[Cronos]

well the term "Arab" in it's original sense wouldb e those limited to Arabia Felix during Roman times -- the Bedouins. However, most of the people who call themselves Arabs now are not Arab or just a small percentage of their bloodline may be arab -- egyptians are copts, Syrians are Aramaics, Iraqis are assyrian, etc. Even Yemenis are descendents of the Sabaen and other cultures (queen of sheba) including ethiopian.

Also, the cities in Arabia felix were dominated by outsiders -- Mecca and Medina had significant Jewish populations (as they were traders) along with Ethiopians (remember that Yemen was part of the Ethiopian empire for centuries and just years before Mohammed's birth, the Ethiopians had nearly conquered Mecca). There were also many Gnostics and Nestorian Christians who fled the Roman Empire.

[buffaloKiller]

Thanks for the info.
I am aware of all that data but did not want to go into such detail in my original post as the historical error posted was more glaring than that much detail would resolve.
Good to know that there are other folks on FR that have such in-depth historical perspective,