That's the popularized tale. Been a long while since I last saw something of this, but it looks like they got it elsewhere. Some even argue this was lost knowledge contained in the library of Alexandria.
It's also important to understand Arab means mixed. Most arabs are mixed of caucasain and something else. Meaning they are a branch from us. The current middle eastern populations do not accurately reflect the populations several thousand years ago. Though pockets in Iran are much closer than the general case. The whole region used to be much whiter. In fact, Iran was once land of the Aryan.
Arabs in those days were very very different from the thawb-wearing creeps in the House of Saud. It was a catch-all term for migratory traders from the regions South of Constantinople.
The word itself is Hebrew and means "mixed." Arabs in the day generally meant a mix of caucasian (Scythian, Aryan, Hebrew, Phoenician, Greek, Roman, etc...) and another non-white tribe. But could have meant other too. The people of Iran today are fairly close (much less white today because of many generations of interbreeding) approximations of what were commonly thought of Arabs back in the day.
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