Ethnic Divisions

Arab historians as well as old traditions of the land hold that the people of Arabia can be categorised in three broad divisions. The first of these were the Arab Baidah (extinct Arabs) who populated the country but ceased to exist before the advent of Islam. The next were the Arab Ar’ibah (Arabian Arabs) or Banu Qahtan who replaced the Arab Baidah and the third were the Arab Mustarabah (Arabicized Arabs) or the progeny of Ishmael which settled in Hijaz. The line of demarcation drawn according to racial division of the Arab stock makes a distinction between those descending from Qahtan1 and Adnan; the former are held to be Yemenites or southern Arabs while the latter had settled in Hijaz. Arab genealogists further divide the Adnan into two sub groups which they term as Rabia and Mudar. There had been a marked rivalry from the distant past between the Qahtan and the Adnan just as the Rabia and the Mudar had been hostile to each other. However, the historians trace the origin of the Qahtan to a remoter past from which the Adnan branched off at a later time2 and learnt Arabic vernacular from the former. It is held that the Adnan were the offspring of Ishmael (Ismail) who settled in Hijaz after naturalisation.

Arab genealogists give great weight to these racial classifications which also find a confirmation in the attitude of Iranians in the olden times. The Iranian General Rustam had admonished his courtiers who had derided Mughira b. Shuba and looked down upon him for having presented himself as the envoy of Muslims in tattered clothes, Rustam had then said to his counselors: "You are all fools.. .The Arabs give little importance to their dress and food but are vigilant about their lineage and family.