Hurmm, I don't know how to privatize this side. Tried to check it but I think I am quite dumb with it. It's ok, while still in this earth I would try to personally contribute few things for the betterment of nations which also includes the non-Muslims, may Allah permits it. This post is about the Arab nations before the rise of prophet Muhammad s.a.w. We are going to talk about the Amalek or wild ancient Arabs. They were also mentioned in the Old Testament or am-Miqra.
Amalek in Iraq
In the narration of Arabs from al-Mas'udi to Ibnu Khaldun and others, we could see that hundreds of year before the soul of Muhammad s.a.w being risen by the Lord to be His messenger to the universe; that the Arabs were only dominating their own territory which is in Arabian Peninsula. Only an ethnicity of the Arabs known as the Amalek who managed to be powerful outside of the Arabs' territory. The evidence of their dominion could be seen in the inscriptions at the ruins of the ancient Babylon in Iraq.
Brutus who was a Chaldean historian stated that there was an Arabian kingdom in ancient Iraq. The kingdom last for about 245 years where it was established after the Chaldean kingdom faced its doomsday. Later, the Arabian kingdom had lost its dominion and the kingdom of Ashur (Assyrian) being established. This is also mentioned in the book of George Zaydan known as the Pre-Islamic Arab History. George is a Lebanese Christian of Orthodox Church.
Modern historian are not always consistent with their opinions and views. Some of them mentioned that the kingdom of Hammurabbi or Babylon exist earlier. There are also historians who have the opinion according to the statement of Brutus that Babylon was an Arabian kingdom itself. Their reason is that, a dynasty of Babylon kingdom itself was known as Arab by Brutus other than the explanation about the names of the rulers in the kingdom. However, the dynasty mentioned by Brutus is closer to the time where Hammurabbi was a ruler.
There were also Bedouin Arabs in the modern Iraqi territory and they were known by the Babylonians as Amuru. It means the Westerners. Later it became a generic term for those who came from western bank of the Euphrates river including the Semites of all ethnicity such as the Arameans of Syria and in Bedouin areas.
In ancient narrations, the Cana'anites had also invaded today's Palestinian territory around 25 CE. The native inhabitants in the area was driven out by those Cana'anites. In the same time, the Aramean Bedouins entered Babylonian territory and established a kingdom known as Amuru kingdom. Later, the kingdom was known as 'Aribi which still means western. At-Tabari also grouped the ancestors of the Amalek as the 'Aribis.
After researches conducted in linguistic field, there are many similarities between the languages of those who lived in the Hammurabbi kingdom with those who lived in between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and they are quite close to Arabic. But they are different from other Semite languages. E.g in the changing of vowels according to Arabic grammar such as the rafa', nasab, and preposition. Arabic language at that time was almost the same with the Babylonian language as compared to languages of other Semites except for the Batra' and Tadmur tribes since they were also the descents of the Amalek. Other e.g are such as the tanwinn or the muted nun consonant at the end of word for nakkira word such as the word baabun in Arabic which means door is pronounced as baabum in Babylonian language. Nakkira means a word without a definite article al or the. Both the end consonants of the same word came from nasal part of articulation. The plural mark in Arabic for example, yaa and nun but in Babylonian, they used waau and mim. The Aramaic language used yaa and mim. Modern Arabic used both yaa and nun and waau and nun.
The wordings for the names of kings in Hammurabbi kingdom was arranged in the grammar which is close to Arabic language. E.g Saamu Abi which means Shem my dad in Babylonian language. Arabic could use both kind of arrangement for these nouns e.g Saamu Abi or Abi Saamu. Other e.g, Shamsu Elo-na which means Sun our Deity in Babylonian language. In Arabic it is pronounced as Shams Ilh-una. There are many more words in the inscriptions to be studied in case of linguistic similarities between Babylonian language and Arabic.
Few idol names worshiped by the Babylonians are also the same with Arabic counterpart. E.g, Eil, Shems, Astaruth, Samdaan, Nasr, and etc. Other than that, the Sheba Queen or Balqis in her Quranic reference has a kingdom which makes the Sun as their deity. They also worshiped other planets in form of deities. I remember that I also read some sastram regarding Brahmanism and astrology. About planets which were personified as deities like Phra Rahu, something like Ketu and etc. The Sheba kingdom is located in Southern of Arabian Peninsula in modern Yemen territory. I think that this Sun and planet worship is not only unique in Hindu civilization but also in other folk beliefs in different continents. Sheba is also mentioned in Old Testament.
If what has been said by Brutus regarding Hammurabbi kingdom as an Arabian kingdom is true, then perhaps Arabian were also in the same level of the Egyptians in term of civilization and materialism since before the rise of prophet Jesus a.s and prophet Muhammad s.a.w. Hammurabbi kingdom has also an established rulings and laws regarding matrimonial, business and trade, inheritance rights, and etc.
Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!
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