The Bedouins.
When knowing Arabs, it is important to first get to know the so called original
Arabs that are the Bedouin. The common
misconception about the Bedouin is that they are the gypsy roaming just for the
sake of roaming without any purpose in life. Instead the gypsy represents the
best adaption to human life of the desert conditions. One sees grass growing
the Bedouins will go after it seeking the pasture. One considers nomadism as
something which is practiced by uncivilized, but wait, nomadism is as much a
scientific mode of living in the Nufud as industrialism is in Detroit or
Manchester. Nomadism is in fact a reasonable adjustment to an unfriendly
environment.
Since the rise of
Islam, the pilgrimage has formed the principal link between Arabia and the
outer world. In the Fertile crescent, empires have come and gone, but in the
barren wastes the Bedouin has remained forever.
The clan organization
is the basis of Bedouin society. Every tent represents a family, members of one
encampment constitutes a clan. A number of kindred clans grouped together make
a tribe. All the members of the same clan consider each others as of one blood,
submit to the authority of but one chief.
The phenomenal and
almost un paralled efflorescence of the early Islam was due in no small measure
to the latent powers of the Bedouins, who, in the words of the Caliph Umar( RA)
" furnished Islam with its raw materials".
By : Ramsha Amir
Source: The Arabs : A
short story.
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