What is Arabia called today?
Geographically, the Arabian Peninsula includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen, as well as southern Iraq and Jordan. The largest of these is Saudi Arabia. In the classical era, the Sinai Peninsula was also considered a part of Arabia.
The very name Arabia, or its Arabic name Jazīrat al-ʿArab, has come to be used for the whole peninsula.
Meaning of Arabia in English
a large peninsula (= a long piece of land that sticks out into the sea) in West Asia, that includes Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates: This is a songbird of the finch family, native to Africa, Arabia, and South Asia.
Saudi Arabia is sometimes called "the Land of the Two Holy Mosques", in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca) and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (in Medina), the two holiest places in Islam.
The Greeks called Yemen "Arabia Felix" (Happy Arabia). The Romans called the vassal nomadic states within the Roman Empire "Arabia Petraea" after the city of Petra, and called unconquered deserts bordering the empire to the south and east Arabia Magna (Larger Arabia) or Arabia Deserta (Deserted Arabia).
In September of 1932 the name “The Kingdom of the Hedjaz and Nejd and Its Dependencies” was changed to “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”.
In the Old Testament literature, Arabia was often referred to as "Kedem," the East (cf. Gen. 1o:3o; 25:6; 29:1, etc.).
( 2 Chronicles 9:14 ; Isaiah 21:13 ; Jeremiah 26:24 ; Ezekiel 27:21 ) (Arabia is a triangular peninsula, included between the Mediterranean and Red seas, the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. Its extreme length, north and south, is about 1300 miles, and its greatest breadth 1500 miles.
The Egyptians are not Arabs, and both they and the Arabs are aware of this fact. They are Arabic-speaking, and they are Muslim—indeed religion plays a greater part in their lives than it does in those either of the Syrians.
The Arabian Peninsula is bounded by the Red Sea on the west and southwest, the Gulf of Aden on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south and southeast, and the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf (also called the Arabian Gulf) on the east.
Where was Arabia in Bible times?
In both the Old and New Testaments, Arabia has always been located south and east of Palestine, the area of present-day Saudi Arabia. The Sinai Peninsula, on the other hand, lies south and west of Palestine. The apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, informs us that Mount Sinai is in Saudi Arabia.
The national flag of Saudi Arabia, also known as the al-Alam, is a green background with Arabic inscription and a sword in white. The inscription is the Islamic creed, or shahada: "There is no deity but God; Muhammad is the Messenger of God".
Over the centuries, the peninsula has played an important role in history as an ancient trade center and as the birthplace of Islam, one of the world's major monotheistic religions. Since King Abdulaziz Al-Saud established the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, its transformation has been astonishing.
It was only with the rise of the Saud family (Āl Saʿūd)—a Najdi group for which the country is named—and its eventual consolidation of power in the early 20th century that Saudi Arabia began to take on the characteristics of a modern country.
It is widely accepted that the history of modern Saudi Arabia dates back to around 1744. During this time, the Al SAud dynasty was founded, and the establishment of the modern Emirate of Diriyah was started.
Arabia Petraea or Petrea, also known as Rome's Arabian Province (Latin: Provincia Arabia; Arabic: البتراء العربية, romanized: al-batrāʔ al-ʕarabiyya; Ancient Greek: Ἐπαρχία Πετραίας Ἀραβίας) or simply Arabia, was a frontier province of the Roman Empire beginning in the 2nd century.
The people of pre-Islamic Arabia were predominantly polytheistic. Christians were concentrated in the south of the peninsula in modern-day Yemen, with small groups as well as monks and hermits living in the desert. Jewish communities too lived in Arabia and were mostly situated in villages and cities.
The first people who called themselves Arabs were the elite of the early Caliphate. They inhabited new towns founded by Muslims across the Middle East (e.g. the places we know as Cairo, Basra, Baghdad), and they rigorously distinguished themselves from Bedouin.
Saudi Arabia, before it became Saudi Arabia, was made up of two kingdoms; Hejaj and Najd and their dependent states. These two kingdoms became unified under the name of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and would gain recognition as an independent nation in 1932.
The Arabian Peninsula was the initial site of the out-of-Africa migrations that occurred between 125,000 and 60,000 yr ago, leading to the hypothesis that the first Eurasian populations were established on the Peninsula and that contemporary indigenous Arabs are direct descendants of these ancient peoples.
Was Arabia Green before?
Prehistoric Arabia was actually lush and green, drew early humans from Africa - The Washington Post.
Muslims believe that Jesus (called “Isa” in Arabic) was a prophet of God and was born to a virgin (Mary). They also believe he will return to Earth before the Day of Judgment to restore justice and defeat al-Masih ad-Dajjal, or “the false messiah” — also known as the Antichrist.
Some Muslim theologians also claimed the Paraclete (Greek New Testament) as Muhammad, although scholars identify it with the Holy Spirit.
Saudi Arabia is the home of two of Islam's holy sanctuaries: Makkah the Blessed and Madinah the Radiant. The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, enclosing the place from which the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven, completes the trio of venerated shrines in the Islamic world.
Muhammad is not mentioned explicitly or ;implicitly in the Bible, God's oldest written revelation (and the only written revelation as far as Christians are concerned). But Christ Jesus is found in the Quran. And what it says about Him places Ham far above the founder of Islam.
