Arabia is a large country whose area is three million square kilometres. From olden times this land was divided into three regions. These were Hijaz, the Arabian Desert and Yemen.

Geography Box – Map of Arabia in the Olden Times

The largest city in Hijaz was Makka and its history dated from the time when Prophet Ibrahim (A) built the Holy Ka'ba with the help of his son Prophet Isma'il (A). Prophet Isma'il (A) settled in Makka. From his descendants there were many Arab tribes. The most famous was the Quraish.

Before the coming of Islam, the Arabs had many bad habits. Some of these were:

1. They were very quick to start fights and even wars for very small and petty reasons.
2. They believed in hundreds of gods, and built little idols to worship. In the Holy Ka'ba alone, they put 365 idols - one for each day of the year.
3. Women were treated very badly.
4. One of the most horrible customs of the Arabs was to bury their daughters alive.

The Arabs, however, also had some good qualities. These were as follows:

1. They never broke a promise and regarded this to be a great sin.
2. They had great skill in horsemanship and archery.
3. They were brave people and never ran away from the enemy in war.
4. They were very good in the art of poetry and had sharp memories that enabled them to remember long verses and speeches by heart.

These good qualities were especially found in the family of Adnaan, who himself was a descendant of Prophet Isma'il (A).

The descendants of Adnaan were very generous. They believed in one God as taught by Prophet Ibrahim (A). Their poetry and speech was better than all others were. Our Holy Prophet (S) was from this noble family. He was from the clan of Bani Hashim, which was part of the tribe of Quraish.