Pre-Islamic Arabia ( Arabic : شبه الجزيرة العربية قبل الإسلام , romanized : shibh al-jazirat al-'arabiyat qabl al-islām ), referring to the Arabian Peninsula before Muhammad's first revelation in 610 CE, is referred to in Islam in the context of jahiliyyah ( lit. ' The period of ignorance ' ), highlighting the prevalence of paganism throughout the region at the time.
110-484: Najdi may refer to: People of Najd Najdi (surname) Najdi Arabic , a variety of the Arabic language, Najdi (sheep) , a breed of sheep Najdi! , a Macedonian search-engine Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Najdi . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
220-540: A "faraway, half-mythical place" . Dilmun is also described in the epic story of Enki and Ninhursag as the site at which the Creation occurred. The promise of Enki to Ninhursag, the Earth Mother: For Dilmun, the land of my lady's heart, I will create long waterways, rivers and canals, whereby water will flow to quench the thirst of all beings and bring abundance to all that lives. Ninlil ,
330-544: A liturgical language . In pre-Islamic times, the population of Eastern Arabia consisted of Christianized Arabs (including Abd al-Qays ), Aramean Christians, Persian-speaking Zoroastrians and Jewish agriculturalists. According to Robert Bertram Serjeant , the Baharna may be the Arabized "descendants of converts from the original population of Christians (Aramaeans), Jews and ancient Persians (Majus) inhabiting
440-679: A Persian dominion under a Yemenite vassal and thus came within the sphere of influence of the Sassanid Empire. After the demise of the Lakhmids, another army was sent to Yemen, making it a province of the Sassanid Empire under a Persian satrap . Following the death of Khosrau II in 628, the Persian governor in Southern Arabia, Badhan , converted to Islam and Yemen followed the new religion. Lihyan , also called Dadān or Dedan,
550-422: A combined area of 554,000 km (214,000 sq mi). Najd towns are: 'Afif , Ranyah , Dawadmi , Mahd adh Dhahab , Al-Khurmah , Al-Gway'iyyah , As Sulayyil , and Wadi Ad-Dawasir , Najd has few towns and urban areas due to its Nomadic population. Before the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was formed, the native population in that area was largely made up of tribal Arabs : some of them were part of
660-507: A great amount of time debating the exact boundaries between Hejaz and Najd in particular, but generally set the western boundaries of Najd to be wherever the western mountain ranges and lava beds began to slope eastwards, and set the eastern boundaries of Najd at the narrow strip of red sand dunes known as the Ad-Dahna Desert , some 100 km (62 mi) east of modern-day Riyadh . The southern border of Najd has always been set at
770-627: A new city there and named it Batan Ardashir after his father. At this time, Eastern Arabia incorporated the southern Sassanid province covering the Persian Gulf's southern shore plus the archipelago of Bahrain. The southern province of the Sassanids was subdivided into three districts of Haggar ( Hofuf , Saudi Arabia), Batan Ardashir ( al-Qatif province , Saudi Arabia), and Mishmahig ( Muharraq , Bahrain; also referred to as Samahij ) (In Middle-Persian /Pahlavi means "ewe-fish". ) which included
880-624: A prince of Kindah. These small principalities were then overthrown in the 530s and 540s in a series of uprisings of the ‘Adnānī tribes of Najd and Ḥijāz . In 540, the Lakhmids destroyed all the Kindite settlements in Nejd , forcing the majority of them to move to Yemen . The Kindites and most of the Arab tribes switched their alliances to the Lakhmids . Muhammad carried out military expeditions in
990-882: A raid on Medina, so he dispatched a force of 150 men under the leadership of Abu Salama 'Abd Allah ibn 'Abd al-Asad to make a sudden attack on this tribe. After Prophet Muhammad's death, previously dormant tensions between the Meccan immigrants , the Muhajirun , and the Medinan converts, the Ansar , threatened to split the Ummah . Other Arabian tribes also wished to revert from Islam to local leadership and split from Medina's control; in some places, people such as Al-Aswad Al-Ansi and Musaylima claimed prophethood and started to establish leaderships in opposition to Medina. The Ansar ,
1100-571: A small number of African, Eastern European and South-Eastern European slaves and freedmen. Most of the Najdi tribes are of Qaysi Adnanite origin; their members emigrated to Najd from Tihamah and Hejaz in ancient times. The most famous Najdi tribes in the pre-Islamic era were: Hawazin , with its branches, Amir and Jusham . and Its neighbor from the north, the tribe of Ghatafan , with its branches Abs and Dhubyan . Many other smaller tribes existed such as Ghani , Bahila and Muharib . During
1210-401: A squadron leader, arrested the family of Malik, claiming they did not answer the call to prayer. Malik avoided direct contact with Khalid's army and ordered his followers to scatter, and he and his family apparently moved away across the desert. He refused to give zakat , hence differentiating between prayer and zakat. Nevertheless, Malik was accused of rebellion against the state of Medina. He
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#17327653328391320-423: A verdant land that was part of a wide trading network; he recorded: "That in the island of Tylos, situated in the Persian Gulf, are large plantations of cotton tree, from which are manufactured clothes called sindones , a very different degrees of value, some being costly, others less expensive. The use of these is not confined to India, but extends to Arabia." The Greek historian, Theophrastus , states that much of
1430-458: Is limited and has been pieced together from archaeological evidence, accounts written outside of Arabia, and Arab oral traditions that were later recorded by Muslim historians . Among the most prominent communities were the Thamud , who arose around 3000 BCE and lasted to around 300 CE; and the earliest Semitic-speaking civilization in the eastern part was Dilmun , which arose around the end of
