C'mon Firaxis, Japan, Arabia and Spain only have one leader? The solution is a patch!

[The Fishman]

Harun-al-Rashid for Arabia. He was certainly one of the most cultured leaders of the Islamic Golden Age, and was famous throughout the western world, so he should be creative/charismatic.
I wouldn't want Abu Bakr (ra) in a video game, I think its sacreligious to turn him into a plaything. Plus you would have to declare war on Arabia at some point, and I would never want to say 'I would like your head on a pole' to Farooq-e-Azam.

 

[The Almighty dF]

Why not an Arabian leader from before Islam took over the land?
You could truly have a Phi/Ind leader then, as the area was basically the home of scientific thought for the longest time.

 

[The Fishman]

Why not an Arabian leader from before Islam took over the land?
You could truly have a Phi/Ind leader then, as the area was basically the home of scientific thought for the longest time.

There is not as much documented history from that period, but there were some powerful civilisations in southern Arabia and Yemen, including the Aad people, who built an enormous dam. The civilisation was destroyed when the dam burst. There were also Helenistic civilisations in the north who built the underground settlements of Jordan such as Petra.
Perhaps the most famous pre-Islamic Arabian leader is the Queen of Sheba, who either ruled Yemen or Ethiopia.

In general though, before Islam Arabia was a rather weak peripheral area on the border between Rome and Persia.

 

[Hasuike]

There is not as much documented history from that period, but there were some powerful civilisations in southern Arabia and Yemen, including the Aad people, who built an enormous dam. The civilisation was destroyed when the dam burst.

I would love to play a civ that sows the seeds of their own destruction in such an obvious and tragic manner

 

[BakingTheArt]

Yep, it would be perfect for me.

...

*Cries*

 

[The Fishman]

I would love to play a civ that sows the seeds of their own destruction in such an obvious and tragic manner

Correction: It was the Himyarites that were destroyed by the dam burst, not the Aad, who were destroyed by a number of natural catastrophes including a storm and the collapse of a cavern under the city of Ubar.

 

[The Almighty dF]

Correction: It was the Himyarites that were destroyed by the dam burst, not the Aad, who were destroyed by a number of natural catastrophes including a storm and the collapse of a cavern under the city of Ubar.

That describes so many of my cities since BtS.
So many.
So... so many.