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THE Arabs, and the country they inhabit, which themselves call Jezîrat al
Arab, or the Peninsula of the Arabians, but we Arabia, were so named from
Araba, a small territory in the province of Tehâma;1 to which Yarab the son of
Kahtân, the father of the ancient Arabs, gave his name, and where, some ages
after, dwelt Ismael the son of Abraham by Hagar. The Christian writers for
several centuries speak of them under the appellation of Saracens; the most
certain derivation of which word is from shark, the east, where the
descendants of Joctan, the Kahtân of the Arabs, are placed by Moses,2 and in
which quarter they dwelt in respect to the Jews.3
The name of Arabia (used in a more extensive sense) sometimes comprehends
all that large tract of land bounded by the river Euphrates, the Persian Gulf,
the Sindian, Indian, and Red Seas, and part of the Mediterranean: above two-
thirds of which country, that is, Arabia properly so called, the Arabs have
possessed almost from the Flood; and have made themselves masters of the rest,
either by settlements or continual incursions; for which reason the Turks and
Persians at this day call the whole Arabistân, or the country of the Arabs.
But the limits of Arabia, in its more usual and proper sense, are much
narrower, as reaching no farther northward than the Isthmus, which runs from
Aila to the head of the Persian Gulf, and the borders of the territory of
Cûfa; which tract of land the Greeks nearly comprehended under the name of
Arabia the Happy. The eastern geographers make Arabia Petræa to belong partly
to Egypt, and partly to Shâm or Syria, and the desert Arabia they call the
deserts of Syria.4
Proper Arabia is by the oriental writers generally divided into five
provinces,5 viz., Yaman, Hejâz, Tehâma, Najd, and Yamâma; to which

1 Pocock, Specim. Hist. Arab. 33. 2 Gen. x. 30. 3 See Pocock,
Specim. 33, 34. 4 Golius ad Alfragan. 78, 79.
5 Strabo says Arabia Felix was in his time divided into five kingdoms, l. 16,
p. 1129.

some add Bahrein, as a sixth, but this province the more exact make part of
Irák;6 others reduce them all to two, Yaman and Hejâz, the last including the
three other provinces of Tehâma, Najd, and Yamâma.
The province of Yaman, so called either from its situation to the right
hand, or south of the temple of Mecca, or else from the happiness and verdure
of its soil, extends itself along the Indian Ocean from Aden to Cape Rasalgat;
part of the Red Sea bounds it on the west and south sides, and the province of
Hejâz on the north.1 It is subdivided into several lesser provinces, as
Hadramaut, Shihr, Omân, Najrân, &c., of which Shihr alone produces the
frankincense.2 The metropolis of Yaman is Sanaa, a very ancient city, in
former times called Ozal, and much celebrated for its delightful situation;
but the prince at present resides about five leagues northward from thence, at
a place no less pleasant, called Hisn almawâheb, or the Castle of delights.3
This country has been famous from all antiquity for the happiness of its
climate, its fertility and riches,4 which induced Alexander the Great, after
his return from his Indian expedition, to form a design of conquering it, and
fixing there his royal seat; but his death, which happened soon after,
prevented the execution of this project.5 Yet, in reality, great part of the
riches which the ancients imagined were the produce of Arabia, came really
from the Indies and the coasts of Africa; for the Egyptians, who had engrossed
that trade, which was then carried on by way of the Red Sea, to themselves,
industriously concealed the truth of the matter, and kept their ports shut to
prevent foreigners penetrating into those countries, or receiving any
information thence; and this precaution of theirs on the one side, and the
deserts, unpassable to strangers, on the other, were the reason why Arabia was
so little known to the Greeks and Romans. The delightfulness and plenty of
Yaman are owing to its mountains; for all that part which lies along the Red
Sea is a dry, barren desert, in some places ten or twelve leagues over, but in
return bounded by those mountains, which being well watered, enjoy an almost
continual spring, and, besides coffee, the peculiar produce of this country,
yield great plenty and variety of fruits, and in particular excellent corn,
grapes, and spices. There are no rivers of note in this country, for the
streams which at certain times of the year descend from the mountains, seldom
reach the sea, being for the most part drunk up and lost in the burning sands
of that coast.1
The soil of the other provinces is much more barren than that of Yaman; the
greater part of their territories being covered with dry sands, or rising into
rocks, interspersed here and there with some fruitful spots, which receive
their greatest advantages from their water and palm trees.
The province of Hejâz, so named because it divides Najd from Tehâma, is
bounded on the south by Yaman and Tehâma, on the west by the Red Sea, on the
north by the deserts of Syria, and on the east by the province of Najd.2 This
province is famous for its two chief cities, Mecca and Medina, one of which is
celebrated for its temple, and having given birth to Mohammed; and the other
for being the