1540-479: Is locally named Ḥajar Asfal . Qataban was one of the ancient Yemeni kingdoms which thrived in the Beihan valley. Like the other Southern Arabian kingdoms, it gained great wealth from the trade of frankincense and myrrh incense, which were burned at altars. The capital of Qataban was named Timna and was located on the trade route which passed through the other kingdoms of Hadramaut, Saba and Ma'in. The chief deity of
1650-480: Is now Yemen's modern capital, Sana'a . According to South Arabian tradition, the eldest son of Noah , Shem , founded the city of Ma'rib. During Sabaean rule, Yemen was called " Arabia Felix " by the Romans, who were impressed by its wealth and prosperity. The Roman emperor Augustus sent a military expedition to conquer the "Arabia Felix", under the command of Aelius Gallus . After an unsuccessful siege of Ma'rib,
1760-889: Is taken to be a representation possibly of the Jewish king Malkīkarib Yuhaʾmin or more likely the Christian Esimiphaios (Samu Yafa'). The Aksumite intervention is connected with Dhu Nuwas , a Himyarite king who changed the state religion to Judaism and began to persecute the Christians in Yemen. Outraged, Kaleb , the Christian King of Aksum with the encouragement of the Byzantine Emperor Justin I invaded and annexed Yemen. The Aksumites controlled Himyar and attempted to invade Mecca in
1870-594: Is the central region of Saudi Arabia , in which about a third of the country's modern population resides. It is the home of the House of Saud , from which it pursued unification with Hejaz since the time of the Emirate of Diriyah . Historic Najd was divided into three modern administrative regions still in use today. The Riyadh region features Wadi Hanifa and the Tuwaiq escarpment, which houses easterly Yamama with
1980-668: The Al-Qassim Province in the north, and Wadi ad-Dawasir at the southernmost tip of Najd on the border with Najran. Most Najdi villages and settlements are located along these wadis, due to ability of these wadis to preserve precious rainwater in the arid desert climate, while others are located near oases . Historically, Najd itself has been divided into small provinces made up of constellations of small towns, villages and settlements, with each one usually centered on one "capital". These subdivisions are still recognized by Najdis today, as each province retains its own variation of
2090-599: The Caliph after Khalid's decisive victories. Moving south from Buzakha, Khalid reached Naqra in October, with an army now 6000 strong, and defeated the rebel tribe of Banu Saleem in the Battle of Naqra . In the third week of October, Khalid defeated a tribal chieftess, Salma, in the battle of Zafar . Afterwards, he moved to Najd against the rebel tribe of Banu Tamim and their Sheikh Malik ibn Nuwayrah . At Najd, getting
2200-697: The Chinedakolpitai ( Greek : Χινεδακολπιται ), gained strength and numbers to play that role and in AD 425 the Ḥimyarite king Ḥasan ibn 'Amr ibn Tubba’ made Ḥujr 'Akīl al-Murār ibn 'Amr the first King ( Ḥujr ) of Kindah. They established the Kingdom of Kinda in Najd in central Arabia unlike the organized states of Yemen ; its kings exercised an influence over a number of associated tribes more by personal prestige than by coercive settled authority. Their first capital
2310-520: The Garden of Eden story. Dilmun appears first in Sumerian cuneiform clay tablets dated to the end of fourth millennium BCE, found in the temple of goddess Inanna , in the city of Uruk . The adjective "Dilmun" is used to describe a type of axe and one specific official; in addition there are lists of rations of wool issued to people connected with Dilmun. Dilmun was an important trading center from
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#17327653328392420-604: The Iberian Peninsula in the west to modern day Pakistan in the east in a matter of decades. The bulk of the tribes that helped the Caliphate 's expansion into Persia and the Levant were composed of Najdi tribes such as Banu Tamim . The Caliphate 's use of these once-rebellious tribes allowed Abu Bakr and Umar to quickly deploy battle hardened men and experienced generals such as Al-Qa'qa' ibn Amr al-Tamimi into
2530-758: The Kassite dynasty in Mesopotamia. Dilmun, sometimes described as "the place where the sun rises" and "the Land of the Living", is the scene of some versions of the Eridu Genesis , and the place where the deified Sumerian hero of the flood, Utnapishtim ( Ziusudra ), was taken by the gods to live forever. Thorkild Jacobsen 's translation of the Eridu Genesis calls it "Mount Dilmun" which he locates as
2640-628: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia . The Arabic word najd literally means "upland" and was once applied to a variety of regions within the Arabian Peninsula. However, the most famous of these in recent times was the central region of the Peninsula roughly bounded on the west by the mountains of the Hejaz and Yemen and to the east by the historical region of Eastern Arabia and the north by Iraq and Syria . Medieval Muslim geographers spent
2750-476: The Marib Dam , was built ca. 700 BCE and provided irrigation for about 25,000 acres (101 km ) of land and stood for over a millennium, finally collapsing in 570 CE after centuries of neglect. The first known inscriptions of Hadramaut are known from the 8th century BCE. It was first referenced by an outside civilization in an Old Sabaic inscription of Karab'il Watar from the early 7th century BCE, in which
2860-695: The Qur'an , old Arabian poetry , Assyrian annals (Tamudi), in a Greek temple inscription from the northwest Hejaz of 169 CE, in a 5th-century Byzantine source and in Old North Arabian graffiti within Tayma . They are also mentioned in the victory annals of the Neo-Assyrian King, Sargon II (8th century BCE), who defeated these people in a campaign in northern Arabia. The Greeks also refer to these people as "Tamudaei", i.e. "Thamud", in
2970-716: The Roman Empire , which governed it as Arabia Petraea . A few nodal points were controlled by the Iranian peoples , first under the Parthians and then under the Sasanians . Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia was diverse; although polytheism was prevalent, monotheism was still a notable practice among some of the region's inhabitants, such as the Jewish tribes . In addition to Arabian paganism, other religious practices in
