Deserts of Arabia

The desert climate is extreme. Summer temperatures often exceed 120 degrees in the shade,

while winter temperatures sometimes drop below freezing. The lack of rainfall—10 inches or

less per year—prevents the development of a solid cover of vegetation in the desert. Particles of

sand and dirt are easily picked up by the desert winds and shaped into huge dunes, some of

which may reach heights of 500 feet. The sad of the desert may be hard-packed, rippled, or loose

so that people and animals sink into it easily. Although not fertile regions, the deserts of Arabia

do contain wells of salty water, low shrubs, and clumps of tough grass that provide good grazing

for animals such as camels, sheep, goats, and jackrabbits.

The clothing of the desert nomads in sixth century Arabia was quite limited. The men wore a

loose-fitting, ankle-length gown called a thawb, which buttoned at the neck. It served as

something of an air conditioner, for when the wearer moved around, he set up currents of air

that cooled him. The male headdress, or ghutra, was a large square of cotton cloth draped and

folded about the head to give protection from dust, heat, and flies. It was worn over a cotton

skullcap and often held in place by a double cord wrapped around the head. Women wore long-

gowns that reached their feet.

Bedouins – Desert Nomads

The nomads of Arabia lived in tents. A nomad’s tent was usually made of black goat’s hair,

had few furnishings, and could be easily moved. The word “Arab” has been interpreted by

some as meaning “he who dwells in a moveable tent,” and some nomads in Arabia believed

that no person who lived in a town or village should be called an Arab.

Camels were the desert nomads’ most precious possession. Even so, the “ship of the desert,”

as the camel is called, can often be a disagreeable animal. It can kick, bite, and spit, and it

whines when a load is placed on its back. However, the nomads of the Arabian Peninsula

could not have survived without it. For more than 1,500 years before the birth of

Muhammad, the camel was the nomad’s beast of burden and means of transportation, as

well as source of food, leather, and wool.

The camel is perfectly suited to its desert environment. Not only can it shut its nostrils

against windblown sand, but it can flick away any grains that get in its eyes with a pair of

third eyelids. Leathery pads on its feet keep in from sinking into sand. A remarkable

digestive system enable it to eat just about anything, including leather, cloth, and bone. The

interior of its mouth is so tough that even thorns will not puncture the walls, and its

stomach acts as a fermenting vat where bacteria break down all it swallows. Most

significantly, it has a unique physiological mechanism that enable it to go without water for

days at a time.

Oases

An oasis is a fertile place in the desert. Summer days are so hot in the Arabian Peninsula

that most rainwater either quickly evaporates or sinks into deep underground river

channels. Oasis settlements in Arabia depended upon wells and springs to tap this

underground water. The presence of water made the cultivation of oasis land possible.

Vegetation in oases consisted of date palms, orchards crops, and common ground crops.

Of all the crops the ancient Arabs harvested, however, none were as important as

frankincense and myrrh, the gum resins of two trees. Frankincense and myrrh were used

for religious, medicinal, sanitary, and cosmetic purposes.

Harvest of Date Palms The date palm was well suited to the dry climate of Arabia. It needed water only for its roots, but did not need rain

on its date clusters. Dates were one of the Arab’s chief foods and also one of their leading trade goods. In addition, the trunk of the date palm was used for firewood and for beams in building houses. The leaves were used for

thatch, the fibers for rope, and the stalks for fuel. In addition, the trunk of the date palm was sometimes hollowed

out into pipes and used to carry water for irrigation.

Oases were the main source of life-giving water and green pasture for camel herds. The desert nomads moved

routinely from one oasis to the next, seeking pasture for the camels to graze. The oases also served as trading

centers. Nomads brought camel products such as meat and milk. Vast camel trains, bearing spices, perfumes,

precious metals, ivory, and silk-filed through major oasis settlements such as Makkah, Yathrib, Ta’if, and Petra. Many f these traders had traveled great distances in an effort to obtain myrrh and frankincense, which were only

found in Arabia.

