Arabia experienced the most intense drought for thousands of years in the early sixth century to destabilize the then-ruling Himyarite Empire. However, this situation provided an opportunity for Islam to develop rapidly.
A new study reveals that severe drought in the homeland of Islam may have played a big role, contributing to destabilization which means new ideas have a chance to thrive.
One hundred years after the death of Jesus, the number of followers of Christianity is still small. In contrast, it took less than 50 years since the emergence of Islam to become the dominant religion in much of the world.
A paper published in Science, argues this is a product of the unstable environment in southern Arabia, contributing to climatic conditions.
"Whether these conditions intersect with meteorological phenomena or divine intervention, this is beyond the reach of the author," wrote Stephen Luntz, who has a background in English Literature and History and Philosophy of Science and a Graduate Diploma in Science Communication, quoted from IFL Science, Sunday. (19/8/2022).
In the third to sixth centuries, the Himyars dominated what is now Yemen. Dams and terraced hillsides marked an irrigation system far ahead of its time, turning the semi-desert region into a rich food-producing area and expanding its influence across Arabia.
In the sixth century, a series of crises weakened the Himyarite Kingdom until it was conquered by Aksum (now Ethiopia), although the Red Sea lay between them. Destabilization raged throughout Arabia. The Himyarite problem is poorly understood by historians.
A professor named Dominik Fleitmann tried to explain why. According to him, at that time the growth rate of stalagmites varied with rainfall over the cave, because each drop that reached the roof of the cave carried more dissolved calcite to add to the bottom of the cave upon landing. The ratio of the oxygen isotopes in the rock, provides more information about the climatic conditions at the time the material was laid.
"Even with the naked eye you can see from the stalagmites that there must have been a very dry period lasting decades," Fleitmann said in a statement.
Closer inspection later confirmed the occurrence of the most intense drought in 2,650 years of stalagmite growth. On the other hand, the dating of stalagmite deposits is far too imprecise to pinpoint the exact date of this extreme drought, but the proportion of uranium that decays from the dry period puts it at the beginning of the sixth century.
Fleitmann looked to historical sources and nearby climate proxies for other indications of the Arab climate at the time. Among the sources that Fleitmann uses are data on the water level of the Dead Sea over time, and the deposition of dust on Lake Neor, Iran.
Everything points to a drought around AD 520 that hit the Middle East. By 520 C.E., the Siloam springs in Jerusalem were reported to have dried up. In Turkey, meanwhile, rain increased as the eastern Mediterranean storm's path shifted north.
"Water is absolutely the most important resource. It is clear that decreased rainfall and especially a few years of extreme drought could destabilize the vulnerable semi-desert kingdom," said Fleitmann.
Fleitmann believes the Himyarite Kingdom's irrigation system may be particularly vulnerable. It takes tens of thousands of workers to carry out the ongoing maintenance that the system requires, so anything that compromises health or water availability can trigger devastating losses in food production.
At the same time, war broke out between the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires, so the trade area was disrupted. The kingdom fell in AD 525, and Arabia suffered from war and poverty for the next century.
"People are experiencing great hardship due to hunger and war. This means Islam meets fertile land, people are looking for new hope, something that can unite people again as a society. And Islam which became a new religion at that time offered this," concluded Fleitmann.