WHEN ARABIA WAS EASTERN ETHIOPIA (Part 4) Revised - by - Dana Marniche Forgotten African Origins of early Arab speakers:

Ethnohistory of the Mahra/Shahara populations

Children of the Bait Kathir (Keturah) and Shahara in southern Arabia. The latter are also known as "Sarah"

The tribe of Ad were descended from Ad, the son of Aws, the son of Aram, the son of Sem the son of Noah who after the confusion of tongues, settled in al Ahkaf or the winding sands in the province of Hadramaut, where his posterity greatly multiplied. Their first king was Shedad the son of Ad of whom the eastern writers deliver many fabulous things From The Koran, translation and notes by George Sale, 1890, p.5.

According to Ibn al Mudjawir (271,11,15) the origins of the Mahra are to be sought in the people of Ad, when God destroyed the greater part of them this group of people was saved and went to live in the mountains of Zufar and the islands of Sukutra. The Encyclopedia of Islam Vol. 6. C.E. Bosworth et. al. The southern Arabs claim to be descended from an ancestor called Kahtan son of Abir, son of Shalikh, son of Arfakhshad son of Shem, son of Noah. Kahtan is undoubtedly the Biblical Joktan (Gen 10 26), and the names of his descendants reappear as Arab place names. (James Orr, 1914, the International Standard Bible Enclopaedia, p. 217). See also Jones Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names. p. 25, 1990- by Alfred Jones. When the royal authority of 'Ad was wiped out, their brethren, the Thamud, took over. They were succeeded, in turn, by their brethren, the Amalekites. The Amalekites were succeeded by their brethren, the Himyar. The Himyar were succeeded by their brethren, the Tubba's, who belonged to the Himyar. They, likewise, were succeeded, by the Adhwa'. Then, the Mudar came to power. Muqaddimah 2:21 Such men of Whom Myths were Made Legends regarding Ad Shedad and the Amalakites Among the famous children and descendants of Ad are Shedad, Salih or Caleh (Shelah) Tamud or Samud (Dumah), Murithad or Marsad and Hud. Shedad is claimed to have conquered much of the Middle East, India and Egypt in ancient times. Thamud or Tsamud is called the second Ad or remnant of Ad. By the 8th century B.C. the Thamudi are mentioned by the Assyrians in eastern Arabia and Central Arabia and later with their horses by the Romans in Northwestern Arabian area of Dumaath in Jordan which is named for the tribe. Most Western historians interpret this name as of Dumah or the Idumaeans. Other famous individuals of the Thamud people include Lokhman the wise and Hud. They are famous for the legendary prophet Salih (Biblical Shelah son of Arfakshad son of Shem of Genesis 10:24). In the Koran one reads: So Allah sent unto them His Prophet Salih, a man from among them. His name was Salih Ibn 'Ubeid, Ibn Maseh, Ibn 'Ubeid, Ibn Hader, Ibn Thamud, Ibn Ather, Ibn Eram, Ibn Noah. He called his people to worship Allah alone, and to not associate partners with Him. While some of them believed him, the majority of them disbelieved and harmed him by both words and deeds. Salih directed them: "0 my people! Worship Allah, you have no other Ilah (god) but Him." Surah 11: 61 His name is sometimes written by the orientalists recording Arab traditions Caleh. When the first Adites were destroyed by a terrible wind, some of them took refuge among the Ahkaf sands, where they settled but worshipped idols. There they were visited by the prophet Caleh, a cousin of Aaber ben Arem, the reinging king of the Samudites According to tradition he is associated with providing his people with a camel that gave them milk perpetually until they cut off the feet and were destroyed by a terrible noise from heaven (See Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bombay, 1877 Vol. 12, p. 211).

