Nadene Goldfoot
Saudi Arabia of today has not allowed any Jews to step onto their sand at all. It's the main leader of all Arabs in religion of Islam being a land with 100% Muslims and is known as an Islamic state who are Sunnis. The population consists of about 27,601,038 in 1992, now 34.2 million, and was the 14th in population size of Muslim majority countries. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by King Abdulaziz (known as Ibn Saud in the West). However, at one time, Jews did live there.
Arabs speak a Semitic language. It has borrowed many Jewish-Aramaic words, while even the style of the Koran from the mid- 7th century, betrays a Hebrew influence. Arabic literature had already begun in the 5th and 6th century CE with pre-Islamic poets, and among them was one Jew, SAMUEL IBN ADIYA. As-Samaw’al bin ‘Ādiyā’ was a Arabian poet and warrior, esteemed by the Arabs for his loyalty, which was commemorated by an Arabic idiom: "awfá min as-Samaw’al". He lived in the first half of the 6th century. His clan converted to Judaism when they were in Southern Arabia.
That's because traditions suggest that a Jewish settlement, especially in the south, even in biblical times, existed in Arabia. The 1st information on Jews in any part of Arabia dates from the 1st century CE. It is not clear whether Jewish communities were established at that time, maybe just a few tents. At first, the number of Jews was small as shown in Yemen in the 1st century CE to be only 3,000, and they were scattered all over the country. Later it rapidly increased through conversion of Arabs to Judaism. This happened in the south where even some rulers, such as DHU NWAS, embraced Judaism. In the 6th and early 7th centuries, there was a considerable Jewish population in HEJAZ, and particularly in MEDINA and its vicinity.
According to local Jewish tradition, Judaism spread from Medina to the south. Smaller Jewish communities also existed in BAHREIN, at Makna on the Gulf of Akaba, at Adhruh between Maan and Petra, and further north of Jarba.
After the rise of Islam, these Jews and those of Yemen were allowed to survive on the payment of special taxes, but most of the Hejazi Jews were either expelled or annihilated. From then on, the Jewish settlement in Arabia was almost wholly concentrated in the Yemen, HADRAMAUT, and ADEN.
Linguists Arik Sadan (in his Israeli Army days) and Sobhi Bahloul. Sadan is an authority on the Arabic language. Bahloul authored the Hebrew curriculum for Gaza's Palestinians.
Shaina Shealy
The former Jews of North Arabia in particular, though living in isolated communities, had become strongly assimilated to their Arab neighbors, not only in language and culture, but also in manners and customs, social organization and mentality. (This is why Abraham had wanted to leave UR).
The Arabic verses composed by their poets hardly differed in any respect from other Arabic poetry, and they expressed the contemporary notions, views, and feelings of the Arabic society.
After the advent of ISLAM, the Arab left their homeland to conquer the greater part of the then civilized world.
Arabs are mentioned both in biblical and Talmudic literature. It is possible that some Arabs were already settled in Israel at the time of the 2nd Temple. In Genesis 10, Eber was the forefather of Abraham as well as of Joktan, the ancestor of the southern Arabs and several Arab tribes are enumerated among the descendants of Abraham. The Arabs themselves trace their origin to Ishmael.
Jews were expelled from north Arabia shortly after the rise of Islam of 632, but continued to live in the south in large numbers until recent times.
This Jewish-Arab symbiosis was initiated at the earliest period of Arab history with the Jewish diaspora, and continued for many centuries in several countries and under various and changing conditions.
The position of the Jews was adversly affected by the anti-European tendency and rising nationalism of the past generation, with the reaction against Zionism being a pretext rather than the sole cause of the deterioration of the Jewish status. The Jewish emigration, partly resulted from this, since the creation of the Jewish state in 1948 has virtually ended the Jewish settlement in most parts of the Arab world. An Arab minority numbering some 700,000 lived in Israel in 1992, and about another million came under Israel administration as a result of the 6 Day War in 1967. The current population of Israel is 8,825,276 based on projections of the latest United Nations data. The UN estimates the July 1, 2021 population at 8,789,774. Out of that, 20% are Arabs.
