"The Arabian Empire"

In the comments section of the previous post, Bar Kochba said:

"...wondering where Ishmael/ Persia comes in to the equation."

So continuing with the Maharal from Ner Mitzvah:

Some ask why Scripture excludes the great and mighty empire of Yishmael (the Arabian empire). In answer to this we maintain, that the Arabian empire is not mentioned since Scripture is only concerned with those empires who inherited Yisrael's elevated and Kodesh royal power. The four world empires would never have ascended, had the empire of Yisrael not declined. The Arabs, however, did not inherit their power to rule from Yisrael; the Holy One directly bestowed it upon them, in their own right. They are the seed of Avraham, and the Holy One accepted Avraham's prayer that Yishmael should not perish (Breishit 17/20). Hence, Scripture is not concerned with the Arabian empire; only with the four world empires who inherited their power from Yisrael, and who will eventually return this power to Yisrael.

In addition to this it also appears valid that the Arabian empire is included within the Persian empire, the second of the empires. Although the Rabbis state that the second empire is Paras, specifically, they do not mean just Paras. Indeed, Paras is never explicitly mentioned in the verse in Daniel. What the Rabbis really mean to say is that Paras is included within the category of 'second world empires', and the main member of this category.