The Coolidge examiner., 1931-07-03

| or tnelr own long, long before the
! Christian era. Just now there are
perhaps 100000 Arabs. and for
| convenience of classification they
are usually separated into two di-
visions-"Al Bedoo." or THE
Dwellers in the Open Land" (com-
monty called Bedouins). and "Al
Hadr," or Jewellers in Fixed LO-
| calities."
The Bedouins, roaming with their
herds all over Arabia and even up
into MesopCtamia and Syria, are
better known to American mission
aries, officials and travellers than
the Hadr class. They are nOmads
from necessity and not from choice.
| and, as the country comes under
| better rule. roads. trade and irriga-
tion will undoubtedly reduce the
number of Arabs forced TO lead this
wandering life
Most of present-day Arabia Chat
part which is not wholly a deserD
is so dry as to be unSuited for any.
thing except grazing; and moisture
grazing areas fail from time to
time, and the Arabs have to move
their herds from place to place. or
all would perish. II is this constant
quest for grass and water which so
often causes friction and fighting
among the rowing tribes.
Then. too, living this free. open
i
and police, through so many gener.
| ations, has made the Arabs a bold.
defiant, headstrong people, not
easily ruled and impatient of re-
straint. They are familiar with
only one quick way to settle a dis
pute-to fight.
Although Bedouin and bandit are
almost synonymous terms in some
parts of Arabia. this is hardly fair
to the BedOuns when we consider
the way they have to live. When
they hold up a Mecca caravan. for
example, and exact a sum in cash
for protection" they look on this
merely as their rightfuI share of
taxes, habitually collected and kept
| by border officials.
Primitive Religion in the Desert.
Though nOminally a Mohamme-
| dan, the average Bedouin is said to
worry but little about the Korans
rules or whether his mode of liv.
ing would please the Prophet. The
wilder tribes even worship the sun.
trees, rocks, etc, or else have no
religion at all. ii is said Marriage
is early and easy and divorce
simple and frequent.
About so per cent of all Arabs
live in towns, villages. or other
fixed places of abode and belong
to the "Hadr" class. In this group
! is found the aristOcracy of Arabia
Here are old. reputable families
with records of births. deaths and
marriages, deeds and honOrs, run
| ming back through generations
Perhaps the most noted family in
modern Arabia is the house of Kor
eysh, tracing its connections back
to the Prophet. The men of this
| family bear the title of Shereef or
seyd: and it was the Shereef of
Mecca who led Araba's break for
statehood.
Education, however. as we regard
it in America, is almost unknown
among Arabians. The few with cuI
ture are a class to themselves
Most learning is confined to the
classics of religious and secular
| literature; the Koran is learned
by rote. In the smaller towns there
are no schools at all.
Yet it was Arab learning and
skill, in the long ago, which started
the civilized world on the way to
| its present high efficiency. Under
the caliphs, schools of therapeutics
were set up in Baghdad. and bot
| any was studied as branch of
medicine. AS one writer says, "The
principal mercuriaI and arsenical
preparations of the materia medica.
the sulphates of several metals. the
properties of acids and alkalis. and
the distfllation of alcohol were.
! with their practical application.
known to Er-Razi and Geber. pro-
fessors of Baghdad In fact the
numerous terms borrowed from the
Arabic language-alcohOl. alkali.
alembic, and Others-with the signs
Of drugs and the like still in use
among modern apothecaries, show
how deeply science is indebted to
Arab research"
All of which leads the Christian
world to believe that the Arab peo-
pie. as a nation. can "cOme back"