A POEM BY A LEGEND

ANTARH IBN SHADAD IS AN ARABIC LEGEND WHOM LIVED IN THE ARABIC PENINSULA BORN 525 AD AND DIED 628 AD. ONE OF THE MIGHTIEST HEROES AND POETS, HIS FATHER WAS THE A TRIBE LEADER FROM BANI ABBS AND HIS MOTHER WAS AN ETHIOPIAN SLAVE, HE WAS MADLY IN LOVE WITH HIS COUSIN ABBLAH WHOM HE WROTE SO MANY POEMS ABOUT, HE BECAME FREE AFTER SAVING HIS TRIBE FROM ANOTHER THAT TRIED TO OCCUPY THEIR LAND, HE FINALLY MARRIED HER AFTER A LONG HARDSHIPS TO PERSUADE HER FATHER, HE DIED FIGHTING FOR HIS TRIBE. HIS POEMS WHERE HUNG ON THE KABBAH AND WRITTEN IN GOLD WATER AS THE ARABS DID FOR THE GREAT POETS. THIS IS ONE OF HIS SHORT POEMS ' OH DOVE YOU INFLAMED MY SORROW', HE WROTE THIS POEMS AFTER HIS LOVE LEFT WITH HER FAMILY, SO HE SAT UNDER A TREE AND HEARD THIS DOVE SINGING.

OH DOVE YOU INFLAMED MY SORROW, AND FILLED ME WITH PAIN

IF YOU ARE WEEPING FOR YOUR LOVE THAT LEFT, THEN WE CRY FOR THE SAME CAUSE

INCREASE YOUR WAILING AND MAKE ME HAPPY WITH SADNESS UNTIL YOU SEE WONDERS OUT FLOWING FROM MY EYES

STOP AND SEE WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME,DO NOT BE HASTY BUT BE CAREFUL FROM MY FLAMING BERTH

(1)NOW FLY OVER THE LAND OF HIJAZ . MAY BE YOU WILL SEE A CARAVAN NEAR ALIJ OR BEFORE NOAMAN.

HAVING A CRYING LADY WITH TEARS OF LONGING FOR FAR AWAY HOME AND NEIGHBORS

I BEG YOU OH DOVE , IF YOU SEE THEM OBITUARY ME

AND TELL THEM THAT I HAVE LEFT HIM FALLEN , HIS TEARS HAVE FINISHED AND HE IS CRYING BLOOD NOW.

(1) HIJAZ IS THE OLD NAME OF SAUDI ARABIA NOW
ALIJ IS A PLACE NORTH OF THE PENINSULA
NOAMAN IS PLACE SOUTH WEST OF THE PENINSULA


  

THE HISTORY OF ARAB- AMERICAN RELATIONS

I gathered information from Arabic and American sources to summarize this important history, you can always refer to prof, Thomas A. Byson west Georgia college, whom wrote a  book entitled          " United States, Middle East diplomatic relations 1784-1978."

After the American independence in 1776, the young republic found itself having two major  difficulties, first was international recognition because of the British pressure world wide, and second the sea trade routs were dominated by the Europeans. It all started to look better in 1777 only one year after independence, when Sultan Mohammad bin Abdullah the third, Sultan of Morocco recognized the United States and was the first in the world to do so. In 1778 Morocco and the United States had signed the friendship treaty which was the first to be signed by the United States (still valid to date).
George Washington wrote a letter to the Sultan thanking him( called him emperor instead of sultan) and telling him that he is an ally for the years to come, and the Sultan replied to him with 2 Arabic horses as a gift handed to the American chancellor in Tangiers Mr James Laibe.

In 1784 the congress appointed Benjamin Franklin , Thomas Jefferson and John Adams as a special committee to establish commercial relations with the North African Emirates ( Algeria,Tunisia and Tripoli). Things did not go well as with Morocco ,( it was then when Thomas Jefferson thought of building the U.S navy to secure the trade routes to North Africa) but they finally succeeded  to make relations with Algeria in 1795. Tunisia 1797 and Tripoli 1806, in fact the United States declared the first war against Tripoli in 1801.
The fifth Arabic country the Americans signed a treaty of friendship and commerce was the Sultanate of Oman in 1833 and the Sultan Sayed bin Saeed sent the first ambassador to the United States in April 1840 on board the sail ship Sultana and the ambassador name was Ahmed bin Noaman, whom was the first ever Arabic ambassador in the United States.

This is a brief history of the ups and downs in the relations between the two nations,history that might not be known by a lot of people, but our friendship goes more back in time than any other nation in the history of the United States of America.