EARLIER REVEALED RELIGIONS IN ARABIA
Arabia had been the birth-place of several Prophets of God (u) in the bygone times. The
Qur'aan says:
"And make mention (O Muhammed) of the brother of A'ad when he warned his folk
among the wind-curved sandhills—and verily warners came and went before and after
him—saying: Serve none but Allah. Lo! I fear for you the doom of a tremendous Day.
[Qur'aan 46:21]Prophet Hud (u) was sent to the A'ad; a people, according to historians, belonging to the
'Arab Ba'idah who lived in a tract of white or reddish sand blown into hill banks or dunes
and covering a vast area to the south-west of al-Rub'e al-Khali (the vacant quarter) near
Hadramaut. This region has no habitation and is void of the breath of life, but it was a ver-
dant land in the ancient times, with flourishing towns inhabited by a people of gigantic
strength and stature. The whole area was consumed by a fearful and roaring wind which
covered it with sand dunes.
The Qur'aanic verse quoted above shows that the Prophet Hud (u) was not the only
Messenger of God sent to the ancient Arabs of this area as many more 'warners came and
went before him'.
Salih (u) was another Arabian Prophet sent to the people called Thamud who lived in al-
Hijr situated between Tabuk and Hijaz. Prophet Isma'il (u) was brought up in Makkah, and
he died in the same city. If we extend the frontiers of the Arabian Peninsula northwards to
include Midian on the borders of Syria, Prophet Shu'aib (u) would also be reckoned as an
Arabian Prophet (r). The historian Abul Fida says that Midianites were Arabs, living in Mi-
dian near Ma'an, which is adjacent to the Sea of Lut (Dead Sea) in Syria on the frontier of
Hijaz. The Midianites flourished after the downfall of the people of Lut.
Ancient Arabia had been the cradle of many a civilized and flourishing people to whom
God had sent His Prophets. But all of them were either destroyed because of their evil ways
or became strangers in their own homeland, or were forced to seek new homes. The Proph-
ets of God born in the lands far away had sometimes to seek refuge in Arabia from the
despotic kings of their lands. Ibrahim (Abraham) (u) had migrated to Makkah and Moses
(u) had to flee to Midian. Followers of other religions, too, had to seek shelter in Arabia.
The Jews, when persecuted by the Romans, had settled in Yemen and Yathrib while several
Christian sects harassed by the Byzantine Emperors had migrated to Najran.