Southern Arabia: Religion

Assalamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Planet Worship

Just like other regions such as ancient Egypt, ancient India and ancient China, and others, the Arabs of South Arabia also had their own "folk" religion. Ancient Southern Arabs worshiped the Sun and the Moon. They characterized those two stars with various characteristics, personifications and they worshiped them as divinities. The most important deity for South Arabs was the Sun. Maybe because it was the main source of the light in the heaven. Other stars were regarded the representatives of the Sun. 

There are some part of Hindus who worship the Sun in various names such as Surya, Savitr, Ushas, and other planets within the nine planet system. I am familiar with all of those system though I am not an Indian but an Arab by ethnicity. This system also exists in ancient Mesopotamian and Babylonian astrolatry traditions where the followers of this tradition were mentioned as Sabians in the Glorious Quran. Many of those in Mesopotamia were converted into Christianity and the traditions such as baptismal in the river is basically the same thing with Christianity's baptismal ritual and other Middle Eastern religions such as Islam and Judaism. The Hindus also practiced baptismal known as Snanam. This ritual is not unique to any religion but a universal and an ancient ritual. Other than that, ancient Egyptian also worshiped solar deity, Ra who became the main deity of ancient Egyptians during the 5th dynasty. 

Judaism

Jewish people had tried to propagate Judaism in Yemen and South Arabia as a whole. Among the famous native Jewish of Yemen was king Joseph Dhū Nuwas (517-525 CE) where his conversion was verified by two Jewish cohens of Banu Qurayza from Yatrib. The previous Yemenite kings before him were the adherents of the Most Merciful cult which was a non-polytheistic religion of South Arabia. The adherents of the cult invoked the Unknown God with His attribute the Most Merciful.

King Dhu Nuwas was hostile toward the Christians and he attacked the Christians in the Aksumite empire at his northern frontier in Najran (nowadays in Saudi Arabia). There was an incident which provokes the war between the Jews and the Christians in Southern Arabia and they chopped the head of each other. A Jewish man had build up a fort known as al-Ablaq to store the weapons of Imru al-Qays. When the enemies of Imru al-Qays wanted to seize the weapon, the guy whose name is Samuel refused to surrender them. The enemies threatened to kill both of his sons if he refused to surrender the weapons and he was so stubborn. They later killed his sons in front of his eyes. So, there was an Arab idiom which says that, "Hold on to your promises like Samuel". Samuel reported everything to Joseph and Joseph went to Najran and forced the Christians there to convert into Judaism or being thrown into the fire trench.

Many of those were massacred in the fire pit because of their refusal to conversion. It is mentioned in the Quran, Surah al-Burūj (85:4-8) where the God the Highest through the tongue of noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w condemned this crime and some scholars reported that around 20,000 were massacred. This is a lesson for people nowadays that we cannot force others to believe what we believe or practice and sufferings because of war is due to human's egoism.

Christianity

Christianity reached Southern Arabia through Iraq and through Eastern Roman empire. Eastern Roman empire was so close as it consists of some parts of Syria and Egypt. The fortress of Christianity was in Najran. The Christians there were governed by their Church and the leaders of the Church such as the Sa'id, Aqeb and Usquf (Bishop). Sa'id acts as a head of the tribe, leading the soldiers in the battle, managing foreign affairs and managing inter-tribal communication. Aqib manages the worldly affairs and home affairs. Usquf was a chief for religious rites and the Church.

Yaqub al-Hamawi mentioned that among the ambassadors of Najran who met Muhammad s.a.w for a discussion were an Usquf known as Abu Harita, an Aqeb whose name is Abd al-Maseh and a Sa'id known as Wahhab. They refused to engage in Mobahalah (mutual prayer for cursing) with Muhammad s.a.w but they made a peace treaty with him and return to their state without any problem nor conversion of each others. They remained Christians and Muhammad s.a.w, a Muslim.

De Lacy O'Leary (1872-1957) mentioned that the people of Najran were the member of Jacobite Church. They were close to the Ethiopians since their religion was the same. Many Arabs became Christian monks,establishing churches within their vicinity, meditating in caves and propagating the doctrine of sacrifice to eliminate sins and salvation, and the trinity and hypostases which is the basis of Christianity.       
      

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Southern Arabia: Business and Trade

Assalamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Southern Arabia located in between Africa and Asia and Indian Ocean. That makes them easier to contact other regions for business and commercial activities. They did business with ancient India where they imported jewelries, gold, precious stones, elephant tusks, pepper, stoves, sandalwood and agarwood to Assyrian empire, Egypt and Phoenicia. They sent ships to India and Far East in South East Asia (Further India) and bringing the stuffs from the sea through land routes by caravans.

