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Omar occurs also in the bible Genesis 36:11 The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam and Kenaz. Genesis 36:15: These were the chiefs among Esau's descendants: The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: Chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, Chronicles 1:36 - same as Genesis 36:11 The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam and Kenaz;

In this web posting by Charles Kent Smith, former president of the American Names Society, he claims the popularity of Omar as the name of Americans in the 19th century (as in Omar Bradley) is due to the popularity of poems like the Rubaiyat. They are named after the famed poet Omar Khayyam, much the same way the names Homer or Milton or Virgil came into ...

Short answer Pre-Islamic Arabians were polytheistic, worshiping 360 gods; the chief god was the moon-god. They later became monotheistic because of Muhammad. Long answer In 1944, Gertrude Caton-Thompson (1888-1885), an influential English archaeologist, discovered a temple of the moon-god in southern Arabia. The symbols of the crescent moon and no less ...

There were sadly few writers of the Arab world who wrote in French until 1945. There were, however, lots of French writers who wrote about the Arab culture. My preferred one is René Guénon, also known as Shaykh `Abd al-Wahid Yahya. On the other side, the French culture influenced a lot of francophile writers. In Lebanon nowadays a lot of writers write in ...

I have recently written an answer to the question you have linked. There I explain in detail how, alongside preexisting polytheistic religions, the Arabic Peninsula was largely monopolized by Judaism and Christianity by the 5th century. The structure of religious belief was then not different from that of other countries of the time. By the 6th century, ...

I take your question as "just before the advent of Muhammad." Therefore I will not delve into ancient history, and limit the answer to late-antiquity and early Middle Ages. First of all we have to note that people in the Arabic Peninsula could (and can) be divided geographically between the (mostly) arid North (notwithstanding oases and narrow coastal ...

I'd put it down to zeal - the Rashidun Muslim armies were literally fearless and welcomed death. Any reference to Muslim armies of the period by Rome/Persia noted their fearlessness. There was a strong sense of camaraderie down command chain, in that the lower ranks of soldiers knew what they were fighting for. Compare this to the Persian system which ...

A good point of departure is the wiki page on the Rashidun Army, which gives an overview of early Islamic infantry and cavalry. Also, the Military Legacy section of the Khalid ibn al-Walid wiki entry has some great info on the organization and makeup of his armies. The "Mobile Guard" is especially famous - the exceptionally quick Islamic light cavalry.