Before Islam. Ancient peoples knew the Arabian peninsula as Arabia Felix, or happy Arabia. Such a description originates from the heavy presence of Arabian merchants in Mediterranean ports. These merchants traded rare and exotic products imported from places like East Africa, India, and China. The southern part of the Arabian peninsula (present-day Yemen and Oman) is home to the frankincense plant, an aromatic shrub whose resin was burned in official and religious ceremonies. Ancient trade in this product was widespread, including China and Greece. It would be misleading to describe the whole of the peninsula as "Happy Arabia" or to imagine that most of its inhabitants were merchants. Arabian society was as complex and varied as the environment in which it evolved. These social and geographic variations eventually influenced later Islamic societies throughout western Asia and North Africa. Indeed...