is properly the name of a pariah tribe with its main centre in northwestern Arabia, but Hutaym is also used imprecisely at times as a designation for any of the pariah tribes in the eastern Arab lands. The definite article prefixed to the name Hutaym in some Arabic and Western sources is incorrect; the initial radical is h, not ḥ as in EI 1, iv, 512; the usual pronunciation in Arabia is ihtēm ; and the plural is Hitmān rather than the forms given in EI 1, ii, 348. None of the many versions explaining the origin and lineage of Hutaym seems particularly plausible. About the only state…

, the generic and proper name of a tribal group in the northern half of the Arabian peninsula and in the adjacent deserts to the north in what are now Jordan, Syria and ʿIrāḳ. Ṣulayb seems to be a diminutive form, as often, found with a contemptuous meaning, sing. Ṣulabī, colloquially Ṣlebī. They are one of the Ḥutaym tribes, often described as pariahs, as also such gypsy groups as the Nawār. For lists of their subsections, their living areas, etc. see Musil, Arabia deserta, 231; French Government in Syria, Les tribus nomades et semi-nomades, 71; von Oppenheim, Die Beduinen , iv, 150; EI 1 art. Ṣul…

, tribe with its main centre in northwestern Saudi Arabia and southern Jordan. The tribal range extends from the vicinity of al-Karak in the north to the vicinity of Taymāʾ [ q.v.] in the south, and from the Red Sea in the west to Wādī al-Sirḥān and al-Ḏj̲awf [ qq.v.] in the east. The eastern part of this range is properly the homeland of Banū ʿAṭiyya, with whom the Ḥuwayṭāt as good allies share watering and grazing rights. This whole area corresponds in a general way to that occupied by the tribes of ʿUd̲h̲ra and D̲j̲ud̲h̲ām [ qq.v.] in the late D̲j̲āhiliyya and the early days of Islam [see the map in EI…

, the Arabs. (See also al-ʿarab , d̲j̲azīrat , as well as ʿarabiyya and the articles on the several Arab countries). (i) the ancient history of the arabs (For the ethnic origins of the Arabs cf. al-ʿarab ( ḏj̲azīrat al- ), section on Ethnography, cf. also para ii, below). The early history of the Arabs is still obscure; their origin and the events governing their early years are equally unknown to us. Probably we would know a good deal more about them, if Uranius’ five books of ’Αραβικά, which constituted a special monograph on the Arabs, had …

, “the Island of the Arabs”, the name given by the Arabs to the Arabian Peninsula. ¶ (i) preliminary remarks Although the Peninsula may not be the original cradle of the Arab people,, they have lived there for thousands of years and regard it in a very special sense as their homeland. For students of Islam, Western Arabia occupies a unique position as the land in which the Prophet Muḥammad was born, lived, and died. It was there that the inspiration of Allāh descended upon the Prophet, and to this Holy Land come ma…

(in English normally “Mecca”, in French “La Mecque”), the most sacred city of Islam, where the Prophet Muḥammad was born and lived for about 50 years, and where the Kaʿba [ q.v.] is situated. 1. The pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods Geographical description. Mecca is located in the Ḥid̲j̲āz about 72 km. inland from the Red Sea port of Jedda (D̲j̲udda [ q.v.]), in lat. 21° 27′ N. and long. 39° 49′ E. It is now the capital of the province ( manātiḳ idāriyya ) of Makka in Suʿūdī Arabia, and has a normal population of between 200,000 and 300,000, which …