10 chapter one
oppressors, never been oppressed and when they and their herd go
to the spring, they drink first, clear and pure water leaving the oth-
ers to come after them to drink of what they left, mud and muck
(ibid.). The sense of justice would seemingly take a lower priority to
courage and oppression, if the former was mistaken for weaknesses
and leniency. Islam, needless to say, came with the most threaten-
ing terms to those who acted unjustly: God’s wrath and retribution.
Fortitude continued to be a source of pride to the Arabian Muslim
after the coming of Islam. It was tamed and later well organised,
however. Courage at combat ought not to be directed to fellow
Muslims or for causes not meant to be for the sake of God. Cowardice
is not the trait of Muslims, no matter how the danger might be,
and those who do not respond to the call of military jihàd are con-
demned as hypocrites who will dwell in Hell Fire (Qur"àn 9:90,
97–101, 120). As for those who die in battle, for the sake of God,
they are not dead in Heaven; as martyrs, they live in paradise among
prophets and blessed ones (Qur"àn 2:154, 3:169–171).
Arabian CivilizationsNow we turn our attention to the study of the civilization that existed
in the peninsula at the time of the rise of Islam. This will be divided
into three main parts: South Arabia, North Arabia and Central
Arabia
South Arabia
In South Arabia, between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, there
was a highly developed civilization, the origin of which is, however,
not known for certain. Mesopotamian civilization has been suggested
as a source, though evidence suggests that the bulk of the civilization
was not of Mesopotamian origin and points toward an independent
development of monarchic government in South Arabia and Mesopo-
tamia (Della Vida, 1944). The dispute over the origin of such a civ-
ilization, though important to historians, is not the main concern of
this book, however. Equally unimportant to our study is the unre-
solved question of how old the South Arabian civilization was, which
could be said to have started as early as the fifteenth century B.C.