6 Gol. ad Alfragan. 79. 1 La Roque, Voyage de l'Arab, heur. 121. 2
Gol. ad Alfragan. 79, 87. 3 Voyage de l'Arab, heur. 232. 4
Vide Dionys. Perieges. v. 927, &c. 5 Strabo, l. 16, p. 1132. Arrian, 161.
1 Voy. de l'Arab. heur. 121, 123, 153. 2 Vide Gol. ad Alfrag. 98.
Abulfeda Descr. Arab. p. 5.

place of his residence for the last ten years of his life, and of his
interment.
Mecca, sometimes also called Becca, which words are synonymous, and signify
a place of great concourse, is certainly one of the most ancient cities of the
world: it is by some3 thought to be the Mesa of the scripture,4 a name not
unknown to the Arabians, and supposed to be taken form one of Ismael's sons.5
It is seated in a stony and barren valley, surrounded on all sides with
mountains.6 The length of Mecca from south to north is about two miles, and
its breadth from the foot of the mountain Ajyad, to the top of another called
Koaikaân, about a mile.7 In the midst of this space stands the city, built of
stone cut from the neighbouring mountains.8 There being no springs at Mecca,9
at least none but what are bitter and unfit to drink,10 except only the well
Zemzem, the water of which, though far the best, yet cannot be drank of any
continuance, being brackish, and causing eruptions in those who drink
plentifully of it,11 the inhabitants are obliged to use rain-water which they
catch in cisterns.1 But this not being sufficient, several attempts were made
to bring water thither from other places by aqueducts; and particularly about
Mohammed's time, Zobair, one of the principal men of the tribe of Koreish,
endeavoured at a great expense to supply the city with water from Mount
Arafat, but without success; yet this was effected not many years ago, being
begun at the charge of a wife of Solimân the Turkish emperor.2 But long
before this, another aqueduct had been made from a spring at a considerable
distance, which was, after several years' labour, finished by the Khalîf al
Moktader.3
The soil about Mecca is so very barren as to produce no fruits but what are
common in the deserts, though the prince or Sharîf has a garden well planted
at his castle of Marbaa, about three miles westward from the city, where he
usually resides. Having therefore no corn or grain of their own growth, they
are obliged to fetch it from other places;4 and Hashem, Mohammed's great-
grandfather, then prince of his tribe, the more effectually to supply them
with provisions, appointed two caravans to set out yearly for that purpose,
the one in summer, and the other in winter: 5 these caravans of purveyors are
mentioned in the Korân. The provisions brought by them were distributed also
twice a year, viz., in the month of Rajeb, and at the arrival of the pilgrims.
They are supplied with dates in great plenty from the adjacent country, and
with grapes from Tayef, about sixty miles distant, very few growing at Mecca.
The inhabitants of this city are generally very rich, being considerable
gainers by the prodigious concourse of people of almost all nations at the
yearly pilgrimage, at which time there is a great fair or mart for all kinds
of merchandise. They have also great numbers of cattle, and particularly of
camels: however, the poorer sort cannot but live very indifferently in a place
where almost every necessary of life must be purchased with money.
Notwithstanding this great sterility

