What happens when you lose sight of an ancient civilization? What happens when the history of an entire era is hijacked? What happens when you take away the legacy of a nation? What happens when you violate the sanctity of a human being; of all mankind? What happens when all this comes to pass? Is the truth irrevocably lost? Or does it hide from sight, only to return after a while, as the Dwellers of the Cave returned to the City? And can the people of the City suffer the return of the Cave Dwellers? Or will darkness endure in the City? Will the Nile Valley accept the return of the Egyptian civilization? Or will Miṣr remain in the City? Will the land of Yemen accept the return of Ibraheem’s ancestors? Or will their memory be forever imprisoned in Iraq? Can the Sarawāt Mountains of forgotten Arabia suffer the return of the Patriarch and his descendants Isḥāq and Ya‘qūb? Or will their legacy be held hostage indefinitely in the wilderness of the Levant? Will Yūsuf and Mūsa return to their homeland on the green slopes of Ḥimyar? Or are they doomed to tarry forever in the desert of rabbinical lies? Will ancient Ṣan‘ā’ ever sing its Psalms again, heralding the return of its sons, Dāwūd and Sulaymān? Or will their memory be eternally lost in Palestine and the passages of the Orientalist translations of the Old Testament? Is there anyone on this Earth who will listen to the call of the Sarawāt Mountains and pave the way for the truth to return to the City? And will the people of the City welcome the return of the truth? ____________ 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Disclaimer 3 Dedication 4 Spelling and Transliteration 6 Preface 8 The Failure of Biblical Archeology 21 The Search for Evidence 22 The Bomb 25 The Lost Ark 29 CHAPTER I: The Old Jerusalem and the Wars of David 33 The Taking of Zion and Fall of Biblical Ur-Salem 36 The Biblical Kadesh and the Karnak Inscription 42 Who Were the Philistines? 51 The Invention of the Biblical Gaza 56 Iram and Damascus 61 CHAPTER II: Tribal Homes 65 Coincidences (55-64): Issachar 66 Coincidences (65-80): Zebulun CHAPTER III: Ethiopia’s Testimony 88 The Kebra Nagast 91 The Many Queens of Yemen 94 The Truth Behind the Myth 98 The Geographic Puzzle 105 Menelik’s Trail 116 CHAPTER IV: The Qur’ān, the Zabūr, and the Sundial 120 Master of Winds and Demons 121 The Zabūr 129 Astronomical Proof – The Sundial of King Ahaz 131 CONCLUSION 135 References 137 2 Disclaimer This book is not the work of one person, nor can any single person lay claim to its contents. It is a compilation of many works; an assemblage of book passages, sayings, quotes, interviews, and articles most of which have been translated from Arabic to English for your convenience, and compiled into one volume. It is not to be published, as those responsible for its compilation have no legal right to publish it in any way, shape or form; nor do they seek any material gain from it. It has been made available for free and is for you, dear knowledge-seeker, to read in the privacy of your own home, and to share with your friends or loved ones as you see fit. The message of this book is directed first and foremost to those who call themselves “Muslims”, especially those among them who can read and understand Arabic, as they have the utmost obligation and responsibility towards their non-Arab brothers and sisters in the faith. This is because only those who can speak and read the original language of the Qur’ān are qualified to assess the credibility of the Arabic sources used as references, and to judge the accuracy of the translation of Qur’ānic passages to English. In no way does this imply that Christians or Jews - especially those who are not content with the beliefs they have inherited from their parents or communities, and who feel an urge to search for the truth - cannot benefit from its message. The book is mainly concerned with history, geography and archeology, and most of the information contained within it is of special relevance to the followers of the other “Abrahamic” faiths as well. _____________ 3 We dedicate this endeavor to all of humanity. May it contribute to our awakening. 4 ARABIA The Untold Story Book 3: Israel and Sheba Compiled by: The Badr Society for Cultural and Theological Studies 2013 5 Spelling and Transliteration The following is a spelling and transliteration guide, to help non-speakers of Arabic grasp the actual pronunciation of certain Arabic letters. ,)أسٌر( aseer ,)أمر( short alif ) when it comes at the beginning of a word. Examples: amr) أ = a .)ألم( alam _________ ,)مؤكل( short alif ) when it comes in the middle or the end of a word. Examples: ma’kal ) أ = ’ .)نبؤ( ’naba ,)سبؤ( ’Saba ,)مؤوى( ma’wa )قرآن( Qur’ ān ,)ماء( ’mā ,)جاء( ’OR, ( hamzah ). Examples: jā _________ .)