Tracing Pictures of Garden with Mustard, Nov 1850, Second Collection of Chrysanthemum Old Woodcut by Yoshiminaga Sannen based on the original one which was published in Qing dynasty
Everybody knows that Arabs before the emergence of Muhammad s.a.w have no proper settlements. There is also an assumption saying that Arabs never been in contact with other developed nations such as Egyptians, Greeks or Romans. All of these are not really true.
Modern researches had shown that Arabs had already been in contact with outside world since long ago. They had been in contact with Romans, Greeks and Egyptians in term of civilization and trade. Researchers of history had spent their money, age, and time conducting researches in Arabian Peninsula. In 1825, there were three researchers who had entered Tihamah and 'Aser. They were W. F. Hemprich, M. O. Tamisier, and C. G. Ehrenberg. Other Europeans who had done researches about Arabian Peninsula are J. R. Wellsted, C. Cruttendu, A. Vin Wred, S. B. Miles, Burckhard, Sir Richard, G. F. Sadlier, G. A Wallin, C. Doughty and C. Hubber.
Materials to conduct researches about Arabs are in the form of :
1. Written materials
They are either from Arabs themselves or from outside of Arab world. The oldest book telling about Arab histories is the glorious Quran and it tells stories like the ancient Arabs of Thamud and 'Aad, some stories about Yemenite kings, the flood of Ma'areb Dam or Sairul 'Arim. The glorious Quran does not tell everyone in detail about those stories but just stating key-points. Those who read the Quran must have their own curiosity and effort to study it further. What I found after checking notes that I typed here, Muslims themselves never initiate or at least do studies but only relying on others' findings.
There are history narration by Ibnu al-Athir, Seerah of Ibnu Hisham, Tarikh at-Tabari, Murju al-Zahab, 'Iqdu al-Farid, Ibnu Khaldun accounts and others. We could also check accounts of the Dark Ages Arabs before the rise of Muhammad s.a.w such as the poem of Abu Tammam, poems of Abu Zaid al-Helali, poems of Tabaqat bin Qutaibah and etc.
Arabs were also mentioned in Old Testament where Christian and Jew fellows are still using them. They could also be traced in the mention of Herodotus, Strabo, Baltius, Ptolemus and other Greek philosophers' accounts.
2. Archeological Findings and Excavations
People could also now see old archeology findings such as ancient vases in Arabian Peninsula such as in Hejaz and Yemen. Other could be seen in areas of other Semitic nations such as in Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, and Phoenician beaches. Also could be seen in paintings in Hadramawt ancient houses. Many things are still hidden down and difficult to be dug out.
An example of archeology finding related to Arabs is a word carved in a Babylonian ancient house which sounds like "Meloch" and ancient Arabian kingdom record which is called as Mo'in and Manium. Both of them were recorded in writing form and most of all they dated back as far as 3000 BCE.
People around the world are still conducting research about this and it is the same with researches everywhere. I do not also know how far these researches being integrated and applied in history lessons or Islamic education syllabus in our country. We could also see ancient artifacts excavated in Iraq and many of them had been stolen and sold in black market during the US invasion to teach 'terrorists.' There were also imbecile Arabs in Jordan and Syria who sold ancient scriptures, notes of early Christians and texts to foreign researchers for some small gain. Or most of Muslims just know how to bomb artifacts for example, 'wahhabis' since they look down others who do not seem to hold to their comprehension?