Alone, and in combinations with each other, or in compounds with other spices, such as cinnamon, cassia, and iris,

frankincense and myrrh lent themselves to any number of preparations. Most commonly, frankincense was lit

with glowing coals and burned during religious rituals. The sweet-smelling smoke of frankincense and myrrh was

also used to dispel the malodorous scent of unwashed bodies in the mass; out-of-doors it drove off the disease-

bearing insects that swarmed about animals and refuse in the streets. Frankincense and myrrh were used in

potions designed to ease headaches, the pain of childbirth, and joint stiffness. They were also used as an antidote

to poisoning, to stem hemorrhages and nosebleeds, and to relieve coughing and nausea. Finally, people who could

afford frankincense and myrrh to perfume themselves.

Coastal

Plains

A coastal plain is level land that extends along a coast, separating a plateau

from the sea. The long, narrow coastal plain of the Arabian Peninsula is

much more humid than the interior region because of its proximity to the

sea. As a result of the humid climate, the coastal plain region contains

most of the cultivated land of the Arabian Peninsula. The agriculture of the

southwestern region is the most extensive and varied; it includes coffee,

grains, and fruits. The coastal plains region also contains most of the

trading cities and ports that have connected the region with the rest of

Asia and Africa for 3, 000 years.

Coastal

Cities

The Arabian Peninsula has a few deep harbors to encourage seafaring and

not a single river to provide interior transport and communication. Yet by

3000 B.C., when the first advanced civilizations were emerging in the East,

the Arabs who lived in the coastal settlements were engaged in a maritime

trade with the Sumerians to the northeast and the Indians to the southeast.

The exact sea routes that the Arabs used are not known. It is likely that they

followed a coastal route, hugging the shore so they could stop for water and

provisions and barter wherever there was settlement. From each of these

ports a route went over land to meet an inland caravan route. In this way, a

continuous network bound the far-flung settlements of the Arabian

Peninsula together.

Asir

Mountains

Mountains stretch along the coast of the Arabian peninsula about 50 miles from the sea.

Because these mountains catch what little moisture is carried by the winds that move

across the Arabian Peninsula, their climate is very different from the interior basin.

Throughout most of the year, the climate of the mountains is balmy during the day and

clear at night. At the height of the rainy season, tremendous downpours and flash floods

are common. During the winter it occasionally snows. The coastal mountains of the

western and northern regions have step slopes on both the sea side and interior side,

making survival difficult for all but wild goats. In the southern and western regions, the

mountains are rugged with juniper forests interspersed among jagged rocks and steep

slopes.

The coastal plain of Arabia had one major advantage over its other geographical regions:

rich agriculture. This strong agricultural base enabled people in the coastal plains to

develop complex civilizations. This was particularly true in Southern Arabia, which was

watered by rains coming from the mountains, and produced spectacular kingdoms that

dazzled the ancient world. About 600 B.C., for example, the Sabaeans, who probably came

from Mesopotamia, took over the civilization of southern Arabia. The Sabaean kingdom

prospered for more than 600 years. They possessed “a great quantity of articles wrought

in gold and silver, as couches, tripods, basins, drinking vessels, to which we must add the

costly magnificence of their houses, for the doors, walls and roofs are variegated pillars

marked the entrances to their cities” wrote the Greek historian Strabo in the first century

B.C. However, during the next 600 years the Sabaean civilization slowly decayed, as first

the Persians and then the Ethiopians raided Sabaean territory. It was during this period

of decay, about A.D. 500, that Muhammad was born.

Yemen

Mountains

Terraces—fertilized with manure and ashes from cooking fires—were

used to farm the mountainous southwest of the Arabian Peninsula.

Because this area has an annual rainfall of 20 to 30 inches, farmers often

built raised banks of earth on the steep mountainsides to the rainwater

could be used to irrigate crops. Old furrows were plowed crosswise to

avoid soil erosion. This system of cultivation produced a plethora of dates,

oranges, and other exotica.

The mountains tended to seal the people (especially those living in the

Asir) off from the desert and beyond. In their isolation, the people of the

mountains preserved their customs for hundreds of years. Even today,

some homes in this regions are built of mud brick and have windows and

doors that are decorated with distinctive bands of color—a traditions that

dates back to ancient times.