Arabic was the literary language of a flourishing mixed Hellenistic-Persian culture which profoundly influenced Hebrew philosophy, poetry, and grammar. From the 9th century, Jews in Muslim countries used Arabic, except when writing for their liturgy and religious poetry.
In 925, Saadyah Gaon translated the Bible into Arabic. Jews usually wrote Arabic in Hebrew script with some diacritic dots and Arabic vowel signs, and took hardly any part in general Arabic literary activity. The extensive Jewish-Arabic literature remained a thing apart. Many works by eminent Jews who wrote in Arabic were translated into Hebrew, as were many writings by Muslim authors, especially those dealing with science and philosophy. Most of these translations were made in about 1150-1350. Many Arabic words, as well as words coined in imitation of Arabic, originally used by the translators, are still used in Hebrew.
In the 11th-12th centuries, many Jews helped Christian scholars to translate Arabic works into Latin, thus contributing to the development of the European scientific renaissance. Jews in Arabic-speaking countries developed local Jewish Arabic dialects. Even after the ending of Jewish writings in literary Arabic in the 14th century, popular literature continued in these dialects.
Some Jews, such as the Egyptian dramatist, ABU NADDARA, took an active part in the 19th century Arabic literary revival. Arabic is the mother-tongue of about a quarter of Israel's Jews, and is recognized as an official language for the Arab minority. All signs in Israel are in Hebrew, Arabic and English.
In the 1947-49 War of Independence, Saudi Arabia sent a contingent on May 14th along with the other regular armies from Syria, Lebanon and Egypt. to reinforce the locals.
Petroleum was discovered on 3 March 1938 and followed up by several other finds in the Eastern Province.[23] Saudi Arabia has since become the world's second largest oil producer (behind the US) and the world's largest oil exporter, controlling the world's second largest oil reserves and the sixth largest gas reserves. This gives them much power in the world.
The history of the Jews in the Arabian Peninsula dates back to Biblical times. The Arabian Peninsula is defined as including the present-day countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (a federation of seven Sheikhdoms: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain) and Yemen politically and parts of Iraq and Jordan geographically.
Jewish communities have lived mainly in present-day Iraq and Yemen, but most have migrated to Israel as a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Currently, some Jewish communities develop in the Arabian peninsula as a result of expanding business and commerce as well as increased tolerance to Jews, such as in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates who are now part of the Abraham Accords. Morocco and Sudan have also joined.
- The Abraham Accords are a joint statement between State of Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States of America, reached on August 13, 2020. and Bahrain on September 15, 2020. Morocco joined and also Sudan.
- The statement marked the first public normalization of relations between an Arab country and Israel since that of Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994. It has been the thought that Saudi Arabia might be next to join. It hasn't happened yet. The one thing that Israel and Arabia have in common is their problem with Iran an nuclear power. Israel, though the tiniest, is the strongest during war, and might take on Iran by themselves. They have the IRON DOME, for protection against rockets, missles, etc. The old saying, The enemy of my enemy is my friend is bringing them together. The world changes daily. Have you noticed?
Saudi Arabia also has one of the world's youngest populations, with approximately 50 per cent of its population of 34.2 million being under 25 years old.
Arabs are legally exempted from Israel’s mandatory military conscription and there continue to be serious doubts as to whether an Arab could be expected to fight against other Arabs in Israel’s wars. Yet the government is allowing and even encouraging hundreds of Arabs, both Christians and Muslims, to join the Israeli army. Hundreds of Arab high school graduates are signing up for the IDF, representing a shift in government policy and a growing trend amongst Israel’s nearly 2 million Arab citizens.
Resource:
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabia
https://www.israeltoday.co.il/read/israels-arab-soldiers-who-fight-for-the-jewish-nation/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaw%27al_ibn_%27Adiya
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/peace-with-israel-a-shared-goal-of-saudi-arabia-and-us-state-dept-says-660634
https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-11-25/tale-two-linguists-and-conflict-separates-them
https://www.jewishvoice.org/read/article/jews-and-arabs-bound-common-history-and-destiny
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/how-israel-and-morocco-have-embraced-abraham-accords-193763
https://time.com/5890151/saudi-arabia-israel-abraham-accords/
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