I guess from South East Asia, the Arabs might also brought the weapons such as sword since the archeologists from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) had founded ancient iron-smelting sites in Sungai Batu in Bujang Valley of Kedah state which dates back to the 3rd-5th century. I had seen some of the findings in the new library of the USM when I was a postgraduate student but unfortunately I did not capture the picture, haha. 

From Eastern Africa, they imported perfumes, ostrich feathers, gold, meat and calamondin. From Socotra, they imported sandalwood and from Bahrain, pearls. Yemenite traders brought all of these stuffs to the markets in Yemen. They trade those stuffs with people from around the regions. The ancient Arabs and people from Middle East prefer land routes over the maritime routes because waves in Persian Bay was so terrible for them.

It is reasonable for Strabo to mention that Yemen could be equally compared with Egypt and Byzantine city-state in term of their development besides they rarely engage themselves in wars since violence could slow the progress for development and turning a state into the poor one. We could see this during the World Wars and it was not so much fun even when we just hear the experience of those who live at that time.

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

South Arabia: Himyarite Kingdom

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

After the Sabaa' Arabs facing their down turn, the Himyarite arise. The Himyarites are the descendants of the Sabaa' or could be known as the second Sabaa'. I am sure that everyone are familiar with these people because they were prominent seafarers who crossed the Indian Ocean and left their foot prints everywhere from East Africa to South East Asia and to further extend in South Western China and England. 

The downturn of the earlier Sabaa' happened around the second century before Christ. A very long history. That is why I decided to return to our Arabian history rather than taking local Malay identity and stopping our further assimilation process. I had already influenced my little sister to return to our Arabian heritage though I am not successful to train them to speak in Arabic which I regret so much. At least when we are aware on our identity, we know that our ancestral religion is Islam. It was inherited from our ancestors, generation by generation and we were non-converted Hindus or Buddhists. From the experience, I have got the other side of knowledge and could see the parallel of the paths followed by man-kind in ancient time.

The newly formed kingdom had facilitated the movement of ships from the West to the East. Seafaring and trading by sea route became developed. Romans ship could easily access the beaches of Red Sea through the Cape of Hope. People could easily reach India. Red Sea became the port for huge ships to unload their products. Himyar kingdom was one of a prominent kingdom at that time. There were three famous seaports where they were located in the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the port of Hadramawt.

The Christian religion was introduced in the Himyarite kingdom during the reign of Constantine II who ruled Rome around 337-361 CE. The person responsible for that was known as Theophiles. He is a religious teacher who had build up a church in Yemen. The second wave of Christianity came to Yemen during the period of Anstace around 491-518 CE. The whole Yemen was bounded to Christian influence. During the rise of Muhammad s.a.w, there were Christians who live in Yemenite territories which was in Najran. Najran is now a territory of Saudi Arabia.

Himyarite kingdom had also established diplomatic contact with the Romans. Because of this, the Romans could easily reaching Indian markets. The same thing also happened in British period in 19th century where they had used Yemen as the way for them to reach India. Another thing is that, the Romans were afraid of the Ghassan Arabs in the northern area. They would have to face disasters if those northern Arabs could expand their power into the Himyarite Arabs area.

Himyarite Rebellion against Romans

The Himyarite kingdom had also rebelled against the Roman empire and the Aksumite kingdom which was an agent of Roman empire in Africa. Himyarites were ruled by king Yosef Atar Yatar since 517-525 CE. He is also known as the Zi-Nuwas. This particular king had rebelled against the Romans around 521 CE. He was not a Christian, but a Jew by faith. I am not sure whether he is a pure Israelite from Israel. But I have few notes showing that these people are Himyarite Arabs. They are just different in term of their religion. He commanded Christians who were subjects to Aksumite kingdom and the Roman empire to be burn in a large pyre set in a long hollow dug by his soldiers. It was the result of those Christians rejection to accept Judaism as their path. The story could also be founded in the glorious Quran in surat al-Buruj where the God the Highest condemns this inhumane act.

Historians were conflicting on how many people were burn in the hole. However, it was estimated that around 20,000 souls were dead in the pyre. The reason why he waged war with Najran area was because a Jewish merchant who lived in Najran had pleaded the king to intervene. The merchant's two sons were killed by Najran natives. The place where those people were cast into the fire was in al-Ukhdud which is now Saudi Arabia. This event was also keep in the record in Simon's letter. He is the Bishop of Beth Arasham around 524 CE. He wrote the name of Zi-Nuas as Dimnoon in his letter.

