From: Tyagi@HouseOfKaos.Abyss.com
Subject: Islam4:Mecca
Date: Fri,  7 Jan 94 15:32:20 PST

940107

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Assalam alaikum, my kin.

This is part 4 in a continuing series on Islam and Sufism.

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On the political and religious climate at Mohammed's birth, 
Geoffrey Parrinder writes,

"There is evidence that there was intense religous dissatisfaction in
Arabia shortly before the rise of Islam.  A group called the Hanifs,
who claimed spiritual descent from Abraham, were known for their
virtue and deep religiousness.  Mohammed maintained that he was a
Hanif and saw the new dispensation which he preached as a continuation
of Hanifi teaching.  Little is known about the Hanifs, even the meaning
of the name is obscure, but their religious thinking was moving towards
monotheism and a more reassuring basis for spiritual life.

"Further evidence of religious quest in Arabia was the penetration of
the two great monotheistic religions.  Christianity and Judaism.
Settled Christian and Jewish communities existed there.  In South
Arabia, more than a century before the rise of Islam, there had been
a Jewish kingdom which had been destroyed by Ethiopian Christian
invaders, who came to avenge the persecution of Christians in the area.
There were also widely scattered Arabic-speaking Jewish tribes,
particularly in the oasis of Yathrib, where Mohammed was to settle when
his position in Mecca had become untenable.  Christians were, perhaps,
fewer, but there was a well-known Christian community at Najran
to the south and east of Mecca.  Furthermore, many opportunities
were offered to the Arabs to become acquainted with Judaism and
Christianity because of their trading connections with the regions
to the north.  Knowledge of these two religions was important,
for it prepared those who came in contact with them to receive
the closely related teachings of Mohammed, and thus ultimately
contributed to the actual rise and development of Islam.

"In addition to the tribal outlook, the conditions prevailing in
Mecca were also significant influences on Mohammed and the rise
of Islam.  Contrary to the commonly held assumption, Islam was
born in a city, not in the desert.  Some time prior to Mohammed's
birth, Mecca had become a thriving commercial center, and its
citizens, the Quraysh, had gained both wealth and prestige.
Mecca's growth was the result of contemporary power politics.
The long-standing hostility between Sassanian Persia and Roman
Byzantine had destroyed trade along the usual overland route
from the Mediterranean to the head of the Persian Gulf.  A new
route was therefore sought for goods which flowed from the East,
and this extended along the coastal plain of Arabia, from the
seaports of Yemen whence ships plied both to India and Africa.
Mecca lay in the coastal plain at a point where the north-south
route intersected another major route leading to the east and the
markets of Iraq.  Mecca was, thus, ideally located to serve as the
focus of a rich exchange."

_World Religions_, Ed. by Parrinder, page 465-6.

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On the place of Muhammed's birth, Huston Smith writes,

"The world into which Muhammed was born is described by subsequent
Muslims in single word: barbaric.  Life under the conditions of the
desert had never been serene.  The Bedouin felt almost no obligation
to anyone outside his tribe.  Scarcity of material good and a fighting
mood chronically inflamed by the blazing sun had made brigandage a
regular institution and the proof of virility.  In the sixth century A.D.
political deadlock and the collapse of the magistrate in the leading
city of Mecca made this generally chaotic situation even worse.
Drunken orgies often ending in brawls and bloodshed were commonplace.
The gaming impulse, always strong among nomads, was uncontrolled,
with Meccan gambling tables busy the night through.  Dancing girls
moved from tent to tent inflaming the passions of the impetuous sons
of the desert.  Meanwhile the prevailing religion was providing no
check whatever.  Best described as an animistic polytheism, it peopled
the desert with beastly sprites called *jinn* or demons.  Fantastic
personifications of the terrors of the desert, there is no evidence
that they inspired anything in the way of genuine religious enthusiasm
much less moral conduct.  On the whole, conditions could hardly have
been better calculated to prduce a smoldering undercurrent which
erupted in sudden affrays and blood feuds some of which stretched
on for half a century.  The time was ripe for a deliverer."

_The Religions of Man_, Smith, page 219.

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Part 4 in a continuing series.


Assalam alaikum, my kin.
Love is the law, love under will.

Haramullah (Allah's Woman)
Tyagi@HouseofKaos.Abyss.com