Arabs

  finds of Sabaean products . . . as early as 800 BC: Hoyland, pp. 38–9.

  an altar to the god . . . in the second century BC: Dunlop, p. 7.

  mummified, . . . to his home country: EI2 I, p. 887.

  the compiler of the Greek Periplus . . . Red Sea: Mackintosh-Smith, Yemen, p. 143.

  an Arabian ‘nation far off’ . . . the Sabaeans: Joel, 3:8.

  the Nabataeans . . . spoke a form of Arabic: Macdonald, ‘Nomads’, p. 381; Macdonald, Development, p. 19.

  prince Wahballat . . . ‘Caesar Wahballat Augustus’: Hoyland, pp. 1930–4.

  claiming descent from Cleopatra: Hoyland, p. 75–6.

  Iam pridem Syrus . . . and ways of life: Juvenal, Satires, no. 3, l. 62.

  The Nabataean realm was annexed by Rome in AD 106: Hoyland, p. 73.

  Palmyra . . . took it over in AD 272: Hoyland, pp. 74–5 and 76.

  They should have pondered . . . who disturbed it: Ibn Khallikan II, p. 73.

  In time, nabat . . . an antonym to ’arab: EI2 VII, p. 836; Jahiz, part 1, p. 227.

  clashes between rm . . . (Philippus): Macdonald, ‘Nomads’, pp. 341–2.

  its importance . . . emerged in the 1970s: Abd Allah, p. 266.

  Ijl ibn Sa’d al-Lat . . . Athtar Shariqan: Hoyland, p. 232.

  that oldest known Arabic . . . rhythm: Hoyland, pp. 211-12; pp. 42–3, above.

  a Greek history . . . odai, ‘popular songs’: EI2 IX, pp. 225–6.

  the archive of . . . their nobility: Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah, p. 330.

  Turbans . . . are their archives: Suyuti I, p. 273. The ‘girdles’ are shawls or belts bound about the loins by a person squatting, so he can maintain his squatting position.

  One theory . . . a mystical, oracular tongue: Retsö, p. 40.

  the original meaning . . . that which others cannot: Suyuti II, p. 416.

  ‘Go!’ urged al-Shanfara . . . flees by night: Irwin, p. 19.

  mutual borrowing . . . in Najd: Versteegh, Arabic Language, p. 39.

  to use the terms . . . Kulturnation was forming: cf. Grunebaum, p. 5.

  Mecca . . . best of all in Arab speech: Suyuti I, p. 166.

  the a’rab . . . and its hjr-people [townspeople]: Abd Allah, p. 286.

  the third century AD . . . a purely epigraphic language: EI2 VIII, p. 663.

  the learned Yemeni . . . Sabaic features: Rabin, Ancient West-Arabian, chapter 5.

  South Arabians were forbidden . . . script: Ibn Khallikan II, p. 163–4.

  he shall be a wild ass . . . against him: Genesis, 16:12.

  The Assyrians . . . fondness of Arabs for raiding: EI2 I, p. 525.

  Arab Banksys . . . prayers for booty: EI2 VII, pp. 761–2.

  usually a quarter . . . of any particularly desirable items: EI2 II, p. 1005.

  the Sanskrit word for ‘cow’ . . . that for ‘war’: Keay, p. 25.

  Fertility . . . to eat up anyone weaker: Jahiz, part 1, p. 232.

  You may criticize me . . . dearer far to me than old: Shaykhu, p. 769.

  Urwah ibn al-Ward . . . raiding to support themselves: Shaykhu, pp. 892–906.

  an eleventh-century Arab . . . no notice of them: Ibn Khallikan III, p. 135.

  the man who . . . ruled my adoptive country: see pp. 504–6, below.

  His hands filled . . . the Arabs fell under his sway: Shaykhu, p. 144.

  Allah, when He wished . . . borne home on your back: Mas’udi II, p. 227.

  Recently discovered . . . major wet period: Harrigan, pp. 2–11.

  Undoubted horses . . . perhaps to 2000 BC: Harrigan, pp. 7–9.

