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.