Saba and Ḥimyar

With the Sabæans Arabian history in the proper sense may be said to begin, but as a preliminary step we must take account of certain races which figure more or less prominently in legend, and are considered by Moslem chroniclers to have been the original inhabitants of the country. Among these are the peoples of 'Ád and Thamúd, which are constantly held up in the Koran as terrible examples of the pride that goeth before destruction. The home of the 'Ádites was in Ḥaḍramawt, the province adjoining Yemen, on the borders of the desert named Aḥqáfu 'l-Raml. It is doubtful whether they were Semites, possibly of Aramaic descent, who were subdued and exterminated by invaders from the north, or, as Hommel maintains, ¹ the representatives of an imposing non - Semitic culture which survives in the tradition of ' Many-columned Iram,' ² the Earthly Paradise built by Shaddád, one of their Icings. The story of their destruction is related as follows: ³ They were a people of gigantic strength and stature, worshipping idols and committing all

Primitive races.

Legend of 'Ad.

manner of wrong; and when God sent to them a prophet, Húd by name, who should warn them to repent, they answered: " O Húd, thou hast brought us no evidence, and we will not abandon our gods for thy saying, nor will we believe in thee. We say one of our gods hath afflicted thee with madness." ¹ Then a fearful drought fell upon the land of 'Ád, so that they sent a number of their chief men to Mecca to pray for rain. On arriving at Mecca the envoys were hospitably received by the Amalekite prince, Mu'áwiya b. Bakr, who entertained them with wine and music—for he had two famous singing-girls known as al-Jarádatán; which induced them to neglect their mission for the space of a whole month. At last, however, they got to business, and their spokesman had scarce finished his prayer when three clouds appeared, of different colours—white, red, and black—and a voice cried from heaven, " Choose for thyself and for thy people! " He chose the black cloud, deeming that it had the greatest store of rain, whereupon the voice chanted—

" Thou hast chosen embers dun | that will spare of 'Ád not one | that will leave nor father nor son | ere him to death they shall have done."

Then God drove the cloud until it stood over the land of 'Ád, and there issued from it a roaring wind that consumed the whole people except a few who had taken the prophet's warning to heart and had renounced idolatry.