  Horses for riding . . . of the last millennium BC: EI2 I, p. 884.

  a period . . . fourth to second centuries BC: Hoyland, p. 188.

  like camels . . . with deceased warriors: Hoyland, p. 175; cf. p. 37, above.

  a passing mention . . . in Bahrain: Baladhuri, p. 85.

  By the running horses . . . to the dawn raid: Qur’an, 100: 1–3.

  charging, fleet-fleeing . . . high by the torrent: quoted in Irwin, p. 10.

  some tribes could field . . . the Horseman or Cavalier: EI2 IV, p. 1144.

  The combination . . . second to fourth centuries AD: EI2 I, p. 884.

  South Arabian states . . . fielded only footsoldiers: Iryani, p. 242.

  On clouded nights . . . smiling all the way: Ibn Khallikan III, p. 216.

  the invention . . . of the saddlebow: Versteegh, Arabic Language, p. 24.

  to begin with . . . made of wood: Jahiz, part 2, p. 9.

  one of the best aids for . . . striking with a sword: Jahiz, part 2, p. 7.

  the fall of Petra . . . disturbed peninsular trade: cf. Piotrovsky, pp. 158–9.

  The Arabs were always . . . power to the Age: Rogan, p. 8.

  a developed form . . . becoming Arabic: Bellamy, p. 33.

  The Namarah epitaph is . . . standard, unified Arabic: Abd Allah, p. 293; Owens, Linguistic History, pp. 20–1.

  ‘This’, it begins . . . the seventh day of Kislul: quoted in Hoyland, p. 79.

  Later Arab historians . . . in Persian-dominated Iraq: e.g. Mas’udi II, p. 98.

  a Persian inscription . . . of the Sasanian empire: Hoyland, p. 79.

  he and at least part . . . had ‘gone over’ to Rome: EI2 V, p. 632.

  one Arab historian . . . become a Christian: al-Tabari in Hoyland, p. 79.

  he appointed as viceroys . . . Romans: after Bellamy, in Versteegh, Arabic Language, p. 31.

  Procopius . . . leaders in this period: Sizgorich, p. 1012.

  the British promoted . . . Sharif Husayn of Mecca: Atiyah, p. 133.

  stuck . . . between two lions, Persia and Rome: Qatadah quoted in Kister, p. 143.

  CHAPTER 3 SCATTERED FAR AND WIDE

  this might well be . . . Imru’ al-Qays’s epitaph: Abd Allah, p. 275.

  Shammar . . . far north and east into Arabia: Mawsu’ah, s.v. Shammār.

  the Himyari . . . ‘Shammar destroyed it’: e.g. Ibn Khallikan II, p. 262.

  he had led Himyaris to Tibet: Mackintosh-Smith, Yemen, pp. 33 and 46.

  Along the way . . . called Madhhij: Hoyland, p. 79.

  Madhhij . . . moved south en masse: Abd Allah, p. 276.

  King of Saba . . . Arabs of the Highlands and Lowlands: Daum, p. 52.

  to pursue vendettas . . . was destruction: Iryani, p. 329.

  Ibn Khaldun observed . . . North Africa: Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah, p. 119.

  The Sabaeans . . . word was gathered: Mas’udi II, p. 181.

  the trouble began . . . fifty men could not have rolled: Mas’udi II, p. 186–7.

  There was for Saba . . . far and wide: Qur’an, 34:15–16 and 19.

  final, irreparable breach . . . in the seventh century: EI2 VI, pp. 563–4.

  the infiltration . . . over the two preceding centuries: EI2 VI, p. 564.

  ‘these human rats’ . . . its last [independent] state: Iryani, p. 329.

  a great diaspora . . . pre-Islamic damburst: EI2 VI, p. 564.

  The kings . . . both badw and hadar dwell: Hamdani, Sifah, p. 325.

  Tarifah . . . led the migration of her people, Ghassan: Abid, part 2, p. 287. Tarifah appears in some sources, with a letter-dot, as Zarifah.

  the unveiling of meaning: Jahiz, part 1, p. 35.

