
1st century A.D. In the south, the kingdom of Himyar conquers much of the region, amalgamating with part of Saba. Meanwhile, the rival kingdom of Hadhramaut destroys the capital of the Qataban kingdom. The Sabaeans reassert their independence and attack and conquer much of Himyar and Hadhramaut.
106 A.D. The Romans annex the kingdom of the Nabataeans, which becomes the province of Arabia.
ca. 240 A.D. The Parthians are a major force in the region, at least according to accounts of the Sasanian military campaigns against eastern Arabia. The Sasanians become a political power in the region and remain so for the next four centuries.
3rd century A.D. Southwest Arabia is invaded by the ruler of Abyssinia, possibly introducing Christianity to the region. In 360 A.D., the king of Himyar is baptized. The Abyssinians are eventually driven out by the Sasanians at the invitation of the ruler of Himyar.
after 400 A.D. The Roman and Sasanian empires pay Arab tribes to protect their southern borders and harass the borders of their adversaries.
ca. 500 The Byzantine state concludes treaties with a number of nomadic tribes in northern Arabia. In return for tribute to the empire and military defense of these eastern territories, such tribes are permitted to settle and farm agricultural lands in Arabia.
ca. 517537 Emperor Kaleb Ell Asheha, later called Saint Elesboam (ca. 500540) of Aksum (in modern Ethiopia), conquers Himyar at the request of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I (r. 52765). Byzantium supplies ships, not troops, for the effort. The region, first introduced to Christianity in the fourth century from Alexandria, will become part of the Monophysite church before converting to Islam during the lifetime of Muhammad.
mid-6th century The great Marib Dam, built by the Saba kingdom in the sixth century B.C., collapses and the agricultural gardens of South Arabia dry up.
ca. 570632 Life of Muhammad, Prophet or Messenger of God and founder of Islam. The last in the line of Judeo-Christian prophets, Muhammad receives his first revelation from the archangel Gabriel and begins to preach in Mecca in 610. His emigration (hijra) from Mecca to Yathrib (Medina) with his followers in 622 establishes the beginning of the Islamic era. Most of the Arabian Peninsula is conquered by the time of his death in 632.