3 R. Saadias in version. Arab. Pentat. Sefer Juchasin. 135. b. 4
Gen. x. 30. 5 Gol. ad Alfrag. 82 See Gen. xxv. 15.
6 Gol. ib. 98. See Pitts' Account of the religion and manners of the
Mohammedans, p. 96. 7 Sharif al Edrisi apud Poc. Specim. 122.
8 Ibid. 9 Gol. ad Alfragan. 99. 10 Sharif al Edrisi ubi
supra, 124. 11 Ibid. and Pitts ubi supra, p. 107. 1 Gol. ad Alfrag.
99. 2 Ibid. 3 Sharif al Edrisi ubi supra. 4 Idem ib.
5 Poc. Spec. 51

near Mecca, yet you are no sooner out of its territory than you meet on all
sides with plenty of good springs and streams of running water, with a great
many gardens and cultivated lands.6
The temple of Mecca, and the reputed holiness of this territory, will be
treated of in a more proper place.
Medina, which till Mohammed's retreat thither was called Yathreb, is a
walled city about half as big as Mecca,7 built in a plain, salt in many
places, yet tolerably fruitful, particularly in dates, but more especially
near the mountains, two of which, Ohod on the north, and Air on the south, are
about two leagues distant. Here lies Mohammed interred1 in a magnificent
building, covered with a cupola, and adjoining to the east side of the great
temple, which is built in the midst of the city.2
The province of Tehâma was so named from the vehement heat of its sandy
soil, and is also called Gaur from its low situation; it is bounded on the
west by the Red Sea, and on the other sides by Hejâz and Yaman, extending
almost from Mecca to Aden.3
The province of Najd, which word signifies a rising country, lies between
those of Yamâma, Yaman, and Hejâz, and is bounded on the east by Irak.4
The province of Yamâma, also called Arûd from its oblique situation, in
respect of Yaman, is surrounded by the provinces of Najd, Tehâma, Bahrein,
Omân, Shihr, Hadramaut, and Saba. The chief city is Yamâma, which gives name
to the province: it was anciently called Jaw, and is particularly famous for
being the residence of Mohammed's competitor, the false prophet Moseilama.5
The Arabians, the inhabitants of this spacious country, which they have
possessed from the most remote antiquity, are distinguished by their own
writers into two classes, viz., the old lost Arabians, and the present.
The former were very numerous, and divided into several tribes, which are
now all destroyed, or else lost and swallowed up among the other tribes, nor
are any certain memoirs or records extant concerning them;6 though the memory
of some very remarkable events and the catastrophe of some tribes have been
preserved by tradition, and since confirmed by the authority of the Korân.
The most famous tribes amongst these ancient Arabians were Ad, Thamûd,
Tasm, Jadîs, the former Jorham, and Amalek.

6 Sharif al Edrisi ubi supra, 125. 7 Id. Vulgò Geogr. Nubiensis, 5.
1 Though the notion of Mohammed's being buried at Mecca has been so long
exploded, yet several modern writers, whether through ignorance or negligence
I will not determine, have fallen into it. It shall here take notice only of
two; one is Dr. Smith, who having lived some time in Turkey, seems to be
inexcusable: that gentleman in his Epistles de Moribus ac Institutis Turcarum,
no less than thrice mentions the Mohammedans visiting the tomb of their
prophet at Mecca, and once his being born at Medina-the reverse of which is
true (see Ep. I, p. 22, Ep. 2, p. 63 and 64). The other is the publisher of
the last edition of Sir J. Mandevile's Travels, who on his author's saying
very truly (p. 50) that the said tomb was at Methone, i.e., Medina, undertakes
to correct the name of the town, which is something corrupted, by putting at
the bottom of the page, Mecca. The Abbot de Vertot, in his History of the
Order of Malta (vol. i. p. 410, ed. 8vo.), seems also to have confounded these
two cities together, though he had before mentioned Mohammed's sepulchre at
Medina. However, he is certainly mistaken, when he says that one point of the
religion, both of the Christians and Mohammedans, was to visit, at least once
in their lives, the tomb of the author of their respective faith. Whatever
may be the opinion of some Christians, I am well assured the Mohammedans think
themselves under no manner of obligation in that respect.
2 Gol. ad Alfragan. 97, Abulfeda Descr. Arab. p. 40. 3 Gol. ubi sup. 95.
4 Ibid. 94. 5 Ibid. 95.
6 Abulfarag, p. 159.

