Tihamah

Tihamah or Tihama (Arabic: تِهَامَةُ Tihāmah) na di coastal plain wey dey for Red Sea side for inside Arabian Peninsula, e stretch from Gulf of Aqaba reach Bab el Mandeb.

Wetin di name mean

Tihāmat na word wey come from one old language wey dem dey call Proto-Semitic, e mean sea. For olden days, for Mesopotamia side, dem get one god wey dem dey call Tiamat (some people dey call am Tehom if na man version).Dis god na di god of sea and confusion. Dis same word still show for Hebrew Bible for Genesis 1:2, wey dem call təhōm, wey mean "primordial ocean" — di first big water wey cover di world, e still mean deep deep water or abyss.

History

Muhammad time

For di time wey Prophet Muhammad dey, many fight happen for dis Tihamah area. Some of di fight na Battle of Hamra al-Asad and di time wey dem go attack some caravan (caravan na group of traders wey dey waka together). Di raid wey dem do start for January 623 CE, some Muslim people begin dey attack di caravan wey dey pass di eastern side of Red Sea, from Mecca go Syrian area.

One time for one place wey dem call Ḥamra' al-Asad, Muhammad do agreement with one man wey dem dey call Mabad al-Khuzaah for Tihamah. Di agreement be say Mabad no go hide any important information from Muhammad. After di agreement, Muhammad send Mabad go Mecca to go confuse Abu Sufyan ibn Harb (one big man for Mecca) so e no go fight di Muslims. When Mabad reach Mecca, e tell Abu Sufyan say Muhammad don gather plenty soldiers wey ready to fight.

Abu Sufyan and him people been dey plan to do big attack wey go wipe Muslims finish, but as e hear di tori wey Mabad talk, fear catch am, so e no do di attack again.

Na so Muhammad take use Mabad waka to stop di wahala wey for happen.

How di place be

Tihamah area get two parts: Tihāmat Al-Ḥijaz – di northern side.

Tihāmat ʿAsīr – di southern side.

Di Yemeni side (Tihāmat Al-Yaman) na part of di southern side.

Di plain (flat land) no too wide, e wide pass small only for south of Medina and Mecca, e wide like 60 to 80 kilometers. Some big cities wey dey Tihamah for Hijaz side na Yanbu, Jeddah, and Al Qunfudhah. For di Asir and Yemeni side, di cities wey dey there na Jizan and Al Hudaydah.

Di heat for Tihamah no be small — di place hot well well, e fit be one of di hottest place for di whole world.

Di name Tihamah for Arabic self mean "serious heat and no breeze."

Most of di place near Red Sea no too friendly for people because of di heat and sand. For north of one Yemeni town wey dem dey call Zabid, trees no too dey there.

But for some small small area, you go see thick bush wey get one kind tree wey dem dey call Vachellia flava — dem believe say dat kind tree na di original tree wey full di whole Tihamah before.

You go still see another tree wey dem dey call Salvadora persica, some small small Balanites aegyptiaca trees, and some wild palm trees wey dem dey call doum palm (Hyphaene thebaica), plus date palm trees wey people plant.

Old things wey dem discover for di place

For Tihamah side, near one village wey dem dey call Al-Mutaynah, one archaeologist (person wey dey find old things) wey dem dey call Edward Keall wey dey work for Royal Ontario Museum for Canada, find more than sixteen big big stone (menhir).

Di stones na granite, some of dem heavy reach 20 tonnes (20,000 kg).

Three of di stone still stand for ground, dem reach like 8 feet (2.4 meters) tall. One wey don fall long reach 20 meters (66 feet).

Dem still find some old copper tools wey dem use dat time, dem believe say di tools na from between 2400 to 1800 BCE.

Dem even find older stone tools plus broken pots wey dem date go around 1200 to 800 BCE.