Page 101 - Arabian Studies (I)

Arabia in the Fifteenth-century Navigational Texts 87

JazTral td-'Amb means literally ‘Island of the Arabs1 and he gives an
explanation that it had been an island until the time of Noah’s flood
and had then become attached to the mainland. He then divides the
peninsula into five north-south divisions of which he names three:
the Red Sea littoral or Tihamah, the mountain backbone or Hijaz,
and the eastern section or Najd. He mentions the way in which
branches of the Hijaz protrude into the Tihamah mentioning
Yalamlam, Rudwa, al-‘Idd and Jabal Subh. Ibn Majid also mentions
al-Yaman (the southern area) and al-Sham (Syria) (the northern area)
and al-Mashariq (the eastern parts). Presumably the eastern parts are
mentioned in opposition to the north and south: this term docs not
appear elsewhere as a geographical division of Arabia. The four
‘corners’ of the peninsula arc mentioned as Suez, Bab al-Mandam,
Ra’s al-Hadd and ‘Abbadan. Also mentioned are Khaibar, al-‘Ula,
Mecca and Medina, of course, and al-Ta’if, around which the waters of
the flood flowed (tafa). After the flood Arabia was joined to the
mainland between Suez and ‘Abbadan and here ‘arc the bata’ih
(torrent beds) of Iraq stretching as far as Tebuk and taking more
than three days to cross.’ Further small sections on inland Arabia
occur throughout Ibn Majid’s texts: Najd, Hadramawt and the Rub’
al-Khall are all mentioned. In the Red Sea section, apart from the
area of the Red Sea coast where considerable detail is given, he
mentions the area around Sa‘dah, Najran and the Marib dam.
My former article dealt with the Red Sea coast of Arabia in some
detail and 1 have therefore omitted that coast here, dealing entirely
with the south and east coasts of the Peninsula. The Red Sea was
regarded as a special entity by the Arab navigators, especially by Ibn
Majid who in his major work, the Fawa’id, omitted it when dealing
with the other coasts of the Indian Ocean but devoted a special
detailed chapter to it at the end of the book. In his other works it
appears more integrated into the pattern of the work. Sulaiman
al-Mahrl divided the Indian Ocean into sections and dealt with each
part separately including the Red Sea as a separate section, although
only fully in the ‘Umdah, the earliest work.
The navigators used the Red Sea of course for trading purposes
but it had the added interest that it possessed the route used by
thousands of pilgrims each year. The texts therefore, when they do
mention it, go into great detail because of the difficulties of
navigation, the hazardous reefs and archipelagoes on both coasts of
the sea, and the fact that the prevailing north wind did not strictly
follow the pattern of the monsoon winds. Thus different techniques
were necessary which made the description of navigation in this sea
unique.