Chapter 11 Learning Guide- The Worlds of Islam

Describe the location and geography of Arabia.

But there was more to Arabia than camel-herding nomads. Scattered oases, the highlands of Yemen, and interior mountains supported sedentary village-based agriculture, and in the northern and southern regions of Arabia, small kingdoms had flourished in earlier times. Arabia also sat astride increasingly important trade routes that connected the Indian Ocean world with that of the Mediterranean Sea and gave rise to more cosmopolitan commercial cities, whose values and practices were often in conflict with those of traditional Arab tribes.

How has Judaism influenced Islam?

Many Jews and Christians lived among the Arabs, and their monotheistic ideas became widely known. By the time of Muhammad, most of the Arabs acknowledged the preeminent position of Allah, although they usually found the lesser gods, including the 3 daughters of Allah, far more accessible. They increasingly identified Allah with Yahweh, the Jewish High God, and regarded themselves too as "children of Abraham." A few Arabs explored the possibility that Allah/Yahweh was the only God and that the others, residing in the Kaaba and in shrines across the peninsula, were nothing more than helpless and harmless idols. To outside observers in 600, it might well have seemed that Arabs were moving toward Judaism religiously.

Where is Mecca and why is it important?

One of those cities, Mecca, came to occupy a distinctive role in Arabia. Though somewhat off the major long-distance trade routes, Mecca was the site of the Kaaba, the most prominent religious shrine in Arabia, which housed representations of 360 deities and was the destination for many pilgrims. Mecca's dominant tribe, the Quraysh, controlled access to the Kaaba and grew wealthy by taxing local trade that accompanied the annual pilgrimage season. By 6th century C.E., Mecca was home to people from various tribes and clans as well as individual outlaws, exiles, refugees, and foreign merchants, much of its growing wealth was in hands of a few ruling Quraysh families.

Muhammad Ibn Abdullah - Definition and Significance

The catalyst for those events and the birth of the new religion was Muhammad Ibn Abdullah (570-632 C.E.), who was born in Mecca to Quraysh family. Muhammad became a trader and traveled to Syria. At age of 25, he married a wealthy widow. A reflective man deeply troubled by religious corruption and social inequalities of Mecca, he went into periods of withdrawal and meditation in the mountains outside the city. Like Buddha and Jesus, Muhammad had religious experiences that left him convinced that he was Allah's messenger to Arabs, commissioned to bring to them a scripture in their own language.

Who are the Bedouins and what did they believe in?

The central region of the Arabian Peninsula had been inhabited by nomadic Arabs known as Bedouins, who herded their sheep and camels in seasonal migrations. These peoples lived in independent clans and tribes, which often engaged in blood feuds with one another. They recognized a variety of gods, ancestors, and nature spirits; valued personal bravery, group loyalty, and hospitality; and greatly treasured their oral poetry.