Page 38 - History of The Quranic Text | Kalamullah.Com

18 THE HISTORY OF THE QUR'ANIC TEXT

Soon the roots of this supplication had visibly blossomed and Makkah
was no longer desolate,gaining lifein the presence of Allah'snoble sanctuary,
the waters of Zamzam, and a burgeoning population. It eventually became
a central junction on the trade routes to Syria, Yemen, Ta'if and Nejd.l?
which iswhy "from the time of AelliusGallus down to Nero all the emperors
cherished the desire of extending their influence to the important station
of Mecca and made tentative efforts in this direction."20
There were naturally other population movements within the Arabian
Peninsula. Of note were the Jewish refugees who, many centuries later,
introducedJudaism to Arabia during the Babylonian Exile,settlingin Yathrib
(present-day Madinah), Khaibar, Taima' and Fadak in 587 B.C.E. and 70
21
C.E. Nomadic Arab tribes were also in flux. Banu Tha'liba (the tribe of
Tha'Iiba) from the Qahtanite stock also settled in Madinah; among their
descendants were the tribes of Aws and Khazraj, later dually known as
al-Ansar'" (Supporters of the Prophet). Banu Haritha, later known as Banu
Khuza'a, settledin Hejaz and displacedthe earlierinhabitants, BanuJurhum,23
becoming the custodians of the House in Makkah. They were subsequently
responsible for introducing idol worship/" Banu Lakhm, another clan of
Qahtanite origin, settled in Hira (present-day Kufa in Iraq) where they
founded a buffer state between Arabia and Persia (c. 200-602 C.E.).25 Banu
Ghassan settled in lower Syria and founded the Ghassanid Kingdom, a
26
buffer state between Byzantine and Arabia, which lasted till 614 C.E.
Banu Tayy occupied the Tayy Mountains while Banu Kinda settled in
central Arabia.'? The common feature of all these tribes was their lineage
to Ibrahim through Isrna'il. 28
This section is not meant to serve as a history of Makkah prior to
Islam, but as a starting point for the closest ancestral family member of
the Prophet who had a direct bearing on his life. For the sake of brevity

19 M. Hamidullah, "The City State of Mecca", Islamic Culture, voL 12 (1938), p. 258.
Cited thereafter as The City State of Mecca.
20 ibid, p. 256, quoting Lammens, LaMecque aLa Vielle deL'Hegire(pp. 234, 239) and
others.
21 Jawad 'All, al-Mufassalfi Tiirfkh al-'Arab Qgbl al-lsldm, i:658; ibid, i:614-18 contain
very important information on Jewish settlements in Yathrib and Khaibar.
22 M. Mohar Ali, Sirat an-Nabi, vol. lA, p. 32.
23 ibid, voL lA, p. 32.
24 Ibn Qutaiba, al-Ma'arif, p. 640.
25 M. Mohar Ali, Sirat an-Nabi, voL lA, p. 32.
26 ibid, voL IA, p. 32.
27 ibid, voL lA, p. 32.
28 ibid, vol. lA, p. 32.