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A GEOGRAPHICAL III STORY OF HlE QUR' AN
When the Muslims developed the art of writing, such traditions were embodied in books. This source of information is, generally speaking, open to objections, but there can be no doubt about the authenticity of those traditions and evidences which have been unanimously agreed upon by the Arabs, e g. the stay of Ishmael at Mecca, the foundation of the Ka'bab, the genealogy of the Qurayshites up to •Adnft.n, etc., etc. (e). Poems and Proverbs of the Arabs, i.e. Arab writers boastfully described historical facts about the achievements of their ancestors and also of other peoples. By a close study of such poems and proverbs we can get some clue to the geographical and political conditions of some tribes of Arabia. · Muslim scholars have, however, classified Islamic literature on the subject as follows: (a) Commentaries of the Qur'an. Some of the Commentators of the Qur'§.n have explained the geographical references of the Holy Book by quoting facts and evidences from other sources. (b) History of A,abta. A number of books were compiled by early Mtislim scholars on the history of Arabia and her people. The first such book was written during the reign of Caliph Mu'§.wiyah (40-60 H.). . (c) Geography of Arabia. The Muslims began to write on the geography of Arabia at a time when they knew nothing of the Greek word Geography. Though they did not write separate books on the "Land of the Qur'§.n," they in the course of geographical investigations discussed many lands and tribes mentioned in the Qur'§.n. On this ~ubject two sorts of books were compiled by the Arabs; (i) those which dealt with the geography of Arabia only, and (ii) those which treated of several countries including Arabia. . (d) Genealogy. The Arabs are perhaps the only people who developed genealogy into a distinct branch of learning. We find· that even a ·child of Arabia in early times ·Could reproduce from his memory the