The tribe of Ad were descended from Ad, the son of Aws,1 the son of Aram,2
the son of Sem, the son of Noah, who, after the confusion of tongues, settled
in al Ahkâf, or the winding sands in the province of Hadramaut, where his
posterity greatly multiplied. Their first king was Shedâd the son of Ad, of
whom the eastern writers deliver many fabulous things, particularly that he
finished the magnificent city his father had begun, wherein he built a fine
palace, adorned with delicious gardens, to embellish which he spared neither
cost nor labour, proposing thereby to create in his subjects a superstitious
veneration of himself as a god.3 This garden or paradise was called the
garden of Irem, and is mentioned in the Korân,4 and often alluded to by the
oriental writers. The city, they tell us, is still standing in the deserts of
Aden, being preserved by providence as a monument of divine justice, though it
be invisible, unless very rarely, when GOD permits it to be seen, a favour one
Colabah pretended to have received in the reign of the Khalîf Moâwiyah, who
sending for him to know the truth of the matter, Colabah related his whole
adventure; that as he was seeking a camel he had lost, he found himself on a
sudden at the gates of this city, and entering it saw not one inhabitant, at
which, being terrified, he stayed no longer than to take with him some fine
stones which he showed the Khalîf.5
The descendants of Ad in process of time falling from the worship of the
true God into idolatry, GOD sent the prophet Hûd (who is generally agreed to
be Heber6) to preach to and reclaim them. But they refusing to acknowledge
his mission, or to obey him, GOD sent a hot and suffocating wind, which blew
seven nights and eight days together, and entering at their nostrils passed
through their bodies.7 and destroyed them all, a very few only excepted, who
had believed in Hûd and retired with him to another place.8 That prophet
afterwards returned into Hadramaut, and was buried near Hasec, where there is
a small town now standing called Kabr Hûd, or the sepulchre of Hûd. Before
the Adites were thus severely punished, GOD, to humble them, and incline them
to hearken to the preaching of his prophet, afflicted them with a drought for
four years, so that all their cattle perished, and themselves were very near
it; upon which they sent Lokmân (different from one of the same name who lived
in David's time) with sixty others to Mecca to beg rain, which they not
obtaining, Lokmân with some of his company stayed at Mecca, and thereby
escaped destruction, giving rise to a tribe called the latter Ad, who were
afterward changed into monkeys.1
Some commentators on the Korân2 tell us these old Adites were of prodigious
stature, the largest being 100 cubits high, and the least 60; which
extraordinary size they pretend to prove by the testimony of the Korân.3
The tribe of Thamûd were the posterity of Thamûd the son of Gather4 the son
of Aram, who falling into idolatry, the prophet Sâleh was sent to bring them
back to the worship of the true GOD. This prophet lived between the time of
Hûd and of Abraham, and therefore cannot be the

1 Or Uz. Gen. x. 22, 23. 2 Vide Kor. c. 89. Some make Ad the son
of Amalek, the son of Ham; but the other is the received opinion. See
D'Herbel. 51. 3 Vide Eund. 498. 4 Cap. 89. 5 D'Herbel. 51.
6 The Jews acknowledge Heber to have been a great prophet. Seder Olam.
p. 2. 7 Al Beidâwi. 8 Poc. Spec. 35, &c. 1 Ibid, 36.
2 Jallâlo'ddin et Zamakhshari. 3 Kor. c. 7. 4 Or Gether, vide
Gen. x. 23.

