The Arabs Before The Advent Islam

Genealogists divided the Arabs into two major groups: 

First: The Arabs who perished having no descendents such as `Aad and Thamood.
Second: The Arabs who remained and they are divided into two groups:

1- Pure Arabs who were Yemenis and were originated from the progeny of Ya`rub Ibn Qahtaan.

2- Arabized Arabs who originated from `Adnaan who himself originated from the progeny of (Ishamel) Ismaa'eel the son of (Abraham) Ibraaheem, may Allaah exalt their mention. They were called Arabized Arabs because their forefather, Ismaa'eel, may Allaah exalt his mention, was a non-Arab while their mother was an Arab woman from the tribe of Jurhum.

The Arabs' Political Condition:

The Arab region had an organized political life before Islam, especially in Yemen where there was agriculture and hence settlements.

There were many successive dynasties,

such as the Dynasty of (Ma'een), the Dynasty of Qutbaan, the Dynasty of  (Sheeba) Saba' after which a chapter in the Quran was named, and the Dynasty of Himyar which remained until it was occupied by the Ethiopians in the sixth century A.D. Later on, the Persians took control of Himyar until Islam freed it from Persian occupation and its people embraced Islam. There was a great civilization in Yemen as it was famous for building dams in order to store rain water for agriculture such as the Dam of Ma'rib. Trade also flourished because of its distinctive geographical location on the southern entrance of the Red Sea. Relying on this location, Himyar became a great trade centre between the Far East, Eastern Africa and Europe.

After the destruction of the Dam of Ma'rib and the economic fall, the Arabs migrated from Yemen to the northern boundaries of the Arabian Peninsula where they founded some Arab emirates that continued to exist until after the emergence of Islam. In Iraq, there was the Manaathirah Emirate with Al-Heerah being its capital while in southern Levant, there was the Ghassaani Emirate. There were other Arab emirates in the Eastern Peninsula specifically in Bahrain, and Yemen, and in south Eastern, Oman. All these emirates embraced Islam during the reign of the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, and became parts of the Muslim state. As for the rest of the Arabian Peninsula, its people used to lead a tribal life where each tribe was ruled by its chieftain who had the upper hand and the final say.