Al Tabari who lived in the century mentions the same tradition as follows: Salih was son of Ubayd bin Asif bin Masikh bin Ubayd bin Khadir bin Tamud b. Gether b. Aram b. Shem. (See p. 40 Prophets and Patriarchs, William M. Brinner, 1987. While the Bible names these clans also as children of Ismael or as as Abdeel, Dumah, Massah, Hadad or Hadar, and Jetur confirming that Tamud is in fact Dumah, while Gether or Jathar or Athir is in fact Ad who is also son of Aram or else of Uz. Tabaris statements make clear that the ancestors Salih, Masikh or Maseh (Massa) and Athir (Jetur) descendants of Kedar son of Ishmael were considered by Arab genealogists to be the same ancestral prophets of Genesis referred to as Shelah son of Arphakshad and Mash and Gether son of Aram, all children of Shem. Furthermore Khadir is also the Hadar or Hadad of the book of Genesis and appears to be the same as the Chedad or Shedad grandson or son of Ad in Arabian tradition. Cheikh Anta Diop had commented that the Qahtan or semi-legendary Joktanides (Qahtan) of Arabia came down from the North conquering the aboriginal tribes of Adites, basing his belief on modern Western interpretations of Biblical and Arabian or Hebrew history. But, in Arabian tradition Ad was a near relative Abir (Biblical Eber) Aus (Uz) and Aram and it is affirmed that the tribes of Ham, Shem and Japheth were actually closely related peoples in origination who had come to settle in southwestern Arabia. Most people in the West think of Biblical people such as the Hebrews, Aramaeans and Amalekites in a semi legendary sense, as if such populations werent still living. James Orr claimed, Of the extinct tribes the most familiar name is that of Amlak or Amlik (Amalek). By the Arabian genealogists he is variously described as a grandson of Shem and as a son of Ham. Early English historian of Arabia, Charles Forster, also made the comment, The origin and fate of the Ad, as told by Arab tradition, may be dismissed as fable. However, in most cases Ad, Amalek and the peoples of Genesis are in fact still known under their same tribal names and often found practicing their age-old customs. They are now in their least modified form occupying Africa and southern Arabia. In sources from the early Islamic era the name of the tribe of Amlukh or Amalekites are mentioned as a living clan (batn) of the Ruayn in Yemen, a large tribe of the Himyarites (Madaj p. 88, 91). But colonial documenters like Robert Gordon Latham mention the Amalek in the 19th century still living with the tribe of Ad in the environs of the Mahra. In 1859 speaking of the town of Mokalla or Makulla in Hadramaut, Latham wrote - the tribes further to the east are those of Mahara, Ad and Amelik (See Lathams, Descriptive Ethnology Vol. II London, p. 83.) More recently another author writes, Ad or Aad is still the name of a Semitic tribe in the province of Hadramut, Saudi Arabia, whose elders claimed descent from their eponymic ancestor, the great grandson of Noah. (See Frank Joseph, The Atlantis Encyclopedia, 2005.) In fact todays Mahra and Shahra are those who were claimed by Arab authors to be of the remnant of Ad and these populations still claim Adite origins. In tradition the early ruling clans of the Himyarites and Sabaeans descendants of Qahtan were considered Adites or of Thamud. The 1986 New Edition of Encyclopedia of Islam

describes the Mahra in Arabia were of brown complexion with black, often curly hair. In Arabia they extend from Hadramaut, to Oman. They also live in Somalia in the Horn of Africa and once occupied the isles of Socotra and Comoros and live in Somalia in the Horn of Africa. Ibn Khaldun calls the Mahra dialect the language of Ad. Mahra camels were called Idite (Adite) after the tribe of Idi according to al Hamdani. (See Bosworth 1986, p. 83). The 13th century traveller in Arabia, Ibn Mudjawir of asserted that the Mahra were tall and handsome and the remnant of Ad whom when God destroyed the greater part of them went to live in the mountains of Zufar and Sokotra and al Masirah in the Yemen and Oman, a tradition elaborated on by Ibn Khaldun and others. Modern Mahra claim descent from Kudaa son of Himyar, son of Saba of Yemen. (See the Encylopaedia of Islam (Der Islam im Spiegel zeitgenssischer Literatur der islamischen Welt, p. 82) The Shahra or Shahara to whom the Mahra are closely related also claim to be Adites. In sources from the early Islamic era the name of the tribe of Amlukh are mentioned as a living clan (batn) of the Ruayn in Yemen, which was a large tribe of the Himyarites (Madaj p. 88, 91). Madaj, The Yemen in Early Islam. But colonial documenters like Robert Gordon Latham mention the Amalek in the 19th century still living with the tribe of Ad in the environs of the Mahra. (See Descriptive Ethnology Vol. II, London, 1883, p. 83) Other names for the Mahra are Sharawi and Sahara while the related Shahra or Shahara tribes are also called Sarah. Anciently these tribes of Joktan or Qahtan were called Saracens and according to the ancients their ancestor was the Biblical and barren Sarah. Mahra are described as wearing indigo loincloths and skirts, while women also wear indigo clothing and wear their hair braided. Mahra tribes although patrilineal today have strong traces of an ancient matrifocal and matrilineal society (Khanam, 2005, p. 537).

