H. Abdul Al-Dahir
Biblical texts are layered narratives which were written during the Iron Age beginning circa 700 BCE. Much of these narratives began as oral traditions which were recorded when writing was invented in the various cultures in which these stories appeared. When these oral tales were recorded, the authors added elements to the original narrative that were contemporary with the times and circumstances in which the authors lived. Genesis, for example, contains fragments of narratives that range from the Early Bronze Age Arabian Peninsula, from the Predynastic to Iron Age Egypt, and from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age kingdoms of the Levant. This time line extends over a period of 3000 years, from 3000 BCE to the First Century CE.
It appears from the narratives in the Book of Genesis that Abraham originated as an Early Bronze Age South Arabian religious figure who was involved in the incense trade. The particular element that dates the story to the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula is the mention of Abraham’s herd of camels in Genesis 24. Camels were domesticated in the Arabian Peninsula around 3000 BCE suggesting use by the 3rd millennium BCE in the Arabian Peninsula. However, domesticated camels only appeared in Canaan/the southern Levant by around 930–900 BCE, a fact which dates Abraham to the Early Bronze Age Arabian Peninsula. If Abraham had lived around 900 BCE, he would have been a contemporary of David, an historical impossibility since Abraham was a distant ancestor of David.
Other elements of this Bronze Age story besides Abraham’s camel herds, include his connection to the ancient city and trading port of Hagar (Gerrha to the Greeks) as well as his status as a patriarch of the Arabian caravan tribes. As his story moved north with the caravan tribes and settlers from the Arabian peninsula, a northerly interpretation was layered onto the original tale. These later interpretations placed Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees. The Chaldeans were an Iron age tribe that settled in Mesopotamia around 900 BCE which makes the tribe a contemporary of David and not of Abraham.
According to the bibloical Book of Genesis, Abraham aka Abram, was a descendant of incense horticulturalists from the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. These incense growers cultivated and traded in frankincense and myrrh. These incense growers were also merchants. According to Genesis, they were the biblical descendants of Eber (meaning ‘sweet smelling’ aka perfume/incense). Furthermore, Genesis lists Eber as the patriarch of the incense tribes in Arabia who were Joktan (Qahtan), son of Eber, who had thirteen sons who became progenitors of ancient Arabian peoples and regions, including Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth (Minean kingdom), Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba (Sabean kingdom), Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab
Eber was also the biblical ancestor of Abraham and Sheba (Sabeans) whose biblical ancestry was: Shem -> Arpachshad -> Shelah -> Eber -> Peleg -> Reu -> Serug -> Nahor (Abraham’s grandfather) -> Terah (Azar in the Quran or Abraham’s father) -> Abraham.
Abraham is specifically mentioned as an incense merchant in Gen 14:13: “And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew (Hebri in Hebrew or incense merchant); for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederates with Abram.”
Here is Strong’s Hebrew & Greek Bible Dictionary’s definition of Eber/Abar: 5674 `abar/aw-bar’: a primitive root; to cross over;…sweet smelling, take (away), (make to) transgress(-or), translate,….
Abraham is also listed as the father of the incense merchants in Canaan and in the Arabian Peninsula.
1) According to Genesis, incense merchants in Canaan were from the tribe of Isaac who federated with the Arameans when he married Rebecca daughter of the Aramean Laban who owned a large herd of camels. Laban means ‘milky’ or ‘whitey’ and frankincense is harvested as a white, milky, sticky sap that bleeds from incisions in Boswellia trees. The Arameans, alongside other North Arabian groups like the Dedanites, Lihyanites, and especially the Nabataeans, were crucial middlemen, controlling sections of the vast Incense Routes that transported frankincense and myrrh from Southern Arabia to the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, growing rich from taxing these luxury goods.
2) Incense merchants whose trade routes biblical authors thought to be primarily on the West Coast toward the Levant & Egypt were the Ishmaelites (aka Midianites as well as Hagarites/Hagarenes to the Biblical authors) who were Nebaioth (Nabataeans), Qedar (Qedarites), Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadar, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. The Ishmaelite/Midianite trade with Egypt explains why biblical authors identified Hagar (Ishmael’s mother) as an Egyptian
3) Incense merchants whose primary trade routes biblical authors thought to be on the East Coast toward Hagar (Gerrha aka area around Bahrain) & Mesopotamia were the Qatarites (aka modern day Qatar-from Abraham’s 3rd wife, Qtwrh meaning perfume) who are listed as the tribes of Zimran, Jokshan (Qahtan Arabs – Sheba (Sabeans) and Dedan or modern AlUla, Medan, Midian (Midianites confuserd with Ishmaelites in Gen 37), Ishbak, and Shuah
Abram was Abram Hebri or literally, Abram the Incense Merchant. And not just an incense merchant, but a merchant of incense who was dedicated to Allah (swt) and who built the Kaba (Surah Al-Baqarah (2), Verse 127, and also in Surah Al-Hajj (22), Verse 26, and Surah Al-Imran (3), Verse 96). In the language of Old South Arabian (Sayhadic), the term ha’ebri means to ‘offer/dedicate to a god’. Abraham dedicated himself to Allah (swt) when he circumcised himself and his son, Ismail and then built the Kaba in Mecca, which was not only a sacred house of worship, but also a major stop on the incense trade route.