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T H E
Preliminary Difcourfe.
S e c t i o n I.
0 /* the Arabs fp ||| Mohammed ; or, as they exprefs it,
in the Time of Ignorance j their Hiftory, Religion,
Learning, ««a? Cujloms.
SH E Arabs, and the country they inhabit, which them- Aratu,
felves call jezira t. al Arab, or the Peninfula o f the Ara-
bians, but we Arabia, were fo named from Araba, a fmall
territory in the province of Tehama 1; to which Tarab the
fon of Kahtan, the father o f the ancient Arabs gave his name, and
where, fome ages after,. dwelt Ifmael the fon of Abraham by Hagar.
The Chrifiian writers for feveral centuries fpeak o f them under the
appellation of Saracens; the moft certain derivation o f which word
is from Jhark, the eajt, where the defendants of J obi an, the Kahtan
of the* Arabs, are placed by Mofes1, and in which quarter they
dwelt in refpedt to the Jews 3.
The name of Arabia (ufed in a more extenfive fenfe) fotnetimes extent,
comprehends all that large traft of land bounded by the river Euphrates,
the P e r f an gulph, the Sindidn, Indian, and Red feas,J and
part of the. Mediterranean:, above two thirds o f which country; that
is,j‘ Arabia properly fo called, the Arabs. have poflefled almoft from
the flood;/and hav'e made themfelves' mafters of the reft, either by
fetdements, ’ or' continual inctirfloos ; for vfoich reafoh the Turks and
Perfahs at? this day pall foe whole. Arabiftdn, or the country o f the
Afabs.J~ •' ?*'*’
But the limits' o f Arabia, 'irrits" mdre ufual and proper fenfe,'are
much narrower, as reaching, no . farther northward than the Ifthmus,
which runs from Asia to the head o f the Perfari gulph,' and foe bor-
Pocock. Spccim. Hift. Arab. 33. - Genef. *
b
3 - See Pobotk j Spedm/ 3 3 ? 34. •
ders