16.03.

2020
Worksheet 6: Muhammad and Tribal Reforms:
Good morning,
This worksheet discusses the life and times of Muhammad:
At the time of Muhammad's birth, Mecca was one of the most prosperous caravan cities.
However, Mecca was still tied to the traditional social and religious life of the Arabian world.
In other words, it was governed by the tribal societies of the desert. Membership in the tribe
was determined by blood descent. In such an order, the interests of the individual were always
subordinate to those of the group or tribe. Each tribe worshiped its own gods in the form of
objects from nature (moon, sky, dog, cat, ram) but all Arabs worshiped one object in common:
the Kaaba, a large black stone enshrined at Mecca. It was the Kaaba that made Mecca
significant as a place of worship and pilgrimage.

The Arabs were polytheists. The pattern of their religion was simple - the Arabs did not,
for example, provide their gods with expensive housing such as was standard in the Fertile
Crescent, and so far as we know they developed little in the way of a religious mythology.
But simple as it was, such indications as we have suggest that it had been remarkably
stable over a long period; thus Allat, a goddess prominent in the time of Muhammad, is
already attested by Herodotus in the fifth century BC. In the centuries preceding the life
of Muhammad, however, external influences were beginning to disturb this ancient
polytheism. Predominantly, this influence was monotheist; despite the Persian hegemony,
the impact of Zoroastrianism seems to have been slight outside the north-east. [Michael
Cook, Muhammad (Oxford: OUP, 1983).

Life of Muhammad:
Muhammad was born into the Arab tribe of Quraysh in the southern Hijaz. Quraysh are
defined as the descendants in the male line of a certain Fihr ibn Malik, who lived eleven
generations before Muhammad. They were a noble lineage, but not at first a particularly
successful one. For several generations they lived scattered among a wider tribal grouping,
and did not function as a political unit. Nor did they possess a territorial centre; Mecca, a
local sanctuary of great antiquity, was in other hands. Five generations before Muhammad,
this situation was remedied by an enterprising member of the tribe called Qusayy. He put
together an alliance, and by war and diplomacy obtained possession of the Meccan
sanctuary. He was then able to ingather his scattered fellow-tribesmen and to settle them
in Mecca. They held him in such respect that he was virtually their king - a position which
was not enjoyed by any of his descendants. Thus was established the society into which
Muhammad was born. [Michael Cook, Muhammad (Oxford: OUP, 1983).

As a youth, Muhammad worked as a merchant's assistant, traveling the major trade routes of
the Peninsula. When he was 25, a rich widow named Khadija recruited him to care for her
trading business and he led a caravan to Syria. he married the widow of a wealthy merchant.

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He also became a kind of social activist, critical of Meccan materialism, paganism, and the
unjust treatment of the poor and needy.

Muhammad left Meccan society and lived a life of isolation in the desert. In 610, and at the age
of 40, while praying in a cave Muhammad received a message as embarked on his role as the
prophet of Allah. He received his first revelation and began to preach. He believed his
revelations came directly from God. These revelations grew into the Qur'an which his followers
compiled between 650 and 651. The basic message Muhammad received was a summons to
all Arabs to submit to God's will. Islam means "submission to the will of God." But in the
beginning, nobody listened his preaching. In fact, they began to oppose his ideas. Because of
strong opposition in Mecca he was forced to leave Mecca and flee to Medina with his followers.
This was the Hegira in 622, from which date beings the Islamic ear of time reckoning. But
gradually, many tribes accepted the new faith. They accepted not only Islam but helped defeat
the uprising of a local leaders. (prophet Al-Aswad).

Like Judaism, Islam was a monotheistic and theocratic religion, not a Trinitarian one like
Christianity. The basic beliefs of Muhammad's religion were (1) that God is good and
omnipotent, (2) that God will judge all men on the last day and assign them their place in either
Heaven or Hell, (3) that men should thank God for making the world as it is, (4) that God
expects men to be generous with their wealth, and (5) that Muhammad was a prophet sent by
God to teach men and warn them of the last judgment.

For Muhammad, there were also five obligations which were essential to his faith: (1) the
profession of faith – there is no God but Allah and Muhammad was the last prophet, (2) prayers
had to be given five times daily, (3) the giving of alms, or charity, (4) fasting, and (5) the
pilgrimage to Mecca. These laws are recorded in the Qur'an, a book which contains all of the
revelations of Muhammad.

