ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Message Chapter 1: Arabian Peninsula the Cradle of Islamic Culture Arabia is a big peninsula situated in the south-west of Asia. Its area is three million square kilometres, almost double the area of Iran, six times that of France, ten times that of Italy and eighty times that of Switzerland.

This peninsula is of the shape of an irregular rectangle and is bounded by Palestine and the Syrian desert in the north, by Hira, the Tigris, the Euphrates and the Persian Gulf in the east, by the Indian Ocean in the south and by the Red Sea in the west. Hence, it is circumscribed on the western and southern sides by sea and on the northern and eastern sides by the desert and the Persian Gulf.

From olden times this territory has been divided into three regions: (1) The northern and western region which is called the Hijaz. (2) The central and eastern region which is called the Arabian Desert; and (3) The southern region which is called Yemen. Within the Peninsula one comes across plenty of vast deserts and hot sandy tracts which are almost uninhabitable. One of these deserts is Badyah Samawah which is nowadays called Nafud.

There is also another vast desert which extends up to the Persian Gulf and is now called ar-Rub'ul Khali. Formerly one part of these deserts was named Ahqaf and the other was called Dehna. On account of the presence of these deserts about one third of the area of the Peninsula is barren and unfit for habitation.

Only at times small quantities of water can be found in a few areas, as a result of rains in the heart of the deserts, and some of the Arab tribes drive their camels and cattle to those places for grazing.

The climate of the Peninsula is extremely hot and dry in the deserts and central tracts, humid in the coastal areas and temperate in some localities It is dire to its unwholesome climate that its population does not exceed fifteen million In this territory there is a mountain range which stretches from south to north. Its maximum height is about 2470 metres From times immemorial gold and silver mines and precious stones have been the sources of the wealth of the Peninsula.

From amongst the animals the Arabs reared camels and horses. As regards birds, pigeons and ostriches were more abundant than others. In modern times the biggest source of income of Arabia is extraction of oil and gas. The centre of oil reserves of the Peninsula is the city of Zahran, which is called Dahran by the Europeans.