3080-612: The Shammar Mountains . The Tayy Shammaris became pastoral nomadic camel herders and horse breeders in northern Najd for centuries with a sedentary faction ruling the tribal league from within their capital city of Ha’il. In the 5th century AD, the tribes of North Arabia became a major threat to the trade line between Yemen and Syria . The Ḥimyarites of Sheba decided to establish a vassal state that controlled Central and North Arabia. The Kindites, mentioned in Greek sources as
3190-681: The expedition of Dhat al-Riqa took place in Nejd as part of this invasion. The most authentic opinion according to " Saifur Rahman al Mubararakpuri ", however, is that the Dhat Ar-Riqa' campaign took place after the fall of Khaibar (and not as part of the invasion of Nejd). This is supported by the fact that Abu Hurairah and Abu Musa Al-Ash'ari witnessed the battle. Abu Hurairah embraced Islam only some days before Khaibar, and Abu Musa Al-Ash'ari came back from Abyssinia (modern day Ethiopia ), and joined Muhammad at Khaibar . The rules relating to
3300-689: The "Walls of Khosrau ", constructed by the Sassanid Empire as a barrier between Arabia and Iraq immediately prior to the advent of Islam. The modern usage of the term encompasses the region of Al-Yamama , which was not always considered part of Najd historically, and became incorporated into the larger definition of Najd in the past centuries. Najd is a plateau ranging from 762 to 1,525 m (2,500 to 5,003 ft) in height and sloping downwards from west to east. The eastern sections (historically better known as Al-Yamama) are marked by oasis settlements with much farming and trading activities, while
3410-515: The 15th through the 18th centuries, there was a considerable tribal influx from the west, increasing both the nomadic and settled population of the area and providing a fertile social environment for the Wahhabi movement . By the 20th century, many of the ancient tribes had morphed into new confederations or had emigrated from other areas of the Middle East, and many tribes from other regions of
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3520-494: The 18th century provided the ideological impetus to Saudi expansion and remains the basis of Saudi Arabian dynastic rule today. The first "Saudi state" established in 1744 in the area around Riyadh rapidly expanded and briefly controlled most of the present-day territory of Saudi Arabia, but was destroyed by 1818 by the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt , Mohammed Ali Pasha . A much smaller second "Saudi state", located mainly in Nejd,
3630-591: The 3rd century CE, the South Arabian kingdoms were in continuous conflict with one another. Gadarat (GDRT) of Aksum began to interfere in South Arabian affairs, signing an alliance with Saba, and a Himyarite text notes that Hadramaut and Qataban were also allied against the kingdom. As a result of this, the Aksumite Empire was able to capture the Himyarite capital of Thifar in the first quarter of
3740-462: The 3rd century. However, the alliances did not last, and Sha`ir Awtar of Saba unexpectedly turned on Hadramaut, allying again with Aksum and taking its capital in 225. Himyar then allied with Saba and invaded the newly taken Aksumite territories, retaking Thifar, which had been under the control of Gadarat's son Beygat, and pushing Aksum back into the Tihama . The standing relief image of a crowned man,
3850-554: The 4th millennium BCE and lasted to around 600 CE. Additionally, from around the second half of the 2nd millennium BCE, Southern Arabia was the home to a number of kingdoms, such as the Sabaeans and the Minaeans , and Eastern Arabia was inhabited by Semitic-speaking peoples who presumably migrated from the southwest, such as the so-called Samad population . From 106 CE to 630 CE, Arabia's most northwestern areas were controlled by
3960-668: The 5th century, Beth Qatraye was a major centre for Nestorian Christianity , which had come to dominate the southern shores of the Persian Gulf. As a sect, the Nestorians were often persecuted as heretics by the Byzantine Empire , but eastern Arabia was outside the Empire's control offering some safety. Several notable Nestorian writers originated from Beth Qatraye, including Isaac of Nineveh , Dadisho Qatraya , Gabriel of Qatar and Ahob of Qatar. Christianity's significance
4070-457: The 7th century CE, Eastern Arabia was controlled by two other Iranian dynasties of the Parthians and Sassanids . By about 250 BCE, the Seleucids lost their territories to Parthians , an Iranian tribe from Central Asia . The Parthian dynasty brought the Persian Gulf under their control and extended their influence as far as Oman. Because they needed to control the Persian Gulf trade route,
4180-716: The 8th and 7th century BCE, there was a close contact of cultures between the Kingdom of Dʿmt in Eritrea and northern Ethiopia and Saba. Though the civilization was indigenous and the royal inscriptions were written in a sort of proto- Ethiosemitic , there were also some Sabaean immigrants in the kingdom as evidenced by a few of the Dʿmt inscriptions. Agriculture in Yemen thrived during this time due to an advanced irrigation system which consisted of large water tunnels in mountains, and dams. The most impressive of these earthworks, known as
4290-647: The Bahrain archipelago that was earlier called Aval . The name, meaning 'ewe-fish' would appear to suggest that the name /Tulos/ is related to Hebrew /ṭāleh/ 'lamb' (Strong's 2924). The Christian name used for the region encompassing north-eastern Arabia was Beth Qatraye, or "the Isles". The name translates to 'region of the Qataris' in Syriac . It included Bahrain, Tarout Island , Al-Khatt, Al-Hasa , and Qatar. By
4400-509: The Greek geographers, for instance, we read of two islands, named Tyrus or Tylos , and Arad, Bahrain , which boasted that they were the mother country of the Phoenicians, and exhibited relics of Phoenician temples." The people of Tyre in particular have long maintained Persian Gulf origins, and the similarity in the words "Tylos" and "Tyre" has been commented upon. However, there is little evidence of occupation at all in Bahrain during
4510-582: The House of Saud to its east and south. The third administrative unit is northerly Ḥaʼil , which features the mountains of Jabal Shammar housing the Tayy capital of Ḥaʼil . The Najd region is home to Al-Magar , which was an advanced prehistoric culture of the Neolithic whose center lay in modern-day southwestern Najd. Al-Magar is possibly one of the first cultures in the world where widespread agriculture and
