Although these were the principal Joktanite king- doms, others were founded beyond the limits of the peninsula. The most celebrated of these were that of El-Hireh in El-Irak, and that of Ghassan on the confines of Syria ; both originated by emigrants after the Flood of El-Arim. El-Hireh soon became Ish- maelitic : Ghassan long maintained its original stock. Among its rulers were many named El-Harith. Re- specting the presumed identity of some of these with kings called by the Greeks and Romans Aretas, and
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with the Aretas mentioned by Paul (2 Cor. xi, 32), see Aretas.
The Ishmaelites appear to have entered the penin- sula from the north-west. That they have spread over the whole of it (with the exception of one or two districts on the south coast which are said to be still inhabited by unmixed Joktanite peoples), and that the modem nation is predominantly Ishmaelite, is assert- ed by the Arabs. They do not, however, carry up their genealogies higher than Adnan (as we have al- ready said), and they have lost the names of most of Ishmael's immediate and near descendants. Such as have been identified with existing names will be found under the several articles bearing their names. See also Hagarene. They extended northward from the Ilejaz into the Arabian desert, where they mixed with Keturahites and other Abrahamic peo- ples ; and westward to Idumsea, where they mixed with Edomites, etc. The tribes sprung from Ishmael have always been governed by petty chiefs or heads (f families (sheiks and emirs) ; they have general- ly followed a patriarchal life, and have not originated kingdoms, though they have in some instances suc- ceeded to those of Joktanites, the principal one of these being that of El-Hireh. With reference to the Ish- maelites generally, we may observe, in continuation of a former remark, that although their first settle- ments in the Hejaz, and their spreading over a great part of the northern portions of the peninsula, are suf- ficiently proved, there is doubt as to the wide exten- sion given to them by Arab tradition. Mohammed derived from the Jews whatever tradition he pleased, and silenced any contrary, by the Koran or his own dicta. This religious element, which does not direct- ly affect the tribes of Joktan (whose settlements are otherwise unquestionably identified), has a great in- fluence over those of Ishmael. They, therefore, can- not be certainly proved to have spread over the penin- sula, notwithstanding the almost universal adoption of their language (which is generally acknowledged to have been the Arabic commonly so called), and the concurrent testimony of the Arabs ; but from these and other considerations it becomes at the same time highly probable that they now form the predominant element of the Arab nation.
Of the descendants of Kcturah the Arabs say little. They appear to have settled chiefly north of the penin- sula in Desert Arabia, from Palestine to the Persian Gulf: anil the passages in the Bible in which mention is made of Dedan (except those relating to the Cush- ite Dedan, Gen. x, 7) refer apparently to the tribe sprung from this race (Isa. xxi, 13; Jer. xxv, 23; Ezek. xxvii, 20), perhaps with an admixture of the Cushite Dedan, who seems to have passed up the west- ern shores of the Persian Gulf. Some traces of Ke- turahites, indeed, are asserted to exist in the south of the peninsula, where a kin^ of Himyer is said to have been a Midianite (El-Mesudi, ap. Schultens, p. 158- 9 ) ; and where one dialect is said to be of Midian, and another of Jokshan son of Keturah (Moajani) ; but these traditions must be ascribed to the rabbinical in- fluence in Arab history. Native writers are almost wholly silent on this subject; and the dialects men- tioned above are not, so far as they arc known to us, of the tribes of Keturah. See Keturah. etc.
In Northern and Western Arabia are other peoples which, from their geographical position and mode of life, are sometimes classed with the Arabs. Of these are AMALEK, the descendants of ESAU, etc.
Arabia, in ancient times, generally preserved its independence, unaffected by those great events which changed the destiny of the surrounding nations; and in the si xth century of our era, the decline of the Ro- man empire and the corruptions and distractions of the Eastern Church favored the impulse given by a wild and warlike fanaticism. Mohammed arose, and succeeded in gathering around his standard the no-
madic tribes of Central Arabia ; and in less than fifty years that standard waved triumphant from the straits of Gibraltar to the hitherto unconquered regions be- yond the Oxus. The caliphs transferred the se;.t of government successively to Damascus, Kufa, and Bag- dad ; but amid the distractions of their foreign wars, the chiefs of the interior of Arabia gradually shook off their feeble allegiance, and resumed their ancient habits of independence, which, notwithstanding the revolutions that have since occurred, they for the most part retain (Crichton, Hist, of Arabia, Lond. 1852).
3. Religion. — The most ancient idolatry of the Arabs we must conclude to have been fetichism, of which there are striking proofs in the sacred trees and stones of historical times, and in the worship of the heaven- ly bodies, or Sabseism. "With the latter were perhaps connected the temples (or palace-temples) of which there are either remains or traditions in the Himyar- ite kingdom ; such as Beit Ghumdan in Sana, and those of Beidan, Beinuneh, Buein, Einein, and Biam. To the worship of the heavenly bodies we find allu- sions in Job (xxxi, 2G-28), and to the belief in the influence of the stars to give rain (xxxviii, 31), where the Pleiades give rain, and Orion withholds it ; and again in Judges (v, 20, 21), where the stars fight against the host of Sisera. The names of the objects of the earlier fetichism, the stone-worship, tree-worship, etc., of various tribes, are too numerous to mention. One, that of Manah, the goddess worshipped between Mek keh and El-Medinah has been compared with Meni (Isa. lxv, 11), which is rendered in the A. V. " num- ber." See Meni. Magianism, an importation from Chaldsea and Persia, must be reckoned among the re- ligions of the pagan Arabs ; but it never had very nu- merous followers. Christianity was introduced into Southern Arabia toward the close of the 2d century, and about a century later it had made great progress (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. vi, 19, 33, 37). It flourished chief- ly in the Yemen, where many churches were built (see Philostorg. Hist. Eccles. iii ; Sozomen, vi ; Evagr. vi). It also rapidly advanced in other portions of Arabia, through the kingdom of Hireh and the con- tiguous countries, Ghassan, and other parts. The persecutions of the Christians, and more particularly of those of Nejran by the Tubbaa Zu-n-Nuwas, brought about the fall of the Himyarite dynasty by the invasion of the Christian ruler of Abyssinia. See Arabia, Church of. Judaism was propagated in Arabia, principally by Karaites, at the captivity, but it was introduced before that time : it became very prevalent in the Yemen, and in the Hejaz, especially at Kheibar and El-Medinah, where there are said to be still tribes of Jewish extraction. In the period immediately preceding the birth of Mohammed an- other class had sprung up, who, disbelieving the idola- try of the greater number of their countrymen, and not yet believers in Judaism, or in the corrupt Chris- tianity with which alone they were acquainted, look- ed to a revival of what they called the "religion of Abraham" (see Sprenger's Life of Mohammed, i, Cal- cutta, 1850). The promulgation of the Mohammedan imposture overthrew paganism, but crushed while it assumed to lead the movement which had been one of the cause of its success, and almost wholly superseded the religions of the Bible in Arabia (see Krehl,jBe%. d. voridamischen Araben, Lpz. 18G3). See Mohammed.