same with the patriarch Sâleh, as Mr. d'Herbelot imagines.5 The learned
Bochart with more probability takes him to be Phaleg.6 A small number of the
people of Thamûd hearkened to the remonstrances of Sâleh, but the rest
requiring, as a proof of his mission, that he should cause a she-camel big
with young to come out of a rock in their presence, he accordingly obtained it
of GOD, and the camel was immediately delivered of a young one ready weaned;
but they, instead of believing, cut the hamstrings of the camel and killed
her; at which act of impiety GOD, being highly displeased, three days after
struck them dead in their houses by an earthquake and a terrible noise from
heaven, which, some7 say, was the voice of Gabriel the archangel crying aloud,
"Die, all of you." Sâleh, with those who were reformed by him, were saved
from this destruction; the prophet going into Palestine, and from thence to
Mecca,8 where he ended his days.
This tribe first dwelt in Yaman, but being expelled thence by Hamyar the
son of Sâba,9 they settled in the territory of Hejr in the province of Hejâz,
where their habitations cut out of the rocks, mentioned in the Korân,10 are
still to be seen, and also the crack of the rock whence the camel issued,
which, as an eye-witness11 hath declared, is 60 cubits wide. These houses of
the Thamûdites being of the ordinary proportion, are used as an argument to
convince those of a mistake who who this people to have been of a gigantic
stature.12
The tragical destructions of these two potent tribes are often insisted on
in the Korân, as instances of GOD'S judgment on obstinate unbelievers.
The tribe of Tasm were the posterity of Lûd the son of Sem, and Jadîs of
the descendants of Jether.1 These two tribes dwelt promiscuously together
under the government of Tasm, till a certain tyrant made a law that no maid of
the tribe of Jadîs should marry unless first defloured by him;2 which the
Jadisians not enduring, formed a conspiracy, and inviting the king and chiefs
of Tasm to an entertainment, privately hid their swords in the sand, and in
the midst of their mirth fell on them and slew them all, and extirpated the
greatest part of that tribe; however, the few who escaped obtaining aid of the
king of Yaman, then (as is said) Dhu Habshân Ebn Akrân,3 assaulted the Jadîs
and utterly destroyed them, there being scarce any mention made from that time
of either of these tribes.4
The former tribe of Jorham (whose ancestor some pretend was one of the
eighty persons saved in the ark of Noah, according to a Mohammedan tradition5)
was contemporary with Ad, and utterly perished.6 The tribe of Amalek were
descended from Amalek the son of Eliphaz the son of Esau 7, though some of the
oriental authors say Amalek was the son of Ham the son of Noah,8 and others
the son of Azd the son of Sem.9 The posterity of this person rendered
themselves very powerful,10 and before the time of Joseph conquered the lower
Egypt under

5 D'Herbel. Bibl. Orient. 740. 6 Bochart Geogr. Sac. 7 See D'Herbel.
366. 8 Ebn Shohnah
9 Poc. Spec. 57. 10 Kor. c. 15. 11 Abu Musa al Ashari. 12. Vide
Poc. Spec. 37. 1 Abulfeda.
2 A like custom is said to have been i n some manors in England, and also in
Scotland, where it was called "culliage," having been established by K. Ewen,
and abolished by Malcolm III. See Bayle's Dict. Art. Sixte IV., Rem. H.
3 Poc. Spec. 60. 4 Ibid. 37, &c. 5 Ibid. p. 38. 6 Ebn Shohnah.
7 Gen. xxxvi. 12. 8 Vide D'Herbelot, p. 110.
9 Ebn Shohnah 10 Vide Numb. xxiv. 20.

their king Walîd, the first who took the name of Pharaoh, as the eastern
writers tell us;11 seeming by these Amalekites to mean the same people which
the Egyptian histories call Phoenician shepherds.12 But after they had
possessed the throne of Egypt for some descents, they were expelled by the
natives, and at length totally destroyed by the Israelites.13
The present Arabians, according to their own historians, are sprung from
two stocks, Kahtân, the same with Joctan the son of Eber,14 and Adnân
descended in a direct line from Ismael the son of Abraham and Hagar; the
posterity of the former they call al Arab al Ariba,15 i.e., the genuine or
pure Arabs, and those of the latter al Arab al mostáreba, i.e., naturalized or
institious Arabs, though some reckon the ancient lost tribes to have been the
only pure Arabians, and therefore call the posterity of Kahtân also Mótareba,
which word likewise signifies insititious Arabs, though in a nearer degree
than Mostáreba; the descendants of Ismael being the more distant graff.
The posterity of Ismael have no claim to be admitted as pure Arabs, their
ancestor being by origin and language an Hebrew; but having made an alliance
with the Jorhamites, by marrying a daughter of Modad, and accustomed himself
to their manner of living and language, his descendants became blended with
them into one nation. The uncertainty of the descents between Ismael and
Adnân is the reason why they seldom trace their genealogies higher than the
latter, whom they acknowledge as father of their tribes, the descents from him
downwards being pretty certain and uncontroverted.1
The genealogy of these tribes being of great use to illustrate the Arabian
history, I have taken the pains to form a genealogical table from their most
approved authors, to which I refer the curious.
Besides these tribes of Arabs mentioned by their own authors, who were all
descended from the race of Sem, others of them were the posterity of Ham by
his son Cush, which name is in scripture constantly given to the Arabs and
their country, though our version renders it Ethiopia; but strictly speaking,
the Cushites did not inhabit Arabia properly so called, but the banks of the
Euphrates and the Persian Gulf, whither they came form Chuzestân or Susiana,
the original settlement of their father.2 They might probably mix themselves
in process of time with the Arabs of the other race, but the eastern writers
take little or no notice of them.
The Arabians were for some centuries under the government of the
descendants of Kâhtan; Yárab, one of his sons, founding the kingdom of Yaman,
and Jorham, another of them, that of Hejâz.
The province of Yaman, or the better part of it, particularly the provinces
of Saba and Hadramaut, was governed by princes of the tribe of Hamyar, though
at length the kingdom was translated to the descendants of Cahlân, his
brother, who yet retained the title of king of Hamyar, and had all of them the
general title of Tobba, which signifies successor, and was affected to this
race of princes, as that of

