"To be Arab meant nothing more than living on the Arabian peninsula," (Wise Bauer pg. 193). In 510 Arabia consists of many differing peoples. The peninsula consisted of mainly desert and uninhabitable oil reservoirs, which perhaps contributed to disunity of the land. Arabia seemed to consist of mainly two people groups who lived in constant competition and disregard of each others lifestyles. These groups were the Bedouins (nomadic tribes) or urban peoples. Many differing religions wrestled for Arabian consensus,such as Nestorius Christianity, or traditional deities. The echo of a common ancestry and ancient history remained the sole connecting factors of the many different Arabian peoples. For example, tribes would venture to an ancient shrine called the Ka'aba. An unwritten code of law respected by all Arabian tribes prohibited war anywhere in a twenty mile radius of this ancient. Some common strand of DNA could be found deep in minds of these seemingly unconnected Arabian tribes.
This scene to me seems as a recipe with all the right ingredients set out, but with no one cook present to put them together. Here stands these large stretch of land, yet there remains no united peoples to defend it. The Arabian tribes seem to be crying out for a strong leader to draw upon their common piece of ancient history and present the peninsula with a common ideology which is strictly Arabian in nature. For you have in every tribe deep sense of 'arab-ness', but one would not have to face the problems of taking over a central form of military.
Good comments, Ben. Well done.
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