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4620-545: The King of Hadramaut, Yada`'il, is mentioned as being one of his allies. When the Minaeans took control of the caravan routes in the 4th century BCE, however, Hadramaut became one of its confederates, probably because of commercial interests. It later became independent and was invaded by the growing Yemeni kingdom of Himyar toward the end of the 1st century BCE, but it was able to repel the attack. Hadramaut annexed Qataban in
4730-515: The Kingdom of Maīin, as far away as al-'Ula in northwestern Saudi Arabia and even on the island of Delos and Egypt. It was the first of the Yemeni kingdoms to end, and the Minaean language died around 100 CE . During Sabaean rule, trade and agriculture flourished, generating much wealth and prosperity. The Sabaean kingdom was located in Yemen, and its capital, Ma'rib , is located near what
4840-601: The Lakhmid capital of al-Ḥirah in southern modern-day Iraq. Later however in about 529, al-Mundhir recaptured the city and put King Ḥārith and about fifty members of his family to death. In 525, the Aksumites invaded Ḥimyar, and this had a knock-on effect with the Kindites, who lost the support of the Ḥimyarites. Within three years the Kindite kingdom had split into four groups: Asad, Taghlib, Qays and Kinānah, each led by
4950-555: The Lihyanites fell into the hands of the Nabataeans around 65 BCE upon their seizure of Hegra then marching to Tayma , and finally to their capital Dedan in 9 BCE. Werner Cascel consider the Nabataean annexation of Lihyan was around 24 BCE under the reign of the Nabataeans king Aretas IV . The Thamud ( Arabic : ثمود ) was an ancient civilization in Hejaz , which was a flourished kingdom from 3000 BCE to 200 BCE. Recent archaeological work has revealed numerous Thamudic rock writings and pictures. They are mentioned in sources such as
5060-577: The Midianites has not been established. Because of the Mycenaean motifs on what is referred to as Midianite pottery , some scholars including George Mendenhall, Peter Parr, and Beno Rothenberg have suggested that the Midianites were originally Sea Peoples who migrated from the Aegean region and imposed themselves on a pre-existing Semitic stratum. The question of the origin of the Midianites still remains open. The sedentary people of pre-Islamic Eastern Arabia were mainly Aramaic , Arabic and to some degree Persian speakers while Syriac functioned as
5170-457: The Najdi dialect and Najdi customs. The most prominent among these provinces are Al-'Aridh, which includes Riyadh and the historical Saudi capital of Diriyah ; Al-Qassim, with its capital in Buraidah ; Sudair , centered on Al Majma'ah ; Al-Washm, centered on Shaqra ; and Jebel Shammar , with its capital, Ha'il. Under modern-day Saudi Arabia , however, Najd is divided into three administrative regions: Ha'il , Al-Qassim, and Riyadh , comprising
5280-493: The Parthians established garrisons in the southern coast of Persian Gulf. In the 3rd century CE, the Sassanids succeeded the Parthians and held the area until the rise of Islam four centuries later. Ardashir , the first ruler of the Iranian Sassanians dynasty marched down the Persian Gulf to Oman and Bahrain and defeated Sanatruq (or Satiran ), probably the Parthian governor of Eastern Arabia. He appointed his son Shapur I as governor of Eastern Arabia. Shapur constructed
5390-418: The Peninsula had moved into Najd. However, the largest proportion of native Najdis today still belong to these ancient Najdi tribes or to their newer incarnations. Many of the Najdi tribes, even in ancient times, were not nomadic or bedouin, but long-settled farmers and merchants. The royal family of Saudi Arabia, Al Saud , for example, trace their lineage to Banu Hanifa. On the eve of Saudi Arabia’s formation,
5500-405: The Persian Gulf. Alexander had planned to settle the eastern shores of the Persian Gulf with Greek empires, and although it is not clear that this happened on the scale he envisaged, Tylos was very much part of the Hellenised world: the language of the upper classes was Greek (although Aramaic was in everyday use), while Zeus was worshipped in the form of the Arabian sun-god Shams. Tylos even became
5610-579: The Qatabanians was Amm , or "Uncle" and the people called themselves the "children of Amm". The Himyarites rebelled against Qataban and eventually united Southwestern Arabia (Hejaz and Yemen), controlling the Red Sea as well as the coasts of the Gulf of Aden . From their capital city, Ẓafār , the Himyarite kings launched successful military campaigns, and had stretched its domain at times as far east as eastern Yemen and as far north as Najran Together with their Kindite allies, it extended maximally as far north as Riyadh and as far east as Yabrin . During
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#17327653328395720-459: The Roman general retreated to Egypt, while his fleet destroyed the port of Aden in order to guarantee the Roman merchant route to India . The success of the kingdom was based on the cultivation and trade of spices and aromatics including frankincense and myrrh . These were exported to the Mediterranean , India, and Abyssinia , where they were greatly prized by many cultures, using camels on routes through Arabia, and to India by sea. During
5830-416: The Saudi capital, Riyadh since 1824 , and the Sudairi region, which has its capital in Majmaah . The second administrative unit, Al-Qassim , houses the fertile oases and date palm orchards spread out in the region's highlands along Wadi Rummah in central Najd with its capital in Buraidah , the second largest Najdi city, with the region historically contested by the House of Rashid to its north and
5940-436: The Sumerian goddess of air and south wind had her home in Dilmun. It is also featured in the Epic of Gilgamesh . However, in the early epic " Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta " , the main events, which center on Enmerkar 's construction of the ziggurats in Uruk and Eridu , are described as taking place in a world "before Dilmun had yet been settled". Gerrha ( Arabic : جرهاء ), was an ancient city of Eastern Arabia, on
6050-481: The United Arab Emirates comprised the ecclesiastical province known as Beth Mazunaye. The name was derived from 'Mazun', the Persian name for Oman and the United Arab Emirates. During Minaean rule, the capital was at Karna (now known as Sa'dah ). Their other important city was Yathill (now known as Baraqish ). The Minaean Kingdom was centered in northwestern Yemen, with most of its cities lying along Wādī Madhab . Minaean inscriptions have been found far afield of
6160-403: The aid of the Ikhwan, Ibn Saud captured al-Ahsa from the Ottomans in 1913. In 1916, with the encouragement and support of Britain (which was fighting the Ottomans in World War I ), the Sharif of Mecca, Hussein bin Ali , led a pan-Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire to create a united Arab state. Although this revolt failed in its objective, the Allied victory in World War I resulted in
6270-411: The ancient Greek name for Muharraq island. Herodotus 's account (written c. 440 BCE) refers to the Io and Europa myths. ( History, I:1). According to the Persians best informed in history, the Phoenicians began the quarrel. These people, who had formerly dwelt on the shores of the Erythraean Sea ( the eastern part of the Arabia peninsula ), having migrated to the Mediterranean and settled in
6380-661: The apostate tribes of north-central Arabia without interference from Yamamah. Meanwhile, Abu Bakr sent Shurhabil 's corps to reinforce Ikrama at Yamamah. However, Ikrimah attacked Musaylima's forces in early September 632 and was defeated. He wrote the details of his actions to Abu Bakr, who, both pained and angered by the rashness of Ikrimah and his disobedience, ordered him to proceed with his force to Oman to assist Hudaifa ; once Hudaifa had completed his task, to march to Mahra to help Arfaja , and thereafter go to Yemen to help Muhajir. Meanwhile, Abu Bakr sent orders to Khalid to march against Musaylima. Shurhabil's corps, that
6490-417: The area belonged to the Dilmun civilization, which was conquered by the Assyrian Empire in 709 BCE. Gerrha was the center of an Arab kingdom from approximately 650 BCE to circa 300 CE. The kingdom was attacked by Antiochus III the Great in 205-204 BCE, though it seems to have survived. It is currently unknown exactly when Gerrha fell, but the area was under Sassanid Persian control after 300 CE. Gerrha
6600-632: The area. The first was the Nejd Caravan Raid against the Quraysh , which took place in 624. The Meccans led by Safwan ibn Umayyah , who lived on trade, left in summer for Syria for their seasonal trade business. After Muhammad received intelligence about the Caravan's route, he ordered Zayd ibn Haritha to go after the Caravan, and they successfully raided it and captured 100,000 dirhams worth of booty. The Invasion of Nejd happened in Rabi‘ Ath-Thani or Jumada al-Awwal , 4 AH (October, 625 AD). Muhammad led his fighters to Nejd to scare off some tribes whose intentions were suspicious. Some scholars say
6710-475: The centuries back and forth from Nejd to Iraq and the Levant, with many Najdi tribes reaching Khorosan and the Maghreb. In the 16th century, the Ottomans added the Red Sea and Persian Gulf coast (the Hejaz , Asir and al-Ahsa ) to the Empire and claimed suzerainty over the interior. One reason was to thwart Portuguese attempts to attack the Red Sea (hence the Hejaz) and the Indian Ocean . [REDACTED] Ottoman control over these lands varied over
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#17327653328396820-455: The city of Ha'il. Dated at 8,000 years before the present, these are thought of as the earliest known depictions of dogs in the world. In ancient times , Najd was settled by numerous tribes such as the Kindites , Tayy , and many others. Led by Usma bin Luai ( Arabic : عصمة بن لؤي ), the Tayy sacked the mountains of Aja and Samra from Banu Tamim in northern Arabia in their exodus from Yemen circa CE 115. These mountains are now known as
6930-425: The collapse of the Kassite dynasty, Mesopotamian documents make no mention of Dilmun with the exception of Assyrian inscriptions dated to 1250 BCE which proclaimed the Assyrian king to be king of Dilmun and Meluhha . Assyrian inscriptions recorded tribute from Dilmun. There are other Assyrian inscriptions during the first millennium BCE indicating Assyrian sovereignty over Dilmun. Dilmun was also later on controlled by
7040-416: The corps commanders, was instructed to make contact with Musaylima at Yamamah , but not to engage in fighting until Khalid joined him. Abu Bakr's intention in giving Ikrimah this mission was to tie Musaylima down at Yamamah. With Ikrimah on the horizon, Musaylima would remain in expectation of a Muslim attack, and thus not be able to leave his base. With Musaylima so committed, Khalid would be free to deal with
7150-477: The domestication of animals occurred, particularly that of the horse, during the Neolithic period, before climate changes in the region resulted in desertification . Radiocarbon dating of several objects discovered at Al-Magar indicate an age of about 9,000 years. In November 2017 hunting scenes showing images of what appear to be domesticated dogs resembling the Canaan dog and wearing leashes were discovered in Shuwaymis, an area about 370 km southwest of
7260-430: The early part of the 20th century as part of a country-wide policy undertaken by King Abdul-Aziz to put an end to the nomadic way of life. Nomads still exist in the Kingdom, however, in very small numbers – a far cry from the days when they made up the majority in the Arabian Peninsula. Pre-Islamic Arabia Some of the settled communities developed into distinctive civilizations. Information about these communities
7370-429: The end of Ottoman suzerainty and control in Arabia. Ibn Saud avoided involvement in the Arab Revolt and instead continued his struggle with the Al Rashid. Following the latter's final defeat, he took the title Sultan of Najd in 1921. With the help of the Ikhwan, the Hejaz was conquered in 1924–25 and on 10 January 1926, Ibn Saud declared himself King of the Hejaz . A year later, he added the title of King of Nejd. For