11 Mirât Caïnât. 12 Vide Joseph. cont. Apion. l. i. 13 Vide
Exod. xvii. 18, &c.; I Sam. xv. 2, &c.; ibid. xxvii. 8, 9; I Chron. iv. 43.
14 R. Saad. in vers. Arab. Pentat. Gen. x. 25. Some writers make
Kahtân a descendant of Ismael, but against the current of oriental historians.
See Poc. Spec. 39. 15 An expression something like that of St.
Paul, who calls himself "an Hebrew of the Hebrews," Philip. iii. 5.
1 Poc. Spec. p. 40. 2 Vide Hyde Hist. Rel. veter. Persar. p. 37,
&c.

Cæsar was to the Roman emperors, and Khalîf to the successors of Mohammed.
There were several lesser princes who reigned in other parts of Yaman, and
were mostly, if not altogether, subject to the king of Hamyar, whom they
called the great king, but of these history has recorded nothing remarkable or
that may be depended upon.1
The first great calamity that befell the tribes settled in Yaman was the
inundation of Aram, which happened soon after the time of Alexander the Great,
and is famous in the Arabian history. No less than eight tribes were forced
to abandon their dwellings upon this occasion, some of which gave rise to the
two kingdoms of Ghassân and Hira. And this was probably the time of the
migration of those tribes or colonies which were led into Mesopotamia by three
chiefs,Becr, Modar, and Rabîa, from whom the three provinces of that country
are still named Diyar Becr, Diyar Modar, and Diyar Rabîa.2 Abdshems, surnamed
Saba, having built the city from him called Saba, and afterwards Mareb, made a
vast mound, or dam,3 to serve as a basin or reservoir to receive the water
which came down from the mountains, not only for the use of the inhabitants,
and watering their lands, but also to keep the country they had subjected in
greater awe by being masters of the water. This building stood like a
mountain above their city, and was by them esteemed so strong that they were
in no apprehension of its ever failing. The water rose to the height of
almost twenty fathoms, and was kept in on every side by a work so solid, that
many of the inhabitants had their houses built upon it. Every family had a
certain portion of this water, distributed by aqueducts. But at length, GOD,
being highly displeased at their great pride and insolence, and resolving to
humble and disperse them, sent a mighty flood, which broke down the mound by
night while the inhabitants were asleep, and carried away the whole city, with
the neighbouring towns and people.4
The tribes which remained in Yaman after this terrible devastation still
continued under the obedience of the former princes, till about seventy years
before Mohammed, when the king of Ethiopia sent over forces to assist the
Christians of Yaman against the cruel persecution of their king, Dhu Nowâs, a
bigoted Jew, whom they drove to that extremity that he forced his horse into
the sea, and so lost his life and crown,5 after which the country was governed
by four Ethiopian princes successively, till Selif, the son of Dhu Yazan, of
the tribe of Hamyar, obtaining succours from Khosrû Anushirwân, king of
Persia, which had been denied him by the emperor Heraclius, recovered the
throne and drove out the Ethiopians, but was himself slain by some of them who
were left behind. The Persians appointed the succeeding princes till Yaman
fell into the hands of Mohammed, to whom Bazan, or rather Badhân, the last of
them, submitted, and embraced this new religion.1
This kingdom of the Hammyarites is said to have lasted 2,020 years,2 or as
others say above 3,000;3 the length of the reign of each prince being very
uncertain.
It has been already observed that two kingdoms were founded by those who
left their country on occasion of the inundation of Aram: