Rising above Events

RISING ABOVE EVENTS T he Arabian Peninsula, in the period immediately preceding the coming of the Prophet Muhammad, was confronted with immense political problems. The two superpowers of the day—the empires of Rome and Persia—lay to the west and east of the Arabian Peninsula, and both had turned the land of the Arabs into their political playground. The most fertile regions of the peninsula were under the direct control of one or the other of these two powers. The Persians had annexed Iraq, while Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon had become part of the Byzantine Empire. Despite the natural protective boundaries of the Red Sea to the west and the Persian Gulf to the east, the lands bordering these seas were not immune from intrusions by their powerful neighbours. Persian warships had no difficulty crossing the Gulf of Oman and entering Arab territory. The Red Sea also posed no barrier to interference in Arab affairs from Egypt and Ethiopia, both under the control of the Byzantine Empire. Tribal chieftains had set up states in the inner regions of the Arabian Peninsula, but they, too, enjoyed no real independence. The dominance of Rome and Persia meant that these chieftains could preserve some autonomy by ruling as vassals for these imperial powers. On the borders