Praneel Bhatt

B.A. Hons. History - 4004

Semester- II

5 July y

Pre Islamic Arabia

CORE-2 Assignment
Geographically speaking, Arabia is a peninsula of large dimensions. Surrounded by the
Red Sea ion the west, the Arabian Sea in the south and the Persian gulf in the east. Most of
the peninsula is mostly either desert or desert grassland. Very little regular rainfall takes place
in the area with many parts experiencing droughts for many years while some may go
without any rainfall. Rains being more frequent in the coastal areas rather than the interiors.
Having no permanent rivers, the land is dotted with many oases formed by springs and wells.
The centre of the peninsula lies a vast unbroken arid land known as Najd, merging with the
Syrian desert or Nafud in the north. In the north-east Najd extended too the banks of
Euphrates in Iraq. In the west, strips of hilly lands ran parallel to the Red Sea. The central
part of western Arabia was known as Hijaz. Mecca and Madina where early Islam was born
was situated in Hijaz. The hills and rocks in Hijaz were barren characterised by arid areas,
which made nomadic pastoralism possible. Yemen, which lied inn the south-west corner of
the peninsula, contains mountains and fertile valleys. The environment of Yemen differed
greatly to that of the rest of Arabia due to the monsoon winds that it receives thus, providing
opportunities for agricultural practices

The domestication and the introduction of the camel had greatly facilitated their
nomadic pastoralism due to their ability to travel long distances for long periods of time
without food or water allowing exploration and exploiting of the Arabian peninsula’s scarce
resources in temperatures as high as 50°C.

Camel pastoralists were known as Beduins, whose familiarity of the terrain of Najd and
Hijaz was crucial for their survival strategy. Beduins were constantly on the move and their
social organisation was based on their own independent tribe. Hence, we could say that
polytheism prevailed at the time. Each beduin tribe was small in size and divided into clans
or extended families. Due to the environmental conditions once the size of the tribe exceed
the carrying capacity of the land they lived on would lead to the clan breaking to form
independent units of their own, very few communities led a settled existence. In some places
such as Hijaz where springs and wells provided sufficient water for irrigation provided some
limited possibility for cultivation. The beduins combined pastoralism with raids against
neighbouring beduin tribes and settled communities to augment their resources. A form of
tribute called Khuwwa was also exercised as a means to gain protection from beduin
aggressors. Camel Nomadic Pastoralism was an essential feature of pre-Islamic social
formations of Arabia. There were groups which cultivated sheep and goat at the same time as
some groups solely cultivated only dates, fruit and grain bringing forth some amount of
exchange and trade.

The Beduins formed the bulk of the population. As a consequence of their clan
solidarity, Asabiya developed. According to Ibn Khaldin, Asabiya meant the common will
for power and involved faithfulness to the community, unity and readiness for sacrifice. The
Beduins recognised themselves as a complete polity and recognised no external authority.
They were led by a chief selected by and responsible to the clan elders. In some conditions,
Beduins were integrated into more inclusive stratified structures called Haram, allowing
worship of same gods, economic exchange and sociability hence providing links with the
southern parts of Arabia.

The language spoken by them was a form of Semitic which was variation of the
Armaic. A distinctive arabic linguistic identity had been identified by the end of the 5th
century though many different dialects were being spoken earlier.This possession of a
common language provided the Arabs with some unity despite having no political cohesion.

The Middle East into which Islam was born was divided between two super powers, the
Sasanian ( Iranian ) and the Byzantine ( Syria and Palestine under the Graeco Roman
structure ) empires which held sway from Central Asia and Southern Spain. The Byzantine
Empire was solely Christian with the dominant religion amongst the Sasanians being
Zoratrianism. In Iraq, Christianity and Judaism prevailed and in Yemen a sizeable population
practiced Judaism with jewish influence reigning over Yemen and even Hijaz since the first
century.
 Placing Arabia in a larger context of Syria and Palestine ( NW ) , Iraq ( NE ). These two
powers had been locked in a titanic struggle for control of the near east, though the above
were settled societies. Yemen was a settled tract with an agrarian economy. 6th cent.
Palestine and Syria were part of the Byzantine Empire while Iraq was ruled by the Sassanids.
Through the latter half of the sixth century, the two empires had been engaged in conflict
over Syria and Palestine. The beduin clan Banu Lakhm established a client state of Lakhmid
in north-east arabia for the Sassanids in the 5th century, similarity a nomadic clan in Jordan,
the Ghassan, created a client state on the outskirts of Syria in allegiance to the byzantines
called Ghassanid. Both these client states were used as a buffer against beduin incursions and
a platform from which the big powers could exercise their control over their region and
recruit Arab troops. Oppsite the Red Sea was the country of Ethiopia, solidly christian and
had important relations with Arabian politics, being a close ally of the Byzantine empire and
was used by the latter to maintain a sphere of influence in Arabia especially Yemen. In c.510
when Dhu Nuwas a Jewish ruler in South Arabia began maltreatment of christians, was taken
as a pretext by Ethiopia to invade Yemen. Thus, though being isolated, Arabia was drawn
into the geopolitics of the region. Beduins were the main occupants of the region with which
Arabia was synonymous and had been offering themselves for military service and so some
interaction took place with the empires. It was not a case of complete isolation but that
Arabia forming a state was unthinkable under Islam.

