The Rise of Islam: Society and Religion in Arabia
Origins and Expansion of Islam
Arabia Before Islam
Arabia was known for its caravan routes to the Mediterranean, bringing high-value products like spices and silk from lands bordering the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. These routes were difficult to trace.
Most of the population was nomadic, engaging in trade and livestock. Throughout the sixth century, Byzantium and Persia influenced the tribes near their borders. There was significant agricultural development in the South, where agricultural kingdoms developed. This began with the creation of a large agricultural area generated from the construction of the Ma’arib Dam. The destruction of this dam collapsed agriculture in the area and pushed the population north.
In the central region, independent commercial cities (Mecca, Yathrib, etc.) developed in the oases and were enriched by trade.
Mecca was one of the main sanctuaries of Arabia.
Because of the war between Persia and Byzantium, the eastern land routes were closed, and the Arabian Peninsula became, in the sixth century, the only route to supply Byzantium. In the early sixth century, a large commercial development had begun in Mecca thanks to the policy pursued by the tribe of Quraysh, dominant in the sanctuary. They signed trade agreements with Byzantium and established partnerships with the nomadic tribes of the environment, who could participate in such trade in exchange for protecting the caravans that passed over their land or paying a fee. Thus, Mecca became an important commercial link in the area. As part of the agreement with the Quraysh, they had brought representations of their own gods to the sanctuary of Mecca, making the city the main shrine of Arabia.
Muhammad was born in this city, and here began his preaching, which would unite the tribes of Arabia and permit expansion.
Islam: A New Religion
Muhammad presented his religion as a restoration of the true faith taught by the prophets that God had sent to Jews and Christians. This religion brought monotheism to Arabs and Berbers.
The book containing the revelations to Muhammad is the Quran, with verses called ayat. For strict Muslim orthodoxy, the book contains the literal words of God (Allah), which sets it apart from the Bible, and textual criticism is impossible. His preaching was oral, and his lessons were learned from memory and then written and broadcast by some of his followers.
The teachings of Muhammad would be considered the rules which should govern society. In the Quran, there are hardly any references to political organization or the performance of power. To cover these and other “gaps”, the words and actions of Muhammad himself were used for comparison. These actions were taken in the form of stories, the hadith, which together constitute the Sunnah. They are timeless stories and examples, transmitted orally, and put into writing between the eighth and ninth centuries.
Quran and Sunnah were the main sources of religious law, legal and political action, and so on.
Islam: A New Society
The principles preached by Muhammad were actually adapting religion to the commercial society that emerged in northern Arabia, especially in Mecca. Therefore, when speaking of Islamic society, several important aspects must be taken into account from a historical point of view:
- Islam as a society is not a timeless, closed, and unchanging reality.
- Religion has a crucial role in characterizing that society. Many attempts have been made to define Islamic society from religion. Religion is always a product of society. For example, Christianity was the religion of much of the late Roman society, feudal, western, capitalist, and current, but no one would say that these companies are the product of the Christian religion.
- As happens in those other societies, the Islamic religion has a role, importance, and impact that changes over time. And there has never been the only religion practiced in those societies.
Islamic society existed between the 6th and 18th centuries and was mostly a complex social order that suffered multiple adaptations. “Islamic” societies are embedded in contemporary capitalist society, and they observed the gradual imposition of the separation of religion and state, inherent to it.
Every society is based on a specific organization of production, reflected in a specific organization of society and of power among elites, and the legitimacy of the organization.
M. Acién addresses the issue of organizing society by studying the relationship in different societies, areas of public and private. In feudal society, there is a lack of differentiation between the two spheres, and the ties of personal dependence run through society. Capitalism establishes an equivalence relation between public and private, i.e., they are separate but equal spheres. The transition between the two is by merit. In these societies, the public and private sectors tend to be fairly well-defined.
Islamic society is characterized by the dominance of private over public. This dominance is also reflected in law, whose main function was the spread of private property. All relationships between individuals are linked by contracts. This includes political relations, which are set by berry – between the ruler and the community, and all relations. The latter is evident through the many forms of recruitment and transfer of ownership that we know through compilations of types of contracts made precisely so that the lawyers in charge of drafting knew how they had to be done.
The hegemony of the private accounts, for example, for the absence of municipal authorities in the cities. There is no authority that can impose a planning discipline. Conflicts between people are resolved by recourse to a judicial or similar Qaadi, and their judgments were of critical importance to acquired rights.
This hegemony of private houses explains that there are no facades. There is a turning inward, toward the private, regardless of social or economic housing. The yards of all residences are always preceded by a vestibule. It is the opposite of what happens in feudal or capitalist societies.
The hegemony of the private and the principles of a society based on the contract is where it can best be done in the city. This is understandable when you consider that the society of Mecca was an urban society, and its development in its first expansion occurs in an urbanizing world. Ideologically, Islam became identified with the ruling founder of cities.
Despite the prominence of the urban world, medieval Islamic societies are pre-industrial societies, that is, agriculture. Also, in this area, the private is overlooked because the relationships between landowners, the owners of it, and those who work are always articulated through contracts.