Members of Mahra tribe of southeastern Arabia

Mahra Genealogy: The Real Hebrew Genesis A tribe called Aulad Sam bin Nuh (the children of Shem), or Amalikah and Amalik, from their ancestor Amlak bin Arfakhshad bin Sam bin Nuh (Noah), was inspired with a knowledge of the Arabic tongue: it settled at Al- Madinah, and was the first to cultivate the ground and to plant palm-trees. In course of time these people extended over the whole tract between the seas of Al-Hijaz (the Red Sea) and Al-Oman, (north-western part of the Indian Ocean), and they became the progenitors of the Jababirah (tyrants or giants) of Syria, as well as the Farainah (Pharaohs) of Egypt. Pilgrimage to Al Madinah and Mecca, Richard Burton originally published 1893. Early Arab histories list the Mahra as a large tribe claiming descent from Himyar through al Haf bin Kudhaa. Ibn Ishaq gave the genealogy as Qudaa bin Malik bin Himyar bin Saba bin Yashjub bin Yarub bin Qahtan (or Joktan). Mahra is sometimes called a son of Haydan or Haidan but Abul Feda refers to Mahra as the son of Hamdan. (See Abd al Kader a Poem in Six Cantos, Viscount Maidstone, 2004.)

The names of other Himyarite clans (batn) mentioned in early Islamic sources include the batn Ruayn (El Rawani, El Arawi or Reuel), Sulaf (Sheleph) Shaban (Ishban), Hadramaut, Bahila of the Hamdan, Dhu Tarkhun, Dthu Yazan, Hannah, Haraz, Al Kala, Hawzah (Huz), Juba (Job), Khabair, Sawadah, Jabza (Jebuz), Amlukh (Amalek) of the Ruayn, Janad (Janda), Jayshan (Dishan) , Saba (Seba/Sheba), al-Sama (Shammah), Yafi (Afa) of the Ruayn, Naimah (Naamah) Yashub (Jashub) (Madaj, 1988, p. 88, 90 and 91). Most of these names are found in the Hebrew book of Genesis. As for Kudha the tribe from which came the Mahra along with Bahra and Shahra, The name is an early one and can be traced in fragments of the old Arab poetry. The tribes recorded as ud' were: Kalb, Djuhayna , Bal, Bahr, Khawln, Mahra, Khushayn, Djarm, 'Udhra, Balkayn, Tankh and Salh". (R. Khanam , 2005, p. 463) These have been compared by different scholars to the Biblical names Kaleb, Gan, Bela, Havila, Kushana, Hadoram, Esdra, Kain and Shelah. Two other tribes of Kudhaa were the Nahd (Nahid or Nod) and the Shaban (Shaaban or Eshban). (See also Roger Uptons, Gleanings from the Arabian Desert, 1881, p. 107) Among the clans of the Mahrah still living in 15th century Arabia according to Hamid Ruzaq were the Banu Riyam or Rigam, Majid, Gharid, Gharib, Yazid, en Numa, Edh Dhaighar, el Laha, and Janadah. The Benu-Riyam belong to the el Kamar tribes. From History of the Imams and Seyyids of Oman by Hamid Ruzayq p. 57 and 58 by George Percy Bedger London Hakluyt Society, 1871. The Beni Riyam are of Mahra origin for among the authors genealogical notices of the el Azd he interpolates a short chapter on Mahrah bin Haidan, from whom the Mahrah tribes derive their descent. The Rigam or Riyam clan of Mahra is suggested to have come from the peoples known as the Rhagmanitae or Raymanitae of Pliny 1st century and other Greek writers who are mentioned as living in Yemen and the Persian Gulf. Some see the name connected to Rhagmat or Raamah of Biblical tradition others to Biblical Jerachmeel, brother of Caleb. (See p. 226 of Charles Forsters, The Historical Geography of Arabia, 1844 and p. 58 of Traditions and Beliefs in Ancient Israel, by Thomas Kelley Cheyney, 1907) According to Biblical tradition Rekem is a Midianite chief (Numbers 31:1). Rekem or Rigam of Arab tradition (also written in Arab literature Arqam, Rukayim, or Rukaym) was the son of Aram or otherwise, son of Abir (Heber), Arams brother, and a son of Ad who led the Mahra to the Hadramaut and Oman from the city of Iram (Arim) of the Adites. Sir Richard Burton recounted the tradition that, the last king of the Amalek, Arkam bin Arkam was slain by an army of the children of Israel sent by Moses to purge Madinah and Mecca of their infidel inhabitants. Chapter XVII, Pilgrimmage to al-Madinah and Mecca. As for Haydan bin Amr bin Bal-Haf Ruzayq said he had two sons Mahrah and Amr. The latter begat Majid, Gharid, Gharib, Yazid, en Numa , edh Dhaighar, el Laha, and Janadah, which families go back to the el Wuhaidan. Mahrah begat Samatra, who had three sons, el Imry, Nadaam and ed Dair. El Imry begat el Kamar, and el Kamra, and el Masalla, and elMasaka. (Badger, 1871, p. 57 )Masaka are also called Banu Masikha further west and considered remnants of the Azd.