Part 5 (1/2)
Leaving the once mighty kingdom of Yemen thus pitiably and for ever fallen from its high estate, we turn northward into the main stream of Arabian history.
CHAPTER II
THE HISTORY AND LEGENDS OF THE PAGAN ARABS
[Sidenote: The Age of Barbarism (al-Jahiliyya).]
Mu?ammadans include the whole period of Arabian history from the earliest times down to the establishment of Islam in the term _al-Jahiliyya_, which was used by Mu?ammad in four pa.s.sages of the Koran and is generally translated 'the state or ignorance' or simply 'the Ignorance.' Goldziher, however, has shown conclusively that the meaning attached to _jahl_ (whence _Jahiliyya_ is derived) by the Pre-islamic poets is not so much 'ignorance' as 'wildness,' 'savagery,' and that its true ant.i.thesis is not _'ilm_ (knowledge), but rather _?ilm_, which denotes the moral reasonableness of a civilised man. ”When Mu?ammadans say that Islam put an end to the manners and customs of the _Jahiliyya_, they have in view those barbarous practices, that savage temper, by which Arabian heathendom is distinguished from Islam and by the abolition of which Mu?ammad sought to work a moral reformation in his countrymen: the haughty spirit of the _Jahiliyya_ (_?amiyyatu 'l-Jahiliyya_), the tribal pride and the endless tribal feuds, the cult of revenge, the implacability and all the other pagan characteristics which Islam was destined to overcome.”[74]
Our sources of information regarding this period may be cla.s.sified as follows:--
[Sidenote: Sources of information concerning the Jahiliyya.]
(1) _Poems and fragments of verse_, which though not written down at the time were preserved by oral tradition and committed to writing, for the most part, two or three hundred years afterwards. The importance of this, virtually the sole contemporary record of Pre-islamic history, is recognised in the well-known saying, ”Poetry is the public register of the Arabs (_al-s.h.i.+'ru diwanu 'l-'Arab_); thereby genealogies are kept in mind and famous actions are made familiar.” Some account of the chief collections of old Arabian poetry will be given in the next chapter.
(2) _Proverbs._ These are of less value, as they seldom explain themselves, while the commentary attached to them is the work of scholars bent on explaining them at all costs, though in many cases their true meaning could only be conjectured and the circ.u.mstances of their origin had been entirely forgotten. Notwithstanding this very pardonable excess of zeal, we could ill afford to lose the celebrated collections of Mufa??al b. Salama ( _circa_ 900 A.D.) and Maydani ( 1124 A.D.),[75] which contain so much curious information throwing light on every aspect of Pre-islamic life.
[Sidenote: _The Book of Songs._]
(3) _Traditions and legends._ Since the art of writing was neither understood nor practised by the heathen Arabs in general, it was impossible that Prose, as a literary form, should exist among them. The germs of Arabic Prose, however, may be traced back to the _Jahiliyya_.
Besides the proverb (_mathal_) and the oration (_khu?ba_) we find elements of history and romance in the prose narratives used by the rhapsodists to introduce and set forth plainly the matter of their songs, and in the legends which recounted the glorious deeds of tribes and individuals. A vast number of such stories--some unmistakably genuine, others bearing the stamp of fiction--are preserved in various literary, historical, and geographical works composed under the 'Abbasid Caliphate, especially in the _Kitabu 'l-Aghani_ (Book of Songs) by Abu 'l-Faraj of I?fahan ( 967 A.D.), an invaluable compilation based on the researches of the great Humanists as they have been well named by Sir Charles Lyall, of the second and third centuries after the Hijra.[76]
The original writings of these early critics and scholars have perished almost without exception, and beyond the copious citations in the _Aghani_ we possess hardly any specimens of their work. ”The _Book of Songs_,” says Ibn Khaldun, ”is the Register of the Arabs. It comprises all that they had achieved in the past of excellence in every kind of poetry, history, music, _et cetera_. So far as I am aware, no other book can be put on a level with it in this respect. It is the final resource of the student of belles-lettres, and leaves him nothing further to desire.”[77]
[Sidenote: Scope of this chapter.]
In the following pages I shall not attempt to set in due order and connection the confused ma.s.s of poetry and legend in which all that we know of Pre-islamic Arabia lies deeply embedded. This task has already been performed with admirable skill by Caussin de Perceval in his _Essai sur l'histoire des Arabes avant l'Islamisme_,[78] and it could serve no useful purpose to inflict a dry summary of that famous work upon the reader. The better course, I think, will be to select a few typical and outstanding features of the time and to present them, wherever possible, as they have been drawn--largely from imagination--by the Arabs themselves. If the Arabian traditions are wanting in historical accuracy they are nevertheless, taken as a whole, true in spirit to the Dark Age which they call up from the dead and reverently unfold beneath our eyes.
[Sidenote: The Arab dynasties of ?ira and Gha.s.san.]
[Sidenote: Odenathus and Zen.o.bia.]
