Sheba

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WESTERN ARABIA AND THE SHEBA-MENELIK CYCLE
were setting out again on an alternative spiritual journey. The Islamic
Qur’an, compiled through revelations and other material, is in part a divine
dialogue discussing numerous incidents, ideas, and personalities from the
Old Testament and, to a much lesser extent, the New Testament, taking for
granted they were part of Arab cultural heritage and did not need
elaboration. In addition, many of the allusions to the Old and New
Testaments do not follow the versions recorded in those books. The Joseph
story is more detailed, and the Virgin Mary is a far more formidable and
fascinating individual than she appears in the New Testament. It seems that
Muhammad was not so much drawing on strong local Jewish traditions but
on an ancient common Semitic folk culture. Muhammad himself stressed
he was not creating a new religion but purifying the creed of Abraham.
Solomon and the Queen of Sheba figure prominently in the Qur’an and
appear to reflect Arabian not Palestinian traditions. In the Qur’an, as in the
Sheba-Menelik Cycle of the Kebra Nagast, Judah and Sheba seem to be
close neighbors. Other geographical details, such as Moses’ reference to
“where the two seas meet” (the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean) also add
weight to an Arabian setting for the Old Testament. The overall impression
gained from the Qur’an is of a shared Semitic historical and theological
experience that the Muslims believed had been led astray by Judaism.
Muhammad speaks of the patriarchs, Abraham and Moses, as if they were
as much part of Arab heritage as they were to the Jews. None of his
enemies disputed it.
To Christians with knowledge of Christ of the Gospels, Muhammad’s
knowledge seems ill-informed and inaccurate, but this overlooks that
Christians based their own assumptions on extremely scanty Palestinian
evidence surrounding Christ’s early life. The Islamic contribution to
historiography is probably not well known in the West. The Muslim writers
realized that their message could not be imposed merely by force of arms.
They had to appeal to the intellect. Therefore, after the Prophet
Muhammad’s death, they set about trying to write an accurate account of
his life and work, even if this meant discussing setbacks and changes of
mind. Therefore, the Muslims not only did vital pioneering work for good
history writing, particularly analysis; they also wrote excellent biographies
of “the Prophet” and his times. In some ways they were more fortunate than
the early Christians who, being persecuted and scattered, worked
underground and in the shadow of what seemed in the early days to be a
very unsuccessful cause whose adherents were falsely accused of
cannibalism and often committed suicide to reach heaven. Moreover, the