  By the truth of . . . what is recited by me: Abid, part 2, p. 290.

  the story of the Marib Dam . . . Arab ‘national’ epic: Hoyland, p. 233.

  nations . . . getting history wrong: quoted in Suleiman, p. 27.

  there were large-scale tribal movements across Arabia: EI2 I, p. 528.

  tribes recognizable . . . Strabo and Pliny: Hoyland, pp. 26 and 231.

  if they strap . . . on their horses: quoted in Jahiz, part 1, pp. 203–4.

  You shall be fugitives . . . children’s land: quoted in Ajami, Dream Palace, p. 70.

  the Assyrians’ Aribi . . . ‘neither overseers nor officials’: p. 30, above.

  Most of Ghassan . . . freedom and poverty: Abid, part 2, pp. 2
94–7.

  beginning with . . . the exalted title basileus, ‘king’: Hoyland, p. 81.

  Most of them . . . differed from imperial orthodoxy: EI2 II, pp. 1020–1.

  they led a semi-mobile life . . . fixed capital: Nicholson, pp. 53–4.

  al-Jabiyah . . . included a monastery: EI2 II, p. 360.

  they maintained . . . Aramaic for writing: Hitti, p. 78.

  they wrote in Nabataean . . . of the region: Hoyland, pp. 241–2.

  the later Ghassanid . . . performed in ‘rumiyyah’: EI2 IV, p. 820.

  Eugene Rogan’s insight . . . empowering Arabs: p. 66, above.

  from the Syriac . . . ‘encampment’: EI2 II, p. 360.

  Byzantine influence . . . many of their people: EI2 III, p. 462.

  an aged sage . . . arabized Nabataeans: Jahiz, part 1, p. 227.

  In about 544 . . . put him to death in revenge: Hitti, p. 79.

  the Lakhmid rulers . . . stop the incursions: Kister, p. 153.

  The Lakhmids . . . raiding with trading: Kister, pp. 155–6, 161–2 and 167.

  speaking Arabic but writing in Syriac: Hitti, p. 84.

  they used the Nabataean script: Hoyland, pp. 241–2.

  used by Adam to write on clay tablets: Suyuti II, p. 293.

  the ‘Preserved Tablet’: Qur’an, 85:22.

  The more down-to-earth . . . Iraq: Kurdi, pp. 18–19 and 41.

  they grew . . . out of Nabataean script: Macdonald, Development, pp. 20–1.

  with influences from other . . . writing systems: Jones, Review of Beatrice Gruendler, p. 429.

  very few graffiti . . . earlier than the fifth century: Versteegh, Arabic Language, p. 33.

  it reached Mecca ‘a little before Islam’: Ibn Khallikan II, pp. 163–4.

  fewer than a score of Meccans could write: Baladhuri, p. 453.

  An experiment by . . . Hisham: Jahiz, part 1, p. 299.

  marked by relics dim . . . on ancient stone: Nicholson, p. 120.

  it helps to know . . . to read it: cf. Haeri, p. 74, and Shouby, p. 297.

  unvowelled and undotted . . . read in 300 ways: 300 sounds a lot, but the first stalk could represent five possible consonants, each with three possible short vowels, the second pair of stalks another five consonants and three vowels plus the no-vowel sign, and (5 × 3) × (5 × 4) = 300.

  written Arabic is . . . a ‘foreign’ language: cf. Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah, pp. 439–41.

  This may have been going on since . . . Amr ibn Adi: EI2 IX, p. 450.

  the evolving ‘high’ language . . . in central Arabia: p. 60, above.

  healthy competition . . . in ‘collecting’ poets: EI2 IX, p. 226.

  the later part of the sixth century was its high point: cf. EI2 VIII, p. 119.

  al-Nabighah’s description . . . let it be thus: Mas’udi II, pp. 99–100.

  one of the kings of al-Hirah . . . when in wudu’: Shaykhu, p. 417.

  gave orders . . . those of al-Basrah: Suyuti I, p. 197.

  the elusive original sense . . . different origins: pp. 38–9, above.

  linguistic ‘nationalism’ . . . century onwards: e.g. Suleiman, p. 32.

