Page 48 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 1,2

I

o PRODUCTS 25

N'ofud to Oman, breed. So far as West Asia and Egypt are con-
rcrnCd, it would be impossible-to collect .sufficient camels for the
transport needs of a considerable force without the co-operation of
the chiefs of the greater peninsular tribes.
The famous ‘ Arabian ’ horses are of less importance. The main
use •of those bred ip. the peninsula (chiefly in Nejd) is for the im-
provemont of other breeds. In themselves, unless crossed with
non-Arab or part-Arab stock, animals of the peninsular breed are
*- * of small military value either for riding or draught. But there is
a considerable export of them to India, and a less export to Syria
and Egypt. The fine asses bred in the Hejaz, in the Yemen, and in
Nejd are worth attention from a military point of view. Only less
patient of thirst than camels, they provide, where desert or steppe
surfaces arc moderately hard, invaluable means of transport in such
a country as Arabia. The crossing of these with native mares
produces a very serviceable mule which, however, is less well adapted
for.clesert and steppe travel than the parent ass.

* Religion

The land* which begot Islam and has continued to be the chief
resort of its votaries is, naturally, almost exclusively Moslem.
Aden (at least half Hindi) and Gulf ports and islands excepted,
the number of non-Moslem residents, whether Christian—mainly
Consular Officials and Greeks—or Jews, is infinitesimal, and even
this small body is virtually confined to the Red Sea ports. The old
Jewish colonies inthe district of Nejran,and in-SaiTa and other Yemen I
towns, form a very small exception to the monopoly of the Faithful.
Nevertheless, Islam, if universal, is far from a unanimous creed
in Arabia. If the great majority of the inhabitants are Sunni, Shiahs
are^also present in considerable force. The Hasa and Central Yemen,
for'example, are predominantly Shiah, the one being Ivarmathian
. and the other Zeidist- (see later); Mecca itself, which is partly Zeidist,
is tinged with heresy, and there are many nomad groups which are
Shiah, ranging not only in the north-eastern regions, but here and there
in the west, e. g. one sub-tribe of the Harb. The numerous Shiah
pilgrims who reach Hejaz from various quarters and even remain
there in small numbers, and the proximity of the Shiah Holy Cities,
Nejef and Kerbcla, contribute to keep heresy alive in the peninsula!
This, though the main, is not, however, the’onlv split. Within the
Surfni aggregate the Wahabite (Wahhabi) tribes have long made what
is virtually a schism, cutting off Central Arabia, to some extent from
the non-\Yahabite populations of the coastal districts. ’
Wahabism,

v,; • *. •*