RLG101H5 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Quraysh, Banu Hashim, Islamic Calendar
Document Summary
Chapter 2: pre-islamic arabia beliefs, values, way of life: pre-islamic arabia, the arabian peninsula is known as the island of the arabs , millions of square miles in area (700 miles wide and 1000 miles long) . Mostly composed of desert and steppe area and therefore the population was sparse: the southern region, embracing yemen and hadramaut coast, is affected by the indian ocean monsoons. Much of the southern sector was a vast desert and was known as the empty quarter (al-rub" al- Arabia has been a major factor in trade between east and west. Important trade routes proceeded from yemen across the desert to arabia and then on to syria, mesopotamia or the. : red sea coast between southern palestine and yemen. This is part of a larger language group called afro-asiatic: the term semite comes from shem, one of noah"s sons who came forth from the ark after the flood.