7480-434: The first caliph . Apostasy and rebellion in central Arabia were led by Musaylima in the fertile region of Yamamah . He was mainly supported by the powerful tribe of Banu Hanifa . At Buzakha in north central Arabia, another claimed prophet, Tulayha , a tribal chief of Banu Asad , led the rebellion against Medina, aided by the allied tribes of Banu Ghatafan , the Hawazin , and the Tayy . At Najd, Malik ibn Nuweira led
7590-446: The front-lines against the Persians and Byzantines . Najd soon became a politically peripheral region of the Muslim world as the focus shifted to the outside of the peninsula . Many of members of the conquering tribes of Najd soon shifted into the Levant, Persia and North Africa, playing a role in future conflicts in the caliphate, becoming governors and even birthing emirates such as the Aghlabids . Migrations continued throughout
7700-450: The head of the bay behind the islands of Bahrain. Bahrain was referred to by the Greeks as Tylos , the center of pearl trading, when Nearchus came to discover it serving under Alexander the Great . From the 6th to 3rd century BCE Bahrain was included in Persian Empire by Achaemenians , an Iranian dynasty . The Greek admiral Nearchus is believed to have been the first of Alexander's commanders to visit this islands, and he found
7810-516: The island and cultivated coastal provinces of Eastern Arabia at the time of the Arab conquest". Other archaeological assemblages cannot be brought clearly into larger context, such as the Samad Late Iron Age . Zoroastrianism was also present in Eastern Arabia. The Zoroastrians of Eastern Arabia were known as " Majoos " in pre-Islamic times. The sedentary dialects of Eastern Arabia, including Bahrani Arabic , were influenced by Akkadian , Aramaic and Syriac languages. The Dilmun civilization
7920-524: The islands were covered in these cotton trees and that Tylos was famous for exporting walking canes engraved with emblems that were customarily carried in Babylon. Ares was also worshipped by the ancient Baharna and the Greek empires. It is not known whether Bahrain was part of the Seleucid Empire , although the archaeological site at Qalat Al Bahrain has been proposed as a Seleucid base in
8030-823: The land with maritime trade between diverse regions as the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia in the early period and China and the Mediterranean in the later period (from the 3rd to the 16th century CE). Dilmun was mentioned in two letters dated to the reign of Burna-Buriash II (c. 1370 BCE) recovered from Nippur , during the Kassite dynasty of Babylon . These letters were from a provincial official, Ilī-ippašra , in Dilmun to his friend Enlil-kidinni in Mesopotamia. The names referred to are Akkadian . These letters and other documents, hint at an administrative relationship between Dilmun and Babylon at that time. Following
8140-570: The large sea of sand dunes known today as Rub' al Khali (the Empty Quarter), while the southwestern boundaries are marked by the valleys of Wadi Ranyah, Wadi Bisha, and Wadi Tathlith. The northern boundaries of Najd have fluctuated greatly over time and received far less attention from the medieval geographers. In the early Islamic centuries, Najd was considered to extend as far north as the River Euphrates , or more specifically,
8250-542: The late fourth millennium to 1800 BCE. Dilmun was very prosperous during the first 300 years of the second millennium. Dilmun's commercial power began to decline between 2000 BCE and 1800 BCE because piracy flourished in the Persian Gulf. In 600 BCE, the Babylonians and later the Persians added Dilmun to their empires. The Dilmun civilization was the centre of commercial activities linking traditional agriculture of
8360-525: The leaders of the tribes of Medina, met in a hall or house called saqifah , to discuss whom they would support as their new leader. When Abu Bakr was informed of the meeting, he, Umar , Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah and a few others rushed to prevent the Ansar from making a premature decision. During the meeting Umar declared that Abu Bakr should be the new leader, and declared his allegiance to Abu Bakr, followed by Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah, and thus Abu Bakr became
8470-415: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Najdi&oldid=1215430518 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Najd Najd ( Arabic : نَجْدٌ , pronounced [nad͡ʒd] )
8580-588: The major nomadic tribes of Najd included 'Utaybah , Mutayr , Dawasir , Shammar (historically known as Tayy) Subay' , Suhool , Harb , and the Qahtanites in southern Najd. Many members of the sedentary population belonged to tribes such as Anizzah , Banu Tamim , Banu Hanifa , Banu Khalid , Banu Zayd , Banu Lam , Dawasir , Subay' , Shammar , and Bahila . Most of the minority nomadic tribes are now settled either in cities such as Riyadh, or in special settlements, known as hijras, that were established in
8690-501: The majority class of sedentary farmers and merchants who lived in villages and towns dotted around central Arabia; others (a minority of inhabitants) were nomads ( bedouins ) who roamed between the towns and villages of Najd, much like Hejaz. The rest of the population consisted mainly of Arabs who were unaffiliated with any tribes; most of these lived in the towns and villages of Najd and worked in various trades such as carpentry, or as Sonnaa' ( craftsmen ). The population also included
8800-573: The news of Khalid's decisive victories against apostates in Buzakha, many clans of Banu Tamim hastened to visit Khalid , but the Banu Yarbu' , a branch of Banu Tamim, under their chief, Malik ibn Nuwayrah , hung back. Malik was a chief of some distinction: a warrior, noted for his generosity, and a famous poet. Bravery, generosity, and poetry were the three qualities most admired among the Arabs. At
8910-617: The next five years, he administered the two parts of his dual kingdom as separate units. After the conquest of the Hejaz, the Ikhwan leadership turned to expansion of the Wahhabist realm into the British protectorates of Transjordan , Iraq and Kuwait, and began raiding those territories. This met with Ibn Saud's opposition, as he recognized the danger of a direct conflict with the British. At