During the sixth century, a slow and gradual change took place within Arabia with
nomadic pastoralism being given up for trade. The shift was the mist pronounced in Hijaz.
Trade began to dissolve the egalitarian tribal ethos and created divisions within their
societies. It eventually led to conflicts of values and caused a lot of moral and normative
chaos which was addressed by Prophet Muhammad. The Sassinid-Byzantine conflict has
already caused the dislocation of the trade route through the Persian Gulf and now Yemen
became an important transit port in terms of trade, as a result the Hijaz route acquired greater
significance.

According to Montgomery Watts, Beduins with the use of camels to carry loads, their
intimate knowledge of the lay of the land and ability to organise caravans was what allowed
them to carry on trade along with their belief in Muruwah a concept of bravery, dedication
and a commitment to valour vis a vis their trade.
 It is in this historical situation that Mecca rose to prominence. It was located
strategically at the junction of two trade routes: North- South linking Palestine with Yemen
and a somewhat less important route connecting Ethiopia to the Red Sea in the west and the
Persian Gulf in the east. Mecca derived some importance as a place of pilgrimage which the
trading community might have instilled to strengthen its position. The main shrine at Mecca
was a rectangular structure Kaba. The Kaba contained many idols and objects venerated by
the various tribes and clans. Every year there would be a sacred period before Prophet
Muhammad and monotheism during which tribals came together to worship and took shape
of a fair. All fighting and hostilities ceased and violent acts of revenge were not permissible
in the period. Overall atmosphere of peace where interactions, business exchanges could take
place Mercantile activity was the mainstay of the Meccan economy since there were hardly
any possibilities for agriculture though camels were reared and dates were grown for diet.
Mecca was under the Quraysh tribe which consisted of many clans. While some clans
succeeded while others didn’t led to differentiation within the clans while some who were
prosperous enough adopted a sedentary lifestyle. Tensions led to the split of the Quraysh tribe
into Quraysh az-Zawahir and Quraysh az-Bataih. Needless to say this led to more conflicts
between the two two factions over gaining a larger share over Mecca. It is in this time that
Prophet Muhammad began preaching his religious message in the opening of the 7th century.
The overriding principle in Prophet Muhammad’s religion was monotheism. At this
time, communities delved in strains of christianity, judaism and Zoroastrianism and its own
heretic strains. These religions had their own symbols and figures of worship while the
worship of flora and fauna was also prevalent. There was a process in which various teachers
of various religions in pre-Islamic era which would convey various monotheistic ideas, this
would lead way for Islam.
Under Muhammad, idol worship was banned and sought to replace the diverse religious
practices of Arabs under a single belief forming an ideological base for tribal unity with a
strong emphasis on unity and equality off all those who accepted Allah and the Prophet. He
met with stiff opposition but hard the protection of his uncle Abu Talib, a well-to-d0
merchant. After his uncle’s death he shifted from Mecca to Madina, another Hijaz settlement.
The Islamic era was to have begun here. Unlike Mecca where the Quraysh tribe was
dominant, Madina had many contending tribes. Muhammad was able to consolidate control
over Madina and was no longer just a leader but now the head of the nascent state of Madina.
Alliances were made with the tribes in the surrounding areas and soon carried an armed
struggle against the Quraysh. After the Quraysh trade came to an end with raids against their
caravans and trade routes the latter had to sue for peace and in 630 Muhammad occupied
Mecca and with the aid of the Quraysh rapidly consolidated authority in Arabia. The Kaba in
Mecca was regarded as most sacred sanctuary of Islam and Abraham was regarded as the
common ancestor of all. As he passed away , Muhammad was able to convert a tribal
organisation into a state comprising of many tribes with an army of 30,000 troops. It was in
the half-century after Muhammad’s passing that Arab state was given shape.

It is here that we conflict in the theories of Montgomery Watts and Patricia Crone to
why Islam gained acceptance amongst the Arabs in such a short span of time. According to
the former, he sees the rise of Islam as a response to the transformation which was taking
place due to trade and the adoption of a sedentary lifestyle. According to him, trade led to an
ethos of factionalism, infighting, individualism which Muhammad was able to bring an end
to with his religion of Islam which defied all of these.
On the other hand, Patricia Crone considers that undue importance is given to trade,
disputing that the geographic position of Mecca was not in the crossroads of the trade routes
but rather much moire inland whilst claiming a lack of evidence for Mecca;s role in
international trade, stating that in fact trade was confined to more of a local stage. She doesn’t
banish the fact that trade was not important but rather shifts her focus to what she calls a
‘nativistic movement’ as the reason for the widespread acceptance of Islam. Saying Arabs
loved their way of life earlier under values of valour, bravery and conquest which the beduins
feared would be changed by outside foreign influences and when the Prophet shared his
ideals of surrender through Islam, unified tribes under the religion who in turn gave sanction
and protection, favouring a way to live under one religion that encompassed all the various
ideals the tribes cherished.

RESOURCES USED
1. Early Social Formations, Amar Farooqui
2. A History of Islamic World , Ira M. Lapidus
3. The Cambridge Illustrated History of Islamic World, Patricia Crone
4. The Formation of Islam, Jonathan Berkey

TOTAL WORD COUNT: 1987 words