THE, RISE OF THE ARAB.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2349, 1 November 1921, Page 4

THE, RISE OF THE ARAB.

HISTORY OF THE RACE.

UPHOLDERS OF CIVILISATION

All the world is hearing of Mesopotamia in these days, ages after its old-time glory has passed away. 'lt seems as if we may live to see the ruins of ancient Babylon a scene of splendour again, for the Arabs are

rising as a power in the world once more. They have their kingdom of Arabia, called Hedjaz; and now the Emir Feisul has been elected king of their new State of Irak, as Mesopotamia is in future to be called.

It is one of the almost incredible things of national life that these dwellers in tents, amid the sands of the desert, should be descended from a race which was once a supreme power and the foremost intellectual race in the world. What has the untamed Arab of the wilds to do with cities and civilisation? The answer is that he once ruled great cities and kept civilisation alive for centuries! The Arab is one of nature’s miracle men, and we should have been intellectually lost without him.

The Saracen, Moor, and Arab of history are one. The nation is one of many tribes and of varying habits, but the strain of genius, generosity, and fidelity to friends seems to run through all. These qualities, based on a passionate love of freedom and unwavering courage, made the Arab community the shining light of education when the rest of the world had sunk into ignorance. They were poets and warriors before Mohammed, nearly 1400 years ago, but when they adopted the ligion of Mohammed they became missioners. They conquered with the sword, proclaiming “There is but one God, and Mohammed is his prophet.” Their conquests extended from Egypt to India, from Lisbon to Samarkand.

But no people of their fibre could devote themselves only to material gain and religious propaganda, and their old love of literature, which had asserted itself in the glorious poems chanted in the wilderness by their bards, cropped up again in these Arab conquerors, and throughout the Middle Ages these men from the desert were the great scholars and teachers of Europe. There were few branches of learning that they left untouched. They managed to get hold of copies of Greek masterpieces, in which the learning of a vanished civilisation was embalmed. They saved much Greek literature for us.

The study of the body they did not improve, for they wore not allowed by their religion to practise anatomy; but they studied and taught medicine. They taught the use of herbs; they founded and established chemistry. Star-gazers from old time, they began the modern study of astronomy. Coming from the, East, they brought with them a store of hereditary fairy lore.

The Arabs had a noble literature of their own; they had the finest libraries in the world. Their schools in Spain and elsewhere were so famous that scholars from all parts of Europe flocked to sit at the feet of men who had risen from the arid sands of the desert. They imparted knowledge wherever they went, and humbly learned whatever any people had to teach. Ohr present system of writing figures is Arabian, we say, though it is Arabian only in (he sense that the Arabs learned it in India, and spread it throughout Europe. But for them we should still be writing: XVIII. for 18, and CXVIII for 118. IVe do an act of justice in restoring to them something of the glory they gained in former days. They were never oppressive or cruel in power, and we owe (hem this historic act of generosity. They kept learning and culture alive when it was dead but for them, and we can never forget the debt wo owe to them.