But Muhammad's faith was totally rejected by the authorities at Mecca. It should be obvious
that the merchants at Mecca would have objected to Muhammad's belief – actually a profession
of faith – that men should be generous with their wealth. The authorities tried to quiet
Muhammad and so he left for the northern city of Medina in the year 622. The journey to
Medina – the hegira (the "breaking of former ties") – became the true foundation of the Islamic
faith. The hegira also marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. At Medina, Muhammad
created an Islamic community. Besides the profession of faith, Muhammad also specified that

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at his community there would be strict rules governing diet; wine, gambling and usury were
prohibited; he set up his own legal system; and prohibited infanticide. After settling in Medina,
his followers began to attack the caravans on their way to and from Mecca. By 624 his army
was powerful enough to conquer Mecca and make it the center of the new religion.

Muhammad carried longer raids. The Muslims met with Meccan Resistance but were
successful. The Muslims won a tremendous booty. Muhammad's prestige received a
tremendous boost because he had proved himself a successful military leader.

Foundation of the Islamic State:

Muhammad's success started attracting more and more tribes to him. His consolidation of
power over the other tribes also shows that he was tremendously aware of political realities.

The Meccans found Muhammad intolerable because they feared that it might disrupt their
system of trade. They also resented the attack on their whole way of life, particularly
Muhammad's attack on usury. They saw Muhammad as a political threat because he claimed
to derive his authority straight from God.
In 620 A.D. Muhammad had begun a dialogue with a delegation from Medina and in 622 after
prolonged negotiation, they pledged physical protection to Muhammad and his followers.
Thereafter, Muslims began to emigrate to Medina. Muhammad left secretly because he feared
that the Meccans might stop him from leaving by assassinating him. He reached Medina on the
twenty-fourth of September 622. The importance of this event is symbolized by the decision to
begin the Islamic calendar from this year. The calendar came to be known as the hijri calendar.

Medina was not a compact commercial centre like Mecca. But Medina was a prosperous date
growing oasis. A group of powerful and influential Jews were settled in the oases. Therefore,
Medina attracted various tribal groups. Due to the wealth and absence of a state system Medina
experienced occasional inter-tribal warfare. The laws of the dessert exacted a life for life. A
tribe maintained and defended itself by force. Since it was neither a trading centre nor a
religious one, there had been little incentive to work out a system of communal peace. The
major task before Muhammad and his followers was to establish trading activities in Medina.
They could not turn to date palm cultivation since they were not trained in agriculture.

The Ummah of Medina was a heterogeneous group united no longer by blood ties but by their
religion and acted as a large tribe with Muhammad as their chief. Other tribes joined this
community by either becoming Muslim or in some cases by entering into a treaty relationship

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according to which they paid tax in return for protection. Muslims began to emigrate to Medina.
But the trading activity of Muhammad's community challenged the commercial interests of the
Meccan traders. Muhammad began to raid the caravans going to Mecca.

In 624 a large caravan going to Mecca was attacked. The Muslims were successful and gained
a large booty. Muhammad kept one-fifth of it as leader to be spent on community affairs. The
rest was distributed among the Muslims. Muhammad's prestige received a tremendous boost
when he proved himself a successful military leader. It was also seen as a confirmation of the
truth of his mission. More Arabs began to convert. But there was a conflict between the Jews
and Arabs in Medina. To defend Medina from Meccan attack, Muhammad tried consolidated
and strengthen his position. In this context, a clan of Jews were expelled with their families.
Muhammad also ordered the Muslims to now face the Ka'ba when they prayed.

In 625 A. D. a major attack was launched by the Meccans to destroy the Muslims. But
Muhammad defeated them. Muhammad's success attracted more tribes to him. The Meccans
realized that they would have to reach a compromise with the Muslims. Muhammad himself
was not interested in destroying the Meccan trade and must have realised that any prolongation
of conflict would destroy the trade throughout the peninsula. He made a gesture towards the
Meccans by trying to go to the Ka'ba to perform Hajj. Finally, a truce was arranged and Mecca
surrendered without a fight in 630 A.D. Once he had the control of Mecca more tribes joined
him. It was after the fall of Mecca that he started insisting on conversions. But he did not cease
to make alliances with tribes, particularly the distant and the powerful ones, with no religious
strings attached.
Islam established a new basis for unity and demanded explicit religious consciousness
but it was also satisfied many of the political, cultural, economic and social and psychological
needs of the Arabs. It gave a new meaning to the old idea of group solidarity which longed to
test its strength against outsiders.

Muhammad died in 632 and his death presented his followers with a series of profound
problems. He never claimed to be of divine origin yet his loyal followers saw no reason to
separate religious and political authority. Submitting to the will of Allah was no different than
submitting to the will of Muhammad. Unfortunately, Muhammad never named a successor.
Who would lead the faithful? Soon after his death, some of his followers selected Abu Bakr, a
wealthy merchant and Muhammad's father-in-law as caliph, or temporal leader.