  Arabs love their language . . . in a way less human: Jabiri, p. 75.

  Thinking . . . employed by Arabs: Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah, pp. 419–20.

  Abu Hayyan . . . the syntax of reason: quoted in Jabiri, p. 258.

  I think in Arabic . . . therefore I am an Arab: quoted in Suleiman, p. 121.

  I’m an Arab . . . I’m no good at foreign gabble!: Jahiz, part 1, p. 207.

  big blocs . . . Byzantines or Persians: cf. Hoyland, p. 240.

  the now ailing Himyari . . . ‘king of the Arabs’: EI2 I, p. 526.

  When the ’arab became one . . . cast in one instant: slightly adapted from the quotation in Retsö, pp. 21–2.

  CHAPTER 4 ON THE EDGE OF GREATNESS

  to track a tribe like Anazah . . . cousins still live: EI2 I, pp. 482–3.

  who we sense are still here . . . never once fallen: Jabiri, pp. 38–9.

  the Himyari King Yusuf . . . in about the year 518: Daum, p. 53.

  the event is commemorated . . . in the Qur’an: Qur’an, 85:4–10.

  raids by ’arab tribes . . . had been increasing: e.g. Iryani, pp. 136–8.

  central state rulers relied . . . for protection: Iryani, p. 46.

  a late Himyari inscription . . . in a united kingdom: Iryani, pp. 324 and 345.

  King Yusuf . . . into the waves: Mackintosh-Smith, Yemen, p. 42.

  One of these is recorded . . . the year 552: Hoyland, p. 55. Other dates are proposed, e.g. 547 in Daum, p. 53.

  ‘Chapter of the Elephant’ . . . armed with pebbles: Qur’an, 105.

  he reigned 260 years or . . . rather less than that: Mas’udi II, p. 78.

  Aren’t the cattle of al-Sawad . . . a vile abomination: Mas’udi II, pp. 100–1.

  A people’s fortunes . . . kings are Persians: quoted in Suleiman, p. 236.

  There is even an idea . . . Persian presence in Arabia: Retsö, p. 17.

  a hereditary line . . . West Africa: cf. Jahiz, part 1, p. 147.

  the role of the poet . . . their emulators for cash: Jahiz, part 1, pp. 105–6.

  The force was . . . supernatural inspiration: cf. Nicholson, p. 73.

  captured poets . . . being slaughtered: Shaykhu, p. 79.

  enemy orators . . . wrecking their enunciation: Jahiz, part 1, p. 134.

  deadlier . . . in the dark of night: Jahiz, part 1, p. 117.

  We have cut off his hand . . . Khusraw’s battle-banners!: Shaykh Muhammad bin Rashid Al Maktum, ode beginning Usūd al-jazīrah Ḥimāt al-diyār, 2015. baraqish.net accessed 7 November 2015.

  The title . . . of the ancient Hebrew kōhēn: EI2 IV, p. 421.

  their ability to divine . . . ‘rolled up like a gown’: Mas’udi II, p. 179.

  prophets connect . . . falsehood: Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah, p. 80.

  a ‘word-gathering’ role: cf. Rabin, Ancient West-Arabian, chapter 11, n. 6; Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon, s.v. zcm.

  their own raiding and plundering increased: e.g. Iryani, p. 151.

  the total dead . . . for three years of hostilities: Shaykhu, p. 526.

  a clumsy-hoofed she-camel called . . . ‘Mirage’: Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon, s.v. srb.

  But now such folk . . . to tear!: Nicholson’s translation, Nicholson, p. 57.

  ‘War! War! . . . filled with its roar!: Shaykhu, p. 241; Nicholson’s translation, Nicholson, p. 60.

  The forty-year roar . . . intervention of the Lakhmid king: Hitti, p. 90.

  much of the account . . . Islamic-era squabbles: Husayn, p. 240.

  the War of Dahis . . . cheating in a horse race: Nicholson, p. 61.

