Origins of Islam

 

Origins of Islam

Main articles: Pre-Islamic Arabia, Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia, Early Muslim conquests, Historical reliability of the Quran, and Historicity of Muhammad

Early Islam arose within the historical, social, political, economic, and religious context of Late Antiquity in the Middle East.^[28] The second half of the 6th century CE saw political disorder in the pre-Islamic Arabian peninsula, and communication routes were no longer secure.^[30] Religious divisions played an important role in the crisis.^[31] Judaism became the dominant religion of the Himyarite Kingdom in Yemen after about 380 CE, while Christianity took root in the Persian Gulf.^[31] There was also a yearning for a more "spiritual form of religion", and "the choice of religion increasingly became an individual rather than a collective issue."^[31] While some Arabs were reluctant to convert to a foreign faith, those Abrahamic religions provided "the principal intellectual and spiritual reference points", and Jewish and Christian loanwords from Aramaic began to replace the old pagan vocabulary of Arabic throughout the peninsula.^[31] The Hanif ("seekers"), a group of monotheists that sought to separate themselves both from the foreign Abrahamic religions and the traditional Arab polytheism,^[32] were looking for a new religious worldview to replace the pre-Islamic Arabian religions,^[32] focusing on "the all-encompassing father god Allah whom they freely equated with the Jewish Yahweh and the Christian Jehovah."^[33] In their view, Mecca was originally dedicated to this monotheistic faith that they considered to be the one true religion, established by the patriarch Abraham.^[32][33]

According to the traditional account,^[2][6] the Islamic prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca around the year 570 CE.^[34] His family belonged to the Arab clan of Quraysh, which was the chief tribe of Mecca and a dominant force in western Arabia.^[6][35] To counter the effects of anarchy, they upheld the institution of "sacred months" when all violence was forbidden and travel was safe.^[36] The polytheistic Kaaba shrine in Mecca and the surrounding area was a popular pilgrimage destination, which had significant economic consequences for the city.^[36][37]

Close-up of one leave showing chapter division and verse-end markings written in Hijazi script from the Birmingham Quran manuscript, dated between c. 568 and 645, held by the University of Birmingham.

Most likely Muhammad was "intimately aware of Jewish belief and practices," and acquainted with the Hanif.^[33][38] Like the Hanif, Muhammad practiced Taḥannuth, spending time in seclusion at mount Hira and "turning away from paganism."^[39][40] When he was about 40 years old, he began receiving at mount Hira' what Muslims regard as divine revelations delivered through the angel Gabriel, which would later form the Quran. These inspirations urged him to proclaim a strict monotheistic faith, as the final expression of the prophetic tradition earlier codified in Judaism and Christianity; to warn his compatriots of the impending Judgement Day; and to castigate social injustices of his city.^[7] Muhammad's message won over a handful of followers (the ṣaḥāba) and was met with increasing opposition from Meccan notables.^[4][8] In 622 CE, a few years after losing protection with the death of his influential uncle ʾAbū Ṭālib ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, Muhammad migrated to the city of Yathrib (subsequently called Medina) where he was joined by his followers.^[41] Later generations would count this event, known as the hijra, as the start of the Islamic era.^[42]

In Yathrib, where he was accepted as an arbitrator among the different communities of the city under the terms of the Constitution of Medina, Muhammad began to lay the foundations of the new Islamic society, with the help of new Quranic verses which provided guidance on matters of law and religious observance.^[42] The surahs of this period emphasized his place among the long line of Biblical prophets, but also differentiated the message of the Quran from Christianity and Judaism.^[42] Armed conflict with the Arab Meccans and Jewish tribes of the Yathrib area soon broke out.^[43] After a series of military confrontations and political manoeuvres, Muhammad was able to secure control of Mecca and allegiance of the Quraysh in 629 CE.^[42] In the time remaining until his death in 632 CE, tribal chiefs across the Arabian peninsula entered into various agreements with him, some under terms of alliance, others acknowledging his prophethood and agreeing to follow Islamic practices, including paying the alms levy to his government, which consisted of a number of deputies, an army of believers, and a public treasury.^[42]