( Khanam 2005, p. 66)

Haydan or Haidan is also known as a Hadan son of Phut. The Book of Jasher* gives the names of four sons of Phut, Gebul, Hadan, Benah and Adan (7:12). The Kamar or Qamar gave their name to the Comoros Islands off the eastern coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, and the Masalla or Masila to the wadi Masila. According to the Middle East Encyclopedia of R. Khanam,Wadi Masila, Ras Hasik are ancient regions of the Mahra. The most important existing tribes are the Bayt Kalshat, Bayt Samudat, Bayt Thuwar, Zabanat, Ziyad, Kamsit and Balhaf. ( Khanam,2005, p. 532 vol. 1) The Kalsu, Harawiz, Ghayt (Ghat) and Khenzirit and Thuggara are other tribes p. 532. Mahra bin Haydan bin Amr bin Bal-Haf correspond to place names along the south Arabian seacoast today (p. 534). Other clans are those mentioned by colonialists include the Bayt Isakron (Issachar), Bait Hanifah and Bait Sheitanu (Sidon) and Sayban (Shaiban or Banu Shay) who also made up part of the Bakr Bin Wail of Central Arabia. In Assyrian texts they are the historical Tamudi (circa 8th c B.C.) and in Roman times they are the Saracens called Thamudenioi Equites (equestrian Thamud) who occupied Dumah (modern Dumaat al Janda al in Jordan) where they had also came to be called Idumaeans ( Dumah, child of Ishmael). Thamuds original home however was far to the south as with the rest of the Ismaelites or North Arabian bedouin. These second Adites according to some were also those that were ruled by Lokman, son of Ad and who had also left Saba at one of the burstings of the Marib dam of Iram or Aram (modern Yarim). The Samudayt clan of the Mahra, from which came the name of the historical Tsamud or Thamud, were according to tradition termed the 2nd Aad or remnant of the Adites whose power once extended from Sanaa in Yemen to Syria and Egypt. He is variously called the son of Abir (Eber) or Jathiar (otherwise known as Jetur, Jazar or Gezer). His land was called Adan or Aden (Biblical Eden). The Samud or Thamud were said to have fought against the Azd leader Joshua son of Nun near Mecca. These Adites holding the area of Mecca and Medina were also known as Amalik or "the Amalekites of Rephidim" (Exodus 17:8-10. It was they who according to both Arabian and Biblical stories met the Yisrael or followers of the Azdite leader Moses at a place called Meriba (Exodus 17:7) (the Sabaean capital of Marib in Yemen). According to Muslim commentators this king of the Amalekites branch of the Adites, dwelt in the lower part of Mekka El-Harith, son of the Himyarite ruler Modad (Almodad), king of the Djurham or Darim tribe (Hadoram son of Shem of Genesis) disputed his control of the sanctuary there. The Hadrami (Adramitae or Dreematae) are mentioned in Greek texts as Sabaeans. Masudi in the 10th century seems to have been referring to this king saying, The king of Syria, es-Someida, son of Hubar (otherwise Samud son of Abir son of Malik) marched against Joshua, son of Nun and after many fights, was killed by the last one, who conquered his kingdom The circumstances of this are mentioned in the following verses by Awf, son of Saad, the Djorhamite: Havent you seen at Elath (Elah) the skin of the Amalekite (Someida), son of Hubar (Heber), put into shreds when he was attacked by an army of

