A Literary History of the Arabs Part 5

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-shi'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 Ardashir 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.

Having thus secured her position she determined to take vengeance on Jadhima. She wrote to him that the sceptre was slipping from her feeble grasp, that she found no man worthy of her except himself, that she desired to unite her kingdom with his by marriage, and begged him to come and see her. Jadhima needed no urging. Deaf to the warnings of his friend and counsellor, Qa?ir, he started from Baqqa, a castle on the Euphrates. When they had travelled some distance, Qa?ir implored him to return. "No," said Jadhima, "the affair was decided at Baqqa"--words which pa.s.sed into a proverb. On approaching their destination the king saw with alarm squadrons of cavalry between him and the city, and said to Qa?ir, "What is the prudent course?" "You left prudence at Baqqa," he replied; "if the cavalry advance and salute you as king and then retire in front of you, the woman is sincere, but if they cover your flanks and encompa.s.s you, they mean treachery. Mount al-'A?a"--Jadhima's favourite mare--"for she cannot be overtaken or outpaced, and rejoin your troops while there is yet time." Jadhima refused to follow this advice. Presently he was surrounded by the cavalry and captured.

Qa?ir, however, sprang on the mare's back and galloped thirty miles without drawing rein.

When Jadhima was brought to Zabba she seated him on a skin of leather and ordered her maidens to open the veins in his arm, so that his blood should flow into a golden bowl. "O Jadhima," said she, "let not a single drop be lost. I want it as a cure for madness." The dying man suddenly moved his arm and sprinkled with his blood one of the marble pillars of the hall--an evil portent for Zabba, inasmuch as it had been prophesied by a certain soothsayer that unless every drop of the king's blood entered the bowl, his murder would be avenged.

Now Qa?ir came to 'Amr b. 'Adi, Jadhima's nephew and son by adoption, who has been mentioned above, and engaged to win over the army to his side if he would take vengeance on Zabba. "But how?"

cried 'Amr; "for she is more inaccessible than the eagle of the air." "Only help me," said Qa?ir, "and you will be clear of blame." He cut off his nose and ears and betook himself to Zabba, pretending that he had been mutilated by 'Amr. The queen believed what she saw, welcomed him, and gave him money to trade on her behalf. Qa?ir hastened to the palace of 'Amr at ?ira, and, having obtained permission to ransack the royal treasury, he returned laden with riches. Thus he gradually crept into the confidence of Zabba, until one day he said to her: "It behoves every king and queen to provide themselves with a secret pa.s.sage wherein to take refuge in case of danger." Zabba answered: "I have already done so," and showed him the tunnel which she had constructed underneath the Euphrates. His project was now ripe for execution.

With the help of 'Amr he fitted out a caravan of a thousand camels, each carrying two armed men concealed in sacks. When they drew near the city of Zabba, Qa?ir left them and rode forward to announce their arrival to the queen, who from the walls of her capital viewed the long train of heavily burdened camels and marvelled at the slow pace with which they advanced. As the last camel pa.s.sed through the gates of the city the janitor p.r.i.c.ked one of the sacks with an ox-goad which he had with him, and hearing a cry of pain, exclaimed, "By G.o.d, there's mischief in the sacks!" But it was too late. 'Amr and his men threw themselves upon the garrison and put them to the sword. Zabba sought to escape by the tunnel, but Qa?ir stood barring the exit on the further side of the stream. She hurried back, and there was 'Amr facing her. Resolved that her enemy should not taste the sweetness of vengeance, she sucked her seal-ring, which contained a deadly poison, crying, "By my own hand, not by 'Amr's!"[82]

In the kingdoms of ?ira and Gha.s.san Pre-islamic culture attained its highest development, and from these centres it diffused itself and made its influence felt throughout Arabia. Some account, therefore, of their history and of the circ.u.mstances which enabled them to a.s.sume a civilising role will not be superfluous.[83]

[Sidenote: The foundation of ?ira.]

About the beginning of the third century after Christ a number of Bedouin tribes, wholly or partly of Yemenite origin, who had formed a confederacy and called themselves collectively Tanukh, took advantage of the disorder then prevailing in the Arsacid Empire to invade 'Iraq (Babylonia) and plant their settlements in the fertile country west of the Euphrates. While part of the intruders continued to lead a nomad life, others engaged in agriculture, and in course of time villages and towns grew up. The most important of these was ?ira (properly, al-?ira, _i.e._, the Camp), which occupied a favourable and healthy situation a few miles to the south of Kufa, in the neighbourhood of ancient Babylon.[84] According to Hisham b. Mu?ammad al-Kalbi ( 819 or 821 A.D.), an excellent authority for the history of the Pre-islamic period, the inhabitants of ?ira during the reign of Ardashir Babakan, the first Sasanian king of Persia (226-241 A.D.), consisted of three cla.s.ses, viz.:--

(1) The _Tanukh_, who dwelt west of the Euphrates between ?ira and Anbar in tents of camel's hair.

