Gustav Lobon's Position on the Pre-Islamic Era in His Book Arab Civilization
Omar A. AL Fajjawi, Dr. Shadi Neimneh

Abstract
After scrutinizing Gustav Lobon's book Arab Civilization, the authors found many issues that need to be addressed, especially regarding what he says about Arabs and their life in the Pre-Islamic Era. The authors find it essential to both praise this man for what he said at times and respond to him at other times. While Lobon celebrated Arabs before Islam more than many Arab writers did and offered a reading of the pre-Islamic Era that demands our respect and admiration, he failed sometimes with respect to specific issues we will highlight and explicate in the course of this paper. However, this should not discredit the man or belittle the numerous virtues he cites in favor of this era and Arabs themselves. The authors find it adequate and necessary to explicate the good points Lobon briefly makes and to respond to his inaccuracies with both reasoned and logical arguments based on common sense and tradition. Suffice it to say that Lobon positively presents Arabs during the Pre-Islamic Era, for he logically denies their being savages and offers evidence to prove that they were adequate for carrying the responsibilities of the Islamic message to the whole world.

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