eighty thousand Jews, protected or not by shields? These Amalekite cohorts, who trained meticulously jumped behind him. One hasnt met them ever since among the mountains of Mekka, and nobody has seen again es-Someida. (Found in the 10th century Masudis, The Meadows of Gold, Chapter 39) El Tabari of the 9th c. had mentioned the Mahra-related clans of Janad and Haydan (Hadan) and Junadah (mentioned previously) as ancestors of the Qays Ailan or Ishmaelites of Northern Arabia. He asserts, Mudar was the son of Nizar. As for Nizar, His full brothers were Qunus, Qunasah, Sinam, Haydan, Haydah, Hayadah , Junayd, Junadah, al-Qam, Ubad al Rammah, al- Urf, Awf, Shakk and Qudaah. (See The History of Al Tabarii Vol. VI Muhammad at Mecca) Such tribes were the first to speak the Arabic language. In the Hebrew Bible Amalek has a half brother named Kenaz, a reference to Qunasah and Qunus whose name is probably preserved in the modern Khenzirit clan of the Mahra, and another named Gatam a reference to the Khatham tribe who lived further west and had also once been settled in Marib in the Yemen. Some of the current inhabitants of Beisha in southwest Arabia, the Shahran, Nahish (Naphish) and Aklub, are said to descend from Khatham. (Khanam p. 433) The name Rahawiyyin or Ruayn of Arabian sources is the name of the tribe Rahawiin, Rahawayn or Rahanwayn in Arabia and Somalia and is related to an ancient south Arabian chief known as al Arawi or Rawani (Tabari/Hamdani). The Biblical book of Genesis refers to him as Reuel. Amalek was the brother of Reuel (Genesis 36). Reuel is the name of a Midianite leader besides being a brother of Amalek in the Bible. Amalek is the son of the Hittite woman Adah (Genesis 36) from which is said to come the name of the tribe of Ad. Further north such clans came to be called Ruwalla. The book of Genesis 36 affirms that Hamdan or Hamran (as various versions have it) was the son of Dishan (historical Banu Jayshan of the Ruayn Himyarites) - along with Eshban, Ithran and Cheran. They are mentioned as descendants of Zibeon the Hivite who are called Canaanites in the Bible. They are likely the same as people called Hawt a tribe of the Madhij in the Yemen today. The Madhhij or Madhij were a large branch of the Hamdan who in the time of Mohammed were often mentioned in the southern Arabian area. They are also called the Malik bin Udad descendants of Yashjub (Jashub) a descendant of Kahlan brother of Himyar. Other clans of Maddhij included the Murad, Qaran and Nakhl or An-Nakha. Cheran, brother of Hamdan of Genesis 36, is undoubtedly the name of the Qaran clan of the Murad (also known as Amurat today in Syria) and another brother,Eshban the name of the Shaban Himyarites (Ishban also called Siinbar Yashbin, Beshman in Arabic literature), Ithran (called Yathrib, Bathran or Botr) and Cheran (Qaran) are the Canaanite/Edomite (Yemenite) populations whom according to both African and Arabian tradition had early on populated parts of the Sudan - the latter named after a son of Canaan (or the Arabian people called Kenaaniyya) who were most anciently settled in the southwest of the Arabian peninsula. They are also called the children of Esau or el Ais in Arabic. Reuels sons are Shammah, Zerah, Nahath, Mizza conforming to the modern Banu Shammar, Zarah, Udthan ancestor of Daws and Dawasir, and Maaza. These were the sons

