SPIRIT OF ISLAM JUNE 2O18

5 Spirit of Islam Issue 66 June 2018 FROM THE EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Dr. Farida Khanam has been a professor at the Department of Islamic Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi. A Study of World's Major Religions, A Simple Guide to Sufism are two of the books amongst many others, of which she is the author. She has also translated many books on Islam authored by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. Currently, the chairperson of Centre for Peace and Spirituality (CPS International), an organization founded by her father Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, she is a regular contributor of articles to journals, newspapers and magazines. Dr. Khanam has edited Maulana’s English translation of the Quran and has also translated his Urdu commentary of the Quran into English. Under Maulana Wahiduddin Khan Peace Foundation, along with the CPS team, she has designed a series of courses on peace-building, countering extremism and conflict resolution. THE ARABS AND THE EMERGENCE OF ISLAM W ITH an area of 120,000 square miles, the land of Arabia is the largest peninsula in the world. It has the Red Sea to the West, the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the south-east and the rivers Euphrates and Tigris and the Persian Gulf to the north- east. It thus occupies a unique position. It is situated in Asia, yet only the narrow Red Sea divides it from Africa and by just passing through the Suez canal, one reaches the Mediterranean Sea and Europe. It is thus at the centre of three continents, yet it is apart from all of them. Arabia being a very hot and dry country, one third of it is desert. Yemen, the original home of the Semites, is the only exception, in that it is fertile and enjoys a rainy season. Besides this, the rest of the peninsula consists of barren valleys and deserts. The camel was the only means of transportation during the pre-Islamic period. Makkah and Madinah were two towns initially inhabited by the descendants of the nomads, who still retained many of the desert habits of their ancestors. Situated in a valley, Makkah is one of the oldest cities in the world. It is a desert, with no vegetation or date palms. However there are some fertile spots in the desert, which are called Oases. Large as well as small clans settled around these Oases. Makkah since ancient times was an important centre for the caravans coming from the south with valuable merchandise. They brought gold, precious stones and spices from Africa to Yemen. From here it was taken to the markets of Syria,