(2) The _'Ibad_, who lived in houses in ?ira.

(3) The _A?laf_ (Clients), who did not belong to either of the above-mentioned cla.s.ses, but attached themselves to the people of ?ira and lived among them--blood-guilty fugitives pursued by the vengeance of their own kin, or needy emigrants seeking to mend their fortunes.

[Sidenote: The 'Ibad.]

Naturally the townsmen proper formed by far the most influential element in the population. Hisham, as we have seen, calls them 'the 'Ibad.' His use of this term, however, is not strictly accurate. The 'Ibad are exclusively the _Christian Arabs of ?ira_, and are so called in virtue of their Christianity; the pagan Arabs, who at the time when ?ira was founded and for long afterwards const.i.tuted the bulk of the citizens, were never comprised in a designation which expresses the very opposite of paganism. _'Ibad_ means 'servants,' _i.e._, those who serve G.o.d or Christ. It cannot be determined at what epoch the name was first used to distinguish the religious community, composed of members of different tribes, which was dominant in ?ira during the sixth century. Dates are comparatively of little importance; what is really remarkable is the existence in Pre-islamic times of an Arabian community that was not based on blood-relationship or descent from a common ancestor, but on a spiritual principle, namely, the profession of a common faith. The religion and culture of the 'Ibad were conveyed by various channels to the inmost recesses of the peninsula, as will be shown more fully in a subsequent chapter. They were the schoolmasters of the heathen Arabs, who could seldom read or write, and who, it must be owned, so far from desiring to receive instruction, rather gloried in their ignorance of accomplishments which they regarded as servile.

Nevertheless, the best minds among the Bedouins were irresistibly attracted to ?ira. Poets in those days found favour with princes. A great number of Pre-islamic bards visited the Lakhmite court, while some, like Nabigha and 'Abid b. al-Abra?, made it their permanent residence.

[Sidenote: The Lakhmites.]

[Sidenote: Nu'man I. (_circa_ 400 A.D.).]

[Sidenote: The Castle of Khawarnaq.]

[Sidenote: Nu'man becomes an anchorite.]

It is unnecessary to enter into the vexed question as to the origin and rise of the Lakhmite dynasty at ?ira. According to Hisham b.

Mu?ammad al-Kalbi, who gives a list of twenty kings, covering a period of 522 years and eight months, the first Lakhmite ruler was 'Amr b. 'Adi b. Na?r b. Rabi'a b. Lakhm, the same who was adopted by Jadhima, and afterwards avenged his death on Queen Zabba. Almost nothing is known of his successors until we come to Nu'man I, surnamed al-A'war (the One-eyed), whose reign falls in the first quarter of the fifth century. Nu'man is renowned in legend as the builder of Khawarnaq, a famous castle near ?ira. It was built at the instance of the Sasanian king, Yazdigird I, who desired a salubrious residence for his son, Prince Bahram Gor. On its completion, Nu'man ordered the architect, a 'Roman' (_i.e._, Byzantine subject) named Sinimmar, to be cast headlong from the battlements, either on account of his boast that he could have constructed a yet more wonderful edifice "which should turn round with the sun," or for fear that he might reveal the position of a certain stone, the removal of which would cause the whole building to collapse.

One spring day (so the story is told) Nu'man sat with his Vizier in Khawarnaq, which overlooked the Fen-land (al-Najaf), with its neighbouring gardens and plantations of palm-trees and ca.n.a.ls, to the west, and the Euphrates to the east. Charmed by the beauty of the prospect, he exclaimed, "Hast thou ever seen the like of this?" "No,"

replied the Vizier, "if it would but last." "And what is lasting?" asked Nu'man. "That which is with G.o.d in heaven." "How can one attain to it?"

"By renouncing the world and serving G.o.d, and striving after that which He hath." Nu'man, it is said, immediately resolved to abandon his kingdom; on the same night he clad himself in sackcloth, stole away unperceived, and became a wandering devotee (_sa'i?_). This legend seems to have grown out of the following verses by 'Adi b. Zayd, the 'Ibadite:--

"Consider thou Khawarnaq's lord--and oft Of heavenly guidance cometh vision clear-- Who once, rejoicing in his ample realm, Surveyed the broad Euphrates, and Sadir;[85]

Then sudden terror struck his heart: he cried, 'Shall Man, who deathward goes, find pleasure here?'