Arabia before Islam

Part oneA land of deserts, wells and trade roads

Picture a line of camels leaving Yemen in the sixth century CE, loaded with frankincense and leather and heading north for the markets of Ash-Sham, the region of Syria and Palestine. It is weeks of travel, and between the wells there is little to drink. Wells decided where the road ran, and where towns grew.

The Arabian Peninsula is mostly desert and bare hill country, with very little rain and almost no rivers. In Yemen, the great dam at Marib had once held back the rains and watered rich farmland. When it failed, families and whole tribes moved north, which is one reason the peoples of the south and the north met and mixed in the Hijaz. Many Arabs were Bedouin, who herded camels, sheep and goats and moved with the seasons to find pasture. Where water gathered, there were oases and settled towns. Yathrib, which would later be called Madinah, grew dates, and Ta'if, in the cool hills above Makkah, was known for its orchards.

Tribe came before everything. Your tribe was your protection, your law and your name, and a wrong done to one member was a wrong done to all. Feuds could last for generations. The Arabs prized courage and hospitality, and they were proud of their language. Poets recited at great gatherings such as the fair of Ukaz, near Ta'if, and a fine poem could raise a tribe's name or ruin it. Four months of the year were sacred, and fighting was set aside in them so that pilgrims and traders could travel in peace.

There was a harder side too. Slavery was common, the poor had few protectors, and some tribes buried newborn daughters rather than raise them. Most people could not read or write.

Belief was mixed. Many Arabs consulted soothsayers and read omens in the flight of birds, and many doubted that there would be any life after death. Others held to older memories of Ibrahim (peace be upon him), and the Kaaba and the pilgrimage remained the one thing nearly every tribe respected.

Beyond the peninsula stood two superpowers. Byzantine Rome ruled to the north-west, and Sasanian Persia to the north-east. Each kept friendly Arab kingdoms on its desert border, and each hoped to control the trade that crossed Arabia. In the south, Yemen had been ruled by a Jewish king, Dhu Nuwas, who persecuted the Christians of Najran. Soon afterwards the Christian kingdom of Abyssinia, across the Red Sea, took control of the country. Jewish tribes lived in Yathrib and Khaybar, and Christian communities in Najran and along the borders, so the idea of one God and of earlier prophets was not new to Arabia.

Part twoMakkah, the Kaaba and the Quraysh

Makkah lay in a narrow, dry valley between rocky hills, with no farmland and no river. By every practical measure it should have been a minor settlement. Yet it had two things no other place in Arabia had, the Kaaba and the well of Zamzam.

Ibrahim left his wife Hajar and their baby son Ismail (peace be upon him) in this valley at Allah's command. As he turned to leave, Hajar asked him whether Allah had commanded this. When he said yes, she answered that then He would not neglect them. When their water ran out, she climbed the hill of Safa to look for help, then ran across the valley to the hill of Marwah, and back again, seven times. The Prophet ﷺ later said this was the origin of the sa'i, the walk between Safa and Marwah that every pilgrim makes. Then an angel struck the ground and Zamzam sprang up beside the child. Birds circling over the water drew a passing tribe, the Jurhum, who asked to settle near it. Ismail grew up among them, learned Arabic from them and married into their tribe. Father and son later raised the Kaaba, a simple stone house, for the worship of Allah alone, and pilgrims came to it from then on.

Over the centuries, pure worship faded. The Arabs went on honouring the Kaaba and making pilgrimage, but a man of the Khuza'ah tribe, Amr ibn Luhayy, brought idols into the sacred area, among them Hubal, and people began praying to them and to spirits. Each region of Arabia had its own shrines. Al-Lat was honoured near Ta'if, al-Uzza at Nakhlah not far from Makkah, and Manat on the coast. Many Arabs still knew Allah as the Creator and asked the idols to carry their requests to Him. A small number of people, called hanifs, refused the idols and held to the faith of Ibrahim, though they had no community of their own.

The Quraysh, who traced their descent to Ismail, came to rule Makkah. A few generations before the Prophet ﷺ, Qusayy ibn Kilab took the lead of the town from the Khuza'ah, gathered the scattered clans of the Quraysh into the valley and built the Dar an-Nadwah, a meeting house where the chiefs settled the town's business. The honours of the Kaaba were shared among the clans. One held its key, another gave water to the pilgrims, another fed them. Hashim, the Prophet's ﷺ great-grandfather, was famed for his generosity to pilgrims, and he helped organise the Quraysh trading caravans that went to Ash-Sham in summer and to Yemen in winter.

From the Quran

لِإِيلَـٰفِ قُرَيْشٍ ۝١ إِۦلَـٰفِهِمْ رِحْلَةَ ٱلشِّتَآءِ وَٱلصَّيْفِ ۝٢ فَلْيَعْبُدُوا۟ رَبَّ هَـٰذَا ٱلْبَيْتِ ۝٣ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَطْعَمَهُم مِّن جُوعٍ وَءَامَنَهُم مِّنْ خَوْفٍۭ ۝٤

¹˹At least˺ for ˹the favour of˺ making Quraysh habitually secure— ²secure in their trading caravan ˹to Yemen˺ in the winter and ˹Syria˺ in the summer— ³let them worship the Lord of this ˹Sacred˺ House, ⁴Who has fed them against hunger and made them secure against fear.

Makkah was a sanctuary where bloodshed was forbidden, so merchants from across Arabia could trade there in safety. Pilgrims came each year to circle the Kaaba and to stand on the plain of Arafat outside the town. These rites went back to Ibrahim, though by now they were mixed with the customs of the idols. The Quraysh's guardianship of the House gave them standing among all the tribes, who called them the people of Allah. A place without farms lived on pilgrims and caravans. Into this world, the Prophet ﷺ was about to be born.

Makkah had no farms and no river, yet most of Arabia knew its name.

More on How to Muslim

• quran.howtomuslim.orgSurah Quraysh, mappedThe winter and summer caravans that kept Makkah alive.
• guide.howtomuslim.orgHis first 40 yearsMakkah before the revelation, in order.

WatchLectures for this chapter

Lecture Towards EternityO Messenger, Ep. 1: Life of Prophet Muhammad (opens on YouTube)

Lecture Islamic GuidanceBeginning Of The Makkan Civilization (Seerah of Muhammad, part 1) (opens on YouTube)

The mapWhere it happened

• Yemen
• Najran
• Makkah
• Ta'if
• Yathrib
• Ash-Sham

This map is a simple sketch to help you picture where events took place. Positions, distances and borders are approximate, so please use it for reference only, not as an accurate map.

SourcesSources for this chapter