Himyarite kingdom had attacked the border of Najran in Zafar and seized everyone that they could see. Christian churches were burnt down. When Najran was defeated by the Himyarite kingdom, it was handed to the ruler and he commanded that those people should proclaim Judaism as their religion. However, those people were stubborn so they were burnt in the long dug hole. The king later wrote a letter to the Lakhmide kingdom who ruled in Hirah in Iraq. The Lakhmide were under Persian empire protection. He told the Lakhmide king, al-Munzer and emperor Kavadh I in Persia that he had burn those Roman agents. He encouraged al-Munzer and the emperor to do so on all Christians in their kingdom. Coincidentally, Yosef letter's was received by al-Munzer  in Jan 519 CE and at the same time, al-Munzer was also receiving Roman diplomats from Constantinople. These representatives were sent to establish diplomatic ties with Lakhmide kingdom.

Al-Munzer mentioned the letter to those Roman diplomats and they were so surprised when listening to the contents of the letter. The news spread wildly like a raging fire in both Roman and Persian empires. A refugee from Najran, Simon had also went to Constantinople where he wept before the emperor. He pleaded him to revenge on behalf of those burnt Christians. The letter could be founded in the third part of the Chronicle of Zuqneen translated by Amir Harrack, published by Pontificial Institute of Medieval Studies, 1999, pp 78-84. 

The Ethiopian-Aksumite king was enraged with the news. According to Procopius of Palestine: "The Aksumite king, Caleb with his Greek name Hallestheus with the assistance of Justin I had sent a war ship crossing African straits to Yemen". Zi-Nuas was defeated around 520-525 CE. Caleb had appointed, Sumu'apha Ashava' as his governor in Yemen. This person might be a cognate figure to Irbaat who was killed by Abrahah.

Arabian oral tradition mentions that Zi-Nuas managed to run after being defeated but unfortunately he was killed while riding on the horse at the Red Sea. De Maigret reported in the book, "Arabian Felix" that there are possibilities that Zi-Nuas might be killed during his battle with Caleb's army as according to Husn al-Ghuraiyb inscription. De Maigret reported too that they had founded other three inscriptions at the north of al-Ukhdud in 1951. The inscriptions refer to the war campaign by Zi-Nuas with his name Yosef Atar Yatar. The date of the inscription is 633 Himyarite Era equal to 518 or 523 CE.

After this, the story of Abrahah as every Muslim who recite the simple surat al-Feel would know if not all, maybe some details about the incident. And also the rebellion of Saif Ben Zi-Yazan before the rise of Muhammad s.a.w into the world. Prophet Muhammad s.a.w was born around 571 CE. Saif Ben Zi-Yazan had succeeded in his quest to free Yemen from Ethiopian and Roman empire grasp but he was killed by an Ethiopian in his country. He had also prophesied about the rise of prophet Muhammad s.a.w while being a Jew. Yemen was managed by the Persian empire because Persian empire had assisted them to be free from Ethiopian influence.

I heard many Tabligh and Ikhwan Muslim students talked about history and stuffs but not to boast. I do not simply learn something at the surface. These are my notes, hope everyone enjoy. If brothers and sisters find any errors in the chronological dates or facts please contact me. I would be very grateful for errors to be set up into the correct one : ) 

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

South Arabia: Sabaa' Kingdom

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

The Sabaa' Arabs had established their great kingdom around 18th BC and it is located in Yemen. The chronicles about them could be founded in the inscriptions of the Assyrians. From these archeological findings, many people were attracted to relate the story of Queen Sheba or Balqis as what has been mentioned in the glorious Quran with this modern science's finding.

However, it is still difficult to get the historical facts about Middle East as the researches are still going on. One of the researcher had proved that this kingdom ends at the end of 15th BC through the analysis of the "ancient myth" in inscriptions. In his study, Glazar founds that the Sabaa' king, Itti-Amara had once paying tribute to Roman king, Sargon II who ruled around 705-721 BC. Through the inscription too, everyone could see that Sabaa' has 27 rulers. 15 of them were called as the Mukrib while other 12 were called as Maalik. All of them possess their own epithets.

The researchers found that this kingdom was originated from a tiny little kingdom. It began with an Amir which means a prince or a priest. Later it expands its power and became a large kingdom. Many narrations stated that the Sabaa' Arabs prefer trading over war. In Assyrian and Egyptian inscriptions, people could see words carved such as "invaded, defeated, fought, commanded to submit tributes and their properties are confiscated" but differently to the Sabaa' Arabs inscriptions. The words founded in their inscriptions are for e.g "erected, established, developed and etc".

Inscriptions of Sabaa' kingdom suggested that the kingdom had gone through four periods which are the period of Mukrib kings, Maalik kings, Raidan, Hadramawt.  

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!