In the south and west of the Arabian Peninsula many inhabitants—including Muhammad—lived in permanent settlements. But a large proportion of the population were nomadic Bedouins. On the origins of the word “Arab,” Mackintosh Smith points out that “for more of known history than not, the word has tended to mean tribal groups who live beyond the reach of settled society…it is certainly what they were during most of the second AD millennium.”[70] Consequently, the region was much less prone to a disease that was spread by flea-carrying rats, and the Roman and Persian Empires were weakened not
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