About the middle of the third century of our era Arabia was enclosed on the north and north-east by the rival empires of Rome and Persia, to which the Syrian desert, stretching right across the peninsula, formed a natural termination. In order to protect themselves from Bedouin raiders, who poured over the frontier-provinces, and after laying hands on all the booty within reach vanished as suddenly as they came, both Powers found it necessary to plant a line of garrisons along the edge of the wilderness. Thus the tribesmen were partially held in check, but as force alone seemed an expensive and inefficient remedy it was decided, in accordance with the well-proved maxim, _divide et impera_, to enlist a number of the offending tribes in the Imperial service. Regular pay and the prospect of unlimited plunder--for in those days Rome and Persia were almost perpetually at war--were inducements that no true Bedouin could resist. They fought, however, as free allies under their own chiefs or phylarchs. In this way two Arabian dynasties sprang up--the Gha.s.sanids in Syria and the Lakhmites at ?ira, west of the Euphrates--military buffer-states, always ready to collide even when they were not urged on by the suzerain powers behind them. The Arabs soon showed what they were capable of when trained and disciplined in arms. On the defeat of Valerian by the Chosroes Sabur I, an Arab chieftain in Palmyra, named Udhayna (Odenathus), marched at the head of a strong force against the conqueror, drove him out of Syria, and pursued him up to the very walls of Mada'in, the Persian capital (265 A.D.). His brilliant exploits were duly rewarded by the Emperor Gallienus, who bestowed on him the t.i.tle of Augustus. He was, in fact, the acknowledged master of the Roman legions in the East when, a year later, he was treacherously murdered. He found a worthy successor in his wife, the n.o.ble and ambitious Zen.o.bia, who set herself the task of building up a great Oriental Empire. She fared, however, no better than did Cleopatra in a like enterprise. For a moment the issue was doubtful, but Aurelian triumphed and the proud 'Queen of the East' was led a captive before his chariot through the streets of Rome (274 A.D.).
These events were not forgotten by the Arabs. It flattered their national pride to recall that once, at any rate, Roman armies had marched under the flag of an Arabian princess. But the legend, as told in their traditions, has little in common with reality. Not only are names and places freely altered--Zen.o.bia herself being confused with her Syrian general, Zabdai--but the historical setting, though dimly visible in the background, has been distorted almost beyond recognition: what remains is one of those romantic adventures which delighted the Arabs of the _Jahiliyya_, just as their modern descendants are never tired of listening to the _Story of 'Antar_ or to the _Thousand Nights and a Night_.
[Sidenote: Malik the Azdite.]
[Sidenote: Jadhima al-Abrash.]
The first king of the Arab settlers in 'Iraq (Babylonia)[79] is said to have been Malik the Azdite, who was accidentally shot with an arrow by his son, Sulayma. Before he expired he uttered a verse which has become proverbial:--
_U'allimuhu 'l-rimayata kulla yawmin falamma 'stadda sa'iduhu ramani._
”I taught him every day the bowman's art, And when his arm took aim, he pierced my heart.”
Malik's kingdom, if it can properly be described as such, was consolidated and organised by his son, Jadhima, surnamed al-Abrash (the Speckled)--a polite euphemism for al-Abra? (the Leprous). He reigned as the va.s.sal of Ardas.h.i.+r Babakan, the founder (226 A.D.) of the Sasanian dynasty in Persia, which thereafter continued to dominate the Arabs of 'Iraq during the whole Pre-islamic period. Jadhima is the hero of many fables and proverbs. His pride, it is said, was so overweening that he would suffer no boon-companions except two stars called _al-Farqadan_, and when he drank wine he used to pour out a cup for each of them. He had a page, 'Adi b. Na?r, with whom his sister fell in love; and in a moment of intoxication he gave his consent to their marriage. Next morning, furious at the trick which had been played upon him, he beheaded the unlucky bridegroom and reviled his sister for having married a slave. Nevertheless, when a son was born, Jadhima adopted the boy, and as he grew up regarded him with the utmost affection. One day the youthful 'Amr suddenly disappeared. For a long time no trace of him could be found, but at last he was discovered, running wild and naked, by two brothers, Malik and 'Aqil, who cared for him and clothed him and presented him to the king. Overjoyed at the sight, Jadhima promised to grant them whatever they asked. They chose the honour, which no mortal had hitherto obtained, of being his boon-companions, and by this t.i.tle (_nadmana Jadhima_) they are known to fame.
[Sidenote: The story of Zabba.]
Jadhima was a wise and warlike prince. In one of his expeditions he defeated and slew 'Amr b. ?arib b. ?a.s.san b. Udhayna, an Arab chieftain who had brought part of Eastern Syria and Mesopotamia under his sway, and who, as the name Udhayna indicates, is probably identical with Odenathus, the husband of Zen.o.bia. This opinion is confirmed by the statement of Ibn Qutayba that ”Jadhima sought in marriage Zabba, the daughter of the King of Mesopotamia, who became queen after her _husband_.”[80]--According to the view generally held by Mu?ammadan authors Zabba[81] was the daughter of 'Amr b. ?arib and was elected to succeed him when he fell in battle. However this may be, she proved herself a woman of extraordinary courage and resolution. As a safeguard against attack she built two strong castles on either bank of the Euphrates and connected them by a subterranean tunnel; she made one fortress her own residence, while her sister, Zaynab, occupied the other.