The Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTNH) has rejected claims by an Egyptian historian regarding the history of the Arabian Peninsula and its civilizations which date back to 3000 years B.C.
In a video recorded at a seminar in Morocco, the Egyptian writer and historian, Youssef Zeidan, said that there had never been a civilization in the Arabian Peninsula and that Arab civilizations were limited to those in Fez, Damascus and Baghdad rather than in the Peninsula.
Zeidan added that the people in the center of the Peninsula were not known for the Arabic language since Arabic, according to him, came from Yemen. He said that there had never been any scholar of Arabic from the Arabian Peninsula.
In response to Zeidan’s statements, the SCTNH said Makkah was where the Arabic language developed as it was the place where languages from the north and those from the south came together.
According to the SCTNH, studies have shown the existence of links between the Arabian Peninsula, Mesopotamia, the Levant and Egypt from approximately 3000 B.C.
The SCTNH has confirmed that a number of important early trade routes were in the center of the Arabian Peninsula. It was also home to the Kingdom of Kindah, whose existence dates from the second century B.C.
The SCTNH has said that Zeidan’s claims regarding the civilization of the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula is an attempt to ignore facts concerning the Arabic language used by millions of Arabs today.
The SCTNH response was accompanied by a number of reactions on Twitter where the majority questioned the accuracy of Zeidan’s clams.
The Saudi researcher and anthropologist, Eid Al-Yahya, also reacted to Zeidan’s clams on the TV show “Tafauulkum” on Al-Arabiya. “We would not have the Arabic language without the people of the Arabian Peninsula and their civilizations,” he said.
He also said that Zeidan lacked knowledge pertaining to the Arabian Peninsula.
One of the Twitter reactions was from the UAE poet Sultan Al-Ameemi. He also questioned Zeidan’s knowledge and cited the oldest Arabic inscription which dates to the fifth century; it was discovered in the north of Najran in what is now Saudi Arabia. He said Zeidan lacked information and knowledge of Al-Khalil Al-Farahidi, one of the earliest Arabic language scholars who compiled the first Arabic dictionary and who was from the Arabian Peninsula.

Source: Arab News