The Biblical Event and the Ancient Near East The Complete Works Volume 4

Description

“The problem left behind by Dr. Salibi lies not primarily in the content of his theory, but rather in the ahistorical methodology he applied to such a sensitive historical issue. Unsubstantiated claims made by a prominent historian can lead to more pitfalls and confusion than to truths that contribute to the advancement of history and archaeology in this region of the world today.”

This book presents a critical perspective on Kamal Salibi’s book, “The Bible Came from Arabia,” which asserts that the history of the Jews and the Torah originates in the Arabian Peninsula, specifically in Asir and the western region overlooking the Red Sea, and not in Palestine as commonly believed. This theory is based on linguistic studies of the original and historical names of regions in the Arabian Peninsula, comparing them to the regions mentioned in the Torah and where the Jewish kingdoms were established. From this perspective, Firas al-Sawah attempts to study this linguistic approach to tracing the origin of the biblical event, comparing it to the archaeological method he employed in his study. He also discusses the dilemma arising from his question regarding the historical credibility of the biblical event, based on archaeological discoveries and their denial of the event’s historicity, versus the approach of al-Salibi, which begins with the acceptance of the biblical event’s historicity, thus shifting the question to its geographical context.