9020-714: The next four centuries with the fluctuating strength or weakness of the Empire's central authority. The emergence of what was to become the Saudi royal family, known as the Al Saud , began in Najd in central Arabia in 1744, when Muhammad bin Saud , founder of the dynasty, joined forces with the religious leader Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab , founder of the Wahhabi movement, a strict puritanical form of Sunni Islam. This alliance formed in
9130-423: The parts which they now inhabit, began at once, they say, to adventure on long voyages, freighting their vessels with the wares of Egypt and Assyria... The Greek historian Strabo believed the Phoenicians originated from Eastern Arabia. Herodotus also believed that the homeland of the Phoenicians was Eastern Arabia. This theory was accepted by the 19th-century German classicist Arnold Heeren who said that: "In
9240-624: The peninsula. Subject to this suzerainty, Arabia was ruled by a patchwork of tribal rulers, with the Sharif of Mecca having pre-eminence and ruling the Hejaz . In 1902, Abdul Rahman 's son, AbdulAziz—later to be known to the west as Ibn Saud —recaptured control of Riyadh, bringing the Al Saud back to Najd. Ibn Saud gained the support of the Ikhwan , a tribal army inspired by Wahhabism, and which had grown quickly after its foundation in 1912. With
9350-492: The plain of Aqraba to subdue the region around Yamamah and to kill or capture all who resisted. Thereafter all of central Arabia submitted to Medina. What remained of the apostasy in the less vital areas of Arabia was rooted out by the Muslims in a series of well-planned campaigns within five months. Muhammad's followers rapidly expanded the territory under Muslim rule beyond Arabia, conquering huge swathes of territory from
9460-654: The prayer of fear, which Muhammad observed at the Dhat Ar-Riqa' campaign, were revealed at the Asfan invasion and, these scholars say, took place after Al-Khandaq . The Expedition of Qatan also took place in Nejd. The Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah tribe (not to be confused with the Banu Asad tribe) was a powerful tribe connected with the Quraysh. They resided near the hill of Katan , in the vicinity of Fayd , in Nejd . Muhammad received intelligence reports that they were planning
9570-564: The region included those of the ancient Semitic religions , the Abrahamic religions (of which the emerging Islam would become a part), and the Iranian religions . The ʿĀd nation were known to the Greeks and Egyptians . Claudius Ptolemy 's Geographos (2nd century CE) refers to the area as the "land of the Iobaritae" a region which legend later referred to as Ubar . The origin of
9680-421: The rest has traditionally been sparsely occupied by nomadic Bedouins. The main topographical features include the twin mountains of Aja and Salma in the north near Ha'il, the high land of Jabal Shammar and the Tuwaiq mountain range running through its center from north to south. Also important are the various dry river-beds ( wadis ) such as Wadi Hanifa near Riyadh, Wadi Na'am in the south, Wadi Al-Rumah in
9790-413: The same time, the Ikhwan became disenchanted with Ibn Saud's domestic policies, which appeared to favor modernization and the increase in the number of non-Muslim foreigners in the country. As a result, they turned against Ibn Saud and, after a two-year struggle, were defeated in 1930 at the Battle of Sabilla , where their leaders were massacred. In 1932 the two kingdoms of the Hejaz and Nejd were united as
9900-533: The second half of the 2nd century CE, reaching its greatest size. The kingdom of Hadramaut was eventually conquered by the Himyarite king Shammar Yahri'sh around 300 CE, unifying all of the South Arabian kingdoms. The ancient Kingdom of Awsān in South Arabia (modern Yemen), with a capital at Ḥagar Yaḥirr in the wadi Markhah, to the south of the Wādī Bayḥān, is now marked by a tell or artificial mound, which
10010-581: The site of Greek athletic contests. The name Tylos is thought to be a Hellenisation of the Semitic, Tilmun (from Dilmun ). The term Tylos was commonly used for the islands until Ptolemy's Geographia when the inhabitants are referred to as 'Thilouanoi'. Some place names in Bahrain go back to the Tylos era, for instance, the residential suburb of Arad in Muharraq , is believed to originate from "Arados",
10120-403: The starting point for a trader's route, making the location within the archipelago of islands comprising the modern Kingdom of Bahrain , particularly the main island of Bahrain itself, another possibility. Various other identifications of the site have been attempted, Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville choosing Qatif , Carsten Niebuhr preferring Kuwait and C Forster suggesting the ruins at
10230-516: The state of Madinah . His riders were stopped by Khalid's army at the town of Buttah . Khalid asked them about the signing of pact with Sajjah ; they said it was just because they wanted revenge against their terrible enemies. When Khalid reached Najd he found no opposing army. He sent his cavalry to nearby villages and ordered them to call the Athaan to each party they meet. Zirrar bin Azwar ,
10340-442: The time of Muhammad, he had been appointed as a tax collector for the tribe of Banu Tamim. As soon as Malik heard of the death of Muhammad he gave back all the tax to his tribespeople, saying "Now you are the owner of your wealth." Moreover, he was to be charged because he signed a pact with the anti-Islamic prophet Sajjah . This agreement stated that first, they would deal with local enemy tribes together, and then they would confront
10450-410: The time when such migration had supposedly taken place. With the waning of Seleucid Greek power, Tylos was incorporated into Characene or Mesenian, the state founded in what today is Kuwait by Hyspaosines in 127 BCE. A building inscriptions found in Bahrain indicate that Hyspoasines occupied the islands, (and it also mention his wife, Thalassia). From the 3rd century BCE to arrival of Islam in
10560-448: The tribe to submit without bloodshed. Bani Jadila submitted, and their 1000 warriors joined Khalid's army. Khalid, now much stronger than when he had left Zhu Qissa, marched for Buzakha . There, in mid-September 632, he defeated Tulayha in the Battle of Buzakha . The remaining army of Tulayha retreated to Ghamra , 20 miles from Buzakha, and was defeated in the Battle of Ghamra in the third week of September. Several tribes submitted to