  You have sundered . . . what you’ve done: Shaykhu, p. 155.

  a list of towns . . . two opposing factions: Hamdani, Sifah, p. 237.

  he had appointed . . . killed a third brother: Shaykhu, pp. 1–6.

  an old-fashioned . . . tribal poet-lord: EI2 IX, pp. 115 and 226.

  the Servant of [the sky-god] Qays: cf. EI2 IV, pp. 803–4.

  breastbone burnished . . . hairpins stray: translation in Mackintosh-Smith, ‘Interpreter of Treasures: A Portrait Gallery’, p. 39.

  Imru’ al-Qays is the forerunner . . . made it flow: Suyuti II, p. 405.

  the last ruler . . . before Islam: Abd Allah, p. 296.

  a lot of Imru’ al-Qays’s biography . . . ibn al-Ash’ath: Husayn, pp. 206–7.

  from Hadramawt to Asia Minor to Bahrain: cf. Imru’ al-Qays, pp. 55–60.

  Have I not worn out . . . glittering of mirage?: Imru’ al-Qays, p. 43.

  The young Imru’ al-Qays . . . ‘vagabonds’: Imru’ al-Qays, p. 5.

  poetry . . . is free from ideology: Adonis, Poetics, p. 72.

  the most notable . . . that of Sufism: Adonis, Thabit IV, p. 163.

  rode to the place . . . gnawed at his flesh: translated in Mackintosh-Smith, ‘Interpreter of Treasures: Food and Drink’, p
. 40.

  a sayer of words . . . to the farthest bounds: Irwin, p. 19.

  Sons of my mother . . . jackal with long hair: Irwin, p. 19.

  the absolute individualism . . . all around it: Dunlop, p. 28.

  the case of Urwah ibn al-Ward: pp. 62–3, above.

  All those wealthy chiefs . . . in my hand before I ask: Shaykhu, p. 906.

  eternity in men and women: Whitman, p. 335.

  was so revered . . . young and old, could recite it: Shaykhu, p. 203.

  Arab unity is a madman’s notion . . . a fair parallel: quoted in Karsh, p. 8.

  metrical units . . . ‘tent, room, house’: cf. Adonis, Poetics, pp. 25–6.

  the Persians left . . . those who came before them: Pellat, p. 132.

  A line of poetry . . . uninhabited is no good: Gelder, p. 278.

  A few critics . . . the entire canon: cf. Husayn, passim.

  the descriptions . . . are most admirable: Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon I, p. x.

  one hungry chilly dusk . . . in the fold: Imru’ al-Qays, p. 81.

  those who, like the clan . . . protection in his wanderings: Imru’ al-Qays, p. 141.

  Himyari . . . itching from the crupper: Imru’ al-Qays, p. 80.

  the parallel idea of hasab . . . future generations: cf. EI2 III, p. 239.

  the obligation to follow . . . one’s ancestors: Grunebaum, p. 15.

  Buddhist dharma . . . society on track: cf. Keay, pp. 97 and 149.

  Quraysh . . . ancestors in the pre-Islamic Ka’bah: Mas’udi II, p. 278.

  You can deny God . . . the Prophet: quoted in EI2 VII, p. 377.

  a love and a lodging . . . the trace is obliterated?: Irwin, p. 7.

  many of the Safaitic graffiti . . . loved ones: EI2 VIII, p. 762.

  al-A’sha . . . advertisements for plainer girls: Shaykhu, pp. 360–1.

  Contestants . . . duelled in verse: EI2 IX, p. 226.

  Where now are Thamud . . . this din of yours: Jahiz, part 1, p. 131.

  his super-tribal importance . . . Sage of the Arabs: Mas’udi I, p. 69.

  It was the Prophet . . . without exception: Jahiz, part 1, pp. 25–6.

  There is on the face of the earth . . . to protect you: Gelder, p. 111. Here din is translated as ‘religion’.

  founded a collective memory: Hoyland, pp. 242–3.

  a large part . . . wellspring of our imagination: Adonis, Poetics, p. 32.

  supra-tribal . . . ethno-cultural group: Versteegh, Arabic Language, p. 37.

  a mythical land . . . we all agreed to dream: Rushdie, pp. 129–30.