أقﻻم( aqlām ,)أنوار( anwār ,)أسماء( ’ā = (long alif ). Examples: asmā _________ .)ثمن( thaman ,)ثواب( thawāb ,)ٌثرب( thā’ ). Examples: Yathrib) ث = th _________ .)ذكر( dhakar ,)آذان( ādhān ,)ذهب( dhāl ). Examples: dhahab) ذ = dh _________ .) ِحم ٌَر( Ḥimyar ,)حوت( ḥoot ,)حمل( ḥā’ ). Examples: ḥamal) ح = ḥ _________ .)أصنام( aṣnām ,)صٌام( ṣiyām ,)صالح( ṣād ). Examples: Ṣāleh) ص = ṣ _________ .)غضب( ghaḍab ,)ضﻻل( ḍalāl ,)رمضان( ḍād ). Examples: Ramaḍān) ض = ḍ _________ .)طارق( ṭāreq ,)باطل( bāṭil ,)طور( ṭā’ ). Examples: ṭūr) ط = ṭ _________ .)شواظ( shawāẓ ,)ظﻻم( ẓalām ,)ظهٌرة( ẓā’ ). Examples: ẓaheera) ظ = ẓ _________ .)فرعون( Far‘awn ,)أعراب( a‘rāb ,)عقاب( ayn ). Examples: ‘iqāb‘) ع = ‘ _________ 6 .)رغد( raghd ,)غفور( ghafoor ,)غٌث( ghayn ). Examples: ghayth) غ = gh __________ .)قرٌش( Quraysh ,)قلم( qalam ,)قتال( qāf ). Examples: qitāl) ق = q __________ .)وهن( wahn ,)هديّّ( hadiyy ,)هود( hā ). Examples: Hūd) هـ = h __________ Note: Aside from proper nouns (the names of prophets or geographical locations), certain terms that appear in the Arabic text of the Qur’ ān have been left un-translated for the time being, as we have yet to find accurate substitutes for them in English. Consequently, those terms have been left as they are, and transliterated for the convenience of non-speakers of Arabic. __________ 7 Preface Did al-Hamadāni really describe, in his book entitled (lit) Description of Arabia, the very same country that was the theater of the Old Testament? This question, which had never before - to my knowledge - been asked by anyone, kept on occurring to me as I repeatedly borrowed the book from the library of Leiden University, in the Netherlands. Is it really possible? Or could I be mistaken? As I flipped through the pages of al-Hamadāni‟s gazetteer - a virtual “Yellow Pages” of the tribes of Arabia - following his footsteps in the highlands of Yemen and stopping in the same places he had stopped in, I found myself, to my astonishment, looking at the same names of tribes, warriors, prophets, valleys and mountains mentioned in the Old Testament, to the letter, and without the slightest manipulation whatsoever! At first, and despite this, there was always some lingering doubt, as I thought to myself: It can‟t be! Something must be wrong! Until one day, while I was on vacation in Iraq, I found myself, as if by a twist of fate, reading an old book written by a well-known Syrian scholar, Dr. Abdulraḥmān al-Shahabandar, entitled Al-Maqālāt (lit: The Articles). My eyes fell on an editorial he penned back in 1936, in which he commented about the memoirs of an old Syrian explorer, Nazeeh Mou‟ayyid Al-„Aẓm, who had visited Yemen in the year 1916, and written a diary entitled (lit) A Journey to Fortunate Arabia. One passage in Shahabandar‟s article nearly caused me to leap from my chair. In his comment on al-„Aẓm‟s book, al-Shahabandar wrote the following: “And the Great Rabbi of the Jews in Ṣan‘ā’, whose name was Yeḥia Isḥāq, told him that the Jews once had a great kingdom in Yemen, somewhere between Ṣan‘ā’ and Najrān. And that this kingdom was established by Sulaymān, son of Dāwūd”. Naturally, I was overtaken with curiosity and eventually decided to look for al-„Aẓm‟s book. After an exhaustive effort, I was finally able to find a copy of it. And herein, I report to you exactly what he wrote (pages 141,142 – Second Issue, London, 1985), about his visit to Yemen in 1916: [In the famous Jewish District of Old Ṣan„ā‟, I met with several of the great Jewish authorities, and asked them many questions about the origins of the Yemeni Jews, their ways, their comings and goings. And there I was told, by the Grand Rabbi named Yeḥia Isḥāq who hosted me in his home, that the Jews of Yemen once had a great kingdom and an extravagant city somewhere around Ṣan„ā‟, which was built by Sulaymān, son of Dāwūd. When I asked him if it is possible that it was in Najrān, he said: “I can‟t be certain if it included Najrān, but I have no doubt that it was near Ṣan„ā‟ ”]. It was then that I started asking myself: “Why did the Jews of Yemen believe - and many still do - that the land of the Bible was indeed in their country? Why had the Jews of Yemen, widely 8 considered the most devout and conservative in their faith, initially declared their reluctance - and in some cases their downright refusal - to emigrate to Palestine, deciding instead to stick to their land and heritage, while the other Jews of the world, especially those of European stock, showed not the slightest hesitation to heed the call of the Zionist movement, and relocate to Palestine?” My interest and curiosity in this matter reached their peak when I came by a copy of Kamāl Ṣaleebi‟s controversial book The Bible Came from Arabia, which was published in 1985.