I found this consistently interesting and useful - recommended. A motivation for reading is my confusion about the term "Arab" - so few of them it seems, yet widespread use of the term around the Middle East and Northern Africa, etc.
Notes follow -
opening segment explores period before Islam - seldom read about this - points out, that as one might expect, Islam didn't arise out of nowhere. ideas attributed to Mohammed had roots
pilgrimage to a town mentioned cb Mecca precursor
settled areas in the south - current Yemen - including Saba (OT refers to as Sheba, as in "Queen of"). north interacting with Fertile Crescent. wanderers in the center - nomads, raiders - referred to as a'rab, though origin unclear. greener at one time, though that's so long ago.
as mentioned in this book - superpowers would use/abuse these folks (Babylonia, Assyria; Rome, Persia) in their own contests - became important power brokers over time - unique ability to travel and raid in unfriendly terrain. as superpowers exhaust each other, opportunity arises; combination of camels and horses - lethal!
organizing thesis for the book is the language - I think meaning "high Arabic" - not really spoken, but widely understood - Koran as highest expression
deciding to administer lands in Arabic probably saved the language, rescued it from fate of Latin/Greek, overcame thinness on the ground of actual Arabs
conquest and language spread first . . . then Islamization - hard to define it - Tom Holland discussion, this is a couple hundred years after the fact and with specific political and social needs to address.
Arabs from "the island" (saudi arabia proper) are few in number and swamped by locals in many or most places conquered during the outburst. prime example = Persia - culture and numerosity overwhelmed - even in terms of Mohammed's [sons?] marrying Persian women
deep divisions from the very beginning
reactionary forces strong, seemingly significantly stronger than in other cultures - the idea that everything stopped with the Koran [and whatever approved interpretations] - rather amazing lack of progress that persists to this day
oddity of contemporary Egypt as an Arab state in many respects (other states in the area as well) - Arab, really?
complicated to say the least
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