Sacred Texts  Islam  Index  Previous  Next   The Qur'ân, part I
(Sacred Books of the East volume 6), Palmer edition [1880]; at
sacred-texts.com  p. ix   BEFORE entering upon an intelligent
study of the Qur’ân it is necessary to make oneself acquainted
with the circumstances of the people in whose midst it was
revealed, with the political and religious aspects of the
period, and with the personal history of the prophet himself.
Arabia or Gazîrat el ‘Arab, 'the Arabian Peninsula,' as it is
called by native writers, is bounded on the west by the Red Sea;
on the east by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman; on the
south by the Indian Ocean; and on the north it extends to the
confines of Babylonia and Syria.    The principalities bordering
on Syria and Persia were vassals of the Roman and Persian
empires; the kingdom of Himyar in Yemen, to the south of the
Peninsula, was in free communication with the rest of the world;
but the Higâz, 'the barrier,' had effectually resisted alike the
curiosity and the attacks of