10670-554: The tribes of Banu Asad and Banu Ghatafan , which stood solidly behind Tulayha, but the Tayy were not so staunch in their support of Tulayha, and their chief, Adi ibn Hatim , was a devout Muslim. Adi was appointed by Abu Bakr to negotiate with the tribal elders to withdraw their contingent from Tulayha's army. The negotiations were a success, and Adi brought with him 500 horsemen of his tribe to reinforce Khalid's army. Khalid next marched against another apostate tribe, Jadila . Here again, Adi ibn Hatim offered his services to persuade
10780-445: The tribes of Banu Tamim against the authority of Medina. On receiving intelligence of the Muslims' preparations, Tulayha too prepared for a battle, and was further reinforced by the contingents of the allied tribes. Before launching Khalid ibn Al-Walid against Tulayha, Abu Bakr sought ways and means of reducing the latter's strength, so that the battle could be fought with the maximum prospects of victory. Nothing could be done about
10890-621: The west side of the Persian Gulf . More accurately, the ancient city of Gerrha has been determined to have existed near or under the present fort of Uqair . This fort is 50 miles northeast of al-Hasa in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia . This site was first proposed by Robert Ernest Cheesman in 1924. Gerrha and Uqair are archaeological sites on the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula . Prior to Gerrha,
11000-568: The year 570 CE. Eastern Yemen remained allied to the Sassanids via tribal alliances with the Lakhmids , which later brought the Sassanid army into Yemen, ending the Aksumite period. The Persian king Khosrau I sent troops under the command of Vahriz ( Persian : اسپهبد وهرز ), who helped the semi-legendary Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan to drive the Aksumites out of Yemen. Southern Arabia became
11110-412: Was 2 miles from the Persian Gulf near current day Hofuf . The researcher Abdulkhaliq Al Janbi argued in his book that Gerrha was most likely the ancient city of Hajar, located in modern-day Al Ahsa , Saudi Arabia . Al Janbi's theory is the most widely accepted one by modern scholars, although there are some difficulties with this argument given that Al Ahsa is 60 km inland and thus less likely to be
11220-432: Was Qaryat Dhāt Kāhil, today known as Qaryat al-Fāw . The Ghassānids , Lakhmids and Kindites were all Kahlānī and Qaḥṭānī kingdoms which thrived in Najd. In the 5th and 6th centuries AD, the Kindites made the first real concerted effort to unite all the tribes of Central Arabia through alliances, and focused on wars with the Lakhmids . Al-Ḥārith ibn 'Amr, the most famous of their kings, finally succeeded in capturing
11330-422: Was a powerful and highly organized ancient Arab kingdom that played a vital cultural and economic role in the north-western region of the Arabian Peninsula and used Dadanitic language. The Lihyanite kingdom went through three different stages, the early phase of Lihyan Kingdom was around the 7th century BC, started as a Sheikdom of Dedan then developed into the Kingdom of Lihyan tribe. Some authors assert that
11440-496: Was also to be charged for his entering in an anti-Caliphate alliance with the anti-Islamic prophetess Sajjah. Malik was arrested along with his clansmen. Malik was asked by Khalid about his crimes. Malik's response was "your master said this, your master said that", referring to Abu Bakr. Khalid declared Malik a rebel apostate and ordered his execution. Khalid bin Walid killed Malik ibn Nuwayra . Ikrimah ibn Abi-Jahl , one of
11550-521: Was an important trading center which at the height of its power controlled the Persian Gulf trading routes. The Sumerians regarded Dilmun as holy land . Dilmun is regarded as one of the oldest ancient civilizations in the Middle East . The Sumerians described Dilmun as a paradise garden in the Epic of Gilgamesh . The Sumerian tale of the garden paradise of Dilmun may have been an inspiration for
11660-456: Was defeated too. Khalid joined with the corps of Shurhabil early in December 632. The combined force of Muslims, now 13,000 strong, defeated Musaylima's army in the Battle of Yamamah , which was fought in the third week of December. The fortified city of Yamamah surrendered peacefully later that week. Khalid established his headquarters at Yamamah, from where he despatched columns to all over
11770-512: Was described by Strabo as inhabited by Chaldean exiles from Babylon , who built their houses of salt and repaired them by the application of salt water. Pliny the Elder (lust. Nat. vi. 32) says it was 5 miles in circumference with towers built of square blocks of salt. Gerrha was destroyed by the Qarmatians in the end of the 9th century where all inhabitants were massacred (300,000). It
11880-552: Was diminished by the arrival of Islam in Eastern Arabia by 628. In 676, the bishops of Beth Qatraye stopped attending synods; although the practice of Christianity persisted in the region until the late 9th century. The dioceses of Beth Qatraye did not form an ecclesiastical province , except for a short period during the mid-to-late seventh century. They were instead subject to the Metropolitan of Fars . Oman and
11990-657: Was established in 1824 by Turki bn Abdullah . Throughout the rest of the 19th century, the Al Saud contested control of the interior of what was to become Saudi Arabia with another Arabian ruling family, the Al Rashid . By 1891, the Al Rashid were victorious and the Al Saud were driven into exile in Kuwait . At the beginning of the 20th century, the Ottoman Empire continued to control or have suzerainty over most of
12100-491: Was stationed at Yamamah, was to reinforce Khalid's corps. In addition to this Abu Bakr assembled a fresh army of Ansar and Muhajireen in Medina that joined Khalid's corps at Butah . From Butah Khalid marched to Yamamah to join with Shurhabil's corps. Though Abu Bakr had instructed Shurhabil not to engage Musaylima's forces until the arrival of Khalid, shortly before the arrival of Khalid, Shurhabil engaged Musaylima's forces and
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