of Reuel, Esaus son: Chief Nahath, Chief Zerah, Chief Shammah, and Chief Mizzah. These were the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom. (Genesis 36) The Edomites in the Bible are also the Horites of Canaan and near them were the Madianites and Amalek. According to the text, Akhbar al Zaman, attributed to Masudi, among the descendants of Sudan son of Canaan were the Eshban, the Zanj and many of the people that multiplied in the Maghrib, about 70 of them. Thus Yemenite Qaran and Ishban (Shaban) along with the 70 tribes that multiplied in the Maghrib (Northwest Africa) are descendants of Canaan who are said to be black in these and other early sources (Goldenberg, 2003, p. 107). Qaran are also called Murad (Amurath further north) in various writings. Canaan and its cities were evidently located in southwest Arabia before its peoples spread north colonizing Syria. (See Kamal Salibis, The Bible Came from Arabia, 1985) Zibeon "the Horite" is the tribe of Banu Zubyan, (called Dhubyan or Dhubaniyya in Sudan) once occupying the Harrat (Horite) region in Yemen. They are a well-known tribe whose descendants still live in modern Sudan and Arabia. It is clear that the children Esau, Himyar, Saba, Ad, Amluk, Cush and Canaan are represented by many of the copper black and dark reddish brown inhabitants of Somalia, parts of Arabia the Sahara, northern parts of the Sudan, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan and Eritrea. However, as we shall see in other chapters the sons of Noah in total are in fact well represented by Afro-Arabians still in the Arabian peninsula in their lands and places and under their age-old names. By tradition the ancestors of the Afro-Arabians mentioned above and still living in Arabia and Africa are also those who had once colonized regions further north before and in the time of Moses. Said Josephus a Roman of the Jewish faith, The children of Ham possessed the land from Syria and Amanus, and the mountains of Libanus; seizing upon all that was on its sea-coasts, and as far as the ocean, and keeping it as their own. Some indeed of its names are utterly vanished away; others of them being changed, and another sound given them, are hardly to be discovered; yet a few there are which have kept their denominations entire. Josephus Antiquities of the Jews, Book I, Chapter 6 The remnants of these people were called children of Javan and Japhet.

To be continued *The Book of Jasher is one of several so-called lost books of the Bible. Bosworth D. et al. (1986). Encyclopedia of Islam Vol VI. Der Islam im Spiegel zeitgenssischer Literatur der islamischen Welt: Vortrge eines Internationalen Symposiums an der Universitt Bern, 11.-14. E. J. Brill Leiden. Goldenberg, David M. (2003) The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Safi ur Rahman Al Mubarakpuri. (2002). The Sealed Nectar Biography of the Noble Prophet.

Khanam, R. (2005). Encyclopaedic Ethnography of Middle East and Central Asia Madaj,Abdul. Madaj, Abd al-Musin. (1988). The Yemen in Early Islam (9-233/630-847). Ithaca Press.

Shammar Bedouin in Arabia. Said to be from Shammah or the Hebrew Saami or Shamma son of Reuel (Ra'wani or El Arawi).

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Man of the Somali (Bin Saam'al) in the Horn of Africa whose name is said to have derived froman ancestor named "Saam".

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