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Factors leading to the Rise of Islam: Historiographical Debates: What were the bonds that
united the Arabian tribes into this new political entity-Islam? One should go beyond the simple
definition; considering the religious motivation as the factor uniting the tribal groups.
Continuous debate over this topic. Because Islam was a phenomenon in which cultural,
economic and religious factors were completely intermixed. The mission of Muhammad was
to unify the various sections of the Arab society according to new principle of solidarity.

Historian W M Watt (M. Watt, Mohammad: Prophet and Statesman) consider the Meccan
trade as the ultimate cause of the rise of Islam. Watt argued that the transition to a mercantile
economy undermined the traditional order in Mecca, generating a social and moral conditions
in which Muhammad's preaching received widespread responses. The emergence of Mecca as
a caravan trade centre undermined the tribal traditions of society. Increasing wealth led to
greater individualism and a consequent increase in social stratification. Muhammad stressed
the obligation of the rich to the poor. But his career in Mecca was not successful. He was forced
to make his famous journey to Medina -the overpopulated tribal oasis. Muhammad served as a
mediator in Medina to solve tribal issues. His community-umma- the Islamic community
emerged as a solution to the smaller local conflicts. [We can term Watt’s explanation as the
trade theory to explain the rise of Islam]

At the same time, many historians disagree with Watt's explanation. For them Meccan trade
was not enough to destabilize traditional kinship relationship. There is no evidence to prove
the growth of Caravan trade in the seventh century. Similarly, the factional politics in Medina
was 'normal' and did not represent some sudden breakdown of kinship ties.

They argued that the most important development in the seventh century was the emergence of
two powerful empires- Byzantium and Persia. This annoyed the Arabs who were united by
strong ties of ethnic identity. These two empires had dominant ideologies of monotheistic
religions. It is quite possible that some Arabs felt inferior in the presence of stricter and more
respectable belief system.

Muhammad claimed the Abrahamic tradition of Arabian tribes and his message was
monotheistic. This message was poorly received in Mecca. But Muhammad succeeded in
unifying different tribes in Medina and turned them into a potent military weapon.

Historian Patricia Crone argued that trade theory does not have historical standing. Because
the Meccans traded in humble products rather than luxury goods. Crone argues that the tribal
systems continued even after Muhammad. The Meccans preferred their traditional way of life

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to Islam. Third, Crone observes that it was in Medina rather than Mecca that Muhammad's
message was accepted. In Mecca, Muhammad was only a would- be prophet, and if he stayed
in Mecca, that is what he would have remained. It was outside Mecca, first in Medina and then
elsewhere in Arabia, that the idea of Monotheism was accepted. Not in Mecca.

Success of Muhammad's message outside Mecca: Scholars generally identify social changes
and spiritual crisis in Arabia with the emergence of Islam. They connect the rapid spread of
Islam with a fundamental social change- socio- economic change accompany spiritual crisis. It
is our task to identify the nature of this crisis. The began to ask certain questions; what was the
ultimate destiny of man? Was death the end?

Patricia Crone observe that the basic point to note in the context of pre-Islamic Arabia is that
tribal gods were ultimate sources of phenomenon observable in this world, not ultimate truths
regarding the nature and meaning of life.

Crone argues that the mass conversion of Arabia to Islam does not testify to any spiritual crisis,
religious decadence, or decline of pagan belief. Paganism continued in Arabia even after the
rise of Islam. For Crone, a programme of Arab state formation and conquest was central to the
rise of Islam. Muhammad was a prophet with a political mission. He monotheism amounted to
a political programme. The turning point of Muhammad's career as a prophet came when he
began openly to attack the ancestral gods of his own tribe.

By doing this he attacked the very foundation of his own tribe (Quraysh). In denouncing his
own ancestors, he had demonstrated that his God was incompatible with tribal division as they
existed; and this incompatibility arose from the fact that his God, unlike that of the Christians
was both monotheist and and an ancestral deity.

Allah was the one and only God of Abraham, the ancestor of the Arabs; and it was around
ancestral deities that tribal groups were traditionally formed. It follows that it was around Allah,
and Allah alone, that the Arabs should be grouped. For the first time in Arabian history,
Muhammad and his successors could politically unify the region.

An alternative hypothesis would be that Islam originated as a nativist movement, or in other

words as a primitive reaction to alien domination; north African, Iranian, and European
colonisations. But nativist movements are primitive in the sense that those who engage in them
are people without political organization. This was true in the context of Muhammad's Arabia.
This movement had a tendency to take a religious form. The leaders usually claim to be
prophets or God himself. But they usually fail to formulate a political programme. This would

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help them to reassert their native identity. But Muhammad could mobilize the Jewish version
of monotheism against that of dominant Christianity and used it for the self-assertion, both
ideological and military, of his own people. (Jewish- Arab symbiosis). But Patricia Crone
object this view by arguing that the foreign presence is unlikely to have affected the majority
of Arabs deeply.