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Saudi Arabia
PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD
The bodies of water on either side of the Arabian Peninsula provided
relatively easy access to the neighboring river-valley civilizations
of the Nile and the Tigris-Euphrates. Once contact was made, trading
could begin, and because these civilizations were quite rich,
many goods passed between them.
The coastal people of Arabia were well-positioned to profit from
this trade. Much of the trade centered around present-day Bahrain
and Oman, but those living in the southwestern part of the peninsula,
in present-day Yemen and southern Saudi Arabia, also profited
from such trade. The climate and topography of this area also
permitted greater agricultural development than that on the coast
of the Persian Gulf.
Generous rainfall in Yemen enabled the people to feed themselves,
while the exports of frankincense and myrrh brought wealth to
the area. As a result, civilization developed to a relatively
high level in southern Arabia by about 1000 B.C. The peoples of
the area lived in small kingdoms or city states of which the best
known is probably Saba, which was called Sheba in the Old Testament.
The prosperity of Yemen encouraged the Romans to refer to it as
Arabia Felix (literally, "happy Arabia"). Outside of the coastal
areas, however, and a few centers in the Hijaz associated with
the caravan trade, the harsh climate of the peninsula, combined
with a desert and mountain terrain, limited agriculture and rendered
the interior regions difficult to access. The population most
likely subsisted on a combination of oasis gardening and herding,
with some portion of the population being nomadic or seminomadic.
The material conditions under which the Arabs lived began to
improve around 1000 B.C. A method for saddling camels had been
developed to transport large loads. The camel was the only animal
that could cross large tracts of barren land with any reliability.
The Arabs could now benefit from some of the trade that had previously
circumvented Arabia.
The increased trans-Arabian trade produced two important results.
One was the rise of cities that could service the trains of camels
moving across the desert. The most prosperous of these- -Petra
in Jordan and Palmyra in Syria, for example--were relatively close
to markets in the Mediterranean region, but small caravan cities
developed within the Arabian Peninsula as well. The most important
of these was Mecca, which also owed its prosperity to certain
shrines in the area visited by Arabs from all over the peninsula.
Some Arabs, particularly in the Hijaz, held some religious beliefs
that recognized a number of gods as well as a number of rituals
for worshiping them. The most important beliefs involved the sense
that certain places and times of year were sacred and must be
respected. At those times and in those places, warfare, in particular,
was forbidden, and various rituals were required. Foremost of
these was the pilgrimage, and the best known pilgrimage site was
Mecca.
The second result of the Arabs' increased involvement in trade
was the contact it gave them with the outside world. In the Near
East, the Persians and the Romans were the great powers in centuries
before the advent of Islam, and the Arab tribes that bordered
these territories were drawn into their political affairs. After
400 A.D., both empires paid Arab tribes not only to protect their
southern borders but also to harass the borders of their adversary.
In the long term, however, it was the ideas and people that traveled
with the camel caravans that were the most important. By 500 A.D.,
the traditional ritual of Arab worship was but one of a number
of religious options. The Sabaeans of southern Arabia followed
their own system of beliefs, and these had some adherents in the
interior. Followers of pagan beliefs, as well as Hanifs, mentioned
in the Quran and believed to be followers of an indigenous monetheistic
religion, were widespread in the peninsula. In addition, there
were well-established communities of Christians and Jews. Along
the gulf coast were Nestorians, while in Yemen Syrian Orthodox
and smaller groups of Christians were to be found among beduin
and in monasteries that dotted the northern Hijaz. In the sixth
century, shortly before the birth of Muhammad, the city of Najran
in what is now southwestern Saudi Arabia had a Christian church
with a bishop, monks, priests, nuns, and lay clergy, and was ruled
by a Jewish king. Jews were an important part not only of the
Yemeni population, but also of the oases communities in the region
of Medina.
Data as of December 1992
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